The Shadow of the Czar Part 23

"Then will come the day of Poland's uprising," said the princess with a heightened color. "My lords, you may withdraw."

The premier of Czernova and the Warden of the Charter rose, bowed, and retired, wending their way in leisurely fashion to the entrance of the palace.

"Marshal," said Radzivil, with a troubled look, "the princess seems to take great interest in this Woodville?"

"So much the more angry will she be with the man who slays him,"

returned the other, coolly.

"Which is your reason for wishing this duel to take place?" said Radzivil angrily. "You seek to destroy my favorite scheme of uniting the princess and the duke?"

"Precisely; that is my object. Her Highness will certainly be offended at seeing her future consort presuming to set himself above the law.

It may cause her affections to become alienated. The duke has walked nicely into my net, as I foresaw he would."

"What net?"

"The Anti-duelling Act," replied Zabern with a cynical smile. "Why was I so earnest in getting the Diet to pa.s.s that measure?"

"To please the princess."

"Partly that, but much more because I saw in the measure an opportunity of entangling the duke. Aware of his arrogant disposition, I knew that he, deeming himself above the law, would soon be engaging in another duel. And my plan has succeeded," continued the marshall with a triumphant chuckle. "This day the duke is pledged to a duel with sabres. They fight _a la mort_,--that's the best of it. It's possible they may kill each other; if not, the alternatives are that the Englishman will slay the duke--and may the saints confer that boon upon Czernova!--or--"

"Or, which is far more likely, the duke will slay the Englishman."

"Regrettable that, since the Englishman is a fine fellow, who deserves a better fate. In that case the duke, in accordance with the new enactment, will have to stand his trial for murder."

Radzivil stood aghast. Strange that he had not carried the matter in thought so far as this!

"And if the princess adheres to the spirit and the letter of the law,"

continued Zabern with imperturbable coolness; "and, as you know, she is an enthusiast for law, she will have to sign the warrant for the execution of her intended consort."

"Good G.o.d!" gasped the premier.

"Works out beautifully, doesn't it? I intended it should."

"Oh, this shall not be! The princess must intervene to stop this duel.

I will return at once and inform her."

"Hold!" said Zabern, sternly. "Let the duke abide by his folly and lose his bride. If Polish ascendancy is to be maintained in Czernova the duke must go. Fool!" he continued with a savage flash of his eyes, and forcibly detaining the premier by the sleeve. "How long, think you, shall we retain office if Bora once sits upon the throne of the Lilieskis?"

They had now reached the grand entrance of the palace. A trooper moved forward to meet them and stood at the salute, apparently wishful to deliver a message.

"What is it, Nikita?"

"Sire, the spy Russakoff has escaped from the Citadel."

"d.a.m.nation! the guards shall swing for this."

CHAPTER IV

THE PRINCESS AND THE CARDINAL

After the departure of her two ministers the Princess Barbara, rising from her seat, pa.s.sed through an open cas.e.m.e.nt into the sunlit gardens without; the sentinels on the terrace presenting arms as she went by.

A broad and n.o.ble avenue of linden trees faced her, and here silent and without attendants the fair princess walked, darkly meditating on the treachery latent within her cabinet.

A shadow fell across her path, and, raising her eyes, she saw before her a stately and dignified figure robed in splendid scarlet and dainty lace.

It was Pasqual Ravenna, Cardinal Archbishop of Czernova, an ecclesiastic who vainly sought to hide his Italian origin by Polanizing his name into Ravenski.

He was a man who had pa.s.sed his fortieth year, but he looked far more youthful; and his clean-shaven, handsome face was as clearly sculptured as a head on an antique medallion.

He was a member of the princess's ministry, a permanent member, in fact, for, by virtue of an antiquated statute both the Roman archbishop and the Greek archpastor were ent.i.tled to hold office in the cabinet--an arrangement that did not tend to its harmony. A favor to one was an affront to the other; and the mild and amiable Radzivil was perpetually employed in smoothing the differences between them.

Barbara's avowal to the cabinet of her real faith had been a great triumph for Ravenna over his Greek rival Mosco, and he looked forward to additional triumphs. His desire of bringing all Czernova within the papal fold was known to all men; not so well known, however, was his taste for amorous intrigue, though a physiognomist on studying his countenance would have said that Ravenna, like Caesar, never permitted pleasure to interfere with ambition.

Doffing his red beretta the cardinal bent his knee and raised the princess's hand to his lips. It was clear at a glance that Ravenna was not a _persona grata_ with Barbara, for though she did not withdraw her hand her face a.s.sumed a cold expression.

With an air of authority he took his place on the left side of the princess, and began to pace to and fro with her beneath the shade of the linden trees.

"Princess, I have returned, as you see, from the Vatican, the bearer of a missive from his Holiness, Pope Pius."

He presented a ma.s.sive envelope, its seal stamped with the papal keys.

But Barbara waved it aside. She had received many such epistles of late, and the novelty was wearing off.

"You know its contents, I presume. Read it for me. What says his Holiness?"

Ravenna broke the seal and unfolded the letter which was a somewhat lengthy one, and written in the choicest Latinity.

"The Holy Father greets you as his dear daughter _in Christo_, and, as you are now firmly established upon the throne"--Barbara could not repress a smile in view of the recent menace of the Czar--"he deems that the time is ripe for the public avowal of your faith."

"At last the Pope and I are at one. This night shall Radzivil make known my faith to the Diet. I ever loathed this garb of secrecy and hypocrisy."

"Its a.s.sumption was necessary. The saints themselves must bow in the house of Rimmon at times."

"Would that I could drop the other deception and reign in my own name!" murmured Barbara to herself.

"His Holiness," proceeded the cardinal, glancing at the papal missive, "antic.i.p.ates the happy day when Czernova shall be purified from the malaria of heresy that now taints it."

"And in what way does he suggest that the purificatory process shall begin?" said the princess with a slight frown.

"His Holiness hath ventured in this epistle to briefly indicate the lines of the ecclesiastical policy to be observed within the princ.i.p.ality. We must begin by penalizing the schismatic Greeks. The Diet must pa.s.s a law to exclude them from holding civil offices."

"And create a rebellion!" murmured Barbara. "These priests! will they never learn wisdom?" And aloud she asked, "And would your Eminence have me exclude the Duke of Bora, my future consort, both from the cabinet and the Diet?"