While such events had been passing without the gates of Ghent, the
estates of Flanders and Brabant--as the members somewhat
grandiloquently styled the anomalous assemblage which had been
collected in that city--had prolonged their sittings till night had
shaken hands with morning. The Lords of Hugonet and Imbercourt had, as
we have seen, been arrested by their commands; but this was not all,
and every individual of any weight, who was clearly connected with
what was called the French party at the court, had likewise been
committed to prison. It may be necessary, however, to state how such a
bold and sweeping measure--a measure so full of difficulties, and so
likely to encounter strenuous opposition--had been carried into
effect.
No favour was shown to any one; and, as soon as the assembly met,
Albert Maurice, so averse, in general, to deeds of violence, proposed
in quick succession, and with an eager light in his eye, which proved
how deeply his personal feelings were implicated, the names of the
victims who were to be exposed to the fiery ordeal of a public trial,
under such an excited and furious state of the popular mind. With bold
and sweeping positions, supported by extraordinary eloquence, he laid
it down, in his opening address, as a first grand principle, that
those who sought to unite Flanders with France were declared enemies
to their native country; and he went on to assume, that even those who
could show that no mercenary motive influenced them, were worthy, at
least, of banishment, while those who could be proved to have been
bought by France, merited nothing less than death. All this was
readily admitted by his hearers; but the high rank and station of the
first men that he then proceeded to proscribe, their fair reputation,
and a long train of brilliant services to the state, caused no light
feelings of surprise and apprehension to agitate the various members
of the states, as they heard them named. But there was a power and an
authority in the tone of the young president, which overawed or
carried away the greater part of his hearers; and the calm sneer, or
cold philosophic reasoning of Ganay, who supported him, drove or
induced many of the rest to yield.
Still it required but the strenuous opposition of some one individual,
to rouse and lead a large party in the states against the bold and
dangerous measures proposed; and, to the surprise of all, that
individual was worthy Martin Fruse. As soon as Ganay had concluded, he
rose, and, after some agitated embarrassment--occasioned both by the
importance of the subject on which he was about to speak, and his
dislike to oppose his nephew--found words to begin; but, once having
done so, he poured forth, with rapid utterance, one of those torrents
of rude eloquence which generosity of heart and rectitude of feeling
will sometimes elicit from the roughest and most untutored mind.
"No, no, Albert! No, no, my dear boy!" he exclaimed. "No, no; it is
very wrong--very wrong indeed! For God's sake, my friends and fellow
citizens, pause! let us be wise and firm, but moderate and just. We
have done great things--indeed, we have. We have recovered our
freedom; we have regained those ancient laws and usages which were our
blessing in the olden time, and which may bless us still, if we use
them discreetly. But, fellow citizens, remember, oh, remember! there
is a point where our own privileges end, and where those of other
classes and other men begin. Let us not take one stride beyond the
barriers of our own rights; for surely, if we do, we shall, sooner or
later, be driven back with disgrace. The man who, with power to right
himself, suffers another to rob him of his property, is little better
than a fool; but he who, because he has once been robbed, grasps at
the possessions of another, is none the less a robber himself. The
nobles have their own privileges and their own laws; and right it is
that they should have them; for perhaps we are less fitted, from our
habits and situation, to judge them, than they are to judge us. But,
setting that point aside, we claim our own laws and our own judges,
and we have obtained them: the nobles, too, claim theirs, and let them
have them too. If they have wronged each other, let them right
themselves; and if they have wronged the state, whereby we may suffer
too, let us carry up our impeachment of their conduct to the footstool
of the princess, and demand that they be judged by their peers,
according to law. But on no account let us either arrest them without
lawful authority; and still less let us presume--a body of men
superior to them in numbers, and in some sort, I will say, prejudiced
against them, because we hold a lower rank than they do--and still
less, I say, let us presume to judge them, when we cannot, from our
very station, judge them impartially. A man can very well judge
others, may be, when he despises them; but no men can judge others
whom they envy. I know nothing of these two lords; and all I have
heard of them makes me believe that they were good and faithful
servants of their prince, so long as he was living; but if you have
good reason to think that they have since betrayed their country to
France, accuse them before the princess and her council, and let them
be judged by their equals."
