Elsa was about to sink in lowly courtesy before the queenly woman when the Empress came forward impetuously and kissed the girl on either cheek, taking her by the hand.
“Oh, wild bird of the forest,” she cried, “why have you left the pure air of the woods, to beat your innocent wings in this atmosphere of deceit! And you, my young Lord, what brings you to Frankfort in these troublous times? Have you an insufficiency of lands or of honours that you come to ask augmentation of either?”
“I come to ask nothing for myself, your Majesty.”
“But to ask, nevertheless,” said Brunhilda, with a frown.
“Yes, your Majesty.”
“I hope I may live to see one man, like a knight of old, approach the foot of the throne without a request on his lips. I thought you might prove an exception, but as it is not so, propound your question?”
“I came to ask if my sword, supplemented by the weapons of five hundred followers, can be of service to your Majesty.”
The Empress seemed taken aback by the young man’s unexpected reply, and for some moments she gazed at him searchingly in silence.
At last she said:
“Your followers are the men of Schonburg and Gudenfels, doubtless?”