Erna had not yet risen, but had fallen into a light sleep; and as he came to the bedside she softly murmured his name, as if she were even in her morning dream conscious that he had returned. Her white throat was bare, and from her lovely bosom6 the draperies were half displaced, so that its rounded swell7 melted into a foam8 of lace as if she were Aphrodite just emerging from the waves. All his newly found earnestness fell from Albrecht like a garment, and he was only conscious of his wife and his passion for her; albeit9 his love was not to-day the selfish desire of the kobold alone, as it had been last night. Fired by her beauty, he bent10 over and kissed her. She awoke with a smile that melted into a blush as she saw the ardent11 eyes of Albrecht bent upon her and felt his embrace steal about her. She let him lift her to kiss her again, and then she hid her shining face in his breast.
"Now thou must go," she said, as she returned his embrace. "They will stay for us in the hall. Send me my damsel, and I will be ready very quickly."
"Yes," he cried, springing up with all his old joyousness12; "be thou as swift as may be, that we may bestow13 upon thee the Morgengabe."
The Lady Adelaide, after the manner of her kind, had been most curious in regard to the Morgengabe. Her maid Elsa had plied14 the retainers of Baron15 von Waldstein with questions, and the Lady Adelaide herself had not been above some cunning attempts to extract from Herr von Zimmern somewhat touching16 the nature and extent of the bridegroom's ability and probable liberality in this direction, but neither had obtained any definite information. Herr Frederich had replied that his master certainly had the means and the disposition17 to do things upon a grand scale, but he professed18 complete ignorance as to Baron Albrecht's actual intentions, a statement which Lady Adelaide took the liberty of doubting, as it seemed probable that the orders which her newly made nephew had sent home had been executed through Herr von Zimmern. As nothing further was to be got out of this functionary19, however, and as Elsa found the men of the baron equally uncommunicative, there was no help for it, but curiosity must wait unsatisfied until the bridegroom's gift should be bestowed20.
The Lady Adelaide, her black eyes shining with excitement, was already in the great hall when Albrecht and his bride entered, and Father Christopher was not far behind. All the household gathered, for the bestowing21 of the Morgengabe was an important ceremony which hardly ranked below that of the bridal. The damsel Elsa, who could no more help coquetting than she could help breathing, took advantage of a chance which for a moment brought her face to face with Baron Albrecht to cast upon him one of her most languishing22 glances, but to her surprise and mayhap vexation he only smiled good-humoredly like one who comprehended thoroughly23 her wiles24, and passed on to the side of Erna, who had already taken her place in readiness for the entrance of the bearers of her husband's gift.
"Body of Saint Fridolin!" muttered Elsa to herself, unconsciously using her mistress's favorite expletive, "but the wind has changed, methinks, since he touched me under the chin last night. Marriage has tamed you quickly, my Lord Baron! But we may see wonders yet."
And now with a peal25 of music, a wild strain which the retainers of the baron had learned from no human master, the great doors were thrown open and the little train of Von Waldstein's followers26 entered. Behind the musicians walked Herr von Zimmern, and after him followed six servitors, each pair bearing between them a casket of goodly size and apparently27 of some weight.
"The baron's Morgengabe does not take up too much room," murmured Elsa in the ear of Lady Adelaide, behind whom she stood, with the familiarity of long and close service.
"Hush28, simpleton!" her mistress responded. "If those caskets hold jewels, he is giving her a king's ransom29."
The bringers of the Morgengabe marched up the long hall, and saluting30 the company, the musicians fell back and ended their weird31 refrain. Herr von Zimmern stopped before Erna, and made a sign to the first pair of his followers to set down their burden at her feet.
"Gracious lady," Albrecht said, indicating it with his hand, "deign32 to accept this casket as a part of the unworthy Morgengabe that I offer."
At a sign from Herr von Zimmern, the thralls34 threw back the lid and lifted out the trays of the casket, while a murmur5 of astonishment35 and delight ran through the hall. Within, in a glowing heap, in strings36 and clusters and singly, lay the most glorious carbuncles and topazes and sapphires37 that had ever been seen at Rittenberg, where, too, there had been some notable jewels in times gone by.
