Caterina Veneta, Queen of Cyprus, stood on a high balcony of the summer
palace in the Casal of Potamia, one beautiful June morning at early
dawn, waving farewell to the cavalcade of nobles who were winding up the
pass that led to the great forests where the patricians of the island
were wont to pursue their favorite pastime. Janus was among them,
leading in the chase as in every art that demanded agility and
prowess--lithe, strong and beautiful in her eyes as in the first days of
their short romance.
It was the one hour of the torrid day when the air was fragrant with the
breath of flowers and tingling with the freshness of the sea; and in the
sparkle of the morning, with sunshine in her heart and love-light in her
eyes, she was very fair to look upon.
The scene had been exhilarating, full of color and motion--laughter and
repartee mingling with the adieux of the knights and seigneurs to their
ladies, the notes of the hunting-horns, the snorts of impatient steeds,
the short expectant bark of the dogs, as the Master of the hounds, the
young Count of Jaffa, with his great army of hunters and attendants,
moved before the cavalcade into the heart of the forest. A fantastic
train it was, with the picturesque costumes of the riders, the tinted
tails of their horses and dogs flashing an orange trail in the
sunshine, a touch of coquetry much in vogue among the young Cyprian
nobles of the day.
Caterina had watched the start with pride in her husband's grace and
courtly bearing, his beautiful strong youth and the devotion of his
chosen group of friends: and the winning charm of his manner, as he
looked back with a parting act of homage, brought a flush of pleasure to
her cheek. She stood for a moment, her eyes growing deep with delicious
memories, as she recalled the romance of their first meeting.
But she was conscious of a little pain at her heart, as she waited,
following him with her eyes until the cavalcade was lost to view under
the plumy shadows of the distant cypress-trees. Was it thus that kings
should spend long summer days when there were rumors of discontent in
the air--rumors definite enough to have reached the palace circle in
mysterious undertones, quickly repressed when she turned to ask their
meaning? Should Janus not have given up his pleasure to stay and examine
into the cause which he had laughed away as a mere nothing--a jest of
some discontented courtier of one of the old Greek families who had been
in Cyprus before the days of the Lusignans; and all the more if they
were always alert for fancied slights?
"If he is discontented and it is a mere nothing, why should he not be
summoned to state his grievance?" she had persisted, with a trace of
pleading in her attitude that fretted the King. She was not to concern
herself with questions of state or popular discontent suggesting
unpleasantly the ruling spirit of Helena Paleologue, his father's wife;
and he had not brought a girl-bride from Venice to watch his method of
holding the reins!
His annoyance had been very real under his laughing exterior, as he
kissed the tips of her slender fingers in knightly fashion and assured
her that there was nothing to trouble her dainty head about: she should
keep her rose-leaf beauty dewy fresh for him, without brooding over the
possible meaning of ancient discontented nobles who belonged to an
earlier regime.
A passing thought came over him while he made his laughing protest, of
the four conspirators who had just been put to the cruel death which
Cyprus reserved for her traitors; but their little game was happily
over, and he dismissed the memory with a slight shrug of his graceful
shoulders. "Was there ever a kingdom without malcontents?" he had asked,
turning to his wife. "Was everyone satisfied throughout the length and
breadth of Venetia?"
She did not know, for she had been a mere child in her Venetian home,
without thought for the things of state which few Venetian women dreamed
of discussing--still less of influencing. But now, that she was left
alone for a few days, she let her thought dwell upon the question. Was
life more strenuous in Venice, or better ordered? As she recalled the
ways of her father, the Senator Marco Cornaro, and of the other
statesmen of his circle, she could not but recognize the fact that the
nobles of Venice made the work of the Government their first concern.
She would ask her Secretary-Cousin, Aluisi Bernardini; she felt sure
that his knowledge and judgment were to be trusted on Venetian matters,
although Janus had already told her with unconcealed disdain that
Bernardini's opinion was valueless on Cyprian questions, which were new
to him--and far too complicated.
