“你将发现这是蛮干，”海拉丁说道，“你要知道，讲打仗我们三个是算不了什么的。这家伙曾经和法国最优秀的骑士交过锋，而且打得很出色。我就晓得有人亲眼看见他打得杜诺瓦难以招架。”
“冰雹和雷雨！你是个胆小鬼，才会讲这种话。”那德国兵说道。
“我并不比你更胆小，”海拉丁说道，”不过，打仗并不是我的本行。如果你在原地按约定的计划办，那也很好。如果不行，我就把她们平安地带到主教的教廷。要是威廉•德拉马克真像他一个星期前夸耀的那么强大，他就可以轻而易举地把她们抢走。”
“那还用说，”德国长矛手说道，“我们不但和过去一样强大，而且还变得更为强大。不过我们听说勃艮第派去一百名长矛手，你瞧，一名长矛手配四名扈从，那就等于五百人。我敢担保他们更愿意找我们的麻烦，而不是我们更愿意找他们的麻烦。事实上，那主教已经有一支正规编制的军队——我说的一点不假！”
“这么说，你们必须在‘三王十字’打伏击，否则就得放弃这个冒险计划。”波希米亚人说道。
“放弃——放弃能给我们高贵的首领找个有钱的新娘的计划？见鬼哟！我宁可去地狱打冲锋，也决不放弃这个计划。老天爷！将来我们都会成为亲王和人们称之为公爵的贵族，我们将在发霉的法国王宫喝酒，或等那长胡子首领对她们厌倦以后去和美丽的姑娘喝酒。”
“那么‘三王十字’的伏击计划仍然有效吗？”波希米亚人问道。
“我的上帝，当然还有效——你得保证把他们带到那儿。他们要在那十字架前下跪，会跳下马来——除开你这种异教徒以外，所有的人都会跳下马来的。这时我们就向他们发起进攻，而那两个女人也就会落到我们手上。”
“好，我同意你要点必要的阴谋诡计。但得有个条件，”海拉丁说道，“我不许你们损伤那年轻人一根毫毛。如果你凭你们的‘科隆三古人’发誓，向我保证这一点，那么我可以凭‘七个夜游神’向你发誓，其余各点我决不食言。如果你破坏你的誓言，‘七个夜游神’就会接连七个晚上把你从午夜和早晨之间的睡梦中吵醒，而第八个晚上就会掐死你，把你吃掉。”
“不过，雷电和冰雹呀，你干吗要那么稀罕和你非亲非故的这个小伙子的性命呢？”
“你别问这个了，诚实的汉里克。有些人对割别人脖子感兴趣，另一些人则对保全别人的脖子感兴趣——好了，你就向我赌咒，决不伤他一根毫毛吧。否则，凭明亮的阿多波兰星座说，这事就算拉倒——就凭你们所说的‘科隆三王’发誓吧。我晓得别的赌咒你们都是不在乎的。”
“你这人真有点滑稽。”长矛手说，“好吧，我发誓——”
“不行，”波希米亚人说，“勇敢的长矛手，你得转过脸来面向东方，否则那三个国王听不见你说的话。”
那丘人按规定的方式赌了咒。然后他说他可以很快作好准备，因为那个地方离他们现在的营地还不到五英里，采取行动十分方便。
“要是把一小队骑兵布置在靠客店左边的大路上，那么，万一他们走那条路，也可以叫他们落网，这样岂不更保险？”
那波希米亚人考虑了一会回答道：“不好——你们的队伍在那边出现会惊动纳慕尔的守军。你们的伏击战就会大成问题，而不会有必胜的把握。再说，他们将会沿马埃斯河的右岸走，因为我可以想走哪条路就带他们走哪条路。这个苏格兰山地人固然很机灵，但在路线问题上除了征求我的意见以外，还从没征求过别人的意见。这不用说，因为我是被一位可靠的朋友指派给他的，除非对这人有所了解，否则谁也不会对他的话有任何怀疑。”
“你听我说，海拉丁朋友，”那大兵说道，“我想问你个问题：你自己说，你和你的兄弟都是了不起的占星术家和算命先生，那么，你为什么没预见到你兄弟扎迈特被绞死呢？”
“我告诉你吧，汉里克，”海拉丁说道，“要是我早知道我兄弟会愚蠢到把路易王的打算告诉勃艮第查尔斯公爵，那我就能够像预言七月会有好天气那样，预言他一定会死于非命。路易在勃艮第宫廷里既有耳目，也有帮手。查尔斯的谋臣们爱听法国金币的丁当声，就像你爱听酒罐子的震响声。再见吧，请你遵守约定的安排。那苏格兰人起得很早。我得在那懒猪窝的大门外一箭之远的地方等他，否则他会疑心我暗中去了某个地方，要给他的旅途安全带来不利。”
“你先喝口酒定定心吧！”长矛手递给他一瓶酒说道，“啊，我忘了，你就像个畜牲，除了白水以外什么都不喝。真是穆罕默德和‘特马昆德’的坏奴仆。”
“你自己才是酒瓶酒罐的奴仆哩，”波希米亚人说道，“难怪聪明人只把他们计划的残暴部分交给你执行。一个人要想了解别人的思想而隐藏自己的思想，他就不能喝酒。不过，对你这样一种永远像阿拉伯沙漠上的河岸一般干渴的人讲这个道理又有什么用呢？再见吧，我想叫我的同伴图伊斯科和你一道走。让人在寺院附近看见他，会叫人产生怀疑的。”
在各人再次保证在“三王十字”附近碰头之后，两位大人才分手。
昆丁•达威特一直等到他们完全看不见了才从隐藏处跳了下来。当他想起他和受他保护的少女只是由于侥幸才逃脱（如果真能逃脱的话）一个蓄谋已久的罪恶计划时，他的心不禁激动得跳个不停。他担心回寺院的路上会碰到海拉丁。所以他不惜走过一片崎岖不平的地方，绕了一个大圈子，使他有可能通过另一道门回到寺院。
一路上他都认真地思考，看能否找到一个万全之计。当他刚一听到海拉丁暴露出的奸诈，他就下定决心，等他们散了伙，他的同伴离得相当远时，便立即把他干掉。但后来他听到这波希米亚人的确真心想保全他个人的性命，他感到要给他的奸诈应得的严厉惩罚又未免有些过意不去。最后他决定饶他一命，而且有可能的话，还继续利用他充当向导；但他得采取一些预防措施，以保证那被他视为珍宝的少女能平安无恙。事实上，他已暗自准备为保护她的安全献出自己的生命。
