For The White Christ Part 43

"We have not lacked willingness to learn, Lord Olvir," replied Pepin, and his pale face flushed with pleasure as he caught the approving smile of his hero-count.

"Not we, by Thor!" cried young Karl, and he thumped his st.u.r.dy little chest with a red-knuckled fist. "I shot a roebuck, and Pepin a stag of ten tynes; and we--we trailed a boar."

"Which, I am minded, would have ended in two king's sons the less, little boaster, had not Floki and I trailed you in turn," broke in Liutrad.

"But we 'd already struck the quarry, Lord Olvir! My spear--"

"Go; go, lads," interposed the king, with kindly impatience. "Another time you can tell of your deadly fray. Now we have matters of state before us."

Pepin immediately ran from the chamber; but young Karl lingered for a moment to whisper in Olvir's ear: "Wait for me to tell of the boar. I want to tell."

"There goes a king's son," observed Olvir, as the boy darted away.

Karl nodded: "You say well, Olvir. He is my main hope; he shall be first among his brothers. My people would not stomach the luckless son of Himiltrude. Though the eldest, Pepin is not fitted in mind to stand before the others. Yet he shall have his fair portion. I trust to you four, above all others, to see that the son through whom Heaven has afflicted me for my sins shall not suffer loss in the allotting of my realm."

"We give heedful ear to your Majesty's wish," replied Fulrad. "And now let me deliver the last letter of His Holiness."

With the words, he turned to fumble among the scrolls which crowded his scrip; but before he could pick out the Pope's missive, Pepin and young Karl came running back, with word that Deacon Alcuin was in waiting.

Their father rose at once and signed to the abbot.

"Another time, Fulrad," he said. "Come now and see our school."

CHAPTER V

Out then went Sigurd, The great king's well-loved, From the speech and the sorrow, Sore drooping, sore grieving.

VOLSUNGA SAGA.

As the king pa.s.sed down the main corridor of the villa with Fulrad, Liutrad touched the arm of his earl, and Olvir, giving instant heed to the sign, dropped behind Gerold and the chattering young Franks.

"What now, lad?" he asked, as the others hastened on.

For several paces Liutrad walked along beside him without replying.

Then, his eyes fixed upon the stone pavement, he stammered slowly: "Ring-breaker,--friend,--I must speak out! You yourself first taught me runes, and so--and so--but already you 're aware how I 've been drawn to the White Christ. I know you 'll not be harsh. There are Alcuin and Deacon Paul and many others,--they speak powerfully. I am almost persuaded to become a monk."

"A monk!" cried Olvir. "Has it come to this? Would that long since I had called you aboard s.h.i.+p and sailed away to Trondheim Fiord! The son of Erling a monk!--a beggarly, wifeless, kinless, childless _thing_! By Thor, sooner would I strike you dead! Can you not yourself read and put into deed the runes of the White Christ? Did He not take part in the wedding feast at Cana?"

"True, Olvir; and I know well your horror of the cloisters. I, too, have felt that loathing."

"You may well say loathing! Man is here on earth to live,--to live in fulness of life, abounding in health and strength for the joy and uplifting alike of himself and of others. What, then, is more holy than wedlock and the rearing of strong sons and pure daughters for the welfare of the land?"

"Enough, earl," replied Liutrad, in a low voice. "I shall never become a monk. But I long to give myself to Christ. The secular clergy--"

"Rather, to the Bishop of Rome. You 'd shear off your long locks to become the thrall of a woman-clad Roman. But the evil is less than I dreaded. Fulrad has told me of the king's friends.h.i.+p for you. Before many years we may look to see Karl name you a bishop. As such, you 'd hold no small measure of power and wealth,--a mitred priest-earl, with all the gold and wares and lands of your bishopric to give or take according to your own will. You could do no little good among the downtrodden poor folk. So; it might be worse. When I sail home again to Lade, I shall not have to speak of the son of Erling with face downcast, but can name him in full voice a high liegeman of the Frank king,--an earl of the White Christ."

"May it be long before you leave us, Olvir!" exclaimed Liutrad, and he paused to clasp the hands of his gravely smiling companion. Then together they followed the Franks into the great hall of the villa.

After the ornate magnificence of the Roman basilicas, the audience-chamber appeared far less imposing to Olvir than would have been the case before his Italian mission. Interesting as were the hunting trophies and the rich tapestries which decorated the wall, he was more attracted by the gaily clad group of lords and clergy about the dais.

As the courtiers parted before the king, Olvir's gaze fell upon the crafty, shrivelled face of Kosru, the Magian leech, side by side with Count Hardrat's bloated visage. Though more sober in look than of old, the Thuringian's eyes had acquired a furtive glance, and his features had grown much harsher in outline.

"There stand an odd pair of scholars for the Engleman," muttered Olvir.

