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Page 73
"Yes."
"Will he soon be here?"
"He is scarce a mile off."
"It is well," she continued, lifting up her large black eyes; "God has
designed it all! And now," she resumed, after a brief pause, "we must be
alone until the baron comes."
At a signal from the missionary, Albert of Hers and the wondering
peasants silently withdrew.
The half hour that elapsed before Sir Sandrit's appearance, seemed like
an age to the Baron of Hers, who in an agony of suspense paced up and
down the clearing before the cottage. At last, however, the two noblemen
and Henry of Stramen were admitted.
Bertha was sitting upright in bed, supported by Father Omehr, who
beckoned to Henry to assist him. There were traces of recent tears upon
her furrowed cheeks, and her form seemed to dilate as she gazed at the
nobles before her.
"Listen to me, Baron of Stramen!" she began, looking full at the noble,
in whom surprise was gaining a temporary mastery over grief; "listen,
for it is God's mercy that permits me to speak and you to hear! Twenty
years ago I was young and beautiful. I was loved by your brother and by
him who stands at your side."
Albert de Hers turned pale as death, and drawing the ring from his
finger, advanced a step, saying hoarsely, "Are you the Bertha to whom I
gave this ring?"
She took the trinket in her hand, and after examining it over and over,
replied:
"I _am_ that Bertha. But how did you get this?"
"From the Duke Rodolph, to whom you gave it."
The woman knit her brows, as if struggling to recall some confused
impression, and at length said: "Yes, I did give it to him; I remember
now. Where is he?"
"In heaven, I trust," replied the Lord of Hers.
At the word heaven, the tears started in the eyes of the poor creature,
and she hung her head. The silence was profound and painful. She was the
first to break it.
"Interrupt me no more," she said, suppressing her emotion. "Hear me
through. Robert of Stramen and Albert of Hers were rivals for my love,
and they began to hate each other bitterly on my account. I loved
neither, for I had promised to marry Albert of the Thorn, and I loved
him as much as my vain heart was able to love anything. But I was weak
enough to receive the presents they gave me for the sake of wearing the
finery, and my lover was pleased, because we were poor. My Lord of
Stramen, do you remember the day we brought you your brother's corpse?"
The baron shuddered.
"On that very morning--oh! how distinctly do I see it--I was sitting in
the ravine, not far from my mother's house, when a wild boar pursued by
hounds rushed madly by me. As I stood trembling, a horseman followed,
dashing along at full speed. He reined up when he saw me. It was the
Lord of Hers. He began to smile, and asked me to forgive him the fright
he had given me, and, untying a scarf which he wore around his waist,
threw it over my shoulders. Then he put this ring on my finger and
galloped off, crying he must not miss the stand. This much you know,
Albert of Hers, but you do not know what followed. Was it not as I have
said?"
The noble nodded.
"O God, strengthen me to reveal all!" continued the now agitated woman.
"I began to walk down the ravine, when I met Albert of the Thorn. I
showed him my presents, and we sat down at the foot of a pile of steep
rocks, beside a little spring. Albert was arranging the scarf about my
neck, when Sir Robert of Stramen suddenly stood before us. His face was
pale with rage, and his lips were all foaming. I screamed at his awful
appearance. I knew well that he hated my betrothed, and had threatened
his life if he married me. He snatched the scarf from my neck, and
shaking it at me, said: 'I know very well from whom this came!' Then,
turning upon Albert, he cried: 'And for you, who pretend to love her, to
connive at his guilt! You shall pay for your baseness with your life!'
He stopped here, as if rage had choked him, and drew his sword. Albert
sprang quickly up the ledge of rocks, and Sir Robert followed. I saw
Albert stoop, pick up a large fragment of rock, and hurl it--I saw Sir
Robert fall, and then I grew sick and dizzy, and fainted. When I
recovered, Albert was watching me, trembling and livid. I looked around,
and there was Sir Robert, stretched out stiff and still and bloody. He
had worn nothing but a light cap on his head, and the stone had made a
fearful dent in his temple. I knelt beside him, and prayed, and chafed
his hands, and brought water from the spring and poured it upon his
face. I hoped he would come to life, even if he would only revive to
kill me. It was all in vain. He grew cold: he was dead. Again I looked
at Albert--he was shaking like a leaf. 'Bertha,' he said, 'I am a lost
man! When Sir Sandrit knows this, I cease to live.' I saw his danger,
which did not until then occur to me, and I lost my concern for the dead
in my fears for him. I loved him better than anything in the world, and
the devil, who knew my heart, suggested a scheme for his preservation.
The scarf of the Lord of Hers, which bore some family device, was
grasped in the dead man's hand, and I saw at once how strongly that
circumstance implied the noble's guilt. I concealed the ring he had
given me in my pocket. 'Come!' I said to Albert, 'let us take the body
to Sir Sandrit, and tell him that we found it in a spot from which we
had just seen the Lord of Hers depart.' He refused at first, and would
not touch the body, but by argument and entreaty, I prevailed upon him
to be guided by me.
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