" Ursel, with unusual
readiness of wit, signed and whispered that the young mother must be
humoured, for fear of consequences; till the knight, in a good-
natured, confused way, submitted to receive the two little bundles in
his arms, while he gave place to Kunigunde, who hastily stepped
before him in a manner that made Christina trust that her precaution
would be effectual.
The room was reeling round with her. The agony of those few minutes
was beyond all things unspeakable. What had seemed just before like
a certain way of saving the guest without real danger to her
children, now appeared instead the most certain destruction to all,
and herself the unnatural mother who had doomed her new-born babes
for a stranger's sake. She could not even pray; she would have
shrieked to have them brought back, but her voice was dead within
her, her tongue clave to the roof of her mouth, ringings in her ears
hindered her even from listening to the descending steps. She lay as
one dead, when ten minutes afterwards the cry of one of her babes
struck on her ear, and the next moment Ursel stood beside her, laying
them down close to her, and saying exultingly, "Safe! safe out at the
gate, and down the hillside, and my old lady ready to gnaw off her
hands for spite!"
CHAPTER IX: THE EAGLETS
Christina's mental and bodily constitution had much similarity--
apparently most delicate, tender, and timid, yet capable of a vigour,
health, and endurance that withstood shocks that might have been
fatal to many apparently stronger persons.
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