The Rose and the Ring Part 12

Gruffy was seated opposite their Majesties, between the Archbishop and the Lord Chancellor, and a figure of fun she certainly was, for she was dressed in a low white silk dress, with lace over, a wreath of white roses on her wig, a splendid lace veil, and her yellow old neck was covered with diamonds. She ogled the King in such a manner that His Majesty burst out laughing.

'Eleven o'clock!' cries Giglio, as the great Cathedral bell of Blombodinga tolled that hour. 'Gentlemen and ladies, we must be starting. Archbishop, you must be at church, I think, before twelve?'

'We must be at church before twelve,' sighs out Gruffanuff in a languis.h.i.+ng voice, hiding her old face behind her fan.

'And then I shall be the happiest man in my dominions,' cries Giglio, with an elegant bow to the blus.h.i.+ng Rosalba.

'Oh, my Giglio! Oh, my dear Majesty!' exclaims Gruffanuff; 'and can it be that this happy moment at length has arrived--'

'Of course it has arrived,' says the King.

'--and that I am about to become the enraptured bride of my adored Giglio!' continues Gruffanuff. 'Lend me a smelling-bottle, somebody. I certainly shall faint with joy.'

'YOU my bride?' roars out Giglio.

'YOU marry my Prince?' cried poor little Rosalba.

'Pooh! Nonsense! The woman's mad!' exclaims the King. And all the courtiers exhibited by their countenances and expressions, marks of surprise, or ridicule, or incredulity, or wonder.

'I should like to know who else is going to be married, if I am not?'

shrieks out Gruffanuff. 'I should like to know if King Giglio is a gentleman, and if there is such a thing as justice in Paflagonia? Lord Chancellor! my Lord Archbishop! will your Lords.h.i.+ps sit by and see a poor, fond, confiding, tender creature put upon? Has not Prince Giglio promised to marry his Barbara? Is not this Giglio's signature? Does not this paper declare that he is mine, and only mine?' And she handed to his Grace the Archbishop the doc.u.ment which the Prince signed that evening when she wore the magic ring, and Giglio drank so much champagne. And the old Archbishop, taking out his eyegla.s.ses, read--

"'This is to give notice, that I, Giglio, only son of Savio, King of Paflagonia, hereby promise to marry the charming Barbara Griselda, Countess Gruffanuff, and widow of the late Jenkins Gruffanuff, Esq."

'H'm,' says the Archbishop, 'the doc.u.ment is certainly a--a doc.u.ment.'

'Phoo!' says the Lord Chancellor, 'the signature is not in His Majesty's handwriting.' Indeed, since his studies at Bosforo, Giglio had made an immense improvement in caligraphy.

'Is it your handwriting, Giglio?' cries the Fairy Blackstick, with an awful severity of countenance.

'Y--y--y--es,' poor Giglio gasps out, 'I had quite forgotten the confounded paper: she can't mean to hold me by it. You old wretch, what will you take to let me off? Help the Queen, some one--Her Majesty has fainted.'

'Chop her head off!'} exclaim the impetuous 'Smother the old witch!' } Hedzoff, the ardent Smith, and 'Pitch her into the river!'} the faithful Jones.

But Gruffanuff flung her arms round the Archbishop's neck, and bellowed out, 'Justice, justice, my Lord Chancellor!' so loudly, that her piercing shrieks caused everybody to pause. As for Rosalba, she was borne away lifeless by her ladies; and you may imagine the look of agony which Giglio cast towards that lovely being, as his hope, his joy, his darling, his all in all, was thus removed, and in her place the horrid old Gruffanuff rushed up to his side, and once more shrieked out, 'Justice, justice!'

'Won't you take that sum of money which Glumboso hid?' says Giglio; 'two hundred and eighteen thousand millions, or thereabouts. It's a handsome sum.'

'I will have that and you too!' says Gruffanuff.

'Let us throw the crown jewels into the bargain,' gasps out Giglio.

'I will wear them by my Giglio's side!' says Gruffanuff.

'Will half, three-quarters, five-sixths, nineteen-twentieths, of my kingdom do, Countess?' asks the trembling monarch.

'What were all Europe to me without YOU, my Giglio?' cries Gruff, kissing his hand.

'I won't, I can't, I shan't,--I'll resign the crown first,' shouts Giglio, tearing away his hand; but Gruff clung to it.

'I have a competency, my love,' she says, 'and with thee and a cottage thy Barbara will be happy.'

Giglio was half mad with rage by this time. 'I will not marry her,'

says he. 'Oh, Fairy, Fairy, give me counsel?' And as he spoke he looked wildly round at the severe face of the Fairy Blackstick.

"'Why is Fairy Blackstick always advising me, and warning me to keep my word? Does she suppose that I am not a man of honour?"' said the Fairy, quoting Giglio's own haughty words. He quailed under the brightness of her eyes; he felt that there was no escape for him from that awful inquisition.

