The melancholy King sat in the great room alone. His eyes were fixed
on the map, but his mind was far away, over yonder in Holland where
she was--she, the Queen. The thought of her beauty troubled him; her
soft voice seemed to be whispering at his ear in her pretty broken
English. Some lines in a play he knew came into his mind, lines
uttered by a king who, like himself, had known the horror of civil
war, lines which said that it were better to be a shepherd and tend
sheep than to be an English king. He sighed and his handsome head
drooped upon his breast, and the brown hair that was graying so fast
hid his cheeks. His eyes were wet and he could not see the map; it
was all a blur of meaningless criss-cross lines. This would not do;
he must think, he must plan, he must decide; but his head remained
bent and the map remained a criss-cross puzzle.
The image of himself, which faced him as he sat, that picture of a
king, royal, joyous, unchallenged, seemed to move a little, as if
the bright figure on the canvas sought to approach and reassure the
dejected man who crouched over the map of a divided kingdom. It did
move, the serene Van Dyck portrait; it moved a little, and a little,
and a little more; moved sideway as a door moves, yawned a foot of
space between frame and wall, and through that foot of space
Brilliana slipped into the room.
"Your Majesty," she said, softly.
The King gave a little start as he lifted his head and looked at her.
She thought she had never seen so pitifully a weary face as the face
of her King, and her heart ached for him, but it ached most for her
lover.
Charles rose to his feet, flawlessly courteous, much wondering.
"How did you come here, mistress?" he asked, and she sighed at the
tired sound of his voice. "I understood from Sir Rufus that you were
for the time--"
He paused, and Brilliana calmly finished the sentence.
"Confined to my apartments. Yes, that was Rufus's plan. But though
Rufus calls himself captain of this castle he does not know it so
well as I do. There are ways of getting hither and thither that he
does not dream of."
"You are a determined young woman," the King said, with a faint
smile, "if you think so lightly of the privacy of your King."
Brilliana flung herself on her knees in a moment, her hands clasped,
her eyes shining with honest tears.
"Your Majesty!" she cried; "your Majesty, I would never have dared
this if I were not a woman very deep in love, if my lover were not in
danger, and if--"
She paused.
"And if?" Charles echoed, his fine, irresolute face neither smiling
nor frowning. "Finish your sentence, lady."
"And if I had not heard that your Majesty was a very perfect, true
lover," Brilliana went on. "Your Majesty's love for the gracious lady
now in France is the admiration of your subjects."
A faint color glowed on the King's pale cheeks. He was indeed the
perfect, true lover of Henrietta Maria, and the greatest sorrow of
all the clustering sorrows that the civil war had brought him was her
absence from his side.
"It would be strange indeed if I did not love such a lady," he said,
gently; "but that lady is my queen, my wife, my comrade, my loyal
friend, while he you plead for is but an acquaintance of a few days,
and, moreover, in all thoughts and deeds your enemy--and mine."
Brilliana had now risen to her feet and she faced the king valiantly,
for she knew that she would have to plead hard and well.
"Your Majesty," she answered, "as for the acquaintanceship, one of
our poets has said, 'Whoever loves that loves not at first sight?'
and though indeed at first sight I was far from giving this gentleman
my love, I saw in him at once those qualities which in a man deserve
love. As for his enmity, we are told that we should love our
enemies."
A frown overspread the King's face and Brilliana faltered.
"I cannot claim for myself that wealth of charity," Charles said,
"that would make me love those that by rebellion and contumacy have
plunged poor England into war."
"Sire, sire," Brilliana sighed, "if you will but pardon this
gentleman I will promise you that I will never love another of your
Majesty's enemies."
Charles frowned.
"I do not like your loyalty. Why do you plead for the life of a
rebel?"
"I am your servant, none loyaller," Brilliana answered, boldly; "but
I am a woman, and I plead for the man I love."
"If you were truly loyal," Charles commented, "you could not love a
traitor."
Brilliana pressed her hands tightly against her breast and her face
flushed.
"Captain Cloud is not a traitor. He is honest before God."
Charles admired her pertinacity. Here was a woman who would not
lightly lose heart or change purpose.
"I will not wrangle with you," he said. "I think the gentleman
deserves death. But because I know very well what it is to love
truly, why, I will let you save him if you can."
Brilliana's voice was charged with gratitude. "Oh, your Majesty is
always noble. But how?"
Charles looked at her fixedly, touching his chin with the feather of
his quill. "Thuswise--only thuswise. You will persuade Captain Cloud
to return to his allegiance."
Brilliana's gratitude ebbed and her voice hardened. "I know he will
never change sides."
An enigmatic smile passed over the fretful face of the King. "I think
so, too," he agreed, and turned again to his papers. But Brilliana
was not to be so rebuffed. Coming a little nearer to Charles, she
fell on her knees and extended her hands in supplication. "Sire, my
lover's life!"
Charles, who had lost nothing of her actions, though he affected to
be wholly absorbed in his business, looked round and down at her with
much assumption of surprise.
