CHAPTER XVIII.
A TREACHEROUS INVITATION AND A PRISON.
A merry peal rang out at Fürstenberg, proclaiming another joy added to the many that blessed the happy and dignified household of the castle. Swift messengers conveyed the tidings; and in a few hours other answering peals from tower and burg proclaimed the congratulations of fortress and village. Cottagers and humble burghers came, and in simple speech expressed the honest felicitations of the communities around. Many flagons of beer were emptied; and would-be topers lingered to resume with fresh arrivals the opportunity of again wishing prosperity, and more of it, to the lady and the young lord. A prosperous and peaceful peasantry, and several more pretentious knights an1 vladykas: all felt a common interest, and a fraternal union in the baronial hall; and its joys spread through every home as from a common heart. Zawis naturally displayed that facile and friendly air, and self-possessed cordiality, that enabled him to consort on most companionable terms with all his retainers. Every girl and boy on his estates knew him, and had a smile and greeting; and the lord on his side knew every family grief, and shared it; and a present from the castle always welcomed every new baby aspirant to the honors of the general company. The peculiar dreamy emotionalism of the Moravian peasantry lent a special tinge of sentiment to the fraternalism that prevailed. The tendency ran towards spiritualistic communism, but at this time more from feeling than definitely expressed principle. A gay throng filled the castle, where all were welcome; and the dance and the song, and the wine cup spread and expressed the universal tribute of felicitation. Messages from surrounding magnates arrived; and among others after a day or two, came one with much ceremony from the palace at Prague. Wenzel expressed his own and the queen’s hearty congratulations. Zawis in reply dispatched a special embassy most respectfully inviting the king and queen to Fürstenberg on the occasion of the baptism of his son. Zawis and the Lady Judith also ordered the preparation of costly presents, some of which should consist of Judith’s own handiwork, ananufactured from the finest materials imported from Spain and patterned after the extremely delicate textile fabrics and intricate patterns still produced by the Arab lace-weavers of the peninsula. These exquisite productions rivaled the most filmy material, and the most complicated and yet regular figurings of the Chinese silks, or the brilliant complications of the subtle intellect of Hindostan.
The glorious supremacy of Bohemia over the Indian traffic through Hungary, between 1262 and 1276, by way of the Adriatic, had furnished many splendid samples of these fabrics to the baronial palaces; and one of the most grievous injuries to Bohemia committed by the Habsburgs consisted in the annihilation not only of this trade, but of the manufactures that it introduced and the taste that it educated.
The receipt of the invitation created a surprise, and almost an alarm at Prague.
Consultation succeeded consultation. “If we accept this proposal,” declared the queen, “we shall place ourselves in his power; and no inducement could persuade me to do that. He is master of mysterious arts; and his magician’s skill associates his presence with evil agencies. I should dread to place myself within the immediate neighborhood of his conjurations.”
“His walls are strong,” said Nicolas, “and his power is formidable; it is not expedient that the king should submit to the grace of a dangerous conspirator and usurper. Zawis holds still fifty thousand marks of the king’s revenues; and control of the king’s person would enable him to obtain a release from that obligation, besides we know not what other conditions. His marriage with the Queen Kunigunde arose from an attempt to seize the crown; and there are persons nearer to the king who have a better right. Had Queen Margaret continued in her rightful place, although childless, Bohemia must have exercised her elective right in my favor. Kunigunde displaced Queen Margaret; and I shall never consent that the king shall honor the usurper by accepting his presumptuous proposal.”
“My judgment is,” observed bishop Tobias, “that it is for the king’s highness to command, and for his subjects to obey without hesitation. The king is the fountain of power, even as he is instructed and guided by the church to exercise it. Should the king graciously present himself at the lordly hall of an arrogant baron it must be of special favor conferred on an applicant in person. Let the king’s grace summon this suspected man before his presence; and if the king should then decide that justice requires an acknowledgment of errors, or a penalty for misdeeds, the king’s hand can arrest the criminal where he expects no displeasure, and is not prepared for resistance. Let this man be cautiously requested to present his invitation in person at the king’s court; and the royal wisdom can then discharge its duties.”
This peremptory proposal gratified the assembly, who had long meditated the seizure of Zawis, but had failed to devise an opportunity by arranging a suitable enticement to him to abandon the safe precincts of his fortress.
Zawis received the counter-invitation without misgiving, “I am apprehensive, dear,” observed the Lady Judith. “I felt a thrill as of presentiment when the message was announced. A veiled lady comes and goes, and I observe that she is regarded with side glances. Her half-religious costume, and her veil prevent inquiry as to her purposes. I apprehend some ill if you should place yourself beyond the power of your own defenders.”
“I thank you for you solicitude, my dear,” replied Zawis. “Your personal regard suggests these fears. I have received the king’s formal invitation by royal messenger; and I cannot even suspect the young sovereign of Bohemia of aught but friendly motives. I have always received from the king generous marks of respect and confidence; and I cannot feel at liberty to attribute to his highness any motive but those of kingly honor. Though I am not impressed with much respect for some of his councilors; yet a Premysl has never disgraced his knightly word, however he may have yielded to the suddea impulse of harsh feeling. I cannot believe my king to be a conspirator.”
