| Disowned The King sat musing a few moments, then looked up and said—
“‘Tis strange—most strange. I cannot for it.”
“No, it is not strange, my liege. I know him, and this conduct is but natural. He was a rascal from his birth.”
“Oh, I spake not of him, Sir Miles.”
“Not of him? Then of what? What is it that is strange?”
“That the King is not missed.”
“How? Which? I doubt I do not understand.”
“Indeed? Doth it not strike you as being ing strange that the land is not filled with couriers and proclamations describing my person and making search for me? Is it no matter for commotion and distress that the Head of the State is gone; that I am vanished away and lost?”
“Most true, my King, I had forgot.” Then Hendon sighed, and muttered to himself, “Poor ruined mind—still busy with its pathetic dream.”
“But I have a plan that shall right us both—I will write a paper, in three tongues—Latin, Greek and English—and thou shalt haste away with it to London in the morning. Give it to none but my uncle, the Lord Hertford; when he shall see it, he will know and say I wrote it. Then he will send for me.” “Might it not be best, my Prince, that we wait here until I prove myself and make my rights secure to my domains? I should be so much the better able then to—”
The King interrupted him imperiously—
“Peace! What are thy paltry domains, thy trivial interests, contrasted with matters which concern the weal of a nation and the integrity of a throne?” Then, he added, in a gentle voice, as if he were sorry for his severity, “Obey, and have no fear; I will right thee, I will make thee whole—yes, more than whole. I shall , and requite.”
So saying, he took the pen, and set himself to work. Hendon contemplated him lovingly a while, then said to himself—
“An’ it were dark, I should think it was a king that spoke; there’s no denying it, when the humour’s upon on him he doth thunder and lighten like your true King; now where got he that trick? See him scribble and scratch away contentedly at his meaningless pot-hooks, fancying them to be Latin and Greek—and except my wit shall serve me with a lucky device for diverting him from his purpose, I shall be forced to pretend to post away to-morrow on this wild errand he hath invented for me.”
The next moment Sir Miles’s thoughts had gone back to the recent episode. So absorbed was he in his musings, that when the King presently handed him the paper which he had been writing, he received it and pocketed it without being conscious of the act. “How marvellous strange she acted,” he muttered. "I think she knew me—and I think she did not know me. These opinions do conflict, I perceive it plainly; I cannot reconcile them, neither can I, by argument, dismiss either of the two, or even persuade one to outweigh the other. The matter standeth simply thus: she must have known my face, my figure, my voice, for how could it be otherwise? Yet she saidshe knew me not, and that is proof perfect, for she cannot lie. But stop—I think I begin to see. Peradventure he hath influenced her, commanded her, compelled her to lie. That is the solution. The riddle is unriddled. She seemed dead with fear—yes, she was under his compulsion. I will seek her; I will find her; now that he is away, she will speak her true mind. She will the old times when we were little playfellows together, and this will soften her heart, and she will no more betray me, but will confess me. There is no treacherous blood in her—no, she was always honest and true. She has loved me, in those old days—this is my security; for whom one has loved, one cannot betray.”
He stepped eagerly toward the door; at that moment it opened, and the Lady Edith entered. She was very pale, but she walked with a firm step, and her carriage was full of grace and gentle dignity. Her face was as sad as before.
Miles sprang forward, with a happy confidence, to meet her, but she checked him with a hardly perceptible gesture, and he stopped where he was. She seated herself, and asked him to do likewise. Thus simply did she take the sense of old comradeship out of him, and transform him into a stranger and a guest. The surprise of it, the bewildering unexpectedness of it, made him begin to question, for a moment, if he was the person he was pretending to be, after all. The Lady Edith said—
“Sir, I have come to warn you. The mad cannot be persuaded out of their delusions, perchance; but doubtless they may be persuaded to avoid perils. I think this dream of yours hath the seeming of honest truth to you, and therefore is not criminal—but do not tarry here with it; for here it is dangerous.” She looked steadily into Miles’s face a moment, then added, impressively, “It is the more dangerous for that you are much like what our lost lad must have grown to be if he had lived.”
“Heavens, madam, but I am he!”
“I truly think you think it, sir. I question not your honesty in that; I but warn you, that is all. My husband is master in this region; his power hath hardly any limit; the people prosper or starve, as he wills. If you resembled not the man whom you profess to be, my husband might bid you pleasure yourself with your dream in peace; but trust me, I know him well; I know what he will do; he will say to all that you are but a mad impostor, and straightway all will echo him.” She bent upon Miles that same steady look once more, and added: "If you were Miles Hendon, and he knew it and all the region knew it—consider what I am saying, weigh it well—you would stand in the same peril, your punishment would be no less sure; he would deny you and denounce you, and none would be bold enough to give you countenance.”
