Chivalry: Dizain des Reines

fust e de f

an bosc, freg

s sestinas

s frevols cont

CERTAIN CLERK, IS BY HIM CONDUCTED ACROSS A HOSTILE COUNTRY; AND IN THAT TROUBLE

y of the

among other superfluities, I amputate as more remarkable for veracity than interest. The result, we will agree at outset, is that to the Norman cleric apper

urse in narrative) Dame Alianora thus stood alone in the corridor of a strang

h and peevish voice, "feed her. If she need

the master of the house,"

n the beginning, you dolt?" The speaker got for answer only a deferential cough, and very shortly continued: "This is remarkably vexatious. Vox et praeterea nihil-which signifies, Yeck, that to convers

ude with which he had awaited her entrance cast aside. "Oh, God!" he said;

hed, and there was an interval before she

ne of whom was afterward wedded to a king. First, Meregrett, the eldest, now regnant in France; then Alianora, the second and most beautiful of these daughters, whom tro

ng. "There is something in your v

th of us were younger. I concede with the Roman that I have somewhat deteriorated since the reign of Cynara.

, with eagerness: "Messire, can it be that you are Osmund Heleigh?" He shrugged assent. She looked a

no politics," Messire Heleigh began, and altered it,

me, Osmund

y became him, "You have reason to understa

. But, at Wallingford, Leicester has imprisoned my son, Prince Edward. The Prince must be freed, my Osmund. Warren de Basingbourne commands what is left of the royal army, now entrenched at Bristol, and it is he who m

?" he stammered.

not one of these curs that dare yelp at me! I would-" She paused, anger veering into amusement. "See how I enrage myself when I think of what your people have made me suffer," the Queen said, and shrugged her shoulders. "In effect, I skulked back in disguise to this detestable island, accompanied by Avenel de Giars and Hubert Fitz-H

aid-"this de Giars and this Fitz-Herveis-they gave their lives for yours,

itz-Herveis?-foh! the man had a face like a horse." Again her mood changed. "Many pers

emember was a clean eyed girl, joyous and exceedingly beautiful. Now you appear to me one of those ladies of remoter times-F

ge you," he returned. "Rather I cry with him of old, Omnia incerta ratione! and I cry with Salomon that he who meddles with the strife of another man is like to him that takes a hound by the ears. Yet listen, madame and Queen. I cannot afford you an escort to Bristol. This house, of which I am in temporary charge, is Longaville, my brother's manor. Lord Brudenel, as you doubtless know, is of the barons' party an

y?" the Que

ill. We will go as jongleurs, then. I can yet manage a son

able. Besides, the lunar madness of the scheme was its strength; that the Queen would venture to cross half England unprotected-and Messire Heleigh on the face of him was a paste-board buckler-was an event which Leicester would neither anticipate nor on report credit. There you were! these English

memory is better than yours." Messire Osmund Heleigh gathered his papers into a neat pile.

el esper! my fairest hope! The man called me that in his ve

ed near enough to the appearance of what they desired to be thought. In the courtyard a knot of servants gaped, nudged one another, but openly said nothing. Messire Heleigh, as they interpre

actise of our new profession with the Sestina of Spring?"-old Osmund Heleigh grunted out: "I have fo

wed s

d up like a harvester's might not inaptly have prefigured October; and for less comfortable November you could nowhere have found a symbol more

e villagers hillward. There was in this place a child, a naked boy of some two years, lying on a door

leigh; "and within a ston

oping, lightly caressed its sparse flaxen hai

de to afford his troop passage. The Marquess, as he went by, flung the Queen a coin, with a jest sufficiently high flavored. She knew th

bserved. "I was hideously afraid, and a

ome day I shall have Lord Falmouth's head. It will

what dryly observed

inner in the square about the inn. Falmouth and his lieutenants were somewhere inside the house. The men greeted the supposed purveyors of amuseme

him off with a tal

s the men-at-arms gathered about them, scenting some genial piece of cruelty. "Oh, you rabbit!" the trooper jeered, and caught at Osmund's throat, shaking him. In the act this rascal tore open Messire Heleigh's tunic, disclosing a thin chain about his neck and a handsome locket, which th

iar with the Queen, and to be brought specifically to his attention m

y whom in my youth I loved very greatly. Save to me

mnity. "I do not like the looks of this. Yet I w

g that Arnaut Daniel first made. I will sing for you a

ves about the dying gras

ssire H

the servito

riumph! ah, ma

estuous pagean

eward! haste,

Winter and all

arments, and

Spring is ma

augh, as ancie

ried Tristan l

in Tintagel-

Arthur's vi

rted lips, that

rittany must

that sad me

in Cornwall;

inst far harv

catters baleful

s blind Love la

labby throat a-quiver, his eyes melting, saw his cheeks kindle, and youth seeping i

ssire H

t lovers reap;

ighten, feel the

when in th

your happin

ce of Love the

ife for love no

Heracles av

e; nor here m

e; nor here the

ith memories:

at cling as ce

ffles Death, mor

noted, and f

ted; and that

, laugh! Laugh

ed, while yet o

r lips obey

n our little

ring we jeer at

hildren perish

at cling while

of indecency, but when the Queen of England went among them with Messire Heleigh's faded green hat she found them liberal. Even the fellow with the broken head admitted that a ba

id, presently, "your memory i

irl," he returned. "And I g

d the good fortune there to encounter dry and windless weather and a sufficiency of brushwood, wi

ailment, when Dame Alianora rose to her feet. "Eh, my God!" she said; "I am wearied of such ungracious aid! Not an inch of the way but you have been thinking of your filthy books and lo

