nd distressed the inhabitants,
with whom his gallantry in the lists and the dance, and his gentle,
courteous manners, had made him very popular. His retainers would not
leave the place without their master, but yet none had the courage to
seek him in the haunted forest. They therefore remained in their
hostelry, idly hoping, as men are so apt to do, and keeping alive the
remembrance of their lost lord by lamentations. But soon after, when
the tempest raged and the rivers overflowed, few doubted that the
handsome stranger must have perished. Bertalda, among others, mourned
him for lost, and was ready to curse herself, for having urged him to
the fatal ride through the forest. Her ducal foster parents had
arrived to take her away, but she prevailed upon them to wait a
little, in hope that a true report of Huldbrand's death or safety
might reach them. She tried to persuade some of the young knights who
contended for her favour, to venture into the forest and seek for the
noble adventurer. But she would not offer her hand as the reward,
because she still hoped to bestow it some day on the wanderer himself;
and to obtain a glove, a scarf, or some such token from her, none of
them cared to expose his life to bring back so dangerous a rival.

Now, when Huldbrand unexpectedly reappeared, it spread joy among his
servants, and all the people generally, except Bertalda; for while the
others were pleased at his bringing with him such a beautiful wife,
and Father Heilmann to bear witness to their marriage, it could not
but grieve _her_: first, because the young Knight had really won her
heart; and next, because she had betrayed her feelings by so openly
lamenting his absence, far more than was now becoming. However, she
behaved like a prudent woman and suited her conduct to the
circumstances, by living in the most cordial intimacy with Undine--who
passed in the town for a princess, released by Huldbrand from the
power of some wicked enchanter of the forest. If she or her husband
were questioned about it, they gave evasive answers; Father Heilmann's
lips were sealed on all such idle topics, beside which, he had left
them soon after they arrived, and returned to his cloister: so the
citizens were left to their own wondering conjectures, and even
Bertalda came no nearer the truth than others.

Meanwhile, Undine grew daily more fond of this winning damsel. "We
must have known each other before," she would often say, "or else some
secr