diff options
Diffstat (limited to '40567-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 40567-0.txt | 11325 |
1 files changed, 11325 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/40567-0.txt b/40567-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a10a45b --- /dev/null +++ b/40567-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11325 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40567 *** + + The Mercenary + + + + + _WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ + + + Crown 8vo, 6s. + FORTUNE'S CASTAWAY. + + Crown 8vo, 6s. + HIS INDOLENCE OF ARRAS. + Popular Edition, 6d. + + Crown 8vo, 6s. + THE HEARTH OF HUTTON. + + Crown 8vo, 6s. + THE RED NEIGHBOUR. + Popular Edition, 1s. + + Crown 8vo, 6s. + THE BACKGROUND. + + Crown 8vo, 6s. + A DEMOISELLE OF FRANCE. + + Crown 8vo, 6s. + THE SECOND CITY. + + + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, + + EDINBURGH AND LONDON. + + + + + The Mercenary + + A Tale of + The Thirty Years' War + + BY + + W. J. ECCOTT + + AUTHOR OF 'HIS INDOLENCE OF ARRAS,' + 'THE RED NEIGHBOUR,' ETC. + + William Blackwood and Sons + Edinburgh and London + + 1913 + +_ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_ + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. IN SEARCH OF BOOTY 1 + + II. NIGEL COLLECTS HIS DUES 10 + + III. TILLY, COUNT OF TZERCLAËS 17 + + IV. ON THE ROAD TO ERFURT 24 + + V. TWO OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH 32 + + VI. AT THE CASTLE OF HRADSCHIN 42 + + VII. THE ROAD TO EGER 53 + + VIII. INTERLACING DESTINIES 61 + + IX. AN ITALIAN AND A SPANIARD 73 + + X. FATHER LAMORMAIN 81 + + XI. THE LOST DESPATCHES FOUND 92 + + XII. NIGEL MEETS FATHER LAMORMAIN 99 + + XIII. A FATHER, A CONFESSOR, AND A DAUGHTER 107 + + XIV. IN THE CIRCLE OF THE EMPEROR 114 + + XV. THE ARCHDUCHESS AND WALLENSTEIN 125 + + XVI. NIGEL'S NEW REGIMENT 133 + + XVII. FAREWELL TO THE ARCHDUCHESS 140 + + XVIII. NIGEL'S INSTRUCTIONS, WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN 149 + + XIX. THE GUESTS OF THE ABBOT OF FULDA 156 + + XX. CASTING OUT A DEVIL 165 + + XXI. INTO THE FOREST'S HEART 176 + + XXII. THE DRAGON'S GORGE 184 + + XXIII. A CLASH OF HEARTS 190 + + XXIV. MISTRESS AND ENEMY 198 + + XXV. BREITENFELD 206 + + XXVI. AT HALBERSTADT 214 + + XXVII. THE RESTLESSNESS OF STEPHANIE 223 + + XXVIII. PREPARES THE GROUND 232 + + XXIX. ORBIT AND FOCUS 239 + + XXX. LOVE AND A LOCKSMITH 249 + + XXXI. AN ASSIGNATION 256 + + XXXII. PASTOR RAD AGAIN 263 + + XXXIII. THE PASTOR'S PILGRIMAGE 270 + + XXXIV. LUTHERAN AND JESUIT 278 + + XXXV. AN EMBASSY FOR STEPHANIE 286 + + XXXVI. A RECONNAISSANCE 293 + + XXXVII. THE DEFENCE OF THE LECH 301 + + XXXVIII. A SURPRISE AT RATISBON 307 + + XXXIX. THE CLOUDS AND SERGEANT BLICK 314 + + XL. RIDE, RIDE TOGETHER 320 + + XLI. A LATE ARRIVAL AT NICHOLAS KRAFT'S 329 + + XLII. IN THE ABBEY CHURCH 336 + + + + + THE MERCENARY: + + A TALE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. + + + [Illustration] + + + CHAPTER I. + + IN SEARCH OF BOOTY. + + +It was the evening of the second day of the sack of Magdeburg. Nigel +Charteris, soldier of fortune by profession and in rank captain of +musketeers, sought a certain house in the Kloster Strasse, if haply it +were still standing. + +It troubled the captain little that Magdeburg should be sacked. He was +of the Catholic faith. And Magdeburg had proved herself malignantly +Protestant. She had flouted the Edict of Restitution. The Emperor +Ferdinand II., Habsburger by race, Catholic to the marrow, had +proclaimed that the possessions, wrenched from the grasp of the +Catholics a hundred years before by the Lutherans and Calvinists, should +be restored to Catholic hands, that the mass bell should tinkle in every +chancel, and all be as if that pestilent monk, that Junker Georg of the +Wartburg, had never been. Rome had bided her time, as Rome can always +bide her time, and seize her opportunity. The Emperor found himself +with a right good flail and a stout husbandman, Count Tilly, to wield +it. The husbandman with his flail had arrived before the +threshing-floors of Magdeburg in bleak March. It had taken him to jocund +May to force an entrance, and then the threshing and the winnowing +began. + +It was a question if the house in the Kloster Strasse still stood, for +even before the turbulent entry of the Emperor's troops fires had broken +out, and still burned furiously. It was a city of shards and carcases. +Here and there streets still stood, as a patch of corn stands, left for +to-morrow's cutting, amid the prone swathes. Nigel wondered if he would +be able to recognise the street that he had left as the dawn broke that +morning. + +"This is the street, Captain. The spire's had a shake!" said Sergeant +Blick. + +Nigel nodded, and strode over the stones, and the sheet-lead, and the +broken images of stone and of human flesh that lay in his path. But for +the loss of its church-tower the street was still passably whole. +Clambering over the barrier of ruins, a half company of musketeers +followed in loose order, expectant of more plunder. All day they had +spent in camp, and were now let out for their share in the ruthless +harvesting. There was method too in their captain's gleaning. + +He halted his men, and addressed Sergeant Blick in the tone of a man +used to command and accustomed to be obeyed. + +"Now, Sergeant, you and two men come with me. The rest may help +themselves in this street. It is now seven o'clock. At nine they will +fall in, and march back to camp. No throat-cutting! No drunkenness! And +no mishandling of women!" + +Sergeant Blick wheeled about, marched three paces to the front, and +repeated the orders in a fine sonorous voice. By way of making them more +intelligible, he called his men "drunken pigs" and "little calves" and +"blunderheads," and added a few very personal admonitions to the more +wilfully or weakly inclined of the flock. Then he wheeled about again, +his two picked men followed, and Nigel, in front of the three, marched +up the street till he came to a tall house which stood with projecting +upper storeys and an almost magisterial aspect amid its smaller fellows. + +The massive door yielded to a push, admitting them to a stone-paved +hall, on either side of which there were some very meagrely furnished +rooms, and behind it kitchens, larders, and servants' quarters equally +bare. Nothing of potable or eatable was to be seen. Nor was there a +single kitchen wench. + +Having made this reconnaissance, Nigel mounted the wide open staircase +with Sergeant Blick at his heels, and the two musketeers, two steps +behind, to preserve the distance prescribed by the sergeant's rank. + +They halted at the first landing. From behind the first door came the +stifled cry of a woman, and a dull sound of a fall. Sergeant Blick +essayed to open it in vain. + +Nigel Charteris rapped upon it with the hilt of his sword. + +"Open in the name of the Emperor!" he demanded. + +A key turned in the lock. + +"I warn you!" said a haughty voice, the voice of a woman of rank, rich +and full. "You enter at your own peril!" + +For answer Nigel thrust his foot and his steel cap into the opening as +the door gave way a span, and a dagger descended with the breathless +fury of a woman's onset, only to glance off the casque, while the +assailed swung round and seized the wrist of the thruster. The dagger +fell to the floor. Blick stooped and picked it up and thrust it into his +belt, where it had company of the same sort. It was worth a guilder, he +reflected; and stood waiting just inside the door, his men without. + +The soldier of fortune was a tall man, and she who faced him, flushed +and disappointed, was a tall woman. The soldier of fortune was a +handsome fellow of a dark russet upon olive complexion, with a crisp +curl to his moustaches and his hair, though little of that emerged from +the steel cap inlaid with gold that had so well protected him. Her eyes +ran over him and said to her "Lineage." His eyes in turn told him that +the woman was sprung of a ruling race, incapable of fear, unused to any +domination: told him also that she had dark hair in abundance, dark +mist-laden eyes, a clear paleness of complexion which was neither white +nor yellow nor pink nor olive; told him that her carriage was that of a +queen, and that she was as virginal as the dawn. + +If the eagle in her held his eyes in its imperious clutch, hers +encountered a spirit just as much an eagle's. High lineage and high +poverty had been his portion, and no Charteris had ever feared to look a +haughty beauty in the eyes. + +It was the matter of an instant. Nigel looked round. + +In the embrasure of the principal window, seated in a great chair, was +the figure of an old man, whose dress denoted a Lutheran pastor. His +head was fallen helplessly sidelong on the pillows that had but a few +moments ago supported it. He was dead. At his feet, half on the dais of +the window, lay a golden-haired girl. The great white kerchief that +covered her shoulders and bosom showed a red spot over the heart, and a +little dagger was still enclosed by the listless fingers that lay quiet +in her lap. She too looked like one that is dead. + +"Your handiwork, brave captain!" said the dark lady bitterly. "Pastor +Reinheit died of shock as you halted without. Elspeth stabbed herself to +save her honour as soon as she heard your footsteps on the stair. It was +well done!" + +"Count Tilly does not make war upon girls!" said Nigel angrily, striding +across and kneeling beside the girl. "Bring water, linen, and salve!" +Gently he laid her flat upon the floor with a cushion beneath her head. +Quickly he unfastened the neckerchief and staunched the blood till he +could see the wound, of what width it was, and how the blood welled up +into its mouth. Then he looked at the dagger. + +"Blick! Look you here! A flesh wound! A thumbnail's depth? What say +you?" + +Sergeant Blick gently pinched the wound. + +"Aye, is it! More fright than hurt! A barber's stitch of a silk thread. +A bandage and salve! 'Tis all she needs." + +Nigel looked up. The lady of the misty eyes looked down. + +"She lives!" said he. "You have but to wash the wound, put in three +stitches, lay salve upon it and a bandage of linen. She will not bleed +to death this time." + +The woman knelt down and did as she was bidden with deft long fingers +and without a word. + +Before the bandage was made secure the girl Elspeth opened her eyes and +her gaze fell first upon Nigel. A red flush came to her cheek, perhaps +because of her neck lying so uncovered before a man, perhaps by reason +of other thoughts. And as the colour natural to her face, a healthy rosy +hue, came back, Nigel on his part gave a little start of surprise and +turned away. He wondered that he had not known her again. Yesterday she +had worn a healthy ruddiness in her cheeks and a white dress upon her +jolly plump form. To-day with the absolute pallor of her swoon and her +sombre grey clothes his eyes had been cheated, or was it that his eyes +had lost something of their natural sharpness in the duello with those +others of the race of eagles? + +The service rendered to her golden-haired friend, the snowy neck once +more shrouded in its covering kerchief, the dark lady resumed her +haughty aloofness. A flash had broken through the mists of her eyes, as +a passing gleam of the moon breaks for an instant through fast scudding +clouds, when she saw the recognition pass. Perhaps she wondered. Elspeth +was of the burgher-class, well-to-do it might be, and she who looked was +noble by every outward token, and might well disregard such affairs as +brought a poor gentleman of the sword, and an outlander to boot, into +contact with a burgher-maiden at the sack of Magdeburg. + +Nigel Charteris was indifferent. He concerned himself as little with the +thoughts of either girl. His present business was the gathering of +booty. No man became soldier or officer in Tilly's army for his pay. Pay +was a mighty uncertain thing. So was the sack of a town. So many were +the avenues to perdition, or to salvation, according to one's views of +the future state, and of one's own destination in it. A shot from a +window, a tile from a roof, a stab in a dark corner, any of the three +might "his quietus make." It was only common justice in the soldier's +rough code that, when Dame Fortune came his way and opened a town's +gates to him, he should fill his pockets, and any odd sack he could bear +with him on his march. How should he pay Peter for the ultimate repose +of his soul if not by relieving Paul of those riches that were an actual +impediment to Paul's salvation? + +Nigel took a brief survey of the room, and his eyes rested upon the +motionless figure of the dead pastor, unreal-looking in posture and in +face. He frowned and crossed himself. + +The proud lady followed his glance. + +"A brave piece of work your Edict of Restitution! Is it not time to get +on with your trade?" she taunted. + +"In good time!" he said curtly. "Call in two men!" was his order to +Sergeant Blick. + +The two men came in, muskets at the ready. + +"This lady will show you where to lay the old man!" he said. + +As before she obeyed, stepping across the room to a door which opened +into a small bedchamber. The two men-at-arms at a sign from the sergeant +lifted the body and laid it on the bed. Elspeth of the golden-hair made +an effort to rise, bent on following, but her strength had not yet +returned. She lay back again on her cushion and wept silently. + +"Peace! Lie still, dear heart!" said the dark lady, kneeling beside her +and holding her hand, raising about her the bulwark of her own +compassion, as who should say to Nigel Charteris that he was without the +pale. + +When the door of the dead man's chamber closed and the musketeers stood +once more to command he bade them make ready their weapons. Without a +look at the women he strode across the chamber to another door at the +opposite side of the room to that which he had entered and flung it +open. + +In the doorway stood three very determined-looking men armed with pikes, +and behind them a motley assembly of burghers, some armed, some not. + +A curiously interested expression came upon the face of her who knelt. +To her mind Tilly's captain was in the toils. + +But Tilly's captain had quick ears. He had divined something of what lay +behind the door. When he stepped backward three paces and drew his +sword, there stood covering the door with their muskets his two men. + +The three men looked at one another. It was certain death for two out of +the three. Which two? Would the others, their comrades, face it out and +cut down the hated Catholics? There was a certain disadvantage in +knowing their fellows. They were not sure of them. They were quite sure +about the musketeers and Tilly's captain. Nigel Charteris had led a +round dozen of storming parties. + +"Come you!" said he with the short stern note of command. + +The man indicated came sullenly forward, laid his weapon in a corner and +stood upright against the wall. One by one the rest did the same as he +did. + +One of them was a young pastor whose thick, coarse, straw-coloured hair, +heavy brow and lower jaw, companioned by two cold blue eyes, proclaimed +physical energy and dour obstinacy to be his, whatever theology he +carried in his wallet. + +"My Bible is my weapon," he said, looking his captor in the face. "Woe +unto you who wound maidens and spoil the houses of the true faith! Woe +to the Edict of Restitution, edict of robbery and murder in the name of +which you come! Woe to the Emperor, rightly named of Rome, for from Rome +he has his orders, and from Rome his monstrous superstitions!" + +His intention was to kneel beside Elspeth, but Nigel pointed to the +wall. + +It was a medley of weapons; an old halbert or two, some ancient bows, +swords of divers patterns, daggers not a few, pikes and hunting knives, +two heavy smith's hammers, and half a dozen pistols and firelocks of +ponderous make and uncertain utility. These made up the tale of them. + +It was a medley of men who surrendered them. Some of their belts and +other accoutrements proclaimed them the organised defenders of the city, +other than the Swedish soldiery that Gustavus had thrown into the place +together with his devoted officer Falkenburg. The rest were merchants, +artificers, apprentices, of whom some had doubtless assisted in the +defence of the city, and others probably had continued to ply their +callings with what peace they could. + +Why they had mustered in this house round their old pastor, and with +what hope remained, Nigel could only guess. In fact he cared nothing to +know. It was but a nest of hornets to destroy. + +Sergeant Blick whistled from the window. Two more men appeared to guard +the door. Then he went off to gather the rest of his half company. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + NIGEL COLLECTS HIS DUES. + + +Nigel's quick eye roved over the throng. + +"Now, Master Scrivener!" he said, picking out a lean-faced worthy who +shrank behind a burly citizen. "Sit you at this table and write down the +names and conditions of the prisoners!" + +The scrivener drew forth pen and inkhorn. + +"Now, madame! Yours!" + +"Ottilie of Thüringen!" She had risen to make the reply, and again their +eyes met in silent combat. + +"It would be as well, your Highness, if you carried your friend to +another room! What is her name and condition?" + +"Elspeth Reinheit, daughter of Andreas Reinheit, farmer, of Eisenach in +Thüringen!" + +Then she motioned to the young pastor, who came forward with an air of +defiance which sat ill upon him, and together they lifted the girl. At +the mention of her name she had opened her still tear-laden eyes and let +them seek those of Nigel, who appeared not to see; but the young pastor, +as he and the dark lady lifted their charge, knitted his brows as if a +spasm of jealousy had waylaid him, who had some right to the feeling +where the sick girl was concerned. They passed out by the door of the +room which had harboured the Magdeburgers. + +"Now, sirs, step hither to the scrivener one by one; let him write your +name and calling. And whatever of money or money's worth you carry on +your persons place it here on the table." + +There was a low murmuring, but no open dispute of his will. + +A grim smile relaxed the features of the musketeers. + +A grave portly merchant came forward and announced himself as "Ulrich +Pfeifer, silk mercer," and deposited a gold chain and a purse of money. +The eyes of the soldiers glistened as they heard the clink of the good +metal. If they had thought their captain was, though a hearty fighter, a +somewhat indifferent gatherer of the spoils, they were ready to retract +their opinion. As for Nigel's face, it showed no eagerness or greed. + +The merchant of silk was followed by a tanner, a hosier, an armourer, a +shoemaker, and a maker of gloves. There were a few gold chains in the +company, and the money was in purses of divers kinds and conditions, and +of all the currencies of Europe. After the merchants came the craftsmen +and artisans, who made but meagre contributions: and not a few lips +trembled as the hard-earned and hardly-kept florins rattled on the +table. Then came the apprentices, shamefaced, turning out their pockets +in proof that they had none but a few copper coins, which Nigel +Charteris bade them pick up again. + +The scrivener's task being completed, together with the heaping of the +spoil, Nigel called for Sergeant Blick and bade him conduct the +prisoners to the camp and set a guard over them, till he should come to +take Count Tilly's instructions for their disposal. At which order they +one and all looked more crestfallen than before, for it portended they +knew not what. Two months' leaguer with all its hardships, its alarms, +its hunger; a week's storming with its perils from without, two days of +horrors within, had left them all with a lively sense of the power of +the Emperor to enforce his edicts. And in their ears the name of Count +Tilly was a synonym for an incarnation of the powers and practices of +the Evil One. + +But there was no appeal from the Catholic captain. The young pastor, who +had returned, and the scrivener headed the procession. The soldiers +below received them. Sergeant Blick gave the orders, and the noise of +their retreating feet came through the open window to the ears of Nigel. + +"Now," said he to the two men-at-arms, who had been with him from the +beginning of the episode, "you can search the house for yourselves. +Touch nothing of that which belongs to the ladies who were here; nor +load yourselves with that which is heavy to carry and of no certain +worth. Say to the Lady Ottilie of Thüringen that I crave her presence +here in a quarter of an hour. The other two of you remain on guard +without." + +The order obeyed, he poured out his booty into a heap, picked out the +gold pieces and the chain, that had been so cherished an adornment of +the silk weaver, and put them in a purse of leather, which he fastened +securely and disposed with equal care about him; then the silver pieces, +which were far more numerous and bulky, he divided into four parts, two +for Sergeant Blick, and one each for the musketeers, in case their +ransacking of the house under the conditions laid down should provide +them with but a meagre reward. These three weighty and bulky parcels, +tied in separate purses, he fastened beneath his cloak to his +sword-belt, and he had scarcely done so before the haughty Ottilie made +her entry. Her bearing was serene and high. + +He rose from the chair and bade her be seated. She accepted the offer +without thanks but without any show of disdain. She seemed to have +allowed herself to enter upon a softer mood. + +"I have asked for an audience, your Highness----" + +"Why Highness?" she asked. "In German lands that is for princesses." + +"It accords with your bearing! The grades of rank in these countries are +bewildering. What would you be called?" + +"In Thüringen I am styled plainly, madame!" + +"Madame, be it then! Are you the daughter of the Landgrave of +Thüringen?" + +"In what way does that concern one of Tilly's captains of musketeers? I +go where I choose, and own no man for my master." + +Nigel smiled at her petulance. + +"It concerns me in this way. Magdeburg is a heap of ruins. It is true a +few streets remain, but I have no mind to leave you and your friend +Elspeth Reinheit to be the chance prey of fire, or of plunder-seeking +cut-throats." + +"You describe your soldiery with admirable precision!" she interrupted. + +"I was referring to the human vermin that swarm from their haunts in +cities whenever order gives way to disorder, and to camp-followers who +are like unto them." His voice took on a deeper seriousness. "Come to +the window, it is beginning to get dusk, you will see them." + +She rose and moved across in her stately way to the casement. He pointed +to the street. + +"Do you see those?" + +Three nondescript tattered ruffians and a woman with half-naked breasts, +clad in remnants, gave vent to raucous laughter, and each man fingered a +long knife at his girdle. On the back of each was a stuffed wallet, and +at the sight of the lady they raised a shrill cry of glee, and made +across. The lady shuddered. + +"I have men outside," he said. "But if they were not, do you think your +puny dagger-play, or your proud tongue, would save you? They would hack +off your slender fingers for their rings, strip you for your fine linen, +and if they left you your life...." + +The girl's face blanched. + +"You need not go on! I understand. What are we to do?" + +"Your friend Elspeth Reinheit dwells at Eisenach? And you, madame, at +some castle near by? Is it not so?" + +"I have friends at the castle of the Wartburg!" she said. + +"Good! I will arrange an escort and send you both to your friends. It is +about three days' journey." + +"Elspeth will not be able to ride!" + +"Then she must have a coach, if one can be found." + +"And the pastor?" + +"I cannot answer for him. There are too many of them as it is." + +"As to that," she said, "it depends on one's faith. But there is talk of +a betrothal between them." The girl watched his face with a close +scrutiny as she said it. + +"I do not know what Count Tilly may order concerning him. She is quite +welcome to her pastor," he said with indifference. "As I said, there are +far too many pastors, and priests too for that matter, for quiet living. +If they would baptise the children, marry the youths and maidens, +administer the sacraments, and amuse you women in between without +interfering with the other business of the world, it would be far +better." + +"We had better make ready!" she said. "And the dead pastor?" + +"He must be left to his flock. Count Tilly will dismiss the poorest +prisoners. Do you, madame, get your charge ready at once for her journey +to the camp. The men shall make a litter!" + +"You are more an officer of Wallenstein than of Tilly!" she said. "Were +I you, I should seek employment with the former." + +"Wallenstein! I was with Wallenstein till the Emperor accepted his +resignation!" + +"The Emperor will recall him!" she said confidently. + +Nigel sprang towards her eagerly. + +"Is this true? And if true, how do you know it? Who are you?" + +She smiled a lofty, condescending, tantalising smile and left him. + +Wallenstein! Wallenstein in chief command again! Wallenstein the supreme +general of generals, the man who could pick men, place them in the exact +rank they could fill, caring nothing for archdukes or landgraves, only +for soldiers,--the man who could make war itself an orderly thing, not +quartering rough soldiers promiscuously upon quiet burgher families, but +levying contributions and spending them in pay and provisions like any +merchant, getting good value for them. Wallenstein appealed to the Scot +in Nigel as a thorough man, no less brave than Tilly, but a genius for +organising armies, a good Catholic, but no fanatic. It was like a shrill +summons to Nigel to hear that Wallenstein might take the field again. +But how could this proud damsel of Thüringen know? Who was she? + +To be the daughter of the Landgrave of Thüringen was to be almost the +daughter of a prince. She had not admitted it, but that she came of very +noble birth he was sure. She must be steeped in Lutheranism to be in +Magdeburg during the siege. Yet she seemed not to regard either the dead +pastor or the living with the respect that one who was strong in the +faith would be likely to show. + +His men-at-arms came in, doublets and pockets stuffed. They had found no +wine at all events. + +He bade them take two of the old pikes from the pile of arms, tear down +a curtain, and with them make a rough litter. + +"I must take one more look at my uncle," Elspeth murmured when her +companion returned with her, and Nigel opened the door. She paid her +last dues of affection, loth to leave her dead to a possibly +unceremonious burial at strange hands. But Ottilie had explained the +matter to her. Then she came out and lay down upon the litter. + +The two musketeers lifted her as if she had weighed but a few pounds, +and tramped towards the door. + +Her friend walked just beside her. Nigel cast one look round and +followed. + +Then they made their way to the outskirts of the town beyond the +ramparts and the fosses. + +When Nigel had with infinite trouble found them privacy and housing for +the night, the lady of Thüringen responded graciously enough to his +"good night!" adding, "I am glad my dagger failed me, Sir Captain. You +are too courteous to die by a woman's hand." + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + TILLY, COUNT OF TZERCLAËS. + + +"So, sir, you would leave me for Wallenstein!" said the dry, wiry old +man with the short grey beard resting on a charger of ruff, looking +keenly out of a pair of very sharp eyes, which were the eyes of General +Tilly, Count of Tzerclaës. "What in thunder made you think Wallenstein +was in favour again?" + +"It is true then, General?" + +"It may prove true in time. It depends on Gustavus, on Magdeburg, on +Saxony. Are you by chance a necromancer? Your calf country has produced +a brood of them at times. And your King Jamie, who was father-in-law to +our famous Winter King by the way, made rather a name for himself +rooting out the witches, didn't he?" + +Nigel Charteris knew Count Tilly's predilection for a gird at foreign +officers. But as the old general was in a good vein he made no attempt +to defend the memory of King Jamie, who was dead, and had died a +Protestant, to Nigel in itself a proof of something lacking in his +intelligence. + +"Not I, General! I had it from a haughty damsel I found in the same +house with the nest of Magdeburgers I brought you." + +"Who was she, captain?" + +"She gave herself out to be the Lady Ottilie of Thüringen! She is of a +surety highly-born. But I didn't know what to make of her. She is not +given to much speech, and what there is is tart in flavour. Would she by +chance be a daughter of the Landgrave? She hinted at the Wartburg." + +"Not she! The Landgrave has no daughter. I should like to see this +damsel. She may tell an old man more than she would tell a young one +like yourself. Send for her!" + +Nigel gave an order to a soldier. + +"As for Wallenstein, it may well be later on. At present it behoves me +to let the Emperor know fully about Magdeburg, what men we have lost and +what dispositions I am making, for, look you, this matter must needs +rouse Gustavus and bring him about my ears. I can well spare you for a +matter of ten days to ride to Vienna to bring me word again. What say +you? Will you be the messenger?" + +"With the greatest goodwill, General!" There was no mistaking the +sentiments of the younger man. He was a soldier, and knew that this way +leads to advancement. + +"It should serve your turn. I know a soldier when I see one, and you +have quitted yourself manfully." + +"Thanks, General!" Nigel glowed all over with his commendation. + +At this moment the unknown lady made her entrance. Count Tilly signed to +Nigel to stay: raising his fine eyebrows with a movement that gave him a +quizzical air, and a slightly amused look crept into his face. He rose +and bowed politely-- + +"The Lady Ottilie of Thüringen?" + +A look flashed from her eyes to Count Tilly's as she bowed in return. + +"It is the name by which I am known to your officer here!" + +"There is a singular likeness between your face and that of a lady I +once met at the court of Vienna," said Count Tilly, as if it were a +matter of no moment. + +"Indeed!" she said unmovedly. "At the present moment I am seeking a +safe-conduct to Thüringen, for myself and two persons in whom I am +interested." + +"To what part?" + +"To Eisenach, or, if not, then to any point on the frontiers!" + +"And your business, madame?" + +"To restore my friends to their families, and rest, after the horrors to +which you have subjected us, Count." + +Tilly made no sign of displeasure. The air of amused courtesy still sat +in his eyes, in his manner. + +"How long have you been in Magdeburg?" he asked. + +"Ten days, reckoned by time," she said with meaning. + +"You must have changed into a cat, or an owl, to get into the city ten +days ago!" he said, surveying her calmly. "Yes. It was possible to +_you_. Now, are you ready to start at once?" + +"Within an hour, Count!" + +"Good! Captain Charteris here will escort you and your party as far as +Erfurt. After that you must make your own plans!" + +The Lady Ottilie von Thüringen did not look overjoyed at the news. She +stole a glance at the captain, who on his side evinced no rejoicing, and +then at the general. One might have supposed that she suspected some +design on the part of the elder man. + +"It is the utmost I can hope for, I suppose," she said grudgingly. + +"Women should stay at home!" said the Count. "Especially girls of your +age and condition," he added, waving his hand in token of dismissal. + +The lady's lips curled as she bowed and withdrew. It was plain she was +accustomed to having her own way, and not accustomed to being rebuked by +generals, however eminent. + +"My young friend," the Count went on to Nigel, "you will have a curious +convoy as far as Erfurt. When you leave them at Erfurt, see that some +trustworthy men are to accompany them. I seldom forget faces, and more +rarely voices. Be careful. Look closely after her. Find out what you +can! Don't make love to her! It is of no importance to you what I think. +I may be misled by a resemblance. It is a thousand chances that I am. +But for you, the less you know at the outset the better for you. It is a +great protection sometimes not to know anything. Here is an order for a +lieutenant and twenty troopers. Take any travelling carriage and four +horses you can lay hands on. And stay, here are a hundred gold crowns +for your expenses. On leaving Erfurt you will go as fast as possible to +Vienna, after which, God be with you till we meet again!" + +Nigel pocketed the crowns and the blessing with a good grace, thanked +Count Tilly, and saluted. It was not often that an officer found such +favour with the dry old general. + +He was too busy during the next hour with his preparations to trouble +his head with the speculations of Count Tilly as to the identity of +"dark Ottilie," as he called her to himself. In point of fact he was +rather disappointed to be called upon to act as escort even as far as +Erfurt. He would so much more willingly have ridden by the shortest road +to Vienna, where his ambition was already, if we may speak of a man's +desire outstripping his body by three days or so. + +For his secret heart sang "Wallenstein," and not "Ottilie" dark or fair. +Yet Wallenstein, for the little that Nigel Charteris had seen of him, or +knew of him through others, was not a man to be beloved of men. He had +been twice married, which might prove that he was beloved of women, or +not, according to the side the pleader took. Nigel could recall without +difficulty the long narrow face with the large ears set close back +against the head, the high deeply-furrowed brow, the thoughtful +scrutinising eyes from which all laughter was absent, the plain linen +collar turned flatly down over his cuirass, the little tuft on his chin, +the look of solid power about the face as a whole, a face dominated by +resolution rather than pride. + +What was it then that drew Nigel Charteris to him? It was perhaps the +sense of the orderliness and discipline that prevailed about the famous +general and emanated from him. It was perhaps the audacity that had led +him to offer, in the dark days of the empire, to raise an army of twenty +thousand men which should cost the Emperor nothing but his mandate, or +the sound foresight that in fact provided thirty thousand for the war of +'26. Nigel Charteris had marched with him as a mere subaltern to the +crushing defeat of Mansfeld at Dessau on the Elbe, had joined in the +resistless pursuit through Silesia, through Mähren into Hungary, where +Mansfeld was striving to unite with Bethlem Gabor of Siebenbürgen, most +turbulent of Electors. Nigel had seen the army of thirty thousand grow +into seventy thousand, and the Emperor able to dictate in the affairs of +Europe. There had been nothing to equal Wallenstein's army in the world. + +And then the Habsburger, listening to jealousies, to his own fears +perhaps, to the Jesuits certainly, to Maximilian of Bavaria, had bidden +Wallenstein, laden as he was with honours and riches, lay down his +baton. Wallenstein had made no demur, raised no standard of rebellion, +had gone into retirement. The army mouldered away regiment by regiment. +Some had joined Tilly, like Nigel. More had become idlers in the great +cities. It had been Wallenstein's army. Without him to command even the +Emperor could not keep the snows from melting. + +And now came this mysterious message that Wallenstein would be summoned +again. His old officers would be flocking back. Nigel felt it in his +bones. Loyalty to a great leader is one of the strongest engines in the +world, least visible to the eye, most potent in effect. + +A travelling carriage was found, the body hung by leathern straps, +steadied by light chains, to the solid box and hinder seats, which were +just above the axles. From somewhere had sprung two serving maids, the +one a plump, wide-chested, short Saxon girl, evidently a retainer of +Elspeth Reinheit; the other, an older, slightly-wizened woman of dark +complexion, with a certain air about her of one accustomed to the +chambers of great ladies, of one above the common herd of waiting women, +and as plainly the attendant of Ottilie of Thüringen. The two had +probably been hidden in some garret of the house in Magdeburg, and +followed their mistresses, having no other goal to make for, to the +outskirts of the camp. The Saxon girl was already on terms of +familiarity with the troopers. The other held herself pursed up and +aloof. + +Nigel mounted the two on the hinder seat of the coach, their mistresses +within, and presently gave the order to the lieutenant, who sent on two +men in advance. Nigel and the lieutenant followed at the head of ten +troopers. The other eight rode behind as a rearguard. + +They gave a glance back at the smoking ruins of Magdeburg, out of which +still rose some spires of churches which had successfully defied the +conflagration, and were no longer the objective of Tilly's cannon, and +rode along the level road towards Strassfurt, comparing their military +experiences of the last three days. + +The young pastor had been mounted on a horse of indifferent mettle, and +rode as well as he was able behind the coach just in front of the +rearguard. It was clear that he was not in a grateful frame of mind, +notwithstanding his freedom. Nor had he any great reason to be, for was +not the fall of this great city of Magdeburg, this stronghold of +Protestantism, an open and visible sign of the hated Edict? + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + ON THE ROAD TO ERFURT. + + +Let your journeying be never so brief, it need not be tedious. The road +was as flat from Magdeburg to Strassfurt, and that was twenty miles, as +is the great plain that stretches from the Zuider Zee to Warsaw and on +and on. There were undulations. It was not as flat as a backgammon +board, nor had it a hill that would have made an old horse out of +breath. + +It was a sunshiny morning towards the end of May, and the sun rises +early over the German lands in May, and shines hotly towards noon on the +great plain. There was little or no shelter, but horses and men, even +the pastor, though he came from the pine forests of Thüringen, thought +little of the heat and the dust. To the men it was a holiday jaunt after +the military turmoils of the past two months. To the pastor it was a +return to his flock with a wallet full, not of indulgences like that of +Johann Tetzel, the Dominican, of Luther's day, but of doings and +sufferings. How he would be able to point his sermons with what he had +seen and heard! How he would inflame the whole forest with it! The +fires, the murders, the even blacker horrors of the sack of Magdeburg, +should be caught up into the trumpet of his prophecy and belched forth +in his own sonorous, if not altogether silvery voice, till every valley +of Thüringen and every hamlet in the hills rang with the fame and the +shame of the Edict. He conceived himself as a brand plucked from a +literal burning. As he rode, innumerable texts rose to his remembrance; +and pathways of thought, full of intricacies, opened out therefrom, till +his head almost ached by reason of the fixity with which he gazed upon +the hinder seat of the coach, while in his imagination he saw a mass of +upturned faces on the hillside upturned to _him_. The beauty of the +morning and the monotony or interest of the road were not for him. + +Nor did they affect the Saxon maid-servant, who from her high perch +behind the coach could see every now and then the steel caps of the +troopers in front glancing in the sun, and, when she felt sure the Herr +Pastor was not thinking about her, she twisted her stout body about and +twisted her short neck till she could win a good satisfying look at the +foremost couple of horsemen behind him. As for her companion, the +high-born lady's tiring woman, the Saxon girl could make nothing of her. +She belonged to the east, she said. The Saxon girl had once been to +Dresden. Further east was a mystery of all manner of strange peoples. +The woman spoke German, but she did not look German, and she did not +chatter, an unhealthy sign to the mind of the Saxon girl. She had not a +look for the troopers nor for the country-side. She was thinking of the +little hoard of florins and kreuzers she had left in the hands of a +respectable goldsmith before she set out on this ridiculous journey with +the highly-born lady, who, subject to the god of greed, owned her body +and soul. The writings relative to the hoard were in a little bag, which +she wore in a secure place beneath her outward and visible garments. +Every now and again she pinched the spot to make sure they were there: a +fact the Saxon girl noticed, but forbore to question for the reason. + +For the lady and the farmer's daughter the road had different messages. +Both in their ways felt the loveliness of the morning and the welling up +of Spring in the blood. To the lowlier-born a little farmstead with its +yellowish clayed walls and great black beams, its thatch of many +seasons' straw, spoke of men and women and babes and kine. Then she +remembered, and called softly out of the window "Pastor Rad," and the +pastor urged his horse beside her and said a few words, but soon dropped +behind again. She could make nothing of him. He did not even ask after +her wound. + +And "dark Ottilie" of Thüringen? The beauty of the morning set her +pulses thrilling, and chanted in her ears a song of freedom. She knew +well that she was not free, that she was playing the rebel against all +orthodoxy of courts and the rule of princes for their women-folk. She +had but these few weeks essayed the game of freedom, which had already +led her into strange accidents, but danger and Spring and pride made a +heady mixture. She loved this flat open road because it was new to her, +and led to strange little towns. "Did that stupid old General Tilly +recognise her?" She asked herself the question, and answered that these +old generals and statesmen were all full of craft and ruse, and it was +impossible to say. Why, if he did, should he let her go? Then her +thoughts evidently fell upon the Scot: and, since he showed no sign of +coming to her of his own accord, she had the word passed to him. Nigel +wheeled his horse and waited till the coach was abreast. The coach was +high and he needed not to bend. He saluted and said-- + +"Madame?" + +"What is the name of this place we make for?" + +"Strassfurt!" + +"Is it much farther?" + +"A league or so, madame!" + +"And then?" + +"We shall dine and proceed to Aschersleben. Then, if you are not too +fatigued, we shall go on to Sangershausen." Then he looked across to +Elspeth and a look of friendliness came into his eyes. "How is your +wound to-day, Fräulein?" + +"Better! Much better, captain!" Elspeth had another access of blushes. + +"Of a truth," said "dark Ottilie" to herself, "there must have been some +passages between this gentleman and our pastor's niece;" and she herself +began to observe him more closely, how well he sat his horse, what a +figure he had, as gallant a soldier as she remembered to have seen. + +"Captain!" She threw aside her haughtiness for a moment as she would +have dropped a cloak when she had loosed the clasp. "Whence came you?" + +"From Scotland, madame!" + +"The country of Marie Stuart?" + +"She was the grandmother of our present king, Charles!" + +"And what brought you here?" + +"A younger son's lack of fortune, and a taste for sword-play!" + +"But surely at the English court!" + +"There were already too many Scots, too many younger sons, and a king +who had no taste for sword-play, madame!" + +"They say the English ladies are rich and beautiful! Were there none who +would keep a Scottish gentleman from crossing the seas to find a +fortune, when she held one in her lap?" + +"I would not have looked beyond her face, madame, and, wanting a fortune +of my own, would never have looked her in the face to ask for hers." + +"You are too proud, sir! And how long have you plied the trade of a +soldier?" + +"Since Wallenstein raised his army and fought with Mansfeld. Five years, +madame!" + +A strange rapt gleam came into her eyes at the name of Wallenstein. + +"And the fortune?" she asked. + +"My Lord Verulam in his book tells us 'if a man look sharply and +attentively he shall see Fortune: for though she be blind yet she is not +invisible,'" said the Scot. "I am still looking for her." + +"It is a good saying: and your Lord Verulam plainly had a shrewd notion +that Fortune walks abroad in petticoats as often as she hides herself in +the treasure-house of a king." + +Nigel Charteris looked into her face, wondering exactly what she meant +by her commentary, and the dark eyes held a lurking demon of laughter +somewhere about them for an instant, but the mist came over the twin +lakes and her face resumed its lofty repose. + +They were not the only wayfarers: though the little groups were getting +more and more infrequent. For the final attack on Magdeburg, which had +let loose into its streets and places thousands of soldiery on plunder +intent, careless of violence to women and to babes, had also opened its +gates for the egress of fugitives. Those who had friends or relatives in +the country made such haste as was possible in the deadly hubbub of the +sack to steal out with their bare lives on to the roads and walk fast +and far. + +Many were the glances of hate at the troopers, and of wonder at Elspeth +Reinheit, who was known to many as the "pastor's niece." As for the +young pastor, the fugitives bowed or curtsied to him, and pitied him +because they supposed him a prisoner; whereas they themselves possessed +a precarious freedom, won out of the press of death that had confronted +them in so many forms on the grisly days of the sack. + +The pastor, buried in his indignation, and in his thoughts of stirring +themes for congregations not yet assembled, sometimes acknowledged their +salutations, sometimes missed seeing them. One question in the intervals +of his professional wrath came into his mind every now and again, and he +was indignant at the intrusion. It was this: What had happened that +Elspeth should have had any dealings with Tilly's captain? He had seen +how her eyes had sought the captain's, the eyes of an accursed Catholic, +accursed in that his hands were imbrued, actually or vicariously, in the +bloody wine-presses of the wrath of man, still more accursed that he had +done what he had in furtherance of the policy of Rome. And Elspeth +Reinheit, though not formally betrothed to him, Pastor Rad, was looked +upon as his by others than himself or herself. How was it possible that +the soldier and she could have met, and he the pastor and lover not know +it? How could there be a look of understanding or of gentle inquiry pass +from her to him to his own exclusion? It filled him with vague +uneasiness. It hurt his pride of possession. It raised suspicion of her +integrity. + +No doubt Pastor Rad would have been still more surprised had he known +that the highly-born sympathiser--he was not sure enough of her +spiritual leanings to call her adherent,--Ottilie of Thüringen, was at +this moment questioning Elspeth on that very matter. + +"Dearest Elspeth, you have met yonder captain before yesterday? I am +sure of it." She nodded towards his back as he trotted forward to the +head of his men after the little conversation. + +"That is true!" said Elspeth. "There is no need to keep it secret from +you, though I dare not tell Melchior Rad. He would never understand." + +"As to that," said her companion, "I cannot advise you. You know the +pastor. But your eyes have a most eloquent speech of their own, and are +not easily veiled, and, when he and I carried you to your chamber, your +eyes sought the captain's, and I could have sworn your pastor marked +it." + +"Oh dear!" said Elspeth. "And he is so harsh; well, not exactly harsh, +but you know what I mean." + +"These good men are hard in judgment!" said the other. "Like diamonds +for rarity and hardness. As for sparkle ... well, I should not say +Pastor Rad sparkles, but never mind." + +"This is Thursday!" said Elspeth. "Well, it was on Tuesday night and +nearly midnight. I had been sitting watching my uncle in too great +anxiety to leave the dear old man, and went down into the kitchen to +make him a warm posset. + +"As I crept into the kitchen in my night-rail and slippers, my hair down +even, imagine, Ottilie, with a candle in my hand, a man stood there in +the outer doorway. He seized my hands in his and looked me straight in +the face, the candle-light between us. + +"'No word, maiden!' he said in a low tone. 'Give me food! Give me a +couch to lie upon! I am wearied to death!' + +"His face was blackened with smoke and streaked with sweat. His cloak +and doublet and gauntlets were stained with I know not what. His voice +was hoarse and weak. He was clearly wellnigh done for. I was frightened +out of my life, but not out of all pity. And he was young and had fine +eyes, Ottilie. What could I do?" + +"And what did you do?" + +"'If thine enemy hunger, feed him,'" said Elspeth. "I did not ask him on +which side he fought. I gave him bread and meat and drink, and took him +by the little stairs to my own chamber. It was the only safe place, and +I bade him sleep there till I wakened him in the morning. + +"I spent the night watching my uncle and dozing by his bedside. In the +morning, when it was an hour past dawn, I thought of my other charge and +went to my chamber. He was gone." + +"God in heaven!" said Ottilie. "And that was the captain there?" + +"I could not swear to it!" said Elspeth, blushing again. "I think it +was." + +"It is possible also that he came back to the house to see what had +happened to you on the second day of the sack!" + +"I wonder if he did," said Elspeth. "I should like to think so!" + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + TWO OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. + + +Strassfurt gave the travellers too poor an entertainment to make them +tarry by it. They got a change of horses and pushed on another ten +miles, the ground rising steadily as they began to leave the plains and +cross the eastern spurs of the Harz mountains. At Aschersleben the air +was noticeably purer and laden with the resinous smell of the pines. +They made a long rest here for the evening meal and then rode slowly, +for the troopers' horses were tired and sore with the weight of men and +mail. The lieutenant made his men walk up the steep hills, but it was +late when they clattered and rumbled into little Sangershausen and came +to a good inn in the shadow of St Ulrich. + +The inn was not large but the stables were spacious enough to take in +all the troopers as well as their horses: a fortunate thing, since, at +the late hour it was, to have made any endeavour to quarter them on the +inhabitants would have been a possible cause of tumult. They were +already sufficiently near to Thüringen, a Protestant state in the main, +for Protestant feeling to be uppermost. Some news of the vengeance +executed on Protestant Magdeburg would have preceded the travellers even +at this remote town on the borders of the Harz, and Nigel and the +lieutenant were both aware of the danger they ran, peaceful as their +errand was. + +Despite their fatigue they set off again early, covering the ten miles +to Frankenhausen with ease. Then the road began to wind in and out among +the hills, which lay across their path to Erfurt. The lower slopes of +the hills already showed corn ripening; the grass stood knee-deep in the +valleys, but above the cornlands on every hillside rose the forest. +There were a few woodcutters in the forest, a labourer or two here and +there in the fields, and at long intervals tiny hamlets, with perhaps a +mill or an indifferent inn. To the travellers one and all, the +continuous ascents to high ground, the long forest roads, the descents +into new valleys, became monotonous and seemingly interminable. They +made no haste. It was no countryside for haste. At the best Nigel +expected to reach Erfurt at sundown: for the horses had not thrown off +the weariness of yesterday, and they could not expect to get a relay for +the coach. At the inn where they made what midday meal the place was +capable of they could get nothing but smoked ham, little tough cheeses, +rye-bread and beer. Fortunately there was plenty of the latter, and the +troopers made no grumbling at its quality. Elspeth Reinheit appeared to +be blessed with a good appetite, and found ham and rye-bread and cheese +to her liking, for she did well by them. The other and more highly-born +girl ate little and drank goat's milk, which has a sustaining quality +for those who can put up with its richness. Pastor Rad was no more +talkative than he had been the day before, and brooded alike in valley +and on hill-top with a morose perseverance that foreboded a wealth of +prophetic outburst, whenever he should come to his opportunity and to +his flock. He watched Nigel in all his approaches and conversation with +Elspeth, which the chance or the tedium of the journey brought about. +Nigel was on his side quite natural and unconstrained in his behaviour +to the girl, who had done him a vital service which he had in his turn +requited. There was no feeling except that of human kindness, which +perhaps runs a little thicker as between man and woman, more so still if +the man be comely and the woman not less well-seeming than a woman +should be. + +The longest day of travel comes to an end: and at last they spied the +cathedral and the sister church of Saint Severus perched on its +eminence. Then the spires of St Martin, St Michael, St Laurence, and +later on the walls of Erfurt, rose to view. There were gates to pass, +two waterways to cross by little bridges, which let one see a wilderness +of little streets, and then they drew rein at a demure hostelry in the +Prediger Strasse, well thought of by the Protestant community of Erfurt. + +Nigel and the lieutenant having seen their charges safely housed, rode +on with their escort, and readily found quarters for them with the +soldiers of the garrison; for Erfurt, if it showed no active +partisanship at this time, was passively more for the Emperor than for +the cause of Gustavus. Originally one of the free cities of the +Hanseatic League, it had become annexed by some threads of service to +the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector being the Archbishop, and so able +to exercise influence, if not precisely dominion, by the spiritual arm +as well as by his considerable secular forces. Despite Luther, Erfurt +was still to be reckoned as a Catholic city, and not many months after +this very day Gustavus treated it accordingly in the swift foray that +followed his victory of Breitenfeld. + +The lieutenant being by habit a good companion and a great man at a +bottle, where he could find both company and bottle, having once sat +down with the officers of the garrison, was in no mood to leave them. +Nigel Charteris, on the other hand, like many of his fellow-countrymen, +was prone to content himself with his own company rather than make +himself profoundly uncomfortable for the sake of being sociable. Wine, +Woman, and Song, as the triune object of German idolatry, especially in +garrisons, camps, and universities, did not evoke any enthusiasm in him. + +He drank wine for good cheer. Song he could bear rather than love, so it +had a lilt in it. As for woman, as she followed the camp, or in the +character of the helpless quarry of the licentious chase of officers and +soldiers alike, or again as the fat helpmeet of the German burgher, +redundant with all the virtues but lacking equally all the graces, Nigel +Charteris paid her no heed. His gorge rose from one cause or another at +all three. Through all the coarse scenes of camp life, the brutalities +of the sack of cities, he had preserved with religious fervour the +memory of his mother, and of the maidens of gentle quality whom he had +known in his own land, tall, straight-limbed women with broad foreheads +and blue-grey or dark-brown eyes, looking boldly out upon a world that +dared not asperse them. + +In Ottilie von Thüringen he had recognised at a glance one of their +peers, with less of their frankness, with more of their pride of race, a +woman of rare beauty, mysterious, tangible yet intangible. For the first +time in his prime of manhood did he feel troubled in spirit by the +consciousness that something in him strove towards the infinite that is +the spirit of woman. + +But whether it was this, or the consciousness that of late he had been +remiss in his devotions, he stole out beneath the intense blue of a +starlit sky towards the cathedral, in the precincts of which he trusted +to find a priest to hear his confession. + +The builders in their desire to set their holy city on a little hill, +and the only hill having a steep declivity to more mundane levels, had +constructed a series of under-buildings, called _cavaten_, till they got +a continuous level on which to build the cathedral. And a penitent who +has to mount a matter of fifty steps, and does so, certainly deserves +well of Mother Church. So at least thought Nigel Charteris, as, somewhat +breathless, he peered in and found it almost dark. A lantern standing on +the floor in a corner announced the presence of some one, who proved to +be the sacristan coming out of the sacristy. + +By the aid of a few small coins the sacristan remembered that Father +Felix lodged at the priest's house close by, and offered to fetch him. +While he was gone Nigel made the round of the nave, the side-aisles, and +the chancel. So lofty was the roof his eye could not pierce the gloom, +but the cathedral was of no great extent, the chancel being in fact very +nearly as large as the nave. The faint rays of the lantern lit up the +carved and polished ages-old woodwork of the choir seats. Beyond was a +shadowy land round which he walked in the space of a few minutes. + +From the still deeper shadow of a group of pillars Nigel was startled by +a woman's sobbing. Out of the great silence of the place it was audible, +when his own footfall ceased for an instant, and then it ceased +suddenly, as if the woman, learning that she was not alone, had regained +command of herself. There ensued a soft murmur as of a recited prayer, +one long familiar to her who prayed, and then as of some concluding +personal petition, in which Nigel was almost certain that he heard the +name of Albrecht von Waldstein. His mind being intent upon this name, +that he should think to hear it even in this solemn environment was not +in itself strange, but Nigel was inclined to regard the fancied +recognition as having something of a supernatural significance. + +At this moment the priest and the sacristan entered, and the holy +father and his soldier penitent entered the confessional. + +When Nigel came out he walked slowly to the door, where he was joined by +the priest, who, his office performed, was cheerfully curious as any +layman to hear the latest details from Magdeburg. News of the victory of +the Church, as every Catholic was bound to esteem it, had reached him. +He was willing to hear more, but made no comment. His sympathies, it +appeared, were mainly confined to his own surroundings, his personal +charge in Erfurt, and did not travel outward to the greater world. He +was curious to hear whether the Jesuits were jubilant over the new phase +in politics. It was clear that he at least was no Jesuit. The priest +_secular_ has always had a certain jealousy of the priest _regular_. + +Nigel received his "Pax vobiscum," and turned away to make for his +quarters. A few, and those feeble, lights burned at a distance from the +cathedral. There was the blue sky, starlit as when he had entered. +Standing still a moment or two to make sure of his direction in this +solitary part of the city, he heard a light step beside him, and a tall +closely-veiled lady asked him to set her on her way to the Prediger +Strasse. + +Muffled as the tones were, Nigel recognised them. + +"Then it was your ladyship in the cathedral a while ago?" + +"Sir! I do not know of what you speak! Can you not point me to the +Prediger Strasse?" + +"It is useless to pretend! You are she who calls herself Ottilie of +Thüringen! And you are of the Holy Catholic faith! I am Nigel +Charteris!" + +"Had the night been lighter," she said in a tone of vexation, "I should +have asked no man! Now I am forced to confide what I wished not to tell; +I _am_ of your faith." + +"You may trust me!" said Nigel, taking her by the arm and making across +the Mainzerhof bridge over the Bergstrom, a branch of the main waterway +that threads the town as a string does a row of paunchy beads from +Leipzig Fair. + +"'Tis not the shortest way, but it is the least lonely. Tell me why you +consorted with Protestants even to the risk of death or worse in +Magdeburg?" + +"Captain Charteris!" She spoke in low clear tones which could reach his +ear alone. "It is no article of our compact to tell you these things. It +is just as well for you to know nothing. It is a great protection +sometimes not to know anything." + +"Count Tilly said that same thing!" said Nigel. "Is it a password of the +Rosicrucians?" + +"Then he warned you against me!" she said in a tone of triumph. + +Nigel bit his lip for its indiscretion. + +"He gave it as a piece of general advice," he said. "But what is in our +compact?" + +"Merely this!" she replied. "You were to conduct us to Erfurt. You were +to put us into the company of trustworthy people so that we might pursue +our way to Eisenach." + +"That is true!" said Nigel. "Yet it is not to be wondered at if I cast +about to know more of a noble lady who first tries to stab me with a +dagger, then takes a passing interest in my parentage, whom next I find +by an extraordinary chance sobbing in a dark corner of a cathedral, +whom, finally, I have the honour of conducting to her lodging at an hour +when most noble ladies are glad to be within doors." There was a vein of +humour in his tone rather than in what he said. + +"You think I owe it to you, sir?" + +"Does woman ever owe anything to man that she does not pay a +thousand-fold? I count no woman my debtor!" He said it in a tone of +tenderness she had not heard before from this soldier of fortune. + +"Trust me then in turn! I tell you nothing! Believe me, there are things +I dare not tell my confessor that I _could_ tell you; only it is better +not." + +"Let it be so, madame! 