For some weeks after this I saw no more of the Augusta, who appearedto avoid me. One day, however, I was summoned to her presence in herprivate apartments by the waiting-lady Martina, and went, to find heralone, save for Martina. The first thing that I noticed was that shewore about her neck an exact copy of the necklace of golden shells andemerald beetles; further, that about her waist was a girdle and on herwrist a bracelet of similar design. Pretending to see nothing, I salutedand stood to attention.
"Captain," she began, "yonder"--and she waved her hand towards the city,so that I could not fail to see the shell bracelet--"the uncles of myson, the Emperor, lie in prison. Have you heard of the matter, and, ifso, what have you heard?"
"I have heard, Augusta, that the Emperor having been defeated bythe Bulgarians, some of the legions proposed to set his uncle,Nicephorus--he who has been made a priest--upon the throne. I haveheard further that thereon the Emperor caused the Caesar Nicephorus tobe blinded, and the tongues of the two other Caesars and of their twobrothers, the _Nobilissimi_, to be slit."
"Do you think well of such a deed, Olaf?"
"Augusta," I answered, "in this city I make it my business not to think,for if I did I should certainly go mad."
"Still, on this matter I command you to think, and to speak the truth ofyour thoughts. No harm shall come to you, whatever they may be."
"Augusta, I obey you. I think that whoever did this wicked thing must bea devil, either returned from that hell of which everyone is so fond oftalking here, or on the road thither."
"Oh! you think that, do you? So I was right when I told Martina thatthere was only one honest opinion to be had in Constantinople and I knewwhere to get it. Well, most severe and indignant judge, suppose I tellyou it was I who commanded that this deed should be done. Then would youchange your judgment?"
"Not so, Augusta. I should only think much worse of you than ever I didbefore. If these great persons were traitors to the State, they shouldhave been executed. But to torment them, to take away the sight ofheaven and to bring them to the level of dumb beasts, all that theiractual blood may not be on the tormentors' hand--why, the act is vile.So, at least, it would be held in those northern lands which you arepleased to call barbarian."
Now Irene sprang from her seat and clapped her hands for joy.
"You hear what he says, Martina, and the Emperor shall hear it too; aye,and so shall my ministers, Stauracius and Aetius, who supported him inthis matter. I alone withstood him; I prayed him for his soul's sake tobe merciful. He answered that he would no longer be governed by a woman;that he knew how to safeguard his empire, and what conscience shouldallow and what refuse. So, in spite of all my tears and prayers, thevile deed was done, as I think for no good cause. Well, it cannotbe undone. Yet, Olaf, I fear that it may be added to, and that theseroyal-born men may be foully murdered. Therefore, I put you in charge ofthe prison where they lie. Here is the signed order. Take with you whatmen you may think needful, and hold that place, even should the Emperorhimself command you to open. See also that the prisoners within arecared for and have all they need, but do not suffer them to escape."
I saluted and turned to go, when Irene called me back.
At that moment, too, in obedience to some sign which she made, Martinaleft the chamber, looking at me oddly as she did so. I came and stoodbefore the Empress, who, I noted, seemed somewhat troubled, for herbreast heaved and her gaze was fixed upon the floor now. It was ofmosaic, and represented a heathen goddess talking to a young man, whostood before her with his arms folded. The goddess was angry with theman, and held in her left hand a dagger as though she would stab him,although her right arm was stretched out to embrace him and her attitudewas one of pleading.
Irene lifted her head, and I saw that her fine eyes were filled withtears.
"Olaf," she said, "I am in much trouble, and I know not where to find afriend."
I smiled and answered:
"Need an Empress seek far for friends?"
"Aye, Olaf; farther than anyone who breathes. An Empress can findflatterers and partisans, but not a single friend. Such love her onlyfor what she can give them. But, if fortune went against her, I say thatthey would fall away like leaves from a tree in a winter frost, so thatshe stood naked to every bitter blast of heaven. Yes, and then wouldcome the foe and root up that tree and burn it to give them warmth andto celebrate their triumph. So I think, Olaf, it will be with me beforeall is done. Even my son hates me, Olaf, my only child for whose truewelfare I strive night and day."
"I have heard as much, Augusta," I said.
"You have heard, like all the world. But what else of ill have you heardof me, Olaf? Speak out, man; I'm here to learn the truth."
