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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5562.txt b/5562.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbb1fbb --- /dev/null +++ b/5562.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2548 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Barbara Blomberg, by Georg Ebers, Vol. 2. +#123 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Barbara Blomberg, Volume 2. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5562] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 6, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBARA BLOMBERG, BY EBERS, V2 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +BARBARA BLOMBERG + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 2. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The old captain blew the dust from the wine flagon and carefully removed +the seal. His presence prevented Wolf from renewing the interrupted +conversation. + +Reflection doubtless warned him that it would be a dangerous venture to +enter the same life-boat with this woman, yet how bewitchingly beautiful +she had seemed to him in her proud superiority, in the agitation of soul +aroused by the yearning for a fairer fate! Have her he must, even though +he was permitted to call her his own but for a year, a month, an hour. + +Many of her words had been harsh and apparently unfeeling, yet how noble +must be the soul of this young creature who, for the sake of being loyal +to truth, the pure source of everything grand and lofty, paid no heed to +much that is usually sacred to human beings! + +But Barbara's conduct during the next hour appeared to belie this opinion +of the man who loved her, for scarcely had her father sat down with the +knight before the venerable wine flagon than she flung down the smoothing +iron, hastily piled the finished articles one above another, and then, +without heeding the parchment on which Wolf's verses were written, rolled +up the ruby velvet. Directly after, with the package under her arm, she +wished the men a merry drinking bout, and added that poor Ursel might +need her. Besides, she wanted to show her the beautiful material, which +would please the faithful soul. + +Then, without even pausing at the rooms in the second story, she hurried +swiftly down the stairs into the street. + +She was carrying Wolf's gift to Frau Lerch, her dressmaker. + +The Grieb, where the latter lived as wife of the keeper of the house, was +only a few steps distant. If the skilful woman, who was indebted to her +for many a customer, began the work of cutting at once, her cousins, the +Wollers, could help her the next day with the sewing. True, these were +the very girls who would "turn yellow with rage" at the sight of the +velvet, but precisely because these rich girls had so many things of +which she was deprived she felt that, in asking their aid, she was +compelling Fate to atone for an injustice. + +Haste was necessary for, at the first glance at the velvet, she had +determined to wear it at the next dance in the New Scales, and she also +saw distinctly in imagination the person whose attention she desired to +attract. + +True, the recruiting officer sent to Ratisbon, of whom she was thinking, +was by no means a more acceptable suitor, but a handsome fellow, a scion +of a noble family, and, above all, an excellent dancer. + +She did not love him--nay, she was not even captivated by him like so +many others. But, if his heart throbbed faster for any one, it was +Barbara. Yet perhaps his glances strayed almost as frequently to one +other maiden. The velvet gown should now decide whether he gave the +preference to her or to pretty Elspet Zohrer--of course, only in the +dance--for she would never have accepted him as a serious suitor. + +Besides, the young noble, Pyramus Kogel, himself probably thought of no +such folly. + +It was very different with Wolf Hartschwert. She had been told the small +amount of his inheritance long before, and on that account she would have +been obliged to refuse him positively at once, yet the affectionate +relations existing between them must not be clouded. He might still +become very useful to her and, besides, the modest companion of her +childhood was dear to her. She would have sincerely regretted an +irreparable breach with him. + +Her father indulged her in every respect, only he strictly forbade his +beautiful child to leave the house alone after sunset. Therefore Barbara +had not told him the real object of her visit. She now had no occasion +to fear his following her. + +Yet she made all possible haste, and, as she found Frau Lerch at home, +and the skilful little woman was instantly at her service, she crowded +into the space of an hour the many points about the cutting which were to +be discussed. + +Then she set out on her way home, expecting to traverse the short +distance swiftly and without delay; but, when she had gone only a few +paces from the Grieb, a tall man came toward her. + +To avoid him she crossed nimbly to the other side of the dark little +street, but just where it turned into Red Cock Street he suddenly barred +her way. She was startled, but the oft-proved courage of the Blomberg +race, to which she had just alluded, really did animate her, and, with +stern decision, she ordered her persecutor to stand aside. + +He, however, was not to be intimidated, but exclaimed as joyously as +though some great piece of good fortune had befallen him: + +"Thanks for accosting me, Jungfrau Barbara, for, though the words are +harsh, they prove that, in spite of the darkness here, my eyes did not +deceive me. Heaven be praised!" + +Then the girl recognised the recruiting officer and excellent dancer of +whom she had just been thinking in connection with the velvet upper robe, +and answered sharply: + +"Certainly it is I; but if you are really a nobleman, Sir Pyramus, take +care that I am not exposed by your fault to evil gossip, and can not +continue to hold my head erect as I now do." + +"Who will see us in this little dark street?" he asked in low, +persuasive tones. "May all the saints guard me from assailing the honour +of a modest maiden, fairest Barbara; yet, if you fear that I might +prevent your remaining in the future what the favour of the Most High +permits you to be, I shall rather accuse you of having inflicted upon me +what you fear may befall you; for, since the last dance, I am really no +longer myself, and can never become so until I have received from your +beautiful lips the modest consolation for which this poor, tortured, +loyal soul is yearning. May I not linger at your side long enough to ask +you one question, you severe yet ardently beloved maiden?" + +"Certainly not," replied Barbara with repellent harshness. "I never gave +you a right to speak to me of love; but, above all, I shall not seek the +sharer of a game of question and answer in the street." + +"Then name a place," he whispered with passionate ardour, trying +meanwhile to clasp her hand, "where I may be permitted, in broad sunlight +and before the eyes of the whole world, to say to you what robs me of +rest by day and sleep by night. Drop the cruel harshness which so +strangely and painfully contradicts the language of your glances the +evening of the last dance. Your eyes have kindled these flames, and this +poor heart will consume in their glow if I am not suffered to confess to +you that I love you with more ardour than was ever bestowed on any +maiden. This place--I will admit that it is ill-chosen--but what other +was open to me? After all, here, too, a bit of the sky with its many +stars is looking down upon us. But, if you still unkindly refuse me, or +the dread of crossing the barrier of strict decorum forbids you to listen +to me here, you can mercifully name another spot. Allow me to go to your +father and beg him for the clear hand which, in a happier hour, by not +resisting the pressure of mine, awakened the fairest hopes in my heart." + +"This is too much," Barbara indignantly broke in. "Make way for me at +once, and, if you are well advised, you will spare yourself the visit to +my father; for, even if you were in earnest with your love and came as an +honest suitor to our modest house, it might easily happen that you would +descend the staircase, which is very steep and narrow, in as sorrowful a +mood as you climbed it secure of victory." + +Then Pyramus Kogel changed his tone, and said bitterly: + +"So your victorious eyes were only carrying on an idle game with my +unsuspecting heart? You laugh! But I expected to find in my German +native land only girls whose chaste reserve and simple honesty could be +trusted. It would be a great sorrow if I should learn through you, +Jungfrau Barbara, that here, too, it would have been advisable to arm +myself against wanton deception. True, the French chansons you sing +sound unlike our sincere German songs. And then you, the fairest of the +fair, can choose at will among men; but the Emperor's service carries me +from one country to another. I am only a poor nobleman--" + +"I care not," she interrupted him here with icy coldness; "you might be +just good enough for the daughter of another nobleman, who has little +more to call his own than you, Sir Knight, but nevertheless far too +little for me to grant you permission to load me with unjust reproaches. +Besides, you wholly lack the one advantage which the man to whom I am +willing to betroth myself must possess." + +"And what is that?" he asked eagerly. + +"Neither gold nor lands, rank nor splendour," she answered proudly, "but +changeless fidelity of the heart. Remember your fluttering from lovely +Elspet Zohrer to me, and from me to Elspet, Sir Pyramus, and ask yourself +what reason you would give me to expect the fulfilment of such a demand. +Your fine figure and gay manner please us girls very well at a dance, +but, though you should possess the wealth of the Fuggers and the power of +the Sultan, it would be useless trouble to seek my consent. Stand out of +my path at once! There come the Emperor's body guards, and, if you do +not obey me, as surely as I hope for salvation I will call them!" + +The last words had escaped her lips in a raised voice, and vibrated with +such honest indignation that the recruiting officer yielded; but a +triumphant smile flitted over her beautiful face. + +Had she known before how complete a victory he had already won over +pretty Elspet Zohrer, her most dangerous rival, this late errand would +have been unnecessary. + +Yet she did not regret it; true, she cared no more for Pyramus Kogel than +for any one else--the certainty that he, too, had succumbed to the spell +of her beauty was associated with a feeling of pleasure whose charm she +knew and valued. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Every one in Ratisbon or at the court who spoke of Sir Wolf Hartschwert +called him an excellent fellow. In fact, he had so few defects and +faults that perhaps it might have been better for his advancement in life +and his estimation in the circle of society to which he belonged if more +of them had clung to him. + +Hitherto the vice of avarice was the last with which he could have been +reproached. But, when his old friend filled his glass with wine, the +desire that the property left to him might prove larger than he had +expected overpowered every other feeling. + +Formerly it had been welcome mainly as a testimonial of his old friend's +affection. He did not need it for his own wants; his position at court +yielded him a far larger income than he required for the modest life to +which he was accustomed. For Barbara's sake alone he eagerly hoped that +he had greatly underestimated his foster parents' possessions. + +Ought he to blame her because she desired to change the life of poverty +with her father for one which better harmonized with her worth and +tastes? He himself, who had lived years in a Roman palace, surrounded by +exquisite works of the gloriously developed Italian art, and then in the +one at Brussels, furnished with imperial splendour, did not feel +perfectly content in the more than simple room which Blomberg called his +"artist workshop." + +A few rude wooden chairs, a square table with clumsy feet, and an open +cupboard in which stood a few tin cups, were, the sole furniture of the +narrow, disproportionately long room, whose walls were washed with gray. +The ceiling, with its exposed beams, was blackened by the pine torches +which were often used for lights. Pieces of board were nailed over the +defective spots in the floor, and the lines where the walls met rarely +showed a right angle. + +The window disappeared in the darkness. It was in the back of the niche +formed by the unusually thick walls. During the day its small, round +panes gave the old gentleman light while he guided his graving tool. A +wooden tripod supported the board on which his tools lay. The stool, +which usually stood on a wooden trestle opposite to it, now occupied a +place before the table bearing the flagon of wine, and was intended for +Barbara. + +After the torches had ceased to burn, a single tallow candle in a +wrought-iron candlestick afforded the two men light, and threatened to go +out when, in the eagerness of their conversation, they forgot to use the +snuffers. + +Neither curtain, carpet, nor noteworthy work of art pleased the eye in +this bare, strangely narrow room. The weapons and pieces of armour of +the aged champion of the faith, which hung high above the window, made no +pretension to beauty. Besides, the rays of the dim candle did not extend +to them any more than to the valueless pictures of saints and virgins on +the wall. + +The door of Barbara's little bow-window room stood open. Nothing but a +small oil lamp was burning there. But the articles it contained, though +dainty in themselves, were standing and lying about in such confusion +that it also presented an unpleasant aspect. + +Yet Barbara's beauty had shed such radiance upon this hideous environment +that the scene of her industry had seemed to Wolf like an Eden. + +Now he could scarcely understand this; but he found it so much the easier +to comprehend that these wretched surroundings no longer suited such a +pearl, and that it behooved him to procure it a worthier setting. + +Still, it was by no means easy to ask the captain what he desired to +know, for during the young knight's absence a great many important things +had happened which Blomberg was longing to tell. + +He was in such haste to do this that he detained Wolf, who wanted to +speak to old Ursel before he began to drink the wine, by the statement +that she suffered from wakefulness, and he would disturb her just as she +was falling asleep. + +The account of the property bequeathed to the young knight was only too +quickly completed, for, though the precentor's will made his foster son +the sole heir, the legacy consisted only of the house, some portable +property, and scarcely more than a thousand florins. + +Yet perhaps something else was coming to Wolf; early yesterday +Dr. Hiltner, the syndic of the city, had asked his place of residence, +and added that he had some news for him which promised good fortune. + +After these communications Blomberg hoped to be able to mention the +important events which had occurred in Ratisbon during his young friend's +absence; but Wolf desired with such eager curiosity to hear the syndic's +news first that it vexed the captain, and he angrily told him that he +would bite off his tongue before he would even say "How are you?" to that +man, and to play eavesdropper to any one was not at all in his line. + +Here his companion interrupted with the query, What had caused the +learned scholar, whom every one, as well as the precentor, had highly +esteemed, to forfeit his friend's good opinion? + +Blomberg had waited for such a question. + +He had been like a loaded culverin, and Wolf had now touched the burning +match to the powder. To understand why he, Blomberg, who wished only the +best fortune to every good Christian, would fain have this thorough +scoundrel suffer all the torments of hell, the young knight must first +learn what had happened in Ratisbon since the last Reichstag. + +Until then the good city had resisted the accursed new religious +doctrines which had gained a victory in Nuremberg and the other cities +of the empire. + +Here also, as Wolf himself had probably experienced, there had been no +lack of inclination toward the Lutheran doctrine. It was certainly +natural, since it suited the stomach better to fill itself, even during +Lent, than to renounce meat; since there were shameless priests who would +rather embrace a woman than to remain unmarried; since the Church +property bestowed by pious souls was a welcome morsel to princes and +to cities, and, finally, because licentiousness was more relished than +wholesome discipline. The wicked desires inspired by all the evil +spirits and their tool, the Antichrist Luther, had gained the upper hand +here also, and Dr. Hiltner, above all others, had prepared the way for +them in Ratisbon. Even at the last Reichstag his Majesty the Emperor had +earnestly, but with almost too much gracious forbearance, endeavoured to +effect a union between the contending parties, but directly after his +departure from the city rebellion raised its head with boundless +insolence. The very next year the Council formally introduced the evil +which they called ecclesiastical reformation. The blinded people flocked +to the new parish church to attend the first service, which they called +"Protestant." Then the mischief hastened forward with gigantic strides. + +"Last year," cried the old gentleman, hoarse with indignation, striking +the table with his clenched fist as if he were in camp, "I saw them with +my own eyes throw down and drag away, I know not where, the pillar with +the beautiful image of Mary, the masterpiece of Erhard Heydenreich, the +architect of the cathedral, which stood in front of the new parish +church. Songs had been composed in her honour, and she was dear and +precious to you from early childhood, as well as to every native of +Ratisbon; the precentor--God rest his soul!--read to me from your letter +from Rome what exquisite works of art you saw there every day, but that +you still remembered with pleasure the beautiful Virgin at home. + +"But what do these impious wretches care about beautiful and sacred +things? The temple desecrators removed and destroyed one venerable, holy +image after another. True, they did not venture into the cathedral, +probably from fear of his Majesty the Emperor, and whoever had undertaken +to lay hands upon the altar painting and the Madonna in our chapel would +have paid for it--I am not boasting--with his life. Though 'the +beautiful Mary,' in her superabundant mercy, quietly endured the affront +offered, our Lord himself punished it, for he inspired the illustrious +Duke of Bavaria to issue an edict which forbids his subjects to trade +with Ratisbon. Whoever even enters the city must pay a heavy fine. This +set many people thinking. Ursel will tell you what sinful prices we have +paid since for butter and meat. Even the innocent are obliged to buckle +their belts tighter. Those who wished to escape fasting are now +compelled by poverty to practise abstinence. It is said the Roman King +Ferdinand is urging the revocation of the order. If I were in his place, +I would advise making it more stringent till the rebels sweat blood and +crept to the cross." + +Then Blomberg bewailed the untimely leniency of the Emperor, for there +was not even any rumour of a serious assault upon the Turks. And yet, +if only he, Blomberg, was commissioned to raise an army of the cross, +Christianity would soon have rest from its mortal foe! But if it should +come to fighting--no matter whether against the infidels or the heretics +--in spite of Wawerl and his lame leg, he would take the field again. +No death could be more glorious than in battle against the destrover of +souls. The scoundrels were flourishing like tares among the wheat. At +the last Reichstag the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, as well as the +Landgrave Philip of Hesse, brought their own preachers, whose sermons +turned many heads, even the pastor of St. Emmeran's, Zollern, who was a +child of Ratisbon. At Staufferhof Baron von Stauff, formerly a man +worthy of all honour, had opened his chapel of St. Ann to all the +citizens to permit them to participate in the Lutheran idolatry. Two +Protestant ministers, one of whom, Dr. Forster, Luther himself had +brought to Ratisbon, were liberally paid by the Council. Whether Wolf +believed it or not, Father Hamberger, whom he surely remembered as Prior +of the Minorites, and who at that time enjoyed universal esteem, had +taken a wife, and the rest of the monks had followed the iniquitous +example. Many other priests had married if it suited them, and, instead +of the cowl, wore secular garments. The instruction given in the school +of poets was perfectly abominable, as he heard from Councillor Steuerer, +who was faithful to the Catholic Church, and strove to induce the Duke of +Bavaria to adopt still sterner measures against all this disorder. + +Very recently men hitherto blameless, like Andreas Weinzierl and Georg +Seidl, had sent their eighteen-year-old sons to the University of +Wittenberg, where the Lutheran heresies were flourishing most +luxuriantly. + +But the worst of all was that even faithful sons and daughters of Holy +Church could not keep themselves wholly untouched by such mischief. +Among these, alas! were he and his Wawerl, for he had been obliged to +allow the girl to join the choristers who sang in the Convivium Musicum, +which the Council had established in the summer three years before. Two +councillors were assigned to each Convivium, and thus these arrangements +were in Protestant hands. + +"Of course," he added dejectedly, "I wished to forbid her taking part in +them, but, though with me it is usually bend or break, what can a man do +when a woman is pestering him day and night, sometimes begging with +tears, sometimes with caresses? + +"Besides, many a good Catholic entreated me to give up my opposition. +They, do not grudge the girl her progress, and how much she already owes +to the music teacher who now directs the Collegium Musicuin! Singing is +everything to her, and what else can I give the poor child? At any rate, +the Netherlander whom the Council brought here three years ago--so +connoisseurs say--scarcely has his equal anywhere in knowledge and +ability. The man came to me and frankly said that he needed the girl's +voice for the Convivium, and, if I refused to let Wawerl take part, he +would stop teaching her. As he is a just man of quiet temperament and +advanced in years." + +"Where is he from, and what is his name?" Wolf eagerly interrupted. + +"Damian Feys," replied the captain, "and he is a native of Ghent in the +Netherlands. Although he is in the pay of the city, he has remained--he +told me so himself--a good Catholic. There was nothing to be feared for +the child on the score of religion. The anxieties which are troubling me +on her account come from another source." + +Then, with a mischievous mirthfulness usually foreign to his nature, Wolf +raised his goblet, exclaiming: + +"Cast them upon me, Father Blomberg! I will gladly help you bear them as +your loyal son-in-law." + +"So that's the way of it," was the captain's answer, his honest eyes +betraying more surprise than pleasure. + +Yet he pledged Wolf, and, touching his glass to his, said: + +"I've often thought that this might happen if you should see how she has +grown up. If she consents, nothing could please me better; but how many +lovers she has already encouraged, and then, before matters became +serious, dismissed! I have experienced it. If you succeed in putting an +end to such trifling, may this hour be blessed! But do you know the huge +maggots she keeps under her golden hair?" + +"Both large and small ones," cried Wolf, with glowing cheeks. "Truthful +as she is, she did not conceal from the playmate of her youth a single +impulse of her ambitious soul." + +"And did she give you hope?" asked the captain, thrusting his head +eagerly forward. + +"Yes," replied the youth firmly; but he quickly corrected himself, and, +in a less confident tone, added, "That is, if I could offer her a care- +free life." + +"There it is," sighed the old man. "She knows what she wants, and holds +firmly to it. You are the son of a knight, and on account of the music +which you can pursue together--With her everything is possible and +little is impossible. In any case, you will have no easy life with her, +and, ere you order the wedding ring----" Here he suddenly stopped, for a +bird-song, high, clear, and yet as insinuatingly sweet as though, on this +evening in late April, the merriest and most skilful feathered songsters +which had recently found their way home to the fresh green leafage on the +shore of the Danube had made an appointment on the steps of the gloomy +house in Red Cock Street, rose nearer and nearer to the two men who were +sitting over their wine. + +It was difficult to believe that this whistling and chirping, trilling +and cuckoo calling, came from the same throat; but when the bird notes +ceased just outside the door, and Barbara, with bright mirthfulness and +the airiest grace, sang the refrain of the Chant des Oiseaux, 'Car la +saison est bonne', bowing gracefully meanwhile, the old enemy of the +Turks fairly beamed with delight. + +His eyes, wet with tears of grateful joy, sought the young man's, and, +though he had just warned him plainly enough against courting his +daughter, his sparkling gaze now asked whether he had ever met an equally +bewitching marvel. + +"The deuce!" he cried out to his daughter when she at last paused and +extended her hand to him. He leaned comfortably farther back in his arm- +chair as he spoke, but she kissed him lightly on the forehead, while her +large blue eyes shone with cheerful content. + +She had gained her object. + +When she sang this song she was safe from any troublesome questions. +Besides, Gombert, of Bruges, the director of the imperial orchestra, who +had arrived in Ratisbon that very day, was the composer of the charming +bird-song, and she knew from her singing master that, though her voice +was best adapted to solemn hymns, nothing in the whole range of secular +music suited it better than this "Car la saison est bonne." She longed +for the praise of such a musician, and Wolf must accompany her to him. + +The young knight had not only been joyfully surprised, but most deeply +delighted by the bewitching execution of this most charmingly arranged +refrain. + +Maestro Gombert and his colleague Appenzelder, the conductor of the boy +choir, must hear it on the morrow. And how gladly Barbara consented to +fulfil this wish! + +She had received the greatest praise, she said, in the motet of the +Blessed Virgin, by Josquin de Pres, in the noble song 'Ecce tu pulchra +es'. Her teacher specially valued this master and his countryman +Gombert, and his exquisite compositions were frequently and gladly sung +at the Convivium. + +This pleased Wolf, for he had a right to call himself, not only the +pupil, but the friend of the director of the orchestra. As, seizing the +lute, he began Gombert's Shepherd and Shepherdess, Barbara, unasked, +commenced the song. + +When, after Barbara's bell-like, well-trained voice had sung many other +melodies, the young knight at last took leave of his old friends, he +whispered that he had not expected to find home so delightful. + +She, too, went to rest in a joyous, happy mood, and, as she lay in her +narrow bed, asked herself whether she could not renounce her ardent +longing for wealth and splendour and be content with a modest life at +Wolf's side. + +She liked him, he would cherish her, and lovingly devote the great skill +which he had gained in Italy and the Netherlands to the final cultivation +of her voice. Her house would become a home of art, her life would be +pervaded and ennobled by song and music. What grander existence could +earth offer? + +Before she found an answer to this question, sleep closed her weary eyes. +But when, the next morning, the cobbler's one-eyed daughter, who, since +old Ursel's illness, had done the rough work in the chambers and kitchen, +waked her, she speedily changed her mind. It was hard to rise early +after the day's ironing and the late hour at which she had retired, and, +besides, when Barbara returned from mass, the maid reported that Frau +Lerch had been there and left the message that Fran Itzenweck wanted the +laces which had been promised to her early that day. + +So Barbara was obliged to go to work again immediately after the early +breakfast. But, while she was loosening the laces from the pins and +stirring her slender white fingers busily for the wretched pittance, her +soul was overflowing with thoughts of the most sublime works of music, +and the desire for success, homage, and a future filled with happiness +and splendour. + +Vehement repugnance to the humble labour to which necessity forced her +was like a bitter taste in her mouth, and, ere she had folded the last +strips of lace, she turned her back to the work-table and pressed both +hands upon her bosom, while from the inmost depths