DUKE CASIMIR RIDES LATE
Well do I Hugo Gottfried remember the night of snow and moonlight when first they brought the Little Playmate home I had been sleeping—a sturdy wellgrown fellow I ten years or so as to my age—in a stomacher of blanket and a bedgown my mother had made me before she died at the beginning of the cold weather Suddenly something awoke me out of my sleep So all in the sharp chill of the night I got out of my bed sitting on the edge with my legs dangling and looked curiously at the bright streams of moonlight which crossed the wooden floor of my garret I thought if only I could swim straight up one of them as the motes did in the sunshine I should be sure to come in time to the place where my mother was—the place where all the pretty white things came from—the sunshine the moonshine the starshine and the snow
And there would be children to play with up there—hundreds of children like myself and all close at hand I should not any longer have to sit up aloft in the Red Tower with none to speak to me—all alone on the top of a wall—just because I had a crimson patch sewn on my bluecorded blouse on my little white shirt embroidered in red wool on each of my warm winter wristlets and staring out from the front of both my stockings It was a pretty enough pattern too Yet whenever one of the children I so much longed to play with down on the paved roadway beneath our tower caught sight of it he rose instantly out of the dust and hurled oaths and illwords at me—aye and oftentimes other missiles that hurt even worse—at a little lonely boy who was breaking his heart with loving him up there on the tower
Come down and be killed foul brood of the Red Axe the children cried And with that they ran as near as they dared and spat on the wall of our house or at least on the little wooden panel which opened inward in the great trebly spiked iron door of the Dukes courtyard
But this night of the first homecoming of the Little Playmate I awoke crying and fearful in the dead vast of the night when all the other children who would not speak to me were asleep Then pulling on my comfortable shoes of woollen list for my father gave me all things to make me warm thinking me delicate of body and drawing the manypatched coverlet of the bed about me I clambered up the stone stairway to the very top of the tower in which I slept The moon was broad like one of the shields in the great hall whither I went often when the great Duke was not at home and when old Hanne would be busy cleaning the pavement and scrubbing viciously at the armor of the iron knights who stood on pedestals round about
One day I shall be a manatarms too I said once to Hanne and ride aforaying with Duke Ironteeth
But old Hanne only shook her head and answered
Ill foraying shalt thou make little shrimp Such work as thine is not done on horseback—keep wide from me toadchen touch me not
For even old Hanne flouted me and would not let me approach her too closely all because once I had asked her what my father did to witches and if she were a witch that she crossed herself and trembled whenever she passed him in the courtyard
Now having little else to do I loved to look down from the top of the tower at all times But never more so than when there was snow on the ground for then the City of Thorn lay apparent beneath me all spread out like a painted picture with its white and red roofs and white houses bright in the moonlight—so near that it seemed as though I could pat every child lying asleep in its little bed and scrape away the snow with my fingers from every red tile off which the housefires had not already melted it
The town of Thorn was the chief place of arms and high capital city of all the Wolfmark It was a thriving place too humming with burghers and trades and guilds when our great Duke Casimir would let them alone perilous often also with pikes and discontents when he swooped from the tall overfrowning Castle of the Wolfsberg upon their booths and guilderies—to scotch the pride of rascaldom as he told them when they complained In these days my father was little at home his business keeping him abroad all the day about the castleyard at secret examinations in the Hall of Judgment or in mysterious vaults in the deepest parts of the castle where the walls are eighteen feet thick and from which not a groan can penetrate to the outside while the Duke Casimirs judgment was being done upon the poor bodies and souls of men and women his prisoners
In the courtyard too the dogs fierce russettan bloodhounds ravined for their fearsome food And in these days there was plenty of it too so that they were yelling and clamoring all day and most of the night for that which it made me sweat to think of And beneath the rebellious city cowered and muttered while the burghers and their wives shivered in their beds as the howling of Duke Casimirs bloodhounds came fitfully down the wind and Duke Casimirs guards clashed arms under their windows
So this night I looked down contentedly enough from my perched eyrie on the top of the Red Tower It had been snowing a little earlier in the evening and the brief blast had swept the sky clean so that even the brightest stars seemed sunken and waterlogged in the white floods of moonlight Under my hand lay the city Even the feet of the watch made no clatter on the pavements The freshfallen snow masked the sound The kennels of the bloodhounds were silent for their dreadful tenants were abroad that night on the Dukes work
Yet sitting up there on the Wolfsberg it seemed to me that I could distinguish a muttering as of voices full of hate like men talking low on their beds the secret things of evil and treason I discerned discontent and rebellion rumbling and brooding over the city that clear keen night of early winter
Then when after a while I turned from the crowded roofs and looked down upon the gray farspreading plain of the Wolfmark to the east I saw that which appeared like winking sparks of light moving among the black clumps of copse and woodland which fringed the river These wimpled and scattered and presently grew brighter A long howl like that of a lonely wolf on the waste when he calls to his kindred to tell him their whereabouts came faintly up to my ears
A hound gave tongue responsively among the heaped mews and doggeries beneath the ramparts Lights shone in windows athwart the city Red nightcaps were thrust out of hastily opened casements The Dukes standing guard clamored with their spearbutts on the uneven pavements crying up and down the streets To your kennels devils brats Duke Casimir comes riding home
Then I tell you my small heart beat furiously For I knew that if I only kept quiet I should see that which I had never yet seen—the homecoming of our famous foraying Duke I had indeed seen Duke Casimir often enough in the castle or striding across the courtyard to speak to my father for whom he had ever a remarkable affection He was a tall swart blackavised man with a huge hairy mole on his cheek and long dogteeth which showed at the sides of his mouth when he smiled almost as pleasantly as those of a shewolf looking out of her den at the hunters
But I had never seen the Duke of all the Wolfmark come riding home ere daybreak laden with the plunder of captured castles and the rout of deforced cities For at such times my father would carefully lock the door on me and confine me to my little sleepingchamber—from whence I could see nothing but the square of smooth pavement on which the children chalked their games and from which they cried naughtily up at me the poor hermit of the Red Tower But this night my father would be with the Duke and I should see all For high or low there was none in the empty Red Tower to hinder or forbid
As I waited thrilling with expectation I heard beneath me the quickening pulsebeat of the town The watch hurried here and there hectoring threatening and commanding But in spite of all men gathered as soon as their backs were turned in the alleys and street openings Clusters of heads showed black for a moment in some darksome entry cried Ugghh with a hateful sound and vanished ere the steelclad veterans of the Dukes guard could come upon them It was like the hideandseek which I used to play with Boldo my bloodhound puppy among the dusty waste of the lumberroom over the Hall of Judgment before my father took him back to the kennels for biting Christians Elsa a child who lived in the lower Guard opposite to the Red Tower
But this was a stranger hideandseek than mine and Boldos had been For I saw one of the men who cried hatefully to the guard stumble on the slippery ice and lo or ever he had time to cry out or gather himself up the menatarms were upon him I saw the glitter of stabbing steel and heard the sickening sound of blows stricken silently in anger Then the soldiers took the man up by head and heels carelessly jesting as they went And I shuddered for I knew that they were bringing him to the horrible long sheds by the Red Tower through which the wind whistled But in the moonlight the patch which was left on the snow was black not red
After this the crooked alleys were kept clearer and I could see down the long High Street of Thorn right to the Weiss Thor and the snowwhitened pinnacles of the Palace out of which Duke Casimir had for the time being frightened Bishop Peter Black stood the Gate Port against the moonlight and the snow when I first looked at it A moment after it had opened and a hundred lights came crowding through like sheep through an entry on their way to the shambles—which doubtless is their Hall of Judgment where there waits for them the Red Axe of a lowlier degree
The lights I say came thronging through the gate For though it was moonlight the Duke Casimir loved to come home amid the red flame of torches the trail of bituminous reek and with a dashing train of riders clattering up to the Wolfsberg behind him through the streets of Thorn lying black and cowed under the shadows of its thousand gables
So the procession undulated towards me turbid and tumultuous First a reckless pour of riders urging wearied horses their sides whiteflecked above with blown foam and dark beneath with rowelled blood Many of the horsemen carried marks upon them which showed that all had not been plunder and pleasuring upon their foray For there were white napkins and napkins that had once been white tied across many brows Helmets swung clanking like iron pipkins from saddlebows and men rode wearily with their arms in slings drooping haggard faces upon their chests But all passed rapidly enough up the steep street and tumbled with noise and shouting helterskelter into the great courtyard beneath me as I watched secure as God in heaven from my perch on the Red Tower
Then came the captives some riding horses barebacked or held in place before blackbearded riders—women mostly these last with faces whiteset and strange of eye or all beblubbered with weeping Then came a man or two also on horseback old and reverend After them a draggled rabble of lads and halfgrown girls bound together with ropes and kept at a dogs trot by the pricking spears of the menatarms behind who thought it a jest to sink a spear pointdeep in the flesh of a mans back—drawing the claret wine they called it For these riders of Duke Casimir were every one jolly companions and must have their merry jest
After the captives had gone past—and sorry I was for them—the bodyguard of Duke Casimir came riding steadily and gallantly all gentlemen of the Mark with their sons and squires landed men towered men free Junkers serving the Duke for loyalty and not servitude though ever living by the saddle—as indeed most of the Ritterdom and gentry of the Mark had done for generations
Then behind them came Duke Casimir himself The Eastland blood he had acquired from his Polish mother showed as he rode gloomily apart thoughtful solitary behind the squared shoulders of his knights After him another squadron of riders in ghastly armor of blackandwhite with torches in their hand and grinning skulls upon their shields closed in the array The great gate of the Wolfsberg was open now and leaving behind him the hushed and darkened town the master rode into his castle The Wolf was in his lair But in the streets many a burghers wife trembled on her bed while her goodman peered cautiously over the leads by the side of a gargoyle and fancied that already he heard the clamor of the partisans thundering at his door with the Dukes invitation to meet him in the Hall of Judgment
CHAPTER II
THE LITTLE PLAYMATE COMES HOME
But there was to be no Session in the Hall of Judgment that night The great courtyard roofed with the vault of stars and lit by the moon was to see all done that remained to be done The torches were planted in the iron holdfasts round about The plunder of the captured towns and castles was piled for distribution on the morrow and no man dared keep back so much as a Brandenburg broadpiece or a handful of Bohemian gulden For the fear of the Duke and the Dukes dogkennels was upon every stout fightingkerl They minded the fate of Hans Pulitz who had kept back a belt of gold and had gotten himself flung by the heels with no more than the stolen belt upon him into the kennels where the Dukes bloodhounds howled and clambered with their forefeet on the blackspattered barriers And they say that the belt of gold was all that was ever seen again of the poor rascal Hans Pulitz—who had hoped for so many riotous evenings among the Fat Pigs of Thorn and so many draughts of the slippery wine of the Rheingan careering down the poor thirsty throat of him But alas for Hans Pulitz the end of all imagining was no more than five minutes of snapping snarling horrible Pandemonium in the kennels of the Wolfsberg and the scored gold chain on the ground was all that remained to tell his tale Verily there were few Achans in Duke Casimirs camp
And it is small wonder after this that scant and sparse were the jests played on the grim master of the Wolfsberg or that the bay of a bloodhound tracking on the downs frightened the most stouthearted rider in all that retinue of daredevils
Going to the side of the Red Tower which looked towards the courtyard I saw the whole array come in I watched the prisoners unceremoniously dismounted and huddled together against the coming of the Duke There was but one man among them who stood erect The torchlight played on his face which was sometimes bent down to a little child in his arms so that I saw him well He looked not at all upon the rude menatarms who pushed and bullied about him but continued tenderly to hush his charge as if he had been a nurse in a babechamber under the leads with silence in all the house below
It pleased me to see the man for all my life I had loved children And yet at ten years of age I had never so much as touched one—no nor spoken even only looked down on those that hated me and spat on the very tower wherein I dwelt But nevertheless I loved them and yearned to tell them so even when they mocked me So I watched this little one in the mans arms
Then came the Duke along the line and behind him like the Shadow of Death paced my father Gottfried Gottfried habited all in red from neck to heel and carrying for his badge of office as Hereditary Justicer to the Dukes of the Wolfmark that famous redhandled redbladed axe the gleaming white of whose deadly edge had never been wet save with the blood of men and women
The guard pushed the captives rudely into line as the Duke Casimir strode along the front The women he passed without a sign or so much as a look They were kept for another day But the men were judged sharp and sudden as the Duke in his black armor passed along and that scarlet Shadow of Death with the broad axe over his shoulder paced noiselessly behind him
For as each man looked into the eyes of Casimir of the Wolfsberg he read his doom The Duke turned his wrist sharply down whereupon the attendant sprites of the Red Shadow seized the man and rent his garment down from his neck—or the hand pointed up and then the man set his hand to his heart and threw his head back in a long sigh of relief
It came the turn of the man who carried the babe
Duke Casimir paused before him scowling gloomily at him
Ha Lord Prince of so great a province you will not set yourself up any more haughtily You will quibble no longer concerning tithes and tolls with Casimir of the Wolfmark
And the Duke lifted his hand and smote the man on the cheek with his open hand
Yet the captive only hushed the child that wailed aloud to see her guardian smitten
He looked Duke Casimir steadfastly in the eyes and spoke no word
Great God man have you nothing to say to me ere you die cried Duke
Casimir choked with hot sudden anger to be so crossed
The elder man gazed steadily at his captor
God will judge betwixt me a man about to die and you Casimir of the
Wolfmark he said at last very slowly—by the eyes of this little maid
He will judge
Like enough cried Casimir sneeringly Bishop Peter hath told me as much But then Gods payments are long deferred and so far as I can see I can take Him into my own hand And your little maid—pah since one day you took from me the mother I in my turn will take the daughter and make her a titbit for the teeth of my bloodhounds
The man answered not again but only hushed and fondled the little one
Duke Casimir turned quickly to my father showing his long teeth like a snarling dog
Take the child he said and cast her into the kennels before the mans eyes that he may learn before he dies to dread more than Gods Judgment Seat the vengeance of Duke Casimir
Then all the menatarms turned away heartsick at the horror But the man with the child never blanched
High perched on the top tower I also heard the words and loved the maid And they tell me though I do not remember it that I cried down from the leads of the Red Tower My father save the little maid and give her to me—or else I Hugo Gottfried will cast myself down on the stones at your feet
At which all the men looked up and saw me in white a small lonely figure with my legs hanging over the top of the wall
Go back my father shouted Go back Hugo Tis my only son—my successor—the fifteenth of our line my lord he said to the Duke in excuse
But I cried all the more Save the maids life or I will fling myself headlong By JesuMary I swear it
For I thought that was the name of one great saint
Then my father who ever doted on me bent his knee before his master A boon he cried my first and last Duke Casimir—this maids life for my son
But the Duke hung on the request a long doubtful moment
Gottfried Gottfried he said even reproachfully this is not well done of you to make me go back on my word
Take the mans life said my father—take the mans life for the childs and the fulfilling of your word and by the sword of St Peter I will smite my best
Aye said the man with the babe even so do as the Red Axe says Save the young child but bid him smite hard at this abased neck Ye have taken all Duke Casimir take my life But save the young child alive
So without further word or question they did so and the man who had carried the child kissed her once and separated gently the baby hands that clung about his neck Then he handed her to my father
Be gracious to Helene he said she was ever a sweet babe
Now by this time I was down hammering on the door of the Red Tower which had been locked on the outside
Presently some one turned the key and so soon as I got among the men I darted between their legs
Give me the babe I cried the babe is mine the Duke himself hath said it And my father gave her to me crying as if her heart would break
Nevertheless she clung to me perhaps because I was nearer her own age
Then the dismal procession of the condemned passed us followed by my father who strode in front with his axe over his shoulder and the laughing and jesting menatarms bringing up the rear
As I stood a little aside for them to pass the hand of the man fell on my head and rested there a moment
Gods blessing on you little lad he said Cherish the babe you have saved and as sure as that I am now about to die one day you shall be repaid And he stooped and kissed the little maid before he went on with the others to the place of slaughter
Then I hurried within so that I might not hear the dull thud of the Red Axe on the block nor the inhuman howlings of the dogs in the kennels afterwards
When my father came home an hour later before even he took off his costume of red he came up to our chamber and looked long at the little maid as she lay asleep Then he gazed at me who watched him from under my lids and from behind the shadows of the bedclothes
But his quick eye caught the gleam of light in mine
You are awake boy he said somewhat sternly
I nodded up to him without speaking
What would you with the little maid he said Do you know that you and she together came very near losing me my favor with the Duke and it might be my life also both at one time tonight
I put my hand on the maidens head where it lay on the pillow by me
She is my little wife I said The Duke gave her to me out in the courtyard there
And this is the whole tale of how the Little Playmate came to dwell with us in the Red Tower
CHAPTER III
THE RED AXE OF THE WOLFMARK
Just as clearly do I remember the next morning The Little Playmate lay by me on my bed wrapped in one of my childish nightgowns—which old Hanne had sought out for her the night before It was a brisk chill nippy daybreak and I had piled most of the bedclothes upon her I lay at the nether side clipped tight in my single brown blanket It was perishing cold Out of the heaped coverings I saw presently a pair of eyes great and dark regarding me
Then a little voice spoke sweetly and clearly but yet strangely sounding to me who had never before heard a babe speak
I want my father—tell him to send Grete my maid to attend on me and then to come himself to sit by the bed and amuse me
Alas her father—well I knew what had come to him—that which in the mercy of the Duke Casimir and in the crowning mercy of the Red Axe I had seen come to so many The dogs did not howl at all that morning They too were tired with the hunting and sated with the quarry
All the same I tried to answer my companion
Little Maid said I let me be your maid and your father I will gladly get you all you want But your good father has gone on a weary journey and it will be long ere he can hope to return
Well she said send lazy Grete then I will scold her soundly for not bringing the sop of hot milkandbread which indeed is not food for a lady of my age But my father insists upon it He is dreadfully obstinate
Now there was no one but our old deaf Hanne in the kitchen of the Red Tower She stayed only for cooking and keeping the house clean My father never paid her wages and she never asked any She did her work and took that which she needed out of the household purse without check or question It was long before I guessed that Hanne also owed her life to my fathers care I had noticed indeed when he had upon him the red headmans dress which fitted him like a flame climbing up a tall back log on the winters fire that old Hanne trembled from head to foot and shrank away into her den under the stairs Many a time have I seen her peeping round the corner of the kitchendoor and tottering back when she heard him come down the stair from the garret And I guessed so well the reason of her fear that I used to cry to her
Come out good Hanne the Red Axe is gone
Then would she run pattering like a scared rabbit over the uneven floor to the window and watch my father stalking grim and tall across the open spaces of the yard towards the Judgment Hall of Duke Casimir the menatarms avoiding him with deft reverence For though they hated him almost as much as did the fat burghers they feared him too And that because Gottfried Gottfried was deep in the confidence of the Duke and besides was no man to stand in the illgraces of when one lived within the walls of the Wolfsberg
So this morning it was to the ancient Hanne that I ran down and told her how as quickly as she might she must bring milk and bread to the little one
But said she there is none save that which is to be sodden for your fathers breakfast and your own
Do as you are bid bad Hanne cried I being like all solitary children quickly made angry or I will tell my father to drive you before him when next he goes forth clad in red to the Hall of Justice
At which the poor old woman gave vent to a sharp screechy cry and caught at her skinny throat with twitching bony fingers
Oh but you know not what you say cruel boy she gasped For the love of God speak not such words in the house of the Red Axe
But like an illgoverned child I was cruel because I knew my power and so made sure that Hanne would do what I asked
Well then bring the sop quickly said I or by PeterandPaul I will speak to my father He and I can well be doing with beaten cakes made crisp on the iron girdle In these you have great skill
This last I said to cheer her for she loved compliments on her cooking Though strange to tell I never saw her eat anything herself all the years she remained in our house
When I was gone upstairs again I looked about for the Little Playmate She was not to be seen anywhere There was only a tiny coseyhole down among the blankets which was yet warm when I thrust my hand within it But it was empty and the top a little fallen in as if the occupant had set her knee on it when she crawled out A baby stocking lay outside it on the floor
Little maid I cried where are you
But I heard nothing except a hissing up on the roof and then a great slithering rumble down below which boomed like the distant cannons the Margraf sent to besiege us I listened and shuddered but it was only the snow from the tall roof of the Red Tower which had slipped off and fallen to the ground Then I had a vision of a slender little figure clambering on the leads and the treacherous snow striking her out into the air and then—the cruel stones of the pavement
Little maid little maid I cried out again beginning to weep myself for pity at my thought where are you Speak to me You are my playmate
Then I ran to the roof and though the stones chilled me to the bone and the frostbitten iron hasps of the fastenings burned me like fire I opened the trapdoor and looked out There above me was the crowstepped gable of the Red Tower with the axe set on the pinnacle rustily bright in the coming light of the morning—all swept clean of snow But no little maid
I ran to the verge and peered down I saw a great heap of frozen snow fallen on its edge and partly canted over half covering a deep red stain which was turning black and horrid in the daylight But no little maid
Then I ran all over the house calling to her but could not find her anywhere I was just beginning to bethink me that she might be a fairy child one that came at night and vanished like the dream gold which is forever turning to withered leaves in the morning At last I bethought me of my fathers room where even I his son had never been at night and indeed but seldom in the day For it was the Hereditary Justicers fancy to lodge himself in the high garret which ran right across the top of the Red Tower and was entered only by a little ladder from the first turning of the same staircase by which I had run out upon the leads
I went to the bottom of the garret turnpike The little barred door stood open and I heard—I was sure that I heard—light irregularly pattering footsteps moving about above
It gave me strange shakings of my heart only to listen For though I was noways afraid of my father myself yet since I had never seen any man woman or child save the Duke only who did not quail at his approach it was a curious feeling to think of the lonely little child skipping about up there where abode the axe and the block—the axe which had done I knew so well what to her father only the night before
So I mustered all my courage—not from any fear of Gottfried Gottfried but rather from the uncertainty of what I should see and quickly mounted the stair
I shall never forget what I saw as I stood with my feet on the rickety handrail of the ladder The long dim garret was already halflighted by the coming day Red cloaks swung and flapped like vast deadly winged bats from the rafters and reached almost to the ground There was no glass in any of the windows of the garret for my father minded neither heat nor cold He was a man of iron Summers heat nor winters cold neither vexed nor pleasured him So it was no marvel that at the chambers upper end and quite near to my fathers bed lay a wreath of snow with a fine cleancut untrampled edge just as it had blown in at the gable window when the storm burst from the east
My father lay stretched out on his bed his head thrown back his neck bare—almost as if he had done justice on himself or at least as if he waited the stroke of another Red Axe through the eastern skylight which the morning was already crimsoning His scarlet sheathings of garmentry lay upon a black oaken stool trailing across the floor lank and hideous one of the cuffs which had been but recently dyed a darker hue making a wet sop upon the boards
All this I had seen many a time before But that which made me tremble from head to foot with more and worse than cold was the little white figure that danced about his bed—for all the world like a crisped leaf in late autumn which whirls and turns skipping this way and spinning that in the wanton breezes It was the Little Playmate But I could not form a word wherewith to call her My tongue seemed dried to the roots
She had taken the red eyemask which came across my fathers face when he did his greater duties and tied it about her head Her great innocent childish eyes looked elfishly through the black socket holes sparkling with a fairy merriment and her tangled floss of sunny hair escaped from the string at the back and fell tumultuously upon her shoulders
And even as I looked standing silent and trembling with a little balancing step she danced up to the Red Axe itself where it stood angled against the block and seizing it by the handle high up near the head she staggered towards the bed with it
Then came my words back to my mouth with a rush
For the Holy Virgins sake little maid put the Red Axe down I cried whisperingly You know not what you do
Then even as I spoke I saw that my father had drawn himself up in bed and that he too was staring at the strange elfish figure Gottfried Gottfried as I remember him in these days was a tall dark heavily browed man with a shock of bushy blueblack hair of late silvering at the temples—grave sombre quiet in all his actions
But what was my surprise as the little maid came nearer to the bed with her pretty dancing movement carrying the axe much as if it had been an overheavy babe to see the Dukes Justicer suddenly skip over the far side of the bedstead and stand with his red cloak about him watching her
CHAPTER IV
THE PRINCESS HELENE
What devils work is this he said frowning at her severely
And I confess that I trembled but not so the little maid
Do not be afraid mannie she said laying down the axe on the stock of the couch against which its broad red blade and glassclear cutting edge made an irregular patch of light Come and sit down beside me on your bed I shall not hurt you indeed mannie and I want to talk to you There is nothing but a little boy downstairs And I like best to talk with men
I declare it is the dead mans brat I saved last night for Hugos sake
I heard my father mutter the maid with the girdle of golden letters
Presently a smile of amusement struggled about his mouth at her bairnly imperiousness but he came obediently enough and sat down Nevertheless he took away the heavy axe from her and said Put this down then or give it to me It is not a pretty plaything for little girls
The small figure in white put up a tiny fat hand and solemnly withdrew the red patch of mask from before the wideopen baby eyes
I am not a little girl remember mannie she said I am a Princess and a great lady
My father bowed without rising
I shall not forget he said
You should stand up and bow when I tell you that said she I declare you have no more manners than the little boy in the brown blanket downstairs
Princess said my father gravely during my life I have met a great many distinguished people of your rank and do you know not one of them has ever complained of my manners before
Ah cried the little maid then you have never met my father the Prince He is terribly particular You must go so she imitated the mincing walk of a court chamberlain you must hold your tails thus wagging her white nightrail and twisting about her head to watch the effect and you must retire—so With that she came bowing backward towards the well of the staircase so far that I was almost afraid she would fall plump into my arms But she checked herself in time and without looking round or seeing me she tripped back to my fathers bedside and sat down quite confidingly beside him
Now you see cried she what you would have had to put up with if you had met my father Be thankful then that it is only the little Princess Helene that is sitting here
I think I had the honor to meet your father said Gottfried Gottfried gravely again removing the restless baby fingers from the Red Axe and laying it on the far side of the couch beyond him
Then if you met him did he not make you bow and bend and walk backward asked the Playmate looking up very sharply
Well you see Princess explained my father it was for such a very short time that I had the honor of converse with him
Ah that does not matter cried the maid often he would be most difficult when you came running in just for a moment Why he would straighten you up and make you do your bows if you were only racing after a kitten or what was worse he would call the Court Chamberlain to show you how to do it But when I am grown up—ah then—I mean to make the Chamberlain bow and walk backward for you know he is only taking care of my princedom for me Oh and I shall have you well taught by that time long man It is cold—cold Let me get into your bed and I will give you your first lesson now
So with that she skipped into my fathers place and drew the great red cloak about her
Now then first position she commanded clapping her hands like a Sultana your feet together Draw back your left—so Very well Bend the knee—stupid not that one Now your head If I have to come to you sir—there that is better Well done Oh I shall have a peck of trouble with you I can see that But you will do me credit before I have done with you
In a little while she tired of the lesson
Come and sit down now—she waved her hand graciously—here on the bed by me Though I am a Princess really I am not proud and as I said I may make something of you yet
My father came forward gravely wrapped himself in another of his red cloaks and sat down I shivered in my blanket on the stairhead but I could not bear to move nor yet reveal myself This was better than any play I had ever watched from the sparred gallery of the palace to which Gottfried Gottfried took me sometimes when the mummers came from Brandenburg to divert Duke Casimir
My father the great Prince took me for a long ride last night There was much noise and many bonfires behind us as we rode away and some of the men spoke roughly for which my father will rate them soundly today Oh they will be sick and sorry this morning when the Prince takes them to task I hope you will never make him angry she said laying her hand warningly on my fathers but if ever you do come to me and I will speak to the Prince for you You need not be bashful for I do not mind a bit speaking to him or indeed to any one You will remember and not be bashful when you have something to ask
I will assuredly not be bashful said my father very solemnly I will come and tell you at once little lady if I ever have the misfortune to offend the most noble Prince
Then he bent his head and raised her hand to his lips She bowed in return with exquisite reserve and hauteur and as it seemed to me more with her long eyelashes than with anything else
Do you know Black Man she said—for you know you are black though you wear red clothes—I am glad you are not afraid of me At home every one was afraid of me Why the little children stood with their mouths open and their eyes like this whenever they saw me
And she illustrated the extremely vacant surprise into which her appearance paralyzed the infantry of her native city
I am glad my father left me here till he should come back Do you know I like your house There are so many interesting things about it That funny axe over there is nice It looks as if it could cut things Has it ever cut anything It is so nicely polished How do you keep it so and can I help you
I had just finished polishing and oiling it before I fell asleep answered Gottfried Gottfried You see little Princess I had very many things to cut with it last night
What a pity the Prince had not time to wait and see you He is so very fond of going out into the forest with the woodman Once he took me to see the tallest tree in all our woods cut down with just such an axe as that—only it was not red Have you ever seen a high tree cut down
I have cut down some pretty tall ones myself said the Dukes Justicer smiling quietly at her
Ah but not as tall as my father It is beautiful to see him strip his doublet and lay to They say there is not a woodman like him in all our land
Helene looked at my father whose arms were folded in his great cloak
But you have fine strong arms too she said You look as if you could cut things Did my father ever see you cut down tall trees
Yes said Gottfried Gottfried slowly once
And did he say that you cut well the little maid went on with a strange wilful persistence in her idea
He neither said that I did well nor yet that I did ill replied
Gottfried Gottfried
Ah said Helene that was just like the Prince He was afraid of flattering you and making you unfit for your work But if he said nothing depend upon it he was pleased
Thank you Princess said my father I think he was well enough pleased
Just then there came a noise that I knew—a sound which chilled every bone in my body
It was the clear ring of a steady footstep upon the pavement without It came heavily and slowly across the yard The outer hasp of our door clicked The door opened and the footstep began to ascend the stair
There was but one man in the world who dared make so free with the
Red Tower and its occupant Our visitor was without doubt the Duke
Casimir himself
For the first time I saw my father manifestly disconcerted The little maids life might be worth no more than a torn ballad if Duke Casimir happened to be in evil humor or had repented him of his mercy of the past night I saw the Red Axe look aimlessly about for a hidingplace There was a niche round which certain cloaks and coverlets were hung
Come in here he said abruptly
Why should I hide whoever comes asked the Little Playmate indignantly
It is the Duke Casimir whispered my father hurriedly stirred as I had never seen him Come hither quickly
But the little maid struck an attitude and tapped the floor with her foot
I will not she said What is the Duke Casimir to me that am a
Princess If he is good I will give him my hand to kiss
But at this point I rushed from the ladderhead and taking her in my arms I sped up the turret stairs with her out upon the leads my hand over her mouth all the time
And as I ran I could hear the Duke trampling upward not twenty steps in the rear I opened the trapdoor and went out into the clear morning sunshine And only the turn of the stair prevented Casimir from seeing me go up the narrow turret corkscrew with my little white burden
Then I heard voices beneath and I knew as if I had seen it that my father stood up straight at the salute Presently the voices lowered and I knew also that the Duke Casimir was unbending as he did to none else in his realm save to the Hereditary Justicer of the Wolfmark
But I had my hands full with the little Princess I dared not go down the stairs I dared not for a moment take my palm off her mouth For as like as not she would call out for the Duke Casimir to come and deliver her from my cruelty So I stuck to my post even though I knew that I angered her
The morning was warm for a winters day in Thorn and I pulled open my brown blanket and wrapped her coseyly within it chilling myself to the bone as I did so
It seemed ages before the Duke strode down the stair again and took his way across the yard with my father in black after him For so he was used to dress when he went to the Hall of Judgment to be present and assist at the discovery of crime by means of the Minor and Extreme Questions
Then so soon as they were fairly gone I took my hand from the mouth of the Little Playmate and carried her downstairs which as soon as I had done she slapped my face soundly
I will never never speak to you any more so long as I live rude boy—common street brat she said biting her underlip in ineffectual petulant anger Listen never as long as I live So do not think it Upstart so to treat a lady and a Princess
And with that she burst into tears
CHAPTER V
THE BLOODHOUNDS ARE FED
But the PrincessPlaymate spoke to me again I was even permitted to call her Helene Me she addressed uniformly as Hugo Gottfried But neither her name nor mine interfered with our plays which were wholly happy and undisturbed by quarrelling—at least so long as I did exactly what she wished me to do
On these terms life was made easy for me from that day forth No longer did I wistfully watch the children of the street from the lonely window of the Red Tower They might spit all day on the harled masonry at the foot of the wall for aught I cared I no longer desired their society Had I not that of a real Princess and if my companion was inclined to be a little wayward and domineering—why was not that the very birthright of all Princesses
Helene and I had great choice of plays within the walls of the solemn castle So long as we kept to the outer yard and did not intrude upon the Dukes side of the enclosure we were free to come and go at our pleasure For even Casimir himself was soon well accustomed to see us run about like puppies slapping and tumbling and minded us no more than the sparrows that pecked in the litter of the stableyard Indeed I think he had forgotten all about the strange homecoming of the Little Playmate
The kennels of the bloodhounds especially were full of fascination for us That fatal deepmouthed clamoring at morn and even drew us like a magnet Helene in particular never tired of gazing between the chinks of the fence of cloven pinewood at the great russetcolored beasts with their flashing white teeth over which the heavy dewlaps fell And when my father with his red livery upon him and a loaded whip in his hand once a day opened the tall narrow door and went within we thought him brave as a god Then the way the fierce beasts shrank cowering from him the fashion in which they crouched on their bellies and heaved their shoulders up without taking their hind quarters off the ground equally delighted and surprised us
Your father is almost as great a man as my father said the Princess Helene who however was rapidly forgetting her dignity Indeed already it had become little more than a fairytale to her And that was perhaps as well
One day when I was about thirteen or a little older my father came out with a new short mantle in his hand red like his own
Come hither Hugo Gottfried he said for he had learned the trick of the name from Helene
I went to him tardyfoot greatly wondering
Here chick he said in his kindly fashion it is time you were beginning to learn your duties Come with me today into the kennels of the bloodhounds
But I hung back shifting the new mantle uneasily on my shoulders yet not daring to throw it off
I do not want to go father said I edging away in the direction of the Playmate
What lad he cried slapping me on the shoulder they will not hurt thee with that cloak on They know their masters better—as their fathers and mothers knew our fathers Have we the Gottfrieds been the Hereditary Justicers of the Wolfmark for six hundred years to be afraid now of the bloodhounds that are kept to hunt the Dukes enemies and to feed on the Dukes carrion
It is not that I am afraid of the dogs father I made answer to him I would quickly enough go among them if only you would let me go without this scarlet cloak
My father laughed heartily and loudly—that is for him A quick ear might have heard him quite three feet away
Silly one he exclaimed do you not know that even the Duke Casimir dares not set foot in the kennels—no nor I myself save in the garb they know and fear—as indeed do all men in this state
Still I hung my head down and scraped the gravel with my foot
Haste thee said my father roughly Once it is permitted to a man to be afraid to fear twice and fear the same thing is to be a coward And no Gottfried ever yet was a coward Let not my Hugo be the first
Then I took courage and spoke to him
I do not wish to be executioner I said I would rather ride asoldiering far away and be in the drive of battle and the front of danger Let me be a soldier and a manatarms my father I am sure I could become a warcaptain and a great man
Gottfried Gottfried stared blankly at me and his blueblack hair rose in a crest—not with anger of which he never showed any to me but in sheer astonishment He continued to rub it with his hand as if in this manner he might possibly reach an explanation of the mystery
Not wish to be Hereditary Executioner Why are you not a Gottfried the only son of a Gottfried the only son of his father who also was a Gottfried and Hereditary Red Axe of the Wolfmark Why lad before there was a Duke at all in the Wolfsberg before he and his folk came out of the land of the Poles to fight with the Ritterdom of the North we the Gottfrieds of Thorn wore the sign of the Red Axe and dwelt apart from all the men of the Mark For fourteen generations have we worn it
But said I sadly the very children on the street hate me and spit on me as I pass the maids will not so much as speak to me They scyrry indoors and slam the wicket in my face Think you that is pleasant And when as a lad of older years I set out to woo whither shall I betake me For what door is open to a Gottfried to him who carries the sign of the Red Axe
Ah lad said my father patiently life comes and life goes It is nigh on to forty years since even thus my father held out the curt mantle for me And even so said I Time eats up all things but the hearts of men And they abide ever the same—yearning for that which they cannot have but nevertheless accepting with a sharp relish the things which are decreed to them even as do the Dukes carrioneaters yonder which bytheway are waiting most impatiently for their meal while we thus stand arguing
He was about to move away when his eye fell on Helene At sight of her he seemed to remember my last words about going awooing
He considered a moment and then said You are young yet to think of courting Hugo but have no fear either for the lovemaking or the wedding Sweet maids a many shall surely come hither Why there is one growing up yonder that will prove as fair as any I tell you the Gottfrieds have married great ladies in their time—dames and dainty damsels They have had princesses to be their sweethearts ere now Come then lad—no more words but follow me
And for that time I went after him obediently enough but all the same my heart was rebellious within me And I determined that if I had to ran to the ends of the earth I should never be Hereditary Executioner nor yet handle the broadaxe on the bared necks of my fellowmen
We went in among the dogs—great lank cowering toothslavering brutes I followed my father till we came to the feedingtroughs Then he bade me to stand where I was till he should set their meat in order So he vanished behind the barriers Then when he had prepared the beasts horrid victual though I saw not what he opened the narrow gate and the howling clambering throng broke helterskelter for the troughs cracking and crunching the thighbones tearing at the flesh and growling at one another till the air rang with the earpiercing din
And outside the little Helene flung herself frantically at the split pines of the enclosure crying bitterly Take off that hateful mantle Hugo Gottfried I hate it—I hate it Take it off
My father stood behind the dogs whose arched and bristling backs I could just manage to see over the fence of wooden spars and dealt the whip judicially among them—at once as a warning to encroachers and a punishment for greed
Then all unharmed we went out and as soon as my father had gone up to his garretroom in the tower I tore the red cloak off and trampled it in the dirt of the yard Then I went and hid it in a little blind window of the tower opposite the foot of the ladder which led to my fathers room For because of my fathers anger I dared not destroy the badge of shame altogether as both Helene and I wished to do
Day by day the Little Playmate for so I was now allowed to call her—the Princesshood being mostly forgotten grew great and tall her fair almost lintwhite hair darkening swiftly to coppery gold with the glint of ripe wheat upon it
Old Hanne followed her about with eyes at once wistful and doubtful Sometimes she shook her head sadly And I wondered if ever the poor old stumbling crone wizened like a twoyearold winter apple had been as light and gay a thing as our dainty roseleaf girl
One day I was laboring at the art of learning to write along with Friar Laurence—a scrawny illfavored monk who for good deeds or misdeeds I know not which was warded in a cell opening out of the lower or garden court of the Wolfsberg when I heard Helene dance down the stairs to the kitchen of the Red Tower
Hannchen she cried merrily come and teach me that trick of the broidering needle I never can do it but I prick myself Nevertheless I can fashion the Red Axe almost as clearly as the pattern and far finer to see
Friar Laurence raised his great softly solid face blue about the jowls and padded beneath the eyes with craft
That little maid is over much with old Hanne he said as if he meditated to himself she will teach her other prickings than the needleplay The witchpricking at the images of wax was what brought her here Aye and had it not been for your father wanting a housekeeper the Holy Office would have burned the hag and sent her to hell flaming like a torch of pine knots
Now this was the first I had heard with exactness of the matter of old Hannes having been a witch And now that I knew it for certain I began to imagine all sorts of unholy things about the poor wretch and grew greatly jealous of Helene being so often in the kitchen Whereas before I had thought nothing at all about the matter save that Hannchen was a dull pleasant muttering shufflingfooted old woman who could make rare good creamcakes when you got her in the humor
And that was not often
CHAPTER VI
DUKE CASIMIRS FAMILIAR
I mind it was some tale of years later that I got my first glimpse below the surface of things in the town of Thorn and especially in the castle of the Wolfsberg
Duke Casimir continued to move as of yore in cavalcade through his subject city The burghers bowed as obsequiously as ever when they could not avoid meeting him There were the old lordly perquisitions—thunderings at ironstudded doors batteringrams set between posts and the clouds of dust flying from the driven lintels the screams of maids the crying of women a stray corpse or two flung on to the street and then the procession as before arms and legs with a mercenary soldier between each pair fore and aft All this was repeated and repeated till the dull monotony of tyranny began to wear through the long Teutonic patience to the underquick of Wendish madness
It chanced that one night I could not sleep It was no matter of maids that kept me awake though by this time I was sixteen or seventeen and greatly grown—running it is true mostly to knees and elbows but nevertheless long of limb and stark of bone needing only the muscle laid on in lumps to be as strong as any
I had begun to steal out at nights too—not on any ill errand but that I might have the company of those about my own age—prentice lads and the wilder sons of burghers who had no objection to my parentage and thought it rather a fine thing to be handinglove with the son of the Red Axe of Thorn And there we played singlestick smitejacket skittles bowls—aye and drank deep of the city ale—the very thinnest brew that was ever passed by a bribed and muzzy aletaster All this was mightily pleasant to me For so soon as they knew that I had determined to be a soldier and not the Red Axe of the Wolfmark they complimented me greatly on my spirit
Well as I lay awake and waited for the chance to slip down a rope from my bedroom window whose foot should I hear on the turret stairs but that of my Lord Duke Casimir My very heart quailed within me For the fear of him sat heavy on every man and woman in the land And as for the children—why as far as the Baltic shore and the land of the last Ritters mothers frightened their bairns with the Black Duke of the Wolfsberg and his Red Axe
So now the Duke and the Red Axe were to be in conference—as indeed had happened nearly every day and night since I could remember So that people called my father the Dukes Private Devil his Familiar Spirit his Evil Genius But I knew other of it—and this night of all nights in the year I was to know better still
It was a summer midnight—not like the one I told of when the story began white with snow and glittering with the keen polish of frost But a soft still night drowsy yet sleepless with an itch of thunder tingling in the air—and indeed already the pulsing uncertain glow of sheetlightning coming and going at long intervals along the south
I crouched and nestled in the hole in the wall where I had long ago hidden the hated red cloak pulling my knees up uncomfortably to my chin And great lumps of bone they were knotted as if a smith had made them in the rough with a welding hammer and had forgotten to reduce them with the file afterwards At that time I was thoroughly ashamed of my knees
But no matter for them now Duke Casimir passed in and shut the door
Gottfried I heard him say I am a dead man
These words from the great Duke Casimir startled me and though I knew well enough that Michael Texel the Burgomeisters son was waiting for me by the corner of the Jews Port I decided that as I might never hear Duke Casimir declare his secretest soul again I should even bide where I was and that was in the crevice of the wall among the old clothes which gave off such a faint musty sleepy smell I could scarcely keep awake
But the Dukes next words effectually roused me
A dead man repeated Casimir I have not a friend in all the realm of the Mark besides yourself And there is none of all that take my bounty or eat my bread that is sorry for me See here he said querulously twice have I been stricken at today—once a tile fell from a roof and dinted the crown of my helmet and the second time a young man struck at my breast with a dagger
Did he wound you Duke Casimir asked my father speaking for the first time but in a strangely easy and equal voice not with the distance and deference which he showed to his lord in public
Nay Gottfried replied Duke Casimir but he bruised my shirt of mail into my breast
And I heard plainly enough the clinking of the rings of chainarmor as the Duke showed his hurt to my father Presently I heard his voice again
And the Bishop has touched me in a new place he said He declares that he will lay his interdict upon me and my people—ill enough to hold in hand as they are even now When that is done they will rise in rebellion My very menatarms and knights I cannot depend upon—only upon you and the Black Riders
In the matter of the Bishops interdict or in other matters do you mean that you can trust my counsel Duke Casimir asked my father
Tis in the burial of the dead that the shoe will pinch first with these burghers of Thorn and among our soldiers at the Wolfsberg For mass indeed they care not a doves dropping—but that the corpse should be carried to a dogs grave that they cannot away with Red Axe I tell you we shall have the State of the Mark about our ears in the slipping of a hounds leash—and as for me I know not what I shall do
Listen and I will counsel you Duke Casimir Care you not though the east wind brought Bishop Peters whirling over the Mark as many as the January snowflakes that come to us from Muscovy I Gottfried Gottfried tell you what to do In every parish of the Mark there is a parson Every clerk of them hath a Presbytery in which he dwells with those that are abiding with him Bid you the soldiers that are obedient to you to carry all the corpses of the dead to the Presbytery and leave them there under guard Then let us see whether or no the parsons will give them burial What think you of the counsel Duke Casimir
I could hear the Duke rise and pace across the floor to where my father sat on his bed And by the silence I knew that the two men were shaking hands
Red Axe said the Duke much moved of a truth you are a great man—none like you in the Dukedom These beardwagging chainjingling gentry I have small notion of. And would you but accept it I would give you tomorrow the collar of gold which befits the Chancellor of the Mark None deserves to wear it so well as thou
My father laughed a low scornful laugh
Because I bid you teach the parsons their own religion am I to be made Chancellor of the Mark A great gray wolf out of the forest were as suitable a Chancellor of the Mark as Gottfried Gottfried the fourteenth hereditary Red Axe of Thorn
Then I heard him reach over his bed for something I stole out of the hole in the wall and crouched down till my eyes rested at the great latchet hole through which the tang of leather to lift the bolt ordinarily goes I could see my father sitting on his bed and the Red Axe lying across his knees He took it in hand dangling it like an infant He caressed it as he spoke and ran his thumb lovingly along the shining edge
Ah he said my beauty tis you and not your master they should make High Chancellor of this realm Tis you that have held the power of life and death and laid the spirit of rebellion any time these twenty years And well indeed wouldst thou look with a red robe about thee here he reached for a cloak that swung from the rafters contiguous to his hand a noble presence wouldst thou be in a tunbellied robe and a collar of shining gold Bravely great States Chancellor of the Wolfmark wouldst thou then lead the processions and preside at the diets of justice—as indeed thou dost mostly as it is
And he made the Red Axe bow like a puppet in his hands as he swept the cloak of red out behind the handle
I could see Duke Casimir now He had drawn up a stool and sat opposite my father with his elbows on his knees One hand was stroking the side of his head and his haughtiness had all fallen from him like a forgotten overmantle He looked another man from the cruel relentless Prince who had ridden so sternly at the head of his menatarms and looked so callously on at the death of men and the yet more bitter agony of women
He stared at the floor absorbed in his own gloomy thoughts while my father regarded him with his eyes as though he had been a lad in his prenticing who needed encouragement to persevere
Duke he said steadily you have borne the rule many years and I have stood behind you Have I ever advised you wrong Make peace with the young man your nephew he is now only the Count von Reuss but one day he will be Duke Otho And if he be rightly guided he may be a brave ruler yet But if not and he gather in his hand the various seditions and confused turbulences in the Dukedom why a worse thing may befall
You advise me said the Duke lifting his head and looking at his Justicer to recall my nephew and risk all that threatened us ere he fled to the Prince of Plassenburg—Karl the Millers Son
Gottfried Gottfried continued to run his thumb to and fro along the edge of the Red Axe
Even so he replied without raising his head give him the command of the Black Riders of the Guard who as it is adore him Let him try his prentice hand on Bamberg and Reichenan And if he offend why then it will be time to apply for further advice to this chancellor in the Red Robe whose face so shines with wisdom
The Duke rose
Well on your head be it he said
Nay said my father I but advise it is for you to decide my Lord If Duke Casimir sees a better way of it why then the words of his servant are but as the tunes that the east wind whistles through the keyhole
And at the mention of keyholes I imagined that I saw my fathers eyes rest on the latchet crevice So I bethought me that it was time for me to be retiring to bed To my room therefore I went straightway tiptoeing on the points of my hose And with ears cocked I heard my father attend the Duke to the door and on across the yard lest any nightwandering traitor should take a fancy to make a hole in the back of Duke Casimir of the Wolfmark
Presently came my father in again and I heard his foot climb steadily up to my room The door opened and never was I in so deep a sleep He turned down the coverlet to see that I was undressed—but that I had seen to Whereat he departed fully satisfied
Nevertheless this interview left me with a great feeling of insecurity If the Duke Casimir were thus full of fears doubts misgivings whence came the fierce and cruel courage with which he dominated his liege burghers and harassed the country round about for a hundred leagues The cunning of a weak man Say rather the contrivance of a strong servant to hide the frailty of a weak master
Then first it was that I saw that my father Gottfried Gottfried was the true ruler of the Wolfmark and that the man who had carried me on his shoulders and played with the little Helene was—at least so long as Duke Casimir lived—the greatest man in all the Dukedom and first Councillor of State whether the matter were one of peasant or Kaiser
CHAPTER VII
I BECOME A TRAITOR
Much was I flattered and very naturally so when Michael Texel made so manifest a work about pleasing me and having me for his comrade For though I was now nineteen he was five years my senior and his father being both Burgomeister and Chief Brewer was of the first consideration in the town of Thorn
Hugo said Michael Texel there be many lads in the city that are well and well enough but none of them please me like you It may be that your keeping so greatly to yourself has made you passing thoughtful for your age And whereas these streetcorner scraps of rascaldom care for nothing but the pleasing of pothouse Gretchens we that are men think of the concerns of the State and make us ready for the great things that shall one day come to pass in Thorn and the Wolfmark
I nodded my head as if I knew all about it But indeed in my heart I too preferred the way of the other lads—as the favor of maids and other lighter matters But since one so great and distinguished as Michael Texel declared that such things were but useless gauds unworthy of thought I considered that I had better keep my tongue tightreined as to my own desires
I shall now tell the manner of my introduction to the famous society of the White Wolf
From the very first time that ever I saw him Michael Texel had much to say about a certain wondrous league of the young men of Thorn and the Wolfmark He told me how that every man with a heart in him was enrolled among them the sons of the rich and great like himself the sons of the folk of no account like myself doubtless the soldiers of the Duke—nay it was whispered very low in my ear that even the young Count Otho von Reuss the Dukes nephew and heir had taken high rank in the society
I asked Michael what were the declared objects of the association
See he cried grandly with a wave of his hand this city of Thorn It lies there under the Wolfsberg With a few cannon like Paul Grete the Margraves treasure Duke Casimir could lay our houses in ruins Therefore in the meantime let us not break out against Duke Casimir But one day there will come an end to the tyrant Duke Tiles will not always break harmless on helmets nor the point of steel always be turned aside by links of chainarmor As I say an hour will come for Casimir as for other malefactors And then—why there is the young Otho And he has sworn the vows of the White Wolf to make of Thorn a free city with a Stadtholder—one with power and justice chosen freely by the people as in other Baltic cities Is there a man of us that has not been plundered—a maid that does not go in fear of her honor while Casimir reigns Shall this thing be Not surely forever The White Wolf shall see to it She has many children and they are all dear to her Let the Duke Casimir take his count with that
So as was natural I became after that more than ever eager to join this most notable league of the White Wolf
One night I had sat late talking to the Little Playmate who was now growing a great maid and a beautiful—none like her so far as I could see in all the city of Thorn—a circumstance which made me more ready to be of Michael Texels opinion with regard to any flighty and irresponsible courting of the maids of the town For had I not the fairest and the best of them all at home close by me On this night of which I speak it was almost bedtime when I heard a knocking at the outer port and went to open the wicket
And lo there was Michael Texel come all the way to the Red Tower for me though it was by his own trysting that we had agreed to meet at the inn of the White Swan Nevertheless there he was So there was nothing for it but to bring him in I presented him in form to the Little Playmate who had quite forgotten her Princessship by this time in the sweetness of being our houseangel of the Red Tower
I saw in a moment that Michael Texel was astonished at Helenes beauty as indeed well he might be But she on her part hardly so much as glanced at him though he was a tall and wellgrown youth enough with nothing remarkable about him save pale hair of much the same color as his complexion and a cut on one side of his upper lip which in certain lights gave him a sneering expression
But to Helene he spoke very carefully and courteously asking her whether she ever went to any of the Guild entertainments for which Thorn was famous And upon her saying no—that my father did not think it fitting Michael said I was sure of it none could forget if once they had seen For never in the history of Thorn has so fair a face graced Burgher dance or Guild festival nor yet has a foot so light been shaken on the green in any of our summer outgoings
Now this was well enough said in its way but only what I myself had often thought Not that the Playmate took any notice of his words or was in any degree elated but kept her head bent demurely on her work all the time Michael Texel was with us
Presently there entered to us thus sitting Gottfried Gottfried who had come striding gloomily across the yard in his black suit from the Hall of Judgment and at his entrance Michael instantly became awkward nervous and constrained
I must be going he said the Burgomeister bade me be early within doors tonight
Is the noble Burgomeister lodging at the White Swan asked my father with his usual simple directness as he went hither and thither ordering his utensils without heeding the visitor
No said Michael startled out of his equanimity he bides in his own house by the Rathhouse—the sign is that of the Three Golden Tuns
The Red Axe nodded
I had forgotten he said indifferently and stood by the great polished platterframe over the sideboard dropping oil on the screws of a certain cunning instrument which he was wont to use in the elucidation of the Greater Question
I could see Michael turning yellow and green but whether with anger or fear I could not tell Helene who loved not the tools of my father had upon his entrance promptly gathered up her white cobwebs and lace and had betaken herself to her own room
I must be bidding you a fortunate evening and wishing you an untroubled sleep said Michael with studious politeness rising to his feet Yet he did not immediately move away but stood awkwardly fingering his hat as if he wished to ask a question and dared not
It is indeed a fine place for a sound sleep said my father nodding his head grimly this same upper courtyard of the Wolfsberg There are few that have once slept here my noble young sir who have ever again complained of wakefulness
At this moment the hounds in the kennels raised their fierce clamor And without waiting for another word Michael Texel took himself off down the stairs of the Red Tower Nor did he regain his composure till I had opened the wicket and ushered him out upon the street
Then as the postern clicked and the familiar noises of the city fell on his ear—the slapping flatfooted lasses crying Fried Fish the sellers of Hot Oyster Soup the yelling venders of crout and salad—Michael gradually picked up his courage and we proceeded down the High Street of Thorn to the retired hostel of the White Swan
Frederika he cried as he entered are the lads here yet
Aye sir aye—a full muster answered the old mildfaced hostess who was busily employed knitting a stocking of pale blue in the porch looking for all the world like the sainted mother of a family of saints
Michael Texel walked straight through a passage and down a narrow alley the beautiful applecheeked old woman following us with her eyes as we went
Our feet rang suddenly on hollow pavement as we stooped to enter a low door in the side wall almost concealed from observation by an overgrowth of ivy
Halt cried a voice from the dusk ahead of us and instantly there was a naked sword at each of our breasts We heard also the click of swords meeting behind us I turned my head and lo there at my very shoulder I saw the gleam of crossed steel My heart beat a little faster but after all I had been brought up with sights and sounds more terrible than these and more than that I had within the hour seen Michael Texel the highpriest of these mysteries turn all manner of rainbow colors at the howling of our bloodhounds and a simple question from my father So I judged that these mighty terrifications could portend no great ill to one who was the son of the formidable Red Axe of the Wolfsberg
Sometimes it is a mighty comfortable thing to have a father like mine
I did not hear the question which was asked of my guide but I heard the answer
First in charge said Michael Texel and with him one of the
Wolfs litter
So we were allowed to proceed But in the bare room which received us I was soon left alone for with another question as briefly asked and answered the click of swords crossed and uncrossed before and behind him and the screechy grind of bolts Michael passed out of sight within While as for me I was left to twirl my thumbs and wish that I had stayed at home to watch the nimble fingers of the Playmate busy at her sewing and the rounded slenderness of her sweet body set against the light of evening which would at that hour be shining through the windows of the Red Tower
Nevertheless it was no use repining or repenting Here was I Hugo Gottfried the son of the Red Axe at the inner port of a treasonable society It was certainly a curious position but even thus early I had begun to consider myself a sort of amateur of strange situations and I admit that I found a certain stimulus in the thought that in an hour I might have ceased to be heir to the office of Hereditary Justicer of the ducal province of the Wolfmark
Presently through the door there came one clothed in the long white garments of a Brother of Pity the eyeholes dark and cavernous and the eyes shining through the mask with a look as if the wearer were much more frightened than those who looked upon him
Child of the White Wolf he said in a shaking voice would you dare all and become one of the companions of the mysteries
But the accent of his voice struck me the son of Gottfried Gottfried the dweller in the enclosure of the Red Tower as painfully hollow and pretentious I had looked upon real terror even plumbed some of the grimmer mysteries of existence, and I had no fears On the contrary my spirits rose and I declared my readiness to follow this paltering knockkneed Brother of Pity
We stopped and went through another narrow passage in the midst of which we were stayed by thin bars which were shot before and behind us and by a cold point of iron laid lightly against my brow In this constrained position my eyes were bandaged by unseen fingers
The starveling Brother of the Wolf took me by the hand and led me on Then in another moment came the sense of lights and wider spaces the rustle of many people settling down to attention and I knew that I was in the presence of the famous secret tribunal of the White Wolf which had been set up in defiance of the authority of the Duke and against the laws of the Mark
CHAPTER VIII
AT THE BAR OF THE WHITE WOLF
Who waits at the bar with you brother said a voice which though disguised carried with it a suggestion of Michael Texel
The announcement was made by the officer who brought me in
Tis one Hugo Gottfried son of Gottfried Gottfried hereditary executioner to the tyrant
I could hear the thrill of interest which pervaded the assembly at the announcement And for the first time I thought almost well of the honorable office to which I had been born
And what do you here son of the Red Axe in the place of the Sacred
Fehme of the White Wolf
The question was the first addressed directly to me
I came said I as straightforwardly and simply as I could with Michael Texel because he asked me to come And also because I heard that there was good ale to be had for the drinking at the White Swan of Thorn where we are now met
