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Page 22
Next to him, like the lamb next to the wolf, was the portrait of a lady
of youthful years, with gentle blue eyes, hands crossed on the breast
over a book of devotions, and tresses of fair long silky hair encircling
her sweet countenance with a glorious golden aureola. This picture struck
me by its wonderful resemblance to Odile of Nideck.
I have never seen anything more lovely and more charming than this old
painting on wood, which was stiff enough indeed in its outline, but
delightfully refreshing and ingenuous.
I had examined this picture attentively for some minutes when another
female portrait, hanging at its side, drew my attention reluctantly away.
Here was a woman of the true Visigoth type, with a wide low forehead,
yellowish eyes, prominent cheek-bones, red hair, and a nose hooked like
an eagle's beak.
That woman must have been an excellent match for Hugh, thought I, and
I began to consider the costume, which answered perfectly to the energy
displayed in the head, for the right hand rested upon a sword, and an
iron breastplate inclosed the figure.
I should have some difficulty in expressing the thoughts which passed
through my mind in the examination of these three portraits. My eye
passed from the one to the other with singular curiosity.
Sperver, standing at the library door, had aroused the attention of
Knapwurst with a sharp whistle, which made that worthy send a glance in
his direction, though it did not succeed in fetching him down from his
elevation.
"Is it me that you are whistling to like a dog?" said the dwarf.
"I am, you vermin! It is an honour you don't deserve."
"Just listen to me, Sperver," replied the little man with sublime scorn;
"you cannot spit so high as my shoe!" which he contemptuously held out.
"Suppose I were to come up?"
"If you come up a single step I'll squash you flat with this volume!"
Gideon laughed, and replied--
"Don't get angry, friend; I don't mean to do you any harm; on the
contrary, I greatly respect you for your learning; but what I want to
know is what you are doing here so early in the morning, by lamplight?
You look as if you had spent the night here."
"So I have; I have been reading all night."
"Are not the days long enough for you to read in?"
"No; I am following out an important inquiry, and I don't mean to sleep
until I am satisfied."
"Indeed; and what may this very important question be?"
"I have to ascertain under what circumstances Ludwig of Nideck discovered
my ancestor, Otto the Dwarf, in the forests of Thuringia. You know,
Sperver, that my ancestor Otto was only a cubit high--that is, a foot and
a-half. He delighted the world with his wisdom, and made an honourable
figure at the coronation of Duke Rudolphe. Count Ludwig had him inclosed
in a cold roast peacock, served up in all his plumage. It was at that
time one of the greatest delicacies, served up garnished all round with
sucking pigs, gilded and silvered. During the banquet Otto kept spreading
the peacock's tail, and all the lords, courtiers, and ladies of high
birth were astonished and delighted at this wonderful piece of mechanism.
At last he came out, sword in hand, and shouted with a loud voice--"Long
live Duke Rudolphe!" and the cry was repeated with acclamations by the
whole table. Bernard Herzog makes mention of this event, but he has
neglected to inform us where this dwarf came from, whether he was of
lofty lineage or of base extraction, which latter, however, is very
improbable, for the lower sort of people have not so much sense as that."
I was astounded at so much pride in so diminutive a being, yet my
curiosity prevented me from showing too much of my feelings, for he alone
could supply me with information upon the portraits that accompanied that
of Hugh Lupus.
"Monsieur Knapwurst," I began very respectfully, "would you oblige me by
enlightening me upon certain historic doubts?"
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