The Duke of Gueldres, however, was still to enjoy a triumph before he
returned to his dwelling, which, could he have seen into the heart of
his rival, would have fully compensated all the pain which his anger
had inflicted on himself. Albert Maurice was left alone; but there was
a shout in the market-place without, which rang painfully on his ears,
as he turned from the great hall; for he could not avoid hearing the
loud voice of the multitude, cheering the Duke of Gueldres as he
mounted his horse.
The sounds were distinct enough; and to him bitter enough, also. They
were "Long live the Duke of Gueldres and the Princess! Gueldres and
Burgundy for ever! We will give her to whom we like! She shall marry
the good Duke! Long life to the noble Duke of Gueldres!" and though,
as that prince rode on, the words were no longer to be distinguished,
the cries still continued, and the fancy of the young citizen
furnished each brawling shout with articulate sounds of the character
most inimical to his own peace.
"Ere I go," he thought--"ere I go, I will see her myself; and assure
myself of her feelings before I quit the city. Then, if I find that
she hates him, as I believe, that she looks upon him as the wolf he
really is, I will take sufficient means to guard her from his
importunities during my absence."
The determination was no sooner formed than he prepared to execute it;
and, while he despatched a messenger to the palace to demand an
audience of the princess previous to his departure, which was fixed
for the next day, he gave a multitude of necessary orders, and as soon
as his horse was ready, set out himself to seek an interview, which
the consciousness of having brought about the death of Mary's
counsellors, and the banishment of her friends, made him dread even
while he courted it.
But, as those who are young in deceit generally do, he forgot, for the
time, that the dark secrets of his heart were confined to his own
bosom; and that the policy he had pursued, and the bold ambition that
prompted it, were unknown to her who had most suffered by it. In
truth, the feelings of Mary were very different from those which he
had anticipated. The broad and simple facts only reached her ear. She
knew that the young citizen had taken no part in the trial or the
judgment of Imbercourt, and that he had not even been present at his
execution. The order for the immediate removal of the Duchess Dowager
and Ravestein, also, had been issued in the name of the states: and
perfectly unconscious of the wild hopes and ambitious dreams of Albert
Maurice, she believed that if he had at all mingled in those
proceedings, it was but most unwillingly, and from a strong, though
mistaken impression of duty and patriotism. Deprived, too, of the
counsellors in whom she had always most trusted, and of the friends
whom she had most loved, the unhappy girl felt inclined to cling to
any one who seemed disposed to treat her with kindness and tenderness;
and the only one who remained was Albert Maurice. He had always been
gentle; he had always seemed to advocate her interest; he had never
asked her for gift, or honour, or dignity; and even his very animosity
towards Imbercourt and the Chancellor, had first arisen in the support
which he gave to the princess, in her reluctant struggles against the
hard and painful policy her ministers had dictated. The dignity of his
demeanour, the high qualities of his mind, the independence of his
character, and the apparent disinterestedness of his conduct, had
gained her esteem; and the respectful gentleness of his manners
towards herself, as well as his constant and zealous advocacy of the
line of policy dictated by her wishes as a woman, had won her
gratitude and her confidence.
A gleam of pleasure brightened the gloom around her when she heard
that he was coming; and, in order at once to attach him more strongly
to her interests, to express her thanks for his supposed services, and
to detach him totally from the burgher faction, whose influence had
already worked so much evil, she directed one of the officers of the
palace to draw up, immediately, letters of nobility in favour of the
young citizen, and to bring them to her with all speed. Gentle by
nature and by habit, the only arms which Mary ever employed against
her rebellious subjects were favours and mildness, and she fondly
fancied, that, in this step towards Albert Maurice, she had devised a
deep stroke of policy. The secretary's task was almost completed when
Albert Maurice arrived; and the evident pleasure with which Mary
received him, in the midst of all her griefs, extinguished for the
time remorse and apprehension in the blaze of hope and joy, and once
more nerved him for the bold career of ambition in which he had
started against such fearful odds.
