King Louis, though conscious what ungrateful proposal was likely to be made next, gave a calm and silent assent to what Charles said; but the Countess herself was restored to courage by the very extremity of her situation. She quitted the arm of the Countess of Crevecoeur, on which she had hitherto leaned, came forward timidly, yet with an air of dignity, and kneeling before the Duke's throne, thus addressed him "Noble Duke of Burgundy, and my liege lord, I acknowledge my fault in having withdrawn myself from your dominions without your gracious permission, and will most humbly acquiesce in any penalty you are pleased to impose. I place my lands and castles at your rightful disposal, and pray you only of your own bounty, and for the sake of my memory, to allow the last of the line of Croye, out of her large estate, such a moderate maintenance as may find her admission into a convent for the remainder of her life."
"What think you, Sire, of the young person's petition to us," said the Duke, addressing Louis.
"As of a holy and humble motion," said the King, "which doubtless comes from that grace which ought not to be resisted or withstood."
"The humble and lowly shall be exalted," said Charles. "Arise, Countess Isabelle -- we mean better for you than you have devised for yourself. We mean neither to sequestrate your estates, nor to abase your honours, but, on the contrary, will add largely to both."
"Alas! my lord," said the Countess, continuing on her knees, "it is even that well meant goodness which I fear still more than your Grace's displeasure, since it compels me --"
"Saint George of Burgundy!" said Duke Charles, "is our will to be thwarted, and our commands disputed, at every turn? Up, I say, minion, and withdraw for the present -- when we have time to think of thee, we will so order matters that, Teste Saint Gris! you shall either obey us, or do worse."
Notwithstanding this stern answer, the Countess Isabelle remained at his feet, and would probably, by her pertinacity, have driven him to say upon the spot something yet more severe, had not the Countess of Crevecoeur, who better knew that Prince's humour, interfered to raise her young friend, and to conduct her from the hall.
Quentin Durward was now summoned to appear, and presented himself before the King and Duke with that freedom, distant alike from bashful reserve and intrusive boldness, which becomes a youth at once well born and well nurtured, who gives honour where it is due but without permitting himself to be dazzled or confused by the presence of those to whom it is to be rendered. His uncle had furnished him with the means of again equipping himself in the arms and dress of an Archer of the Scottish Guard, and his complexion, mien, and air suited in an uncommon degree his splendid appearance. His extreme youth, too, prepossessed the councillors in his favour, the rather that no one could easily believe that the sagacious Louis would have chosen so very young a person to become the confidant of political intrigues; and thus the King enjoyed, in this, as in other cases, considerable advantage from his singular choice of agents, both as to age and rank, where such election seemed least likely to be made. At the command of the Duke, sanctioned by that of Louis, Quentin commenced an account of his journey with the Ladies of Croye to the neighbourhood of Liege, premising a statement of King Louis's instructions, which were that he should escort them safely to the castle of the Bishop.
"And you obeyed my orders accordingly," said the King.
"I did, Sire," replied the Scot.
"You omit a circumstance," said the Duke. "You were set upon in the forest by two wandering knights."
"It does not become me to remember or to proclaim such an incident," said the youth, blushing ingenuously.
"But it doth not become me to forget it," said the Duke of Orleans. "This youth discharged his commission manfully, and maintained his trust in a manner that I shall long remember. -- Come to my apartment, Archer, when this matter is over, and thou shalt find I have not forgot thy brave bearing, while I am glad to see it is equalled by thy modesty."
"And come to mine," said Dunois. "I have a helmet for thee, since I think I owe thee one."
Quentin bowed low to both, and the examination was resumed. At the command of Duke Charles he produced the written instructions which he had received for the direction of his journey.
"Did you follow these instructions literally, soldier?" said the Duke.
"No; if it please your Grace," replied Quentin. "They directed me, as you may be pleased to observe, to cross the Maes near Namur; whereas I kept the left bank, as being both the nigher and the safer road to Liege."
"And wherefore that alteration?" said the Duke.
"Because I began to suspect the fidelity of my guide," answered Quentin.
"Now mark the questions I have next to ask thee," said the Duke. "Reply truly to them, and fear nothing from the resentment of any one. But if you palter or double in your answers I will have thee hung alive in an iron chain from the steeple of the market house, where thou shalt wish for death for many an hour ere he come to relieve you!"
There was a deep silence ensued. At length, having given the youth time, as he thought, to consider the circumstances in which he was placed, the Duke demanded to know of Durward who his guide was, by whom supplied, and wherefore he had been led to entertain suspicion of him. To the first of these questions Quentin Durward answered by naming Hayraddin Maugrabin, the Bohemian; to the second, that the guide had been recommended by Tristan l'Hermite; and in reply to the third point he mentioned what had happened in the Franciscan convent near Namur, how the Bohemian had been expelled from the holy house, and how, jealous of his behaviour, he had dogged him to a rendezvous with one of William de la Marck's lanzknechts, where he overheard them arrange a plan for surprising the ladies who were under his protection.
