Kitabı oku: «The Court Jester», sayfa 9

"But, my poor Le Glorieux," said the princess sweetly, "you have an ugly scratch across your face, and your hands are bruised. Have you also had a fall?"

"No, little Cousin," he returned gravely, and with a shake of the head. "The scrapings you notice on my handsome countenance and on my slender hands are but the result of a weakness with which I was born."

"You were not born with those scratches, or I should have observed them long ago," she replied, smiling.

"I said the result of a weakness, your Highness. It is my nature to want to climb. Whenever I see the side of a rock I am seized with an uncontrollable desire to scale it, and climb I must if the sky falls. I always have found it the most agreeable sensation in the world to be clinging to the side of a rock with nothing over me but the blue of the heavens, and nothing beneath me but the blue of some mountain lake and with a delightful feeling of uncertainty as to just where I am to find my next foothold."

"That is an odd taste indeed," she returned, laughing, "and I do not think there are many who share it with you."

Antoine, I regret to say, was a mischievous youth, as we have seen from the trick he played on his friend the jester when they first started out on their journey together, and it may have been – though of course he would have scorned the suggestion – that some of the raps given him by the old Duchess of Burgundy were not altogether undeserved.

However that may be, he surely did meddle with something at the inn which did not concern him, as you shall presently see. That "something" was a cunning little bear. The innkeeper conducted the jester and the two boys to a rude cage constructed out of the limbs of trees, which he had placed a little distance from the house and near the edge of the forest. Within the cage was a brown bear cub which had been brought to him by a friend. This wild and woolly pet, he said, he was going to train and sell for a good round sum to a traveling mountebank, who would want to exhibit it in the courtyards of inns and before the nobility.

Young Master Bruin was already learning, and one felt that his education would be completed by the time he was full grown. When his master would say "Come," he would obey, and he could stand on his hind feet in a manner that was quite genteel, and he was greatly admired by the three guests of his master, who watched his performances. When replaced in the cage, he walked round and round it, and every time he came to a corner he would bow, as all bears do when caged, but Le Glorieux remarked, "I see that you have begun by teaching him to be polite, and politeness is a great thing in man or beast. There are a good many things we could learn from animals if we would only think about it, though we are so well satisfied with ourselves that we think we are the only living beings in the world who are worth considering. There are not many of us who are as faithful in our friendship as an ordinary dog, and did you ever watch a cat when she had her mind bent on getting a certain mouse? Talk about patience and perseverance! Why, if a man had as much, he could accomplish almost anything he set out to do!"

"I should like to take that little bear out and play with him," remarked Antoine, as the innkeeper walked on ahead with Philibert.

"Just you take my advice, my young friend, and let that bear alone," said the jester, with emphasis. "The owner of the bear will teach him a number of tricks, no doubt, but there is one that he will not be obliged to learn, having been born with it, and that is the art of hugging."

"Pooh!" said Antoine, "a little thing like that could not hurt me. I have played with dogs a good deal larger than that bear."

"You take my advice and let him alone, or the emperor may be asking for one of his favorite songs and find nobody at hand to sing it."

But even in this twentieth century a boy may be found once in a while who will not take good advice, though experience always teaches the wisdom of listening to older people, and Antoine allowed the good counsel of Le Glorieux to glide from his mind as drops of water roll off a duck's back, so, at the very first opportunity he could find to do so unseen, he returned to the bear's cage.

Taking the rope which the bear's master had used to lead him about, Antoine opened the door and tried to get the loop about the animal's neck. Master Bruin, as if realizing that here was some one who had no business to tamper with him, growled and gazed at the intruder with a sardonic grin, which revealed all his sharp white teeth.

"You need not look so fierce, you woolly little thing," said the boy; "you are no bigger than a ball of knitting yarn. I should be ashamed to be afraid of you." Then he dragged the rope back and held the loop open in his hand, calling, "Come, come," as the innkeeper had done. But young Bruin crouched sulkily in the extreme end of his domicile, without deigning to move.

