惊婚记 英文版 Quentin Durward
瓦尔特.司各特 Sir Walter Scott
CHAPTER XIX: THE CITY Page 2
In this dilemma, Quentin appealed to Rouslaer, who held one arm,and to Pavillon, who had secured the other, and who were conductinghim forward at the head of the ovation, of which he had so unexpectedlybecome the principal object. He hastily acquainted them with hishaving thoughtlessly adopted the bonnet of the Scottish Guard, onan accident having occurred to the headpiece in which he had proposedto travel, he regretted that, owing to this circumstance, and thesharp wit with which the Liegeois drew the natural inference ofhis quality, and the purpose of his visit, these things had beenpublicly discovered, and he intimated that, if just now conductedto the Stadthouse, he might unhappily feel himself under the necessityof communicating to the assembled notables certain matters whichhe was directed by the King to reserve for the private ears of hisexcellent gossips, Meinheers Rouslaer and Pavillon of Liege.
This last hint operated like magic on the two citizens, who werethe most distinguished leaders of the insurgent burghers, and were,like all demagogues of their kind, desirous to keep everythingwithin their own management, so far as possible. They thereforehastily agreed that Quentin should leave the town for the time,and return by night to Liege, and converse with them privately inthe house of Rouslaer, near the gate opposite to Schonwaldt. Quentinhesitated not to tell them that he was at present residing in theBishop's palace, under pretence of bearing despatches from the FrenchCourt, although his real errand was, as they had well conjectured,designed to the citizens of Liege, and this tortuous mode ofconducting a communication as well as the character and rank of theperson to whom it was supposed to be intrusted, was so consonantto the character of Louis, as neither to excite doubt nor surprise.
Almost immediately after this eclaircissernent (explanation) wascompleted, the progress of the multitude brought them opposite tothe door of Pavillon's house, in one of the principal streets, butwhich communicated from behind with the Maes by means of a garden,as well as an extensive manufactory of tan pits, and other conveniencesfor dressing hides, for the patriotic burgher was a felt dresseror currier.
It was natural that Pavillon should desire to do the honours ofhis dwelling to the supposed envoy of Louis, and a halt before hishouse excited no surprise on the part of the multitude, who, on thecontrary, greeted Meinheer Pavillon with a loud vivat (long live),as he ushered in his distinguished guest. Quentin speedily laidaside his remarkable bonnet for the cap of a felt maker, and flunga cloak over his other apparel. Pavillon then furnished him with apassport to pass the gates of the city, and to return by night orday as should suit his convenience, and lastly, committed him tothe charge of his daughter, a fair and smiling Flemish lass, withinstructions how he was to be disposed of, while he himself hastenedback to his colleague to amuse their friends at the Stadthouse withthe best excuses which they could invent for the disappearance ofKing Louis's envoy. We cannot, as the footman says in the play,recollect the exact nature of the lie which the bell wethers toldthe flock, but no task is so easy as that of imposing upon a multitudewhose eager prejudices have more than half done the business erethe impostor has spoken a word.
The worthy burgess was no sooner gone than his plump daughter,Trudchen, with many a blush, and many a wreathed smile, whichsuited very prettily with lips like cherries, laughing blue eyes,and a skin transparently pure -- escorted the handsome strangerthrough the pleached alleys of the Sieur Pavillon's garden, downto the water side, and there saw him fairly embarked in a boat,which two stout Flemings, in their trunk hose, fur caps, and manybuttoned jerkins, had got in readiness with as much haste as theirlow country nature would permit.
As the pretty Trudchen spoke nothing but German, Quentin -- nodisparagement to his loyal affection to the Countess of Croye --could only express his thanks by a kiss on those same cherry lips,which was very gallantly bestowed, and accepted with all modestgratitude, for gallants with a form and face like our ScottishArcher were not of everyday occurrence among the bourgeoisie ofLiege (the French middle class. The term has come to mean the middleclass of any country, especially those engaged in trade).
(The adventure of Quentin at Liege may be thought overstrained,yet it is extraordinary what slight circumstances will influencethe public mind in a moment of doubt and uncertainty. Most readersmust remember that, when the Dutch were on the point of risingagainst the French yoke, their zeal for liberation received astrong impulse from the landing of a person in a British volunteeruniform, whose presence, though that of a private individual, wasreceived as a guarantee of succours from England. S.)
While the boat was rowed up the sluggish waters of the Maes, andpassed the defences of the town, Quentin had time enough to reflectwhat account he ought to give of his adventure in Liege, when hereturned to the Bishop's palace of Schonwaldt, and disdaining aliketo betray any person who had reposed confidence in him, althoughby misapprehension, or to conceal from the hospitable Prelate themutinous state of his capital, he resolved to confine himself toso general an account as might put the Bishop upon his guard, whileit should point out no individual to his vengeance.
