Three days went by. The Imperial ship had sailed, taking with her myformal acknowledgment of the Emperor's letter, and the time had comewhen once more I must meet Irene face to face.
I sat in the audience chamber of my Great House, and there was presentwith me only Jodd, my lieutenant in office. Being blind, I dared notreceive a desperate woman alone, fearing lest she might stab me or doherself some mischief. At the door of the chamber Jodd took her from theguards, whom he bade remain within call, and conducted her to where Isat. He told me afterwards that she was dressed as a nun, a white hoodhalf hiding her still beautiful face and a silver crucifix hanging uponher breast.
As I heard her come I rose and bowed to her, and my first words to herwere to pray her to be seated.
"Nay," she answered in that rich, well-remembered voice of hers, "aprisoner stands before the judge. I greet you, General Olaf, I pray yourpardon--Michael--after long years of separation. You have changed butlittle, and I rejoice to see that your health is good and that the rankand prosperity which I gave have not been taken from you."
"I greet you, Madam," (almost had I said Augusta), I answered, thencontinued hurriedly: "Lady Irene, I have received certain commandsconcerning you from the Emperor Nicephorus which it is best that youshould hear, so that you shall hold me quit of blame in aught that itmay be my duty to inflict upon you. Read them, Captain Jodd. Nay, Iforgot, you cannot. Give the copy of the letter to the Lady Irene; theoriginal she can see afterwards if she wills."
So the paper was given to her by Jodd, and she read it aloud, weighingeach word carefully.
"Oh, what a dog is this!" she said when it was finished. "Know, Olaf,that of my free will I surrendered the throne to him, yes, and all myprivate treasure, he swearing upon the Gospels that I should live inpeace and honour till my life's end. And now he sends me to you to beblinded and then done to death, for that is what he means. Oh! may Godavenge me upon him! May he become a byword and a scorn, and may his ownend be even worse than that which he has prepared for me. May shamewrap his memory as in a garment, may his bones be dishonoured and hisburying-place forgotten. Aye, and so it shall be."[*]
[*] The skull of this Nicephorus is said to have been used as a drinking cup by his victorious enemy, the King Krum.-- Editor.
She paused in her fearful curse, then said in a new voice, that voice inwhich she was wont to plead,
"You will not blind me, Olaf. You'll not take from me my last blessing,the light of day. Think what it means----"
"The General Olaf should know well enough," interrupted Jodd, but Iwaved him to be silent, and answered,
"Tell me, Madam, how can I do otherwise? It seems to me that my life andthat of my wife and children hang upon this deed. Moreover, why shouldI do otherwise now that by God's justice the wheel has come round atlast?" I added, pointing to the hollows beneath my brows where the eyesonce had been.
"Oh! Olaf," she said, "if I harmed you, you know well it was because Iloved you."
"Then God send that no woman ever loves me in such a fashion," broke inJodd.
"Olaf," she continued, taking no note of him, "once you went very nearto loving me also, on that night when you would have eaten the poisonedfigs to save my son, the Emperor. At least, you kissed me. If youforget, I cannot. Olaf, can you blind a woman whom you have kissed?"
"Kissing takes two, and I know that you blinded him," muttered Jodd,"for I crucified the brutes you commanded to do the deed to which theyconfessed."
"Olaf, I admit that I treated you ill; I admit that I would have killedyou; but, believe me, it was jealousy and naught but jealousy whichdrove me on. Almost as soon would I have killed myself; indeed, Ithought of it."
"And there the matter ended," said Jodd. "It was Olaf who walked theHall of the Pit, not you. We found him on the brink of the hole."
"Olaf, after I regained my power----"
"By blinding your own son," said Jodd, "for which you will have anaccount to settle one day."
"----I dealt well with you. Knowing that you had married my rival, forI kept myself informed of all you did, still I lifted no hand againstyou----"
"What good was a maimed man to you when you were courting the EmperorCharlemagne?" asked Jodd.
