Valperga (40 page)

Looking up, she saw at a small window of one of the projecting
towers the Albinois, who appeared furbishing and repairing arms.
"Are we so straitened for men," she said, "that you
are obliged to turn armourer, my poor Bindo?"

"Not an armourer, but a soldier, lady; tomorrow I gird on
my sword for your defence."

"You, and a sword! Nay, that is impossible; you must not
expose yourself to danger, where you can do no good."

"Countess, have firm hope; I have learned from the stars,
that tomorrow is a fortunate day for us. I have visited the holy
fountain; and, sprinkling its waters three times around, I have
called on its saints to aid us: tomorrow is named as a lucky day
for us, and I will be among your defenders."

He spoke earnestly; and so highly wrought were the feelings of
Euthanasia, that, although at another time she might have smiled,
she could now with difficulty repress her tears. "If you would
defend me," she replied, "wait then near me; I will not
indeed have you risk your life to no end."

"Why, Madonna," said Bindo, "should you care more
for my life, than for those of the brave fellows who will tomorrow
die for you? We shall succeed; but death will be among us; and
tomorrow many a child will lose its father, and many a wife her
husband, fighting for this heap of stones which can feel neither
defeat nor triumph. I will be among them; fear not, St. Martin has
declared for us."

There are moments in our lives, when the chance-word of a madman
or a fool is sufficient to cause our misery; and such was the
present state of Euthanasia's mind. She hastily retreated to
solitude, and in earnest thought tried to overcome the effect of
the conscience- stricken wound which the Albinois had inflicted. We
are distrustful of ourselves; so little do we depend upon our human
reason, that, on the eve of any action, even the most praiseworthy,
it will sometimes assume another semblance, and that will appear
selfish wilfulness, or at best a distorted freak of the
imagination, which, when we first contemplated it, seemed the
highest effort of human virtue. It had appeared to Euthanasia her
first duty to resist the incroachments of Castruccio, and to
preserve the independence of her subjects. Now again she paused,
and thought that all the shows this world presents were dearly
bought at the price of one drop of human blood. She doubted the
purity of her own motives; she doubted the justification which even
now she was called upon to make at the tribunal of her conscience,
and hereafter before that of her God; she stopped, and shivered on
the brink of her purpose, as a mighty fragment of rock will pause
shaking at the edge of a precipice, and then fall to the darkness
that must receive it.

"The earth is a wide sea," she cried, "and we its
passing bubbles; it is a changeful heaven, and we its smallest and
swiftest driven vapours; all changes, all passes--nothing is
stable, nothing for one moment the same. But, if it be so, oh my
God! if in Eternity all the years that man has numbered on this
green earth be but a point, and we but the minutest speck in the
great whole, why is the present moment every thing to us? Why do
our minds, grasping all, feel as if eternity and immeasurable space
were kernelled up in one instantaneous sensation? We look back to
times past, and we mass them together, and say in such a year such
and such events took place, such wars occupied that year, and
during the next there was peace. Yet each year was then divided
into weeks, days, minutes, and slow-moving seconds, during which
there were human minds to note and distinguish them, as now. We
think of a small motion of the dial as of an eternity; yet ages
have past, and they are but hours; the present moment will soon be
only a memory, an unseen atom in the night of by-gone time. A
hundred years hence, and young and old we shall all be gathered to
the dust, and I shall no longer feel the coil that is at work in my
heart, or any longer struggle within the inextricable bonds of
fate. I know this; but yet this moment, this point of time, during
which the sun makes but one round amidst the many millions it has
made, and the many millions it will make, this moment is all to me.
Most willingly, nay, most earnestly, do I pray that I may die this
night, and that all contention may cease with the beatings of my
heart. Yet, if I live, shall I submit? Is all that we prize but a
shadow? Are tyranny, and cruelty, and liberty, and virtue only
names? Or, are they not rather the misery of joy, that makes our
hearts the abode of storms, or as a smiling, flower-covered isle?
Oh! I will no longer question my purpose, or waver where necessity
ought to inspire me with courage. One heart is too weak to contain
so overwhelming a contention."

