being claimed by the returning
knight; and no one would consent, for a glove, a riband, or even a kiss,
to expose his life to bring back so very dangerous a rival.

When Huldbrand now made his sudden and unexpected appearance, his
attendants, the inhabitants of the city, and almost every one rejoiced.
This was not the case with Bertalda; for although it might be quite
a welcome event to others that he brought with him a wife of such
exquisite loveliness, and Father Heilmann as a witness of their
marriage, Bertalda could not but view the affair with grief and
vexation. She had, in truth, become attached to the young knight with
her whole soul; and her mourning for his absence, or supposed death, had
shown this more than she could now have wished.

But notwithstanding all this, she conducted herself like a wise maiden
in circumstances of such delicacy, and lived on the most friendly
terms with Undine, whom the whole city looked upon as a princess that
Huldbrand had rescued in the forest from some evil enchantment. Whenever
any one questioned either herself or her husband relative to surmises of
this nature, they had wisdom enough to remain silent, or wit enough
to evade the inquiries. The lips of Father Heilmann had been sealed
in regard to idle gossip of every kind; and besides, on Huldbrand's
arrival, he had immediately returned to his cloister: so that people
were obliged to rest contented with their own wild conjectures; and even
Bertalda herself ascertained nothing more of the truth than others.

For the rest, Undine daily felt more love for the fair maiden. "We must
have been before acquainted with each other," she often used to say to
her, "or else there must be some mysterious connection between us,
for it is incredible that any one so perfectly without cause--I mean,
without some deep and secret cause--should be so fondly attached to
another as I have been to you from the first moment of our meeting."

And even Bertalda could not deny that she felt a confiding impulse,
an attraction of tenderness toward Undine, much as she deemed this
fortunate rival the cause of her bitterest disappointment. Under the
influence of this mutual regard, they found means to persuade, the
one her foster-parents, and the other her husband, to defer the day of
separation to a period more and more remote; nay, more, they had already
begun to talk of a plan for Bertalda's accompanying Undine to Castle
Ringstetten, near one of the sou