Chivalry

by James Branch Cabell

  And in place of that monstrous passion which had at first view of herpossessed the priest, now, like a sheltered taper, glowed an adorationwhich yearned, in mockery of common-sense, to suffer somehow for thisbeautiful and gracious comrade; though very often a sudden pity for herloneliness and the knowledge that she dared trust no one save himselfwould throttle him like two assassins and move the hot-blooded youngman to an exquisite agony of self-contempt and exultation.

  Now Maudelain made excellent songs, it was a matter of common report.Yet but once in their close friendship had the Queen commanded him tomake a song for her. This had been at Dover, about vespers, in thestarved and tiny garden overlooking the English Channel, upon which herapartments faced; and the priest had fingered his lute for anappreciable while before he sang, a thought more harshly than was hiscustom.

  Sang Maudelain;

  "_Ave Maria! now cry we so That see night wake and daylight go._

  "_Mother and Maid, in nothing incomplete, This night that gathers is more light and fleet Than twilight trod alway with stumbling feet, Agentes uno animo._

  "_Ever we touch the prize we dare not take! Ever we know that thirst we dare not slake! And ever to a dreamed-of goal we make-- Est caeli in palatio!_

  "_Yet long the road, and very frail are we That may not lightly curb mortality, Nor lightly tread together silently, Et carmen unum facio:_

  "_Mater, ora filium, Ut post hoc exilium Nobis donet gaudium Beatorum omnium!_"

  Dame Anne had risen. She said nothing. She stayed in this posture fora lengthy while, reeling, one hand yet clasping either breast. Morelately she laughed, and began to speak of Long Simon's recent fever.Was there no method of establishing him in another cottage? No, thepriest said, the villiens, like the cattle, were by ordinary deededwith the land.

  One day, about the hour of prime, in that season of the year whenfields smell of young grass, the Duke of Gloucester sent for EdwardMaudelain. The court was then at Windsor. The priest came quickly tohis patron. He found the Duke in company with Edmund of York and blandHarry of Derby, John of Gaunt's oldest son. Each was a proud andhandsome man. To-day Gloucester was gnawing at his finger nails, bigYork seemed half-asleep, and the Earl of Derby patiently to awaitsomething as yet ineffably remote.

  "Sit down!" snarled Gloucester. His lean and evil countenance was thatof a tired devil. The priest obeyed, wondering so high an honor shouldbe accorded him in the view of three great noblemen. Then Gloucestersaid, in his sharp way: "Edward, you know, as England knows, the King'sintention toward us three and our adherents. It has come to ourdemolishment or his. I confess a preference in the matter. I haveconsulted with the Pope concerning the advisability of taking the crowninto my own hands. Edmund here does not want it, and John is alreadyachieving one in Spain. Eh, in imagination I was already King ofEngland, and I had dreamed-- Well! to-day the prosaic courier arrived.Urban--the Neapolitan swine!--dares give me no assistance. It isdecreed I shall never reign in these islands. And I had dreamed--Meanwhile, de Vere and de la Pole are at the King day and night, urgingrevolt. Within the week the three heads of us will embellish TempleBar. You, of course, they will only hang."

  "We must avoid England, then, my noble patron," the priest considered.

  Angrily the Duke struck a clenched fist upon the table. "By the Cross!we remain in England, you and I and all of us. Others avoid. The Popeand the Emperor will have none of me. They plead for the BlackPrince's heir, for the legitimate heir. Dompnedex! they shall havehim!"

  Maudelain recoiled, for he thought this twitching man insane.

  "Besides, the King intends to take from me my fief at Sudbury," saidthe Duke of York, "in order he may give it to de Vere. That is bothabsurd and monstrous and abominable."

  Openly Gloucester sneered. "Listen!" he rapped out toward Maudelain;"when they were drawing up the Great Peace at Bretigny, it happened, asis notorious, that the Black Prince, my brother, wooed in this town theDemoiselle Alixe Riczi, whom in the outcome he abducted. It is not asgenerally known, however, that, finding this sister of the Vicomte doMontbrison a girl of obdurate virtue, he had prefaced the action bymarriage."

