Lady Sybil's Choice: A Tale of the CrusadesHolt, Emily Sarah
History
Lady Sybil's Choice: A Tale of the Crusades
Holt, Emily Sarah
Crusades -- Fiction; Historical fiction
"She may do that once too often," said Eschine.
Amaury means to call the baby Héloïse—for a reason which would never
have occurred to any one but himself—because we have not had that name
in the family before. And Eschine smilingly accepts it, as I believe
she would Nebuchadnezzar if he ordered her.
To-day the little King was crowned in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
at noon; and in the evening the Damoiselle Héloïse de Lusignan was
baptized into the Fold of Christ. The King was very good: I think he
inherits much of his mother’s sweet disposition. I cannot say as much
for my small niece, for she cried with all her heart when the holy
Patriarch took her in his arms; and he said it showed that Satan must
have taken strong possession of her, and was very hard to dislodge. But
no sooner had the holy cross been signed on her, and the holy Patriarch
gave her back into the arms of her nurse, than, by the power of our
Lord, she was quite another creature, and did not utter a single cry.
So wonderful and effectual a thing is the grace of holy baptism!
"Much effect it took on thee, then," growled Amaury, to whom I said
this; "for thou didst wait until the water touched thy face, and then
didst set up such screams as never were heard from mortal babe before."
"What dost thou know about it?" said I.
"Ha! Don’t I?" answered he provokingly.
I have been amused to hear the different ideas of various people, when
they first see the baby. The Lady Queen stroked its little face, and
said pitifully—"Ah, poor little child, thou art come into a disagreeable
world!" Lady Judith took it in her arms, and after rocking it a little,
she said—"What possibilities lie hidden here!" Lady Sybil said—"Little
darling! what a treasure thou art!" Lady Isabel’s comment (for which I
shall never forgive her) was—"What an ugly little spectacle! Are young
babies no prettier?" Damoiselle Melisende danced it up and down, and
sang it a lively nursery song. Guy (like a man) said, with an amused
look, "Well! that is a funny little article. Héloïse?—that means ’hidden
wisdom,’ does it not? Very much hidden just now, I should think."
Amaury (that stupid piece of goods!)—"Wretched little creature! Do keep
it from crying!" And lastly, old Marguerite came to see her nursling’s
nursling’s nursling. I wondered what she would say. She took it in her
arms, and looked at it for some time without speaking. And then she
said softly—
"Little child! He that was once a little Child, bless thee! And may He
give thee what He sees best. That will most likely be something
different from what we see."
"O Marguerite!" said I. "That may be an early death."
"That would be the best of all, my Damoiselle.[#] Ah! the eyes of a
noble maiden of seventeen years see not so far as the eyes of a villein
woman of seventy. There are good things in this world—I do not deny it.
But the best thing is surely to be safe above this world,—safe with the
good Lord."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account