Temporal Power: A Study in Supremacy Part 24

As the final words left his lips, a rich note of melody stirred the air, and a song in which words and music seemed thoroughly welded together, rose vibratingly up to the quiet sky:

"Here by the sea, My Love found me!

Seagulls over the waves were swinging; Mermaids down in their caves were singing, And one little star in the rosy sky Sparkled above like an angel's eye!

My Love found me, And I and he Plighted our troth eternally!

Oh day of splendour, And self-surrender!

The day when my Love found me!

Here, by the sea, My King crown'd me!

Wild ocean sang for my Coronation, With the jubilant voice of a mighty nation!-- 'Mid the towering rocks he set my throne, And made me forever and ever his own!

My King crown'd me, And I and he Are one till the world shall cease to be!

Oh sweet love story!

Oh night of glory!

The night when my King crown'd me!"

No language could ever describe the marvellous sweetness of the voice that sung these lines; it was so full of exquisite triumph, tenderness and pa.s.sion, that it seemed more supernatural than human. When the song ceased, a great wave dashed on the sh.o.r.e, like a closing organ chord, and Von Glauben spoke.

"There! You wanted your own way, my princess, and you have had it! You have sung like one of the seraphim;--do not be surprised if mortals are drawn to listen. Sst! What is that?"

There was a pause. The King had inadvertently cracked a twig on one of the pine-boughs he was holding back in an endeavour to see the speakers.

But he now boldly pushed on, beckoning De Launay to follow close, and in another minute had emerged on a small sandy plateau, which led, by means of an ascending path, to a rocky eminence, encircled by huge boulders and rocky pinnacles, which somewhat resembled peaks of white coral,--and here, on a height above him,--with the afternoon sun-glow bathing her in its full mellow radiance, sat a visibly enthroned G.o.ddess of the landscape,--a girl, or rather a perfect woman, more beautiful than any he had ever seen, or even imagined. He stared up at her in dazzled wonder, half blinded by the brightness of the sun and her almost equally blinding loveliness.

"Gloria!" he exclaimed breathlessly, hardly conscious of his own utterance; "You are Gloria!"

The fair vision rose, and came swiftly forward with an astonished look in her bright deep eyes.

"Yes!" she said, "I am Gloria!"

CHAPTER XII

A SEA PRINCESS

Scarcely had she thus declared herself, when the Bismarckian head and shoulders of Von Glauben appeared above the protecting boulders; and moving with deliberate caution, the rest of his body came slowly after, till he stood fully declared in an att.i.tude of military 'attention.' He showed neither alarm nor confusion at seeing the King; on the contrary, the fixed, wooden expression of his countenance betokened some deeply-seated mental obstinacy, and he faced his Royal master with the utmost composure, lifting the slouched hat he wore with his usual stiff and soldierly dignity, though carefully avoiding the amazed stare of his friend, Sir Roger de Launay.

The King glanced him up and down with a smiling air of amused curiosity.

"So this is how you pursue your scientific studies, Professor!" he said lightly; "Well!"--and he turned his eyes, full of admiration, on the beautiful creature who stood silently confronting him with all that perfect ease which expresses a well-balanced mind,--"Wisdom is often symbolised to us as a marble G.o.ddess,--but when Pallas Athene takes so fair a shape of flesh and blood as this, who shall blame even a veteran philosopher for sitting at her feet in wors.h.i.+p!"

"Pardon me, Sir," returned Von Glauben calmly; "There is no G.o.ddess of Wisdom here, so please you, but only a very simple and unworldly young woman. She is--" Here he hesitated a moment, then went on--"She is merely the adopted child of a fisherman living on these Islands."

"I am aware of that!" said the King still smiling. "Rene Ronsard is his name. He is my host to-day; and he has told me something of her. But, certes, he did not mention that you had adopted her also!"

Von Glauben flushed vexedly.

"Sir," he stammered, "I could explain--"

"Another time!" interrupted the King, with a touch of asperity.

"Meanwhile, present your--your pupil in the poesy of Heine,--to me!"