A low moan of horror went about the assembly at the frivolity of my answer which plainly was not what had been expected
Daring mocker cried a stern voice you speak as one unacquainted with the dread power of the White Wolf which has within her grasp the keys of life and death—and has suckled great empires at her dugs Beware tempt not the Allpowerful to exercise her right of axe and cord
I do not tempt any answered I boldly enough—yet with no credit to myself for I could have laughed aloud at all this hollow pretence having been brought up within the range of that which was no mockery I am willing to become a loyal member of the Society of the White Wolf for the furtherance of any honest purpose All things I admit are not well within the body politic Let us in the city of Thorn strive after the same rights as are possessed by the Free Cities of the North If that be your object the son of the Red Axe is with you—with you to the death if need be But for Gods sake let us take off these masks and set ourselves down to the tankard and the good brown bread with less mummery—a sham of which others have the reality
Peace vain ignorant fly cried the same speaker one with a young voice which he was trying as I thought to make grave and old terror must first strike your heart or you cannot sit down with the Society of the White Wolf You stand convicted of blasphemy against this our ancient and honorable institution—blasphemy which must be suddenly and terribly punished Hugo Gottfried I command you—make your head ready for the striker Bare the neck and bow the knee
But I stood as erect as I could though I felt hands laid upon my shoulders and the breathing of many close about me
Knights and gentlemen said I I am not afraid to die if need be But ere you do your will upon me I would fain tell you a tale and give you a warning Here I am one among many I am also of your opinion if your opinion be against tyranny But for Gods sake seek it as wise men and not as posturing knaves As for Michael Texel—
Name not the mortal names of men in this place of the White Wolf said the same grave voice
At which I laughed a little
If you will tell me what to say instead in the language of the immortals I will call my friend by that name Till then Michael Texel I say—
I was pulled by force down upon my knees
Your pleasure gentlemen said I as coolly as I might you may do with me as you will but give me at least leave to speak Your meetings here at the White Swan are known to the Red Axe my father and therefore to the Duke Casimir
A low groan filled the wide hall I could feel that my words touched them on the raw
Also this very night I saw one of your noblest members tremble with alarm—for the Society not for himself I warrant—when Gottfried Gottfried spake lightly of your meetings here as of a thing well known I am not afraid of my life In the sight of my father I went forth from the Red Tower in the company of Michael Texel He knew of your place of meeting And well I wot that if I am not within the precincts of the Red Tower by midnight the officers of Duke Casimir and his Judgment Hall will come knocking at these doors of yours I ask you are you ready to open
Rash mortal said the voice again to me you mistake the White Wolf if you think that she or her children are afraid of any tyrant or of his officers You yourself shall die as has been appointed For none may speak lightly of the White Wolf and live to tell the tale
So be it I replied calmly but first let me recount to you the story of Hans Pulitz Not for the hiding of a belt of gold as men say was he condemned But because he had plotted against the life of the Duke and of his minister of justice the Red Axe Would you know what happened I will tell you briefly
Ten men accounted strong held Hans Pulitz Ten men could scarce lead him through the courtyard to the chair on which sat Duke Casimir I saw him judged Was he not of the White Wolf Did the White Wolf save him Have her teeth ravened for those that condemned him Or have you that are of that noble society kept close in your halls and played out your puppet shows while poor Hans who was faithful to you to the end went—whither
A sough of angry whispering filled the room rising presently into a roar of indignation
Traitor Murderer Spy they cried
Nay said I fore God Hugo Gottfried was more sorry for the poor deceived slave than any here For in the presence of the Duke I cried out against the horror But being no more than a boy I was stricken to silence by the hand of a manatarms Then I saw Hans Pulitz cast loose I saw him seized by one man—even by the Red Axe—raised high in the air and flung over the barriers among the ravening and leaping bloodhounds I heard the hideous noises that followed—the yells of a man fighting for his life in a place of fiends I shut my ears with my hands yet could I not shut out that clangor of hell I shut my eyes closer than you have shut them for me now I fled I knew not where terror pursuing me And yet I saw and do now see the Duke sitting with crossed hands as if at prayers and the Red Axe standing motionless before the menatarms pointing with one hand to the Dukes vengeance Shall I tell you now why I am not afraid
After hearing these words it was small wonder that they cried yet more against me
Death to the traitor—bloody death—like that which he has rejoiced in
Nay my friends said I it was because of the death of Hans Pulitz and that of others that I would strengthen the hands of liberty and make an end of tyranny But not an it please you with childs plays and the castoff garmentry of tyrants What can you do to me in the Inn of the Swan that can equal the end of poor Hans Pulitz—of whom they found neither bone nor hair took up no fragment of skin or nail save the golden chain only toothscarred and beslavered which he wore about his waist And the belt you may see for yourselves any day if you give me your company within the Red Tower
Now as may well be understood if the Society of the White Wolf was angry before it was both angry and frightened now which is a thing infinitely more dangerous
Let him die straightway Let the taunting blasphemer die they cried
And again for the third time the hollow voice pronounced my doom
It is well I shouted amid the din It is thrice well But look ye to it By the morrows morn there shall not be one of you in your beds—aye and those whose heads are rolled in the dust shall count yourselves the fortunate ones For they at least will escape the fate of poor Hans Pulitz
Now sorely do I wonder at this distance of time that they did not slay me in good earnest But I have learned from that night in the Inn of the Swan that when defiance has to be made it is ever best to deal in no halfmeasures And besides coming from the Red Tower of the Wolfsberg their precious Society of the White Wolf with its mummery and flummery filled me with a hot contempt
Kneel down cried the judge lay your head on the block It has often been wet with the blood of traitors never with that of a blacker traitor than Hugo Gottfried
So with that those about me thrust me forward and forced my head down I was obliged to clasp the block with both my hands As I did so I felt it well all over Then I laughed aloud with a laugh that must have appeared strange and mad to them
For this their mock tribunal could not deceive one who had been brought up within the hum of judges of life and death and with a father who as his daily business propounded the Greater and Lesser Questions And their precious block as smooth as sawn and polished timber with never a notch from side to side could not take in Hugo Gottfried who had made a playmate and a printed book of the worn blocks of a hundred executions—to whom each separate chip made by the Red Axe had been a text for Gottfried Gottfried to expatiate upon concerning his own prowess and that of his fathers
Nevertheless it certainly gave me a strange turn when icecold steel was laid across my neckbone It burned like fire turning my very marrow to water and for the first time I wished myself well out of it But only for a moment
For there came a loud rattling of arms without a thunderous and insistent knocking at the door which disturbed the assembly
Open in the name of the Duke cried clamorously many fierce voices without I heard the rush and scuffle of a multitude of feet The hands that had held me abruptly loosened their grip and I was free I raised my bound wrists to my brow and tried to push the bandage back But it was firmly tied and it was but dimly that I saw the hall of the White Wolf filled with the armed men of the Dukes bodyguard boisterously laughing with their hands on their sides or kicking over the mock throne covered with white cloth the coils of rope the axes of painted wood and the other properties of this very fainthearted Fehmgericht
But what have we here they cried when they came upon me bound and helpless with the bandage only half pushed off my eyes
Heave him up on his pins and let us look at him quoth a burly guardsman I trust he is no one of any account I want not to see another such job done on a poor scheming knave like that last when the Duke Casimir settled accounts with Hans Pulitz
Ha ha laughed his companion a rare jest i faith tis the son of our own Red Axe—a prisoner of the White Wolf and ready for the edge We came not a moment too soon youngster What do you here
Why said I it chanced that I spoke slightingly of their precious nonsense of a White Wolf But they dared not do me harm They were all more frightened than a giggling maiden is of the dark when no man is with her
Then I saw my father at the end of the hall He came towards me clad in his black Tribunal costume
Well he said quaintly like one that has a jest with himself which he will not tell have you had enough of marching handinglove with treason I wot this mummery of the White Wolf will serve you for some time
I was proceeding to tell him all that had passed but he patted me on the shoulder
I heard it all lad and you did well enough—save for your windiness about liberty and the Free Cities—which as I see it are by far the worst tyrannies But after all you spoke as became a Gottfried and one day I doubt not you shall worthily learn the secrets bear the burden and enlarge the honors of the fourteen Red Axes of the Wolfmark
CHAPTER IX
A HERO CARRIES WATER IN THE SUN
With all which adventuring and bepraisement back and forth as those who know nineteen will readily be assured I went home no little elated For had I not come without dishonor through a new and remarkable experience, and even defied the Mystery of the White Wolf at perhaps more risk to myself than at the time I had imagined For as I found afterwards there were those among the company at the Swan that night of sterner mould and more serious make than Michael Texel
But at all events home to the Red Tower I strode whistling and in a very cocksure humor
The little Helene was going about her house duties silently and distantly when I came down from my turret room on the forenoon of the morrow She did not come forward to be kissed as had been her wont every morning ever since I carried her a little forlorn maid up to mine own bed that chill winters night
A goodmorrow Little Playmate I bade her gayly For my heart was singing a good tune well pleased with itself and willing to be at amity with every one else—counting indeed as is the wont of brisk hearts a gloomy face little less than a personal insult
But the maid did not answer neither indeed did she seem to have heard me
I bade you fair goodmorning Helene said I again stopping in my walk across to my breakfast platter
But still she was silent casting sand upon the tiled floor and sweeping it up with great vigor all her fair body swaying and yielding to the grace of movement at every stroke Strange it seemed she was now just about the age when I developed those nodosities of knee and elbow which troubled me so sore but yet there was nothing of the kind about her only delicate slimness and featly rounded grace
I went over to her and would have set my palm affectionately on her shoulder But she escaped just as a bird does when you try to put your hand upon it It does not seem to fly off It simply is not there when your hand reaches the place
Let be she said looking upon me haughtily By what right do you seek to touch me sir
Sweetheart said I following her and much astonished because I have always done it and you never objected before
When I was a child and when you loved me as a child it was well But now when I am neither a child nor yet do you love me I would have you cease to treat me as you have done
You are indeed no longer a child but the fairest of sweet maids I made answer I will do nothing you do not wish me to do For hearken to me Helene my heart is bound up in you as indeed you know But as to the second word of accusation—that I do not love you anymore—
You do not—you cannot she interrupted or you would not go out with Michael Texel all night to drinkingplaces and worse keeping your father and those that do love awake hurting their hearts here she put her hand on her side and all for what—that you may drink and revel and run into danger with your true friends
Sweetheart I began—penitently
The Little Playmate made a gesture of infinite impatience
Do not call me that she said you have no right I am not your sweetheart You have no heart at all to love any one with or you would not behave as you have done lately You are naught but a silly selfish boy that cares for nothing but his own applause and thinks that he has nothing to do but to come home when his high mightiness is ready and find us all on our knees before him saying Put your foot great sir on our necks—so shall we be happy and honored
Now this was so perilously near the truth that I was mightily incensed and I felt that I did well to be angry
Girl I said grandly you do not know what you say I have been abroad all night on the service of the State and I have discovered a most dangerous conspiracy at the peril of my life
For I thought it was as well to put the best face on the matter and besides I have never been able all the days of me to hide my light under a bushel as the clerks prate about
But I was not yet done with my adventuring of this eventful day And in spite of my father setting me like a misbehaving bairn to the drudgery of the watercarrying there was more in life for me that day than merely hauling upon a handle For that is a thing which galls an aspiring youth worse than any other labor being so terribly monotonous
As for me I did not take kindly to it at all—not even though I could see mine own image deep in the pails of water as they came up brimming and cool out of the ferngrown dripping darkness of the well Aye and though the image given back to me was I say it only of that time a likely enough picture of a lad with short crisped locks that curled whenever they were wet cheeks like apples and skin that hath always been a trouble to me For I thought it unmanly and like a girls And that same skin of mine is perhaps the reason why all my days I never could abide your buttermilkandroses girls having a supply about me enough to serve a dozen and therefore thinking but little of their stockintrade
Now in the Wolfmark this is the common kind of beauty—not that beauty of any kind is overcommon For our maids—especially those of the country—look too much as if they had been made out of wooden pillows such as laborers use to lay their heads on of nights—one large bolster set on the top of two other little ones and all three well wadded with ticking and feathers But I hope no one will go back to the Wolfmark and tell the maids that Hugo Gottfried said this of them or of a surety my left ear will tingle with the running of their tongues if there be any truth in the old saw
It was three of the clock and the sun was very fierce on the dusty unslaked yard of the Wolfsberg glaring down upon us like the mouth of a wide smelters oven Fat Fritz the porter in his armchair of a cell had wellnigh dissolved into lard and running out at his own door The Playmates window was open and I caught the waft of a fan to and fro I judged therefore that my lady knew well that I was working out there in the heat and was glad of it—being a spiteful pretty minx
Then I began to wonder who had given her that fan for it was not like my father to do it and she knew no other Ah I said to myself as a thought struck me could it possibly be Michael Texel He is rich and Helene may have known him before The cunning darkeyed little vagabond—to take my introduction yestereven as if she had never set eyes on the fellow before while here it is as clear as daylight that he had all the time been giving her presents—fans and such like
So I raved within me half because I believed it and half because she seemed so comfortable up there with her feet on a stool and a cool jug of curds at her elbow while I sweated and labored in the sun
Very decidedly it must be Texel devil fly up with him and scratch him among the gargoyles of the minster
The fan wagged on It looked distractingly cool within But then my father—filial obedience was very distinctly a duty and also Gottfried Gottfried though kind was a man not to be disobeyed—even at nineteen and after defying the White Wolf
It was as I have said about three by the sundial on the wall the arch of which cast a shadow like jet on the scale that my father came out through the narrow door from the Judgment Hall opening it with his own key For he had the right of entrance and outgoing of every door in the palace not even excepting the bedchamber of Duke Casimir
Hugo he said come hither lad I did not mean to keep you so long at work in the sun You must have filled all the cisterns in the place by this time
I thanked him sincerely but did not pursue the subject For indeed I had not worked quite so hard as in his haste my father had supposed from my appearance
Go within he said don quickly your saintsday dress and betake yourself down to the house of Master Gerard von Sturm the city chamberlain and tell him all that he asks of you—readily and truly
But father said I suppose he asks of me that which might condemn one who has trusted me what am I to say
Tut boy said my father impatiently you mean young Michael Texel Fear not for him He was the first to inform He was at Master von Sturms by eight this morning elbowing half a dozen others all burning and shining lights of the famous Society of the White Wolf You are the hero of the day down there it seems
And lo here I am flouted by a stripling girl and set to carry water by the hour in the broiling sun I said within myself I possessed however though without doubt a manifest hero far too much of the unheroic quality of discretion to say this aloud to my father
I thank you sir I said respectfully I will go at once and put on my finest coat and my shoes of silk
My father smiled
You need not be particular as to the silk shoes Tis to see Master von Sturm not to court pretty Mistress Ysolinde that I asked you to visit the lawyers house by the Weiss Thor
But I was not sorry to be able to proclaim my destination as loud as I dared without causing suspicion
Hanne I cried down the turret stairs I pray you bring me the silken shoes with the ribbon bows of silk I am going down to Master von Sturms house also my gold chain and bonnet of blue velvet with the golden feather in it which I won at the last arrowshooting
I saw the fluttering of the fan falter and stop A light foot went pattering up the stairway and a door slammed in the tower
Then I laughed like the vain silly boy I was
Mistress Helene I said to myself you will find that poor Hugo whom you flouted and despised can yet pay his debts
So I put on the fine clothes which I wore on festal days and sallied forth Now though the lower orders still hated my father and all that came out of the Red Tower or indeed for the matter of that out of the Wolfsberg with hardly concealed malice—yet there were many in the city specially among those of the upper classes who began to think well of my determination to try another way of life than that to which I had been born For I made no secret of the matter to Michael Texel and such of his comrades as joined us in our gatherings
Indeed now when I come to think of it it seems to me that my father was the only person of my acquaintance who did not suspect that I was resolved never to wear either the black robe of Inquisition or the crimson of Final Judgment
Yet it wore round to within two years and indeed rather less of the time for my initiation into the mysteries of the Red Axe and still I remained at home an idle boy playing at singlestick and fence with the menatarms drinking beer in the evening with my bosom cronies and in the wellgrounded opinion of all honest people likely enough to come to no good
But I Hugo Gottfried had my eyes and my books open and knew that I was but biding my time
So it came about that I carried no taint of the dread associations of the Wolfsberg about me as I went down the bustling street to the Weiss Thor to call on that learned and wellreputed lawyer Master Gerard von Sturm So great was the fame of Master Gerard that he was often called in to settle the mercantile quarrels of the burghers among themselves and was even chosen as arbiter between those of other towns For though accounted severe he had universally the name of a just and wise man who would not rob the litigants of all their valuables and then decide in favor of neither as was too often the way with the justice of the great nobles
As for Duke Casimir of the Wolfmark no man or woman went near him on any plea whatsoever save that of asking mercy or favor And unless my father chanced to be at hand mostly they asked in vain For as I now knew he had to keep up the common bruit of himself throughout the country as a cruel fearless and implacable tyrant Besides his fears were so constant and so great perhaps also so wellfounded that often he dared not be merciful
CHAPTER X
THE LUBBER FIEND
At five of the clock I lifted the great wolfshead knocker of shining brass which frowned above the door of Master Gerard von Sturm in the port of the Weiss Thor Hardly had I let it fall again when a small wicket apparently about two feet above my head opened and a huge round head with enormous ears at either side peeped out So vast was the head and so small the aperture that one of the lateral wings of the chubby face caught on the sill and the owner brought it away successfully with a jerk and a perfectly goodhumored and audible flip
Who are you and what do you want said a widegashed mouth which with a squat flattenedout nose and two merry little twinkling eyes completed this wonderful apparition
The words were in themselves somewhat rude On paper I observe that they have an appearance almost truculent But spoken as the thing framed in the windowsill said them they were equal to a song of Brudershaft and an episcopal benediction rolled in one
I am Hugo Gottfried of the Red Tower come to see Master Gerard I replied Who may you be that asks so boldly
Ill give you a stalk of rhubarb to suck if you can guess was the unexpected answer
As I had never in my life seen anything in the least like the prodigy it was clearly impossible for me to earn the tart succulence of the summer vegetable on such easy terms
I should say I replied if the guess savor not of insolence that one might be forgiven for mistaking you for the Fool of the Family
The grin expanded till it wellnigh circumnavigated the vast head It seemed first of all to make straight for the ears on either side Then quite suddenly finding these obstacles insurmountable it dodged underneath them and the scared observer could almost imagine its two ends meeting with a click somewhere in the wilderness at the back of that unseen hemisphere of hairy thatch
Pinked in the white first time—no trial shot cried the object in the doorway cheerily I am the Fool of the Family But not the only one
At this moment something happened behind—what I could not make out for some time The head abruptly disappeared There was a noise as of floorrugs being vigorously beaten the door opened and the most extraordinary figure was shot out into the street The head which I had seen certainly came first but so lengthy a body followed that it seemed a vain thing to expect legs in addition Yet finally two appeared each of which would have made a decent body of itself, and went whirling across the street till the whole monstrosity came violently into collision with the walls of the house opposite which seemed to rock to its very foundations under the assault
A decent servingman in a semidoctorial livery of black cloth with a large white collar laid far over his shoulders and cuffs of the same upon his wrists stood in the open doorway and smiled apologetically at the visitor He was rather red in the face and panted with his exertions
I ask your pardon young sir he said That fool Jan Lubber Fiend will ever be at his tricks Tis my young mistress that encourages him more is the pity For poor servingmen are held responsible for his knavish ongoings Why I had just set him crosslegged in the yard with a basket of pease to shell seeing how he grows as much as a foot in the night—or near by But so soon as my back is turned he will be forever answering the door and peeping out into the street to gather the mongrel boys about him Tis a most foul Lubber Fiend to keep about an honest house plaguing decent folks withal
By this time the great oaf had come back to the door of the house and now stood alternately rubbing his elbow and rear with an expression ludicrously penitent at once puzzled and kindly
Ah come in with you will you said the man Certes were it not for Mistress Ysolinde I would set on the little imps of the street to nip you to pieces and eat you raw
The angry servingman held the door as wide as possible and stood aside whereat the Lubber Fiend tucked his head so far down that it seemed to disappear into the cavity of his chest and scurried along the passage bent almost double As he passed the door he drew all the latter part of his body together exactly like a dog that fears a kick in the bygoing The respectable manservant stirred not a muscle but the gesture told a tale of the discipline of the house by the White Gate at times when visitors were not being admitted by the main door and when Mistress Ysolinde favorer of the Fool Lubber Fiend was not so closely at hand
It was a grand house too the finest I had ever seen with hangings of arras everywhere many and particolored—red hunters who hunted green foresters who shot puffcheeked boys blowing on huntinghorns a house with mysterious vistas glimpses into dimlit rooms wafts of perfume lamps that were not extinguished even in the daytime burning far within All in mighty striking contrast to the bare stark strength of our Red Tower on the Wolfsberg with its walls fourteen feet thick
As I followed the servingman through the halls and stairways my feet fell without noise on carpets never woven in our barefloored Germany nor yet in England where they still strew rushes even so they say in the very diningrooms of the great—surely a most barbarous and unwholesome country Nevertheless carpets of wondrous hue were here in the house of Master Gerard scarlet and blue and so thick of ply that the foot sank into them as if reluctant ever to rise again
As I came to the landing place at the head of the stairway one passed hastily before me and above me with a sough and a rustle like the wind among tall poplar trees on the canal edges
I looked up and lo a girl not beautiful but as it were rather strange and fascinating She was lithe like a serpent and undulated in her walk Her dress was seagreen silk of a rare loom and clung closely about her It had scales upon it of dull gold which gave back a lustrous undergleam of coppery red as she moved She had a pale eager face lined with precision enough but filled more with passion than womanly charm Her eyes were emerald and beautiful as the sea is when you look down upon it from a height and the white sand shines up through the clear depths
Such was Ysolinde daughter of Gerard von Sturm favorer of Lubber Fiends and creator of this strange paradise through which she glided like a spangled Orient serpent
As I made my way humbly enough across to Master Gerards room his daughter did not speak to me only followed me boldly and yet as it seemed to me somewhat wistfully too with her seagreen eyes And as the door was closing upon me I saw her beckon the servingman
But I on the inner side of the door and with Master Gerard von Sturm before me had enough to do to tell my tale and answer his questions without troubling my head about greeneyed girls
Master Gerard was as remarkable looking to the full as his daughter with the same luminously green eyes But the orbs which in the maid shone as steadily clear as the depths of the sea in the father glittered opalescent where he sat in the dusk like the eyes of Grimalkin cornered by dogs in some gloomy angle of the Wolfsberg wall
As soon as I had set eyes on him I knew that I had to do with a man—not with a walking show like my Lord Duke Casimir It struck me that for good or evil Master Gerard could carry through his intent to the bitter end and that in council he would smile when he saw my father change his black vesture of trial for the red of beheading
The Doctor Gerard was little seen in the streets of Thorn Many citizens had never so much as set eyes on him Nevertheless his hand was in everything Some said he was a Jew chiefly because none knew rightly what he was or whence he had come Thirty years had gone by since he had suddenly appeared one day in the noble old house by the Weiss Thor from which Grätz the wizard and his wife had been burned out by the fury of the populace Twenty years of artistic labor had made this place what it now was And the little impish maid who used to break unexpectedly upon the workmen of Thorn from behind doors or who clapped hands upon their shoulders in dusky recesses scaring them out of their wits with suggestions of witchmasters long dead and damned had grown into this maid of the seagreen eyes and silken draperies
A goodday to you Hugo Gottfried said Master Gerard quietly looking at me keenly across the table He wore a skullcap on his closely cropped head One or two betraying locks of gray appeared under it in front but did not conceal a flat forehead which ran back at such an angle that with the luminous eyes beneath it it gave him the look of a serpent rearing his yellow head a little back in act to strike This was a look his daughter had also But in her the gesture was tempered by the freeplaying curves of a beautiful throat and the forward thrust of a rounded chin—advantages not possessed by the angular anatomy and bony jaw of the famous doctor of law
Master Gerard clad in a long robe of black velvet from head to heel sat bending his fingers gracefully together and looking at me His head was thrown back I have said and the lights of the colored windows striking on his gray hair and black skullcap caused him to look much more like some lean ascetic ecclesiastic and prince of the church than the chief lawyer of the ancient capital of the Wolfmark
You were present at this childs play yestereve in the hostel of the White Swan he asked boring into me with his uncomfortable triangular eyes
Aye truly said I and much they made of me
For since my father said that I was accounted a hero in this house I had determined not to hide away my deeds in my leathern scrip I had had enough practice in playing at modesty in the Tower of the Red Axe
Master Gerard shook his shoulders as though he would have made me believe that he laughed
You were over many for thorn I hear great silly fellows—children playing with fire yet afraid to burn themselves Why since ten this morning I have had them all here—stout burgomeisters sons slim scions of the Burghershaft moisteyed corporation children each more anxious than another to prove that he had nothing to do with any treason He had but called in at the White Swan for a draught of Frederikas famous stone ale and so—well he found himself somehow in the rear and all against his will was dragged into the Lair of the White Wolf
He looked at me quietly without speaking for a while
And you Master Hugo did you go thither to distinguish yourself by breaking up their childs folly or like the others to taste the stone ale
It was a question I had not expected But it was best to be very plain with Master Gerard
I went I replied along with Michael Texel because he asked me I knew not in the least what I was to see but I was ready for anything
And you acquitted yourself on the whole extremely well he nodded so at least they are all very ready to say hoping I doubt not for your good offices with the Duke when it comes to their turn You flouted them right manfully and defied their mystery they told me
At this moment I became conscious that a door opposite me was open and the curtain drawn a little way back There in the halflight I saw Mistress Ysolinde listening She leaned her head aside as though it had been heavy with its weight of locks of burned gold She pillowed her cheek against the doorpost and let her dreamy seagreen eyes rest upon me And the look that was in them gave me a sense of pleasure strange and acute as well as a restless uneasiness and vague desire to escape out under the blue sky and mingle with the throng of everyday men on the streets of the city
CHAPTER XI
THE VISION IS THE CRYSTAL
Master Gerard however did not seem to be aware of her presence for he continued his catechism steadily
You mocked at their terrors did you not and told them that you who had seen the teeth of the Dukes hounds had nothing to fear from the bare gums of the White Wolf
I knew that they but played I answered and that I had little to fear
For with Ysolinde von Sturm watching me with her eyes I could not for very shames sake make myself great
You told them more than that the girl cried suddenly flashing on me a look keen as the light on a sword when it comes home from the cutler You told them that you too desired a freer commonwealth
I did said I flushing quickly for I had thought to keep my thumb on that
Nevertheless I was not going back on my spoken word even in the presence of Duke Casimirs inquisitor Besides which I judged that my father had influence enough to bring me out scathless
That is well and bravely said he replied smiling with thin lips which in all their constant writhings showed no vestige of teeth within but the sentiment itself is somewhat strange in the son of the Red Axe and the future Executioner of Justice in the Wolfmark
Then for the first time I permitted my eyes to rest on the lithe figure of the girl in the doorway Methought she inclined her head a little forward to catch my answer as if it had been a matter of interest to her
I am indeed son of the Red Axe said I but my own head would underlie it rather than that I should ever be Hereditary Justicer of the Mark
A smile that was meant for me passed over the girls face and momently sweetened her lips She straightened her body and set a hand more easily to her waist A certain kindness dwelt in her emerald eyes
Never be Dukes Justicer cried Master Gerard looking up with his hand on a skull This is unheard of Are not you the only son of Gottfried Gottfried right hand of Duke Casimir highest in favor with his Grace And within two years according to the law of the headsman must you not also don the Red and the Black and stand at the Dukes left hand as your father at his right when he sits in judgment
I bowed my head for answer
Even so said I but long before that time I shall be either in a far country waging the wars of another lord or in a country yet farther—that to which the men of my race have directed so many untimeously
Have you at all thought of the land or the lord to whom you would transfer your allegiance said Gerard von Sturm carelessly rapping with his fingers on the bare white of the skull before him
I have not I replied as easily
He looked down a moment and drew his black robe thoughtfully over his knee as if turning the matter over in his mind What think you of Plassenburg and the service of Prince Karl he said at last
The place is too near and the man a usurper I replied brusquely
I am not so sure Master Gerard mused slowly that it might not be advantageous to bide near home Duke Casimir is mortal after all—long and prosperously may he live Here he inclined his head piously while naming his master But who knows how long he may be spared to reign over a loving people And after that why there may be more usurpers For by the name usurper the ignorant mostly mean men of the strong heart and sure brain who can hold that which they have with one hand and reach out for more with the other
While he spoke thus he looked at me with his green eyes half closed
But said I calmly enough though my heart beat fast I am but a lad untried I may never rise beyond a private soldier I may be killed at the first assault of my virgin campaign
Master Gerard looked up quickly He beckoned to his daughter For though by no faintest gesture had he betrayed his knowledge of her presence he had yet clearly known it all the time
Ysolinde he said bring hither thy crystal
The maid disappeared and presently returned with a ball in her hand of some substance which looked like misty glass
I have been looking in it already she said ever since Hugo Gottfried came out of the Red Tower
Her voice was soft and even with the same sough in it as of the wind among poplartrees which I had heard in the rustle of her silken dress as she came up the stair
And what asked her father have you seen in the crystal child of my heart
He looked up at me with some little shamefacedness or so I imagined
I am a dry old man of the law he went on dusty of heart as these black books up yonder—books not of magic but of fact, of crime and pain and penalty But this my daughter Ysolinde wise from a child solaces herself with the white innocent magic such as helps man and brings him nearer that which is unseen
The maid knelt by her fathers knee and held the crystal ball in the hollow of her hands against the sable of his velvet robe She passed one hand swiftly twice or thrice over her brow as though to clear away some cobwebs gossamer thin that had folded themselves across her vision Then in the same wistful windsoft voice she began to speak And as she spoke all that I had loved and known began to pass from before me I forgot my father I forgot the Red Tower I forgot God forgive me yet help it I could not the little Princess Playmate and her sweetest eyes I forgot all else save this lithe serpentine maiden with the massive crown of burned and tawny gold upon her head
I see she began a long street and many men struggling on it—the Wolf of the Wolfmark the Eagle of Plassenburg are face to face I see Red Karl the Prince The young Wolf has the better of it He bites his lip and drives hard The Prince is down He is wounded He is like to die The Wolf will drive all to destruction
But see— she sighed and paused the while as if that which she saw next touched her—from the swelter in the rear comes a young soldier He has lost his helmet I see his head It is a fair head with crisp curls He has a sword in his hand and he lays well about him He cuts a way to the Prince—he bestrides his body
Give way there scullions that I may see more she cried impetuously and waved her hand before her eyes which were fixed expressionless on the crystal I see him again Well done young soldier Valiantly laid on It is great swordplay Bravo The Wolf is down The Eagle of Plassenburg is up—I can see no more
And suddenly she dropped the ball which would have rolled off her fathers knee had he not caught it as it fell
Ysolinde kept her head on Master Gerards lap for a long minute as if after the vision of the crystal she could not bear the common light nor speak of meaner things Then without once looking at me she rose gathered her skirts in her hand and glided out of the doorway in which she had stood
When she was quite gone her father reached a bony hand across to me
That is a great fate which she has read for you—never have I seen her so moved nor yet her vision so clear and unmistakable Surely the sooner you seek the service of the Prince of Plassenburg the better
But said I how do I know that he will accept me He may not wish to retain in his service the son of the Red Axe of the Wolf mark
Master von Sturm smiled subtly at me
I cannot tell he said why it is that I have an interest in you But I desire to see you other than that which you are I have strange as it may seem in one of such humble degree here in the city of Thorn whom all may consult without fee or reward a certain influence and place in the councils of the reigning Prince of Plassenburg If therefore you will take service with him I can give you such an introduction as will guarantee you a place not as manatarms but as officer so that your way may lie before you clear from the first Also in this promotion you shall have a good sufficient reason to give those who may accuse you of changing your service
I could not answer him for gladness The hope seemed so unbelievable—the fortune too grateful to be true I was overcome and as I guess showed it in my face For twice I essayed to speak and could not
So that Master Gerard rose and glided over to me patting me kindly enough on the shoulders and bidding me take courage saying that he loved to see modesty in this untoward generation in which there was little virtue and no gratitude at all
So I grasped him by the hand and kissed his thin bony fingers
Bide ye bide ye he said one day I may kiss yours an you be active The wide spaces of Destiny lie before you though I shall not live to see it But you must bestir you for I am an old man and have not far to travel now to the place from which one leaps off into the dark
He conducted me to the door of his chamber and gave me his hand again with the same inscrutable smile on his thin face and his skullcap pushed farther back than ever over the flat ophidian brow
When you have all things ready he said come to me for the letter of introduction and also for that which may obtain you a worthy outfit for your journeying to Plassenburg Or if you are already Sir ProudHeart you can repay me one day with usury if you will I care not to stand on observances with you nor desire that you should feel any obligation to a feeble old man
I am not proud I said and my sense of obligation is already greater than ever I can hope to discharge
I thank you my lad he said Often have I wished for a son of the flesh like you as you passed the window with your companions—but go go
And with his hand he pushed me out upon the stairhead and shut the door
For a space I knew not where I stood For what with the turmoil of my thoughts and the myriad of impressions hopes fears visions regrets to leave the Red Tower the city of Thorn the hope of seeing again that highpoised head of burned gold of the Lady Ysolinde I paused stockstill moidered and dazed till a light hand touched me on the shoulder and the soft even voice spoke in my ear
Master Hugo said the Lady Ysolinde bending kindly to me I am glad very glad—aye though you have made my head ache here she nodded blamefully and laid her hand upon her heart as if that ached too—it is the best of fortunes and sure to come true Because have I seen it at six oclock of a Thursday in the time of full moon
Come hither she said beckoning me we shall try another way of it yet in spite of the headache It may be that there is more that concerns you for me to see in the inkpool
With this she took my hand and almost pulled me down the stairs by force As we went I saw the wild head and staring eyeballs of Jan the Lubber Fiend peering at us He was lying on the back staircase prone on his stomach apparently extending from top to bottom down the swirl of it and with his chin poised on the topmost step But as we came down the stair the head seemed to be wholly detached from any body The red ears actually flapped with mirthful pleasure and anticipation at the sight of the Lady Ysolinde and no man could see both the beginning and end of that smile
Lubber Jan said she go and sit in the yard The servants will be complaining of thee again that they cannot come up the staircase even as they did before
Then if I do mumbled the monster will you look out of window at least once in each hour between every stroke of the clock Else will Jan not stop in the yard but come within to feast his eyes on thee
Yes Jan she said smiling with a gentle complaisance which made me like her somewhat better than before I will look out at least once in the hour
And turning a little she smiled again at me still holding me by the hand The Lubber Fiend pulled his forelock and reaching downward his head as if he had the power of stretching out his neck like an arm he kissed the cold pavement where her foot had rested a moment before Then he rather retracted himself serpentwise then betook him in Christian fashion down the stair and we heard him move out amid a babel of servatorial recriminations into the outer yard
A poor innocent said the Lady Ysolinde one that worships me as you see He is so great of stature and so uncouth that the children persecute him and some day he may do one of them an injury Years ago I rescued him from an evil pack of them and brought him hither So that is the reason why he cleaves to me
An excellent reason my lady said I for any to cleave to you
Ah she said wistfully only fools think of Ysolinde in the city of Thorn Some are afraid and pass by and the rest are as the dogs that lick the garbage in the streets Here I have no friends save my father only and here or elsewhere I have never had any that truly loved me
But you are young—you are fair I answered Many must come seeking your favor Thus did I begin lumpishly enough to comfort her But at my first words she snatched her fingers away angrily and then in a moment relented
You mean well she said giving her hand back to me again but it is not pity Ysolinde needs nor yet desires But that is no matter Come in hither and see what may abide for you in the depths of the black pool
At the curtained doorway she turned and looked me in the eyes
If you were as other young men it would be easy for you to misjudge me This is mine own workchamber and I bid you come into it having seen you but an hour ago Yet never a man save my father only hath set his foot in it before Inquire carefully of your companions in the city of Thorn and if any make pretension to acquaintance with the Lady Ysolinde of the White Gate strike him in the face and call him liar for the sake of the favor I have shown you and the vision I saw concerning you in the crystal
I stooped and kissed her hand which was burning hot—a thin little hand with long supple fingers which bent in ones grasp
The man who would pretend to such a thing is dead even as he speaks said I and I meant it fully
I thank you—it is well she answered leading me in I only desired that you should not misjudge me
That could I never do if I would I made her answer Here my every thought is reverence as in the oratory of a saint
She smiled a strange smile
Mayhap that is rather more than I desire she said Say rather in the maiden bower of a woman who knows well whom she may trust
Again I kissed her hand for the correction And as I remembered afterwards it was at that hour that the little Princess Playmate was used to look within my chamber to see that all was ready for me
And had I known it even that night she stooped over and kissed the pillow where my head was to lie
Dear love she was used to say
Alas that I heard it not then
CHAPTER XII
EYES OF EMERALD
It was a strange little room into which the Lady Ysolinde brought me full of quaint changeful scents and all ablaze with colors the like of which I had never seen For not only were rugs and mats of outlandish Eastern design scattered over the floor but there was vividly colored glass in the small deeply set windows Yet that which affected me most powerfully was a curious clinging evanescent odor which came and went like a breeze through an open window I liked it at first but after a little it went to my head like a perfumed wine of Greece such as the men of Venice sometimes send to our northern lands with their embassies of merchandise
Altogether it was a strange enough apartment for the daughter of a lawyer in the city of Thorn within a mile of the bare feudal strengths of the Red Tower and the Wolfsberg
All this while Ysolinde had kept my hand a thing which at once thrilled and shamed me For though I had never been what is called in love with the Little Playmate nor till that day had spoken a word to her my father might not have heard yet hitherto she had always been first and sole in my heart whenever I thought on the things which were to be
The Lady Ysolinde having brought me to her chamber bade me sit upon an oaken foldingstool beside a table on which lay weapons of curious design—crooked knives and poisoned arrows Then she went to an ivory cupboard of the Orient or as they are called in Holy Writ an ivory palace and opening the beautifully fitting door she took from it a small square bottle of red glass which she held between her and the light
It is well she said looking long and carefully at it it will flow
And coming to the table and pouring some of a shining black liquid into the palm of her left hand she sat down beside me on the stool and gazed steadily into the little pool of ink
It was strange to me to sit thus motionless beside a beautiful woman for such I then thought her—so near that I could feel the warmth of her body strike like sunshine through the silken fineness of her seagreen gown I glanced up at her eyes They were fixed and as it seemed glazed also But the emerald in them usually dark as the seadepths had opal lights in it and her lips moved like those of a devotee kneeling in church
Presently she began to speak
Hugo—Hugo Gottfried son of the Red Axe she said in the same hushed voice as before most like running water heard murmuring in a deep runnel underground you will live to be a man fortunate wellbeloved You will know love—yes more than one shall love you But you will love one only I see the woman on whom your fate depends yet not clearly—it may be because my desire is so great to see her face But she is tall and moves like a queen She goes clad in white like a bride and her arms are held out to you
But another shall love you and between them two there is darkness and hate from which come bursting clouds of fire bringing forth lightnings and angers and deadly jealousies
Again I see you great honored and sitting on a high seat The woman whose face I cannot distinguish is beside you clothed in a robe of purple And yes she wears a crown on her head like the coronet of a queen
Ysolinde withdrew her eyes gradually from the inkpool as if it were a pain to look yet a greater to look away Then with a quick jerk she threw up her head and tears were standing in her eyes ready to overflow But the wetness made them beautiful like a pebble of bright colors with the dew upon it and shone on by the sunshine of the morning
You hurt me she murmured reproachfully looking at me more like a child than ever I had seen her She was very near to me
I make you suffer cried I greatly astonished How can Hugo Gottfried have done this thing
For it seemed impossible that a poor lad and one alien by his birth from the hearts of ordinary folk should yet have the power to make a great lady suffer For a great lady I knew Ysolinde to be even then when her father seemed to be no more in the city of Thorn than Master Gerard the fount and treasurehouse of law and composergeneral of quarrels
But I might have known that he was no true lawyer to be so eager about that last For upon the continuance and fostering of differences the lawmen of all nations thrive and eat their bread with honey thereto
As my father often said Better the stroke of the Red Axe than that of the scriveners goosequill My solution is kindlier sooner over hurts less and is all the same in the end
Ysolinde thought a little before she answered me
No man ever made me suffer thus before she said though I have seen and known many men I am older than you Hugo and have travelled in many countries the lands from which these things came But true love the pain and the pleasure of it have I never known
She leaned her head on her hand and her elbow on the table turning thus to look long and intently at me I felt oafish and awkward as Jan Lubber Fiend might have done before the King Many things I might have wished to say and do with that slender figure and lissome waist so near me But I knew not how to begin Yet I think the desire came not so much from love or passion but rather from a natural longing to explore those mysteries concerning which I had read so much after Friar Laurence had done me the service of teaching me French But it was well that stupidity was my friend For rebounding like a vain upstart young monkey from my mood of self-depreciation I must needs hold it for certain that all was within my grasp and that the Lady Ysolinde expected as much of me which thing would have wrought my downfall
Yon ride soon to Plassenburg I hear she said after she had looked at me a long time steadily with the emerald eyes shining upon me Then it was that I saw clearly that they were not the right emerald in hue so much as of the shade of the stone aquamarine which is one not so rare but a better color when it comes to the matter of maidens eyes
It is indeed true my lady I replied disappointed at her words and yet somehow infinitely relieved that I ride soon to Plassenburg by the favoring of your father who has been gracious enough to promise me his interest with the Prince
I saw her lip curl a little with scorn—the least tilt of a rose leaf to which the sun has been unkind
She seemed about to speak but presently thinking better of it smiled instead
It is like my father she said after a little but since I also go thither you shall be of my escort A sufficient guard accompanies me all the way to the city and I dare say the arrangement may serve your convenience as well as add to the pleasure and safety of my journeying
But how will your father do without your company Lady Ysolinde I asked For it seemed strange that father and daughter should thus part without reason in these disturbed times
She laughed more heartily than I had heard her
My father has been used to missing me for months at a time and moreover is well resigned also But you do not say that you are rejoiced to be of a ladys escort in so long a travel
Indeed I am much honored and glad to have so great a favor done to me I am but a mannerless landward youth to have been bred in the outer courts of a palace But that which I do not know you will teach me and my faults I shall be eager to amend
Pshaw—psutt said Ysolinde making a little face be not so mockmodest You do very well But tell me if you have any sweetheart in the city to leave behind you
Now this bold question at once reddened my face and heightened my confusion
Nay lady I stammered conscious that I was blushing furiously I am overyoung to have thought much of the things of love I know no woman in the city save our old housekeeper Hanne and the Little Playmate
The Lady Ysolinde looked up quickly
Ah the Little Playmate she said in a low voice curiously distinct from that which she used when she had interpreted her visions to me The Little Playmate That sounds as though it might be interesting Who is the Little Playmate
She is a maid whose folks were slain long ago by the Duke in a foray and the little one being left my father begged her life And she has been brought up with me in the Red Tower
How old is she now The Lady Ysolindes next question leaped out like the flash of a dagger from its sheath
That answered I meditatively I know not exactly because none could tell how old she was when she came to us
Tut she said impatiently tossing her head do not twist your answers to me—only wise men and courtiers have the skill to do that and hide it As yet you are neither Is she ten or is she twenty or is she midway betwixt the two
I think she may be a matter of seventeen years of age
Is she pretty was the next question
No said I not knowing well what to say
Her face cleared as she heard that and then in a little her eyes being still bent steadily on me reading my very heart it clouded over again
You think her not merely pretty then but beautiful she asked
I nodded
More beautiful than I
Fore God I denied not my love though I own I have many a time been less tempted and yet have lied back and forth like a Frankfort Jew
Yes said I I think so
You love her then said the Lady Ysolinde rising quickly to her feet and you told me that you loved none in this city
I love her indeed I said She is my little sister As you mean love I do not love her But I love her notwithstanding All my life I have never thought of doing anything else And that she is beautiful all who have eyes in their head may see
This appeased her somewhat I think it must have been looking for my fortune in the crystal and the inkpool that made her so eager to know all that concerned me—which none had ever been so importunate to find out before
I must come and see this Little Playmate of yours she said It is an illdone thing that so fair a maid should be shut up in the tower of such a pagan castle—the Wolfsberg it is indeed well named Word has reached me today that the Princess of Plassenburg has need of a bower maiden Now the Princess can make her choice from many noble families But if the Little Playmate be as beautiful as you say tis high time that she should not be left immured in the Red Tower of the Wolfsberg True the Duke like a careful man neither makes nor mells with womankind Tis his only virtue But any questing Ritterling or roaring free companion might bear her off
I think not said I smiling so long as the Red Axe of the Mark has a polished edge and Gottfried Gottfried can send it sheer through an oxs neck as he stands chewing the cud
I hardly think that I ever boasted of my fathers prowess before And indeed I had some skill in the axeplay myself but only in the way of sport
All one said Ysolinde Your father like great Caesar and Duke Casimir is but mortal and may stumble across the wooden stump some day himself and find his neckbone in twain None so wise that he can tell when the Silent Rider shall meet him in the wood leading by the bridle the pale horse whose name is Death and beckoning him to mount and ride
The Lady Ysolinde paused a while touching her lips thoughtfully with her fingers
Let your Playmate come she said There is room I warrant for her and you both at Plassenburg You shall keep each other company when you have the homesickness and on the journey she can ride with us side by side
Then going to the curtain she summoned the servitor who had first opened the door for me He bowed before the girl with infinite respect She bade him conduct me upon my way I will not deny that I had hoped for a tenderer leavetaking But all at once she seemed to have slipped back into the great lady again and to be desirous of setting me in my own sphere and station ere I went lest perchance I should presume overmuch upon her favors
Yet not altogether so For relenting a little as I turned to leave her she stood holding the curtain aside for me to pass and as it had been by accident in dropping it her fingers rested a moment against my cheek Then the heavy curtain of blue fell into its place and I found myself following the eminently respectable domestic of Master Gerard down the stairs
At the outer door but before he opened it the man put a sealed packet in my hand
From Doctor Gerard von Sturm he said bowing respectfully yet with a certain sense of being a party in a favor conferred
I thrust the letter into my inner pocket and went out into the street The sun was still shining yet somehow I felt that it must be another day another world The houses seemed hard and dry the details of the architecture insufferably mean and insultingly familiar I longed with all my heart to get away from Thorn into the new world which had opened to me—a world of perfumes and flowers and flowerlike scents and Oriental marvels of low voices too and the touching of soft hands upon cheeks
In all the world of young men there was no greener or more simple Simon
than I Hugo Gottfried as playing a tune on the pipe of my own conceit
I marched up the High Street of Thorn to the entrance gate of the
Wolfsberg
The Little Playmate was standing at the door as I approached sweet as a June rose When she saw me she went into the sittingroom to show that she had not yet forgiven me Though I think by this time as was often the way with Helene she had forgotten almost what was the original matter of my offending
But I pretended to be careless and heartfree And so—God forgive me—I went whistling up the steps of the Red Tower to my room without so much as looking within the chamber where my Little Playmate had withdrawn herself
Which thing I suffered grievously for or all was done And an excellent dispensation of Providence it had been if I had lost my right hand all for making that little heart sore or so much as one tear drop from those deep gray eyes
CHAPTER XIII
CHRISTIANS ELSA
It was about this time and after we had made our quarrel up that Helene began to call me Great Brother After all there is manifest virtue in a name and the Little Playmate seemed to find great comfort in thus addressing me
And after that I had called her Little Sister once or twice she was greatly assured and treated me quite differently having ascertained that between young men and women there is the utmost safety in such a relationship
And as all ways were alike to me I was willing enough For indeed I loved her and none other and so did all the days of my life Though I know that my actions and conceits were not always conformable to the true love that was in my heart neither wholly worthy of my dear maid
But then what would you Nineteen and the follies of ones youth The mercy of God rather than any virtue in me kept these from being not only infinitely more numerous but infinitely worse Yet I had better confess them such as they are in this place For it was some such nothings as those which follow that first brought Helene and me into one way of thinking though by paths very devious indeed
To begin with the earliest There was a maid who dwelt in the Tower of the Wolfsberg opposite called the Tower of the Captain of the Guard And the maids name was Elsa or as she was ordinarily called Christians Elsa She was a comely maid enough and greatly taken notice of And when I went to my window to con over my task for Friar Laurence there at the opposite window would be—strange that it should always he so—Christians Elsa She was a little girl short and plump but with merry eyes and so bright a stain upon either cheek that it seemed as if she had been eating raspberry conserve and had wiped her fingers upon the smiling plumpness there
At any rate as sure as ever I betook me to the window there would be
Christians Elsa busy with her needles
And to tell truth I misliked it not greatly Why indeed should I For there is surely no harm in looking across twenty yards of space at a maid and as little in the maid looking at you—that is if neither of you come any nearer Besides it is much pleasanter to look at a pretty lass than at a vacant wall and twenty yards of uneven cobblestones
Now the girl was harmless enough—a red and white maid plump as a partridge in the end of harvest She was forever humming at songs singing little choruses and inventing of new melodies all tunefully and prettily enough And she would bring her dulcimer to the window and play them over nodding her head to the instrument as she sang
It was pleasant to watch her For sometimes when the music refused to run aright she would frown at the dulcimer as if the discord had been entirely its fault and it was old enough to know better Then sometimes she would look across abstractedly to the Red Tower trying to recall a strain she had forgotten with her finger all the while making the most bewitching dimple on her plump cheek It was most sweet and innocent to see And withal so entirely unconscious that any one could possibly be observing her
I confess that I sat often and conned my book by the window long after I knew my portion by heart in order to watch her deft fingers upon the dulcimer sticks and the play of her dimples But on my part also this was in all innocence and wholly thoughtless of guile
Then would I be taken with a spasm of desire to play upon the recorders or the Bavarian single flute and would pester my father to let me learn
Now I never had any more ear for music than a deal board that has knotholes in it I had ears indeed But the clatter of the millwheel and the lapper of water on the stones of the shore were ever better music to me than singing or playing upon instruments Nevertheless at this time for some reason or other I was in a great fret to learn
And curiously enough my desire made the Little Playmate call me Great
Brother more assiduously than ever Though again I knew not why
But Christians Elsa she could not abide either sight or mention of Which was passing strange in so sweet and charitable a maid as our Helene Also the girl at the guardhouse was a good daughter besides being particular of her company and in that garrison place untouched by any breath of scandal
But no Helene would have none of her
Feech she would say making a little grimace of disgust which she had brought with her from her northern home that noisy mewling cat purring and stroking her face in the window I cannot abide her I know not what some folks can see in her There are surely more kinds of blindness than of those that wait about kirk doors with a board hung round their necks saying Good people for the love of God put a copper in this wooden platter
Why Little Playmate what ails thee at the maid She is a good maid enough and I am sure a pretty one
So would I say to try her Whereat the lass being slender herself and with a head that sat easily on her shoulders would walk off like the haughty little Princess she was and thrust her chin so far forward that even the pretty round of it bespoke a pointed scorn And the poutlets would come and go on her red lips so quickly that I would come from the window leaving my book and Christians Elsa and a thousand Elsas just to watch them
So Great Brother Helene would say you think she is pretty do you Tis interesting for sure As for me I see not anything pretty about her Now there is Katrin Texel she is pretty if you like What say you to her
And this was because the minx knew well that I never could abide Katrin Texel a girl all running to seed like a shot stalk of rhubarb who would end up in the neighborhood of six foot in height and just that fine figure of a woman which I never could abide
Feech I would say copying her Wendish expression I would as soon set my feather bolster on end paint it black and white and make love to it as to Katrin Texel
You do worse every day of your life retorted Helene with pretty spite tapping the floor with the point of one delicate foot
And pray what do I that is worse I said knowing full well what
The Little Playmate was silent a minute only continuing to tap the flags with a kind of naughtiness that became her
Katrin Texel would not look at you charming as you think yourself she said at last
Did she tell you so Little Sister said I drawing a bow at a great venture
The arrow struck and I was content
Well she answered somewhat breathlessly what if she did Surely even your vanity can take nothing out of a girl saying that she cannot abide you
But I answered nothing to this only stroked the mustache which was beginning to thrive admirably on my upper lip
Of all the— began Helene looking at me fixedly Then she stopped
Well said I pausing in the caressing of my chin what do I worse every day than make love to Katrin Texel
Her eyes fairly sparkled fire at me They were sweetest eyes no more but rarely worth looking into all the same
You go ogling and staring at that little shecat in the window over there that screeches and becks and pats herself all for showing off And you Hugo Gottfried like a great oaf thinking all the time how innocent and sweet and—oh I have no patience with you—to neglect and think nothing of—of Katrin Texel and—and then to go gazing and gaping after a thing like that
And I declare there were tears in the Little Playmates eyes
Dear Little Sister why are you so mindful about Katrin Texel said I Faith my lass wait till she comes again and I will court her to your hearts content There—there—I will be a very Valentines true lover to your Katrin
For all that she was not greatly cheered but edged away still strangely disconsolate when I came near and tried to pet her Mysterious and hidden are the ways of women For once when I would have put my hand about her pretty slender waist she promptly took me by the wrist and holding it at armslength she dropped it from her with a disgustful curl of her lip as if it had been an intruding spider she had perforce to put forth out of her chamber into the garden
Yet formerly upon occasion when as it might be she was reading or looking out of the window if I but came behind her and called her Little Sister I might even put my hand upon her shoulder and so stand for five minutes at a time and she never seem to notice it
CHAPTER XIV
SIR AMOROUS IS PLEASED WITH HIMSELF
For as I say women have curious ways and there are a good many of them recorded in this book And yet more I have observed which I cannot find room for in a chronicle of so many sad and bad and warlike happenings But none of them all is more notable than this—that women or at least for it is no use saying women every one being different in temper though like as pease in some things many women will permit that which it suits them to be oblivious of when if you ask them for permission or make a favor of the matter they will promptly flame skyhigh with indignation So my advice to the young man who honestly goes acourting is to keep talking earnestly to occupy his mistresss attention withal and progress in her favors during the abstractions of high discourse
Of course in this as in all other similar enterprises Sir Amorous must have a certain tradingstock of favor to start with But if he have this much tis not difficult to increase it by honest endeavor and as it were the sweat of his brain So at least I am told by those who have proved it Nevertheless for myself I have used no such nice refinements but rather taken with thankfulness such things as came in my way
And now when I look back over my paper—lord what a pother of writing about it and about But my excuse is that many young lads and gay bachelors will read this tale so I desire to import what of instruction I can into it And not having the learning of the clerks I must een put in what wisdom I have gotten for myself in my passage through the world For I never could plough with another mans heifer—least of all with that of a collegebred Mess John Not but what Mess John knoweth somewhat of the lear of love also among the wellfavored dames of the city Or else by my faith Mess John is sorely belied
But where was I in my tale And if this present errant discourse be forgiven surely I will not transgress again but drive my team straight to the furrows end and then back again like an honest ploughman that has his eye ever upon the guidepoles on the windy ridge
Well the Little Playmate lifted a toad from her waist—I mean my hand—and dropped it as far from her as her arm would reach
And then after that she ran upstairs slammed the door of her own chamber and came not down to our nooning so that old Hanne had to call her three times
And once when I had occasion to cross the courtyard to the guardhouse I saw her standing pensively by the window But so soon as she saw me she vanished within and was seen no more
Yet indeed and indeed as all may see there was no cause for all this fret For I cared no more about Christians Elsa than about Christian himself—less indeed for Christian was a good soldier and masteratarms and taught me how to handle the matchlock the pistolet and the other new weapons that had begun to come in from France And often upon Saturdays and wet days he would let me spend long mornings in the armory with him oiling and cleaning the ordnance Which it certainly was a great pleasure to do
And what if the little dumpling Elsa with her red cheeks and her babyish eyes did run in and out Her father was ever with us and even had I been willing there was no opportunity for more than a word or a touch of her fingers—well save once when her father went himself to seek the bottle of oil she had been sent to fetch and was some time in finding it But even that was a mere nothing and might have happened to any one
But when I came home again that night you would have thought that the whole happening had been printed legibly on my face The Little Playmate would not let me come within a hundred miles of her And it was Keep your distance sirrah Not perhaps said in words but expressed as clearly by the warlike angle of an arm the contumelious hitch of a shoulder or the scornful sweep of an adverse skirt
And all about nothing Mighty Hector I never saw such things as women
And yet in her good moments she would call me Great Brother and tell me that she thought only of my future welfare desiring that I should not compromise myself in any entanglement with such as were not worthy of me Oh a most wise and prudent counsellor was the Playmate in these days
