The Casque's Lark; or, Victoria, the Mother of the Camps

by Eugène Sue

  CHAPTER IX.

  VICTORIA THE GREAT.

  I wish, my son, for your benefit and the benefit of our descendants, totrace here the portrait of that illustrious Gallic woman, one of thepurest glories of our country.

  I found Victoria seated beside the cradle of her grandson Victorinin, ahandsome boy of two who lay profoundly asleep. Victoria had someneedlework in her hands, and was busy sewing, agreeable to her custom asa good housekeeper. She was then, like myself, thirty-eight years ofage, but she would have been hardly taken for thirty. In her youth shewas appropriately compared to Diana, the huntress. In her mature yearsshe was no less appropriately compared to the antique Minerva. Tall,well built, and virile, without thereby forfeiting the chaste graces ofwomanhood, she was magnificently shaped. Her beautiful face, instinctwith a grave yet gentle expression, bore the impress of majesty underthe crown of black hair which she wore in two braids coiled over heraugust forehead. Sent when still a little girl to a college of ourvenerated female druids, and having taken at the age of fifteen themysterious vows that bound her indissolubly to the sacred religion ofour fathers, she ever since, and although married, preserved the blackgarb of the female druids, which was also the habitual garb of thematrons of old Gaul. Her long wide sleeves, open up to the elbows,exposed a pair of arms as white and as strong as those of the valiantGallic women, who, as you will see in our family narratives, my son,heroically fought the Romans at the battle of Vannes under the eyes ofour grandmother Margarid, and preferred death to the disgraces ofslavery.

  In the middle of the chamber, and not far from the seat occupied by theMother of the Camps near her grandson's cradle, several rolls ofparchment, together with all that was necessary for writing, lay upon atable. From the wall hung the two casques and swords of Victoria'sfather and husband, both killed in the same battle. One of the twocasques was surmounted by the Gallic cock of gilt bronze, with his wingspartly spread, and holding under his feet a lark that he menaced withhis beak. The emblem was adopted by Victoria's father as a militaryornament after a heroic combat in which, at the head of only a handfulof men, he exterminated a Roman legion that bore a lark on its ensign.Under the weapons stood a little brass vase in which seven twigs ofmistletoe were arranged. Gaul, you must remember, my son, reconqueredher religious liberty in recovering her independence. Close to the brassvase and the twigs of mistletoe, a druid symbol, was a wooden cross, incommemoration of the death of Jesus of Nazareth, for whom the Mother ofthe Camps, without being a Christian, professed profound admiration. Shelooked upon him as one of the sages who shed luster upon humanity.

  Such, my son, was Victoria the Great, the illustrious Gallic woman whosename our descendants will ever pronounce with pride.

  When the Mother of the Camps saw me come in, she rose quickly andapproached me with gladness, saying in her sonorous and sweet voice:

  "Welcome, brother! The mission was a dangerous one. Not seeing you backbefore sunset, I did not wish to send any message to your house, lest Ialarm your wife by showing uneasiness at your prolonged absence. Buthere you are; I feel happy to see you back again."

  Saying this Victoria pressed my hand tenderly in hers.

  The words that we spoke must have disturbed the slumber of Victoria'sgrandson; he moved in his cradle and made a slight sound. Victoriastepped quickly to him, and kissed the child on the forehead. She thensat down, and placing the tip of her foot on a treadle below the cradle,rocked it gently, while she continued her conversation with me.

  "And the message?" she asked, "how did the barbarians receive it? Arethey ready for peace? Do they want war? Did they accept ourproposition?"

  I was just about to begin giving my foster-sister a complete account ofmy mission, when she interrupted me with a gesture, and, reflecting asecond, proceeded to say:

  "Do you know that my dear relative Tetrik has been here sinceyesterday?"

  "I know it, sister."

  "He is due here any moment. I prefer that you make the report to mebefore him only."

  "I shall do so. Can you receive Captain Marion? He came for a conferencewith Victorin."

  "Schanvoch, my son again spent the night out of the house!" remarkedVictoria plying her needle more quickly, an action that, with her,always denoted deep annoyance.

  "Having heard of your relative's arrival, I surmised that, possibly,grave questions kept Victorin closeted with Tetrik during the night.That is the theory I threw out to Captain Marion, and told him thatperhaps you would be ready to hear the report he has for your son."

  Victoria remained silent for a moment; she then dropped her needleworkon her lap, raised her head and resumed in a tone of suppressed grief:

  "Victorin has vices--his vices are smothering his good parts. Mothsdestroy the best of grain."

  "Have confidence and hope--age will mature him."

  "During the last two years his vices grow upon him, his good partsdecline."