of her tortured soul +came the cry: "I will never bear it! In one way or another I will put an +end to this life of beggary." + +Thanks to old Ursel's care, Wolf had found his bed made and everything +he needed at hand in his foster parents' deserted lodging. To avoid +disturbing the sick woman, he removed his shoes in the entry, and then +glided into his former little room. Weariness had soon closed his eyes +also, but only for a few hours. His fevered blood, fear, and hope drove +him from his couch at the first dawn of morning. + +Ere returning to the two men the evening before, Barbara had hastily +spoken to Ursula, and brought her whatever she preferred to receive from +her hands rather than those of the one-eyed maid who spent the night with +her--her Sunday cap and a little sealed package which she kept in her +chest. When Wolf tapped at her door early the next morning, she was +already up, and had had her cap put on. This was intended to give her a +holiday appearance, but the expression of her faithful eyes and the smile +upon her sunken mouth showed her darling that his return was a festival +to her. + +The stroke of apoplexy which had attacked the woman of seventy had been +slight, and merely affected her speech a little. But she found plenty of +words to show Wolf how happy it made her to see him again, and to tell +him about his foster parents' last illness and death. + +The precentor and organist, aided by Bishop Pangraz Sinzenhofer and +Blasius, the captain of the city guard, had endeavoured to collect the +papers which proved Wolf's noble birth. The package that Barbara handed +to her the evening before contained the patent of nobility newly +authorized by King Frederick at Vienna and the certificate of baptism +which proved him to be the only son of the Frank Knight Ullmann +Hartschwert and the Baroness Wendula Sandhof. + +His mother's family died with her; on his father's side, as the precentor +had learned, he still had an uncle, his father's older brother, but his +castle had been destroyed during the Peasant War. He himself had +commanded for several years a large troop of mercenaries in the service +of the Queen of England, and his three children, a son and two daughters, +had entered monastic and conventual life. + +The contents of the package confirmed all these statements. +Moreover, the very Dr. Hiltner, of whom Barbara's father had spoken so +disagreeably, had paid a visit the day before to Ursel, who had won the +esteem of the preceptor's old friend, and told her that he wished to talk +with Wolf about an important matter. + +It afforded the young man genuine pleasure to wait upon the faithful old +woman and give her her medicine and barley-gruel. His mother had brought +him to Ratisbon when he was a little boy four years old, and Ursel at +that time had been his nurse. She had clung more closely to him than the +woman to whom he owed his life, for his mother had deserted him to take +the veil in the convent of the Sisters of St. Clare, but her maid-servant +Ursel would not part from him. So she was received by his foster parents +when they adopted him, and had served them faithfully until their deaths. + +The wrinkled countenance of the old woman, who, even on her sick-bed, +retained her neat appearance, expressed shrewdness and energy. + +Wolf's services were a pleasure and an honour. A grateful, affectionate +glance acknowledged each, and meanwhile he became clearly aware of the +treasure which he, the orphaned youth, possessed in this faithful old +friend. + +If he saw aright, she might yet live a long time, and this gave him +heartfelt joy. With her he would lose the last witness of his childhood, +the chronicle, as it were, of his earliest youth. He could not +understand why he had never before induced her to tell him her +recollections. + +During his boyhood, which was crowded with work, he had been content when +she told him in general outlines that, during the Peasant War, fierce +bands had attacked his father's castle, that one of his own bondmen had +slain him with an axe, and that his mother had fled with Wolf to +Ratisbon, where her brother lived as provost of the cathedral. He had +invited her, at the outbreak of the peasant insurrection, to place +herself under his protection. + +The old woman had also described to him how, amid great hardships, they +had reached the city in midwinter, and finally that his mother found +Baron Sandhof, her brother, at the point of death, and, after her hope of +having a home with the provost of the cathedral was baffled, she had +taken the veil in the convent of the Dominicans, called here the Black +Penitents. Wolf's foster father, the organist Stenzel, who was closely +connected with his uncle, had rendered this step easier for the deserted +widow by receiving the little boy in his childless home. + +Ursel must give him more minute particulars concerning all these things. + +His mother, who knew that he was well cared for, had troubled herself +very little about him, and devoted her life to the care of her own +salvation and that of her murdered husband, who had died without the +benefit of the holy sacrament. + +When he was fifteen, she closed her eyes on the world, and the hour +when, on her death bed, she had asked of him a vow to be faithful to the +Catholic Church and shut his heart against heresy, was as vividly before +his memory as if she had just passed away. + +He did not allude to these things now, for his heart urged him to confide +to the faithful old woman what he thought of Barbara, and the beautiful +hopes with which he had left her. + +Ursel closed her eyes for a while and twirled the thumb of the hand she +could use around the other for some time; but at last she gently nodded +the little head framed in her big cap, and said carelessly: + +"So you would like to seek a wife, child? Well, well! It comes once to +every one. And you are thinking of Wawerl? It would certainly be +fortunate for the girl. Marriages are made in heaven, and God's mills +grind slowly. If the result is not what you expect, you must not murmur, +and, above all things, don't act rashly. But now I can use my heavy +tongue no longer. Remember Dr. Hiltner. When duty will permit, you'll +find time for another little chat with old Ursel." + +Casting a loving farewell glance at Wolf as she spoke, she turned over on +the other side. + +As his footsteps receded from her bedside, she pressed her lips more +firmly together, thinking: "Why should I spoil his beautiful dream of +happiness? What Wawerl offers to the eyes and ears of men is certainly +most beautiful. But her heart! It is lacking! Unselfish love would be +precisely what the early orphaned youth needs, and that Wawerl will never +give him. Yet I wish no heavier anxieties oppressed me! One thing is +certain--the husband of the girl upstairs must wear a different look from +my darling, with his modest worth. The Danube will flow uphill before +she goes to the altar with him! So, thank Heaven, I can console myself +with that!" + +But, soon after, she remembered many things which she had formerly +believed impossible, yet which, through unexpected influence, had +happened. + +Then torturing uneasiness seized her. She anxiously clasped her +emaciated hands, and from her troubled bosom rose the prayer that the +Lord would preserve her darling from the fulfilment of the most ardent +desire of his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Wolf's first walk took him to the Golden Cross, the lodgings of the +Emperor Charles and his court. The sky had clouded again, and a keen +northwest wind was blowing across the Haidplatz and waving the banner on +the lofty square battlemented tower at the right of the stately old +edifice. + +It had originally belonged to the Weltenburg family as a strong offensive +and defensive building, then frequently changed hands. + +The double escutcheon on the bow-window was that of the Thun and Fugger +von Reh families, who had owned it in Wolf's childhood. + +Now he glanced up to see whether young Herr Crafft, to whom the building +now belonged, had not also added an ornament to it. But when Wolf's gaze +wandered so intently from the tower to the bow-window, and from the bow- +window to the great entrance door, it was by no means from pleasure or +interest in the exterior of the Golden Cross, but because Barbara had +confessed that the nineteen-year-old owner of the edifice, who was still +a minor, was also wooing her. + +What was the probable value of this stately structure, this aristocratic +imperial abode? How rich its owner was! yet she, the brilliant young +beauty who had grown up in poverty, disdained young Crafft because her +heart did not attract her to him. + +So, in this case, faithful Ursel must deceive herself and misjudge the +girl, for the old woman's strangely evasive words had revealed plainly +enough that she did not consider Barbara the right wife for him. + +The good people of Ratisbon could not understand this rare creature! Her +artist nature gave her peculiar, unusual traits of character, which were +distasteful to the ways of German burghers. Whatever did not fit the +usual forms, whatever surpassed ordinary models, was regarded with +distrust. He himself had scarcely been able to understand how a girl so +free and independent in her feelings, and probably also in her actions, +such a mistress of the art of singing, whose performances fulfilled the +highest demands, could have bloomed and matured in this environment. + +Old Ursel's evasion had wounded and troubled him; the thoughts associated +with the double escutcheon on the bow-window, however, revived the +clouded feeling of happiness, and, with head erect, he passed the guards +at the entrance and went into the corridor, which was again crowded with +lords and ladies of the court, priests of all ranks, knights, pages, and +servants. + +His position gave him access to the Queen of Hungary's apartments without +delay--nay, he might hope to be received by her Majesty sooner than many +of the knights, lords and ladies, ecclesiastical and secular dignitaries +who were waiting there; the stewards, chamberlains and heralds, the +ladies of the court, pages, and lackeys knew that the royal lady not only +summoned Sir Wolf Hartschwert frequently, but welcomed his presence. + +Nearly all were Spaniards or natives of the Netherlands, and it was +fortunate for Wolf, on the one hand, that he had learned their language +quickly and well in Italy and Brussels, and, on the other, that his birth +entitled him to a place with nobles who had the rank of knights. + +How formal and stiffly precise everything was here! How many backs bowed +low, how softly bombastic, high-sounding words were murmured! It seemed +as if every free, warm impulse would lapse into stiffness and coldness; +moreover, those assembled here were not the poor petitioners of other +antechambers, but lords and ladies who belonged to the most illustrious +and aristocratic families, while among the waiting ecclesiastics there +was many a prelate with the dignified bearing of a bishop. + +Some of the Netherlanders alone frequently threw off the constraint which +fettered all, and one even turned with the gayest ease from one person to +another. This was Baron Malfalconnet, one of the Emperor's major-domos. +He was permitted to do what no one else ventured, for his cheerfulness +and wit, his gift of story-telling, and sharp tongue often succeeded in +dispelling the clouds of melancholy from the brow of his imperial master. + +At Wolf's entrance the baron greeted him with merry banter, and then +whispered to him that the regent was expecting him in her private room, +where the leaders of the newly arrived musicians had already gone. As +Wolf belonged to the "elect," he would conduct him to her Majesty before +"the called" who were here in the waiting room. + +As he spoke he delivered him to the Emperor's confidential secretary, +Gastelu, whom Wolf had often aided in the translation of German letters, +and the latter ushered him into the Queen's reception room. + +It was the royal lady's sleeping apartment, a moderately wide, unusually +deep chamber, looking out upon the Haidplatz. The walls were hung with +Flanders Gobelin tapestry, whose coloured pictures represented woodland +landscapes and hunters. The Queen's bed stood halfway down the long wall +at the right. + +Little could be seen of her person, for heavy gold-embroidered damask +curtains hung around the wide, lofty bedstead, falling from the canopy +projecting, rootlike, above the top, where gilded child genii bore a +royal crown. On the side toward the room the curtains were drawn back +far enough to allow those who were permitted to approach the regent to +see her head and the upper portion of her body, which was wrapped in an +ermine cape. + +She leaned in a sitting posture against a pile of white satin pillows, +and her thick locks, interwoven with strings of pearls, bore witness to +the skill of the maid who had combed and curled them so artistically and +adorned them with a heron's plume. Two beautiful English pointers and a +slender hound were moving about and sometimes disturbed the repose of the +two Wachtersbach badger dogs, who were trained to keep side by side +everywhere--in the room as well as in hunting. When the door opened they +only raised their sagacious little heads with a low growl. + +The other living beings who had obtained admittance to the Queen's +chamber at so early an hour were constrained by etiquette to formal, +silent quiescence. Only the ladies in waiting and the chamberlains moved +to and fro unasked, but they also stepped lightly and graduated the depth +of the bow with which they greeted each individual to suit his or her +rank, while the pages used their nimble feet, whose tread silken shoes +rendered noiseless, lightly and carelessly. + +The features of most of the persons present expressed reverence and +expectation. But although, on account of the clouded sky and the small +window panes, the rear of the deep apartment especially was only dimly +lighted, the impression produced was neither gloomy nor depressing. This +was prevented by the swift movements of the pages, the shrill screams of +the gay parrots at the window, the paraphernalia of the chase hung on the +wall, and especially by the regent herself, whose clear voice broke the +silence with gay unconcern, and exerted a redeeming influence upon the +constraint of the listeners. + +She had just received the Bishop of Hildesheim, the Prince of Savoy, and +the Countess Tassis, but gave each only a brief audience, for the +entrance of the conductor of the orchestra had not escaped her attention. + +Several other personages of