At length Treutler returned, followed by Ra.s.selwitz, his arm in a sling, the poor one-handed Goldmann, and the rest of the accused. Armed city-mercenaries brought up the rear.
The bishop rose from his seat to observe the comers, and exclaimed to them authoritatively, "You are prisoners of the emperor and king of Bohemia, and of his chief tribunal at Prague. Give up your arms!"
"We recognize only the a.s.size at Schweidnitz as our judges in this matter," retorted the wild Francis defyingly, in the name of all.
"Is that the respect, Mr. Burgomaster," asked the irritated bishop--"is that the respect which you show to your prince and his laws? I had heard much of the arrogance of the patricians here, and of the Friend family in particular; but this audacity even exceeds my expectations."
"Give up your sword, Frank," said Erasmus with broken voice.
"Sacred heavens!" cried Francis, painfully alarmed--"do you yourself command it, father? Then, indeed, I must obey:"--And he unbuckled his sword, laid it on the council-table, and returned to his companions, who followed his example. The alderman Albrecht now announced that the body of Bieler was brought into the custom-house below.
"We will inspect the corse and confront with it the accused," said the bishop to Erasmus: "you will then separate all parties, and bring them into safe custody. I give them over to you--you alone; but you shall answer for them to the emperor and myself with your head."
He went out with Matthias and Ra.s.selwitz. The council with their prisoners and retinue followed; only the burgomaster remained behind, and grasped Heidenreich firmly by the hand, so that the latter could not join the cavalcade.
"Now, thou prince of peace!" he exclaimed, gnashing his teeth--"had I not done better by causing the alarm to be rung?"
"If you are convinced that such a measure will tend to the general weal," replied Heidenreich, "you may take it still. I would have you weigh, however, that five hundred warriors are drawn up yonder, well armed, and ready to support the bishop"s orders. The result of the fray is uncertain, and even if we were to conquer, what would be the fate of all of us?"
"Ah! these n.o.bles!" cried Erasmus furiously. "Well! some opportunity of revenge will yet offer itself, and, by G.o.d and his holy Gospel, I will seize it by the forelock--it shall not escape me."
On the Friday after George, in the year 1571, sate Francis Friend, with broken spirits, in the Hildebrand of Schweidnitz, his constant quarters since the time of his arrest. It was already late in the evening, and a melancholy lamp partially illumined the sad chamber. The long durance had subdued the wild refractory mood of the prisoner: even the wine no longer relished. He leaned with his head in his hands upon the table by the side of the full flask, and took all the pains imaginable not to think, that he might escape from the recollections and forebodings which tormented him. The door now gently opened, and doctor Heidenreich, creeping in, roused him out of his gloomy meditation.
"Your worshipful father sends me to you, master Friend. You fate seems to be approaching its decision; and I am come, therefore, once again to speak to you alone about this awkward business of yours."
"Make me no long prefaces, master doctor," cried Francis, starting up wildly, "but speak it out plainly. My sentence is p.r.o.nounced; I am to die. Well, then, I am content. I have often before this looked death boldly in the face, and would rather perish at once than pine away any longer in this d.a.m.ned hole."
"Always so hasty and impetuous!" said Heidenreich, and sate down quietly by his side. "The question is not yet of the final sentence; but, as a preliminary measure, the rack, in all its degrees, is adjudged to Onophrius Goldmann, and to that they proceed this very night. The delegates of the council will also be present. It is, therefore, above all things requisite to know for certain how deeply you are implicated in the Bieler murder, that the necessary precautions may be taken. Your answers at the examination have by no means satisfied the lords commissioners, nor, to be candid, myself either.
Now, therefore, I come to put to you a couple of questions, which you must answer me, but honestly as a son to a father; for, look you, I am to defend you when the examination is over, so that I should be considered, _in jure_, as your physician and confessor, to whom you must speak the truth if you wish to be radically healed. First, then, tell me, did you in the fray actually strike Bieler upon the head with your sword?"
"There you ask more than I can answer," replied Francis with vexation.
"The row was all wildness and confusion; I was half drunk too, and rage made my intoxication still madder. I came up roundly to my opponent; but whether I hit Bieler, or whether I did not hit him, that the devil knows best."
"You don"t answer me honestly," said Heidenreich with lifted finger, "and thus without occasion impede my colloquy. You must not, therefore, take it ill, if I put my second question as though I were already convinced of your guilt. Did Goldmann see you strike Bieler? or at least does he pretend to have seen it?"
"He chattered something of the sort to me a little after the fray,"
replied Francis in confusion.
"That"s an awkward circ.u.mstance. How in other respects do you stand with the man?"
"Well, I think."
"There was a talk in the city of your intriguing with his daughter, and having promised her marriage when your wife should die?"
"Likely enough. In need or in pleasure men make all sorts of promises that they are not inclined to keep afterwards."
"Well, as in the meantime your wife is really dead, we might try with this bait to stop the mouth of Onophrius, so that he may leave you out of question altogether when he is put to the rack. I will go to the old man directly and reason the matter with him. If I can make it clear to him that your misfortune will do him no service, he may, perhaps, take good advice. Meanwhile don"t let the time in prison hang heavy on your hands, and be of stout heart. I hope to G.o.d that I shall this once also draw you out of your anxiety and suffering.