It was not until recently that some dim perception of this complexity
had begun to dawn upon her, athwart the sunshine of her life as bride
and queen. When she had first landed on this fabled island she had been
too much under the influence of the glamour with which her dreams had
invested Cyprus during the years of her betrothal for any serious study
of conditions, or questions of right and wrong. She had been taught that
kings rule by Divine Right, and no question of succession troubled her
confidence of the people's choice of Janus as their sovereign. For her
there were no disputes to consider, for the troubled state of Cyprus,
but too well known in the Council Chambers of the Republic, had never
been revealed to her. Janus was the only son of the late King, his
father, tenderly beloved by him, supported by the Sultan who was
Suzerain of Cyprus, and eagerly welcomed by the people of his realm.
These were truths it had been considered wise for her to know, and they
had been duly declared to her by her monitors of Venice.
But there were others--conflicting truths--among them the facts of his
birth and of his contest with Carlotta--with which they had
diplomatically left her to come in contact when there could be no
withdrawal, but which time must unerringly reveal to her, and with no
gentle hand.
The period of rejoicings for the Royal Marriage had been long and
brilliant, as was the custom of the time, and the Coronation-fetes, the
journeyings from city to city of the realm, that she might make
acquaintance with her land and people, had brought them far into the
early spring. But when the excitement of these days was over, she slowly
grew aware of something sinister beneath the smiling surface, and the
studied brilliancy of the atmosphere about her made her fear a
conspiracy to keep her in childish ignorance of what was passing within
the kingdom. But surely, if she were not equal to comprehending these
things, she must bend herself to the task and try to grow!
It was of this that the young Queen was thinking as her husband rode
forth with his suite of gay, young nobles to the chase, and she summoned
Aluisi to her presence.
Already a blast of heat was rising over the land and the rasping cries
of the cicala fretted their talk; and Caterina bade him follow her down
into the _voto_--the vast, cool, underground chambers which, for the
patricians of Cyprus, made life possible during this heated term,
between the freshness of the morning and the comfort of the evening
shadows.
The talk was long and serious.
"There was never a court without some discontent," he answered lightly
to her questioning; "fair Madame, my cousin and Queen."
The mingling of protection and affection in his attitude towards her was
so natural in the older man who had known her as the petted child and
cousin of their house through the years of intimacy in Venice, that she
had never allowed him to change it when they talked alone together, and
it was only in the presence of the court that he taught himself to
remember her queenly estate.
"Nay, Aluisi," she answered, earnestly, "thou art in league with the
King--it was his very answer."
"It is but truth, in league with truth, most gracious Majesty," he
retorted playfully. "Nay--but no league at all; only two liege men
speaking truth; therefore the oneness of speech."
He had employed the stilted fooling of the period to cover his confusion
and to gain time; for the matter was of moment and it had taken him
unaware--he did not know how to answer her.
"Nay, nay, Aluisi--I am distressed; there is some great trouble; I
command thy knowledge."
He had never heard her use the word before, and it became her well.
"Fair cousin, it is not new," he answered deferentially, but pausing to
choose his words, for it was no time to fill her soul with alarms. "It
is, I hear them say, some question of a mutiny in Cerines."
"It will mean an uprising?--danger for the King?"
"Nay, have no fear; it was quelled at once."
"How quelled?"
"So soon as discovery of the plot was made--before any steps had been
taken to carry out their plans."
"_How_ quelled?" she asked again, dissatisfied.