While her melancholy thoughts thus wandered, and she seemed to
range in idea through the whole universe, yet no where found
repose, it was announced to her that Bondelmonti and his soldiers
had arrived, and that the chief desired to see her. There was
something in the name of Bondelmonti that struck a favourable chord
in her heart; he had been her father's friend; he was her
guardian, and, although she had sometimes run counter to his
advice, yet she always felt most happy when his opinion coincided
with hers. His presence thus announced seemed to cancel half her
care; she collected all the courage she possessed, and that was a
mighty store, and descended, even smiling, to the hall; her cares
and regrets were leashed like dogs by the huntsmen, but they
neither bayed nor yelled, but cowered in silence. Bondelmonti was
struck by the serenity of her aspect; and his countenance changed
from the doubt it had before expressed, to a frank and gallant
address.

"Madonna," said he, "the work we undertake is
difficult; Castruccio keeps our army in check, and guards the
passes; and the fifty men that I bring you, is all out of three
hundred that could pass the Serchio. Have good heart however, your
castle walls are strong and will resist all the stones with which
their battifolle can batter it, if indeed they can scale the rock,
which we must make as impracticable as we can. But this is not
fitting work for you, fair countess; do you retire to rest; I would
indeed that we could place you in safety in Florence out of all
danger, where you would not be able to hear the clash of arms that
tomorrow will resound in this castle. But I know that you have
courage; and I now see all the calm fortitude of your father shine
in your clear eyes; you are a good girl, Euthanasia, a good and a
wise girl, and be assured that every drop of blood that warms my
heart, every faculty of my body or my mind, are devoted to your
cause."

Euthanasia thanked him in the warm language her feeling heart
dictated, and he continued; "I should have much to say to you,
much encouragement from your friends and messages of praise and
affection; but my time is short: believe then in one word, that all
your Florentine friends love, approve and admire you; and if you
fall, which this good sword forbid, we shall at least have this
consolation, that our long absent Euthanasia will reappear among
us. But now to the works of war; I will apply to your seneschal to
know what food you have in the castle, and what possibilities there
are of increasing your stock; and your principal officers shall
shew me your works of defence, that I may concert with them the
plan for to-morrow's combat."

Euthanasia however undertook this task herself: she was too much
agitated, not to find some relief in the shew of composure which
she preserved with Bondelmonti, and in the exertion of explaining
and pointing out the various modes of defence which she had
adopted, in addition to those with which nature had furnished her
habitation. The castle was built, as I have before said, on the
projecting platform of a precipitous mountain: the wall of the
edifice itself was thick and strong; and but a small way removed
from it was a lower wall, built with corner towers and battlements,
which at once defended the main building, and sheltered the
besieged, who could shower stones and arrows on the assailants from
the portholes, and be in no danger of retaliation. Before the gate
of the castle was a green plot, about fifteen paces across, planted
with a few cork and ilex trees, and surrounded by a barbican or low
wall built on the edge of the precipice, which, high, bare, and
inaccessible, hung over the plain below. Between the wall and the
barbican, a path ran round one side of the castle, which was
terminated by massy gates and a portcullis; and it was there that,
crossing the chasm which insulated the castle, by means of a
drawbridge, you found the path that conducted to the plain. This
path was defended by various works; palisades, wooden towers to
shelter archers, and more by nature herself, for the rock and the
trees were all so many asylums whence the defenders could uninjured
prevent the approach of an enemy.

"This is all excellent," said Bondelmonti; "it is
impossible that all the armies of Italy could force this pass,
though it were defended only by a handful. But, Madonna, is there
no other entrance to your castle? Is there no postern with a path
up or down the mountain, whose secret your enemies may learn, and
thus attack you unawares?"

"None; the only postern is that which opens on a path
conducting to a small fountain about a hundred paces up the
acclivity; but there it stops, and the rock rising precipitously
behind forbids approach."

