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Page 53
"No."
"Has she committed murder?"
"No, monseigneur."
"Then what do you want with her? What right have you to pursue her?"
"And you--what right have you over her?" answered Sperver with an
ironical smile. "See, there she is. I can see her at the bottom of the
cave. What right have you to meddle with our affairs? Don't you know that
we are here in the domains of Nideck, and that we administer justice and
execute our own decrees?"
The young man changed colour, and said coldly--
"I have no account to render to you."
"Beware," replied Sperver. "I am come with proposals of peace and
conciliation. I am here on behalf of the lord Yeri-Hans. I am in the
execution of my duty, and you are putting yourself in the wrong."
"Your duty!" cried the young man bitterly. "If you talk about your duty
you will oblige me to do mine!"
"Well, do it!" cried the huntsman, whose features were becoming disturbed
with anger.
"No," replied the baron, "I am not responsible to you, and you shall not
come here!"
"That's what we shall soon see!" said Sperver, drawing nearer to the
cave.
The young man drew his hunting-knife. Perceiving this menacing action, I
was about to dart between them, but happily the hound which I was holding
by his collar slipped from me with a violent shock and threw me on the
ground. I thought the baron would be lost, but at that instant a wild
shriek rose from the dark bottom of the cavern, and as I rose to my feet
I saw the old woman standing erect before the fire, her tattered garments
hanging loosely about her, her grey and tangled locks floating wildly in
the wind; she flung her bony arms in the air and uttered prolonged
piercing howls like the cry of agony of the hungry wolf in the long cold
nights of winter when famine is gnawing his entrails.
Never in my life have I seen a more fearful apparition. Sperver,
motionless, his eyes riveted on the fearful object before him, and his
mouth open with astonishment, stood as if rooted to the earth. But the
powerful dog, surprised himself at this unexpected sight, stood still for
a moment; then with a bend of his bristling back in preparation for a
mighty leap, he made a rush with a deep, impatient growl which made me
tremble. The platform before the cave was about eight or nine feet from
the level where we stood, or he would have reached it at a single bound.
I can yet hear him clearing a way through the snowy brambles, the baron
flinging himself before the woman with a piercing cry, "My mother!" then
the dog taking another spring, and Sperver, quick as lightning, raising
his gun, and bringing down the poor animal dead at the young man's feet.
This was but the work of a second. The gulf had been illuminated with a
momentary flash, and the wild echoes were vibrating with the explosion
from rock to rock, till it died in the far distance. Then silence again
settled on the gloomy scene, as darkness after the lightning.
When the smoke of the explosion had cleared away I saw Lieverl� lying
outstretched at the foot of the rock, and the woman fainting in the arms
of the young man. Sperver, pale with concentrated rage and excitement,
and eyeing the young baron darkly, dropped the butt of his gun to the
ground, his features discomposed, and his eyes half-hid in his gloomy
frown.
"Seigneur de Bluderich," he cried, with his hand extended, "I have killed
my best friend to save the life of that unhappy woman, your mother! Thank
God that her life is bound up with that of the Count of Nideck! Take her
away! take her hence, and never let her return here again; if you do I
cannot answer for what old Sperver may be driven to do!"
Then, with a glance at the poor dog--
"Oh! Lieverl�, Lieverl�!" he cried, "was it to end thus? Come, Fritz, let
us go. I cannot stay here. I might do something that I should have to
repent of!"
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