Ivanhoe, Walter Scott [the lemonade war series txt] 📗
- Author: Walter Scott
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tribunal.”
“Hearest thou this, Athelstane?” said Cedric; “we must rouse up
our hearts to this last action, since better it is we should die
like men, than live like slaves.”
“I am ready,” answered Athelstane, “to stand the worst of their
malice, and shall walk to my death with as much composure as ever
I did to my dinner.”
“Let us then unto our holy gear, father,” said Cedric.
“Wait yet a moment, good uncle,” said the Jester, in his natural
tone; “better look long before you leap in the dark.”
“By my faith,” said Cedric, “I should know that voice!”
“It is that of your trusty slave and jester,” answered Wamba,
throwing back his cowl. “Had you taken a fool’s advice formerly,
you would not have been here at all. Take a fool’s advice now,
and you will not be here long.”
“How mean’st thou, knave?” answered the Saxon.
“Even thus,” replied Wamba; “take thou this frock and cord, which
are all the orders I ever had, and march quietly out of the
castle, leaving me your cloak and girdle to take the long leap in
thy stead.”
“Leave thee in my stead!” said Cedric, astonished at the
proposal; “why, they would hang thee, my poor knave.”
“E’en let them do as they are permitted,” said Wamba; “I trust
---no disparagement to your birth---that the son of Witless may
hang in a chain with as much gravity as the chain hung upon his
ancestor the alderman.”
“Well, Wamba,” answered Cedric, “for one thing will I grant thy
request. And that is, if thou wilt make the exchange of garments
with Lord Athelstane instead of me.”
“No, by St Dunstan,” answered Wamba; “there were little reason in
that. Good right there is, that the son of Witless should suffer
to save the son of Hereward; but little wisdom there were in his
dying for the benefit of one whose fathers were strangers to
his.”
“Villain,” said Cedric, “the fathers of Athelstane were monarchs
of England!”
“They might be whomsoever they pleased,” replied Wamba; “but my
neck stands too straight upon my shoulders to have it twisted for
their sake. Wherefore, good my master, either take my proffer
yourself, or suffer me to leave this dungeon as free as I
entered.”
“Let the old tree wither,” continued Cedric, “so the stately hope
of the forest be preserved. Save the noble Athelstane, my trusty
Wamba! it is the duty of each who has Saxon blood in his veins.
Thou and I will abide together the utmost rage of our injurious
oppressors, while he, free and safe, shall arouse the awakened
spirits of our countrymen to avenge us.”
“Not so, father Cedric,” said Athelstane, grasping his hand,
---for, when roused to think or act, his deeds and sentiments
were not unbecoming his high race---“Not so,” he continued; “I
would rather remain in this hall a week without food save the
prisoner’s stinted loaf, or drink save the prisoner’s measure of
water, than embrace the opportunity to escape which the slave’s
untaught kindness has purveyed for his master.”
“You are called wise men, sirs,” said the Jester, “and I a crazed
fool; but, uncle Cedric, and cousin Athelstane, the fool shall
decide this controversy for ye, and save ye the trouble of
straining courtesies any farther. I am like John-a-Duck’s mare,
that will let no man mount her but John-a-Duck. I came to save
my master, and if he will not consent---basta---I can but go away
home again. Kind service cannot be chucked from hand to hand
like a shuttlecock or stool-ball. I’ll hang for no man but my
own born master.”
“Go, then, noble Cedric,” said Athelstane, “neglect not this
opportunity. Your presence without may encourage friends to our
rescue---your remaining here would ruin us all.”
“And is there any prospect, then, of rescue from without?” said
Cedric, looking to the Jester.
“Prospect, indeed!” echoed Wamba; “let me tell you, when you fill
my cloak, you are wrapped in a general’s cassock. Five hundred
men are there without, and I was this morning one of the chief
leaders. My fool’s cap was a casque, and my bauble a truncheon.
Well, we shall see what good they will make by exchanging a fool
for a wise man. Truly, I fear they will lose in valour what they
may gain in discretion. And so farewell, master, and be kind to
poor Gurth and his dog Fangs; and let my cockscomb hang in the
hall at Rotherwood, in memory that I flung away my life for my
master, like a faithful------fool.”
The last word came out with a sort of double expression, betwixt
jest and earnest. The tears stood in Cedric’s eyes.
“Thy memory shall be preserved,” he said, “while fidelity and
affection have honour upon earth! But that I trust I shall find
the means of saving Rowena, and thee, Athelstane, and thee, also,
my poor Wamba, thou shouldst not overbear me in this matter.”
The exchange of dress was now accomplished, when a sudden doubt
struck Cedric.
“I know no language,” he said, “but my own, and a few words of
their mincing Norman. How shall I bear myself like a reverend
brother?”
“The spell lies in two words,” replied Wamba--- “‘Pax vobiscum’
will answer all queries. If you go or come, eat or drink, bless
or ban, ‘Pax vobiscum’ carries you through it all. It is as
useful to a friar as a broomstick to a witch, or a wand to a
conjurer. Speak it but thus, in a deep grave tone,---‘Pax
vobiscum!’---it is irresistible---Watch and ward, knight and
squire, foot and horse, it acts as a charm upon them all. I
think, if they bring me out to be hanged to-morrow, as is much to
be doubted they may, I will try its weight upon the finisher of
the sentence.”
