Temporal Power: A Study in Supremacy Part 45

Ronsard's sunken eyes looked wild,--his aged frame trembled violently, and he gave a hopeless gesture.

"I do not know--I do not know!" he said incoherently; "I am an old man, and I have always found it a wicked world! But--if you give me your word that she shall come to no harm, I will trust _you_!"

Silently Von Glauben took his hand and pressed it. Two or three minutes pa.s.sed, weighted with unuttered and unutterable thoughts in the minds of both men; and then, in a somewhat hushed voice, the Professor said:

"Ronsard, I am just now reminded of the tragic story of Rudolf of Austria, who killed himself through the maddening sorrow of an ill-fated love! We, in our different lines of life should remember that,--and let no young innocent heart suffer through our follies--our rages against fate--our conventions--our more or less idiotic laws of restraint and hypocrisy. The tragedy of Prince Rudolf and the unhappy Marie Vetsera whom he wors.h.i.+pped, was caused by the sin and the falsehood of others,--not by the victims of the cruel catastrophe. Therefore, I say to you, my friend, be wise in time!--and control the natural stormy tendency of your pa.s.sions in this present affair. I a.s.sure you, on my faith and honour as a man, that the King has a kindly heart and a brave one,--together with a strong sense of justice. He is not truly known to his people;--they only see him through the pens of press reporters, or the slavish descriptions of toadies and parasites. Then again, the Crown Prince is an honourable lad; and from what I know of him, he is not likely to submit to conventional usages in matters which are close to his life and heart. Gloria herself is of such an exceptional character and disposition, that I think she may be safely left to arbitrate her own destiny----"

"And the Queen?" interrupted Ronsard suddenly;--"She, at any rate, as a woman, wife and mother, will be gentle?"

"Gentle, she certainly is," said Von Glauben, with a slight sigh; "But only because she does not consider it worth while to be otherwise! G.o.d has put a stone in the place where her heart should be! However,--she will have little to say, and still less to do with to-day's business.

You tell me you will trust me; I promise you, you shall not repent your trust! But I must see Gloria herself. Where is she?"

Ronsard pointed towards the cottage.

"She is in there, studying," he said; "Books of the old time;--books that few read. She gets them all from Sergius Thord. How would it be, think you, if he knew?"

The pleasantly rubicund countenance of the Professor grew a shade paler.

"Sergius Thord--Sergius Thord?--H'm--h'm--let me see!--who is he? Ah!

I remember,--he is the Socialist lion, for ever roaring through the streets and seeking whom he may devour! I daresay he is not without cleverness!"

"Cleverness!" echoed Ronsard; "That is a tame word! He has genius, and the people swear by him. Since the proposed new taxation, and other injustices of the Government, he has gained adherents by many thousands.

You,--whom I once took to be a mere German schoolmaster, a friend of the young 'sailor' whom my child so innocently wedded,--you whom I now know to be the King's physician--surely you cannot live on the mainland, and in the metropolis, without knowing of the power of Sergius Thord?"

"I know something--not much;" replied the Professor guardedly; "But come, my friend, _I_ have not deceived you! I was in very truth a poor 'German schoolmaster,' once,--before I became a student of medicine and surgery. And that I am the King's physician, is merely one of those accidental circ.u.mstances which occur in a world of chance.

But schoolmaster as I have been, I doubt if I would set our 'Glory-of-the-Sea' to study books recommended to her by Sergius Thord.

The poetry of Heine is more suitable to her age and s.e.x. Let us break in upon her meditations." And he walked across the gra.s.s with one arm thrust through that of Ronsard; "For she must prepare herself. We ought to be gone within an hour."

They pa.s.sed under the low, rose-covered porch into a wide square room, with raftered ceiling and deep carved oak ingle nook,--and here at the table, with a quarto volume opened out before her, sat Gloria, resting her head on one fair hand, her rich hair falling about her in loose s.h.i.+ning tresses, and her whole att.i.tude expressive of the deepest absorption in study. As they entered, she looked up and smiled,--then rose, her hand still resting on the open book.

"At last you have come again, dear Professor!" she said; "I began to think you had grown weary in well-doing!"