"You mean Hardrat and the Asiaman. The old leech has long been known as a searcher for lore; but that such a one as my red pig should show, little less hunger for knowledge than the king himself is, to say the least, very strange. It is even said that he takes part with the leech and Fastrada in their study of the black art. Heaven forfend, ring-breaker, that the daughter of Rudulf seek to weave again the spell which she cast on you in the Southland!"

"Never fear, lad; I 've seen the werwolf's teeth once. There is no need for a second sight."

"Yet I beg you to beware, Olvir. From Kosru, the maiden has had the gift of a ring set with magic opal. The hues of the wonderful gem s.h.i.+ft and change like the tints of the maiden's eyes. Few can withstand the power of that spell; nor has the maiden lost the charm of her beauty.

In face, as in form, she is lovelier than ever."

"Forewarned, forearmed," rejoined Olvir. "And I bear a charm to withstand all the spells of the Thuringian,--the memory of a little child-maid."

"Rothada! She came again from Ch.e.l.les not a fortnight since. Our lord king gave her leave to go back when you fared away to Italy. But see; the king beckons to us. No; it is to Abbot Fulrad. Yet we should be seeking our places; the others draw up their benches. And here comes the queen. The school will soon open."

"Lead on," said Olvir, eager to draw nearer the private pa.s.sage by which Hildegarde and her maidens were entering the hall. Liutrad advanced at once; but the move failed to bring his earl that which he sought.

Hildegarde had paused just across the threshold, to meet the boisterous welcome of Gerold; and while brother and sister exchanged greetings, Olvir looked in vain for the face he longed to see among the half-score of maidens who slipped into the hall behind the queen. While he yet stood there, disappointed and hesitating, the queen turned to him from Gerold.

"Welcome to my lord's bright Dane!" she said. "I see, Olvir, that your wrist is still burdened with my ring."

"I have never ceased to wear it, dear dame, with reverence and grat.i.tude for the giver," replied Olvir, as he bowed to kiss the queen's extended hand.

Hildegarde gazed graciously into his dark face, and answered him with quiet earnestness: "We seek to make you a gift, Olvir, far more precious than any ring,--a pearl beyond price. There is now but one thing in the way,--your resistance to the voice of Holy Church. You have won a warm place in our hearts, Olvir. Consider well, and do not let your pride bar your way into Christ's fold."

"I shall weigh the matter with utmost care," said Olvir; and the answer brought a glow to the anxious face of the queen. But while Liutrad and her brother escorted the royal dame to the dais, he stood lost in thought, his eyes fixed upon the rushes at his feet.

He was aroused by a well-remembered voice, whose soft murmur would have been inaudible but for its sibilance: "Welcome to Count Olvir! Will he not let bygones be bygones, and swear the peace-oath?"

Olvir started and stared keenly about him. On his right, framed as it were by the curtained doorway, and almost within arm's length, stood the daughter of Rudulf, gazing at him from beneath her drooping lashes with an indescribable look,--a half-smile, full of insolence and dread, of love and hate. For the moment all the wild whirl of conflicting emotions which the unexpected sight of her former lover had aroused in the Thuringian's breast stood out plain to view on her face, through its court-mask of dissimulation.

Olvir had no need to look twice to a.s.sure himself that Liutrad was not mistaken when he spoke of the maiden's ripened beauty. She had certainly lost none of her former loveliness, and art had added no little to her charms. The purple dress, cut low after the latest Frankish fas.h.i.+on, suggested every soft curve of the girl's rounded form; her brown hair, with its gleams of gold, was bound by a diadem of all but queenly splendor; while the fingers of her right hand were covered with gem-rings half to the tips. But on her left hand, which she held out to the Northman, there was only one ornament,--the ring whose reputed magical powers had caused Liutrad so much uneasiness. It was fas.h.i.+oned of two miniature serpents, one black, the other red, which held in their jaws an opal of great size and peculiar fire.

For a moment Olvir stood hesitating; then he took the girl's hand, and answered her gravely: "I take the peace offered by Count Rudulf's daughter. There is a saying that those who have broken betrothal bonds can never join in friends.h.i.+p. I trust that with us it may prove otherwise. At the least, I shall seek to heal the wrong which I wrought against you."

"And I, Olvir!" murmured the girl, the rich blood leaping to her cheeks.

"I give thanks for your--friends.h.i.+p. We were not fated to meet under the same roof with cold hearts."

"True, maiden. The past is past. I rejoice that you would now bury it, and accept friends.h.i.+p instead of bitterness."

A look too subtle even for the Northman's eyes flitted across the girl's face, and she tightened the handclasp which he was relaxing.

"It is then peace and--friends.h.i.+p," she said. "Come; the questions begin,--Deacon Alcuin fingers his scrolls. Yonder is a bench behind the others. You shall sit beside me and enlighten my dull wit."

"As you will," replied Olvir, and he turned at once to comply.