Temporal Power: A Study in Supremacy Part 44

"Precisely! As I married you!" he replied.

"The experiment was hardly successful!" she said with her little cold smile. "I fear you have often regretted it!"

He looked at her, studying her beauty intently,--and the remembrance of another face, far less fair of feature, but warm and impa.s.sioned by the lovely light of sympathy and tenderness, came between his eyes and hers, like a heavenly vision.

"Had you loved me," he said slowly, "I might never have known what it was to need love!"

A slight tremor ran through her veins. There was a strange tone in his voice,--a soft cadence to which she was unaccustomed,--something that suggested a new emotion in his life, and a deeper experience.

"I never loved anyone in my life!" she answered calmly--"And now the days are past for loving. Humphry, however, has made up for my lack of the tender pa.s.sion!"

She turned away indifferently, and appeared to dismiss the matter altogether from her mind. The first time she saw her son, however, after hearing of his marriage, she looked at him curiously.

"And so your wife is very lovely, Humphry!" she said with a slightly derisive smile.

He was not startled by the suddenness of her observation nor put out by it.

"She is the loveliest woman I have ever seen,--not excepting yourself,"

he replied.

"It is a very foolish affair!" she continued composedly; "But fortunately in our line of life such things are easily arranged;--and your future will not be spoiled by it. I am glad you are going abroad, as you will very soon forget!"

The Prince regarded her steadfastly with something of grave wonderment as well as compa.s.sion,--but he made no reply, and with the briefest excuse left her presence as soon as possible, in order to avoid further conversation on the subject. She, herself, however, found her mind curiously perturbed and full of conjectures concerning her son's idyllic love-story, in which all considerations for her as Queen and mother seemed omitted,--and where she, as it were, appeared to be shut outside a lover's paradise, the delights of which she had never experienced.

The King held many private conferences with her on the matter, in which sometimes Professor von Glauben was permitted to share;--and the upshot of these numerous discussions resulted in a scheme which was as astonishing in its climax as it was unexpected. Over and over again it has been proved to nations as well as to individuals, that the whole course of events may be changed by the fixed determination of one resolute mind; but it is not often that the moral force of a mere girl succeeds in competing with the authority of kings and parliaments. But so it chanced on this occasion, and in the following manner.

One glorious early morning, the sun having risen without a cloud in the deep blue of the sky, and the sea being as calm as an inland lake, the King's yacht was seen to weigh anchor and steam away at her fullest speed towards The Islands. Little or no preparation had been made for her short voyage; there was no Royal party on board, and the only pa.s.senger was Professor von Glauben. He sat solitary on deck in a luxurious chair, smoking his meerschaum pipe, and dubiously considering the difficult and peculiar situation in which he was placed. He made no attempt to calculate the possible success or failure of his mission--'for,' said he very sagely, 'it all depends on a woman, and G.o.d alone knows what a woman will do! Her ways are dark and wonderful, and altogether beyond the limit of the comprehension of man!'

His journey was undertaken at the King's command; and equally by the King's command he had been compelled to keep it a secret from Prince Humphry. He had never been to The Islands since the King's 'surprise visit' there, and he was of course not aware that Gloria now knew the real rank and position of her supposed 'sailor' husband. He was at present charged to break the news to her, and bring her straightway to the palace, there to confront both the King and Queen, and learn from them the true state of affairs.

"It is a cruel ordeal," he said, shaking his head sorrowfully; "Yet I myself am a party to its being tried. For once in my life I have pinned my faith on the unspoilt soul of an unworldly woman. I wonder what will come of it? It rests entirely with Gloria herself, and with no one else in the world!"

As the yacht arrived at its destination and dropped anchor at some distance from the pier, owing to the shallowness of the tide at that hour of the day, The Islands presented a fair aspect in the dancing beams of the summer sunlight. Numbers of fruit trees were bursting into blossom,--the apple, the cherry, the pink almond and the orange blossom all waved together and whispered sweetness to one another in the pure air, and the full-flowering mimosa perfumed every breath of wind.

