Part 37 (1/2)
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
At last I hold thee in my arms, My best beloved, my own!
Bestowed on me from war's alarms, Preserved for me alone.
L. UHLAND.
Duke Ulerich of Wurtemberg was fond of a good table, and when the gla.s.s circulated freely in good society, he was not the first to give the signal to break up. At the wedding feast of Bertha von Lichtenstein he remained true to his habits. When the ceremony was finished in the church, the procession returned to the castle much in the same form as it entered, except that the bride and bridegroom walked hand in hand.
The company then separated, and wandered about the pleasure-garden of the castle, where they amused themselves among the shrubberies and artificial walks, some looking at the deer and roebucks in the inclosures, others admiring the bears in the dry ditches. At twelve o'clock the trumpets sounded to dinner, which was held in the tournament-hall, a place large enough to entertain many hundred people.
This hall was the pride and ornament of Stuttgardt. It was full an hundred paces long; one side of it, looking to the garden, was occupied by numerous large windows, through which the cheerful rays of the sun, piercing the many-coloured gla.s.s, illumined this immense apartment, which, by its vaulted roof and numerous pillars, resembled more the interior of a church than a place for festive joy. Galleries extended round the three other sides, hung with rich tapestry, a s.p.a.ce being appropriated to the musicians and trumpeters, whilst spectators, a.s.sembled to witness the princely feast, occupied the remainder. On other occasions, such as when a tournament took place, these galleries were set apart for the ladies and judges; when, instead of the clang of drinking utensils, the hall resounded with the applauses of the spectators, the heavy blows of swords, the cracking of lances, the whizzing of spears, amidst the laughter and cries of the combatants.
On this day a display of beautiful women and gallant men of all cla.s.ses had been invited to celebrate the nuptials of the Duke's friend and favourite. They were seated around tables which groaned under loads of good cheer. The fiddlers in the galleries flourished their fiddlesticks merrily; the cheeks of the trumpeters were swelled to the fullest stretch; the drummers' sticks beat heavily on their skins; and the spectators who were admitted in the other part of the galleries, joined chorus with shouting and hallooing when the company drank a toast. At the upper end of the room sat the Duke upon a throne, under a canopy.
His hat was pushed off his forehead, he looked around him with an air of satisfaction, and did not spare the bottle. On his right, at the side of the table, sat Bertha, who was no longer obliged to submit to the ceremonious restraint of cast-down eyes, and keeping at a respectable distance from the bridegroom. Her glance and the expression of her features bespoke happiness. She looked at her husband, who sat opposite to her, and she could scarcely convince herself her being actually a wife was not all a dream, and that the name she had borne eighteen years was changed to that of Sturmfeder. She smiled as often as she regarded him, for it appeared to her that he had already a.s.sumed the direction of her conduct. ”He is my head,” she said to herself, playfully, ”my lord, my master!”
And her thoughts were really verified, for Albert felt all the importance and responsibility of his new position in society. It seemed to him as if the young people already paid him more respect than heretofore, and that the old knights treated him more upon an equality since he had become the head of a family, and stood no longer alone in the world. The notions in the good old times were somewhat different to those in the present day respecting the marriage state, for the designation of n.o.bles and citizens was invariably supposed to include that of wife and children, leaving the state of celibacy to monks alone.
The knight of Lichtenstein, Maxx Stumpf von Schweinsberg, and the chancellor, were seated near the Duke, and the scribe to the Council of Ulm was not far from them, being allowed that honour in consequence of his having been the companion of the bridegroom at the wedding. The eyes of the men soon began to sparkle from the effects of the wine, and the cheeks of the ladies to a.s.sume a deeper red, when the Duke gave a signal to his headman, and the dinner was removed. The poor people were not forgotten on this occasion; as was always the case on similar rejoicings, the remains of the dinner were taken to the court yard of the castle, and delivered over to them. Pastry and fruit were next brought in, and the wine jugs were replenished by a better sort of the generous liquor for the use of the men, whilst Spanish sweet wine was served to the ladies in small silver cups. This was the moment when, according to the customs of the time, presents were presented to the new-married couple: large baskets were placed beside Bertha to receive them, and when the fiddlers and other musicians had re-tuned their instruments, and began a solemn march, a long brilliant procession moved forward in the hall. Pages of honour led the train, carrying embossed gold tankards and female ornaments of jewelry, as gifts from the Duke to the happy couple.