“Most truly I believe it,” said Miles, bitterly. "The power that can command one life-long friend to betray and disown another, and be obeyed, may well look to be obeyed in quarters where bread and life are on the stake and no cobweb ties of loyalty and honour are concerned.”
A faint tinge appeared for a moment in the lady’s cheek, and she dropped her eyes to the floor; but her voice betrayed no emotion when she proceeded—
“I have warned you—I must still warn you—to go hence. This man will destroy you, else. He is a tyrant who knows no pity. I, who am his fettered slave, know this. Poor Miles, and Arthur, and my dear guardian, Sir Richard, are free of him, and at rest: better that you were with them than that you bide here in the clutches of this miscreant. Your pretensions are a menace to his title and possessions; you have assaulted him in his own house: you are ruined if you stay. Go—do not hesitate. If you lack money, take this purse, I beg of you, and bribe the servants to let you . Oh, be warned, poor soul, and escape while you may.”
Miles declined the purse with a gesture, and rose up and stood before her.
“Grant me one thing,” he said. "Let your eyes rest upon mine, so that I may see if they be steady. There—now answer me. Am I Miles Hendon?”
“No. I know you not.”
“Swear it!”
The answer was low, but distinct—
“I swear.”
“Oh, this es belief!”
“Fly! Why will you waste the precious time? Fly, and save yourself.”
At that moment the officers burst into the room, and a violent struggle began; but Hendon was soon overpowered and dragged away. The King was taken also, and both were bound and led to prison. |
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Repudiado El rey estuvo meditando unos instantes y al fin levant la vista y dijo:
–Extrao, muy extrao! No puedo explicrmelo.
–No, no es extrao, seor. Conozco a mi hermano y su conducta es muy natural. Ha sido un bellaco desde que naci.
–Oh! No hablaba de l, sir Miles.
–No hablabais de l? Pues de quin? Qu es lo que extraas?
–Que no echen de menos al rey.
–Cmo? Qu? No comprendo.
–De veras? No te parece en extremo raro que el pas no est ya lleno de correos y pregones que describan mi persona y me busquen? No es asunto de conmocin ni de pesar que el jefe del Estado haya desaparecido, que yo me haya evaporado como el aire?
—S, muy cierto es, se me haba olvidado –repuso Hendon, que suspir y dijo para su capote–: Pobre mente perdida!... An sigue con su doloroso ensueo.
–Pero tengo un plan que nos har justicia a los dos. Escribir una carta en tres lenguas, latn, griego e ingls, y t maana por la maana irs corriendo con ella hacia Londres. No se la des a nadie ms que a mi to, lord Hertford, que cuando l la vea sabr que yo la he escrito, y entonces enviar por m,
–No sera mejor, prncipe, que espersemos aqu hasta que yo demuestre quin soy y asegure mi derecho a mis bienes? As podras mucho mejor.
–Calla! –le interrumpi el rey imperiosamente–. Qu significan tus pobres dominios, tus vulgares intereses, al lado de cosas que conciernen al bienestar de la nacin y a la integridad de un trono? –y aadi con voz ms dulce, como si se arrepintiera de su rudeza–: Obedece y no temas, que yo enderezar tu entuerto y te restablecer en todo. S, en ms que en todo. Yo lo recordar.
Al decir esto tom la pluma y se puso a escribir. Hendon le contempl amorosamente un rato y se dijo:
–Si estuviramos a oscuras pensara que ha sido un rey el que ha hablado. No se puede negar que cuando le da la vena, lanza truenos y relmpagos como un verdadero rey. De dnde habr sacado esa argucia? Miradle escribir tan contento unos garabatos sin significado, imaginndose que son latn y griego... Y como mi ingenio no d con un arbitrio feliz para apartarle de su propsito, me ver obligado maana a fingir que salgo a cumplir el cometido que ha inventado para m.
Al momento siguiente los pensamientos de sir Miles volvieron al reciente episodio. Tan absorto estaba en sus meditaciones, que, cuando el rey le entreg el papel que haba escrito, lo recibi y guard sin darse cuenta de ello.
