The knight's motto, a novel

Front matter

Slielf Kyd

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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Chapter I. The Cavalcade

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HE time of the Opetiing of our story is at the beginning of the ninth century — the time when Charlemagne was at the very summit of his power and glory. The scene is a wild, rugged pass of the Bohemian-Moravian Mountains, on the usually travelled highway between Prague and Olmutz.

On a calm and cloudless day of early June, a way-worn, weary and travel-stained cavalcade made its way through this pass. There were sixand- twenty horses, with a score of riders. Four of the beasts had been set apart and thoroughly trained to the bearing of a palanquin, while two others were used as sumpters. The palanquin was a sumptuous affair, built with an eye to comfort and convenience, andl beautified and adorned with a splendor entirely regal] Thus far on the road it had been occupied, when they chose to use it, by the two females of the party, the Princess Rowena, of Bohemia, and her maid Elfrida. Included with the score of saddle-horses, were two strong palfries, set apart to the use of the princess and her attendant when they chose to exchange the palanquin for the saddle ; and this they had done on entering upon the rough and rugged road of the Zwittau Pass.

The Princess Rowena was but little more than a month beyond the close of her nineteenth year of life, of medium height, her form perfect in its proportions, with a native grace and majesty that told at once of gentle blood and regal training. Her face was beautiful and lovely. To all that was fair and perfect in form and feature, she added the infinite charm which purity and goodness alone can give. Her silken tresses, floating, from beneath her jewelled velvet cap, freely over her shoulders, were of a sunny hue, gleaming in the slanting light like burnished gold. Her eyes, large and full, were of a deep, cerulean blue, with an earnest, truthful light that had never known a shadow. Their joy-beams may have been shadowed, but never, never their truthfulness.

The riding-habit of the princess, remote though the date, was of material and fashion that would have been comely even at the present day. On her head she wore a cap of purple velvet, rising from a zone of gold thickly set with precious stones ; on its left side a white ostrich feather so trained and secured that it overlay the crown. Her jacket, closely fitting her full, healthful form, was also <pf velvet, blue in color, richly embroidered with gold, and secured in front, from the throat to the girdle, with frogs of gold set with clustered diamonds. Her skirt, full and flowing, was of pearl-colored silk, over which, on the left side, trailed the end of a silken baldric, to which was suspended a small Damascus dagger, with hilt and sheath of silver.

The maid, Elfrida, was a year older than her mistress* though less in stature. She was a pretty, bright-faced girl, pure and true, her heart given wholly to the lady she served. Her face was a beautiful oval, her complexion fair, though her hair and eyes were of so dark a brown as to appear black in certain lights. Her garb was of the same fashion as that of her mistress, but far less costly in material and adornment. Her dark tresses were confihed by a cap of velvet, but there was no golden zone nor ostrich feather.

Close by the side of the princess, when the nature of the path permitted, rode the chieftain of the cavalcade, Sir Winfred. Though but a few months beyond the completion of his twenty-third year, he was accounted one of the best and bravest of Charlemagne’s warrior host. The last act of his imperial master, previous to his setting forth upon his present emprise, had been to invest him, in addition to the golden spurs of knighthood, with the richly emblazoned baldric of a Paladin. A proud and happy moment had it been for our hero '; and the more pride and the greater happiness from the words of praise — never lightly spoken by the mighty conqueror — that had accompanied the investment.

The knight was slightly taller than the average, with a form as perfect in its manly proportions as ever gladdened the eye of poet or sculptor. His muscular development, though wonderful in its result of physical strength and prowess, detracted not a whit from the native grace and charming ease and dignity Of his carriage. His face was at once beautiful and regal # The gentleman was stamped in evefy lineament. His io The Knight's Motto .

hair, of a nut-brown hue, clustered about his shapely head in glossy, silken curls, and his eyes, full and lustrous, beaming with a light that never wavered, were of that brilliant gray that so closely resembles the iridescent fire of the oriental opal.

His only defensive armor at present worn was a magnificent close-fitting hauberk of chain mail, extending from the neck to the lower part of the thighs. It was of finely interwoven links of burnished steel, laid upon a ground or backing of closely padded crimson velvet. It might appear at a casual glance, to one not thoroughly versed in such matters, a slight affair for armor ; but the sword had not yet been forged that Could penetrate it. Only the blow of an axe, wielded 'by a strong hand, could break through its intricate meshes. Below the hauberk appeared silken hose ; and lower still, the high-topped boots of russet leather and the golden spurs. On his head he wore a light velvet cap, or bonnet, over which floated a triple plume of bstricli feathers, secured over the left ear by a brooch of gold, in which was set an emerald as large as a robin’s egg. The sword which hung at his hip had been the gift of the empefor — a weapon which the great Karl himself had worii and used, and which few could wield single-handed. In Winfred’s hand, however, it was seemingly light as air, and many a joint and plate of finely-tempered armor had given way beneath its trenchant strokes ; yet its edge was intact— as keen and reliable as when .it came from the hand of its Damascene maker.