And I used ever to say Helene when I am truly in love I will een bring her here to you and by my faith if you approve not—why there is an end of the matter Back she goes to her mother like a parcel of returned goods—aye if she were the Kaisers daughter herself
Whereat she pouted and was not illpleased
Ah my man she would reply after a girl hath said you nay a time or two it will bring you down from these high notions and be much for your souls final good
But yet when I could keep her in goodhumor it was exceedingly sweet to bide quietly in the house with the Little Playmate—far better than to gad about with Texels and meandering fools which indeed I did oftentimes just because it made my little lass so full of moods and tenses—like one of Friar Laurences irregular verbs in his cursed Humanities For there is nothing so variously delightful as a woman when she is half in love and half out of it—more interesting say some though less delightful than when she is all and whole in love Nevertheless there are exceptions and one woman at least I know more various and more delicious also since loves ocean hath gone over her head than ever she was when like a timid bather she shivered on the brink or made little fearful plunges as it were kneedeep and so ran out again
But I am not come to that in the story yet
Well on the afternoon of the next day who should come to the house in the Red Tower but our Helenes gossip for this week at least her bosom friend Katrin Texel She was even more impressive in manner than ever and also a little pleasanter to behold For her angles were clothing themselves into curves and she was learning perhaps from the Little Playmate to leave off bouncing into a room like a cow at the trot and to walk in sedately instead Byandby I knew she would come sailing down the street like a towered galleon from the isles of Ind For all that she looked not ill—an academic study for Juno one might say But to make love to—why as Helene was wont to remark Feech
And the curious thing about Katrin Texel was that though her corporeal part might be a direct inheritance from her Burgomeister father and his substantial brewery her spirit had been designed for an artful fairy of half her size in order that it might go pirouetting into airy realms of the imagination For she was gay enough and lightsome enough in her demeanor She came in with a skip which would have been entrancing in some elfish mignonne who could dance lightfoot on spring flowers without crushing them But when this our solid Burgomagisterial Katrin tripped in it nearly drove me wild with mirth For it was as if some bland maternal cow out of the pasture had skipped with a hop and a circle of flying skirts into a ballroom or a butterfly of two hundred pounds weight had taken to flitting from flower to flower
And this Katrin talked in a quick light voice with ups and downs and skips and quivers in it as springheeled as a chamois goat on the mountains of the south
Ah Tinychen she would cry as she came undulating and cooing in to our Helene is it you dearest Tis as sweet to see you as for birds to kiss on bough I have danced all day in the sunshine just to think that I should come to see you And tell me why you have not been to visit me Ah bad one—cruelest—as cruel as she is pretty appealing to me is she not And there our Michael great oaf sits at home desolated that he does not hear her foot on the stairs The foolish fellow tells me that he listens for four little pitapats every time that I come up from the courtyard and is disappointed when there come back only my poor two
And Katrin becked and nodded and set her head to the side—like to the divine IoCow playing at being little Jenny Wren
And as for me I kept my gravity—or rather how could I lose it hearing such nonsense about that great stupid beervat Michael Texel
Michael Texel indeed I should admire to hear of Michael Texel so much as raising his eyes to the Little Playmate Why I would stave him on the open street like a puncheon of eight and think nothing of the doing of it
Michael Texel indeed
But I am forgetting My business at this time was to make love to Katrin so that I might banish the ill impression which Helene had formed concerning that pleasant harmless little Christians Elsa over there I never heard anything so foolish in my life But then what women will think and say passes the imagination of man
Michael Texel indeed
The thought of that young man of beef and beer recurred so persistently and forcibly to me that for a time I could scarce command myself to speak civilly to his sister Though of course she was quite different being a woman and informed with such a quick and dainty spirit that at times it seemed as it had been imprisoned in her too massive frame and held in subjection to the flesh as the clerics say God wot I never knew I had so much religion and morality about me till I came to write If I do not have a care this tale of mine will turn out almost as painful as a book of devotion which they set children to read on saints days to keep them from being overhappy
But I subdued my feelings and drew up somewhat nearer to Katrin
My Little Sister— so I began cunningly as I thought—my sister Helene is indeed fortunate to have so fair a friend and one so devoted—
As my brother Michael yes she twittered with her most ponderous cagebird manner yes indeed he is devoted to her
No said I hastily confound the great hulking camel I mean such a faithful friend as yourself I alas have no friend I am cut off from all society of my kind Often and often have I felt the weight of loneliness press heavy upon me in this darksome tower
I saw Helene rise go to the window and glance across with such a peculiar smile that I knew as well as if I had seen her that Christians Elsa was at her window with her music looking across for me between each bar I cannot describe the smile which hovered on the face of the Little Playmate But perhaps all the male beings who read my book may have seen something like it All that I can say is that the smile conveyed an almost superhuman understanding of men and their little ways and curiously enough something of contempt too
But I was not going to be discouraged by any smile acid or sweet
Besides I had something still to pay back
Michael Texel indeed—faith by St Blaise I will Texel him tightly an he comes sneaking to our gate
So again I drew yet nearer to his sister Katrin dimpled and showed her teeth with a smile like the sun going about the world till I had almost put my hand behind her shoulders to catch the ends of it when it got round This illumination almost finished me for it was not the kind of smile I had been accustomed to from—well that was not the business I was on at present
CHAPTER XV
THE LITTLE PLAYMATE SETTLES ACCOUNTS
But I admit that the smile discouraged me Nevertheless I proceeded gallantly
Ah Jungfrau Texel said I you cannot know how your presence brightens our lives here in the Red Tower Wherefore will you not come oftener to our grim abode
I thought that on the whole pretty well but looking up at Helene I saw that her smile so different from that of the IoCow Katrin had become a whole volume of scathing satire God wot it is not easy to make love to a lass when your Little Sister is listening—especially to a womanmountain set on watchsprings like Katrin Texel
But after all Katrin was no ways averse to lovemaking of any kind which after all is the main thing And as for the Little Playmate I did not mind her a bonnettag She had brought it upon herself
Michael Texel indeed
So I went on It was excellent sport—such a jest as may not be played every day I would show Mistress Helene so I said to myself whether she would like it any better if I made love to Katrin than if I went over on an occasional wet day to clean pistolets and oil French musketoons in Christians guardhouse
So I began to tell Katrin how that woman was the sacredest influence on the life of men with other things as I could recollect them out of a book of chivalry which I had been reading the fine sentiments of which it was a pity to waste For our Helene would have stamped her foot and boxed my ears for coming nigh her with such nonsense that is at this time she would doubtless—not however always And as for the lass over the way—Christians Elsa—she knew no more of letters than her father knew of the mathematics Plain kissing was more in her way—as I have been told
So I aired my book of chivalry to Katrin Texel
Fair maid said I have you heard the refrain of the song that I love so well It is like sweet music to me to hear it I love sweet music This is the latest catch
My true love hath my heart and I have his
How goes it Helene I asked turning to her as she stood smiling bitterly by the window For I knew that it would annoy her to be referred to Goes it not something like this
And I hummed fairly enough
My true love hath my heart and I have his
And if it goes like that said she quickly it goeth like a tomcat
mollrowing on the tiles in the middle of the night
Now this being manifestly only spiteful I took no notice of her work Helene does not love good music said I tis her only fault But I trust that you dear Katrin have a greater taste for angelic song
And I trust you love to scratch upon the twangling zither as cats sharpen their claws upon the bark of trees You love such music dear Katrin do you not cried Helene over her shoulder from the window
But Katrin the divine cow knew not what to make of us I think she was of the opinion that Helene and I with much study upon books had suddenly gone mad
I do indeed love music she said at last uncertainly but Master Hugo not the kind of which my gossip Helene speaks I love best of all a ballad of love sung sweetly and with a melting expression as from a lover by the wall to his mistress aloft in the balcony like that of him of Italy who sings
O words that fall like summer dew on me
How goes it
O breath more sweet than is the growing—the growing—
She paused and waved her hand as if to summon the words from the empty air
The growing garlic if it be a lover of Italy cried Helene still more spitefully This is enough and to spare of chivalry besides which Hugo hath his lessons to learn for Friar Laurence or else he will repent it on the morrow Come sweetheart let us be going I will een convoy thee home
So she spoke making great ostentation of her own superiority and emancipation from learning treating me as a lad that must learn his hornbook at school
But I was even with her for all that
And so farewell then dear Mistress Katrin said I The delicate pleasure of your presence shall be followed by the still more tender remembrance which when you are gone my heart shall continue to cherish of you
That was indeed wellminded A whole sentence out of my romancebook without a single slip Katrin bowed with the airy grace of the Grand Dukes monument out in the square But the little Helene swept majestically off muttering to herself but so that I could hear her O wondrous most wondrous quoth our cat Mall when she saw her Tom betwixt her and the moon
The application of which wise saw is indeed to seek
So the two maids went away and I betook me to the window to see if I could catch a glimpse of Christians Elsa
But I only saw Katrin and Helene going gossiping down the street with their heads very close together
At first I smiled well pleased to think how excellently I had played my cards and how daintily I had worked in those gallant speeches out of the book of chivalry But byandby it struck me that the Little Playmate was absent a most unconscionable time Could it be—Michael Texel No that at least was plainly impossible
I got up and walked about Then for a change I paused by the window
I had stood a good while thus moodily looking out at the casement when I became aware of two that walked slowly up the street and halted together before the great ironstudded door which led to the Red Tower
By the thirty thousand virgins—Helene and Michael Texel
And then indeed what a coil was I in how blackly deceitful I called her How keenly I watched for any token of understanding and kindness more than ordinary that might chance to pass between them But I could see none for though the great soft lout of a ruddy beervat tried often to look under the brim of her hat yet she kept her eyes down—only once that I could observe raising them and that was more towards the Red Tower than in the direction of Michael Texel
I think she wished to see whether I was watching And when she had noted me it I wot well that she became much more animated and laughed and spoke quickly with color in her cheeks and a flash of defiance on her countenance which were manifestly wasted on such a boastful callow blubbertun as Michael Texel
Then it was Adieu to you Master Texel Farewell to you fair maid
And Helene dipped a courtesy to him dainty and sweet enough to conquer an angel while the great jellybag shook himself almost to pieces in his eagerness to achieve a masterly bow All this made me angry not that I cared though Helene had coquetted with a dozen lads an it had liked her It was only the poverty of taste shown in being seen in the open High Street of Thorn along with such an oaf as Michael Texel He had first been my friend it is true but then at that time I had not found him out
Byandby Helene came up the stairs tripping light as a feather that the wind blows Perhaps though she had turned in the doorway where I could not see her to throw the lout a kiss—so I thought within me jealously
You have convoyed your gossip Katrin home in safety I trust said I sweetly as she came in
Yes said she but I fear she has left her heart behind her So wondrously rapid a courtship never did I see
Save on the street answered I and with a pale soft jackpudding like Michael Texel That was a sight indeed
At which Helene laughed a merry little laugh—wellpleased too the minx as I could see
What are courtships on the street to you Sir Hugo she returned with your TwinkleTwankle singingwomen over the way and—Lord how went it
My true love hath my heart and I have his
Ha ha Sir Gallant what need you with more Would you have as many loves as the Grand Turk and invent new lovemakings for each of them Shall we maidens petition Duke Casimir to banish the other lads of the town and leave only Hugo Gottfried for all of us
And then she went on to other such silly talk that I think it not worth reporting
Whereupon I was about to leave the room in a transport of just indignation and that without speaking when Helene called to me
Hugo she said very softly as she alone could speak and that only when it liked her to make friends
I turned me about with some dignity but knowing in my heart that it was all over with me
Well what may be your will madam said I
Helene came towards me with uplifted petitionary eyes
You are not going to be angry with me Hugo she said And she lifted her eyes again upon me—irresistible compelling solvent of dignities and able to break down all pride
O all ye men who have never seen my Helene look up thus at you—but only common other eyes go and hang yourselves on high trees for very envy Well as I say Helene looked up at me She kept on looking up at me
And I—well I hung a moment on my pride and then—clasped her in my arms
Dear minx thrice wicked one I exclaimed wherefore do you torment me—break my heart
Because said she escaping as soon as she had gained her pretty rascal way you think yourself so clever Hugo such an irresistible person that you must be forever returning to this window and getting this book of chivalry by heart Now you are going to be cross again Oh shame and with your little sister—
That never did you any harm
But killed the mice in your fathers barn
With such babyish words she talked the frowns off my face or when they would not go fast enough hastened them by reaching up and smoothing them away with her finger
Now she said setting her head to the side what a nice sweet Great
Brother Let him sit down here on the great chair
So I sat down well pleased enough not knowing what mischief the pranksome maid had now in her head but judging that the matter might turn out well for me
Then Helene stole round to the back of the chair and taking me by the ears she gave first one and then the other of them a pull
That she said pulling the right is for listening to the little cat over the way that squalls on the tiles And that giving the other a sound tug is for being a dandiprat when my gossip Katrin was here
She paused a moment as if to summon courage and then she stooped quickly and kissed me on the neck
And that for Michael Texel she cried and ran out of the room before I could get clear of the wide arms of the chair and so run after and catch her
She turned in the doorway and wafted me a kiss from her fingertips airily and a little mockingly
That for Hugo Gottfried she said and was off to her own chamber with the froufrou of a light skirt the slam of a door and the shooting of a bolt
And after all this it was hearts pity that ever anything should have come between us again even for a moment
Though indeed it was but for a moment
CHAPTER XVI
TWO WOMEN—AND A MAN
It was the forenoon of a Sunday a dull sleepy time in all countries and one difficult to get overpast I was as usual busy with my accoutrement recently bought with the loan of Master Gerard The Little Playmate was just returned from the cathedral and had indeed scarcely laid her finery aside when there came a loud knocking at the outer gate of the Red Tower Then one of the guard tramped stolidly from the wicket to the door of our dwelling
A lady waits you at the postern said he and so tramped his way unceremoniously back to his post
I knew without any need of telling that it was the Lady Ysolinde So I
rose and hastily setting my fingers through my hair went to the gate
There attended by the respectable servitor was as I had expected the
Lady Ysolinde
Goodmorrow she said very courteously to me and I duly returned her greeting with a low obeisance of respect and welcome
She wore a large garment fashioned like a mans cloak over her festal attire—which with a hood for the head wholly enveloped her figure and descended to her feet
I have come as I promised to see the Little Playmate These were her first words as we paced together across the wide upper court under the wondering eyes of the men of the Dukes bodyguard
Pray remember Lady Ysolinde said I with much eagerness that I have as yet said nothing of the matter to Helene and that my father only knows that I am to ride to Plassenburg in order to exercise myself in the practice of arms before becoming his assistant here in the Red Tower and in the Hall of Judgment across the way
My visitor nodded a little impatiently She who knew so many things of a surety might be trusted to understand so much without being told
In the inner doorway Helene met us And never had it been my fortune to see the meeting of two such women The Little Playmate had in her hands the broidered handkerchiefs the long Flemish gloves and the little illuminated Book of the Hours which I had given her She had been about to lay them away together as is the fashion of women And when she met the Lady Ysolinde I declare that she looked almost as tall Helene was perhaps an inch or two less in stature than her visitor but what she lacked in height she more than made up in the supple erectness of her carriage and the vivid and extraordinary alertness of all her movements
Lady Ysolinde said I as they met with the mutually level eyeshot of women who measure one another, this is Helene—whom for love and kindliness we of the Wolfsberg call the Little Playmate
The daughter of Master Gerard impetuously threw back the gray monks hood which shrouded the masses of her tawny hair She put out both hands to Helene held her a moment at armslength to look into her eyes even as she had done with me but in a different way Then drawing her nearer she leaned forward and kissed her on the brow and on both cheeks
Now I am not ordinarily a close observer and many things specially things that pertain to the acts of women pass by me unnoticed But I saw in a moment that there was not and never could be more than the semblance of cordial amity between these two women
I noted the Little Playmate instinctively quiver like a taken bird when she was thus embraced It was I think the undying antipathy of Eve for Lilith a hatred which is mostly on the side of Eve the MotherWoman—its place being taken by sharper and more dangerous envy in the breast of Lilithwithoutthe wall
There face to face stood the two women who were to make my life ruling it between them as it were striking it out between the impact of their natures as underneath the blows of two smiths upon the ringing anvil the iron hissing hot becomes a sword or a ploughshare
It was impossible to avoid contrasting them
Helene of a bodily beauty infinitely more full of temptation bloomful with radiant health the blush of youth and conscious loveliness upon her lips and looking out under the crisp entanglement of her hair all simple purity and straightness of soul in the fearless innocency of her eyes the Lady Ysolinde deeper taught in the mysteries of existence more conscious of power not so beautiful but oftentimes giving the impression of beauty more strongly than her fairer rival compact of swift delicate graces half feline half feminine if these two be not the same All these passed like clouds over the unquiet sea of her nature reflecting the changing skies of circumstance and were fitted to produce a fascination ever on the verge of repulsion even when it was strongest Ysolinde was the more ready of speech but her words were touched constantly with dainty malice and clawed with subtlest spite She catspawed with men and things often setting the hidden spur under the velvet foot deeply into the very cheek which she seemed to caress Such as I read them then and largely as even now I understand them were the two women who moulded between them my lifes history
I suppose it is because I am of this Baltic North that I must need think things round and round and prose of reasons and explanations—even when I write concerning beautiful maids—forever dreaming and dividing instead of going straight sword in hand for their hearts as is the way of the folk from the English land overseas or more simply still lying about their favors which I hear is mostly the Frenchmans way
But enough of intolerable theory
Instinctively the Lady Ysolinde spoke to our maid of the Red Tower in a manner and tone very different from that which I had ever before heard her employ at once more equal and more guarded
I was told by Master Hugo Gottfried here whose acquaintance I made at my fathers house on the day after his foolish boys prank of the White Swan that in the Red Tower of the Wolfsberg dwelt one of mine own age like myself a maid solitary among men So today I have come to solicit her acquaintance and to ask her to be kind to me who have ever been in this city and country as a stranger in a strange land
It was prettily enough said and our Helene easily touched and perhaps a little ashamed of her first stiffness put out a hand which the other quickly and securely clasped Then those two sat down together Ysolinde von Sturm kept her eyes fixed on the Playmate but our shy and slender Helene looked steadily past her out over the tumbled red roofs and peaked gables of the city of Thorn to the gray Wolfmark plains which lay spread beneath our windows like a picture in a book
At intervals as it came near the hour of their midday meal the bloodhounds howled in the kennels and by their tone I knew that my father had left the Hall of Judgment where he had been detained all the morning Also I knew very well that the Lady Ysolinde wished me to find an errand elsewhere in order that she might talk alone with her companion But I saw also the appeal in the eyes of the Playmate and I was resolved not to give her the chance
Are you never weary in this dull tower asked the lawyers daughter still holding the Playmates hand
It is not dull replied Helene I have my work There are two men as shiftless and helpless as babes to attend to and none to help me but old Hanne
Let men attend to themselves cried Ysolinde that is ever my motto
They ought to be our servants not we theirs
It was said smilingly yet there was bitterness under the words as well
But said Helene smiling back at her with a fresh directness all her own one of the men saved my life and brought me up as his own daughter and the other is—is Hugo here
And as she spoke of my father and of me I saw the eyes of the Lady
Ysolinde fixed upon her as it had been to read her inner soul
And bytheway she said at last after a long pause you have heard how this same Master Hugo proposes to himself to escape from the prisonhouse of this city for a season to exercise himself in arms and so in roving adventure fulfil that which is not granted to a maid his wandering years He goes so my father tells me to the Court of the Prince of Plassenburg with the promise of a company to command And I am glad for I shall ride thither under his escort Indeed and in truth my home is far more there than here in Thorn But I would fain have a companion of my own sex So I have come to beg of you Mistress Helene that you will accompany me The Princess I know has great need of a maid of honor near her person and will gladly welcome a friend of mine for the post
The Little Playmate looked up astonished as well she might at this direct assault which was moreover spoken with a pretty shamefacedness and the air of asking almost too great a favor And indeed if there was any patronage in the thing offered it was at least carefully kept out of the manner of asking
Lady Ysolinde I cannot accept your too overpowering favor said Helene after a pause but your kindness in thinking at all of me will always warm my heart
At this critical moment came my father in looking more than grave and severe so that I judged at once that he had been talking to the Duke Casimir and had found his post of chief adviser both thankless and difficult I knew it could be no matter of his office which worried him for that day he wore his holiday attire of white Friesland cloth and the broad bonnet in which I loved best to see him There was no mark of his calling about him anywhere save a little Red Axe sewed upon his left breast like a war veterans decoration
CHAPTER XVII
THE RED AXE IS LEFT ALONE
Gottfried Gottfried bowed to the guest of his house with the noble manner which comes to every seriousminded man who deals habitually in the high matters of life and death I made his introductions to the Lady Ysolinde and as readily and gracefully he returned his acknowledgments For the rest I allowed Master Gerards daughter to develop her own projects to him which indeed she was no long time in doing
As she proceeded I saw my father change color and become as to his face almost as white as the Friesland cloth in which he was dressed Presently however as if struck with the sound of a wellknown name he looked up quickly
Plassenburg said you my lady he inquired
The Lady Ysolinde nodded
Yes to Plassenburg where the Princess has great need of a maid of honor
Her Highness is often upon her travels I hear it reported said my father while the Prince keeps himself much at home
He esteems his armies more than all the marvels of strange countries replied Ysolinde and thus he holds the land and folk in great quiet
And your father Master Gerard would have my son engage with this Prince Karl for a space Well I think it may be good for the lad For I know well that the shadow of the Red Tower stalks after him through this city of Thorn and there is no need that he should lie down under it too soon But this of my little maid is a matter apart and means a longer and a sorer parting
Fear not my father cried the Playmate eagerly I would not leave you alone even to be the Princess of Plassenburg herself
My father took another strange look from one to the other of the two women the import of which I understood not then
I know not said he I think this thing also might be for the best As I see it there are strange times coming upon us in Thorn And the town of Plassenburg under Karl the Prince is a defenced city set in a strong province content and united It might be wisest that you also should go little one
I cannot go said Helene and leave you alone
Gottfried Gottfried smiled a sad smile wistfully pleasant
Already I am wellnigh an old man and it is the nature of my profession that I should be alone I work among the issues of life and death Every man must be lonely when he dies and I who have lived most with dying men am perforce already lonely while I live It is well—a clearer air for the young bird But yet it will be lonesome to miss you when I come in—the empty pot wanting the flower the case without the jewel silence above and below your voice and Hugos that have changed the sombre Red Tower with your young folks pleasantries heard no more Ah God wot I had thought—I had dreamed far other things
He stopped and looked from one to the other of us and I saw that Ysolinde of the White Gate read his thought Whereat right suddenly the Little Playmate blushed and as for me I kept watching the dull gold flash on the spangles of our guests waistbelt which was in form like a live serpent with changeful scales and eyes of ruby red
My father went over to where Helene sat She rose to meet him and cast her arms about his neck He laid his right hand on her head—that terrible hand that was yet not dreadful to uswho loved him
Little flower he said in his simple way God be good to you in the transplanting It is not fair to your young life that my red stain should lie upon your lot I have given you a quiet hermitage while you needed it But now it is right that my house should again be left unto me desolate It is already late summer with Gottfried Gottfried and high time that the young brood should fly away
He turned to me
With you Hugo it is a thing different you were born to that to which you are born And to that as I read your horoscope you must one day return But in the mean time care well for the maid I lend her to you I give her into your hand Cherish her as your chiefest treasure Let her enemies be yours and if harm come to her through your neglect slay yourself ere you come again before me For by the Lord God of all Righteous Judgment I will have no mercy
I saw the eyes of the Lady Ysolinde glitter like those of the snake in her belt as thus my father delivered Helene over to me
But my father had yet more to say
And if any he went on in a deep still voice keeping his hand upon the downcast head of the Little Playmate—if any great or small prince or pauper harm so much as a hair of this fair head by the great God who wields His Axe over the universe and sits in the highest Halls of Judgment whose servant I am—I Gottfried Gottfried swear that he shall taste the vengeance of the Red Axe and drink to the dregs the cup of agony in his own blood
So saying he kissed Helene and stalked out without turning his head or making any further obeisance or farewell
We sat mazed and confounded after his departure
The Lady Ysolinde it was who first recovered herself She put out a kindly hand to Helene who stood weteyed and drooping by the window looking out upon the roofs of Thorn though well I wot she saw nothing of spire roof or pinnacle
God do so to me and more also she said in a low solemn voice if I too keep not this charge
And I think for the moment she meant it The trouble was that the Lady Ysolinde could not mean one thing for very long at a time As indeed shall afterwards appear
So it was arranged that within the week Helene and I should say our
farewells to the Red Tower which had sheltered us so long as well as to
Gottfried Gottfried who had ever been my kind father and to the little
Helene more than any father
But in spite of all we wearied day by day to be gone For indeed Gottfried Gottfried said right The shadow of the Red Tower the stain of the Red Axe was over us both so long as we abode on the Wolfsberg Yet what it cost us to depart—at least till we were out of the gates of the city—I cannot write down for to both of us the first waygoing seemed bitter as death
I remember it well My father had been busy all the morning with his grim work on the day when we were to ride away A gang of malefactors who had wasted a whole countryside with their cruelty had been brought in And as it was suspected that other more important villains were yet to be caught there had been the repeated pain of the Extreme Question and now there remained but the falling of the Red Axe to settle all accounts So that when he came to bid us farewell he had but brief time to spare And of necessity he wore the fearful crimson which fitted his tall spare figure like a glove
Fare thee well little one he said first to Helene Not thus had the choice lain with me would I have bidden thee farewell But when it shall be that I meet you again I will surely wear the white of the festa day I commit you to Him whose mistakes are better than our good deeds whose judgments are kinder than our tenderest mercies
So he kissed her and reached a hand over her shoulder to me
Son Hugo he said go in peace You must return to succeed me I see it like a picture—on the day when I lie dead you shall stand with the Red Axe in your hand waiting to do judgment It is well Keep this maid more sacred than your life—and meantime fare you well
So saying he left us abruptly
Our horses were saddled in the courtyard and as I rode last through the rarely opened gateway I saw Duke Casimir looking out from his window upon the lower enclosure as was his pleasure upon the days of execution I heard the dull thud which was the meeting of the Red Axe and the redder block as that which had been between fell apart And for the last time I heard the bloodhounds leap and the pattering of their eager feet upon the barriers as they leaped up scenting the Dukes carrion
Thus the latest I heard of the place of my nativity was fitting and dreadful I was mortally glad to ride away into the clear air and the invigorating silence But on my heart there still lay heavy the twicerepeated prediction of my father and of the Lady Ysolinde that I should yet return and hold the Red Axe in his place
But I resolved rather to die in the honest front of battle
Nevertheless had I known the future I would have seen that they and not
I were right
I was indeed fated to return and stand ready to execute doom with the
Red Axe in my hand and my father lying dead near by
CHAPTER XVIII
THE PRIME OF THE MORNING
Now so strange a thing is woman that so soon as we were started down the High Street of the city of Thorn the Little Playmate dried her eyes turned towards me in her saddle and straightway began to take me to task as though I had been to blame
I have left said she the only home I ever knew and the only man that ever truly loved me to accompany a young man that cares not for me and a woman whom I have seen but once to a far land and an unkindly folk
It is not fair I said to say that I love you not For as God sees me I have ever loved you—loved you best and loved you only little Helenchen And though you are angered with me now I know not why—still till now you have never doubted it
I doubt it sorely enough now I know she said bitterly yet indeed
I care not whether you or any love me at all
And this saying I was greatly sorry for It seemed a sad wayfaring from our old Red Tower and out of my native city of Thorn
Helene little one said I believe me I love none in the whole world but my father and you Trust me for I am to keep you safe with my life in the far land to which we go Do not let us quarrel littlest There are only the two of us here that remember the old man my father and the little room to which you came as a babe all in white
So presently she was somewhat pacified and reached me a hand from the back of her beast on pretence of leaning over to avoid a swinging sign in one of the narrow streets near by the White Gate where we were to meet the Lady Ysolinde
And yet more Little Playmate said I keeping her hand when I had it do not begin by distrusting the noble lady with whom we are to travel For she means well to us both and in the strange country to which we go we may be wholly in her power
You are sure that you do not love that woman then said Helene without looking at me For indeed in many things she was but a child and ever spoke more freely than other maids—perhaps with being brought up in the Red Tower in the company of my father who on all occasions spoke his mind just as it came to him
Nay said I believe me little love I do not love her at all
And now on horseback Helene looked all charming and what with the exercise the unknown adventure and my reassurance she had a glow of rose color in her cheeks She had never before been so far away from the precincts of the Wolfsberg I had even taught her to ride in the courtyard of a summer evening on a horse borrowed from one of the Dukes squires
We found the Lady Ysolinde waiting for us at her house Master Gerard talking to her in the doorway earnestly and apart Both of them had a look of much solemnity as though the matter of their discourse were some very weighty one
Presently her father kissed her and she came down the steps I leaped from my horse to help her to the saddle but the respectable servingman was before me So that instead I went about and looked to the buckles and girths which were all in order and patted the arching neck of the beautiful milkwhite palfrey whereon she rode Then Master Gerard waved a hand and went within
And as we fared forth out of the Weiss Thor into the keener air of the country I thought what a charge I had—to squire two ladies so surpassingly fair each in her own several graces as our Helene and the Lady Ysolinde
No sooner however were we past the outer barriers at which the soldiers of the Duke Casimir kept guard than a vast ungainly wight started up from the roadside
Jan Lubber Fiend cried the Lady Ysolinde what do you here
The oaf grinned his awful writhed smile and wriggled his great body after the manner of a puppy desirous of the milkplatter
Think you my lady said he cunningly that your poor Jan would abide within the precincts of the city house with that funeral ape bidding me do this and do that sit here and sit there come in and go out at his pleasure A thing of dough that I could twist into knots as easily as I can crack my joints
And of this latter accomplishment he proceeded to give us certain examples which sounded like cannonshots delivered at close quarters
Get home with you cried Ysolinde I cannot have thee following us There are two men presently to meet us to guard us to Plassenburg and we do not need you Jan Lubber Fiend Get back and take care of my father
Oh as for him said the monster sitting down squat upon the plain road in the dust he is a tough old cock and will come to no harm We can een leave him with a good cook a prime cellar and an easy mind But this young man is not to trust to with so many pretty maids Jan will come and look after him
And with that he nodded his haystack of a head three times at me and going to the hedgeroot he laid hold of the top of a young poplar and turned him about keeping the stem of it over his shoulder Then he set himself to pull like a horse that starts a load and presently without apparently distressing himself in the least he walked away with the young tree roots and all
Having shaken off the earth roughly he pulled out a sheathknife and trimmed the branches till he had made him a kind of club with which he threatened me saying If I catch that young man at any tricks with this club will Jan Lubber Fiend break every bone in his skin like the shells of so many broken eggs
Then laughing a little and seeing that nothing could be made of the fellow the Lady Ysolinde rode on and we followed her We thought that surely there would be no difficulty in shaking him off long ere we reached our lodgingplace of the evening and that he would find his way back to the city of Thorn
But even though we set our horses to their speed it seemed to make no difference to the unwieldy giant He merely stretched his legs a little farther and caused his great gaskined feet to pass each other as fast as if they had been shod with sevenleague boots So he not only kept up with us easily but oftentimes made a détour through the fields and over the wild country on either side as a questing dog does ever returning to us with some quaint vagrant fancy or quip of childish simplicity
But what pleased me better than the appearance of the Lubber Fiend was that ere we had gone quite two miles out of the city we found two wellarmed and stanchlooking soldiers waiting for us at a kind of crossroad They were armed with the curious powderguns which were coming into fashion from France These went off with a noble report and killed sometimes at as much as fifteen or twenty paces when the aim was good The fellows had swords also and little polished shields on their left arms—altogether worthy and notable bodyguards
These two are soldiers of the Guard from Plassenburg said the Lady Ysolinde though now they are travelling as members of a Free Company desiring to enter upon new engagements But they will make the way easier and pleasanter for us as well as infinitely safer being veterans well accustomed to the work of quartering and foraging
As indeed we were to find ere the day ended
So we rode on in the brilliant light and the long long day seemed all too brief to us who were young and scarce delivered from the prisonhouse of Thorn And to my shame I admit that my heart rose with every mile that I put between me and the Red Tower
Indeed I hardly had a thought to spend on my father The hot quadrangle of the Wolfsberg ever smelling of horses and the swelter of shed blood the howling foxcolored demons in the kennels the black Duke Casimir —right gladly I forgot them all Aye I forgot even my father and everything save that I was riding with two fair women through a world where all was love and spring and where it was ever the prime of a young morning
The Lady Ysolinde could not make enough of our Little Playmate She laughed back at her over her shoulder when she let her horse out for a canter She marvelled loudly at Helenes good riding and at the unbound beauty of the crisp ringlets which clustered round her head like a boys And our Helene smiled well pleased and ceased to watch my eyes or to grow silent if I checked my horse too long by the side of the Lady Ysolinde
Mostly we three rode abreast over the pleasant country So long as we were crossing the plain of the Wolfmark we saw few tilled fields and the farmhouses were fewer still But wherever these were to be seen they were fortified and defended like castles and had gates great and high with iron plates upon them and knobs like the points of spears beaten blunt
The Lady Ysolinde who had often ridden that way told us that these were all in the Duke Casimirs country and were mostly possessed by the kin of his chief captains—feudal tenants who for the right of possession were compelled to furnish so many riders to the Dukes Companies
But wait she said till you come to the dominions of the Prince of Plassenburg You will find that he is indeed a ruler that can make the broombush keep the cow
So we rode on and passed pleasant and exciting things more than I had ever seen in all my life before
Once we saw half a dozen men driving cattle across our path and it was curious to mark how readily they drew their swords and couched their lances at us turning themselves about this way and that like a quintain till we were quite gone by which made us laugh For it seemed a strange thing that men so well armed should fear a company of no more than their own numbers and two of them maids upon palfreys
But Ysolinde said It is not after all so strange for over yonder blue hills dwells Joan of the Swordhand who can lead a foray as well as any man and once worsted Duke Casimir himself when he beset her castle
So the day went past swiftly with good company and the converse of folk well liking one another. And ever I wondered how we were to spend the night and what sort of cheer we should find at our inn
CHAPTER XIX
WENDISH WIT
The gray plain of the Wolfmark which we had been traversing ever since we descended out of the steep Weiss Thor of the city of Thorn had now begun to break into ridges and mounded hills of stiff red clay And I who had often kept my watch on the highest pinnacle of the Red Tower looked with astonishment back upon the city I had left behind Seen from the plain Thorn had an aspect almost imperial
It rose above the colorless flat of gray suddenly unexpectedly almost insolently The city with its numberless gables spires of churches turreted gatehouses occupied a ridge of gradually swelling ground which rose like a huge whaleback from the misty plain Its walls were grim high and farstretching But as we travelled farther into the Wolfmark the city seemed to sink deeper into the plain and the dark castle of Duke Casimir to shoot ever higher into the skies So that presently as we looked back we could only see the Wolfsberg itself, the abode of cruelty and wrong standing black against the white sky of noon
Its flanking towers stood up above the battlemented wall their turrets climbing higher and higher towards heaven till the topmost Red Tower—that in which my fathers garrot was and in which I had spent my entire life until this day—soared straight upward above them all like a threatening indexfinger pointing not into the clear sky of a summers noon but into clouds and thick darkness
I was glad when at last we lost sight of it Then indeed I felt that I had left my old life behind me And in spite of the Lady Ysolindes inkpool prophecy and my love for my father such as it was I did not mean ever to trust myself within that baleful circle of gray and weary plain upon which the Red Tower looked down
Seeing that the maids were inclined to talk the one with the other or rather that the Lady Ysolinde spoke confidentially with Helene and that Helene now answered her without embarrassment and with frank equal glances I dropped gradually behind and rode with the two stout menatarms These I found to be honest lads enough but of a strangely reserved and taciturn nature each ever waiting for the other to answer—being like most Wendish men much averse to questioning and still more stiff as to replying
You are men of Plassenburg I said to the nearest simply and innocently enough for the purpose of improving the cordiality of our relations
Whereupon he turned his head slowly about to his neighbor as it were to consult him The glance said as clearly as monks script What shall we answer to this troublesome inquisitive fellow
At first I thought that perhaps they spoke not the common dialect and that as we were travelling towards regions roughly Wendish and but lately heathen they might have some uncouth speech of their own So as is ever the custom with folk that are not accustomed to the speaking of foreign tongues I repeated the question in mine own language in a louder tone supposing that that would do as well
You are men of the country of Plassenburg cried I as loud as I could bawl
We are not deaf—we have all our faculties praise the saints said the more distant of the two looking not at me but at his companion He on his part nodded back at his comrades reply as if it had been delicately calculated at once to answer my question and at the same time not to commit them to any dangerous opinions
I tried again
Your prince I hear is a true man brave and wellversed in war
The shorter and stouter man who rode beside me glanced once at my face and slowly screwed round his head to his companion in a long questioning gaze Then as slowly he turned his head back again
Umph he said judicially with a movement of his head which seemed a successful compromise between a nod and a shake just as his remark might very well have resulted from an attempt to say Yes and No at the same time
This was not encouraging to one who like myself was in high spirits and much inclined for conversation But I was not to be so easily beaten off
The Prince of Plassenburg has a Princess I said who is often upon her travels
It was an innocent remark and so far as I could see not one in itself highly humorous But it broke up the gravity of these redhaired northern bears as if it had been the latest gay sally of the courtfool
Ha ha laughed the more distant lanky man rocking himself in his saddle till the pennon on his lance shook and the point dipped towards his horses ear
Ho ho chorused his companion slapping his thigh jovially Jorian did you hear that The Prince of Plassenburg hath a Princess and she is often upon her travels Ha ha ha Ho ho ho
He hath said it Ho ho He hath said it He is a wise fellow after all this beardless Jackpudding of Thorn cried the other teeheeing with laughter till he nearly wept upon his own saddlebow
I began to get very angry For we men of Thorn were not accustomed to be so flouted by any strangers keeping mostly our own customs and reining in the few strangers who ventured to visit Duke Casimirs dominions pretty tightly Least of all could I brook insolence from these Wendish boors from the outskirts of halfpagan Borrussia
The Prince of Plassenburg hath churls among his retinue said I hotly if they be all like you two Jacks that cannot answer a simple question without singing out like donkeys upon a common where there are no thistles to keep them quiet
Sir Thicksides the fat jolterhead nearest me set his thumb out to stick it into the side armor of Longlegs his companion who rode cheek by jowl with him
Ooooahoo cried he crowing with mirth as if I had said a yet more facetious thing Tis a simple question—Hath the Prince of Plassenburg a Princess and is she not oft—ahoo Boris prod me with thy lanceshaft hard to keep me from doing myself an ill turn with this fellows innocence
Hold up Jorian answered the long man promptly pounding him on the back with the butt of his spear Hold up fat Jorian Let not thy love of mirth do thee any injury For thou art a good comrade and fools were ever apt to divert thee too much I have seen thee at this before—that time we went to Wilna and the fellow in motley gave thee griping spasms with his tomfoolery
Then was I mainly angry as indeed I had sufficient occasion
You are but churls I said and the next thing to knaves And I will een inform the Prince when we arrive what like are the men whom he sets to escort ladies to his castle
But though they were silenter after this it was not from any alarm at my words but simply because they had laughed themselves out of ply For as I rode on in high dudgeon halfway between the women and the menatarms I could see them with the corner of an eye still nudging each other with their thumbs and throwing back their heads and the breeze blew me scraps of their limited conversation
Ho ho Good was it not The Prince hath a Princess and she— Ho ho Good
The ridges of clay of which I have already spoken continued and increased in size as we went on It was a driedup speckled unwholesomelooking land And people upon it there were none that we could see The large fortified farms had ceased altogether A certain frightful monotony reigned everywhere Ravines like cracks which the sun makes in mud but a thousand times greater began to split the hills perpendicularly to their very roots The path wound perilously this way and that among them And presently Jorian and Boris rode past me to take the lead for Ysolinde and Helene were inclined to mistake the way as often as they came to the crossing and interweaving of the intricate paths
And as these two jolly jackasses rode past at my right side I could see the thumb of long Boris curving towards the ribs of his companion and the shoulders of both shaking as they chuckled
A rare simpletons question i faith yes Ho ho Good they chorussed The Prince hath a Princess—the cock hath a hen and she— Ha ha Good
At that moment I could with pleasure have slain Jorian and Boris for openmouthed unshaven slabsided Wendish pigs as indeed they were
Yet had I done so we had fared but ill without them For had they been a thousand times jackasses and rotten puddingheads as they were at least they knew the way and something of the unchristian people among whom we were going
And so in a little while as we wound our way along the face of these perilons rifts in the baked clay with the mottled inefficient river feeling its way gingerly at the bottom of the buff—colored ravine what was my astonishment to see Jorian and Boris turn sharply at right angles and ride single file up one of the dry lateral cracks which opened as it were directly into the hillside
They did this without ever looking at the landmarks like men who are anyways uncertain of their road But on the contrary they wheeled confidently and rode jauntily on and we three meekly followed having by this time lost the Lubber Fiend the devil doubtless knew where For we must have followed Boris and Jorian unquestioningly had they led us into the bowels of the earth as indeed at first sight they seemed to be doing
CHAPTER XX
THE EARTHDWELLERS OF NO MANS LAND
Then presently we came to a strange place the like of which I have never seen save here on the borders of the Mark and the northern Wendish lands An amalgam of lime or binding stuff of some sort had glued the clay of the ravines together and set it stiff and fast like dried plaster So as we went up the narrow perilous path our horses had to tread very warily lest going too near the edge they should chip off enough of the foothold to send themselves and their riders whirling neckovertoes to the bottom
All at once the Little Playmate who was riding immediately before me screamed out sharp and shrill and I hastened up to her thinking she had fallen upon a misfortune I found her palfrey with ears pricked and distended nostril gazing at a head in a red nightcap which was set out of a hole in the red clay
The country of gnomes Of a surety yes And hitherto I had thought it had been but the nonsense of folktales said I to myself
Which is what we shall say one day of more things than rednightcapped heads
But the Little Playmate uttered scream after scream for the head continued coolly to stare at her as if fixed alive over the gateway by the craft of some cavedwelling imp of the Red Axe
I noticed however that the head chewed a straw and spat which I deemed a gnome would not do—though wherefore straws and spitting are not free to gnomes I do not know and could not have told Yet at all events such was my belief And a serviceable one enough it was since it took the fear out of me and gave me back my speech And when a man can speak he can fight Contrariwise it is when a woman will not fight that she can talk best as one may see in any congress of two angry vixens So long as they rail there is but threatening and safe recriminations but when one waxes silent then ware nails and teeth And I am not in my dotage to use such illustrations—as not unnaturally sayeth the first to read my history
Good man cried I to Sir Red Cap in the wall I know not why you stick your ugly head out of the mud but retract it I pray you For do you not see that it alarms the lady and affrights her beast
The man nodded intelligently but went on coolly chewing his straw
Then I went up to him and as civilly as I could took him by the chin and thrust his head back into the hole And as I did so I saw for the first time that the wall of the clay cliff tough and gritty with its alloy of lime had been cut and hewn into houses and huts having doors of wood of exactly the same color and in some cases even windows with bars—very marvellous to see and such as I have never witnessed elsewhere Presently at the trampling of the feet of so many horses people began to throng to their doors and children peered out at windows and cried to each other shrilly See the Christians
For so being but lately pagans themselves if not partly so to this day these outlandish men of the border No Mans Land denominated us of the south
Presently we came to an open space sloping away from the sheer cliff where was a wall and a door greater than the others
Jorian rode directly up to the gate which was of the same dull brickred as the rest of the curious town He took the butt of his lance and thumped and banged lustily upon it For a time there was no reply but the number of heads thrust out at neighboring windows and the swarms of townsfolk on the pathways before and behind us enormously increased
Jorian thundered again kicking with his foot and swearing explosively in mingled Wendish and German Then he took the point of his spear and setting it to a hole in the wall above his head he hooked out an entire wooden windowframe as one is taught to pull out a shrimp with a pin on the shore of the Baltic Sea
Whereupon a sudden outcry arose within the house and a head popped angrily out of the aperture so suddenly created But as instantly it returned within For Jorian tossed the lattice to the ground by the door and thrust his spearhead into the cravat of red which the man had about his throat shouting to him all the while in the name of the Prince of the Duke of the Emperor of the Archbishop of all potentates lay and secular to come down and open the gates The man in the red cravat was threatened with the strappado with the watertorture with the brodequins and finally with the devils cannon—which according to our manatarms was to be planted on the opposite bank of the ravine and which would infallibly bring the whole of their wretched town tumbling down into the gulf like swallows nests from under the eaves
And this last threat seemed to have more weight than all the rest probably because the Prince of Plassenburg had already done something of the kind to some other similar town and the earthburrowers of Erdborg had good reason to fear the thunder of his artillery
At all events the great door opened and a man of the same brickred as all the other inhabitants of the town appeared at the portal He bowed profoundly and Jorian addressed him in some outlandishly compounded speech of which I could only understand certain oftrecurring words as lodging victualling and order of the Prince
So presently after a long and on the side of our escort a stormy conference we were permitted to enter Our horses were secured at the great mangers which extended all along one side while opposite to the horses but similar to their accommodation in every respect were stalls wherein various families seemed to be encamped for the night
With all the air of a special favor conferred we were informed that we must take up our quarters in the middle of the room and make the best of the hardened floor there This information conveyed with a polite wave of the hand and a shrug of the shoulders by our landlord seemed not unnaturally to put Jorian and Boris into a furious passion for they drew their swords and with a unanimous sweep of the hand cleared the capes of their leathern jacks for fighting So not to be outdone I drew my weapon also and stood by to protect Helene and the Lady Ysolinde
These two stood close together behind us but continued to talk indifferently chiefly of dress and jewels—which surprised me both in the strange circumstances and because I knew that Helene had seen no more of them than the valueless trinkets that had belonged to my mother and which abode in a greenlined box in the Red Tower Yet to speak of such things seems to come naturally to all women
As if they had mutually arranged it from all eternity as the clerks say Jorian and Boris took without hesitation each a door on the opposite wall and setting their shoulders to them they pushed them open and went within sword in hand leaving me alone to protect the ladies and to provide for the safety of the horses
Presently out from the doors by which our conductors had entered there came tumbling a crowd of men and women some carrying straw bolsters and wisps of hay others bearing cooking utensils and all in various dishabille Then ensued a great buzzing and stirring much angry growling on the part of the disturbed men and shrill calling of women for their errant children
Our little Helene looked sufficiently pitiful and disturbed as these preparations were being made But the Lady Ysolinde scarcely noticed them taking apparently all the riot and delay as so much testimony to the important quality of such great ones of the earth as could afford to travel under the escort of two valiant menatarms
Presently came Jorian and Boris out at a third door having met somewhere in the back parts of the warren
They came up to the Lady Ysolinde and bowed humbly
Will your ladyship deign to choose her chamber They are all empty Thereafter we shall see that proper furniture such as the place affords is provided for your Highness
I could not but wonder at so much dignity expended upon the daughter of Master Gerard the lawyer of Thorn But Ysolinde took their reverence as a matter of course She did not even speak but only lifted her right hand with a little casual flirt of the fingers which said Lead on
Then Jorian marshalled us within Boris standing at the door to let us pass and bringing his swordblade with a little click of salute to the perpendicular as each of us passed But I chanced to meet his eye as I went within whereat the rogue deliberately winked and I could plainly see his shoulders heave I knew that he was still chewing the cud of his stale and ancient jest The Prince hath a Princess and she—
I could have disembowelled the villain But after all he was certainly doing us some service though in a most provocative and highhanded manner
CHAPTER XXI
I STAND SENTRY
There are say some but two things worth the trouble of making in the world—war and love So once upon a time I believed But since—being laid up during the unkindly monotony of our Baltic spring by an ancient wound—I fell to the writing of this history I would add to these two worthy adventures—the making of books Which till I tried my hand at the task myself I would in no wise have allowed But now when the days are easterly of wind and the lashing water beats on the leaded lozenges of our window lattice I am fain to stretch myself take up a new pen and be at it again all day
But I must een think of them that are to read me and of their pain if I overstretch my privilege Besides if I prove overlong in the wind they may not read me at all which I own it would somewhat mar my purpose
I was speaking therefore of being in the watch and ward of two women each of whom in my selfconceit I thus imagined it certainly regarded me without dislike God forgive me for thinking so much when they had never plainly told me Nevertheless I took the thing for granted as it were And as I said before it has been my experience that if it be done with a careful and delicate hand more is gained with women by taking things for granted than by the smoothest tongue and longest JacobandRachael service The man who succeeds with good women is the man who takes things for granted Only he must know exactly what things otherwise I am mortally sorry for him—he will have a rough road to travel But to my tale
Jorian ushered Ysolinde and Helene into the rooms from which he had so unceremoniously ousted the former tenants How these chambers were lighted in the daytime I could not at first make out but by going to the end of the long earthhewn passage and leaning out of a window the mystery was made plain The ravine took an abrupt turn at this point so that we were in a house built round an angle and so had the benefit of light from both sides
And where are our rooms to be I asked of the stout soldier when he returned
Jorian pointed to the plain hard earth of the passage
That is poor lodging for tired bones I said have they no other rooms to let anywhere in this hostelry
He laughed again indeed he seemed to be able to do little else whenever he spoke to me
Tired bones will lie the stiller said he at last sententiously There is some wheaten straw out there which you can bring in for a bolster if you will But I think it likely that we shall get no more sleep than the mouse in the cats diningroom this night These border rascals are apt to be restless in the dark hours and their knives prick most consumedly sharp
With that he went out leaving the doors into the passages all open and presently I could hear him raging and rummaging athwart the house ordering this one to find him Graubunden fleisch the next to get him some good bread and not to attempt to palm off cowcake upon honest soldiers on pain of getting his stomach cut open—together with other amenities which occur easily to a seasoned manatarms foraging in an unfriendly country
Then having returned successful from this quest what was my admiration to see Jorian whom I had so lately called and I began to be sorry for it a Wendish pig strip his fine soldiers coat and hang it upon a peg by the door roll up his sleeves and set to at the cooking in the great open fireplace with swinging black crooks against the front wall while Boris stood on guard with a long pistolet ready in the hollow of his arm and his slowmatch alight by the doorway of the ladies apartment
I went and stood by the long man for company And after a little he became much more friendly
Why do you stand with your match alight I asked of him after we had been a while silent
Why to keep a border knife out of Jorians back of course while he is turning the fry in the pan said he as simply as if he had said that twas a fine night without or that the moon was full
I wish I could help I sighed a little wistfully for I wished him to think well of me
What he exclaimed—with the fryingpan Well there is the basting ladle he retorted and laughed in his old manner
I own that being yet little more than a lad the tears stood in my eyes to be so flouted and made nothing of
I will show you perhaps sooner than you think that I am neither a coward nor a babe I said in high dudgeon
And so went and stood by myself over against the farther door of the three which led from the outer hall to the apartments in which I could hear the murmur of womens voices And it was lucky that I did so For even as I reached the door a sharp cry of terror came from within and there at the inner portal I caught sight of a narrow foxy peering visage and a lean writhing figure prone like a worm on its belly The rascal had been crawling towards Helenes room for what purpose I know not Nor did I stop to inquire for being stung by the taunt of the manatarms I was on Foxface in a moment stamping upon him with my ironshod feet and then lifting him unceremoniously up by the slackness of his back covertures I turned him over and over like a wheel tumbling him out of the doorway into the outer hall with an astonishing clatter shedding knives and daggers as he went
It was certainly a pity for the fellow that Boris had taunted me so lately But the abusing of him gave me great comfort And as he whirled past the group at the fire Jorian caught him handily in the round of his back with a convenient spit also without asking any questions whereat the fellow went out at the wide front door by which we had first entered revolving in a cloud of dust And where he went after that I have no idea To the devil for all I care
But Boris standing quietly by his own door was evidently somewhat impressed by my good luck For soon after this he came over to me I thought he might be about to apologize for his rudeness And so perhaps he did but it was in his own way
Did you spoil your dagger on him he said anxiously for the first time speaking to me as a man speaks to his equal
No said I but I stubbed my toe most confoundedly jarring it upon the rascals backbone as he went through the door
Ah he replied thoughtfully nodding his head that was more fitting for such as he But you may get a chance at him with the dagger yet or the night be over
And with that he went back to his door blowing up his slowmatch as he went
Presently the supper was pronounced cooked and after washing his hands Jorian resumed his coat amid the universal attention of the motley crew in the great hall and began to dish up the fragrant stew Ho had been collecting for it all day upon the march now knocking over a rabbit with a bolt from his gun now picking some leaves of lettuce and watercress when he chanced upon a running stream or a neglected garden—of which last thanks to Duke Casimir and his raiders there were numbers along the route we had traversed
Then when he had made all ready our sturdy cook dished the stew into a great wooden platter—rabbits partridges scraps of dried flesh bits of bacon for flavoring fresh eggs vegetables in handfuls all covered with a daintysmelling sauce deftly compounded of milk gravy and red wine
Then Jorian and Boris one taking the heap of wooden platters and the other the smoking bowl of stew marched solemnly within But before he went Boris handed me his pistolet without a word and the slowmatch with it Which as I admit made me feel monstrously unsafe However I took the engine across my arm and stood at attention as I had seen him do with the match thrust through my waistband
Then I felt as if I had suddenly grown at least a foot taller and my joy was changed to ecstasy when the Lady Ysolinde coming out quickly I knew not at first for what purpose found me thus standing sentinel and blowing importantly upon my slowmatch
Hugo she said kindly looking at me with the aquamarine eyes that had the opal glints in them come thy ways in and sit with us
I made her a salute with my piece and thanked her for her good thought
But said I Lady Ysolinde pray remember that this is a place of danger and that it is more fitting that we who have the honor to be your guards should dine together without your chamber doors
Nay she said impetuously I insist It is not right that you who are to be an officer should mess with the common soldiers
My lady said I I thank you deeply And it shall be so I promise you when we are in safety But let me have my way here and now
She smiled upon me—liking me as I think none the worse for my stiffness And so went away and I was right glad to see her go For I would not have lost what I had gained in the good opinion of these two menatarms—no not for twenty maidens favors
But in that respect also I changed as the years went on For of all things a boy loves not to be flouted and babyfied when he thinks himself already grown up and the equal of his elders in love and war
So in a little while came out Jorian and Boris and having carried in the bread and wine we three sat down to the remains of the stew Indeed I saw but little difference as to quantity from the time that Jorian had taken it in For maids appetites when they are anyways in love are precarious but after they are assured of their loves return then the back hunger comes upon them and the larder is made to pay for all arrears
Not that I mean to assert that either of these ladies was in love with me—far otherwise indeed For this it would argue the conceit of a jackadandy to imagine much more to write such a thing But nevertheless certain is it that this night they were both of small appetite
CHAPTER XXII
HELENE HATES ME
However when the provision came to the outer port we three sat down about it and then by my troth there was little to marvel at in the tardiness of our eating For the rabbits seemed to come alive and positively leaped down our throats the partridges almost flew at us out of the pot the pigeons fairly rejoiced to be eaten The broth and the gravy ebbed lower and lower in the pan and left all dry But as soon as we had picked the bones roughly for there was no time for fine work lest the others should get all the best we threw the bones out to the hungry crew that watched us sitting round the stalls their very jowls pendulous with envy
So after a while we came to the end and then I went to the entrance of the chamber where were bestowed the Little Playmate and the Lady Ysolinde For I began to be anxious how Helene would be able to comport herself in the company of one so dainty and full of devices and convenances as the lady of the Weiss Thor
But by my faith I need not have troubled about our little lass For if there were any embarrassed that one was certainly not Helene And if any of us lacked reposefulness of manners that one was certainly a staring jackanapes who did not know which foot to stand upon nor yet how to sit down on the oaken settle when a seat was offered him nor last of all when nor how to take his departure when he had once sat down And as to the identity of that jackass there needs no further particularity
Nevertheless I talked pleasantly enough with both of them and I might have been an acquaintance of the day for all the notice that the Little Playmate took of me oven when the Lady Ysolinde told her evidently not for the first time of my standing sentry by the door and blowing upon the match at my girdle
From without we heard presently the clapping of hands and loud deray of merrymaking so I went to find out what it might be that was causing such an uproar
There I found Jorian and Boris giving a kind of exhibition of their skill in military exercises It might be also that they desired to teach a lesson for the benefit of the wild robber border folk and the yet more ruffianly kempers who foregathered in this strange inn of Erdberg on the borders of the Mark
I summoned the maids that they might look on For I wot the scene was a curious and pleasing one and I could see that the eyes of the Lady Ysolinde glittered But our little maid being used to all these things from her youth cared nothing for it though the thing was indeed marvellous in itself.
