Berthold moved his lips in reply; but thinking of the figure of defeat he was exhibiting before Margarita, caused him to estimate unfavourably what chances had stood in his favour.

The health was drunk.  Aunt Lisbeth touched the smoky yellow glass with a mincing lip, and beckoned Margarita to withdraw.

‘The tapestry, child!’ she said.  ’Dangerous things are uttered after the third glass, I know, Margarita.’

‘Do you call my champion handsome, aunt?’

’I was going to speak to you about him, Margarita.  If I remember, he has rough, good looks, as far as they go.  Yes:  but thou, maiden, art thou thinking of him?  I have thrice watched him wink; and that, as we know, is a habit of them that have sold themselves.  And what is frail womankind to expect from such a brawny animal?’

                   ’And oh! to lace his armour up,
                    And speed him to the field;
                    To pledge him in a kissing-cup,
                    The knight that will not yield!

I am sure he is tender, aunt.  Notice how gentle he looks now and then.’

’Thou girl!  Yes, I believe she is madly in love with him.  Tender, and gentle!  So is the bear when you’re outside his den; but enter it, maiden, and try!  Thou good Ursula, preserve me from such a fate.’

’Fear not, dear aunt!  Have not a fear of it!  Besides, it is not always the men that are bad.  You must not forget Dalilah, and Lot’s wife, and Pfalzgrafin Jutta, and the Baroness who asked for a piece of poor Kraut.  But, let us work, let us work!’

Margarita sat down before Siegfried, and contemplated the hero.  For the first time, she marked a resemblance in his features to Farina:  the same long yellow hair scattered over his shoulders as that flowing from under Siegfried’s helm; the blue eyes, square brows, and regular outlines.  ‘This is a marvel,’ thought Margarita.  ’And Farina! it was to watch over me that he roamed the street last night, my best one!  Is he not beautiful?’ and she looked closer at Siegfried.

Aunt Lisbeth had begun upon the dragon with her usual method, and was soon wandering through skeleton halls of the old palatial castle in Bohemia.  The woolly tongue of the monster suggested fresh horrors to her, and if Margarita had listened, she might have had fair excuses to forget her lover’s condition; but her voice only did service like a piece of clock-work, and her mind was in the prison with Farina.  She was long debating how to win his release; and meditated so deeply, and exclaimed in so many bursts of impatience, that Aunt Lisbeth found her heart melting to the maiden.  ‘Now,’ said she, ’that is a well-known story about the Electress Dowager of Bavaria, when she came on a visit to the castle; and, my dear child, be it a warning.  Terrible, too!’ and the little woman shivered pleasantly.  ’She had—­I may tell you this, Margarita—­yes, she had been false to her wedded husband.—­You understand, maiden; or, no! you do not understand:  I understand it only partly, mind.  False, I say——­’