GIRAUDE OF LAVAUR.
Just as the Perfect is about to step out of the chamber in which he and
his wife Morise were discussing the prospects of Mylio, and to render
assistance to the guests that were announced, Aimery, his sister Giraude
and her son enter, carrying in Florette in a swoon. The Lady of Lavaur
and her brother hold the young girl in their arms. Aloys, a lad of
fourteen, holds her feet. Florette is gently deposited upon a couch of
woven straw. While Morise runs into another room for a cordial, Karvel
takes the sweet girl's pulse. Her dusty clothes and tattered shoes
reveal that she walked a long distance. Her forehead is bathed in
perspiration. Her face is pale, her respiration troubled.
The Lady of Lavaur, her brother and son group themselves near the couch
and await silent and uneasy the words from the lips of the physician.
Giraude, who is of the same age as Morise and of striking beauty, is
modestly dressed in a robe of green material. An orange-colored coif,
from which hangs a white veil that partially covers her face, exposes
her two heavy tresses of black hair. Her large and gentle blue eyes,
now moistened with a tear, rest upon Florette, whom she contemplates
with tender interest.
Aimery is forty years of age, and is dressed in field laborer's
clothes--a broad-brimmed felt hat, a blouse held around his waist by a
leather belt, a cloth coat and heavy leather boots. His open, comely,
and resolute physiognomy depicts deep concern in the girl's condition.
Aloys, who is as rustically clad as his mother's brother, strikingly
resembles his parent. The only marked difference is that his youthful
face, in contrast to his mother's, is slightly browned by the sun. The
education that his mother gives him is intended to inure the lad to
manly and useful work, and to cultivate in him a taste for the same. The
boy's eyes are filled with tears as he contemplates Florette, into whose
mouth the physician pours a cordial by introducing the head of a little
flask between her lips. The group presents the picture of charming
benevolence.
THE LADY OF LAVAUR (holding up Florette's head, speaks in a low voice to
the Perfect and Aimery:)--"Poor child! She does not yet regain
consciousness! How pale she is! What a sweet and charming face she has!"
AIMERY--"The face of an angel, friend Karvel! What do you think can be
the cause of her swoon? Do you think she is in danger?"
KARVEL--"I see no trace of a fall or of a wound. The poor girl must have
experienced some severe shock, or she may have succumbed to excessive
fatigue. (Turning to his wife) Morise, fetch me some fresh water."
Aloys has frequently been at the Perfect's. He knows his way in the
house. He anticipates Morise, runs to an earthenware vase, dips out some
water into a cup and brings the same to the physician. Touched by the
attention of the boy, Karvel turns to Giraude with a look of
approbation. The mother kisses her son on the forehead.
"In acting so thoughtfully, my friend, Aloys conducts himself obedient
to your instructions. He seeks to be useful to others."
Florette, whose temples the Perfect moistens with the fresh water that
Aloys brought to him and into which he poured a few drops of an elixir,
slowly regains consciousness. Her face gradually regains its color. She
sighs twice. Presently tears gather slowly under her long eyelashes and
she murmurs in a feeble voice:
"Mylio! Mylio! Help! Help!"
KARVEL (amazed)--"What is that she says?"
AIMERY--"She pronounces your brother's name; she calls for help."
Florette raises both her hands to her forehead. A profound silence
reigns in the chamber. She sits up on the couch. Her large eyes wander
timid and surprised hither and thither, all around her. She gathers her
thoughts, and presently, breaking out in tears, she cries in a
heart-rending voice:
"Oh! Have mercy! Save Mylio! Save him!"
KARVEL (alarmed)--"What great danger does my brother run?"
FLORETTE (clasping her hands)--"Are you Karvel the Perfect, Mylio's
brother?"
KARVEL--"Yes; yes. But calm yourself, poor child, and tell me where my
brother is. What danger threatens him? Tell us who you are, and how you
happen to know my brother."