但是他们究竟该往何处去却是个问题——两位克罗伊埃仕女既然逃出了勃艮第，自然不能再到那儿去。而她们也不能再呆在法国，因为法国等于给她们下了逐客令。查尔斯公爵在勃艮第的强暴行径与路易王在法国执行的冷酷而专横的策略同样可怕。经过一番深思，达威特认为保护她们安全的比较稳妥的好办法就只能是绕过敌人的埋伏，沿着马埃斯河的左岸去列日，按二位仕女原来的打算，投奔善良的主教请求保护。主教肯定愿意保护她们。这一点是不用怀疑的。在那支勃艮第部队的支援下，也可以认为主教具有保护她们的能力。万一主教受到威廉•德拉马克的威胁，同时列日骚动的危险迫在眉睫，那么他自己也还有能力保护这两位不幸的仕女，最后在适当的人马护送下前往德国。
现在归纳一下这一思索得出的结论——附带说说，在进行一种思索时，哪能不涉及一些个人的考虑呢？——总之，昆丁认为，既然路易王冷酷地给他安排了当死回或当俘虏的命运，这就解除了他对法国国王承担的义务。他也决心不再承认这些义务。他推测列日主教可能需要补充兵丁。这两位仕女，特别是年长的那位，已经待他十分亲切。他估计通过她们两位的说项，他有可能获得某种具有指挥权的官职，也有可能受托把两位克罗伊埃仕女带到某个比列日更为安全的地方。最后还可以补充一点，那就是两位仕女曾经近乎开玩笑地谈到过要招募伯爵小姐自己的臣仆，以便像在这动荡的年代里别的贵族所做的那样，设法巩固她们自己的坚强城堡，以抵御可能的进犯。她们已半开玩笑地问过昆丁，是否愿意接受总管这个危险的职务。看到他以高兴而忠诚的心情接受这个职务时，她们也曾怀着同样的心情让他在这个光荣的授职场合吻了她们的手。伊莎贝尔伯爵小姐的手真是一个表达敬意的忠实臣仆有幸吻过的世界上最美丽最标致的手。他甚至觉得，由于他的嘴唇停留的时间比礼节的要求略微长了一点，她的手已在开始颤抖。她把手缩回去时，她的面颊和眼睛也现出了慌乱的神情。这一切也许会导致某种结果。在昆丁•达威特这种年龄，有哪个勇士在决定未来行动的过程中不把这些翩翩遐想也考虑进去呢？
这一点决定下来之后，下一步他就得考虑，在多大的程度上他可以利用那个不忠实的波希米亚人来继续给他们当向导。他还在森林里时便已放弃了打算杀死他的最初想法。假如他另找一个向导，把他活着打发走，那无异是让这奸细带着有关他们行动的情报去到威廉•德拉马克的营部。他考虑是否请寺院的院长当当他的参谋，并请求他在他们到达主教的城堡之前暂时扣押这个波希米亚人。但经过一番考虑，他觉得他没有勇气向这样一位年老而胆小的僧侣提出这种请求。须知他是把维护寺院的安全看作他最重要的职责，一听到别人提到“阿登内斯野猪”的名字都会浑身发抖。
最后达威特总算确定了一个行动计划。由于这个计划全靠他一个人来执行，他反而觉得更为稳妥。而为了他当前所从事的这一使命，他也感觉他能胜任一切。昆丁意识到处境艰危，但他怀有坚定而沉着的信念，就好比一个负重行走的人：一方面知道自己担子有多重，但另一方面也知道这担子并没有超过自己的力量和能耐。正当他把这计划定下来的时候，他已来到了寺院的大门口。
他轻轻敲了一下那扇大门，院长特意叫去守门的僧人马上把门打开，告诉他寺院的师兄弟们正在唱诗，将一直唱到天明，祈求上帝宽恕在他们当中那晚所发生的种种丑事。
这可敬的僧侣想让昆丁也参加他们的祈祷。但年轻的苏格兰人衣服湿透，不得不谢绝这个机会，而请求让他在厨房里烤烤火，趁天亮之前把衣服烘干。那僧侣不但答应了他的请求，而且主动与他做伴。这正好符合达威特的愿望，因为他很想就他从那波希米亚人与德国长矛手的谈话中偷听到的两条路线了解一些情况。那位僧侣曾多次受寺院委托去外面出差，因此在所有的师兄弟当中最有资格向他介绍他要求了解的情况。不过他说，作为真诚的朝圣者，昆丁护送的两位仕女应沿着马埃斯河的右岸走，经过“三王十字”，因为卡斯巴、美尔基俄尔和巴尔泰乍（这是天主教会对前往伯利恒向耶稣致敬的东方三贤的称呼）得福的遗骨在送往科隆之前曾在那儿显示过一些神迹。
昆丁回答说，两位仕女决心十分严格地按照规矩在所有该停的圣地停留，而且无论在去科隆的途中或返回的途中都将参观“三王十字”。不过她们听说，那凶恶的威廉•德拉马克的匪兵已使得河右岸的大路目前很不安全。
“皇天不容，”弗朗西斯神父说道，“没想到‘阿登内斯野猪’又把它的窝搞到离我们这么近的地方！好在那宽阔的马埃斯河在万不得已时能给我们充当一个好的屏障。”
“要是我们过了河在右岸走，那么这条河可没法阻挡强盗们袭击我保护的两位仕女。”昆丁说道。
“年轻人，老天爷会保佑他的臣民的。”那僧人说道，“得福的科隆三工既然不能容忍一个犹太人或异教徒进入城内，很难想象他们竟会冥昧得容许‘阿登内斯野猪’这样一条恶犬抢劫和虐待作为真诚的香客前往他们殿堂的朝圣者！要知道，这野猪比整个沙漠的撒拉森异教徒，加上十个部族的以色列人还更恶劣。”
不管昆丁作为一个虔诚的天主教徒该对美尔基俄尔、卡斯巴和巴尔泰乍的特殊保护寄以何种信赖，他都得想到，既然两位仕女的朝圣之说只是根据世俗的策略需要而编造出来的，他和他的被保护人当前就很难指望这东方三贤会给他们任何庇护。因此他决定尽可能避免让两位仕女陷入需要神灵干预的困境。与此同时，他以他单纯的信仰之诚许愿说，只要这三位通情达理的圣王能让他的被保护人这一伪装朝圣的计划达到预期的目的，他将亲往科隆向他们朝拜。
为了能使他庄严地履行许愿的仪式，他要求那僧人带他走进一个与寺院相通的小教堂，然后跪了下来，通过虔诚的祷告，表达他在内心里许过的愿。远处传来的唱诗声以及他为这许愿选择的子夜时辰带来的肃穆气氛，再加上照亮着这小小的哥特式建筑物的摇曳的灯光给人的印象——所有这些都使昆丁的心灵处于一种虔诚的状态，愿意承认人性的弱点，寻求神灵的帮助和保佑，而这在任何祷告中都肯定要联系到忏悔以往的罪过，并决心将来弥补和改正这些罪过。至于昆丁选错了祷告的对象，这倒并非他的过错。既然他的意图是诚恳的，我们难以设想那惟一的真神会认为他的祷告无法接受，因为上帝重视的是祈祷的动机而不是祈祷的形式。在上帝的眼里，异教徒的诚恳祷告要比法利赛人虚伪的虔诚更有价值。
