Part 7 (1/2)
The song concluded abruptly, and with pa.s.sion;--and the King, turning on his elbow, glanced with a touch of curiosity at the face of his Queen.
There was not a flicker of emotion on its fair cold calmness,--not a quiver on the beautiful lips, or a sigh to stir the quiet breast on which the lilies rested, white and waxen, and heavily odorous. He withdrew his gaze with a half smile at his own folly for imagining that she could be moved by a mere song to any expression of feeling,--even for a moment,--and allowed his glance to wander unreservedly over the forms and features of the other ladies in attendance who, conscious of his regard, dropped their eyelids and blushed softly, after the fas.h.i.+on approved by the heroines of the melodramatic stage. Whereat he began to think of the tiresome sameness of women generally; and their irritating habit of living always at two extremes,--either all ardour, or all coldness.
”Both are equally fatiguing to a man's mind,” he thought impatiently--”The only woman that is truly fascinating is the one who is never in the same mind two days together. Fair on Monday, plain on Tuesday, sweet on Wednesday, sour on Thursday, tender on Friday, cold on Sat.u.r.day, and in all moods at once on Sunday,--that being a day of rest!
I should adore such a woman as that if I ever met her, because I should never know her mind towards me!”
A soft serenade rendered by violins, with a harp accompaniment, was followed by a gay mazurka, played by all the instruments together,--and this finished the musical programme.
The Queen rose, accepting the hand which the King extended to her, and moved with him slowly across the rose-garden, her long snowy train glistering with jewels, and held up from the greensward by a pretty page, who, in his picturesque costume of rose and gold, demurely followed his Royal lady's footsteps,--and so amid the curtseying ladies-in-waiting and other attendants, they pa.s.sed together into a private boudoir, at the threshold of which the Queen's train-bearer dropped his rich burden of perfumed velvet and gems, and bowing low, left their Majesties together.
Shutting the door upon him with his own hand, the King drew a heavy portiere across it,--and then walking round the room saw that every window was closed,--every nook secure. The Queen's boudoir was one of the most sacred corners in the whole palace,--no one, not even the most intimate lady of the Court in personal attendance on her Majesty, dared enter it without special permission; and this being the case, the Queen herself was faintly moved to surprise at the extra precaution her husband appeared to be taking to ensure privacy. She stood silently watching his movements till he came up to her, and bowing courteously, said:--
”I pray you, be seated, Madam! I will not detain you long.”
She obeyed his gesture, and sank down in a chair with that inimitable noiseless grace which made every att.i.tude of hers a study for an artist, and waited for his next words; while he, standing opposite to her, bent his eyes upon her face with a certain wistfulness and appeal.
”I have never asked you a favour,” he began--”and--since the day we married,--I have never sought your sympathy. The years have come and gone, leaving no visible trace on either you or me, so far as outward looks go,--and if they have scarred and wrinkled us inwardly, only G.o.d can see those scars! But as time moves on with a man,--I know not how it is with a woman,--if he be not altogether a fool, he begins to consider the way in which he has spent, or is spending his life,--whether he has been, or is yet likely to be of any use to the world he lives in,--or if he is of less account than the blown froth of the sea, or the sand on the sh.o.r.e. Myriads and myriads of men and women are no more than this--no more than midges or ants or worms;--but every now and then in the course of centuries, one man does stand forth from the million,--one heart does beat courageously enough to send the firm echo of its pulsations through a long vista of time,--one soul does so exalt and inspire the rest of the world by its great example that we are, through its force reminded of something divine,--something high and true in a low wilderness of shams!”
He paused; the Queen raised her beautiful eyes, and smiled strangely.
”Have you only just now thought of this?” she said.
He flushed, and bit his lip.
”To be perfectly honest with you, Madam, I have thought of nothing worth thinking about for many years! Most men in my position would probably make the same confession. Perhaps had you given me any great work to do for your sake I should have done it! Had _you_ inspired me to achieve some great conquest, either for myself or others, I should no doubt have conquered! But I have lived for twenty-one years in your admirable company without being commanded by you to do anything worthy of a king;--I am now about to command Myself!--in order to leave some notable trace of my name in history.”
While he thus spoke, a faint flush coloured the Queen's cheeks, but it quickly died away, leaving her very pale. Her fingers strayed among the great jewels she wore, and toyed unconsciously with a ruby talisman cut in the shape of a heart, and encircled with diamonds. The King noted the flash of the gems against the whiteness of her hand, and said:
”Your heart, Madam, is like the jewel you hold!--clear crimson, and full of fire,--but it is not the fire of Heaven, though you may perchance judge it to be so. Rather is it of h.e.l.l!--(I pray you to pardon me for the roughness of this suggestion!)--for one of the chief crimes of the devil is unconquerable hatred of the human race. You share Satan's aversion to man!--and strange indeed it is that even the most sympathetic companions.h.i.+p with your own s.e.x cannot soften that aversion!
However, we will not go into this;--the years have proved you true to your own temperament, and there is nothing to be said on the matter, either of blame or of praise. As I said, I have never asked a favour of you, nor have I sought the sympathy which it is not in your nature to give. I have not even claimed your obedience in any particular strictness of form; but that is my errand to you to-night,--indeed it is the sole object of this private interview,--to claim your entire, your unfaltering, your implicit obedience!”
She raised her head haughtily.
”To what commands, Sir?” she asked.
”To those I have here written,--” and he handed her a paper folded in two, which she took wonderingly, as he extended it. ”Read this carefully!--and if you have any objections to urge, I am willing to listen to you with patience, though scarcely to alter the conditions laid down.”
He turned away, and walked slowly through the room, pausing a moment to whistle to a tiny bird swinging in a gilded cage, that perked up its pretty head at his call and twittered with pleasure.
”So you respond to kindness, little one!” he said softly,--”You are more Christ-like in that one grace than many a Christian!”
He started, as a light touch fell on his shoulder, and he saw the Queen standing beside him. She held the paper he had given her in one hand, and as he looked at her enquiringly she touched it with her lips, and placed it in her bosom.
”I swear my obedience to your instructions, Sir!” she said,--”Do not fear to trust me!”
Gently he took her hands and kissed them.
”I thank you!” he said simply.