Part 4 (1/2)

Crossing an immense covered bridge, the origin of the Bridge of Sighs at Venice, over the royal gardens, which consisted entirely of cypress, the royal pair, preceded by the pages-in-waiting, entered the council chamber. The council was already a.s.sembled. On either side of a throne of sulphur, from which issued the four infernal rivers of Lethe, Phlegethon, Cocytus, and Acheron, were ranged the Eumenides and Parcae.

Lachesis and her sisters turned up their noses when they observed Proserpine; but the Eumenides could not stifle their fury, in spite of the hints of their more subdued but not less malignant companions.

'What is all this?' inquired Pluto.

'The const.i.tution is in danger,' said the Parcae in chorus.

'Both in church and state,' added the Furies. ''Tis a case of treason and blasphemy;' and they waved their torches and shook their whips with delighted antic.i.p.ation of their use.

'Detail the circ.u.mstances,' said Pluto, waving his hand majestically to Lachesis, in whose good sense he had great confidence.

'A man, a living man, has entered your kingdom, unknown and unnoticed,'

said Lachesis.

'By my sceptre, is it true?' said the astonished King. 'Is he seized?'

'The extraordinary mortal baffles our efforts,' said Lachesis. 'He bears with him a lyre, the charmed gift of Apollo, and so seducing are his strains that in vain our guards advance to arrest his course; they immediately begin dancing, and he easily eludes their efforts. The general confusion is indescribable. All business is at a standstill: Ixion rests upon his wheel; old Sisyphus sits down on his mountain, and his stone has fallen with a terrible plash into Acheron. In short, unless we are energetic, we are on the eve of a revolution.'

'His purpose?'

'He seeks yourself and--her Majesty,' added Lachesis, with a sneer.

'Immediately announce that we will receive him.'

The unexpected guest was not slow in acknowledging the royal summons.

A hasty treaty was drawn up; he was to enter the palace unmolested, on condition that he ceased playing his lyre. The Fates and the Furies exchanged significant glances as his approach was announced.

The man, the live man, who had committed the unprecedented crime of entering h.e.l.l without a licence, and the previous deposit of his soul as security for the good behaviour of his body, stood before the surprised and indignant Court of Hades. Tall and graceful in stature, and crowned with laurels, Proserpine was glad to observe that the man, who was evidently famous, was also good-looking.

'Thy purpose, mortal?' inquired Pluto, with awful majesty.

'Mercy!' answered the stranger in a voice of exquisite melody, and sufficiently embarra.s.sed to render him interesting.

'What is mercy?' inquired the Fates and the Furies.

'Speak, stranger, without fear,' said Proserpine. 'Thy name?'

'Is Orpheus; but a few days back the too happy husband of the enchanting Eurydice. Alas! dread King, and thou too, beautiful and benignant partner of his throne, I won her by my lyre, and by my lyre I would redeem her. Know, then, that in the very glow of our gratified pa.s.sion a serpent crept under the flowers on which we reposed, and by a fatal sting summoned my adored to the shades. Why did it not also summon me?

I will not say why should I not have been the victim in her stead; for I feel too keenly that the doom of Eurydice would not have been less forlorn, had she been the wretched being who had been spared to life. O King! they whispered on earth that thou too hadst yielded thy heart to the charms of love. Pluto, they whispered, is no longer stern: Pluto also feels the all-subduing influence of beauty. Dread monarch, by the self-same pa.s.sion that rages in our b.r.e.a.s.t.s alike, I implore thy mercy.

Thou hast risen from the couch of love, the arm of thy adored has pressed upon thy heart, her honied lips have clung with rapture to thine, still echo in thy ears all the enchanting phrases of her idolatry. Then, by the memory of these, by all the higher and ineffable joys to which these lead, King of Hades, spare me, oh! spare me, Eurydice!'

Proserpine threw her arms round the neck of her husband, and, hiding her face in his breast, wept.

'Rash mortal, you demand that which is not in the power of Pluto to concede,' said Lachesis.

'I have heard much of treason since my entrance into Hades,' replied Orpheus, 'and this sounds like it.'

'Mortal!' exclaimed Clotho, with contempt.

'Nor is it in your power to return, sir,' said Tisiphone, shaking her whip.