惊婚记 英文版 Quentin Durward
瓦尔特.司各特 Sir Walter Scott
CHAPTER XX: THE BILLET Page 1
Go to -- thou art made, if thou desirest to be so. --If not, let me see thee still the fellow of servants,and not fit to touch Fortune's fingers. --
TWELFTH NIGHT
When the tables were drawn, the Chaplain, who seemed to have takena sort of attachment to Quentin Durward's society, or who perhapsdesired to extract from him farther information concerning the meetingof the morning, led him into a withdrawing apartment, the windowsof which, on one side, projected into the garden, and as he saw hiscompanion's eye gaze rather eagerly upon the spot, he proposed toQuentin to go down and take a view of the curious foreign shrubswith which the Bishop had enriched its parterres.
Quentin excused himself as unwilling to intrude, and therewithalcommunicated the check which he had received in the morning.The Chaplain smiled, and said that there was indeed some ancientprohibition respecting the Bishop's private garden.
"But this," he added, with a smile, "was when our reverend fatherwas a princely young prelate of not more than thirty years ofage, and when many fair ladies frequented the Castle for ghostlyconsolation. Need there was," he said with a downcast look, and asmile, half simple and half intelligent, "that these ladies, painedin conscience, who were ever lodged in the apartments now occupiedby the noble Canoness, should have some space for taking the air,secure from the intrusion of the profane. But of late years," headded, "this prohibition, although not formally removed, has fallenentirely out of observance, and remains but as the superstitionwhich lingers in the brain of a superannuated gentleman usher. Ifyou please," he added, "we will presently descend, and try whetherthe place be haunted or no."
Nothing could have been more agreeable to Quentin than the prospectof a free entrance into the garden, through means of which, accordingto a chance which had hitherto attended his passion, he hoped tocommunicate with, or at least obtain sight of, the object of hisaffections, from some such turret or balcony window, or similar"coign of vantage," as at the hostelry of the Fleur de Lys, nearPlessis, or the Dauphin's Tower, within that Castle itself. Isabelleseemed still destined, wherever she made her abode, to be the Ladyof the Turret.
When Durward descended with his new friend into the garden, thelatter seemed a terrestrial philosopher, entirely busied with thethings of the earth, while the eyes of Quentin, if they did notseek the heavens, like those of an astrologer, ranged, at least,all around the windows, balconies, and especially the turrets, whichprojected on every part from the inner front of the old building,in order to discover that which was to be his cynosure.
While thus employed, the young lover heard with total neglect, ifindeed he heard at all, the enumeration of plants, herbs, and shrubswhich his reverend conductor pointed out to him, of which this waschoice, because of prime use in medicine, and that more choice foryielding a rare flavour to pottage, and a third, choicest of all,because possessed of no merit but its extreme scarcity. Still itwas necessary to preserve some semblance at least of attention,which the youth found so difficult, that he fairly wished at thedevil the officious naturalist and the whole vegetable kingdom. Hewas relieved at length by the striking of a clock, which summonedthe Chaplain to some official duty.
The reverend man made many unnecessary apologies for leaving hisnew friend, and concluded by giving him the agreeable assurancethat he might walk in the garden till supper, without much risk ofbeing disturbed.
"It is," said he, "the place where I always study my own homilies,as being most sequestered from the resort of strangers. I am nowabout to deliver one of them in the chapel, if you please to favourme with your audience. I have been thought to have some gift. --But the glory be where it is due!"
Quentin excused himself for this evening, under pretence of asevere headache, which the open air was likely to prove the bestcure for, and at length the well meaning, priest left him to himself.
