Waverley Novels — Volume 12

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.

  Will you hear of a Spanish lady, How she wooed an Englishman? Garments gay, as rich as may be, Deck'd with jewels she had on. Of a comely countenance and grace was she, And by birth and parentage of high degree. OLD BALLAD.

  We left Alexius Comnenus after he had unloaded his conscience in theears of the Patriarch, and received from him a faithful assurance ofthe pardon and patronage of the national Church. He took leave of thedignitary with some exulting exclamations, so unexplicitly expressed,however, that it was by no means easy to conceive the meaning of whathe said. His first enquiry, when he reached the Blacquernal, being forhis daughter, he was directed to the room encrusted with beautifullycarved marble, from which she herself, and many of her race, derivedthe proud appellation of _Porphyrogenita_, or born in the purple. Hercountenance was clouded with anxiety, which, at the sight of herfather, broke out into open and uncontrollable grief.

  "Daughter," said the Emperor, with a harshness little common to hismanner, and a seriousness which he sternly maintained, instead ofsympathizing with his daughter's affliction, "as you would prevent thesilly fool with whom you are connected, from displaying himself to thepublic both as an ungrateful monster and a traitor, you will not failto exhort him, by due submission, to make his petition for pardon,accompanied with a full confession of his crimes, or, by my sceptre andmy crown, he shall die the death! Nor will I pardon any who rushes uponhis doom in an open tone of defiance, under such a standard ofrebellion as my ungrateful son-in-law has hoisted.

  "What can you require of me, father?" said the Princess. "Can youexpect that I am to dip my own hands in the blood of this unfortunateman; or wilt thou seek a revenge yet more bloody than that which wasexacted by the deities of antiquity, upon those criminals who offendedagainst their divine power?"

  "Think not so, my daughter!" said the Emperor; "but rather believe thatthou hast the last opportunity afforded by my filial affection, ofrescuing, perhaps from death, that silly fool thy husband, who has sorichly deserved it."

  "My father," said the Princess, "God knows it is not at your risk thatI would wish to purchase the life of Nicephorus; but he has been thefather of my children, though they are now no more, and women cannotforget that such a tie has existed, even though it has been broken byfate. Permit me only to hope that the unfortunate culprit shall have anopportunity of retrieving his errors; nor shall it, believe me, be myfault, if he resumes those practices, treasonable at once, andunnatural, by which his life is at present endangered."

  "Follow me, then, daughter," said the Emperor, "and know, that to theealone I am about to intrust a secret, upon which the safety of my lifeand crown, as well as the pardon of my son-in-law's life, will be foundeventually to depend."

  He then assumed in haste the garment of a slave of the Seraglio, andcommanded his daughter to arrange her dress in a more succinct form,and to take in her hand a lighted lamp.

  "Whither are we going, my father?" said Anna Comnena.

  "It matters not," replied her father, "since my destiny calls me, andsince thine ordains thee to be my torch-bearer. Believe it, and recordit, if thou darest, in thy book, that Alexius Comnenus does not,without alarm, descend into those awful dungeons--which hispredecessors built for men, even when his intentions are innocent, andfree from harm.--Be silent, and should we meet any inhabitant of thoseinferior regions, speak not a word nor make any observation upon hisappearance."

  Passing through the intricate apartments of the palace, they now cameto that large hall through which Hereward had passed on the first nightof his introduction to the place of Anna's recitation called the Templeof the Muses. It was constructed, as we have said, of black marble,dimly illuminated. At the upper end of the apartment was a small altar,on which was laid some incense, while over the smoke was suspended, asif projecting from the wall, two imitations of human hands and arms,which were but imperfectly seen.

  At the bottom of this hall, a small iron door led to a narrow andwinding staircase, resembling a draw-well in shape and size, the stepsof which were excessively steep, and which the Emperor, after a solemngesture to his daughter commanding her attendance, began to descendwith the imperfect light, and by the narrow and difficult steps bywhich those who visited the under regions of the Blacquernal seemed tobid adieu to the light of day. Door after door they passed in theirdescent, leading, it was probable, to different ranges of dungeons,from which was obscurely heard the stifled voice of groans and sighs,such as attracted Hereward's attention on a former occasion. TheEmperor took no notice of these signs of human misery, and threestories or ranges of dungeons had been already passed, ere the fatherand daughter arrived at the lowest story of the building, the base ofwhich was the solid rock, roughly carved, upon which were erected theside-walls and arches of solid but unpolished marble.