'Trust me all in all or not at all' is a proverb +of my country." + +They had reached the further end of the street called Fischersand and +turned on to the Long Bridge, from which it was but the length of a +small side street to the Prediger Strasse. + +They halted on the bridge and looked over the balustrade, up the +waterway. There was candlelight here and there in the back windows of +the houses that abutted on the water. Their gaze could only penetrate a +little way along the dark space between the houses. A few stars +reflected themselves in the water at their feet. The Lady Ottilie of +Thüringen was in a restless mood, in that mood when a woman wants +everything and nothing, when she is eager to reveal and careful to hide +everything but her eagerness. To an older man perhaps there would have +been no puzzle, but to Nigel Charteris, who had never known the spell of +woman, she was a mysterious child following her own phantasies. + +She gazed into the dark vista for a full minute or so of silence--a +silence only broken by the tramp of the guard going its rounds. Then she +said-- + +"Have you ever known what love is?" + +Nigel started at the question, for he was conscious of the exaltation of +spirit that he felt at being alone with this mysterious child, who was a +woman who had proud eyes, that he felt at being her protector in this +old garrisoned city that was strange to both of them. + +"No, lady!" He spoke truth, and she knew it. + +"It is like this!" she said, and pointed downwards. "It is dark and in +movement, and you see stars in it glittering,--wavy stars that you know +are not real, though they look so near. You know that it would be cold +to plunge in, and that you would not get your stars. There are the stars +above in the blue at an immense distance.... It's like that too!" She +pointed up the waterway into the darkness. "You can see a little of the +way, and then it is all dark, all a mystery, and yet you know that you +are eager to go, and that if you go far enough you will expect to reach +the stars." + +Nigel listened and was troubled--troubled because he was not by nature a +poet, and could not well follow her thought, and troubled because he +felt that her note was impersonal as relating to himself. If she was +referring to a particular man it was not himself. + +"To think," she went on, "that a woman could be so stirred, so set above +herself by any man that she would become even as his slave in return for +nothing but his barest thanks, that her mind could be full of him day +and night, that all he might do or say, were it to her own injury, would +be right in her eyes!" + +"And yours--your mind is full of Albrecht von Waldstein, if I guess +rightly?" Nigel asked. + +"Sir!" She flashed upon him, turning towards the pathway. "Go you and +seek your Wallenstein! What think you that Ottilie von Thüringen can +have in common with that cold seeker after power, with him who would use +the Habsburgs for a stepping-stone, and play the Cæsar?" + +Nigel was silent. He was confident that he had struck the keynote of her +meditation, but refrained from placing his finger upon it with +insistence, as he might have done, from fear that he should find that +she resounded to none other. For he began willy-nilly to desire that +this harpsichord of hers should give forth melody beneath his own +fingers. But after a moment or two, with the directness of the Scot, +without irony, stating a fact, he said-- + +"Lady, I would gladly be the man you spoke of!" + +She turned towards him, hurling him a look through her veil. + +"My tall captain! You would be a fool even to dream of it!" + +"So be it!" he said in his plain way. "Here is your inn. To-morrow your +escort will be here. At what hour?" + +"At eight, sir, if you can so contrive." + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + AT THE CASTLE OF HRADSCHIN. + + +It was not difficult to find at the sign of the Lily a couple of worthy +merchants who were returning on the morrow to Gotha, and they readily +promised Nigel to act as escort so far. From Gotha it would go hard if +the girls did not get a safe journey to Eisenach. + +The parting was brief. Some tears sprang to the ready eyes of Elspeth. +Ottilie's eyes showed nothing. Her lips repeated, "Till we meet again, +captain!" The pastor nodded sulkily. No sooner had the coach rumbled off +than Nigel sprang to his saddle, and together with his comrade, the +lieutenant, and the escort, trotted to the merry jingle of the +accoutrements and the clash of hoofs out of Erfurt over Steiger Hill on +the road for Rudolfstadt. In consultation with some of the garrison he +had planned to ride through the forest to Rudolfstadt, thence to Plauen, +pass the night there, cross the Erzgebirge on the next day, and push +into Bohemia as far as Pilsen; by good fortune they might be at Budweis +on the evening of the third day and in Vienna by the afternoon of the +fourth. + +After surmounting Steiger the road lay straight enough across a broad +valley through a round dozen of hamlets, and at the tenth mile they +crossed the Ilm and began to ascend a more winding road, which, six +miles farther, brought them to Rudolfstadt. Here they made their midday +meal, and without delaying over the wine-pot, made good speed into the +hills that lay between them and Plauen, the chief city of the Vogtland. +The Vogt had been careful to choose a high country for his dwelling, and +so the horses found it no easy finish to their day's work to climb as +they had to do to bed and fodder. + +So far Nigel had paid little heed to any demonstrations of Lutheran +spirit. Erfurt, for all it had nursed Luther out of monkhood into flat +heresy, was still Catholic. Rudolfstadt was towards the outskirts of the +Thüringer Wald and a mere hamlet, though it bore a kingly name. The +other villages that lay between it and Plauen were inconsiderable, and +Nigel did not let his men linger when traversing them. It was quite +possible that the news of the sack of Magdeburg had preceded him, but it +was unlikely that any force of the soldiers of Gustavus or of his allies +were in the neighbourhood, and against any undisciplined throng of +turbulent Protestants Nigel felt secure, if he were not greatly +outnumbered. + +But as soon as the gates closed behind him and his men, he became aware +from the looks of the people and their answers to his questions that he +had come into a very hornet's nest. Arms seemed to be the customary +wear, and in at least two of the squares he noticed stout burghers and +apprentices practising drill under the guidance of men of martial +bearing. + +Instead of making, as he would have done, for an inn, he rode right +through the town to the castle of Hradschin, which was the one place +inside the town that promised security, if not good cheer, and was held +on behalf of the Emperor by an officer who represented in a shadowy way +the ancient dignity and function of the Vogt of long ago. + +There he found the drawbridge up and the sentinels on guard, but he was +admitted without much parley to find that the officer in question was an +old comrade of his Wallenstein days, one Hildebrand von Hohendorf, who +received him with open arms and a full flagon, and whose eyes roamed +over the twenty well-appointed troopers with much satisfaction. + +The burly Commandant's eye, as he sat back in his great chair after the +first part of the supper was despatched, lit upon Nigel with great +good-humour. + +"So you are a captain of Tilly's, my boy! And I warrant you get another +step if you carry despatches safely to Vienna! Some people have all the +luck. And I wager you've a good round bag of golden crowns in your +wallet as it is." + +"As to that," said Nigel, "I left a few odd thalers with an honest +banker at Erfurt. I know better than to carry much gold about me." + +"Sly fellows, you Scots! Ha! ha! ha! A few odd thalers! Why, the sack of +miserly Madgeburg must have been like drawing water in a bucket from a +brimming well! And here I sit cooped up in Hradschin, and draw a few +groschen a day for running the risk of a Lutheran bullet, or a crack +from a sledge-hammer every time I go into the town, and the saints above +know when I shall be able to get back to the wars." + +"Why didn't you do the same as the others, and join Tilly?" + +"In the first place, I got the offer of Hradschin, and in the second +place, my own little estate of Hohendorf is but a few miles to the +north, over by Elsterberg, and I can keep a better eye upon it than if I +were wandering about with Tilly. And in the third place, when one has +served with Wallenstein, it isn't the same thing to serve with Tilly." + +"And in the fourth place, Hildebrand, you seem to have a good larder and +a good cellar!" + +Hildebrand laughed a hearty contented laugh. + +"I like them better than your Restitution Edict! Well, Hendrick?" + +A soldier had come in and stood at attention. + +"There is a tumult in the town, Commandant. They have assembled on the +other side of the moat with torches and weapons." + +"Bid them all go to the devil and come back to-morrow morning!" + +"Yes, Commandant!" + +The soldier returned in a few minutes. + +"They will have speech with you, Commandant!" + +"Confound them all for disturbers of the peace! I am coming. This is a +new caper!" + +The Commandant donned his corselet and headpiece, and accompanied by +Nigel came out on the roof of a small tower that overlooked the +drawbridge. + +There was the moat below and a narrow one at that. But it was a +sufficient barrier. + +"Silence for the Commandant!" shouted the sergeant of the guard. There +was silence in the grim-looking crowd that stood many deep on the other +side, torches and lanterns lighting up the faces of some and leaving +others mere shadowy patches, lighting up, too, the faces of many steel +weapons and the barrels of many firelocks. + +"Now Johann Pfarrer! In God's name tell us what this is all about, and +let a man get back to his supper!" + +"Magdeburg!" shouted Johann Pfarrer with a voice like a deep-toned +trumpet. + +"Aye! Magdeburg!" The crowed echoed and roared it lustily with a curious +note of wild anger in the throat. + +"Well, friends? What have I to do with Magdeburg?" + +"Just this!" said Johann Pfarrer. "To-night we have heard an exact +relation of the sack of Magdeburg. You have with you one of Tilly's +captains and twenty of his hell-born riders." + +"Faith, Johann! you may be right! I don't know where they were born. +They are all good Germans!" + +"The more shame!" growled Johann. "Now, Commandant, we are not joking. +Deliver them all up to us, officers and men!" + +"For what? Who ever heard of a German delivering up his guests? Tut! +tut! man!" + +"There is no 'Tut! tut!' about it," retorted Johann. "We are going to +hang them. Blood for blood! Vengeance for Magdeburg!" + +"What nonsense you talk," said Hildebrand in his jolly cajoling fashion. +"Why should you or I trouble about Magdeburg? Let the Brandenburgers +look after themselves. You don't owe them anything!" + +"They are our brothers in the faith," said another voice, and a Lutheran +pastor stood out from the throng. + +"Yes! Yes! Our brothers in the faith." The bystanders took up the cry +till it reached the outskirts of the throng, seemingly a long way back. + +"Well! I take my orders from the Emperor!" said Hildebrand. "You had +better go and ask him! I give up my guests for no one. Now go away home +to your suppers and your wives and don't trouble your heads with +politics!" + +"You hear, friends?" shouted Johann, turning to his comrades. "You hear +what Commandant von Hohendorf tells us. Shall we?" + +"No! A thousand noes!" was the reply from hundreds of throats, and the +ominous rattle of weapons gave it emphasis. "Storm the castle! Burn +down old Hradschin! Death to the hell-riders," came from all sides. + +Nigel, standing on the battlements in the rear of the Commandant, was +not recognisable from below, but could very well distinguish the faces +of most of those who stood in the front of the throng. They were drawn +from all classes in the town, which, it was clear, was stirred to its +depths. There were few women, and only two of these had ventured near to +the leaders. Nigel surveyed the assembly with the indifference of the +soldier to the execrations of a crowd of citizens, and the added feeling +of detachment from the exasperation which they felt at the slaughter of +some of their own countrymen by others of their own countrymen in the +pay of the Emperor, who was far on the other side of the mountains. His +curiosity was alert, however, and when his eyes rested on the two women, +whose heads were enveloped in hoods that left most of the face in +impenetrable shadow, he strove to estimate their condition, whether +gentle or simple. In bearing they both seemed apart from the burghers +with whom they mingled. One of them was tall for a woman, and, when she +moved, did so with a gesture that marked her at least as no housewife. +The other's movements were quick, and reminded Nigel of a hen moving and +pecking with sudden jerks of fussiness. Then for a moment, as the +Commandant was speaking, the tall woman looked upward and the ruddy +light from a neighbouring torch fell upon her face for a mere instant, +but it was long enough. Nigel drew his cloak about him with a shiver. +The woman appeared to have the eyes and mouth of Ottilie von Thüringen. + +He was sure it was not she. She had started for Gotha. He had seen her +in the coach, and at the head of his men had ridden, not, it was true, +at breakneck speed, but at a good pace, wasting no time. + +Some one, it was clear, had arrived in the town who had witnessed the +sack of Magdeburg, and striven to and contrived to inflame the +townspeople to a fever point. But even supposing, what was impossible, +that the mysterious Ottilie had ridden by other roads and reached Plauen +at his heels, what could her errand be? She was a Catholic. It was +unthinkable to believe that she could be seeking to inflame the minds of +Protestants to the butchery of a score of troopers in the service of the +Emperor out upon a peaceful task of escort duty. + +It passed through his mind and was dismissed. Hildebrand turned to him. + +"The pigs! They will be less noisy in the morning. Let us go in and +finish our wine. Hradschin can stand a few hard words and even a few +knocks such as they can give, unless Gustavus sends them a few cannon." + +As they went in the tumult grew in volume, but it was soon lost to their +ears as they once more resumed their wine within the thick walls. + +"The devil of it is," said the Commandant, "that there will be no +getting out of the place while they are in this mind. They will guard +all the roads. And your men are all needed here if they make an attack +in force to-morrow." + +"The despatches do not admit of delay," said Nigel, who had no mind to +be cooped up in Hradschin for a week. "If I cannot leave with the men, I +must leave without them." + +"But how are you going to get out of the town? You must cross the river, +and the bridge will be guarded. There's your horse, too. Still, as you +say, there are the despatches." + +"Surely, if I start two hours before dawn, I can get the gates open +after overpowering the guard. My twenty troopers ought to manage that. +How far is it from here to the bridge?" + +"Four hundred yards! But four hundred yards, of which at least a hundred +are down a narrow street to the bridge-head, supposing the pigs are on +the watch, are as bad as four miles. You know what it is to ride through +a press of people. You and your troopers would be pulled from your +horses in no time. We must think! Pass the flagon, comrade!" + +"Lieutenant! Make the round of the ramparts with one of the Commandant's +soldiers and see what the dispositions are, whether one can leave the +castle and how. One cannot make one's plans for leaving the town if one +cannot first leave the castle." + +"True!" said Hildebrand, who was secretly desirous of retaining the +twenty troopers to defend Hradschin. "And sound your men as to whether +they will risk a rope with Captain Charteris or remain here with me." + +Nigel would have been inclined to resent this, but as Hildebrand was his +host he said nothing, only being quite resolved that in the end his men +should obey orders, hanging or no hanging. + +Then they fell to discuss the road Nigel should take. + +"Pilsen is a long journey through the hills!" said the Commandant. "Why +not make for Eger? There is a strong garrison at Eger. If you reach +there in safety you can get another escort to Vienna, and when things +are quiet your men can slip out and go there to await your return." In +this way the Commandant made it a more familiar idea to Nigel's mind +that he should go alone. And Nigel, on his part, resolved that alone, or +accompanied, it would be easier to escape that night, when the citizens +would be drowsy with their unwonted watching, say two hours before dawn, +than on the morrow when the threatened attack began. The heart of the +difficulty to his mind would be the gate at the bridge-head. Even if +the guard were overcome there would still be delay, and delay would be +fatal. + +The lieutenant returned and reported that watch-fires were lit and +burning at all the four avenues which gave egress from the neighbourhood +of the castle, and at each was a strong guard, all armed with muskets. +Any one coming from the castle could be seen. The crowd had dispersed. + +The three soldiers put their heads together over a plan of the town, and +Nigel asked question after question till he had extracted all the facts +he could from the Commandant. Then he asked the Commandant for the +quickest-witted of his men, and sent for Sergeant Blick, one of the +escort, by special request of Nigel, who had great confidence in his +fidelity. + +In a quarter of an hour the two men dropped into a flat-bottomed boat +kept at a small back gate of the castle for the convenience of the +kitchens. And mooring it carefully on the other side, they stood +half-way between the fires and the guards to the north and those to the +south. The soldier belonging to the castle tapped at a window in the +street which faced the castle again and again. Presently the knock was +answered. The casement opened. The soldier got through, and burly +Sergeant Blick waited for the door to open. Then he entered too. A few +words with the goodwife, who supplied the soldiers of the garrison with +spiced sausages, and they departed through a door at the back of the +house into a darkness that could scarcely have been bettered. + +As the clock of the Rathhaus struck one past midnight there gathered in +its shadows a knot of men. By a quarter past there were twenty, and at +half-past there were forty. Every man came by himself and stealthily, +and every man came armed, and was surprised to find so many others +there before him, except only the first three, and they were very old in +comradeship. As each man came up he murmured "Waldstein," and waited in +the gloom in silence. + +As the clock of the Rathhaus struck one past midnight Sergeant Blick and +two or three men who, like him, knew something about horses, were as +silently as possible yoking horses, and in some cases oxen, which had +complacently folded their legs and gone to sleep chewing the cud as +industriously as usual, to the waggons that stood in the market street +and market-place. The noise of horses and waggons clattering or creaking +was nothing to the dwellers in that part of the town. + +One of the ostlers led away a waggon creaking and rumbling. The ostler +was a good Catholic, and had a solid crown piece in his breeches. Then +the other led away a waggon. Then when the first ostler had returned, +Sergeant Blick started, and by half-past one eight waggons were disposed +across the streets that led to the castle and not far from the men round +the watch-fires. The horses were brought back again. + +At half-past one the men in the shadows of the Rathhaus saw one who +walked like a soldier come towards them, and as he halted just outside +the shadows they could see the glint of his casque and heard him call +them sharply to attention. In a trice they had arranged themselves in +two lines as they had been used to do in Wallenstein's army. They had no +doubt it was one of Wallenstein's officers, and one or two thought they +remembered the voice. + +They marched without hesitation towards the castle, and creeping past +the waggons ranged up again in order. One or two of the guard not so +overcome with sleep as the others--for your watch-fire, especially if it +be smoky, as it can easily be, is a monstrous soporific--glanced round +uneasily at the clink of arms and peered into the shadows and saw +nothing. Then came a word of command, and, before they could all spring +to their weapons, Nigel and his levy were upon them, had beaten every +man to the earth, scattered the watch-fire where it would, and then, +re-forming, passed on. They halted in front of the drawbridge of the +castle. It was let down, and nineteen troopers and the lieutenant came +over the moat and formed up. Nigel said a word to the lieutenant and +passed on with his footmen till he sighted the second watch-fire. Once +again his besom of men swept the watchers, and this time they were +caught by the barricade of waggons, and every man, who was not laid flat +and helpless by sword or pike or stave, was trussed up till further +need. The waggons were dragged aside, and the horsemen trotted towards +the narrow street that led to the bridge-head and the old soldiers +marched behind as a rearguard, still led by Nigel. When they got within +bowshot of the gate the horsemen rode down upon the guard and made them +deliver up the keys. + +The gates were opened. Nigel sprang to the spare horse, and said a +thankful farewell to the old soldiers and to Plauen. + +His last words to the old soldiers had been-- + +"If Wallenstein wants you again, will you come?" + +And every man had growled out, "Aye, with a will!" + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE ROAD TO EGER. + + +Once clear of the town and on the open road to Olsnitz Nigel's immediate +anxiety was ended. He did not fear the pursuit of the townspeople. Not +despicable in quality is the valour which rouses and fills a man, and a +man's fellows, in sight of their common hearthstone at the Rathhaus, or +of that, possibly dearer, rallying-place the Rathskeller, where the +favoured vintages of the burghers lie snug in cobwebs, only to be +brought forth from the complete darkness of their resting-places to the +still dim and broken daylight of the afternoon, or to the lantern-light +cloven by the massive pillars of the low arches into patches of ruddy +glow and pools of shadow. Not despicable in quality is it, but it +carries a mighty stroke only within the town's walls. To pursue with +success a troop, however small, of trained mounted men, one must have +the like. Nigel and his men rode on into the darkness, which was just +sufficiently permeated by the faint light of stars to let them see the +road at their horses' feet and a few yards ahead; they rode sleepily, +but feeling secure. The road they followed was the road to Hof, which a +few miles out throws out a branch to Olsnitz, and this again at Olsnitz +fathers two younglings, the road to Graslitz and Pilsen, and the road to +Eger. + +Nigel meant to bivouac by the roadside, beneath the pine-trees, where +the bed was soft with the pine-needles and dry, and horses and men alike +could sleep till an hour after dawn. He was not in the mind to lock +himself in any more walled cities till he was in safer country. He had +also resolved to make for Eger rather than Pilsen, because, from Eger, +which was a frontier post of some quality, he could perhaps send +Hildebrand von Hohendorf some assistance. + +So having put an hour's riding between his troops and Plauen he called a +halt, and the men led their horses up the sloping banks into the forest, +where they unsaddled, tethered their horses, and lay down quite +contentedly. Nigel, with his head on his saddle-bags and two sentries +within hail, was asleep in a few seconds. A few seconds of sleep, so it +seemed to the sleep-hungered soldier, and the persistent twittering of +the birds, that outburst that hails the almost imperceptible rolling up +of the night clouds, awoke him. The birds could see up there in the +branches. Where he lay it was dark enough to swear it was still night. +Out of the darkness he heard the voice of Sergeant Blick drowsily +calling the birds "fools and heretics" for waking him, and he fell +asleep again. Another two or three seconds, which were an hour by the +clock at Olsnitz, and the birds, after their last nap, were again +calling one another to the duty of seeing after breakfast. Nigel rose +and stamped his feet and shook himself, listened for the trickle of a +spring, and went off to salute it. Then he returned to his saddle and +called for his horse. While this was being brought he put his hand into +his saddle-bags where he carried the bulky despatches of Count Tilly: +first the left, and then the right, then he searched his doublet, his +holsters. There were no despatches. Sleep had played him traitor, +delivered him bound into the enemy's hand. Into whose? + +Nigel was possessed of common-sense, but when common-sense could give +but a flimsy explanation, he was not disinclined to allow that the +powers of darkness and witchcraft might, notwithstanding King Jamie and +his pronouncements, be of some potency. He was cautious too. While not +suspecting any of his men, he thought that to keep the loss to himself +was the surest way to discover the culprit, if he was among them. So he +made no inquiry of the sentries. He had a sure memory, so clear and +flawless, that he could repicture himself as in a mirror placing the +papers in his saddle-bag. They were there when he placed his head upon +the saddle. They were not there now. He searched his lair for any sign +that it might give. There was still the impress where he had lain upon +the pine-needles but nothing else. The loss was inexplicable as it was +irreparable. His professional honour was in jeopardy. His reputation as +an officer of approved sagacity was gone. He must go on. There was no +help. He must go on and carry to the Emperor the tale of his misfortune, +which would sound but a sorry one in the light of Vienna, and, instead +of the despatches, such details as he could remember; wherein his +excellent memory would doubtless replace all that Count Tilly could have +set down. But Tilly's foreshadowed plans? Tilly's recommendation of +himself? Into whose hands had they fallen? + +If witches had stolen the despatches, were they Protestant witches? No +Catholic could be a witch. That was an incompatibility. + +The men paraded in the road, and he and the lieutenant looked them over +to see that every man was there and in marching order. And Nigel scanned +every face and pair of hands. + +No! They were as respectable a lot of ruffians in leather and headpiece +as one could pick. The order was given to ride, and they rode clanking +into Olsnitz, where at the first inn they demanded beer and sausages and +bread with the clamour born of a fast of eight hours and a night in the +forest. + +Nigel and his comrade were hungry too, and having satisfied the hunger +for food, he summoned the ostler, taking him inside and questioning him +if travellers had passed that way earlier in the morning. + +"Three! Two stayed on the road. The third came for a small truss of hay +and paid for it and went away again. He was not of these parts." + +"Which road did he take?" + +"The road to Eger." + +Nigel asked other questions, but the answer told him nothing except that +he got a minute description of the man and of the horse, the latter more +particularly being the ostler's business. It was a sorrel with one black +hoof and three white. There were other marks, but that was enough. + +Evidently the travellers were going far, and wished to go fast, and not +to call at any inn for the space of a horse's feed and watering. + +Nigel wasted no time getting to horse again. One of those three had the +despatches. He must overtake them. So he rode on briskly, wondering who +would steal them and why. To the first question he answered: "The +Protestants! For they would be in communication with Gustavus, and would +wish to be beforehand in the matter of Tilly's plans." + +But why should they take the road to Eger when Gustavus was far to the +north? Rather should they ride north to Saxony. The road, however, was +plain enough along the valley of the Elster, always rising a little, and +steep hillsides on either bank. Of bridle-tracks there were many +without doubt, for those who knew the intricacies of the pine-covered +hills. But it was not likely the three unknown would take to them. + +At Adorf, Nigel learned that three horsemen had passed an hour before. +He was gaining upon them then. His men were somewhat surprised that the +march was being forced, but they scented rest and a German trooper's +welcome at Eger. Ten miles farther they had gained another half-hour. +Either the three had become careless, or their horses were tired, or +they were poor horsemen. Nigel would have them in the net at Eger, and +rode at a great pace. At one point, where the road took a wide bend, he +even caught sight of three horses, mere little black spots on the white +line of the road, and then he lost them. Trees intervened. At the long +last he saw them clearly enough pass through the gate of Eger, and in a +few minutes he and his troop clattered through the archway, and saw only +that the town had swallowed them up. There was still a sorrel horse with +one black hoof and three white ones for a clue. + +Nigel bade the lieutenant find quarters for the night, and let the men +eat and enjoy themselves. He also privately instructed Sergeant Blick to +find the sorrel horse and not miss getting into converse with its rider, +nor let him go before he could see him. Then he rode up to the castle, +the citadel of the town. He sought the commandant, and was surprised to +find in him a fellow-countryman, one David Gordon, a lean, lantern-jawed +fellow, whose uniform bespoke the professional soldier, but whose talk +reminded Nigel of the ultra-sanctimonious burghers of Edinburgh, on whom +the spirit of Knox in its narrowness had descended, but not the fire of +his conviction, while gaining a smoky stubbornness and sourness of which +Knox would have been little proud. + +"Sae yer Coont Tilly has warstled through into Magdeburg, Meester +Charteris?" + +"Aye, has he!" said Nigel, watching the cold glint of the little eyes +beneath the heavy brows. + +"And ye'll be carrying the despatches to the Emperor!" + +"Yes!" + +"Hooch aye!" The commandant rubbed a bristly chin, and watched Nigel's +face. "Did ye have a peaceful journey?" + +"Not exactly! I had trouble to get out of Plauen, and I think you should +send Commandant von Hohendorf a couple of companies. The townsfolk are +out of hand." + +"Ah! ha!" said the other. "Tis the working of God's wrath at the sinful +deeds at Magdeburg!" + +If David Gordon had been weighing out spices in a little shop in the +Canongate, the speech would have had its right surroundings. As it was, +issuing from the mouth of one of the Emperor's officers, it sounded out +of place. + +"Master Gordon! That's a queer speech!" said Nigel. "Count Tilly's been +carrying out the Edict." + +"Aye! That's just it, the most abominable Edict. Save us, mebbe ye're a +Papist yersel'!" + +"Yes! Or I should not be doing the Emperor's service!" Nigel retorted +with some heat. + +"Whisht! Whisht! man! A man must look to the bawbees, ye ken; but he +should aye hould fast to his opeenions!" + +"'Tis not for me to say what Mr Gordon should do, or not do," said Nigel +dryly. "My creed is where I take my pay, there I fight, and as for the +cause I say nothing." + +"Aye!" said Commandant Gordon with something like a sigh. "And what +brought ye to Eger, when it was a wheen shorter by Pilsen?" + +He scrutinised Nigel with a long careful scrutiny. + +"That I might tell you how matters stood with Hohendorf. Yours is the +nearest garrison." + +"Hooch aye!" The commandant appeared to be relieved of some anticipated +trouble. "I dinna think I can spare ony, but ye've done your duty in +reporting it. I thocht ye were maybe paying a veesit to yon warlock the +new Duke keeps at his hoose!" + +"What new Duke?" + +"Waldstein! Man! Waldstein! Duke of Friedland and the haill rickmatick!" + +"Waldstein!" said Nigel. "Here? Waldstein?" + +"Aye! He's studying the stars, he and his warlock. He's naething else to +do. He's just a spent cannon-ball: good iron but useless. Speiring at +the stars will he come back again or no, and speiring at Gustavus of +Sweden whether he'll give him all the kingdoms of the earth and the +glory of them, if he falls doon and worships him." + +"How do you know that he sends letters to Gustavus? Or what is in them?" + +"Is it sae unlikely?" the other questioned cunningly. "I could believe +onything of a Popish recusant! Waldstein was born a Protestant of good +Lutheran parents, and ganged to a Protestant University--Altdorf--and +then he wins clean over to the Papists. Noo I'm not saying onything +against Papistry, though I dinna believe in it mysel', but _ye_ come of +a Catholic family and have never known the truth. I peety but I dinna +blame!" + +"I am your very humble servant, Mr Gordon," said Nigel, bowing. "I am in +need of food and lodgment. Good-bye!" + +Nigel took horse again and rode down into the town, pondering many +things. + +At the foot of the hill he met Sergeant Blick. + +"The sorrel horse, captain, is in a stable at the White Lamb." + +"Good. We start to-morrow morning at dawn. Therefore have every man +ready!" + +"Yes, captain!" + +"The man who rides the sorrel horse will ride northward before dawn. By +whichever gate he passes, he must be caught and made to ride with us, +whether he likes it or not, without noise or fuss." + +"Yes, captain!" + +"Where is the lieutenant?" + +"He is at the Blue Angel, captain!" + +"Good! To-morrow at dawn!" + +Nigel found the lieutenant sitting down to a dish of scrambled eggs with +a plentiful dressing of chopped ham. + +"There is veal to follow, and then a couple of ducks!" said the +lieutenant, concluding the remark with a great gurgle of beer in the +recesses of a huge tankard. + +Nigel made haste to catch up with the lieutenant. + +He had travelled with his comrade through the egg country, the calf +country, and had reached duckland. Two legs, a slice of the broad brown +back, and some delicate spinach loaded up his plate, when the door +opened and a man-servant with the bearing of a soldier entered. + +"Captain Charteris!" + +"That is I!" said Nigel. + +"The Count Albrecht von Waldstein desires the favour of your company for +an hour." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + INTERLACING DESTINIES. + + +Nigel looked ruefully at the duck. + +"Stay and eat it, comrade!" said the lieutenant. + +"I must leave it! One does not keep Waldstein waiting! I bequeath it to +you. See that you give a good account of it." + +"That I can promise you!" said the still hungry lieutenant. "At dawn, +you said?" + +"At dawn! And give a good look at the horses before you turn in!" + +Then casting his cloak about him Nigel went out into the deepening +twilight. + + * * * * * + +Nigel Charteris had once, and only once, spoken to Wallenstein face to +face. For although Nigel served as a subaltern all through the great +campaign, the large armies commanded by the great general operated over +tracts of country often miles apart, and months elapsed between one +glimpse of him and the next. Little by little, as the great game of war +had come to mean something to Nigel's mind, for at the first it had +seemed but a sadly confused business, it came to him that Albrecht von +Waldstein was a great player. Since his experience with Count Tilly, +Nigel had been able to agree that he also was no mean antagonist, but +not the equal of Wallenstein. In that curious welter of the Thirty +Years' War it wanted but little shaking of the dice-box for Tilly and +Wallenstein to have been pitted against one another. As the dice fell, +they never were so pitted, and by consequence what then might have +happened is left to those skilful in conjecture, and not for us the +chroniclers of what did happen. + +Nigel, ushered by one servant to another, and finally by some great one +to the presence of the great man, felt the awe that one does in meeting +the supremely great in one's own profession; but as to his being a Count +of the Holy Roman Empire, which the Emperor had made him, a Duke of +Friedland, which by comparison was a mere proclamation of landed +nobility, Nigel Charteris of Pencaitland in the Lothians cared little. +The man was gentle by birth as he himself was. Whether he was a degree +higher or lower was naught to a gentle Scot, for the Scot yields to no +man in the pride of race. + +The house was a great house, rather deep than wide, with gardens full of +trees behind. At some time it had belonged to the King of Bohemia, but +had been bestowed on one of the great nobles, and in the general +disturbance of things ensuing upon the Winter King's invasion of +Bohemia, Albrecht von Waldstein had bought it for a small part of its +value. It was not the only instance of that faculty the exercise of +which by the Jews has gained them the contemptuous names of brokers and +Lombarders. In other words, Wallenstein became rich, had become rich, +not because he was a great and successful general, but because the same +talents which enabled him to plan and organise his armies, enabled him +also to plan his own fortunes in matters of estate. + +Wallenstein received Nigel in a spacious chamber, which had been an +audience-chamber in older days. It was panelled with wood all round the +walls, and the flat ceiling was also of wood, but painted with the +royal arms of Bohemia and those of the chief vassals, much of them faded +and blackened. There was a great open fireplace with a goodly fire of +logs blazing in it, and at a convenient distance from it was a small +table, curiously carved as to the legs, a couple of flagons of wine, and +two tall goblets of fine glass curiously wrought. + +In a great chair sat Wallenstein, and at the door by which Nigel entered +stood two serving-men. + +Nigel saluted his old commander-in-chief. Wallenstein nodded, and bade a +servant bring a chair. + +"You were with me in the late wars?" was his question, not in the abrupt +military fashion, though there were no more words, but in a tone which +bespoke a certain graciousness and a certain distance. + +"I was, your Grace--lieutenant, then captain of musketeers!" + +"And are now with Count Tilly? You were at Magdeburg?" + +"Yes! I am now riding with despatches to the Emperor!" + +This was the second time he had implied that he had the despatches to +deliver, knowing in fact that he had none. He had lied boldly to Gordon, +the commandant who should have been a shopkeeper, and thought nothing of +it. Besides, Gordon was a Protestant. He did not like lying even by +implication to Wallenstein, but he had the wish not to give the great +commander an ill opinion of his capacity. + +"It is well!" said Wallenstein. "I do not ask you to show them to me. +But I should like to know something of Count Tilly's dispositions. I am +out of harness. I am enriched and decorated with titles, and put aside. +The Jesuits would like to use me as a flail to beat the Protestants, but +they do not want the flail for itself, or to beat them. The flail is a +passably good flail, and will not wear out yet. How many men has Count +Tilly?" + +"Twenty thousand foot; two thousand horse!" said Nigel promptly. + +"And artillery?" + +"Fifty pieces of all kinds!" + +"And powder and ball and matches?" + +"Sufficient store!" + +"Ah!" said Wallenstein. "If Saxony and Brandenburg together make up +their minds they can find work for Count Tilly. And then there is +Gustavus! Who is to oppose him, and with what? Where do they say +Gustavus is?" + +"In Pomerania, your Grace!" + +"So I have heard, and is negotiating a treaty with France! If the +Protestants but knew it, they could beset Tilly and ruin the Emperor." + +"But you forget the Elector Maximilian?" + +"He is forgettable! He is a Jesuit, who should have been a priest, but +was unhappily born a prince. He has an arm, and that arm is Pappenheim. +With men enough Pappenheim could face Gustavus. But Pappenheim is with +Tilly. An army can have but one head." + +"When the Emperor's advisers grow frightened they will send again for +your Grace!" said Nigel. + +"They must pay dearly!" was Wallenstein's grim remark, with a curl of +his thick lower lip. Then he asked abruptly, in a tone which suggested +an amused contempt for such toys, "Do you believe in the stars?" + +Had Nigel been sitting over a flagon with Hildebrand von Hohendorf +instead of with Albrecht von Waldstein he would have laughed out a "No." +But two experiences, the sudden apparition of Ottilie outside Hradschin, +a possible delusion of the sense of sight, and the disappearance of his +despatches from beneath his head in defiance of sentries and all his +senses, which was no delusion, had shaken his hitherto light esteem for +witchcraft, star-gazing, horoscopes, alchemy, and all the other +ingenious paltering with past and future. It had been whispered too +among the armies that Wallenstein had commanded that he, like many other +great ones of the time, devout Catholics all, consulted necromancers, +and this came to Nigel's mind. He made a cautious reply. + +"I have never had my horoscope cast. Nor do I know anything of the +science of the stars. It is an old belief that the stars affect the +destinies of the great ones of the earth, and it would be a presumption +in me, who am nobody but a poor Scots gentleman, to treat it lightly." + +"Destiny? What is it?" Wallenstein asked. "Man makes his own path out of +the best materials to his hand or lets others buffet him into +nothingness. There is no third way. But every man who carves his own +pathway would fain learn by what implements he can arrive at the summit, +so that he may use them at the earliest." + +"And suppose," said the other, "the end be a cannon-ball that cuts one +in two, what better is a man for knowing it two years before?" + +"In truth," and into the eyes of Wallenstein came a strange look, "I +know not, but there is always the grim feeling that one may stumble upon +a most exact presage of fatality. It draws one on." + +"Then you have made some experiments, your Grace?" + +"One must do something when one has too much leisure. There is a learned +master, a Jew, I think, but he tells little of his origin, who is to be +found sometimes at Vienna, sometimes elsewhere, who calls himself Pietro +Bramante. He commended himself to me because he hates the Jesuits. He +showed skill in casting my horoscope, and has on several occasions given +me good intelligence. He is here now." + +Nigel involuntarily made the sign of the Cross. + +Wallenstein noticed it. + +"He does not traffic in devils, nor meddle with holy things. But he +professes great skill in the mathematics, which he says are the root of +all divination. He is learned in the Cabal, the unwritten tradition of +the Jews, whereby Solomon came to know the beginning, mediety, and +consummation of times." + +The chamberlain of the household now came in, and bowing low said, "The +learned Pietro Bramante bids me to acquaint you, my lord, that the +constellations are in a favourable aspect for you to enter the House of +Knowledge, but that the stranger must enter also, for the orbit of his +star conjoins with your lordship's." + +"Come!" said Wallenstein, his eyes lighting up into a curious eagerness, +curious that is, in a man of his years, and more so to a Scot such as +Nigel Charteris was, for the Scots are not given to appearing +eager,--even of good fortune. And if the Scot were forty-eight, which +was the tale of Wallenstein's years, and he were told that some one was +ready to give him good news or bad, he would say, "Weel! weel! it'll no +lose in the tellin'," and never move his legs an inch faster. + +"Come! Let us see what this diviner has to say!" + +Nigel was in truth by no means pleased. For he was a devout Catholic, +and hated alike Jews and witchcraft, and thought little of horoscopes. +The stars were a good guide on a clear night crossing a moor or in a +strange country. That was all. But Wallenstein had once held all the +German lands in his hands, and might again. It was a waste of +opportunity not to second his whimsies: and if there was nothing in +divination but hocus-pocus, why, there was no harm could come of it. + +So he rose to his feet and followed: and Wallenstein led him upstairs to +a long gallery, and at the farther end was a curtain drawn across. +Portraits of many kings and princesses were ranged along the one wall, +and upon the other where the windows were not. The windows looked out +upon a balcony and the balcony upon a pleasaunce, but of this, it being +now night, Nigel could see little. At long intervals were lighted +candles, and many unlit between. And their footfalls, soldier-like and +decided, echoed by walls and ceiling, made a great noise in Nigel's ear. + +So they came to the curtain and a voice bade draw, and Pietro Bramante +stood there and moved not a whit. There were no candles alight near him, +and all the light that was came from a copper bowl in which he burned +some tow with a blue and now a green flame. + +The sage began a recitation in which he made much mention of the seventh +house and divers stars and constellations being in opposition or in +conjunction, and of this Abracadabra Nigel made nothing. The blue and +green flame played upon his naturally brownish face and it was grey, and +from Wallenstein's all colour seemed to be gone; instead was his face +like a parchment full of lines, all but the eyes, which glittered +blackly, never losing gaze upon the sage's face. Except for the latter's +utterances there was deep silence, and the three seemed to be alone, for +the chamberlain had retired, having ushered them into the gallery. + +Then the sage blew out the flame, and his finger faintly glowing began +to be visible writing on a wall, or some flat upright surface, and the +figure he made was a circle, as truly drawn an O as Messire Michelangelo +Buonarrotti might have made. And the circle was of light and glowed +through more strongly in one part than another. + +"Behold the orbit of the life of Albrecht von Waldstein, a perfect +circle. Those lines are perfect circles that make a multiple of ten. It +is in every tenth year that great causes may affect them--great +upliftings of Fortune, or great fatalities. + +"Now regard truly this orbit of another life, which passeth through the +centre of the first," and again with unerring finger he drew another +curve, which may have been a section of a greater circle, or of an +elliptical figure, or of a parabola, but it was a true curve, and cut +the circle at its centre. "This orbit passeth through the field of Mars +and ariseth beyond the plane of the first orbit, and this signifieth +that it is the life of a stranger by blood and nation." + +So the original glowed upon the void darkness, and the new line that +came from afar and passed through the centre of the circle glowed; and +yet another line Pietro Bramante drew, and this time it was an oval. + +"Behold now the orbit of yet another life. It is an oval and signifieth +the life of a woman. An oval hath two foci, and the one is the centre of +the orbit of Albrecht von Wallenstein and the other is upon the +circumference of the same circle. Now the actions of woman proceed from +two foci, the heart and the intelligence, and the heart focus is upon +the centre of the circle and the other focus of the mind is upon the +circumference or pathway of the same circle. Wherefore I deduce that +this woman, whoever she be, hath her affections firmly set upon the very +essence which is the spirit of Albrecht von Wallenstein, and her +intelligence is set steadfastly on the orbit of his destiny so that it +may go fast or slow as she willeth. + +"Now, sir!" he addressed Nigel, "what was the day and hour of your +birth?" + +"The year 1603. The month July. The day the 7th, and the hour 7!" + +"Behold figures full of portent," said Pietro. "The year's numerals +added together give ten, which is a complete number. Sixteen hundred +and three is a multiple of seven. The month is the seventh month. The +day is the seventh. The hour is the seventh. They are propitious times +and should give a favourable horoscope. Now I will cast it, and +calculate the orbit." + +Pietro turned to his copper vessel, and by means which neither of his +onlookers could guess the flame sprang up again, and taking a sheet of +parchment he made calculations, and set down the fixed points his +calculations showed. As the light burned, so the geometrical figures he +had drawn before faded from sight. + +The two sat silently. Nigel thus far was impressed against his will by +the mathematical methods of the learned doctor. He stole a swift glance +now and again at Wallenstein, who sat stiffly, absorbed in the doings. +Nigel was more interested in the figures of the circle and of the +ellipse as they applied to Wallenstein, for Wallenstein of all men was +as little to be swayed by any feminine influence as any man. He had +married twice. In both cases he had married a woman of noble birth, and +of moderate, almost of great, fortune. But no one called Wallenstein +uxorious or accused him of careless living in the article of women. No +one had imputed to him that he had mistresses, or that either of his +wives had ruled him. His face betrayed no tendency to passion. The eyes +had no amorousness. As to the lips, if the lower lip spoke of the +senses, it was rather of good living. The many lines upon his brow spoke +of thought and ambition. + +A smile or the semblance of a smile, and that sardonical, had passed +across his face when the doctor had spoken of the mysterious woman who +was to influence his life. + +At last Pietro looked up from his calculations. There was a slight gleam +in his worn eyes as of satisfaction, and he brought them his parchment. + +"The line of this life, sirs, from the figures of the birth, when +affected by the influences which the constellations exercise, must pass +through these points," and he showed points upon the parchment marked +with Greek letters. "Now if I join these points," and he did so with the +point of his pen, "a curve is produced." Again he extinguished the flame +of his lamp. + +"Now, compare it with the curve I have just shown to you," and it was +visible on the extinction of the other flame. "It is the same curve +without doubt!" + +Nigel was aware of some extraordinary exaltation of mind he could in no +wise account for. With his colder intelligence he yet seemed incapable +of resisting the belief that the conclusions of the reader of horoscopes +were true, that his own path of life was in some momentous way linked up +with that of Wallenstein, the idol of his professional admiration, and +that now and here that part of his earthly path had begun. + +"It seems," said Wallenstein, turning to Nigel, "that by all the rules +of divination as practised by the learned doctors of these times, and in +particular by Pietro Bramante, who has at divers times made notable +experiments at the court of Vienna and elsewhere, you are one of those +whose birth is fortunate, and that you are destined to cross my orbit at +its zenith and its nadir, and to pass through the very centre of my +intelligence for good or ill." + +"You read aright, sir!" said Pietro. "It is beyond my power to say if +for good or for ill." + +"I would fain know," said Wallenstein, "if you are a good Catholic." + +"I am!" said Nigel. + +"And have no dealings with the Jesuits?" + +"No! I have had no commerce with them at any time!" + +"It is well!" said Wallenstein. "For the rest you are a soldier of +fortune, and your greatest desire----" + +"Is to become a trusted officer in your Grace's service, whenever it +shall please the Emperor to recall you!" said Nigel heartily. + +"Then let us read the presage as a fortunate one!" said Wallenstein, +"and God speed the fulfilment of your desires! And now, most learned +doctor, surely your powers of divination do not end here. You have +spoken of some unknown lady or perchance some uncouth beldame, whom the +stars have chosen to become a benign power in my life. Does not your art +enable you to disclose at least her name? Tell me at least whether she +is of a dark and melancholic disposition, or of a sanguine inclination." + +Nigel could not tell from the dry passionless utterance of the speaker +whether irony lay at the root of his tongue: but he was at least as +eager as Wallenstein appeared to be indifferent as to the outcome. It +was the difference between youth and maturity. If it had been permitted +to look into the mind of that inscrutable man, one might have expected +to find that on a stage where strode so many principal and, in their +several parts, renowned actors, where war and high policy and ambition +were the themes, Wallenstein should count as nothing the staying or +speeding of his actions by any woman. + +Pietro Bramante turned again to his lamp, which he relighted, and, +drawing a curtain aside, the light fell upon a tall mirror of the height +of a man set at such an angle that at the present it reflected nothing. +At two paces from it he set a chafing-dish wherein burned glowing +charcoal, and upon it sprinkled some powder from a little box of ebony; +and from the dish rose up a white smoke of a sweet savour. And then +Pietro recited some Latin verses, which to Nigel, unversed in such +incantations, bore no meaning. + +Then, before they were aware, though both gazed intently upon the smoke, +the form of a majestic woman appeared to gather substance, and at length +her face in all its lineaments became plain to view. The eyes gazed in a +kind of ecstasy fixedly, gravely benignant, towards Wallenstein. + +Nigel leaped up, spurred by his astonishment, even in opposition to the +awe which the moment enjoined upon him, exclaiming "Ottilie von +Thüringen!" + +And Wallenstein, as if Nigel had not been there, still in his seat, but +filled with amaze, exclaimed under his breath-- + +"Ferdinand's Stephanie!" And then, "Let me have speech of her! Dost +hear! Pietro Bramante?" + +But the vision had disappeared. Pietro's voice made itself audible. +"This that you saw was but a vision called up by my art. I must confirm +it by my mathematics." + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + AN ITALIAN AND A SPANIARD. + + +An hour before dawn came Sergeant Blick to awaken Nigel with the news, +"We have the man on the sorrel horse!" + +Nigel awoke completely, sprang out of bed, and was attired, even to his +jack-boots and spurs, in a few minutes. Then getting astride his horse +he was out of Eger and a mile on the road to Pilsen in a very few more. + +"A kind of accursed Jew fellow! Some dark Moorish infidel of a heretic!" +was Sergeant Blick's summing up. + +Sure enough it was that learned Doctor Pietro Bramante himself. + +But this was not the field of prophecy or of divination. This was the +atmosphere of dawn, the kingdom of cold fact. Nigel nodded and said in +his brief military manner-- + +"Doctor! You must please turn out your saddle-bags and your pockets for +some papers which are lost. Sergeant, assist the doctor!" + +The learned doctor began to protest, as might have been expected, but +Nigel merely vouchsafed that it was "in the service of the Emperor." He +himself searched the prisoner, whose multifarious garments made the +matter one of difficulty. And the fact that, if not an Israelite, he +was a very near relation, did not make the operation to Nigel a pleasant +one. But when he had finished, he was sure that nothing so bulky as +Count Tilly's despatches were upon him. + +Sergeant Blick produced in his turn many curious vessels and books and +bottles from the saddle-bags, crossing himself at sight of anything +unusual, for he had no doubt that he was dealing, if not with the Evil +One, with one of his familiars. Nothing was found. Nigel with no excess +of courtesy bade him pack up his belongings. + +"From what town came you to Eger?" + +"Even from Hof by Olsnitz!" + +"And for what reason got you half a truss of hay?" + +"To save the inn charges and time!" + +"And your companions?" + +"They rest in Eger, being bound for Gräslitz. I know them not. We did +but join company for protection." + +"At what inn did they rest?" + +"I did not ask! Neither did I tell them that I had business with the +Duke." + +"Enough!" said Nigel, and wheeled his horse. + +With a rueful countenance the diviner began to replace his utensils, +carefully and patiently. He had at least learned two virtues. + +Nigel, gravelled, rode back into the town in an ill-humour and called +for his breakfast. By the time that was finished the troopers were at +the door. + +There was no help but to go forward, and one may be assured that neither +hill nor stream nor any wayside beauty of Bohemia could do aught to +bring his mind back to a calm mood. He suspected the "Jew," as he called +him. He suspected Gordon, and as for the phantasmagoria of last night, +he could make nothing of it. His tendency was to disbelieve, only his +respect for Wallenstein's powers of thought diminished his disbelief to +something approaching mere doubt. The one thing that stood out was the +vision of Ottilie von Thüringen. + +Surely it was her "wraith." And if it had by chance been that of some +familiar friend in Scotland, or of some one of his blood relations, he +would have been awed, but he would have regarded it, in accord with +tradition, as portending or announcing some stroke of fate. + +He had been carried too much out of himself to hear what Wallenstein had +muttered, to observe closely how that great one received the vision. +This at least he had garnered, that Wallenstein also recognised her. + +But who then was she? There was another feeling that sprang up in his +heart, an uneasy half-born pang, which he dismissed only to find it +knocking at the door again. The "wraith" of Ottilie had gazed at +Wallenstein, not with eyes of speculation, as the playwright Shakespeare +had it, but as one might gaze with open eyes in dream at some beloved +object limned only in the brain behind. + +But she had gazed at Wallenstein with a benignity which had softened the +whole countenance, a benignity which he himself in his two days' contact +with her had never surprised upon it. And this the geometrical +hocus-pocus of the vile Jew had foreshadowed when he contrived that the +right focus of her orbit should also be the centre of Wallenstein's. As +Nigel had no knowledge of geometry, and regarded it as a cabalistic +invention, though he had heard of telescopes, and of Columbus, and +vessel charts, he esteemed this part of the diviner's doings as mere +trickery, akin to the old devices of the magicians before Pharaoh. But +by no explanation of mere artifice could he doubt that he saw the +"wraith" of Ottilie, and that Wallenstein also saw. While recognising +her as some one he knew, had Wallenstein thought of her in any close +relation to himself? His attitude of surprise said no. But was it +possible that Wallenstein could forget so mysterious an occurrence, +dismiss it as a mere dream? + +Nigel had had five or six years of close companionship with men. There +are men who, from their cradle to their grave, are attended and +companioned by women, and shrink from the rough and, on the whole, +kindly and bracing contact with their kind. Nigel had thrust himself +into the world of man at the dawn of manhood, and in the fellowship of +arms he had found as mixed a chance-medley as the world of men could +show, free from the namby-pamby of the courts, free from the court's +petty chicane, free from the emulous avarice of the mart; not in some +corners destitute of scholarship, though scholarship was rare; rejoicing +in bodily strength and skill in arms, in hearty eating, in wine, and +beer, and song, in which they honoured women much more than they ever +did in such commerce of love or licence as the fortune of war or the +conditions of the camp afforded. + +From his study of manhood this Nigel had observed, that whereas among +the younger men the talk of doings in the lists of love was as frequent +as their flagons, it was almost entirely to seek among the older +officers, as among the older soldiers, giving place to criticism of +their professional doings, the appraising of the abilities of those more +advanced in rank, to politics, to affairs more akin to those of that +world without, that in some shape or form paid the reckoning. + +He reasoned from the general to the particular, from those who had +failed to become Wallensteins to him who had not failed. He was +forty-eight, and if any man could find his interest in affairs of state +or war that man was Wallenstein. But the diviner had declared that +Wallenstein's future was bound up with a woman--had raised up, by what +witchcraft or geometry Nigel could give no guess, a vision of her with +rapt eyes bent on Wallenstein. Was Wallenstein at forty-eight proof +against the lure, proof against the charm of a majestic lovely woman, in +whom was nothing of Circe, nothing of that Helen of Troy, whose face, so +Kit Marlowe had phrased it, had + +"... launched a thousand ships, +And burned the topless towers of Ilium," + +yet whose bodily presence had left Nigel with a hunger of the heart and +an unrest unaccustomed, as it was unsought, and unappeasable? + +He knew it when he saw the vision, and he feared lest Wallenstein should +feel it, and, feeling it, stretch out his lion paw for the lioness +Destiny had offered. + +These thoughts occupied much of his time as he journeyed to Pilsen, and, +with the exception that a well equipped and horsed light travelling +carriage passed them on the road with curtains closely drawn, no +traveller had passed or met them. But nearing Pilsen a pair of cavaliers +on very excellent beasts overtook them, and, saluting Nigel, made as if +they would fain keep him company. He could not profess to be travelling +faster seeing they had overtaken him, and a look at their horses showed +that they were better-bred animals and in better condition than his own. +Their politeness was marked, and one of them appeared to be an Italian +and one a Spaniard by his accent, though they addressed Nigel and his +lieutenant in good German. This they presently confirmed, for the +Italian gave his name as the Cavalier Marco Strozzi and introduced the +other as Don Phillipo di Tortaugas. They were travelling to Vienna, and +their valets were coming behind, having been outstripped by their +masters, who were eager to reach that city. + +Nigel was bound to reciprocate their confidences by giving his own and +his companion's names and conditions, mentioning that a military errand +was taking him also to Vienna. + +They were well-bred men and well travelled, for they spoke with +assurance of many towns and cities and princes and gentlemen of repute +of their acquaintance. They were curious to know of this Edict of +Restitution, of which every one spoke, and displayed some measure of +sympathy with the Emperor, who was the instrument of the Pope in the +enforcing of it. In their countries they were thankful to say heresy was +practically non-existent. In them the Church was powerful and paramount, +and they had no doubt of the ultimate success of the Church in Germany. + +They spoke of Wallenstein, of whom they had heard much, and asked Nigel +if he thought Wallenstein was well affected towards the Edict. If so, +why had he been requested by the Emperor to give up his command? Nigel +cautiously answered that Wallenstein was before all things a +professional soldier, and had laid down his baton when the Emperor had +no more present need of him. + +By the time they arrived at Pilsen the four gentlemen were on good terms +and sat down together to the evening meal. The two cavaliers insisted on +ordering the wine, whereof they themselves drank but sparingly, and made +merry with numerous tales of Italy and Spain, so that Nigel and his +lieutenant thought that they had never spent a more sociable evening. At +length the two cavaliers professed themselves sleepy and called for +candles, and Nigel and his comrade, not only professing, but most +indubitably inclined the same way, also made for their night quarters. + +Now it was Nigel's custom to have his saddle-bags and holsters brought +to his own chamber, and this had been done. Sergeant Blick had always +this service to do, and Nigel dismissed him to a final quart of beer, +and was himself very soon asleep. In two hours he awoke,--a fact he set +down to the account of the unusual quality of the wine he had taken, +which was costly beyond his own purse limits, and some wines have the +nature to be greatly soporific, yet the effect is of somewhat brief +lasting. + +He turned on his side, and, as he did so, he thought he heard the +creaking of a leathern strap, for his saddle-bags and holsters were new +and did not easily open. Then he took a deep audible breath and made as +if he sank into sleep again. But his ears were fully alert, and he made +sure that the noise was real. Very silently he turned again upon his +right side, meaning to possess himself of his sword, which was always +placed near his right hand, stretching out to take it. In an instant his +hand was caught in a noose and fastened to the bedpost. Springing up to +release it, his left ankle was seized and tied to another bedpost, and a +very effective bandage pushed into his mouth. The rest of him was +secured very quickly, and, as he could not cry out, he had the felicity +of knowing that his possessions were being thoroughly ransacked by the +two marauders, whoever they were. + +Not a word was said. The room was in pitch darkness, and presently the +thieves stole away. For long he could not release himself by as much as +a single knot, but by infinite workings of his neck and chin and ankles +and wrists, till all were sore alike, he wore some fastening loose. And +just as he had attacked the last one, which bound his left leg, he heard +the sound of horses below in the courtyard, and presently the great +gates closed with a clang, and the hoofs of four horses sounded on the +cobblestones of the street. + +He struck a light. All that he carried was on the floor, and saddle-bags +and holsters were empty. Nothing had been taken. His money, his clothes, +his weapons were all there. It had not then been for these. + +It was a search for something, and that something was the despatches. +And these had been already stolen. It was evident that the first +plotters and the second were of diverse parties. The first might +conceivably be men who served the Protestant cause; but who were the +second? It was to the interest of the Protestant cause that their +leaders throughout Germany should know what forces they had to meet, +what Tilly was going to do next. But of whom else? + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + FATHER LAMORMAIN. + + +Ferdinand of Habsburg, King of Austria by heirship, King of Hungary by +default of a better, rather than by force of arms, was in the ears of +the world Emperor of Rome. Considering that he neither owned nor +governed a rood of land south of the Po, that the title signified the +headship of the German-speaking states, and that he had been elected to +the high office by his fellow princes, who were each and all supreme and +independent rulers over their own territories, and each and all eligible +for the same high office, the name seems something misplaced; but it is +not convenient to enter here into a historical dissertation showing how +it came to be so. + +Several generations of Habsburgs in turn had been elected Emperor, and +doubtless there was good enough reason. It was perhaps more easy not to +be jealous of a family which had borne the office for a century or two, +than of a new one, however deserving in other respects. And there was +this in addition, that Austria and Hungary were the outer wall of all +the German-speaking states against the Turk, and must in any case bear +the first brunt of his activities. In that connection too, whatever +dissensions might be rife, and there were always dissensions between +German-speaking states, it is evident that there must be some +organisation approaching to a mutual league against the Turk. Christians +have always possessed the privilege of and the instinct for fighting +amongst themselves, but a Christian, however black in his theology, is +still fairer than an infidel, and the infidels for very shame had to be +kept out of Christian German states at all costs. For one thing, they +would have ruined the trade in spices. + +So, as the Emperor resided at Vienna, he was very sure to exercise his +authority and demand aids for his own army from the others in sufficient +time to present a stout front to the Ottoman power, though on more than +one occasion he was rather late in doing so. But if the Emperor, who +alone could call out the quotas of men from all the states, had happened +to have lived, say, at Mainz, half of the German lands might have been +overrun before his army was collected. So on the whole the Habsburgs, +having begun to perform and got used to the exalted functions of the +Emperor of Rome, might, so the Electoral Princes seemed to think at +election after election, just as well continue to exercise them, and to +be the outer wall against the Paynim hosts. + +Ferdinand was a good son of Rome. Brought up at the Jesuit seminary of +Ingolstadt he had grown up strong in the faith, and had wasted no time, +on coming to man's estate and the enjoyment of dominion as an elector, +in purging his chief town of Gratz, and all the Habsburger land +committed to his charge, of all pastors, Lutheran or Calvinist. He went +to the root of the matter, and in all things deferred to his advisers, +the Jesuits, who went further than the root, and to Maximilian of +Bavaria, who had also imbibed the milk of the learning of Ingolstadt, +and was if anything of a deeper shade of Jesuitry, if that were +possible, than the Jesuits. + +But as Ferdinand was a good son of Rome, that meant in his case son of +the General of the Jesuits, the mysterious personality that even the +Holy Father might bless or ban as he would, but never reduce to that +exact degree of submission to his authority which is implied in any rank +of the hierarchy below that of Pontiff. + +Like a good father, the General of the Jesuits had no notion of allowing +so intelligent and obedient a son to run wild after his own conceits. So +he had wisely installed at the Court of Vienna Father Lamormain, one of +the order, to keep a watchful eye upon the steps of Ferdinand. + +Father Lamormain had that perfect confidence in Ferdinand which is built +upon a perfect understanding of character, with this reservation, that +he preferred to know everything that had happened at least a little +while, even if it were but a day, an hour, or even less, before his +august pupil, so that whereas the Emperor came to the subject ready to +be actuated by surprise, alarm, soreness, vindictiveness, or any other +human quality, Father Lamormain, who, if he ever felt these undesirable +emotions, had got over them, and already bent his brilliant intellect to +what was at issue, could at once gently and firmly insinuate a counsel +carefully considered, a counsel which Ferdinand would presently make his +own. + +Father Lamormain had as usual heard the Emperor's confession and retired +to his own suite