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diff --git a/3139-h/3139-h.htm b/3139-h/3139-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bff5047 --- /dev/null +++ b/3139-h/3139-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12087 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Dove in the Eagle's Nest, by Charlotte M. Yonge</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Dove in the Eagle's Nest, by Charlotte M. +Yonge, Illustrated by W. J. Hennessy + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Dove in the Eagle's Nest + + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + + + +Release Date: April 21, 2013 [eBook #3139] +[This file was first posted on December 30, 2000] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOVE IN THE EAGLE'S NEST*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1890 Macmillan and Co. edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h2><span class="GutSmall">THE</span><br /> +DOVE IN THE EAGLE’S NEST</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">BY</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">CHARLOTTE M. YONGE</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/tpb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Sitting at the desk" +title= +"Sitting at the desk" +src="images/tps.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall"><i>ILLUSTRATED BY W. J. HENNESSY</i></span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">London<br /> +MACMILLAN AND CO.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">AND NEW YORK</span><br /> +1890</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall"><i>The Right +of Translation is Reserved</i></span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>First Edition</i> (2 vols. +Crown 8vo), 1866. <i>New Edition</i> (1 vol. Crown +8vo), 1869.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Reprinted</i> 1871; January and +November 1873; 1875; 1876; 1879; 1882; 1883;<br /> +1884; 1888. <i>New Edition</i>, 1889. +<i>Reprinted</i> 1890.</p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> sending forth this little book, +I am inclined to add a few explanatory words as to the use I have +made of historical personages. The origin of the whole +story was probably Freytag’s first series of pictures of +German Life: probably, I say, for its first commencement was a +dream, dreamt some weeks after reading that most interesting +collection of sketches. The return of the squire with the +tidings of the death of the two knights was vividly depicted in +sleep; and, though without local habitation or name, the scene +was most likely to have been a reflection from the wild scenes so +lately read of.</p> +<p>In fact, waking thoughts decided that such a catastrophe could +hardly have happened anywhere but in Germany, or in Scotland; and +the contrast between the cultivation in the free cities and the +savagery of the independent barons made the former the more +suitable region for the adventures. The time could only be +before the taming and bringing into order of the empire, when the +Imperial cities were in their greatest splendour, the last free +nobles in course of being reduced from their lawless liberty, and +the House of Austria beginning to acquire its preponderance over +the other princely families.</p> +<p>M. Freytag’s books, and Hegewisch’s History of +Maximilian, will, I think, be found fully to bear out the picture +I have tried to give of the state of things in the reign of the +Emperor Friedrich III., when, for want of any other law, <i>Faust +recht</i>, or fist right, ruled; <i>i.e.</i> an offended +nobleman, having once sent a <i>Fehde-brief</i> to his adversary, +was thenceforth at liberty to revenge himself by a private war, +in which, for the wrong inflicted, no justice was exacted.</p> +<p>Hegewisch remarks that the only benefit of this custom was, +that the honour of subscribing a feud-brief was so highly +esteemed that it induced the nobles to learn to write! The +League of St. George and the Swabian League were the means of +gradually putting down this authorized condition of deadly +feud.</p> +<p>This was in the days of Maximilian’s youth. He is +a prince who seems to have been almost as inferior in his foreign +to what he was in his domestic policy as was Queen +Elizabeth. He is chiefly familiar to us as failing to keep +up his authority in Flanders after the death of Mary of Burgundy, +as lingering to fulfil his engagement with Anne of Brittany till +he lost her and her duchy, as incurring ridicule by his +ill-managed schemes in Italy, and the vast projects that he was +always forming without either means or steadiness to carry them +out, by his perpetual impecuniosity and slippery dealing; and in +his old age he has become rather the laughing-stock of +historians.</p> +<p>But there is much that is melancholy in the sight of a man +endowed with genius, unbalanced by the force of character that +secures success, and with an ardent nature whose intention +overleapt obstacles that in practice he found insuperable. +At home Maximilian raised the Imperial power from a mere cipher +to considerable weight. We judge him as if he had been born +in the purple and succeeded to a defined power like his +descendants. We forget that the head of the Holy Roman +Empire had been, ever since the extinction of the Swabian line, a +mere mark for ambitious princes to shoot at, with everything +expected from him, and no means to do anything. +Maximilian’s own father was an avaricious, undignified old +man, not until near his death Archduke of even all Austria, and +with anarchy prevailing everywhere under his nominal rule. +It was in the time of Maximilian that the Empire became as +compact and united a body as could be hoped of anything so +unwieldy, that law was at least acknowledged, <i>Faust recht</i> +for ever abolished, and the Emperor became once more a real +power.</p> +<p>The man under whom all this was effected could have been no +fool; yet, as he said himself, he reigned over a nation of kings, +who each chose to rule for himself; and the uncertainty of +supplies of men or money to be gained from them made him so often +fail necessarily in his engagements, that he acquired a +shiftiness and callousness to breaches of promise, which became +the worst flaw in his character. But of the fascination of +his manner there can be no doubt. Even Henry VIII.’s +English ambassadors, when forced to own how little they could +depend on him, and how dangerous it was to let subsidies pass +through his fingers, still show themselves under a sort of +enchantment of devotion to his person, and this in his old age, +and when his conduct was most inexcusable and provoking.</p> +<p>His variety of powers was wonderful. He was learned in +many languages—in all those of his empire or hereditary +states, and in many besides; and he had an ardent love of books, +both classical and modern. He delighted in music, painting, +architecture, and many arts of a more mechanical description; +wrote treatises on all these, and on other subjects, especially +gardening and gunnery. He was the inventor of an improved +lock to the arquebus, and first divined how to adapt the +disposition of his troops to the use of the newly-discovered +fire-arms. And in all these things his versatile head and +ready hand were personally employed, not by deputy; while coupled +with so much artistic taste was a violent passion for hunting, +which carried him through many hairbreadth ’scapes. +“It was plain,” he used to say, “that God +Almighty ruled the world, or how could things go on with a rogue +like Alexander VI. at the head of the Church, and a mere huntsman +like himself at the head of the Empire.” His +<i>bon-mots</i> are numerous, all thoroughly characteristic, and +showing that brilliancy in conversation must have been one of his +greatest charms. It seems as if only self-control and +resolution were wanting to have made him a Charles, or an Alfred, +the Great.</p> +<p>The romance of his marriage with the heiress of Burgundy is +one of the best known parts of his life. He was scarcely +two-and-twenty when he lost her, who perhaps would have given him +the stability he wanted; but his tender hove for her endured +through life. It is not improbable that it was this still +abiding attachment that made him slack in overcoming difficulties +in the way of other contracts, and that he may have hoped that +his engagement to Bianca Sforza would come to nothing, like so +many others.</p> +<p>The most curious record of him is, however, in two books, the +materials for which he furnished, and whose composition and +illustration he superintended, <i>Der Weise King</i>, and +<i>Theurdank</i>, of both of which he is well known to be the +hero. The White, or the Wise King, it is uncertain which, +is a history of his education and exploits, in prose. Every +alternate page has its engraving, showing how the Young White +King obtains instruction in painting, architecture, language, and +all arts and sciences, the latter including magic—which he +learns of an old woman with a long-tailed demon sitting, like +Mother Hubbard’s cat, on her shoulder—and +astrology. In the illustration of this study an +extraordinary figure of a cross within a circle appears in the +sky, which probably has some connection with his scheme of +nativity, for it also appears on the breast of Ehrenhold, his +constant companion in the metrical history of his career, under +the name of Theurdank.</p> +<p>The poetry of <i>Theurdank</i> was composed by +Maximilian’s old writing-master, Melchior Pfinznig; but the +adventures were the Kaisar’s own, communicated by himself, +and he superintended the wood-cuts. The name is explained +to mean “craving +glory,”—Gloriæmemor. The Germans laugh to +scorn a French translator, who rendered it +“Chermerci.” It was annotated very soon after +its publication, and each exploit explained and accounted +for. It is remarkable and touching in a man who married at +eighteen, and was a widower at twenty-two, that, in both books, +the happy union with his lady love is placed at the end—not +at the beginning of the book; and in <i>Theurdank</i>, at least, +the eternal reunion is clearly meant.</p> +<p>In this curious book, König Römreich, by whom every +contemporary understood poor Charles of Burgundy—thus +posthumously made King of Rome by Maximilian, as the only honour +in his power, betroths his daughter Ehrenreich (rich in honour) +to the Ritter Theurdank. Soon after, by a most mild version +of Duke Charles’s frightful end, König Römreich +is seen on his back dying in a garden, and Ehrenreich (as Mary +really did) despatches a ring to summon her betrothed.</p> +<p>But here Theurdank returns for answer that he means first to +win honour by his exploits, and sets out with his comrade, +Ehrenhold, in search thereof. Ehrenhold never appears of +the smallest use to him in any of the dire adventures into which +he falls, but only stands complacently by, and in effect may +represent Fame, or perhaps that literary sage whom Don Quixote +always supposed to be at hand to record his deeds of prowess.</p> +<p>Next we are presented with the German impersonation of Satan +as a wise old magician, only with claws instead of feet, +commissioning his three captains (<i>hauptleutern</i>), +Fürwitz, Umfallo, and Neidelhard, to beset and ruin +Theurdank. They are interpreted as the dangers of youth, +middle life, and old age—Rashness, Disaster, and Distress +(or Envy). One at a time they encounter him,—not +once, but again and again; and he has ranged under each head, in +entire contempt of real order of time, the perils he thinks owing +to each foe. Fürwitz most justly gets the credit of +Maximilian’s perils on the steeple of Ulm, though, +unfortunately, the artist has represented the daring climber as +standing not much above the shoulders of Fürwitz and +Ehrenhold; and although the annotation tells us that his +“hinder half foot” overhung the scaffold, the danger +in the print is not appalling. Fürwitz likewise +inveigles him into putting the point (<i>schnäbel</i>) of +his shoe into the wheel of a mill for turning stone balls, where +he certainly hardly deserved to lose nothing but the beak of his +shoe. This enemy also brings him into numerous unpleasant +predicaments on precipices, where he hangs by one hand; while the +chamois stand delighted on every available peak, Fürwitz +grins malevolently, and Ehrenhold stands pointing at him over his +shoulder. Time and place are given in the notes for all +these escapes. After some twenty adventures Fürwitz is +beaten off, and Umfallo tries his powers. Here the +misadventures do not involve so much folly on the hero’s +part—though, to be sure, he ventures into a lion’s +den unarmed, and has to beat off the inmates with a shovel. +But the other adventures are more rational. He catches a +jester—of admirably foolish expression—putting a +match to a powder-magazine; he is wonderfully preserved in +mountain avalanches and hurricanes; reins up his horse on the +verge of an abyss; falls through ice in Holland and shows nothing +but his head above it; cures himself of a fever by draughts of +water, to the great disgust of his physicians, and escapes a fire +bursting out of a tall stove.</p> +<p>Neidelhard brings his real battles and perils. From this +last he is in danger of shipwreck, of assassination, of poison, +in single combat, or in battle; tumults of the people beset him; +he is imprisoned as at Ghent. But finally Neidelhard is +beaten back; and the hero is presented to Ehrenreich. +Ehrenhold recounts his triumphs, and accuses the three +captains. One is hung, another beheaded, the third thrown +headlong from a tower, and a guardian angel then summons +Theurdank to his union with his Queen. No doubt this +reunion was the life-dream of the harassed, busy, inconsistent +man, who flashed through the turmoils of the early sixteenth +century.</p> +<p>The adventures of Maximilian which have been adverted to in +the story are all to be found in Theurdank, and in his early life +he was probably the brilliant eager person we have tried in some +degree to describe. In his latter years it is well known +that he was much struck by Luther’s arguments; and, indeed, +he had long been conscious of need of Church reform, though his +plans took the grotesque form of getting himself made Pope, and +taking all into his own hands.</p> +<p>Perhaps it was unwise to have ever so faintly sketched +Ebbo’s career through the ensuing troubles; but the history +of the star and of the spark in the stubble seemed to need +completion; and the working out of the character of the survivor +was unfinished till his course had been thought over from the +dawn of the Wittenberg teaching, which must have seemed no +novelty to an heir of the doctrine of Tauler, and of the +veritably Catholic divines of old times. The idea is of the +supposed course of a thoughtful, refined, conscientious man +through the earlier times of the Reformation, glad of the hope of +cleansing the Church, but hoping to cleanse, not to break away +from her—a hope that Luther himself long cherished, and +which was not entirely frustrated till the re-assembly at Trent +in the next generation. Justice has never been done to the +men who feared to loose their hold on the Church Catholic as the +one body to which the promises were made. Their loyalty has +been treated as blindness, timidity, or superstition; but that +there were many such persons, and those among the very highest +minds of their time, no one can have any doubt after reading such +lives as those of Friedrich the Wise of Saxony, of Erasmus, of +Vittoria Colonna, or of Cardinal Giustiniani.</p> +<p><i>April</i> 9, 1836.</p> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p>“She was too young and too delicate to reject +civilization, and she let Christina braid her hair, bathe her, +and arrange her dress, with sensations of comfort that were +almost like health” <i>Front</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>Page</i> <span +class="indexpageno"><a href="#page37">37</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Henceforth mine own lady-mother is the mistress of this +castle, and whoever speaks a rude word to her offends the +Freiherr von Adlerstein</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page126">126</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>“‘No; only I saw that you stayed here all +alone,’ she said, clasping her hands”</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page269">269</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">MASTER GOTTFRIED’S +WORKSHOP</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> upper lattices of a tall, +narrow window were open, and admitted the view, of first some +richly-tinted vine leaves and purpling grapes, then, in dazzling +freshness of new white stone, the lacework fabric of a half-built +minster spire, with a mason’s crane on the summit, bending +as though craving for a further supply of materials; and beyond, +peeping through every crevice of the exquisite open fretwork, was +the intensely blue sky of early autumn.</p> +<p>The lower longer panes of the window were closed, and the +glass, divided into circles and quarrels, made the scene less +distinct; but still the huge stone tower was traceable, and, +farther off, the slope of a gently-rising hill, clothed with +vineyards blushing into autumn richness. Below, the view +was closed by the gray wall of a court-yard, laden with +fruit-trees in full bearing, and inclosing paved paths that +radiated from a central fountain, and left spaces between, where +a few summer flowers still lingered, and the remains of others +showed what their past glory had been.</p> +<p>The interior of the room was wainscoted, the floor paved with +bright red and cream-coloured tiles, and the tall stove in one +corner decorated with the same. The eastern end of the +apartment was adorned with an exquisite small group carved in +oak, representing the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth, with +the Holy Child instructed by Joseph in the use of tools, and the +Mother sitting with her book, “pondering these things in +her heart.” All around were blocks of wood and +carvings in varying states of progress—some scarcely shaped +out, and others in perfect completion. And the subjects +were equally various. Here was an adoring angel with folded +wings, clasped hands, and rapt face; here a majestic head of an +apostle or prophet; here a lovely virgin saint, seeming to play +smilingly with the instrument of her martyrdom; here a grotesque +<i>miserere</i> group, illustrating a fairy tale, or caricaturing +a popular fable here a beauteous festoon of flowers and fruit, +emulating nature in all save colour; and on the work-table +itself, growing under the master’s hand, was a long wreath, +entirely composed of leaves and seed-vessels in their quaint and +beauteous forms—the heart-shaped shepherd’s purse, +the mask-like skull-cap, and the crowned urn of the +henbane. The starred cap of the poppy was actually being +shaped under the tool, copied from a green capsule, surmounted +with purple velvety rays, which, together with its rough and wavy +leaf, was held in the hand of a young maiden who knelt by the +table, watching the work with eager interest.</p> +<p>She was not a beautiful girl—not one of those whose +“bright eyes rain influence, and judge the +prize.” She was too small, too slight, too retiring +for such a position. If there was something lily-like in +her drooping grace, it was not the queen-lily of the garden that +she resembled, but the retiring lily of the valley—so +purely, transparently white was her skin, scarcely tinted by a +roseate blush on the cheek, so tender and modest the whole effect +of her slender figure, and the soft, downcast, pensive brown +eyes, utterly dissimilar in hue from those of all her friends and +kindred, except perhaps the bright, quick ones of her uncle, the +master-carver. Otherwise, his portly form, open visage, and +good-natured stateliness, as well as his furred cap and gold +chain, were thoroughly those of the German burgomaster of the +fifteenth century; but those glittering black eyes had not ceased +to betray their French, or rather Walloon, origin, though for +several generations back the family had been settled at +Ulm. Perhaps, too, it was Walloon quickness and readiness +of wit that had made them, so soon as they became affiliated, so +prominent in all the councils of the good free city, and so noted +for excellence in art and learning. Indeed the present head +of the family, Master Gottfried Sorel, was so much esteemed for +his learning that he had once had serious thoughts of terming +himself Magister Gothofredus Oxalicus, and might have carried it +out but for the very decided objections of his wife, Dame +Johanna, and his little niece, Christina, to being dubbed by any +such surname.</p> +<p>Master Gottfried had had a scapegrace younger brother named +Hugh, who had scorned both books and tools, had been the plague +of the workshop, and, instead of coming back from his wandering +year of improvement, had joined a band of roving +Lanzknechts. No more had been heard of him for a dozen or +fifteen years, when he suddenly arrived at the paternal mansion +at Ulm, half dead with intermittent fever, and with a young, +broken-hearted, and nearly expiring wife, his spoil in his +Italian campaigns. His rude affection had utterly failed to +console her for her desolated home and slaughtered kindred, and +it had so soon turned to brutality that, when brought to +comparative peace and rest in his brother’s home, there was +nothing left for the poor Italian but to lie down and die, +commending her babe in broken German to Hausfrau Johanna, and +blessing Master Gottfried for his flowing Latin assurances that +the child should be to them even as the little maiden who was +lying in the God’s acre upon the hillside.</p> +<p>And verily the little Christina had been a precious gift to +the bereaved couple. Her father had no sooner recovered +than he returned to his roving life, and, except for a report +that he had been seen among the retainers of one of the robber +barons of the Swabian Alps, nothing had been heard of him; and +Master Gottfried only hoped to be spared the actual pain and +scandal of knowing when his eyes were blinded and his head swept +off at a blow, or when he was tumbled headlong into a moat, +suspended from a tree, or broken on the wheel: a choice of fates +that was sure sooner or later to befall him. Meantime, both +the burgomeister and burgomeisterinn did their utmost to forget +that the gentle little girl was not their own; they set all their +hopes and joys on her, and, making her supply the place at once +of son and daughter, they bred her up in all the refinements and +accomplishments in which the free citizens of Germany took the +lead in the middle and latter part of the fifteenth +century. To aid her aunt in all house-wifely arts, to +prepare dainty food and varied liquors, and to spin, weave, and +broider, was only a part of Christina’s training; her uncle +likewise set great store by her sweet Italian voice, and caused +her to be carefully taught to sing and play on the lute, and he +likewise delighted in hearing her read aloud to him from the +hereditary store of MSS. and from the dark volumes that began to +proceed from the press. Nay, Master Gottfried had made +experiments in printing and wood-engraving on his own account, +and had found no head so intelligent, no hand so desirous to aid +him, as his little Christina’s, who, in all that needed +taste and skill rather than strength, was worth all his prentices +and journeymen together. Some fine bold wood-cuts had been +produced by their joint efforts; but these less important +occupations had of late been set aside by the engrossing interest +of the interior fittings of the great “Dome Kirk,” +which for nearly a century had been rising by the united +exertions of the burghers, without any assistance from +without. The foundation had been laid in 1377; and at +length, in the year of grace 1472, the crown of the apse had been +closed in, and matters were so forward that Master +Gottfried’s stall work was already in requisition for the +choir.</p> +<p>“Three cubits more,” he reckoned. +“Child, hast thou found me fruits enough for the completing +of this border?”</p> +<p>“O yes, mine uncle. I have the wild rosehip, and +the flat shield of the moonwort, and a pea-pod, and more whose +names I know not. But should they all be seed and +fruit?”</p> +<p>“Yea, truly, my Stina, for this wreath shall speak of +the goodly fruits of a completed life.”</p> +<p>“Even as that which you carved in spring told of the +blossom and fair promise of youth,” returned the +maiden. “Methinks the one is the most beautiful, as +it ought to be;” then, after a little pause, and some +reckoning, “I have scarce seed-pods enough in store, uncle; +might we not seek some rarer shapes in the herb-garden of Master +Gerhard, the physician? He, too, might tell me the names of +some of these.”</p> +<p>“True, child; or we might ride into the country beyond +the walls, and seek them. What, little one, wouldst thou +not?”</p> +<p>“So we go not far,” faltered Christina, +colouring.</p> +<p>“Ha, thou hast not forgotten the fright thy companions +had from the Schlangenwald reitern when gathering Maydew? +Fear not, little coward; if we go beyond the suburbs we will take +Hans and Peter with their halberts. But I believe thy silly +little heart can scarce be free for enjoyment if it can fancy a +Reiter within a dozen leagues of thee.”</p> +<p>“At your side I would not fear. That is, I would +not vex thee by my folly, and I might forget it,” replied +Christina, looking down.</p> +<p>“My gentle child!” the old man said +approvingly. “Moreover, if our good Raiser has his +way, we shall soon be free of the reitern of Schlangenwald, and +Adlerstein, and all the rest of the mouse-trap barons. He +is hoping to form a league of us free imperial cities with all +the more reasonable and honest nobles, to preserve the peace of +the country. Even now a letter from him was read in the +Town Hall to that effect; and, when all are united against them, +my lords-mousers must needs become pledged to the league, or go +down before it.”</p> +<p>“Ah! that will be well,” cried Christina. +“Then will our wagons be no longer set upon at the +Debateable Ford by Schlangenwald or Adlerstein; and our wares +will come safely, and there will be wealth enough to raise our +spire! O uncle, what a day of joy will that be when Our +Lady’s great statue will be set on the summit!”</p> +<p>“A day that I shall scarce see, and it will be well if +thou dost,” returned her uncle, “unless the hearts of +the burghers of Ulm return to the liberality of their fathers, +who devised that spire! But what trampling do I +hear?”</p> +<p>There was indeed a sudden confusion in the house, and, before +the uncle and niece could rise, the door was opened by a +prosperous apple-faced dame, exclaiming in a hasty whisper, +“Housefather, O Housefather, there are a troop of reitern +at the door, dismounting already;” and, as the master came +forward, brushing from his furred vest the shavings and dust of +his work, she added in a more furtive, startled accent, +“and, if I mistake not, one is thy brother!”</p> +<p>“He is welcome,” replied Master Gottfried, in his +cheery fearless voice; “he brought us a choice gift last +time he came; and it may be he is ready to seek peace among us +after his wanderings. Come hither, Christina, my little +one; it is well to be abashed, but thou art not a child who need +fear to meet a father.”</p> +<p>Christina’s extreme timidity, however, made her pale and +crimson by turns, perhaps by the infection of anxiety from her +aunt, who could not conceal a certain dissatisfaction and alarm, +as the maiden, led on either side by her adopted parents, thus +advanced from the little studio into a handsomely-carved wooden +gallery, projecting into a great wainscoated room, with a broad +carved stair leading down into it. Down this stair the +three proceeded, and reached the stone hall that lay beyond it, +just as there entered from the trellised porch, that covered the +steps into the street, a thin wiry man, in a worn and greasy buff +suit, guarded on the breast and arms with rusty steel, and a +battered helmet with the vizor up, disclosing a weather-beaten +bronzed face, with somewhat wild dark eyes, and a huge grizzled +moustache forming a straight line over his lips. Altogether +he was a complete model of the lawless Reiter or Lanzknecht, the +terror of Swabia, and the bugbear of Christina’s +imagination. The poor child’s heart died within her +as she perceived the mutual recognition between her uncle and the +new comer; and, while Master Gottfried held out his hands with a +cordial greeting of “Welcome, home, brother Hugh,” +she trembled from head to foot, as she sank on her knees, and +murmured, “Your blessing, honoured father.”</p> +<p>“Ha? What, this is my girl? What says +she? My blessing, eh? There then, thou hast it, +child, such as I have to give, though they’ll tell thee at +Adlerstein that I am more wont to give the other sort of +blessing! Now, give me a kiss, girl, and let me see +thee! How now!” as he folded her in his rough arms; +“thou art a mere feather, as slight as our sick Jungfrau +herself.” And then, regarding her, as she stood +drooping, “Thou art not half the woman thy mother +was—she was stately and straight as a column, and tall +withal.”</p> +<p>“True!” replied Hausfrau Johanna, in a marked +tone; “but both she and her poor babe had been so harassed +and wasted with long journeys and hardships, that with all our +care of our Christina, she has never been strong or +well-grown. The marvel is that she lived at all.”</p> +<p>“Our Christina is not beautiful, we know,” added +her uncle, reassuringly taking her hand; “but she is a good +and meek maiden.”</p> +<p>“Well, well,” returned the Lanzknecht, “she +will answer the purpose well enough, or better than if she were +fair enough to set all our fellows together by the ears for +her. Camilla, I say—no, what’s her name, +Christina?—put up thy gear and be ready to start with me +to-morrow morning for Adlerstein.”</p> +<p>“For Adlerstein?” re-echoed the housemother, in a +tone of horrified dismay; and Christina would have dropped on the +floor but for her uncle’s sustaining hand, and the cheering +glance with which he met her imploring look.</p> +<p>“Let us come up to the gallery, and understand what you +desire, brother,” said Master Gottfried, gravely. +“Fill the cup of greeting, Hans. Your followers shall +be entertained in the hall,” he added.</p> +<p>“Ay, ay,” quoth Hugh, “I will show you +reason over a goblet of the old Rosenburg. Is it all gone +yet, brother Goetz? No? I reckon there would not be +the scouring of a glass left of it in a week if it were at +Adlerstein.”</p> +<p>So saying, the trooper crossed the lower room, which contained +a huge tiled baking oven, various brilliantly-burnished cooking +utensils, and a great carved cupboard like a wooden bedstead, +and, passing the door of the bathroom, clanked up the oaken +stairs to the gallery, the reception-room of the house. It +had tapestry hangings to the wall, and cushions both to the +carved chairs and deep windows, which looked out into the street, +the whole storey projecting into close proximity with the +corresponding apartment of the Syndic Moritz, the goldsmith on +the opposite side. An oaken table stood in the centre, and +the gallery was adorned with a dresser, displaying not only +bright pewter, but goblets and drinking cups of +beautifully-shaped and coloured glass, and saltcellars, tankards, +&c. of gold and silver.</p> +<p>“Just as it was in the old man’s time,” said +the soldier, throwing himself into the housefather’s +chair. “A handful of Lanzknechts would make short +work with your pots and pans, good sister Johanna.”</p> +<p>“Heaven forbid!” said poor Johanna under her +breath. “Much good they do you, up in a row there, +making you a slave to furbishing them. There’s more +sense in a chair like this—that does rest a man’s +bones. Here, Camilla, girl, unlace my helmet! What, +know’st not how? What is a woman made for but to let +a soldier free of his trappings? Thou hast done it! +There! Now my boots,” stretching out his legs.</p> +<p>“Hans shall draw off your boots, fair brother,” +began the dame; but poor Christina, the more anxious to +propitiate him in little things, because of the horror and dread +with which his main purpose inspired her, was already on her +knees, pulling with her small quivering hands at the long +steel-guarded boot—a task to which she would have been +utterly inadequate, but for some lazy assistance from her +father’s other foot. She further brought a pair of +her uncle’s furred slippers, while Reiter Hugh proceeded to +dangle one of the boots in the air, expatiating on its frail +condition, and expressing his intention of getting a new pair +from Master Matthias, the sutor, ere he should leave Ulm on the +morrow. Then, again, came the dreaded subject; his daughter +must go with him.</p> +<p>“What would you with Christina, brother?” gravely +asked Master Gottfried, seating himself on the opposite side of +the stove, while out of sight the frightened girl herself knelt +on the floor, her head on her aunt’s knees, trying to +derive comfort from Dame Johanna’s clasping hands, and +vehement murmurs that they would not let their child be taken +from them. Alas! these assurances were little in accordance +with Hugh’s rough reply, “And what is it to you what +I do with mine own?”</p> +<p>“Only this, that, having bred her up as my child and +intended heiress, I might have some voice.”</p> +<p>“Oh! in choosing her mate! Some mincing artificer, +I trow, fiddling away with wood and wire to make gauds for the +fair-day! Hast got him here? If I like him, and she +likes him, I’ll bring her back when her work is +done.”</p> +<p>“There is no such person as yet in the case,” said +Gottfried. “Christina is not yet seventeen, and I +would take my time to find an honest, pious burgher, who will +value this precious jewel of mine.”</p> +<p>“And let her polish his flagons to the end of her +days,” laughed Hugh grimly, but manifestly somewhat +influenced by the notion of his brother’s wealth. +“What, hast no child of thine own?” he added.</p> +<p>“None, save in Paradise,” answered Gottfried, +crossing himself. “And thus, if Christina should +remain with me, and be such as I would have her, then, brother, +my wealth, after myself and my good housewife, shall be hers, +with due provision for thee, if thou shouldst weary of thy wild +life. Otherwise,” he added, looking down, and +speaking in an under tone, “my poor savings should go to +the completion of the Dome Kirk.”</p> +<p>“And who told thee, Goetz, that I would do ought with +the girl that should hinder her from being the very same fat, +sourkrout-cooking, pewter-scrubbing housewife of thy mind’s +eye?”</p> +<p>“I have heard nothing of thy designs as yet, brother +Hugh, save that thou wouldst take her to Adlerstein, which men +greatly belie if it be not a nest of robbers.”</p> +<p>“Aha! thou hast heard of Adlerstein! We have made +the backs of your jolly merchants tingle as well as they could +through their well-lined doublets! Ulm knows of Adlerstein, +and the Debateable Ford!”</p> +<p>“It knows little to its credit,” said Gottfried, +gravely; “and it knows also that the Emperor is about to +make a combination against all the Swabian robber-holds, and that +such as join not in it will fare the worse.”</p> +<p>“Let Kaiser Fritz catch his bear ere he sells its +hide! He has never tried to mount the Eagle’s +Ladder! Why, man, Adlerstein might be held against five +hundred men by sister Johanna with her rock and spindle! +’Tis a free barony, Master Gottfried, I tell thee—has +never sworn allegiance to Kaiser or Duke of Swabia either! +Freiherr Eberhard is as much a king on his own rock as Kaiser +Fritz ever was of the Romans, and more too, for I never could +find out that they thought much of our king at Rome; and, as to +gainsaying our old Freiherr, one might as well leap over the +abyss at once.”</p> +<p>“Yes, those old free barons are pitiless tyrants,” +said Gottfried, “and I scarce think I can understand thee +aright when I hear thee say thou wouldst carry thy daughter to +such an abode.”</p> +<p>“It is the Freiherr’s command,” returned +Hugh. “Look you, they have had wondrous ill-luck with +their children; the Freiherrinn Kunigunde has had a dozen at +least, and only two are alive, my young Freiherr and my young +Lady Ermentrude; and no wonder, you would say, if you could see +the gracious Freiherrinn, for surely Dame Holda made a blunder +when she fished her out of the fountain woman instead of +man. She is Adlerstein herself by birth, married her +cousin, and is prouder and more dour than our old Freiherr +himself—fitter far to handle shield than swaddled +babe. And now our Jungfrau has fallen into a pining waste, +that ’tis a pity to see how her cheeks have fallen away, +and how she mopes and fades. Now, the old Freiherr and her +brother, they both dote on her, and would do anything for +her. They thought she was bewitched, so we took old Mother +Ilsebill and tried her with the ordeal of water; but, look you, +she sank as innocent as a puppy dog, and Ursel was at fault to +fix on any one else. Then one day, when I looked into the +chamber, I saw the poor maiden sitting, with her head hanging +down, as if ’twas too heavy for her, on a high-backed +chair, no rest for her feet, and the wind blowing keen all round +her, and nothing to taste but scorched beef, or black bread and +sour wine, and her mother rating her for foolish fancies that +gave trouble. And, when my young Freiherr was bemoaning +himself that we could not hear of a Jew physician passing our way +to catch and bring up to cure her, I said to him at last that no +doctor could do for her what gentle tendance and nursing would, +for what the poor maiden needed was to be cosseted and laid down +softly, and fed with broths and possets, and all that women know +how to do with one another. A proper scowl and hard words I +got from my gracious Lady, for wanting to put burgher softness +into an Adlerstein; but my old lord and his son opened on the +scent at once. ‘Thou hast a daughter?’ quoth +the Freiherr. ‘So please your gracious +lordship,’ quoth I; ‘that is, if she still lives, for +I left her a puny infant.’ ‘Well,’ said +my lord, ‘if thou wilt bring her here, and her care +restores my daughter to health and strength, then will I make +thee my body squire, with a right to a fourth part of all the +spoil, and feed for two horses in my stable.’ And +young Freiherr Eberhard gave his word upon it.”</p> +<p>Gottfried suggested that a sick nurse was the person required +rather than a child like Christina; but, as Hugh truly observed, +no nurse would voluntarily go to Adlerstein, and it was no use to +wait for the hopes of capturing one by raid or foray. His +daughter was at his own disposal, and her services would be +repaid by personal advantages to himself which he was not +disposed to forego; in effect these were the only means that the +baron had of requiting any attendance upon his daughter.</p> +<p>The citizens of old Germany had the strongest and most +stringent ideas of parental authority, and regarded daughters as +absolute chattels of their father; and Master Gottfried Sorel, +though he alone had done the part of a parent to his niece, felt +entirely unable to withstand the nearer claim, except by +representations; and these fell utterly disregarded, as in truth +every counsel had hitherto done, upon the ears of Reiter Hugh, +ever since he had emerged from his swaddling clothes. The +plentiful supper, full cup of wine, the confections, the soft +chair, together perhaps with his brother’s grave speech, +soon, however, had the effect of sending him into a doze, whence +he started to accept civilly the proposal of being installed in +the stranger’s room, where he was speedily snoring between +two feather beds.</p> +<p>Then there could be freedom of speech in the gallery, where +the uncle and aunt held anxious counsel over the poor little +dark-tressed head that still lay upon good Johanna’s +knees. The dame was indignant and resolute: “Take the +child back with him into a very nest of robbers!—her own +innocent dove whom they had shielded from all evil like a very +nun in a cloister! She should as soon think of yielding her +up to be borne off by the great Satan himself with his horns and +hoofs.”</p> +<p>“Hugh is her father, housewife,” said the +master-carver.</p> +<p>“The right of parents is with those that have done the +duty of parents,” returned Johanna. “What said +the kid in the fable to the goat that claimed her from the sheep +that bred her up? I am ashamed of you, housefather, for not +better loving your own niece.”</p> +<p>“Heaven knows how I love her,” said Gottfried, as +the sweet face was raised up to him with a look acquitting him of +the charge, and he bent to smooth back the silken hair, and kiss +the ivory brow; “but Heaven also knows that I see no means +of withholding her from one whose claim is closer than my +own—none save one; and to that even thou, housemother, +wouldst not have me resort.”</p> +<p>“What is it?” asked the dame, sharply, yet with +some fear.</p> +<p>“To denounce him to the burgomasters as one of the +Adlerstein retainers who robbed Philipp der Schmidt, and have him +fast laid by the heels.”</p> +<p>Christina shuddered, and Dame Johanna herself recoiled; but +presently exclaimed, “Nay, you could not do that, good man, +but wherefore not threaten him therewith? Stand at his +bedside in early dawn, and tell him that, if he be not off ere +daylight with both his cut-throats, the halberdiers will be upon +him.”</p> +<p>“Threaten what I neither could nor would perform, +mother? That were a shrewish resource.”</p> +<p>“Yet would it save the child,” muttered +Johanna. But, in the meantime, Christina was rising from +the floor, and stood before them with loose hair, tearful eyes, +and wet, flushed cheeks. “It must be thus,” she +said, in a low, but not unsteady voice. “I can bear +it better since I have heard of the poor young lady, sick and +with none to care for her. I will go with my father; it is +my duty. I will do my best; but oh! uncle, so work with him +that he may bring me back again.”</p> +<p>“This from thee, Stina!” exclaimed her aunt; +“from thee who art sick for fear of a +lanzknecht!”</p> +<p>“The saints will be with me, and you will pray for +me,” said Christina, still trembling.</p> +<p>“I tell thee, child, thou knowst not what these vile +dens are. Heaven forfend thou shouldst!” exclaimed +her aunt. “Go only to Father Balthazar, housefather, +and see if he doth not call it a sending of a lamb among +wolves.”</p> +<p>“Mind’st thou the carving I did for Father +Balthazar’s own oratory?” replied Master +Gottfried.</p> +<p>“I talk not of carving! I talk of our +child!” said the dame, petulantly.</p> +<p>“<i>Ut agnus inter lupos</i>,” softly said +Gottfried, looking tenderly, though sadly, at his niece, who not +only understood the quotation, but well remembered the carving of +the cross-marked lamb going forth from its fold among the howling +wolves.</p> +<p>“Alas! I am not an apostle,” said she.</p> +<p>“Nay, but, in the path of duty, ’tis the same hand +that sends thee forth,” answered her uncle, “and the +same will guard thee.”</p> +<p>“Duty, indeed!” exclaimed Johanna. “As +if any duty could lead that silly helpless child among that herd +of evil men, and women yet worse, with a good-for-nothing father, +who would sell her for a good horse to the first dissolute Junker +who fell in his way.”</p> +<p>“I will take care that he knows it is worth his while to +restore her safe to us. Nor do I think so ill of Hugh as +thou dost, mother. And, for the rest, Heaven and the saints +and her own discretion must be her guard till she shall return to +us.”</p> +<p>“How can Heaven be expected to protect her when you are +flying in its face by not taking counsel with Father +Balthazar?”</p> +<p>“That shalt thou do,” replied Gottfried, readily, +secure that Father Balthazar would see the matter in the same +light as himself, and tranquillize the good woman. It was +not yet so late but that a servant could be despatched with a +request that Father Balthazar, who lived not many houses off in +the same street, would favour the Burgomeisterinn Sorel by coming +to speak with her. In a few minutes he appeared,—an +aged man, with a sensible face, of the fresh pure bloom preserved +by a temperate life. He was a secular parish-priest, and, +as well as his friend Master Gottfried, held greatly by the views +left by the famous Strasburg preacher, Master John Tauler. +After the good housemother had, in strong terms, laid the case +before him, she expected a trenchant decision on her own side, +but, to her surprise and disappointment, he declared that Master +Gottfried was right, and that, unless Hugh Sorel demanded +anything absolutely sinful of his daughter, it was needful that +she should submit. He repeated, in stronger terms, the +assurance that she would be protected in the endeavour to do +right, and the Divine promises which he quoted from the Latin +Scriptures gave some comfort to the niece, who understood them, +while they impressed the aunt, who did not. There was +always the hope that, whether the young lady died or recovered, +the conclusion of her illness would be the term of +Christina’s stay at Adlerstein, and with this trust Johanna +must content herself. The priest took leave, after +appointing with Christina to meet her in the confessional early +in the morning before mass; and half the night was spent by the +aunt and niece in preparing Christina’s wardrobe for her +sudden journey.</p> +<p>Many a tear was shed over the tokens of the little services +she was wont to render, her half-done works, and pleasant studies +so suddenly broken off, and all the time Hausfrau Johanna was +running on with a lecture on the diligent preservation of her +maiden discretion, with plentiful warnings against swaggering +men-at-arms, drunken lanzknechts, and, above all, against young +barons, who most assuredly could mean no good by any burgher +maiden. The good aunt blessed the saints that her Stina was +likely only to be lovely in affectionate home eyes; but, for that +matter, idle men, shut up in a castle, with nothing but mischief +to think of, would be dangerous to Little Three Eyes herself, and +Christina had best never stir a yard from her lady’s chair, +when forced to meet them. All this was interspersed with +motherly advice how to treat the sick lady, and receipts for +cordials and possets; for Johanna began to regard the case as a +sort of second-hand one of her own. Nay, she even turned it +over in her mind whether she should not offer herself as the Lady +Ermentrude’s sick-nurse, as being a less dangerous +commodity than her little niece: but fears for the well-being of +the master-carver, and his Wirthschaft, and still more the notion +of gossip Gertrude Grundt hearing that she had ridden off with a +wild lanzknecht, made her at once reject the plan, without even +mentioning it to her husband or his niece.</p> +<p>By the time Hugh Sorel rolled out from between his feather +beds, and was about to don his greasy buff, a handsome new suit, +finished point device, and a pair of huge boots to correspond, +had been laid by his bedside.</p> +<p>“Ho, ho! Master Goetz,” said he, as he +stumbled into the Stube, “I see thy game. Thou +wouldst make it worth my while to visit the father-house at +Ulm?”</p> +<p>“It shall be worth thy while, indeed, if thou bringest +me back my white dove,” was Gottfried’s answer.</p> +<p>“And how if I bring her back with a strapping reiter +son-in-law?” laughed Hugh. “What welcome should +the fellow receive?”</p> +<p>“That would depend on what he might be,” replied +Gottfried; and Hugh, his love of tormenting a little allayed by +satisfaction in his buff suit, and by an eye to a heavy purse +that lay by his brother’s hand on the table, added, +“Little fear of that. Our fellows would look for +lustier brides than yon little pale face. ’Tis whiter +than ever this morning,—but no tears. That is my +brave girl.”</p> +<p>“Yes, father, I am ready to do your bidding,” +replied Christina, meekly.</p> +<p>“That is well, child. Mark me, no tears. Thy +mother wept day and night, and, when she had wept out her tears, +she was sullen, when I would have been friendly towards +her. It was the worse for her. But, so long as thou +art good daughter to me, thou shalt find me good father to +thee;” and for a moment there was a kindliness in his eye +which made it sufficiently like that of his brother to give some +consolation to the shrinking heart that he was rending from all +it loved; and she steadied her voice for another gentle +profession of obedience, for which she felt strengthened by the +morning’s orisons.</p> +<p>“Well said, child. Now canst sit on old +Nibelung’s croup? His back-bone is somewhat sharper +than if he had battened in a citizen’s stall; but, if thine +aunt can find thee some sort of pillion, I’ll promise thee +the best ride thou hast had since we came from Innspruck, ere +thou canst remember.”</p> +<p>“Christina has her own mule,” replied her uncle, +“without troubling Nibelung to carry double.”</p> +<p>“Ho! her own! An overfed burgomaster sort of a +beast, that will turn restive at the first sight of the +Eagle’s Ladder! However, he may carry her so far, +and, if we cannot get him up the mountain, I shall know what to +do with him,” he muttered to himself.</p> +<p>But Hugh, like many a gentleman after him, was recusant at the +sight of his daughter’s luggage; and yet it only loaded one +sumpter mule, besides forming a few bundles which could be easily +bestowed upon the saddles of his two knappen, while her lute hung +by a silken string on her arm. Both she and her aunt +thought she had been extremely moderate; but his cry was, What +could she want with so much? Her mother had never been +allowed more than would go into a pair of saddle-bags; and his +own Jungfrau—she had never seen so much gear together in +her life; he would be laughed to scorn for his presumption in +bringing such a fine lady into the castle; it would be well if +Freiherr Eberhard’s bride brought half as much.</p> +<p>Still he had a certain pride in it—he was, after all, by +birth and breeding a burgher—and there had been evidently a +softening and civilizing influence in the night spent beneath his +paternal roof, and old habits, and perhaps likewise in the +submission he had met with from his daughter. The +attendants, too, who had been pleased with their quarters, +readily undertook to carry their share of the burthen, and, +though he growled and muttered a little, he at length was won +over to consent, chiefly, as it seemed, by Christina’s +obliging readiness to leave behind the bundle that contained her +holiday kirtle.</p> +<p>He had been spared all needless irritation. Before his +waking, Christina had been at the priest’s cell, and had +received his last blessings and counsels, and she had, on the way +back, exchanged her farewells and tears with her two dearest +friends, Barbara Schmidt, and Regina Grundt, confiding to the +former her cage of doves, and to the latter the myrtle, which, +like every German maiden, she cherished in her window, to supply +her future bridal wreath. Now pale as death, but so +resolutely composed as to be almost disappointing to her +demonstrative aunt, she quietly went through her home partings; +while Hausfrau Johanna adjured her father by all that was sacred +to be a true guardian and protector of the child, and he could +not forbear from a few tormenting auguries about the lanzknecht +son-in-law. Their effect was to make the good dame more +passionate in her embraces and admonitions to Christina to take +care of herself. She would have a mass said every day that +Heaven might have a care of her!</p> +<p>Master Gottfried was going to ride as far as the confines of +the free city’s territory, and his round, sleek, +cream-coloured palfrey, used to ambling in civic processions, was +as great a contrast to raw-boned, wild-eyed Nibelung, all dappled +with misty grey, as was the stately, substantial burgher to his +lean, hungry-looking brother, or Dame Johanna’s dignified, +curled, white poodle, which was forcibly withheld from following +Christina, to the coarse-bristled, wolfish-looking hound who +glared at the household pet with angry and contemptuous eyes, and +made poor Christina’s heart throb with terror whenever it +bounded near her.</p> +<p>Close to her uncle she kept, as beneath the trellised porches +that came down from the projecting gables of the burghers’ +houses many a well-known face gazed and nodded, as they took +their way through the crooked streets, many a beggar or poor +widow waved her a blessing. Out into the market-place, with +its clear fountain adorned with arches and statues, past the +rising Dome Kirk, where the swarms of workmen unbonneted to the +master-carver, and the reiter paused with an irreverent sneer at +the small progress made since he could first remember the +building. How poor little Christina’s soul clung to +every cusp of the lacework spire, every arch of the window, each +of which she had hailed as an achievement! The tears had +well-nigh blinded her in a gush of feeling that came on her +unawares, and her mule had his own way as he carried her under +the arch of the tall and beautifully-sculptured bridge tower, and +over the noble bridge across the Danube.</p> +<p>Her uncle spoke much, low and earnestly, to his brother. +She knew it was in commendation of her to his care, and an +endeavour to impress him with a sense of the kind of protection +she would require, and she kept out of earshot. It was +enough for her to see her uncle still, and feel that his +tenderness was with her, and around her. But at last he +drew his rein. “And now, my little one, the daughter +of my heart, I must bid thee farewell,” he said.</p> +<p>Christina could not be restrained from springing from her +mule, and kneeling on the grass to receive his blessing, her face +hidden in her hands, that her father might not see her tears.</p> +<p>“The good God bless thee, my child,” said +Gottfried, who seldom invoked the saints; “bless thee, and +bring thee back in His own good time. Thou hast been a good +child to us; be so to thine own father. Do thy work, and +come back to us again.”</p> +<p>The tears rained down his cheeks, as Christina’s head +lay on his bosom, and then with a last kiss he lifted her again +on her mule, mounted his horse, and turned back to the city, with +his servant.</p> +<p>Hugh was merciful enough to let his daughter gaze long after +the retreating figure ere he summoned her on. All day they +rode, at first through meadow lands and then through more broken, +open ground, where at mid-day they halted, and dined upon the +plentiful fare with which the housemother had provided them, over +which Hugh smacked his lips, and owned that they did live well in +the old town! Could Christina make such sausages?</p> +<p>“Not as well as my aunt.”</p> +<p>“Well, do thy best, and thou wilt win favour with the +baron.”</p> +<p>The evening began to advance, and Christina was very weary, as +the purple mountains that she had long watched with a mixture of +fear and hope began to look more distinct, and the ground was +often in abrupt ascents. Her father, without giving space +for complaints, hurried her on. He must reach the +Debateable Ford ere dark. It was, however, twilight when +they came to an open space, where, at the foot of thickly +forest-clad rising ground, lay an expanse of turf and rich grass, +through which a stream made its way, standing in a wide tranquil +pool as if to rest after its rough course from the +mountains. Above rose, like a dark wall, crag upon crag, +peak on peak, in purple masses, blending with the sky; and Hugh, +pointing upwards to a turreted point, apparently close above +their heads, where a star of light was burning, told her that +there was Adlerstein, and this was the Debateable Ford.</p> +<p>In fact, as he explained, while splashing through the shallow +expanse, the stream had changed its course. It was the +boundary between the lands of Schlangenwald and Adlerstein, but +it had within the last sixty years burst forth in a flood, and +had then declined to return to its own bed, but had flowed in a +fresh channel to the right of the former one. The +Freiherren von Adlerstein claimed the ground to the old channel, +the Graffen von Schlangenwald held that the river was the +landmark; and the dispute had a greater importance than seemed +explained from the worth of the rushy space of ground in +question, for this was the passage of the Italian merchants on +their way from Constance, and every load that was overthrown in +the river was regarded as the lawful prey of the noble on whose +banks the catastrophe befell.</p> +<p>Any freight of goods was anxiously watched by both nobles, and +it was not their fault if no disaster befell the +travellers. Hugh talked of the Schlangenwald marauders with +the bitterness of a deadly feud, but manifestly did not breathe +freely till his whole convoy were safe across both the wet and +the dry channel.</p> +<p>Christina supposed they should now ascend to the castle; but +her father laughed, saying that the castle was not such a step +off as she fancied, and that they must have daylight for the +Eagle’s Stairs. He led the way through the trees, up +ground that she thought mountain already, and finally arrived at +a miserable little hut, which served the purpose of an inn.</p> +<p>He was received there with much obsequiousness, and was +plainly a great authority there. Christina, weary and +frightened, descended from her mule, and was put under the +protection of a wild, rough-looking peasant woman, who stared at +her like something from another world, but at length showed her a +nook behind a mud partition, where she could spread her mantle, +and at least lie down, and tell her beads unseen, if she could +not sleep in the stifling, smoky atmosphere, amid the sounds of +carousal among her father and his fellows.</p> +<p>The great hound came up and smelt to her. His outline +was so-wolfish, that she had nearly screamed: but, more in terror +at the men who might have helped her than even at the beast, she +tried to smooth him with her trembling hand, whispered his name +of “Festhold,” and found him licking her hand, and +wagging his long rough tail. And he finally lay down at her +feet, as though to protect her.</p> +<p>“Is it a sign that good angels will not let me be +hurt?” she thought, and, wearied out, she slept.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE EYRIE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Christina Sorel</span> awoke to a scene +most unlike that which had been wont to meet her eyes in her own +little wainscoted chamber high in the gabled front of her +uncle’s house. It was a time when the imperial free +towns of Germany had advanced nearly as far as those of Italy in +civilization, and had reached a point whence they retrograded +grievously during the Thirty Years’ War, even to an extent +that they have never entirely recovered. The country +immediately around them shared the benefits of their +civilization, and the free peasant-proprietors lived in great +ease and prosperity, in beautiful and picturesque farmsteads, +enjoying a careless abundance, and keeping numerous rural or +religious feasts, where old Teutonic mythological observances had +received a Christian colouring and adaptation.</p> +<p>In the mountains, or around the castles, it was usually very +different. The elective constitution of the empire, the +frequent change of dynasty, the many disputed successions, had +combined to render the sovereign authority uncertain and feeble, +and it was seldom really felt save in the hereditary dominions of +the Kaiser for the time being. Thus, while the cities +advanced in the power of self-government, and the education it +conveyed, the nobles, especially those whose abodes were not +easily accessible, were often practically under no government at +all, and felt themselves accountable to no man. The old +wild freedom of the Suevi, and other Teutonic tribes, still +technically, and in many cases practically, existed. The +Heretogen, Heerzogen, or, as we call them, Dukes, had indeed +accepted employment from the Kaiser as his generals, and had +received rewards from him; the Gerefen, or Graffen, of all kinds +were his judges, the titles of both being proofs of their holding +commissions from, and being thus dependent on, the court. +But the Freiherren, a word very inadequately represented by our +French term of baron, were absolutely free, “never in +bondage to any man,” holding their own, and owing no duty, +no office; poorer, because unendowed by the royal authority, but +holding themselves infinitely higher, than the pensioners of the +court. Left behind, however, by their neighbours, who did +their part by society, and advanced with it, the Freiherren had +been for the most part obliged to give up their independence and +fall into the system, but so far in the rear, that they ranked, +like the barons of France and England, as the last order of +nobility.</p> +<p>Still, however, in the wilder and more mountainous parts of +the country, some of the old families of unreduced, truly free +Freiherren lingered, their hand against every man, every +man’s hand against them, and ever becoming more savage, +both positively and still more proportionately, as their +isolation and the general progress around them became +greater. The House of Austria, by gradually absorbing +hereditary states into its own possessions, was, however, in the +fifteenth century, acquiring a preponderance that rendered its +possession of the imperial throne almost a matter of inheritance, +and moreover rendered the supreme power far more effective than +it had ever previously been. Freidrich III. a man still in +full vigour, and with an able and enterprising son already +elected to the succession, was making his rule felt, and it was +fast becoming apparent that the days of the independent baronies +were numbered, and that the only choice that would soon be left +them would be between making terms and being forcibly +reduced. Von Adlerstein was one of the oldest of these free +families. If the lords of the Eagle’s Stone had ever +followed the great Konrads and Freidrichs of Swabia in their +imperial days, their descendants had taken care to forget the +weakness, and believed themselves absolutely free from all +allegiance.</p> +<p>And the wildness of their territory was what might be expected +from their hostility to all outward influences. The hostel, +if it deserved the name, was little more than a +charcoal-burner’s hut, hidden in the woods at the foot of +the mountain, serving as a halting-place for the +Freiherren’s retainers ere they attempted the ascent. +The inhabitants were allowed to ply their trade of charring wood +in the forest on condition of supplying the castle with charcoal, +and of affording a lodging to the followers on occasions like the +present.</p> +<p>Grimy, half-clad, and brawny, with the whites of his eyes +gleaming out of his black face, Jobst the Kohler startled +Christina terribly when she came into the outer room, and met him +returning from his night’s work, with his long stoking-pole +in his hand. Her father shouted with laughter at her +alarm.</p> +<p>“Thou thinkest thyself in the land of the kobolds and +dwarfs, my girl! Never mind, thou wilt see worse than +honest Jobst before thou hast done. Now, eat a morsel and +be ready—mountain air will make thee hungry ere thou art at +the castle. And, hark thee, Jobst, thou must give +stable-room to yon sumpter-mule for the present, and let some of +my daughter’s gear lie in the shed.”</p> +<p>“O father!” exclaimed Christina, in dismay.</p> +<p>“We’ll bring it up, child, by piecemeal,” he +said in a low voice, “as we can; but if such a freight came +to the castle at once, my lady would have her claws on it, and +little more wouldst thou ever see thereof. Moreover, I +shall have enough to do to look after thee up the ascent, without +another of these city-bred beasts.”</p> +<p>“I hope the poor mule will be well cared for. I +can pay for—” began Christina; but her father +squeezed her arm, and drowned her soft voice in his loud +tones.</p> +<p>“Jobst will take care of the beast, as belonging to +me. Woe betide him, if I find it the +worse!”—and his added imprecations seemed +unnecessary, so earnest were the asseverations of both the man +and his wife that the animal should be well cared for.</p> +<p>“Look you, Christina,” said Hugh Sorel, as soon as +he had placed her on her mule, and led her out of hearing, +“if thou hast any gold about thee, let it be the last thing +thou ownest to any living creature up there.” Then, +as she was about to speak—“Do not even tell me. +I <i>will</i> not know.” The caution did not add much +to Christina’s comfort; but she presently asked, +“Where is thy steed, father?”</p> +<p>“I sent him up to the castle with the Schneiderlein and +Yellow Lorentz,” answered the father. “I shall +have ado enough on foot with thee before we are up the +Ladder.”</p> +<p>The father and daughter were meantime proceeding along a dark +path through oak and birch woods, constantly ascending, until the +oak grew stunted and disappeared, and the opening glades showed +steep, stony, torrent-furrowed ramparts of hillside above them, +looking to Christina’s eyes as if she were set to climb up +the cathedral side like a snail or a fly. She quite gasped +for breath at the very sight, and was told in return to wait and +see what she would yet say to the Adlerstreppe, or Eagle’s +Ladder. Poor child! she had no raptures for romantic +scenery; she knew that jagged peaks made very pretty backgrounds +in illuminations, but she had much rather have been in the smooth +meadows of the environs of Ulm. The Danube looked much more +agreeable to her, silver-winding between its green banks, than +did the same waters leaping down with noisy voices in their +stony, worn beds to feed the river that she only knew in his +grave breadth and majesty. Yet, alarmed as she was, there +was something in the exhilaration and elasticity of the mountain +air that gave her an entirely new sensation of enjoyment and +life, and seemed to brace her limbs and spirits for whatever +might be before her; and, willing to show herself ready to be +gratified, she observed on the freshness and sweetness of the +air.</p> +<p>“Thou find’st it out, child? Ay, ’tis +worth all the feather-beds and pouncet-boxes in Ulm; is it +not? That accursed Italian fever never left me till I came +up here. A man can scarce draw breath in your foggy meadows +below there. Now then, here is the view open. What +think you of the Eagle’s Nest?”</p> +<p>For, having passed beyond the region of wood they had come +forth upon the mountain-side. A not immoderately steep +slope of boggy, mossy-looking ground covered with bilberries, +cranberries, &c. and with bare rocks here and there rising, +went away above out of her ken; but the path she was upon turned +round the shoulder of the mountain, and to the left, on a ledge +of rock cut off apparently on their side by a deep ravine, and +with a sheer precipice above and below it, stood a red stone +pile, with one turret far above the rest.</p> +<p>“And this is Schloss Adlerstein?” she +exclaimed.</p> +<p>“That is Schloss Adlerstein; and there shalt thou be in +two hours’ time, unless the devil be more than usually +busy, or thou mak’st a fool of thyself. If so, not +Satan himself could save thee.”</p> +<p>It was well that Christina had resolution to prevent her +making a fool of herself on the spot, for the thought of the +pathway turned her so dizzy that she could only shut her eyes, +trusting that her father did not see her terror. Soon the +turn round to the side of the mountain was made, and the road +became a mere track worn out on the turf on the hillside, with an +abyss beneath, close to the edge of which the mule, of course, +walked.</p> +<p>When she ventured to look again, she perceived that the ravine +was like an enormous crack open on the mountain-side, and that +the stream that formed the Debateable Ford flowed down the bottom +of it. The ravine itself went probably all the way up the +mountain, growing shallower as it ascended higher; but here, +where Christina beheld it, it was extremely deep, and savagely +desolate and bare. She now saw that the Eagle’s +Ladder was a succession of bare gigantic terraces of rock, of +which the opposite side of the ravine was composed, and on one of +which stood the castle. It was no small mystery to her how +it had ever been built, or how she was ever to get there. +She saw in the opening of the ravine the green meadows and woods +far below; and, when her father pointed out to her the Debateable +Ford, apparently much nearer to the castle than they themselves +were at present, she asked why they had so far overpassed the +castle, and come by this circuitous course.</p> +<p>“Because,” said Hugh, “we are not eagles +outright. Seest thou not, just beyond the castle court, +this whole crag of ours breaks off short, falls like the town +wall straight down into the plain? Even this cleft that we +are crossing by, the only road a horse can pass, breaks off short +and sudden too, so that the river is obliged to take leaps which +nought else but a chamois could compass. A footpath there +is, and Freiherr Eberhard takes it at all times, being born to +it; but even I am too stiff for the like. Ha! ha! Thy +uncle may talk of the Kaiser and his League, but he would change +his note if we had him here.”</p> +<p>“Yet castles have been taken by hunger,” said +Christina.</p> +<p>“What, knowest thou so much?—True! But look +you,” pointing to a white foamy thread that descended the +opposite steeps, “yonder beck dashes through the castle +court, and it never dries; and see you the ledge the castle +stands on? It winds on out of your sight, and forms a path +which leads to the village of Adlerstein, out on the other slope +of the mountains; and ill were it for the serfs if they +victualled not the castle well.”</p> +<p>The fearful steepness of the ground absorbed all +Christina’s attention. The road, or rather stairs, +came down to the stream at the bottom of the fissure, and then +went again on the other side up still more tremendous steeps, +which Hugh climbed with a staff, sometimes with his hand on the +bridle, but more often only keeping a watchful eye on the +sure-footed mule, and an arm to steady his daughter in the saddle +when she grew absolutely faint with giddiness at the abyss around +her. She was too much in awe of him to utter cry or +complaint, and, when he saw her effort to subdue her mortal +terror, he was far from unkind, and let her feel his protecting +strength.</p> +<p>Presently a voice was heard above—“What, Sorel, +hast brought her! Trudchen is wearying for her.”</p> +<p>The words were in the most boorish dialect and pronunciation, +the stranger to Christina’s ears, because intercourse with +foreign merchants, and a growing affectation of Latinism, had +much refined the city language to which she was accustomed; and +she was surprised to perceive by her father’s gesture and +address that the speaker must be one of the lords of the +castle. She looked up, and saw on the pathway above her a +tall, large-framed young man, his skin dyed red with sun and +wind, in odd contrast with his pale shaggy hair, moustache, and +beard, as though the weather had tanned the one and bleached the +other. His dress was a still shabbier buff suit than her +father had worn, but with a richly-embroidered belt sustaining a +hunting-horn with finely-chased ornaments of tarnished silver, +and an eagle’s plume was fastened into his cap with a large +gold Italian coin. He stared hard at the maiden, but +vouchsafed her no token of greeting—only distressed her +considerably by distracting her father’s attention from her +mule by his questions about the journey, all in the same rude, +coarse tone and phraseology. Some amount of illusion was +dispelled. Christina was quite prepared to find the +mountain lords dangerous ruffians, but she had expected the +graces of courtesy and high birth; but, though there was +certainly an air of command and freedom of bearing about the +present specimen, his manners and speech were more uncouth than +those of any newly-caught apprentice of her uncle, and she could +not help thinking that her good aunt Johanna need not have +troubled herself about the danger of her taking a liking to any +such young Freiherr as she here beheld.</p> +<p>By this time a last effort of the mule had climbed to the +level of the castle. As her father had shown her, there was +precipice on two sides of the building; on the third, a sheer +wall of rock going up to a huge height before it reached another +of the Eagle’s Steps; and on the fourth, where the gateway +was, the little beck had been made to flow in a deep channel that +had been hollowed out to serve as a moat, before it bounded down +to swell the larger water-course in the ravine. A temporary +bridge had been laid across; the drawbridge was out of order, and +part of Hugh’s business had been to procure materials for +mending its apparatus. Christina was told to dismount and +cross on foot. The unrailed board, so close to the abyss, +and with the wild water foaming above and below, was dreadful to +her; and, though she durst not speak, she hung back with an +involuntary shudder, as her father, occupied with the mule, did +not think of giving her a hand. The young baron burst out +into an unrestrained laugh—a still greater shock to her +feelings; but at the same time he roughly took her hand, and +almost dragged her across, saying, “City bred—ho, +ho!” “Thanks, sir,” she strove to say, +but she was very near weeping with the terror and strangeness of +all around.</p> +<p>The low-browed gateway, barely high enough to admit a man on +horseback, opened before her, almost to her feelings like the +gate of the grave, and she could not help crossing herself, with +a silent prayer for protection, as she stepped under it, and came +into the castle court—not such a court as gave its name to +fair courtesy, but, if truth must be told, far more resembling an +ill-kept, ill-savoured stable-yard, with the piggeries opening +into it. In unpleasantly close quarters, the Schneiderlein, +or little tailor, <i>i.e.</i> the biggest and fiercest of all the +knappen, was grooming Nibelung; three long-backed, long-legged, +frightful swine were grubbing in a heap of refuse; four or five +gaunt ferocious-looking dogs came bounding up to greet their +comrade Festhold; and a great old long-bearded goat stood on the +top of the mixen, looking much disposed to butt at any +newcomer. The Sorel family had brought cleanliness from +Flanders, and Hausfrau Johanna was scrupulously dainty in all her +appointments. Christina scarcely knew how she conveyed +herself and her blue kirtle across the bemired stones to the next +and still darker portal, under which a wide but rough ill-hewn +stair ascended. The stables, in fact, occupied the lower +floor of the main building, and not till these stairs had +ascended above them did they lead out into the castle hall. +Here were voices—voices rude and harsh, like those +Christina had shrunk from in passing drinking booths. There +was a long table, with rough men-at-arms lounging about, and +staring rudely at her; and at the upper end, by a great open +chimney, sat, half-dozing, an elderly man, more rugged in feature +than his son; and yet, when he roused himself and spoke to Hugh, +there was a shade more of breeding, and less of clownishness in +his voice and deportment, as if he had been less entirely devoid +of training. A tall darkly-robed woman stood beside +him—it was her harsh tone of reproof and command that had +so startled Christina as she entered—and her huge towering +cap made her look gigantic in the dim light of the smoky +hall. Her features had been handsome, but had become +hardened into a grim wooden aspect; and with sinking spirits +Christina paused at the step of the daïs, and made her +reverence, wishing she could sink beneath the stones of the +pavement out of sight of these terrible personages.</p> +<p>“So that’s the wench you have taken all this +trouble for,” was Freiherrinn Kunigunde’s +greeting. “She looks like another sick baby to nurse; +but I’ll have no trouble about her;—that is +all. Take her up to Ermentrude; and thou, girl, have a care +thou dost her will, and puttest none of thy city fancies into her +head.”</p> +<p>“And hark thee, girl,” added the old Freiherr, +sitting up. “So thou canst nurse her well, thou shalt +have a new gown and a stout husband.”</p> +<p>“That way,” pointed the lady towards one of the +four corner towers; and Christina moved doubtfully towards it, +reluctant to quit her father, her only protector, and afraid to +introduce herself. The younger Freiherr, however, stepped +before her, went striding two or three steps at a time up the +turret stair, and, before Christina had wound her way up, she +heard a thin, impatient voice say, “Thou saidst she was +come, Ebbo.”</p> +<p>“Yes, even so,” she heard Freiherr Eberhard +return; “but she is slow and town-bred. She was +afraid of crossing the moat.” And then both laughed, +so that Christina’s cheeks tingled as she emerged from the +turret into another vaulted room. “Here she +is,” quoth the brother; “now will she make thee quite +well.”</p> +<p>It was a very bare and desolate room, with no hangings to the +rough stone walls, and scarcely any furniture, except a great +carved bedstead, one wooden chair, a table, and some +stools. On the bare floor, in front of the fire, her arm +under her head, and a profusion of long hair falling round her +like flax from a distaff, lay wearily a little figure, beside +whom Sir Eberhard was kneeling on one knee.</p> +<p>“Here is my sisterling,” said he, looking up to +the newcomer. “They say you burgher women have ways +of healing the sick. Look at her. Think you you can +heal her?”</p> +<p>In an excess of dumb shyness Ermentrude half rose, and +effectually hindered any observations on her looks by hiding her +face away upon her brother’s knee. It was the gesture +of a child of five years old, but Ermentrude’s length of +limb forbade Christina to suppose her less than fourteen or +fifteen. “What, wilt not look at her?” he said, +trying to raise her head; and then, holding out one of her +wasted, feverish hands to Christina, he again asked, with a +wistfulness that had a strange effect from the large, tall man, +almost ten years her elder, “Canst thou cure her, +maiden?”</p> +<p>“I am no doctor, sir,” replied Christina; +“but I could, at least, make her more comfortable. +The stone is too hard for her.”</p> +<p>“I will not go away; I want the fire,” murmured +the sick girl, holding out her hands towards it, and +shivering.