Barbara Blomberg — Complete

by Georg Ebers

  CHAPTER II.

  Sleep also deserted the Emperor's couch. After his return from thefestival he tried to examine several documents which the secretaryGastelii had laid ready for him on the writing-table, but he could notsucceed. His thoughts constantly reverted to Barbara and her defiantrebellion against the distinct announcement of his will. Had the Dukeof Saxony, so much his junior and, moreover, a far handsomer and perhapsmore generous prince, won her favour, and therefore did she perhapsdesire to break the bond with him?

  Why not?

  She was a woman, and a capricious one, too, and of what would not sucha nature be capable? Besides, there was something else. Jamnitzer, theNuremberg goldsmith, had intrusted a casket of jewels to Adrian to keepduring his absence. They were intended for the diadems which the Emperorwas to give his two nieces for bridal presents. The principal gems amongthem were two rubies and a diamond. On the gold of the old-fashionedsetting were a P and an l, the initial letters of his motto "Plusultra." He had once had it engraved upon the back of the star which hebestowed upon Barbara. His keen eye and faithful memory could not bedeceived--Jamnitzer's jewels had been broken from that costly ornament.

  From time immemorial it had belonged to the treasures of his family, andhe had already doubted whether it was justifiable to give it away.

  Was it conceivable that Barbara had parted with this, his first memento,sold it, "turned it into money"?--the base words wounded his chivalroussoul like the blow of a scourge.

  She was a passionate, defiant, changeful creature, it is true, yet hernature was noble, hostile to baseness, and what a wealth of the purestand deepest feeling echoed in her execution of solemn songs! Thisinduced him to reject as impossible the suspicion that she could havestooped to anything so unworthy.

  Still, it was not easily banished. A long series of the sorestdisappointments had rendered him distrustful, and he remembered havingasked her several times for the star in vain.

  Perhaps it had been stolen from her, and Jamnitzer had obtained it fromthe thief himself or from the receiver. This thought partially soothedhim, especially as, if correct, it would be possible for him to recoverthe ornament. But he was an economical manager, and to expend thousandsof ducats for such a thing just at this time, when immense sums wereneeded for the approaching war, seemed to him more than vexatious.

  Besides, the high price which he had paid for the Saxon's aid renderedhim uneasy. He had ceded two large bishoprics to his Protestant ally,and this act of liberality, which, it is true, had been approved andsupported by Granvelle, could no longer be undone. Moreover, if he drewthe sword, he must maintain the pretence that it was not done for thesake of religion, but solely to chastise the insubordinate Protestantprinces, headed by the Elector John Frederick of Saxony and Philip ofHesse, who had seriously angered him.

  In ten days the Reichstag would be opened in Ratisbon and, in spite ofhis special invitation, these princes, who had refused to recognise theCouncil of Trent, had excused their absence upon trivial pretexts--theHessian, who on other occasions, attended by his numberless servantsin green livery, had made three times as great a display as he, theEmperor, on the pretext that the journey to Ratisbon would be tooexpensive.

  Maurice now had his imperial word and he the duke's; but since thatevening Charles thought he had noticed something which lessened hisconfidence in the Saxon. It was not only jealousy which showed himthis young, clever, brave, and extremely ambitious prince in a moreunfavourable light than before. He knew men, and thought that he hadperceived in him signs of the most utter selfishness. As Maurice, togain two bishoprics, and perhaps later the Elector's hat, abandoned hiscoreligionists, his cousin and his father-in-law, he would also deserthim if his own advantage prompted him to do so. True, such an ally wasuseful for many things, but he could not be trusted implicitly a singlehour.

  Maurice certainly had not remained ignorant of Barbara's relation tohim, the Emperor, and yet, in the sovereign's very presence, he hadcourted her favour with such defiant boldness that Charles struck thewriting-table with his fist as he thought of his manner to the singer.Would Maurice impose greater moderation upon himself in politicalaffairs?

  Yet perhaps he judged the Saxon too severely, and made him suffer foranother's sin. The man's conduct is governed by the woman's, and he hadseen how Barbara, as it were, gave Maurice the right to sue thus boldlyfor her favour.

  Was it conceivable that she loved him, after having wounded him, as ifintentionally, by acts which she knew were detestable to him? If herheart was still his, how could she have so inconsiderately favoured inhis presence another, younger man?

