NEARING A CRISIS
A few nights after the defeat of the Appropriation Bill, Paul
Woodville at a late hour strolled forth into the gardens of the
Vistula Palace, with no design of meeting Barbara, but drawn thither
chiefly by the extreme beauty of the moonlight.
He sat down in solitude by the margin of a tree-girt lake, watching in
an abstracted manner the silvery path of light on its surface, and
musing over the strangely romantic turn his life had taken.
A sudden rustling among the foliage put an end to his reverie, and on
turning he found Barbara by his side.
She was excited, if not angry. There was a defiant expression upon her
face, and a lovely color burned on her cheek. She was habited as if
for a journey, for her figure was concealed by a cloak with the hood
drawn around her head. Her appearance reminded Paul of their first
meeting in the Illyrian forest; and, as if responsive to his thoughts,
Barbara's first words recalled that time.
"Paul, do you remember those happy days in Dalmatia? Come and let us
renew them."
"I am not quite sure that I understand."
"Let us leave Czernova this night--this hour--now. Take me with you."
For a moment Paul doubted whether he could have heard aright. Then
recovering from his surprise, he asked,--
"What has happened to make you take this wild resolution?"
"There is no other course left us if we are to be united. Listen!"
She proceeded to explain the cause of her agitation.
It appeared that at a cabinet council held earlier in the evening
Barbara had announced what had for some time been suspected, namely,
that the projected match between herself and the duke had been
dissolved by mutual consent. Thereupon the Greek Archpastor, Mosco,
whom Barbara suspected of acting as the mouthpiece of the duke, rose
and boldly, yet respectfully, asked the princess to define her
attitude towards her secretary, Captain Woodville; he invited her to
contradict the growing rumors as to the relationship existing between
herself and the Englishman.
Perceiving that other members of the cabinet were in sympathy with
Mosco's questioning, Barbara put aside her first impulse, which was
haughtily to ignore the subject, and gave answer that it was her firm
resolve to make Captain Woodville the Prince-consort of Czernova.
The council were united in maintaining that this could not be.
"Zabern among the number?" asked Paul.
"Zabern spoke not a word--sure sign that he is on your side. He deems
it prudent to sacrifice his private opinion to the will of the rest;
otherwise Radzivil would call upon him to resign, and Zabern believes
that he can do me more good in the cabinet than out of it. They have
insisted upon your immediate withdrawal from Czernova. I pledged my
word that you should depart this very night; but, Paul," she
continued, with a laugh that had something of hysteria in it, "I did
not tell them that it was my intention to accompany you. I will never
give you up, Paul, never. You are dearer to me than crown or life.
Come, we will go away together, and leave Czernova to its own
devices."
Such was the invitation addressed to Paul by Barbara, whose arms were
encircling his neck as with a garland; her lovely face was close to
his; her dark eyes radiant with love were looking into his own. Now at
last she seemed to belong to him.
Paul, as previously related, had by the death of a relative become the
possessor of an ample fortune. How delightful, then, to while away the
hours on the sunny shores of the Riviera with Barbara for his bride!
What admiration her beauty would elicit from all who saw her! What a
halo of romance would surround her personality! The princess who
resigned a throne for love, who preferred an untitled Englishman to an
imperially connected archduke! He would be the most envied man in
Europe. It was a splendid temptation, but he rose superior to it.
"If you have pledged your word for my withdrawal, I must go--and
alone," he added.
"You shall not go to please them," she cried passionately.
"Then I will go to please myself."
"Without me? Do you mean that--that we must part forever?"
The anguish of her voice went to Paul's heart. The stately princess
that had confronted the Diet was gone, and in her place was a
clinging, trembling maiden with eyes full of tears.
"Sweetest Barbara, doubt whatever else you will, but do not doubt my
love. It behoves us to part at least for a time. I go, but you must
remain. Remember, that, as a princess, you are not your own but your
people's. If you desert Czernova you give to the duke the crown for
which he is basely plotting. Do not let that traitor succeed. Do not
hand over your loyal Poles to the tyranny of Bora. Abdication on your
part will mean the final triumph of Russia."
"And that triumph is not far distant," replied Barbara bitterly. "We
have received intelligence to-day from our ambassadors at Berlin and
Vienna that Prussia and Austria have jointly agreed to withdraw from
the responsibility of upholding the integrity of Czernova, leaving the
onus of this political duty to Russia. We know what this means. In
plain language Kaiser and King will permit the Czar to exercise a free
hand in the principality. The long-threatened annexation is at hand."
"Then it is time for me to be going."
"In my hour of peril?"
"I go to save you from this peril, to deliver you from the
ever-threatening shadow of the Czar. I have a scheme in mind,--a
scheme so daring that it seems madness to attempt it; and yet better
to dare and fail than not to dare at all. My plan, if it succeeds,
will make Czernova so strong that it will no longer fear the arms of
Russia. And then," added Paul hopefully, "and then it may be that in
return for such service your ministry will regard me with more
favorable eyes."