在把他自己和那两位柔弱的旅伴托付给圣徒和上苍保佑之后，昆丁才进屋休息，只剩下那僧人独自坐着，深感他那诚恳而深刻的祷告使自己得到很大的启迪。
Chapter 18 Palmistry
When many a many tale and many a song Cheer'd the rough road, we wish'd the rough road long. The rough road, then, returning in a round, Mock'd our enchanted steps, for all was fairy ground.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
By peep of day Quentin Durward had forsaken his little cell, had roused the sleepy grooms, and, with more than his wonted care, seen that everything was prepared for the day's journey. Girths and bridles, the horse furniture, and the shoes of the horses themselves, were carefully inspected with his own eyes, that there might be as little chance as possible of the occurrence of any of those casualties, which, petty as they seem, often interrupt or disconcert travelling. The horses were also, under his own inspection, carefully fed, so as to render them fit for a long day's journey, or, if that should be necessary, for a hasty flight.
Quentin then betook himself to his own chamber, armed himself with unusual care, and belted on his sword with the feeling at once of approaching danger, and of stern determination to dare it to the uttermost.
These generous feelings gave him a loftiness of step, and a dignity of manner, which the Ladies of Croye had not yet observed in him, though they had been highly pleased and interested by the grace, yet naivete, of his general behaviour and conversation, and the mixture of shrewd intelligence which naturally belonged to him, with the simplicity arising from his secluded education and distant country. He let them understand that it would be necessary that they should prepare for their journey this morning rather earlier than usual, and, accordingly, they left the convent immediately after a morning repast, for which, as well as the other hospitalities of the House, the ladies made acknowledgment by a donation to the altar, befitting rather their rank than their appearance. But this excited no suspicion, as they were supposed to be Englishwomen, and the attribute of superior wealth attached at that time to the insular character as strongly as in our own day.
The Prior blessed them as they mounted to depart, and congratulated Quentin on the absence of his heathen guide.
