Quentin Durward

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER XXXII: THE INVESTIGATION

  Me rather had my heart might feel your love, Than my displeased eye see your courtesy. Up, cousin, up--your heart is up, I know, Thus high at least--although your knee--

  KING RICHARD II

  At the first toll of the bell which was to summon the great nobles ofBurgundy together in council, with the very few French peers who couldbe present on the occasion, Duke Charles, followed by a part of histrain, armed with partisans and battle axes, entered the Hall ofHerbert's Tower, in the Castle of Peronne. King Louis, who had expectedthe visit, arose and made two steps towards the Duke, and then remainedstanding with an air of dignity, which, in spite of the meanness of hisdress, and the familiarity of his ordinary manners, he knew very wellhow to assume when he judged it necessary. Upon the present importantcrisis, the composure of his demeanour had an evident effect upon hisrival, who changed the abrupt and hasty step with which he entered theapartment into one more becoming a great vassal entering the presenceof his Lord Paramount. Apparently the Duke had formed the internalresolution to treat Louis, in the outset at least, with the formalitiesdue to his high station; but at the same time it was evident, that, indoing so, he put no small constraint upon the fiery impatience ofhis own disposition, and was scarce able to control the feelings ofresentment and the thirst of revenge which boiled in his bosom. Hence,though he compelled himself to use the outward acts, and in some degreethe language, of courtesy and reverence, his colour came and wentrapidly--his voice was abrupt, hoarse, and broken--his limbs shook, asif impatient of the curb imposed on his motions--he frowned and bit hislip until the blood came--and every look and movement showed that themost passionate prince who ever lived was under the dominion of one ofhis most violent paroxysms of fury.

  The King marked this war of passion with a calm and untroubled eye, for,though he gathered from the Duke's looks a foretaste of the bitternessof death, which he dreaded alike as a mortal and a sinful man, yet hewas resolved, like a wary and skilful pilot, neither to suffer himselfto be disconcerted by his own fears, nor to abandon the helm, whilethere was a chance of saving the vessel by adroit pilotage. Therefore,when the Duke, in a hoarse and broken tone, said something of thescarcity of his accommodations, he answered with a smile that hecould not complain, since he had as yet found Herbert's Tower a betterresidence than it had proved to one of his ancestors.

  "They told you the tradition then?" said Charles.

  "Yes--here he was slain--but it was because he refused to take the cowl,and finish his days in a monastery."

  "The more fool he," said Louis, affecting unconcern, "since he gainedthe torment of being a martyr, without the merit of being a saint."

  "I come," said the Duke, "to pray your Majesty to attend a high councilat which tidings of weight are to be deliberated upon concerning thewelfare of France and Burgundy. You will presently meet them--that is,if such be your pleasure."

  "Nay, my fair cousin," said the King, "never strain courtesy so far asto entreat what you may so boldly command.--To council, since such isyour Grace's pleasure. We are somewhat shorn of our train," he added,looking upon the small suite that arranged themselves to attend him,"but you, cousin, must shine out for us both."

  Marshalled by Toison d'Or, chief of the heralds of Burgundy, the Princesleft the Earl Herbert's Tower, and entered the castle yard, whichLouis observed was filled with the Duke's bodyguard and men at arms,splendidly accoutred, and drawn up in martial array. Crossing the court,they entered the Council Hall, which was in a much more modern part ofthe building than that of which Louis had been the tenant, and, thoughin disrepair, had been hastily arranged for the solemnity of a publiccouncil. Two chairs of state were erected under the same canopy, thatfor the King being raised two steps higher than the one which the Dukewas to occupy; about twenty of the chief nobility sat, arranged in dueorder, on either hand of the chair of state; and thus, when both thePrinces were seated, the person for whose trial, as it might be called,the council was summoned, held the highest place, and appeared topreside in it.

