Waverley Novels — Volume 12

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST.

  But for our trusty brother-in-law-and the Abbot, With all the rest of that consorted crew,-- Destruction straight shall dog them at the heels:-- Good uncle, help to order several powers To Oxford, or where'er these traitors are: They shall not live within this world, I swear. RICHARD II.

  As Hereward spoke the last words narrated in the foregoing chapter, heleft the count in his apartment, and proceeded to the BlacquernalPalace. We traced his first entrance into the court, but since then hehad frequently been summoned, not only by order of the Princess AnnaComnena, who delighted in asking him questions concerning the customsof his native country, and marking down the replies in her own inflatedlanguage; but also by the direct command of the Emperor himself, whohad the humour of many princes, that of desiring to obtain directinformation from persons in a very inferior station in their Court. Thering which the Princess had given to the Varangian, served as apass-token more than once, and was now so generally known by the slavesof the palace, that Hereward had only to slip it into the hand of aprincipal person among them, and was introduced into a small chamber,not distant from the saloon already mentioned, dedicated to the Muses.In this small apartment, the Emperor, his spouse Irene, and theiraccomplished daughter Anna Comnena, were seated together, clad in veryordinary apparel, as indeed the furniture of the room itself was of thekind used by respectable citizens, saving that mattrasses, composed ofeiderdown, hung before each door to prevent the risk of eavesdropping.

  "Our trusty Varangian," said the Empress.

  "My guide and tutor respecting the manners of those steel-clad men,"said the Princess Anna Comnena, "of whom it is so necessary that Ishould form an accurate idea."

  "Your Imperial Majesty," said the Empress, "will not, I trust, thinkyour consort and your muse-inspired daughter, are too many to sharewith you the intelligence brought by this brave and loyal man?"

  "Dearest wife and daughter," returned the Emperor, "I have hithertospared you the burden of a painful secret, which I have locked in myown bosom, at whatever expense of solitary sorrow and unimpartedanxiety. Noble daughter, you in particular will feel this calamity,learning, as you must learn, to think odiously of one, of whom it hashitherto been your duty to hold a very different opinion."

  "Holy Mary!" exclaimed the Princess.

  "Rally yourself," said the Emperor; "remember you are a child of thepurple chamber, born, not to weep for your father's wrongs, but toavenge them,--not to regard even him who has lain by your side as halfso important as the sacred Imperial grandeur, of which you are yourselfa partaker."

  "What can such words preface?" said Anna Comnena, in great agitation.

  "They say," answered the Emperor, "that the Caesar is an ungrateful manto all my bounties, and even to that which annexed him to my own.house, and made him by adoption my own son. He hath consorted himselfwith a knot of traitors, whose very names are enough to raise the foulfiend, as if to snatch his assured prey!"

  "Could Nicephorus do this?" said the astonished and forlorn Princess;"Nicephorus, who has so often called my eyes the lights by which hesteered his path? Could he do this to my father, to whose exploits hehas listened hour after hour, protesting that he knew not whether itwas the beauty of the language, or the heroism of the action, whichmost enchanted him? Thinking with the same thought, seeing with thesame eye, loving with the same heart,--O, my father! it is impossiblethat he could be so false. Think of the neighbouring Temple of theMuses!"

  "And if I did," murmured Alexius in his heart, "I should think of theonly apology which could be proposed for the traitor. A little is wellenough, but the full soul loatheth the honey-comb." Then speakingaloud, "My daughter," he said, "be comforted; we ourselves wereunwilling to believe the shameful truth; but our guards have beendebauched; their commander, that ungrateful Achilles Tatius, with theequal traitor, Agelastes, have been seduced to favour our imprisonmentor murder; and, alas for Greece in the very moment when she requiredthe fostering care of a parent, she was to be deprived of him by asudden and merciless blow!"

  Here the Emperor wept, whether for the loss to be sustained by hissubjects, or of his own life, it is hard to say.

  "Methinks," said Irene, "your Imperial Highness is slow in takingmeasures against the danger."

