"That shall be a promise, lovely, ungracious maiden," the recruiting
officer quickly answered. But the old man was already waving his hat
again, his horse dashed upon the Haidplatz at a gallop, and his
companion, with gallant bearing, followed.

Barbara had then gone back into the house, and the maid-servant lighted
her upstairs.

It had become perfectly dark in her rooms, and the solitude and silence
there oppressed her like a hundredweight burden. Besides, terrible
thoughts had assailed her, showing her herself in want and shame,
despised, disdained, begging for a morsel of bread, and her father under
his fallen horse, on his lonely, couch of pain, in his coffin.

Then her stay in her lonely rooms seemed unendurable. She would have lost
her reason ere Quijada came at midnight to conduct her for a short time
to the Golden Cross. She could not remain long with her lover, because
the servants were obliged to be up early in the morning on account of the
regent's departure.

With Ursel she would be protected from the terrors of solitude, for,
besides the old woman's voice, a man's tones also reached her through the
open window. It was probably the companion of her childhood. In his
society she would most speedily regain her lost peace of mind.

In his place she had at first found only Erasmus Eckhart.

The strong, bold boy had become a fine-looking man.

A certain gravity of demeanour had early taken possession of him, and
while his close-shut lips showed his ability to cling tenaciously to a
resolution, his bright eyes sparkled with the glow of enthusiasm.

Barbara could believe in this young man's capacity for earnest, lofty
aspiration, and for that very reason it had aroused special displeasure
in her mind when he gaily recalled the foolish pranks, far better suited
to a boy, into which as a child she had often allowed herself to be
hurried.

She felt as if, in doing so, he was showing her a lack of respect which
he would scarcely have ventured toward a young lady whom he esteemed, and
the petted singer, whom no less a personage than the Emperor Charles
deemed worthy of his love, was unwilling to tolerate such levity from so
young a man.

She made no claim to reverence, but she expected admiration and the
recognition of being an unusual person, who was great in her own way.

For the sake of the monarch who raised her to his side, she owed it to
herself to show, even in her outward bearing, that she did n