As Zawis prepared for his journey a gloom settled on his abode.
Men and women whispered, and looked aghast. An undefined alarm created a mysterious silence; as if the humble minds of the household, accustomed to observe the symptoms of deceit, and less moved by a lofty sense of chivalry in presence of suspicious movements, had interpreted significant signs and rumors with a sense more keen, and a judgment more natural than the highminded nobleman himself would or could have interpreted the same symptoms.
At the king’s court Zawis presented himself with cheerful confidence. As his errand required very brief sojourn, he requested an audience of the queen; and was immediately presented. The queen, surrounded by her confessor, Nicolas, her ladies, with Agaphia in attendance also, regarded Zawis with rigid apprehension and suspicion. To his obeisance she scarcely inclined even her eyes.
“According to his majesty’s command,” he said, “I have come to solicit the honor of the king’s presence at Fürstenberg, on the occasion of the baptism of my son. The lady Judith will feel honored and gratified at being able to testify to your highness in person her appreciation of your gracious presence, and her fidelity to your royal eminence. With profound respect we join in soliciting the presence of our sovereign and his consort.”
Having concluded this address, Zawis then unrolled a long, delicate and most elaborate lace veil of exquisite beauty of material and of texture. Presenting it most cordially to the queen, Zawis said: “We respectfully tender to your highness a testimonial of our homage and esteem, and of our duty to our prince and his consort.”
Judith shrank from the splendid gift with horror, exclaiming, “Touch me not with the accursed token of your magic and your sorcery. Let some attendant thrust the satanic device with rude weapon into the flames.” Instantly two guards with their axe pikes plucked the beautiful present from the hands of the amazed donor, and with many thrusts and stabs tearing it into sections forced the friendly offering into the burning brazier. Instantly the queen and her attendants retired; and nine stalwart guards seized the indignant Zawis and attempted to pinion his arms. Long and desperately did the gallant knight struggle with his captors.
Three fell dead before his blows, two more lay wounded; but overborne by numbers, and fainting with loss of blood, at last the confiding victim found himself heavily manacled and a close captive ina dungeon in the White Tower of the Burgate.
A long swoon caused by excessive bleeding relieved the prisoner from the fever of indignation that must otherwise have consumed and maddened him. Only with slowly returning life did memory and reflection reappear; and, as consciousness revived but dimly for a time, the strong man was spared the mocking torture of self-reproach for his own manly trustfulness.
Quiet resignation, and dignified acceptance of the fate now expected exhibited the knightly courage of the prisoner. Through the intervention of Agaphia, Nicolas Jaroslav, still immured in the same prison, became aware of the neighborhood of the illustrious captive. By appeals to those lurking sentiments of humanity which even jailers seldom wholly lose, Nicolas contrived to communicate his presence and some details of information concerning the cause of their common sufferings.
Even the guards learned, as they generally do, to estimate the coarse injustice exhibited in the case of these two prisoners; and a kind word and a respectful tone often relieved and cheered the lonely hours of both men. Through this source Zawis acquired some intimation of the probable manner of the abstraction of the missing record. “I know my wife and children are safe,” he mused. “Witek and Drda, and good old Lord Boppo, if he survives, will defend my fortresses to the last. Only a brave example of the undaunted soul that integrity can impart becomes me now; and I know I shall never shrink from a knight’s full duty, whether in the face of the declared foe, or the dark conspirator. I contend as truly here for the honor of my rank and soldierhood as in the furious onset, the deadly camp, or the consuming famine. A soldier must expect all of these; and it is his duty to confront them as he may. But it is a new experience in a knight’s education when he is required to stand on guard against the treachery of his own prince, and the deadly advantage taken of his own loyalty. Brought up, as I have been, in the manly school of the Premysls, I feel a flush of shame at the dastard spirit that seems to reign in the palace of a gallant race. Assuredly a new school of honor, of policy, and of integrity has usurped the place of the chivalry of the past. Dark deceit, double-meaning casuistry, mental reservation, cowardly prevarication, and shameless falsehood have banished the candor, the ingenuousness, the unswerving courage, and perhaps the rash combativeness of the past. Never has the palace of the Premysls sunk in the abyss of infamy by the deliberate prostitution of sacred hospitality to the malignant purposes of studied treachery, until a new race and an alien philosophy has perverted the soul of the prince of Bohemia. The new dynasty is being built up in evil, and must encounter the inevitable retribution of evil.”
Calmed by these reflections and cheered by his soldierly acceptance of peril, come from whence it might, Zawis regained his composure; and if his enemies counted on darkness, solitude, and the violent transition from honor and dignity to want and squalor, to bend his spirit to confession of wrong-doing, assuredly the expectation encountered elements far above its reach. As the days wore on Zawis assumed an air of placid dignity.
His early studies filled his memory; and his thoughts supplied abundant society of the great and good to people his cell with the bright presence and brilliant intellects of the noble and the wise. Heroes and philosophers, saints and sages lent their inspiration; and Zawis ascended even above his own courage by the communings of the soldier, the philosopher, and the investigator.