The Royal Pawn of Venice

by Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull

  XXXIII

  For the first time since the death of Janus, the magnificent hall of theUpper Court in the Palace of the Assizes was filled with a nobleassembly of Cyprian patricians who came in state, each with his train ofvassals, who were also privileged to enter the great judgment hall andwitness the imposing ceremony of the opening of the Court. Each baronwore at the point of his lance the small square banner with the deviceand color of his ancestral house and the motto, "_Cour, Coin, Justice_,"which was the privilege of his class, signifying that he was entitled toreceive homage and tribute from his vassals--his _hommes liges_ and hisserfs, and to render judgment upon their minor causes.

  The long arcaded corridors leading out to the court-yards of the palacewere thronged with serfs in attendance upon the knights and barons, andwith citizens who had no seat of right in the assembly; and beyond, fromthe court-yards, came the sound of the champing of steeds impatient forthe voice of their masters and chafing under the unwelcome restraint oftheir attendants, who kept up a ceaseless babel of adjuration andcoaxing.

  Every noble of Cyprus in sympathy with the present Government waswaiting with his vassals and suites in splendid array to pay his homageto the young Queen, who now first since the death of her child was toappear among them at a high function; there were others who, uncertainor careless of their sentiments had responded to the urgent invitationof the Council of the Realm, from no stronger motive than a mildcuriosity; and possibly a few had come with a wrathful determination tofind something to condemn in the bearing of the Queen that mightstimulate an organized opposition.

  Between the splendid shafts of the monoliths that rose like a Cyprianforest from the polished marble pavement, a vast company of thehierarchy of Cyprus--Greek, Latin, and Armenian, in rich sacerdotalvestments--were waiting to take part in the solemn ceremonial; for theroyal white-robed procession had already ascended the steps of the diaswhere the newly appointed Archbishop of Nikosia would offer his prayerof consecration and receive the pledge of the Queen faithfully to upholdthe laws of the Realm.

  The majestic martial music to which the procession had moved haddiminished to a dim, melodic undertone, over which the prayer of thePrimate rose and fell in swift, rhythmic periods--a litany of ascriptionand petition, to which the people, standing with faces towards the Eastand with outstretched hands, responded full-voiced.

  O Thou, God over all, great in Majesty and power, to Thee we ascribe allpraise!

  _To Thee we ascribe all praise!_

  O Thou, Lord of lords and King of kings, grant to Caterina, Sovereign ofthis Realm, grace and wisdom to rule her people.

  _Grace and wisdom to rule her people!_

  And grant to her, O Giver of all good, Thy benediction, with gladness!

  _Thy benediction, with gladness!_

  O Thou, Creator of Life and Immortality, Lord of the living and of thedead, grant that the soul of thy servant Janus may rest in peace!

  _May rest in peace!_

  O Thou, Holy and Ineffable, around whose throne the pure souls ofsinless little ones float as an effluence of Thy love, grant to the soulof our infant King, Thy joy perpetual.

  _Thy joy perpetual!_

  O Thou, supreme in justice, Ruler of all rulers and Judge of all men,grant to the rulers of this Court wisdom, that they may judgerighteously!

  _That they may judge righteously!_

  Yet, O Eternal Father, Thou who art merciful, grant us to temperjudgment with mercy.

  _Judgment with mercy!_

  Thou, who art Everlasting Truth, grant us to be true.

  _Grant us to be true!_

  And then, while the Archbishop was standing with hands outspread inbenediction over the kneeling throng, the music of a wonderful, rhythmic_Amen_, oft repeated, thrilled and throbbed from arch to arch.

  * * * * *

  How cruel the changes that had swept the island-kingdom since the lastHigh Court had assembled in this Council-Chamber! Their young andcharming monarch, in the very exuberance of life, had been summonedwithout warning to lay it down. His little child, the hope of the realm,had come and passed as swiftly as some fair vision of the night, leavingscarcely a trace of his short earthly career save in the heart of themother where its every memory would be cherished deathlessly. And fortheir fair young Queen, who stood among them widowed and childless--inlieu of the fulfilment of the radiant hopes which had brought herhither, there had been a pitiful record of conspiracy, betrayal andcaptivity.