Then the boy took a long stick and poked him with it, saying, "You obstinate pig of a bear, we shall see whether you will come out or not. You have made me lose all patience with you."

The little bear now made up his mind to accept the invitation, and that, too, very swiftly and suddenly, and before Antoine had time to throw the loop over his head or even to think what to do next, the bear was upon him. Bruin scorned to bite. His talent and taste did not lie in that direction, but in the way of squeezing he was an adept. He hugged Antoine as if the boy had been a lost brother now restored to his arms after a lapse of many years. The boy thought of the dagger he wore in his belt, but in order to reach the weapon it was necessary to have the use of his arms, and both of those members were securely pinned to his side by that inconsiderate little bear, who went on squeezing as if he never meant to leave off. Antoine now was very much frightened. He was at the mercy of his foe and he was afraid that the breath would be pressed out of his body in a very short time.

He gave a shrill and ear-piercing yell which brought the innkeeper and Le Glorieux in haste from the house and opened all the windows on that side, where heads were thrust out to see what was the matter.

What the bear thought when he saw his master never will be known. What he did was to release his hold on the boy as suddenly as if the latter had been a hot potato, and scamper away as rapidly as his clumsy legs could carry him. The two men ran in pursuit, but their efforts were unavailing, for Master Bruin had deserted civilization forevermore.

"I warned you, did I not, to let that bear alone?" asked Le Glorieux indignantly. "Did I not tell you that he was terrible when it came to hugging? Why did you do just what I warned you not to do? People who refuse to take good advice are always sorry for it."

"I only wanted to have a little sport with him," whimpered Antoine. "I did not know that bears could hug so hard."

"You have found it out now," said the jester. "You have played our friend here a fine trick. He was keeping the bear in order to sell him at a good price, and you, in spite of everything I could say to you, must let the animal escape. It would be no more than fair for you to pay whatever he is worth to our good host and consider yourself lucky with getting off without a cuffing in addition – a punishment you deserve!"

Antoine felt the justice of this remark and emptied out the contents of his purse. But when he saw what a small sum it was, Le Glorieux relented and said gently, "Put aside your money, my boy; there is not enough to bother about. You are one of our party, the emperor's and mine, and I will pay for the damage you have done." And he offered the innkeeper a handful of silver. The latter, being upright as well as good-natured, refused to take all the money offered him by the jester, merely taking what he had expected to receive for the bear, showing that honesty is a plant that will flourish anywhere, provided the ground be favorable.

The Lady Marguerite had an experience of her own with one of the pets belonging to the inn. When she and her ladies returned from their walk they were met at the door by the landlady, who was as pale and terrified as if some calamity had overtaken her. In her left hand she extended toward the princess a wet and torn object which resembled a piece of mop rag that had seen long service, but which in reality was the remains of what once had been a velvet glove embroidered with seed pearls. Under her right arm she held with some difficulty, for he was wriggling with all his might, a small puppy of the age when dogs believe that the chief object of life is to chew things, and who looked at the princess with an impudent little bark, just as if he had not been striving with all the patience and perseverance of which he was capable to reduce a piece of her property to a pulp.

"Oh, this hound, this hound, your Highness!" moaned the poor woman. "I have tried my utmost to keep him out of the way of your Highness and out of the bedchamber of your Highness! My boys and my husband, they will have every kind of an animal about, but for me I hate them all – I mean the animals, your Highness, and not my husband and my sons. And this hound, your Highness, he has been determined to go into your bedchamber at any cost, though I have driven him away from it again and again. He seems to have had nothing else on his mind since your Highness has honored this poor place with your presence. And when I went in your room this morning to put it in order, he slipped in unseen by me and remained under a chair, occupied in chewing this valuable glove just as if it had been the object of his life to feed upon pearls."

"Never mind," said the Lady Marguerite soothingly. "They are too small to injure him, even if he has swallowed any of them."

"Injure him! What should I care for him?" cried the woman. "It is the loss of the glove belonging to your Highness that distresses me."

"Oh, do not trouble yourself about the glove; I have plenty more. But what a pretty puppy, and a fine breed, too."