"The manner of it was not reported to me," he answered truthfully
enough; "I knew not that the question would be put to me," he added with
an attempt to turn easily from a subject on which he dared not speak
freely to matter more nearly touching his office--of her commands for
Venice for the galley that was to sail on the morrow. But meanwhile the
vision of horror rose before him of that which he had seen with his own
eyes; and lest, watching him so closely she should learn too much, he
dropped his gaze, feigning to seek for some items on the tablet he held
in his hand. How should he tell her the story of this plot to influence
an uprising, to wrest the stronghold of Cerines for Carlotta, the rival
claimant and heir? How explain this conspiracy against her husband when
she probably knew nothing of what lay beneath it? How could he speak of
the staunch loyalty to Carlotta of the leader of this conspiracy, of
whom the disaffected were making a hero, and who had preferred any fate
to the necessity of swearing fealty to Janus! He had shuddered at the
barbarism which could decree such a fate for the conspirators; nor could
he forget the horror of those bodies cut in bits, and swung on high, in
the four quarters of the town--a ghastly warning for all men to see--as
they walked to and fro in the marvellous great city of Nikosia--the city
of luxury and of churches.
But if the treatment of traitors in Venice was scarcely less barbarous,
yet the State seemed to each son of the Republic a more awe-inspiring
and less personal entity than a kingly head of any other government,
justifying severer punishment when betrayed; Venetians had been brought
up to feel that a traitor could ask for no milder fate than to swing
high upon the Piazzetta between the columns--those who thought otherwise
might avoid looking up as they passed.
He would not start her questions when it was not for him to answer them.
He caught helplessly at some court trifles, trying to evade her mood;
but she silenced him with an impatient exclamation.
When he raised his eyes he found her still watching him, with a
pathetic, questioning look.
"They keep things from me, as if I were a child!" she cried indignantly.
"Can I be a friend to our people if I do not understand them? There are
many things that I would know--the fiefs--the ancient nobles--Carlotta.
They told me little in Venice of the things I need to know."
"What things?" the Chamberlain asked helplessly.
She looked at him searchingly. "To whom shall I go if not to thee,
Aluisi? Art thou not enough my friend to help me?"
"Messer Andrea, our cousin, being high in favor with his Majesty, hath a
more intimate knowledge of Cyprian matters--I being new in the land--why
not appeal to him? Was it not by him that our sweet Lady came hither?"
She thought of the King's favorite, her Uncle Andrea Cornaro, as
Bernardini spoke--debonair, charming--yet with a power of scorn and
haughtiness beneath his facile exterior which won him the hatred of
those who were not his friends. He had not found time for any serious
talk with his niece, who had already appealed to him; indeed he had no
time for anything but the brilliant surface life of the court, where he
was a ruling spirit. After his own fashion he had been more than kind
and generous to Caterina, showering her with princely gifts, eager that
his niece should keep such estate as befitted the bride of Janus, and
proud of his own part in securing so great an honor for the Casa
Cornaro.
But among the ancient nobles of Cyprus, there were some who resented the
knowledge of their King's great indebtedness to this Venetian nobleman.
The cousins Cornaro and Bernardini were of the same generation, and no
less anxious for the honor of their house, but they represented opposite
poles of Venetian character; Bernardini's gravity and dignity of
demeanor concealed a depth of tenderness and consideration which he
rarely confessed, yet, a true Venetian statesman, he could observe in
silence, nor use his knowledge until it might be of some avail. The King
disliked him, fearing his silent judgment, and was already considering
how he might get him out of the Queen's household without offense to
Venice, whose favor was important for him. Of the Cornaro, although he
owed him much, he was less in fear; for Andrea Cornaro was one whom he
might meet with his own weapons. The bearing and deference of Bernardini
were unimpeachable, but Janus was impatient of his impenetrable reserve.
Caterina laid her hand affectionately on her cousin's arm, in response
to his question. "Aluisi," she said gravely, "my Uncle Andrea hath been
more than kind--as to a child who asketh only baubles: but, truly, he
will not see that one may not rest content to be always a child: he
thinketh, perchance, that for women there is no duty but to move regally
in the midst of a splendor where he would verily pour out his fortune. A
question fretteth his mood, which persistence maketh not more serious.
But in a kingdom where discontent hath a share, one must study the heart
of the people and win it, if one may. And this is _my_ way to help my
husband. The look of the peasants maketh me weary--as if the sunshine
of their beautiful land were not for them. I miss the happy faces of our
people of Venice!"
