The faces of all the hearers turn pale at these words. But Bertel colours slightly, and says:
"My father, I do not ask for your property. Give it to the one you consider more worthy than I. I only ask your forgiveness ... your blessing, my father."
All around the old man, except Regina, fell on their knees and exclaimed:
"Grace for Bertel! Grace for your son!"
"And if I had a son, do you believe he would for my sake give up his desire for the false distinctions of nobility? Do you think he would become a peasant like me, a man of the people, ready to live and die for their cause? Do you fancy that he would plough the earth with his fine-gloved hands and choose a wife from my station, a simple plain woman, befitting the spouse of a husbandman?"
"My father," replied Bertel, in a voice more tremulous than before, "what you ask is impossible on account of the education you have yourself bestowed on me. I honour and respect your station, but I have grown accustomed to the career of a soldier, which I neither can nor will abandon. To choose a wife to your mind is equally impossible. Here is my wife; she is a prince's daughter, but she has chosen a peasant's son for her husband; this is a proof that she will not blush to call you father."
At these words Regina humbly approached the old man as if to kiss his hand, and all rose except Bertel and his father. But the peasant king's former fiery temper now burst forth.
"Did I not say so!" he shouted. "There stands the renegade who was born a peasant, and became the servant of lords. Ha! by God! I have in my day seen much strife and defiance between the sword and the plough, but a scene like this I have never beheld. The boy who calls himself my son dares to bring before my eyes his high-born harlot and call her his wife."
Bertel sprang up and supported Regina, who nearly sank to the floor at these words.
"Old man," he said in a voice full of anger, "thank your name of father and your grey head that you have been allowed to utter what no one else should have uttered and live an hour afterwards. Here is the ring I placed on the hand of my lawfully wedded wife"—with this he took the king's ring from Regina's finger—"and I swear that her hand is as pure and worthy as that of any other mortal to wear this ring, which has for so many years been worn by the greatest of kings."