"Yes, your Highness, the breed is well enough," replied the woman sadly, as if she wished that the puppy had striven more faithfully to live up to the traditions of his race.

"I should like to have him," said the princess, "and you shall be paid whatever you think that he is worth."

"Does your Highness want a dog that has just wrought such destruction?" asked the good woman, in amazement.

"Of course, why not?" said Marguerite, taking the dog in her own arms. "You did not know that it was my glove, did you, doggie?"

"Your Highness is perfectly welcome to him for nothing at all," was the reply, but the princess insisted upon paying her a price for the small animal, which the landlady considered sufficient to purchase all the dogs in the Tyrol. And his new mistress named him Brutus, which was a very grown-up and dignified name for so small and mischievous a member of the dog family, and as he was very intelligent he became the most favored of Marguerite's pets.

When they returned to the palace at Innsbruck Le Glorieux said, "Little Cousin, we each have a souvenir of the trip; you have the puppy, your father has some fine chamois horns, Philibert has a cut temple, Antoine sore ribs, while I have a scratched face, owing to my passion for climbing."

CHAPTER X
A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE

The following year Maximilian found it necessary to take his troops to Italy. The cities of that fair land, instead of being friendly, as they are to-day, were constantly quarreling with each other, and Pisa, the city of the leaning tower, implored the aid of the Emperor of Austria against the pretentions of Florence, the city of flowers.

Le Glorieux, who declared that he had not seen a good rousing fight since the siege of Beauvais, begged to accompany the emperor, and to be allowed to do his full share of fighting, a permission which was granted most willingly.

Philibert de Bresse, who had industriously continued his studies, and who had gained the serious attention of the emperor for the first time when he plucked the edelweiss, was now his Majesty's secretary, and also was to accompany him to Italy. But Antoine, at the bidding of the princess, remained in Vienna, where the court was staying at the time and where, under the tuition of a musical monk, he was accomplishing wonders in the realm of melody.

Philibert was now eighteen and had attained his full growth. He wished that he was to fight instead of to write, that he could be the soldier in armor and clanking spurs instead of the smooth-haired secretary, for he was young and longed for exciting adventure. But it was worth something to be in the confidence of the emperor, and to travel in his present capacity was better than to remain quietly at court.

They were camped near Pistoja, an ancient city at the foot of the Apennines, the headquarters of the emperor being a half-ruined marble palace. Pistoja is to this day rich in ancient sculptures of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and at that time there was an equestrian statue which stood outside the gates of the old palace, about which clung a strange superstition, which was that occasionally, and when it suited his fancy, the statue had a way of dismounting and wandering about, possibly to rest himself, for several centuries of the same position must prove fatiguing. It was not an especially fine piece of statuary and had not been done by a famous sculptor. In fact, the original of the statue had had it made in order to perpetuate his own memory, but he had lived so long ago that nobody remembered just what he had done, which perhaps were not such wonderful feats after all, for the greatest people are the most modest. It represented a man on a big horse with a long mantle spread well out over the tail of his steed, and it went by the name of Il Capitano, the captain, no one knowing or caring just what captain it was. And this captain had thrust himself upon the notice of the emperor's soldiers camped in his neighborhood, as you shall presently see.

Coming into the grounds after having taken a message from the emperor to one of the officers, Philibert paused to speak with one of his Majesty's guards. The subject of their conversation was the expected battles of the coming campaign, and the guard said, "I am not afraid of any living man, but I am afraid of the one they call Il Capitano."

"You mean the statue on horseback over there?" asked Philibert.

"I do, sir."

"Why should you fear a marble man?" asked the secretary, smiling.

The guard lowered his voice. "Because, sir, he gets off his horse and walks about at night."

Philibert laughed. "A soldier should not listen to such old wives' tales," said he.

"It is not an old wives' tale, sir," said the man stoutly; "Hans and Ottocar and others who are as brave as the emperor himself, saw Il Capitano, and were frightened."

"I went past him a few moments ago and I was not frightened," laughed Philibert.

"But they saw him walking about in the moonlight, sir."

