30. XXX.
There was a destiny in all this. Rodolph began
to perceive how desperate was the contest
before him. He devoted himself to meditation
upon the means of his escape, and for hours he
was absorbed in thought, to the exclusion of all
outward consciousness. At length he called to
him a faithful adherent:
“Claus,” he said, “you will take the lady
Bertha and her child to Staremberg castle. You
will begone instantly, and put yourself in readiness.”
He then sought Bertha, and told her his intention.
“Once secure at Staremberg, Bertha, and you
will not encumber my flight. You can follow me
when you hear of my safety in another land.
Take with you these jewels and this gold. They
will serve us at a future time, and bid defiance to
want.”
He opened the caskets as he spoke, but, instead
of gold and jewels, there lay nothing within but a
few rocks in an envelop. That envelop was a
bloody napkin, marked “Oberfeldt,” and having
on it a purple stain, which gave the idea of a
rudely impressed hand and dagger. The sight
almost blinded the horror-stricken youth. The
doom was gathering around him.
At length Bertha and the child, under the
guardianship of Claus, set forward upon the journey
to her father's castle of Staremberg. Rodolph
separated from her at the gate with many tears.
When they were gone, he mounted his steed, and
rode away gloomily into the forest. It was late
in the day when he determined to return. He
had meditated his plan thoroughly, and had, at
length, devised a scheme which, he flattered himself,
would enable him successfully to fly from his
persecutors. When he reached the edges of the
forest a bright blaze illuminated it, with a light
beyond that of day. He was bewildered by the
conflagration, and hurried forward. When he
had fully emerged from the obscurity of the woods,
he knew the extent of the evil. His fine palace
was in flames. He reached the gates, and found
all his retainers in consternation. The fire was a
mystery; nobody could account for it. While
he gazed upon the blazing ruins, he saw amid the
burning masses, two bright eyes glaring upon his
own. If he had not been well acquainted with
the hateful glare of those eyes, he was yet not
ignorant of the source of that fiendish laugh,
which rose high above the rock when the tottering
walls went down in a final crash. How much
less difficult did it now seem to Rodolph to die!
Suffering had already began to blunt sensibility.
