Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Palmistry

A happy story and a happy song Accompanied by our joyful walk on the rough road, We only hope that this rough road will get longer and longer But seeing it turn around and return to the original place, Laughing that we don't know fairyland. Samuel.Johnson (Note) (Note) Samuel.Johnson (1709︱1784): British writer, critic, lexicographer, compiled "Shakespeare Collection" and so on. At dawn Quentin.Darwilt then left his small quarters, roused the sleepy-eyed groom, and examined the horse's girth, harness, harness, and horse's shoes more carefully than ever, in order to avoid as much as possible the occurrence of Small but frequent accidents that get in the way and disrupt the itinerary.At his own urging, the horses were fed well enough for the day's trek and, if necessary, to run quickly.

Quentin went back to his room, put on his armor more carefully than usual, and fastened the knife on his belt with the seriousness of fearless determination to fight to the end. This heroic mood made his steps nimble and dignified.Although the two ladies of Croix admired his usual elegant and simple manner and conversation, combined with his natural shrewdness and the simple and simple temperament brought up in remote surroundings, but as he was at the moment They had never seen such a performance.He told them it was necessary to start early this morning.They left the monastery immediately after eating breakfast.Before leaving, the two ladies thanked the monastery for their hospitality by making a generous donation to the altar, befitting their status rather than their appearance.This aroused little suspicion, for they both pretended to be British, and the islanders were then, as now, thought to be very wealthy.

As they mounted and set off, the Abbot blessed them and congratulated Quentin on the loss of his irreligious guide.For, says the venerable monk, it is better to stumble on the road than to be hindered by robbers or thieves. Quentin didn't think so.Though he knew that the Bohemian was dangerous, he thought that once he saw his intentions clearly, he could use him to his advantage, and foil his treacherous plots.But soon he no longer had to worry about it, for the little cavalry had not been a hundred yards beyond the monastery and the village when Mograbin, as usual, rode his lively and handsome pony to join them.The road followed exactly the same creek where Quentin had overheard their mysterious gathering last night.Not long after Hyradin joined them, they passed under the willow tree which had given Darwilt concealment from overhearing the disloyal guide's conversation with the spearman.

The place brought back memories of last night in Quentin, prompting him to strike up a conversation with the guide he had previously ignored. You blasphemous bastard, where did you spend the night?asked the Scot. Look at my toga, and you can guess it with your cleverness.said the Bohemian, pointing to his clothes which were covered with broken hay. What a haystack, said Quentin, what a comfortable and convenient bed for an astrologer.A heathen who despises our holy religion and its monks does not deserve it. But my pony is more satisfied than I am with him, said Hiradin, patting the horse's neck, because he has both a bed and a feed.Those bald old fools drove him away too, as if a wise man's horse could infect a whole bunch of jackasses with wit and wit.Fortunately the horse understood my whistle and followed me faithfully like a hound.Otherwise we'd never meet, and you'd never get a guide.

I have warned you more than once, said Darwilt sternly, that you should not joke when you meet noble people.Of course, I see that you rarely had the chance to meet this kind of luck in your past life.I tell you the truth, if I thought you were a blasphemous bastard and a dishonest guide, my Scotch dagger would have touched your heretic heart, though it was like poking Dirty as a dead pig. A pig is like a wild boar, said the Bohemian.He didn't flinch from Quentin's piercing gaze, nor did he change the tone of nonchalant sarcasm in which he spoke.Many people, he added, took pleasure in poking a wild boar, and enjoyed it, and reaped the benefits.

Quentin was taken aback by the man's casual disclosure of other people's secrets.He couldn't be sure whether this person knew a lot about his past and mood, and whether it would be harmful to him to talk about it, so he interrupted the conversation that could not give him the upper hand, and retreated to the side of the two ladies, walking in a walk he was used to. position. As I have said before, the relationship between them is now quite intimate.The older ladies treated him as a favored peer (because they were fully convinced that he was of noble birth).Her nieces were less casual with their guardians, but beneath her shy embarrassment Quentin was well aware that his company and conversation were by no means optional to her.

Seeing their own gaiety and magnanimity appreciated, the young people feel even more powerful.On their previous journeys Quentin had always entertained the fair maiden with his brisk talk and Scottish folk songs and stories.He sang these folk songs in the vernacular, but his translations of Scottish folk tales into blunt French were often erroneous.The fact itself is just as interesting as the story.Yet on this anxious morning, he rode silently beside the two Croix ladies, making no effort to please them, as he usually did.They could not help feeling that his silence was unusual. Our young traveling companion must have seen a wolf, said Lady Hamelin, referring to an ancient superstition she had in mind, so the tongue was gone too. (Original note: The wolf first saw Maurice, and Maurice immediately became dumb. From Virgil's (pastoral). The commentator added Priggi's statement when explaining these two sentences: In Italy, it is believed that being seen by a wolf It is a very unfortunate thing, and if the wolf sees the man first and the man sees the wolf later, the man loses the ability to speak.)

