A rough, though kindly man, he did
not thoroughly comprehend the shame and confusion that he was
bringing upon her by departing from his former demeanour. He knew
that, so enormous was the distance then supposed to exist between the
noble and the burgher, there was no chance of any one dreaming of the
true state of the case, and that as long as Christina was not taken
for his wife, there was no personal danger for her from his mother,
who--so lax were the morals of the German nobility with regard to all
of inferior rank--would tolerate her with complacency as his
favourite toy; and he was taken by surprise at the agony of grief and
shame with which she slowly comprehended his assurance that she had
nothing to fear.
There was no help for it. The oubliette would probably be the
portion of the low-born girl who had interfered with the sixteen
quarterings of the Adlerstein shield, and poor Christina never
stepped across its trap-door without a shudder lest it should open
beneath her. And her father would probably have been hung from the
highest tower, in spite of his shrewd care to be aware of nothing.
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