The Captain of the Janizaries
Page 30
CHAPTER XXX.
The house of Phranza was rather a series of houses built about asquare court, in which were parterres of rarest plants, divided fromeach other by walks of variegated marble, and moistened by the sprayof fountains.
Morsinia's palanquin was let down just within the gateway. A youngwoman assisted her to alight, and conducted her to apartmentselegantly furnished with all that could please a woman's eye, thoughshe were the reigning beauty of a court, instead of one brought up asa peasant in a distant province, and largely ignorant of the arts ofthe toilet. She was bewildered with the strangeness of hersurroundings, and sat down speechless upon the cushion to gaze abouther. Was she herself? It required the remembrance that Constantine wassomewhere near her to enable her to realize her own identity, and thatshe had not been changed by some fairy's wand into a real princess.
"Will my lady rest?" said the attendant, in softest Greek.
Morsinia was familiar with this language, which was used more or lesseverywhere in Servia and Albania; but she had never heard it spokenwith such sweetness. The words would have been restful to hear, thoughshe had not understood their meaning. Without hesitation she resignedherself to the hands of the servant, who relieved her of her outerapparel. Another maiden brought a tray of delicate wafers of wheat,and flasks of light wine, with figs and dates. A curtain in the wall,being drawn, exposed the bath; a great basin of mottled marble, and alittle fountain scattering a spray scented with roses.
Morsinia began to fear that she had been mistaken for some great lady,whose wardrobe was expected to be brought in massive chests, and whosepersonal ornaments would rival the toilet treasures of the Queen ofSheba. There entered opportunely several tire-women, laden with silksand linens, laces and shawls, every portion of female attire, in everyvariety of color and shape--from the strong buskin to the gauze veilso light that it will hide from the eye less than it reveals to theimagination.
The guest was about to question her attendants, when one gave her anote, hastily written by Constantine, and simply saying--
"Be surprised at nothing." Phranza had expressed to Constantine thedeep interest of the emperor in the career of Scanderbeg, and hisplans for Morsinia.
"Scanderbeg," said he, "is the one hero of our degenerate age; theonly arm not beaten nerveless by the blows of the Turk. I have askednothing concerning yourself, my young man; nor need I know more thanthat such a chieftain is interested in you and your charge. Your greatcaptain informs me (reading from a letter), that any service we mayrender you here will be counted as service to Albania; and that anyfavor we may bestow upon the lady will be as if shown to his ownchild. Is she of any kin to him?"
"I may not speak of that," replied the youth, "except to tell that herblood is noble, and that General Castriot has made her safety hiscare. An Albanian needs but to know that this is the will of ourloving and wise chieftain, to defend Morsinia with his life."
"You speak her name with familiarity," said Phranza.
"It is the custom of our people," replied Constantine, coloring. "Thetrials of our country have thrown nobles and peasants into moreintimate relations than would perhaps be allowed in a settledcondition. This, too, may have influenced General Castriot in sendingher here, where her life may be more suitable to her gentle blood."
"It is enough!" exclaimed Phranza. "If our distance from Albania, andour own pressing difficulties and dangers do not allow us to send aidto your hero, we can show him our respect and gratitude by treatingher, whom he would have as his child, as if she were our own. And nowfor yourself--well! you shall have what, if I mistake you not, yourdiscreet mind and lusty muscles most crave--an opportunity 'to winyour spurs,' as the western knights would say. Events are thickeninginto a crash, the out-come of which no one can foresee, except thatthe Moslem or the Christian shall hold all from the Euxine to theAdriatic. This double empire cannot long exist. Scanderbeg's armsalone are keeping the Sultan from trying again the strength of ourwalls. A disaster there; an assault here! You serve the one causewhether here or there."
"I give my fealty to the emperor as I would to my general," repliedthe young man warmly.
