CHAPTER XII
LAEL TELLS OF HER TWO FATHERS
Word passed from the garden to the knots of people on the height: "Comedown quickly. They are making ready for the boat race." Directly thereservoirs, the pavilions, and the tesselation about them were deserted.
The Princess Irene, with her suite, made the descent to the garden moreat leisure, knowing the regatta would wait for her. So it happened shewas at length in charge of what seemed a rear guard; but how it befellthat Sergius and Lael drew together, the very last of that rear guard,is not of such easy explanation.
Whether by accident or mutual seeking, side by side the two movedslowly down the hill, one moment in the shade of the kingly pines, thenin the glowing sunshine. The noises of the celebration, the shouting,singing, calling, and merry outcries of children ascended to them, andthrough the verdurousness below, lucent as a lake, gleams of colorflashed from scarfs, mantles, embroidered jackets, and flamingpetticoats.
"I hope you are enjoying yourself," he said to Lael, upon their meeting.
"Oh, yes! How could I help it--everything is delightful. And thePrincess--she is so good and gracious. Oh, if I were a man, I should gomad with loving her!"
She spoke with enthusiasm; she even drew her veil partially aside; yetSergius did not respond; he was asking himself if it were possible thegirl could be an impostor. Presently he resolved to try her withquestions.
"Tell me of your father. Is he well?"
At this she raised her veil entirely, and in turn asked: "Which fatherdo you mean?"
"Which father," he repeated, stopping.
"Oh, I have the advantage of everybody else! I have two fathers."
He could do no more than repeat after her: "Two fathers!"
"Yes; Uel the merchant is one of them, and the Prince of India is theother. I suppose you mean the Prince, since you know him. Heaccompanied me to the landing this morning, and seated me in the boat.He was then well."
There was no concealment here. Yet Sergius saw the disclosure was notcomplete. He was tempted to go on.
"Two fathers! How can such thing be?"
She met the question with a laugh. "Oh! If it depended on which of themis the kinder to me, I could not tell you the real father."
Sergius stood looking at her, much as to say: "That is no answer; youare playing with me."
"See how we are falling behind," she then said. "Come, let us go on. Ican talk while walking."
They set forward briskly, but it was noticeable that he moved nearerher, stooping from his great height to hear further.
"This is the way of it," she continued of her own prompting. "Someyears ago, my father, Uel, the merchant, received a letter from an oldfriend of his father's, telling him that he was about to return toConstantinople after a long absence in the East somewhere, and askingif he, Uel, would assist the servant who was bearer of the note inbuying and furnishing a house. Uel did so, and when the strangerarrived, his home was ready for him. I was then a little girl, and wentone day to see the Prince of India, his residence being opposite Uel'son the other side of the street. He was studying some big books, butquit them, and picked me up, and asked me who I was? I told him Uel wasmy father. What was my name? Lael, I said. How old was I? And when Ianswered that also, he kissed me, and cried, and, to my wonder,declared how he had once a child named Lael; she looked like me, andwas just my age when she died"--
"Wonderful!" exclaimed Sergius.
"Yes, and he then said Heaven had sent me to take her place. Would I behis Lael? I answered I would, if Uel consented. He took me in his arms,carried me across the street and talked so Uel could not have refusedhad he wanted to."
The manner of the telling was irresistible. At the conclusion, sheturned to him and said, with emotion: "There, now. You see I reallyhave two fathers, and you know how I came by them: and were I torecount their goodness to me, and how they both love me, and how happyeach one of them is in believing me the object of the other'saffection, you would understand just as well how I know no differencebetween them."
"It is strange; yet as you tell it, little friend, it is not strange,"he returned, seriously. They were at the instant in a bar of brightestsunlight projected across the road; and had she asked him the cause ofthe frown on his face, he could not have told her he was thinking ofDemedes.
"Yes, I see it--I see it, and congratulate you upon being so doublyblessed. Tell me next who the Prince of India is."
She looked now here, now there, he watching her narrowly.
"Oh! I never thought of asking him about himself."
She was merely puzzled by an unexpected question.
"But you know something of him?"
"Let me think," she replied. "Yes, he was the intimate of my fatherUel's father, and of his father before him."
"Is he so old then?"
"I cannot say how long he has been a family acquaintance. Of myknowledge he is very learned in everything. He speaks all the languagesI ever heard of; he passes the nights alone on the roof of his house"--
"Alone on the roof of his house!"
"Only of clear nights, you understand. A servant carries a chair andtable up for him, and a roll of papers, with pen and ink, and a clockof brass and gold. The paper is a map of the heavens; and he sits therewatching the stars, marking them in position on the map, the clocktelling him the exact time."
"An astronomer," said Sergius.