It may be well imagined, that in the curious inspection which henow made, at more leisure, of every window or aperture which lookedinto the garden, those did not escape which were in the immediateneighbourhood of the small door by which he had seen Marthon admitHayraddin, as he pretended, to the apartment of the Countesses.But nothing stirred or showed itself, which could either confute orconfirm the tale which the Bohemian had told, until it was becomingdusky, and Quentin began to be sensible, he scarce knew why, thathis sauntering so long in the garden might be subject of displeasureor suspicion. Just as he had resolved to depart, and was takingwhat he had destined for his last turn under the windows which hadsuch attraction for him, he heard above him a slight and cautioussound, like that of a cough, as intended to call his attention,and to avoid the observation of others. As he looked up in joyfulsurprise, a casement opened, a female hand was seen to drop abillet, which fell into a rosemary bush that grew at the foot ofthe wall. The precaution used in dropping this letter prescribedequal prudence and secrecy in reading it. The garden, surrounded,as we have said, upon two sides, by the buildings of the palace,was commanded, of course, by the windows of many apartments, butthere was a sort of grotto of rock work, which the Chaplain had shownDurward with much complacency. To snatch up the billet, thrust itinto his bosom, and hie to this place of secrecy, was the work ofa single minute. He there opened the precious scroll, and blessed,at the same time, the memory of the Monks of Aberbrothick, whosenurture had rendered him capable of deciphering its contents.
The first line contained the injunction, "Read this in secret," --and the contents were as follows: "What your eyes have too boldlysaid, mine have perhaps too rashly understood. But unjust persecutionmakes its victims bold, and it were better to throw myself on thegratitude of one, than to remain the object of pursuit to many.Fortune has her throne upon a rock but brave men fear not to climb.If you dare do aught for one that hazards much, you need but passinto this garden at prime tomorrow, wearing in your cap a blueand white feather, but expect no farther communication. Your starshave, they say, destined you for greatness, and disposed you togratitude. -- Farewell -- be faithful, prompt, and resolute, anddoubt not thy fortune."
Within this letter was enclosed a ring with a table diamond, onwhich were cut, in form of a lozenge, the ancient arms of the Houseof Croye.
In this mood of rapture, and unable to endure any interruption whichmight withdraw his mind, were it but for a moment, from so ecstatica subject of contemplation, Durward, retiring to the interior ofthe castle, hastily assigned his former pretext of a headache fornot joining the household of the Bishop at the supper meal, and,lighting his lamp, betook himself to the chamber which had beenassigned him, to read, and to read again and again, the preciousbillet, and to kiss a thousand times the no less precious ring.
sword, "but the moment inwhich I detect the least sign of treachery, thy head and body arethree yards separate!"hisaffections, from some such!
But such high wrought feelings could not remain long in the sameecstatic tone. A thought pressed upon him, though he repelled itas ungrateful -- as even blasphemous -- that the frankness of theconfession implied less delicacy on the part of her who made it,than was consistent with the high romantic feeling of adorationwith which he had hitherto worshipped the Lady Isabelle. No soonerdid this ungracious thought intrude itself, than he hastened tostifle it, as he would have stifled a hissing and hateful adderthat had intruded itself into his couch. Was it for him -- him theFavoured -- on whose account she had stooped from her sphere, toascribe blame to her for the very act of condescension, Withoutwhich he dared not have raised his eyes towards her? Did not hervery dignity of birth and of condition reverse, in her case, theusual rules which impose silence on the lady until her lover shallhave first spoken? To these arguments, which he boldly formed intosyllogisms and avowed to himself, his vanity might possibly suggestone which he cared not to embody even mentally with the same frankness-- that the merit of the party beloved might perhaps warrant, onthe part of the lady, some little departure from common rules, and,after all, as in the case of Malvolio (Olivia's steward in TwelfthNight), there was example for it in chronicle. The Squire of lowdegree, of whom he had just been reading, was, like himself, agentleman void of land and living, and yet the generous Princessof Hungary bestowed on him, without scruple, more substantial marksof her affection than the billet he had just received:
"'Welcome,' she said, 'my swete Squyre,My heart's roots, my soul's desire,I will give thee kisses three,And als five hundrid poundis in fee.'"
And again the same faithful history made the King of Hongrie himselfavouch --
"I have yknown many a page,Come to be Prince by marriage."
So that, upon the whole, Quentin generously and magnanimouslyreconciled himself to a line of conduct on the Countess's part bywhich he was likely to be so highly benefited.
assigned his former pretext of a headache fornot joining the household of the Bishop at the supper meal, and,lighting his lamp, !