of apartments. There he found awaiting him two brethren +of the order, who asked and received his blessing. Their manners were as +fine as Father Lamormain's. They exhibited just the shade of deference +due from a gentleman, who is an officer, to another gentleman who is his +superior officer. + +The reverend Father and his visitors sat down. He did not toy with his +correspondence, or his plans, or any other object. He sat reposeful in +his chair and embraced both his guests at the same time in his pleasant +smile, and his changes of bodily attitude were slight. + +"And you say he is really on his way?" + +"He cannot be many leagues away now!" said one. + +"And his name is Nigel Charteris?" In his mouth it sounded like +"Chartaire." + +"A Catholic family of the south of Scotland!" + +"Like this?" asking Father Lamormain, writing the name on his tablets +and erasing it. + +"Yes!" + +"Ah! Very interesting! He is not a recent convert?" + +"No, Father!" said the other one, catching his eye and smiling. "It is a +pity even to seem to discourage a loyal son in the faith!" His tone +conveyed a real regret. + +"You were obliged to resort to some slight measure of force? I trust it +was slight?" + +The two exchanged glances and smiled in their fine ingenious way, +showing their beautiful teeth. + +"We did nothing to disable him or to deface his coinage!" said the +first. + +"But we certainly had to use effectual force!" said the other. + +"He is a gentleman, handsome, and of good manners?" + +"He is all three! And a veritable Scot for caution! And for a soldier +quite free from the prevailing laxities." + +"You make me quite solicitous to see him! And you found nothing?" + +"Absolutely nothing! A few purely private papers, but no despatches!" + +"It is curious all the same that Count Tilly should send merely verbal +messages by the mouth of a captain of musketeers to the Emperor." + +"It is not likely that he had entrusted the writings to any of his +troopers!" said one of the visitors. + +Father Lamormain thanked them for their good intentions and the pains +they had been at, then dismissed them. There was no suggestion of blame +for failure. Infinite patience was the rule and practice of the +order,--infinite polishing of weapons. Subordinates are not polished by +rancour. Blame roughens the edge of service more often than it sharpens. +The Society of Jesuits, founded by an enthusiast who was almost a +fanatic, eschewed fanaticism, and provided channels for its enthusiasm +of such fine workmanship as ensured that that precious fluid should +reach the precise spot that was to be watered. The best that could be +found in birth, the best that could be nurtured of scholarship, the best +exponents of the social arts that make men charming companions for their +fellows, were enrolled in the ranks after years of youthful training. +Implicit faith in their leaders, implicit obedience, became not so much +a part of the rule of the order as a habit of the mind. No task was too +rough or too delicate but that the order could somewhere place its +finger on the man to execute it. And straightway he would rise and set +about it. Truly the Society of Jesus was an inspired engine which +possessed powers far exceeding the knowledge of its founder and +inventor. + +Being by himself, the Jesuit drew from a drawer a sheet of parchment +which had evidently been folded and sealed. It was in cipher, but it may +be held as certain that Father Lamormain possessed the keys of all the +ciphers in use among the politicians of Europe; and this was of no +surprising intricacy. His secretary had unravelled it in a few minutes. +He rang for him. He was a man of middle age, having the look of a +recluse and a priest rather than a man of affairs. + +"This purports to be a copy of Count Tilly's despatch which the Emperor +expects?" + +"Yes, Father, or rather a short summary of it. It gives you, as you see, +the numbers of all his troops and the disposition of them; indications +of his next movements, and some other details." + +"And it accords nearly with what we know from our own sources?" + +"Yes, Father!" + +"It was taken from a messenger who left Eger for the north?" + +"Yes, Father! The messenger was unfortunately killed!" + +Father Lamormain's lips moved in silence. He was offering up a prayer +for this poor adversary's soul, for this poor fellow who had come +unwittingly into contact with the engine invented by Ignatius Loyola, +and been broken. + +"It might have been a false document intended to deceive Gustavus and +the Protestants," said the Father again meditatively. Then he placed the +parchment on one side as if for further perusal and proceeded to read +over and sign a number of letters his secretary had brought him. + +The secretary having gathered up the papers, said-- + +"You were to have audience of the Archduchess Stephanie this morning!" + +"Oh yes! I remember! The time is nearly due. See that no one enters in +the interim." + +Even as he spoke a servant called the secretary and he returned +presently, ushering in with profound bows the Archduchess. + +Father Lamormain had again spread out the supposed summary of Tilly's +despatch before him in a good light. There was nothing else on his table +but the inkstand to distract attention. + +The Archduchess, who was young and tall and slender with wonderful dark +eyes, knelt and kissed the holy father's hand. + +As a good Catholic she was bound to reverence her father's confessor. + +But Father Lamormain stood for more than that. He had held the same +position when she was a mere poppet, marching about with an endless +company of gouvernantes and ladies, in an absurd stiff brocade dress, +which trailed on the ground just as theirs did, and her little neck +surrounded by a ruff, a sweet monstrous epitome of queendom. There had +been court functionaries in plenty, great officers of state then as now. +But it was Father Lamormain who reigned supreme as the confidential +counsellor of the family in all that pertained to the welfare of the +house of Habsburg; so that every member of the family of the Emperor +understood that Father Lamormain was a benevolent despot, who had always +smoothed over all kinds of family troubles. Dimly too they understood +that the Emperor himself, though a man by no means deficient in any +particular quality of kingship, respected the Jesuit's advice on matters +of state. + +The Archduchess seated herself. The secretary had withdrawn. + +"I should have craved audience of your Highness in your own apartments," +said Father Lamormain with great gentleness, "but what I had to say was +for your own ears, and I wished not to excite curiosity nor to gratify +it." + +The Archduchess inclined her head, and with just a perceptible pause +said, "Your secretary?" + +For answer Father Lamormain rose, opened the door by which she had +entered, a thick door, over which fell a heavy curtain of leather, and +pointed to a farther door, ten feet along the passage, beyond which was +the room where the secretary worked. + +She saw that they were indeed cut off from human earshot, for the room, +in which they were, projected, at a considerable height, beyond the +walls of the main building, and had nothing to right or left. + +Her eyes seemed to sweep casually over the table and incidentally over +the unsealed parchment, but with indifference. "Was that to be the +subject of the interview?" she asked herself. + +Apparently not. + +"It behoves princes," said the priest, "to strengthen their families as +well by alliances as by leagues and treaties, and especially by the +marriages of their sons and daughters. And whereas the son of a prince, +if he be a good son, will always be a stay and support to his father's +kingdom, whomsoever he marry, a daughter may, by bringing him a stout +son-in-law, who is also a prince, in a measure add that princedom and +its power to her father's. Contrariwise she may, if she be ill-advised +or rash in her own choice, out of waywardness bring trouble to the +prince her father, and no measure of help to her husband, as was the +case of the Princess Elizabeth of England when she married the Elector +Palatine, the Pfalsgrave, whose dominion being but petty led him into +dangerous enterprises to gain others, and being too far distant from his +father-in-law, the King of England, was not afforded sufficient aid in +the time of his undertakings to ensure success." + +"A very wise homily, Father, and a most pertinent example!" the +Archduchess observed. "And now the application?" + +"Your Highness is of a ripe age for marriage!" said the priest gravely. + +"And has been," she rejoined, "these several years, according to the +custom of princes. My cousin of Spain was but sixteen when the King of +England was agog for her to wed his son, who is now King Charles, and +it was through no unwillingness of hers that the match fell through. But +I have had the more years of freedom. I am in no mind to be tied to any +beardless boy, and sit a-tapestry-sewing for the rest of my life." + +The priest pursued his way without comment. + +"The dangers that environ the empire make it necessary beyond the +ordinary to knit our friends to it by every means in our power." + +"The dangers would melt like the morning mist if the Emperor recalled +Albrecht von Walstein," she said with great decision. + +"It is for the Emperor to choose his captains," the priest rejoined +gently. "He is a possible servant, not a friend of the Emperor. When I +say 'knit our friends together,' I mean the princes, who are our peers +in blood and of our faith." + +The Archduchess was for a moment puzzled. + +"Is it of France or Spain you speak, Father?" She said it wonderingly, +because she knew of no princes of or nearly her own age in either +kingdom. + +"Of neither, your Highness, but of those houses that are equal with your +own in the right to be elected to the empire." + +"There are six electors! There are three archbishops--Mainz, Köln, +Trier--two are Protestants, the Palatine, the Saxon,... you cannot mean +the Wittelsbacher!" The disgust that she felt showed itself +unmistakably. + +"Who is a greater friend to the Habsburgs than Maximilian of Bavaria?" +Father Lamormain dwelt almost affectionately on the syllables. + +"Or a greater friend to your order?" the Archduchess asked. + +This was a sharp thrust, and showed that the lady was well aware of the +terms on which Maximilian and the Jesuits stood. + +Father Lamormain made a little gentle deprecating shrug. + +"Let me remind your Highness that, at the last election of the Roman +Emperor, Maximilian held the election in his hand, but he exercised his +own vote in favour of your father. Was this not proving himself a friend +to whom any gratitude is due? And this was not the last or greatest of +his services." + +"Indeed?" said the Archduchess. "What were the other services?" + +"Did he not defeat, nay crush, the Palatine on the white hills of +Prague?" + +"It was the work of General Pappenheim, was it not?" + +"The merit was his! Again I say, Pappenheim was merely his captain. The +Elector Maximilian found men and money for the campaign,--money which +the Emperor owes him to this day." + +"It has been sufficiently bruited about," the Archduchess commented. +"There is something of the Jew about your Maximilian." + +"He is a most noble worthy prince," said Father Lamormain, "and he is a +widower!" + +"It is time he was done with wiving. He must be sixty years old." She +gave a little shiver of disgust. + +"He is not so old as you think, your Highness, neither is his vigour of +mind and body much abated, but it is not becoming of me to discourse of +these things to your Highness. The Elector Maximilian desires to wed +again, and to one of the Emperor's daughters...." + +"And you wish me, the Archduchess Stephanie of Austria, to listen to a +proposal of marriage with Maximilian of Bavaria, whose grandson were a +more fitting match. Understand! I cannot and I will not. The Emperor may +assert his will, if he has any, apart from your order. But as for me I +will go into a nunnery, or marry a private gentleman, or turn +Protestant." + +"As to the first," said the priest, "you would thereby run the risk of +losing your soul instead of saving it, for you would be doing it out of +frowardness. As for the second, your pride would never brook the +extinction that would follow it. _As for the third, your Highness, it is +mooted that you have already strange leanings towards heretics if not +heresy._" + +The Archduchess flushed angrily. Her eyes flashed. Her whole face and +form, as she rose to her feet, took on an aspect of terrible majesty. + +"Enough, Father Lamormain! You trespass beyond your proper functions!" + +"No!" said the priest humbly enough. "Your soul is dearer to me than my +own. I can only pray that you do not jeopardise it." + +As if unconsciously his eyes fell from her own, which he had met with +calm benignity, to the papers on the table, and then he suddenly lifted +them and met her glance again. Again came the rush of crimson to her +cheeks, then pallor. + +She turned, and, sweeping aside the leathern curtain, passed out of the +chamber. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + THE LOST DESPATCHES FOUND. + + +It was evening when Nigel at length passed with his escort through the +gates of Vienna, and on arriving at the palace was received with +abundance of courtesies by some officer of the household, who ushered +him to a suite of apartments in the wing allotted to the gentlemen in +attendance on his Imperial Majesty. The Emperor was at dinner, and would +expect him at his audience at an early hour on the morrow. A sumptuous +supper was set before him, and he was assiduously waited on by two +pages. Dinner ended, the same officer appeared again, and asked if he +desired to deliver his despatches to the Emperor's secretaries, who +would wait upon him, but Nigel made excuse that his commission was to +deliver them to the Emperor. This answer the gentleman received civilly +enough, and saying he would send some officers to bear him company, +wished him a good night's rest after his journey. + +Presently three gentlemen came in and joined him at the table, where, +the remains of supper being cleared away and fresh wine set down, they +sat and played Skat, a game of cards which was then in great vogue among +all the people of the eastern part of Germany, and had wiled away the +tedium of many a long evening in camp for Nigel. With this and talk of +Magdeburg a couple of hours passed pleasantly, and then the party broke +up. Nigel was not sorry to be free to go to bed. + +It was a room of comfortable aspect. The walls were hung with embossed +leather in the Flemish manner; the bed was a wide and high four-poster, +and the other furniture consisted of a great chest, a chair or two and +some other necessaries. It looked out upon the courtyard of the palace, +a large open space surrounded on four sides by piles of building. Nigel +could dimly see so much. The rest he left till morning. + +Having performed his devotions he stretched himself out upon the bed, +drew up the heavy quilted counterpane and prepared to sleep. + +But sleep was not to be wooed easily; for what was to happen on the +morrow he could not foresee. The profound humiliation of having to +confess in open audience to the Emperor the loss of his despatches was +perhaps the most poignant of his anticipations. And this he had passed +through so often in his mind already that he could not imagine that any +worse pang than he had already experienced could arise out of the +reality. From this his mind roved to the punishment that might be +inflicted. He expected that some military penalty would be his lot, +confinement perhaps for a time, the loss of his rank as captain. The +worst would be dismissal from the Emperor's service; for like a true +Scot he had learned to love his profession, and the service he had +chosen had become that which commanded all his loyalty. As a soldier of +fortune, who had fought with Wallenstein, he could make his way in any +of the armies of Europe, but he was not by nature a mercenary. Dismissal +would be the heaviest punishment of all. And then his thoughts, tired of +dwelling on these painful themes, flew away to Erfurt and to Ottilie von +Thüringen, that mysterious high-born lady whose history was entwined +with his own and Wallenstein's. + +He had laughed scornfully as he rode to Vienna, thinking of the poor +figure Pietro Bramante had cut on the roadside among his pots and +phials, wondered how Wallenstein could ever have paid the attention to +his hocus-pocus that he had. He had blamed himself for his credulity +when the sunlight and the matter-of-fact incidents of his journey had +made the doings at Eger seem unreal. + +But Ottilie was real. Ottilie had left an abiding impression. For +Ottilie Nigel felt he could abandon even the service of the Emperor. +Could he but gain one look of rapt intentness, such as the vision of her +had cast upon Wallenstein, then all the world might go. The surprising +softness of her cheek, the great dark liquid eyes laden with mist or +charged with lightning, the rich tones of her proud voice,--he recalled +them and dwelt upon them one by one, and his whole being was full of the +delight of his contemplation. And then, bathed in a warm glow, he fell +asleep. + +In the morning he was awakened by Sergeant Blick bringing him his +holiday suit, or court suit, if it could be called so, for one who had +never been at court before, with its freshly laundered lace collar and +cuffs, its handsome doublet and breeches of dark-blue and silver, its +fine Spanish leathern boots with tiny gold spurs, its plumed hat to +carry out the vain conceit of one having come off a journey. Beneath the +collar he wore a silver gorget and his sword, with its silver-tipped +sheath burnished to the utmost, hung at his side. + +Sergeant Blick was determined that, as far as in him lay, his own +captain of musketeers should make a comely gallant show before the +Emperor. He stayed till the last strap was secure and in its place. + +"Now, captain, you look brave enough as far as outward fripperies go. +But the devil snatch me, captain, bear yourself less like a man that is +going to be hung. A little smack of the Italian would not be amiss. It +must not be said that Tilly's men cannot prank it with these Austrian +rascals." + +Then he stood back to see the effect, and even Nigel, whose +anticipations of evil had again possessed him but a whit less than they +had the night before, was forced to laugh. + +"You're like an old hen with one chicken, Blick. Call for a pint of +Tokay and you shall see how I will outdo Captain Bobadillo!" + +A brace of pages and a servant appeared at the same time. + +The servant led away Sergeant Blick, not unwilling, to the buttery. + +The pages conducted Nigel to his _salle à manger_, and furnished not +only the needful flagon of Tokay, but a substantial breakfast of smoked +ham and sausages, a cold capon and dried fish. By the time he had +finished he would have faced the Emperor and the whole Reichstag to +boot. + +Then the pages brought him scented water and soft linen to remove the +traces of breakfast, and asked if he were ready. + +They led him down the stairs, across the courtyard, in which the guard +of the palace were exercising, and Nigel's eyes roved over their +headpieces and corslets and muskets with the approval an officer must +always bestow on a well-accoutred and disciplined troop. The pages +crossed the courtyard and entered another door, again leading to some +stairs, and pushing open two high doors, they led him into another long +gallery, the walls of which were hung with many portraits of bygone +Habsburgs and of many grand dukes and princes with whom they had +contracted alliances. + +He cast a glance here and there, asking the pages questions as he went. +They told him that the hall of audience was at the other end, and that +he would be summoned presently. There being no need of haste, he +sauntered, giving more heed and indeed coming to a stand before a newly +painted canvas of a princess. + +"The Archduchess Stephanie!" exclaimed both pages. + +Nigel stood gazing at it. + +"By Signor Pourbus, a Spaniard, who has but just painted the Emperor!" +they went on. + +"Wondrous like!" was Nigel's exclamation. + +"Very like!" said the pages. "Here comes Her Highness. She walks here a +little while most mornings." + +And out of a chamber at the side the Archduchess Stephanie came, and +Nigel and the pages awaited her approach. She came with no hurried pace, +and as she came Nigel grew pale and red by turns, for here, if any one, +was Ottilie von Thüringen, gloriously apparelled, her hair framing her +face in a multitude of curling locks of raven hues, rows of pearls about +her neck, suspending against the whiteness of her throat a jewelled +dragon. + +The Archduchess stayed in her walk, and having cast a look at Nigel, +said gently to one of the pages-- + +"Hermann! Who is this gentleman who waits for audience?" + +"If it please your Highness," said the page, "it is Captain Nigel +Charteris, bearer of despatches from Magdeburg!" + +"Ah! I had forgotten." Then she turned to Nigel, who dropped upon his +knees, extending him her hand to kiss, and he accomplished the obeisance +with good grace, notwithstanding his lively emotion. + +"You are welcome to Vienna, sir!" + +Nigel was now uncertain. The tones of her voice seemed familiar, but not +convincing. + +"You have doubtless had a troublous journey?" + +"In some measure, your Highness!" He had gained courage to look straight +into her eyes, but there was no look or sign of recognition. + +She made a little gesture to the page, who withdrew to wait at the end +of the gallery. + +"Tell me, sir, did you pass through Eger on your way?" + +"Yes, your Highness!" + +"Count Albrecht von Waldstein, is he not there?" + +"Yes, your Highness!" + +"Did you see him?" + +"I did, your Highness! He is my old commander. He wearies for a renewal +of his service!" + +"Ah!" It was almost a sigh. "It will come again. It was but yesterday I +had a message from him asking me to use my offices with the Emperor. He +spoke of you and sent me a packet to give you." + +There was a cabinet much inlaid with ivory, from Milan, as the pages had +told him, which stood near by, and the Archduchess brought a little key +from her chatelaine wallet and opened it, as if to show him the curious +work within. + +In one of the drawers which she pulled out was a leathern wallet. +Nigel's eye fastened greedily upon it. For it was the wallet in which he +had carried the despatches. + +"It looks," said Nigel, "as if it and I, your Highness, were old +acquaintances thrust apart by circumstance. May I look within?" + +The Archduchess said, without any sign of interest, "It is for you, sir; +open it." + +Inside was the precious packet. Nigel could not restrain his eyes from +glowing, his face from flushing, or his fingers from a little tremor. He +turned it round. It was intact as he had lost it. The seal of Count +Tilly was perfect. + +"Your Highness is surely my good angel," he said gratefully, forgetting +for the moment the old Ottilie von Thüringen in the new and glorious +Archduchess Stephanie. "This that Wallenstein has sent me will justify +my coming hither. Without it I had been dubbed, and rightly, a +blundering knave, for your Highness should know I was robbed of it in a +forest while I slept, and with two sentries on guard." + +"It was a fault Albrecht von Waldstein would have borne hardly, had he +been Captain-General. But in this case Fortune has been kind to you." + +Nigel bowed. "I would that your Highness would continue to represent the +Goddess in my regard." + +She said nothing but some word of adieu, and passed on her way solitary, +gliding like a swan. + +And before Nigel could form any opinion on this strange rencontre with +the proud princess, one of the gentlemen-in-waiting came and begged his +attendance in the audience-chamber. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + NIGEL MEETS FATHER LAMORMAIN. + + +As Nigel passed out of the gallery and crossed the landing at the top of +another staircase, a door to the left of him opened from another gallery +at right angles to the one he had just left, and two Jesuit priests came +out in the dress of their order, shaven and tonsured. He saluted, and +they acknowledged his salutation with a brief benediction in the Latin +tongue and passed on. The eyes of both seemed familiar to him, though +for the moment, being bent upon his errand, he could not have told why. + +The doors of the audience-chamber opened, and an officer of the +household announced in a loud voice-- + +"Sire! The noble and high-born Captain Nigel Charteris with despatches +from Tilly, Count of Tzerclaës!" + +Nigel advanced, preceded by the gentleman-in-waiting, bowed three times +as he did so, following the example set him, and presently stood at the +Emperor's left hand, where stood the principal secretary, who received +the despatches, and, having glanced at the seal, handed it to the +Emperor, who, giving it to the Chancellor of the Empire, at his right +hand, commanded him to break the seals. + +The Emperor had acknowledged Nigel's presence at the side of his +secretary with a slight but perceptible movement of the eyes, which +rested upon him for a few seconds, and of the head, and then relapsed +into an austere aloofness. Nigel, standing alert and ready for further +business, if it should concern him, observed that Ferdinand was a man to +all appearance of some fifty odd years, lean, of yellowish complexion, +with eyes of a bluish tinge, dark-brown hair, a moustache twisted +fiercely upwards, a short pointed beard with strands of grey in it, and +dark scanty eyebrows. He wore a large stiff ruff about his neck. His +doublet was of dark Genoese velvet, and a single gold chain suspended a +medallion or badge of some order of knighthood. He sat in an easy +attitude, attentive, but as a man wearied of affairs, yet of that fixity +of will that lets nothing go by him that he should set his hand to. The +long, slightly aquiline nose, fleshy towards the point, together with +the projecting tufted lower lip, proclaimed him Habsburg. His chair was +raised upon a dais, so that he sat on a higher level by some inches than +the great officers of the council who sat at the table. + +Nigel could not help noticing the slenderness of his hands and the +length of the tapering fingers, which were beyond the common measure of +men's hands, and reminded him of the hands of Ottilie von Thüringen. + +From the Emperor his gaze fell upon a familiar figure that of a man who +sat back from the table, as if to give more play to his long legs, and +at the Emperor's right hand. + +It needed but a glance at the face, ennobled by its fine expanse of +forehead from which the hair had receded, and the flowing black locks, +still making a brave show of plenty, which fell to his deep lace collar, +to recognise Maximilian of Bavaria. The fine delicate dark brows, the +large humorous dark eyes, the aquiline nose, the pointed chin decked +with a pointed and unmistakably grey beard, the short upper lip with a +soft flowing moustache, composed a face easy to remember, and somewhat +suggestive of a life spent in thought and deep designs rather than in +the field, where, however, he had borne no mean nor infrequent burden. + +The Chancellor proceeded to read Count Tilly's despatch, which set forth +with a brevity worthy of his reputation as a general the final +operations before Magdeburg, the taking of the city, the number of men +killed and wounded on both sides. Count Tilly here strongly commended +the Bavarian General Pappenheim, who had rendered very notable +assistance in the siege and storm. Then followed the roster of the army +as it was on the morning of Nigel's departure, and an intimation that it +was not possible to quarter the troops in the town itself on account of +the destruction of the houses, and of the fear of pestilence. Pending +further instructions, Count Tilly intimated that he should form a +fortified camp not far from the city, making such excursions into the +neighbouring country as might be necessary to continue the enforcement +of the Edict, or to oppose the operations of Gustavus. In the event of +the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, or either of them, declaring +openly for Gustavus, he proposed to enter Saxony and endeavour to bring +the Elector to submission. + +The Emperor questioned Nigel as to the extent of the destruction of +Magdeburg and the cause of it; and Nigel gave such answer as he was +able, saying that, no quarter being given on either side, the entrance +into the city was the cause of much bloodshed, owing to the tenacity of +the burghers, many of whom set fire to their houses to entrap the +soldiery and frustrate the sacking. + +"You passed through Erfurt, Plauen, and Eger?" the Emperor asked. "How +was the Edict being received?" + +"Erfurt and Eger, sire, are mainly of the Catholic faith, and have +strong garrisons. Plauen would willingly have hung me and my escort, +incited to rebellion by the news from Magdeburg!" + +"But you escaped hanging, Captain?" the Emperor asked without a smile. + +"I took the burghers unawares, and escaped by night!" said Nigel. + +"You have our thanks, Captain! You will remain at Vienna some days till +our plans are made, when you will receive our further orders. We shall +recommend Count Tilly to advance you in rank for your services." + +Nigel murmured a few words of thanks, and again bowing three times as he +retreated, found himself outside the audience-chamber in company with +the friendly gentleman-in-waiting who had ushered him in, very well +pleased to have had such a favourable interview, and, where he had +expected so lately as that very morning at least disgrace, to have +received the promise of promotion, than which nothing could be more +grateful to his ambition as a soldier. + +The more he thought of the miraculous recovery of his wallet the less +could he understand it. It must have been brought to Wallenstein by some +emissary who had intercepted the robber. Or was it the man on the sorrel +horse, that man of pots and phials and orbits and horoscopes, after all? +Had he sought to propitiate Wallenstein, and had Wallenstein, +recognising his duty to the Emperor, taken this circuitous way of +returning it to the messenger, knowing full well what penalty he might +otherwise expect? Yes! That was the solution without doubt. His old +admiration of Wallenstein as a commander was now strengthened by +gratitude towards him as a man. + +And the Archduchess? Pietro Bramante's conjuration was, if as +inexplicable as ever, of the Archduchess. Hence Wallenstein's +exclamation, which he had only faintly heard in the midst of his own +excitement. Some curious resemblance, no doubt, there must have been +between the unknown Ottilie and the Archduchess, but the method of +sending the wallet proved that Wallenstein accepted the prediction in +the faith that it was the Archduchess Stephanie, who on her part had at +least fulfilled the commission with a tact and secrecy that spoke of a +willingness to respond to the wish of the sender. + +He had, whilst working out this satisfactory conclusion, accompanied the +gentleman aforesaid to the gardens of the palace, where, said his guide, +he would probably find sufficient to amuse him for an hour or so, when +he could easily find his way back to his quarters, and further +arrangements would be made to entertain him. + +There was a profusion of statuary. There were peacocks. There were +flowers arranged in precise beds, and short clipped hedges of green +shrubs in the Italian fashion. The morning was sunny, and in his elation +he found everything exceeding well. It was a golden day. He sauntered +here and there. + +And so by the merest chance did Father Lamormain, that peaceful refined +priest, in a cassock which did credit to the tailor who fashioned it, +though it was cut strictly according to the rule of the Jesuits. + +Nigel had never set eyes on Father Lamormain, and, if he had heard of +him, it was in the vague way in which people of middle station hear the +name of the king's physician, or of the king's barber, and forget it. +Father Lamormain had not been at the audience. His duty was best done in +the Emperor's private apartment, or in his own, to which even the +Emperor repaired on occasions. But Father Lamormain knew quite well what +had taken place, all that the Chancellor had read aloud and as much of +it as the Chancellor had kept to himself. For Father Lamormain was not +for nothing the most trusted Jesuit in the country east of the Rhine. + +At first Nigel passed the priest, who was to all appearance a Jesuit, +with a bow. The priest desisted from telling his beads and bowed also. +In their saunter they bowed again, and the priest very gently expressed +a hope that Nigel was "enjoying the beauty of the morning." + +"Father," said Nigel, "it is indeed a fair morning, but good news makes +the worst of mornings joyous!" + +"Ah, youth! Ah, youth, the beautiful!" said the Father. "Youth is the +season when one has good news! In after years the news never seems +wholly good. There is always some little drawback." + +Nigel inclined his head deferentially. Middle-aged men always spoke in +this way. They were jealous of youth. But being in great spirits he +thought to humour the priest, and said-- + +"There speaks a wide experience and a wide knowledge!" + +"Surely," said the priest, "you are of the Scottish nation, and a +soldier! Am I right, sir?" + +"What makes you think so?" said Nigel, much amused. + +"In the first place, the Scottish gentlemen are amongst the most +courteous of men, and pronounce German very well; and as to the second, +one could not miss that you were a soldier by your bearing." + +There being at least two compliments wrapped up along with a +commonplace, Nigel took another look at the priest and saw that the +priest was a man of benign countenance, very courtly, and that his face +was lined with many fine lines about the brow and eyes, which themselves +were very penetrating. Nigel reflected on the Latin poet who feared +Greeks and people bringing gifts. So he asked-- + +"Is there a college of your order in Vienna?" + +"What makes you think so, sir? Does one swallow make a summer?" + +"Would not three in succession lead one to imagine it was near?" Nigel +asked again. + +"See how the Scotsman answers a question by asking another!" the priest +observed with a smile, which was very becoming to his countenance. + +"Is that the way of my nation?" Nigel asked. + +"In the parts about Haddington!" the priest replied very gently, and +Nigel was very much perplexed at the reply. "But did you say just now +that you had seen three swallows, or was it three brethren of my order, +this morning?" + +"I met two on the staircase of the palace this morning, and you are the +third!" said Nigel. + +"It will have been Father George and Father John. There is a small +hostel of our order in Vienna." + +"They resembled two gentlemen I met a few days back, two cavaliers!" + +"Ah?" said the priest, inviting confidence. + +"But _they_ were cavaliers!" said Nigel. "So there was nothing in the +resemblance. There seem a good many people in the world who resemble one +another!" he added. + +Father Lamormain was a little disappointed in this exuberant young +officer, who went off into mere platitudes. But there was an element of +persistence in his nature. + +"You have doubtless come some distance to Vienna?" he went on. "I +inferred from what you said just now that you had business in the +palace, and I happened to notice that one of the Emperor's gentlemen +brought you hither; and I know, I think I may say, all the people who +dwell therein." He indicated the palace with his hand. "So I judged you +to be a stranger. Did you have a peaceful journey?" + +"On the whole it was so!" said the Scot. + +"You had peradventure an encounter with robbers?" + +"If it could be called so, an encounter! Two men set upon me in the dark +as I slept, and having bound and gagged me, ransacked my holsters, my +saddle-bags, my clothes, and went away having taken nothing." + +"And did you not see their faces, hear their voices?" + +"Neither sight nor sound!" + +"And you accomplished your errand successfully?" + +"Quite, Father!" + +"You were either very astute or very fortunate! You will doubtless be +employed again. Now let me introduce myself. I am Father Lamormain, the +Emperor's confessor." + +"I am much honoured by your company," said Nigel. "My name is Nigel +Charteris, Captain of Musketeers." + +"From Magdeburg, is it not?" The priest smiled. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + A FATHER, A CONFESSOR, AND A DAUGHTER. + + +The Emperor Ferdinand and Father Lamormain were together in the +Emperor's private apartments. + +"She was always Stephanie the intractable!" said the Emperor, with +something like a smile on his grave face. After all he had many memories +of her that Father Lamormain could never have of any child. + +"Yes!" said Father Lamormain. "But in this case your Imperial Majesty +should permit itself to use its parental authority." + +"Even to harshness?" + +"Even to harshness!" said the priest in a gentle voice. "Your Majesty +knows that the Elector Maximilian still claims that the Empire owes him +thirteen millions of crowns for his aid in the war against the Elector +Palatine, and that he wanted the Palatinate, and would have had it but +for the opposition of Brandenburg and Saxony. Now if Brandenburg and +Saxony join Gustavus, as they must, what can we say to Maximilian if he +prefers his claim again?" + +"He must have it, I suppose!" said the Emperor in a tone that suggested +that he was rather tired. + +"Then he will ask for Bohemia as the price for allowing his army to +support Tilly against Gustavus." + +"Bohemia is another affair!" said the Emperor more briskly. + +"Now if her Highness the Archduchess would only consent to marry the +Elector Maximilian, we should hear nothing more of the thirteen +millions, or of the Palatinate, or of Bohemia," reflected Father +Lamormain aloud. + +"She is very young!" objected his Majesty. + +"Not too young for mischief, sire." + +"What new freak have you discovered, Father?" + +"This!" said the Father, producing the letter he had had before him on +the previous day. "It is a summary of the roll of Tilly's army, and it +was found upon a messenger, who was unfortunately killed on his way to +the north _before he could be questioned_." + +"But what has this to do with the Archduchess Stephanie?" + +"It is marvellously like her handwriting! It is in cipher, of course; +but look for yourself, sire." The Emperor looked at it. + +"It appears to be a woman's, and it is a most unclerkly scrawl. I should +hesitate to attribute it to Stephanie! And, if it were hers, what +possible object could she have in obtaining it, and how could she have +obtained it?" + +"It was in my hands, your Majesty, before the despatches arrived." + +"But the seal on the despatches was intact. It was Count Tilly's seal. +The Chancellor was satisfied?" + +"Yes, sire!" The tone signified that Chancellors as a rule were easily +satisfied. + +"Come, Father, do you seriously suggest that the officer who brought it +allowed the despatches to leave his hands?" + +Father Lamormain had every cause to suppose so, but was unable for +reasons of his own to state so. + +"I merely infer from this cipher!" + +"But it was not impossible that the roll of Tilly's army should be known +to others, within a little!" + +"Your Majesty's remark would be just if the messenger had been +intercepted riding from Magdeburg. But from Eger, by which the officer +passed? What then?" + +"That would be to doubt the officer's fidelity. To begin with, he is a +Scottish gentleman! He is of our faith! He is selected by Tilly, who has +a good eye for a man." + +"Then your Majesty does not wish the matter pursued in that direction." +Father Lamormain was quite pleasant about it. He went on-- + +"I may say that I had a little talk with this young officer this morning +in the gardens, and he appears to be a gentleman of good breeding, and +of an ancient family, very well mannered, and wary withal. Your Majesty +would be the better judge how far he is to be trusted if he were bidden +to your reception after supper to-night. For the orders your Majesty +will send to Tilly will be still more secret!" The Father seemed full of +the most paternal feelings towards this young man, at the same time very +desirous that the young man should not prove a prodigal son. + +"As to the Archduchess Stephanie," said the Emperor, "I will speak to +her on the subject of Maximilian. It is an ill time to consider +marriages when there is so much at stake, but our faithful Elector can +scarcely be bidden to wait _at his age_!" The Emperor had then a dry +kind of humour. "You may send for her, Father, on my behalf!" + +Father Lamormain pocketed his letter and retired. In a short time the +Archduchess made her entry into her father's presence. + +Her face wore the softness that is the outcome of an affectionate +nature. The fine meshes of the veil of rank that fell between her and +the rest of the world, obscuring the expression, were absent. + +Ferdinand's eye swept over her tall gracious form as she approached, and +as she bent her knee to kiss his hand. He approved, but it made no +difference. He was not a prince to be swayed by womanly beauty. Some +princes have spent their lives toying with women; some have made women +their pastimes in the brief intervals of strenuous attention to war and +to affairs; but Ferdinand was a prince of affairs in which women had no +place. As a father, however, he was not wanting in affection. + +"My Stephanie!" he said, when he had kissed her upon the cheek. +"Politics are a very troublous thing, and all kinds of considerations +come into play. The alliances in marriage between princes and princesses +are dictated by the necessities of their States rather than by any +inclination of their own." + +The Emperor felt, because Stephanie, sitting on a low stool at his side, +had her hands upon her father's, that the blood stirred very palpably, +and he knew that she listened. + +"The turn of events has brought your name into question. The Elector +Maximilian has put forward a project of marriage. He asks for you." + +A crimson flush overspread those pale clear cheeks. So much Ferdinand +saw. She kept her gaze steadily away from him. + +"What do you think of it, little one?" + +She turned her head and looked up at her father, her eyes widely open. + +"I think it monstrous! That old man! A man who has already lived a +thousand lives to make his last mumbling meal of me who am just newly +come into my womanhood! Monstrous! Unspeakably monstrous!" + +"He is of a ripe age, certainly, is my cousin Maximilian. He is in fact +fifty-eight, as I am. But he is still full of vigour, a leader of men, a +great and renowned prince, and our most trusty ally. Once at least we +had been in grave jeopardy but for his counsel and for his armies. Even +now we are employing his men and generals in support of our Edicts." + +"To slay peaceable burghers, burn their goods, throw down their houses, +ravish their daughters! Say this rather!" + +"My daughter!" said Ferdinand, and his voice became cold and haughty, +"you forget! As a good son of the Church I am bound to extirpate that +most pernicious root of heresy from all German lands. There can be no +peace till this is done." + +The Archduchess Stephanie had gauged her father's religious fanaticism +and found it deep, deeper than any measuring-stick of hers. She did not +sympathise with it. Like most women she was herself prone to the +practices of religion, and in the conduct of life a pagan. She saw no +benefit that could come out of the Edict of Restitution. To her mind, +money, or goods, or lands were to pass out of the hands of very worthy +industrious burghers to maintain lazy and often very dirty priests and +monks. She thought it was barely possible, but still possible, for +people to get to heaven somehow without them. The Emperor was quite +satisfied that they could not. His intentions were sincere, and the +Archduchess knew that it was useless to pursue the attack along this +line. + +"The fall of Magdeburg," she said, "might bring about some sort of +alliance of all the Protestant powers. Brandenburg and Saxony at least +must join Gustavus. Denmark, the United Provinces, may follow." + +"The more reason have we to keep hold of such friends as we have by what +entertainment we may." + +"Have you so little faith in Maximilian that you should judge him +capable of drawing off his men when he learns that I will not wed him?" + +"I have always found Maximilian loyal to the Empire. But a friendship +such as his should be requited." + +"Then let him be requited with gold or with lands, but not with me. Let +him draw off his men, his Pappenheim. Then send for the man who shall +sweep Gustavus back to his ships, him for whom the Empire waits, him who +alone can create armies at a word and lead them." + +"Who _is_ this Achilles?" was the faintly ironical question of the +Emperor. + +"Who but Albrecht von Waldstein?" was the instant, almost triumphant, +answer of the Archduchess. She had risen to her feet and faced him with +it, voice and gesture and eyes aglow with a conviction that betrayed an +intense energy of desire behind it. The Emperor gazed at her with his +pale scrutinising eyes, in which was no enthusiasm. + +"My dear Stephanie," he said in his half-wearied tone, "if Wallenstein +were not a man of middle age, who has married a second wife, one might +almost suspect that you were enamoured of him." + +She held herself erect, looking at the Emperor, but her eyes were upon a +vision far beyond. She said nothing, for the Emperor had not made an +end. He had dealt her this thrust of scorn. Now he assailed her with +reason. + +"It is a year since, on the Elector's day at Regensburg, they clamoured +one and all for Wallenstein's dismissal. They urged that he was become +too powerful for a subject." + +"Maximilian's jealousy!" she interposed. + +"Maximilian was one amongst many! I judged the advice sound. I dismissed +Wallenstein. My foes were beaten down. There was no need to maintain an +army of seventy thousand men in the field to nourish the ambition of a +general. It is enough, Stephanie. No good can come of princesses +meddling in politics. Look to it that you entreat not our cousin +Maximilian slightingly, or even with less than the graciousness that +becomes a princess. I am too indulgent. The affair can wait till it be +considered further. You would not be the first princess of the house of +Habsburg to wed without love. Therefore make no grievance of it!" + +He held out his hand, which the Archduchess bent over and kissed, and +she left the Emperor once more alone. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + IN THE CIRCLE OF THE EMPEROR. + + +That evening Nigel was not left to eat his meal in the little _salle à +manger_ adjoining his bedchamber, but was invited by the officers of the +guard to join them, a compliment that was worth the paying, seeing that +the officers of the guard were drawn from the oldest families in Austria +and Hungary, and that a mere sub-lieutenant in the guard ranked as a +regimental captain in the army, and a captain was equal to a colonel, if +not higher, in the point of distinction. + +Notwithstanding that he was a regimental officer bearing the rank of +captain, and an outlander, a fact which emphasised another fact, that he +was a soldier of fortune, or, if we prefer it, a soldier without a +fortune, whereas his hosts were men of high family and fortunes who +happened to be soldiers, they received him with that perfection of +politeness which already characterised the Austrian nobility in so far +as it came into daily contact with the court. Something there was of the +ceremony and grandiosity of Spain, which the intermarriages of princes +and princesses had brought about, mingled with the brightness and gaiety +that sprung of a northern race and northern air, and of a greater +activity of body and alertness of mind. + +They regarded the sack of Magdeburg as a mere incident, but sufficiently +interesting to men who professed the art of war to make them put to +their guest a perfect array of questions as to the tactics employed, the +relative value of the weapons, and Tilly's projected movements. He had +to tell at full length his adventure at Plauen, and they contrived to +let him know that he was more fortunate than they in having enjoyed such +experiences. + +When the supper had proceeded to a pleasant length, if it were not quite +so prolonged as that famous meal which Mr Howell, who was secretary to +an embassy to Denmark, has related in his letters, consisting as it did +of forty courses and thirty-five toasts, the Captain-General of the +guard, a venerable officer, who wore the orders of half the kingdoms of +Europe, suspended by gold chains and gold brooches, giving almost the +similitude of a cuirass, rose, and in the name of the Emperor +complimented their guest on the services he had rendered and the signal +bravery he had shown at the siege and the storm of Magdeburg. He ended +by presenting him with a Colonel's commission under the Emperor's own +hand and seal, and drank his health in the most handsome fashion--an +example which the whole corps of officers followed with much zest and +the draining of many flagons of Tokay. + +Nigel was taken indeed by surprise. His blushes testified at once to his +habitual modesty, and to his youth. But for the honour of his race and +country he regained his self-command in a short space, and made a speech +of thanks which, for fluency in the German tongue and the spirit of +loyalty to his chosen standard which infused it, gained him an even +greater credit in the minds of his hearers. Scotland was to most of them +a far-off country, and being far was esteemed uncivilised, and they +marvelled that a Scottish gentleman could without effort assume the ease +of manner and the air of compliment in the banqueting-hall of Vienna as +well as lead an attacking party, which any officer of proper valour and +skill should be able to do. + +Just as the supper had concluded and the tables had been cleared for +wine and the dice-box, or whatever other pastime was forward, a page +arrived to tell him that the Emperor commanded his attendance at his +card-party in half an hour. Nigel would perhaps have more willingly sat +over his wine with these jovial gallants of the guard. But there was no +choice. So that he took leave of the Captain-General and of his other +hosts, some of whom had their military rounds to make, and hastened to +refresh himself, and make what change in his dress he could for the +ordeal of the court reception. + +On reaching his bedchamber he was amazed to find it lit up with many +candles, and a court suit lying upon his bed, new and of rich stuffs. +Everything he needed was there, and a barber was in attendance together +with a valet to assist him to make his outward appearance worthy of the +occasion. + +Nigel had heard of the lavish generosity of Italian princes towards +their friends. He knew of favourites both in Spain and in Britain who +had been plentifully rewarded by the bestowal of public office or of +pension. In France the King's cash-box, which was also the State's, was +frequently opened to reward the deserving and undeserving. But it had +never before happened to him that he was invited to be of the company of +a prince and provided with a new court suit in the bargain. Monarchs +were often unmindful of these petty but costly trivialities. But since +in his own case the Emperor Ferdinand had expended so much +thoughtfulness and a goodly purse of crowns on his wedding garment, +Nigel was not disposed to blame him for departing from the usual rule. +It was difficult besides not to feel uncommonly elated when Fortune +persisted in making him so avowedly her favourite. And if, while he was +being dealt with by the barber, he did wonder how that slightly dry, +tired-eyed Emperor had contrived to think two consecutive thoughts about +his, Nigel's, wearing apparel, and fell back upon the Archduchess +Stephanie as the possible donor, he dismissed the latter suggestion +because he was not sufficiently full of conceit to credit it, and +accepted the first as a very natural explanation, because his opinion of +his own services unconsciously coincided with the sense of them he +imputed to the Emperor. It must not be forgotten that Tokay in unstinted +measure has a tendency to make a man reflect in the first instance what +a really fine fellow he is. It is doubtless one of the first qualities +of good wine to enhance in the man who drinks it the estimation of his +own vintage. Had the page, who as a fact knew nothing, or the barber, or +the valet, breathed the name of Father Lamormain, of a surety Nigel +would have regarded the idea as humorous, and even at that rather +wanting in point. If he had been solemnly assured that Father Lamormain, +that very benign Jesuit he had met for the first and only time in his +life in the palace garden, was the donor of the suit, he would probably +have worn it, but, as the gentleman in one of Shakespeare's plays wore +his rue, with a difference. + +Not that Nigel Charteris in his braveries was one whit more a braggart +or a fop or one iota less a Scottish gentleman than when, stained with +blood and smoke, begrimed and weary, he had taken shelter at the hands +of Elspeth Reinheit in the old house at Magdeburg. But that evening he +did feel that the world was at his feet, and he did make a gallant +figure as the doors flew open and the pages, announcing the "high-born +and noble Colonel Nigel von Charteris," admitted him to the presence of +his Emperor and the brilliant circle of the court. + +The Emperor and his consort alone were seated. The guests were not yet +all assembled, and stood about in groups within reach of the royal +voices. There were perhaps eight or ten ladies, amongst whom, when his +eyes had grown used to the numerous candles and the glitter of jewels, +reflected and multiplied by the mirrors of Venetian glass that hung upon +the walls, Nigel recognised the Archduchess Stephanie and a younger +sister who more resembled the Emperor. + +The Archduchess shot him a swift glance of recognition, and the smile, +which rather accompanied than followed it, bestowed not upon him but +upon some chance-favoured auditor with whom she talked, seemed to imply +approval of his choice of a court dress. That swift glance of hers was +enough to tell him that their rencontre of the morning was, if it could +not be swept from remembrance, at least to be treated as if it had not +been. + +It was Father Lamormain who, gliding to his side, assumed the gracious +part of cicerone. + +"And are you still pleased with your good news, colonel?" he asked with +his benevolent smile of universal fatherhood. + +"More and more, Father! This morning there was the promise. This evening +it is in flower!" + +"The blossom," said the priest, looking at the court suit, "becomes the +tree if the tree yield good fruit." A saying which left Nigel puzzled, +intimating as it did that his reward was not so much for service done as +for services to do. He had no time to ponder it, for Father Lamormain +had led him to the Archduchess Stephanie and was presenting him. + +"Your Highness! may I present to you the youngest Colonel of Musketeers +in the Imperial armies, Mr Nigel Charteris, who has had the honour and +the peril of bearing Count Tilly's despatches from Magdeburg!" + +"I am pleased to greet you!" said the Archduchess, giving him her hand +to kiss. "I trust your journey was as pleasant as the issue was +successful." + +As Nigel had bent to kiss the long slender fingers that were so like the +Emperor's, he seemed to see again those of Ottilie von Thüringen binding +up the wound of Elspeth Reinheit. He answered her-- + +"The journey was not so perilous, your Highness, as the reward is great +in your Highness's gracious welcome!" And greatly daring he gazed for a +moment with unfeigned admiration at the eyes of the Archduchess. + +"Count Tilly's captains are swift to learn, Father?" she said, smiling. + +"They are more teachable than princesses!" said Father Lamormain, with +such banter in his tone as the privileged spiritual director of the +family might employ. "And princesses," he added, "are swift to teach." + +A saying which the Archduchess and Nigel alike felt might be innocent or +barbed with irony. + +Father Lamormain did not leave him till he had made the round of the +guests. Nigel's brain was becoming clearer as he became used to the +scene, and the effects of the excellent Tokay were wellnigh spent. He +learned by observation in what very real respect the whole court held +the Jesuit father. This polished and witty priest had something in the +way of compliment for all the ladies, something flattering for the great +lords and lordlings. But for the Father there was no covert sneer, or +half attention, or sign of fear. There was real respect, and something +that resembled the perfect confidence of friendship. + +Last of all, the Elector Maximilian, with his eternal half-smile, left +the Emperor's immediate group and accosted Nigel. + +"So Father Lamormain has taken you in hand, Colonel! They say that this +is a greater mark of honour than even the Emperor can bestow. Beware, +however, of any love secrets. He will worm them out of you!" + +"He does not wear them upon his sleeve, your Highness!" said the priest, +with a glance over in the direction of the Archduchess Stephanie, which +was not understood by Nigel. + +"And in what plight are my Bavarians?" the Elector went on. + +Father Lamormain beat a retreat. They would find much to talk about, and +if the fathoming of Nigel's leanings were necessary Maximilian was as +astute as himself. Luckily Nigel held a high opinion of Pappenheim, whom +many regarded as the foremost general in Germany, even before +Wallenstein, but who was a soldier and nothing more, no politician or +ambitious seeker after power. + +"You were with Tilly before?" + +"No, sire! With Wallenstein from the campaign against Mansfeld to the +end of his command!" + +To the "Ah" with which this was received Nigel attached the significance +it bore. + +"Have you seen him since his ... resignation?" + +"Yes, sire; at Eger on my journey here." + +"And how does he bear his retirement?" + +"In truth I know almost nothing, sire. When I was under him I rarely saw +him, and was not of his familiar circle, if indeed he had such. I do not +know. He asked for my company at Eger to divide a bottle of wine with +him. He seems to occupy himself with astronomy and the mathematics." + +"I have heard," rejoined Maximilian, "that he had great acquaintance +and much controversy with a learned doctor, one Paracelsus, but these +matters are beyond my ken. Men and women are more to me than the stars." + +Several gentlemen of the court had gathered round the Elector, and it +was the hearing of the name of Wallenstein that drew them, for it was +well known that the Elector and he were on terms of discord. In the days +of the Winter King it had been Maximilian and his armies who had been in +fact the Emperor's legions, then as a counterpoise the Emperor had +raised up Wallenstein. When Wallenstein had made Maximilian the pale +shadow of an armed power, Maximilian had plotted till Wallenstein was +deposed and his army scattered to the ten thousand hamlets of Germany. + +"A veritable Cincinnatus!" said an elderly gentleman. + +"He raised cabbages for sauerkraut, did he not?" a younger man asked. + +"Your Cincinnatus," said the Elector, "raiseth weeds of a poisonous and +rebellious nature." + +"Such as, sire?" a staid and solemn-faced minister of state inquired. + +"Ambition, my Lord! It brought Cæsar to the ground, and Cæsar was a +greater man. When Wallenstein, then a rich Bohemian landlord, discovered +that he had the genius of organising an army, he began to think he had +discovered in himself another Cæsar. He thought that to command a great +army, to find its food and pay, was absolute power. He forgot that that +consent of the Emperor, which alone had made it possible, was the real +source of power, and that the consent might be withdrawn. You all know +what happened in fact. He has no patriotism. His country, his Emperor, +his creed, is Wallenstein; and he would as soon serve Gustavus, if +Gustavus would promise him a kingdom, as serve the Emperor." + +The Elector Maximilian had raised his voice a little as he spoke his +last sentences. The Emperor, turning in his chair from his cards not far +away, said-- + +"Your favourite topic, cousin! He did us good service in our need." + +"In truth, sire!" said the Archduchess Stephanie, also addressing +Maximilian. "Age should be more lenient to age and honourable service." + +Nigel wondered why the Elector showed so much the symptoms of a frown +when his mouth, so much of it as was visible, essayed a smile as he +turned towards the Archduchess. + +The Emperor and Father Lamormain, who was of his party at cards, +exchanged a guarded glance. + +"You remind me of that, Stephanie, which in your presence I had +forgotten." + +With which saying he strode to her side with an air of gallantry, which +had sat well upon a younger man, and engaged her in a conversation out +of earshot, as he meant, of the rest of the company. + +At this point a page came to the Emperor and gave him a message in a low +tone. The page went out, and in a moment the doors opened. + +"His Grace the Duke of Friedland" was announced; and instantly the +company sat or stood as if petrified. + +Albrecht von Walstein entered, attired not plainly, but as became a +magnifico of the Empire. There was violet velvet slashed with green silk +and sewn with pearls, and all point devise. He made three obeisances as +he approached the Emperor, and kissed his hand, then that of his +consort. The Emperor bade him be seated. + +"You have been long coming to Vienna, Duke, but seeing that you are here +you are well-come. You have news?" + +"Sire! I was but a few days since at Eger, where I have a poor +dwelling-place, when I heard that the King of Sweden has left Frankfort, +has marched to Werben, where the river Havel pours into the Elbe, and +has there entrenched his army in a fortified camp. Brandenburg has given +up Spandau and Custrin. We are shut off from the North." + +The Emperor's face became a thought graver than usual. So did those of +Father Lamormain and of Maximilian, who, leaving the Archduchess, drew +near at a sign from the Emperor. + +"How many men hath he?" + +"My report says forty thousand, all veteran troops. Saxony and +Brandenburg can raise another forty thousand between them." + +"With a few reinforcements, Tilly and Pappenheim should be able to stay +his march," said Maximilian. + +To which Wallenstein said nothing. His _rôle_ was the disinterested +friend, the wealthy noble to whom war was of no moment. + +For a moment there was a curious silence. + +Wallenstein would not ask for a command. To offer him a subordinate one +was to invite a cold refusal. Father Lamormain and Maximilian were +resolutely opposed to any offer being made, and the Emperor knew it. Yet +he felt by no means sure that Tilly and Pappenheim could stem the +Swedish tide, and he was the head and front and citadel of the Empire, +fully aware of his responsibilities towards the state and towards the +church, especially the latter. + +At Maximilian's words the Archduchess Stephanie made an involuntary +movement forward, but checked herself and stood where she was. Nigel, +from the place where he stood amid a knot of courtiers, could see her +face. + +It bore that strange rapt expression of the eyes that he had seen in the +vision of Bramante's conjuring, and the eyes were fixed on Wallenstein. +Indeed, Wallenstein looked up for an instant and saw them. Nigel could +have sworn that a flush swept below the swarthy and much-lined skin of +the great commander; but the face with its high cheek-bones and small +bright eyes had recovered its bronze composure in the instant. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + THE ARCHDUCHESS AND WALLENSTEIN. + + +The persons who witnessed the unexpected arrival of Wallenstein asked +themselves why he had come; Nigel because to his reflective mind the +ostensible reason, anxiety to impart the news of Gustavus to the +Emperor, was insufficient; the Archduchess Stephanie because she desired +with all the intensity of woman that another cause might be at work. + +Nigel in the camp with Tilly had heard accounts, more or less garbled, +of the famous meeting of the Electors with the Emperor at Ratisbon a +year before. Reichstag, the Diet, or Day of the State, was the name of +such meetings, and that had been a momentous one for Wallenstein, for +the world. All the Electors were there save only the Elector Palatine, +the Winter-King, who was a wanderer over the face of Europe. And without +the conclave were Friar Joseph, "His grey Eminence," the familiar of +Cardinal Richelieu, and Cardinal Caraffa, the Pope's nuncio. France and +Italy alike on this occasion were pulling at the Electoral +puppet-strings, and making them hold up hands for the dismissal of +Wallenstein, the "insolent Wallenstein." And when a captain-general, for +four years in the field, has set all the Electors of Germany, Catholic +and Protestant, against him, it may be deduced that he has shown +himself careless of giving offence, and has forgotten the respect due to +princes. The Emperor had wished to retain him. He knew that he had been +well served, and in so far as his extreme religious views would allow +him, he was a just and certainly courageous prince. But he had been +forced to defer to the Electors who had chosen him to be Emperor. + +Nigel agreed that a man as great as Wallenstein would never have ridden +from Eger to Vienna to bring this news to the Emperor, notwithstanding +that, if Wallenstein had ever shown anything approaching to personal +affection and deference to man, it had been to the Emperor. He would +have sent a swift messenger, or allowed the Emperor to learn the news in +his own way, as he would have learned it in a day or two at the most. +And Nigel was right in his conjecture. + +The following afternoon the Archduchess Stephanie, with two ladies in +demure attendance, took the air in a light carriage, which, for its +elegance, was still an object of admiration in the streets of Vienna. It +was said to have been a present to the Emperor from his brother monarch, +Louis Treize. And was not the Queen of Louis Treize Anne of Austria? + +The carriage stopped at Otto Fugger's in the Rudolf Strasse. Otto Fugger +was the richest banker in Vienna, and was the brother of Jacob Fugger of +Antwerp, and cousin of Wilhelm Fugger of Amsterdam, and of Antonio +Fugger in Venice. The Archduchess descended and entered. All the +aristocracy of Europe dealt with the Fuggers. + +And when the Archduchess was ushered with great politeness by Otto +Fugger himself into one of his several libraries on an upper floor, and +the banker had bowed low and left her, she found one she expected +standing by a casement which looked out into a beautiful garden. + +In the habit which he wore, of sombre hue and formal cut, rich withal +but not conspicuous, he might have passed for one of those very +prosperous merchants that were making their presence felt in the large +cities, if the alert bearing of the man, and the air of domination, had +not proclaimed one of a superior rank and a military caste. + +The man and the woman looked at one another. In the man's look was +questioning. It asked, "How can this woman serve my purpose? What makes +her wish to serve it?" + +In the woman's was rejoicing at some purpose partly achieved, and +something of timidity. + +The looks were instantaneous; the pause before the speech but momentary. + +"At last, Albrecht von Waldstein!" She spoke in low soft tones, and held +out both hands, as if he should take them both into captivity. + +"I am here because you have willed it, Stephanie!" + +It was a personal touch, not an outcome of his immense pride. Here they +met on another plane than that of the life of courts. And Stephanie was +so young. He took her long slender fingers in his large masterful brown +hands and kissed them both, in his heart rather amused. + +Let us not be mistaken. Wallenstein was not led to Vienna by the God of +Love. Nor did he imagine that he was. He came, and knew that he had +come, because of the perfect circle of Pietro Bramante, who was rather +the priest of Apollo, because of the secant ellipse, whose right focus +was the centre of his circle. + +He came because of the image of Stephanie, which he had seen, or thought +he had seen, at Eger, even as Saul saw the wraith of Samuel, or thought +he saw it, in the caves at Endor. + +But Pietro Bramante had prophesied, or so Wallenstein had read the +prophecy, that his way to the complete circle was by making the heart +of woman the pivot and centre of his intelligence. It was not easy for +Wallenstein to formulate the idea in words; but if there were a meaning +in the mystery it must be that through the love of Stephanie he would +arrive at the culminating point of success; and Stephanie was the +daughter of the Emperor. + +Therefore he looked curiously at her, wondering at the miracle, as any +man who experiences it must wonder at the miracle of the love of woman. + +Wallenstein had never been a habitant of the palaces of kings. As little +as need was had he come to Vienna on sparse visits to the Emperor. He +had seen and spoken to the Archduchess Stephanie, when, six years +before, he had laid his offer before the Emperor. He remembered her as a +tall, slim maiden with large, dark, wistful, following eyes, a child of +moods. He remembered her when two years more had passed, what a glorious +triumphant pair of years, in which he had gathered his army, marched +against Mansfeld, overcome him at Dessau on the Elbe, then harried him +through Silesia into Hungary, forced his ally, Bethlen Gabor, to throw +down his arms, and driven Mansfeld over the border into Bosnia to die of +a broken fame. Before going into winter quarters he had paid a fleeting +visit to Vienna to receive his first meed of commendation from the +Emperor. The Archduchess Stephanie had ripened to the first promise of a +completer womanhood, gained in erectness, in rounder curves, and over +her face and bearing had stolen virginal radiance and conscious modesty, +not unmingled with the Habsburg pride of race. Wallenstein remembered +how she too had greeted him in her own way with two sprigs of laurel and +a little speech which died on her lips. + +And now she had reached the perfect May of womanhood. "What then? At +last, Albrecht von Waldstein!" + +"I am here because you have willed it, Stephanie!" + +"Say rather because the fates have willed it!" she said in a tone in +which awe and triumph were mingled, and her eyes looked out as through a +mist. Wallenstein felt a thrill go through him, something unknown to his +cold intelligence, something which roused latent fire in him, and +infused into him a spirit more akin in rarity to hers. + +He still held her slender fingers in his brown sinewy hands as if he +would suck in more of that ethereal fluid fire. + +"You would have come of your own accord because of your interest in +Albrecht von Waldstein?" There was approval, condescension, petition for +her assent in his tones. + +"Something of you grew into my girlhood, Albrecht! I cannot tell how. +When you, a simple gentleman of Bohemia, came to my father and in his +troubled hour offered to raise up an army to defend him against his +enemies, I had a feeling of exultation. Something told me that here was +greatness, a new Hercules come to earth." + +Wallenstein's eyes, those cold eyes of his, glowed at her saying. +Prodigious egotist that he was! He accepted her words as those of an +oracle. He drank in the significance of her words, but of their relation +to the feelings of the priestess that uttered them he divined less even +than he valued them. To him her words confirmed him in his own estimate +of himself. But he was too little a connoisseur of precious +nonsubstantial things to show surprise or wonder at the priceless worth +of that young princess's worship. + +"Six years ago," he said, "you acclaimed my star on the horizon of your +heart." + +"Yes, Albrecht! And then when you came again, do you remember my poor +sprigs of laurel which I was almost too shy to give you?" + +"I have them yet, Stephanie!" It was true. He had them. They were an +emblem of his advancing fortunes bestowed by the daughter of the +Emperor. Of the heart that had prompted the gift, the shy, proud, full, +maidenly heart, he had known nothing. + +"And as your star waxed, so I rejoiced and said, 'Albrecht von Waldstein +is become equal to the greatest princes of the earth.' You and your +armies filled all my mind. My pride in you became a great part of me." + +Her eyes were cast down so that he saw little but the soft black fringes +of the lids; her rich voice was modulated to all but a whisper. And as +the man gazed at her, drinking in her words and watching the heave and +fall of her bosom, an unusual gentleness crept over him and he began to +see the wonder of her. + +"Gracious and beautiful princess!" he said. "To think that as I climbed +I knew nothing of the spirit that spoke secretly to mine and urged me +forward and upward." There was something of self-reproach in his tone as +for something beautiful in a glimpse of the valley that a climber misses +and learns of in after days. + +She went on with her confession-- + +"I prayed for your success. I do not know what I would have had you do, +until the day of Ratisbon, when all the dogs in Germany bayed at you and +the Emperor sent an embassy--it was that in fact--to beg you to lay down +the power, the stupendous power, you wielded. Then, oh the direful days +they were! I hoped, I feared. I dreaded and longed to hear that, like +Cæsar of old, you were crossing the Rubicon and were marching on the +capital." + +Wallenstein heaved a mighty sigh. + +"You felt, Stephanie, what it cost me!" + +The Archduchess looked up into his eyes. + +"It is true. My heart had awakened. The woman mourned and would not be +comforted. She would have had you king! King, Albrecht! And you put +everything aside to resume a private station. And some said that therein +you did the greatest act of your life to make the way easy for the +Emperor and bring peace into the land." + +"And you, Stephanie?" + +"Not I!" She raised her head proudly to its full eminence, that queenly +brow with its twin lakes of unfathomable light. "Not I! What to me was +the peace of Germany, or of the Emperor? I would have had you march on +to victory or death. Fortune must be taken at the flood. She seldom +comes twice for the same barque." + +"You have the spirit of your eagles, Stephanie! Trust me! I weighed the +chances and put off the hour because the hour was destined to return +again. It was tempting fortune; but it was better to resign my baton +gracefully at the Emperor's command than to lose all in one desperate, +unconsidered rebellion." + +"Rebellion is for subjects! But remember, Albrecht von Waldstein, that +if you would mate with eagles you must prove yourself their peer. Fly +high and boldly!" + +Wallenstein experienced another thrill. This time a fresh thought leapt +into being. "Mate with eagles? What could she mean?" An unwonted light +broke over the cold, lined face. + +"You cannot mean that in the hour of victory you will be my hostage +against the Emperor, Stephanie?" + +"The day you win Bohemia for your crown I share it with you!" + +"Bohemia! And you, Stephanie?" Even now he could scarcely believe his +ears. He saw quite clearly the immense advantage it would be to him to +wed Stephanie: how it would tie the hands of the Emperor and prevent +the otherwise inevitable reprisals. + +"And Holy Church? I am wedded man!" + +"The Church can give dispensations where she wishes. She shall wish, +even if you have to march on Rome!" + +"And you pledge yourself to help me counter their Jesuit plans?" + +"I do, Albrecht. See, I kiss the cross! I vow it solemnly! And as +earnest, let me tell you they would have me marry Maximilian!" + +"God in heaven!" exclaimed Wallenstein. "That shall not be, if there be +a nunnery to keep you safe on this side of the Alps." + +Wallenstein made no movement of passion. He looked at her and saw that +she was desirable and lovely beyond the common allurement of women, +beyond the beauty of all princesses he had seen. But he saw, too, that +there was something lofty in her soul, a virgin chastity, that forbade +all trivial thought of dalliance. It was a solemn compact. + +He knelt at her feet. She laid one soft hand upon his head and said-- + +"Be my knight, Albrecht, without fear. And when all the fields are won, +I await you." + +He took her other hand and kissed it. The vibration of a strong emotion +passed through him. He was left alone. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + NIGEL'S NEW REGIMENT. + + +On the next day Wallenstein departed as secretly as he had come. Father +Lamormain ascertained that he did not return to Eger. One rumour had it +that he had gone to his estate in Friedland, which is in the +north-eastern part of Bohemia, bordered by Silesia on one side and the +kingdom of Saxony on the other, a remote mountainous region, sparsely +inhabited. The rumour may well have been true, for that was where the +Duchess of Friedland lay at that time, and it had never been said that +her lord neglected her for any other dame, unless it were Dame Bellona, +who, ugly as she is, has in her time made many good wives jealous, and +proved fatal to untold thousands of her wooers. + +Three of these wooers, no longer perhaps so ardent or so able as of old, +advised the Emperor in warlike matters. Colonel von Falck had taken part +in the wars against the Turks in the days of the late Emperor Rudolf, +and had lost an eye. He was almost patriarchal, but men said of him that +he was a tremendous judge of Tokay, and unerring in his selection of +officers. Of the former branch of military knowledge he gave almost +daily proof, and his reputation in the latter, like many official +reputations, rested on evidence which was quite irrefragable, since no +one knew what it was. The second was a retired Master of Camp, a man +just past middle age, who had had the misfortune to lose an arm, his +left, fortunately, at the Weisser Berge. He was an acknowledged +authority on waggons, horses, stores, cannon, and equipment generally. +And an officer who has lost an arm by a cannon-ball must be admitted to +have some practical knowledge of artillery. The third officer was the +Grand Duke Lothar, a blood relation of the Emperor, who, owing to a very +real lameness, acquired in his subaltern days, had been obliged to +confine his military excursions within the narrow limits of Vienna or +Ratisbon. But he had stored up a profound knowledge of Cæsar's +'Commentaries,' and was very well acquainted with the theory of war as +it was then understood. + +It was the Emperor, usually in consort with the experienced Maximilian, +who formed the general plan of campaign. If the Council's opinion +coincided with the Emperor's, as it usually did, on a review of the +plan, its execution was left in the hands of the general in command of +the army, and the function of the council was then to take all possible +steps to provide reinforcements, arms, and officers. + +Before this sage professional committee Nigel was summoned. + +"You have learned the manège, colonel?" was the abrupt inquiry of the +oldest officer. + +"What is the complete equipment of a trooper?" was that of the +camp-master. + +"How many troopers do you require in a regiment of dragoons, and what +officers? How many squadrons could you make of it? How many troops go to +a squadron?" These were Lothar's. + +Nigel, greatly wondering, answered all these readily and satisfactorily. + +Then followed a catechism of the tactics of cavalry by the Grand Duke +Lothar, who drew lines on a sheet of paper to illustrate his meaning. +These also Nigel answered, for in a prolonged period of active service +little had escaped his eye or his ear of what happened in any department +of arms. + +The three military councillors exchanged nods and whispers of approval. + +"We are going to recommend his Imperial Majesty to cancel your +commission in his musketeers and appoint you to the command of a new +regiment of light horse!" said von Falck. + +"I am forming the regiment," said the camp-master. "Bohemians, +Austrians--all riders from their youth--with a sprinkling of old +cavalrymen. They will need some shaping!" + +"The other officers are being selected," said the Grand Duke. "You will +spend the next week or two getting them equipped, and horsed, and +drilled. Then your orders will be given you." + +"I am at your Excellencies' service!" said Nigel. + +Three days afterwards, spent in wearisome discussions, conducted on the +one side in half the patois of Europe, and on the other in tolerably +good German and an admixture of plain Scots, the subject being horses, +Nigel was wishing devoutly that he had never seen Vienna, never become +the favoured child of fortune, never---- + +"Well, Blick, what is it _now_?" + +"Magdeburg's wellnigh spent, colonel!" + +"Is that so?" was Nigel's rejoinder. + +"Never saw such a place as Vienna," said Blick. "The beer is too light!" + +"Well!" said Nigel, "you must drink more of it, or less of it." + +"Yes, colonel! And the stagshorn dice are too light above and too heavy +below!" + +"Worse and worse! You'll have to give up play!" + +"It'll give me up," said Blick. "And the wenches, colonel!" + +"Well? Are they too light also?" + +"I am not a bad-looking fellow, colonel! But if I stay here ... they're +the very devil ..." groaned Sergeant Blick. + +"You want to get back to Count Tilly? Is that it?" + +"Not for twenty rix-dollars!" + +"Well! Tell me! What is it you want?" + +"I want to be sergeant in your new regiment!" + +"What do you know of cavalry?" asked Nigel. + +"I know men," said Blick stubbornly. "I can drill them. I know horses. I +can break them in. My father was a smith, and my uncle a horse-dealer. +My grandfather was hung for stealing horses. It's in the blood. In three +days I will have that mob of rascals at my heel. I am Sergeant Blick! I +say it!" + +Nigel looked at Sergeant Blick with a good deal of interest. He had +looked at him before, as he had looked at interminable ranks of +soldiers, and had never observed that in Blick, as in himself, although +Blick knew no reading or writing, grew the stubborn thistle of ambition. +He also remembered a dozen instances of good sergeantry which Blick had +displayed. It dawned upon his mind that, as it takes years to make a +good ploughman, so it takes years to produce the good sergeant; and that +without good sergeants it is impossible to make good regiments. + +Sergeant Blick, despite his words, stood stiffly at attention, awaiting +the settlement of his destiny. There were at least two scars on his +face, which were an abiding proof that he had faced both pike and sword, +and his complexion, originally fair (he was a North German from +Münster), had been tanned and weather-beaten. The light-blue eyes, +somewhat hard in the glint, were full of resolution and vigour, if the +cheeks and the mouth did smack somewhat of the beer-can, as did the +great girth of his waist, hardly counterbalanced by the greater girth of +his shoulders. + +"Sergeant is it? You can have it! You begin to-morrow; and keep all the +corporals sober till we are ready to start, four days from now." + +"Four days! The devil himself couldn't bring that mob of wild Zigeuners +and half-cooked hinds into the likeness of a regiment in four days." + +"Nevertheless it must be done!" said Nigel. + +The new sergeant grunted some guttural remarks, which Nigel took in good +part, as they were hurled less at himself than at things in general, +which, as every one knows, are always deserving of the extreme of +objurgation. Then the sergeant paused. + +"Well? You want something else?" + +"Yes, colonel! This little bodkin that the lady at Magdeburg tried to +push through your steel cap! I tried to bargain with a dirty Jew for a +crown or so. He said it was good silver, but he asked how I came by it. +I hit him a buffet, but he only snarled that neither he nor any other +dealer in Vienna would buy it because of something or other, arms or +what not, on the hilt." + +"Oh! Let me look at it! So! It is a curious device. Well, I'll give you +a crown for it. At all events I have a good right to it if any one has. +The point was meant for my head." + +Sergeant Blick took his crown with thanks, saluted, and went out. To +realise one's ambition and a crown, albeit a silver one, in the same +half-hour, is always worth while. + +It was true that to Nigel the weapon, which, had it been used otherwise, +might have slain him, was a possession of interest. But a further look +at it, or rather at the ornamentation of the haft, which was good +silversmith's work, revealed to him what it had revealed to the Jew, who +was too careful to buy that which might put a rope round his neck, +something, in his opinion, stolen from some dangerously high place. + +Again he asked himself, "Who is Ottilie von Thüringen?" + +"By Saint Andrew!" he exclaimed as some one entered. + +"Heilige Frau!" the other cried in equal astonishment. "So you are my +new colonel, Charteris?" + +"And you, Hildebrand?" + +"I am to be your major, it seems, by the grace of General von Falck with +one eye, Camp-Master von Pratz with one arm, and his Highness the Grand +Duke Lothar, to whom regiments are sheets of paper and the officers +numbers." + +Major Hildebrand von Hohendorf did not seem altogether gratified. + +"Dear old comrade!" said Nigel warmly, shaking him by the hand, "it +would have given me greater pleasure to have been your major than it +does to be your colonel. You were buried in Hradschin. Now you may +conclude by becoming Field-Marshal." + +Nigel knew that Hildebrand was not one to nurse small jealousy, and was +amenable to the gentle influence of a bottle and an honest friend taken +together. The bottle was soon forthcoming, and so was Hildebrand's pipe. + +"Comes of helping to sack Magdeburg and carrying despatches, I suppose," +said Hildebrand, a twinkle becoming apparent in his eyes. "Or have you +been making love to Lothar's wife. They say she names most of the +colonels! Ha! What's this pretty thing?" + +He picked up the tiny dagger, which for the moment Nigel had forgotten. + +"That's a little trifle a noble lady in Magdeburg tried to stick into my +neck!" said Nigel. "My sergeant picked it up." + +"Pretty thing!" said Hildebrand, examining it. "Bears the arms of the +Habsburgs, too!" The peculiarity did not seem to strike very deep, for +he went off to another topic-- + +"Now, what have we got to do? It seems to me we've got to make a +regiment and then constitute ourselves free companions for a few weeks, +maybe months, and then join Tilly!" + +"Listen!" said Nigel. "We have to cross Southern Bohemia, the Upper +Palatinate, enter Würzburg, then Hesse Cassel, to frighten the +Landgrave, ride eastward to the Elbe, and find Gustavus. Having +satisfied ourselves of the direction of his march, we are to hang on to +the advance-guard, and give early and constant information to Count +Tilly and Pappenheim. When the two armies come into touch we are to +place our regiment under Tilly's orders." + +"Lord, what a riding and camping and sleeping under the trees," said +Hildebrand. + +"Make us the most serviceable regiment of cavalry in the whole army," +Nigel consoled. "You'll be as thin as a pikestaff and as hard! No Tokay +in the Thüringerwald!" + +"The beer might be worse!" rejoined Hildebrand. "I've tasted it." + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + FAREWELL TO THE ARCHDUCHESS. + + +As Nigel thought he owed that great windfall of fortune, the restoration +of his cherished wallet of despatches, to the Archduchess Stephanie, +insomuch as it was a direct outcome of her mysterious association with +Wallenstein, so he was inclined, without evidence, to attribute to her +this second shaking of the tree, which had brought to his feet the still +riper fruit of the command of the regiment of horse. Perhaps the joking +of Hildebrand had left behind in his mind some traces of its passing. It +certainly was not due to any conceit that he had made any impression on +the heart of the Archduchess. But it was just possible that her sympathy +with the mind and destiny of Wallenstein might have displayed itself in +an endeavour to promote the fortunes of one who had been, and might some +day be again, with Wallenstein. + +An unquenchable desire pursued him. It had no effect upon his military +duties, for at those he worked as one possessed. The horses, a motley +but on the whole a useful collection, were allotted to their riders, the +riders distributed into troops and half troops, the old soldiers +converted into troop sergeants and corporals, and all kept busy at their +exercising. Hildebrand and all the other officers grumbled at this +intolerable, but undoubtedly affable, Scot, who let no man rest nor +rested himself. But as daylight fell, and with it the last bulwarks of +human patience, and the quarters and the taverns once more welcomed the +"Rough Riders," as some wit of the canteens christened them, Nigel was +fain to seek rest and refresh himself. It was then, in the moments of +relaxation, that the desire came upon him to seek out the Archduchess. + +The strange likeness that she bore to the fugitive Ottilie intrigued +him. Ottilie in the cathedral of Erfurt had seemed, if his ears had not +belied him, to pray for Wallenstein. Half an hour afterwards she had +breathed scorn of Wallenstein. The Archduchess had named him in a way +that gave a hint of an amiable alliance between them. Had she any +influence with Lothar, or General von Falck, or the redoubtable +Camp-Master, and exercised it to gain him this commission? If not, to +what circumstances did he owe it? Could the Emperor be so lacking in +tried cavalry officers that he, who was not a cavalryman, should be +selected? Self-pride urged that his experience in the wars was his real +recommendation for what must prove a perilous and delicate work. The +Scots have always been said to have a "gude conceit" of themselves; and +Nigel was not without it. But his Scots caution tempered it. He gave +self-pride its due weight and no more, and looked outside for the real +reasons. + +But to approach the Archduchess was not easy. He had been allotted other +quarters in the part of the palace devoted to the officers of the guard. +He could not without remark place himself in her way in the gallery of +portraits. Nor could he make an assignation to meet her, as the officers +of the guard did, with the ladies-in-waiting, whom among themselves they +called in their familiar German fashion Gretchen, Bette, or Lotta. They +might boast contemptuously of favours behind their charmers' backs, +while professing a most poetical admiration to their faces. He could do +neither. There was a gulf not easy to bridge between a lady-in-waiting +and an Archduchess. + +Nigel had acquired a certain distrust of messages verbal or written, for +his short intercourse with courtiers had engendered the belief that one +half of the denizens of the palace, high and low, were spies upon the +other half, and that Father Lamormain heard everything. But as write he +must, he bethought him of certain poetical exercises of his which he had +practised lamely enough while at the University of St Andrews, in fond +imitation of the poets of the court of Queen Elizabeth, where every one +rhymed that could hold a quill. He drew with great pains the circle, the +oval, and the curve of Pietro Bramante at the head, and, after many +attempts in the long unaccustomed art, involving one hundred and four +elisions and at least four separate drafts, he wrote beneath the figure +the following lines, hoping that the whole might excite her curiosity if +not her admiration, and lead to the audience so much desired:-- + + By Eastern mage this secret figure limned + Is symbol that my barque of Life, outbound + From ports forgot for shores by mist bedimmed, + Should fetch the centre of this perfect round; + Nor should one miss to see the focus 'tis + Of a consummate oval: beacon light + That points a haven to all argosies. + Imperial Eyes, that do illume my night, + My barque sets sail. Suffer that she clear + Her harbour dues, and from her cargazon + Proffer these petalled blushes of the year, + Which, tho' they fade, as must my Argus soon + Into the dim horizon, still implore + But access, and a smile; they dare no more! + + --N. C. + +"Now," said Nigel to himself, "if I do but send Sergeant Blick to her +waiting-maid with this sonnet ensconced in a basket of roses it is odds +but her Highness gets it, and if any one intercept it beshrew me if he +make anything of it, for I can make little of it myself." + +The plan, clumsy or not, was successful. Sergeant Blick could be very +stupid on occasions, till he knew he had what he wanted, and it cost him +some pains before he could arrive at the personal attendant of the +Archduchess. Then a handsome bribe for herself and the direct and not +super-refined flatteries of the sergeant procured the faithful delivery +of the gift. + +Nigel had sent the drawing of the figure to meet either fortune. If she +had not seen it before, it at all events assisted to explain the +allusions of the sonnet; and if she had, by the hand of Wallenstein, it +would justify his request as showing that he himself understood the +linking of the three destinies. + +As he sat with Hildebrand at his evening meal the day following, he was +summoned and bidden to attend in the garden of the palace at the hour of +nine, when he would be met at the nearest gate. + +This involved some explanation to Hildebrand, who, receiving the other's +assent to his own hint of an assignation, merely laughed and asked no +more. + +Nigel was punctual, and the same page who had introduced him to the +Archduchess in the gallery met him, and bowing, led the way by a path +little difficult to remember through the garden, where he had met Father +Lamormain, to a little orchard close, which was separated from the +garden by a thick hedge, within which was a wall. The page unlocked the +gate of this with a key, which he then handed to Nigel, bowed again, and +turned as if to go. Nigel entered the orchard close, and following a +little path between two rows of trees came to an open bower, which had +a carpet of thick sward, an old stone seat, a screen of yews and laurels +all about save for the entrance and the exit opposite. + +The night was matchless with moonlight. The trees shone whitely. Deep +shadows fell from trees and bushes which were full of foliage. Out of a +shadow stepped the Archduchess Stephanie, a dark-hued velvet cloak +dependent from her shoulders and open, displaying her milk-white neck +and bosom, and a robe of some sheeny tissue of gold thread and silk that +glittered here and there as she moved, whose texture caught the +moonbeams. Upon her head she wore a little golden fillet of antique +work, which seemed to confine her profusion of black curls that for the +rest framed in her glorious face and danced in the night breeze upon her +shoulders. The dark eyebrows and the long lashes, like thickets half +concealing twin lakes, made her complexion look paler than usual. But +her red full lips parted in a smile. + +Her beauty, intensified by the moonlight, and suffused with something +more of air and sky, her ever astonishing resemblance to the strange +Ottilie von Thüringen, together took Nigel by storm. The shock of it +thrilled him. No Wallenstein of forty-eight, wrapped securely in the +husk of his own fortunes, but a living man with all the ripe vintage of +twenty-five surging in his veins, was Nigel. What would the world of men +of forty-eight not give to have the glorious energy, the unconquerable +vigour, the joyous ardour for love of twenty-five, of twenty-five that +can quaff and quaff again and still hold out the bowl for more? Give? +Another world! + +Was it perchance precisely fair? The law of Archduchesses is sure their +own, and no man can gainsay it. + +Nigel, bewildered for a moment, stammered out-- + +"The Queen of Night!" and knelt to kiss her long slender fingers. + +As he rose to his feet again she laid a hand lightly on his arm and said +with a twinkle of merriment in her rich voice-- + +"Strange and inconsequent mixture are you, man! You face sword and fire, +and lose not a heart-beat, nor a patch of colour. You meet a woman in +the moonlight, and straightway your knees must knock, and you must +tremble like a steeple in the wind." + +"I crave pardon, your Highness!" said Nigel, recovering his boldness. +"Great supreme beauty such as yours, if there be any like it anywhere, +must needs give a man more than a feeling of awe!" + +"Now you talk like a bold wooer and a poet. Faith! you have more than a +touch of the poet, though my skill in the English tongue is not great +enough for me to put a right value on your verses. 'Tis seven years +since my cousin, the Infanta, thought to wed England. We all learned +English in those days." + +"But your Highness understood!" said Nigel eagerly. "It is but a day or +two at most and I must ride into the very teeth of Gustavus. I burned to +see your Highness, to thank you for my fortunes, and say that if your +Highness has need of me at any time--" + +"You will drop your regiment of Rough-riders like a hot iron and ride +for me? And this is loyalty to the House of Habsburg!" Her smile blunted +the edge of her ridicule. + +"Saving my duty as a soldier, your Highness is _my_ House of Habsburg!" +he rejoined with such an earnestness that broke down her fence of +raillery. + +"You Scots! Full of conceit! Sensitive! Brave to the degree that you do +not even know you are brave! Kindly, so that you would die and not +grudge the gift!... I shall not tempt you from your duty; but if I call +you by this sign"--she drew out the figure from its hiding-place--"come +what may ... I look to you. It will be no little matter." + +Nigel's eyes were full upon her, for there was a solemnity in her voice, +a note of strong appeal as from one high spirit calling to another and +conscious of the other's attuning. He drew his sword and pressed the +hilt to his lips in token of his fealty. + +Then it pleased the Archduchess to pace to and fro for a while beneath +the trees in silence. She was in truth full of emotion, which was all +but too strong for her. The nearness of Nigel, who walked beside her, +was one cause of trouble. She had told herself that she loved +Wallenstein, the dark, inscrutable organiser of armies, that she had +always loved him. But did she sway the spirit of Wallenstein, the heart +of Wallenstein, so that it vibrated, if heart or spirit can vibrate, to +her touch? She did not seek to answer it. She knew that this stranger +Scot with the eagle eyes and bearing was nearer to her in the spring of +his years and of his intelligence, albeit one of her father's +mercenaries, who might perchance become another Tilly, never a +Wallenstein. "And why not?" she asked herself. Then she answered it. +"Too much heart!" + +Of a sudden she broke the silence again-- + +"I like you, Colonel Nigel! I trust you! I am perhaps going into a +nunnery for a season; perhaps for always!" + +"Your Highness! Into a nunnery!" Nigel's astonishment and his sorrow +were racing for the mastery. + +"They wish me to marry Maximilian of Bavaria!" + +"The Jesuits? Your Highness will not?" + +"I have told them that asked, 'Sooner a nunnery, or to wed a private +gentleman who is not of the blood royal.'" + +The blood coursed like a river through the young officer's veins. +If---- He put the thought away sternly. + +"Many things may happen. I must gain time. Some other league or bond may +be formed and other interests may thwart it! I tell you so that if I be +not here when you return, after you have driven Gustavus back to the +Baltic, you will know. 'Tis the fate of princesses who cannot control +their own destinies." She had stopped in her walk as if to say a word or +two before dismissing him. + +"I would I were to be nearer Vienna than Magdeburg!" said Nigel. "But I +have promised. And your Highness is not an Infanta of Spain to be +bartered here or there for an article in a treaty." + +"So you think!" she said, evidently pleased. "But we women are all alike +in one thing, we are all fatalists, like the Grand Turk." + +"I have been very desirous of asking your Highness a question," said +Nigel, drawing the little dagger from his belt and holding it so that +she could see the hilt. "Whose arms are those?" + +"Habsburg," she said. "How came you by it?" + +"In Magdeburg a lady tried to stab me with it." + +As her fingers closed round the hilt Nigel seemed to see the hand again +just as he saw it and grasped it at Magdeburg. + + * * * * * + +"I wonder whether it was my cousin Ottilie von Thüringen," she said. +"She is suspected of strong sympathies for the Lutherans." + +"Does she resemble your Highness in person?" + +"Yes! She did as a girl! There is a coldness between the families and we +do not meet as we used. Some say she is singularly like me. Her mother +was sister to mine! I remember myself giving her this dagger for a +gift. 'Tis very strange it should come into your hands and your eyes say +that you wish it back in your own keeping. Colonel Nigel! I shall be +jealous if you love my cousin Ottilie! It is the way of princesses!" + +Her eyes fastened upon Nigel's: and his, fighting this uneven battle, +drooped. + +"I do not know if I love her! But I love none other! And then she is not +a princess!" + +"And one does not love the stars!" she interposed, rather with a touch +of malice. "So you can worship but not love me, Colonel Nigel!" + +"What can I say, your Highness? I must be true at all costs!" + +A mist came over her fine eyes. She gave him her hand. This time he +bowed and kissed it. + +With a quick movement she turned, walked into the shadows, and he saw no +more of her that night nor till he departed for his journey. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + NIGEL'S INSTRUCTIONS, WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN. + + +It is not too much to say that the Emperor Ferdinand and the Jesuits, +which may be taken to include the Duke of Bavaria, were intoxicated by +the fall of Magdeburg. Ferdinand was bent on carrying out his Edict, +bent on restoring to the Church of Rome its ancient possessions, bent on +levelling the edifice of Protestantism till not one stone should be left +in company with another, as witness that within the bounds of the empire +there had once been such a heresy as Lutheranism, or such another heresy +as Calvinism. Rather a tractless desert, which, for lack of a better +name, he could call a Catholic state, than well-cultivated provinces, +studded thickly with prosperous towns and cities, wherein men and women +worshipped their Maker after any other fashion than his own. It was a +dream of fanaticism. + +Once the Emperor had deemed that he was within reach of his desires, +when Wallenstein and his army had traversed the land driving the forces +of Protestantism before him, not all Protestantism, mark you, but all +that had courage enough to show an armed front in Germany. And the Diet +of Ratisbon had said, "Your Majesty must dismiss Wallenstein." The +Jesuits had been foremost, for they had weighed Wallenstein and found +him wanting in their own kind of strenuousness. Reluctantly the Emperor +had listened and agreed to let him go. + +Gustavus had arisen. "Another little enemy," said Ferdinand, still full +of the sensation of power that had crept into his heart with the +aggrandisement of Wallenstein's army. Gustavus established himself in +Mecklenburg and in Pomerania. "It is no great matter," said the Emperor. +"Let our General Tilly and your General Pappenheim, Duke Maximilian, go +on with their work and enforce the Edict. Brandenburg lies between +Gustavus and Magdeburg, and George William is no fire-eater. He will +stand by the Empire. Saxony, broad and rich in cities and men, lies next +in his path, and John George is, Protestant though he be, a staunch +Elector of the Empire. Let Tilly and Pappenheim go onward, maugre the +threats of these northern migrants. We have seen Christian of Denmark +driven back to his flat lands. So shall we see Gustavus." And lo! Tilly +and Pappenheim took Magdeburg, and, whether they could help it or not, +the city was burned and twenty thousand of its citizens died the death +of the heretic: and the bruit of it had sent a shudder through all +Protestant Germany. Who indeed should stand at the last day against the +arms of the Empire? + +"And all without your vaunted Wallenstein!" said Duke Maximilian. They +set it down to impotence on the part of Gustavus. + +The Emperor Ferdinand was not indisposed to show some other parts of +Germany that Vienna was active, keeping them in mind, and he was not +altogether sure of Hesse Cassel and its Landgrave. He did not wish to +send his new regiment to join Tilly by the straight path through Saxony, +because Saxony might take umbrage. It would help to preach submission if +it took the road through Hesse Cassel and came by the north side of the +mountains into the south of Hanover, and got into sight of Gustavus +from the west bank of the Elbe, it being presumed that the Swedish king +was upon the other side, and came up stream to Tilly. + +This time Nigel had no despatches to carry. The Grand Duke Lothar had +summoned him to read in his presence the instructions of the Emperor, +which he was to impart to Major Hildebrand von Hohendorf. The only +papers he was furnished with were general authorities to quarter his +troops where he thought it expedient. Money was given him, but not in +such abundance as to cumber his march. Last of all, he was bidden to +Father Lamormain's apartments. + +The priest received him with the urbanity that sat so well upon him, and +bade him be seated. + +"I trust that your visit to Vienna has been a pleasant and a profitable +one!" he said. + +"Both the one and the other beyond all expectations!" said Nigel +heartily. + +"You are entering upon a perilous adventure," said the priest. "But the +Emperor and his councillors have great hopes that you will acquit +yourself successfully. Your journey is a long one, and you will pass +through many states, towns, bishoprics, and it depends upon yourself +what speed you make. I do not doubt but that your zeal will conduct you +to our armies. But the Emperor desires that you should note with care +the disposition and affection of each district to his rule, so that he +may know on whom to count for support or enmity. More than that, it is +suspected here that the Duke of Friedland has intelligence with many +princes and magistrates, even with Gustavus of Sweden." + +"Impossible, Father!" the young man interposed with a flush of +indignation. "Wallenstein a traitor!" + +Father Lamormain made a little movement with his hands. + +"I do not say treasonable! We live in times when we find it as difficult +to say what is honour as Pilate found it hard to say what was truth. +Besides, Wallenstein, being a private gentleman holding no office, may +if he so chooses write letters even to Gustavus about ... shall we say +butterflies, or forestry, or a thousand subjects." + +"But with the open enemy of the Emperor!" protested Nigel. + +The priest maintained his suavity. + +"Injudicious, let us say, if it be true! It is suspected. Now if you +should in your journeying intercept any of his messengers, the Emperor's +service demands that you should possess yourself of his letters and hand +them to the next regular priest you meet for transmission to the +Emperor." + +At the first grasp of the proposal Nigel was inclined to hesitate. But +at the second he saw that there was nothing essentially unbecoming in +it. He was in the service of the Emperor, and the Emperor's enemies +avowed or secret must be his. There could be no division of allegiance. +Besides, it was too impossible. + +Father Lamormain watched his face, saw the hesitation, and drew forth a +written order, signed by the Emperor himself, to seize the person of any +messenger he would who carried letters, examine him, and send unbroken +to the Emperor any letters he might seize. + +Nigel read it and nodded. + +"I understand, Father. It is for the safety of the Empire!" + +"And Holy Church!" added the priest. "Your responsibility ceases when +you report yourself to Count Tilly." + +Nigel devoutly hoped that he would reach Tilly in the shortest possible +space of time. Fighting was one thing. In so far as one did not get shot +oneself or maimed, it was an impersonal thing. Provided one did not +have too much of it, it was exciting and almost enjoyable; besides that, +it was the exercise of an old and honourable profession. But stopping +messengers on the highroad, when there was no chance of reprisals on +their part, questioning them at point of pistol, or rifling their +holsters, seemed to be the work of a lower order entailing a certain +stain upon him who performed it. + +"I would ask you a question, Father. Why have I been chosen for this +work?" + +The priest smiled. + +"For your knowledge of your craft the Archduke Lothar vouches. For your +being a good Catholic the Church vouches. And that you are of the +Scottish nation is good pledge that you will have no personal end to +serve in Germany but your own advancement. To you Saxony is Saxony, +Bavaria, Bavaria, but they mean nothing. You have taken service with the +Emperor, and him only will you serve. So long as you serve the Emperor +with a single eye you will succeed. The blessing of Heaven will follow +you. The higher you climb, the more difficult the path will be. But only +obey!" + +The openness of the priest's avowal and his fatherly manner, almost a +benediction in itself, won upon Nigel to a great degree, so that his +suspicions of the Jesuits and their ways were almost, if not quite, laid +to rest. + +"To obey comes easy to the soldier, Father! But it does not make some +duties less irksome." + +"Ah! There I disagree with you," said the priest. "The rule of my order +is obedience. The patience, the skill demanded of us, the interest +involved in carrying out the task to a complete and successful issue +beyond the possibility of doubt, remove all that you call irksomeness. +Strive after our conception of obedience and all else becomes easy to +you." + +"But in your case," said Nigel, "there is no tie of blood that binds +you. You admit neither father nor mother. The Church and your order +stand in their stead." + +"That is true! The member of the brotherhood of Jesus reckons no human +relationship as having any meaning in his regard, and being free he +moves safely to his instructed purpose. There is but one human passion +which can be a source of danger to you. You are young. You may love. At +present no danger threatens. Am I right?" + +Nigel answered tersely enough. + +"No woman claims me. I claim no woman!" + +And his answer was as sincere as it appeared to be to Father Lamormain. +For if his thoughts had often turned towards the lost Ottilie, and his +admiration been roused by the Archduchess Stephanie, the unknown +distance of the one and the exalted rank of the other had stayed the +fire, as trenches widely dug will upon a burning heath. + +Nigel was sensible of the pervading influence of the priest. He had +passed the stage at which he had silently questioned his instructions, +nor did he think it strange that the confessor of the Emperor should +have been the channel of their conveyance: for by this time from one and +another he had realised the peculiarly close leaning that the Emperor +had towards the Church and towards its regular priests. He, however, did +not recognise that one purpose of the interview was that Father +Lamormain should make the further acquaintance with the instrument the +Emperor and himself proposed to use. + +On the whole, Father Lamormain was well pleased, and satisfied on the +main head that Nigel was no creature of Wallenstein, though as a soldier +he reverenced his old commander. For any further work beyond the +present, time would show if this Scottish gentleman might become a more +confidential agent of the order. + +On the morrow Nigel set forth from Vienna with his three hundred +"Rough-riders," and if, horses and men, they presented an uncouth and +unfinished appearance, they also had a certain aspect of the formidable +that boded ill for any obstacle they might encounter. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + THE GUESTS OF THE ABBOT OF FULDA. + + +Of the earlier marches of Colonel Nigel Charteris it is not needful to +say anything. For the first day brought them across the plains to +Budweiss, where a strong garrison of the Emperor's troops lay, and the +next to the Bohmerwald, crossing which they came into Bavaria, and so on +the evening of the fourth day made Nuremberg. Bavaria being a country +ruled by that masterful Duke Maximilian, who was a pupil of the Jesuits, +though of a far more flexible mind than his cousin Ferdinand, was a +stronghold of Catholicism, and, beyond a few natural grumbles at having +to find quarters and food for so undesirable-looking a regiment, placed +no obstacles in their way. + +Nuremberg certainly showed a sullenness of the populace which seemed to +indicate that below the surface there was a strong Protestant feeling, +despite Maximilian's orthodoxy, but to Nigel it mattered little. His +march next led him to Bamberg, a town entirely dominated by a Catholic +Bishop, and a hostelry on the "Priestlane" to the Rhine, as the chain of +Bishoprics was called by the untaught lewd of the Protestants. The next +stage was Fulda, the seat of the Abbot of St Boniface, across the +Bavarian border, and before him lay on one side the westernmost strip +of the Thüringian forest, and on the other the State of Hesse Cassel. + +Now and again in Bavaria Nigel heard news of the army that was with +Pappenheim and Tilly. He learned that no action had been fought, that +the Elector of Saxony was still maintaining a neutrality, though he had +gathered large numbers of troops. Of Gustavus he learned nothing. +Evidently he was still in Pomerania. Nigel anticipated a peaceful march +through the territories he had yet to traverse, albeit they were +territories still Protestant in the main. + +The Abbot of Fulda was the chief of all the abbots of the Empire. His +territory extended twenty miles to the north and fifteen from east to +west. It was for the most part a fertile plain of great cultivation +lying between two ranges of hills which met at the northmost angle of a +rough triangle. Fulda itself was in the south of the domain and near the +Bavarian border. For forty years or more the Abbots of Fulda had kept +Lutheranism at bay with as much zeal as the Emperor himself, while Hesse +Cassel and Thüringia, the neighbouring states, had as sedulously +fostered the heresy. + +Nigel and his men readily gained entry to the town, and were surprised, +as they rode through, at the palace of the Abbot and the buildings +inhabited by his dependants and officers as well as those of the abbey +itself, where the monks continued to extol, if not to emulate, the +holiness of St Boniface, whose bones lay beneath the altar in the chapel +beneath the choir of the cathedral. The town reflected in its shops and +dwellings as well as in the dress of its inhabitants the wealth and +prosperity of the Abbot, for the shrine of St Boniface brought numerous +pilgrims, and the long and orderly rule of the Church for long +generations over the domains had enabled the abbey to accumulate a +considerable treasure. Nor were evidences lacking that the Abbot was +alive to the scriptural advice about the strong man armed keeping his +goods in peace. For the Abbot commanded a goodly assemblage of lay +brothers, who acted as his fighting force, for reprisals or for defence. + +The object of their visit being explained to the chief officer of the +abbey, quarters were assigned to the men and horses in the outlying +portions, while Nigel and Hildebrand were received with much ceremony +into the palace of the Prince-Abbot himself, and treated with every +courtesy as the representatives of the Emperor. + +The Abbot loved good cheer, and those who sat at meat with him had no +cause to complain of famine or of drought, nor was he himself sparing. + +Beside the two soldiers were two of the Abbot's principal officers, and +another gentleman, like the soldiers, a sojourner in the territories of +Fulda. The high cheek-bones and small dark eyes, the swarthy gipsy-like +complexion, all denoted an Eastern birthplace. + +The Abbot presented the newcomers to him and named him as the Count von +Teschen. His manners were pleasant. He was affable, but it was an +affability that told nothing. + +"So you were at Magdeburg!" said the Abbot. "A grave blunder!" + +Nigel looked questioningly. + +"Not on your part, colonel! Nor for that matter on Tilly's. But the +Jesuits!" + +"But Magdeburg had flouted the Edict!" opposed Nigel. + +"Magdeburg was at fault too!" smiled the Abbot. "The Emperor is a good +Catholic. So am I, I trust. But the Emperor is too Spanish in his +Catholicism. Lutheranism was a kind of quartan fever, a theologic +plague, a wen into which all manner of foul humours of discontent +drained till it burst. It should have been allowed to exhaust itself. +What did my predecessors do? They sat fast. They rewarded their good +faithful Catholics. They made no wholesale persecution of the heretics, +of whom there were a few. But the heretics found out that the true faith +paid them better. Here and there one was quietly deprived of his farm or +of our custom. Lutheranism grew stale, as all these violent uprisings +must. The old order continued. Little by little, when those tinged with +heresy saw that we were not to be moved, they came back." + +"They were long-headed men, the Abbots of Fulda! Now Fulda trades with +Hesse Cassel and with Thuringia, which are both Lutheran. We exchange +our cattle and our wine and leather for their goods or their money, and +do not find fault because either smells of Lutheranism." + +"It sounds reasonable!" said the Count von Teschen. + +"Edicts are all very well," the Abbot continued, "but if edicts are +going to destroy men and women and children, homesteads, workshops, +trade, they are going to destroy our revenues." + +"But surely," suggested Nigel, "our Father the Pope approved of the +Emperor's Edict and the means he took to enforce it." + +The Abbot smiled with great benignity. + +"If the Grand Turk issued an edict that all his subjects should become +Christians, would not the Holy Father approve? Without a doubt! But if +the Grand Turk applied to His Holiness for a million of gold crowns to +assist him in his task of conversion?" + +"I wager," said Hildebrand, "His Holiness would not subscribe a single +rix-dollar!" + +"It would be a pious aspiration! And so was our Pope's. They call him +Pope Lutheranus. He was not willing to discourage the Emperor Ferdinand +in his desires to restore to the church what the church had lost, but +he has not shown himself willing to contribute out of the treasure of +Rome to set armies marching hither and thither over the peaceful lands +of Germany to enforce his aspiration. Let well alone!" + +"The Duke of Friedland allowed himself to be dismissed," said the Count +von Teschen, "because he saw that it was the Emperor's desire to make +him the instrument of oppression to the Protestants." + +Nigel's ears pricked up. Who was this that spoke so intimately of +Wallenstein's mind? + +"Doubtless he saw also," said the Abbot, "that the ideas of the Emperor +would draw together all the Protestant powers. It is coming to that. +Even my neighbour the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel is but now on his way, +if he has not already started, to join Gustavus." + +"Indeed!" said Count von Teschen. There was that in his look and tone +which suggested to Nigel that it was news to him, and unwelcome news. + +"Moreover, my neighbours of Thüringia are in a ferment and have raised +up at least a regiment to march into Saxony." + +"To what end?" said Nigel. "It is thought the Elector, John George, is +too well affected to the Emperor." + +"John George is by nature peaceful! But he is gathering an army. And if +the Emperor were as politic as he is a good Catholic he would say to +John George, 'Come! Let us talk no more about edicts. Let us drive out +the Swedes.' But he cannot. He is too headstrong, and too sure of John +George. And John George has his people to consider. Do you think +Magdeburg has softened _them_? Has not every village had its separate +tale, and, as for Thüringia, there is a preacher called Pastor Rad, who +has painted the fall of Magdeburg from one end of the forest to the +other in the colours of Sodom and Gomorrah. Beware how you and your +troops ride through the forest. Just now the sight of a casque or a +gorget would madden the peasantry till not one trooper of your regiment +would remain to ride his horse." + +Nigel was not ungrateful to the Abbot for his warning, though he +suspected the dignitary of an inclination to exaggerate. He was no +coward, but he had seen enough of the Forest to know its solitudes of +trees, the deep beds of leaves that lay in the hollows, undisturbed from +year to year, till those of ten years ago had become thick black soft +earth in which a man's body might lie and moulder silently and surely +till the bones parted company. In the Forest a shrewd bolt from an old +cross-bow, an opportune thrust of pike from behind a tree, a stone well +dropped from a bough, might each and all thin his ranks and no enemy be +seen. + +But these gruesome forebodings were set aside by something the genial +and talkative host was saying to Count von Teschen. + +"Prague! I have never journeyed thither! They say the Duke of Friedland +has a goodly dwelling." He looked round complacently. "Our own is not +amiss seeing what a patchwork the ages and my predecessors have made of +it. Is the Duke's greater?" + +"It is in a great park!" said Count von Teschen. There are six gates to +its outer walls, and he has twenty gentlemen of birth serving him as if +he were the King of France. The servants and horsemen are numberless, +and his riches make the whole expense appear but a tithe of them. + +"And how does he spend his time?" + +"You have heard of his astrologer?" + +"Has he an astrologer of his own?" + +"Aye! One Master Seni! 'Tis not the only one, for I have heard of +another, Master Pietro Bramante, who travels up and down and visits him +at times." + +"And what do they that a man cannot do for himself?" + +"I know not! All they do they do in secret. But 'tis said they both +watch the stars for signs." + +"As Cæsar watched the entrails of the sacrifice for signs!" said the +Abbot with a laugh. "But I wager that Don Cæsar could always find the +auspices propitious, if his own plans were ripe." + +This caustic comment did not seem to please Count von Teschen, for he +said nothing but smiled an unpleasant smile that showed his fine white +teeth. + +"You may tell the Duke that I was much gratified by his gift. That +antique mitre of old goldsmith's work and the rochet will be famous +additions to our Abbey's treasure-house, and that which he has sent me +of a more personal kind is very precious to an old man who finds much of +his enjoyment in his toys." + +Count von Teschen expressed his thanks for the Abbot's appreciation and +promised deliverance of the message. + +The Abbot, on his part, promised to show them the treasures of St +Boniface on the morrow, and after a little while of further talk the +guests were shown with all ceremony to their bedchambers. + +Nigel was nothing loth. But he had no sooner found his couch than he +began to con over this Count von Teschen. That he was an emissary of +Wallenstein was plain: but that a rich nobleman should send presents +appropriate in character to a rich prelate had nothing suspicious in it. +If Wallenstein had lost favour and power mainly through the loss of the +support of the great Catholic electors, the Bishops of Mainz, Cologne, +and Treves, it was not so wonderful that he should by indirect methods +attempt to curry favour with a man like the Abbot of Fulda, who was +almost the equal of the great Prince-Bishops, and would share their +politics and their fortunes. But was this _all_ the task of the +emissary? Was it not possibly a cover to his real purpose, an end in +itself, but only a minor one? If it were so, how was Nigel on the +Abbot's own friendly territory to bid Count von Teschen stand and +deliver, backed though he was by three hundred indifferent horsemen, +many of whom were Count von Teschen's own countrymen? It is to be feared +that Nigel's last prayers before sleep came were not for the salvation +of Father Lamormain. + +The next morning Nigel and Hildebrand met the Abbot, who had with him +Count von Teschen, at the hour of nine, and made the round of the +Cathedral and the treasure-house and the principal apartments of the +palace and the abbey, which occupied them well till the hour of dinner, +when they were again treated with sumptuous liberality. The meal over, +Count von Teschen took his leave, and Nigel was unable to see him +depart: but for this he had taken measures. The Abbot seemed very +willing to detain the others, and asked particularly to see the muster +of the troops and an exercise or two, for his tastes seemed to lie +strongly towards secular matters. Nigel could do no less than gratify +him, and though he himself was quite aware that his men were far from +showing the discipline and skill of the veteran troops he had once led, +the display pleased his host, and occupied a good deal of time. + +His first question of Sergeant Blick was as to the direction taken by +the Count. When he learned that it was on towards the borders of Hesse +Cassel he was possessed by eagerness to set off, which, however, he had +to restrain till he could take decent leave of the prelate. + +"You have a good many Bohemians in your ranks, colonel!" said the Abbot. + +It was significant that the Abbot of St Boniface could put two and two +together. + +"Aye," said Nigel to himself, "corbies dinna pick oot corbies' een!" + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + CASTING OUT A DEVIL. + + +It was thus two hours past noon when Nigel and his men rode out of the +north gate of Fulda, and took the road that leads along the left bank of +the river Fulda, which steadily pursues its way till it finds an opening +in Taunus and so breaks into Hesse Cassel. Whether Count von Teschen had +taken that road, or returned, seemed of little moment, for he had at +least two hours' start, and as he had but a single man-servant, and both +of them were well mounted, pursuit promised little result; for the speed +of Nigel's command was perforce the speed of the worst horse. Moreover, +as they were approaching a country of doubtful friendliness, it was +wiser to approach it in good order and condition than upon horses blown +with haste. + +At the frontier of Hesse was a small military post the captain of which +challenged their further passage. + +Nigel made a civil reply that he was commanding a regiment of the +Emperor's horse and purposed to ride through Hesse Cassel into Lower +Saxony. The captain requested that he would stay his march till the +wishes of the Landgrave could be ascertained. To this Nigel made the +firm answer that he was unable to wait for such permission, the more so +that the Emperor was not at war with Hesse but with Sweden. The captain +told him that he passed at his own peril, and called in his handful of +men. Nigel rode on to Hersfeld. Such of the inhabitants that he met or +overtook preserved a sullen demeanour, which did not savour of anything +but hostility. Perhaps they regarded him and his men as the woeful +harbingers of great armies, and few of them, indeed, made any guess as +to the master he served, being disquieted at the uncouth aspect of the +strangers. + +But at Hersfeld he found something more than sullenness. For outside the +gates on the town's common was drawn up a considerable body of +well-armed infantry, and the numerous pennons showed that here was a +muster camp. Two regiments were disposed in battle array in the dense +battalion formation usual with all armies but that of Gustavus. A little +in front of these was a group of richly-dressed officers, and in the +middle one of high rank. + +Nigel halted his men and rode forward with Hildebrand till he came +within saluting distance, when, after a cold acknowledgment, the general +commanding the Hessians motioned him to come forward. + +Nigel advanced a few steps and reined in his horse. + +"Who are you?" was the curt inquiry. + +"Colonel Nigel Charteris of the Imperial Service, with my regiment of +horse. I am leading them through the territories of Hesse Cassel to join +Count Tilly." + +"By whose authority?" + +"The Emperor's, and with the goodwill of the princes his allies!" + +"His Majesty takes strange measures to preserve their goodwill, sir. I +am William of Hesse! These are my territories, not the Emperor's." + +"Your Highness will surely of grace accord us a day's journey through +your dominions, and such little provender as we pay for. It is a +peaceful errand so far as your Highness is concerned." + +"Then you should have stayed at the frontier till my guards had asked my +will." + +"I crave pardon, your Highness. I was told in Fulda that your Highness +had set out on a journey; and I might have waited an ill-convenient +time." + +"It is possible, colonel. You might have gone other ways." + +"The Emperor would doubtless be surprised to hear that the Landgrave of +Hesse Cassel was unwilling to give his men passage. But if it be denied +to them, I have no instructions to make war." + +"'Tis just as well!" said the Landgrave with a grim smile on his thick +lips. "We have that about us that would stop you. You will go hence, if +you so choose, across the river into Thüringia, and make what way you +can. I am not ruler there. But further passage through Hesse you cannot +have." + +Nigel showed no outward perturbation. He took one level, leisurely +survey of the officers of the Landgrave, saluted, and said-- + +"Adieu, your Highness! It will please the Emperor to know that the +hospitality, which is denied to him, is accorded to the Duke of +Friedland." + +The point of this remark lay in this, that Count von Teschen was seated +on horseback among the suite of the Landgrave. + +"One does not inquire into the quality of the merchant, but into the +goodness of his wares!" was the quick reply. For all his sternness the +Landgrave looked into Nigel's eyes with a half smile, and made a little +motion of farewell with gauntleted hand. He was a man and knew a man. + +Nigel and Hildebrand bade their regiment of rough-riders turn about and +make for the river bank. The advance-guard was bidden to stop wherever +the river should be fordable. Then they planned to cross into Thüringia +and march north by the way of Erfurt, and thence to the camp of +Gustavus. + +The _contretemps_ at Hersfeld was a surprise to both of them. Nor was it +to be explained by the presence of Count von Teschen. It was plain that +the Landgrave was about to take up arms against the Emperor, and that +the Emperor was ill-informed as to the real state of matters in the +Protestant States, of which Hesse Cassel was one of the smallest. + +As to Wallenstein, Nigel against his own inclination was beginning to +have doubts of his loyalty. Father Lamormain had more than hinted them. +The Landgrave's irony about the merchant and his merchandise showed that +at the opposite poles of policy and belief similar ideas were current. +And Nigel was honestly grieved. But his path at all events was plain. He +was for the Emperor. + +So having come to the ford he set his horse at the water, and though it +reached his stirrups and ran swiftly, he made light of it. By the fall +of evening they had reached the hamlet of Salzungen and bivouacked by +the river Werra. + +Water and green grass ripening into long hay were there in plenty, and +Nigel had learned in the school of Wallenstein sufficient of the art of +exacting creature-comforts for the men. It was merely an outskirt of the +forest land, gently undulating from the hamlet church down to the river; +and across the river farther down, where a wooden bridge spanned it, the +road wound into gentle rising lands, behind which rose steeper +pine-covered hills, and there was a great expanse of sky and +comparatively open country. There was no chance of a surprise here, and +except from equal numbers of cavalry, a thing unlikely to expect, there +was nothing to fear. + +At the ford near Hersfeld he had left a vedette of three picked men to +watch and capture any one that crossed during the next five or six +hours. There was still a hope that it might be the Count von Teschen. +And if his path lay in another direction, it might be some messenger to +rouse the opposition of the people of the forest. + +At midnight the vedette came in and reported that no one had crossed. + +When the vedette came Nigel roused himself to hear their report, bade +them take the refreshment provided for them, and go to sleep. The first +sentinels had been relieved, and all was quiet save for the sound of +horses tearing the rich grass as they took fresh mouthfuls, or the chant +of some still unsated grasshoppers. He was soon asleep again. + +But not so heavily as before. The couch of hay on which he lay in an +open shed did not, once his sleep was broken, prove quite so soft and +alluring as it had three hours before. And at two o'clock, which sounded +from the nearest steeple, he found himself cold and wakeful. Then from +the main street of the hamlet his ear caught the sound of horse's hoofs, +not of a horse being ridden but led. One horse! Two horses! It might be +some early villager; or, again, it might be Count von Teschen. + +Nigel got up, wrapped in his cloak as he was, went out and summoned the +sentry who was on guard beside the hut. Taking the man's musket himself, +he bade him go and see who the horsemen were, and himself walked to and +fro in the cold air, musket on arm. Then after a few steps he stood +still, for he had heard a low call. It was a familiar one, the call of +the Bohemian to his horse. Some wakeful trooper might have uttered it in +pure negligence. But it was repeated. And then from another direction, +it was not easy to tell which, it was answered. Nigel was alert now, +wondering what this might mean. Still dark, he had nothing but his ears +to trust to, but down among the lines he thought he heard movements. So +he roused the two nearest men, and sending one away in the direction of +the noise he bade the other be on the alert. Then he resumed his place, +appearing to sleep on his post but in reality watching with ears and +eyes. + +Two forms began to make themselves apparent, wriggling and crouching +along the ground in between the sleeping troopers, mere shapes, but +moving, and moving towards the hut. Of a sudden one sprang at him, knife +in hand, to feel the butt of the sentry's musket hit him one tremendous +blow beneath the chin and then nothing more upon earth. The other who +made straight into the hut was faced at the opening by a trooper, who, +firing his musket point-blank, blew half the man's face away, and in +doing so roused the camp. + +"Seize all the Bohemians!" was the next order. But quickly as it was +carried out in the almost total darkness, the confusion, the protests, +the excitement among the horses, which threatened to stampede, all +contributed to the partial success of the plot. For some twenty-five or +thirty men galloped in wild disorder across the grasslands and gained +the wooded bridge before they could be stopped, and for the present it +was hopeless to pursue. The sentry was found by the roadside leading to +the village, stunned by a blow from a pistol butt. + +Nigel, except for Hildebrand, kept his own counsel. But at dawn, as soon +as the troopers had broken their fast and horses were fed and watered, +he made a close inquiry, released such of the Bohemians as seemed to +have kept quiet, distributed them by twos and threes through the other +troops, and the rest, about a dozen in all, he deprived of their arms +and made them ride in the middle of the regiment, scowling and +disconsolate. + +So Count von Teschen had scored his first point, and the second point. +But Nigel was determined not to let him get too far ahead, to husband +his horses with all the skill he could command, and follow his own road +to Erfurt. If he could get even with von Teschen on the way so much the +better. + +It was a summer morning. Not a few of the village folk came out to look +at the regiment from a respectful distance. And as Nigel and Hildebrand +rode over the little bridge whence they could see in either direction +the little river peacefully meandering, the line of tiny trees along its +banks, the shimmering haze over the meadows, and heard the church bell +summoning the faithful to early mass, all the world seemed at peace. +Over the low hill to another hamlet called Schweina, where they got a +stirrup-cup, and then the road, still mounting, wound by an ascent that +tried the horses towards the castle of Altenstein, which was nearly the +highest point of the range of hills they had to cross, peering out of +the thick woods. As yet they had seen no sign of the Count von Teschen. +A short halt to breathe the horses and then onward again, and after a +short farther ascent they found on the ridge of the range a fair road, +wooded to the left, and bounded on the right by grasslands which sloped +down to the valley, a world of greenery beneath a canopy of the bluest +sky. A mile further on, to avoid a long detour, they had to clamber by a +rough path over a spur of the woody hill before meeting the road again, +and here they became aware they were not the only wayfarers, for, as +Nigel was almost out of the woodland shade, he heard the murmur of many +voices and the articulate sound of one strong resonant voice. + +Nigel passed the word to halt, while he looked upon the business that +was forward, and to do that the better he forced his horse through the +undergrowth some few dozen yards farther along. Upon a waggon, from +which the horses had been taken, stood Pastor Rad. + +At first Nigel saw vaguely a great multitude, and his first thought was +that this was an assemblage of the Lutherans for worship in a place +convenient to the many scattered hamlets. Then as his horse stood more +steadily and he could choose his own window in the leaves, he saw that a +great many of them were men, and that they were armed in some measure; +and, thirdly, he noticed that whatever the ultimate business might be, +that which was being transacted was a sort of trial. + +There was Pastor Rad standing in an ox-waggon, his long yellow hair +partly matted on his brow and partly hanging in disorder, for he was +manifestly very hot. Down below, facing him, sat a girl, her hair +flowing down to her waist, in a plain dusky blue robe. She was +manifestly being talked at, preached at, the object of public ignominy. +In a ring round her at a little distance sat two rows of grim-faced +elders, or whatever functionaries corresponded to that body in the +Lutheran community. + +"Come forth, Satan!" bellowed Pastor Rad, so that it reached even to the +ears of Nigel and Hildebrand. + +And all the ring of elders fell forthwith upon their knees and cried +with a loud voice, "Come forth, Satan!" + +The girl involuntarily put her hands to her ears because of the clamour. + +"What in the name of heaven are they about?" Nigel asked. + +"'Tis an exorcising. The girl has an evil spirit!" said Hildebrand, +crossing himself. "'Tis none of our business! Let us get on!" + +But the girl wept and stood up crying aloud for a deliverer. She +evidently dreaded the next step of the exorcisers. And with good reason, +for Pastor Rad issued some brief directions and two men seized the girl, +and, thrusting her hands between the rails of the waggon, were +proceeding to bind them; another stood forward with a whip of many +thongs. + +"God condemn the Lutherans!" said Hildebrand, and spat upon the ground. +"They are going to whip the devil out of her." + +Once more the girl tried to wrench herself free, and in doing so turned +her face, throwing back her flowing hair as she did so, in such wise +that Nigel got a glimpse of it. + +"By God's Son!" Nigel exclaimed, with a burst of passionate indignation +that almost startled Hildebrand. "Go back! lead the men into the open, +halt them in three lines and await my order! Tschk!" + +Bowing his head and urging his horse he broke through the saplings and +galloped to the girl's side. + +It needed but his brief "Loose her!" to make her torturers undo the +clumsy fastening they had begun, and "Elspeth Reinheit!" for her to +fling her arms around his saddle-peak. + +"Take me away! Save me! Save me! Captain!" + +Nigel unclasped her arms and bade her once more sit down upon the low +bench. "Fear no more, maiden!" he added with such decision in his voice +as poured fresh courage into her. Then he faced sternly up at the Pastor +and asked him-- + +"What have you against this maiden?" + +But the Pastor, full to overflowing with spiritual drunkenness, +shouted-- + +"The Lord hath delivered into our hands her paramour also! Behold him +that sinned with the damsel. Now shall the lying devil come out of her +and she shall confess!" + +"What say you?" was Nigel's response, hurled at the minister in a voice +that spoke of his indignation. + +"That you, Captain of the host of the Evil One, did'st lie with the +damsel at Magdeburg! Deny it not!" + +Before the Pastor knew what he did, Nigel had leaned over in his +stirrups and, seizing him by the raiment, tumbled him to the ground and +struck him two shrewd blows with the flat of his sword, which completed +his confusion. + +The men of the assembly sprang up, and with one accord were making for +the bold intruder, but the immediate appearance of Hildebrand and his +men caused every one to stand stark still. + +"Know all men!" shouted Nigel in the temporary silence, "this maiden, +Elspeth Reinheit, is as pure as snow. Your Pastor lies foully when he +says other. It is true she succoured me when I was in sore need in +Magdeburg. But do not your Scriptures say--'If thine enemy hunger, feed +him. If he thirst, give him drink'? This did she, and for this I spared +not only her life, but the life of her slanderer, Pastor Rad. Is this +true, maiden?" + +"Before God, it is true!" said Elspeth. + +"Nevertheless, I leave her not here to your ruthlessness and your +religion! Maiden!" + +She sprang up at the word! Nigel lifted her upon his saddle, and giving +his horse the spur, bore her to the regiment, who, understanding nothing +of what had gone before, manifested a jovial indifference not unmingled +later with some rough jokes, which would perhaps have put Nigel to the +blush. For a woman, especially a woman in her youth, not ill-looking, +was the ordained prey of the soldier of fortune, who having abducted her +in one hour, as willingly dropped her in the next to patch up her life +and the rags of her honour as she would. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + INTO THE FOREST'S HEART. + + +Before Elspeth Reinheit was aware of the providential character of the +deliverance from her persecutors, she found herself descending the +familiar, tortuous, narrow valley of the Erbstrom, along which the +houses of the village of Ruhla are strung for fully a couple of miles. +After a stony descent the regiment reached a tolerable inn, wherein +Nigel could gain speech in something like connected fashion with the +girl. + +It seemed that from the day that Nigel burst into the house at Magdeburg +Pastor Rad had conceived a violent jealousy in regard to Elspeth, to +whom previously he had paid such attentions as indicated a project of +marriage. Elspeth had till that time received his attentions with a kind +of dutiful acquiescence; but as from that time his manner towards her +changed into one of sullen suspicion, out of which arose interminable +inquiries as to her relations with the Scottish captain of musketeers, +so her mood of acquiescence had changed also into one of complete +indifference, not altogether free from a little feminine spite. Unable +to get any definite confession from her which would have condemned her, +the minister had brooded over his own fancied wrongs along with the very +real wrongs done to his fellow Lutherans at Magdeburg, and had finally +concluded that she was possessed by a lying devil, who took pleasure in +defeating him. This was a blow to his spiritual pride, and he had +arranged to bring the matter to the test of a public discipline. To what +lengths he might have gone in his extraordinary fury, supported as he +was by the general renown he was just then enjoying as a prophet of +Protestantism, it was impossible to say. He was a fanatic, and a genuine +believer in his own fanaticism, spurred on by a bitter residuum of +admiration and desire for the maiden he had once fully intended to +marry. As for the congregations he had summoned from every hamlet, +little and big, for miles round, it was sufficient for them to have +heard the bruit of the possession to believe it implicitly. Even the +very lawyers believed in such things, and unlearned persons were not +prone to doubt what lawyers and clergy unitedly agreed was so. That she +was a girl of the richer class of farmers, and therefore above most of +themselves in social consideration, was in itself an inducement to +believe ill of her. They had come to the assembly as to a holiday, with +their wives and provisions, their pipes and tabors. There was to be a +general muster afterwards of a military character, for had they not +promised to raise a corps in aid of John George the Elector of Saxony, +who was on the eve of rebellion against the Emperor? + +The question Nigel now put to Elspeth was as to her next destination. +Her home was a little to the north of Eisenach, but her father was a man +who concerned himself more to stand well in the eyes of his neighbours, +and especially those who bought and sold with him, than one to stand up +starkly for his daughter's good name and safety. He had made a protest +of sorts against her being haled before the congregations on such a +charge, but he had not stood out long before the onslaught of Pastor +Rad and some of the lay brethren. What had happened before might happen +again. Elspeth felt no surety in being restored at present to the +parental homestead. + +"Have you no more powerful friends who could give you refuge till Pastor +Rad grows tired of his folly?" + +"There is the Lady Ottilie of Thüringen!" said Elspeth. "I know not +where we may find her just now. She comes and goes like the forest deer. +She is sometimes at the Wartburg! If she were there, the Landgravine +would take me in, and Pastor Rad would never lay hands on me." + +A strange eager light came into Nigel's face as the name of the +mysterious Ottilie fell innocently and naturally from the girl's lips. + +"Who is she, this Lady Ottilie?" he asked in a tone of calculated +indifference. "Is she of the Landgrave's family?" + +Elspeth opened her own blue eyes more widely, and considered Nigel's +face with a calm gaze as she replied-- + +"She may be of their kin. I do not know. She is possessed of influence +with them, and they treat her with much honour." + +They made plans together, for Elspeth knew every path through the +forest, and after an hour or so Nigel gave orders to mount again. +Sergeant Blick had improvised a pillion, and Elspeth was mounted this +time behind a solid German trooper, to whose belt she held tightly. She +rode a few paces behind Nigel, who was busy for a mile or two unfolding +to Hildebrand the inner history of the incident, and his own plans. + +So they rode on to a spot where a ridge of high open ground divides the +thick forest valleys leading northwards from the one by which they had +come. It is called Hohe Sonne. Here Hildebrand assumed command of the +regiment, and was to lead them to the right by the road called +Weinstrasse and halt them at the edge of the forest, two miles to the +east of the town of Eisenach, while Nigel with Sergeant Blick and four +trustworthy troopers should make their way on foot with Elspeth through +the Annathal to the Wartburg. By this forest path they would be under +cover all the way. Their task accomplished, Nigel and his party could +rejoin the regiment. In the present state of Thüringia, stirred from end +to end as it evidently had been, Nigel was bent on keeping as much as +possible to the open road, and not allowing his force to be entangled in +any tumult in the towns. + +At first the pathway led gently downwards through a wide undulating area +of forest, which gradually contracted to a long sinuous ravine flanked +by steep walls of rock. The sound of voices carried far along this +rock-bound way in the stillness, that was broken by nothing but the +light splashing of the brook and the "pink-pink" call of the birds. + +Nigel and Elspeth Reinheit were far in front, for they were lighter of +foot, and both eager, though from different causes. He was desirous to +surrender his charge, pretty and young as she was, into safe keeping, +for Nigel had never played philanderer. He was also involuntarily full +of the tumult, at once a wonder to himself and a pleasure, that came +over him at the thought of Ottilie von Thüringen. + +Elspeth in her ingenuous way was only too glad to leave the soldiers in +the rear, in order to savour the unspoken delight she felt at being +alone in the forest with her deliverer, at whose noble and martial +aspect she kept taking little fleeting but soul-satisfying looks. She +longed with all her maidenliness, and she was as sweet and chaste as the +brook that gurgled by them, to throw her arms about him and tell him +that she could love him to eternity. The affection of a thousand +affectionate German girls, rippling over with endearing phrases of their +love-making mother tongue, welled up to her lips, but did not pass them. +Only by an effort of will did she convert them to little outbursts of +thankfulness that gushed out at intervals, and after short spaces of +silence, renewed themselves in other words. Even Nigel could scarcely +fail to be aware of the state of her feelings, for the tenderness of her +tones filled out what might be lacking in her actual declarations. Her +beautiful golden hair had been gathered by her deft fingers into a coil, +and surmounted rather than covered by a dainty coif; and with her clear +blue eyes and pink cheeks, her supple figure, rather tall than +otherwise, she was a feast for the eyes that some of the heroes of the +Nibelungen Lied might well have coveted. + +One question bubbled to the surface of her mingled reverie and talk. + +"Noble captain, have you ever seen the Lady Ottilie since we parted at +Erfurt?" + +Nigel was too busy with the puzzling thoughts that the question called +up to apprehend any subtlety in the question. So he said-- + +"Once I fancied so! But it was not near enough to speak, and it was +night." + +"Do you long very much to see her again?" came the next question. + +"I? Little one! I scarcely know! She is a mystery to me!" + +"Perhaps that is why you would like to see her!" she conjectured. "Now +when you have brought me to a safe place _I_ shall never cease to wish +to see _you_ again." + +Nigel smiled as he answered-- + +"You must have a long patience, Fräulein Elspeth, for I may never come +this way again." + +Elspeth was on the verge of tears. + +"But what is this?" asked Nigel. "It seems to me that the rocks close in +and that there is no passage, though I suppose the brook runs out by +some crevice. Do we have to climb the rocks?" + +"We are coming to the Dragon's Gorge. After that we shall have the wide +forest again." + +"We must wait till the men come up with us!" said Nigel. + +"I could wait all day!" sighed the maiden, gazing at him with large eyes +and then dropping her eyelids. + +In a minute or two they heard the sound of hurrying feet, in another +Sergeant Blick and his men came panting up as fast as they could run. + +"The Bohemians!" said Blick. "Count von Teschen!" Presently the jingle +and clatter of men and horses echoed along the rocky walls. + +"No horses can get through the Dragon's Gorge," said Elspeth. "Come!" +She led them to the rocks, and there a narrow passage disclosed itself, +the width of a broad man, no more. It was as if the rocks had once been +one and been split asunder by some mighty rent. The brook flowed to the +opening, and the rocks' sides were covered with mosses and ferns up and +up, through which there was an eternal trickle of water, and high above +all were the tree-tops. + +"The question is, are they pursuing us, or are they merely making for +the Wartburg?" Nigel asked Sergeant Blick. Elspeth answered-- + +"They would never have come this way to _ride_ to the Wartburg." + +"Then they must never come through!" said Nigel. "Fräulein Elspeth, lead +these men through to the other end! Blick, stay here with me." + +Then Nigel peered out from the mouth of the rocky passage. He espied +Count von Teschen and his troop of Bohemians riding along. Then, as they +in their turn made out the impossibility of going further, there was a +general hubbub of voices. + +Count von Teschen was inclined to turn back and seek another way, but +evidently some of his ruffians were for a pursuit on foot, thinking the +rock passage but a temporary obstacle. Five or six of them dismounted +and throwing the reins on their horses' necks rushed forward splashing +into the brook, and then one entered the Dragon's Gorge. He had no +sooner peered round the first bend than he fell forward, for Blick's +musket butt was heavy and the arm that swung it strong. He fell face +downwards into the stream. + +Another of his fellows followed eagerly, and again the butt descended +and he fell on top of the other. The water continued to trickle through +the ferns and mosses. And the brook flowing on carried the flowing blood +onwards to Nigel's feet as he splashed forward towards the other end of +the gorge. + +It was a strange fortress to hold, this rift in the rocks, and yet a +fortress of a kind. One man at each end could hold it. It was tortuous +and it was lofty. Overhead were streaks of blue sky, alternating with +patches of greenery and overhanging rocks. It would take more men than +Count von Teschen had to spy down from above with the view of letting a +big loose stone fall upon the heads of the defenders, for a yard to +right or left for them brought invisibility. Nigel pressed on to the +other end, which opened out into a wider passage a few feet in length, +and then discovered a still wider glen, with sloping sides thick with +trees. Two things were possible: the one to hasten forward and trust to +their heels for putting the forest depths between them and the pursuers, +which meant risking their lives once the Count and his followers had +made a circuit of the obstacle and possibly overtaken them, spreading +out as they would be sure to do. The other was to lie in the fortress, +stoutly guarding both ends, and trust to the foe giving up a hopeless +task, and proceeding. The latter had this to recommend it, that darkness +would fall at sunset, and the hours of this eventful day were hastening +to their end. And with darkness and Elspeth they might surely expect to +evade the others and make their way to the Wartburg. + +Against this plan Nigel's mind suggested that Count von Teschen was +quite possibly himself journeying to that same castle, carrying letters +to the Landgrave, and if he reached there first, what hope could there +be of a reception for Elspeth, or safety for himself, especially now +that blood had been shed. + +It became an immediate necessity to see what the enemy was doing. He +sent one man back to support Blick, one man he posted at the farther end +of the gorge, outside, as a look-out, and the other two with Elspeth +stood in a little hollow just outside on a dry spot, with instructions +to retire to the rocks if danger threatened. Nigel then climbed the +steep ascent at the further end and made his way along the lip of the +rift till he could look down upon the Count and his followers; they were +all there as far as Nigel could see, irresolute. Finally they seemed to +make up their minds, and one by one began to lead their horses in single +file up a steep bank into the woodland. Yet not all, for six remained to +guard the inlet. Very cautiously Nigel leaned over and called to Blick, +whose cheery voice was heard in reply-- + +"Two dead. No wounded, colonel!" + + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + THE DRAGON'S GORGE. + + +Nigel Charteris prayed for the fall of night. Night and the forest could +save him and his handful. Night and the forest would enable Elspeth to +lead them to the Wartburg more swiftly than any horsemen could make +their way. + +Nigel prayed, but with him to pray was to labour. In a moment he was +back again at the hinder end of the gorge and drew out his two men. In +another moment they had spread forty yards apart, secure behind wide +boles of trees on either side of the direction taken by the Count. Then +a pause came. The Count and his followers rode stealthily forward. They +were evidently making a flank movement, but whether of departure or of +surprise, it was not clear to Nigel. Either was undesirable. Two puffs +of smoke, two shots rang out, two of the Bohemians fell from their +saddles. Six or seven of their comrades fired wildly in the direction of +the smoke. But Nigel's outposts had scuttled and taken up other +positions. Again two shots rang out, this time more in the rear of the +Count's party. One hit a horse, the other a rider. There was prancing +and rearing, and three riderless horses tore back breakneck in the +direction they had come. The Count shouted hoarsely, bidding his men +dismount and search. Nigel ran swiftly back and called to Blick and his +comrade to follow the gorge to its hinder issue and await him. It may be +imagined how Blick splashed through the water and reached the trembling +Elspeth, who, standing as high as she could out of reach of the +blood-stained water, was trembling all over at the unseen danger she +ran. + +Blick was for killing the Count, but this Nigel forbade, though there +was justification enough. As far as his own deserters that was another +matter. He wished to scatter them, disable them in detail, to avoid a +hand-to-hand combat where numbers must tell against his little band, and +gain time. The two outposts had fallen back upon the hinder mouth of the +gorge. One was stationed behind Elspeth to keep the pass. The other +three with Blick again spread out and lay _perdu_ until the searchers +came near, so near that the muskets of Nigel's men could scarcely fail +to hit. Then one by one their voices spoke, reverberating through the +forest, given back by the rocks, repeated by other rocks, and again +howls and curses rent the air. The Bohemian deserters ran crouching here +and there firing at trees they deemed men. And twice again the hidden +marksmen hit the mark, and the Count, watched carefully by Nigel, was at +his wits' end. With this kind of warfare he was plainly unfamiliar. He +alone remained by his horse in company with a knot of five or six +besides his body-servant. His guards were on the alert with their +muskets ready to fire at the least sign, and every now and again a shot +from one of Nigel's holster pistols came whistling about their ears, +sufficiently near to increase the strain of their attention and make +them feel, despite their knowledge of Nigel's strength, that the forest +was full of enemies. + +Once, twice, shots came perilously near hitting Nigel, but his advantage +of the thicker cover saved him. Meanwhile Sergeant Blick managed his +force of sharpshooters with amazing dexterity, advancing, retiring, +picking off a man here or there. And the twilight came, less a state of +light than of gloom. And the smoke of the powder hung just below the +foliage, making everything uncertain. Nigel began to smell victory +instead of merely a skilful retreat. The orders were, at the end of +every three fusilades to reassemble at the gorge. Nigel led his men +almost crawling through the bushes till they had the Count and his +body-guard within easy musket-shot. The rest were scattered, as Blick +had well contrived. + +Then at a word four shots rang out together. Four men of the guard fell +wounded or dead, and with a rush at the Count, sword in hand, Nigel put +the finishing touch, for the Count in consternation threw down his own. +The rest of his immediate followers grovelled on the ground and were +quickly disarmed and bound. As for the others, who had grown dispirited +by the slaughter and their wild-goose chase among the trees, as one by +one they became acquainted with the culminating disaster, they slunk +back to the rearguard, seized a horse apiece, and rode back on a +harrying expedition of their own, which boded ill for Pastor Rad and his +flock. Some, that is to say, for others were of that spirit which must +follow a master, as a dog prefers the company of man. These threw down +their muskets at the brusque command of Blick, and a few minutes +afterwards Blick had them on horseback without weapons, his own men in +front and rear and the riderless horses beside them, awaiting the +command to march. Elspeth, all cheerfulness again, stood waiting. Nigel +and the Count were a little way off. + +"There is no quarrel between us, Count!" said Nigel. "We have broken +bread together in the house of our friend the Abbot of Fulda!" + +"A jolly host!" said the Count in a tone of ingratiation, a little +forced. + +"But," Nigel continued, "it seems to me that your errand has an object +which is not conducive to the Emperor's service, which is mine." + +"In what, colonel?" + +"To find you at Fulda bearing presents and messages from Wallenstein was +nothing that could offend the Emperor. But to find you in the company of +the Landgrave of Hesse?" + +"Wherein was the offence?" the Count inquired courteously. "I admit I +had messages to the Landgrave from the Duke of Friedland, from one Count +of the Empire to another. What then?" + +"The Landgrave had gathered an armed force. He is about to march to join +Gustavus. What else? To deliver messages from a subject of the Emperor +to an open foe is surely a grave matter of offence!" + +"I am sorry you should think so!" said the Count. "It is not for me to +weigh wars and parties. The Duke of Friedland bids me carry certain +messages to certain of the great ones of the earth. I do it to the best +of my poor ability. To Bohemia the Emperor is a name, a usurper of the +kingship." + +"Does that excuse the seduction of my men, who are the Emperor's, paid, +clothed, and fed by the Emperor?" + +"As to that," the Count smiled, "they chose to desert you to follow a +countryman of their own! No great crime, surely? I could not compel +them. They chose." + +"And chose badly, it seems," Nigel responded grimly. "Now before we +proceed I must search you for any letters you may carry." + +"I carry none!" said the Count, flushing, as Nigel rapidly passed his +hands into his pockets, over his hose, and other vestments. + +"As for your valise and holsters I can examine them later. Meantime you +are my prisoner, and will be shot down if you attempt to escape!" + +"But!" protested the Count. + +"There is no 'but'!" said Nigel. "Be good enough to mount!" + +The Count bit his moustache and mounted. Nigel, having first perched +Elspeth on a horse, which he led, strode immediately in front, his left +hand on the rein, his right hand holding his drawn sword in case of +accidents. + +The road was a mere bridle-track where single file was a necessity. On +the right for a mile or so it lay along the steep slope of the rising +ground, not so much precipitous as steep. For horses and men alike it +was necessary for progress to follow the pathway. Every now and again +cross paths came into view, but Elspeth knew the forest as if it had +been the highroad and kept steadily on. Above them the high tree-tops +towered, tall pines and straight slender beeches, whose foliage had +learned to grow only upon the topmost boughs. Now and again they came to +a broad clearing where clear sky was. Then the line of the ridge swept +over to the east and the steepest declivities were to the left. The +riders and Nigel looked down into the great hollows in the woodland, +flanked by great naked boulders that stood up out of the sea of leaves, +the countless heaping of unnumbered years. And now the moon was up and +patches of white light streaked the boles of trees, and the leaves, and +ceased to be, for the further darkness of the shadows. + +Now the pathway leads up by zigzags. Elspeth whispers that they are now +upon the Wartburg itself, and bids Nigel look down and out, and surely +there in the moonlight he can see, a mile or two away, the outliers of +the town of Eisenach, else hidden by another hill which juts between. + +Nigel calls a halt, and, to the Count's chagrin, just concealed and no +more, orders Blick to descend with the Count and the others to the +camping-place without the town where the regiment should be. + +He himself with one soldier for his guard mounts the zigzags with +Elspeth, passes beneath the bridge wherefrom he is challenged by the +sentry, and stands at the outer gate of Luther's famous asylum. + +There is the clank of men-at-arms, the murky flicker of the lanthorns, +rattling of bolts, and Nigel is admitted. The guard fears no surprise +from a single officer, a single trooper, and a maiden half dead with +fatigue, whose stockings are soaked with water, and that the reddened +water of the Dragon's Gorge. + +Over the stones of the causeway of the outer court, through the arch +below the guard-room, they reach the inner courtyard, bathed in the +moonlight, serene, still, but for the splashing of the fountain. Beyond, +where the white walls of the castle are not, is the limitless night and +the limitless sea of tree-tops just flecked by the moonlight. + +The doors are opened hospitably and the red glare of fires made visible. + +Then the Landgrave himself, the Landgravine, with their gentlemen and +ladies, troop into the hall. And almost before Nigel can explain his +errand, a lady steps out, tall beyond her fellows, and cries aloud-- + +"Elspeth! Little Elspeth Reinheit! In what a plight!" + +It was Ottilie von Thüringen. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + A CLASH OF HEARTS. + + +But for the dark eyes of Ottilie von Thüringen Nigel Charteris would +have led his reluctant horse down to the camp. He had leisure to make +this reflection as he sat at meat some degrees below the Landgrave, who, +though supper was over, still sat at the high table with a flask of +Rhenish wine before him. The Landgravine had gone to her retiring room +again. The Lady Ottilie had borne off Elspeth, who, Nigel reflected, +must be very hungry. He did not know that this reflection he shared with +the sage and high-born lady, who was at this time encouraging Elspeth to +make a hearty supper, not omitting a goblet of mead, which aided +Elspeth's tongue to recover its native fluency. + +It was true that the dark eyes of Ottilie von Thüringen had sparkled +with delight and surprise at the sight of Nigel. Nigel was a Scot, and +therefore set the sparkle down to the credit of his account. But Nigel +was a Scot, and therefore also asked himself why the lady's spirit, as +reflected in her eyes, should be so elate. And Ottilie herself could not +have told why, would not have admitted that she was elated. And half an +hour after she had carried off Elspeth she had become so deeply +interested in the account of the fight in the Dragon's Gorge that she +had forgotten the Scots colonel altogether, in her interest in the +movements of Count von Teschen. + +Who was he? Elspeth Reinheit did not know. The men with him were +deserters from the Emperor's troops. Where was he? Doubtless a prisoner +with the regiment lying on the outskirts of Eisenach. The Scots colonel +had brought the Count's holsters and valise with him. She did not know +why. Elspeth, oblivious of the Lady Ottilie's anxieties, munched and +drank. She had undoubtedly a healthy appetite, and was besides waxing +sleepy. + +The Landgrave said little. He yawned a good deal, and Nigel had supped. +He too felt drowsy. It was not wonderful after his long day. The +serving-man who had attended to his needs took a silver candlestick and +led him up the stair towards his chamber. But at the top, where two +passages met on a broad landing, the Lady Ottilie swept out of the +darkness and took the candlestick from the man's hand, and motioning to +Nigel to follow, herself ushered him into his bedroom. + +There was something womanly and homely about the action, that accorded +well with Nigel's notion of hospitality, yet she carried herself with +the air of the chatelaine, as if she, and not the Landgravine, who +doubtless had deputed the courtesies to her, had been the mistress of +Wartburg. + +As he threw an involuntary glance about the chamber, noting the great +four-posted and canopied bed, the ambry for linen, the Venetian mirror, +and other furnishings, she said-- + +"In Magdeburg 'twas Elspeth who gave up her bed to you. Here do I the +same. It is a small courtesy for your many." + +"Did I not say to you at Erfurt that a woman owes a man nothing that she +does not pay a thousand-fold? But now you do me untold honour!" was +Nigel's word of thanks. + +"Sweet thanks and compliments! And doubtless you gave as much and more +to little Elspeth at Magdeburg. She has poured such a tale of Colonel +Nigel Charteris into my ears to-night I am wellnigh tired of him. Who is +your prisoner at the camp?" + +"A Bohemian, a Count von Teschen!" + +"And his crime?" + +"He caused some of my troopers to desert, and then pursued me hotly on +my road to the Wartburg." + +"It was a scurvy trick!" There was genuine indignation in her tone. "You +must beware! Promise me, you will beware!" she pleaded; and Nigel, +looking at the dimming of her eyes and her lips on the brink of +quivering, felt a wave of tenderness flow over him. He leaned towards +her and took her hands. + +"You care for me, Ottilie?" There was a world of eagerness in his tones, +such eagerness as made his voice sound hoarsely in his own ears. + +She smiled a pitiful smile as she drew her hands from his as not +trusting her silly tell-tales. Then she said-- + +"Do you so soon forget my words at Erfurt, my tall captain?" + +"You said I should be a fool to dream of it!" + +She nodded, but this time sadly. + +"I shall play the fool, Star Ottilie! So help me, Holy Mother of +Heaven!" + +"Not here then! I have stayed too long. What of your valise? Give me an +order. They shall bring your baggage." + +There was an inkhorn and paper at a little table and he wrote a line and +signed it. + +"This is to my soldier servant!" He handed it to her in a dream of +happiness. + +She went swiftly, and before many minutes had passed the man brought his +baggage and holsters and laid them on the floor. The trooper was half +asleep and bemused with the beer or the mead he had drunk. + +"And the Count von Teschen's?" Nigel asked. + +The man waved an arm vaguely and explained something in an inarticulate +way, and then stared and blinked at his colonel in a manner that made it +clear at least that there would be no sense in his head till the morrow, +and Nigel sympathised with the man, for he was scarcely rested enough +himself to take off his own boots. So he dismissed the man, and a few +more minutes saw his devotions, addressed mainly to a mythical Saint +Ottilie, and his ablutions, alike concluded, and the Landgrave's +four-poster shut him into dreamless oblivion. + +At five the sun streaming in, even finding its way between the curtains +of the four-poster, awoke him. A moment to regain the sense of his +position in the universe, during which the geometrical figure of the +great Pietro Bramante sprang to his mind again, and made him wonder +where he was on the line of his own orbit, and he leaped from the bed +and gazed out and down upon that wonderful rolling sea of tree-tops and +hills behind hills, all clad in pines, and little villages in green +spaces here and there. + +He did not dawdle over his dressing, yet before it was half accomplished +the Landgrave's barber was at his door craving admittance with the +implements of his art, and his expert fingers made the colonel's face as +fresh and dapper as razor and soap could do. + +"The Lady Ottilie von Thüringen bade me tell your lordship that your +other baggage has been brought up by your trooper and placed in the +little room which is beside this one." + +One may be sure that the colonel was not long in entering the room, +which a look at the tambour frame, the spinning-wheel, and some other +objects, told him was a small boudoir used by the ladies of the castle. + +Upon a stout oaken table lay the valises and holsters of the mysterious +emissary. + +Nigel's hands were upon the straps when the Lady Ottilie came in, partly +with the assured air of the woman in her own domain, partly showing the +modest shyness of a woman who, liking a man beyond the common measure, +seems to crave pardon for intrusion into his company. + +"You have slept well? I see you have, tall captain!" + +"Thanks to you, Ottilie!" he said, taking her hands and gazing into her +proud beautiful face with something of mastery in his grip and in his +eyes. + +Her own countenance grew cold as she looked far beyond him out upon the +pine-clad hills. + +"How well you begin the day, sir!" Her glance fell scornfully upon the +baggage. "The sack of cities! The plunder of travellers! A strange +life!" + +There was no need to point the irony, a woman's irony, full of half +truth and false inference. + +The blood flushed into his face. Then he assumed command over his fiery +temper. + +"The fortunes of war merely! This von Teschen is I know not what. He +comes from Wallenstein." + +"From Wallenstein!" She repeated it with eyes again seeking the +pine-clothed hill-tops. + +"Yes! From that cold seeker after power who would use the Habsburgs for +a stepping-stone and play the Cæsar, as you said at Erfurt. I have not +forgotten your saying, Ottilie!" + +"You are strangely familiar, sir, to a ..." she faltered. + +"To a cousin of the Habsburgs," he put in. + +"Who told you I was cousin to the Habsburgs?" she asked promptly. + +"The Archduchess Stephanie! And in truth did I not know you to be the +Lady Ottilie von Thüringen, I could believe Her Highness was here." + +"Her Highness is very gracious to acknowledge me of kin. My interests +and the Habsburgs lie far apart." + +"And I," said Nigel, "eat the bread of the Habsburgs, and what I do must +and shall be right in your eyes, if it be right in mine!" + +The Lady Ottilie's eyes blazed with scorn and resentment. + +"Go on with your task of rifling the traveller's saddle-bags," she said, +but made no movement to go. Nigel smiled to himself as he bent again +over the straps. + +First the holsters were rummaged. Pistoles and a few travellers' +necessaries. Nothing! Then the first saddle-bag revealed two rich suits, +linen, the impedimenta of a man of rank on a long journey. Nigel +examined the sewing, the lining of the bag. Again nothing. Next came the +turn of the other saddle-bag. In it were many rouleaux of gold, enclosed +in many wrappings. Again she taunted him. + +"Said I not plunder?" she said. "Surely a fair ransom for the Count von +Teschen! Pay for the troopers and their brave colonel!" + +Again Nigel heeded not a jot. If it bit into his pride, at least he +smiled as he went on. Packages of costly trinkets, jewels, articles of +great price and workmanship. + +"It is no wonder the Count helped himself to an escort!" she said. "And +all for nought! To fall in with a robber lord from Scotland! 'Twas ill +luck!" + +"And this is Wallenstein!" said Nigel. "These are his bribes, his +compliments, his wheedlers to set honest Landgraves and bishops and +princes against his master, the Emperor! I cannot understand it." + +"It is beyond the robber lord's understanding!" Again the scorn whipped +him. + +Again he flushed, and for a moment Ottilie von Thüringen trembled for +the outburst. It did not come. She marvelled at the strength of his +will. And then she caught her breath, for her eyes saw something. Her +impulse was to snatch at it, beyond all the pride of race that was hers. +But she also quelled herself. He saw it too and drew it forth. He knew +the hand. It was Wallenstein's. A sealed letter, and the superscription +was to the high-born Baroness Ottilie von Thüringen. + +With perfect coolness and grace he handed it to her. + +"Our Cæsar has strange postmen of his own!" he said. + +This time it was the Lady Ottilie who flushed, but whether it was with +anger, or with joy, or confusion as with a woman who, while entertaining +one suitor hears another announced, there was no guessing. She hid the +letter in her bosom. + +"Then the Count was on his way to the Wartburg!" Nigel said aloud for +her to hear. + +"He will be here in a short while!" she said serenely. + +"What do you mean, lady?" + +"Just that! Have you done with the Count's saddle-bags?" + +There was nothing else in writing. Nigel replaced everything. + +"And you take nothing, tall captain? Neither gold, nor raiment, nor +trinkets? What ails you?" + +"Not a jot! He can come for his own if he can travel so far," said +Nigel. "And for your sweet aid, your comfortable words, your +hospitality, I pray you, sweet Ottilie, Star of the Night, and Serpent +of the Morning, take this and this." And without more preamble he took +her in his arms and kissed her willy-nilly passionately upon the brow, +the eyes, the lips. And then in the same whirlwind he rushed down the +stair and called for his horse, his man, his baggage, and in a few +minutes rode down the hill at a breakneck speed. + +Looking up at the great tower before he passed out of sight he saw a +white arm extended and a scarf waved in the morning breeze. + +"God's truth! Where am I?" he exclaimed, and waved his sword in the +sunlight. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + MISTRESS AND ENEMY. + + +There had been two human obstacles to the advance of Gustavus Adolphus. +One was George William, Elector of Brandenburg, whose fortresses of +Custrin and Spandau, held by any one but Gustavus, were awkward things +in the way of a retreat, if the Swede had to make one. George William +was very averse to the Edict. Magdeburg was one of the pearls of his +principality. But not being sure that Gustavus was strong enough to beat +the Emperor, he shilly-shallied. Gustavus in his impetuous way had +appeared at the gates of Berlin with a bodyguard of Swedes armed and +trained to a fine point. George William saw them and hesitated no +longer. Custrin and Spandau were lent to his friend Gustavus. + +The advance of Gustavus southward was thus secured till he should come +to the Elbe, and across fine flat country suitable for such a march. +Once across the Elbe, he would be between Tilly and the Emperor. He +would also be in Saxony. + +But the obvious crossings of the Elbe were at the bridge of Dessau and +the bridge of Wittenburg, both in the hands of the Elector of Saxony, +John George. + +John George had not made up his mind. He was an Elector of the Empire. +He was also prince of a large territory. And the southern march of his +lands was also the march of Bohemia, and the south-west was the upper +Palatinate in the hands of Maximilian since the days of the Winter King. +He was also averse to Edicts and in favour of the pure Gospel as +represented by Lutheranism. But like the young man in the days of the +founder of the original Gospel, he had great possessions. + +Unlike his brother Elector of Brandenburg, he was not liable to a sudden +nocturnal visit from the impetuous Gustavus, since a very large and +populous country lay between, but, apart from such forcible persuasion, +the policy of Saxony was not as yet to break from the Emperor. In the +days of the Winter King he had refrained from joining in the mad +escapades of the Protestants. He had no desire to do so now. Neither was +he inclined to bow to the Edict. And to meet the urgent demands of the +Emperor on that head, he had bethought himself of the strong man armed. +He had armed accordingly. Through the kindly offices of Wallenstein, who +was not unwilling to see the Saxons arming, he had been able to secure a +good Lutheran general--one Arnim, who, like his old captain, +Wallenstein, was without a command. The Elector of Saxony had forty +thousand soldiers in spick and span new uniforms getting drilled by +Arnim. But whether they would ultimately fight Gustavus, or merely grow +fat and well-liking under the pay and treatment of Arnim, and never +fight at all, John George was not at present sure. + +There was the situation. Gustavus was entrenched in a fortified camp at +Werben, where the Havel joins the Elbe, sixty miles north of Magdeburg, +with smaller forces holding Spandau on the Havel and Custrin on the +Oder, a line of a hundred and fifty miles from west to east. Tilly and +Pappenheim (Maximilian's Pappenheim) were near Magdeburg. And sixty +miles south of Magdeburg were the brand-new forty thousand of John +George. + +Colonel Nigel Charteris had seen enough in his journey to hasten his +march northward to Tilly. From all directions he heard that the +Landgrave of Hesse was marching to join Gustavus. And the news of the +preparations of John George had reached Eisenach. The whole of Thüringia +was in ferment. + +But the reason of Nigel's uncommon haste down the hill to his camp +outside Eisenach was on account of that curious ambassador, Count von +Teschen. Nigel feared some mischance. Ottilie! Star Ottilie had said ... +what matter? Nigel galloped into camp. Hildebrand handed him his own +order brought earlier that morning by his own trooper, attended by one +of the Landgrave's huntsmen-- + + "_Send the Count to the Wartburg under escort._ + + "#Nigel Charteris.#" + +The colonel made a gesture of annoyance. + +"A good imitation, Hildebrand! Confound him! The best thing we can do is +to get on to Erfurt." + +And on the road to Erfurt he had leisure to blame himself for listening +to her whom he omitted to "confound." + +One does not commit to the nether gods the woman one has kissed, and +kissed in a very paroxysm of passion, whether she would be kissed or +not--the woman who has let her scarf flutter an adieu to one, the +affront notwithstanding, as one rode away. Not even when she has tricked +the affronter of a prisoner, an emissary of a traitor, who has sent the +woman a letter full of ... the nether gods know what, treason or love. + +What part was she playing in the political intrigue? It was clear that +she had recognised the Count von Teschen as the hand of Wallenstein, +that she knew him to be essential, so far as his possibilities went, to +the furtherance of Wallenstein's designs. There might easily be a dozen +Count von Teschens, foxes with firebrands at their tails, rushing hither +and thither, but foxes that knew their business and the right +cornfields, and how themselves to escape the flames that they spread. + +Nigel's own sense of duty permitted him no sympathy with Wallenstein. +Yet he could understand how Wallenstein, bereft of his command, hoping +nothing more from the Catholics, impatient of inaction, unable to bear +the loss of prestige, more akin in spirit to the great captains of +_condottieri_ that had ravaged Italy, indifferent which prince they +fought for, how such a Wallenstein might endeavour to curry favour with +the Protestant princes rather than rust like an old ploughshare. It was +intelligible, but only as the work of a man without gratitude, without +loyalty, without any conviction of his religion. + +And what part was Ottilie playing? She was a Catholic. So was +Wallenstein. She had friends among the Protestant princes. So had many +members of Catholic families. She had gone so far as almost to +jeopardise her life, and, what was more, her honour, in the siege of +Magdeburg. To what had she trusted then to deliver her? She must indeed +have been full of the ecstasy of religion if she supposed that God, who +must have approved of the Catholic cause, would shield her in the midst +of carnage and the glutting of lust which had strewn the ruins of +Magdeburg with the bodies of the violated. Nigel had surprised her in +the cathedral at Erfurt at her devotions. But even then, and especially +in that walk afterwards together, he had not read her as devout; rather +as a woman intensely capable, self-sufficing, made for love but not +awakened to it, with the respect and instinct for religion that every +woman should possess as part of her endowment. + +Then she had spoken of Wallenstein, and he could recall her tones, +proud, indignant: "What think you that Ottilie von Thüringen can have in +common with that cold seeker after power?" + +Yet she had stood by him, Nigel, full of taunts as he ransacked von +Teschen's saddle-bags, knowing that, or at least expecting, that he +would find a letter for her under Wallenstein's own hand and seal. + +Was the Erfurt episode a piece of acting, and was she then Wallenstein's +mistress, or bound to him by some tie of chivalry, some mimicry of the +romances of Torquato Tasso? + +Mistress? At the very thought Nigel dug his spurs so savagely into his +horse that the animal, disgusted and outraged, performed such a curvet +as nearly threw him. No! Such supreme and noble loveliness had never +soiled its freshness by any breath of desire! This Nigel would have +sworn, and made good his oath, as any paladin of old time, with sword +against sword. More, he would have sworn that his own lips in that +frenzy, and gentle even in that frenzy, had been the first to ruffle the +sweet fragrance and surprise the dewiness of hers, unconscious as she +was that she had not merely suffered what she could not help. By that +kiss he had sealed her his. And insensibly he began to regard her as in +some measure two women,--one the star of his desire and worship, the +other the mysterious ally of the Emperor's enemies, against whom he must +plot to unravel her designs and those of the arch-plotter Wallenstein. + +From this point his thought jumped at a bound to that other mistress, +the Archduchess Stephanie, whose loveliness, no less than Ottilie's, +impressed itself upon him, mingled with something of awe of the great +Habsburgs. She too was interested in the destiny of Wallenstein. But of +Wallenstein himself or his plans she had told him nothing. The mystic +circles and ovals interested or amused her perhaps, but of any intimate +understanding between her and the Duke of Friedland Nigel could not +remember a trace. Doubtless at the Court of Vienna there was a +Wallenstein party as well as a Maximilian party. It was almost certain; +and the Archduchess Stephanie might, as princesses have done, have +flattered herself that she was leading a party, while in reality her +name for a few aspiring nobles was merely a lure used by wire-pullers, +who let her know nothing of their real machinations. + +Still at the one end stood the lofty Archduchess, at the other her +lovely and almost twin cousin, Ottilie von Thüringen, and between +Wallenstein, the cold seeker after power, swaying, utilising both to +further his schemes and ambition. + +Nigel groaning in spirit, continued to ride on, and presently reached +Erfurt. + +At Erfurt he found the small garrison full of rumours of an impending +attack from the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, and although he had reason to +believe that that prince was not yet in a posture to march, Nigel +thought it wise to leave his regiment there with Hildebrand, partly to +get further drilling and some rest for their horses, partly to overawe +the townspeople and put the place in some condition to resist the +Landgrave should he venture to attack it. In the meantime, with a small +escort, he rode as fast as his horses could go to Wolmerstadt, where he +found General Tilly. + +The little great man received him with his customary grimness of +demeanour. The thin hollow cheeks looked hollower than before, and the +red feather in the small high peaked hat danced with a more sinister +gaiety than ever. + +"Well, Colonel Charteris?" Tilly never forgot his officers nor their +names. "Where is your regiment?" + +"At Erfurt, General!" + +"Why?" + +"The Landgrave of Hesse was mustering his troops when I spoke to him +seven days ago. They say he is marching now to join Gustavus." + +"I'll give him something to march for! And he shall find little to eat +on his march," barked Tilly. "What artillery at Erfurt?" + +Nigel answered that they had twelve pieces of ordnance and sufficient +ammunition. + +General Tilly gave immediate order for two thousand foot and two +thousand horse to be made ready to start. + +And the next day, trusting the command of the remainder of the army to +Pappenheim, the grim old general set out through the territories of Saxe +Ernest and Schwarzburg, laying waste the countryside, and allowing his +troops to plunder and then burn the little town of Frankenhausen by way +of teaching the inhabitants not to have leanings towards Sweden. + +In this way Tilly reached Erfurt, where he quartered his troops and +levied a substantial voluntary contribution of money and provisions. +Thence he sent messengers to the Landgrave, who had in fact not yet +begun his march, with instructions couched in haughty language that he +should disband his army and receive imperial garrisons into his +fortresses. + +Hildebrand and his regiment were sent on to the camp at Wolmerstadt to +await Nigel, who, at the same time as Tilly set out, had been ordered to +carry out reconnaissances in the direction of Werben and watch the +movements of Gustavus on that bank of the Elbe. + +It was not so much that Tilly feared the Landgrave of Hesse, as that he +was fretting at the inactivity imposed upon him by the state of affairs. +At Wolmerstadt he and Pappenheim were strong enough to attack Gustavus, +had it not been for the troops which the Elector of Saxony had mustered +in his rear. Gladly would he have attacked the Elector if the Emperor +had given him permission. But as yet John George had not declared +himself. So Tilly contented himself by threatening the smaller prince of +Hesse Cassel and wasting the borders of Saxony. + +The Landgrave of Hesse was of a different mould from John George. This +was his reply to Tilly-- + +"As for admitting foreign troops into my fortresses, I will not. As for +my troops, they are mine to do my will. As for your threatening, I can +defend myself when you attack me." + + + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + BREITENFELD. + + +There is always a moment in every war when wary inaction gives way to +movement, bred of an access of boldness to one side or the other. + +Gustavus had received an addition of eight thousand Swedes and six +thousand English. He had persuaded George William, the Brandenburger, to +throw in his lot with him. Pappenheim and Tilly had made, but not +followed up, an abortive attack on his fortified camp at Werben. He +decided to cross the Elbe and advance to the southern limits of Mark +Brandenburg, whether the Emperor's generals resisted him or not. It is +possible that he thought such an advance would assist John George of +Saxony, whose territory lay next in his path, to make up his mind. + +And at this time the Emperor Ferdinand was aware that Count Fürstenberg, +his chief commander in Austrian Italy, had arrived by leisurely marches +with twenty thousand veteran troops by way of Franconia and the upper +Palatinate, to join Tilly's army, so that, like Gustavus, he also +intended to assist John George of Saxony to make up his mind. + +To Pappenheim, Tilly being still at Erfurt, or in the confines of +Thüringia, Nigel brought word of the advance of Gustavus. Pappenheim +sent word to Tilly, and Tilly returned to concert operations. + +They had scarcely joined hands again when the Emperor's messenger +arrived bidding them forthwith march into Saxony. + +Imperial courtesy demanded that the Emperor's general should give John +George at least a single opportunity of submission. Two officers of high +rank were sent to the Elector with an imperious demand. John George made +a dignified reply as became a prince, entertained the officers with +Saxon hospitality as a prince, and at the close of the banqueting +uttered this dry and humorous warning:-- + +"Gentlemen, I perceive that the Saxon confectionery, which has been so +long kept back, is at length to be set upon the table. But, as it is +usual to mix it with nuts and other hard ingredients, I pray you to take +care of your teeth." + +In a short space Tilly was before Leipzig, threatening it with fire and +sword, and the fate of Magdeburg; and Pappenheim was thirty miles to the +west taking possession of Merseburg. + +Then John George made up his mind. + +Then rode messengers offering alliance to Gustavus, who, ever mindful of +a possible evil day and a clear line of retreat, demanded the fortresses +he had asked for before. + +John George offered these, offered his family as hostages--whatsoever +Gustavus would. Magdeburg, which was another's, had failed to move him. +But Leipzig (the prudent city had surrendered on conditions to Tilly) +did move him. It might be Dresden next. Besides, he had forty thousand +men in brand-new uniforms, bright and hard Saxon confectionery, and +Arnim the Lutheran, who had once commanded under Wallenstein, to lead +them. Surely between his forces and Gustavus they might trip up Tilly +and Pappenheim, and knock the two elderly generals' heads together till +they cracked. + +So it happened that before John George quite realised that war was upon +him, that he had at last committed himself to a side, his beloved +country was overrun with armies, and there dawned the day of +Breitenfeld, or as some prefer to call it, of Leipzig. + +Nigel and Hildebrand were exchanging a few words over a hasty breakfast, +while Sergeant Blick was, with the aid of the other officers, +overlooking the arms and saddles of the troopers. + +"Thank Heaven!" said Hildebrand, "we are meeting the Swede at last! Yet +the old man looks grey this morning!" + +"Aye!" said Nigel. "Tilly has not been himself since he made his +headquarters in the gravedigger's house outside Leipzig." + +"It was an ill omen that the only house that was left after our +cannonade should be a gravedigger's, with skulls and cross-bones all +over it," said the other lugubriously. + +"Tut, man! So long as it kept out the weather! Though why Tilly let the +Swede and John George join forces without a shot puzzles me. He seems, +though he says nothing, to hold the Swede in too much respect." + +"Well, the Swede has all his work to do. Tilly has made his dispositions +well." + +They pushed back their seats and went out. + +Behind them was a long range of hills, along which three hundred feet +above where they stood were posted battery after battery of Tilly's +guns. The two officers looked out over a gently sloping plain to the +eastward and descried the long line of a little river, marked here and +there by clumps of willows, and the occasional gleam of the morning sun +on its surface. Beyond the rivulet at some miles' distance they could +make out men and horses in movement, banners, and the play of light +upon a rippling sea of weapons: but all was as yet indistinct, save that +there seemed to be two separate armies with a considerable space of +country between. + +"Gustavus does not wish us to confound his well-trained veterans with +the Saxon gingerbread!" said Hildebrand. + +"But which is which?" asked Nigel. "For my part I ask nothing better +than to let fly my rough-riders at the Swedes, and let any one else hew +down the Saxons!" + +"Hum!" said Hildebrand. "Heaven knows how our rascals will behave under +fire!" + +Nigel's eyes gleamed. "I'll cut down the first man that wavers!" + +"Well," said Hildebrand. "Thank Heaven again we're attached to Tilly's +division, for where that is will be the hottest of the fighting. He's a +devil to fight is Tilly." + +"It is the Empire or the Swede to-day. And Tilly knows it. No wonder he +looks grey. There he is! Come along!" + +They took their places in front of the regiment. They were on the right +wing of the centre division. The infantry in closely massed battalions +stretched for a long distance. Then came the cavalry of Tilly's left. +Beyond them was a division of Pappenheim stretching away into the haze. +To Nigel's right again was the division led by Count Fürstenberg, a +formidable host in itself. + +"Your men look mettlesome, colonel," Tilly growled, as he rode along by +Nigel's regiment, his well-known red feather standing out in the +westerly breeze. + +Nigel saluted again. "They will give a good account of themselves, +general!" he said loud enough for the regiment to hear. + +Presently it was clear to all those who had good eyes that the Swede was +to oppose Pappenheim, and was moving in a long line towards the +rivulet, was, in fact, nearly at its bank. The guns of Tilly on the +hills sounded a salute to the great day, the first balls falling, +however, short of the rivulet. Tilly noted it and looked displeased +enough. Pappenheim noticed, and led his cavalry to the water's edge to +dispute the passage. The battle had begun. Even at the beginning the +generalship of Gustavus made itself felt. His men were disposed in two +long lines of no great depth. There were no massed battalions to offer +easy marks for Tilly's cannon. His whole forces were distributed in +small bodies, each able to move with celerity, and accustomed to draw to +itself and oppose its own share of the attack, without, however, causing +any break in the general plan. But his musketry made play upon the +splendid cavalry that swept down in orderly fashion to meet them. And +from the intervals of the regiments of musketeers came the steady cannon +shots, well aimed and low, making little lanes of fallen horses and men +in Pappenheim's cavalry. Pappenheim was obliged to withdraw his cavalry +to re-form them, and the Swedes began to cross the rivulet. The rivulet +must needs be wide and deep that will stop any army extended over a wide +front. + +Pappenheim fired the village of Podelwitz as he retreated, a village +that lay between his first position and the rivulet. The west wind laden +with smoke and dust blew strongly and into the faces of the Swedes. But +still they pressed on and began to get some of their artillery over. + +From his position on the lower slopes of the hill Nigel could see the +Swedish lines gradually formed, and marked the new plan of setting out +the battle. To his mind it seemed to be tempting fortune on the part of +the Swede to oppose a swarm of separate companies, of groups of +companies, to the heavy masses that sooner or later in the day were to +sweep steadily upon them. But he did not count upon the advantages the +Swede possessed in a more extended firing line, and in offering less +conspicuous, if more numerous, targets to the enemy. + +Nigel chafed at the inevitable delay till they should be ordered into +action. For at least two hours the cannon along the ridge thundered over +their heads and seemed to make little impression upon either Swedes or +Saxons. + +Then Pappenheim with his two thousand cuirassiers launched forth again +against Gustavus himself, who commanded the right wing of the Swedes. +And Nigel marked that the Swedish right were wheeling towards the north, +and that their fire was fierce and evenly sustained. + +At last the little general with the red feather gave orders for the +centre to attack, and Nigel gripped his saddle tighter with his knees, +and led his regiment down on to the plain, keeping within the interval +between two great double battalions of musketeers and pikemen. It was +slow at first, till they drew near the enemy, and then came the turn of +his troopers. The infantry having delivered their fire advanced slowly, +while Nigel's regiment and the other cavalry rode to the front rapidly, +halted, fired, and fell back. This they did many times, but still the +Swedes did not give way. Tilly felt not only the fire of the Swedes in +front but that of Gustavus' right wing on his flank, so to avoid this +and partly perhaps because the thing looked tempting, he took ground to +the right, and ordered a rapid attack upon the Saxons, who perhaps by +accident had drawn rather towards Tilly than to Count Fürstenberg. + +Tilly was right in the one thing. He bore down upon the Saxons, and the +Saxon army showed its rawness; for it gave way on all sides, and only a +few regiments maintained their ground; the rest fled, and even John +George himself. + +Nigel's spirits rose with Tilly's. Tilly swept round again to fall upon +the left wing of the Swedes. But only to find that Gustavus, apprised of +the Saxon flight, had reinforced his left with three more regiments, and +that Pappenheim on Tilly's left was battling for dear life against +Gustavus himself, unable to maintain his ground. + +Desperately did Tilly endeavour to overcome. Again and again and again +he led his still unbroken masses against Horn, the Swedish general, and +again and again the Swedes hurled them back. + +Again and again Hildebrand and Nigel charged with their rough-riders, +who were no cowards, meeting alike musketeers and pikemen and even +Horn's cuirassiers. But it was of no avail. + +Then came the news that Pappenheim's men had broken and fled. Then that +the artillery on the hills were in the hands of Gustavus, a fact that +they soon became aware of. In face of them was the Swedish left, behind +them were their own guns, and on their left flank Gustavus, marching +through the _débris_ of Pappenheim's host, was sweeping down upon them. +The day was over. Nigel and Hildebrand rallied their tattered remnant of +fifty saddles and rode after Tilly to act as his bodyguard. Nigel +scanned the field with a quick eye and caught sight of him. A Swedish +captain of horse was on the point of taking the little general prisoner +when Nigel, spurring his horse, rode the Swede down. + + * * * * * + +Nigel's sword went through him. The man rolled over with the onset, and +then fell with his upturned face grinning at his slayer in the very +spasm of death. There was one final flash of recognition between four +eyes. It was enough. Nigel was out of his saddle in an instant, an +instant of deadly peril, ransacked the man's doublet, took out a bulky +letter, and sprang to horse again. They had remounted Count Tilly, who +was barely able to sit his horse by reason of his wounds. Nigel bade two +sturdy troopers hold him on by any means; and taking the lead, rallying +whatever troopers came his way, and sending word to the few remaining +foot-regiments to follow, he pressed with all speed towards the open +country to the northward. It was a miserable remnant of a mighty army +which bivouacked at Halle. + +The last glimpse of the field of battle that Nigel caught had shown him +Pastor Rad, with a regiment of Swedes on their knees before him, +offering up in stentorian tones a thanksgiving for the Swedish victory +over his German and Catholic brethren. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + AT HALBERSTADT. + + +It was the evening of the third day after Breitenfeld. Vague rumours of +disaster had travelled across the intervening country of Halberstadt, +city, bishopric, and independent state in one, a stronghold for, rather +than of, the Empire, the domain and seat of Leopold the Bishop, a +Habsburger and cousin of Ferdinand. The city was not strong enough to +resist for long an attack by Gustavus, should he choose to make one, but +it was strong enough to serve for a short while as a rallying-place for +Tilly's fugitives. + +Leopold the Bishop and his spoiled favourite niece, as he chose to call +her, the Archduchess Stephanie, stood on the flat roof of the tallest +tower of the palace looking along the road to the southernward. On the +face of Leopold, a proud ecclesiastical face, rather rotund than +ascetic, sat an extreme anxiety, and his sharp eyes roved restlessly +from the road to the city walls, where men were mustered and ordnance +trained, and officers bustled to and fro with an air of urgency. For who +knew what a few hours might reveal, whether the banners of Sweden, or of +Saxony, of Brandenburg or Hesse Cassel, would come swaying and +fluttering from the passes in the hills. + +The Archduchess for the most part kept her gaze fixed upon the road, +though, woman-like, she lost little of what went on below. Her eyes +glistened with eagerness, but her features betrayed little of the drawn +look that the Bishop's wore. If the Bishop noticed it, he said nothing, +putting her apparent lack of anxiety down to the score of youth. But +absorbed as he was in the inward contemplation of the stakes at issue, +he did not closely scrutinise the face of his niece. For him the turn of +events meant a very possible siege, a defence of sorts, a storming and a +sack, or a judicious submission, but in any case a great inroad into his +treasure-chests. It promised indignities falling short of bodily +suffering, but hard to bear, and an ultimate disposal of his lands and +possessions in ways that would at once reduce his princely bishopric to +the dimensions of a paltry benefice, until the Lutheran tide should +recede and the Church take her own again. + +For the niece it meant excitement, peril, but peril that would pass. +Princesses might be held to ransom, but no more. She might be expected +to sympathise with her father in the defeat of his armies, to feel +aggrieved at Fortune, who had dealt so hard a blow at her house, but not +to be prostrated by her grief. She would still be the beautiful +Archduchess Stephanie, and in the clash of armies and in the affairs of +a hazardous campaign there was like to be scant attention paid to the +matrimonial projects of Maximilian. Was this all? A cry broke from her +lips, and she pointed to the farthest bend of the road visible from the +tower. + +"Now we shall know!" said the Bishop, clenching his lips firmly as if to +make sure they did not tremble. + +Round the bend came thirty or forty troopers, and the first man carried +a yellow pennon. + +"Tilly's men!" the Bishop exclaimed fervently. "To Thee be thanks, O +Lord!" + +The Archduchess's eyes were riveted. Whether her emotion had really +been restrained hitherto by pride or not, her eyes filled with tears: +tears that she hastily brushed away, leaving her eyes again free to +discern what they might. + +This time it was a group of officers, and in the middle could be +distinguished the famous red feather, drooping, it is true, but there. + +"Count Tilly himself, Uncle!" + +Behind the little cavalcade came a regiment of foot, still preserving a +martial appearance, with its pikemen and its musketeers, and after it +another and yet another. + +It was almost pitiful to hear the proud Bishop, secure except for the +ears of his niece, ejaculating his thankfulness, as each addition to his +possible defenders came in sight. + +Then as the cavalcade of officers approached the town gates the lips of +the Archduchess murmured, "Holy Mother, I thank thee!" and she put her +slender fingers into her uncle's as if to communicate to him something +of what she felt. + +It was true that she had recognised Colonel Nigel Charteris among the +war-worn leaders as they rode through the gate of Halberstadt, but why +should the saving of this man's life more than those of a thousand +others elicit her cry of devotion? + +Within an hour Leopold in his episcopal robes received Tilly and his +officers. Beside him, arrayed in all her richest attire, sat the +Archduchess Stephanie. The little general, the stains of his forced +march removed as far as possible, his left arm in a sling, his head +disfigured by the uncouth bandages of his barber surgeon, strode forward +with a gallant air, but with an unmistakable limp. He had been wounded +at Breitenfeld full a half-dozen times, and only his dauntless spirit +and his stalwart supporters had helped him to sustain the toils of the +retreat. + +The Bishop received him with great compassion and honour, giving him +great praise for his courage and placing him beside him in a noble +chair: not, however, before the general had bowed as low as his wounds +permitted and kissed the hand of the Archduchess, whose eyes melted at +the sight of her father's faithful soldier, to whom fortune had shown +herself so froward. + +"Battered, your Highness, beaten, but with God's grace I will face +Gustavus again!" he said to her. + +Came Nigel's turn. He presented himself, in default of a better, in the +suit he had worn at Breitenfeld. He was thin and yellowish for a man of +his natural colouring. A day of battle and three days' flight before the +pursuers had drained his vitality over and above his actual wounds, +which had happily left his face unmarred and his limbs uncrippled. + +The Archduchess claimed him. + +"Colonel Nigel Charteris, Uncle. He came to Vienna with despatches from +Magdeburg. A Scottish gentleman who has doubtless done good service in +the battle!" She turned her eyes inquiringly towards Count Tilly. + +"But for him I might not have left the field!" said Tilly briefly. "I +scarce know whether he did me service or disservice, your Highness," he +added, with something between a grunt and a sigh. "He fights like a wild +boar!" + +"A pity we had not a legion of such angels!" said the Bishop as he laid +his hand in fatherly fashion on his shoulder. + +The Archduchess motioned Nigel to her side. + +"Believe me, Colonel Charteris, I am mighty glad that you have come +through the battle unscathed; though you make not the figure of bravery +you did at Vienna!" + +"I am ashamed, your Highness, to meet your eye in such mean clothing, +but the Swede gave us no time to pack our valises, and, after all, +one's own skin with a live man within is better than a coat of many +colours upon a corpse." + +The sun broke out in the eyes of the Archduchess. + +"How you do take me at my word! You say nothing of surprise at finding +me at Halberstadt? Does nothing surprise you?" + +"Your Highness spoke of nunneries at our last meeting, and I find you in +a Bishop's palace. In a nunnery I could not picture your radiance. Here +you are in your own place, and under the tutelage of the Church, no +less." + +"Still the courtier of our camps! And have you met again our cousin +Ottilie?" She flung the question at him carelessly, or so it seemed, as +if she were indifferent as to the answer. + +"That have I, your Highness!" he answered, looking straightly into the +eyes of the Archduchess. And whether it was that he was fordone with his +toils, his sudden remembrance of the Wartburg brought the colour back +into his pale cheeks. + +"So!" said the Archduchess. "There have been passages of arms between +you! Ottilie is fortunate that she is not an Archduchess." There was a +shadowy pretence of petulance in the princess's tone. "Did we not +stipulate that you were our own cavalier?" + +"In all liege service, yes, your Highness! Even to the death! Have I not +fought for you at Breitenfeld? Have I not felt the Lady Ottilie pour out +hot scorn upon me almost to the limit of man's forbearance, because I +served the Emperor, and in serving him, your Highness?" + +"I should not have deemed you one to brook over much scorn," she said, +veiling her eyes, then flooding his face with their searching gaze. + +"Nor am I by nature very patient, your Highness!" + +"Then it must be that you love Ottilie! That if I can claim your +service, even your life, she, this meddler with the Lutherans, can claim +and hold your love?" The Archduchess spoke in low tones. Again Nigel +could almost persuade himself that it was Ottilie who spoke, wishful to +hear his avowal of passion. And yet it was not Ottilie. + +"Why should you begrudge her so small a gift, or rather so poor an +offering, for I know not if she has accepted it?" he urged. + +"Because a princess can never be sure that she commands love. Service +she knows she can command, even to the death. Men will spend themselves +for any bubble they call honour or duty. I grudge Ottilie your love. I +grudge any woman that is loved, her lover's love." The Archduchess spoke +with heat. + +Nigel rejoiced that the Archduchess made it clear to him that in seeking +the heart of Ottilie he was not spurning hers; that she was only giving +tongue to the loneliness of rank. For in truth in the immediate presence +of the Archduchess, radiant, full of charm, he felt the memory of +Ottilie pale; and, loyal as he tried to be to his colours, whether in +love or war, he would have been more than man not to have felt an +answering emotion had anything she said given shape to the idea that she +too loved him. + +So much they were able to say amid the ceremonious tumult of the +arrivals. + +Supper was set and the good things of Halberstadt were lavished upon the +officers who had accompanied the retreat. It was not long before the +Archduchess and her attendant ladies left the hall for their own +chambers. And it was not till the morrow that Nigel again saw the +Archduchess. + +The circumstances of a common peril loosened the observances of ceremony +and made it possible for them to meet, after Nigel had set in motion +the springs of military duty which were immediately necessary. As before +at Vienna the Archduchess received him in the gardens of the palace, but +this time in broad daylight. + +"And Bramante's figure?" she asked suddenly. + +"A vain imagining, your Highness! Though at the time I own I was amazed +at his jugglery." + +"So you deemed it mere fooling?" + +"What could I else? 'Tis true the course of my life has brought me into +your Highness's gracious presence. But what of Wallenstein? The Emperor +will have none of him. Gustavus has passed him by. He is as an old sword +thrown in a chimney corner to stir ashes with." + +The Habsburg pride and haughtiness made itself heard in her voice and +seen on her lineaments. + +"You do not know Albrecht von Waldstein. He is too great to rust. Can +you not see that now, even now, when your armies have crumbled before +Gustavus, while Tilly, the pride of Ferdinand, and Pappenheim, the +pillar of Maximilian, have been broken in two like straws, that the +supreme moment has come, the moment when the Emperor must and shall +recall him, beg him as a suppliant to raise the fallen standards and +gather yet again one of his mysterious and invincible armies, which +shall drive Saxon and Brandenburger whimpering to their kennels, and +Gustavus and his pastors scattering to their ships!" + +The tones that began in pride and scorn had changed into tones of +prophetic exaltation. And for the first time Nigel comprehended that the +fortunes of Wallenstein were dearer to her heart than a lover's passion. +She was not merely what he had imagined the titular queen of +Wallenstein's party in the court, but her mind and heart were engaged, +enthralled by the idea of the future greatness of Wallenstein himself. + +But Nigel's straightforwardness would not let him budge from his +self-appointed path. + +"Wallenstein is not loyal to the Emperor!" + +"Loyalty!" she exclaimed in a fine note of scorn. "Loyalty in German +lands! In Europe! To what? To one's faith? That does not hinder father +slaying son or brother brother. To one's pacts? It is as it suits one's +interests! Feudalism is dead. The Emperor's vassals rise against him. +And Albrecht von Waldstein is no vassal of the Emperor. He is a Bohemian +noble. True, our house of Habsburg conquered Bohemia, and our brother is +in name their king. But Bohemia is as free as it chooses, when it +chooses." + +"But Wallenstein served the Emperor, amassed untold riches in his +service. Does he owe no allegiance?" + +"Not a jot! He is of the race of Achilles! He fights where his eagle +mind dictates, not where some trembling Agamemnon bids. But why call him +disloyal?" + +"Your Highness! I yield to none in admiration of Wallenstein's genius, +but at every turn of my road I have met evidences of his emissaries +being in touch with your father's enemies. This could have been borne, +if he had boldly gone into the quarrel on the side of Gustavus, but to +stay skulking at Prague while he sent out his poisonous messages...." + +"Sir! I like not your adjectives!" she said, quickening her pace in her +anger. + +"And then waiting the event," Nigel proceeded, "to send this to +Gustavus, _if he should be victorious_." + +Nigel thrust his hand into his tunic and brought out a packet. + +"Read what is writ!" she said carelessly. + +"These for Gustavus in the event of his gaining a complete victory over +Count Tilly." + +"In the event," Nigel commented. + +"Spare the commentary, Colonel Charteris! What lies within?" + +"In substance it is an offer from Wallenstein, begging for a command +from Gustavus of a pitiful twelve thousand men, and promising in return +to drive the Emperor and every Habsburg out of Austria." + +The eyes of the Archduchess flashed. Her colour rose. Her bosom heaved +and fell. + +She stretched forth her hand for the letter. + +Nigel did not hesitate. He gave it. Was it not his to give, his only +spoil of the battlefield? + +"You have made no copy? Told no one?" + +"No, your Highness!" + +She held out her hand again in token of dismissal. Nigel kissed it, gave +one swift glance at her imperial face and went away to the ramparts. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + THE RESTLESSNESS OF STEPHANIE. + + +The next few days passed at Halberstadt in transforming the mass of +fugitives into the semblance of an army. Cavalry and infantry were +re-mustered under their regimental standards, where a nucleus existed in +the shape of an old regiment. Where there was none, a new one was +formed. All found an entry on some roster. The defences of the city were +improved in all possible ways and provisions were got in. The little +general busied himself in sending messages to all the imperial garrisons +within reach to concentrate at a spot named, by the river Weser, and it +was from this source that he expected to collect another army rather +than from any fresh enlistments. Tilly with a bite and a sup would +gladly have passed on. He fretted under the inaction which his numerous +wounds made absolutely necessary: the more so that as yet he had no +certain knowledge of the trend of the plans of his great adversary. +Sometimes he talked as though he had done with war. These were the days +when his wounds did not look like healing. Nigel knew the old war-dog +well enough to ask, "Who shall succeed?" That stiffened the Count von +Tzerclaës quickly enough. He was one of those men who do not breed +successors. + +But by the first days of October it was announced and confirmed that +Gustavus had turned to march westward, and that the Elector of Saxony +was to march upon Prague. Tilly's plans soon took a definite shape. He, +too, would march westward, but along the plains of Lower Saxony into +Brunswick, then towards the Rhine, gathering garrisons as he went, till +he could turn and meet Gustavus with a force sufficient to annihilate +him. + +Nigel's rough-riders became the nucleus of a regiment, which was given +to Hildebrand von Hohendorf, and he himself was again chosen by Tilly +for a confidential journey to the Emperor. This time nothing was +committed to writing save the commendations General Tilly thought fit to +make of Nigel's conduct in the battle and during the retreat. Tilly's +plans for the future conduct of the campaign, and such requests as he +had to make, were carefully committed to Nigel's memory. A small escort +was given him, for the task of getting from Halberstadt to Vienna +without falling into the arms of Gustavus's rearguard, or some of the +widely-spread Saxon contingents moving, as doubtless many of them would +be doing, eastward, was one requiring great vigilance, skill, and, above +all, speed, and numbers would have availed less than nothing. His plan +was to make his way as straightly as possible to the nearest point of +the Bavarian border, and once across that, the roads to Vienna were for +the present likely to be free from Swede and Saxon alike. + +The only document he carried, in addition to Count Tilly's letter to the +Emperor, was the extraordinary letter from Wallenstein taken from the +dead Count von Teschen. This the Archduchess Stephanie had returned to +him privately, with these few words inscribed upon the inside of the +paper that enveloped them-- + + "_The ardour of a great loyalty createth a cloud of smoke, seen + through which other men's actions may be distorted out of the + natural semblance of beauty. So doth the ardour of a great love._" + + * * * * * + +Pondering over this, Nigel set out. + +As to the Archduchess Stephanie, no sooner was Nigel set out than she +began to feel a great restlessness, which manifested itself in very +desultory marches, to the wearying of her ladies, up and down in the +palace, with occasional forays out into the city and along the ramparts, +in the course of which she pursued the officers of high rank with +puzzling questions as to the possible course of the war. + +"But it is impossible, your Highness, to give a guess!" said a grave and +stout general officer. "When we know what force we have to dispose +of----" + +"Yes! Yes!" said the impatient princess. "But still, what do you think?" + +"No one can say, your Highness!" + +Her Highness left him to growl at his fellow-officers at the +extraordinary habit of woman, even lovely woman, even a Habsburger, to +ask questions which did not admit of an answer, and in any case did not +concern her. Then she attacked the next she met with similar results. + +She even dared to beard the old general in his quarters, beginning with +sympathetic inquiries after his wounds. The old general, taciturn and +not over gracious by force of habit, unbent a little to the Emperor's +daughter. + +"Give me time, your Highness, and I shall beat the Swede." + +"How?" + +"Look you, your Highness! The farther the Swede marches from the Baltic +the longer must be his chain of garrisons in his rear, for if he once +sustain a great defeat he must retreat. By the time he reaches the +Rhine his army of Swedes must be greatly diminished, and his force +consist largely of German Protestants, recruited as he goes." + +"And do not Protestants fight as well as Catholics?" + +"When they are trained and disciplined!" + +"And where will _you_ get trained soldiers?" + +"From the Imperial garrisons! Then there are the Spaniards in the +Rhenish Palatinate, the best infantry in the world." + +"And if Richelieu launches the French soldiers at them?" + +"It would be the devil!" Count Tilly became very thoughtful. "It is not +to be expected that a Catholic power would give aid to the Swedes. Was +it not Richelieu who turned the scales against Wallenstein at Ratisbon?" + +"But," objected the princess, "what did that prove? Did it not result in +the dispersal of Wallenstein's army, and the weakening of the Catholic +power, of the Imperial power?" + +"I am not politician, your Highness! I hate cardinals and politicians +equally. I am a soldier. If I have a moderate measure of fortune, and +Pappenheim does not make any more blunders, it is odds but we beat the +Swede, Richelieu or no Richelieu." + +The Archduchess showed by her manner that she thought otherwise. + +"There is Saxony! There is Brandenburg! There is Weimar!" + +"Confound them all!" growled Count Tilly, who had done nothing else but +look at the astonishing problem he proposed to face, and he at present +tied by the leg with a mere eight or ten battalions under his banner. +"And," this was an after-thought born of sheer impatience, "your +Highness, there is a lady who calls herself Ottilie von Thüringen, who +takes a great interest in the Lutheran cause." + +"Indeed!" said the Archduchess. + +"She was taken prisoner at Magdeburg and sent under escort of Colonel +Charteris to Erfurt! I saw her and had some words with her." + +"Yes?" said the Archduchess. + +"She bore a singular likeness to your Highness! I was wondering if you +had any relative of that name!" + +"I have never heard of one!" said the Archduchess. + +"A mere coincidence, doubtless!" said the general. + +"By the way, Count, I am thinking of leaving Halberstadt." + +"Leaving Halberstadt! Does your Highness propose to ride with me to +raise an army?" + +"I might be of less use elsewhere!" she said, smiling, to tease the old +general, whose dislike of petticoats was well known. + +"Where is elsewhere?" + +"Vienna!" + +"And how do you propose to get there?" + +"You can lend me an escort?" + +"Impossible! You would want six battalions to fight off the rearguard of +Gustavus, or the left wing of the Saxons." + +"But you have just let Colonel Charteris go with a mere handful!" + +"He will ride the faster! Colonel Charteris is a soldier, and the very +devil for getting into trouble and out of it." + +"But the Emperor's daughter?" + +"Your Highness, were you the daughter of twenty emperors it would still +be impossible." + +"You think that I should not arrive at Vienna in safety!" + +"Except as a prisoner. But your Highness came hither of your own +choice." + +"Assuredly! I intend to leave it of my own choice too." + +Count Tilly tugged at his long moustaches in despair. "Princess!" And in +addition to all his other cares! There was really only one princess, but +she appeared to him by reason of her self-will to be at least half a +dozen. She still stood there gazing at him out of those wonderful +dancing black eyes. ("Confound her eyes," Tilly said to himself.) + +"Perhaps Gustavus or John George might give me a safe-conduct if I +required it." + +"There are more unlikely things, your Highness! Particularly if your +Highness made your request in person!" + +"They could not be more obdurate than Count Tilly!" + +"At the present time, your Highness, they are in better posture to +afford courtesies than I am to spare men." + +Her Highness pouted and went in search of her uncle, the Bishop. She +thought to win him over before Count Tilly had seen him. + +But her uncle Leopold, now that it seemed as if the tide of war was to +sweep away from Halberstadt, was not willing to part with his niece. +Even a Bishop of the Holy Roman Church, vowed to celibacy as he was, was +not indifferent to ties of familial affection, and Stephanie's beauty +and youth and intelligence were all living and pleasant things, not to +be lightly set aside. + +"You are as safe here, Stephanie, as in Vienna!". + +"But I am not afraid! I would rather be where my father is!" + +"But you came here to avoid marrying Maximilian or going into a nunnery, +which was it?" + +"Both, uncle. But Maximilian will be too busy for marrying for a long +time to come. He has to find an army and beat Gustavus." + +"In the next place, you can't get to Vienna!" + +"Hardly without an escort! But you could persuade Count Tilly to give me +a hundred men and two officers." + +"It seems to me that Count Tilly would as soon go himself as part with +half a company." + +"He does not seem very willing, but I am relying on your persuasion, +uncle." + +"It is evident, Stephanie, that you cannot go at once. In a week or two +more men may have come in. In a week or two the roads may be clear of +the enemy. Promise me, dear niece, that you will defer the matter for +ten days. You cannot grudge your old uncle ten days of your pleasant +company!" The Bishop looked affectionately at her. + +"For ten days longer, then, my uncle! Then escort or no escort, I must +go." + +"I will see what can be done!" said the Bishop. + +The restlessness of the Archduchess was by no means allayed. For in her +mind events were singing "Wallenstein." Now or never, surely, did the +portents point to Wallenstein. Where was the Emperor going to lay his +hands on a weapon to defend himself even against Saxony? The Saxons were +about to pour down into Bohemia. And after that Vienna lay defenceless. + +As to Wallenstein's letter to Gustavus, so far from regarding it as +evidence of treachery or of ingratitude, at the least she saw in it only +design, design to lure Gustavus on to his own destruction by making him +think that the greatest army-leader in all German lands was willing to +serve him. + +The Archduchess told herself that the desire to see Wallenstein, to know +his plans, to further them, was at the root of her eagerness to depart. +At Vienna she felt sure that in this crisis she would be strong enough +to fight Father Lamormain on his own territory, and bring about the +recall of the hero of her political dreams. + +The Archduchess repeated it to herself with an unnecessary insistence +that bespoke questions arising within. When a woman acts from a single +strong motive, the motive becomes less something perceived in the mind +than felt in the heart, something that makes no room for gainsaying. + +Whereas there was Nigel, this Scots colonel, this soldier without a +fortune, who was so full of this thing, this vaporous thing, loyalty. +Colonel Charteris had not been brought up at court, still less any court +in Europe. He had not acquired the ethics of the petty warfare that went +on within every court, nor the still more elastic code of right and +wrong as applied to the rivalries between court and court, nor a +sympathy for the uncloaked knavery that dictated the moves in the game +of treaties and alliances and attacks, provoked or unprovoked, that went +on between the powers of France, of the United Provinces, of Spain, of +Italy. To her all these things had been familiar. This soldier from the +north country had seemed astounded that Wallenstein could act as he to +all appearances had done. He had shown indignation, which not even her +own royal presence had quelled. What a fiery soul beneath how noble a +surface of manhood! She pictured him again and again with something of +admiration, and admiration led her on, Archduchess as she was, to ask +which was the more commendable, the spirit of loyalty which was Nigel's, +or the spirit of entirely personal ambition which she herself was +fanning in Wallenstein. This question she answered by a subterfuge that +loyalty was commendable in Nigel, the more so that nothing engaged him +to it but his precious pay, but that personal ambition was the crown and +essence of Wallenstein, and in him entirely laudable. + +As to her ability to reach Vienna, the Archduchess had no doubt. Whether +she had an escort of six, or sixty, or six thousand, her daring and +resolute mind would convey her body there in safety. Of that she was +confident. A supremely beautiful woman, of high rank, possessed of money +and of such resources of speech and intelligence as hers, would in the +end defeat the Saxon, Swede, or Brandenburger who should endeavour to +stay her path. The real danger of the journey lay more in ignorant +soldiery or lawless freebooters than in generals or politicians. For +this and this only she would continue to press for an escort. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + + PREPARES THE GROUND. + + +Father Lamormain had sent for Nigel. This in itself was a relief from +the daily dispiriting round. Nothing could have been duller than the +court of Vienna six weeks or more after Breitenfeld. The news which, +despite a disunited Germany in arms, came with frequency to Father +Lamormain through his far-reaching Jesuit agencies as well as by the +military messengers, was to the effect that Gustavus was besieging +Würzburg, and that the Elector of Saxony, John George, having recovered +Leipzig, was now clearing his province of Lusatia of the Imperial +troops, sent there under Rudolf von Tiefbach, before he set out to the +conquest of Bohemia. + +Nigel himself was fretting. For by this time Tilly had gathered an army +and had reached the Rhine. Nigel would fain have been with him. He found +employment in Vienna helping to enrol and drill the troops that were +being enlisted with a view to resisting the threatened invasion of +Bohemia by the Saxon Elector, but men came in slowly. And over every one +and every action brooded a spirit of depression. The outlook since the +crushing defeat of Breitenfeld was not a pleasant one. There was a vague +belief that Tilly on the Rhine, Pappenheim, who had managed to reach +Westphalia and raise men there, the Spaniards in Lorraine and the +Rhenish Palatinate, and Maximilian in Bavaria, would in some way or +other be too much for Gustavus. But there was no good news. + +"How goes the recruiting, colonel?" + +"Slowly! There is no spring in it, Father!" + +"Ah! How many men do you think we shall have to meet John George?" + +"That depends on Bohemia!" + +"And Bohemia means?" + +"Wallenstein!" + +"I notice," said Father Lamormain, "that you do not pronounce the name +in the same tone of admiration you once used to?" + +"It is, I suppose, Father, that my eyes have been opened since I first +came to Vienna!" + +"You have sent many faithful reports of his unfaith, of his +encouragement of Protestant princes, even of his offers to serve +Gustavus! And you think that if your belief is true, he is unworthy!" + +"I should say vile!" Nigel broke in. + +"Yet upon him rests the possibility of resistance in Bohemia?" + +"He lives in state in Prague, so they say, with a court and a multitude +of retainers. His name is still something to draw men!" + +"And what do you say if I tell you that the Grand Turk meditates an +invasion of Hungary?" + +"You must make your peace with Saxony!" + +"The Emperor has sent orders to Rudolf von Tiefbach to withdraw from +Lusatia." + +"Saxony will look upon that as a sign of weakness rather than amity, and +will invade us the quicker." + +"So I think!" said the Father with a sigh. "But the Emperor would have +it so." + +"When you spoke of Wallenstein as you did just now," he went on, "you +showed that you did not understand Wallenstein's point of view." The +Jesuit spoke in a contemplative, persuasive way. + +"I cannot understand disloyalty!" Nigel interposed. + +"But is it? This man was a Bohemian at a time when Bohemia was not even +an appanage of the House of Austria. He offered to raise an army to +assist the Catholic cause. He was successful. Wallenstein became great +in name, in riches, with a great army marching to his orders, began to +regard himself as one of the princes of Europe, one of the greatest. The +Catholic League dismissed him. This was a great shock to his pride, but +not to his riches or to his name. He still considered himself a prince, +owning no hereditary allegiance to the Habsburgs, none, in fact, to any +man, free to offer his services, his alliance, where he would. His plan +has been to fan the wind of Protestantism, not because he loves it, but +in order that he might raise the whirlwind of a gigantic war!" + +"Yes?" Nigel was eagerly attentive. + +"Then Gustavus came. Hesse, Saxony, all assisted in the incantation! +Tilly failed, Pappenheim failed! It is incredible how they failed." + +Nigel said merely-- + +"Tilly failed because he departed from his original plan, and Pappenheim +was out-fought. One mistake in a big battle is too many!" + +"There is yet much that may happen. But we have still Saxony to deal +with, and now the Grand Turk." + +"It is possible that the Emperor might need Wallenstein again." + +The Jesuit paused here and looked in a quizzical way at Nigel. + +Nigel flushed. He could not understand Father Lamormain talking in this +way, as if he was the defender of Wallenstein against obloquy, when a +few months before the same Father Lamormain, in company with Maximilian, +was resolutely opposed to Wallenstein, even against the Emperor's +inclination. + +"It is difficult to believe that the Emperor would not rather die on the +battlefield at the head of a faithful few than submit to such a course!" + +"I believe," said the Jesuit, "that you would ride in the last charge by +his side, as the old paladins did at Roncesvaux." His eyes roved over +Nigel approvingly. He recognised the goodness of the metal from which +with his own hammer he was striking the sparks. He was older, and his +enthusiasm and his resolution were deeper down, not less there than +Nigel's. + +"But the war is of more importance than the Emperor, or than +Wallenstein!" + +Nigel looked puzzled. + +"I came into the world not to bring peace but a sword," said the Father, +crossing himself. + +"You mean?" asked Nigel. + +"The war that the Church has waged through all ages and will always +wage! It is not by heroic deaths of Emperors, but by the steady +perennial application of means to ends that she wins her way. It is more +to her ultimate purpose and advantage to maintain the Habsburgs on the +throne, to preserve their pomp and power, than to let them court certain +destruction in order to add one more glittering legend to the roll of +military saints!" + +"I begin to see something of your meaning!" said Nigel. "Then +Wallenstein is only an instrument that Holy Church intends to use?" + +"Precisely!" said Father Lamormain, bringing his lips together firmly, +as if he could have added something further and had swiftly decided +against it. + +"And with what lure will you attract him?" asked Nigel. + +"That we have yet to discover! He may decline altogether." + +"No, Father. The man that has once commanded armies, not being a king, +can never willingly lay down his baton to become a grazier of oxen, +unless he be too old to march even in a litter." + +"I am a man of peace, you know!" said the Jesuit. + +"But you will never lay down your baton till you die!" said Nigel with +understanding. Beneath the suavity were _finesse_ and a high +intelligence, but below all was the measureless strength of purpose and +zeal for the cause that was of the essence of his life. Nigel saw this +as in a glass darkly. That to this quiet Jesuit men and women and their +personal emotions, their loves, their ambitions, their humiliations, +were as nothing but tools to be used, or pipes to be played upon, Nigel +did not as yet even suspect--or perchance, had he suspected, might have +craved leave to follow Tilly, where hard knocks were plentiful and blood +ran freely, to take part in a visible strife and with open foes, men of +like manner to himself. + +"If you mean _this_!" said the Father gravely, lifting his crucifix from +his breast to his lips. "No! Nor then! He will find work for my soul! +But now," he went on in a changed voice, "I sent for you to send you on +an errand. You are to be the tempter of Wallenstein." + +"Surely you can choose a legate of more credit and authority than me!" + +"Possibly, but not one more likely to elicit Wallenstein's candour." + +"And how will he receive an ambassador of my humble station? Will he not +rather deem it another affront, and throw his weight wholly into the +opposite scale?" + +"As to rank, the Emperor is pleased with your behaviour as a regimental +commander, and your courage and conduct in the battle and the retreat +from Breitenfeld. Your patent as major-general is being made out. +Wallenstein may appear cold. He may appear haughty, but you will let him +understand that you are but the forerunner. You will explain that the +Emperor is desirous of knowing first, whether His Grace the Duke of +Friedland would be willing, should the occasion arise, to raise another +army to oppose first Saxony, then Gustavus, on the part of the Empire, +and in the second place, what conditions His Grace would expect to be +fulfilled, and what powers must be included in his patent. Once the +general extent of his demands are known a negotiation may be set on foot +through channels which will safeguard his dignity." + +The interview proceeded at some length, Father Lamormain laying down +with great precision the details of the points on which Nigel was to +touch. + +"You will go to Prague ostensibly in command of reinforcements for the +garrison, and to report to the Emperor the state of the defences of that +city. In the ordinary course you will naturally beg the favour of being +received by the Duke, and so gain his private ear." + +"Having learned all you can, you will return with all speed, for events +are moving quickly." + +"I can but do my best," Nigel said in conclusion, "and that best may be +poor. Meantime I crave the Emperor's patience, and the opportunity +afterwards to gain his further favour in some military employment, for +to tell the truth, Father, this embassy work is not suited to my bent. +Though I can but thank the Emperor very heartily for the honour he does +me in reposing so much of his confidence in me." + +So the interview ended as it had begun with a benediction, and the next +day saw Nigel and a considerable body of troops, with a full complement +of officers, set out for Prague. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + + ORBIT AND FOCUS. + + +The best inn at Znaim was a solidly built and roomy and uncomfortable +place. Znaim is on the road from Vienna to Prague, and is actually in +the Mark of Mähren, neither in Austria nor Bohemia. Whether that was a +reason why His Grace the Duke of Friedland should have affrighted, as +much as overjoyed, the host of the Golden Fleece by his presence it is +not possible to say, but he was there with an attendance of two +gentlemen and six men-servants, not counting horse-boys. As he told no +one why he was going to Znaim, or whether he was passing beyond Znaim, +no one could satisfy the curiosity of the host, who having been warned +by courier, had caused a large upper room to be swept, laid down a rug +or two bought from a Hungarian trader, who had bought them from a Turk, +and set a fire of logs roaring in the chimney by way of banishing the +November damp. + +The great man had arrived at midday, dined with his gentlemen, who had +afterwards set off on some journey to the southward. Left alone, his +men-servants dismissed for the time being, the Duke amused himself by +making plans and calculations on sheets of paper, also by walking to and +fro, and peering out of the misty casement. The innkeeper took it into +his head that the Duke was expecting some one. + +And in the late afternoon, just as the Duke had called for candles, the +door opened and the man-servant announced "the Countess Ottilie von +Thüringen." + +From a hood of deep blue velvet edged with sable, a slight colour in her +cheeks from the wind, the mysterious eyes looked out expectant and +almost timid, if timidity had not been almost a stranger to the woman to +whom they belonged. + +The grave cold face of Wallenstein relaxed into a smile of welcome. He +bowed and kissed her hand. + +"So you are on your way, Countess Ottilie! 'Tis a long while since we +met." + +"Six months! Albrecht! Six months of inglorious rust!" There was an +undertone of reproach, very faint, perhaps scarcely meant. She was a +woman. + +The brow of Wallenstein resumed its furrows. + +"You at least have not rusted," he said. "Quicksilver could rust as +soon. You have been busy, my confederate. But indeed I have not been +exactly idle. And we may say truthfully that our efforts have +succeeded." + +"In so far that Protestant Germany is aroused from end to end by the +torch of Gustavus, and that the Catholic League was never so downcast as +now." + +"You say rightly that Gustavus applied the torch, but it is we who have +gathered the dry faggots together and spread them on the common hearth!" + +"Then you are pleased with me, Albrecht!" The wistfulness in her tone +was quite apparent. For a moment the great lady was merged into the +woman seeking approval from the man who sat upon the throne of her +admiration. + +"You are wonderful as well as beautiful!" said the Duke, not as a lover +says these things, but with the air of the connoisseur of minds, deeply +surprised that he has discovered a masterpiece where he looked merely +for an ordinary work of art. + +She coloured at his words and smiled. They pleased her, glibly as they +ran off his tongue, but with a lover's ardour to waft them into air how +much more would they have pleased her! + +"Yes!" She went on as if following out another thought. "Events are +moving fast towards the point we aimed at, your recall." + +"My recall? Yes! Six months ago I was dreaming of recall." + +In an instant she leaned forward anxiously to ask-- + +"Of what then do you now think if not of recall? To what end are you +planning? Towards what have I planned and journeyed and striven?" + +Wallenstein felt the annoyance that all self-centred men feel at making +others partners in their plans. But he showed nothing of it as he +answered-- + +"Of a confederacy of all German states on the basis of complete +religious liberty! It is of that I am thinking." + +She threw back her hood and opened her cloak. Then she asked with an +amused air-- + +"And for this it is necessary to _drive the Habsburgs over the Alps_?" + +Something very like a gleam of impatience, if not of anger, shot into +his eyes. + +"Could such a confederacy take place and the Emperor Ferdinand consent?" +he asked. + +"No! Nor could it take place while the Order of Jesus exists." + +"That also must go!" He showed plainly how indifferent it was. "But how +did you learn so much of my intentions?" + +"The dead gave up what the living had not sufficient trust to reveal!" +she said with some air of being hurt. + +"So von Teschen is dead! At Breitenfeld?" + +She nodded. + +"He was a useful servant, but too rash! Still, I am sorry to have lost +him!" + +"Was it altogether worthy of Albrecht von Waldstein to wait the issue of +a battle, and then to send congratulations to the victor?" The voice of +Ottilie von Thüringen conveyed sorrow. Her eyes, wide open, searched the +Duke's face, which showed nothing. + +"It is the handle of the sword I seek, not the point. There is nothing +worthy or unworthy. Without a command I cannot sway a single state! I +must begin by taking the sword by the handle." + +"Your Grace seems to have forgotten the tenor of the compact made with a +Habsburger, a rebel, but still a Habsburger. Let me remind you of it. +The objective was the restoration of your Grace to the command of the +armies of the Emperor, or of the Catholic League. To do this it was +necessary to encourage the Protestant powers to attack, and the greater +the danger to the Empire, the more sure would be your restoration. That +accomplished, the sword once more in your hand, you were to demand the +throne of Bohemia." + +"And who says that my purpose does not hold?" + +"Albrecht von Waldstein seems to say it. He talks of confederacies, of +driving out the Habsburgs. He who aspires to sit beside a Habsburg upon +a throne must first be worthy of her, and not diminish her worth in +lowering the lustre of her family and her name!" + +The splendid voice rang out with the pride and command of a great +princess, rebuking a too aspiring courtier. + +Wallenstein bowed to the utterance as to the throne itself, but raising +his head again and throwing back his wide shoulders replied-- + +"I have not forgotten, Ottilie! But the Habsburg princess that would sit +beside Wallenstein upon the throne of Bohemia derives her title from +him. It is not Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, a joining of +two monarchies. I confess that Europe holds but one princess, and that a +Habsburger, who can be an equal mate by reason of her intelligence, her +beauty, and her race, for Wallenstein, but she must learn that what he +does is right. Forgive me if I set the matter out too harshly. No man +ever played a greater game for greater stakes under auspices more +divine; but Wallenstein must play it." + +The eyes of the Countess Ottilie flashed in the light of the candles and +the firelight as she turned her head to answer him. + +But her answer died upon her lips, for the man-servant knocked and +entered. + +"A general officer from Vienna passing by with troops for Prague craves +audience, your Grace!" + +The Countess Ottilie resumed her hood and sat down again by the fire. +Wallenstein, anticipating no long interruption, understood that she +would contrive to remain incognita while he admitted this stranger to a +short audience. + +Nigel Charteris entered. + +As he came forward into the full light the Duke of Friedland started +perceptibly. + +"It is an omen! The circle, the oval, and the arc once more!" he +muttered. + +"Ah! Major-General! So _your_ star mounts! Whilst _mine_ flickers in a +far-off sky." + +"I had thought to have found your Grace alone, Duke!" said Nigel, +casting a glance at the hooded lady. + +"She is like yourself and myself a chance traveller to Znaim. I know +her. She is a friend before whom one may speak freely. What of the war?" + +Nigel told briefly what was known in Vienna, what he guessed that +Wallenstein already knew. + +The lady spread out her long slender fingers to the fire. Nigel saw them +without regarding them. He could not see her face, nor was he concerned +to try. She was Wallenstein's affair. + +Nigel did not wish to let the occasion slip, nor to lay too much stress +upon it. + +"In short," he said, after his recital of the position as a soldier +understood it to explain to a soldier, "the affairs of the Emperor are +in a serious plight, and he looks round for aid." + +"Is not His Holiness the Pope sending him an army, or at least an aid?" +asked Wallenstein. + +"It is said that His Holiness has too much to occupy his troops in +Italy," said Nigel. "Meantime Saxony is getting ready for the march." + +"The winter will stop him!" said Wallenstein. + +"He is like to winter in Prague!" said Nigel. + +The lady by the fireplace may have shivered, or shrugged her shoulders +in the least. A thought came to him that his prophecy might have gone +home to the Duke more truly than he knew. It was at Prague that +Wallenstein maintained a princely house. He must, in the event of the +Saxons attacking Prague, submit to their dominance, a thing unpleasant +and inconsonant with Wallenstein's character, or remove his household +before their approach, or make an alliance with them and so cut himself +entirely adrift from the Empire, or raise troops for the Emperor and +defend the town. In any event out of the four he must make up his mind +and act soon. + +"To whom then does the Emperor look to save him from his enemies?" + +"There is but one, your Grace, and that the Duke of Friedland!" + +Again the lady at the hearth held out her fingers idly to the blaze, and +Nigel's eyes following the action saw the red glow of the blood between +them, and this time he marked their slenderness. + +"The Emperor must needs bid high!" said the Duke. "And soon! The posture +of affairs is not what it was. There must be no more talk of edicts! The +time has come when there can be no more Catholic States and Protestant +States but German States! If the Emperor becomes strong again through +his armies, it can only be in order to be able to treat on a more equal +footing. But what possible price can he offer me to forego my private +peace, my ease, the enjoyment of my revenues, and submit to the +harassments of raising an army? I speak not yet of a supreme command. +Cæsar made war against the Gauls because he needed money before he could +gratify his ambition. I do not need money." + +Nigel noticed that the lady's head gave an impatient toss, as who should +say, "What ails the man?" + +"You do not covet the honour of the supreme command, and of driving +Saxony back to his frontiers and the Swede across the Baltic?" Nigel +said in genuine amazement. + +"For what? To become again a private gentleman?" + +"There would be the Turks next, who are even now talking of invading +Hungary." + +"More toil! More glory, if you like, or perhaps death in the course of +the task. And again to what end if successful?" + +"The great soldiers have never looked to the end when they began their +campaigns," Nigel replied, glowing; "but none of them has ever rested of +his own will while great victories were yet to be won." + +"The Emperor would scarce like to endow me with such powers as I should +demand before I listened to him. There is but one Wallenstein. When the +Emperor chooses to send his request in language plain and manifest, +offering to confer such absolute power to raise him an army as I +consider my least due, I will consider it. Till then I lift no finger, +not even if the Saxons thunder at the doors of Prague. Tilly has failed. +Pappenheim has failed, Maximilian will fail." + +The lady at the hearth put up her long fingers to adjust the hood more +closely to her head. This time Nigel saw them. He knew them. But were +they Ottilie's or Stephanie's? The cloak? Where had he seen that? His +heart beat faster. For an instant he forgot Wallenstein, the Emperor, +the whole of his mission in the presence, the hidden presence, of +Ottilie. + +He sprang to her side. A curious cold smile lit up the face of +Wallenstein. + +"Ottilie!" Nigel exclaimed. + +She threw back her hood, rose, faced him, held out her hands-- + +"Ottilie is no more! I am Stephanie!" + +"No more?" Nigel murmured with quivering lips. "No more?" + +"Stephanie was Ottilie when she followed the star of Wallenstein, +worshipped his ambition and wrought as she did even to this day for his +success. But no longer! She is satisfied. She could be one with the +lofty spirit of a Cæsar but not with the bargaining, bartering craft of +merchant Wallenstein, who asks what reward he shall receive at the very +hand that opens the gate of the Palace of Glory." + +"I go to Vienna, Colonel Charteris, you to Prague. God speed you back +again! Now if you will see me to my carriage I need no longer be a +hindrance to the chaffering!" + +It may be imagined what confusion this outburst, spoken in calm level +tones, icy with suppressed passion, stirred in Nigel's mind. The +pressure of her hands, the first look into his eyes, had told him that +what he had ravished from a not unwilling Ottilie was his from +Stephanie, Archduchess though she was, when time and season were more +propitious; and the blood beat into his face. + +He bowed over her hands and went towards the door to give the order to +the servants. + +Then the Archduchess turned to Wallenstein-- + +"Adieu, Duke! Our astrologer's figure holds another meaning than the one +we gave it. Bid him be more exact, and take into account what he has +forgotten, the beatings of our hearts, ... of those of us that have +hearts!" + +Wallenstein bowed low. His face showed nothing of what he felt. + +"Adieu, your Highness! There is perhaps more in the spirit of +Wallenstein than the merchant, more than the politician, more than the +soldier. I give your Highness thanks for all your furtherance, while I +deplore the rupture of the alliance, from which it is your Highness's +pleasure to withdraw. Adieu!" + +Nigel returned as the last word was spoken, and Wallenstein proceeded-- + +"Adieu also, General Charteris! My best wishes go with you! If His +Imperial Majesty should inquire, you have my authority to tell him in +what state of mind you have found me, and nothing of what Her Highness +has indiscreetly disclosed. I know that in all things I can rely upon +your discretion." + +Nigel gave him the assurance, and after a parting salutation led the +Archduchess to her coach. + + + + + CHAPTER XXX. + + LOVE AND A LOCKSMITH. + + +The utter hopelessness of the affair was the first sane reflection that +approached the gate of Nigel's mind as he journeyed on to Prague after +the Archduchess had set out for Vienna. They would meet again. Yes, it +was in the minds of both. They were only at the beginning. They would +both go on. They had made no pledge to go on; but having exchanged +looks, clasped hands no more, he had gone northward and she southward, +and Nigel's first sane reflection, after the first glow of the supreme +exaltation of spirit we call love had passed, was that in some way or +other that journeying apart would be symbolical of their lives. He asked +himself what would happen if some stranger from over seas, not being a +prince of the blood, should in the Court of King Charles fall into a +like passion for an English princess, were any old enough. He had no +doubts upon the subject. The amorous fool would be despatched in haste +to his native land. The princess would be dealt with by appointing a +company of noble gaolers and a residence from which egress would be +difficult, until a husband of the right hue of blood could be purchased +for her, and there would be an end of youthful escapades. And Nigel knew +that he in his own country would have approved. The Habsburgs were, if +anything, prouder than the Stuarts. What then could he, a Scot, a plain +gentleman, who by a series of strokes of fortune had risen in the +Imperial service to be a major-general, expect? Dismissal! And the +Archduchess? The Elector or a convent. As yet, Nigel reflected, and this +was after the first sane reflection set out above, as yet the secret, +that secret that was more delicious, more thrilling than any in the +world to them, lay in their own hearts. + +He would cherish it. She would cherish it. In time to come they would +make plans, wild hazardous resolutions. Would they find the courage to +carry them out? He could answer for himself. Her history, as far as he +knew it, answered for her. She had an equal courage, a haughty daring, a +mind full of resource, and eyes that could stir him to any deed. + +So he rode on to Prague and disposed his troops in the garrison and went +round the defences with the commander of the garrison, making +suggestions, sage and otherwise, and incidentally learned how unpopular +the Emperor was: how he had quartered troops on Protestant hamlets, and +enforced mass, torn lands from Protestant hands and handed them to +Catholics, or those who said they were. The commandant was not hopeful +as to the front they would present to Saxony. All Nigel could offer was +vague encouragement that something was in the wind that would put a +different complexion on the affairs of the Empire. + +Then having accomplished his errand he returned to Vienna and found +Father Lamormain eager to hear the result of the interview with +Wallenstein. + +This Nigel reported in a very few words, which Father Lamormain summed +up by saying-- + +"You inferred, Colonel Charteris, that the Duke is willing to treat on +conditions!" + +"On conditions which he will impose himself!" + +"And these are?" + +"That the war is to be waged or not, as the necessity to redress the +balance of power dictates, and that the settlement shall be on the basis +of entire religious freedom for the Empire." + +"That is the hardest condition! But we must needs bow to the tempest. +Time will bring its own opportunities afterwards. And the next?" + +"That all appointments of officers, from the highest downwards, shall be +in the Duke's gift without the need of reference to Vienna." + +"The Duke would be the fountain of honour, and every captain his sworn +vassal. That is also a hard condition and smacks of Cæsarism!" the +Jesuit commented. "Freedom he asks and power absolute while he exercises +his functions, but for reward, what reward does he crave?" + +"None that he spoke of to me!" + +"Ah!" said the Jesuit reflectively. "We are bidden to distrust the +Greeks and people bearing gifts. I am also inclined to look a little +further when a man is willing to undergo great toil and asks nothing." + +"There will be the spoil of the cities and the ransom of the prisoners!" +said Nigel. + +"The spoil of Stockholm?" the Jesuit inquired with a smile. "Now as to +yourself, General. Will you stay here and take your chance of a command +under Wallenstein, or join Tilly?" + +"I would be where there is work to do!" said Nigel. "And Wallenstein may +not name me!" + +"You would have made a good regular had you been trained early," said +the Father approvingly. "But some day woman will come into your life and +divide it into the camps of love and duty." + +For an instant a flush came into Nigel's cheeks and passed. Had she not +come sooner than the Jesuit expected? + +The interview ended, Nigel proffered a formal request to the War +Department to be allowed to join General Tilly. As the permission did +not depend upon the War Department so much as upon the Emperor, not upon +the Emperor so much as Father Lamormain, still a few days elapsed before +he could set out. Couriers were expected. Negotiations had been begun +with Wallenstein with as much ceremony as if he had been a crowned head. + +To any man less genuinely a man of action, this compulsory and to +himself excusable dawdling in the very neighbourhood of the Archduchess, +would have been a delightful interlude between the stern acts of war. +Such a man would have had the capacity for idleness in some measure, and +some knowledge how to enjoy it rather than employ it. He would, far more +quickly than Nigel, have found a way to enjoy it, and to enjoy it in +company with some beloved fair, or perhaps with several. + +Nigel's love was a possession. The Archduchess, mysterious combination +of Stephanie and Ottilie, had the whole of his heart for her encampment. +There was no little citadel or outward tower which her forces did not +occupy. But as yet the exaltation of his love did not manifest itself in +any outward signs. He neither talked more, as many lovers do, nor was +more silent, as some are wont to be, nor manifested exceeding nor +profuse gentleness, a manner unbecoming in a soldier. If any at Vienna +had known him well, they might have thought him more self-contained than +usual. He felt that he must needs keep a close-knitted grip upon +himself, for he told himself that, if he should come within arm's length +of the object of his worship, his will would be as the green withes that +bound Samson, and his lips would incontinently profane the image of the +goddess, as they had once before done when she had appeared under the +humbler of her guises. That the Archduchess, on her side, might be as +fully and completely woman as he was man, did not realise itself to him. +It was not possible that it should. So that he did not picture her as +beating her wings against the palace cage, whose wires were the servant +spies, stifling or trying to stifle in her generous heart the desire to +give of her womanhood with lavishness to him whom her imagination had +crowned and enthroned in a vision of perfect man. + +But where lover and beloved are within a bowshot length, and both are +thirsty to gaze the one upon the other, both eager to exchange the story +of their moods, surely the god Cupid will find a way to bring about +their meeting. + +And Love, who laughs at locksmiths, employed one. One noon, as he +returned from some of his military duties, Nigel found an apprentice +locksmith awaiting him in his quarters, whose grimy hand drew from his +leathern apron a key bright from its new forging and chasing by the +tools. Nigel, being asked by the lad if it pleased him, replied with the +wonderful presence of mind Dan Cupid gives, that it pleased him well. It +was the duplicate of the key of that orchard close within the gardens of +the palace. + +The place was no longer in doubt. Where Colonel Charteris had been +received in jocund May by the Archduchess, Nigel would meet Stephanie in +hoar December. And the hour? Love dictated that the first hour of dusk +was the first possible, and the first possible was the one of which Love +must avail himself. + +To gain access to the gardens by night it was necessary to reach them by +one of the doors which led from one of the lower corridors of the palace +into the orangery, and by one of those of the orangery into the garden +terrace. + +That afternoon Nigel spent an hour not unprofitably in the orangery +examining the trees, learning their history from the gardeners, and +where the keys hung by which one might let one's self out into the +terrace. + +By this time his face and figure were too well known to the pages or the +domestics of the palace to excite remark, and he easily contrived an +errand to one of the officers on guard in the palace, which made it +reasonable for him to be seen passing along the corridor in question and +returning. But on his return he took the left hand into the orangery +instead of the right into the courtyard, and an instant sufficed for him +to find the key and let himself out on to the terrace. + +By what means the other conspirator would reach the rendezvous he did +not know, but from the rambling building of the palace many doors led +into the gardens. Few of them showed any trace of usage, but one no +doubt led to the private apartments of the Archduchess. + +Once more the moon befriended him, but this time she seemed to Nigel to +be like himself, or perhaps more justly like his mistress. For, fitfully +gleaming, now wholly to be seen, now half in shadow, now again wholly +lost, the moon seemed to scurry from one clot of cloud, ragged and grey +and wintry, to another hiding-place still more opaque, and always +scurrying. Nigel knew well it was the wind in the upper air that drove +the clouds across her face, but the image pleased him as he went by +purposely circuitous ways towards the orchard close, his key securely in +his pocket, his cloak wrapped round him, his hat pulled down well across +his brows, his sword in its place at his side. + +There was nothing languorous about this night, nothing effeminate but +the moon. But in chill December, as in soft breathing June, an +assignation with a maid is as fruitful of lovers' walks and the exercise +of lovers' patience. + +So he drew near to the orchard close, and paused in the shadows before +he set key to lock. + +Now that he was so near he felt more of love's awe. He wondered if it +had been some rustic maiden--Elspeth Reinheit, for example--he would +have felt it. But of Elspeth Reinheit he had never felt in such a way. +Many maidens in many places had cast questioning, subtly troubling, +glances at him, and always till he had seen her, whom he had deemed +Ottilie the mysterious, their glances had fallen from him like spent +arrows from a buckler. She alone was above all different in kind, a +creature of a lone world where he was a hardy adventurer. He was a new +Pizarro penetrating a deserted temple of the Incas, and finding a +solitary priestess whose lofty mien and more than human beauty forbade +him to desecrate the sanctuary, while she chanted in an unknown tongue +songs of infinite allurement. + +He thrust the key into the lock. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI. + + AN ASSIGNATION. + + +The lock yielded. The door opened. But the walk was bare as far as the +fitful moonlight showed. He strode forward almost as if he feared an +ambush, though at this part of the garden the short bare trees and +standards made but the cover of a spider's-web tracery, through which +one sees what is beyond. Only towards the middle of the orchard was +there a spot where several walks met, and this was nearly surrounded by +evergreen bushes and laurel and holly. This alone loomed blackly in +front of him. Towards this he strode. And even as he gained the entrance +a tall figure of a woman, cloaked and hooded, emerged from the +encompassing dusk, and coming nearer, revealed itself as that of the +Archduchess. + +Dimly Nigel divined that she wore the deep blue velvet and sable furs +which he had seen aforetime. More clearly he distinguished in the depths +of the hood the dancing of those lustrous eyes, the pouting red lips of +that royal mouth, the pallor of the cheeks. + +He took her hand to kiss, but she bent forward with a look of +enticement. + +"Nay! tall captain!" she said. "We need not use the fashion of the +courts. It was not so you kissed Ottilie, or so she told me." + +But nevertheless she tendered but her cheek, in token, as he understood +it, that she had but surrendered the furthest outworks. That vain +imagining of his, that to be within arm's length of her was to throw the +reins upon the neck of passion and let it gallop, had vanished when he +put the key in the lock. + +Woman the queen, woman the giver and the withholder, leaned graciously +towards him by reason of the love that had descended upon her, abasing +her to him, exalting him to her, banishing all thrusting rebellious +swashbuckling imaginations from the presence. Tumultuous his thoughts +sprang towards speech, but little could he find but an almost +breathless-- + +"Stephanie! Of all living men to choose me for your lover?" + +"Nay! tall captain!" Craftily she had ranged herself beside him and +rested her hand upon his shoulder, looking up into his eyes with her +face of roguish wooer. "Nay! tall captain! You had already taken my +sister-half, Ottilie, by assault, and it is not seeming that an +Archduchess should be bussed by more than one bold fellow, so I even +proffer my cheek to the same smiter for honour's sake." + +The tone of raillery set him at his ease. He felt that beneath it beat +the true womanly heart. And over him stole a great, a measureless +content. + +He took her left hand in his, and holding so much of her closely to his +side, they began to walk here and there about the orchard by first one +and then another of its many paths. + +"It is amazing that I did not guess your riddle before, my love," he +said. + +"Count Tilly guessed it at Magdeburg!" she said. "But he feigned not to, +thinking doubtless it would be as well my madcap freaks should not come +to the Emperor through him." + +"But you put on a different seeming! The voice was like, but the +language of Ottilie was different, smacked of the country lady. The face +of Ottilie was like that of the Archduchess, but the manner and bearing +were less haughty and less assured." + +"But the truth was that you saw me in distant places and in changed +circumstances, so that you were prone to think of me as two distinct +women." + +"And now tell me the meaning of this masquerade! It was for Wallenstein! +I am sure of that! You were in love with Wallenstein?" + +"Never! You are going to be my first lover and my last!" Her tone was +deep and serious. There was something of presage, of mystery, a hint of +doom. + +"I was taken, as a girl will be, with the glamour that glowed about his +name, as he rose from step to step by great leaps of success. It was the +star of Wallenstein that I followed. I dreamed of being caught up into +its orbit, and, moving, throned above the nations in its company, +sharing and contributing to its brightness." + +"And Wallenstein? Did he know?" + +"Wallenstein knew that I was favouring his party and his plans. He knew +that I was willing to run terrible risks, as I have done, to forward his +aims. But Wallenstein is a merchant, not a prince, a politician, not a +man! The glamour became more transparent as time went on, and when I met +you, Nigel, it was as if a wind from the hills swept over the plain, +sweeping away the mists of morning and leaving everything clear and +visible. For you showed yourself a man. You were not old and full of +wiles like Father Lamormain or Maximilian. You were not like a mere +courtier, as so many that I have known are, ready to agree to this and +that and everything. You withstood me, thwarted me, outplayed me." + +"Not always, Stephanie! There was a castle called the Wartburg!" + +At this reminiscence the Archduchess flushed beneath her hood, which +Nigel did not see. But he felt the sly pinch that accompanied her cry. + +"Speak not of it! You took more away with you than you brought!" The +hood was turned up towards him now, and he could look down into the +depths of those translucent womanly eyes, brimming with the tenderness +of first love, more magical than which is nothing of human tenderness. + +"And I," said Nigel, "had never loved woman till I saw you in the +Pastor's house at Magdeburg. It was as if a bee had stung me. I felt the +sharp prick, told myself it was naught. But the poison worked. At +Erfurt, when I knew it was you that had wept in the cathedral, and we +stood by the bridge looking at the rivers and the stars and heard you +speak of love, I recognised the pain again, I knew the longing that had +set in, but also, knowing that you spoke not of me, again I brushed the +thought aside. But never for long...." Something seemed to come into his +mind.... He paused awhile, the Archduchess hanging upon his next words, +savouring the essence of what had gone before.... + +"Who stole my despatches?" + +"The same hand that restored them! Speak not of them!" + +"I wondered if I had awakened what would have happened!" + +"A woman's wit----" + +"Would have been little proof against a man's sword-thrust in the dark," +said Nigel sternly. + +"I will not run such a risk again," she said with humility, "unless it +be to save you!" + +"Foolish princess!" he rejoined, and held her suddenly in his arms. +"You are bewitched! And so am I." This time there was no pretence of +offering a cheek. It was a fortunate dark shadow in which they stood, +and lips levied toll of lips, and were not satisfied with the rate of +customs. Heart beat to heart and beat the more, but Nigel's reverence +for her, for all he held her so closely, was as high as her greatness of +soul. + +"It is enough, tall captain, and yet not enough. But our plans! We have +already spent a foolish hour and made no plans." + +Her warning tumbled Nigel headlong out of his tower to an ungrateful +earth. Plans to what end? + +"Oh, Stephanie! My princess! To-morrow or the next day or the next I +must set out for Tilly's army. A plan to see you, to hold you, what need +I but this key and your sweet graciousness?" + +"Once to meet you in my orchard close! Once was easy and possible. But +do you think we could meet twice and not be spied upon. I know the +palace of Vienna and its ways as you can never know them. Spies of +Father Lamormain, hirelings of Maximilian's, hirelings of France and +Spain." + +"And your love is a great and precious jewel," said Nigel, "too great, +too precious to be jeopardised." + +"If you would wear it and me forever," ... she murmured, "we must hide +it now, peeping at it now and then in secret, till the time is ripe to +run the great risk of our lives and proclaim it in the ears of the court +and of Europe. Whether it will be a convent or death for me, or death +for you and me, for I would die rather than wed Maximilian, or life for +both of us, is hidden behind the shadows as the dark encircles us now. +But we must not barter our chances for any trifling joy----" + +"It is no trifling joy, Stephanie! This, save the mark, is heaven to +hold you to my heart." + +"Oh! Nigel! Nigel!" she sighed. "Your love is the love of a man that +comes and goes in gusts, roaring like the wind, gentle as the breeze, +and then it is gone till it awakens again. I say not you are inconstant, +but you do not fear, as woman does, the hour of emptiness when there is +no lover, no husband." + +"By Heaven! I am no inconstant, Stephanie! I can bide my time, and if I +lose not my life in these wars, surely there shall be a roof-tree in +bonnie Scotland waiting us." + +"To-morrow, all being well, the Archduchess shall send for Colonel +Charteris to the Long Gallery, but for a brief talk of the affairs of +state. The following evening I shall try to meet you here at the same +time to say farewell. But remember how we may be beset, and use a double +caution. Look for a way into the gardens by another avenue than the +palace. Now I leave you! Do not follow! Wait a full half-hour! Make sure +you are not spied upon! Make a wide circuit to the orangery and have a +glib excuse if you are met. Good-night." + +For a brief half-hour Nigel waited, exploring the orchard close. There +were two other gates, by one of which the Archduchess had beaten her +retreat. No sign of any lurking spy made itself apparent. This time +Cæsar's daughter had escaped suspicion, and the lovers had their +precious hour of interlude. + +Nigel's mind was more at rest after he had made the circuit of the place +and sounded every shadow by the aid of the fitful moon. More than ever +alive to the privilege of her love, he was equally alive to the danger +that she ran. Histories and mysteries of the courts of Italy, of Spain, +of France, sprang to life in his mind, things read, or heard in the +guard-room, or handed down in fearsome stories of the hearth at home. +The fairy princess had been folded in his arms, had breathed kisses of +mortal joy upon his lips, had gone. If she were not a fairy princess, +then a thousand unknown dangers threatened them. He could guess +Maximilian as one very possible architect of evil; only Maximilian was +just then preparing to defend Bavaria, and could know nothing if the +very wind shouted "Nigel and Stephanie." Father Lamormain was another, +nearer home, absolutely inexorable in working out his plans. At present +in ignorance of this princely indiscretion he was friendly towards +Nigel, but let him gain an inkling and Nigel felt that their projects of +happiness would be thwarted by means impossible for himself and her to +foresee and to avoid. + +As he turned the key in the lock and took one farewell look of that +wintry orchard before closing the gate behind him his mind was full of +joy; and as the gate closed joy fled before foreboding. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII. + + PASTOR RAD AGAIN. + + +After the victory of the Lutheran faith at Breitenfeld, Pastor Rad had +found himself without a definite mission. In his enthusiasm he had made +his way to the camp of Gustavus at Werben and marched with the Swedes to +that field of triumph, using such opportunities as occurred to labour by +way of exhortation and of prayer. So that his sonorous voice was lifted +up, it mattered little who listened or regarded. At first the Swedes, +drafted into whose ranks were many Brandenburgers, Pomeranians, and +Saxons, listened to, if they only imperfectly understood, his vociferous +ministrations. But after Breitenfeld the jealousy of the Swedish native +ministers, who had at the beginning, while the issue was uncertain, held +out the right hand of fellowship, manifested itself, and he was made to +understand that his presence with the Swedish portion of Gustavus' army +was superfluous. That army speedily moved onwards towards the west, and +Pastor Rad, having reached Erfurt along with it, considered it a +suitable opportunity for making his way back to Eisenach, where his +flock, and his livelihood, lay peacefully enfolded in the forest. + +His reception did not savour of fervency. The interest of utterly rural +communities in external events happening a hundred miles away is hard +to kindle, and, when kindled, needs much application of the bellows to +keep it at a red heat. Magdeburg had fired them. His own narratives and +sermons had blown up their sparks to a blaze, but, with the marching of +a small body of their young men to join Gustavus, the countryside had +returned to its arduous agricultural pursuits, to its wood chopping and +charcoal burning, to its smithies and its inns. + +"Here comes Pastor Rad!" said Jacob Putkammer, the tailor. "Now we shall +hear!" + +"About Breitenfeld?" was the pastor's eager question. "It was glorious." + +"Yes! Yes! The Swede beat Tilly till there was not a whole suit of +clothes in his army! We know all that." + +"What we want to know," said Marx Englehart, the smith, "is what has +become of Elspeth Reinheit?" + +"Elspeth Reinheit?" queried the pastor in astonishment. + +"You remember, pastor, how you set about driving the devil out of her! +Over yonder at Ruhla!" + +The pastor flushed at the remembrance. + +"Yes! Didn't some soldier come interfering and carry her off?" said the +smith. "I wasn't there. I had too much to do at the time to make a +holiday." + +"Holiday! Marx!" said the pastor sternly. "It was a solemn duty we had +to perform, and we were shamefully interrupted." + +The tailor's eyes glinted as he said-- + +"I can picture him now dusting your gown for you!" + +The pastor looked, as he felt, very angry. + +"I don't know what became of her." + +"Well!" said the smith, "I shouldn't advise you to go too near old +Reinheit, her father. He's in an awful fume against you, pastor. Of +course at the time he thought it was all for her good, but he did not +expect you would go to the length of whipping the poor girl." + +"How else should one persuade the devil out of a woman?" asked Pastor +Rad. + +"Ah!" said the tailor. "We are not learned in these matters. Now if you +had been married to her, no one would have complained. There is no +better way." + +"There was a good deal of talk before that that you were cocking your +cap at her!" said the smith slowly. + +"And might have done worse! Old Reinheit's got a fine stocking of gold +somewhere, and look at his farm," said the tailor. + +"Lay not up for yourselves----" began the pastor. + +"That's all very well!" said the tailor. "But a good-looking wench, even +if she has got a devil, is none the worse for having a rich father. +_She_ didn't lay up the treasure. Besides, I wouldn't give half a batz +for a woman who hadn't got a bit of the devil in her." + +"Come! come! Jacob!" said the pastor. "Your tongue speaketh of vanity as +your trade does. As for Nicholas Reinheit, I shall even go up to his +house and comfort him." + +"Well!" said the smith. "It is only just and manly so to do, but look +after your skin, for he is a man who can still use his hands if he is a +bit over sixty." + +A good many people met Pastor Rad as he went through the town to +Nicholas Reinheit's farm, and every one of them asked him-- + +"Where is Elspeth Reinheit?" + +And some careless people even put it in this way-- + +"What have you done with Elspeth Reinheit?" + +It was bad enough to be asked where she was. It was iniquitous that he +should be taxed with having put her away. + +It was not very strange that Pastor Rad should not have known what had +become of Elspeth. He had seen Nigel carry her off. That was all of a +piece with his own unworthy suspicions of Elspeth's character. As to her +after-fate Pastor Rad had very little doubt of that. She would have been +abandoned in some city to her own wretchedness and shame, not daring to +return home. All armies left a track of human litter that had once been +spotless maidens and chaste wives. He felt himself aggrieved at his own +personal loss. He had fully intended to wed Elspeth in due time and +inherit as much as he could of Nicholas Reinheit's wealth. Nicholas the +farmer had not been overmuch in favour of the idea, but old Pastor +Reinheit, the girl's uncle, who had died at Magdeburg, was desirous that +the wedding should come about. Altogether Pastor Rad was not very eager +to meet the girl's father, but the tailor and the smith, who represented +public opinion in Eisenach, had led him in his haste to declare that he +would face Nicholas, and he would. Pastor Rad's consciousness of his own +honesty of purpose upheld him. + +Nicholas gave him a grudging "good-day!" He was a stoutly built, rather +fat man, but anxiety had perceptibly thinned him, and his cheeks hung +loose and baggy. + +"The Lord comfort you in your affliction!" said Pastor Rad. + +The old man turned on him with a snarl-- + +"It is easy to say. You took away my daughter. You set some silly tale +going about her being possessed till the countryside demanded that she +should suffer discipline. Fool! It was you that was possessed. And you +set about giving her a public whipping, my daughter Elspeth, as good and +true a maid as ever walked, and all those mawkish fools of elders and +hugger-muggers sitting in a ring all about you mum and not lifting a +finger." + +"The discipline has been found efficacious in cases of possession!" said +Pastor Rad. + +"Very likely," retorted Nicholas, "where some servant girl has gone +distraught and howled like a wolf up and down the village, or an old +witch has given a man's horse the murrain. Whip 'em! Burn 'em! Drown +'em. But my daughter Elspeth! And then forsooth one of the Emperor's +captains takes her out of your hands and rides away with her, and you +with your three or four hundred men with muskets and pikes never move a +finger. Where is she now? Tell me that! Is she alive or dead? You +professed to have a liking for her at one time. Why, man, if you had had +a spark of love in you, you would have followed that captain's troops +till you dropped! Pastor! Pastor means shepherd, doesn't it? What manner +of shepherd are you that lets the wolf snatch his lamb out of his very +fingers?" + +Nicholas spat solemnly on the hearth. + +"You forget," expostulated Pastor Rad, "that there were above three +hundred troopers, well armed and well horsed. We should have been cut in +pieces." + +"And would they have gone scathless? Has the forest lost all its +manhood?" + +"What was done or left undone cannot be remedied!" said the pastor. + +"Did you know the man?" the farmer asked after a pause. + +"Yes, it is the same fellow, a Scot, so they told me, who broke into the +house at Magdeburg!" + +"And saved all your lives, so Elspeth told me! 'Tis a pity he saved +yours!" + +"Friend Nicholas! You are too much beside yourself with grief. I was but +an instrument of God." + +"He rode with you to Erfurt, as I mind," the farmer went on. "Did he +treat Elspeth as a light o' love?" + +As a matter of fact, the pastor had been too much engaged in the +contemplation of his coming sermons to remember, so he answered +truthfully enough-- + +"I noticed nothing unseemly in his behaviour either to Elspeth or to +Ottilie von Thüringen!" + +"It may be that the captain but took her to a place of safety, thinking +her in danger!" said the farmer, growing more placid as the thought +sprang up that there was ground for hope. "I remember a regiment staying +near here the night after your hocus-pocus at Ruhla. They came at +nightfall, and with the dawn, or soon after, an officer came riding +helter-skelter down the hill from the Wartburg with a single soldier +after him, and in half an hour they mounted and rode away. Maybe he was +the very man." + +"But if he brought Elspeth thither why did he not send her to you?" +propounded Pastor Rad. + +"Because the girl would have had more sense than to get in your path +again!" + +"As if I had no work of the Lord's to do, where the hosts of the Lord +were drawn out unto battle?" + +"Depend upon it," said the farmer, "Elspeth's in the Wartburg hiding!" + +The pastor shook his head. He would have liked to know that she was. +After all, there was an air of solid comfort about old Reinheit's abode, +sadly marred by the lack of Elspeth's trim figure in coif and apron +trotting to and fro. The more he thought of it the more he wanted to see +her. At last he said-- + +"It may be that the Lord will vouchsafe light I will go even unto the +Wartburg and question the Landgravine, if peradventure she knows where +the maiden is." + +"You need not darken my door again if you find her not," said Nicholas +Reinheit. "She can milk against any maid, make butter against any maid +or wife in the forest, bake against any, brew against any. God in +heaven! she must come back. And I shan't go to the church till she +does." + +Pastor Rad was too much surprised to say anything. For Nicholas had been +a very steadfast pillar of the Church, and it boded ill for Pastor Rad +if he did not succeed in restoring the lost lamb to the fold. + +So he picked up his staff and trudged thoughtfully away up the steep +path to the Wartburg. + +But the quest did not end there. For the Landgravine told him that the +Lady Ottilie von Thüringen had taken Elspeth away with her when she set +out for Halberstadt, which was the next day, or the next day but one, +after the Emperor's colonel had brought her. + +This news acted like a spur upon Pastor Rad. He stayed long enough to +send word by one of Reinheit's cowherds that he had learned something +about Elspeth and had gone to find her. If he heard nothing of Elspeth, +at least he was sure of getting trace of the Lady Ottilie, who had many +threads of connection with the Protestant leaders in various places. And +he did not have to go farther than Erfurt before he received some +information which caused him to return southward and set his face +towards Bohemia. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII. + + THE PASTOR'S PILGRIMAGE. + + +The Archduchess Stephanie had rightly counted on a safe journey from +Halberstadt to Bohemia, however small an escort she might be accorded. +For, as the Countess Ottilie von Thüringen she claimed safe conduct +whenever there was any risk of getting embroiled with small bodies of +Protestant levies, and her escort was far too mindful of its own safety +to risk giving any other account of her than she chose to give. + +As it was a matter of knowledge to the chief conspirators in each place +that she was a medium of communication between Wallenstein and the +Protestant leaders, her name was sufficient to guarantee her safety +through country patrolled by their troops. + +So it was the track of the Countess Ottilie von Thüringen that Pastor +Rad picked up at Erfurt. He learned that she had an escort of twenty +Imperial troopers: that she had in her train several women servants or +companions, the information not being very exact or well-defined: that +she was making her way to Prague. + +To Prague, then, the pastor made his way easily enough. The man that had +come through the fires at Magdeburg and run innumerable risks at +Breitenfeld, although not himself using the arms of the soldiery but +only spiritual weapons, was in a measure a kind of prodigious heroic +creature, and fared well accordingly. Much talking and preaching made +him exceedingly hungry, and the farmers and burghers, who one after the +other housed and fed him, were as much amazed at, and respected him as a +trencherman, a thing they were well able to judge of, as they were at +his exploits, of which they were, in truth, obliged to take the greater +part at his own telling. + +Prague was in a great turmoil. For bruit of the advance of the Saxon +troops was in every mouth, though no one knew anything for certain. +Indeed Pastor Rad knew as well as any one, though he kept his own +counsel. The way of things was indeed greatly to his liking. The +Lutherans were getting the upper hand, just as but a short year before +the Catholics had done. It was in this wise. The Catholics had learned +that no sufficient aid could reach them from Vienna. They had looked for +Wallenstein to organise their defence, and had he chosen to raise his +own banner, it is possible that a sufficient force of Catholic gentry +and their retainers could have been mustered that, together with the +Imperial garrisons, might have given the Saxons a very long pause. + +But to the amazement of all, Wallenstein dismantled his house, collected +his furniture in waggons and his household in coaches, and set out +without haste towards Vienna. In fact, he rested at Znaim. This had +given the signal for something like panic, and although it was the dead +of winter, Catholic family after Catholic family followed in his wake, +each departure making it still more difficult for the next, and creating +confusion through the desperate efforts of each not to be the +hindermost. + +From the innkeepers Pastor Rad learned that the Countess Ottilie had +rested but a night and gone on to Znaim, which being learned, the +pastor could not resist the temptation of spending a day or two in the +congenial company of the Lutherans of Prague, proving how well he could +bray out prophetic denunciations against the fleeing Catholics. As he +took his daily stand near the south gate of the city, his exuberant +yellow locks floating in the wind, he was able to assail with his +scriptural invective all the fugitives, with the certainty that some of +his words at least would be, if not exactly treasured, at all events +remembered by dint of his unwearied reiteration. + +It was only when the burghers of Prague, tenacious of their privileges +and of the well-ordering of their city, even with the dismal prospect +before them of an occupation by their friends the Saxons, awakened to a +sense of the unseemliness of his clamour, that Pastor Rad remembered the +Lady Ottilie and Elspeth Reinheit, whose father was so well-to-do. + +Once again he took staff in hand and trudged on to Znaim. At Znaim the +host could only say that the Lady Ottilie had set out a full month +before for Vienna. + +He looked blank at the prospect. But he was by nature persistent, and +unwilling to give up his search, which was now somewhat uninviting. +Vienna meant Popery rampant, Jesuits in scores, rough soldiery, not +rougher than usual, but with the licence of authority to subject a mere +Lutheran pastor to all kinds of insults. There would be Lutherans even +in Vienna, but those few and needy, and for companions on the road he +would overtake the very Catholics he had so denounced. + +Of money he had no great store, but he had contrived some replenishing +of his purse at Prague, and husbanded his money as much as possible, +taking advantage of every opportunity that offered of a free meal. In +this way he accomplished the journey without much interruption, a few +hard blows from the servants of those who remembered his oratory at +Prague, excepted. + +Vienna with its populace, as it seemed to him, speaking all the tongues +except German and curiously garbed, thronging with priests and nuns and +soldiers, stared at him, professed not to understand his speech. He +slunk into the first inn that offered a semblance of refuge and frugal +fare at a modest price. Having slept as well as he was able, he set out +the next morning to find the Lady Ottilie von Thüringen. + +Having first approached some of his own belief and discovered that they +knew nothing of her, not even her name, he accosted some of the better +class of burgesses, who showed him greater courtesy than he expected, +but could give him no information. Failing with the citizens, he +addressed himself with more politeness than he was in the habit of using +(he had no very abundant stock in his wallet) to some of the gentlemen +who aired themselves and their newest raiment in the principal streets. +One or two of them manifested sufficient interest to take note of the +name on their tablets and asked him to describe the lady, which he did +with much particularity. These having heard, dismissed him with a vague +negative, but left a disturbing impression on his mind that they knew +more than they pretended. + +Two days went by in this manner and in losing his way and finding it in +the tortuous streets of the city. On the third day, however, he saw, as +he stood gazing at the palace of the Emperor, an officer of high rank, +as it seemed, come out and mount his horse which had been held by a +soldier at the entrance. + +The pastor's eyes roved wearily over this new subject, noting with +contemptuous attention the plumed hat, the gold lace galloons and other +striking embellishments, when something familiar in the officer's +features or attitude came home to his consciousness. Then he recognised +Nigel as the miscreant of Magdeburg, who had given him that +never-to-be-forgotten chastisement. + +Pulling his hat over his brows the pastor followed Nigel to his +lodgings, and from midday till dusk he watched, following when Nigel set +out, waiting when he returned. In what way he was to come at his desired +end he did not know; but his old suspicion that between Nigel and +Elspeth was some dark secret understanding had leapt to his mind with +renewed vigour. It was a great joy to him when at dusk Nigel once more +emerged, wrapped in a military cloak, bent upon some, so the pastor +judged, furtive errand. + +The dusk that favoured Nigel favoured him also. He followed with all the +sleuth-hound in his composition, alert and noiseless. He wanted no +second rencontre with that energetic Scot, but he did want to know very +much whither he was bound. + +He had much ado to keep pace, for Nigel walked quickly, but the pastor +was a sturdy man and young. He kept well up and always in the shadow. +The road lay away from the main streets into meaner ones, then left the +houses altogether. On the left lay the city walls, furnished now and +again with guard-houses, and defensive angles, and projections. On the +right was a high bank, surmounted by a wall, of what height or thickness +he could not gauge. + +At a certain point Nigel stopped, looked round a moment, and then began +to climb the bank. The pastor stood in the nearest shadow at the foot +and watched till Nigel was at the top. Then the darkness was too much +for him. Very stealthily the pastor climbed too. He was not a forest man +for nothing. At the top it was clear that Nigel had disappeared. He must +therefore have climbed the wall. + +The wall was high, about twice the height of a man, with a coping-stone +at the top, pent-house-wise, and grown thickly with moss and lichen and +wild flowers. The wall was also rough, and the little clumps of moss +showing in the interstices marked uneven places of which a climber might +take advantage if he had long fingers and stout toes. But how to get off +the ground was a problem. For a few moments he groped, half inclined to +impute to "the Popish captain," as he called him, the sin of witchcraft, +in addition to those of greed, unchastity, impiety, and a string of +others of which the pastor was satisfied already. Then something that +flicked him in the face, to wit, the leafless bough of a tree, brought +him the solution. To spring for one a little above his head, and use it +for a hand-grip while he stepped from toe-place to toe-place, and +finally could dig his fingers securely into a great clump of moss at the +coping with his right hand and haul himself up, took but a short +interval of time. The getting down was not difficult. + +The darkness had swallowed up Nigel. The grass made his footfall +noiseless. The pastor's eyes, accustomed to the half darkness of the +forest, were well fitted to the task at present. They enabled him merely +to avoid or to thread the tangle of the bushes and get more and more +into the open where the sky, now starlit, now cloudy by turns, allowed +him a longer vision. At last he saw that the belt of grassland dotted by +bushes was succeeded by formal walks and beds for flowers. A mile or so +ahead he caught fitful glimpses of lights in some tall pile of +buildings, which he conjectured to be the palace. These must be the +demesnes of the Emperor's dwelling-place. His Popish captain was bent +upon a rendezvous, doubtless with Elspeth. But where? Cautiously he +stalked along making a straight line for the palace, keeping to turf or +soft flower-beds by preference, and every now and then standing in the +shadow of a sapling to seek for the amorous pair, to listen for the +whispers that might betoken their presence. And so going farther and +farther he came to a hedge, behind which was another wall, this time of +no great height, but still sufficient. Along this he crept seeking for a +gate. Here was a garden close for growing fruit, he argued, and the +lovers might well have left a door unfastened in their eagerness. But +having made the circuit and discovered three doors all secure, he found +he must prove again his skill in climbing. The wind blowing just +sufficiently to make the twigs and boughs keep up a low whistling, made +it impossible to judge where he should make his attempt. So he selected +the corner with an eye to an easy ascent. Once upon the wall he paused, +lying flat and clasping its top with both hands. + +There he lay listening with both ears, trying to get used to the +whispering of the branches till he could distinguish the tones of human +murmuring. Then he dragged himself along a few more yards. + +Pastor Rad felt that Providence was with him. His motive was excellent +in his own eyes. He was engaged in the pursuit of the evil-doer. What he +should do when he had found him was not at present clear. Providence +would point out by process of revelation what the next step should be. + +For the time being he crawled to the detriment of his clothing along the +wall. His patience and his stealth, the latter not usually mentioned in +connection with Providence, were rewarded. He heard voices, a man's and +a woman's. + +The one was that of the ruthless Catholic Scotsman, the betrayer of +Elspeth Reinheit. Had he not cause to remember its deep tones? The other +was not Elspeth's. For a few instants he was at a loss. They were also +deep and rich and aristocratic; the words they uttered were choice +rather than homely. Then something in them recalled the very woman he +was seeking, Ottilie von Thüringen. + +At this moment when he waited for the inspiration he expected, an +untoward interruption befell. He dislodged a large stone, which fell +with a very noticeable thud on the inner side of the wall, and he was at +the same time clutched by the leg, and very unceremoniously pulled to +the ground on the outside of the wall by a pair of ruffians, who, with a +choice garnishment of oaths growled under their breaths, proceeded first +to rifle his pockets quite thoroughly, and then to bind his arms behind +his back, his legs together, and to lay him, so trussed, on his back. +Then they began to clamber up the wall, only to find that the love-birds +they had come to seek had flown. + +Pastor Rad wriggled in vain while his captors explored the orchard +close, and at the end of their fruitless search they returned, untied +his legs and marched him firmly and rudely towards the palace, where +they placed him in a guard-room, satisfied that if they had missed a +salmon they had at least caught a dog-fish. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV. + + LUTHERAN AND JESUIT. + + +The officer of the guard at the palace was not clear as to what he was +to do with his unintended catch. The fact that he was, or styled +himself, a Lutheran pastor, was, in Vienna, in the eyes of such an +officer, a criminal offence in itself. In addition, he had been caught +upon the wall of the orchard close in the gardens of the palace. + +Upon examination he proved to be reticent even to moroseness. His only +explanation was that he had come to Vienna in search of a high-born +lady, the Countess Ottilie von Thüringen. The officer of the guard had +never heard of her, and till the morning had no one to consult. So +Pastor Rad spent an uncomfortable night. His supper was meagre. The +stone floor of the guard-room was hard, and the wind swept in under the +massive door and up the capacious chimney, incidentally swirling round +the Pastor's head and shoulders on its way. Half a dozen soldiers, who +smelt very vilely, sat round the fire and played cards with great zest, +and with oaths the most blood-curdling that Pastor Rad, who had heard +many things spoken in his lifetime, had ever heard. He slept badly. + +The next day Father Lamormain, who heard of everything, heard of this +incident and sent for Pastor Rad. + +It was the mark of Father Lamormain that he was uniformly courteous. He +kept all his hatred under lock and key. And his hatred of Lutheranism +was perhaps the profoundest passion of his life, next to the love he +bore to his own order of the regular priests. If Father Lamormain could +have gathered all the Lutheran ministry together, and compounded them +into one man, and severed that man's head from his body, he would have +acquiesced in that monstrous execution, without personal gratification, +but with a sense that the most desirable of events had come to pass. But +to address an individual Lutheran (minister and layman were alike to +him) with a frown, with harsh speech, or even with mild contempt, was +impossible to him. + +Pastor Rad, unkempt as to his abundant yellow hair, muddy as to his +raiment, presented an object for easy ridicule. Father Lamormain's +secretary led him in with an air of apology. The Emperor's confessor +requested him to be seated, and asked him if he had broken his fast. +Pastor Rad, much taken aback by his reception at the hands of this +renowned enemy of his faith, said No! Father Lamormain bade his +secretary give him what he needed, and bring him back in an hour. + +The secretary, understanding all his instructions implied, brought him +back washed, combed, brushed, and recognisable as a Lutheran pastor as +far as externals went. + +Pastor Rad was greatly mollified by these attentions, and found grace +enough to return thanks. + +"And now," said Father Lamormain, "you will pardon me, Pastor Rad, if I +ask you a few questions. You came to Vienna from Prague?" + +"Yes!" said the pastor. + +"At Prague, I understand, you found it necessary to speed some of the +Catholic fugitives with exhortations?" + +Pastor Rad admitted it. On reflection this seemed to be a gentle +description of his sonorous revilings; but he wondered how much Father +Lamormain knew and how he knew it. He also considered that it behoved +him to be careful. + +"May I ask you what brought you to Prague?" + +"In search of one, a maiden, named Elspeth Reinheit, a member of my +flock from Eisenach." + +"How did she come thither?" + +"I had learned that she set out for Prague in company of a certain +Countess Ottilie von Thüringen." + +"Yes?" + +"I learned that the Countess had set out for Vienna, and followed." + +"Truly a good shepherd!" said Father Lamormain pleasantly. "You left the +ninety-and-nine at Eisenach to discover your one lost lamb in Vienna!" + +"And this Countess?" + +"No one knows her in Vienna!" + +"So you went to look for her in the orchard close in the palace +gardens?" + +Pastor Rad hesitated. Then he said-- + +"I did not seek her there. But she was there!" + +"Yes!" said Father Lamormain. "You saw her!" + +"No, I heard her voice!" + +"So you knew her voice?" + +"Yes, I had met her in Magdeburg during the siege!" + +"She is a Lutheran also?" + +"She consorted with the Lutherans! I know nothing of her except that she +has been at the Wartburg staying with the Landgrave's family." + +Pastor Rad suddenly began to suspect that he was too confidential. + +"She is evidently a lady of rank!" said the Jesuit. "She was alone in +the orchard?" + +"No! She was with a cavalier." + +"Ah! You knew him also?" + +"Yes! I do not know his name! I saw him first at Magdeburg. He was a +fierce fighter. He is a foreigner. I saw him yesterday as he rode away +from the palace, and he lodges in the Fremdengasse. He is an officer." + +"You seemed to have followed him! Did you suspect him of stealing your +lamb?" + +"Yes!" said Pastor Rad with an indignation which was not fictitious. + +"And instead you found him with this strange Countess! Can you describe +her to me?" + +"She is very tall. She has dark hair, dark eyes, red lips, a pale +complexion, and bears herself proudly!" + +"Ah! Such a one can hardly escape notice in Vienna!" said the Jesuit. +"And what is your purpose with this maiden--this Elspeth Reinheit?" + +"To take her back to her father, and if she be indeed yet a true maid, +to marry her!" + +"She would scarcely have suffered loss in company of a great lady?" + +"I do not know anything of great ladies! But I have many reasons to +think this foreign officer may have wronged her--even in Magdeburg." + +"'Judge not, that ye be not judged,' Pastor Rad. I promise that, if she +be in Vienna, she shall be handed over to you. See to it that you deal +tenderly with your lamb in return for our gentle dealing with you." + +"I was robbed of my money!" Pastor Rad complained. + +"It shall be repaid to you twice over," said the Jesuit. "How much was +it?" + +The pastor told him, and the Jesuit noted it on his tablets. + +"Now get to your lodgings and wait there a day. A servant shall go with +you." + +On the same day Nigel Charteris was summoned by the Emperor's Military +Council, and bidden make his way through Bavaria to join his old +commander Count Tilly. There and not in Austria or Bohemia it was +thought that a period might be put to the King of Sweden's progress. +Tilly had men enough in conjunction with the Elector Maximilian's, but +lacked officers. The Council feared the Saxons less, who were at Prague, +and so in a manner at their doors, than the foreigner Gustavus, who had +so signally shown his mastery alike upon the Elbe and upon the Rhine. + +Asking what forces he was to conduct, he was told that a mere escort +would be sufficient. The road was open, and speed alone was necessary. +Nigel was more flattered than if three regiments had been confided to +him, for the Council made it appear that it was he, Nigel, and not +regiments, that was wanted. He knew that at the moment there was no +superfluity of troops in and around Vienna to defend it should the +Saxons decide to move southward, but his experience of the behaviour of +the Saxon troops at Breitenfeld had left him with a poor opinion of +their courage, their initiative, and their leadership. + +Father Lamormain saw him after he had received his orders. He made no +reference to Pastor Rad, of whose nearness Nigel was unaware, nor to the +orchard close, nor to Stephanie. That some prowler or other had been +about the trysting-place Nigel was aware, and, on account of the +Archduchess, he had refrained from encountering him. Having seen nothing +himself, he imagined that his own and his mistress's persons had enjoyed +a like invisibility. Unaccustomed to fear himself, he had not understood +why Stephanie in her concluding embrace had trembled and clung to him +with the mingled weakness, tenderness, and passionate strength of which +woman is capable at supreme moments of danger. It had touched his +heart. It had left him determined that nothing at the last should +separate them but the hand of death itself. So he looked upon this +expected summons to resume duty at the front with the confidence of +youth, that nothing but a few short weeks lay between him and her he +loved,--weeks perhaps in which he might compass more of that military +glory he coveted, and so lessen the distance that yawned between them. +What if he should find the opportunity to wrest from the pretendedly +reluctant and chaffering Wallenstein the laurels of the Empire to lay at +her feet? + +So Nigel met Father Lamormain with no suspicion at the back of his mind, +but rather with brave hopes and the supreme joy that a man feels who +knows that he is beloved by her whom he conceives to be the star of +womanhood. + +Father Lamormain bade him exert himself to the utmost. He told him that +the armies of Tilly and Maximilian constituted the final barrier that +prevented the Swedish hosts, reinforced by Germans from every Protestant +state, from rolling through Bavaria, resistless as the Danube in flood, +and finally reaching Vienna. He made him feel, as the clumsy brief +remarks and explanations of the Army Council had not, though they had +borne some suggestion, that on his own personal devotion and +intelligence depended the whole fortune of the Empire. The appeal was +the more sure that it was in the first place an appeal to his simple +loyalty as a mercenary soldier, and not to his nationality. In the +second place, Father Lamormain appealed to his faith. He spoke in no +uncertain way of the fate of those heretics who should fall, striving +against the Emperor and Holy Church. He touched slightly on the +indifference of the Holy Father, Urban the Eighth, to the calls of the +Emperor for succour, and the apparent hostility of the fervently +Catholic King of France and his Cardinal Minister. He deplored them, but +did not gloss them over. He was evidently, so Nigel thought, working +towards producing in Nigel a proper state of mind from which might +spring the spiritual flower of a heroic death. It was the rule of the +order. For the individual, sacrifice; for the cause of the order, +everything that might enhance its progress. + +It was as if the Jesuit strove to wean him from earthly aims, to instil +into him something of the essence of his own self-lessness: and, for the +brief while that the audience lasted, Nigel's soul and mind took some +impress in its wax of youth of the deep and hard graven die that was the +Jesuit's. + +More than before Nigel felt that an active benevolence in regard to him +ran like a golden thread through the tissue of Father Lamormain's talk, +that, while urging self-immolation on the altar of the Empire, he urged +it only as a means of spiritual safety from pitfalls that otherwise +yawned for him in this world and the next. + +To the hidden meaning Nigel possessed no clue. The one all-obliterating +fact of his love for the Archduchess and her love for him prevented the +die of the Jesuit making more than a faint permanent impression upon his +mind, sufficient only to be memorable. + +Father Lamormain seemed to be aware of this faintness of impression, for +he sighed deeply as Nigel, having received his last benediction, took +his final leave. + +Nigel rode forth towards Bavaria fully determined to fight the Swede, +but whether the eyes of Stephanie, or the heavenly crown pictured for +him by Father Lamormain, glittered the more brightly to his thoughts, +is a question each one must settle for himself. + +One thing Father Lamormain had kept back, and that was the progress of +the negotiations between the Emperor and Wallenstein, which were still +at a delicate stage, and were yet shaping towards success. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV. + + AN EMBASSY FOR STEPHANIE. + + +Two months slipped past for Gustavus Adolphus, two months of strenuous +nights and days, two months of petty hostilities and multifarious +negotiations. Richelieu was attempting to isolate Austria, bargaining +with the Princes of the League that they should stand aside as neutrals, +bargaining with Gustavus that, if they did, he should respect their +neutrality. Then there could be nothing to prevent Gustavus from +crushing Austria, and Richelieu's cup of joy would be full. Maximilian +had indeed made a secret treaty with France, hoping to save his +dominions from the Swede. But Richelieu's plan for isolation fell +through, for Gustavus found reason to suspect the intentions of +Maximilian, and marched into Franconia, whence Count Tilly had driven +out Gustavus's General, Horn. When Gustavus marched, he had with him +Horn, and Banner, and Duke William of Weimar, and forty thousand men. + +Count Tilly was forced to retreat to the very confines of Bavaria, while +Gustavus made a triumphant entry into Nuremberg, which received him with +immense ovations. + +Two months had also slipped past for Ferdinand and much had happened in +Austria. It was summed up in this that Wallenstein had been gathering an +army. He had refused to consider the question of its command in the +field. He had undertaken its muster, contented to show the Emperor once +again how potent was the name of Wallenstein wherewith to conjure men +from all the quarters of Germany and beyond. + +But Ferdinand the Emperor and his Father Confessor, encouraged yet to +hope, resting on the fact that an army was being mustered between Vienna +and Prague, at Znaim, to which haven Wallenstein had returned, making it +his headquarters, were nevertheless perturbed about the attitude of the +Elector Maximilian. Father Lamormain knew that the French Cardinal was +endeavouring to detach him from the Emperor, knew also that Maximilian +had much to gain from neutrality, immunity for his country, which had +hitherto been spared the devastations of the war, and eventual +aggrandisement for himself if the sun of Austria sank to its setting. On +the other hand, both the Jesuit and the Emperor remembered oft-repeated +proofs of Maximilian's fidelity to the Catholic faith and to the +Emperor. + +"Your Majesty must send an ambassador!" said Father Lamormain. "Such an +ambassador as by his own nobility and charm of person and of eloquence +shall sway the mind of the Elector, nay, his very heart, so that it +shall tend towards your Majesty and thereby abide. And that quickly!" + +Ferdinand smiled that pallid half-sardonic smile of his which seemed to +sum up the weariness of generations of Habsburgs, and to be in itself a +satiric comment upon the futility of human endeavours to stem the +progress of events. He put a question-- + +"Whom?" + +"The Archduchess Stephanie!" + +The Emperor frowned the merest suspicion of a frown. Father Lamormain +watched him peacefully, as if it had been an affair of shuttlecocks and +not a deep political design. + +"Alone? Since when has Austria depended upon its women?" + +"To the first question your Majesty, No! To the second, Always!" + +"Ah!" said the Emperor. "My son Ferdinand." + +"The Archduke Ferdinand! And with him the Archduchess Stephanie." + +"Is she likely to add such cogency to our arguments that Bavaria will +steady itself to be our last buttress?" + +"The Elector Maximilian has sought her in marriage. The project has been +deferred by the war, but the living princess, with pleading in her tones +and promises in her eyes, should outweigh all the bribes of Richelieu." + +"If Stephanie chose, she could bewitch him that he could not but choose +to adhere to our side. But it has seemed to me that she was indifferent +to his suit." + +"Princesses can have no choice of their spouses!" said Father Lamormain. +"Your Majesty must be round with her, leave her no room for wavering, +bid her to her duty." + +"You have as much influence with her as I, Father. If I do my part, so +must you." + +"Your Majesty may count on my endeavour! It is a happy moment when the +need of Austria must outbalance all personal whims." + +"The roads are open? You can arrange for a sufficient and well-equipped +retinue, for a small company of our goodliest dames and demoiselles?" + +"We are still Austria, your Majesty!" + +"The project is good, Father! Put it in hand at once. The more haste the +better." + +Ferdinand's face cleared perceptibly. + +On further reflection Father Lamormain judged it the wiser plan to +prepare the mind of the Archduchess for the order of the Emperor. He +knew perhaps better than any one, except Stephanie, how rebellious a +Habsburger there was in her. It is even possible that the Archduchess +considered her own doings as fulfilling all the _reasonable_ demand of +the parental laws. She would, however, have placed her own +interpretation on the meaning of "_reasonable_." + +He lost no time in seeking her out in her own apartments, and entreating +a few moments' conversation. + +He began by asking her whether by any chance a young woman, Elspeth +Reinheit by name, had travelled with her from Prague, on her way home +from Halberstadt. + +The Archduchess, evidently astonished at the question, said-- + +"No! What makes you ask?" + +"There is a certain Lutheran pastor, your Highness, who has journeyed to +Vienna, one Melchior Rad, who seeks this Elspeth Reinheit." + +"Yes! But what has that to do with me?" + +"He is convinced that this girl was brought by a certain mysterious +Countess Ottilie von Thüringen, _of whom I have more than once heard_, +to Prague, that she set out for Znaim, and from Znaim for Vienna." + +"Indeed! I know of no Countess of the name!" + +"Nor do I," said the Jesuit. "Though I have searched the records of +heraldry," he added quietly. + +The Archduchess felt that the Jesuit was playing the cat to her mouse. + +He proceeded: "But the singular thing is that when asked to describe the +Countess Ottilie he described your Highness passably well." + +"Whom he may have seen at Halberstadt!" said the Archduchess, determined +that the cat should not gobble her. + +"Only he has not been there!" said Father Lamormain. + +"A prodigy!" said the Archduchess. + +"More prodigious still, he recognised your voice, though he did not see +your Highness by reason of the darkness!" + +"Recognised my voice!" said the Archduchess, now roused to a fine +appearance of indignation. "Where was this prowling Lutheran that he +could hear my voice and neither see me nor be seen?" + +"Upon the wall of the orchard close in the gardens of the palace of +Vienna!" + +But the Archduchess was quick of wit. "Dear Father Lamormain," she said +without a blush, and with an amused irony in her tones, "since when is +it reported that I have taken to assignations in the dark in orchard +closes?" + +"Nay!" said Father Lamormain. "Perchance I used not the right words. It +was clumsy of me! The honest Pastor Rad but recognised the voice of his +Countess talking to her lover in the orchard close!" + +"And the lover?" the Archduchess asked with an accent of merriment. "Did +his Lutheran sapience recognise him also?" + +"He had followed him thither!" said the Jesuit. "It was no other than +our faithful Scot, who has to-day departed for Tilly's army!" + +"I believe none of your pastor's tales! There is no Elspeth Reinheit +about the palace, even in the kitchens, no Ottilie von Thüringen that I +have ever heard of in Vienna. As for me I have a suitor, or had one, of +whom you have spoken aforetime, the Elector Maximilian. One suitor at a +time is trouble enough." + +The Jesuit knew too many particulars of the doings of Ottilie von +Thüringen to be in any doubt as to her identity, but his suspicions of +Nigel were too slight to credit the whole story of the pastor, so he +said-- + +"It would be a great ease to the mind of the Emperor could you but take +the Elector's suit in grave earnest," and he sighed heavily. "For the +Empire is in great jeopardy. The Swede advances towards us. We have +nothing as yet to oppose him but Tilly's army, gathered from a hundred +garrisons. The Holy Father refuses his aid. France, ever jealous of us, +seeks to bribe Maximilian into neutrality. With Maximilian and the other +princes of the League neutral, what chance does Austria stand?" + +There was no mistaking the priest's seriousness. It impressed the +Archduchess more than if he had preached a sermon on the end of all +things. She had an uneasy conscience, for had she not helped to pull +down the Empire? + +"But what can I do?" she asked. + +"You can give yourself for the Empire! In a time of peace you would have +been wedded before this to whomsoever the Emperor judged it fit. In this +time of war you can gain eternal salvation by offering yourself to our +old ally." + +"But how?" + +"An embassy goes out to Bavaria to meet Maximilian to beg him to delay +his scheme of neutrality, to oppose a strong front, to let his cities be +besieged but not surrendered, to fight inch by inch of his soil, until +we can bring a fresh army to his aid and drive back the Swede." + +"And the embassy consists of?" + +"The Archduke Ferdinand! Your Highness might well go with him, and some +of our ladies. When Maximilian hears you plead for the Empire, hears you +offer to stay with him and share his toils and his glory, there will be +dealt the death-blow to the plots of France, and for Sweden it will be +the beginning of the end." + +"And what if the Elector flout me? It is ill offering the goods in the +market that have once been denied to the buyer." + +The Father Confessor smiled. + +"We have never denied Maximilian. And the good wine has become the +mellower in our Austrian cellars!" + +The Archduchess drew up her head and pouted her red lips. + +"We will consider this matter. The Empire shall not perish for need of +us. Though, in faith, wanting Maximilian, the Empire still has +Wallenstein!" She looked covertly at the priest as she mentioned the +name. + +"Your Highness has at times much prized our Wallenstein!" + +"Yes, and with cause! By Wallenstein and not by Maximilian shall we be +delivered. By all means let us use Maximilian as our buttress, but our +sword and buckler in the open field will be Wallenstein. I would it were +he and not Maximilian that I had to seek out!" + +Father Lamormain marked the maidenly flush that accompanied the +outspokenness, and adding them to what he had already known of her +doings, he began to regard the tale of Pastor Rad as arising from some +strange ferment in his brain. In any case his main point was gained. The +Archduchess would go. How deep were her feelings towards the Elector, or +towards Wallenstein, he could not gauge. But he knew the depth of the +Habsburg pride, that, rebellious or not, must in the long-run fan the +altar flame in the shrine of the Imperial house. + +But Father Lamormain, reader of hearts and minds, of eyes and mouths and +tones, was not omniscient, and he did not read the Archduchess +Stephanie; for how should he know that in one short hour she had thrown +down the image of Wallenstein and set up that of the Scottish soldier of +fortune. Had he reflected that the western road might lead to the Scot +as easily as to the Elector? The cat was allowing the mouse too much +law. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI. + + A RECONNAISSANCE. + + +Gustavus, in view of the proposals for the neutrality of the Elector, +had granted a fortnight's cessation from hostilities. The Elector made +use of it to strengthen his positions, and an intercepted letter showed +Gustavus that, whatever Richelieu might think, the Elector had no +intention of being neutral. Gustavus, once undeceived, marched with all +the army he could muster against Tilly, and drove him out of Franconia. +Tilly, advised by Maximilian, came to a stand on the banks of the Lech, +which forms one of the frontiers of Bavaria. The firm intention of Tilly +was to hold back Gustavus from the virgin territories of Maximilian. + +The army of Count Tilly was drawn up in a position chosen by himself, +astride the main road from Donauwerth to Neuburg, Ingolstadt, and +Ratisbon, a position naturally defended on three sides by water, +strongly fortified and armed. No bridges lent the Swedish army access. +They had been destroyed. Along Tilly's front in an almost straight line +was the river Lech in a state of turbulence and flood. + +Gustavus stigmatised it as a brook, but even brooks have played a great +part in the history of battles; and, sanguine leader that he was, it is +doubtful if he expected to cross it by a wild rush through its +treacherous waters. + +Disposed in earthworks at suitable intervals behind the river were +numerous pieces of ordnance ready to dispute the passage of the Swedes. +And into the rear of the defences Maximilian himself had led up those +regiments that constituted the household troops of his command, as +opposed to those that formed part of the Imperial army under Count +Tilly. + +The conjoined host was a formidable one, well armed, provisioned, +rested, numbering not much less than the forty thousand of the Swede. + +A week before Nigel had ridden into Tilly's camp, much to the old +general's surprise. + +"I had thought Wallenstein would have clapped hands upon you to command +a brigade!" + +"I am not rich enough!" said Nigel. "Besides, who knows whether he will +be needed." + +"H'm!" was the old general's comment. "If old Tilly gets knocked on the +head he will be needed, and soon. But what am I to do with you? Had you +brought me three or four regiments now! Said there was a lack of +officers, did they? Fools! Of captains and lieutenants? Yes! They have a +habit of getting killed! Of colonels even I lack one or two, but of +generals! I warrant Gustavus has not half as many. 'Tis the way of +Imperial armies!" + +"'Tis no matter what I am called!" said Nigel. "Give me a regiment. I am +content to be called 'Colonel.' Give me a chance of having at them, +sword, musket, gun, anyhow." + +"You shall stand just as good a chance of getting killed as I do," +grunted the Count. + +Nigel was satisfied. The old general's thirst for danger was well known, +and he had not forgotten Breitenfeld. Presently Count Tilly assigned +him his command. It was a small brigade, comprising three regiments of +musketeers and two batteries of ten pieces each. One of the regiments +had just lost its colonel, the colonels of the other two were but young +in experience, and had but recently been promoted. + +The artillery was commanded by a major, who, Tilly said, might be relied +upon to handle his pieces and his men in a soldier-like fashion, but had +no head for tactics. This Nigel was to supply. Nigel's lines were well +up the Lech towards the little town of Rain, and the northern angle of +the triangle that formed the whole position of the camp. + +For some days at least Nigel did nothing but drill and exercise his +little force, make himself acquainted with his officers, and make +reconnaissances along the road by which Gustavus must come. + +The next best thing to a solitary hill-top for descrying an advancing +host is a church spire, and one such, in a village some ten Scots miles +from Rain, and a mile or two off the road to Donauwerth, Nigel had +marked for a look-out tower. + +Before the late sunrise of a wintry morning, wrapped in his ample +horseman's cloak, he had crossed the Lech by the only and that a pontoon +bridge and galloped for the village. + +There was but a faint glimmer of dawn visible over the flat country as +he approached the place, and little more as he slid from his horse, +tethered it in a farmer's half-filled barn, and strode forward to the +village church. + +Cautiously he stole in at the door and up the winding stone stair to the +belfry tower, and then up a rickety ladder into the spire itself as far +as he could get. There was an open trap-door at the top, and inside was +darkness. + +He pulled himself up, and, feeling with his hands that a gangway of +planks was laid against the outer framework of the spire, he crawled +along it, hoping to find a convenient chink, or a small window hatch, to +serve his purpose. The cold damp wind of the morning rather than the +light apprised him that such a peep-hole was near him, and he felt about +and about for the fastenings. + +It was just when his hands had in fact touched the rusty hasp that the +feeling came over him that he was not alone. The place was dark but not +noiseless, for the wind whistled eerily and partially lifted loose laths +of wood by one end, only to let them fall again as if in mockery of the +work of men's hands. But over and above these noises was something more. +It was as if other hands at some other point of the circumference were +seeking slowly and noiselessly to undo a stubborn latch or rusty bolt. +This muffled noise had made itself heard once or twice, and Nigel +crouched warily on guard. Then, framed in a pause, came a clink of +metal, of a sword against a spur, then silence. + +Through a hundred little chinks the dawn began to steal and make of the +darkness merely a misty gloom. Nigel had risen to his feet, and there +across the unfloored space loomed the figure of another man, in cloak +and headpiece like himself, standing stark against the roof. + +With a grim quick motion Nigel ripped open his hatch, and with an +answering jerk the stranger opened his. The wind rushed across with a +roar and a whistle, and the dawn poured in till it made a twilight. + +"Eh! sir! It's braw and snell the morn!" said the stranger, making a +polite salute with his sword. + +"Aye is it!" said Nigel, surprised beyond measure by the sound of the +Scots tongue, but returning the compliment in kind. + +"Mebbe ye wouldna refuse a wee tassie o' usquebaugh!" the stranger went +on affably. + +"When I know, sir, whether you come here as friend or enemy," said +Nigel, looking across at the weather-tanned but open face something +suspiciously. + +"Man! ye should never refuse a cup offered in kindness, be it by friend +or enemy. But to lat ye ken, I'm just ane o' yon Gustavus' officers, and +I came here to spy out Count Tilly's dispositions. Give me twa glimpses +and a keek oot o' this spy-hole and I'm your very humble servant." And +without more ado he bowed, turned round, and scanned the camp at Rain, +which he could see quite well through a glass. + +And under his breath he counted and added-- + +"Thirty thousand, or mebbe thirty-twa! And a wheen o' cannon! And a +river in front and the highroad behind. It's ower safe! I wouldna give a +fig to be in yon." There was a note of good-natured contempt in his +voice. "Eh! sir!" + +"And why, sir?" asked Nigel, amused by the coolness of this gentleman, +for gentleman he seemed for all his plainness of speech, which, it +struck Nigel, might have been assumed. + +"I have no liking to fight through the bars of a hencoop with the back +out. Give me a gentle hillside and a wide plain, where there's no +rinnin' awa' till all's daen, where there's room to get each at other. I +dinna favour your fortified camps!" + +"As for me," said Nigel, "I have had experience of both kinds of +fighting, but on this occasion it is for me to await you on the other +side of the river. I am with Count Tilly!" + +"I gave you credit, sir, for more sense, seeing you'd a Scots tongue in +your heid!" was the commentary. + +"But it's richt ye should tak' your fill o' what ye can see! I'm for +doon the stair," he added. + +Nigel made a movement to intercept him. He waved his glove in friendly +deprecation. + +"Hoots aye! I'll wait for you at the foot! Ye'll be perverse enough to +be wishing to carry me back to breakfast in Tilly's camp. And I've made +up my mind to tak' ye back with me to sup our brose! I'll wait! Never +fear!" + +With which he went quietly and unhurried down the stair--and Nigel took +a long look from his hatch. Very dimly he descried something in movement +along the road from Donauwerth, and on the wings of the morning air came +the sound of a solitary trumpet. Gustavus was advancing, and it behoved +Nigel to get back to the camp. He descended the stair, and found the +enemy standing, stamping his feet in the roadway. + +"Now, sir! where's your horse? Mine's here. I've no wish to carry you, +or you me, and there's no need to hack the puir beasties, so if it's all +the same to you we'll fight on foot!" + +"It's all the same to me," said Nigel, throwing off his cloak. "My horse +is in the barn yonder." + +"Good!" said the other. "Swords is it? And the first man to be disabled +is the other's prisoner! Are these the conditions of the combat?" + +Nigel saluted. "My name and condition is,--Nigel Charteris of +Pencaitland--Major-General--commanding a brigade under Count Tilly." + +"And mine is Sir John Hepburn, Captain-General of the Scots Brigade, +serving with Gustavus Adolphus. It is a rare pity we should meet so. I +kent your father lang syne. Even now I am willing to go my ways and +allow you to do the same." + +A swirl of remembrance gushed into Nigel's brain at the words, "Sir John +Hepburn!" + +"It is just that you are Sir John Hepburn that I dare not!" said Nigel. +"Were you a lesser man!" + +Sir John Hepburn stood on guard, a man of forty, broad-shouldered, +well-knit, wary. + +"Have at you, Sir John!" said Nigel, and the battle began. + +They were both good swordsmen, but the fact that each had made up his +mind to disarm the other without doing him much bodily hurt, engendered +such an excess of caution as made it an affair of more length than +bloodshed. Both men were winded before either had scored a scratch. + +By mutual consent they dropped their points and took breath, but spoke +never a word. Both had wrists of the hardest sinew, and both had learned +most of the tricks of fence that Spain, Italy, and France could teach. + +It was curious how each divined a change in the attack, and attuned his +defence to meet it. + +The one fact that emerged from the continual parry and thrust was that +Nigel was the better able to recover his wind, and slightly the more +agile, and so, given an equal fortune, would wear his opponent down. + +"Faith! Nigel Charteris! ye're a wise chiel at the swords!" blurted Sir +John at the end of the fourth bout. + +Once more they crossed, and the sparks flew from their weapons, and this +time indeed neither man came off scathless, though the wounds were too +slight to hinder either, and then came Nigel's opportunity: for in +making a new attack Sir John did not recover himself quickly enough to +prevent fleet-footed Nigel slipping beneath his guard, and by a turn of +the wrist making it necessary for Sir John to have his own broken, or to +let go his sword. Nigel had him at his mercy. + +"Do you yield yourself a prisoner, Sir John?" + +"Aye! do I! But for no long time!" He picked up his sword, and wiped it +with a lace handkerchief and thrust it into its scabbard. + +Nigel looked round. Coming at a sharp trot was a small troop of horsemen +from the direction of Donauwerth. + +"I doubt ye'd best cry quits and tak' your horse. They won't follow you +if you're by yourself, but if you're hampered with a prisoner, I canna +vouch for them." There was a kindly gleam in his eyes as he said it. + +Nigel took the hint, and holding out his hand said, "Farewell, Sir John! +And thanks for your courtesy." + +"Farewell, Mr Charteris, and if at any time you should see fit to change +camps, or need a friend in other ways, call upon Jock Hepburn!" + +And while Nigel sought his horse, the other turned to his, and meeting +the horsemen rode off with them. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII. + + THE DEFENCE OF THE LECH. + + +Two Bavarians had been recommended to him as aides-de-camp, men of good +breeding and great courtesy. They had arrived with the Elector +Maximilian, but had asked Tilly as a favour to be attached to an officer +of experience with the view of learning all they could. In some way +Nigel's name came up, and to Nigel they were attached. Nigel found their +society and their comradeship very agreeable, and kept them constantly +employed. At the table their talk ran much on the notable warriors of +old and modern times, and personal daring and valour they extolled as +the most godlike virtues: from which Nigel deduced that they had seen +little of actual service, for men who have been through the grim +experience of a hardly-fought campaign, not to say two or three, know +how little these avail at one time, how greatly at another, according to +the twists and turns of fortune or the success of strategy: know how +they are displayed by the commonest soldier or by the greatest general +without bragging, or any claim to be considered unusual. But the two +aides were not much older than himself, and very devout men, and there +was no harm in their talk if it was rather too much in one tune. + +Gustavus' army made a formidable show as it took up a position on the +high ground on the opposite bank of the Lech. Nigel noted that his +artillery was lighter and more numerous than Tilly's, and his batteries +were placed more closely together on ground that was somewhat higher +than Tilly's, and therefore should have more effect gun for gun, and +showed an intention of making a great attack on one spot. + +Nigel knew that their own position was a strong one, and with the river +swollen as it was by melting snows, that it was practically impossible +for Gustavus to push home his attack, however heavy the fire of his +artillery, without a bridge. + +On the morrow when day broke the artillery on both sides began their +clamour, and, although a few shots fell into the midst of the most +forwardly placed regiments, the battle for hours was between artillery. +The position chosen for his artillery by Gustavus showed at once the eye +of the strategist, for the fire swept across the northern angle of the +triangle, and in that area the fire was constant and appalling in its +severity. If Tilly had chosen the post of posts for Nigel that offered +the greatest number of chances of death, that was it. Nigel even thought +that Father Lamormain's exhortations to get slain, if possible, were in +a fair way to fulfilment. And to his surprise his two aides-de-camp, +unaccustomed as they were, showed a noble rivalry in devotion. They +dared the most hazardous risks, while they carried his orders to the +different contingents, with an air of doing nothing notable which +charmed Nigel, though it made him shake his head. For his own part he +urged upon his artillery commander the greatest economy in his fire, to +direct it with the greatest care upon one selected spot till he had put +the enemy's guns to silence, and to reserve himself and his men as much +as possible for the attempt to cross that would surely be made later in +the day. + +Then on the Swedish bank of the river a great smoke arose from fires of +damp wood and straw. The wind blew it into Tilly's camp, where it +mingled with the smoke of the artillery. It soon became difficult to see +what was forward. + +"The bridge!" said Nigel. "He is building a bridge!" + +For long it was impossible to be sure where it was being begun. The +noise of hammering was lost in the noise of the firing. The smoke +belched forth for hundreds of yards along the river bank. The fire of +Gustavus' ordnance continued, relentlessly pounding away upon all the +batteries of Tilly within range, and being light, their position was +changed from one half-hour to another as the Swedish officers thought +fit. + +"A bold swimmer might spy it out!" was the suggestion of one +aide-de-camp. + +Nigel had thought of it; but for a man to go into that icy and turbulent +water was to meet certain death, even were he roped. He would be numbed +before he could see anything, or shot by some of the Swedes, who +doubtless lay securely along their higher bank. + +A boat, a raft, anything that floated on the surface would be a mark. +No! There was but one way, to wait till the bridge workers had advanced +to mid-river and then shatter their handiwork. But with what engine? +Nigel had discovered that the guns of the Swedes from their slightly +higher elevation commanded all the available pieces of Count Tilly, +raking the Imperial entrenchments with a desolating precision. + +Yet a reply had to be made. Every officer that could be spared was busy +encouraging the gunners to face the enemy and load their pieces, sponge, +ladle in the powder, ram home the fresh charges, with the certainty that +here and there along the line a great ball would come, smashing backs +and limbs, or terrifying the manhood out of their veins. + +Again and yet again Nigel himself would snatch the rammer from a +trembling wretch and ram home the charge: would point the gun, wedging +it up to get the greater height needed. It was desperate work. And his +two aides worked like him, shirking nothing. + +A little change in the breeze and he saw where the Swedish engineers, +working like men possessed, pushed out the bridge a few planks at a +time, fastening them to pontoons which others rolled down to them. Now +he knew his direction, and five of his guns were trained directly on to +the growing bridge. But scarcely had they dropped their first hustling +load of round-shot than a furious cannonade of the Swedes put the whole +five out action. No gunners' bravery availed, or could avail. It was +tempting useless slaughter. + +Then Nigel led down files of musketeers from the entrenchment and +disposed them along the banks to scare away the workers, but the enemy +did likewise, and so harassed the musketeers that few of their shots +reached a mark at all. + +All along the banks on either side the battle raged in some sort. Mainly +it was an affair of cannon-balls, but wherever musketry could be +expected to make an impression Tilly ordered his men forward, exposing +himself to the continual cannon fire. But everywhere the Swedes made the +greater havoc, though the position, if resolutely defended, was still +impregnable, and the Imperialists became more and more depressed. + +The bridge crept out another yard. It could be seen how Gustavus was +bringing up a fresh picked body of his veterans, Swedes all of them, +calm, resolute, bearded men, bronzed and scarred with many a fight, +ready for the rush across that would herald the hand-to-hand fighting +that would follow. + +Nigel hated the suspense. He longed for the moment when he could lead +down his musketeers and pikemen to the crash of the charge. And yet was +it wise to wait? Could nothing be done? + +A raft with twenty men upon it? Dare he? He named it to his aides. Dare? +They would dare. They need not risk his life, more valuable than theirs. +Here was greater fighting to be done. There was no taunting. But how +skilfully they plied him too! + +Up the river four hundred yards to give it greater impact they got some +of the Bavarian woodmen to lash logs together and cross them with other +logs, and three men from the banks of the Danube to guide the raft as +well as they could and fend it off the banks with long poles. A small +keg of powder and a hatchet apiece made the cargo for this short voyage. +Except the polemen, the rest crouched low, holding by the ropes. + +Nigel was there. He did not ask himself why he was there, risking his +life, but what he would be able to do. + +The river boiled and swirled. The logs creaked. The whole raft would +have turned if it could, if it had not been for the frantic straining of +the polemen. + +The setting out of the voyagers was unnoticed amid so much din and +turmoil, but they had scarcely fared half the way in less than a minute +of time than musket-shot came scrambling among them. Two hundred yards +more, a mere leap it looked along the water. They held their breath and +braced their limbs for the shock. There was the half-built bridge. A +crash! What a rending, and churning of the waters! They were upon it, +the raft driven half upon it; of the raft's crew half of them were +hurled into the river, the other half upon the bridge. Five of the +bridge builders went down before them, two of them to Nigel's sword. +Then the keg of powder was staved in and set endwise under the planking +and a match made ready. But the bridge builders were reinforced by +twenty stout pikemen, who pushed on to the bridge head and thrust at +Nigel's men with fury. + +It was an unequal contest, for while five men engaged the enemy, the +other five or six endeavoured to free the raft from the timbers of the +bridge, and Nigel waited in the deadliest peril, firing the match. + +The raft was wellnigh free, the water began to take hold of it again, +twisting it determinedly, when the Swedes, checked for the moment by the +stubbornness of the Imperialists, bore down their opponents. But Nigel +had got the tarred rope well alight. "Now for your lives!" he said, and +regardless of pike-thrust and musket-shot they flung themselves on to +the raft and swept on, while the powder sullenly exploded, breaking +loose a full half of the work completed, and blowing seven or eight +stout pikemen into the waves. + +For Nigel there was the rushing water, a volley of musketry, a sharp +pain followed by a momentary sensation of falling into the stream, then +nothing. + +But night was drawing in, and Gustavus could not cross. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + A SURPRISE AT RATISBON. + + +Nigel awoke to the jolting of an ox-waggon, over which was a rough +covering. He was lying in his cloak on a truss of straw. Beside him sat +one of his aides-de-camp, Captain von Grätz. But just now he looked +strangely unlike a military man, and was reciting prayers, fingering a +rosary which hung about his neck while he did so, with an earnestness +that suggested that some one was on the point of death. + +For a moment or two or three Nigel could not bring his mind to any clear +understanding. The officer had a lantern. Outside, through the opening +in the rough hood, was a blue sky and frosty-looking stars. Tramp! +Tramp! The army was on the march. Whither and why? Heaven, what a pain! +In his side, or was it in his shoulder? Nigel felt stiff for the most +part, but the pain was sharp and not always in one place. + +The aide-de-camp raised the lantern and looked at him, gave him a +draught of some kind, which sent the blood circulating more warmly, and +made his stiff limbs feel as if they were being teased by a thousand +pricks. Then he said "Hush!" and went on praying till Nigel fell asleep. + +In the morning they had reached Neuburg, and Nigel was sufficiently +himself to understand what had happened. Count Tilly had had his right +leg shattered by a cannon-ball, and a man of seventy-three, tough even +as Tilly, does not suffer such wounds with impunity. Altringer, his next +in command, was dead. The Elector Maximilian, swayed by Tilly, had +ordered a retreat from that wellnigh impregnable position. With +nightfall the retreat had begun, to Neuburg first. Then it was to be +Ingolstadt, where another stand would be made. Count Tilly was still +alive. The next question Nigel put was for the other aide-de-camp. He +had been drowned in the Lech. He had "died for the faith," as his +comrade-in-arms said. + +"You are a regular priest?" + +The aide-de-camp inclined his head in token of assent. + +"We obey orders!" he said softly. + +"What is the matter with me?" + +"You had a pike-thrust through your left shoulder, a musket-shot grazed +your ribs, you were knocked unconscious from a blow from the raft as you +fell into the water. The poleman just snatched you from the gates of +heaven!" The Jesuit sighed as he said the last words. "As for myself, it +is not time yet." + +Nigel had no reply ready. He decided however that, as he did not feel +any resentment against the poleman, he was not yet prepared for the end +his companion, evidently in good faith, desired for him. + +A night and a day at Neuburg and the army with its men and its waggons, +its artillery, its swarms of camp-followers, passed on to Ingolstadt. + +Count Tilly still lived, and while he lived Maximilian acted upon his +advice. + +"Defend Ingolstadt as long as possible. Throw troops forward into +Ratisbon and hold that. Holding the two you hold the Danube!" + +Other advice he gave, that all wounded and camp-followers should be sent +forward to Ratisbon. Ingolstadt was strongly fortified and might turn +the edge of Gustavus' sword if it contained nothing but fighting men. +Ratisbon would be a safe refuge for a few weeks. + +Nigel was carried into the presence of Count Tilly at Ingolstadt. + +The old general, looking shrivelled, sunken, his eyes feverishly bright, +lay in his bed. His hat with the red feather and his sword hung upon the +wall. + +He looked up and recognised Nigel. + +"You too, boy?" + +"Not badly!" said Nigel. + +"Go on to Ratisbon! You'll be well enough to fight the Swede again in +three weeks!" His voice faltered even in its weakness. He turned his +head away a minute or two. Nigel knew what the old warrior was thinking, +and could not find it in him to utter the worthless consolatory hopes +that he might. + +"But _I_ shall never fight again! The Swede has beaten me. I would that +we had fought in the open and not cooped up behind trenches and rivers. +Well! It is Wallenstein's chance now, and for _me_ nothing but the +priest's viaticum. God be with you, boy!" + +Nigel clasped his thin sword-hand with his own, and the young soldier of +fortune looked into the eyes, the stern, sharp, wistful, wild eyes of +the old soldier, who was doomed beyond possible help of army surgeon, +and the old man knew that the young one held him for a brave man, who +had been staunch to his profession, and loyal to the Emperor even to the +death. There was more comfort in Nigel's eyes than in a thousand +protestations from men who had never faced ball and pike-thrust on a +hard-fought field. + +Nigel gulped down something and whispered hoarsely-- + +"Good-bye, General. The Holy Saints help you!" + +His orderlies carried him out, and two days afterwards Tilly died, the +sound of Gustavus' cannon, without the walls of Ingolstadt, ringing in +his ears. + +Nigel reached Ratisbon in the train of the troops sent on to defend it. +Every day he was under the ministrations of the Jesuit, who combined the +art of the healer with that of spiritual director, as if he had never, +sword in hand, hewn down Swedish pikemen on the bridge at the Lech. +Every day made him gain something of ease. And once lodged in a +comfortable upper room at Ratisbon he began to recover the usage of his +legs. + +But he was still far from the recovery of his full vigour, and spent +most of the day looking from a window seat, his shoulders leaning +against cushions because of his wounds, upon the passing trivialities of +the street, while the aide-de-camp was out about his military duties. + +It was while he was thus employed that his soldier servant announced, "A +high-born lady visiting the sick, colonel!" + +Wondering what new adventure this might be, he bade the soldier bring +her up. + +First came a sour-visaged dame, whom Nigel half recognised and then +decided that he did not. Hard on her heels came one that brought a +sudden flush into his pallor. It was the Archduchess Stephanie. + +It was clearly as unexpected on her part. But with wonderful presence of +mind she entreated him not to rise, and bade her maid set down her +basket and wait below. + +Then as the door closed she sprang to him. + +"Nigel! My love, Nigel! In Ratisbon!" + +She knelt at his side, and placing his arm about her neck laid her face +against his, and crooned softly to him as she would have done to a +babe. + +And he could say little but press her dear hand closer to him and +whisper "Stephanie! You too in Ratisbon!" + +"We came, my brother Ferdinand and I, to strengthen the hands of the +Elector Maximilian, so that he fell not into the sin of neutrality." + +"You and Ferdinand?" There was a world of inquiry in his tone. + +"Yes, Nigel! Ferdinand was to play the fisherman and I the bait." She +sprang from him and dropped a stately curtsey, pulling her face +straight, serene and wonderful to behold for any one, but to Nigel not +the Queen of Sheba nor Zenobia of Palmyra would have seemed more +wonderful. + +"And I the bait!" she repeated and laughed. + +"But Maximilian had hopelessly broken his neutrality by the time you +arrived!" said Nigel. + +"We could not know it till we came! And then I told the Elector what I +had told him in any hazard, I would not wed him were he twenty times +Elector and the Great Mogul besides. It is not in my blood or my +humour." + +Nigel's eyes spoke the admiration for her boldness that he felt. + +"Then you have tricked the Emperor, and Father Lamormain, and flouted +Maximilian----" + +"To follow you, Tall Captain, or carry you off in my arms, or what shall +I do? I had no certain knowledge you were here. I had learned that the +camp had been broken up, that Tilly had retired to Ingolstadt, and when +I heard that the wounded were sent on to Ratisbon I began my search, +wondering how much of you I might find." + +"It is naught!" said Nigel, getting up. "I have lost blood. I have a +scratch in the ribs, a thrust of pike in my left shoulder, but they +heal. A Jesuit is living with me, Captain von Grätz, salving me, +preaching to me, and doing military duty too." + +"Not a word to him! Father Lamormain suspects! I know not how much, but +much!" + +"You must plan, and I must plan!" said Nigel. "We are in a serious case. +If we be not wedded in a little, wedded we two shall never be. It is too +much to set the Emperor and the Elector at defiance and not expect +reprisals. But if we be wedded, beloved Stephanie, we may even get off +with a hair shirt and smock, saving your Highness, and exile to some +remote castle in the Grisons." + +Nigel was no screech-owl, nor in the way of seeing ill before it came +except to prevent it, so his tone was gay; but there was doubt beneath. + +"How did the Elector take it?" he went on. + +"Faith, Nigel mine, but like as a pinch of sunshine peeps out between +the gathering clouds and is now quite shut out, so he seemed to smile, +but his brows were threatening black and his teeth gleamed a little. + +"There is a touch of fantasy about the Wittelsbachers. Born in a lowlier +station, Maximilian might have become a sad kind of troubadour, or a +prophesying friar. Being a prince, he is capable of carrying out any +wild imagining he might have to snatch me to him, or to wreak his +disappointment." + +"And we are in his hands here!" said Nigel. + +"To-morrow, think you, Tall Captain, if I took the air on horseback +without the walls, the Swede not yet being come up, that you could mount +a charger and meet me by chance three leagues distance. If there were no +guards out we might perchance slip further still and make our way----" + +"To what port of shelter?" + +"To Znaim! Sure Wallenstein would make you one of his new captains, and +Znaim would be a veritable city of refuge!" + +Nigel drew in his breath. "Stephanie, you have a godlike courage! To +Wallenstein! And yet why not? He will want officers. Here I am on the +list of the sick. There shall I be serving the Emperor! It is a bold +plan, Stephanie, but we must venture all, or be forever cravens!" + +"To-morrow! Nigel! Heaven send not the Swedes too soon to close the +gates. At midday three leagues away by the road from the eastern gate!" + +"And to-morrow if it see not our wedding shall see the eve of the +bridal!" She took Nigel by both hands, dealing as tenderly as with any +babe, and looked upon him with such a look of mystery and love and +motherhood in her eyes as caught him up into heaven and left him +entranced while one might count a hundred. Her look smote through his +eyes and on to his very soul, and put her impress there as it had been +the seal of the greatest Empire of all the world. + +Then they kissed in solemn troth-plight, and the Archduchess went down +the stair leaving the room a darkness, though it was still broad day. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIX. + + THE CLOUDS AND SERGEANT BLICK. + + +Not for the first time in his military life did Nigel feel lonely. In +this town of Ratisbon he had many military comrades, but no friend who +would be as a wall against which he could set his back when it came to +the grim push of steel against a half-ring of foemen. In bonnie +Scotland, had he sought to carry off a king's daughter, he could have +raised a sturdy dare-all troop of kinsfolk, men of his blood and name, +who would have broken down the West Port, scaled the crags of Edinburgh +Castle, risking their necks and their lands in a desperate endeavour to +win the guerdon for him of his heart's desire. And desperate though it +might be, with the king's daughter willing, what Scottish noble would +not have made the essay with a light heart? And here in Ratisbon was no +one on whom he might rely for a stout arm and a reckless generosity of +service. + +A friend such as he needed, not to speak of ten friends, must be told +everything. One cannot ask a friend to aid one in carrying off a king's +daughter without telling him what the dangers are. Rapidly he told off +the officers he knew in Ratisbon. All were in the pay of the Emperor or +the Elector. At the mention of either the shoulders would go up, there +would be long draughts of beer, a cloud of smoke, pursed-up brows, and +"Not to be thought of, my friend!" They were trusty fellows for the most +part, would not betray his confidence, but neither would they throw +themselves whole-heartedly into an enterprise which, successful, would +bring to some certain death, and to the rest a very intangible reward, +and failing would involve all in equal ruin. + +Then again there were the Jesuits. Which of his trusty friends might not +be Jesuits, if not, like his remaining aide-de-camp, a regular priest in +an officer's uniform, then an officer, drawing Jesuit pay as well as the +Emperor's? + +He thought of the Emperor with his proud, cold, supercilious face. There +was as little reason for hope of forgiveness as there was hope of +consent from him. From the Emperor he passed to Maximilian, the prince +who should have been a Jesuit, as he was the foster-child of Jesuitism. +Of a lineage as proud as that of the Habsburgs, of a renown for policy +as for valour, ruler of some of the fairest provinces and greatest +cities of the Empire, he would of a surety in his love be as relentless +an adversary as fate. Men of his dark complexion take the malady of love +not lightly. Least of all men, being who he was, would he be pitiful. +Brook a rival, once disclosed to him, in a Scots mercenary, were he +Wallace Wight himself? As well might the Danube cease to flow eastward, +ever eastward. And behind, but peering between these two haughty and +melancholy faces in Nigel's thought, was Father Lamormain's gentle, +suave, and smiling countenance, from whose mouth had flowed persuasive +speech that clothed the stern resolved marching orders of that sinister +brotherhood in whom there was no shadow of turning. Into no conceivable +scheme of Father Lamormain's could fit any idea of the marriage of Nigel +with the Archduchess. He had shown himself favourable to the Elector's +suit. Nigel's service to the Emperor would not count for aught if he +should stand in the way of the Jesuit advance. + +Nigel looked out upon the clouds of peril. He might win through with the +Archduchess, make her his wife, reach Wallenstein. So much was possible, +keeping their own counsel, acting swiftly with one mind, one courage. As +for Wallenstein, it was impossible to predict how he might receive them, +as friends, as hostages, or with cold negatives that should say "it lies +not with my interest." + +Nigel Charteris gazed upon the clouds of peril, and gazed undaunted. He +was in that uplifted mood into which a mighty love exalts the soul, so +that from its peak of splendour it can look down upon the clouds below +hurtling their lightnings and sending up dim reverberations of their +embattled thunders. For one hour of ecstasy shared by Stephanie he would +cheerfully meet the after-doom. + +He heard a footstep on the stair, a heavy tread, and the clank of spurs. +His reverie was dissipated like a bubble. What new thing was to happen? + +"Blick!" + +"Me! Colonel!" + +It was Blick, big-shouldered, red-faced, bull-necked, smacking somewhat +of beer and other liquors, soldierly Sergeant Blick. + +"How in the name of----?" Nigel began. + +"Sent out foraging from Ingolstadt, general! Got through the Swedish +lines at night, waggons and all, but couldn't get back again. Met an +infernal ambush of Swedes in a forest road. My men stood stoutly by me, +and we gave a round dozen of them their 'fall out,' but what with their +muskets and the trees it was no go. So we set spurs to our horses and +made straight for Ratisbon. The devil was in it, for they got our +waggons, a load of hams and a few barrels of good Bavarian beer, a +score of lean fowls----" + +"Enough, Blick! I warrant you left nothing of meat and drink but what +you could not carry off! So you came to Ratisbon, and found me out?" + +"Yes, colonel! Ingolstadt will come tumbling down in a day or two at +most, and then the Swedes will come here after the Elector, as some say, +or be off to ransack Munich, where he keeps his treasures, as others +say. And in faith I don't see what's to stay him, now poor old Tilly's +dead!" + +"Dead?" + +"Aye! Died as Gustavus fired the first round of his cannon. He was a +tough fighter, and his soldiers ever got leave to sack a town in their +own way. No fine manners and milk and water about the old General with +the Red Feather. Rest his soul!" + +"Amen!" said Nigel devoutly, making the sign of the cross. "Now what are +you going to do?" + +"I've reported myself and men to the general in command of Ratisbon. He +says, 'Wait till the army retreats from Ingolstadt and then join it.' +Meantime I'm just looking after the horses and taking a ride to keep +them in condition and get fodder for them, and there's mighty little in +Ratisbon!" + +Nigel smiled. He knew that Blick considered it a lamentable thing when +he and his troop, not to mention the horses, did not get full rations, +and that, if the regulations did not bring him and his to eat, he helped +himself to the best with a very fair ability. + +"If the Swedes are not upon us to-morrow, Blick, I want you to do me a +service." + +"How many troopers?" + +"Two besides yourself, men you can trust, men who are good swordsmen, +and see that your three horses are good for a long journey if need be. +And above all a quiet tongue, Blick, for you are meddling in a strange +business. If any trouble come of it to you, you may blame me, as you +obeyed orders. Meet me at the Eastern Gate with my horse at eleven. You +will find him at the stables of the 'Cloister Bell.'" + +"Yes, colonel! Two men, your own horse. Swords and pistols, at eleven, +Eastern Gate!" + +Blick saluted cheerfully. He wondered what was in the wind, but it was +in any case a pastime, and Nigel, though not a spendthrift, always paid +well for his services. + +When the aide-de-camp returned that evening Nigel said nothing of his +visitors, merely that he felt almost well enough to adventure the saddle +on the morrow, and should try a short ride. The Jesuit examined his +wounds carefully, and said he thought a gentle ride would do him no +harm. Nothing more was said upon that score, though they talked freely +about the progress of the Swede at Ingolstadt. + +"It is a hard fortress to take," said the Jesuit, "and it may well be +that the Swede may waste much powder and many good men before its walls +and then not take it. Every week he spends before it is a week gained +for us!" + +"How?" asked Nigel. "We are shut up here!" + +"Wallenstein's army grows daily, I hear. It is wonderful the magic of +his name. From all places men are hastening." + +Nigel expressed great wonder. He was surprised that, at a time when the +Emperor was at his wits' end for men, Wallenstein could find them from +the ends of the earth. But he also wished the Jesuit to tell him more. + +But the Jesuit said nothing of how he had heard the news. Only the +shadow of a fear ran across Nigel's heart that news went fro, as well +as to, over great distances, through this wonderful chain of the +brotherhood that served Father Lamormain. And he wondered whether this +kindly, helpful aide-de-camp, who had practically set him on his legs +again, would not with an equal kindliness conduct him to the strongest +dungeon in the citadel if he received orders. He knew it would be so. + +The next morning saw Nigel at the hour named at the east gate, saw his +eager charger nuzzling in his shoulder for joy, saw him gather his reins +and mount, and, followed by the escort, set out briskly, as a man +should, to his trysting-place. + + + + + CHAPTER XL. + + RIDE, RIDE TOGETHER. + + +To cover three leagues in an hour on such a horse as Nigel bestrode was +no great affair. + +It may have been a little more or a little less when Sergeant Blick, +with his watchful eyes, descried that his former colonel was rapidly +overtaking a little party that rode in the same direction. It consisted +apparently of a lady habited in a riding-dress suitable for the winter, +surmounted by a military-looking cloak, and a groom on another horse +just behind. + +As Sergeant Blick was a long way off when he saw so much, he did not +even attempt to guess who she might be. There were many highly-born +ladies in Ratisbon just at that time, though Blick did not know why. + +He was not long before he noticed that Nigel rode up on the lady's right +and saluted her, and that her movements were such as to suggest to an +observer that the meeting was a chance rencontre and a surprise. + +The groom, who, like themselves, carried pistols in his holsters, fell +back and gradually took up a position not far in front of Sergeant +Blick, but kept his horse trotting at a certain distance as if aware of +the soldiers, and not willing to mingle with them. + +But the colonel did not seem to have any intention of leaving the lady +to conclude her promenade alone. The two, in fact, rode quickly side by +side, as if bent on reaching some still distant goal in company. And it +was some time before it dawned upon Blick's mind that this had been a +rendezvous, and that his former colonel had entered upon the first phase +of the enterprise to which he had referred the night before. + +Had Blick been a Frenchman instead of a German he would have sniffed out +an affair of the heart as soon as he caught a glimpse of a petticoat, +but Blick was a German soldier, who had begun to get grizzled, and was +already weather-beaten and scarred, and cared a vast deal more for a +good dinner and a jovial emptying of beer-mugs than for toying with +wenches, and on the occasions when Cupid had asserted his rights of +dominion over him, the manifestations of Sergeant Blick's possession had +been uncouth and rough, and in nowise redolent of sentiment or of +poetry. Nor had he ever observed any amorous tendencies in his former +captain and colonel. He, on the contrary, had seemed to shun all such +opportunities of dalliance as the fortune of war threw in his way, to +care nothing, in fact, for women kind or unkind, only moderately for the +more gratifying enjoyments of wine and meat, and prodigiously, for an +officer, for clean muskets and well-sharpened pikes, or for well-groomed +horses and bright swords. Sergeant Blick could not account for the +change, and did not in his heart approve of it, the more that he could +make no manner of guess who the lady was. + +So he urged his horse a little more till he came alongside the groom, +whom he saluted civilly enough and asked plumply who his mistress was, +to which the groom replied with equal civility that she was the Countess +Ottilie von Thüringen. + +"Gott im Himmel!" said Sergeant Blick, and plied no more questions. + +He remembered well the Countess Ottilie in the early episodes, and +wondered the more. Then he gave up wondering, and remembered that he had +not drunk for over two hours, an unprecedented thing for him, when not +actually engaged on the stern duties of his vocation. Besides, the +effort of thinking could only be borne by the aid of liquor. + +"She was mixed up with those ... Lutherans! So she was!" said Blick to +himself. + +Blick's thirst found relief in time, for Nigel halted at the first +convenient inn which promised passable entertainment in the town of +Straubing, eight and a half leagues from the city of Ratisbon. He knew +that no hostelry on the road to Znaim could in the nature of things +produce a meal fit to set before this rare daughter of the Habsburgs. +For her nothing could be too kingly, but as the best that could be got +was coarse, he had perforce to trust to her love and a traveller's +appetite. + +They did well to find a hostelry which had another room than that used +by the common wayfarers. Nigel bade Blick give his men and the groom a +good meal, feed and water the horses sparingly, and have all ready in an +hour. + +Then they spoke of their immediate plans. + +Having encountered no obstacles hitherto, they decided to push on and +gain the furthest town they could before the hour of shutting gates. The +Archduchess would lodge in the convent. The town they thought to reach +was Passau, which possessed two convents as well as a number of churches +of old name and fame, in one of which they had it in mind on the morrow +to hear the priest pronounce over them the words "conjungo vos," by +which they should become one till death. + +"You are firm of purpose, Stephanie? There is still time to go back!" +said Nigel solemnly, looking into her eyes. + +"I am plighted, Nigel!" she replied with an equal seriousness. "Let us +go on!" + +They rose up from the table and went out, mounted and rode on to +Plattling. And this time Nigel bade Blick and the troopers ride in front +so that they might bring back word if any hindrance barred the road. For +Nigel had noticed, and so had Blick, that the roads were patrolled by +parties of the Elector's own bodyguard of horse, a circumstance which +would have had no significance if they had been upon the road between +Ratisbon and Ingolstadt, from which the Swedish troops might at any time +arrive. Still, beyond a salute the Bavarian troopers gave no sign. The +two rode on. + +But as they neared Plattling and the bridge across the Isar by which +they would reach the road to Passau, Sergeant Blick came back in haste +and warned them that the passing of the bridge was forbidden by a strong +party of cavalry in charge of an officer. + +Nigel spurred his horse forward, and the Archduchess did the like. They +were soon at the bridge. + +The officer was unknown to Nigel, but they saluted with great ceremony. +The officer saluted with still greater ceremony the Archduchess. + +"My escort, captain, tells me you are unable to let us pass the bridge!" +said Nigel. + +"My instructions are that in sum!" said the officer. + +"It would give us pleasure to hear them," said the Archduchess. + +"As regards your Imperial Highness," said the officer, "my instructions +were that, should you at any time desire to cross, I was to take care +that you had an escort of at least fifty men and two officers. I can +furnish them at once." + +"And General Charteris?" + +"His case comes under the second section. No officer or man of the +Imperial army may cross the bridge except by the written order of the +Elector, or unless he be carrying despatches to Vienna." + +"For what reason is the second order?" + +"To prevent desertions from the Elector and the Emperor's troops here to +join Wallenstein's!" + +"The Elector is very solicitous for our safety and your loyalty, General +Charteris. It seems that we must need curtail our pleasurable excursion +and return." + +The officer looked confused. He had no wish to cross the whim of an +Archduchess, but to disobey the Elector was worse. He bowed and made +numerous apologies. + +Force it was impossible to use. The bridge at Bogen, which was a mile or +two to the eastward of Straubing, would be equally guarded. Reluctantly, +but without appearance of reluctance, they turned their horses and went +back. To Nigel it appeared to be pure mischance. + +"No! Where the Jesuits are, dear Nigel, all is fore-thoughted. Our +secret is known or guessed. This was the Elector's prevision!" + +"Then we must hasten back before the gates close!" said Nigel, perturbed +to the depths. "You must be able to say that you had ridden further in +admiration of this beautiful country than you intended, and accepted my +escort, not wishing to be incommoded by a train of attendants." + +The Archduchess was full of foreboding. + +"If we are only back in time my excuse will at all events bear an +appearance of probability. But what are we to do next? You are not yet +strong enough to take the field. Yet you may depend upon the Elector +finding you some pressing duty out of Ratisbon, and he may urge that you +were strong enough to ride with me." + +"I must obey!" said Nigel. "But I could not leave you without putting +our marriage beyond question. Once Holy Church pronounces the blessed +words 'conjungo vos,' Stephanie, nor Emperors nor Electors can dissolve +the union." + +"It shall be, Nigel! It shall be before midnight to-morrow. Leave the +plan, the place, the time to me. I have learned some of the secret ways +of Ratisbon. And if you be ordered to-morrow on some futile quest, you +must use delay. Oh! dearest! I cannot help but fear, though I shall be +cool in plan and firm in execution." + +"Courage!" said Nigel stoutly. Though he felt something creeping over +him which seemed to give his very voice the lie. + +Presently as they interchanged some further words his voice sounded so +hollow and feeble that her woman's ear caught the change. + +"Nigel! What is it, Nigel?" + +"I feel a faintness!" he said. "It will pass!" + +"Thank the saints we are near Straubing! Let us walk our horses. It may +be we can get wine and supper, and a posting carriage. Her accents +betrayed the deep concern, the measureless pity the woman felt for the +man she had chosen. Could they be those of the proud Archduchess? Even +faintly as they reached his ears they brought the thought to his mind, +and filled his soul with a strange ecstasy of strength, carrying on the +action of his will, when will seemed to have no more to say. + +They reached the Black Eagle of Straubing. Brandy and hot soup was +served, and, once alone with him, the Archduchess stripped off his +cloak, his tunic, and with a table-knife ripped open his shirt from his +wounded shoulder, as she feared the wound had reopened with the toil of +riding. Blick was sent for an apothecary, salve and bandages. +Fortunately the man of drugs was to be found, and the wound washed and +salved and bound up anew. The Archduchess paid him with a golden crown, +bade him hold his peace for ever, and dismissed him. + +Then Blick found post-horses and a carriage, and they set forth once +more. Yet there was time, if the coachman and postboys did their best, +and the promise of gold was tempting. + +As the carriage bounded and rumbled along the starlit road, Stephanie +took her lover's head upon her soft shoulder, putting her arm about him +and drawing him to her as a mother does her child, and kissed him +softly, tenderly, as a mother does, and Nigel fell into a deep, peaceful +slumber, his last murmur being her name--"Stephanie." + +Very peacefully he slept, despite the rumbling and swaying of the +carriage, and the Archduchess, satisfied that his breathing was natural, +gave herself up to the maturing of her plan, listening now and then to +the clattering of the hoofs of their attendants' horses upon the hard +road not far behind. At the rate they had travelled she decided that +there was yet time to spare. She feared the Elector not at all, her +brother Ferdinand about as much, as far as her own self was concerned. +But she feared immeasurably for Nigel. The thought that she must be +parted from him almost inevitably, directly they had pledged their +mutual marriage vows, crushed her with a leaden weight. + +They stopped somewhere. She could not guess. The horses were steaming +with their exertions. Men threw cloths over them while they rested in +their traces. Then they resumed the journey, and presently Nigel awoke, +ashamed that he had slept, but with strength of mind and body renewed. + +They reached a little village called Obertraubling, two leagues short of +Ratisbon. + +The carriage stopped. Nigel sprang out. It was of no use, the postboy +said. One horse had gone lame. He could kill the horse by thrashing him, +but to get to Ratisbon with the carriage was impossible in the time. He +had done his best. Neither Blick nor his troopers nor his groom had come +up. Nigel went from one poor house and inn to another in search of one +or two fresh horses. Not a horse was to be found. + +"No one had a horse if not Farmer Grabstein, the last house in the +village." + +Postboy and coachman led the stumbling horses along to the house of +Farmer Grabstein. No one was about. Nigel knocked at the door and it +yielded. There was a fire upon the hearth. There was food of a rough +sort upon the table. There were even candles hanging from a beam. He lit +one at the embers and stuck it in a candlestick. Then he went back to +the carriage and bade Stephanie alight. + +She came into the farmhouse and sat down on a bench in the fireplace to +warm herself while Nigel made a search. Downstairs there was no one. +Upstairs (it was a rough wooden stair, steep as a ladder) were garrets +under the thatch. Rolled up in undistinguishable bundles appeared to be +some human beings. The air was fetid with their breath and their +personal exhalations. Was it worth while to wake them? At all events the +Archduchess could not go up that stair. + +Then he bade the men put their horses in the stable and sleep there +beside them. It would at least be warm. + +"Stephanie! My beloved! There is no help for it but wait here till Blick +comes up. Then he must get into Ratisbon and bring out horses by hook or +by crook! The night is yet young. Our plans have gone dismally awry. Yet +I would not have it different if it were not for the tongue of rumour +that will even now be busy in Ratisbon!" + +She knew well what he meant. The honour of the Emperor's daughter would +be besmirched, despite anything that might be said or done or attested: +and were it but one day's stain, that stain should not lie between her +and the husband she had chosen. + +"Show me the place!" she said with a touch of her old hauteur. Nigel +took the candle and preceded her. There was yet another room on this +floor, an apartment hung with leather, and having a good chest or two of +carved work, an oaken table and some chairs: the farmer's state-room, +doubtless used on high occasions. + +"Here will I abide! Go you, Tall Captain, and fetch me some old dame +from the village, so she be clean and not smelling of the cow-byre more +than ordinary, and bid her bring a blanket or two." + +Nigel went off into the dark again. But she without loss of a moment +examined the room and found a door which led into an outermost room, +where guns, boots, powder-flasks, and other utensils of the chase hung, +and beyond was a great door bolted and barred. This she undid, though it +taxed her strength, and found that it opened on to the stable-yard. That +she crossed and entered the stable, roused one of the men and bade him +rub down the soundest of the horses, feed and water it, and then strap +on a saddle she had found in the gun-room, in one hour's time. He would +be awakened if necessary. She would ride to Ratisbon. Neither his mate +nor any one else was to know. The present of a gold crown made him +promise mountains and marvels. She returned to their kitchen and awaited +Nigel by the fire. + + + + + CHAPTER XLI. + + A LATE ARRIVAL AT NICHOLAS KRAFT'S. + + +In one of the old burgher palaces of Ratisbon, then the dwelling of +Nicholas Kraft, whose guest he was, the Elector Maximilian held a +reception after supper each evening in the manner of the French monarch. +At these the ladies and gentlemen of his own household, Ferdinand the +Archduke and his sister the Archduchess, with their suite, were expected +to attend, together with some of the great burghers and their wives, +who, whether they possessed patents of nobility or not, were in point of +wealth and culture noble, and had the right of entry. The ruling classes +of the great free cities had long been accustomed to exchange courtesies +on something like equal terms with the princes and nobles who happened +to be within their gates, but not to exhibit any undue servility in +their regard. Maximilian fully understood this. In Munich, his capital +city, there would be differences, but Ratisbon was Ratisbon. Ferdinand +the Archduke held himself much aloof. As the son of the Emperor, and +possibly his successor, if the Electors should again choose a Habsburg, +he possessed much of the Habsburg pride of demeanour and tendency to +self-isolation. + +The guests had not all assembled. Maximilian himself, though talking +affably with the principal burghers, the few officers present, or some +of the ladies, looked gloomy. Indeed he had much to occupy his mind. The +latest advices from Ingolstadt told that the fortress town still held +out stoutly, and was still closely beset by Gustavus. Of movement +towards Ratisbon there were rumours enough, but Maximilian was being +well served with information, and these rumours did not trouble him so +much as they did the burghers. As in all the great free cities, there +was a party favouring Gustavus, another favouring the Emperor, a third +whose one desire was to maintain an exact neutrality. All wished the war +was at an end, because it interfered wofully with trade. + +"I had thought to have seen the Archduchess here to-night!" said +Maximilian to the brother of the absent lady. + +"In truth," said Ferdinand, "I cannot tell. She is accustomed to follow +her whims. I learned that she went out riding to-day. It may be that she +is late in returning, and is even now at supper." + +Maximilian smiled sombrely and made some polite and meaningless reply, +but his manner suggested that he was not at his ease. + +"At what hour, Burgomaster, do you close the city gates?" Maximilian +asked of his next fellow-guest. + +"At eight, your Highness!" + +"And the keys?" + +"Are brought to my house, your Highness!" + +"Ah! Very salutary! You have all things well-ordered in Ratisbon." + +"Your Highness is good enough to commend us. Nevertheless, there are +many things that may well be improved." + +An hour slipped by. Some of the party played _truc_, some _scat_. In a +corner some musicians discoursed on viols and lutes and a clavier. The +Archduke grew impatient and sent a page to the lodging of the +Archduchess, bidding her attendance. An answer came back that she was +indisposed, but that, if the Elector wished to see her particularly, she +would endeavour to throw off her migraine and come. + +The Archduke sent a still more peremptory message. Maximilian looked +still more sombre. + +This time he stopped to speak to an officer who had just come in. They +stood apart. + +"The gates are shut?" was Maximilian's inquiry. + +"Yes, your Highness!" + +"Has the Archduchess in fact returned?" + +"No, your Highness!" + +"Have you had any message?" + +"Her coach broke down at Obertraubling, three leagues from Ratisbon! She +is spending the night at a farmhouse!" + +"Alone?" There was a perceptible quiver in his voice. + +"The Scottish officer, General Charteris, is with her!" + +"Ah! He has recovered from his wounds?" + +"I should have thought not! I have been doing my best, your Highness. +Two days ago he was too weak to mount a horse. But the eyes of an +Archduchess, your Highness, are a very potent salve!" + +Again the Elector frowned. + +"Can you make anything of this escapade?" + +The Jesuit returned the look in the Elector's eyes. Each seemed to +search the other's. + +"Whatever it was meant to be it has been frustrated, and your Highness +will find her submissive enough to-morrow." + +"But if she has given herself...." + +"Your Highness need not fear. She has but walked into one mouse-trap and +the Scot into another." + +Maximilian simply grumbled a dissatisfied "H'm!" His knowledge of the +Jesuits and their deep schemes was tempered by an insatiable jealousy +where the Archduchess was concerned, and a knowledge of the wiles of +women, which he deemed must be superior to that of any Jesuit but one, +that one being Father Lamormain. + +"It is time to apprise the Archduke Ferdinand that he is being fooled by +her women." Then he left the Jesuit abruptly and crossed over to +Ferdinand. + +"Our dear Stephanie will not, I fear, be here to-night!" + +"Why not, cousin?" was Ferdinand's somewhat petulant query. He was not +at all gratified at having come to Ratisbon, only to find that +Maximilian was once again defeated. He would almost have preferred him +to have taken up the position of the neutral. He was angry with the +Archduchess for her persistent opposition to his father's wish for the +match with Maximilian: annoyed with Maximilian for his continual +fidgeting about her absence, to which Ferdinand attached no importance. + +"Because she is not in Ratisbon!" + +"But I have had messages from her!" + +"From her women, who are doubtless in league to deceive you!" + +Ferdinand looked much that he did not utter. + +He looked at the clock that stood in one corner of the apartment. + +"Ten o'clock, and not returned. You must lend me a troop of your hussars +to scour the roads!" + +"With pleasure! But I beg that you will use discretion. The name of a +princess that will one day be Electress of Bavaria may not be lightly +bandied. May I suggest Captain von Grätz?" + +"As you will, cousin!" + +They had just signed to the Jesuit when the door opened, and the +servants announced-- + +"Her Imperial Highness, the Archduchess Stephanie!" + +The faces of the three men turned towards the door in amazement and +expectation. + +It was the Archduchess. She came clad in amber silk, heavy with the +richest embroidered work of raised flowers, a high stiff collar, her +round neck and swelling bosom bare, save for the velvet of darker hue +than the stuff which framed them, and a necklace of rare pearls. Her +train was upheld by two of the fairest dames of her company, and these +and two others and two pages were all attired as richly, yet served as a +foil nevertheless to her supreme dark beauty. In her eyes was the +lurking light of laughter, though her lip had more than usual of its +proud upward curl. Her eyes danced as with her quick gaze they lit upon +the three astounded faces of her suitor, her brother, and the officer +they called von Grätz. + +Nicholas Kraft and his wife hastened forward and bent the knee before +her. To them all graciousness she said-- + +"It is to seem an unwilling guest to arrive at your hospitable house so +late, but you must please excuse me for the chapter of accidents that +has done nothing but beset me this day." + +The Elector strode forward, his eyes roving over her as if they would +devour her, for he ever found fresh enchantment and delight in her +beauty, fain though he was not to betray himself too much. + +The Archduke followed, but not too eagerly. Captain von Grätz alone +remained where he was, prey to a hundred vexations, but showing nothing +in his calm face. + +"So eager yet, cousin Maximilian!" + +"Say rather anxious, dear Stephanie! I have done my best to have the +roads patrolled, but I fear your horse or your escort must have been +indifferent that you have been so delayed." + +"I am afraid it was my own fault, cousin, that I went too far and forgot +that my Scottish gentleman equerry for the day was but lately wounded in +your service and could ill bear the saddle. As it is, I have left him +behind me, and I fear that he will be but a fit subject for his bed for +some days to come! How triumphantly your music sounds!" + +"It should ring twice as bravely from thrice as many trumpets as we have +viols, would you but give me leave, Stephanie, and bid me don a bridal +suit. You are vastly goddess-like to-night?" + +"Because I am happy, despite the war that makes you all so gloomy!" + +"If I could think your happiness was in being here in Ratisbon with me, +then should not war last a week. I would even make terms and bid +Gustavus to our nuptials." + +"And sacrifice the future of Wallenstein?" she asked with a pretty +malice. + +"Why? What of Wallenstein?" + +"Wallenstein's army grows greater every day!" + +"'Tis well! We could make the better bargain with Gustavus." + +"And the Emperor?" + +"Would console himself for the loss of glory in finding a son-in-law who +would adventure the care of his rebellious Stephanie." + +The Elector's brow had cleared. He was enraptured to find her in so +winning a mood that he proposed a pavane. And in a few minutes dancing +was the order of the evening. + +The Jesuit watched and noticed how the Elector surrendered to his +passion, confident at last that he had virtually won the hand of the +princess. At last he left the court circle alone and quietly, and went +to the lodging he shared with Nigel. There another surprise awaited +him, for Nigel lay asleep in his bed. The Jesuit examined the bandages, +saw that they had been freshly put on, and that tied in the final knot +was a single long black hair. + + + + + CHAPTER XLII. + + IN THE ABBEY CHURCH. + + +It was as the clock at the cathedral boomed out eight on the next night +but one that the old abbey church of St Jacob, which by some is called +the Scots church, by reason that the Benedictines to whom it once +belonged were mostly of Scottish or Irish parentage, was dimly lit as to +a chapel on the left side of the choir. + +Nigel groped his way up the nave towards it. Another shadow crept out of +the darkness of a side door on the northern side, and as it came into +the dim circle of light from the single swinging lamp depending from the +arch of the chapel, Nigel made out that it was a woman, and that woman +the Archduchess Stephanie. + +They exchanged a whispered greeting and knelt down together upon the +cushion prepared for them upon the threshold of the chapel. Two men +entered by the door of the nave, cloaked, booted, and spurred, as was +Nigel, and strode with firm steps up towards the same chapel, and +halting sat down upon the nearest seat. They had doffed their hats as +they entered, hats with long plumes, and the cloaks did not altogether +conceal the steel gorgets which they wore, for the light, dim though it +was, caught them. Their stern war-worn faces looked steadily towards the +chapel. + +From the small door beside the chapel came a priest and his acolyte, a +choir boy. + +Rapidly the priest read through a short homily in an accent, though the +words were German, which betrayed an original acquaintance with the +country from which Nigel sprang. + +Then he proceeded with more deliberation to recite the marriage service +and to ask the questions and to prompt the replies which are therein set +forth. + +Low and prompt and firm came the answers from Nigel. Low and musical, +though not without some tremor in her utterance, came the responses from +the Archduchess Stephanie. + +Then came the moment of intense solemnity when the priest placed the +ring upon her finger with the words, "Conjungo vos," and an +irrepressible sigh came from her, the sigh of relief after a suspense +not so long as profound. Still they knelt, and the priest began to +celebrate the sacrament of the Mass preparatory to giving the two souls +before him the blessing of Holy Church. + +The two knelt oblivious to everything but the presence of one another, +and their ears strained not to lose any of the precious words which fell +from the priest's lips--words long familiar, sanctified in themselves, +sanctified further by long usage, thrice holy in being uttered on this +most solemn occasion in their lives. + +But while they knelt a procession of shadows seemed to the two onlookers +to come into the church, stealthily and slowly, and the two looking +round as stealthily, saw that a portion of the nave, and of the side +aisles, was being filled. Very quietly one of the two men departed by +the door by which the Archduchess had come. He was there one instant, +the next he had melted into the shadow. + +The mass went on. The acolyte did his office. The priest his. Not a +falter came into his voice. He seemed even more absorbed in his office +than his two kneeling listeners. + +Scarcely had he pronounced his final benediction, to which the now +solitary onlooker added a deep-toned "Amen," than all four, Nigel and +his Archduchess just risen from their knees, the solitary onlooker, and +the priest, were startled by the sound of a trumpet, and in a trice the +church seemed to be filled with lighted torches. + +The light fell upon a noble assemblage, which moved forward to the open +space before the choir. + +In the forefront were the Elector Maximilian and the Archduke Ferdinand. +Behind them came the principal officers of their suite and of the +garrison. + +Upon the faces of the Elector and of the Archduke sat stern +determination. Upon the others, more or less attuned to those of their +masters, sat a natural wonder, and on some something of dismay. They had +been bidden. They had come. They could only wonder what reason could +bring the Elector and his guest to the St Jacob's church at such a time. + +Round about stood a guard of perhaps fifty men of the Elector's +bodyguard, bearing torches and arms. + +As the facts gradually displaced the first natural burst of astonishment +in the mind of Nigel and the Archduchess, they drew involuntarily closer +together, and the priest preceding them with the paten still in his hand +they approached the Elector. + +The priest said in a loud clear voice-- + +"Be it known to your Highnesses and all men and all women that the +Archduchess Stephanie has this day espoused Nigel Charteris of +Pencaitland and has become his wife. They are now man and wife according +to the ordinance and the blessing of Holy Church. Let no man seek to +separate them on pain of the loss of his eternal salvation. Amen." + +"Good Father," said the Elector, "you have now done your office. We +also, as representing the Emperor, the faithful son of the Church, do +pronounce that, insomuch as the Archduchess has taken upon herself to +marry in direct disobedience to her father's wishes, she is hereby cast +out from his family, and from all the rights and privileges of her +birth, and henceforth will enjoy neither princely rank nor any fortune +except such as she may still hold according to the law as a private +person." + +"And now," said the Archduke Ferdinand, "insomuch as General Nigel +Charteris, being a trusted officer of the Emperor, has endeavoured to +desert, carrying with him the daughter of the Emperor and our sister, in +which he has committed two heinous crimes against the Emperor's majesty, +he will be immediately arrested and tried by a court-martial for the +first crime, and by ourselves for the second. Of the issue there can be +no doubt." + +"I deny, your Highness," said Nigel in a loud firm voice, "that I ever +had the intention of deserting the Emperor's service. Nor have your +Highnesses any evidence of such intention. My services are a complete +answer to the charge. + +"As to marrying the Archduchess Stephanie, I am a Scottish gentleman +whose forebears are of as old and gentle a race as your own. I admit the +right of no man, be he called Elector or Emperor, to say me nay." + +"Arrest him!" said the Archduke. + +"You must reach him through my body!" said the Archduchess, throwing +herself in front of Nigel. + +"You had best bid your lover good-bye, and waste no words!" said the +Elector grimly, and motioned the captain of the guard to come forward. + +"Halt!" rang out a grim harsh voice, which resounded strangely through +the domes and hollows of the church. + +And the solitary onlooker of the two, who had witnessed the marriage, +strode into the ring of light, fronting the Elector. + +"I am Sir John Hepburn of the Scots Brigade, serving Gustavus of +Sweden!" + +The Elector scanned his lineaments. The Archduke had never seen this +renowned leader in the field as the Elector had, and was inclined to +doubt. + +"You are a bold knight to place yourself in the hands of your enemies +like this!" said the Elector. "The age of chivalry is past, if it ever +was! What have you to say?" + +"But this, your Highness! I crave nothing. The lands of Charteris and +the lands of Hepburn in broad Scotland march together. We fight on +different sides, but we do not forget for all that and all that, that we +are brother Scots the world o'er. I came here to witness the wedding of +Nigel Charteris to Stephanie of Habsburg. I have seen it and shall +return to Gustavus." + +"We shall not hinder you, Sir John Hepburn," said the Elector. "The men +of your nation have strange customs, and it may be this is one of them +to penetrate into the enemy's camp to carry out a domestic rite. You are +free to go as you have come!" + +"Free to go!" The voice rang out like a gusty clarion. "Look around you! +It is for us to do as we will. You are all prisoners, every one of you." + +Involuntarily Elector, Archduke, officers, gentlemen, and ladies turned +their heads apprehensively. + +Out of the semi-darkness beyond the ring of the torches gleamed +rough-bearded faces and the glint of a hundred claymores. Nay there were +two hundred, three hundred. The effect of the darkness was doubtless to +add a mystery to what they saw. + +An officer sprang towards the door to raise the alarm. It was useless. +The hilt of a sword knocked him senseless upon the stones. + +"Do you see my warrant? Aye! I know well you do. What I undertake I +carry out. Here and now deliver Nigel Charteris his safe-conduct to join +Wallenstein, and I wager he will yet do the Emperor more service than he +has yet done, though I would fain he was upon our side instead of +against us. Come, your Highness! To the sacristy and sign the priest's +book and a safe-conduct. Swallow your arrests and your court-martial! As +for the Archduchess, she will after her man or she is no true woman." + +The Elector and the Archduke exchanged looks. Their guard was hopelessly +outnumbered, and it was clear that Sir John Hepburn held them in the +hollow of his hand. + +"If the Scots are like you, Sir John Hepburn!" said the Archduchess, +holding out her hand, which the Scots leader bowed over and kissed in +courtly fashion, "I am glad to marry a Scot. Next to my husband shall I +rank you as the first of my friends." + +"Aye, madame, and yonder Sir Archibald Ruthven as the second, for he it +was who brought up our little army. Now let us sign!" + +He motioned to the Elector and the Archduke. + +The priest led the way to the sacristy, and there, willy-nilly, +Maximilian of Bavaria and the Archduke Ferdinand wrote their names as +present at the marriage of Nigel Charteris and the Archduchess Stephanie +of Habsburg, and then, to Sir John's dictation, inscribed on parchment a +full safe-conduct which, if words could do it, granted safety to the +newly-wedded pair from all reprisals or attacks from Imperial troops or +officers, so long as Nigel Charteris remained in the Emperor's service, +and permitted his safe departure from Germany whensoever that service +should end. + +Then at the doors of the church, when they were at length thrown open, +were found a coach and four horses, and an escort of horse, at the head +of which was the doughty Sergeant Blick, waiting to conduct their +beloved colonel upon the first stage of his journey. + +With hearty hand-clasping and good wishes the colonel and his bride +mounted the coach and set out. + +Then Sir John Hepburn courteously saluted the Elector and the Archduke, +and putting himself at the head of his men marched them to the western +gate at Ratisbon, lit by the torches of their foes, and set out upon his +ride back to Ingolstadt. Thus ended a hitherto unrecorded episode in the +Thirty Years' War, and a most momentous chapter in the history of Nigel +Charteris of Pencaitland and his rebel Habsburger. + + + THE END. + + + PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. + + + + + Blackwoods' Shilling Editions of Popular Novels. + + Bound in Cloth. With Coloured Illustration on Wrapper. + + + _=By NEIL MUNRO.=_ + + THE DAFT DAYS. + FANCY FARM. + + _=By IAN HAY.=_ + + "PIP": #A Romance of Youth#. + THE RIGHT STUFF. + A MAN'S MAN. + A SAFETY MATCH. + + _=By MAUD DIVER.=_ + + CAPTAIN DESMOND, V.C. + THE GREAT AMULET. + CANDLES IN THE WIND. + + _=By F. MARION CRAWFORD.=_ + + SARACINESCA. + + _=By BETH ELLIS.=_ + + THE MOON OF BATH. + + _=By KATHERINE CECIL THURSTON.=_ + + JOHN CHILCOTE, M.P. + + _=By J. STORER CLOUSTON.=_ + + THE LUNATIC AT LARGE. + + _=By SYDNEY C. GRIER.=_ + + THE POWER OF THE KEYS. + THE ADVANCED-GUARD. + + _=By W. J. ECCOTT.=_ + + THE RED NEIGHBOUR. + + _=By OLE LUK-OIE.=_ + + THE GREEN CURVE. + + _=By HUGH FOULIS.=_ + + PARA HANDY. + + _=By WYMOND CAREY.=_ + + "No. 101." + + + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, #Edinburgh and London#. + + +Transcriber's Note: +Text in italics is marked with _underscore_, bold +text with the =equals sign= and small capitals with the #number sign#. +A number of printing errors have been corrected without comment (e.g. +missing quotation mark, missing letter). +There are some inconsistencies in how the author spelled German +cities/regions in the original publication. Notations in English, German +with umlauts and German without umlauts are found. The following changes +have been made: Wurzburg changed to Würzburg, Siebenburgen to +Siebenbürgen, Nuremburg to Nuremberg, Furstenberg and Furstenburg to +Fürstenberg. +On pg. 3 portable was changed to potable. +Archaic spelling retained. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mercenary, by W. J. Eccott + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40567 *** |