Thekla gave Malcolm her hand, but said nothing.  She had now reached an age when girls feel a strange shyness in expressing their feelings; but her hand trembled with pleasure as she placed it in Malcolm’s, and her cheek flushed hotly as, in accordance with the custom of the times, she presented it to his kiss.

“Now,” the count said, “do not let us waste time; tell us quickly by what miracle you have arrived here, and have penetrated to what is really my prison.  You must be quick, for we have much to say, and your visit must be a short one for every third day the governor of the prison pays me a visit to see how I am getting on, and I expect that he will be here ere long.”

“Then,” Malcolm said, “I had best prepare for his coming, for assuredly I am not going to hurry away.”

So saying, he lifted down the great clock which stood on a bracket on the wall, and placed it on a side table.  “I am a clockmaker,” he said, “and am come to put this machine, whose stopping has annoyed you sadly, into order.”

So saying, he took some tools from his basket, removed the works of the clock, and, taking them in pieces, laid them on the table.

“I spent much of my time at Nuremberg,” he said, in answer to the surprised exclamations of the count, “in learning the mysteries of horology, and can take a clock to pieces and can put it together again with fair skill.  There, now, I am ready, and if the governor comes he will find me hard at work.  And now I will briefly tell you how I got here; then I will hear what plans you may have formed, and I will tell you mine.”

“For myself, I have no plans,” the count said.  “I am helpless, and must for the present submit to whatever may befall me.  That I will not renounce the cause of my religion you may be sure; as for my wife, we know not yet whether, when they remove me to the fortress, they will allow her to accompany me or not.  If they do, she will stay with me, but it is more likely that they will not.  The emperor is merciless to those who oppose him.  They will more likely keep her under their eye here or in Vienna.  But for ourselves we care little; our anxiety is for Thekla.  It is through her that they are striking us.  You know what they have threatened if I do not abandon the cause of Protestantism.  Thekla is to be placed in a convent, forced to become a Catholic, and married to the man on whom the emperor may please to bestow my estates.”

“I would rather die, father, than become a Catholic,” Thekla exclaimed firmly.

“Yes, dear!” the count said gently, “but it is not death you have to face; with a fresh and unbroken spirit, it were comparatively easy to die, but it needs an energy and a spirit almost superhuman to resist the pressure which may be placed on those who are committed to a convent.  The hopelessness, the silence, the gloom, to say nothing of threats, menaces, and constant and unremitting pressure, are sufficient to break down the firmest resolution.  The body becomes enfeebled, the nerves shattered, and the power of resistance enfeebled.  No, my darling, brave as you are in your young strength, you could not resist the influence which would be brought to bear upon you.”