The Path of the King

e eerie spasms of laughter, a harsh

t of them, Anton

with the excitement of the chase. Rats had been turned loose on the floor, and it had accounted for them to the accompaniment of a shrill urging

d away with yourself. Your rats are a weak breed. Ge

plump hands at the brazier and seemed at ease and at home. By the door stood a different figure in the shabby clothes of a parish priest, a curate from the kirk of St. Marti

nds there like a sow about to litter, and stares and grunts. Good e'en to you, friend. When you a

in his sallow cheeks. He was faithful to his duties and had come to console

incomparable holiness. He hovers about to give me the St. John's Cup, and would fain s

The other stretched out a skinny hand from the fur coverings and rang a silver bell. When Anton appeared she

reat upper-room were filled with oiled vellum, but they did not keep out the weather, and currents of cold air passed through them to the doorway, making the smoke of the four charcoal braziers eddy and swirl. The place was warm, yet shot with bitter gusts, and the smell of burning herbs gave it the heavi

the age: tinctures of earth-worms; confections of spiders and wood-lice and viper's flesh; broth of human skulls, oil, wine, ants' eggs, and crabs' claws; the bufo preparatus, which was a live toad roasted in a pot and ground to a powder; and innumerable plaisters and electuaries. She had begun by submitting meekly, for she longed to live, and had ended, for she was a shrewd woman, by throwing the stuff at

, and above the pillows a great unicorn's horn, to protect against poisoning, stood out like the beak of a ship. The horn cast an odd shadow athwart the bed, so that a big claw s

The voice had harshened with age, and the hair was white as wool, but the cheeks were still rosy and the grey eyes still had fire. Notable beauty had once been there. The finely arched brows, the oval of the face which the years had scarcely sharpened, the proud, delicate nose, all spoke of it. It was as if th

was a little brown monkey which had

gne coast, and lampreys from the Loire, and pickled salmon from England. There was a dish of liver dressed with rice and herbs in the manner of the Turk, for liver, though contained in flesh, was not reckoned as flesh by liberal churchmen. There was a roast goose from t

er mouthfuls awaiting him. The keen weather had whetted his appetite and he thanked God that his northern peregrinations had brought him to a house where the Church was thus honoured. He had liked the cavalier treatment of the lean parish priest, a sour dog who

That rat-hunt had warmed her blood. She was a long way from death in spite of the cackle of idiot chirurgeons, and there was much savour still in the world. There was her son, too, the young Philip.... Her eye saw clearer, and she noted the sombre magnificence of the great room, the glory of the brocade, the gleam of silver. Was she not the richest woman in all Bruges, aye, and in all Hainau

e had supped so well that h

lady, are queen-like. I ha

when I was a maid, and I have fulfilled my side of the bargain. I am come of a nobler race than any Markgrave, aye, than the Emperor himself, and I swore to set the seed of my body, which the Lord mig

"It is a great alliance-but not

Willebald was clay that I moulded and gilded till God put him to bed under a noble lid in the New Kirk. A worthy man, but loutish and slo

, was drying them in the brazier's heat. Presently he set to picking his teeth daintily with a quill, and fell into the listener's p

ew I was of the seed of Forester John and through him the child of a motley of ancient kings, but war and famine had stripped our house to the bone. And now I, the last of the stock, dwelt with a miserly mother's uncle who

with unseeing eyes, her he

him I saw my fortune. That night he supped at my uncle's house and a week later he sought me in marriage. My uncle would have bargained, but I had become a grown woman and silenced him. With Willebald I did

er side broke i

r before him, and bought wool and salted fish from the English, paying with the stuffs of our Flemish looms. A good trade of small and sure profi

e monk asked with cu

eir lords. They melted down jewels and sold them piecemeal to Jews for Jews' prices, and what they did not recognise as precious they wantonly destroyed. I have seen the marble heads of heathen gods broken with the hammer to make mortar of, and great cups of onyx and alabaster used as water troughs for a thrall's mongrels.... Knowing the la

ear the heart of his Order. "I have heard wondrous tales of

e, and the woven stuffs of Asia till the marts of Flanders had the savour of Araby. Presently in our booths could be seen silks of Italy, and choice metals from Innsbruck, and furs from Muscovy, and strange birds and beasts from Prester John's country, and at our fairs such a concourse of outlandish traders as put Venice to shame. 'Twas a long fight and a bitter for Willebald and me, since, mark you, we had to make a new road over icy mountains, with a horde of freebooters hanging on the skirts of our merchant trains and every little burg on the way jealous to hamper us

