healthy, with a love to live for,
and from her childhood up she had been taught that self-slaughter is a
sin. No, she would trust in God, and overwhelming though it was, fight
her way through this trouble as best she might. The helpless find
friends sometimes. Therefore, that her strength might be preserved, Elsa
rested and ate of her food, and drank the wine which they brought to
her, refusing to leave the room, or to speak more than she was obliged,
but watching everything that passed.

On the second morning of her imprisonment Ramiro's message reached
her, to which, as usual, she made no answer. In due course also Ramiro
himself arrived, and stood bowing in the doorway.

"Have I your permission to enter, Jufvrouw?" he asked. Then Elsa,
knowing that the moment of trial had come, steeled herself for the
encounter.

"You are master here," she answered, in a voice cold as the falling snow
without, "why then do you mock me?"

He motioned to the women to leave the room, and when they had gone,
replied:

"I have little thought of such a thing, lady; the matter in hand is too
serious for smart sayings," and with another bow he sat himself down on
a chair near the hearth, where a fire was burning. Whereon Elsa rose and
stood over against him, for upon her feet she seemed to feel stronger.

"Will you be so good as to set out this matter, Senor Ramiro? Am I
brought here to be tried for heresy?"

"Even so, for heresy against the god of love, and the sentence of the
Court is that you must expiate your sin, not at the stake, but at the
altar."

"I do not understand."

"Then I will explain. My son Adrian, a worthy young man on the
whole--you know that he _is_ my son, do you not?--has had the
misfortune, or I should say the good fortune, to fall earnestly in
love with you, whereas you have the bad taste--or, perhaps, the good
taste--to give your affections elsewhere. Under the circumstances,
Adrian, being a youth of spirit and resource, has fallen back upon
primitive methods in order to bring his suit to a successful conclusion.
He is here, you are here, and this evening I understand that the priest
will be here. I need not dwell upon the obvious issue; indeed, it is a
private matter upon which I have no right to intrude, except, of course,
as a relative and a well-wisher."

Elsa made an impatient movement with her hand, as though to brush aside
all this web of words.

"Why do you take so much trouble to force an unha