The Casque's Lark Part 27

As the words were uttered the crowd swayed back from the entrance of my house to make room for my foster-sister. Such was the respect that the august woman inspired in the army, that silence speedily succeeded the tumultuous clamors of the soldiers. They realized the terrible position of that mother, who, attracted by the cries for justice and vengeance uttered against her own son, accused of an infamous crime, approached the scene in all the majesty of her maternal grief.

As to me, my heart felt like breaking. Victoria, my foster-sister, the woman in whose behalf my life had been but one continuous day of devotion--Victoria was about to find in my house the corpse of her son, slain by me--by me who knew him since his birth, and who loved him like my own! The thought of fleeing flashed through my mind--I lacked the physical strength. I remained where I was, supporting myself against the wall--distracted--vaguely looking before me, unable to stir.

The crowd of soldiers parted; they formed a long pa.s.sage; and by the light of the moon and the torches I saw Victoria, clad in her long black robe and her little grandson in her arms, advancing slowly. She doubtlessly hoped to soothe the exasperation of the soldiers by presenting the innocent creature to their sight. Tetrik, Captain Marion and several other officers, who had notified Victoria of the tumult and its cause, followed behind her. They seemed to succeed in calming the seething fury of the troops. The silence grew solemn. The Mother of the Camps was only a few steps from my house when Douarnek approached her, and bending his knee said:

"Mother, your son has committed a great crime--we pity you from the bottom of our hearts. But you will see to it that justice is rendered us--we demand justice--"

"Yes, yes, justice!" cried the soldiers, whose irritation, after being checked for a moment, now broke out with renewed violence. The cry broke forth from all parts: "Justice! Or we will do justice ourselves!"

"Death to the infamous wretch!"

"Death to the man who dishonored his friend's wife!"

"Cursed be the name of Victorin!"

"Yes, cursed--cursed!" repeated a thousand threatening voices. "Cursed be his name forever!"

Pale, calm and imposing, Victoria stopped for a moment before Douarnek, who bent his knee as he addressed her. But when the cries of: "Death to Victorin!" "Cursed be his name!" exploded anew, my foster-sister, whose virile and beautiful countenance betrayed mortal anguish, stretched out her arms with the little child in them, as if the innocent creature implored mercy for its father.

It was then that the cries broke forth with fiercest violence:

"Death to Victorin! Cursed be his name!"

And immediately I perceived my recent traveling companion, recognizable by his cloak and hood, in which he still kept himself closely wrapped, push himself with a menacing air toward Victoria, and shaking his fist at her, cry:

"Yes, cursed be the name of Victorin! Let his stock be uprooted!"

Saying this the man violently tore the child from Victoria's arms, took it by the two feet, and dashed it with such fury upon the cobble-stones that its head was instantly shattered. The deed of ferocity was done with such brutality and swiftness that, although it aroused instant indignation, neither Douarnek nor any of the soldiers who precipitated themselves upon the hooded man to save the child were in time. The innocent child lay dead and bleeding upon the ground. I heard a heartrending cry escape Victoria, but immediately lost sight of her; fearing that some sort of danger threatened her life, the soldiers speedily surrounded and built with their b.r.e.a.s.t.s a wall around their mother. The rumor also reached my ears that, thanks to the tumult which ensued, the perpetrator of the horrible murder had succeeded in making his escape. Presently the ranks of the soldiers opened anew amid mournful silence, and again I perceived Victoria, her face bathed in tears, holding in her arms the now lifeless and bleeding body of Victorin's son. At the sight, I cried out from the threshold of my house to the crowd that was now dumb and in consternation:

"You demand justice? Justice has been done. I, Schanvoch, I have killed Victorin myself. He is innocent of my wife's death. Now, withdraw. Allow the Mother of the Camps to enter my house that she may weep over the bodies of her son and grandson."

Victoria thereupon said to me in a firm voice as she stood at the threshold of my house:

"You killed my son; you were right to avenge the outrage done to you."

"Yes," I answered her in a hollow voice, "yes, and in the dark I also killed my wife."

"Come, Schanvoch, join me in closing the eyelids of Ellen and Victorin."

CHAPTER III.