  "And what have I to do with all this?" said Edward Maudelain.

  Gloucester retorted: "More than you think. For she was conveyed toChertsey, here in England, where at the year's end she died inchildbirth. A little before this time had Sir Thomas Holland seen hislast day--the husband of that Joane of Kent whom throughout life mybrother loved most marvellously. The disposition of the lateQueen-Mother is tolerably well-known. I make no comment save that toher moulding my brother was as so much wax. In fine, the two loverswere presently married, and their son reigns to-day in England. Theabandoned son of Alixe Riczi was reared by the Cistercians at Chertsey,where some years ago I found you--sire."

  He spoke with a stifled voice, and wrenching forth each sentence; andnow with a stiff forefinger flipped a paper across the table. "_Inextremis_ my brother did far more than confess. He signed--yourGrace," said Gloucester. The Duke on a sudden flung out his hands,like a wizard whose necromancy fails, and the palms were bloodied wherehis nails had cut the flesh.

  "Moreover, my daughter was born at Sudbury," said the Duke of York.

  And of Maudelain's face I cannot tell you. He made pretence to readthe paper carefully, but ever his eyes roved, and he knew that he stoodamong wolves. The room was oddly shaped, with eight equal sides; theceiling was of a light and brilliant blue, powdered with many goldenstars, and the walls were hung with smart tapestries which commemoratedthe exploits of Theseus. "King," this Maudelain said aloud, "of Franceand England, and Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine! I perceivethat Heaven loves a jest." He wheeled upon Gloucester and spoke withsingular irrelevance: "And the titular Queen?"

  Again the Duke shrugged. "I had not thought of the dumb wench. Wehave many convents."

  And now Maudelain twisted the paper between his long, wet fingers andappeared to meditate.

  "It would be advisable, your Grace," observed the Earl of Derby,suavely, and breaking his silence for the first time, "that yourselfshould wed Dame Anne, once the Apostolic See has granted the necessarydispensation. Treading too close upon the impendent death of ournominal lord the so-called King, the foreign war perhaps necessitatedby her exile would be highly inconvenient."

  Then these three princes rose and knelt before the priest; in longbright garments they were clad, and they glittered with gold and manyjewels, what while he standing among them shuddered in his sombre robe."Hail, King of England!" cried these three.

  "Hail, ye that are my kinsmen!" he answered; "hail, ye that spring ofan accursed race, as I! And woe to England for that fearful hourwherein Foulques the Querulous held traffic with a devil and on herbegot the first of us Plantagenets! Of ice and of lust and ofhell-fire are all we sprung; old records attest it; and fickle and coldand ravenous and without shame are we Plantagenets until the end. Ofyour brother's dishonor ye make merchandise to-day, and to-dayfratricide whispers me, and leers, and, Heaven help me! I attend. OGod of Gods! wilt Thou dare bid a man live stainless, having aforetimefilled his veins with such a venom? Then haro, will I cry from Thydeepest hell... Nay, now let Lucifer rejoice for that his descendantsknow of what wood to make a crutch! You are very wise, my kinsmen.Take your measures, messieurs who are my kinsmen! Though were I anyother than a Plantagenet, with what expedition would I now kill youthat recognize the strength to do it! then would I slay you! withoutany animosity, would I slay you then, and just as I would kill as manysplendid snakes!"

  "'HAIL YE THAT ARE MY KINSMEN!'" _Painting by HowardPyle_]

  He went away, laughing horribly. Gloucester drummed upon the table,his brows contracted. But the lean Duke said nothing; big York seemedto drowse; and Henry of Derby smiled as he sounded a gong for thatscribe who would draw up the necessary letters. The Earl's time wasnot yet come, but it was nearing.
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br />   In the antechamber the priest encountered two men-at-arms dragging adead body from the castle. The Duke of Kent, Maudelain was informed,had taken a fancy to a peasant girl, and in remonstrance her misguidedfather had actually tugged at his Grace's sleeve.

