A RUTHLESS SCHEME
While these men were arguing thus (failing with all their ingenuity,
perhaps, to hit upon the true state of the case) a scene which they
would have been glad to behold was taking place some twenty miles away,
and not far from the banks of the Ardon. Here that river (on its way to
join the Terek below Vladikaukaz) rushes through a rugged and desolate
country on the further side of Kazbek, where the fall of the land is
towards the north, and the long shadows lie in snowy stripes, even to
the suns of midsummer. This was the melancholy spot where Rakhan owned
that hunting-lodge, to which the poor Princess Oria had turned for
refuge, when the snows of autumn blocked the track. Here it was that
Imar (furious at her apparent guilt) found her most unhappily, at the
very moment when the faithful steward--whose presence would have proved
her innocence--was gone to the nearest hut in search of provisions and
help to clear the road. And here it was that she breathed her last,
slain by her own hand, according to the ordinance of her ancient race,
to expiate the intolerable insult of the man she loved and worshipped.
But now the woman who had caused her death, or led up to it so cleverly
by her own malevolence, felt no misgivings about that. Betwixt twins,
even of the kindest nature and clinging from their birth to one another,
a fungoid growth is apt to spring, as it does in a tree cleft down the
centre, but not allowed to part in twain. Either member of the impaired
union believes that the other belongs to it; and both are ready to close
the grip against all who would divide them. But as years go on, and
diverse attractions draw them more and more apart, each begins to form
and thicken cuticle against the other; at least if they are of equal
strength. And then the stuff that vainly came to close the gap grows
venomous.
Jealousy, like a yellow toadstool, sprang up in young Marva's heart,
when her brother dared to love another woman better than herself. She
had fallen away from the twinship first by giving herself to Rakhan,
without a word to her brother, and sacrificing to passion all the tender
ties of kindred love. None the more could she endure that her brother
should do likewise; and she would not believe, although she knew it,
that her lover had murdered her father. Then when her husband made a
grievance of Imar's just refusal to pay marriage-portion to that
murderer--unless he would come and take the oath--she made a grievance
of it too, more and more bitter as Rakhan began to make more and more
spite of her poverty. And so it went on, with the crust of sullen temper
thickening year by year, and the faith of married life turned sour by
her husband's faithlessness, until her brother slew the wretch who had
ruined him and outraged her.
Fair fight it was, and if ever one man has the right to stop another
from his evil deeds below, and give him chance of mercy ere his black
account grows blacker, the one might plead that right, and the other
accept the relief with gratitude. But reason is less than a drop in the
ocean of a tempestuous woman's heart. Marva's ill-will towards her
brother deepened into bitter hatred, and nothing but his exile saved him
from her brooding vengeance. And now she had found a chance of wreaking
her wrath upon him to heart's content, and with the same blow satisfying
her lifelong thirst for wealth and rule.
Therefore now her black device was on its last bound towards success;
and we, who rejoice in lawful acts, and tricks that can be justified by
solid legal argument, must bear in mind that her scheme was well in
accordance with the local law.
To save all risk of being late for the ceremony of the morrow, she had
quitted the stronghold where she allowed us the honour of that
interview, and crossing the mountains west of Kazbek by the Ardon
watercourse, had put up at this hunting-lodge, as the only suitable
dwelling near the Valley of Retribution. About seventy armed men of the
tribe, and a dozen village elders had been despatched to the Roman jail
to keep guard, and prepare the trial; while she had only a few men with
her, including the gentle Hafer, and the thoroughly savage Hisar.
But the lady as yet had no suspicion of our rapid counterplot, which we
never could have formed without the tidings and the help of Usi the
Bear-slayer, whom she had corded to the rock for wolves. And if we could
only have foreseen her sojourn at this hunting-lodge, what a dash we
might have made with the mining force alone and held our haughty captive
as a hostage for her prisoners! But as yet we knew not where she was;
and as to what may here be told it is scarcely needful to observe that
it came to my knowledge afterwards. And often on our road we doubted, in
spite of all we heard of her, whether that any woman in her right mind,
and acting with cool intention, would compass a crime almost beyond the
conception of a man soever vile. Although it was not for the sake of the
horror, but an indispensable part of her scheme, that her brother should
be slain by his own, and only son!