"What! and give them time to escape the pursuit of justice?" demanded
Albert Maurice, sternly; but immediately assuming a softer tone, he
added, "Had any other man spoken the words we have just heard, I
should have instantly called upon the states of Flanders not to
entertain for a moment ideas which would go to circumscribe all their
powers. I would have endeavoured to show that we have a right, as the
representatives of the whole of Flanders and Brabant, to defend our
existence as a nation, and our general interests as a free people, by
arresting any one whom we find labouring to sell us at the highest
price to a foreign power; and, by making the most terrible example of
such traitors, to deter others from similar treason--without adducing
any weaker reasons. But to you, my uncle--my best and kindest
friend--I am bound by love and gratitude; and to you also--as the
oldest and most revered member of the council--the states are bound by
reverence and esteem, to yield every motive which can satisfy your
mind. I, therefore, as one of the provincial council of the princess,
may now inform you, that one half of that council----"
"The Duke of Gueldres has signed the order," whispered Ganay, laying a
parchment before the President, who instantly proceeded--"that even a
majority of the council, have consented to the arrest of these two
nobles, the Lord of Imbercourt and the Chancellor Hugonet; and surely,
did there exist no other right in this assembly to try them for their
manifold and recent offences, the warrant of three such men of their
own order as the Duke of Cleves, the Duke of Gueldres,[8] and the
Bishop of Liege, would be ample authority for such a proceeding."
As he spoke, he spread out the parchment on the table before the
states; and, slowly pronouncing the names of the three princes who,
from the base motives of personal ambition or revenge, had been
induced to consent to such a degradation of their class, he pointed
with his finger in succession to their signatures attached to the
order for arresting the unfortunate nobles. Martin Fruse was silent;
but the voice of every other person present was raised for the instant
execution of a warrant so signed, though many, by leaving the order
without any further authority, would have gladly shifted the
responsibility of the act upon those princes who had justified it, in
order to escape themselves from a task, for which, with all the will
in the world, they wanted the necessary courage.
Albert Maurice, however, and several others, made of sterner stuff
than the generality of the burghers by whom they were surrounded, had
more extended views and more daring purposes, and were determined not
to trust the execution of the vengeance they proposed to wreck on the
two counsellors, to such doubtful friends as the Dukes of Cleves and
Gueldres, and the Bishop of Liege. The first, indeed, had shown
himself the bitter foe of Imbercourt from the moment he had discovered
that the statesman had determined to save the country from foreign
invasion, if possible, by uniting Mary of Burgundy to the heir of the
French crown. To the Bishop of Liege, Imbercourt had long been a
personal enemy; and the Duke of Gueldres had motives of his own, or
rather motives suggested by Ganay, for seeking to alienate the unhappy
minister from the councils of the princess. Each, however, of these
great lords, Albert Maurice well knew, were willing to compound for
the exile of the minister, and to spare his life; but the young
president himself judged rightly, when he thought that Imbercourt, in
power or in banishment, would never cease his efforts to execute the
design he had formed, till he were dead, or the scheme accomplished;
and Albert Maurice resolved that he should die. He tried hard to
convince his own heart that his intentions were purely patriotic; but
his own heart remained unsatisfied. Yet, having once yielded to the
promptings of the worse spirit, the burning doubt in his own bosom, in
regard to the purity of his motives, only urged him on the course he
had chosen with more blind and furious impetuosity, in order to escape
from the torturing self-examination to which conscience prompted him
continually. He saw around him difficulties and dangers on every side,
obstacles alike opposed to his ambition, to his love, and to his
aspirations after liberty. He believed himself to be in the situation
of a mariner on a narrow bank, over which the ocean threatened every
instant to break, and overwhelm both himself and the vessel of the
state; and he resolved at once to push off into the midst of the
stormy waves, in despite of the fears of his companions, believing
that his own powers could steer the ship safely, and that their
feebleness must yield him the command, till he had piloted her into
the port for which he had already determined to sail.
The timidity of some, the subtlety of others, the wilfulness, the
self-conceit of all, he saw could only be bent to his purposes by
plunging them in an ocean of difficulties, from which he alone could
extricate them; and, understanding well the characters of those by
whom he was surrounded, and prepared to make their talents, their
influence, their wealth, their vices, their very weaknesses,
subservient to his one great purpose, he resolved to involve them all
in schemes of which he alone knew the extent.
At once, therefore, he rejected the idea that the warrant, signed by
the three princes he had named, was sufficient; and though he allowed
their names to stand first, he urged upon those who heard him, that
the states must also join in the same act, or forfeit thenceforward
all pretence to real power. His arguments and his authority easily
brought over a large majority of the hearers; and the warrants were
sent forth bearing the names of the whole assembly. A number of other
persons, less obnoxious, were then, as I have before said, added to
the list of those to be secured; and the meeting of the states did not
break up till the fearful work of proscription had been dreadfully
extended.
