CHAP. XII.
It was a fortnight after Easter. The trees of the chase were springinginto leaf. Flocks of twittering starlings in whirling clouds hoveredand sang above the towers of Wordingborg Castle. The cuckoo's note washeard in the beech groves, and the nightingale was come. The Marskstood in the ante-chamber awaiting orders. Ah inquiry was made afterthe Drost. He had repaired to the maidens' tower with the judges of thecourt of justice of the castle, in order to be present at anexamination of Marsk Stig's daughters. He had himself hastened this actof justice, in his firm conviction of their innocence; he hoped by histestimony to be instrumental towards their acquittal, and that theaffair might, from the king's presence there, come to a speedy andhappy termination. The Drost's longing to see the fair Margarethaagain, had perhaps some share in the haste and zeal with which hefollowed the grave judges. But hardly had he entered the prison withthese personages, and had met, and responded to, a tender andmelancholy glance from the gentle Margaretha, ere Ulrica, who appearedto have been sitting quietly before her sister's tapestry frame,suddenly started up with a wild look and dishevelled hair, and rushedmenacingly towards them. "Ye have murdered him, ye monsters,"--shecried--"Ye have murdered my true knight--are ye now come to drag mealso to the scaffold? Look! here I am!--tarry not!--bring forward yourchains!--bring forward your executioner! Lead me but to death! Idespise life and all of ye! I knew Kagge was here to avenge mydegradation, and lead me out of this vile captivity. Me, you may murderalso--the sooner the better. I ask no other freedom--call but yourexecutioner, and put an end to my sorrow! I knew the king's life was indanger, and I was silent to save my friend and true knight--but mysister is innocent--none shall injure a hair of _her_ head. Shebesought me to move him to flee, and cause no mishap--that I canwitness on the gospels."
"Both were then, it seems, cognizant of the presence of the outlawedregicide and of his treasonable purpose," said the chief judge; "SirDrost! the testimony we have here from the most guilty of the two,renders them both, at the least, state prisoners for their lifetime."
Drost Aage appeared thunderstruck. "The unhappy lady must rave," hesaid, hastily recollecting himself. "She hath been ill, and not in herright mind, as we know--her confession and testimony are of no weight.Her knowledge of yon miscreant I have indeed observed; but it isimpossible she could have been an accomplice in his crime, and stillless her pious sister; that I will stake my life upon! Answer us! forthe sake of the Lord in heaven, tell us the truth noble LadyMargaretha! Knew you Kagge was here in disguise at the castle, andseeking after the king's life?"
"I knew it, Sir Drost." answered Margaretha calmly, with her hand onher heart. "But by the lips of the Holy Virgin, and the Spirit of holytruth, it lay not in my power, nor in my sister's, to hinder hiscoming. When I heard he was here, and what he meditated, it was night,and our prison door was locked. It was not possible for me to cautionyou and the king against him, had I even (which I trust in God I had)courage and strength and will to do so. In the morning it was affirmedhe had escaped, and--I was silent, that I might not plunge an erringunhappy soul into still greater misery."
"A serious case! a very serious case!" said the judge. "We must examineinto all the circumstances of the affair."
While the examination was continued the commandant of the castleentered, and summoned the Drost to the king. Aage left the chamber witha deep sigh, and a sorrowing glance at the unhappy maidens, of whoseacquittal and liberation from prison he now almost despaired.With feelings of deep emotion the Drost joined the Marsk in theante-chamber, where he was to await the king's commands. They heard theking pacing with hasty steps up and down his private chamber.
"There are snakes in the grass, Drost!" said the Marsk. "Why did theynot instantly cut off the heads of those hounds, without ceremony, andcast their high-born friend and protector into the tower. Now they haveall 'scaped, the whole pack of them, and we have enough to do to be onour guard."
"Whom mean you, Sir Marsk?" asked Aage absently. "You have receivedletters I know?"
"Yes, in abundance--Brock and Papae got off for that once; they arescouring Jutland round, and stirring up the people about thesepriest-riots and the shutting of the churches, which all dread so much;just as if a church-door was a fortress gate with ramparts and towers,and had St. Paul himself for a porter. I thought truly, it was a badbusiness when those haughty nobles laid their heads together so oftenwith the junker, and had slit napkins laid before their noses. I shouldhave been right glad to have hewn the whole pack of them in pieces; butamid all our stupid ceremonies with trencher and napkin, and tatteredclouts, we let fly the birds of prey, and the junker into the bargain,although he got a rent to hide which made his ears glowing red."