the highest rank were still among the waiting +group, and her chamberlain, Count Hochstraaten, asked in a low tone +whether she would deign to receive the Count Palatine von Simmern; but +she was determined to close the audience, for Wolf Hartschwert had +entered the room, and the subjects which she desired to discuss with him +and the musicians would permit no witnesses. + +So, without answering Hochstraaten's question, she turned her face toward +the chamber, and said, loudly enough to be heard by all present: + +"This reception must suffice for to-day! Whoever does not know that I +used last night in his Majesty's service for a better purpose than sleep +will deem me a lazy sluggard. Would to Heaven I had no worse fault! The +rising sun sees me more frequently at my station in the hunting grounds +than it does many of you, my honoured friends, at the breakfast table. +So, Hochstraaten, be kind enough to tell the ladies and gentlemen who +have given me the pleasure of their visits, that their patience shall be +less severely tried this evening before vespers." + +While speaking, she beckoned to the Marquise de Leria, her oldest lady in +waiting, and, as the latter bent her aged back to adjust the pillows, the +Queen whispered to her to detain the conductor of the orchestra and Sir +Wolf Hartschwert. + +The order was instantly obeyed, but some time elapsed ere the last of +those who had sought an audience left the room, for, although the regent +vouchsafed no one a glance, but turned the pages of a note-book which had +been lying on the little table at the head of her bed, each person, +before crossing the threshold, bowed toward the couch in the slow, formal +manner which etiquette dictated. + +As soon as Queen Mary found herself alone with the musicians and the +marquise, she beckoned graciously to the former, but with familiar +kindness to Wolf, and asked for a brief account of his journey. Then she +confessed that the Emperor's sufferings and melancholy mood had induced +her to subject them to the discomforts of the trip to Ratisbon. His +Majesty was ignorant of their presence, but she anticipated the most +favourable result upon her royal brother, who so warmly loved and keenly +appreciated music, if he could hear unexpectedly the finest melodies, +sometimes inspiring, sometimes cheering in tone. + +Her inquiry whether his Majesty's orchestra and her own boys would be +able to give a performance that evening was eagerly answered in the +affirmative by Maestro Gombert, the conductor of the orchestra, and +Benedictus Appenzelder, conductor of the boy choir, who was in her +personal service. She expressed her pleasure in the knowledge, and then +proposed to surprise the Emperor at the principal meal, about midnight, +with Jacob Hobrecht's Missa Graecorum, whose magnificent profundity his +Majesty especially admired. + +Gombert forced himself to keep silence, but the significant smile on his +delicate, beardless lips betrayed what he thought of this selection. The +conductor of the boy choir was franker. He slightly shook his ponderous +head, whose long, gray hair was parted in the middle, and then honestly +admitted, in his deep tones, that the Missa Graecorum seemed to him too +majestic and gloomy for this purpose. Wolf, too, disapproved of the +Queen's suggestion for the same reason, and, though she pointed out that +she had chosen this composition precisely on account of its deep +religious earnestness, the former persisted in his opposition, and +modestly mentioned the melody which would probably be best suited for a +surprise at his imperial Majesty's repast. + +Maestro Gombert had recently composed a Benedictio Mensae for four +voices, and, as it was one of his most effective creations, had never +been executed, and therefore would be entirely new to the Emperor, it was +specially adapted to introduce the concert with which the monarch was to +be surprised at table. + +The Queen would have preferred that a religious piece should commence the +musical performance, but assented to Wolf's proposal. Gombert himself +dispelled her fear that his composition would be purely secular in +character, and Wolf upheld him by singing to the musical princess, +to the accompaniment of the lute, snatches of the principal theme of +the Benedictio, which had impressed itself upon his faithful memory. + +Gombert assisted him, but Appenzelder stroked his long beard, signifying +his approval by nods and brief exclamations of satisfaction. The Queen +was now sincerely glad that this piece of music had been brought to her +notice; certainly nothing more suitable for the purpose could have been +found. Besides, her kindly nature and feminine tact made her grateful to +Wolf for his hint of distinguishing, by the first performance of one of +his works, the able conductor and fine composer upon whom she had imposed +so fatiguing a journey. + +She would gladly have given Appenzelder also some token of her favour, +but she could not have used any of his compositions--the most famous of +which was a dirge--upon this occasion, and the blunt long-beard frankly +admitted this, and declared unasked that he desired nothing better than +to offer his Majesty, with the Benedictio, the first greeting of +Netherland music. + +Gombert's bearing was that of an aristocrat, his lofty brow that of a +thinker, and his mobile mouth rendered it easy to perceive what a wealth +of joyous mirth dwelt within the soul of this artist, who was equally +distinguished in grave and gay moods. + +Queen Mary was by no means blind to these merits, and lamented the +impossibility of being on more familiar terms of intercourse with him and +his colleague of the boy choir. But both were of humble birth, and from +childhood custom had prohibited her, as well as the other female members +of her family, from associating with persons who did not belong to the +nobility. So there was no place for either in her household. + +Rough Appenzelder regarded this as fortunate; Gombert thought it a matter +of course because custom so ordained. + +The stimulus which the Queen could expect from Wolf Hartschwert was +certainly far less deep and varied; yet to him who, as a knight, belonged +to her train, she granted many favours which she denied the famous +Gombert. Besides, Wolf's musical knowledge was as remarkable as his +usefulness as a secretary. Lastly, his equable disposition, his unerring +sense of propriety, and his well-proved fidelity had gained the full +confidence of the royal lady. + +By the side of the two composers and leaders of the musicians he looked +almost boyish, yet, as the regent was overburdened with affairs of state, +she confided to him alone the care of the further success of the +surprise. + +He was familiar with the rooms of the Golden Cross, and before midnight +would have posted the singers and musicians so that his Majesty would +first learn through his ears the pleasure which they intended to bestow +upon him. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The Queen's commission imposed upon Wolf a long series of inspections, +inquiries, orders, and preparations, the most important of which detained +him a long time at the Golden Cross. + +After he had done what was necessary there, he hastily took a lunch, and +then went to the house of the Golden Stag. The steward of the Schiltl +family, to whom the house belonged, but who were now in the country, had +given the boy choir shelter there, and Wolf was obliged to inform the +leader of his arrangements. Appenzelder had intended to practise +exercises with his young pupils in the chapel belonging to this old +house, familiar to all the inhabitants of Ratisbon, but Wolf found it +empty. On the other hand, young, clear voices echoed from a room in the +lower story. + +The door stood half open, and, before he crossed the threshold, he had +heard with surprise the members of the boy choir, lads ranging from +twelve to fifteen, discussing how they should spend the leisure time +awaiting them. + +The ringleader, Giacomo Bianchi, from Bologna, was asserting that "the +old bear"--he meant Appenzelder--"would never permit the incomplete choir +to sing before the Emperor and his royal sister." + +"So we shall have the afternoon," he exclaimed. "The grooms will give me +a horse, and after dinner I, and whoever cares to go with me, will ride +back to the village where we last stopped. What do I want there? I'll +get the kiss which the tavernkeeper's charming little daughter owes me. +Her sweet mouth and fair braids with the bows of blue ribbon--I saw +nothing prettier anywhere!" + +"Yes, these blondes!" cried Angelo Negri, a Neapolitan boy of thirteen, +rolling his black eyes upward enthusiastically, and kissing, for lack of +warm lips, the empty air. + +"Sweet, sweet, sweet," sighed Giacoma Bianchi. + +"Sweet enough," remarked little thick-set Cornelius Groen from Breda, in +broken Italian. "Yet you surely are not thinking of that silly girl, +with her flaxen braids, but of the nice honey and the light white pastry +she brought us. If we can get that again, I'll ride there with you." + +"I won't," protested Wilhelm Haldema, from Leuwarden in Friesland. +"I shall go down to the river with my pole. It's swarming with fish." + +Wolf had remained concealed until this moment. Now he entered the huge +apartment. + +The boys rushed toward him with joyous ease, and, as they crowded around +him, asking all sorts of questions, it was evident that he possessed +their affection and confidence. + +He kindly motioned to them to keep silence, and asked what induced them +to expect leisure time on that day, when, by the exertion of all their +powers, they were to display their skill in the presence of their +mistress and the Emperor. + +The answer was not delayed--nay, it sprang from many young lips at the +same time. Unfortunately, its character was such that Wolf scarcely +ventured to hope for the full success of the surprise. + +Johann of Cologne and Benevenuto Bosco of Catania, in Sicily, the two +leaders and ornaments of the choir, were so very ill that their recovery +could scarcely be expected even within the next few days. The native of +Cologne had been attacked on the way by a hoarseness which made the +fifteenyear-old lad uneasy, because signs of the approaching change of +voice had already appeared. + +The break meant to the extremely musical youth, who had been +distinguished by the bell-like purity of his tones, the loss of his +well-paid position in the boy choir, which, for his poor mother's sake, +he must retain as long as possible. So, with mingled grief and hope, he +dipped deeply into his slender purse when, at Neumarkt, where the +travelling musicians spent the night just at the time the annual fair was +held, he met a quack who promised to help him. + +This extremely talkative old man, who styled himself "Body physician to +many distinguished princes and courts," boasted of possessing a secret +remedy of the famous Bartliolomaus Anglicus, which, besides other merits, +also had the power of bestowing upon a harsh voice the melody of David's +harp. + +Still, the young native of Cologne delayed some time before using the +nostrum. Not until the hoarseness increased alarmingly did he in his +need take the leech's prescription, and Benevenuto Bosco, whom he had +admitted to his confidence, and who also felt a certain rawness in his +throat, since beyond Nuremberg one shower of rain after another had +drenched the travellers, asked him to let him use the medicine also. + +At first both thought that they felt a beneficial result; but soon their +condition changed for the worse, and their illness constantly increased. + +On reaching Ratisbon they were obliged to go to bed, and a terrible night +was followed by an equally bad morning. + +When Appenzelder returned from the audience at the Golden Cross, he found +his two best singers in so pitiable a condition that he was obliged to +summon the Emperor's leech, Dr. Mathys, to the sufferers. + +The famous physician was really under obligations to remain near the +sovereign at this time of day. Yet he had gone at once to the Stag, and +pronounced the patients there to be the victims of severe poisoning. + +A Ratisbon colleague, whom he found with the sufferers, was to +superintend the treatment which he prescribed. + +He had left the house a short time before. Master Appenzelder, Wolf +heard from the choir boys, was now with the invalids, and the knight set +off to inquire about them at once. + +He had forbidden the idle young singers who wanted to go with him to +follow, but one had secretly slipped after, and, in one of the dark +corridors of the big house, full of nooks and corners, he suddenly heard +a voice call his name. Ere he was aware of it, little Hannibal Melas, a +young Maltese in the boy choir, whose silent, reserved nature had +obtained for him from the others the nickname Tartaruga, the tortoise, +seized his right hand in both his own. + +It was done with evident excitement, and his voice sounded eagerly urgent +as he exclaimed: + +"I fix my last hope on you, Sir Knight, for you see there is scarcely one +of the others who would not have an intercessor. But I! Who would +trouble himself about me? Yet, if you would only put in a good word, my +time would surely come now." + +"Your time?" asked Wolf in astonishment; but the little fellow eagerly +continued: + +"Yes, indeed! What Johann of Cologne or at least what Benevenuto can do, +I can trust myself to do too. The master need only try it with me, and, +now that both are ill, put me in place of one or the other." + +Wolf, who knew what each individual chorister could do, shook his head, +and began to tell the boy from Malta for what good reason the master +preferred the two sick youths; but little Hannibal interrupted by +exclaiming, in tones of passionate lamentation: + +"So you are the same? The master having begun it, all misjudge and crush +me! Instead of giving me an opportunity to show what I can do in a solo +part, I am forced back into the crowd. My best work disappears in the +chorus. And yet, Sir Wolf, in spite of all, I heard the master's own +lips say in Brussels--I wasn't listening--that he had never heard what +lends a woman's voice its greatest charm come so softly and tenderly from +the throat of a boy. Those are his own words. He will not deny them, +for at least he is honest. What is to become of the singing without +Johann and Benevenuto? But if they would try me, and at least trust a +part of Bosco's music to me--" + +Here he stopped, for Master Appenzelder was just coming from the door of +the sick-room into the corridor; but Wolf, with a playful gesture, thrust +his fingers through the lad's bushy coal-black