CHAP. XI.
The state of feverish anxiety into which Aage had been thrown, hadcalled the colour into his cheek, and restored the appearance of healthto his countenance. In the spacious apartment appropriated to thefemale inmates of the castle, where strangers were received, and wherethe household assembled on holidays before divine service, Aage andMaster Petrus were received by the aged mistress of the castle, whoherself presented the guests their warm morning drink in cups ofpolished silver. At a large round table in the middle of the apartment,which was covered with a white fringed woollen table-cloth, sat the twoGerman minstrels, with the smoking cups before them, in pleasantconverse with the ladies. Ulrica questioned them, with curiosity, oftheir visits to foreign princes, in whose praise and exaltation MasterRumelant was as inexhaustible as he was unwearied in reckoning up allthe honour he had gained by his lays with these "excellent lords, hisaugust and most gracious patrons."
Margaretha also took part in the conversation with the strangers; butshe was more modest in her queries. She was much more interested intheir art than in the good fortune they had sought and obtained by itfrom the great. The solemn Master Poppe favoured her with a detailedaccount of the genius and lays of the famous Minnesingers, whose mostflourishing period Master Poppe asserted could only be supposed by theignorant to have passed away. He affirmed, on the contrary, that thenoble art of minstrelsy had only now for the first time fully developeditself on higher themes,--in the praise of moral truth and seraphicbeauty. Minstrels no longer repeated the monotonous praises of verdantMay, or of the beauty of earthly females and vain loves, but now in thesame, or even in a more regular measure, sang moral or religious themesand important theological dogmas. He could not, however, deny that theancient love songs possessed a degree of pathos and animation whicheven his good friends Master Henrick Frauenlob and a certain MasterRegenbogen, as well as the famous schoolmaster of Esslingen, with alltheir learning, vainly strove to attain. Meanwhile he deemed it veryfortunate that, as princes and emperors no longer, as in former times,devoted themselves to the noble art of minstrelsy, now cultivatedchiefly by the honest burgher class, there still were lords andprinces, like the King of Denmark, to honour and encourage the art, andthat the minstrel's lay yet resounded in knightly halls and in theapartments of noble ladies. He lauded the poetic spirit of thechivalrous poetry of Denmark, but still considered it, as well as thelove songs, too vain and worldly; a charge which Margaretha took muchto heart, although she readily admitted to the learned minstrel, thatall the Danish ballads she knew and admired treated of love adventures;not a single one on scriptural or theological subjects.
When Drost Aage entered the ladies' apartment, Margaretha rose toreturn his greeting, and observed, with some uneasiness, that he hadthrown aside his sling. Her attention to Master Poppe's discourse wasat an end, and she entreated him to excuse, that she, as an attendanton a wounded patient, had an occupation which could not be postponed."Pardon me, Sir Drost!" she said to Aage, and pointed to his unswathedarm. "This is not according to agreement; yet you seem to have the useof your arm," she added, when she perceived how easily he moved it."The wound is healed in some sort. With caution you may use it, inmoderation. But the stiff neck bandage----"
"That I shall wear in remembrance of you, until we meet again, noblemaiden!" answered Aage; "although I almost think it might be dispensedwith. Within an hour I must leave the castle. That I am able to do so Iowe to your skill and unwearied care. I think soon to see my noblemaster the king," he added, in a low voice, as he drew her to a recessin the window fronting the castle garden; "but the suitable time foreffecting any thing towards your liberation is, alas! hardly come asyet."
"We ask no clemency from our earthly judges, but only that which isjust and reasonable," answered Margaretha, with calm seriousness. "Ishould have thought all times were equally convenient to a goodsovereign for hearing the justification of the innocent."
"It would grieve me deeply, noble Lady Margaretha!" said Aage, "if myjust-intentioned sovereign were for a moment to seem unjust in youreyes; but your case now appears dark and intricate to those who arenot, as I am, acquainted with your pious sentiments and admirableconduct. It is known that the traitorous squire Kagge was in yourcompany--your unfortunate confidence in that miscreant broughtsuspicion on your innocence, and places you under a cloud; but, by theliving Lord! I will justify you. If earthly justice is blind, thejudgment of Heaven and my knightly sword shall surely open her eyes!"
"No, dear Drost!" exclaimed Margaretha, half alarmed; "if you willperil your precious life in any cause, let it be in that higher andmore important one to which you have dedicated it, but not for the fateof two insignificant captives. To suffer injustice is, besides, surelynot the greatest misfortune," she added, with a look of mildness andlove, as she raised her long-fringed eyelids, and gazed through thewindow panes up to the clear heavens. "Do not hasten rashly for oursake; we will willingly wait for the Lord and for his appointed hour.When we think but on the injustice our Lord suffered for our sakes, wemay surely bear our little cross throughout a short life for his sake.The blessing of Heaven be with you, noble Drost Aage!" she continued;"heartfelt thanks for the kindness with which you have rendered ourcaptivity imperceptible. We shall miss you very much. I shall, nodoubt, forget how to play at chess; but what we have spoken together atthe chessboard I can never forget. The sweet ballads you taught me Ishall also remember; and when we maidens talk of Florez andBlantseflor, we will remember you also, and the quiet evenings by thehearth here, and all the beautiful tales of chivalry you told us. Ifthe king comes hither in the spring, as they say, you will surely comewith him?"
