Hugo de Vries

“ Within a month the viceroy’s son will marry the chancellor’s daughter.”
“I doubt it,” said Ordener.
“You doubt it, sir! I assure you that the thing is certain. I have it on the best authority. The fellow who told me had it from Mr. Poël, the favorite servant of the noble Baron Thorwick,—that is, the noble Count Danneskiold. Can any storm have troubled the waters within the week? Has this grand match been broken off?”
“I think so,” replied the young man, smiling.
“If that is so, sir, I am wrong. Never light the fire to fry the fish before it is in the net. But have they really quarrelled? ”

“ The strong conviction, the deep penetrating accents of his words, carried a sting to Hugo's conscience. He felt as if Dino had a supernatural knowledge of his past life and his future, when he said solemnly:—
"Think of the secrets of your heart which shall then be made known to all men. What have you done? Have you not broken God's laws? Have you not in very truth committed murder?... There is a commandment in God's Word which says, 'Thou shalt not kill.'"
"Stop, stop, for Heaven's sake, stop!" gasped Hugo, covering his face with his hands. ”

“ Give it up, Hugo! It does not suit your nature in the least."
The Captain knit his brows, but he remained quite calm at the tone, which might easily have irritated another, threw his fowling-piece over his shoulder, and went out. A few minutes later he found himself by the shore, and only when the fresh sea breeze cooled his head, did the Captain's seriousness leave him; he struck at once into the road to the Villa Fiorina.
To tell the truth, Hugo began to be wearied of Mirando and the prevailing artistic atmosphere which the Marchese's inclination and his brother's presence created there. ”

“ Twice he stepped upon the king's toes—accidentally—and the king, as became his royalty, was contemptuously unconscious of it and indifferent to it; but the third time Hugo entertained himself in that way, the king felled him to the ground with a cudgel, to the prodigious delight of the tribe. Hugo, consumed with anger and shame, sprang up, seized a cudgel, and came at his small adversary in a fury. Instantly a ring was formed around the gladiators, and the betting and cheering began. But poor Hugo stood no chance whatever. ”

“ He remains mute and motionless, looking in the opposite direction from his object, until the hour for action comes; then he turns his head, and leaps upon his prey. His policy appears to you abruptly, at some unexpected turning, pistol in hand, like a thief. Up to that point, there is the least possible movement. For one moment, in the course of the three years that have just passed, he was seen face to face with Changarnier, who also, on his part, had a scheme in view. "Ibant obscuri," as Virgil says. France observed, with a certain anxiety, these two men. ”

“ He loathed Richard Luttrell; he muttered curses upon him as he lay on the earth, with every bone aching from his cousin's blows; he wished that he could wipe out the memory of the affront in Richard's blood. Richard would laugh at a challenge; a duel was not the English method of settling quarrels. "I will punish him in another way; it is a vendetta!" said Hugo to himself, choking down his passionate, childish sobs. "He is a brute—a great, savage brute; he does not deserve to live!" ”

“ All people turned aside by fate fall into the same morass. Except in his strength, Hugo was pitifully like all people: wounds could easily be opened in his sensitiveness; his moral courage could be taxed to the fringe of dilemma; he looked upon his fellow men sometimes with awe at the variety of high places they attained in spite of the heavy handicap of being human—he looked upon them again with repugnance—and very rarely, as he grew older, did such inspections of his kind include a study of the difference between them and him made by his singular gift. ”

“ Phœbus had returned and was leaning on the back of his betrothed's chair, a charming post whence his libertine glance plunged into all the openings of Fleur-de-Lys's gorget. This gorget gaped so conveniently, and allowed him to see so many exquisite things and to divine so many more, that Phœbus, dazzled by this skin with its gleams of satin, said to himself, "How can any one love anything but a fair skin?" ”

“ I will not promise to serve them till I have at least seen their torture chamber."
"Ordgar, thou dost indeed show a spirit worthy of an Englishman; and while such live, I shall never despair of my country," said the youthful chieftain. "Should God restore me to the halls of my fathers, none shall be more honoured of his lord than thou; and shouldest thou fall, fear not but that English bards will be found to sing thy praises."
A few days later Hugo was scouring the forest like a wolf in search of his prey. His men-at-arms were scattered through the woods, seeking for tracks of men. ”

