CHAPTER VI.
Sperver's indignation was mounting.
"There's the happiness and felicity of the rich! What is the good ofbeing master of Nideck, with castles, forests, lakes, and all the bestparts of the Black Forest, when an innocent looking damsel comes andsays to you in her sweet soft voice, 'Is that your will? Well, it is notmine. Do you say I must? Well, I say no, I won't.' Is it not awful? Wouldit not be better to be a woodcutter's son and live quietly upon the wagesof your day's work? Come on, Fritz; let us be off. I am suffocating here;I want to get into the open air."
And the good fellow, seizing my arm, dragged me down the corridor.
It was now about nine. The sky had been fair when we got up, but now theclouds had again covered the dreary earth, the north wind was raising thesnow in ghostly eddies against the window-panes, and I could scarcelydistinguish the summits of the neighbouring mountains.
We were going down the stairs which led into the hall, when, at a turn inthe corridor, we found ourselves face to face with Tobias Offenloch, theworthy major-domo, in a great state of palpitation.
"Halloo!" he cried, closing our way with his stick right across thepassage; "where are you off to in such a hurry? What about ourbreakfast?"
"Breakfast! which breakfast do you mean?" asked Sperver.
"What do you mean by pretending to forget what breakfast? Are not you andI to breakfast this very morning with Doctor Fritz?"
"Aha! so we are! I had forgotten all about it."
And Offenloch burst into a great laugh which divided his jolly face fromear to ear.
"Ha, ha! this is rather beyond a joke. And I was afraid of being toolate! Come, let us be moving. Kasper is upstairs waiting. I orderedhim to lay the breakfast in your room; I thought we should be morecomfortable there. Good-bye for the present, doctor."
"Are you not coming up with us?" asked Sperver.
"No, I am going to tell the countess that the Baron de Zimmer-Bluderichbegs the honour to thank her in person before he leaves the castle."
"The Baron de Zimmer?"
"Yes, that stranger who came yesterday in the middle of the night."
"Well, you must make haste."
"Yes, I shall not be long. Before you have done uncorking the bottlesI shall be with you again."
And he hobbled away as fast as he could.
The mention of breakfast had given a different turn to Sperver'sthoughts.
"Exactly so," he observed, turning back; "the best way to drown allyour cares is to drink a draught of good wine. I am very glad we aregoing to breakfast in my room. Under those great high vaults in thefencing-school, sitting round a small table, you feel just likemice nibbling a nut in a corner of a big church. Here we are, Fritz.Just listen to the wind whistling through the arrow-slits. Inhalf-an-hour there will be a storm."
He pushed the door open; and Kasper, who was only drumming with hisfingers upon the window-panes, seemed very glad to see us. That littleman had flaxen hair and a snub nose. Sperver had made him his factotum;it was he who took to pieces and cleaned his guns, mended theriding-horses' harness, fed the dogs in his absence, and superintended inthe kitchen the preparation of his favourite dishes. On grand occasionshe was outrider. He now stood with a napkin over his arm, and was gravelyuncorking the long-necked bottle of Rhenish.
"Kasper," said his master, as soon as he had surveyed this satisfactorystate of things--"Kasper, I was very well pleased with you yesterday;everything was excellent; the roast kid, the chicken, and the fish. Ilike fair-play, and when a man has done his duty I like to tell him so.To-day I am quite as well satisfied. The boar's head looks excellent withits white-wine sauce; so does the crayfish soup. Isn't it your opiniontoo, Fritz?"
I assented.
"Well," said Sperver, "since it is so, you shall have the honour offilling our glasses. I mean to raise you step by step, for you are a verydeserving fellow."
Kasper looked down bashfully and blushed; he seemed to enjoy his master'spraises.
We took our places, and I was wondering at this quondam poacher, who inyears gone by was content to cook his own potatoes in his cottage, nowassuming all the airs of a great seigneur. Had he been born Lord ofNideck he could not have put on a more noble and dignified attitude attable. A single glance brought Kasper to his side, made him bring suchand such a bottle, or bring the dish he required.
We were just going to attack the boar's head when Master Tobiasappeared in person, followed by no less a personage than the Baron ofZimmer-Bluderich, attended by his groom.
