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Page 30
"Never! I deny it!" replied Undine, while a whole heaven of
innocence and truth beamed from her eyes. "I am no witch; look upon
me, and say if I am."
"Then she utters both falsehood and folly," cried Bertalda; "and she
is unable to prove that I am the child of these low people. My noble
parents, I entreat you to take me from this company, and out of this
city, where they do nothing but shame me."
But the aged duke, a man of honourable feeling, remained unmoved; and
his wife remarked:
"We must thoroughly examine into this matter. God forbid that we
should move a step from this hall before we do so."
Then the aged wife of the fisherman drew near, made a low obeisance
to the duchess and said: "Noble and pious lady, you have opened my
heart. Permit me to tell you, that if this evil-disposed maiden is
my daughter, she has a mark like a violet between her shoulders, and
another of the same kind on the instep of her left foot. If she will
only consent to go out of the hall with me--"
"I will not consent to uncover myself before the peasant woman,"
interrupted Bertalda, haughtily turning her back upon her.
"But before me you certainly will," replied the duchess gravely.
"You will follow me into that room, maiden; and the old woman shall
go with us."
The three disappeared, and the rest continued where they were, in
breathless expectation. In a few minutes the females returned--
Bertalda pale as death; and the duchess said: "Justice must be done;
I therefore declare that our lady hostess has spoken exact truth.
Bertalda is the fisherman's daughter; no further proof is required;
and this is all of which, on the present occasion, you need to be
informed."
The princely pair went out with their adopted daughter; the
fisherman, at a sign from the duke, followed them with his wife.
The other guests retired in silence, or suppressing their murmurs;
while Undine sank weeping into the arms of Huldbrand.
The lord of Ringstetten would certainly have been more gratified, had
the events of this day been different; but even such as they now
were, he could by no means look upon them as unwelcome, since his
lovely wife had shown herself so full of goodness, sweetness, and
kindliness.
"If I have given her a soul," he could not help saying to himself,
"I have assuredly given her a better one than my own;" and now he
only thought of soothing and comforting his weeping wife, and of
removing her even so early as the morrow from a place which, after
this cross accident, could not fail to be distasteful to her. Yet it
is certain that the opinion of the public concerning her was not
changed. As something extraordinary had long before been expected of
her, the mysterious discovery of Bertalda's parentage had occasioned
little or no surprise; and every one who became acquainted with
Bertalda's story, and with the violence of her behaviour on that
occasion, was only disgusted and set against her. Of this state of
things, however, the knight and his lady were as yet ignorant;
besides, whether the public condemned Bertalda or herself, the one
view of the affair would have been as distressing to Undine as the
other; and thus they came to the conclusion that the wisest course
they could take, was to leave behind them the walls of the old city
with all the speed in their power.
With the earliest beams of morning, a brilliant carriage for Undine
drove up to the door of the inn; the horses of Huldbrand and his
attendants stood near, stamping the pavement, impatient to proceed.
The knight was leading his beautiful wife from the door, when a
fisher-girl came up and met them in the way.
"We have no need of your fish," said Huldbrand, accosting her; "we
are this moment setting out on a journey."
Upon this the fisher-girl began to weep bitterly; and then it was
that the young couple first perceived it was Bertalda. They
immediately returned with her to their apartment, when she informed
them that, owing to her unfeeling and violent conduct of the
preceding day, the duke and duchess had been so displeased with her,
as entirely to withdraw from her their protection, though not before
giving her a generous portion. The fisherman, too, had received a
handsome gift, and had, the evening before, set out with his wife for
his peninsula.
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