She was not a beautiful girlnot one of those whose bright eyes rain influence, and judge the prize. She was too small, too slight, too retiring for such a position. If there was something lily-like in her drooping grace, it was not the queen-lily of the garden that she resembled, but the retiring lily of the valleyso purely, transparently white was her skin, scarcely tinted by a roseate blush on the cheek, so tender and modest the whole effect of her slender figure, and the soft, downcast, pensive brown eyes, utterly dissimilar in hue from those of all her friends and kindred, except perhaps the bright, quick ones of her uncle, the master-carver. Otherwise, his portly form, open visage, and good-natured stateliness, as well as his furred cap and gold chain, were thoroughly those of the German burgomaster of the fifteenth century; but those glittering black eyes had not ceased to betray their French, or rather Walloon, origin, though for several generations back the family had been settled at Ulm. Perhaps, too, it was Walloon quickness and readiness of wit that had made them, so soon as they became affiliated, so prominent in all the councils of the good free city, and so noted for excellence in art and learning. Indeed the present head of the family, Master Gottfried Sorel, was so much esteemed for his learning that he had once had serious thoughts of terming himself Magister Gothofredus Oxalicus, and might have carried it out but for the very decided objections of his wife, Dame Johanna, and his little niece, Christina, to being dubbed by any such surname.
Master Gottfried had had a scapegrace younger brother named Hugh, who had scorned both books and tools, had been the plague of the workshop, and, instead of coming back from his wandering year of improvement, had joined a band of roving Lanzknechts. No more had been heard of him for a dozen or fifteen years, when he suddenly arrived at the paternal mansion at Ulm, half dead with intermittent fever, and with a young, broken-hearted, and nearly expiring wife, his spoil in his Italian campaigns. His rude affection had utterly failed to console her for her desolated home and slaughtered kindred, and it had so soon turned to brutality that, when brought to comparative peace and rest in his brothers home, there was nothing left for the poor Italian but to lie down and die, commending her babe in broken German to Hausfrau Johanna, and blessing Master Gottfried for his flowing Latin assurances that the child should be to them even as the little maiden who was lying in the Gods acre upon the hillside.
And verily the little Christina had been a precious gift to the bereaved couple. Her father had no sooner recovered than he returned to his roving life, and, except for a report that he had been seen among the retainers of one of the robber barons of the Swabian Alps, nothing had been heard of him; and Master Gottfried only hoped to be spared the actual pain and scandal of knowing when his eyes were blinded and his head swept off at a blow, or when he was tumbled headlong into a moat, suspended from a tree, or broken on the wheel: a choice of fates that was sure sooner or later to befall him. Meantime, both the burgomeister and burgomeisterinn did their utmost to forget that the gentle little girl was not their own; they set all their hopes and joys on her, and, making her supply the place at once of son and daughter, they bred her up in all the refinements and accomplishments in which the free citizens of Germany took the lead in the middle and latter part of the fifteenth century. To aid her aunt in all house-wifely arts, to prepare dainty food and varied liquors, and to spin, weave, and broider, was only a part of Christinas training; her uncle likewise set great store by her sweet Italian voice, and caused her to be carefully taught to sing and play on the lute, and he likewise delighted in hearing her read aloud to him from the hereditary store of MSS. and from the dark volumes that began to proceed from the press. Nay, Master Gottfried had made experiments in printing and wood-engraving on his own account, and had found no head so intelligent, no hand so desirous to aid him, as his little Christinas, who, in all that needed taste and skill rather than strength, was worth all his prentices and journeymen together. Some fine bold wood-cuts had been produced by their joint efforts; but these less important occupations had of late been set aside by the engrossing interest of the interior fittings of the great Dome Kirk, which for nearly a century had been rising by the united exertions of the burghers, without any assistance from without. The foundation had been laid in 1377; and at length, in the year of grace 1472, the crown of the apse had been closed in, and matters were so forward that Master Gottfrieds stall work was already in requisition for the choir.
Three cubits more, he reckoned. Child, hast thou found me fruits enough for the completing of this border?
O yes, mine uncle. I have the wild rosehip, and the flat shield of the moonwort, and a pea-pod, and more whose names I know not. But should they all be seed and fruit?
Yea, truly, my Stina, for this wreath shall speak of the goodly fruits of a completed life.