The princess was pale and shaken with all the agitation, terror, and
grief of the day before; but the light that shone up in her eyes, and
the smile which played about her lips as he approached, made her
appear a thousand times more lovely in the eyes of the young burgher
than she would have seemed in all the pride of state, security, and
happiness. In the unconscious simplicity of heart, too, all her words
gave encouragement to feelings that she little dreamed of; and when,
on the announcement of his approaching departure, she pressed him to
stay, and to abandon his design; when she assured him that he was the
only one she could now trust, since her faithful servants had been put
to death and her kindred had been banished, and beseeched him not to
leave her without a counsellor, or without a friend, Albert Maurice,
knowing the passions that animated his own bosom, could not but hope
that in some degree she saw them too; and, while habitual respect cast
a deep reverence over all his words and actions, which served to
deceive her as to his feelings, his love and his ambition caught a new
fire from the confiding esteem she expressed towards him. He assured
her that in six days he would be once more in Ghent; and he hoped, he
said, to lay some laurels at her feet. In the meantime, he added, it
might be necessary to think of her security against all intrusion.
"Oh, for the love of Heaven, provide for that!" exclaimed the
princess; "I fear that base, that dreadful Duke of Gueldres. Even the
shelter of my own apartments is no security against him; and his
influence with the people, they tell me, is becoming fearfully great.
Speak, Margaret," she added, turning to one of her attendants, "what
was it you heard the people crying but now?"
"Fear not, your Grace," replied Albert Maurice, without waiting to
hear from the princess's lady a repetition of words which had already
made his blood boil. "The career of the Duke of Gueldres draws
towards its end! If I judge rightly, his own ambition will be a
stumbling-block sufficient to bring his speedy overthrow. But if not,
sooner than you should suffer from insolent daring, he shall find that
Albert Maurice does not wear a sword in vain."
"Oh, use it not against him, sir," replied the princess; "there may be
other ways of ridding the city of his presence. Too much blood has
been shed already. Nay, do not look sad, Lord President. I know that
it was without your will. I know that you were not even present. But
while you are absent from the city, if your absence be unavoidable, I
beseech you to take measures to guard me against his intrusion. When
you return," she added, with a deep crimson blush, which rose from
feelings that would have damned all the young citizen's presumptuous
hopes for ever, could he have divined them--"when you return, I would
fain speak with you, on taking such measures for the defence of the
state as may obtain for it permanent security. A woman's hand, I see,
cannot hold the reins of such a land as that which I am unhappily
called to govern; and it is time for me to yield them to some one who
can better guide the state than I can. But more of this hereafter. We
will not speak more now."
The heart of the young citizen throbbed as if it would have burst, but
it throbbed with joy; and probably he might have replied,
notwithstanding the prohibition of the princess, in such a manner as
would have ended the delusion of both; but, at that moment, according
to the orders he had received, the secretary of the chancery of
Burgundy brought in the letters-patent, which he had been drawing up
in haste.
The princess presented them to him for whom they were destined with
her own hand, leaving him at liberty to make them public, or to
preserve them unemployed till such time as he should think fit: and
while she gave them, she added her thanks for his obedience to the
wishes she had expressed when last they met. Though the subject was
too painful for the princess even to mention the name of the two
faithful servants she had lost, yet Albert Maurice felt that she
alluded to her petitions in their behalf. For a single instant he
thought she spoke in irony, and his cheek turned red and pale by
turns; but a moment's reflection called to his mind the simple, candid
character of her who spoke, and what she had before said on the same
subject; and he saw that she deceived herself in regard to the part he
had taken. There was a natural rectitude in his heart which might have
made him, at any risk, avow boldly his approval of, if not his
participation in, the bloodshed which had been committed--had the love
of Mary of Burgundy not been at stake. But he who knew not what fear
is, under other circumstances, had learned to become as timid as a
child in her presence; and though, while kneeling to kiss her hand in
thanks for the honour she had just conferred, his whole frame trembled
both with the agitation of deep love, and the knowledge that he was
acting a deceitful part, yet he found it impossible to utter those
words which he well knew would have pronounced his own condemnation to
the ears of Mary of Burgundy.
The sensation, however, oppressed him; and, after hurried and somewhat
incoherent thanks, he took his leave, feeling that he had made another
step in the crooked and degrading path of policy.