Now at last she turned on him, saying,
"Well is it for you, Barbarian, that if only for a while Fate has reftpower from my hands. Oh! this is the bitterest drop in all my cup,that I who for a score of years ruled the world must live to suffer theinsults of such as you."
"Then why not die and have done?" asked the imperturbable Jodd. "Or, ifyou lack the courage, why not submit to the decree of the Emperor, asso many have submitted to your decree, instead of troubling the generalhere with prayers for mercy? It would serve as well."
"Jodd," I said, "I command you to be silent. This lady is in trouble;attack those in power, if you will, not those who have fallen."
"There speaks the man I loved," said Irene. "What perverse fate kept usapart, Olaf? Had you taken what I offered, by now you and I would haveruled the world."
"Perhaps, Madam; yet it is right I should say that I do not regret mychoice, although because of it I can no longer--look upon the world."
"I know, I know! She of that accursed necklace, which I see you stillwear, came between us and spoiled everything. Now I'm ruined for lack ofyou and you are nobody for lack of me, a soldier who will run his pettycourse and depart into the universal darkness, leaving never a namebehind him. In the ages to be what man will take count of one of a scoreof governors of the little Isle of Lesbos, who might yet have held theearth in the hollow of his hand and shone a second Caesar in its annals?Oh! what marplot of a devil rules our destinies? He who fashioned thosegolden shells upon your breast, or so I think. Well, well, it is so andcannot be altered. The Augusta of the Empire of the East must pleadwith the man who rejected her, for sight, or rather for her life. Youunderstand, do you not, Olaf, that letter is a command to you to murderme?"
"Just such a command as you gave to those who blinded your sonConstantine," muttered Jodd beneath his breath.
"That is what is meant. You are to murder me, and, Olaf, I'm not fitto die. Great place brings great temptations, and I admit that I havegreatly sinned; I need time upon the earth to make my peace with Heaven,and if you slay my body now, you will slay my soul as well. Oh! bepitiful! Be pitiful! Olaf, you cannot kill the woman who has lain uponyour breast, it is against nature. If you did such a thing you'd neversleep again; you would shudder yourself over the edge of the world!Being what you are, no pomp or power would ever pay you for the deed. Betrue to your own high heart and spare me. See, I who for so long wasthe ruler of many kingdoms, kneel to you and pray you to spare me," and,casting herself down upon her knees, she laid her head upon my feet andwept.
All that scene comes back to me with a strange and terrible vividness,although I had no sight to aid me in its details, save the sight of mysoul. I remember that the wonder and horror of it pierced me through andthrough; the stab of the dagger in my eyes was not more sharp. There wasI, Olaf, a mere gentleman of the North, seated in my chair of office,and there before me, her mighty head bowed upon my feet, knelt theEmpress of the Earth pleading for her life. In truth all history couldshow few stranger scenes. What was I to do? If I yielded to her piteousprayers, it was probable that my own life and those of my wife andchildren would pay the price. Yet how could I clap my hands in theirEastern fashion and summon the executioners to pierce those streamingeyes of hers? "Rise, Augusta," I said, for in this extremity of hershame I gave her back her title, "and tell me, you who are accustomed tosuch matters, how I can spare you who deal with the lives of others aswell as with my own?"
"I thank you for that name," she said as she struggled to her feet."I've heard it shouted by tens of thousands in the circus and from thethroats of armies, but never yet has it been half so sweet to me as nowfrom lips that have no need to utter it. In times bygone I'd have paidyou for this service with a province, but now Irene is so poor
that,like some humble beggar-woman, she can but give her thanks. Still,repeat it no more, for next time it will sound bitter. What did you ask?How you could save me, was it not? Well, the thing seems simple. In allthat letter from Nicephorus there is no direct command that you shouldblind me. The fellow says that you are to treat me as I treated you,and as I treated Constantine, the Emperor--because I must. Well, Iimprisoned both of you. Imprison me and you fulfil the mandate. He saysthat if I die you are to report it, which shows that he does not meanthat I _must_ die. Oh! the road of escape is easy, should you desireto travel it. If you do not so desire, then, Olaf, I pray you as a lastfavour not to hand me over to common men. I see that by your side stillhangs that red sword of yours wherewith once I threatened you when yourefused me at Byzantium. Draw it, Olaf, and this time I'll guide itsedge across my throat. So you will please Nicephorus and win the rewardsthat Irene can no longer give. Baptised in her blood, what earthly gloryis there to which you might not yet attain, you who had dared to layhands upon the anointed flesh that even her worst foes have feared totouch lest God's sudden curse should strike them dead?"
