The Hot Swamp Part 42

"In a day or two at latest. From what was told me by the runner who was sent on in advance, it is possible that she may be here to-morrow, in time for the sports."

The wily chief had settled it in his own mind that Branwen should arrive exactly at the time when there was to be a presentation of chiefs; which ceremony was to take place just before the commencement of the sports.

This arrangement he had come to in concert with a little old woman in a grey shawl, who paid him a private visit daily.

"Do you know, Gadarn, who this youth Cormac is, whom Bladud raves so much about?"

The northern chief was seized at that moment with one of those violent fits of sneezing to which of late he had become unpleasantly subject.

"Oh! ye--ye--y-ha! yes;--excuse me, king, but since I went to that Hot Swamp, something seems to have gone wrong wi'--wi'--ha! my nose."

"Something will go worse wrong with it, chief, if you go on like that.

I thought the last one must have split it. Well, what know you about Cormac?"

"That he appears to be a very good fellow. I can say nothing more about him than that, except that your son seems to think he owes his life to his good nursing at a critical point in his illness."

"I know that well enough," returned the king, "for Bladud has impressed it on me at least a dozen times. He seems to be very grateful. Indeed so am I, and it would please me much if I had an opportunity of showing my grat.i.tude to the lad. Think you that there is any chance of finding out where he has disappeared to?"

"Not the least chance in the world."

"Indeed!" exclaimed the king in surprise. "That is strange, for Bladud, who has just left me, says that he has the best of reasons for believing that we shall have certain news of him tomorrow. But go, Gadarn, and consult my doctor about this complaint of yours, which interrupts conversation so awkwardly. We can resume our talk at some other time."

Gadarn obediently went, holding his sides as if in agony, and sneezing in a manner that caused the roof-tree of the palace to vibrate.

Returning to his own room he found the little old woman in grey awaiting him.

"You've been laughing again, father," she said. "I see by the purpleness of your face. You'll burst yourself at last if you go on so."

"Oh! you little old hag--oh! Cormac--oh! Branwen, I hope you won't be the death of me," cried the chief, flinging his huge limbs on a couch and giving way to unrestrained laughter, till the tears ran down his cheeks. "If they did not all look so grave when speaking about you, it wouldn't be so hard to bear. It's the gravity that kills me. But come, Branwen," he added, as he suddenly checked himself and took her hand, "what makes you look so anxious, my child?"

"Because I feel frightened, and ashamed, and miserable," she answered, with no symptom of her sire's hilarity. "I doubt if I should have followed Bladud--but if I had not he would have died--and I don't like to think of all the deceptions I have been practising--though I couldn't very well help it--could I? Then I fear that Bladud will forget Cormac when he learns to despise Branwen--"

"Despise Branwen!" shouted Gadarn, fiercely, as his hand involuntarily grasped the hilt of his sword. "If he did, I would cleave him from his skull to his waist--"

"Quiet you, my sweet father," said Branwen, with a little smile, "you know that two can play at that game, and that you have a skull and a waist as well as Bladud--though your waist is a good deal thicker than his. I'm not so sure about the skull!"

"I accept your reproof, child, for boastfulness is hateful in a warrior.

But get up, my love. What would happen if some one came into the room and found a little old hag sitting on my knee with her arm around my neck?"

"Ah, true, father. I did not think of that. I'm rather given to not thinking of some things. Perhaps that inquisitive servitor may be--no, he's not there this time," said Branwen, reclosing the door and sitting down on a stool beside the chief. "Now come, father, and learn your lesson."

Gadarn folded his hands and looked at his child with an air of meek humility.

"Well?"

"Well, first of all, you must tell the king tomorrow, at the right time, that I have just come back, and am very tired and shall not appear till you take me to him while the other people are being presented. Then you will lead me forward and announce me with a loud voice, so that no one shall fail to hear that I am Branwen, your daughter, you understand?

Now, mind you speak well out."

"I understand--with a shout, something like my battle-cry!"

"Not exactly so loud as that, but so as Bladud shall be sure to hear you; and he will probably be near to his father at the time."

"Just so. What next?"

"Oh, that's all you will have to do. Just retire among the other courtiers then, and leave the rest to me."