The rest of the day was consumed in preparations for his departure
early the next morning, and in precautions against the influence of
his enemies in Ghent. Men may make use of knaves and hypocrites, in
order to rise, but they must still have recourse to the honest and the
true, when they would give permanence to their authority. Thus, from
the council which Albert Maurice now called to his aid, Ganay was
excluded, as well as all the fiercer and more subtle spirits, which
had hitherto been so busy in the affairs of Ghent; while honest Martin
Fruse, and seven other citizens like himself, who, though not without
their weaknesses and their follies, possessed at heart a fund of
honesty of intent and plain common sense, were summoned by the young
citizen to a private conference, for the purpose of taking such
measures as would secure the peace and tranquillity of the city, and
the stability of the order of things established, during his temporary
absence.
He felt it difficult, indeed, to explain to them all the evils that
were to be guarded against, all the dangers that he foresaw, and all
the apprehensions that he entertained, especially in regard to the
druggist Ganay. To have done so fully, would have been to have exposed
all the darker and more dangerous secrets of his own bosom, and to
have given a picture of himself, of the means he had employed, and of
the deeds into which he had been betrayed, which he was unwilling to
display to any human being. Thus it was not without much
circumlocution that he could find words to convey his immediate views
to the honest men by whom he was surrounded, and yet keep to those
general terms which might not expose himself.
Martin Fruse, however, whose love for his nephew was paramount in his
bosom, greatly relieved the task; for--with a sort of intuitive
feeling, that there were many things which Albert Maurice would wish
to keep concealed, and from a desire of sparing him as much as
possible--he passed as rapidly as his intellect would permit him to
conclusions, skipping as quickly as possible over all explanations
regarding preceding facts with a nod or smile of intelligence, which
led the other worthy merchants to believe that he was fully acquainted
with all the machinery of the events which had taken place. After some
hours' consultation, it was arranged that Albert Maurice, deputing his
whole municipal authority to his uncle, should entrust the worthy
citizen and the other merchants present, to form such a party in the
council, as might keep the affairs of the town, if possible, in a
completely passive state during his absence. His office in the states
general he could not transfer; for though he held the presidency of
that body as a privilege connected with its assembling in the city of
which he had been constituted chief magistrate, yet that privilege
could not be deputed to another; and the states--if they met at all
during his absence--would be presided by the next deputy from the city
of Ghent.
The power, however, which he placed in the hands of good Martin Fruse
was anything but insignificant, for Ghent then ruled the states; and
it was determined that all measures were to be taken for the security
of the city and the repairs of the fortifications; that the purchase
of supplies and provisions, and the levying of men, were to go on as
usual; but that, upon the proposal of any important movement, on the
part of Ghent, a motion for its postponement till the return of the
President was immediately to be put, and supported by his friends. The
meeting of the states general, too, was to be opposed as much as
possible during his absence from Ghent; and as the authority of the
municipality was, of course, paramount in their own city, it seemed
probable that his friends would be able to exert great influence in
this respect. Any pretensions of the Duke of Gueldres to the hand of
the princess were to be strenuously opposed in the council; and Martin
Fruse, and the burgher guard, were to give her every support and
protection, in case she might require it. Anxious, too, for the safety
of Hugh of Gueldres, Albert Maurice took care that a strong force
should be stationed at the town prison, and that the merchants should
be prepared to put an instant negative upon any proposal for bringing
the prisoner to trial during his absence.
When all these arrangements were concluded, the next care of the young
citizen was to select such bands from amongst both the new and old
levies of the city, as were most likely to ensure him success in the
enterprises which he was about to execute; and this being done, and
all his further preparations completed, he proceeded, once more, to
visit the Vert Gallant of Hannut in the chamber to which he had now
been removed. The young cavalier lay in a deep, sweet sleep, from
which even the opening of the door and the approach of Albert Maurice
did not wake him; and the President gazed for a moment or two on his
face--as he lay so calm and tranquil, within the walls of a prison,
suffering from injuries, and exposed to constant danger--with a
feeling of envy and regret, which, perhaps, few can appreciate fully,
who have not felt the sharp tooth of remorse begin its sleepless
gnawing on the heart.
He would not have disturbed such slumbers for the world; and,
withdrawing again with a noiseless step, he retired to his own
chamber, and cast himself down upon his bed, to snatch, at least, that
heated and disturbed sleep, which was all the repose that he was ever
more to know on earth.