  Angrily excited by the question, he rose from the writing-table. But erehe went to rest he thought of his hapless mother, whose birthday at thishour, beyond midnight, was now over, and, kneeling before the priedieuin his bedroom, he fervently commended her to the mercy of Heaven. Thiswoman had loved her husband so fondly that it was long ere she couldresolve to part from his corpse, yet she was the heiress of themightiest sovereigns; and what was this Ratisbon girl whom he honouredwith his affection?

  And yet!

  While her lips were still glowing from his kisses, she had carried ona reckless game with another, and was now robbing him of the repose ofmind which he so urgently, needed.

  And the mother of the woman whose birthday had just passed, the proudQueen Isabella, the conqueror of the Moors--what would she have said hadshe been condemned to see her grandson, the heir of so great an empire,ensnared by such bonds?

  He had proved, since he wielded the sceptre, that he did not lackstrength of will, and he must show it again.

  He reminded himself indignantly that he was not only the ruler of manynations, but the head of perhaps the most illustrious family on earth.

  He thought of his royal brothers and sisters, his haughty son Philip,his daughters, nephews, and nieces; and while pouring forth his soulin fervent prayer for his unfortunate mother, with her disorderedintellect, he also besought the Redeemer to free him from the evil ofthis love. Three words from his lips would have sufficed to rid him ofBarbara forever, but--he felt it--that would not end the matter. He mustalso learn to forget her, and for that he needed the aid of the higherpowers. He had once more yielded to worldly pleasure. The kiss of herbeautiful soft lips had been sweet, the melody of her voice still moreblissful. It had given him hours of rapture; but were these joysworth the long repentance which was already beginning? It was wise tosacrifice the transitory pleasures of earth to loftier purposes. Onething alone promised permanent duration even here--what he was achievingfor the future greatness of his own name and that of his race. For themhe was now going to war, and, by fighting against the heretics, the foesof God, he entered the strife, in a sense, as the instrument of Heaven.Thus, not only his duty as a sovereign, but care for his eternalsalvation, compelled him to cast aside everything which might jeopardizethe triumph of his good, nay, sacred cause; and what could imperil itmore seriously than this late passion, which to-day had rendered itimpossible to do his duty?

  Firmly resolved to resign Barbara before his brother Ferdinand reachedRatisbon with his family, he rose from the priedieu and sought hiscouch. But sleep fled from the anxious ruler; besides, the pain of thegout became more severe.

  After rising early, he went limping to mass, breakfasted, and began hiswork.

  Many charts and plans had been placed on the writing-table for him, andbeside them he found a letter from Granvelle, in which he stated hisviews concerning the alliance with Duke Maurice, and what advantagemight be derived from it. Both as a whole and in detail Charles approvedthem, and gladly left to the minister the final negotiations with theduke, who intended to leave Ratisbon at noon. If he briefly ratified theterms which had been arranged with Granvelle, and gave Maurice his handin farewell, he thought he would have satisfied amply the claims of thecovetous man, of whose aid, however, he stood in need.

  After the thunderstorm the weather had grown cloudy and cool. Perhapsthe change had caused hi
s increased suffering and unhappy mood. But thetrue reason was doubtless the resolution formed the night before, andwhich now by day seemed more difficult to execute than he had thoughtat the priedieu. He was still resolved to keep it, but earthly lifeappeared less short, and he could not conceal from himself that, withoutBarbara's sunny cheerfulness, bewitching tenderness, and, alas! withouther singing, his future existence would lack its greatest charm. Hislife would be like this gloomy day. Put he would not relinquish what hehad once firmly determined and proved to himself by reasoning to be thecorrect course.

  He could not succeed in burying himself in charts and plans as usualand, while imagining how life could be endured without the woman heloved, he pushed the papers aside.

  In days like these, when the old ache again attacked him, Barbara andher singing had brightened the dreary gloom and lessened the pain, orshe had caressed and sung it entirely away. He seemed to himself likea surly patient who throws aside the helpful medicine because it oncetasted badly to him and was an annoyance to others. Yet no. It containedpoison also, so it was wise to put it away. But had not Dr. Mathystold him yesterday that the strongest remedial power was concealed inpoisons, and that they were the most effective medicines? Ought henot to examine once more the reasons which had led him to this lastresolution? He bowed his head with an irresolution foreign to hisnature, and when his greyhound touched his aching foot he pushed theanimal angrily away.

