The Little Duke: Richard the Fearless

Away he rushed to the stairs, Osmond hurrying after him, lest he should throw himself into some fresh danger, or by his loud calls attract the French, who might then easily make him prisoner.  However, on the very first step of the stairs stood Sir Eric, who was too anxious for the success of the attempt to escape, to be very far off.  Richard, too angry to heed where he was going, dashed up against him without seeing him, and as the old Baron took hold of him, began, “Sir Eric, Sir Eric, those French are villains! they will not let me pass—”

“Hush, hush! my Lord,” said Sir Eric.  “Silence! come here.”

However imperious with others, Richard from force of habit always obeyed Sir Eric, and now allowed himself to be dragged hastily and silently by him, Osmond following closely, up the stairs, up a second and a third winding flight, still narrower, and with broken steps, to a small round, thick-walled turret chamber, with an extremely small door, and loop-holes of windows high up in the tower.  Here, to his great surprise, he found Dame Astrida, kneeling and telling her beads, two or three of her maidens, and about four of the Norman Squires and men-at-arms.

“So you have failed, Osmond?” said the Baron.

“But what is all this?  How did Fru Astrida come up here?  May I not go to the King and have those insolent Franks punished?”

“Listen to me, Lord Richard,” said Sir Eric: “that smooth-spoken King whose words so charmed you last night is an ungrateful deceiver.  The Franks have always hated and feared the Normans, and not being able to conquer us fairly, they now take to foul means.  Louis came hither from Flanders, he has brought this great troop of French to surprise us, claim you as a ward of the crown, and carry you away with him to some prison of his own.”

“You will not let me go?” said Richard.

“Not while I live,” said Sir Eric.  “Alberic is gone to warn the Count of Harcourt, to call the Normans together, and here we are ready to defend this chamber to our last breath, but we are few, the French are many, and succour may be far off.”

“Then you meant to have taken me out of their reach this morning, Osmond?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“And if I had not flown into a passion and told who I was, I might have been safe!  O Sir Eric!  Sir Eric! you will not let me be carried off to a French prison!”

“Here, my child,” said Dame Astrida, holding out her arms, “Sir Eric will do all he can for you, but we are in God’s hands!”

Richard came and leant against her.  “I wish I had not been in a passion!” said he, sadly, after a silence; then looking at her in wonder—“But how came you up all this way?”

“It is a long way for my old limbs,” said Fru Astrida, smiling, “but my son helped me, and he deems it the only safe place in the Castle.”

“The safest,” said Sir Eric, “and that is not saying much for it.”

“Hark!” said Osmond, “what a tramping the Franks are making.  They are beginning to wonder where the Duke is.”

“To the stairs, Osmond,” said Sir Eric.  “On that narrow step one man may keep them at bay a long time.  You can speak their jargon too, and hold parley with them.”

“Perhaps they will think I am gone,” whispered Richard, “if they cannot find me, and go away.”

Osmond and two of the Normans were, as he spoke, taking their stand on the narrow spiral stair, where there was just room for one man on the step.  Osmond was the lowest, the other two above him, and it would have been very hard for an enemy to force his way past them.

Osmond could plainly hear the sounds of the steps and voices of the French as they consulted together, and sought for the Duke.  A man at length was heard clanking up these very stairs, till winding round, he suddenly found himself close upon young de Centeville.

“Ha!  Norman!” he cried, starting back in amazement, “what are you doing here?”

“My duty,” answered Osmond, shortly.  “I am here to guard this stair;” and his drawn sword expressed the same intention.

The Frenchman drew back, and presently a whispering below was heard, and soon after a voice came up the stairs, saying, “Norman—good Norman—”

“What would you say?” replied Osmond, and the head of another Frank appeared.  “What means all this, my friend?” was the address.  “Our King comes as a guest to you, and you received him last evening as loyal vassals.  Wherefore have you now drawn out of the way, and striven to bear off your young Duke into secret places?  Truly it looks not well that you should thus strive to keep him apart, and therefore the King requires to see him instantly.”

“Sir Frenchman,” replied Osmond, “your King claims the Duke as his ward.  How that may be my father knows not, but as he was committed to his charge by the states of Normandy, he holds himself bound to keep him in his own hands until further orders from them.”

“That means, insolent Norman, that you intend to shut the boy up and keep him in your own rebel hands.  You had best yield—it will be the better for you and for him.  The child is the King’s ward, and he shall not be left to be nurtured in rebellion by northern pirates.”

At this moment a cry from without arose, so loud as almost to drown the voices of the speakers on the turret stair, a cry welcome to the ears of Osmond, repeated by a multitude of voices, “Haro!  Haro! our little Duke!”

It was well known as a Norman shout.  So just and so ready to redress all grievances had the old Duke Rollo been, that his very name was an appeal against injustice, and whenever wrong was done, the Norman outcry against the injury was always “Ha Rollo!” or as it had become shortened, “Haro.”  And now Osmond knew that those whose affection had been won by the uprightness of Rollo, were gathering to protect his helpless grandchild.

The cry was likewise heard by the little garrison in the turret chamber, bringing hope and joy.  Richard thought himself already rescued, and springing from Fru Astrida, danced about in ecstasy, only longing to see the faithful Normans, whose voices he heard ringing out again and again, in calls for their little Duke, and outcries against the Franks.  The windows were, however, so high, that nothing could be seen from them but the sky; and, like Richard, the old Baron de Centeville was almost beside himself with anxiety to know what force was gathered together, and what measures were being taken.  He opened the door, called to his son, and asked if he could tell what was passing, but Osmond knew as little—he could see nothing but the black, cobwebbed, dusty steps winding above his head, while the clamours outside, waxing fiercer and louder, drowned all the sounds which might otherwise have come up to him from the French within the Castle.  At last, however, Osmond called out to his father, in Norse, “There is a Frank Baron come to entreat, and this time very humbly, that the Duke may come to the King.”

