Kitabı oku: «The Little Duke: Richard the Fearless», sayfa 8

CHAPTER XI

As the Baron had said, there was more peace now that Lothaire had learnt to know that he must submit, and that no one cared for his threats of his father’s or his mother’s vengeance.  He was very sulky and disagreeable, and severely tried Richard’s forbearance; but there were no fresh outbursts, and, on the whole, from one week to another, there might be said to be an improvement.  He could not always hold aloof from one so good-natured and good-humoured as the little Duke; and the fact of being kept in order could not but have some beneficial effect on him, after such spoiling as his had been at home.

Indeed, Osmond was once heard to say, it was a pity the boy was not to be a hostage for life; to which Sir Eric replied, “So long as we have not the training of him.”

Little Carloman, meanwhile, recovered from his fears of all the inmates of the Castle excepting Hardigras, at whose approach he always shrank and trembled.

He renewed his friendship with Osmond, no longer started at the entrance of Sir Eric, laughed at Alberic’s merry ways, and liked to sit on Fru Astrida’s lap, and hear her sing, though he understood not one word; but his especial love was still for his first friend, Duke Richard.  Hand-in-hand they went about together, Richard sometimes lifting him up the steep steps, and, out of consideration for him, refraining from rough play; and Richard led him to join with him in those lessons that Father Lucas gave the children of the Castle, every Friday and Sunday evening in the Chapel.  The good Priest stood on the Altar steps, with the children in a half circle round him—the son and daughter of the armourer, the huntsman’s little son, the young Baron de Montémar, the Duke of Normandy, and the Prince of France, all were equal there—and together they learnt, as he explained to them the things most needful to believe; and thus Carloman left off wondering why Richard thought it right to be good to his enemies; and though at first he had known less than even the little leather-coated huntsman, he seemed to take the holy lessons in faster than any of them—yes, and act on them, too.  His feeble health seemed to make him enter into their comfort and meaning more than even Richard; and Alberic and Father Lucas soon told Fru Astrida that it was a saintly-minded child.

Indeed, Carloman was more disposed to thoughtfulness, because he was incapable of joining in the sports of the other boys.  A race round the court was beyond his strength, the fresh wind on the battlements made him shiver and cower, and loud shouting play was dreadful to him.  In old times, he used to cry when Lothaire told him he must have his hair cut, and be a priest; now, he only said quietly, he should like it very much, if he could be good enough.

Fru Astrida sighed and shook her head, and feared the poor child would never grow up to be anything on this earth.  Great as had been the difference at first between him and Richard, it was now far greater.  Richard was an unusually strong boy for ten years old, upright and broad-chested, and growing very fast; while Carloman seemed to dwindle, stooped forward from weakness, had thin pinched features, and sallow cheeks, looking like a plant kept in the dark.

The old Baron said that hardy, healthy habits would restore the puny children; and Lothaire improved in health, and therewith in temper; but his little brother had not strength enough to bear the seasoning.  He pined and drooped more each day; and as the autumn came on, and the wind was chilly, he grew worse, and was scarcely ever off the lap of the kind Lady Astrida.  It was not a settled sickness, but he grew weaker, and wasted away.  They made up a little couch for him by the fire, with the high settle between it and the door, to keep off the draughts; and there he used patiently to lie, hour after hour, speaking feebly, or smiling and seeming pleased, when any one of those he loved approached.  He liked Father Lucas to come and say prayers with him; and he never failed to have a glad look, when his dear little Duke came to talk to him, in his cheerful voice, about his rides and his hunting and hawking adventures.  Richard’s sick guest took up much of his thoughts, and he never willingly spent many hours at a distance from him, softening his step and lowering his voice, as he entered the hall, lest Carloman should be asleep.

“Richard, is it you?” said the little boy, as the young figure came round the settle in the darkening twilight.

“Yes.  How do you feel now, Carloman; are you better?”

