It was
strange, the good father thought, that so timorous and fragile a
being should have her lot cast amid these rugged places and scenes of
violence, with no one to give her the care and cherishing she so much
required.
Even when she crept up the castle stairs, she was met with an angry
rebuke, not so much for the peril she had incurred as for having
taken away the Schneiderlein, by far the most availing among the
scanty remnant of the retainers of Adlerstein. Attempting no answer,
and not even daring to ask from what quarter came the alarm,
Christina made her way out of the turmoil to that chamber of her own,
the scene of so much fear and sorrow, and yet of some share of peace
and happiness. But from the window, near the fast subsiding waters
of the Debateable Ford, could plainly be seen the small troop of
warriors, of whom Jobst the Kohler had brought immediate
intelligence. The sun glistened on their armour, and a banner
floated gaily on the wind; but they were a fearful sight to the
inmates of the lonely castle.
A stout heart was however Kunigunde's best endowment; and, with the
steadiness and precision of a general, her commands rang out, as she
arranged and armed her garrison, perfectly resolved against any
submission, and confident in the strength of her castle; nay, not
without a hope of revenge either against Schlangenwald or
Wildschloss, whom, as a degenerate Adlerstein, she hated only less
than the slayer of her husband and son.
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