to combine the greatest strength with
the greatest elegance; but durability was the great end. The pious men
of the Middle Ages did not erect mere shells, which, though sufficient
for their own brief lives, would crumble over their posterity; but
looked to the wants of future generations. And, then, there was a
reliance upon posterity which is neither felt nor warranted now. Thus,
in the minor Church of the Nativity in the lordship of Stramen, which
had been designed by Father Omehr, and which had exhausted the revenues
of the barony, the missionary had conceived it upon a scale to which his
present means were insufficient, but to which the charity of another
generation would be adequate. This was always the case with the
cathedrals. Even the castles themselves had so many rooms set apart for
recluses and wanderers, that it was easy to convert them into
monasteries; and the Castle of Hers, with very little alteration, would
have made an excellent convent.

Rodolph was about to throw himself into one of the large high-back
chairs of state; but yielding a graceful respect to the aged priests, he
motioned them to be seated, and placed himself between them.

"You are rather pale, my lord duke, from your wounds," said the baron,
as an attendant entered with some wine-cups--"and I beg you to accept
from my son a draught of the vintage you used to relish."

Rodolph received the goblet from the youth, and replied, as he raised it
to his lips, "How I missed you at Hohenburg!"

"I would have given my lordship," returned the baron, "to have seen you
outstripping all the chivalry of Austria, and charging where none dared
to follow!"

"My fair cousin, the Margrave Udo, would have atoned for the thrust at
my face, which made me see more stars than were ever created, had you
been at my side."

"But to aid you was to assist Henry; and I was loth to break our league
with Saxony."

"That league was merely defensive, and _they_ broke it by aggression and
sacrilege."

"But we could not punish their crime without strengthening the power of
that greater criminal, the emperor."

"You acted uncharitably," said the duke; "but you judged aright, and I
have forgiven you."

"For which; my liege," replied the baron, "I cannot be too grateful."

"Listen," continued the King of Arles, "ye true pastors of the Church of
God, and you, Albert of Hers, that Henry of Austria has nominated a
successor to Anno of Cologne!"

At this announcem