  It was perhaps to get rid of this inconsistency, and the scruples whichmight have been inspired by it, that Duke Charles, having bowed slightlyto the royal chair, bluntly opened the sitting with the followingwords--

  "My good vassals and councillors, it is not unknown to you whatdisturbances have arisen in our territories, both in our father's timeand in our own, from the rebellion of vassals against superiors, andsubjects against their princes. And lately we have had the most dreadfulproof of the height to which these evils have arrived in our case, bythe scandalous flight of the Countess Isabelle of Croye, and heraunt the Lady Hameline, to take refuge with a foreign power, therebyrenouncing their fealty to us, and inferring the forfeiture of theirfiefs; and in another more dreadful and deplorable instance, by thesacrilegious and bloody murder of our beloved brother and ally, theBishop of Liege, and the rebellion of that treacherous city, which wasbut too mildly punished for the last insurrection. We have been informedthat these sad events may be traced, not merely to the inconstancy andfolly of women, and the presumption of pampered citizens, but to theagency of foreign power, and the interference of a mighty neighbour,from whom, if good deeds could merit any return in kind, Burgundy couldhave expected nothing but the most sincere and devoted friendship. Ifthis should prove truth," said the Duke, setting his teeth and pressinghis heel against the ground, "what consideration shall withholdus--the means being in our power--from taking such measures as shalleffectually, and at the very source, close up the main spring from whichthese evils have yearly flowed on us?"

  The Duke had begun his speech with some calmness, but he elevated hisvoice at the conclusion; and the last sentence was spoken in a tonewhich made all the councillors tremble, and brought a transient fit ofpaleness across the King's cheek. He instantly recalled his courage,however, and addressed the council in his turn in a tone evincing somuch ease and composure that the Duke, though he seemed desirous tointerrupt or stop him, found no decent opportunity to do so.

  "Nobles of France and of Burgundy," he said, "Knights of the HolySpirit and of the Golden Fleece! Since a King must plead his cause asan accused person he cannot desire more distinguished judges than theflower of nobleness and muster and pride of chivalry. Our fair cousinof Burgundy hath but darkened the dispute between us, in so far as hiscourtesy has declined to state it in precise terms. I, who have no causefor observing such delicacy, nay, whose condition permits me not to doso, crave leave to speak more precisely. It is to Us, my lords--toUs, his liege lord, his kinsman, his ally, that unhappy circumstances,perverting our cousins's clear judgment and better nature, have inducedhim to apply the hateful charges of seducing his vassals from theirallegiance, stirring up the people of Liege to revolt, and stimulatingthe outlawed William de la Marck to commit a most cruel and sacrilegiousmurder. Nobles of France and Burgundy, I might truly appeal to thecircumstances in which I now stand, as being in themselves a completecontradiction of such an accusation, for is it to be supposed that,having the sense of a rational being left me, I should have thrownmyself unreservedly into the power of the Duke of Burgundy while Iwas practising treachery against him such as could not fail to bediscovered, and which being discovered, must place me, as I now stand,in the power of a justly exasperated prince? The folly of one who shouldseat himself quietly down to repose on a mine, after he had lightedthe match which was to cause instant explosion, would have been wisdomcompared to mine. I have no doubt that, amongst the perpetrators ofthose horrible treasons at Schonwaldt, villains have been busy with myname--but am I to be answerable, who have given them no right to useit?--If two silly women, disgusted on account of some romantic cause ofdispleasure, sought refuge at my Court, does it follow that they didso by my direction?--It will be found, when inquired into, that, sincehonour and chivalry forbade my sending them back prisoners to the Courtof Burgundy--which, I think, gentlemen, no one who wears the collar ofthese Orders would suggest--that I came as near
ly as possible to thesame point by placing them in the hands of the venerable father in God,who is now a saint in Heaven."

