outh, over which hung a long black
mustache, uttered a good-natured "No, no."

Now the ascent of the mountain began. A wall bordered the greater portion
of the road, which often led through a ravine overgrown with brushwood
and past bastions and other solid masonry.

The bearers had already mounted to a considerable height, yet there was
no view of the city and the neighbouring country. But even the loveliest
prospect would not have induced Barbara to open her eyes, for the
indignation which overpowered her had increased to fierce rage, blended
with a fear usually alien to her courageous soul.

In the one tower of the citadel there were prisons of tolerably pleasant
aspect, but she had heard whispers of terrible subterranean dungeons
connected with the secret tribunal.

Suppose the Emperor Charles intended to lock her in one of these dungeons
and withdraw her from the eyes of the world? Who could guard her from
this horrible fate? who could prevent him from keeping her buried alive
during her life?

Shuddering, she looked out again. If she was not mistaken, they were
nearing the end of the road, and she would soon learn what was before
her. Perhaps the Emperor Charles himself was awaiting her up there. But
if he asked her whether she intended always to defy him, she would show
him that Barbara Blomberg was not to be intimidated; that she knew how to
defend herself and, if necessary, to suffer; that she would be ready to
risk everything to baffle his design and carry out her own resolve. Then
he should see that nations and kings, nay, even the Holy Father in
Rome-as Charles had once sacrilegiously done--may be vanquished and
humbled; that the hard, precious stone may be crushed and solid metal
melted, but the steadfast will of a woman battling for what she holds
dearest can not be broken.

The sedan chair had already passed through half a dozen citadel gates and
left one solid wall behind it, but now a second rose, with a lofty door
set in its strong masonry.

When Barbara had formerly ascended the Trausnitz, with what pleasure she
had gazed at the deep moat at her left, the pheasants, the stately
peacocks, and other feathered creatures, as well as a whole troop of
lively monkeys; but this time she saw nothing except that the heavy
iron-bound portals of the entrance opened before her, that the
drawbridge, though the sun was close to the western horizon, was still
lowered, and that Quijada stood at the end, motion