"You are still there? You are a pertinacious maykin."
"Sire, in the Queen's name!" Brilliana pleaded. The King sighed.
"Well, one more concession, this is the last--the very last." Charles
prided himself on his firmness, and he struck the table as he spoke
to emphasize his unalterable resolve. "If you win me his word of
honor to take no more part in this war, to remain neutral till King
humble Commons or Commons murder King, why, it is enough; he lives."
Brilliana shivered at the King's alternative. "Your Majesty cannot
believe that the worst of your subjects would aim at your sacred
life?"
The King's fine eyes were more than usual melancholy, and he opened
and clasped his long fingers nervously.
"I cannot choose but believe it. Their words are wild--that is
trifling. But long ago, when I was young, there was a man, one Arthur
Dee, a wizard and the son of a wizard, he had a magic crystal--ah,
Father in heaven!"
Charles gave a groan and hid his face in his hands, Brilliana
thrilled with compassion. "Your Majesty!" she cried; "your Majesty!"
Charles drew his hands away from his face. He rose, and, as he spoke,
he stared fixedly before him as if he saw the sight he was
describing.
"In that sphere I saw a platform hung with black. On it I seemed to
see myself staring at a sea of hateful faces. One with a mask stood
by my side who carried an axe. I have never forgotten it."
He stood rigid, with clasped hands. Brilliana shuddered at his words.
"Sire! sire! this was some lying vision."
With an effort the King controlled himself; his features softened to
their habitual melancholy, his hands relaxed their clasp, and he
seated himself again by the table.
"Belike, belike; I am unwise to think upon it," he said, in a low
voice. Leaning across the table, he struck a bell sharply. The door
opened and the soldier in immediate attendance upon the King entered.
"Tell Sir Rufus to attend us," the King said. The soldier bowed and
withdrew. Charles looked up at Brilliana. "Sir Rufus will be loath to
lose his prey," he said. "He is a fierce hawk that clings to his
quarry."
"He was once my friend," Brilliana said, sadly. The King smiled his
melancholy smile.
"If I were in his place," he said, gravely, "I think I might be
tempted to play his part. You are a very fair maiden."
Brilliana shook her head. "The love that makes a man base is no good
love. He will never be my friend again."
"Here, as I think, he comes," Charles said. The door opened and Sir
Rufus entered the room. He was so amazed at facing Brilliana that for
a moment he forgot to render salutation to the King. Charles's eyes
brightened as they used to brighten at the playhouse. Here was a
living play being played before him, tragical, comical--man and woman
fighting for a man's life.
"Sir Rufus," he ordered, "send to our presence the prisoner, the
Parliament officer."
Rufus glanced at Brilliana's stern, averted face; he read something
like mockery on the thin, royal lips. For an instant he ventured to
protest.
"But, your Majesty--" he began, but he got no further. The King
checked him with a frown and a raised hand. It was easy to make him
obstinate in crossing a follower.
"You have heard my commands," he said, sternly.
Sir Rufus bowed his head and retreated. There was nothing else for
him to do. He just glanced at Brilliana as he went out. If Brilliana
had seen the glance she would have read his rage and hate in it. But
she did not see it, for her head was still averted. The King saw it,
however, and he felt that the situation was alive. He turned to
Brilliana.
"I am a complaisant monarch, as I think," he said. "Now, lady, do
your best to make your sweetheart see reason. Honestly, I do not
think he is worth so many words, but you think otherwise, and for
your sake I wish you a winning tongue."
Brilliana bowed deeply. "I humbly thank your Majesty," she said, and
felt that the King had done much for her. From offering the
impossible he had come to offering the possible. It seemed a little
task to persuade a lover committed to a wrongful cause to lay aside
his sword and wait the issue.
The King's eyes had fallen on his papers again, and he did not lift
them thence nor take heed of Brilliana again until the tread of feet
was heard in the corridor. In another moment Evander, escorted by two
royal troopers, entered the room. There was a sudden gladness in his
eyes at the sight of Brilliana, but he at once saluted the King in a
military fashion and stood quietly at attention waiting the royal
word.
Charles rose from his chair, and for a moment his melancholy eyes
travelled from the beautiful girl standing by the window to the
gallant soldier standing by the door. The face of Evander pleased his
scrutiny far more than the face of Rufus, and it came into his mind
that he would gladly enroll Evander under his standard and hand over
Rufus to the Crop-ears. Truly the Puritan soldier and the Lady of
Loyalty House made a brave pair.
"Sir," he said, quietly, "this lady desires speech with you, and has
persuaded me to permit an interview." He turned to the troopers.
"Wait outside the door, sirs," he commanded. When they had obeyed he
looked again towards Brilliana, and there was a smile on his tired
face, a smile partly whimsical, partly pitying, as if encouraging to
an adventure yet doubtful of the result. Then he gave her a gracious
salutation, and, without further notice of Evander Cloud, passed into
the adjoining room and left the lovers alone.