But this scruple was succeeded by another doubt, harder of digestion.The traitor Hayraddin had been in the apartments of the ladies, foraught Quentin knew, for the space of four hours, and, consideringthe hints which he had thrown out of possessing an influence of themost interesting kind over the fortunes of Quentin Durward, whatshould assure him that this train was not of his laying? And if so,was it not probable that such a dissembling villain had set it onfoot to conceal some new plan of treachery -- perhaps to seduceIsabelle out of the protection of the worthy Bishop? This was amatter to be closely looked into, for Quentin felt a repugnance tothis individual proportioned to the unabashed impudence with whichhe had avowed his profligacy, and could not bring himself to hopethat anything in which he was concerned could ever come to anhonourable or happy conclusion.
These various thoughts rolled over Quentin's mind like misty clouds,to dash and obscure the fair landscape which his fancy had at firstdrawn, and his couch was that night a sleepless one. At the hourof prime -- ay, and an hour before it, was he in the castle garden,where no one now opposed either his entrance or his abode, witha feather of the assigned colour, as distinguished as he could byany means procure in such haste. No notice was taken of his appearancefor nearly two hours, at length he heard a few notes of the lute,and presently the lattice opened right above the little postern doorat which Marthon had admitted Hayraddin, and Isabelle, in maidenlybeauty, appeared at the opening, greeted him half kindly, halfshyly, coloured extremely at the deep and significant reverence withwhich he returned her courtesy -- shut the casement, and disappeared.
Daylight and champaign could discover no more! The authenticity ofthe billet was ascertained -- it only remained what was to follow,and of this the fair writer had given him no hint. But no immediatedanger impended -- the Countess was in a strong castle, underthe protection of a Prince, at once respectable for his secularand venerable for his ecclesiastical authority. There was neitherimmediate room nor occasion for the exulting Squire interferingin the adventure, and it was sufficient if he kept himself promptto execute her commands whensoever they should be communicated tohim. But Fate purposed to call him into action sooner than he wasaware of.
It was the fourth night after his arrival at Schonwaldt, whenQuentin had taken measures for sending back on the morrow, to theCourt of Louis, the remaining groom who had accompanied him on hisjourney, with letters from himself to his uncle and Lord Crawford,renouncing the service of France, for which the treachery to whichhe had been exposed by the private instructions of Hayraddin gavehim an excuse, both in honour and prudence, and he betook himselfto his bed with all the rosy coloured ideas around him which flutterabout the couch of a youth when he loves dearly, and thinks hislove is as sincerely repaid.
But Quentin's dreams, which at first partook of the nature ofthose happy influences under which he had fallen asleep, began bydegrees to assume a more terrific character.
He walked with the Countess Isabelle beside a smooth and inlandlake, such as formed the principal characteristic of his nativeglen, and he spoke to her of his love, without any consciousnessof the impediments which lay between them. She blushed and smiledwhen she listened -- even as he might have expected from the tenorof the letter, which, sleeping or waking, lay nearest to his heart.But the scene suddenly changed from summer to winter -- from calmto tempest, the winds and the waves rose with such a contest ofsurge and whirlwind as if the demons of the water and of the airhad been contending for their roaring empires in rival strife. Therising waters seemed to cut off their advance and their retreat-- the increasing tempest, which dashed them against each other,seemed to render their remaining on the spot impossible, and thetumultuous sensations produced by the apparent danger awoke thedreamer.
He awoke, but although the circumstances of the vision had disappeared,and given place to reality, the noise, which had probably suggestedthem, still continued to sound in his ears.