  "Here," said Alexius Comnenus, "all hope, all expectation takesfarewell, at the turn of a hinge or the grating of a lock. Yet shallnot this be always the case--the dead shall revive and resume theirright, and the disinherited of these regions shall again prefer theirclaim to inhabit the upper world. If I cannot entreat Heaven to myassistance, be assured, my daughter, that rather than be the pooranimal which I have stooped to be thought, and even to be painted inthy history, I would sooner brave every danger of the multitude whichnow erect themselves betwixt me and safety. Nothing is resolved savethat I will live and die an Emperor; and thou, Anna, be assured, thatif there is power in the beauty or in the talents, of which so much hasbeen boasted, that power shall be this evening exercised to theadvantage of thy parent, from whom it is derived."

  "What is it that you mean, Imperial father?--Holy Virgin! is this thepromise you made me to save the life of the unfortunate Nicephorus?"

  "And so I will," said the Emperor; "and I am now about that action ofbenevolence. But think not I will once more warm in my bosom thehousehold snake which had so nearly stung me to death. No, daughter, Ihave provided for thee a fitting husband, in one who is able tomaintain and defend the rights of the Emperor thy father;--and bewarehow thou opposest an obstacle to what is my pleasure! for behold thesewalls of marble, though unpolished, and recollect it is as possible todie within the marble as to be born there."

  The Princess Anna Comnena was frightened at seeing her father in astate of mind entirely different from any which she had beforewitnessed. "O, heaven! that my mother were here!" she ejaculated, inthe terror of something she hardly knew what.

  "Anna," said the Emperor, "your fears and your screams are alike invain. I am one of those, who, on ordinary occasions, hardly nourish awish of my own, and account myself obliged to those who, like my wifeand daughter, take care to save me all the trouble of free judgment.But when the vessel is among the breakers, and the master is called tothe helm, believe that no meaner hand shall be permitted to interferewith him, nor will the wife and daughter, whom he indulged inprosperity, be allowed to thwart his will while he can yet call it hisown. Thou couldst scarcely fail to understand that I was almostprepared to have given thee, as a mark of my sincerity, to yonderobscure Varangian, without asking question of either birth or blood.Thou mayst hear when I next promise thee to a three years' inhabitantof these vaults, who shall be Caesar in Briennius's stead, if I canmove him to accept a princess for his bride, and an imperial crown forhis inheritance, in place of a starving dungeon."

  "I tremble at your words, father," said Anna Comnena; "how canst thoutrust a man who has felt thy cruelty?--How canst thou dream that aughtcan ever in sincerity reconcile thee to one whom thou hast deprived ofhis eyesight?"

  "Care not for that," said Alexius; "he becomes mine, or he shall neverknow what it is to be again his own.--And thou, girl, mayst restassured that, if I will it, thou art next day the bride of my presentcaptive, or thou retirest to the most severe nunnery, never again tomix with society. Be silent, therefore, and await thy doom, as it shallcome, and hope not that thy utmost endeavours can avert the curre
nt ofthy destiny."

  As he concluded this singular dialogue, in which he had assumed a toneto which his daughter was a stranger, and before which she trembled, hepassed on through more than one strictly fastened door, while hisdaughter, with a faltering step, illuminated him on the obscure road.At length he found admittance by another passage into the cell in whichUrsel was confined, and found him reclining in hopeless misery,--allthose expectations having faded from his heart which the Count of Parishad by his indomitable gallantry for a time excited. He turned hissightless eyes towards the place where he heard the moving of bolts andthe approach of steps.

  "A new feature," he said, "in my imprisonment--a man comes with a heavyand determined step, and a woman or a child with one that scarcelypresses the floor!--is it my death that you bring?--Believe me, that Ihave lived long enough in these dungeons to bid my doom welcome."