Von Glauben stared at her, stricken speechless for a moment. What mysterious change had pa.s.sed over the girl, investing her with such an air of regal authority? It was impossible to say. To all appearance she was the same beautiful creature, clad in the same simple white homespun gown,--yet were she Empress of half the habitable globe, she could not have looked more environed with dignity, sweetness and delicately gracious manner. He understood the desolating expression of Ronsard,--'You see I have lost her!--she is not mine any more--she is his!' He recognised and was suddenly impressed by that fact;--she was 'his'--the wife of the Crown Prince and Heir-Apparent to the Throne;--and evidently with the knowledge of her position had arisen the pride of love and the spirit of grace to support her honours worthily.

And so, as Von Glauben met her eyes, which expressed their gentle wonder at his silence, and as she extended her hand to him, he came slowly forward and bowing low, respectfully kissed that hand.

"Princess," he said, in a voice that trembled ever so slightly; "I shall never be weary in well-doing,--if you are good enough to call my service and friends.h.i.+p for you by that name! I hesitated to come before,--because I thought--I feared--I did not know!--"

"I understand!" said Gloria tranquilly; "You did not think the Prince, my husband, would tell me the truth so soon! But I know all, and now--I am glad to know it! Dearest," and she moved swiftly to Ronsard who was standing silent in the doorway--"come in and sit down! You make yourself so tired sometimes in the garden;" and she threw a loving arm about him.

"You must rest; you look so pale!"

For all answer, he lifted the hand that hung about his neck, to his lips and kissed it tenderly.

"They want you, Gloria!" he said tremulously; "They want you at the Palace. You must go to-day!"

She lifted her brilliant eyes enquiringly to Von Glauben, who responded to the look by at once explaining his mission. He was there, he said, by the King's special command;--their Majesties had been informed of their son's marriage by their son himself; and they desired at once to see and speak with their unknown daughter-in-law. The interview would be private; his Royal Highness the Crown Prince would be present;--it might last an hour, perhaps longer,--and he, Von Glauben, was entrusted to bring Gloria to the Palace, and escort her back to The Islands again when all was over. Thus, with elaborate and detailed courtesy, the Professor unfolded the nature of his enterprise, while Gloria, still keeping one arm round Ronsard, heard and smiled.

"I shall obey the King's command!" she said composedly; "Though,--having no word from the Prince, my husband, concerning this mandate,--I might very well refuse to do so! But it may be as well that their Majesties and their son's wife should plainly, and once for all, understand each other. Dear Professor, you look sadly troubled. Is there some little convention, some special ceremonial of so-called 'good manners,' which you are commissioned to teach me, before I make my appearance at Court under your escort?"

Her lovely lips smiled,--her eyes laughed,--she looked the very incarnation of Beauty triumphant. Von Glauben's brain whirled,--he felt bewitched and dazzled.

"I?--to teach you anything? No, my princess!--and please think how loyally I have called you 'Princess' from the beginning!--I have always told you that you have a spiritual knowledge far surpa.s.sing all material wisdom. Conventions and ceremonials are not for you,--you will make fas.h.i.+on, not follow it! I am not troubled, save for your sake, dear child!--for you know nothing of the world, and the ways of the Court may at first offend you--"

"The ways of h.e.l.l must have seemed dark to Proserpine," said Ronsard in his harsh, strong voice; "But Love gave her light!"

"A very just reminder!" said Von Glauben, well pleased;--"Consider Gloria to be the new Proserpine to-day! And now she must forgive me for playing the part of a tyrannical friend, and urging her to hasten her preparations."

Gloria bent down and kissed Ronsard gently.

"Trust me, little father!" she whispered; "You have not taught me great lessons of truth in vain!"

Aloud she said.

"The King and Queen wish to see me and speak with me,--and I know the reason why! They desire to fully explain to me all that my husband has already told me,--which is that according to the rules made for monarchs, our marriage is inadmissible. Well!--I have my answer ready; and you, Professor, shall hear me give it! Wait but a few moments and I will come with you."

She left the room. The two men looked at each other in silence. At last Von Glauben said:--

"Ronsard, I think you will soon reap the reward of your 'life-philosophy' system! You have fed that girl from her childhood on strong intellectual food, and trained the mental muscles rather than the physical ones. Upon my word, I believe you will see a good result!"

Ronsard, who had grown much calmer and quieter during the last few minutes, raised himself a little from the chair into which he had sunk with an air of fatigue, and looked dreamily towards the open lattice window, where the roses hung in a curtain of crimson blossom.