Fishermen were grouped here and there on the sh.o.r.e, mending or drying their nets; and in the fields beyond could be perceived many workers pruning the hedges or guiding the plough. The vision of a perfect Arcadia was presented to the eye; and so the Professor thought, as getting into the boat lowered for him, he was rowed from the yacht to the landing-place, and there dismissed the sailors, warning them that at the first sound of his whistle they should swiftly come for him again.

"What a pity to spoil her peace of mind--her simplicity of life!" he thought, as he walked at a slow and reluctant pace towards Ronsard's cottage; "And I fear we shall have trouble with the old man! I wonder if his philosophy will stand hard wear and tear!"

The pretty, low timber-raftered house confronted him at the next bend in the road, and presented a charming aspect of tranquillity. The gra.s.s in front of it was smooth as velvet and emerald-green, and in one of the flower borders Ronsard himself was digging and planting. He looked up as he heard the gate open, but did not attempt to interrupt his work;--and Von Glauben advanced towards him with a considerable sense of anxiety and insecurity in his mind. Anon he paused in the very act of greeting, as the old man turned his strong, deeply-furrowed countenance upon him with a look of fierce indignation and scorn.

"So! You are here!" he said; "Have you come to look upon the evil your Royal master has worked? Or to make dutiful obeisance to Gloria as Crown-Princess?"

Von Glauben was altogether taken aback.

"Then--you know--?" he stammered.

"Oh yes, I know!" responded Ronsard sternly and bitterly; "I know everything! There has been full confession! If the husband of my Gloria were more prince than man, my knife would have slit his throat! But he is more man than prince!--and I have let him live--for her sake!"

"Well--that is so far good!" said Von Glauben, wiping the perspiration from his brow, and heaving a deep sigh of relief; "And as you fully comprehend the situation, it saves me the trouble of explaining it! You are a philosopher, Ronsard! Permit me to remind you of that fact! You know, like myself, that what is done, even if it is done foolishly, cannot be undone!"

"I know it! Who should know it so well as I!" and Ronsard set a delicate rose-tree roughly in the hole he had dug for it, and began to fiercely pile in the earth around it;--"Fate is fate, and there is no gainsaying it! The law of Compensation will always have its way! Look you, man!--and listen! I, Rene Ronsard, once killed a king!--and now in my old age, the only creature I ever loved is tricked by the son of a king!

It is just! So be it!"

He bent his white head over his digging again, and Von Glauben was for a moment silent, vaguely amazed and stupefied by this sudden declaration of a past crime.

"You should not say 'tricked,' my friend!" he at last ventured to remark; "Prince Humphry is an honest lad;--he means to keep his word!"

Ronsard looked up, his eyes gleaming with fury.

"Keep his word? Bah! How can he? Who in this wide realm will give him the honourable liberty to keep his word? Will he acknowledge Gloria as his wife before the nation?--she a foundling and a castaway? Will he make her his future queen? Not he! He will forsake her, and live with another woman, in sin which the law will sanctify!"

He went on planting the rose-tree, then,--dropping his spade,--tossed up his head and hands with a wild gesture.

"What, and who is this G.o.d who so ordains our destiny!" he exclaimed; "For surely this is His work,--not mine! Hidden away from all the world with my life's secret buried in my soul, I, without wife, or children or friends, or any soul on earth to care whether I lived or died, was sent an angel comforter;--the child I rescued from the sea! 'Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo!' the choristers sang in the church when I found her! I thought it true! With her,--in every action, in every thought and word, I strove,--and have faithfully striven,--to atone for my past crime;--for I was forced through others to kill that king! When proved guilty of the deed, I was told by my a.s.sociates to a.s.sume madness,--a mere matter of acting,--and, being adjudged as insane, I was sent with other criminals on a convict ship, bound for a certain coast-prison, where we were all to be kept for life. The ship was wrecked off the rocks yonder, and it was reported that every soul on board went down, but I escaped--only I,--for what inscrutable reason G.o.d alone knows!

Finding myself saved and free, I devoted my life to hard work, and to doing all the good I could think of to atone--to atone--always to atone!

Then the child was sent to me; and I thought it was a sign that my penance was accepted; but no!--no!--the compensating curse falls,--not on me,--not on me, for if only so, I would welcome it--but on Her!--the child of my love--the heart of my heart!--on Her!"

He turned away his face, and a hard sob broke from his labouring chest.