When I went out our two menatarms had each of them in hand his straight Wendish Tolleknife made heavy at the end of the Swedish blade but light as to the handle and hafted with cork from Spain
Ten yards apart shoulder to shoulder they stood and first of all each of them poising the knife in the hollow of his hand with a peculiar dancing movement set it writhing across the room at a marked circle on a board The two knives sped simultaneously with a vicious whir and stood quivering with their blades touching each other in the centre of the white At the next trial so exactly had they been aimed that the point of the one hit upon the haft of the other and stripped the cork almost to the blade But Jorian to whom the knife belonged mended it with a piece of string telling the company philosophically that it was no bad thing to have a string hanging loose to a Tolleknife for when it went into any one the string would always hang down from the wound in order to pull it out by
Then they got their knives again and played a more dangerous game Jorian stood on guard with his knife waving the blade slowly before him in the shape of a longbodied letter S Boris poised his weapon in the hollow of his hand and sent it whirring straight at Jorians heart As it came buzzing like an angry bee almost too quick for the eye to follow Jorian flicked it deftly up into the air at exactly the right moment and without even taking his eye off it he caught the knife by the handle as it fell Thereafter he bowed and gave it back to the thrower ceremoniously Then Boris guarded and Jorian in his turn threw with a like result though perhaps a little less featly done on Boriss part
All the while there was a clamant and manifold astonishment in the kitchen of the inn together with prodigal and muchwhispering wonder
Then ensued other plays Boris stood with his elbow crooked and his left hand on his hip with his back also turned to Jorian Buzz went the knife It flashed like level lightning under the arch of Jorians armpit and lo it was caught in his right hand which dropped upon it like a hawk upon a rabbit as it sped through his elbow port
Then came shooting with the crossbow and I regretted much that I had only learned the sixfoot yew and that there was not one in the company nor indeed room to display it if there had been For I longed to do something to show that I also was no milksop
Now it chanced that there was in one corner a yearling calf that had been killed that day and hung up with a bar between its thighs I saw an axe leaning in the corner—an axe with a broad cutting edge—and I bethought me that perhaps after all I knew something which even Jorian and Boris were ignorant of So mindful of my fathers teaching I took the axe and before any one was aware of my intent I swept the longhandled axe round my head and getting the poise and distance for the slow drawing cut which does not stop for bone nor muscle I divided the neck through at one blow so that the head dropped on the ground
Then there was much applause and wonder Men ran to lift the calfs head and the owner of the axe came up to examine the edge of his weapon I looked about The eyes of the Lady Ysolinde were aflame with pleasure but on the other hand the Little Playmate was crimson with shame Tears stood in her beautiful eyes
She marched straight up to meet me and clinching her hands she said
Oh I hate you
And so went within to her chamber and I saw her no more that night Now I take all to witness what strange things are the mind and temper of even the best of women And why Helene thus spoke to me I know not—nay even to this day I can hazard no right guess But as I have often said God never made anything straight that He made beautiful except only the line where the sea meets the sky
And of all the pretty crooked tangled things that He has made women are the prettiest the crookedest—and the most distractingly tangled
Which is perhaps why they are so everlastingly interesting and why we blundering ramstam homely favored men love them so
But the best entertainment must at long and last come to an end And the one in the inn of Erdberg lasted not so long as the telling of it—for the matter being more comfortable than that which came after I have perhaps not hurried so much as I might
When at last both supper and entertainment were finished and the earthenware platters huddled away into the hall without there arose a mighty clamor so that Jorian went to the door and cried out to the landlord to know what was the matter The old brickdusty knave came hulking forward and with greatly increased respect he addressed the menatarms
What is your will noble sirs
I asked said Jorian what was the reason of this so illfavored noise If your guests cannot be quiet I will come among them with something that will settle the quarrels of certain of them in perpetuity
So with sulky recurrent murmurs the fray finally settled itself, and for that time at least there was no more trouble I went to the door of the Lady Ysolinde and the Little Playmate and cried in to them a courteous goodnight For I had been sorry to have Helenes I hate you for her last word And the Lady Ysolinde came to the door in a light robe of silk and gave me her hand to kiss But though I said A sweet sleep and a pleasant Helene no voice replied Which I took very ill seeing that I had done naught amiss that I knew of
Then Jorian Boris and I made us comfortable for the night and being instructed by Boris I set my straw with the foot of my bundle to the door which opened inward upon us Then putting my sword by my side and my other weapons convenient to my hand I laid me down and braced my feet firmly against the door thus locking it safely
Jorian and Boris did the same at the other entrances and before the former went to sleep he arranged a tall candle that had been placed unlighted before a little shrine of the Virgin for in name at least the folk were not wholly pagan and lighted it so that it shed a faint illumination down the long passage in which we were bestowed and on the inner door of the ladies apartment
And though I was far from being in love yet the thought of the wandering damsels both so fair and so far from home moved me deeply And I was in act to waft a kiss towards the door when Jorian caught me
What now he said art at thy prayers lad
Aye that am I said I towards the shrine of the Saints Rest
Now this was irreverent and mayhap afterwards we were all soundly punished for it But at least it was on the level of their soldiers wit—though I own at the most no great matter to cackle of
Ho ho Good chuckled Boris under his breath One of them is doubtless a saint But as to the other—well let us ask the Prince He hath a Princess and she is oft upon her travels Ho ho ho
And the lout shook among his straw to such an extent that I bade him for Gods dear sake to bide still otherwise we might as lief lie in a barn among questing rattons
And the saints of your Saints Rest defend us from lying among any worse said he and betook him to sleep
CHAPTER XXIII
HUGO OF THE BROADAXE
But as for me sleep I could not And indeed that is small wonder For it was the first night I had ever slept out of the Red Tower in my life I seemed to lack some necessary accompaniment to the act of going to sleep
It was a long while before I could find out what it could be that was disturbing me At last I discovered that it was the howling of the kennelled bloodhounds which I missed For at night they even raged and leaped on the barriers with their forefeet hearing mayhap the moving to and fro of men come sleeplessly up from the streets of the city beneath
But here within a long days march of Thorn I had come at once into a new world Slowly the night dragged on The candle guttered A draught of air blew fitfully through the corridor in which we lay It carried the flame of the candle in the opposite direction I wondered whence it could come for the air had been still and thick before Yet I was glad of the stir for it cooled my temples and I think that but for one thing I might have slept And had I fallen on sleep then no one of us might have waked so easily What I heard was no more than this—once or twice the flame of the candle gave a smart little spit as if a moth or a fat bluebottle had forwandered into it and fallen spinning to the ground with burned wings Yet there were no moths in the chambers or we should have seen them circling about the lights at the time of supper Nevertheless ere long I heard again the quick light plap And presently I saw a pellet fall to the ground rolling away from the wall almost to the edge of the straw on which I lay
I reached out a hand for it and in a trice had it in my fingers It was soft like masons putty Plop came another I was sure now Some one was shooting at the flame of the candle with intent to leave us in the dark Jorian and Boris snored loudly sleeping like true menatarms I need say no more
I lay with my head in the shadow but by moving little by little with sleepy grunts of dissatisfaction I brought my face far enough round to see through the straw the window at the far end of the passage which as I had discovered upon our first coming opened out upon a ravine running at right angles to the street by which we had come
Presently I could see the lattice move noiselessly and a white face appeared with a boys blowgun of pierced boretree at its lips
Alas said I to myself that I had had these soldiers skill of the knife throwing I would have marked that gentleman But I had not even a bow—only my sword and dagger I resolved to begin to learn the practice of pistol and crossbow on the morrow
Plap Scat The aim was good this time We were in darkness I listened the barest fragment of a moment Some one was stealthily entering at the window end
Rise Jorian and Boris I cried An enemy
And leaping up I ran to relight the candle By good luck the wick was a sound honest thick one a good housewifes wick—not such as are made to sell and put in ordinary candles of offertory
The wick was still red and smoked as I put my hands behind it and blew Twang Twang Zist Zist went the arrows and bolts thickly about me bringing down the clay dust in handfuls thickly from the walls
Down on your stomachs—they are shooting crosswise along the passage cried Jorian who had instantly awakened I longed to follow the advice for I felt something sharp catch the back of my undersuit of soft leather in which for comfort I had laid me down to sleep But I must get the candle alight Hurrah the flame flickered and caught at last Twang Twang went the bows harder at it than ever Something hurtled hotly through my hair—the iron bolt of an arbalest as I knew by the song of the steel bow in a mans hand at the end of the passage
Get into a doorway man cried Boris as the light revealed me
And like a startled rabbit I ran for the nearest—that within which Helene and the Lady Ysolinde were lying asleep The candle as I have said was set deep in a niche which proved a great mercy for us For our foes who had thought to come on us by fraud could not now shoot it out Also in relighting it in my eagerness to save myself from the hissing arrows behind me I had pushed it to the very back of the shrine I had no weapon now but my dagger for in rising to relight the candle I had carelessly and blamefully left my sword in the straw And I felt very useless and foolish as I stood there to bide the assault with only a bit of guardless knife in my hand
Suddenly however there came a diversion
Crash went a gun in my very ear Flame smoke—much of both—and the stifling smell of sulphur Jorian had fired at the face of the popgun knave That puttywhite countenance had a crimson plash on it ere it vanished Then came back to us a scream of dreadful agony and the sound of a heavy fall outside
End of act the first The Wicked Angels—hum hum—go to hell All in the days work cried Jorian cheerily recharging his pistolet and driving home the wadding as he spoke
It may well be imagined that during our encounter with the assailants of the candle whose transverse fire had so nearly finished me the company out in the great kitchen had not been content to lie snoring on their backs We could hear them creeping and whispering out there beyond the doors but till after the shot from the soldiers pistolet they had not dared to show us any overt act of hostility
Suddenly Jorian once more facing the door now that the passage was clear perceived by the rustling of the straw that it began to open gradually He waited till in another moment it would have been wide enough to let in a man
Back there dog or I fire he bellowed And the door was promptly shut to
After that there came another period of waiting very difficult to get over I wished with all my heart for a crossbow or any shooting weapon Much did I reproach myself that I had not learned the art before as I might easily have done from the menatarms about the Wolfsberg who for my fathers sake or Helenes would gladly have taught me
The women folk in the room behind my back were now up and dressed Indeed the Lady Ysolinde would have come out and watched with us but I besought her to abide where she was Presently however Helene put her head without and seeing me stand by the door with my sword she asked if I wanted anything She appeared to have forgotten her unkind goodnight and I was not the man to remind her of it
Only another weapon Sweetheart besides this prickpoint smallsword said I looking at the thing in my hand I doubt not a trifle scornfully
Helene shut to the door and for a space I heard no more Presently however she opened it again and thrust an axe with a long handle through to me It was the very fellow of the weapon I had used on the pendent calf in the kitchen I understood at once that it was her apology and her justification as well For the Little Playmate was ever a straight lass She ever did so much more than she promised and ever said less than her heart meant Which perhaps is less common than the other way about—especially among women
I found it on my incoming and hid it under the bed she said
Then judge ye if I sheathed not my smallsword right swiftly and made the broadaxe blade to the skill of which I had been born whistle through the air For a mightily strange thing it is that though I had ever a rooted horror at the thought of my fathers office itself, and from my childhood never for a moment intended to exercise it nevertheless I had always the most notable facility in cutting things Never to this day have I a stick in hand when I walk abroad among the ragweed waving yellow on the grassy pastures below the Wolfsberg but I must need make wagers with myself to cut to an inch at the heads of the tallest and never miss And this I can do the day by the length and never grow weary Then again for pleasaunce my father used to put me to the cutting of light wood with an axe not always laying it upon a block or hagclog but sometimes setting the billet upright and making me cut the top off with a horizontal swing of the axe And in this I became exceedingly expert And how difficult it is no one knows till he has tried
So it is small wonder that as soon as I gripped the noble broadaxe which
Helene passed me I felt my own man again
Then we were silent and listened—and ever again listened and held our breaths Now I tell you when an enemy is whispering unseen without rustling like rats in straw and you wonder at what point they will break in next thinking all the while of the woman you love or do not yet love but may in the chamber behind—I tell you a castle is something less difficult to hold at such a time than just ones own breath
Suddenly I heard a sound in the outer chamber which I knew the meaning of It was the shifting of horses feet as they turn in narrow space to leave their stalls Our good friends were making free with our steeds And if we were not quick about it we should soon see the last of them and be compelled to traverse the rest of the road to Plassenburg upon our own proper feet
Jorian cried I do you hear They are slipping our horses out of the stalls Shall you and I make a sortie against them while Boris with that pistol of his keeps the passage from the wicks of the middle door
Good answered Jorian Give the word when you are ready
With axe in my right hand the handle of the door in my left I gave the signal
When I say Three Jorian
Good said Jorian
Clatter went the horses hoofs as they were being led towards the door
One Two Three I counted softly but clearly
CHAPTER XXIV
THE SORTIE
The door was open and the next I mind was my axe whirling about my head and Jorian rushing out of the other door a step ahead of me with his broadsword in his hand I cannot tell much about the fight I never could all my days And I wot well that those who can relate such long particulars of tales of fighting are the folk who stood at a distance and labored manfully at the looking on—not of them that were close in and felt the hot breaths and saw the deathgleam in fierce desperate eyes near to their own as the eyes of lovers when they embrace Ah Brothers of the Sword these things cannot be told Yet of a surety there is a heady delight in the fray itself. And so I found For I struck and warded not that being scarce necessary Because an axe is an uncanny weapon to wield but still harder to stand against when well used And I drove the rabble before me—the men of them I mean I felt my terrible weapon stopped now and then—now softly now suddenly according to that which I struck against And all the while the kitchen of the inn resounded with yells and threatenings with oaths and cursings
But Jorian and I drove them steadily back though they came at us again and again with spits iron hooks and all manner of curious weapons Also from out of the corners we saw the gleaming watchful eyes of a dark huddle of women and children Presently the clamorous rabble turned tail suddenly and poured through the door out upon the pathway quicker than water through a tiderace in the fulness of the ebb
And lo in a moment the room was sucked empty save only for the huddled women in the corners who cried and suckled their children to keep them still And some of the wounded with the axe and the sword crawled to them to have their ghastly wounds bound For an axe makes ugly work at the best of times and still worse on the edges of such a pagan fight as we three had just fought
So we went back victorious to our inner doors
Then Jorian looked at me and nodded across at Boris
Good was all that he said But the single word made me happier than many encomiums
In spite of all however we were no nearer than before to getting away that I could see For there was still all that long desperate traverse of the defile before we could guide our horses to firm ground again But while I was thinking bitterly of my first nights sleep save the mark away from the Red Tower I heard something I knew not the meaning of—the beginning of a new attack as I judged
It sounded like a scraping and a crumbling somewhere above
God help us now Jorian I cried in a sudden quick panic they are coming upon us everyway I can hear them stripping off the rooftile overhead—if such rabbitwarrens as this have Christian roofs
Boris sat down calmly with his back against the earthen wall and trained his pistol upward ready to shoot whatever should appear Presently fragments of earth and hardened clay began to drop on the pounded floor of the corridor I heard the soft hiss of the manatarms blowing up his match and I waited for the crash and the little heap of flame from the touch
Suddenly a foot larger than that of mortal plumped through our ceiling of brickdust and a huge scatterment of earth tumbled down A great bare leg with attachment of tattered hose hanging here and there followed
Before the pistol could go off Boris meanwhile waiting shrewdly for the appearance of a more vital part a voice cried Stop
I looked about me and there was the Lady Ysolinde come out of her chamber with a dagger in her hand She was looking upward at the hole in the ceiling
For Gods sake do not fire she cried tis only my poor Lubber Fiend
Shame on me that I had quite forgotten him all this time
At which without turning away the muzzle Boris put it a little aside and waited for the disturber of brickdust ceilings to reveal himself Which when presently he did a huge grinning face appeared pushing forward at first slowly and with difficulty then as soon as the ears had crossed the narrows of the pass the whole head to the neck was glaring down and grinning to us
Lubber Jan said Ysolinde what do you up there
The head only grinned and waggled pleasantly as it had been through a horsecollar at Dantzig fair
Speak said she and stamped her little foot I will shake thee with terrors else monster
Poor Jan came down from above It is quite easy he said But not for horses Oh no but now I will go and bring the Burgomeister Do you keep the castle while I go He bides below the town in a great house of stone and entertains our Prince Millers Sons archers I will bring all that are sober of them
God help us then quoth Jorian it is past eleven o the clock and as I know them man by man there will not be so much as one left able to prop up another by this time
Aha cried the head above you say that because you know the archers But I say I shall bring full twenty of them—because I know the strength of the Burgomeisters ale Hold the place for half an hour and twenty right sober men shall ye have
And with that the Lubber Fiend disappeared in a final avalanche of brickdust and clay clods
He was gone and half an hour was a long time to wait Yet in such a case there was nothing for it but to stand it out So I besought the maids to retire again to their inner chamber into which at least neither bullets nor arrows could penetrate This after some little persuasion they did
We waited I have since that night fought many easier battles and bloody battles too Now and then a face would look in momentarily from the great outer door and vanish before any one could put a shot into it Next ere one was aware an arrow would whistle with a Hisst past ones breastbone and stand quivering headcovered in the clay Vicious things they were too steelpointed and shafted with iron for half their length
But all waitings come to an end even that of him who waits on a fair womans arraying of herself Erdberg evidently did not know of the little party down at the Burgomeisters below the pass of the ravine or knowing did not care For just as our halfhour was crawling to an end with a unanimous yell a crowd of wild men with weapons in their hands poured in through the great door and ran shouting at our position At the same time the window at the end of the passage opened and a man leaped through Him I sharply attended to with the axe and stood waiting for the next He also came but not through the window He ran at me head first through the door and being stricken down completely blocked it up Good service And a usefully bulky man he was But how he bled—Saint Christopher that is the worst of bulky men they can do nothing featly—not even die
One man won past me indeed darting under the stroke of my axe but he was little advantaged thereby For I fetched a blow at the back of his head with the handle which brought him to his knees He stumbled and fell at the threshold of the maids chamber And by my sooth the Lady Ysolinde stooped and poignarded him as featly as though it had been a work of broidering with a bodkin Too late Helene wept and besought her to hold her hand He was she said some ones son or lover It was deucedly unpractical But twas my Little Playmate And after all I suppose the crack he got from me in the way of business would have done the job neatly enough without my ladys dagger
I tell you the work was hot enough about those three doors during the next few moments I never again want to see warmer on this side of Peters gates—especially not since I got this wound in my thigh with its trick of reopening at the most inconvenient seasons But the broadaxe was a blessed thought of the little Helenes and helped to keep the castle right valiantly
Yet I can testify that I was glad with more than mere joy when I heard the Trot trot of the Princes archers coming at the wolfs lope all in each others footsteps along the narrow ledge of the village street
Hurrah lads I shouted quick and help us
And then at the sound of them the turmoil emptied itself as quickly as it had come The rabble of illdoers melted through the wide outer door where the archers received and attended to them there Some precipitated themselves over the cliff Others were straightway knocked down stunned and bound Some died suddenly And a few were saved to stretch the judicial ropes of the Bailiwick For it was always thought a good thing by such as were in authority to have a good show on the Thieves Architrave or general gallows of the vicinity as a thing at once creditable to the zeal of the worthy dispensers of local justice and pleasing to the Kaisers officer if he chanced to come spying that way
CHAPTER XXV
MINE HOST RUNS HIS LAST RACE
Hearty were the greetings when the soldiers found us all safe and sound
They shook us again and again by the hand They clapped us on the back
They examined professionally the dead who lay strewn about
A good stroke Well smitten they cried as they turned them over like spectators who applaud at a game they can all understand Specially did they compliment me on my axework Never had anything like it been seen in Plassenburg The head of the yearling calf was duly exhibited when the neatness of the blow and the exactness of the aim at the weakest jointing were prodigiously admired
The good fellows mellow with the Burgomeisters sinallale were growing friendly beyond all telling when in the light of the offertory taper now growing beguttered and burning low there appeared the Lady Ysolinde
You never saw so quick a change in any men The heartiest reveller forthwith became silent and slunk behind his neighbor Knees shook beneath stalwart frames and there seemed a very general tendency to get down upon marrowbones
The Lady Ysolinde stood before them strangely different from the slim willowy maiden I had seen her She looked almost imperial in her demeanor
You shall be rewarded for your ready obedience she said the Prince will not forget your service Take away that offal
She pointed to the dead rascals on the floor
And the men muttering something that sounded to me like Yes your
Highness hastened to obey
Did you say Yes your Highness I asked one of them who seemed by his air of command to be the superior among the archers
Aye answered he dryly it is a term usually applied to the Lady
Ysolinde Princess of Plassenburg
I was never more smitten dazed and dumb in my life Ysolinde the daughter of Master Gerard the maid who had read my fate in the inkpool whom I had made suffer according to her own telling—she the Princess of Plassenburg
Ah I had it now Here at last was the explanation of the threadbare and inexplicable jest of Jorian and Boris The Prince hath a Princess and she is oft upon her travels
But after all what a Wendish barking about so small an egg I have heard an emperor proclaimed with less cackle
Ysolinde Princess of Plassenburg—yes that made a difference And I had taken her hand—I the son of the Red Axe—I the Hereditary Justicer of the Wolfmark Well after all she had sought me not I her And then the little Helene—what would she make of it I longed greatly to find an opportunity to tell her It might teach her in what manner to cut her cloth
The archers of the Prince camped with us the rest of the night in the place of the outcast crew They behaved well though their forbearance was perhaps as much owing to the near presence of the Princess as to any inherent virtue in the good men of the bow to the women and children who remained huddled in the corners
Then came the dawn swiftfoot from the east A fair dawn it was the sun rising not through barred clouds with the lightest at the horizon which is the foulweather dawn but through streamers and bannerets that fluttered upward and fired to ever fleecier crimson and gold as he rose
We rode among a subdued people and ere we went the Princess called for the Burgomeister and bade him send to Plassenburg the landlord so soon as he should be found and also the heads of the halfdozen houses on either side of the inn
Then indeed there was a turmoil and a wailing to speak about Women folk crowded out of the huts and kissed the white feet of the palfrey that bore the Lady Ysolinde
Have mercy they wailed show kindness great Princess Here are our men unwounded and unhurt that have lain by our sides all the night They are innocent of all intent of evil—of every dark deed Ah lady send them not to your prisons We shall never see them more and they are all we have or our children Tis they bring in the bread to this drear spot
Produce me your husbands then said the Lady Ysolinde
Whereat the women ran and brought a number of frowsy and bleared men all unwounded save one that had a broken head
Then Ysolinde called to the Burgomeister Come hither chief of a thievish municipality tell me if these be indeed these womens husbands
The Burgomeister a pallid pouchmouthed man tremulous and brickdusty like everything else in the village of Erdberg came forward and peeringly examined the men
Every man to his woman he ordered brusquely and the women went and stood each by her own property—the men shamefaced and handdog the women anxious and pale Some of the last threw a protecting arm about their husbands which they for the most part appeared to resent In every case the woman looked the more capable and intelligent the men being apparently mere boors
They are all their true husbands at least so far as one can know answered the Burgomeister cautiously
Then said the lady bid them catch the innkeeper and send him to Plassenburg and these others can abide where they are But if they find him not they must all come instead of him
The men started at her words their faces brightening wonderfully and they were out of the door before one could count ten We mounted our horses and under the very humble guidance of the Burgomeister who led the Princesss palfrey we were soon again upon the high tableland Here we enjoyed to the full the breezes which swept with morning freshness across the scrubby undergrowths of oak and broom and above all the sight of misty wisps of cloud scudding and whisking about the distant peaksbehind which lay the city of Plassenburg
We had not properly won clear of the ravines when we heard a great shouting and turmoil behind us—so that I hastened to look to my weapons For I saw the archers instinctively draw their quarrels and boltpouches off their backs to be in readiness upon their left hips
But it was only the rabble of men and women who had been threatened the dwellers in those twelve houses next the inn who came dragging our brickfaced knave of a host with that hardpolished countenance of his slack and clammy—slategray in color too all the red tan clean gone out of it
Mercy—mercy great lady he cried I pray you do execution on me here and now Carry me not to the extreme tortures Death clears all And I own that for my crimes I well deserve to die But save me from the strappado from the torment of the rack I am an old man and could not endure
The Lady Ysolinde looked at him and her emerald eyes held a steely glitter in their depths
I am neither judge nor—I think she was going to say executioner but she remembered in time and for my sake was silent which I thought was both gracious and charming of her She resumed in a softer tone What sentence then would you desire thus confessing your guilt
That I might end myself over the cliff there said the innkeeper pointing to the wall of rock along the edge of which we were riding
See then that he is well ended said the Princess briefly to
Jorian
Good said Jorian saluting
And very coolly betook himself to the edge of the cliff where he primed his piece anew and blew up his match
Loose the man and stand back cried the Princess
A moment the innkeeper stood nerving himself A moment he hung on the thin edge of his resolve The slack gray face worked convulsively the white lips moved the hands were gripped close to his sides as though to run a race His whole body seemed suddenly to shrink and fall in upon itself.
The torture The terrible torture he shrieked aloud and ran swiftly from the clutches of the men who had held him Between the path and the verge of the cliff from which he was suffered to cast himself there stretched some thirty or forty yards of fine green turf The old man ran as though at a village fair for some wager of slippery pigs tail but all the time the face of him was like Death and Hell following after
At the cliffs edge he leaped high into the air and went headlong down to our watching eyes as slowly as if he had sunk through water None of us who were on the path saw more of him But Jorian craned over regarding the mans end calmly and even critically And when he had satisfied himself that that which was done was properly done as coolly as before he stowed away his match in his coverfire mounted his horse and rode towards us
He nodded to the Princess Good my Lady quoth he for all comment
I saved a charge that time said he to his companion
Good quoth Boris in his turn
We had now a safe and noble escort and the way to Plassenburg was easy The face of the country gradually changed No more was it the gray wistful plain of the Wolfmark upon which our Red Tower looked down No more did we ride through the marly dusty parched lands in which were the ravines with their uncanny cavern villages of which this Erdberg was the chief But green wellwatered valleys and mountains wooded to the top lay all about us—a pleasant land a fertile province and as the Princess had said a land in which the strong hand of Karl the Prince had long made the broombush keep the cow
I had all along been possessed with great desire to meet the Prince of so noble and wellcaredfor a land and perhaps also to see what manner of man could be the husband of so extraordinary a Princess
CHAPTER XXVI
PRINCE JEHU MILLERS SON
Yet now when she was in her own country and as good as any queen thereof I found the Lady Ysolinde in no wise different from what she had been in the city of Thorn and in her fathers house She called me often to ride beside her Helene being on my other side while the Lubber Fiend who had saved all our lives gambolled about and came to her to be petted like a lapdog of some monstrous sort He licked his lips and twisted his eyes upward at her in ludicrous ecstasy till only the whites were visible whenever the Princess laid her hand on his head So that it was as much as the archers of the guard could do to hide their laughter in their beards But hide it they did having a wholesome awe of the emerald eyes of their mistress or perhaps of the steely light which sometimes came into them
It was growing twilight upon the third day for there were no adventures worth dwelling upon after that among the cavern dwellings of Erdberg when for the first time we saw the towers of Plassenburg crowning a hill with its clear brown river winding slow beneath We were yet a good many miles from it when down the dusty road towards us came a horseman and fifty yards or so behind him another
The Prince—none rides like our Karl said Jorian familiarly under his breath but proudly withal
He comes alone said I wonderingly For indeed Duke Casimir of the Wolfsberg never went ten lances length from his castle without a small army at his tail
Even so replied Jorian it is ever his custom The officer who follows behind him has his work cut out—and basted Not for nothing is our Karl called Prince Jehu Millers Son for indeed he rides most furiously
Before there was time for more words between us a tall grimfaced pleasanteyed man of fifty rode up at a furious gallop The first thing I noticed about him was that his hair was exactly the same color as his horse—an irongray rusty a little as if it had been rubbed with iron that has been years in the wet
He took off his hat courteously to the Princess
I bid you welcome my noble lady said he smiling the cages are ready for the new importations
The Lady Ysolinde reached a hand for her husband to kiss which he did with singular gentleness But so far as I could see she neither looked at him even once nor yet so much as spoke a word to him Presently he questioned her directly And who may this fair young damsel be who has done me the honor to journey to my country
She is Helene called Helene Gottfried of Thorn and has come with me to be one of my maids of honor answered the Lady Ysolinde looking straight before her into the gathering mist which began to collect in white ponds and streaks here and there athwart the valley
The Prince gave the Little Playmate a kindly ironic look out of his gray eyes which as I interpreted it had for meaning Then if that be so God help thee little one—tis well thou knowest not what is before thee
And this young man said the Prince nodding across to me
But I answered for myself
I am the son of the Hereditary Justicer of the Wolfmark said I I had no stomach for such work Therefore as I was shortly to be made my fathers assistant I have brought letters of introduction to your Highness in the hopes that you will permit me the exercise of arms in your army in another and more honorable fashion
I have promised him a regiment said the Princess speaking quickly
What—of leaden soldiers answered the Prince looking at her mighty soberly
Your Highness is pleased to be brutal answered the Lady Ysolinde coldly It is your ordinary idea of humor
A kind of quaint humility sat on the face of the Prince
I but thought that your Highness could have nothing else in her mind—seeing that our rough Plassenburg regiments will only accept men of some years and experience to lead them But the little soldiers of metal are not so queasy of stomach
May it please your Highness said I earnestly I will be content to begin with carrying a pike so that I be permitted in any fashion to fight against your enemies
Jorian and Boris came up and saluted at this point like twin mechanisms
Then they stood silent and waiting
The Prince nodded in token that they had permission to speak
With the sword the lad fights well said Boris Is it not so Jorian
Good said Jorian
But with the broadaxe he slashes about him like an angel from heaven—not so Boris said Jorian
Good said Boris
Can you ride said the Prince turning abruptly from them
Aye sire said I For indeed I could and had no shame to say it
That horse of his is blown give him your fresh one said he to the officer who had accompanied him And do you show these good folk to their quarters
Hardly was I mounted before the Prince set spurs to his beast and with no more than a casual wave of his hand to the Princess and her train he was off
Ride he cried to me And was presently almost out of sight stretching his horses gray belly to the earth like a coursing dog after a hare
Well was it for me that I had learned to ride in a hard school—that is upon the unbroken colts which were brought in for the mounting of the Duke Casimirs soldiery For the horse that I had been given took the bit between his teeth and pursued so fiercely after his stable companion that I could scarce restrain him from passing the Prince But our way lay homeward so that though I was in no way able to guide nor yet control my charger nevertheless presently the Prince and I were clattering through the town of Plassenburg like two fiends riding headlong to the pit
Within the town the lamps were being lit in the booths the folks busy marketing and the watchmen already perambulating the city and crying the hours at the street corners
But as the Prince and I drove furiously through like pursuer and pursued the busy streets cleared themselves in a twinkling and we rode through lanes of faces yellow in the lamplight or in the darker places like blurs of scrabbled whiteness So I leaned forward and let the beast take his chance of uneven causeway and open sewer I expected nothing less than a broken neck and for at least half a mile as we flew upward to the castle I think that the certainty of naught worse than a broken arm would positively have pleasured me At least I would very willingly have compounded my chances for that
Presently without ever drawing rein we flew beneath the dark outer port of the castle clattered through a court paved with slippery blocks of stone thundered over a noble drawbridge plunged into a long and gloomy archway and finally came out in a bright inner palace court with lamps lit all about it
I was at the Princes bridle ere he could dismount
You can ride Captain Hugo Gottfried he said I think I will make you my orderly officer
And so he went within without a word more of praise or welcome
There came past just at that moment an ancient councillor clad in a long robe of black velvet with broad facings and rosettes of scarlet He was carrying a roll of papers in his hand
What said the Prince to yon young sir if I may ask without offence said he looking at me with a curiously sly upward glance out of the corner of his eye as if he suspected me of a fixed intention to tell him a lie in any case
If it be any satisfaction to you to know answered I rather piqued at his tone the Prince informed me that I could ride and that he intended to make me his orderly officer And he called me not young sir but Captain Hugo Gottfried
How long has he known you said the Chief Councillor of State For so by his habit I knew him to be
Half an hour or thereby answered I
God help this kingdom cried the old man tripping off flirting his hand hopelessly in the air—if he had known you only ten minutes you would have been either PrimeMinister or CommanderinChief of the army
It was in this strange fashion that I entered the army of the Prince of Plassenburg a service which I shall ever look back upon with gratitude and count as having brought me all the honors and most of the pleasures of my life
Half an hour or so afterwards the blowing of trumpets and the thunder of the new leathern cannon announced that the Princess and her train were entering the palace The Prince came down to greet them on the threshold in a new and magnificent dress
The Princes officerinwaiting to attend upon his Highness cried a herald in fine raiment of blue and yellow
I looked about for the man who was to be my superior in my new office—that is if Prince Karl should prove to have spoken in earnest
The Princes orderly to attend upon him again proclaimed the herald more impatiently
I saw every eye turn upon me and I began to feel a gentle heat come over me Presently I was blushing furiously For I was still in my ridingclothes and even they had not been changed after the adventure of the Brickdust Town So that they were in no wise fitting to attend upon a mighty dignitary
The Prince of Plassenburg looked round
Ha he said this is not well—I had forgotten My orderly ought to have been duly arrayed by this time
Pardon my Prince said I but all the apparel I have is upon my sumpter horse which comes in the train of the Princess
My master looked right and left in his quickly imperious and yet humorous manner
Here Count von Reuss he said to a tall handsome heavily jowled young man I pray you strip off thy fine coat for an hour and lend it to my new officerinwaiting The ladies will admire thee more than ever in thy fine flowered waistcoat with silk sleeves and frilled purfles of lace
The young man Von Reuss looked as if he desired much to tell the Prince to go and be hanged But there was something in the bearing of Karl of Plassenburg usurper as they called him the like of which for command I have never seen in the countenance and manner of any lawfully begotten prince in the world
So beckoning me into an antechamber and swearing evilly under his breath all the time the young man stripped off his fine coat and offered it to me with one hand without so much as looking at me He gave it indeed churlishly as one might give a dole to a loathsome beggar to be rid of his importunity
I thank you sir said I but more for your obedience to the Prince than for the fashion of your courtesy to me
Yet for all that he answered me never a syllable but turned his head and played with his mustache till his manservant brought him another coat
CHAPTER XXVII
ANOTHER MANS COAT
I followed the Prince without another word and when he received the Princess I had the happiness of taking the Little Playmate by the hand and conducting her as gallantly as I could into the palace And I was glad for it helped to allay a kind of reproachful feeling in my heart which would keep tugging and gnawing there whenever I was not thinking of anything else I feared lest in the throng and press of new experiences I might a little have neglected or been in danger of forgetting the love of the many years and all the sweetness of our solitary companionship
Nevertheless I knew well that I loved those sweetest eyes of hers more than all the words of men and women and priests
And even as I helped her to dismount I went over and told her so
It was just when I held her in my arms for a moment as she dismounted
She clung to me and methought I heard a little sob
Do not ever be unkind Hugo she said I am very lonely I wish with all my heart I were back again in the old Red Tower
Unkind—never while I live little one I whispered in her ear Cheer your heart and tomorrow your sorrows will wear off and you and I both shall find friendship in the strange land
I hate the Princess And I shall never like her as long as I live she said with that certain concentrated dislike which only good women feel towards those a degree less innocent specially when the latter are well to look upon
There was no time to reply immediately as I conducted her up the steps For I had to keep my eyes open to observe how the Prince conducted himself and in the easy ceremonial of Plassenburg it chanced that I happened upon nothing extravagant
But Helene you said a while ago that you hated me I said after a little pause smiling down at her
Did I she answered Surely nay
Ah but tis true as your eyes I persisted Do you not remember when I had cut the calfs head off with the axe You did not love the thought of the Red Tower so much then
Oh that she said as if the discrepancy had been fully explained by the inflexion of her voice upon the word
But she pressed my hand so I cared not a jot for logic
You do not love her you are sure she said looking up at me when we came to the darker turn of the stairs for the corkscrews were narrower in the ancient castle than in the new palace below
Not a bit said I heartily without any more pretence that I did not understand what she meant
She pressed my hand again momentarily slipping her own down off my arm to do it
It is not that I love you Hugo or that I want you to love me she said like one who explains that which is plain already except of course as your Little Playmate But I could not bear that you should care about that—that woman
It was evident that there were to be stirring times in the Castle of
Plassenburg and that I Hugo Gottfried was to have my share of them
As soon as we had arrived at the banquetinghall the Prince beckoned me and presented me formally to the Lady Ysolinde
Your Highness this is Captain Hugo Gottfried my new officerinwaiting
The Princess bowed gravely and held out her hand Her aquamarine eyes were bent upon me suffused with a certain quick and evident pleasure which became them well
Your Highness has chosen excellently I can bear witness that the
Captain Gottfried is a brave—a very brave man she said
And at that moment I was most grateful to her for the testimony For behind us stood the young Von Reuss pulling at his mustache and looking very superciliously over at me
Then the Lady Ysolinde withdrew to her own apartments and that day I got no more words with her nor yet with Helene
The Prince also went to his room and I remained where I was deeming that for the present my duty was done
The servant of the man whose coat I wore stood with another servitor close at hand—indeed many of all ranks stood about
That is the fellow I heard one say tauntingly meaning me to hear—peacocking it there in my masters coat
His companion laughed contumeliously at which the passion within me suddenly stirred I gave one of them the palm of my hand and as the other fell hastily back my foot took him
What ho there No quarrelling among the lackeys cried Von Reuss insolently from the other side of the room
Were you by any chance speaking to me said I politely looking over at him
Why yes fellow he said If you squabble with the waitingmen concerning castoff clothes you had better do it in the stables where as you say your own wardrobe is kept
Sir said I the coat I wear I wear by the command of your Prince It shall be immediately returned to you when the Prince permits me to go off duty In the mean time pray take notice that I am Captain Hugo Gottfried officerinwaiting to the Prince Karl of Plassenburg and that my sword is wholly at your service
You are retorted Von Reuss the son of my uncle Casimirs Hereditary Executioner and one day you may be mine Let that be sufficient honor for you
That I may be yours is the only part of my fathers hereditary office I covet said I pointedly
And certainly I had him there for immediately he turned on his heel and would have walked away
But this I could not permit So I strode sharply after him and seizing him by his embroidered shoulderstrap I wheeled him about
But sir said I you have insulted an officer of the Prince Will you answer for that with your sword or must I strike you on the face each time I meet you to quicken your sense of honor
Before he had time to answer the Prince came in
What quarrelling already young Spitfire he cried I made you my orderly—not my disorderly
Von Reuss and I stood blankly enough looking away from one another.
What was the quarrel asked the Prince when he had seated himself at table
I looked to Von Reuss to explain For indeed I was somewhat awed to think that thus early in my new career I had embroiled myself with the nephew of Duke Casimir even though like myself he was in exile and dependent upon the liberality of Prince Karl
But since he did not speak I made bold to say Sire the Count von Reuss taunted me with wearing a borrowed coat and called me a servitor because by birth I am the son of the Hereditary Executioner of the Wolfmark So I told him I was an officer of your household and that my sword was much at his service
So you are cried the Prince—so you are—a servitor So is he—young fools both And as for being son of the Hereditary Executioner it is throughout all our German land an honorable office Once I was assistant executioner myself and wished with all my heart that I had been principal and so pocketed the guilders No more of this folly Von Reuss I am ashamed of you and to a newcomer Hear ye sir I will not have it I will een resume my old trade and do a little justicing on my own account Shake hands this instant you young bantams
And the Prince sat back in his chair and looked grimly at us I went a step forward But Von Reuss held aloof
Provost Marshal cried the Prince in a voice which made every one in the room jump and all the glasses ring on the table—bring a guard
The Provost Marshal advanced bowed and was departing when Von Reuss came forward and held his hand out at first sulkily but afterwards readily enough
Then we shook hands solemnly and stiffly of course loving each other not one whit better
Ah said the Prince I thought you would For if you had not your uncle Duke Casimir might have been a Duke without either an heir to his Dukedom or a successor to his Hereditary Justicer
Now sit down lads sit down and agree he said after a pause The ladies come not to table tonight So now begin and tell me all the affair of the Earthhouses I must ride and see the place I declare I grow rotten and thewless in this dull Plassenburg where they dare not stick so much as a knife in one another, all for fear of Karl Millers Son Since I cannot adventure forth on my own account I am become a man that wearies for news Tell me every part of the affair concealing nothing But if you can relate even your own share in it as faithfully as becomes a modest youth
So I told him at length all that hath already been told giving as far as
I could the credit to Jorian and Boris as indeed was only their desert
Whereupon the tale being finished the Prince said Have the two archers up
And while the pursuivant had gone for them the old Councillor leaned across the table and whispered Enter FieldMarshal Jorian and General Boris
But when the archers came in and stood like a pair of kitchen pokers the
Prince ordered them to tell the story
Jorian turned his head to Boris and Boris turned his head to Jorian
They both made a little impatient gesture which said Tell it you
But neither appeared to be able to speak first
Wind them up with a cup of wine apiece cried the hearty Prince surely that will set one of them off
Two great flagons of wine were handed to Jorian and Boris and they drank as if one machine had been propelling their internal workings throwing off the liquor with beautiful unanimity and then bringing their cups to the position of salute as if they had been musketoons at the new French drill After which each of them having finished gave the little cough of content and appreciation which among the archers means manners
But nevertheless the Princes information with regard to the affair of
Erdberg was not increased
Go on he cried impatiently looking at Jorian and Boris sternly
They were still silent
This officer Captain Hugo Gottfried said the Prince looking at me tells me that the credit of the preservation of the Princess among the cave folk is due to you two brave men
He lies said Wendish Jorian with a face like a blank wall
Good muttered Boris approvingly
He did it himself said Boris adding after a pause—with an axe
Good quoth Jorian
He cut a calfs head off said Jorian as a complete explanation of how the preserving of the Princess was effected
Whereat all laughed and the Prince more than any For ever since he drank his first draught of wine he had begun to mellow
Well hearty fellows what reward would you have for your great bravery
They turned their heads simultaneously inward without moving any other part of their bodies They nodded to one another.
Well cried the Prince what reward do you desire
Now for the FieldMarshals wand said the Councillor near to me under his breath
Twelve dozen Rhenish said Jorian
The Prince looked at Boris
And you he said
Twelve dozen Rhenish said Boris without moving a muscle
God Bacchus cried the Prince you will empty my cellars between you and I shall not have a sober archer for a month But you shall have it Go
Jorian and Boris saluted with a wink to each other as they wheeled which said as plain as monks script or plainer Good
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE PRINCES COMPACT
In spite of all drawbacks and difficulties and I had my share of them I loved Plassenburg And especially I loved the Prince The son so they said of a miller in the valley of the Almer he had entered the guard of the last Prince of Plassenburg much as I had now entered his own service Prince Dietrich had taken a fancy to him and advanced him so rapidly that after the disastrous war with Duke Casimir of the Mark and the death of the last legitimate Prince Karl the millers son having set himself to reorganize the army succeeded so well that it was not long before he found himself the source of all authority in Plassenburg
Thereafter he gave to the decimated and heartless land adequate defences and complete safety against foreign foes together with security for life and property under equal laws within its own borders So in time no man saying him nay Karl Millers Son became the Prince of Plassenburg and his seat was more secure upon his throne than that of any legitimate prince for a thousand miles all round about
After the quarrel with Von Reuss the Prince for reasons of his own favored me with a great deal of his society He was often graciously pleased to talk concerning his early difficulties
When I was an understrapper he was wont to say the land was overswarmed and eaten up by officialdom I could not see the good meat wasted upon crawlers Get to work said I or ye shall neither eat nor crawl
We must eat—to beg we are not ashamed to steal is the right of our noble Ritterdom the crawlers replied
So said I bitte—as to that we shall see
Then I made me a fine gallows builded like that outside Paris which I had seen once when on an embassy for Prince Dietrich It was like a castle with walls twelve feet thick and on the beams of it room for a hundred or more to swing each with his six feet of clearance all comfortable and no complaints
Then came the crawlers and asked me what this fine thing was for
For the sacred Ritterdom of Plassenburg answered I if it will not cease to burn houses and to ravish and carry off honest mens wives and daughters
But you must catch us quoth Crawlerdom Walls fourteen feet thick said they
Content cried I there is the more fun in catching you Only the end is the same—that is to say my new wellventilated castle out there on the heath fine girdles and neckpieces and anklets of iron and six feet of clearance for each of you to swing in
So they went back to their castles and robbed and ravished and rieved even as did their fathers for a thousand years thinking no evil But I took my soldiers whom in seven years service I had taught to obey orderstwo foot of clearance did well enough for the disobedient among them not being either ritters or men of mark And I Karl the Millers brat as at that time they called me in contempt borrowed cannon— great lumbering things—from my friend the Margrave George down there to the south A great work we had dragging them up to Plassenburg by rope and chain and laboring plough oxen We shot them off before the fourteenfeet walls Then arose various clouds of dust shriekings surrenderings crying of Forgive us great Prince we never meant to do it followed as I had said by the sixfeet clearances But these in time I had to reduce to four—so great became the competition for places in my new Schloss Müllerssohn
But Once done well done—done forever is my motto So since that time the winds have mostly blown through my Schloss untainted and the sons of Ritterdom magnanimous captains and honest bailies of quiet bailiwicks are my very good friends and faithful officers
Prince Karl the Millers Son was silent a moment
But I am still looking out for another man with a headpiece to come after me I have no son and if I had the chances are ten to one that he would be either a milksop or a flittermouse painted blue Milksops I hate and send to the monkeries I can endure flittermice painted blue but they must wear petticoats—and pretty petticoats too Have you observed those of the Princess said he abruptly changing the subject
The Princesss flittermice I faltered not well knowing what I said for he had turned roughly and suddenly upon me
Aye marry you may say it But I meant the Princesss wilicoats
No said I as curtly as I could for the subject had its obvious limitations
Ah they are pretty ones said Karl I assure you She has at least an undeniable taste in lace and cambric They say in other lands—not in this—though I would not hinder them if they did—that she wears the undergarments of men and rules the state But I think not so The Princess is a better Queen than wife a better woman than either
On this subject also I had nothing to say which I dared venture to the husband of the Lady Ysolinde
She read my horoscope said I weakly searching for something in the corners of my brain to change the subject
How so said the Prince quickly
First in a crystal and then in a pool of ink I replied
It was a good horoscope and of a fortunate ending
On the whole—yes said I though there was much in it that I could not understand
Like enow laughed the Prince I warrant she could not understand it herself It is ever the way of the inkpool folk
Then ensued a silence between us
Prince Karl remained long with his head resting on his hand He looked critically at the twisted stem of his wineglass twirling it between his thick fingers
The Princess loves you he said at last looking shrewdly at me from beneath his gray brows
It was spoken half as a question and half as information
Loves me stammered I the blood sucking back to my heart and leaving my head light and tingling
The Prince nodded calmly
So they say said he
My Lord it is a thing impossible cried I earnestly I am but a poor lad—and she has been kind to me But of love no word has been spoken Besides—
And I stopped
Out with it man said the Prince more like as it seemed to me a comrade inviting a confidence than a great Prince speaking to a newly made officer
Well I—I love the Little Playmate
It came out with a rush at last
Oh said he that is bad I hope that is not a matter arranged a thing serious For if the Princess knows as much the young woman will not have her troubles to seek in the Palace of Plassenburg
I hung my head and said naught save that Helene declared she loved me not but that I thought she was mistaken
Ah then cried the Prince like one exceedingly relieved it is but some boy and girl affair That is better She may change her mind as you will certainly change yours—and that several times—among the ladies of the court I was in hopes—
And the Prince stopped in his turn not from bashfulness but rather like a man who desires more carefully to choose his words
I was in hopes he went on speaking slowly that if the Princess loved your boys face and liked my conversation which I may say without pride that I think she does you and I together might have kept her at home So overmuch wandering is not good for the state Also it gets her a name beyond all manner of illdoing withindoors
Once more I knew not well what to answer to this speech of the Princes so I remained discreetly silent
I have seen the Princesss flittermice about her before often enough I thank thee for the word Sir Captain but this is the first time she has performed the inkpool and crystal foolery with any man There is no great harm in the Princess In the things of love she is as inflammable as the ink and as soft as the crystal Fear not Joseph Potiphera may be depended upon not to proceed to extremities But I was in some hopes that you and I could have arranged matters between us being both men—aye and honorable men
I saw that Karl Millers Son looked sad and troubled
Prince you love the Princess said I thrusting out my hand to him before I thought He did not take it but instead he thrust a flagon of wine into it as if I had asked for that—yet the thing was not done by way of a rebuff I saw that plainly
Pshaw What does a grizzlepate with love said he gruffly
Nevertheless I was in hopes
Prince Karl said I I give you word of honor tis not as you say or they say The Princess has indeed done me the honor to be friendly—
To hold your hand he murmured softly like a chorus
Well to be friendly and—
To caress your cheek put in the Prince gently as before
Done me the honor to be friendly—
To play with your curls lad
The Princess— I began all in a tremor For anything more awkward than this conversation I had never experienced It bathed me in a drip of cold sweat
To kiss you perhaps at the waygoing he insinuated
No thundered I at last Prince you do your Princess great wrong
He lifted his hand in a gentle deprecating way most unlike the rider who had ridden so fast and so hotly that night of our coming
You mistake me sir he said On the contrary I have the greatest respect for the Princess Ysolinde I would not wrong her for the world But I know her track of old You are a brave lad and after all I fear there is something in that calflove of yours—devil take it
I thought I could now dimly discern whither the Princes plans were tending
Your Highness said I I am a young man and of little experience I cannot tell why you have chosen to speak so freely to me But I am your servant and in all that hurts not the essence and matter of my love for the Little Playmate I will do even as you say
Prince Karl grasped my hand
Ah well said he cried You are running your head into a peck of troubles though And you are likely to have some experience of womenkind shortly—a thing which does no brisk young fellow any harm unless he lets them come between him and his career Women are harmless enough so that you keep them well down to leeward I am Balticbred and have ever held to this—that you may sail unscathed through fleets of farthingales so being that you keep the wind well on your quarter and see the fairway clear before you
I did not at the time understand half he said but I knew we had made some sort of a bargain And I thought with an aching unsatisfied heart that though it might be well enough for an irongray and cynical old Prince the thing would hardly commend itself to Helene my Little Playmate to whom I had so recently spoken loving words sweeter than ever before
Devil take all Princes and Princesses I said as I thought to myself
But I must have spoken aloud for the Prince laughed
Do not waste good prayers needlessly he said he will
And so with a careless and humorsome wave of his hand to one side he went down the staircase and so out into the quadrangle of the Palace
CHAPTER XXIX
LOVES ME—LOVES ME NOT
Now how this plan of my Lord Princes worked in the Palace of Plassenburg I find it difficult to tell without writing myself down a painted flittermouse as the Prince expressed it I was in high favor with my master well liked also by most of the harddriving roughriding young soldiers whom the millers son had made out of the sons of dead and damned Ritterdom I got my share of honor and good service too in going to different courts and bringing back all that Prince Karl needed To exercise myself in the art of war I hunted the border thieves and gave them short enough shrift In a year I had made such an assault as that of the inn at Erdberg an impossibility all along the marches of our provinces
The crusty old councillor Leopold Dessauer who had held office under the last Prince of the legitimate line was ever ready to assist me with the kindest of deeds and the bitterest and saltest of words
What did I tell you about being FieldMarshal said he one day—in Karls kingdom the shorter the service the higher the distinction. If you and the Prince live long enough I shall see you carry a musketoon yet and not one of the latest pattern either You will be promoted down like a booby who has been raised by chance to the top of the class!"