We rose from our seats. The young baron advanced to meet us with headuncovered. It was a noble-looking head, pale and haughty, with asurrounding of fine dark hair. He stopped before Sperver.
"Monsieur," said he in that pure Saxon accent which no other dialect canapproach, "I am come to ask you for information as to this locality.Madame la Comtesse de Nideck tells me that no one knows these mountainsso well as yourself."
"That is quite true, monseigneur, and I am quite at your service."
"Circumstances of great urgency oblige me to start in the midst of thestorm," replied the baron, pointing to the window-panes thickly coveredwith flakes of snow. "I must reach Wald Horn, six leagues from thisplace!"
"That will be a hard matter, my lord, for all the roads are blocked upwith snow."
"I am aware of that, but necessity obliges."
"You must have a guide, then. I will go, if you will allow me, to SebaltKraft, the head huntsman at Nideck. He knows the mountains almost as wellas I do."
"I am much obliged to you for your kind offers, and I am very grateful,but still I cannot accept them. Your instructions will be quitesufficient."
Sperver bowed, then advancing to a window, he opened it wide. A furiousblast of wind rushed in, driving the whirling snow as far as thecorridor, and slammed the door with a crash.
I remained by my chair, leaning on its back. Kasper slunk into a corner.Sperver and the baron, with his groom, stood at the open window.
"Gentlemen," said Sperver with a loud voice to make himself heard abovethe howling winds, and with arm extended, "you see the country mapped outbefore you. If the weather was fair I would take you up into the tower,and then we could see the whole of the Black Forest at our feet, but itis no use now. Here you can see the peak of the Altenberg. Farther onbehind that white ridge you may see the Wald Horn, beaten by a furiousstorm. You must make straight for the Wald Horn. From the summit of therock, which seems formed like a mitre, and is called Roche Fendue, youwill see three peaks, the Behrenkopp, the Geierstein, and the Trielfels.It is by this last one at the right that you must proceed. There is atorrent across the valley of the Rhethal, but it must be frozen now. Inany case, if you can get no farther, you will find on your left, onfollowing the bank, a cavern half-way up the hill, called Roche Creuse.You can spend the night there, and to-morrow very likely, if the windfalls, you will see the Wald Horn before you. If you are lucky enough tomeet with a charcoal-burner, he might, perhaps, show you where there is aford over the stream; but I doubt whether one will be found anywhere onsuch a day as this. There are none from our neighbourhood. Only becareful to go right round the base of the Behrenkopp, for you could notget down the other side. It is a precipice."
During these observations I was watching Sperver, whose clear, energetictones indicated the different points in the road with the greatestprecision, and I watched, too, the young baron, who was listening withthe closest attention. No obstacle seemed to alarm him. The old groomseemed not less bent upon the enterprise.
Just as they were leaving the window a momentary light broke through thegrey snow-clouds--just one of those moments when the eddying wind layshold of the falling clouds of snow and flings them back again likefloating garments of white. Then for a moment there was a glimpse of thedistance. The three peaks stood out behind the Altenberg. The descriptionwhich Sperver had given of invisible objects became visible for a fewmoments; then the air again was veiled in ghostly clouds of flying snow.
"Thank you," said the baron. "Now I have seen the point I am to make for;and, thanks to your explanations, I hope to reach it."
Sperver bowed without answering. The young man and his servant, havingsaluted us, retired slowly and gravely.
Gideon shut the window, and addressing Master Tobias and me, said--
"The deuce must be in the man to start off in such horrible weather asthis. I could hardly turn out a wolf on such a day as this. However, itis their business, not mine. I seem to remember that young man's face,and his servant's too. Now let us drink! Maitre Tobie, your health!"
I had gone to the window, and as the Baron Zimmer and his groom mountedon horseback in the middle of the courtyard, in spite of the snow whichwas filling the air, I saw at the left in a turret, pierced with longGothic windows, the pale countenance of Odile directed long and anxiouslytowards the young man.
"Halloo, Fritz! what are you doing?"
"I am only looking at those strangers' horses."
"Oh, the Wallachians! I saw them this morning in the stable. They aresplendid animals."
The horsemen galloped away at full speed, and the curtain in theturret-window dropped.