Morning reported all that had passed at the table of the Cardinal.
What happened in the hall, was slightly mentioned; for little of
that had been generally heard; but an account was circulated, that
notwithstanding the good offices of Giovenozzo had produced a shew of
reconciliation, some serious consequences might be anticipated.
When Ripperda entered to his son the next day, he perceived by his
pallid hue and averted eyes, that he had heard something of the affray.
Without preface, he abruptly asked, what had been told him of the
Duke of Wharton's behaviour the preceding night. The informant of
Louis had shaped the story under a flattering veil for his father; and
the anxious son had heard nothing but of the insolence and scoffing
speeches of the English Duke; and of the dignified forbearance of
Ripperda.
The blood that accused his friend in his heart, rushed to his face,
when he repeated what had been told him.
"And how," demanded Ripperda, "do you mean to act towards the man who
could so taunt, deride, and insult your father?"
"Though he twice preserved my life," returned Louis, "he has now
wounded me in a more vital part; and I shall ever after regard him as a
stranger."
Ripperda shook his head, and laid his hand on his son's arm. "And what
would be your decision, were I to reverse the charge?"
Louis looked on the flushed countenance of his father.
"Man is fallible, Louis!" cried he, "and, after thirty years
of undeviating self-control----" Ripperda broke off, in the
acknowledgements he believed it magnanimous to make, and in the
bitterness of his mortification thrusting his son from him, he
exclaimed,--"How must I hate the man who burst my fettered passions,
and, for one desperate moment, made me their victim, and his sport!"
Louis did not speak, in his astonishment at what he hoped would end in
some acquittal of his friend; but the pleasurable feeling was quickly
smothered by this tremendous burst from his father; and he saw revived
before him, the terrible moment in which the Sieur Ignatius clenched
his dagger at his breast. Without a word, or a look upward, he stood,
awefully expecting him to proceed.
After a minute's pause, the Duke turned desperately calm to his son.
"Discredit the vile flatterers, who would tell you, that Wharton alone
was the aggressor. We met like hostile bulls, and wonder not that we
should plunge at once upon each other's horns! Respect him still, for
he is a noble enemy; but I am his, for ever."
Louis threw himself at his father's feet.
"My gracious father! oh that the visible pleadings of my heart, that
its dearest blood, could make you regard him as a friend!"
There are hearts that cannot bend where they have injured. Ripperda's
was of this proud mettle; and looking down on his kneeling son, he
exclaimed:--"Impossible! that has passed between us which has made our
enmity eternal. Your conduct in the affair I leave to yourself. But I
can trust to you, that you will not compromise your father's honour by
broadly shewing fellowship with his most open enemy."
Louis pressed his father's hand to his lips; that hand which was hardly
washed from the stain of Wharton's blood! But he was ignorant of that
part of the horrid tale; and the Duke, in a milder voice, bade him rise.
"You will not soon be called upon to act a Roman part between your
father and your friend!" continued he. "I saw Cardinal de Giovenozzo
this morning; and he tells me that Wharton has disappeared."
This information was balm to Louis, as it seemed to promise a peaceful
termination to so threatening an affair. That his friend had withdrawn,
was a pledge of his pacific wishes; and, with a lightened countenance,
Louis rose from his knee.
Ripperda said no more; and his son was left to his meditations.
Whatever details he afterwards heard of the affair, were so confused
and contradictory, he could form no certain criterion, which was most
to blame. But Giovenozzo at last put all to silence, by a declaration,
that he should deem all further discussion of a transaction which
passed under his roof, as an impertinent interference with his
responsibility. He pronounced, that neither the Duke de Ripperda,
nor the Duke of Wharton, could have acted otherwise than they did,
consistently with their own dignities; and he insinuated to Louis,
that a third person, whom he could not mention, was the origin of
a dissention, which had ended in a manner to reflect honour on his
father. The Cardinal then hinted, that Wharton had vanished on some
occult mission, to circumvent the Italian investiture.
"And so," added the smiling ecclesiastic, "I doubt not, he seeks to
revenge the triumphant magnanimity of his transcendant rival."