The assembly then rose; and member by member, bowing low to the
president, who had the day before taken possession of a suite of
apartments in the Stadthuys, and now made it his dwelling, left the
town-hall, and departed. Ganay alone remained, and he did so on a sign
to that effect from Albert Maurice; who, when all the rest were gone,
and the doors closed, leaned his folded arms upon the table, and
buried his brows upon them, as if utterly exhausted with all the
fatigues of the day, and the struggle of many a potent passion in the
arena of his own bosom. The dull flames of the long-burnt lamps but
dimly illumined the wide vacant hall and its dark wainscot; but the
great cresset hung just above the head of Albert Maurice; and as the
light fell upon the bright curls of dark hair dropping over his arms,
and upon the magnificent head and form which those curls adorned, it
seemed shining upon some fallen spirit, in the first lassitude of its
despair. Nor did the withered form of Ganay, with his shrewd keen eyes
fixed upon the young citizen, and his cheek shrunk and pale with the
long workings of passions, concealed by subtlety, but not the less
potent on that account, offer a bad image of some dark tempter,
enjoying his triumph over the fall of a better being, then writhing
before his eyes under the very fruition of its first evil hopes.
It was Ganay who began the discourse, and the tone of his voice at
once roused Albert Maurice from his momentary absence of mind. "They
have all plunged in now, indeed!" said the druggist. "I thought not
they would run before our will so easily."
"They have plunged in, indeed," replied Albert Maurice, "and so have
we! But that matters not. We will lead them safely through. But now
tell me--How was the Duke of Gueldres won to our wishes? He owes his
freedom as much to Imbercourt as to any one. Is he then so base a
slave as he has been pictured? Is the soil of his heart really so
fertile in weeds, that good service produces nothing thence but
ingratitude?"
"Nay, nay, my young friend," answered the druggist, while a bitter
sneer lurked round his lip, at the very candour he assumed; "you are
beginning to think sadly ill of mankind. They are not so bad a race as
you believe. Like all great patriots, you affect to despise the very
world you would shed your blood to serve. No, no; the Duke of
Gueldres, good honest man, would be as grateful as his neighbours, if
no more powerful motive came in the way of gratitude. You forget,
Albert Maurice, that we are teaching him to believe that his
pretensions to the heiress of Burgundy are full as good as those of
the sottish heir of Cleves; so that, whoever seeks to give her hand to
a stranger, is an enemy to Adolphus of Gueldres, who counts boldly on
being her husband."
The cheek of Albert Maurice flushed, and then grew pale; for often in
the dull and filthy trade of worldly policy, men must work with tools
they are ashamed to touch, and employ means abhorrent to their better
nature. Thus, though obliged to balance one mean soul against another,
as suitors for her he himself loved, it stung the young aspirant to
the very heart to hear their pretensions calmly named by any other
human being; and giving way to the first burst of indignation, he
exclaimed, "Out on him, vile swine! But beware, Sir Druggist, beware
how you raise his mad dreams too high! and still more beware," he
continued, as a sudden suspicion seemed to cross his mind, awakened,
as had been frequently the case before, by the sneering tone in which
the druggist sometimes spoke; "and still more beware how you dare to
play into his hands. Mark me, sir," and grasping Ganay by the arm, he
bent his dark brow upon him; "mark me! I know you well, and you know
me, but not so well! You think you use me as a tool, because, to a
certain point, you have succeeded while following my steps, and have
obtained, and are obtaining, the vengeance for which you thirst. But
learn and know that you have succeeded so far, only because the
interests of the state and your own desires have been bound up
together. It is, that those whom you seek to destroy have given you
the means of destroying them, by rendering it necessary that I should
strike them; not, as perhaps you dream, that you have bent me to your
purpose. You see I know you, and some of your most secret thoughts.
But hear me further ere you reply. Learn, too, that the transactions
of thirty years ago, are not so deeply buried beneath the dust of time
as you may think; and that, though you and Adolphus of Gueldres may
meet as strangers now-a-day, I have dreamt that there was a time when
ye knew more of each other. So now, you see, I know you, and some of
your most secret deeds; and once more, I say, beware!"
