"It is rumoured," she said, "there are some pretty girls there. Do you know of any?"
"I know very little," he replied, "and care less. Leave me alone; for I am dying to go to sleep!"
"What!" she said. "Can you sleep when pretty girls are being talked about? That is a sign that you are not in love!"
He did not reply, but slept like a pig, and poor Katherine began to have serious doubts about him, but she resolved to try him again.
When the morrow came, each dressed himself, talking and chattering meanwhile of what each liked best--Gerard of dogs and hawks, and Conrad of the pretty girls of that place and Brabant.
After dinner, Conrad managed to separate Gerard from the others, and told him that the country of Barrois was very flat and ugly, but Brabant was quite different, and let him know that he (Conrad) longed to return thither.
"For what purpose?" asked Gerard. "What do you see in Brabant that is not here? Have you not here fine forests for hunting, good rivers, and plains as pleasant as could be wished for flying falcons, and plenty of game of all sorts?"
"Still that is nothing!" said Conrad. "The women of Brabant are very different, and they please me much more than any amount of hunting or hawking!"
"By St. John! they are quite another affair," said Gerard. "You are exceedingly amorous in your Brabant, I dare swear!"
"By my oath!" said Conrad, "it is not a thing that can be hidden, for I myself am madly in love. In fact my heart is drawn so forcibly that I fear I shall be forced to quit your Barrois, for it will not be possible for me to live long without seeing my lady love."
"Then it was a madness," said Gerard, "to have left her, if you felt yourself so inconstant."
"Inconstant, my friend! Where is the man who can guarantee that he will be constant in love. No one is so wise or cautious that he knows for certain how to conduct himself. Love often drives both sense and reason out of his followers."
The conversation dropped as supper time came, and was not renewed till they were in bed. Gerard would have desired nothing better than to go to sleep, but Conrad renewed the discussion, and began a piteous, long, and sad complaint about his ladylove (which, to shorten matters, I omit) and at last he said,
"Alas, Gerard, and how can you desire to sleep whilst I am so wide awake, and my soul is filled with cares, and regrets, and troubles. It is strange that you are not a little touched yourself, for, believe me, if it were a contagious disease you could not be so close to me and escape unscathed. I beg of you, though you do not feel yourself, to have some pity and compa.s.sion on me, for I shall die soon if I do not behold my lady-love."
"I never saw such a love-sick fool!" cried Gerard. "Do you think that I have never been in love? I know what it is, for I have pa.s.sed through it the same as you--certainly I have! But I was never so love-mad as to lose my sleep or upset myself, as you are doing now. You are an idiot, and your love is not worth a doit. Besides do you think your lady is the same as you are? No, no!"
"I am sure she is," replied Conrad; "she is so true-hearted."
"Ah, you speak as you wish," said Gerard, "but I do not believe that women are so true as to always remain faithful to their vows; and those who believe in them are blockheads. Like you, I have loved, and still love. For, to tell you the truth, I left Brabant on account of a love affair, and when I left I was high in the graces of a very beautiful, good, and n.o.ble damsel, whom I quitted with much regret; and for no small time I was in great grief at not being able to see her--though I did not cease to sleep, drink, or eat, as you do. When I found that I was no longer able to see her, I cured myself by following Ovid"s advice, for I had not been here long before I made the acquaintance of a pretty girl in the house, and so managed, that--thank G.o.d--she now likes me very much, and I love her. So that now I have forgotten the one I formerly loved, and only care for the one I now possess, who has turned my thoughts from my old love!"
"What!" cried Conrad. "Is it possible that, if you really loved the other, you can so soon forget her and desert her? I cannot understand nor imagine how that can be!"
"It is so, nevertheless, whether you understand it or not." "That is not keeping faith loyally," said Conrad. "As for me, I would rather die a thousand times, if that were possible, than be so false to my lady.
However long G.o.d may let me live, I shall never have the will, or even the lightest thought, of ever loving any but her."
"So much the greater fool you," said Gerard, "and if you persevere in this folly, you will never be of any good, and will do nothing but dream and muse; and you will dry up like the green herb that is cast into the furnace, and kill yourself, and never have known any pleasure, and even your mistress will laugh at you,--if you are lucky enough to be remembered by her at all."
"Well!" said Conrad. "You are very experienced in love affairs. I would beg of you to be my intermediary, here or elsewhere, and introduce me to some damsel that I may be cured like you."
"I will tell you what I will do," said Gerard. "Tomorrow I will speak to my mistress and tell her that we are comrades, and ask her to speak to one of her lady friends, who will undertake your business, and I do not doubt but that, if you like, you will have a good time, and that the melancholy which now bears you down will disappear--if you care to get rid of it."