hair, turned him in the +direction from which he came, and called after him, "Your cause is in +good hands, you little fellow with the big name." + +Then, laying his hand on the arm of the deeply troubled musician, and +pointing to the boy who was trotting, full of hope, down the corridor, he +said: "'Hannibal ante portas!' A cry of distress that is full of terror; +but the Maltese Hannibal who is vanishing yonder gave me an idea which +will put an end to your trouble, my dear Maestro. The sooner the two +poisoned lads recover the better, of course; yet the Benedictio Mensae +need not remain unsung on account of their heedlessness, for little +Hannibal showed me the best substitute." + +This promise flowed from Wolf's lips with such joyous confidence that the +grave musician's sombre face brightened; but it swiftly darkened again, +and he exclaimed, "We don't give such hasty work!" When the knight tried +to tell him what he had in mind, the other brusquely interrupted with the +request that he would first aid him in a more important matter. Wolf was +acquainted with the city, and perhaps would spare him a walk by informing +him where the sick lads would find the best shelter. The Stag was +overcrowded, and he was reluctant to leave the poor fellows in the little +sleeping room which they shared with their companions. The Ratisbon +physician had ordered them to be sent to the hospital; but the boy from +Cologne opposed it so impetuously that he, Appenzelder, thought it his +duty to seek another shelter for the sufferers. + +When Wolf with the older man entered the low, close chamber, he found the +lad, a handsome, vigorous boy, with his fair, curling hair tossed in +disorder around his fevered face, standing erect in his bed. While the +doctor was trying to compel him to obey and enter the litter which stood +waiting for him, he beat him back with his strong young fists. He would +rather jump into the open grave or into the rushing river, he shrieked to +the corpulent leech, than be dragged into the hospital, which was the +plague, death, hell. + +He emphasized his resistance with heavy blows, while his Italian +companion in suffering, livid, ashen-gray, with bowed head and closed +lids, permitted himself to be placed in the litter without moving. + +At Wolf's entrance the German youth, like a drowning man who sees a +friend on the shore, shrieked an entreaty to save him from the murderers +who wanted to drag him to death. The young knight gazed compassionately +at the lad's flushed face, and, after a brief pause of reflection, +proposed committing the sufferers to the care of the Knights +Hospitallers. + +This removed the burden from the young Rhinelander's tortured soul, yet +he insisted, with passionate impetuosity, upon having his master and the +nobleman accompany him, that the physician whom, in his fevered fancy, he +regarded as his mortal foe, should not drag him to the pest-house after +all. + +Both musicians yielded to his wish. On the way Appenzelder held the +lad's burning hand in his own, and never wearied of talking +affectionately to him. Not until after he had seen his charges, with the +physician's assistance, comfortably lodged, and had left the house of the +Hospitallers, did he permit himself to test the almost incredible news +which Sir Wolf Hartschwert had brought him. + +With what fiery zeal Wolf persuaded him, how convincing was his assurance +that a substitute for Johann of Cologne, and a most admirable one, was +actually to be found here in Ratisbon! + +He had no need to seek for fitting words in the description of Barbara +Blomberg, the melody of her voice, and her admirable training. The fact +that she was a woman, he protested, need not be considered, nay, it might +be kept secret. The Church, it is true, prohibited the assistance of +women, but the matter here was simply the execution of songs in a private +house. + +At first Appenzelder listened grumbling, and shaking his head in dissent, +but soon the proposal seemed worth heeding; nay, when he heard that the +singer, whose talent and skill the quiet, intelligent German praised so +highly, owed her training to his countryman, Damian Feys, whom he knew, +he began to ask questions with, increasing interest. But, ere Wolf had +answered the first queries, some one else made his appearance on the +Haid, and the very person who was best fitted to give information about +Barbara--her teacher, Feys, who had sought Gombert, his famous Brussels +companion in art, and was just taking him to a rehearsal of the Convivium +musicum. At this meeting the leader of the boy choir, in spite of his +pleasure at seeing his valued countryman and companion in art, showed far +less patience than before, for, after the first greeting, he at once +asked Feys what he thought of his pupil Barbara. The answer was so +favourable that Appenzelder eagerly accepted the invitation to attend the +rehearsal also. So the four fellow-artists crossed the Haidplatz +together, and Maestro Gombert was obliged to remind his colleague of the +boy choir that people who occupied the conductor's desk forgot to run on +a wager. + +Wolf's legs were by no means so long as those of the tall, broad +musician, yet, in his joyous excitement, it was an easy matter to keep +pace with him. In the happy consciousness of meriting the gratitude of +the woman whom he loved, he gazed toward the New Scales, the large +building beneath whose roof she whose image filled his heart and mind +must already have found shelter. + +Did she see him coming? Did she suspect who his companions were, and +what awaited her through them? + +Yet, sharply as he watched for her, he could discover no sign of her fair +head behind any of the windows. + +Yet Barbara, from the little room where the singers laid aside their +cloaks and wraps, had seen Wolf, with her singing master Feys and two +other gentlemen, coming toward the New Scales, and correctly guessed the +names of the slender, shorter stranger in the sable-trimmed mantle and +the big, broad-shouldered, bearded one who accompanied her friend. Wolf +had described them both, and a presentiment told her that something great +awaited her through them. + +Gombert was the composer of the bird-song, and, as she remembered how the +refrain of this composition had affected Wolf the day before, she heard +the door close behind the group. + +Then the desire to please, which had never left her since she earned the +first applause, seized upon her more fiercely than ever. + +Of what consequence were the listeners before whom she had hitherto sung +compared with those whose footsteps were now echoing on the lowest +stairs? And, half animated by an overpowering secret impulse, she sang +the refrain "Car la saison est bonne" aloud while passing the stairs on +her way into the dancing hall, where the rehearsal was to take place. + +What an artless delight in the fairest, most pleasing thing in Nature to +a sensitive young human soul this simple sentence voiced to the +Netherland musicians! It seemed to them as if the song filled the dim, +cold corridor with warmth and sunlight. Thus Gombert had heard within +his mind the praise of spring when he set it to music, but had never +before had it thus understood by any singer, reproduced by any human +voice. + +The excitable man stood as if spellbound; only a curt "My God! my God!" +gave expression to his emotion. The blunter Appenzelder, on the +contrary, when the singer suddenly paused and a door closed behind her, +exclaimed: "The deuce, that's fine!--If that were your helper in need, +Sir Wolf, all would be well!" + +"It is," replied Wolf proudly, with sparkling eyes; but the honest old +fellow rushed after Barbara, held out both hands to her in his frank, +cordial way, and cried: + +"Thanks, heartfelt thanks, my dear, beautiful young lady! But if you +imagine that this drop of nectar will suffice, you are mistaken. You +have awakened thirst! Now see--and Gombert will thank you too--that it +is quenched with a fuller gift of this drink of the gods." + +The Netherlanders found the table spread, and this rehearsal of the +Convivium musicum brought Barbara Blomberg the happiest hours which life +had ever bestowed. + +She saw with a throbbing heart that her singing not only pleased, but +deeply stirred the heart of the greatest composer of his time, whose name +had filled her with timid reverence, and that, while listening to her +voice, the eyes of the sturdy Appenzelder, who looked as if his broad +breast was steeled against every soft emotion, glittered with tears. + +This had happened during the execution of Josquin de Pres's "Ecce tu +pulchra es'." + +Barbara's voice had lent a special charm to this magnificent motet, and, +when she concluded the "Quia amore langueo"--"Because I yearn for love" +--to which she had long given the preference when she felt impelled to +relieve her heart from unsatisfied yearning, she had seen Gombert look at +the choir leader, and understood the "inimitable" which was not intended +for her, but for his fellow-artist. + +Hitherto she had done little without pursuing a fixed purpose, but this +time Art, and the lofty desire to serve her well, filled her whole being. +In the presence of the most famous judges she imposed the severest +demands upon herself. Doubtless she was also glad to show Wolf what she +could do, yet his absence would not have diminished an iota of what she +gave the Netherlanders. She felt proud and grateful that she belonged to +the chosen few who are permitted to express, by means of a noble art, the +loftiest and deepest feelings in the human breast. Had not Appenzelder +been compelled to interrupt the rehearsal, she would gladly have sung on +and on to exhaustion. + +She did not yet suspect what awaited her when, in well-chosen yet cordial +words, Gombert expressed his appreciation. + +She neither saw nor heard the fellow-singers who surrounded her; nay, +when Dr. Hiltner, the syndic's, daughter, seventeen years old, who had +long looked up to her with girlish enthusiasm, pressed forward to her +side, and her charming mother, sincerely pleased, followed more quietly, +when others imitated their example and expressed genuine gratification or +made pretty speeches, Barbara scarcely distinguished the one from the +other, honest good will from bitter envy. + +She did not fully recover her composure until Appenzelder came up to her +and held out his large hand. + +Clasping it with a smile, she permitted the old musician to hold her +little right hand, while in a low tone, pointing to Wolf, who had +followed him, he said firmly: + +"May I believe the knight? Would you be induced to bestow your +magnificent art upon an ardent old admirer like myself, though to-day +only as leader of the voices in the boy choir--" + +Here Wolf, who had noticed an expression of refusal upon Barbara's lips, +interrupted him by completing the sentence with the words, addressed to +her, "In order to let his Majesty the Emperor enjoy what delights us +here?" + +The blood receded from Barbara's cheeks, and, as she clung to the window- +sill for support, it seemed as though some magic spell had conveyed her +to the summit of the highest steeple. Below her yawned the dizzy gulf of +space, and the air was filled with a rain of sceptres, crowns, and golden +chains of honour falling upon ermine and purple robes on the ground +below. + +But after a few seconds this illusion vanished, and, ere Wolf could +spring to the assistance of the pallid girl, she was already passing her +kerchief across her brow. + +Then, drawing a long breath, she gave the companion of her childhood a +grateful glance, and said to Appenzelder: + +"Dispose of my powers as you deem best," adding, after a brief pause, +"Of course, with my father's consent." + +Appenzelder, as if rescued, shook her hand again, this time with so +strong a pressure that it hurt her. Yet her blue eyes sparkled as +brightly as if her soul no longer had room for pain or sorrow. After +Barbara had made various arrangements with the choir leader, it seemed to +her as though the sunny, blissful spring, which her song had just +celebrated so exquisitely, had also made its joyous entry into the narrow +domain of her life. + +On the way home she thanked the friend who accompanied her with the +affectionate warmth of the days of her childhood, nay, even more eagerly +and tenderly; and when, on reaching the second story of the cantor house, +he took leave of her, she kissed his cheek, unasked, calling down the +stairs as she ran up: + +"There is your reward! But, in return, you will accompany me first to +the rehearsal with the singing boys, and then--if you had not arranged it +yourself you would never believe it--go to the Golden Cross, to the +Emperor Charles." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +The Emperor's table was laid in one of the lower rooms of the Golden +Cross. The orchestra and the boy choir had been stationed in Saint +Leonhard's chapel. A wide door led from the consecrated chamber, spanned +by a vaulted roof, into the dining-room. When it was opened, the music +and singing would pour in a full flood to those seated around the board. + +Shortly before midnight everything in kitchen and cellar was ready for +the royal couple. The wax candles and lamps were already lighted when +Queen Mary prepared to bring her imperial brother to the surprise which +she had planned, and whose influence she eagerly anticipated. + +The Emperor had received the last report half an hour before, and then +commissioned his physician, who had again warned him against the excess +of work, to protect him from interruption--he desired to have an hour +alone. + +Dr. Mathys had fulfilled this order with the utmost strictness. Even the +English ambassador was dismissed. The members of the royal household and +the nobles who during their stay in Ratisbon crowded around the royal +brother and sister, and even at this late hour filled the rooms and +corridors of the spacious building with busy life, had been commanded to +step lightly and keep silent. + +The lord chamberlain, Count Heinrich of Nassau, saw that nothing was +stirring near the apartment of his imperial master, and the stewards, +Quijada and Malfalconnet, aided him. But they could not prevent the +barking of Queen Mary's hunting dogs, and when their royal mistress +followed them to accompany her illustrious brother to the dining-hall, +Malfalconnet ventured to remark that the lion, when he retires to +solitude, sometimes values rest more than the presence of even the most +beloved and adorable member of his noble race; but the regent quickly +retorted that she had not yet reached lion hunting, but she knew that +even the king of beasts possessed a stomach, and would be glad to have +rest seasoned with dainty food. + +"The banquet is ready," added Count Buren, and Malfalconnet, with a low +bow, said: + +"And a portion of it is the covered chiming dish with which your +Majesty's love and wisdom intends to surprise the illustrious epicure." + +While speaking, he cautiously opened the door of the royal apartment, but +the dogs were held back by the pages who had carried the train of the +festal robe. Two others zealously aided her to throw the trailing +brocade across her arm, and in this manner she entered her distinguished +brother's chamber. + +This was so deep that a short walk was necessary to reach the window near +which the Emperor sat. The office of lighting the vast room was assigned +to a dozen wax candles in a silver candelabrum, but they were so +inadequate to the task that neither the mythological scenes on the +Brabant Gobelin curtains with which the walls were hung, nor the very +scanty furniture of the remainder of the long chamber could be seen from +the door. + +Thus the prevailing dusk concealed the surroundings of the great monarch +who was resting there, and the only object visible to the entering Queen +was his figure illumined by the light. In her soul everything else +receded far behind the person, welfare, and pleasure of this mighty +sovereign. Yet she had already crossed half the room, and her entrance +still remained unnoticed. + +The Emperor Charles, with his forehead resting on his hand, sat absorbed +in thought before the papers which had occupied his attention. How +mournful he looked, what sorrowful thoughts were doubtless again +burdening that anxious brain! Never before had he seemed to his sister +so old. + +Perhaps it was the ceaseless planning and pondering of the statesman and +general which, during the last few years, had thinned the light-brown +hair at the corners of the brow. + +The resting ruler now seemed to have brought his mind to repose also, +for every emotion had vanished from his pallid face. Even the sharply +cut nostrils of the long nose, which usually moved swiftly, were +perfectly still. The heavy chin, framed by a thin, closely clipped +beard, had sunk upon the high ruff as if for support, and the thick, +loosely hanging lower lip appeared to have lost its elasticity. + +In this hour of rest and relaxation this tireless and successful +sovereign, utterly exhausted, had even relinquished seeming what he was; +his brown hair framed his brow and temples in a tangled, disordered mass; +the lacings of his velvet doublet were loosened; a shabby woollen +coverlet of anything but imperial appearance was wound around his lower +limbs, and the foot in which the gout throbbed and ached rested on his +sleeping hound, and was wrapped in the cloths which his valet Adrian +found at hand after the Venetian ambassador, the confessor, and the leech +had left his master. + +It pierced his sister to the heart to see her mighty brother, upon whose +dominions, it was said, the sun never set, in this guise. + +Her glance rested sorrowfully upon him a long time, but even when she +moved several paces nearer he retained the same motionless rigidity which +had seized upon him and even communicated itself to the dog. The animal +knew the regent, and did not let her disturb its repose. + +Then a terrible fear assailed her, and the image of the Cid Campeador +who, mounted on horseback, went swaying on his steed to meet the foe, +rose before her. + +"Your Majesty," then again "Your Majesty," she called in a low tone, +that she might not startle him; but the answer for which she waited in +breathless suspense did not come, and now the anxious dread that filled +her sisterly heart forced from her lips the cry, "Carlos!" and once more +"Carlos!" + +The dog stirred, and at the same time the Emperor raised his bowed head +and turned toward his sister. + +Drawing a long breath, as if relieved from a heavy burden, she hastened +to his side, and, clasping his delicately formed hand, kissed it with +passionate tenderness; but the Emperor withdrew it, saying with a +mournful smile, which gave his rigid countenance a new and more winning +expression, in the Castilian language in which he always addressed her: + +"Why are you so agitated, Querida? Did the sight of the silent brother +alarm the sister? Ay, darling, there are some things more terrible than +the wild boar at which the brave huntress hurls her spear. Our mother's +bequest----" + +Queen Mary, with hands outstretched beseechingly, bowed the knee before +him; but he raised her with more strength than would have been expected +from him just before, and, sighing faintly, continued: + +"There are hours, Mary, when the demon that overpowered the mother +stretches his talons toward the son also. But, in spite of his satanic +origin, he is a cowardly wight, and a loving face, a tender word, drives +him away." + +"Then may my coming be blessed!" she answered warmly. "Yet it can +scarcely be a demon or any being of mortal mould that is spoiling the +life happiness of my beloved brother and sovereign lord. After all, they +are tolerably alike in the main point, and what semblance would the son +of hell wear that dares to assail the most powerful and vigorous mind of +all the ages, and yet is seized with panic terror at the glance of a +feeble woman? Whoever knows the anxieties which have recently burdened +your Majesty, and the wide range of the decision to which the course of +events is urging you, can not wonder if, as just now, your cheerful +spirits desert you. No demons or evil creatures of that sort, Heaven +knows, are needed to accomplish it." + +"Certainly not," replied the Emperor. "Yet it does not matter what name +is borne by the unconquerable power which poisons with horrible images +the few hours of repose allotted to the solitary man who is bereft of +love and joy. But let us drop the subject! When you appear and raise +your voice, it seems as though all gloomy thoughts heard the view hallo +which drives your stags and roes back into their coverts, Mary. I +suppose you have come to summon me to the table?" + +The Queen assented, and now he could not prevent her kissing his hand. +Then she seized the dainty little bell on the table to ring for the valet +Adrian; but the Emperor Charles stopped her with the exclamation: + +"Never mind him. I will go with you as I am, if you do not object to +sharing your meal with such a scarecrow of a man. Only permit me to lock +up these papers." + +"From Rome?" asked the regent eagerly. + +"That is easily discerned," replied the Emperor. "New and amazingly +favourable promises. Nothing is required of me except the trifling +obligation to allow the Protestants nothing in religious affairs which +the Pope or the Council do not approve. If I agree to accept the +promises, every one will think that I have the advantage, and yet, if the +contract is made, it is tearing from the sky the political polestar of +many a lustrum, and burying one of my clearest, ripest, most sacred +hopes." + +Here the startled Queen interrupted him: "That would surely, inevitably +be the evil fruit which would grow from such a treaty. It would deliver +to the Pope, with fettered hands, this very Council which your Majesty so +confidently expected would remove or diminish, in orderly methods, the +abuses which are urging so many Christians to abandon the Catholic +Church. How often I have heard even her most faithful sons acknowledge +that such abuses exist! But if you make the alliance, the self-interest +of the hierarchy will know how to prevent the introduction of even a +single vigorous amendment, and, instead of the conqueror of the hydra of +abuse, your Majesty will render yourself its guardian." + +"And," added the Emperor affectionately--he still retained his seat at +the writing table--"this alliance, moreover, would force me to the +painful necessity of opposing the earnest wish of the dearest, fairest, +and wisest of my sisters." + +"Because it would render war with the evangelical princes inevitable," +cried the Queen excitedly. "Oh, your Majesty, you know that the +heretical movement, which is making life a burden to me in my provinces, +is going much too far for me, as well as for you here in Germany; nay, +that it is hateful to me, because I value nothing more than our holy +Church, her greatness and unity. But would it really redound to her +welfare if the schism now existing, and which you yourself expected to +heal through the Council, should by this very Council be embittered and +even perhaps perpetuated? For a long time nothing has seemed to me more +execrable than this war. Your Majesty knows that, and therefore my lord +and brother can not be vexed with me if I remind him of the hour when, a +few months ago, he promised to avoid it and do all in his power to bring +what relates to religious matters in these German countries to a peaceful +conclusion." + +The Emperor looked his sister full in the face, and, while struggling to +his feet, said with majestic dignity: + +"And I have never given your Highness occasion to doubt my word." Then, +changing his tone, he continued kindly: "No means--I repeat it--shall +remain untried to preserve peace. I am in earnest, child, though there +are now many reasons for breaking the promise. I put them together on +the long list yonder, and the Spaniards at the court add new ones every +hour. If you care to know them----" + +Here he hesitated, because the gout in his foot gave him a sharper +twinge; but the Queen availed herself of the pause to exclaim: "I think +I am aware of them. It is especially hard just now for the statesman and +soldier to keep the sword in the sheath, because Rome offers more than +ever, because at the present time no serious opposition is to be feared +from the most important states, and because the princes of the empire +have neglected nothing which could rouse the resentment of my imperial +brother. I know all this, and yet it is as firmly established as Alpine +mountains----" + +Here a low laugh escaped the Emperor's lips. + +"The political course which could be thus firmly established is to be +found, you experienced regent, only in one place--the strong imagination +of a high hearted woman, who desires to accomplish what she deems right. +I, too, you may believe me, am opposed to this war, and, as matters stand +now, the German renegades, rather than we, may expect a glorious result. +But, nevertheless, it may happen that I shall be compelled to ask you to +give me back my promise." + +"I should like to see the person who could compel my august brother to +undertake anything against his imperial will," the Queen passionately +interrupted. + +"We will hope that this superior being may not appear only too soon," +replied the Emperor, smiling bitterly. "The invincible oppressor bears +the name of unexpected circumstances; I encountered one of his harbingers +to-day. There lie the documents. Do you know to what those miserable +papers force me, the Emperor?--ay, force, I repeat it. To nothing less, +Mary, than consciously to deal a blow in the face of justice, whose +defender I ought and desire to be. I am not exaggerating, for I am +withdrawing a fratricide from the courts, nay, am paving the way for him +to evade punishment." + +"You mean Alfonso Diaz, who had his brother murdered by a hired assassin +because he abandoned the holy Church and accepted the Lutheran religion," +said the Queen sorrowfully. "Malvenda was just telling me----" + +"He was the instigator of the crime," interrupted the Emperor. "Now he +rejoices in it as a deed well pleasing to God, and many thousands, I +know, agree with him. And I? Had Juan Diaz been a German Johannes or +Hans, the Emperor Charles would have made Alfonso expiate his crime upon +the block this very day. But the brothers were Spaniards, and that +alters the case." + +With this sentence, which fell from his lips in firm, resolute tones, his +bearing regained its old decision, and his eyes met his sister's with a +flashing glance as he continued: + +"The seed which here in the North, in carefully prepared soil and under +the fostering care of men only too skilful and ready for conflict, took +deep root in the domain of religion, which we were obliged to tolerate +because it grew too rapidly and strongly for us to extirpate or crush it +without depopulating a great empire and jeopardizing other very important +matters, would mean ruin to our Spain. Whoever dared to transplant the +heresy to her soil would be the most infamous of the corrupters of a +nation, for the holy Church and the kingdom of Spain are one. The mere +thought of a Juan Diaz, who had absorbed the heretical Lutheran doctrine +here, returning home to infect the hearts of the Castilians with its +venom, makes my blood boil also. Therefore, for the sake of Spain, a +higher justice compels me to offend the secular one. The people beyond +the Pyrenees shall learn that, even for the brother, it is no sin, but a +duty, to shorten the life of the brother who abandoned the holy Church. +Let Alfonso Diaz strive to obtain absolution. It will not be difficult. +He can sleep calmly, so far as the judges are concerned who dispense +justice in the name of Charles V." + +As he spoke he waved his hand to repel the hound which, when he raised +his voice, had pressed closer to him, and glanced at the artistically +wrought Nuremberg clocks on the writing table, two of which struck the +hour at the same time. Then he himself seized the little bell, rang it, +and permitted the valet Adrian to brush his hair and make the necessary +changes in his dress. + +Then he invited his sister to accompany him to the table. + +Walking without a shoe was difficult, and, when he saw the Queen look +down sorrowfully at the cloths which swathed the foot, he said while +toiling on: + +"Imagine that we have been hunting and the boot remained stuck in the +mud. I am sure of indulgence from you. As to the others, even with only +one shoe I am still the Emperor." + +He opened the door as he spoke, and, while the valet held the hound back, +the Emperor, with chivalrous courtesy, insisted that his sister should +precede him, though she resisted until Baron Malfalconnet, with a low bow +to the royal dame, said: + +"The meal is served, your Majesty, and if you lead the way you will +protect our Emperor and sovereign lord from the unworthy suspicion of +wishing to be first at the trencher." + +He motioned toward the threshold as he uttered the words, but Charles, +who often had a ready answer for the baron's jests, followed his sister +in silence with a clouded brow. + +Leaning on her arm and the crutch which Quijada had mutely presented to +him, Charles