“Tell him,” replied Sir Eric, “that save with consent of the council of Normandy, the child leaves not my hands.”

“He says,” called back Osmond, after a moment, “that you shall guard him yourself, with as many as you choose to bring with you.  He declares on the faith of a free Baron, that the King has no thought of ill—he wants to show him to the Rouennais without, who are calling for him, and threaten to tear down the tower rather than not see their little Duke.  Shall I bid him send a hostage?”

“Answer him,” returned the Baron, “that the Duke leaves not this chamber unless a pledge is put into our hands for his safety.  There was an oily-tongued Count, who sat next the King at supper—let him come hither, and then perchance I may trust the Duke among them.”

Osmond gave the desired reply, which was carried to the King.  Meantime the uproar outside grew louder than ever, and there were new sounds, a horn was winded, and there was a shout of “Dieu aide!” the Norman war-cry, joined with “Notre Dame de Harcourt!”

“There, there!” cried Sir Eric, with a long breath, as if relieved of half his anxieties, “the boy has sped well.  Bernard is here at last!  Now his head and hand are there, I doubt no longer.”

“Here comes the Count,” said Osmond, opening the door, and admitting a stout, burly man, who seemed sorely out of breath with the ascent of the steep, broken stair, and very little pleased to find himself in such a situation.  The Baron de Centeville augured well from the speed with which he had been sent, thinking it proved great perplexity and distress on the part of Louis.  Without waiting to hear his hostage speak, he pointed to a chest on which he had been sitting, and bade two of his men-at-arms stand on each side of the Count, saying at the same time to Fru Astrida, “Now, mother, if aught of evil befalls the child, you know your part.  Come, Lord Richard.”

Richard moved forward.  Sir Eric held his hand.  Osmond kept close behind him, and with as many of the men-at-arms as could be spared from guarding Fru Astrida and her hostage, he descended the stairs, not by any means sorry to go, for he was weary of being besieged in that turret chamber, whence he could see nothing, and with those friendly cries in his ears, he could not be afraid.

He was conducted to the large council-room which was above the hall.  There, the King was walking up and down anxiously, looking paler than his wont, and no wonder, for the uproar sounded tremendous there—and now and then a stone dashed against the sides of the deep window.

Nearly at the same moment as Richard entered by one door, Count Bernard de Harcourt came in from the other, and there was a slight lull in the tumult.

“What means this, my Lords?” exclaimed the King.  “Here am I come in all good will, in memory of my warm friendship with Duke William, to take on me the care of his orphan, and hold council with you for avenging his death, and is this the greeting you afford me?  You steal away the child, and stir up the rascaille of Rouen against me.  Is this the reception for your King?”

“Sir King,” replied Bernard, “what your intentions may be, I know not.  All I do know is, that the burghers of Rouen are fiercely incensed against you—so much so, that they were almost ready to tear me to pieces for being absent at this juncture.  They say that you are keeping the child prisoner in his own Castle and that they will have him restored if they tear it down to the foundations.”

“You are a true man, a loyal man—you understand my good intentions,” said Louis, trembling, for the Normans were extremely dreaded.  “You would not bring the shame of rebellion on your town and people.  Advise me—I will do just as you counsel me—how shall I appease them?”

“Take the child, lead him to the window, swear that you mean him no evil, that you will not take him from us,” said Bernard.  “Swear it on the faith of a King.”

“As a King—as a Christian, it is true!” said Louis.  “Here, my boy!  Wherefore shrink from me?  What have I done, that you should fear me?  You have been listening to evil tales of me, my child.  Come hither.”

At a sign from the Count de Harcourt, Sir Eric led Richard forward, and put his hand into the King’s.  Louis took him to the window, lifted him upon the sill, and stood there with his arm round him, upon which the shout, “Long live Richard, our little Duke!” arose again.  Meantime, the two Centevilles looked in wonder at the old Harcourt, who shook his head and muttered in his own tongue, “I will do all I may, but our force is small, and the King has the best of it.  We must not yet bring a war on ourselves.”

“Hark! he is going to speak,” said Osmond.

“Fair Sirs!—excellent burgesses!” began the King, as the cries lulled a little. [11 - “Biaus Segnors, vées chi vo segneur, je ne le vous voel tolir, mais je estoie venus en ceste ville, prendre consel a vous, comment je poroie vengier la mort son père, qui me rapiela d’Engletière.  Il me fist roi, il me fist avoir l’amour le roi d’Alemaigne, il leva mon fil de fons, il me fist toz les biens, et jou en renderai au fill le guerredon se je puis.”—Michel.]  “I rejoice to see the love ye bear to our young Prince!  I would all my subjects were equally loyal!  But wherefore dread me, as if I were come to injure him?  I, who came but to take counsel how to avenge the death of his father, who brought me back from England when I was a friendless exile.  Know ye not how deep is the debt of gratitude I owe to Duke William?  He it was who made me King—it was he who gained me the love of the King of Germany; he stood godfather for my son—to him I owe all my wealth and state, and all my care is to render guerdon for it to his child, since, alas!  I may not to himself.  Duke William rests in his bloody grave!  It is for me to call his murderers to account, and to cherish his son, even as mine own!”

So saying, Louis tenderly embraced the little boy, and the Rouennais below broke out into another cry, in which “Long live King Louis,” was joined with “Long live Richard!”

“You will not let the child go?” said Eric, meanwhile, to Harcourt.

“Not without provision for his safety, but we are not fit for war as yet, and to let him go is the only means of warding it off.”

Eric groaned and shook his head; but the Count de Harcourt’s judgment was of such weight with him, that he never dreamt of disputing it.