Love is proverbially blind, and therefore it will not seem matter for
wonder that the princess in her passionate attachment to Paul should
place more reliance upon his promise than upon the united wisdom of
her cabinet. But what his plan was she could not learn; to all her
questions he smiled pleasantly and mysteriously; the sooner he set off
the sooner would come its realization.
But each time he turned to depart Barbara pleaded so sweetly for delay
that he was forced to stay a few minutes longer; and they continued to
sit in the moonlight, Paul radiant with the hope of coming success,
Barbara puzzled, yet confident in his ability to fulfil his word. They
were a long time in parting, and often after saying what they
intended as their final farewell they turned again to repeat it.
Paul at length tore himself away, and had not proceeded very far when
he was met by Marshal Zabern.
"You are leaving Czernova?"
"Since the cabinet decrees it."
"But you must return."
"When?"
"On the eve of the princess's coronation."
"Why on that day?"
Zabern bent his head and whispered. The communication was such as to
cause Paul's eyes to sparkle and his hand to seek the hilt of his
sabre.
"Is that the plan of the duke, then?"
"Such is my belief. And you alone, Captain Woodville, can defeat it.
You will be there?"
"Can you doubt it? If I be living."
"Good! You will have the laugh of these fools," returned Zabern,
referring to his colleagues in the ministry. "They will not deny you
the hand of the princess then."
And Paul and Zabern parted on an understanding eminently satisfactory
to both.
On the following day the ministry learned with relief that Captain
Woodville had quitted Czernova, though none knew, not even Barbara,
whither he had betaken himself.
The coronation ceremony was now but two months distant, and Zabern
ventured to remind the princess that some of its most important
details still awaited settlement.
"The great question is who shall have the high honor of crowning your
Highness?"
"Abbot Faustus, for he is a good man," replied Barbara; and, noting
Zabern's look of surprise, she added, "He, and none other. The cabinet
have had their way in the matter of Captain Woodville; I will have my
way in this. Let the council meet again to-day. When this point comes
to be discussed, do you, marshal, propose Abbot Faustus for the
office, and I will assent."
Though wondering much at her choice, Zabern refrained from comment.
That same evening another cabinet council was held in the Vistula
Palace, Barbara again presiding.
Among the members present was the Archbishop Mosco, or, as he was
styled in Slavowitz, the Archpastor, who, as previously stated, had a
seat in the cabinet, not by the appointment of the princess, but by
virtue of his office as head of the Greek Church in Czernova.
The crowning of the sovereign had hitherto been one of the privileges
attaching to his see. Barbara's Latin faith, however, had necessarily
deprived him of his prerogative, which would thus seem to devolve by
natural right upon the highest ecclesiastic in the Catholic Church of
Czernova, or in other words, upon the Cardinal Archbishop Ravenna.
Therefore, when Zabern rose to propose that Abbot Faustus, of the
Convent of the Transfiguration, should have the high honor of crowning
the princess, there were murmurs of dissent from the council, the
majority not deeming the abbot of sufficient dignity for the office.
"The cardinal would regard such appointment as an affront to himself,"
remarked Radzivil.
"And might seek, in his disappointment, to give us trouble," commented
Dorislas. "Being the ecclesiastical superior of Faustus, he might
appear in the cathedral and interdict the abbot from crowning the
princess, which would be a pretty scandal."
"Ah, well," replied Zabern, carelessly, "we have prisons for
disorderly prelates, as well as for law-breaking dukes."
"What says her Highness in this matter?" said Radzivil turning to the
princess.
"The marshal's nomination meets with my approval," returned Barbara.
"My lords, I will not now enter into my reasons. Let it suffice to say
that Cardinal Ravenna has made it impossible for me to receive the
crown from his hands. Sooner would I resign than do so."
Great wonderment appeared on the faces of the ministers, yet none
ventured to ask in what way the cardinal had offended. Opposition to
the abbot was immediately withdrawn, for the cabinet, gratified by
Barbara's supposed dismissal of Paul, were in a complaisant mood,
though they plainly saw trouble looming ahead in thus excluding
Ravenna from participating in the coronation.
At this point of the debate Polonaski intervened with a suggestion. He
was the Justiciary, and by virtue of his office the highest legal
authority in Czernova.
"Since your Highness reigns over Greeks as well as Catholics, would it
not be politic to conciliate the former by permitting a Greek prelate
to have some share, however small, in your coronation?"
"That is good counsel," replied Barbara. "I trust, my lord," she
added, addressing Mosco with a gracious smile, "that you have not
viewed with bitterness this setting aside of the ancient privilege
attaching to your see? But, indeed, you are welcome to take whatever
part you please in my coronation, short of the administration of the
Sacrament and of the imposition of the diadem."
Mosco, apparently gratified by this concession, spent a few moments in
studying the coronation ritual, a copy of which had been supplied to
each member of the cabinet.