It was the second time that Albert Maurice had referred boldly to
events in the past, which Ganay had supposed forgotten; and the ashy
cheek of the druggist grew, if anything, a shade paler than before,
while, for a moment, he gazed upon the face of Albert Maurice with a
glance of amazement, most unwonted to his guarded features. It passed
off, however, in an instant, and a flash of something like anger
succeeded in its room. But that, too, passed away, and he replied
calmly, but somewhat bitterly, "I will beware. But you, too, Albert
Maurice, beware also. There are some things that it is not well to
discuss; but if you can trace--as, for aught I know or care, perhaps
you can--my whole course of being for more than thirty years, you well
know that I am one whose vengeance is somewhat deadly; and that
however strong you may feel yourself, it were better to incur the
hatred of a whole host of monarchs, than that of so humble a thing as
I am. Curl not your proud lip, Sir President, but listen to me, and
let us both act wisely. I love you, and have loved you from your
childhood; and, in the great changes that are taking place around us,
we have advanced together--I, indeed, a step behind you; or, in other
words, you have gone on in search of high things and mighty destinies,
while I have had my objects, no less dear and precious to my heart,
though perhaps less pompously named in the world's vocabulary. Let us
not, now that we have done so much, and stood so long side by side,
turn face to face as foes. Doubtless you fear not me: but let me tell
you, Albert Maurice, that I am as fearless as yourself--nay, something
more so--for there are many mere words cunningly devised, and artfully
preached upon, by monks, and priests, and knaves, and tyrants, which
you fear, and I do not. But let us set all these things aside; it is
wisest and best for us both to labour on together, without suspicions
of each other. If, as you say, you know the secrets of the past, you
well know that I have no mighty cause to love Adolphus of Gueldres. In
what I have done to win him popularity, and to make him raise his eyes
to the hand of the sweet and beautiful Princess of Burgundy, I have
but followed your own directions, and no more; and you must feel and
know that his power over the people, and his hope of that bright lady,
are, when compared with yours, but as a feather weighed against a
golden crown."
The firmest heart that ever beat within man's bosom is, after all, but
a strange weak thing; and--though feelings very little short of
contempt and hatred were felt by the young citizen for his insidious
companion--though he knew that he was false and subtle, and believed
that even truth in his mouth was virtually a lie, from being intended
to deceive, yet, strange to say, the goodly terms that he bestowed
upon Mary of Burgundy, and the flattering picture he drew of his
hearer's probable success, soothed, pleased, and softened Albert
Maurice, and wiped away, for the moment, many of the individual
suspicions he had been inclined to entertain before.
It must not be supposed, however, that those suspicions, thus
partially obliterated, did not soon return. They were like the
scratches on an agate, which a wet sponge will apparently wipe away
for ever, but which come back the moment that the stone is dry again,
and cloud it altogether. He knew Ganay too well, he saw too deeply
into the secrets of his subtle heart, to be ever long without doubt of
his purposes, though artful words and exciting hopes, administered
skilfully to his passions, would efface it for a time. If this
weakness, and it certainly was a great one, did not influence his
conduct, it was, perhaps, as much as could be expected from man.
"I mean not, Ganay," he said, "either to taunt you or to pain you; but
as our objects are different, as you admit yourself, I do you no
wrong, even on your own principles, in supposing that as soon as those
objects are no longer to be gained by aiding and supporting me, you
will turn to some one whose plans may better coincide with your own.
My purpose, then, in showing you how thoroughly I know you, is, that
you may have the means of seeing that it would be dangerous to abandon
my interest for that of any other person; and that you may balance in
your own mind the advantages and difficulties on either side. But, as
you say, to drop this subject, and never to resume it again, unless
the day should come when separate interests and different feelings may
oppose us hostilely to each other, tell me, candidly and fairly, do
you think that, if we encourage the popularity of him of Gueldres, in
opposition to this proud Duke of Cleves, we may safely count upon his
ultimate failure; for did I believe that there were a possibility of
his success, I would slay him myself ere such a profanation should
take place:" and as he spoke he fixed his eyes upon the face of the
druggist, in order to make the expression of the other's countenance a
running commentary upon the words he was about to reply.
"I think," replied the druggist, firmly, and emphatically, "that
Adolphus of Gueldres--stigmatized by the pure immaculate world we live
in, as the blood-stained, the faithless, the perjured, the violator of
all duties and of all rights--has as much chance of obtaining heaven,
as of winning Mary of Burgundy. I tell you, Albert Maurice, that she
would sooner die--ay, die a thousand times, were it possible, than wed
the man she has been taught to hate from her infancy."
"I believe she would," murmured the young citizen, calling to mind the
demeanour of the princess, when giving the order for the liberation of
the Duke of Gueldres; "I believe she would, indeed."
"Besides," continued the druggist, "besides, she loves another. Ay,
Albert Maurice, start not, she loves another! What, man," he
continued, seeing his companion change colour, "are you so blind? I
had fancied that all your hopes, and one half your daring, had birth
in that proud consciousness."
Never dreaming that his companion would announce so boldly what was
still but one of the most indistinct visions of hope, even within his
own bosom--a vision, indeed, which was the prime motive of all
thoughts and actions, but which he had never dared to scrutinize
carefully--Albert Maurice, with all the irritable jealousy of love,
had instantly concluded that Ganay, in the first part of what he said,
had alluded to some other object of the princess's affection, and his
cheek for a moment turned pale. Otherwise he might have paused to
consider whether the somewhat over-enthusiastic tone was not assumed
to blind and mislead him; but the latter part of the other's speech
set the blood rushing back into his face with renewed force; and his
own passions proved traitors, and lulled to sleep the sentinels of the
mind.