"For," said the venerable man, "better stumble in the path than be upheld by the arm of a thief or robber."
Quentin was not quite of his opinion, for, dangerous as he knew the Bohemian to be, he thought he could use his services, and, at the same time, baffle his treasonable purpose, now that he saw clearly to what it tended. But his anxiety upon this subject was soon at an end, for the little cavalcade was not an hundred yards from the monastery and the village before Maugrabin joined it, riding as usual on his little active and wild looking jennet. Their road led them along the side of the same brook where Quentin had overheard the mysterious conference the preceding evening, and Hayraddin had not long rejoined them, ere they passed under the very willow tree which had afforded Durward the means of concealment, when he became an unsuspected hearer of what then passed betwixt that false guide and the lanzknecht.
The recollections which the spot brought back stirred Quentin to enter abruptly into conversation with his guide, whom hitherto he had scarce spoken to.
"Where hast thou found night quarter, thou profane knave?" said the Scot.
"Your wisdom may guess, by looking on my gaberdine," answered the Bohemian, pointing to his dress, which was covered with seeds of hay.
"A good haystack," said Quentin, "is a convenient bed for an astrologer, and a much better than a heathen scoffer at our blessed religion and its ministers, ever deserves."
"It suited my Klepper better than me, though," said Hayraddin, patting his horse on the neck, "for he had food and shelter at the same time. The old bald fools turned him loose, as if a wise man's horse could have infected with wit or sagacity a whole convent of asses. Lucky that Klepper knows my whistle, and follows me as truly as a hound, or we had never met again, and you in your turn might have whistled for a guide."
"I have told thee more than once," said Durward, sternly, "to restrain thy ribaldry when thou chancest to be in worthy men's company, a thing, which, I believe, hath rarely happened to thee in thy life before now, and I promise thee, that did I hold thee as faithless a guide as I esteem thee a blasphemous and worthless caitiff, my Scottish dirk and thy heathenish heart had ere now been acquainted, although the doing such a deed were as ignoble as the sticking of swine."
