"And I," said Blanchefleur, "since the day on which you departed to Montorio, have known no joy, but have gone mourning for my love;" and then again the lovers kissed each other, and Fleur showed Blanchefleur the ring, his mother"s parting gift, and told her of its magic power.
Meanwhile good Clarissa, trembling lest the secret of her friend should be betrayed, guarded it with jealous care as though it had been her own: so these three lived and ate and drank together, letting no living soul share their secret, and the lovers, happy as the day was long, would gladly thus have lived and died together, but, alas! the course of true love never can run smooth, and all too soon was their joy turned into sorrow.
One morning Clarissa woke to find the sun already high in the heavens; so, running in to Blanchefleur, she bade her too arise, as it was late, and full time that both were in attendance on their Lord.
"Go on before," said Blanchefleur, half-waking and half-dreaming, and I will follow;" and she came not, but fell asleep again. So when Clarissa, returning from the spring with her golden bowl, again knocked, and this time got no answer, she hasted to the Admiral, thinking to find Blanchefleur gone on before to him, but she found her not.
"Why tarries Blanchefleur?" asked the Admiral, wondering that Clarissa came alone.
"Sire," said Clarissa, "all through the night, Blanchefleur was reading in her psalter and praying long life for you, and towards the morning she fell asleep and slumbers still."
"That," said the Admiral, well pleased, "was a good work, and as reward for it Blanchefleur shall be my bride."
Next morning the same thing happened. Again Clarissa overslept herself, and on waking found the sun already high in the heavens; again she called to Blanchefleur to make ready while she filled her golden bowl with water at the spring, and again Blanchefleur, half-waking and half-dreaming, replied, "I come," and came not, but fell back in slumber, so that Clarissa on hasting to their Lord found no Blanchefleur there.
"Where," again asked the Admiral, "is Blanchefleur?"
"Sire," said Clarissa, "I called in pa.s.sing at her door ere filling my golden bowl with water at the spring, and Blanchefleur said she would be here before me."
In some surprise the Admiral then bade a chamberlain go see why Blanchefleur tarried: so the chamberlain hasted to Blanchefleur"s chamber, which was all ablaze with precious stones, and there, locked in each other"s arms, found Fleur and Blanchefleur, and, taking Fleur in his tender beauty to be Clarissa, the chamberlain had not the heart to wake the two, but hasted back to tell his Lord how sweetly Blanchefleur and Clarissa slept, and, lo! Clarissa stood before him.
As for the Admiral, he turned white with fury.
_Chapter VIII_
[Ill.u.s.tration]
"Give me my sword," cried the Admiral, "and with it I will soon find who is this feigned Clarissa, for here the true one stands before me." So saying, the furious Lord went with the chamberlain to Blanchefleur"s chamber, and when the thick silken curtains were drawn aside and the bright sunlight streamed in, he beheld the sleeping pair, and so fair was Fleur that even the Admiral in his fury doubted if he were not a maiden, but all the same with uplifted sword he prepared to smite both Fleur and Blanchefleur to the death, when suddenly they awoke, and seeing before them this furious Lord with uplifted sword they shed bitter tears, well knowing that they must die. "Miscreant!" cried the Admiral to Fleur, "who are you, and how dared you enter into my Tower?
For so doing you shall die the death."
"Have mercy, sire," said Fleur, "on the maiden Blanchefleur and on me, for we love each other with a love more true and tender than has e"er been known before!"
Then came forward the chamberlain and prayed his Lord to spare the captives that they might have due trial for their offence.
To this respite the Admiral consented, but, fearing lest the prisoners might escape, he commanded that they were to be bound with ropes until by the lords of all the land sentence should be pa.s.sed upon them. Now as the Admiral"s yearly wedding festival was near at hand, the great lords of the realm, such as kings, dukes, counts and barons, were already a.s.sembled in Babylon; so they appeared without delay at the summons of their Lord in his glorious hall, which for splendour could not have been matched by Priam, King of Troy, for it was a full mile square, and crystal pillars supported its lofty dome. When, therefore, the Admiral was enthroned in majesty with all his lords around him, silence was commanded, while he thus addressed the a.s.sembly:
"My lords, hearken unto me, your King, and pa.s.s a sentence on these prisoners that will redound to my honour and your own. Behold this Blanchefleur, whom for a great price of ten times her own weight in gold I bought, thinking to promote her to honour by taking her as my one and only wedded wife on the day appointed for my marriage festival, and until that day came, that my eyes might be gladdened by her beauty, I brought her into my Maidens" Tower and ordained that she and Clarissa, her companion, should wait morning and evening upon me with a fair linen towel and water in a golden bowl; yet scarce had this Blanchefleur been for four months within my Tower than she betrayed me for another, whom with herself I had in righteous indignation well-nigh slain. So now, my lords, it is for you to pa.s.s judgment just and unbending upon these offenders."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Responding to the call of their King and Admiral, these lords with one consent pa.s.sed sentence of death upon the prisoners, though differing among themselves as to the execution of the same. Some were for hanging, others for the bow-string, while others again proposed that the culprits should be torn asunder by wild horses; most, however, were in favour of burning, or perhaps drowning with a heavy stone round the neck: on one point, however, all agreed--viz. that the guilty pair must die.
Then arose a certain king, Aliers by name, and thus spoke. "It is a shame and disgrace," said he, "to hear in a royal court such babel of voices, each crying for a different opinion. Be so good, my lords, as to depute one among you to speak for all. Moreover, having now heard the accusation of His Highness, it is but just to listen to the prisoners"
defence."
