Those who heard this new charge against the unhappy druggist started, and many looked wise, and shook the sagacious head, exclaiming, "Ah! we always knew he was a wicked man!" but Albert Maurice, who understood that the mode of death to which his uncle alluded was not quite deserving of such serious comment, again called upon those who were friends to Ghent, and to himself, to resume their seats at once.
One after another, all the citizens, and almost all the nobles, followed the example of good Martin Fruse. The Duke of Cleves, however, together with a few of his immediate partisans, remained standing, and, after a brief pause, moved a step towards the door.
"It is not my custom," he said, "to sit and drink in halls where blood has just been shed; and without being an enemy to Ghent, or any of her true and faithful sons, I may be pardoned for quitting a place, where I know not what is to happen next."
"Fortunately for myself, my lord," replied Albert Maurice, "I did know what was intended to happen next; though, perhaps, my having spoiled the design may be matter of offence to some here present. But not to bandy words with so high a prince, I have only further to say, that the citizens of Ghent have been honoured by your presence while it has lasted; and you have, in return, been treated with a goodly and instructive, though somewhat fearful, spectacle, showing how the men of this city punish those who attempt to poison them at their solemn feasts. Make way for the Duke of Cleves, there!" And with an air in which courtesy and grace gave additional point to the keen scorn that curled his lip and bent his brow, Albert Maurice led the Duke towards the door, and bowed low as he passed out.
The young President then resumed his seat; his lip softened, his brow unbent, and, gazing round the guests with one of those bland smiles which often win approbation for the past, by seeming certain of applause, he exclaimed--"Friends, have I done well?"
The man who rose to reply was one of the most zealous of that violent party on whose support Ganay had founded his authority; and Albert Maurice prepared for bold opposition; for he knew him to be fierce and fearless, though honest and upright in purpose. By one of those sudden revolutions of feeling, however, which are common in scenes of great excitement, the whole sentiments of the partisan had become changed by the frank and determined demeanour of the young citizen; and he answered at once--"So well have you done, Sir President, that, in my opinion, if Ghent owed you gratitude before, that gratitude ought now to be increased a hundred-fold; and if she suspected you of any baseness, those suspicions should be done away for ever. To many of us you have been represented as courting the nobility for your own purposes, and seeking alone, in all you have done, your own aggrandizement. Some of us, too--I for one," he added, boldly--"consented to your arrest this night. I acknowledge it; and frankly I acknowledge I was wrong. But believe me, Sir President, when with the same voice I declare, that, had I ever dreamed of the scheme for murdering you here, my own knife should first have drunk the blood of the assassin. Justly has he been done to death; and wisely have you treated yon proud prince, who courts us now, only, that he may first rise by us, and then crush us hereafter; and who, as no one that saw his countenance can doubt, was leagued with the dead assassin. It is the policy of those that hate us, to set us at variance amongst ourselves, and remove from us all the men whose talents and whose firmness will enable us to triumph still. Let us then, all pledge ourselves to union; and, in order to preserve him who alone possesses genius and power sufficient to lead us properly, let us give him a guard of five hundred men, and intrust him with greater authority than he has hitherto enjoyed."
The proposal was received with acclamation; and the citizens, some eager to show that they had no participation in the plot which had just been frustrated, some carried away by the general enthusiasm, and some from the first devoted to the young President, vied with each other in voting him new powers and new dignities. At that moment he might have commanded anything in the power of the states of Flanders to bestow; and much more was spontaneously offered than he thought prudent to accept. "No, no!" he said; "limit the power you grant me to that which your fathers formerly conferred, in this very hall, on Jacob Von Artevelde, with this further restriction, that I shall submit, every month, the revenues intrusted to my disposal to the inspection of three persons chosen from your own body. Thus shall I be enabled to serve you as much as man can do; and thus will you guard against those abuses to which the unlimited confidence of your ancestors gave rise. Nothing more will I accept."
The will of the young citizen for the time was law, and the whole arrangement was speedily completed. One more deep cup of red wine each man present quaffed to the health of Albert Maurice, and then took leave, one by one. Martin Fruse was the last that left him, and, as he did so, the good old man wrung his hand hard. "Farewell, Albert," he said; "I have seen you a little child, and I have seen you a stately man, and I have loved you better than anything else on earth. You have now reached a dizzy height, my dear boy; and, oh! take care that your head do not turn giddy. For my sake, if not for your own, take care; for it would slay me to see your fall."
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Albert Maurice sat alone, after an evening of such fearful excitement, as few have ever passed upon this earth--after having seen his own life, and power, and hopes, in momentary danger--after having controlled and concealed his own passions, and bridled, and governed, and guided those of others--after having overthrown his enemies, slain his betrayer, secured his authority, and taken all but one small easy step to the very summit of his ambition. Oh, what a host of mingled sensations crowded rapidly on his heart! and how dizzily his brain whirled for the first few brief moments, while remembrance rapidly brought before him all the multiplied events of the last two hours; and out of the smoke of memory rose the giant consciousness that he was successful--triumphantly successful!