  These memories smote upon the nobler souls in the throng, moving them tocompassion and admiration; for what knight among them could more bravelyhave borne such suffering and thwarting?

  But Caterina, in trailing garments glistening like the snows of Troodos,stood like a queenly lily among her white-robed maids of honor, exaltedby the solemnity of the service and looking deep into the heart of herlife-problems--ignoring self and contests--dreaming only of duty and theachievement that her people's love might render possible.

  They had feared to see her in mourning robes, with a woful court abouther,--trembling, sorrow-weighted, pitiful and unimpressive; and a lowmurmur of admiration just stirred the hush of the chamber as she tookher place under the royal canopy and turned to confront the greatassembly--the strength of suffering and resolve in the beautifulunsmiling face, which yet seemed to promise and crave for love--to pleadwith them for their allegiance.

  She stood so for a moment, quite still; then she stretched out both armsto them with a sudden impulse.

  "_My people!_" she said brokenly.

  Her voice thrilled them, and they answered with a burst of loyalty warmenough to screen the silence of those who took no part in the gratefulchorus.

  She only bowed her head in acknowledgment, struggling with her emotion:then moving a little aside, she laid her hand upon the arm of thealabaster seat that Janus had been wont to use,--it was filled withlilies in memory of the infant King and guarded by the group ofwhite-clad pages who should have been his knights. And now, as if thetouch gave her courage, her voice came clear and unwavering.

  "_My people!_" she said again, lingering on the words as if the claimwere inexpressibly dear to her; "because ye were _his_ people--myhusband's--the King's: because ye should have been _his_--my little,little son's;--_because they have left me their work to do_."

  She paused for a moment to steady her voice, for a sudden desperatesense of loneliness and self-pity had overpowered her as she looked intothe sea of faces turned to hers and saw--with the intense spiritualinsight granted to the few in crucial moments--the conflicting emotionswith which they regarded her.

  Then, as swiftly, there flashed into her recollection the memory of thescene in Venice, on the day of her betrothal, when there had beenrevealed to her the sacredness of the tie possible between a Queen andher people--a vision of the holy, surging, passionate mother-love,adequate to all sacrifice. Surely for these days of her desolation thatearly vision had been granted; and with the force of a heavenly messageits memory now brought her strength.

  The appeal in her eyes deepened, and the lines of her mouth grew moretender, while she held herself firmly erect,--as one accustomed torule,--and the tones of her voice took on the accent of unquestionedauthority.

  "Dear people of Cyprus," she said quite calmly, "I _need_ yourlove--that together we may rule wisely."

  She had not dreamed that ever again she should taste so dear a joy ascame with the sound of this tumultuous response to her appeal; for thehearts of the nobles had warmed to her, and a wave of compunction andloyalty swept the assembly.

  As she took her seat upon the throne and gave the signal to open thecourt, the light in her face was a radiance beautiful to behold.

  * * * * *

  "Bow down before the Majesty of the Law!" His Grace the Archbishop,solemnly proclaimed, while two priests from Santa Soffia stepped forthfrom under the arcades, reverently carrying the illuminated MS. of theEvangel which had been the treasure of thei
r monastery from earliestages; and behind them came others of their brotherhood bearing thequaint, copper casket in which were enshrined those revered Books of theLaw known as the "_Assizes of Jerusalem_," and esteemed among all thecodes of the nations for their wisdom and justice.

  The ancient volumes which bore this title had long since disappeared, inthe destruction of Jerusalem; and tradition, prone to assign towell-known authors of illustrious deeds many good feats accomplished bythose who remain nameless, had ascribed the compilation of this earlymasterpiece of judicial wisdom to Godfrey de Bouillon. It had beensacredly kept in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem andguarded by a decree ordaining that it should not be opened except in thepresence of certain high officials.

