Volume I Part 5 (1/2)

At length Treutler returned, followed by Ra.s.selwitz, his arm in a sling, the poor one-handed Goldmann, and the rest of the accused. Armed city-mercenaries brought up the rear.

The bishop rose from his seat to observe the comers, and exclaimed to them authoritatively, ”You are prisoners of the emperor and king of Bohemia, and of his chief tribunal at Prague. Give up your arms!”

”We recognize only the a.s.size at Schweidnitz as our judges in this matter,” retorted the wild Francis defyingly, in the name of all.

”Is that the respect, Mr. Burgomaster,” asked the irritated bishop--”is that the respect which you show to your prince and his laws? I had heard much of the arrogance of the patricians here, and of the Friend family in particular; but this audacity even exceeds my expectations.”

”Give up your sword, Frank,” said Erasmus with broken voice.

”Sacred heavens!” cried Francis, painfully alarmed--”do you yourself command it, father? Then, indeed, I must obey:”--And he unbuckled his sword, laid it on the council-table, and returned to his companions, who followed his example. The alderman Albrecht now announced that the body of Bieler was brought into the custom-house below.

”We will inspect the corse and confront with it the accused,” said the bishop to Erasmus: ”you will then separate all parties, and bring them into safe custody. I give them over to you--you alone; but you shall answer for them to the emperor and myself with your head.”

He went out with Matthias and Ra.s.selwitz. The council with their prisoners and retinue followed; only the burgomaster remained behind, and grasped Heidenreich firmly by the hand, so that the latter could not join the cavalcade.

”Now, thou prince of peace!” he exclaimed, gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth--”had I not done better by causing the alarm to be rung?”

”If you are convinced that such a measure will tend to the general weal,” replied Heidenreich, ”you may take it still. I would have you weigh, however, that five hundred warriors are drawn up yonder, well armed, and ready to support the bishop's orders. The result of the fray is uncertain, and even if we were to conquer, what would be the fate of all of us?”

”Ah! these n.o.bles!” cried Erasmus furiously. ”Well! some opportunity of revenge will yet offer itself, and, by G.o.d and his holy Gospel, I will seize it by the forelock--it shall not escape me.”

On the Friday after George, in the year 1571, sate Francis Friend, with broken spirits, in the Hildebrand of Schweidnitz, his constant quarters since the time of his arrest. It was already late in the evening, and a melancholy lamp partially illumined the sad chamber. The long durance had subdued the wild refractory mood of the prisoner: even the wine no longer relished. He leaned with his head in his hands upon the table by the side of the full flask, and took all the pains imaginable not to think, that he might escape from the recollections and forebodings which tormented him. The door now gently opened, and doctor Heidenreich, creeping in, roused him out of his gloomy meditation.

”Your wors.h.i.+pful father sends me to you, master Friend. You fate seems to be approaching its decision; and I am come, therefore, once again to speak to you alone about this awkward business of yours.”

”Make me no long prefaces, master doctor,” cried Francis, starting up wildly, ”but speak it out plainly. My sentence is p.r.o.nounced; I am to die. Well, then, I am content. I have often before this looked death boldly in the face, and would rather perish at once than pine away any longer in this d.a.m.ned hole.”

”Always so hasty and impetuous!” said Heidenreich, and sate down quietly by his side. ”The question is not yet of the final sentence; but, as a preliminary measure, the rack, in all its degrees, is adjudged to Onophrius Goldmann, and to that they proceed this very night. The delegates of the council will also be present. It is, therefore, above all things requisite to know for certain how deeply you are implicated in the Bieler murder, that the necessary precautions may be taken. Your answers at the examination have by no means satisfied the lords commissioners, nor, to be candid, myself either.

Now, therefore, I come to put to you a couple of questions, which you must answer me, but honestly as a son to a father; for, look you, I am to defend you when the examination is over, so that I should be considered, _in jure_, as your physician and confessor, to whom you must speak the truth if you wish to be radically healed. First, then, tell me, did you in the fray actually strike Bieler upon the head with your sword?”

”There you ask more than I can answer,” replied Francis with vexation.

”The row was all wildness and confusion; I was half drunk too, and rage made my intoxication still madder. I came up roundly to my opponent; but whether I hit Bieler, or whether I did not hit him, that the devil knows best.”

”You don't answer me honestly,” said Heidenreich with lifted finger, ”and thus without occasion impede my colloquy. You must not, therefore, take it ill, if I put my second question as though I were already convinced of your guilt. Did Goldmann see you strike Bieler? or at least does he pretend to have seen it?”

”He chattered something of the sort to me a little after the fray,”

replied Francis in confusion.

”That's an awkward circ.u.mstance. How in other respects do you stand with the man?”

”Well, I think.”

”There was a talk in the city of your intriguing with his daughter, and having promised her marriage when your wife should die?”

”Likely enough. In need or in pleasure men make all sorts of promises that they are not inclined to keep afterwards.”

”Well, as in the meantime your wife is really dead, we might try with this bait to stop the mouth of Onophrius, so that he may leave you out of question altogether when he is put to the rack. I will go to the old man directly and reason the matter with him. If I can make it clear to him that your misfortune will do him no service, he may, perhaps, take good advice. Meanwhile don't let the time in prison hang heavy on your hands, and be of stout heart. I hope to G.o.d that I shall this once also draw you out of your anxiety and suffering.

”Could not you save Goldmann too?” asked Francis good-naturedly: ”It would grieve me for the poor devil if he should have to pay the piper.”