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Page 58
When the worthy young lord had stated this before _Dom. Consul_ and all
the people, which flocked together on hearing that the young lord was no
ghost, I felt as though a millstone had been taken off my heart; and
seeing that the people (who had already pulled the constable from under
the cart, and crowded round him, like a swarm of bees) cried to me that he
was dying, but desired first to confess somewhat to me, I jumped from the
cart as lightly as a young bachelor, and called to _Dom. Consul_ and the
young lord to go with me, seeing that I could easily guess what he had on
his mind. He sat upon a stone, and the blood gushed from his side like a
fountain (now that they had drawn out the sword); he whimpered on seeing
me, and said that he had in truth hearkened behind the door to all that
old Lizzie had confessed to me, namely, that she herself, together with
the Sheriff, had worked all the witchcraft on man and beast, to frighten
my poor child, and force her to play the wanton. That he had hidden this,
seeing that the Sheriff had promised him a great reward for so doing; but
that he would now confess it freely, since God had brought my child her
innocence to light. Wherefore he besought my child and myself to forgive
him. And when _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked whether he would
live and die on the truth of this confession, he answered, "Yes!" and
straightway fell on his side to the earth and gave up the ghost.
Meanwhile time hung heavy with the people on the mountain, who had come
from Coserow, from Zitze, from Gnitze, etc., to see my child burnt, and
they all came running down the hill in long rows like geese, one after the
other, to see what had happened. And among them was my ploughman, Claus
Neels. When the worthy fellow saw and heard what had befallen us, he began
to weep aloud for joy; and straightway he too told what he had heard the
Sheriff say to old Lizzie in the garden, and how he had promised a pig in
the room of her own little pig, which she had herself bewitched to death
in order to bring my child into evil repute. _Summa_: all that I have
noted above, and which till _datum_ he had kept to himself for fear of the
question. Hereat all the people marvelled, and gently bewailed her
misfortunes; and many came, among them old Paasch, and would have kissed
my daughter her hands and feet, as also mine own, and praised us now as
much as they had before reviled us. But thus it ever is with the people.
Wherefore my departed father used to say:
The people's hate is death,
Their love a passing breath!
My dear gossip ceased not from fondling my child, holding her in his lap,
and weeping over her like a father (for I could not have wept more myself
than he wept). Howbeit she herself wept not, but begged the young lord to
send one of his horsemen to her faithful old maid-servant at Pudgla, to
tell her what had befallen us, which he straightway did to please her. But
the worshipful court (for _Dom. Gamerarius_ and the _scriba_ had now
plucked up a heart, and had come down from the coach) was not yet
satisfied, and _Dom. Consul_ began to tell the young lord about the
bewitched bridge, which none other save my daughter could have bewitched.
Hereto the young lord gave answer that this was indeed a strange thing,
inasmuch as his own horse had also broken a leg thereon, whereupon he had
taken the Sheriff his horse, which he saw tied up at the mill; but he did
not think that this could be laid to the charge of the maiden, but that it
came about by natural means, as he had half discovered already, although
he had not had time to search the matter thoroughly. Wherefore he besought
the worshipful court and all the people, together with my child herself,
to return back thither, where, with God's help, he would clear her from
this suspicion also, and prove her perfect innocence before them all.
Thereunto the worshipful court agreed; and the young lord, having given
the Sheriff his grey charger to my ploughman to carry the corpse, which
had been laid across the horse's neck, to Coserow, the young lord got into
the cart by us, but did not seat himself beside my child, but backward by
my dear gossip: moreover, he bade one of his own people drive us instead
of the old coachman, and thus we turned back in God his name. _Custos
Benzensis_, who, with the children, had run in among the vetches by the
wayside (my defunct _Custos_ would not have done so, he had more courage),
went on before again with the young folks, and by command of his reverence
the pastor led the Ambrosian _Te Deum_, which deeply moved us all, more
especially my child, insomuch that her book was wetted with her tears, and
she at length laid it down and said, at the same time giving her hand to
the young lord, "How can I thank God and you for that which you have done
for me this day?" Whereupon the young lord answered, saying, "I have
greater cause to thank God than yourself, sweet maid, seeing that you have
suffered in your dungeon unjustly, but I justly, inasmuch as by my
thoughtlessness I brought this misery upon you. Believe me that this
morning when, in my donjon-keep, I first heard the sound of the dead-bell,
I thought to have died; and when it tolled for the third time, I should
have gone distraught in my grief, had not the Almighty God at that moment
taken the life of my strange father, so that your innocent life should be
saved by me. Wherefore I have vowed a new tower, and whatsoe'er beside may
be needful, to the blessed house of God; for nought more bitter could have
befallen me on earth than your death, sweet maid, and nought more sweet
than your life!"
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