"A wild boar is near akin to a sow," said the Bohemian, without flinching from the sharp look with which Quentin regarded him, or altering, in the slightest degree, the caustic indifference which he affected in his language, "and many men," he subjoined, "find both pride, pleasure, and profit, in sticking them."
Astonished at the man's ready confidence, and uncertain whether he did not know more of his own history and feelings than was pleasant for him to converse upon, Quentin broke off a conversation in which he had gained no advantage over Maugrabin, and fell back to his accustomed post beside the ladies.
We have already observed that a considerable degree of familiarity had begun to establish itself between them. The elder Countess treated him (being once well assured of the nobility of his birth) like a favoured equal, and though her niece showed her regard to their protector less freely, yet, under every disadvantage of bashfulness and timidity, Quentin thought he could plainly perceive that his company and conversation were not by any means indifferent to her.
Nothing gives such life and soul to youthful gaiety as the consciousness that it is successfully received, and Quentin had accordingly, during the former period of their journey, amused his fair charge with the liveliness of his conversation and the songs and tales of his country, the former of which he sang in his native language, while his efforts to render the latter into his foreign and imperfect French, gave rise to a hundred little mistakes and errors of speech, as diverting as the narratives themselves. But on this anxious morning, he rode beside the Ladies of Croye without any of his usual attempts to amuse them, and they could not help observing his silence as something remarkable.
"Our young companion has seen a wolf," said the Lady Hameline, alluding to an ancient superstition, "and he has lost his tongue in consequence."
(Vox quoque Moerim Jam fugit ipsa; lupi Moerim videre priores. Virgilii ix. Ecloga. The commentators add, in explanation of this passage, the opinion of Pliny: "The being beheld by a wolf in Italy is accounted noxious, and is supposed to take away the speech of a man, if these animals behold him ere he sees them." S.)
"To say I had tracked a fox were nearer the mark," thought Quentin, but gave the reply no utterance.
"Are you well, Seignior Quentin?" said the Countess Isabelle, in a tone of interest at which she herself blushed, while she felt that it was something more than the distance between them warranted.
"He hath sat up carousing with the jolly friars," said the Lady Hameline, "the Scots are like the Germans, who spend all their mirth over the Rheinwein, and bring only their staggering steps to the dance in the evening, and their aching heads to the ladies' bower in the morning."
"Nay, gentle ladies," said Quentin, "I deserve not your reproach. The good friars were at their devotions almost all night, and for myself, my drink was barely a cup of their thinnest and most ordinary wine."
"It is the badness of his fare that has put him out of humour," said the Countess Isabelle. "Cheer up, Seignior Quentin, and should we ever visit my ancient Castle of Bracquemont together, if I myself should stand your cup bearer, and hand it to you, you shall have a generous cup of wine, that the like never grew upon the vines of Hochheim or Johannisberg."
"A glass of water, noble lady, from your hand," -- Thus far did Quentin begin, but his voice trembled, and Isabelle continued, as if she had been insensible of the tenderness of the accentuation upon the personal pronoun.
"The wine was stocked in the deep vaults of Bracquemont, by my great grandfather the Rhinegrave Godfrey," said the Countess Isabelle.
"Who won the hand of her great grandmother," interjected the Lady Hameline, interrupting her niece, "by proving himself the best son of chivalry, at the great tournament of Strasbourg -- ten knights were slain in the lists. But those days are now over, and no one now thinks of encountering peril for the sake of honour, or to relieve distressed beauty."
To this speech, which was made in the tone in which a modern beauty, whose charms are rather on the wane, may be heard to condemn the rudeness of the present age, Quentin took upon him to reply that there was no lack of that chivalry which the Lady Hameline seemed to consider as extinct, and that, were it eclipsed everywhere else, it would still glow in the bosoms of the Scottish gentlemen.
"Hear him!" said the Lady Hameline, "he would have us believe that in his cold and bleak country still lives the noble fire which has decayed in France and Germany! The poor youth is like a Swiss mountaineer, mad with partiality to his native land -- he will next tell us of the vines and olives of Scotland."
"No, madam," said Durward, "of the wine and the oil of our mountains I can say little more than that our swords can compel these rich productions as tribute from our wealthier neighbours. But for the unblemished faith and unfaded honour of Scotland, I must now put to the proof how far you can repose trust in them, however mean the individual who can offer nothing more as a pledge of your safety."
"You speak mysteriously -- you know of some pressing and present danger," said the Lady Hameline.