  "Under your gracious permission, mother," answered the Princess, "Iwould rather say he was hasty in giving belief to it. Methinks theevidence of a Varangian, granting him to be ever so stout aman-at-arms, is but a frail guarantee against the honour of yourson-in-law--the approved bravery and fidelity of the captain of yourguards--the deep sense, virtue, and profound wisdom, of the greatest ofyour philosophers"--

  "And the conceit of an over-educated daughter," said the Emperor, "whowill not allow her parent to judge in what most concerns him. I willtell thee, Anna, I know every one of them, and the trust which may bereposed in them; the honour of your Nicephorus--the bravery andfidelity of the Acolyte--and the virtue and wisdom of Agelastes--have Inot had them all in my purse? And had my purse continued well filled,and my arm strong as it was of late, there they would have stillremained. But the butterflies went off as the weather became cold, andI must meet the tempest without their assistance. You talk of want ofproof? I have proof sufficient when I see danger; this honest soldierbrought me indications which corresponded with my own private remarks,made on purpose. Varangian he shall be of Varangians; Acolyte he shallbe named, in place of the present traitor; and who knows what may comethereafter?"

  "May it please your Highness," said the Varangian, who had beenhitherto silent, "many men in this empire rise to dignity by the fallof their original patrons, but it is a road to greatness to which Icannot reconcile my conscience; moreover, having recovered a friend,from whom I was long ago separated, I shall require, in short space,your Imperial license for going hence, where I shall leave thousands ofenemies behind me, and spending my life, like many of my countrymen,under the banner of King William of Scotland"--

  "Part with _thee_, most inimitable man!" cried the Emperor, withemphasis; "where shall I get a soldier--a champion--a friend--sofaithful?"

  "Noble sir," replied the Anglo-Saxon, "I am every way sensible to yourgoodness and munificence; but let me entreat you to call me by my ownname, and to promise me nothing but your forgiveness, for my havingbeen the agent of such confusion among your Imperial servants. Not onlyis the threatened fate of Achilles Tatius, my benefactor; of theCaesar, whom I think my well-wisher; and even of Agelastes himself,painful, so far as it is of my bringing round; but also I have known itsomehow happen, that those on whom your Imperial Majesty has lavishedthe most valuable expressions of your favour one day, were the next dayfood to fatten the chough and crow. And this, I acknowledge, is apurpose, for which I would not willingly have it said I had brought myEnglish limbs to these Grecian shores."

  "Call thee by thine own name, my Edward," said the Emperor, (while hemuttered aside--"by Heaven, I have again forgot the name of thebarbarian!")--"by thine own name certainly for the present, but onlyuntil we shall devise one more fitted for the trust we repose in thee.Meantime, look at this scroll, which contains, I think, all theparticulars which we have been able to learn of this plot, and give itto these unbelieving women, who will not credit that an Emperor is indanger, till the blades of the conspirators' poniards are clashingwithin his ribs."

  Hereward did as he was commanded, and having looked at the scroll, andsignified, by bending his head, his acquiescence in its contents, hepresented it to Irene, who had not read long, ere, with a countenanceso embittered that she had difficulty in pointing out the cause of herdispleasure to her daughter, she bade her, with animation, "Readthat--read that, and judge of the gratitude and affection of thyCaesar!"

  The Princess Anna Comnena awoke from a state of profound andoverpowering melancholy, and looked at the passage pointed out to her,at first with an air of languid curiosity, which presently deepenedinto the most intense inte
rest. She clutched the scroll as a falcondoes his prey, her eye lightened with indignation; and it was with thecry of the bird when in fury that she exclaimed, "Bloody-minded,double-hearted traitor! what wouldst thou have? Yes, father," she said,rising in fury, "it is no longer the voice of a deceived princess thatshall intercede to avert from the traitor Nicephorus the doom he hasdeserved! Did he think that one born in the purple chamber could bedivorced--murdered, perhaps--with the petty formula of the Romans,'Restore the keys---be no longer my domestic drudge?'[Footnote: Thelaconic form of the Roman divorce.] Was a daughter of the blood ofComnenus liable to such insults as the meanest of Quirites might bestowon a family housekeeper!"

  So saying, she dashed the tears from her eyes, and her countenance,naturally that of beauty and gentleness, became animated with theexpression of a fury. Hereward looked at her with a mixture of fear,dislike and compassion. She again burst forth, for nature having givenher considerable abilities, had lent her at the same time an energy ofpassion, far superior in power to the cold ambition of Irene, or thewily, ambidexter, shuffling policy of the Emperor.

