Master Sorel, in ample gown,
richly furred, with medal and chain of office, likewise went forth as
Guildmaster; and Christina, with smiling lips and liquid eyes,
recollected the days when to see him in such array was her keenest
pleasure, and the utmost splendour her fancy could depict.
Arrayed, as her sons loved to see her, in black velvet, and with
pearl-bordered cap, Christina sat by her aunt in the tapestried
balcony, and between them stood or sat little Thekla von Adlerstein
Wildschloss, whose father had entrusted her to their care, to see the
procession pass by. A rich Eastern carpet, of gorgeous colouring,
covered the upper balustrade, over which they leant, in somewhat
close quarters with the scarlet-bodiced dames of the opposite house,
but with ample space for sight up and down the rows of smiling
expectants at each balcony, or window, equally gay with hangings,
while the bells of all the churches clashed forth their gayest
chimes, and fitful bursts of music were borne upon the breeze.
Little Thekla danced in the narrow space for very glee, and wondered
why any one should live in a cloister when the world was so wide and
so fair.
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