Von Glauben laid a gentle, protective hand on his shoulder.

"Ronsard, be a man!" he said in a kind, firm voice; "This is the first time you have told me your true history--and--I shall respect your confidence! You have suffered much--equally you have loved much! Doubt not that you are forgiven much. But why should you a.s.sume, or foresee unhappiness for Gloria? Why talk of a curse where perhaps there is only an intended blessing? Is she unhappy, that you are thus moved?"

Ronsard furtively dashed away the tears from his eyes.

"She? Gloria unhappy? No,--not yet! The delights of spring and summer have met in her smile,--her eyes, her movements! It was she herself who told me all! If he had told me, I would have killed him!"

"Eminently sensible!" said Von Glauben, recovering his usual phlegmatic calm; "You would have killed the man she loves best in the world. And so with perfect certainty you would have killed her as well,--and probably yourself afterwards. A perfect slaughterhouse, like the last scene in Hamlet, by the so admirable Shakespeare! It is better as it is. Life is really very pleasant!"

He sniffed the perfumed air,--listened with appreciation to the trilling of a bird swinging on a bough of apple-blossom above him, and began to feel quite easy in his mind. Half his mission was done for him, Prince Humphry having declared himself in his true colours. "I always said,"

mused the Professor, "that he was a very honest young man! And I think he will be honest to the end." Aloud he asked:

"When did you know the truth?"

"Some days since," replied Ronsard. "He--Gloria's husband--I can as yet call him by no other name--came suddenly one evening;--the two went out together as usual, and then--then my child returned alone. She told me all,--of the disguise he had a.s.sumed--and of his real ident.i.ty--and I--well! I think I was mad! I know I spoke and acted like a madman!"

"Nay, rather say like a philosopher!" murmured Von Glauben with a humorous smile; "Remember, my good fellow, that there is no human being who loses self-control more easily and rapidly than he who proclaims the advantage of keeping it! And what did Gloria say to you?"

Ronsard looked up at the tranquil skies, and was for a moment silent.

Then he answered.

"Gloria is--just Gloria! There is no woman like her,--there never will be any woman like her! She said nothing at all while I raged and swore;--she stood before me white and silent,--grand and calm, like some great angel. Then when I cursed _him,_--she raised her hand, and like a queen she said: 'I forbid you to utter one word against him!' I stood before her mute and foolish. 'I forbid you!' She,--the child I reared and nurtured--menaced me with her 'command' as though I were her slave and servant! You see I have lost her!--she is not mine any more--she is _his_--to be treated as he wills, and made the toy of his pleasure! She does not know the world, but I know it! I know the misery that is in store for her! But there is yet time--and I will live to avenge her wrong!"

"Possibly there will be no wrong to avenge," said Von Glauben composedly; "But if there is, I have no doubt you would kill another king!" Ronsard turned pale and shuddered. "It is stupid work, killing kings," went on the Professor; "It never does any good; and often increases the evil it was intended to cure. Your studies in philosophy must have taught you that much at least! As for your losing Gloria,--you lost her in a sense when you gave her to her husband. It is no use complaining now, because you find he is not the man you took him for.

The mischief is done. At any rate you are bound to admit that Gloria has, so far, been perfectly happy; she will be happy still, I truly believe, for she has the secret of happiness in her own beautiful nature. And you, Ronsard, must make the best of things, and meet fate with calmness. To-day, for instance, I am here by the King's command,--I bear his orders,--and I have come for Gloria. They want her at the Palace."

Ronsard stepped out of his flower-border, and stood on the greensward amazed, and indignantly suspicious.

"They want her at the Palace!" he repeated; "Why? What for? To do her harm? To make her miserable? To insult and threaten her? No, she shall not go!"

"Look here, my friend," said the Professor with mild patience; "You have--for a philosopher--a most unpleasant habit of jumping to wrong conclusions! Please endeavour to compose the tumult in your soul, and listen to me! The King has sent for Gloria, and I am instructed to take charge of her, and escort her to the presence of their Majesties. No insult, no threat, no wrong is intended. I will bring her back again safe to you immediately the audience is concluded. Be satisfied, Ronsard! For once 'put your trust in princes,' for her husband will be there,--and do you think he would suffer her to be insulted or wronged?"