"He was so deeply concerned," continued Elsa, taking up the word, "that we feared lest perchance he might have offended—"
"Or that he might in sooth be to blame," remarked Fastrade, as Elsa judiciously left her sentence unfinished.
"And Count von Rittenberg is so desirous of pleasing—"
The cunning wench once more let the words die on her lips half spoken.
"And such a gallant rider as he is," chorused Fastrade.
"And no one, sure, could in the round world cast a falcon better."
Erna sprang to her feet, her cheeks burning red with fiery shame.
"Get thee gone," she cried to one and then to the other; "and thee also! Leave me!"
It came upon her burningly that it was to this that her dalliance with the count had brought her. That the very damsels of the castle were so well aware of her relations with her cousin that they thought to please her by sounding his praises. Low indeed had she fallen! She cast herself prostrate upon the stone floor, and grovelled there with weeping and with the bitterness of shame. Was it that she who had so long been as proud as the white heron whose plume she wore in state, had come to be gossiped about by her own train, to be the jest of menials, to be spoken of lightly and in very likelihood to be jested of with the tongue in the cheek! The very thralls belike had the tale of her weakness by heart by this, and could say it pat, as Father Christopher had never been able to teach them to say the catechism.
Surely it was since her husband, Albrecht, had come to Rittenberg that she had thus fallen from what she was; and yet he, in sooth, had constantly waxed in faith and in godliness. Erna groaned in spirit, since it appeared to her that it must indeed be that her nature was in itself wicked and prone to fare downward, while that of Albrecht was by some inner sanctity led ever in the way of grace. She fell into a passion of tears and lamentation until her tears had run dry, and she was exhausted with sobbing. Still prone upon the ground, her face hidden in her dishevelled hair, she heard footsteps approach; and presently the Lady Adelaide, her cane tapping sharply as she walked, stepped briskly into the chamber.