So he urged his horse a little more till he came alongside the groom, whom he saluted civilly enough and asked plumply who his mistress was, to which the groom replied with equal civility that she was the Countess Ottilie von Thüringen.
"Gott im Himmel!" said Sergeant Blick, and plied no more questions.
He remembered well the Countess Ottilie in the early episodes, and wondered the more. Then he gave up wondering, and remembered that he had not drunk for over two hours, an unprecedented thing for him, when not actually engaged on the stern duties of his vocation. Besides, the effort of thinking could only be borne by the aid of liquor.
"She was mixed up with those ... Lutherans! So she was!" said Blick to himself.
Blick's thirst found relief in time, for Nigel halted at the first convenient inn which promised passable entertainment in the town of Straubing, eight and a half leagues from the city of Ratisbon. He knew that no hostelry on the road to Znaim could in the nature of things produce a meal fit to set before this rare daughter of the Habsburgs. For her nothing could be too kingly, but as the best that could be got was coarse, he had perforce to trust to her love and a traveller's appetite.
They did well to find a hostelry which had another room than that used by the common wayfarers. Nigel bade Blick give his men and the groom a good meal, feed and water the horses sparingly, and have all ready in an hour.
Then they spoke of their immediate plans.
Having encountered no obstacles hitherto, they decided to push on and gain the furthest town they could before the hour of shutting gates. The Archduchess would lodge in the convent. The town they thought to reach was Passau, which possessed two convents as well as a number of churches of old name and fame, in one of which they had it in mind on the morrow to hear the priest pronounce over them the words "conjungo vos," by which they should become one till death.
"You are firm of purpose, Stephanie? There is still time to go back!" said Nigel solemnly, looking into her eyes.