Even as that which you carved in spring told of the blossom and fair promise of youth, returned the maiden. Methinks the one is the most beautiful, as it ought to be; then, after a little pause, and some reckoning, I have scarce seed-pods enough in store, uncle; might we not seek some rarer shapes in the herb-garden of Master Gerhard, the physician? He, too, might tell me the names of some of these.
True, child; or we might ride into the country beyond the walls, and seek them. What, little one, wouldst thou not?
So we go not far, faltered Christina, colouring.
Ha, thou hast not forgotten the fright thy companions had from the Schlangenwald reitern when gathering Maydew? Fear not, little coward; if we go beyond the suburbs we will take Hans and Peter with their halberts. But I believe thy silly little heart can scarce be free for enjoyment if it can fancy a Reiter within a dozen leagues of thee.
At your side I would not fear. That is, I would not vex thee by my folly, and I might forget it, replied Christina, looking down.
My gentle child! the old man said approvingly. Moreover, if our good Raiser has his way, we shall soon be free of the reitern of Schlangenwald, and Adlerstein, and all the rest of the mouse-trap barons. He is hoping to form a league of us free imperial cities with all the more reasonable and honest nobles, to preserve the peace of the country. Even now a letter from him was read in the Town Hall to that effect; and, when all are united against them, my lords-mousers must needs become pledged to the league, or go down before it.
Ah! that will be well, cried Christina. Then will our wagons be no longer set upon at the Debateable Ford by Schlangenwald or Adlerstein; and our wares will come safely, and there will be wealth enough to raise our spire! O uncle, what a day of joy will that be when Our Ladys great statue will be set on the summit!
A day that I shall scarce see, and it will be well if thou dost, returned her uncle, unless the hearts of the burghers of Ulm return to the liberality of their fathers, who devised that spire! But what trampling do I hear?
There was indeed a sudden confusion in the house, and, before the uncle and niece could rise, the door was opened by a prosperous apple-faced dame, exclaiming in a hasty whisper, Housefather, O Housefather, there are a troop of reitern at the door, dismounting already; and, as the master came forward, brushing from his furred vest the shavings and dust of his work, she added in a more furtive, startled accent, and, if I mistake not, one is thy brother!
A day that I shall scarce see, and it will be well if thou dost, returned her uncle, unless the hearts of the burghers of Ulm return to the liberality of their fathers, who devised that spire! But what trampling do I hear?
There was indeed a sudden confusion in the house, and, before the uncle and niece could rise, the door was opened by a prosperous apple-faced dame, exclaiming in a hasty whisper, Housefather, O Housefather, there are a troop of reitern at the door, dismounting already; and, as the master came forward, brushing from his furred vest the shavings and dust of his work, she added in a more furtive, startled accent, and, if I mistake not, one is thy brother!
He is welcome, replied Master Gottfried, in his cheery fearless voice; he brought us a choice gift last time he came; and it may be he is ready to seek peace among us after his wanderings. Come hither, Christina, my little one; it is well to be abashed, but thou art not a child who need fear to meet a father.
Christinas extreme timidity, however, made her pale and crimson by turns, perhaps by the infection of anxiety from her aunt, who could not conceal a certain dissatisfaction and alarm, as the maiden, led on either side by her adopted parents, thus advanced from the little studio into a handsomely-carved wooden gallery, projecting into a great wainscoated room, with a broad carved stair leading down into it. Down this stair the three proceeded, and reached the stone hall that lay beyond it, just as there entered from the trellised porch, that covered the steps into the street, a thin wiry man, in a worn and greasy buff suit, guarded on the breast and arms with rusty steel, and a battered helmet with the vizor up, disclosing a weather-beaten bronzed face, with somewhat wild dark eyes, and a huge grizzled moustache forming a straight line over his lips. Altogether he was a complete model of the lawless Reiter or Lanzknecht, the terror of Swabia, and the bugbear of Christinas imagination. The poor childs heart died within her as she perceived the mutual recognition between her uncle and the new comer; and, while Master Gottfried held out his hands with a cordial greeting of Welcome, home, brother Hugh, she trembled from head to foot, as she sank on her knees, and murmured, Your blessing, honoured father.
Ha? What, this is my girl? What says she? My blessing, eh? There then, thou hast it, child, such as I have to give, though theyll tell thee at Adlerstein that I am more wont to give the other sort of blessing! Now, give me a kiss, girl, and let me see thee! How now! as he folded her in his rough arms; thou art a mere feather, as slight as our sick Jungfrau herself. And then, regarding her, as she stood drooping, Thou art not half the woman thy mother wasshe was stately and straight as a column, and tall withal.