He was landed from the boat, within half a mile of the castle, andrewarded his rowers with a guilder, to their great satisfaction.Yet, short as was the space which divided him from Schonwaldt, thecastle bell had tolled for dinner, and Quentin found, moreover, thathe had approached the castle on a different side from that of theprincipal entrance, and that to go round would throw his arrivalconsiderably later. He therefore made straight towards the side thatwas nearest to him, as he discerned that it presented an embattledwall, probably that of the little garden already noticed, with apostern opening upon the moat, and a skiff moored by the postern,which might serve, he thought, upon summons, to pass him over. Ashe approached, in hopes to make his entrance this way, the posternopened, a man came out, and, jumping into the boat, made his wayto the farther side of the moat, and then, with a long pole, pushedthe skiff back towards the place where he had embarked. As he camenear, Quentin discerned that this person was the Bohemian, who,avoiding him, as was not difficult, held a different path towardsLiege, and was presently out of his ken.
Here was a new subject for meditation. Had this vagabond heathenbeen all this while with the Ladies of Croye, and for what purposeshould they so far have graced him with their presence? Tormentedwith this thought, Durward became doubly determined to seek anexplanation with them, for the purpose at once of laying bare thetreachery of Hayraddin, and announcing to them the perilous statein which their protector, the Bishop, was placed, by the mutinousstate of his town of Liege.
As Quentin thus resolved, he entered the castle by the principalgate, and found that part of the family who assembled for dinner inthe great hall, including the Bishop's attendant clergy, officersof the household, and strangers below the rank of the very firstnobility, were already placed at their meal. A seat at the upperend of the board had, however, been reserved beside the Bishop'sdomestic chaplain, who welcomed the stranger with the old collegejest of Sero venientibus ossa (the bones for those who come late),while he took care so to load his plate with dainties, as to takeaway all appearance of that tendency to reality, which, in Quentin'scountry, is said to render a joke either no joke, or at best anunpalatable one ("A sooth boord (true joke) is no boord," says theScot. S.).
In vindicating himself from the suspicion of ill breeding, Quentinbriefly described the tumult which had been occasioned in the cityby his being discovered to belong to the Scottish Archer Guard ofLouis, and endeavoured to give a ludicrous turn to the narrativeby saying that he had been with difficulty extricated by a fatburgher of Liege and his pretty daughter.
But the company were too much interested in the story to taste thejest. All operations of the table were suspended while Quentin toldhis tale, and when he had ceased, there was a solemn pause, whichwas only broken by the Majordomo's saying in a low and melancholytone, "I would to God that we saw those hundred lances of Burgundy!"
"Why should you think so deeply on it?" said Quentin. "You havemany soldiers here, whose trade is arms, and your antagonists areonly the rabble of a disorderly city, who will fly before the firstflutter of a banner with men at arms arrayed beneath it."
"You do not know the men of Liege," said the Chaplain, "of whom itmay be said, that, not even excepting those of Ghent, they are atonce the fiercest and the most untameable in Europe. Twice has theDuke of Burgundy chastised them for their repeated revolts againsttheir Bishop, and twice hath he suppressed them with much severity,abridged their privileges, taken away their banners, and establishedrights and claims to himself which were not before competentover a free city of the Empire. -- Nay, the last time he defeatedthem with much slaughter near Saint Tron, where Liege lost nearlysix thousand men, what with the sword, what with those drowned inthe flight, and thereafter, to disable them from farther mutiny,Duke Charles refused to enter at any of the gates which theyhad surrendered, but, beating to the ground forty cubits' breadthof their city wall, marched into Liege as a conqueror with visorclosed, and lance in rest, at the head of his chivalry, by thebreach which he had made. Nay, well were the Liegeois then assured,that, but for the intercession of his father, Duke Philip the Good,this Charles, then called Count of Charalois, would have given theirtown up to spoil. And yet, with all these fresh recollections, withtheir breaches unrepaired, and their arsenals scarcely supplied,the sight of an archer's bonnet is sufficient again to stir them touproar. May God amend all! but I fear there will be bloody workbetween so fierce a population and so fiery a Sovereign, and I wouldmy excellent and kind master had a see of lesser dignity and moresafety, for his mitre is lined with thorns instead of ermine.This much I say to you, Seignior Stranger, to make you aware that,if your affairs detain you not at Schonwaldt, it is a place fromwhich each man of sense should depart as speedily as possible. Iapprehend that your ladies are of the same opinion, for one of thegrooms who attended them on the route has been sent back by themto the Court of France with letters, which doubtless are intendedto announce their going in search of a safer asylum."