"They were dreaming, or they had been drinking too much Italian wine," said young De Bresse as he walked away.

That afternoon the emperor said to his secretary, "De Bresse, I am going to send you to Venice with a message for the doge."

Philibert's heart beat high with exultation, for he knew that this was a mission of trust, and that he possessed the emperor's confidence, else his Majesty would have selected another messenger. The Venetians had promised their aid to Maximilian and the Pisans, but so far they had failed to keep their word. The message was not to be written, lest in case of accident to the bearer it should fall into the wrong hands. The emperor repeated it to his secretary word for word, and gave the latter his seal ring to show that the message was authentic.

Repeating the words of his royal master over and over again in his mind and trying to remember his caution regarding the trip and the best route to take, Philibert hastily prepared for the journey, and mounting one of the best horses available he rode away shortly before nightfall.

He was very happy; he was young, he had the confidence of the emperor, and he was starting out on a trip in which there was considerable risk, a fact which with him added greatly to the charm of the enterprise.

It seems sometimes as if our memory takes a malicious delight in playing tricks with us. It will go to sleep at the very time that it ought to be busiest and then it will wake and mock us. What do you suppose that Philibert's memory said to him, when, after a two hours' ride, he stopped at a stream to allow his horse to refresh itself with a drink of water? It was this, "You have forgotten the emperor's ring! You left it on the foot of your couch when you were dressing!"

This was the ghastly truth. In his excitement, delight, and haste, the secretary had placed the ring on his couch, intending to tie it to a cord and hang it around his neck inside of his clothes for the sake of safety, and it was still there! To accomplish the purpose for which he was sent, the ring was absolutely necessary, or his royal master would not have given it to him. There was nothing to be done but to return and find it. It would be very difficult to go to his room without the fact of his presence being reported to his Majesty, who, also, had sharp ears and knew all that was going on around him. And what should he say if he were discovered? Simply that he had forgotten the ring and had come back for it. Yes, that was simple enough, but to the proud and sensitive youth the consequences would be terrible, for he knew that the emperor upon learning the truth would lose all confidence in his sagacity and would send another messenger. "And small wonder, too, since his first one appears to be such a blundering idiot," he thought, with burning cheeks.

Well, he would go back for the ring and if he should be discovered by the emperor there would be nothing to do but to return to his own country in disgrace. So Philibert turned his horse's head in the direction of Pistoja.

It was the hour of midnight when Philibert approached the camp from which he had set forth so joyously that afternoon, a week ago it seemed to him now. For the last few miles he had been tormented by a fear that he could not overcome, a surmise that seemed to be more and more probable as he drew nearer and nearer to his destination. Le Glorieux had a habit of entering the secretary's room, as was the custom of jesters, at whatever hour it pleased him, and if he went there after Philibert left, he would certainly discover the ring, for his sharp eyes saw everything. And he would take the jewel straight to his master; the youth seemed to hear him saying, "Cousin Max, here is your ring that the careless boy left on his bed." Perhaps even now Maximilian had a store of wrath laid up for him!

And now how best to pass the sentinels was a serious problem. Of course knowing his identity, they would let him pass without a question, but how to bribe them to keep his return a secret? He had secured his horse in a clump of trees and was about to approach the first sentinel when he saw an object which for the moment almost stopped the beating of his heart. Plainly distinguishable in the bright moonlight a tall form was walking before him draped in a long mantle. It was the statue, Il Capitano, which so frightened him, and Philibert was by no means a coward. Even to the bravest, the sight of a marble statue walking about when it ought to be sitting quietly astride its horse would cause more or less trepidation, for the sight is an unusual one, to say the least.

But glancing backward with the expectation of seeing the horse standing riderless, Philibert discovered that the same old Capitano was still in his saddle, holding his sword stiffly before him, with his long mantle still floating over the tail of his steed, as it had done for nobody knew exactly how many centuries.

Then this Capitano was a fraud, a base imitation! Drawing his sword Philibert strode forward and with a quick turn confronted the bold masquerader.

