The Infant's Skull; Or The End of the World. A Tale of the Millennium Read online

  CHAPTER IV.

  A ROYAL COUPLE.

  Blanche remained alone with her husband, whose face, that for a momenthad brightened up, speedily resumed its normal expression of lassitude.The Queen had thrown off her simple vestment of the morning to don amore elaborate costume. Her black hair, braided with pearls, was combedwith skill. She wore an orange colored robe of rich material, with wideflowing sleeves, leaving half exposed her breast and shoulders. A collarand gold bracelets studded with precious stones ornamented her neck andarms. Still reclining on his lounge, now shared by his wife who sat downat its edge, Louis did not even bestow a glance upon her. With his headleaning upon one of the pillows, he was mumbling: "You will see theclumsy fellows will turn out more stupid than the idiot; they will notcatch him."

  "In such a disastrous event," replied Blanche with an insinuating smile,"I shall have to console you, my darling. Why is your face so careworn?Will you not deign as much as to throw your eyes upon your wife, yourhumble servant?"

  Louis indolently turned his head towards his wife and said: "How dressedup you are!"

  "Does this dress please my amiable master?" inquired the Queencaressingly; but noticing that the King suddenly shivered, became gloomyand brusquely turned away his head, she added: "What is the matter,Louis?"

  "I do not like the color of that dress!"

  "I am sorry I did not know the color of orange displeased you, dearseigneur. I would have guarded against putting it on."

  "You were dressed in the same color on the first day of this month lastyear."

  "My memory is not as perfect as yours on the subject, my dearseigneur."

  "It was on the second of May of last year that I saw my father die,poisoned by my mother!" answered the King mournfully.

  "What a sad souvenir! How I now hate this accursed orange color, seeingit awakens such recollections in your mind!"

  The King remained silent; he turned on his cushions and placed his handsover his eyes. The door of the apartment was re-opened and one of thecourtiers said: "Seigneur, despite all our search, we have not been ableto find Yvon the Calf; he must have hidden in some corner; he shall beseverely punished soon as we find him again." Louis made no answer, andBlanche motioned the courtier with an imperious gesture to retire. Leftagain alone, and seeing her husband more and more mentally troubled,Blanche redoubled her blandishments, seeking to provoke a return of hercaresses: "Dear seigneur, your sadness afflicts me."

  "Your tenderness is extreme ... this morning. Quite different fromusual."

  "My tenderness for you increases by reason of the sorrow that I see yousteeped in, dear seigneur."

  "Oh, I lost everything with my father's death," Louis murmureddespondently, and he added with concentrated fury:

  "That felonious bishop of Laon! Poisoner and adulterer! Infamousprelate! And my mother! my mother his accomplice! Such crimes portendthe end of the world! I shall punish the guilty!"

  "Pray, my seigneur, do forget that dark past. What is it you said aboutthe end of the world? It is a fable."

  "A fable! What! Do not the holiest bishops assert that in fourteen yearsthe world must come to an end ... in the year 1000?"

  "What makes me question their assertion, Louis, is that, whileannouncing the end of the world, these prelates recommend to thefaithful to part with their goods to the Church and to donate theirdomains to them."

  "Of what use would it be to keep perishable riches if soon everything isto perish?"

  "But then, dear seigneur, if everything is to perish, what is the Churchto do with the goods that she is eternally demanding from the faithful?"

  "After all, you are right. It may be another imposture of the tonsuredfraternity. Nor should anything of the sort surprise us when we seebishops guilty of adultery and poisoning."

  "You always come back to those lugubrious thoughts, dear seigneur! Prayforget those unworthy calumnies regarding your mother.... Just God! Cana woman be guilty of her husband's murder! Impossible! God would notpermit it!"

  "But did I not witness the agony and death of my father! Oh, the effectof the poison was strange ... terrible!" said the King in sombermeditation. "My father felt his feet growing cold, icy and numb, unableto support him. By degrees the mortal lethargy invaded his othermembers, as if he were being slowly dipped into an ice bath! What aterrible spectacle that was!"

  "There are illnesses so sudden, so strange, my beloved master.... Whensuch crimes are charged, I am of those who say: 'When I see I believe,when I do not see I refuse to accept such theories.'"

  "Oh, I saw but too much!" cried Louis, and again hiding his face in hishands he added in a distressful voice: "I know not why these thoughtsshould plague me to-day. Oh, God, have pity on me. Remove these fearsfrom my spirit!"

  "Louis, do not weep like that, you tear my heart to pieces. Your sadnessis a wrong done to this beautiful May day. Look out of the window atthat brilliant sun; look at the spring verdure of the forest; listen tothe gay twittering of the birds. Why, all around us, everything innature is lovely and joyous; you alone are sad! Come, now, my beautifulseigneur," added Blanche taking both the hands of the King. "I am goingto draw you out of this dejection that distresses me as much as it doesyou.... I am all the gladder at my project, which is intended to pleaseand amuse you."

  "What is your project?"

  "I propose to spend the whole day near you. We shall take our morningmeal here. I have issued orders to that effect, my indolent boy. Afterthat we shall go to mass. We shall then take a long outing in a litterthrough the forest. Finally.... But, no, no, the surprise I have instore for you shall remain a secret. It shall be the price of yoursubmission."

  "What is the surprise about?"

  "You will never have spent such a delightful evening.... You whomeverything tires and whom everything is indifferent to ... you will becharmed by what I have in store for you, my dear husband."

  Louis the Do-nothing, a youth of indolent and puerile mind, felt hiscuriosity pricked, but failed to draw any explanation from Blanche. Afew minutes later the chamberlains and servants entered carrying silverdishes and gold goblets, together with the eatables that were to servefor the morning repast. Other attendants of the royal chamber took upthe large table covered to the floor with tapestry and under which Yvonthe Calf had hidden himself, and carried it forward to the lounge onwhich were Louis and Blanche. Bent under the table, and completelyconcealed by the ample folds of the cover which trailed along the floor,the idiot moved forward on his hands and knees as, carried by theservants, the table was being taken towards the royal lounge. When itwas set down before Louis and Blanche, Yvon also stopped. Menials andequerries were preparing to render the habitual services at table whenthe Queen said smiling to her husband: "Will my charming master consentthat to-day I be his only servant?"

  "If it please you," answered Louis the Do-nothing, and he proceeded inan undertone: "But you know that according to my habit I shall neithereat nor drink anything that you have not tasted before me."

  "What a child you are!" answered Blanche smiling upon her husband withamiable reproach. "Always suspicious! We shall drink from the same cuplike two lovers."

  The officers of the King left upon a sign from the Queen. She remainedalone with Louis.