第 74 节
作者:青涩春天      更新:2024-04-09 19:51      字数:9322
  The King bent and reeled back; the besiegers were dismayed; the
  garrison and the Count of Chalus set up a shout of triumph: but it
  was premature。
  As quick as thought Ivanhoe was into the Count with a thrust in
  tierce; which took him just at the joint of the armor; and ran him
  through as clean as a spit does a partridge。  Uttering a horrid
  shriek; he fell back writhing; the King recovering staggered up the
  parapet; the rush of knights followed; and the union…jack was
  planted triumphantly on the walls; just as Ivanhoe;but we must
  leave him for a moment。
  〃Ha; St。 Richard!ha; St。 George!〃 the tremendous voice of the
  Lion…king was heard over the loudest roar of the onset。  At every
  sweep of his blade a severed head flew over the parapet; a spouting
  trunk tumbled; bleeding; on the flags of the bartizan。  The world
  hath never seen a warrior equal to that Lion…hearted Plantagenet;
  as he raged over the keep; his eyes flashing fire through the bars
  of his morion; snorting and chafing with the hot lust of battle。
  One by one les enfans de Chalus had fallen; there was only one left
  at last of all the brave race that had fought round the gallant
  Count:only one; and but a boy; a fair…haired boy; a blue…eyed
  boy! he had been gathering pansies in the fields but yesterdayit
  was but a few years; and he was a baby in his mother's arms!  What
  could his puny sword do against the most redoubted blade in
  Christendom?and yet Bohemond faced the great champion of England;
  and met him foot to foot!  Turn away; turn away; my dear young
  friends and kind…hearted ladies!  Do not look at that ill…fated
  poor boy! his blade is crushed into splinters under the axe of the
  conqueror; and the poor child is beaten to his knee! 。 。 。
  〃Now; by St。 Barbacue of Limoges;〃 said Bertrand de Gourdon; 〃the
  butcher will never strike down yonder lambling!  Hold thy hand; Sir
  King; or; by St。 Barbacue〃
  Swift as thought the veteran archer raised his arblast to his
  shoulder; the whizzing bolt fled from the ringing string; and the
  next moment crashed quivering into the corselet of Plantagenet。
  'Twas a luckless shot; Bertrand of Gourdon!  Maddened by the pain
  of the wound; the brute nature of Richard was aroused: his fiendish
  appetite for blood rose to madness; and grinding his teeth; and
  with a curse too horrible to mention; the flashing axe of the royal
  butcher fell down on the blond ringlets of the child; and the
  children of Chalus were no more! 。 。 。
  I just throw this off by way of description; and to show what MIGHT
  be done if I chose to indulge in this style of composition; but as
  in the battles which are described by the kindly chronicler; of one
  of whose works this present masterpiece is professedly a
  continuation; everything passes off agreeablythe people are
  slain; but without any unpleasant sensation to the reader; nay;
  some of the most savage and blood…stained characters of history;
  such is the indomitable good…humor of the great novelist; become
  amiable; jovial companions; for whom one has a hearty sympathyso;
  if you please; we will have this fighting business at Chalus; and
  the garrison and honest Bertrand of Gourdon; disposed of; the
  former; according to the usage of the good old times; having been
  hung up or murdered to a man; and the latter killed in the manner
  described by the late Dr。 Goldsmith in his History。
  As for the Lion…hearted; we all very well know that the shaft of
  Bertrand de Gourdon put an end to the royal heroand that from
  that 29th of March he never robbed nor murdered any more。  And we
  have legends in recondite books of the manner of the King's death。
  〃You must die; my son;〃 said the venerable Walter of Rouen; as
  Berengaria was carried shrieking from the King's tent。  〃Repent;
  Sir King; and separate yourself from your children!〃
  〃It is ill jesting with a dying man;〃 replied the King。  〃Children
  have I none; my good lord bishop; to inherit after me。〃
  〃Richard of England;〃 said the archbishop; turning up his fine
  eyes; 〃your vices are your children。  Ambition is your eldest
  child; Cruelty is your second child; Luxury is your third child;
  and you have nourished them from your youth up。  Separate yourself
  from these sinful ones; and prepare your soul; for the hour of
  departure draweth nigh。〃
  Violent; wicked; sinful; as he might have been; Richard of England
  met his death like a Christian man。  Peace be to the soul of the
  brave!  When the news came to King Philip of France; he sternly
  forbade his courtiers to rejoice at the death of his enemy。  〃It is
  no matter of joy but of dolor;〃 he said; 〃that the bulwark of
  Christendom and the bravest king of Europe is no more。〃
  Meanwhile what has become of Sir Wilfrid of Ivanhoe; whom we left
  in the act of rescuing his sovereign by running the Count of Chalus
  through the body?