From all this, though Louis could not learn much to criminate his
friend, he gained enough to impress him with an encreased conviction of
his father's greatness of mind; that a generosity, something like his
own romantic nature, had impelled the few words of self-blame which had
dropped from him in their first, and, indeed, only conference on the
subject. After that discussion, it was never resumed; and the whole
matter dying away from people's tongues and memories, Ripperda appeared
in every circle as usual, bright and serene as the cloudless sky in
midsummer.
The favour in which he was held at Court was made more apparent than
ever; and though the dispatches which were to bring the royal assent
to Louis's marriage, seemed unaccountably delayed; yet to shew that no
doubt remained in Elizabeth's mind, of the father and son's sincerity,
she permitted the solemn installment of the latter in the name of Don
Carlos, into the reversion of the two long-disputed Italian dukedoms.
This important rite was just completed, when a packet was put into
Ripperda's hand from Spain. It brought his recall to the council of his
sovereign.
The various objects of the treaty with Vienna had so alarmed the other
kingdoms of Europe, that the cabinet of Madrid was besieged day and
night by the clamour of their respective envoys. Grimaldo, the prime
minister, enfeebled by age, and adverse to the new system of politics,
had begged to resign his office. Philip granted the petition; and
now sent for Ripperda, to take the supreme chair himself; and, (in
the King's own words,) to consummate the greatness of Spain. Their
Majesties desired that the Marquis de Montemar should be left _Charge
des Affaires_; and that the Duke himself would immediately set forth on
his return.
Ripperda examined farther into the packet, to find the expected consent
for his son's marriage; but it was not there; and no notice taken of
the application he had made for it. On questioning the messenger,
whether he had omitted to bring any part of his charge, the man told
him that a special courier, which was Castanos, had been dispatched a
few days before him; and he was not less surprised than alarmed, to
find him not arrived, as he knew he brought dispatches of great value.
The disappointment Elizabeth sustained in this procrastination of the
marriage of her favourite, was absorbed for a time in her regrets
for the recall of her friend. Louis could think only of his father's
glorious summons, to perfect the happiness of his country; and when,
in the midst of his preparation for departure, Castanos did arrive,
this affectionate son, hardly cast a thought on the reprieve, that he
brought no dispatches.
Castanos told Ripperda, he had been beset on the road, in the mountains
of Carinthia, by a band of armed men, who rifled and left him for dead.
A poor herdsman found him, and took him to his hut; where, having
recovered strength to pursue his journey, he came forward, to apprise
his master that he had lost the dispatches, and with them a casket of
jewels from Don Carlos to the Arch-duchess. The bruises on Castanos's
person bore witness to the truth of his assault; and the Empress and
her favourite, were obliged to resign themselves to await a courier
from Ripperda himself, when he should have arrived in Spain.
On the third day after the declaration of his recall, Ripperda took his
official leave, and presented his son in his new office. At parting,
the Emperor invested the Duke with the Star of the _Golden Fleece_;
in which order, he was the only exception to an undeviating line of
Sovereign Princes. The Empress presented him with her picture set in
brilliants; and when the Court broke up, she told him to follow her, to
receive the farewell commands of her daughter.
Louis waited in the anti-room, while his father entered the apartment,
where the still invalid Princess sat on a sofa, supported by the
Countess Altheim. Louis could not help seeing the lovely group, through
the half-obscuring draperies of the open door. The Princess was pale
and thin; and, though dressed superbly, seemed fitter for her chamber.
When Ripperda drew near, a faint colour tinged her cheek.
"The Duke approaches you, my love," said the Empress, "to bear your
commands to Don Carlos; and to receive from your hands, the portrait of
his future bride."
"Where is it?" said the Princess, turning hurryingly to Otteline.
The Countess drew a beautiful miniature from its case, which lay on the
sofa near her, and presented it to her young charge. Maria Theresa held
it in her hand, and looked on it a few seconds with a languid smile.
"It is very pretty, and very fair!" said she, "Do not you think so,
Duke?" added she, putting it into Ripperda's hand, who received it on
his knee; "But tell the Spanish Prince, I shall be much fairer before
he looks on it." And then she cast down her eyes, and sat perfectly
still and silent.
"What means my love, by so strange a message?" enquired the Empress.