"Now, hark," said the Duke, "and once more remember thy life depends on thy veracity, did these villains mention their having this King's -- I mean this very King Louis of France's authority for their scheme of surprising the escort and carrying away the ladies?"
"If such infamous fellows had said," replied Quentin, "I know not how I should have believed them, having the word of the King himself to place in opposition to theirs."
Louis, who had listened hitherto with most earnest attention, could not help drawing his breath deeply when he heard Durward's answer, in the manner of one from whose bosom a heavy weight has been at once removed. The Duke again looked disconcerted and moody, and, returning to the charge, questioned Quentin still more closely, whether he did not understand, from these men's private conversation, that the plots which they meditated had King Louis's sanction?
"I repeat that I heard nothing which could authorize me to say so," answered the young man, who, though internally convinced of the King's accession to the treachery of Hayraddin, yet held it contrary to his allegiance to bring forward his own suspicions on the subject; "and if I had heard such men make such an assertion, I again say that I would not have given their testimony weight against the instructions of the King himself."
"Thou art a faithful messenger," said the Duke, with a sneer, "and I venture to say that, in obeying the King's instructions, thou hast disappointed his expectations in a manner that thou mightst have smarted for, but that subsequent events have made thy bull headed fidelity seem like good service."
"I understand you not, my lord," said Quentin Durward, "all I know is that my master King Louis sent me to protect these ladies, and that I did so accordingly, to the extent of my ability, both in the journey to Schonwaldt, and through the subsequent scenes which took place. I understood the instructions of the King to be honourable, and I executed them honourably; had they been of a different tenor, they would not have suited one of my name or nation."
"Fier comme an Ecossois," said Charles, who, however disappointed at the tenor of Durward's reply, was not unjust enough to blame him for his boldness. "But hark thee, Archer, what instructions were those which made thee, as some sad fugitives from Schonwaldt have informed us, parade the streets of Liege, at the head of those mutineers, who afterwards cruelly murdered their temporal Prince and spiritual Father? And what harangue was it which thou didst make after that murder was committed, in which you took upon you, as agent for Louis, to assume authority among the villains who had just perpetrated so great a crime?"
"My lord," said Quentin, "there are many who could testify that I assumed not the character of an envoy of France in the town of Liege, but had it fixed upon me by the obstinate clamours of the people themselves, who refused to give credit to any disclamation which I could make. This I told to those in the service of the Bishop when I had made my escape from the city, and recommended their attention to the security of the Castle, which might have prevented the calamity and horror of the succeeding night. It is, no doubt, true that I did, in the extremity of danger, avail myself of the influence which my imputed character gave me, to save the Countess Isabelle, to protect my own life, and, so far as I could, to rein in the humour for slaughter, which had already broke out in so dreadful an instance. I repeat, and will maintain it with my body, that I had no commission of any kind from the King of France respecting the people of Liege, far less instructions to instigate them to mutiny; and that, finally, when I did avail myself of that imputed character, it was as if I had snatched up a shield to protect myself in a moment of emergency, and used it, as I should surely have done, for the defence of myself and others, without inquiring whether I had a right to the heraldic emblazonments which it displayed."
"And therein my young companion and prisoner," said Crevecoeur, unable any longer to remain silent, "acted with equal spirit and good sense; and his doing so cannot justly be imputed as blame to King Louis."
There was a murmur of assent among the surrounding nobility, which sounded joyfully in the ears of King Louis, whilst it gave no little offence to Charles. He rolled his eyes angrily around; and the sentiments so generally expressed by so many of his highest vassals and wisest councillors, would not perhaps have prevented his giving way to his violent and despotic temper, had not De Comines, who foresaw the danger, prevented it, by suddenly announcing a herald from the city of Liege.
"A herald from weavers and nailers!" exclaimed the Duke. "But admit him instantly. By Our Lady, I will learn from this same herald something farther of his employers' hopes and projects than this young French Scottish man at arms seems desirous to tell me!"