"Another step," said the secretary, "and I shall run you through. If you think to deceive me by this foolery, you are very much mistaken. You are one of the soldiers dressed up for the purpose of stealing from your comrades."

The man sank to his knees and began to plead for mercy. "Oh, sir, please do not betray me. I never have done such a thing before, indeed."

"Do not tell me that; you have been walking about in this guise night after night."

"I mean, sir, that I never have done anything like this until since we have been camped in this place."

"We will not discuss that matter now; I have no time to hear your excuses. I need your disguise for purposes of my own. Give those rags to me; promise to cease your evil practices and to keep my secret, and I will keep yours."

The rascal made the necessary promises, very thankful to get off so easily, and to extricate himself from what at first promised to be a position of great danger. Hastily doffing the long mantle and the white linen which bound his head in imitation of marble hair, he helped to array the young secretary in the disguise; then holding his sword before him in imitation of Il Capitano, Philibert marched boldly toward the emperor's quarters.

The sentinel at the gate made no opposition to his entrance, but remained as if frozen to the spot; another crossed himself and fled, and his way being now clear, so far as they were concerned, Philibert cautiously mounted the steps leading to the upper hall, ever in momentary fear of meeting one of the emperor's suite or perhaps even his Majesty himself, as he was obliged to pass his bedchamber in trying to reach his own. Luck favored him, however, and he reached his own room, where he proceeded to search for the object which had caused him so much anxiety.

The one window of the room was so thickly shaded with vines as to exclude the moonlight, and even if there had been any artificial light available, its use would have been a risk, so Philibert began to run his hand over the couch, very slowly and carefully lest he should knock the ring to the floor, where it would be almost impossible to find it.

He uttered a sigh of relief when his fingers touched a hard object, which turned out to be what he sought, and slipping it on his finger, where it proved to be a snug fit, he was about to depart, when he heard the emperor's voice in the corridor. His disguise would not protect him from Maximilian, who, even if he should believe this strange figure to be Il Capitano himself, would lose no time in running it through with his sword, and the young secretary was not ready to die.

He waited; would the emperor never go? His voice was raised in anger about something. Perhaps he had heard of the appearance of the supposed statue and was seeking it. Concealing himself behind the half-open door, Philibert listened. No, whatever it was it was not a question of Il Capitano, and the listener realized that his successor was getting a sound scolding from Maximilian, who had a temper of his own upon occasion.

A paper was missing, the disappearance of which seemed greatly to have irritated the emperor. His voice grew louder and louder as he described it. Then he said, "Here, Le Glorieux, go and look for it in the bedchamber of De Bresse. You will know it by its color; it is a long blue paper, folded lengthwise, with writing across the end of it."

The listener knew quite well of what paper they were speaking; oh, if he could only have put it into the emperor's mind to look for it in a certain drawer in his own room, where, neatly labeled, the secretary had placed it with a number of other documents! But here was the fool coming straight toward his room with a torch. With a sudden plunge, Philibert sprang toward the bed and crawled under it, dragging with him the hangings, which were old and frail, as he did so.

"What a mess this room is in," grumbled the jester, as he stumbled over the fallen hangings, coughing violently as the dust from them tickled his throat. "Was he so crazy with joy over his trip that he must pull his couch to pieces before he started?"

Then, as if suspecting that some one might be in the room who had no right there, the jester searched carefully about, finally kneeling to look under the bed. The emperor and his humiliated scribe had now closed their door, and the amazed exclamation of the jester was not heard, as he discovered a booted and spurred foot beneath Philibert's bed.

"And so, Mr. Thief, or Mr. Spy, whichever you are, I have caught you, have I?" asked Le Glorieux coolly.

"Hush!" whispered Philibert.

"I do not in the least doubt that you want me to hush," returned the fool, taking possession of the secretary's sword, which the latter held unsheathed in his hand. "There are some positions in life in which people like to have a great noise made over them, and there are others in which they like to be quiet and retired. This appears to be one of the latter. You evidently do not know how to use this toy since you give it up so easily," went on Le Glorieux scornfully.

