The Strong Arm | Page 9

come from the forest to the castle walls
and there give signal intended for you alone?"
"Oh, no, my Lord."
"Perhaps you have kindly preference for some one within this
stronghold?"
"You forget, my Lord, that the castle is ruled by a lady, and that the
preference you indicate would accord ill with her womanly
government."
"In truth I know little of woman's rule, but given such, I suppose the
case would stand as you say. The Countess then frowns upon lovers'
meetings."
"How could it be otherwise?"
"Have you told her of--of yesterday?"
"You mean of your refusal to come to terms with her? Yes, my Lord."
"I mean nothing of the kind, Beatrix."
"No one outside this room has been told aught to your disadvantage,
my Lord," said the girl blushing rose-red.
"Then she suspects nothing?"

"Suspects nothing of what, my Lord?"
"That I love you, Beatrix."
The girl caught her breath, and seemed about to fly, but gathering
courage, remained, and said speaking hurriedly and in some confusion:
"As I did not suspect it myself I see not how my Lady should have
made any such surmise, but indeed it may be so, for she chided me
bitterly for remaining so long with you, and made me weep with her
keen censure; yet am I here now against her express wish and
command, but that is because of my strong sympathy for you and my
belief that the Countess has wrongfully treated you."
"I care nothing for the opinion of that harridan, except that it may bring
harsh usage to you; but Beatrix, I have told you bluntly of my love for
you, answer me as honestly."
"My Lord, you spoke just now of a woodlander--"
"Ah, there is one then. Indeed, I feared as much, for there can be none
on all the Rhine as beautiful or as good as you."
"There are many woodlanders, my Lord, and many women more
beautiful than I. What I was about to say was that I would rather be the
wife of the poorest forester, and lived in the roughest hut on the hillside,
than dwell otherwise in the grandest castle on the Rhine."
"Surely, surely. But you shall dwell in my castle of Schonburg as my
most honoured wife, if you but will it so."
"Then, my Lord, I must bid you beware of what you propose. Your
wife must be chosen from the highest in the land, and not from the
lowliest. It is not fitting that you should endeavour to raise a
serving-maid to the position of Countess von Schonburg. You would
lose caste among your equals, and bring unhappiness upon us both."
Count Herbert grasped his sword and lifting it, cried angrily: "By the
Cross I serve, the man who refuses to greet my wife as he would greet

the Empress, shall feel the weight of this blade."
"You cannot kill a whisper with a sword, my Lord."
"I can kill the whisperer."
"That can you not, my Lord, for the whisperer will be a woman."
"Then out upon them, we will have no traffic with them. I have lived
too long away from the petty restrictions of civilisation to be bound
down by them now, for I come from a region where a man's sword and
not his rank preserved his life." As he spoke he again raised his huge
weapon aloft, but now held it by the blade so that it stood out against
the bright window like a black cross of iron, and his voice rang forth
defiantly: "With that blade I won my honour; by the symbol of its hilt I
hope to obtain my soul's salvation, on both united I swear to be to you a
true lover and a loyal husband."
With swift motion the girl covered her face with her hands and Herbert
saw the crystal drops trickle between her fingers. For long she could
not speak and then mastering her emotion, she said brokenly:
"I cannot accept, I cannot now accept. I can take no advantage of a
helpless prisoner. At midnight I shall come and set you free, thus my
act may atone for the great wrong of your imprisonment; atone partially
if not wholly. When you are at liberty, if you wish to forget your words,
which I can never do, then am I amply repaid that my poor presence
called them forth. If you remember them, and demand of the Countess
that I stand as hostage for peace, she is scarce likely to deny you, for
she loves not war. But know that nothing you have said is to be held
against you, for I would have you leave this castle as free as when you
entered it. And now, my Lord, farewell."
Before the unready