So she went on pouring out words with the strange eloquence that shecould command at times, till I grew bewildered. She who had lived inlight and luxury, who had loved the vision of all bright and gloriousthings, was pleading for her sight to the man whom she had robbed ofsight that he might never more behold the young beauty of her rival. Shewho had imagination to know the greatness of her sins was pleading tobe spared the death she dared not face. She was pleading to me, who foryears had been her faithful soldier, the captain of her own guard, swornto protect her from the slightest ill, me upon whom, for a while, it hadpleased her to lavish the wild passion of her imperial heart, who oncehad almost loved--who, indeed, had kissed her on the lips.
My orders were definite. I was commanded to blind this woman and to killher in the blinding, which, in truth, I who had power of life anddeath, I who ruled over this island like a king by virtue of the royalcommission, could do without question asked. If I _failed_ to fulfilthose orders, I must be prepared to pay the price, as if I did fulfilthem I might expect a high reward, probably the governorship of somegreat province of the Empire. This was no common prisoner. She was theex-Empress, a mighty woman to whom tens of thousands or perhaps millionsstill looked for help and leadership. It was necessary to those whohad seized her place and power that she should be rendered incapable ofrule. It was desirable to them that she should die. Yet so delicatelywere the scales poised between them and the adherents of Irene, amongwhom were numbered all the great princes of the Church, that theythemselves did not dare to inflict mutilation or death upon her. Theyfeared lest it should be followed by a storm of wrath that would shakeNicephorus from his throne and involve them in his ruin.
So they sent her to me, the governor of a distant dependency, the manwhom they knew she had wickedly wronged, being certain that her tongue,which it was said could turn the hearts of all men, would never softenmine. Then afterwards they would declare that the warrant was a forgery,that I had but wreaked a private vengeance upon an ancient foe, and, tostill the scandal, degrade me from my governorship--into some place ofgreater power and profit.
Oh! while Irene pleaded before me and, heedless of the presence of Jodd,even cast her arms about me and laid her head upon my breast, all thesethings passed through my mind. In its scales I weighed the matter out,and the beam rose against me, for I knew well that if I spared Irene Icondemned myself and those who were more to me than myself, my wife, mychildren, and all the Northmen who clung to me, and who would not see medie without blow struck. I understood it all, and, understanding, of asudden made up my mind--to spare Irene. Come what might, I would be nobutcher; I would follow my heart whithersoever it might lead me.
"Cease, Madam," I said. "I have decided. Jodd, bid the messenger summonhither Heliodore and Martina, my wife and yours."
"Oh!" exclaimed Irene, "if these women are to be called in counsel onmy case all is finished, seeing that both of them love you and are myenemies. Moreover, I have some pride left. To you I could plead, but notto them, though they blind me with their bodkins after they have stabbedme with their tongues. Excellency, a last boon! Call in your guard andkill me."
"Madam, I said that I had decided, and all the women in the world willnot change my mind in this way or in that. Jodd, do my bidding."
Jodd struck a bell, once only, which was the signal for the messenger.He came and received his orders. Then followed a pause, since Heliodoreand Martina were in a place close by and must be sent for. During thistime Irene began to talk to me of sundry general matters. She comparedthe view that might be seen from this house in Lesbos to that from theterrace of her palace on the Bosphorus, and described its differences tome. She asked me as to the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid, whom she understoodI had seen, inquiring as to the estimate I had formed of his character.Lastly, with a laugh, she dwelt upon the strange vicissitudes of life.
