cruelty of Fate that had prematurely robbed her of what had been to him
her dearest charm.

Before he went to Prebrunn, Dr. Mathys had counselled him not to forget
during the disagreeable reception awaiting him that he was dealing with
an irritable invalid, and the thoroughly noble man resolved to remember
it as an excuse. The Emperor Charles should learn only that Barbara
refused to submit to his arrangements, that his harshness deeply wounded
her and excited her quick temper. He was unwilling to expose himself
again to an outburst of her rage, and he would therefore intrust to
another the task of rendering her more docile, and this other was Wolf
Hartschwert.

A few days before he had visited the recovering knight, and obtained from
him a decision whose favourable nature filled him with secret joy
whenever he thought of it.

Wolf had already learned from the valet Adrian the identity of the person
to whom he had been obliged to yield precedence in Barbara's heart, and
how generously Quijada had kept silence concerning the wound which he had
dealt him. When Don Luis freely forgave him for the unfortunate
misunderstanding for which he, too, was not wholly free from blame, Wolf
had thrown himself on his knees and warmly entreated him to dispose of
him, who owed him more than life, as he would of himself. Then, opening
his whole heart, he revealed what Barbara had been to him, and how,
unable to control his rage, he had rushed upon him when he thought he had
discovered, in the man who had just asked him to go far away from the
woman he loved, her betrayer.

After this explanation, Quijada had acquiesced in the knight's wish that
he should give him the office offered on that luckless evening, and he
now felt disposed also to intrust to him further negotiations with the
singer.

In the report made to the Emperor, Don Luis suppressed everything which
could offend him; but Charles remained immovable in his determination to
withdraw the expected gift of Fate, from its first entrance into the
world, from every influence except his own. Moreover, he threatened that
if the blinded girl continued to refuse to enter the convent and yield up
the child, he would withdraw his aid from both. After a sleepless night,
however, he remarked, on the following morning, that he perceived it to
be his duty, whatever might happen, to assume the care of the child who
was entitled to call him its father. What he would do for the mother must