"That's a very short lesson, my little one; would you not like to be introduced to Bladud too? He does not know you, you know."

"Certainly not; that would ruin all--you dear old goose. Just do exactly what I tell you, and you will be sure to go right."

"How like your dear mother you are, my little one, in your modest requirements!"

Having finished the lesson, the little old woman retired to a remote part of the palace which, through Hafrydda's influence, had been a.s.signed to her, and the great northern chief, unbuckling his sword-belt, called l.u.s.tily for his mid-day meal.

Customs at that date, you see, were more free-and-easy than they are now, and less ceremonious. The visitors at the palace of King Hudibras were expected only to appear at the royal board at the evening meal after all the business or pleasure of each day was over. At all other times they were supposed to do as they pleased and shout for food as they happened to require it.

It is perhaps unnecessary to comment on the exceeding convenience of this custom, leaving, as it did, every one to follow the bent of inclination, from earliest morn till dewy eve, with the prospect of an enjoyable _reunion_ after dark--during which, of course, the adventures of each were narrated, exaggerated, underrated, or commented on, as the case might be, and the social enjoyments were enhanced by warlike and sentimental song as well as by more or less--usually more than less-- thrilling story.

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

THE DENOUEMENT.

It was a sunny, frosty, glorious forenoon when King Hudibras awoke to the consciousness of the important day that was before him, and the importunate vacuum that was within him.

Springing out of bed with a right royal disregard of appearances he summoned his servitor-in-waiting and ordered breakfast.

In the breakfast-room he met the queen, Hafrydda, Bladud, and Dromas-- the latter being now considered one of the family--and these five proceeded to discuss and arrange the proceedings of the day during the progress of the meal.

"You will join in the sports, of course, son Dromas," said the king, "and show us how the Olympic victors carry themselves. Ha! I should not wonder if a few of our lads will give you some trouble to beat them."

"You may be right, father," returned the young man, modestly, "for one of your lads has already beaten me at most things."

"You mean Bladud?" returned the king.

"Dromas is only so far right," interposed the prince. "It is true that where mere brute force is required I usually have the advantage, but where grace and speed come into play I am lost."

Of course Dromas would not admit this, and of course Hafrydda's fair cheeks were crimsoned when the youth, accidentally looking up, caught the princess accidentally gazing at him; and, still more of course, the king, who was sharp as a needle in such matters, observed their confusion and went into a loud laugh, which he declared was only the result of merry thoughts that were simmering in his brain.

The reception was to be held in the large hall of the palace. No ladies were to be presented, for it must be remembered that these were barbarous times, and woman had not yet attained to her true position!

Indeed, there was to be no ceremony whatever--no throne, no crown, no gold-sticks in waiting or other sticks of any kind. It was to be a sort of free-and-easy conversazione in the presence of the royal family, where, just before the sports began, any one who was moved by that ambition might hold personal intercourse with the king, and converse with him either on the affairs of State, or on private matters, or subjects of a more light and social kind--such as the weather.

At the appointed hour--which was indicated by that rough and ready but most natural of sun-dials, the shadow of a tree falling on a certain spot--the royal family adjourned to the large hall, and the unceremonious ceremony began.

First of all, on the doors being thrown open a crowd of n.o.bles--or warriors--entered, and while one of them went to the king, and began an earnest entreaty that war might be declared without delay against a certain chief who was particularly obnoxious to him, another sauntered up to the princess and began a mild flirtation in the primitive manner, which was characteristic of the sons of Mars in that day--to the unutterable jealousy of Dromas, who instantly marked him down as a fit subject for overwhelming defeat at the approaching games. At the same time the family doctor paid his respects to the queen and began to entertain her with graphic accounts of recent cases--for doctors had no objection to talking "shop" in those days.

We have said that no ladies were admitted to places of public importance, such as grand-stands or large halls, but we have also pointed out that the ladies of the royal family and their female friends formed an exception to the rule. It was, as it were, the dawn of women's freedom--the insertion of the small end of that wedge which Christianity and civilisation were destined to drive home--sometimes too far home!

Gradually the hall began to fill, and the hum of conversation became loud, when there was a slight bustle at the door which caused a modification though not a cessation of the noise.