Barbara Blomberg | Page 8

of attraction than anything else. If all
went well, that very day, perhaps, he might have the right to call her his
own.
These visions of the future aroused so joyous a feeling in his young
soul that Massi, the violinist, read in his by no means mobile features
what was passing in his mind. His cheery "Well, Sir Knight!"
awakened his ever-courteous colleague and travelling companion from
his dream, and, when the latter started and turned toward him, Alassi
gaily continued: "To see his home and his family again does, indeed,
make any man glad! The sight of yonder shining steeples and roofs
seems to make your heart laugh, Sir Wolf, and, by Our Lady, you have
good reason to bestow one or more candles upon her, for, besides other
delightful things, a goodly heritage is awaiting you in Ratisbon."
Here he paused, for the sunny radiance vanished simultaneously from
the sky and from his companion's face. The violinist, as if in apology,
added: "Some trouble always precedes an inheritance, and who knows
whether, in your case also, rumour did not follow the evil custom of
lying or making a mountain out of a molehill?"
Wolf Hartschwert slightly shrugged his shoulders and calmly
answered:
"It is all true about the heritage, Massi, and also the trouble, but it is
unpleasant to hear you, too, call me 'Sir.' Let it drop for the future, if we
are to be intimate. To others I shall, of course, be the knight or cavalier.
You know what the title procures for a man, though your saying--
'Knightly Knightly rank with lack of land More care than joy hath at
command,'
is but too true. As for the heritage, an old friend has really named me in
his will, but you must not expect that it is a large bequest. The man

who left it to me was a plain person of moderate property, and I myself
shall not learn until the next few days what I am to receive in addition
to his modest house."
"The more it is, the more cordially I shall congratulate you," cried the
violinist, and then looked back toward the other travellers.
Wolf did the same, and turned his horse. If he did not urge on the
loiterers the gate, which was closed at nightfall, would need to be
opened for them, for the five troopers who acted as escort had deemed
their duty done when Winzer was reached, and made themselves
comfortable in the excellent tavern there.
The carters had used the lash stoutly, yet it had been no easy matter to
advance rapidly. The rain had softened the road, and the horses and
beasts of burden were sorely wearied by the long trip from Brussels to
Ratisbon, which had been made in hurried days' journeys. The train of
horsemen and wagons stretched almost beyond the range of vision, for
it comprised the whole world-renowned orchestra of the Emperor
Charles, and Queen Mary's boy choir.
Only the leaders were absent. Gombert had left Brussels later than the
others, and hastened after them with post-horses, overtaking them
about an hour before, when he induced Appenzelder, the leader of the
boy choir, to enter his carriage, though the latter was reluctant to leave
the young singers who were intrusted to his care. As to the other
travellers, the Queen and Don Luis Quijada had made a great mistake
in their calculations--the number considerably exceeded a hundred.
Neither had thought of the women and children who accompanied the
musicians.
Most of the women were the wives of the members of the orchestra,
who had availed themselves of this opportunity to see something of the
world. Others, from motives of love or jealousy, would not part from
their husbands. The little children had been taken because their mothers,
who were fond of travelling and, like their husbands, were natives of all
countries, possessed no relatives in Brussels who would care for them.

The jealous spouses especially had not joined the party without cogent
reasons, for the mirth in the first long wagon, covered with a linen tilt,
was uproarious enough.
Wolf and his companion heard shrill laughter and loud shrieks echoing
from its dusky interior.
The younger men and the women who liked journeying were sitting in
motley confusion upon the straw which covered the bottom of the
vehicle, and the boisterous mirth of the travellers gave ample proof that
the huge jugs of wine carried with them as the Emperor's provision for
the journey had been freely used.
In the second cart, an immense ark, swaying between four wheels and
drawn by a team of four horses, grave older artists sat silently opposite
to each other, all more or less exhausted by the continual rocking
motion of the long ride. These men