"If it be so, I shall praise G.o.d!" he said; "But the years have come and gone with me so peacefully since I made my home on these quiet sh.o.r.es, that the exercise of what I have presumed to call 'philosophy' has had no chance. Philosophy! It is well to preach it,--but when the blow of misfortune falls, who can practise it?"

"You can," replied the Professor;--"I can! Gloria can! I think we all three have clear brains. There is a tendency in the present age to overlook and neglect the greatest power in the whole human composition,--the mental and psychical part of it. Now, in the present curious drama of events, we have a chance given to exercise it; and it will be our own faults if we do not make our wills rule our destinies!"

"But the position is intolerable--impossible!" said Ronsard, rising and pacing the room with a fresh touch of agitation. "Nothing can do away with the fact that we--my child and I--have been cruelly deceived!

And now there can be only one of two contingencies; Gloria must be acknowledged as the Prince's wife,--in which case he will be forced to resign all claim to the Throne;--or he must marry again, which makes her no wife at all. That is a disgrace which her pride would never submit to, nor mine;--for did I not kill a king?"

"Let me advise you for the future not to allude to that disagreeable incident!" said Von Glauben persuasively: "Exercise discretion,--as I do! Observe that I do not ask you what king you killed;--I am as careful on that matter as I am concerning the reasons for which I myself left my native Fatherland! I make it a rule never to converse on painful subjects. You tell me you have tried to atone; then believe that the atonement is made, and that Gloria is the sign of its acceptance, and--happy augury!--here she comes."

They both instinctively turned to confront the girl as she entered. She had changed her ordinary white homespun gown for another of the same kind, equally simple, but fresh and unworn; her glorious bronze-chestnut hair was unbound to its full rippling length, and was held back by a band or fillet of curiously carved white coral, which surmounted the rich tresses somewhat in the fas.h.i.+on of a small crown, and she carried, thrown over one arm, the only kind of cloak she ever wore,--a burnous-like wrap of the same white homespun as her dress, with a hood, which, as the Professor slowly took out his gla.s.ses and fixed them on his nose out of mere mechanical habit, to look at her more closely, she drew over her head and shoulders, the soft folds about her exquisite face completing a cla.s.sic picture of such radiant beauty as is seldom seen nowadays among the increasingly imperfect and repulsive specimens of female humanity which 'progress' combined with sensuality, produce for the 'advancement' of the race.

"I have no Court dress," she said smiling; "And if I had I should not wear it! The King and Queen shall see me as my husband sees me,--what pleases him, must suffice to please them! I am quite ready!"

Von Glauben removed the spectacles he had needlessly put on. They were dim with a moisture which he furtively polished off, blinking his eyes meanwhile as if the light hurt him. He was profoundly moved--thrilled to the very core of his soul by the simplicity, frankness and courage of this girl whose education was chiefly out of wild Nature's lesson-book, and who knew nothing of the artificial world of fas.h.i.+on.

"And I, my princess, am at your service!" he said; "Ronsard, it is but a few hours that we shall be absent. To-night with the rising of the moon we shall return, and I doubt not with the Prince himself as chief escort! Keep a good heart and have faith! All will be well!"

"All _shall_ be well if Love can make it so!" said Ronsard;--"Gloria--my child--!" He held out his wrinkled hands pathetically, unable to say more. She sank on her knees before him, and tenderly drawing down those hands upon her head, pressed them closely there.

"Your blessing, dearest!" she said; "Not in speech--but in thought!"

There was a moment's sacred silence;--then Gloria rose, and throwing her arms round the old man, the faithful protector of her infancy and girlhood, kissed him tenderly. After that, she seemed to throw all seriousness to the winds, and running out under the roses of the porch made two or three light dancing steps across the lawn.

"Come!" she cried, her eyes sparkling, her face radiant with the gaiety of her inward spirit; "Come, Professor! This is not what we call a poet's day of dreams,--it is a Royal day of nonsense! Come!" and here she drew herself up with a stately air--"WE are prepared to confront the King!"

The Professor caught the infection of her mirth, and quickly followed her; and within the next half-hour Rene Ronsard, climbing slowly to the summit of one of the nearest rocks on the sh.o.r.e adjacent to his dwelling, shaded his eyes from the dazzling sunlight on the sea, and strained them to watch the magnificent Royal yacht steaming swiftly over the tranquil blue water, with one slight figure clad in white leaning against the mast, a figure that waved its hand fondly towards The Islands, and of whom it might have been said:

"Her gaze was glad past love's own singing of, And her face lovely past desire of love!"