ppeared and declared that he had already caught this rascal
more than once strolling in a suspicious manner near the castle, and that
he himself was here so late only because his beloved bride, in her
mistress's absence, was afraid of the robber and his companions,
Barbara's entreaties and commands were disregarded, and Erasmus's hands
were bound.

By degrees the noise drew most of the inmates of the castle out of doors,
and among them Frau Lerch. Lastly, several halberdiers, who were coming
from the Lindenplatz and had heard the screams in the garden, appeared,
chained the prisoner, and took him to the Prebrunn jail.

But scarcely had Erasmus been led away when the priests of the household
also came out and asked what had happened. In doing this Barbara's
caution in not calling Erasmus by name proved to have been futile, for
Cassian had recognised him, and told the ecclesiastics what he knew. The
chaplain then asserted that, as the property of the Prince Abbot of
Berchtesgaden, the house and garden were under ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, and committed the further disposal of the burglar's fate to
the Dominican whom the almoner had placed there. For the present he might
remain in secular custody. Early the following morning he must be brought
before the Spanish Dominicans who had come with the Emperor, and from
whom greater severity might be expected than from the Ratisbon
brotherhood, by whom monastic discipline had been greatly relaxed.

Meanwhile the wind had subsided, and the storm had burst with thunder,
lightning, and torrents of rain. Priests and laymen retreated into the
house, and so did Barbara and the marquise. The latter had exposed
herself to the tempest only long enough to emphasize the necessity of
delivering the heretical night-bird to the Spanish Dominicans very early
the next morning, and to show Barbara that she did not overlook the
significance of the incidents under the lindens. With a disagreeable
blending of tenderness and malice, she congratulated the young girl on
the applause she had received as a dancer, the special favour which she
had enjoyed from the Duke of Saxony, and the arrest of the dangerous
burglar, which would also be a gratification to his Majesty.

With these words the old aristocrat, coughing slightly, tripped up the
stairs; but Barbara, without vouchsafing an answer to this speech, whose
purpose she clearly understood, turned her back upon her and went to her
own room.

She