"I ask for nothing more," he finally observed, "than for leave to read
the Gospel at the beginning of the ceremony."
"It is granted," replied Barbara, wondering why the archpastor should
select this, a somewhat humble office, compared with others which were
open to him.
Mosco's lips curved into a smile, which, though lasting but a moment,
did not escape the quick eye of Zabern, who immediately became full of
suspicion.
"As I live," he muttered to himself, "our archpastor is a traitor!
Have I got rid of Bora only to find that he has left a successor in
the cabinet? That smile means mischief. But what mischief can come
from the reading of the Gospel?"
An enigma which was not solved till the actual day of the coronation,
and those who witnessed the solution were not likely ever to forget
it.
That picturesque personage, accustomed to figure at a coronation,
namely, the champion, now became a subject of discussion, Mosco
himself having introduced the question.
"It is the duty of such champion," he explained in answer to Barbara's
interrogation, "to stand before the throne, and, casting down a glove,
to defy to mortal combat any one who shall openly challenge the right
of the sovereign to rule."
"But why," said the princess, with a pitying smile, "why should we
retain a feudal usage out of place in this nineteenth century?"
"It has always formed a part of the coronation ceremonial," protested
Mosco. "Your late father, Prince Thaddeus, would not have it omitted
when he was crowned."
"And what would happen," asked Radzivil, "if some one malevolently
disposed towards the princess should step forward and pick up the
glove?"
"We had better consult the Justiciary," smiled Barbara. "He is our
authority on all matters of law."
"Your Highness," returned Polonaski, "the ancient statute touching the
championing of the sovereign's rights has never been repealed, and
therefore still stands good in point of law. Should any one accept the
champion's challenge by taking up the gage thrown down, the combat
would have to take place."
"With what result?" queried Radzivil. "Will you say that if her
champion should fall the princess must resign the throne?"
"According to the law of Czernova," replied the Justiciary.
Zabern leaned back in his seat and caustically whispered in the
premier's ear,--
"Count, methinks you were a little premature last night in banishing
an excellent swordsman from Czernova."
"I venture to differ from the Justiciary," remarked the princess. "An
earlier law is always repealed by a later. Therefore the feudal
statute which has been cited is abrogated by the recent Anti-duelling
Act. We will therefore omit this pretended championing of our rights
as an obsolete, barbarous, and unmeaning ceremony."
The Justiciary did not look as if convinced by Barbara's reasoning. He
refrained from further comment, however, and the motion to omit the
champion from the ceremonial was unanimously accepted.
Various other matters relative to the solemnity were settled, after
which the council broke up, leaving Zabern still troubled by Mosco's
smile. A permanent member of the cabinet, the Greek archpastor,
equally with the Roman archbishop, could not be removed at will by the
princess or the premier, unless guilty of treason, and of this Zabern
as yet lacked proof.
"He is playing Bora's game," muttered the marshal. "He is a party to
Lipski's plot. I warrant he knows all about the store of arms
concealed in that traitor's cellar. Mosco, you shall sit no more as
the betrayer of our meetings, for none shall be held. For some time
to come Czernova shall be governed by a council of three--the
princess, Radzivil, and myself."
But the evil which the Greek archpastor might do was as nothing
compared with what the Roman archbishop could effect, and in the
course of a few days Barbara found herself facing a peril of which
even her confidant Zabern little dreamed.
A week after Paul's departure Cardinal Ravenna returned to Slavowitz,
coming from Rome in no good humor. The Sacred College, at the
invitation of the Pope, had been spending many days in the discussion
of some abstruse doctrine of theology, much to the irritation of
Ravenna, whose self-interest required his presence in Czernova.
In the first hour of his return he was made aware that the cabinet,
ignoring his superior claims, had deputed Abbot Faustus to crown the
princess, and that all men were talking of the event; for inasmuch as
it was the current belief that Ravenna was the very person who had
converted the princess to the Catholic faith, the Czernovese were
naturally not a little mystified by this exclusion of the archbishop
from the coronation ceremony.
Ravenna knew full well that this appointment could not have been made
without the sanction of Barbara herself, and accordingly on the
following morning he repaired to the Vistula Palace, his mortification
becoming still further enhanced by the mocking smile of his Greek
rival, whom he chanced to pass on the way. Barbara received the
cardinal with a chilling mien.
"Is it true, princess," he began with a grave air, "that in the matter
of the coronation you have given to the Abbot Faustus, my inferior,
the honor which belongs of right to the archbishop?"
"Quite true," responded Barbara, coldly.
"Do you intend, then, with set purpose, to put an affront upon me in
the sight of all Czernova?"
"None but pure hands shall set the diadem upon my head. Shall I accept
the Sacrament from one who has insulted me with words of unhallowed
love, repeat prayers uttered by your lips? My lord cardinal," she
added in scorn, "have you no conscience?"
