惊婚记 英文版 Quentin Durward
瓦尔特.司各特 Sir Walter Scott
CHAPTER XXXII: THE INVESTIGATION Page 2
"And you obeyed my orders accordingly," said the King.
bearing, while I am glad to see it isequalled by thy modesty."produced the written instructions.
"I did, Sire," replied the Scot.
"You omit a circumstance," said the Duke. "You were set upon inthe forest by two wandering knights."
"It does not become me to remember or to proclaim such an incident,"said the youth, blushing ingenuously.
"But it doth not become me to forget it," said the Duke of Orleans."This youth discharged his commission manfully, and maintainedhis trust in a manner that I shall long remember. -- Come to myapartment, Archer, when this matter is over, and thou shalt findI have not forgot thy brave bearing, while I am glad to see it isequalled by thy modesty."
"And come to mine," said Dunois. "I have a helmet for thee, sinceI think I owe thee one."
Quentin bowed low to both, and the examination was resumed. At thecommand of Duke Charles he produced the written instructions whichhe had received for the direction of his journey.
"No; if it please your Grace," replied Quentin. "They directed me,as you may be pleased to observe, to cross the Maes near Namur;whereas I kept the left bank, as being both the nigher and thesafer road to Liege."
"And wherefore that alteration?" said the Duke.
"Because I began to suspect the fidelity of my guide," answeredQuentin.
"Now mark the questions I have next to ask thee," said the Duke."Reply truly to them, and fear nothing from the resentment of anyone. But if you palter or double in your answers I will have theehung alive in an iron chain from the steeple of the market house,where thou shalt wish for death for many an hour ere he come torelieve you!"
There was a deep silence ensued. At length, having given the youthtime, as he thought, to consider the circumstances in which he wasplaced, the Duke demanded to know of Durward who his guide was, bywhom supplied, and wherefore he had been led to entertain suspicionof him. To the first of these questions Quentin Durward answeredby naming Hayraddin Maugrabin, the Bohemian; to the second, thatthe guide had been recommended by Tristan l'Hermite; and in replyto the third point he mentioned what had happened in the Franciscanconvent near Namur, how the Bohemian had been expelled from theholy house, and how, jealous of his behaviour, he had dogged him toa rendezvous with one of William de la Marck's lanzknechts, wherehe overheard them arrange a plan for surprising the ladies who wereunder his protection.
"Now, hark," said the Duke, "and once more remember thy lifedepends on thy veracity, did these villains mention their havingthis King's -- I mean this very King Louis of France's authorityfor their scheme of surprising the escort and carrying away theladies?"
"If such infamous fellows had said," replied Quentin, "I know nothow I should have believed them, having the word of the King himselfto place in opposition to theirs."
Louis, who had listened hitherto with most earnest attention, couldnot help drawing his breath deeply when he heard Durward's answer,in the manner of one from whose bosom a heavy weight has been atonce removed. The Duke again looked disconcerted and moody, and,returning to the charge, questioned Quentin still more closely,whether he did not understand, from these men's private conversation,that the plots which they meditated had King Louis's sanction?
"I repeat that I heard nothing which could authorize me to sayso," answered the young man, who, though internally convinced ofthe King's accession to the treachery of Hayraddin, yet held itcontrary to his allegiance to bring forward his own suspicions onthe subject; "and if I had heard such men make such an assertion,I again say that I would not have given their testimony weightagainst the instructions of the King himself."
"Thou art a faithful messenger," said the Duke, with a sneer, "andI venture to say that, in obeying the King's instructions, thouhast disappointed his expectations in a manner that thou mightsthave smarted for, but that subsequent events have made thy bullheaded fidelity seem like good service."
"I understand you not, my lord," said Quentin Durward, "all I knowis that my master King Louis sent me to protect these ladies, andthat I did so accordingly, to the extent of my ability, both inthe journey to Schonwaldt, and through the subsequent scenes whichtook place. I understood the instructions of the King to be honourable,and I executed them honourably; had they been of a different tenor,they would not have suited one of my name or nation."
"Fier comme an Ecossois," said Charles, who, however disappointedat the tenor of Durward's reply, was not unjust enough to blame himfor his boldness. "But hark thee, Archer, what instructions werethose which made thee, as some sad fugitives from Schonwaldt haveinformed us, parade the streets of Liege, at the head of thosemutineers, who afterwards cruelly murdered their temporal Princeand spiritual Father? And what harangue was it which thou didstmake after that murder was committed, in which you took upon you,as agent for Louis, to assume authority among the villains who hadjust perpetrated so great a crime?"
"My lord," said Quentin, "there are many who could testify thatI assumed not the character of an envoy of France in the town ofLiege, but had it fixed upon me by the obstinate clamours of thepeople themselves, who refused to give credit to any disclamationwhich I could make. This I told to those in the service of theBishop when I had made my escape from the city, and recommendedtheir attention to the security of the Castle, which might haveprevented the calamity and horror of the succeeding night. It is,no doubt, true that I did, in the extremity of danger, avail myselfof the influence which my imputed character gave me, to save theCountess Isabelle, to protect my own life, and, so far as I could,to rein in the humour for slaughter, which had already broke outin so dreadful an instance. I repeat, and will maintain it with mybody, that I had no commission of any kind from the King of Francerespecting the people of Liege, far less instructions to instigatethem to mutiny; and that, finally, when I did avail myself ofthat imputed character, it was as if I had snatched up a shield toprotect myself in a moment of emergency, and used it, as I shouldsurely have done, for the defence of myself and others, withoutinquiring whether I had a right to the heraldic emblazonments whichit displayed."
"And therein my young companion and prisoner," said Crevecoeur,unable any longer to remain silent, "acted with equal spirit andgood sense; and his doing so cannot justly be imputed as blame toKing Louis."
There was a murmur of assent among the surrounding nobility, whichsounded joyfully in the ears of King Louis, whilst it gave nolittle offence to Charles. He rolled his eyes angrily around; andthe sentiments so generally expressed by so many of his highestvassals and wisest councillors, would not perhaps have prevented hisgiving way to his violent and despotic temper, had not De Comines,who foresaw the danger, prevented it, by suddenly announcing aherald from the city of Liege.
"A herald from weavers and nailers!" exclaimed the Duke. "But admithim instantly. By Our Lady, I will learn from this same heraldsomething farther of his employers' hopes and projects than thisyoung French Scottish man at arms seems desirous to tell me!"