Читать «Айвенго / Ivanhoe» онлайн - страница 49

At this period of the trial, the Grand Master commanded Rebecca to unveil herself. “I will obey you,” she replied, with an expression of patient sorrow in her voice, which had almost melted the heart of Beaumanoir himself; “at your command I will show the face of an unfortunate maiden.”

Higg, the son of Snell, cried:

“Let me go! I cannot look at her and think that I have helped to kill her!”

“Poor man,” said Rebecca, when she heard his exclamation; “you have done me no harm by speaking the truth—you cannot help me by your complaints, go home and save yourself.”

Higg calmed down and was allowed to stay.

Then the Grand Master listened to two soldiers, who were bribed by Albert Malvoisin to make sure Rebecca dies and Bois-Guilbert is free to follow the road of ambition. Their evidence was this: Rebecca was heard to mutter to herself in an unknown language; one of them had seen her cure a wounded man in the castle of Torquilstone by making signs upon the wound and repeating mysterious words, after which the iron head of an arrow came out of the wound, the wound was closed, and the dying man was ready to fight again. To show that his story was true, he took out of his bag the head of an arrow, which, according to his story, had come out of the wound. The second soldier had been a witness to the scene between Rebecca and Bois-Guilbert, when she was standing on the parapet threatening to throw herself down. Not to be behind his companion, this fellow said that he saw Rebecca turn into a swan, flying around the tower three times and then turning into a woman again. This was enough to prove Rebecca guilty. The Grand Master asked what she could say in reply.

“To ask for pity,” said the lovely Jewish woman, with a voice trembling a little with emotion, “would, I know, be useless. To say that to help the sick and wounded of another religion cannot be bad in the eyes of God wouldn’t help either. But I will ask Brian de Bois-Guilbert himself, are not these accusations as false as they are deadly?”

There was a pause, all eyes turned to Brain de Bois-Guilbert. He was silent.

“Answer her, brother,” said the Grand Master, “if the enemy with whom you are fighting gives you power.”

Bois-Guilbert seemed agitated by opposite passions, which almost convulsed his features. He said in a strange tone, looking at Rebecca, – ”The scroll! – the scroll!”

“Yes,” said Beaumanoir, “this is indeed evidence! The victim of her magic can only tell us about the fatal scroll, the spell written on which is, doubtless, the cause of his silence.”

But Rebecca understood the knight correctly and quickly read the small scroll in her hand. The scroll said: “Demand a Champion!”

“Rebecca, the evidence of this knight doesn’t help you. Do you have anything else to say?”

“There is one chance of life left to me,” said Rebecca, “by your laws, I maintain my innocence, and I declare the falsehood of this accusation—I demand the privilege of trial by combat, and will appear by my champion.”

“And who, Rebecca,” replied the Grand Master, “will fight for a Jewish maiden?”