One other item we must notice — his shield, or buckler, which he carried suspended from his saddle-bow, where 1 lib could lay his hand upon it at any moment. It was of bronze ; Circular in form ; its outer surface convex ; little more than eighteen inches in diameter; its device

The Cavalcade .

i x standing out prominently in bas-relief, was. a Riven Oak, prostrate, with the motto, “ Resurg am.” Many, very many, had asked its meaning, but it had not been told them.

The knight’s lance and hemlet were borne by his esquire, who rode next behind him, his heavier defensive armor being upon one of the sumpter horses.

One other knight accompanied the party— a staunch, battle-scarred warrior — Sir Alonzo. He was a brave and gallant soldier ; faithful and true ; and though qf middle age, he was yet proud to serve as the youthful Paladin’s lieutenant.

The next person of the cavalcade deserving especial mention was the pioneer and guide — Englehard ; to the young chieftain, however, he was much more than that, as he will be to the reader before we have dope with him. Since his earliest recollection— from the days of his prattling childhood — Winfred could remember good old Englehard as one wholly, especially, and lovingly devoted to him. When away from his mother, and away from his tutors, Englehard had been the one man who had never failed to be at his post in watchful care and supervision. Before the boy had been old enough to be trusted in the saddle, he had ridden, in many a gleeful bout, upon Englehard’s shoulders ; and when a horse had been given him, he never rode abroad without the faithful old servitor at his side. So that we can well imagine that the love between the two was of no ordinary kind.

Englehard’s exact age was not known. That he was more than three-score was sure, however, as he had been a page in King Pepin’s court, at Salsburg, during the childhood of Charlemagne. When the latter had ascended to the throne of his father, Englehard became the first and the chief of his trusted body-servants.

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Later, in token of his love and good-will, the great Karl bestowed upon a near and dear friend this trusty henchman. That friend was Winfred’s father, but of that father the son could remember little or nothing. He knew what he had been told, and no more. His earliest recollections were, first, his beautiful mother, the peerless Feodora, whose devotion he had repaid by a love that Was a part of his very being. Second, the great emperor, Charlemagne, who had been as a father to him always. Third, came Englehard. His first recollection of the old man was peculiar, and it was fixed in his mind distinctly and vividly, though he could not have been more than four years of age at the time of the occurrence.

One day Englehard had carried the boy around the court of Salzburg Castle on his shoulders, and on coming in and transferring his charge to the mother, he had asked if anything more was required at his hands. Then Winfred, with growing surprise, had demanded, in the fullness of his heart :

“Good Englehard, tell me, why should a brave old man like you call a little boy like me master ?”

“ Because,” the strong man had answered— and Winfred had never forgotten — “ you are my master, as your father was before you ; and while I live it shall be my chief joy to serve you to the uttermost, even to the giving of my life, should the need arise.”

And old Englehard, of powerful frame, his once brown curls now whitened to a silvery sheen, but his health and vigor unimpaired — handsome still, and gallant — heavily armed, with breast-plate, and back-plate an iron skull-cap on his head, and mounted on a horse fit to bear him, was now the guide of the cavalcade. He had brought it from Aix la Chapelle, and intended to lead it to Olmutz, then the Moravian capital.

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Sewald, the esquire, was a year younger than his master, Winfred. His father, who had been killed in battle during his early childhood, had been One of Charlemagne’s bravest knights, and 1 : the boy, when left fatherless, had been taken under the care- of the emperor. He and Winfred had been reared together. They had had the same tutors, had followed the same studies, and when, finally, they had been sent irito the field, they had gone in company. Later, when Winfred had won his knightly spurs, Sewald, at his own earnest request, was appoin ted «his esquire and that service he had performed most faithfully, and thfe ‘service had been the more grateful because it had been performed right lovingly ; for Sewald loved his gallant master with » alibis heart/ 1 1 bornao bed bre do fg n 3 ye r> anC)

Sewald was not so tall as Winfred, nor so strong, but he was, nevertheless, one of the best and bravest of the army, and one of the handsomest. : ;i bed

Is not my esquire a handsome man ?"' Sir Winfred often said to his friends, when the former had become ,mrr Hal t bmdoIgn5l booO **

“ Ah ! Look !" the devoted Sewald Would exclaim, as his master passed within sight of himself and comrades. “ Where will you find a handsomer mati, ot one'more noble and gallant than is Sir Winfred ? God bless him !"