“ To the free-born, high-spirited Hugo this constant sense of being watched and spied upon, and kept in like a chained dog, would have been galling at any time; for he was not only a prisoner but a slave—the slave of those “heathen dogs” whom every Christian of that age, alas! thought himself bound to hate and curse and slay, in place of trying to enlighten them and do them good. But now that he had learned that his brother was alive and near him, and the freedom of which he had begun to despair actually within reach, this degrading bondage became intolerable. ”

“ Hugo leant down to the child, and lifted up its little head.
"How I recognised him?" replied he smiling; "by his eyes. He has yours, Ella, and they are not so easily mistaken, even if they look out of another's face. I should know them amongst hundreds."
His tone had almost a passionate warmth. The young wife drew slightly aside.
"Since when have you begun to pay me compliments, Hugo?"
"Are compliments so unusual to you, Ella?"
"From your lips, certainly."
"Yes, certainly. I dare not venture upon what you allow to every one else," said Captain Almbach, with a slight accent of bitterness. ”

“ If thou art a true man no harm shall befall thee. We are not robbers."
The Englishman, for such he was, descended, and was at once secured and bound to prevent his escape.
"Now, fellow," said Hugo, "who art thou? Whose vassal art thou?"
"My name is Ordgar, son of Haga."
"Haga, formerly a thrall of my estate?"
"The same."
"Where is thy accursed sire?"
"I cannot betray my father."
"This is the very man we want!" said Hugo; "bring him along. The torture will soon help him to find a tongue. Surely the saints have heard our prayers and given him to us." ”

“ You make me boil, Gringoire. The man on the tower of Saint-Gervais has just cried half-past one o’clock in the morning.”
“Oh,” retorted Gringoire, “’tis no fault of mine, but of the watch and the king. I have just had a narrow escape. I always just miss being hung. ’Tis my predestination.”
“You lack everything,” said the other. “But come quickly. Have you the password?”
“Fancy, master, I have seen the king. I come from him. He wears fustian breeches. ’Tis an adventure.”
“Oh! distaff of words! what is your adventure to me! Have you the password of the outcasts?” ”

“ Count d’Ahlefeld loves me dearly. Dear{186} Nychol, I implore you, spare my life! I shall soon be restored to favor, and I will do whatever you may ask—”
“You can do me but one service, Turiaf,” broke in the hangman. “I have lost two executions already upon which I counted the most, those of ex-chancellor Schumacker and the viceroy’s son. I am always unlucky. You and Hans of Iceland are all that are left. Your execution, being secret and by night, is worth at least twelve gold ducats to me. Let me hang you peaceably, that is the only favor I ask of you.”
“Oh, God!” sighed the prisoner. ”

“ The gypsy advanced towards the noble dame.
"Fair child," said Phœbus, with emphasis, taking several steps towards her, "I do not know whether I have the supreme honor of being recognized by you."
She interrupted him, with a smile and a look full of infinite sweetness,—
"Oh! yes," said she.
"She has a good memory," remarked Fleur-de-Lys.
"Come, now," resumed Phœbus, "you escaped nimbly the other evening. Did I frighten you!"
"Oh! no," said the gypsy.
There was in the intonation of that "Oh! no," uttered after that "Oh! yes," an ineffable something which wounded Fleur-de-Lys. ”

“ Hugo, count of Vermandois, brother of Phillippe I. of France, and leader of the Franks in the first crusade. Hugo died before Godfrey was appointed general-in-chief of the allied armies (bk. i.) , but his spirit appeared to Godfrey when the army went against the Holy City (bk. xviii.) .—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575) .
Hugo, brother of Arnold; very small of stature, but brave as a lion. He was slain in the faction fight stirred up by Prince Oswald against Duke Gondibert, his rival in the love of Rhodalind, daughter and only child of Aribert, king of Lombardy. ”