The Princess did not answer, but merely sighed, and looked round,
uneasily. Elizabeth repeated the question, with enquiries, whether she
wished to send the Prince any thing else, that she looked about so
searchingly.
"O, no," replied the young creature, shaking her head, and rising from
her chair; "I only wish to give this rosary to the Duke of Ripperda,
for himself;--himself, alone!" cried she, and clasping her fair hands,
as she dropped it into his, she turned hastily round with a glowing
cheek, and flew out of the apartment.
At the moment of her last raising her eyes, she had caught a glimpse of
Louis, as he stood in a distant corner of the other room half concealed
in its draperies, but regarding with a pitying eye the resigned victim,
who, like himself, was to be offered up to the ambition of others.
In evident emotion, Elizabeth put her hand on the arm of Ripperda, and
withdrawing with him into a part of the room out of sight,--Otteline
advanced to his son.
Louis's soul was full of sympathy for the interesting Maria Theresa;
the import of whose melancholy message to Don Carlos, he well defined:
and his compassion for such thraldom, extending to himself, made him a
very unfit companion for his own future bride. He could have wept over
the sweet, and faded Theresa; while the blooming cheek and rosy smile
of Otteline, at such a season! withered him as she approached; and he
stood sad and absorbed, after he had given her the ceremonious salute
of the day.
The Countess had found her account in not striving to change these
fitful moods in her lover. But while she suppressed the risings of her
haughty soul, she often said within herself. "Disdainful tyrant!--My
hour is coming!--When I am your wife, then you shall feel what you have
done by trampling on the slave, who only waits a few magic words, to be
your sovereign!"
For the whole of the remainder of the day, Ripperda's house was
crowded with ministers, foreign embassadors, and persons of various
descriptions. It was past midnight, before the last of these levies
was dismissed; in the midst of all of which, Louis had seen his father
like a presiding deity. He seemed the umpire of Europe; and as if
the monarchs of each realm stood before him in the persons of their
delegates, to hear from his lips the fiat of their weal or woe. To all
he was as gracious as he was peremptory: and while he asserted the
greatness of Spain, and proclaimed her claims in the various quarters
of the globe, he breathed nothing but peace and prosperity to the
nations that sought her amity.
Ripperda did not go to rest the whole night. He remained until morning,
instructing his son on the objects entrusted to his completion. Louis
received these lessons as distinctly, as a mirror receives the image of
the face that looks on it; but where that fled, these were stationary,
and remained indelibly stamped on his mind.
With the rising orb of day, the travelling equipage was announced.
Ripperda rose from his seat. Louis started up also, with an emotion to
which he would not give voice.
"I have spoken of all that relates to your public duty;" resumed the
Duke, "I wish your private concerns were in as fair a prospect. But
in my last conference with the Empress, I found myself obliged to
pledge her my word, (and to seriously intend its performance,) to
suffer no hesitation in the Queen's consent to your marriage with the
favourite. But cheer yourself under the sacrifice. Believe, that in
giving Otteline your name, you perform an act of self-devotion, of a
consequence to the interests of your country, I cannot now explain,
but it is worthy the price. Like your father, my son, you must live to
virtue alone; live for mankind; live to future ages!--Do this, and all
common concerns will be lost in the imperishable glory!"
Louis threw himself on his father's bosom.
"For this once!" cried he, in the full voice of filial affection; "For
this once, let me be pressed to the heart that inspires me to virtue!
The heart that I most honour and love in the world!--Oh, my father, may
I be like unto thee; and all minor enjoyments shall be nothing to me!"
The Duke strained him to his breast. Louis's cheek was wet with tears;
but his own flowed; so he knew not whether his father's mingled there.
Ripperda strove to break from him, with an averted face. Louis clasped
his hands, as he sunk on his knees; "Bless me, Oh, my father!" cried
he, "Bless me, ere you leave me to this dangerous world!"
The Duke paused, and looked for a moment on the bent head of his son.
"Bless you, Louis!" said he, "But be firm in yourself, and you will
need no beadsman's orison."
Louis hardly heard the latter sentence, in his growing emotions; and
pressing the hem of his father's garment to his lips, it slid from his
hand as the Duke drew it away, and disappeared through the door.