Then she hastily straightened herself, and with the bird cage in
one hand and the winged staff of Mercury, which the clown had handed
to her, in the other, she advanced to the centre of the rope. There she
opened the cage as steadily as if she had been standing on the floor of
her own room. The birds fluttered through the little door and went, with
a swift flight, directly to their goal. Then, below and beside her, from
every place occupied by spectators, and from hundreds of windows, rose
thunders of applause; but it seemed to her as if the roaring of the
surging sea was in her ears. Her heart throbbed under her pink silk
bodice like an iron hammer, and in the proud consciousness of having
probably attained already what she desired, and, besides thousands of
other eyes, fixed Lienhard's upon her as if with chains and bonds, she
was seized with the ambitious desire to accomplish something still more
amazing. The man to whom her heart clung, the Emperor, the countless
multitude below, were all at this time subject to her in heart and mind.
They could think and feel nothing except what concerned her, her art,
and her fate. She could and would show to Lienhard, to the Emperor,
to all, what they had never witnessed. They should turn faint with
sympathizing anxiety. She would make then realize what genuine art,
skill, and daring could accomplish. Everything else, even the desire for
applause, was forgotten. Though her performance might be called only a
perilous feat, she felt it to be true, genuine art. Her whole soul was
merged in the desire to execute, boldly and yet gracefully, the greatest
and most perfect performance attainable by a ropedancer. With beads of
perspiration on her brow, and eyes uplifted, she threw the cage aside,
swung her Mercury staff aloft, and danced along the rope in waltz time,
as though borne by the gods of the wind. Whirling swiftly around, her
slender figure darted in graceful curves from one end of the narrow
path to the other. Then the applause reached the degree of enthusiastic
madness which she desired; even Loni clapped his hands from the steeple
window. She had never seen him do this to any of the company. Yes, she
must have accomplished her purpose well; but she would show him and
the others something still more wonderful. What she had just done was
capable of many additional feats; she had tried it.

With fluttering hands and pulses she instantly loosed from her panting
bosom and her hips