Well said I humbly for I always reverenced age then I hope HighChancellor Dessauer that I shall carry my musketoon as becomes a brave man
I do not doubt it said he And that is the most hopeful thing I have seen about you yet It is just possible on the other hand that you may yet rule and the Prince carry the piece
God forbid said I heartily For next to my own father of all men I loved the Prince
The Princess hath a pretty hand remarked Dessauer casually as if he had said It will rain tomorrow
I faith yes said I what have you been at to find out that
Weak—weak he said shaking his head I fear you will wreck on that rock It is your blind peril
My blind peril cried I What may that be High Councillor
Ah lad he said smiling with that wise allpatient smile which the aged affect when they mean to be impressive yet know how useless is their wisdom it was never intended by the Almighty that any man should have eyes all round his head That is why He fixed two in front and made them look straight forward That is also why He made us a little lower generally a good deal lower than the angels
I heard him as if I heard him not
You do me the honor to follow me he said looking at me He was I think conscious that my eyes wandered to the door for indeed I was expecting the Little Playmate to come down every minute
Ah yes you follow indeed he said bitterly but it is the trip of feet the flirt of farthingales down the turret steps No matter As I was saying every man has his blind peril He can see the thousand He provides laboriously against them He blocks every avenue of risk he locks every dangerous door and lo there is the thousandandfirst right before him yawning wide open which he does not see—his Blind Peril
And what HighCouncillor Dessauer is my blind peril
I will tell you Hugo he said not that you will believe or alter a hair A man may do many things in this world but one thing he cannot do He cannot kiss the fingers of a Princess—dainty fingers too separating finger from finger—and kiss also the Princesss maid of honor on the mouth The combination is certainly entertaining but like the Friars powder it is somewhat explosive
And how asked I may you know all that
The old man nodded his head sagely
Neither by inkpool nor yet by scrying All the same I know Moreover your peril is not a blind peril only but a blind mans peril Ye must choose and that quickly little son—fingers or lips
I heard the rustle of a skirt down the stair It was the light springing tread of the one I loved first and best last and only
By the twelve gods lips cried I and made for the door
And I heard the chuckling laughter of HighChancellor Dessauer behind me as I followed Helene down the stairs It sounded like the decanting of mellow wine long hidden in darksome cellars and now in the flower of its age bringing to the light the smiling of ancient vineyards and the shining of forgotten suns
I found Helene arrived before me in the rosegarden She did not turn round as I came though she heard me well enough Instead she walked on plucking at a marguerite
Loves me—loves me not she said bearing upon the last word with triumphant accent as she continued to dismantle the poor flower
And flashing round upon me with the solitary petal in her hand she presented it with a low bow in elfish mockery of the manner of the court exquisite
Ah true flower she said apostrophizing the bare stalk a flower cannot lie It has not a glozing tongue It cannot change back and forth The sun shines It turns towards the sun The sun leaves the skies It shuts itself up and waits his return Ahtrue flower dear flower how unlike a man you are
Helene said I you have learned conceits from the catchbooks You quarrel by rote Were I as eager to answer me I might say Ah false flower you grow out of the foulness underneath You give your fragrance to all without discretion—a common lover prodigal of favors fit only to be torn to shreds by pretty spiteful fingers and to die at last with a lie in your mouth Again I say—false flower
You can turn the corners Sir Juggler with the cup and ball of words answered Helene So much they have already taught you in a court But there is one thing that your finefeathered tutors have not taught you—to make love to two women in one house and hide it from both of them Hot and cold may not come too near each other They will mix and make lukewarm of both
A wise observation and one that I wished I had made myself
May the devil take all princes and princesses I began as I had done to the Prince himself
Helene shook her head
Hugo she said I was but a simpleton when I came hither and knew nothing Now I am wise and I know
She touched her forehead with her finger just where the curls were softest and prettiest
Oh you have learned to be thrice more beautiful than ever you were I said impetuously
So I am often told answered she calmly
Who dared tell you cried I quick as fire laying my hand on my sword
The false common flowers by the wayside tell me said Helene pertly
Let them beware or I will take their heads off for rank weeds
I answered
For at that time in the Court of Plassenburg we talked in figures and romance words We had indeed become so familiar with the mode that we could use no other even in times of earnestness So that a man would go to be hanged or married with a quipsome conceit on his lips
I think Sir Janus Doubletongue she said that you would not be the worse of a little medicine of your own concocting
And with that she swept her skirts daintily about and tripped down in to the pleasaunce of flowers to make which the Prince Karl had brought a skilled gardener all the way from France
I prowled about the higher terrace moodily watching the sky and thinking on the morrows weather And byandby I saw one come forth from among the cropped Dutch hedges and stride across to where Helene walked with something white in her hand I could see her again picking a flower to pieces and methought I could hear the words My jealous fancy conjured up the ending Loves me not—loves me Loves me not
She turned even as she had done to me The newcomer was that sneering Court fop the Count von Reuss Duke Casimirs nephew—still in hiding from the wrath of his uncle For at that time hardly any court in Germany was without one or two of these hangerson and a bad reckless illcontriving breed they were at Plassenburg as doubtless elsewhere
Then grew my heart hard and bitter and yet in a moment afterwards was again only wistful and sad
She had been safer thought I in the old Red Tower than playing flower fancies with such a man
For I had seen the very devil look out of his eye—which indeed it did as often as he cast it on a fair woman In especial I longed to throttle him each time he turned to watch Helene as she went by And here she was walking with him and talking pleasantly too in the rose garden of the palace
Ah devil take all princes and princesses said I This one it is true was only a count and disinherited But I felt that the thing was the Princes doing and that it was for the sake of the covenant he had made with me that I was compelled to put up with such a toad as Von Reuss crawling and besliming the fair garden of my love
It was an evening without clouds—everything shining clear after rain the scent of the flowers rising like incense so full and sweet that you could almost see it The unnumbered birds were every one awake responsive and emulous The deep silence of midsummer was broken up It was like another spring
The Princess Ysolinde came out to take the air She was wrapped in her gown of seagreen silk with sparkles of dull copper upon it The dress fitted her like a snakes skin and glittered like it too as she swayed her lithe body in walking
Ha Hugo she said I thought I should find you here
I did not say that if another had been kinder she might have found me elsewhere and otherwise employed I had at least the discretion to leave things as they were For the time to speak plainly was not yet
She took my arm and we paced up and down
Princess— I began
Ysolinde corrected she softly
It was an old and unsettled contention between us
Well then Ysolinde tomorrow must I ride to fight the men of mine own country of the Wolfmark I like not the duty But since it must be for the sake of the brave Prince it shall be well done
You do not say For your sake Ysolinde she answered pensively
No I said bluntly for the Princes sake
You would do all things for the Princes sake—nothing for mine said the Princess withdrawing her hand
On the contrary Lady Ysolinde I made answer I do all things for your sake Save for the sake of your goodwill I should now be elsewhere
Which was true enough I should have been in the garden pleasaunce beneath and probably with my sword out arguing the case with Von Reuss
But she pressed my arm for she understood that I had delayed a day from my duty for her sake So touched at heart was Ysolinde that she slipped her hand down from my arm and took my hand instead flirting a corner of her shawl cleverly over both to hide the fact from the menatarms—as Helene could not have done to save her life But every maid of honor who passed noted and knew lifting eyebrows at one another, I doubt not as soon as we passed which thing made me feel like a fool and blush hotly For I knew that ere they were couched that night every maid of them would tell Helene and with pleasure in the telling too
Devil take— I began and stopped
What did you say asked Ysolinde almost tenderly
That if I come not back again from the Wolfmark it will be the better for all of us I made answer which was indeed the sense if not the exact text of my remark
Nay she said shuddering not better for me that am companionless
Why so said I boldly You do not love me Deep at the bottom of your heart you love your husband Karl the Prince You know there is no man like him Me you do not love at all
You will not let me she said softly almost like a shy country maiden
Ah if I had you would have slain me long ere this said I for I read you like a childs hornbook that he plays battledore with Have not—love Have—hate There you are all in brief my Lady Ysolinde
It is false laughed she but nevertheless I love greatly to hear you call me Ysolinde
She netted her fingers in mine beneath the shawl Well might the High Councillor say that she had a beautiful hand Though God wot much he knew about it For Ysolinde of Plassenburg could speak with her hand love with it be angry with it hate with it—and kill with it
I am an experiment said I one indeed that has lasted you a little longer than the others my Lady Ysolinde only because you have not come to the end of me so soon
Pshaw she said pushing me from her for we were at the turning of a path you love another That is the amulet against infection that you carry Yet sometimes I think that that other is only your hateful plainfavored vainly conceited self
I saw the Prince sit alone according to his custom in an arbor behind us at that very moment—and judge if I blushed or no But the Princess saw him not being eager upon her flouting of me
I tell you she cried scornfully and disdainfully there is nothing interesting about you but the blueness of your eyes and that any monk can make upon parchment aye and deeper and bluer with his lapislazuli An experiment—Why should I Ysolinde of Plassenburg experiment with you the son of the Red Axe of the Wolfsberg
Nay that I know not I answered but yet I am indeed no more than your arrowbutts your target of practice your whippingboy to be slung at and arrowdrilled and bulletpitted at your pleasure
I dare say she said bitterly and all the time you go scathless—no more heartstricken than if summer flies lighted on thee Away with such a man he is the ghost of a man—a simulacrum—no true lover
At your will Princess I shall indeed go away I will tomorrow seek the spears But after all you will not send me forth in anger I said with a strong conviction that I knew the answer
And why not said she
Because I replied looking at her I am after all the one man who believes thoroughly in your hearts deep inward goodness I believe in you even when you do not believe in yourself I can affirm for I know better than you know yourself You cover the beauty of your heart from others You flout and jeer Above all you experiment dangerously with words and actions But after all I am necessary to you You will not send me away in anger For you need some one to believe in the soundness of your heart And I Hugo Gottfried am that man
Hence flatterer cried the lady smiling but well pleased It is known to all that I am the Old Serpent—the deceiver—the ill fruit of the Knowledge of Evil And now you say of Good also And what is more and worse you expect me to believe you Wherein you also experiment I pray you do not so That is to you the forbidden fruit Goodnight Go now and pray for a more truthful tongue
And with that she went in the copper spangles glancing at her waist red as the light on ripe wheat and all her tall figure lissome as the bending corn
CHAPTER XXX
INSULT AND CHALLENGE
Now because there is still so much to tell and so little time and space to tell it in I must go forward rapidly In these dull times of grouting peace when men become like penned pigs waking up only at feedingtime they have no knowledge of how swiftly life went when every day brought a new living friend or a new dead enemy when love and hate awakened fresh and fresh with each morrows sun—and when I was young
Perhaps that last is the true reason But when the Baltic norther snorts without and mine ancient thighwound twinges down where my hand rests naturally I have no better resource than to fall to the goosequill And lo long ere I am done with the first page and have the ink no more than halfway to the roots of my hair I am again in the midst of the ringing hoofs of the foray I hear the merry dinting of steel on steel the sullen chugchug of the wheels of Foul Peg the Margraves great cannon which more than once he lent our Prince the oaths of the menatarms shouldering her up apostrophizing most indecently her fat haunches and the next moment getting tossed aside like ninepins by her unexpected lurches Ah the times that were when I was young
I see these gallants about our later courts—Lord help them sons of mine own too some of them—year in and year out crossing their legs and staring at the gilded points of their shoon All are grown so tame—none now to ride aquesting in the Baltic forest for border brigands —indeed there be no brigands to quest for
But I forget Time was when I looked love and I too had shoon aye with golden tips to match the armor of honor which the Prince gave me after I had led my first regiment to victory—even as the Lady Ysolinde had said And noble shoes of price they were
And I could make love too when I had the chance But nevertheless not more than one day in six—spending the rest in the new training of my men the perfecting of their equipment the choosing of their horses and the providing for their stores
God wot—it was a good time I mind me the year when the Prince fell out with Duke Casimir and we played over again the old tricks with him
Never was I gladder of any quest than that to ride within sight of the Red Tower and wave the blue and yellow of my master under the very ramparts of the Wolfsberg and almost within hearing of the inhuman howling of its bloodhounds
Singe his beard said my master And with a hundred riders I did it too For though the burghers clattered to their gates I rode to the very walls of the Wolfsberg which for bravado I summoned to surrender And the best of it was that no man knew me For I had grown soldierlike and strong and was most unlike the lad who had ridden away so meekly and almost in tears out of the gate of that very Wolfsberg
Of my father thank God I saw nothing—though I doubt not he observed my troop For doubtless he would be with his master—aged now soured and prone to cower about behind his guard fearing the dagger or the poisoned bowl seeing an enemy in every shadowy corner and hearing the whistle of the assassins bullet in every wind
And save when an honest burgher was slain by the Black Riders the beasts of the kennels were fed on diet more ordinary than of old
So we rode back with our prisoners and as much plunder as we could screw out of old Burgomeister Texel and his citizens by threats of sacking the city—a deed which I was main sorry for afterwards in the light of that which happened at a later day But I knew not the future then and it was as well For the guilders paid nobly for the newfashioned ordnance which stood us in such good stead that autumn when we had sterner work in hand than singeing the gray beard of Duke Casimir
Within Schloss Plassenburg things went on much as usual Perhaps I was lax in my wooing—I cannot tell I loved sincerely enough of a certainty Nor after this was I backward in telling Helene of it and sometimes she would love me well enough and then again she would not So that I could not tell what she would be at
Looking back upon everything now I see clearly how that the rankling secret thorn was the accursed understanding with the Prince that for his peaces sake I was to abide friendly with the Princess and let her try her fool experiments on me Which she did God wot innocently enough—that is for all the harm they did me But nevertheless without knowing it I kept the Little Playmate with a sore and aching heart for many and many a day
But I made nothing of it—thinking like a careless illdeserving soldierlover eager for success and dazzled with ambition chiefly of my profession of how to win battles and take fortresses against the surrounding princelings our Karls enemies till one day I found Helene with her cheeks wet and her pretty lips bitten till the blood had come
What ist little one Tell me said I going to her and putting my arm about her as indeed I had some right to do if no more than the right of having carried her up into the Red Tower in her white gown so long ago
But she wrested herself determinedly out of my hold saying Do not touch me sir Tis all your fault
What is my fault dear lass said I Tell me and I will instantly amend it
Oh she cried casting her hands out from her in bitter complaint there is nothing so meanly selfish as a man He will say tender things—aye and do them too when it liketh him He can be oh so devoted and so full of his eternal affections He is dying all for love And then soon as he passes out of the door he ties his swordknot and points his mustache to his liking and lo there is no more of him He goes and straightway forgets till it shall please his High Mightiness to call again Oh and we—we women poor things must stand about with our mouths open like mossy carp in a pond and struggle and push for such crumbs of comfort as he will deign to throw us from the full larder of his selfsatisfaction
This was a most mighty speech for the Little Playmate and took me entirely by surprise For mostly she was still enough and quiet enough in her ways and speakings
Tis true sweetheart that some men are like that I replied gently but not Hugo Gottfried surely When did you ever find me unkind unthankful unfaithful When went I ever away and left you alone
Oh you did—you did she cried the tears starting from her lovely eyes or I should never have been insulted—treated lightly spoken to as a staled thing of courts and camps
And Helene sank down beside the garden wall in an abandonment of sorrow—so that my heart grew hot and angry at the cause of her grief to me then unknown
I knelt down beside her and touched her lightly on one rounded heaving shoulder
Dearest said I I knew nothing of this Tell me who has insulted you As God is in His heaven I will have my sword in his heart or nightfall were it the Prince himself Tell me and by the Lord of the Innocents I will make him eat cold steel and drink his own blood therewith
Oh it was my own fault—I know I should not have met him—let him speak to me in the garden But you were so cold to me Hugo And then I thought—I thought that the Woman was taking you away from me Also she sent me out to be—to be in his path
In whose path I bid you tell me and what woman
Though the latter I knew well enough
The Princess she answered and the Count von Reuss Today he spoke to me of love and spoke it hatefully shamefully when the Princess had bidden me go and carry her message to him But it was with me that he desired to meet And I—at first many days ago—I walked by his side and listened for then he spoke courteously and like a gentleman For you were on the high terrace and I wished you to see I thought—I hoped—
And the little one broke off with tears
I know I know cried I contritely I am a blind doting fool In this Princes court I thought no more of such dangers than when I had you safe and innocent my Playmate of the Red Tower But what did or said Von Reuss
Truly he did naught but only spoke—things for which I would have smitten him to death had I possessed a dagger I bade him begone And he swore he would execute his purpose yet in spite of every towns Executioner in the Empire
Ah will he said I a calm chill of hatred settling about my heart
I Hugo Gottfried will execute him if I have to send for my fathers
Red Axe to do it with—singed and scented monkey that he is
Nay said Helene then I wish I had not told you Perhaps he will not meddle with me again and if you cross him he may slay thee Remember I have no friend here but you Hugo
Count von Reuss slay me I could eat him up without salt or savory—a weak reed a kerl without backbone save of buckram why I will shake him this day like a rat between my hands
So I spoke in my anger hot with myself that I had let the Little
Playmate suffer these things and resolved that neither Prince nor
Princess would stand between me and my love a moment longer
But in all lands it takes more than Sayso to budge the stubborn wheels of circumstance
CHAPTER XXXI
I FIND A SECOND
I meant to go directly to the Prince in his chamber and tell him that from this time forth Helene and I had resolved to battle out our lives together But it chanced that I passed through the higher terrace on my way to the lower—a bosky place of woods where the Prince loved to linger in of a summer afternoon drowsing there to the singing of birds and the falling of waters For our Karl had tastes quite beyond sour black Casimir with his churchyard glooms and rawbone terrors
On the upper terrace I found Von Reuss lolling against the parapet with other blue flittermice his peers—he himself no flittermouse indeed but of the true Casimir vampire breed horrid of tooth nocturnal desirous of lusts and blood
At sight of him I went straight at mine enemy as if I had been leading a charge
Sir said I you are a base rascal You have insulted the Lady Helene maid of honor to the Princess the adopted child of my father Her wrongs are mine You will do me the honor of crossing weapons with me
I have not learned the art of the axe said he turning about listlessly You expect too much Sir Executioner
I wasted no more words upon him for I had not sought him to barter insults but to force him to meet me where I could have my anger out upon him and avenge the tears in the eyes of my Little Playmate
Von Reuss was drawing a glove of yellow dressed kid through his hand as he spoke This I plucked from his fingers ere he was aware and struck him soundly on either cheek with it before flinging it crumpled up in his face
Now will you fight or must I strike you with my open hand
Then I saw the look of his uncle stand hellclear in his eyes But he was not frightened this one only darkly and unscrupulously vengeful
Foul toads spawn now I will have your blood he cried tugging at his sword
We cannot fight here said I within sight of the palace windows But tonight at sundown or tomorrow at dawn I am at your service
Let it be tonight on the common at the back of the Hirschgasse—one second and the fighting only between principals
Very readily I agreed to that or anything and then with a wave of my hat I went off cudgelling my brain whom I should ask to be my second Jorian who was now an officer I should have liked better than any other But being of the people myself it was necessary that I should have some one of weight and standing to meet the nephew of the Duke of the Wolfmark and his friend
Moodily pacing down the glade which led from the second terrace and the pleasaunce I almost overran the Prince himself He was seated under a tree a parchment of troubadours songs lay by him illuminated to judge by the woeful pictures by no decent monkish or clerkly hand He had a bottle of Rhenish at hand and looked the same hearty hardheaded ironic soldier he ever was and yet what is more strange every inch of him a Prince
Whither away young Sir Amorous he cried pretending great indignation at my absentmindedness head among the clouds or intent as ever on the damosels Conning madrigals for lovers lutes mayhap And all the while taking no more heed of Gods honest princes than if they existed only for trampling under your feet
I asked his pardon—but indeed I had not come so nigh him as that
I am to fight in a private quarrel said I and truth to tell I sorely want a second and was pondering whom to ask
The Prince sighed
Ah lad he said once I had wished no better than to stand up at your side myself I was not a Prince then though and again these laws—these too strict laws of mine But what is the matter of your duel and with whom
Well said I I have slapped Count von Reusss chafts with his own glove in the midst of his friends on the upper terrace
Tis possible I may be mistaken I suppose but I did think then and still do think that I saw evident tokens of pleasure on the face of the Prince
And the cause—
I hesitated blushing templehigh I dare say in spite of the growth of my mustaches
A woman then cried the Prince Then more low he added Not the—
He would have said the Princess for he paused in his turn with a graver look on his face
So I hastened with my explanation
He insulted the young Lady Helene maid of honor to the Princess who is to me as a sister having been brought up with me in one house Her honor is my honor both by this tie and because as you know we have long loved each other Therefore will I fight Count von Reuss to the death and a good cause enough
The Prince whistled—an unprincely habit but then all millers lads whistle at their work So Prince Karl whistled as he meditated
I see further into this matter than that—if indeed you love this maid
There be other things to be thought upon than vengeance upon Von Reuss
Does the Princess know of this
Suspect she may said I know she cannot It was only half an hour ago that I knew myself
Ha said he musingly with his beard in his hand it hath gone no further than that Were it not if possible better to conceal the cause yet a while that our compact may go on It were surely easy enough to invent an excuse for the quarrel
Prince answered I earnestly this bargain of ours hath gone on over long already in that it hath brought a true maids honor and happiness in question And a maid also whom I am bound to love I will ask you this have I been a good soldier and servant to you or not
Aye to that quoth the Prince heartily
Have I ever asked fee or reward for aught I have tried to do
Nay he said but you have gotten some of both without asking
Will you grant me the first boon I have asked of you since you became
Prince and Master to Hugo Gottfried
I will grant it if it be not to separate us as friend and friend said my master at once
It was like the noble Prince thus to speak of our relation I took his hand in mine to kiss it but this he would not permit
Shake hands like a man he said or else kiss me upon the cheek My hand is for young bluepainted flittermice to kiss for whose souls good it is to put their lips to the hand that has shifted the mealbags
And with that Prince Karl embraced me heartily and kissed me on both cheeks
Now for this request of yours said he looking expectantly at me
It is this I answered him directly Give me a district to govern a tower to dwell in and Helene to be my wife
Nay but these are three things and you stipulated but for one Choose one he said
Then give me Helene to wife I cried instantly
Spoken like a lover said the good Prince You shall have her if I have the giving of her which I beg leave to doubt Something tells me that much water will run under the bridges ere that wedding comes to pass But so far as it concerns me the thing is done Yet remember I have never been one wisely to marry nor yet to give in marriage
He smiled a dry humorsome smile—the smile of a shrewd miller casting up his thirlage upon the mill door when he sees the fields of his parish ripe to the harvest
I wonder why with her crystals and her inkpools the Princess hath not foreseen this By the blue robe of Mary there will be proceedings when she does know I think I shall straightway go ahunting in the mountains with my friend the Margrave
He considered a moment longer and took a deep draught of Rhenish
Then the matter of a second continued the Prince he is to fight of course
No said I principals only
I wonder said the Prince meditatively if there be anything in that It is not our Plassenburg custom between two young men well surrounded with brisk lads Three seconds and three to meet them point to point was more our ancient way
It was specially arranged at the request of the Count you Reuss I told the Prince
If there is to be no fighting of seconds what do you say to old Dessauer He was a pretty blade in my time and has all the etiquette and chivalry of the business at his fingerends Also he likes you
At any rate he is ever railing upon me with that sharp tongue of his said I
But did you ever hear him rail upon any of these young men that lean on rails and roll their eyes under ladies windows said the Prince Old Leopold Dessauer is even now no weakling I warrant he could draw a good sword yet upon occasion Anything more lovely than his riposte I never saw
The Prince got upon his feet with the difficulty of a man naturally heavy of body who takes all his exercise upon horseback
Page he cried My compliments to High States Councillor Dessauer and ask him to come to me here You will find him I think in the library
So to the palace sped the boy and presently walking stiffly but with great dignity came the old man down to us
How about the ancestors the noble men my predecessors cried the
Prince when he saw him have you found aught to link the miller of
Chemnitz with the Princes of Plassenburg
The Councillor smiled and shook his head gravely
Nothing beyond that bit of metal which hangs by your side Prince Karl said Dessauer pointing to his Highnesss sword
The Prince looked down at the strong unadorned hilt thoughtfully and sighed
I would I had another to transmit this sword to as well as the power to wield it when I take my place as usurper in the histories of the Princes of Plassenburg
I trust your Highness may long be spared to us replied Dessauer gravely but Prince Karl in default of an heir to your body of which there is yet no reason to despair wherefore may not your Highness devise the realm back to the ancient line
The line of Dietrich is extinct said the Prince booking up sharply
So says Duke Casimir hoping to succeed to your shoes when he could not to your helmet and your sword But I have my suspicions and my beliefs There is more in the parchments of yonder library than has yet seen the light
Suddenly the Prince recollected me standing patiently by
But we waste time Dessauer we can speak of ancestors and successors anon I and Hugo Gottfried want you to take up your ancient role Do you mind how you snicked Axelstein and clipped Duke Casimir of his little finger at the back of the barn when we were all lads at the Kaisers first diet at Augsburg
Old Dessauer smiled well pleased enough at the excellence of the
Princes memory
I have seen worse cuts he said Casimir has never rightly liked me since And had the Black Riders caught me over to his dogs I should have gone without so much as a belt upon me He would have kept them without food for a week on purpose to make a clean job of my poor scarecrow pickings
And now this young spark said the Prince for the sake of a ladys eyes desires to do your Augsburg deed over again with Duke Casimirs nephew So we must give him a man with quarterings on his shield to go along with him
I am too old and stiff said Dessauer shaking his head mournfully yet with obvious desire in the itching fingers of his swordhand let him seek out one of the brisk young kerls that are drumming at the bladeplay all the time down there in the square by the guardrooms
Nay it is to be principals only there is to be no fighting of seconds
The Count has specially desired that there shall be none said the
Prince therefore go with the lad Dessauer
No fighting of seconds cried the Councillor in astonishment holding up his hands And I think the old swordsman seemed a little disappointed Well I will go and see the lad well through and warrant that he gets fairplay among these wolves of the Mark
Faith when it comes to that he is as roughpelted a wolf of the Mark as any of them laughed the Prince
CHAPTER XXXII
THE WOLVES OF THE MARK
The Hirschgasse is a little inn across the river well known to the wilder blades of Plassenburg There they go to be outside the authority of the city magistrates to make rendezvous with maids more complaisant than maidenly to fight their duels and generally to do those things without remark which otherwise bring them under the eye of the Millers Son as they one and all call behind his back the reigning Prince of Plassenburg
It was on the stroke of seven and as fine an evening as ever failed to touch the soul of sinful man with a sense of its beauty that I set out to fight the nephew of Duke Casimir I had indeed ridden far and fast and withal kept my head since I left the Red Tower a poor homeless wanderer otherwise I had scarce found myself going out with High Councillor Leopold von Dessauer as my second to fight my late masters heir the proximate Duke of the Wolfmark
What was my surprise to find the old man attired in the appropriate costume for such an occasion a closefitting suit of dark gray of ancient cut indeed and without the fashionable slashes and scallops but both correct and practicable either for the swordplay or the proper ordering of it in others
Von Dessauer laughed a little dry laugh when I congratulated him on the youthfulness of his appearance Indeed he seemed little grateful for my felicitations And if it had not been for the rheumatism which he had inherited from his fathers campaigns on the tented field and the weakness which came from his own in other fields he would yet have proved as fit for the play of fence as any youngster of them all So at least he averred And tonight the wind was southerly and his old hurts irked him not Faith he was almost minded to try a ruffle with the cocks of the Mark on his own account
Mind you he said guard low The attack of the Mark ever comes from the right leg halfway to the knee But I forgot—what use is it to tell you that are born of the Mark and have learned swordcunning in their schools
As we left the castle I looked about and secretly kissed a hand to that high window where was the chamber of my Little Playmate whose cause I was going out so gladly to champion
Dessauer and I went quickly down through the lanes which led to the river edge where the ferry was and more than once with the comer of my eye I seemed to see a man in a cloak and sword stealing after us But as the sight of a man so attired going secretly in the direction of the Hirschgasse was no uncommon one I did not pay any particular attention
We crossed over in the large flatboat which plied constantly between the banks before our fine new bridge was built We found our enemies on the ground before us and they seemed more than a little surprised when they perceived who my second was For as we came up the bank I saw them go close and whisper together like men who hastily alter their plans at the last moment
I presented my second in form
The High Councillor Leopold von Dessauer Knight of the Empire said I proudly enough
Then the Count presented his as the custom then was among us of the North
His Excellency Friedrich Count of Cannstadt Hereditary Cupbearer of the Wolfmark
Count Cannstadt was an impecunious oldyoung man who chiefly owing to accumulated gamingdebts and a disagreement with Duke Casimir concerning the payment of certain rents and duties had sought the shelter of the Castle of Plassenburg—a refuge which the generous Prince Karl extended to all exiles who were not proven criminals
The seconds bowed first to each other and then to their opposing principals In those days duels were mostly fought with the combatants own swords And now Von Dessauer took my blade and going forward courteously handed the hilt to Count Cannstadt receiving that of Von Reuss in return The seconds then compared the lengths and found almost half an inch in favor of my opponent Which being declared and I offering no objection the discrepancy was allowed and the swords returned us to fall to
And this without further parley we did
I was no ways afraid of my opponent For though a pretty enough tricky fighter he had little practical experience Also he had quite failed to strengthen himself by daily custom and especially by practice at outrauce with an enemy keen to run you through in front of you and the necessity of keeping a wary eye on half a dozen other conflicts on either hand as has constantly to be done in war
The place where we fought was on a level green platform a little way above the roofs of the inn of the Hirschgasse where many a similar conflict has been fought and on which many a good fellow has lain panting like a grassed trout with the gasps growing slower and deadlier while his opponent wiped his blade on the trampled herbage and the seconds looked on with folded arms There were many bushes and rocks about and the place was very secluded to be so near a great city
At first I did not trouble myself much nor attempt to force the fighting I was content to hold Von Reuss in play and defend myself till the hunger edge of his attack was dulled For I saw on his face a look of vicious confidence that surprised me considering his inexperience and he lunged with a venom and resolution which to my mind betokened a determination to kill at all hazards
I knew however that presently he must overreach himself so of set purpose I kept my blade short and let him approach nearer Immediately he began to press thinking that he had me at his mercy We had fought our way round to a spot on the upper side of the plateau where for a moment Von Reuss had a momentary benefit from the nature of the ground Here I felt that he gathered himself together and presently as I had supposed he would he centred his energy in a determined thrust at my left breast This was well enough timed for my guard had been short and a little high on purpose to lead him on and now it took me all my time to turn his point aside I saw the steel shoot past grazing my left arm Then with so long a recovery and the loss of balance from lunging downhill he was at my mercy
As I did not wish to kill him I chose my spot almost at my leisure and pinked him two inches below the spring of the neck and close to the collarbone which was running the thing as fine as I could allow myself
What was my surprise to see my swordblade arch itself as if it had stricken a stone wall and to hear the unmistakable ring of steel meeting steel
Treachery cried Von Dessauer and I together you are villains both
He is wearing a shirt of mail
And the old man rushed forward with his sword bare in his hand and all atremble with indignation
I heard the shrill purl of a silver call and turning me about there was the gambler Cannstadt with a whistle at his lips I dared not turn my head for I had still to guard myself against the traitor Von Reusss attack but with the tail of my eye I could see two or three men rise from behind bushes and rocks and come running as fast as they could towards us Then I knew that Dessauer and I were doomed men unless something turned up that we wotted not of For with an old man and one so stiff as the High Councillor for my only ally it was impossible for me to hold my own against more than double our numbers
Nevertheless Von Dessauer attacked Cannstadt with surprising fury and determination anger glittering in his eye and resolution to punish treachery lending vigor to his thrust I had not time to observe his method save unconsciously for I had to change my position momentarily that I might take the points of the two men who came down the hill at speed sword in hand
But all this foul play among highborn folk gave me a kind of mortal sickness To die in battle is one thing but over against the very roofs of your home to find yourself brought to deaths door by murderous treachery is quite another
At this moment there came news of a diversion From below was heard the crying of a stormy voice
Halt I command you Halt
And wheeling sufficiently to see I observed through the twilight the figure of a stout man who came leaping heavily up the hill towards us waving a sword as he came Well thought I the more there are of them the quicker it will be over and the more credit for us in keeping up our end so long Better die in a good fight than live with a bad conscience
With which admirable reflection I sent my sword through Von Reusss swordarm in the fleshy part severing the muscle and causing him to drop his blade I had him then at my mercy and experienced a great desire to push my blade down his throat for a treacherous cowardly hound as he had proved himself to me But instead of this I had to turn towards the other two who came at the charge down the hill and were now close upon us
I had just time to leap aside from the first and let him overrun himself when he shot almost upon the sword of the thickset man who came up the hill shouting to us to stop The second man I engaged and a stanch blade I found him though fighting for as dirty a cause as ever man crossed swords in
Halt came the voice of command again—the voice I knew so well—in the name of the State I bid you cease
It was the voice of Karl Prince of Plassenburg
We must take the rough with the smooth now We must kill them every one like stanch men of the Mark cried Von Reuss There is no safety for any of us else And in a moment we were at it the Prince furiously assaulting the second of the bravoes who came down the hill More coolly than I had given him credit for Von Reuss stuffed a silken kerchief into the hole in his shoulder and repossessed himself of his weapon in his other hand
It was the briskest kind of a bicker that ensued for a little while there on the bosky broomy hillside in the evening light Ah Dessauer was down at last and Cannstadt at his throat I went about with a whirl leaving my own man for the moment and rushed upon the Counts false second He turned to receive me but not quite quick enough for I got him two inches below where I had pinked his principals ringmail and that made all the difference Cannstadt did not immediately drop his sword But his limbs weakened and he fell forward without a sound
Then as I looked about there was the Prince manfully crossing swords with two and the cowardly Von Reuss creeping up with his sword shortened in his left hand with intent to slay him from behind
Whereat I gave a furious cry of anguish that I should have been the means of bringing my noble master into such peril The Prince Karl had at the same moment some intuition of the treacherous foe behind him for he leaped aside with more agility than I had ever seen him display before on foot and Von Reuss was too sorely wounded to follow
Presently I was at my first bravo again and the Prince being left with but one Von Reuss took the opportunity to slip away over the hill
The rest of the conflict was not long asettling There were loud voices from the stream beneath The combat had been observed and half a score of the Princes guard were already swimming wading and leaping into small boats in their haste to be first to our assistance
But we did not need their aid I passed my blade through and through my assailant almost at the same moment that the Prince spiked his man so directly in the throat so that the red point stood out in the hollow of his neck behind
Both went down simultaneously and there was Von Reuss on horseback just disappearing over the ridge Prince Karl wiped his brow
What devils traitors he cried Poor Dessauer I wonder what he has gotten Let us go to him
We went across the plateau together and knelt by the side of the old man At first I could not find the wound though there was blood enough upon his face and fencinghabit But presently I discovered that his scalp had been cut from above the eye backwards to the crown of his head—a shallow ploughing scratch no more though it had effectually stunned the old man
Even as I held him in my arms he came to and looked about him
Are they all dead he said feeling about for his sword
You were nearly dead dearest of friends said my master But be content You have done very well for so young a fighter An you behave yourself and keep from such brawling in the future I declare I will give you a company
Dessauer smiled
All dead he asked trying still to look about him
Your man is dead or the next thing to it two other rascals grievously wounded and the scoundrel Von Reuss fled as well he might But my archers are already on his track
Up the hill came Jorian and Boris leading the rout
Is the Prince safe cried Jorian
The Prince is safe said Karl answering for himself
Good chorussed Jorian Boris and all the archers together
Catch me that man on horseback there cried the Prince Take him or kill him but if you can help it do not let him escape He is the Count von Reuss and a double traitor
Good cried the pair and set off after him all dripping as they were from their abrupt passage of the river
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE FLIGHT OF THE LITTLE PLAYMATE
We carried Dessauer back to the boat with the utmost tenderness the Prince walking by his side and ofttimes taking his hand I followed behind them more than a little sad to think that my troubles should have caused so good and true a man so dangerous a wound For though in a young man the scalpwound would have healed in a week in a man of the High Councillors age and delicacy of constitution it might have the most serious effects
But Dessauer himself made light of it
I needed a leech to bleed me he said I was coward enough to put off the kindly surgery and here our young friend has provided me one without cost His last operation too and so no fee to pay I am a fortunate man
We came to the gate of the Palace of Plassenburg
My Lady Princess met us pale and obviously anxious with lips compressed and a strange cold glitter in her emerald eyes
So strange a thing has happened she began
No stranger than hath happened to us cried the Prince
Why what hath happened to you she demanded quickly
Your fine Von Reuss has proved himself a traitor He fought a duel with Hugo here all tricked in chainarmor and when found out he whistled his rascals from the covert to slay us But we bested him and he is over the hill with Jorian and Boris hot after his heel
And he hath not gone alone said the Princess and her eyes were brilliant with excitement
Not gone alone said the Prince What do you know about this black work
Because Helene my maid of honor hath fled to join him she said looking anxiously at us like one who perils much upon a throw of the dice
I laughed aloud So certain was I of the utter impossibility of the thing that I laughed a laugh of scorn And I saw the sound of my voice jar the Lady Ysolinde like a blow on the face
You do not believe she said standing straight before me
I do not believe—I know answered I curtly enough
Nevertheless the thing is true she said with a curious pleading expression as if she had been charged with wrongdoing and were clearing herself though none had accused her by word or look
It is most true the Princess went on She fled from the palace an hour before sundown She was seen mounting a horse belonging to Von Reuss at the Wolfmark gate with two of his men in attendance upon her She is known to have received a note by the hand of an unknown messenger an hour before
I did not wait for the permission of the Princess but tore up the womens staircase to Helenes room where I found nothing out of place—not so much as a fold of lace After a hurried look round I was about to leave the room when a crumpled scrap of paper half hidden by a curtain caught my eye
I stooped and picked it up It was written in an unknown and probably disguised hand—a hand cumbersome and unclerkly
Come to me Meet me at the Red Tower I need you
There was no more the signature was torn away and if the letter were genuine it was more than enough But no thought of its truth nor of the falseness of Helene so much as crossed my mind
To tell the truth it struck me from the first that the Lady Ysolinde might have placed the letter there herself So I said nothing about it when I descended
The Prince met me halfway up the stairs
Well he questioned bending his thick brows upon me
She is gone certainly said I where or how I do not yet know But with your permission I will pursue and find out
Or I presume without my permission said the Prince
I nodded for it was vain to pretend otherwise—foolish too with such a master
Go then and God be with you he said It is a fine thing to believe in love
And in ten minutes I was riding towards the Wolfsberg
As I went past the great foursquare gibbet which had made an end of Ritterdom in Plassenburg I noted that there was a gathering of the hooded folk—the carrion crows And lo there before me already comfortably aswing were our late foes the two bravoes and in the middle the dead Cannstadt tucked up beside them for all his five hundred years of ancestry—stamped traitor and coward by the Millers Son who minded none of these things but understood a true man when he met him
I pounded along my way and for the first ten miles did well but there my horse stumbled and broke a leg in a wretched molerun widened by the winter rains In mercy I had to kill the poor beast and there I was left without other means of conveyance than my own feet
It was a long night as I pushed onward through the mire For presently it had come on to rain—a thick dank rain which wetted through all covering yet fell soft as caressing on the skin
I took shelter at last in a farmhouse with honest folk who right willingly sat up all night about the fire snoring on chairs and hard settles that I might have their single sleepingchamber where under strings of onions and odorous dried herbs I rested well enough For I was dead tired with the excitement and anxiety of the day—and at such times one often sleeps best
On the morrow I got another horse but the brute heavyfooted from the plough was so slow that save for the look of the thing I might just as well have been afoot
Nevertheless I pushed towards the town of Thorn hearing and seeing naught of my dear Playmate though as you may well imagine I asked at every wayside place
It was at the entering in of the strange country of the brickdust that I met Jorian and Boris They were riding excellent horses unblown and in good condition—the which when I asked how they came by such noble steeds they said that a man gave them to them
Jorian said I sharply where have you been
To the city of Thorn said he more briskly than was his wont so that
I knew he had tidings to communicate
Saw you the Lady Helene I asked eagerly of them
He shook his head yet pleasantly
Nay said he I saw her not The Red Tower is not a healthy place for men of Plassenburg nor yet the White Gate and the house of Master Gerard von Sturm But Mistress Helene is in safety so much Boris and I are assured of
Not with Von Reuss cried I fear thrilling sudden in my voice that he had stolen her and now held her in captivity
Boris held up his hand as a signal that I must not hurry his companion who was clearly doing his best
She is with Gottfried Gottfried the old man your father and is safe
Did she go to them of her own free will or did my father send for her
I went on for much depended upon that question
Nay answered Jorian that I know not But certainly she is with him and safe The Count too is with his uncle and they say also safe—under lock and key
Good quoth Boris
Let us all three go back to Plassenburg forthwith cried I
Good chorussed both of them together unanimously slapping their thighs Choose one of our horses He was a good man who gave us them We wish we had known We should have asked him for another when we were about it
Nevertheless I rode back to Plassenburg on the farmers beast sadly enough yet somewhat contented For Helene was with my father and far safer as I judged than in the palace chambers of Plassenburg and within striking distance of the Lady Ysolinde And in that I judged not wrong though the future seemed for a while to belie my confidence
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE GOLDEN NECKLACE
The Chancellor Leopold von Dessauer High Councillor of the Prince with his head still bound up was pacing the sparred gallery outside the private apartments of his master It was in the heats of the late summer before the ripening of the orchard fruits had had time to culminate or the russet to come out slowly upon the apples like a blush upon a womans soft dusky cheek
The High Councillor was in a bad humor For he had been kept waiting and that by a man of no account At last a forester in a uniform of dark green with the Princes bugle and sparrowhawk in silver everywhere about him made his appearance at the foot of the gallery and stood waiting Dessauers summons with his plumed hat of soft cloth in his hand
Hither man cried the High Councillor sharply What has kept you
Why were you not here half an hour ago If this be the way you keep the
Princes forests no wonder there are many deer taken by reiving rascals
and the forest laws daily broken
High Mightiness said the man humbly looking down it was my daughter—she would not give up the necklace She hath had it for her own since she was a child and she would not deliver it though I threatened her with your wellborn anger
And have you got it with you Surely you and she have not dared to keep it began the Chancellor with gathering fury on his eyebrow
Yea truly truly an you will have patience my Lord I have it heresaid the man drawing a necklace of golden bars curiously arranged from his leathern wallet and kneeling on his knee he presented it to the Chancellor
How did you prevail with the maid he asked as soon as he had it in hand—you used no constraint or force I hope
Nay sir said the man for my wife being dead and my daughter marriageable she keeps house for me and having a sweetheart betrothed a year ago she hath been laying aside plenishing gear and womens dainty gewgaws So these I took one by one beginning with a mirror of polished brass and made as if I would dash them in pieces if she discovered not where the chain of gold was hid
And she revealed it said Dessauer
Aye said the man but none so willingly as you might suppose I had
Saint Peters own trouble to get it from her Indeed I prayed to the
Holy Apostle to aid me
What had Saint Peter to do with it said the Councillor pausing and looking humorsomely at the man like an ascetic sparrow with his head at one side
Because our Holy Saint Peter is the only saint who understands the trouble men have with the contrariness of women
Why so cried the Chancellor rubbing his hand with a curious pleasure at the colloquy
Because he only among the Apostles was a married man and had experience of a motherinlaw
Art a wise forester Where got you that wisdom
Why said the man modestly partly by nature partly because I also have been married and so have graduated in the wars
It is the same thing said the Chancellor according to your own telling
Aye sir quoth the man but yet the young fellows will take no warning It is better to marry than to burn said the other Apostle But methinks he knew nothing about it being no better than a bachelor or he would have amended it It is better to burn than to marry and burn
Ha art also a theologe Sir Woodman cried Dessauer But enough this touches on the Inquisition and the Holy Office Let us despatch
All this time the High Councillor had been gazing by fits and starts at the links of the necklace turning it about and viewing it from everyangle It was composed of short bars of gold laid horizontally three and three together and bound together with short chains of gold And on each of the bars there was engraven a crest Letters also were on the bars cut in plain deep script
Now tell your tale and tell it briefly—that is if brevity be in you which I doubt said Dessauer
As I said before quoth the forester I was in the wars I mean not only in the wars with womenkind but also with mankind And among other things I remember the night of the Duke Casimirs famous ride when he took Plassenburg because there was scarce a sober man within the walls
And his Highness the Prince Karl away on Baltic side with his men else had Casimir never set foot within the city cried the High Chancellor
Ah like enow said the woodman I ken naught of that But this I do know Plassenburg was taken with much slaughter and grievous loss of goodly gear They captivated many noble prisoners also and because I slept in the stables they took me to help lead the horses Yet I was not illtreated save that I had to keep pace with the horsemen upon my feet But I saw the Prince—
Which Prince Speak plainly said the High Councillor gruffly
Why the Prince Dietrich Hohenfriedberg of Plassenburg said the man He as your wellborn Wisdom remembers was then the only Prince in these parts—a good man and born of the noblest though not of the capacity of his present Highness the Prince Karl
Proceed somewhat faster Yon move as slowly as one of your own forest oxen at the woodhauling cried the wellborn Councillor in a testy tone
We were long in riding over to Thorn—two days and nights upon the way It was a terrible time and all the while those condemned beasts of the Wolfmark Casimirs Black Riders driving us with their spears like prickgoads till our backs were all bleeding gentle and simple alike So at midnight of the third day we came to the city of Thorn and up through the streets to the Wolfsberg There was no gladness in the town such as there would have been in our city had there been news of a victory or even of some hundreds of the enemys horses well driven For then as now the town hated its Duke And so they were all silent
Then in the darkness we came to the castle and the word was Dismount and to the shambles Me and my like they meddled not with but only the great ones And it was then as I told you that I saw Prince Dietrich with the little maid in his arms I had carried her part of the way for him and faithfully delivered her up again feeding her with the choicest meats I could obtain when she could eat But she was tired mostly and would not look at food So for this he gave me her necklace from about her pretty neck But the rest of her noble golden gear the belt and the clasps were upon the maid when the headsman of Thorn delivered her to one that stood near by So being almost asleep with weariness and exhausted with terror they carried her away and I saw the maid no more
But the Prince Dietrich Hohenfriedberg was beheaded within the hour and as is their hellish custom his body was thrown to the Dukes bloodhounds that were clamoring all the time behind their fence
God help us—such a disaster that night was for Plassenburg Will the
Prince never set about wiping away the disgrace
Aye that he will cried the High Chancellor suddenly bursting into a fury strangely unlike him He will wash it away in the blood of Duke Casimir and all his evil brood—the Wolves of the Mark truly are they named And the Wolfsberg shall go up in flaming fire to heaven so that the ashes of it shall be cast abroad to make the Mark yet grayer and more desolate—like the fell of the beasts that dwelt within it
Amen Let it come quick say I—that I may see it before I die cried the forester bowing low before the Chancellor
CHAPTER XXXV
THE DECENT SERVITOR
This grows past all bearing cried the Prince one morning when he had summoned into his hall the Chancellor Dessauer and myself For though the Prince was still wont to command in person in any important action and in the general policy of his realm took counsel with none yet it had somehow come about that we the old man and the young had been constituted an informal council of two which was liable to be summoned at any moment whenever the Prince was weary or troubled
He struck one clinched hand into the palm of the other before he spoke again
Duke Casimir is either in his dotage or his riders have gotten out of hand since Hugo and you drove the young wolf over to help the old Both are likely enough with a people praying for deliverance and yearning for their Dukes death A bare board and an empty treasury may render a new course of plunder necessary abroad in order to keep his Dukedom from toppling about his ears at home After all tis natural enough But I had thought that he would have had enough of sense to let the borders of Plassenburg alone so long as its Prince lived
And what my lord has befallen asked the High Councillor
Why cried the Prince the Black Riders of the Wolfmark are out again and have left their ancient trail behind them in slain men and frantic women—and on our borders too among our kindly husbandmen our honest sunburnt peasants Bitterly shall Casimir Ironteeth rue the day that he meddled with Karl Millers Son
Your Highness I said this is indeed madness We have but to collect our forces choose a time and lo we are within the town of Thorn Once there we would be welcomed by man woman and child We could then besiege the Wolfsberg and in three days make an end
Aye that is it said the Prince grimly you have hit it Hugo We will make an end
Also my Prince I went on boldly so ye give me leave and approve of my design I will go alone to the town of Thorn and bring you back word of their power and dispositions Save the Count von Reuss there is none who could now recognize me within the city walls
What think ye Dessauer said the Prince looking over at the High
Chancellor
I think well said he a little doubtfully but would it not be better that two should go than that one should adventure alone into the wolfs den
Surely it were better to keep the matter between our three selves the Prince made answer not even the Princess must know of our attempt Keep a candle flame within the hollow of your palm and though the wind blow the sparks will not fly far
I will go with the lad Prince Karl said the Chancellor firmly In my youth I had some practice as a leech I am acquainted with the art of healing I could travel either as a doctor of healing as a travelling philosopher seeking disputation with the scholars of each country or perhaps best of all in mine own quality of a doctor of law And in any case this young man might with all safety be my pupil or servant whichever best liketh him
Servant then said I for the art of disputation I have hitherto chiefly undertaken with my fists and sideirons And as to surgery I am more practised in the giving of wounds than in the healing of them
The Prince leaned his head upon his hand He thought carefully over our proposal taking up point after point resolving difficulty after difficulty in his mind as was his wont
How long would you be away he asked looking up at us
Ten days Prince said I Give us but ten days and we will return
I will give you eight and if ye are not home again on the eve of the last as sure as I am Karl Millers Son the army of Plassenburg will be thundering on the walls of Thorn seeking for a wandering Chancellor and a lost Hugo Gottfried
And so it was arranged We of the Princes staff were indeed in great need of such a mission for we had heard nothing from Thorn or the Wolfmark during many months no tidings at all events that could be relied upon For the cutting up of our frontiers by new raids and the severance of all relations between us and the dwellers in the Wolfmark through fear of reprisals caused us to hear little news but such as was manifest lies
As thus Duke Casimir was collecting a great army magnificent with cannon and munitions of war He was shut up tight in the Wolfsberg not daring to show his face to his own citizens He would appear some fine day before the Palace of Plassenburg and slay every man of us He was in a madmans cell and Otho von Reuss was Duke of the Mark in his place
These were only a few of the stories which were brought to regale us daily And since there was no certainty anywhere we were all in the dark concerning the military matters which it behooved us greatly to be acquainted with Therefore I was honestly eager for my masters sake to undertake the perilous journey But to tell the whole truth the fact that I had not had a word from the Little Playmate not so much as a line of script nor a verbal message since her disappearance made me more eager to go than the high politics of a dozen provinces
Since the duel and the final declaring of my love for Helene I had seen but little of the Princess Indeed I kept out of her way so far at least as I could And the Lady Ysolinde remained mostly in her own domains—to which of late I had been less and less invited Nevertheless when we met she was more than kind to me—gentle forbearing pathetic almost in bearing and demeanor like as a woman wronged slighted misconstrued
Also there was sent to my quarters a new banner for my following broidered and blazoned in yellow and blue a saddlecloth of silk for my horse fine as a womans robe with a crowned Y faint and small in the corner lettered in strawcolored gold No man could help being touched by such kindly thought which after all is more than mere liberality
Yet I saw a sight upon her stairs one night which awoke me with a sudden start to the fact that we had one to reckon with in our journeying to the city of Thorn whom we had not as yet taken into consideration
For it chanced that I was passing up to the Princes apartments by the quicker way through corridors and by stairs to which he had given me private access And there upon the steps leading to the Lady Ysolindes rooms I saw the decent servitor of Master Gerard stand waiting He stared as hard at me as I did at him But whereas his smooth silent secret face remained with me and I knew him at a glance it was I judged clean impossible that he could know the beardless stripling in the mustached leader of soldiers walking wellaccustomed and unafraid through palaces
The man had a letter in his hand and I saw him deliver it to a maid who came to the dividing curtain to take it
So there was later news from the city of Thorn within the Palace of Plassenburg than we of the Princes council of three possessed Should I tell our Karl of this encounter I thought it might be safer not Because the Prince was the last man to attempt to obtain aught from his wife by compulsion and any question direct or indirect might only put her upon her guard
If I let him into the secret the Prince would be most likely to stride straight into the Princesss rooms with the brusque words Gottfried has seen a letter come to you from your father—what were its contents
And that would not suit us at all
So rightly or wrongly I kept the matter from my master speaking of it only to Dessauer And if aught befel from my reticence it was at least I myself who bore the burden and in the final event paid the penalty
CHAPTER XXXVI
YSOLINDES FAREWELL
The next morning early as I went about making my dispositions and putting men of trust in positions fit for them—for the Prince has given me the command of all the soldiers within the city—the Lady Ysolinde came to me upon the terrace
Walk with me a while she said in the lower garden It is a quiet place and I would speak with you
It was a command that I dared not refuse to obey yet my greatest enemy would not accuse me that I went lightly or willingly to such a tryst
The Lady Ysolinde passed on daintily and proudly before me and I followed more like a condemned criminal lamping heavily to the scaffold than a lad of mettle accompanying a fair lady to a rendezvous of her own asking under the greenwoodtree
But I need not have feared The Princesss mood was mild and I saw her in a humor in which I had never seen her before
She moved before me over the grass with her head a little turned up to the skies as though appealing out of her innocence to the Beings who sat behind and sorted out the hearts of men and women
At a great weepingelm under which was a seat she turned It formed a wide canopy of shade grateful and cool For the breezes stirred under the leaves and the river moved beneath with a pleasant meditative hush of sound
Hugo Gottfried once you were my friend she began what have I done that you should be my friend no more Tell me plainly I liked you when as a lad the son of the Red Axe you had come to my fathers house about some boyish freak I have not done ill by you since that day And now that you are a leader of men and of rank and honor here in my husbands country of Plassenburg I would be your wellwisher still I am conscious of no reason for my having forfeited your liking But that I would know for certain—and now
As she threw back her head and let her clear emerald eyes rest upon me I never saw woman born of woman look more innocent Indeed in these days of mistrust it is innocence under suspicion which usually looks most guilty knowing what is expected of it