</p> +<p>Christina quickly took off her own thick cloth mantle, well +lined with dressed lambskins, laid it on the floor, rolled the +collar of it over a small log of wood—the only substitute +she could see for a pillow—and showed an inviting couch in +an instant. Ermentrude let her brother lay her down, and +then was covered with the ample fold. She smiled as she +turned up her thin, wasted face, faded into the same whitey-brown +tint as her hair. “That is good,” she said, but +without thanks; and, feeling the soft lambswool: “Is that +what you burgher-women wear? Father is to give me a furred +mantle, if only some court dame would pass the Debateable +Ford. But the Schlangenwaldern got the last before ever we +could get down. Jobst was so stupid. He did not give +us warning in time; but he is to be hanged next time if he does +not.”</p> +<p>Christina’s blood curdled as she heard this speech in a +weak little complaining tone, that otherwise put her sadly in +mind of Barbara Schmidt’s little sister, who had pined and +wasted to death. “Never mind, Trudchen,” +answered the brother kindly; “meantime I have kept all the +wild catskins for thee, and may be +this—this—<i>she</i> could sew them up into a mantle +for thee.”</p> +<p>“O let me see,” cried the young lady eagerly; and +Sir Eberhard, walking off, presently returned with an armful of +the beautiful brindled furs of the mountain cat, reminding +Christina of her aunt’s gentle domestic favourite. +Ermentrude sat up, and regarded the placing out of them with +great interest; and thus her brother left her employed, and so +much delighted that she had not flagged, when a great bell +proclaimed that it was the time for the noontide meal, for which +Christina, in spite of all her fears of the company below stairs, +had been constrained by mountain air to look forward with +satisfaction.</p> +<p>Ermentrude, she found, meant to go down, but with no notion of +the personal arrangements that Christina had been wont to think a +needful preliminary. With all her hair streaming, down she +went, and was so gladly welcomed by her father that it was plain +that her presence was regarded as an unusual advance towards +recovery, and Christina feared lest he might already be looking +out for the stout husband. She had much to tell him about +the catskin cloak, and then she was seized with eager curiosity +at the sight of Christina’s bundles, and especially at her +lute, which she must hear at once.</p> +<p>“Not now,” said her mother, “there will be +jangling and jingling enough by and by—meat now.”</p> +<p>The whole establishment were taking their places—or +rather tumbling into them. A battered, shapeless metal +vessel seemed to represent the salt-cellar, and next to it Hugh +Sorel seated himself, and kept a place for her beside him. +Otherwise she would hardly have had seat or food.’ She was +now able to survey the inmates of the castle. Besides the +family themselves, there were about a dozen men, all +ruffianly-looking, and of much lower grade than her father, and +three women. One, old Ursel, the wife of Hatto the +forester, was a bent, worn, but not ill-looking woman, with a +motherly face; the younger ones were hard, bold creatures, from +whom Christina felt a shrinking recoil. The meal was +dressed by Ursel and her kitchen boy. From a great +cauldron, goat’s flesh and broth together were ladled out +into wooden bowls. That every one provided their own spoon +and knife—no fork—was only what Christina was used to +in the most refined society, and she had the implements in a +pouch hanging to her girdle; but she was not prepared for the +unwashed condition of the bowls, nor for being obliged to share +that of her father—far less for the absence of all blessing +on the meal, and the coarse boisterousness of manners prevailing +thereat. Hungry as she was, she did not find it easy to +take food under these circumstances, and she was relieved when +Ermentrude, overcome by the turmoil, grew giddy, and was carried +upstairs by her father, who laid her down upon her great bed, and +left her to the attendance of Christina. Ursel had +followed, but was petulantly repulsed by her young lady in favour +of the newcomer, and went away grumbling.</p> +<p>Nestled on her bed, Ermentrude insisted on hearing the lute, +and Christina had to creep down to fetch it, with some other of +her goods, in trembling haste, and redoubled disgust at the +aspect of the meal, which looked even more repulsive in this +later stage, and to one who was no longer partaking of it.</p> +<p>Low and softly, with a voice whence she could scarcely banish +tears, and in dread of attracting attention, Christina sung to +the sick girl, who listened with a sort of rude wonder, and +finally was lulled to sleep. Christina ventured to lay down +her instrument and move towards the window, heavily mullioned +with stone, barred with iron, and glazed with thick glass; being +in fact the only glazed window in the castle. To her great +satisfaction it did not look out over the loathsome court, but +over the opening of the ravine. The apartment occupied the +whole floor of the keep; it was stone-paved, but the roof was +boarded, and there was a round turret at each angle. One +contained the staircase, and was that which ran up above the +keep, served as a watch-tower, and supported the Eagle +banner. The other three were empty, and one of these, which +had a strong door, and a long loophole window looking out over +the open country, Christina hoped that she might +appropriate. The turret was immediately over the +perpendicular cliff that descended into the plain. A stone +thrown from the window would have gone straight down, she knew +not where. Close to her ears rushed the descending +waterfall in its leap over the rock side, and her eyes could rest +themselves on the green meadow land below, and the smooth water +of the Debateable Ford; nay—far, far away beyond retreating +ridges of wood and field—she thought she could track a +silver line and, guided by it, a something that might be a +city. Her heart leapt towards it, but she was recalled by +Ermentrude’s fretfully imperious voice.</p> +<p>“I was only looking forth from the window, lady,” +she said, returning.</p> +<p>“Ah! thou saw’st no travellers at the Ford?” +cried Ermentrude, starting up with lively interest.</p> +<p>“No, lady; I was gazing at the far distance. Know +you if it be indeed Ulm that we see from these +windows?”</p> +<p>“Ulm? That is where thou comest from?” said +Ermentrude languidly.</p> +<p>“My happy home, with my dear uncle and aunt! O, if +I can but see it hence, it will be joy!”</p> +<p>“I do not know. Let me see,” said +Ermentrude, rising; but at the window her pale blue eyes gazed +vacantly as if she did not know what she was looking at or +for.</p> +<p>“Ah! if the steeple of the Dome Kirk were but finished, +I could not mistake it,” said Christina. “How +beauteous the white spire will look from hence!”</p> +<p>“Dome Kirk?” repeated Ermentrude; “what is +that?”</p> +<p>Such an entire blank as the poor child’s mind seemed to +be was inconceivable to the maiden, who had been bred up in the +busy hum of men, where the constant resort of strange merchants, +the daily interests of a self-governing municipality, and the +numerous festivals, both secular and religious, were an +unconscious education, even without that which had been bestowed +upon her by teachers, as well as by her companionship with her +uncle, and participation in his studies, taste and arts.</p> +<p>Ermentrude von Adlerstein had, on the contrary, not only never +gone beyond the Kohler’s hut on the one side, and the +mountain village on the other, but she never seen more of life +than the festival at the wake the hermitage chapel there on +Midsummer-day. The only strangers who ever came to the +castle were disbanded lanzknechts who took service with her +father, or now and then a captive whom he put to ransom. +She knew absolutely nothing of the world, except for a general +belief that Freiherren lived there to do what they chose with +other people, and that the House of Adlerstein was the freest and +noblest in existence. Also there was a very positive hatred +to the house of Schlangenwald, and no less to that of Adlerstein +Wildschloss, for no reason that Christina could discover save +that, being a younger branch of the family, they had submitted to +the Emperor. To destroy either the Graf von Schlangenwald, +or her Wildschloss cousin, was evidently the highest +gratification Ermentrude could conceive; and, for the rest, that +her father and brother should make successful captures at the +Debateable Ford was the more abiding, because more practicable +hope. She had no further ideas, except perhaps to elude her +mother’s severity, and to desire her brother’s +success in chamois-hunting. The only mental culture she had +ever received was that old Ursel had taught her the Credo, Pater +Noster, and Ave, as correctly as might be expected from a long +course of traditionary repetitions of an incomprehensible +language. And she knew besides a few German rhymes and +jingles, half Christian, half heathen, with a legend or two +which, if the names were Christian, ran grossly wild from all +Christian meaning or morality. As to the amenities, nay, +almost the proprieties, of life, they were less known in that +baronial castle than in any artisan’s house at Ulm. +So little had the sick girl figured them to herself, that she did +not even desire any greater means of ease than she +possessed. She moaned and fretted indeed, with aching limbs +and blank weariness, but without the slightest formed desire for +anything to remove her discomfort, except the few ameliorations +she knew, such as sitting on her brother’s knee, with her +head on his shoulder, or tasting the mountain berries that he +gathered for her. Any other desire she exerted herself to +frame was for finery to be gained from the spoils of +travellers.</p> +<p>And this was Christina’s charge, whom she must look upon +as the least alien spirit in this dreadful castle of +banishment! The young and old lords seemed to her savage +bandits, who frightened her only less than did the proud sinister +expression of the old lady, for she had not even the merit of +showing any tenderness towards the sickly girl, of whom she was +ashamed, and evidently regarded the town-bred attendant as a +contemptible interloper.</p> +<p>Long, long did the maiden weep and pray that night after +Ermentrude had sunk to sleep. She strained her eyes with +home-sick longings to detect lights where she thought Ulm might +be; and, as she thought of her uncle and aunt, the poodle and the +cat round the stove, the maids spinning and the prentices +knitting as her uncle read aloud some grave good book, most +probably the legend of the saint of the day, and contrasted it +with the rude gruff sounds of revelry that found their way up the +turret stairs, she could hardly restrain her sobs from awakening +the young lady whose bed she was to share. She thought +almost with envy of her own patroness, who was cast into the lake +of Bolsena with a millstone about her neck—a better fate, +thought she, than to live on in such an abode of loathsomeness +and peril.</p> +<p>But then had not St. Christina floated up alive, bearing up +her millstone with her? And had not she been put into a +dungeon full of venomous reptiles who, when they approached her, +had all been changed to harmless doves? Christina had once +asked Father Balthazar how this could be; and had he not replied +that the Church did not teach these miracles as matters of faith, +but that she might there discern in figure how meek Christian +holiness rose above all crushing burthens, and transformed the +rudest natures. This poor maiden-dying, perhaps; and oh! +how unfit to live or die!—might it be her part to do some +good work by her, and infuse some Christian hope, some godly +fear? Could it be for this that the saints had led her +hither?</p> +<h2>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE FLOTSAM AND JETSAM OF THE DEBATEABLE +FORD</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Life</span> in Schloss Adlerstein was +little less intolerable than Christina’s imagination had +depicted it. It was entirely devoid of all the graces of +chivalry, and its squalor and coarseness, magnified into +absurdity by haughtiness and violence, were almost +inconceivable. Fortunately for her, the inmates of the +castle resided almost wholly below stairs in the hall and +kitchen, and in some dismal dens in the thickness of their +walls. The height of the keep was intended for dignity and +defence, rather than for habitation; and the upper chamber, with +its great state-bed, where everybody of the house of Adlerstein +was born and died, was not otherwise used, except when +Ermentrude, unable to bear the oppressive confusion below stairs, +had escaped thither for quietness’ sake. No one else +wished to inhabit it. The chamber above was filled with the +various appliances for the defence of the castle; and no one +would have ever gone up the turret stairs had not a warder been +usually kept on the roof to watch the roads leading to the +Ford. Otherwise the Adlersteiners had all the savage +instinct of herding together in as small a space as possible.</p> +<p>Freiherrin Kunigunde hardly ever mounted to her +daughter’s chamber. All her affection was centred on +the strong and manly son, of whom she was proud, while the sickly +pining girl, who would hardly find a mate of her own rank, and +who had not even dowry enough for a convent, was such a shame and +burthen to her as to be almost a distasteful object. But +perversely, as it seemed to her, the only daughter was the +darling of both father and brother, who were ready to do anything +to gratify the girl’s sick fancies, and hailed with delight +her pleasure in her new attendant. Old Ursel was at first +rather envious and contemptuous of the childish, fragile +stranger, but her gentleness disarmed the old <a +name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>woman; and, +when it was plain that the young lady’s sufferings were +greatly lessened by tender care, dislike gave way to attachment, +and there was little more murmuring at the menial services that +were needed by the two maidens, even when Ermentrude’s +feeble fancies, or Christina’s views of dainty propriety, +rendered them more onerous than before. She was even heard +to rejoice that some Christian care and tenderness had at last +reached her poor neglected child.</p> +<p>It was well for Christina that she had such an ally. The +poor child never crept down stairs to the dinner or supper, to +fetch food for Ermentrude, or water for herself, without a +trembling and shrinking of heart and nerves. Her +father’s authority guarded her from rude actions, but from +rough tongues he neither could nor would guard her, nor +understand that what to some would have been a compliment seemed +to her an alarming insult; and her chief safeguard lay in her own +insignificance and want of attraction, and still more in the +modesty that concealed her terror at rude jests sufficiently to +prevent frightening her from becoming an entertainment.</p> +<p>Her father, whom she looked on as a cultivated person in +comparison with the rest of the world, did his best for her after +his own views, and gradually brought her all the properties she +had left at the Kohler’s hut. Therewith she made a +great difference in the aspect of the chamber, under the full +sanction of the lords of the castle. Wolf, deer, and sheep +skins abounded; and with these, assisted by her father and old +Hatto, she tapestried the lower part of the bare grim walls, a +great bear’s hide covered the neighbourhood of the hearth, +and cushions were made of these skins, and stuffed from +Ursel’s stores of feathers. All these embellishments +were watched with great delight by Ermentrude, who had never been +made of so much importance, and was as much surprised as relieved +by such attentions. She was too young and too delicate to +reject civilization, and she let Christina braid her hair, bathe +her, and arrange her dress, with sensations of comfort that were +almost like health. To train her into occupying herself was +however, as Christina soon found, in her present state, +impossible. She could spin and sew a little, but hated +both; and her clumsy, listless fingers only soiled and wasted +Christina’s needles, silk, and lute strings, and such +damage was not so easily remedied as in the streets of Ulm. +She was best provided for when looking on at her +attendant’s busy hands, and asking to be sung to, or to +hear tales of the active, busy scenes of the city life—the +dresses, fairs, festivals, and guild processions.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/fpb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"“She was too young and too delicate to reject +civilization, and she let Christina braid her hair, bathe her, +and arrange her dress, with sensations of comfort that were +almost like health.”—Page 37" +title= +"“She was too young and too delicate to reject +civilization, and she let Christina braid her hair, bathe her, +and arrange her dress, with sensations of comfort that were +almost like health.”—Page 37" +src="images/fps.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The gentle nursing and the new interests made her improve in +health, so that her father was delighted, and Christina began to +hope for a return home. Sometimes the two girls would take +the air, either, on still days, upon the battlements, where +Ermentrude watched the Debateable Ford, and Christina gazed at +the Danube and at Ulm; or they would find their way to a grassy +nook on the mountain-side, where Christina gathered gentians and +saxifrage, trying to teach her young lady that they were worth +looking at, and sighing at the thought of Master +Gottfried’s wreath when she met with the asphodel +seed-vessels. Once the quiet mule was brought into +requisition; and, with her brother walking by her, and Sorel and +his daughter in attendance, Ermentrude rode towards the village +of Adlerstein. It was a collection of miserable huts, on a +sheltered slope towards the south, where there was earth enough +to grow some wretched rye and buckwheat, subject to severe toll +from the lord of the soil. Perched on a hollow rock above +the slope was a rude little church, over a cave where a hermit +had once lived and died in such odour of sanctity that, his day +happening to coincide with that of St. John the Baptist, the +Blessed Freidmund had acquired the credit of the lion’s +share both of the saint’s honours and of the old solstitial +feast of Midsummer. This wake was the one gaiety of the +year, and attracted a fair which was the sole occasion of coming +honestly by anything from the outer world; nor had his cell ever +lacked a professional anchorite.</p> +<p>The Freiherr of his day had been a devout man, who had gone a +pilgrimage with Kaiser Friedrich of the Red Beard, and had +brought home a bit of stone from the council chamber of +Nicæa, which he had presented to the little church that he +had built over the cavern. He had named his son Friedmund; +and there were dim memories of his days as of a golden age, +before the Wildschlossen had carried off the best of the +property, and when all went well.</p> +<p>This was Christina’s first sight of a church since her +arrival, except that in the chapel, which was a dismal neglected +vault, where a ruinous altar and mouldering crucifix testified to +its sacred purpose. The old baron had been excommunicated +for twenty years, ever since he had harried the wains of the +Bishop of Augsburg on his way to the Diet; and, though his +household and family were not under the same sentence, +“Sunday didna come abune the pass.” +Christina’s entreaty obtained permission to enter the +little building, but she had knelt there only a few moments +before her father came to hurry her away, and her supplications +that he would some day take her to mass there were whistled down +the wind; and indeed the hermit was a layman, and the church was +only served on great festivals by a monk from the convent of St. +Ruprecht, on the distant side of the mountain, which was further +supposed to be in the Schlangenwald interest. Her best +chance lay in infusing the desire into Ermentrude, who by +watching her prayers and asking a few questions had begun to +acquire a few clearer ideas. And what Ermentrude wished had +always hitherto been acquiesced in by the two lords.</p> +<p>The elder baron came little into Christina’s way. +He meant to be kind to her, but she was dreadfully afraid of him, +and, when he came to visit his daughter, shrank out of his notice +as much as possible, shuddering most of all at his attempts at +civilities. His son she viewed as one of the thickwitted +giants meant to be food for the heroism of good knights of +romance. Except that he was fairly conversant with the use +of weapons, and had occasionally ridden beyond the shadow of his +own mountain, his range was quite as limited as his +sister’s; and he had an equal scorn for all beyond +it. His unfailing kindness to his sister was however in his +favour, and he always eagerly followed up any suggestion +Christina made for her pleasure.</p> +<p>Much of his time was spent on the child, whose chief nurse and +playmate he had been throughout her malady; and when she showed +him the stranger’s arrangements, or repeated to him, in a +wondering, blundering way, with constant appeals to her +attendant, the new tales she had heard, he used to listen with a +pleased awkward amazement at his little Ermentrude’s +astonishing cleverness, joined sometimes with real interest, +which was evinced by his inquiries of Christina. He +certainly did not admire the little, slight, pale bower-maiden, +but he seemed to look upon her like some strange, almost uncanny, +wise spirit out of some other sphere, and his manner towards her +had none of the offensive freedom apparent in even the old +man’s patronage. It was, as Ermentrude once said, +laughing, almost as if he feared that she might do something to +him.</p> +<p>Christina had expected to see a ruffian, and had found a boor; +but she was to be convinced that the ruffian existed in +him. Notice came up to the castle of a convoy of waggons, +and all was excitement. Men-at-arms were mustered, horses +led down the Eagle’s Ladder, and an ambush prepared in the +woods. The autumn rains were already swelling the floods, +and the passage of the ford would be difficult enough to afford +the assailants an easy prey.</p> +<p>The Freiherrinn Kunigunde herself, and all the women of the +castle, hurried into Ermentrude’s room to enjoy the view +from her window. The young lady herself was full of eager +expectation, but she knew enough of her maiden to expect no +sympathy from her, and loved her well enough not to bring down on +her her mother’s attention; so Christina crept into her +turret, unable to withdraw her eyes from the sight, trembling, +weeping, praying, longing for power to give a warning +signal. Could they be her own townsmen stopped on the way +to dear Ulm?</p> +<p>She could see the waggons in mid-stream, the warriors on the +bank; she heard the triumphant outcries of the mother and +daughter in the outer room. She saw the overthrow, the +struggle, the flight of a few scattered dark figures on the +farther side, the drawing out of the goods on the nearer. +Oh! were those leaping waves bearing down any good men’s +corpses to the Danube, slain, foully slain by her own father and +this gang of robbers?</p> +<p>She was glad that Ermentrude went down with her mother to +watch the return of the victors. She crouched on the floor, +sobbing, shuddering with grief and indignation, and telling her +beads alike for murdered and murderers, till, after the sounds of +welcome and exultation, she heard Sir Eberhard’s heavy +tread, as he carried his sister up stairs. Ermentrude went +up at once to Christina.</p> +<p>“After all there was little for us!” she +said. “It was only a wain of wine barrels; and now +will the drunkards down stairs make good cheer. But Ebbo +could only win for me this gold chain and medal which was round +the old merchant’s neck.”</p> +<p>“Was he slain?” Christina asked with pale +lips.</p> +<p>“I only know I did not kill him,” returned the +baron; “I had him down and got the prize, and that was +enough for me. What the rest of the fellows may have done, +I cannot say.”</p> +<p>“But he has brought thee something, Stina,” +continued Ermentrude. “Show it to her, +brother.”</p> +<p>“My father sends you this for your care of my +sister,” said Eberhard, holding out a brooch that had +doubtless fastened the band of the unfortunate +wine-merchant’s bonnet.</p> +<p>“Thanks, sir; but, indeed, I may not take it,” +said Christina, turning crimson, and drawing back.</p> +<p>“So!” he exclaimed, in amaze; then bethinking +himself,—“They are no townsfolk of yours, but +Constance cowards.”</p> +<p>“Take it, take it, Stina, or you will anger my +father,” added Ermentrude.</p> +<p>“No, lady, I thank the barons both, but it were sin in +me,” said Christina, with trembling voice.</p> +<p>“Look you,” said Eberhard; “we have the full +right—’tis a seignorial right—to all the goods +of every wayfarer that may be overthrown in our river—as I +am a true knight!” he added earnestly.</p> +<p>“A true knight!” repeated Christina, pushed hard, +and very indignant in all her terror. “The true +knight’s part is to aid, not rob, the weak.” +And the dark eyes flashed a vivid light.</p> +<p>“Christina!” exclaimed Ermentrude in the extremity +of her amazement, “know you what you have said?—that +Eberhard is no true knight!”</p> +<p>He meanwhile stood silent, utterly taken by surprise, and +letting his little sister fight his battles.</p> +<p>“I cannot help it, Lady Ermentrude,” said +Christina, with trembling lips, and eyes filling with +tears. “You may drive me from the castle—I only +long to be away from it; but I cannot stain my soul by saying +that spoil and rapine are the deeds of a true knight.”</p> +<p>“My mother will beat you,” cried Ermentrude, +passionately, ready to fly to the head of the stairs; but her +brother laid his hand upon her.</p> +<p>“Tush, Trudchen; keep thy tongue still, child! +What does it hurt me?”</p> +<p>And he turned on his heels and went down stairs. +Christina crept into her turret, weeping bitterly and with many a +wild thought. Would they visit her offence on her +father? Would they turn them both out together? If +so, would not her father hurl her down the rocks rather than +return her to Ulm? Could she escape? Climb down the +dizzy rocks, it might be, succour the merchant lying half dead on +the meadows, protect and be protected, be once more among +God-fearing Christians? And as she felt her helplessness, +the selfish thoughts passed into a gush of tears for the murdered +man, lying suffering there, and for his possible wife and +children watching for him. Presently Ermentrude peeped +in.</p> +<p>“Stina, Stina, don’t cry; I will not tell my +mother! Come out, and finish my kerchief! Come +out! No one shall beat you.”</p> +<p>“That is not what I wept for, lady,” said +Christina. “I do not think you would bring harm on +me. But oh! I would I were at home! I grieve +for the bloodshed that I must see and may not hinder, and for +that poor merchant.”</p> +<p>“Oh,” said Ermentrude, “you need not fear +for him! I saw his own folk return and lift him up. +But what is he to thee or to us?”</p> +<p>“I am a burgher maid, lady,” said Christina, +recovering herself, and aware that it was of little use to bear +testimony to such an auditor as poor little Ermentrude against +the deeds of her own father and brother, which had in reality the +sort of sanction Sir Eberhard had mentioned, much akin to those +coast rights that were the temptation of wreckers.</p> +<p>Still she could not but tremble at the thought of her speech, +and went down to supper in greater trepidation than usual, +dreading that she should be expected to thank the Freiherr for +his gift. But, fortunately, manners were too rare at +Adlerstein for any such omission to be remarkable, and the whole +establishment was in a state of noisy triumph and merriment over +the excellence of the French wine they had captured, so that she +slipped into her seat unobserved.</p> +<p>Every available drinking-horn and cup was full. +Ermentrude was eagerly presented with draughts by both father and +brother, and presently Sir Eberhard exclaimed, turning towards +the shrinking Christina with a rough laugh, “Maiden, I trow +thou wilt not taste?”</p> +<p>Christina shook her head, and framed a negative with her +lips.</p> +<p>“What’s this?” asked her father, close to +whom she sat. “Is’t a fast-day?”</p> +<p>There was a pause. Many were present who regarded a +fast-day much more than the lives or goods of their +neighbours. Christina again shook her head.</p> +<p>“No matter,” said good-natured Sir Eberhard, +evidently wishing to avert any ill consequence from her. +“’Tis only her loss.”</p> +<p>The mirth went on rough and loud, and Christina felt this the +worst of all the miserable meals she had partaken of in fear and +trembling at this place of her captivity. Ermentrude, too, +was soon in such a state of excitement, that not only was +Christina’s womanhood bitterly ashamed and grieved for her, +but there was serious danger that she might at any moment break +out with some allusion to her maiden’s recusancy in her +reply to Sir Eberhard.</p> +<p>Presently however Ermentrude laid down her head and began to +cry—violent headache had come on—and her brother took +her in his arms to carry her up the stairs; but his potations had +begun before hers, and his step was far from steady; he stumbled +more than once on the steps, shook and frightened his sister, and +set her down weeping petulantly. And then came a more +terrible moment; his awe of Christina had passed away; he swore +that she was a lovely maiden, with only too free a tongue, and +that a kiss must be the seal of her pardon.</p> +<p>A house full of intoxicated men, no living creature who would +care to protect her, scarce even her father! But extremity +of terror gave her strength. She spoke +resolutely—“Sir Eberhard, your sister is +ill—you are in no state to be here. Go down at once, +nor insult a free maiden.”</p> +<p>Probably the low-toned softness of the voice, so utterly +different from the shrill wrangling notes of all the other women +he had known, took him by surprise. He was still sober +enough to be subdued, almost cowed, by resistance of a +description unlike all he had ever seen; his alarm at +Christina’s superior power returned in full force, he +staggered to the stairs, Christina rushed after him, closed the +heavy door with all her force, fastened it inside, and would have +sunk down to weep but for Ermentrude’s peevish wail of +distress.</p> +<p>Happily Ermentrude was still a child, and, neglected as she +had been, she still had had no one to make her precocious in +matters of this kind. She was quite willing to take +Christina’s view of the case, and not resent the exclusion +of her brother; indeed, she was unwell enough to dread the +loudness of his voice and rudeness of his revelry.</p> +<p>So the door remained shut, and Christina’s resolve was +taken that she would so keep it while the wine lasted. And, +indeed, Ermentrude had so much fever all that night and the next +day that no going down could be thought of. Nobody came +near the maidens but Ursel, and she described one continued orgie +that made Christina shudder again with fear and disgust. +Those below revelled without interval, except for sleep; and they +took their sleep just where they happened to sink down, then +returned again to the liquor. The old baroness repaired to +the kitchen when the revelry went beyond even her bearing; but +all the time the wine held out, the swine in the court were, as +Ursel averred, better company than the men in the hall. Yet +there might have been worse even than this; for old Ursel +whispered that at the bottom of the stairs there was a +trap-door. Did the maiden know what it covered? It +was an oubliette. There was once a Strasburg armourer who +had refused ransom, and talked of appealing to the Kaiser. +He trod on that door and—Ursel pointed downwards. +“But since that time,” she said, “my young lord +has never brought home a prisoner.”</p> +<p>No wonder that all this time Christina cowered at the +discordant sounds below, trembled, and prayed while she waited on +her poor young charge, who tossed and moaned in fever and +suffering. She was still far from recovered when the +materials of the debauch failed, and the household began to +return to its usual state. She was soon restlessly pining +for her brother; and when her father came up to see her, received +him with scant welcome, and entreaties for Ebbo. She knew +she should be better if she might only sit on his knee, and lay +her head on his shoulder. The old Freiherr offered to +accommodate her; but she rejected him petulantly, and still +called for Ebbo, till he went down, promising that her brother +should come.</p> +<p>With a fluttering heart Christina awaited the noble whom she +had perhaps insulted, and whose advances had more certainly +insulted her. Would he visit her with his anger, or return +to that more offensive familiarity? She longed to flee out +of sight, when, after a long interval, his heavy tread was heard; +but she could not even take refuge in her turret, for Ermentrude +was leaning against her. Somehow, the step was less assured +than usual; he absolutely knocked at the door; and, when he came +in, he acknowledged her by a slight inclination of the +head. If she only had known it, this was the first time +that head had ever been bent to any being, human or Divine; but +all she did perceive was that Sir Eberhard was in neither of the +moods she dreaded, only desperately shy and sheepish, and +extremely ashamed, not indeed of his excess, which would have +been, even to a much tamer German baron, only a happy accident, +but of what had passed between himself and her.</p> +<p>He was much grieved to perceive how much ground Ermentrude had +lost, and gave himself up to fondling and comforting her; and in +a few days more, in their common cares for the sister, Christina +lost her newly-acquired horror of the brother, and could not but +be grateful for his forbearance; while she was almost entertained +by the increased awe of herself shown by this huge robber +baron.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">SNOW-WREATHS WHEN ’TIS +THAW</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Ermentrude</span> had by no means +recovered the ground she had lost, before the winter set in; and +blinding snow came drifting down day and night, rendering the +whole view, above and below, one expanse of white, only broken by +the peaks of rock which were too steep to sustain the snow. +The waterfall lengthened its icicles daily, and the whole court +was heaped with snow, up even to the top of the high steps to the +hall; and thus, Christina was told, would it continue all the +winter. What had previously seemed to her a strangely +door-like window above the porch now became the only mode of +egress, when the barons went out bear or wolf-hunting, or the +younger took his crossbow and hound to provide the wild-fowl, +which, under Christina’s skilful hands, would tempt the +feeble appetite of Ermentrude when she was utterly unable to +touch the salted meats and sausages of the household.</p> +<p>In spite of all endeavours to guard the windows and keep up +the fire, the cold withered the poor child like a fading leaf, +and she needed more and more of tenderness and amusement to +distract her attention from her ailments. Christina’s +resources were unfailing. Out of the softer pine and birch +woods provided for the fire, she carved a set of draughtsmen, and +made a board by ruling squares on the end of a settle, and +painting the alternate ones with a compound of oil and +charcoal. Even the old Baron was delighted with this +contrivance, and the pleasure it gave his daughter. He +remembered playing at draughts in that portion of his youth which +had been a shade more polished, and he felt as if the game were +making Ermentrude more hike a lady. Christina was +encouraged to proceed with a set of chessmen, and the shaping of +their characteristic heads under her dexterous fingers was +watched by Ermentrude like something magical. Indeed, the +young lady entertained the belief that there was no limit to her +attendant’s knowledge or capacity.</p> +<p>Truly there was a greater brightness and clearness beginning +to dawn even upon poor little Ermentrude’s own dull +mind. She took more interest in everything: songs were not +solely lullabies, but she cared to talk them over; tales to which +she would once have been incapable of paying attention were +eagerly sought after; and, above all, the spiritual vacancy that +her mind had hitherto presented was beginning to be filled +up. Christina had brought her own books—a library of +extraordinary extent for a maiden of the fifteenth century, but +which she owed to her uncle’s connexion with the arts of +wood-cutting and printing. A Vulgate from Dr. +Faustus’s own press, a mass book and breviary, Thomas +à Kempis’s <i>Imitation</i> and the <i>Nuremburg +Chronicle</i> all in Latin, and the poetry of the gentle +Minnesinger and bird lover, Walther von Vogelweide, in the +vernacular: these were her stock, which Hausfrau Johanna had +viewed as a foolish encumbrance, and Hugh Sorel would never have +transported to the castle unless they had been so well concealed +in Christina’s kirtles that he had taken them for parts of +her wardrobe.</p> +<p>Most precious were they now, when, out of the reach of all +teaching save her own, she had to infuse into the sinking +girl’s mind the great mysteries of life and death, that so +she might not leave the world without more hope or faith than her +heathen forefathers. For that Ermentrude would live +Christina had never hoped, since that fleeting improvement had +been cut short by the fever of the wine-cup; the look, voice, and +tone had become so completely the same as those of Regina +Grundt’s little sister who had pined and died. She +knew she could not cure, but she could, she felt she could, +comfort, cheer, and soften, and she no longer repined at her +enforced sojourn at Adlerstein. She heartily loved her +charge, and could not bear to think how desolate Ermentrude would +be without her. And now the poor girl had become responsive +to her care. She was infinitely softened in manner, and +treated her parents with forms of respect new to them; she had +learnt even to thank old Ursel, dropped her imperious tone, and +struggled with her petulance; and, towards her brother, the +domineering, uncouth adherence was becoming real, tender +affection; while the dependent, reverent love she bestowed upon +Christina was touching and endearing in the extreme.</p> +<p>Freiherr von Adlerstein saw the change, and congratulated +himself on the effect of having a town-bred bower woman; nay, +spoke of the advantage it would be to his daughter, if he could +persuade himself to make the submission to the Kaiser which the +late improvements decided on at the Diet were rendering more and +more inevitable. <i>Now</i> how happy would be the winner +of his gentle Ermentrude!</p> +<p>Freiherrinn von Adlerstein thought the alteration the mere +change from child to woman, and felt insulted by the supposition +that any one might not have been proud to match with a daughter +of Adlerstein, be she what she might. As to submission to +the Kaiser, that was mere folly and weakness—kaisers, +kings, dukes, and counts had broken their teeth against the rock +of Adlerstein before now! What had come over her husband +and her son to make them cravens?</p> +<p>For Freiherr Eberhard was more strongly convinced than was his +father of the untenableness of their present position. Hugh +Sorel’s reports of what he heard at Ulm had shown that the +league that had been discussed at Regensburg was far more +formidable than anything that had ever previously threatened +Schloss Adlerstein, and that if the Graf von Schlangenwald joined +in the coalition, there would be private malice to direct its +efforts against the Adlerstein family. Feud-letters or +challenges had been made unlawful for ten years, and was not +Adlerstein at feud with the world?</p> +<p>Nor did Eberhard look on the submission with the sullen rage +and grief that his father felt in bringing himself to such a +declension from the pride of his ancestors. What the young +Baron heard up stairs was awakening in him a sense of the +poorness and narrowness of his present life. Ermentrude +never spared him what interested her; and, partly from her lips, +partly through her appeals to her attendant, he had learnt that +life had better things to offer than independence on these bare +rocks, and that homage might open the way to higher and worthier +exploits than preying upon overturned waggons.</p> +<p>Dietrich of Berne and his two ancestors, whose lengthy legend +Christina could sing in a low, soft recitative, were revelations +to him of what she meant by a true knight—the lion in war, +the lamb in peace; the quaint oft-repeated portraits, and still +quainter cities, of the Chronicle, with her explanations and +translations, opened his mind to aspirations for intercourse with +his fellows, for an honourable name, and for esteem in its degree +such as was paid to Sir Parzival, to Karl the Great, or to Rodolf +of Hapsburgh, once a mountain lord like himself. Nay, as +Ermentrude said, stroking his cheek, and smoothing the flaxen +beard, that somehow had become much less rough and tangled than +it used to be, “Some day wilt thou be another Good Freiherr +Eberhard, whom all the country-side loved, and who gave bread at +the castle-gate to all that hungered.”</p> +<p>Her brother believed nothing of her slow declension in +strength, ascribing all the change he saw to the bitter cold, and +seeing but little even of that alteration, though he spent many +hours in her room, holding her in his arms, amusing her, or +talking to her and to Christina. All Christina’s fear +of him was gone. As long as there was no liquor in the +house, and he was his true self, she felt him to be a kind +friend, bound to her by strong sympathy in the love and care for +his sister. She could talk almost as freely before him as +when alone with her young lady; and as Ermentrude’s +religious feelings grew stronger, and were freely expressed to +him, surely his attention was not merely kindness and patience +with the sufferer.</p> +<p>The girl’s soul ripened rapidly under the new influences +during her bodily decay; and, as the days lengthened, and the +stern hold of winter relaxed upon the mountains, Christina looked +with strange admiration upon the expression that had dawned upon +the features once so vacant and dull, and listened with the more +depth of reverence to the sweet words of faith, hope and love, +because she felt that a higher, deeper teaching than she could +give must have come to mould the spirit for the new world to +which it was hastening.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Like an army defeated,<br /> +The snow had retreated,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>out of the valley, whose rich green shone smiling round the +pool into which the Debateable Ford spread. The waterfall +had burst its icy bonds, and dashed down with redoubled voice, +roaring rather than babbling. Blue and pink +hepaticas—or, as Christina called them, +liver-krauts—had pushed up their starry heads, and had even +been gathered by Sir Eberhard, and laid on his sister’s +pillow. The dark peaks of rock came out all glistening with +moisture, and the snow only retained possession of the deep +hollows and crevices, into which however its retreat was far more +graceful than when, in the city, it was trodden by horse and man, +and soiled with smoke.</p> +<p>Christina dreaded indeed that the roads should be open, but +she could not love the snow; it spoke to her of dreariness, +savagery, and captivity, and she watched the dwindling stripes +with satisfaction, and hailed the fall of the petty avalanches +from one Eagle’s Step to another as her forefathers might +have rejoiced in the defeat of the Frost giants.</p> +<p>But Ermentrude had a love for the white sheet that lay +covering a gorge running up from the ravine. She watched +its diminution day by day with a fancy that she was melting away +with it; and indeed it was on the very day that a succession of +drifting showers had left the sheet alone, and separated it from +the masses of white above, that it first fully dawned upon the +rest of the family that, for the little daughter of the house, +spring was only bringing languor and sinking instead of +recovery.</p> +<p>Then it was that Sir Eberhard first really listened to her +entreaty that she might not die without a priest, and comforted +her by passing his word to her that, if—he would not say +when—the time drew near, he would bring her one of the +priests who had only come from St. Ruprecht’s cloister on +great days, by a sort of sufferance, to say mass at the Blessed +Friedmund’s hermitage chapel.</p> +<p>The time was slow in coming. Easter had passed with +Ermentrude far too ill for Christina to make the effort she had +intended of going to the church, even if she could get no escort +but old Ursel—the sheet of snow had dwindled to a mere +wreath—the ford looked blue in the sunshine—the +cascade tinkled merrily down its rock—mountain primroses +peeped out, when, as Father Norbert came forth from saying his +ill-attended Pentecostal mass, and was parting with the infirm +peasant hermit, a tall figure strode up the pass, and, as the +villagers fell back to make way, stood before the startled +priest, and said, in a voice choked with grief, “Come with +me.”</p> +<p>“Who needs me?” began the astonished monk.</p> +<p>“Follow him not, father!” whispered the +hermit. “It is the young Freiherr.—Oh have +mercy on him, gracious sir; he has done your noble lordships no +wrong.”</p> +<p>“I mean him no ill,” replied Eberhard, clearing +his voice with difficulty; “I would but have him do his +office. Art thou afraid, priest?”</p> +<p>“Who needs my office?” demanded Father +Norbert. “Show me fit cause, and what should I +dread? Wherefore dost thou seek me?”</p> +<p>“For my sister,” replied Eberhard, his voice +thickening again. “My little sister lies at the point +of death, and I have sworn to her that a priest she shall +have. Wilt thou come, or shall I drag thee down the +pass?”</p> +<p>“I come, I come with all my heart, sir knight,” +was the ready response. “A few moments and I am at +your bidding.”</p> +<p>He stepped back into the hermit’s cave, whence a stair +led up to the chapel. The anchorite followed him, +whispering—“Good father, escape! There will be +full time ere he misses you. The north door leads to the +Gemsbock’s Pass; it is open now.”</p> +<p>“Why should I baulk him? Why should I deny my +office to the dying?” said Norbert.</p> +<p>“Alas! holy father, thou art new to this country, and +know’st not these men of blood! It is a snare to make +the convent ransom thee, if not worse. The Freiherrinn is a +fiend for malice, and the Freiherr is excommunicate.”</p> +<p>“I know it, my son,” said Norbert; “but +wherefore should their child perish unassoilzied?”</p> +<p>“Art coming, priest?” shouted Eberhard, from his +stand at the mouth of the cave.</p> +<p>And, as Norbert at once appeared with the pyx and other +appliances that he had gone to fetch, the Freiherr held out his +hand with an offer to “carry his gear for him;” and, +when the monk refused, with an inward shudder at entrusting a +sacred charge to such unhallowed hands, replied, “You will +have work enow for both hands ere the castle is +reached.”</p> +<p>But Father Norbert was by birth a sturdy Switzer, and thought +little of these Swabian Alps; and he climbed after his guide +through the most rugged passages of Eberhard’s shortest and +most perpendicular cut without a moment’s hesitation, and +with agility worthy of a chamois. The young baron turned +for a moment, when the level of the castle had been gained, +perhaps to see whether he were following, but at the same time +came to a sudden, speechless pause.</p> +<p>On the white masses of vapour that floated on the opposite +side of the mountain was traced a gigantic shadowy outline of a +hermit, with head bent eagerly forward, and arm outstretched.</p> +<p>The monk crossed himself. Eberhard stood still for a +moment, and then said, hoarsely,—“The Blessed +Friedmund! He is come for her;” then strode on +towards the postern gate, followed by Brother Norbert, a good +deal reassured both as to the genuineness of the young +Baron’s message and the probable condition of the object of +his journey, since the patron saint of her race was evidently on +the watch to speed her departing spirit.</p> +<p>Sir Eberhard led the way up the turret stairs to the open +door, and the monk entered the death-chamber. The elder +Baron sat near the fire in the large wooden chair, half turned +towards his daughter, as one who must needs be present, but with +his face buried in his hands, unable to endure the +spectacle. Nearer was the tall form of his wife, standing +near the foot of the bed, her stern, harsh features somewhat +softened by the feelings of the moment. Ursel waited at +hand, with tears running down her furrowed cheeks.</p> +<p>For such as these Father Norbert was prepared; but he little +expected to meet so pure and sweet a gaze of reverential welcome +as beamed on him from the soft, dark eyes of the little +white-checked maiden who sat on the bed, holding the sufferer in +her arms. Still less had he anticipated the serene +blessedness that sat on the wasted features of the dying girl, +and all the anguish of labouring breath.</p> +<p>She smiled a smile of joy, held up her hand, and thanked her +brother. Her father scarcely lifted his head, her mother +made a rigid curtsey, and with a grim look of sorrow coming over +her features, laid her hand over the old Baron’s +shoulder. “Come away, Herr Vater,” she said; +“he is going to hear her confession, and make her too holy +for the like of us to touch.”</p> +<p>The old man rose up, and stepped towards his child. +Ermentrude held out her arms to him, and murmured—</p> +<p>“Father, father, pardon me; I would have been a better +daughter if I had only known—” He gathered her +in his arms; he was quite past speaking; and they only heard his +heavy breathing, and one more whisper from +Ermentrude—“And oh! father, one day wilt thou seek to +be absolved?” Whether he answered or not they knew +not; he only gave her repeated kisses, and laid her down on her +pillows, then rushed to the door, and the passionate sobs of the +strong man’s uncontrolled nature might be heard upon the +stair. The parting with the others was not necessarily so +complete, as they were not, like him, under censure of the +Church; but Kunigunde leant down to kiss her; and, in return to +her repetition of her entreaty for pardon, replied, “Thou +hast it, child, if it will ease thy mind; but it is all along of +these new fancies that ever an Adlerstein thought of +pardon. There, there, I blame thee not, poor maid; it thou +wert to die, it may be even best as it is. Now must I to +thy father; he is troubled enough about this gear.”</p> +<p>But when Eberhard moved towards his sister, she turned to the +priest, and said, imploringly, “Not far, not far! Oh! +let them,” pointing to Eberhard and Christina, “let +them not be quite out of sight!”</p> +<p>“Out of hearing is all that is needed, daughter,” +replied the priest; and Ermentrude looked content as Christina +moved towards the empty north turret, where, with the door open, +she was in full view, and Eberhard followed her thither. It +was indeed fully out of earshot of the child’s faint, +gasping confession. Gravely and sadly both stood +there. Christina looked up the hillside for the +snow-wreath. The May sunshine had dissolved it; the green +pass lay sparkling without a vestige of its white coating. +Her eyes full of tears, she pointed the spot out to +Eberhard. He understood; but, leaning towards her, told, +under his breath, of the phantom he had seen. Her eyes +expanded with awe of the supernatural. “It was the +Blessed Friedmund,” said Eberhard. “Never hath +he so greeted one of our race since the pious Freiherrinn +Hildegarde. Maiden, hast thou brought us back a +blessing?”</p> +<p>“Ah! well may she be blessed—well may the saints +stoop to greet her,” murmured Christina, with strangled +voice, scarcely able to control her sobs.</p> +<p>Father Norbert came towards them. The simple confession +had been heard, and he sought the aid of Christina in performing +the last rites of the Church.</p> +<p>“Maiden,” he said to her, “thou hast done a +great and blessed work, such as many a priest might envy +thee.”</p> +<p>Eberhard was not excluded during the final services by which +the soul was to be dismissed from its earthly +dwelling-place. True, he comprehended little of their +import, and nothing of the words, but he gazed meekly, with +uncovered head, and a bewildered look of sadness, while Christina +made her responses and took her part with full intelligence and +deep fervour, sorrowing indeed for the companion who had become +so dear to her, but deeply thankful for the spiritual consolation +that had come at last. Ermentrude lay calm, and, as it +were, already rapt into a higher world, lighting up at the German +portions of the service, and not wholly devoid of comprehension +of the spirit even of the Latin, as indeed she had come to the +border of the region where human tongues and languages are no +more.</p> +<p>She was all but gone when the rite of extreme unction was +completed, and they could only stand round her, Eberhard, +Christina, Ursel, and the old Baroness, who had returned again, +watching the last flutterings of the breath, the window thrown +wide open that nothing might impede the passage of the soul to +the blue vault above.</p> +<p>The priest spoke the beautiful commendation, “Depart, O +Christian soul.” There was a faint gesture in the +midst for Christina to lift her in her arms—a sign to bend +down and kiss her brow—but her last look was for her +brother, her last murmur, “Come after me; be the Good Baron +Ebbo.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE YOUNG FREIHERR</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Ermentrude von Adlerstein</span> slept +with her forefathers in the vaults of the hermitage chapel, and +Christina Sorel’s work was done.</p> +<p>Surely it was time for her to return home, though she should +be more sorry to leave the mountain castle than she could ever +have believed possible. She entreated her father to take +her home, but she received a sharp answer that she did not know +what she was talking of: the Schlangenwald Reitern were besetting +all the roads; and moreover the Ulm burghers had taken the +capture of the Constance wine in such dudgeon that for a retainer +of Adlerstein to show himself in the streets would be an absolute +asking for the wheel.</p> +<p>But was there any hope for her? Could he not take her to +some nunnery midway, and let her write to her uncle to fetch her +from thence?</p> +<p>He swore at woman’s pertinacity, but allowed at last +that if the plan, talked of by the Barons, of going to make their +submission to the Emperor at Linz, with a view to which all +violence at the ford had ceased, should hold good, it might be +possible thus to drop her on their way.</p> +<p>With this Christina must needs content herself. Poor +child, not only had Ermentrude’s death deprived her of the +sole object of her residence at Schloss Adlerstein, but it had +infinitely increased the difficulties of her position. No +one interfered with her possession of the upper room and its +turrets; and it was only at meal times that she was obliged to +mingle with the other inhabitants, who, for the most part, +absolutely overlooked the little shrinking pale maiden but with +one exception, and that the most perplexing of all. She had +been on terms with Freiherr Eberhard that were not so easily +broken off as if she had been an old woman of Ursel’s +age. All through his sister’s decline she had been +his comforter, assistant, director, living in intercourse and +sympathy that ought surely to cease when she was no longer his +sister’s attendant, yet which must be more than ever missed +in the full freshness of the stroke.</p> +<p>Even on the earliest day of bereavement, a sudden thought of +Hausfrau Johanna flashed upon Christina, and reminded her of the +guard she must keep over herself if she would return to Ulm the +same modest girl whom her aunt could acquit of all +indiscretion. Her cheeks flamed, as she sat alone, with the +very thought, and the next time she heard the well-known tread on +the stair, she fled hastily into her own turret chamber, and shut +the door. Her heart beat fast. She could hear Sir +Eberhard moving about the room, and listened to his heavy sigh as +he threw himself into the large chair. Presently he called +her by name, and she felt it needful to open her door and answer, +respectfully,</p> +<p>“What would you, my lord?”</p> +<p>“What would I? A little peace, and heed to her who +is gone. To see my father and mother one would think that a +partridge had but flown away. I have seen my father more +sorrowful when his dog had fallen over the abyss.”</p> +<p>“Mayhap there is more sorrow for a brute that cannot +live again,” said Christina. “Our bird has her +nest by an Altar that is lovelier and brighter than even our Dome +Kirk will ever be.”</p> +<p>“Sit down, Christina,” he said, dragging a chair +nearer the hearth. “My heart is sore, and I cannot +bear the din below. Tell me where my bird is +flown.”</p> +<p>“Ah! sir; pardon me. I must to the kitchen,” +said Christina, crossing her hands over her breast, to still her +trembling heart, for she was very sorry for his grief, but moving +resolutely.</p> +<p>“Must? And wherefore? Thou hast nought to do +there; speak truth! Why not stay with me?” and his +great light eyes opened wide.</p> +<p>“A burgher maid may not sit down with a noble +baron.”</p> +<p>“The devil! Has my mother been plaguing thee, +child?”</p> +<p>“No, my lord,” said Christina, “she reeks +not of me; but”—steadying her voice with great +difficulty—“it behoves me the more to be +discreet.”</p> +<p>“And you would not have me come here!” he said, +with a wistful tone of reproach.</p> +<p>“I have no power to forbid you; but if you do, I must +betake me to Ursel in the kitchen,” said Christina, very +low, trembling and half choked.</p> +<p>“Among the rude wenches there!” he cried, starting +up. “Nay, nay, that shall not be! Rather will I +go.”</p> +<p>“But this is very cruel of thee, maiden,” he +added, lingering, “when I give thee my knightly word that +all should be as when she whom we both loved was here,” and +his voice shook.</p> +<p>“It could not so be, my lord,” returned Christina +with drooping, blushing face; “it would not be maidenly in +me. Oh, my lord, you are kind and generous, make it not +hard for me to do what other maidens less lonely have friends to +do for them!”</p> +<p>“Kind and generous?” said Eberhard, leaning over +the back of the chair as if trying to begin a fresh score. +“This from you, who told me once I was no true +knight!”</p> +<p>“I shall call you a true knight with all my +heart,” cried Christina, the tears rushing into her eyes, +“if you will respect my weakness and loneliness.”</p> +<p>He stood up again, as if to move away; then paused, and, +twisting his gold chain, said, “And how am I ever to be +what the happy one bade me, if you will not show me +how?”</p> +<p>“My error would never show you the right,” said +Christina, with a strong effort at firmness, and retreating at +once through the door of the staircase, whence she made her way +to the kitchen, and with great difficulty found an excuse for her +presence there.</p> +<p>It had been a hard struggle with her compassion and gratitude, +and, poor little Christina felt with dismay, with something more +than these. Else why was it that, even while principle and +better sense summoned her back to Ulm, she experienced a deadly +weariness of the city-pent air, of the grave, heavy roll of the +river, nay, even of the quiet, well-regulated household? +Why did such a marriage as she had thought her natural destiny, +with some worthy, kind-hearted brother of the guild, become so +hateful to her that she could only aspire to a convent +life? This same burgomaster would be an estimable man, no +doubt, and those around her were ruffians, but she felt utterly +contemptuous and impatient of him. And why was the +interchange of greetings, the few words at meals, worth all the +rest of the day besides to her? Her own heart was the +traitor, and to her own sensations the poor little thing had, in +spirit at least, transgressed all Aunt Johanna’s precepts +against young Barons. She wept apart, and resolved, and +prayed, cruelly ashamed of every start of joy or pain that the +sight of Eberhard cost her. From almost the first he had +sat next her at the single table that accommodated the whole +household at meals, and the custom continued, though on some days +he treated her with sullen silence, which she blamed herself for +not rejoicing in, sometimes he spoke a few friendly words; but he +observed, better than she could have dared to expect, her test of +his true knighthood, and never again forced himself into her +apartment, though now and then he came to the door with flowers, +with mountain strawberries, and once with two young doves. +“Take them, Christina,” he said, “they are very +like yourself;” and he always delayed so long that she was +forced to be resolute, and shut the door on him at last.</p> +<p>Once, when there was to be a mass at the chapel, Hugh Sorel, +between a smile and a growl, informed his daughter that he would +take her thereto. She gladly prepared, and, bent on making +herself agreeable to her father, did not once press on him the +necessity of her return to Ulm. To her amazement and +pleasure, the young Baron was at church, and when on the way +home, he walked beside her mule, she could see no need of sending +him away.</p> +<p>He had been in no school of the conventionalities of life, +and, when he saw that Hugh Sorel’s presence had obtained +him this favour, he wistfully asked, “Christina, if I bring +your father with me, will you not let me in?”</p> +<p>“Entreat me not, my lord,” she answered, with +fluttering breath.</p> +<p>She felt the more that she was right in this decision, when +she encountered her father’s broad grin of surprise and +diversion, at seeing the young Baron help her to dismount. +It was a look of receiving an idea both new, comical, and +flattering, but by no means the look of a father who would resent +the indignity of attentions to his daughter from a man whose rank +formed an insuperable barrier to marriage.</p> +<p>The effect was a new, urgent, and most piteous entreaty, that +he would find means of sending her home. It brought upon +her the hearing put into words what her own feelings had long +shrunk from confessing to herself.</p> +<p>“Ah! Why, what now? What, is the young Baron +after thee? Ha! ha! petticoats are few enough up here, but +he must have been ill off ere he took to a little ghost like +thee! I saw he was moping and doleful, but I thought it was +all for his sister.”</p> +<p>“And so it is, father.”</p> +<p>“Tell me that, when he watches every turn of that dark +eye of thine—the only good thing thou took’st of +mine! Thou art a witch, Stina.”</p> +<p>“Hush, oh hush, for pity’s sake, father, and let +me go home!”</p> +<p>“What, thou likest him not? Thy mind is all for +the mincing goldsmith opposite, as I ever told thee.”</p> +<p>“My mind is—is to return to my uncle and aunt the +true-hearted maiden they parted with,” said Christina, with +clasped hands. “And oh, father, as you were the son +of a true and faithful mother, be a father to me now! Jeer +not your motherless child, but protect her and help +her.”</p> +<p>Hugh Sorel was touched by this appeal, and he likewise +recollected how much it was for his own interest that his brother +should be satisfied with the care he took of his daughter. +He became convinced that the sooner she was out of the castle the +better, and at length bethought him that, among the merchants who +frequented the Midsummer Fair at the Blessed Friedmund’s +Wake, a safe escort might be found to convey her back to Ulm.</p> +<p>If the truth were known, Hugh Sorel was not devoid of a +certain feeling akin to contempt, both for his young +master’s taste, and for his forbearance in not having +pushed matters further with a being so helpless, meek, and timid +as Christina, more especially as such slackness had not been his +wont in other cases where his fancy had been caught.</p> +<p>But Sorel did not understand that it was not physical beauty +that here had been the attraction, though to some persons, the +sweet, pensive eyes, the delicate, pure skin, the slight, tender +form, might seem to exceed in loveliness the fully developed +animal comeliness chiefly esteemed at Adlerstein. It was +rather the strangeness of the power and purity of this timid, +fragile creature, that had struck the young noble. With all +their brutal manners reverence for a lofty female nature had been +in the German character ever since their Velleda prophesied to +them, and this reverence in Eberhard bowed at the feet of the +pure gentle maiden, so strong yet so weak, so wistful and +entreating even in her resolution, refined as a white flower on a +heap of refuse, wise and dexterous beyond his slow and dull +conception, and the first being in whom he had ever seen piety or +goodness; and likewise with a tender, loving spirit of +consolation such as he had both beheld and tasted by his +sister’s deathbed.</p> +<p>There was almost a fear mingled with his reverence. If +he had been more familiar with the saints, he would thus have +regarded the holy virgin martyrs, nay, even Our Lady herself; and +he durst not push her so hard as to offend her, and excite the +anger or the grief that he alike dreaded. He was wretched +and forlorn without the resources he had found in his +sister’s room; the new and better cravings of his higher +nature had been excited only to remain unsupplied and +disappointed; and the affectionate heart in the freshness of its +sorrow yearned for the comfort that such conversation had +supplied: but the impression that had been made on him was still +such, that he knew that to use rough means of pressing his wishes +would no more lead to his real gratification than it would to +appropriate a snow-bell by crushing it in his gauntlet.</p> +<p>And it was on feeble little Christina, yielding in heart, +though not in will, that it depended to preserve this reverence, +and return unscathed from this castle, more perilous now than +ever.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE BLESSED FRIEDMUND’S +WAKE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Midsummer-Day</span> arrived, and the +village of Adlerstein presented a most unusual spectacle. +The wake was the occasion of a grand fair for all the +mountain-side, and it was an understood thing that the Barons, +instead of molesting the pedlars, merchants, and others who +attended it, contented themselves with demanding a toll from +every one who passed the Kohler’s hut on the one side, or +the Gemsbock’s Pass on the other; and this toll, being the +only coin by which they came honestly in the course of the year, +was regarded as a certainty and highly valued. Moreover, it +was the only time that any purchases could be made, and the +flotsam of the ford did not always include all even of the few +requirements of the inmates of the castle; it was the only +holiday, sacred or secular, that ever gladdened the Eagle’s +Rock.</p> +<p>So all the inmates of the castle prepared to enjoy themselves, +except the heads of the house. The Freiherr had never been +at one of these wakes since the first after he was +excommunicated, when he had stalked round to show his +indifference to the sentence; and the Freiherrinn snarled out +such sentences of disdain towards the concourse, that it might be +supposed that she hated the sight of her kind; but Ursel had all +the household purchases to make, and the kitchen underlings were +to take turns to go and come, as indeed were the men-at-arms, who +were set to watch the toll-bars.</p> +<p>Christina had packed up a small bundle, for the chance of +being unable to return to the castle without missing her escort, +though she hoped that the fair might last two days, and that she +should thus be enabled to return and bring away the rest of her +property. She was more and more resolved on going, but her +heart was less and less inclined to departure. And bitter +had been her weeping through all the early light hours of the +long morning—weeping that she tried to think was all for +Ermentrude; and all, amid prayers she could scarce trust herself +to offer, that the generous, kindly nature might yet work free of +these evil surroundings, and fulfil the sister’s dying +wish, she should never see it; but, when she should hear that the +Debateable Ford was the Friendly Ford, then would she know that +it was the doing of the Good Baron Ebbo. Could she venture +on telling him so? Or were it not better that there were no +farewell? And she wept again that he should think her +ungrateful. She could not persuade herself to release the +doves, but committed the charge to Ursel to let them go in case +she should not return.</p> +<p>So tear-stained was her face, that, ashamed that it should be +seen, she wrapped it closely in her hood and veil when she came +down and joined her father. The whole scene swam in tears +before her eyes when she saw the whole green slope from the +chapel covered with tents and booths, and swarming with pedlars +and mountaineers in their picturesque dresses. Women and +girls were exchanging the yarn of their winter’s spinning +for bright handkerchiefs; men drove sheep, goats, or pigs to +barter for knives, spades, or weapons; others were gazing at +simple shows—a dancing bear or ape—or clustering +round a Minnesinger; many even then congregating in booths for +the sale of beer. Further up, on the flat space of sward +above the chapel, were some lay brothers, arranging for the +representation of a mystery—a kind of entertainment which +Germany owed to the English who came to the Council of Constance, +and which the monks of St. Ruprecht’s hoped might infuse +some religious notions into the wild, ignorant mountaineers.</p> +<p>First however Christina gladly entered the church. +Crowded though it were, it was calmer than the busy scene +without. Faded old tapestry was decking its walls, +representing apparently some subject entirely alien to St. John +or the blessed hermit; Christina rather thought it was Mars and +Venus, but that was all the same to every one else. And +there was a terrible figure of St. John, painted life-like, with +a real hair-cloth round his loins, just opposite to her, on the +step of the Altar; also poor Friedmund’s bones, dressed up +in a new serge amice and hood; the stone from Nicæa was in +a gilded box, ready in due time to be kissed; and a preaching +friar (not one of the monks of St. Ruprecht’s) was in the +midst of a sermon, telling how St. John presided at the Council +of Nicæa till the Emperor Maximius cut off his head at the +instance of Herodius—full justice being done to the +dancing—and that the blood was sprinkled on this very +stone, whereupon our Holy Father the Pope decreed that whoever +would kiss the said stone, and repeat the Credo five times +afterwards, should be capable of receiving an indulgence for 500 +years: which indulgence must however be purchased at the rate of +six groschen, to be bestowed in alms at Rome. And this +inestimable benefit he, poor Friar Peter, had come from his +brotherhood of St. Francis at Offingen solely to dispense to the +poor mountaineers.</p> +<p>It was disappointing to find this profane mummery going on +instead of the holy services to which Christina had looked +forward for strength and comfort; she was far too well instructed +not to be scandalized at the profane deception which was ripening +fast for Luther, only thirty years later; and, when the stone was +held up by the friar in one hand, the printed briefs of +indulgence in the other, she shrunk back. Her father +however said, “Wilt have one, child? Five hundred +years is no bad bargain.”</p> +<p>“My uncle has small trust in indulgences,” she +whispered.</p> +<p>“All lies, of course,” quoth Hugh; “yet +they’ve the Pope’s seal, and I have more than half a +mind to get one. Five hundred years is no joke, and I am +sure of purgatory, since I bought this medal at the Holy House of +Loretto.”</p> +<p>And he went forward, and invested six groschen in one of the +papers, the most religious action poor Christina had ever seen +him perform. Other purchasers came forward—several, +of the castle <i>knappen</i>, and a few peasant women who offered +yarn or cheeses as equivalents for money, but were told with some +insolence to go and sell their goods, and bring the coin.</p> +<p>After a time, the friar, finding his traffic slack, thought +fit to remove, with his two lay assistants, outside the chapel, +and try the effects of an out-of-door sermon. Hugh Sorel, +who had been hitherto rather diverted by the man’s gestures +and persuasions, now decided on going out into the fair in quest +of an escort for his daughter, but as she saw Father Norbert and +another monk ascending from the stairs leading to the +hermit’s cell, she begged to be allowed to remain in the +church, where she was sure to be safe, instead of wandering about +with him in the fair.</p> +<p>He was glad to be unencumbered, though he thought her taste +unnatural; and, promising to return for her when he had found an +escort, he left her.</p> +<p>Father Norbert had come for the very purpose of hearing +confessions, and Christina’s next hour was the most +comfortable she had spent since Ermentrude’s death.</p> +<p>After this however the priests were called away, and long, +long did Christina first kneel and then sit in the little lonely +church, hearing the various sounds without, and imagining that +her father had forgotten her, and that he and all the rest were +drinking, and then what would become of her? Why had she +quitted old Ursel’s protection?</p> +<p>Hours of waiting and nameless alarm must have passed, for the +sun was waxing low, when at length she heard steps coming up the +hermit’s cell, and a head rose above the pavement which she +recognized with a wild throb of joy, but, repressing her sense of +gladness, she only exclaimed, “Oh, where is my +father!”</p> +<p>“I have sent him to the toll at the Gemsbock’s +Pass,” replied Sir Eberhard, who had by this time come up +the stairs, followed by Brother Peter and the two lay +assistants. Then, as Christina turned on him her startled, +terrified eyes in dismay and reproach for such thoughtlessness, +he came towards her, and, bending his head and opening his hand, +he showed on his palm two gold rings. “There, little +one,” he said; “now shalt thou never again shut me +out.”</p> +<p>Her senses grew dizzy. “Sir,” she faintly +said, “this is no place to delude a poor maiden.”</p> +<p>“I delude thee not. The brother here waits to wed +us.”</p> +<p>“Impossible! A burgher maid is not for such as +you.”</p> +<p>“None but a burgher maid will I wed,” returned Sir +Eberhard, with all the settled resolution of habits of +command. “See, Christina, thou art sweeter and better +than any lady in the land; thou canst make me what she—the +blessed one who lies there—would have me. I love thee +as never knight loved lady. I love thee so that I have not +spoken a word to offend thee when my heart was bursting; +and”—as he saw her irrepressible tears—“I +think thou lovest me a little.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” she gasped with a sob, “let me +go.”</p> +<p>“Thou canst not go home; there is none here fit to take +charge of thee. Or if there were, I would slay him rather +than let thee go. No, not so,” he said, as he saw how +little those words served his cause; “but without thee I +were a mad and desperate man. Christina, I will not answer +for myself if thou dost not leave this place my wedded +wife.”</p> +<p>“Oh!” implored Christina, “if you would only +betroth me, and woo me like an honourable maiden from my home at +Ulm!”</p> +<p>“Betroth thee, ay, and wed thee at once,” replied +Eberhard, who, all along, even while his words were most +pleading, had worn a look and manner of determined authority and +strength, good-natured indeed, but resolved. “I am +not going to miss my opportunity, or baulk the friar.”</p> +<p>The friar, who had meantime been making a few needful +arrangements for the ceremony, advanced towards them. He +was a good-humoured, easy-going man, who came prepared to do any +office that came in his way on such festival days at the villages +round; and peasant marriages at such times were not +uncommon. But something now staggered him, and he said +anxiously—</p> +<p>“This maiden looks convent-bred! Herr Reiter, +pardon me; but if this be the breaking of a cloister, I can have +none of it.”</p> +<p>“No such thing,” said Eberhard; “she is +town-bred, that is all.”</p> +<p>“You would swear to it, on the holy mass yonder, both of +you?” said the friar, still suspiciously.</p> +<p>“Yea,” replied Eberhard, “and so dost thou, +Christina.”</p> +<p>This was the time if ever to struggle against her +destiny. The friar would probably have listened to her if +she had made any vehement opposition to a forced marriage, and if +not, a few shrieks would have brought perhaps Father Norbert, and +certainly the whole population; but the horror and shame of being +found in such a situation, even more than the probability that +she might meet with vengeance rather than protection, withheld +her. Even the friar could hardly have removed her, and this +was her only chance of safety from the Baroness’s +fury. Had she hated and loathed Sir Eberhard, perhaps she +had striven harder, but his whole demeanour constrained and +quelled her, and the chief effort she made against yielding was +the reply, “I am no cloister maid, holy father, +but—”</p> +<p>The “but” was lost in the friar’s jovial +speech. “Oh, then, all is well! Take thy place, +pretty one, there, by the door, thou know’st it should be +in the porch, but—ach, I understand!” as Eberhard +quietly drew the bolt within. “No, no, little one, I +have no time for bride scruples and coyness; I have to train +three dull-headed louts to be Shem, Ham, and Japhet before +dark. Hast confessed of late?”</p> +<p>“This morning, but—” said Christina, and +“This morning,” to her great joy, said Eberhard, and, +in her satisfaction thereat, her second “but” was not +followed up.</p> +<p>The friar asked their names, and both gave the Christian name +alone; then the brief and simple rite was solemnized in its +shortest form. Christina had, by very force of surprise and +dismay, gone through all without signs of agitation, except the +quivering of her whole frame, and the icy coldness of the hand, +where Eberhard had to place the ring on each finger in turn.