CHAPTER XXII.
The multitude crowded the market-place, waiting to see what new thing was to be done there. Then sounded in the distance a solemn funeral march from the trumpets and horns, and duke Hanslein with his soldiers formed a wide circle to admit the king and his household.
Next came the procession. After the music followed Alf, with a division of his guards; then the king, and then the high bailiff; between them, yet in her night-gown, pale and tottering, with streaming hair and folded hands, Eliza. After these followed the stately Gertrude, the other wives, and the persons connected with the court. Another division of the guards closed.
At a signal from the king, Krechting stepped reverently back and the thirteen wives formed a circle about their lord and Eliza. 'Kneel down, ye pure!' thundered the king, and the circle of women fell upon their knees; in an instant the king's sword glistened in the air and Eliza's head flew from its bloody trunk!
'Accursed murderer,' screamed Alf, frantic with grief and terror at the wholly unexpected death of the once so well beloved woman, and sprang forward with high waving sword to hew down the king where he stood. The faithful Hanslein caught his upraised arm. 'Good colonel,' cried he, 'it was only yesterday that you were sick with a fever, and now the paroxysms have returned again. Help me, friends, to overpower him and bear him to his house where he can be taken care of.'
He was seized by the guards from all sides, and notwithstanding his furious opposition, was soon disarmed and carried away.
'The person who has been judged has blasphemed the Spirit as manifested through her king and husband,' said Johannes, to the people. 'She had in a spiritual sense broken her marriage vows, and well deserved her punishment. Give to God the glory!'
The remaining thirteen wives rose up and with clear voices sang, 'Glory to God in the highest!' The horns and the trumpets triumphantly fell in. The king seized Gertrude's hand and commenced a merry dance with her upon the open market-place. The other wives and the courtiers followed the high example. The poor infatuated people likewise joined in the dance and sprang actively about, notwithstanding their empty stomachs; and from all mouths arose the cry of jubilee; 'glory be to God in the highest!'