"
"You are over good, sir. I feel the honour, but a second wedlock may
not be mine."
"Now," murmured Ebbo to his brother, as the knight and lady seated
themselves in full view, "now will the smooth-tongued fellow talk her
out of her senses. Alack! that gipsy prophecy!"
Wildschloss did not talk like a young wooer; such days were over for
both; but he spoke as a grave and honourable man, deeply penetrated
with true esteem and affection. He said that at their first meeting
he had been struck with her sweetness and discretion, and would soon
after have endeavoured to release her from her durance, but that he
was bound by the contract already made with the Trautbachs, who were
dangerous neighbours to Wildschloss. He had delayed his distasteful
marriage as long as possible, and it had caused him nothing but
trouble and strife; his children would not live, and Thekla, the only
survivor, was, as his sole heiress, a mark for the cupidity of her
uncle, the Count of Trautbach, and his almost savage son Lassla;
while the right to the Wildschloss barony would become so doubtful
between her and Ebbo, as heir of the male line, that strife and
bloodshed would be well-nigh inevitable.
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