Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords] — CompleteParker, Gilbert
History
Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords] — Complete
Parker, Gilbert
Great Britain -- History -- Elizabeth, 1558-1603 -- Fiction; Huguenots -- Fiction; Jersey (Channel Islands) -- Fiction
Once more Michel made a journey-alone--to the Ecrehos, and there, under
the ruins of the old Abbey of Val Richer, he buried the twain he had
loved. Not once in all the terrible hours had he shed a tear; not once
had his hand trembled; his face was like stone, and his eyes burned with
an unearthly light.
He did not pray beside the graves; but he knelt and kissed the earth
again and again. He had doffed his robes of peace, and now wore the
garb of a soldier, armed at all points fully. Rising from his knees, he
turned his face towards Jersey.
“Only mine! Only mine!” he said aloud in a dry, bitter voice.
In the whole island, only his loved ones had died of the plague. The
holiness and charity and love of Michel and Angele had ended so!
When once more he set forth upon the Channel, he turned his back on
Jersey and shaped his course towards France, having sent Elizabeth his
last excuses for declining a service which would have given him honour,
fame and regard. He was bent upon a higher duty.
Not long did he wait for the death he craved. Next year, in a Huguenot
sortie from Anvers, he was slain. He died with these words on his lips:
“Maintenant, Angele!”
In due time the island people forgot them both, but the Seigneur of
Rozel caused a stone to be set up on the highest point of land that
faces France, and on the stone were carved the names of Michel and
Angele. Having done much hard service for his country and for England’s
Queen, Lempriere at length hung up his sword and gave his years to
peace. From the Manor of Rozel he was wont to repair constantly to the
little white house, which remained as the two had left it,--his own by
order of the Queen,--and there, as time went on, he spent most of his
days. To the last he roared with laughter if ever the name of Buonespoir
was mentioned in his presence; he swaggered ever before the Royal Court
and De Carteret of St. Ouen’s; and he spoke proudly of his friendship
with the Duke’s Daughter, who had admired the cut of his jerkin at the
Court of Elizabeth. But in the house where Angele had lived he moved
about as though in the presence of a beloved sleeper he would not awake.
Michel and Angele had had their few years of exquisite life and love,
and had gone; Lempriere had longer measure of life and little love, and
who shall say which had more profit of breath and being? The generations
have passed away, and the Angel of Equity hath a smiling pity as she
scans the scales and the weighing of the Past.
ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS:
Boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking
Each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity
Never believed that when man or woman said no that no was meant
No note of praise could be pitched too high for Elizabeth
Nothing is futile that is right
Religion to him was a dull recreation invented chiefly for women
She had never stooped to conquer
Slander ever scorches where it touches
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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