  "It is not thy death, noble Ursel," said the Emperor, in a voicesomewhat disguised. Life, liberty, whatever the world has to give, isplaced by the Emperor Alexius at the feet of his noble enemy, and hetrusts that many years of happiness and power, together with thecommand of a large share of the empire, will soon obliterate therecollection of the dungeons of the Blacquernal."

  "It cannot be," said Ursel, with a sigh. "He upon whose eyes the sunhas set even at middle day, can have nothing left to hope from the mostadvantageous change of circumstances."

  "You are not entirely assured of that," said the Emperor; "allow us toconvince you that what is intended towards you is truly favourable andliberal, and I hope you will be rewarded by finding that there is morepossibility of amendment in your case, than your first apprehensionsare willing to receive. Make an effort, and try whether your eyes arenot sensible of the light of the lamp."

  "Do with, me," said Ursel, "according to your pleasure; I have neitherstrength to remonstrate, nor the force of mind equal to make me setyour cruelty at defiance. Of something like light I am sensible; butwhether it is reality or illusion, I cannot determine. If you are cometo deliver me from this living sepulchre, I pray God to requite you;and if, under such deceitful pretence, you mean to take my life, I canonly commend my soul to Heaven, and the vengeance due to my death toHim who can behold the darkest places in which injustice can shrouditself."

  So saying, and the revulsion of his spirits rendering him unable togive almost any other signs of existence, Ursel sunk back upon his seatof captivity, and spoke not another word during the time that Alexiusdisembarrassed him of those chains which had so long hung about him,that they almost seemed to make a part of his person.

  "This is an affair in which thy aid can scarce be sufficient, Anna,"said the Emperor; "it would have been well if you and I could haveborne him into the open air by our joint strength, for there is littlewisdom in showing the secrets of this prison-house to those to whomthey are not yet known; nevertheless, go, my child, and at a shortdistance from the head of the staircase which we descended, thou wiltfind Edward, the bold and trusty Varangian, who on your communicatingto him my orders, will come hither and render his assistance; and seethat you send also the experienced leech, Douban." Terrified,half-stifled, and half struck with horror, the lady yet felt a degreeof relief from the somewhat milder tone in which her father addressedher. With tottering steps, yet in some measure encouraged by the tenorof her instructions, she ascended the staircase which yawned upon theseinfernal dungeons. As she approached the top, a large and strong figurethrew its broad shadow between the lamp and the opening of the hall.Frightened nearly to death at the thoughts of becoming the wife of asqualid wretch like Ursel, a moment of weakness seized upon thePrincess's mind, and, when she considered the melancholy option whichher father had placed before her, she could not but think that thehandsome and gallant Varangian, who had already rescued the royalfamily from such imminent danger, was a fitter person with whom tounite herself, if she must needs make a second choice, than thesingular and disgusting being whom her father's policy had raked fromthe bottom of the Blacquernal dungeons.

  I will not say of poor Anna Comnena, who was a timid but not anunfeeling woman, that she would have embraced such a proposal, had notthe life of her present husband Nicephorus Briennius been in extremedanger; and it was obviously the determination of the Emperor, that ifhe spared him, it should be on the sole condition of unloosing hisdaughter's hand, and binding her to some one of better faith, andpossessed of a greater desire to prove an affectionate son-in-law.Neither did the plan of adopting the Varangian as a second husband,enter decidedly into the mind of the Princess. The present was a momentof danger, in which her rescue to be successful must be sudden, andperhaps, if once achieved, the lady might have had an opportunity offreeing herself both from Ursel and the Varangian, without disjoiningeither of them from her father's assistance, or of herself losing it.At any rate, the surest means of safety were to secure, if possible,the young soldier, whose features and appearance were of a kind whichrendered the task no way disagreeable to a beautiful woman. The schemesof conquest are so natural to the fair sex, and the whole idea passedso quickly through Anna Comnena's mind, that having first entered whilethe soldier's shadow was interposed between her and the lamp, it hadfully occupied her quick imagination, when, with deep reverence andgreat surprise at her sudden appearance on the ladder of Acheron, theVarangian advancing, knelt down, and lent his arm to the assistance ofthe fair lady, in order to help her out of the dreary staircase.

