The dwarf, half-tipsy as a result of his liberal potations, rested his elbows on the table, and with his fists dug into his hollow cheeks, and his eyes staring out of his head, he began in a harsh, monotonous voice:
"Bernhard Hertzog relates that the Burgrave Hugh, surnamed the Wolf, the founder of Nideck, having become old, used to cover his head with a sort of hood that fell down about his shoulders, which he wore over his steel helmet when engaged in combat; when he wished to breathe more easily, he removed the helmet and covered his head with the hood alone, the scallops of which hung down about his waist. Up to the age of eighty-two, Hugh still wore his armor, though he could hardly breathe in it. Then he sent for Otto of Burlach, his chaplain; Hugh, his eldest son; Berthold, his second son; and his daughter, Bertha, of the red hair, the wife of a Saxon chief named Zaan, and said to them, 'Your mother, the she-wolf, has bequeathed to you her claws; her blood is mixed with mine, and it will be born again among you from century to century, and weep among the snows of the Black Forest. Some will say, 'It is the moaning of the wind!' Others, 'Hark! The owl hoots!' But it is your blood, mine, and the blood of the she-wolf who made me to murder Elfreda, my first wife before God and the Holy Church! Yes, she has perished by my hand. Cursed be the she-wolf, for it is written, 'I will visit the crime of the father upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations;' aye, until justice be done.' And old Hugh died. From that day the north wind has sobbed, and the owl has hooted, and the lost traveller by night knows not that it is the blood of the she-wolf bemoaning her crime. 'And she will bemoan it,' says Hertzog, 'from century to century, until that day when Hugh's first wife, Elfreda, shall reappear in the form of an angel at Nideck, to pardon and console.'"
The dwarf paused, and silence succeeded, which lasted for a full minute; then he continued, with drunken gravity, pointing his long forefinger at Odile:
"There is she who was to return to pardon and console. She has returned. At this moment she is sitting beside the Count, our master! Look, sirs! Do you not recognize her? Is it not she? Henceforth the lords of Nideck may rest in peace, for justice is done, and the good angel of this noble house has returned."