A moment later he followed the servant through the hall to the sleeping quarters, a hobbling figure leaning heavily on a staff. Willeswind pitied him as he went by, but thought his face seemed hard and cruel.
A few days later she sat alone with her maid, in that same great hall, looking happier than she had looked for many weeks. “A courier came by with word from Othmar,” she said. “He sends greetings, says the worst of the fighting is over, and soon they will be home. I feel quite safe again.”
Suddenly the door was violently thrust open. The maid screamed and Willeswind turned pale, for a man in heavy armor strode into the room. She knew he was one of the dreaded robber barons who terrorized the Rhine valley, and knew too, as she looked into his savage face, that it was the same man who, in the guise of a pilgrim, had sought shelter there a few nights before.
“I have come to take you with me,” he said in a voice of thunder, “for I mean you to be my wife.”
Willeswind shuddered. She knew how wicked and cruel he was, and that it was her great wealth he craved, for Stolzenfels was one of the richest estates on the river. “That can never be, sir,” she answered haughtily. “So go back whence you came.”
He looked at her with an evil smile. “You give me a blithe refusal now,” he exclaimed, “but in three days I will come again and it will be sad for you if I get not a different answer.”
The robber chief strode out, and Willeswind and the trembling maid looked at each other in terror.
“My lady,” the woman spoke, as soon as the outer gate clanged and they knew the man was beyond hearing, “you must get away from here.”
“Yes,” answered the mistress, “I must leave Stolzenfels and seek refuge at some other castle.”