"It is a queen-like task," he answered her, a little wondering at her
gravity and purpose. "Meanwhile I will talk with the King's Chamberlain
about the fiefs and about the old nobility," he continued, eagerly
seizing the least tangled thread to draw this uncomfortable conversation
to a close; "would not the Lady Margherita de Iblin know far better than
I? Shall I ask my mother to send her hither?"
The Lady Margherita--the one of all her Cyprian maids of honor who had
most warmly won her friendship--there was no older nor more noble family
in the island than the De Iblin; why had she not thought of her before!
"Aye, bid her come hither," she answered, well-pleased; "we will rest
together in the heat of the day and she shall tell me many things of
Cyprus."
But the Chamberlain felt some uneasiness as he went in search of the
Cyprian lady who was to be the Queen's companion in more than one long,
frank talk. If she were to presume too much upon Caterina's knowledge
and speak too freely, what might happen when the King returned? Might he
not vent his displeasure on Aluisi himself? And if he were to be
dismissed to Venice, who would watch for her as he could do--protect and
help her?
But it was true that she ought not to be kept in ignorance of Cyprian
affairs, and she herself had made the demand.
In the days that followed, Cyprus began to unfold strange problems for
the Queen, as its story fell from the lips of the young Cyprian woman
whose confidence she had so freely invited.
"Tell me I pray thee of Carlotta--Sister to the King--all that thou
knowest," she said.
"It is a long tale, your Majesty."
"And these summer-days will be long, while the King is at the chase; we
must seek wherewith to give them some new interest, for the Court is
dull without him," she flushed like a shy, young girl, adding as if to
cover her show of feeling: "it is dull with so many absent."
The Lady Margherita was some years older than Caterina, and she felt the
gravity of the task that the Queen had imposed upon her--to tell of the
contest between her husband and his sister: she was silent in her
perplexity.
"It is a matter of history," she said slowly. "Doubtless your Majesty
knew that many of us in Cyprus had taken oath of fealty to Carlotta
before the Sultan sent us Janus and upheld him for our King. It is a
difficult tale to speak of before our Sovereign lady--whom we love."
She looked up, a smile transforming her grave, dark face and deep, sad
eyes; the rare sweetness and directness of the young Queen's nature had
already won her reverent love: but suddenly, as the Lady Margherita
looked at her she grew aware of the unsuspected fund of strength beneath
the gracious girlish exterior, realizing that the spring of her actions
would be in true nobility--not in selfish pleasure. Might not some good
for her dear land come from the enlightened love of its youthful Queen?
Yet she hesitated to bring any shadow into the life which had seemed all
sunshine during these few months of bridal festivity, and the Queen was
young to look at life through such serious eyes. But she had asked, and
the King, who was still a lover, might be steadied by his wife's
influence.
Caterina put out her hand in response to the smile and clasped that of
Margherita.
"It is for your Majesty to command silence or speech," the Cyprian
maid-of-honor said tentatively, as Caterina still held silence. "Yet, if
it be speech, I pray your Majesty to remember that it is not I, who am
the cause, if my page of history should offend. If I must speak, it can
only be what I believe to be truth."
"It is only those who speak truth, my Margherita, of whom one may trust
the friendship," Caterina answered gravely. "And I have chosen thee for
my friend."
A deep flush colored the Cyprian's ivory cheek as she knelt and kissed
the queen's hand in acknowledgment; for the reticent maid had opened her
heart, with unwonted warmth, to the appeal of the rare simplicity and
force of her liege lady's gentle nature.
"I would rather _know_, than fear I know not what," Caterina pursued.
"Our most Reverend and beloved Patriarch of Venice hath given me this
talisman to help me in my new land," there was a little pathetic
lingering on the words, which touched her listener, "'Seek to know the
truth concerning _all_ thy people. And tell thy perplexity, if there be
any, to Christ and the Madonna.' I would know that I may help the King,"
the young wife pleaded.