</p> +<p>But each mutual vow was a strange relief to her long-tossed +and divided mind, and it was rest indeed to let her affection +have its will, and own him indeed as a protector to be loved +instead of shunned. When all was over, and he gathered the +two little cold hands into his large one, his arm supporting her +trembling form, she felt for the moment, poor little thing, as if +she could never be frightened again.</p> +<p>Parish registers were not, even had this been a parish church, +but Brother Peter asked, when he had concluded, “Well, my +son, which of his flock am I to report to your Pfarrer as linked +together?”</p> +<p>“The less your tongue wags on that matter till I call on +you, the better,” was the stern reply. “Look +you, no ill shall befall you if you are wise, but remember, +against the day I call you to bear witness, that you have this +day wedded Baron Eberhard von Adlerstein the younger, to +Christina, the daughter of Hugh Sorel, the Esquire of +Ulm.”</p> +<p>“Thou hast played me a trick, Sir Baron!” said the +friar, somewhat dismayed, but more amused, looking up at +Eberhard, who, as Christina now saw, had divested himself of his +gilt spurs, gold chain, silvered belt and horn, and eagle’s +plume, so as to have passed for a simple lanzknecht. +“I would have had no such gear as this!”</p> +<p>“So I supposed,” said Eberhard coolly.</p> +<p>“Young folks! young folks!” laughed the friar, +changing his tone, and holding up his finger slyly; “the +little bird so cunningly nestled in the church to fly out my Lady +Baroness! Well, so thou hast a pretty, timid lambkin there, +Sir Baron. Take care you use her mildly.”</p> +<p>Eberhard looked into Christina’s face with a smile, that +to her, at least, was answer enough; and he held out half a dozen +links of his gold chain to the friar, and tossed a coin to each +of the lay brethren.</p> +<p>“Not for the poor friar himself,” explained +Brother Peter, on receiving this marriage fee; “it all goes +to the weal of the brotherhood.”</p> +<p>“As you please,” said Eberhard. +“Silence, that is all! And thy +friary—?”</p> +<p>“The poor house of St. Francis at Offingen for the +present, noble sir,” said the priest. “There +will you hear of me, if you find me not. And now, fare thee +well, my gracious lady. I hope one day thou wilt have more +words to thank the poor brother who has made thee a noble +Baroness.”</p> +<p>“Ah, good father, pardon my fright and confusion,” +Christina tried to murmur, but at that moment a sudden glow and +glare of light broke out on the eastern rock, illuminating the +fast darkening little church with a flickering glare, that made +her start in terror as if the fires of heaven were threatening +this stolen marriage; but the friar and Eberhard both exclaimed, +“The Needfire alight already!” And she +recollected how often she had seen these bonfires on Midsummer +night shining red on every hill around Ulm. Loud shouts +were greeting the uprising flame, and the people gathering +thicker and thicker on the slope. The friar undid the door +to hasten out into the throng, and Eberhard said he had left his +spurs and belt in the hermit’s cell, and must return +thither, after which he would walk home with his bride, moving at +the same time towards the stair, and thereby causing a sudden +scuffle and fall. “So, master hermit,” quoth +Eberhard, as the old man picked himself up, looking horribly +frightened; “that’s your hermit’s abstraction, +is it? No whining, old man, I am not going to hurt thee, so +thou canst hold thy tongue. Otherwise I will smoke thee out +of thy hole like a wild cat! What, thou aiding me with my +belt, my lovely one? Thanks; the snap goes too hard for thy +little hands. Now, then, the fire will light us gaily down +the mountain side.”</p> +<p>But it soon appeared that to depart was impossible, unless by +forcing a way through the busy throng in the full red glare of +the firelight, and they were forced to pause at the opening of +the hermit’s cave, Christina leaning on her husband’s +arm, and a fold of his mantle drawn round her to guard her from +the night-breeze of the mountain, as they waited for a quiet +space in which to depart unnoticed. It was a strange, wild +scene! The fire was on a bare, flat rock, which probably +had been yearly so employed ever since the Kelts had brought from +the East the rite that they had handed on to the +Swabians—the Beltane fire, whose like was blazing +everywhere in the Alps, in the Hartz, nay, even in England, +Scotland, and on the granite points of Ireland. Heaped up +for many previous days with faggots from the forest, then +apparently inexhaustible, the fire roared and crackled, and rose +high, red and smoky, into the air, paling the moon, and obscuring +the stars. Round it, completely hiding the bonfire itself, +were hosts of dark figures swarming to approach it—all with +a purpose. All held old shoes or superannuated garments in +their hands to feed the flame; for it was esteemed needful that +every villager should contribute something from his +house—once, no doubt, as an offering to Bel, but now as a +mere unmeaning observance. And shrieks of merriment +followed the contribution of each too well-known article of +rubbish that had been in reserve for the Needfire! Girls +and boys had nuts to throw in, in pairs, to judge by their +bounces of future chances of matrimony. Then came a +shouting, tittering, and falling back, as an old boor came +forward like a priest with something heavy and ghastly in his +arms, which was thrown on with a tremendous shout, darkened the +glow for a moment, then hissed, cracked, and emitted a horrible +odour.</p> +<p>It was a horse’s head, the right owner of which had been +carefully kept for the occasion, though long past work. +Christina shuddered, and felt as if she had fallen upon a Pagan +ceremony; as indeed was true enough, only that the Adlersteiners +attached no meaning to the performance, except a vague notion of +securing good luck.</p> +<p>With the same idea the faggots were pulled down, and arranged +so as to form a sort of lane of fire. Young men rushed +along it, and then bounded over the diminished pile, amid loud +shouts of laughter and either admiration or derision; and, in the +meantime, a variety of odd, recusant noises, grunts, squeaks, and +lowings proceeding from the darkness were explained to the +startled little bride by her husband to come from all the cattle +of the mountain farms around, who were to have their weal secured +by being driven through the Needfire.</p> +<p>It may well be imagined that the animals were less convinced +of the necessity of this performance than their masters. +Wonderful was the clatter and confusion, horrible the uproar +raised behind to make the poor things proceed at all, desperate +the shout when some half-frantic creature kicked or attempted a +charge wild the glee when a persecuted goat or sheep took heart +of grace, and flashed for one moment between the crackling, +flaring, smoking walls. When one cow or sheep off a farm +went, all the others were pretty sure to follow it, and the owner +had then only to be on the watch at the other end to turn them +back, with their flame-dazzled eyes, from going unawares down the +precipice, a fate from which the passing through the fire was +evidently not supposed to ensure them. The swine, those +special German delights, were of course the most refractory of +all. Some, by dint of being pulled away from the lane of +fire, were induced to rush through it; but about half-way they +generally made a bolt, either sidelong through the flaming fence +or backwards among the legs of their persecutors, who were upset +amid loud imprecations. One huge, old, lean, high-backed +sow, with a large family, truly feminine in her want of presence +of mind, actually charged into the midst of the bonfire itself, +scattering it to the right and left with her snout, and emitting +so horrible a smell of singed bacon, that it might almost be +feared that some of her progeny were anticipating the invention +of Chinese roasting-pigs. However, their proprietor, Jobst, +counted them out all safe on the other side, and there only +resulted some sighs and lamentations among the seniors, such as +Hatto and Ursel, that it boded ill to have the Needfire trodden +out by an old sow.</p> +<p>All the castle live-stock were undergoing the same +ceremony. Eberhard concerned himself little about the +vagaries of the sheep and pigs, and only laughed a little as the +great black goat, who had seen several Midsummer nights, and +stood on his guard, made a sudden short run and butted down old +Hatto, then skipped off like a chamois into the darkness, +unheeding, the old rogue, the whispers that connected his unlucky +hue with the doings of the Walpurgisnacht. But when it came +to the horses, Eberhard could not well endure the sight of the +endeavours to force them, snorting, rearing, and struggling, +through anything so abhorrent to them as the hedge of fire.</p> +<p>The Schneiderlein, with all the force of his powerful arm, had +hold of Eberhard’s own young white mare, who, with ears +turned back, nostrils dilated, and wild eyes, her fore-feet +firmly planted wide apart, was using her whole strength for +resistance; and, when a heavy blow fell on her, only plunged +backwards, and kicked without advancing. It was more than +Eberhard could endure, and Christina’s impulse was to +murmur, “O do not let him do it;” but this he +scarcely heard, as he exclaimed, “Wait for me here!” +and, as he stepped forward, sent his voice before him, forbidding +all blows to the mare.</p> +<p>The creature’s extreme terror ceased at once upon +hearing his voice, and there was an instant relaxation of all +violence of resistance as he came up to her, took her halter from +the Schneiderlein, patted her glossy neck, and spoke to +her. But the tumult of warning voices around him assured +him that it would be a fatal thing to spare the steed the passage +through the fire, and he strove by encouragements and caresses +with voice and hand to get her forward, leading her himself; but +the poor beast trembled so violently, and, though making a few +steps forward, stopped again in such exceeding horror of the +flame, that Eberhard had not the heart to compel her, turned her +head away, and assured her that she should not be further +tormented.</p> +<p>“The gracious lordship is wrong,” said public +opinion, by the voice of old Bauer Ulrich, the sacrificer of the +horse’s head. “Heaven forfend that evil befall +him and that mare in the course of the year.”</p> +<p>And the buzz of voices concurred in telling of the recusant +pigs who had never developed into sausages, the sheep who had +only escaped to be eaten by wolves, the mule whose bones had been +found at the bottom of an abyss.</p> +<p>Old Ursel was seriously concerned, and would have laid hold on +her young master to remonstrate, but a fresh notion had +arisen—Would the gracious Freiherr set a-rolling the wheel, +which was already being lighted in the fire, and was to conclude +the festivities by being propelled down the hill—figuring, +only that no one present knew it, the sun’s declension from +his solstitial height? Eberhard made no objection; and +Christina, in her shelter by the cave, felt no little dismay at +being left alone there, and moreover had a strange, weird feeling +at the wild, uncanny ceremony he was engaged in, not knowing +indeed that it was sun-worship, but afraid that it could be no +other than unholy sorcery.</p> +<p>The wheel, flaring or reddening in all its spokes, was raised +from the bonfire, and was driven down the smoothest piece of +green sward, which formed an inclined plane towards the +stream. If its course was smooth, and it only became +extinguished by leaping into the water, the village would +flourish; and prosperity above all was expected if it should +spring over the narrow channel, and attempt to run up the other +side. Such things had happened in the days of the good +Freiherren Ebbo and Friedel, though the wheel had never gone +right since the present baron had been excommunicated; but his +heir having been twice seen at mass in this last month great +hopes were founded upon him.</p> +<p>There was a shout to clear the slope. Eberhard, in great +earnest and some anxiety, accepted the gauntlet that he was +offered to protect his hand, steadied the wheel therewith, and, +with a vigorous impulse from hand and foot, sent it bounding down +the slope, among loud cries and a general scattering of the +idlers who had crowded full into the very path of the fiery +circle, which flamed up brilliantly for the moment as it met the +current of air. But either there was an obstacle in the +way, or the young Baron’s push had not been quite straight: +the wheel suddenly swerved aside, its course swerved to the +right, maugre all the objurgations addressed to it as if it had +been a living thing, and the next moment it had disappeared, all +but a smoky, smouldering spot of red, that told where it lay, +charring and smoking on its side, without having fulfilled a +quarter of its course.</p> +<p>People drew off gravely and silently, and Eberhard himself was +strangely discomfited when he came back to the hermitage, and, +wrapping Christina in his cloak, prepared to return, so soon as +the glare of the fire should have faded from his eyesight enough +to make it safe to tread so precipitous a path. He had +indeed this day made a dangerous venture, and both he and +Christina could not but feel disheartened by the issue of all the +omens of the year, the more because she had a vague sense of +wrong in consulting or trusting them. It seemed to her all +one frightened, uncomprehended dream ever since her father had +left her in the chapel; and, though conscious of her inability to +have prevented her marriage, yet she blamed herself, felt +despairing as she thought of the future, and, above all, dreaded +the Baron and the Baroness and their anger. Eberhard, after +his first few words, was silent, and seemed solely absorbed in +leading her safely along the rocky path, sometimes lifting her +when he thought her in danger of stumbling. It was one of +the lightest, shortest nights of the year, and a young moon added +to the brightness in open places, while in others it made the +rocks and stones cast strange elvish shadows. The distance +was not entirely lost; other Beltane fires could be seen, like +beacons, on every hill, and the few lights in the castle shone +out like red fiery eyes in its heavy dark pile of building.</p> +<p>Before entering, Eberhard paused, pulled off his own +wedding-ring, and put it into his bosom, and taking his +bride’s hand in his, did the same for her, and bade her +keep the ring till they could wear them openly.</p> +<p>“Alas! then,” said Christina, “you would +have this secret?”</p> +<p>“Unless I would have to seek thee down the oubliette, my +little one,” said Eberhard “or, what might even be +worse, see thee burnt on the hillside for bewitching me with +thine arts! No, indeed, my darling. Were it only my +father, I could make him love thee; but my mother—I could +not trust her where she thought the honour of our house +concerned. It shall not be for long. Thou +know’st we are to make peace with the Kaiser, and then will +I get me employment among Kürfurst Albrecht’s +companies of troops, and then shalt thou prank it as my Lady +Freiherrinn, and teach me the ways of cities.”</p> +<p>“Alas! I fear me it has been a great sin!” +sighed the poor little wife.</p> +<p>“For thee—thou couldst not help it,” said +Eberhard; “for me—who knows how many deadly ones it +may hinder? Cheer up, little one; no one can harm thee +while the secret is kept.”</p> +<p>Poor Christina had no choice but submission; but it was a +sorry bridal evening, to enter her husband’s home in +shrinking terror; with the threat of the oubliette before her, +and with a sense of shame and deception hanging upon her, making +the wonted scowl of the old baroness cut her both with remorse +and dread.</p> +<p>She did indeed sit beside her bridegroom at the supper, but +how little like a bride! even though he pushed the salt-cellar, +as if by accident, below her place. She thought of her +myrtle, tended in vain at home by Barbara Schmidt; she thought of +Ulm courtships, and how all ought to have been; the solemn +embassage to her uncle, the stately negotiations; the troth +plight before the circle of ceremonious kindred and merry +maidens, of whom she had often been one—the subsequent +attentions of the betrothed on all festival days, the piles of +linen and all plenishings accumulated since babyhood, and all +reviewed and laid out for general admiration (Ah! poor Aunt +Johanna still spinning away to add to the many webs in her walnut +presses!)—then the grand procession to fetch home the +bride, the splendid festival with the musicians, dishes, and +guest-tables to the utmost limit that was allowed by the city +laws, and the bride’s hair so joyously covered by her +matron’s curch amid the merriment of her companion +maidens.</p> +<p>Poor child! After she had crept away to her own room, +glad that her father was not yet returned, she wept bitterly over +the wrong that she felt she had done to the kind uncle and aunt, +who must now look in vain for their little Christina, and would +think her lost to them, and to all else that was good. At +least she had had the Church’s blessing—but that, +strange to say, was regarded, in burgher life before the +Reformation, as rather the ornament of a noble marriage than as +essential to the civil contract; and a marriage by a priest was +regarded by the citizens rather as a means of eluding the need of +obtaining the parent’s consent, than as a more regular and +devout manner of wedding. However, Christina felt this the +one drop of peace. The blessings and prayers were warm at +her heart, and gave her hope. And as to drops of joy, of +them there was no lack, for had not she now a right to love +Eberhard with all her heart and conscience, and was not it a +wonderful love on his part that had made him stoop to the little +white-faced burgher maid, despised even by her own father? +O better far to wear the maiden’s uncovered head for him +than the myrtle wreath for any one else!</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE SCHNEIDERLEIN’S +RETURN</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> poor little unowned bride had +more to undergo than her imagination had conceived at the first +moment.</p> +<p>When she heard that the marriage was to be a secret, she had +not understood that Eberhard was by no means disposed to observe +much more caution than mere silence. A rough, though kindly +man, he did not thoroughly comprehend the shame and confusion +that he was bringing upon her by departing from his former +demeanour. He knew that, so enormous was the distance then +supposed to exist between the noble and the burgher, there was no +chance of any one dreaming of the true state of the case, and +that as long as Christina was not taken for his wife, there was +no personal danger for her from his mother, who—so lax were +the morals of the German nobility with regard to all of inferior +rank—would tolerate her with complacency as his favourite +toy; and he was taken by surprise at the agony of grief and shame +with which she slowly comprehended his assurance that she had +nothing to fear.</p> +<p>There was no help for it. The oubliette would probably +be the portion of the low-born girl who had interfered with the +sixteen quarterings of the Adlerstein shield, and poor Christina +never stepped across its trap-door without a shudder lest it +should open beneath her. And her father would probably have +been hung from the highest tower, in spite of his shrewd care to +be aware of nothing. Christina consoled herself with the +hope that he knew all the time why he had been sent out of the +way, for, with a broad grin that had made her blush painfully, he +had said he knew she would be well taken care of, and that he +hoped she was not breaking her heart for want of an escort. +She tried to extort Eberhard’s permission to let him at +least know how it was; but Eberhard laughed, saying he believed +the old fox knew just as much as he chose; and, in effect, Sorel, +though now and then gratifying his daughter’s scruples, by +serving as a shield to her meetings with the young Baron, never +allowed himself to hear a hint of the true state of affairs.</p> +<p>Eberhard’s love and reverence were undiminished, and the +time spent with him would have been perfectly happy could she +ever have divested herself of anxiety and alarm; but the periods +of his absence from the castle were very terrible to her, for the +other women of the household, quick to perceive that she no +longer repelled him, had lost that awe that had hitherto kept +them at a distance from her, and treated her with a familiarity, +sometimes coarse, sometimes spiteful, always hateful and +degrading. Even old Ursel had become half-pitying, +half-patronizing; and the old Baroness, though not molesting her, +took not the slightest notice of her.</p> +<p>This state of things lasted much longer than there had been +reason to expect at the time of the marriage. The two +Freiherren then intended to set out in a very short time to make +their long talked-of submission to the Emperor at Ratisbon; but, +partly from their German tardiness of movement, partly from the +obstinate delays interposed by the proud old Freiherrinn, who was +as averse as ever to the measure, partly from reports that the +Court was not yet arrived at Ratisbon, the expedition was again +and again deferred, and did not actually take place till +September was far advanced.</p> +<p>Poor Christina would have given worlds to go with them, and +even entreated to be sent to Ulm with an avowal of her marriage +to her uncle and aunt, but of this Eberhard would not hear. +He said the Ulmers would thus gain an hostage, and hamper his +movements; and, if her wedding was not to be confessed—poor +child!—she could better bear to remain where she was than +to face Hausfrau Johanna. Eberhard was fully determined to +enrol himself in some troop, either Imperial, or, if not, among +the Free Companies, among whom men of rank were often found, and +he would then fetch or send for his wife and avow her openly, so +soon as she should be out of his mother’s reach. He +longed to leave her father at home, to be some protection to her, +but Hugh Sorel was so much the most intelligent and skilful of +the retainers as to be absolutely indispensable to the +party—he was their only scribe; and moreover his new suit +of buff rendered him a creditable member of a troop that had been +very hard to equip. It numbered about ten men-at-arms, only +three being left at home to garrison the castle—namely, +Hatto, who was too old to take; Hans, who had been hopelessly +lame and deformed since the old Baron had knocked him off a cliff +in a passion; and Squinting Mätz, a runaway servant, who had +murdered his master, the mayor of Strasburg, and might be caught +and put to death if any one recognized him. If needful the +villagers could always be called in to defend the castle: but of +this there was little or no danger—the Eagle’s Steps +were defence enough in themselves, and the party were not likely +to be absent more than a week or ten days—a grievous length +of time, poor Christina thought, as she stood straining her eyes +on the top of the watch-tower, to watch them as far as possible +along the plain. Her heart was very sad, and the omen of +the burning wheel so continually haunted her that even in her +sleep that night she saw its brief course repeated, beheld its +rapid fall and extinction, and then tracked the course of the +sparks that darted from it, one rising and gleaming high in air +till it shone like a star, another pursuing a fitful and +irregular, but still bright course amid the dry grass on the +hillside, just as she had indeed watched some of the sparks on +that night, minding her of the words of the Allhallow-tide +legend: “<i>Fulgebunt justi et tanquam scintillæ in +arundinete discurrent</i>”—a sentence which remained +with her when awake, and led her to seek it out in her Latin +Bible in the morning.</p> +<p>Reluctantly had she gone down to the noontide meal, feeling, +though her husband and father were far less of guardians than +they should have been, yet that there was absolute rest, peace, +and protection in their presence compared with what it was to be +alone with Freiherrinn Kunigunde and her rude women without +them. A few sneers on her daintiness and uselessness had +led her to make an offer of assisting in the grand chopping of +sausage meat and preparation of winter stores, and she had been +answered with contempt that my young lord would not have her soil +her delicate hands, when one of the maids who had been sent to +fetch beer from the cellar came back with startled looks, and the +exclamation, “There is the Schneiderlein riding up the +Eagle’s Ladder upon Freiherr Ebbo’s white +mare!”</p> +<p>All the women sprang up together, and rushed to the window, +whence they could indeed recognize both man and horse; and +presently it became plain that both were stained with blood, +weary, and spent; indeed, nothing but extreme exhaustion would +have induced the man-at-arms to trust the tired, stumbling horse +up such a perilous path.</p> +<p>Loud were the exclamations, “Ah! no good could come of +not leading that mare through the Johannisfeuer.”</p> +<p>“This shameful expedition! Only harm could +befall. This is thy doing, thou mincing +city-girl.”</p> +<p>“All was certain to go wrong when a pale mist widow came +into the place.”</p> +<p>The angry and dismayed cries all blended themselves in +confusion in the ears of the only silent woman present; the only +one that sounded distinctly on her brain was that of the last +speaker, “A pale, mist widow,” as, holding herself a +little in the rear of the struggling, jostling little mob of +women, who hardly made way even for their acknowledged lady, she +followed with failing limbs the universal rush to the entrance as +soon as man and horse had mounted the slope and were lost sight +of.</p> +<p>A few moments more, and the throng of expectants was at the +foot of the hall steps, just as the lanzknecht reached the arched +entrance. His comrade Hans took his bridle, and almost +lifted him from his horse; he reeled and stumbled as, pale, +battered, and bleeding, he tried to advance to Freiherinn +Kunigunde, and, in answer to her hasty interrogation, faltered +out, “Ill news, gracious lady. We have been set upon +by the accursed Schlangenwaldern, and I am the only living man +left.”</p> +<p>Christina scarce heard even these last words; senses and +powers alike failed her, and she sank back on the stone steps in +a deathlike swoon.</p> +<p>When she came to herself she was lying on her bed, Ursel and +Else, another of the women, busy over her, and Ursel’s +voice was saying, “Ah, she is coming round. Look up, +sweet lady, and fear not. You are our gracious Lady +Baroness.”</p> +<p>“Is he here? O, has he said so? O, let me +see him—Sir Eberhard,” faintly cried Christina with +sobbing breath.</p> +<p>“Ah, no, no,” said the old woman; “but see +here,” and she lifted up Christina’s powerless, +bloodless hand, and showed her the ring on the finger. Her +bosom had been evidently searched when her dress was loosened in +her swoon, and her ring found and put in its place. +“There, you can hold up your head with the best of them; he +took care of that—my dear young Freiherr, the boy that I +nursed,” and the old woman’s burst of tears brought +back the truth to Christina’s reviving senses.</p> +<p>“Oh, tell me,” she said, trying to raise herself, +“was it indeed so? O say it was not as he +said!”</p> +<p>“Ah, woe’s me, woe’s me, that it was even +so,” lamented Ursel; “but oh, be still, look not so +wild, dear lady. The dear, true-hearted young lord, he +spent his last breath in owning you for his true lady, and in +bidding us cherish you and our young baron that is to be. +And the gracious lady below—she owns you; there is no fear +of her now; so vex not yourself, dearest, most gracious +lady.”</p> +<p>Christina did not break out into the wailing and weeping that +the old nurse expected; she was still far too much stunned and +overwhelmed, and she entreated to be told all, lying still, but +gazing at Ursel with piteous bewildered eyes. Ursel and +Else helping one another out, tried to tell her, but they were +much confused; all they knew was that the party had been +surprised at night in a village hostel by the Schlangenwaldern, +and all slain, though the young Baron had lived long enough to +charge the Schneiderlein with his commendation of his wife to his +mother; but all particulars had been lost in the general +confusion.</p> +<p>“Oh, let me see the Schneiderlein,” implored +Christina, by this time able to rise and cross the room to the +large carved chair; and Ursel immediately turned to her +underling, saying, “Tell the Schneiderlein that the +gracious Lady Baroness desires his presence.”</p> +<p>Else’s wooden shoes clattered down stairs, but the next +moment she returned. “He cannot come; he is quite +spent, and he will let no one touch his arm till Ursel can come, +not even to get off his doublet.”</p> +<p>“I will go to him,” said Christina, and, revived +by the sense of being wanted, she moved at once to the turret, +where she kept some rag and some ointment, which she had found +needful in the latter stages of Ermentrude’s +illness—indeed, household surgery was a part of regular +female education, and Christina had had plenty of practice in +helping her charitable aunt, so that the superiority of her skill +to that of Ursel had long been avowed in the castle. Ursel +made no objection further than to look for something that could +be at once converted into a widow’s veil—being in the +midst of her grief quite alive to the need that no matronly badge +should be omitted—but nothing came to hand in time, and +Christina was descending the stairs, on her way to the kitchen, +where she found the fugitive man-at-arms seated on a rough +settle, his head and wounded arm resting on the table, while +groans of pain, weariness, and impatience were interspersed with +imprecations on the stupid awkward girls who surrounded him.</p> +<p>Pity and the instinct of affording relief must needs take the +precedence even of the desire to hear of her husband’s +fate; and, as the girls hastily whispered, “Here she +is,” and the lanzknecht hastily tried to gather himself up, +and rise with tokens of respect; she bade him remain still, and +let her see what she could do for him. In fact, she at once +perceived that he was in no condition to give a coherent account +of anything, he was so completely worn out, and in so much +suffering. She bade at once that some water should be +heated, and some of the broth of the dinner set on the fire; then +with the shears at her girdle, and her soft, light fingers, she +removed the torn strip of cloth that had been wound round the +arm, and cut away the sleeve, showing the arm not broken, but +gashed at the shoulder, and thence the whole length grazed and +wounded by the descent of the sword down to the wrist. So +tender was her touch, that he scarcely winced or moaned under her +hand; and, when she proceeded, with Ursel’s help, to bathe +the wound with the warm water, the relief was such that the +wearied man absolutely slumbered during the process, which +Christina protracted on that very account. She then dressed +and bandaged the arm, and proceeded to skim—as no one else +in the castle would do—the basin of soup, with which she +then fed her patient as he leant back in the corner of the +settle, at first in the same somnolent, half-conscious state in +which he had been ever since the relief from the severe pain; but +after a few spoonfuls the light and life came back to his eye, +and he broke out, “Thanks, thanks, gracious lady! +This is the Lady Baroness for me! My young lord was the +only wise man! Thanks, lady; now am I my own man +again. It had been long ere the old Freiherrinn had done so +much for me! I am your man, lady, for life or +death!” And, before she knew what he was about, the +gigantic Schneiderlein had slid down on his knees, seized her +hand, and kissed it—the first act of homage to her rank, +but most startling and distressing to her. +“Nay,” she faltered, “prithee do not; thou must +rest. Only if—if thou canst only tell me if he, my +own dear lord, sent me any greeting, I would wait to hear the +rest till thou hast slept.”</p> +<p>“Ah! the dog of Schlangenwald!” was the first +answer; then, as he continued, “You see, lady, we had +ridden merrily as far as Jacob Müller’s hostel, the +traitor,” it became plain that he meant to begin at the +beginning. She allowed Ursel to seat her on the bench +opposite to his settle, and, leaning forward, heard his narrative +like one in a dream. There, the Schneiderlein proceeded to +say, they put up for the night, entirely unsuspicious of evil; +Jacob Müller, who was known to himself, as well as to Sorel +and to the others, assuring them that the way was clear to +Ratisbon, and that he heard the Emperor was most favourably +disposed to any noble who would tender his allegiance. +Jacob’s liquors were brought out, and were still in course +of being enjoyed, when the house was suddenly surrounded by an +overpowering number of the retainers of Schlangenwald, with their +Count himself at their head. He had been evidently resolved +to prevent the timely submission of the enemies of his race, and +suddenly presenting himself before the elder Baron, had +challenged him to instantaneous battle, claiming credit to +himself for not having surprised them when asleep. The +disadvantage had been scarcely less than if this had been the +case, for the Adlersteinern were all half-intoxicated, and far +inferior in numbers—at least, on the showing of the +Schneiderlein—and a desperate fight had ended by his being +flung aside in a corner, bound fast by the ankles and wrists, the +only living prisoner, except his young lord, who, having several +terrible wounds, the worst in his chest, was left unbound.</p> +<p>Both lay helpless, untended, and silent, while the revel that +had been so fatal to them was renewed by their captors, who +finally all sunk into a heavy sleep. The torches were not +all spent, and the moonlight shone into the room, when the +Schneiderlein, desperate from the agony caused by the ligature +round his wounded arm, sat up and looked about him. A knife +thrown aside by one of the drunkards lay near enough to be +grasped by his bound hands, and he had just reached it when Sir +Eberhard made a sign to him to put it into his hand, and +therewith contrived to cut the rope round both hands and +feet—then pointed to the door.</p> +<p>There was nothing to hinder an escape; the men slept the sleep +of the drunken; but the Schneiderlein, with the rough fidelity of +a retainer, would have lingered with a hope of saving his +master. But Eberhard shook his head, and signed again to +escape; then, making him bend down close to him, he used all his +remaining power to whisper, as he pressed his sword into the +retainer’s hand,—</p> +<p>“Go home; tell my mother—all the world—that +Christina Sorel is my wife, wedded on the Friedmund Wake by Friar +Peter of Offingen, and if she should bear a child, he is my true +and lawful heir. My sword for him—my love to +her. And if my mother would not be haunted by me, let her +take care of her.”</p> +<p>These words were spoken with extreme difficulty, for the +nature of the wound made utterance nearly impossible, and each +broken sentence cost a terrible effusion of blood. The +final words brought on so choking and fatal a gush that, said the +Schneiderlein, “he fell back as I tried to hold him up, and +I saw that it was all at an end, and a kind and friendly master +and lord gone from me. I laid him down, and put his cross +on his breast that I had seen him kissing many a time that +evening; and I crossed his hands, and wiped the blood from them +and his face. And, lady, he had put on his ring; I trust +the robber caitiff’s may have left it to him in his +grave. And so I came forth, walking soft, and opening the +door in no small dread, not of the snoring swine, but of the dogs +without. But happily they were still, and even by the door +I saw all our poor fellows stark and stiff.”</p> +<p>“My father?” asked Christina.</p> +<p>“Ay! with his head cleft open by the Graf himself. +He died like a true soldier, lady, and we have lost the best head +among us in him. Well, the knave that should have watched +the horses was as drunken as the rest of them, and I made a shift +to put the bridle on the white mare and ride off.”</p> +<p>Such was the narrative of the Schneiderlein, and all that was +left to Christina was the picture of her husband’s dying +effort to guard her, and the haunting fancy of those long hours +of speechless agony on the floor of the hostel, and how direful +must have been his fears for her. Sad and overcome, yet not +sinking entirely while any work of comfort remained, her heart +yearned over her companion in misfortune, the mother who had lost +both husband and son; and all her fears of the dread Freiherrinn +could not prevent her from bending her steps, trembling and +palpitating as she was, towards the hall, to try whether the +daughter-in-law’s right might be vouchsafed to her, of +weeping with the elder sufferer.</p> +<p>The Freiherrinn sat by the chimney, rocking herself to and +fro, and holding consultation with Hatto. She started as +she saw Christina approaching, and made a gesture of repulsion; +but, with the feeling of being past all terror in this desolate +moment, Christina stepped nearer, knelt, and, clasping her hands, +said, “Your pardon, lady.”</p> +<p>“Pardon!” returned the harsh voice, even harsher +for very grief, “thou hast naught to fear, girl. As +things stand, thou canst not have thy deserts. Dost +hear?”</p> +<p>“Ah, lady, it was not such pardon that I meant. If +you would let me be a daughter to you.”</p> +<p>“A daughter! A wood-carver’s girl to be a +daughter of Adlerstein!” half laughed the grim +Baroness. “Come here, wench,” and Christina +underwent a series of sharp searching questions on the evidences +of her marriage.</p> +<p>“So,” ended the old lady, “since better may +not be, we must own thee for the nonce. Hark ye all, this +is the Frau Freiherrinn, Freiherr Eberhard’s widow, to be +honoured as such,” she added, raising her voice. +“There, girl, thou hast what thou didst strive for. +Is not that enough?”</p> +<p>“Alas! lady,” said Christina, her eyes swimming in +tears, “I would fain have striven to be a comforter, or to +weep together.”</p> +<p>“What! to bewitch me as thou didst my poor son and +daughter, and well-nigh my lord himself! Girl! +Girl! Thou know’st I cannot burn thee now; but away +with thee; try not my patience too far.”</p> +<p>And, more desolate than ever, the crushed and broken-hearted +Christina, a widow before she had been owned a wife, returned to +the room that was now so full of memories as to be even more home +than Master Gottfried’s gallery at Ulm.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PASSING THE OUBLIETTE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Who</span> can describe the dreariness of +being snowed-up all the winter with such a mother-in-law as +Freiherrinn Kunigunde?</p> +<p>Yet it was well that the snow came early, for it was the best +defence of the lonely castle from any attack on the part of the +Schlangenwaldern, the Swabian League, or the next heir, Freiherr +Kasimir von Adlerstein Wildschloss. The elder Baroness had, +at least, the merit of a stout heart, and, even with her +sadly-reduced garrison, feared none of them. She had been +brought up in the faith that Adlerstein was impregnable, and so +she still believed; and, if the disaster that had cut off her +husband and son was to happen at all, she was glad that it had +befallen before the homage had been paid. Probably the +Schlangenwald Count knew how tough a morsel the castle was like +to prove, and Wildschloss was serving at a distance, for nothing +was heard of either during the short interval while the roads +were still open. During this time an attempt had been made +through Father Norbert to ascertain what had become of the +corpses of the two Barons and their followers, and it had +appeared that the Count had carried them all off from the inn, no +doubt to adorn his castle with their limbs, or to present them to +the Emperor in evidence of his zeal for order. The old +Baron could not indeed have been buried in consecrated ground, +nor have masses said for him; but for the weal of her son’s +soul Dame Kunigunde gave some of her few ornaments, and Christina +added her gold earrings, and all her scanty purse, that both her +husband and father might be joined in the prayers of the +Church—trying with all her might to put confidence in Hugh +Sorel’s Loretto relic, and the Indulgence he had bought, +and trusting with more consolatory thoughts to the ever stronger +dawnings of good she had watched in her own Eberhard.</p> +<p>She had some consoling intercourse with the priest while all +this was pending; but throughout the winter she was entirely cut +off from every creature save the inmates of the castle, where, as +far as the old lady was concerned, she only existed on +sufferance, and all her meekness and gentleness could not win for +her more than the barest toleration.</p> +<p>That Eberhard had for a few hours survived his father, and +that thus the Freiherrinn Christina was as much the Dowager +Baroness as Kunigunde herself, was often insisted on in the +kitchen by Ursel, Hatto, and the Schneiderlein, whom Christina +had unconsciously rendered her most devoted servant, not only by +her daily care of his wound, but by her kind courteous words, and +by her giving him his proper name of Heinz, dropping the absurd +<i>nom de guerre</i> of the Schneiderlein, or little tailor, +which had been originally conferred on him in allusion to the +valiant Tailorling who boasted of having killed seven flies at a +blow, and had been carried on chiefly because of the +contradiction between such a title and his huge brawny strength +and fierce courage. Poor Eberhard, with his undaunted +bravery and free reckless good-nature, a ruffian far more by +education than by nature, had been much loved by his +followers. His widow would have reaped the benefit of that +affection even if her exceeding sweetness had not gained it on +her own account; and this giant was completely gained over to +her, when, amid all her sorrow and feebleness, she never failed +to minister to his sufferings to the utmost, while her questions +about his original home, and revival of the name of his +childhood, softened him, and awoke in him better feelings. +He would have died to serve her, and she might have headed an +opposition party in the castle, had she not been quite +indifferent to all save her grief; and, except by sitting above +the salt at the empty table, she laid no claim to any honours or +authority, and was more seldom than ever seen beyond what was now +called her own room.</p> +<p>At last, when for the second time she was seeing the snow +wreaths dwindle, and the drops shine forth in moisture again, +while the mountain paths were set free by the might of the +springtide sun, she spoke almost for the first time with +authority, as she desired Heinz to saddle her mule, and escort +her to join in the Easter mass at the Blessed Friedmund’s +Chapel. Ursel heaped up objections; but so urgent was +Christina for confession and for mass, that the old woman had not +the heart to stop her by a warning to the elder Baroness, and +took the alternative of accompanying her. It was a glorious +sparkling Easter Day, lovely blue sky above, herbage and flowers +glistening below, snow dazzling in the hollows, peasants +assembling in holiday garb, and all rejoicing. Even the +lonely widow, in her heavy veil and black mufflings, took hope +back to her heart, and smiled when at the church door a little +child came timidly up to her with a madder-tinted Easter +egg—a gift once again like the happy home customs of +Ulm. She gave the child a kiss—she had nothing else +to give, but the sweet face sent it away strangely glad.</p> +<p>The festival mass in all its exultation was not fully over, +when anxious faces began to be seen at the door, and whisperings +went round and many passed out. Nobody at Adlerstein was +particular about silence in church, and, when the service was not +in progress, voices were not even lowered, and, after many +attempts on the part of the Schneiderlein to attract the +attention of his mistress, his voice immediately succeeded the +<i>Ite missa est</i>, “Gracious lady, we must begone. +Your mule is ready. There is a party at the Debateable +Ford, whether Schlangenwald or Wildschloss we know not yet, but +either way you must be the first thing placed in +safety.”</p> +<p>Christina turned deadly pale. She had long been ready to +welcome death as a peaceful friend; but, sheltered as her +girlhood had been in the quiet city, she had never been brought +in contact with warfare, and her nervous, timid temperament made +the thought most appalling and frightful to her, certain as she +was that the old Baroness would resist to the uttermost. +Father Norbert saw her extreme terror, and, with the thought that +he might comfort and support her, perhaps mediate between the +contending parties, plead that it was holy-tide, and proclaim the +peace of the church, or at the worst protect the lady herself, he +offered his company; but, though she thanked him, it was as if +she scarcely understood his kindness, and a shudder passed over +her whenever the serfs, hastily summoned to augment the garrison, +came hurrying down the path, or turned aside into the more rugged +and shorter descents. It was strange, the good father +thought, that so timorous and fragile a being should have her lot +cast amid these rugged places and scenes of violence, with no one +to give her the care and cherishing she so much required.</p> +<p>Even when she crept up the castle stairs, she was met with an +angry rebuke, not so much for the peril she had incurred as for +having taken away the Schneiderlein, by far the most availing +among the scanty remnant of the retainers of Adlerstein. +Attempting no answer, and not even daring to ask from what +quarter came the alarm, Christina made her way out of the turmoil +to that chamber of her own, the scene of so much fear and sorrow, +and yet of some share of peace and happiness. But from the +window, near the fast subsiding waters of the Debateable Ford, +could plainly be seen the small troop of warriors, of whom Jobst +the Kohler had brought immediate intelligence. The sun +glistened on their armour, and a banner floated gaily on the +wind; but they were a fearful sight to the inmates of the lonely +castle.</p> +<p>A stout heart was however Kunigunde’s best endowment; +and, with the steadiness and precision of a general, her commands +rang out, as she arranged and armed her garrison, perfectly +resolved against any submission, and confident in the strength of +her castle; nay, not without a hope of revenge either against +Schlangenwald or Wildschloss, whom, as a degenerate Adlerstein, +she hated only less than the slayer of her husband and son.</p> +<p>The afternoon of Easter Day however passed away without any +movement on the part of the enemy, and it was not till the +following day that they could be seen struggling through the +ford, and preparing to ascend the mountain. Attacks had +sometimes been disconcerted by posting men in the most dangerous +passes; but, in the lack of numbers, and of trustworthy +commanders, the Freiherrinn had judged it wiser to trust entirely +to her walls, and keep her whole force within them.</p> +<p>The new comers could hardly have had any hostile intentions, +for, though well armed and accoutred, their numbers did not +exceed twenty-five. The banner borne at their head was an +azure one, with a white eagle, and their leader could be observed +looking with amazement at the top of the watch-tower, where the +same eagle had that morning been hoisted for the first time since +the fall of the two Freiherren.</p> +<p>So soon as the ascent had been made, the leader wound his +horn, and, before the echoes had died away among the hills, +Hatto, acting as seneschal, was demanding his purpose.</p> +<p>“I am Kasimir von Adlerstein Wildschloss,” was the +reply. “I have hitherto been hindered by stress of +weather from coming to take possession of my inheritance. +Admit me, that I may arrange with the widowed Frau Freiherrinn as +to her dower and residence.”</p> +<p>“The widowed Frau Freiherrinn, born of +Adlerstein,” returned Hatto, “thanks the Freiherr von +Adlerstein Wildschloss; but she holds the castle as guardian to +the present head of the family, the Freiherr von +Adlerstein.”</p> +<p>“It is false, old man,” exclaimed the Wildschloss; +“the Freiherr had no other son.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hatto, “but Freiherr Eberhard +hath left us twin heirs, our young lords, for whom we hold this +castle.”</p> +<p>“This trifling will not serve!” sternly spoke the +knight. “Eberhard von Adlerstein died +unmarried.”</p> +<p>“Not so,” returned Hatto, “our gracious Frau +Freiherrinn, the younger, was wedded to him at the last Friedmund +Wake, by the special blessing of our good patron, who would not +see our house extinct.”</p> +<p>“I must see thy lady, old man,” said Sir Kasimir, +impatiently, not in the least crediting the story, and believing +his cousin Kunigunde quite capable of any measure that could +preserve to her the rule in Schloss Adlerstein, even to erecting +some passing love affair of her son’s into a +marriage. And he hardly did her injustice, for she had +never made any inquiry beyond the castle into the validity of +Christina’s espousals, nor sought after the friar who had +performed the ceremony. She consented to an interview with +the claimant of the inheritance, and descended to the gateway for +the purpose. The court was at its cleanest, the thawing +snow having newly washed away its impurities, and her proud +figure, under her black hood and veil, made an imposing +appearance as she stood tall and defiant in the archway.</p> +<p>Sir Kasimir was a handsome man of about thirty, of partly +Polish descent, and endowed with Slavonic grace and courtesy, and +he had likewise been employed in negotiations with Burgundy, and +had acquired much polish and knowledge of the world.</p> +<p>“Lady,” he said, “I regret to disturb and +intrude on a mourning family, but I am much amazed at the tidings +I have heard; and I must pray of you to confirm them.”</p> +<p>“I thought they would confound you,” composedly +replied Kunigunde.</p> +<p>“And pardon me, lady, but the Diet is very nice in +requiring full proofs. I would be glad to learn what lady +was chosen by my deceased cousin Eberhard.”</p> +<p>“The lady is Christina, daughter of his esquire, Hugh +Sorel, of an honourable family at Ulm.”</p> +<p>“Ha! I know who and what Sorel was!” +exclaimed Wildschloss. “Lady cousin, thou wouldst not +stain the shield of Adlerstein with owning aught that cannot bear +the examination of the Diet!”</p> +<p>“Sir Kasimir,” said Kunigunde proudly, “had +I known the truth ere my son’s death, I had strangled the +girl with mine own hands! But I learnt it only by his dying +confession; and, had she been a beggar’s child, she was his +wedded wife, and her babes are his lawful heirs.”</p> +<p>“Knowest thou time—place—witnesses?” +inquired Sir Kasimir.</p> +<p>“The time, the Friedmund Wake; the place, the Friedmund +Chapel,” replied the Baroness. “Come hither, +Schneiderlein. Tell the knight thy young lord’s +confession.”</p> +<p>He bore emphatic testimony to poor Eberhard’s last +words; but as to the point of who had performed the ceremony, he +knew not,—his mind had not retained the name.</p> +<p>“I must see the Frau herself,” said Wildschloss, +feeling certain that such a being as he expected in a daughter of +the dissolute lanzknecht Sorel would soon, by dexterous +questioning, be made to expose the futility of her pretensions so +flagrantly that even Kunigunde could not attempt to maintain +them.</p> +<p>For one moment Kunigunde hesitated, but suddenly a look of +malignant satisfaction crossed her face. She spoke a few +words to Squinting Mätz, and then replied that Sir Kasimir +should be allowed to satisfy himself, but that she could admit no +one else into the castle; hers was a widow’s household, the +twins were only a few hours old, and she could not open her gates +to admit any person besides himself.</p> +<p>So resolved on judging for himself was Adlerstein Wildschloss +that all this did not stagger him; for, even if he had believed +more than he did of the old lady’s story, there would have +been no sense of intrusion or impropriety in such a visit to the +mother. Indeed, had Christina been living in the civilized +world, her chamber would have been hung with black cloth, black +velvet would have enveloped her up to the eyes, and the blackest +of cradles would have stood ready for her fatherless babe; two +steps, in honour of her baronial rank, would have led to her bed, +and a beaufet with the due baronial amount of gold and silver +plate would have held the comfits and caudle to be dispensed to +all visitors. As it was, the two steps built into the floor +of the room, and the black hood that Ursel tied over her young +mistress’s head, were the only traces that such etiquette +had ever been heard of.</p> +<p>But when Baron Kasimir had clanked up the turret stairs, each +step bringing to her many a memory of him who should have been +there, and when he had been led to the bedside, he was completely +taken by surprise.</p> +<p>Instead of the great, flat-faced, coarse comeliness of a +German wench, treated as a lady in order to deceive him, he saw a +delicate, lily-like face, white as ivory, and the soft, sweet +brown eyes under their drooping lashes, so full of innocence and +sad though thankful content, that he felt as if the inquiries he +came to make were almost sacrilege.</p> +<p>He had seen enough of the world to know that no agent in a +clumsy imposition would look like this pure white creature, with +her arm encircling the two little swaddled babes, whose red faces +and bald heads alone were allowed to appear above their +mummy-like wrappings; and he could only make an obeisance lower +and infinitely more respectful than that with which he had +favoured the Baroness <i>née</i> von Adlerstein, with a +few words of inquiry and apology.</p> +<p>But Christina had her sons’ rights to defend now, and +she had far more spirit to do so than ever she had had in +securing her own position, and a delicate rose tint came into her +cheek as she said in her soft voice, “The Baroness tells +me, that you, noble sir, would learn who wedded me to my dear and +blessed lord, Sir Eberhard. It was Friar Peter of the +Franciscan brotherhood of Offingen, an agent for selling +indulgences. Two of his lay brethren were present. My +dear lord gave his own name and mine in full after the holy rite; +the friar promising his testimony if it were needed. He is +to be found, or at least heard of, at his own cloister; and the +hermit at the chapel likewise beheld a part of the +ceremony.”</p> +<p>“Enough, enough, lady,” replied Sir Kasimir; +“forgive me for having forced the question upon +you.”</p> +<p>“Nay,” replied Christina, with her blush +deepening, “it is but just and due to us all;” and +her soft eyes had a gleam of exultation, as she looked at the two +little mummies that made up the <i>us</i>—“I would +have all inquiries made in full.”</p> +<p>“They shall be made, lady, as will be needful for the +establishment of your son’s right as a free Baron of the +empire, but not with any doubt on my part, or desire to +controvert that right. I am fully convinced, and only wish +to serve you and my little cousins. Which of them is the +head of our family?” he added, looking at the two +absolutely undistinguishable little chrysalises, so exactly alike +that Christina herself was obliged to look for the black ribbon, +on which a medal had been hung, round the neck of the +elder. Sir Kasimir put one knee to the ground as he kissed +the red cheek of the infant and the white hand of the mother.</p> +<p>“Lady cousin,” he said to Kunigunde, who had stood +by all this time with an anxious, uneasy, scowling expression on +her face, “I am satisfied. I own this babe as the +true Freiherr von Adlerstein, and far be it from me to trouble +his heritage. Rather point out the way in which I may serve +you and him. Shall I represent all to the Emperor, and +obtain his wardship, so as to be able to protect you from any +attacks by the enemies of the house?”</p> +<p>“Thanks, sir,” returned the elder lady, severely, +seeing Christina’s gratified, imploring face. +“The right line of Adlerstein can take care of itself +without greedy guardians appointed by usurpers. Our +submission has never been made, and the Emperor cannot dispose of +our wardship.”</p> +<p>And Kunigunde looked defiant, regarding herself and her +grandson as quite as good as the Emperor, and ready to blast her +daughter-in-law with her eyes for murmuring gratefully and +wistfully, “Thanks, noble sir, thanks!”</p> +<p>“Let me at least win a friendly right in my young +cousins,” said Sir Kasimir, the more drawn by pitying +admiration towards their mother, as he perceived more of the +grandmother’s haughty repulsiveness and want of +comprehension of the dangers of her position. “They +are not baptized? Let me become their godfather.”</p> +<p>Christina’s face was all joy and gratitude, and even the +grandmother made no objection; in fact, it was the babes’ +only chance of a noble sponsor; and Father Norbert, who had +already been making ready for the baptism, was sent for from the +hall. Kunigunde, meantime, moved about restlessly, went +half-way down the stairs, and held council with some one there; +Ursel likewise, bustled about, and Sir Kasimir remained seated on +the chair that had been placed for him near Christina’s +bed.</p> +<p>She was able again to thank him, and add, “It may be +that you will have more cause than the lady grandmother thinks to +remember your offer of protection to my poor orphans. Their +father and grandfather were, in very deed, on their way to make +submission.”</p> +<p>“That is well known to me,” said Sir +Kasimir. “Lady, I will do all in my power for +you. The Emperor shall hear the state of things; and, while +no violence is offered to travellers,” he added, lowering +his tone, “I doubt not he will wait for full submission +till this young Baron be of age to tender it.”</p> +<p>“We are scarce in force to offer violence,” said +Christina sighing. “I have no power to withstand the +Lady Baroness. I am like a stranger here; but, oh! sir, if +the Emperor and Diet will be patient and forbearing with this +desolate house, my babes, if they live, shall strive to requite +their mercy by loyalty. And the blessing of the widow and +fatherless will fall on you, most generous knight,” she +added, fervently, holding out her hand.</p> +<p>“I would I could do more for you,” said the +knight. “Ask, and all I can do is at your +service.”</p> +<p>“Ah, sir,” cried Christina, her eyes brightening, +“there is one most inestimable service you could render +me—to let my uncle, Master Gottfried, the wood-carver of +Ulm, know where I am, and of my state, and of my +children.”</p> +<p>Sir Kasimir repeated the name.</p> +<p>“Yes,” she said. “There was my home, +there was I brought up by my dear uncle and aunt, till my father +bore me away to attend on the young lady here. It is +eighteen months since they had any tidings from her who was as a +daughter to them.”</p> +<p>“I will see them myself,” said Kasimir; “I +know the name. Carved not Master Gottfried the stall-work +at Augsburg?”</p> +<p>“Yes, indeed! In chestnut leaves! And the +Misereres all with fairy tales!” exclaimed Christina. +“Oh, sir, thanks indeed! Bear to the dear, dear uncle +and aunt their child’s duteous greetings, and tell them she +loves them with all her heart, and prays them to forgive her, and +to pray for her and her little ones! And,” she added, +“my uncle may not have learnt how his brother, my father, +died by his lord’s side. Oh! pray him, if ever he +loved his little Christina, to have masses sung for my father and +my own dear lord.”</p> +<p>As she promised, Ursel came to make the babes ready for their +baptism, and Sir Kasimir moved away towards the window. +Ursel was looking uneasy and dismayed, and, as she bent over her +mistress, she whispered, “Lady, the Schneiderlein sends you +word that Mätz has called him to help in removing the props +of the door you wot of when <i>he</i> yonder steps across +it. He would know if it be your will?”</p> +<p>“The oubliette!” This was Frau +Kunigunde’s usage of the relative who was doing his best +for the welfare of her grandsons! Christina’s whole +countenance looked so frozen with horror, that Ursel felt as if +she had killed her on the spot; but the next moment a flash of +relief came over the pale features, and the trembling lip +commanded itself to say, “My best thanks to good +Heinz. Say to him that I forbid it. If he loves the +life of his master’s children, he will abstain! Tell +him so. My blessings on him if this knight leave the castle +safe, Ursel.” And her terrified earnest eyes impelled Ursel +to hasten to do her bidding; but whether it had been executed, +there was no knowing, for almost immediately the Freiherrinn and +Father Norbert entered, and Ursel returned with them. Nay, +the message given, who could tell if Heinz would be able to act +upon it? In the ordinary condition of the castle, he was +indeed its most efficient inmate; Mätz did not approach him +in strength, Hans was a cripple, Hatto would be on the right +side; but Jobst the Kohler, and the other serfs who had been +called in for the defence, were more likely to hold with the +elder than the younger lady. And Frau Kunigunde herself, +knowing well that the five-and-twenty men outside would be +incompetent to avenge their master, confident in her +narrow-minded, ignorant pride that no one could take Schloss +Adlerstein, and incapable of understanding the changes in society +that were rendering her isolated condition untenable, was certain +to scout any representation of the dire consequences that the +crime would entail. Kasimir had no near kindred, and +private revenge was the only justice the Baroness believed in; +she only saw in her crime the satisfaction of an old feud, and +the union of the Wildschloss property with the parent stem.</p> +<p>Seldom could such a christening have taken place as that of +which Christina’s bed-room was the scene—the mother +scarcely able even to think of the holy sacrament for the horror +of knowing that the one sponsor was already exulting in the +speedy destruction of the other; and, poor little feeble thing, +rallying the last remnants of her severely-tried powers to +prevent the crime at the most terrible of risks.</p> +<p>The elder babe received from his grandmother the hereditary +name of Eberhard, but Sir Kasimir looked at the mother +inquiringly, ere he gave the other to the priest. Christina +had well-nigh said, “Oubliette,” but, recalling +herself in time, she feebly uttered the name she had longed after +from the moment she had known that two sons had been her Easter +gift, “Gottfried,” after her beloved uncle. But +Kunigunde caught the sound, and exclaimed, “No son of +Adlerstein shall bear abase craftsman’s name. Call +him Rächer (the avenger);” and in the word there +already rang a note of victory and revenge that made +Christina’s blood run cold. Sir Kasimir marked her +trouble. “The lady mother loves not the sound,” +he said, kindly. “Lady, have you any other +wish? Then will I call him Friedmund.”</p> +<p>Christina had almost smiled. To her the omen was of the +best. Baron Friedmund had been the last common ancestor of +the two branches of the family, the patron saint was so called, +his wake was her wedding-day, the sound of the word imported +peace, and the good Barons Ebbo and Friedel had ever been linked +together lovingly by popular memory. And so the second +little Baron received the name of Friedmund, and then the knight +of Wildschloss, perceiving, with consideration rare in a warrior, +that the mother looked worn out and feverish, at once prepared to +kiss her hand and take leave.</p> +<p>“One more favour, Sir Knight,” she said, lifting +up her head, while a burning spot rose on either cheek. +“I beg of you to take my two babes down—yes, both, +both, in your own arms, and show them to your men, owning them as +your kinsmen and godsons.”</p> +<p>Sir Kasimir looked exceedingly amazed, as if he thought the +lady’s senses taking leave of her, and Dame Kunigunde broke +out into declarations that it was absurd, and she did not know +what she was talking of; but she repeated almost with passion, +“Take them, take them, you know not how much depends on +it.” Ursel, with unusual readiness of wit, signed and +whispered that the young mother must be humoured, for fear of +consequences; till the knight, in a good-natured, confused way, +submitted to receive the two little bundles in his arms, while he +gave place to Kunigunde, who hastily stepped before him in a +manner that made Christina trust that her precaution would be +effectual.</p> +<p>The room was reeling round with her. The agony of those +few minutes was beyond all things unspeakable. What had +seemed just before like a certain way of saving the guest without +real danger to her children, now appeared instead the most +certain destruction to all, and herself the unnatural mother who +had doomed her new-born babes for a stranger’s sake. +She could not even pray; she would have shrieked to have them +brought back, but her voice was dead within her, her tongue clave +to the roof of her mouth, ringings in her ears hindered her even +from listening to the descending steps. She lay as one +dead, when ten minutes afterwards the cry of one of her babes +struck on her ear, and the next moment Ursel stood beside her, +laying them down close to her, and saying exultingly, +“Safe! safe out at the gate, and down the hillside, and my +old lady ready to gnaw off her hands for spite!”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE EAGLETS</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Christina’s</span> mental and bodily +constitution had much similarity—apparently most delicate, +tender, and timid, yet capable of a vigour, health, and endurance +that withstood shocks that might have been fatal to many +apparently stronger persons. The events of that frightful +Easter Monday morning did indeed almost kill her; but the +effects, though severe, were not lasting; and by the time the +last of Ermentrude’s snow-wreath had vanished, she was +sunning her babes at the window, happier than she had ever +thought to be—above all, in the possession of both the +children. A nurse had been captured for the little Baron +from the village on the hillside; but the woman had fretted, the +child had pined, and had been given back to his mother to save +his life; and ever since both had thriven perfectly under her +sole care, so that there was very nearly joy in that room.</p> +<p>Outside it, there was more bitterness than ever. The +grandmother had softened for a few moments at the birth of the +children, with satisfaction at obtaining twice as much as she had +hoped; but the frustration of her vengeance upon Kasimir of +Adlerstein Wildschloss had renewed all her hatred, and she had no +scruple in abusing “the burgher-woman” to the whole +household for her artful desire to captivate another +nobleman. She, no doubt, expected that degenerate fool of a +Wildschlosser to come wooing after her; “if he did he +should meet his deserts.” It was the favourite +reproach whenever she chose to vent her fury on the mute, +blushing, weeping young widow, whose glance at her babies was her +only appeal against the cruel accusation.</p> +<p>On Midsummer eve, Heinz the Schneiderlein, who had all day +been taking toll from the various attendants at the Friedmund +Wake, came up and knocked at the door. He had a bundle over +his shoulder and a bag in his hand, which last he offered to +her.</p> +<p>“The toll! It is for the Lady Baroness.”</p> +<p>“You are my Lady Baroness. I levy toll for this my +young lord.”</p> +<p>“Take it to her, good Heinz, she must have the charge, +and needless strife I will not breed.”</p> +<p>The angry notes of Dame Kunigunde came up: “How now, +knave Schneiderlein! Come down with the toll +instantly. It shall not be tampered with! Down, I +say, thou thief of a tailor.”</p> +<p>“Go; prithee go, vex her not,” entreated +Christina.</p> +<p>“Coming, lady!” shouted Heinz, and, disregarding +all further objurgations from beneath, he proceeded to deposit +his bundle, and explain that it had been entrusted to him by a +pedlar from Ulm, who would likewise take charge of anything she +might have to send in return, and he then ran down just in time +to prevent a domiciliary visit from the old lady.</p> +<p>From Ulm! The very sound was joy; and Christina with +trembling hands unfastened the cords and stitches that secured +the canvas covering, within which lay folds on folds of linen, +and in the midst a rich silver goblet, long ago brought by her +father from Italy, a few of her own possessions, and a letter +from her uncle secured with black floss silk, with a black +seal.</p> +<p>She kissed it with transport, but the contents were somewhat +chilling by their grave formality. The opening address to +the “honour-worthy Lady Baroness and love-worthy +niece,” conveyed to her a doubt on good Master +Gottfried’s part whether she were still truly worthy of +love or honour. The slaughter at Jacob Müller’s +had been already known to him, and he expressed himself as +relieved, but greatly amazed, at the information he had received +from the Baron of Adlerstein Wildschloss, who had visited him at +Ulm, after having verified what had been alleged at Schloss +Adlerstein by application to the friar at Offingen.</p> +<p>Freiherr von Adlerstein Wildschloss had further requested him +to make known that, feud-briefs having regularly passed between +Schlangenwald and Adlerstein, and the two Barons not having been +within the peace of the empire, no justice could be exacted for +their deaths; yet, in consideration of the tender age of the +present heirs, the question of forfeiture or submission should be +waived till they could act for themselves, and Schlangenwald +should be withheld from injuring them so long as no molestation +was offered to travellers. It was plain that Sir Kasimir +had well and generously done his best to protect the helpless +twins, and he sent respectful but cordial greetings to their +mother. These however were far less heeded by her than the +coldness of her uncle’s letter. She had drifted +beyond the reckoning of her kindred, and they were sending her +her property and bridal linen, as if they had done with her, and +had lost their child in the robber-baron’s wife. Yet +at the end there was a touch of old times in offering a blessing, +should she still value it, and the hopes that heaven and the +saints would comfort her; “for surely, thou poor child, +thou must have suffered much, and, if thou wiliest still to write +to thy city kin, thine aunt would rejoice to hear that thou and +thy babes were in good health.”</p> +<p>Precise grammarian and scribe as was Uncle Gottfried, the +lapse from the formal <i>Sie</i> to the familiar <i>Du</i> went +to his niece’s heart. Whenever her little ones left +her any leisure, she spent this her first wedding-day in writing +so earnest and loving a letter as, in spite of mediæval +formality, must assure the good burgomaster that, except in +having suffered much and loved much, his little Christina was not +changed since she had left him.</p> +<p>No answer could be looked for till another wake-day; but, when +it came, it was full and loving, and therewith were sent a few +more of her favourite books, a girdle, and a richly-scented pair +of gloves, together with two ivory boxes of comfits, and two +little purple silk, gold-edged, straight, narrow garments and +tight round brimless lace caps, for the two little Barons. +Nor did henceforth a wake-day pass by without bringing some such +token, not only delightful as gratifying Christina’s +affection by the kindness that suggested them, but supplying +absolute wants in the dire stress of poverty at Schloss +Adlerstein.</p> +<p>Christina durst not tell her mother-in-law of the terms on +which they were unmolested, trusting to the scantiness of the +retinue, and to her own influence with the Schneiderlein to +hinder any serious violence. Indeed, while the Count of +Schlangenwald was in the neighbourhood, his followers took care +to secure all that could be captured at the Debateable Ford, and +the broken forces of Adlerstein would have been insane had they +attempted to contend with such superior numbers. That the +castle remained unattacked was attributed by the elder Baroness +to its own merits; nor did Christina undeceive her. They +had no intercourse with the outer world, except that once a +pursuivant arrived with a formal intimation from their kinsman, +the Baron of Adlerstein Wildschloss, of his marriage with the +noble Fräulein, Countess Valeska von Trautbach, and a +present of a gay dagger for each of his godsons. Frau +Kunigunde triumphed a good deal over the notion of +Christina’s supposed disappointment; but the tidings were +most welcome to the younger lady, who trusted they would put an +end to all future taunts about Wildschloss. Alas! the +handle for abuse was too valuable to be relinquished.</p> +<p>The last silver cup the castle had possessed had to be given +as a reward to the pursuivant, and mayhap Frau Kunigunde reckoned +this as another offence of her daughter-in-law, since, had Sir +Kasimir been safe in the oubliette, the twins might have shared +his broad lands on the Danube, instead of contributing to the +fees of his pursuivant. The cup could indeed be ill +spared. The cattle and swine, the dues of the serfs, and +the yearly toll at the wake were the sole resources of the +household; and though there was no lack of meat, milk, and black +bread, sufficient garments could scarce be come by, with all the +spinning of the household, woven by the village webster, of whose +time the baronial household, by prescriptive right, owned the +lion’s share.</p> +<p>These matters little troubled the two beings in whom +Christina’s heart was wrapped up. Though running +about barefooted and bareheaded, they were healthy, handsome, +straight-limbed, noble-looking creatures, so exactly alike, and +so inseparable, that no one except herself could tell one from +the other save by the medal of Our Lady worn by the elder, and +the little cross carved by the mother for the younger; indeed, at +one time, the urchins themselves would feel for cross or medal, +ere naming themselves “Ebbo,” or +“Friedel.” They were tall for their age, but +with the slender make of their foreign ancestry; and, though +their fair rosy complexions were brightened by mountain mists and +winds, their rapidly darkening hair, and large liquid brown eyes, +told of their Italian blood. Their grandmother looked on +their colouring as a taint, and Christina herself had hoped to +see their father’s simple, kindly blue eyes revive in his +boys; but she could hardly have desired anything different from +the dancing, kindling, or earnest glances that used to flash from +under their long black lashes when they were nestling in her lap, +or playing by her knee, making music with their prattle, or +listening to her answers with faces alive with +intelligence. They scarcely left her time for sorrow or +regret.</p> +<p>They were never quarrelsome. Either from the influence +of her gentleness, or from their absolute union, they could do +and enjoy nothing apart, and would as soon have thought of their +right and left hands falling out as of Ebbo and Friedel +disputing. Ebbo however was always the right hand. +<i>The</i> Freiherr, as he had been called from the first, had, +from the time he could sit at the table at all, been put into the +baronial chair with the eagle carved at the back; every member of +the household, from his grandmother downwards, placed him +foremost, and Friedel followed their example, at the less loss to +himself, as his hand was always in Ebbo’s, and all their +doings were in common. Sometimes however the mother doubted +whether there would have been this perfect absence of all contest +had the medal of the firstborn chanced to hang round +Friedmund’s neck instead of Eberhard’s. At +first they were entirely left to her. Their grandmother +heeded them little as long as they were healthy, and evidently +regarded them more as heirs of Adlerstein than as grandchildren; +but, as they grew older, she showed anxiety lest their mother +should interfere with the fierce, lawless spirit proper to their +line.</p> +<p>One winter day, when they were nearly six years old, +Christina, spinning at her window, had been watching them +snowballing in the castle court, smiling and applauding every +large handful held up to her, every laughing combat, every +well-aimed hit, as the hardy little fellows scattered the snow in +showers round them, raising their merry fur-capped faces to the +bright eyes that “rained influence and judged the +prize.”</p> +<p>By and by they stood still; Ebbo—she knew him by the +tossed head and commanding air—was proposing what Friedel +seemed to disapprove; but, after a short discussion, Ebbo flung +away from him, and went towards a shed where was kept a wolf-cub, +recently presented to the young Barons by old Ulrich’s +son. The whelp was so young as to be quite harmless, but it +was far from amiable; Friedel never willingly approached it, and +the snarling and whining replies to all advances had begun to +weary and irritate Ebbo. He dragged it out by its chain, +and, tethering it to a post, made it a mark for his snowballs, +which, kneaded hard, and delivered with hearty good-will by his +sturdy arms, made the poor little beast yelp with pain and +terror, till the more tender-hearted Friedel threw himself on his +brother to withhold him, while Mätz stood by laughing and +applauding the Baron. Seeing Ebbo shake Friedel off with +unusual petulance, and pitying the tormented animal, Christina +flung a cloak round her head and hastened down stairs, entering +the court just as the terrified whelp had made a snap at the boy, +which was returned by angry, vindictive pelting, not merely with +snow, but with stones. Friedel sprang to her crying, and +her call to Ebbo made him turn, though with fury in his face, +shouting, “He would bite me! the evil beast!”</p> +<p>“Come with me, Ebbo,” she said.</p> +<p>“He shall suffer for it, the spiteful, ungrateful +brute! Let me alone, mother!” cried Ebbo, stamping on +the snow, but still from habit yielding to her hand on his +shoulder.</p> +<p>“What now?” demanded the old Baroness, appearing +on the scene. “Who is thwarting the Baron?”