"Mark my words," continued Ganay; "mark my words, and see whether, by
the grey dawn of to-morrow, you are not sent for to the palace. But
remember, Albert Maurice, that though patriotism may lead a man to the
summit of ambition; and though love, as well as glory and authority,
may become the fitting reward for services rendered to his country,
yet, in the path thither, he must never sacrifice his duty for any of
those temptations, or he will surely lose all and gain nothing."
A slight smile passed over the features of Albert Maurice--whose
passions, in this instance, did not interfere to blind his native
acuteness--when he saw what use his artful companion could make of the
words duty and patriotism, while it served his purpose, though, at
other times, he might virtually deny the existence of such entities.
"How mean you?" he said. "Your position, good friend, is general, but
you have some more particular object in it."
"I mean," replied Ganay, "that should Mary of Burgundy use all those
sweet words, which love itself teaches woman to employ in moving the
heart of man, in order to shake your duty to your country, and make
you work out the safety of two convicted traitors, you, Albert
Maurice, must have firmness enough to say, no, even to her you love,
remembering, that if you let them escape, even into banishment--you
may look upon the marriage of Mary of Burgundy with the Dauphin of
France as an event not less sure than that you yourself exist. Look,
too, a little farther, and think of the consequences. Even supposing
you could brook your personal disappointment, and calmly see her you
love in the arms of the weak boy of France, what would befall your
country? Already one half of the nobles of Burgundy and Flanders have
gone over to the French! Already half our towns are in possession of
Louis, that most Christian knave; and at the very first breathing of
the news, that a treaty of marriage was signed between the heirs of
France and Burgundy, the whole land would rush forward to pass beneath
the yoke, while the blood of those who sought to save their country,
would be poured out in the streets of Ghent, to expiate the crime of
patriotism."
"Fear not," replied Albert Maurice; "proved as it is, beyond all
doubt, that these two men have dared to negotiate the sale of their
native land to him who has been its great enemy, there is no power on
earth that could induce me to interpose and save them from the
outstretched arm of justice. They shall be fairly heard, and fairly
tried; and if it be shown, which it cannot be, that they are
guiltless, why let them go, in God's name, as free as the blast of the
ocean: but, if they be condemned, they die, Ganay."
"So be it," said the druggist; "in this instance, at least, justice to
your country is your only chance of personal success; and now, good
night, and every fair dream attend you."
Thus ended their long conference; and Ganay, descending from the hall,
woke his two sleepy attendants, who were nodding over an expiring fire
in the vestibule below. Each instantly snatched up his sword and
target, to conduct his master home, for the streets of Ghent were not
quite so safe, since the death of Charles the Bold, as they had been
under his stricter reign. A boy with a lantern preceded the druggist
on his way homeward; and as he walked on across the Lys towards the
church of St. Michael, the subtle plotter bent his eyes upon the
ground, and seemed counting the stones, as the chequering light of the
lantern passed over them. But his thoughts were not so void of matter;
and he muttered words which showed how deeply some parts of his late
conversation--those which had seemed to affect him but little at the
time--had in reality sunk into his heart. "He is quieted for the
present," he said, "and he must do out his work, but he must die--I
fear me he must die; and yet my heart fails me to think it. Why and
how did he learn so much? and why was he mad enough to breathe it when
he had learned it? But I must think more ere I determine. Those
papers! he added--those papers--if I could but get at those papers!
Whatever hearsay knowledge he may have gained, he could make out
nothing without those papers."
While thus--muttering to himself broken sentences of the dark purposes
which dwelt within his own bosom--the druggist pursued his way
homeward, Albert Maurice retired to his bed-chamber in the town-house,
and summoned his attendants to aid in undressing him. No man really
more despised the pomp and circumstance of state; but since he had
taken upon himself the government of Flanders, for the power he had
assumed was little less, he had in some degree affected a style of
regal splendour, and attendants of all kinds waited his commands. The
necessity of captivating the vulgar mind by show, and of impressing on
the multitude respect for the office that he held, was the excuse of
the young citizen to himself and others; but there was something more
in it all than that--a sort of flattering stimulus to hope and
expectation was to be drawn from the magnificence with which he
surrounded himself; and he seemed to feel, that the thought of winning
Mary of Burgundy was something more than a dream, when he found
himself in some sort acting the monarch in her dominions. He felt,
too--and there might be a charm in that also--that he acted the
monarch well; and that the robes he had assumed became him, while the
native dignity of his whole demeanour, and the unaffected ease with
which he moved amidst the splendour he displayed, dazzled the eyes of
those who surrounded him, so that he met nothing but deference and
respect from all.
