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and that will suffice."
Yolande, without any particular enthusiasm, consented to attempt this: and
indeed Yolande, at Jurgen's request, made oath upon the Four Evangelists that
she would do everything within her power to aid him.
"Very well," said Jurgen, "you have sworn, and it is you whom I love."
Surprise now made her lovely. Yolande was frankly delighted at the thought of
marrying the young Duke of
Logreus, and offered to send for a priest at once.
"My dear," says Jurgen, "there is no need to bother a priest about our private
affairs."
She took his meaning, and sighed. "Now I regret," said she, "that I made so
solemn an oath. Your trick was unfair."
"Oh, not at all," said Jurgen: "and presently you will not regret it. For
indeed the game is well worth the candle."
"How is that shown, Messire de Logreus?"
"Why, by candlelight," says Jurgen, "naturally."
"In that event, we will talk no further of it until this evening."
So that evening Yolande sent for him. She was, as Gogyrvan had said, a
remarkably handsome woman, sleek and sumptuous and crowned with a wealth of
coppercolored hair. Tonight she was at her best in a tunic of
Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice
Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice
38
shimmering blue, with a surcote of gold embroidery, and with gold embroidered
pendent sleeves that touched the door. Thus she was when Jurgen came to her.
"Now," says Yolande, frowning, "you may as well come out straightforwardly
with what you were hinting at this morning."
But first Jurgen looked about the apartment, and it was lighted by a tall gilt
stand whereon burned candles.
He counted these, and he whistled. "Seven candles! upon my word, sweetheart,
you do me great honor, for this is a veritable illumination. To think of it,
now, that you should honor me, as people do saints, with seven candles! Well,
I am only mortal, but none the less I am Jurgen, and I shall endeavor to repay
this sevenfold courtesy without discount."
"Oh, Messire de Logreus," cried Dame Yolande, "but what incomprehensible
nonsense you talk! You misinterpret matters, for I can assure you I had
nothing of that sort in mind. Besides, I do not know what you are talking
about."
"Indeed, I must warn you that my actions often speak more unmistakably than my
words. It is what learned persons term an idiosyncrasy."
" And I certainly do not see how any of the saints can be concerned in this.
If you had said the Four
Evangelists now! For we were talking of the Four Evangelists, you remember,
this morning Oh, but how stupid it is of you, Messire de Logreus, to stand
there grinning and looking at me in a way that makes me blush!"
"Well, that is easily remedied," said Jurgen, as he blew out the candles,
"since women do not blush in the dark."
"What do you plan, Messire de Logreus?"
"Ah, do not be alarmed!" said Jurgen. "I shall deal fairly with you."
And in fact Yolande confessed afterward that, considering everything, Messire
de Logreus was very generous. Jurgen confessed nothing: and as the room was
profoundly dark nobody else can speak with authority as to what happened
there. It suffices that the Duke of Logreus and the Lady of the Green Castle
parted later on the most friendly terms.
"You have undone me, with your games and your candles and your scrupulous
returning of courtesies," said
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Yolande, and yawned, for she was sleepy; "but I fear that I do not hate you as
much as I ought to."
"No woman ever does," says Jurgen, "at this hour." He called for breakfast,
then kissed Yolande for this, as
Jurgen had said, was their hour of parting, and he rode away from the Green
Castle in high spirits.
"Why, what a thing it is again to be a fine young fellow!" said Jurgen. "Well,
even though her big brown eyes protrude too much something like a lobster's
she is a splendid woman, that Dame Yolande: and it is a comfort to reflect I
have seen justice was done her."
Then he rode back to Cameliard, singing with delight in the thought that he
was riding toward the Princess
Guenevere, whom he loved with his whole heart.
13. Philosophy of Gogyrvan Gawr
Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice
Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice
39
AT Cameliard the young Duke of Logreus spent most of his time in the company
of Guenevere, whose father made no objection overtly. Gogyrvan had his
promised talk with Jurgen.
"I lament that Dame Yolande dealt overthriftily with you," the King said,
first of all: "for I estimated you two would be as spark and tinder, kindling
between you an amorous conflagration to burn up all this nonsense about my
daughter."
"Thrift, sir," said Jurgen, discreetly, "is a proverbial virtue, and fires may
not consume true love."
"That is the truth," Gogyrvan admitted, "whoever says it." And he sighed.
Then for a while he sat in nodding meditation. Tonight the old King wore a
disreputably rusty gown of black stuff, with fur about the neck and sleeves of
it, and his scant white hair was covered by a very shabby black cap. So he
huddled over a small fire in a large stone fireplace carved with shields;
beside him was white wine and red, which stayed untasted while Gogyrvan
meditated upon things that fretted him.
"Now, then!" says Gogyrvan Gawr: "this marriage with the high King of the
Britons must go forward, of course. That was settled last year, when Arthur
and his devilmongers, the Lady of the Lake and Merlin
Ambrosius, were at some pains to rescue me at Carohaise. I estimate that
Arthur's ambassadors, probably the devilmongers themselves, will come for my
daughter before June is out. Meanwhile, you two have youth and love for
playthings, and it is spring."
"What is the season of the year to me," groaned Jurgen "when I reflect that
within a week or so the lady of my heart will be borne away from me forever?
How can I be happy, when all the while I know the long years of misery and
vain regret are near at hand?"
"You are saying that," observed the King, "in part because you drank too much
last night, and in part because you think it is expected of you. For in point
of fact, you are as happy as anyone is permitted to be in this world, through
the simple reason that you are young. Misery, as you employ the word, I
consider to be a poetical trophe: but I can assure you that the moment you are
no longer young the years of vain regret will begin, either way."
"That is true," said Jurgen, heartily.
"How do you know? Now then, put it I were insane enough to marry my daughter
to a mere duke, you would grow damnably tired of her: I can assure you of that
also, for in disposition Guenevere is her sainted mother all over again. She
is nice looking, of course, because in that she takes after my side of the
family: but, between ourselves, she is not particularly intelligent, and she
will always be making eyes at some man or another. Today it appears to be your
turn to serve as her target, in a fine glittering shirt of which the like was
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never seen in Glathion. I deplore, but even so I cannot deny, your rights as
the champion who rescued her:
and I must bid you make the most of that turn."
"Meanwhile, it occurs to me, sir, that it is unusual to betroth your daughter
to one man, and permit her to go freely with another."
"If you insist upon it," said Gogyrvan Gawr, "I can of course lock up the pair
of you, in separate dungeons, until the wedding day. Meanwhile, it occurs to
me you should be the last commentator to grumble."
"Why, I tell you plainly, sir, that critical persons would say you are taking [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]