This drive, at redoubled speed, despite its being in broad daylight, had to the student the fascination of the gallop of the returned dead lover and Lenore in the ballad.  Though never cruel before, he now spared the horse not a stroke or impatient shout, however imprudent the latter was.  On the rutty, ill-kept lane the wheels bounded unevenly and the driver had hard work to keep his seat; but the girl, by a miracle of balancing, held her half-crouching, half-standing position in the calash, and only now and then, flung forward by a jolt, rested her hands on Claudius’ shoulders.  At this contact—­at the sight of those roseate, dimpled hands—­he was electrified and in the headlong rush he pictured himself as Phaeton, careering behind the glancing tails of the steeds of the solar chariot.

Such a pace overtasked the poor mare.  At any moment now her sudden collapse after a stumble might be expected.  On the other hand, the farm-house, winning-post of the race, loomed up clearly, and, luckily, the road improved a little by becoming harder and descending gradually.  On one side rose a willow coppice, in the trailing branches of which a musically rippling brook was running; on the other, the ruins of a barn, which a flood had demolished.

On the knoll beyond, the haven stood, and Kaiserina smiled as she leaned her head forward so that her cheek was next his.

Again she had saved him!

No; not yet!

From both sides of the road at the hollow, three horsemen came solemnly forth, two from the right, one from the ruins.

The girl turned pale and shrank back.  Claudius flung down the broken whip, and, taking the reins in his teeth, held a pistol in each hand.  He had recognized in the most prominent rider Major von Sendlingen, and in an instant he comprehended that this was a trap and that his chivalric, Christian conduct was the most base of impudent tricks.

Was Kaiserina also a betrayer?  He did not believe that.

Each horseman had a pistol as well as a sword drawn, and, besides, the two inferiors were armed with carbines.  This had the air of an assassination, and, infuriated by the treachery, Claudius resolved to begin the attack.  It mattered little whether Fraulein von Vieradlers was in the conspiracy or not.  Once she had saved his life, and he was bound not to molest her now, so long as she remained neutral.  She had cowered down, from fear or because her guilt oppressed her.  Perhaps his contempt would punish her sufficiently.

The old mare bore the unusual exertion bravely and charged down the incline against the odds like a war-stallion.

“Take him alive!” shouted the major, beating down the pistols with his sword flat, as a second thought changed his first intention.

He had spied the young singer in the shadow of the hood, and he had no wish to injure her.

“That’s not as you decide!” retorted Claudius, and he fired both shots at the same time.