  "Dearest Hereward," said the lady, with a degree of intimacy whichseemed unusual, "how much do I rejoice, in this dreadful night, to havefallen under your protection! I have been in places which the spirit ofhell appears to have contrived for the human race." The alarm of thePrincess, the familiarity of a beautiful woman, who, while in mortalfear, seeks refuge, like a frightened dove, in the bosom of the strongand the brave, must be the excuse of Anna Comnena for the tenderepithet with which she greeted Hereward; nor, if he had chosen toanswer in the same tone, which, faithful as he was, might have provedthe case if the meeting had chanced before he saw Bertha, would thedaughter of Alexius have been, to say the truth, irreconcilablyoffended. Exhausted as she was, she suffered herself to repose upon,the broad breast and shoulder of the Anglo-Saxon; nor did she make anattempt to recover herself, although the decorum of her sex and stationseemed to recommend such an exertion. Hereward was obliged himself toask her, with the unimpassioned and reverential demeanour of a privatesoldier to a princess, whether he ought to summon her femaleattendants? to which she faintly uttered a negative. "No, no," saidshe, "I have a duty to execute for my father, and I must not summoneye-witnesses;--he knows me to be in safety, Hereward, since he knows Iam with thee; and if I am a burden to you in my present state ofweakness, I shall soon recover, if you will set me down upon the marblesteps."

  "Heaven forbid, lady," said Hereward, "that I were thus neglectful ofyour Highness's gracious health! I see your two young ladies, Astarteand Violante, are in quest of you--Permit me to summon them hither, andI will keep watch upon you, if you are unable to retire to yourchamber, where, methinks, the present disorder of your nerves will bemost properly treated."

  "Do as thou wilt, barbarian," said the Princess, rallying herself, witha certain degree of pique, arising perhaps from her not thinking more_dramatis personae_ were appropriate to the scene, than the two whowere already upon the stage. Then, as if for the first time, appearingto recollect the message with which she had been commissioned, sheexhorted the Varangian to repair instantly to her father.

  On such occasions, the slightest circumstances have their effect on theactors. The Anglo-Saxon was sensible that the Princess was somewhatoffended, though whether she was so, on account of her being actuallyin Hereward's arms, or whether the cause of her anger was the beingnearly discovered there by the two young maidens, the sentinel did notpresume to guess, but departed for the gloomy vaults to join Alexius,with the never-failing double-edged axe, the bane of many a Turk,glittering upon his shoulder.

  Astarte and her companion had been des
patched by the Empress Irene insearch of Anna Comnena, through those apartments of the palace whichshe was wont to inhabit. The daughter of Alexius could nowhere befound, although the business on which they were seeking her wasdescribed by the Empress as of the most pressing nature. Nothing,however, in a palace, passes altogether unespied, so that the Empress'smessengers at length received information that their mistress and theEmperor had been seen to descend that gloomy access to the dungeons,which, by allusion to the classical infernal regions, was termed thePit of Acheron. They came thither, accordingly, and we have related theconsequences. Hereward thought it necessary to say that her ImperialHighness had swooned upon being suddenly brought into the upper air.The Princess, on the other part, briskly shook off her juvenileattendants, and declared herself ready to proceed to the chamber of hermother. The obeisance which she made Hereward at parting, had somethingin it of haughtiness, yet evidently qualified by a look of friendshipand regard. As she passed an apartment in which some of the royalslaves were in waiting, she addressed to one of them, an oldrespectable man, of medical skill, a private and hurried order,desiring him to go to the assistance of her father, whom he would findat the bottom of the staircase called the Pit of Acheron, and to takehis scimitar along with him. To hear, as usual, was to obey, andDouban, for that was his name, only replied by that significant signwhich indicates immediate acquiescence. In the meantime, Anna Comnenaherself hastened onward to her mother's apartments, in which she foundthe Empress alone.