Probably not. He was indifferent to the moral precepts of religion, if
not at heart wholly atheistic, having adopted the ecclesiastic life
merely as a stepping-stone to power.
"Is it likewise true that Zabern purposes at no distant date to
introduce into the Diet a bill for the expulsion of Jesuits from
Czernova?"
"Your eminence has been correctly informed. We cannot tolerate in the
principality those whose aim it is to create an _imperium in imperio_.
Besides," added the princess, caustically, "a Jesuit Expulsion Bill
will put my Muscovite subjects in a good humor, while not greatly
offending the Catholics."
Though maintaining a calm exterior, the cardinal nevertheless listened
with secret dismay, for her words were the very death-knell of his
ambition. By using the princess as his instrument he had hoped to play
the _rôle_ of a Richelieu in Czernova, and to be the supreme director
of affairs, secular as well as ecclesiastical. By reason of his
supposed conversion of a Greek princess he had obtained a high place
in the Pope's favor. He had openly boasted at the Vatican that the
Greek heresy would soon vanish from Czernova. But now? The attitude of
Barbara and her cabinet showed that he had been building castles in
the air.
Was this to be the end of his life's work? Must he write "failure"
across the scheme that had occupied his mind for twenty years? It
would seem so.
"Is it to be war between us? Good! Thus, then, do I take up the gage
flung down by you. On your coronation day, in the sight of all
assembled in the cathedral, I shall rise to affirm, ay, and to prove
too, that you are not Natalie Lilieska. I shall denounce you as an
impostor, as a knowing usurper of the rights of Bora."
"And be arrested as an accomplice of the impostor; since, if I fall,
you fall with me."
"Not so, princess; for I shall previously have made my terms with
Bora. You may count, now, upon having the Pope as your enemy, since
you are bent upon persecuting the Society of Jesus. By falsely
claiming to be princess you have imposed upon the Holy Father. You
admit a heretical prelate to participate in the ceremony of your
coronation. You pretend to be a Catholic, yet your ministers have
placarded Slavowitz to the effect that the princess will swear at the
altar to preserve inviolate the ancient privileges as well of the
Greek as of the Latin Church. Such Laodicean policy will not suit Pio
Nono. A word in his ear from me will bring against you a bull of
excommunication. And, remember, that the subjects of an excommunicated
ruler are absolved from their allegiance."
Barbara laughed scornfully.
"We are not living in the time of the Crusades. Excommunication is an
obsolete weapon."
"Not so obsolete as you deem, princess. The Poles are loyal, or shall
we say superstitious, Catholics. Many of them will obey the Pope
rather than yourself. There will be a cleavage in the ranks of your
Polish adherents fatal to your interests. Barbara Lilieska, with the
Pope and the Catholic clergy of Czernova alienated from you; with
dissension among your own adherents; with the duke and his Muscovite
faction opposed to you; with the jealous Czar, ready, nay, eager, to
march his armies against the usurping princess who had so often
thwarted his policy--it will pass the wit of Zabern himself to keep
you upon the throne. Dream not of your coronation. You may ride in
state to the cathedral, but only to witness the crowning of Bora. From
that ceremony you will return not to this Vistula Palace, but to that
Citadel in which you once imprisoned the duke. He hates you bitterly
since your rejection of him for Captain Woodville. Now he will be able
to wreak his vengeance upon you. You will have to drink deep of the
cup of humiliation. Are you prepared for this?"
Barbara sat, pondering over the difficulties of her position. Then
amid her troubled thoughts came the memory of Paul and of his
mysterious plan, and she took courage.
The cardinal stood silently drinking in the beauty of her face and
figure, loving and hating her in the same moment, hoping against hope
that she would change her attitude towards him.
So long did Barbara remain mute that the cardinal began to think that
her opposition was weakening, and under this delusion he ventured to
renew his proposals of love.
"No more such language, my lord," said the princess, her eyes flashing
with indignation, "or I call the guard."
"And thereby precipitate your immediate ruin. The news of my
imprisonment would cause my nephew Redwitz of Zamoska to put in
evidence the three sealed letters. At present the secrets contained
within them are unknown even to him; but in a day more all the world
would be talking of the impostor-princess of Czernova. There are still
seven weeks left to you; why abbreviate your reign?"
Ravenna had spoken without his accustomed caution in revealing the
names Redwitz and Zamoska, which last was a small town in Russia,
distant a few miles from the Czernovese border. Though trembling with
anger at the cardinal's insolence, which a hard necessity compelled
her to tolerate, Barbara did not let the phrase "Redwitz of Zamoska"
escape her. The words seemed to afford a ray of hope. If these letters
could be seized, and the cardinal arrested on one and the same day,
why--then--then--
"Barbara Tressilian," said the cardinal quietly, "your aversion to
illicit love would seem to combat the theory of heredity."
At this singular utterance the princess gave a palpable start.