"I have heard that you are very ambitious, Augusta, and that you hateyour son as much as he hates you, because he is a rival to your power.It is rumoured that you would be glad if he were dead and you left toreign alone."
"Then a lie is rumoured, Olaf. Yet it is true that I am ambitious, whosee far and would build this tottering empire up afresh. Olaf, it is abitter thing to have begotten a fool."
"Then why do you not marry again and beget others, who might be nofools, Augusta?" I asked bluntly.
"Ah! why?" she answered, flashing a curious glance upon me. "In truth, Ido not quite know why; but from no lack of suitors, since, were she buta hideous hag, an empress would find these. Olaf, you may have learnedthat I was not born in the purple. I was but a Greek girl of good race,not even noble, to whom God gave a gift of beauty; and when I was youngI saw a man who took my fancy, also of old race, yet but a merchant offruits which they grow in Greece and sell here and at Rome. I wished tomarry him, but my mother, a far-seeing woman, said that such beautyas mine--though less than that of your Iduna the Fair, Olaf--was worthmoney or rank. So they sent away my merchant of fruits, who married thedaughter of another merchant of fruits and throve very well in business.He came to see me some years ago, fat as a tub, his face scored all overwith the marks of the spotted sickness, and we talked about old times.I gave him a concession to import dried fruits into Byzantium--thatis what he came to see me for--and now he's dead. Well, my mother wasright, for afterwards this poor beauty of mine took the fancy of thelate Emperor, and, being very pious, he married me. So the Greek girl,by the will of God, became Augusta and the first woman in the world."
"By the will of God?" I repeated.
"Aye, I suppose so, or else all is raw chance. At least, I, who to-daymight have been bargaining over dried fruits, as I should have done hadI won my will, am--what you know. Look at this robe," and she spread herglittering dress before me. "Hark to the tramp of those guards before mydoor. Why, you are their captain. Go into the antechambers, and see theambassadors waiting there in the hope of a word with the Ruler ofthe Earth! Look at my legions mustered on the drilling-grounds, andunderstand how great the Grecian girl has grown by virtue of the facewhich is less beauteous than that of--Iduna the Fair!"
"I understand all this, Augusta," I answered. "Yet it would seem thatyou are not happy. Did you not tell me just now that you could not finda friend and that you had begotten a fool?"
"Happy, Olaf? Why, I am wretched, so wretched that often I think thehell of which the priests preach is here on earth, and that I dwell inits hottest fires. Unless love hides it, what happiness is there in thislife of ours, which must end in blackest death?"
"Love has its miseries also, Augusta. That I know, for once I loved."
"Aye, but then the love was not true, for this is the greatest curse ofall--to love and not to be beloved. For the sake of a perfect love, ifit could be won--why, I'd sacrifice even my ambition."
"Then you must keep your ambition, Augusta, since in this world you'llfind nothing perfect."
"Olaf, I'm not so sure. Thoughts have come to me. Olaf, I told you thatI have no friend in all this glittering Court. Will you be my friend?"
"I am your honest servant, Augusta, and I think that such a one is thebest of friends."
"T
hat's so; and yet no man can be true friend to a woman unless heis--more than friend. Nature has writ it so."
"I do not understand," I answered.
"You mean that you will not understand, and perhaps you are wise. Whydo you stare at that pavement? There's a story written on it. The oldgoddess of my people, Aphrodite, loved a certain Adonis--so runs thefable--but he loved not her, and thought only of his sports. Look, shewoos him there, and he rejects her, and in her rage she stabs him."
"Not so," I answered. "Of the end of the story I know nothing, but, ifshe had meant to kill him, the dagger would be in her right hand, not inher left."
"That's true, Olaf; and in the end it was Fate which killed him, notthe goddess whom he had scorned. And yet, Olaf, it is not wise to scorngoddesses. Oh! of what do I talk? You'll befriend me, will you not?"
"Aye, Augusta, to the last drop of my blood, as is my duty. Do I nottake your pay?"
"Then thus I seal our friendship and here's an earnest of the pay,"Irene said slowly, and, bending forward, she kissed me on the lips.
At this moment the doors of the chamber were thrown open. Through them,preceded by heralds, that at once drew back again, entered the greatminister Stauracius, a fat, oily-faced man with a cunning eye, whoannounced in a high, thin voice,
"The ambassadors of the Persians wait upon you, Augusta, as youappointed at this hour."