And in all the host there was not one to gainsay him. If, perchance, through envy there might have been one with contradiction in his heart, he dared not speak it aloud. i: i:

Behind Sewald followed the sumpter:' horses, then the empty palanquin ; then Sir Alonzo brought up the rear with fourteen stout men-at-arms, mounted on powerful horses, and armed, offensively and defensively, from top to toe. They were staunch and stern old war-

H

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riors, every one ; had stood shoulder to shoulder on many a hard-fought field, and they had a loyal, loving faith in their youthful chief.

The cavalcade had entered the mountain pass, on the Bohemian frontier, early in the day, and now, towards the middle of the afternoon, they had passed the summit of the range, and were descending into Moravia. Before the sun had set they had entered within the walls of Zwittau, where Englehard led them straightway to a comfortable inn, the landlord of which he had known in other years. At first the good publican had stoutly demurred to the incursion of such a company beneath his roof ; but a few whispered words from the old trooper, spoken under pledge of secrecy, not only Overcame his scruples, but led him to put forth his best endeavors towards making his guests for the night as comfortable as possible.

And surely those guests were in need of comfort. From Aix la Chapelle, where Charlemagne then held his court, to the confines of Moravia, a distance, as they had been forced to travel, of more than five hundred miles, they had made their way without further stop than had been absolutely necessary to the healthful rest and recuperation of both man and beast. This evening at Zwittau closed their one-and-twenticth day on the road. Englehard had selected the very best paths the country and the nature of his course afforded and permitted, but even they had been far from good. However, they had come thus far without serious mishap, and now found both rest and comfort in the thought that their journey, for the present, was near its end. OlmUtz was only forty miles away, and they were assumed that the road before them was one of the best in the country. Much of it lay through den se forest, but the track was well-beaten, and comparatively level.

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Supper had, been eaten, and Englehard, when he had seen the mental-arms well lodged, sought the host for a private confab. He was in quest of information which he was sure; ,old Rembert could give him.

“Now, my good friend,” said the trooper, when he had succeeded in cornering the publican in one of his retired apartments, “ I want you to tell me something of the condition of the country. What is your king doing ?”

The landlord started as though he had been stricken a blow and feared a; second. He cast a quick, frightened glance around ; and as soon as he dared trust himself to speak he said, in a whisper, at the same time laying a trembling hand on his guest’s arm :

“Englehard ! beware ! The very walls have ears for Thorgard ! You can never know where his spies may be lurking. They are everywhere. Don’t ask me of him.”

“ My good Rembert,” returned the trooper, with a kindly, assuring smile, “ you need not fear to speak freely with me. Suppose I had come to avenge the death of Hildebert, would you not assist me ?”

“ — r sh / Not so loud ! Assist you ? Ah ! if that could be done ! But who can do it? Who can prove anything?” , ...

“ Never mind the proof, my friend. In good time it will be forthcoming, never fear. What I now wish to know is, what is Thorgard doing ? How is he conducting himself ? How may we expect he will receive the Princess of Bohemia ?”

“ Great heaven !” ejaculated the publican, gazing first into his companion’s face, and then casting another anxious glance around the room, “you will not surely trust that beautiful princess within the power of our king ! You do not know him. Englehard, I will speak.” He arose from his seat, and went to the door and looked

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out, listening for a little time ; then came back, and drew his stool close to that of his friend.

“ Tell me,” he said, earnestly, ‘‘is it really your purpose to convey the princess to the court of Thorgard ?”

“ It is.”

“ Why do you do it ? She is of Bohemia. If I remember rightly, her father, with the consent of his chief men, willed to her the throne of the kingdom, she to take up the sceptre when she should be of full age. Am I not right ?”

“ Yes. And the Princess Rowena is of age. Nineteen was the age stated and agreed upon. Word has been received from Thibault, who was named as regent during Rowena’s minority, that he is ready and willing to resign the sceptre into the hands of the legitimate queen. Not only is he ready and willing, but the people clamor for their true princess, not that they are dissatisfied with the regent, but they have not forgotten Maximilian, the just and the good, and they are eager to hail his beautiful daughter as queen.”