  Here Louis seemed much affected and pressed his kerchief to his eyes."In the hands, I say, of a member of my own family, and still moreclosely united with that of Burgundy, whose situation, exalted conditionin the church, and, alas! whose numerous virtues qualified him to bethe protector of these unhappy wanderers for a little while, and themediator betwixt them and their liege lord. I say, therefore, the onlycircumstances which seem, in my brother of Burgundy's hasty view of thissubject, to argue unworthy suspicions against me, are such as canbe explained on the fairest and most honourable motives; and I say,moreover, that no one particle of credible evidence can be brought tosupport the injurious charges which have induced my brother to alterhis friendly looks towards one who came to him in full confidence offriendship--have caused him to turn his festive hall into a court ofjustice, and his hospitable apartments into a prison."

  "My lord, my lord," said Charles, breaking in as soon as the Kingpaused, "for your being here at a time so unluckily coinciding with theexecution of your projects, I can only account by supposing that thosewho make it their trade to impose on others do sometimes egregiouslydelude themselves. The engineer is sometimes killed by the springing ofhis own petard.--For what is to follow, let it depend on the event ofthis solemn inquiry.--Bring hither the Countess Isabelle of Croye."

  As the young lady was introduced, supported on the one side by theCountess of Crevecoeur, who had her husband's commands to that effect,and on the other by the Abbess of the Ursuline convent, Charlesexclaimed, with his usual harshness of voice and manner, "So! sweetPrincess--you, who could scarce find breath to answer us when we lastlaid our just and reasonable commands on you, yet have had wind enoughto run as long a course as ever did hunted doe--what think you ofthe fair work you have made between two great Princes, and two mightycountries, that have been like to go to war for your baby face?"

  The publicity of the scene and the violence of Charles's manner totallyovercame the resolution which Isabelle had formed of throwing herself atthe Duke's feet and imploring him to take possession of her estates,and permit her to retire into a cloister. She stood motionless, like aterrified female in a storm, who hears the thunder roll on every side ofher, and apprehends in every fresh peal the bolt which is to strike herdead. The Countess of Crevecoeur, a woman of spirit equal to her birthand to the beauty which she preserved even in her matronly years, judgedit necessary to interfere.

  "My Lord Duke," she said, "my fair cousin is under my protection. I knowbetter than your Grace how women should be treated, and we will leavethis presence instantly, unless you use a tone and language moresuitable to our rank and sex."

  The Duke burst out into a laugh. "Crevecoeur," he said, "thy tamenesshath made a lordly dame of thy Countess; but that is no affair of mine.Give a seat to yonder simple girl, to whom, so far from feeling enmity,I design the highest grace and honour.--Sit down, mistress, and tellus at your leisure what fiend possessed you to fly from your nativecountry, and embrace the trade of a damsel adventurous."

  With much pain, and not without several interruptions, Isabelleconfessed that, being absolutely determined against a match proposedto her by the Duke of Burgundy, she had indulged the hope of obtainingprotection of the Court of France.

  "And under protection of the French Monarch," said Charles. "Of that,doubtless, you were well assured?"

  "I did indeed so think myself assured," said the Countess Isabelle,"otherwise I had not taken a step so decided."

  Here Charles looked upon Louis with a smile of inexpressible bitterness,which the King supported with the utmost firmness, except that his lipgrew something whiter than it was wont to be.

  "But my information concerning King Louis's intentions towards us,"continued the Countess, after a short pause, "was almost entirelyderived from my unhappy aunt, the Lady Hameline, and her opinions wereformed upon the assertions and insinuations of persons whom I have sincediscovered to be the vilest traitors and most faithless wretches in theworld."

  She then stated, in brief terms, what she had since come to learn ofthe treachery of Marthon, and of Hayraddin Maugrabin, and added thatshe "entertained no doubt that the elder Maugrabin, called Zamet,the original adviser of their flight, was capable of every species oftreachery, as well as of assuming the character of an agent of Louiswithout authority."