“ It was not one man, it was not a few men, it was France, France entire, France victorious and intoxicated with her victory, who seemed to be coming to herself, and who put into practice, before the eyes of the whole world, these grave words of Guillaume du Vair after the day of the Barricades:--
"It is easy for those who are accustomed to skim the favors of the great, and to spring, like a bird from bough to bough, from an afflicted fortune to a flourishing one, to show themselves harsh towards their Prince in his adversity ”

“ The spectators in the windows could see in the bottom of the cart her naked legs which she strove to hide beneath her, as by a final feminine instinct. At her feet lay a little goat, bound. The condemned girl held together with her teeth her imperfectly fastened shift. One would have said that she suffered still more in her misery from being thus exposed almost naked to the eyes of all. Alas! modesty is not made for such shocks.
"Jesus!" said Fleur-de-Lys hastily to the captain. "Look fair cousin, 'tis that wretched Bohemian with the goat."
So saying, she turned to Phœbus. ”

“ At these words the stranger remained by the door; and the prisoner, thinking himself alone,—for he had turned away,—fell back into his silent revery. Suddenly he exclaimed: “The captain has assuredly forsaken and betrayed me! Men,—men are like the icicle which an Arab took for a diamond; he hid it carefully in his wallet, and when he looked for it again he found not even a drop of water.”
“I am no such man,” said the stranger.
Schumacker rose quickly. “Who is here? Who overhears me? Is it some miserable tool of that Guldenlew?”
“Speak no evil of the viceroy, my lord Count.”
“Lord Count! ”

“ Was it in such thoughts that grew this sense of some personal relation of herself with her father's most unpleasant bunching-room? Was it for such reasons that V. Vivian had asked her that day at the Settlement why didn't she go to the Works some day?...
She heard Hugo's voice, with a note of admiration for visible efficiency: "How do they keep it up at this clip nine hours?"
"Got to do it, or others will."
"You expect each machine to produce so much, I suppose?" ”

“ The priest was vehement. Gringoire listened to him at first with an undecided air, then he became touched, and wound up with a grimace which made his pallid face resemble that of a new-born infant with an attack of the colic.
“You are pathetic!” said he, wiping away a tear. “Well! I will think about it. That’s a queer idea of yours.—After all,” he continued after a pause, “who knows? perhaps they will not hang me. He who becomes betrothed does not always marry. When they find me in that little lodging so grotesquely muffled in petticoat and coif, perchance they will burst with laughter. ”

“ Spiagudry could not contain his fright.{93}
“You, noble lord! you,—great God! full of youth and life,—you would provoke, seek out that demon! When four-armed Ingiald fought the giant Nyctolm, at least, he had four arms!”
“Well,” said Ordener, with a smile, “if four arms are a requisite, will you not be my guide?”
“I! your guide! How can you jest with an old man who almost needs a guide himself?”
“Listen,” replied Ordener; “do not try to jest with me. If this profanation, of which I would fain believe you innocent, exposes you to be punished for sacrilege, you cannot stay here. You must fly. ”

“ As Hugo was silent, in surprize he added—
"Those who utter what they will not defend with their bodies, I do hold arrant cowards, recreant to their vows.”
Whipping out his sword, he placed the glove near its point and, leaning forward, tossed it deftly on Hugo's saddle-peak.
“By this do I challenge your grace, Hugo Amardis of Montserrat, to try by combat in this hour which of us be true and which be false.” ”

“ I have a lodging in the Rue Jean-Pain-Mollet, in vico Johannis Pain-Mollet. You are more horned than a unicorn if you assert the contrary. Every one knows that he who once mounts astride a bear is never after afraid ; but you have a nose turned to dainties like Saint-Jacques of the hospital."
"Jehan, my friend, you are drunk," said the other.
The other replied staggering, "It pleases you to say so, Phœbus; but it hath been proved that Plato had the profile of a hound."
The reader has, no doubt, already recognized our two brave friends, the captain and the scholar. ”

“ He was a bit down in the mouth, was Hugo—for any reason, or no reason, or the devil of a reason; never mind what—and old Viv was always a tower of strength to him in his moods—hence old Viv's citation to come and 'buck' his friend, and incidentally to enjoy a few days' shooting, which accounted for one half of the coincidence. ”