  "His bravery, his generosity, his frankness have not degenerated."

  "His bravery no longer is the calm and provident bravery that becomes ageneral--it is becoming blind--headless. His generosity no longerdistinguishes between the worthy and the unworthy. His reasoning powersdecline--wine and debauchery are killing him. By Hesus! A drunkard and adebauche! He, my son! One of the chiefs of Gaul, free to-day and,perhaps, to-morrow, matchless among nations. Schanvoch, I am anunfortunate mother!"

  "Victorin loves me--I shall reprove him severely."

  "Do you imagine that your remonstrances will accomplish what the prayersof his own mother have failed to do? Of the mother who never left hisside all his life, following him with the army, often even into battle?Schanvoch, Hesus punishes me--I have been too proud of my son!"

  "And what mother would not have been proud of him the day when a wholevaliant army, of its own free choice, acclaimed as its chief thegeneral of twenty years of age, behind whom they saw--you, his mother!"

  "What does it matter, if he dishonors me! And yet, my only ambition wasto make of my son a citizen, a man worthy of our fathers! Did I not,when nourishing him with my milk, also nourish him with an ardent andholy love for our Gaul that was coming to life again--and to freedom!What was it that I asked; what was it that I always desired? To live anobscure life and ignored, but devote my night-watches and my days, myintelligence, my knowledge of the past, which enables me to understandthe present, and at times to peer into the future--in short, to devoteall the energies of my soul and of my mind to rendering my son brave,wise, enlightened, worthy at all points of guiding the free men whochose him their chief. And then, Hesus is my witness, proud as a Gallicwoman, happy as a mother of having given birth to such a man, I wouldhave enjoyed his glory and my country's prosperity in the seclusion ofmy humble home. But to have a drunkard and debauche for a son! Oh, wrathof heaven! Does not the giddy-headed boy understand that every excessthat he indulges in is a slap that he gives his mother in the face? Ifhe does not understand it, our soldiers do. Yesterday, as I crossed thecamp, three old horsemen rode towards me. Do you know what they said tome? 'Mother, we pity you!'--and they rode off dejectedly. Schanvoch, Itell you, I am an unhappy mother!"

  "Listen to me. For some time since, our soldiers have been growingdissatisfied with Victorin. I admit it, I understand it. The warriorwhom free men have chosen for their chief must be above excesses, andmust even be able to control the impulses of his age. That is true,sister; and have I not often chided your son in your presence?"

  "You have."

  "Well, at this moment I take up his defense. These soldiers, whom we seeto-day so full of scruples on the score of slips that are frequent withyoung chiefs, act, not so much in obedience to their own scruples, as inobedience to perfidious incitements that emanate from some secretenemy."

  "What do you mean?"

  "There are people who envy your son; they envy his influence over thetroops. In order to undo him, his defects are being exploited so as tofurnish a foundation for infamous calumnies."

  "Who is jealous
of Victorin? Who would have an interest in spreadingsuch calumnies?"

  "It is especially during the last month, not so, that this hostility toyour son has manifested itself and has been on the increase?"

  "Yes, yes; but whom do you suspect of inciting it?"

  "Sister, what I am about to tell you is serious. It is a month ago thatone of your relatives, the Governor of Gascony, came to Mayence--"

  "Tetrik!"

  "Yes; he departed after a stay of a few days! Almost immediately afterTetrik's departure the silent hostility towards your son began, and hassince steadily grown!"

  Victoria looked at me in silence, as if she did not quite grasp thebearing of my words. But a sudden thought seeming to flash through hermind, she cried in a tone of reproach:

  "What! You suspect Tetrik! My own relative and best friend, the wisestof men, one of the most enlightened citizens of our age, a man who seekshis delight in letters and displays no mean poetic talents! One of themost useful men in the defense of Gaul, although he is not a man of war!Tetrik, who in his government of Gascony repairs by dint of wisdom theevils that civil war inflicted upon the province! Oh, brother, Iexpected better things from your loyal heart and your good sense!"

  "I suspect that man!"

  "Oh, you iron-headed, inflexible nature! Why should you suspect Tetrik?By what right? What has he done? By Hesus! If you were not mybrother--if I did not know your heart--I would think you are jealous ofmy esteem for my relative!"

  Victoria had barely uttered these last words, when she seemed to regrethaving allowed them to escape her. She said:

  "Forget these words!"

  "They would greatly grieve me, sister, if the unjust doubt that theyexpress could blind you to the truth."

  At this moment the servant entered and asked whether Tetrik could beadmitted.

  "Let him in," answered Victoria, "let him in immediately."

  Tetrik stepped into the room.