我宁愿用心来感受你的温情，
也不愿用眼睛看见你的敬礼。
起来，兄弟，起来；虽然你
低屈着你的膝头，我知道，
你有一颗奋起的雄心，至少
奋起到——我这王冠的高度。
理查二世
一听到召集勃艮第的大贵族以及极少数可以列席的法国贵族前来开会的钟声，查尔斯公爵便在一部分手持短戟和斧钺的卫兵跟随下走进了佩隆城堡赫伯特塔楼的大厅。路易王早已料到公爵会来见他。这时他便站起身向前走了两步去迎接他，然后带着尊严的表情站着不动。尽管他衣着寒伦，态度随便，但在必要时他也知道如何摆出威严的气度。在当前这个紧要关头，他那镇定的神色在他对手身上明显产生了影响。事实上公爵刚跨进来便一改原先那种唐突而急促的步伐，使其与一位大的藩臣晋谒宗主的情况更相适应。显然公爵已经暗自决定至少在一开始时要以对待国王的应有礼节来对待路易，但在这样做的同时，却明显地表现出，他虽对自己暴躁的性格进行了颇大的压抑，但仍很难控制胸中沸腾着的愤怒和复仇的欲望。因此，尽管他迫使自己的举止和言语表面上显得恭恭敬敬、彬彬有礼，但他的脸色红一阵白一阵，他的声音唐突、嘶哑、很不流畅，他的手足都在颤抖，这些好像说明他不能忍耐对自己行动施加的压制。他双眉紧锁，嘴唇咬得几乎出血。公爵的每个动作和表情都表明这位世界上性情最暴烈的君王正处在他最强烈的愤怒感情的支配下。
国王目光安详而宁静地注意着公爵这一场激烈的感情冲突。尽管他从公爵的面容里预感到一个有罪之人最为害怕的威胁——死亡，但他还是决心要像一个警觉而熟练的舵手那样，只要还有希望依靠灵活的驾驶使帆船得救，便绝不惊慌失措，也绝不放弃掌舵。因此，当公爵用嘶哑而激动的声音谈到他的住房条件较差时，他微笑着回答说，他没有理由抱怨，因为到目前为止，住在赫伯特塔楼的他本人总要比曾在这里住过的一位祖先命运更好一点。
“这么说，他们已经把那个传说讲给您听了？”查尔斯说道，“不错，他是在这里遇害的——不过，这是因为他不愿做修道士，在寺院了结他的余生。”
“真是个傻瓜，”路易假装漫不经心地说道，“他受的是殉道者的刑罚，却享受不到圣徒的名声。”
“我来是想请陛下参加一个高级会议，”公爵说道，“会上将讨论有关法国和勃艮第利益的重大问题。您得立刻出席——我是说，假如您高兴的话，请——”
“别这么说了，我的好堂弟，”国王说道，“别过分客气地把你可以大胆命令的事说成是请求。既然这是殿下的意旨，我就赴会吧。不过，我的随从似乎少了一点，”他望望准备跟随他的寥寥数人，这么补充说道，“不过，堂弟，你那壮观的随从已足够为我们两人增光的了。”
在勃艮第首席纹章官特瓦松•多尔的护卫下两位君王离开赫伯特塔楼，来到城堡的庭院。路易看见这里布满了由公爵装备精良的卫士和武士组成的军容威武的队列。穿过庭院他们来到议事厅。这议事厅所在的这一部分建筑物要比路易曾住过的那个塔楼更新式一些。虽然也是年久失修，但经过一番匆促的布置，可以满足隆重集会的需要。在同一个华盖下摆有两张坐椅，国王坐的那张要比公爵坐着的那张高两个石级。在这两张坐椅的两旁按一定的顺序坐着约二十名主要的贵族成员。当君王先后人席之后，可称之为受审对象的这个人反而坐得最高，仿佛是会议的主持者。
也许是为了消除这种矛盾的印象以及在人们心中可能产生的疑虑，查尔斯公爵向御席上的国王微微鞠躬之后，便向在座的人发表了如下的讲话，作为会议的开始：
“我善良的藩属和谋臣们，你们都知道，无论我父亲在世时还是现在，我的领土上都经常发生藩属抗上、臣民反叛的骚乱事件。最近发生的事件正令人担忧地说明了这种邪恶已发展到何种地步。一件是克罗伊埃伯爵小姐及其姑母哈梅琳女士可耻地逃奔外国，抛弃了对我效忠的宣誓，从而丧失了她们的采邑。另一个更可怕、更可悲的事件是我亲爱的兄弟和盟友列日主教遭到亵渎神明的血腥屠杀，同时奸恶的列日城也因上次惩罚不力再次爆发叛乱。我已掌握情报，说明这些不幸事件不仅归因于女性的愚蠢和不忠，以及国姑息而造成的小市民的胆大妄为，而且归因于外来奸细的煽动以及一个强大邻国的干预。善行本应以善行回报，勃艮第本指望的是这个邻国对它报以最真诚、最忠实的友谊。但不幸的是这一切都证明是事实。”公爵一边使劲地在地上蹭着脚后跟，一边咬牙切齿地说道，“既然如此，有什么能阻止我们——何况我们掌有一切手段——采取有效措施，从根源上遏制每年向我们倾泻祸水的这个主要源泉呢？”
