The Constant Prince

by Mrs. Molesworth

theseInfidel places, _I_ came to take care of Fernando."

  "Indeed," said Enrique; "I thought you woke me to take care of you.However 'tis small blame to you to have been puzzled."

  Joao, not finding an answer ready, applied himself to trying to catchthe parrots, and pursued them on to the balcony, while Enrique lookedthoughtfully and curiously round the strange scene which he had enteredin the dark two or three hours before. Presently he looked at Fernando,and smiled.

  "So," he said, "Ceuta, praise be to God, is ours, fortress and all, forZala-ben-Zala fled in the night, and before I came here Duarte and Pedrowere there in command. It was your words, Fernando, that set us on thistrack."

  Fernando blushed deeply. "Enrique," he said, "I am not a goodChristian, and I shall never be like the holy martyrs."

  "Why not!" said Enrique. "I do not wonder that the chattering parrotfrightened you."

  "No; but I thought I would do anything in the world to win Ceuta to be aChristian city, and the day our mother was buried, while we knelt in theabbey at Batalha, I made a vow that I would give up my life to convertthe Infidel, to win the world back to holy Church."

  "I think," said Enrique, "that you are too young to make vows save withyour confessor's permission, or what holy Church ordains for you."

  "That is what Father Jose said, when I told him what I had done. Hebade me prepare myself by prayer and obedience for whatever life Godmight send me. But I did make the vow, Enrique, and I shall keep it. Ithought--and this is what I want to tell you--that it would be quiteeasy, for I thought I cared more about it than about anything in theworld."

  "Well," said Enrique, as Fernando paused, faltering, but with his greatardent eyes fixed on his brother, "surely it is not now in the hour oftriumph that you change your mind?"

  "No; but dear Enrique, when I thought you dead, I did not care at allabout Ceuta: I would have given it back to save you! Was that wrong?"

  How little Enrique thought, as he listened with tender indulgence to hislittle brother's troubled conscience, with what awful force thatquestion would one day ring in his own ears. Now he put it aside.

  "If we were fighting side by side, Fernando, we should not hold eachother back; but if it were easy to imitate the holy martyrs, they wouldthe less have deserved their crowns. If we would seek any objectearnestly, we most count the cost. But it was ill-managed that youshould have had such an alarm. Never heed it. I am safe, and Ceuta_is_ ours, and _will_ be a Christian city soon. And now I must go tomake all due arrangements; for we must confess our sins and prepareourselves for the knighthood that is to come at last."

  Fernando looked after him with admiring envy, as he pictured to himselfa future day, when he and Joao should head such another expedition, andbe themselves the heroes of it. But all vain-glorious thoughts receiveda rebuke when he heard Duarte and Pedro petition their father, thatsince Enrique had certainly distinguished himself the most in theattack, he might receive the honour of knighthood _first_, before hiselder brothers.

  The King replied that he owed so much to his son Enrique, that he waswilling to grant this request; but Enrique refused, saying that therights of seniority should be respected; he would rather be knighted inhis turn after his brothers.

  So the next morning beheld a wonderful and glorious sight. Over thefortress of Ceuta hung the Portuguese colours; instead of the Crescenton the great mosque was to be seen a golden Cross. Within all traces ofthe Mohammedan ritual had been swept away, an altar which, with all itsfurniture, had been brought from Lisbon, was erected, and instead of theturbans and the bare feet of the Mussulman worshippers were the clankingspurs and uncovered heads of the Christians; while, most wonderful ofall, the sweet peal of Catholic bells for the first time woke the echoesof the Moorish city. [A fact.] For the conquerors had actuallydiscovered, stowed away in the mosque, a peal of imprisoned bells,doubtless carried off from some sea-side church by the pirates of Ceuta.

  Then after high Mass had been duly performed, with all the ceremonypossible under the circumstances, one by one, Duarte, Pedro, and Enriquestepped forward, and were knighted by their father before the altar ofthe new Christian church. Nobly had their desire been fulfilled; theyhad proved their courage, and in a noble cause.

