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confessed her readiness not to oppose the separation, and demanded his |
opinion on the legality of her acquiescence. The Friar caught eagerly at |
her request of his advice, and without explaining his aversion to the |
proposed marriage of Manfred and Isabella, he painted to Hippolita in the |
most alarming colours the sinfulness of her consent, denounced judgments |
against her if she complied, and enjoined her in the severest terms to |
treat any such proposition with every mark of indignation and refusal. |
Manfred, in the meantime, had broken his purpose to Frederic, and |
proposed the double marriage. That weak Prince, who had been struck with |
the charms of Matilda, listened but too eagerly to the offer. He forgot |
his enmity to Manfred, whom he saw but little hope of dispossessing by |
force; and flattering himself that no issue might succeed from the union |
of his daughter with the tyrant, he looked upon his own succession to the |
principality as facilitated by wedding Matilda. He made faint opposition |
to the proposal; affecting, for form only, not to acquiesce unless |
Hippolita should consent to the divorce. Manfred took that upon himself. |
Transported with his success, and impatient to see himself in a situation |
to expect sons, he hastened to his wife’s apartment, determined to extort |
her compliance. He learned with indignation that she was absent at the |
convent. His guilt suggested to him that she had probably been informed |
by Isabella of his purpose. He doubted whether her retirement to the |
convent did not import an intention of remaining there, until she could |
raise obstacles to their divorce; and the suspicions he had already |
entertained of Jerome, made him apprehend that the Friar would not only |
traverse his views, but might have inspired Hippolita with the resolution |
of taking sanctuary. Impatient to unravel this clue, and to defeat its |
success, Manfred hastened to the convent, and arrived there as the Friar |
was earnestly exhorting the Princess never to yield to the divorce. |
“Madam,” said Manfred, “what business drew you hither? why did you not |
await my return from the Marquis?” |
“I came to implore a blessing on your councils,” replied Hippolita. |
“My councils do not need a Friar’s intervention,” said Manfred; “and of |
all men living is that hoary traitor the only one whom you delight to |
confer with?” |
“Profane Prince!” said Jerome; “is it at the altar that thou choosest to |
insult the servants of the altar?—but, Manfred, thy impious schemes are |
known. Heaven and this virtuous lady know them—nay, frown not, Prince. |
The Church despises thy menaces. Her thunders will be heard above thy |
wrath. Dare to proceed in thy cursed purpose of a divorce, until her |
sentence be known, and here I lance her anathema at thy head.” |
“Audacious rebel!” said Manfred, endeavouring to conceal the awe with |
which the Friar’s words inspired him. “Dost thou presume to threaten thy |
lawful Prince?” |
“Thou art no lawful Prince,” said Jerome; “thou art no Prince—go, discuss |
thy claim with Frederic; and when that is done—” |
“It is done,” replied Manfred; “Frederic accepts Matilda’s hand, and is |
content to waive his claim, unless I have no male issue”—as he spoke |
those words three drops of blood fell from the nose of Alfonso’s statue. |
Manfred turned pale, and the Princess sank on her knees. |
“Behold!” said the Friar; “mark this miraculous indication that the blood |
of Alfonso will never mix with that of Manfred!” |
“My gracious Lord,” said Hippolita, “let us submit ourselves to heaven. |
Think not thy ever obedient wife rebels against thy authority. I have no |
will but that of my Lord and the Church. To that revered tribunal let us |
appeal. It does not depend on us to burst the bonds that unite us. If |
the Church shall approve the dissolution of our marriage, be it so—I have |
but few years, and those of sorrow, to pass. Where can they be worn away |
so well as at the foot of this altar, in prayers for thine and Matilda’s |
safety?” |
“But thou shalt not remain here until then,” said Manfred. “Repair with |
me to the castle, and there I will advise on the proper measures for a |
divorce;—but this meddling Friar comes not thither; my hospitable roof |
shall never more harbour a traitor—and for thy Reverence’s offspring,” |
continued he, “I banish him from my dominions. He, I ween, is no sacred |
personage, nor under the protection of the Church. Whoever weds |
Isabella, it shall not be Father Falconara’s started-up son.” |
“They start up,” said the Friar, “who are suddenly beheld in the seat of |
lawful Princes; but they wither away like the grass, and their place |
knows them no more.” |
Manfred, casting a look of scorn at the Friar, led Hippolita forth; but |
at the door of the church whispered one of his attendants to remain |
concealed about the convent, and bring him instant notice, if any one |
from the castle should repair thither. |
CHAPTER V. |
Every reflection which Manfred made on the Friar’s behaviour, conspired |
to persuade him that Jerome was privy to an amour between Isabella and |
Theodore. But Jerome’s new presumption, so dissonant from his former |
meekness, suggested still deeper apprehensions. The Prince even |
suspected that the Friar depended on some secret support from Frederic, |
whose arrival, coinciding with the novel appearance of Theodore, seemed |