  Upon the maxims of this ancient work, faithfully digested in the famouslaw-schools of Nikosia by their greatest scholars, the present volume ofAssizes had been founded; and among those most largely concerned in itsauthorship was Joan of Iblin--the distinguished ancestor of DamaMargherita.

  Dama Margherita had never been present when the volume was opened, forlike the famous code which had preceded it, it was hedged about withsolemn formalities and might not be unsealed save in the presence of theSovereign and four barons of the realm; and she leaned eagerly forwardas the herald, who parted the crowd before the bearers of the sacredchest reiterated again and again the command:

  "Bow down before the Majesty of the Law!"

  The little procession proceeded slowly through the intricacies of thethrong, all heads bowing as they passed, until they brought it under thedome that was raised over the dias where the thrones were set for theSovereigns, and where, looking upward, one might read in great goldencharacters, wrought above the frieze, this admonition from the Book ofthe Law:

  _Whoever shall appear in this Court and bear false witness, be he thenoblest in the land, he shall lose his head._

  The Queen, to show her reverence, had risen from her throne as theypaused before her, and descending the steps she laid her hand upon theEvangel, where His Grace the Archbishop held open the page for her, andkneeling to kiss the venerated Book of the Assizes, she solemnly sworeto uphold the laws and statutes of Cyprus.

  * * * * *

  But this day was destined to become memorable in the annals of thecourts.

  There had been some disputes and decrees of minor interest to be passedupon before the matter of the recent conspiracy had been broughtforward. This had absorbed the attention of the most learned Cyprian menat law for some time past, and at this first session of the Court ofAssizes, the summing up of evidence and the closing arguments were to belaid before the tribunal and sentence would be declared. The revelationsof the trial had thus far been kept secret--but it was known from othersources that the identity of many of those implicated had beendiscovered, and an important prisoner, who was supposed to have had alarge share in shaping the plot, was to be brought into court to closeher trial.

  It was she, they said, who, trusted near the person of Her Majesty,having full opportunity of access to those highest in authority and offriendly intercourse with all the ancient Cyprian nobility, had beenchosen by the chiefs of the conspiracy to receive and transmit theirorders covertly; to win converts for the scheme, wherever there might behope of partisans, and to protect their plans from suspicion. The chargewas "High Treason," for it was whispered that the seizure of thestrongholds was but to have been a step toward the seizure of the Crown,and this leader came of an ambitious race, than which no family ofCyprus could boast a more ancient lineage.

  In the innermost circle about the Queen, whatever the suspicions of themaids and knights might have been, the name of this arch-offender wasnot even whispered: for their dear Queen herself, with eyes that weredark with emotion, had pleaded with them.

  "For love of me, seek not to know until her innocence or guilt shall bedeclared. If she should be innocent--which may our Blessed Ladygrant!--let us save her from dishonor in thought and name."

  But one of their number had been long absent, on a visit, it had beendeclared, to her distant estates; and if some who came less frequentlyto court, named the name of "Madama di Niuna" over-curiously, thecourtiers turned their faces from each other, lest their eyes shouldbetray the request of their beloved Sovereign Lady--for so had hermisfortunes and her graces and high demeanor won their loyalty.

  The prisoner stood before her judges, when they led her into the Hall ofthe Assizes, mercifully swathed from head to foot in the filmy silkenveil usually worn by the women of Nikosia; but through the snowy foldswhich concealed the features, there came the gleam of the fantasticjewelled garb, and the lines of the pose--proudly defiant--were plainlydiscernible--it could be none other than the young and beautiful andhigh-born Dama Ecciva de Montferrat.

  The young maids of honor turned sad eyes upon each other, each seekingto touch the hand of her nearest companion, by way of assurance, whileall waited, in a stress of suspense that was near despair.

  Throughout the trial, the splendid assembly followed every phase withbreathless attention, yet with conflicting emotions,--for the prisonerwas one of their peers and all felt the case to be momentous; while, asthe masterly arguments proceeded, and the evidence seemed irrefutable,perhaps few among them could have determined how it should be mostwisely decided, in view of the waverings and discontent which hadthreatened to undermine the Government.