  There was a pause while the Countess had continued her story, which sheprosecuted, though very briefly, from the time she left the territoriesof Burgundy, in company with her aunt, until the storming of Schonwaldt,and her final surrender to the Count of Crevecoeur. All remained muteafter she had finished her brief and broken narrative, and the Duke ofBurgundy bent his fierce dark eyes on the ground, like one who seeks fora pretext to indulge his passion, but finds none sufficiently plausibleto justify himself in his own eyes.

  "The mole," he said at length, looking upwards, "winds not his darksubterranean path beneath our feet the less certainly that we, thoughconscious of his motions, cannot absolutely trace them. Yet I would knowof King Louis wherefore he maintained these ladies at his Court, hadthey not gone thither by his own invitation."

  "I did not so entertain them, fair cousin," answered the King. "Outof compassion, indeed, I received them in privacy, but took an earlyopportunity of placing them under the protection of the late excellentBishop, your own ally, and who was (may God assoil him!) a better judgethan I, or any secular prince, how to reconcile the protection dueto fugitives with the duty which a king owes to his ally, from whosedominions they have fled. I boldly ask this young lady whether myreception of them was cordial, or whether it was not, on the contrary,such as made them express regret that they had made my Court their placeof refuge?"

  "So much was it otherwise than cordial," answered the Countess, "that itinduced me, at least, to doubt how far it was possible that your Majestyshould have actually given the invitation of which we had been assured,by those who called themselves your agents, since, supposing them tohave proceeded only as they were duly authorized, it would have beenhard to reconcile your Majesty's conduct with that to be expected from aking, a knight, and a gentleman."

  The Countess turned her eyes to the King as she spoke, with a look whichwas probably intended as a reproach, but the breast of Louis was armedagainst all such artillery. On the contrary, waving slowly his expandedhands, and looking around the circle, he seemed to make a triumphantappeal to all present, upon the testimony borne to his innocence in theCountess's reply.

  Burgundy, meanwhile, cast on him a look which seemed to say, that if insome degree silenced, he was as far as ever from being satisfied, andthen said abruptly to the Countess, "Methinks, fair mistress, in thisaccount of your wanderings, you have forgot all mention of certain lovepassages.--So, ho, blushing already?--Certain knights of the forest,by whom your quiet was for a time interrupted. Well--that incident hathcome to our ear, and something we may presently form out of it.--Tellme, King Louis, were it not well, before this vagrant Helen of Troy [thewife of Menelaus. She was carried to Troy by Paris, and thus was thecause of the Trojan War], or of Croye, set more Kings by the ears, wereit not well to carve out a fitting match for her?"

  King Louis, though conscious what ungrateful proposal was likely to bemade next, gave a calm and silent assent to what Charles said; but theCountess herself was restored to courage by the very extremity of hersituation. She quitted the arm of the Countess of Crevecoeur, on whichshe had hitherto leaned, came forward timidly, yet with an air ofdignity, and kneeling before the Duke's throne, thus addressed him"Noble Duke of Burgundy, and my liege lord, I acknowledge my faultin having withdrawn myself from your dominions without your graciouspermission, and will most humbly acquiesce in any penalty you arepleased to impose. I place my lands and castles at your rightfuldisposal, and pray you only of your own bounty, and for the sake of mymemory, to allow the last of the line of Croye, out of her large estate,such a moderate maintenan
ce as may find her admission into a convent forthe remainder of her life."

  "What think you, Sire, of the young person's petition to us," said theDuke, addressing Louis.

  "As of a holy and humble motion," said the King, "which doubtless comesfrom that grace which ought not to be resisted or withstood."

  "The humble and lowly shall be exalted," said Charles. "Arise, CountessIsabelle--we mean better for you than you have devised for yourself.We mean neither to sequestrate your estates, nor to abase your honours,but, on the contrary, will add largely to both."

  "Alas! my lord," said the Countess, continuing on her knees, "it iseven that well meant goodness which I fear still more than your Grace'sdispleasure, since it compels me--"

  "Saint George of Burgundy!" said Duke Charles, "is our will to bethwarted, and our commands disputed, at every turn? Up, I say, minion,and withdraw for the present--when we have time to think of thee, wewill so order matters that, Teste Saint Gris! you shall either obey us,or do worse."