cautiously descended the stairs. He had indignantly +rejected the leech's proposal to use a litter in the house also, if the +gout tortured him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Majesty, whose nature demands that people should look up to it, shuns the +downward glance of compassion. Yet during this walk the Emperor Charles, +even at the risk of presenting a pitiable spectacle, would gladly have +availed himself of the litter. + +He, who had cherished the proud feeling of uniting in himself, his own +imperial power, the temporal and ecclesiastical sovereignty over all +Christendom, would now willingly have changed places with the bronzed, +sinewy halberdiers who were presenting arms to him along the sides of the +staircase. Yet he waved back Luis Quijada with an angry glance and the +sharp query, "Who summoned you?" when, in an attitude of humble entreaty, +he ventured to offer him the support of his strong arm. Still, pain. +compelled him to pause at every third step, and ever and anon to lean +upon the strong hip of his royal sister. + +Queen Mary gladly rendered him the service, and, as she gazed into his +face, wan with anxiety and suffering, and thought of the beautiful +surprise which she had in store, she waved back, unnoticed by her royal +brother, the pages and courtiers who were following close behind. Then +looking up at him, she murmured: + +"How you must suffer, Carlos! But happiness will surely follow the +martyrdom. Only a few steps, a few minutes more, and you will again look +life in the face with joyous courage. You will not believe it? Yet it +is true. I would even be inclined to wager my own salvation upon it." + +The Emperor shook his head dejectedly, and answered bitterly: + +"Such things should not be trifled with; besides, you would lose your +wager. Joyous courage, Querida, was buried long ago, and too many cares +insure its having no resurrection. The good gifts which Heaven formerly +permitted me to enjoy have lost their zest; instead of bread, it now +gives me stones. The best enjoyment it still grants me--I am honest and +not ungrateful in saying so--is a well-prepared meal. Laugh, if you +choose! If moralists and philosophers heard me, they would frown. But +the consumption of good things affords them pleasure too. It's a pity +that satiety so speedily ends it." + +While speaking, he again descended a few steps, but the Queen, supporting +him with the utmost solicitude, answered cheerily: + +"The baser senses, with taste at their head, and the higher ones of sight +and hearing, I know, are all placed by your Majesty in the same regiment, +with equal rank; your obedient servant, on the contrary, bestows the +commissions of officers only on the higher ones. That seems to me the +correct way, and I don't relinquish the hope of winning for it the +approval of the greatest general and most tasteful connoisseur of life." + +"If the new cook keeps his promise, certainly not," replied Charles, +entering into his sister's tone. "De Rye asserts that he is peerless. +We shall see. As to the senses, they all have an equal share in enabling +us to receive our impressions and form an opinion from them. Why should +the tongue and the palate--But stay! Who the devil can philosophize with +such twinges in the foot?" + +"Besides, that can be done much better," replied the Queen, patting the +sufferer's arm affectionately, "while the five unequal brothers are +performing the duties of their offices. The saints be praised! Here we +are at the bottom. No, Carlos, no! Not through the chapel! The stone +flags there are so hard and cold." + +As she spoke she guided him around it into the dining-room, where a large +table stood ready for the monarch's personal suite and a smaller one for +his sister and himself. + +The tortured sovereign, still under the influence of the suffering which +he had endured, crossed himself and sat down. Quijada and young Count +Tassis, the Emperor's favourite page, placed the gouty foot in the most +comfortable position, and Count Buren, the chamberlain, presented the +menu. Charles instantly scanned the list of dishes, and his face clouded +still more as he missed the highly seasoned game pasty which the culinary +artist had proposed and he had approved. Queen Mary had ordered that it +should be omitted, because Dr. Mathys had pronounced it poison for the +gouty patient, and she confessed the offence. + +This was done with the frank affection with which she treated her +brother, but Charles, after the first few words, interrupted her, harshly +forbidding any interference, even hers, in matters which concerned +himself alone, and in the same breath commanded Count Buren to see that +the dish should still be made. Then, as if to show his sister how little +he cared for her opposition, he seized the crystal jug with his own hand, +without waiting for the cup-bearer behind him, filled the goblet with +fiery Xeres wine, and hurriedly drained it, though the leech had +forbidden him, while suffering from the gout, to do more than moisten his +lips with the heating liquor. + +The eyes of the royal huntress, though she was by no means unduly soft- +hearted, grew dim with tears. This was her brother's gratitude for the +faithful care which she bestowed upon him! Who could tell whether her +surprise, instead of pleasing him, might not rouse his anger? He was +still frowning as though the greatest injury had been inflicted upon him, +and his sister's tearful eyes led him to exclaim wrathfully, as if he +wished to palliate his unchivalrous indignation to a lady: + +"I am deprived of one pleasure after another, and the little enjoyment +remaining is lessened wherever it can be. Who has heavier loads of +anxiety to endure?--yet you spoil my recreation during the brief hours +when I succeed in casting off the burden." + +Here he paused and obstinately grasped the golden handle of the pitcher +again. The Queen remained silent. Contradiction would have made the +obdurate sovereign empty another goblet also. Even a look of entreaty +would have been out of place on this occasion. So she fixed her eves +mutely and sadly upon her silver plate; but even her silence irritated +the Emperor, and he was about to give fresh expression to his ill-humour, +when the doors of the chapel opposite to him opened, and the surprise +began. + +The signal for the commencement of the singing had been the delivery of +the first dish from the steward to one of the great nobles, who presented +it to their Majesties. + +The Queen's face brightened, and tears of heartfelt joy, instead of grief +and disappointment, now moistened her eyes, for if ever a surprise had +accomplished the purpose desired it was this one. + +Charles was gazing, as if the gates of Paradise had opened before him, +toward the chapel doors, whence Maestro Gombert's Benedictio Mensae, a +melody entirely new to him, was pouring like a holy benediction, devout +yet cheering, sometimes solemn, anon full of joy. + +The lines of anxiety vanished from his brow as if at the spell of a +magician. The dull eyes gained a brilliant, reverent light, the bent +figure straightened itself. He seemed to his sister ten years younger. +She saw in his every feature how deeply the music had affected him. + +She knew her imperial brother. Had not his heart and soul been fully +absorbed by the flood of pure and noble tones which so unexpectedly +streamed toward him, his eves would have been at least briefly attracted +by the dish which Count Krockow more than once presented, for it +contained an oyster ragout which a mounted messenger had brought that +noon from the Baltic Sea to the city on the Danube. + +Yet many long minutes elapsed ere he noticed the dish, though it was one +of his favourite viands. Barbara's song stirred the imperial lover of +music at the nocturnal banquet just as it had thrilled the great +musicians a few hours before. He thought that he had never heard +anything more exquisite, and when the Benedictio Mensa: died away he +clasped his sister's hand, raised it two or three times to his lips, and +thanked her with such affectionate warmth that she blessed the +accomplishment of her happy idea, and willingly forgot the unpleasant +moments she had just undergone. + +Now, as if completely transformed, he wished to be told who had had the +lucky thought of summoning his orchestra and her boy choir, and how +the plan had been executed; and when he had heard the story, he fervently +praised the delicacy of feeling and true sportsmanlike energy of her +strong and loving woman's heart. + +The court orchestra gave its best work, and so did the new head cook. +The pheasant stuffed with snails and the truffle sauce with it seemed +delicious to the sovereign, who called the dish a triumph of the culinary +art of the Netherlands. The burden of anxieties and the pangs inflicted +by the gout seemed to be forgotten, and when the orchestra ceased he +asked to hear the boy choir again. + +This time it gave the most beautiful portion of Joscluin de Pres's hymn +to the Virgin, "Ecce tu pulchra es"; and when Barbara's "Quia amore +langueo" reached his ear and heart with its love-yearning melody, he +nodded to his sister with wondering delight, and then listened, as if +rapt from the world, until the last notes of the motet died away. + +Where had Appenzelder discovered the marvellous boy who sang this +"Quia amore langueo"? He sent Don Luis Quijada to assure the leader and +the young singer of his warmest approbation, and then permitted the Queen +also to seek the choir and its leader to ask whom the latter had +succeeded in obtaining in the place of the lad from Cologne, whom he had +often heard sing the "tu pulchra es," but with incomparably less depth of +feeling. + +When she returned she informed the Emperor of the misfortune which had +befallen the two boys, and how successful Appenzelder had been in the +choice of a substitute. Yet she still concealed the fact that a girl was +now the leader of his choir, for, kindly as her brother nodded to her +when she took her place at the table again, no one could tell how he +would regard this anomaly. + +Besides, the next day would be the 1st of May, the anniversary of the +death of his wife Isabella, who had passed away from earth seven years +before, and the more she herself had been surprised by the rare and +singular beauty of the fair-haired songstress, the less could she venture +on that day or the morrow to blend with the memories of the departed +Queen the image of another woman who possessed such unusual charms. The +Emperor had already asked her a few questions about the young singers, +and learned that the bell-like weaker voice, which harmonized so +exquisitely with that of the invalid Johannes's substitute, belonged to +the little Maltese lad Hannibal, whose darling wish, through Wolf's +intercession, had been fulfilled. His inquiries, however, were +interrupted by a fresh performance of the boy choir. + +This again extorted enthusiastic applause from the sovereign, and when, +while he was still shouting "Brava!" the highly seasoned game pasty which +meanwhile, despite the regent's former prohibition, had been prepared, +and now, beautifully browned, rose from a garland of the most tempting +accessories, was offered, he waved it away. As he did so his eyes sought +his sister's, and his expressive features told her that he was imposing +this sacrifice upon himself for her sake. + +It was long since he had bestowed a fairer gift. True, in this mood, it +seemed impossible for him to refrain from the wine. It enlivened him and +doubled the unexpected pleasure. Unfortunately, he was to atone only too +speedily for this offence against medical advice, for his heated blood +increased the twinges of the gout to such a degree that he was compelled +to relinquish his desire to listen to the exquisite singing longer. + +Groaning, he suffered himself--this time in a litter--to be carried back +to his chamber, where, in spite of the pangs that tortured him, he asked +for the letter in which Granvelle informed his royal master every evening +what he thought of the political affairs to be settled the nextday. +Master Adrian, the valet, had just brought it, but this time Charles +glanced over the important expressions of opinion given by the young +minister swiftly and without deeper examination. The saying that the +Emperor could not dispense with him, but he might do without the Emperor, +had originally applied to his father, whose position he filled to the +monarch's satisfaction in every respect. + +The confessor had reminded the sovereign of the anniversary which had +already dawned, and which he was accustomed to celebrate in his own way. + +Very early in the morning, after a few hours spent in suffering, he heard +mass, and then remained for hours in the sable-draped room where he +communed with himself alone. + +The regent knew that on this memorable day he would not be seen even by +her. The success of the surprise afforded a guarantee that music would +supply her place to him on the morrow also, and ere she left him she +requested a short leave of absence to enjoy the hunting for which she +longed, and permission to take his major-domo Quijada with her. + +An almost unintelligible murmur from the sufferer told her that he had +granted the petition. It was done reluctantly, but the Queen departed at +dawn with Don Luis and a small train of attendants, while the Emperor +retired into the black-draped chamber. + +The gout would really have prohibited him from kneeling before the altar, +whence the agonized face of the crucified Redeemer, carved in ivory by a +great Florentine master, gazed at him, but he took this torture upon +himself. + +Even in the period of health and happiness when, at the age of twenty- +three, besides the great boon of health, besides fame, power, and woman's +love, he had enjoyed in rich abundance all the gifts which Heaven bestows +on mortals, his devout nature had led him to retreat into a gloomy, +solitary apartment. + +The feeling that constantly drew him thither again was akin to the dread +which the ancients had of the envy of the gods, and, moreover, the +admonition of his pious teacher who afterward became Pope Adrian, that +the less man spares hiniself the more confidently he can rely upon the +forbearance of God. + +And, in truth, this mighty sovereign, racked by almost unendurable pain, +dealt cruelly enough with himself when he compelled his aching knee to +bend until consciousness threatened to fail under the excess of agony. + +Nowhere did he find more complete calmness than here, in no spot could he +pray more fervently, and the boon which he most ardently besought from +Heaven was that