惊婚记 英文版 Quentin Durward
瓦尔特.司各特 Sir Walter Scott
CHAPTER XII: THE POLITICIAN Page 2
"May I ask to whom your Majesty commits such an important charge?"asked the tonsor.
"To a foreigner, be sure," replied the King, "one who has neitherkin nor interest in France, to interfere with the execution of mypleasure; and who knows too little of the country and its factions,to suspect more of my purpose than I choose to tell him -- ina word, I design to employ the young Scot who sent you hither butnow."
Oliver paused in a manner which seemed to imply a doubt of theprudence of the choice, and then added, "Your Majesty has reposedconfidence in that stranger boy earlier than is your wont."
"I have my reasons," answered the King. "Thou knowest" (and hecrossed himself) "my devotion for the blessed Saint Julian. I hadbeen saying my orisons to that holy Saint late in the night beforelast, wherein (as he is known to be the guardian of travellers) Imade it my humble petition that he would augment my household withsuch wandering foreigners as might best establish throughout ourkingdom unlimited devotion to our will; and I vowed to the goodSaint in guerdon, that I would, in his name, receive, and relieve;and maintain them."
"And did Saint Julian," said Oliver, "send your Majesty this longlegged importation from Scotland in answer to your prayers?"
Although the barber, who well knew that his master had superstitionin a large proportion to his want of religion, and that on suchtopics nothing was more easy than to offend him -- although, Isay, he knew the royal weakness, and therefore carefully put thepreceding question in the softest and most simple tone of voice,Louis felt the innuendo which it contained, and regarded the speakerwith high displeasure.
"Sirrah," he said, "thou art well called Oliver the Devil, whodarest thus to sport at once with thy master and with the blessedSaints. I tell thee, wert thou one grain less necessary to me,I would have thee hung up on yonder oak before the Castle, as anexample to all who scoff at things holy -- Know, thou infidel slave,that mine eyes were no sooner closed; than the blessed Saint Julianwas visible to me, leading a young man whom he presented to me,saying that his fortune should be to escape the sword, the cord,the river, and to bring good fortune to the side which he shouldespouse, and to the adventures in which he should be engaged.I walked out on the succeeding morning and I met with this youth,whose image I had seen in my dream. In his own country he hath escapedthe sword, amid the massacre of his whole family, and here withinthe brief compass of two days, he hath been strangely rescued fromdrowning and from the gallows, and hath already, on a particularoccasion, as I but lately hinted to thee, been of the most materialservice to me. I receive him as sent hither by Saint Julian toserve me in the most difficult, the most dangerous, and even themost desperate services."
The King, as he thus expressed himself, doffed his hat, and selectingfrom the numerous little leaden figures with which the hat band wasgarnished that which represented Saint Julian, he placed it on thetable, as was often his wont when some peculiar feeling of hope,or perhaps of remorse, happened to thrill across his mind, and,kneeling down before it, muttered, with an appearance of profounddevotion, "Sancte Juliane, adsis precibus nostris! Ora, ora, pronobis! (St. Julian, give heed to our prayers. Plead, plead forus!)"
This was one of those ague fits of superstitious devotion whichoften seized on Louis in such extraordinary times and places, thatthey gave one of the most sagacious monarchs who ever reigned theappearance of a madman, or at least of one whose mind was shakenby some deep consciousness of guilt.
While he was thus employed, his favourite looked at him withan expression of sarcastic contempt which he scarce attempted todisguise. Indeed, it was one of this man's peculiarities, that inhis whole intercourse with his master, he laid aside that fondling,purring affectation of officiousness and humility which distinguishedhis conduct to others; and if he still bore some resemblance to acat, it was when the animal is on its guard, -- watchful, animated,and alert for sudden exertion. The cause of this change was probablyOliver's consciousness that his Master was himself too profound ahypocrite not to see through the hypocrisy of others.
"The features of this youth, then, if I may presume to speak," saidOliver, "resemble those of him whom your dream exhibited?"
"Closely and intimately," said the King, whose imagination, likethat of superstitious people in general, readily imposed upon itself."I have had his horoscope cast, besides, by Galeotti Martivalle, andI have plainly learned, through his art and mine own observation,that, in many respects, this unfriended youth has his destiny underthe same constellation with mine."
Whatever Oliver might think of the causes thus boldly assignedfor the preference of an inexperienced stripling, he dared make nofarther objections, well knowing that Louis, who, while residing inexile, had bestowed much of his attention on the supposed scienceof judicial astrology, would listen to no raillery of any kind whichimpeached his skill. He therefore only replied that he trusted theyouth would prove faithful in the discharge of a task so delicate.