'Well, Archbishop,' said he in a dreadful voice, that made his Grace start, 'since this Fairy has led me to the height of happiness but to dash me down into the depths of despair, since I am to lose Rosalba, let me at least keep my honour. Get up, Countess, and let us be married; I can keep my word, but I can die afterwards.'

'Oh, dear Giglio,' cries Gruffanuff, skipping up, 'I knew, I knew I could trust thee--I knew that my Prince was the soul of honour. Jump into your carriages, ladies and gentlemen, and let us go to church at once; and as for dying, dear Giglio, no, no:--thou wilt forget that insignificant little chambermaid of a Queen--thou wilt live to be consoled by thy Barbara! She wishes to be a Queen, and not a Queen Dowager, my gracious Lord!' And hanging upon poor Giglio's arm, and leering and grinning in his face in the most disgusting manner, this old wretch tripped off in her white satin shoes, and jumped into the very carriage which had been got ready to convey Giglio and Rosalba to church. The cannons roared again, the bells pealed triple-bobmajors, the people came out flinging flowers upon the path of the royal bride and bridegroom, and Gruff looked out of the gilt coach window and bowed and grinned to them. Phoo! the horrid old wretch!

XIX. AND NOW WE COME TO THE LAST SCENE IN THE PANTOMIME

The many ups and downs of her life had given the Princess Rosalba prodigious strength of mind, and that highly principled young woman presently recovered from her fainting-fit, out of which Fairy Blackstick, by a precious essence which the Fairy always carried in her pocket, awakened her. Instead of tearing her hair, crying, and bemoaning herself, and fainting again, as many young women would have done, Rosalba remembered that she owed an example of firmness to her subjects; and though she loved Giglio more than her life, was determined, as she told the Fairy, not to interfere between him and justice, or to cause him to break his royal word.

'I cannot marry him, but I shall love him always,' says she to Blackstick; 'I will go and be present at his marriage with the Countess, and sign the book, and wish them happy with all my heart. I will see, when I get home, whether I cannot make the new Queen some handsome presents. The Crim Tartary crown diamonds are uncommonly fine, and I shall never have any use for them. I will live and die unmarried like Queen Elizabeth, and, of course, I shall leave my crown to Giglio when I quit this world. Let us go and see them married, my dear Fairy, let me say one last farewell to him; and then, if you please, I will return to my own dominions.'

So the Fairy kissed Rosalba with peculiar tenderness, and at once changed her wand into a very comfortable coach-and-four, with a steady coachman, and two respectable footmen behind, and the Fairy and Rosalba got into the coach, which Angelica and Bulbo entered after them. As for honest Bulbo, he was blubbering in the most pathetic manner, quite overcome by Rosalba's misfortune. She was touched by the honest fellow's sympathy, promised to restore to him the confiscated estates of Duke Padella his father, and created him, as he sat there in the coach, Prince, Highness, and First Grandee of the Crim Tartar Empire. The coach moved on, and, being a fairy coach, soon came up with the bridal procession.

Before the ceremony at church it was the custom in Paflagonia, as it is in other countries, for the bride and bridegroom to sign the Contract of Marriage, which was to be witnessed by the Chancellor, Minister, Lord Mayor, and princ.i.p.al officers of state. Now, as the royal palace was being painted and furnished anew, it was not ready for the reception of the King and his bride, who proposed at first to take up their residence at the Prince's palace, that one which Valoroso occupied when Angelica was born, and before he usurped the throne.

So the marriage party drove up to the palace: the dignitaries got out of their carriages and stood aside: poor Rosalba stepped out of her coach, supported by Bulbo, and stood almost fainting up against the railings so as to have a last look of her dear Giglio. As for Blackstick, she, according to her custom, had flown out of the coach window in some inscrutable manner, and was now standing at the palace door.

Giglio came up the steps with his horrible bride on his arm, looking as pale as if he was going to execution. He only frowned at the Fairy Blackstick--he was angry with her, and thought she came to insult his misery.

'Get out of the way, pray,' says Gruffanuff haughtily. 'I wonder why you are always poking your nose into other people's affairs?'

'Are you determined to make this poor young man unhappy?' says Blackstick.

'To marry him, yes! What business is it of yours? Pray, madam, don't say "you" to a Queen,' cries Gruffanuff.

'You won't take the money he offered you?'

'No.'

'You won't let him off his bargain, though you know you cheated him when you made him sign the paper?'

'Impudence! Policemen, remove this woman!' cries Gruffanuff. And the policemen were rus.h.i.+ng forward, but with a wave of her wand the Fairy struck them all like so many statues in their places.

'You won't take anything in exchange for your bond, Mrs. Gruffanuff,'

cries the Fairy, with awful severity. 'I speak for the last time.'

'No!' shrieks Gruffanuff, stamping with her foot. 'I'll have my husband, my husband, my husband!'

'YOU SHALL HAVE YOUR HUSBAND!' the Fairy Blackstick cried; and advancing a step, laid her hand upon the nose of the KNOCKER.