Otto of the Silver Hand | Page 6

to her husband in a low voice, as he looked
down into her pale face, with its gentle blue eyes.
"And wilt thou not, then," said she, "do that one thing for me?"
"Nay," he growled, in his deep voice, "I cannot promise thee never
more to attack the towns-people in the valley over yonder. How else
could I live an' I did not take from the fat town hogs to fill our own
larder?"
"Nay," said the Baroness, "thou couldst live as some others do, for all
do not rob the burgher folk as thou dost. Alas! mishap will come upon
thee some day, and if thou shouldst be slain, what then would come of
me?"
"Prut," said the Baron, "thy foolish fears" But he laid his rough, hairy
hand softly upon the Baroness' head and stroked her yellow hair.
"For my sake, Conrad," whispered the Baroness.

A pause followed. The Baron sat looking thoughtfully down into the
Baroness' face. A moment more, and he might have promised what she
besought; a moment more, and he might have been saved all the bitter
trouble that was to follow. But it was not to be.
Suddenly a harsh sound broke the quietness of all into a confusion of
noises. Dong! Dong! - it was the great alarm-bell from Melchior's
Tower.
The Baron started at the sound. He sat for a moment or two with his
hand clinched upon the arm of his seat as though about to rise, then he
sunk back into his chair again.
All the others had risen tumultuously from the table, and now stood
looking at him, awaiting his orders.
"For my sake, Conrad," said the Baroness again.
Dong! Dong! rang the alarm-bell. The Baron sat with his eyes bent
upon the floor, scowling blackly.
The Baroness took his hand in both of hers. "For my sake," she pleaded,
and the tears filled her blue eyes as she looked up at him, "do not go
this time."
>From the courtyard without came the sound of horses' hoofs clashing
against the stone pavement, and those in the hall stood watching and
wondering at this strange delay of the Lord Baron. Just then the door
opened and one came pushing past the rest; it was the one-eyed Hans.
He came straight to where the Baron sat, and, leaning over, whispered
something into his master's ear.
"For my sake," implored the Baroness again; but the scale was turned.
The Baron pushed back his chair heavily and rose to his feet.
"Forward!" he roared, in a voice of thunder, and a great shout went up
in answer as he strode clanking down the hall and out of the open door.
The Baroness covered her face with her hands and wept.

"Never mind, little bird," said old Ursela, the nurse, soothingly; "he
will come back to thee again as he has come back to thee before."
But the poor young Baroness continued weeping with her face buried
in her hands, because he had not done that thing she had asked.
A white young face framed in yellow hair looked out into the courtyard
from a window above; but if Baron Conrad of Drachenhausen saw it
from beneath the bars of his shining helmet, he made no sign.
"Forward" he cried again.
Down thundered the drawbridge, and away they rode with clashing
hoofs and ringing armor through the gray shroud of drilling rain.
The day had passed and the evening had come, and the Baroness and
her women sat beside a roaring fire. All were chattering and talking and
laughing but two - the fair young Baroness and old Ursela; the one sat
listening, listening, listening, the other sat with her chin resting in the
palm of her hand, silently watching her young mistress. The night was
falling gray and chill, when suddenly the clear notes of a bugle rang
from without the castle walls. The young Baroness started, and the rosy
light flashed up into her pale cheeks.
"Yes, good," said old Ursela; "the red fox has come back to his den
again, and I warrant he brings a fat town goose in his mouth; now we'll
have fine clothes to wear, and thou another gold chain to hang about
thy pretty neck."
The young Baroness laughed merrily at the old woman's speech. "This
time," said she, "I will choose a string of pearls like that one my aunt
used to wear, and which I had about my neck when Conrad first saw
me."
Minute after minute passed; the Baroness sat nervously playing with a
bracelet of golden beads about her wrist. "How long he stays," said she.
"Yes," said Ursela; "but it is not cousin wish that holds him by the

coat."
As she spoke, a door banged in the passageway without, and