  As the good knight stooped down to pick his sword out of the corpse
  of his fallen foe; some one coming behind him suddenly thrust a
  dagger into his back at a place where his shirt…of…mail was open
  (for Sir Wilfrid had armed that morning in a hurry; and it was his
  breast; not his back; that he was accustomed ordinarily to protect);
  and when poor Wamba came up on the rampart; which he did when the
  fighting was over;being such a fool that he could not be got to
  thrust his head into danger for glory's sakehe found his dear
  knight with the dagger in his back lying without life upon the body
  of the Count de Chalus whom he had anon slain。
  Ah; what a howl poor Wamba set up when he found his master killed!
  How he lamented over the corpse of that noble knight and friend!
  What mattered it to him that Richard the King was borne wounded to
  his tent; and that Bertrand de Gourdon was flayed alive?  At
  another time the sight of this spectacle might have amused the
  simple knave; but now all his thoughts were of his lord: so good;
  so gentle; so kind; so loyal; so frank with the great; so tender to
  the poor; so truthful of speech; so modest regarding his own merit;
  so true a gentleman; in a word; that anybody might; with reason;
  deplore him。
  As Wamba opened the dear knight's corselet; he found a locket round
  his neck; in which there was some hair; not flaxen like that of my
  Lady Rowena; who was almost as fair as an Albino; but as black;
  Wamba thought; as the locks of the Jewish maiden whom the knight
  had rescued in the lists of Templestowe。  A bit of Rowena's hair
  was in Sir Wilfrid's possession; too; but that was in his purse
  along with his seal of arms; and a couple of groats: for the good
  knight never kept any money; so generous was he of his largesses
  when money came in。
  Wamba took the purse; and seal; and groats; but he left the locket
  of hair round his master's neck; and when he returned to England
  never said a word about the circumstance。  After all; how should he
  know whose hair it was?  It might have been the knight's
  grandmother's hair for aught the fool knew; so he kept his counsel
  when he brought back the sad news and tokens to the disconsolate
  widow at Rotherwood。
  The poor fellow would never have left the body at all; and indeed
  sat by it all night; and until the gray of the morning; when;
  seeing two suspicious…looking characters advancing towards him; he
  fled in dismay; supposing that they were marauders who were out
  searching for booty among the dead bodies; and having not the least
  courage; he fled from these; and tumbled down the breach; and never
  stopped running as fast as his legs would carry him; until he
  reached the tent of his late beloved master。
  The news of the knight's demise; it appeared; had been known at his
  quarters long before; for his servants were gone; and had ridden
  off on his horses; his chests were plundered: there was not so much
  as a shirt…collar left in his drawers; and the very bed and
  blankets had been carried away by these FAITHFUL attendants。  Who
  had slain Ivanhoe?  That remains a mystery to the present day; but
  Roger de Backbite; whose nose he had pulled for defamation; and who
  was behind him in the assault at Chalus; was seen two years
  afterwards at the court of King John in an embroidered velvet
  waistcoat which Rowena could have sworn she had worked for Ivanhoe;
  and about which the widow would have made some little noise; but
  thatbut that she was no longer a widow。
  That she truly deplored the death of her lord cannot be questioned;
  for she ordered the deepest mourning which any milliner in York
  could supply; and erected a monument to his memory as big as a
  minster。  But she was a lady of such fine principles; that she did
  not allow her grief to overmaster her; and an opportunity speedily
  arising for uniting the two best Saxon families in England; by an
  alliance between herself and the gentleman who offered himself to
  her; Rowena sacrificed her inclination to remain single; to her
  sense of duty; and contracted a second matrim