  The confessor De Soto found him in this mood at his first visit.

  Ere he crossed the threshold he saw that Charles was suffering and felttroubled by some important matter, and soon learned what he desired toknow. But if Charles expected the Dominican to greet his decision withgrateful joy, he was mistaken, for De Soto had long since relinquishedthe suspicion which had prejudiced him against Barbara and, on thecontrary, with the Bishop of Arras, had reached the certainty that thelove which united the monarch to the singer would benefit him.

  Both knew the danger which threatened the sovereign from his tendency tomelancholy, and now that he saw his efforts to urge the Emperor to a warwith the Smalcalds crowned with success, he wished to keep alive in himthe joyousness which Barbara, and she alone, had aroused and maintained.

  So he used the convincing eloquence characteristic of him to shake themonarch's resolve, and lead him back to the woman he loved.

  The Church made no objection to this bond of free love formed by asovereign whom grave political considerations withheld from a secondmarriage. If his Majesty's affection diminished the success of his work,the separation from so dear a being, who afforded him so much pleasure,would do this to a far greater degree. That Barbara had allowed the boldSaxon too much liberty on the dancing ground he did not deny, but tookadvantage of the opportunity to point out the unscrupulousness whichcharacterized Maurice, like all heretics. As for Barbara, the warm bloodand fresh love of pleasure of youth, qualities which to many were herspecial charm, had led her into the error of the luckless dance. But theEmperor, who until then had listened to De Soto' here interrupted him toconfide the unfortunate suspicion which had been aroused in him the daybefore.

  The mention of this matter, however, was very opportune to the almoner,for he could easily turn it to the advantage of the suspected girl. Theday before yesterday she had confessed to him the fate of the valuablestar, and begged him, if her imprudent deed of charity should bediscovered, to relieve her of the painful task of explaining to Charleshow she had been induced to sell a memento so dear to her. Thereupon theconfessor himself had ascertained from the marquise and the goldsmithJamnitzer that Barbara had told him the whole truth.

  So in his eyes, and probably in those of a higher power, this apparentlyignoble act would redound no little to the credit of the girl's heart.

  Charles listened to this explanation with a silent shrug of theshoulders. Such a deed could scarcely be otherwise regarded by thepriest, but Barbara's disregard of his first gift offended him far morethan the excellent disposition evinced by the hasty act pleased him. Shehad flung the first tangible token of his love into the insatiablejaws of a worthless profligate, like a copper coin thrown as alms to abeggar. It grieved the soul of the economical manager and lover of rareworks of art to have this ancient and also very valuable family heirloombroken to pieces. Malfalconnet would not fail to utter some biting jestwhen he heard that Charles must now, as it were, purchase this costlyornament of himself. He would have forgiven Barbara everything else moreeasily than this mad casting away of a really royal gift.

  Expressing his indignation to the almoner without reserve, he closed theinterview with him. When Charles was again alone he tried to rise, inorder, while pacing up and down the room, to examine his resolution oncemore. But his aching foot prevented this plan and, groaning aloud, hesank back into his arm-chair.

  His heart had not been so sore for a long time, and it was Barbara'sfault. Yet he longed for her. If she had laid her delicate white handupon his brow, he said to himself, or had he been permitted to listen toeven one of her deeply felt religious songs, it would have cheeredhis soul and even alleviated his physical suffering. Several times hestretched his hand toward the bell to send for her; but she had offendedhim so deeply that he must at least let her feel how gravely she haderred, and that the lion could not be irritated unpunished, so heconquered himself and remained alone. The sense of offended majestystrengthened his power of resisting the longing for her.

  Indignant with himself, he again drew the maps toward him. But likea cloth fluttering up and down between a picture and the beholder,memories of Barbara forced themselves between him and the plans overwhich he was bending.

  This could not continue!

  Perhaps, after all, her singing was the only thing which could restorehis lost composure. He longed for it even more ardently than for herface. If he sent for her, he could show her by his manner what fruit hertransgressions had borne. The rest would follow as a matter of course.Now every fibre of his being yearned for the melody of her voice.

  Obeying a hasty resolution, he rang the bell and ordered Adrian to callQuijada and command Barbara to sing in the Golden Cross that afternoon.

  After the valet had replaced his aching foot in the right position, DonLuis appeared. Without any further comment the Emperor informed himthat he had determined to sever the bond of love which united him to thesinger.

  While speaking, he looked his friend sharply in the face, and when hesaw, by his silent bow, that his decision called forth no deeper emotionin him, he carelessly added that, nevertheless, he intended to hear hersing that day, and perhaps many times more.

  Perceiving a significant smile upon the lips of the faithful follower,and recognising the peril contained in the last resolve, he shook hisfinger at Quijada, saying: "As if even the inmost recesses of your soulwere concealed from me! You are asking yourself, Why does Charles denyme leave to visit Villagarcia, and thereby cruelly prevent my beinghappy with my dear, beautiful young wife, after so long a separation,if he considers himself strong enough to turn his back, without furtherceremony, upon the woman he loves, after seeing and hearing her again?"

  "Your Majesty has read correctly," replied Don Luis, "yet my wish fora brief stay with Doha Magdalena de Ulloa is very different from yourMajesty's desire."

  "How?" demanded Charles in a sharp tone of inquiry. "Is my strength ofwill, in your opinion, so far inferior to yours?"

  "Your Majesty can scarcely deem me capable of so presumptuous an error,"replied Quijada. "But your Majesty is Charles V, who has no superiorsave our Lord in heaven. I, on the contrary, am only a Castiliannobleman, and as such prize my honour as my highest treasure; but, aboveall other things, even above the lady of my heart, stands the King."

  "I might know that," cried the Emperor, holding out his hand to hisfriend. "Yet I refused you the leave of absence, you faithful fellow.The world calls this selfishness. But since it still needs me, it oughtin justice to excuse me, for never have I needed you so much as duringthese decisive weeks, whether
war is declared--and it will come tothat--or not. Think how many other things are also impending! Besides,my foot aches, and my heart, this poor heart, bears a wound which afriend's careful hand will soothe. So you understand, Luis, that themuch-tormented Charles can not do without you just now."

  Quijada, with sincere emotion, bent over the monarch's hand and kissedit tenderly, but the Emperor, for the first time, hastily stroked hisbearded cheek, and said in an agitated tone, "We know each other."

  "Yes, your Majesty," cried the Spaniard. "In the first place, I willnot again annoy my master with the request for a leave of absence. DonaMagdalena must try how she can accommodate herself to widowhood whileshe has a living husband, if the Holy Virgin will only permit me tooffer your Majesty what you expect from me."

  "I will answer for that," the Emperor was saying, when Adrianinterrupted him.

  The messenger had returned from Prebrunn with the news that the singerhad taken cold the day before, and could not leave the house.

  Charles angrily exclaimed that he knew what such illness meant, and hisunder lip protruded so far that it was easy to perceive how deeply thisfresh proof of Barbara's defiance and vanity incensed him.

  But when the chamberlain said that the singer had been attacked by aviolent fever, Charles changed colour, and asked quickly in a tone ofsincere anxiety: "And Dr. Mathys? Has he seen her? No? Then he mustgo to her at once, and I shall expect tidings as soon as he returns.Perhaps the fever was seething in her blood yesterday."

  He had no time to make any further remarks about the sufferer, for onevisitor followed another.

  Shortly before noon the Bishop of Arras ushered in Duke Maurice, whowished to take leave of him.

  Granvelle, in a businesslike manner, summed up the result of thenegotiations, and Charles made no objection; but after he had saidfarewell to the Saxon prince, he remarked, with a smile which wasdifficult to interpret: "One thing more, my dear Prince. The beautifulsinger has suffered from the gagliarde, which she had the honourof dancing with you; she is lying ill of a fever. We will, however,scarcely regard it as an evil omen for the agreements which we concludedon the same day. With our custom of keeping our hands away fromeverything which our friendly ally claims as his right, our alliance,please God, will not fail to have good success."

  A faint flush crimsoned the intelligent face of the Saxon duke, and ananswer as full of innuendo as the Emperor's address was already hoveringon his lips, when the chief equerry's entrance gave him power torestrain it.

  Count Lanoi announced that his Highness's travelling escort was ready,and the Emperor, with an air of paternal affection, bade the youngersovereign farewell.

  As soon as the door had closed behind Maurice, Charles, turning toGranvelle, remarked, "The Saxon cousin returned our clasp of the handsome what coldly, but the means of rendering it warmer are ready."

  "The Elector's hat," replied the Bishop of Arras. "I hope it willprevent him from making our heads hot, as the Germans say, instead ofhis own."

  "If only our brains keep cool," replied the Emperor. "It is needful indealing with this young man."

  "He knows his Machiavelli," added the statesman, "but I think theFlorentine did not write wholly in vain for us also."

  "Scarcely," observed the Emperor, smiling, and then rang the little bellto have his valet summon Dr. Mathys.

  The leech had returned from his visit to Barbara, and feared thatthe burning fever from which she was suffering might indicate thecommencement of inflammation of the lungs.

  Charles started up and expressed the desire to be conveyed at once inthe litter to Prebrunn; but the physician declared that his Majesty'svisit would as certainly harm the feverish girl as going out in suchweather would increase the gout in his royal master's foot.

  The monarch shrugged his shoulders, and seized the despatches andletters which had arrived. The persons about him suffered severely fromhis detestable mood, but the dull weather of this gloomy day appearedalso to have a bad effect upon the confessor De Soto, for his lofty browwas scarcely less clouded than the sky. He did not allude to Barbara bya single word, yet she was the cause of his depression.

  After his conversation with the sovereign he had retired to his privateroom, to devote himself to the philological studies which he pursuedduring the greater portion of the day with equal zeal and success.But he had scarcely begun to be absorbed in the new copy of the bestmanuscript of Apuleius, which had readied him from Florence, and makenotes in the first Roman printed work of this author, when Cassianinterrupted him.

  He had missed the servant in the morning. Now the fellow, always sopunctual when he had not gazed too deeply into the wine-cup, stoodbefore him in a singular plight, for he was completely drenched, and adisagreeable odour of liquor exhaled from him. The flaxen hair, whichbristled around his head and hung over his broad, ugly face, gave him sounkempt and imbecile an appearance that it was repulsive to the almoner,and he harshly asked where he had been loitering.

  But Cassian, confident that his master's indignation would soon changeto approval and praise, rapidly began to relate what had occurredoutside the little castle at Prebrunn when the festival under thelindens was over.

  After helping to place the Wittenberg theologian in custody, he hadfollowed Barbara at some distance during her nocturnal walk. While shewaited in front of Dr. Hiltner's house and talked with the members ofthe syndic's family after their return, he had remained concealed in theshadow of a neighbouring dwelling, and did not move until the doctor hadgone away with the singer. He cautiously glided behind them as far asthe garden, witnessed the syndic's cordial farewell to his companion,and dogged the former to the Prebrunn jail. Here he had again beenobliged to wait patiently a long while before the doctor came out intothe open air with the prisoner. The rope had been removed from Erasmus'shands, and Cassian had remained at his heels until he stopped in thevillage of Kager, on the Nuremberg road. The young man had taken alunch in the tavern there; the money for it was given him by the syndic.Cassian had seen the gold pieces which had been placed in Erasmus'shand, to pay his travelling expenses, glitter in the rosy light of dawn.

  In reply to the almoner's question whether he remembered any portionof the conversation between the syndic and the singer, Cassian admittedthat he had been obliged to keep too far away from them to hear it, butDr. Hiltner's manner to the girl had been very friendly, especially whenhe took leave of her.

  The anything but grateful manner with which the almoner received thisstory was a great disappointment to the overzealous servant; nay, hesecretly permitted himself to doubt his master's wisdom and energy whenthe latter remarked that the arrest of a man who had merely entered astranger's garden was entirely unjustifiable, and that he was aware ofthe singer's acquaintanceship with the Hiltners.

  With these words he motioned Cassian to the door.

  When the prelate was again alone he gazed thoughtfully into vacancy. Heunderstood human beings sufficiently well to know that Barbara had notdeceived him in her confession. In spite of the nocturnal walk with thehead of the Ratisbon heretics, she was faithful to the Catholic Church.

  Erasmus's visit at night alone gave him cause for reflection, andsuggested the doubt whether he might not have interceded too warmly forthis peculiar creature and her excitable artist nature.