  "Go hence, maidens," said Irene, "and do not let any one have access tothese apartments, even if the Emperor himself should command it. Shutthe door," she said, "Anna Comnena; and if the jealousy of the strongersex do not allow us the masculine privileges of bolts and bars, tosecure the insides of our apartments, let us avail ourselves, asquickly as may be, of such opportunities as are permitted us; andremember, Princess, that however implicit your duty to your father, itis yet more so to me, who am of the same sex with thyself, and maytruly call thee, even according to the letter, blood of my blood, andbone of my bone. Be assured thy father knows not, at this moment, thefeelings of a woman. Neither he nor any man alive can justly conceivethe pangs of the heart which beats under a woman's robe. These men,Anna, would tear asunder without scruple the tenderest ties ofaffection, the whole structure of domestic felicity, in which lie awoman's cares, her joy, her pain, her love, and her despair. Trust,therefore, to me, my daughter, and believe me, I will at once save thyfather's crown and thy happiness. The conduct of thy husband has beenwrong, most cruelly wrong; but, Anna, he is a man--and in calling himsuch, I lay to his charge, as natural frailties, thoughtless treachery,wanton infidelity, every species of folly and inconsistency, to whichhis race is subject. You ought not, therefore, to think of his faults,unless it be to forgive them."

  "Madam," said Anna Comnena, "forgive me if I remind you that yourecommend to a princess, born in the purple itself, a line of conductwhich would hardly become the female who carries the pitcher for theneedful supply of water to the village well. All who are around me havebeen taught to pay me the obeisance due to my birth, and while thisNicephorus Briennius crept on his knees to your daughter's hand, whichyou extended towards him, he was rather receiving the yoke of amistress than accepting a household alliance with a wife. He hasincurred his doom, without a touch even of that temptation which may bepled by lesser culprits in his condition; and if it is the will of myfather that he should die, or suffer banishment, or imprisonment, forthe crime he has committed, it is not the business of Anna Comnena tointerfere, she being the most injured among the imperial family, whohave in so many, and such gross respects, the right to complain of hisfalsehood."

  "Daughter," replied the Empress, "so far I agree with you, that thetreason of Nicephorus towards your father and myself has been in agreat degree unpardonable; nor do I easily see on what footing, savethat of generosity, his life could be saved. But still you are yourselfin different circumstances from me, and may, as an affectionate andfond wife, compare the intimacies of your former habits with the bloodychange which is so soon to be the consequence and the conclusion of hiscrimes. He is possessed of that person and of those features whichwomen most readily recall to their memory, whether alive or dead. Thinkwhat it will cost you to recollect that the rugged executioner receivedhis last salute,--that the shapely neck had no better repose than therough block--that the tongue, the sound of which you used to prefer tothe choicest instruments of music, is silent in the dust!"

  Anna, who was not insensible to the personal graces of her husband, wasmuch affected by this forcible appeal. "Why distress me thus, mother?"she replied in a weeping accent. "Did I not feel as acutely as youwould have me to do, this moment, however awful, would be easily borne.I had but to think of him as he is, to contrast his personal qualitieswith those of the mind, by which they are more than overbalanced, andresign myself to his deserved fate with unresisting submission to myfather's will."

  "And that," said the Empress, "would be to bind thee, by his sole fiat,to some obscure wretch, whose habits of plotting and intriguing had, bysome miserable chance, given him the opportunity of becoming ofimportance to the Emperor, and who is, therefore, to be rewarded by thehand of Anna Comnena."

  "Do not think so meanly of me, madam," said the Princess--"I know, aswell as ever Grecian maiden did, how I should free myself fromdishonour; and, you may trust me, you shall never blush for yourdaughter."

  "Tell me not that," said the Empress, "since I shall blush alike forthe relentless cruelty which gives up a once beloved husband to anignominious death, and for the passion, for which I want a name, whichwould replace him by an obscure barbarian from the extremity of Thule,or some wretch escaped from the Blacquernal dungeons."

  The Princess was astonished to perceive that her mother was acquaintedwith the purposes, even the most private, which her father had formedfor his governance during this emergency. She was ignorant that Alexiusand his royal consort, in other respects living together with a decencyever exemplary in people of their rank, had, sometimes, on interestingoccasions, family debates, in which the husband, provoked by theseeming unbelief of his partner, was tempted to let her guess more ofhis real purposes than he would have coolly imparted of his own calmchoice.

  The Princess was affected at the anticipation of the death of herhusband, nor could this have been reasonably supposed to be otherwise;but she was still more hurt and affronted by her mother taking it forgranted that she designed upon the instant to replace the Caesar by anuncertain, and at all events an unworthy successor. Whateverconsiderations had operated to make Hereward her choice, their effectwas lost when the match was placed in this odious and degrading pointof view; besides which is to be remembered, that women almostinstinctively deny their first thoughts in favour of a suitor, andseldom willingly reveal them, unless time and circumstance concur tofavour them. She called Heaven therefore passionately to witness, whileshe repelled the charge.

  "Bear witness," she said, "Our Lady, Queen of Heaven! Bear witness,saints and martyrs all, ye blessed ones, who are, more than ourselves,the guardians of our mental purity! that I know no passion which I darenot avow, and that if Nicephorus's life depended on my entreaty to Godand men, all his injurious acts towards me disregarded and despised, itshould be as long as Heaven gave to those servants whom it snatchedfrom the earth without suffering the pangs of mortality!"

  "You have sworn boldly," said the Empress. "See, Anna Comnena, that youkeep your word, for believe me it will be tried."

  "What will be tried, mother?" said the Princess; "or what have I to doto pronounce the doom of the Caesar, who is not subject to my power?"

  "I will show you," said the Empress, gravely; and, leading her towardsa sort of wardrobe, which formed a closet in the wall, she withdrew acurtain which hung before it, and placed before her her unfortunatehusband, Nicephorus Briennius, half-attired, with his sword drawn inhis hand. Looking upon him as an enemy, and conscious of some schemeswith respect to him which had passed th
rough her mind in the course ofthese troubles, the Princess screamed faintly, upon perceiving him sonear her with a weapon in his hand.

  "Be more composed," said the Empress, "or this wretched man, ifdiscovered, falls no less a victim to thy idle fears than to thybaneful revenge."

  Nicephorus at this speech seemed to have adopted his cue, for, droppingthe point of his sword, and falling on his knees before the Princess,he clasped his hands to entreat for mercy.

  "What hast thou to ask from me?" said his wife, naturally assured, byher husband's prostration, that the stronger force was upon her ownside--"what hast thou to ask from me, that outraged gratitude, betrayedaffection, the most solemn vows violated, and the fondest ties ofnature torn asunder like the spider's broken web, will permit thee toput in words for very shame?"

  "Do not suppose, Anna," replied the suppliant, "that I am at thiseventful period of my life to play the hypocrite, for the purpose ofsaving the wretched remnant of a dishonoured existence. I am butdesirous to part in charity with thee, to make my peace with Heaven,and to nourish the last hope of making my way, though burdened withmany crimes, to those regions in which alone I can find thy beauty, thytalents, equalled at least, if not excelled."

  "You hear him, daughter?" said Irene; "his boon is for forgivenessalone; thy condition is the more godlike, since thou mayst unite thesafety of his life with the pardon of his offences."

  "Thou art deceived, mother," answered Anna. "It is not mine to pardonhis guilt, far less to remit his punishment. You have taught me tothink of myself as future ages shall know me; what will they say of me,those future ages, when I am described as the unfeeling daughter, whopardoned the intended assassin of her father, because she saw in himher own unfaithful husband?"

  "See there," said the Caesar, "is not that, most serene Empress, thevery point of despair? and have I not in vain offered my life-blood towipe out the stain of parricide and ingratitude? Have I not alsovindicated myself from the most unpardonable part of the accusation,which charged me with attempting the murder of the godlike Emperor?Have I not sworn by all that is sacred to man, that my purpose went nofarther than to sequestrate Alexius for a little time from the fatiguesof empire, and place him where he should quietly enjoy ease andtranquillity? while, at the same time, his empire should be asimplicitly regulated by himself, his sacred pleasure being transmittedthrough me, as in any respect, or at any period, it had ever been?"

  "Erring man!" said the Princess, "hast thou approached so near to thefootstool of Alexius Comnenus, and durst thou form so false an estimateof him, as to conceive it possible that he would consent to be a merepuppet by whose intervention you might have brought his empire intosubmission? Know that the blood of Comnenus is not so poor; my fatherwould have resisted the treason in arms; and by the death of thybenefactor only couldst thou have gratified the suggestions of thycriminal ambition."

  "Be such your belief," said the Caesar; "I have said enough for a lifewhich is not and ought not to be dear to me. Call your guards, and letthem take the life of the unfortunate Briennius, since it has becomehateful to his once beloved Anna Comnena. Be not afraid that anyresistance of mine shall render the scene of my apprehension dubious orfatal. Nicephorus Briennius is Caesar no longer, and he thus throws atthe feet of his Princess and spouse, the only poor means which he hasof resisting the just doom which is therefore at her pleasure to pass."

  He cast his sword before the feet of the Princess, while Ireneexclaimed, weeping, or seeming to weep bitterly, "I have indeed read ofsuch scenes! but could I ever have thought that my own daughter wouldhave been the principal actress in one of them--could I ever havethought that her mind, admired by every one as a palace for theoccupation of Apollo and the Muses, should not have had room enough forthe humbler, but more amiable virtue of feminine charity andcompassion, which builds itself a nest in the bosom of the lowestvillage girl? Do thy gifts, accomplishments, and talents, spreadhardness as well as polish over thy heart? If so, a hundred timesbetter renounce them all, and retain in their stead those gentle anddomestic virtues which are the first honours of the female heart. Awoman who is pitiless, is a worse monster than one who is unsexed byany other passion."

  "What would you have me do?" said Anna. "You, mother, ought to knowbetter than I, that the life of my father is hardly consistent with theexistence of this bold and cruel man. O, I am sure he still meditateshis purpose of conspiracy! He that could deceive a woman in the mannerhe has done me, will not relinquish a plan which is founded upon thedeath of his benefactor."

  "You do me injustice, Anna," said Briennius, starting up, andimprinting a kiss upon her lips ere she was aware. "By this caress, thelast that will pass between us, I swear, that if in my life I haveyielded to folly, I have, notwithstanding, never been guilty of atreason of the heart towards a woman as superior to the rest of thefemale world in talents and accomplishments, as in personal beauty."

  The Princess, much softened, shook her head, as she replied--"Ah,Nicephorus!--such were once your words! such, perhaps, were then yourthoughts! But who, or what, shall now warrant to me the veracity ofeither?"

  "Those very accomplishments, and that very beauty itself," repliedNicephorus.

  "And if more is wanting," said Irene, "thy mother will enter hersecurity for him. Deem her not an insufficient pledge in this affair;she is thy mother, and the wife of Alexius Comnenus, interested beyondall human beings in the growth and increase of the power and dignity ofher husband and her child; and one who sees on this occasion anopportunity for exercising generosity, for soldering up the breaches ofthe Imperial house, and reconstructing the frame of government upon abasis, which, if there be faith and gratitude in man, shall never beagain exposed to hazard."

  "To the reality of that faith and gratitude, then," said the Princess,"we must trust implicitly, as it is your will, mother; although even myown knowledge of the subject, both through study and experience of theworld, has called me to observe the rashness of such confidence. Butalthough we two may forgive Nicephorus's errors, the Emperor is stillthe person to whom the final reference must be had, both as to pardonand favour."

  "Fear not Alexius," answered her mother; "he will speak determinedlyand decidedly; but, if he acts not in the very moment of forming theresolution, it is no more to be relied on than an icicle in time ofthaw. Do thou apprize me, if thou canst, what the Emperor is at presentdoing, and take my word I will find means to bring him round to ouropinion."

  "Must I then betray secrets which my father has intrusted to me?" saidthe Princess; "and to one who has so lately held the character of hisavowed enemy?"