"The daughter is more scrupulous than the mother."
These words and the cold sneer accompanying them occasioned in Barbara
a fear far greater than that caused by the threat of deposition.
"What devil's lie are you inventing now?" she murmured.
"Your English mother, Hilda Tressilian, was content to be wooed and
won without asking the church to consecrate her love."
If it be possible for the human heart to suspend its pulsation, then
Barbara's heart did at that moment.
When at last she spoke it was in a voice breathless with indignation.
"Can there be a more base deed than to slander a dead mother in the
presence of her daughter?"
"No slander, but the solemn truth do I speak. Your father, Prince
Thaddeus, withheld this knowledge from you, from a desire to spare
your feelings. When after the Dalmatian earthquake of two years ago,
you were wavering between the crown of a princess and the veil of a
nun, the knowledge that you were of illegitimate birth might have
deterred you from accepting the crown; therefore Prince Thaddeus kept
that matter a secret. He invented the story that the church, the scene
of his marriage, had been burnt, and the record of the union
destroyed; and the more effectually to deceive you he made choice in
his fiction of a certain church which had actually been consumed by
fire. But the preservation of the edifice would have availed you
nothing, for its marriage-book contained no such names as Thaddeus
Lilieski and Hilda Tressilian."
"It is a question betwixt my father's word and yours. I prefer my
father's."
"Naturally, inasmuch as it suits your interests. When on your
crowning-day, and before a vast assembly, I rise to deny that you are
Natalie Lilieski, will you dare affirm it, knowing, as you do, that
you lack a certain birth-mark of that princess? If you aver that you
are in reality Barbara Lilieska, the elder daughter of Thaddeus, what
answer will you give to those who challenge you to produce the proofs
of Thaddeus's early marriage? Barbara Tressilian, you are
illegitimate, and as such debarred from reigning. Your beauty has made
you many enemies among the proud and envious ladies of Czernova. Those
over whom you have queened it will be able to point the finger of
scorn at the discrowned princess, branded with the stain of illicit
birth."
He marked with secret pleasure the shiver of wounded pride on the part
of Barbara, and clenched his remarks with the question,--
"Knowing what I can effect, do you still maintain your defiance of
me?"
"I do," responded Barbara, quietly. "Believing myself to be the lawful
princess of Czernova, I shall hold to my throne. Girt around with
earthly perils, I tranquillize my mind by looking above, confiding in
the justice of heaven."
That any one should think of trusting to such a shadowy weapon as the
justice of heaven drew a sneer from the atheistic cardinal.
"The history of Poland should have taught you that God is always on
the side of the strong." And then, conscious of the futility of
further argument, he made a mock bow, and with the words, "Farewell,
Princess Lackland," he withdrew from the saloon.
Barbara retired to her own private apartments, and was seen no more
that day, save by her personal attendants.
Her belief in her legitimacy had rested upon her father's word; but
how if he had deceived her? The thought that she might be of illicit
birth rankled in her mind, poisoning all her happiness. She clenched
her hands in agony, and unable to sit still, paced restlessly to and
fro.
The spirit of justice was deep-planted within Barbara's breast; a
throne unlawfully held had no attractions for her; if she could be
certain that the cardinal's statement were true, then, bitter though
the duty might be, she must resign the crown of Czernova to her enemy
Bora. But she was not certain, and therein lay the torture. She would
have no peace of mind till the question should be settled, and
unfortunately the circumstances of the case seemed to preclude the
possibility of solving the doubt.
When Zabern next day sought the presence of the princess, he was
struck by her pallid complexion and melancholy air.
"The cabinet," he muttered to himself, mistaking the cause of her
sadness, "will have to recall Woodville, or our princess's health will
give way. Your Highness," he said aloud, "Dorislas has just proposed a
conundrum."
"To what effect?" asked Barbara with a smile.
"'Whether does Cardinal Ravenna live at Slavowitz or at Rome?' I
confess I am unable to answer it. It is but forty-eight hours since
the cardinal's return, and yet we now hear that he has set off again
for Rome, and will not come back till your coronation eve."
"When he will bring with him," observed Barbara, quietly, "a papal
bull excommunicating the Princess of Czernova."
"Ha! he'll be well advised not to read it," said Zabern, touching the
hilt of his sabre significantly. "I plainly foresaw that our
preference for Faustus would make an enemy of Ravenna. And so he hath
gone to Rome to solicit a bull of excommunication? And he'll obtain
it. Our intended attack on the Jesuits will not please Pio Nono; once
their foe, he hath of late become their friend and patron.
Excommunication! Thus does the Church reward us for preserving her
property, since in fighting for our own Convent of the Transfiguration,
we were fighting likewise for all the other monasteries of Czernova;
for which service it now appears we are to receive papal curses.
Humph! 'Catholicism without the Pope' will soon have to be our cry."
"Marshal," said Barbara, resolving to make Zabern a confidant of her
secret history, "did you not present me with a handsome bow and quiver
about six months ago?"
