The Midnight Wedding

Summary

Moonlit crags cradle a clandestine union: Leopold, heir presumptive to the alpine kingdom of Savonia, slips from gilded halls into the arms of Stephanie, a loom-tender whose flaxen hair smells of woodsmoke and rebellion. Their year-long marriage—sealed in a pine-fragrant chapel with only larks as witnesses—bears a son, Paul, whose cradle songs are lullabies of rain on slate. Yet Savonia’s iron-clad statutes sneer at love across ramparts of blood; Leopold, cornered by heraldic ghosts, abandons the cottage, leaving mother and child to grow wild as mountain thyme. Years later Paul, now a sabre-scarred dragoon, descends upon the capital where chandeliers drip like frozen waterfalls and Astrea—princess by birth, pawn by testament—must wed the serpentine Captain von Scarsbruck before the twelfth chime of her twenty-first birthday. In a chapel bleached by candle-light and desperation, two fugitive souls swap vows while soldiers thunder at the oak: a midnight wedding that ticks like a bomb. What follows is a danse macabre of forged letters, balcony duels, and a spurned forest-witch whose gunshot cracks the moralising mirror of monarchy. When Leopold finally claims the prodigal prince, Paul refuses the crown that once rejected his mother; arm-in-arm with Astrea he strides into exile, leaving throne-room doors ajar so winter wind can scour the gilt off centuries of entitlement.

