Did you pass a bold knight of high chivalry?
I gave him a kiss, I gave him a flower,
For he’s my true lover, Young Rob o’ the Tower.
Fair maiden, I passed him, and bright was his shield,
And mighty his motto, The Foeman Shall Yield!
But cold will grow kisses, and wilt will a flower,
So wait not too long for Lord Rob o’ the Tower.
Sailorman O sailorman, home from the sea,
Did you pass a bold knight of great gallantry?
When Saracen’s spy him in coverts they’ll cower,
For he’s my true lover, Young Rob o’ the Tower.
Fair maiden, I passed him on tall horse-of-tree,
And loud roared the tempest, and louder laughed he.
And mirth it hath healing and prayer it hath power,
So break not your heart for Lord Rob o’ the Tower.
Pikeman O pikeman, red from the fray,
Did you pass a bold knight in battle to-day?
He promised to wed, I gave him a flower,
O fetch him to me, my Young Rob o’ the Tower.
I fear he’ll not wed you, fair maiden of Devon,
He died in the battle and rode on to Heaven;
And gifts that you gave him in sweet unbless’d hour
Will fetch you to Fire, not to Rob o’ the Tower.
3
I listened and looked at her, and never before had my eyes and ears so joined as though to create a new sense. Her voice was low and sweet, and I saw it shaped in her small, lustrous throat. The melody was a lovely thing, soft and sorrowful, and I thought it accompanied a loveliness in her mouth and eyes I had not seen before, and a loveliness of hands moving in stately measures.
I wondered if she had given a flower to some lover, whereby she had fetched up in slavery. . . . But I must be jealous only for my thousand pieces of gold.
“I know now what land she came from,” I told Mustapha in Arabic. “She lied when she said it was a little island.”
“She said it was bigger than the Rialto, and it is.”
“Did you believe her when she said she had forgotten——?”
“She wants to forget, I think. And as the song said truly, ‘Mirth it hath healing and prayer it hath power.’ Be kind to her, Marco my son.”
The entertainment was over. Apparently it had pleased Mustapha and Simon more than Saul and me; perhaps this was because they were both old men with not much to win or lose from life, and hence they could devote their ears and eyes without prejudice. Perhaps they were more moved by youth and loveliness than in the days when they could possess it themselves, and it was possible that, having more experience, they recognized worth and rareness that we young men missed. They were exulting together, their eyes moist with emotion.
Saul was waiting for me to announce our departure with my property. He was trying, not too successfully, to resign himself to it. I did not go yet; there were two matters on my mind that I felt compelled to settle before we left. One of them, involving the law, could cause a great deal of trouble if what I feared was true; yet I thought best to confront the danger now.
“Miranda, are you a Christian?” I asked. It was an unlawful act for a Venetian Christian to own Christian slaves.
The girl looked me calmly in the eyes.
“No, master. When I was in Malaga, I renounced Christianity and took Allah for my God.”
I was quite sure this was a downright lie, but I heard it with vast relief. Afterward it seemed to me that I had taken a heavy and foolish risk in asking her the question in front of witnesses. If she had answered yes, what action could I have taken? As it was, my title to her had become almost unassailable.
The other matter was simply one of good business. Both Jews would count me a fool if I did not pursue it; if they were remiss, they might be subject to suit. My undoubted reluctance to broach it made me angry with myself—certainly I was not going to renounce my rights, and perhaps be cheated, because of a wistful face and a kind of grace.
“The parchment describes the jewel as flawless,” I remarked, glancing over the writing. “I suppose he meant that just as a perfect pearl is of beautiful shape and unmarred skin, the maiden’s form is without fault and she has no hidden canker or witch’s mark.”
“That was Haran-din’s statement,” Saul answered irritably. “We don’t have to warrant it. All we must do is deliver on his order the chattel he put in our care. As for any disfigurements, you can look for them in privacy as soon as you get to your lodgings—as I don’t doubt you will.”
“Your latter remark is uncalled for, Saul my son,” the patriarch chided him.
“I’ll grant that point,” I said. “But there’s another that involves your care of her. The parchment reads, ‘If the pearl be broken, woe unto you.’ ”
“We guarded her as well as we could,” said Saul, “but that’s a danger from which a legion of dragons couldn’t guarantee to protect her. I trust that the goods are undamaged. If otherwise, I express the wish that no charge be made against me personally, directly or indirectly. She was put in my father’s charge. Such a reflection on my honor I’d be bound to avenge.”
He had tried to cheat me less than an hour before. But there was no doubt now that he meant every word he said, although for a Jew to take up arms against a Christian would condemn him to death by torture.
“Master, I beg leave to speak,” Miranda broke in.
“It’s granted.”
“I swear by Blessèd Jesus——”
“That oath has no warranty unless made by a Christian.”
“I swear by Allah, the great, the glorious, that I’m a virgin.”
“I will consider it established. Saul, you evinced awhile ago a desire to keep her. I’ll ask if you’d like to buy her.”
The room became exceedingly still. Saul tried in vain to control his countenance. He was deeply shaken.
“As a matter of curiosity only,” he said, “what price are you asking?”
“A thousand gold bezants.”
“It’s far too much. Since we’re used to having her here, and would miss her singing and the like, I might be persuaded——” He paused, and he could not keep his eyes from wandering to his father’s face.
“My son, is there no balm in Gilead?” the old man asked solemnly.
“I only meant——”
“Better the sight of the eyes than wandering of desire.”
“I entreat your forgiveness.”
A moment later, the patriarch called me to him and began to ask me kindly, civil questions about my conditions and ambitions, such as an old man may properly put to a young one. I had a hard time answering them, because Saul and Miranda were talking in low tones halfway across the room. I was trying to separate their voices from Simon’s to hear what they said.
At first they seemed to be speaking sorrowfully of their parting. The maiden’s eyes were big and I could not doubt that she felt a deep affection for the handsome young Jew, if not ardent love or carnal passion. Although I believed her claim to virginity in the narrow meaning of the word, the two could have very easily indulged in dalliance, and the mere thought enraged me. I repeated to myself that I was not going to be taken in by her touching appearance and manner, combined with some other quality I could not identify. Beneath these she could be lascivious as a witch child. Perhaps because my senses were sharpened by suspicion or I strained harder than before, I began to catch their words.
“I’m sorry that you were shamed in front of your father and the old Arab,” she was saying. “I wouldn’t worry about the opinions of the young slave trader.”
“The young slave trader is now your master. He can sell you to a baboon who has enough gold to buy you. If you’d confided in me, maybe I could have saved you.”
“I told you it was impossible. But I want you to tell the patriarch what your motives were in trying to keep me here.”
“Even if it was hopeless, as you say, I could have done better for you than this. I could have sold you to Paulos Angelos this very morning, if you’d let me. Haran-din became officially dead when he was taken from the lazar house, and our first order from him would have held in court. But no, Paulos’s promise that you’d become the favorite of a Thessalian duke didn’t move you. Yet you sang your prettiest for a Venetian bravo.”