The young man changed colour, and said coldly—­

“I have no account to render to you.”

“Beware,” replied Sperver.  “I am come with proposals of peace and conciliation.  I am here on behalf of the lord Yeri-Hans.  I am in the execution of my duty, and you are putting yourself in the wrong.”

“Your duty!” cried the young man bitterly.  “If you talk about your duty you will oblige me to do mine!”

“Well, do it!” cried the huntsman, whose features were becoming disturbed with anger.

“No,” replied the baron, “I am not responsible to you, and you shall not come here!”

“That’s what we shall soon see!” said Sperver, drawing nearer to the cave.

The young man drew his hunting-knife.  Perceiving this menacing action, I was about to dart between them, but happily the hound which I was holding by his collar slipped from me with a violent shock and threw me on the ground.  I thought the baron would be lost, but at that instant a wild shriek rose from the dark bottom of the cavern, and as I rose to my feet I saw the old woman standing erect before the fire, her tattered garments hanging loosely about her, her grey and tangled locks floating wildly in the wind; she flung her bony arms in the air and uttered prolonged piercing howls like the cry of agony of the hungry wolf in the long cold nights of winter when famine is gnawing his entrails.

Never in my life have I seen a more fearful apparition.  Sperver, motionless, his eyes riveted on the fearful object before him, and his mouth open with astonishment, stood as if rooted to the earth.  But the powerful dog, surprised himself at this unexpected sight, stood still for a moment; then with a bend of his bristling back in preparation for a mighty leap, he made a rush with a deep, impatient growl which made me tremble.  The platform before the cave was about eight or nine feet from the level where we stood, or he would have reached it at a single bound.  I can yet hear him clearing a way through the snowy brambles, the baron flinging himself before the woman with a piercing cry, “My mother!” then the dog taking another spring, and Sperver, quick as lightning, raising his gun, and bringing down the poor animal dead at the young man’s feet.

This was but the work of a second.  The gulf had been illuminated with a momentary flash, and the wild echoes were vibrating with the explosion from rock to rock, till it died in the far distance.  Then silence again settled on the gloomy scene, as darkness after the lightning.

When the smoke of the explosion had cleared away I saw Lieverle lying outstretched at the foot of the rock, and the woman fainting in the arms of the young man.  Sperver, pale with concentrated rage and excitement, and eyeing the young baron darkly, dropped the butt of his gun to the ground, his features discomposed, and his eyes half-hid in his gloomy frown.

“Seigneur de Bluderich,” he cried, with his hand extended, “I have killed my best friend to save the life of that unhappy woman, your mother!  Thank God that her life is bound up with that of the Count of Nideck!  Take her away! take her hence, and never let her return here again; if you do I cannot answer for what old Sperver may be driven to do!”