Part 32 (1/2)
Eliza sat still motionless, and as if petrified. She had heard, as if in a dream, the captain's words; and, as if in a dream, she saw that Schroepfel rushed forward and raised his powerful arm against him, and that all the men crowded up to him with menacing gestures; as if in a dream, she heard wild shouts and imprecations.
All at once two ice-cold, trembling hands seized Eliza's arms, and a beloved voice penetrated her ear with the vehemence of mortal anguish and terror.
”Eliza!” cried this voice--”Eliza, will you allow them to kill him?”
”Elza!” murmured Eliza, as if starting up from a trance, ”Elza, what is the matter?”
”They will a.s.sa.s.sinate him, Eliza!” wailed Elza. ”They have tied and gagged him, and say that they will take him out and shoot him.
Eliza, you alone can save him! Have mercy, forget what he said in his rage and grief. Have mercy upon him, upon me! For I tell you, they will a.s.sa.s.sinate him. Oh, see, they are forming a circle round him, and dragging him down the aisle! They are taking him out to the public place! They intend to shoot him! Save him, Eliza, save him!”
Eliza made no reply; she sprang up from her seat and hastened down the aisle after the men, who were just issuing from the church-door, and in whose midst was walking Captain Ulrich von Hohenberg, conducted by Anthony Wallner, and his servant, lame old Schroepfel, his hands tied on his back, and a gag in his mouth.
But the sharpshooters surrounded the prisoner like a thick, impenetrable wall. Vainly did Eliza beg and implore the men to let her pa.s.s; vainly did she try with the strength of despair to elbow her way through the ranks. The men pushed her back impetuously.
”You shall not intercede. in behalf of the infamous villain,” they said; ”you shall not save the life of the mean Bavarian who calls us rebels and traitors, and yet did not keep his own word. He shall and must die, he has forfeited his life.” And their strong arms pushed her from the circle which they now formed on the large place in front of the church. In its middle stood the captain, by his side Anthony Wallner, and behind him Schroepfel, like a watch-dog ready at any moment to tear his enemy.
Anthony lifted his arm with slow, solemn tranquillity, and dropped it heavily on the captain's shoulder.
”Ulrich von Hohenberg,” he said, ”you are an infamous villain, for you pledged your word to my daughter that you would marry her, and now you repudiate her. You are a liar and a slanderer, for you call us infamous rebels and traitors merely because we fought for our country and our emperor. Therefore, you have sinned against G.o.d, man, and honor. Ulrich von Hohenberg, you must die!”
”Yes, you must die!” shouted the men; and they took the rifles from their shoulders and loaded them.
Anthony Wallner and Schroepfel stepped back from the prisoner, and the men who had stood behind him moved out of the way. Hence the circle, which had hitherto been impenetrable, now opened. Eliza saw it, and sprang forward, regardless of the sharpshooters, who were just raising their muskets, regardless of the danger menacing herself. Pale, with panting breath, her hands lifted to heaven, she sped across the open s.p.a.ce toward the captain, and, placing herself before him, exclaimed, with flas.h.i.+ng eyes, and in an exulting voice: ”Now shoot, men, shoot! For I tell you he shall not die alone, and if you shoot him, you shall kill me too.”
”Eliza!” cried her father, beseechingly, and withal angrily, ”Eliza, stand back! He is a traitor, and must die.”
”He is no traitor, nor must he die; and if you a.s.sa.s.sinate him you shall a.s.sa.s.sinate me too,” cried Eliza.
”But, Lizzie, did you not hear, then, how he repudiated and abused you, the faithless Bavarian?” asked her father.
”I did, and I forgive him,” she said gently, ”for I know full well that he does not mean what he says. Are you so stupid, men, as not to comprehend that he cannot act otherwise, and that he must speak thus and not otherwise? Father, you said I was a true daughter of the Tyrol, and that you loved me and were content with me. I pray you, then, dearest father, spare the life of my betrothed until to- morrow morning, and have him taken back as a prisoner to our house until then. Schroepfel may watch him, and not take his eyes from him. Oh, dear, kind friends, brave men, have mercy upon me! Bear in mind that we fought together for our beloved country, and that you told me you would never forget me, and would comply with my wishes whenever you could. I wish now that you spare the life of my betrothed only until to-morrow morning.”
”He says he is not your betrothed, Lizzie, and will never marry you!” exclaimed the men, with irresolute faces, and already half softened by the beseeching, touching expression of Eliza's countenance.
”He says so,” she said, casting a fiery glance on the captain, who stood pale and motionless, heard every word, and was unable to make a reply; ”he says so, but I know that he loves me, and will be joyously ready to-morrow morning to do what I ask of him. Father,”
she added, in a low voice, seizing Anthony Wallner's arm, and drawing him aside quickly, ”do you not comprehend, then, that Ulrich cannot speak differently? Would not his king, after his return to Bavaria, p.r.o.nounce him a traitor, and charge him with having joined us and the Austrians, and with having convicted himself by marrying a Tyrolese girl? Be wise, dearest father, and see how shrewdly Ulrich manages every thing, and that he acts precisely as I told him. It must look as though he did not marry me of his own accord, but compelled by you; otherwise his king and his father, who is a very proud man, would never forgive him. But when they hear what has occurred here, and that you threatened to shoot Ulrich because he would not marry me, the gentlemen at Munich will understand that Ulrich had to take me in order to save his life.”
”And are you satisfied to have it look as though he married you only under compulsion?” asked her father, gloomily.
”I am, father,” she said, ”for I love my betrothed; and he shall not become unhappy for my sake and forfeit the good graces of his king and his father. State all this to your friends, dear father, and tell them to let Ulrich and me alone for to-day; but ask them all to come to our house to-morrow morning and accompany the bride and bridegroom to the church, for Ulrich will marry me at nine to-morrow morning.”
”But, Lizzie, why not to-day?” asked her father. ”Why not at this hour?”
”It will not do, father. If you had told me beforehand what was to be done here, I should have told you at once what I am telling you now: it will not do for a young girl to appear before G.o.d's altar without due preparation, and as though she were going to a dance.
What I am going to do is something very serious, and I will do it seriously. I will pray to G.o.d to-day, go to confession, and have a great many things to talk over with Ulrich, for I know he wants me to set out with him immediately after we have been married, and that it may not look as though he had stayed voluntarily with you in our valley. I must, therefore, pack up my things and prepare for departing as soon as we have been married. Let us alone, then, dear father, to-day, and invite the men to come to-morrow morning and attend my marriage with Captain Ulrich von Hohenberg.”
”Well, then, Lizzie, I will comply with your wishes,” said Wallner, after a short reflection. ”I will give you and him time until to- morrow morning; but I tell you, my daughter, if he continues the same game to-morrow, and talks then in the same strain as to-day, I shall take the jest in dead earnest, and will not believe a word of all you say to excuse him: and then his life is forfeited, and he must die.--No, Schroepfel, come here; take the prisoner back to my house, and confine him where you have kept him for a week past. But I tell you, watch him well, and admit no one to him except Lizzie, and prevent him from talking with anybody but his betrothed.”