"But you have fine strong arms too," she said. "You look as if you could cut things. Did my father ever see you cut down tall trees?"
"Yes," said Gottfried Gottfried, slowly, "once!"
"And did he say that you cut well?" the little maid went on, with a strange, wilful persistence in her idea.
"He neither said that I did well nor yet that I did ill," replied
Gottfried Gottfried.
"Ah!" said Helene, "that was just like the Prince. He was afraid of flattering you and making you unfit for your work. But if he said nothing, depend upon it he was pleased."
"Thank you, Princess," said my father. "I think he was well enough pleased."
Just then there came a noise that I knew—a sound which chilled every bone in my body.
It was the clear ring of a steady footstep upon the pavement without. It came heavily and slowly across the yard. The outer hasp of our door clicked. The door opened, and the footstep began to ascend the stair.
There was but one man in the world who dared make so free with the
Red Tower and its occupant. Our visitor was without doubt the Duke
Casimir himself.
For the first time I saw my father manifestly disconcerted. The little maid's life might be worth no more than a torn ballad if Duke Casimir happened to be in evil humor or had repented him of his mercy of the past night. I saw the Red Axe look aimlessly about for a hiding-place. There was a niche round which certain cloaks and coverlets were hung.