Marjorie Bowen

“ A Turk placed a musket at his head, Karl turned and ran him through the chest; the musket went off, the ball grazed the King’s nose, wounded his ear, and broke the arm of General Hord.
The Turks began to fall back before this man who appeared invincible and even superhuman; his long sword dripping blood, his pistol hot and smoking, his fair face calm yet lit with that cold fury of the North, so strange a thing to Eastern people, Karl of Sweden smote to right and left until he had cut his way to his doorstep. ”

“ Patkul spoke with a feeling that pleased Peter, always intensely interested in anything to do with his rival.
“He is reputed virtuous,” said the Czar.
“Virtuous!” exclaimed Patkul, with a flush in his blond face. “Yes—he has prayers twice a day in his camp, and his soldiers do not take a slice of bread that they do not pay for; he lives the life of a Spartan and a monk, for it is his vanity to be considered above the weaknesses of mankind, but he would see Sweden go to perdition sooner than forgo one of his mad schemes or sacrifice one leaf from the laurels of his barren victories!” ”

“ And the Czar’s moods, melancholies, and passions, that went so far to hinder his glorious schemes and tarnish his brilliant qualities, caused the keenest pangs to the fiercely loyal heart of his servant.
And now there was this new hero to reckon with; a man such as Peter was not and never could be.
The long figure at which the Prince gazed with his small brilliant eyes stirred on the rude bed; Peter dropped the arm that shielded his eyes and stared before him.
He also had his thoughts of Karl of Sweden; they were as intense and bitter as those of Danilovitch Mentchikoff. ”

“ I am not the woman your councilor takes me to be. He thinks that I would be your plaything, and that through me he would work his way with you.”
“And so you will have none of me?” asked the King quietly; “I could have loved you.”
“Sire, I have done with love. And I was never ambitious.”
“But I,” smiled Karl, “I have not even begun with love. And I was always ambitious.”
She flashed at him with sudden animation and force.
“Then if you are ambitious leave love alone. Turn your back on women until you take your Queen—be the one King in Europe who is not ruled by a petticoat. ”

“ He stepped up to the Livonian and laid a hand on the sleeve of his rich uniform.
“Look you, Patkul,” he said, with a noble air far removed from boasting, “he takes Varsovia and Cracovia—but I built St. Petersburg! He sets his heel on Poland, I give my hand to Russia, and raise her up—a nation among nations.”
Patkul was both moved and comforted.
“Ah, sire, would that you were always in this mood!”
A shadow passed over the Czar’s expressive face.
“Sometimes the devils get hold of me,” he muttered, “and nothing on earth seems real. When this war is over, I shall travel again. ”

“ A darkness enclosed the world with the soft descent of the snow; the flakes hung in the folds of the King’s mantle and in his curls; his hat was covered; the ground was frozen, the tops of the gaunt pines hidden in the whirling storm; the rigid ranks of Sweden showed a darkness amid the dark; facing them were the black gaping cannon of the vast army of the Czar; even beneath their fur caftans the Russians were numb; Marpha, wrapped in skins and wools, stared at a picture of St. Nicholas Mentchikoff had thrust into her hands, but she was not praying but thinking of the absent Czar ”

“ On the floor in front of her stood the crowns of the Russias, and she was playing with these in turn, like a child fondling toys, while on her lap was a bag of sweetmeats from which she fed herself continually, eating noisily and licking the sugar from her lips.
When the Czar entered she had in her left hand the plain gold crown of the Crimea, and before her the massive crowns of Astrakan, Kazan, Siberia, and Georgia, which pulsed with the light held and given forth by a thousand precious stones.
Peter looked at her with the eyes of love.
“Have you ever had such pretty playthings?” he asked. ”

“ Marlborough, who was used to swaying men and exercising a strong personal influence, soon perceived this.
“Sire,” he said suddenly, his fine eyes keen, alert, and slightly amused, “why do I speak of these things to one who has accomplished so many greater ones? Your Majesty, who has already dethroned one King, and will another——”
Karl’s eyes suddenly lit.
“Whom do you think I shall dethrone, my lord?” he asked, and signed to M. Robinson, the English minister, to quickly interpret his question.
“So you are human,” thought Marlborough.
“Sire,” he said aloud, “I was meaning the Czar of Muscovy.” ”

“ With these words, spoken too dryly to savour of pomp or bombast, Karl smiled at the young Palatine of Posen, and left the room with a brief salute to the others.
“He will make himself King of Poland,” said Stanislaus Leczinski, as the door closed.
“He will not,” answered Count Piper, with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. “That would be too ordinary an exploit to please His Majesty’s temper.”
“What can he do more astonishing or more magnificent than to take a crown from his enemy’s brow to place on his own!” exclaimed the young Palatine, turning his frank, pleasant face towards the Swede. ”