  Maudelain went first into the park of Windsor, where he walked for along while alone. It was a fine day in the middle spring; and now heseemed to understand for the first time how fair his England was. Forentire England was his splendid fief, held in vassalage to God and tono man alive, his heart now sang; allwhither his empire spread, opulentin grain and metal and every revenue of the earth, and in stalwart men(his chattels), and in strong orderly cities, where the windows wouldbe adorned with scarlet hangings, and women (with golden hair and redlax lips) would presently admire as King Edward rode slowly by at thehead of a resplendent retinue. And always the King would bow,graciously and without haste, to his shouting people.... He laughed tofind himself already at rehearsal of the gesture.

  It was strange, though, that in this glorious fief of his so manypersons should, as yet, live day by day as cattle live, suspicious ofall other moving things (with reason), and roused from their incuriousand filthy apathy only when some glittering baron, like a resistlesseagle, swept uncomfortably near on some by-errand of the more brightand windy upper-world. East and north they had gone yearly, for somany centuries, these dumb peasants, like herded sheep, so that in theoutcome their carcasses might manure the soil of France yonder or ofmore barren Scotland. Give these serfs a king, now, who (beingabsolute), might dare to deal in perfect equity with rich and poor, whowith his advent would bring Peace into England as his bride, asTrygaeus did very anciently in Athens--"And then," the priestparaphrased, "may England recover all the blessings she has lost, andeverywhere the glitter of active steel will cease." For everywhere menwould crack a rustic jest or two, unhurriedly. The vivid fields wouldblacken under their sluggish ploughs, and they would find that withpractice it was almost as easy to chuckle as it was to cringe.

  Meanwhile on every side the nobles tyrannized in their degree, wellclothed and nourished, but at bottom equally comfortless in condition.As illuminate by lightning Maudelain saw the many factions of hisbarons squabbling for gross pleasures, like wolves over a corpse, andblindly dealing death to one another to secure at least one moredelicious gulp before that inevitable mangling by the teeth of someburlier colleague. The complete misery of England showed before himlike a winter landscape. The thing was questionless. He must treadhenceforward without fear among frenzied beasts, and to their ultimatewelfare. On a sudden Maudelain knew himself to be strong and admirablethroughout, and hesitancy ebbed.

  True, Richard, poor fool, must die. Squarely the priest faced thatstark and hideous circumstance; to spare Richard was beyond his power,and the boy was his brother; yes, this oncoming king would be in effecta fratricide, and after death irrevocably damned. To burn, andeternally to burn, and, worst of all, to know that the torment waseternal! ay, it would be hard; but, at the cost of one ignoble life andone inconsiderable soul, to win so many men to manhood bedazzled hisevery faculty, in anticipation of the exploit.

  The tale tells that Maudelain went toward the little garden he knew sowell which adjoined Dame Anne's apartments. He found the Queen there,alone, as nowadays she was for the most part, and he paused to wonderat her bright and singular beauty. How vaguely odd it was, hereflected, too, how alien in its effect to that of any other woman insturdy England, and how associable it was, somehow, with every wild andgracious denizen of the woods which blossomed yonder.

  In this place the world was all sunlight, temperate but undiluted.They had met in a wide, unshaded plot of grass, too short to ripple,which everywhere glowed steadily, like a gem. Right and left birdssang as in a contest. The sky was cloudless, a faint and radiant bluethroughout, save where the sun stayed as yet in the zenith, so that theQueen's brows cast honey-colored shadows upon either cheek. The priestwas greatly troubled by the proud and heatless brilliancies, the shrilljoys, of every object within the radius of his senses.

  She was splendidly clothed, in a kirtle of very bright green, tintedlike the verdancy of young ferns in sunlight, and over all a gown ofwhite, cut open on either side as far as the hips. This garment wasembroidered with golden leopards and trimmed with ermine. About heryellow hair was a chaplet of gold, wherein emeralds glowed. Her blueeyes were as large and bright and changeable (he thought) as two oceansin midsummer; and Maudelain stood motionless and seemed to himself butto revere, as the Earl Ixion did, some bright and never stable wisp ofcloud, while somehow all elation departed from him as water does from awetted sponge compressed. He laughed discordantly; but within themoment his sun-lit face was still and glorious, like that of an image.