  "Call it not betray," said Irene, "since it is written thou shaltbetray no one, least of all thy father, and the father of the empire.Yet again it is written, by the holy Luke, that men shall be betrayed,both by parents and brethren, and kinsfolk and friends, and thereforesurely also by daughters; by which I only mean thou shalt discover tous thy father's secrets, so far as may enable us to save the life ofthy husband. The necessity of the case excuses whatever may beotherwise considered as irregular."

  "Be it so then, mother. Having yielded my consent perhaps too easily,to snatch this malefactor from my father's justice, I am sensible Imust secure his safety by such means as are in my power. I left myfather at the bottom of those stairs, called the Pit of Acheron, in thecell of a blind man, to whom he gave the name of Ursel."

  "Holy Mary!" exclaimed the Empress, "thou hast named a name which hasbeen long unspoken in the open air."

  "Has the Emperor's sense of his danger from the living," said theCaesar, "induced him to invoke the dead?--for Ursel has been no livingman for the space of three years."

  "It matters not," said Anna Comnena; "I tell you true. My father evennow held conference with a miserable-looking prisoner, whom he sonamed."

  "It is a danger the more," said the Caesar; "he cannot have forgottenthe zeal with which I embraced the cause of the present Emperor againsthis own; and so soon as he is at liberty, he will study to avenge it.For
this we must endeavour to make some provision, though it increasesour difficulties.--Sit down then, my gentle, my beneficent mother; andthou, my wife, who hast preferred thy love for an unworthy husband tothe suggestions of jealous passion and of headlong revenge, sit down,and let us see in what manner it may be in our power, consistently withyour duty to the Emperor, to bring our broken vessel securely intoport."

  He employed much natural grace of manner in handing the mother anddaughter to their seats; and, taking his place confidentially betweenthem, all were soon engaged in concerting what measures should be takenfor the morrow, not forgetting such as should at once have the effectof preserving the Caesar's life, and at the same time of securing theGrecian empire against the conspiracy of which he had been the chiefinstigator. Briennius ventured to hint, that perhaps the best way wouldbe to suffer the conspiracy to proceed as originally intended, pledginghis own faith that the rights of Alexius should be held inviolateduring the struggle; but his influence over the Empress and herdaughter did not extend to obtaining so great a trust. They plainlyprotested against permitting him to leave the palace, or taking theleast share in the confusion which to-morrow was certain to witness.

  "You forget, noble ladies," said the Caesar, "that my honour isconcerned in meeting the Count of Paris."

  "Pshaw! tell me not of your honour, Briennius," said Anna Comnena; "doI not well know, that although the honour of the western knights be aspecies of Moloch, a flesh-devouring, blood-quaffing demon, yet thatwhich is the god of idolatry to the eastern warriors, though equallyloud and noisy in the hall, is far less implacable in the field?Believe not that I have forgiven great injuries and insults, in orderto take such false coin as _honour_ in payment; your ingenuity is butpoor, if you cannot devise some excuse which will satisfy the Greeks;and in good sooth, Briennius, to this battle you go not, whether foryour good or for your ill. Believe not that I will consent to yourmeeting either Count or Countess, whether in warlike combat or amorousparley. So you may at a word count upon remaining prisoner here untilthe hour appointed for such gross folly be past and over."

  The Caesar, perhaps, was not in his heart angry that his wife'spleasure was so bluntly and resolutely expressed against the intendedcombat. "If," said he, "you are determined to take my honour into yourown keeping, I am here for the present your prisoner, nor have I themeans of interfering with your pleasure. When once at liberty, the freeexercise of my valour and my lance is once more my own."

  "Be it so, Sir Paladin," said the Princess, very composedly. "I havegood hope that neither of them will involve you with any of yondare-devils of Paris, whether male or female, and that we will regulatethe pitch to which your courage soars, by the estimation of Greekphilosophy, and the judgment of our blessed Lady of Mercy, not her ofthe Broken Lances."

  At this moment an authoritative knock at the door alarmed theconsultation of the Caesar and the ladies.