“ Count Liewin, looking at him, thought he was different indeed to the gallant youth who had left Stockholm fifteen years before, as indeed Sweden was different to what she had been.
He went on one knee and kissed Karl’s passive hand.
“Sire,” he said, in a low voice, “all Europe thinks you are dead.”
Karl looked at him without answering.
“There is no one who can believe,” added Count Liewin, “that Sweden is in such a pass and Karl XII still alive.” ”

“ He hid his face in his strong hands, resting them on the back of the chair, his tangled curls falling over the dark tapestry.
Viktoria Falkenberg had not known him long, but she was quick to perceive that he was moved to emotion rare in such a nature.
She came quickly up to him, and laid her thin hand on his bowed shoulder.
“Sire, what does it matter? You are young and splendid. Think what may be before you—think what you have in your hands. What is the chase compared to war? What is wine-drinking compared to the joy of victory? What the pursuit of women compared to the pursuit of nations?” ”

“ Peter was not magnificent to-day; in his plain green uniform and short hair he looked like a European foot soldier and utterly out of place in this great hall hung with scarlet, carpeted with Eastern tapestries, and decorated with jasper and silver, malachite and lacquer. The silver throne stood on a dais under a crimson canopy, and on the steps of it sat Peter, his hands clasped round his knees. The boyars had gone with their breastplates and caftans, robes, and caps, and there remained only the Duke of Croy, the German who commanded the army, and Mentchikoff. ”

“ And how would the world account Peter by contrast?
A half-savage monarch of an almost wholly Eastern realm, never yet taken seriously into the reckoning in the affairs of Europe, one who had taken eccentric means to learn the means of civilizing his people and who yet was notoriously incapable of controlling his own meanest passions, one who had been guilty of fierce cruelty and bitter revenge and excesses beyond ordinary debauchery—how did such a one show beside the cold, fast, calm, and mighty figure of the young King of Sweden? ”

“ The King of Poland is a fool. Why did he not train my Muscovites?”
“He told me, sire, that he had no officers, and complained that the Russians were out of hand and ravaging Lithuania.”
“I hope they may lay it waste from end to end,” said Peter. “At the same time, if any ever return to Russia, I will have them knouted for disobedience.”
He frowned as he thought of Augustus, a character that intensely irritated him; the elegant splendid Elector and the savage Czar had been only able to tolerate each other when both had been intoxicated; only in debauchery had they anything in common. ”

“ Had I been King of Poland, by now there would not be a rebel left,” answered Peter gloomily. “What is the merit of governing if one cannot overcome opposition?”
Patkul remembered the fate of the Strelitz who had ventured to oppose the Czar’s innovations, and the vengeance he had taken on his own wife and sister; certainly Peter knew how to make himself both feared and obeyed.
“Poland is in reality a Republic,” said the Livonian, “and Augustus is not free, even to punish.” ”

“ With that startling flash in the darkening blue of his eyes, he looked more human, more moved than Count Piper had ever known him. “’Tis a savage, a Tartar ... and he defies me ... wants my provinces ... mine, by God ... you have seen me drunk to-day, you will not see that again ... we will see if the Czar drunk can match me sober ... and Poland with his Aurora.... I will have no women, Count.” ”

“ Peter eyed him gloomily.
“Prince Mentchikoff tells me that you discovered nothing at Altranstadt,” he said.
“Sire,” replied the Pole, with a movement as if he would prostrate himself before the Czar, “how can one discover the secrets of a King who has no confidants?”
“I think he has no secrets either,” remarked Peter, “his design is clear enough. He wishes to dethrone me.”
“Yet that is not clear, sire,” answered the spy earnestly. “All the princes of Europe have envoys at his camp trying to find out his plans, each begging for his favor and alliance. ”

“ I saw his friend, Mentchikoff, and the Livonian woman who they say has a great influence over him.”
Karl smiled, as if he was glad to hear of this weakness in his rival; there was not a woman in the whole of the Swedish army; the Scot remarked how disagreeable his smile was; it seemed to disfigure his noble face.
“Saw you this woman?” he asked.
“Yes, sire, at the door of Peter’s empty tent, making kvas, as they call the stuff they drink. She had a fur coat of uncouth cut and was all smeared with meal and honey, but in her way she is as beautiful as Aurora von Königsmarck.” ”

“ Peter was not interested in General Fleming, and was impatient of hearing of what he considered further vileness on the part of the Elector, whom he regarded as one dead and damned—no longer to be taken into account, and only to be remembered to have his memory cursed.
“Tell me how the King of Sweden lives,” he demanded, fixing his soft, dark, bloodshot eyes on the ferret-like face of the spy.
“Sire—as he has always done—he is the worst housed, the worst served and fed in his army. He never touches wine, and his food is plain and scanty, his bed a straw pallet. ”