"How, Sir Marsk!" exclaimed Aage, a conjecture suddenly flashing acrosshis mind. "You surely were not yourself his secret accuser?"
"You have hit it, Drost! I cared not much to keep the secret: had anyone asked, my answer would have been ready, and my good sword with it,if required: proofs and such like frippery I had not, it is true--thatwas the worst of it; but, however, I had my conjectures and my ownthoughts. I cannot abide that fellow, do you see--were he guiltless,and had he courage to defend his honour,--by the foul fiend! he wouldnot have sat there as if upon thorns, and have hid that little rent. Iwas just going by the table, do you see? and saw how matters stood withthose three mangy hounds. The junker's napkin lay so conveniently athand, my blood was up, and it struck me the high-born junker would bethe better for a little alarm."
"By your favour. Sir Marsk! it was a most rash proceeding; by actingthus, you have increased the misunderstanding between the king and hisbrother."
"So much the better; either keep with him or break with him--one or theother; nought comes of this truckling: but so far you are right--Ishould not have busied myself with those apish ceremonies, they betterbeseem all of _you_. I should rather have said it right out, andanswered for it instantly with my hand on my neck:--but enough ofthis--Know ye Master Grand is here?"
"Grand! the Archbishop? Where?"
"At Copenhagen, and with a royal convoy. That was a piece of folly,also--_You_ were, no doubt, one in council?"
"It was not deemed necessary," answered Aage, repressing his annoyanceat the Marsk's offensive bluntness. "The counsel you so flatteringlyattribute to me was not mine either. The state council and the kinghimself considered it good policy. The cardinal demanded it, andoffered his mediation. If the archbishop becomes manageable, andrecalls the ban, he, of course, could not come hither without anassurance of personal safety."
"Do ye not yet know that fellow better?" answered the Marsk. "Ere_he_ becomes tractable, heaven and earth will pass away. In thisrespect, the king is not far behind him--but if he _will_ be at thearchbishop--by Satan! he should not have given him a convoy, andallowed him to set foot again upon Danish ground, though the wholestate-council should get a colic from fright. Now, Grand and thataccursed red hat sit like a pair of popes at Axelhuus, and none dareinjure a hair of their heads: there they may begin the game, and stirus up the whole country in a trice. The cardinal hath already confirmedthat confounded constitution of Veile, and the Bishop of Roskild nowcauses all his churches to be shut. The storm will and must burst soon,and then all depends on how wind and current drive."
"Great Heavens! is it possible?" exclaimed Aage, in dismay. "Have youcertain tidings, Sir Marsk? Doth the king know it?"
"I have brought him some doses on a fasting stomach in a couple ofletters--that he hath swallowed them you may know from the clatter ofhis spurs and boot-heels--You brought him letters from Sweden, Drost!Love letters, doubtless, and fine ballads from his betrothed? Werethere any tidings of a rational kind?"
"None of a very cheering description," answered Aage, looking withuneasiness towards the king's door. "What the princess hath imparted Iknow not; but the excellent Master Petrus can effect nothing with thestate-council touching the king's marriage."
"S'Death!" said the Marsk, r
ubbing his hands. "Then it will not be easyto get to talk with him to-day. These are knots which it will be hardeven for _your_ state-policy to loose, my wise Sir Drost! but if _I_know the king well, he will give all your fine wisdom to the devil, andkeep him to me and his good sword."
"Against rebels we may use the sword, Marsk, but neither against bishopnor pope, and just as little against the king's future brother-in-law,"answered Aage. "We stand in need of discretion in this matter, and,above all, of the help of the Lord."
The door of the king's private chamber now opened, and the king himselflooked out into the ante-chamber, and nodded. His countenance indicatedpassion and anxiety, and the Marsk, as well as the Drost, entered thechamber with a thoughtful aspect.
An hour afterwards Marsk Oluffsen departed with the Wordingborg troopof horse on his way to Jutland; and Drost Aage set out, attended bytwelve knights and squires, as ambassador to the Swedish court, with aletter which inspired him with secret anxiety for his king and country.