"Perhaps," answered Aage; "at any rate I will please myself with thathope. But where the king or his true knights will be in the spring ithardly lies in his power to determine, noble maiden. It is a dangerousand troublous time. May the Lord order all things for us for the best!"
"He will do so assuredly, and always, dear Drost!" said Margaretha, ina confiding and friendly tone, as she laid her hand on his right arm,which rested on the casement of the large window. "Even that whichseems worst and most unfortunate to us turns out at last to be thebest, if no sin be in it. This captivity, which a few weeks backappeared so terrible to me, hath notwithstanding been the happiest timeI have passed since my father and mother died."
"Sweet Margaretha!" whispered Aage, with subdued fervour, laying hisleft hand on hers, which still rested upon his right arm; "dare I hopeI have the smallest share in that heavenly peace and joy which I dailysee beaming from your meek and loving eyes? Your hope and peace aredoubtless drawn from the fountain of Eternal Life; such joys come notto you from any human source."
"In every noble and pious heart assuredly there shines a ray from yonsource of Eternal Life!" answered Margaretha; "though its deepestsource be hid in the heart of the Redeemer, which bled for our sakes,that it might include every soul in its unfathomable depths of graceand commiserating love."
"Most precious of beings!" exclaimed Aage, with overflowing emotion;"dare I hope that which I dare not utter?" He paused; then added, in acalmer tone, "Will you, then, really miss me at times, and sing thesongs I taught you?"
"Indeed, indeed I will--but the stranger guest would talk with you, SirDrost!" interrupted Margaretha, hastily, and blushing as she withdrewher hand. "As I told you," she added aloud, as she stepped forward withAage out of the recess, and vainly sought to hide her bashfulness andconfusion; "the bandage round your neck you must keep on, and the slingto support your arm."
"If it is convenient to you. Sir Drost!" said Master Petrus, who hadmodestly approached, without interrupting his conversation with thefair maiden, "we might now perhaps conclude our affairs in your privatechamber."
"I will attend you instantly, venerable Sir! Permit me but a partingword to the noble and hospitable hostess."
"And to me also, surely, Sir Drost! although we have never been exactlyable to agree?" interrupted Ulrica, rising
from the table, where MasterRumelant's panegyrics on his excellent lords and Mecaenases alreadybegan to weary her.
After many reciprocal expressions of courtesy, which, however, were notwanting in sincerity and heartfelt goodwill, the Drost left the ladies'apartment with Master Petrus; but the object on which his eye lingeredthe longest was the fair Lady Margaretha. As it rang for mass inVordingborg town, Drost Aage, clad in complete armour, rode out of thecastle gate at the head of two thirds of the garrison of the fortress.At the same time the lady of the castle drove to church with the twocaptive maidens. At the cross-road before the fortress Drost Aage oncemore turned round and saluted the ladies in the car. He observed withpleasure a white veil waving from the car in the meek Margaretha'shand. The car was followed to church by Sir Ribolt, accompanied by thethree strangers on horseback.
"Whither goes the Drost, with all those men-at-arms, Sir Ribolt?" askedUlrica, inquisitively, as she put her head out of the car; "there issurely neither war nor rebellion here?"
"They go but to rid the land of the outlaws and other vagabonds,"answered Sir Ribolt. "The assassin who attacked the Drost it seems hathbeen taken already," he added, in a careless tone, without recollectingthe connection of the captive maidens with these turbulent and hatedcharacters, and without remarking that the lively querist turned pale.
"What ails thee, sweet child? Canst thou not endure to sit backward?"asked the watchful mistress of the castle. "Come, change places withme; I can bear it."
"Ah, let me sit quiet!" sighed Ulrica, drawing her veil over her face."Margaretha! Margaretha!" she whispered, clinging to her sister; "mydream! my dream! He is taken! His life is in peril!"
"Hush! hush! dearest sister!" whispered Margaretha; "it is but arumour. We will now pray for him and for all sinful souls. See,--theblessed Lord still permits his mild sun to shine upon us all."
The car rolled past a troop of richly attired burghers on their way tochurch, who greeted the ladies with courtesy. Ulrica recovered herself,and nodded to them with a consequential air. They whispered together,and she conjectured that their talk was, doubtless, of her beauty andsupposed high birth.
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