My Lady Rotha: A Romance, Page 4

  CHAPTER III.

  THE BURGOMASTER'S DEMAND.

  As it turned out, the other party took the burden of decision from myshoulders. When I came out of chapel next morning, I found Hofman onthe terrace waiting for me, and with him Master Dietz wearing hisGeneva gown and a sour face. They wished to see my lady. I said itwas early yet, and tried to hold them in talk if only that I mightlearn what they would be at. But they repulsed my advances, saidthat they knew her excellency always transacted her business at thishour--which was perfectly true--and at last sent me to the parlourwhether I would or no.

  Under such circumstances I did not linger behind the screen, butadvanced at once, and interrupting Fraulein Max, who had just begun toread aloud, while my lady worked, said that the Burgomaster desiredthe honour of an interview with the Countess.

  The latter passed her needle once through the stuff, and then lookedup. 'Do you know what he wants, Martin?' she said in a quiet tone.

  I said I did not.

  She bent her head and worked for a moment in silence. Then she sighedgently, and without looking up, nodded to me. 'Very well, I will seehim here,' she said. 'But first send Grissel and Gretchen to wait onme. Let Franz bring two stools and place them, and bid him and Ernstkeep the door. My footstool also. And let the two Jacobs wait in thehall.'

  I gave the orders and took on myself to place two extra lackeys in thehall that we might not seem to be short of men. Then I went to theBurgomaster, and attended him and Master Dietz to the parlour.

  They bowed three times according to custom as they advanced, and mylady, taking one step forward, gave her hand to the Burgomaster tokiss. Then she stepped back and sat down, looking with a pleasant faceat the Minister. 'I would fain apologise for troubling yourexcellency,' the Mayor began slowly and heavily. 'But the times aretrying.'

  'Your presence needs no apology, Master Hofman,' my lady answered,smiling frankly. 'It is your right to see me on behalf of the town atall times. It would grieve me much, if you did not sometimes exercisethe privilege. And for Master Dietz, who may be able to assist us, Iam glad to see him also.'

  The Minister bowed low. The Burgomaster only puffed out his cheeks.Doubtless he felt that courage at the Red Hart and courage in mylady's parlour were two different things. But it was too late toretreat, for the Minister was there to report what passed; and after aglance at Dietz's face he proceeded. 'I am not here in a privatecapacity, if it please your excellency,' he said. 'And I beg yourexcellency to bear this in mind. I am here as Burgomaster, having onmy mind the peace of the town; which at present is endangered--verygreatly, endangered,' he repeated pompously.

  'I am sorry to hear that,' my lady answered.

  'Nevertheless it is so,' he replied with a kind of obstinacy.'Endangered by the presence of certain persons in the town, whosemanners are not conformable. These persons are Papists, and the town,your excellency remembers, is a Protestant town.'

  'Certainly I remember that,' my lady said gravely.

  'Hence of this combination, your excellency will understand, comes alikelihood of evil,' he continued. 'On which, hearing you took aninterest in these persons, however little deserved, it seemed to be myduty to lay the matter before you.'

  'You have done very rightly,' the Countess answered quietly. 'Do Iunderstand then, Master Hofman, that the Papists you complain of areconspiring to break the peace of the town?'

  The Burgomaster gasped. He was too obtuse to see at once that my ladywas playing with him. He only wondered how he had managed to convey sostrange a notion to her mind. He hastened to set her right. 'No--oh,no,' he said. 'There is no fear of that. There are but three of them.'

  'Are they presuming to perform their rites in public then?' my ladyrejoined. 'If so, of course it cannot be permitted. It is against thelaw of the town.'

  'No,' he answered, more slowly and more reluctantly as the drift ofher questions began to dawn upon him. 'I do not know that that is so.I have not heard that it is so. But they are Papists.'

  'Well, but with their consciences we have nothing to do!' she saidmore sharply. 'I confess, I fail as yet to see, Master Hofman, howthey threaten the peace of the town.'

  The Burgomaster stared. 'I do not know that they threaten itthemselves,' he said slowly. 'But their presence stirs up the people,if your excellency understands; and may lead, if the matter goes on,to a riot or worse.'

  'Ha! Now I comprehend!' my lady cried in a hearty tone. 'You fear yourconstables may fail to cope with the rabble?'

  He admitted that that was so.

  'And you desire such assistance as I can offer towards maintaining thelaw and protecting these persons; who have of course a right toprotection?'

  Master Hofman began to see whither he had been led, and glared at theCountess with his mouth wide open. But for the moment he could notfind a word to say. Never did I see a man look more at a loss.

  'Well, I must consider,' my lady resumed, her finger to her cheek.'Rest assured, you shall be supported. Martin,' she continued, turningto me, 'let word be sent to the four foresters at Gatz to come down tothe castle this evening. And send also to the charcoal-burners' camp.How many men should there be in it?'

  'Some half-score, my lady,' I answered, adding two-thirds to thetruth.

  'Ah? And let the huntsman come down and bring a couple of feeders.Doubtless with our own men, we shall be able to place a score orthirty at your disposal, Master Hofman, and stout fellows. These, withyour constables and such of the peaceful burghers as you see fit tocall to your assistance, should be sufficient to quell thedisorderly.'