公爵开始讲话时还比较平静，结尾时却声音又高昂起来。他说出这最后一句话时的腔调已使得在座的大臣们个个不寒而栗，同时也使得路易王的面颊苍白了一小会。但路易王立刻恢复了他的勇气，用十分镇定自如的声调向与会的人发表自己的讲话。虽然公爵似乎很想打断他，但找不到体面的理由。以下就是他讲话的内容：
“法兰西和勃艮第的贵族们！圣灵团和金羊毛团的骑士们！既然我身为国王必须以一个被告的身份来为自己进行辩护，我想我不可能找到比作为贵族的精华、骑士的骄傲的在座诸位更为显赫的法官了。由于我亲爱的堂弟出于礼貌不愿直陈其事，结果反使我们之间的争执模糊不清。我没有为顾全面子而说话要隐晦的理由，我的处境也不容许我这样做，所以我想请诸位让我把事情说得更明确一些。诸位，发生的不幸事件蒙蔽了我堂弟的明晰的判断，妨害了他善良的天性，驱使他指控我——指控他的君主，他的亲戚和他的盟友，丧心病狂地蛊惑他的藩属背弃对他效忠的誓言，煽动列日市民起来反叛，唆使那无法无天、亵渎神明的威廉•德拉马克犯下了残害主教的大罪。在座的法兰西和勃艮第的贵族们，我完全可以指出，我当前的处境本身就彻底否定了对我的指控。因为，只要我还有一点理性，怎能想象我一方面对勃艮第公爵捣鬼，一方面又毫无保留地把自己的人身安全置于他的摆布之下呢？要知道，类似的阴谋诡计不可能不被发现，而一旦被发现，就必然会使我，正如我目前的处境所表明的那样，受到一位理当感到愤怒的亲王的任意处置。这么说，我的智能岂不是还抵不上一个点燃了地雷的引信还安然坐在地雷上休息的傻瓜！我毫不怀疑，在索恩瓦尔德犯下这些滔天大罪的罪犯和恶棍一直在滥用我的名义——但我并没有给他们权利滥用我的名义。我怎能为此负责呢？假如说有两个傻女人由于某种感情上的不满，一气之下跑到我的宫廷来要求我保护，难道就可以说是我指使她们这么做的吗？经过调查就可以发现，由于我考虑到自己的荣誉和骑士之道都不容许我把她们作为囚徒遣返勃艮第——绅士们，我想凡是戴有骑士团领章的人也都不会建议我这样做——我设法尽可能接近于做到这一点，就把她们送往列日，托付给我们尊敬的主教——愿他归天的圣灵得到安息，”说到这里路易显得很难过，并用手绢擦擦眼睛——“我必须说，我所托付的主教是我自己家族的一个成员，而与勃艮第家族的关系就更为亲密；主教的境况以及他在教会里的崇高地位，再加上他那众多的美德都使他适于暂时充当她们的保护人，并在她们和她们的君主之间起一个调解者的作用。因此，我必须说，我的勃艮第兄弟按照自己对事情的草率看法，向我提出不应有的怀疑，所依据的惟一情况是完全可以用最公正最体面的动机加以解释的。此外，我还必须说明，我是怀着满腔友好和信任的感情来见我这位兄弟的。人们不可能提出丝毫可靠的证据来支持对我的那些无理指控，正是它们促使他改变对我的友好态度，促使他把宴会厅变成法庭，把客房变成监狱。”
“大人，大人，”国王一说完，公爵便立刻插嘴说道，“关于您的到来何以会和计划的执行在时间上出现这一不幸的巧合，我只能作这样一种解释：专门对他人行骗的人有时也会使自己上大当。工兵有时也会被他自己埋的地雷炸死。往下如何，且看这庄严的审讯作出回答吧——传克罗伊埃•伊莎贝尔伯爵小姐！”
这时，年轻的伯爵小姐在那受丈夫之命特来照顾她的克雷维格伯爵夫人和乌尔苏林女修道院院长两人的搀扶下走了进来。一见到她，查尔斯便按自己的习惯声色俱厉地大声说道：“嘿，美丽的公主！上次我向你交代我合理合法的命令，你回答我时的样子就像要死去一样。但你却有劲像只被追逐的母鹿似的远走高飞——你干的好事差点使两位伟大的君王，两个毗邻的强国为你这娃娃大动干戈，看你有何感想？”
伊莎贝尔原已决心一见公爵便跑去跪倒在他面前，求他没收她的产业，让她进修道院隐居，但面对着这众目睽睽的场面和公爵粗暴的态度，原先的决心竟顿时烟消云散。她像一个被暴风雨吓坏了的女人呆若木鸡地站着，听到四处都是雷声，担心每个新的闪电都会给她带来致命的雷击。克雷维格伯爵夫人出身高贵，姿色不减当年。这个勇敢的中年妇女这时认为她有必要对此进行干预。“公爵大人，”她说道，“我侄女是在我的保护下，我比大人更懂得如何对待妇女。除非您使用更适合我们身份和性别的语言，否则我们就要马上退场。”