Synopsis

Leopold, brother of the King of Savonia, is, in the absence of direct heirs, Crown Prince of the kingdom and heir to the throne. In face of the laws which declare that members of the royal family must only marry those of blood equal to their own, and without the knowledge of the King Leopold has wedded Stephanie, a beautiful peasant girl, and lives with her in a village in the hills whenever he is able to escape from the court. A year after the marriage he receives an urgent summons from Stephanie, and finds on reaching his mountain home, that a son has been born to him. The fact compels him to inform Stephanie that, by the laws of Savonia, their marriage is illegal and that the child can never be recognized as his heir and successor as ruler of Savonia. Paul grows to manhood in the mountains without knowing his father's name, but on her deathbed Stephanie tells him her unhappy story, and he learns that it is the Crown Prince Leopold who has broken her heart and deserted her at the dictates of worldly ambition. Alone in the world he determines to seek his fortune in Savonia. Satanella, a woman of the woods, has fallen in love with him, but he rejects her advances, and in doing so makes her his enemy for life. Prince Leopold, on the death of Prince von Strelsburg, one of the chief nobles of Savonia writes to the dead man's son and daughter Prince Eugene and Princess Astrea, informing them of their loss and acquainting them of their father's will, which direct that, on attaining her twenty-first birthday, Astrea shall become the wife of Captain Rudolph von Scarsbruck. Scarsbruck, a man of good family but dissolute habits, soon learns that Astrea dislikes him and intends to take full advantage of the two years of freedom left her by the will. He therefore takes advantage of her brother Eugene's weak character to involve him in losses at cards, and getting him into his power by these means, readily obtains his assistance by the promise of 100,000 crowns if his suit is successful. Two years pass, and it is the eve of Astrea's twenty-first birthday. Paul has proved a successful soldier, and to celebrate the winning of his commission, has invited several of his soldier friends to meet him at the "Golden Dragon." Eugene and Scarsbruck are seated at another table in the same inn. Satanella, now living a gay life in the capital, sees and recognizes Paul, and tells Scarsbruck and Eugene of his history. When Paul asks them to drink with him, they contemptuously refuse, and Eugene uses insulting expressions regarding Paul's mother. The young officer knocks him down, and on Eugene drawing his sword, defends himself and severely wounds the Prince. Scarsbruck orders soldiers to arrest Paul, but declaring that he will not surrender until he has proved Eugene a liar. Paul succeeds in getting away. Astrea, when the hour approaches when she will be no longer able to refuse the husband imposed upon her by her father's will, goes for counsel and guidance to the old priest, Father Gerard, in the private chapel of Strelsburg Palace. Paul, hard pressed by the soldiers with Scarsbruck at their head, takes refuge in the chapel and, questioned by Astrea, tells her that the blood on his sword is that of his mother's slanderer. Astrea sees in his appearance a way out of the difficulties which beset her. She tells him her story, and concludes with the appeal, "Make me your wife and we will say good-bye forever." Paul, moved by the evident distress of the beautiful girl, agrees to her request, and with the hands of the clock showing a few minutes to midnight, the strange wedding ceremony begins with the man and woman and the priest alone in the still chapel. Before the ceremony is completed, Scarsbruck and his men are heard at the door demanding admittance. Urged by Astrea, the priest completes the ceremony, the angry soldiers battering at the door forming a strange accompaniment to the benediction. On the stroke of twelve the ceremony is over, and Astrea, hastily directing Paul to hide in a small inner room, goes with the priest to admit the angry Scarsbruck. The latter tells Astrea that he is searching for the man who has wounded her brother, but by a great effort, she maintains her self-control and denies that anyone is hidden in the chapel. Ten days later Paul is captured and brought to the barracks handcuffed at Scarsbruck's orders. Astrea enters and scornfully denounces Scarsbruck and her brother for their cowardice. A moment later Prince Leopold enters and orders Paul's handcuffs to be removed. Paul asks him for a private audience, and when it is refused asks again in a low voice, "in the name of Stephanie." Leopold orders Scarsbruck and Eugene from the room, and hears Paul's story. The gallant bearing of the young soldier touches him, and he declares, "I will acknowledge you as my son," but Paul, with the memory of his mother's wrongs still before him, replies hotly, "I will not recognize you as my father." Von Scarsbruck and Eugene, learning that Astrea loves Paul, plot to ruin her reputation. Hidden below her window at night, they see her throw her handkerchief from the balcony to Paul below, and, after he has walked away, Scarsbruck climbs up the balcony to her room and threatens that unless she promises to marry him he will remain there all night, and so hopelessly compromise her. Paul hears suspicious sounds, and returning, also climbs into the room and attacks Scarsbruck. The latter succeeds in ringing the bell, and sneeringly tells the lovers that Eugene and Father Gerard will shortly come to investigate, and that his desire to ruin Astrea's reputation will be achieved. Paul's answer is to place a revolver to his head and force him behind a screen. When the priest and Eugene enter, only Astrea is visible, and Scarsbruck, with the revolver muzzle pressed to his forehead, dares not utter a word, and Eugene and Gerard withdraw. Paul contemptuously orders Scarsbruck from the room, and in response to a challenge, agrees to fight him in an hour's time. He retires to his room to prepare for the encounter. Satanella, still nursing the hatred bred in her by Paul's rejection years before, has hidden behind curtains, and with a revolver, taken from a case on the table, fires, severely wounding Paul in the arm. Despite the handicap, he is about to keep his engagement when Astrea enters, and, snatching up his own sword, bars the door and declares she will not allow him to fight until he has recovered. A moment later, as von Scarsbruck and Eugene enter, she slips behind the curtain. Von Scarsbruck taunts Paul with cowardice, and Astrea, stepping forward, releases Paul from his promise and tells him to fight his rival at once. With his sword held in his left hand, Paul succeeds in holding von Scarsbruck at bay, but Eugene treacherously warding off one of his thrusts, enables von Scarsbruck to run his sword through Paul's body. As Astrea is doing her best to staunch the flow of blood from the lover's wounds, Prince Leopold enters the room. In response to Astrea's questioning look he declares, "Princess, he is my son," King of Savonia, and able to make and unmake laws. Leopold summons Paul before him and offers to legalize the marriage with Stephanie, and to make Paul heir to the throne. The young man's answer is to lead Astrea to his father, and to present her as his wife. Leopold will not recognize his son's marriage with a woman not of royal blood, and Paul will not, like Leopold himself, put her aside. Neither will give way, and in the end Paul and Astrea leave the court and capital forever.