aid Messire Heleigh, with perfect s

d, messire, that Osmund Heleigh should have become the boo

the merit of the business I have in hand is questionable. It is you who have set all England by the ears, and I am guiding you toward opportunities for further mischief. I must serve you. Underst

re civil the

the rest, I must serve you because you are a woman and helpless; yet I cannot forget that he who spares the wolf is the sheep's murderer. It

unclothed?" Dame Alian

t their necks, and adorn their whole person with the silk of sanctity and the damask of devotion.' I say to you that the boy you wish to rescue from Wallingford, and make King of England,

k to a man I had never seen. I found him a man of wax, and I remoulded him. They asked of me an heir for England: I provided that heir. They gave me England as a toy; I played with it. I was the Queen, the source of honor, the source of wealth-the trough, in effect, about which swine gathered. Ne

understand, for he ans

vers and insidious ways. And we cry with the Psalmist, 'My strength is dried up like a potsherd.' But God intends this, since, until we have here demonstrated our valor upon Satan, we are ma

e Alianora said. "That

rned, "is it on that

is a pity that I was born a princess! Had it been possible for me to be your wife, I would have been a better woman. I shall sl

untered; their traverse discovered England razed, charred, and depopulate-picked bones of an island, a vast and absolute ruin about which passion-wasted men

day's ride I might have prevented this." Or, "By a day's ride I might hav

, she had appraised from a distance the righteous wars she set afoot; trudging thus among the débris of these wars, she found they had unsuspected aspects. Bastling the royal army had recently sacked. There remained

a dry whisper, "this was

ow I killed. Those other men and women-my folly slew them all. A

ailed, in the extr

d: "Why have they not slain me? Was there no man in Engla

ye see it. But I, madame! I! I, who sat snug at home spilling ink and trimming rose-bushes! God's world, madame, and I in it afraid to speak a word for Him! God's world, and a curmudgeon in it grudging God the lif

urned, dully. "Everywhere men

ilent in the ru

," Dame Alianora said at l

Presently men will build here, my Queen. Presently, as in legend was re-born

ho, riding alone through Poges Copse, found there a man and a woman over their limited supper. The woman

, in friendly condescension,

faict les chan?ons-" She paused, with dilatory caution,

Queen's face, who speaks French! And who, madame, is this? Have you by any

n some fifteen years. Messire Heleigh rose, his five da

ssire, younger brother t

o spoils parchment. This is odd company, howe

is Queen, messire. As Cic

igh. To let the sorceress pass is, of course, out of the question; upon the other hand, I observe that you lack weapons of def

ery white. "I am no

ak harshly of us if we lose this opportunity of gaining honor. And besides, the wo

at your service." "No, my Osmund!" Dame

hands. "That is Go

t afraid?"

aid," said Messire

their tunics. So for the first time in the journey Osmund's long falc

and His saints, I have upon me neither bone, stone, nor witchcraft wherethrough

"Judge Thou this woman's c

issez les aller, laissez les aller, laissez les aller, le

moys under the arms, threw him to the ground. Messire Heleigh fell with his opponent, who in stumbling had lost his sword, and thus the two struggled unarmed, Osmund atop. But Camoys was the younger man, and Osmund's strength was ebbi

cried, his f

quarrel just?" said Osm

I?" said Gui Cam

ng. The Queen bound up their wounds as best

er a fool nor a pagan to question His decision, and you two may go your way unhampered. But I have had my head broken with my own helmet, and th

he conceded that this was Camoys' right, and they fixed upo

sideration of the fact it was my own helmet. You must undoubtedly be aware,

, was agr

declined, Gui Camoys rode away, and sang as he went. Osmund Hel

r England, with all instruments to aid Thy cause, and this trust she has abused. Thou hast loaned me life and manhood, agility and wit and strength, all instruments to aid Thy cause. Talent

of Champagne, beginning Signor, saciez, ki or ne s'en ira, which denounces all half-hearted servitors of Heaven; and this he sang with a lilt gayer than hi

Cam

qui je n'ci

it en infer

I may have made mistakes. But I am sure I never meant any harm, and I a

h was submerged, and Dame Alianora saw nothing more of him that day. Friday there were counsels, requisitions, orders signed, a memorial despatched to Pope Urban, chief of all a letter (this in the Queen's hand throughout) privily conveyed to the Lady Maude de Mo

complete armor. From the open helmet his wrinkled face, showi

Gui Camoys, mad

g her hands. "You

rue. Therefore I am com

n she broke into a curious fit of deep but tear

ordsman. I fail to see that this is lamentable. Back to Longaville I cannot go after recent happenings; there a rope's end awaits me. Here I must in any event shortly take to the sword, since a beleagu

. "You gave me gallant service, and I have req

man in distress. Naught else have I afforded you, madame, save very anciently a Sestina. Ho, a Sestina! And in return

either cheek. "Far

uarrel of Alianora of Provence. Reign wisely, my Queen, so that hereafter men may not say

then, with a change of voice: "O my Osmund! My Osm

h fierce staring. "Wife of my King! wife of my King!" he babbled; and then put

new armor with a smart emblazoned surcoat the lean pedant sat conspicuously

smund

t lovers reap;

ighten, feel the

when in th

your happin

ce of Love, th

ife for love no

ing Gui Camoys came into Bristol under a flag of truce, and

, "and in the matter of the reparation he owed me acted very han

he thin gold chain, now locketless. "There was a portrait here," she said; "the portrait of

een the object which Messire Heleigh flung into the river, sho

, and so, I shall always wonder what sort of lady h

But Osmund Heleigh she had interred at Ambresbury, commanding

n died a nun at Ambresbury and all England wept therefor-this you may learn elsewhere. I have chosen to record six days of a long and eventful life; and (as Me

OF THE F