</p> +<p>“She; she will not let me deal with yonder savage +whelp,” cried the boy.</p> +<p>“She! Take thy way, child,” said the old +lady. “Visit him well for his malice. None +shall withstand thee here. At thy peril!” she added, +turning on Christina. “What, art not content to have +brought base mechanical blood into a noble house? Wouldst +make slaves and cowards of its sons?”</p> +<p>“I would teach them true courage, not cruelty,” +she tried to say.</p> +<p>“What should such as thou know of courage? Look +here, girl: another word to daunt the spirit of my grandsons, and +I’ll have thee scourged down the mountain-side! +On! At him, Ebbo! That’s my gallant young +knight! Out of the way, girl, with thy whining looks! +What, Friedel, be a man, and aid thy brother! Has she made +thee a puling woman already?” And Kunigunde laid an +ungentle grasp upon Friedmund, who was clinging to his mother, +hiding his face in her gown. He struggled against the +clutch, and would not look up or be detached.</p> +<p>“Fie, poor little coward!” taunted the old lady; +“never heed him, Ebbo, my brave Baron!”</p> +<p>Cut to the heart, Christina took refuge in her room, and +gathered her Friedel to her bosom, as he sobbed out, “Oh, +mother, the poor little wolf! Oh, mother, are you weeping +too? The grandmother should not so speak to the sweetest, +dearest motherling,” he added, throwing his arms round her +neck.</p> +<p>“Alas, Friedel, that Ebbo should learn that it is brave +to hurt the weak!”</p> +<p>“It is not like Walther of Vögelwiede,” said +Friedel, whose mind had been much impressed by the +Minnesinger’s bequest to the birds.</p> +<p>“Nor like any true Christian knight. Alas, my poor +boys, must you be taught foul cruelty and I too weak and cowardly +to save you?”</p> +<p>“That never will be,” said Friedel, lifting his +head from her shoulder. “Hark! what a howl was +that!”</p> +<p>“Listen not, dear child; it does but pain +thee.”</p> +<p>“But Ebbo is not shouting. Oh, mother, he is +vexed—he is hurt!” cried Friedel, springing from her +lap; but, ere either could reach the window, Ebbo had vanished +from the scene. They only saw the young wolf stretched dead +on the snow, and the same moment in burst Ebbo, and flung himself +on the floor in a passion of weeping. Stimulated by the +applause of his grandmother and of Mätz, he had furiously +pelted the poor animal with all missiles that came to hand, till +a blow, either from him or Mätz, had produced such a howl +and struggle of agony, and then such terrible stillness, as had +gone to the young Baron’s very heart, a heart as soft as +that of his father had been by nature. Indeed, his sobs +were so piteous that his mother was relieved to hear only, +“The wolf! the poor wolf!” and to find that he +himself was unhurt; and she was scarcely satisfied of this when +Dame Kunigunde came up also alarmed, and thus turned his grief to +wrath. “As if I would cry in that way for a +bite!” he said. “Go, grandame; you made me do +it, the poor beast!” with a fresh sob.</p> +<p>“Ulrich shall get thee another cub, my child.”</p> +<p>“No, no; I never will have another cub! Why did +you let me kill it?”</p> +<p>“For shame, Ebbo! Weep for a spiteful brute! +That’s no better than thy mother or Friedel.”</p> +<p>“I love my mother! I love Friedel! They +would have withheld me. Go, go; I hate you!”</p> +<p>“Peace, peace, Ebbo,” exclaimed his mother; +“you know not what you say. Ask your +grandmother’s pardon.”</p> +<p>“Peace, thou fool!” screamed the old lady. +“The Baron speaks as he will in his own castle. He is +not to be checked here, and thwarted there, and taught to mince +his words like a cap-in-hand pedlar. Pardon! When did +an Adlerstein seek pardon? Come with me, my Baron; I have +still some honey-cakes.”</p> +<p>“Not I,” replied Ebbo; “honey-cakes will not +cure the wolf whelp. Go: I want my mother and +Friedel.”</p> +<p>Alone with them his pride and passion were gone; but alas! +what augury for the future of her boys was left with the +mother!</p> +<h2>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE EAGLE’S PREY</span></h2> +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">It</span> fell about +the Lammas tide,<br /> +When moor men win their hay,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>that all the serfs of Adlerstein were collected to collect +their lady’s hay to be stored for the winter’s fodder +of the goats, and of poor Sir Eberhard’s old white mare, +the only steed as yet ridden by the young Barons.</p> +<p>The boys were fourteen years old. So monotonous was +their mother’s life that it was chiefly their growth that +marked the length of her residence in the castle. Otherwise +there had been no change, except that the elder Baroness was more +feeble in her limbs, and still more irritable and excitable in +temper. There were no events, save a few hunting adventures +of the boys, or the yearly correspondence with Ulm; and the same +life continued, of shrinking in dread from the old lady’s +tyrannous dislike, and of the constant endeavour to infuse better +principles into the boys, without the open opposition for which +there was neither power nor strength.</p> +<p>The boys’ love was entirely given to their mother. +Far from diminishing with their dependence on her, it increased +with the sense of protection; and, now that they were taller than +herself, she seemed to be cherished by them more than ever. +Moreover, she was their oracle. Quick-witted and +active-minded, loving books the more because their grandmother +thought signing a feud-letter the utmost literary effort becoming +to a noble, they never rested till they had acquired all that +their mother could teach them; or, rather, they then became more +restless than ever. Long ago had her whole store of tales +and ballads become so familiar, by repetition, that the boys +could correct her in the smallest variation; reading and writing +were mastered as for pleasure; and the Nuremberg Chronicle, with +its wonderful woodcuts, excited such a passion of curiosity that +they must needs conquer its Latin and read it for +themselves. This <i>World History</i>, with <i>Alexander +and the Nine Worthies</i>, the cities and landscapes, and the +oft-repeated portraits, was Eberhard’s study; but Friedmund +continued—constant to Walther of Vögelweide. +Eberhard cared for no character in the Vulgate so much as for +Judas the Maccabee; but Friedmund’s heart was all for King +David; and to both lads, shut up from companionship as they were, +every acquaintance in their books was a living being whose like +they fancied might be met beyond their mountain. And, when +they should go forth, like Dietrich of Berne, in search of +adventures, doughty deeds were chiefly to fall to the lot of +Ebbo’s lance; while Friedel was to be their Minnesinger; +and indeed certain verses, that he had murmured in his +brother’s ear, had left no doubt in Ebbo’s mind that +the exploits would be worthily sung.</p> +<p>The soft dreamy eye was becoming Friedel’s +characteristic, as fire and keenness distinguished his +brother’s glance. When at rest, the twins could be +known apart by their expression, though in all other respects +they were as alike as ever; and let Ebbo look thoughtful or +Friedel eager and they were again undistinguishable; and indeed +they were constantly changing looks. Had not Friedel been +beside him, Ebbo would have been deemed a wondrous student for +his years; had not Ebbo been the standard of comparison, Friedel +would have been in high repute for spirit and enterprise and +skill as a cragsman, with the crossbow, and in all feats of arms +that the Schneiderlein could impart. They shared all +occupations; and it was by the merest shade that Ebbo excelled +with the weapon, and Friedel with the book or tool. For the +artist nature was in them, not intentionally excited by their +mother, but far too strong to be easily discouraged. They +had long daily gazed at Ulm in the distance, hoping to behold the +spire completed; and the illustrations in their mother’s +books excited a strong desire to imitate them. The floor +had often been covered with charcoal outlines even before +Christina was persuaded to impart the rules she had learnt from +her uncle; and her carving-tools were soon seized upon. At +first they were used only upon knobs of sticks; but one day when +the boys, roaming on the mountain, had lost their way, and coming +to the convent had been there hospitably welcomed by Father +Norbert, they came home wild to make carvings like what they had +seen in the chapel. Jobst the Kohler was continually +importuned for soft wood; the fair was ransacked for knives; and +even the old Baroness could not find great fault with the +occupation, base and mechanical though it were, which disposed of +the two restless spirits during the many hours when winter storms +confined them to the castle. Rude as was their work, the +constant observation and choice of subjects were an unsuspected +training and softening. It was not in vain that they lived +in the glorious mountain fastness, and saw the sun descend in his +majesty, dyeing the masses of rock with purple and crimson; not +in vain that they beheld peak and ravine clothed in purest snow, +flushed with rosy light at morn and eve, or contrasted with the +purple blue of the sky; or that they stood marvelling at ice +caverns with gigantic crystal pendants shining with the most +magical pure depths of sapphire and emerald, “as if,” +said Friedel, “winter kept in his service all the +jewel-forging dwarfs of the motherling’s tales.” And, +when the snow melted and the buds returned, the ivy spray, the +smiling saxifrage, the purple gentian bell, the feathery rowan +leaf, the symmetrical lady’s mantle, were hailed and loved +first as models, then for themselves.</p> +<p>One regret their mother had, almost amounting to shame. +Every virtuous person believed in the efficacy of the rod, and, +maugre her own docility, she had been chastised with it almost as +a religious duty; but her sons had never felt the weight of a +blow, except once when their grandmother caught them carving a +border of eagles and doves round the hall table, and then Ebbo +had returned the blow with all his might. As to herself, if +she ever worked herself up to attempt chastisement, the Baroness +was sure to fall upon her for insulting the noble birth of her +sons, and thus gave them a triumph far worse for them than +impunity. In truth, the boys had their own way, or rather +the Baron had his way, and his way was Baron +Friedmund’s. Poor, bare, and scanty as were all the +surroundings of their life, everything was done to feed their +arrogance, with only one influence to counteract their education +in pride and violence—a mother’s influence, indeed, +but her authority was studiously taken from her, and her position +set at naught, with no power save what she might derive from +their love and involuntary honour, and the sight of the pain +caused her by their wrong-doings.</p> +<p>And so the summer’s hay-harvest was come. Peasants +clambered into the green nooks between the rocks to cut down with +hook or knife the flowery grass, for there was no space for the +sweep of a scythe. The best crop was on the bank of the +Braunwasser, by the Debateable Ford, but this was cut and carried +on the backs of the serfs, much earlier than the mountain grass, +and never without much vigilance against the Schlangenwaldern; +but this year the Count was absent at his Styrian castle, and +little had been seen or heard of his people.</p> +<p>The full muster of serfs appeared, for Frau Kunigunde admitted +of no excuses, and the sole absentee was a widow who lived on the +ledge of the mountain next above that on which the castle +stood. Her son reported her to be very ill, and with tears +in his eyes entreated Baron Friedel to obtain leave for him to +return to her, since she was quite alone in her solitary hut, +with no one even to give her a drink of water. Friedel +rushed with the entreaty to his grandmother, but she laughed it +to scorn. Lazy Koppel only wanted an excuse, or, if not, +the woman was old and useless, and men could not be spared.</p> +<p>“Ah! good grandame,” said Friedel, “his +father died with ours.”</p> +<p>“The more honour for him! The more he is bound to +work for us. Off, junker, make no loiterers.”</p> +<p>Grieved and discomfited, Friedel betook himself to his mother +and brother.</p> +<p>“Foolish lad not to have come to me!” said the +young Baron. “Where is he? I’ll send him +at once.”</p> +<p>But Christina interposed an offer to go and take +Koppel’s place beside his mother, and her skill was so much +prized over all the mountain-side, that the alternative was +gratefully accepted, and she was escorted up the steep path by +her two boys to the hovel, where she spent the day in attendance +on the sick woman.</p> +<p>Evening came on, the patient was better, but Koppel did not +return, nor did the young Barons come to fetch their mother +home. The last sunbeams were dying off the mountain-tops, +and, beginning to suspect something amiss, she at length set off, +and half way down met Koppel, who replied to her question, +“Ah, then, the gracious lady has not heard of our +luck. Excellent booty, and two prisoners! The young +Baron has been a hero indeed, and has won himself a knightly +steed.” And, on her further interrogation, he added, +that an unusually rich but small company had been reported by +Jobst the Kohler to be on the way to the ford, where he had +skilfully prepared a stumbling-block. The gracious Baroness +had caused Hatto to jodel all the hay-makers together, and they +had fallen on the travellers by the straight path down the +crag. “Ach! did not the young Baron spring like a +young gemsbock? And in midstream down came their +pack-horses and their wares! Some of them took to flight, +but, pfui, there were enough for my young lord to show his mettle +upon. Such a prize the saints have not sent since the old +Baron’s time.”</p> +<p>Christina pursued her walk in dismay at this new beginning of +freebooting in its worst form, overthrowing all her hopes. +The best thing that could happen would be the immediate +interference of the Swabian League, while her sons were too young +to be personally held guilty. Yet this might involve ruin +and confiscation; and, apart from all consequences, she bitterly +grieved that the stain of robbery should have fallen on her +hitherto innocent sons.</p> +<p>Every peasant she met greeted her with praises of their young +lord, and, when she mounted the hall-steps, she found the floor +strewn with bales of goods.</p> +<p>“Mother,” cried Ebbo, flying up to her, +“have you heard? I have a horse! a spirited bay, a +knightly charger, and Friedel is to ride him by turns with +me. Where is Friedel? And, mother, Heinz said I +struck as good a stroke as any of them, and I have a sword for +Friedel now. Why does he not come? And, motherling, +this is for you, a gown of velvet, a real black velvet, that will +make you fairer than our Lady at the Convent. Come to the +window and see it, mother dear.”</p> +<p>The boy was so joyously excited that she could hardly +withstand his delight, but she did not move.</p> +<p>“Don’t you like the velvet?” he +continued. “We always said that, the first prize we +won, the motherling should wear velvet. Do but look at +it.”</p> +<p>“Woe is me, my Ebbo!” she sighed, bending to kiss +his brow.</p> +<p>He understood her at once, coloured, and spoke hastily and in +defiance. “It was in the river, mother, the horses +fell; it is our right.”</p> +<p>“Fairly, Ebbo?” she asked in a low voice.</p> +<p>“Nay, mother, if Jobst <i>did</i> hide a branch in +midstream, it was no doing of mine; and the horses fell. +The Schlangenwaldern don’t even wait to let them +fall. We cannot live, if we are to be so nice and +dainty.”</p> +<p>“Ah! my son, I thought not to hear you call mercy and +honesty mere niceness.”</p> +<p>“What do I hear?” exclaimed Frau Kunigunde, +entering from the storeroom, where she had been disposing of some +spices, a much esteemed commodity. “Are you chiding +and daunting this boy, as you have done with the +other?”</p> +<p>“My mother may speak to me!” cried Ebbo, hotly, +turning round.</p> +<p>“And quench thy spirit with whining fooleries! +Take the Baron’s bounty, woman, and vex him not after his +first knightly exploit.”</p> +<p>“Heaven knows, and Ebbo knows,” said the trembling +Christina, “that, were it a knightly exploit, I were the +first to exult.”</p> +<p>“Thou! thou craftsman’s girl! dost presume to call +in question the knightly deeds of a noble house! +There!” cried the furious Baroness, striking her +face. “Now! dare to be insolent again.” +Her hand was uplifted for another blow, when it was grasped by +Eberhard, and, the next moment, he likewise held the other hand, +with youthful strength far exceeding hers. She had often +struck his mother before, but not in his presence, and the +greatness of the shock seemed to make him cool and absolutely +dignified.</p> +<p>“Be still, grandame,” he said. “No, +mother, I am not hurting her,” and indeed the surprise +seemed to have taken away her rage and volubility, and +unresistingly she allowed him to seat her in a chair. Still +holding her arm, he made his clear boyish voice resound through +the hall, saying, “Retainers all, know that, as I am your +lord and master, so is my honoured mother lady of the castle, and +she is never to be gainsay’ed, let her say or do what she +will.”</p> +<p>“You are right, Herr Freiherr,” said Heinz. +“The Frau Christina is our gracious and beloved dame. +Long live the Freiherrinn Christina!” And the voices of +almost all the serfs present mingled in the cry.</p> +<p>“And hear you all,” continued Eberhard, “she +shall rule all, and never be trampled on more. Grandame, +you understand?”</p> +<p>The old woman seemed confounded, and cowered in her chair +without speaking. Christina, almost dismayed by this +silence, would have suggested to Ebbo to say something kind or +consoling; but at that moment she was struck with alarm by his +renewed inquiry for his brother.</p> +<p>“Friedel! Was not he with thee?”</p> +<p>“No; I never saw him!”</p> +<p>Ebbo flew up the stairs, and shouted for his brother; then, +coming down, gave orders for the men to go out on the +mountain-side, and search and jodel. He was hurrying with +them, but his mother caught his arm. “O Ebbo, how can +I let you go? It is dark, and the crags are so +perilous!”</p> +<p>“Mother, I cannot stay!” and the boy flung his +arms round her neck, and whispered in her ear, “Friedel +said it would be a treacherous attack, and I called him a +craven. Oh, mother, we never parted thus before! He +went up the hillside. Oh, where is he?”</p> +<p>Infected by the boy’s despairing voice, yet relieved +that Friedel at least had withstood the temptation, Christina +still held Ebbo’s hand, and descended the steps with +him. The clear blue sky was fast showing the stars, and +into the evening stillness echoed the loud wide jodeln, cast back +from the other side of the ravine. Ebbo tried to raise his +voice, but broke down in the shout, and, choked with agitation, +said, “Let me go, mother. None know his haunts as I +do!”</p> +<p>“Hark!” she said, only grasping him tighter.</p> +<p>Thinner, shriller, clearer came a far-away cry from the +heights, and Ebbo thrilled from head to foot, then sent up +another pealing mountain shout, responded to by a jodel so +pitched as to be plainly not an echo. “Towards the +Red Eyrie,” said Hans.</p> +<p>“He will have been to the Ptarmigan’s Pool,” +said Ebbo, sending up his voice again, in hopes that the answer +would sound less distant; but, instead of this, its intonations +conveyed, to these adepts in mountain language, that Friedel +stood in need of help.</p> +<p>“Depend upon it,” said the startled Ebbo, +“that he has got up amongst those rocks where the dead +chamois rolled down last summer;” then, as Christina +uttered a faint cry of terror, Heinz added, “Fear not, +lady, those are not the jodeln of one who has met with a +hurt. Baron Friedel has the sense to be patient rather than +risk his bones if he cannot move safely in the dark.”</p> +<p>“Up after him!” said Ebbo, emitting a variety of +shouts intimating speedy aid, and receiving a halloo in reply +that reassured even his mother. Equipped with a rope and +sundry torches of pinewood, Heinz and two of the serfs were +speedily ready, and Christina implored her son to let her come so +far as where she should not impede the others. He gave her +his arm, and Heinz held his torch so as to guide her up a winding +path, not in itself very steep, but which she could never have +climbed had daylight shown her what it overhung. Guided by +the constant exchange of jodeln, they reached a height where the +wind blew cold and wild, and Ebbo pointed to an intensely black +shadow overhung by a peak rising like the gable of a house into +the sky. “Yonder lies the tarn,” he said. +“Don’t stir. This way lies the cliff. +Fried-mund!” exchanging the jodel for the name.</p> +<p>“Here!—this way! Under the Red Eyrie,” +called back the wanderer; and steering their course round the +rocks above the pool, the rescuers made their way towards the +base of the peak, which was in fact the summit of the mountain, +the top of the Eagle’s Ladder, the highest step of which +they had attained. The peak towered over them, and beneath, +the castle lights seemed as if it would be easy to let a stone +fall straight down on them.</p> +<p>Friedel’s cry seemed to come from under their +feet. “I am here! I am safe; only it grew so +dark that I durst not climb up or down.”</p> +<p>The Schneiderlein explained that he would lower down a rope, +which, when fastened round Friedel’s waist, would enable +him to climb safely up; and, after a breathless space, the +torchlight shone upon the longed-for face, and Friedel springing +on the path, cried, “The mother!—and +here!”—</p> +<p>“Oh, Friedel, where have you been? What is this in +your arms?”</p> +<p>He showed them the innocent face of a little white kid.</p> +<p>“Whence is it, Friedel?”</p> +<p>He pointed to the peak, saying, “I was lying on my back +by the tarn, when my lady eagle came sailing overhead, so low +that I could see this poor little thing, and hear it +bleat.”</p> +<p>“Thou hast been to the Eyrie—the inaccessible +Eyrie!” exclaimed Ebbo, in amazement.</p> +<p>“That’s a mistake. It is not hard after the +first” said Friedel. “I only waited to watch +the old birds out again.”</p> +<p>“Robbed the eagles! And the young ones?”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Friedmund, as if half ashamed, +“they were twin eaglets, and their mother had left them, +and I felt as though I could not harm them; so I only bore off +their provisions, and stuck some feathers in my cap. But by +that time the sun was down, and soon I could not see my footing; +and, when I found that I had missed the path, I thought I had +best nestle in the nook where I was, and wait for day. I +grieved for my mother’s fear; but oh, to see her +here!”</p> +<p>“Ah, Friedel! didst do it to prove my words +false?” interposed Ebbo, eagerly.</p> +<p>“What words?”</p> +<p>“Thou knowest. Make me not speak them +again.”</p> +<p>“Oh, those!” said Friedel, only now recalling +them. “No, verily; they were but a moment’s +anger. I wanted to save the kid. I think it is old +mother Rika’s white kid. But oh, motherling! I +grieve to have thus frightened you.”</p> +<p>Not a single word passed between them upon Ebbo’s +exploits. Whether Friedel had seen all from the heights, or +whether he intuitively perceived that his brother preferred +silence, he held his peace, and both were solely occupied in +assisting their mother down the pass, the difficulties of which +were far more felt now than in the excitement of the ascent; only +when they were near home, and the boys were walking in the +darkness with arms round one another’s necks, Christina +heard Friedel say low and rather sadly, “I think I shall be +a priest, Ebbo.”</p> +<p>To which Ebbo only answered, “Pfui!”</p> +<p>Christina understood that Friedel meant that robbery must be a +severance between the brothers. Alas! had the moment come +when their paths must diverge? Could Ebbo’s step not +be redeemed?</p> +<p>Ursel reported that Dame Kunigunde had scarcely spoken again, +but had retired, like one stunned, into her bed. Friedel +was half asleep after the exertions of the day; but Ebbo did not +speak, and both soon betook themselves to their little turret +chamber within their mother’s.</p> +<p>Christina prayed long that night, her heart full of dread of +the consequence of this transgression. Rumours of +freebooting castles destroyed by the Swabian League had reached +her every wake day, and, if this outrage were once known, the +sufferance that left Adlerstein unmolested must be over. +There was hope indeed in the weakness and uncertainty of the +Government; but present safety would in reality be the ruin of +Ebbo, since he would be encouraged to persist in the career of +violence now unhappily begun. She knew not what to ask, +save that her sons might be shielded from evil, and might fulfil +that promise of her dream, the star in heaven, the light on +earth. And for the present!—the good God guide her +and her sons through the difficult morrow, and turn the heart of +the unhappy old woman below!</p> +<p>When, exhausted with weeping and watching, she rose from her +knees, she stole softly into her sons’ turret for a last +look at them. Generally they were so much alike in their +sleep that even she was at fault between them; but that night +there was no doubt. Friedel, pale after the day’s +hunger and fatigue, slept with relaxed features in the most +complete calm; but though Ebbo’s eyes were closed, there +was no repose in his face—his hair was tossed, his colour +flushed, his brow contracted, the arm flung across his brother +had none of the ease of sleep. She doubted whether he were +not awake; but, knowing that he would not brook any endeavour to +force confidence he did not offer, she merely hung over them +both, murmured a prayer and blessing, and left them.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE CHOICE IN LIFE</span></h2> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Friedel</span>, wake!”</p> +<p>“Is it day?” said Friedel, slowly wakening, and +crossing himself as he opened his eyes. “Surely the +sun is not up—?”</p> +<p>“We must be before the sun!” said Ebbo, who was on +his feet, beginning to dress himself. “Hush, and +come! Do not wake the mother. It must be ere she or +aught else be astir! Thy prayers—I tell thee this is +a work as good as prayer.”</p> +<p>Half awake, and entirely bewildered, Friedel dipped his finger +in the pearl mussel shell of holy water over their bed, and +crossed his own brow and his brother’s; then, carrying +their shoes, they crossed their mother’s chamber, and crept +down stairs. Ebbo muttered to his brother, “Stand +thou still there, and pray the saints to keep her asleep;” +and then, with bare feet, moved noiselessly behind the wooden +partition that shut off his grandmother’s box-bedstead from +the rest of the hall. She lay asleep with open mouth, +snoring loudly, and on her pillow lay the bunch of castle keys, +that was always carried to her at night. It was a moment of +peril when Ebbo touched it; but he had nerved himself to be both +steady and dexterous, and he secured it without a jingle, and +then, without entering the hall, descended into a passage lit by +a rough opening cut in the rock. Friedel, who began to +comprehend, followed him close and joyfully, and at the first +door he fitted in, and with some difficulty turned, a key, and +pushed open the door of a vault, where morning light, streaming +through the grated window, showed two captives, who had started +to their feet, and now stood regarding the pair in the doorway as +if they thought their dreams were multiplying the young Baron who +had led the attack.</p> +<p>“<i>Signori</i>—” began the principal of the +two; but Ebbo spoke.</p> +<p>“Sir, you have been brought here by a mistake in the +absence of my mother, the lady of the castle. If you will +follow me, I will restore all that is within my reach, and put +you on your way.”</p> +<p>The merchant’s knowledge of German was small, but the +purport of the words was plain, and he gladly left the damp, +chilly vault. Ebbo pointed to the bales that strewed the +hall. “Take all that can be carried,” he +said. “Here is your sword, and your purse,” he +said, for these had been given to him in the moment of +victory. “I will bring out your horse and lead you to +the pass.”</p> +<p>“Give him food,” whispered Friedel; but the +merchant was too anxious to have any appetite. Only he +faltered in broken German a proposal to pay his respects to the +Signora Castellana, to whom he owed so much.</p> +<p>“No! <i>Dormit in lecto</i>,” said Ebbo, +with a sudden inspiration caught from the Latinized sound of some +of the Italian words, but colouring desperately as he spoke.</p> +<p>The Latin proved most serviceable, and the merchant understood +that his property was restored, and made all speed to gather it +together, and transport it to the stable. One or two of his +beasts of burden had been lost in the fray, and there were more +packages than could well be carried by the merchant, his servant, +and his horse. Ebbo gave the aid of the old white +mare—now very white indeed—and in truth the boys +pitied the merchant’s fine young bay for being put to base +trading uses, and were rather shocked to hear that it had been +taken in payment for a knight’s branched velvet gown, and +would be sold again at Ulm.</p> +<p>“What a poor coxcomb of a knight!” said they to +one another, as they patted the creature’s neck with such +fervent admiration that the merchant longed to present it to +them, when he saw that the old white mare was the sole steed they +possessed, and watched their tender guidance both of her and of +the bay up the rocky path so familiar to them.</p> +<p>“But ah, <i>signorini miei</i>, I am an <i>infelice +infelicissimo</i>, ever persecuted by <i>le Fate</i>.”</p> +<p>“By whom? A count like Schlangenwald?” asked +Ebbo.</p> +<p>“<i>Das Schicksal</i>,” whispered Friedel.</p> +<p>“Three long miserable years did I spend as a captive +among the Moors, having lost all, my ships and all I had, and +being forced to row their galleys, <i>gli +scomunicati</i>.”</p> +<p>“Galleys!” exclaimed Ebbo; “there are some +pictured in our <i>World History before Carthage</i>. Would +that I could see one!”</p> +<p>“The <i>signorino</i> would soon have seen his fill, +were he between the decks, chained to the bench for weeks +together, without ceasing to row for twenty-four hours together, +with a renegade standing over to lash us, or to put a morsel into +our mouths if we were fainting.”</p> +<p>“The dogs! Do they thus use Christian men?” +cried Friedel.</p> +<p>“<i>Sì</i>, <i>sì—ja wohl</i>. +There were a good fourscore of us, and among them a Tedesco, a +good man and true, from whom I learnt <i>la lingua +loro</i>.”</p> +<p>“Our tongue!—from whom?” asked one twin of +the other.</p> +<p>“A Tedesco, a fellow-countryman of <i>sue +eccellenze</i>.”</p> +<p>“<i>Deutscher</i>!” cried both boys, turning in +horror, “our Germans so treated by the pagan +villains?”</p> +<p>“Yea, truly, <i>signorini miei</i>. This +fellow-captive of mine was a <i>cavaliere</i> in his own land, +but he had been betrayed and sold by his enemies, and he mourned +piteously for <i>la sposa sua</i>—his bride, as they say +here. A goodly man and a tall, piteously cramped in the +narrow deck, I grieved to leave him there when the good +<i>confraternità</i> at Genoa paid my ransom. Having +learnt to speak <i>il Tedesco</i>, and being no longer able to +fit out a vessel, I made my venture beyond the Alps; but, alas! +till this moment fortune has still been adverse. My mules +died of the toil of crossing the mountains; and, when with +reduced baggage I came to the river beneath there—when my +horses fell and my servants fled, and the peasants came down with +their hayforks—I thought myself in hands no better than +those of the Moors themselves.”</p> +<p>“It was wrongly done,” said Ebbo, in an honest, +open tone, though blushing. “I have indeed a right to +what may be stranded on the bank, but never more shall foul means +be employed for the overthrow.”</p> +<p>The boys had by this time led the traveller through the +Gemsbock’s Pass, within sight of the convent. +“There,” said Ebbo, “will they give you +harbourage, food, a guide, and a beast to carry the rest of your +goods. We are now upon convent land, and none will dare to +touch your bales; so I will unload old Schimmel.”</p> +<p>“Ah, <i>signorino</i>, if I might offer any token of +gratitude—”</p> +<p>“Nay,” said Ebbo, with boyish lordliness, +“make me not a spoiler.”</p> +<p>“If the <i>signorini</i> should ever come to +Genoa,” continued the trader, “and would honour Gian +Battista dei Battiste with a call, his whole house would be at +their feet.”</p> +<p>“Thanks; I would that we could see strange lands!” +said Ebbo. “But come, Friedel, the sun is high, and I +locked them all into the castle to make matters safe.”</p> +<p>“May the liberated captive know the name of his +deliverers, that he may commend it to the saints?” asked +the merchant.</p> +<p>“I am Eberhard, Freiherr von Adlerstein, and this is +Freiherr Friedmund, my brother. Farewell, sir.”</p> +<p>“Strange,” muttered the merchant, as he watched +the two boys turn down the pass, “strange how like one +barbarous name is to another. Eberardo! That was what +we called <i>il Tedesco</i>, and, when he once told me his family +name, it ended in <i>stino</i>; but all these foreign names sound +alike. Let us speed on, lest these accursed peasants should +wake, and be beyond the control of the +<i>signorino</i>.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” sighed Ebbo, as soon as he had hurried out +of reach of the temptation, “small use in being a baron if +one is to be no better mounted!”</p> +<p>“Thou art glad to have let that fair creature go free, +though,” said Friedel.</p> +<p>“Nay, my mother’s eyes would let me have no rest +in keeping him. Otherwise—Talk not to me of gladness, +Friedel! Thou shouldst know better. How is one to be +a knight with nothing to ride but a beast old enough to be his +grandmother?”</p> +<p>“Knighthood of the heart may be content to go +afoot,” said Friedel. “Oh, Ebbo, what a brother +thou art! How happy the mother will be!”</p> +<p>“Pfui, Friedel; what boots heart without spur? I +am sick of being mewed up here within these walls of rock! +No sport, not even with falling on a traveller. I am worse +off than ever were my forefathers!”</p> +<p>“But how is it? I cannot understand,” asked +Friedel. “What has changed thy mind?”</p> +<p>“Thou, and the mother, and, more than all, the +grandame. Listen, Friedel: when thou camest up, in all the +whirl of eagerness and glad preparation, with thy grave face and +murmur that Jobst had put forked stakes in the stream, it was +past man’s endurance to be baulked of the fray. Thou +hast forgotten what I said to thee then, good Friedel?”</p> +<p>“Long since. No doubt I thrust in +vexatiously.”</p> +<p>“Not so,” said Ebbo; “and I saw thou hadst +reason, for the stakes were most maliciously planted, with long +branches hid by the current; but the fellows were showing fight, +and I could not stay to think then, or I should have seemed to +fear them! I can tell you we made them run! But I +never meant the grandmother to put yon poor fellow in the +dungeon, and use him worse than a dog. I wot that he was my +captive, and none of hers. And then came the mother; and +oh, Friedel, she looked as if I were slaying her when she saw the +spoil; and, ere I had made her see right and reason, the old lady +came swooping down in full malice and spite, and actually came to +blows. She struck the motherling—struck her on the +face, Friedel!”</p> +<p>“I fear me it has so been before,” said Friedel, +sadly.</p> +<p>“Never will it be so again,” said Ebbo, standing +still. “I took the old hag by the hands, and told her +she had ruled long enough! My father’s wife is as +good a lady of the castle as my grandfather’s, and I myself +am lord thereof; and, since my Lady Kunigunde chooses to cross me +and beat my mother about this capture, why she has seen the last +of it, and may learn who is master, and who is +mistress!”</p> +<p>“Oh, Ebbo! I would I had seen it! But was +not she outrageous? Was not the mother shrinking and ready +to give back all her claims at once?”</p> +<p>“Perhaps she would have been, but just then she found +thou wast not with me, and I found thou wast not with her, and we +thought of nought else. But thou must stand by me, Friedel, +and help to keep the grandmother in her place, and the mother in +hers.”</p> +<p>“If the mother <i>will</i> be kept,” said +Friedel. “I fear me she will only plead to be left to +the grandame’s treatment, as before.”</p> +<p>“Never, Friedel! I will never see her so used +again. I released this man solely to show that she is to +rule here.—Yes, I know all about freebooting being a deadly +sin, and moreover that it will bring the League about our ears; +and it was a cowardly trick of Jobst to put those branches in the +stream. Did I not go over it last night till my brain was +dizzy? But still, it is but living and dying like our +fathers, and I hate tameness or dullness, and it is like a fool +to go back from what one has once begun.”</p> +<p>“No; it is like a brave man, when one has begun +wrong,” said Friedel.</p> +<p>“But then I thought of the grandame triumphing over the +gentle mother—and I know the mother wept over her beads +half the night. She <i>shall</i> find she has had her own +way for once this morning.”</p> +<p>Friedel was silent for a few moments, then said, “Let me +tell thee what I saw yesterday, Ebbo.”</p> +<p>“So,” answered the other brother.</p> +<p>“I liked not to vex my mother by my tidings, so I +climbed up to the tarn. There is something always healing +in that spot, is it not so, Ebbo? When the grandmother has +been raving” (hitherto Friedel’s worst grievance) +“it is like getting up nearer the quiet sky in the +stillness there, when the sky seems to have come down into the +deep blue water, and all is so still, so wondrous still and +calm. I wonder if, when we see the great Dome Kirk itself, +it will give one’s spirit wings, as does the gazing up from +the Ptarmigan’s Pool.”</p> +<p>“Thou minnesinger, was it the blue sky thou hadst to +tell me of?”</p> +<p>“No, brother, it was ere I reached it that I saw this +sight. I had scaled the peak where grows the stunted rowan, +and I sat down to look down on the other side of the gorge. +It was clear where I sat, but the ravine was filled with clouds, +and upon them—”</p> +<p>“The shape of the blessed Friedmund, thy +patron?”</p> +<p>“<i>Our</i> patron,” said Friedel; “I saw +him, a giant form in gown and hood, traced in grey shadow upon +the dazzling white cloud; and oh, Ebbo! he was struggling with a +thinner, darker, wilder shape bearing a club. He strove to +withhold it; his gestures threatened and warned! I watched +like one spell-bound, for it was to me as the guardian spirit of +our race striving for thee with the enemy.”</p> +<p>“How did it end?”</p> +<p>“The cloud darkened, and swallowed them; nor should I +have known the issue, if suddenly, on the very cloud where the +strife had been, there had not beamed forth a rainbow—not a +common rainbow, Ebbo, but a perfect ring, a soft-glancing, +many-tinted crown of victory. Then I knew the saint had +won, and that thou wouldst win.”</p> +<p>“I! What, not thyself—his own +namesake?”</p> +<p>“I thought, Ebbo, if the fight went very hard—nay, +if for a time the grandame led thee her way—that belike I +might serve thee best by giving up all, and praying for thee in +the hermit’s cave, or as a monk.”</p> +<p>“Thou!—thou, my other self! Aid me by +burrowing in a hole like a rat! What foolery wilt say +next? No, no, Friedel, strike by my side, and I will strike +with thee; pray by my side, and I will pray with thee; but if +thou takest none of the strokes, then will I none of the +prayers!”</p> +<p>“Ebbo, thou knowest not what thou sayest.”</p> +<p>“No one knows better! See, Friedel, wouldst thou +have me all that the old Adlersteinen were, and worse too? then +wilt thou leave me and hide thine head in some priestly +cowl. Maybe thou thinkest to pray my soul into safety at +the last moment as a favour to thine own abundant sanctity; but I +tell thee, Friedel, that’s no manly way to salvation. +If thou follow’st that track, I’ll take care to get +past the border-line within which prayer can help.”</p> +<p>Friedel crossed himself, and uttered an imploring exclamation +of horror at these wild words.</p> +<p>“Stay,” said Ebbo; “I said not I meant any +such thing—so long as thou wilt be with me. My +purpose is to be a good man and true, a guard to the weak, a +defence against the Turk, a good lord to my vassals, and, if it +may not be otherwise, I will take my oath to the Kaiser, and keep +it. Is that enough for thee, Friedel, or wouldst thou see +me a monk at once?”</p> +<p>“Oh, Ebbo, this is what we ever planned. I only +dreamed of the other when—when thou didst seem to be on the +other track.”</p> +<p>“Well, what can I do more than turn back? +I’ll get absolution on Sunday, and tell Father Norbert that +I will do any penance he pleases; and warn Jobst that, if he sets +any more traps in the river, I will drown him there next! +Only get this priestly fancy away, Friedel, once and for +ever!”</p> +<p>“Never, never could I think of what would sever +us,” cried Friedel, “save—when—” he +added, hesitating, unwilling to harp on the former string. +Ebbo broke in imperiously,</p> +<p>“Friedmund von Adlerstein, give me thy solemn word that +I never again hear of this freak of turning priest or +hermit. What! art slow to speak? Thinkest me too bad +for thee?”</p> +<p>“No, Ebbo. Heaven knows thou art stronger, more +resolute than I. I am more likely to be too bad for +thee. But so long as we can be true, faithful God-fearing +Junkern together, Heaven forbid that we should part!”</p> +<p>“It is our bond!” said Ebbo; “nought shall +part us.”</p> +<p>“Nought but death,” said Friedmund, solemnly.</p> +<p>“For my part,” said Ebbo, with perfect +seriousness, “I do not believe that one of us can live or +die without the other. But, hark! there’s an outcry +at the castle! They have found out that they are locked +in! Ha! ho! hilloa, Hatto, how like you playing +prisoner?”</p> +<p>Ebbo would have amused himself with the dismay of his garrison +a little longer, had not Friedel reminded him that their mother +might be suffering for their delay, and this suggestion made him +march in hastily. He found her standing drooping under the +pitiless storm which Frau Kunigunde was pouring out at the +highest pitch of her cracked, trembling voice, one hand uplifted +and clenched, the other grasping the back of a chair, while her +whole frame shook with rage too mighty for her strength.</p> +<p>“Grandame,” said Ebbo, striding up to the scene of +action, “cease. Remember my words +yestereve.”</p> +<p>“She has stolen the keys! She has tampered with +the servants! She has released the prisoner—thy +prisoner, Ebbo! She has cheated us as she did with <a +name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +126</span>Wildschloss! False burgherinn! I trow she +wanted another suitor! Bane—pest of +Adlerstein!”</p> +<p>Friedmund threw a supporting arm round his mother, but Ebbo +confronted the old lady. “Grandmother,” he +said, “I freed the captive. I stole the keys—I +and Friedel! No one else knew my purpose. He was my +captive, and I released him because he was foully taken. I +have chosen my lot in life,” he added; and, standing in the +middle of the hall, he took off his cap, and spoke +gravely:—“I will not be a treacherous robber-outlaw, +but, so help me God, a faithful, loyal, godly +nobleman.”</p> +<p>His mother and Friedel breathed an “Amen” with all +their hearts; and he continued,</p> +<p>“And thou, grandame, peace! Such reverence shalt +thou have as befits my father’s mother; but henceforth mine +own lady-mother is the mistress of this castle, and whoever +speaks a rude word to her offends the Freiherr von +Adlerstein.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p126b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"“‘Henceforth mine own lady-mother is the mistress of +this castle, and whoever speaks a rude word to her offends the +Freiherr von Adlerstein’”—Page 126" +title= +"“‘Henceforth mine own lady-mother is the mistress of +this castle, and whoever speaks a rude word to her offends the +Freiherr von Adlerstein’”—Page 126" +src="images/p126s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>That last day’s work had made a great step in +Ebbo’s life, and there he stood, grave and firm, ready for +the assault; for, in effect, he and all besides expected that the +old lady would fly at him or at his mother like a wild cat, as +she would assuredly have done in a like case a year earlier; but +she took them all by surprise by collapsing into her chair and +sobbing piteously. Ebbo, much distressed, tried to make her +understand that she was to have all care and honour; but she +muttered something about ingratitude, and continued to exhaust +herself with weeping, spurning away all who approached her; and +thenceforth she lived in a gloomy, sullen acquiescence in her +deposition.</p> +<p>Christina inclined to the opinion that she must have had some +slight stroke in the night, for she was never the same woman +again; her vigour had passed away, and she would sit spinning, or +rocking herself in her chair, scarcely alive to what passed, or +scolding and fretting like a shadow of her old violence. +Nothing pleased her but the attentions of her grandsons, and +happily she soon ceased to know them apart, and gave Ebbo credit +for all that was done for her by Friedel, whose separate +existence she seemed to have forgotten.</p> +<p>As long as her old spirit remained she would not suffer the +approach of her daughter-in-law, and Christina could only make +suggestions for her comfort to be acted on by Ursel; and though +the reins of government fast dropped from the aged hands, they +were but gradually and cautiously assumed by the younger +Baroness.</p> +<p>Only Elsie remained of the rude, demoralized girls whom she +had found in the castle, and their successors, though dull and +uncouth, were meek and manageable; the men of the castle had all, +except Mätz, been always devoted to the Frau Christina; and +Mätz, to her great relief, ran away so soon as he found that +decency and honesty were to be the rule. Old Hatto, +humpbacked Hans, and Heinz the Schneiderlein, were the whole male +establishment, and had at least the merit of attachment to +herself and her sons; and in time there was a shade of greater +civilization about the castle, though impeded both by dire +poverty and the doggedness of the old retainers. At least +the court was cleared of the swine, and, within doors, the table +was spread with dainty linen out of the parcels from Ulm, and the +meals served with orderliness that annoyed the boys at first, but +soon became a subject of pride and pleasure.</p> +<p>Frau Kunigunde lingered long, with increasing +infirmities. After the winter day, when, running down at a +sudden noise, Friedel picked her up from the hearthstone, +scorched, bruised, almost senseless, she accepted +Christina’s care with nothing worse than a snarl, and +gradually seemed to forget the identity of her nurse with the +interloping burgher girl. Thanks or courtesy had been no +part of her nature, least of all towards her own sex, and she did +little but grumble, fret, and revile her attendant; but she soon +depended so much on Christina’s care, that it was hardly +possible to leave her. At her best and strongest, her talk +was maundering abuse of her son’s low-born wife; but at +times her wanderings showed black gulfs of iniquity and +coarseness of soul that would make the gentle listener tremble, +and be thankful that her sons were out of hearing. And thus +did Christina von Adlerstein requite fifteen years of +persecution.</p> +<p>The old lady’s first failure had been in the summer of +1488; it was the Advent season of 1489, when the snow was at the +deepest, and the frost at the hardest, that the two hardy +mountaineer grandsons fetched over the pass Father Norbert, and a +still sturdier, stronger monk, to the dying woman.</p> +<p>“Are we in time, mother?” asked Ebbo, from the +door of the upper chamber, where the Adlersteins began and ended +life, shaking the snow from his mufflings. Ruddy with +exertion in the sharp wind, what a contrast he was to all within +the room!</p> +<p>“Who is that?” said a thin, feeble voice.</p> +<p>“It is Ebbo. It is the Baron,” said +Christina. “Come in, Ebbo. She is somewhat +revived.”</p> +<p>“Will she be able to speak to the priest?” asked +Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Priest!” feebly screamed the old woman. +“No priest for me! My lord died unshriven, +unassoilzied. Where he is, there will I be. Let a +priest approach me at his peril!”</p> +<p>Stony insensibility ensued; nor did she speak again, though +life lasted many hours longer. The priests did their +office; for, impenitent as the life and frantic as the words had +been, the opinions of the time deemed that their rites might yet +give the departing soul a chance, though the body was +unconscious.</p> +<p>When all was over, snow was again falling, shifting and +drifting, so that it was impossible to leave the castle, and the +two monks were kept there for a full fortnight, during which +Christmas solemnities were observed in the chapel, for the first +time since the days of Friedmund the Good. The corpse of +Kunigunde, preserved—we must say the word—salted, was +placed in a coffin, and laid in that chapel to await the melting +of the snows, when the vault at the Hermitage could be +opened. And this could not be effected till Easter had +nearly come round again, and it was within a week of their +sixteenth birthday that the two young Barons stood together at +the coffin’s head, serious indeed, but more with the +thought of life than of death.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">BACK TO THE DOVECOTE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">For</span> the first time in her residence +at Adlerstein, now full half her life, the Freiherrinn Christina +ventured to send a messenger to Ulm, namely, a lay brother of the +convent of St. Ruprecht, who undertook to convey to Master +Gottfried Sorel her letter, informing him of the death of her +mother-in-law, and requesting him to send the same tidings to the +Freiherr von Adlerstein Wildschloss, the kinsman and godfather of +her sons.</p> +<p>She was used to wait fifty-two weeks for answers to her +letters, and was amazed when, at the end of three, two stout +serving-men were guided by Jobst up the pass; but her heart +warmed to their flat caps and round jerkins, they looked so like +home. They bore a letter of invitation to her and her sons +to come at once to her uncle’s house. The King of the +Romans, and perhaps the Emperor, were to come to the city early +in the summer, and there could be no better opportunity of +presenting the young Barons to their sovereign. Sir Kasimir +of Adlerstein Wildschloss would meet them there for the purpose, +and would obtain their admission to the League, in which all +Swabian nobles had bound themselves to put down robbery and +oppression, and outside which there was nothing but outlawry and +danger.</p> +<p>“So must it be?” said Ebbo, between his teeth, as +he leant moodily against the wall, while his mother was gone to +attend to the fare to be set before the messengers.</p> +<p>“What! art not glad to take wing at last?” +exclaimed Friedel, cut short in an exclamation of delight.</p> +<p>“Take wing, forsooth! To be guest of a greasy +burgher, and call cousin with him! Fear not, Friedel; +I’ll not vex the motherling. Heaven knows she has had +pain, grief, and subjection enough in her lifetime, and I would +not hinder her visit to her home; but I would she could go alone, +nor make us show our poverty to the swollen city folk, and listen +to their endearments. I charge thee, Friedel, do as I do; +be not too familiar with them. Could we but sprain an ankle +over the crag—”</p> +<p>“Nay, she would stay to nurse us,” said Friedel, +laughing; “besides, thou art needed for the matter of +homage.”</p> +<p>“Look, Friedel,” said Ebbo, sinking his voice, +“I shall not lightly yield my freedom to king or +Kaiser. Maybe, there is no help for it; but it irks me to +think that I should be the last Lord of Adlerstein to whom the +title of Freiherr is not a mockery. Why dost bend thy brow, +brother? What art thinking of?”</p> +<p>“Only a saying in my mother’s book, that +well-ordered service is true freedom,” said Friedel. +“And methinks there will be freedom in rushing at last into +the great far-off!”—the boy’s eye expanded and +glistened with eagerness. “Here are we +prisoners—to ourselves, if you like—but prisoners +still, pent up in the rocks, seeing no one, hearing scarce an +echo from the knightly or the poet world, nor from all the +wonders that pass. And the world has a history going on +still, like the <i>Chronicle</i>. Oh, Ebbo, think of being +in the midst of life, with lance and sword, and seeing the +Kaiser—the Kaiser of the holy Roman Empire!”</p> +<p>“With lance and sword, well and good; but would it were +not at the cost of liberty!”</p> +<p>However Ebbo forbore to damp his mother’s joy, save by +the one warning—“Understand, mother, that I will not +be pledged to anything. I will not bend to the yoke ere I +have seen and judged for myself.”</p> +<p>The manly sound of the words gave a sweet sense of exultation +to the mother, even while she dreaded the proud spirit, and +whispered, “God direct thee, my son.”</p> +<p>Certainly Ebbo, hitherto the most impetuous and least +thoughtful of the two lads, had a gravity and seriousness about +him, that, but for his naturally sweet temper, would have seemed +sullen. His aspirations for adventure had hitherto been +more vehement than Friedel’s; but, when the time seemed at +hand, his regrets at what he might have to yield overpowered his +hopes of the future. The fierce haughtiness of the old +Adlersteins could not brook the descent from the crag, even while +the keen, clear burgher wit that Ebbo inherited from the other +side of the house taught him that the position was untenable, and +that his isolated glory was but a poor mean thing after +all. And the struggle made him sad and moody.</p> +<p>Friedel, less proud, and with nothing to yield, was open to +blithe anticipations of what his fancy pictured as the home of +all the beauty, sacred or romantic, that he had glimpsed at +through his mother. Religion, poetry, learning, art, +refinement, had all come to him through her; and though he had a +soul that dreamt and soared in the lonely grandeur of the +mountain heights, it craved further aliment for its yearnings for +completeness and perfection. Long ago had Friedel come to +the verge of such attainments as he could work out of his present +materials, and keen had been his ardour for the means of +progress, though only the mountain tarn had ever been witness to +the full outpouring of the longings with which he gazed upon the +dim, distant city like a land of enchantment.</p> +<p>The journey was to be at once, so as to profit by the escort +of Master Sorel’s men. Means of transport were +scanty, but Ebbo did not choose that the messengers should report +the need, and bring back a bevy of animals at the burgher’s +expense; so the mother was mounted on the old white mare, and her +sons and Heinz trusted to their feet. By setting out early +on a May morning, the journey could be performed ere night, and +the twilight would find them in the domains of the free city, +where their small numbers would be of no importance. As to +their appearance, the mother wore a black woollen gown and +mantle, and a black silk hood tied under her chin, and sitting +loosely round the stiff frame of her white cap—a nun-like +garb, save for the soft brown hair, parted over her brow, and +more visible than she sometimes thought correct, but her sons +would not let her wear it out of sight.</p> +<p>The brothers had piece by piece surveyed the solitary suit of +armour remaining in the castle; but, though it might serve for +defence, it could not be made fit for display, and they must +needs be contented with blue cloth, spun, woven, dyed, fashioned, +and sewn at home, chiefly by their mother, and by her embroidered +on the breast with the white eagle of Adlerstein. Short +blue cloaks and caps of the same, with an eagle plume in each, +and leggings neatly fashioned of deerskin, completed their +equipments. Ebbo wore his father’s sword, Friedel had +merely a dagger and crossbow. There was not a gold chain, +not a brooch, not an approach to an ornament among the three, +except the medal that had always distinguished Ebbo, and the +coral rosary at Christina’s girdle. Her own trinkets +had gone in masses for the souls of her father and husband; and +though a few costly jewels had been found in Frau +Kunigunde’s hoards, the mode of their acquisition was so +doubtful, that it had seemed fittest to bestow them in alms and +masses for the good of her soul.</p> +<p>“What ornament, what glory could any one desire better +than two such sons?” thought Christina, as for the first +time for eighteen years she crossed the wild ravine where her +father had led her, a trembling little captive, longing for wings +like a dove’s to flutter home again. Who would then +have predicted that she should descend after so long and weary a +time, and with a gallant boy on either side of her, eager to aid +her every step, and reassure her at each giddy pass, all joy and +hope before her and them? Yet she was not without some +dread and misgiving, as she watched her elder son, always +attentive to her, but unwontedly silent, with a stern gravity on +his young brow, a proud sadness on his lip. And when he had +come to the Debateable Ford, and was about to pass the boundaries +of his own lands, he turned and gazed back on the castle and +mountain with a silent but passionate ardour, as though he felt +himself doing them a wrong by perilling their independence.</p> +<p>The sun had lately set, and the moon was silvering the Danube, +when the travellers came full in view of the imperial free city, +girt in with mighty walls and towers—the vine-clad hill +dominated by its crowning church; the irregular outlines of the +unfinished spire of the cathedral traced in mysterious dark +lacework against the pearly sky; the lofty steeple-like +gate-tower majestically guarding the bridge. Christina +clasped her hands in thankfulness, as at the familiar face of a +friend; Friedel glowed like a minstrel introduced to his fair +dame, long wooed at a distance; Ebbo could not but exclaim, +“Yea, truly, a great city is a solemn and a glorious +sight!”</p> +<p>The gates were closed, and the serving-men had to parley at +the barbican ere the heavy door was opened to admit the party to +the bridge, between deep battlemented stone walls, with here and +there loopholes, showing the shimmering of the river +beneath. The slow, tired tread of the old mare sounded +hollow; the river rushed below with the full swell of evening +loudness; a deep-toned convent-bell tolled gravely through the +stillness, while, between its reverberations, clear, distinct +notes of joyous music were borne on the summer wind, and a +nightingale sung in one of the gardens that bordered the +banks.</p> +<p>“Mother, it is all that I dreamt!” breathlessly +murmured Friedel, as they halted under the dark arch of the great +gateway tower.</p> +<p>Not however in Friedel’s dreams had been the hearty +voice that proceeded from the lighted guard-room in the thickness +of the gateway. “Freiherrinn von Adlerstein! Is +it she? Then must I greet my old playmate!” And +the captain of the watch appeared among upraised lanterns and +torches that showed a broad, smooth, plump face beneath a plain +steel helmet.</p> +<p>“Welcome, gracious lady, welcome to your old city. +What! do you not remember Lippus Grundt, your poor +Valentine?”</p> +<p>“Master Philip Grundt!” exclaimed Christina, +amazed at the breadth of visage and person; “and how fares +it with my good Regina?”</p> +<p>“Excellent well, good lady. She manages her trade +and house as well as the good man Bartoläus Fleischer +himself. Blithe will she be to show you her goodly ten, as +I shall my eight,” he continued, walking by her side; +“and Barbara—you remember Barbara Schmidt, +lady—”</p> +<p>“My dear Barbara?—That do I indeed! Is she +your wife?”</p> +<p>“Ay, truly, lady,” he answered, in an odd sort of +apologetic tone; “you see, you returned not, and the +housefathers, they would have it so—and Barbara is a good +housewife.”</p> +<p>“Truly do I rejoice!” said Christina, wishing she +could convey to him how welcome he had been to marry any one he +liked, as far as she was concerned—he, in whom her fears of +mincing goldsmiths had always taken form—then signing with +her hand, “I have my sons likewise to show her.”</p> +<p>“Ah, on foot!” muttered Grundt, as a not +well-conceived apology for not having saluted the young +gentlemen. “I greet you well, sirs,” with a +bow, most haughtily returned by Ebbo, who was heartily wishing +himself on his mountain. “Two lusty, well-grown +Junkern indeed, to whom my Martin will be proud to show the +humours of Ulm. A fair good night, lady! You will +find the old folks right cheery.”</p> +<p>Well did Christina know the turn down the street, darkened by +the overhanging brows of the tall houses, but each lower window +laughing with the glow of light within that threw out the heavy +mullions and the circles and diamonds of the latticework, and +here and there the brilliant tints of stained glass sparkled like +jewels in the upper panes, pictured with Scripture scene, patron +saint, or trade emblem. The familiar porch was reached, the +familiar knock resounded on the iron-studded door. Friedel +lifted his mother from her horse, and felt that she was quivering +from head to foot, and at the same moment the light streamed from +the open door on the white horse, and the two young faces, one +eager, the other with knit brows and uneasy eyes. A kind of +echo pervaded the house, “She is come! she is come!” +and as one in a dream Christina entered, crossed the well-known +hall, looked up to her uncle and aunt on the stairs, perceived +little change on their countenances, and sank upon her knees, +with bowed head and clasped hands.</p> +<p>“My child! my dear child!” exclaimed her uncle, +raising her with one hand, and crossing her brow in benediction +with the other. “Art thou indeed returned?” and +he embraced her tenderly.</p> +<p>“Welcome, fair niece!” said Hausfrau Johanna, more +formally. “I am right glad to greet you +here.”</p> +<p>“Dear, dear mother!” cried Christina, courting her +fond embrace by gestures of the most eager affection, “how +have I longed for this moment! and, above all, to show you my +boys! Herr Uncle, let me present my sons—my Eberhard, +my Friedmund. O Housemother, are not my twins well-grown +lads?” And she stood with a hand on each, proud that +their heads were so far above her own, and looking still so +slight and girlish in figure that she might better have been +their sister than their mother. The cloud that the sudden +light had revealed on Ebbo’s brow had cleared away, and he +made an inclination neither awkward nor ungracious in its free +mountain dignity and grace, but not devoid of mountain rusticity +and shy pride, and far less cordial than was Friedel’s +manner. Both were infinitely relieved to detect nothing of +the greasy burgher, and were greatly struck with the fine +venerable head before them; indeed, Friedel would, like his +mother, have knelt to ask a blessing, had he not been under +command not to outrun his brother’s advances towards her +kindred.</p> +<p>“Welcome, fair Junkern!” said Master Gottfried; +“welcome both for your mother’s sake and your +own! These thy sons, my little one?” he added, +smiling. “Art sure I neither dream nor see +double! Come to the gallery, and let me see thee +better.”</p> +<p>And, ceremoniously giving his hand, he proceeded to lead his +niece up the stairs, while Ebbo, labouring under ignorance of +city forms and uncertainty of what befitted his dignity, +presented his hand to his aunt with an air that half-amused, +half-offended the shrewd dame.</p> +<p>“All is as if I had left you but yesterday!” +exclaimed Christina. “Uncle, have you pardoned +me? You bade me return when my work was done.”</p> +<p>“I should have known better, child. Such return is +not to be sought on this side the grave. Thy work has been +more than I then thought of.”</p> +<p>“Ah! and now will you deem it begun—not +done!” softly said Christina, though with too much +heartfelt exultation greatly to doubt that all the world must be +satisfied with two such boys, if only Ebbo would be his true +self.</p> +<p>The luxury of the house, the wainscoted and tapestried walls, +the polished furniture, the lamps and candles, the damask linen, +the rich array of silver, pewter, and brightly-coloured glass, +were a great contrast to the bare walls and scant necessaries of +Schloss Adlerstein; but Ebbo was resolved not to expose himself +by admiration, and did his best to stifle Friedel’s +exclamations of surprise and delight. Were not these +citizens to suppose that everything was tenfold more costly at +the baronial castle? And truly the boy deserved credit for +the consideration for his mother, which made him merely reserved, +while he felt like a wild eagle in a poultry-yard. It was +no small proof of his affection to forbear more interference with +his mother’s happiness than was the inevitable effect of +that intuition which made her aware that he was chafing and ill +at ease. For his sake, she allowed herself to be placed in +the seat of honour, though she longed, as of old, to nestle at +her uncle’s feet, and be again his child; but, even while +she felt each acceptance of a token of respect as almost an +injury to them, every look and tone was showing how much the same +Christina she had returned.</p> +<p>In truth, though her life had been mournful and oppressed, it +had not been such as to age her early. It had been all +submission, without wear and tear of mind, and too simple in its +trials for care and moiling; so the fresh, lily-like sweetness of +her maiden bloom was almost intact, and, much as she had +undergone, her once frail health had been so braced by the +mountain breezes, that, though delicacy remained, sickliness was +gone from her appearance. There was still the exquisite +purity and tender modesty of expression, but with greater +sweetness in the pensive brown eyes.</p> +<p>“Ah, little one!” said her uncle, after duly +contemplating her; “the change is all for the better! +Thou art grown a wondrously fair dame. There will scarce be +a lovelier in the Kaiserly train.”</p> +<p>Ebbo almost pardoned his great-uncle for being his +great-uncle.</p> +<p>“When she is arrayed as becomes the Frau +Freiherrinn,” said the housewife aunt, looking with concern +at the coarse texture of her black sleeve. “I long to +see our own lady ruffle it in her new gear. I am glad that +the lofty pointed cap has passed out; the coif becomes my child +far better, and I see our tastes still accord as to +fashion.”</p> +<p>“Fashion scarce came above the Debateable Ford,” +said Christina, smiling. “I fear my boys look as if +they came out of the <i>Weltgeschichte</i>, for I could only +shape their garments after my remembrance of the gallants of +eighteen years ago.”</p> +<p>“Their garments are your own shaping!” exclaimed +the aunt, now in an accent of real, not conventional respect.</p> +<p>“Spinning and weaving, shaping and sewing,” said +Friedel, coming near to let the housewife examine the +texture.</p> +<p>“Close woven, even threaded, smooth tinted! Ah, +Stina, thou didst learn something! Thou wert not quite +spoilt by the housefather’s books and carvings.”</p> +<p>“I cannot tell whose teachings have served me best, or +been the most precious to me,” said Christina, with clasped +hands, looking from one to another with earnest love.</p> +<p>“Thou art a good child. Ah! little one, forgive +me; you look so like our child that I cannot bear in mind that +you are the Frau Freiherrinn.”</p> +<p>“Nay, I should deem myself in disgrace with you, did you +keep me at a distance, and not <i>thou</i> me, as your little +Stina,” she fondly answered, half regretting her fond eager +movement, as Ebbo seemed to shrink together with a gesture +perceived by her uncle.</p> +<p>“It is my young lord there who would not forgive the +freedom,” he said, good-humouredly, though gravely.</p> +<p>“Not so,” Ebbo forced himself to say; “not +so, if it makes my mother happy.”</p> +<p>He held up his head rather as if he thought it a fool’s +paradise, but Master Gottfried answered: “The noble +Freiherr is, from all I have heard, too good a son to grudge his +mother’s duteous love even to burgher kindred.”</p> +<p>There was something in the old man’s frank, dignified +tone of grave reproof that at once impressed Ebbo with a sense of +the true superiority of that wise and venerable old age to his +own petulant baronial self-assertion. He had both head and +heart to feel the burgher’s victory, and with a deep blush, +though not without dignity, he answered, “Truly, sir, my +mother has ever taught us to look up to you as her kindest and +best—”</p> +<p>He was going to say “friend,” but a look into the +grand benignity of the countenance completed the conquest, and he +turned it into “father.” Friedel at the same +instant bent his knee, exclaiming, “It is true what Ebbo +says! We have both longed for this day. Bless us, +honoured uncle, as you have blessed my mother.”</p> +<p>For in truth there was in the soul of the boy, who had never +had any but women to look up to, a strange yearning towards +reverence, which was called into action with inexpressible force +by the very aspect and tone of such a sage elder and counsellor +as Master Gottfried Sorel, and he took advantage of the first +opening permitted by his brother. And the sympathy always +so strong between the two quickened the like feeling in Ebbo, so +that the same movement drew him on his knee beside Friedel in +oblivion or renunciation of all lordly pride towards a kinsman +such as he had here encountered.</p> +<p>“Truly and heartily, my fair youths,” said Master +Gottfried, with the same kind dignity, “do I pray the good +God to bless you, and render you faithful and loving sons, not +only to your mother, but to your fatherland.”</p> +<p>He was unable to distinguish between the two exactly similar +forms that knelt before him, yet there was something in the +quivering of Friedel’s head, which made him press it with a +shade more of tenderness than the other. And in truth tears +were welling into the eyes veiled by the fingers that Friedel +clasped over his face, for such a blessing was strange and sweet +to him.</p> +<p>Their mother was ready to weep for joy. There was now no +drawback to her bliss, since her son and her uncle had accepted +one another; and she repaired to her own beloved old chamber a +happier being than she had been since she had left its wainscoted +walls.</p> +<p>Nay, as she gazed out at the familiar outlines of roof and +tower, and felt herself truly at home, then knelt by the little +undisturbed altar of her devotions, with the cross above and her +own patron saint below in carved wood, and the flowers which the +good aunt had ever kept as a freshly renewed offering, she felt +that she was happier, more fully thankful and blissful than even +in the girlish calm of her untroubled life. Her prayer that +she might come again in peace had been more than fulfilled; nay, +when she had seen her boys kneel meekly to receive her +uncle’s blessing, it was in some sort to her as if the work +was done, as if the millstone had been borne up for her, and had +borne her and her dear ones with it.</p> +<p>But there was much to come. She knew full well that, +even though her sons’ first step had been in the right +direction, it was in a path beset with difficulties; and how +would her proud Ebbo meet them?</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE EAGLETS IN THE CITY</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">After</span> having once accepted Master +Gottfried, Ebbo froze towards him and Dame Johanna no more, save +that a naturally imperious temper now and then led to fitful +stiffnesses and momentary haughtiness, which were easily excused +in one so new to the world and afraid of compromising his +rank. In general he could afford to enjoy himself with a +zest as hearty as that of the simpler-minded Friedel.</p> +<p>They were early afoot, but not before the heads of the +household were coming forth for the morning devotions at the +cathedral; and the streets were stirring into activity, and +becoming so peopled that the boys supposed that it was a great +fair day. They had never seen so many people together even +at the Friedmund Wake, and it was several days before they ceased +to exclaim at every passenger as a new curiosity.</p> +<p>The Dome Kirk awed and hushed them. They had looked to +it so long that perhaps no sublunary thing could have realized +their expectations, and Friedel avowed that he did not know what +he thought of it. It was not such as he had dreamt, and, +like a German as he was, he added that he could not think, he +could only feel, that there was something ineffable in it; yet he +was almost disappointed to find his visions unfulfilled, and the +hues of the painted glass less pure and translucent than those of +the ice crystals on the mountains. However after his eye +had become trained, the deep influence of its dim solemn majesty, +and of the echoes of its organ tones, and chants of high praise +or earnest prayer, began to enchain his spirit; and, if ever he +were missing, he was sure to be found among the mysteries of the +cathedral aisles, generally with Ebbo, who felt the spell of the +same grave fascination, since whatever was true of the one +brother was generally true of the other. They were +essentially alike, though some phases of character and taste were +more developed in the one or the other.</p> +<p>Master Gottfried was much edified by their perfect knowledge +of the names and numbers of his books. They instantly, +almost resentfully, missed the Cicero’s <i>Offices</i> that +he had parted with, and joyfully hailed his new acquisitions, +often sitting with heads together over the same book, reading +like active-minded youths who were used to out-of-door life and +exercise in superabundant measure, and to study as a valued +recreation, with only food enough for the intellect to awaken +instead of satisfying it.</p> +<p>They were delighted to obtain instruction from a travelling +student, then attending the schools of Ulm—a meek, timid +lad who, for love of learning and desire of the priesthood, had +endured frightful tyranny from the Bacchanten or elder scholars, +and, having at length attained that rank, had so little heart to +retaliate on the juniors that his contemporaries despised him, +and led him a cruel life until he obtained food and shelter from +Master Gottfried at the pleasant cost of lessons to the young +Barons. Poor Bastien! this land of quiet, civility, and +books was a foretaste of Paradise to him after the hard living, +barbarity, and coarse vices of his comrades, of whom he now and +then disclosed traits that made his present pupils long to give +battle to the big shaggy youths who used to send out the lesser +lads to beg and steal for them, and cruelly maltreated such as +failed in the quest.</p> +<p>Lessons in music and singing were gladly accepted by both +lads, and from their uncle’s carving they could not keep +their hands. Ebbo had begun by enjoining Friedel to +remember that the work that had been sport in the mountains would +be basely mechanical in the city, and Friedel as usual yielded +his private tastes; but on the second day Ebbo himself was +discovered in the workshop, watching the magic touch of the deft +workman, and he was soon so enticed by the perfect appliances as +to take tool in hand and prove himself not unadroit in the +craft. Friedel however excelled in delicacy of touch and +grace and originality of conception, and produced such +workmanship that Master Gottfried could not help stroking his +hair and telling him it was a pity he was not born to belong to +the guild.</p> +<p>“I cannot spare him, sir,” cried Ebbo; +“priest, scholar, minstrel, artist—all want +him.”</p> +<p>“What, Hans of all streets, Ebbo?” interrupted +Friedel.</p> +<p>“And guildmaster of none,” said Ebbo, “save +as a warrior; the rest only enough for a gentleman! For +what I am thou must be!”</p> +<p>But Ebbo did not find fault with the skill Friedel was +bestowing on his work—a carving in wood of a dove brooding +over two young eagles—the device that both were resolved to +assume. When their mother asked what their lady-loves would +say to this, Ebbo looked up, and with the fullest conviction in +his lustrous eyes declared that no love should ever rival his +motherling in his heart. For truly her tender sweetness had +given her sons’ affection a touch of romance, for which +Master Gottfried liked them the better, though his wife thought +their familiarity with her hardly accordant with the patriarchal +discipline of the citizens.</p> +<p>The youths held aloof from these burghers, for Master +Gottfried wisely desired to give them time to be tamed before +running risk of offence, either to, or by, their wild shy pride; +and their mother contrived to time her meetings with her old +companions when her sons were otherwise occupied. Master +Gottfried made it known that the marriage portion he had designed +for his niece had been intrusted to a merchant trading in peltry +to Muscovy, and the sum thus realized was larger than any bride +had yet brought to Adlerstein. Master Gottfried would have +liked to continue the same profitable speculations with it; but +this would have been beyond the young Baron’s endurance, +and his eyes sparkled when his mother spoke of repairing the +castle, refitting the chapel, having a resident chaplain, +cultivating more land, increasing the scanty stock of cattle, and +attempting the improvements hitherto prevented by lack of +means. He fervently declared that the motherling was more +than equal to the wise spinning Queen Bertha of legend and lay; +and the first pleasant sense of wealth came in the acquisition of +horses, weapons, and braveries. In his original mood, Ebbo +would rather have stood before the Diet in his home-spun blue +than have figured in cloth of gold at a burgher’s expense; +but he had learned to love his uncle, he regarded the marriage +portion as family property, and moreover he sorely longed to feel +himself and his brother well mounted, and scarcely less to see +his mother in a velvet gown.