Otto of the Silver Hand | Page 7

the ring of
iron footsteps sounded upon the stone floor. Clank! Clank! Clank!
The Baroness rose to her feet, her face all alight. The door opened; then
the flush of joy faded away and the face grew white, white, white. One
hand clutched the back of the bench whereon she had been sitting, the
other hand pressed tightly against her side.
It was Hans the one-eyed who stood in the doorway, and black trouble
sat on his brow; all were looking at him waiting.
"Conrad," whispered the Baroness, at last. "Where is Conrad? Where is
your master?" and even her lips were white as she spoke.
The one-eyed Hans said nothing.
Just then came the noise of men s voices in the corridor and the shuffle
and scuffle of feet carrying a heavy load. Nearer and nearer they came,
and one-eyed Hans stood aside. Six men came struggling through the
doorway, carrying a litter, and on the litter lay the great Baron Conrad.
The flaming torch thrust into the iron bracket against the wall flashed
up with the draught of air from the open door, and the light fell upon
the white face and the closed eyes, and showed upon his body armor a
great red stain that was not the stain of rust.
Suddenly Ursela cried out in a sharp, shrill voice, "Catch her, she
falls!"
It was the Baroness.
Then the old crone turned fiercely upon the one-eyed Hans. "Thou
fool!" she cried, "why didst thou bring him here? Thou hast killed thy
lady!"
"I did not know," said the one-eyed Hans, stupidly.
III.

How the Baron came Home Shorn.
But Baron Conrad was not dead. For days he lay upon his hard bed,
now muttering incoherent words beneath his red beard, now raving
fiercely with the fever of his wound. But one day he woke again to the
things about him.
He turned his head first to the one side and then to the other; there sat
Schwartz Carl and the one-eyed Hans. Two or three other retainers
stood by a great window that looked out into the courtyard beneath,
jesting and laughing together in low tones, and one lay upon the heavy
oaken bench that stood along by the wall snoring in his sleep.
"Where is your lady?" said the Baron, presently; "and why is she not
with me at this time?"
The man that lay upon the bench started up at the sound of his voice,
and those at the window came hurrying to his bedside. But Schwartz
Carl and the one-eyed Hans looked at one another, and neither of them
spoke. The Baron saw the look and in it read a certain meaning that
brought him to his elbow, though only to sink back upon his pillow
again with a groan.
"Why do you not answer me?" said he at last, in a hollow voice; then to
the one-eyed Hans, "Hast no tongue, fool, that thou standest gaping
there like a fish? Answer me, where is thy mistress?"
"I - I do not know," stammered poor Hans.
For a while the Baron lay silently looking from one face to the other,
then he spoke again. "How long have I been lying here?" said he.
"A sennight, my lord," said Master Rudolph, the steward, who had
come into the room and who now stood among the others at the
bedside.
"A sennight," repeated the Baron, in a low voice, and then to Master
Rudolph, "And has the Baroness been often beside me in that time?"

Master Rudolph hesitated. "Answer me," said the Baron, harshly.
"Not - not often," said Master Rudolph, hesitatingly.
The Baron lay silent for a long time. At last he passed his hands over
his face and held them there for a minute, then of a sudden, before
anyone knew what he was about to do, he rose upon his elbow and then
sat upright upon the bed. The green wound broke out afresh and a dark
red spot grew and spread upon the linen wrappings; his face was drawn
and haggard with the pain of his moving, and his eyes wild and
bloodshot. Great drops of sweat gathered and stood upon his forehead
as he sat there swaying slightly from side to side.
"My shoes," said he, hoarsely.
Master Rudolph stepped forward. "But, my Lord Baron," he began and
then stopped short, for the Baron shot him such a look that his tongue
stood still in his head.
Hans saw that look out of his one eye. Down he dropped upon his
knees and, fumbling under the bed, brought forth a pair of soft leathern
shoes, which he slipped upon the Baron's feet and then laced the thongs
above the instep.
"Your shoulder," said the Baron. He rose slowly to his feet, gripping