Among the twelve knights appointed to accompany Drost Aage to Sweden,was Sir Palle's brother-in-law, the brave knight, Helmer Blaa, who hadmade himself famous by gaining his bride by dint of arms, andvanquishing Sir Palle and her six brothers, who had all fallen upon himat once. He was young, of a tall and well-proportioned figure, withsparkling brown eyes, and remarkably light and agile in his movements.He was a native of Fyen, of high birth; a great friend of the Drost's,and devoted heart and soul to the king.
"He rides in the saddle so free--"
was wont to be carolled forth by the lower orders whenever they sawHelmer riding his handsome Arabian horse, which flew with him swift asthe wind, and was the gift of royal favour to him on his marriage-daythe preceding summer.
Drost Aage rode for an hour in calm silence by the side of this gallantknight, on the road to Kioege, from whence he was to embark for Skanoron the Swedish coast.
"Count Henrik goes with the king of course?" said Sir Helmer, at lastbreaking silence. "If one would visit a bishop's nest in these times,it must assuredly be with sword and coat of mail."
"Count Henrik stirs not from his side," answered Aage--"that he hathpromised me with word and hand--I now go hence unwillingly; Grand'sthirst for revenge, and the boldness of the outlaws know no bounds."
"That accursed Kagge! He made an end also of my fat seal of abrother-in-law--that lump of flesh, indeed, I accounted not much of;his miserable death, however, I have vowed to St. George to avenge,chiefly for my dear wife's sake. She had but that one brother leftsince I came to mishap with all the others; but it was done openly,and in honourable self-defence; she hath not even loved me the lesseither for that affair--but to fight by stealth, and with a poisonedweapon--faugh! 'Twas an accursed Italian trick--such was never beforethe usage here in the north. Are you quite certain the wretchedassassin is dead and buried in good earnest, Sir Drost? The people havedivers tales to tell. He who hath had no shame in his life would notdie of shame, I should think--One hath seen ere this a cunning fox runfrom the trap and leave his tail behind him."
Aage started. "I saw him not after death," he answered; "but his endwas certainly announced by the provost and Commendator of themonastery. There can surely be no doubt of the truth."
"The Commendator is a holy man of God, doubtless," replied Helmer, withan incredulous smile; "one ought not, indeed, to suspect him of deceitand treason, even though he be a good friend of Master Grand's, andmight have wished to save the dishonoured life of one of so high andholy a race. I first heard that unbelieving gossip when the body wasthrown into the carrion pit, and consumed with unslacked lime; itdoubtless showed great caution and good care for the public health; butthey will have it it was a corpse from the hospital of the monastery,with beard and eyebrows of good Danish boar bristles."
"Can it be possible!" exclaimed Aage. "Should he be alive and atliberty, he would then become a more pestilent foe than all the outlawsput together--Yon dishonoured miscreant is capable of any crime; hehath now hardly aught more to lose."
"Be that as it may," answered Helmer, "if Kagge be above ground, so ismy arm and my good sword also--the Lord be praised for it!--andwherever I meet him, I am his man."
"If the miscreant is alive, and falls into our hands, we can but bindhis hands and wash our own of the matter," answered Aage.
They now continued their journey in grave silence for another hour.Each time Aage thought of the unfortunate daughters of Marsk Stig inthe maidens' tower a sigh burst from his heart; and whenever he feltthe king's important letter within his vest it seemed to him as if hewas oppressed by the future fate of king and country.
"We received but scanty orders," resumed Helmer Blaa again, seeminglywearied by the long silence and the Drost's reverie. "We were to learnthe rest from you, Drost; but you seem to have left tongue and speechat Wordingborg."
"You know what is of most importance," answered Aage. "It concerns KingEric's highest happiness in this world. As matters stand now with thearchbishop and pope, you may easily imagine there are greatdifficulties about the dispensation for his marriage; if we cannotprevail on King Birger and his state council to permit the marriage totake place ere St. John's Day, and that despite both pope and clergy,then--more should not be said," he added, in a lowered voice; "then Ifear matters will stand badly, Sir Helmer."
"Not worse surely than with me when they threw hindrances in the way ofmy marriage!" answered Helmer. "How such difficulties may be got overour bold king knows full as well as I--" So saying, he gaily struckupon his clanking sword.