”May these tankards,” said Ulerich, addressing them, ”filled with generous liquor, circulate at the marriage feast of your children, and remind you of a man whom both of you served with truth and fidelity in his misfortune, of a Prince who in prosperity forgets not his faithful friends.”
Albert was astonished at the value of the presents. ”Your Grace's generosity overpowers us,” he replied; ”love and fidelity claim no reward but the approval of conscience, else they would be too often the price of venality.”
”Yes, truly, unless they spring from a source unadulterated by the alloy of all selfish motives, they are but pearls fit only to be thrown to swine,” replied the Duke, casting a look of reproof down the length of the table. ”We rejoice the more, therefore, to reward your disinterested fidelity, when all seemed to be lost to us. But look, your bride is in tears! I think I know their cause; they are produced by the remembrance of our late painful fate, which I have now recalled to her mind. But away with these tears; they are unpropitious to the day of your wedding. With permission! of your husband,” said he, turning to Bertha, ”I will now claim payment of an old debt.”
Bertha blushed, and cast an anxious look at Albert, fearing the repet.i.tion of a liberty which had once highly offended her. He, however, well knew what the Duke meant, for the scene which he had witnessed behind the door was still fresh in his recollection. Amused with the idea of rallying the Duke and his wife upon the subject, he said, ”My lord Duke, my wife and I being now one body and one soul, she has my permission to liquidate the debt which I know she owes you.”
”Answered as a fine young fellow,” returned Ulerich, goodnaturedly; ”and I have no doubt that many of our ladies here at table would have no objection to require payment of a similar debt from your handsome mouth; but my demand being addressed solely to the rosy lips of your wife, it refers to her alone.”
With these words, he rose and approached Bertha, who looked at her husband in a state of confusion and agitation. ”My lord Duke,” she said, in a low tone of voice, and holding her head away, ”I meant it only in joke--I beseech you!” But Ulerich would not be deterred from his purpose, and wrung his debt with interest from her pretty mouth.
The knight of Lichtenstein during this scene looked angrily, first at the Duke and then at his daughter, fearing his son-in-law might perhaps take umbrage at the liberty, as Ulerich von Hutten had done in a similar case. The chancellor appeared to enjoy a malicious pleasure upon the occasion, at the expense, as he thought, of the young man's feelings. ”Hi! hi! hi! I'll empty my gla.s.s to your good health,” said he to him. ”A pretty woman is an excellent pet.i.tioner in necessity; I wish you prosperity, dear and most worthy sir;--hi! hi! hi! there is no harm done in the presence of the husband.”
”No doubt of it,” replied Albert, calmly; ”and so much the more innocent because I was present when my wife promised his Grace this proof of her grat.i.tude. The Duke himself proposed to intercede for us with her father to make me his son-in-law, stipulating for this reward on the day of our nuptials.”
The Duke started in surprise at these words, and Bertha blushed again, when she thought of the scene which had occasioned the promise. Neither of them, however, contradicted him, deeming it perhaps unseemly, or rather impossible, to charge him with an untruth, or, what was more likely, suspecting they had been overheard.
The Duke could not forbear asking him aside how he came to know the circ.u.mstance. Albert acquainted him with it in a few words.
”You are a strange fellow,” whispered the Duke, smiling; ”what would have been the consequence had I committed the trespa.s.s?”
”As I did not know you at that time,” replied the other as softly, ”I should have run you through on the spot, and hung your body on the nearest oak.”
The Duke bit his lips and felt annoyed; but he took his friend's hand, and said, ”You would have been perfectly justified, and we should have been justly carried off in our sins. But look, they are bringing more offerings to the bride.”
The attendants of the knights and n.o.bles who had been invited to the wedding, appeared, carrying all kinds of curious household utensils, stuffs for wearing apparel, and such like. It being known in Stuttgardt that the feast was given in honour of the Duke's favourite, an emba.s.sy of burghers, worthy respectable men, dressed in black, with swords by their sides, short hair and long beards, had been appointed to offer their presents and congratulations upon the occasion. One carried an embossed silver goblet, another a large jug of the same metal ornamented with inlaid medallions and filled with wine. They first approached the Duke in great respect and bowed, and then turned to Albert von Sturmfeder.
The man who bore the goblet, having saluted the bridegroom with a cheerful smile on his countenance, said:
May joy attend the wedded pair, And bliss increasing be their share!
Accept this gift from Stuttgardt's town, And length of days your union crown.
'Tis generous wine that cheers the soul, So come, my comrade, fill the bowl.