Home > Authors Index > Edward Bulwer-Lytton > Last Of The Barons > This page
The Last Of The Barons, a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton |
||
Book 3 - Chapter 7 |
||
| < Previous |
Table of content |
Next > |
|
________________________________________________
_ BOOK III CHAPTER VII. MY LADY DUCHESS'S OPINION OF THE UTILITY OF MASTER WARNER'S INVENTION, AND HER ESTEEM FOR ITS--EXPLOSION.
"Most puissant Sir, think not that I am one of those who, in their ignorance and folly, slight the mysteries of which thou art clearly so great a master. When I heard thee speak of subjecting Nature to Man, I at once comprehended thee, and blushed for the dulness of my kindred." "Ah, lady, thou hast studied, then, the mathematics. Alack! this is a grievous blow; but it is no inherent fault in the device. I am clearly of mind that it can be remedied. But oh! what time, what thought, what sleepless nights, what gold will be needed!" "Give me thy sleepless nights and thy grand thoughts, and thou shalt not want gold." "Lady," cried Adam, starting to his feet, "do I hear aright? Art thou, in truth, the patron I have so long dreamed of? Hast thou the brain and the heart to aid the pursuits of science?" "Ay! and the power to protect the students! Sage, I am the Duchess of Bedford, whom men accuse of witchcraft,--as thee of wizardy. From the wife of a private gentleman, I have become the mother of a queen. I stand amidst a court full of foes; I desire gold to corrupt, and wisdom to guard against, and means to destroy them. And I seek all these in men like thee!" Adam turned on her his bewildered eyes, and made no answer. "They tell me," said the duchess, "that Henry of Windsor employed learned men to transmute the baser metals into gold. Wert thou one of them?" "No." "Thou knowest that art?" "I studied it in my youth, but the ingredients of the crucible were too costly." "Thou shalt not lack them with me. Thou knowest the lore of the stars, and canst foretell the designs of enemies,--the hour whether to act or to forbear?" "Astrology I have studied, but that also was in youth; for there dwelleth in the pure mathematics that have led me to this invention--" "Truce with that invention, whatever it be; think of it no more,--it has served its end in the explosion, which proved thy power of mischief. High objects are now before thee. Wilt thou be of my household, one of my alchemists and astrologers? Thou shalt have leisure, honour, and all the moneys thou canst need." "Moneys!" said Adam, eagerly, and casting his eyes upon the mangled model. "Well, I agree; what you will,--alchemist, astrologist, wizard,--what you will. This shall all be repaired,--all; I begin to see now, all! I begin to see; yes, if a pipe by which the too-excessive vapour could--ay, ay!--right, right," and he rubbed his hands. Jacquetta was struck with his enthusiasm. "But surely, Master Warner, this has some virtue you have not vouchsafed to explain; confide in me, can it change iron to gold?" "No; but--" "Can it predict the future?" "No; but--" "Can it prolong life?" "No; but--" "Then, in God's name let us waste no more time about it!" said the duchess, impatiently,--"your art is mine now. Ho, there!--I will send my page to conduct thee to thy apartments, and thou shalt lodge next to Friar Bungey, a man of wondrous lere, Master Warner, and a worthy confrere in thy researches. Hast thou any one of kith and kin at home to whom thou wilt announce thy advancement?" "Ah, lady! Heaven forgive me, I have a daughter,--an only child,--my Sibyll; I cannot leave her alone, and--" "Well, nothing should distract thy cares from thine art,--she shall be sent for. I will rank her amongst my maidens. Fare-thee-well, Master Warner! At night I will send for thee, and appoint the tasks I would have thee accomplish." So saying, the duchess quitted the room, and left Adam alone, bending over his model in deep revery. From this absorption it was the poor man's fate to be again aroused. The peculiar character of the boy-prince of Gloucester was that of one who, having once seized upon an object, never willingly relinquished it. First, he crept and slid and coiled round it as the snake. But if craft failed, his passion, roused by resistance, sprang at his prey with a lion's leap: and whoever examines the career of this extraordinary personage, will perceive, that whatever might be his habitual hypocrisy, he seemed to lose sight of it wholly when once resolved upon force. Then the naked ferocity with which the destructive propensity swept away the objects in his path becomes fearfully and startlingly apparent, and offers a strange contrast to the wily duplicity with which, in calmer moments, he seems to have sought to coax the victim into his folds. Firmly convinced that Adam's engine had been made the medium of dangerous and treasonable correspondence with the royal prisoner, and of that suspicious, restless, feverish temperament which never slept when a fear was wakened, a doubt conceived, he had broke from his brother, whose more open valour and less unquiet intellect were ever willing to leave the crown defended but by the gibbet for the detected traitor, the sword for the declared foe; and obtaining Edward's permission "to inquire further into these strange matters," he sent at once for the porter who had conveyed the model to the Tower; but that suspicious accomplice was gone. The sound of the explosion of the engine had no less startled the guard below than the spectators above. Releasing their hold of their prisoner, they had some taken fairly to their heels, others rushed into the palace to learn what mischief had ensued; and Hugh, with the quick discretion of his north country, had not lost so favourable an opportunity for escape. There stood the dozing mule at the door below, but the guide was vanished. More confirmed in his suspicions by this disappearance of Adam's companion, Richard, giving some preparatory orders to Catesby, turned at once to the room which still held the philosopher and his device. He closed the door on entering, and his brow was dark and sinister as he approached the musing inmate. But here we must return to Sibyll. _ |
||