</p> +<p>Here was his chief point of sympathy with the housemother, +who, herself precluded from wearing miniver, velvet, or pearls, +longed to deck her niece therewith, in time to receive Sir +Kasimir of Adlerstein Wildschloss, as he had promised to meet his +godsons at Ulm. The knight’s marriage had lasted only +a few years, and had left him no surviving children except one +little daughter, whom he had placed in a nunnery at Ulm, under +the care of her mother’s sister. His lands lay higher +up the Danube, and he was expected at Ulm shortly before the +Emperor’s arrival. He had been chiefly in Flanders +with the King of the Romans, and had only returned to Germany +when the Netherlanders had refused the regency of Maximilian, and +driven him out of their country, depriving him of the custody of +his children.</p> +<p>Pfingsttag, or Pentecost-day, was the occasion of +Christina’s first full toilet, and never was bride more +solicitously or exultingly arrayed than she, while one boy held +the mirror and the other criticized and admired as the aunt +adjusted the pearl-bordered coif, and long white veil floating +over the long-desired black velvet dress. How the two lads +admired and gazed, caring far less for their own new and noble +attire! Friedel was indeed somewhat concerned that the +sword by his side was so much handsomer than that which Ebbo +wore, and which, for all its dinted scabbard and battered hilt, +he was resolved never to discard.</p> +<p>It was a festival of brilliant joy. Wreaths of flowers +hung from the windows; rich tapestries decked the Dome Kirk, and +the relics were displayed in shrines of wonderful costliness of +material and beauty of workmanship; little birds, with thin cakes +fastened to their feet, were let loose to fly about the church, +in strange allusion to the event of the day; the clergy wore +their most gorgeous robes; and the exulting music of the mass +echoed from the vaults of the long-drawn aisles, and brought a +rapt look of deep calm ecstasy over Friedel’s sensitive +features. The beggars evidently considered a festival as a +harvest-day, and crowded round the doors of the cathedral. +As the Lady of Adlerstein came out leaning on Ebbo’s arm, +with Friedel on her other side, they evidently attracted the +notice of a woman whose thin brown face looked the darker for the +striped red and yellow silk kerchief that bound the dark locks +round her brow, as, holding out a beringed hand, she fastened her +glittering jet black eyes on them, and exclaimed, “Alms! if +the fair dame and knightly Junkern would hear what fate has in +store for them.”</p> +<p>“We meddle not with the future, I thank thee,” +said Christina, seeing that her sons, to whom gipsies were an +amazing novelty, were in extreme surprise at the fortune-telling +proposal.</p> +<p>“Yet could I tell much, lady,” said the woman, +still standing in the way. “What would some here +present give to know that the locks that were shrouded by the +widow’s veil ere ever they wore the matron’s coif +shall yet return to the coif once more?”</p> +<p>Ebbo gave a sudden start of dismay and passion; his mother +held him fast. “Push on, Ebbo, mine; heed her not; +she is a mere Bohemian.”</p> +<p>“But how knew she your history, mother?” asked +Friedel, eagerly.</p> +<p>“That might be easily learnt at our Wake,” began +Christina; but her steps were checked by a call from Master +Gottfried just behind. “Frau Freiherrinn, Junkern, +not so fast. Here is your noble kinsman.”</p> +<p>A tall, fine-looking person, in the long rich robe worn on +peaceful occasions, stood forth, doffing his eagle-plumed bonnet, +and, as the lady turned and curtsied low, he put his knee to the +ground and kissed her hand, saying, “Well met, noble dame; +I felt certain that I knew you when I beheld you in the +Dome.”</p> +<p>“He was gazing at her all the time,” whispered +Ebbo to his brother; while their mother, blushing, replied, +“You do me too much honour, Herr Freiherr.”</p> +<p>“Once seen, never to be forgotten,” was the +courteous answer: “and truly, but for the stately height of +these my godsons I would not believe how long since our meeting +was.”</p> +<p>Thereupon, in true German fashion, Sir Kasimir embraced each +youth in the open street, and then, removing his long, +embroidered Spanish glove, he offered his hand, or rather the +tips of his fingers, to lead the Frau Christina home.</p> +<p>Master Sorel had invited him to become his guest at a very +elaborate ornamental festival meal in honour of the great +holiday, at which were to be present several wealthy citizens +with their wives and families, old connections of the Sorel +family. Ebbo had resolved upon treating them with courteous +reserve and distance; but he was surprised to find his cousin of +Wildschloss comporting himself among the burgomasters and their +dames as freely as though they had been his equals, and to see +that they took such demeanour as perfectly natural. Quick +to perceive, the boy gathered that the gulf between noble and +burgher was so great that no intimacy could bridge it over, no +reserve widen it, and that his own bashful hauteur was almost a +sign that he knew that the gulf had been passed by his own +parents; but shame and consciousness did not enable him to alter +his manner but rather added to its stiffness.</p> +<p>“The Junker is like an Englishman,” said Sir +Kasimir, who had met many of the exiles of the Roses at the court +of Mary of Burgundy; and then he turned to discuss with the +guildmasters the interruption to trade caused by Flemish +jealousies.</p> +<p>After the lengthy meal, the tables were removed, the long +gallery was occupied by musicians, and Master Gottfried crossed +the hall to tell his eldest grandnephew that to him he should +depute the opening of the dance with the handsome bride of the +Rathsherr, Ulrich Burger. Ebbo blushed up to the eyes, and +muttered that he prayed his uncle to excuse him.</p> +<p>“So!” said the old citizen, really displeased; +“thy kinsman might have proved to thee that it is no +derogation of thy lordly dignity. I have been patient with +thee, but thy pride passes—”</p> +<p>“Sir,” interposed Friedel hastily, raising his +sweet candid face with a look between shame and merriment, +“it is not that; but you forget what poor mountaineers we +are. Never did we tread a measure save now and then with +our mother on a winter evening, and we know no more than a +chamois of your intricate measures.”</p> +<p>Master Gottfried looked perplexed, for these dances were +matters of great punctilio. It was but seven years since +the Lord of Praunstein had defied the whole city of Frankfort +because a damsel of that place had refused to dance with one of +his Cousins; and, though “Fistright” and letters of +challenge had been made illegal, yet the whole city of Ulm would +have resented the affront put on it by the young lord of +Adlerstein. Happily the Freiherr of Adlerstein Wildschloss +was at hand. “Herr Burgomaster,” he said, +“let me commence the dance with your fair lady niece. +By your testimony,” he added, smiling to the youths, +“she can tread a measure. And, after marking us, you +may try your success with the Rathsherrinn.”</p> +<p>Christina would gladly have transferred her noble partner to +the Rathsherrinn, but she feared to mortify her good uncle and +aunt further, and consented to figure alone with Sir Kasimir in +one of the majestic, graceful dances performed by a single couple +before a gazing assembly. So she let him lead her to her +place, and they bowed and bent, swept past one another, and moved +in interlacing lines and curves, with a grand slow movement that +displayed her quiet grace and his stately port and courtly +air.</p> +<p>“Is it not beautiful to see the motherling?” said +Friedel to his brother; “she sails like a white cloud in a +soft wind. And he stands grand as a stag at +gaze.”</p> +<p>“Like a malapert peacock, say I,” returned Ebbo; +“didst not see, Friedel, how he kept his eyes on her in +church? My uncle says the Bohemians are mere +deceivers. Depend on it the woman had spied his insolent +looks when she made her ribald prediction.”</p> +<p>“See,” said Friedel, who had been watching the +steps rather than attending, “it will be easy to dance it +now. It is a figure my mother once tried to teach us. +I remember it now.”</p> +<p>“Then go and do it, since better may not be.”</p> +<p>“Nay, but it should be thou.”</p> +<p>“Who will know which of us it is? I hated his +presumption too much to mark his antics.”</p> +<p>Friedel came forward, and the substitution was undetected by +all save their mother and uncle; by the latter only because, +addressing Ebbo, he received a reply in a tone such as Friedel +never used.</p> +<p>Natural grace, quickness of ear and eye, and a skilful +partner, rendered Friedel’s so fair a performance that he +ventured on sending his brother to attend the councilloress with +wine and comfits; while he in his own person performed another +dance with the city dame next in pretension, and their mother was +amused by Sir Kasimir’s remark, that her second son danced +better than the elder, but both must learn.</p> +<p>The remark displeased Ebbo. In his isolated castle he +knew no superior, and his nature might yield willingly, but +rebelled at being put down. His brother was his perfect +equal in all mental and bodily attributes, but it was the absence +of all self-assertion that made Ebbo so often give him the +preference; it was his mother’s tender meekness in which +lay her power with him; and if he yielded to Gottfried +Sorel’s wisdom and experience, it was with the inward +consciousness of voluntary deference to one of lower rank. +But here was Wildschloss, of the same noble blood with himself, +his elder, his sponsor, his protector, with every right to direct +him, so that there was no choice between grateful docility and +headstrong folly. If the fellow had been old, weak, or in +any way inferior, it would have been more bearable; but he was a +tried warrior, a sage counsellor, in the prime vigour of manhood, +and with a kindly reasonable authority to which only a fool could +fail to attend, and which for that very reason chafed Ebbo +excessively.</p> +<p>Moreover there was the gipsy prophecy ever rankling in the +lad’s heart, and embittering to him the sight of every +civility from his kinsman to his mother. Sir Kasimir lodged +at a neighbouring hostel; but he spent much time with his +cousins, and tried to make them friends with his squire, Count +Rudiger. A great offence to Ebbo was however the criticisms +of both knight and squire on the bearing of the young Barons in +military exercises. Truly, with no instructor but the rough +lanzknecht Heinz, they must, as Friedel said, have been born +paladins to have equalled youths whose life had been spent in +chivalrous training.</p> +<p>“See us in a downright fight,” said Ebbo; +“we could strike as hard as any courtly minion.”</p> +<p>“As hard, but scarce as dexterously,” said +Friedel, “and be called for our pains the wild +mountaineers. I heard the men-at-arms saying I sat my horse +as though it were always going up or down a precipice; and Master +Schmidt went into his shop the other day shrugging his shoulders, +and saying we hailed one another across the market-place as if we +thought Ulm was a mountain full of gemsbocks.”</p> +<p>“Thou heardst! and didst not cast his insolence in his +teeth?” cried Ebbo.</p> +<p>“How could I,” laughed Friedel, “when the +echo was casting back in my teeth my own shout to thee? I +could only laugh with Rudiger.”</p> +<p>“The chief delight I could have, next to getting home, +would be to lay that fellow Rudiger on his back in the +tilt-yard,” said Ebbo.</p> +<p>But, as Rudiger was by four years his senior, and very expert, +the upshot of these encounters was quite otherwise, and the young +gentlemen were disabused of the notion that fighting came by +nature, and found that, if they desired success in a serious +conflict, they must practise diligently in the city tilt-yard, +where young men were trained to arms. The crossbow was the +only weapon with which they excelled; and, as shooting was a +favourite exercise of the burghers, their proficiency was not as +exclusive as had seemed to Ebbo a baronial privilege. +Harquebuses were novelties to them, and they despised them as +burgher weapons, in spite of Sir Kasimir’s assurance that +firearms were a great subject of study and interest to the King +of the Romans. The name of this personage was, it may be +feared, highly distasteful to the Freiherr von Adlerstein, both +as Wildschloss’s model of knightly perfection, and as one +who claimed submission from his haughty spirit. When Sir +Kasimir spoke to him on the subject of giving his allegiance, he +stiffly replied, “Sir, that is a question for ripe +consideration.”</p> +<p>“It is the question,” said Wildschloss, rather +more lightly than agreed with the Baron’s dignity, +“whether you like to have your castle pulled down about +your ears.”</p> +<p>“That has never happened yet to Adlerstein!” said +Ebbo, proudly.</p> +<p>“No, because since the days of the Hohenstaufen there +has been neither rule nor union in the empire. But times +are changing fast, my Junker, and within the last ten years forty +castles such as yours have been consumed by the Swabian League, +as though they were so many walnuts.”</p> +<p>“The shell of Adlerstein was too hard for them, +though. They never tried.”</p> +<p>“And wherefore, friend Eberhard? It was because I +represented to the Kaiser and the Graf von Wurtemberg that little +profit and no glory would accrue from attacking a crag full of +women and babes, and that I, having the honour to be your next +heir, should prefer having the castle untouched, and under the +peace of the empire, so long as that peace was kept. When +you should come to years of discretion, then it would be for you +to carry out the intention wherewith your father and grandfather +left home.”</p> +<p>“Then we have been protected by the peace of the empire +all this time?” said Friedel, while Ebbo looked as if the +notion were hard of digestion.</p> +<p>“Even so; and, had you not freely and nobly released +your Genoese merchant, it had gone hard with +Adlerstein.”</p> +<p>“Could Adlerstein be taken?” demanded Ebbo +triumphantly.</p> +<p>“Your grandmother thought not,” said Sir Kasimir, +with a shade of irony in his tone. “It would be a +troublesome siege; but the League numbers 1,500 horse, and 9,000 +foot, and, with Schlangenwald’s concurrence, you would be +assuredly starved out.”</p> +<p>Ebbo was so much the more stimulated to take his chance, and +do nothing on compulsion; but Friedel put in the question to what +the oaths would bind them.</p> +<p>“Only to aid the Emperor with sword and counsel in field +or Diet, and thereby win fame and honour such as can scarce be +gained by carrying prey to yon eagle roost.”</p> +<p>“One may preserve one’s independence without +robbery,” said Ebbo coldly.</p> +<p>“Nay, lad: did you ever hear of a wolf that could live +without marauding? Or if he tried, would he get credit for +so doing?”</p> +<p>“After all,” said Friedel, “does not the +present agreement hold till we are of age? I suppose the +Swabian League would attempt nothing against minors, unless we +break the peace?”</p> +<p>“Probably not; I will do my utmost to give the Freiherr +there time to grow beyond his grandmother’s maxims,” +said Wildschloss. “If Schlangenwald do not meddle in +the matter, he may have the next five years to decide whether +Adlerstein can hold out against all Germany.”</p> +<p>“Freiherr Kasimir von Adlerstein Wildschloss,” +said Eberhard, turning solemnly on him, “I do you to wit +once for all that threats will not serve with me. If I +submit, it will be because I am convinced it is right. +Otherwise we had rather both be buried in the ruins of our +castle, as its last free lords.”</p> +<p>“So!” said the provoking kinsman; “such +burials look grim when the time comes, but happily it is not +coming yet!”</p> +<p>Meantime, as Ebbo said to Friedel, how much might +happen—a disruption of the empire, a crusade against the +Turks, a war in Italy, some grand means of making the Diet value +the sword of a free baron, without chaining him down to gratify +the greed of hungry Austria. If only Wildschloss could be +shaken off! But he only became constantly more friendly and +intrusive, almost paternal. No wonder, when the mother and +her uncle made him so welcome, and were so intolerably grateful +for his impertinent interference, while even Friedel confessed +the reasonableness of his counsels, as if that were not the very +sting of them.</p> +<p>He even asked leave to bring his little daughter Thekla from +her convent to see the Lady of Adlerstein. She was a +pretty, flaxen-haired maiden of five years old, in a round cap, +and long narrow frock, with a little cross at the neck. She +had never seen any one beyond the walls of the nunnery; and, when +her father took her from the lay sister’s arms, and carried +her to the gallery, where sat Hausfrau Johanna, in dark green, +slashed with cherry colour, Master Gottfried, in sober crimson, +with gold medal and chain, Freiherrinn Christina, in +silver-broidered black, and the two Junkern stood near in the +shining mail in which they were going to the tilt yard, she +turned her head in terror, struggled with her scarce known +father, and shrieked for Sister Grethel.</p> +<p>“It was all too sheen,” she sobbed, in the lay +sister’s arms; “she did not want to be in Paradise +yet, among the saints! O! take her back! The two +bright, holy Michaels would let her go, for indeed she had made +but one mistake in her Ave.”</p> +<p>Vain was the attempt to make her lift her face from the black +serge shoulder where she had hidden it. Sister Grethel +coaxed and scolded, Sir Kasimir reproved, the housemother offered +comfits, and Christina’s soft voice was worst of all, for +the child, probably taking her for Our Lady herself, began to +gasp forth a general confession. “I will never do so +again! Yes, it was a fib, but Mother Hildegard gave me a +bit of marchpane not to tell—” Here the lay +sister took strong measures for closing the little mouth, and +Christina drew back, recommending that the child should be left +gradually to discover their terrestrial nature. Ebbo had +looked on with extreme disgust, trying to hurry Friedel, who had +delayed to trace some lines for his mother on her broidery +pattern. In passing the step where Grethel sat with Thekla +on her lap, the clank of their armour caused the uplifting of the +little flaxen head, and two wide blue eyes looked over +Grethel’s shoulder, and met Friedel’s sunny +glance. He smiled; she laughed back again. He held +out his arms, and, though his hands were gauntleted, she let him +lift her up, and curiously smoothed and patted his cheek, as if +he had been a strange animal.</p> +<p>“You have no wings,” she said. “Are +you St. George, or St. Michael?”</p> +<p>“Neither the one nor the other, pretty one. Only +your poor cousin Friedel von Adlerstein, and here is Ebbo, my +brother.”</p> +<p>It was not in Ebbo’s nature not to smile encouragement +at the fair little face, with its wistful look. He drew off +his glove to caress her silken hair, and for a few minutes she +was played with by the two brothers like a newly-invented toy, +receiving their attentions with pretty half-frightened +graciousness, until Count Rudiger hastened in to summon them, and +Friedel placed her on his mother’s knee, where she speedily +became perfectly happy, and at ease.</p> +<p>Her extreme delight, when towards evening the Junkern +returned, was flattering even to Ebbo; and, when it was time for +her to be taken home, she made strong resistance, clinging fast +to Christina, with screams and struggles. To the +lady’s promise of coming to see her she replied, +“Friedel and Ebbo, too,” and, receiving no response +to this request, she burst out, “Then I won’t +come! I am the Freiherrinn Thekla, the heiress of +Adlerstein Wildschloss and Felsenbach. I won’t be a +nun. I’ll be married! You shall be my +husband,” and she made a dart at the nearest youth, who +happened to be Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Ay, ay, you shall have him. He will come for you, +sweetest Fraulein,” said the perplexed Grethel, “so +only you will come home! Nobody will come for you if you +are naughty.”</p> +<p>“Will you come if I am good?” said the spoilt +cloister pet, clinging tight to Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said her father, as she still resisted, +“come back, my child, and one day shall you see Ebbo, and +have him for a brother.”</p> +<p>Thereat Ebbo shook off the little grasping fingers, almost as +if they had belonged to a noxious insect.</p> +<p>“The matron’s coif should succeed the +widow’s veil.” He might talk with scholarly +contempt of the new race of Bohemian impostors; but there was no +forgetting that sentence. And in like manner, though his +grandmother’s allegation that his mother had been bent on +captivating Sir Kasimir in that single interview at Adlerstein, +had always seemed to him the most preposterous of all +Kunigunde’s forms of outrage, the recollection would recur +to him; and he could have found it in his heart to wish that his +mother had never heard of the old lady’s designs as to the +oubliette. He did most sincerely wish Master Gottfried had +never let Wildschloss know of the mode in which his life had been +saved. Yet, while it would have seemed to him profane to +breathe even to Friedel the true secret of his repugnance to this +meddlesome kinsman, it was absolutely impossible to avoid his +most distasteful authority and patronage.</p> +<p>And the mother herself was gently, thankfully happy and +unsuspicious, basking in the tender home affection of which she +had so long been deprived, proud of her sons, and, though anxious +as to Ebbo’s decision, with a quiet trust in his foundation +of principle, and above all trusting to prayer.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">One</span> summer evening, when shooting +at a bird on a pole was in full exercise in the tilt-yard, the +sports were interrupted by a message from the Provost that a +harbinger had brought tidings that the Imperial court was within +a day’s journey.</p> +<p>All was preparation. Fresh sand had to be strewn on the +arena. New tapestry hangings were to deck the galleries, +the houses and balconies to be brave with drapery, the fountain +in the market-place was to play Rhine wine, all Ulm was astir to +do honour to itself and to the Kaisar, and Ebbo stood amid all +the bustle, drawing lines in the sand with the stock of his +arblast, subject to all that oppressive self-magnification so +frequent in early youth, and which made it seem to him as if the +Kaisar and the King of the Romans were coming to Ulm with the +mere purpose of destroying his independence, and as if the eyes +of all Germany were watching for his humiliation.</p> +<p>“See! see!” suddenly exclaimed Friedel; +“look! there is something among the tracery of the Dome +Kirk Tower. Is it man or bird?”</p> +<p>“Bird, folly! Thou couldst see no bird less than +an eagle from hence,” said Ebbo. “No doubt they +are about to hoist a banner.”</p> +<p>“That is not their wont,” returned Sir +Kasimir.</p> +<p>“I see him,” interrupted Ebbo. “Nay, +but he is a bold climber! We went up to that stage, close +to the balcony, but there’s no footing beyond but crockets +and canopies.”</p> +<p>“And a bit of rotten scaffold,” added +Friedel. “Perhaps he is a builder going to examine +it! Up higher, higher!”</p> +<p>“A builder!” said Ebbo; “a man with a head +and foot like that should be a chamois hunter! Shouldst +thou deem it worse than the Red Eyrie, Friedel?”</p> +<p>“Yea, truly! The depth beneath is plainer! +There would be no climbing there without—”</p> +<p>“Without what, cousin?” asked Wildschloss.</p> +<p>“Without great cause,” said Friedel. +“It is fearful! He is like a fly against the +sky.”</p> +<p>“Beaten again!” muttered Ebbo; “I did think +that none of these town-bred fellows could surpass us when it +came to a giddy height! Who can he be?”</p> +<p>“Look! look!” burst out Friedel. “The +saints protect him! He is on that narrowest topmost +ledge—measuring; his heel is over the parapet—half +his foot!”</p> +<p>“Holding on by the rotten scaffold pole! St. +Barbara be his speed; but he is a brave man!” shouted +Ebbo. “Oh! the pole has broken.”</p> +<p>“Heaven forefend!” cried Wildschloss, with despair +on his face unseen by the boys, for Friedel had hidden his eyes, +and Ebbo was straining his with the intense gaze of horror. +He had carried his glance downwards, following the 380 feet fall +that must be the lot of the adventurer. Then looking up +again he shouted, “I see him! I see him! Praise +to St. Barbara! He is safe! He has caught by the +upright stone work.”</p> +<p>“Where? where? Show me!” cried Wildschloss, +grasping Ebbo’s arm.</p> +<p>“There! clinging to that upright bit of tracery, +stretching his foot out to yonder crocket.”</p> +<p>“I cannot see. Mine eyes swim and dazzle,” +said Wildschloss. “Merciful heavens! is this another +tempting of Providence? How is it with him now, +Ebbo?”</p> +<p>“Swarming down another slender bit of the stone +network. It must be easy now to one who could keep head and +hand steady in such a shock.”</p> +<p>“There!” added Friedel, after a breathless space, +“he is on the lower parapet, whence begins the stair. +Do you know him, sir? Who is he?”</p> +<p>“Either a Venetian mountebank,” said Wildschloss, +“or else there is only one man I know of either so +foolhardy or so steady of head.”</p> +<p>“Be he who he may,” said Ebbo, “he is the +bravest man that ever I beheld. Who is he, Sir +Kasimir?”</p> +<p>“An eagle of higher flight than ours, no doubt,” +said Wildschloss. “But come; we shall reach the Dome +Kirk by the time the climber has wound his way down the turret +stairs, and we shall see what like he is.”</p> +<p>Their coming was well timed, for a small door at the foot of +the tower was just opening to give exit to a very tall knight, in +one of those short Spanish cloaks the collar of which could be +raised so as to conceal the face. He looked to the right +and left, and had one hand raised to put up the collar when he +recognized Sir Kasimir, and, holding out both hands, exclaimed, +“Ha, Adlerstein! well met! I looked to see thee +here. No unbonneting; I am not come yet. I am at +Strasburg, with the Kaisar and the Archduke, and am not here till +we ride in, in purple and in pall by the time the good folk have +hung out their arras, and donned their gold chains, and conned +their speeches, and mounted their mules.”</p> +<p>“Well that their speeches are not over the lykewake of +his kingly kaisarly highness,” gravely returned Sir +Kasimir.</p> +<p>“Ha! Thou sawest? I came out here to avoid +the gaping throng, who don’t know what a hunter can +do. I have been in worse case in the Tyrol. +Snowdrifts are worse footing than stone vine leaves.”</p> +<p>“Where abides your highness?” asked +Wildschloss.</p> +<p>“I ride back again to the halting-place for the night, +and meet my father in time to do my part in the pageant. I +was sick of the addresses, and, moreover, the purse-proud +Flemings have made such a stiff little fop of my poor boy that I +am ashamed to look at him, or hear his French accent. So I +rode off to get a view of this notable Dom in peace, ere it be +bedizened in holiday garb; and one can’t stir without all +the Chapter waddling after one.”</p> +<p>“Your highness has found means of distancing +them.”</p> +<p>“Why, truly, the Prior would scarce delight in the view +from yonder parapet,” laughed his highness. +“Ha! Adlerstein, where didst get such a perfect pair +of pages? I would I could match my hounds as +well.”</p> +<p>“They are no pages of mine, so please you,” said +the knight; “rather this is the head of my name. Let +me present to your kingly highness the Freiherr von +Adlerstein.”</p> +<p>“Thou dost not thyself distinguish between them!” +said Maximilian, as Friedmund stepped back, putting forward +Eberhard, whose bright, lively smile of interest and admiration +had been the cause of his cousin’s mistake. They +would have doffed their caps and bent the knee, but were hastily +checked by Maximilian. “No, no, Junkern, I shall owe +you no thanks for bringing all the street on +me!—that’s enough. Reserve the rest for Kaisar +Fritz.” Then, familiarly taking Sir Kasimir’s +arm, he walked on, saying, “I remember now. Thou +wentest after an inheritance from the old Mouser of the +Debateable Ford, and wert ousted by a couple of lusty boys sprung +of a peasant wedlock.”</p> +<p>“Nay, my lord, of a burgher lady, fair as she is wise +and virtuous; who, spite of all hindrances, has bred up these +youths in all good and noble nurture.”</p> +<p>“Is this so?” said the king, turning sharp round +on the twins. “Are ye minded to quit freebooting, and +come a crusading against the Turks with me?”</p> +<p>“Everywhere with such a leader!” enthusiastically +exclaimed Ebbo.</p> +<p>“What? up there?” said Maximilian, smiling. +“Thou hast the tread of a chamois-hunter.”</p> +<p>“Friedel has been on the Red Eyrie,” exclaimed +Ebbo; then, thinking he had spoken foolishly, he coloured.</p> +<p>“Which is the Red Eyrie?” good-humouredly asked +the king.</p> +<p>“It is the crag above our castle,” said Friedel, +modestly.</p> +<p>“None other has been there,” added Ebbo, +perceiving his auditor’s interest; “but he saw the +eagle flying away with a poor widow’s kid, and the sight +must have given him wings, for we never could find the same path; +but here is one of the feathers he brought +down”—taking off his cap so as to show a feather +rather the worse for wear, and sheltered behind a fresher +one.</p> +<p>“Nay,” said Friedel, “thou shouldst say that +I came to a ledge where I had like to have stayed all night, but +that ye all came out with men and ropes.”</p> +<p>“We know what such a case is!” said the +king. “It has chanced to us to hang between heaven +and earth; I’ve even had the Holy Sacrament held up for my +last pious gaze by those who gave me up for lost on the +mountain-side. Adlerstein? The peak above the +Braunwasser? Some day shall ye show me this eyrie of yours, +and we will see whether we can amaze our cousins the +eagles. We see you at our father’s court +to-morrow?” he graciously added, and Ebbo gave a ready bow +of acquiescence.</p> +<p>“There,” said the king, as after their dismissal +he walked on with Sir Kasimir, “never blame me for rashness +and imprudence. Here has this height of the steeple proved +the height of policy. It has made a loyal subject of a +Mouser on the spot.”</p> +<p>“Pray Heaven it may have won a heart, true though +proud!” said Wildschloss; “but mousing was cured +before by the wise training of the mother. Your highness +will have taken out the sting of submission, and you will scarce +find more faithful subjects.”</p> +<p>“How old are the Junkern?”</p> +<p>“Some sixteen years, your highness.”</p> +<p>“That is what living among mountains does for a +lad. Why could not those thrice-accursed Flemish towns let +me breed up my boy to be good for something in the mountains, +instead of getting duck-footed and muddy-witted in the +fens?”</p> +<p>In the meantime Ebbo and Friedel were returning home in that +sort of passion of enthusiasm that ingenuous boyhood feels when +first brought into contact with greatness or brilliant +qualities.</p> +<p>And brilliance was the striking point in Maximilian. The +Last of the Knights, in spite of his many defects, was, by +personal qualities, and the hereditary influence of +long-descended rank, verily a king of men in aspect and +demeanour, even when most careless and simple. He was at +this time a year or two past thirty, unusually tall, and with a +form at once majestic and full of vigour and activity; a noble, +fair, though sunburnt countenance; eyes of dark gray, almost +black; long fair hair, a keen aquiline nose, a lip only beginning +to lengthen to the characteristic Austrian feature, an expression +always lofty, sometimes dreamy, and yet at the same time full of +acuteness and humour. His abilities were of the highest +order, his purposes, especially at this period of his life, most +noble and becoming in the first prince of Christendom; and, if +his life were a failure, and his reputation unworthy of his +endowments, the cause seems to have been in great measure the +bewilderment and confusion that unusual gifts sometimes cause to +their possessor, whose sight their conflicting illumination +dazzles so as to impair his steadiness of aim, while their +contending gleams light him into various directions, so that one +object is deserted for another ere its completion. Thus +Maximilian cuts a figure in history far inferior to that made by +his grandson, Charles V., whom he nevertheless excelled in every +personal quality, except the most needful of all, force of +character; and, in like manner, his remote descendant, the +narrow-minded Ferdinand of Styria, gained his ends, though the +able and brilliant Joseph II. was to die broken-hearted, calling +his reign a failure and mistake. However, such terms as +these could not be applied to Maximilian with regard to home +affairs. He has had hard measure from those who have only +regarded his vacillating foreign policy, especially with respect +to Italy—ever the temptation and the bane of Austria; but +even here much of his uncertain conduct was owing to the +unfulfilled promises of what he himself called his “realm +of kings,” and a sovereign can only justly be estimated by +his domestic policy. The contrast of the empire before his +time with the subsequent Germany is that of chaos with +order. Since the death of Friedrich II. the Imperial title +had been a mockery, making the prince who chanced to bear it a +mere mark for the spite of his rivals; there was no centre of +justice, no appeal; everybody might make war on everybody, with +the sole preliminary of exchanging a challenge; +“fist-right” was the acknowledged law of the land; +and, except in the free cities, and under such a happy accident +as a right-minded prince here and there, the state of Germany +seems to have been rather worse than that of Scotland from Bruce +to the union of the Crowns. Under Maximilian, the Diet +became an effective council, fist-right was abolished, +independent robber-lords put down, civilization began to effect +an entrance, the system of circles was arranged, and the empire +again became a leading power in Europe, instead of a mere vortex +of disorder and misrule. Never would Charles V. have held +the position he occupied had he come after an ordinary man, +instead of after an able and sagacious reformer like that +Maximilian who is popularly regarded as a fantastic caricature of +a knight-errant, marred by avarice and weakness of purpose.</p> +<p>At the juncture of which we are writing, none of +Maximilian’s less worthy qualities had appeared; he had not +been rendered shifty and unscrupulous by difficulties and +disappointments in money matters, and had not found it impossible +to keep many of the promises he had given in all good +faith. He stood forth as the hope of Germany, in salient +contrast to the feeble and avaricious father, who was felt to be +the only obstacle in the way of his noble designs of establishing +peace and good discipline in the empire, and conducting a general +crusade against the Turks, whose progress was the most +threatening peril of Christendom. His fame was, of course, +frequently discussed among the citizens, with whom he was very +popular, not only from his ease and freedom of manner, but +because his graceful tastes, his love of painting, sculpture, +architecture, and the mechanical turn which made him an improver +of fire-arms and a patron of painting and engraving, rendered +their society more agreeable to him than that of his dull, +barbarous nobility. Ebbo had heard so much of the +perfections of the King of the Romans as to be prepared to hate +him; but the boy, as we have seen, was of a generous, sensitive +nature, peculiarly prone to enthusiastic impressions of +veneration; and Maximilian’s high-spirited manhood, +personal fascination, and individual kindness had so entirely +taken him by surprise, that he talked of him all the evening in a +more fervid manner than did even Friedel, though both could +scarcely rest for their anticipations of seeing him on the morrow +in the full state of his entry.</p> +<p>Richly clad, and mounted on cream-coloured steeds, nearly as +much alike as themselves, the twins were a pleasant sight for a +proud mother’s eyes, as they rode out to take their place +in the procession that was to welcome the royal guests. +Master Sorel, in ample gown, richly furred, with medal and chain +of office, likewise went forth as Guildmaster; and Christina, +with smiling lips and liquid eyes, recollected the days when to +see him in such array was her keenest pleasure, and the utmost +splendour her fancy could depict.</p> +<p>Arrayed, as her sons loved to see her, in black velvet, and +with pearl-bordered cap, Christina sat by her aunt in the +tapestried balcony, and between them stood or sat little Thekla +von Adlerstein Wildschloss, whose father had entrusted her to +their care, to see the procession pass by. A rich Eastern +carpet, of gorgeous colouring, covered the upper balustrade, over +which they leant, in somewhat close quarters with the +scarlet-bodiced dames of the opposite house, but with ample space +for sight up and down the rows of smiling expectants at each +balcony, or window, equally gay with hangings, while the bells of +all the churches clashed forth their gayest chimes, and fitful +bursts of music were borne upon the breeze. Little Thekla +danced in the narrow space for very glee, and wondered why any +one should live in a cloister when the world was so wide and so +fair. And Dame Johanna tried to say something pious of +worldly temptations, and the cloister shelter; but Thekla +interrupted her, and, clinging to Christina, exclaimed, +“Nay, but I am always naughty with Mother Ludmilla in the +convent, and I know I should never be naughty out here with you +and the barons; I should be so happy.”</p> +<p>“Hush! hush! little one; here they come!”</p> +<p>On they came—stout lanzknechts first, the city guard +with steel helmets unadorned, buff suits, and bearing either +harquebuses, halberts, or those handsome but terrible weapons, +morning stars. Then followed guild after guild, each +preceded by the banner bearing its homely emblem—the +cauldron of the smiths, the hose of the clothiers, the helmet of +the armourers, the bason of the barbers, the boot of the sutors; +even the sausage of the cooks, and the shoe of the shoeblacks, +were re-presented, as by men who gloried in the calling in which +they did life’s duty and task.</p> +<p>First in each of these bands marched the prentices, stout, +broad, flat-faced lads, from twenty to fourteen years of age, +with hair like tow hanging from under their blue caps, staves in +their hands, and knives at their girdles. Behind them came +the journeymen, in leathern jerkins and steel caps, and armed +with halberts or cross-bows; men of all ages, from sixty to one +or two and twenty, and many of the younger ones with foreign +countenances and garb betokening that they were strangers +spending part of their wandering years in studying the Ulm +fashions of their craft. Each trade showed a large array of +these juniors; but the masters who came behind were comparatively +few, mostly elderly, long-gowned, gold-chained personages, with a +weight of solid dignity on their wise brows—men who +respected themselves, made others respect them, and kept their +city a peaceful, well-ordered haven, while storms raged in the +realm beyond—men too who had raised to the glory of their +God a temple, not indeed fulfilling the original design, but a +noble effort, and grand monument of burgher devotion.</p> +<p>Then came the ragged regiment of scholars, wild lads from +every part of Germany and Switzerland, some wan and pinched with +hardship and privation, others sturdy, selfish rogues, evidently +well able to take care of themselves. There were many rude, +tyrannical-looking lads among the older lads; and, though here +and there a studious, earnest face might be remarked, the +prospect of Germany’s future priests and teachers was not +encouraging. And what a searching ordeal was awaiting those +careless lads when the voice of one, as yet still a student, +should ring through Germany!</p> +<p>Contrasting with these ill-kempt pupils marched the grave +professors and teachers, in square ecclesiastic caps and long +gowns, whose colours marked their degrees and the Universities +that had conferred them—some thin, some portly, some +jocund, others dreamy; some observing all the humours around, +others still intent on Aristotelian ethics; all men of high fame, +with doctor at the beginning of their names, and “or” +or “us” at the close of them. After them rode +the magistracy, a burgomaster from each guild, and the Herr +Provost himself—as great a potentate within his own walls +as the Doge of Venice or of Genoa, or perhaps greater, because +less jealously hampered. In this dignified group was Uncle +Gottfried, by complacent nod and smile acknowledging his good +wife and niece, who indeed had received many a previous glance +and bow from friends passing beneath. But Master Sorel was +no new spectacle in a civic procession, and the sight of him was +only a pleasant fillip to the excitement of his ladies.</p> +<p>Here was jingling of spurs and trampling of horses; heraldic +achievements showed upon the banners, round which rode the +mail-clad retainers of country nobles who had mustered to meet +their lords. Then, with still more of clank and tramp, rode +a bright-faced troop of lads, with feathered caps and gay +mantles. Young Count Rudiger looked up with courteous +salutation; and just behind him, with smiling lips and upraised +faces, were the pair whose dark eyes, dark hair, and slender +forms rendered them conspicuous among the fair Teutonic +youth. Each cap was taken off and waved, and each pair of +lustrous eyes glanced up pleasure and exultation at the sight of +the lovely “Mutterlein.” And she? The +pageant was well-nigh over to her, save for heartily agreeing +with Aunt Johanna that there was not a young noble of them all to +compare with the twin Barons of Adlerstein! However, she +knew she should be called to account if she did not look well at +“the Romish King;” besides, Thekla was shrieking with +delight at the sight of her father, tall and splendid on his +mighty black charger, with a smile for his child, and for the +lady a bow so low and deferential that it was evidently remarked +by those at whose approach every lady in the balconies was +rising, every head in the street was bared.</p> +<p>A tall, thin, shrivelled, but exceedingly stately old man on a +gray horse was in the centre. Clad in a purple velvet +mantle, and bowing as he went, he looked truly the Kaisar, to +whom stately courtesy was second nature. On one side, in +black and gold, with the jewel of the Golden Fleece on his +breast, rode Maximilian, responding gracefully to the salutations +of the people, but his keen gray eye roving in search of the +object of Sir Kasimir’s salute, and lighting on Christina +with such a rapid, amused glance of discovery that, in her +confusion, she missed what excited Dame Johanna’s rapturous +admiration—the handsome boy on the Emperor’s other +side, a fair, plump lad, the young sovereign of the Low +Countries, beautiful in feature and complexion, but lacking the +fire and the loftiness that characterized his father’s +countenance. The train was closed by the Reitern of the +Emperor’s guard—steel-clad mercenaries who were +looked on with no friendly eyes by the few gazers in the street +who had been left behind in the general rush to keep up with the +attractive part of the show.</p> +<p>Pageants of elaborate mythological character impeded the +imperial progress at every stage, and it was full two hours ere +the two youths returned, heartily weary of the lengthened +ceremonial, and laughing at having actually seen the King of the +Romans enduring to be conducted from shrine to shrine in the +cathedral by a large proportion of its dignitaries. Ebbo +was sure he had caught an archly disconsolate wink!</p> +<p>Ebbo had to dress for the banquet spread in the +town-hall. Space was wanting for the concourse of guests, +and Master Sorel had decided that the younger Baron should not be +included in the invitation. Friedel pardoned him more +easily than did Ebbo, who not only resented any slight to his +double, but in his fits of shy pride needed the aid of his +readier and brighter other self. But it might not be, and +Sir Kasimir and Master Gottfried alone accompanied him, hoping +that he would not look as wild as a hawk, and would do nothing to +diminish the favourable impression he had made on the King of the +Romans.</p> +<p>Late, according to mediæval hours, was the return, and +Ebbo spoke in a tone of elation. “The Kaisar was most +gracious, and the king knew me,” he said, “and asked +for thee, Friedel, saying one of us was nought without the +other. But thou wilt go to-morrow, for we are to receive +knighthood.”</p> +<p>“Already!” exclaimed Friedel, a bright glow +rushing to his cheek.</p> +<p>“Yea,” said Ebbo. “The Romish king +said somewhat about waiting to win our spurs; but the Kaisar said +I was in a position to take rank as a knight, and I thanked him, +so thou shouldst share the honour.”</p> +<p>“The Kaisar,” said Wildschloss, “is not the +man to let a knight’s fee slip between his fingers. +The king would have kept off their grip, and reserved you for +knighthood from his own sword under the banner of the empire; but +there is no help for it now, and you must make your vassals send +in their dues.”</p> +<p>“My vassals?” said Ebbo; “what could they +send?”</p> +<p>“The aid customary on the knighthood of the +heir.”</p> +<p>“But there is—there is nothing!” said +Friedel. “They can scarce pay meal and poultry enough +for our daily fare; and if we were to flay them alive, we should +not get sixty groschen from the whole.”</p> +<p>“True enough! Knighthood must wait till we win +it,” said Ebbo, gloomily.</p> +<p>“Nay, it is accepted,” said Wildschloss. +“The Kaisar loves his iron chest too well to let you go +back. You must be ready with your round sum to the +chancellor, and your spur-money and your fee to the heralds, and +largess to the crowd.”</p> +<p>“Mother, the dowry,” said Ebbo.</p> +<p>“At your service, my son,” said Christina, anxious +to chase the cloud from his brow.</p> +<p>But it was a deep haul, for the avaricious Friedrich IV. made +exorbitant charges for the knighting his young nobles; and Ebbo +soon saw that the improvements at home must suffer for the +honours that would have been so much better won than bought.</p> +<p>“If your vassals cannot aid, yet may not your +kinsman—?” began Wildschloss.</p> +<p>“No!” interrupted Ebbo, lashed up to hot +indignation. “No, sir! Rather will my mother, +brother, and I ride back this very night to unfettered liberty on +our mountain, without obligation to any living man.”</p> +<p>“Less hotly, Sir Baron,” said Master Gottfried, +gravely. “You broke in on your noble godfather, and +you had not heard me speak. You and your brother are the +old man’s only heirs, nor do ye incur any obligation that +need fret you by forestalling what would be your just +right. I will see my nephews as well equipped as any young +baron of them.”</p> +<p>The mother looked anxiously at Ebbo. He bent his head +with rising colour, and said, “Thanks, kind uncle. +From <i>you</i> I have learnt to look on goodness as +fatherly.”</p> +<p>“Only,” added Friedel, “if the Baron’s +station renders knighthood fitting for him, surely I might remain +his esquire.”</p> +<p>“Never, Friedel!” cried his brother. +“Without thee, nothing.”</p> +<p>“Well said, Freiherr,” said Master Sorel; +“what becomes the one becomes the other. I would not +have thee left out, my Friedel, since I cannot leave thee the +mysteries of my craft.”</p> +<p>“To-morrow!” said Friedel, gravely. +“Then must the vigil be kept to-night.”</p> +<p>“The boy thinks these are the days of Roland and Karl +the Great,” said Wildschloss. “He would fain +watch his arms in the moonlight in the Dome Kirk! Alas! no, +my Friedel! Knighthood in these days smacks more of bezants +than of deeds of prowess.”</p> +<p>“Unbearable fellow!” cried Ebbo, when he had +latched the door of the room he shared with his brother. +“First, holding up my inexperience to scorn! As +though the Kaisar knew not better than he what befits me! +Then trying to buy my silence and my mother’s gratitude +with his hateful advance of gold. As if I did not loathe +him enough without! If I pay my homage, and sign the League +to-morrow, it will be purely that he may not plume himself on our +holding our own by sufferance, in deference to him.”</p> +<p>“You will sign it—you will do homage!” +exclaimed Friedel. “How rejoiced the mother will +be.”</p> +<p>“I had rather depend at once—if depend I +must—on yonder dignified Kaisar and that noble king than on +our meddling kinsman,” said Ebbo. “I shall be +his equal now! Ay, and no more classed with the court +Junkern I was with to-day. The dullards! No one +reasonable thing know they but the chase. One had been at +Florence; and when I asked him of the Baptistery and rare Giotto +of whom my uncle told us, he asked if he were a knight of the +Medici. All he knew was that there were ortolans at Ser +Lorenzo’s table; and he and the rest of them talked over +wines as many and as hard to call as the roll of +Æneas’s comrades; and when each one must drink to her +he loved best, and I said I loved none like my sweet mother, they +gibed me for a simple dutiful mountaineer. Yea, and when +the servants brought a bowl, I thought it was a wholesome draught +of spring water after all their hot wines and fripperies. +Pah!”</p> +<p>“The rose-water, Ebbo! No wonder they +laughed! Why, the bowls for our fingers came round at the +banquet here.”</p> +<p>“Ah! thou hast eyes for their finikin manners! Yet +what know they of what we used to long for in polished +life! Not one but vowed he abhorred books, and cursed Dr. +Faustus for multiplying them. I may not know the taste of a +stew, nor the fit of a glove, as they do, but I trust I bear a +less empty brain. And the young Netherlanders that came +with the Archduke were worst of all. They got together and +gabbled French, and treated the German Junkern with the very same +sauce with which they had served me. The Archduke laughed +with them, and when the Provost addressed him, made as if he +understood not, till his father heard, and thundered out, +‘How now, Philip! Deaf on thy German ear? I +tell thee, Herr Probst, he knows his own tongue as well as thou +or I, and thou shalt hear him speak as becomes the son of an +Austrian hunter.’ That Romish king is a knight of +knights, Friedel. I could follow him to the world’s +end. I wonder whether he will ever come to climb the Red +Eyrie.”</p> +<p>“It does not seem the world’s end when one is +there,” said Friedel, with strange yearnings in his +breast.</p> +<p>“Even the Dom steeple never rose to its full +height,” he added, standing in the window, and gazing +pensively into the summer sky. “Oh, Ebbo! this +knighthood has come very suddenly after our many dreams; and, +even though its outward tokens be lowered, it is still a holy, +awful thing.”</p> +<p>Nurtured in mountain solitude, on romance transmitted through +the pure medium of his mother’s mind, and his spirit +untainted by contact with the world, Friedmund von Adlerstein +looked on chivalry with the temper of a Percival or Galahad, and +regarded it with a sacred awe. Eberhard, though treating it +more as a matter of business, was like enough to his brother to +enter into the force of the vows they were about to make; and if +the young Barons of Adlerstein did not perform the night-watch +over their armour, yet they kept a vigil that impressed their own +minds as deeply, and in early morn they went to confession and +mass ere the gay parts of the city were astir.</p> +<p>“Sweet niece,” said Master Sorel, as he saw the +brothers’ grave, earnest looks, “thou hast done well +by these youths; yet I doubt me at times whether they be not too +much lifted out of this veritable world of ours.”</p> +<p>“Ah, fair uncle, were they not above it, how could they +face its temptations?”</p> +<p>“True, my child; but how will it be when they find how +lightly others treat what to them is so solemn?”</p> +<p>“There must be temptations for them, above all for +Ebbo,” said Christina, “but still, when I remember +how my heart sank when their grandmother tried to bring them up +to love crime as sport and glory, I cannot but trust that the +good work will be wrought out, and my dream fulfilled, that they +may be lights on earth and stars in heaven. Even this +matter of homage, that seemed so hard to my Ebbo, has now been +made easy to him by his veneration for the Emperor.”</p> +<p>It was even so. If the sense that he was the last +veritable <i>free</i> lord of Adlerstein rushed over Ebbo, he +was, on the other hand, overmastered by the kingliness of +Friedrich and Maximilian, and was aware that this submission, +while depriving him of little or no actual power, brought him +into relations with the civilized world, and opened to him paths +of true honour. So the ceremonies were gone through, his +oath of allegiance was made, investiture was granted to him by +the delivery of a sword, and both he and Friedel were dubbed +knights. Then they shared another banquet, where, as away +from the Junkern and among elder men, Ebbo was happier than the +day before. Some of the knights seemed to him as rude and +ignorant as the Schneiderlein, but no one talked to him nor +observed his manners, and he could listen to conversation on war +and policy such as interested him far more than the subjects +affected by youths a little older than himself. Their +lonely life and training had rendered the minds of the brothers +as much in advance of their fellows as they were behind them in +knowledge of the world.</p> +<p>The crass obtuseness of most of the nobility made it a relief +to return to the usual habits of the Sorel household when the +court had left Ulm. Friedmund, anxious to prove that his +new honours were not to alter his home demeanour, was drawing on +a block of wood from a tinted pen-and-ink sketch; Ebbo was deeply +engaged with a newly-acquired copy of Virgil; and their mother +was embroidering some draperies for the long-neglected castle +chapel,—all sitting, as Master Gottfried loved to have +them, in his studio, whence he had a few moments before been +called away, when, as the door slowly opened, a voice was heard +that made both lads start and rise.</p> +<p>“Yea, truly, Herr Guildmaster, I would see these +masterpieces. Ha! What have you here for +masterpieces? Our two new double-ganger +knights?” And Maximilian entered in a simple +riding-dress, attended by Master Gottfried, and by Sir Kasimir of +Adlerstein Wildschloss.</p> +<p>Christina would fain have slipped out unperceived, but the +king was already removing his cap from his fair curling locks, +and bending his head as he said, “The Frau Freiherrinn von +Adlerstein? Fair lady, I greet you well, and thank you in +the Kaisar’s name and mine for having bred up for us two +true and loyal subjects.”</p> +<p>“May they so prove themselves, my liege!” said +Christina, bending low.</p> +<p>“And not only loyal-hearted,” added Maximilian, +smiling, “but ready-brained, which is less frequent among +our youth. What is thy book, young knight? Virgilius +Maro? Dost thou read the Latin?” he added, in that +tongue.</p> +<p>“Not as well as we wish, your kingly highness,” +readily answered Ebbo, in Latin, “having learnt solely of +our mother till we came hither.”</p> +<p>“Never fear for that, my young blade,” laughed the +king. “Knowst not that the wiseacres thought me too +dull for teaching till I was past ten years? And what is +thy double about? Drawing on wood? How now! An +able draughtsman, my young knight?”</p> +<p>“My nephew Sir Friedmund is good to the old man,” +said Gottfried, himself almost regretting the lad’s +avocation. “My eyes are failing me, and he is aiding +me with the graving of this border. He has the knack that +no teaching will impart to any of my present +journeymen.”</p> +<p>“Born, not made,” quoth Maximilian. +“Nay,” as Friedel coloured deeper at the sense that +Ebbo was ashamed of him, “no blushes, my boy; it is a rare +gift. I can make a hundred knights any day, but the +Almighty alone can make a genius. It was this very matter +of graving that led me hither.”</p> +<p>For Maximilian had a passion for composition, and chiefly for +autobiography, and his head was full of that curious performance, +<i>Der Weisse König</i>, which occupied many of the leisure +moments of his life, being dictated to his former writing-master, +Marcus Sauerwein. He had already designed the portrayal of +his father as the old white king, and himself as the young white +king, in a series of woodcuts illustrating the narrative which +culminated in the one romance of his life, his brief happy +marriage with Mary of Burgundy; and he continued eagerly to talk +to Master Gottfried about the mystery of graving, and the various +scenes in which he wished to depict himself learning languages +from native speakers—Czech from a peasant with a basket of +eggs, English from the exiles at the Burgundian court, who had +also taught him the use of the longbow, building from architects +and masons, painting from artists, and, more imaginatively, +astrology from a wonderful flaming sphere in the sky, and the +black art from a witch inspired by a long-tailed demon perched on +her shoulder. No doubt “the young white king” +made an exceedingly prominent figure in the discourse, but it was +so quaint and so brilliant that it did not need the charm of +royal condescension to entrance the young knights, who stood +silent auditors. Ebbo at least was convinced that no +species of knowledge or skill was viewed by his kaisarly kingship +as beneath his dignity; but still he feared Friedel’s being +seized upon to be as prime illustrator to the royal +autobiography—a lot to which, with all his devotion to +Maximilian, he could hardly have consigned his brother, in the +certainty that the jeers of the ruder nobles would pursue the +craftsman baron.</p> +<p>However, for the present, Maximilian was keen enough to see +that the boy’s mechanical skill was not as yet equal to his +genius; so he only encouraged him to practise, adding that he +heard there was a rare lad, one Dürer, at Nuremburg, whose +productions were already wonderful. “And what is +this?” he asked; “what is the daintily-carved group I +see yonder?”</p> +<p>“Your highness means, ‘The Dove in the +Eagle’s Nest,’” said Kasimir. “It +is the work of my young kinsmen, and their appropriate +device.”</p> +<p>“As well chosen as carved,” said Maximilian, +examining it. “Well is it that a city dove should now +and then find her way to the eyrie. Some of my nobles would +cut my throat for the heresy, but I am safe here, eh, Sir +Kasimir? Fare ye well, ye dove-trained eaglets. We +will know one another better when we bear the cross against the +infidel.”</p> +<p>The brothers kissed his hand, and he descended the steps from +the hall door. Ere he had gone far, he turned round upon +Sir Kasimir with a merry smile: “A very white and tender +dove indeed, and one who might easily nestle in another eyrie, +methinks.”</p> +<p>“Deems your kingly highness that consent could be +won?” asked Wildschloss</p> +<p>“From the Kaisar? Pfui, man, thou knowst as well +as I do the golden key to his consent. So thou wouldst risk +thy luck again! Thou hast no male heir.”</p> +<p>“And I would fain give my child a mother who would deal +well with her. Nay, to say sooth, that gentle, innocent +face has dwelt with me for many years. But for my +pre-contract, I had striven long ago to win her, and had been a +happier man, mayhap. And, now I have seen what she has made +of her sons, I feel I could scarce find her match among our +nobility.”</p> +<p>“Nor elsewhere,” said the king; “and I +honour thee for not being so besotted in our German haughtiness +as not to see that it is our free cities that make refined and +discreet dames. I give you good speed, Adlerstein; but, if +I read aright the brow of one at least of these young fellows, +thou wilt scarce have a willing or obedient stepson.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE RIVAL EYRIE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Ebbo</span> trusted that his kinsman of +Wildschloss was safe gone with the Court, and his temper smoothed +and his spirits rose in proportion while preparations for a +return to Adlerstein were being completed—preparations by +which the burgher lady might hope to render the castle far more +habitable, not to say baronial, than it had ever been.</p> +<p>The lady herself felt thankful that her stay at Ulm had turned +out well beyond all anticipations in the excellent understanding +between her uncle and her sons, and still more in Ebbo’s +full submission and personal loyalty towards the imperial +family. The die was cast, and the first step had been taken +towards rendering the Adlerstein family the peaceful, honourable +nobles she had always longed to see them.</p> +<p>She was one afternoon assisting her aunt in some of the duties +of her wirthschaft, when Master Gottfried entered the apartment +with an air of such extreme complacency that both turned round +amazed; the one exclaiming, “Surely funds have come in for +finishing the spire!” the other, “Have they appointed +thee Provost for next year, house-father?”</p> +<p>“Neither the one nor the other,” was the +reply. “But heard you not the horse’s +feet? Here has the Lord of Adlerstein Wildschloss been with +me in full state, to make formal proposals for the hand of our +child, Christina.”</p> +<p>“For Christina!” cried Hausfrau Johanna with +delight; “truly that is well. Truly our maiden has +done honour to her breeding. A second nobleman demanding +her—and one who should be able richly to endow +her!”</p> +<p>“And who will do so,” said Master Gottfried. +“For morning gift he promises the farms and lands of +Grünau—rich both in forest and corn glebe. +Likewise, her dower shall be upon Wildschloss—where the +soil is of the richest pasture, and there are no less than three +mills, whence the lord obtains large rights of multure. +Moreover, the Castle was added to and furnished on his marriage +with the late baroness, and might serve a Kurfürst; and +though the jewels of Freiherrinn Valeska must be inherited by her +daughter, yet there are many of higher price which have descended +from his own ancestresses, and which will all be hers.”</p> +<p>“And what a wedding we will have!” exclaimed +Johanna; “it shall be truly baronial. I will take my +hood and go at once to neighbour Sophie Lemsberg, who was wife to +the Markgraf’s Under Keller-Meister. She will tell me +point device the ceremonies befitting the espousals of a +baron’s widow.”</p> +<p>Poor Christina had sat all this time with drooping head and +clasped hands, a tear stealing down as the formal terms of the +treaty sent her spirit back to the urgent, pleading, imperious +voice that had said, “Now, little one, thou wilt not shut +me out;” and as she glanced at the ring that had lain on +that broad palm, she felt as if her sixteen cheerful years had +been an injury to her husband in his nameless bloody grave. +But protection was so needful in those rude ages, and second +marriages so frequent, that reluctance was counted as +weakness. She knew her uncle and aunt would never believe +that aught but compulsion had bound her to the rude outlaw, and +her habit of submission was so strong that, only when her aunt +was actually rising to go and consult her gossip, she found +breath to falter,</p> +<p>“Hold, dear aunt—my sons—”</p> +<p>“Nay, child, it is the best thing thou couldst do for +them. Wonders hast thou wrought, yet are they too old to be +without fatherly authority. I speak not of Friedel; the lad +is gentle and pious, though spirited, but for the baron. +The very eye and temper of my poor brother Hugh—thy father, +Stine—are alive again in him. Yea, I love the lad the +better for it, while I fear. He minds me precisely of Hugh +ere he was ’prenticed to the weapon-smith, and all became +bitterness.”</p> +<p>“Ah, truly,” said Christina, raising her eyes +“all would become bitterness with my Ebbo were I to give a +father’s power to one whom he would not love.”</p> +<p>“Then were he sullen and unruly, indeed!” said the +old burgomaster with displeasure; “none have shown him more +kindness, none could better aid him in court and empire. +The lad has never had restraint enough. I blame thee not, +child, but he needs it sorely, by thine own showing.”</p> +<p>“Alas, uncle! mine be the blame, but it is over +late. My boy will rule himself for the love of God and of +his mother, but he will brook no hand over him—least of all +now he is a knight and thinks himself a man. Uncle, I +should be deprived of both my sons, for Friedel’s very soul +is bound up with his brother’s. I pray thee enjoin +not this thing on me,” she implored.</p> +<p>“Child!” exclaimed Master Gottfried, “thou +thinkst not that such a contract as this can be declined for the +sake of a wayward Junker!”</p> +<p>“Stay, house-father, the little one will doubtless hear +reason and submit,” put in the aunt. “Her sons +were goodly and delightsome to her in their upgrowth, but they +are well-nigh men. They will be away to court and camp, to +love and marriage; and how will it be with her then, young and +fair as she still is? Well will it be for her to have a +stately lord of her own, and a new home of love and honour +springing round her.”</p> +<p>“True,” continued Sorel; “and though she be +too pious and wise to reck greatly of such trifles, yet it may +please her dreamy brain to hear that Sir Kasimir loves her even +like a paladin, and the love of a tried man of six-and-forty is +better worth than a mere kindling of youthful fancy.”</p> +<p>“Mine Eberhard loved me!” murmured Christina, +almost to herself, but her aunt caught the word.</p> +<p>“And what was such love worth? To force thee into +a stolen match, and leave thee alone and unowned to the +consequences!”</p> +<p>“Peace!” exclaimed Christina, with crimson cheek +and uplifted head. “Peace! My own dear lord +loved me with true and generous love! None but myself knows +how much. Not a word will I hear against that tender +heart.”</p> +<p>“Yes, peace,” returned Gottfried in a conciliatory +tone,—“peace to the brave Sir Eberhard. Thine +aunt meant no ill of him. He truly would rejoice that the +wisdom of his choice should receive such testimony, and that his +sons should be thus well handled. Nay, little as I heed +such toys, it will doubtless please the lads that the baron will +obtain of the Emperor letters of nobility for this house, which +verily sprang of a good Walloon family, and so their shield will +have no blank. The Romish king promises to give thee rank +with any baroness, and hath fully owned what a pearl thou art, +mine own sweet dove! Nay, Sir Kasimir is coming to-morrow +in the trust to make the first betrothal with Graf von Kaulwitz +as a witness, and I thought of asking the Provost on the other +hand.”</p> +<p>“To-morrow!” exclaimed Johanna; “and how is +she to be meetly clad? Look at this widow-garb; and how is +time to be found for procuring other raiment? House-father, +a substantial man like you should better understand! The +meal too! I must to gossip Sophie!”</p> +<p>“Verily, dear mother and father,” said Christina, +who had rallied a little, “have patience with me. I +may not lightly or suddenly betroth myself; I know not that I can +do so at all, assuredly not unless my sons were heartily +willing. Have I your leave to retire?”</p> +<p>“Granted, my child, for meditation will show thee that +this is too fair a lot for any but thee. Much had I longed +to see thee wedded ere thy sons outgrew thy care, but I shunned +proposing even one of our worthy guildmasters, lest my young +Freiherr should take offence; but this knight, of his own blood, +true and wise as a burgher, and faithful and God-fearing withal, +is a better match than I durst hope, and is no doubt a special +reward from thy patron saint.”</p> +<p>“Let me entreat one favour more,” implored +Christina. “Speak of this to no one ere I have seen +my sons.”</p> +<p>She made her way to her own chamber, there to weep and +flutter. Marriage was a matter of such high contract +between families that the parties themselves had usually no voice +in the matter, and only the widowed had any chance of a personal +choice; nor was this always accorded in the case of females, who +remained at the disposal of their relatives. Good +substantial wedded affection was not lacking, but romantic love +was thought an unnecessary preliminary, and found a vent in +extravagant adoration, not always in reputable quarters. +Obedience first to the father, then to the husband, was the first +requisite; love might shift for itself; and the fair widow of +Adlerstein, telling her beads in sheer perplexity, knew not +whether her strong repugnance to this marriage and warm sympathy +with her son Ebbo were not an act of rebellion. Yet each +moment did her husband rise before her mind more vividly, with +his rugged looks, his warm, tender heart, his dawnings of +comprehension, his generous forbearance and reverential +love—the love of her youth—to be equalled by no +other. The accomplished courtier and polished man of the +world might be his superior, but she loathed the superiority, +since it was to her husband. Might not his one chosen dove +keep heart-whole for him to the last? She recollected that +coarsest, cruellest reproach of all that her mother-in-law had +been wont to fling at her,—that she, the recent widow, the +new-made mother of Eberhard’s babes, in her grief, her +terror, and her weakness had sought to captivate this suitor by +her blandishments. The taunt seemed justified, and her +cheeks burned with absolute shame “My husband! my loving +Eberhard! left with none but me to love thee, unknown to thine +own sons! I cannot, I will not give my heart away from +thee! Thy little bride shall be faithful to thee, whatever +betide. When we meet beyond the grave I will have been +thine only, nor have set any before thy sons. Heaven +forgive me if I be undutiful to my uncle; but thou must be +preferred before even him! Hark!” and she started as +if at Eberhard’s foot-step; then smiled, recollecting that +Ebbo had his father’s tread. But her husband had been +too much in awe of her to enter with that hasty agitated step and +exclamation, “Mother, mother, what insolence is +this!”</p> +<p>“Hush, Ebbo! I prayed mine uncle to let me speak +to thee.”</p> +<p>“It is true, then,” said Ebbo, dashing his cap on +the ground; “I had soundly beaten that grinning +’prentice for telling Heinz.”</p> +<p>“Truly the house rings with the rumour, mother,” +said Friedel, “but we had not believed it.”</p> +<p>“I believed Wildschloss assured enough for aught,” +said Ebbo, “but I thought he knew where to begin. +Does he not know who is head of the house of Adlerstein, since he +must tamper with a mechanical craftsman, cap in hand to any sprig +of nobility! I would have soon silenced his +overtures!”</p> +<p>“Is it in sooth as we heard?” asked Friedel, +blushing to the ears, for the boy was shy as a maiden. +“Mother, we know what you would say,” he added, +throwing himself on his knees beside her, his arm round her +waist, his cheek on her lap, and his eyes raised to hers.</p> +<p>She bent down to kiss him. “Thou knewst it, +Friedel, and now must thou aid me to remain thy father’s +true widow, and to keep Ebbo from being violent.”</p> +<p>Ebbo checked his hasty march to put his hand on her chair and +kiss her brow. “Motherling, I will restrain myself, +so you will give me your word not to desert us.”</p> +<p>“Nay, Ebbo,” said Friedel, “the motherling +is too true and loving for us to bind her.”</p> +<p>“Children,” she answered, “hear me +patiently. I have been communing with myself, and deeply do +I feel that none other can I love save him who is to you a mere +name, but to me a living presence. Nor would I put any +between you and me. Fear me not, Ebbo. I think the +mothers and sons of this wider, fuller world do not prize one +another as we do. But, my son, this is no matter for rage +or ingratitude. Remember it is no small condescension in a +noble to stoop to thy citizen mother.”</p> +<p>“He knew what painted puppets noble ladies are,” +growled Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Moreover,” continued Christina, “thine +uncle is highly gratified, and cannot believe that I can +refuse. He understands not my love for thy father, and sees +many advantages for us all. I doubt me if he believes I +have power to resist his will, and for thee, he would not count +thine opposition valid. And the more angry and vehement +thou art, the more will he deem himself doing thee a service by +overruling thee.”</p> +<p>“Come home, mother. Let Heinz lead our horses to +the door in the dawn, and when we are back in free Adlerstein it +will be plain who is master.”</p> +<p>“Such a flitting would scarce prove our wisdom,” +said Christina, “to run away with thy mother like a lover +in a ballad. Nay, let me first deal gently with thine +uncle, and speak myself with Sir Kasimir, so that I may show him +the vanity of his suit. Then will we back to Adlerstein +without leaving wounds to requite kindness.”</p> +<p>Ebbo was wrought on to promise not to attack the burgomaster +on the subject, but he was moody and silent, and Master Gottfried +let him alone, considering his gloom as another proof of his need +of fatherly authority, and as a peace-lover forbearing to provoke +his fiery spirit.</p> +<p>But when Sir Kasimir’s visit was imminent, and Christina +had refused to make the change in her dress by which a young +widow was considered to lay herself open to another courtship, +Master Gottfried called the twins apart.</p> +<p>“My young lords,” he said, “I fear me ye are +vexing your gentle mother by needless strife at what must take +place.”</p> +<p>“Pardon me, good uncle,” said Ebbo, “I +utterly decline the honour of Sir Kasimir’s suit to my +mother.”</p> +<p>Master Gottfried smiled. “Sons are not wont to be +the judges in such cases, Sir Eberhard.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps not,” he answered; “but my +mother’s will is to the nayward, nor shall she be +coerced.”</p> +<p>“It is merely because of you and your pride,” said +Master Gottfried.</p> +<p>“I think not so,” rejoined the calmer Friedel; +“my mother’s love for my father is still +fresh.”</p> +<p>“Young knights,” said Master Gottfried, “it +would scarce become me to say, nor you to hear, how much matter +of fancy such love must have been towards one whom she knew but +for a few short months, though her pure sweet dreams, through +these long years, have moulded him into a hero. Boys, I +verily believe ye love her truly. Would it be well for her +still to mourn and cherish a dream while yet in her fresh age, +capable of new happiness, fuller than she has ever +enjoyed?”</p> +<p>“She is happy with us,” rejoined Ebbo.</p> +<p>“And ye are good lads and loving sons, though less +duteous in manner than I could wish. But look you, you may +not ever be with her, and when ye are absent in camp or court, or +contracting a wedlock of your own, would you leave her to her +lonesome life in your solitary castle?”</p> +<p>Friedel’s unselfishness might have been startled, but +Ebbo boldly answered, “All mine is hers. No joy to me +but shall be a joy to her. We can make her happier than +could any stranger. Is it not so, Friedel?”</p> +<p>“It is,” said Friedel, thoughtfully.</p> +<p>“Ah, rash bloods, promising beyond what ye can +keep. Nature will be too strong for you. Love your +mother as ye may, what will she be to you when a bride comes in +your way? Fling not away in wrath, Sir Baron; it was so +with your parents both before you; and what said the law of the +good God at the first marriage? How can you withstand the +nature He has given?”</p> +<p>“Belike I may wed,” said Ebbo, bluntly; “but +if it be not for my mother’s happiness, call me man-sworn +knight.”</p> +<p>“Not so,” good-humouredly answered Gottfried, +“but boy-sworn paladin, who talks of he knows not +what. Speak knightly truth, Sir Baron, and own that this +opposition is in verity from distaste to a stepfather’s +rule.”</p> +<p>“I own that I will not brook such rule,” said +Ebbo; “nor do I know what we have done to deserve that it +should be thrust on us. You have never blamed Friedel, at +least; and verily, uncle, my mother’s eye will lead me +where a stranger’s hand shall never drive me. Did I +even think she had for this man a quarter of the love she bears +to my dead father, I would strive for endurance; but in good +sooth we found her in tears, praying us to guard her from +him. I may be a boy, but I am man enough to prevent her +from being coerced.”</p> +<p>“Was this so, Friedel?” asked Master Gottfried, +moved more than by all that had gone before. “Ach, I +thought ye all wiser. And spake she not of Sir +Kasimir’s offers?—Interest with the Romish +king?—Yea, and a grant of nobility and arms to this house, +so as to fill the blank in your scutcheon?”</p> +<p>“My father never asked if she were noble,” said +Ebbo. “Nor will I barter her for a cantle of a +shield.”</p> +<p>“There spake a manly spirit,” said his uncle, +delighted. “Her worth hath taught thee how little to +prize these gewgaws! Yet, if you look to mingling with your +own proud kind, ye may fall among greater slights than ye can +brook. It may matter less to you, Sir Baron, but Friedel +here, ay, and your sons, will be ineligible to the choicest +orders of knighthood, and the canonries and chapters that are +honourable endowments.”</p> +<p>Friedel looked as if he could bear it, and Eberhard said, +“The order of the Dove of Adlerstein is enough for +us.”</p> +<p>“Headstrong all, headstrong all,” sighed Master +Gottfried. “One romantic marriage has turned all your +heads.”</p> +<p>The Baron of Adlerstein Wildschloss, unprepared for the +opposition that awaited him, was riding down the street equipped +point device, and with a goodly train of followers, in brilliant +suits. Private wooing did not enter into the honest ideas +of the burghers, and the suitor was ushered into the full family +assembly, where Christina rose and came forward a few steps to +meet him, curtseying as low as he bowed, as he said, “Lady, +I have preferred my suit to you through your honour-worthy uncle, +who is good enough to stand my friend.”</p> +<p>“You are over good, sir. I feel the honour, but a +second wedlock may not be mine.”</p> +<p>“Now,” murmured Ebbo to his brother, as the knight +and lady seated themselves in full view, “now will the +smooth-tongued fellow talk her out of her senses. Alack! +that gipsy prophecy!”