“Then, in heaven’s name !” cried Rembert, in blank astonishment, “ why did you not give the princess to her people while the opportunity was yours ? The court of Thibault is at Prague. Did you not come through that city ?”

“ We came very near it, my friend ; but we did not enter within its walls— Stop ! you are asking me that which I cannot answer. There are such things as State secrets, and a man of the common herd had better be found guilty of murder than be known to possess one of them. Suffice it for me to assure you that we are doing as well as we know how. And now, good Rembert, tell me of Thorgard. I judge that you do not love him.”

The publican hesitated, evidently fearing to speak the words that had framed themselves in his mind. Pres-

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ently the trooper laid a hand upon his shoulder, and looked into his eye ; and there was real pain in his voice as he said :

“ Old friend, has it come to this, that you cannot trust Englehard ?”

“ No, no. But far less than I shall say to you might lay low the proudest head in the realm !” The host paused here a momept, and then, in a low, quivering whisper, he went on : “ The tongue of man cannot frame speech harsh enough to truly tell the enormities of Thorgard. He is simply a beast, without anything in his bosom that can be likened to a human heart. Englehard, I would not befoul my tongue with the story of his crimes. Think of a wild boar possessing the instincts of a human tyrarft and marauder. Think of it, if you can, and you will think of Thorgard, King of Moravia !”

“ I thank you, Rembert, for your information. Not even to my master will I give the name of my inform ant. — Ha ! What is that ?”

Both men sprang to their feet. It was the tramp of horses in the court of the inn that had startled them.

“Hark,” said the trooper, as he bent his ear toward one of the windows. “ Someone is questioning your people. Let us know what it means.”

They left the room without further remark, Englehard taking the lead, and reached the porch that opened into the court just in season to see two horsemen ride swiftly away. The old guide could see that the man in the rear was broad-shouldered and tall, and that he wore light scale armor.

“ Rembert, who are those men ?”

Instead of answering, the host descended quickly into the court, and followed one of his grooms to the stable. He was gone ten minutes or more, and when he returned trouble was plainly manifest in his face. He did not speak until he h^d drawn his guest back into the porch. Then he said, with a perceptible tremor in his voice :

“ Those men are out-riders of the king — base tools — spies and informers — who go about the country seeking* whom their master may oppress, whom punish and whom rob. They were near by when your people emerged from the pass this afternoon, and — and — ”

“ They have learned from yo.ur groom who and what we are ?” broke in Englehard, as the other hesitated.

“ Yes. Poor Seifred dared not refuse to answer when he had been bidden to speak.”

“ What answer did he give ? ”

u He said it was the retinue of the Princess of Bohemia.”

“ And the riders asked no more ?”

“ Not another word was spoken. As soon as they had heard that, the pair of them made off, as we saw.”

“ Well, well,” said the stout old trooper, after a little thought, “ it is too late to mend the matter now, though forewarned is forearmed to those who are wise. Do not you worry. Your man was not to blame. We should have kept our own secret. Let me see you again before you sleep. For the present I must warn my master. Ah ! there is mischief in this !”

Chapter II. Karl S Letter

Sir Winfred had bidden the princess good-night, and seen her safely on her way to her chamber, where a faithful sentinel was to keep watch outside her door through the hours of darkness, and had now returned to their private sitting-room, where he sat in deep and troubled thought. His thought was of the lady he had just left. He knew that he loved her — that he loved her with a love that had become part of his very being: And he believed that his love was returned. He was not vain ; he was not given to self-flattery. A hundred little signs, given on the road,— signs seemingly slight, but freighted with momentous consequence to him — had laid her heart open to him. He could not be mistaken. Even now he could feel the exquisite thrill that had touched every nerve as the gleam of the unmistakable lovelight had shone in her tell-tale eyes. He had thought of it before ; but never before as he thought of it now. In a difficult part of the mountain pass, where they had alighted, and gone a goodly distance on foot, she had made a misstep, and he had saved her from a fall — perhaps from a terrible accident. In the gratefulness of the moment, giving way to the emotion that stirred her heart, she had let fall a word,

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and had given him a look, that could leave him no more in doubt.

What should he do ? What could he do ? He was a knight, and a paladin of the great emperor ; but what right had he to lift his eyes to a princess, — to one who might soon become a queen ? For a less crime than that he had seen one of the bravest knights of Christendom publicly disgraced. He would rather die a thousand deaths than suffer knightly degradation.