  Notwithstanding this stern answer, the Countess Isabelle remained athis feet, and would probably, by her pertinacity, have driven him tosay upon the spot something yet more severe, had not the Countess ofCrevecoeur, who better knew that Prince's humour, interfered to raiseher young friend, and to conduct her from the hall.

  Quentin Durward was now summoned to appear, and presented himself beforethe King and Duke with that freedom, distant alike from bashful reserveand intrusive boldness, which becomes a youth at once well born andwell nurtured, who gives honour where it is due but without permittinghimself to be dazzled or confused by the presence of those to whom itis to be rendered. His uncle had furnished him with the means of againequipping himself in the arms and dress of an Archer of the ScottishGuard, and his complexion, mien, and air suited in an uncommon degreehis splendid appearance. His extreme youth, too, prepossessed thecouncillors in his favour, the rather that no one could easily believethat the sagacious Louis would have chosen so very young a person tobecome the confidant of political intrigues; and thus the King enjoyed,in this, as in other cases, considerable advantage from his singularchoice of agents, both as to age and rank, where such election seemedleast likely to be made. At the command of the Duke, sanctioned by thatof Louis, Quentin commenced an account of his journey with the Ladiesof Croye to the neighbourhood of Liege, premising a statement of KingLouis's instructions, which were that he should escort them safely tothe castle of the Bishop.

  "And you obeyed my orders accordingly," said the King.

  "I did, Sire," replied the Scot.

  "You omit a circumstance," said the Duke. "You were set upon in theforest by two wandering knights."

  "It does not become me to remember or to proclaim such an incident,"said the youth, blushing ingenuously.

  "But it doth not become me to forget it," said the Duke of Orleans."This youth discharged his commission manfully, and maintained his trustin a manner that I shall long remember.--Come to my apartment, Archer,when this matter is over, and thou shalt find I have not forgot thybrave bearing, while I am glad to see it is equalled by thy modesty."

  "And come to mine," said Dunois. "I have a helmet for thee, since Ithink I owe thee one."

  Quentin bowed low to both, and the examination was resumed. At thecommand of Duke Charles he produced the written instructions which hehad received for the direction of his journey.

  "Did you follow these instructions literally, soldier?" said the Duke.

  "No; if it please your Grace," replied Quentin. "They directed me, asyou may be pleased to observe, to cross the Maes near Namur; whereasI kept the left bank, as being both the nigher and the safer road toLiege."

  "And wherefore that alteration?" said the Duke.

  "Because I began to suspect the fidelity of my guide," answered Quentin.

  "Now mark the questions I have next to ask thee," said the Duke. "Replytruly to them, and fear nothing from the resentment of any one. But ifyou palter or double in your answers I will have thee hung alive in aniron chain from the steeple of the market house, where thou shalt wishfor death for many an hour ere he come to relieve you!"

  There was a deep silence ensued. At length, having given the youth time,as he thought, to consider the circumstances in which he was placed, theDuke demanded to know of Durward who his guide was, by whom supplied,and wherefore he had been led to entertain suspicion of him. To thefirst of these questions Quentin Durward answered by naming HayraddinMaugrabin, the Bohemian; to the second, that the guide had beenrecommended by Tristan l'Hermite; and in reply to the third point hementioned what had happened in the Franciscan convent near Namur, howthe Bohemian had been expelled from the holy house, and how, jealous ofhis behaviour, he had dogged him to a rendezvous with one of Williamde la Marck's lanzknechts, where he overheard them arrange a plan forsurprising the ladies who were under his protection.

  "Now, hark," said the Duke, "and once more remember thy life dependson thy veracity, did these villains mention their having this King's--Imean this very King Louis of France's authority for their scheme ofsurprising the escort and carrying away the ladies?"