Quentin's first impulse was to sit erect in bed and listen withastonishment to sounds, which, if they had announced a tempest, mighthave shamed the wildest that ever burst down from the Grampians,and again in a minute he became sensible that the tumult was notexcited by the fury of the elements, but by the wrath of men. Hesprang from bed, and looked from the window of his apartment, butit opened into the garden, and on that side all was quiet, thoughthe opening of the casement made him still more sensible from theshouts which reached his ears that the outside of the castle wasbeleaguered and assaulted, and that by a numerous and determinedenemy. Hastily collecting his dress and arms, and putting them onwith such celerity as darkness and surprise permitted, his attentionwas solicited by a knocking at the door of his chamber. As Quentindid not immediately answer, the door, which was a slight one,was forced open from without, and the intruder, announced by hispeculiar dialect to be the Bohemian, Hayraddin Maugrabin, enteredthe apartment. A phial which he held in his hand, touched by amatch, produced a dark flash of ruddy fire, by means of which hekindled a lamp, which he took from his bosom.
"The horoscope of your destinies," he said energetically to Durward,without any farther greeting, "now turns upon the determination ofa minute."
"Caitiff!" said Quentin, in reply, "there is treachery around us,and where there is treachery thou must have a share in it."
"You are mad," answered Maugrabin. "I never betrayed any one butto gain by it -- and wherefore should I betray you, by whose safetyI can take more advantage than by your destruction? Hearken for amoment, if it be possible for you, to one note of reason, ere itis sounded into your ear by the death shut of ruin. The Liegeoisare up -- William de la Marck with his band leads them. -- Werethere means of resistance, their numbers and his fury would overcomethem, but there are next to none. If you would save the Countessand your own hopes, follow me, in the name of her who sent you atable diamond, with three leopards engraved on it."
"Lead the way," said Quentin, hastily. "In that name I dare everydanger."
"As I shall manage it," said the Bohemian, "there is no danger, ifyou can but withhold your hand from strife which does not concernyou, for, after all, what is it to you whether the Bishop, asthey call him, slaughters his flock, or the flock slaughters theshepherd? -- Ha! ha! ha! Follow me, but with caution and patience,subdue your own courage, and confide in my prudence and my debt ofthankfulness is paid, and you have a Countess for your spouse. --Follow me."
"I follow," said Quentin, drawing his sword, "but the moment inwhich I detect the least sign of treachery, thy head and body arethree yards separate!"
Without more conversation the Bohemian, seeing that Quentin was nowfully armed and ready, ran down the stairs before him, and windedhastily through various side passages, until they gained thelittle garden. Scarce a light was to be seen on that side, scarceany bustle was to be heard, but no sooner had Quentin entered theopen space, than the noise on the opposite side of the castle becameten times more stunningly audible, and he could hear the variouswar cries of "Liege! Liege! Sanglier! Sanglier! (the Wild Boar:a name given to William de la Marck)" shouted by the assailants,while the feebler cry of "Our Lady for the Prince Bishop!" was raisedin a faint and faltering tone by those of the prelate's soldierswho had hastened, though surprised and at disadvantage, to thedefence of the walls.
But the interest of the fight, notwithstanding the martial characterof Quentin Durward, was indifferent to him, in comparison with thefate of Isabelle of Croye, which, he had reason to fear, would bea dreadful one, unless rescued from the power of the dissolute andcruel freebooter who was now, as it seemed, bursting the gates ofthe castle. He reconciled himself to the aid of the Bohemian, as menin a desperate illness refuse not the remedy prescribed by quacksand mountebanks, and followed across the garden, with the intentionof being guided by him until he should discover symptoms of treachery,and then piercing him through the heart, or striking his head fromhis body.
Hayraddin seemed himself conscious that his safety turned on afeather weight, for he forbore, from the moment they entered theopen air, all his wonted gibes and quirks, and seemed to have madea vow to act at once with modesty, courage, and activity.
At the opposite door, which led to the ladies' apartments, upon alow signal made by Hayraddin, appeared two women, muffled in theblack silk veils which were then, as now, worn by the women inthe Netherlands. Quentin offered his arm to one of them, who clungto it with trembling eagerness, and indeed hung upon him so much,that had her weight been greater, she must have much impeded theirretreat. The Bohemian, who conducted the other female, took theroad straight for the postern which opened upon the moat, throughthe garden wall, close to which the little skiff Was drawn up,by means of which Quentin had formerly observed Hayraddin himselfretreating from the castle.