the bolts withdrawn, and, in a mourning dress, the lord of
the castle entered.

'You may thank a feeling of compassion that I condescend once more to
parley with you!' said the old man with a painful suppression of his
rage.

'I desire not your compassion.'

'You have violated the laws of hospitality and seduced my only child.'

'That is not true!'

'Knights and serfs were witnesses of my shame, which blood alone can
efface. Were your previous marriage dissolved, however, and Rosamunda
your wife, I might, perhaps, forgive you.'

'That can never be.'

'Rosamunda's person is fair, and yet fairer is her guileless heart. She
is of the noblest lineage. Immense treasures lie in the caves of this
castle, and my lands extend twenty days' journey towards the north.
Take your life from my daughter's hand!'

'Place everlasting torments in one scale, and an imperial crown in the
other, I repudiate my wife at no price.'

'Will Aliande be less inconsolable as a widow than divorced?'

'Waste not your breath!'

'By the eternal gods! I warn you for the last time. These prison walls
see you Rosamunda's husband, or echo the death-sigh forced from you by
the rack!'

Ryno tore one of the golden locks from his head and handed it to his
persecutor. 'If one spark of humanity yet slumbers in your bosom you
will send this lock to my poor wife, with the message--That I die
faithful to her, and that I wish her to train up my son as a good and
virtuous knight.--Now let your executioners come on, I am ready.'

'Then, by Woden!' roared the foaming parent, 'you never behold the
rising of another sun!'

He struck a bell, and twelve armed men with closed visors and drawn
swords, slowly and silently entered. One of them detached Ryno's chains
from the wall. Again the bell sounded, and at the other end of the
prison the heavy doors of the torture vault flew open with a horrible
clang. The cave-like room was hung with black and lighted with torches.
Every instrument which the cruelty of man has invented for the torment
of his fellow man, brightly polished and arranged with frightful
regularity, met the glance of the unfortunate prisoner. Large pincers
were glowing in a chafing dish, and in the centre of the room stood the
dreadful rack with its fearful and mysterious equipments. Three hideous
ruffians, with naked arms, in blood-red caps and doublets, stood
waiting beside it. On the right was an open and empty coffin.

'For the last tim