Lady Ysolinde I made answer you try me hard and sore You put me by force in the wrong You do me indeed great honor as you have ever done all these years In reverence and high respect I shall ever hold you for all that you have done—for your kindness to me and to Helene the orphan girl who came from our fathers roof with me I know no reason why there should be any break in our friendship—nor shall there be if you will pardon my folly and—
Tush she said impetuously you speak things empty vain the rattling of knucklebones in a bladder—not live words at all Think you I have never listened to true men Do not I Ysolinde of Plassenburg know the sound of words that have the heart behind them I have heard you speak such yourself Do not insult me then with platitudes nor try to divert me with the piping of children in the marketplace I will not dance to them nor yet like a foolish kitchenwench smile at the jingling of your trinketry
Your Highness— I began again
She waved her hand as if putting a light thing away
I was a woman to you before you knew that I was a Princess she said you need not forget that I am a woman still cursed with the platemail of rank added to the weariness and inaction of a womans breaking heart
I grew acutely conscious that I was not distinguishing myself in this interview So I dashed again at the wall and this time for a moment at least overbore interruption
Ysolinde my dear lady I said to her you are the Princes and my good masters wife And if I have stood aloof it is that I wished that he should have the companionship which one day I desire to find for myself—and also that I might always have the right to look straight into my masters eyes
Now you talk like a silly prating priestling she said You are both mighty careful of your honesty your virtue your companionship—your precious master and you But you do not think what it is to starve a womans heart to bid her find her level among broiderers of bannerets and stitchers in tapestry Ah if the particular God who happened to be at the digging of us out of the happier pit of oblivion had only made me a man I at least should neither have been a straitlaced Jackanapes nor yet a prating callowbearded wiseacre
And am I either said I weakly enough
You are in danger of becoming both she said promptly Once I saw better things in you I thought I had won me a friend and that for once I might put my anchor down My husband neglects me so much cannot have escaped your eagle eye He is twice my age and he thinks more of you more of Councillor Von Dessauer more of his horse than of me Ysolinde of Plassenburg And I was made to be loved and to love How much of either think you have I ever known The true lot of a woman shut to me the sweet love of man and woman wiled from me even the communion of the spirit forbidden I might as lief carry a wizened nutkernel within my brainpan as a thinking soul for all that any one cares I am a woman of another age stranded on the shores of a time made only for men I am the woman priests talk against or perhaps rather the witchwoman Lilith on the outside of Edens wall Or I may be the woman of a time yet to come when she who is mans mate shall not be only a gaydecked bird to sit on his wrist tethered with a leash and called back to her master with a silver lure
These things I had never listened to before nor indeed thought of Nevertheless though I could not answer her I felt in my heart that she was wrong and that a woman has always power over men being stronger than all ideals philosophies kingdoms—aye even our holy religion itself
After all I said piqued a little at her tone as men are wont to be at that which they do not understand my Lady Ysolinde wherefore should you not tell these things to the Prince your husband and not to me that am neither your husband nor your lover
And if you had been both she interjected a little breathlessly
Then my lady I replied stirred by her persistence you would have obeyed me and served me just as you say Or else I should have broken your spirit as a man is broken on the wheel
It was a prideful saying and one informed with all ignorance and conceit Yet the Lady Ysolinde gave a long sigh
Ah that would have been sweet too she said You are the one man I should have delighted to call master to have done your bidding That had been a thing different indeed But you love me not You love a chit a chitterling—a pretty thing that can but peep and mutter whose hearts depths I have sounded with my fingernail and whose babyish vanity I have tickled with a straw
This was enough and too much
Madam said I the clear stars are not fouled by throwing filth at them nor yet the Lady Helene—whom I do acknowledge that with all my heart I love—by the speaking of any ill words You do but wrong yourself most noble lady For your heart tells you other things both of the maid I love and of me that am her true servant and if I might your true friend
The Princess reached out her hand looking not with anger but rather wistfully at me like a mother at a son who goes to his death with blasphemy on his lips
Forgive me she said gently I would not at the last have you go forth thinking ill of me Indeed you think all too well and make me do things that are better than mine intent because I know that you expect them of me I have done many ill and cruel things in my poor life simply from idleness and the empty unsatisfied heart If you had loved me or taught me or driven me I might have tried better things Perhaps in the end for great loves sake I may yet do one worthy deed that shall blot out all the rest Farewell
And without another spoken word she moved away and left me in the green pleasaunces of the garden with my heart riven this way and that scarce knowing what I did or where I stood
CHAPTER XXXVII
CAPTAIN KARL MILLERS SON
Black blank chill confining night shut us in as Leopold Dessauer and I rode out of Plassenburg Our horses had been made ready for us at the little watergate in the lower garden Fain would I have taken also Jorian and Boris but on this occasion the fewer the safer For to enter Thorn was to go with lighted matches into a powdermagazine
The rushes in the river rustled dry and cold along the brink The leaves of the lindentrees chuckled overhead rubbing their palms together spitefully There was mockery of our foolhardy enterprise in the soft whispering sough of the water as I heard it lapper beneath the ferryboat that lay ready to cross to the other side Old Hans the Princes ferryman snored in his boat Above in the womens chambers a light went to and fro I judged that it was in the bower of the Lady Ysolinde But not a string of my heart moved For pity is so weak and love so strong that all my nature was now on the strain forward towards Helene and the Wolfsberg like an eager hound that pulls at the unslipped leash
My love my love I cried in my heart I am coming to you I am going out to find you Though I give my life for it I shall at least see and touch you ere I die
For during these last days my love had grown greatly upon me being of that kind which gathers within a man banks up fills out his crevices and he know it not In the Wolfmark there are oft in the heart of the limestone caverns where the water sleeps deep and cool while above on the thin rocky crust the sun beats and the very lizards die for lack of moisture It was only now that I had broken up the crust of my nature and found the caverns under where love was abiding all undreamed of deep and eternal as the sea It is a great thing and a beautiful to meet love for the first time face to face not to nod to only as to an acquaintance and to know how great and masterful he is to say Love I am yours Do with me that which seemeth good to you I was strong—now in your hands am I become weak I was proud—now am I glad to be humble and kneel waiting your word You have made life and death the same thing to me for the sake of the Beloved I am ready to take either from your hands
But enough We were riding out of the dark pleasaunces of the palace the leaves were rustling and the sedges blowing That was what began it carrying away my thoughts
Dessauer rode behind me letting his horse follow mine nose to tail For being used to the visitation of the city outposts I knew the ground thoroughly
At every hundred yards we were halted and I answered For I had posted the men myself making sure that Plassenburg should not again be taken by surprise On the other hand I had determined that the spoiler should now be made despoiled and that the foul den of the Wolf should be cleansed as by fire
Then like the breaking up of the Baltic ice in spring the thought ran through me—my father and the maid of the Red Tower what of them
Why at the very first so I told myself I should set a guard of the best troops in Plassenburg about the Red Tower and carry them all—Helene my father and old Hanne—to a safe place till Prince Karl and I had made an end With our stark veterans swarming in Thorn that would easily be done And so the plan abode to be altered broidered and recast in the imagination of my heart
We were soon out on the darksome unguarded road and after that I steered chiefly by the lights of the palace behind me Dessauer saying no word but riding like a manatarms close behind me
We had reached the crown of the green hill over whose slopes the path to the Wolf markwinds—the path by which doubtless Helene had travelled the night of the duel
As I came to the summit mounting the steepest part slowly I was aware of a figure dark against the sky no more apparent than a blacker patch of night where all was dark It was in shape as of a horseman sitting his steed on the crest of the hill
Instantly I drew my pistol in which I had become expert
Your name and business cried I to the shape on the hillside For indeed none had any right to be abroad so near the city of Plassenburg armed capapie at that time of the night And for a moment the thought flashed upon me that the tales we had heard might after all be true and the armies of the Wolfmark nearer than we dreamed of
Hugo—Von Dessauer quoth right jovially to my ear a voice well known and ever dear to me the voice of my master the Prince Karl
The Prince cried I My lord what do you here This is stark madness—you who should be within the walls of the palace with the guards watching three deep about you What would come to the State of Plassenburg if it wanted you
Oh said he lightly falling in beside us in the most natural fashion you and Von Dessauer in dual control would be a singular improvement on the present head of the State You Hugo would keep the soldiers to their work and Von Dessauer could look nobly after the treasury
But who would command us and be a gracious and beloved master to us said I My Prince we must instantly return and put you in safety
Indeed that will you not By Gods truth if I am not to come all the way to the city of Thorn with you I will at least convoy you to the edges of the Mark It is so dull dragging out month by month at ease within the castle and not nearly so much fun as it used to be when I was a poor captain of a free company under the old Prince Young rattling blades like Dessauer and yourself make no allowance for the distractions of an aged and gouty Prince
Within myself I felt some amusement stir It was almost exactly what the Princess his wife had alleged as a reason for her wanderings I could not help marvelling why these two had not long ere this found out their great affinity to each other But now I see that this very likeness of nature was the first cause of their lack of agreement. Like may indeed draw to like as the saw hath it But in the things of love like and like agree not well together Fair desires dark stout and stark desire slender slow desires quick severe desires gay though this often secretly And so the world goes on and in another generation sprung from these desirings once more dark desireth fair and fair dark
There I am at it again Oh but I Hugo Gottfried am the wise man when I set out on my disquisitions I could newmake all the saws of the world set instances to them and never breathe myself
Nay said the Prince all is safe set within and without thanks to my brave commander and wise Chancellor and these other matters can een bide till I go back to them Consider that I am but a captain of horse going awooing and needing to talk gayly for good comradeship by the road Call me honest Captain Millers Son
So Captain Millers Son rode with Herr Doctor Schmidt and his servant Johann And a merry time the three of us had till we arrived at the borders of the Mark
Now I have not time nor yet space though a great deal of inclination to tell of the wondrous pranks we played—of the broadhaunched countrywomen we rallied or rather whom Captain Millers Son rallied and who truth to tell mostly gave as good as they got or better to that soldiers huge delight the stout yeoman families into whose midst we went and their opinion of the Prince Of the last I have a good tale to tell A good man and a kindly so the man said he has given us safe horse fat cow and a quiet life But yet the old was good too The true race to reign is ever the anointed Prince
But then did not Dietrich the anointed Prince harry you And worse let others plunder you And that is not the fashion of Prince Karl usurper though he be said the Prince
Nay the honest man would reply usurper is he not—a Godsent boon to
Plassenburg rather We love him would fight for him all my six sons and
I Would we not chickens
And the six sons rolled out a thunderous Aye fight—marry that we would as they sat plaiting willowbaskets and mending bows about the fire
But alas he is cursed with a mad wife and after all said and done he is not of the ancient stock said the ancient man shaking his head
And the Prince answered him as quickly tapping his brow significantly with his forefinger Are not all wives a little touched Or are yon passing fortunate in your part of the country Faith we of the city will all come courting to the Tannenwald if you prove better off
We are even as our neighbors cried the yeoman shrugging his shoulders Maul my troth what sayest thou Here is a brisk lad that miscalls thy clan
The goodwife came forward smiling comely and large of wellpadded bone
Which said she laconically
The farmer pointed to the Prince The matron took a good look at him
Well she said he is the one that should know most about us He has been married once or twice and hath gotten certain things burned into him As for this one she went on indicating Dessauer he may be doctor of all the wisdoms as ye say but he has never compassed the mystery of a woman And this limber young spark with the quick eyes he is a bachelor also but ardently desires to be otherwise I wot he has a pretty lass waiting for him somewhere
How knew you that of me goodwife I cried greatly astonished
Why by the way you looked up when my daughter came dancing in You were in your lost brownstudy and then seeing a pretty lass that most are glad to rest their eyes upon you looked away disappointed or careless
And how knew you that I was of the ancient guild of the bachelors asked Dessauer
Why by the way that you looked at the pot on the fire and sniffed up the stew and asked how long the dinner would be The bachelor of years is ever uneasy about his meals having little else to be uneasy about and no wife compact of all contrary whimsies to teach him how to be patient
And how cried the Prince in his turn knew you that I had been wedded once
Or twice said the woman smiling Man ye cackle it like a hen on the rafters advertising her egg in the manger below I knew it by the fashion ye had of hanging up your hat and eke scraping your feet—not after ye entered like these other good careless gentlemen but with your knife outside the door I see it by your air of one that has been at once under authority and yet master of a house
Well done good wife cried the Prince Were I indeed in authority I would make you either PrimeMinister or chief of my thiefcatchers
And so after that we went to bed
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE BLACK RIDERS
The next day we jogged along and many were our advices and admonitions to the Prince to return For we were now on the borders of his kingdom and from indications which met us on the journeying we knew that the Black Riders were abroad For in one place we came to a burned cottage and the tracks of driven cattle in another upon a dead forest guard with his green coat all splashed in splotches of dark crimson a sight which made the Prince clinch his hands and swear And this also kept him pretty silent for the rest of the day
It was about evening of this second day and we had come to the top of a little swell of hills when suddenly beneath us we heard the crackling of timbers and saw the pale almost invisible flames beginning to devour a thriving farmhouse at our feet There were swarms of men in dark armor about it running here and there clapping straw and brushwood to hayricks and byre doors
The Black Riders of Duke Casimir I cried down among the bushes and let them not see us We must go back If they so much as suspected the Prince they would slay us every one
But ere we had time to flee half a dozen of their scouts came near us and observing our horses and excellent accoutrement they raised a cry There was nothing for it but the spurs on the heels of our boots So across the smooth wellturfed country we had it and in spite of our beasts weariness we made good running And while we fled I considered how best to serve the Prince
There is a monastery near by said I and the head thereof is a good friend of ours Let us if possible gain that shelter and cast ourselves on the kindness of the good Abbot Tobias
Aye said the Prince urging his horse to speed but will we ever get there
Then I called myself all the stupidheads in the world because I had not refused to go a foot with the Prince on such a mad venture and so put our future and that of the Princedom of Plassenburg in such peril
But there at last were the gray walls and high towers of the Abbey of Wolgast Our pursuers were not yet in sight so we rode in at the gate and cast our bridles to a lay brother of the order crying imperiously for instant audience of the Abbot
As soon as my friend Tobias saw us he threw up his hands in a rapture of welcome But I soon had him advertised of our great danger Whereupon he went directly to the window of his chamber of reception and looked out on the courtyard
Ring the abbey bell for full service he commanded throw open the outer gates and great doors and lead these horses to the secret crypt beneath the mortuary chapel
For the Abbot Tobias was a man of the readiest resource and in other circumstances would have made a good soldier
He hurried us off to the robingrooms and made us put on monastic and priestly garments over our several apparels Never Got wot had I expected that I should be transformed into a ropegirt praying clerk But so it was I was given a square black cap and a brown robe and sent to join the lay brethren For my hair grew thick as a mat on top and there was no time to tonsure it
Now Dessauer being bald and quite practicable as to his topknot they endued him with the full dress of a monk But at that time I saw not what was done with the Prince For my conductor a laughing frolicsome lad came for me and carried me off all in good faith telling me the while that he hoped we should lodge together There were he whispered certain very fair and pleasantspoken maids just over the wall that which you could climb easily enough by the branches of the peartree that grew contiguous at the south corner
As we hurried towards the chapel the monks were streaming out of their cells in great consternation grumbling like soldiers at an unexpected parade
What hath gotten into our old man said one Hath he overeaten at midday refection and so is not able to sleep that he cannot let honest men enjoy greater peace than himself
What folly cried another as if we had not prayers enough without cheating the Almighty by knocking him up at uncanonical hours
And the choir summoned and full choral service no less Not even a respectable saints day—no true churchman indeed but some heretic of a Greek fellow quoth a third
Nevertheless obediently enough they made their way as the bell clanged and the throng filed into their places most reverently It was a pleasant sight I came into rank unobtrusively at the back among the rustling and nudging lay brethren In other circumstances it would have amused me to see the grave faces they turned towards the altar and to hear all the while the confused scuffling as they trod on each others toes trying whose skin was the tenderest or whose sandal soles were the thickest One or two even tried conclusions with me but once only For the first who adventured got a stamp from my ridingboot which caused him to squeal out like a stuck pig and but for the waking thunder of the organ might have gotten him a months penance in addition So after that my toes were left severely alone among the lay brethren
Then came the high procession at which the monks and all stood up In front there were the incensebearers and acolytes then officers whose names not being conventbred nor yet greatly given to churchcraft I did not know Then after them came two men who walked together at the sight of whom the jaws of all the monks dropped and they stood so infinitely astonished that no power was left in them For instead of one two mitred abbots entered in full canonical attire—golden mitre and green goldenheaded staff red embroidered robes lined with green These two paced solemnly in abreast and sat down upon twin thrones
The Abbot of St Omer whispered one of the lay brothers naming one of the most famous abbeys in Europe and the word flew round like lightning Whether he had been instructed or not what to say I do not know But at all events I saw the tidings run round the circle of the choir overleap the boundary stall and even reach the officiating priests who inclined an eager ear to catch it and passed the word one to another in the intervals of the chanted sentences
Then the news was drowned in the thunder of the anthem and the organ dominating all Everything was strange to me but most strange the practice of the lay brothers who chanted bravely indeed in tune but who for the words set in the chorals substituted other sentiments of a kind not usually found in servicebooks
He looks a stout and beeefy ooold fellow this Aaabot of St
Omer dont you think Glory gloory Takes his meals well likes his
quaaart of Rhenish or his Burgundy to swell his jolly paunch
Aaamen
Or as it might be Are you coming—are you coming ooout tonight There will beee good companeeee Dancing and deray—lots of pretty girls no proud churls Ten by the clock when the doors all lock As it was in the beginning is now ever shall be world without end Aaamen
These were of course only the lay brothers and I hope the friars were better behaved I decided however that for the sake of my respect for religion I should ask Dessauer Because I saw even the Abbot Tobias lean smilingly over to Abbot Prince Karl and I marvelled what they spoke about Not that I had long to wonder for through the open door of the chapel there streamed a dismal host of invaders from the Wolfmark—black Hussars of Death in dark armor with white skeletons painted over them all charnelhouse ribs and bones in hideous and ridiculous array—which was one of Duke Casimirs devices to frighten children and no doubt these scarecrows frightened many of these Specially when these villanous companies were recruited from all the wild bandits of the Mark and never punished for any atrocity but on the contrary rather encouraged in evildoing in order to spread the terror of their name
Yet when they came rushing in even the cavaliers of death were daunted by the sight which met them And as the solemn service proceeded amid the thunder of the great organ pressing throbbing against the roof and reverberating along the floor hands stole to heads helmets were lifted and halfforgotten fear of Holy Church stirred in many a wicked and outcast heart Some of the foremost with their blades halfdrawn appeared to waver whether or no they should even yet stay the service with the bloody sword
But as the monks calmly chanted and the solemn responses were given a stillness stole over the vociferous babble within the great open doors
Higher and higher the voices of the choir mounted breaking a way to heaven Awe sat on every fierce face and when the Abbot Tobias arose to pronounce the benediction the other stood up beside him and the Hussars of Death knelt awestricken before the two mitred dignitaries of the Church
Without a murmur they arose and slunk away without so much as searching the abbey and so departed on their errands leaving us safe and unharmed
Then when the three of us were again united in the private rooms of the Abbot Tobias that hearty ecclesiastic shook us all by the hand and said Good friends we are well out of that Nay no thanks My monks are not a bit the worse of a little additional exercise to keep them humble and lean Nor is God the less well pleased that we have sought him in time of need—as Prince and Abbot as well as soldier and peasant require
These being the only words of genuine piety I had heard within the walls of the monastery I thought more of the Abbot Tobias from that moment that he was not ashamed to speak them in the presence of Prince and Councillor of State as well as before a rough soldier like myself
CHAPTER XXXIX
THE FLAG ON THE BED TOWER
It took us all our powers of persuasion with the Prince to induce him to depart homeward on the morrow under escort of a dozen sturdy and wellarmed lanzknechte attached to the monastery But the thing was done at last
And remember said our Karl as he embraced us that if ye return not on the eighth day at eventide the forces of Plassenburg will een be battering on the gates of Thorn by the hour of dusk I am not going to have my farms burned my peasants disembowelled and cast to the bloodhounds my women ravished in their kindly homesteadings God wot the cup of Duke Casimir hath been brimming this many a day and we will give him a deep and bitter draught to drink when we set it to his lips
Thereupon we bade our dear and brave master a respectful adieu Karl Millers Son he might be but for all that he was every inch a king—a right royal man whom I would rather serve than the Kaiser himself
And after he had gone from us a little way he turned again and waved his hand crying On the eighth day report you without fail friends of mine unless ye wish me to come asking for you at the gates of Thorn with some din and the spilling of much blood
The worthy Abbot Tobias gave us a paper to the Bishop Peter now restored to his bishopric of Thorn and in some measure dwelling at peace with the Duke Casimir since that rulers reconciliation with Holy Church In this paper it was set forth that the most learned Doctor of Law Leonard Schmidt with his servant Johann were on their way to Ratisbon to dispute concerning the Practice of Law and Reason with another most learned Doctor of the Empire and that desiring to remain a day of two in Thorn they were by the Abbot Tobias of Wolgast commended to Bishop Peters kind hospitality
For indeed the inns of Germany and especially of the North were not at that time such as wise and learned men could readily submit to—neither abide in to be herded with dull landward peasants and all the tankardswilling gutterknaves of the town
Of the remainder of our journey I need not speak seeing that more than once I have had to tell of that journey from Thorn to Plassenburg It is sufficient that by evening the dark frowning mass of the Wolfsberg lay imminent before us each tower black against the sky For even the new portions which Casimir had builded were of intention blackened with soot—mingled with the plaster and mortar so that they should be of one piece of grim terror with the rest of the building
After all it is not strange said I to the Councillor for when there was no one in sight or very near us I rode with him instead of behind him that the man who shakes at every breeze among the aspens should take such pains to create the fiction and shadow of terror about him when the substance and reality is dominant all the while in his own bosom
Since we had come within the distressed and depopulated territory of the Wolfmark we had not spoken to any soul Indeed except a few poor desolate peasant folk burned black with the sun scuttling from den to den at the sight of mounted men we had not seen any living creatures The cruelty which had marked the reign of the Black Duke seemed to have afflicted the very face of the country with a visible curse
But the day of deliverance was at hand
As we came nearer to Thorn there before us was the Red Tower at first dimly apparent then prominent then commanding finally rising higher than all the buildings of the Wolfsberg How many days had I not looked down from those windows And my father was even now up there in his grim garret his heart stirring calm and kindly within him in spite of all the atmosphere of blood in which his life had moved as untouched as though he had been a gardener working among the flowers of the parterre Also the block was there and against it the Red Axe was leaning
Then I called to mind the prophecy of the Lady Ysolinde that I should return to take up my fathers dreadful trade And I smiled thereat For I thought that now I came in other circumstances—aye even though riding in at The tail of the learned Doctor Schmidt with my shaven and chestnutstained face my flowing hair cropped to the roots as in the manner of the servant tribe Yet for all that was I not the virtual military commander of the Plassenburg and the right hand of the Prince whose forces would soon be clamoring against the walls of Thorn and bringing down to destruction the hateful tyranny of the Black Duke Casimir
What is that said I pointing to a standard of immense size which drooped from the Red Tower It had been hanging limp and straight about the staff and till now we had not observed it But as we went toiling up to the Weiss Thor and the last links of road lengthened themselves indefinitely out before us in their own familiar manner suddenly a waft of hot wind from the sunbeaten plain of the Wolfmark blew out an immense black flag which spread itself fluttered feebly and died down again flat against the pole
Nay said the Doctor that I cannot tell Surely you should know the customs of your own city better than I
For the heat had made the High Chancellor a little snappish as well perhaps as the length of the way
Never in my time have I seen such a thing float above the Red Tower I made answer Can it be a flag of pestilence
It seemed a likely thing enough Cities were often made desolate in a few days by the plague—the people running to the hills a weird devils silence all about the gates These might well betoken the presence of a foe to which the army of Plassenburg would seem as a friend
As we rode under the Arch of the White Gate of Thorn we were summarily halted to be examined We gave our names and the Doctor showed his letters of authorization from a dozen learned universities The Black Hussar who examined our credentials was of a taciturn disposition and evidently no scholar for he studied the parchments intently upsidedown and appeared to have an idea that their genuineness was best investigated by smelling the seals
Where are you bound he asked
To the house of the learned and venerable Bishop of Thorn said the
Doctor Schmidt
So the Hussar having finally approved of the quality of the scholastic wax called a subordinate and bade him guide us to the house of Bishop Peter
In an instant we were in the familiar streets narrow sunken and indescribably dirty as they now appeared to me For I had been accustomed to the wider airier spaces and to the bickering rivulets which ran down most of the steeper streets of Plassenburg and which made it one of the cleanest towns in the world So that the ancient and unreformed filth and wretchedness of Thorn appealed to my senses as they had never done before
There were evidences too of the terror in which the inhabitants had long lived The houses of the rich burghers were sadly dilapidated No man thought it worth while to spend a pot of paint on a house which might be knocked about his ears that very night if the Duke conceived there was money or gear to be found within the walls of it
Here and there the same black banner appeared
I asked the reason of it from our guide
Is it that the plague is in the city
The plague has indeed been in the city—yes But that is not the reason of the flag
And what then is the meaning of the black flag said I
Ye are strangers indeed answered the man Did you not know that the great Duke Casimir is dead and that the black flag flies for him and must fly on the Wolfsberg till his successor be crowned
And who is his successor said I
Who but young Otho the worst of the Wolfs litter But perhaps you are his friend
He turned with a keen look like one who has been accustomed to deliver himself in company where he is sure of sympathy and who suddenly has to consider his words in society the tone of which he is not sure of
Nay said I we are travelling strangers and know nothing of your politics But this Duke Otho wherefore has he not been crowned
Because said the man the Duke Casimir they say hath been foully murdered and that through the witchcraft of a woman So by our laws till the murderer is punished the young Duke may not be crowned
By this time we were at the entering in of the long dull mass of building which during most of my boyhood had stood unoccupied owing to the quarrel between Bishop Peter and the Duke Our guide led us unchallenged into the quadrangle and then abruptly vanished without pausing to bid us goodday or even deigning to accept the modest gratuity which my master the learned Doctor had in his front pouch ready for him
As for me I stood holding the horses and looking about for any of my own quality who might show me the way to the stables
Presently a long lean lathy youth slouched out of one of the gloomy entries He stood amazed at the sight of me I went to him to ask where I might bestow the horses now standing wearyfooted hanging their heads after the long journey and the toil of the final ascent from the plain
Will you fight outlander were the first words of my lathy friend from the entry He seemed to have been drawn up recently from a period of detention in some deep drawwell and to have the mould of the stones still upon him
Why said I of course I will fight and that gladly if you will find me a man to fight with
I will fight you myself he said swelling himself For the end of this candle I will fight half a dozen such Baltic sausages as you be
Like enough said I all in good time But in the mean time show me the stables that I may put up my masters horses
What know I about you or your masters horses cried my Lad of Lath and pray why should I show the way to Bishop Peters good stables to every wastrel that comes sneaking in off the street and asks the freedom of our house For aught I know you may have come to steal corn Though if that be so Lord love you you have come to the wrong place
Come stablemaster said I placably let me see a corner and a wisp of straw and I will ease the poor beasts That will not harm the Bishop Peter whom my master has gone to visit He is a friend of his a man learned in ecclesiastical affairs who comes to hold disputations with the Bishop—
Disputations—what be those Anything with money at the end of them If so he will be a welcome guest at this house There is very little money at the tail of anything in this town
I thought I would try the effect of a broad silver piece upon him at the same time giving the lad the information that disputations were kinds of fights with the tongues of men instead of with their fists
The silver sweetened his face like a charm He seized me by the hand
My name he cried is Peter of the Pigs I am not stablemaster but feed the grouting piglings And yet in a way I am indeed stablemaster For the Bishop hath had no horses since the Duke took them away to mount his cavalry for the raids into Plassenburg So Peter of the Pigs looks after all about the yard and precious little there is to look after—except ones own legs getting longer and leaner every day
And where is the Bishop this afternoon I said
Where should he be cried Peter of the Pigs but at the trial of the witchwoman in the Hall of Justice It must be a rare sight They say she is to be put to the torture and that they want a new executioner to do it
Why said I struck to the heart by his words what is the matter with the old one
Oh said the lad he is mortal sick abed He happened an accident or some one stuck a dagger into him—no great matter if he had stuck it through him or cloven him to the chine with his own Red Axe
CHAPTER XL
THE TRIAL OF THE WITCH
At this point came my master back looking exceedingly disconsolate A starveling furtiveeyed monk accompanied him
The Bishop he said is gone forth of his house He is in attendance at the trial of a woman for witchcraft one whom some of the common city folk hold to be a saint But the young Duke and others swear that she is a witch and hath murdered the Duke Casimir Haste thee with the horses sirrah and attend me to the Hall of Justice I have sent a messenger forward with my credentials to the Bishop Peter
So to the corner of the yard I went and rubbed down the horses with a wisp of straw which Peter of the Pigs brought me and which smelled of his charges too Then with another piece of money in his hand I sent him out to the nearest cornchandlers to buy some corn for our beasts the which I gave them and stood by them till I saw them eat it too For in such a povertystricken place and with a gentleman of the capacity of Master Peter of the Pigs one that is in any way fond of his horses cannot be too careful
This done I announced myself to my master as ready to accompany him
Then through the streets of Thorn all strangely empty we took our way Women were leaning out of windows every head turned castleward up the street
They hardly deigned a glance at my master or at myself but continued to gaze And as each passenger came down the street from the direction of the Wolfsberg they cried questions at him so that he ran the gantlet of a dropping fire of shrill queries
What are they doing to the sweet saint up yonder
Hath she been put to the Question
Who could be executioner in such a case A man would be sent to hellfire for daring to lay hand on her
The popular sympathies ran clearly with the accused which is not as our old Hanne had reason to remember the rule in trials for witchcraft
Soon we were passing the gate of the Red Tower It was barred and closed The windows of my fathers house looked barrenly down like the eyeholes of skulls I saw the window from which I used to gaze wistfully down upon the children who would not play with me but spat upon the tower when they saw me looking at their play and pipings upon the streets
There above was the window of my fathers garret with the edge of the black flag blowing out above it
The streetward door of the Judgment Hall was open and a great crowd of people stood about silent anxious respectful Some of them talked in low tones and whenever there was a word passed out of the door within which men looked ten deep it scattered all about like a wave which comes into a seacave by a narrow entrance and then widens out till it breaks gently in the wide inner hall
She is not to be tortured only the Hereditary Executioner may do that
They have threatened the old woman She has confessed all
So ran the words about the crowd and ever and anon one would detach himself from the press elbowing his way out and then speed down the long street crying the latest tidings of the trial
It was manifestly impossible for us to obtain entrance by this door So we looked about for another
Then I minded me of the private passage which led from the inner courtyard which I knew so well We skirted the crowd with our attendant following till we came to the side door which led directly into the Hall of Judgment behind the judges high seats
It was the way by which many a time I had seen my father enter either in his dress of black or in that of red And I was always glad when I saw him put on the scarlet because I knew that then the worst was over for some poor tortured soul
But when my master proposed that the attendant of the Bishop should carry a letter into the hall to his master to inform him that we waited without the man trembled in every limb and the hair of his head shocked itself up in sheer terror
I cannot—I dare not he cried it is the place of torture—of the engines—the strappado—the waterdrop the legcrushers
And at this point the vision of what was contained within the fatal door became so appalling to him that he picked up his skirts and fled looking over his shoulder all the while to make sure that the Red Axe was not after him full tilt
So Dessauer and I were left standing And if the matter had been less serious it would have been comical to see us thus deserted upon mine own middenstead as it were
Bishop Peter of Thorn seems a prelate somewhat difficult of approach said the Chancellor I wonder if we shall ever lay any salt on his tail
Let us risk it and go in said I We are putting all our cards on the table at any rate And at least we can see all that is to be sees If there is any risk of Von Reuss penetrating our disguises it is as well to gulp and get it over at once rather than suck gingerly at it till the fear of death chills our marrow
Go on then he said somewhat crossly there is indeed naught to be gained by standing here as a butt for the eyes of evildoers
So I opened the door carefully and with a trembling heart The hum of a great assembly breathed turbidly upon us in a hushed chaos of sound The warm stifling atmosphere heavy with a thousand respirations the sound of a voice speaking loud and clear the thunder of continuous heels on the paved floor the voices of the ushers crying Silentium at intervals—these all came suddenly upon us as we shut out the air and sunshine and went into the Hall of Judgment
We could not see the full assembly at first We stood as I had supposed directly behind the judges rostrum Only the corners of the vast crowd which covered the floor and filled the galleries could be seen—a blur of white faces all bent towards one point But at the corner not far from us a tall spare grayheaded ecclesiastic was speaking
We stood still in order that we might not interrupt by entering till he had finished
What was our surprise when we heard his words
My Lord Duke he was saying it is fortunate for the elucidation of this great mystery that I have this moment received word concerning a most learned and notable jurisconsult a Doctor of the Law wise in controversy and specially skilled in such cases who has even now arrived in the city of Thorn on his way to the Emperor at Ratisbon before whom he is to dispute for the honor of truth and our holy religion
His name is the Learned Venerable and Reverend Doctor Schmidt and I trust that we of the city and faculty of the Wolfmark shall have the honor of welcoming him as so distinguished a man deserves
The pattern of the Bishops speech is one that does not vary while the world lasts
Lord they have made me a Doctor of Theology as well whispered the
Chancellor to me I gave him a little push
Now is your time said I the hour and the Doctor
I lifted the skirt of his long black robe He took hold of his marvellous beard a triumph of the disguisers art and we stepped forward I could hardly conceal a smile
We had come in the very nick of time
Then after this I have a vague remembrance of my master bowing this way and that I seem to see the wise men of the law the judges the priests and lictors rising and bowing in acknowledgment I heard the hush of a thousand people all craning their necks to look round the heads of their neighbors and the hum of whispered comment reach farther and farther back till it lapped against the walls and ebbed out into the street from the great open door of the Hall of Judgment It was a surprising sight this great trial—the gloomy hall black with age and deeds of darkness lit by the rays of sunlight falling through windows of red glass the faces of men flecked as with blood where the evening sunlight streamed luridly upon them
In the midst there was a clear foursquare space A lictor with a bundle of rods stood at each corner I looked and there alone in the centre attired in white the cynosure of eyes I beheld—Helene
CHAPTER XLI
THE GARRET OF THE RED TOWER
I felt my temples my ears my neck tingling with cold I seemed to have fallen into a sea of ice I think I would have fallen and fainted but that at that moment my master sat down beside the Bishop and I was left free to retire into a darksome corner where I staggered against a beam slimy with black sweat and hung over it with my hand clasping my brow trying to think what had happened
I do not know how long I remained in this position nor yet when I came to myself All was a dream to me a nightmare of horrid whirlings and infinite oppressions The faces of the folk that watched the garmentry of the Bishop and his priests the red robes of the young Duke and his assessors spun round me in a hideous phantasmagoria
At last I was conscious that a trumpet had blown Whereupon all rose up The secretaries stacked their papers unconcernedly with the feathers of their pens in their mouths And then in the solemn silence which ensued the Duke and his judges filed out of the door while the power of the Church represented by Bishop Peter and his priests went forth by another Before I could realize the situation Helene had vanished as it seemed down a trapdoor in the floor
My master accompanied Bishop Peter As for me I hardly knew what I did I did not even stand up till our conductor he who had gone forward to announce us at the first ran across to me and plucking me by the arm from the beam on which I leaned whispered hurriedly Art dead or drunk man that thou riskest thine ears and thy neck Stand up while the Judges and the new Duke go by
So dazed and numb I hent me up and lo coming arm in arm towards me were Otho von Reuss and his newly appointed Chief Justice and assessor—who but mine old friend Michael Texel The Duke bent a searching look on me as I bowed low before him but he saw only the tan of my skin and the close bristle of my hair And so all passed on
Ho blackamoor thy master waits thee Run if thou wouldst avoid the whippingpost cried another of the rout of servitors with a small sniggering laugh
So putting out a hand to stay myself I staggered weakly after my master I found him at the door in talk with the confessor of the Bishop
And so he was saying this girl was reared in the executioners house And she went away to a far country in order to learn the secrets of necromancy it is not known where I would see this Dukes Justicer Does he dwell near by What In that very tower It is of good omen Let us go in thither
But the confessor excused himself being in no wise desirous to visit the
Red Axe even in his time of sickness
I have business of the soul with Bishop Peter I will speak with thee again at refection he said twitching his head up at the Red Tower with suspicious glances as if he feared unseen ears might be listening and that some of its fearful magic might even descend upon a man so notably holy as a Bishops confessor
Presently Dessauer and I were across the courtyard at the wellknown door I knocked and listened whereupon ensued silence Again and yet again I made the quaint deathshead knocker thunder and then when the echoes ceased there was once more a great silence in the tower
I heard the bloodhounds of Duke Casimir howl The indigo shadow of the pinnacled Hall of Justice stretched across and touched the Red Tower with an ominous finger
Let us go in said I And pushing the unresisting door I began to climb the stone stairs Each smoothed hollow and chipped edge was familiar to me as my name Indeed much more so for I was now passing under a false one So I climbed in a dazed way up and up There on my left was the sittingroom It had been searched high and low escritoires rudely tossed down aumries rifled household stuff grain white linen empty bottles all cast about and huddled together even as the searchers had left them
Then above was the little room where Helene used to sleep Here the wrack was indescribable—every hidingplace rifled her pretty worked bedquilt lying across the doorway trampled and soiled her dainty white clothing some she had worn at Plassenburg and even the tiny dresses of her childhood all torn and confused together And in the midst what affected me more than everything else a tiny puppet of wood my father had hewn her with his knife and which she had dressed as a queen with red ribbons and crown of tinsel—ah so long ago—and in such happy days
Father I called loudly Father
But in this I forgot myself There might have been enemies lurking anywhere in the house of pain and disaster
My own room came next and the way out upon the roof but we tried not these There remained only the garret of my father I climbed up with Dessauer behind me and pushed the door open
Then I stood in the enteringin looking for the first time for years on the face of my father
He lay on his conch his head bound about with a napkin The dark wisp of hair which rose like a cocks comb sticking through the stained cloth which swathed his brow was no longer blueblack but of an irongray splashed and brindled with pure white His eyes were open and shone cavernous and solemn above his fallenin cheeks It was like looking into the secrets of another world That which he had so often caused other eyes to see the Red Axe of Thorn was now to see for himself The hand which lay—mere skin muscle and bone—on the counterpane had guided many to the door of the mysteries Now at its own entrance it was to push the arras aside for the DeathJusticer of the Mark was to go before the Judge of all the earth
My father lay gazing at me with deep mournful eyes So sad they seemed that it was as if nothing in heaven or earth neither joy nor sorrow life nor death could have power to change their expression of immeasurable sadness
I entered and my companion followed
You are alone There is none with you here I said to my father going to the bedside
He started at the voice and looked up even eagerly But his eyes dulled and deadened again as he fell back
I did but dream he muttered sadly
You have no one with you here Gottfried Gottfried said I again for in a matter of life and death it was as well to make sure even at risk of disturbing a dying man
He set his hand to his brow as if trying to think
Who should be with me—except all these he answered very solemnly And swept his hand about the room as if he saw strange shapes standing in rows round the walls I wish he went on almost querulously whoever you may be you would tell these people to keep their hands down They point at me and thrust their dripping heads forward holding them like lanterns in their palms
He turned away to the back of the bed and then as if he saw something there worse than all the rest faced about again quickly saying with some pathetic intonation of his lost childhood There is no need for them to point so at me is there I did but my duty
Father said I gently touching his cheek with my hand as I used to do
Ah what is that he said quickly Did some one call me father Let me go I tell you sirs let me go She needs me They are torturing her I must go to her
Father I said again putting him gently back it is I—your own son
Hugo—come back to speak with you to help if it may be—to die for the
Little Playmate if need be
Hugo—Hugo he said Yes yes—of course I know—my little lad my pretty boy
He pushed me back to look at me eagerly wistfully—and then thrust me sharply away
Bah he said you lie What need to lie to a dying man My Hugo had yellow hair and a skin like lilies Yours is dark—
Father said I I am here disguised Help is coming sure and strong if we can only wait a little and delay the trial But tell me all Speak to me freely if you love your daughter Helene—your daughter and my love
He sat up now and motioned me to come nearer There was a dark fierce unworldly light in his eyes I set a pillow to his back and went and kneeled by the bed as I used to do at goodnight time when I said my Paternoster
Then for the first time he knew me
Say your prayers child he commanded in his old voice
So though with the stress of wars and other things I had mostly forgotten yet I said not only that but the little Prayer of Childhood he had taught me And then I kissed him as I used to do when I bade him goodnight
Yes he said softly it is true after all You are mine own only son Hugo—I am glad you have come so far to see your father before he dies
I told him how I had come and brought Dessauer forward introducing him as one great in the kingdom where I was and to whom I was much beholden He shook him by the hand with grave intent courtesy and again looked at me
Now father said I we have no long time to bide with you lest the new Duke come upon us We must hie us back to our lodging with the Bishop Peter lest we be missed
My father smiled
Ye will live but sparely there said he with a flicker of his ancient smile
Tell us how you came to this said I and if you can why Helene our little Helene stands so terribly accused
My father paused a long time before he began to answer
It is not easy for me to tell you all he said I know and I have the words but somehow when I try to fit the words to the thing they run asunder and will not mix like water and oil But see Hugo here is an elixir of rare value Drop a drop or two on my tongue if ye see me wander It will bring me back for a time
CHAPTER XLII
PRINCESS PLAYMATE
Then began my father to tell the story slowly with many a pause and interruption now searching for words now racked with pain all of which I need not imitate and shall leave out But the substance of his tale was to this effect
After you had left us the Dukedom went from bad to worse—no peace no rest no money Duke Casimir took less and less of my advice but on the contrary began again his old horrors—plundering killing living by terror and in terror He threatened Torgau He attacked Plassenburg He stirred up hornets nests everywhere At home he made himself the common mark for every assassin
Then suddenly came his nephew back and almost immediately he grew great in favor with him Uncle and nephew drank together They paraded the terraces arm in arm I was never more sent for save to do my duty Otho von Reuss rode abroad at the head of the Black Horsemen
But at the same time to my great joy arrived the Little Playmate back to me She was safer with me she said So that having her I needed naught else She came with good news of you making the journey not alone for two men of the Princesss retinue brought her to the city gates
The Princess I cried aye I thought so I judged that it was the
Princess who sent her back
Dessauer motioned with his hand He saw that it was dangerous to throw my father off the track And indeed this was proven at once for my unfortunate interruption set my fathers mind to wandering till finally I had to drop certain drops of the red liquid on his tongue These indeed had a marvellous effect upon him He sat up instantly his eyes flashing the old light and began to speak rapidly and to clear purport even as he used to do in the old days when Duke Casimir would come striding across the yard at all hours of the night and day to consult his Justicer
What was I telling he went on Yes I remember of the homecoming of Helene under honorable escort And she was beautiful—but all her race were beautiful all the women of them at any rate But that is another matter
So things went well enough with us till as she went across the yard one day to meet me at the door of the hall as I came out who should see her but the Count Otho von Reuss And she turned from him like a queen and took hold of my arm clasping it strongly Then he gazed fixedly at us both and his look was the evildoers look Oh I know it Who knows that look if not I And so we passed within But my Helene was quivering and much afraid nestling to me—aye to me old Gottfried Gottfried like a frightened dove
After this she went not out into the courtyard or city any more save with me by her side and Otho von Reuss lingered about watching like a wolf about the sheepfold For as I say he was in high favor with Duke Casimir and had already equal place with him on the bed of justice
Then there came a night lightning peeping and blazing alternate blue and ghastly white—Gods face and the devils time about staring in at the lattice I lay alone in my chamber But I was not asleep As you know I do not often sleep But I lay awake and thought and thought The lightning showed me faces I had not seen for thirty years and forms I remembered black against eternity But all at once in a certain afterclap of silence that followed the roaring thunder I heard a voice call to me
My father—my father it cried
It was like a soul in danger calling on God
I rose and went clad as I was in the red of mine office for that day I had done the final grace more than once even so I ran down the stairs to the room of my little Helene
The lightning showed me my lamb crouched in the corner her lips open white squared with horror her arms extended as though to push some monstrous thing away A black shape whose I could not tell I saw bending over her Then came blackness of darkness again And again my Helenes voice Ah God I can hear it now calling pitifully like a woman hanging over hell and losing hold Father—my father
I am here I cried loudly even as on the scaffold I cry the doom for which the malefactors die
And the room lit up with a flame white as the face of God as He passed by on Mount Sinai flash on continuous flash And there before me with a countenance like a demons stood Otho von Reuss
I uttered a hoarse cry but Dessauer again checked me My father went on
Otho von Reuss it was—he saw me in my red apparel and cried aloud with mighty fear If God had given me mine axe in my hand—well Duke or no Duke he had cried no more But even as he turned and fled from the room I seized him about the waist and opening the window with my other hand I cast him forth And as he went down backward clutching at nothing God looked again out of the skylights of heaven and showed me the face of the devil even as Michael saw it when he hurled him shrieking into the nether pit
Then I went back and took in my arms my one ewe lamb
Many days so they brought me word Otho lay at the point of death and Duke Casimir came not near me nor yet sent for me But by that very circumstance I knew Otho had not revealed how his accident had befallen Yet he but bided his time And as he grew well Duke Casimir grew ill He waxed more and more like an armored ghost and one day he came here and sat on the bed as in old times
I know my friends now he said good Red Axe of mine friend of many years I have had mine eyes blinded but this morning there has come a mighty clearness and from this day forth you and I shall stand face to face and see eye to eye again as in the days of old
Then being athirst he asked for something to drink Which when our sweet Helene had brought he patted her cheek A maid too good for a court—one among a thousand a fair one he said and passed away down the stairs walking with his old steady tread
But even at the steps of the Hall of Justice he stumbled and fell They carried him in and there in the robing chamber he lay unconscious for a week and then died without speech
When he was dead and ere he had been embalmed there arose a clamor first among the followers of Otho von Reuss and after that among those of the Wolfsberg who expected that they would be favored by the new Duke It was first whispered and then cried aloud that the death of Duke Casimir had been compassed by witchcraft and potions
Cunningly and with subtlety was spread the report how my daughter and I had worked upon Duke Casimir How he had gone to our house drunken a draught and then died ere he could come to his own chamber But as for me I went on my way and heeded them not For just then the plague which had stricken the Duke first stalked athwart the city unchecked and all through it this Helene of ours was as the angel of God coming and going by night and day among the streets and lanes of the town And the common folk almost worshipped her And so do unto this day
Now perhaps I did not heed this babble as I ought to have done But there came one night—how long ago I have forgotten—and with it a clamor in the courtyard The Black Riders the worst of them fiends incarnate that Otho had of late gathered about him thundered upon us without and presently burst in the door
I met them with mine axe at the stairhead and for the better part of an hour I kept them at a distance And some died and some were dismembered For at that business I am not a man to make mistakes Then came Otho limping from his fall and shot me with a bolt from behind his men And so over my body as I lay at the stairhead they took my love and left me here to die And the new Duke will not kill me for he desires that I shall see her agony ere my own life is taken For that alone the fiend keeps me in life
And that said my father feebly is all
But just as he seemed to ebb away a wild fear startled him
No he cried there is yet something more Hugo Hugo keep me here a little Hold me that my mind may not wander away among the rackingwheels and the faces mopping and mowing I have something yet to tell
I held him up while Dessauer poured a drop or two of the potent liquid into his mouth As before it instantly revived him The color came back to his cheeks
Quick Hugo lad he cried give me that black box which sits behind the block I brought it and from this he extracted a small key which he gave me
Unlock the panel you see there in the wall he said
I looked but could find none
The oaken knob he cried sharply as to a clumsy servitor
I could only see a rough knob in the woodwork a little wormeaten and in the centre one hole a little larger than the rest
Put in the key commanded my father making as if he would come out of bed and hasten me himself
I thrust in the key indeed but with no more faith than if I had been bidden to put it into a mousehole
Nevertheless it turned easy as thinking and a little door swung open cunningly fitted Here were dresses books parchments huddled together
Bring all these to me he said
And I brought them carefully in my arms and laid them on the bed
The eye of old Dessauer fell on something among them and was instantly fascinated It was a womans waistbelt of thick bars of gold laid three and three with crests and letters all over it
The Chancellor put his hand forward for it and my father allowed him to take it following him however with a questioning eye
Then Dessauer put his hand into his bosom and drew out a chain of gold—the necklace of the woodman indeed—and laid the two side by side He uttered a shrill cry as he did so
The belt of the lost Princess he cried the little Princess of
Plassenburg
And laying them one above the other each group of six bars read thus
Illustration o o o H o o o H o o o H o o o o o o E o o o E o o o E o o o The Necklace o o o L o o o L o o o L o o o
o o o E o o o E o o o E o o o o o o N o o o N o o o N o o o The Belt o o o E o o o E o o o E o o o
With delight on his face like that of a mathematician when his calculations work out truly Dessauer reached over his hand for the papers also but my father stayed him
Who may you be that has a chain to match mine he asked with his mighty hand on Dessauers wrist
I am the States Chancellor of Plassenburg and it needed but this to show me our true Princess
Here then said my father is more and better
And he handed him the papers
It meets It meets cried Dessauer enthusiastically as he glanced them over It is complete It would stand probation in the Dict of the Emperor
But yet all that will not prevent Helene Gottfried dying at the stake cried my father sadly and fell back unconscious on his bed
We spent this heaviest of nights at the palace of Bishop Peter—Dessauer with the prelate—I praise to the holy pyx in the kitchen with the serving men and maids Peter of the Pigs was there but no more eager to fight The lay brother who had gone with the letter and the conductor who had run away from the dread door of the Hall of Justice had returned and had spread a favorable report of our courage
Certainly the house of Peter the Bishop might be a poor one and scantily provendered but there was little sign of it that night For if the master went fasting and his guests lived on pulse as they said in Thorn certainly not so Bishop Peters servants
For there were pasties of larks with sauce of butter and herbs most excellent and toothsome There were rabbits from the sandhills and pigeons from the towers of the minster The clear chill Rhenish vied with the more generous wine of Burgundy and the red juice of Assmanhauser For me as was natural I ate little I spoke not at all But I looked so dangerous with my swarthy face and desperate eye I dare say also I was so well armed that the roysterers left me severely alone
But I drank—Lord what did I not drink that night I poured down my gullet all and sundry that was given me And to render these Bishops thralls their dues there was no lack and no inhospitality But the strange thing of it was that though I am a man more than ordinarily temperate that night I poured the Rhenish into me like water down a cisternpipe and felt it not God forgive me I wanted to make me drunken and forgetful and lo the dogs swill would not bite
So I cursed their drink and asked if they had no Lyons WaterofLife stark and mordant or social Hollands or indeed anything that was not mere compound of whey and dirty water Whereat they wondered and held me thereafter in great respect as a good companion and approven worthy drinker
Then they brought me of the strong spirit of Dantzig with curious little flakes of gold dancing in it It was raw and strong and at first I had good hopes of it But I drank the Dautzig like springwater all there was of it and though it had a taste singularly displeasing to me it took no more effect than so much warm barleybrew for the palates of babes Upon this I had great glory For the cardplayers and the dicers actually left their games and gazed openjawed to see me drink And I sat there and expounded the Levitical law and the wheels of the Prophet Ezekiel the law of succession to the empire and also the apostolic succession—all with surprising clearness and cogency of reasoning. So that before I had finished they required of me whether it was I or my master who was sent for to dispute before His Sovereign mightiness the Emperor
Then I told them that the things I knew that is which the Hollands had put into my head were but the commonest chambersweepings of my masters learning which I had picked up as I rode at his elbow And this bred a mighty wondering what manner of man he might be who was so wise And I think if I had gone on Dessauer and I might both have found ourselves in the Bishops prison on suspicion of being the devil and one of his ministrants
But suddenly as with a kind of recoil or back stroke all that I had drunken must have come upon me The clearness of vision went from me like a candle that is blown out I know not what happened after save that I found myself upon my trucklebed with my leathern moneypouch clasped in my hand with surprising tightness as if I had been mortally afraid that some one would mistake my poor satchel for his own pocket
So in time the morrow came and by all rules I ought to have had a racking headache For I saw many of those that had been with me the night before pale of countenance and eating handfuls of bakers salt So I judged that their anxiety and the turmoil of their hearts had not burned their liquor up as had been the case with me
Now it is small wonder that all my soul cried out for oblivion till I should be able to do something for the Beloved—break her prison hasten the troops from Plassenburg or in some way save my love
Hardly had I looked out of the main door that morning desiring no more than to pass away the time till the trial should begin again before I saw the Lubber Fiend smirking and becking across the way He had squatted himself down on the side of the street opposite looking over at the Bishops palace
He pointed at me with his finger
Your complexion runs down he said I know you But go to the spring there by the stable wash your face and I shall know you better
This was fair perdition and nothing less For one may stay the tongue of a scoundrel with money or the expectation of it until opportunity arrive to stop it with steel or prison masonry But who shall curb or halter the tongue of a fool
Then swift as one that sees his face in a glass I bethought me of a plan
See I said do you desire gold Sir Lubber Fiend
He wagged his great head and shook his cabbageleaf ears till they made currents in the heavy air to signify that he loved the touch of the yellow metal
See then Lubber said I you shall have ten of these now and ten more afterwards if you will carry a letter to the Prince at Plassenburg or meet him on the way
Not possible said he shaking his head sadly my little Missie has come to Thorn
But said I little Missie would desire it take letter to the Prince good Jan then Missie will be happy
