n the
Emperor's name, to keep her in the castle and, if she left it, to inform
him at once by a mounted messenger.

As Barbara could not be detained, Frau Lamperi, though reluctantly,
obeyed this command.

Before leaving Prebrunn Barbara had warned Gombert that he would find her
a very uninteresting companion, since it was still impossible to talk
much; but Gombert would not admit this. To a true friend, the mere
presence of the other gives pleasure, even though he should not open his
lips.

The girl had become very dear to him, and her presence made time pass
swiftly, for the great musician liked to talk and conversed bewitchingly,
and he had long since discovered that Barbara was a good listener.

Besides, the motley life on the road attracted his attention as well as
his travelling companion's, for the war had begun, and already would have
resulted in a great victory for the Smalcalds, at the foot of the
Bavarian Alps, had not the Augsburg Military Council prevented the able
commander in chief Schartlin von Burtenbach and his gallant lieutenant
Schenkwitz from profiting by the advantage won. The way to Italy and
Trent, where the Council was in session, was already open to the allied
Protestants, but they were forbidden from the green table to follow it.
It would have led them through Bavarian territory, and thereby perhaps
afforded Duke William, the ruler of the country, occasion to abjure his
neutrality and turn openly against the Smalcalds.

The shortsightedness with which the Protestants permitted the Emperor to
remain so long in Ratisbon unmolested, and gather troops and munitions of
war, Gombert had heard termed actually incomprehensible.

The travellers might expect to find a large force in Landshut, among the
rest ten thousand Italians and eight thousand Spaniards. This, the
musician explained to his companion, was contrary to the condition of his
Majesty's election, which prohibited his bringing foreign soldiers into
Germany; but war was a mighty enterprise, which broke even Firmer
contracts.

A bitter remark about the man who, even in peace, scorned fidelity and
faith, rose to Barbara's lips; but as she knew the warm enthusiasm which
Gombert cherished for his imperial master, she controlled herself, and
continued to listen while he spoke of the large re-enforcements which
Count Buren was leading from the Netherlands.

A long and cruel war might be expected, for, though his Majesty assumed
that reli