Part 37 (2/2)

The other burgher then filled the goblet with wine from the jug he carried, and whilst his companion drank it out, p.r.o.nounced:

A cask full stands before your door, The best of Stuttgardt's wine in store; And force of body, strength of soul, Lie deep within the brimful bowl: Then drain the cup and find them there, So Stuttgard has obtained her prayer.

Having finished his draught, and replenished the goblet, he repeated the following lines:

Be this your toast when you carouse, ”Long live the Duke and all his house.”

Drain to the dregs, then, fill the wine, ”To Sturmfeder and Lichtenstein;”

And may we hope that, as you drink, You will on Stuttgardt's burghers think.

Albert gave the men both his hands and thanked them for their acceptable presents; Bertha saluted their wives, and the Duke also received them graciously. They laid the silver jug and the goblet in the basket along with the other gifts, retiring respectfully and with solemn step out of the hall. But the burghers were not the only ones to tender their congratulations and manifest their regard for the Duke, in this marked attention to his favourite. Scarcely had they taken their departure, when a disturbance was observed at the door where the lansquenet were on guard, which attracted the notice of the Ulerich.

Men's voices were heard swearing and ordering the crowd to obedience to their commands, among which were mingled the voices of women, and one in particular the loudest and most violent was recognized by some of the company at the upper end of the table.

”I declare that is the voice of our Rosel,” whispered old Lichtenstein to his son-in-law: ”what can her business be about?”

The Duke despatched one of his pages to find out the cause of the noise, and received for answer that some countrywomen were trying to force their way into the hall to present their gifts to the new married couple in spite of the lansquenet, who would not permit them to enter, only because they were common people. Ulerich gave orders immediately to admit them, for, having been pleased with the conduct of the burghers, he promised himself some amus.e.m.e.nt from the peasants. The attendants having made room for them to pa.s.s, Albert, to his astonishment, recognized the wife of the fifer of Hardt, and her pretty daughter, led by her cousin, Mrs. Rosel.

When he was pa.s.sing from the castle to the church, he thought he recognised the lovely features of the girl of Hardt among the crowd; but more important considerations having engrossed his whole attention, this fleeting apparition was obliterated from his mind. He acquainted the company who the women were, and to whom they belonged. The girl excited great interest, from her being the child of that man whose marvellous actions in the service of the Duke had often been a subject of mystery, and whose fidelity and a.s.sistance in time of need contributed essentially to Ulerich's return to his country. The girl had the fair hair, the open forehead, and much the same features of her parent; but the sharp cunning eye, the bold and powerful bearing of the father, were softened into a playful kindliness and natural gaiety which shed a charm around the retiring modesty of his child. As such Albert had known her, when he was in the fifer of Hardt's house, but she now appeared disconcerted before so many persons of rank; it struck him also that her countenance betrayed dejection and sorrow, feelings he had not discovered before on her beautiful features.

Her mother, knowing what good manners were, courtesied all the way up from the entrance door till she arrived at the Duke's chair. The blush of anger still rested upon the wan cheeks of Mrs. Rosel, who felt herself highly aggrieved and insulted by the lansquenet, namely by the Magdeburger and Casper Staberl, who had called her an old withered stick. Before she could compose herself, and present the family of her brother in respectful form to her master, the fifer's wife had already taken the hem of the Duke's mantle and pressed it to her lips. ”Good day, my Lord Duke,” she said, with deep reverence, ”how are you since you have been in Stuttgardt? my husband sends you his compliments. But we don't come to the Duke, no, it is to the knight there,” she added, as if recollecting herself, pointing to Albert; ”we have brought a wedding present for his wife. There she sits, Barbelle, as large as life.”

Mrs. Rosel, confounded at the unceremonious conduct of her sister-in-law before such an august audience, checked her loquacity by saying, ”I most humbly beg pardon of your grace, for having brought these people here,--they are the wife and daughter of the fifer of Hardt; pray do not take it ill, your highness, the woman means well, I a.s.sure you.”

The Duke was more amused with the excuses of Mrs. Rosel than with the blunt language of her sister. ”How is your husband?” said he to the countrywoman, ”will he visit us soon? why did he not come with you?”

”He has his reasons, sir,” she replied; ”if war breaks out, he'll certainly not stay at home, for then he may be of some use; but in peaceable times, why he thinks it is not becoming to eat cherries with great folks.”