  "If such infamous fellows had said," replied Quentin, "I know not how Ishould have believed them, having the word of the King himself to placein opposition to theirs."

  Louis, who had listened hitherto with most earnest attention, could nothelp drawing his breath deeply when he heard Durward's answer, in themanner of one from whose bosom a heavy weight has been at once removed.The Duke again looked disconcerted and moody, and, returning to thecharge, questioned Quentin still more closely, whether he did notunderstand, from these men's private conversation, that the plots whichthey meditated had King Louis's sanction?

  "I repeat that I heard nothing which could authorize me to say so,"answered the young man, who, though internally convinced of the King'saccession to the treachery of Hayraddin, yet held it contrary to hisallegiance to bring forward his own suspicions on the subject; "and if Ihad heard such men make such an assertion, I again say that I would nothave given their testimony weight against the instructions of the Kinghimself."

  "Thou art a faithful messenger," said the Duke, with a sneer, "andI venture to say that, in obeying the King's instructions, thou hastdisappointed his expectations in a manner that thou mightst have smartedfor, but that subsequent events have made thy bull headed fidelity seemlike good service."

  "I understand you not, my lord," said Quentin Durward, "all I know isthat my master King Louis sent me to protect these ladies, and that Idid so accordingly, to the extent of my ability, both in the journeyto Schonwaldt, and through the subsequent scenes which took place. Iunderstood the instructions of the King to be honourable, and I executedthem honourably; had they been of a different tenor, they would not havesuited one of my name or nation."

  "Fier comme an Ecossois," said Charles, who, however disappointed atthe tenor of Durward's reply, was not unjust enough to blame him forhis boldness. "But hark thee, Archer, what instructions were thosewhich made thee, as some sad fugitives from Schonwaldt have informedus, parade the streets of Liege, at the head of those mutineers, whoafterwards cruelly murdered their temporal Prince and spiritual Father?And what harangue was it which thou didst make after that murder wascommitted, in which you took upon you, as agent for Louis, to assumeauthority among the villains who had just perpetrated so great a crime?"

  "My lord," said Quentin, "there are many who could testify that Iassumed not the character of an envoy of France in the town of Liege,but had it fixed upon me by the obstinate clamours of the peoplethemselves, who refused to give credit to any disclamation which I couldmake. This I told to those in the service of the Bishop when I had mademy escape from the city, and recommended their attention to the securityof the Castle, which might have prevented the calamity and horror of thesucceeding night. It is, no doubt, true that I did, in the extremity ofdanger, avail myself of the influence which my imputed character gaveme, to save the Countess Isabelle, to protect my own life, and, so faras I could,
to rein in the humour for slaughter, which had already brokeout in so dreadful an instance. I repeat, and will maintain it withmy body, that I had no commission of any kind from the King of Francerespecting the people of Liege, far less instructions to instigate themto mutiny; and that, finally, when I did avail myself of that imputedcharacter, it was as if I had snatched up a shield to protect myself ina moment of emergency, and used it, as I should surely have done, forthe defence of myself and others, without inquiring whether I had aright to the heraldic emblazonments which it displayed."

  "And therein my young companion and prisoner," said Crevecoeur, unableany longer to remain silent, "acted with equal spirit and good sense;and his doing so cannot justly be imputed as blame to King Louis."

  There was a murmur of assent among the surrounding nobility, whichsounded joyfully in the ears of King Louis, whilst it gave no littleoffence to Charles. He rolled his eyes angrily around; and thesentiments so generally expressed by so many of his highest vassals andwisest councillors, would not perhaps have prevented his giving way tohis violent and despotic temper, had not De Comines, who foresaw thedanger, prevented it, by suddenly announcing a herald from the city ofLiege.

  "A herald from weavers and nailers!" exclaimed the Duke. "But admit himinstantly. By Our Lady, I will learn from this same herald somethingfarther of his employers' hopes and projects than this young FrenchScottish man at arms seems desirous to tell me!"