“If such prove the case,” said the master, “my religious orders
are soon taken---‘Pax vobiscum’. I trust I shall remember the
pass-word.---Noble Athelstane, farewell; and farewell, my poor
boy, whose heart might make amends for a weaker head---I will
save you, or return and die with you. The royal blood of our
Saxon kings shall not be spilt while mine beats in my veins; nor
shall one hair fall from the head of the kind knave who risked
himself for his master, if Cedric’s peril can prevent it.
---Farewell.”
“Farewell, noble Cedric,” said Athelstane; “remember it is the
true part of a friar to accept refreshment, if you are offered
any.”
“Farewell, uncle,” added Wamba; “and remember ‘Pax vobiscum’.”
Thus exhorted, Cedric sallied forth upon his expedition; and it
was not long ere he had occasion to try the force of that spell
which his Jester had recommended as omnipotent. In a low-arched
and dusky passage, by which he endeavoured to work his way to the
hall of the castle, he was interrupted by a female form.
“‘Pax vobiscum!’” said the pseudo friar, and was endeavouring to
hurry past, when a soft voice replied, “‘Et vobis---quaso, domine
reverendissime, pro misericordia vestra’.”
“I am somewhat deaf,” replied Cedric, in good Saxon, and at the
same time muttered to himself, “A curse on the fool and his ‘Pax
vobiscum!’ I have lost my javelin at the first cast.”
It was, however, no unusual thing for a priest of those days to
be deaf of his Latin ear, and this the person who now addressed
Cedric knew full well.
“I pray you of dear love, reverend father,” she replied in his
own language, “that you will deign to visit with your ghostly
comfort a wounded prisoner of this castle, and have such
compassion upon him and us as thy holy office teaches---Never
shall good deed so highly advantage thy convent.”
“Daughter,” answered Cedric, much embarrassed, “my time in this
castle will not permit me to exercise the duties of mine office
---I must presently forth---there is life and death upon my
speed.”
“Yet, father, let me entreat you by the vow you have taken on
you,” replied the suppliant, “not to leave the oppressed and
endangered without counsel or succour.”
“May the fiend fly away with me, and leave me in Ifrin with the
souls of Odin and of Thor!” answered Cedric impatiently, and
would probably have proceeded in the same tone of total departure
from his spiritual character, when the colloquy was interrupted
by the harsh voice of Urfried, the old crone of the turret.
“How, minion,” said she to the female speaker, “is this the
manner in which you requite the kindness which permitted thee to
leave thy prison-cell yonder?---Puttest thou the reverend man to
use ungracious language to free himself from the importunities
of a Jewess?”
“A Jewess!” said Cedric, availing himself of the information to
get clear of their interruption,---“Let me pass, woman! stop me
not at your peril. I am fresh from my holy office, and would
avoid pollution.”
“Come this way, father,” said the old hag, “thou art a stranger
in this castle, and canst not leave it without a guide. Come
hither, for I would speak with thee.---And you, daughter of an
accursed race, go to the sick man’s chamber, and tend him until
my return; and woe betide you if you again quit it without my
permission!”
Rebecca retreated. Her importunities had prevailed upon Urfried
to suffer her to quit the turret, and Urfried had employed her
services where she herself would most gladly have paid them, by
the bedside of the wounded Ivanhoe. With an understanding awake
to their dangerous situation, and prompt to avail herself of each
means of safety which occurred, Rebecca had hoped something from
the presence of a man of religion, who, she learned from Urfried,
had penetrated into this godless castle. She watched the return
of the supposed ecclesiastic, with the purpose of addressing him,
and interesting him in favour of the prisoners; with what
imperfect success the reader has been just acquainted.
CHAPTER XXVII
Fond wretch! and what canst thou relate,
But deeds of sorrow, shame, and sin?
Thy deeds are proved---thou know’st thy fate;
But come, thy tale---begin---begin.
*But I have griefs of other kind,
Troubles and sorrows more severe;
Give me to ease my tortured mind,
Lend to my woes a patient ear;
And let me, if I may not find
A friend to help---find one to hear.
Crabbe’s Hall of Justice
When Urfried had with clamours and menaces driven Rebecca back to
the apartment from which she had sallied, she proceeded to
conduct the unwilling Cedric into a small apartment, the door of
which she heedfully secured. Then fetching from a cupboard a
stoup of wine and two flagons, she placed them on the table, and
said in a tone rather asserting a fact than asking a question,
“Thou art Saxon, father---Deny it not,” she continued, observing
that Cedric hastened not to reply; “the sounds of my native
language are sweet to mine ears, though seldom heard save from
the tongues of the wretched and degraded serfs on whom the proud
Normans impose the meanest drudgery of this dwelling. Thou art a
Saxon, father---a Saxon, and, save as thou art a servant of God,
a freeman.---Thine accents are sweet in mine ear.”
“Do not Saxon priests visit this castle, then?” replied Cedric;
“it were, methinks, their duty to comfort the outcast and
oppressed children of the soil.”
“They come not---or if they come, they better love to revel at
the boards of their conquerors,” answered Urfried, “than to hear
the groans of their countrymen---so, at least, report speaks of
them---of myself I can say little. This castle, for ten years,
has opened to no priest save the debauched Norman chaplain who
partook the
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