The navete of the plump matron almost drove Mrs. Rosel to desperation: she pulled her by the petticoat, and by the long tails of hair, but to no purpose. The wife of the fifer went on talking, to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of the Duke and his guests, whose irresistible laughter, which her answers elicited, appeared only to increase her happiness and good humour. Barbelle in the meantime, playing with the handle of a little basket she held in her hand, scarcely ventured occasionally to raise her eyes to look at that face which she had beheld with such tender sympathy when she nursed Albert during the long period of his fever. The impression which those days had left on her mind still remained in all its vigour, and the sight of him who had unawares made an inroad into the recesses of her heart, made her fearful of meeting his eye. She heard him say to his wife, ”That is the kind girl who nursed me when I lay ill in her father's house, and who conducted me part of the way to Lichtenstein.”

Bertha turned to her, and took her hand with great kindness. The girl trembled, and her cheeks a.s.sumed a deep blush. She opened her little basket, and presented a piece of beautiful linen, with a few bundles of flax, as fine and soft as silk. She attempted in vain to speak, but kissing the hand of the young bride, a tear fell upon her nuptial ring.

”Eh, Barbelle!” scolded Mrs. Rosel, ”don't be so timid and nervous.

Gracious young lady,--I would say gracious madame,--have compa.s.sion on her; she comes but seldom into the presence of quality folks. There is no one so good who has not two dispositions, says the proverb; the girl can be otherwise as merry and cheerful as larks in spring.”

”I thank you, Barbelle,” said Bertha: ”your linen is very acceptable and very fine. Did you spin it yourself?”

The girl smiled through her tears, and nodded a yes! to speak at that moment appeared to her impossible. The Duke liberated her from this embarra.s.sment only to place her in another still greater. ”The fifer of Hardt has truly a very pretty child,” he cried, and beckoned to her to approach nearer, ”well grown and lovely to behold! only look, chancellor, how well the red bodice and short petticoat become her.

Could not we, Ambrosius Bolland, issue an edict for all the beauties in Stuttgardt to adopt this neat dress?”

The chancellor's countenance became distorted into a hideous smile: he examined the blus.h.i.+ng maiden from head to foot with his little green eyes; and said, ”Certainly, a very good reason could be given, by which an ell might be spared in the length of petticoats, for, as your grace a few years back ordered the weights and measures to be reduced, you have also the right, by all the rules of logic, to shorten the dress of females. But nothing would be gained by it, for--hi! hi! hi! you would see that what was cut off from the bottom, our beauties would be obliged to add above. And who knows whether the ladies would willingly agree to that? They belong to the genus of peac.o.c.ks, who, you know, don't like to shew their legs.”

”You are right, Ambrosius;” the Duke laughed; ”nothing escapes a learned man! But tell me, my dear, have you got a sweetheart?”

”Ah! what? your grace!” interrupted the round matron, sharply. ”Who would talk about such like things to a child! She is a very good girl, your highness.”

The Duke paid no attention to this remark; he enjoyed the embarra.s.sment which was visibly manifest in the chaste features of the innocent girl, who sighed softly, and, playing with the ends of the coloured ribands of her plaited hair, sent an involuntary look to Albert, which seemed to claim his kind offices in her present perplexity, and then suddenly cast her eyes down to the ground. The Duke, alive to every thing that was pa.s.sing, laughed aloud, in which he was joined by the rest of the men. ”Young woman,” he said to Bertha, ”you may now with justice take part in the jealousy of your husband; if you had seen what I just saw, you might imagine and interpret all kind of things.”

Bertha smiled, and, sympathising with Barbelle in her embarra.s.sment, felt how painful the taunts of the men must be to her. Whispering to old Rosel, she told her to take the mother and daughter away. The Duke's sharp eye remarked this also, which his merry mood attributed to jealousy on the part of Bertha. She however unclasped a beautiful cross, set in gold and red stones, which she wore on her neck, attached to a chain, and presenting it to the astonished girl, said, ”I thank you with all my heart, my dear Barbelle, for your kindness to my husband; remember me to your father, and come often to us here and in Lichtenstein. What say you, would you like to be in my service? I would endeavour to make you happy, and you would live with your aunt Rosel.”

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