THE MORTUARY CHAMBER.

Victoria entered the house amidst the religious silence of the soldiers who stood grouped without. Captain Marion and Tetrik followed her in.

She motioned to them to remain outside of the death room, where she wished to be left alone with me and Sampso.

At the sight of my wife, lying dead upon the floor, I fell upon my knees sobbing beside her. I raised her beautiful head, now pale and cold; closed her eyes; and taking the beloved body in my arms I laid it on my bed. Again I knelt down, and with my head resting upon the pillow on which hers reclined, I could no longer restrain my grief. I sobbed and moaned. I remained there long weeping and disconsolate; I could hear the suppressed sobs of Victoria.

Finally her voice recalled me to myself; I thought of what she must be suffering; I looked around. She was seated on the floor near the corpse of Victorin, whose head rested on her maternal knees.

"Schanvoch," said my foster-sister as she gently brushed back with her hands the hair that fell over Victorin's forehead, "my son is no more; I may weep over him, despite his crime. Here he lies dead--dead--dead and not yet twenty-three years old!"

"Dead--and killed by me--who loved him as my son!"

"Brother, you avenged your honor--you have my pardon and pity--"

"Alas! I struck Victorin in the dark--I struck him in a fit of blind rage--I struck him without knowing that it was he! Hesus is my witness!

Had I recognized your son, Oh, sister! I would have cursed him, but my sword would have dropped at my feet--"

Victoria gazed at me in silence. My words seemed to lift a heavy weight from her heart. She looked relieved at learning that I had killed her son without knowing him. She reached out her hand to me feelingly, and I carried it respectfully to my lips. For several minutes we remained silent. She then said to Ellen's sister:

"Sampso, were you here this fatal night? Speak, I pray you. What happened?"

"It was midnight," Sampso answered in a voice broken with sobs.

"Schanvoch had left the house two hours before on his journey. I was lying here beside my sister--I heard a rap at the house door--I threw a cloak over my shoulders and went to the door to ask who it was. A woman's voice with a foreign accent answered--"

"A woman's voice?" I asked in a tone of surprise shared by Victoria.

"Are you sure it was a woman's voice that answered you, Sampso?"

"Yes; that was the snare. The voice said to me: 'I come from Victoria with a very important message for Ellen, the wife of Schanvoch, who left on a journey two hours ago.'"

At these words of Sampso's, Victoria and I exchanged looks of increasing astonishment. Sampso proceeded:

"As I could in no way suspect a messenger from Victoria, I opened the door. Immediately, instead of a woman, a man rushed at me; he violently pushed me back--and immediately bolted the street door. By the light of the lamp, which I had placed on the floor, I recognized Victorin. He was pale--frightful to behold--he seemed to be intoxicated, and could hardly stand on his feet--"

"Oh! The unhappy boy! The unhappy boy!" I cried. "He was not in his senses! Only so! Oh, only so! He never could otherwise have attempted such a crime!"

"Proceed, Sampso," said Victoria with a profound sigh; "proceed with your account--"

"Without saying a word to me, Victorin pointed to the door of my own room, the room I always occupied when I did not share my sister's room during the absence of Schanvoch. In my terror I guessed all. I cried to Ellen: 'Sister, lock your door!' and I began to call for help as loud as I could. My cries exasperated Victorin. He seized and threw me into my room. Just as he was about to lock me in I saw Ellen hurrying out of her room. She looked pale and frightened; she was almost naked. I afterwards heard the distressing cries of my sister calling for help--I heard them struggle--I fainted away. I know not how long I remained in that state.

I regained consciousness when someone knocked at my door and called me by name. It was Schanvoch. I answered him. He must have opened it for me--I saw him--"

"And you," Victoria said, turning to me. "How was it that you returned so suddenly?"

"At about four leagues from Mayence, I was notified that a crime was being committed in my house."

"And who could have notified you?"

"A soldier; my escort."

"And who was that soldier?" asked Victoria with heightening intensity.

"How did he know of the crime?"

"I know not--he vanished across the forest the instant that he gave me the sinister information. That soldier got back to town before me--he was the same man who tore your grandchild from your arms and killed it at your feet--"