ng sough of the water, as I heard it lapper beneath the
ferry-boat that lay ready to cross to the other side. Old Hans, the
Prince's ferryman, snored in his boat. Above in the women's chambers a
light went to and fro. I judged that it was in the bower of the Lady
Ysolinde. But not a string of my heart moved. For pity is so weak and
love so strong that all my nature was now on the strain forward towards
Helene and the Wolfsberg, like an eager hound that pulls at the
unslipped leash.

"My love! my love!" I cried in my heart, "I am coming to you, I am going
out to find you! Though I give my life for it, I shall at least see and
touch you ere I die."

For during these last days my love had grown greatly upon me, being of
that kind which gathers within a man, banks up, fills out his crevices,
and he know it not. In the Wolfmark there are oft, in the heart of the
limestone, caverns where the water sleeps deep and cool, while above, on
the thin, rocky crust, the sun beats and the very lizards die for lack
of moisture. It was only now that I had broken up the crust of my nature
and found the caverns under, where love was abiding all undreamed of,
deep, and eternal as the sea. It is a great thing and a beautiful to
meet love for the first time face to face, not to nod to only as to an
acquaintance, and to know how great and masterful he is; to say, "Love,
I am yours. Do with me that which seemeth good to you. I was strong--now
in your hands am I become weak. I was proud--now am I glad to be humble
and kneel, waiting your word. You have made life and death the same
thing to me, for the sake of the Beloved. I am ready to take either from
your hands!"

But enough! We were riding out of the dark pleasaunces of the palace, the
leaves were rustling and the sedges blowing. That was what began it,
carrying away my thoughts.

Dessauer rode behind me, letting his horse follow mine, nose to tail.
For, being used to the visitation of the city outposts, I knew the ground
thoroughly.

At every hundred yards we were halted, and I answered. For I had posted
the men myself, making sure that Plassenburg should not again be taken by
surprise. On the other hand, I had determined that the spoiler should now
be made despoiled, and that the foul den of the Wolf should be cleansed
as by fire.

Then, like the breaking up of the Baltic ice in spring, the thought ran
through me--my father and the maid of the Red Tower, what of them?

Why, at the