tall figure nestled closely against him as she spoke, and she threw
her arms around his neck; but he kissed her brow and eyes, saying, with
a gentleness which surprised even her: "You are very kind, but I cannot,
must not remain here."

"The children, the little boys!" she exclaimed again, gazing up at him
with love-beaming eyes. Then his tortured heart seemed to shrink, and,
pressing his hand on his brow, he paused some time ere he answered
gloomily: "It is for them that I go. Words have been spoken which
appeal to me, and to you, too, Isabella: 'See that the innocent little
creatures are reared to be unlike their unhappy father.' And the person
who uttered them----"

"A sage, a great sage," giggled the countess, unable to control her
bitter wrath against the man whom she hated; but Siebenburg fiercely
retorted:

"Although no sage, at least no monster spitting venom."

"And you permit this insult to be offered to your grandmother?" Frau
Rosalinde Eysvogel wailed to her daughter as piteously as if the injury
had been inflicted on herself. But Isabella only clung more closely
to her husband, heeding neither her mother's appeal nor her father's
warning not to be deluded by Siebenburg's empty promises.

While the old countess vainly struggled for words, Rosalinde Eysvogel
stood beside the lofty mantelpiece, weeping softly. Before Siebenburg
appeared, spite of the early hour and the agitating news which she had
just received, she had used her leisure for an elaborate toilette. A
long trailing robe of costly brocade, blue on the left side and yellow
on the right, now floated around her tall figure. When the knight
returned she had looked radiant in her gold and gems, like a princess.
Now, crushed and feeble, she presented a pitiable image of powerless yet
offensively hollow splendour. It would have required too much exertion
to assail her son-in-law with invectives, like her energetic mother;
but when she saw her daughter, to whom she had already appealed several
times in a tone of anguished entreaty, rest her proud head so tenderly
on her husband's broad breast, as she had done during the first weeks
of their marriage, but never since, the unhappy woman clearly perceived
that the knight's incredible demand was meant seriously. What she had
believed an idle boast he actually requested. Yonder hated intruder
expected her to part with her only daughter, who was far more to her
than her unloved husband, her exacting mother