And when, by and by, Master Gottfried went out to call on Sir
Kasimir, and explain how he had thought it best to yield to the hot-
tempered lad, and let the family learn how to be thankful for the
goods they had rejected, he found affairs in a state that made him
doubly anxious that the young barons should be safe on their mountain
without knowing of them. The Trautbach family had heard of
Wildschloss's designs, and they had set abroad such injurious reports
respecting the Lady of Adlerstein, that Sir Kasimir was in the act of
inditing a cartel to be sent by Count Kaulwitz, to demand an
explanation--not merely as the lady's suitor, but as the only
Adlerstein of full age. Now, if Ebbo had heard of the rumour, he
would certainly have given the lie direct, and taken the whole
defence on himself; and it may be feared that, just as his cause
might have been, Master Gottfried's faith did not stretch to
believing that it would make his sixteen-year-old arm equal to the
brutal might of Lassla of Trautbach. So he heartily thanked the
Baron of Wildschloss, agreed with him that the young knights were not
as yet equal to the maintenance of the cause, and went home again to
watch carefully that no report reached either of his nephews.
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