Part 55 (2/2)
”Why do you say 'G.o.d be praised'?” asked Andreas, in surprise.
”G.o.d be praised that I am not the husband of this jealous woman. She will torment her husband to death, and leave him not a moment's repose before be dies.”
”It is true, she does not seem to be very gentle,” said Andreas, smiling. ”But then, Cajetan, she loves her husband dearly, is doubtless a virtuous woman, and will never sin against the seventh commandment. Well, my friend, do not grumble so much, but go and admit another person.”
CHAPTER x.x.xVI.
THE LOVERS.
Doeninger went to the door and opened it, and a beautiful young girl slipped immediately into the room. ”Hush, hush,” she whispered to Doeninger; ”do not say anything to him.” And she hastened on tiptoe to Andreas Hofer, who was reading once more with close attention the proclamation which he had dictated to Doeninger.
She bent down and kissed the hand in which Hofer held the paper.
”G.o.d bless you, dear, great father and liberator of the people!” she said, in a silver voice.
”Lizzie Wallner!” exclaimed Andreas, joyfully, casting aside the paper. ”Yes, by the Eternal, it is she! It is Lizzie, the dearest child of my best friend--the most heroic girl in the Tyrol. Come, Lizzie, embrace your second father, Andy, and give me a kiss for father and mother, and one for yourself, my dear girl.”
Eliza encircled Hofer's neck, and imprinted a tender kiss on his lips. ”G.o.d bless you, dear father, for you are the father of the whole Tyrol,” she whispered, ”and must not scold me for calling you my father too.”
”On the contrary, it gladdens my heart,” exclaimed Andreas, folding her tenderly to his breast. ”It seems to me as though I were holding one of my own girls in my arms, and as though I heard her dear voice calling me father. Lizzie, I can tell you I often long for my pretty daughters and their mother, Anna Gertrude, and sometimes I feel very lonely indeed.”
”And why do you not send for your wife and children, father Andy, and have them brought here? I am sure there is room enough for them in this large house.”
” No, they shall stay at home,” exclaimed Andreas, vehemently. ”The mother must attend to household affairs, and keep every thing in good order, and the girls must help her do it. Otherwise all would go amiss, and when I should have no longer to work for the emperor here, and went back to my home, the inn in the Pa.s.seyr valley would be worthless; we should be dest.i.tute, and become beggars. Besides, I do not want my girls to become proud, and think they are aristocratic young ladies now, because their father is commander-in- chief of the Tyrol, and the emperor's lieutenant. We are peasants, and will remain peasants. However, let us speak no more of myself, but of you, Lizzie. Where do you come from, what do you want here, and how did you get into the midst of the crowd in the audience- room?”
”I came to see you, father Andreas. I asked the sentinel in the pa.s.sage outside where I would find you, as I had to see you on important business. The sentinel told me to enter the audience-room.
It was already crowded with persons who wished to see you, and who told me that one was admitted to you after another; but, on hearing that I had come all the way from Windisch-Matrey, and had walked two days and two nights without intermission, they took pity on me, and would not let me wait until my turn came, but allowed me to advance close to the door, so as to be the first to enter your room.”
”The people of Innspruck are very kind-hearted indeed,” exclaimed Andreas, joyously. ”Then you have come all the way from Windisch- Matrey, Lizzie? And where is your father?”
”He and his sharpshooters joined Joachim Haspinger and Joseph Speckbacher, and the united forces of the three commanders marched against the Bavarians. Father and his seven hundred sharpshooters expelled the Bavarians from the Unken valley, and is now encamped near Berchtesgaden and Reichenhall. Speckbacher is stationed at Neuhauser and Schwarzbach, and Haspinger is still at Werfen. They are going to reunite their forces and advance against the Bavarians, in order, if possible, to drive them from the pa.s.s of Lueg, which the enemy has occupied with a large force.”
”And you are not with your father, Lizzie, nor with your friend the Capuchin, who speaks of you only as a heroine? You no longer carry the wounded out of the thickest of the fight, to dress their wounds and nurse them?”
”I have another duty to fulfil now, and my father has permitted me to come to you in regard to it, dear father Andreas Hofer. I am in great distress, and you alone, dear, all-powerful commander-in-chief of the Tyrol, are able to help me.”
”Tell me quick, Lizzie, what can I do for you ?” asked Andreas, eagerly. ”I owe you yet a reward for your heroic deed on the day of the hay-wagons, and I should like to discharge this debt of the fatherland. Tell me, therefore, dear girl what can I do for you?”
”You can restore to me the dearest friend I have on earth,” said Eliza, beseechingly. ”You can deliver a patriotic girl from Bavarian captivity, and an excellent n.o.bleman, who has done no other wrong than that he possesses a loyal Tyrolese heart, from grief and despair.”
”I will do so with all my heart,” exclaimed Andreas; ”only tell me, Lizzie, whom you refer to.”
”I refer to Baron von Hohenberg, who lived at the castle of Windisch-Matrey, and his daughter, my dear and only friend Elza. The old baron was always a very pious and affable gentleman, a benefactor and father of the poor; and not a poor man, not a woman in distress applied to him, but whom he willingly relieved and a.s.sisted. He lived for twenty years in the Tyrol, at his castle at Windisch-Matrey, and became in this manner an ardent son of the Tyrol, although he is a native of Bavaria, and his whole aristocratic family lives in Munich. His daughter Elza is my dearest friend; we grew up together, and I am so fond of her that I would readily give up my heart's blood for her. Now, think of it, dear Andy! the Bavarians, on returning to the Tyrol two months ago, made the two prisoners, the dear old baron and my Elza, and carried them as hostages to Munich; they charged them there with high-treason, because they stood faithfully by the Tyrol, and because, at the very outset of the insurrection, the Bavarian soldiers and their captain were surrounded at their castle and compelled to lay down their arms.”
”Yes, yes, I know the story,” exclaimed Andreas, gayly; ”it was an heroic deed by which Anthony Wallner inaugurated our glorious war of liberation. And now the mean Bavarians call the good Baron von Hohenberg a traitor, when he was quite innocent of the whole affair, and was not even at home when it took place. They say he left his castle at the time in order not to prevent the Tyrolese from capturing the Bavarians, and that he was aware of the plans of the Tyrolese, and should have warned the Bavarians. But I say that he acted like a good patriot, and they ought neither to charge him with treason nor imprison him and his daughter.”
”Ah, and both long so intensely to return to their dear Tyrol and their castle! Elza wrote me a letter which I received a week ago, and tears had blotted out half of its contents. Both feel so wretched in the large city of Munich; their aristocratic relatives upbraid them constantly for their hostility to the Bavarians; the confinement and prison-air have already made the old baron quite sick, and Elza thinks he will surely die of grief if he is not soon released and allowed to go home. Therefore, I implore you, dear, all-powerful commander-in-chief of the Tyrol, save the old baron's life, restore my Elza to me, and release them both from their captivity. This is what I came for, father Andy; and if you think that I have ever done any thing for the fatherland that deserves thanks and a reward, thank and reward me by releasing Elza and her father from their captivity and allowing them to return to their home.”
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