"Not so," cried Basier, King of Arabia, "not so, my lords. If these prisoners have betrayed our Lord the Admiral, let them die unheard, like thieves caught in the act and punished red-handed without form of trial."
The Admiral now commanded the prisoners to be produced, who when they appeared were very sad, regarding each other with tender pity.
"My Lord," said Fleur to the Admiral, "being guilty I am prepared to die, but spare my Blanchefleur, for she is innocent, seeing that without her knowledge I came within your Tower."
"My Lord," cried Blanchefleur, "the guilt is mine, for had I not been in your Tower never would Fleur have sought to enter it. Moreover, it were shame that a king"s son should die for me, who am but the daughter of his handmaid."
"Not so, my Lord," cried Fleur again; "let me die, that Blanchefleur may live."
"Be easy," said the Admiral, "for with my own hand I will slay you both." So saying, he made for the prisoners with his drawn sword, whereupon Blanchefleur sprang forward and offered her neck for the blow, but was dragged back by Fleur, who with indignant tears exclaimed: "What! Shall I, to my shame, suffer you, a woman, to die for me, who am a man, before the eyes of this great a.s.sembly?" And so saying, Fleur extended his neck instead for the death-blow, but Blanchefleur in turn pulled him back by his clothes and ran in before him, holding out her neck. Thus for some time these lovers strove, each seeking to die before the other, until for pity the lords began to weep, and even the Admiral, feeling his heart relent, let the sword drop from his hands.
Then stepped forward a certain Duke, and in the name of all present made earnest pet.i.tions for the prisoners" lives. "Methinks," said he, "that for the safety and honour of our Lord the Admiral "twere best to spare the prisoners, whose death would profit him not, whereas by freeing them on condition that Fleur revealed in what wise he stole into the Tower, His Highness may discover and punish his unfaithful servants."
The Admiral, marking that all his lords were inclined to mercy, agreed to this Duke"s proposal and offered their lives to the captives if Fleur would but tell how he made his way into the Tower."
"That, sire, replied Fleur, "I may only do under promise of pardon to those who were my helpers."
"No! no!" cried the Admiral, furious at the thought of further mercy.
"They shall all die, every man among them."
Then came forward a Bishop, who, falling at the Admiral"s feet, entreated that the gracious mercy of His Highness might be extended to all concerned; "for," said the Lord Bishop, "it would please the a.s.sembled company better to hear the prisoners" story than to behold their death." These words of the Bishop were supported by all the lords, who with one acclaim called on their King and Admiral to pardon the prisoners at the prayer of his faithful subjects. So the Admiral gave ear to the prayer of his lords and pardoned the lovers and all and sundry who were their helpers, and when this was done Fleur arose and told the whole sweet and touching story of Blanchefleur and himself from the time of their birth up to the moment when they were found together in the Tower, and when his tale was told Fleur knelt down before the Admiral and entreated His Highness with tears for the gift of Blanchefleur, for whose sake he had done and suffered so great things; seeing, moreover, that without her he could not live, nor indeed could she, if torn from him, find life endurable.
Then the Admiral took Fleur by the hand, and kissing him bade him sit by his side as beseemed the son of a king, and taking Blanchefleur also by the hand His Highness said to Fleur: "Friend, herewith I give and grant to you the maiden Blanchefleur, together with pardon full and free of all offence committed by you against my kingly power and majesty."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Overcome with joy and grat.i.tude, those lovers sank at the feet of their benefactor, who raised and kissed them, and after that he made Fleur a knight according to the fashion of the land.
_Chapter IX_
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Now when all had turned out thus happily for Fleur and Blanchefleur, the Admiral proclaimed a great festival, and in pomp and splendour led to church Clarissa, daughter of the Duke of Alemannia, and there took her as his one and only wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better for worse, to his life"s end: in the same church also and at the same time were Fleur and Blanchefleur united in holy wedlock. Then came the feast, at which the Admiral sat enthroned with his bride Clarissa on one side, and Fleur and Blanchefleur on the other, and after them all the lords of the realm, placed in order according to their rank. When the banquet was over the wedding guests diverted themselves with jousting, tilting, wrestling, and jumping matches, not forgetting music and song, that lasted for days together, and while the merry-making was at its height, behold! there came amba.s.sadors bearing tidings from Spain that King Fenis and his Queen were dead, and the mourning country stood in sore need of the absent Fleur, heir and successor to the King deceased: and at these heavy tidings the joy of Fleur was turned to sorrow, and, seeking the Admiral, he prayed His Highness for permission to depart to his own country, which so sorely needed its King and ruler; but the Admiral, loath to part with the guest he had learned to love, sought to persuade Fleur, by promise of a greater and richer kingdom than his own, to give up land and people and abide with him; but when Fleur, whose heart was true to his home and Spain, would not be tempted from his purpose, the Admiral, commending his departing guests to the care of his G.o.ds, speeded him on his way with many a rich and costly gift. Thus did Fleur and Blanchefleur take their journey back again to Spain, and when they were come the people received them with great joy, and crowned Fleur King in the place of his father Fenis, and Blanchefleur they crowned as Queen, and so this happy pair lived on united in tender love together to their hundredth year, and when Fleur was made King he embraced the Christian faith of his Blanchefleur, and caused all his people to become Christians and receive baptism, and soon after these things Fleur inherited the land of Hungary from his uncle, who died childless; but to Fleur and his Queen Blanchefleur was born a daughter, Bertha by name, who became wife to King Pepin of France, and mother of Charles, that great Emperor whose fame is known throughout the world.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FINIS]