  "Wait--! O my only friend--!" said Maudelain. Then in a level voicehe told her all, unhurriedly and without any sensible emotion.

  She had breathed once, with an aweful inhalation. She had screened hercountenance from his gaze what while you might have counted fifty.More lately the lithe body of Dame Anne was alert, as one suddenlyaroused from dreaming. "This means more war, for de Vere andTressilian and de la Pole and Bramber and others of the barons knowthat the King's fall signifies their ruin. Many thousands dieto-morrow."

  He answered, "It means a brief and cruel war."

  "In that war the nobles will ride abroad with banners and gay surcoats,and kill and ravish in the pauses of their songs; while daily in thatwar the naked peasants will kill the one the other, without knowingwhy."

  His thought had forerun hers. "Many would die, but in the end I wouldbe King, and the general happiness would rest at my disposal. Theadventure of this world is wonderful, and it goes otherwise than underthe strict tutelage of reason."

  "Not yours, but Gloucester's and his barons'. Friend, they would setyou on the throne to be their puppet and to move only as they pulledthe strings. Thwart them and they will fling you aside, as the baronshave dealt aforetime with every king that dared oppose them. Nay, theydesire to live pleasantly, to have fish o' Fridays, and white bread andthe finest wine the whole year through, and there is not enough forall, say they. Can you alone contend against them? and conquer them?then only do I bid you reign."

  The sun had grown too bright, too merciless, but as always she drew thetruth from him, even to his agony. "I cannot. I would not endure afortnight. Heaven help us, nor you nor I nor any one may transform ofany personal force this bitter time, this piercing, cruel day of frostand sun. Charity and Truth are excommunicate, and the King is only anadorned and fearful person who leads wolves toward their quarry, lest,lacking it, they turn and devour him. Everywhere the powerful labor toput one another out of worship, and each to stand the higher with theother's corpse as his pedestal; and always Lechery and Hatred swaythese proud and inconsiderate fools as winds blow at will the gayleaves of autumn. We but fight with gaudy shadows, we but aspire tooverpass a mountain of unstable sand! We two alone of all thescuffling world! Oh, it is horrible, and I think that Satan plans thejest! We dream a while of refashioning this bleak universe, and weknow that we alone can do it! and we are as demigods, you and I, inthose gallant dreams! and at the end we can but poultice some dirtyrascal!"

  The Queen answered sadly: "Once did God tread the tangible world, for avery little while, and, look you, to what trivial matters He devotedthat brief space! Only to chat with fishermen, and to reason with lostwomen, and habitually to consort with rascals, till at last He mightdie between two cutpurses, ignominiously! Were the considerate personsof His day moved at all by the death of this fanatic? I bid you nowenumerate through what long halls did the sleek heralds proclaim Hiscrucifixion! and the armament of great-jowled emperors that weredistraught by it?"

  He answered: "It is true. Of anise even and of cumin the Masterestimates His tithe--" Maudelain broke off with a yapping laugh."Puf! He is wiser than we. I am King of England. It is my heritage."

  "It means war. Many will die, many th
ousands will die, and to nobetterment of affairs."

  "I am King of England. I am Heaven's satrap here, and answerable toHeaven alone. It is my heritage." And now his large and cruel eyesflamed as he regarded her.

  And visibly beneath their glare the woman changed. "My friend, must Inot love you any longer? You would be content with happiness? I amjealous of that happiness! for you are the one friend that I have had,and so dear to me-- Look you!" she said, with a light, wistful laugh,"there have been times when I was afraid of everything you touched, andI hated everything you looked at. I would not have you stained; Idesired but to pass my whole life between the four walls of some dingyand eternal gaol, forever alone with you, lest you become as other men.I would in that period have been the very bread you eat, the leastperfume which delights you, the clod you touch in crushing it, andoften I have loathed some pleasure I derived from life because I mightnot transfer it to you undiminished. For I wanted somehow to make youhappy to my own anguish.... It was wicked, I suppose, for theimagining of it made me happy, too."

  Throughout she spoke as simply as a child.

  And beside him Maudelain's hands had fallen like so much lead, andremembering his own nature, he longed for annihilation only, before shehad appraised his vileness. In consequence he said: