of art over ignorance, than that prediction and its accomplishment will afford. I told thee he would be faithful in any honourable commission – Hath he not been so? – I told thee he would be scrupulous in aiding any evil enterprise – Hath he not proved so? If you doubt it, go ask the Bohemian, Hayraddin Maugrabin.'

The King here coloured deeply with shame and anger.

'I told thee,' continued the Astrologer, 'that the conjunction of planets under which he set forth, augured danger to the person – and hath not his path been beset by danger? – I told thee that it augured an advantage to the sender – and of that thou wilt soon have the benefit.'

'Soon have the benefit!' exclaimed the King; 'Have I not the result already, in disgrace and imprisonment?'

'No,' answered the Astrologer, 'the End is not as yet – thine own tongue shall ere long confess the benefit which thou hast received, from the manner in which the messenger bore himself in discharging thy commission.'

'This is too – too insolent,' said the King, 'at once to deceive and to insult – But hence! – think not my wrongs shall be unavenged. – There is a Heaven above us!.'

Galeotti turned to depart. 'Yet stop,' said Louis – 'thou bearest thine imposture bravely out – Let me hear your answer to one question, and think ere you speak. – Can thy pretended skill ascertain the hour of thine own death?'

'Only by referring to the fate of another,' said Galeotti.

'I understand not thine answer,' said Louis.

'Know then, O King,' said Martius, 'that this only I can tell with certainty concerning mine own death, that it shall take place exactly twenty-four hours before that of your Majesty. [53]'

'Ha! say'st thou?' said Louis, his countenance again altering. – 'Hold – hold – go not – wait one moment. – Saidst thou, my death should follow thine so closely?'

'Within the space of twenty-four hours,' repeated Galeotti, firmly, 'if there be one sparkle of true divination in those bright and mysterious intelligences, which speak, each on their courses, though without a tongue. – I wish your Majesty good rest.'

'Hold – hold – go not,' said the King, taking him by the arm, and leading him from the door. 'Martius Galeotti, I have been a kind master to thee – enriched thee – made thee my friend – my companion – the instructor of my studies. – Be open with me, I entreat you. – Is there aught in this art of yours in very deed? – Shall this Scot's mission be, in fact, propitious to me? – And is the measure of our lives so very – very nearly matched? Confess, my good Martius, you speak after the trick of your trade – Confess, I pray you, and you shall have no displeasure at my hand. I am in years – a prisoner – likely to be deprived of a kingdom – to one in my condition truth is worth kingdoms, and it is from thee, dearest Martius, that I must look for this inestimable jewel.'

'And I have laid it before your Majesty,' said Galeotti, 'at the risk that, in brutal passion, you might turn upon me and rend me.'

'Who, I, Galeotti?' replied Louis mildly; 'Alas! thou mistakest me! – Am I not captive, – and should not I be patient, especially since my anger can only show my impotence? – Tell me then in sincerity – Have you fooled me? – Or is your science true, and do you truly report it?'

'Your Majesty will forgive me if I reply to you,' said Martius Galeotti, 'that time only – time and the event, will convince incredulity. It suits ill the place of confidence which I have held at the council-table of the renowned conqueror, Matthias Corvinus of Hungary – nay, in the cabinet of the Emperor himself – to reiterate assurances of that which I have advanced as true. If you will not believe me, I can but refer to the course of events. A day, or two days' patience, will prove or disprove what I have averred concerning the young Scot; and I will be contented to die on the wheel, and have my limbs broken joint by joint, if your Majesty have not advantage, and that in a most important degree, from the dauntless conduct of that Quentin Durward. But if I were to die under such tortures, it would be well your Majesty should seek a ghostly father; for, from the moment my last groan is drawn, only twenty-four hours will remain to you for confession and penitence.'

Louis continued to keep hold of Galeotti's robe as he led him towards the door, and pronounced as he opened it, in a loud voice, 'To-morrow we'll talk more of this. Go in peace, my learned father – Go in peace – Go in peace!'

He repeated these words three times; and, still afraid that the Provost-Marshal might mistake his purpose, he led the Astrologer into the hall, holding fast his robe, as if afraid that he should be torn from him, and put to death before his eyes. He did not unloose his grasp until he had not only repeated again and again the gracious phrase, 'Go in peace,' but even made a private signal to the Provost-Marshal, to enjoin a suspension of all proceedings against the person of the Astrologer.

Thus did the possession of some secret information, joined to audacious courage and readiness of wit, save Galeotti from the most imminent danger; and thus was Louis, the most sagacious as well as the most vindictive, amongst the monarchs of the period, cheated of his revenge by the influence of superstition upon a selfish temper, and a mind to which, from the consciousness of many crimes, the fear of death was peculiarly terrible.

He felt, however, considerable mortification at being obliged to relinquish his purposed vengeance; and the disappointment seemed to be shared by his satellites, to whom the execution was to have been committed. Le Balafre alone, perfectly indifferent on the subject, so soon as the countermanding signal was given, left the door at which he had posted himself, and in a few minutes was fast asleep.

The Provost-Marshal, as the group reclined themselves to repose in the hall after the King retired to his bedchamber, continued to eye the goodly form of the Astrologer, with the look of the mastiff watching a joint of meat which the cook had retrieved from his jaws, while his attendants communicated to each other in brief sentences their characteristic sentiments.

'The poor blinded necromancer,' whispered Trois-Eschelles, with an air of spiritual unction and commiseration, to his comrade, Petit Andre, 'hath lost the fairest chance of expiating some of his vile sorceries, by dying through means of the cord of the blessed Saint Francis! and I had purpose, indeed, to leave the comfortable noose around his neck, to scare the foul fiend from his unhappy carcass.'

'And I,' said Petit-Andre, 'have missed the rarest opportunity of knowing how far a weight of seventeen stone will stretch a three-plied cord! – It would have been a glorious experiment in our line, – and the jolly old boy would have died so easily!'

While this whispered dialogue was going forward, Martius, who had taken the opposite side of the huge stone fire-place, round which the whole group was assembled, regarded them askance, and with a look of suspicion. He first put his hand into his vest, and satisfied himself that the handle of a very sharp double-edged poniard, which he always carried about him, was disposed conveniently for his grasp; for, as we have already noticed, he was, though now somewhat unwieldy, a powerful, athletic man, and prompt and active at the use of his weapon. Satisfied that this trusty instrument was in readiness, he next took from his bosom a scroll of parchment, inscribed with Greek characters, and marked with cabalistic signs, drew together the wood in the fire-place, and made a blaze by which he could distinguish the features and attitude of all who sat or lay around – the heavy and deep slumbers of the Scottish soldier, who lay motionless, with his rough countenance as immovable as if it were cast in bronze – the pale and anxious face of Oliver, who at one time assumed the appearance of slumber, and again opened his eyes and raised his head hastily, as if stung by some internal throe, or awakened by some distant sound – the discontented, savage, bull-dog aspect of the Provost, who looked

– 'frustrate of his will, Not half sufficed, and greedy yet to kill' –

while the background was filled up by the ghastly hypocritical countenance of Trois-Eschelles, whose eyes were cast up towards Heaven, as if he was internally saying his devotions; and the grim drollery of Petit-Andre, who amused himself with mimicking the gestures and wry faces of his comrade before he betook himself to sleep.

Вы читаете Quentin Durward
Добавить отзыв
ВСЕ ОТЗЫВЫ О КНИГЕ В ИЗБРАННОЕ

0

Вы можете отметить интересные вам фрагменты текста, которые будут доступны по уникальной ссылке в адресной строке браузера.

Отметить Добавить цитату