"It is well. I will now review your soldiers, appoint their
various posts, and see that mine are refreshed; then, cousin,
having tasted your wine, I will go to rest, that I may awake
betimes to-morrow. I am resolved that all shall go well; Castruccio
will be defeated; and you shall ever be, as you deserve, the
castellana of Valperga."

The tables were spread in the great hall of the castle, and
heaped with wine and food. After Euthanasia had seen every want of
her guests supplied, she retired to her own room at the eastern
angle of the castle, one window of which overlooked the whole plain
of Lucca; and she sat near this window, unable to rest or sleep, in
that breathless and feverish state, in which we expect a coming,
but uncertain danger.

The veil of night was at length withdrawn; first Euthanasia saw
the stars wax faint, and then the western sky caught a crimson
tinge from the opposing sun. It was long ere he climbed the eastern
hill; but his rays fell upon the opposite mountains, and the
windows of the castle of Valperga shone dazzlingly bright. A
reveillée was sounded in the court below, and roused the young
countess from her waking dreams, to the reality that yawned as a
gulf before her. First, she composed her dress, and bound the
wandering locks of her hair round her head; then for a moment she
stood, her hands folded on her bosom, her eyes cast up to heaven.
At first her countenance expressed pain: but it changed; her pale
cheek began to glow, her brow became clear from the cloud that had
dimmed it, her eyes grew brighter, and her whole form gained
dignity and firmness. "I do my duty," she thought,
"and in that dear belief do I place my strength; I do my duty
towards myself, towards my peasants, towards Castruccio, from whose
hands I detain only the power of doing greater ill; God is my help,
and I fear not."

Thinking and feeling thus, she descended to the hall of the
castle; most of the soldiers had gone to their posts; but
Bondelmonti, and some of those of higher rank in her party and
household, were waiting her appearance. She entered not gaily, but
serenely; and her beauty, the courage painted on her face, and her
thrilling tone as she bade them good morrow, inspired them with a
simultaneous emotion, which they almost expressed, and midway
checked their voices. Bondelmonti kissed her hand; "Farewell,
my friends," she said; "you risk your lives for me, and
the sacrifice of mine were a poor recompense; my honour, my every
hope rests upon your swords; they are wielded by those who love me,
and I do not fear the result."

Bondelmonti addressed himself to the combat, ordered the men to
their posts, and took his own station on the drawbridge of the
castle. The winding path which led to the foot of the mountain, was
lined with archers and slingers, who were hid behind the projecting
rocks or trees, or within small wooden towers, erected for the
purpose. A chosen band armed with long spears was stationed in firm
array at the most precipitous part of the path, who, drawn up in
close rank, and advancing their arms, formed an outwork of iron
spikes, impossible to be passed or driven back. The foremost in the
combat were the dependents of Euthanasia; they were full of that
loud, but undisciplined courage which anger and fear inspire; Bindo
was among them, and he harangued them, saying, that every sign in
the heavens, and every power of air, was propitious to their
mistress; at other times they had derided his superstition; but now
it acted as another incentive to their indignation, and supporter
for their courage.

In the mean time Euthanasia had retired to the apartment of
Lauretta. This unfortunate lady had remained in the castle since
the death of her husband; and such was the agony of grief she
endured, that Euthanasia had not communicated to her the threats of
Castruccio, and the approaching siege. The noise of arms, and the
sound of many voices alarmed her; and she wildly asked the cause.
Her friend related to her the events of the few last days, and
endeavoured to calm her; Lauretta listened in fear; she had
suffered so much by the like contentions, that every thing
presented itself to her in the gloomiest point of view. Grasping
the countess's hand, she intreated her to submit; "You
know not what a siege is," she cried; "my father's
castle was stormed, and therefore I well know. Even if Castruccio
were at the head of his troops, he would in vain endeavour to
restrain their fury; a triumphant soldier is worse than the buffalo
of the forest, and no humanity can check his thirst for blood and
outrage; they will conquer, and neither God nor man can save
us."