He slept that night as calmly in the couch of state as if he had been
born amongst the halls of kings; and he was still in the arms of
slumber, when a page woke him, announcing as Ganay had predicted, that
the princess required his presence at the palace with all speed. He
instantly rose, and dressing himself in such guise as might become him
well without incurring a charge of ostentatious presumption, he
proceeded to obey the summons he had received; and was led at once to
the presence of Mary of Burgundy.
The princess, as usual, was not absolutely alone; for one of her
female attendants--the same who had accompanied her during the
thunderstorm in the forest of Hannut--now remained at the farther
extremity of the room, but at such a distance as to place her out of
earshot. It was, indeed, as well that it should be so; for Mary was
prepared to plead to her own subject for the life of her faithful
servants--a humiliation to which the fewer were the witnesses
admitted, the better. The feeling of the degradation to which she
submitted, was not without a painful effect upon Mary's heart, however
gentle and yielding that heart might be; and the struggle between
anxiety to save the ancient friends of her father and herself, and the
fear of descending from her state too far, wrote itself in varying
characters upon her countenance, which weeks of painful thoughts and
fears had accustomed too well to the expression of agitated
apprehension.
It was still, however, as beautiful a picture of a bright and gentle
soul as ever mortal eye rested on; and as Albert Maurice gazed upon
it, half shrouded as it was by the long black mourning veil which the
princess wore in memory of her father's death, he could not but feel
that there was a power in loveliness like that, to shake the sternest
resolves of his heart, and turn him all to weakness. The agitation of
his own feelings, too; the hopes that would mount, the wishes that
could not be repressed, rendered him anxiously alive to every varying
expression of Mary's face; and without the vanity of believing that
all he saw spoke encouragement to himself, he could not but dream that
the colour came and went more rapidly in her cheek, that her eye more
often sought the ground while speaking to him, than in the most
earnest consultation with her other counsellors. Perhaps, indeed, it
was so; but from far other causes than his hopes would have led him to
believe. Seldom called to converse with him but in moments of great
emergency, Mary was generally more moved at such times than on other
occasions, and when agitated, the eloquent blood would ever come and
go in her cheek, with every varying emotion of heart.
In him, too, she met one of a class with which she was unaccustomed to
hold any near commune; and, at the same time, there was a power, and a
freshness, and a graceful enthusiasm in all the young burgher's
demeanour, which never can be without effect upon so fine a mind as
that of the princess. Perhaps, too, though had she ever dreamed that
such a thing as love for her could enter into his imagination, she
would have been as cold as ice itself--perhaps, too, she might feel
that there was something of admiration in the young burgher's eyes,
which she would not encourage, but at which she could not feel
offended, and which she might have done something to check, had she
not felt afraid of wounding and alienating one whom it was her best
interest to attach. Nevertheless, it might be the very desire of doing
so, and the fear of giving pain, that agitated her still more, and
rendered her manner more changeful and remarkable.
Such were their mutual feelings, varying through a thousand fine
shades, which would require a far more skilful hand than that which
now writes to portray, when they met on that eventful morning, the
sovereign to solicit and the subject to deny.
A few words explained to Albert Maurice the cause of the call he had
received to Mary's presence; and the occasion having once been
explained, she went on, with gentle but zealous eloquence, with a
flushed cheek and a glistening eye, to beseech him, by every motive
that she thought likely to move his heart, to save the lives of her
faithful servants.
"Indeed, dear lady," he replied, "you attribute to me more power than
I possess; for much I fear, that, even were I most anxious to screen
two men, accused of selling their native land to a foreign prince,
from a judicial trial and judgment, I should be totally unable to
bring such a thing to pass. Willingly, most willingly, would I lay
down my own life for your service, madam, and be proud to die in such
a cause; but to pervert the course of justice would be a far more
bitter task to Albert Maurice than to die himself."
"But remember, sir! oh, remember!" replied Mary, "that we are told to
show mercy, as we hope for mercy; and still further remember, that, in
their dealings with France, the Lords of Imbercourt and Hugonet were
authorized by my own hand; and if there were a crime therein
committed, I am the criminal alone! The act was mine, not theirs, as
under my commands they went."
"Your Grace is too generous," replied the young burgher, "to take upon
yourself so great a responsibility, when, in truth, it is none of
yours. How reluctant you were to treat with France, no one knows
better than I do; and what unjust means must have been used to induce
you, I can full well divine."
