But protection was so needful in those rude
ages, and second marriages so frequent, that reluctance was counted
as weakness. She knew her uncle and aunt would never believe that
aught but compulsion had bound her to the rude outlaw, and her habit
of submission was so strong that, only when her aunt was actually
rising to go and consult her gossip, she found breath to falter,
"Hold, dear aunt--my sons--"
"Nay, child, it is the best thing thou couldst do for them. Wonders
hast thou wrought, yet are they too old to be without fatherly
authority. I speak not of Friedel; the lad is gentle and pious,
though spirited, but for the baron. The very eye and temper of my
poor brother Hugh--thy father, Stine--are alive again in him. Yea, I
love the lad the better for it, while I fear. He minds me precisely
of Hugh ere he was 'prenticed to the weapon-smith, and all became
bitterness."
"Ah, truly," said Christina, raising her eyes "all would become
bitterness with my Ebbo were I to give a father's power to one whom
he would not love.
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