t at this without raising his eyes from
the bowl.

"Yes, good," said Katherine, "I know what thou meanest, Fritz, and that
it is none of my business to be thrusting my finger into the Baron's
dish. But to hear the way that dear little child spoke when she was here
this morn--it would have moved a heart of stone to hear her tell of all
his pretty talk. Thou wilt try to let the red-beard know that that poor
boy, his son, is sick to death in the black cell; wilt thou not, Fritz?"

The swineherd dropped his wooden spoon into the bowl with a clatter.
"Potstausand!" he cried; "art thou gone out of thy head to let thy wits
run upon such things as this of which thou talkest to me? If it should
come to our Lord Baron's ears he would cut the tongue from out thy head
and my head from off my shoulders for it. Dost thou think I am going to
meddle in such a matter as this? Listen! these proud Baron folk, with
their masterful ways, drive our sort hither and thither; they beat us,
they drive us, they kill us as they choose. Our lives are not as much
to them as one of my black swine. Why should I trouble my head if they
choose to lop and trim one another? The fewer there are of them the
better for us, say I. We poor folk have a hard enough life of it without
thrusting our heads into the noose to help them out of their troubles.
What thinkest thou would happen to us if Baron Henry should hear of our
betraying his affairs to the Red-beard?"

"Nay," said Katherine, "thou hast naught to do in the matter but to tell
the Red-beard in what part of the castle the little Baron lies."

"And what good would that do?" said Fritz, the swineherd.

"I know not," said Katherine, "but I have promised the little one that
thou wouldst find the Baron Conrad and tell him that much."

"Thou hast promised a mare's egg," said her husband, angrily. "How shall
I find the Baron Conrad to bear a message to him, when our Baron has
been looking for him in vain for two days past?"

"Thou has found him once and thou mayst find him again," said Katherine,
"for it is not likely that he will keep far away from here whilst his
boy is in such sore need of help."

"I will have nothing to do with it!" said Fritz, and he got up from the
wooden block whereon he was sitting and stumped out of the house. But,
then, Katherine had heard him talk in that way before, and knew, in
spite of his saying "no," that, sooner or later, he would do as she
wished.

Two days later a