True! replied Hausfrau Johanna, in a marked tone; but both she and her poor babe had been so harassed and wasted with long journeys and hardships, that with all our care of our Christina, she has never been strong or well-grown. The marvel is that she lived at all.
Our Christina is not beautiful, we know, added her uncle, reassuringly taking her hand; but she is a good and meek maiden.
Well, well, returned the Lanzknecht, she will answer the purpose well enough, or better than if she were fair enough to set all our fellows together by the ears for her. Camilla, I sayno, whats her name, Christina?put up thy gear and be ready to start with me to-morrow morning for Adlerstein.
For Adlerstein? re-echoed the housemother, in a tone of horrified dismay; and Christina would have dropped on the floor but for her uncles sustaining hand, and the cheering glance with which he met her imploring look.
Let us come up to the gallery, and understand what you desire, brother, said Master Gottfried, gravely. Fill the cup of greeting, Hans. Your followers shall be entertained in the hall, he added.
Ay, ay, quoth Hugh, I will show you reason over a goblet of the old Rosenburg. Is it all gone yet, brother Goetz? No? I reckon there would not be the scouring of a glass left of it in a week if it were at Adlerstein.
So saying, the trooper crossed the lower room, which contained a huge tiled baking oven, various brilliantly-burnished cooking utensils, and a great carved cupboard like a wooden bedstead, and, passing the door of the bathroom, clanked up the oaken stairs to the gallery, the reception-room of the house. It had tapestry hangings to the wall, and cushions both to the carved chairs and deep windows, which looked out into the street, the whole storey projecting into close proximity with the corresponding apartment of the Syndic Moritz, the goldsmith on the opposite side. An oaken table stood in the centre, and the gallery was adorned with a dresser, displaying not only bright pewter, but goblets and drinking cups of beautifully-shaped and coloured glass, and saltcellars, tankards, &c. of gold and silver.
Just as it was in the old mans time, said the soldier, throwing himself into the housefathers chair. A handful of Lanzknechts would make short work with your pots and pans, good sister Johanna.
Heaven forbid! said poor Johanna under her breath. Much good they do you, up in a row there, making you a slave to furbishing them. Theres more sense in a chair like thisthat does rest a mans bones. Here, Camilla, girl, unlace my helmet! What, knowst not how? What is a woman made for but to let a soldier free of his trappings? Thou hast done it! There! Now my boots, stretching out his legs.
Hans shall draw off your boots, fair brother, began the dame; but poor Christina, the more anxious to propitiate him in little things, because of the horror and dread with which his main purpose inspired her, was already on her knees, pulling with her small quivering hands at the long steel-guarded boota task to which she would have been utterly inadequate, but for some lazy assistance from her fathers other foot. She further brought a pair of her uncles furred slippers, while Reiter Hugh proceeded to dangle one of the boots in the air, expatiating on its frail condition, and expressing his intention of getting a new pair from Master Matthias, the sutor, ere he should leave Ulm on the morrow. Then, again, came the dreaded subject; his daughter must go with him.
What would you with Christina, brother? gravely asked Master Gottfried, seating himself on the opposite side of the stove, while out of sight the frightened girl herself knelt on the floor, her head on her aunts knees, trying to derive comfort from Dame Johannas clasping hands, and vehement murmurs that they would not let their child be taken from them. Alas! these assurances were little in accordance with Hughs rough reply, And what is it to you what I do with mine own?
Only this, that, having bred her up as my child and intended heiress, I might have some voice.
Oh! in choosing her mate! Some mincing artificer, I trow, fiddling away with wood and wire to make gauds for the fair-day! Hast got him here? If I like him, and she likes him, Ill bring her back when her work is done.
There is no such person as yet in the case, said Gottfried. Christina is not yet seventeen, and I would take my time to find an honest, pious burgher, who will value this precious jewel of mine.
And let her polish his flagons to the end of her days, laughed Hugh grimly, but manifestly somewhat influenced by the notion of his brothers wealth. What, hast no child of thine own? he added.
None, save in Paradise, answered Gottfried, crossing himself. And thus, if Christina should remain with me, and be such as I would have her, then, brother, my wealth, after myself and my good housewife, shall be hers, with due provision for thee, if thou shouldst weary of thy wild life. Otherwise, he added, looking down, and speaking in an under tone, my poor savings should go to the completion of the Dome Kirk.