“ O ! Rowena ! Rowena ! Light of my life. My love, my love,- — why did the emperor thus cast our lots together ? Could he not have seen— could he not have known — what result would follow ?” As the knight thus exclaimed he strode to and fro across the room, with his hands tightly clasped together upon his swelling bosom. “ And I must remain near her,” he went on, stopping in his walk, and bending his eyes to the floor. “Ah!” raising his head quickly, while a fierce convulsion shook his frame,— “ what if I am called upon to protect her from the wiles of Thorgard ? Who shall say what the graceless tyrant may attempt ? At least, the joy of laying down my life in her service may yet be mine. That will be something. Aye, — everything. With my last breath I can dare to speak, and tell her of my love.”

For a full minute he stood, gazing into vacancy, and then his thoughts took another turn.

“I wonder where is Englehard. Surely, he will not seek his rest without conferring with me. He has something to tell me. I have seen it in his honest old face all the afternoon. — Ha !”

As he thus ejaculated, he smote his breast, and turned pale. He had suddenly remembered that the old man had looked as strangely towards the princess as he had towards himself.

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“ Has he seen ? Does he wish to warn me ? O ! dear old friend, fear not. Your master is not bereft of sense. Pity me ; but do not fear.”

A moment later he was aroused by a knock on the door, and presently Englehard himself entered the room.

“ Ah ! good Englehard, I am glad you have come. I have been thinking of you.”

“ Aye, my master, and I have been thinking of you ; and. with good cause. Listen—”

And thereupon the old man went on and told his story. He had commenced while standing, but the knight motioned him to a seat, which he willingly took. He told, first of the report which the host had given him of the character and doings of the Moravian monarch, Thorgard. This he did by repeating Rembert’s language, almost word for word.

And then, when a few questions under that head had been asked and answered, he told of the two outriders — fold how they had seen the cavalcade as it emerged from the mountain pass ; how they had probably hung around until they had seen the last of the men-at-arms disappear ; and how, then, they had entered the court and questioned the groom.

“ Unfortunately, Sir Winfred, the groom knew that the beautiful lady was the Princess of Bohemia, and so he told the riders. Before the morrow is two hours old Thorgard will know that the Princess Rowena is within the lines of his kingdom.”

“Aye, and what then?” said the knight, speaking more lightly then he really felt. “ Do you fancy he wquld dare to offer open violence ?”

“ Indeed, my master, I cannot say what such a man might dare. Be sure, if he shall think it would benefit

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him to make the princess captive, he will not hesitate to do it.”

“ In such a case,” returned the youthful knight, a grim smile lurking around his full lips, and sparkling in his lustrous eyes, “ you and I might have a word to say-^eh ?”

“ By my life ! I believe you,” the old man answered, with a look and a nod that spoke volumes.

“ I am glad we know this thing,” Winfred said, after a little pause. “ When we set forth on the morrow we will be prepared. They shall not find us napping, at all events.”

A silence fell at this point which lasted more than a minute. It was broken by Englehard, who had been thinking deeply, and who now looked up with a deal of trouble in his war-worn face.

“ Sir Winfred, pardon me for the liberty I am about to take. I know it is none of my business, yet it gives me unrest. I think I could face my duty better if I knew.”

Winfred had caught his breath, and now sat like one resigned to martyrdom, being fully assured that the wise, loving old man had resolved to warn him against his love for Rowena. But he was mistaken. Ah! little dreamed he then how greatly mistaken he was !

“Thus far,” pursued Englehard, with a slight tremor in voice, “ I have been content to guide as you have directed, without asking any questions. Can you not trust me now ?”

“ Trust you ?” repeated Winfred, in surprise. “ What is there in which I would not trust you ?”

“ Dear master, I will tell you what has troubled me. It is something which I cannot understand. I allude to the princess. She is of Bohemia. Why have we left her capital behind us ? Why are we taking her on to the court of Moravia — to the court where Thorgard is king ? Did the emperor know ? Did he mean it so ?”

The knight was greatly relieved upon thus discovering that it was not his love for the beautiful princess that had so deeply exercised his faithful friend. He gazed for a time into the old trooper’s face in silence, thinking how he should reply. Very soon, however, he resolved that he would trust him with the whole story, or, at least, so far as he knew it ; but first he would bind him to secrecy.

“ Englehard,” he said, in a low, guarded tone, having first cast a furtive glance around, “ I am myself somewhat in the dark. Our great emperor — God bless and keep him ! — ”

“ Amen !” fervently ejaculated the hearer.

“ Did not give me full information. When I asked him for further directions, he answered that I should receive them in good season. He certainly gave me to understand that 1 should meet at Langwald those who would guide me.”