Zabern replied in the affirmative, wondering why the princess should
have introduced a matter seemingly irrelevant.
"Have you not felt hurt that I have never once made use of your
gifts?"
"The princess has been occupied with more important matters."
"Shall I give you my reason?"
"If your Highness wills."
"The reason is very simple. I have never handled bow and arrow, and it
might create suspicion if I should now begin to learn."
"Now your Highness is jesting," said Zabern, puzzled to account for
this humor on the part of the princess, because Barbara was not in the
habit of jesting; and, moreover, if her remark were intended for a
jest, it was somewhat difficult to see the point. "You shoot like
Diana herself, or rather, I should say you did, for I must confess
that since your Dalmatian tour you seem to have taken a dislike to
archery."
"Marshal, I have never in my life taken aim at a target."
Zabern was completely dumfounded by the seriousness with which Barbara
spoke. On recovering from his surprise, he said, smiling the while,
for he did not believe in what he was saying,--
"Then if I am to accept your Highness's statement as true, it must
follow as a logical conclusion that the young princess who handled the
bow so admirably three years ago is not the same as she who now
addresses me."
"Now you have hit upon my secret, marshal. I am not Natalie Lilieska."
"And I am not Ladislas Zabern," laughed the other. He could not tell
why the princess spoke thus; he certainly could not believe her.
"Now, Zabern, be serious, for I am serious. Can you not recall when I
first came here from Dalmatia, many supposed lapses of memory on my
part? Was it not a common saying at that time, 'The princess has grown
very forgetful?' Was I ever seen without either my father or Ravenna
by my side? The truth is they were secretly instructing me as to the
persons whom I met, giving me their names, history, and the like. And
yet in spite of many blunders on my part, no one seemed to have any
suspicion as to the truth, not even the Duke of Bora. Listen,"
continued Barbara to the utterly bewildered marshal, "listen while I
give you a secret chapter of my biography."
Zabern gave due heed; and though the story was one of the most
marvellous and most romantic that had ever come under his notice,
either in history or fiction, he was compelled to believe in its
truth, for what motive could the princess have in fabricating such
story?
But when he was made aware of the sacrifice which the cardinal had
demanded of Barbara as the price of his silence, Zabern became first
cold with horror, then hot with rage. A saint as regarded his own
dealings with women, he viewed with peculiar aversion a priest
addicted to illicit amours.
"By heaven, your Highness, if I had but known this three hours earlier
I would have cut the villain's throat."
"And thereby, in the cardinal's words, have precipitated my immediate
ruin. We must act warily. Listen."
And here Barbara proceeded to enlighten the marshal as to Redwitz of
Zamoska, the guardian of the three sealed letters; and how on
receiving intelligence of his uncle's imprisonment or death, the
nephew was to despatch these missives,--one to the Russian Foreign
Minister, a second to the Duke of Bora, and a third to the office of
the "Kolokol" newspaper.
"A subtle knave!" smiled Zabern.
Himself born with a genius for plotting, the marshal took a keen zest
in outwitting the plans of others, and in his view the cardinal's
contrivance for safeguarding himself presented some interesting
features.
"I fail to see why your Highness should fear the cardinal. You are so
like Princess Natalie in face and figure that you can laugh at his
threat to expose you on the coronation day. We will ascribe his
statement to the malice of a disappointed ecclesiastic."
"Not so," replied Barbara, with a shake of her graceful head. "My
sister Natalie had a mole upon her right shoulder, as the physicians
who attended her birth, and the nurses and ladies who waited upon her,
can prove. I have no such mark. Now, Zabern, never lacking in subtle
counsel, you see my peril. Aid me. You defeated Lipski; now defeat the
cardinal for me."
"A very easy matter. Why did not your Highness confide in me before?"
"How--easy? In what way do you propose to act?"
"In the first place, are you certain that no one knows your secret
besides ourselves, Ravenna, and Captain Woodville? This Redwitz, for
example?"
"The cardinal asserted that his nephew was ignorant of the contents of
the three packets."
"Good! For my own part I do not think it probable that the cardinal
would share so valuable a secret with others; his own self-interest
would forbid it. Well, now," mused Zabern, "if we lay violent hands
upon Ravenna the nephew over the border will send off the letters."
"That has been my fear."
"On the other hand, if I despatch an agent to the house of Redwitz to
obtain possession of the letters, and it would be very easy to effect
this--"
"Then Redwitz, discovering his loss, would notify the fact to the
cardinal, who would thus become apprised of our design."
"True, princess; therefore our plan is obvious. Either the seizure of
the papers and the seizure of the cardinal must take place
coincidently, or--But leave it to me, your Highness," added Zabern,
breaking off somewhat abruptly. "Let the cardinal enjoy his brief span
of life at Rome. As soon as he returns he shall be secretly seized in
his own palace, instantly gagged to prevent him from revealing
anything even to his captors, and conveyed in a covered carriage to
the oubliettes of the Citadel. He shall never see daylight again."