"We will take care he hath no opportunity to be otherwise," saidLouis; "for he shall be privy to nothing, save that he is sent toescort the Ladies of Croye to the residence of the Bishop of Liege.Of the probable interference of William de la Marck he shall knowas little as they themselves. None shall know that secret but theguide; and Tristan or thou must find one fit for our purpose."
"But in that case," said Oliver, "judging of him from his countryand his appearance, the young man is like to stand to his arms assoon as the Wild Boar comes on them, and may not come off so easilyfrom the tusks as he did this morning."
"If they rend his heart strings," said Louis, composedly, "SaintJulian, blessed be his name! can send me another in his stead.It skills as little that the messenger is slain after his duty isexecuted, as that the flask is broken when the wine is drunk out.-- Meanwhile, we must expedite the ladies' departure, and thenpersuade the Count de Crevecoeur that it has taken place without ourconnivance; we having been desirous to restore them to the custodyof our fair cousin, which their sudden departure has unhappilyprevented."
"The Count is perhaps too wise, and his master too prejudiced, tobelieve it."
"Holy Mother!" said Louis, "what unbelief would that be in Christianmen! But, Oliver, they shall believe us. We will throw into ourwhole conduct towards our fair cousin, Duke Charles, such thoroughand unlimited confidence, that, not to believe we have been sincerewith him in every respect, he must be worse than an infidel. Itell thee, so convinced am I that I could make Charles of Burgundythink of me in every respect as I would have him, that, were itnecessary for silencing his doubts, I would ride unarmed, and ona palfrey, to visit him in his tent, with no better guard about methan thine own simple person, friend Oliver."
"And I," said Oliver, "though I pique not myself upon managingsteel in any other shape than that of a razor, would rather chargea Swiss battalion of pikes, than I would accompany your Highnessupon such a visit of friendship to Charles of Burgundy, when hehath so many grounds to be well assured that there is enmity inyour Majesty's bosom against him."
"Thou art a fool, Oliver," said the King, "with all thy pretensionsto wisdom -- and art not aware that deep policy must often assumethe appearance of the most extreme simplicity, as courage occasionallyshrouds itself under the show of modest timidity. Were it needful,full surely would I do what I have said -- the Saints always blessingour purpose, and the heavenly constellations bringing round intheir course a proper conjuncture for such an exploit."
In these words did King Louis XI give the first hint of theextraordinary resolution which he afterwards adopted in order todupe his great rival, the subsequent execution of which had verynearly proved his own ruin.
He parted with his counsellor, and presently afterwards went tothe apartment of the Ladies of Croye. Few persuasions beyond hismere license would have been necessary to determine their retreatfrom the Court of France, upon the first hint that they might notbe eventually protected against the Duke of Burgundy; but it wasnot so easy to induce them to choose Liege for the place of theirretreat. They entreated and requested to be transferred to Bretagneor Calais, where, under protection of the Duke of Bretagne orKing of England, they might remain in a state of safety, until thesovereign of Burgundy should relent in his rigorous purpose towardsthem. But neither of these places of safety at all suited the plansof Louis, and he was at last successful in inducing them to adoptthat which did coincide with them.
The power of the Bishop of Liege for their defence was not to bequestioned, since his ecclesiastical dignity gave him the meansof protecting the fugitives against all Christian Princes; while,on the other hand, his secular forces, if not numerous, seemed atleast sufficient to defend his person, and all under his protection,from any sudden violence. The difficulty was to reach the littleCourt of the Bishop in safety; but for this Louis promised to provide,by spreading a report that the Ladies of Croye had escaped fromTours by night, under fear of being delivered up to the BurgundianEnvoy, and had taken their flight towards Bretagne. He also promisedthem the attendance of a small but faithful retinue, and lettersto the commanders of such towns and fortresses as they might pass,with instructions to use every means for protecting and assistingthem in their journey.
The Ladies of Croye, although internally resenting the ungenerousand discourteous manner in which Louis thus deprived them of thepromised asylum in his Court, were so far from objecting to thehasty departure which he proposed, that they even anticipated hisproject, by entreating to be permitted to set forward that samenight. The Lady Hameline was already tired of a place where therewere neither admiring courtiers, nor festivities to be witnessed;and the Lady Isabelle thought she had seen enough to concludethat, were the temptation to become a little stronger, Louis XI,not satisfied with expelling them from his Court, would not hesitateto deliver her up to her irritated Suzerain, the Duke of Burgundy.Lastly, Louis himself readily acquiesced in their hasty departure,anxious to preserve peace with Duke Charles, and alarmed lest thebeauty of Isabelle should interfere with and impede the favouriteplan which he had formed for bestowing the hand of his daughterJoan upon his cousin of Orleans.