"I have friends at the castle of the Wartburg!" she said.
"Good! I will arrange an escort and send you both to your friends. It is about three days' journey."
"Elspeth will not be able to ride!"
"Then she must have a coach, if one can be found."
"And the pastor?"
"I cannot answer for him. There are too many of them as it is."
"As to that," she said, "it depends on one's faith. But there is talk of a betrothal between them." The girl watched his face with a close scrutiny as she said it.
"I do not know what Count Tilly may order concerning him. She is quite welcome to her pastor," he said with indifference. "As I said, there are far too many pastors, and priests too for that matter, for quiet living. If they would baptise the children, marry the youths and maidens, administer the sacraments, and amuse you women in between without interfering with the other business of the world, it would be far better."
"We had better make ready!" she said. "And the dead pastor?"