15. XV.
You should have seen Rodolph Steinmyer and
his friend Conrade Weickhoff, on their fine black
chargers, come prancing into the courtyard of
Staremberg. You should have seen the consternation
of all the spectators. The baron with the
long name stood aghast; but a moment before he
had been certain of his prey, of which he now felt
exceedingly doubtful. Staremberg looked wild,
but not dissatisfied; while his lady, dazzled by the
guady trappings of the horses and their riders,
could only lift up her skinny hands, and exclaim:
“My eyes! my eyes!”
To make a long story short, the presence of
Rodolph became very agreeable to the father and
mother, no less than to the daughter. They were
delighted with him, and his horses, and his friends,
and his retainers, and every thing that was his.
There were now no objections to his suit. The baron
always had loved Rodolph as he had loved his
father. It was only a strange obliquity of understanding
on the youth's part that kept him from
making the discovery. The old lady had all
along desired that Rodolph should be the choice
of her daughter; it was only a proper feeling of
maternal pride that had prompted her to say the
contrary. It was strange how naturally and well
all old difficulties were smoothed and explained
away; and Rodolph, good youth! only wondered
at his own dullness, at not having seen things
in their proper light before.
“My son,” exclaimed the dear old baroness, in
a fit of enthusiastic fondness, “the desire of my
heart is now realized; I can go down to the
grave in peace, since you are to be the husband of
my daughter.”
Conrade Weickhoff chuckled irreverently and
loud. The baron with the long name expostulated;
but Staremberg told him bluntly that he
had never loved his father as he had loved the
father of Rodolph; a speech which the bachelor
knight took in high dudgeon, but without receiving
any redress for it. That night a wild, practical
joke which Conrade Weickhoff played oft
upon him, sent him away half dead with affright,
half naked, and at midnight. The wooing went
on smoothly after this; no difficulties stood in the
way, all parties were satisfied, and the marriage
followed as soon as circumstances would permit.
In the arms of the lovely Bertha, Rodolph almost
forgot the dreadful ceremonial which he had witnessed,
and of which he had partaken, at the castle
of Oberfeldt.