</p> +<p>Wildschloss did not talk like a young wooer; such days were +over for both; but he spoke as a grave and honourable man, deeply +penetrated with true esteem and affection. He said that at +their first meeting he had been struck with her sweetness and +discretion, and would soon after have endeavoured to release her +from her durance, but that he was bound by the contract already +made with the Trautbachs, who were dangerous neighbours to +Wildschloss. He had delayed his distasteful marriage as +long as possible, and it had caused him nothing but trouble and +strife; his children would not live, and Thekla, the only +survivor, was, as his sole heiress, a mark for the cupidity of +her uncle, the Count of Trautbach, and his almost savage son +Lassla; while the right to the Wildschloss barony would become so +doubtful between her and Ebbo, as heir of the male line, that +strife and bloodshed would be well-nigh inevitable. These +causes made it almost imperative that he should re-marry, and his +own strong preference and regard for little Thekla directed his +wishes towards the Freiherrinn von Adlerstein. He backed +his suit with courtly compliments, as well as with +representations of his child’s need of a mother’s +training, and the twins’ equal want of fatherly guidance, +dilating on the benefits he could confer on them.</p> +<p>Christina felt his kindness, and had full trust in his +intentions. “No” was a difficult syllable to +her, but she had that within her which could not accept him; and +she firmly told him that she was too much bound to both her +Eberhards. But there was no daunting him, nor preventing +her uncle and aunt from encouraging him. He professed that +he would wait, and give her time to consider; and though she +reiterated that consideration would not change her mind, Master +Gottfried came forward to thank him, and express his confidence +of bringing her to reason.</p> +<p>“While I, sir,” said Ebbo, with flashing eyes, and +low but resentful voice, “beg to decline the honour in the +name of the elder house of Adlerstein.”</p> +<p>He held himself upright as a dart, but was infinitely annoyed +by the little mocking bow and smile that he received in return, +as Sir Kasimir, with his long mantle, swept out of the apartment, +attended by Master Gottfried.</p> +<p>“Burgomaster Sorel,” said the boy, standing in the +middle of the floor as his uncle returned, “let me hear +whether I am a person of any consideration in this family or +not?”</p> +<p>“Nephew baron,” quietly replied Master Gottfried, +“it is not the use of us Germans to be dictated to by +youths not yet arrived at years of discretion.”</p> +<p>“Then, mother,” said Ebbo, “we leave this +place to-morrow morn.” And at her nod of assent the +house-father looked deeply grieved, the house-mother began to +clamour about ingratitude. “Not so,” answered +Ebbo, fiercely. “We quit the house as poor as we +came, in homespun and with the old mare.”</p> +<p>“Peace, Ebbo!” said his mother, rising; +“peace, I entreat, house-mother! pardon, uncle, I pray +thee. O, why will not all who love me let me follow that +which I believe to be best!”</p> +<p>“Child,” said her uncle, “I cannot see thee +domineered over by a youth whose whole conduct shows his need of +restraint.”</p> +<p>“Nor am I,” said Christina. “It is I +who am utterly averse to this offer. My sons and I are one +in that; and, uncle, if I pray of you to consent to let us return +to our castle, it is that I would not see the visit that has made +us so happy stained with strife and dissension! Sure, sure, +you cannot be angered with my son for his love for me.”</p> +<p>“For the self-seeking of his love,” said Master +Gottfried. “It is to gratify his own pride that he +first would prevent thee from being enriched and ennobled, and +now would bear thee away to the scant—Nay, Freiherr, I will +not seem to insult you, but resentment would make you cruel to +your mother.”</p> +<p>“Not cruel!” said Friedel, hastily. +“My mother is willing. And verily, good uncle, +methinks that we all were best at home. We have benefited +much and greatly by our stay; we have learnt to love and +reverence you; but we are wild mountaineers at the best; and, +while our hearts are fretted by the fear of losing our sweet +mother, we can scarce be as patient or submissive as if we had +been bred up by a stern father. We have ever judged and +acted for ourselves, and it is hard to us not to do so still, +when our minds are chafed.”</p> +<p>“Friedel,” said Ebbo, sternly, “I will have +no pardon asked for maintaining my mother’s cause. Do +not thou learn to be smooth-tongued.”</p> +<p>“O thou wrong-headed boy!” half groaned Master +Gottfried. “Why did not all this fall out ten years +sooner, when thou wouldst have been amenable? Yet, after +all, I do not know that any noble training has produced a more +high-minded loving youth,” he added, half relenting as he +looked at the gallant, earnest face, full of defiance indeed, but +with a certain wistful appealing glance at “the +motherling,” softening the liquid lustrous dark eye. +“Get thee gone, boy, I would not quarrel with you; and it +may be, as Friedel says, that we are best out of one +another’s way. You are used to lord it, and I can +scarce make excuses for you.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said Ebbo, scarce appeased, “I take +home my mother, and you, sir, cease to favour Kasimir’s +suit.”</p> +<p>“No, Sir Baron. I cease not to think that nothing +would be so much for your good. It is because I believe +that a return to your own old castle will best convince you all +that I will not vex your mother by further opposing your +departure. When you perceive your error may it only not be +too late! Such a protector is not to be found every +day.”</p> +<p>“My mother shall never need any protector save +myself,” said Ebbo; “but, sir, she loves you, and +owes all to you. Therefore I will not be at strife with +you, and there is my hand.”</p> +<p>He said it as if he had been the Emperor reconciling himself +to all the Hanse towns in one. Master Gottfried could +scarce refrain from shrugging his shoulders, and Hausfrau Johanna +was exceedingly angry with the petulant pride and insolence of +the young noble; but, in effect, all were too much relieved to +avoid an absolute quarrel with the fiery lad to take exception at +minor matters. The old burgher was forbearing; Christina, +who knew how much her son must have swallowed to bring him to +this concession for love of her, thought him a hero worthy of all +sacrifices; and peace-making Friedel, by his aunt’s side, +soon softened even her, by some of the persuasive arguments that +old dames love from gracious, graceful, great-nephews.</p> +<p>And when, by and by, Master Gottfried went out to call on Sir +Kasimir, and explain how he had thought it best to yield to the +hot-tempered lad, and let the family learn how to be thankful for +the goods they had rejected, he found affairs in a state that +made him doubly anxious that the young barons should be safe on +their mountain without knowing of them. The Trautbach +family had heard of Wildschloss’s designs, and they had set +abroad such injurious reports respecting the Lady of Adlerstein, +that Sir Kasimir was in the act of inditing a cartel to be sent +by Count Kaulwitz, to demand an explanation—not merely as +the lady’s suitor, but as the only Adlerstein of full +age. Now, if Ebbo had heard of the rumour, he would +certainly have given the lie direct, and taken the whole defence +on himself; and it may be feared that, just as his cause might +have been, Master Gottfried’s faith did not stretch to +believing that it would make his sixteen-year-old arm equal to +the brutal might of Lassla of Trautbach. So he heartily +thanked the Baron of Wildschloss, agreed with him that the young +knights were not as yet equal to the maintenance of the cause, +and went home again to watch carefully that no report reached +either of his nephews. Nor did he breathe freely till he +had seen the little party ride safe off in the early morning, in +much more lordly guise than when they had entered the city.</p> +<p>As to Wildschloss and his nephew of Trautbach, in spite of +their relationship they had a sharp combat on the borders of +their own estates, in which both were severely wounded; but Sir +Kasimir, with the misericorde in his grasp, forced Lassla to +retract whatever he had said in dispraise of the Lady of +Adlerstein. Wily old Gottfried took care that the tidings +should be sent in a form that might at once move Christina with +pity and gratitude towards her champion, and convince her sons +that the adversary was too much hurt for them to attempt a fresh +challenge.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE EAGLE AND THE SNAKE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> reconciliation made Ebbo +retract his hasty resolution of relinquishing all the benefits +resulting from his connection with the Sorel family, and his +mother’s fortune made it possible to carry out many changes +that rendered the castle and its inmates far more prosperous in +appearance than had ever been the case before. Christina +had once again the appliances of a <i>wirthschaft</i>, such as +she felt to be the suitable and becoming appurtenance of a +right-minded Frau, gentle or simple, and she felt so much the +happier and more respectable.</p> +<p>A chaplain had also been secured. The youths had +insisted on his being capable of assisting their studies, and, a +good man had been found who was fearfully learned, having studied +at all possible universities, but then failing as a teacher, +because he was so dreamy and absent as to be incapable of keeping +the unruly students in order. Jobst Schön was his +proper name, but he was translated into Jodocus Pulcher. +The chapel was duly adorned, the hall and other chambers were +fitted up with some degree of comfort; the castle court was +cleansed, the cattle sheds removed to the rear, and the serfs +were presented with seed, and offered payment in coin if they +would give their labour in fencing and clearing the cornfield and +vineyard which the barons were bent on forming on the sunny slope +of the ravine. Poverty was over, thanks to the marriage +portion, and yet Ebbo looked less happy than in the days when +there was but a bare subsistence; and he seemed to miss the full +tide of city life more than did his brother, who, though he had +enjoyed Ulm more heartily at the time, seemed to have returned to +all his mountain delights with greater zest than ever. At +his favourite tarn, he revelled in the vast stillness with the +greater awe for having heard the hum of men, and his minstrel +dreams had derived fresh vigour from contact with the active +world. But, as usual, he was his brother’s chief stay +in the vexations of a reformer. The serfs had much rather +their lord had turned out a freebooter than an improver. +Why should they sow new seeds, when the old had sufficed their +fathers? Work, beyond the regulated days when they +scratched up the soil of his old enclosure, was abhorrent to +them. As to his offered coin, they needed nothing it would +buy, and had rather bask in the sun or sleep in the smoke. +A vineyard had never been heard of on Adlerstein mountain: it was +clean contrary to his forefathers’ habits; and all came of +the bad drop of restless burgher blood, that could not let honest +folk rest.</p> +<p>Ebbo stormed, not merely with words, but blows, became ashamed +of his violence, tried to atone for it by gifts and kind words, +and in return was sulkily told that he would bring more good to +the village by rolling the fiery wheel straight down hill at the +wake, than by all his new-fangled ways. Had not Koppel and +a few younger men been more open to influence, his agricultural +schemes could hardly have begun; but Friedel’s persuasions +were not absolutely without success, and every rood that was dug +was achieved by his patience and perseverance.</p> +<p>Next came home the Graf von Schlangenwald. He had of +late inhabited his castle in Styria, but in a fierce quarrel with +some of his neighbours he had lost his eldest son, and the +pacification enforced by the King of the Romans had so galled and +infuriated him that he had deserted that part of the country and +returned to Swabia more fierce and bitter than ever. +Thenceforth began a petty border warfare such as had existed when +Christina first knew Adlerstein, but had of late died out. +The shepherd lad came home weeping with wrath. Three +mounted Schlangenwaldern had driven off his four best sheep, and +beaten himself with their halberds, though he was safe on +Adlerstein ground. Then a light thrown by a Schlangenwald +reiter consumed all Jobst’s pile of wood. The swine +did not come home, and were found with spears sticking in them; +the great broad-horned bull that Ebbo had brought from the +pastures of Ulm vanished from the Alp below the Gemsbock’s +Pass, and was known to be salted for winter use at +Schlangenwald.</p> +<p>Still Christina tried to persuade her sons that this might be +only the retainers’ violence, and induced Ebbo to write a +letter, complaining of the outrages, but not blaming the Count, +only begging that his followers might be better restrained. +The letter was conveyed by a lay brother—no other messenger +being safe. Ebbo had protested from the first that it would +be of no use, but he waited anxiously for the answer.</p> +<p>Thus it stood, when conveyed to him by a tenant of the +Ruprecht cloister:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Wot you, Eberhard, Freiherr von Adlerstein, +that your house have injured me by thought, word, and deed. +Your great-grandfather usurped my lands at the ford. Your +grandfather stole my cattle and burnt my mills. Then, in +the war, he slew my brother Johann and lamed for life my cousin +Matthias. Your father slew eight of my retainers and +spoiled my crops. You yourself claim my land at the ford, +and secure the spoil which is justly mine. Therefore do I +declare war and feud against you. Therefore to you and all +yours, to your helpers and helpers’ helpers, am I a +foe. And thereby shall I have maintained my honour against +you and yours.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Wolfgang</span>, +Graf von Schlangenwald.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Hierom</span>, Graf von +Schlangenwald—his cousin.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">&c. &c. &c.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And a long list of names, all connected with Schlangenwald, +followed; and a large seal, bearing the snake of Schlangenwald, +was appended thereto.</p> +<p>“The old miscreant!” burst out Ebbo; “it is +a feud brief.”</p> +<p>“A feud brief!” exclaimed Friedel; “they are +no longer according to the law.”</p> +<p>“Law?—what cares he for law or mercy either? +Is this the way men act by the League? Did we not swear to +send no more feud letters, nor have recourse to +fist-right?”</p> +<p>“We must appeal to the Markgraf of Wurtemburg,” +said Friedel.</p> +<p>It was the only measure in their power, though Ebbo winced at +it; but his oaths were recent, and his conscience would not allow +him to transgress them by doing himself justice. Besides, +neither party could take the castle of the other, and the only +reprisals in his power would have been on the defenceless +peasants of Schlangenwald. He must therefore lay the whole +matter before the Markgraf, who was the head of the Swabian +League, and bound to redress his wrongs. He made his +arrangements without faltering, selecting the escort who were to +accompany him, and insisting on leaving Friedel to guard his +mother and the castle. He would not for the world have +admitted the suggestion that the counsel and introduction of +Adlerstein Wildschloss would have been exceedingly useful to +him.</p> +<p>Poor Christina! It was a great deal too like that former +departure, and her heart was heavy within her! Friedel was +equally unhappy at letting his brother go without him, but it was +quite necessary that he and the few armed men who remained should +show themselves at all points open to the enemy in the course of +the day, lest the Freiherr’s absence should be +remarked. He did his best to cheer his mother, by reminding +her that Ebbo was not likely to be taken at unawares as their +father had been; and he shared the prayers and chapel services, +in which she poured out her anxiety.</p> +<p>The blue banner came safe up the Pass again, but Wurtemburg +had been formally civil to the young Freiherr; but he had laughed +at the fend letter as a mere old-fashioned habit of +Schangenwald’s that it was better not to notice, and he +evidently regarded the stealing of a bull or the misusing of a +serf as far too petty a matter for his attention. It was as +if a judge had been called by a crying child to settle a nursery +quarrel. He told Ebbo that, being a free Baron of the +empire, he must keep his bounds respected; he was free to take +and hang any spoiler he could catch, but his bulls were his own +affair: the League was not for such gear.</p> +<p>And a knight who had ridden out of Stuttgard with Ebbo had +told him that it was no wonder that this had been his reception, +for not only was Schlangenwald an old intimate of the Markgraf, +but Swabia was claimed as a fief of Wurtemburg, so that +Ebbo’s direct homage to the Emperor, without the +interposition of the Markgraf, had made him no object of +favour.</p> +<p>“What could be done?” asked Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Fire some Schlangenwald hamlet, and teach him to +respect yours,” said the knight.</p> +<p>“The poor serfs are guiltless.”</p> +<p>“Ha! ha! as if they would not rob any of yours. +Give and take, that’s the way the empire wags, Sir +Baron. Send him a feud letter in return, with a goodly file +of names at its foot, and teach him to respect you.”</p> +<p>“But I have sworn to abstain from fist-right.”</p> +<p>“Much you gain by so abstaining. If the League +will not take the trouble to right you, right +yourself.”</p> +<p>“I shall appeal to the Emperor, and tell him how his +League is administered.”</p> +<p>“Young sir, if the Emperor were to guard every cow in +his domains he would have enough to do. You will never +prosper with him without some one to back your cause better than +that free tongue of yours. Hast no sister that thou couldst +give in marriage to a stout baron that could aid you with strong +arm and prudent head?”</p> +<p>“I have only one twin brother.”</p> +<p>“Ah! the twins of Adlerstein! I remember me. +Was not the other Adlerstein seeking an alliance with your lady +mother? Sure no better aid could be found. He is hand +and glove with young King Max.”</p> +<p>“That may never be,” said Ebbo, haughtily. +And, sure that he should receive the same advice, he decided +against turning aside to consult his uncle at Ulm, and returned +home in a mood that rejoiced Heinz and Hatto with hopes of the +old days, while it filled his mother with dreary dismay and +apprehension.</p> +<p>“Schlangenwald should suffer next time he +transgressed,” said Ebbo. “It should not again +be said that he himself was a coward who appealed to the law +because his hand could not keep his head.”</p> +<p>The “next time” was when the first winter cold was +setting in. A party of reitern came to harry an outlying +field, where Ulrich had raised a scanty crop of rye. +Tidings reached the castle in such good time that the two +brothers, with Heinz, the two Ulm grooms, Koppel, and a troop of +serfs, fell on the marauders before they had effected much +damage, and while some remained to trample out the fire, the rest +pursued the enemy even to the village of Schlangenwald.</p> +<p>“Burn it, Herr Freiherr,” cried Heinz, hot with +victory. “Let them learn how to make havoc of our +corn.”</p> +<p>But a host of half-naked beings rushed out shrieking about +sick children, bed-ridden grandmothers, and crippled fathers, and +falling on their knees, with their hands stretched out to the +young barons. Ebbo turned away his head with hot tears in +his eyes. “Friedel, what can we do?”</p> +<p>“Not barbarous murder,” said Friedel.</p> +<p>“But they brand us for cowards!”</p> +<p>“The cowardice were in striking here,” and Friedel +sprang to withhold Koppel, who had lighted a bundle of dried fern +ready to thrust into the thatch.</p> +<p>“Peasants!” said Ebbo, with the same impulse, +“I spare you. You did not this wrong. But bear +word to your lord, that if he will meet me with lance and sword, +he will learn the valour of Adlerstein.”</p> +<p>The serfs flung themselves before him in transports of +gratitude, but he turned hastily away and strode up the mountain, +his cheek glowing as he remembered, too late, that his defiance +would be scoffed at, as a boy’s vaunt. By and by he +arrived at the hamlet, where he found a prisoner, a scowling, +abject fellow, already well beaten, and now held by two +serfs.</p> +<p>“The halter is ready, Herr Freiherr,” said old +Ulrich, “and yon rowan stump is still as stout as when your +Herr grandsire hung three lanzknechts on it in one day. We +only waited your bidding.”</p> +<p>“Quick then, and let me hear no more,” said Ebbo, +about to descend the pass, as if hastening from the execution of +a wolf taken in a gin.</p> +<p>“Has he seen the priest?” asked Friedel.</p> +<p>The peasants looked as if this were one of Sir Friedel’s +unaccountable fancies. Ebbo paused, frowned, and muttered, +but seeing a move as if to drag the wretch towards the stunted +bush overhanging an abyss, he shouted, “Hold, Ulrich! +Little Hans, do thou run down to the castle, and bring Father +Jodocus to do his office!”</p> +<p>The serfs were much disgusted. “It never was so +seen before, Herr Freiherr,” remonstrated Heinz; +“fang and hang was ever the word.”</p> +<p>“What shrift had my lord’s father, or mine?” +added Koppel.</p> +<p>“Look you!” said Ebbo, turning sharply. +“If Schlangenwald be a godless ruffian, pitiless alike to +soul and body, is that a cause that I should stain myself +too?”</p> +<p>“It were true vengeance,” growled Koppel.</p> +<p>“And now,” grumbled Ulrich, “will my lady +hear, and there will be feeble pleadings for the vermin’s +life.”</p> +<p>Like mutterings ensued, the purport of which was caught by +Friedel, and made him say to Ebbo, who would again have escaped +the disagreeableness of the scene, “We had better tarry at +hand. Unless we hold the folk in some check there will be +no right execution. They will torture him to death ere the +priest comes.”</p> +<p>Ebbo yielded, and began to pace the scanty area of the flat +rock where the need-fire was wont to blaze. After a time he +exclaimed: “Friedel, how couldst ask me? Knowst not +that it sickens me to see a mountain cat killed, save in full +chase. And thou—why, thou art white as the snow +crags!”</p> +<p>“Better conquer the folly than that he there should be +put to needless pain,” said Friedel, but with labouring +breath that showed how terrible was the prospect to his +imaginative soul not inured to death-scenes like those of his +fellows.</p> +<p>Just then a mocking laugh broke forth. “Ha!” +cried Ebbo, looking keenly down, “what do ye there? +Fang and hang may be fair; fang and torment is base! What +was it, Lieschen?”</p> +<p>“Only, Herr Freiherr, the caitiff craved drink, and the +fleischerinn gave him a cup from the stream behind the +slaughter-house, where we killed the swine. Fit for the +like of him!”</p> +<p>“By heavens, when I forbade torture!” cried Ebbo, +leaping from the rock in time to see the disgusting draught held +to the lips of the captive, whose hands were twisted back and +bound with cruel tightness; for the German boor, once roused from +his lazy good-nature, was doubly savage from stolidity.</p> +<p>“Wretches!” cried Ebbo, striking right and left +with the back of his sword, among the serfs, and then cutting the +thong that was eating into the prisoner’s flesh, while +Friedel caught up a wooden bowl, filled it with pure water, and +offered it to the captive, who drank deeply.</p> +<p>“Now,” said Ebbo, “hast ought to say for +thyself?”</p> +<p>A low curse against things in general was the only answer.</p> +<p>“What brought thee here?” continued Ebbo, in hopes +of extracting some excuse for pardon; but the prisoner only hung +his head as one stupefied, brutally indifferent and hardened +against the mere trouble of answering. Not another word +could be extracted, and Ebbo’s position was very +uncomfortable, keeping guard over his condemned felon, with the +sulky peasants herding round, in fear of being balked of their +prey; and the reluctance growing on him every moment to taking +life in cold blood. Right of life and death was a heavy +burden to a youth under seventeen, unless he had been thoughtless +and reckless, and from this Ebbo had been prevented by his +peculiar life. The lion cub had never tasted blood.</p> +<p>The situation was prolonged beyond expectation.</p> +<p>Many a time had the brothers paced their platform of rock, the +criminal had fallen into a dose, and women and boys were +murmuring that they must call home their kine and goats, and it +was a shame to debar them of the sight of the hanging, long +before Hans came back between crying and stammering, to say that +Father Jodocus had fallen into so deep a study over his book, +that he only muttered “Coming,” then went into +another musing fit, whence no one could rouse him to do more than +say “Coming! Let him wait.”</p> +<p>“I must go and bring him, if the thing is to be +done,” said Friedel.</p> +<p>“And let it last all night!” was the answer. +“No, if the man were to die, it should be at once, not by +inches. Hark thee, rogue!” stirring him with his +foot.</p> +<p>“Well, sir,” said the man, “is the hanging +ready yet? You’ve been long enough about it for us to +have twisted the necks of every Adlerstein of you all.”</p> +<p>“Look thee, caitiff!” said Ebbo; “thou +meritest the rope as well as any wolf on the mountain, but we +have kept thee so long in suspense, that if thou canst say a word +for thy life, or pledge thyself to meddle no more with my lands, +I’ll consider of thy doom.”</p> +<p>“You have had plenty of time to consider it,” +growled the fellow.</p> +<p>A murmur, followed by a wrathful shout, rose among the +villagers. “Letting off the villain! No! +No! Out upon him! He dares not!”</p> +<p>“Dare!” thundered Ebbo, with flashing eyes. +“Rascals as ye are, think ye to hinder me from +daring? Your will to be mine? There, fellow; away +with thee! Up to the Gemsbock’s Pass! And whoso +would follow him, let him do so at his peril!”</p> +<p>The prisoner was prompt to gather himself up and rush like a +hunted animal to the path, at the entrance of which stood both +twins, with drawn swords, to defend the escape. Of course +no one ventured to follow; and surly discontented murmurs were +the sole result as the peasants dispersed. Ebbo, sheathing +his sword, and putting his arm into his brother’s, said: +“What, Friedel, turned stony-hearted? Hadst never a +word for the poor caitiff?”</p> +<p>“I knew thou wouldst never do the deed,” said +Friedel, smiling.</p> +<p>“It was such wretched prey,” said Ebbo. +“Yet shall I be despised for this! Would that thou +hadst let me string him up shriftless, as any other man had done, +and there would have been an end of it!”</p> +<p>And even his mother’s satisfaction did not greatly +comfort Ebbo, for he was of the age to feel more ashamed of a +solecism than a crime. Christina perceived that this was +one of his most critical periods of life, baited as he was by the +enemy of his race, and feeling all the disadvantages which heart +and conscience gave him in dealing with a man who had neither, at +a time when public opinion was always with the most +masterful. The necessity of arming his retainers and having +fighting men as a guard were additional temptations to hereditary +habits of violence; and that so proud and fiery a nature as his +should never become involved in them was almost beyond +hope. Even present danger seemed more around than ever +before. The estate was almost in a state of siege, and +Christina never saw her sons quit the castle without thinking of +their father’s fate, and passing into the chapel to entreat +for their return unscathed in body or soul. The snow, which +she had so often hailed as a friend, was never more welcome than +this winter; not merely as shutting the enemy out, and her sons +in, but as cutting off all danger of a visit from her suitor, who +would now come armed with his late sufferings in her behalf; and, +moreover, with all the urgent need of a wise and respected head +and protector for her sons. Yet the more evident the +expediency became, the greater grew her distaste.</p> +<p>Still the lonely life weighed heavily on Ebbo. +Light-hearted Friedel was ever busy and happy, were he chasing +the grim winter game—the bear and wolf—with his +brother, fencing in the hall, learning Greek with the chaplain, +reading or singing to his mother, or carving graceful angel forms +to adorn the chapel. Or he could at all times soar into a +minstrel dream of pure chivalrous semi-allegorical romance, +sometimes told over the glowing embers to his mother and +brother. All that came to Friedel was joy, from battling +with the bear on a frozen rock, to persuading rude little Hans to +come to the Frau Freiherrinn to learn his Paternoster. But +the elder twin might hunt, might fence, might smile or kindle at +his brother’s lay, but ever with a restless gloom on him, a +doubt of the future which made him impatient of the present, and +led to a sharpness and hastiness of manner that broke forth in +anger at slight offences.</p> +<p>“The matron’s coif succeeding the widow’s +veil,” Friedel heard him muttering even in sleep, and more +than once listened to it as Ebbo leant over the +battlements—as he looked over the white world to the gray +mist above the city of Ulm.</p> +<p>“Thou, who mockest my forebodings and fancies, to dwell +on that gipsy augury!” argued Friedel. “As thou +saidst at the time, Wildschloss’s looks gave shrewd cause +for it.”</p> +<p>“The answer is in mine own heart,” answered +Ebbo. “Since our stay at Ulm, I have ever felt as +though the sweet motherling were less my own! And the same +with my house and lands. Rule as I will, a mocking laugh +comes back to me, saying: ‘Thou art but a boy, Sir Baron, +thou dost but play at lords and knights.’ If I had +hung yon rogue of a reiter, I wonder if I had felt my grasp more +real?”</p> +<p>“Nay,” said Friedel, glancing from the sparkling +white slopes to the pure blue above, “our whole life is but +a play at lords and knights, with the blessed saints as witnesses +of our sport in the tilt-yard.”</p> +<p>“Were it merely that,” said Ebbo, impatiently, +“I were not so galled. Something hangs over us, +Friedel! I long that these snows would melt, that I might +at least know what it is!”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">BRIDGING THE FORD</span></h2> +<p>The snow melted, the torrent became a flood, then contracted +itself, but was still a broad stream, when one spring afternoon +Ebbo showed his brother some wains making for the ford, adding, +“It cannot be rightly passable. They will come to +loss. I shall get the men together to aid them.”</p> +<p>He blew a blast on his horn, and added, “The knaves will +be alert enough if they hope to meddle with honest men’s +luggage.”</p> +<p>“See,” and Friedel pointed to the thicket to the +westward of the meadow around the stream, where the beech trees +were budding, but not yet forming a full mass of verdure, +“is not the Snake in the wood? Methinks I spy the +glitter of his scales.”</p> +<p>“By heavens, the villains are lying in wait for the +travellers at our landing-place,” cried Ebbo, and again +raising the bugle to his lips, he sent forth three notes well +known as a call to arms. Their echoes came back from the +rocks, followed instantly by lusty jodels, and the brothers +rushed into the hall to take down their light head-pieces and +corslets, answering in haste their mother’s startled +questions, by telling of the endangered travellers, and the +Schlangenwald ambush. She looked white and trembled, but +said no word to hinder them; only as she clasped Friedel’s +corslet, she entreated them to take fuller armour.</p> +<p>“We must speed the short way down the rock,” said +Ebbo, “and cannot be cumbered with heavy harness. +Sweet motherling, fear not; but let a meal be spread for our +rescued captives. Ho, Heinz, ’tis against the +Schlangenwald rascals. Art too stiff to go down the rock +path?”</p> +<p>“No; nor down the abyss, could I strike a good stroke +against Schlangenwald at the bottom of it,” quoth +Heinz.</p> +<p>“Nor see vermin set free by the Freiherr,” growled +Koppel; but the words were lost in Ebbo’s loud commands to +the men, as Friedel and Hatto handed down the weapons to +them.</p> +<p>The convoy had by this time halted, evidently to try the +ford. A horseman crossed, and found it practicable, for a +waggon proceeded to make the attempt.</p> +<p>“Now is our time,” said Ebbo, who was standing on +the narrow ledge between the castle and the precipitous path +leading to the meadow. “One waggon may get over, but +the second or third will stick in the ruts that it leaves. +Now we will drop from our crag, and if the Snake falls on them, +why, then for a pounce of the Eagle.”</p> +<p>The two young knights, so goodly in their bright steel, knelt +for their mother’s blessing, and then sprang like chamois +down the ivy-twined steep, followed by their men, and were lost +to sight among the bushes and rocks. Yet even while her +frame quivered with fear, her heart swelled at the thought what a +gulf there was between these days and those when she had hidden +her face in despair, while Ermentrude watched the Debateable +Ford.</p> +<p>She watched now in suspense, indeed, but with exultation +instead of shame, as two waggons safely crossed; but the third +stuck fast, and presently turned over in the stream, impelled +sideways by the efforts of the struggling horses. Then, +amid endeavours to disentangle the animals and succour the +driver, the travellers were attacked by a party of armed men, who +dashed out of the beechwood, and fell on the main body of the +waggons, which were waiting on the bit of bare shingly soil that +lay between the new and old channels. A wild +mêlée was all that Christina could see—weapons +raised, horses starting, men rushing from the river, while the +clang and the shout rose even to the castle.</p> +<p>Hark! Out rings the clear call, “The Eagle to the +rescue!” There they speed over the meadow, the two +slender forms with glancing helms! O overrun not the +followers, rush not into needless danger! There is Koppel +almost up with them with his big axe—Heinz’s broad +shoulders near. Heaven strike with them! Visit not +their forefathers’ sin on those pure spirits. Some +are flying. Some one has fallen! O heavens! on which +side? Ah! it is into the Schlangenwald woods that the +fugitives direct their flight. Three—four—the +whole troop pursued! Go not too far! Run not into +needless risk! Your work is done, and gallantly. Well +done, young knights of Adlerstein! Which of you is it that +stands pointing out safe standing-ground for the men that are +raising the waggon? Which of you is it who stands in +converse with a burgher form? Thanks and blessings! the +lads are safe, and full knightly hath been their first +emprise.</p> +<p>A quarter of an hour later, a gay step mounted the ascent, and +Friedel’s bright face laughed from his helmet: +“There, mother, will you crown your knights? Could +you see Ebbo bear down the chief squire? for the old Snake was +not there himself. And whom do you think we rescued, +besides a whole band of Venetian traders to whom he had joined +himself? Why, my uncle’s friend, the architect, of +whom he used to speak—Master Moritz +Schleiermacher.”</p> +<p>“Moritz Schleiermacher! I knew him as a +boy.”</p> +<p>“He had been laying out a Lustgarten for the Romish king +at Innspruck, and he is a stout man of his hands, and attempted +defence; but he had such a shrewd blow before we came up, that he +lay like one dead; and when he was lifted up, he gazed at us like +one moon-struck, and said, ‘Are my eyes dazed, or are these +the twins of Adlerstein, that are as like as face to +mirror? Lads, lads, your uncle looked not to hear of you +acting in this sort.’ But soon we and his people let +him know how it was, and that eagles do not have the manner of +snakes.”</p> +<p>“Poor Master Moritz! Is he much hurt? Is +Ebbo bringing him up hither?”</p> +<p>“No, mother, he is but giddied and stunned, and now must +you send down store of sausage, sourkraut, meat, wine, and beer; +for the wains cannot all cross till daylight, and we must keep +ward all night lest the Schlangenwalden should fall on them +again. Plenty of good cheer, mother, to make a right merry +watch.”</p> +<p>“Take heed, Friedel mine; a merry watch is scarce a safe +one.”</p> +<p>“Even so, sweet motherling, and therefore must Ebbo and +I share it. You must mete out your liquor wisely, you see, +enough for the credit of Adlerstein, and enough to keep out the +marsh fog, yet not enough to make us snore too soundly. I +am going to take my lute; it would be using it ill not to let it +enjoy such a chance as a midnight watch.”</p> +<p>So away went the light-hearted boy, and by and by Christina +saw the red watch-fire as she gazed from her turret window. +She would have been pleased to see how, marshalled by a merchant +who had crossed the desert from Egypt to Palestine, the waggons +were ranged in a circle, and the watches told off, while the food +and drink were carefully portioned out.</p> +<p>Freiherr Ebbo, on his own ground, as champion and host, was +far more at ease than in the city, and became very friendly with +the merchants and architect as they sat round the bright fire, +conversing, or at times challenging the mountain echoes by songs +to the sound of Friedel’s lute. When the stars grew +bright, most lay down to sleep in the waggons, while others +watched, pacing up and down till Karl’s waggon should be +over the mountain, and the vigil was relieved.</p> +<p>No disturbance took place, and at sunrise a hasty meal was +partaken of, and the work of crossing the river was set in +hand.</p> +<p>“Pity,” said Moritz, the architect, “that +this ford were not spanned by a bridge, to the avoiding of danger +and spoil.”</p> +<p>“Who could build such a bridge?” asked Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Yourself, Herr Freiherr, in union with us burghers of +Ulm. It were well worth your while to give land and stone, +and ours to give labour and skill, provided we fixed a toll on +the passage, which would be willingly paid to save peril and +delay.”</p> +<p>The brothers caught at the idea, and the merchants agreed that +such a bridge would be an inestimable boon to all traffickers +between Constance, Ulm, and Augsburg, and would attract many +travellers who were scared away by the evil fame of the +Debateable Ford. Master Moritz looked at the stone of the +mountain, pronounced it excellent material, and already sketched +the span of the arches with a view to winter torrents. As +to the site, the best was on the firm ground above the ford; but +here only one side was Adlerstein, while on the other Ebbo +claimed both banks, and it was probable that an equally sound +foundation could be obtained, only with more cost and delay.</p> +<p>After this survey, the travellers took leave of the barons, +promising to write when their fellow-citizens should have been +sounded as to the bridge; and Ebbo remained in high spirits, with +such brilliant purposes that he had quite forgotten his gloomy +forebodings. “Peace instead of war at home,” he +said; “with the revenue it will bring, I will build a mill, +and set our lads to work, so that they may become less dull and +doltish than their parents. Then will we follow the Emperor +with a train that none need despise! No one will talk now +of Adlerstein not being able to take care of himself!”</p> +<p>Letters came from Ulm, saying that the guilds of mercers and +wine merchants were delighted with the project, and invited the +Baron of Adlerstein to a council at the Rathhaus. Master +Sorel begged the mother to come with her sons to be his guest; +but fearing the neighbourhood of Sir Kasimir, she remained at +home, with Heinz for her seneschal while her sons rode to the +city. There Ebbo found that his late exploit and his future +plan had made him a person of much greater consideration than on +his last visit, and he demeaned himself with far more ease and +affability in consequence. He had affairs on his hands too, +and felt more than one year older.</p> +<p>The two guilds agreed to build the bridge, and share the toll +with the Baron in return for the ground and materials; but they +preferred the plan that placed one pier on the Schlangenwald +bank, and proposed to write to the Count an offer to include him +in the scheme, awarding him a share of the profits in proportion +to his contribution. However vexed at the turn affairs had +taken, Ebbo could offer no valid objection, and was obliged to +affix his signature to the letter in company with the +guildmasters.</p> +<p>It was despatched by the city pursuivants—</p> +<blockquote><p>The only men who safe might ride;<br /> +Their errands on the border side;</p> +</blockquote> +<p>and a meeting was appointed in the Rathhaus for the day of +their expected return. The higher burghers sat on their +carved chairs in the grand old hall, the lesser magnates on +benches, and Ebbo, in an elbowed seat far too spacious for his +slender proportions, met a glance from Friedel that told him his +merry brother was thinking of the frog and the ox. The +pursuivants entered—hardy, shrewd-looking men, with the +city arms decking them wherever there was room for them.</p> +<p>“Honour-worthy sirs,” they said, “no letter +did the Graf von Schlangenwald return.”</p> +<p>“Sent he no message?” demanded Moritz +Schleiermacher.</p> +<p>“Yea, worthy sir, but scarce befitting this reverend +assembly.” On being pressed, however, it was +repeated: “The Lord Count was pleased to swear at what he +termed the insolence of the city in sending him heralds, +‘as if,’ said he, ‘the dogs,’ your +worships, ‘were his equals.’ Then having cursed +your worships, he reviled the crooked writing of Herr Clerk +Diedrichson, and called his chaplain to read it to him. +Herr Priest could scarce read three lines for his foul language +about the ford. ‘Never,’ said he, ‘would +he consent to raising a bridge—a mean trick,’ so said +he, ‘for defrauding him of his rights to what the flood +sent him.’”</p> +<p>“But,” asked Ebbo, “took he no note of our +explanation, that if he give not the upper bank, we will build +lower, where both sides are my own?”</p> +<p>“He passed it not entirely over,” replied the +messenger.</p> +<p>“What said he—the very words?” demanded +Ebbo, with the paling cheek and low voice that made his passion +often seem like patience.</p> +<p>“He said—(the Herr Freiherr will pardon me for +repeating the words)—he said, ‘Tell the misproud +mongrel of Adlerstein that he had best sit firm in his own saddle +ere meddling with his betters, and if he touch one pebble of the +Braunwasser, he will rue it. And before your city-folk take +up with him or his, they had best learn whether he have any right +at all in the case.’”</p> +<p>“His right is plain,” said Master Gottfried; +“full proofs were given in, and his investiture by the +Kaisar forms a title in itself. It is mere bravado, and an +endeavour to make mischief between the Baron and the +city.”</p> +<p>“Even so did I explain, Herr Guildmaster,” said +the pursuivant; “but, pardon me, the Count laughed me to +scorn, and quoth he, ‘asked the Kaisar for proof of his +father’s death!’”</p> +<p>“Mere mischief-making, as before,” said Master +Gottfried, while his nephews started with amaze. “His +father’s death was proved by an eye-witness, whom you still +have in your train, have you not, Herr Freiherr?”</p> +<p>“Yea,” replied Ebbo, “he is at Adlerstein +now, Heinrich Bauermann, called the Schneiderlein, a lanzknecht, +who alone escaped the slaughter, and from whom we have often +heard how my father died, choked in his own blood, from a deep +breast-wound, immediately after he had sent home his last +greetings to my lady mother.”</p> +<p>“Was the corpse restored?” asked the able +Rathsherr Ulrich.</p> +<p>“No,” said Ebbo. “Almost all our +retainers had perished, and when a friar was sent to the hostel +to bring home the remains, it appeared that the treacherous foe +had borne them off—nay, my grandfather’s head was +sent to the Diet!”</p> +<p>The whole assembly agreed that the Count could only mean to +make the absence of direct evidence about a murder committed +eighteen years ago tell in sowing distrust between the +allies. The suggestion was not worth a thought, and it was +plain that no site would be available except the Debateable +Strand. To this, however, Ebbo’s title was +assailable, both on account of his minority, as well as his +father’s unproved death, and of the disputed claim to the +ground. The Rathsherr, Master Gottfried, and others, +therefore recommended deferring the work till the Baron should be +of age, when, on again tendering his allegiance, he might obtain +a distinct recognition of his marches. But this policy did +not consort with the quick spirit of Moritz Schleiermacher, nor +with the convenience of the mercers and wine-merchants, who were +constant sufferers by the want of a bridge, and afraid of waiting +four years, in which a lad like the Baron might return to the +nominal instincts of his class, or the Braunwasser might take +back the land it had given; whilst Ebbo himself was urgent, with +all the defiant fire of youth, to begin building at once in spite +of all gainsayers.</p> +<p>“Strife and blood will it cost,” said Master +Sorel, gravely.</p> +<p>“What can be had worth the having save at cost of strife +and blood?” said Ebbo, with a glance of fire.</p> +<p>“Youth speaks of counting the cost. Little knows +it what it saith,” sighed Master Gottfried.</p> +<p>“Nay,” returned the Rathsherr, “were it +otherwise, who would have the heart for enterprise?”</p> +<p>So the young knights mounted, and had ridden about half the +way in silence, when Ebbo exclaimed, +“Friedel”—and as his brother started, +“What art musing on?”</p> +<p>“What thou art thinking of,” said Friedel, turning +on him an eye that had not only something of the brightness but +of the penetration of a sunbeam.</p> +<p>“I do not think thereon at all,” said Ebbo, +gloomily. “It is a figment of the old serpent to +hinder us from snatching his prey from him.”</p> +<p>“Nevertheless,” said Friedel, “I cannot but +remember that the Genoese merchant of old told us of a German +noble sold by his foes to the Moors.”</p> +<p>“Folly! That tale was too recent to concern my +father.”</p> +<p>“I did not think it did,” said Friedel; “but +mayhap that noble’s family rest equally certain of his +death.”</p> +<p>“Pfui!” said Ebbo, hotly; “hast not heard +fifty times how he died even in speaking, and how Heinz crossed +his hands on his breast? What wouldst have more?”</p> +<p>“Hardly even that,” said Friedel, slightly +smiling.</p> +<p>“Tush!” hastily returned his brother, “I +meant only by way of proof. Would an honest old fellow like +Heinz be a deceiver?”</p> +<p>“Not wittingly. Yet I would fain ride to that +hostel and make inquiries!”</p> +<p>“The traitor host met his deserts, and was broken on the +wheel for murdering a pedlar a year ago,” said Ebbo. +“I would I knew where my father was buried, for then would +I bring his corpse honourably back; but as to his being a living +man, I will not have it spoken of to trouble my +mother.”</p> +<p>“To trouble her?” exclaimed Friedel.</p> +<p>“To trouble her,” repeated Ebbo. “Long +since hath passed the pang of his loss, and there is reason in +what old Sorel says, that he must have been a rugged, untaught +savage, with little in common with the gentle one, and that +tender memory hath decked him out as he never could have +been. Nay, Friedel, it is but sense. What could a man +have been under the granddame’s breeding?”</p> +<p>“It becomes not thee to say so!” returned +Friedel. “Nay, he could learn to love our +mother.”</p> +<p>“One sign of grace, but doubtless she loved him the +better for their having been so little together. Her heart +is at peace, believing him in his grave; but let her imagine him +in Schlangenwald’s dungeon, or some Moorish galley, if thou +likest it better, and how will her mild spirit be +rent!”</p> +<p>“It might be so,” said Friedel, +thoughtfully. “It may be best to keep this secret +from her till we have fuller certainty.”</p> +<p>“Agreed then,” said Ebbo, “unless the +Wildschloss fellow should again molest us, when his answer is +ready.”</p> +<p>“Is this just towards my mother?” said +Friedel.</p> +<p>“Just! What mean’st thou? Is it not +our office and our dearest right to shield our mother from +care? And is not her chief wish to be rid of the +Wildschloss suit?”</p> +<p>Nevertheless Ebbo was moody all the way home, but when there +he devoted himself in his most eager and winning way to his +mother, telling her of Master Gottfried’s woodcuts, and +Hausfrau Johanna’s rheumatism, and of all the news of the +country, in especial that the Kaisar was at Lintz, very ill with +a gangrene in his leg, said to have been caused by his habit of +always kicking doors open, and that his doctors thought of +amputation, a horrible idea in the fifteenth century. The +young baron was evidently bent on proving that no one could make +his mother so happy as he could; and he was not far wrong +there.</p> +<p>Friedel, however, could not rest till he had followed Heinz to +the stable, and speaking over the back of the old white mare, the +only other survivor of the massacre, had asked him once more for +the particulars, a tale he was never loth to tell; but when +Friedel further demanded whether he was certain of having seen +the death of his younger lord, he replied, as if hurt: +“What, think you I would have quitted him while life was +yet in him?”</p> +<p>“No, certainly, good Heinz; yet I would fain know by +what tokens thou knewest his death.”</p> +<p>“Ah! Sir Friedel; when you have seen a stricken +field or two, you will not ask how I know death from +life.”</p> +<p>“Is a swoon so utterly unlike death?”</p> +<p>“I say not but that an inexperienced youth might be +mistaken,” said Heinz; “but for one who had learned +the bloody trade, it were impossible. Why ask, +sir?”</p> +<p>“Because,” said Friedel, low and +mysteriously—“my brother would not have my mother +know it, but—Count Schlangenwald demanded whether we could +prove my father’s death.”</p> +<p>“Prove! He could not choose but die with three +such wounds, as the old ruffian knows. I shall bless the +day, Sir Friedmund, when I see you or your brother give back +those strokes! A heavy reckoning be his.”</p> +<p>“We all deem that line only meant to cross our +designs,” said Friedel. “Yet, Heinz, I would I +knew how to find out what passed when thou wast gone. Is +there no servant at the inn—no retainer of Schlangenwald +that aught could be learnt from?”</p> +<p>“By St. Gertrude,” roughly answered the +Schneiderlein, “if you cannot be satisfied with the oath of +a man like me, who would have given his life to save your father, +I know not what will please you.”</p> +<p>Friedel, with his wonted good-nature, set himself to pacify +the warrior with assurances of his trust; yet while Ebbo plunged +more eagerly into plans for the bridge-building, Friedel drew +more and more into his old world of musings; and many a summer +afternoon was spent by him at the Ptarmigan’s Mere, in deep +communings with himself, as one revolving a purpose.</p> +<p>Christina could not but observe, with a strange sense of +foreboding, that, while one son was more than ever in the lonely +mountain heights, the other was far more at the base. +Master Moritz Schleiermacher was a constant guest at the castle, +and Ebbo was much taken up with his companionship. He was a +strong, shrewd man, still young, but with much experience, and he +knew how to adapt himself to intercourse with the proud nobility, +preserving an independent bearing, while avoiding all that +haughtiness could take umbrage at; and thus he was acquiring a +greater influence over Ebbo than was perceived by any save the +watchful mother, who began to fear lest her son was acquiring an +infusion of worldly wisdom and eagerness for gain that would +indeed be a severance between him and his brother.</p> +<p>If she had known the real difference that unconsciously kept +her sons apart, her heart would have ached yet more.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">FRIEDMUND IN THE CLOUDS</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> stone was quarried high on the +mountain, and a direct road was made for bringing it down to the +water-side. The castle profited by the road in +accessibility, but its impregnability was so far lessened. +However, as Ebbo said, it was to be a friendly harbour, instead +of a robber crag, and in case of need the communication could +easily be destroyed. The blocks of stone were brought down, +and wooden sheds were erected for the workmen in the meadow.</p> +<p>In August, however, came tidings that, after two amputations +of his diseased limb, the Kaisar Friedrich III. had died—it +was said from over free use of melons in the fever consequent on +the operation. His death was not likely to make much change +in the government, which had of late been left to his son. +At this time the King of the Romans (for the title of Kaisar was +conferred only by coronation by the Pope, and this Maximilian +never received) was at Innspruck collecting troops for the +deliverance of Styria and Carinthia from a horde of invading +Turks. The Markgraf of Wurtemburg sent an intimation to all +the Swabian League that the new sovereign would be best pleased +if their homage were paid to him in his camp at the head of their +armed retainers.</p> +<p>Here was the way of enterprise and honour open at last, and +the young barons of Adlerstein eagerly prepared for it, equipping +their vassals and sending to Ulm to take three or four +men-at-arms into their pay, so as to make up twenty lances as the +contingent of Adlerstein. It was decided that Christina +should spend the time of their absence at Ulm, whither her sons +would escort her on their way to the camp. The last busy +day was over, and in the summer evening Christina was sitting on +the castle steps listening to Ebbo’s eager talk of his +plans of interesting his hero, the King of the Romans, in his +bridge, and obtaining full recognition of his claim to the +Debateable Strand, where the busy workmen could be seen far +below.</p> +<p>Presently Ebbo, as usual when left to himself, grew restless +for want of Friedel, and exclaiming, “The musing fit is on +him!—he will stay all night at the tarn if I fetch him +not,” he set off in quest of him, passing through the +hamlet to look for him in the chapel on his way.</p> +<p>Not finding Friedel there, he was, however, some way up +towards the tarn, when he met his brother wearing the beamy yet +awestruck look that he often brought from the mountain height, +yet with a steadfast expression of resolute purpose on his +face.</p> +<p>“Ah, dreamer!” said Ebbo, “I knew where to +seek thee! Ever in the clouds!”</p> +<p>“Yes, I have been to the tarn,” said Friedel, +throwing his arm round his brother’s neck in their boyish +fashion. “It has been very dear to me, and I longed +to see its gray depths once more.”</p> +<p>“Once! Yea manifold times shalt thou see +them,” said Ebbo. “Schleiermacher tells me that +these are no Janissaries, but a mere miscreant horde, even by +whom glory can scarce be gained, and no peril at all.”</p> +<p>“I know not,” said Friedel, “but it is to me +as if I were taking my leave of all these purple hollows and +heaven-lighted peaks cleaving the sky. All the more, Ebbo, +since I have made up my mind to a resolution.”</p> +<p>“Nay, none of the old monkish fancies,” cried +Ebbo, “against them thou art sworn, so long as I am true +knight.”</p> +<p>“No, it is not the monkish fancy, but I am convinced +that it is my duty to strive to ascertain my father’s +fate. Hold, I say not that it is thine. Thou hast thy +charge here—”</p> +<p>“Looking for a dead man,” growled Ebbo; “a +proper quest!”</p> +<p>“Not so,” returned Friedel. “At the +camp it will surely be possible to learn, through either +Schlangenwald or his men, how it went with my father. Men +say that his surviving son, the Teutonic knight, is of very +different mould. He might bring something to light. +Were it proved to be as the Schneiderlein avers, then would our +conscience be at rest; but, if he were in Schlangenwald’s +dungeon—”</p> +<p>“Folly! Impossible!”</p> +<p>“Yet men have pined eighteen years in dark +vaults,” said Friedel; “and, when I think that so may +he have wasted for the whole of our lives that have been so free +and joyous on his own mountain, it irks me to bound on the +heather or gaze at the stars.”</p> +<p>“If the serpent hath dared,” cried Ebbo, +“though it is mere folly to think of it, we would summon +the League and have his castle about his ears! Not that I +believe it.”</p> +<p>“Scarce do I,” said Friedel; “but there +haunts me evermore the description of the kindly German chained +between the decks of the Corsair’s galley. Once and +again have I dreamt thereof. And, Ebbo, recollect the +prediction that so fretted thee. Might not yon dark-cheeked +woman have had some knowledge of the East and its +captives?”</p> +<p>Ebbo started, but resumed his former tone. “So +thou wouldst begin thine errantry like Sir Hildebert and Sir +Hildebrand in the ‘Rose garden’? Have a +care. Such quests end in mortal conflict between the +unknown father and son.”</p> +<p>“I should know him,” said Friedel, +enthusiastically, “or, at least, he would know my +mother’s son in me; and, could I no otherwise ransom him, I +would ply the oar in his stead.”</p> +<p>“A fine exchange for my mother and me,” gloomily +laughed Ebbo, “to lose thee, my sublimated self, for a +rude, savage lord, who would straightway undo all our work, and +rate and misuse our sweet mother for being more civilized than +himself.”</p> +<p>“Shame, Ebbo!” cried Friedel, “or art thou +but in jest?”</p> +<p>“So far in jest that thou wilt never go, puissant Sir +Hildebert,” returned Ebbo, drawing him closer. +“Thou wilt learn—as I also trust to do—in what +nameless hole the serpent hid his remains. Then shall they +be duly coffined and blazoned. All the monks in the +cloisters for twenty miles round shall sing requiems, and thou +and I will walk bareheaded, with candles in our hands, by the +bier, till we rest him in the Blessed Friedmund’s chapel; +and there Lucas Handlein shall carve his tomb, and thou shalt sit +for the likeness.”</p> +<p>“So may it end,” said Friedel, “but either I +will know him dead, or endeavour somewhat in his behalf. +And that the need is real, as well as the purpose blessed, I have +become the more certain, for, Ebbo, as I rose to descend the +hill, I saw on the cloud our patron’s very form—I saw +myself kneel before him and receive his blessing.”</p> +<p>Ebbo burst out laughing. “Now know I that it is +indeed as saith Schleiermacher,” he said, “and that +these phantoms of the Blessed Friedmund are but shadows cast by +the sun on the vapours of the ravine. See, Friedel, I had +gone to seek thee at the chapel, and meeting Father Norbert, I +bent my knee, that I might take his farewell blessing. I +had the substance, thou the shadow, thou dreamer!”</p> +<p>Friedel was as much mortified for the moment as his gentle +nature could be. Then he resumed his sweet smile, saying, +“Be it so! I have oft read that men are too prone to +take visions and special providences to themselves, and now I +have proved the truth of the saying.”</p> +<p>“And,” said Ebbo, “thou seest thy purpose is +as baseless as thy vision?”</p> +<p>“No, Ebbo. It grieves me to differ from thee, but +my resolve is older than the fancy, and may not be shaken because +I was vain enough to believe that the Blessed Friedmund could +stoop to bless me.”</p> +<p>“Ha!” shouted Ebbo, glad to see an object on which +to vent his secret annoyance. “Who goes there, +skulking round the rocks? Here, rogue, what art after +here?”</p> +<p>“No harm,” sullenly replied a half-clad boy.</p> +<p>“Whence art thou? From Schlangenwald, to spy what +more we can be robbed of? The lash—”</p> +<p>“Hold,” interposed Friedel. “Perchance +the poor lad had no evil purposes. Didst lose thy +way?”</p> +<p>“No, sir, my mother sent me.”</p> +<p>“I thought so,” cried Ebbo. “This +comes of sparing the nest of thankless adders!”</p> +<p>“Nay,” said Friedel, “mayhap it is because +they are not thankless that the poor fellow is here.”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said the boy, coming nearer, “I will +tell <i>you</i>—<i>you</i> I will tell—not him who +threatens. Mother said you spared our huts, and the lady +gave us bread when we came to the castle gate in winter, and she +would not see the reiters lay waste your folk’s doings down +there without warning you.”</p> +<p>“My good lad! What saidst thou?” cried Ebbo, +but the boy seemed dumb before him, and Friedel repeated the +question ere he answered: “All the lanzknechts and reiters +are at the castle, and the Herr Graf has taken all my +father’s young sheep for them, a plague upon him. And +our folk are warned to be at the muster rock to-morrow morn, each +with a bundle of straw and a pine brand; and Black Berend heard +the body squire say the Herr Graf had sworn not to go to the wars +till every stick at the ford be burnt, every stone drowned, every +workman hung.”</p> +<p>Ebbo, in a transport of indignation and gratitude, thrust his +hand into his pouch, and threw the boy a handful of groschen, +while Friedel gave warm thanks, in the utmost haste, ere both +brothers sprang with headlong speed down the wild path, to take +advantage of the timely intelligence.</p> +<p>The little council of war was speedily assembled, consisting +of the barons, their mother, Master Moritz Schleiermacher, Heinz, +and Hatto. To bring up to the castle the workmen, their +families, and the more valuable implements, was at once decided; +and Christina asked whether there would be anything left worth +defending, and whether the Schlangenwalden might not expend their +fury on the scaffold, which could be newly supplied from the +forest, the huts, which could be quickly restored, and the +stones, which could hardly be damaged. The enemy must +proceed to the camp in a day or two, and the building would be +less assailable by their return; and, besides, it was scarcely +lawful to enter on a private war when the imperial banner was in +the field.</p> +<p>“Craving your pardon, gracious lady,” said the +architect, “that blame rests with him who provokes the +war. See, lord baron, there is time to send to Ulm, where +the two guilds, our allies, will at once equip their trained +bands and despatch them. We meanwhile will hold the knaves +in check, and, by the time our burghers come up, the snake brood +will have had such a lesson as they will not soon forget. +Said I well, Herr Freiherr?”</p> +<p>“Right bravely,” said Ebbo. “It +consorts not with our honour or rights, with my pledges to Ulm, +or the fame of my house, to shut ourselves up and see the rogues +work their will scatheless. My own score of men, besides +the stouter masons, carpenters, and serfs, will be fully enough +to make the old serpent of the wood rue the day, even without the +aid of the burghers. Not a word against it, dearest +mother. None is so wise as thou in matters of peace, but +honour is here concerned.”</p> +<p>“My question is,” persevered the mother, +“whether honour be not better served by obeying the summons +of the king against the infidel, with the men thou hast called +together at his behest? Let the count do his worst; he +gives thee legal ground of complaint to lay before the king and +the League, and all may there be more firmly +established.”</p> +<p>“That were admirable counsel, lady,” said +Schleiermacher, “well suited to the honour-worthy +guildmaster Sorel, and to our justice-loving city; but, in +matters of baronial rights and aggressions, king and League are +wont to help those that help themselves, and those that are over +nice as to law and justice come by the worst.”</p> +<p>“Not the worst in the long run,” said Friedel.</p> +<p>“Thine unearthly code will not serve us here, Friedel +mine,” returned his brother. “Did I not defend +the work I have begun, I should be branded as a weak fool. +Nor will I see the foes of my house insult me without striking a +fair stroke. Hap what hap, the Debateable Ford shall be +debated! Call in the serfs, Hatto, and arm them. +Mother, order a good supper for them. Master Moritz, let us +summon thy masons and carpenters, and see who is a good man with +his hands among them.”</p> +<p>Christina saw that remonstrance was vain. The days of +peril and violence were coming back again; and all she could take +comfort in was, that, if not wholly right, her son was far from +wholly wrong, and that with a free heart she could pray for a +blessing on him and on his arms.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE FIGHT AT THE FORD</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">By</span> the early September sunrise the +thicket beneath the pass was sheltering the twenty well-appointed +reiters of Adlerstein, each standing, holding his horse by the +bridle, ready to mount at the instant. In their rear were +the serfs and artisans, some with axes, scythes, or ploughshares, +a few with cross-bows, and Jobst and his sons with the long +blackened poles used for stirring their charcoal fires. In +advance were Master Moritz and the two barons, the former in a +stout plain steel helmet, cuirass, and gauntlets, a sword, and +those new-fashioned weapons, pistols; the latter in full knightly +armour, exactly alike, from the gilt-spurred heel to the +eagle-crested helm, and often moving restlessly forward to watch +for the enemy, though taking care not to be betrayed by the +glitter of their mail. So long did they wait that there was +even a doubt whether it might not have been a false alarm; the +boy was vituperated, and it was proposed to despatch a spy to see +whether anything were doing at Schlangenwald.</p> +<p>At length a rustling and rushing were heard; then a clank of +armour. Ebbo vaulted into the saddle, and gave the word to +mount; Schleiermacher, who always fought on foot, stepped up to +him. “Keep back your men, Herr Freiherr. Let +his design be manifest. We must not be said to have fallen +on him on his way to the muster.”</p> +<p>“It would be but as he served my father!” muttered +Ebbo, forced, however, to restrain himself, though with boiling +blood, as the tramp of horses shook the ground, and bright armour +became visible on the further side of the stream.</p> +<p>For the first time, the brothers beheld the foe of their +line. He was seated on a clumsy black horse, and sheathed +in full armour, and was apparently a large heavy man, whose +powerful proportions were becoming unwieldy as he advanced in +life. The dragon on his crest and shield would have made +him known to the twins, even without the deadly curse that passed +the Schneiderlein’s lips at the sight. As the armed +troop, out-numbering the Adlersteiners by about a dozen, and +followed by a rabble with straw and pine brands, came forth on +the meadow, the count halted and appeared to be giving +orders.</p> +<p>“The ruffian! He is calling them on! +Now—” began Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Nay, there is no sign yet that he is not peacefully on +his journey to the camp,” responded Moritz; and, chafing +with impatient fury, the knight waited while Schlangenwald rode +towards the old channel of the Braunwasser, and there, drawing +his rein, and sitting like a statue in his stirrups, he could +hear him shout: “The lazy dogs are not astir yet. We +will give them a réveille. Forward with your +brands!”</p> +<p>“Now!” and Ebbo’s cream-coloured horse leapt +forth, as the whole band flashed into the sunshine from the +greenwood covert.</p> +<p>“Who troubles the workmen on my land?” shouted +Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Who you may be I care not,” replied the count, +“but when I find strangers unlicensed on my lands, I burn +down their huts. On, fellows!”</p> +<p>“Back, fellows!” called Ebbo. “Whoso +touches a stick on Adlerstein ground shall suffer.”</p> +<p>“So!” said the count, “this is the +burgher-bred, burgher-fed varlet, that calls himself of +Adlerstein! Boy, thou had best be warned. Wert thou +true-blooded, it were worth my while to maintain my rights +against thee. Craven as thou art, not even with spirit to +accept my feud, I would fain not have the trouble of sweeping +thee from my path.”</p> +<p>“Herr Graf, as true Freiherr and belted knight, I defy +thee! I proclaim my right to this ground, and whoso damages +those I place there must do battle with me.”</p> +<p>“Thou wilt have it then,” said the count, taking +his heavy lance from his squire, closing his visor, and wheeling +back his horse, so as to give space for his career.</p> +<p>Ebbo did the like, while Friedel on one side, and Hierom von +Schlangenwald on the other, kept their men in array, awaiting the +issue of the strife between their leaders—the fire of +seventeen against the force of fifty-six.</p> +<p>They closed in full shock, with shivered lances and rearing, +pawing horses, but without damage to either. Each drew his +sword, and they were pressing together, when Heinz, seeing a +Schlangenwalder aiming with his cross-bow, rode at him furiously, +and the mêlée became general; shots were fired, not +only from cross-bows, but from arquebuses, and in the throng +Friedel lost sight of the main combat between his brother and the +count.</p> +<p>Suddenly however there was a crash, as of falling men and +horses, with a shout of victory strangely mingled with a cry of +agony, and both sides became aware that their leaders had +fallen. Each party rushed to its fallen head. Friedel +beheld Ebbo under his struggling horse, and an enemy dashing at +his throat, and, flying to the rescue, he rode down the +assailant, striking him with his sword; and, with the instinct of +driving the foe as far as possible from his brother, he struck +with a sort of frenzy, shouting fiercely to his men, and leaping +over the dry bed of the river, rushing onward with an +intoxication of ardour that would have seemed foreign to his +gentle nature, but for the impetuous desire to protect his +brother. Their leaders down, the enemy had no one to rally +them, and, in spite of their superiority in number, gave way in +confusion before the furious onset of Adlerstein. So soon, +however, as Friedel perceived that he had forced the enemy far +back from the scene of conflict, his anxiety for his brother +returned, and, leaving the retainers to continue the pursuit, he +turned his horse. There, on the green meadow, lay on the +one hand Ebbo’s cream-coloured charger, with his master +under him, on the other the large figure of the count; and +several other prostrate forms likewise struggled on the sand and +pebbles of the strand, or on the turf.</p> +<p>“Ay,” said the architect, who had turned with +Friedel, “’twas a gallant feat, Sir Friedel, and I +trust there is no great harm done. Were it the mere dint of +the count’s sword, your brother will be little the +worse.”</p> +<p>“Ebbo! Ebbo mine, look up!” cried Friedel, +leaping from his horse, and unclasping his brother’s +helmet.</p> +<p>“Friedel!” groaned a half-suffocated voice. +“O take away the horse.”</p> +<p>One or two of the artisans were at hand, and with their help +the dying steed was disengaged from the rider, who could not +restrain his moans, though Friedel held him in his arms, and +endeavoured to move him as gently as possible. It was then +seen that the deep gash from the count’s sword in the chest +was not the most serious injury, but that an arquebus ball had +pierced his thigh, before burying itself in the body of his +horse; and that the limb had been further crushed and wrenched by +the animal’s struggles. He was nearly unconscious, +and gasped with anguish, but, after Moritz had bathed his face +and moistened his lips, as he lay in his brother’s arms, he +looked up with clearer eyes, and said: “Have I slain +him? It was the shot, not he, that sent me down. +Lives he? See—thou, Friedel—thou. Make +him yield.”</p> +<p>Transferring Ebbo to the arms of Schleiermacher, Friedel +obeyed, and stepped towards the fallen foe. The wrongs of +Adlerstein were indeed avenged, for the blood was welling fast +from a deep thrust above the collar-bone, and the failing, feeble +hand was wandering uncertainly among the clasps of the +gorget.</p> +<p>“Let me aid,” said Friedel, kneeling down, and in +his pity for the dying man omitting the summons to yield, he +threw back the helmet, and beheld a grizzled head and stern hard +features, so embrowned by weather and inflamed by intemperance, +that even approaching death failed to blanch them. A scowl +of malignant hate was in the eyes, and there was a thrill of +angry wonder as they fell on the lad’s face. +“Thou again,—thou whelp! I thought at least I +had made an end of thee,” he muttered, unheard by Friedel, +who, intent on the thought that had recurred to him with greater +vividness than ever, was again filling Ebbo’s helmet with +water. He refreshed the dying man’s face with it, +held it to his lips, and said: “Herr Graf, variance and +strife are ended now. For heaven’s sake, say where I +may find my father!”</p> +<p>“So! Wouldst find him?” replied +Schlangenwald, fixing his look on the eager countenance of the +youth, while his hand, with a dying man’s nervous +agitation, was fumbling at his belt.</p> +<p>“I would bless you for ever, could I but free +him.”</p> +<p>“Know then,” said the count, speaking very slowly, +and still holding the young knight’s gaze with a sort of +intent fascination, by the stony glare of his light gray eyes, +“know that thy villain father is a Turkish slave, unless he +be—as I hope—where his mongrel son may find +him.”</p> +<p>Therewith came a flash, a report; Friedel leaped back, +staggered, fell; Ebbo started to a sitting posture, with +horrified eyes, and a loud shriek, calling on his brother; Moritz +sprang to his feet, shouting, “Shame! treason!”</p> +<p>“I call you to witness that I had not yielded,” +said the count. “There’s an end of the +brood!” and with a grim smile, he straightened his limbs, +and closed his eyes as a dead man, ere the indignant artisans +fell on him in savage vengeance.</p> +<p>All this had passed like a flash of lightning, and Friedel had +almost at the instant of his fall flung himself towards his +brother, and raising himself on one hand, with the other clasped +Ebbo’s, saying, “Fear not; it is nothing,” and +he was bending to take Ebbo’s head again on his knee, when +a gush of dark blood, from his left side, caused Moritz to +exclaim, “Ah! Sir Friedel, the traitor did his +work! That is no slight hurt.”</p> +<p>“Where? How? The ruffian!” cried Ebbo, +supporting himself on his elbow, so as to see his brother, who +rather dreamily put his hand to his side, and, looking at the +fresh blood that immediately dyed it, said, “I do not feel +it. This is more numb dulness than pain.”</p> +<p>“A bad sign that,” said Moritz, apart to one of +the workmen, with whom he held counsel how to carry back to the +castle the two young knights, who remained on the bank, Ebbo +partly extended on the ground, partly supported on the knee and +arm of Friedel, who sat with his head drooping over him, their +looks fixed on one another, as if conscious of nothing else on +earth.</p> +<p>“Herr Freiherr,” said Moritz, presently, +“have you breath to wind your bugle to call the men back +from the pursuit?”</p> +<p>Ebbo essayed, but was too faint, and Friedel, rousing himself +from the stupor, took the horn from him, and made the mountain +echoes ring again, but at the expense of a great effusion of +blood.</p> +<p>By this time, however, Heinz was riding back, and a moment his +exultation changed to rage and despair, when he saw the condition +of his young lords. Master Schleiermacher proposed to lay +them on some of the planks prepared for the building, and carry +them up the new road.</p> +<p>“Methinks,” said Friedel, “that I could ride +if I were lifted on horseback, and thus would our mother be less +shocked.”</p> +<p>“Well thought,” said Ebbo. “Go on and +cheer her. Show her thou canst keep the saddle, however it +may be with me,” he added, with a groan of anguish.</p> +<p>Friedel made the sign of the cross over him. “The +holy cross keep us and her, Ebbo,” he said, as he bent to +assist in laying his brother on the boards, where a mantle had +been spread; then kissed his brow, saying, “We shall be +together again soon.”</p> +<p>Ebbo was lifted on the shoulders of his bearers, and Friedel +strove to rise, with the aid of Heinz, but sank back, unable to +use his limbs; and Schleiermacher was the more concerned. +“It goes so with the backbone,” he said. +“Sir Friedmund, you had best be carried.”</p> +<p>“Nay, for my mother’s sake! And I would fain +be on my good steed’s back once again!” he +entreated. And when with much difficulty he had been lifted +to the back of his cream-colour, who stood as gently and +patiently as if he understood the exigency of the moment, he sat +upright, and waved his hand as he passed the litter, while Ebbo, +on his side, signed to him to speed on and prepare their +mother. Long, however, before the castle was reached, dizzy +confusion and leaden helplessness, when no longer stimulated by +his brother’s presence, so grew on him that it was with +much ado that Heinz could keep him in his saddle; but, when he +saw his mother in the castle gateway, he again collected his +forces, bade Heinz withdraw his supporting arm, and, +straightening himself, waved a greeting to her, as he called +cheerily; “Victory, dear mother. Ebbo has overthrown +the count, and you must not be grieved if it be at some cost of +blood.”</p> +<p>“Alas, my son!” was all Christina could say, for +his effort at gaiety formed a ghastly contrast with the gray, +livid hue that overspread his fair young face, his bloody armour, +and damp disordered hair, and even his stiff unearthly smile.</p> +<p>“Nay, motherling,” he added, as she came so near +that he could put his arm round her neck, “sorrow not, for +Ebbo will need thee much. And, mother,” as his face +lighted up, “there is joy coming to you. Only I would +that I could have brought him. Mother, he died not under +the Schlangenwald swords.”</p> +<p>“Who? Not Ebbo?” cried the bewildered +mother.</p> +<p>“Your own Eberhard, our father,” said Friedel, +raising her face to him with his hand, and adding, as he met a +startled look, “The cruel count owned it with his last +breath. He is a Turkish slave, and surely heaven will give +him back to comfort you, even though we may not work his +freedom! O mother, I had so longed for it, but God be +thanked that at least certainty was bought by my +life.” The last words were uttered almost +unconsciously, and he had nearly fallen, as the excitement faded; +but, as they were lifting him down, he bent once more and kissed +the glossy neck of his horse. “Ah! poor fellow, thou +too wilt be lonely. May Ebbo yet ride thee!”