"Could not you save Goldmann too?" asked Francis good-naturedly: "It would grieve me for the poor devil if he should have to pay the piper."
"That would be rather difficult. Some victim the n.o.bles must have, and you may rejoice if they will be satisfied with the old messenger.
However, I will see what is to be done for him, if he stand the torture without confession. G.o.d be with you!"
He went, and Francis continued sitting gloomily at the table. The peril, which with every moment approached nearer and nearer to him, straightened his breast sorely. His confidence in the all-powerful protection of his father had already sunk to a very low ebb, and the comfort left him by the doctor did not go a great way either.--"The infernal bay!" he muttered at last, glad to have found something on which he could lay the consequences of his own action--"the infernal bay!"--and he relapsed into a long melancholy silence.
Suddenly there arose below a loud noise and trampling; halberds clattered against each other; doors were opened and shut; and then again a deep awful stillness prevailed.
"What is the matter below?" he anxiously asked the jailer, who then brought in his supper to him.
"Logan Oppersdorf and the other commissioners have just arrived, together with several gentlemen of the council. Goldmann leads up the dance to-day!"
"G.o.d support the poor fellow!" groaned the agonized Francis, and ran about the chamber, goaded by all the pangs of h.e.l.l. Quick footsteps were heard approaching the door: it flew open, and in burst Agatha with dishevelled locks, despair upon her pale, tearless face, and flung herself at the feet of her lover.
"Save, save my unhappy father!" she cried, in tones that rent the heart.
"Collect yourself, my poor girl," said Francis, and raised up the wretched creature: "what would you from me?"
"The dreadful tale has reached even my hovel!" she exclaimed shuddering: "this night my father is to be put upon the rack. He is old and feeble; he will sink under the torture, and confess to deeds of which his soul knows nothing: therefore help, Frank, help, before it is too late. Your hand plunged us into this abyss; your hand must s.n.a.t.c.h us from it. You have solemnly sworn it to us, and must redeem your word, that G.o.d may one day not forget you in your dying hour."
"Leave us alone," said Francis to the jailer; and when the latter had gone, he exclaimed to Agatha, "What would you have of me? You ask help of one who is himself most helpless. Would I be here, if I had the influence which you attribute to me?"
"Your father is all-powerful in this city," cried Agatha, wringing her hands. "It is a trifle for him to help the man who is now to suffer for having saved your life."
"My father"s hands are bound by the bishop and the furious n.o.bles.
Could he govern at his pleasure, he had surely saved his own son from the grief and shame of a prison. But I have done what I could, and your father"s cause is commended to good hands."
"I will believe it," said Agatha, suppressing her feelings, "though I find you terribly cold to a sorrow that concerns you so nearly."
She was henceforth silent, leaning her head on the shoulder of Francis, who embraced her in indescribable anxiety, while the silence of death prevailed in the dungeon. On a sudden, through the nightly stillness broke a hollow shriek from the lower chambers. Francis had a foreboding of what it meant, and shuddered; Agatha listened intently to the groans, which with every moment sounded sharper and more agonized.
"Eternal mercy!" she suddenly cried in wild horror; "that is my father"s voice!"
"Perhaps we deceive ourselves," said Francis, endeavouring to soothe her.
"That is my father"s voice," screamed Agatha; "I should know it amidst thousands. It must be the pangs of h.e.l.l that can extort such cries from the iron old man. Gracious heavens! And I hear his shrieks and cannot help him!"
"Cease," cried Francis, beside himself; "you torture yourself and me with more bitter cruelty than any he can suffer on the rack; and you torture us in vain, for by the Almighty I cannot help, though with my own blood I would purchase his!"
Agatha fixed her eyes upon him with a cold piercing gaze of inquiry, and said, "Are you in earnest, Frank? Would you really purchase his life with your own? Well then, call in the jailers; let the judges be requested to suspend awhile the torture: confess yourself the a.s.sa.s.sin of Netz, and my father is saved."
"And I lost!" exclaimed Francis. "You ask of me more than is reasonable!"
"I was not in earnest," said Agatha contemptuously. "I knew beforehand that your own wretched life was dearer to you than any thing else, and I merely wished to shame the boaster who affected a magnanimity to which his miserable heart can never elevate itself. Father, I _cannot_ save you; this man _will_ not I can do nothing, therefore, but pray for you in the hour of your suffering, that the All-merciful may comfort your soul and preserve it from despair."--And she sank upon her knees; her lips moved softly, and her eyes, turned up to heaven, overflowed with gentle tears, while the cries of agony from below grew fainter and fainter, and at length were silent altogether.
The maiden arose and stood again before the trembling Francis; with awful calmness she said, "A horrid light is beginning to dawn upon me.
It seems to me as if my poor father suffered for your crime, the wild vengeance of the n.o.bles absolutely exacting blood in atonement for the blood which has been spilt. It seems, too, as if you were well content to buy yourself free with this expiatory sacrifice. Once again, therefore, I conjure you, Francis, exert yourself for us. If you could not rescue your saviour from the pangs of the rack, at least preserve his life. Save it not merely for me, save it for yourself! For I swear to you, by the agonies of this dreadful hour, if my father perishes, you too are lost! I will bend all the energies of my soul to your destruction; I will steal after you through life as your evil demon, till at last I reach you and hurl the lightnings of vengeance upon your guilty head!"