"Nay, nay, indeed!" she said; "it was my voluntary act, done upon due
consideration; and no one is to blame, save myself."
"If, lady," rejoined Albert Maurice, speaking in a low but solemn
tone, "if you, indeed, do wish for this French alliance, if you desire
to unite yourself with your father's pertinacious enemies, if, as your
own voluntary act, you would give your hand to the puny boy, whose
numbered days will never see him sovereign of France, and who can
alone serve to furnish a new claim to Louis XI. for annexing your
territories to his own--if, I say, such be your own sincere desire, I
will, most assuredly, announce it to the states general."
"If I say that it is so, will it save the lives of my two faithful
servants?" demanded Mary, anxiously, while her heart beat painfully
with the struggle between the desire of rescuing her counsellors, and
her shrinking abhorrence of the marriage proposed to her. "Will
it--tell me--will it save them?"
"I cannot promise that it will," replied Albert Maurice. "The states
must decide, whether those who counselled such an act are not still
most guilty, though your Grace was prevailed upon to sanction it. Nor,
lady, must you think that such a sacrifice on your part would achieve
even the pacification of France and Burgundy. Be assured, that there
is not an unbought man in all Flanders who would not shed the last
drop of his blood ere he would consent to the union of the two
countries. Nor do I believe that Louis of France himself would accede.
He claims the whole of your lands, madam, upon other titles. Burgundy
he calls his own by right of male descent; the districts of the Somme
he declares to have been unjustly wrung from the crown of France; and
the counties of Flanders and Artois, he says, are his of right, though
he has not yet deigned to yield a specification of his claim.
Doubtless he has striven to buy your servants and your counsellors;
and many of them has he purchased, not to promote your union with his
son, but to betray your lands and cities into his power."
"But these faithful friends," said Mary, "these noble gentlemen whom
you now hold in captivity, are all unsoiled by such a reproach."
"Your pardon, madam," replied Albert Maurice, gravely; "such is one of
the chief crimes with which they are charged. Good evidence, too, it
is said, can be produced against them; and though I have not myself
examined the proofs, yet I fear they will be found but too strong."
Mary stood aghast, not that she believed the accusation for a moment,
but that any one should find means of advancing even such a pretext
against those whose honour seemed in her eyes too bright for such a
stain to rest upon them for a moment. "Oh, save them!" she exclaimed,
at length, with passionate eagerness. "Save them, sir, if you love
honour, if you love justice! Look there," she continued, advancing to
the high window of the apartment, and pointing with her hand to the
scene spread out below; "Look there!"
Albert Maurice gazed out, in some surprise. It was, indeed, as fair a
sight as ever he had looked upon. The situation of the casement at
which he stood, in a high tower, long since demolished, commanded an
extensive view over the whole country round. The sun had not risen
above an hour. The world was in all the freshness of early spring. The
mists and dews of night, flying from before the first bright rays of
day, had gathered together in thin white clouds, and were skimming
rapidly towards the horizon, leaving the sky every moment more blue
and clear. Ghent lay yet half asleep beneath the palace, with its
rivers and its canals constantly gleaming in, here and there, amongst
the grey, sober-coloured houses, while innumerable monasteries, with
their green gardens, and churches, with their tall spires, broke the
monotony both of colour and of form, and pleasantly diversified the
scene. As the eye wandered on over the walls, past the suburbs,
through a maze of green fields and young plantations, a fair,
undulating country met its view, interspersed with deep, brown woods,
from which, every now and then, rose a village spire, or a feudal
tower, while the windings of the Scheldt and the Lys, with every now
and then an accidental turn of the Lieve, were seen glistening like
streams of silver through the distant prospect. Over all the ascending
sun was pouring a flood of the soft light of spring, while the clouds,
as they flitted across the sky, occasionally cut off his beams from
different parts of the view, but gave a more sparkling splendour, by
contrast, to the rest.
"Look there!" said Mary of Burgundy, "look there! Is not that a fair
scene?" she added, after a moment's pause. "Is not that a beautiful
land? Is it not a proud and pleasant thing to be lord of cities like
this, and countries like that before you? Yet let me tell you, sir, I
would sacrifice them all. I would resign power and station, the broad
lands my father left me, the princely name I own; ay, and never drop a
tear to know them lost for ever, so that I could save the life of
those two noble gentlemen now in such peril by false suspicions. Oh,
sir, I beseech, I entreat; and, did it beseem either of us, I would
cast myself at your feet to implore that you would save them. You
can--I know you can; for well am I aware of all the power which, not
unjustly, your high qualities have obtained amongst your fellow
citizens. Oh, use it, sir, for the noblest, for the best of purposes!
use it to save them at my entreaty, and for my sake."