</p> +<p>The mother had no time for grief. Alas! She might +have full time for that by and by! The one wish of the +twins was to be together, and presently both were laid on the +great bed in the upper chamber, Ebbo in a swoon from the pain of +the transport, and Friedel lying so as to meet the first look of +recovery. And, after Ebbo’s eyes had re-opened, they +watched one another in silence for a short space, till Ebbo said: +“Is that the hue of death on thy face, brother?”</p> +<p>“I well believe so,” said Friedel.</p> +<p>“Ever together,” said Ebbo, holding his +hand. “But alas! My mother! Would I had +never sent thee to the traitor.”</p> +<p>“Ah! So comes her comfort,” said +Friedel. “Heard you not? He owned that my +father was among the Turks.”</p> +<p>“And I,” cried Ebbo. “I have withheld +thee! O Friedel, had I listened to thee, thou hadst not +been in this fatal broil!”</p> +<p>“Nay, ever together,” repeated Friedel. +“Through Ulm merchants will my mother be able to ransom +him. I know she will, so oft have I dreamt of his +return. Then, mother, you will give him our duteous +greetings;” and he smiled again.</p> +<p>Like one in a dream Christina returned his smile, because she +saw he wished it, just as the moment before she had been trying +to staunch his wound.</p> +<p>It was plain that the injuries, except Ebbo’s sword-cut, +were far beyond her skill, and she could only endeavour to check +the bleeding till better aid could be obtained from Ulm. +Thither Moritz Schleiermacher had already sent, and he assured +her that he was far from despairing of the elder baron, but she +derived little hope from his words, for gunshot wounds were then +so ill understood as generally to prove fatal.</p> +<p>Moreover, there was an undefined impression that the two lives +must end in the same hour, even as they had begun. Indeed, +Ebbo was suffering so terribly, and was so much spent with pain +and loss of blood, that he seemed sinking much faster than +Friedel, whose wound bled less freely, and who only seemed +benumbed and torpid, except when he roused himself to speak, or +was distressed by the writhings and moans which, however, for his +sake, Ebbo restrained as much as he could.</p> +<p>To be together seemed an all-sufficient consolation, and, when +the chaplain came sorrowfully to give them the last rites of the +Church, Ebbo implored him to pray that he might not be left +behind long in purgatory.</p> +<p>“Friedel,” he said, clasping his brother’s +hand, “is even like the holy Sebastian or Maurice; but +I—I was never such as he. O father, will it be my +penance to be left alone when he is in paradise?”</p> +<p>“What is that?” said Friedel, partially roused by +the sound of his name, and the involuntary pressure of his +hand. “Nay, Ebbo; one repentance, one cross, one +hope,” and he relapsed into a doze, while Ebbo murmured +over a broken, brief confession—exhausting by its vehemence +of self-accusation for his proud spirit, his wilful neglect of +his lost father, his hot contempt of prudent counsel.</p> +<p>Then, when the priest came round to Friedel’s side, and +the boy was wakened to make his shrift, the words were contrite +and humble, but calm and full of trust. They were like two +of their own mountain streams, the waters almost equally +undefiled by external stain—yet one struggling, agitated, +whirling giddily round; the other still, transparent, and the +light of heaven smiling in its clearness.</p> +<p>The farewell greetings of the Church on earth breathed soft +and sweet in their loftiness, and Friedel, though lying +motionless, and with closed eyes, never failed in the murmured +response, whether fully conscious or not, while his brother only +attended by fits and starts, and was evidently often in too much +pain to know what was passing.</p> +<p>Help was nearer than had been hoped. The summons +despatched the night before had been responded to by the vintners +and mercers; their train bands had set forth, and their captain, +a cautious man, never rode into the way of blows without his +surgeon at hand. And so it came to pass that, before the +sun was low on that long and grievous day, Doctor Johannes +Butteman was led into the upper chamber, where the mother looked +up to him with a kind of hopeless gratitude on her face, which +was nearly as white as those of her sons. The doctor soon +saw that Friedel was past human aid; but, when he declared that +there was fair hope for the other youth, Friedel, whose torpor +had been dispelled by the examination, looked up with his beaming +smile, saying, “There, motherling.”</p> +<p>The doctor then declared that he could not deal with the +Baron’s wound unless he were the sole occupant of the bed, +and this sentence brought the first cloud of grief or dread to +Friedel’s brow, but only for a moment. He looked at +his brother, who had again fainted at the first touch of his +wounded limb, and said, “It is well. Tell the dear +Ebbo that I cannot help it if after all I go to the praying, and +leave him the fighting. Dear, dear Ebbo! One day +together again and for ever! I leave thee for thine own +sake.” With much effort he signed the cross again on +his brother’s brow, and kissed it long and fervently. +Then, as all stood round, reluctant to effect this severance, or +disturb one on whom death was visibly fast approaching, he +struggled up on his elbow, and held out the other hand, saying, +“Take me now, Heinz, ere Ebbo revive to be grieved. +The last sacrifice,” he further whispered, whilst almost +giving himself to Heinz and Moritz to be carried to his own bed +in the turret chamber.</p> +<p>There, even as they laid him down, began what seemed to be the +mortal agony, and, though he was scarcely sensible, his mother +felt that her prime call was to him, while his brother was in +other hands. Perhaps it was well for her. Surgical +practice was rough, and wounds made by fire-arms were thought to +have imbibed a poison that made treatment be supposed efficacious +in proportion to the pain inflicted. When Ebbo was recalled +by the torture to see no white reflection of his own face on the +pillow beside him, and to feel in vain for the grasp of the cold +damp hand, a delirious frenzy seized him, and his struggles were +frustrating the doctor’s attempts, when a low soft sweet +song stole through the open door.</p> +<p>“Friedel!” he murmured, and held his breath to +listen. All through the declining day did the gentle sound +continue; now of grand chants or hymns caught from the cathedral +choir, now of songs of chivalry or saintly legend so often sung +over the evening fire; the one flowing into the other in the +wandering of failing powers, but never failing in the tender +sweetness that had distinguished Friedel through life. And, +whenever that voice was heard, let them do to him what they +would, Ebbo was still absorbed in intense listening so as not to +lose a note, and lulled almost out of sense of suffering by that +swan-like music. If his attendants made such noise as to +break in on it, or if it ceased for a moment, the anguish +returned, but was charmed away by the weakest, faintest +resumption of the song. Probably Friedel knew not, with any +earthly sense, what he was doing, but to the very last he was +serving his twin brother as none other could have aided him in +his need.</p> +<p>The September sun had set, twilight was coming on, the doctor +had worked his stern will, and Ebbo, quivering in every fibre, +lay spent on his pillow, when his mother glided in, and took her +seat near him, though where she hoped he would not notice her +presence. But he raised his eyelids, and said, “He is +not singing now.”</p> +<p>“Singing indeed, but where we cannot hear him,” +she answered. “‘Whiter than the snow, clearer +than the ice-cave, more solemn than the choir. They will +come at last.’ That was what he said, even as he +entered there.” And the low dove-like tone and tender +calm face continued upon Ebbo the spell that the chant had +left. He dozed as though still lulled by its echo.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE WOUNDED EAGLE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> star and the spark in the +stubble! Often did the presage of her dream occur to +Christina, and assist in sustaining her hopes during the days +that Ebbo’s life hung in the balance, and he himself had +hardly consciousness to realize either his brother’s death +or his own state, save as much as was shown by the words, +“Let him not be taken away, mother; let him wait for +me.”</p> +<p>Friedmund did wait, in his coffin before the altar in the +castle chapel, covered with a pall of blue velvet, and great +white cross, mournfully sent by Hausfrau Johanna; his sword, +shield, helmet, and spurs laid on it, and wax tapers burning at +the head and feet. And, when Christina could leave the one +son on his couch of suffering, it was to kneel beside the other +son on his narrow bed of rest, and recall, like a breath of +solace, the heavenly loveliness and peace that rested on his +features when she had taken her last long look at them.</p> +<p>Moritz Schleiermacher assisted at Sir Friedmund’s first +solemn requiem, and then made a journey to Ulm, whence he +returned to find the Baron’s danger so much abated that he +ventured on begging for an interview with the lady, in which he +explained his purpose of repairing at once to the imperial camp, +taking with him a letter from the guilds concerned in the bridge, +and using his personal influence with Maximilian to obtain not +only pardon for the combat, but authoritative sanction to the +erection. Dankwart of Schlangenwald, the Teutonic knight, +and only heir of old Wolfgang, was supposed to be with the +Emperor, and it might be possible to come to terms with him, +since his breeding in the Prussian commanderies had kept him +aloof from the feuds of his father and brother. This +mournful fight had to a certain extent equalized the injuries on +either side, since the man whom Friedel had cut down was Hierom, +one of the few remaining scions of Schlangenwald, and there was +thus no dishonour in trying to close the deadly feud, and coming +to an amicable arrangement about the Debateable Strand, the cause +of so much bloodshed. What was now wanted was Freiherr +Eberhard’s signature to the letter to the Emperor, and his +authority for making terms with the new count; and haste was +needed, lest the Markgraf of Wurtemburg should represent the +affray in the light of an outrage against a member of the +League.</p> +<p>Christina saw the necessity, and undertook if possible to +obtain her son’s signature, but, at the first mention of +Master Moritz and the bridge, Ebbo turned away his head, groaned, +and begged to hear no more of either. He thought of his +bold declaration that the bridge must be built, even at the cost +of blood! Little did he then guess of whose blood! +And in his bitterness of spirit he felt a jealousy of that +influence of Schleiermacher, which had of late come between him +and his brother. He hated the very name, he said, and hid +his face with a shudder. He hoped the torrent would sweep +away every fragment of the bridge.</p> +<p>“Nay, Ebbo mine, wherefore wish ill to a good work that +our blessed one loved? Listen, and let me tell you my dream +for making yonder strand a peaceful memorial of our peaceful +boy.”</p> +<p>“To honour Friedel?” and he gazed on her with +something like interest in his eyes.</p> +<p>“Yes, Ebbo, and as he would best brook honour. Let +us seek for ever to end the rival claims to yon piece of meadow +by praying this knight of a religious order, the new count, to +unite with us in building there—or as near as may be +safe—a church of holy peace, and a cell for a priest, who +may watch over the bridge ward, and offer the holy sacrifice for +the departed of either house. There will we place our +gentle Friedel to be the first to guard the peace of the ford, +and there will we sleep ourselves when our time shall come, and +so may the cruel feud of many generations be slaked for +ever.”</p> +<p>“In his blood!” sighed Ebbo. “Ah! +would that it had been mine, mother. It is well, as well as +anything can be again. So shall the spot where he fell be +made sacred, and fenced from rude feet, and we shall see his fair +effigy keeping his armed watch there.”</p> +<p>And Christina was thankful to see his look of gratification, +sad though it was. She sat down near his bed, and began to +write a letter in their joint names to Graf Dankwart von +Schlangenwald, proposing that thus, after the even balance of the +wrongs of the two houses, their mutual hostility might be laid to +rest for ever by the consecration of the cause of their long +contention. It was a stiff and formal letter, full of the +set pious formularies of the age, scarcely revealing the deep +heart-feeling within; but it was to the purpose, and Ebbo, after +hearing it read, heartily approved, and consented to sign both it +and those that Schleiermacher had brought. Christina held +the scroll, and placed the pen in the fingers that had lately so +easily wielded the heavy sword, but now felt it a far greater +effort to guide the slender quill.</p> +<p>Moritz Schleiermacher went his way in search of the King of +the Romans, far off in Carinthia. A full reply could not be +expected till the campaign was over, and all that was known for +some time was through a messenger sent back to Ulm by +Schleiermacher with the intelligence that Maximilian would +examine into the matter after his return, and that Count Dankwart +would reply when he should come to perform his father’s +obsequies after the army was dispersed. There was also a +letter of kind though courtly condolence from Kasimir of +Wildschloss, much grieving for gallant young Sir Friedmund, +proffering all the advocacy he could give the cause of +Adlerstein, and covertly proffering the protection that she and +her remaining son might now be more disposed to accept. +Christina suppressed this letter, knowing it would only pain and +irritate Ebbo, and that she had her answer ready. Indeed, +in her grief for one son, and her anxiety for the other, perhaps +it was this letter that first made her fully realize the drift of +those earnest words of Friedel’s respecting his father.</p> +<p>Meantime the mother and son were alone together, with much of +suffering and of sorrow, yet with a certain tender comfort in the +being all in all to one another, with none to intermeddle with +their mutual love and grief. It was to Christina as if +something of Friedel’s sweetness had passed to his brother +in his patient helplessness, and that, while thus fully engrossed +with him, she had both her sons in one. Nay, in spite of +all the pain, grief, and weariness, these were times when both +dreaded any change, and the full recovery, when not only would +the loss of Friedel be every moment freshly brought home to his +brother, but when Ebbo would go in quest of his father.</p> +<p>For on this the young Baron had fixed his mind as a sacred +duty, from the moment he had seen that life was to be his +lot. He looked on his neglect of indications of the +possibility of his father’s life in the light of a sin that +had led to all his disasters, and not only regarded the intended +search as a token of repentance, but as a charge bequeathed to +him by his less selfish brother. He seldom spoke of his +intention, but his mother was perfectly aware of it, and never +thought of it without such an agony of foreboding dread as +eclipsed all the hope that lay beyond. She could only turn +away her mind from the thought, and be thankful for what was +still her own from day to day.</p> +<p>“Art weary, my son?” asked Christina one October +afternoon, as Ebbo lay on his bed, languidly turning the pages of +a noble folio of the Legends of the Saints that Master Gottfried +had sent for his amusement. It was such a book as fixed the +ardour a few years later of the wounded Navarrese knight, Inigo +de Loyola, but Ebbo handled it as if each page were lead.</p> +<p>“Only thinking how Friedel would have glowed towards +these as his own kinsmen,” said Ebbo. “Then +should I have cared to read of them!” and he gave a long +sigh.</p> +<p>“Let me take away the book,” she said. +“Thou hast read long, and it is dark.”</p> +<p>“So dark that there must surely be a +snow-cloud.”</p> +<p>“Snow is falling in the large flakes that our Friedel +used to call winter-butterflies.”</p> +<p>“Butterflies that will swarm and shut us in from the +weary world,” said Ebbo. “And alack! when they +go, what a turmoil it will be! Councils in the Rathhaus, +appeals to the League, wranglings with the Markgraf, wise saws, +overweening speeches, all alike dull and dead.”</p> +<p>“It will scarce be so when strength and spirit have +returned, mine Ebbo.”</p> +<p>“Never can life be more to me than the way to +him,” said the lonely boy; “and I—never like +him—shall miss the road without him.”</p> +<p>While he thus spoke in the listless dejection of sorrow and +weakness, Hatto’s aged step was on the stair. +“Gracious lady,” he said, “here is a huntsman +bewildered in the hills, who has been asking shelter from the +storm that is drifting up.”</p> +<p>“See to his entertainment, then, Hatto,” said the +lady.</p> +<p>“My lady—Sir Baron,” added Hatto, “I +had not come up but that this guest seems scarce gear for us +below. He is none of the foresters of our tract. His +hair is perfumed, his shirt is fine holland, his buff suit is of +softest skin, his baldric has a jewelled clasp, and his +arblast! It would do my lord baron’s heart good only +to cast eyes on the perfect make of that arblast! He has a +lordly tread, and a stately presence, and, though he has a free +tongue, and made friends with us as he dried his garments, he +asked after my lord like his equal.”</p> +<p>“O mother, must you play the chatelaine?” asked +Ebbo. “Who can the fellow be? Why did none ever +so come when they would have been more welcome?”</p> +<p>“Welcomed must he be,” said Christina, rising, +“and thy state shall be my excuse for not tarrying longer +with him than may be needful.”</p> +<p>Yet, though shrinking from a stranger’s face, she was +not without hope that the variety might wholesomely rouse her son +from his depression, and in effect Ebbo, when left with Hatto, +minutely questioned him on the appearance of the stranger, and +watched, with much curiosity, for his mother’s return.</p> +<p>“Ebbo mine,” she said, entering, after a long +interval, “the knight asks to see thee either after supper, +or to-morrow morn.”</p> +<p>“Then a knight he is?”</p> +<p>“Yea, truly, a knight truly in every look and gesture, +bearing his head like the leading stag of the herd, and yet right +gracious.”</p> +<p>“Gracious to you, mother, in your own hall?” cried +Ebbo, almost fiercely.</p> +<p>“Ah! jealous champion, thou couldst not take +offence! It was the manner of one free and courteous to +every one, and yet with an inherent loftiness that pervades +all.”</p> +<p>“Gives he no name?” said Ebbo.</p> +<p>“He calls himself Ritter Theurdank, of the suite of the +late Kaisar, but I should deem him wont rather to lead than to +follow.”</p> +<p>“Theurdank,” repeated Eberhard, “I know no +such name! So, motherling, are you going to sup? I +shall not sleep till I have seen him!”</p> +<p>“Hold, dear son.” She leant over him and +spoke low. “See him thou must, but let me first +station Heinz and Koppel at the door with halberts, not within +earshot, but thou art so entirely defenceless.”</p> +<p>She had the pleasure of seeing him laugh. “Less +defenceless than when the kinsman of Wildschloss here visited us, +mother? I see for whom thou takest him, but let it be so; a +spiritual knight would scarce wreak his vengeance on a wounded +man in his bed. I will not have him insulted with +precautions. If he has freely risked himself in my hands, I +will as freely risk myself in his. Moreover, I thought he +had won thy heart.”</p> +<p>“Reigned over it, rather,” said Christina. +“It is but the disguise that I suspect and mistrust. +Bid me not leave thee alone with him, my son.”</p> +<p>“Nay, dear mother,” said Ebbo, “the matters +on which he is like to speak will brook no presence save our own, +and even that will be hard enough to bear. So prop me more +upright! So! And comb out these locks somewhat +smoother. Thanks, mother. Now can he see whether he +will choose Eberhard of Adlerstein for friend or foe.”</p> +<p>By the time supper was ended, the only light in the upper room +came from the flickering flames of the fire of pine knots on the +hearth. It glanced on the pale features and dark sad eyes +of the young Baron, sad in spite of the eager look of scrutiny +that he turned on the figure that entered at the door, and +approached so quickly that the partial light only served to show +the gloss of long fair hair, the glint of a jewelled belt, and +the outline of a tall, well-knit, agile frame.</p> +<p>“Welcome, Herr Ritter,” he said; “I am sorry +we have been unable to give you a fitter reception.”</p> +<p>“No host could be more fully excused than you,” +said the stranger, and Ebbo started at his voice. “I +fear you have suffered much, and still have much to +suffer.”</p> +<p>“My sword wound is healing fast,” said Ebbo; +“it is the shot in my broken thigh that is so tedious and +painful.”</p> +<p>“And I dare be sworn the leeches made it worse. I +have hated all leeches ever since they kept me three days a +prisoner in a ’pothecary’s shop stinking with +drugs. Why, I have cured myself with one pitcher of water +of a raging fever, in their very despite! How did they +serve thee, my poor boy?”</p> +<p>“They poured hot oil into the wound to remove the venom +of the lead,” said Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Had it been my case the lead should have been in their +own brains first, though that were scarce needed, the +heavy-witted Hans Sausages. Why should there be more poison +in lead than in steel? I have asked all my surgeons that +question, nor ever had a reasonable answer. Greater havoc +of warriors do they make than ever with the arquebus—ay, +even when every lanzknecht bears one.”</p> +<p>“Alack!” Ebbo could not help exclaiming, +“where will be room for chivalry?”</p> +<p>“Talk not old world nonsense,” said Theurdank; +“chivalry is in the heart, not in the weapon. A youth +beforehand enough with the world to be building bridges should +know that, when all our troops are provided with such an arm, +then will their platoons in serried ranks be as a solid wall +breathing fire, and as impregnable as the lines of English +archers with long bows, or the phalanx of Macedon. And, +when each man bears a pistol instead of the misericorde, his life +will be far more his own.”</p> +<p>Ebbo’s face was in full light, and his visitor marked +his contracted brow and trembling lip. “Ah!” he +said, “thou hast had foul experience of these +weapons.”</p> +<p>“Not mine own hurt,” said Ebbo; “that was +but fair chance of war.”</p> +<p>“I understand,” said the knight; “it was the +shot that severed the goodly bond that was so fair to see. +Young man, none has grieved more truly than King Max.”</p> +<p>“And well he may,” said Ebbo. “He has +not lost merely one of his best servants, but all the better half +of another.”</p> +<p>“There is still stuff enough left to make that +<i>one</i> well worth having,” said Theurdank, kindly +grasping his hand, “though I would it were more +substantial! How didst get old Wolfgang down, boy? He +must have been a tough morsel for slight bones like these, even +when better covered than now. Come, tell me all. I +promised the Markgraf of Wurtemburg to look into the matter when +I came to be guest at St. Ruprecht’s cloister, and I have +some small interest too with King Max.”</p> +<p>His kindliness and sympathy were more effectual with Ebbo than +the desire to represent his case favourably, for he was still too +wretched to care for policy; but he answered Theurdank’s +questions readily, and explained how the idea of the bridge had +originated in the vigil beside the broken waggons.</p> +<p>“I hope,” said Theurdank, “the merchants +made up thy share? These overthrown goods are a seignorial +right of one or other of you lords of the bank.”</p> +<p>“True, Herr Ritter; but we deemed it unknightly to +snatch at what travellers lost by misfortune.”</p> +<p>“Freiherr Eberhard, take my word for it, while thou thus +holdest, all the arquebuses yet to be cut out of the Black Forest +will not mar thy chivalry. Where didst get these ways of +thinking?”</p> +<p>“My brother was a very St. Sebastian! My +mother—”</p> +<p>“Ah! her sweet wise face would have shown it, even had +not poor Kasimir of Adlerstein raved of her. Ah! lad, thou +hast crossed a case of true love there! Canst not brook +even such a gallant stepfather?”</p> +<p>“I may not,” said Ebbo, with spirit; “for +with his last breath Schlangenwald owned that my own father died +not at the hostel, but may now be alive as a Turkish +slave.”</p> +<p>“The devil!” burst out Theurdank. +“Well! that might have been a pretty mess! A Turkish +slave, saidst thou! What year chanced all this +matter—thy grandfather’s murder and all the +rest?”</p> +<p>“The year before my birth,” said Ebbo. +“It was in the September of 1475.”</p> +<p>“Ha!” muttered Theurdank, musing to himself; +“that was the year the dotard Schenk got his overthrow at +the fight of Rain on Sare from the Moslem. Some composition +was made by them, and old Wolfgang was not unlikely to have been +the go-between. So! Say on, young knight,” he +added, “let us to the matter in hand. How rose the +strife that kept back two troops from our—from the banner +of the empire?”</p> +<p>Ebbo proceeded with the narration, and concluded it just as +the bell now belonging to the chapel began to toll for compline, +and Theurdank prepared to obey its summons, first, however, +asking if he should send any one to the patient. Ebbo +thanked him, but said he needed no one till his mother should +come after prayers.</p> +<p>“Nay, I told thee I had some leechcraft. Thou art +weary, and must rest more entirely;”—and, giving him +little choice, Theurdank supported him with one arm while +removing the pillows that propped him, then laid him tenderly +down, saying, “Good night, and the saints bless thee, brave +young knight. Sleep well, and recover in spite of the +leeches. I cannot afford to lose both of you.”</p> +<p>Ebbo strove to follow mentally the services that were being +performed in the chapel, and whose “Amens” and louder +notes pealed up to him, devoid of the clear young tones that had +sung their last here below, but swelled by grand bass notes that +as much distracted Ebbo’s attention as the memory of his +guest’s conversation; and he impatiently awaited his +mother’s arrival.</p> +<p>At length, lamp in hand, she appeared with tears shining in +her eyes, and bending over him said,</p> +<p>“He hath done honour to our blessed one, my Ebbo; he +knelt by him, and crossed him with holy water, and when he led me +from the chapel he told me any mother in Germany might envy me my +two sons even now. Thou must love him now, Ebbo.”</p> +<p>“Love him as one loves one’s loftiest +model,” said Ebbo—“value the old castle the +more for sheltering him.”</p> +<p>“Hath he made himself known to thee?”</p> +<p>“Not openly, but there is only one that he can +be.”</p> +<p>Christina smiled, thankful that the work of pardon and +reconciliation had been thus softened by the personal qualities +of the enemy, whose conduct in the chapel had deeply moved +her.</p> +<p>“Then all will be well, blessedly well,” she +said.</p> +<p>“So I trust,” said Ebbo, “but the bell broke +our converse, and he laid me down as tenderly as—O mother, +if a father’s kindness be like his, I have truly somewhat +to regain.”</p> +<p>“Knew he aught of the fell bargain?” whispered +Christina.</p> +<p>“Not he, of course, save that it was a year of Turkish +inroads. He will speak more perchance to-morrow. +Mother, not a word to any one, nor let us betray our recognition +unless it be his pleasure to make himself known.”</p> +<p>“Certainly not,” said Christina, remembering the +danger that the household might revenge Friedel’s death if +they knew the foe to be in their power. Knowing as she did +that Ebbo’s admiration was apt to be enthusiastic, and +might now be rendered the more fervent by fever and solitude, she +was still at a loss to understand his dazzled, fascinated +state.</p> +<p>When Heinz entered, bringing the castle key, which was always +laid under the Baron’s pillow, Ebbo made a movement with +his hand that surprised them both, as if to send it +elsewhere—then muttered, “No, no, not till he reveals +himself,” and asked, “Where sleeps the +guest?”</p> +<p>“In the grandmother’s room, which we fitted for a +guest-chamber, little thinking who our first would be,” +said his mother.</p> +<p>“Never fear, lady; we will have a care to him,” +said Heinz, somewhat grimly.</p> +<p>“Yes, have a care,” said Ebbo, wearily; “and +take care all due honour is shown to him! Good night, +Heinz.”</p> +<p>“Gracious lady,” said Heinz, when by a sign he had +intimated to her his desire of speaking with her unobserved by +the Baron, “never fear; I know who the fellow is as well as +you do. I shall be at the foot of the stairs, and woe to +whoever tries to step up them past me.”</p> +<p>“There is no reason to apprehend treason, Heinz, yet to +be on our guard can do no harm.”</p> +<p>“Nay, lady, I could look to the gear for the oubliette +if you would speak the word.”</p> +<p>“For heaven’s sake, no, Heinz. This man has +come hither trusting to our honour, and you could not do your +lord a greater wrong, nor one that he could less pardon, than by +any attempt on our guest.”</p> +<p>“Would that he had never eaten our bread!” +muttered Heinz. “Vipers be they all, and who knows +what may come next?”</p> +<p>“Watch, watch, Heinz; that is all,” implored +Christina, “and, above all, not a word to any one +else.”</p> +<p>And Christina dismissed the man-at-arms gruff and sullen, and +herself retired ill at ease between fears of, and for, the +unwelcome guest whose strange powers of fascination had rendered +her, in his absence, doubly distrustful.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">RITTER THEURDANK</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> snow fell all night without +ceasing, and was still falling on the morrow, when the guest +explained his desire of paying a short visit to the young Baron, +and then taking his departure. Christina would gladly have +been quit of him, but she felt bound to remonstrate, for their +mountain was absolutely impassable during a fall of snow, above +all when accompanied by wind, since the drifts concealed fearful +abysses, and the shifting masses insured destruction to the +unwary wayfarer; nay, natives themselves had perished between the +hamlet and the castle.</p> +<p>“Not the hardiest cragsman, not my son himself,” +she said, “could venture on such a morning to guide you +to—”</p> +<p>“Whither, gracious dame?” asked Theurdank, half +smiling.</p> +<p>“Nay, sir, I would not utter what you would not make +known.”</p> +<p>“You know me then?”</p> +<p>“Surely, sir, for our noble foe, whose generous trust in +our honour must win my son’s heart.”</p> +<p>“So!” he said, with a peculiar smile, +“Theurdank—Dankwart—I see! May I ask if +your son likewise smelt out the Schlangenwald?”</p> +<p>“Verily, Sir Count, my Ebbo is not easily +deceived. He said our guest could be but one man in all the +empire.”</p> +<p>Theurdank smiled again, saying, “Then, lady, you shudder +not at a man whose kin and yours have shed so much of one +another’s blood?”</p> +<p>“Nay, ghostly knight, I regard you as no more stained +therewith than are my sons by the deeds of their +grandfather.”</p> +<p>“If there were more like you, lady,” returned +Theurdank, “deadly feuds would soon be starved out. +May I to your son? I have more to say to him, and I would +fain hear his views of the storm.”</p> +<p>Christina could not be quite at ease with Theurdank in her +son’s room, but she had no choice, and she knew that Heinz +was watching on the turret stair, out of hearing indeed, but as +ready to spring as a cat who sees her young ones in the hand of a +child that she only half trusts.</p> +<p>Ebbo lay eagerly watching for his visitor, who greeted him +with the same almost paternal kindness he had evinced the night +before, but consulted him upon the way from the castle. +Ebbo confirmed his mother’s opinion that the path was +impracticable so long as the snow fell, and the wind tossed it in +wild drifts.</p> +<p>“We have been caught in snow,” he said, “and +hard work have we had to get home! Once indeed, after a +bear hunt, we fully thought the castle stood before us, and lo! +it was all a cruel snow mist in that mocking shape. I was +even about to climb our last Eagle’s Step, as I thought, +when behold, it proved to be the very brink of the +abyss.”</p> +<p>“Ah! these ravines are well-nigh as bad as those of the +Inn. I’ve known what it was to be caught on the ledge +of a precipice by a sharp wind, changing its course, +mark’st thou, so swiftly that it verily tore my hold from +the rock, and had well-nigh swept me into a chasm of mighty +depth. There was nothing for it but to make the best spring +I might towards the crag on the other side, and grip for my life +at my alpenstock, which by Our Lady’s grace was firmly +planted, and I held on till I got breath again, and felt for my +footing on the ice-glazed rock.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” said Eberhard with a long breath, after +having listened with a hunter’s keen interest to this +hair’s-breadth escape, “it sounds like a gust of my +mountain air thus let in on me.”</p> +<p>“Truly it is dismal work for a lusty hunter to lie +here,” said Theurdank, “but soon shalt thou take thy +crags again in full vigour, I hope. How call’st thou +the deep gray lonely pool under a steep frowning crag sharpened +well-nigh to a spear point, that I passed yester +afternoon?”</p> +<p>“The Ptarmigan’s Mere, the Red Eyrie,” +murmured Ebbo, scarcely able to utter the words as he thought of +Friedel’s delight in the pool, his exploit at the eyrie, +and the gay bargain made in the streets of Ulm, that he should +show the scaler of the Dom steeple the way to the eagle’s +nest.</p> +<p>“I remember,” said his guest gravely, coming to +his side. “Ah, boy! thy brother’s flight has +been higher yet. Weep freely; fear me not. Do I not +know what it is, when those who were over-good for earth have +found their eagle’s wings, and left us here?”</p> +<p>Ebbo gazed up through his tears into the noble, mournful face +that was bent kindly over him. “I will not seek to +comfort thee by counselling thee to forget,” said +Theurdank. “I was scarce thine elder when my life was +thus rent asunder, and to hoar hairs, nay, to the grave itself, +will she be my glory and my sorrow. Never owned I brother, +but I trow ye two were one in no common sort.”</p> +<p>“Such brothers as we saw at Ulm were little like +us,” returned Ebbo, from the bottom of his heart. +“We were knit together so that all will begin with me as if +it were the left hand remaining alone to do it! I am glad +that my old life may not even in shadow be renewed till after I +have gone in quest of my father.”</p> +<p>“Be not over hasty in that quest,” said the guest, +“or the infidels may chance to gain two Freiherren instead +of one. Hast any designs?”</p> +<p>Ebbo explained that he thought of making his way to Genoa to +consult the merchant Gian Battista dei Battiste, whose +description of the captive German noble had so strongly impressed +Friedel. Ebbo knew the difference between Turks and Moors, +but Friedel’s impulse guided him, and he further thought +that at Genoa he should learn the way to deal with either variety +of infidel. Theurdank thought this a prudent course, since +the Genoese had dealings both at Tripoli and Constantinople; and, +moreover, the transfer was not impossible, since the two +different hordes of Moslems trafficked among themselves when +either had made an unusually successful razzia.</p> +<p>“Shame,” he broke out, “that these Eastern +locusts, these ravening hounds, should prey unmolested on the +fairest lands of the earth, and our German nobles lie here like +swine, grunting and squealing over the plunder they grub up from +one another, deaf to any summons from heaven or earth! Did +not Heaven’s own voice speak in thunder this last year, +even in November, hurling the mighty thunderbolt of Alsace, an +ell long, weighing two hundred and fifteen pounds? Did I +not cause it to be hung up in the church of Encisheim, as a +witness and warning of the plagues that hang over us? But +no, nothing will quicken them from their sloth and drunkenness +till the foe are at their doors; and, if a man arise of different +mould, with some heart for the knightly, the good, and the true, +then they kill him for me! But thou, Adlerstein, this pious +quest over, thou wilt return to me. Thou hast head to think +and heart to feel for the shame and woe of this misguided +land.”</p> +<p>“I trust so, my lord,” said Ebbo. +“Truly, I have suffered bitterly for pursuing my own +quarrel rather than the crusade.”</p> +<p>“I meant not thee,” said Theurdank, kindly. +“Thy bridge is a benefit to me, as much as, or more than, +ever it can be to thee. Dost know Italian? There is +something of Italy in thine eye.”</p> +<p>“My mother’s mother was Italian, my lord; but she +died so early that her language has not descended to my mother or +myself.”</p> +<p>“Thou shouldst learn it. It will be pastime while +thou art bed-fast, and serve thee well in dealing with the +Moslem. Moreover, I may have work for thee in +Welschland. Books? I will send thee books. +There is the whole chronicle of Karl the Great, and all his +Palsgrafen, by Pulci and Boiardo, a brave Count and gentleman +himself, governor of Reggio, and worthy to sing of deeds of arms; +so choice, too, as to the names of his heroes, that they say he +caused his church bells to be rung when he had found one for +Rodomonte, his infidel Hector. He has shown up Roland as a +love-sick knight, though, which is out of all accord with +Archbishop Turpin. Wilt have him?”</p> +<p>“When we were together, we used to love tales of +chivalry.”</p> +<p>“Ah! Or wilt have the stern old Ghibelline +Florentine, who explored the three realms of the departed? +Deep lore, and well-nigh unsearchable, is his; but I love him for +the sake of his Beatrice, who guided him. May we find such +guides in our day!”</p> +<p>“I have heard of him,” said Ebbo. “If +he will tell me where my Friedel walks in light, then, my lord, I +would read him with all my heart.”</p> +<p>“Or wouldst thou have rare Franciscus Petrarca? I +wot thou art too young as yet for the yearnings of his sonnets, +but their voice is sweet to the bereft heart.”</p> +<p>And he murmured over, in their melodious Italian flow, the +lines on Laura’s death:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Not pallid, but yet whiter than the snow<br +/> +By wind unstirred that on a hillside lies;<br /> +Rest seemed as on a weary frame to grow,<br /> +A gentle slumber pressed her lovely eyes.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“Ah!” he added aloud to himself, “it is ever +to me as though the poet had watched in that chamber at +Ghent.”</p> +<p>Such were the discourses of that morning, now on poetry and +book lore; now admiration of the carvings that decked the room; +now talk on grand architectural designs, or improvements in +fire-arms, or the discussion of hunting adventures. There +seemed nothing in art, life, or learning in which the versatile +mind of Theurdank was not at home, or that did not end in some +strange personal reminiscence of his own. All was so kind, +so gracious, and brilliant, that at first the interview was full +of wondering delight to Ebbo, but latterly it became very +fatiguing from the strain of attention, above all towards a guest +who evidently knew that he was known, while not permitting such +recognition to be avowed. Ebbo began to long for an +interruption, but, though he could see by the lightened sky that +the weather had cleared up, it would have been impossible to have +suggested to any guest that the way might now probably be open, +and more especially to such a guest as this. Considerate as +his visitor had been the night before, the pleasure of talk +seemed to have done away with the remembrance of his host’s +weakness, till Ebbo so flagged that at last he was scarcely alive +to more than the continued sound of the voice, and all the pain +that for a while had been in abeyance seemed to have mastered +him; but his guest, half reading his books, half discoursing, +seemed too much immersed in his own plans, theories, and +adventures, to mark the condition of his auditor.</p> +<p>Interruption came at last, however. There was a sudden +knock at the door at noon, and with scant ceremony Heinz entered, +followed by three other of the men-at-arms, fully equipped.</p> +<p>“Ha! what means this?” demanded Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Peace, Sir Baron,” said Heinz, advancing so as to +place his large person between Ebbo’s bed and the strange +hunter. “You know nothing of it. We are not +going to lose you as well as your brother, and we mean to see how +this knight likes to serve as a hostage instead of opening the +gates as a traitor spy. On him, Koppel! it is thy +right.”</p> +<p>“Hands off! at your peril, villains!” exclaimed +Ebbo, sitting up, and speaking in the steady resolute voice that +had so early rendered him thoroughly their master, but much +perplexed and dismayed, and entirely unassisted by Theurdank, who +stood looking on with almost a smile, as if diverted by his +predicament.</p> +<p>“By your leave, Herr Freiherr,” said Heinz, +putting his hand on his shoulder, “this is no concern of +yours. While you cannot guard yourself or my lady, it is +our part to do so. I tell you his minions are on their way +to surprise the castle.”</p> +<p>Even as Heinz spoke, Christina came panting into the room, +and, hurrying to her son’s side, said, “Sir Count, is +this just, is this honourable, thus to return my son’s +welcome, in his helpless condition?”</p> +<p>“Mother, are you likewise distracted?” exclaimed +Ebbo. “What is all this madness?”</p> +<p>“Alas, my son, it is no frenzy! There are armed +men coming up the Eagle’s Stairs on the one hand and by the +Gemsbock’s Pass on the other!”</p> +<p>“But not a hair of your head shall they hurt, +lady,” said Heinz. “This fellow’s limbs +shall be thrown to them over the battlements. On, +Koppel!”</p> +<p>“Off, Koppel!” thundered Ebbo. “Would +you brand me with shame for ever? Were he all the +Schlangenwalds in one, he should go as freely as he came; but he +is no more Schlangenwald than I am.”</p> +<p>“He has deceived you, my lord,” said Heinz. +“My lady’s own letter to Schlangenwald was in his +chamber. ’Tis a treacherous disguise.”</p> +<p>“Fool that thou art!” said Ebbo. “I +know this gentleman well. I knew him at Ulm. Those +who meet him here mean me no ill. Open the gates and +receive them honourably! Mother, mother, trust me, all is +well. I know what I am saying.”</p> +<p>The men looked one upon another. Christina wrung her +hands, uncertain whether her son were not under some strange +fatal deception.</p> +<p>“My lord has his fancies,” growled Koppel. +“I’ll not be balked of my right of vengeance for his +scruples! Will he swear that this fellow is what he calls +himself?”</p> +<p>“I swear,” said Ebbo, slowly, “that he is a +true loyal knight, well known to me.”</p> +<p>“Swear it distinctly, Sir Baron,” said +Heinz. “We have all too deep a debt of vengeance to +let off any one who comes here lurking in the interest of our +foe. Swear that this is Theurdank, or we send his head to +greet his friends.”</p> +<p>Drops stood on Ebbo’s brow, and his breath laboured as +he felt his senses reeling, and his powers of defence for his +guest failing him. Even should the stranger confess his +name, the people of the castle might not believe him; and here he +stood like one indifferent, evidently measuring how far his young +host would go in his cause.</p> +<p>“I cannot swear that his real name is Theurdank,” +said Ebbo, rallying his forces, “but this I swear, that he +is neither friend nor fosterer of Schlangenwald, that I know him, +and I had rather die than that the slightest indignity were +offered him.” Here, and with a great effort that +terribly wrenched his wounded leg, he reached past Heinz, and +grasped his guest’s hand, pulling him as near as he +could.</p> +<p>“Sir,” he said, “if they try to lay hands on +you, strike my death-blow!”</p> +<p>A bugle-horn was wound outside. The men stood +daunted—Christina in extreme terror for her son, who lay +gasping, breathless, but still clutching the stranger’s +hand, and with eyes of fire glaring on the mutinous +warriors. Another bugle-blast! Heinz was almost in +the act of grappling with the silent foe, and Koppel cried as he +raised his halbert, “Now or never!” but paused.</p> +<p>“Never, so please you,” said the strange +guest. “What if your young lord could not forswear +himself that my name is Theurdank! Are you foes to all the +world save Theurdank?”</p> +<p>“No masking,” said Heinz, sternly. +“Tell your true name as an honest man, and we will judge +whether you be friend or foe.”</p> +<p>“My name is a mouthful, as your master knows,” +said the guest, slowly, looking with strangely amused eyes on the +confused lanzknechts, who were trying to devour their rage. +“I was baptized Maximilianus; Archduke of Austria, by +birth; by choice of the Germans, King of the Romans.”</p> +<p>“The Kaisar!”</p> +<p>Christina dropped on her knee; the men-at-arms tumbled +backwards; Ebbo pressed the hand he held to his lips, and fainted +away. The bugle sounded for the third time.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PEACE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Slowly</span> and painfully did Ebbo +recover from his swoon, feeling as if the means of revival were +rending him away from his brother. He was so completely +spent that he was satisfied with a mere assurance that nothing +was amiss, and presently dropped into a profound slumber, whence +he awoke to find it still broad daylight, and his mother sitting +by the side of his bed, all looking so much as it had done for +the last six weeks, that his first inquiry was if all that had +happened had been but a strange dream. His mother would +scarcely answer till she had satisfied herself that his eye was +clear, his voice steady, his hand cool, and that, as she said, +“That Kaisar had done him no harm.”</p> +<p>“Ah, then it was true! Where is he? +Gone?” cried Ebbo, eagerly.</p> +<p>“No, in the hall below, busy with letters they have +brought him. Lie still, my boy; he has done thee quite +enough damage for one day.”</p> +<p>“But, mother, what are you saying! Something +disloyal, was it not?”</p> +<p>“Well, Ebbo, I was very angry that he should have half +killed you when he could so easily have spoken one word. +Heaven forgive me if I did wrong, but I could not help +it.”</p> +<p>“Did <i>he</i> forgive you, mother?” said Ebbo, +anxiously.</p> +<p>“He—oh yes. To do him justice he was greatly +concerned; devised ways of restoring thee, and now has promised +not to come near thee again without my leave,” said the +mother, quite as persuaded of her own rightful sway in her +son’s sick chamber as ever Kunigunde had been of her +dominion over the castle.</p> +<p>“And is he displeased with me? Those cowardly +vindictive rascals, to fall on him, and set me at nought! +Before him, too!” exclaimed Ebbo, bitterly.</p> +<p>“Nay, Ebbo, he thought thy part most gallant. I +heard him say so, not only to me, but below stairs—both +wise and true. Thou didst know him then?”</p> +<p>“From the first glance of his princely eye—the +first of his keen smiles. I had seen him disguised +before. I thought you knew him too, mother; I never guessed +that your mind was running on Schlangenwald when we talked at +cross purposes last night.”</p> +<p>“Would that I had; but though I breathed no word openly, +I encouraged Heinz’s precautions. My boy, I could not +help it; my heart would tremble for my only one, and I saw he +could not be what he seemed.”</p> +<p>“And what doth he here? Who were the men who were +advancing?”</p> +<p>“They were the followers he had left at St. +Ruprecht’s, and likewise Master Schleiermacher and Sir +Kasimir of Wildschloss.”</p> +<p>“Ha!”</p> +<p>“What—he had not told thee?”</p> +<p>“No. He knew that I knew him, was at no pains to +disguise himself, yet evidently meant me to treat him as a +private knight. But what brought Wildschloss +here?”</p> +<p>“It seems,” said Christina, “that, on the +return from Carinthia, the Kaisar expressed his intention of +slipping away from his army in his own strange fashion, and +himself inquiring into the matter of the Ford. So he took +with him his own personal followers, the new Graf von +Schlangenwald, Herr Kasimir, and Master Schleiermacher. The +others he sent to Schlangenwald; he himself lodged at St. +Ruprecht’s, appointing that Sir Kasimir should meet him +there this morning. From the convent he started on a +chamois hunt, and made his way hither; but, when the snow came +on, and he returned not, his followers became uneasy, and came in +search of him.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” said Ebbo, “he meant to intercede for +Wildschloss—it might be he would have tried his +power. No, for that he is too generous. How looked +Wildschloss, mother?”</p> +<p>“How could I tell how any one looked save thee, my poor +wan boy? Thou art paler than ever! I cannot have any +king or kaisar of them all come to trouble thee.”</p> +<p>“Nay, motherling, there is much more trouble and unrest +to me in not knowing how my king will treat us after such a +requital! Prithee let him know that I am at his +service.”</p> +<p>And, after having fed and refreshed her patient, the gentle +potentate of his chamber consented to intimate her consent to +admit the invader. But not till after delay enough to fret +the impatient nerves of illness did Maximilian appear, handing +her in, and saying, in the cheery voice that was one of his chief +fascinations,</p> +<p>“Yea, truly, fair dame, I know thou wouldst sooner trust +Schlangenwald himself than me alone with thy charge. How +goes it, my true knight?”</p> +<p>“Well, right well, my liege,” said Ebbo, +“save for my shame and grief.”</p> +<p>“Thou art the last to be ashamed for that,” said +the good-natured prince. “Have I never seen my +faithful vassals more bent on their own feuds than on my +word?—I who reign over a set of kings, who brook no will +but their own.”</p> +<p>“And may we ask your pardon,” said Ebbo, +“not only for ourselves, but for the misguided +men-at-arms?”</p> +<p>“What! the grewsome giant that was prepared with the +axe, and the honest lad that wanted to do his duty by his +father? I honour that lad, Freiherr; I would enrol him in +my guard, but that probably he is better off here than with +<i>Massimiliano pochi danari</i>, as the Italians call me. +But what I came hither to say was this,” and he spoke +gravely: “thou art sincere in desiring reconciliation with +the house of Schlangenwald?”</p> +<p>“With all my heart,” said Ebbo, “do I loathe +the miserable debt of blood for blood!”</p> +<p>“And,” said Maximilian, “Graf Dankwart is of +like mind. Bred from pagedom in his Prussian commandery, he +has never been exposed to the irritations that have fed the +spirit of strife, and he will be thankful to lay it aside. +The question next is how to solemnize this reconciliation, ere +your retainers on one side or the other do something to set you +by the ears together again, which, judging by this +morning’s work, is not improbable.”</p> +<p>“Alas! no,” said Ebbo, “while I am laid +by.”</p> +<p>“Had you both been in our camp, you should have sworn +friendship in my chapel. Now must Dankwart come hither to +thee, as I trow he had best do, while I am here to keep the +peace. See, friend Ebbo, we will have him here to-morrow; +thy chaplain shall deck the altar here, the Father Abbot shall +say mass, and ye shall swear peace and brotherhood before +me. And,” he added, taking Ebbo’s hand, +“I shall know how to trust thine oaths as of one who sets +the fear of God above that of his king.”</p> +<p>This was truly the only chance of impressing on the wild +vassals of the two houses an obligation that perhaps might +override their ancient hatred; and the Baron and his mother +gladly submitted to the arrangement. Maximilian withdrew to +give directions for summoning the persons required and Christina +was soon obliged to leave her son, while she provided for her +influx of guests.</p> +<p>Ebbo was alone till nearly the end of the supper below +stairs. He had been dozing, when a cautious tread came up +the turret steps, and he started, and called out, “Who goes +there? I am not asleep.”</p> +<p>“It is your kinsman, Freiherr,” said a well-known +voice; “I come by your mother’s leave.”</p> +<p>“Welcome, Sir Cousin,” said Ebbo, holding out his +hand. “You come to find everything +changed.”</p> +<p>“I have knelt in the chapel,” said Wildschloss, +gravely.</p> +<p>“And he loved you better than I!” said Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Your jealousy of me was a providential thing, for which +all may be thankful,” said Wildschloss gravely; “yet +it is no small thing to lose the hope of so many years! +However, young Baron, I have grave matter for your +consideration. Know you the service on which I am to be +sent? The Kaisar deems that the Armenians or some of the +Christian nations on the skirts of the Ottoman empire might be +made our allies, and attack the Turk in his rear. I am +chosen as his envoy, and shall sail so soon as I can make my way +to Venice. I only knew of the appointment since I came +hither, he having been led thereto by letters brought him this +day; and mayhap by the downfall of my hopes. He was +peremptory, as his mood is, and seemed to think it no small +favour,” added Wildschloss, with some annoyance. +“And meantime, what of my poor child? There she is in +the cloister at Ulm, but an inheritance is a very mill-stone +round the neck of an orphan maid. That insolent fellow, +Lassla von Trautbach, hath already demanded to espouse the poor +babe; he—a blood-stained, dicing, drunken rover, with whom +I would not trust a dog that I loved! Yet my death would +place her at the disposal of his father, who would give her at +once to him. Nay, even his aunt, the abbess, will believe +nothing against him, and hath even striven with me to have her +betrothed at once. On the barest rumour of my death will +they wed the poor little thing, and then woe to her, and woe to +my vassals!”</p> +<p>“The King,” suggested Ebbo. “Surely +she might be made his ward.”</p> +<p>“Young man,” said Sir Kasimir, bending over him, +and speaking in an undertone, “he may well have won your +heart. As friend, when one is at his side, none can be so +winning, or so sincere as he; but with all his brilliant gifts, +he says truly of himself that he is a mere reckless +huntsman. To-day, while I am with him, he would give me +half Austria, or fight single-handed in my cause or +Thekla’s. Next month, when I am out of sight, comes +Trautbach, just when his head is full of keeping the French out +of Italy, or reforming the Church, or beating the Turk, or +parcelling the empire into circles, or, maybe, of a new +touch-hole for a cannon—nay, of a flower-garden, or of +walking into a lion’s den. He just says, ‘Yea, +well,’ to be rid of the importunity, and all is over with +my poor little maiden. Hare-brained and bewildered with +schemes has he been as Romish King—how will it be with him +as Kaisar? It is but of his wonted madness that he is here +at all, when his Austrian states must be all astray for want of +him. No, no; I would rather make a weathercock guardian to +my daughter. You yourself are the only guard to whom I can +safely intrust her.”</p> +<p>“My sword as knight and kinsman—” began +Ebbo.</p> +<p>“No, no; ’tis no matter of errant knight or +distressed damsel. That is King Max’s own +line!” said Wildschloss, with a little of the irony that +used to nettle Ebbo. “There is only one way in which +you can save her, and that is as her husband.”</p> +<p>Ebbo started, as well he might, but Sir Kasimir laid his hand +on him with a gesture that bade him listen ere he spoke. +“My first wish for my child,” he said, “was to +see her brought up by that peerless lady below stairs. The +saints—in pity to one so like themselves—spared her +the distress our union would have brought her. Now, it +would be vain to place my little Thekla in her care, for +Trautbach would easily feign my death, and claim his niece, nor +are you of age to be made her guardian as head of our +house. But, if this marriage rite were solemnized, then +would her person and lands alike be yours, and I could leave her +with an easy heart.”</p> +<p>“But,” said the confused, surprised Ebbo, +“what can I do? They say I shall not walk for many +weeks to come. And, even if I could, I am so young—I +have so blundered in my dealings with my own mountaineers, and +with this fatal bridge—how should I manage such estates as +yours? Some better—”</p> +<p>“Look you, Ebbo,” said Wildschloss; “you +have erred—you have been hasty; but tell me where to find +another youth, whose strongest purpose was as wise as your +errors, or who cared for others’ good more than for his own +violence and vainglory? Brief as your time has been, one +knows when one is on your bounds by the aspect of your serfs, the +soundness of their dwellings, the prosperity of their crops and +cattle above all, by their face and tone if one asks for their +lord.”</p> +<p>“Ah! it was Friedel they loved. They scarce knew +me from Friedel.”</p> +<p>“Such as you are, with all the blunders you have made +and will make, you are the only youth I know to whom I could +intrust my child or my lands. The old Wildschloss castle is +a male fief, and would return to you, but there are domains since +granted that will cause intolerable trouble and strife, unless +you and my poor little heiress are united. As for age, you +are—?”</p> +<p>“Eighteen next Easter.”</p> +<p>“Then there are scarce eleven years between you. +You will find the little one a blooming bride when your first +deeds in arms have been fought out.”</p> +<p>“And, if my mother trains her up,” said Ebbo, +thoughtfully, “she will be all the better daughter to +her. But, Sir Cousin, you know I too must be going. +So soon as I can brook the saddle, I must seek out and ransom my +father.”</p> +<p>“That is like to be a far shorter and safer journey than +mine. The Genoese and Venetians understand traffic with the +infidels for their captives, and only by your own fault could you +get into danger. Even at the worst, should mishap befall +you, you could so order matters as to leave your girl-widow in +your mother’s charge.”</p> +<p>“Then,” added Ebbo, “she would still have +one left to love and cherish her. Sir Kasimir, it is well; +though, if you knew me without my Friedel, you would repent of +your bargain.”</p> +<p>“Thanks from my heart,” said Wildschloss, +“but you need not be concerned. You have never been +over-friendly with me even with Friedel at your side. But +to business, my son. You will endure that title from me +now? My time is short.”</p> +<p>“What would you have me do? Shall I send the +little one a betrothal ring, and ride to Ulm to wed and fetch her +home in spring?”</p> +<p>“That may hardly serve. These kinsmen would have +seized on her and the castle long ere that time. The only +safety is the making wedlock as fast as it can be made with a +child of such tender years. Mine is the only power that can +make the abbess give her up, and therefore will I ride this +moonlight night to Ulm, bring the little one back with me by the +time the reconciliation be concluded, and then shall ye be wed by +the Abbot of St. Ruprecht’s, with the Kaisar for a witness, +and thus will the knot be too strong for the Trautbachs to +untie.”</p> +<p>Ebbo looked disconcerted, and gasped, as if this were +over-quick work.—“To-morrow!” he said. +“Knows my mother?”</p> +<p>“I go to speak with her at once. The +Kaisar’s consent I have, as he says, ‘If we have one +vassal who has common sense and honesty, let us make the most of +him.’ Ah! my son, I shall return to see you his +counsellor and friend.”</p> +<p>Those days had no delicacies as to the lady’s side +taking the initiative: and, in effect, the wealth and power of +Wildschloss so much exceeded those of the elder branch that it +would have been presumptuous on Eberhard’s part to have +made the proposal. It was more a treaty than an affair of +hearts, and Sir Kasimir had not even gone through the form of +inquiring if Ebbo were fancy-free. It was true, indeed, +that he was still a boy, with no passion for any one but his +mother; but had he even formed a dream of a ladye love, it would +scarcely have been deemed a rational objection. The days of +romance were no days of romance in marriage.</p> +<p>Yet Christina, wedded herself for pure love, felt this +obstacle strongly. The scheme was propounded to her over +the hall fire by no less a person than Maximilian himself, and +he, whose perceptions were extremely keen when he was not too +much engrossed to use them, observed her reluctance through all +her timid deference, and probed her reasons so successfully that +she owned at last that, though it might sound like folly, she +could scarce endure to see her son so bind himself that the +romance of his life could hardly be innocent.</p> +<p>“Nay, lady,” was the answer, in a tone of deep +feeling. “Neither lands nor honours can weigh down +the up-springing of true love;” and he bowed his head +between his hands.</p> +<p>Verily, all the Low Countries had not impeded the true-hearted +affection of Maximilian and Mary; and, though since her death his +want of self-restraint had marred his personal character and +morals, and though he was now on the point of concluding a most +loveless political marriage, yet still Mary was—as he shows +her as the Beatrice of both his strange autobiographical +allegories—the guiding star of his fitful life; and in +heart his fidelity was so unbroken that, when after a long pause +he again looked up to Christina, he spoke as well understanding +her feelings.</p> +<p>“I know what you would say, lady; your son hardly knows +as yet how much is asked of him, and the little maid, to whom he +vows his heart, is over-young to secure it. But, lady, I +have often observed that men, whose family affections are as deep +and fervent as your son’s are for you and his brother, +seldom have wandering passions, but that their love flows deep +and steady in the channels prepared for it. Let your young +Freiherr regard this damsel as his own, and you will see he will +love her as such.”</p> +<p>“I trust so, my liege.”</p> +<p>“Moreover, if she turn out like the spiteful Trautbach +folk,” said Maximilian, rather wickedly, “plenty of +holes can be picked in a baby-wedding. No fear of its +over-firmness. I never saw one come to good; only he must +keep firm hold on the lands.”</p> +<p>This was not easy to answer, coming from a prince who had no +small experience in premature bridals coming to nothing, and +Christina felt that the matter was taken out of her hands, and +that she had no more to do but to enjoy the warm-hearted +Kaisar’s praises of her son.</p> +<p>In fact, the general run of nobles were then so boorish and +violent compared with the citizens, that a nobleman who possessed +intellect, loyalty, and conscience was so valuable to the +sovereign that Maximilian was rejoiced to do all that either +could bind him to his service or increase his power. The +true history of this expedition on the Emperor’s part was +this—that he had consulted Kasimir upon the question of the +Debateable Ford and the feud of Adlerstein and Schlangenwald, +asking further how his friend had sped in the wooing of the fair +widow, to which he remembered having given his consent at +Ulm.</p> +<p>Wildschloss replied that, though backed up by her kindred at +Ulm, he had made no progress in consequence of the determined +opposition of her two sons, and he had therefore resolved to wait +a while, and let her and the young Baron feel their inability to +extricate themselves from the difficulties that were sure to +beset them, without his authority, influence, and +experience—fully believing that some predicament might +arise that would bring the mother to terms, if not the sons.</p> +<p>This disaster did seem to have fallen out, and he had meant at +once to offer himself to the lady as her supporter and advocate, +able to bring about all her son could desire; though he owned +that his hopes would have been higher if the survivor had been +the gentle, friendly Friedmund, rather than the hot and imperious +Eberhard, who he knew must be brought very low ere his objections +would be withdrawn.</p> +<p>The touch of romance had quite fascinated Maximilian. He +would see the lady and her son. He would make all things +easy by the personal influence that he so well knew how to exert, +backed by his imperial authority; and both should see cause to be +thankful to purchase consent to the bridge-building, and pardon +for the fray, by the marriage between the widow and Sir +Kasimir.</p> +<p>But the Last of the Knights was a gentleman, and the meek +dignity of his hostess had hindered him from pressing on her any +distasteful subject until her son’s explanation of the +uncertainty of her husband’s death had precluded all +mention of this intention. Besides, Maximilian was himself +greatly charmed by Ebbo’s own qualities—partly +perhaps as an intelligent auditor, but also by his good sense, +high spirit, and, above all, by the ready and delicate tact that +had both penetrated and respected the disguise. Moreover, +Maximilian, though a faulty, was a devout man, and could +appreciate the youth’s unswerving truth, under +circumstances that did, in effect, imperil him more really than +his guest. In this mood, Maximilian felt disposed to be rid +to the very utmost of poor Sir Kasimir’s unlucky attachment +to a wedded lady; and receiving letters suggestive of the Eastern +mission, instantly decided that it would only be doing as he +would be done by instantly to order the disappointed suitor off +to the utmost parts of the earth, where he would much have liked +to go himself, save for the unlucky clog of all the realm of +Germany. That Sir Kasimir had any tie to home he had for +the moment entirely forgotten; and, had he remembered it, the +knight was so eminently fitted to fulfil his purpose, that it +could hardly have been regarded. But, when Wildschloss +himself devised his little heiress’s union with the head of +the direct line, it was a most acceptable proposal to the +Emperor, who set himself to forward it at once, out of policy, +and as compensation to all parties.</p> +<p>And so Christina’s gentle remonstrance was passed +by. Yet, with all her sense of the venture, it was +thankworthy to look back on the trembling anxiety with which she +had watched her boy’s childhood, and all his temptations +and perils, and compare her fears with his present position: his +alliance courted, his wisdom honoured, the child of the proud, +contemned outlaw received as the favourite of the Emperor, and +the valued ally of her own honoured burgher world. Yet he +was still a mere lad. How would it be for the future?</p> +<p>Would he be unspoiled? Yes, even as she already viewed +one of her twins as the star on high—nay, when kneeling in +the chapel, her dazzling tears made stars of the glint of the +light reflected in his bright helmet—might she not trust +that the other would yet run his course to and fro, as the spark +in the stubble?</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE ALTAR OF PEACE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">No</span> one could bear to waken the +young Baron till the sun had risen high enough to fall on his +face and unclose his eyes.</p> +<p>“Mother” (ever his first word), “you have +let me sleep too long.”</p> +<p>“Thou didst wake too long, I fear me.”</p> +<p>“I hoped you knew it not. Yes, my wound throbbed +sore, and the wonders of the day whirled round my brain like the +wild huntsman’s chase.”</p> +<p>“And, cruel boy, thou didst not call to me.”</p> +<p>“What, with such a yesterday, and such a morrow for you? +while, chance what may, I can but lie still. I thought I +must call, if I were still so wretched, when the last moonbeam +faded; but, behold, sleep came, and therewith my Friedel sat by +me, and has sung songs of peace ever since.”</p> +<p>“And hath lulled thee to content, dear son?”</p> +<p>“Content as the echo of his voice and the fulfilment of +his hope can make me,” said Ebbo.</p> +<p>And so Christina made her son ready for the day’s +solemnities, arraying him in a fine holland shirt with exquisite +broidery of her own on the collar and sleeves, and carefully +disposing his long glossy, dark brown hair so as to fall on his +shoulders as he lay propped up by cushions. She would have +thrown his crimson mantle round him, but he repelled it +indignantly. “Gay braveries for me, while my Friedel +is not yet in his resting-place? Here—the black +velvet cloak.”</p> +<p>“Alas, Ebbo! it makes thee look more of a corpse than a +bridegroom. Thou wilt scare thy poor little spouse. +Ah! it was not thus I had fancied myself decking thee for thy +wedding.”</p> +<p>“Poor little one!” said Ebbo. “If, as +your uncle says, mourning is the seed of joy, this bridal should +prove a gladsome one! But let her prove a loving child to +you, and honour my Friedel’s memory, then shall I love her +well. Do not fear, motherling; with the roots of hatred and +jealousy taken out of the heart, even sorrow is such peace that +it is almost joy.”</p> +<p>It was over early for pain and sorrow to have taught that +lesson, thought the mother, as with tender tears she gave place +to the priest, who was to begin the solemnities of the day by +shriving the young Baron. It was Father Norbert, who had in +this very chamber baptized the brothers, while their grandmother +was plotting the destruction of their godfather, even while he +gave Friedmund his name of peace,—Father Norbert, who had +from the very first encouraged the drooping, heart-stricken, +solitary Christina not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome +evil with good.</p> +<p>A temporary altar was erected between the windows, and hung +with the silk and embroidery belonging to that in the chapel: a +crucifix was placed on it, with the shrine of the stone of +Nicæa, one or two other relics brought on St. +Ruprecht’s cloister, and a beautiful mother-of-pearl and +gold pyx also from the abbey, containing the host. These +were arranged by the chaplain, Father Norbert, and three of his +brethren from the abbey. And then the Father Abbot, a +kindly, dignified old man, who had long been on friendly terms +with the young Baron, entered; and after a few kind though +serious words to him, assumed a gorgeous cope stiff with gold +embroidery, and, standing by the altar, awaited the arrival of +the other assistants at the ceremony.</p> +<p>The slender, youthful-looking, pensive lady of the castle, in +her wonted mourning dress, was courteously handed to her +son’s bedside by the Emperor. He was in his plain +buff leathern hunting garb, unornamented, save by the rich clasp +of his sword-belt and his gold chain, and his head was only +covered by the long silken locks of fair hair that hung round his +shoulders; but, now that his large keen dark blue eyes were +gravely restrained, and his eager face composed, his countenance +was so majestic, his bearing so lofty, that not all his crowns +could have better marked his dignity.</p> +<p>Behind him came a sunburnt, hardy man, wearing the white +mantle and black fleur-de-lis-pointed cross of the Teutonic +Order. A thrill passed through Ebbo’s veins as he +beheld the man who to him represented the murderer of his brother +and both his grandfathers, the cruel oppressor of his father, and +the perpetrator of many a more remote, but equally unforgotten, +injury. And in like manner Sir Dankwart beheld the actual +slayer of his father, and the heir of a long score of deadly +retribution. No wonder then that, while the Emperor spoke a +few words of salutation and inquiry, gracious though not +familiar, the two foes scanned one another with a shiver of +mutual repulsing, and a sense that they would fain have fought it +out as in the good old times.</p> +<p>However, Ebbo only beheld a somewhat dull, heavy, +honest-looking visage of about thirty years old, good-nature +written in all its flat German features, and a sort of puzzled +wonder in the wide light eyes that stared fixedly at him, no +doubt in amazement that the mighty huge-limbed Wolfgang could +have been actually slain by the delicately-framed youth, now more +colourless than ever in consequence of the morning’s +fast. Schleiermacher was also present, and the chief +followers on either hand had come into the lower part of the +room—Hatto, Heinz, and Koppel, looking far from contented; +some of the Emperor’s suite; and a few attendants of +Schlangenwald, like himself connected with the Teutonic +Order.</p> +<p>The Emperor spoke: “We have brought you together, Herr +Graff von Schlangenwald, and Herr Freiherr von Adlerstein, +because ye have given us reason to believe you willing to lay +aside the remembrance of the foul and deadly strifes of your +forefathers, and to live as good Christians in friendship and +brotherhood.”</p> +<p>“Sire, it is true,” said Schlangenwald; and +“It is true,” said Ebbo.</p> +<p>“That is well,” replied Maximilian. +“Nor can our reign better begin than by the closing of a +breach that has cost the land some of its bravest sons. +Dankwart von Schlangenwald, art thou willing to pardon the heir +of Adlerstein for having slain thy father in free and honourable +combat, as well as, doubtless, for other deeds of his ancestors, +more than I know or can specify?”</p> +<p>“Yea, truly; I pardon him, my liege, as befits my +vow.”</p> +<p>“And thou, Eberhard von Adlerstein, dost thou put from +thee vengeance for thy twin brother’s death, and all the +other wrongs that thine house has suffered?”</p> +<p>“I put revenge from me for ever.”</p> +<p>“Ye agree, further, then, instead of striving as to your +rights to the piece of meadow called the Debateable Strand, and +to the wrecks of burthens there cast up by the stream, ye will +unite with the citizens of Ulm in building a bridge over the +Braunwasser, where, your mutual portions thereof being decided by +the Swabian League, toll may be taken from all vehicles and +beasts passing there over?”</p> +<p>“We agree,” said both knights.</p> +<p>“And I, also, on behalf of the two guilds of Ulm,” +added Moritz Schleiermacher.</p> +<p>“Likewise,” continued the Emperor, “for +avoidance of debate, and to consecrate the spot that has caused +so much contention, ye will jointly erect a church, where may be +buried both the relatives who fell in the late unhappy skirmish, +and where ye will endow a perpetual mass for their souls, and +those of others of your two races.”</p> +<p>“Thereto I willingly agree,” said the Teutonic +knight. But to Ebbo it was a shock that the pure, gentle +Friedmund should thus be classed with his treacherous assassin; +and he had almost declared that it would be sacrilege, when he +received from the Emperor a look of stern, surprised command, +which reminded him that concession must not be all on one side, +and that he could not do Friedel a greater wrong than to make him +a cause of strife. So, though they half choked him, he +contrived to utter the words, “I consent.”</p> +<p>“And in token of amity I here tear up and burn all the +feuds of Adlerstein,” said Schlangenwald, producing from +his pouch a collection of hostile literature, beginning from a +crumpled strip of yellow parchment and ending with a coarse paper +missive in the clerkly hand of burgher-bred Hugh Sorel, and +bearing the crooked signatures of the last two Eberhards of +Adlerstein—all with great seals of the eagle shield +appended to them. A similar collection—which, with +one or two other family defiances, and the letters of investiture +recently obtained at Ulm, formed the whole archives of +Adlerstein—had been prepared within Ebbo’s reach; and +each of the two, taking up a dagger, made extensive gashes in +these documents, and then—with no mercy to the future +antiquaries, who would have gloated over them—the whole +were hurled into the flames on the hearth, where the odour they +emitted, if not grateful to the physical sense, should have been +highly agreeable to the moral.</p> +<p>“Then, holy Father Abbot,” said Maximilian, +“let us ratify this happy and Christian reconciliation by +the blessed sacrifice of peace, over which these two faithful +knights shall unite in swearing good-will and +brotherhood.”</p> +<p>Such solemn reconciliations were frequent, but, alas were too +often a mockery. Here, however, both parties were men who +felt the awe of the promise made before the Pardon-winner of all +mankind. Ebbo, bred up by his mother in the true life of +the Church, and comparatively apart from practical superstitions, +felt the import to the depths of his inmost soul, with a force +heightened by his bodily state of nervous impressibility; and his +wan, wasted features and dark shining eyes had a strange +spiritual beam, “half passion and half awe,” as he +followed the words of universal forgiveness and lofty praise that +he had heard last in his anguished trance, when his brother lay +dying beside him, and leaving him behind. He knew now that +it was for this.</p> +<p>His deep repressed ardour and excitement were no small +contrast to the sober, matter-of-fact demeanour of the Teutonic +knight, who comported himself with the mechanical decorum of an +ecclesiastic, but quite as one who meant to keep his word. +Maximilian served the mass in his royal character as +sub-deacon. He was fond of so doing, either from humility, +or love of incongruity, or both. No one, however, +communicated except the clergy and the parties +concerned—Dankwart first, as being monk as well as knight, +then Eberhard and his mother; and then followed, interposed into +the rite, the oath of pardon, friendship, and brotherhood +administered by the abbot, and followed by the solemn kiss of +peace. There was now no recoil; Eberhard raised himself to +meet the lips of his foe, and his heart went with the +embrace. Nay, his inward ear dwelt on Friedmund’s +song mingling with the concluding chants of praise.</p> +<p>The service ended, it was part of the pledge of amity that the +reconciled enemies should break their fast together, and a +collation of white bread and wine was provided for the +purpose. The Emperor tried to promote free and friendly +talk between the two adversaries, but not with great success; for +Dankwart, though honest and sincere, seemed extremely dull. +He appeared to have few ideas beyond his Prussian commandery and +its routine discipline, and to be lost in a castle where all was +at his sole will and disposal, and he caught eagerly at all +proposals made to him as if they were new lights. As, for +instance, that some impartial arbitrator should be demanded from +the Swabian League to define the boundary; and that next +Rogation-tide the two knights should ride or climb it in company, +while meantime the serfs should be strictly charged not to +trespass, and any transgressor should be immediately escorted to +his own lord.