  I could have laughed aloud, Master Hofman looked so confounded. Neverman had an air of being more completely taken aback. By offering herhelp to put down any mob, the Countess had deprived him of the plea hehad come to prefer; that he was afraid he could not answer for thesafety of the Papists, and that therefore they must withdraw or beexpelled. This he could no longer put forward, and consequently he wasdriven either to adopt my lady's line, or side openly with the partyof disorder. I saw his heavy face turn a deep red, and his jaw fall,as he grasped the situation. His wits worked slowly; and had he beenleft to himself, I do not doubt that he would have allowed things toremain as they were, and taken the part assigned to him.

  But Master Dietz, who had listened with a lengthening face, at thismoment interposed. 'Will your excellency permit me to say a fewwords?' he said.

  'I think the Burgomaster has made the matter clear,' my lady answered.

  'Not in one respect,' the Minister rejoined. 'He has not informed yourexcellency that in the opinion of the majority of the burghers andinhabitants of this town the presence of these people is an offenceand an eyesore.'

  'It is legal,' my lady answered icily. 'I do not know what opinion hasto do with it.'

  'The opinion of the majority.'

  'Sir!' my lady said, speaking abruptly and with heightened colour, 'inHeritzburg I am the majority, by your leave.'

  He frowned and set his face hard, but his eyes sank before hers.'Nevertheless your excellency will allow,' he said in a lower tone,'that the opinion of grave and orderly men deserves consideration?'

  'When it is on the side of law, every consideration,' the Countessanswered, her eyes sparkling. 'But when it is ranged against threedefenceless people in violation of the law, none. And more, MasterDietz,' she continued, her voice ringing with indignation, 'it is tocheck such opinion, and defend against it those who otherwise wouldhave no defence, that I conceive I sit here. And by my faith I will doit!'

  She uttered the last words with so much fire and with her beautifulface so full of feeling, that I started forward where I stood; and fora farthing would have flung Dietz through the window. The littleMinister was of a stern and hard nature, however. The nobility of mylady's position was lost upon him. He feared her less than he wouldhave feared a man under the same circumstances; and though he stoodcowed, and silenced for the moment, he presently returned to theattack.
/>
  'Your excellency perhaps forgets,' he said with a dry cough, 'that thetimes are full of bloodshed and strife, though we at Heritzburg havehitherto enjoyed peace. I suggest with respect therefore, is itprudent to run the risk of bringing these evils into the town for thesake of one or two Papists, whom it is only proposed to sendelsewhere?'

  My lady rose suddenly from her chair, and pointed with a finger, whichtrembled slightly, to the great window beside her. 'Step up here!' shesaid curtly.

  Master Dietz, wondering greatly, stepped on to the dais. Thence thered roofs of the town, some new and smart, and some stained and greywith lichens, and all the green valley stretching away to the darkline of wood, were visible, bathed in sunshine. The day was fine, theair clear, the smoke from the chimneys rose straight upward.

  'Do you see?' she said.

  The Minister bowed.

  'Then take this for answer,' she replied. 'All that you see is mine torule. It came to me by inheritance, and I prize the possession of it,though I am a woman, more highly than my life; for it came to me fromHeaven and my fathers. But were it a hundred times as large, MasterDietz--were there a house for every brick that now stands there, andan acre for every furrow, and sheep as many as birds in the air, eventhen I would risk all, and double and treble all, rather than desertthose whom my law defends, be they three, or thirty, or three hundred!Let that be your answer! And for the peace you speak of,' shecontinued, turning on a sudden and confronting us, her face aglow withanger, 'the peace, I mean, which you have hitherto enjoyed, it shouldshame you to hear it mentioned! Have the Papists harried you? Have yousuffered in life or limb, or property? No. And why? Because of myhonoured uncle, a Papist! For shame!--for shame, I say! As it has beendealt out to you, go and do to others!'

  But for the respect which held me in her presence, I could have cried'Huzza!' to her speech; and I can tell you, it made Master Ministerlook as small as a mouse. He stepped down from the dais with his facedark and his head trembling; and after that I never doubted that hewas at the bottom of the movement against the Worts, though theruffianly deserters I have mentioned supplied him with the tools,wanting which he might not have taken up the work. He stood a momenton the floor looking very black and grim, and with not a word to say,but I doubted he was not beaten. What line he would have taken,however, I cannot tell, for he had scarcely descended--my lady had notresumed her seat--when there rose from the court below a sudden babelof noise, the trampling of hoofs and feet on the pavement, and aconfused murmur of voices. For a moment I looked at my lady and she atme. It struck me that that at which the Burgomaster had hinted wascome to pass: that some of the town ragamuffins had dared to invadethe castle. The same idea doubtless occurred to her, for she stepped,though without any appearance of alarm, to the window, which commandeda side view of the terrace. She looked out.

