Suddenly all three raised their heads and listened.
A sound not unlike a distant trumpet blast, rent the stillness of night, seemed to swell with the echoes from the hills, then died away.
"What is this?" the German leader questioned, puzzled.
"The monks are holding processions,—the streets are swarming with the cassocks,—their chants can be heard everywhere."
Stephania gazed at Otto, as she answered Eckhardt's question.
The Margrave scrutinized her intently.
"I knew not the Senator loved the black crows so well, as to furnish music to their march," he replied slowly. Then he turned to the woman.
"Hear me, Stephania! You see me here, but you know not that I have ordered all my men-at-arms to attend me at the gates below! If the King's foolish passion and blind trust have been the means to execute your hellish design, know that with my own hand I will avenge your remorseless treachery, for I will slay you if aught befall him in this night, and hang your lord, the Senator of Rome, from the ramparts of Castel San Angelo,—I swear it by the Five Wounds!"
For a moment Stephania stood petrified with terror and unable to utter a single word in response. Then she turned to Otto.
"This man is mad! Order him begone,—or I will go myself. He frightens me!"