Much as the cardinal might deserve such fate, Barbara nevertheless
could not repress a shudder.
"Marshal," she said, with a grave look, "it is a dangerous thing to
seize, imprison, and execute a cardinal, a prince of the Church,
without any pretence at a trial. The Pope--all Europe--will have
something to say on the matter."
"Trial? We dare not try him, for then would he make known to the
judges and others the very matter we wish to keep secret. Ours is a
dangerous game, true; but it would be far more dangerous to let the
villain live. Still, there is no need for his arrest; there are other
and safer ways. The cardinal may disappear mysteriously, and then
Marshal Zabern, the Minister of Justice, will offer a large reward,
ay, and will give it, too, to any one who can tell what has become of
the missing archbishop. Or," added Zabern, grimly, "he may be found to
have committed suicide in his own palace."
Zabern spoke without the least scruple. He was not naturally cruel nor
treacherous, but he reflected that the crown of Czernova was at stake,
and with it, so he believed, the future liberation of Poland; and
where these weighty matters were concerned, the secret removal of a
cardinal was but a light thing in his eyes.
But Barbara was distressed. Must she resort to crime, she who had
declared to the cardinal that her reliance was upon heaven? For her
conscience refused to palliate Zabern's intended deed; the slaying of
Ravenna without trial would be murder, and murder wrought to secure a
title the validity of which she herself was beginning to question.
Zabern noted her look of pain.
"Your Highness, bestow no pity upon the cardinal; he deserves death,
if ever man deserved it. Consider the case of your sister Natalie. Do
not believe that she committed suicide. A maiden of seventeen, to whom
life was just unfolding fair and bright, heiress to a crown, and
affianced to a man whom she loved--heaven forgive her for her
choice!--she had every inducement to live. Doubt not that the cardinal
had a hand in her death. Give me leave to employ the rack upon him,
and I'll soon extract the truth."
"You have my authority for his arrest and conveyance to the oubliettes
of the Citadel. Solitary confinement and a deaf jailer, if you will;
but murder--no! _Fiat voluntas mea._"
With that the interview terminated, and Zabern departed to reduce to
practice the plan he had formed.
Four weeks afterwards he presented to the princess three small
packets, each fastened with violet-colored wax, stamped with the image
of a paschal lamb, a seal that recalled vividly to her mind the
mysterious incidents connected with the cardinal's study at Castel
Nuovo.
"There are Ravenna's documentary safeguards," laughed Zabern. "One
half of our task is accomplished."
"How have you managed it?" asked Barbara.
"Katina's sister Juliska has been my agent. Going to Zamoska she
succeeded in making acquaintance with a maid-servant belonging to the
household of this Redwitz, who, it appears, is a Catholic priest. By
the offer of a large bribe Juliska persuaded this girl to ask her
master's leave to visit a dying brother in a distant part of Russia,
the said dying brother being, of course, a mythical personage; in the
meantime, the maid averred, her duties could be performed by a friend
of hers then resident in Zamoska. The unsuspecting Redwitz gave his
consent, and the pretty Juliska took up her residence under the
priest's roof in the character of temporary servant.
"Fortunately for our plan one of her duties was to attend to the study
of this Redwitz, and, making careful search in his absence, she soon
lighted upon these three packets in a secret drawer of an escritoire.
Having been provided beforehand with the necessary materials, namely,
violet wax and the cardinal's seal, Juliska quickly made up three
blank packets outwardly similar in all respects to the originals; and
the latter being abstracted from the escritoire were replaced by the
fac-similes."
Barbara, breaking the seals, proceeded to read the contents of the
three missives, which were all couched in much the same terms. Each
began by affirming that the then regnant Princess of Czernova was not
Natalie Lilieska, and various circumstances were adduced in proof of
this statement. The document then went on to assert, and the assertion
brought the color of shame to Barbara's cheek, that the self-styled
Natalie was the illegitimate daughter of the late Prince Thaddeus, and
therefore legally debarred from reigning.
"Mother of God! can this be true?" murmured Barbara, with anguish at
her heart.
The cardinal did not deny his own share in the plot by which Barbara
had been raised to the throne, but rather took credit to himself in a
matter, which, as he fondly hoped, would tend to advance the interests
of the Catholic Church in Czernova. He concluded by stating that he
lived in some fear of the princess, who viewed him with dislike, as
being the sole depositary of her secret; therefore if he should be
arrested, or should be secretly slain, or should mysteriously
disappear, men would know to whom the deed should be ascribed.
Barbara, having read the documents, threw them upon the fire, and
watched till they were consumed.
"Nothing now remains," remarked Zabern, "but to arrest the cardinal in
the first moment of his return."
"There is another who threatens my safety. When, marshal, do you
intend to seize Lipski, and his store of arms?"
