it—­had been withheld through parsimony.  Besides, his debts were small in comparison with the vast sums Herr Casper had lavished in maintaining the impoverished estates of the Rotterbach kindred.  Like every knight whose own home was not pleasant, he sometimes gambled; and when, yesterday, ill luck pursued him and he lost the estate of Tannenreuth, he sincerely regretted the disaster, but it could not be helped.

Terror and rage had sealed the old countess’s lips, but now they parted in the hoarse cry:  “You deserve the wheel and the gallows, not the honourable block!” and her daughter, Rosalinde Eysvogel, repeated in a tone of sorrowful lamentation, “Yes, the wheel and the gallows.”

A scornful laugh from Siebenburg greeted the threat, but when Herr Casper, white as death and barely able to control his voice, asked whether this incredible confession was merely intended to frighten the women, and the knight assured him of the contrary, he groaned aloud:  “Then the old house must succumb to disgraceful ruin.”

Years of life spent together may inspire and increase aversion instead of love, but they undoubtedly produce a certain community of existence.  The bitter anguish of his aged household companion, the father of his wife, to whom bonds of love still unsevered united him, touched even Seitz Siebenburg.  Besides, nothing moves the heart more quickly than the grief of a proud, stern man.  Herr Casper’s confession did not make him dearer to the knight, but it induced him to drop the irritating tone which he had assumed, and in an altered voice he begged him not to give up his cause as lost without resistance.  For his daughter’s sake old Herr Ortlieb must lend his aid.  Els, with whom he had just spoken, would cling firmly to Wolff, and try to induce her father to do all that was possible for her lover’s house.  He would endeavour to settle with his own creditors himself.  His sharp sword and strong arm would be welcome everywhere, and the booty he won——­ Here he was interrupted by the grandmother’s query in a tone of cutting contempt:  “Booty?  On the highway, do you mean?”

Once more the attack from the hostile old woman rendered the knight’s decision easier, for, struggling not to give way to his anger, he answered:  “Rather, I think, in the Holy Land, in the war against the infidel Saracens.  At any rate, my presence would be more welcome anywhere than in this house, whose roof shelters you, Countess.  If, Herr Casper, you intend to share with my wife and the twins what is left after the old wealth has gone, unfortunately, I cannot permit you to do so.  I will provide for them also.  True, it was your duty; for ever since Isabella became my wife you have taken advantage of my poverty and impaired my right to command her.  That must be changed from this very day.  I have learned the bitter taste of the bread which you provide.  I shall confide them to my uncle, the Knight Heideck.  He was my dead mother’s only brother, and his wife, as you know, is the children’s godmother.  They are childless, and would consider it the most precious of gifts to have such boys in the castle.  My deserted wife must stay with him, while I—­I know not yet in what master’s service—­provide that the three are not supported only by the charity of strangers—–­”