If I tracked down a fox, that would be the point.Quentin thought, but he didn't say it out loud. How are you, Mr. Quentin?asked the Countess Isabel, blushing at the concern in her tone, for she felt that it was more than the distance between them would allow. He stayed up all night, drinking and having fun with the merry monks.Ms. Hamelin said that the Scots, like the Germans, celebrated their days with Rhine wine, staggered to balls at night, and walked into lovers' boudoirs with aching heads in the morning. That is not the case, my dear ladies, said Quentin, and the accusation does not concern me.The good monks prayed almost all night.As for myself, I drank only an ordinary glass of light wine.

It was the poor diet that made him in a bad mood.Miss Isabel said, Mr. Quentin, please don't be discouraged.If we could go back to my old Blackmont Castle again, and I'd have the honor to toast you, you'd have a glass full of fine wine, a glass of Horkheim or Johannesburg (note: both places were Prussia's famous wine-producing region.) The vineyards can't produce grape wine. All you need is to pass me a glass of water with your own hands, noble lady.Quentin's voice trembled when he began to speak to this extent.Miss Isabel went on as if she hadn't noticed the tenderness with which Quentin emphasized your personal pronoun.

This wine was kept in the cellar of my great-grandfather Godfrey, Count of the Rhine in Blackmont.Miss Isabel said. It was the knight who won her great-grandmother's wife, Madame Hamelin, interrupting her niece, as he had proved himself at the tournament at Strasbourg to be the best representative of the knightly class. Ten men were killed on the spot.But that era is over.Now no one wants to risk their lives for honor and to save the suffering beauty. These words were uttered by a modern beauty who was not as beautiful as before, in a vulgar tone that sounded like blaming contemporary men.Quentin obliged to answer as follows: The chivalry that Ms. Hamelin seems to think has died is not uncommon.If it has waned elsewhere, it still burns in the breasts of Scottish gentlemen.