"Hafer," she said to this noble-looking youth, who believed himself the
only son of her injured husband Rakhan, "at last the time is come for
you to vindicate your father. To-morrow his murderer will be condemned
by the verdict of the elders of our tribe--the men who were faithful to
your father, the great Prince Rakhan of the Ossets. Your father died, as
you know too well, in the assertion of your mother's rights. Your uncle
Imar, my own brother, was gifted by Heaven with no sense of justice. He
was not content with robbing me, your dear mother, of my rightful share
in my father Dadian's inheritance; but when your own brave father Rakhan
vainly made suit after many years to obtain a small share of my rights,
what did your uncle Imar do? You know, you have heard it a thousand
times; he slew your father in cold blood, taking mean advantage of
superior strength. He left me a widow, a helpless widow, with you my
only child almost a babe. Instead of remaining, like a man, to face the
consequence of his crime, and trying at least to make compensation, he
fled to an island in the west called England, where all malefactors are
sheltered and fed. There he lived in luxury for many years, receiving
all the revenues which of right were mine. Now he has returned, without
a word of sorrow to me, to rob me of the little I have tried to save.
You know how hard I have striven against fortune, labouring to keep the
scanty relics of my rights, and to take charge of small affairs that
have chanced to lose their owner. Even you I have been compelled
sometimes to deprive of enjoyments to which your birth entitled you. Is
it not the truth, my child?"
"Mother, it is indeed the truth. I have often been ashamed of my desire
for more food. And yet it has been a pleasure to me to behold you never
famishing."
"A barley-cake has been enough for me. There are some who can so deny
themselves. But justice comes to those who wait, and bear their sorrows
patiently. The murderer of your father has, even through his own bad
designs, fallen into the hands of those to whom he owes so long a debt.
We have him beyond all power of escape. To-morrow he will be justly
tried by those who know what he has done. The elders of this noble race,
the race of the white sheepskin, will have him placed before them. He
will be forbidden to poison the air with any lying speeches. His
sentence will be death, and you--according to the law of ages--you are
the man to execute it."
The young man fixed his large and gentle eyes upon her face, in doubt
whether she could mean in earnest to enforce such a cruel task. Even the
worst of tyrants threatens a great deal more than he means to do; and
when it is a female tyrant, deeds can scarcely equal words, however
strong the whole may be. This youth had received enough of both,--the
blast of words, the lash of deeds,--and a heart that was both just and
tender had confused the brain by pouring vain emotions into it.
The lady met his eyes with more than the every-day contempt in hers. It
was not in her nature to make allowance for the result of her own work.
Studiously from his infant days she had crushed all free-will out of
him; and yet she scorned him for having none. As fine a specimen of
manly growth as could be found in all the world was towering over her
dark head, tall and stately though she was. She hated him for doing
that, and she scorned him for doing it in stature only.
"Am I to speak again?" she asked, with a gaze from which his mild glance
recoiled. "I have set your duty before you, Hafer; if you are coward
enough to refuse it, another will discharge it for you; and according to
the ancient laws you will be imprisoned and starved to death. What will
become of Lura then? She will love you, if you are a man. If not, she
will turn to Hisar, who is longing to prove himself more worthy, and all
her beauty will be his."
"What has Hisar to do with this? He is always seeking to supplant me.
You speak as if I were a coward, because it is not my desire to shed
blood of man or beast; those who have done no harm to me, why should I
do harm to them? Neither do I take heed of words, being brought up with
reproaches daily, which it becomes me not to answer. But of Hisar I have
no fear. It is the feminine voice that scares me, because it has always
held dominion, and is too rapid to contend with. You have never allowed
me to obtain any skill in weapons, such as a full-grown man should have;
neither have I desired to fight, which is worthy of wolves, and dogs,
and hogs. But if Hisar thinks to take my place in the things which he is
coveting, Hisar is of ignoble breed, let him come and make trial of me;
and let Lura come and see it, if her gentle nature does not shrink."
Hafer tossed his golden curls, and tried to look fierce; but nature had
not gifted him with that expression, neither had practice supplied the
lack. And then he smiled at his own attempt, having much of his father
Imar's vein. No woman, worthy to be called a woman, could have looked at
him without admiration, and pity for all that he had suffered to take
the bold spirit out of him. But the woman who had crushed his life was
enraged at this slight outbreak.
"Something more than vaunt is needful to establish claim to courage.
Hisar is brave; the maidens admire him, the fighting men are afraid of
him. If thou art too liver-hearted to avenge thy father's wrongs, a
braver youth will take thy place, and do thy duty for thee. It will not
be worth while to starve thee, Hafer, and to listen to thy craven
shrieks. On thy forehead we will brand _Coward_, and expel thee from a
tribe of men. Hisar shall be the Lord of Ossets, with Lura for their
Lady."
