The Mercenary Part 17

The Archd.u.c.h.ess shot him a swift glance of recognition, and the smile, which rather accompanied than followed it, bestowed not upon him but upon some chance-favoured auditor with whom she talked, seemed to imply approval of his choice of a court dress. That swift glance of hers was enough to tell him that their rencontre of the morning was, if it could not be swept from remembrance, at least to be treated as if it had not been.

It was Father Lamormain who, gliding to his side, a.s.sumed the gracious part of cicerone.

"And are you still pleased with your good news, colonel?" he asked with his benevolent smile of universal fatherhood.

"More and more, Father! This morning there was the promise. This evening it is in flower!"

"The blossom," said the priest, looking at the court suit, "becomes the tree if the tree yield good fruit." A saying which left Nigel puzzled, intimating as it did that his reward was not so much for service done as for services to do. He had no time to ponder it, for Father Lamormain had led him to the Archd.u.c.h.ess Stephanie and was presenting him.

"Your Highness! may I present to you the youngest Colonel of Musketeers in the Imperial armies, Mr Nigel Charteris, who has had the honour and the peril of bearing Count Tilly's despatches from Magdeburg!"

"I am pleased to greet you!" said the Archd.u.c.h.ess, giving him her hand to kiss. "I trust your journey was as pleasant as the issue was successful."

As Nigel had bent to kiss the long slender fingers that were so like the Emperor's, he seemed to see again those of Ottilie von Thuringen binding up the wound of Elspeth Reinheit. He answered her--

"The journey was not so perilous, your Highness, as the reward is great in your Highness's gracious welcome!" And greatly daring he gazed for a moment with unfeigned admiration at the eyes of the Archd.u.c.h.ess.

"Count Tilly's captains are swift to learn, Father?" she said, smiling.

"They are more teachable than princesses!" said Father Lamormain, with such banter in his tone as the privileged spiritual director of the family might employ. "And princesses," he added, "are swift to teach."

A saying which the Archd.u.c.h.ess and Nigel alike felt might be innocent or barbed with irony.

Father Lamormain did not leave him till he had made the round of the guests. Nigel's brain was becoming clearer as he became used to the scene, and the effects of the excellent Tokay were wellnigh spent. He learned by observation in what very real respect the whole court held the Jesuit father. This polished and witty priest had something in the way of compliment for all the ladies, something flattering for the great lords and lordlings. But for the Father there was no covert sneer, or half attention, or sign of fear. There was real respect, and something that resembled the perfect confidence of friends.h.i.+p.

Last of all, the Elector Maximilian, with his eternal half-smile, left the Emperor's immediate group and accosted Nigel.

"So Father Lamormain has taken you in hand, Colonel! They say that this is a greater mark of honour than even the Emperor can bestow. Beware, however, of any love secrets. He will worm them out of you!"

"He does not wear them upon his sleeve, your Highness!" said the priest, with a glance over in the direction of the Archd.u.c.h.ess Stephanie, which was not understood by Nigel.

"And in what plight are my Bavarians?" the Elector went on.

Father Lamormain beat a retreat. They would find much to talk about, and if the fathoming of Nigel's leanings were necessary Maximilian was as astute as himself. Luckily Nigel held a high opinion of Pappenheim, whom many regarded as the foremost general in Germany, even before Wallenstein, but who was a soldier and nothing more, no politician or ambitious seeker after power.

"You were with Tilly before?"

"No, sire! With Wallenstein from the campaign against Mansfeld to the end of his command!"

To the "Ah" with which this was received Nigel attached the significance it bore.

"Have you seen him since his ... resignation?"

"Yes, sire; at Eger on my journey here."

"And how does he bear his retirement?"

"In truth I know almost nothing, sire. When I was under him I rarely saw him, and was not of his familiar circle, if indeed he had such. I do not know. He asked for my company at Eger to divide a bottle of wine with him. He seems to occupy himself with astronomy and the mathematics."

"I have heard," rejoined Maximilian, "that he had great acquaintance and much controversy with a learned doctor, one Paracelsus, but these matters are beyond my ken. Men and women are more to me than the stars."

Several gentlemen of the court had gathered round the Elector, and it was the hearing of the name of Wallenstein that drew them, for it was well known that the Elector and he were on terms of discord. In the days of the Winter King it had been Maximilian and his armies who had been in fact the Emperor's legions, then as a counterpoise the Emperor had raised up Wallenstein. When Wallenstein had made Maximilian the pale shadow of an armed power, Maximilian had plotted till Wallenstein was deposed and his army scattered to the ten thousand hamlets of Germany.

"A veritable Cincinnatus!" said an elderly gentleman.

"He raised cabbages for sauerkraut, did he not?" a younger man asked.

"Your Cincinnatus," said the Elector, "raiseth weeds of a poisonous and rebellious nature."

"Such as, sire?" a staid and solemn-faced minister of state inquired.

"Ambition, my Lord! It brought Caesar to the ground, and Caesar was a greater man. When Wallenstein, then a rich Bohemian landlord, discovered that he had the genius of organising an army, he began to think he had discovered in himself another Caesar. He thought that to command a great army, to find its food and pay, was absolute power. He forgot that that consent of the Emperor, which alone had made it possible, was the real source of power, and that the consent might be withdrawn. You all know what happened in fact. He has no patriotism. His country, his Emperor, his creed, is Wallenstein; and he would as soon serve Gustavus, if Gustavus would promise him a kingdom, as serve the Emperor."

The Elector Maximilian had raised his voice a little as he spoke his last sentences. The Emperor, turning in his chair from his cards not far away, said--

"Your favourite topic, cousin! He did us good service in our need."

"In truth, sire!" said the Archd.u.c.h.ess Stephanie, also addressing Maximilian. "Age should be more lenient to age and honourable service."

Nigel wondered why the Elector showed so much the symptoms of a frown when his mouth, so much of it as was visible, essayed a smile as he turned towards the Archd.u.c.h.ess.

The Emperor and Father Lamormain, who was of his party at cards, exchanged a guarded glance.

"You remind me of that, Stephanie, which in your presence I had forgotten."

With which saying he strode to her side with an air of gallantry, which had sat well upon a younger man, and engaged her in a conversation out of earshot, as he meant, of the rest of the company.

At this point a page came to the Emperor and gave him a message in a low tone. The page went out, and in a moment the doors opened.

"His Grace the Duke of Friedland" was announced; and instantly the company sat or stood as if petrified.

Albrecht von Walstein entered, attired not plainly, but as became a magnifico of the Empire. There was violet velvet slashed with green silk and sewn with pearls, and all point devise. He made three obeisances as he approached the Emperor, and kissed his hand, then that of his consort. The Emperor bade him be seated.

"You have been long coming to Vienna, Duke, but seeing that you are here you are well-come. You have news?"

"Sire! I was but a few days since at Eger, where I have a poor dwelling-place, when I heard that the King of Sweden has left Frankfort, has marched to Werben, where the river Havel pours into the Elbe, and has there entrenched his army in a fortified camp. Brandenburg has given up Spandau and Custrin. We are shut off from the North."

The Emperor's face became a thought graver than usual. So did those of Father Lamormain and of Maximilian, who, leaving the Archd.u.c.h.ess, drew near at a sign from the Emperor.

"How many men hath he?"

"My report says forty thousand, all veteran troops. Saxony and Brandenburg can raise another forty thousand between them."

"With a few reinforcements, Tilly and Pappenheim should be able to stay his march," said Maximilian.

To which Wallenstein said nothing. His _role_ was the disinterested friend, the wealthy n.o.ble to whom war was of no moment.

For a moment there was a curious silence.