–Qu conducta tan rara ha sido la suya! –dijo entre dientes–. Yo creo que ella me ha conocido..., y creo que no me ha conocido. Estas opiniones son contradictorias, lo veo claro. No me es posible conciliarlas ni desechar ninguna de las dos, ni siquiera que una gane a la otra. El caso sencillamente es ste: ha de haber conocido mi cara, mi figura y mi voz, porque cmo podra ser de otro modo? Sin embargo, ha dicha que no me conoca, y eso es una prueba absoluta, porque no es capaz de mentir. Pero..., un momento!... Creo que empiezo a comprender. Acaso l ha influido en ella, le ha obligado a que mienta, le ha exigido mentir. sa es la solucin: el enigma est descifrado. Pareca muerta de terror... S estaba baj su poder. Yo la ver, yo la encontrar. Ahora que l est fuera, ella me dir la verdad, recordar los antiguos tiempos en que ramos compaeros de juegos y esto le ablandar el corazn y no me negar ms, sino que confesar quin soy. Por sus venas no corre sangre engaosa. No; siempre ha sido honesta y fiel. Me amaba en aquellos das de antao. Esa es mi seguridad, porque no se puede hacer traicin a quien se ha amado.
Se acerc angustiosamente a la puerta, que se abri en aquel momento para dar paso a lady Edith. sta llegaba muy plida, pero con paso firme, gracioso continente y con gentil dignidad. Su semblante se vea tan triste como antes.
Miles dio un salto hacia adelante, con serena confianza, para salirle al encuentro, pero Edith le contuvo con un ademn casi imperceptible y el soldado se detuvo. Se sent la dama y le pidi que hiciera otro tanto. As, sencillamente le hizo perder la sensacin de antiguo compaerismo, y lo transform en un desconocido y en un husped. La sorpresa, lo inesperado del momento, oblig a Miles a preguntarse un instante si era en efecto la persona que pretenda ser. Lady Edith dijo:
–He venido a preveniros, caballero. Acaso no es posible disuadir de su engao a los locos, pero sin duda se les puede persuadir a que eviten peligros. Creo que ese sueo vuestro tiene para vos la apariencia de una verdad in artificio, y no es por tanto criminal... Pero no insistis, porque es peligroso. Y aadi con impresionante voz– y mirando de lleno al rostro de Miles–: Es tanto ms peligroso cuanto que os parecis mucho al que habra sido nuestro difunto joven, si hubiera vivido.
–Cielos, seora! Si soy yo mismo.
–Creo, en verdad, que as lo pensis, caballero. No pongo en duda vuestra honradez; no hago sino preveniros. Mi esposo es seor de esta regin; su poder apenas reconoce lmites; la gente prospera o muere de hambre segn sea su voluntad. Si no os parecieseis al hombre que decs ser, mi marido podra consentiros gozar pacficamente de vuestro sueo; pero lo conozco bien y bien s lo que har. Pregonar a todos que no sois sino un loco impostor, y todos le harn coro sin vacilar. –Volvi a clavar en Miles la mirada y aadi–: Si fuerais Miles Hendon y l lo supiera, y lo supiera toda la comarca –fijaos bien en lo que digo y meditadlo bien–, estarais en el mismo peligro, y vuestro castigo no sera menos cierto. l os negara y os denunciara, y nadie osara salir en vuestra defensa.
–Lo creo sin duda alguna –contest Miles con amargura–. La persona que puede ordenar a una amiga de toda la vida que traicione y niegue, y que es obedecida, puede muy bien esperar obediencia en las lugares en que se juegan el pan y la vida y no se tienen en cuenta vnculos de lealtad y honor, ms frgiles que la tela de una araa.
Un dbil rubor apareci un instante en las mejillas de la dama; que baj la vista al suelo; pero su voz no denunci emocin alguna al proseguir:
–Os he prevenido y debo preveniros una vez ms que os vayis de de aqu. De lo contrario, ese hombre os perder. Es un tirano que no conoce la compasin. Yo, que soy su esclava encadenada, lo s muy bien. El pobre Miles, y Arturo, y mi querido tutor sir Ricardo estn libres de l y reposan. Ms os valdra estar con ellos que quedaron aqu, en las garras de ese malvado. Vuestras pretensiones son una amenaza para su ttulo y sus bienes. Le habis agredido en su propia casa y estis perdido si os quedis. No vacilis. Si os falta dinero, tomad esta bolsa que os ofrezco, y sobornad a los criados para que os dejen salir. Oh! Escuchad mi aviso, infeliz, y escapaos mientras estis a tiempo. Rechaz Miles la bolsa con un ademn y se levant diciendo:
–Concededme una cosa. Fijad en los mos vuestros ojos, para que yo me convenza de que estn serenos. As! Ahora respondedme: Soy yo Miles. Hendon? –No; no os conozco.
–Juradlo!
La respuesta son en voz baja, pero clara.
–Lo juro.
–Oh! Esto es inconcebible!
–Huid! Por qu perdis un tiempo tan precioso? Huid y salvaos
En ese momento entraron los alguaciles en la estancia y comenz una violenta lucha, pero Hendon no tard en ser dominado y preso. Llevronse tambin al rey, y ambos fueron maniatados y conducidos a la crcel. |
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