"What is the trouble, beloved?" he asked quietly.
"This dreadful woman!" exclaimed the girl pointing to Ortrud. "She will not let me pass, and she has been saying wicked things about you."
The knight gave Ortrud one stern look before which even her vengeful spirit quailed.
"Stand aside!" he commanded in a low voice.
"What is wrong?" demanded the voice of the King, who had come up with the group.
"Nothing now, your Majesty. We will go forward," answered the Swan Knight, taking his trembling bride upon his arm and mounting the cathedral steps.
But at the threshold they met another interference. Frederick of Telramund, who had been lurking about watching all that happened, suddenly stepped from behind the door shouting,
"Stay a moment, Elsa of Brabant. You are being deceived, foolish girl! You do not know whom you are marrying. He is a sorcerer, and overcame me by magic!"
Elsa was like to swoon away at this unlooked-for happening. But the stranger knight whispered tenderly to her and reassured her.
The King, on his part, was thoroughly aroused by this second interruption.