All the nobility of Naples and Hungary were present at this ceremony,which debarred Andre from the throne in a fashion at once formal and striking.Thus,when they left the church the excited feelings of both parties made a crisis imminent,and such hostile glances,such threatening words were exchanged,that the prince,finding himself too weak to contend against his enemies,wrote the same evening to his mother,telling her that he was about to leave a country where from his infancy upwards he had experienced nothing but deceit and disaster.
Those who know a mother's heart will easily guess that Elizabeth of Poland was no sooner aware of the danger that threatened her son than she travelled to Naples,arriving there before her coming was suspected.Rumour spread abroad that the Queen of Hungary had come to take her son away with her,and the unexpected event gave rise to strange comments:the fever of excitement now blazed up in another direction.The Empress of Constantinople,the Catanese,her two daughters,and all the courtiers,whose calculations were upset by Andre's departure,hurried to honour the arrival of the Queen of Hungary by offering a very cordial and respectful reception,with a view to showing her that,in the midst of a court so attentive and devoted,any isolation or bitterness of feeling on the young prince's part must spring from his pride,from an unwarrantable mistrust,and his naturally savage and untrained character.Joan received her husband's mother with so much proper dignity in her behaviour that,in spite of preconceived notions,Elizabeth could not help admiring the noble seriousness and earnest feeling she saw in her daughter-in-law.To make the visit more pleasant to an honoured guest,fetes and tournaments were given,the barons vying with one another in display of wealth and luxury.The Empress of Constantinople,the Catanese,Charles of Duras and his young wife,all paid the utmost attention to the mother of the prince.Marie,who by reason of her extreme youth and gentleness of character had no share in any intrigues,was guided quite as much by her natural feeling as by her husband's orders when she offered to the Queen of Hungary those marks of regard and affection that she might have felt for her own mother.In spite,however,of these protestations of respect and love,Elizabeth of Poland trembled for her son,and,obeying a maternal instinct,chose to abide by her original intention,believing that she should never feel safe until Andre was far away from a court in appearance so friendly but in reality so treacherous.The person who seemed most disturbed by the departure,and tried to hinder it by every means in his power,was Friar Robert.Immersed in his political schemes,bending over his mysterious plans with all the eagerness of a gambler who is on the point of gaining,the Dominican,who thought himself on the eve of a tremendous event,who by cunning,patience,and labour hoped to scatter his enemies and to reign as absolute autocrat,now falling suddenly from the edifice of his dream,stiffened himself by a mighty effort to stand and resist the mother of his pupil.But fear cried too loud in the heart of Elizabeth for all the reasonings of the monk to lull it to rest:to every argument he advanced she simply said that while her son was not king and had not entire unlimited power,it was imprudent to leave him exposed to his enemies.The monk,seeing that all was indeed lost and that he could not contend against the fears of this woman,asked only the boon of three days'grace,at the end of which time,should a reply he was expecting have not arrived,he said he would not only give up his opposition to Andre's departure,but would follow himself,renouncing for ever a scheme to which he had sacrificed everything.
Towards the end of the third day,as Elizabeth was definitely making her preparations for departure,the monk entered radiant.Showing her a letter which he had just hastily broken open,he cried triumphantly--"God be praised,madam!I can at last give you incontestable proofs of my active zeal and accurate foresight."Andre's mother,after rapidly running through the document,turned her eyes on the monk with yet some traces of mistrust in her manner,not venturing to give way to her sudden joy.
"Yes,madam,"said the monk,raising his head,his plain features lighted up by his glance of intelligence--"yes,madam,you will believe your eyes,perhaps,though you would never believe my words:
this is not the dream of an active imagination,the hallucination of a credulous mind,the prejudice of a limited intellect;it is a plan slowly conceived,painfully worked out,my daily thought and my whole life's work.I have never ignored the fact that at the court of Avignon your son had powerful enemies;but I knew also that on the very day I undertook a certain solemn engagement in the prince's name,an engagement to withdraw those laws that had caused coldness between the pope and Robert;who was in general so devoted to the Church,I knew very well that my offer would never be rejected,and this argument of mine I kept back for the last.See,madam,my calculations are correct;your enemies are put to shame and your son is triumphant."Then turning to Andre,who was just corning in and stood dumbfounded-at the threshold on hearing the last words,he added--"Come,my son,our prayers are at last fulfilled you are king.""King!"repeated Andre,transfixed with joy,doubt,and amazement.
