Meanwhile Alf went on, truly and honorably discharging the duties of
his office, although, after the first arrangement had been effected he
had given up the personal guard of the royal bedchamber to other
officers, reserving to himself only a general nightly superintendance;
and the cruel Johannes passed his nights under as good a defence as if
angels with flaming swords had guarded him. His office, however, daily
called the youth to the palace, and he could not but perceive that the
magnificent Gertrude often threw herself in his way. She evidently
loved the beautiful youth as only an unprincipled woman can love,--and
her passion had nothing to combat but the fear of the sultan of the
harem, whose discovery of the least infidelity would have brought
instant death upon the guilty. Yet so powerful was her passion that it
conquered even this fear.
At one of those intoxicating court festivals with which the king sought
to stupify himself and those about him, Alf was standing to take breath
after a brisk dance, with his hands behind him, when suddenly he felt a
warm soft pressure of his right hand, a piece of paper being
simultaneously slipped into it, and a moment afterwards the first queen
stepped forward from behind him, giving him a significant glance as she
passed. He left the room immediately, and by the nearest lamp in the
corridor read the following words:--
'An hour after midnight, in the upper passage on the left; the first
door.'
Hastening back to the dancing-hall, his glowing cheeks and triumphant
carriage immediately betrayed to the beauteous syren, that he had read
and comprehended her billet.
Meanwhile the midnight hour struck. Gertrude was suddenly attacked by a
headache and suffered her attendants to lead her to her chamber. The
king smilingly whispered a word to Eliza, which caused a flush to pass
over her cheeks, and which she answered with downcast eyes. The
assembly gradually departed, and Alf, lost in pleasing dreams,
proceeded to his dwelling.
He found the devoted little Clara yet patiently waiting for him,
occupying herself at the spinning wheel; her now constantly bright eyes
a little dimmed; but whether from late watching, or weeping, or from
both together, he could not exactly decide.
'I began to think you were not coming home tonight,' said the maiden in
a friendly tone, which yet had something of sadness in it.
'The dancing to-night continued unusually late,' replied Alf; casting a
glance at the mirror, and coming to the conclusion that he was right
worthy of the beauteous queen, he proudly pressed his richly plumed cap
over his eyes.
Meanwhile Clara had lighted his chamber lamp and handed it to him.
'I am going out again immediately, dear Clara,' said Alf, with some
little embarrassment. 'I came merely to tell you, that you might not
sit up all night waiting for me.'
'You are going out again?' asked Clara, looking intently at him. 'This
is not your time for guard duty.'
'The feast of to-day has disturbed all our arrangements,' stammered Alf
with embarrassment. 'I must actually go to the palace once more
to-night.'
Clara seized his hand with both of hers, and with her mild honest eyes
gave him a piercing look. His guilty conscience deprived him of the
power to meet her gaze. 'Kippenbrock,' cried she, suddenly alarmed,
'are you not going for some wicked purpose?'
'You are already dreaming, from having watched so long, my child. Go to
bed, pretty one,' said Alf, bending down to kiss the maiden as he
wished her good night; a friendly habit in which he had for some time
indulged. But Clara avoided his embrace, saying earnestly to him, 'not
this evening, dear Kippenbrock, all is not as it should be.'
'You are a little simpleton!' cried he half indignantly, and hastened
forth as if he wished to run away from the 'unpleasant feelings her
suspicions had given him. As the third quarter after midnight struck,
he stood by the stove, closely wrapped in his mantle, in the upper
passage way of the palace, watching with anxious eyes, by the dim light
of the almost expiring lamps, the first door on the left. Finally, the
hour struck, and still no door was opened.
'It is in reality a great wrong for me to be standing here,' said Alf
to himself. 'Let the king now be what he may, and do what he will, yet
I have once for all acknowledged him as my lord, and this Gertrude is
his wife. It is the duty of my office to preserve order and propriety
in the royal palace, which I in intention am so vile as to violate.
Moreover, I encroach upon the rights of the good Clara, who so secretly
and tenderly loves me, and whom I should look upon as my affianced
bride. Did she but know that I was standing here waiting for the
creaking of that door, she would weep her eyes out of her head; and she
even appeared to suspect some intrigue. Her manner toward me appeared
very strange at my departure. Good God! with what face shall I appear
before her in the morning! No! it is settled,--the beautiful Gertrude
shall wait for me in vain, and thus shall we both be spared a sin.'