“ The councilor shook his head.
“There is the King of England, sire, who is a grave and great Monarch—but he largely owed his fortunes to his wife and has been a different man since her death——”
“I will have no wife,” said Karl instantly. “I will be greater than the King of England—Count, were there women in the sagas? Did the Vikings care for maids or wives?”
The older man smiled.
“I will forgive you your women, sire, and your chase, and your wine—if you will but keep Sweden great—and make her greater.” ”

“ It was the end between King and minister; these words were as a dismissal to Count Piper; he saw that Karl was set upon a path entirely different to that followed by his father; his aim was the pursuit of fantastic dreams of purposeless and costly conquest—he would make war neither for the defense nor the aggrandizement of his country, but merely to suit his own ideas of kingly occupation, his own secret ideals of ambition and glory; he would probably ruin his country and might do considerable harm to mankind, but he could not be stopped from the mad use of the power which he held in his hands ”

“ He looked at Patkul kindly.
“Do you think that what that man does will endure?” he asked.
“Conquests have endured, sire, nations have been enslaved for generations through the exploits of a man like this.”
The Czar was not thinking of the freedom of future generations; he meant to build a great nation, not a free one.
“Sweden can never hold the Baltic Provinces,” he replied.
“Who is to prevent him?”
“I shall,” said Peter.
Patkul looked earnestly at the Czar, as if to discover if he spoke in jest or earnest. ”

“ He saw the trouble in her sweet eyes which were wide and bewildered like those of a child in pain.
“Do you not think that I shall be as safe in Dresden as in Varsovia?” he asked.{129}
“You are going to Dresden?”
“Eventually, dear. I return to the army in Saxony with messages from Augustus. Then I wish to see the Czar. My greatest hope is in him——”
“God preserve him,” said Hélène simply. “What will he do for you?”
“More than Augustus, I think. He is a man of genius. A tyrant, of course—no more a lover of liberty than Karl—but he serves our ends. Give him time and he will beat Sweden.” ”

“ Karl picked up his hat and would have left without another word, but the folding doors opened and Aurora von Königsmarck entered and stepped straight up to him.
This beautiful woman was in full court dress, white and silver, and adorned with diamonds; she carried a long fan of white feathers which she pointed at Karl with a gesture of supreme disgust.
So full was she of vitality and passion that the King was stayed by her entry and stared at her bright vivid face.
“Patkul may die,” she said, in a loud voice, “but he will be revenged. No man like you can triumph long. ”

“ He was both perfumed and powdered, and carried an elegant little sword with brilliants in the hilt.
The interest died from Karl’s blue eyes and a look of cold disgust took its place; the Englishman was not the Swede’s idea of a warrior. Nor was Karl in his old jackboots, worn blue great-coat with the rubbed leather buttons, his black taffeta stock and soiled leather gloves, his stiff air and ungracious look, the Englishman’s idea of a King.
Karl wore a light peruke and a three-cornered hat; his face was impassive and cold, and he gave a bare salute in return for the Duke’s greeting. ”

“ Peter interrupted.
“If you do not go down in these wars you will see Sweden ruined. As for your country—I shall be an easier master than Karl, if only because of my friendship to you,” he added, with a smile.
With this Patkul had to be contented, nay, grateful; perhaps in his innermost heart was a misgiving that Peter might prove as stern a tyrant as ever Karl or his father had been; he admired the Czar, he was fond of him, but he had not been able to deceive himself as to the terrible aspects of Peter’s character; he knew of his excesses, his cruelties, his fierce vengeances ”

“ He could not resist the endeavor to rouse Karl from his passive hardness.
“When your Majesty has beaten the Czar of Muscovy, will you be content?”
“There is still Augustus,” replied the King; he glanced up at the snow-filled air. “Look, the storm is blowing towards the enemy, we shall have it at our backs, they in their eyes—did I not say I was fortunate?”
Count Piper shivered; the weather was black and bitter enough to freeze a man’s soul; he wished Karl’s ardor for glory had stopped short of battle in midwinter at a latitude of 30 degrees Polar, with odds of a hundred to one. ”

“ She was fond of the Czar; she had been as fond of Mentchikoff; she was ready to be as fond of any man whom it was her interest to serve; but as she could look no higher than Peter, her placid affections had concentrated on him; she was in many ways a remarkable woman, shrewd, well-balanced, quick and courageous; but it was difficult to know wherein Peter{159} found the supreme attraction that caused him to be inseparable from her unless it was the immovable good nature and placid, healthy calm that took all his melancholies and caprices with a smile. ”

“ Slowly she turned back to her lodging; useless to expose herself to further mortification—it would be only to repeat her failure, only to madden herself for nothing.
She must return to Varsovia and tell Augustus of her humiliation.
The future appeared to her desperate; she did not even care to think of it; this adamant and implacable prince clearly meant to conquer both Poland and Saxony.
Aurora saw her whole world tumbling into the dust of chaos; this man would be the master of her fate; and she could do nothing with him ”