ty bound, shook a

t. George for the New Kirk, and give to St. Martin's a diamond as big as a thumb nail and so bright that on a dark day it is a

el, in truth," mu

and huzza for their benefactors. But the Jews were a tougher stock. Mark you, father, when God blinded their eyes to the coming of the Lord Christ, He opened them very wide to all lower matters. Their imagination is quick to kindle, and they are as bold in merchantcraft as Charlemagne in war. They saw what I was after before I had been

lady had no dealings with the a

erchant. Willebald is long dead; may he sleep in peace, He was no mate for me, but for what he gave me I repaid him in the coin he loved be

e fruitful. They spoke of two c

monkey whimpered and she cuffed its ears. Her face was sharp

ose to wed a lout of a huckster in the Bredestreet. She shall have her portion from Willebald's gold, but none from me. But Philip is true child of mine, and sprung on both sides of

ountry of vision. Her thoughts were retracing the roads of time, and after th

should be seen in brave company. Ah, the afternoons at the baths when we sported like sea-nymphs and sang merry ballads! And the proud days of Carnival where men and women consorted freely and without guile like the blessed in Paradise! Such a tide for lovers!... Did I not lead the dance with him at the Burgrave's festival, the twain of us braver than morning? Sat I not with him in the garden o

andalise. But he had business of his own to speak of that night

, madam? You have great plans for

Nay, I forget. He is about to wed the girl of Avesnes and is already choosing his bridal train. It seems he loves her. He writes me she has a skin of snow and eyes of vair. I have not seen her. A green girl, doubtless with a white face and cat's eyes. Bu

le knight, I have heard

is gold and his high hand that will set my Philip by the side of kings. Lord Jesus, what a fortune I have made for him! There is coined money at the goldsmiths' and in my cellars, and the ships at the ports, and a hundred busy looms, and lands in Hainault and Artois, and fair houses in Bruges and Ghent. Boats on the Rhine and many pack trains between Antwerp and Venice are his, and a wealth o

t this vision of wealth, a

vidence should call your son to His holy side, what provision have

e suddenly wicked and very ol

velihood. 'Twill suffice for the female brats, of whom she has brought three into the world to cumber it.... By

disposition?" The monk's voice was pointed with anxiety, for was not certainty on

qual. Likewise there will be benefactions for the poor and a great endowment for the monk

?" The voice trembled i

will not die, and like his mother he loves Holy Church and will befriend her in all her works.... Listen, father, it is long past the hour when men

. . . . . .

hamber. It had become perishing cold, and the monkey among the bedclothes whimpered and snuggled closer into his nest. There seemed to be a

een bungling among the pack-riders. T

on the ready footsteps. But none came. The

ook it by the scruff and tossed it to the floor. "Peace, ape, or I will have you strangle

late. The lamps were burning low and the coloured hangings were

sounded on the stairs and the steward entered. The woman in the bed had ope

forward and fell on

ws has come to this house.... There is a p

n's voice rose to a sc

n a scuffle with highway robbers.... Oh, the noble young l

ence, scrambled to his feet in a panic, and lit two candles from the nearest brazier. She lay back on the pill

an a whisper. It was soft now, but m

Call me Arnulf the goldsmith and Robert the scrivene

She lay motionless, while he quoted the Scriptures. Encouraged by her docility, he spoke of the certain reward promised by Heaven to the rich who remembered

peak and he bent eage

Him. He has broken His compact and betrayed me. My riches go to the Burgrave for the co

ocations. The diplomat had vanished and only the frightened monk remained. He would fain have left t

. . . . . .

g her failing strength for the ultimate business. But it was not Arnulf the

ther message. One has come from the Bredestreet with word of your la

om the bed w

mirth of extreme age. At the sound both Anton and the monk took to praying.

ip and gives me instead a suckling.... So be it. The infant has my blood, and the race of Forester John will not die. Arnulf will have an easy task. He need but set the name of this new-born in P

itent. He approached the bed with a raised crucifix, and stumbled over the

th these apes. And fetch the priest of St. Martin's, for I would confess a