</p> +<p>“But,” quoth Sir Dankwart, in a most serious tone, +“I am told that a she-bear wons in a den on yonder crag, +between the pass you call the Gemsbock’s and the +Schlangenwald valley. They told me the right in it had +never been decided, and I have not been up myself. To say +truth, I have lived so long in the sand plains as to have lost my +mountain legs, and I hesitated to see if a hunter could mount +thither for fear of fresh offence; but, if she bide there till +Rogation-tide, it will be ill for the lambs.”</p> +<p>“Is that all?” cried Maximilian. “Then +will I, a neutral, kill your bear for you, gentlemen, so that +neither need transgress this new crag of debate. I’ll +go down and look at your bear spears, friend Ebbo, and be ready +so soon as Kasimir has done with his bridal.”</p> +<p>“That crag!” cried Ebbo. “Little good +will it do either of us. Sire, it is a mere wall of sloping +rock, slippery as ice, and with only a stone or matting of ivy +here and there to serve as foothold.”</p> +<p>“Where bear can go, man can go,” replied the +Kaisar.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes! We have been there, craving your pardon, +Herr Graf,” said Ebbo, “after a dead chamois that +rolled into a cleft, but it is the worst crag on all the hill, +and the frost will make it slippery. Sire, if you do +venture it, I conjure you to take Koppel, and climb by the rocks +from the left, not the right, which looks easiest. The +yellow rock, with a face like a man’s, is the safer; but +ach, it is fearful for one who knows not the rocks.”</p> +<p>“If I know not the rocks, all true German rocks know +me,” smiled Maximilian, to whom the danger seemed to be +such a stimulus that he began to propose the bear-hunt +immediately, as an interlude while waiting for the bride.</p> +<p>However, at that moment, half-a-dozen horsemen were seen +coming up from the ford, by the nearer path, and a forerunner +arrived with the tidings that the Baron of Adlerstein Wildschloss +was close behind with the little Baroness Thekla.</p> +<p>Half the moonlight night had Sir Kasimir and his escort +ridden; and, after a brief sleep at the nearest inn outside Ulm, +he had entered in early morning, demanded admittance at the +convent, made short work with the Abbess Ludmilla’s +arguments, claimed his daughter, and placing her on a cushion +before him on his saddle, had borne her away, telling her of +freedom, of the kind lady, and the young knight who had dazzled +her childish fancy.</p> +<p>Christina went down to receive her. There was no time to +lose, for the huntsman Kaisar was bent on the slaughter of his +bear before dark, and, if he were to be witness of the wedding, +it must be immediate. He was in a state of much impatience, +which he beguiled by teasing his friend Wildschloss by reminding +him how often he himself had been betrothed, and had managed to +slip his neck out of the noose. “And, if my Margot be +not soon back on my hands, I shall give the French credit,” +he said, tossing his bear-spear in the air, and catching it +again. “Why, this bride is as long of busking her as +if she were a beauty of seventeen! I must be off to my Lady +Bearess.”</p> +<p>Thus nothing could be done to prepare the little maiden but to +divest her of her mufflings, and comb out her flaxen hair, +crowning it with a wreath which Christina had already woven from +the myrtle of her own girlhood, scarcely waiting to answer the +bewildered queries and entreaties save by caresses and +admonitions to her to be very good.</p> +<p>Poor little thing! She was tired, frightened, and +confused; and, when she had been brought upstairs, she answered +the half smiling, half shy greeting of her bridegroom with a +shudder of alarm, and the exclamation, “Where is the +beautiful young knight? That’s a lady going to take +the veil lying under the pall.”</p> +<p>“You look rather like a little nun yourself,” said +Ebbo, for she wore a little conventual dress, “but we must +take each other for such as we are;” and, as she hid her +face and clung to his mother, he added in a more cheerful, +coaxing tone, “You once said you would be my +wife.”</p> +<p>“Ah, but then there were two of you, and you were all +shining bright.”</p> +<p>Before she could be answered, the impatient Emperor returned, +and brought with him the abbot, who proceeded to find the place +in his book, and to ask the bridegroom for the rings. Ebbo +looked at Sir Kasimir, who owned that he should have brought them +from Ulm, but that he had forgotten.</p> +<p>“Jewels are not plenty with us,” said Ebbo, with a +glow of amusement and confusion dawning on his cheek, such as +reassured the little maid that she beheld one of the two +beautiful young knights. “Must we borrow?”</p> +<p>Christina looked at the ring she had first seen lying on her +own Eberhard’s palm, and felt as if to let it be used would +sever the renewed hope she scarcely yet durst entertain; and at +the same moment Maximilian glanced at his own fingers, and +muttered, “None but this! Unlucky!” For +it was the very diamond which Mary of Burgundy had sent to assure +him of her faith, and summon him to her aid after her +father’s death. Sir Kasimir had not retained the +pledge of his own ill-omened wedlock; but, in the midst of the +dilemma, the Emperor, producing his dagger, began to detach some +of the massive gold links of the chain that supported his +hunting-horn. “There,” said he, “the +little elf of a bride can get her finger into this lesser one and +you—verily this largest will fit, and the goldsmith can +beat it out when needed. So on with you in St. +Hubert’s name, Father Abbot!”</p> +<p>Slender-boned and thin as was Ebbo’s hand, it was a very +tight fit, but the purpose was served. The service +commenced; and fortunately, thanks to Thekla’s conventual +education, she was awed into silence and decorum by the sound of +Latin and the sight of an abbot. It was a strange marriage, +if only in the contrast between the pale, expressive face and +sad, dark eyes of the prostrate youth, and the frightened, +bewildered little girl, standing upon a stool to reach up to him, +with her blue eyes stretched with wonder, and her cheeks flushed +and pouting with unshed tears, her rosy plump hand enclosed in +the long white wasted one that was thus for ever united to it by +the broken fragments of Kaisar Max’s chain.</p> +<p>The rite over, two attestations of the marriage of Eberhard, +Freiherr von Adlerstein, and Thekla, Freiherrinn von Adlerstein +Wildschloss and Felsenbach, were drawn up and signed by the +abbot, the Emperor, Count Dankwart, and the father and mother of +the two contracting parties; one to be committed to the care of +the abbot, the other to be preserved by the house of +Adlerstein.</p> +<p>Then the Emperor, as the concluding grace of the ceremonial, +bent to kiss the bride; but, tired, terrified, and cross, Thekla, +as if quite relieved to have some object for her resentment, +returned his attempt with a vehement buffet, struck with all the +force of her small arm, crying out, “Go away with +you! I know I’ve never married <i>you</i>!”</p> +<p>“The better for my eyes!” said the good-natured +Emperor, laughing heartily. “My Lady Bearess is like +to prove the more courteous bride! Fare thee well, Sir +Bridegroom,” he added, stooping over Ebbo, and kissing his +brow; “Heaven give thee joy of this day’s work, and +of thy faithful little fury. I’ll send her the +bearskin as her meetest wedding-gift.”</p> +<p>And the next that was heard from the Kaisar was the arrival of +a parcel of Italian books for the Freiherr Eberhard, and for the +little Freiherrinn a large bundle, which proved to contain a +softly-dressed bearskin, with the head on, the eyes being made of +rubies, a gold muzzle and chain on the nose, and the claws tipped +with gold. The Emperor had made a point that it should be +conveyed to the castle, snow or no snow, for a yule gift.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OLD IRON AND NEW STEEL</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> clear sunshine of early summer +was becoming low on the hillsides. Sparkling and dimpling, +the clear amber-coloured stream of the Braunwasser rippled along +its stony bed, winding in and out among the rocks so humbly that +it seemed to be mocked by the wide span of the arch that crossed +it in all the might of massive bulwarks, and dignified masonry of +huge stones.</p> +<p>Some way above, a clearing of the wood below the mountain +showed huts, and labourers apparently constructing a mill so as +to take advantage of the leap of the water from the height above; +and, on the left bank, an enclosure was traced out, within which +were rising the walls of a small church, while the noise of the +mallet and chisel echoed back from the mountain side, and masons, +white with stone-dust, swarmed around.</p> +<p>Across the bridge came a pilgrim, marked out as such by hat, +wallet, and long staff, on which he leant heavily, stumbling +along as if both halting and footsore, and bending as one bowed +down by past toil and present fatigue. Pausing in the +centre, he gazed round with a strange disconcerted air—at +the castle on the terraced hillside, looking down with bright +eyes of glass glittering in the sunshine, and lighting up even +that grim old pile; at the banner hanging so lazily that the +tinctures and bearings were hidden in the folds; then at the +crags, rosy purple in evening glow, rising in broad step above +step up to the Red Eyrie, bathed in sunset majesty of dark +crimson; and above it the sweep of the descending eagle, +discernible for a moment in the pearly light of the sky. +The pilgrim’s eye lighted up as he watched it; but then, +looking down at bridge, and church, and trodden wheel-tracked +path, he frowned with perplexity, and each painful step grew +heavier and more uncertain.</p> +<p>Near the opposite side of the enclosure there waited a tall, +rugged-looking, elderly man with two horses—one an aged +mare, mane, tail, and all of the snowiest silvery white; the +other a little shaggy dark mountain pony, with a +pad-saddle. And close to the bank of the stream might be +seen its owner, a little girl of some seven years, whose tight +round lace cap had slipped back, as well as her blue silk hood, +and exposed a profusion of loose flaxen hair, and a plump, +innocent face, intent upon some private little bit of building of +her own with some pebbles from the brook, and some mortar filched +from the operations above, to the great detriment of her soft +pinky fingers.</p> +<p>The pilgrim looked at her unperceived, and for a moment was +about to address her; but then, with a strange air of repulsion, +dragged himself on to the porch of the rising church, where, +seated on a block of stone, he could look into the +interior. All was unfinished, but the portion which had +made the most progress was a chantry-chapel opposite to the +porch, and containing what were evidently designed to be two +monuments. One was merely blocked out, but it showed the +outline of a warrior, bearing a shield on which a coiled serpent +was rudely sketched in red chalk. The other, in a much more +forward state, was actually under the hands of the sculptor, and +represented a slender youth, almost a boy, though in the full +armour of a knight, his hands clasped on his breast over a lute, +an eagle on his shield, an eagle-crest on his helmet, and, under +the arcade supporting the altar-tomb, shields alternately of +eagles and doves.</p> +<p>But the strangest thing was that this young knight seemed to +be sitting for his own effigy. The very same face, under +the very same helmet, only with the varied, warm hues of life, +instead of in cold white marble, was to be seen on the shoulders +of a young man in a gray cloth dress, with a black scarf passing +from shoulder to waist, crossed by a sword-belt. The hair +was hidden by the helmet, whose raised visor showed keen, +finely-cut features, and a pair of dark brown eyes, of somewhat +grave and sad expression.</p> +<p>“Have a care, Lucas,” he presently said; “I +fear me you are chiselling away too much. It must be a +softer, more rounded face than mine has become; and, above all, +let it not catch any saddened look. Keep that air of solemn +waiting in glad hope, as though he saw the dawn through his +closed eyelids, and were about to take up his song +again!”</p> +<p>“Verily, Herr Freiherr, now the likeness is so far +forward, the actual sight of you may lead me to mar it rather +than mend.”</p> +<p>“So is it well that this should be the last +sitting. I am to set forth for Genoa in another week. +If I cannot get letters from the Kaisar, I shall go in search of +him, that he may see that my lameness is no more an +impediment.”</p> +<p>The pilgrim passed his hand over his face, as though to +dissipate a bewildering dream; and just then the little girl, all +flushed and dabbled, flew rushing up from the stream, but came to +a sudden standstill at sight of the stranger, who at length +addressed her. “Little lady,” he said, +“is this the Debateable Ford?”</p> +<p>“No; now it is the Friendly Bridge,” said the +child.</p> +<p>The pilgrim started, as with a pang of recollection. +“And what is yonder castle?” he further asked.</p> +<p>“Schloss Adlerstein,” she said, proudly.</p> +<p>“And you are the little lady of Adlerstein +Wildschloss?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” again she answered; and then, gathering +courage—“You are a holy pilgrim! Come up to the +castle for supper and rest.” And then, springing past +him, she flew up to the knight, crying, “Herr Freiherr, +here is a holy pilgrim, weary and hungry. Let us take him +home to the mother.”</p> +<p>“Did he take thee for a wild elf?” said the young +man, with an elder-brotherly endeavour to right the little cap +that had slidden under the chin, and to push back the +unmanageable wealth of hair under it, ere he rose; and he came +forward and spoke with kind courtesy, as he observed the +wanderer’s worn air and feeble step. “Dost need +a night’s lodging, holy palmer? My mother will make +thee welcome, if thou canst climb as high as the castle +yonder.”</p> +<p>The pilgrim made an obeisance, but, instead of answering, +demanded hastily, “See I yonder the bearing of +Schlangenwald?”</p> +<p>“Even so. Schloss Schlangenwald is about a league +further on, and thou wilt find a kind reception there, if thither +thou art bent.”</p> +<p>“Is that Graff Wolfgang’s tomb?” still +eagerly pursued the pilgrim; and receiving a sign in the +affirmative, “What was his end?”</p> +<p>“He fell in a skirmish.”</p> +<p>“By whose hand?”</p> +<p>“By mine.”</p> +<p>“Ha!” and the pilgrim surveyed him with +undisguised astonishment; then, without another word, took up his +staff and limped out of the building, but not on the road to +Schlangenwald. It was nearly a quarter of an hour +afterwards that he was overtaken by the young knight and the +little lady on their horses, just where the new road to the +castle parted from the old way by the Eagle’s Ladder. +The knight reined up as he saw the poor man’s slow, painful +steps, and said, “So thou art not bound for +Schlangenwald?”</p> +<p>“I would to the village, so please you—to the +shrine of the Blessed Friedmund.”</p> +<p>“Nay, at this rate thou wilt not be there till +midnight,” said the young knight, springing off his horse; +“thou canst never brook our sharp stones! See, +Thekla, do thou ride on with Heinz to tell the mother I am +bringing her a holy pilgrim to tend. And thou, good man, +mount my old gray. Fear not; she is steady and sure-footed, +and hath of late been used to a lame rider. Ah! that is +well. Thou hast been in the saddle before.”</p> +<p>To go afoot for the sake of giving a lift to a holy wayfarer +was one of the most esteemed acts of piety of the Middle Age, so +that no one durst object to it, and the palmer did no more than +utter a suppressed murmur of acknowledgment as he seated himself +on horseback, the young knight walking by his rein. +“But what is this?” he exclaimed, almost with +dismay. “A road to the castle up here!”</p> +<p>“Yes, we find it a great convenience. Thou art +surely from these parts?” added the knight.</p> +<p>“I was a man-at-arms in the service of the Baron,” +was the answer, in an odd, muffled tone.</p> +<p>“What!—of my grandfather!” was the +exclamation.</p> +<p>“No!” gruffly. “Of old Freiherr +Eberhard. Not of any of the Wildschloss crew.”</p> +<p>“But I am not a Wildschloss! I am grandson to +Freiherr Eberhard! Oh, wast thou with him and my father +when they were set upon in the hostel?” he cried, looking +eagerly up to the pilgrim; but the man kept his broad-leaved hat +slouched over his face, and only muttered, “The son of +Christina!” the last word so low that Ebbo was not sure +that he caught it, and the next moment the old warrior exclaimed +exultingly, “And you have had vengeance on them! +When—how—where?”</p> +<p>“Last harvest-tide—at the Debateable +Strand,” said Ebbo, never able to speak of the encounter +without a weight at his heart, but drawn on by the earnestness of +the old foe of Schlangenwald. “It was a meeting in +full career—lances broken, sword-stroke on either +hand. I was sore wounded, but my sword went through his +collar-bone.”</p> +<p>“Well struck! good stroke!” cried the pilgrim, in +rapture. “And with that sword?”</p> +<p>“With this sword. Didst know it?” said Ebbo, +drawing the weapon, and giving it to the old man, who held it for +a few moments, weighed it affectionately, and with a long low +sigh restored it, saying, “It is well. You and that +blade have paid off the score. I should be content. +Let me dismount. I know my way to the hermitage.”</p> +<p>“Nay, what is this?” said Ebbo; “thou must +have rest and food. The hermitage is empty, scarce +habitable. My mother will not be balked of the care of thy +bleeding feet.”</p> +<p>“But let me go, ere I bring evil on you all. I can +pray up there, and save my soul, but I cannot see it +all.”</p> +<p>“See what?” said Ebbo, again trying to see his +guest’s face. “There may be changes, but an old +faithful follower of my father’s must ever be +welcome.”</p> +<p>“Not when his wife has taken a new lord,” growled +the stranger, bitterly, “and he a Wildschloss! Young +man, I could have pardoned aught else!”</p> +<p>“I know not who you may be who talk of pardoning my +lady-mother,” said Ebbo, “but new lord she has +neither taken nor will take. She has refused every offer; +and, now that Schlangenwald with his last breath confessed that +he slew not my father, but sold him to the Turks, I have been +only awaiting recovery from my wound to go in search of +him.”</p> +<p>“Who then is yonder child, who told me she was +Wildschloss?”</p> +<p>“That child,” said Ebbo, with half a smile and +half a blush, “is my wife, the daughter of Wildschloss, who +prayed me to espouse her thus early, that so my mother might +bring her up.”</p> +<p>By this time they had reached the castle court, now a +well-kept, lordly-looking enclosure, where the pilgrim looked +about him as one bewildered. He was so infirm that Ebbo +carefully helped him up the stone stairs to the hall, where he +already saw his mother prepared for the hospitable reception of +the palmer. Leaving him at the entrance, Ebbo crossed the +hall to say to her in a low voice, “This pilgrim is one of +the old lanzknechts of my grandfather’s time. I +wonder whether you or Heinz will know him. One of the old +sort—supremely discontented at change.”</p> +<p>“And thou hast walked up, and wearied thyself!” +exclaimed Christina, grieved to see her son’s halting +step.</p> +<p>“A rest will soon cure that,” said Ebbo, seating +himself as he spoke on a settle near the hall fire; but the next +moment a strange wild low shriek from his mother made him start +up and spring to her side. She stood with hands clasped, +and wondering eyes. The pilgrim—his hat on the +ground, his white head and rugged face displayed—was gazing +as though devouring her with his eyes, murmuring, +“Unchanged! unchanged!”</p> +<p>“What is this!” thundered the young Baron. +“What are you doing to the lady?”</p> +<p>“Hush! hush, Ebbo!” exclaimed Christina. +“It is thy father! On thy knees! Thy father is +come! It is our son, my own lord. Oh, embrace +him! Kneel to him, Ebbo!” she wildly cried.</p> +<p>“Hold, mother,” said Ebbo, keeping his arm round +her, though she struggled against him, for he felt some doubts as +he looked back at his walk with the stranger, and remembered +Heinz’s want of recognition. “Is it certain +that this is indeed my father?”</p> +<p>“Oh, Ebbo,” was the cry of poor Christina, almost +beside herself, “how could I not be sure? I know +him! I feel it! Oh, my lord, bear with him. It +is his wont to be so loving! Ebbo, cannot you see it is +himself?”</p> +<p>“The young fellow is right,” said the stranger, +slowly. “I will answer all he may demand.”</p> +<p>“Forgive me,” said Ebbo, abashed, “forgive +me;” and, as his mother broke from him, he fell upon his +knee; but he only heard his father’s cry, “Ah! +Stine, Stine, thou alone art the same,” and, looking up, +saw her, with her face hidden in the white beard, quivering with +a rapture such as he had never seen in her before. It +seemed long to him ere she looked up again in her husband’s +face to sob on: “My son! Oh! my beautiful +twins! Our son! Oh, see him, dear lord!” +And the pilgrim turned to hear Ebbo’s “Pardon, +honoured father, and your blessing.”</p> +<p>Almost bashfully the pilgrim laid his hand on the dark head, +and murmured something; then said, “Up, then! The +slayer of Schlangenwald kneeling! Ah! Stine, I knew +thy little head was wondrous wise, but I little thought thou +wouldst breed him up to avenge us on old Wolfgang! So +slender a lad too! Ha! Schneiderlein, old rogue, I +knew thee,” holding out his hand. “So thou +didst get home safe?”</p> +<p>“Ay, my lord; though, if I left you alive, never more +will I call a man dead,” said Heinz.</p> +<p>“Worse luck for me—till now,” said Sir +Eberhard, whose tones, rather than his looks, carried perfect +conviction of his identity. It was the old homely accent, +and gruff good-humoured voice, but with something subdued and +broken in the tone. His features had grown like his +father’s, but he looked much older than ever the hale old +mountaineer had done, or than his real age; so worn and lined was +his face, his skin tanned, his eyelids and temples puckered by +burning sun, his hair and beard white as the inane of his old +mare, the proud Adlerstein port entirely gone. He stooped +even more without his staff than with it; and, when he yielded +himself with a sigh of repose to his wife’s tendance, she +found that he had not merely the ordinary hurts of travelling, +but that there were old festering scars on his ankles. +“The gyves,” he said, as she looked up at him, with +startled, pitying eyes. “Little deemed I that they +would ever come under thy tender hands.” As he almost +timidly smoothed the braid of dark hair on her +brow—“So they never burnt thee for a witch after all, +little one? I thought my mother would never keep her hands +off thee, and used to fancy I heard the crackling of the +flame.”</p> +<p>“She spared me for my children’s sake,” said +Christina; “and truly Heaven has been very good to us, but +never so much as now. My dear lord, will it weary thee too +much to come to the castle chapel and give thanks?” she +said, timidly.</p> +<p>“With all my heart,” he answered, earnestly. +“I would go even on my knees. We were not without +masses even in Tunis; but, when Italian and Spaniard would be +ransomed, and there was no mind of the German, I little thought I +should ever sing Brother Lambert’s psalm about turning our +captivity as rivers in the south.”</p> +<p>Ebbo was hovering round, supplying all that was needed for his +father’s comfort; but his parents were so completely +absorbed in one another that he was scarcely noticed, and, what +perhaps pained him more, there was no word about Friedel. +He felt this almost an injustice to the brother who had been +foremost in embracing the idea of the unknown father, and +scarcely understood how his parents shrank from any sorrowful +thought that might break in on their new-found joy, nor that he +himself was so strange and new a being in his father’s +eyes, that to imagine him doubled was hardly possible to the +tardy, dulled capacity, which as yet seemed unable to feel +anything but that here was home, and Christina.</p> +<p>When the chapel bell rang, and the pair rose to offer their +thanksgiving, Ebbo dutifully offered his support, but was +absolutely unseen, so fondly was Sir Eberhard leaning on his +wife; and her bright exulting smile and shake of the head gave an +absolute pang to the son who had hitherto been all in all to +her.</p> +<p>He followed, and, as they passed Friedmund’s coffin, he +thought his mother pointed to it, but even of this he was +uncertain. The pair knelt side by side with hands locked +together, while notes of praise rose from all voices; and +meantime Ebbo, close to that coffin, strove to share the joy, and +to lift up a heart that <i>would</i> sink in the midst of +self-reproach for undutifulness, and would dislike the thought of +the rude untaught man, holding aloof from him, likely to view him +with distrust and jealousy, and to undo all he had achieved, and +further absorbing the mother, the mother who was to him all the +world, and for whose sake he had given his best years to the +child-wife, as yet nothing to him.</p> +<p>It was reversing the natural order of things that, after +reigning from infancy, he should have to give up at eighteen to +one of the last generation; and some such thought rankled in his +mind when the whole household trooped joyfully out of the chapel +to prepare a banquet for their old new lord, and their young old +lord was left alone.</p> +<p>Alone with the coffin where the armour lay upon the white +cross, Ebbo threw himself on his knees, and laid his head upon +it, murmuring, “Ah, Friedel! Friedel! Would +that we had changed places! Thou wouldst brook it +better. At least thou didst never know what it is to be +lonely.”</p> +<p>“Herr Baron!” said a little voice.</p> +<p><a name="page269"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 269</span>His +first movement was impatient. Thekla was apt to pursue him +wherever he did not want her; but here he had least expected her, +for she had a great fear of that coffin, and could hardly be +brought to the chapel at prayer times, when she generally +occupied herself with fancies that the empty helmet glared at +her. But now Ebbo saw her standing as near as she durst, +with a sweet wistfulness in her eyes, such as he had never seen +there before.</p> +<p>“What is it, Thekla?” he said. “Art +sent to call me?”</p> +<p>“No; only I saw that you stayed here all alone,” +she said, clasping her hands.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p269b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"“‘No; only I saw that you stayed here all +alone,’ she said, clasping her hands.” Page 269" +title= +"“‘No; only I saw that you stayed here all +alone,’ she said, clasping her hands.” Page 269" +src="images/p269s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Must I not be alone, child?” he said, +bitterly. “Here lies my brother. My mother has +her husband again!”</p> +<p>“But you have me!” cried Thekla; and, as he looked +up between amusement and melancholy, he met such a loving eager +little face, that he could not help holding out his arms, and +letting her cling to him. “Indeed,” she said, +“I’ll never be afraid of the helmet again, if only +you will not lay down your head there, and say you are +alone.”</p> +<p>“Never, Thekla! while you are my little wife,” +said he; and, child as she was, there was strange solace to his +heart in the eyes that, once vacant and wondering, had now gained +a look of love and intelligence.</p> +<p>“What are you going to do?” she said, shuddering a +little, as he rose and laid his hand on Friedel’s +sword.</p> +<p>“To make thee gird on thine own knight’s +sword,” said Ebbo, unbuckling that which he had so long +worn. “Friedel,” he added, “thou wouldst +give me thine. Let me take up thy temper with it, thine +open-hearted love and humility.”</p> +<p>He guided Thekla’s happy little fingers to the fastening +of the belt, and then, laying his hand on hers, said gravely, +“Thekla, never speak of what I said just now—not even +to the mother. Remember, it is thy husband’s first +secret.”</p> +<p>And feeling no longer solitary when his hand was in the clasp +of hers, he returned to the hall, where his father was installed +in the baronial chair, in which Ebbo had been at home from +babyhood. His mother’s exclamation showed that her +son had been wanting to her; and she looked fuller than ever of +bliss when Ebbo gravely stood before his father, and presented +him with the good old sword that he had sent to his unborn +son.</p> +<p>“You are like to use it more than I,—nay, you have +used it to some purpose,” said he. “Yet must I +keep mine old comrade at least a little while. Wife, son, +sword, should make one feel the same man again, but it is all too +wonderful!”</p> +<p>All that evening, and long after, his hand from time to time +sought the hilt of his sword, as if that touch above all proved +to him that he was again a free noble in his own castle.</p> +<p>The story he told was thus. The swoon in which Heinz had +left him had probably saved his life by checking the gush of +blood, and he had known no more till he found himself in a rough +cart among the corpses. At Schlangenwald’s castle he +had been found still breathing, and had been flung into a +dungeon, where he lay unattended, for how long he never knew, +since all the early part of the time was lost in the clouds of +fever. On coarse fare and scanty drink, in that dark vault, +he had struggled by sheer obstinacy of vitality into +recovery. In the very height of midsummer alone did the sun +peep through the grating of his cell, and he had newly hailed +this cheerful visitor when he was roughly summoned, placed on +horseback with eyes and hands bound, and only allowed sight again +to find himself among a herd of his fellow Germans in the Turkish +camp. They were the prisoners of the terrible Turkish raid +of 1475, when Georg von Schenk and fourteen other noblemen of +Austria and Styria were all taken in one unhappy fight, and +dragged away into captivity, with hundreds of lower rank.</p> +<p>To Sir Eberhard the change had been greatly for the +better. The Turk had treated him much better than the +Christian; and walking in the open air, chained to a German +comrade, was far pleasanter than pining in his lonely +dungeon. At Adrianople, an offer had been made to each of +the captives, if they would become Moslems, of entering the +Ottoman service as Spahis; but with one voice they had refused, +and had then been draughted into different divisions. The +fifteen nobles, who had been offered for ransom, were taken to +Constantinople, to await its arrival, and they had promised Sir +Eberhard to publish his fate on their return to their homes; and, +though he knew the family resources too well to have many hopes, +he was rather hurt to find that their promise had been +unfulfilled.</p> +<p>“Alas! they had no opportunity,” said Ebbo. +“Gulden were scarce, or were all in Kaisar +Friedrich’s great chest; the ransoms could not be raised, +and all died in captivity. I heard about it when I was at +Wurms last month.”</p> +<p>“The boy at Wurms?” almost gasped Sir Eberhard in +amaze.</p> +<p>“I had to be there about matters concerning the +Wildschloss lands and the bridge,” said Ebbo; “and +both Dankwart von Schlangenwald and I made special inquiries +about that company in case you should have shared their +fate. I hoped to have set forth at that time, but the +Kaisar said I was still too lame, and refused me license, or +letters to the Sultan.”</p> +<p>“You would not have found me,” said his father, +narrating how he with a large troop of captives had been driven +down to the coast; where they were transferred to a Moorish +slave-dealer, who shipped them off for Tunis. Here, after +their first taste of the miseries of a sea life, the alternative +of Islam or slavery was again put before them. “And, +by the holy stone of Nicæa,” said Sir Eberhard, +“I thought by that time that the infidels had the advantage +of us in good-will and friendliness; but, when they told me women +had no souls at all, no more than a horse or dog, I knew it was +but an empty dream of a religion; for did I not know that my +little Ermentrude, and thou, Stine, had finer, clearer, wiser +souls than ever a man I had known? ‘Nay, nay,’ +quoth I, ‘I’ll cast in my lot where I may meet my +wife hereafter, should I never see her here.’” +He had then been allotted to a corsair, and had thenceforth been +chained to the bench of rowers, between the two decks, where, in +stifling heat and stench, in storm or calm, healthy or diseased, +the wretched oarsmen were compelled to play the part of machinery +in propelling the vessel, in order to capture Christian +ships—making exertions to which only the perpetual lash of +the galley-master could have urged their exhausted frames; often +not desisting for twenty or thirty hours, and rowing still while +sustenance was put into their mouths by their drivers. Many +a man drew has last breath with his last stroke, and was at the +first leisure moment hurled into the waves. It was the +description that had so deeply moved Friedel long ago, and +Christina wept over it, as she looked at the bowed form once so +proud and free, and thought of the unhealed scars. But +there, her husband added, he had been chained next to a holy +friar of German blood, like himself a captive of the great +Styrian raid; and, while some blasphemed in their misery, or +wildly chid their patron saints, this good man strove to show +that all was to work out good; he had a pious saying for all that +befell, and adored the will of God in thus purifying him; +“And, if it were thus with a saint like him, I thought, +what must it be with a rough freebooting godless sinner such as I +had been? See”—and he took out a rosary of +strung bladders of seaweed; “that is what he left me when +he died, and what I meant to have been telling for ever up in the +hermitage.”</p> +<p>“He died, then?”</p> +<p>“Ay—he died on the shore of Corsica, while most of +the dogs were off harrying a village inland, and we had a sort of +respite, or I trow he would have rowed till his last gasp. +How he prayed for the poor wretches they were gone to +attack!—ay, and for all of us—for me +also—There’s enough of it. Such talk skills not +now.”</p> +<p>It was plain that Sir Eberhard had learnt more Christianity in +the hold of his Moorish pirate ship than ever in the Holy Roman +Empire, and a weight was lifted off his son’s mind by +finding that he had vowed never to return to a life of violence, +even though fancying a life of penance in a hermitage the only +alternative.</p> +<p>Ebbo asked if the Genoese merchant, Ser Gian Battista dei +Battiste, had indeed been one of his fellow-captives.</p> +<p>“Ha!—what?” and on the repetition, +“Truly I knew him, Merchant Gian as we used to call him; +but you twang off his name as they speak it in his own stately +city.”</p> +<p>Christina smiled. “Ebbo learnt the Italian tongue +this winter from our chaplain, who had studied at Bologna. +He was told it would aid in his quest of you.”</p> +<p>“Tell me not!” said the traveller, holding up his +hands in deprecation; “the Junker is worse than a +priest! And yet he killed old Wolfgang! But what of +Gian? Hold,—did not he, when I was with him at Genoa, +tell me a story of being put into a dungeon in a mountain +fortress in Germany, and released by a pair of young lads with +eyes beaming in the sunrise, who vanished just as they brought +him to a cloister? Nay, he deemed it a miracle of the +saints, and hung up a votive picture thereof at the shrine of the +holy Cosmo and Damian.”</p> +<p>“He was not so far wrong in deeming <i>one</i> of the +lads near of kin to the holy ones,” said Christina, +softly.</p> +<p>And Ebbo briefly narrated the adventure, when it evidently +appeared that his having led at least one foray gave his father +for the first time a fellow-feeling for him, and a sense that he +was one of the true old stock; but, when he heard of the release, +he growled, “So! How would a lad have fared who so +acted in my time? My poor old mother! She must have +been changed indeed not to have scourged him till he had no +strength to cry out.”</p> +<p>“He was my prisoner!” said Ebbo, in his old +defiant tone; “I had the right.”</p> +<p>“Ah, well! the Junker has always been master here, and I +never!” said the elder knight, looking round rather +piteously; and Ebbo, with a sudden movement, exclaimed, +“Nay, sir, you are the only lord and master, and I stand +ready to be the first to obey you.”</p> +<p>“You! A fine young book-learned scholar, already +knighted, and with all these Wildschloss lands too!” said +Sir Eberhard, gazing with a strange puzzled look at the delicate +but spirited features of this strange perplexing son. +“Reach hither your hand, boy.”</p> +<p>And as he compared the slender, shapely hand of such +finely-textured skin with the breadth of his own horny +giant’s paw, he tossed it from him, shaking his head with a +gesture as if he had no commands for such feminine-looking +fingers to execute, and mortifying Ebbo not a little. +“Ah!” said Christina, apologetically, “it +always grieved your mother that the boys would resemble me and +mine. But, when daylight comes, Ebbo will show you that he +has not lost the old German strength.”</p> +<p>“No doubt—no doubt,” said Sir Eberhard, +hastily, “since he has slain Schlangenwald; and, if the +former state of things be at an end, the less he takes after the +ancient stock the better. But I am an old man now, Stine, +though thou look’st fair and fresh as ever, and I do not +know what to make of these things. White napery on the +table; glass drinking things;—nay, were it not for thee and +the Schneiderlein, I should not know I was at home.”</p> +<p>He was led back to his narration, and it appeared that, after +some years spent at the oar, certain bleedings from the lungs, +the remains of his wound, had become so much more severe as to +render him useless for naval purposes; and, as he escaped +actually dying during a voyage, he was allowed to lie by on +coming into port till he had in some degree recovered, and then +had been set to labour at the fortifications, chained to another +prisoner, and toiling between the burning sand and burning sun, +but treated with less horrible severity than the necessities of +the sea had occasioned on board ship, and experiencing the +benefit of intercourse with the better class of captives, whom +their miserable fate had thrown into the hands of the Moors.</p> +<p>It was a favourite almsdeed among the Provençals, +Spaniards, and Italians to send money for the redemption of +prisoners to the Moors, and there was a regular agency for +ransoms through the Jews; but German captives were such an +exception that no one thought of them, and many a time had the +summons come for such and such a slave by name, or for five poor +Sicilians, twenty Genoese, a dozen Marseillais, or the like, but +still no word for the Swabian; till he had made up his mind that +he should either leave his bones in the hot mud of the harbour, +or be only set free by some gallant descent either of the brave +King of Portugal, or of the Knights of Rhodes, of whom the +captives were ever dreaming and whispering.</p> +<p>At length his own slave name was shouted; he was called up by +the captain of his gang, and, while expecting some fresh +punishment, or, maybe, to find himself sold into some domestic +form of slavery, he was set before a Jewish agent, who, after +examining him on his name, country, and station, and comparing +his answers with a paper of instructions, informed him that he +was ransomed, caused his fetters to be struck off, and shipped +him off at once for Genoa, with orders to the captain to consign +him to the merchant Signor del Battiste. By him Sir +Eberhard had been received with the warmest hospitality, and +treated as befitted his original station, but Battista disclaimed +the merit of having ransomed him. He had but acted, he +said, as the agent of an Austrian gentleman, from whom he had +received orders to inquire after the Swabian baron who had been +his fellow-captive, and, if he were still living, to pay his +ransom, and bring him home.</p> +<p>“The name—the name!” eagerly asked Ebbo and +his mother at once.</p> +<p>“The name? Gian was wont to make bad work of our +honest German names, but I tried to learn this—being so +beholden to him. I even caused it to be spelt over to me, +but my letters long ago went from me. It seems to me that +the man is a knight-errant, like those of thy ballads, +Stine—one Ritter Theur—Theur—”</p> +<p>“Theurdank!” cried Ebbo.</p> +<p>“Ay, Theurdank. What, you know him? There is +nothing you and your mother don’t know, I +believe.”</p> +<p>“Know him! Father, he is our greatest and +noblest! He has been kind to me beyond description. +He is the Kaisar! Now I see why he had that strange arch +look which so vexed me when he forbade me on my allegiance to set +forth till my lameness should be gone! Long ago had he +asked me all about Gian Battista. To him he must have +written.”</p> +<p>“The Kaisar!” said Sir Eberhard. “Nay, +the poor fellows I left in Turkey ever said he was too close of +fist for them to have hope from him.”</p> +<p>“Oh! that was old Kaisar Friedrich. This is our +own gallant Maximilian—a knight as true and brave as ever +was paladin,” said Christina; “and most truly loving +and prizing our Ebbo.”</p> +<p>“And yet I wish—I wish,” said Ebbo, +“that he had let me win my father’s liberty for +myself.”</p> +<p>“Yea, well,” said his father, “there spoke +the Adlerstein. We never were wont to be beholden to king +or kaisar.”</p> +<p>“Nay,” say Ebbo, after a moment’s +recollection, colouring as he spoke; “it is true that I +deserved it not. Nay, Sir Father, it is well. You owe +your freedom in very truth to the son you have not known. +It was he who treasured up the thought of the captive German +described by the merchant, and even dreamt of it, while never +doubting of your death; it was he who caught up +Schlangenwald’s first hint that you lived, while I, in my +pride, passed it by as merely meant to perplex me; it was he who +had formed an absolute purpose of obtaining some certainty; and +at last, when my impetuosity had brought on the fatal battle, it +was he who bought with his own life the avowal of your +captivity. I had hoped to have fulfilled Friedel’s +trust, and to have redeemed my own backwardness; but it is not to +be. While I was yet lying helpless on my bed, the Emperor +has taken it out of my power. Mother, you receive him from +Friedel’s hands, after all.”</p> +<p>“And well am I thankful that so it should be,” +said Christina. “Ah, Ebbo! sorely should I have pined +with anxiety when thou wast gone. And thy father knows that +thou hadst the full purpose.”</p> +<p>“Yea, I know it,” said the old man; “and, +after all, small blame to him even if he had not. He never +saw me, and light grieves the heart for what the eye hath not +seen.”</p> +<p>“But,” added the wife, “since the Romish +king freed you, dear lord, cared he not better for your journey +than to let you come in this forlorn plight?”</p> +<p>This, it appeared, was far from being his deliverer’s +fault. Money had been supplied, and Sir Eberhard had +travelled as far as Aosta with a party of Italian merchants; but +no sooner had he parted with them than he was completely +astray. His whole experience of life had been as a robber +baron or as a slave, and he knew not how to take care of himself +as a peaceful traveller; he suffered fresh extortions at every +stage, and after a few days was plundered by his guides, beaten, +and left devoid of all means of continuing the journey to which +he could hardly hope for a cheerful end. He did not expect +to find his mother living,—far less that his unowned wife +could have survived the perils in which he had involved her; and +he believed that his ancestral home would, if not a ruin, be held +by his foes, or at best by the rival branch of the family, whose +welcome of the outlawed heir would probably be to a dungeon, if +not a halter. Yet the only magnet on earth for the lonely +wanderer was his native mountain, where from some old peasant he +might learn how his fair young bride had perished, and perhaps +the sins of his youth might be expiated by continual prayer in +the hermitage chapel where his sister lay buried, and whence he +could see the crags for which his eye and heart had craved so +long with the home-sickness of a mountaineer.</p> +<p>And now, when his own Christina had welcomed him with all the +overflow of her loving heart, unchanged save that hers had become +a tenderer yet more dignified loveliness; when his gallant son, +in all the bloom of young manhood, received him with dutiful +submission; when the castle, in a state of defence, prosperity, +and comfort of which he had never dreamt, was again his +own;—still the old man was bewildered, and sometimes +oppressed almost to distress. He had, as it were, fallen +asleep in one age of the world, and wakened in another, and it +seemed as if he really wished to defer his wakening, or else that +repose was an absolute novelty to him; for he sat dozing in his +chair in the sun the whole of the next day, and scarcely +spoke.</p> +<p>Ebbo, who felt it a necessity to come to an understanding of +the terms on which they were to stand, tried to refer matters to +him, and to explain the past, but he was met sometimes by a shake +of the head, sometimes by a nod—not of assent, but of +sleep; and his mother advised him not to harass the wearied +traveller, but to leave him to himself at least for that day, and +let him take his own time for exertion, letting things meantime +go on as usual. Ebbo obeyed, but with a load at his heart, +as he felt that all he was doing was but provisional, and that it +would be his duty to resign all that he had planned, and partly +executed, to this incompetent, ignorant rule. He could +certainly, when not serving the Emperor, go and act for himself +at Thekla’s dower castle of Felsenbach, and his mother +might save things from going to utter ruin at Adlerstein; but no +reflection or self-reproach could make it otherwise than a bitter +pill to any Telemachus to have to resign to one so unlike Ulysses +in all but the length of his wanderings,—one, also, who +seemed only half to like, and not at all to comprehend, his +Telemachus.</p> +<p>Meantime Ebbo attended to such matters as were sure to come +each day before the Herr Freiherr. Now it was a question +whether the stone for the mill should be quarried where it would +undermine a bit of grass land, or further on, where the road was +rougher; now Berend’s swine had got into Barthel’s +rye, and Barthel had severely hurt one of them—the Herr +Freiherr’s interference could alone prevent a hopeless +quarrel; now a waggon with ironwork for the mill claimed +exemption from toll as being for the Baron: and he must send down +the toll, to obviate injustice towards Schlangenwald and +Ulm. Old Ulrich’s grandson, who had run away for a +lanzknecht, had sent a letter home (written by a comrade), the +Baron must read and answer it. Steinmark’s son wanted +to be a poor student: the Herr Freiherr must write him a letter +of recommendation. Mother Grethel’s ewe had fallen +into a cleft; her son came to borrow a rope, and ask aid, and the +Baron must superintend the hoisting the poor beast up +again. Hans had found the track of a wolf, and knew the +hole where a litter of cubs abode; the Freiherr, his wolf-hound, +and his spear were wanted for their destruction. Dietrich +could not tell how to manage his new arquebus: the Baron must +teach him to take aim. Then there was a letter from Ulm to +invite the Baron to consult on the tax demanded by the Emperor +for his Italian war, and how far it should concern the profits of +the bridge; and another letter from the Markgraf of Wurtemburg, +as chief of the Swabian League, requesting the Lord of Adlerstein +to be on the look-out for a band of robbers, who were reported to +be in neighbouring hills, after being hunted out of some of their +other lurking-places.</p> +<p>That very night, or rather nearly at the dawn of a summer +morning, there was a yelling below the castle, and a flashing of +torches, and tidings rang through it that a boor on the outskirts +of the mountain had had his ricks fired and his cattle driven by +the robbers, and his young daughters carried off. Old Sir +Eberhard hobbled down to the hall in time to see weapons flashing +as they were dealt out, to hear a clear decided voice giving +orders, to listen to the tramp of horse, and watch more reitern +pass out under the gateway than ever the castle had counted in +his father’s time. Then he went back to his bed, and +when he came down in the morning, found all the womankind of the +castle roasting and boiling. And, at noon, little Thekla +came rushing down from the watch-tower with news that all were +coming home up the Eagle’s Steps, and she was sure +<i>her</i> baron had sent her, and waved to her. Soon +after, <i>her</i> baron in his glittering steel rode his +cream-coloured charger (once Friedel’s) into the castle +court, followed by his exultant merrymen. They had +overtaken the thieves in good time, made them captives, and +recovered the spoil unhurt; and Heinz and Koppel made the castle +ring with the deed of their young lord, who had forced the huge +leader of the band to the earth, and kept him down by main +strength till they could come to bind him.</p> +<p>“By main strength?” slowly asked Sir Eberhard, who +had been stirred into excitement.</p> +<p>“He was a loose-limbed, awkward fellow,” said +Ebbo, “less strong than he looked.”</p> +<p>“Not only that, Sir,” said Heinz, looking from his +old master to his young one; “but old iron is not a whit +stronger than new steel, though the one looks full of might, and +you would think the other but a toy.”</p> +<p>“And what have you done with the rogues’ +heads?” asked the old knight. “I looked to see +them on your spears. Or have you hung them?”</p> +<p>“Not so, Sir,” said Ebbo. “I sent the +men off to Stuttgard with an escort. I dislike doing +execution ourselves; it makes the men so lawless. Besides, +this farmer was Schlangenwalder.”</p> +<p>“And yet he came to you for redress?”</p> +<p>“Yes, for Sir Dankwart is at his commandery, and he and +I agreed to look after each other’s lands.”</p> +<p>Sir Eberhard retired to his chair as if all had gone past his +understanding, and thence he looked on while his son and wife +hospitably regaled, and then dismissed, their auxiliaries in the +rescue.</p> +<p>Afterwards Christina told her son that she thought his father +was rested, and would be better able to attend to him, and Ebbo, +with a painful swelling in his heart, approached him +deferentially, with a request that he would say what was his +pleasure with regard to the Emperor, to whom acknowledgments must +in the first place be made for his release, and next would arise +the whole question of homage and investiture.</p> +<p>“Look you here, fair son,” said Sir Eberhard, +rousing himself, “these things are all past me. +I’ll have none of them. You and your Kaisar +understand one another, and your homage is paid. It boots +not changing all for an old fellow that is but come home to +die.”</p> +<p>“Nay, father, it is in the order of things that you +should be lord here.”</p> +<p>“I never was lord here, and, what is more, I would not, +and could not be. Son, I marked you yesterday. You +are master as never was my poor father, with all the bawling and +blows that used to rule the house, while these fellows mind you +at a word, in a voice as quiet as your mother’s. +Besides, what should I do with all these mills and bridges of +yours, and Diets, and Leagues, and councils enough to addle a +man’s brain? No, no; I could once slay a bear, or +strike a fair stroke at a Schlangenwalder, but even they got the +better of me, and I am good for nothing now but to save my +soul. I had thought to do it as a hermit up there; but my +little Christina thinks the saints will be just as well pleased +if I tell my beads here, with her to help me, and I know that way +I shall not make so many mistakes. So, young Sir, if you +can give the old man a corner of the hearth while he lives, he +will never interfere with you. And, maybe, if the castle +were in jeopardy in your absence, with that new-fangled road up +to it, he could tell the fellows how to hold it out.”</p> +<p>“Sir—dear father,” cried the ardent Ebbo, +“this is not a fit state of things. I will spare you +all trouble and care; only make me not undutiful; take your own +place. Mother, convince him!”</p> +<p>“No, my son,” said Sir Eberhard; “your +mother sees what is best for me. I only want to be left to +her to rest a little while, and repent of my sinful life. +As Heinz says, the rusty old iron must lie by while the new steel +does the work. It is quiet that I need. It is joy +enough for me to see what she has made you, and all around. +Ah! Stine, my white dove, I knew thine was a wise head; but +when I left thee, gentle little frightened, fluttering thing, how +little could I have thought that all alone, unaided, thou wouldst +have kept that little head above water, and made thy son work out +all these changes—thy doing—and so I know they are +good and seemly. I see thou hast made him clerkly, +quick-witted, and yet a good knight. Ah! thou didst tell me +oft that our lonely pride was not high nor worthy fame. +Stine, how didst do it?”</p> +<p>“I did it not, dear husband; God did it for me. He +gave the boys the loving, true tempers that worked out the +rest! He shielded them and me in our days of +peril.”</p> +<p>“Yes, father,” added Ebbo, “Providence +guarded us; but, above all, our chief blessing has been the +mother who has made one of us a holy saint, and taught the other +to seek after him! Father, I am glad you see how great has +been the work of the Dove you brought to the Eagle’s +Nest.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE STAR AND THE SPARK</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> year 1531 has begun, and +Schloss Adlerstein remains in its strength on the mountain side, +but with a look of cultivation on its environs such as would have +amazed Kunigunde. Vines run up trellises against the rocks; +pot-herbs and flowers nestle in the nooks; outbuildings cluster +round it; and even the grim old keep has a range of buildings +connected with it, as if the household had entirely outgrown the +capacities of the square tower.</p> +<p>Yet the old hall is still the chief place of assembly, and now +that it has been wainscoted, with a screen of carved wood to shut +off the draughty passages, and a stove of bright tiles to +increase the warmth, it is far more cheerful. Moreover, a +window has been opened showing the rich green meadow below, with +the bridge over the Braunwasser, and the little church, with a +spire of pierced lace-work, and white cottages peeping out of the +retreating forest.</p> +<p>That is the window which the Lady Baroness loves. See +her there, the lovely old lady of seventy-five—yes, +lovelier than ever, for her sweet brown eyes have the same +pensive, clear beauty, enhanced by the snowy whiteness of her +hair, of which a soft braid shows over the pure pale brow beneath +the white band, and sweeping black veil, that she has worn by +right for twenty years. But the slight form is active and +brisk, and there are ready smiles and looks of interest for the +pretty fair-haired maidens, three in number, who run in and out +from their household avocations to appeal to the “dear +grandmother,” mischievously to tell of the direful yawns +proceeding from brothers Ebbo and Gottfried over their studies +with their tutor, or to gaze from the window and wonder if the +father, with the two brothers, Friedel Max and Kasimir, will +return from Ulm in time for the “mid-day eating.”</p> +<p>Ah! there they are. Quick-eyed Vittoria has seen the +cavalcade first, and dances off to tell Ermentrude and Stine time +enough to prepare their last batch of fritters for the +new-comers; Ebbo and Götz rush headlong down the hillside; +and the Lady Baroness lays down her distaff, and gazes with eyes +of satisfied content at the small party of horsemen climbing up +the footpath. Then, when they have wound out of sight round +a rock, she moves out towards the hall-door, with a light, quick +step, for never yet has she resigned her great enjoyment, that of +greeting her son on the steps of the porch—those steps +where she once met such fearful news, but where that memory has +been effaced by many a cheerful welcome.</p> +<p>There, then, she stands, amid the bright throng of +grandchildren, while the Baron and his sons spring from their +horses and come up to her. The Baron doffs his Spanish hat, +bends the knee, kisses her hand, and receives her kiss on his +brow, with the fervour of a life-devotion, before he turns to +accept the salutation of his daughters, and then takes her hand, +with pretty affectionate ceremony, to hand her back to her +seat. A few words pass between them. “No, +motherling,” he says, “I signed it not; I will tell +you all by and by.”</p> +<p>And then the mid-day meal is served for the whole household, +as of old, with the salt-cellar in the middle, but with a far +larger company above it than when first we saw it. The +seven young folks preserve a decorous silence, save when Fraulein +Ermentrude’s cookeries are good-naturedly complimented by +her father, or when Baron Friedmund Maximilianus breaks out with +some wonderful fact about new armour seen at Ulm. He is a +handsome, fair, flaxen-haired young man—like the old +Adlersteins, say the elder people—and full of honest gaiety +and good nature, the special pride of his sisters; and no sooner +is the meal over, than, with a formal entreaty for dismissal, all +the seven, and all the dogs, move off together, to that favourite +gathering-place round the stove, where all their merry tongues +are let loose together.</p> +<p>To them, the Herr Vater and the Frau Grossmutter seem nearly +of the same age, and of the same generation; and verily the +eighteen years between the mother and son have dwindled into a +very small difference even in appearance, and a lesser one in +feeling. She is a youthful, beautiful old lady; he a grave, +spare, worn, elderly man, in his full strength, but with many a +trace of care and thought, and far more of silver than of brown +in his thin hair and pointed beard, and with a melancholy +thoughtfulness in his clear brown eyes—all well +corresponding with the gravity of the dress in which he has been +meeting the burghers of Ulm; a black velvet suit—only +relieved by his small white lace ruff, and the ribbon and jewel +of the Golden Fleece, the only other approach to ornament that he +wears being that ring long ago twisted off the Emperor +Maximilian’s chain. But now, as he has bowed off the +chaplain to his study, and excused himself from aiding his two +gentlemen-squires in consuming their krug of beer, and hands his +mother to her favourite nook in the sunny window, taking his seat +by her side, his features assume an expression of repose and +relaxation as if here indeed were his true home. He has +chosen his seat in full view of a picture that hangs on the +wainscoted wall, near his mother—a picture whose pure +ethereal tinting, of colour limpid as the rainbow, yet rich as +the most glowing flower-beds; and its soft lovely <i>pose</i>, +and rounded outlines, prove it to be no produce even of one of +the great German artists of the time, but to have been wrought, +under an Italian sky, by such a hand as left us the marvellous +smile of Mona Lisa. It represents two figures, one +unmistakably himself when in the prime of life, his brow and +cheeks unfurrowed, and his hair still thick, shining brown, but +with the same grave earnestness of the dark eye that came with +the early sense of responsibility, and with the first sorrow of +his youth. The other figure, one on which the painter +evidently loved to dwell, is of a lady, so young that she might +almost pass for his daughter, except for the peculiar, tender +sweetness that could only become the wife and mother. Fair +she is as snow, with scarce a deepening of the rose on cheek, or +even lip, fragile and transparent as a spiritual form, and with a +light in the blue eyes, and a grace in the soft fugitive smile, +that scarce seems to belong to earth; a beauty not exactly of +feature, but rather the pathetic loveliness of calm fading +away—as if she were already melting into the clear blue sky +with the horizon of golden light, that the wondrous power of art +has made to harmonize with, but not efface, her blue dress, +golden hair, white coif, and fair skin. It is as if she +belonged to that sky, and only tarried as unable to detach +herself from the clasp of the strong hand round and in which both +her hands are twined; and though the light in her face may be +from heaven, yet the whole countenance is fixed in one absorbed, +almost worshipping gaze of her husband, with a wistful simplicity +and innocence on devotion, like the absorption of a loving +animal, to whom its master’s presence is bliss and +sunshine. It is a picture to make light in a dark place, +and that sweet face receives a loving glance, nay, an absolutely +reverent bend of the knightly head, as the Baron seats +himself.</p> +<p>“So it was as we feared, and this Schmalkaldic League +did not suit thy sense of loyalty, my son?” she asks, +reading his features anxiously.</p> +<p>“No, mother. I ever feared that further pressure +would drive our friends beyond the line where begin schism and +rebellion; and it seems to me that the moment is come when I must +hold me still, or transgress mine own sense of duty. I must +endure the displeasure of many I love and respect.”</p> +<p>“Surely, my son, they have known you too long and too +well not to respect your motives, and know that conscience is +first with you.”</p> +<p>“Scarce may such confidence be looked for, mother, from +the most part, who esteem every man a traitor to the cause if he +defend it not precisely in the fashion of their own party. +But I hear that the King of France has offered himself as an +ally, and that Dr. Luther, together with others of our best +divines, have thereby been startled into doubts of the lawfulness +of the League.”</p> +<p>“And what think you of doing, my son?”</p> +<p>“I shall endeavour to wait until such time as the +much-needed General Council may proclaim the ancient truth, and +enable us to avouch it without disunion. Into schism I +<i>will</i> not be drawn. I have held truth all my life in +the Church, nor will I part from her now. If intrigues +again should prevail, then, Heaven help us! Meantime, +mother, the best we can, as has ever been your +war-cry.”</p> +<p>“And much has been won for us. Here are the little +maidens, who, save Vittoria, would never have been scholars, +reading the Holy Word daily in their own tongue.”</p> +<p>“Ach, I had not told you, mother! I have the Court +Secretary’s answer this day about that command in the +Kaisar’s guards that my dear old master had promised to his +godson.”</p> +<p>“Another put-off with Flemish courtesy, I see by thy +face, Ebbo.”</p> +<p>“Not quite that, mother. The command is ready for +the Baron Friedmund Maximilianus von Adlerstein Wildschloss, and +all the rest of it, on the understanding that he has been bred up +free from all taint of the new doctrine.”</p> +<p>“New? Nay, it is the oldest of all +doctrine.”</p> +<p>“Even so. As I ever said, Dr. Luther hath been +setting forth in greater clearness and fulness what our blessed +Friedel and I learnt at your knee, and my young ones have learnt +from babyhood of the true Catholic doctrine. Yet I may not +call my son’s faith such as the Kaisar’s Spanish +conscience-keepers would have it, and so the boy must e’en +tarry at home till there be work for his stout arm to +do.”</p> +<p>“He seems little disappointed. His laugh comes +ringing the loudest of all.”</p> +<p>“The Junker is more of a boy at two-and-twenty than I +ever recollect myself! He lacks not sense nor wit, but a +fray or a feast, a chase or a dance, seem to suffice him at an +age when I had long been dwelling on matters of +moment.”</p> +<p>“Thou wast left to be thine own pilot; he is but one of +thy gay crew, and thus even these stirring times touch him not so +deeply as thou wert affected by thine own choice in life between +disorderly freedom and honourable restraint.”</p> +<p>“I thought of that choice to-day, mother, as I crossed +the bridge and looked at the church; and more than ever thankful +did I feel that our blessed Friedel, having aided me over that +one decisive pass, was laid to rest, his tender spirit unvexed by +the shocks and divisions that have wrenched me hither and +thither.”</p> +<p>“Nay; not hither and thither. Ever hadst thou a +resolute purpose and aim.”</p> +<p>“Ever failed in by my own error or that of +others—What, thou nestling here, my little Vittoria, away +from all yonder prattle?”</p> +<p>“Dear father, if I may, I love far best to hear you and +the grandmother talk.”</p> +<p>“Hear the child! She alone hath your face, mother, +or Friedel’s eyes! Is it that thou wouldst be like +thy noble Roman godmother, the Marchesa di Pescara, that makes +thee seek our grave company, little one?”</p> +<p>“I always long to hear you talk of her, and of the +Italian days, dear father, and how you won this noble jewel of +yours.”</p> +<p>“Ah, child, that was before those times! It was +the gift of good Kaisar Max at his godson’s christening, +when he filled your sweet mother with pretty spite by persuading +her that it was a little golden bear-skin.”</p> +<p>“Tell her how you had gained it, my son.”</p> +<p>“By vapouring, child; and by the dull pride of my +neighbours. Heard’st thou never of the siege of +Padua, when we had Bayard, the best knight in Europe, and 500 +Frenchmen for our allies? Our artillery had made a breach, +and the Kaisar requested the French knights to lead the storm, +whereto they answered, Well and good, but our German nobles must +share the assault, and not leave them to fight with no better +backers than the hired lanzknechts. All in reason, quoth I, +and more shame for us not to have been foremost in our +Kaisar’s own cause; but what said the rest of our misproud +chivalry? They would never condescend to climb a wall on +foot in company with lanzknechts! On horseback must their +worships fight, or not at all; and when to shame them I called +myself a mountaineer, more used to climb than to ride, and vowed +that I should esteem it an honour to follow such a knight as +Bayard, were it on all fours, then cast they my burgher blood in +my teeth. Never saw I the Kaisar so enraged; he swore that +all the common sense in the empire was in the burgher blood, and +that he would make me a knight of the noblest order in Europe to +show how he esteemed it. And next morning he was +gone! So ashamed was he of his own army that he rode off in +the night, and sent orders to break up the siege. I could +have torn my hair, for I had just lashed up a few of our nobles +to a better sense of honour, and we would yet have redeemed our +name! And after all, the Chapter of proud Flemings would +never have admitted me had not the heralds hunted up that the +Sorels were gentlemen of blood and coat armour long ago at +Liège. I am glad my father lived to see that proved, +mother. He could not honour thee more than he did, but he +would have been sorely grieved had I been rejected. He +often thought me a mechanical burgher, as it was.”</p> +<p>“Not quite so, my son. He never failed to be proud +of thy deeds, even when he did not understand them; but this, and +the grandson’s birth, were the crowning joys of his +life.”</p> +<p>“Yes, those were glad triumphant years, take them all in +all, ere the Emperor sent me to act ambassador in Rome, and we +left you the two elder little girls and the boy to take care +of. My dear little Thekla! She had a foreboding that +she might never see those children more, yet would she have pined +her heart away more surely had I left her at home! I never +was absent a week but I found her wasted with watching for +me.”</p> +<p>“It was those weary seven years of Italy that changed +thee most, my son.”</p> +<p>“Apart from you, mother, and knowing you now indeed to +be widowed, and with on the one hand such contradictory commands +from the Emperor as made me sorely ashamed of myself, of my +nation, and of the man whom I loved and esteemed personally the +most on earth, yet bound there by his express command, while I +saw my tender wife’s health wasting in the climate day by +day! Yet still, while most she gasped for a breath of +Swabian hills, she ever declared it would kill her outright to +send her from me. And thus it went on till I laid her in +the stately church of her own patroness. Then how it would +have fared with me and the helpless little ones I know not, but +for thy noble godmother, my Vittoria, the wise and ready helper +of all in trouble, the only friend thy mother had made at Rome, +and who had been able, from all her heights of learning and +accomplishment, to value my Thekla’s golden soul in its +simplicity. Even then, when too late, came one of the +Kaisar’s kindest letters, recalling me,—a letter +whose every word I would have paid for with a drop of my own +blood six weeks before! and which he had only failed to send +because his head was running on the plan of that gorgeous tomb +where he is not buried! Well, at least it brought us home +to you again once more, mother, and, where you are, comfort never +has been utterly absent from me. And then, coming from the +wilful gloom of Pope Leo’s court into our Germany, streamed +over by the rays of Luther’s light, it was as if a new +world of hope were dawning, as if truth would no longer be +muffled, and the young would grow up to a world far better and +purer than the old had ever seen. What trumpet-calls those +were, and how welcome was the voice of the true Catholic faith no +longer stifled! And my dear old Kaisar, with his clear +eyes, his unfettered mind—he felt the power and truth of +those theses. He bade the Elector of Saxony well to guard +the monk Luther as a treasure. Ah! had he been a younger +man, or had he been more firm and resolute, able to act as well +as think for himself, things might have gone otherwise with the +Church. He could think, but could not act; and now we have +a man who acts, but <i>will</i> not think. It may have been +a good day for our German reputation among foreign princes when +Charles V. put on the crown; but only two days in my life have +been as mournful to me as that when I stood by Kaisar Max’s +death-bed at Wells, and knew that generous, loving, fitful spirit +was passing away from the earth! Never owned I friend I +loved so well as Kaisar Max! Nor has any Emperor done so +much for this our dear land.”</p> +<p>“The young Emperor never loved thee.”</p> +<p>“He might have treated me as one who could be useful, +but he never forgave me for shaking hands with Luther at the Diet +of Worms. I knew it was all over with my court favour after +I had joined in escorting the Doctor out of the city. And +the next thing was that Georg of Freundsberg and his friends +proclaimed me a bigoted Papist because I did my utmost to keep my +troop out of the devil’s holiday at the sack of Rome! +It has ever been my lot to be in disgrace with one side or the +other! Here is my daughter’s marriage hindered on the +one hand, my son’s promotion checked on the other, because +I have a conscience of my own, and not of other +people’s! Heaven knows the right is no easy matter to +find; but, when one thinks one sees it, there is nothing to be +done but to guide oneself by it, even if the rest of the world +will not view it in the same light.”</p> +<p>“Nothing else! I doubt me whether it be ever easy +to see the veritably right course while still struggling in the +midst. That is for after ages, which behold things afar +off; but each man must needs follow his own principle in an +honest and good heart, and assuredly God will guide him to work +out some good end, or hinder some evil one.”</p> +<p>“Ay, mother. Each party may guard one side or +other of the truth in all honesty and faithfulness; he who cannot +with his whole heart cast in his lot with either,—he is apt +to serve no purpose, and to be scorned.”</p> +<p>“Nay, Ebbo, may he not be a witness to the higher and +more perfect truth than either party have conceived? Nor is +inaction always needful. That which is right towards either +side still reveals itself at the due moment, whether it be to act +or to hold still. And verily, Ebbo, what thou didst say +even now has set me on a strange thought of mine own dream, that +which heralded the birth of thyself and thy brother. As +thou knowest, it seemed to me that I was watching two sparkles +from the extinguished Needfire wheel. One rose aloft and +shone as a star!”</p> +<p>“My guiding-star!”</p> +<p>“The other fulfilled those words of the Wise Man. +It shone and ran to and fro in the grass. And surely, my +Ebbo, thy mother may feel that, in all these dark days of +perplexity and trial, the spark of light hath ever shone and +drawn its trail of brightness in the gloom, even though the way +was long, and seemed uncertain.”</p> +<p>“The mother who ever fondled me <i>will</i> think so, it +may be! But, ah! she had better pray that the light be +clearer, and that I may not fall utterly short of the +star!”</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>Travellers in Wurtemburg may perhaps turn aside from glorious +old Ulm, and the memories of the battlefields around it, to the +romantic country round the Swabian mountains, through which +descend the tributaries of the Danube. Here they may think +themselves fortunate if they come upon a green valley, with a +bright mountain torrent dashing through it, fresh from the lofty +mountain, with terraced sides that rise sheer above. An old +bridge, a mill, and a neat German village lie clustered in the +valley; a seignorial mansion peeps out of the forest glades; and +a lovely church, of rather late Gothic, but beautifully designed, +attracts the eye so soon as it can be persuaded to quit the +romantic outline of the ruined baronial castle high up on one of +the mountain ledges. Report declares that there are tombs +in the church well worth inspection. You seek out an old +venerable blue-coated peasant who has charge of the church.</p> +<p>“What is yonder castle?”</p> +<p>“It is the castle of Adlerstein.”</p> +<p>“Are the family still extant?”</p> +<p>“Yea, yea; they built yonder house when the Schloss +became ruinous. They have always been here.”</p> +<p>The church is very beautiful in its details, the carved work +of the east end and pulpit especially so, but nothing is so +attractive as the altar tomb in the chantry chapel. It is a +double one, holding not, as usual, the recumbent effigies of a +husband and wife, but of two knights in armour.</p> +<p>“Who are these, good friend?”</p> +<p>“They are the good Barons Ebbo and Friedel.”</p> +<p>Father and son they appear to be, killed at the same time in +some fatal battle, for the white marble face of one is round with +youth, no hair on lip nor chin, and with a lovely peaceful +solemnity, almost cheerfulness, in the expression. The +other, a bearded man, has the glory of old age in his worn +features, beautiful and restful, but it is as if one had gone to +sleep in the light of dawn, the other in the last glow of +sunset. Their armour and their crests are alike, but the +young one bears the eagle shield alone, while the elder has the +same bearing repeated upon an escutcheon of pretence; the young +man’s hands are clasped over a harp, those of the other +over a Bible, and the elder wears the insignia of the order of +the Golden Fleece. They are surely father and son, a maiden +knight and tried warrior who fell together?</p> +<p>“No,” the guide shakes his head; “they are +twin brothers, the good Barons Ebbo and Friedel, who were born +when their father had been taken captive by the Saracens while on +a crusade. Baron Friedel was slain by the Turks at the +bridge foot, and his brother built the church in his +memory. He first planted vines upon the mountains, and +freed the peasants from the lord’s dues on their +flax. And it is true that the two brothers may still be +seen hovering on the mountain-side in the mist at sunset, +sometimes one, sometimes both.”</p> +<p>You turn with a smile to the inscription, sure that those +windows, those porches, that armour, never were of crusading +date, and ready to refute the old peasant. You spell out +the upright Gothic letters around the cornice of the tomb, and +you read, in mediæval Latin,—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Orate pro Anima Friedmundis Equitis Baronis +Adlersteini. A. D. mccccxciii”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Then turn to the other side and read—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Hic jacet Eberardus Eques Baro +Adlersteini. A.D. mdxliii. Demum”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Yes, the guide is right. They are brothers, with +well-nigh a lifetime between their deaths. Is that the +meaning of that strange <i>Demum</i>?</p> +<p>Few of the other tombs are worth attention, each lapsing +further into the bad taste of later ages; yet there is one still +deserving admiration, placed close to the head of that of the two +Barons. It is the effigy of a lady, aged and serene, with a +delicately-carved face beneath her stiff head-gear. Surely +this monument was erected somewhat later, for the inscription is +in German. Stiff, contracted, hard to read, but this is the +rendering of it:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Here lies Christina Sorel, wife of +Eberhard, xxth Baron von Adlerstein, and mother of the Barons +Eberhard and Friedmund. She fell asleep two days before her +son, on the feast of St. John, mdxliii.</p> +<p>“Her children shall rise up and call her blessed.</p> +<p>“Erected with full hearts by her grandson, Baron +Friedmund Maximilianus, and his brothers and sisters. +Farewell.”</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">THE END.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Richard Clay & Sons</i>, +<i>Limited</i>, <i>London & Bungay</i></p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOVE IN THE EAGLE'S NEST***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 3139-h.htm or 3139-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/3/3139 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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