“No better, thanks, dear Richard;” and the little wasted fingers were put into his.

“Has the pain come again?”

“No; I have been lying still, musing; Richard, I shall never be better.”

“Oh, do not say so!  You will, indeed you will, when spring comes.”

“I feel as if I should die,” said the little boy; “I think I shall.  But do not grieve, Richard.  I do not feel much afraid.  You said it was happier there than here, and I know it now.”

“Where my blessed father is,” said Richard, thoughtfully.  “But oh, Carloman, you are so young to die!”

“I do not want to live.  This is a fighting, hard world, full of cruel people; and it is peace there.  You are strong and brave, and will make them better; but I am weak and fearful—I could only sigh and grieve.”

“Oh, Carloman!  Carloman!  I cannot spare you.  I love you like my own brother.  You must not die—you must live to see your father and mother again!”

“Commend me to them,” said Carloman.  “I am going to my Father in heaven.  I am glad I am here, Richard; I never was so happy before.  I should have been afraid indeed to die, if Father Lucas had not taught me how my sins are pardoned.  Now, I think the Saints and Angels are waiting for me.”

He spoke feebly, and his last words faltered into sleep.  He slept on; and when supper was brought, and the lamps were lighted, Fru Astrida thought the little face looked unusually pale and waxen; but he did not awake.  At night, they carried him to his bed, and he was roused into a half conscious state, moaning at being disturbed.  Fru Astrida would not leave him, and Father Lucas shared her watch.

At midnight, all were wakened by the slow notes, falling one by one on the ear, of the solemn passing-bell, calling them to waken, that their prayers might speed a soul on its way.  Richard and Lothaire were soon at the bedside.  Carloman lay still asleep, his hands folded on his breast, but his breath came in long gasps.  Father Lucas was praying over him, and candles were placed on each side of the bed.  All was still, the boys not daring to speak or move.  There came a longer breath—then they heard no more.  He was, indeed, gone to a happier home—a truer royalty than ever had been his on earth.

Then the boys’ grief burst out.  Lothaire screamed for his mother, and sobbed out that he should die too—he must go home.  Richard stood by the bed, large silent tears rolling down his cheeks, and his chest heaving with suppressed sobs.

Fru Astrida led them from the room, back to their beds.  Lothaire soon cried himself to sleep.  Richard lay awake, sorrowful, and in deep thought; while that scene in St. Mary’s, at Rouen, returned before his eyes, and though it had passed nearly two years ago, its meaning and its teaching had sunk deep into his mind, and now stood before him more completely.

“Where shall I go, when I come to die, if I have not returned good for evil?”  And a resolution was taken in the mind of the little Duke.

Morning came, and brought back the sense that his gentle little companion was gone from him; and Richard wept again, as if he could not be consoled, as he beheld the screened couch where the patient smile would never again greet him.  He now knew that he had loved Carloman all the more for his weakness and helplessness; but his grief was not like Lothaire’s, for with the Prince’s was still joined a selfish fear: his cry was still, that he should die too, if not set free, and violent weeping really made him heavy and ill.

The little corpse, embalmed and lapped in lead, was to be sent back to France, that it might rest with its forefathers in the city of Rheims; and Lothaire seemed to feel this as an additional stroke of desertion.  He was almost beside himself with despair, imploring every one, in turn, to send him home, though he well knew they were unable to do so.

CHAPTER XII

“Sir Eric,” said Richard, “you told me there was a Parlement to be held at Falaise, between Count Bernard and the King of Denmark.  I mean to attend it.  Will you come with me, or shall Osmond go, and you remain in charge of the Prince?”

“How now, Lord Richard, you were not wont to love a Parlement?”

“I have something to say,” replied Richard.  The Baron made no objection, only telling his mother that the Duke was a marvellous wise child, and that he would soon be fit to take the government himself.

