BERTALDA'S WEDDING
The wedding-day dawned bright and clear, the guests assembled in the
castle and wore their gayest garments, yet over everything there
brooded a dark cloud. It seemed to the knight, as well as to his
guests, that some one was missing from the feast, and the thoughts of
all turned to the beautiful Undine.
The bride seemed happier than any one else, yet even she knew a cloud
was in her sky.
Slowly the hours of the wedding-day dragged on, but at length the
ceremony was over, the feast ended, and the guests ready to depart.
When they had gone, Bertalda, thinking to dispel the gloom which had
now fallen upon her spirit, told her maids to spread out before her
all her rich jewels and gorgeous robes. She would choose to-night the
garments in which she would array herself on the morrow.
Her waiting-maids did as they were told, and when the dresses and
jewels were spread out before their new mistress, they began to
flatter her and tell her that none was fairer than she.
Bertalda listened with pleasure to their praises. Then looking at
herself in the mirror she sighed. 'Alas, but see these little brown
spots that have appeared on my neck.'
The maids saw indeed, as their mistress said, that there were freckles
on her neck, but still they flattered her, saying that the little
spots only made her skin look the whiter.
But Bertalda did not believe their words. She wanted to get rid of the
freckles that had only lately appeared on her slender throat.
'Had I but water from the fountain, the spots would vanish in a day,'
she cried pettishly.
Then one of Bertalda's maids thought to herself, 'My mistress shall
have the water she so much desires,' and laughing gaily to herself,
she slipped from the room.
In but a few moments heavy footsteps were heard in the court below.
The footsteps tramped backward and forward.
Bertalda, looking from her window, smiled, for she saw that the noisy
steps were those of workmen, who were busy removing the stone which
had been placed over the fountain. She guessed that this was the doing
of one of her maids, but she still smiled contentedly. The freckles
would not spoil her beauty for another day. The water from the
fountain would make them disappear, and that was all she cared about
just then.
At first the workmen tried in vain to remove the stone. Perhaps some
of them, remembering that their sweet young mistress Undine had
ordered it to be placed there, did not try very hard to lift it from
its place. All at once, however, the stone began to move. It almost
seemed as though it were being pushed up from beneath. It moved
slowly, then seemed to rise up into the air, after which it rolled on
to the pavement with a tremendous crash.
Then slowly, slowly there rose out of the mouth of the well a white
figure, veiled and weeping. And those who gazed spellbound at the
sight saw that the figure which stepped from the fountain was that of
a woman. Weeping and wringing her hands, she walked slowly,
sorrowfully toward the castle.
The workmen now fled in terror from the court, while Bertalda with her
maids still gazed from her window at the pale shadowy figure. As it
passed beneath her window it looked upward, sobbing pitifully, and
the bride saw under the veil the sweet sad face of the mistress of the
castle, Undine.
Bertalda called aloud to her maids to go fetch the knight, her
husband, but not one was found with courage to go in search of him.
On and on went the wanderer slowly, as though she would fain turn
backward, on and up the stairs she knew so well, through the long
quiet passages, and as she walked her tears fell yet more fast.
In a room at the end of the long passages stood the knight. A torch
burnt dully by his side. As he stood there thinking of the days that
had passed away for ever, he heard steps coming slowly along the
passage. He listened, and, as he listened, the slow footsteps halted
outside his door.
Soft fingers tapped, and then very gently the door was opened, and
Huldbrand, standing before a long mirror, saw, without turning, a
white-veiled figure enter and close the door.
'The stone has been taken away from the fountain, and I have come to
you and you must die,' said a soft voice.
Ah, it was Undine, his beautiful lost Undine, who had come back to
him. How he longed to see her face, yet how he feared to have the veil
removed lest she should have changed since last he gazed upon her.
[Illustration: Slowly, slowly there rose out of the mouth of the well
a white figure]
'If you are beauteous as in days gone by, if in your eyes I may see
your soul tender as of old, draw aside your veil, that as I die I may
gaze upon you,' faltered the knight.
Silently Undine threw back her veil, and Huldbrand saw her, fair as on
the day he had won her for his bride. As he looked upon her, he knew
that he had never loved any one in all the wide world as he loved
Undine.
He bent toward the sweet face. Then Undine, kissing the knight, drew
him into her arms and wept. And as she wept the tears flowed into his
very heart and he also wept. Softly she laid him on his couch, and
with her arms around him, Huldbrand died.
Then sorrowfully Undine raised herself from the couch, and sorrowfully
she passed from the chamber.
'My tears fell on his heart until, for very sorrow, it broke,' she
said, as she glided, a pale veiled figure, through the terrified
servants.
And some who dared to follow her saw that she went slowly down toward
the fountain.