Would she let poor Jan Lubberchen kiss her hand think you he asked looking up at me
Aye said I kiss her cheek maybe
He danced excitedly from side to side
Jan will run—Jan will run all the way he cried
So I pulled out a scrap of parchment and wrote a hasty message to the Prince asking him for the love of God and us to set every soldier in Plassenburg on the march for Thorn and to come on ahead himself with such a flying column as he could gather No more I added because I knew that my good master would need no more
Then I went down with my messenger to the Weiss Thor and with great fear and pulsation of the midriff I saw the idiot pass the house of Master Gerard Then at the outer gate I gave him his ten golden coins and watched him trot away briskly on the green winding road to Plassenburg
Mind he called back to me Jan is to kiss her cheek if Jan takes letter to the Prince
And I promised it him without wincing For by this time lying had no more effect upon me than dramdrinking
CHAPTER XLIII
THE TRIAL FOR WITCHCRAFT
The Bed of Justice was set by eight of the morning For they were ever early astir in the city of Thorn though like most early risers they did little enough afterwards all day
With a sadly beating heart I accompanied Dessauer in the same guise as on the previous day The crowd was even greater in and about the Hall of Judgment And when the Duke had taken his seat and his tools set themselves down on either side they brought in the Little Playmate
She was dressed all in white clean and spotless in spite of prison usage She glanced just once about her right and left high and low as if seeking for a face she could not see and from thenceforth she looked down on the ground
The argument as to torture had been concluded on the day before and it had been held inadmissible—not because of any kindly thought for the prisoner but because according to the laws of the Wolfmark in the absence of the Hereditary Executioner there was no one legally capable of inflicting it
Then came the evidence
The first witness against the Little Playmate was old Hanne She was brought in by a cowled monk of dark and sinister appearance—in fact as my heart leaped to observe I saw that she was accompanied by Friar Laurence—he who had taught me my learning in the old days and who even then had watched the Little Playmate with no friendly eyes
As she passed the judges I saw the deadly fear mount to agony on the face of old Hanne The look in her eyes of physical pain suffered and overpassed was the same which I had often seen in the wars after the surgeon has done his horrid work That same look I saw now on the face of Hanne So I knew that somewhere in the dark recesses under the Hall of Judgment the Extreme Question had been put to her and to all appearance answered according to the liking of the persecutors though they dared not torture so notable a public prisoner as Helene
I saw a look of satisfied vindictiveness pass over the brutal features of
Duke Otho He changed his position and whispered to his colleagues
It was Master Gerard von Sturm who rose to put the questions to the witness And as he did so I heard the steady sough of talk among the people rise mutteringly in a low growl of anger and contempt The Dukes lictors struck right and left among the crowd as men bent forward with fierce hate in their voices lowing like oxen as if to clear their lungs of a weight of contempt
It was not thus in the old days when there was no peoples arbiter in all the Wolfmark so famous or so popular as Master Gerard of the Weiss Thor
What is the reason of that turmoil said I to my neighbor
This is the man who was her first accuser Why he dares not go outside his house without a guard of the Dukes riders said the man picking at his fingernail with his teeth as if it were a bone and he did not think much of its savoriness
You have already confessed said the advocate to old Hanne when they had propped up the poor wreck of skin and bone and you do now confess that this maid and yourself have ofttimes had converse with the Enemy of Souls
A spasm passed across the face of the witness and a low sound proceeded from her mouth which might have been an affirmative answer but which sounded to me much more like a moan of pain
And you confess that she consulted you concerning the best means of killing the Duke Casimir—by means of a draught to be administered to him when he should as was his custom visit his Hereditary Justicer
There was indeed a draught spoken of between us noble sir stammered the old woman but it was not for the Duke Casimir nor yet for—for any evil purpose
I saw the Friar Laurence incline his head a little forward and whisper in
Hannes ear from his place behind her
At the words she clasped her hands and fell on the floor grovelling I will say aught that you bid me kind sir I cannot bear it again I cannot go back to that place I am too old to be tormented I will bear what testimony your excellencies desire
We wish only that you should tell the truth as you have already done of your own free will in your preexamination said Master Gerard the notes of which are before me Was it not to kill the Duke Casimir that this draught was compounded
The old woman hesitated Friar Laurence stooped again
Yes she cried God forgive me—yes
An evil look of triumph sat on the face of Otho von Reuss I think he felt sure of his victim now
That is enough said Master Gerard Take the old woman back to her cell
Oh no great Lord she cried not there You promised that if I said it I was to be let go free Kill me but do not send me back
The Duke moved his hand and the old woman was led shrieking below
Then came Friar Laurence who testified that he had often seen old Hanne instructing the young woman who was now a prisoner in the art of drugs in the preparation of images carven in dough—and it might be also in clay—things well known in the art of witchery
Further he had been with the Duke Casimir at the last and the Duke had declared that he had partaken of a draught in the house of Gottfried Gottfried and immediately thereafter had been taken ill
There was not much else of matter in the Friars evidence but the most deep and vindictive malice against the prisoner was evident in every word and gesture
Then Master Gerard rose to address the judges His venerable appearance was enhanced by the sternly severe look on his face He looked an accusing angel from the pit swart of skin and with eyes of flame He was tall and bent of figure with the serpentbrowed head set deep between hunched shoulders like those of a moulting vulture He grasped his bundle of papers and rose to make his final speech
The judges settled themselves to closer attention The hush of listening folk broadened to the utmost limits of the great hall At a whisper or a cough a hundred threatening faces were turned in the direction of the sound so strained was the attention of the people and such the fear of the eloquence of this most famous pleader in all Germany In these days when learning has reached so great a pitch and is so general that in a largish city there may be as many as a thousand people who can read and write of course there are many eloquent men But in those days it was not so and Grerard von Sturm was counted the one Golden Mouth of the Wolfmark
And this in brief was the matter of his speech The manner and the persuasive grace I cannot attempt to give
It has at all times been a received opinion of the wise that witchcraft is a thing truly practised—by which such women as the Witch of Endor in Holy Writ were able to call dead men out of their deep graves grown with grass or as in that famous case of Demarchaus who having by the advice of such a woman tasted the flesh of a sacrificed child was immediately turned into a wolf
Further the testimonyof Scripture is clear Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live and again as sayeth the Wise Man Thou hast hated them 0 God because with enchantments they did horrible works
Now men may by conspicuous bravery guard their lives against assault by the sword of the enemy against the spear of the invader that cometh over the wall even against the knife of the assassin But who shall be able to keep out witchcraft It moveth in the motes of the midday sun It comes stealing into the room on the pale beams of the moon Witchcraft rides in the hurtling blast and shrieks in the gust which shakes the roof and blows awry the candle in the hall
Enchantment can summon Azazeli the Lord of Flesh and Blood called in another place the Lord of the Desert by whose spiriting of the elements even the pure water of the spring or the juice of the purple grape may become noxious as the brew of the serpents poisonbag
Of such a sort was the illdoing of this woman For her own hellish purposes she desired and compassed the death of the most noble Duke Casimir There may be those who try to discover a motive for such an act But in this they do foolishly For to those who have studied of this matter as I have done it is well known that enchanters and witches ever attack those who are the greatest the noblest and the most envied—not hoping for any good to result to themselves but out of pure malice and envy being prompted by the devil in order that the great and noble should be destroyed out of the land Well was it spoken then Ye shall not suffer a witch to live
And if any plead hereafter of this evildoers youth of her beauty I call you to witness that the Evil One ever makes his best implement of the fairest metal As the aged crone her teacher and accomplice hath confessed this Helene was for long a plotter of dark deeds By the trust of Duke Casimir in her maidens innocence he was betrayed to death That one so fair and evil should be turned loose on the world to begin anew her enchantments and like a pestilence to creep into good mens houses is a thing not to be thought of Is she to go forth breathing death upon the faces of the young children to sit squat like hideous toad sucking the blood of the newborn infant or distilling poisondrops to put into the draughts of strong men which shall run like molten iron through their veins till they go mad
Hear me judges I bid you again remember the word Ye shall not suffer a witch to live And in the name of the great unbroken law of the Wolfmark which I hold in my hand I conclude by claiming the pains of death to pass upon the witchwoman who by her deed sent forth untimely the spirit of the most noble Duke Casimir Lord of the city of Thorn and Duke of the Wolfmark
The pleader sat down calmly as he had risen and the judges conferred together as though they were on the point of delivering their verdict There had been no sound of applause as Master Gerard had spoken—a hushed attention only and then the muffled thunder of the great audience relaxing its attention and of men turning to whispered discussion among themselves
Prisoner said Duke Otho have you any to speak for you Or do you desire to make any answer to the things which have been urged against you
Then thrilling me to my soul arose the voice of Helene Clear and sweet and girlish without hurry or fear yet with an innocence which might have touched the hardest heart the maiden upon trial for her life said a simple word or two in her defence
I have no one to speak for me I have nothing to say save that which I have said so often that before God who knows all things I am innocent of thought word or deed against any man and most of all against Duke Casimir of the Wolfsberg
And as she spoke the multitude was stirred and voices broke out here and there
No witch She is innocent The guilty are among the judges Saint
Helena If she die we will avenge her
And though the lictors struck furiously every way they could not settle the tumult and ever the mass of folk swayed more wildly to and fro Nor do I know what might have happened at that moment but for a cry that arose in front of the throng
The Stranger The Great Doctor The Wise Man Hear him He is going to speak for her
CHAPTER XLIV
SENTENCE OF DEATH
And there standing by the place of pleading with his foot on the first step I saw Dessauer in his black doctorial gown leaning reverently upon a long staff
He made a courteous salutation to Duke Otho upon the high seat
I am a stranger most noble Duke he began and as such have no standing in this your High Court of Justice But there is a certain courtesy extended to doctors of the law—the right of speech in great trials—in many of the lands to which I have adventured in the search of wisdom I am encouraged by my friend the most venerable prelate Bishop Peter to ask your forbearance while I say a word on behalf of the prisoner in reply to that learned and most celebrated jurisconsult Master Gerard von Sturm who in support of his cause has spoken things so apt and eloquent This is my desire ere judgment be passed For in a multitude of councils there is wisdom
He was silent and looked at the Duke and his tool Michael Texel
They conferred together in whispers and at first seemed on the point of refusing But the folk began to sway so dangerously and the voice of their muttering sank till it became a growl as of a caged wild beast which has broken all bars save the last and which only waits an opportunity to put forth its strength in order to shiver that also
You are heartily welcome most learned doctor said Duke Otho sullenly We would desire to hear you briefly concerning this matter
I shall assuredly be brief my noble lord—most brief said Dessauer I am a stranger and must therefore speak by the great principles of equity which underlie all law and all evidence rather than according to the statutes of the province over which you are the distinguished ruler
The crime of witchcraft is indeed a heinous one if so be that it can be proven—not by the compelled confession of crazed and tortured crones but by the clear light of reason. Now there is no evidence that I have heard against this young girl which might not be urged with equal justice against every cupbearer in the Castle of the Wolfsberg
The Duke Casimir died indeed after having partaken of the wine But so may a man at any time by the visitation of God by the stroke which from the void air falleth suddenly upon the heart of man No poison has been found on or about the girl No evil has been alleged against her save that which has been compelled as all must have seen by torture and the fear of torture from the palsied and reluctant lips of a frantic hag
Hear him Great is the Stranger cried the folk in the hall And the shouting of the guards commanding silence could scarce be heard for the roar of the populace It was some time before the speech of Dessauer was again audible
Ho was beginning to speak again but Duke Otho without rising called out rudely and angrily
Speak to the reason of the judges and not to the passions of the mob
I do indeed speak from the reason to the reason said Dessauer calmly for in this matter there is no true averment even of witchcraft but only of the administration of poison—which ought to be proven by the ordinary means of producing some portion of the drug both in the possession of the criminal and from the body of the murdered man This has not been done There has been no evidence save as I have shown such as may be easily compelled or suborned If this maid be condemned there is no one of you with a wife a daughter a sweetheart who may not have her burned or beheaded on just as little evidence—if she have a single enemy in all the city seeking for the sake of malice or thwarted lust to compass her destruction
Moreover it indeed matters little for the argument that this damsel is fair to the eye Save in so far as she is more the object of desire and that when the greed of the lustful eye is balked here he paused and looked fixedly between his knees disappointment oft in such a heart turns to deadly poison And so that which was desired is the more bitterly hated and revenge awakes to destroy
But if beauty matters little character matters greatly And what by common consent has been known in the city concerning this maid
I ask not you Duke Otho who have lived apart in your castle or in far lands a stranger to the city like myself But I ask the people among whom during all these past months of the plague she has dwelt Is she not known among them as Saint Helena
Aye cried the people Saint Helena indeed—our savior when there was none to help God save Saint Helena
Dessauer waved his hand for silence
Did she not go among you from house to house carrying not the poisoncup but the healing draught Was not her hand soft on the brow of the dying comfortable about the neck of the bereaved Day and night whose fingers reverently wrapped up the poor dead bodies of your beloved Who quieted your babes in her arms fed thorn nursed them healed them buried them—wore herself to a shadow for your sakes
Saint Helena they cried Saint Helena the angel of the Red Tower
Aye said Dessauer in tones like thunder hear their voices There are a thousand witnesses in this house untortured unsuborned I tell you the guilt of innocent blood will lie on you great Duke—on you counsellors of evil things if you condemn this maid Your throne Duke Otho shall totter and fall and your lifes sun shall set in a sea of blood
He sat down calm and fearless as the Duke raged to Michael Texel as I think desiring that the fearless pleader could be seized on the instant and punished for his insolence But as the folk shouted in the hall and the thunder of cheering came in through the open windows from the great concourse without Michael Texel calmed his master urging upon him that the temper of the people was for the present too dangerous And also doubtless that they could easily compass their ends by other means
I saw Texel despatch a messenger to the lictors who stood on either side of Helene The bodyguard of the Duke stood closer about her as the Duke Otho himself stood up to read the sentence
I saw that the form of it had been written out upon a paper Doubtless therefore all had been prearranged so that neither evidence nor eloquence could possibly have had any effect upon it
We the Court of the Wolfmark find the prisoner Helene called Gottfried guilty of witchcraft and especially of compassing and causing the death of our predecessor the most noble Duke Casimir and we do hereby adjudge that on the morning of Sunday presently following Helene Gottfried shall be executed upon the common scaffold by the axe of the executioner Of our clemency is this sentence delivered instead of the torture and the burning alive at the stake which it was within our power to command This is done in consideration of the youth of the criminal and as the first exercise of our ducal prerogative of high mercy
With an angry roar the people closed in
Take her they cried rescue her out of their hands
And there was a fierce rush in which the outer barriers were snapped like straw But the lictors had pulled down the trapdoor on the instant and the people surged fiercely over the spot where a moment before Helene had stood Before them were the levelled pikes and burning matches of the Dukes guard
Have at them was still the cry Kill the wolves Tear them to pieces
But the mob was undisciplined and the steady advance of the soldiers soon cleared the hall Nevertheless the streets without continued angry and throbbing with incipient rebellion Duke Otho could scarce win scathless across the courtyard to his own apartments Tiles from the nearest roofs were cast upon the heads of his escort The streets were impassable with angry men shaking their fists at every courier and soldier of the Duke Women hung sobbing out of the windows and all the city of Thorn lamented with uncomforted tears because of the cruel condemnation of their Saint of the plague Helena the maiden of the Red Tower
CHAPTER XLV
THE MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE GATE
I rushed out into the street distract and insensate with grief and madness I found the city seething with sullen unrest—not yet openly hostile to the powers that abode in the Castle of the Wolfsberg—too long cowed and downtrodden for that but angry with the anger which one day would of a certainty break out and be pitiless
The Black Horsemen of the Duke pricked a way with their lances here and there through the people driving them into the narrow lanes in jets and spurts of fleeing humanity only once more to reunite as soon as the Hussars of Death had passed Pikemen cried Make way and the regular guard of the city paraded in strong companies
A soldier wantonly thrust me in the back with his spear and I sprang towards him fiercely glad to strike home at something But as quickly a man of the crowd pulled me back
Be wise he said not for your own sake alone but for the sake of all these women and children The Black Riders seek only an excuse to sweep the city from end to end with the besom of fire and blood
Then came my master out of the Hall of Judgment his head hanging dejectedly down As soon as he was observed the people crowded about shaking him by the hand thanking him for that which he had done for their maid their holy Saint Helena of the plague
We will not suffer her to be put to death not even if they of the
Wolfsberg raze our city to the ground
Make way there cried the Black Horsemen—way in the name of
Duke Otho
Who is Duke Otho cried a voice We do not know Duke Otho
He is not crowned yet Why should he take so much upon him shouted another
We are free burgesses of Thorn and no mans bondslaves said a third Such were the shouts that hurtled through the streets and were bandied fiercely from man to man betraying in tone more than in word the intensity of the hatred which existed between the ducal towers of the Wolfsberg and the city which lay beneath them
In my boyish days I had laughed at the assemblies of the Swan—the White Wolves and Free Companies But perhaps those who had thus played at revolt were wiser than I For of a surety these associations were yielding their fruits now in a harvest of hate against the gloomy pile that had so long dominated the town choked its liberties and shut it off from the new free thriving world of the northern seaboard commonwealths to which of right it belonged
So soon as Dessauer and I were alone in my masters room at Bishop Peters I tried to stammer some sort of thanks but I could do no more than hold out a hand to him The old man clasped it
It was wholly useless from the first he said they had their purpose fixed and their course laid out so that there was no turning of them All was a mockery so clear that even the ignorant men of the streets were not deceived Accusation evidence pleadings condemnation sentence—all were ready before the maid was taken aye and I think before Duke Casimir was dead
Also there is no court in the Wolfmark higher than the mockery we have seen today The arms of the soldiers of Plassenburg are our only court of appeal
It is two days before they can come I answered I fear me all will be over before then
Be not so sure said Dessauer There is at present no Justicer in the Mark capable of carrying out the sentence so long as your father lies on his bed of mortal weakness
Duke Otho will not let that stand in his way—or I am the more deceived said I with a heavy heart
At this moment there came an interruption I heard a loud argument outside in the courtyard
Tell me what you want with the servant of the most learned Doctor cried a voice
That is his business and mine—not yours rusty son of a stablesweeper was the answer
I went out immediately and there facing each other in a position of mutual defiance I saw Peter of the Pigs and the decent legal domestic of Master Gerard von Sturm
Get out of my wind old MucktotheEyes said the servitor offensively you poison the good wholesome air that is needed for mens breath
Go back to your murderer of the saints responded Peter of the Pigs valiantly Your master and you will swing in effigy tonight in every street in Thorn Some day before long you will both swing in the body—if a hair of this angels head be harmed
I must see this learned Doctors servant persisted the man of law avoiding the personal question
Here he is said I and now what would you with him
I am sent to invite you to come to the Weiss Thor immediately on business which deeply concerns you
That is not enough for me said I Who sends for me
Let me come in out of the hearing of this moonfaced idiot said he pointing contumeliously to Peter of the Pigs and I will tell you I am not bidden to proclaim my business in the market sties and city cattlepens
You do well Parchment Knave cried Peter for it is such black business that if you proclaimed a syllable of it there you would be torn to pieces of honest folk Thank God there are still some such in the world
Aye many quoth the servitor and we all know they are to be found in the dwellings of priestlings
I walked with the man to the gate for I did not care to take him to where Dessauer was sitting I feared that it might be some ill news from the Lubber Fiend who though I had seen him clear of the gate might very well have returned and told my message to Master Gerard
Well said I brusquely for I had no love for the Sir Rusty
Respectable out with it—who sends you
It is not my master answered the man but one other
What other said I
The one he said cunningly with whom on a former occasion you rode out at the White Gate
Then I saw that he knew me
The Princess— I began
Hush he said touching my arm that is not a word to be whispered in the streets of Thorn—the Lady Ysolinde is at her fathers house and would see you—on a matter of life or death—so she bade me tell you
I will go with you I said instantly
Nay he said smirking secretly not now but at nine of the clock when the city ways shall be dark you must come—you know the road And then you two can confer together safely and eke an it please you jocosely when Master Gerard will be safe in his study with the lamp lit
I went back to Dessauer who during my absence had kept his head in his hand as if deeply absorbed in thought
The Princess is in Thorn said I as a startling piece of news
Ah the Princess he muttered abstractedly truly she is the
Princess but yet that will not advantage her a whit
I saw that he was thinking of our little Helene
Nay I said taking him by the arm to secure his attention as indeed about this time I had often to do I mean the Lady Ysolinde the wife of our good Prince
In Thorn said Dessauer Ah I am little surprised Twice when I was speaking today I saw a face I knew well look through a lattice in the wall at me But being intent upon my words I did not think of it nor indeed recognize it till it had disappeared Now the picture comes back to me curiously clear It was the face of the Princess Ysolinde
I am to see her at nine oclock tonight in the house of the
Weiss Thor
Do not go I pray you he said it is certainly a trap
Go I must and will I replied for it may be to the good of our maiden I will risk all for that
I dare say said he so should I if I saw any advantage such as indeed I hoped for today But if I be not mistaken our Princess is deep in this plot
And why said I Helene never harmed her
Helene is your betrothed wife is she not he said He asked as if he did not know
Surely said I
Well he replied sententiously and so went out
CHAPTER XLVI
A WOMAN SCORNED
At nine I was at the door of the dark silent house by the Weiss Thor I sounded the knocker loudly and with the end of the reverberations I heard a foot come through the long passages The panel behind slid noiselessly in its grooves and I was conscious that a pair of eyes looked out at me
You are the servant of the strange Doctor said the voice of the servitor Sir Respectable
That I am as by this time you may have seen answered I for I was in no mood of mere politeness I was venturing my life in the house of mine enemy and at least it would be no harm if I put a bold face on the matter
He opened the door and again the same curious perfume was wafted down the passages—something that I had never felt either in the Wolfsberg nor yet even in the womens chambers of the Palace of Plassenburg
At the door of the little room in which she had first received me so long ago the Lady Ysolinde was waiting for me
She did not shut the door till Sir Respectable had betaken him down again to his own place Then quite frankly and undisguisedly she took my hand like one who had come to the end of makebelieve
I knew you today in your disguise she said it is an excellent one and might deceive all save a woman who loves Ah you start It might deceive the woman you love but not the woman that loves you I am not the Princess tonight I am Ysolinde the Woman I have no restraints no conventions no laws no religions tonight—save the law of a womans need and the religion of a womans passion
I stood before her scarce knowing what to say
Sit down she said it is a long story and yet I will not weary you
Hugo—so much I promise you
I made answer to her still standing up
Tonight my lady after what you know you will not be surprised that I can think of only one thing You know that today—
I know she said cutting me short as if she did not wish to listen to that which I might say next I know—I was present in the Judgment Hall
Then being Master Gerards daughter you knew also the sentence before it was pronounced I said bitterly being certain as that I lived that the paper from which the Duke Otho read had been penned at this very house of the Weiss Thor in which I now sat
Ysolinde reached a slender hand to me as was often her wont instead of speech
Be patient tonight she said I am trying hard to do that which is best—for myself first as a woman must in a womans affairs But as God sees me for others also You are a man but I pray you think with fairness of the fight I a lonely unloved woman have to fight
Will they carry out the terrible sentence said I eagerly For I judged that she must be in her fathers counsels
Be patient she said we will come to that presently
Ysolinde sat silent a while and when I would have spoken further she moved her hand a little impatiently aside in sign that I was not to interrupt Yet even this was not done in her old imperious manner but rather sadly and with a certain wistful gentleness which went to my heart
When she spoke again it was in the same even voice with which she had formerly told my fortune in that very room
That which I have to say to you is a thing strange—as it may seem unwomanly But then I did not ask God to make me a woman and certainly he did not make me as other women I have never had a true mate never won the love which God owes to every man and woman He brings into the world
Then I mot you not by any seeking of mine Next equally against my will I loved you Nay do not start tonight It is as well to put the matter plainly
You did not love me said I you were but kind to me the unworthy son of the Executioner of Thorn Out of your good heart you did it
I acknowledge that I spoke like a paltering knave but in truth knew not what to say
I loved you—yes and I love you she said serenely as though my words had been the twittering of a bird on the roof And I am not ashamed There was indeed no reason for my folly—no beauty no desirableness in you But—I loved you Pass Let it be We will begin from there You loved or thought you loved a maid—your Little Playmate Pshaw you loved her not Or not as I count love I was proud accustomed to command and besides a Princes wife The last doubtless should have held me apart Yet my Princessdom was but as straw bands cast into the fire to bind the flame As for you Hugo Gottfried you were in love with your success your future and most of all with your confident insolently dullard self
She smiled bitterly and because the thing she spoke was partly true I had still nothing to answer her
Hugo Gottfried she said try to remember if when we rode to Plassenburg in the pleasant weather of that old spring you loved this girl whom now you love
Aye said I loved her then even as I love her now
You lie she answered calmly not like one in anger but as one who makes a necessary correction you loved her not You were ready to love me—glad too that I should love you And since you knew not then of my rank it was not done for the sake of any advancement in Plassenburg
I felt again the great disadvantage I was under in speaking to the Lady Ysolinde I never had a word to say but she could put three to it My best speeches sounded empty selfish vain beside hers And so was it ever By deeds alone could I vanquish her and perhaps by a certain dogged masculine persistence
Princess I said to her you have asked me to meet you here It is not of the past nor yet of likings imaginings recriminations that I must speak My love my sister my playmate bound to me by a thousand ancient tendernesses lies in prison in this city of Thorn under sentence of a cruel death Will you help me to release her I think that with your father and therefore with you is the power to open her prison doors
And what is there then for me cried the Lady Ysolinde instantly bending her head forward her emerald eyes so great and clear that their shining seemed to cover all her face as a wave covers a rock at floodtide
What for me she repeated in the silence which followed
For you said I the gladness to have saved an innocent life
Tush she cried with a gesture of extravagant contempt You mistake I am no gooddeeds monger to give my bread and butter to the next beggarlass I tell you I am the woman who came first out of the womb of Motherearth I will yield only that which is snatched from me What is mine is more mine than anothers because I would suffer dare sin defy a world of men and women in order to keep it to possess it to have it all alone to myself
But I answered who am I that so great a lady should love me What am I to you Princess more than another
That I know not she answered swiftly Only God knows that Perhaps my curse my punishment My husband is a far better truer nobler man than you Hugo I know it but what of that when I love him not Love goes not by the rungs in a ladder stands not with the most noble on the highest step is not bestowed like the rewards in a childs school to the most deserving I love you Hugo Gottfried it is true But I wish a thousand times that I did not Nevertheless—I do Therefore make your reckoning with that and put aside puling shams and whimpering subterfuges
This set me all on edge and I asked a question
What then do you propose Where shall this comedy end
End she said—end Aye of course men must ever look to an end Women are content with a continuance That you should love me and keep on loving me that is all I want
But I began I love—
Ah do not say it she cried pitifully clasping her hands with a certain swift appeal in her voice—do not say it For Gods sake for the sake of innocent blood do not say that you love me not
She paused a moment and grew more pensive as she looked stilly and solemnly at me
I will tell you the end that I see only be patient and answer not before I have done I have seen a vision—thrice have I seen it Karl of Plassenburg my husband shall die I have seen the Black Cloak thrice envelop him It is the sign No man hath ever escaped that omen—aye and if I choose it shall wrap him about speedily More I have seen you sit on the throne of Plassenburg and of the Mark with a Princess by your side It is not only my fancy Even as in the old time I read your present fortune so for good or ill this thing also is coming to you
She never took her eyes from my face
Now listen well and be slow to speak The Princedom and the power shall both fall to me when my husband dies There are none other hands capable So also is it arranged in his will Here—she broke off suddenly as with a gesture of infinite surrender she thrust out her white hands towards me—here is my kingdom and me Take us both for we are yours—yours—yours
I took her hands gently in mine and kissed them
Lady Lady Ysolinde I said you honor me you overwhelm me I know not what to say But think The Prince is well full of health and the hope of years This thought of yours is but a vision a delusion—how can we speak of the thing that is not
I wait your answer she said leaving her hands still in mine but now as it were on sufferance Then indeed I was torn between the love that I had in my heart for my dear and the need of pleasing the Lady Ysolinde—between the truth and my desire to save Helene Almost it was in my heart to declare that I loved the Lady Ysolinde and to promise that I should do all she asked But though when need hath been I have lied back and forth in my time and thought no shame something stuck in my throat now and I felt that if I denied my love who lay prisonbound that night I should never come within the mercy of God but be forever alien and outcast from any commonwealth of honorable men
I cannot Lady Ysolinde I answered at last The love of the maid hath so grown into my heart that I cannot root it out at a word It is here and it fills all my life
Again she interrupted me
See she said speaking quickly and eagerly they tell me this your Helene is an angel of mercy to the sick If she is spared she will be content to give her life to works of good intent among the poor This cannot be life and death to her as it is to me Her love is not as the love of a woman like Ysolinde It is not for any one man to possess in monopoly Though you may deceive yourself and think that it will be fixed and centred on you But she will never love you as I love you See I would knee to you pray to you on my knees make myself a suppliant—I Ysolinde that am a princess With you Hugo I have no pride no shame I would take your love by violence as a strong man surpriseth and taketh the heart of a maid
She was now all trembling and distract her lips red her eyes bright her hands clasped and trembling as they were strained palm to palm
Lady Ysolinde I would that this were not so I began
A new quick spasm passed over her face I think it came across her that my heart was wavering God knows that I Hugo Gottfried am not worth all this
Nay she said with a kind of joy in her voice and in her eyes that matters not Ysolinde of Plassenburg is as a child that must have its toy or die Worthiness has no more to do with love than creeds and dogmas Love me—Hugo—love me even a little Put me not away I will be so true so willing I will run your errands wait on you stand behind you in battle in council lead you to fame and great glory For you Hugo I will watch the faces of others detect your enemies unite your wellwishers mark the failing favor of your friends What heart so strong what eye so keen as mine—for the greater the love the sharper the eye to mark prevent countermine And this maid so cold and icy so full of good works and the abounding fame of saintliness let her live for the healing of the people for the love of God and man both and it liketh her She shall be abbess of our greatest convent She shall indeed be the Saint Helena of the North Even now I will save her from death and give her refuge I promise it I have the power in my hands Only do you Hugo Gottfried give me your love your life yourself
She was standing before me now and had her arms about my neck I felt them quiver upon my shoulders Her eyes looked directly up into mine and whether they were the eyes of an angel or of a tempting fiend I could not tell Very lovely at any rate they were and might have tempted even Saint Anthony to sin
Ysolinde I said at last it is small wonder that I am strongly moved you have offered me great things tonight I feel my heart very humble and unworthy I deserve not your love I am but a man a soldier dull and slow Were it not for one man and one woman it should be as you say But Karl of Plassenburg is my good master my loyal friend Helene is my true love I beseech you put this thought from you dear lady and be once more my true Princess I your liege subject—faithful full of reverence and devotion till life shall end
As I spoke she drew herself away from me My hand had unconsciously rested on her hair for at first she had leaned her head towards me When I had finished she took my hand by the wrist and gripped it as if she would choke a snake ere she dropped it at armslength I knew that our interview was at an end
Go she commanded pointing to the door One day you shall know how precious is the love you have so lightly cast aside In a dark dread hour you Hugo Gottfried shall sue as a suppliant And I shall deny you There shall come a day when you shall abase yourself—even as you have seen Ysolinde the Princess abase herself to Hugo the son of the Red Axe of the Wolf mark Go I tell you Go—ere I slay you with my knife
And she flashed a keen doubleedged blade from some recess of her silken serpentine dress
My lady hear me I pleaded Out of the depths of my heart I protest to you—
Bah she cried with a sudden uprising of tigerish fierceness in her eyes quick and chill as the glitter of her steel Go I tell you ere I be tempted to strike Your heart Why man there is nothing in your heart but empty words out of monks copybooks and proverbs dry and rotten as last years leaves Ye have seen me abased By the lords of hell I will abase you Executioners son Aye and you yourself Hugo Gottfried shall work out in flowing blood and bitter tears the doom of the pale trembling girl for whom you have rejected and despised Ysolinde Princess of Plassenburg
CHAPTER XLVII
THE RED AXE DIES STANDING UP
How I stumbled down the stairs and found myself outside the house in the Weiss Thor I do not know Whether the servitor Sir Respectable showed me out or not has quite passed from me I only remember that I came upon myself waiting outside the gate of Bishop Peters palace ringing at a bell which sounded ghostly enough tinkling like a cracked kettle behind the door
The lattice clicked and a face peeped out
Get hence nightraker cried a voice Wherefore do you come here so untimeously profaning the holy quiet of our minsterclose
There was no very holy calm in the kitchen tother night Peter Swinehead said I my wits coming mechanically back to me at the familiar sound
Ha Sir Blackamoor tis you surely your chafts have grown strangely white or else are my eyes serving me foully in the torchlight
Instinctively I covered as much of my face as I could with my cloaks cape for indeed I had washed it ere I went forth to see the Lady Ysolinde
Tis that you have slipped too much of the Rhenish down thy gullet old comrade said I slapping Peter on the back and getting before him so that he might remark nothing more
At that being well pleased with my calling him comrade he lighted me cordially to my chamber and there left me to the sleepless meditation of the night
The next day was one of great quietness in the city of Thorn An uneasy sultry pause of silence brooded over the lower town Mens heads showed a moment at door and window looked furtively up and down the street and then vanished again within Plots were being hatched and plans laid in Thorn yet while there was the lowering silence in the city up aloft the Wolfsberg hummed gayly like a hive Once I went up that way to see if I could win any news of my father But this day the door into the Red Tower stood closed nor would any within open for all my knocking So perforce I had to return unsatisfied Several times I went to the Weiss Thor to spy the horizon round for the troops of Plassenburg But only the gray plain of the Mark stretched itself out so far as the eye could penetrate—hardly a reeking chimney to be seen or any token of the pleasant rustic life of man such as in my youth I remembered to have looked down upon from the Red Tower Beneath me the city of Thorn lay grimly quiescent like a beast of prey which has eaten all its neighbors and must now die of starvation because there are no more to devour
The day passed on feet that crept like those of a tortoise as the sullen minutes dragged by leadenclogged and tardy But the evening came at last And with it knocking at the door of the Bishops quadrangle and interrupting my long talk with Dessauer lo a messenger hotfoot from the castle
To the learned Doctor and his servant Gottfried Gottfried being in deaths utmost extremities sends greeting and desires greatly to have speech with them
Thus ran my fathers message in that testing hour where he had seen so many Yet I was but little surprised There was no wonder in the fact save the wonder that it should all seem so natural Dessauer rose quickly
I will go with you he said it will be safer For at least I can keep the door while you speak with your father
So without further word we followed the messenger up the long narrow woodengabled street and heard the folk muttering gloomily in the darkness within or talking softly in the dull russet glow of their hearthfires For there were but few lighted candles in Thorn that night And I wondered how near or how far from us tho men of Plassenburg might be encamping and thrilled to think that at any moment a spy might ride in to warn Duke Otho of the spy within his city or the near approach of his foe
But so far all was quiet at the Red Tower The wicketgate in the angle of the wall was open and we passed in without difficulty As I mounted the stairs I heard the key turn behind us Obviously therefore we were expected The gate of the Red Tower had been left open for our entrance and so soon as the birds were in the snare it was shut and the silly goslings trapped
Nevertheless we climbed up and up the dark stairs till we came to the door of my fathers garret I pushed it open without knocking and entered
The most learned the Doctor Schmidt I announced lest there should be some stranger in the room And indeed my precaution was necessary enough For from my fathers bedhead disengaging himself reluctantly like a disturbed vulture napping up from the side of a dying steer Friar Laurence rose out of the darkness and folding his robe about him stalked to the door without a word or nod to either of us I stood holding the edge of it till I had watched him well down the stairs Then Dessauer relieved me at the stairhead as I went to approach my father
I saw a change in him very startling indeed to see In the uttermost extremity he was indeed as he had written A ghastly pallor overspread his face his eyes were wild his breathing came both quick and hard The fire cast nickering lights over his face and on the outlines of his lank figure under the scarlet mantle which had been cast over him One corner of it was cast aside as if for air or coolness and I could see a thing which gave me a cold chill in the marrow of my spine
My father still wore the dress which he only donned when some poor soul was about to die and pay the forfeit
At first Gottfried took no notice of me whatever but lay looking at the ceiling his lips muttering something steadily though what the words were I could not hear
Father I said at last bending over him gently I have come to see you
He turned to me as if suddenly and regretfully summoned back from very far away It was a movement I had seen in many dying men He looked at me a strange luminous comprehension growing up gradually in his eyes
Hugo he said you have come home at last The Little Playmate has come home too We three will make a merry party in the old Red Tower We have not been all together for so long Lord Christ but I have been a man much alone Hugo why did you leave me so long Ah well I do not blame you my son You have been pushing your fortunes doubtless and you have—so they tell me—become a great man in Plassenburg And the little maid is a lady of honor and very fair to see But now you two have come to the old garret like birds homing to the nest
Yes father I said to him we have both come home to you the Little
Playmate and I And now you will give us your blessing
The Little Playmate—say rather the Little Princess he cried cheerfully as with the air of one who brings good tidings he sat up in bed Then he pointed to a chair on which a pillow had carelessly been flung Little Maid he said looking at the cushion as if it had been Helene I am glad you have come back to be wedded to my boy That was like you I ever wished it indeed But I never expected to see my children thus happy Yet I always knew you and Hugo were made for each other You are at your sewing little maid Well tis natural I mind me when my own love sat making dainties of just such delicate and wreathed whiteness
He paused and then his countenance suddenly changing he looked fearfully and fixedly at the chair
But little maid my own Helene he cried in a loud gasping alarmed tone what is this best beloved Why you are sewing at a shroud Surely such funeraltrappings become not bridals A shroud—and there is blood upon it Put it down—put it down I pray you
The red flames on the fire crackled suddenly up about the back log and cast dancing shadows on his face
Lie down and rest dear father I said softly to him the Little
Playmate is not here—I Hugo your son am alone beside you
Hugo he said instantly appeased and passing a lean arm about me my good son my brave boy You will be kind to the little Princess She loves you There is no man so beloved as you in all the city of Thorn Many would have loved her besides Otho Ah but I threw him out of the window there I threw a Grand Duke out of a window Ha ha it was the bravest jest
He laughed a little at intervals as at a tale that will bear infinite repetition I Gottfried Gottfried threw a proximate reigning Prince out of the window How Casimir laughed The thing pleased him well And the little maid do you remember her Hugo How she would teach me—me the Red Axe of Thorn—how to dance that first night and how totteringly she carried the Red Axe The little one took heart that night She will have a happy future I know so blessed far away from this dark and damned place of the Wolfsberg I am glad she is not here to see me die That is a sight for men not for fair young loving women
Hush my father I said touching his dank brow you are not going to die You will yet live to be strong and well a man among men
For one tells these things to dying men And they smile and pass us by amused at our childish ignorance as you and I shall one day smile upon those others And even thus did my father
Nay Hugo I am sped he answered This night ends all The door I have oped for so many is opening from within for me Gods mercy be on a sinful man Ere the light of tomorrows dawn the Dukes Justicer must face the Tribunal that has no assessor and no court of appeal
He threw back the cloak which served him as a mantle and crying Give me your hand Hugo Gottfried Gottfried staggered to his feet
I will die standing up he said bending his brows and gazing about him uncertainly He pointed to the walls of the garret The fire was flickering low but still making the place light enough to see easily There beside the bed was the Red Axe with its shining edge undimmed leaning against the block There across it was the crimson mask which was never more to bind his eyes as he did the office of final dread
Do you see them son Hugo he cried leaning heavily on my shoulder and pointing with his finger they are gibbering at me mowing processioning by and pointing mockingly at me Do you hear them laughing That horrid one there with his head under his arm Laughing as if there were no God But I am not afraid Mercy of Jesu Hath God Himself no Justicer that He should punish me because I have fulfilled my charge I have all my life been merciful ever giving the blow of mercy first and the drop of stupefaction before the Extreme Question Hence fiends Shapes inhuman torment me not For in my day I was merciful to you and never struck twice I will die standing up The devil shall not fright me—no nor all his angels
God Himself shall not fright me I appeal to His judgment throne Get hence false accusing spirits I stand at Caesars judgmentseat Give me the axe boy—I will cut down the evil I will spare the good Here is the Red Axe my son Take it Strike with it strong and well Strike strike and spare not
Totteringly he handed me the axe and clasping his hands he stood looking up
God God he cried in a great voice I see my Judge face to face I am not afraid But I will die standing up
And in this manner even as I tell it died Gottfried Gottfried a strong man standing up and not afraid And these arms received him as being dead he fell headlong
CHAPTER XLVIII
HUGO GOTTFRIED RED AXE OF THE WOLFMARK
Then cried Dessauer from the door to me as I stood thus holding my father in my arms
Haste you lad there are men coming across the yard with torches They are gathering in groups about the door Now they are on the stairs—many soldiers—and with weapons in their hands
And scarcely had he spoken when the sound of the tramping of men in haste came to us up the turret and the door of the garret was thrust violently open A turmoil of menatarms burst in on us I stood still holding Gottfried Gottfried his head on my shoulder though I knew that he was dead But as one came forward with a paper in his hand I stooped and laid my father gently on his bed
An officer of the Black Hussars fantastically dressed in their churchyard array with skull and crossbones slashed in silver across his breast accosted me
Hugo Gottfried son of Gottfried Gottfried in the name of the Duke Otho and the State of the Wolfmark I arrest you Also you Leopold von Dessauer Chancellor of the Princedom of Plassenburg You are accused as spies and enemies of the commonweal Yield yourselves therefore to me without condition
I am indeed Hugo Gottfried said I but you may see for yourselves the mission on which I have come hither And for this hour at least you might have spared your brutal entry Behold
I caught a torch from the nearest soldier and let its light shine on the dead face of the fourteenth Hereditary Justicer of the Wolfmark
The men started back The terrible countenance of the dead affected them even more than the grim figure of the Red Axe as they had seen him stalking from the Hall of Justice to the block
Ah said the officer not wholly irreverently Gottfried Gottfried has gone now to the dark place to which he hath sent so many But after all he is dead—and I heard a monkish clerk prate the other day Let the dead bury their dead I have my orders and the Duke Otho waits Therefore I bid you follow me Hugo Gottfried and Leopold von Dessauer
So leaving the body of my father lying on the bed in his garret we were constrained to follow our captors down the stairs Across the courtyard we were hurried and through the Hall of Justice into the private apartments of the Duke
Otho von Reuss now Duke of the Wolfmark was standing erect by the great chair in which as my father had so often described him to me Casimir had sat so many days with his head sunk on his breast The new Duke stood up proudly gazing at us with frowning brows and lowering narrowed eyes This was mighty fine but I could not help thinking of the poor appearance he had made on the hill above the Hirschgasse as he slunk off when he saw an evil cause going desperately against him
So he said gentlemen both I have caught you spying in my land You know what those have to expect who are caught in hostile territory in disguise
I thought it was as well to take the high hand at once especially since
I saw that humility would avail us nothing at any rate
Before now I have seen Otho von Reuss in hostile territory and a right cowed traitor he looked said I boldly
The Duke smiled upon me like a man that has a complete retort on his tongue but who is content for the present to reserve it
My friend he said suavely I will reply to you presently I have a word to speak to your betters
He turned him about to Dessauer
And what Lord High Chancellor of Plassenburg think you of this masquerading Dignified is it not And your wondrous speech in court that was to have done such great things Will you be pleased to abide with us here in the Wolfsberg Or must you forsake us to pleasure the Emperor who poor man cannot sleep of nights in his bed at Ratisbon till the eloquent Doctor is come to cheer him with the fullflowing river of speech
Duke Otho said Dessauer my life is indeed in your hands I hold it forfeit A few years less or more are but little to Leopold von Dessauer now But there is one who will most bloodily avenge us if a hair of our heads falls to the ground
Who said Otho sneeringly Karl Millers Son I suppose Ah fool that you are I hold your poor Karl in the palm of my hand
It is like enough said Dessauer with a quick look the look of a keen fencer when he sees an advantage I have often enough seen the palm of your hand approach Karl Millers Sons treasury when I kept the moneys
I saw the face of Otho twitch angrily But he had evidently made up his mind to command his temper sure of having that up his sleeve which would sufficiently answer all taunts
You mistake me he said with more subtlety than I had expected from the brute I had not meant to prove ungrateful I am but newly come to my own here in the Wolfmark I have learned from your host Bishop Peter how precious a thing forgiveness is And now I am resolved to practise it There is a time to love and a time to hate a time to war and a time to be at peace This is the last news I had from the holy clerk whose revenues I pay So lay it to heart as I have done
Glad am I said Dessauer courteously as if he had been turning a phrase on the terrace at Plassenburg—glad am I that in your hour you are to be mindful of old friends for they are like old wine which grows better and mellower with the years
It is indeed well said Otho von Reuss ironically I have known the Chancellor Dessauer many years and he grows more honorable and more wise with each decade
But now tis with this young man that I would speak he said changing his tone He at least is mine own servant and so I have other words for him Hugo Gottfried you remember that you insulted me striking me on the face with a glove because I offered certain civilities to a maid of honor to the Princess of Plassenburg You wounded me in the arm Your father of whose death I have heard but now cast me forth like a curdog from a chamber window Between you ye have shamed me and would shame me worse—for the sake of the murderess of mine uncle Duke Casimir
Well do you know that the Lady Helene is innocent of that crime or any other said I she is purer than your eyes can look upon or your heart conceive Yet solely because she knows you for the foul thing you are Helene lies condemned in your dungeons tonight I ask you to grant me but one boon—that I may die with her
Nay my friend gentlest squire of dames defender of the oppressed I have better things in store for you and your maid than that
He paused and looked a long while at me as it seemed chewing the cud of revenge upon that which he had to say to me
At last he came a step nearer that he might look into my eyes
Hugo Gottfried he said slowly son of Gottfried Gottfried you are my servant now I said that I would forgive you all for the sake of old times in exile together And now you and I are both again in our own land They that kept us out of our offices are dead and we standing in their places There is a maid down there in the Wolfsberg dungeons who tomorrow must meet her fate
He paused a moment and laid his hand on my shoulder impressively
And you Hugo Gottfried Hereditary Justicer of the Dukedom Red Axe of the Wolfmark art the man who must carry out that doom
Again he paused—and the world seemed instantly to dissolve into whirling vapor at his words I had never once thought of such a conclusion Yet I was indubitably by my fathers death Hereditary Executioner of the Wolfmark Red Axe of Thorn I was and by a terrible chance I had returned in time to be installed in mine office even as the Lady Ysolinde had foretold
But a strong thought swelled triumphant in my heart
Well said I looking the sneering tormentor in the face if so be that I am your Hereditary Justicer it will be long ere a sentence so monstrous shall be carried out by me I will not slay the innocent nor pour out the blood of a virgin saint for a million deaths You can torture me with all your hellish engines and you will find that a Gottfried has learned how to suffer as well as how to make others suffer in fourteen generations As God strengthens me I will never carry out your sentence—do with me what you will
Nobly said Justicer of the Mark said Otho I had thought of that But in case you should refuse to do your lawful office it may be well for you to remember that I have other instruments that mayhap will please you less
He threw open a door suddenly and we looked into an underground hall where a dozen men were carousing—Duke Casimirs Hussars of Death blackbrowed evilfaced slackjowled villains every man of them cruel and sensual A blast of ribald oaths came sulphurously up as if the mouth of hell had been opened
Listen said Otho with his hand on my shoulder
And a jest struck to our ears concerning the prisoner the Little Playmate—a jest which sticks in my memory to this day And even yet I hope to cleave the jester through the brain meet him when I may
The Duke shut the door and turned to me again His eyes narrowed to a thin line which glittered with hate and triumph
If you Hugo Gottfried Hereditary Executioner of the Mark refuse to do your duty at the time appointed upon the prisoner condemned I Duke Otho solemnly declare that I will cast your fair and tender lamb into that den of wolves down there to work their wills upon Hark to them They will have no misgivings—no qualms no noble renunciations
Then he turned to me airily and confidently
Well my good Justicer will you carry out the just and merciful sentence of the law and baptize your Red Axe with the blood of her for whose sake you chose to insult and wound a Duke of the Mark
I turned away sick at heart
Give me time Gods mercy—give me time I cried At least let me see Helene I will give you my answer tonight But first of all let me see my beloved
I am forgiving and most merciful he said smiling till his teeth showed Observe I do not even cast you into prison to make sure of you Go your ways he sat down and wrote rapidly here is a pass which will enable you to visit the prisoner At midnight I shall expect you to tell me that tomorrow you will fulfil your office
He handed me the paper and motioned us away
We are free to go said I wonderingly
Surely he replied smiling Are you not both my friends and can Otho von Reuss be forgetful of old times Come and go at your pleasure Be sure to be here to give me your answer at midnight tonight—or—
He pointed with his hand to the door he had again opened and with the fingers of his other hand beat time to the blasphemous chorus which came belching up from below
CHAPTER XLIX
THE SERPENTS STRIFE
Dazed and deathstricken by the horror of the choice which lay before me I hastened down the street hardly waiting for Dessauer who toiled vainly after me I knew not what to do nor where to turn I could neither think nor speak But it chanced that my steps brought me to the house of the Weiss Thor Almost without any will of mine own I found myself raising the knocker of the house of Master Gerard von Sturm Sir Respectable instantly appeared I asked of him if the Lady Ysolinde would see me—giving my name plainly For since Duke Otho knew me there was no need of concealment any more
The Lady Ysolinde would receive me
I followed my conductor but not this time to the room in which I had seen her on the occasion of my last visit
It was in her fathers chamber that I met the Princess The room was as I had first seen it Only there was no ascetic old man with keen deepset eyes and receding forehead to rear his head back from the table as though he would presently strike across it like a serpent from its coil
For the moment the room was empty but ere I had time to look around the curtains moved and the Lady Ysolinde appeared Without entering she set a hand on the doorpost and stood poised against the heavy curtain waiting for me to speak
Her face was pale her thin nostrils dilated Anger and scorn sat white and deadly on every feature
So she said intensely as I did not speak you have come back already most noble Hereditary Justicer of the Mark Even as I told you—so it is You come to ask mercy from the woman you despised from the woman whose love you refused You would beg her to spare her enemy Ere you go I shall see you on your knees ah that will be sweet I have been on my knees—can I believe it Nay I shall not forget it I Ysolinde of Plassenburg have pled in vain to you—to you
And the accent of chill hatred and malice turned me to stone
My lady said I well do you know that I would never ask aught for my own life though the Red Axe itself were at my neck But it is for the maid I love for the little child I carried home out of the arms of the man condemned I ask for her life who never wronged you or any in all this world You have heard that task which the Duke hath laid on me because it is my misfortune to be my fathers son—I must take away my loves sweet life or if I do not— I could proceed no further for the horror which rose in my heart
I know it she said calmly my father hath told me all
Then cried I if the power lie with you as you hope for mercy to your own soul be merciful Save the maiden Helene from the death of shame and me from becoming her murderer
Ah she answered with delicatest meditative inflection this is indeed sweet The mighty is fallen indeed The proud one is suppliant now The knee is bent that would not bend Hearken you and your puling babe to the Princess Ysolinde Were your lives in that glass to save or to destroy—her life and your suffering—to make or to break I would fling them to destruction even as I cast this cup into the darkness
And as she spoke the wreathed beaker of Venice glass sped out of the window and crashed on the pavement without
Thus would I end your lives she said for the shame that you two put upon me in the day of my weakness
Lady I cried eagerly you do yourself a wrong Your heart is better than your word Do this deed of mercy I beseech you if so be you can And my life is yours forever
Your life is mine you say cried she aye and that means what The wind that cries about the house Your life is mine—it is a lie Your life and love both are that chits for whom you have despised—rejected—ME
And I grant that at that moment she looked noble enough in her anger as she stood discharging her words at me with hissing directness like bolts shot twanging from the steel crossbow
And lest you should think that I have not the power to save you I will tell you this—when you shall see the neck bared for the blade of the Red Axe the fine tresses you love that your eyes look upon with desire all ruthlessly cut away by the shears of your assistants—ah I know you will remember then that I Ysolinde whom you refused and slighted had the power in her hand to deliver you both with a word according to the immaculate laws of the Wolfmark Aye and more—power to raise you both to a pinnacle of bliss such as you can hardly conceive In that hour when you see me look down upon your anguish you will know that I can speak the word You will watch my lips till the axe falls and under your hand the young life ebbs red But the lips of Ysolinde will be silent
Such knowledge is an easy boast Lady Ysolinde I answered thinking to taunt her that she might reveal whether indeed she had the power she claimed
There she said pointing to the great collection of blackbound books and papers about the walls see the secret is there—the secret for the lack of which you shall strike your beloved to the death to save her from the unnamable shame I know it my father has revealed it to me I have seen the parchment in these hands But—you shall never hear it she never profit by it and my vengeance shall be sweet—so sweet
And she laughed with a strange crackling laugh that it was a pain to hear
God forgive you Lady Ysolinde said I if this be so For if there be a God you must burn in Great Hell for this deed you are about to do Having had no mercy on the innocent how shall you ask God to have mercy on you
I will not ask Him she cried Instead of puling for mercy I will have had my revenge And after that come earth heaven or hell—I shall not care All will then be the same to Ysolinde
I thought I would try her yet once more
The Little Playmate I said the maid whom I have ever loved though I am not worthy to touch her is no chance child no daughter of the Red Axe of Thorn Leopold von Dessauer hath found and sent to Karl the Prince the full proofs that Helene is the daughter of the last and rightful Prince and therefore in her own right Princess of Plassenburg
You lie fool she cried—you lie You think to frighten me And even if it were true—thrice four times fool to tell me For shall not I the Princess of Plassenburg the wife of the reigning Prince stand for my own name and dignity I would not help you now though a thousand fair heads wellbeloved the desire of men the envy of women were to be rolled in the dust
Then farewell Princess I cried you are wronging to the death of deaths two that never did you wrong who loved each other with the love of man and woman before ever you crossed their paths and who since then have only sought your good You wrong God also and you lose your soul divorcing it from the mercy of the Saviour of men For be very sure that with that measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again
She did not answer but stood with her hand still against the doorpost her head raised and her lips curling scornfully looking after me as I retired with a smiling and malicious pleasure
So without further speech I went out from the presence of the Lady
Ysolinde And thus she had the first part of her revenge
CHAPTER L
THE DUNGEON OF THE WOLFSBERG