"Hush!" whispered his prisoner again. "Do not bawl so loud. It is I, Philibert de Bresse."

"In the name of all the saints in the calendar!" exclaimed the fool as young De Bresse crawled from his hiding-place. "Is this the way you execute your commission? I was proud of you, boy; I had faith in you, and now see what has come of it! Max gave you an opportunity to win his confidence for life, and you wrap yourself up in that dirty old mantle and sneak under the bed! I never so thoroughly realized that I am a fool as I do at this moment, when I find how greatly I was mistaken in Philibert de Bresse!"

"Do you suppose I am doing this of my own accord?" snapped the young secretary, engaged in securing the band of white linen which was ready to fall from his head.

"I do not see anybody forcing you to do it at the point of the sword," returned the jester dryly. "The De Bresses are a wild lot and have done many strange things, according to their history, but I never heard of one that was a coward."

Le Glorieux had no sooner finished the sentence than Philibert seized him by the shoulders and gave him a shaking which, the fool afterward declared, changed the relative position of some of his teeth. "Listen, you idiot," hissed the young man, "I intend to go to Venice if seven thousand demons stand in the road! I was well on my way when I found that I had forgotten the emperor's ring, and I have returned for it in the disguise of Il Capitano. Do you not see that I was obliged to come in secret? Now let me go. The paper you will find in the drawer of his Majesty's writing case. Leave me!"

The jester returned to his master, saying as he opened the door, "Cousin Max, you are a sensible man about some things even if you are an emperor, and I want to ask you where a valuable paper should be but in your own writing case?"

Waiting until all was quiet outside, Philibert ventured forth once more, and assuming the dignified stride of Il Capitano, he marched past the sentinels, threw off his disguise, and mounting his horse, was once more riding toward Venice, regretting the lost time, and censuring his own thoughtlessness which had rendered his return necessary. It was long after sunrise before he felt justified in taking a rest, stopping at a wayside inn more for the sake of his horse than for his own comfort. "Poor fellow," said he, stroking the tired steed, "you are unfortunate in being obliged to suffer for the folly of your rider."

And now he slipped the ring from his finger and secured it on the inside of the lining of his cap, believing that after all it would be less likely to be found in that place of concealment than tied about his neck.

As soon as possible he resumed his journey, which he pursued without incident of note until late that afternoon, when he met a party of Florentine soldiers, who stopped him.

"An Austrian spy," said one of them.

"Do I look like an Austrian?" asked Philibert scornfully.

"Who are you, then?"

"A Savoyard student."

"What is a Savoyard student doing here?"

"A student may travel where he pleases, may he not? I can not see that I am accountable to you for my acts."

"Where are you going?"

"To Padua."

"For what purpose?"

"My good sir," drawled Philibert, "for what purpose does a student go to Padua save to attend its famous university, which has sheltered the learned heads of Dante and Petrarch?"

"He looks like a student and he talks like one," said another man. "Let him go."

Philibert was feeling greatly relieved when he caught the eye of a man in the rear of the company. This was a soldier, who, in a slight skirmish a short time before, had been taken prisoner by the Austrians, and who had succeeded in effecting his escape. The young secretary had seen him but once and that only for a few moments, but he never forgot a face and recognized this one immediately. He hoped that the memory of the soldier was less faithful than his own, but this did not appear to be the case.

"Stay," said the man; "I think I can tell you something about this youth. The Emperor of Austria has a secretary, a young Savoyard, of whom I caught a glimpse when I was their prisoner, and if I am not very much mistaken this is he."

The youth laughed contemptuously. "For a faithful secretary, I seem to be quite a distance from my master," said he. "Look at me well, my good man," he continued boldly, "and tell me on your honor if we ever have met before."

The man began to waver. "Of course I had only a glimpse," he stammered. "The secretary was walking with the emperor and I only saw them a moment."

"Would you recognize the emperor if you should see him again?"

"Aye, that would I."

"Then it must have been he at whom you were staring instead of my countryman, the secretary, and of whom you seem to have received a very faint impression."