  All this time bands of Moorish people were pouring unmolested out of thegates of the city, great numbers choosing rather to go than to stay; andin the darkness, when the gates were closed, they came back and beatwildly against them with outcries of anguish and despair.

  "Oh, why will not they stay and become Christians?" cried Fernando,bursting into tears, as he listened to their lamentations.

  "That is not to be expected," said Enrique; "but now we have drawn theirfangs for them. More than half their detestable privateers sailed fromthis port. It is in our hands, and we can penetrate into the unknownworld beyond, and from hence send out missionaries among the people.That is what I mean to do."

  "All is not gained by the taking of Ceuta," said Fernando, dreamily.

  "No," returned Enrique, "we cannot gain in a day objects which need thedevotion of our lives."

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  THE TWIN SISTERS.

  "Against injustice, fraud, or wrong, His blood beat high, his hand waxed strong."

  Twelve or thirteen years after the taking of Ceuta a little group wasassembled in the central court of a handsome house in Lisbon. This openspace was indeed the summer sitting-room of the family; the sleepingapartments and the great entrance hall opened into it. Large orange,citron, and pomegranate-trees, were ranged round the marble pavement,and filled the air with their fragrance, while in the centre was alittle fountain falling into a carved basin. An awning was palledacross the top to exclude the sun, and a few seats and coaches werearranged round the fountain. On one of these sat a tall man in theprime of life dressed in deep mourning. Several women, one prepared fora journey, were standing near, and also a couple of men-servants. Infront of the gentleman, hand-in-hand stood two little girls of seven oreight years old. They were dressed in black, with little black hoodstied over their light-brown hair, which hang down in long curls beneath;they had fair, rosy faces and large grey eyes, out of which they werestaring with an expression of alarmed solemnity. Poor little things!They were as merry-hearted a pair as ever made home cheerful, by chatterand laughter and pattering feet; but life looked very serious to themthen, for they were about to be sent away from home, their mother'srecent death having left them with no efficient female protector.

  The gay young Walter Northberry, who had been attached to Dom Enrique'ssuite at the time of the taking of Ceuta, had some time after marriedMistress Eleanor Norbury, a lady whose father, like his own, hadfollowed Queen Philippa from England; and on her death he had resolvedon sending her little twin daughters to be educated by his Englishrelations. His own habits were not such as made it easy for him tobring up his little girls at home, and he was jealous enough of theirnationality not to wish to send them to any of the Lisbon convents,where all their training must have been Portuguese. So having receivedaffectionate offers from his brother, who represented the old family inEngland, the little maidens were to be sent under fitting escort toNorthberry Manor House, in Devonshire. Communications were frequentbetween the two countries, and there was no difficulty in arranging fortheir journey.

  "Well, Kate and Nell," the father said, "it's a hard matter to part withyou after all, my pretty blossoms. Be good maids, and obey your aunt,and soon, maybe, I'll come and see you, and my father's country too."

  "We want to stay at home," said Nell, with a pout, and with a tone ofdecision.

  "Father, keep us?" said Kate more softly, with her big eyes full.

  "No, no, my pretty ones," said Walter Northberry, wiping his own eyes;"'tis a fine place you are going to see; come along."

  He held out his arms, and the two little black-frocked things spranginto them, clinging round his neck and crying.

  "Come--come. Is the litter ready, else I shall be too lat
e to get youaboard Dom Manuel's ship? But hark! who comes? 'Tis my lord theInfante himself."

  Sir Walter set down his daughters, who retreated, hand-in-hand, under agreat orange-tree; while their father rose and went to the door, as heheard horses stopping without. In a few moments he returned,accompanied by a tall, slender young man, dressed in black velvet, witha red cross on his breast. Fernando of Avis, as he was called, since,like his father, he was Grand-Master of the Order of Avis, had led,during the twelve years since the taking of Ceuta, neither an idle nor auseless life, but his boyish ambition was still unsatisfied; he hadstruck no blow against the Infidel power, led no armies to battle, andwon no triumphs. His health had always been so delicate, and he wassubject to such long attacks of