  And now the judges and the learned men had withdrawn for privateconsultation, and the assembly waited for the verdict in a hush throughwhich one might have counted the heart-beats sounding in tumultuousrhythm; but the girlish prisoner still kept her defiantattitude--tapping the pavement impatiently with her tiny booted foot--asmaking light of any crime that might be imputed to Dama Ecciva deMontferrat.

  Then, more swiftly than one might tell it, a blaze of irrepressiblehuman passion broke upon the decorous quiet of the Chamber; the noblessprang to their feet, struggling for expression; for the awfulannouncement "_Guilty_," although they had awaited it, brought a suddendesperate realization of the fearful consequences, as, almost withoutpause, the penalty was declared and a piercing shriek rent the air.

  "Not _death!_--Holy Saints--NOT DEATH!"

  They could see the sinuous figure writhing and panting convulsivelyunder her wrappings, then tearing her veil like a frenzied woman, as shesank fainting upon the pavement; and the crowd made way in awe-strucksilence for the Lady Beata with the maidens of the court who closedabout the tortured figure in shielding ministration.

  A stately patrician robed in black, fought her way through the excitedthrong to the steps of the throne, and threw herself at the feet of theQueen.

  "Have mercy!" she cried; "she is too young to die! Take my life forhers--_she is my child!_"

  A messenger was crossing the chamber from the judge's throne, bearing aparchment tied in black, a portentous seal depending from the ribbon. Itwas the first time that a death-warrant had been presented for theQueen's signature, and she was visibly agitated.

  The agonized mother at her feet kept up her passionate entreaties.

  Caterina started up pale and trembling, holding out her hand to thekneeling figure and drawing her forward:

  "Counts and Barons of the Realm, Judges of the Court and all ye peoplewho look to us for protection! We have sworn before you all to upholdthe laws of Cyprus--we will not fail you!" she protested. "Yet, oh I begyou to remember that together in this Chamber we have prayed to-day thatwe might temper judgment with mercy!--_Let us not sign it!_"

  A low murmur of sympathy echoed through the assembly, half-assenting,and Caterina, perceiving it hurried on.

  "Let us rule together wisely," she besought them, "and for the honor ofCyprus! Let it not be told that our first meeting in this noble assemblyhath been darkened by a sentence of death upon one of our own nobles!Madonna mia! Grant us to be merciful--spare the noble house ofMontferrat; let the penalty be exile!"

  There was a confused murmur in the Hall of the Assizes:
disjointed wordspunctuated the low babel of sounds: "Exile!" "Exile with confiscation!""Death!" "Mercy!" "Death and Confiscation."

  They scarcely knew whether they prayed for death or mercy, or whether intheir souls they wished for justice or pardon, for the question was tooweighty to be solved by law, since a nation's peace might hang upon it.They knew not if they saw distinctly, for the mist that seemed to cloudtheir vision--a mist enfolding two women like a halo--the one tall,black-robed, superb in anguish, with pathetic lines of age upon her hairand brow, and in her eyes, darker than night, such frenzy ofsupplication as one may only offer for a dearer than self: the otheryoung, tender, fair--all compassion, divine in forgiveness andcomprehension--for were they not both mothers, and had she not sufferedthe irreparable loss that she might learn to shield grievingmother-hearts? She held the Countess of Montferrat closely clasped as ifshe would sustain her in her trouble.

  "_Not_ confiscation!" she pleaded. "Hath not this mother enough tosuffer in knowing that her child hath missed the highest trust? Shall weadd this also to her pain, and take from her the estates which have beenthe home of her people for long ages? Shall she not take the vow offealty to the State, instead of her child? And for the Dama Ecciva--wegrieve that it must be exile--yet the safety of the Crown demandeth it.Be merciful--dear people!"

  It was a woman's reason--but a woman's heart, stronger than law orprecedent, had won the day.