Thus commanded, the Professor, casting a vexed glance at De Launay, who did not in the least comprehend his distress, went to the girl, who during their brief conversation had stood quietly looking from one to the other with an expression of half-amused disdain on her lovely features.

"Gloria," he began reluctantly--then whispering in her ear, he muttered--"I told you your voice would do mischief, and it has done it!"

Then aloud--"Gloria,--this--this is the King!"

She smiled, but did not change her erect and easy att.i.tude.

"The King is welcome!" she said simply.

She had evidently no intention of saluting the monarch; and Sir Roger de Launay gazed at her in mingled surprise and admiration. She was certainly wonderfully beautiful. Her complexion had the soft clear transparency of a pink sea-sh.e.l.l--her eyes, large and l.u.s.trous, were as densely blue as the dark azure in the depths of a wave,--and her hair, of a warm bronze chestnut, caught back with a single band of red coral, seemed to have gathered in its rich curling cl.u.s.ters all the deepest tints of autumn leaves flecked with a golden touch of the sun. Her figure, clad in a straight garment of rough white homespun, was the model of perfect womanhood. She stood a little above the medium height, her fair head poised proudly on regal shoulders, while the curve of the full bosom would have baffled the sculptural genius of a Phidias. The whole exquisite outline of her person was the expressed essence of beauty, from the lightest wave of her hair, down to her slender ankles and small feet; and the look that irradiated her n.o.ble features was that of child-like happiness and repose,--the untired expression of one who had never known any other life than the innocent enjoyment bestowed upon her by G.o.d and divine Nature. Beautiful as his Queen-Consort was and always had been, the King was forced to admit to himself that here was a woman far more beautiful,--and as he looked upon her critically, he saw that there was a light and splendour about her which only the happiness of Love can give. Her whole aspect was as of one uplifted into a finer atmosphere than that of earth,--she seemed to exhale purity from herself, as a rose exhales perfume, and her undisturbed serenity and dignity, when made aware of the Royal presence, were evidently not the outcome of ill-breeding or discourtesy, but of mere self-respect and independence. He approached her with a strange hesitation, which for him was quite a new experience.

"I am glad I have been fortunate enough to meet you!" he said gently;--"Some kindly fate guided my steps down the path which brought me to this part of the sh.o.r.e, else I might have gone away without seeing you!"

"That would have been no loss to your Majesty," answered Gloria calmly;--"For to see me, is of no use to anyone!"

"Would your husband say so?" hazarded the King with a smile.

Her eyes flashed.

"My husband would say what is right," she replied. "He would know better how to talk to you than I do!"

He had insensibly drawn nearer to her as he spoke; meanwhile Von Glauben, with a disconsolate air, had joined Sir Roger de Launay, who, by an enquiring look and anxious uplifting of his eyebrows, dumbly asked what was to be the upshot of this affair,--only to receive a dismal shake of the head in reply.

"Possibly I know your husband," went on the King, anxious to continue conversation with so beautiful a creature. "If I do, and he is in my personal service, he shall not lack promotion! Will you tell me his name?"

A startled look came into the girl's eyes, and a deep blush swept over her fair cheeks.

"I dare not!" she said;--"He has forbidden me!"

"Forbidden you!" The King recoiled a step--a vague suspicion rankled in his mind. "Then, though your King asks you a friendly question, you refuse to answer it?"

Von Glauben here gripped Sir Roger so fiercely by the arm, that the latter nearly cried out with pain.

"She must not tell," he muttered--"She must not--she will not!"

But Gloria was looking straight at her Royal questioner.

"I have no King but my husband!" she said firmly. "I have sworn before G.o.d to obey him in all things, and I will not break my vow!"

"Good girl! Wise girl!" exclaimed Von Glauben. "Ach, if all the beautiful women so guarded their tongues and obeyed their husbands, what a happy world it would be!"

The King turned upon him.

"True! But you are not bound by the confidences of marriage, Professor,--so that while in our service our will must be your law! You, therefore, can perhaps tell me the name of the fortunate man who has wedded this fair lady?"

The Professor's countenance visibly reddened.