Constantine found himself arrayed before night in the costume of asubaltern officer of the imperial guard, and assigned to quarters atthe barracks in the section of the city near to the house of thechamberlain. His brief training under the eye of Castriot, and hishazardous service, had developed his great natural talent forsoldiership into marvellous acquirements for one of his years. Withthe foils, in the saddle, in mastery of tactics, in engineeringability displayed at the walls--which were being constantlystrengthened--he soon took rank with the most promising. By courtesyof the chamberlain he was allowed the freest communication withMorsinia, and was often the guest of her host; especially uponexcursions of pleasure up the Golden Horn to the "Sweet Waters," alongthe western shore of the Bosphorus, to the Princess Island, and suchother spots on the sea of Marmora as were uninfested by piraticalTurks.
Morsinia became the favorite not only of the wife of Phranza, but ofthe ladies of the court, and the object of especial devotion on thepart of the nobles and officers of the emperor's suite.
But it would have required more saintliness of female disposition thanwas ever found in the court of a Byzantine emperor, to have smotheredthe fires of jealousy, when, at a banquet given at the palace,Morsinia was placed at the emperor's right hand. It might not be justto Phranza to say that to his suggestion was due the praise ofMorsinia's beauty and queenly bearing, which the emperor overheardfrom many of the courtiers' lips. Perhaps the charms of her personforced this spontaneous commendation from them: as it was asserted bysome of the more elderly of the ladies--whom long study had madeproficient in the art of reading kings' hearts from their faces, thatthe monarch found an Esther in the Albanian.
The reigning beauty at the court of Constantine Palaelogus at this timewas the daughter of a Genoese admiral. Though not reputed foramiability, she won the friendship of Morsinia by many delicateattentions. Gifts of articles of dress, ornaments and such souvenirsas only one woman can select for another, seemed to mark herincreasing attachment. A box of ebony, richly inlaid with mother ofpearl, and filled with delicious confections, was one day the offeringupon the shrine of her sisterly regard. The wife of Phranza, in whosepresence the box was opened, on learning the name of the donor,besought Morsinia not to taste the contents; and giving a candied figto a pet ape, the brute sickened and died before the night.
An event contributed to the rumors which associated the name of thefair Albanian with the special favors of the emperor. An embassagefrom the Doge of Venice had brightened the harbor with their galleys.A gondola sheathed in silver, floated upon the waters of the GoldenHorn, like a white swan, and was moored at the foot of the palacegarden--the gift of the Doge. Another, its counterpart, was in theharbor of Venice--the possession of the daughter of the Doge; butwaiting to join its companion, if the imperial heart could bepersuaded to accept with it the person of its princely owner. Betterthan the ideal marriage of Venice with the sea--the ceremony of whichwas annually observed--would be the marriage of the two seas, theAdriatic and the AEgean; and the reunion of their families of confluentwaters under the double banner of St. Mark and Byzantium. But theGrand Duke Lucas Notaris, who was also grand admiral of the empire,declared openly that he would sooner hold alliance with the Turk thanwith a power representing that schismatic Latin Church. The hereditarynobles protested against such a menace to social order as, in theirestimate, a recognition of a republic like Venice would be. But it wasbelieved that more potent in its influence over the emperor than theseoutcries, was the whisper of Phranza that the silver gondola of Venicewas fairer than its possessor; and that queenly beauty awaitedelsewhere the imperial embrace.
No habitue of the court knew less of this gossip than Morsiniaherself; nor did she suspect any unusual attention paid her by theemperor to be other than an expression of regard for Castriot, whoseward she was known to be. Or if, when they were alone,
his mannerbetrayed a fondness, she attributed it to his natural kindliness ofdisposition, or to that desire for recreation which persons in middlelife, burdened with cares, find in the society of the young andbeautiful; for no purpose of modesty could hide from Morsinia theknowledge which her mirror revealed. She had, too, the highest respectfor the piety of the emperor; the deepest sympathy with him in hisdistress for the evils which were swarming about his realm; and a trueadmiration for the courage of heart with which he bore up againstthem. It was therefore with a commingling of religious, patriotic,and personal interest that she gave herself up to his entertainmentwhenever he sought her society. That she might understand him thebetter, and be able to converse with him, she learned from Phranzamuch of the history of recent movements, both without and within theempire. So expert had she become in these matters that the chamberlainplayfully called her his prime minister.