"If it were not for breaking my vow to my mistress, I should desire nothing better," said Conrad, "but at any rate I will try it."
With that Gerard turned over and went to sleep, but Katherine was so stricken with grief at seeing and hearing the falsehood of him whom she loved more than all the world, that she wished herself dead and more than dead. Nevertheless, she put aside all feminine feeling, and a.s.sumed manly vigour. She even had the strength of mind to talk for a long time the next day with the girl who loved the man _she_ had once adored; and even compelled her heart and eyes to be witnesses of many interviews and love pa.s.sages that were most galling to her.
Whilst she was talking to Gerard"s mistress, she saw the ring that she had given her unfaithful lover, but she was not so foolish as to admire it, but nevertheless found an opportunity to examine it closely on the girl"s finger, but appeared to pay no heed to it, and soon afterwards left.
As soon as supper was over, she went to her uncle, and said to him;
"We have been long enough in Barrois! It is time to leave. Be ready to-morrow morning at daybreak, and I will be also. And take care that all our baggage is prepared. Come for me as early as you like."
"You have but to come down when you will," replied the uncle.
Now you must know that after supper, whilst Gerard was conversing with his mistress, she who had been his lady-love went to her chamber and began to write a letter, which narrated at full length the love affairs of herself and Gerard, also "the promises which they made at parting, how they had wished to marry her to another and how she had refused, and the pilgrimage that she had undertaken to keep her word and come to him, and the disloyalty and falsehood she had found in him, in word, act, and deed. And that, for the causes mentioned, she held herself free and disengaged from the promise she had formerly made. And that she was going to return to her own country and never wished to see him or meet him again, he being the falsest man who ever made vows to a woman. And as regards the ring that she had given him, that he had forfeited it by pa.s.sing it into the hands of a third person. And if he could boast that he had lain three nights by her side, there was no harm, and he might say what he liked, and she was not afraid."
_Letter written by a hand you ought to know_, and underneath _Katherine etc., otherwise known as Conrad_; and on the back, _To the false Gerard_ etc.
She scarcely slept all night, and as soon as she saw the dawn, she rose gently and dressed herself without awaking Gerard. She took the letter, which she had folded and sealed, and placed it in the sleeve of Gerard"s jerkin; then in a vow voice prayed to G.o.d for him, and wept gently on account of the grief she endured on account of the falseness she had met with.
Gerard still slept, and did not reply a word. Then she went to her uncle, who gave her her horse which she mounted, and they left the country, and soon came to Brabant, where they were joyfully received, G.o.d knows.
You may imagine that all sorts of questions were asked about their adventures and travels, and how they had managed, but whatever they replied they took care to say nothing about their princ.i.p.al adventure.
But to return to Gerard. He awoke about 10 o"clock on the morning of the day when Katherine left, and looked to see if his companion Conrad was already risen. He did not know it was so late, and jumped out of bed in haste to seek for his jerkin. When he put his arm in the sleeve, out dropped the letter, at which he was much astonished, for he did not remember putting it there.
At any rate, he picked it up, and saw that it was sealed, and had written on the back, _To the false Gerard_. If he had been astonished before, he was still more so now.
After a little while he opened it and saw the signature, _Katherine known as Conrad_ etc.
He did not know what to think, nevertheless he read the letter, and in reading it the blood mounted to his cheeks, and his heart sank within him, so that he was quite changed both in looks and complexion.
He finished reading the letter the best way he could, and learned that his falseness had come to the knowledge of her who wished so well to him, and that she knew him to be what he was, not by the report of another person, but by her own eyes; and what touched him most to the heart was that he had lain three nights with her without having thanked her for the trouble she had taken to come so far to make trial of his love.
He champed the bit, and was wild with rage, when he saw how he had been mystified. After much thought, he resolved that the best thing to do was to follow her, as he thought he might overtake her.
He took leave of his master and set out, and followed the trail of their horses, but did not catch them up before they came to Brabant, where he arrived opportunely on the day of the marriage of the woman who had tested his affection.
He wished to kiss her and salute her, and make some poor excuse for his fault, but he was not able to do so, for she turned her back on him, and he could not, all the time that he was there, find an opportunity of talking with her.
Once he advanced to lead her to the dance, but she flatly refused in the face of all the company, many of whom took note of the incident. For, not long after, another gentleman entered, and caused the minstrels to strike up, and advanced towards her, and she came down and danced with him.
Thus, as you have heard, did the false lover lose his mistress. If there are others like him, let them take warning by this example, which is perfectly true, and is well known, and happened not so very long ago.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 27.jpg THE HUSBAND IN THE CLOTHES-CHEST.]
STORY THE TWENTY-SEVENTH -- THE HUSBAND IN THE CLOTHES-CHEST. [27]
By Monseigneur De Beauvoir.