Lothaire lamented the more when he found that Richard was going away; his presence seemed to him a protection, and he fancied, now Carloman was dead, that his former injuries were about to be revenged.  The Duke assured him, repeatedly, that he meant him nothing but kindness, adding, “When I return, you will see, Lothaire;” then, commending him to the care and kindness of Fru Astrida, Osmond, and Alberic, Richard set forth upon his pony, attended by Sir Eric and three men-at-arms.

Richard felt sad when he looked back at Bayeux, and thought that it no longer contained his dear little friend; but it was a fresh bright frosty morning, the fields were covered with a silvery-white coating, the flakes of hoar-frost sparkled on every bush, and the hard ground rung cheerily to the tread of the horses’ feet.  As the yellow sun fought his way through the grey mists that dimmed his brightness, and shone out merrily in the blue heights of the sky, Richard’s spirits rose, and he laughed and shouted, as hare or rabbit rushed across the heath, or as the plover rose screaming above his head, flapping her broad wings across the wintry sky.

One night they slept at a Convent, where they heard that Hugh of Paris had passed on to join the conference at Falaise.  The next day they rode on, and, towards the afternoon, the Baron pointed to a sharp rocky range of hills, crowned by a tall solid tower, and told Richard, yonder was his keep of Falaise, the strongest Castle in Normandy.

The country was far more broken as they advanced—narrow valleys and sharp hills, each little vale full of wood, and interspersed with rocks.  “A choice place for game,” Sir Eric said and Richard, as he saw a herd of deer dash down a forest glade, exclaimed, “that they must come here to stay, for some autumn sport.”

There seemed to be huntsmen abroad in the woods; for through the frosty air came the baying of dogs, the shouts and calls of men, and, now and then, the echoing, ringing notes of a bugle.  Richard’s eyes and cheeks glowed with excitement, and he pushed his brisk little pony on faster and faster, unheeding that the heavier men and horses of his suite were not keeping pace with him on the rough ground and through the tangled boughs.

Presently, a strange sound of growling and snarling was heard close at hand: his pony swerved aside, and could not be made to advance; so Richard, dismounting, dashed through some briars, and there, on an open space, beneath a precipice of dark ivy-covered rock, that rose like a wall, he beheld a huge grey wolf and a large dog in mortal combat.  It was as if they had fallen or rolled down the precipice together, not heeding it in their fury.  Both were bleeding, and the eyes of both glared like red fiery glass in the dark shadow of the rock.  The dog lay undermost, almost overpowered, making but a feeble resistance; and the wolf would, in another moment, be at liberty to spring on the lonely child.

But not a thought of fear passed through his breast; to save the dog was Richard’s only idea.  In one moment he had drawn the dagger he wore at his girdle, ran to the two struggling animals, and with all his force, plunged it into the throat of the wolf, which, happily, was still held by the teeth of the hound.

The struggles relaxed, the wolf rolled heavily aside, dead; the dog lay panting and bleeding, and Richard feared he was cruelly torn.  “Poor fellow! noble dog! what shall I do to help you?” and he gently smoothed the dark brindled head.

A voice was now heard shouting aloud, at which the dog raised and crested his head, as a figure in a hunting dress was coming down a rocky pathway, an extremely tall, well-made man, of noble features.  “Ha! holla!  Vige!  Vige!  How now, my brave hound?” he said in the Northern tongue, though not quite with the accent Richard was accustomed to hear “Art hurt?”

“Much torn, I fear,” Richard called out, as the faithful creature wagged his tail, and strove to rise and meet his master.

“Ha, lad! what art thou?” exclaimed the hunter, amazed at seeing the boy between the dead wolf and wounded dog.  “You look like one of those Frenchified Norman gentilesse, with your smooth locks and gilded baldrick, yet your words are Norse.  By the hammer of Thor! that is a dagger in the wolf’s throat!”

“It is mine,” said Richard.  “I found your dog nearly spent, and I made in to the rescue.”