FLORETTE--"I am a poor serf of the country of Touraine. Mylio saved my
life and my honor. He said to me: 'Florette, I am going back to
Languedoc. During our journey you will be my sister; when we arrive at
my brother's house you will be my wife--I wish him to bless our union.'
Mylio kept his promise. We traveled happy at heart. When we were about
five leagues from here--" (sobs smother Florette's voice; she is unable
to utter another word.)
THE LADY OF LAVAUR (in a low voice to the Perfect)--"Oh, Karvel, your
brother's tender love for this poor serf testifies in his favor. His
heart has remained true, despite the slips of his youth. May God be
praised!"
KARVEL (drying his tears)--"We never doubted it. But what has happened
to him? Good God, what are we about to learn!"
AIMERY--"Sister, I shall go out; I may be able to gather some
information."
ALOYS (with alacrity)--"Uncle, I will go with you, if mother allows. I
shall help you in your inquiries!"
KARVEL (to Aimery)--"Wait a minute, my friend! (To Florette who is still
sobbing) Dear child--dear sister--you are now our sister, I beg you,
calm yourself, and tell us what has happened to Mylio, and where we
could find him."
FLORETTE--"He told me that besides his wish of being speedily back to
his brother's house, there was another reason, which he would inform you
of, that induced him to hurry the journey, on account of which we
traveled day and night. I was on the crupper of Mylio's horse; a friend
of his accompanied us on a mule. This morning we halted at a large burg
which is entered through a stone arcade--"
KARVEL--"That is the burg of Montjoire, about four leagues from here."
FLORETTE--"We traveled so fast from the time that we left Touraine that
our horse's shoes wore out, and he lost two before we entered the burg.
Intending to have his mount reshod, Mylio inquired for a blacksmith and
took his friend and myself to an inn where he told us to wait for him.
Mylio's companion is a merry juggler. He fell to playing upon his
hurdy-gurdy and to singing songs against the church and the priests
before the people at the inn. While he was at it, two monks escorted by
several knights came in and ordered him in the name of the Pope to stop.
He answered them with some jests. Thereupon the men of the escort,
together with the monks, rushed at poor old Goose-Skin, that is his
name, and they beat him and called him a heretical dog."
AIMERY--"This looks serious! The monks have never before dared to show
so much audacity. At Montjoire, as in the rest of Albigeois, the priests
of Rome are loved as the pest. But the people in the inn are of this
country. Did they not take the part of your traveling companion?"
FLORETTE--"Yes, sir; they did, and Mylio came in as the scuffle was at
its height. He tried to defend his friend who was being badly treated.
The people of the inn had the worst of the fight and fled, leaving Mylio
and the juggler in the hands of the monks; these said they were going to
lock up the two heretics in the dungeon of the seigneur of the burg."
AIMERY--"Impossible! Raoul of Montjoire execrates the black-frocked
militia as much as I do myself. I can hardly understand the impudence of
those monks. Do they think they are in the north of Gaul? This dirty
work will have to be looked into."
FLORETTE--"Alas! sir, what I am telling you is but too true. When Mylio
saw himself overpowered, he and his companion pinioned and that the two
were being dragged away, he cried out to me: 'Florette, run quick to
Lavaur; inquire your way; when you arrive at the suburb of the town ask
for the house of Karvel the Perfect, and tell my brother I am held here
a prisoner.' Thereupon I ran all the way to this place--"
THE LADY OF LAVAUR--"And your strength gave out, did it not, dear child?
And you dropped down where we found you, about two hundred paces from
here?"
FLORETTE--"Yes, madam. But for mercy's sake! Hasten to the help of
Mylio! The monks may want to kill him. Run to his assistance!"
AIMERY (to Karvel)--"I shall take my sister back to Lavaur. You and I
will then jump upon our horses and ride out to Raoul. I guarantee that
we shall bring Mylio back with us."