But it may not be--as yet. I raise you as high as I dare, but it must be done step by step, for even now some grow jealous. Take heed to what you eat, Olaf. See that your guards are Northmen, and beneath your doublet wear mail, especially at night. Moreover, unless I send for you, do not come near me too often, and, when we meet, be my humble servant, like others; aye, learn to crawl and kiss the ground. Above all, keep secret as the grave.
"Now," she went on after a pause, during which I stood silent, "what is there more? Oh! with your new offices, you"ll retain that of captain of my guard, for I would be well watched during these next few weeks.
Follow up the matter of the Egyptian; you may find advancement in it.
Perchance one day you will be the general I send against the Moslems--if I can spare you. On all this matter be secret also, for once rumour buzzes over it that peach rots. The Egyptian and his swarthy girl come to the palace to-day, when he will receive my letter. Meet him and see them well housed, though not too near me; Martina will help you. Now be gone and leave me to my battles."
So I went, and she watched me to the door with eyes that were full of tenderness.
Again there is a blank in my memory, or my vision. I suppose that Magas and his daughter Heliodore arrived at the palace on the day of my interview with Irene, of which I have told. I suppose that I welcomed them and conducted them to the guest house that had been made ready for them in the gardens. Doubtless, I listened eagerly to the first words which Heliodore spoke to me, save that one in the cathedral, the word of greeting. Doubtless, I asked her many things, and she gave me many answers. But of all this nothing remains.
What comes back to me is a picture of the Egyptian prince, Magas, and myself seated at some meal in a chamber overlooking the moonlit palace garden. We were alone, and this n.o.ble, white-bearded man, hook-nosed and hawk-eyed, was telling me of the troubles of his countrymen, the Christian Copts of Egypt.
"Look on me, sir," he said. "As I could prove to you, were it worth while, and as many could bear witness, for the records have been kept, I am a descendant in the true line from the ancient Pharaohs of my country. Moreover, my daughter, through her Grecian mother, is sprung from the Ptolemies. Our race is Christian, and has been for these three hundred years, although it was among the last to be converted. Yet, n.o.ble as we are, we suffer every wrong at the hands of the Moslems. Our goods and lands are doubly taxed, and, if we should go into the towns of Lower Egypt, we must wear garments on which the Cross is broidered as a badge of shame. Yet, where I live--near to the first cataract of the Nile, and not so very far from the city of old Thebes--the Prophet-worshippers have no real power. I am still the true ruler of that district, as the Bishop Barnabas will tell you, and at any moment, were my standard to be lifted, I could call three thousand Coptic spears to fight for Christ and Egypt. Moreover, if money were forthcoming, the hosts of Nubia could be raised, and together we might sweep down on the Moslems like the Nile in flood, and drive them back to Alexandria."
Then he went on to set out his plans, which in sum were that a Roman fleet and army should appear at the mouths of the Nile to besiege and capture Alexandria, and, with his help, ma.s.sacre or drive out every Moslem in Egypt. The scheme, which he set forth with much detail, seemed feasible enough, and when I had mastered its particulars I promised to report it to the Empress, and afterwards to speak with him further.
I left the chamber, and presently stood in the garden. Although it was autumn time, the night in this mild climate was very warm and pleasant, and the moonlight threw black shadows of the trees across the paths.
Under one of these trees, an ancient, green-leaved oak, the largest of a little grove, I saw a woman sitting. Perchance I knew who she was, perchance I had come thither to meet her, I cannot say. At least, this was not our first meeting by many, for as I came she rose, lifting her flower-like face towards my own, and next moment was in my arms.
When we had kissed our full, we began to talk, seated hand in hand beneath the oak.
"What have you been doing this day, beloved?" she asked.
"Much what I do every day, Heliodore. I have attended to my duties, which are threefold, as Chamberlain, as Master of the Palace, and as Captain of the Guard. Also, for a little while, I saw the Augusta, to whom I had to report various matters. The interview was brief, since a rumour had reached her that the Armenian regiments refuse to take the oath of fidelity to her alone, as she has commanded should be done, and demand that the name of the Emperor, her son, should be coupled with hers, as before. This report disturbed her much, so that she had little time for other business."
"Did you speak of my father"s matter, Olaf?"
"Aye, shortly. She listened, and asked whether I were sure that I had got the truth from him. She added that I had best test it by what I could win from you by any arts that a man may use. For, Heliodore, because of something that my G.o.d-mother, Martina, said to her, it is fixed in her mind that you are black-skinned and very ugly. Therefore, the Augusta, who does not like any man about her to care for other women, thinks I may make love to you with safety. So I prayed for leave from my duties on the guard this evening that I might sup with your father in the guest-house, and see what I could learn from one or both of you."