"And an astrologer," she added; "and besides these things he is adoctor, but goes only amongst the poor, taking nothing from them. He isalso a chemist; and he has tables of the plants curative and deadly,and can extract their qualities, and reduce them from fluids to solids,and proportionate them. He is also a master of figures, a science, healways terms it, the first of creative principles without which Godcould not be God. So, too, he is a traveller--indeed I think he hasbeen over the known world. You cannot speak of a capital or of anisland, or a tribe which he has not visited. He has servants from thefarthest East. One of his attendants is an African King; and what isthe strangest to me, Sergius, his domestics are all deaf and dumb."
"Impossible!"
"Nothing appears impossible to him."
"How does he communicate with them?"
"They catch his meaning from the motion of his lips. He says signs aretoo slow and uncertain for close explanations."
"Still he must resort to some language."
"Oh, yes, the Greek."
"But if they have somewhat to impart to him?"
"It is theirs to obey, and pantomime seems sufficient to convey thelittle they have to return to him, for it is seldom more than, 'MyLord, I have done the thing you gave me to do.' If the matter becomplex, he too resorts to the lip-speech, which he could not teachwithout first being proficient in it himself. Thus, for instance, toNilo"--
"The black giant who defended you against the Greek?"
"Yes--a wonderful man--an ally, not a servant. On the journey toConstantinople, the Prince turned aside into an African Kingdom calledKash-Cush. I cannot tell where it is. Nilo was the King, and a mightyhunter and warrior. His trappings hang in his room now--shields,spears, knives, bows and arrows, and among them a net of linen threads.When he took the field for lions, his favorite game, the net and ashort sword were all he cared for. His throne room, I have heard myfather the Prince say, was carpeted with skins taken by him in singlecombats."
"What could he do with the net, little Princess?"
"I will give you his account; perhaps you can see it clearly--I cannot.When the monster makes his leap, the corners of the net are tossed upin the air, and he is in some way caught and tangled... Well, as I wassaying, Nilo, though deaf and dumb, of choice left his people andthrone to follow the Prince, he knew not where."
"Oh, little friend! Do you know you are talking the incredible to me?Who ever heard of such thing before?"
Sergius' blue eyes were astare with wonder.
"I only speak what I have heard recounted by my father, the Prince, tomy othe
r father, Uel.... What I intended saying was that directly thePrince established himself at home he began teaching Nilo to converse.The work was slow at first; but there is no end to the master's skilland patience; he and the King now talk without hindrance. He has evenmade him a believer in God."
"A Christian, you mean."
"No. In my father's opinion the mind of a wild man cannot comprehendmodern Christianity; nobody can explain the Trinity; yet a child can betaught the almightiness of God, and won to faith in him."
"Do you speak for yourself or the Prince?"
"The Prince," she replied.
Sergius was struck with the idea, and wished to go further with it, butthey were at the foot of the hill, and Lael exclaimed, "The garden isdeserted. We may lose the starting of the race. Let us hurry."
"Nay, little friend, you forget how narrow my skirts are. I cannot run.Let us walk fast. Give me a hand. There now--we will arrive in time."
Near the palace, however, Sergius dropped into his ordinary gait; thencoming to a halt, he asked: "Tell me to whom else you have related thispretty tale of the two fathers?"
His look and tone were exceedingly grave, and she studied his face, andquestioned him in turn: "You are very serious--why?"
"Oh, I was wondering if the story is public?" More plainly, he waswondering whence Demedes had his information.
"I suppose it is generally known; at least I cannot see why it shouldnot be."
The few words swept the last doubt from his mind; yet she continued:"My father Uel is well known to the merchants of the city. I have heardhim say gratefully that since the coming of the Prince of India hisbusiness has greatly increased. He used to deal in many kinds of goods;now he sells nothing but precious stones. His patrons are not alone thenobles of Byzantium; traders over in Galata buy of him for the westernmarkets, especially Italy and France. My other father, the Prince, isan expert in such things, and does not disdain to help Uel with advice."
Lael might have added that the Prince, in course of his travels, hadascertained the conveniency of jewels as a currency familiar andacceptable to almost every people, and always kept a store of them byhim, from which he frequently replenished his protege's stock, allowinghim the profits. That she did not make this further disclosure wasprobably due to ignorance of the circumstances; in other words, herartlessness was extreme enough to render her a dangerous confidant, andboth her fathers were aware of it.
"Everybody in the bazaar is friendly to my father Uel, and the Princevisits him there, going in state; and he and his train are anattraction"--thus Lael proceeded. "On his departure, the questionsabout him are countless, and Uel holds nothing back. Indeed, it is morethan likely he has put the whole mart and city in possession of thehistory of my adoption by the Prince."
In front of the palace she broke off abruptly: "But see! The landing iscovered with men and women. Let us hurry."
Presently they issued from the garden, and were permitted to join thePrincess.