🧚 A Historical Tale., part 2 · page 2

"I will seek a divorce, declare the children of the Duchess illegitimate, and we will be married."77

"Under the ban of Kaiser and Pope!" cried Eva, wringing her hands in despair.78

After a pause, in which Eva remained buried in thought, she resumed, "I have a plan, Henry, but the world shall know nothing of our secret.79 You shall give me your left hand, but I _must die_--I mean _seem_ to.80 I shall resign my office at Court and retire, ostensibly to return to my uncle's.81 On the journey I will be attacked with the plague in the convent of Gandersheim, and die in a few hours; and then there must be a public funeral; the world and the Court shall see me buried.82 I leave the carrying out of the details to you.83 Leave Wolfenbüttel on some plausible plea, and in your absence I will retire.84 Dead to the world, I will live only for you."85

Henry, enraptured, caught her in his arms. "86 My darling Eva! will you indeed do that?87 Oh! then I am happy, and could defy the world.88 Here is the seal of our bond," and he placed a diamond ring on her finger.89

They walked arm-in-arm under the silent lindens back to the castle.90 The moon had risen, and bathed the night in her mystic light; the stars looked mournfully down on the betrayed maiden.91 Was there no hand to save her from this ruinous step--no voice to warn the betrayer of his sin?92

The following day, after a stormy scene between the Duke and Duchess, Henry left the castle to attend to business, as he said, and on his return found that the new maid of honour had resigned her office and left the Court.93

The Capuchin convent of Gandersheim, situated in the Duchy of Brunswick, on the river Gande, enjoyed an equal rank with the abbeys of Drübeck and Quedlinburg.94 The Abbesses of these three mitred convents[6] had a seat and vote in the Reichstag, and during the earliest period of their existence the abbesses were of the blood-royal, and only princesses and daughters of the nobility were admitted into their sacred retirement.95

[6] _Mitred convents_--those which had a right to a seat and vote in the Reichstag.96

This imperial convent Gandersheim, once endowed with such wealth and power, was founded by Duke Ludolf of Saxony in the last half of the ninth century.97 It obtained its greatest power under the Ottos, and the imperial princesses were often sent here for their education, or for security in times of danger.98 To this ancient convent I must beg my readers to accompany me.99

It is midnight.100 A fearful tempest sweeps over the mountains.101 The _Wilde Jäger_[7] is out with his ghostly train, and _Tut-Ursel's_[8] howlings ring through the darkness.102

[7] _Wild Hunter_.103

[8] _Tut Ursel_--Tooting Ursula--the nun who broke her vow.104

The rain beats against the windows of the convent as if it would force an entrance, flashes of lightning illuminate the night, and the thunder shakes the old building in its fury, as if it would uproot its very foundations.105

Before a convent altar stands a bridal pair.106 The bridegroom places the nuptial ring on the bride's hand; kneeling they receive the priest's blessing, the young wife rises Frau von Kirchberg, and after remaining some days in concealment in the convent, she escapes in the disguise of a monk to Schloss Staufenburg.107

Meanwhile tidings reach the Court at Wolfenbüttel that the retired Court lady has been attacked with a virulent plague on her homeward journey, and has expired after a painful illness of only a few hours.108

The Court is aghast at the news; Henry retires to his private apartments.109 Duchess Maria, softened to hear of the lady Eva's death, sends members of her Court to attend the funeral.110

And now we have the second act of the drama in old Gandersheim.111

The convent church is brilliant with a thousand tapers.112 High on a rich catafalque before the great altar stands Eva's coffin in a blaze of light.113 The face of the dead is of a wondrous beauty, the long brown curls fall over the breast, the small white hands, marked with plague-spots, are crossed above the still, cold heart.114

The nuns, the Abbess at their head, chant the mournful dirge, and the organ weeps and wails as if it were the very soul of sorrow.115 The courtiers wear the deepest black, and are completely overwhelmed with the awful solemnity of the scene.116

Through all the ceremony the novice Alice seems like one in a dream.117 The suddenness of the thing is to her incomprehensible.118 Only a few days ago she took leave of her foster-sister, and now she gazes on the dead!119 Finally the coffin is lowered; they are about to close it for ever, when Alice, before the Abbess or the two priests, who alone knew the truth, can prevent her, rushes forward with a cry of agony and kisses the cold hands in her sorrow.120 Suddenly she discovers they are only wax!121 Conscious of the danger to herself if she betrays her discovery, she weeps and sobs louder than ever, and must be almost forcibly removed.122 They bear the coffin to the convent vaults, the courtiers return to the Court to picture the marvellous beauty of the departed Eva to the Duke and Duchess.123

In the meantime novice Alice is no novice.124 She ponders over the matter in secret.125

"Eva is not dead," she reflects. "126 Where can she be?127 What can it all mean?128 I will find her if I walk every inch of the Harz mountains.129 I will disguise myself as an old woman, a seller of lace; thus I can gain admittance everywhere.130 But I must get away from here without exciting suspicion."131

As the result of these soliloquies, Alice informs the Abbess she must relinquish her plan of becoming a nun, at least for the present, and go to her mother, who must be in great distress at the sudden loss of her nursling.132

But on her arrival at the castle of Wolfenbüttel, Magda has disappeared, and no one knows what has become of her.133

For a period of four years, Alice, disguised in a grey wig, with an artificial hump on her back, sought Eva, wandering from castle to castle, from town to town through the mountains; but without discovering the faintest trace of either Eva or nurse Magda.134

The princes of the House of Brunswick were, as I said before, passionate lovers of the chase, and Henry the Younger was no exception to his race.135 But suddenly this penchant increased to such an extent that his time was almost entirely absorbed with this pastime.136

He began to be absent weeks and even months in his favourite Harz.137

At length these long absences excited the suspicions of the Court and the Duchess.138 Tales came to their ears of a lady in white, who had been seen at the deserted old Staufenburg.139 Spies were sent out several times to watch the castle, but no discovery was made.140 Eva remained dead for the world.141

Alice, who heard these reports, knowing what others did not, that Eva was not in the vaults of the convent at Gandersheim, resolved to make a visit to the Staufenburg, thinking very likely the reports of the lady in white were not simply wild mountain tales, but having some truth in them.142 This she felt to be all the more probable, since in all her ramblings from town to castle no trace of the lost girl was to be found.143