He
made his arrangements without faltering, selecting the escort who
were to accompany him, and insisting on leaving Friedel to guard his
mother and the castle. He would not for the world have admitted the
suggestion that the counsel and introduction of Adlerstein
Wildschloss would have been exceedingly useful to him.
Poor Christina! It was a great deal too like that former departure,
and her heart was heavy within her! Friedel was equally unhappy at
letting his brother go without him, but it was quite necessary that
he and the few armed men who remained should show themselves at all
points open to the enemy in the course of the day, lest the
Freiherr's absence should be remarked. He did his best to cheer his
mother, by reminding her that Ebbo was not likely to be taken at
unawares as their father had been; and he shared the prayers and
chapel services, in which she poured out her anxiety.
The blue banner came safe up the Pass again, but Wurtemburg had been
formally civil to the young Freiherr; but he had laughed at the fend
letter as a mere old-fashioned habit of Schangenwald's that it was
better not to notice, and he evidently regarded the stealing of a
bull or the misusing of a serf as far too petty a matter for his
attention.
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