"That did very well with your brother-in-law, brave Helmer," said Aage."It concerned only half a dozen of our worst knights. HERE state andkingdom are in question. The king is of a hasty temper, you know; he isonly but too ready to imitate your bold manner of wooing; but if he isto win his bride by war and battle, there will be a bloody bridal herein the summer, to as little pleasure for Denmark as for Sweden."
"There you may perhaps be in the right, Drost," answered Helmer. "Thereis a difference between _my_ brothers-in-law and the king's, I own; butif honour and our king's fortune in love are now at stake, assuredly noDanish knight will hesitate to become his bridegroom's man with swordand lance, however hard one might be put to it. This much we must allowto the Swede--he ever fights like a brave fellow. Swedish knighthoodyields not to us in manhood; but when we sing,
'For Eric the youthful king!'
the heart of no Danish man will sink below his belt, I know, were theSwede ten times as strong, and had they ten Thorkild Knudsons incouncil and camp."
"Let us not talk too loud of these things," said Aage, in a low voice,and allowing the other knights to pass by, while he and Helmerslackened their pace. "Honourable warfare is indeed ever to bepreferred to a deceitful and shameful peace," he continued; "but theLord and St. George forbid it should come to a breach now, just whenlove and good will seem in truth desirous to make us and our braveneighbours friends. Could these unhappy scruples be removed I shoulddeem both Denmark and Sweden fortunate indeed. If a noble Swedishprincess sits on the throne of Denmark's queens, and a Danish one onthat of Sweden, we might then hope to see extinguished the last sparkof ancient national hate and fraternal enmity. We may say what weplease in our pride, and boast of Danish greatness in the days ofCanute the Great and the Valdemars; Scandinavians were, however,brethren in the beginning; we have shared honour and fame with eachother all over the world, among Longobards and Goths and Northmen; andwe must combine together again, if aught great is to be achieved by thepowers of the north."
"It may be so," answered Sir Helmer. "I am well nigh of your opinion,especially since it hath now come to something more than mere statepolicy and cold calculations with these betrothings of royal children.This one at first was but a politic scheme of Queen Agnes and DrostHessel; in such plans there are seldom any truth and honesty. Strangeenough it should turn out as it hath done; for every man, both here andin Sweden's land, knows that our young king is almost more enamouredt
han a Sir Tristan or Florez in the new books of chivalry; andthe fair Princess Ingeborg--here they already call her our secondDagmar--although we have but heard she is pious and mild, and hathpretty blue eyes and beautiful golden hair, like Dagmar. I shall bewell pleased to see her," he added. "No Swedish or Danish knights canever commend her sufficiently, and she is, indeed, well nigh praised tothe disparagement of our own lovely ladies--that vexes me I own."
"I saw her at Helsingborg, at the bridal of Count Gerhard and QueenAgnes," said Aage, and his pensive eye sparkled. "She was then stillalmost a child; but she hath since ever seemed to me like one of God'sholy angels, destined to diffuse the blessings of peace and lovethrough this land and kingdom. There is but one female form in theworld which I could compare with her, or perhaps even exalt above herin fair and noble presence," he added with emotion; but suddenly pausedand cleared his throat with some embarrassment.
"Now, out with it, Drost Aage; I am not jealous," said Sir Helmer, witha pleased and proud look. "You mean doubtless my fair young wife--It isworthy a true knight to admire the beauty of a young and fair woman inall reverence and honour. She hath well nigh the fairest presence ofany woman here in the country; every one says so who sees her, bothhere and in Fyen; and I have nought against it. I know assuredly sheholds me dearest of all, although I came to mishap, as you know, bothwith her uncle and those stiff-necked brothers. She is now at mycastle, longing to have me back again; if it please the Lord and St.George, she shall soon hear a good report of me, if there is anythingto be done in earnest."
Drost Aage's usually pale cheek had become crimson. "You guessed wrong,however, this once Sir Helmer"--he said, with a smile; "the lady Ithought of was another, without disparagement to your fair young wife.But, if we would reach Kjoege ere midnight, we must ride faster. In asteady trot, and at the long run, I think my Danish horse will be amatch for your Arabian." He spurred his horse, and Sir Helmer hastenedto redeem the honour of his favourite Arabian, while he shook his headat the Drost's want of discernment in the matter of female beauty.