"Look at me," she said. "I began my days as the daughter of a Greekgentleman, with no dower save my wit and beauty. Then I rose to be aruler of the world, and knew all that it has to give of pomp and power.Nations trembled at my nod; at my smile men grew great; at my frown theyfaded into nothingness. Save you, Olaf, none ever really conquered me,until I fell in the appointed hour. And now! Of this splendour there isleft but a nun's robe; of this countless wealth but one silver crucifix;of this power--naught."
So she spoke on, still not knowing to what decision I had come; whethershe were to be blinded or to live or die. To myself I thought it was aproof of her greatness that she could thus turn her mind to such thingswhile Fate hovered over her, its hand upon a sword. But it may be thatshe thought thus to impress me and to enmesh me in memories which wouldtie my hands, or even from the character of my answers to draw someaugury of her doom.
The women came at length. Heliodore entered first, and to her Irenebowed.
"Greeting, Lady of Egypt," she said. "Ah! had you taken my counsel inthe past, that title might have been yours in very truth, and there youand your husband could have founded a new line of kings independent ofthe Empire which totters to its fall."
"I remember no such counsel, Madam," said Heliodore. "It seems to methat the course I took was right and one pleasing to God, since it hasgiven me my husband for myself, although, it is true, wickedly robbed ofhis eyes."
"For yourself! Can you say so while Martina is always at his side?" sheasked in a musing voice. "Well, it may be, for in this world strangethings happen."
She paused, and I heard both Heliodore and Jodd move as though in anger,for her bitter shaft had gone home. Then she went on softly,
"Lady, may I tell you that, in my judgment, your beauty is even greaterthan it was, though it is true it has grown from bud to flower. Few beartheir years and a mother's burdens so lightly in these hot lands."
Heliodore did not answer, for at that moment Martina entered. SeeingIrene for the first time, she forgot everything that had passed andcurtseyed to her in the old fashion, murmuring the familiar words,
"Thy servant greets thee, Augusta."
"Nay, use not that title, Martina, to one who has done with the worldand its vanities. Call me 'Mother' if you will, for that is the onlyname of honour by which those of my religious order may be known. Intruth, as your mother in God, I welcome you and bless you, from my heartforgiving you those ills which you have worked against me, being, asI know well, driven by a love that is greater than any woman bears towoman. But that eating fire of passion scorned is the heritage of bothof us, and of it we will talk afterwards. I must not waste the time ofthe General Olaf, whom destiny, in return for many griefs, has appointedto be my jailer. Oh! Olaf," she added with a little laugh, "someforesight of the future must have taught me to train you for the post.Let us then be silent, ladies, and listen to the judgment which thisjailer of mine is about to pass upon me. Do you know it is no less thanwhether these eyes of mine, which you were wont to praise, Martina,which in his
lighter moments even this stern Olaf was wont to praise,should be torn from beneath my brow, and if so, whether it should bedone in such a fashion that I die of the deed? That and no less is thematter which his lips must settle. Now speak, Excellency."
"Madam," I said slowly, "to the best of my wit I have considered theletter sent to me under the seal and sign of the Emperor Nicephorus.Although it might be so interpreted by some, I cannot find in thatletter any direct command that I should cause you to be blinded, butonly one that I should keep you under strict guard, giving you suchthings as are necessary to your sustenance. This then I shall do, and bythe first ship make report of my action to the Emperor at Byzantium."
Now, when she heard these words, at length the proud spirit of Irenebroke.
"God reward you, for I cannot, Olaf," she cried. "God reward you, saintamong men, who can pay back cruel injuries with the gentlest mercy."
So saying, she burst into tears and fell senseless to the ground.
Martina ran to aid her, but Heliodore turned to me and said in hertender voice,
"This is worthy of you, Olaf, and I would not have you do otherwise.Yet, husband, I fear that this pity of yours has signed thedeath-warrant of us all."