“You did?  Well done!  I would not have lost Vige for all the plunder of Italy.  I am beholden to you, my brave young lad,” said the stranger, all the time examining and caressing the hound.  “What is your name?  You cannot be Southern bred?”

As he spoke, more shouts came near; and the Baron de Centeville rushed through the trees holding Richard’s pony by the bridle.  “My Lord, my Lord!—oh, thank Heaven, I see you safe!”  At the same moment a party of hunters also approached by the path, and at the head of them Bernard the Dane.

“Ha!” exclaimed he, “what do I see?  My young Lord! what brought you here?”  And with a hasty obeisance, Bernard took Richard’s outstretched hand.

“I came hither to attend your council,” replied Richard.  “I have a boon to ask of the King of Denmark.”

“Any boon the King of Denmark has in his power will be yours,” said the dog’s master, slapping his hand on the little Duke’s shoulder, with a rude, hearty familiarity, that took him by surprise; and he looked up with a shade of offence, till, on a sudden flash of perception, he took off his cap, exclaiming, “King Harald himself!  Pardon me, Sir King!”

“Pardon, Jarl Richart!  What would you have me pardon?—your saving the life of Vige here?  No French politeness for me.  Tell me your boon, and it is yours.  Shall I take you a voyage, and harry the fat monks of Ireland?”

Richard recoiled a little from his new friend.

“Oh, ha!  I forgot.  They have made a Christian of you—more’s the pity.  You have the Northern spirit so strong.  I had forgotten it.  Come, walk by my side, and let me hear what you would ask.  Holla, you Sweyn! carry Vige up to the Castle, and look to his wounds.  Now for it, young Jarl.”

“My boon is, that you would set free Prince Lothaire.”

“What?—the young Frank?  Why they kept you captive, burnt your face, and would have made an end of you but for your clever Bonder.”

“That is long past, and Lothaire is so wretched.  His brother is dead, and he is sick with grief, and he says he shall die, if he does not go home.”

“A good thing too for the treacherous race to die out in him!  What should you care for him? he is your foe.”

“I am a Christian,” was Richard’s answer.

“Well, I promised you whatever you might ask.  All my share of his ransom, or his person, bond or free, is yours.  You have only to prevail with your own Jarls and Bonders.”

Richard feared this would be more difficult; but Abbot Martin came to the meeting, and took his part.  Moreover, the idea of their hostage dying in their hands, so as to leave them without hold upon the King, had much weight with them; and, after long deliberation, they consented that Lothaire should be restored to his father, without ransom but only on condition that Louis should guarantee to the Duke the peaceable possession of the country, as far as St. Clair sur Epte, which had been long in dispute; so that Alberic became, indisputably, a vassal of Normandy.

Perhaps it was the happiest day in Richard’s life when he rode back to Bayeux, to desire Lothaire to prepare to come with him to St. Clair, there to be given back into the hands of his father.

And then they met King Louis, grave and sorrowful for the loss of his little Carloman, and, for the time, repenting of his misdeeds towards the orphan heir of Normandy.

He pressed the Duke in his arms, and his kiss was a genuine one as he said, “Duke Richard, we have not deserved this of you.  I did not treat you as you have treated my children.  We will be true lord and vassal from henceforth.”

Lothaire’s last words were, “Farewell, Richard.  If I lived with you, I might be good like you.  I will never forget what you have done for me.”

When Richard once more entered Rouen in state, his subjects shouting round him in transports of joy, better than all his honour and glory was the being able to enter the Church of our Lady, and kneel by his father’s grave, with a clear conscience, and the sense that he had tried to keep that last injunction.

CONCLUSION

Years had passed away.  The oaths of Louis, and promises of Lothaire, had been broken; and Arnulf of Flanders, the murderer of Duke William, had incited them to repeated and treacherous inroads on Normandy; so that Richard’s life, from fourteen to five or six-and-twenty, had been one long war in defence of his country.  But it had been a glorious war for him, and his gallant deeds had well earned for him the title of “Richard the Fearless”—a name well deserved; for there was but one thing he feared, and that was, to do wrong.