  "He shall abye it," said the Princess; "he shall dearly abye it! False,smiling, cozening traitor!--and for that unfeminine barbarian!Something of this I guessed, even at that old fool's banqueting-house;and yet if this unworthy Caesar submits his body to the chance of arms,he is less prudent than I have some reason to believe. Think you hewill have the madness to brand us with such open neglect, my father?and will you not invent some mode of ensuring our revenge?"

  "Soh!" thought the Emperor, "this difficulty is over; she will run downhill to her revenge, and will need the snaffle and curb more than thelash. If every jealous dame in Constantinople were to pursue her furyas unrelentingly, our laws should be written, like Draco's, not in ink,but in blood.--Attend to me now," he said aloud, "my wife, my daughter,and thou, dear Edward, and you shall learn, and you three only, my modeof navigating the vessel of the state through these shoals."

  "Let us see distinctly," continued Alexius, "the means by which theypropose to act, and these shall instruct us how to meet them. A certainnumber of the Varangians are unhappily seduced, under pretence ofwrongs, artfully stirred up by their villanous general. A part of themare studiously to be arranged nigh our person--the traitor Ursel, someof them suppose, is dead, but if it were so, his name is sufficient todraw together his old factionaries--I have a means of satisfying themon that point, on which I shall remain silent for the present.--Aconsiderable body of the Immortal Guards have also given way toseduction; they are to be placed to support the handful of treacherousVarangians, who are in the plot to attack our person.--Now. a slightchange in the stations of the soldiery, which thou, my faithful Edward--or--a--a--whatever thou art named,--for which thou, I say, shalt havefull authority, will derange the plans of the traitors, and place thetrue men in such position around them as to cut them to pieces withlittle trouble."

  "And the combat, my lord?" said the Saxon.

  "Thou hadst been no true Varangian hadst thou not enquired after that,"said the Emperor, nodding good-humouredly towards him. "As to thecombat, the Caesar has devised it, and it shall be my care that heshall not retreat from the dangerous part of it. He cannot in honouravoid fighting with this woman, strange as the combat is; and howeverit ends, the conspiracy will break forth, and as assuredly as it comesagainst persons prepared, and in arms, shall it be stifled in the bloodof the conspirators!"

  "My revenge does not require this," said the Princess; "and yourImperial honour is also interested that this Countess shall beprotected."

  "It is little business of mine," said the Emperor. "She comes here withher husband altogether uninvited. He behaves with insolence in mypresence, and deserves whatever may be the issue to himself or his ladyof their mad adventure. In sooth, I desired little more than to givehim a fright with those animals whom their ignorance judged enchanted,and to give his wife a slight alarm about the impetuosity of a Grecianlover, and there my vengeance should have ended. But it may be that hiswife may be taken under my protection, now that little revenge is over."

  "And a paltry revenge it was," said the Empress, "that you, a man pastmiddle life, and with a wife who might command some attention, shouldconstitute yourself the object of alarm to such a handsome man as CountRobert, and the Amazon his wife."

  "By your favour, dame Irene, no," said the Emperor. "I left that partof the proposed comedy to my son-in-law the Caesar."

  But when the poor Emperor had in some measure stopt one floodgate, heeffectually opened another, and one which was more formidable. "Themore shame to your Imperial wisdom, my father!" exclaimed the PrincessAnna Comnena; "it is a shame, that with wisdom and a beard like yours,you should be meddling in such indecent follies as admit disturbanceinto private families, and that family your own daughter's! Who can saythat the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius ever looked astray towards anotherwoman than his wife, till the Emperor taught him to do so, and involvedhim in a web of intrigue and treachery, in which he has endangered thelife of his father-in-law?"

  "Daughter! daughter! daughter!"--said the Empress; "daughter of ashe-wolf, I think, to goad her parent at such an unhappy time, when allthe leisure he has is too little to defend his life!"

  "Peace, I pray you, women both, with your senseless clamours," answeredAlexius, "and let me at least swim for my life undisturbed with yourfolly. God knows if I am a man to encourage, I will not say the realityof wrong, but even its mere appearance!"

  These words he uttered, crossing himself, with a devout groan. His wifeIrene, in the meantime, stept before him, and said, with a bitternessin her looks and accent, which only long-concealed nuptial hatredbreaking forth at once could convey,--"Alexius, terminate this affairhow it will, you have lived a hypocrite, and thou wilt not fail to dieone." So saying, with an air of noble indignation, and carrying herdaughter along with her, she swept out of the apartment.

