r
him.

In the Golden Cross Quijada asked Adrian what he thought of the singer,
and it was some time ere he answered deliberately: "If only I knew
exactly myself, your lordship--I am only a plain man, who wishes every
one the best future. Here I do so out of regard for his Majesty, Sir Wolf
Hartschwert, and the inexperienced youth of this marvellously beautiful
creature. But if you were to force me by the rack to form a definite
opinion of her, I could not do it. The most favourable would not be too
good, the reverse scarcely too severe. To reconcile such contrasts is
beyond my power. She is certainly something unusual, that will fit no
mould with which I am familiar."

"If you had a son," asked Don Luis, "would you receive her gladly as a
daughter-in-law?"

A gesture of denial from the valet gave eloquent expression of his
opinion; but Quijada went on in a tone of anxious inquiry: "Then what
will she whom he loves be to the master whose happiness and peace are as
dear to you as to me?"

Adrian started, and answered firmly: "For him, it seems to me, she will
perhaps be the right one, for what power could she assert against his?
And, besides, there is something in his Majesty, as well as in this girl,
which distinguishes them from other mortals. What do I mean by that? I
see and hear it, but I can neither exactly understand nor name it."

"That might be difficult even for a more adroit speaker," replied
Quijada; "but I think I know to what you allude. You and I, Master
Adrian, have hearts in our breasts, like thousands of other people, and
in our heads what is termed common sense. In his Majesty something else
is added. It seems as though he has at command a messenger from heaven
who brings him thought and decisions."

"That's it!" exclaimed Adrian eagerly; "and whenever she raises her voice
to sing, a second one stands by the side of this Barbara Blomberg."

"Only we do not yet know," observed Quijada anxiously, "whether this
second one with the singer is a messenger from heaven, like his
Majesty's, or an emissary of hell."

The valet shrugged his shoulders irresolutely, and said quietly: "How
could I venture to express an opinion about so noble an art? But when I
was listening to the hymn to the Virgin yesterday, it seemed as if an
angel from heaven was singing from her lips."

"Let us hope that you may be right," replied the other. "But no matter! I
think I know whence comes the invisible ally his Majesty h