Well said!Lady Hamelin remarked that he would have us believe that in his cold and desolate Scotland still burns a noble flame that has been extinguished in France and Germany!The poor young man is like a Swiss mountaineer, full of fondness for his homeland, and he will tell us about his Scotch vines and olive trees. No, madam, said Davelt, for the wine we drink and the oil we mountain people eat, all I can say is that we can compel our rich neighbors to honor us with these fine products by the sword.As for the unsullied loyalty and unfailing honor of the Scots, I must ask you now to test how much confidence you can place in it.Naturally, I am too humble to offer anything more as a guarantee of your safety. It's incomprehensible what you say. You must be aware of the imminent danger.Ms Hamelin said. I've seen in his eyes for the past hour that something is wrong!Miss Isabel put her hands together and said, Holy Mother, what shall we do? I think everything will be fine.Dawilt replied, Now I have to ask a question, noble ladies, can you trust me? Trust you?Ms Hamelin replied, of course.But why do you ask?To what extent do you ask us to trust you? For my part, said Mademoiselle Isabel, I trust you absolutely and unconditionally.If you, Quentin, lie to us, I will not believe anyone but God. Noble lady, replied Darwilt with great satisfaction, you have done me justice.What I want to say is that I intend to change our course and go directly to Liège along the left bank of the Mahes, instead of crossing the river at Namur.This is at odds with King Louis' orders and instructions received by the guide.The problem is that I heard at the monastery that there are bandits on the right bank of the Maès, and that the Burgundian soldiers have been ordered to suppress them.Both circumstances make me fear for your safety.Will you allow me to change your travel itinerary? I totally agree.replied the young lady. Niece, said Lady Hamelin, I believe as much as you do in the young man's good intentions.But you have to consider that we are violating King Louis' very emphatic instructions. Why should we take his instructions seriously?Thank God, said Miss Isabel, that I am not one of his subjects.And, as one who had asked for his protection, he had betrayed the trust he had induced me to place in him.I would not wrong the young gentleman to weigh for a single moment the orders of that cunning and selfish tyrant against what he said. God bless you, madam, you speak so well.Quentin said happily, if I live up to the trust expressed in your words, it would be too cheap for me to be quartered by five horses in this life and tortured forever in the next life. And so he rode forward to look for the bohemian.This nobleman seemed at least very easy-going, if not magnanimous in character.He never remembers (at least on the surface) offenses or intimidations others have done to him.As soon as Darwilt started talking to him, he talked and laughed as if they hadn't talked back at all this morning. The dog isn't biting now, thought the Scot, because he's going to settle with me as soon as he can choke me.But I want to see if I can retaliate in the same way and defeat a traitor Honest Hyladin, he said, you have walked with us five days, but you have never shown us your fortune-telling.I know you like fortune-telling very much.In every monastery we stopped you insisted on displaying your gift, and punished yourself with a night's sleep in a haystack. You never asked me to show my skills, said the gypsy, and you, like everyone else, are content to laugh at occult things you don't understand. Then you can prove your ability to me now.said Quentin, taking off a glove and offering his hand to the gypsy man. Hyaddin examined the criss-cross lines of the Scotchman's hand with equal rigor and careful attention to the small swellings at the bases of the fingers.These things, like people view the brain today, were considered to be closely related to people's character, habits and destiny at that time. This hand, said Hiradin, shows that you have done hard work and been in danger.I can see that you have mastered the art of martial arts very early on.But you have also dealt with the missal. You may have read these stories of mine somewhere else.Quentin said, tell me about the future. This line from Mount Venus, said the Bohemian, does not break suddenly, but always follows the lifeline, indicating that you will surely have good luck through marriage, and rise to a rich nobleman through good love. You will say good things like this whenever you ask for a look.It is an integral part of your alchemy, said Quentin. What I tell you is certain, said Hiradin, and it is equally certain that we will soon be in great danger.This is what I deduced from this bright blood-red line cross-cutting the joint line.It shows that there will be danger of military service and death.Only by the affection of a true friend can you be saved from misfortune. Ha, is this referring to yourself?said Quentin, somewhat indignantly, because the palmist considered him so deceitful that he tried to establish his reputation by foretelling the outcome of his own treachery. My physiognomy cannot predict my own affairs.said the gypsy. In this respect our Scottish fortune-tellers are better than you boast, said Quentin, because their physiognomists can tell what dangers they themselves are in.I am a mountain person, and although I have left the mountains, I also have some mountain people's talent for seeing the future.I will prove it to you in exchange for performing palmistry.Hayradine, the danger that threatens me is on the right bank of the river and I will go to Liege along the left bank to get rid of this danger. The guide's indifferent expression when he said this made Quentin, who knew the details, feel really incomprehensible.If you achieve your purpose, replied the Bohemian, then the danger will pass from you to me. Look, said Quentin, didn't you just say you couldn't predict your own future? Certainly not in the way I just told your fortune.Haiding replied, anyone who knows a little about Valois.Anyone in Louis can predict that if you will not follow the line he proposes, he will hang your guide. To reach the destination safely and ensure the smooth end of the trip, Quentin said, should be able to make up for the fault of not taking the designated route. Yes, replied the Bohemian, if you can be sure that the destination the king tells you is the same destination as he has in mind. So what other destination could he have in mind?Why do you suppose you have any intentions in mind other than those stated in his order?Quentin questioned. Quite simply, replied the gypsy, that those who knew the most Christian of kings knew well that the intentions he most wanted to achieve were often the ones he least articulated.Suppose our wise King Louis sends twelve envoys, I will vouch for it, Eleven of the twelve will have more writings in the bottom of the inkpot than the writings of the country. I don't care about your wild guesses, Quentin said, my responsibility is to send the two ladies to Liege safely and unmistakably.I thought I could best discharge my