"Yes," replied the duke, "they had better husband their energies, for if
I read the future aright, Suabia will have need of every nerve."
Rodolph paused here; and as his companion did not reply, they rode on in silence.
"I have a plan," exclaimed the duke, with singular vivacity. "But tell me first, has that young Gilbert seen the Lady Margaret?"
In reply the missionary briefly narrated the events of which the reader is already in possession. "Then," pursued the King of Arles, eagerly, "I have strong hopes of success. Listen to me, holy Father: the maiden is beautiful and virtuous, the youth fair and knightly, and I can so represent one to the other, as to create an attachment strong enough to insure to filial love a victory over parental hate. It is fair, I think, to employ the bodily graces of these young persons against the mental deformity of their parents—to array the child against the father, when we seek the triumph of innocence over sin."
"Your highness is inclined to be romantic," rejoined the priest.
"Only the circumstances are romantic, and they seem to have shaped themselves; my plan is practical enough. Tell me—what think you of it?"
"Briefly, then, I think your project impracticable."
"Impracticable! You cannot know, Father, all that love and youth will dare; but I, whose earthly life has given me experience in such matters, have seen the impossibilities of sober minds yield to the irresistible energy of two plighted hearts. Oh, no; it is not impracticable."
"I will grant you," replied the missionary, "that these two young persons might be brought to love each other, that they might marry in spite of family opposition, but the result would make your romance a tragedy."
"How so?" inquired the duke. "May we not deem without impiety that God, in His mercy, has designed them for the extirpation of this miserable feud, and has drawn out of the stern parents themselves the instruments by which their hearts may be softened?"