  The Emperor looked after her in some confusion. He soon, however,recovered his self-possession, and turning to Hereward, with a look ofinjured majesty, said, "Ah! my dear Edward,"---for the word had becomerooted in his mind, instead of the less euphonic name ofHereward,--"thou seest how it is even with the greatest, and that theEmperor, in moments of difficulty, is a subject of misconstruction, aswell as the meanest burgess of Constantinople; nevertheless, my trustis so great in thee, Edward, that I would have thee believe, that mydaughter, Anna Comnena, is not of the temper of her mother, but ratherof my own; honouring, thou mayst see, with religious fidelity, theunworthy ties which I hope soon to break, and assort her with otherfetters of Cupid, which shall be borne more lightly. Edward, my maintrust is in thee. Accident presents us with an opportunity, happy ofthe happiest, so it be rightly improved, of having all the traitorsbefore us assembled on one fair field. Think, _then_, on that day, asthe Franks say at their tournaments, that fair eyes behold thee. Thoucanst not devise a gift within my power, but I will gladly load theewith it."

  "It needs not," said the Varangian, somewhat coldly; "my highestambition is to merit the epitaph upon my tomb, 'Hereward was faithful.'I am about, however, to demand a proof of your imperial confidence,which, perhaps, you may think a startling one."

  "Indeed!" said the Emperor. "What, in one word, is thy demand?"

  "Permission," replied Hereward, "to go to the Duke of Bouillon'sencampment, and entreat his presence in the lists, to witness thisextraordinary combat."

  "That he may return with his crusading madmen," said the Emperor, "andsack Constantinople, under pretence of doing justice to hisConfederates? This, Varangian, is at least speaking thy mind openly."

  "No, by Heavens!" said Hereward suddenly; "the Duke of Bouillon shallcome with no more knights than may be a reasonable guard, shouldtreachery be offered to the Countess of Paris."

  "Well, even in this," said the Emperor, "will I be conformable; and ifthou, Edward, betrayest my trust, think that thou forfeitest all thatmy friendship has promised, and dost incur, besides, the damnation thatis due to th
e traitor who betrays with a kiss."

  "For thy reward, noble sir," answered the Varangian, "I hereby renounceall claim to it. When the diadem is once more firmly fixed upon thybrow, and the sceptre in thy hand, if I am then alive, if my poorservices should deserve so much, I will petition thee for the means ofleaving this court, and returning to the distant island in which I wasborn. Meanwhile, think me not unfaithful, because I have for a time themeans of being so with effect. Your Imperial Highness shall learn thatHereward is as true as is your right hand to your left."--So saying, hetook his leave with a profound obeisance.

  The Emperor gazed after him with a countenance in which doubt wasmingled with admiration.

  "I have trusted him," he said, "with all he asked, and with the powerof ruining me entirely, if such be his purpose. He has but to breathe awhisper, and the whole mad crew of crusaders, kept in humour at theexpense of so much current falsehood, and so much more gold, willreturn with fire and sword to burn down Constantinople, and sow withsalt the place where it stood. I have done what I had resolved never todo,--I have ventured kingdom and life on the faith of a man born ofwoman. How often have I said, nay, sworn, that I would not hazardmyself on such peril, and yet, step by step, I have done so! I cannottell--there is in that man's looks and words a good faith whichoverwhelms me; and, what is almost incredible, my belief in him hasincreased in proportion to his showing me how slight my power was overhim. I threw, like the wily angler, every bait I could devise, and someof them such as a king would scarcely have disdained; to none of thesewould he rise; but yet he gorges, I may say, the bare hook, and entersupon my service without a shadow of self-interest.--Can this bedouble-distilled treachery?--or can it be what men calldisinterestedness?--If I thought him false, the moment is not yetpast--he has not yet crossed the bridge--he has not passed the guardsof the palace, who have no hesitation, and know no disobedience--Butno--I were then alone in the land, and without a friend orconfidant.--I hear the sound of the outer gate unclose, the sense ofdanger certainly renders my ears more acute than usual.--It shutsagain--the die is cast. He is at liberty--and Alexius Comnenus muststand or fall, according to the uncertain faith of a mercenaryVarangian." He clapt his hands; a slave appeared, of whom he demandedwine. He drank, and his heart was cheered within him. "I am decided,"he said, "and will abide with resolution the cast of the throw, forgood or for evil."

  So saying, he retired to his apartment, and was not again seen duringthat night.