"Not till the day before the coronation, so please your Highness."
"Where is the advantage in this delay?"
"Why, thus. If we arrest Lipski now we give the enemy opportunities of
forming new plans, and of collecting fresh supplies of weapons,
whereas a raid on the very eve of the coronation will throw the
plotters into a confusion, from which they will not have time to
recover."
"But if the arms should be carried forth before the 14th of
September?"
"My spies are on the watch; of course if that should occur, I shall
have to antedate my raid. Has Radzivil informed your Highness that the
Czar is sending his representative to attend your coronation?"
"The same ambassador as before, the insolent-tongued Orloff, he who so
strangely presumed to doubt the existence of our Charter? Let the
court marshal appoint him a seat near the high altar, whence he can
view our document at his leisure, nay, handle it, if he will," she
added.
"The Charter!" muttered Zabern, grimly, as he withdrew from the
presence of Barbara. "The Charter, humph; I'll not add to your present
anxieties, princess, by stating the truth. Will that devil of an
Orloff suspect my manoeuvre?"
As the day assigned for the coronation drew near, the ancient and
stately capital of Czernova began to assume a gala aspect. Flags waved
in every street. Bright drapery wrought with mottoes decked the walls.
Venetian masts and triumphal arches arose. In a word, all things
deemed essential to a great state-pageant were in due course of
preparation.
For the maintenance of order troops were drafted daily into Slavowitz,
until one half at least of the Czernovese army was quartered in
various parts of the capital.
The Muscovite populace, disposed at first to be wrathful at the
holding of the coronation in a Catholic edifice, moderated their ire
somewhat on learning that their own Archpastor Mosco was to take part
in the solemnity, while the great cardinal, the object of their
hatred, was to be entirely excluded.
Placards containing the words of the amended coronation oath were
posted up in public places, that all might see that the princess would
pledge herself at the altar to respect the rights both of the Greek
and of the Latin churches.
The disaffected, who were hoping for riots on the coronation day,
seemed fated to meet with disappointment, owing to the judicious and
pacificatory policy of the princess's ministry.
That ministry took courage, and anticipated, nay, were confident,
that the great day would pass off without disturbance.
Then came a bolt from the blue!
Early on the morning of the day prior to the coronation, Radzivil and
Zabern sought the presence of the princess.
"Your Highness," said the premier, "a Russian army of one hundred
thousand men is assembling at Zamoska."
Zamoska, distant but six miles from the frontiers of Czernova!
"A Russian army at Zamoska?" repeated Barbara.
"And commanded by the Czar in person," added Radzivil.
"What is the Czar's object in mustering his troops so near our own
borders?"
"When the news reached us late last night," said the premier, "your
ladies reported that you were in so sweet a sleep that it would be
wrong to disturb you. I therefore took upon myself to send an envoy in
your name to the Czar to inquire the reason for this massing of troops
so close to our frontiers."
"You did quite right, my lord. Has the messenger returned?"
"A few minutes ago. And the explanation given is that the Russian army
is gathering at Zamoska for the autumn manoeuvres."
"You do not believe this story?" said the princess, turning to Zabern.
"Princess, no. You must nerve yourself to bear the truth. In my
opinion the Czar is assembling his forces for the purpose of
preventing your Highness's coronation."
"By what right?" exclaimed Barbara, with flashing eyes, and Zabern was
glad to see that she who had most reason for fear showed far more
spirit than Radzivil; "by what right?"
"By that right ever recognized by the world--the right of the
strong," returned Zabern. "By open diplomacy and by secret intrigue,
Russia has failed to sap the independence of Czernova; therefore she
now resorts to the sword."
"And the foe without will be aided by traitors within," murmured the
princess.
"If," said Zabern, with a glance of inquiry at Barbara, "if the
Russians should enter our territory--?"
"We shall not cry 'quarter.' We shall meet them in arms."
"But, your Highness," remonstrated Radzivil, in a tone of dismay,
"what hope have we of defeating them?"
"Very little," replied Barbara, "but what then, Count? Would you have
me be as a saint upon cathedral window with folded hands and downcast
eyes? Meekly submit to see my realm filched from me? Never! So long as
there shall remain to me a man and a musket, so long will I offer
resistance."
"Will not your Highness assemble the cabinet and the Diet?" asked the
premier.
"And listen to timid, divided, or traitorous counsels? No! Marshal,
you are the head of the army; give immediate orders for our troops to
proceed to the frontier. Take what steps you deem best for the defence
of the principality."
"Shall your Highness delay your coronation?" inquired Radzivil.
"And show Russia that we fear her? No. Let not the ceremony be delayed
by so little as one hour. And when the solemnity is over then will I
proceed direct from the cathedral to the camp. To arms! To arms! This
last fragment of Poland shall not fall without making a valiant
stand."
"There spake the spirit of your ancestors, the Jagellons," said
Zabern. "Princess, you should have been born a man."