it would spare him the fate of his insane mother, hold +aloof the fiend which in many a gloomy hour he saw stretching a hand +toward him. + +Here, too, he sought to penetrate the nature of death. In this room, +clothed with the sable hue of mourning, he felt that alreadv, while on +earth, he had fallen into its all-levelling power. Here his mind, like +that of a dying man's, grasped for brief intervals what life had offered +and what awaited him bevond the confines of this short earthly existence, +in eternity. + +While thus occupied, the sovereign, accustomed to speculation, +encountered many a dangerous doubt, but he only needed to gaze at the +crucified Saviour to find the way again to the promises of his Church. + +The last years had deprived him of so large a portion of the most +valuable possessions and the best ornaments of his life, and inflicted, +both in wardly and outwardly, such keen suffering, that it was easy for +him to perceive what a gain death would bring. + +What it could take from him was easilv lost; the relief it promised to +afford no power, science, or art here on earth could procure for him-- +release from cruel suffering and oppressive cares. + +While he was learning the German language the name "Friend Hein," which +he heard applied to death, perplexed him; now he thought that he +understood it, for the man with the scythe wore to him also the face of a +friend, who when the time had come would not keep him waiting long. As +he thought of his wife, of whose death this day was the anniversary, he +felt inclined to envy her. What he had lost by her decease seemed very +little to others who were aware of the long periods of time during which, +separated from each other, they had gone their own ways; but he knew +that it was more than they supposed, for with Isabella he had lost the +certainty that the sincere, nay, perhaps affectionate interest of a being +united to him by the sacrament of marriage accompanied his every step. + +His pleasure in life had withered with the growth of the harsh conviction +that he was no longer loved by any one for his own sake. + +In this chamber, draped with sable hangings, his own heart seemed dead, +like dry wood from which only a miracle could lure green leafage again. +With the only real pity which was at his command, compassion on himself, +he rose from the kneeling posture which had become unbearable. + +With difficulty he sank into the arm-chair which stood ready for him, +and, panting for breath, asked himself whether every joy had indeed +vanished. No! + +Music still stirred his benumbed heart to swifter throbbing. He thought +of the pleasure which the previous evening had afforded, and suddenly it +seemed as if he again heard the "Quia amore langueo"--"Because I long for +love"--that had touched his soul the day before. + +Yes, he, too, still longed for love, for a different, a warmer feeling +than the lukewarm blood of his royal mother had bestowed upon her +children, or the devotion of the sister to whom the chase was dearer than +aught else, certainly than his society. + +But such thoughts did not befit this room, which was consecrated to +serious reflections. The anniversary summoned him to far different +feelings. Yet, powerfully as he resisted them, his awakened senses +continued to demand their rights, and, while he closed his eyes and +pressed his brow against the base of the altar covered with black cloth, +changeful images of happier days rose before him. He, too, had rejoiced +in a vigorous, strong, and pliant body. In the jousts he had been sure +of victory over even dreaded opponents; as a bull-fighter he had excelled +the matador; as a skilful participant in riding at the ring, as well as a +tireless hunter, he had scarcely found his equal. In the prime of his +youth the hearts of many fair women had throbbed warmly for him, but he +had been fastidious. Yet where he had aimed at victory, he had rarely +failed. + +The sensuous, fair-haired Duchess of Aerschot, the dark-eyed Cornelia +Annoni of Milan, the devout Dolores Gonzaga, with her large, calm, +enthusiastic eyes, and again and again, crowding all the others into the +background, the timid Johanna van der Gheynst, who under her delicate +frame concealed a volcano of ardent passion. She had given him a +daughter whose head was now adorned by a crown. In spite of the brief +duration of their love bond, she had been clearer to him than all the +rest--clearer even than the woman to whom the sacrament of marriage +afterward united him. And she of whom seven years ago death had bereft +him? + +At this question a bitter smile hovered around his full lips. How much +better love than hers he had known! And how easy Isabella had rendered +it not to weary of her, for during his long journeys and frequent +dangerous campaigns, instead of accompanying him, she had led in some +carefully guarded castle a life that suited her quiet tastes. + +A sorrowful smile curled his lips as he recalled the agreement which they +had made just before a separation. At that time both were young, yet how +willingly she had accepted his proposal that, when age approached, they +should separate forever, that she in one cloister and he in another might +prepare for the end of life! + +What reply would a woman with true love in her heart have made to such a +demand? + +No, no, Isabella had felt as little genuine love for him as he for her! +Her death had been a sorrow to him, but he had shed no tears over it. + +He could not weep. He no longer knew whether he was able to do so when a +child. Since his beard had grown, at any rate, his eyes had remained +dry. The words of the Roman satirist, that tears were the best portion +of all human life, returned to his memory. Would he himself ever +experience the relief which they were said to afford the human heart? + +But who among the living would he have deemed worthy of them? When his +insane mother died, he could not help considering the poor Queen +fortunate because Heaven had at last released her from such a condition. +Of the children whom his wife Isabella and Johanna van der Gheynst had +given him, he did not even think. An icy atmosphere emanated from his +son Philip which froze every warm feeling that encountered it. He +remembered his daughter with pleasure, but how rarely he was permitted to +enjoy her society! Besides, he had done enough for his posterity, more +than enough. To increase the grandeur of his family and render it the +most powerful reigning house in the world, he had become prematurely old; +had undertaken superhuman tasks of toil and care; even now he would +permit himself no repose. The consciousness of having fulfilled his duty +to his family and the Church might have comforted him in this hour, but +the plus ultra--more, farther--which had so often led him into the +conflict for the dream of a world sovereignty, the grandeur of his own +race, and against the foes of his holy faith, now met the barrier of a +more powerful fate. Instead of advancing, he had seemed, since the +defeat at Algiers, to go backward. + +Besides, how often the leech threatened him with a speedy death if he +indulged himself at table with the viands which suited his taste! Yet +the other things that remained for him to enjoy scarcely seemed worth +mentioning. To restore unity to the Church, to make the crowns which he +wore the hereditary possessions of his house, were two aims worthy of the +hardest struggles, but, unless he deceived himself, he could not hope to +attain them. Thus life, until its end--perhaps wholly unexpectedly-- +arrived within a brief season, offered him nothing save suffering and +sacrifice, disappointment, toil, and anxieties. + +With little cheer or elevation of soul, he looked up and rang the +bell. Two chamberlains and Master Adrian appeared, and while Baron +Malfalconnet, who did not venture to jest in this spot, offered him his +arm and the valet the crutch, his confessor, Pedro de Soto, also entered +the black-draped room. + +A single glance showed him that this time the quiet sojourn in the gloomy +apartment, instead of exerting an elevating and brightening influence, +had had a depressing and saddening effect upon the already clouded spirit +of his imperial penitent. In spite of the most zealous effort, he had +not succeeded in finding his way into the soul-life of this sovereign, +equally great in intellect and energy, but neither frank nor truthful, +yet, on the other hand, his penetration often succeeded in fathoming the +causes of the Emperor's moods. + +With the quiet firmness which harmonized so perfectly with a personal +appearance that inspired confidence, the priest now frankly but +respectfully expressed what he thought he had observed. + +True, he attributed the Emperor's deep despondency to totally different +causes, but he openly deplored the sorrowful agitation which the memories +of the beloved dead had awakened in his Majesty. + +In natural, simple words, the learned man, skilled in the art of +language, represented to the imperial widower how little reason he had to +mourn his devout wife. He was rather justified in regarding her death +hour as the first of a happy birthday. For the sleeper whose dream here +on earth he, Charles, had beautified in so many ways, a happy waking had +long since followed in the land for which she had never ceased to yearn. +For him, the Emperor, Heaven still had great tasks in this world, and +many a victory awaited him. If his prayer was heard, and his Majesty +should decide to battle for the holiest cause, sorrowful anxieties would +vanish from his pathway as the mists of dawn scatter before the rising +sun. He well knew the gravity of the demands which every day imposed +upon his Majesty, but he could give him the assurance that nothing could +be more pleasing to Heaven than that he, who was chosen as its champion, +should, by mastering them, enjoy the gifts with which Eternal Love set +its board as abundantly for the poorest carter as for the mightiest +ruler. + +Then he spoke of the surprise of the night before, and how gratefully he +had heard that music had once more exerted its former magic power. Its +effect would be permanent, even though physical suffering and sorrowful +memories might interrupt it for a few brief hours. + +"That," he concluded, "Nature herself just at this season teaches us to +hope. This day of fasting and sadness will be followed by a series of +the brightest weeks--the time of leafage, blossom, and bird songs, which +is so dear to the merciful mother of God. May the month of May, called +by the Germans the joy month, and which dawns to-day with bright sunshine +and a clear, blue sky, be indeed a season of joy to your Majesty!" + +"God grant it!" replied the Emperor dully, and then, with a shrug of +the shoulders, added: "Besides, I can not imagine whence such joy should +come to me. A boy's bell-like voice sang to me yesterday, 'Quia amore +langueo.' This heart, too, longs for love, but it will never find it on +earth." + +"Why not, if your Majesty sends forth to seek it?" replied the confessor +eagerly. "The Gospel itself gives a guarantee of success. 'Seek, and ye +shall find,' it promises. To the heart which longs for love the all- +bountiful Father sends that for which it longs to meet it halfway." + +"When it is young," added the Emperor, shrugging his shoulders +impatiently." But when the soul's power of flight has failed, who +will bestow the ability to traverse the half of the way allotted to it?" + +"The omnipotence which works greater miracles," replied the priest in a +tone of the most ardent conviction, pointing upward. + +Charles nodded a mournful assent, and, after a sign which indicated to +the confessor that he desired the interview to end, he continued his +painful walk. + +He had waved aside the litter which the lord chamberlain, Count Heinrich +of Nassau, had placed ready for him, and limped, amid severe suffering, +to his room. + +There the Bishop of Arras awaited him with arduous work, and the Emperor +did not allow himself a moment's rest while his sister was using the +beautiful first of May to ride and hunt. Charles missed her, and still +more the faithful man who had served him as a page, and whom he had been +accustomed since to have in close attendance upon him. + +To gratify his sister's passion for the chase he had given Quijada leave +of absence, and now he regretted it. True, he told no one that he missed +Don Luis, but those who surrounded him were made to feel his ill-humour +plainly enough. Only he admitted to the Bishop of Arras that the radiant +light which was shining into his window was disagreeable. It made too +strong a contrast to his gloomy soul, and it even seemed as though the +course of the sun, in its beaming, unattainably lofty path, mocked the +hapless, painful obstruction to his own motion. + +At noon he enjoyed very little of the meal, prepared for a fast day, +which the new cook had made tempting enough. + +In reply to the Count of Nassau's inquiry whether he wished to hear any +music, he had answered rudely that the musicians and the boy choir could +play and sing in the chapel for aught he cared. Whether he would listen +to the performance was doubtful. + +Single tones had reached his ears, but he did not feel in the mood to +descend the stairs. + +He went to rest earlier than usual. The next morning, after mass, he +himself asked for Josquin's "Ecce tu pulchra es." It was to be sung +during the noonday meal. But when, instead of the Queen and Quijada, +a little note came from his sister, requesting, in a jesting tone, an +extension of the leave of absence because she trusted to the healing +power of the sun and the medicine "music" upon her distinguished brother, +and the chase bound her by a really magic spell to the green May woods, +he flung the sheet indignantly away, and, just before the beginning of +the meal, ordered the singing to be omitted. + +Either in consequence of the fasting or the warm sunshine, the pangs of +the gout began to lessen; but, nevertheless, his mood grew still more +melancholy, for he had believed in the sincere affection of two human +beings, and Queen Mary left him alone in his misery, while his faithful +Luis, to please the female Nimrod, did the same. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Dread which the ancients had of the envy of the gods +Shuns the downward glance of compassion +That tears were the best portion of all human life + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBARA BLOMBERG, BY EBERS, V2 *** + +********** This file should be named 5562.txt or 5562.zip ********* + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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