  I, a little to her right, saw her smile: then in a moment she turned.'This could not be better,' she said, resuming in an instant herordinary manner. I think she was a little ashamed, as people ofquality are wont to be, of the feeling she had betrayed. 'I see someone below who will advise me, and who, if I am doing wrong, as youseem to fear, Master Burgomaster, will tell me of it. My cousin, theWaldgrave Rupert, whom I expected to-morrow, has arrived to-day. Begood enough to wait while I receive him, and I will then return toyou.'

  Bidding me have the two served with some refreshment, she stepped downfrom the dais, and withdrew with Fraulein Max and her women, leavingthe townsmen to discuss the new arrival with what appetite they might.

  They liked it little, I fancy. In a moment their importance was gone,their consequence at an end. The name of the Waldgrave Rupert madethem feel how small they were, despite their boasting, beside theyoungest member of the family. The very swish of my lady's robe as sheswept through the doorway flouted them, her departure was an offence;and this, following on the scolding they had received, produced asoreness and irritation in their minds, which ill-prepared them, Ithink, for the sequel.

  I have sometimes thought that had I remained with them, and paid themsome attentions, the end might have been different; but my dutiescalled me elsewhere. The house was in a ferment; I was wanted here andthere, both to give orders and to see them carried out. It was sometime before I was at liberty even to go to the hall whither my ladyhad descended to receive her guest, and where I found the two standingtogether on the hearth, under the great Red Hart which is thecognizance of the family.

  I had not seen the Waldgrave Rupert--a cadet of the noble house ofWeimar and my lady's cousin once removed--since his boyhood. I foundhim grown into a splendid man, as tall and almost as wide as myself;who used to be called in the old forest days before I entered mylady's service 'the strong man of Pippel.' As he stood on the hearth,fair-haired and ruddy-faced, with a noble carriage and a frank boyishsmile, I had seldom looked on a handsomer youth. He fell short of mylady's age by two years; but as I looked from one to the other, theyseemed so fitting a pair, the disparity went for nothing. He was youngand strong, full of spirit and energy and fire. Surely, I thought, theright man has come at last!

  In this belief I was more than confirmed when he came forward andgreeted me pleasantly, vowing that he remembered me well. His voiceand laugh seemed to fill the room; the very ring of his spurs on thestones gave assurance of power. I saw my lady look at him with an airof affectionate pride--she had seen him more lately than I had--as ifhis youth, and strength, and beauty already belonged to her. As forhis smile, it was infectious. We grew in a moment brighter, younger,and more cheerful. The house which yesterday had seemed quiet andlonesome--we were a small family for so great a dwelling--took on anew air. The servants went about their tasks more quickly, the maidslaughed behind doors. The place seemed in an hour transformed, as Ihave seen a valley in the mountains changed on a sudden by the risingof the sun.

  As a fact, when I had been in his presence five minutes, theBurgomaster and the Minister upstairs seemed as common and mean andinsignificant a pair of fellows as any in Germany. I wondered that Icould ever have feared them. The Countess had told him the story, andhe asked me one or two questions about them, his tone high, and hishead in the air. I answered him, and was for accompanying himupstairs, when he went to see them, with my lady by his side, and hiswhip slapping his great thigh boots until the staircase rang again.But my lady had an errand and sent me on it, and so I was not presentat the end of this interview which I had myself brought about.

  But I suppose that the scolding my lady had given them was no morethan a flea-bite beside the rating the young Waldgrave inflicted! Itwas notorious for a score of leagues round, and he told them so ingood round terms, that the Heritzburg land had been spared by friendand foe for Count Tilly's sake; for his sake and his alone--a Papist.How, then, he asked them, had they the face to do this dirty trick,and threaten my lady besides? With much more of the same kind, andhard words, not to say menaces; sparing neither Mayor nor Minister, sothat they went off at last like whipped dogs or thieves that have seenthe gallows.

  Afterwards something was said; but at the time no one missed them.Except by myself, scarce a thought was given to them after they wentout of the door. The house was all agog about the new-comer; thestill-room full of work and the chimneys smoking. The young lord waseverywhere, and the maids were mad about him. I had my hands full, andevery one in the house seemed to be in the same case. No one had timeto look abroad.

  Except Fraulein Anna Max, my lady's companion. I found her about fouro'clock in the afternoon sitting alone in the hall. She had a bookbefore her as usual, but on my entrance she pushed it away from her,and looked up at me, screwing up her eyes in the odd way peculiar toher.

  'Well, Master Steward,' she said--and her voice sounded ill-natured,'so the fire has been lit--but not by you.'

  'The fire?' I answered, utterly at a loss for the moment.

  'Ay,' she rejoined, with a bitter smile, 'the fire. Don't you hear itburning?'

  'I hear nothing,' I said coldly.

  'Go to
the terrace, and perhaps you will!' she answered.

  Her words filled me with a vague uneasiness, but I was too proud to gothen or seem to heed them. An hour or two later, however, when the sunwas half down, and the shadows of the chimneys lay far over the roofs,and the eastern woods were aglow, I went to the wall which bounds theterrace and looked down. The hum of the town came up to my ears as ithas come up to that wall any time these hundred years. But was Imistaken, or did there mingle with it this evening a harsher note thanusual, a rancorous murmur, as of angry voices; and something sterner,lower, and more menacing, the clamour of a great crowd?