By and by, success and peace came; and then Arnulf of Flanders, finding open force would not destroy him, three times made attempts to assassinate him, like his father, by treachery.  But all these had failed; and now Richard had enjoyed many years of peace and honour, whilst his enemies had vanished from his sight.

King Louis was killed by a fall from his horse; Lothaire died in early youth, and in him ended the degenerate line of Charlemagne; Hugh Capet, the son of Richard’s old friend, Hugh the White, was on the throne of France, his sure ally and brother-in-law, looking to him for advice and aid in all his undertakings.

Fru Astrida and Sir Eric had long been in their quiet graves; Osmond and Alberic were among Richard’s most trusty councillors and warriors; Abbot Martin, in extreme old age, still ruled the Abbey of Jumièges, where Richard, like his father, loved to visit him, hold converse with him, and refresh himself in the peaceful cloister, after the affairs of state and war.

And Richard himself was a grey-headed man, of lofty stature and majestic bearing.  His eldest son was older than he had been himself when he became the little Duke, and he had even begun to remember his father’s project, of an old age to be spent in retirement and peace.

It was on a summer eve, that Duke Richard sat beside the white-bearded old Abbot, within the porch, looking at the sun shining with soft declining beams on the arches and columns.  They spoke together of that burial at Rouen, and of the silver key; the Abbot delighting to tell, over and over again, all the good deeds and good sayings of William Longsword.

As they sat, a man, also very old and shrivelled and bent, came up to the cloister gate, with the tottering, feeble step of one pursued beyond his strength, coming to take sanctuary.

“What can be the crime of one so aged and feeble?” said the Duke, in surprise.

At the sight of him, a look of terror shot from the old man’s eye.  He clasped his hands together, and turned as if to flee; then, finding himself incapable of escape, he threw himself on the ground before him.

“Mercy, mercy! noble, most noble Duke!” was all he said.

“Rise up—kneel not to me.  I cannot brook this from one who might be my father,” said Richard, trying to raise him; but at those words the old man groaned and crouched lower still.

“Who art thou?” said the Duke.  “In this holy place thou art secure, be thy deed what it may.  Speak!—who art thou?”

“Dost thou not know me?” said the suppliant.  “Promise mercy, ere thou dost hear my name.”

“I have seen that face under a helmet,” said the Duke.  “Thou art Arnulf of Flanders!”

There was a deep silence.

“And wherefore art thou here?”

“I delayed to own the French King Hugh.  He has taken my towns and ravaged my lands.  Each Frenchman and each Norman vows to slay me, in revenge for your wrongs, Lord Duke.  I have been driven hither and thither, in fear of my life, till I thought of the renown of Duke Richard, not merely the most fearless, but the most merciful of Princes.  I sought to come hither, trusting that, when the holy Father Abbot beheld my bitter repentance, he would intercede for me with you, most noble Prince, for my safety and forgiveness.  Oh, gallant Duke, forgive and spare!”

“Rise up, Arnulf,” said Richard.  “Where the hand of the Lord hath stricken, it is not for man to exact his own reckoning.  My father’s death has been long forgiven, and what you may have planned against myself has, by the blessing of Heaven, been brought to nought.  From Normans at least you are safe; and it shall be my work to ensure your pardon from my brother the King.  Come into the refectory: you need refreshment.  The Lord Abbot makes you welcome.” ¹⁷

Tears of gratitude and true repentance choked Arnulf’s speech, and he allowed himself to be raised from the ground, and was forced to accept the support of the Duke’s arm.

The venerable Abbot slowly rose, and held up his hand in an attitude of blessing: “The blessing of a merciful God be upon the sinner who turneth from his evil way; and ten thousand blessings of pardon and peace are already on the head of him who hath stretched out his hand to forgive and aid him who was once his most grievous foe!”