duties by changing the prescribed route and following the left bank of the Maes.Besides, this is also the straight road to Liege.If we cross the river, we will waste time and increase the fatigue of the journey. Why should we do this? Because the so-called pilgrims who intend to go to Cologne generally do not walk as far as Liege along the Maes River, the route taken by the two ladies will be considered inconsistent with their stated purpose. If we are questioned on this point, said Quentin, we shall say it is because of that wicked Duke Geldreth, or William.Delamach, or skinning specialists, and German spearmen harassed the right bank of the river.So we had to change the original route and continue to go to the left bank. Take it at your convenience, my good man.The Bohemian answered, As far as I am concerned, I will take you along the right bank of the Maes as well as the left bank.You'll have to find out the reason yourself, though, and justify it to your master. The ease with which Hayladin acquiesced in the change of course, at least not reluctantly, could not fail to amaze and delight Quentin, for he needed him to show them the way.But Quentin worried that breaking his original plan to betray them would drive him to take the risk.However, to drive the Bohemian out of their ranks would be tantamount to making William, who was in collusion with him.Delamach, knowing their new course, came to attack them.If Hyladin was allowed to stay, Quentin could try to prevent him from having a secret relationship with outsiders alone. Having completely abandoned the plan of following the original route, the small group of people marched smoothly and quickly along the left bank of the wide Maès River, and they arrived at their predetermined destination early the next morning.They discovered that the bishop of Liege had admitted to the castle of Thornwald, claiming to be sick, in fact, perhaps to avoid a sudden attack by the numerous and rebellious citizens of Liege. As they approached the castle, they saw the bishop who had celebrated high mass in a neighboring town, and was returning to the Holy See, followed by a long procession. He walked in front of a long line of richly dressed monks and civil and military officials.As the old folk poet said: The monks held their crosses high to clear the way, All the warriors held the spears in the rear. The long procession winds its way along the green banks of the broad Maes River, and at last reaches the great Gothic porch of the bishop's mansion, slowly spiraling in, as if being swallowed. As the small party drew closer, the surroundings of the castle revealed doubts and insecurities that were at odds with the riches and majesty they had just seen.Bishop's posts are carefully placed around and near the mansion.The general atmosphere in the Holy See seemed to indicate that the venerable bishop felt insecure and necessitated these measures of military defense about himself.After being briefed by Quentin, the two ladies from Croyle were respectfully introduced into the hall.The Bishop and his little Curia gave them the most cordial welcome.Instead of kissing their hands, he gave them a salute of welcome.This is both a prince's courtship to a lady, and a priest's holy affection for a parishioner. Bourbon.Louis, the bishop of Liege, was indeed a generous and kind royal nobleman.Although his life was not strictly confined to the priesthood, he always maintained the frank and noble character of the Bourbon family from which he was born. As the age advances, the habits of a bishop in his later years seem more befitting of his ecclesiastical status than in his earlier years.He was universally loved among the neighboring princes and nobles, and was recognized as a noble priest.In his daily life he was generous and free from austere asceticism.In terms of governance, he practiced governance by doing nothing.This encouraged rather than discouraged attempts by his rebellious and wealthy subjects to rebel. The bishop was a staunch ally of the Duke of Burgundy.His Excellency the duke almost demanded joint dominion with the bishop in the diocese.The bishop kindly accepted with indifference a demand which he could easily have refuted, and the duke rewarded him on all occasions by defending the bishop with the firm and extreme zeal which was characteristic of his character.He often said that he regarded Liege as his own territory, and the bishop as his own brother (as the duke might as well have done, since he had married the bishop's sister as his first wife), and that anyone who offended Paul beside.Louis, Burgundy.Charles had to settle accounts with him.Considering the character and power of this king, such words are a powerful threat to anyone.But the wealthy and disaffected citizens of Liege were an exception.It must have been, according to an old adage, that its vast wealth made men lustful for profit. The bishop assured the two Ladies of Croix that he would use his influence at the Burgundian court as much as possible to intercede for them, and according to recent events, Compo.Basso is not as favored as he used to be, so his intercession will be more effective.He also pledged to provide them with all possible protection.But he sighed when he made this assurance, as if he had to admit that his ability was a problem, and he would not express it in words. My dear children, anyway, the bishop said with the attitude of giving spiritual comfort and the gallantry of the Bourbon family in the previous salute, God has eyes, I can't let the lamb be at the mercy of the wolf, let Noble ladies are bullied.Although the place I live in right now looks like a war, I'm a man of peace.Rest assured, I care about your safety as much as I care about my own safety.In case things get more difficult to deal with here, Holy Mother, I am sure things will calm down and not intensify and I will try to get you safely to Germany.Burgundy.Charles, though my brother and protector, could never by his personal will compel me in any way to arrange your fate against your will.You ask to be sent to a monastery, which I cannot do because, unfortunately, among the inhabitants of Liege, the disciples of the devil are very influential.My power reaches no other place than my own fortified castle.I welcome you to live here.Your followers will be treated with courtesy.Especially this young man whom you specially introduced to me, I would like to bless him specially. Quentin naturally knelt down to accept the bishop's blessing. As for yourselves, continued the good bishop, I invite you to stay with my sister Isabel, a nun from Trier.Although this is at the happy bachelor's house of the Bishop of Liège, with her you can live with dignity. After this speech of welcome, he led the two ladies to her sister's bedroom.His steward is a deacon-level official of the Holy See between the two identities of monks and laymen.He entertained Quentin as the bishop had ordered. In making this arrangement, Quentin noticed that the bohemian who had been repeatedly rejected in the country monastery now appeared at the home of the wealthy, almost mortal bishop without seeming to be noticed, nor No offense.