Category: Historical Novels

The Casque's Lark; or, Victoria, the Mother of the Camps

I. SCHANVOCH AND SAMPSO 21 II. ON THE RHINE 26 III. THE HORDES OF THE FRANKS 46 IV. THE PRIESTESS ELWIG 55 V. NEROWEG THE TERRIBLE EAGLE 69 VI. THE FLIGHT 83 VII. SHADOWS ACROSS THE PATH 94 VIII. CAPTAIN MARION 99 IX. VICTORIA THE GREAT 107 X. TETRIK 114 XI. VICTORIN 127 XII....

Chapters

22. CHAPTER VI.

The direst day of my life since that on which I accompanied the remains of Victorin, his son and my beloved wife Ellen to the funeral pyre that was to consume them, was the day...

19. CHAPTER III.

Victoria entered the house amidst the religious silence of the soldiers who stood grouped without. Captain Marion and Tetrik followed her in. She motioned to them to remain outs...

4. CHAPTER II.

I had often asked myself why Sampso, who was a year older than Ellen, and as beautiful and virtuous as my wife, had until then rejected several offers of marriage. At times I su...

15. CHAPTER XIII.

The young general was not long in rejoining the vanguard. After a hurried conference with the officers, the troops took their posts of battle. Three cohorts of infantry, each on...

2. PART II--DOMESTIC TRAITORS.

I. GATHERING SHADOWS 185 II. THE CATASTROPHE 195 III. THE MORTUARY CHAMBER 208 IV. FUNERAL PYRES 229 V. ASSASSINATION OF MARION 233 VI. THE TRAITOR UNMASKED 247 VII. THE VISION...

13. CHAPTER XI

The son of Victoria the Great was then in his twenty-third year. I told you, my son, that several medals were struck on which he figured in the guise of the god Mars beside his...

7. CHAPTER V.

The Frankish chief who stood before me was a man of colossal stature. Due to the use of lime-water, his beard as well as his greasy hair, that rose in a knot over his forehead,...

6. CHAPTER IV.

I expected to see some hideous old hag; I was mistaken. Elwig was young, tall and endowed with savage beauty. Her grey eyes, shielded under a pair of naturally reddish eyebrows...

14. CHAPTER XII.

Upon leaving Victoria's house I hastened home to arm myself and take my horse. From all parts of the camp trumpets and clarions were heard blowing signals. When I entered my hou...

21. CHAPTER V.

Endowed with rare sagacity, a straightforward and firm nature, and ever solicitous of the advice of Victoria, Marion's government was marked with wisdom. The army grew ever more...

18. CHAPTER II.

"What?" I asked Ellen in a tone of tender reproach, "you who are always so brave even when I leave for battle, are now timorous and tearful when I am only going on a peaceful jo...

12. CHAPTER X.

The personage who now entered the apartment was an undersized man of middle age. His face was refined and gentle; an affable smile played permanently around his lips. In short,...

25. CHAPTER IX.

On leaving the general of the army I walked home disconsolate. Crime was triumphant. I returned home, to the house of my foster-sister, where I remained until my departure for B...

8. CHAPTER VI.

From the solitude and darkness in which I was left at the departure of Elwig's sacrificial assistants, I could see the mouth of the cavern at some distance. The opening grew dar...

17. CHAPTER I.

The utter annihilation of the Frankish hordes and the simultaneous destruction of their establishment on the other side of the river, freed Gaul of the perpetual fear that she s...

5. CHAPTER III.

I had hardly reached the shore, always holding the green oak branch aloft, when I saw a large number of Franks, belonging to the hordes of their army, rush forward from behind t...

16. CHAPTER XIV.

In his haste to inform his mother of our splendid victory, Victorin passed the command of the troops to one of the oldest chiefs. We changed our tired horses for two fresh ones...

10. CHAPTER VIII.

Early in the morning I repaired to Victoria's residence. The humble house of the Mother of the Camps was reached through a long narrow path, skirted on either side by high rampa...

11. CHAPTER IX.

I wish, my son, for your benefit and the benefit of our descendants, to trace here the portrait of that illustrious Gallic woman, one of the purest glories of our country.

24. CHAPTER VIII.

For several days I lay at death's door, constantly attended, my son, by your second mother. About two weeks passed after the death of Victoria, before I was able to collect and...

23. CHAPTER VII.

When the room was cleared of the presence of Tetrik the Mother of the Camps said to her servant, just as the latter was about to leave close upon the heels of Tetrik:

3. CHAPTER I.

The morning of the day that I am telling of, I quitted my bed with the dawn, leaving my beloved wife Ellen soundly asleep. I contemplated her for an instant. Her long loose hair...

9. CHAPTER VII.

The night was far advanced. I had reached within a few steps from my house when I saw through the dark a man crouching on the sill of one of the windows. He seemed to be peeping...

20. CHAPTER IV.

Left all alone to ourselves, we no longer repressed our tears. In silent and pious meditation we clad Ellen in her wedding gown, while you, my child, still slept peacefully.

1. PART I--FOREIGN FOES.

I. SCHANVOCH AND SAMPSO 21 II. ON THE RHINE 26 III. THE HORDES OF THE FRANKS 46 IV. THE PRIESTESS ELWIG 55 V. NEROWEG THE TERRIBLE EAGLE 69 VI. THE FLIGHT 83 VII. SHADOWS ACROSS...