As she spoke, agitation, eagerness, and grief overcame every other
consideration, and the tears streamed rapidly over her fair cheeks,
while, with clasped hands, and raised-up eyes, she sought to move her
hearer. Nor was he unmoved. On the contrary, he was shaken to the very
heart. That stern determination which he thought virtue, the ambition
which rose up beside patriotism, and was beginning to overtop the
nobler shoot--all were yielding to the more powerful force of love;
or, if they struggled, struggled but feebly against that which they
could not withstand. His temples throbbed, his cheek turned pale, his
lip quivered, and words were rising to utterance which might, perhaps,
have changed the fate of nations, when quick steps and loud voices in
the ante-chamber attracted the attention both of himself and the
princess.
"Stand back, sir!" exclaimed the coarse tones of the Duke of Gueldres.
"By the Lord! if the princess is in council with any one, as you say,
the more reason that I should be present at it. Am not I one of her
counsellors, both by birth and blood?"
By this time he had thrown open the door; and, striding boldly into
the chamber, he advanced with a "Good morrow, fair cousin: if you be
in want of counsellors, here am I ready to give you my advice."
Mary's cheek turned pale as he approached; but she replied,
mournfully, "My best and most tried counsellors have been taken from
me, sir, and I know not in whom I may now trust."
"Trust in me, fair cousin, trust in me," replied the Duke; but Albert
Maurice interrupted him.
"I believe, sir," he said, "that it is customary for the princess,
when she wants the counsel of any individual, to send for him, and for
none to intrude themselves upon her without such a summons. I, having
been so honoured this morning, and having received her commands, shall
now leave her, doubting not that she will be well pleased that we both
retire."
"School not me, Sir Citizen," replied the Duke of Gueldres, fiercely;
"for, though you fly so high a flight, by the Lord! I may find it
necessary some day to trim your wings."
Albert Maurice replied only by a glance of withering contempt, which
might have stung the other into some new violence, had not Mary
interposed. "I did not think to see such wrangling in my presence,
gentlemen," she said, assuming at once that air of princely dignity
which became her station; "I would be alone. You may retire!" and for
a single instant the commanding tone and the flashing eye reminded
those who saw her of her father, Charles the Bold.
The rude Duke of Gueldres himself was abashed and overawed; and,
having no pretence prepared for remaining longer, he bowed, and strode
gloomily towards the door, satisfied with having interrupted the
conversation of the princess and Albert Maurice, of which he had from
some source received intimation. The young citizen followed, not sorry
to be relieved from entreaties which had nearly overcome what he
believed to be a virtuous resolution, although--with that mixture of
feelings from which scarcely any moment in human life is exempt--he
was pained and angry, at the same time, to be forced to quit the
society of one so beloved, however dangerous that society might be to
his well considered purposes. He bowed low as he departed; and Mary,
dropping the tone of authority she had assumed, with clasped hands,
and an imploring look, murmured, in a low tone, "Remember! oh,
remember!"
The Duke of Gueldres proceeded down the stairs before him, with a
heavy step and a gloomy brow. Nevertheless, that prince, whose cunning
and whose violence were always at war with each other, only required a
short time for thought, to perceive that he could not yet, amidst the
bold designs which had been instilled into his mind, dispense with the
assistance and support of the young citizen; and he determined, as
speedily as possible, to do away any unfavourable impression which his
rude insolence might have left upon the mind of the other.
"Master Albert Maurice," he said, as soon as they had reached the
vestibule below, "i'faith I have to beg your pardon for somewhat sharp
speech but now. Good sooth, I am a hasty and a violent man, and you
should not cross me."
"My lord duke," replied Albert Maurice, gravely, but not angrily,
"your apology is more due to yourself than to me. It was the Duke of
Gueldres you lowered: Albert Maurice you could not degrade; and as to
crossing you, my lord, that man's violence must be a much more
terrible thing than I have ever met with yet, that could scare me from
crossing him when I felt it my duty to do so."
The Duke of Gueldres bit his lip, but made no reply; for there was a
commanding spirit about the young burgher, which, supported by the
great power he possessed in the state, the other felt he could not
cope with, at least till he had advanced many steps farther in popular
favour. He turned away angrily, however, seeing that conciliation was
also vain; and, flinging himself on his horse, rode off with the few
attendants whom he had collected in haste to accompany him to the
palace.
Albert Maurice returned more slowly to the town-house, clearly
perceiving that the coming of the Duke of Gueldres, in the midst of
his conference with the princess, had not been accidental, and
endeavouring, as he rode on, to fix with certainty upon the person who
had given that prince the information on which he had acted.