the old lady in waiting
frequently condescended, persisted in her refusal.

Yet the unhappy mother did not give up hope, for as soon as the singer
committed any act which she was obliged to conceal she could obtain
power over her. So she kept her eyes open and, whenever the Emperor
sought the young girl and was alone with her, she stole into the garden
and peered through the badly fitting window shutters into the lighted
room which was the scene of the happiness of the ill-matched lovers.

What she overheard, however, only increased the feeling of powerlessness
against the hated creature whom she so urgently needed; for the
tenderness which Charles showed Barbara was so great that it not only
filled the marquise with surprise and bitter envy, but also awakened the
conviction that it must be a small matter for the singer to obtain from
so ardent a lover far greater things than she had asked.

So she continued to watch and listen unweariedly, day after day and
evening after evening, but always in vain. She had not the most trivial
thing for which Barbara could be seriously reproached to report to the
confessor; yet De Soto desired nothing better, for Barbara still exerted
an extremely favourable influence upon the Emperor's mood. Therefore it
vexed him that Cassian informed him of many things which prevented his
relying firmly upon her orthodoxy.

At any rate, there were Protestants among her visitors and,
unfortunately, they included Herr Peter Schlumperger, whom De Soto knew
as an active promoter of the apostasy of the Ratisbon burghers. He had
called upon her the second day after her arrival and remained a long
time but, it is true, had not appeared again. With the others also she
held no regular intercourse--nay, she scarcely seemed to enjoy their
visits. Thus the daughters of the Woller family from the Ark, who had
appeared one afternoon, had been detained only a little longer by her
than other Protestant matrons and maidens.

All this was scarcely sufficient to foster his anxiety; but Cassian
reported one visit with which the case was different. Barbara had not
only received this guest alone, but she had kept him more than an hour,
and the servant could swear that the young man to whom she sang long
songs--which, it is true, sounded like church music--to the lute
and also to the harp, was Erasmus Eckhart, the adopted son of the
archtraitor, Dr. Hiltner, who had just obtained the degree of Master
of Arts in Wit