"For the Lordship I care not. Thou hast done thy best from my birth to
make me what thou art not--a woman. Hisar is more to thee than I am,
though he is but a stranger. But he shall never be Lord of Lura; for I
know that she hates him, and he would grind her into dust. For her sake,
I will do this thing; loathsome as it is to me, since it must be done by
somebody. But remember one thing, if I am forced to this--never more
will I call thee mother."
"Poor fool! Does he think he will have the chance?" she muttered, as he
strode away repenting already in his soft young heart of words that
might have been too harsh. "Child of the detested Oria, better for thee
to have died than led my own dear little one to his death. Thou hast
escaped the precipice, but the Russian mines shall be thy doom. Hisar,
where art thou, my son? Heardest thou what that spoon-pap said? This hut
shall have a golden door, and walls of lapislazuli. Within it Oria slew
herself; and within it her first-born has sealed himself for Siberia."
Hisar came forth from the inner room, so fateful to Sûr Imar, and for
once his surly face looked bright. Since his return he had thought scorn
of his native land and all therein; but he durst not show his mother
that.
"Madam, it is nobly designed," he said, "and all in strict accord with
law. Pedrel first, he shall have his wages, for which he has dared to
follow me hither, and to plague me about marriage with his sister. Then
to see that pious Imar fall by the hand of his sanctimonious son; to
explain to that sweet saint what he has done; and then to deliver him to
the Russians to be tried for parricide! It is high time to be quit of
him. He begins to show cheek, as the men of England say. I could have
stabbed him yesterday, if it were not for spoiling your noble scheme.
Oh, mother, the eagles of Rakhabat alone can have brought thee such
counsel from the clouds above! I am clever, and full of great devices,
but never could I have invented this."
"My child, it is but one of many that have entered into my swift mind.
When I was a girl among the nuns, to pass the winter nights, we used to
relate delightful stories, far more ingenious than this. The difficulty
is not to think them, but to do them, to make a great success of them.
This we have not accomplished yet; but I see not how it can slip from
our hands. So far, things have worked well for us. Even the weather has
taken our part. That spy of a Svân is wolf's meat ere now, and there is
not a Lesghian this side of Karthlos. No fear of that meddlesome Briton,
I trow, or of Stroke, the drunken traveller, who threatened to come
after thee."
"Would that I could catch them in our valleys, mother! George the farmer
would have small chance then of swinging his gun, and singing psalms
with the angelic Dariel! How I scorn and hate soft women! And they love
me not. All love and liking hath gone to the meek and milky Lesghian
'Hafer;' as thou hast chosen to call him. Therefore, to the Russian hell
with him! But of one thing I would warn thee, much admired and beloved
mother. When we have torn the red cross down, and cast it beneath the
white sheepskin, and filled our belts with the gold of Imar, not long
will I tarry in these dens of rock fit only for the hermit and the
huntsman. Of Selina I am already weary, and soon as my heart is weary
both of Dariel and Lura--since the ancient law allows us twain, which is
less than the wisdom of the Moslem--I shall leave thee to command this
savage race, and take their tributes for me. Yearly will I come to see
thee, and my two devoted wives, when the harvest-time is on, and cities
are too hot to dwell in. But London and Paris, Paris and London, will be
the delight of Hisar."
The Princess had heard this more than once, and it did not distress her.
She had none to love or plot for now, except this savage Hisar, her own,
but unacknowledged son. Forsooth when Rakhan proved himself both brutal
and faithless to her, and quitted her before the birth of the genuine
Osset Hafer, and wandered with a light-of-love, the outraged wife took
her revenge, according to the manner of the country, by encouraging a
Khabardan chief, a bold and haughty Mussulman. Hisar, born of this
transmontane sally, about two years after the true Hafer's birth, but
before his death at Karthlos, was of necessity kept from sight during
every return of Rakhan. That strong-willed savage, like many others,
allowed unlimited action to himself, but passion only in the passive
form to those who might have saved his soul, if there had been any heart
behind it.
"Thou art not fit to govern men," the Princess Marva looked at Hisar
with a smile of mild contempt, which would have been anything but mild
to any other woman's son; "but there is time enough to learn all that.
Fierce enough thou art; and that is the understreak of all government.
All the needful frauds will flow into thy noble spirit, when thy truest
friends and warmest loves have shown thee what the onyx is."