The Strong Arm | Page 4

moment did not
answer. Then he said, with hesitation:
"I think the Archbishop regards the siege with favour, but I know little
of the matter. My Lady, the Countess, will possess you with full
information."
Count Herbert looked with astonishment upon the custodian of Castle
Gudenfels. Here was a contest going on at his very doors, even if on the

opposite side of the river, and yet a veteran knew nothing of the contest.
But they were now at the frowning gates of Castle Gudenfels, with its
lofty square pinnacled tower, and the curiosity of the young Count was
dimmed by the admiration he felt for this great stronghold as he gazed
upward at it. An instant later he with his escort passed through the
gateway and stood in the courtyard of the castle. When he had
dismounted the Count said to Richart:
"I have travelled far, and am not in fit state to be presented to a lady.
Indeed, now that I am here, I dread the meeting. I have seen nothing of
women for ten years, and knew little of them before I left the Rhine.
Take me, I beg of you, to a room where I may make some preparation
other than the camp has heretofore afforded, and bring me, if you can, a
few garments with which to replenish this faded, torn and dusty
apparel."
"My Lord, you will find everything you wish in the rooms allotted to
you. Surmising your needs, I gave orders to that effect before I left the
castle."
"That was thoughtful of you, Richart, and I shall not forget it."
The Custodian without replying led his guest up one stair and then
another. The two traversed a long passage until they came to an open
door. Richart standing aside, bowed low, and entreated his lordship to
enter. Count Herbert passed into a large room from which a doorway
led into a smaller apartment which the young man saw was fitted as a
bedroom. The rooms hung high over the Rhine, but the view of the
river was impeded by the numerous heavy iron bars which formed a
formidable lattice-work before the windows. The Count was about to
thank his conductor for providing so sumptuously for him, but, turning,
he was amazed to see Richart outside with breathless eagerness draw
shut the strong door that led to the passage from which he had entered,
and a moment later, Herbert heard the ominous sound of stout bolts
being shot into their sockets. He stood for a moment gazing blankly
now at the bolted door, now at the barred window, and then slowly
there came to him the knowledge which would have enlightened a more
suspicious man long before--that he was a prisoner in the grim fortress

of Gudenfels. Casting his mind backward over the events of the
morning, he now saw a dozen sinister warnings that had heretofore
escaped him. If a friendly invitation had been intended, what need of
the numerous guard of armed men sent to escort him? Why had Richart
hesitated when certain questions were asked him? Count Herbert paced
up and down the long room, reviewing with clouded brow the events of
the past few hours, beginning with the glorious freedom of the open
hillside in the early dawn and ending with these impregnable stone
walls that now environed him. He was a man slow to anger, but
resentment once aroused, burned in his heart with a steady fervour that
was unquenchable. He stopped at last in his aimless pacing, raised his
clinched fist toward the timbered ceiling, and cursed the Countess von
Falkenstein. In his striding to and fro the silence had been broken by
the clank of his sword on the stone floor, and he now smiled grimly as
he realised that they had not dared to deprive him of his formidable
weapon; they had caged the lion from the distant desert without having
had the courage to clip his claws. The Count drew his broadsword and
swung it hissing through the air, measuring its reach with reference to
the walls on either hand, then, satisfying himself that he had free play,
he took up a position before the door and stood there motionless as the
statue of a war-god. "Now, by the Cross I fought for," he muttered to
himself, "the first man who sets foot across this threshold enters the
chamber of death."
He remained thus, leaning with folded arms on the hilt of his long
sword, whose point rested on the flags of the floor, and at last his
patience was rewarded. He heard the rattle of the bolts outside, and a
tense eagerness thrilled his stalwart frame. The door came cautiously
inward for a space of perhaps two feet and was then brought to a