"Love makes you clever, Olaf. But hearken. I do not believe that the Empress thinks me black and ugly any longer. As it chanced while I walked in the inner garden this afternoon, where you said I might go when I wished to be quite alone, dreaming of our love and you, I looked up and saw an imperial woman of middle age, who was gorgeous as a peac.o.c.k, watching me from a little distance. I went on my way, pretending to see no one, and heard the lady say:
""Has all this trouble driven me mad, Martina, or did I behold a woman beautiful as one of the nymphs of my people"s fables wandering yonder among those bushes?"
"I repeat her very words, Olaf, not because they are true--for, remember, she saw me at a distance and against a background of rocks and autumn flowers--but because they were her words, which I think you ought to hear, with those that followed them."
"Irene has said many false things in her life," I said, smiling, "but by all the Saints these were not among them."
Then we embraced again, and after that was finished Heliodore, her head resting on my shoulder, continued her story:
""What was she like, Mistress?" asked the lady Martina, for by this time I had pa.s.sed behind some little trees. "I have seen no one who is beautiful in this garden except yourself."
""She was clad in a clinging white robe, Martina, that left her arms and bosom bare"--being alone, Olaf, I wore my Egyptian dress beneath my cloak, which I had laid down because of the heat of the sun. "She was not so very tall, yet rounded and most graceful. Her eyes seemed large and dark, Martina, like her hair; her face was tinted like a rich-hued rose. Oh! were I a man she seemed such a one as I should love, who, like all my people, have ever worshipped beauty. Yet, what did I say, that she put me in mind of a nymph of Greece. Nay, that was not so. It was of a G.o.ddess of Old Egypt that she put me in mind, for on her face was the dreaming smile which I have seen on that of a statue of mother Isis whom the Egyptians worshipped. Moreover, she wore just such a headdress as I have noted upon those statues."
"Now the lady Martina answered: "Surely, you must have dreamed, Mistress. The only Egyptian woman in the palace is the daughter of the old Coptic n.o.ble, Magas, who is in Olaf"s charge, and though I am told that she is not so ugly as I heard at first, Olaf has never said to me that she was like a G.o.ddess. What you saw was doubtless some image of Fortune conjured up by your mind. This I take to be the best of omens, who in these doubtful days grow superst.i.tious."
""Would Olaf tell one woman that another was like a G.o.ddess, Martina, even though she to whom he spoke was his G.o.d-mother and a dozen years younger than himself? Come," she added, "and let us see if we can find this Egyptian."
"Then," Heliodore went on, "not knowing what to do, I stood still there against the rockwork and the flowers till presently, round the bushes, appeared the splendid lady and Martina."
Now when I, Olaf, heard all this, I groaned and said:
"Oh! Heliodore, it was the Augusta herself."
"Yes, it was the Augusta, as I learned presently. Well, they came, and I curtsied to them.
""Are you the daughter of Magas, the Egyptian?" asked the lady, eyeing me from head to foot.
""Yes, Madam," I answered. "I am Heliodore, the daughter of Magas.
I pray that I have done no wrong in walking in this garden, but the General Olaf, the Master of the Palace, gave me leave to come here."
""And did the General Olaf, whom we know as Michael, give you that necklace which you wear, also, O Daughter of Magas? Nay, you must needs answer me, for I am the Augusta."
"Now I curtsied again, and said:
""Not so, O Augusta; the necklace is from Old Egypt, and was found upon the body of a royal lady in a tomb. I have worn it for many years."
""Indeed, and that which the General Michael wears came also from a tomb."
""Yes, he told me so, Augusta," I said.
""It would seem that the two must once have been one, Daughter of Magas?"
""It may be so, Augusta; I do not know."
"Now the Empress looked about her, and the lady Martina, dropping behind, began to fan herself.
""Are you married, girl?" she asked.
""No," I answered.
""Are you affianced?"
"Now I hesitated a little, then answered "No" again.
""You seem to be somewhat doubtful on the point. Farewell for this while. When you walk abroad in our garden, which is open to you, be pleased to array yourself in the dress of our country, and not in that of a courtesan of Egypt.""
"What did you answer to that saying?" I asked.
"That which was not wise, I fear, Olaf, for my temper stirred me.
I answered: "Madam, I thank you for your permission to walk in your garden. If ever I should do so again as your guest, be sure that I will not wear garments which, before Byzantium was a village, were sacred to the G.o.ds of my country and those of my ancestors the Queens of Egypt.""
"And then?" I asked.
"The Empress answered: "Well spoken! Such would have been my own words had I been in your place. Moreover, they are true, and the robe becomes you well. Yet presume not too far, girl, seeing that Byzantium is no longer a village, and Egypt has some fanatic Moslem for a Pharaoh, who thinks little of your ancient blood."
"So I bowed and went, and as I walked away heard the Empress rating the lady Martina about I know not what, save that your name came into the matter, and my own. Why does this Empress talk so much about you, Olaf, seeing that she has many officers who are higher in her service, and why was she so moved about this matter of the necklace of golden sh.e.l.ls?"
"Heliodore," I answered, "I must tell now what I have hidden from you.