"A Bohemian, a Count von Teschen!"
"And his crime?"
"He caused some of my troopers to desert, and then pursued me hotly on my road to the Wartburg."
"It was a scurvy trick!" There was genuine indignation in her tone. "You must beware! Promise me, you will beware!" she pleaded; and Nigel, looking at the dimming of her eyes and her lips on the brink of quivering, felt a wave of tenderness flow over him. He leaned towards her and took her hands.
"You care for me, Ottilie?" There was a world of eagerness in his tones, such eagerness as made his voice sound hoarsely in his own ears.
She smiled a pitiful smile as she drew her hands from his as not trusting her silly tell-tales. Then she said—
"Do you so soon forget my words at Erfurt, my tall captain?"
"You said I should be a fool to dream of it!"
She nodded, but this time sadly.
"I shall play the fool, Star Ottilie! So help me, Holy Mother of Heaven!"