And now I must see the Little Playmate Judge ye whether or no my heart was torn in twain as I went up the long High Street of Thorn back to the Wolfsberg alone For I had compelled Dessauer to return to Bishop Peters in order to avert popular suspicion since our real names and errands were not yet known there
And when I parted from him the old man was so worn out that I looked momently for him to drop on the rough causeway stones of the street
Many pictures of my youth passed before me as I mounted towards the castle that night I remembered the ride of the wild horsemen returning from the raid such long years agone the old man who carried the babe and the Red Axe himself who now lay dead in the Tower—my father Casimirs Justicer clad now as then in crimson from head to heel
Ere long I arrived at the Wolfsberg and as I came near the Red Tower I saw that the gate was open A little crowd of men with swords and partisans was issuing tumultuously from it Then came six carrying a coffin I stood aside to let them pass And not till the last one brushed me did I ask what was their business abroad with a dead man at such a time of the night
Tis one that had wrought much fear in his time answered the soldier for I had lighted on a sententious fellow—one that made many swift ends and now has come to one himself
You mean Gottfried Gottfried the Dukes Justicer said I speaking like one in a dream
Aye he replied The Duke Otho is mightily afraid of the plague and will not have a dead body overnight in his castle Since they condemned the Saint Helena God wot the Duke is a fearstricken man He sleeps with half a dozen black riders at the back of his door as though that made him any safer if a handful of minted gold were dealt out among the rascals But when was a Prince ever wise
My fathers funeral thought I Well tonight it is indeed let the dead bury their dead Helene is yet alive
Surely I am not wanting in feeling yet my heart was strangely chill and cold Nevertheless I turned and followed the procession a little way towards the walls But even as I went lo the bell of the Wolfsberg slowly and brazenly clanged ten I stopped I had but two hours in which to visit the Little Playmate and tell her all
Goodbye father said I standing with my hat off so you would wish me to do—you who met your God standing up—you who did an ill business greatly because it was yours and you were born to it Teach me my father to be worthy of you in this strait to the like of which surely never was man brought before
The menatarms clattered roughly down the street shifting their burden as if it had been so much kindlingwood and quarrelling as to their turns I heard their jests coming clear up the narrow street from far away
I stood still as they approached a corner which they must turn
I waved my hand to the coffin
Fare you well true father tonight and tomorrow may God help me also like you to meet my fate standing up
And the curve of the long street hid the ribald procession My father was gone I had made choice The dead was burying his dead
I went on towards the prison of the Wolfsberg so it was nominated by a sort of grim superiority in that place which was all a prison—the castle which had lorded it so long over the red clustered roofs and stepped gables of Thorn solely because it meant prisonment and death to the rebel or the refuser of the Dukes exactions
Often had I seen the straggling procession of prisoners rise head following head up from that weary staircase my father standing by as they came up from the cells counting his victims silently like a shepherd who tells his flock as they pass through a gap in the sheepfold
For me alas there was but one in that dread fold tonight And she my one ewe lamb who ought to have lain in my bosom
I clamored long at the gate ere I could make the drowsy jailer hear As the minutes slipped away I grew more and more wild with fear and anger At midnight I must face the Duke and it was after ten—how long I knew not but I feared every moment that I might hear the brazen clang as the hammer struck eleven
For time seemed to make no impression on me at all that night
At last the man came shuffling grumbling and cursing from his trucklebed
What twicecondemned drunken roysterer may you be that hath mistaken the prison of Duke Otho for a trullhouse
An order from the Duke—to see a prisoner Come tomorrow then and meanwhile depart to Gehenna Must a man be forever at the beck and call of every sleepless sot Urgent—is the Dukes mandate Shove it through the lattice then that a lantern may flash upon it
I pushed under the door a broad piece of gold which proved more to the purpose than much speech
The door was opened and I showed my pass That and the gold together worked wonders
The jailer rattled his keys donned a hood and woollen wrapper which he took down from a nail and went coughing before me down the chill draughty passages I could hear the prisoners leaping from their couches within as the light of his cresset filtered beneath their doors What hopes and fears stirred them A summons it might be for some one in that dread warren to come up for a last look at the stars a walk to the headingplace through the soft velvetdark night—then the block the lightning flash of bright steel a drench of something sweet and strong like wine upon the lips and—silence rest oblivion
But we passed the prison doors one by one and the jailer of the
Wolfsberg went coughing and rasping by to another part of the prison
Tis an ill place for chills he grumbled I have never been free of them since first I came to this place no—nor my wife neither She has been dead these ten years praises to the pyx Ah would you The torch threatened to go out so he held it downward in his hand till the pitch melted and caught again and meanwhile we stood blinded in the smoke and glare which the strong draught forced in our faces
At last came the door a low ironspiked grating like any other of the hundred we had passed
Keymetal is not often weared on this cell the man chuckled Those stay not long above ground that bide here
The door swung back on its creaking hinges I slipped the fellow another gold piece
I must come in with you he said you might do the wench an ill turn which would cheat the Duke of his show and me of my head tomorrow
I slipped him another piece of gold and then three together
Risk it man I said Have I not the Dukes own pass I will do her no harm
Well he said pray remember I am a man with five poor motherless children My wife died of falling down a flight of steps ten years agone—praise the Lord for His mercies For He is ever mindful of us the sinful children of men
The sound of his voice died away as the door closed I turned and was alone with the Beloved The jailer had stuck the cresset in its niche behind the door and its glow filled the little cell
At first I could not see the Little Playmate—only a rough pallet bed and something white at the head of it But as the cresset burned up more clearly and my eyes became accustomed to the bleared and streaky light I saw Helene my love kneeling at her beds head
I stood still and waited Was she asleep Was she—was she dead I almost hoped that she might be Then the Dukes vengeance would be balked indeed
Helene I said softly as one speaks to the dying—Helene dear dear Helene
Slowly she looked up Her face dawned on me as one day the face of the blessed angel will shine when he calls me out of purgatory
My love—my love she said sweetly like the first note of a hymn when the choir breathes the sweet music rather than sings it
Ah Lord of Innocence that pure loving face the purple deepness in the eyes the flush on the cheek as on that of a little child asleep the soft curled hair which crisped in the hollow of the neck—the throat itself—Eternal God that I should be alive to think of the horror
But time was passing swiftly The minutes were slipping by like men running for their lives
I raised Helene from her knees and she nestled her head on my shoulder
You have come to me I knew you would come I saw you on the day—the day when they condemned me to die
I broke into an angry desperate protesting cry so that I heard my own voice ring strangely through that dumb horrible place And it was I who sobbed in her arms with my head on her shoulder
Hush dear love she said clasping her arms caressingly about my head do not fear for me God will keep your little one God has told me that He will bring me bravely through Hush thee then do not so Hugo great playmate This I cannot bear Help me to be good It will not be long nor painful Do not weep for your little girl I think somehow it is for our love that I suffer and that will make it sweet
But still I sobbed like a child For how—how could I tell her
Presently the power returned slowly to me seeing her smiling so bravely up at me and rising on tiptoe to kiss my wet face
Then I told her all—in what words I hardly remember now
Love of mine I said I have but an hour or less to speak with you—and ah such terrible things such inconceivable things to say a horror to reveal such as never lover had to tell his love before
She drew one of my hands down and softly patted her breast with it
Fear not she said tell it Helene If it be true that love conquers all your little lass can bear it
I came said I with purpose to see you and by treachery it skills not to ask whose I was taken at my dead fathers bedside
Our father dead she cried going a step away to look at me but coming back again immediately then there are but you and me in the world Hugo
Aye said I but how can I tell you the rest My father died like a man and then they took me still holding the dead in my arms I was confronted with a fiend of hell in the likeness of Duke Otho
As I mentioned the Dukes name I could feel her shudder on my neck
And—But I cannot tell you what he has bidden me do under penalties too fearful to conceive or speak of
She put her hands up and gently timidly lovingly stroked my cheek
Dear love tell me Tell the Little Playmate she said as simply and sweetly as if she had been coaxing me to whisper to her some lightest childish secret of our plays together in the old Red Tower
I was silent for a space, and then spurred by the thought of the swiftly passing time the words were wrenched out of me
He says that I even I Hugo Gottfried my fathers son being now hereditary Red Axe of the Wolfmark must strike off the head of the one I love And if I will not then to the vilest of devils for vilest ends he will deliver her Ah God and he would do it too I saw the very flame of hells fire in his eyes
Then I that write saw a strange appearance on the face that looked up in mine As on a dark April day with a lowering sky you have seen the wind suddenly stir high in the heavens and the sun look through on the dripping green of the young trees and the gay bourgeoning of the flowers so looking on my loves face as she took in my words there awakened a kind of springtime joy Nay wherefore need I say a kind of joy only It was more It was great overleaping suddenspringing gladness Her eyes swam in lustrous beauty She smiled up at me as I had never seen her smile before
Oh I am glad Hugo—so glad I love you Hugo It will be hard for you my love And yet you will be brave and help me I had far rather die at your hand than live to be the bride of the greatest man in all the world Do that which will save me from shame do it gladly Hugo I fear it I saw it in the eyes of that man Otho von Reuss But only to die will be easy with you near by For I love you Hugo And I could just say a prayer and then—well and then—Do not cry Hugo—why then you would put me to sleep even as of old you did in the Red Tower
Nay nay dear love You must not do so This is not like my Hugo See I do not cry Do you remember when you took me up and laid me on your bed and our father came and looked You said I was your little wife So I was even though I denied it and now I can trust you my husband I have never been aught else but your little wife you see—not in my heart not in my heart of hearts
I have been proud with you Hugo—spoken unkind things For love you know is like that It hurts that which it would die for But now you will know once for all that I love you For death tests all And you will help me You will not cry then Hugo—not then when we walk you and I by the shores of the great sea You will only send me a little voyage by myself as you used to make me go to the well in the courtyard to teach me not to be frightened
And then you will be with me when I go You will watch me soon soon you will come after me Yes I am glad Hugo—so glad For—bend down your ear Hugo—I will confess Your little girl is such a coward She is afraid of the dark But it will not be dark—and it will not be long and it will be sure If my love stand by I shall not fear And after all it is but a little thing to do for my love when I love him so
What I said or what I did I know not But when I came a little to myself I found my head on my knees and Helene soothing and petting me as if I had been a child that had fallen down and hurt itself
I would have been a good wife to you Hugo I had thought it all out At first I would have been such an ignorant little housekeeper and you would have needed—oh such great patience with me But so willing so ready Hugo And how I should have listened for your foot Do you know I used to know it as it came across the courtyard at Plassenburg But I could not run and meet you then I could only slip behind the windowlattice and throw you a kiss But when I was indeed your wife how I should have flown to meet you
I think I cried out here for very agony
Hush Hugo she said Hush lad and listen There are stairs up aloft—I saw them in a dream I saw the angels and the redeemed ascending and descending as I prayed even when you came in to call me back I shall ask God to let me wait at the stairhead a little while for you—till it should be time for you to come my dear my dear You would not be very long and I could wait I would listen for your feet upon the stair dear love And when at last you came I should know your footfall yes I should know it ever so far away You would not be thinking of me just then And when you came to the top of the golden stairs there—there all so suddenly would be your little lass with her arms ready to welcome you
The door of the cell creaked open
The jailer appeared It is time he said curtly and stood waiting We stood up and I looked in her eyes She was smiling dryeyed but I—the water was running down my face
You will be brave Hugo for my sake Next to life with you—to die by your dear hand knowing that you love me is the best gift they could have given me They thought to hurt but instead they have made me so happy Till we meet again dear love—till we meet soon again
And she accompanied me to the door and kissed me as I went out standing smilingly on tiptoe to do it even as of old she was wont to do in the Red Tower
And the last thing I saw of her as the door closed upon the darkness of the cell was my love standing smiling up at me her eyes filled with the splendors of the love that casteth out fear
CHAPTER LI
THE NIGHT BEFORE THE MORN
Even as the dwarf on the ledge of the castle clocktower creaked his wires and clicked back his hammer to strike the midnight over the city even as the first solemn toll of the hour reverberated over the Wolfsberg I was at the door of the Dukes room waiting for admission
The Chamberlain in attendance looked within and seeing his master writing at a table he was going out again without speech
Has Hugo Gottfried returned said the Duke without looking up
Hugo Gottfried is here I replied stepping unannounced into the room
He looked up without smiling a keen inquiring glance glittering from between eyelids so close together that only the faintest line of the pupil showed black under the lashes
Well he questioned
I will do the thing you have asked answered I
And said no more
The Duke instantly became restless and getting up he began to pace about the floor like a caged beast
You have seen her he inquired stopping in front of me widenostrilled like a dog that points the game
I have seen her I replied as simply
Well he queried again with a keen eager note of anxiety in his voice
I am ready to do that which you have asked
He seemed to be on the point of saying something else But changing his mind he touched a little silver bell
The usher appeared
Show the Hereditary Justicer of the Mark to the Red Tower Give him all that is necessary to eat and drink Bid a manatarms attend him and set a sufficient guard at the door
So I went out from the presence and the Duke and the Dukes new Justicer bowed to each other gravely as I stood a moment on the threshold
Till we meet again Red Axe of the Wolfmark said Duke Otho
Till we meet again said I countering him like blade meeting blade
In little more than ten minutes after I had entered them I stood outside the Dukes apartments and with my escort I strode across to the empty Red Tower the home of so many memories My head was reeling and with the overpress of excitement I could not sleep So bribing the soldier my companion—who had been charged by the Duke not to lose sight of me—to accompany me I went up to my fathers garret
There I found all things as they had been when my father died
I set the windows wide cast the tumbled bedclothes out upon the dustheap beneath and bared the whole to the clean large wholesome breezes of the night I saw the fateful Red Axe lean as usual against the block and taking it up I found it keen as a razor It was spotless and the edge gave back the long low room and our one glimmering candle like a mirror It must have been my fathers last work in this world to polish it
Then I went down to my own room and cast myself down upon the bed in which on that night of the first homecoming of the Playmate I had laid my little wife
The soldier couched across the door rolled in his cloak and some chance wrapping he found about the house
God keep me from ever spending such a night again I thought it would never come to an end Out in the square in front of the Wolfsberg I could hear a knocking—dull continuous reverberant At first I thought it must be within my own head So I asked the soldier after a little if he heard it also I had some faint idea that it might be Prince Karl of Plassenburg with his army thundering at the gates of Thorn
Tis but the scaffold going up in the Grand Place without said the soldier carelessly I heard that the Duke had bidden them work all night by torchlight
I tried to sleep but the knocking continued aching across my brows till I thought I must go mad After a while I rose and went to the window from which I had so often looked down wistfully upon the play of the city children
Opposite me in the middle of the open space loomed a dark mass—a platform it seemed raised a dozen feet above the road—the black silhouette of a ladder set anglewise against it and that was all Lower plainer somehow deadlier than a gibbet with its flamboyant beam which one never sees empty without imagining the malefactor aswing upon it the headingblock did not frown it grinned—yes grinned like the eyeholes of a skeleton with a candle behind them while the torches glinted through the interstices of the framework as it was being nailed together
All night the dull duntdunting went on without And I sat awake by the window and awaited the dawning
The city seethed unslaked beneath When first I looked from my chamber window the square was free to all who chose to enter it But as the knocking went on the news spread through the town of Thorn
They are making the scaffold for our Saint Helena So the word ran
And within an hour the courts and alleys of Thorn belched forth thousands of angry men Pikes were carried like staves the steel head hidden up the long white burgess sleeve Workingmen of the trades prentices and market porters drew their swords and came forth with the bare blades in their hands leaving the scabbards at home to take care of themselves as was their custom
Wives cried from escalier windows to their men to come in by and lie decently down to be ready for their work in the morning And the men so addressed paid not the least heed as the manner of men is These things and many others I saw scarce knowing what I saw
And so with the hum of gathering crowds the hours passed slowly over But the temper of the people in the square grew more and more difficult and soon the guard had to be brought down from the castle The great gates beneath me were open and the Wolfsberg vomited the black menatarms to keep the Dukes peace
But this brought only the quicker strife Yells received them as soon as their steel partisans showed up in the square
Oppressors of the people ye come to your reward cried many voices
We will give you your last breakfast—of cold tempered steel cried another from the bowels of the crowd
To the Wolfsberg—ho Break in the doors We will have our Saint Helena forth of their cursed prisons
It was no sooner said than done Like a wave the people rushed in a black irregular mass at the front rank of the guard The soldiers of the Duke were swept away like chaff I could see one here and another there struggling in the vortices of the angry multitude
On to the Wolfsberg cried the crowd
But when the first of them reached the castle gates lo they stood open and there behind them stood file on file of matchlock men with their matches burning in their hands and their pieces trained upon their rests
Give them the fire cried a voice that of Duke Otho as the crowd halted a moment irresolute
The bright red flame started out here and there from muzzle and touchhole and then ran along the line in an irregular volley
A terrible cry of fear went up from the folk For though they had heard of the new ordnance and even seen one or two they had never realized the effect of a fusillade And when a man on either side sank down with a hollow sound like a beast in shamblethills and the man in front fell over on his face without a sound the multitude turned broke into groups fled and disappeared in a moment like a whirl of snow which the wind canters down the street in a veering flurry
Then the gates shut to and the deep lines of matchlock men were hidden from view After this the city thrilled and murmured worse than ever humming like an angry hive But the Wolfsberg kept its counsel Not yet had deliverance arrived for the captives within its cells
And the dread morning was coming fast
At last wearied out with crowding emotions I went and cast me down on my bed and instantly falling asleep I slept like a log till one touched me on the shoulder Looking up I saw the Duke Otho He had come to make sure of his vengeance—the vengeance which I knew well was not his but that of Ysolinde Princess of Plassenburg
CHAPTER LII
THE HEADSMANS RIGHT
Rise Justicer of the Wolfmark said Otho smiling mockingly upon me like a fiend
I started up and gazed about bewildered as the coming terrors of the morning broke upon me
Tis scarcely an hour to sunrise he continued and I warrant the noble Red Axe will desire to feel the edge of his tool and see that his assistants are in their places
The Duke paused as he went out of the door and looked at me
I can promise you a distinguished company at the first public performance of your honorable office he said with a polite gesture
So soon as he was gone I rose to my feet Across the broad black oaken stool whereon from boyhood it had been my habit to place my clothes neatly folded up I found a suit of new red cloth plain and rich with an inscription upon a strip of vellum laid across the breast bearing that these were a gift from the most Illustrious Duke Otho of the Wolfmark
Since after all my fate was my fate there was little use in straining at the gnat So I set to and did upon me the garmentry of shame They were made after the fashion of my fathers cap and hosen and shoon all of red with a cloak of red to cover all
Then I went to the Playmates room and before the niche where her little
PrieDieu had stood I kneeled me down and said such a prayer as at the
moment I could compass But little was needed For I think God in heaven
Himself was praying for us both that day
When I went forth into the square few there were who knew or remembered me but all knew my attire Then indeed it did my heart good to hear the great unanimous roar of execration which went up from the multitude as I came out The soldiers had their work cut out to push a way for me to the scaffold
Butcher him—tear him to pieces—wolfs cub that he is—he that was her fosterbrother to slay our Saint Helena
It made me proud to hear them And as they rushed furiously against the escort intent to kill me we swayed from side to side
Down with the Red Axe they shouted Down with the bloody house of
Gottfried and all that belong to it
And I felt inclined to cry Amen
Then when I had mounted the few steps which led to the platform on which stood the black headsmans block I gazed about me in wonder holding the Red Axe in my hand And to my disordered vision I saw the crowd swell and whirl about me on earth and in the air bubbling and tossing like a pot boiling furiously Then I bethought me of the work I had to do and prayed that I might be given strength to do it swiftly and featly that the suffering of my love might not be long Also I thought of the lecherous evil demons of the Black Riders and thereat was somewhat comforted At the worst I could give my love a better end than that
Then appeared my Lord Duke Otho An enclosure had been formed for him by the palace wall covered with a red hanging as though my sweethearts death were a gala sight And when he had come to the front and arranged his folk lo there by his side stood Ysolinde Princess of Plassenburg with her father Master Gerard They had a place close by the Duke and Otho ofttimes bent over to confer graciously with his councillor But Ysolinde looked neither to right nor left nor yet spoke to any keeping her eyes fixed as it seemed on the shining blade of the Red Axe in my hand
Then as these fine folk stood waiting and gloating among the festoons of their balcony the devil or God I know which but I will not say lest I be thought a blasphemer put an intent into my heart I walked to the edge of the scaffold and I looked at the barrier of the enclosure They were of the same height and the distance between them little more than six feet
I examined them again and yet more intently I saw the steely smile on Duke Othos face Already he was tasting the double sweetness of his revenge
Wait I said within my heart as I also smiled a little only wait a little Otho Duke of the Wolfmark Wait till this bright edge be sullied with my sweet loves blood And then—then will I leap upon you and the Red Axe shall crash deep into the brain that hatched and fostered this hellish intent And by the gentle heart of her who is about to die so also will I serve Gerard the lawyer and Ysolinde his daughter for their treachery against the innocent Then amid the flash of steel and the heady whirl of battle shall Hugo Gottfried be very content to die It would take more than one stroke to dull that which my father had sharpened And I lifted up the Red Axe and felt the edge with my thumb It was razor keen
But the action was observed and taken as a proof of callousness And then what a yell of hate surged up around me I could have taken those burghers of Thorn to my heart And I thought if only our Karl would come Alas it was a full day too soon for I felt sure that these burghers would proclaim him at the gates and that the house of Otho and Casimir the brood of the Wolf would like the shadow of the raven as it flits by in the sunshine pass away For by that time there would be no Otho They would find him low enough with an axe cleft in his head
So soon as the suns light tipped the eastern clouds with rose the Black Hussars came riding forth The guards and matchlock men lined the way from the castle gates They blew up their matches to be ready Suddenly in the midst of the armed throng there appeared a radiant figure coming down the steps of the castle from the Hall of Judgment
At the sight the people threw themselves wildly in that direction The dark lines of the guard reeled and wavered There was the sharp click as the pikes engaged The shouts of the captains of the matchlock men were heard But the trained bands stood fast and the rush was stayed Then came our Helene down towards me walking delicately yet proudly erect as a young tree She was clad all in white and wore her hair plaited high upon her head so that the shape of her neck was clearly seen
And I who stood there with the axe in my hand seemed to have a thousand years to think all these things and even to mark the lace upon her dress I saw her come nearer and nearer to me Yet feeling was dead within me I seemed to sleep and wake and sleep again And when at last I awoke there came a strange feeling to me It was my weddingday and my bride was coming to me lily pure clad in whiteness
Then at the foot of the scaffold there came one forth from the ranks a captain of the Dukes guard and with honor and respect offered Helene his arm
She declined it with a proud smile and all that were near could hear her clear voice say I thank you sir but I need no help I am strong enough to walk thus far
And she mounted the steps of the scaffold as though they had been those of the grand staircase at Plassenburg
But when she saw me standing in my habit of red from head to heel she seemed a little taken aback Quickly however she came forward and took me by the hand looking up at me with the lovelight making her eyes glorious
Hugo she said I am glad you are here—glad that I am to die by no less loving hand That will be sweeter than to live with any other And indeed I deserve so much for I have not known much joy in my life save in the old days when I was your Little Playmate
Then there came a stern voice from the enclosure
Executioner of the Mark do your duty
It was the voice of Master Gerard
And then I looked over and saw Gerard von Sturm standing a little in front with his daughters wrist held tightly in his hand as though he would drag her back With that a loathing came over me for I said within me Is the woman so anxious for the blood of the innocent whom she has hounded to death that she would intrude on the scaffold itself
Then I remembered the duty of the Justicers ere the sentence was carried out to recite the crimes of the condemned
So I cried aloud even as I had heard my father do
The crimes of Helene Princess of Plassenburg sole daughter of Dietrich lately Prince thereof—guilty of no evil save that she has been the savior of this people of Thorn and their deliverer in time of pestilence
The people hushed themselves with astonishment at my words And then a cry went up
The Red Axe speaks true—she is innocent—innocent
But the voice of Gerard von Sturm came again stern as that of the recording angel
Executioner of the Wolfmark do your duty
Scarce knowing what I did I went on with my formal accusation
Helene Princess of Plassenburg who is about to die is also guilty of loving me Hugo Gottfried son of Gottfried Gottfried and of none other crime For this the Duke has decreed that she should die It is her own will that she should die by my hand
Helene came forward and put her hand in mine in token that I spoke truly and there fell a great silence across the people I saw the Lady Ysolinde straining at her fathers hand like a dog in a leash when the quarry rises
Then my love kissed me once just as though she had been saying goodnight in the Red Tower simply and sweetly like a child and laid her head down on the block as on the white pillow of her own bed
God do so and more also to them on whose heads is the innocent blood of my love and my wife
The words burst from me rather than were uttered
I raised the blade
But ere the Red Axe could fall there arose a wild scream from the Dukes enclosure Some one cried Let me go He has said it He has said it I will not be silent any longer It was the Lady Ysolinde who had broken away from her fathers hand
The girl is his wife she went on He has claimed her—according to the laws of the Wolfmark that cannot be broken he has called her his wife It is the Executioners right One woman he can claim as his during his term of office—one only and for his wife Duke Otho I call upon you to allow it Chancellor Texel I call upon you to read the law I have it here in my hand Head Read I will save my soul I will save my soul
And ere any one could stop her the Lady Ysolinde sobbing and laughing both at once had overleaped the light barrier and was thrusting a parchment with a seal into the hands of the Chancellor Michael Texel
She is mad Let the justice of the realm be done cried again the voice of Master Gerard
And I think the Duke would have ordered it to be so But there arose not only a roar from the people but what Otho minded far more an ominous murmur among the nobles and gentlemen and from the ranks of menatarms
The law The law Read us the law
And even Otho dare not trifle with the will of the free companions of the Mark For in all the realm they were now his only supporters Helene had risen to her feet and stood pale of face but erect resting as was her wont one hand on my shoulder
Then Michael Texel read the scroll aloud
It is the immemorial privilege of the Hereditary Executioner of the Mark being of the family of Gottfried a privilege not to be abrogated or alienated that during the term of office of each he may claim—not as a boon but as a right—the life of one man for a bondservant or the life of one woman for a wife Thus by order of the States Council to be the privilege of the Gottfrieds forever it has been proclaimed
As Michael Texel went on I saw the countenance of the Duke and the lawyer change I knew that salvation had come to us like lightning from a clear sky and I hastened to demand the right which was mine own
So soon as he had finished I shouted with all my power
I CLAIM HELENE TO BE MY WIFE
Then went up such an acclaim from the people as never had been heard in the ancient city Even the gentlemen within the enclosure threw their hats in the air The soldiers put their helmets on the points of their spears and the captains waved their colors as at a victory The thunder of the cheering roused the very rooks and jackdaws from the towers of Thorn and the bastions of the Wolfsberg till they went drifting in a black cloud clamorously over the city
Then Helene put her arms about my neck and upon the scaffold of death before all the people we plighted our troth
The Bishop—the Bishop Peter cried the people
And leaping upon an officers horse a messenger rode posthaste to the palace the crowd making way for him Duke Otho disappeared through a private door for the thing was overstrong even for him He knew his weakness too well to war with the immemorial privileges of the Wolfmark
Rulers stronger than he had been broken in doing battle against ancient rights and amenities Besides the nobility were afraid of their own perquisites if one of so ancient a charter as that of the Hereditary Justicer were refused
Then from the palace came the Bishop with due and decorous attendance of crosier and solemn procession And there amid a turmoil of joy and the ringing of every bell in the city we that had gone out to be together in death were joined in the bonds of youth and life
But the Lady Ysolinde saw not—heard not For they had carried her out white and still from the place where she had fallen fainting at the foot of the scaffold
CHAPTER LIII
THE LUBBER FIENDS RETURN
Al these things had overpast so quickly that when Helene and I found ourselves alone in the Red Tower it seemed to both of us that we dreamed
We sat in a kind of buzzing hush on the low windowseat of the old room hand in hand The shouts of the people came up to us from the square beneath We heard the tramp of the soldiers who cheered us as they passed to and fro Being at last alone we looked into each others eyes and we could not believe in our own happiness
My wife I said but in another fashion than I had said it on the scaffold
My husband answered Helene looking up at me
But I think for all that we realized of the truth we might as well have called each other King and Queen of Sheba
We had been conducted with honor to the Red Tower For since it was in virtue of my hereditary office that I had obtained the great deliverance I dared for the present seek no other dwellingplace For Helenes sake indeed I should have felt safer elsewhere Besides desperate and full of baffled hatred as I knew Duke Otho to be I did not believe that he would dare to molest us—for some time at least The rage of the people their unbounded jubilation at the deliverance of their Saint Helena from the jaws of death on the very scaffold were too recent to be trifled with by a prince sitting so insecure in his ducal seat as Otho of the Wolfmark
So here in the ancient Red Tower I thought we might at least be safe enough till my good fellows of Plassenburg with the Prince at their head should swarm hammering at the gates of Thorn
To us sitting thus hand in hand there entered the Bishop Peter
Hail he said blandly and in his grandest manner as we knelt for his benediction hail bride and bridegroom God has been good to you this day Bishop Peter the least of His servants greets you very well May you have long life and prosperity unfailing
I thanked him for his gracious words
The folk of the city are full of joy he said I think they would almost proclaim you Duke today
I desire no such perilous honor I replied smiling it were indeed an illomen to have a Duke habited all in red
It is your marriagedress Hugo said Helene I will not have you speak against it
Ever since the strain of the scaffold she had not once broke down—no nor wept—but only desired to sit very close beside me touching me sometimes as if to make sure that I was real Deliverance had been too great and sudden and those things which had come so near to us both—Death and the Beyond—had left a salt and bitter spray on our lips
And what of the Lady Ysolinde I asked of the Bishop
Now the Bishop Peter was a good man but like many of his brethren a lover of great swelling words
The Lady Ysolinde he said oratorically by the immediate assistance of the city guard was placed in a litter and deported all unconscious as she was to her fathers house in the Weiss Thor where she still remains But her most seasonable extract from the laws of the Wolfmark which so opportunely saved the life of your fair wife and led to this present happy consummation I have here by me even in my hand
And with that the Bishop drew the rolled parchment from his pocket and handed it to me with all the original seals depending from it Now I have small gift for the deciphering of such ancient documents being only skilled in the common script of the day and not overwell in that So that I had to depend upon the offices of Bishop Peter for the interpretation
I think said the Bishop after he had finished reading it over that this document had best remain in my own possession It may be safer under the seal and protection of the Church—even as to speak truth you and your wife would also be I am a plain man the Bishop continued after a pause but remember that there is ever a place of refuge at the palace—and one which even Duke Otho is not likely to violate remembering the experiences of his predecessor Duke Casimir when he crossed his sword against the crosier of this unworthy servant of Holy Church
I thank you said I I would that it were possible to avail myself of your all too generous offer But it will be necessary to abide at least this one night in the Red Tower
Ah he said why this night
Great things may happen this night my Lord Bishop said I and glanced significantly in the direction of Plassenburg
Ah said the Bishop again so then the power of Holy Church may not be the only restraint upon Duke Otho by tomorrow at this time
And calling his attendants the suave and farseeing prelate made his way with gravity and reverend ceremony down the streets of Thorn towards his palace
So bit by bit the long day passed away and I thought it would never end For Helene and I sat and waited for that which might happen with beating and anxious hearts Ofttimes I ran to the top of the Red Tower and sometimes it seemed that I could see a moving cloud of dust and sometimes a flurry of startled cattle afar on the horizon But till dusk there came to our aching eyes no better evidence that the lads of Plassenburg were coming to our rescue and to the deliverance of the downtrodden city of Thorn
The soldiers of the garrison were still encamped in the great square There was also a constant swarming and mustering of men upon the ramparts of the Wolfsberg Duke Otho had certainly enough men to make a creditable resistance True they were Free Companions and without other loyalty than that which they owed to their paymaster
And beneath this warlike show lay the city rebellious and turbulent to the core the merchants longing for unhampered rights of trade and security in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labors the craftsmen claiming freedom to work in their guilds without a payment of laborbond tithes to the Duke and especially without the fear of being snatched away at any moment from their benches and looms to join in his forays and incursions
Towards the gloaming I had come down from the roof of the tower and was standing gloomy and little like a bridegroom at the little window whence I had so often looked down upon the playing children of Thorn Suddenly a great hand was reached up from the pavement a folded paper was thrust in at the lattice and I saw the face of the Lubber Fiend looking up at me from the street below
Come up hither good Jan I cried to him I will run and open the gate
But the Lubber Fiend only shook his head till his ears flapped like burdocks in the wind by the wood edges
Jan will come none within that gate to tell where he has been he said
Jan may be a fool but he knows better than that
And where have you been I asked eagerly
Jan the Lubber Fiend stood on his tiptoes and whispered up to me with his elbows on the sill
You are sure the Duke is not behind you
There is none here—except my wife I said smiling And I liked speaking the word
I have seen the great Prince said Jan nodding backward and smiling mysteriously and he is coming but not by himself There are such a peck of mad fellows out there There will not be much to eat in Thorn when they all come in Better make a good dinner today that is my advice to you And I was bid to tell you that when all was ready for their coming a fire is to be lighted on a high place and then the Prince will come to the gates
I longed much to hear more of his adventures but neither love nor money would induce the thrice cautious Jan to set a foot within the precincts of the Red Tower
I will light a bonfire when it is dark at the White Gate he said as he retracted himself into the dusk I know what will make a rare blaze And the Prince cannot come too soon
So indeed I thought also as I looked out and saw the swarms of Duke
Othos men in the courtyard and about the square and reflected on our
helplessness here in the Red Tower within the defenced precincts of the
Wolfsberg
CHAPTER LIV
THE CROWNING OF DUKE OTHO
But at long and last the most tardyfooted day comes to an end And so just as fast as on any common day the sun at last dropped to the edge of the horizon and slowly sank leaving a shallowing lake of orange color behind
The red roofs of Thorn grew gray with purple veins of shadow in the interstices where the streets ran or rather burrowed The nightly hum of the city began For under the cruel rule of the wolves of the castle Thorn was ever busiest in the right Indeed the cheating of the guard had become a business well understood of all the citizens who had a regular code of signals to warn each other of its approach
Lights winked and kindled in the Wolfsberg over against me I could see the long array of lighted windows where the Duke would presently be dining with Michael Texel High Councillor Gerard von Sturm and most of his other intimates There beneath were the stables of the Black Riders and before them men were constantly passing and repassing with buckets and soldier gear
I wondered if the Duke had news of the approach of the enemy
So soon as I judged it safe I went to the top of the Red Tower and unfolded the paper which Jan the Lubber Fiend had brought me It was without name and address or signature and read as follows
Tonight we shall be all in readiness When the time is ripe let a fire be lighted upon some conspicuous tower or high place of the city Then we will come
Thereafter Helene being lonely climbed up and sat down beside me I handed her the paper
Tonight will be a stormy one in Thorn and the Wolfsberg little one said I I fear you and I are not yet out of the wood
The Little Playmate read the letter and gave it back to me I tore it up and let the wind carry away the pieces one by one small like dust so that scarce one letter clave to another
Her hand stole into mine
Ah she sighed I am beginning to believe in it now Tonight may be as dangerous as yesternight But at least we are together never to be separated And to us two that means all
It was a strange marriage night this of ours—thus to sit on the roof of the Tower under the iron beacon which had been placed there in my grandfathers time and listen to the hum and murmur of the city straining our eyes meanwhile through the darkness to catch the first spearglint from the army of the Prince
If they do not come by midnight or if Jan Lubber Fiend does not light his fire by the White Gate we must een risk it and kindle this one here on the Red Tower
So the night passed on till it was about eleven or it might be a quarter of an hour later Then all suddenly I saw a little crowd of men disengage themselves from that private entrance of the Hall of Judgment by which on the day of the trial Dessauer and I had entered They made straight towards the Red Tower at a quick run
Dear love said I to Helene see yonder Be ready to light the beacon I fear me much that our time has come to fight for life
Kiss me then she said and I will be ready for all that may be At worst we can die together true husband and true wife
Presently there came a thundering knock at the door of the Red Tower I crouched on the stairs behind and listened intently I could hear the breathing of several men
He is surely within said a voice The tower has been watched every moment of the day
Again came the loud knocking
Open—in the name of the Duke cried the voice And the door was rattled fiercely against its fastenings
But I knew well enough that it could hold against any force of unassisted men For my father had ever taken a special pride in the bars and defences of the single low door which led into his muchthreatened residence
So I crouched in the dark of the stairs and listened with yet more quivering intentness Presently I could hear shoulders set to the ironstudded surface and a voice counted softly One—two—three—and a heave But though I discerned the laboring of the men straining themselves with all their might they might as well have pushed at the roughharled wall of the Wolfsberg
It will not do I heard one say at last We cannot hope to succeed thus Bring the powderbag and prepare the fuse
So then I knew indeed that our time was at hand I mounted the stairs three at a time till I came to the room where Helene was waiting for me in the dark
Fire the beacon on the Tower I bade her—our enemies are upon us
And after that may I come to you Hugo she said
Nay little one it is better that you bide on the roof and see that the beacon burns You will find plenty of tow and oil in the niche by the stairhead
I could hear Helene give vent to a little sigh But she obeyed instantly and her light feet went pattering up the stairs
Then I waited for the explosion which seemed as if it would never come I had my dagger in my belt but of pure instinct my right hand seized the Red Axe For I had more skill of that than any other weapon and as I had cast it down when they brought us in from the scaffold that morning it lay ready to my hand
So I waited at the stairhead and watched keenly the narrow passage up which the men must come one by one I measured my distance with the axehandle and made a trial sweep or two so that I might be sure of clearing the stones on either side I could not see that there would be much difficulty in holding the place for a while if only Prince Karl would haste him and come For to me the game of breaking heads and slicing necks would be easy as cracking nuts on an anvil—at least so long as they would come up singly
Presently I heard the roar of burning fuel above me and immediately after a cry from below Through the narrow stairway lattice I could see the uncertain flicker of flames lighting up the street Men ran backward across the open square looking up as they ran So by that I knew that Helene had done her work and was now watching the burning beacon as the flames flicked upward and clapped their fiery applausive palms
But at the same moment from the foot of the stairs there came the loud report of the explosion beneath the door of the Red Tower the rumble of stones and then an eager rush of men to see what had been effected
Now for it I thought as I gripped the Red Axe
But it was not to be so soon The iron bars which my father had engineered so that they sank deep into the wall on either side still held nobly and I heard the loud voice crying again for a batteringram The soldiers of the attacking party went scurrying across the yard and presently returned carrying between them a young tree cleared of its branches but with the rough bark still upon it
Without in the square the turmoil increased and the streets echoed with shouting A wild hope came into my heart that Prince Karl had not awaited the summons of the beacon and that his troops were already in the streets of Thorn But even as the thought passed through my brain I knew that it was vain
On the other hand it was evident that in the town the general alarm had been given for the trumpets blew from the ramparts of the Wolfsberg and the call to arms resounded incessantly in the courtyard I doubted not also that many a stout burgher was getting him under arms—and but few of them to fight for the Duke
Suddenly the bars of the door jangled on the stones under the swinging blows of the batteringram I heard feet clatter on the stair They came with a rush but long ere they had arrived at the top the pace slackened Only one man at a time could come up the stairway and it is always a drag upon the enthusiasm of an assault when at least two cannot advance together The light flickered and filtered in from the torches in the streets and the reflected glow of the bonfire on the roof made the stairhead clear as a lucid twilight
I waited with the axe swinging loosely in one hand A head bobbed up clad in a steel cap Bat as the unseen feet propelled it upward the Red Axe took little reck of the head Betwixt the steel cap and the rim of steel of the body armor appeared a gray line of leather jerkin and a thinner white line of neck The Red Axe swung I bethought me that it was a bad light to cut off calves heads in But the Red Axe made no mistake I had learned my trade There was not even a groan—only a dull thud some way underneath such as you may hear when the children of the quarter play football on the streets
Then the foremost of the assailants were blocked by the fallen body and the feet of the men behind were stayed as the strange round plaything rebounded among them
Back they cried who were in front
Forward replied those who were hindmost and knew nothing
Come men—on and finish it cried the voice which had commanded the powderflask and the tree—the voice I now knew to be that of Duke Otho himself
But the kickball argument of the Red Axe was mightily discouraging to those immediately concerned and as I felt the muscles of my right arm and waited I could hear Otho reasoning threatening coaxing all in vain Then his tones mounted steadily into hot anger He reviled his followers for dogs cowards curs who had eaten his bread and now would not rid him of his enemies
A thousand rixdollars to the man who kills Hugo Gottfried he shouted
But hear ye save the girl alive
Yet not a man would attempt the first hazard of the stair
Knaves traitors curs he cried would that there were so much as a single true man among you—but there is not one worth spitting upon
Cur yourself growled a man somewhere in the dark—you have most at stake in this Try the stair yourself if you are so keen We will follow fast enough
God strike me dead if I do not shouted Otho if it were only to shame you cowards
He paused to prepare his weapons
Follow me men he shouted again all together
Again there was the clatter of ironshod feet on the stone steps beneath me
My grip on the Red Axe became like iron but my joints were loose and swung easily as a flail swings on wellseasoned leathers
Welcome Otho von Reuss I cried ye could not be crowned without the death of Helene my wife Come up hither and I will crown thee once for all with the iron crown
There at last was mine enemy at the turn of the stair rushing furiously upon me sword in hand
Traitor he cried and his sword was almost at my breast so fast he came
Murderer I shouted
And almost ere I was aware the Red Axe flashed as it swept full circle with scarce a pause but it took the head of a man with it on its way
Otho von Reuss was crowned Helene the Little Playmate was avenged
CHAPTER LV
THE LADY YSOLINDE SAVES HER SOUL
The Dukes body sank down upon that of the soldier still further blocking the passage And as for his head I know not where that went to But the rush of his followers was utterly checked by the barrier of dead With a wild cry The Duke is dead Duke Otho is slain they rushed down and out of the Red Tower eager at once to escape unharmed and to carry to their companions in the Wolfsberg the startling news
Nevertheless I cleared my arm wiped my axe and again stood ready
Come I cried—come all of you You desire to kill me Well I am still waiting
But not a man answered The stairway was clear save of the headless dead And then sudden as summer thunder through the dumb and empty silence I heard clear and loud the clanging of the hammers of Prince Karl upon the gates of Thorn
At that I felt that I must roar aloud in my fierce joy I shouted angrily for more and more assailants to come up the stair that I might kill them all I yearned to be first at the gate to see the men whom I had led break their way in to deliver the city I more than any other had brought them there I had trained them for that work Best of all across the stairway beneath me lay dead Otho Duke of the Wolfmark beheaded by the Red Axe of his own Justicer
Husband Hugo Are you wounded said a voice behind me a voice which in a moment recalled me from my bloody imaginings and baresark fury of fighting
Helene I cried
She approached and would have thrown her arms about me But I held out my hand to keep her off
Not now child I said touch me not I am unwounded but wet
And so I was wet with that which had spouted from the neck of Otho von Reuss as his trunk stood a moment headless in the stairway ere it fell prone—a hideous thing to see
Come Helene I said we must away There is other work for your husband tonight You I will place with the Bishop Peter But my place is with the men of Plassenburg and with Karl my noble Prince
And I took her by the hand to lead her out
Not that way she cried shrinking back
For the bodies of the two slain men lay there And the stairs ran red from step to step in red drips and lappering pools
So I bethought me of what we should do and ran forthwith for my fathers cord with which he was used to bind the malefactors upon the wheel
Come Helene said I and straightway fastened the rope to the iron bar from which I had made so many descents to the pavement in the old days of the White Wolves
I let myself down and there in the angle of the tower wall I waited to catch my wife She delayed somewhat and I could not think wherefore
But at last she came bringing the Red Axe in her hand
Go not weaponless she said and I reached up and took from her hand that which had already served me so well The Red Axe had done its work now and she was grateful
Then full lightly she descended to my side and we went down the streets of Thorn which were filled with hurrying burgesses all with weapons in their hands rushing to discover the cause of the clamor I took Helene hastily to the palace of the Bishop And when I arrived there I saw Peter himself with his head out of a window
I come to claim your protection for my wife I cried
He came down immediately with an attendant
Fear not I said you will never be called in question for this kindly deed The Duke Otho is slain and the army of Prince Karl of Plassenburg is already at the gates
The Duke is dead he gasped Who slew him
Who but the Hereditary Justicer of the Wolfmark should slay a traitor said I smiling at his astonishment And I held up the Red Axe on which there was now no crystalclear rim of shining steel All was crimson from haft to edge—red as blood
Here for an hour Helene little wife I must leave you I said But now she sobbed and clung to me as she had not done before even in the dungeon
Stay with me she said I need you Hugo
I took her by the hand
Little one I whispered as tenderly as I could I would not be worthily your husband if I went not to meet those who are fighting to save us all this night They have come from far to deliver us I were false and recreant if I went not to their assistance
I know—I know she said Go
And with that she gave a hand to the good Bishop and went quietly within with no more than a smile over her shoulder like a watery April sunglint
Then I betook me with all speed to the Weiss Thor where I judged the chief struggle would take place And as I came I heard the rattle of shot and the jarring thunder of the forehammers The soldiers without shouted and the men within more feebly replied
I came in sight of the gate There on my left hand was the house of
Master Gerard von Sturm
A fire was still flickering upon the tower of it
Without I could hear the cheering and clamoring of the besiegers But the gates remained obstinately shut They were stronger than the Prince had anticipated
As I stood uncertain what to do I saw a slim white figure the figure of a woman flash across the open space towards the gate The men who defended the gate towers were all upon the top of the wall Before any could stop her she had thrown herself upon the wheel by which the bars were unfastened and with a few turns had drawn them as deftly as evil Duke Casimir had been wont to remove the teeth of the rich Hebrew folk when he wanted supplies
The White Gate slowly opened upon creaking hinges The faces of the soldiers of Plassenburg were seen without the weapons gleamed in their hands as they came on shouting fiercely The guards of the Duke rushed forward to close the gate But the woman had clamped the wheel and stood holding the bar
It was the Lady Ysolinde She saw me as the soldiers of Duke Otho closed threateningly upon her She waved her hand to me almost happily
I have saved my soul Hugo Gottfried she cried I have saved my soul
At that moment a soldier of the Black Riders struck her fiercely with his lance I saw the white bosom of her dress redden as he plucked his weapon to him again I was in time to catch her in my arms as the soldiers of Plassenburg with Prince Karl at their head came through the White Gate like a springtide carrying all before them
The Prince stayed at his wifes side
Ysolinde cried the Prince aghast bending over her—not heeding nor indeed as I think even seeing me
Karl she said looking gently at him try and forgive me all the rest But be glad that I opened the White Gate for yon I Ysolinde your wife did it for your sake
I put her into her husbands arms I saw at a glance that there was no hope She could not live many moments with that lancethrust through her breast
She looked at him again
Karl—say Ysolinde I love you she whispered almost shyly
He looked down and a rush of unwonted tears came to the eyes of the
Prince of Plassenburg
Ysolinde I love you he made answer in a broken voice
She smiled and then looked over his shoulder up at me
Hugo Gottfried have I not saved my soul she cried
And so passed
CHAPTER LVI
HELENA PRINCESS OF PLASSENBURG
There was however deadly work yet before the men of Plassenburg We found indeed that the townsfolk were with us almost to a man Their guild trainbands gathered and mustered at their halls The guards at the city gates fraternally turned their arms to the ground
The Prince will restore your ancient liberties I cried And the people shouted Prince Karl of Plassenburg and our ancient liberties
Then we made our way up the street by different routes to the Wolfsberg There was little fighting till we arrived under those vast and gloomy walls The Black Riders had disappeared within Those worst tools of grim tyranny had early withdrawn themselves knowing that small mercy would be shown them by the people if once the Wolfsberg were taken But the common soldiers of the fighting rank sons and brothers of the women of Thorn tore off the badge of the bloody Dukes and with loud shouts marched with us as comrades
But when we came before the walls and with sound of trumpet and loud shouts summoned the Wolfsberg to surrender a discharge of musketry from the walls and the determined faces of a multitude of defenders showed us conclusively that all was not yet over
It was no use wasting men in attacking the great pile of buildings with the force at our disposal We had men in plenty but for breeching we needed the cannon left behind by these swift forces which marching day and night had arrived in the very nick of time before the walls of Thorn
Nevertheless it was not the fate of the Wolfsberg to be taken by Lazy
Peg and her compeers
These ponderous pieces of ordnance were presently being dragged through the swamps and over the brickdust barrens of the borderlands and it might be three or four days before they could arrive to aid us There was nothing therefore to do but to sit down and wait drawing a cincture that not a mouse could creep through about the cliffs of the Wolfsberg
But deep within the heart of the old Red Tower there was one stronger than Lazy Peg fighting for us
Fire Fire cried the people in the streets The Wolfsberg is on fire And so surely it was The flames burst out from the windows of the Red Tower and were rapidly carried by a dry fanning northerly wind along the wooden workshops and kennels to the main building where the Hall of Judgment was soon blazing like a torch The defenders seemed paralyzed by this misadventure Some ran to the castle well Some threw themselves desperately from the walls others crowded to the gates and through the bars besought our Princes pledge that mercy would be shown them
Then the crowd without were ill to deal with for they cried aloud No mercy to the murderers Show us our Saint Helena
Then it was that I leaped once more upon the scaffold which had seen such a sight the day before and cried Duke Otho is dead I Hugo Gottfried slew him with this Red Axe Prince Karl is come to save you and to give you back your ancient liberties Your Saint Helena is my wife and is safe under the protection of Bishop Peter
But though they cheered at my words they would not cease from crying Show us Saint Helena and if she bid us we will have mercy on the wolves of the Wolfsberg
So it was necessary for Helene to be brought and to show herself to them for the sake of the poor souls sore driven and in jeopardy twixt the fire and the knives
Have mercy on the poor folk she cried when they had done shouting because of her safety At worst they are but misguided ignorant men
By this time the doors of the Wolfsberg were thrown open from within and the men crowded out casting down their arms in heaps on either side the gate They were then marched under charge of the soldiers of Plassenburg to various strongholds which were pointed out by the Burgomeister and the chiefs of the guilds The fortified halls of the trades were filled with them By daybreak the whole of Thorn was in our hands while the gray barrens of the Wolfmark were lit for leagues by the flaming Wolfsberg which on its craggy height vomited fire and sparks into the blackness of night
And the reek of this great burning hung for days after in the heavens Thus was an end made to the iniquities of the house of the Black Duke Casimir and the Red Duke Otho And the last Duke mixed his ashes with that of the fatal Tower For on the morrow there remained only the blackened walls and glowing skeleton beams of all that mighty palace—which indeed has never been rebuilt For the people of Thorn under the mild and equitable rule which followed erected a great memorial church upon the spot—as may be seen to this day a landmark from far to witness if I have lied in the tale which has been told
So the Prince Karl gave back to Thorn its liberties as he had promised But the regality of the Dukedom he kept for himself and he took the Wolfmark and made it part of his dominions till as he had formerly undertaken the broombush kept the cow throughout the length and breadth of Plassenburg and the Mark
It was a noble homecoming when we returned to Plassenburg—victorious and famous but also there was mourning deep and solemn for the Princess Ysolinde who by her sacrifice had wrought such great things for the arms of Plassenburg and had died in the moment of victory
Then when after the stately funeral of the dead Princess we returned back to the palace it was the Princes pleasure that Helene and myself should ride on either hand of him through the city
And when we were announced in the court and the councillors of state stood about my wife was named by her true name Helena Princess of Plassenburg
Whereat the courtiers opened their mouths and widened their eyes—thinking perhaps that that ancient wizard Chancellor Leopold von Dessauer had suddenly gone mad
But when the representatives of the cities of the Princedom and the delegates from Thorn and the Mark had been received with due honor the Prince bade his Chancellor recount all he had learned from my father and all that he had discovered in the archives of Plassenburg
Then when Dessauer had finished Karl the Prince arose
I am he said a plain brusque man And speech was never my stronghold But this I say When Karl the Millers Son goes the way of Kings son and beggars son it is his will that Helene legitimate Princess of Plassenburg shall reign over you And also that her husband Hugo who as you know won her from dreadful death shall stand by her right hand
Then the nobles and great lords fearing the Prince and perhaps also envying a little the man who was the Princes general of his armies shouted amain
We swear to obey the Princess Helena
Whereat uprose the Little Playmate very princesslike and full of sweet regal dignity
I thank you noble Prince she said I am glad that I can claim so honorable a name and lineage but I had rather be no Princess nor anything else than that which my husband hath made me—the wife of the captaingeneral of the armies of Karl the only true and noble Prince of Plassenburg
Then the Prince rose and clasped her in his arms kissing her fondly on both cheeks
Fear not he said dear and loyal lady If you live to be the Princess your goodman shall be the Prince Never shall the gray mare flaunt it first in Plassenburg
And he gave us each a hand and conducted us to a pair of seats which had been set level with his on the platform of the Councilchamber of the Princedom
The Prince Karl lived many days after the winning of the Wolfmark and the ending of the ducal Wolves But he gave less and less care to the regalities leaving them even more completely to me sitting mostly in the pleasaunce by the riverside or in the farregarding room which had been the Lady Ysolindes
Also he never looked again on the face of a woman—except as it might be to bid them goodday—save on that of my wife Helene who as you who know her may guess waxed but the sweeter and the fairer as the years went by
And the blessing of children came to us and in this thing the Prince
Karl was even happier than we
One day however it chanced that he was seated in full Council and right noble he looked I had just handed him a paper to sign But he looked neither at me nor yet at the paper His eyes were fixed on the locked doors of the privy bedchamber through which only those of princely blood might come
He stared so long at it that to recall him I put my hand on his sleeve and said Prince the Council waits your pleasure
Bat he heard me not his eyes being fixed on the door
Your pardon my lords and knights he said at last fighting a little stiffly with his utterance but it seemed that I saw the Princess my wife come through the door clad in white and beckon me with her hand I must go to her my lords I think she waits for me The Prince Hugo will take my place at the Council
And the old man took a step from the high seat But at the foot of the throne he stumbled and fell into my arms
He said but one word after that with his eyes still fixed on the bolted door
Ysolinde
And so the Prince Karl and his wife were united at last
Since then we have lived long the Little Playmate and I but never have we been other than comrades and friends—lovers also which is the best of all And so an the good God please we shall abide till the end comes And in the gloaming we two also shall see the beckoning finger from beyond the bolted door and turn our feet homeward passing the bourne of the new life hand in hand—and undismayed