"Holy Virgin, forgive me this time, and save me from death; I will to-morrow take the veil, and serve you for ever."
"It is Ketchen's voice," said the captain. "She may be innocent, poor child! Upon my honour, it would be base of a cavalier not to deliver a sweet girl with such a soft hand."
"Let us be off!" whispered Bertel in vexation. But the captain had already discovered a little door, bolted on the outside; inside was a cell, and in the cell a trembling girl. Her eyes, used to the darkness, saw the monk's garb, and she threw herself at the captain's feet, exclaiming,
"Grace, my father, grace! I will confess all; I have favoured the prisoners' flight; I have given wine to the guard. But spare my life, have mercy upon me, I am so young. I do not wish to die."
"Who the devil has said that you are to die, my brave girl?" interrupted the captain's voice. "No, you shall live, with your soft hand, and your warm lips, as true as I'm not a Jesuit, but Lars Larsson, captain in his Royal Majesty's and the Crown's service, and herewith take you ... as my wedded wife, for better or for worse," continued the captain, no doubt because he thought that the well-known formula ought to be said to an end when he had once begun it.
"Away, away, with or without the girl, but away; they are coming, and we still have to pass the large armoury!"
"Allow me to tell you, my friend Bertel, that you are the greatest fidget I know, maximus fiescus, as the ancients so truly expressed themselves. How is it, my girl, you are not a nun ... only a novice? Well, it makes no difference to me. You shall be my wedded wife ... in case I ever marry. Here is a cloak; there now, straighten yourself up and look bold."
"It is no cloak, it is a mass-robe," whispered Ketchen, who had scarcely time to recover from her amazement.
"The deuce, a mass-robe! Wait, you take my cloak, and I will take the robe. I shall chant in their ears dies irae, so that all will be astonished."
The sound of several voices in the armoury outside interrupted the captain in his priestly speculations.