"Body of Saint Fridolin!" cried the old great-aunt. "Oh, that I were young and had married thee, Baron!"
A sunbeam shone through a high window and fell upon the gems38, making them glow with all the hues39 of the rainbow. Erna knelt down beside the glittering heap, an exclamation40 of surprise and pleasure on her lips. She took up in her hands now one and then another of the splendid bawbles, her woman's love of finery and her sense of beauty alike appealed to by the wonderful stones. From the treasures she selected a string of magnificent sapphires, blue as the sky in springtime, and clasped it about her throat. She said not a word, but her look satisfied her husband. At a sign from him, Herr von Zimmern moved the casket aside, and had the second set in its place. This in its turn was opened, and within were gems more splendid and more precious than in the first; emeralds, rubies41, and diamonds. The wealth of the coffer was confusing, so great was it.
"God's blood!" cried out the Lady Adelaide, falling back upon the oath which she kept for the very last extremity42; "it is the ransom of a kingdom rather than of a king. Should the Huns hear of this Morgengabe they might well come from the North for no other purpose than to capture it. By my soul! Herr Baron, one would think that thou wert in league with the gnomes43 to be possessed44 of jewels like these."
"I am on friendly terms with them," he answered, his truthfulness45 passing as a jest.
Father Christopher said not a word, but he observed how a sudden look of malice46 darted47 through the eyes of Herr von Zimmern at the words of Lady Adelaide, and how he smiled at the reply of his master. The good priest was troubled in his mind at the sight of all this wealth of gems. He saw how Erna's eyes shone, and with what fondness she gazed upon the gleaming, glancing stones; and he saw, too, how the expression of the face of Albrecht, as he regarded the treasures and the delight of his bride, lost the look of reverence48 and earnestness which it had worn when he left the priest's chamber, and took on an expression of greed and passion. The old man sighed, and looked away as still another casket, the third and last, was brought forward and opened at the feet of Erna.
If the third casket when it was opened did not shine with so great a splendor49 as did the others, its contents were none the less wonderful and beautiful. It was filled with pearls of the most clear and exquisite50 sheen, and with opals of fires as varied51 as the changing hues of the sunset, or of the foam-bubbles on a mountain-stream rocking in the sunlight with the swiftness of the current.
Words failed them all as they looked at the three caskets, and even Lady Adelaide was reduced to inarticulate ejaculations of amazement52 and admiration53. Erna still said nothing, save now and then to cry out in wonder at the glory of some jewel more magnificent than its fellows, but she paused now and then in her gloating over the treasure to take her husband's hand and press it in a sort of ecstasy54 of fond delight.
"That is all the Morgengabe I have to offer thee," Albrecht said with a smile, as the last casket was opened. "I cannot pretend that it is worthy33 of thy beauty, but it will make me happy that thou shouldst accept it."
"That is, forsooth, but false modesty," Father Christopher broke in with a brusqueness quite unusual in him. "The gift is one which Charlemagne himself need not be ashamed of; and indeed it is of too great splendor for simple folk like those who are not sovereigns but subjects."
Albrecht turned toward him with a fleeting55 expression of disquiet56 which was instantly chased away by a jovial57 smile.
"But the countess is a sovereign, at least of me and mine," he retorted.
"Doubtless the baron thinks the price small to pay for the joys of his wedding night," broke in Herr Frederich with a laugh.
Erna flushed and bent lower over the pearls she was examining, while Albrecht turned haughtily58 upon Herr von Zimmern with a look of rebuke59 under which the other dropped his head. Bowing profoundly to the company, Herr Frederich made a sign to the musicians, and as they again took up their wild strain and led the way down the hall, he followed with the bearers who had accompanied him to bring in the caskets.
For the first time in his life Albrecht found himself penetrated60 with a sense of disgust and of distrust of his teacher as he looked after him. He felt for the first time that the relations of himself and his wife were too sacred to be jested upon, and it seemed, moreover, as if his new powers gave him an insight into the true nature of Herr von Zimmern which he had never possessed before; so that one of the earliest results of his winning the quest to which he had been incited61 by his instructor62 was the springing of an instinctive63 repulsion from the latter as from an evil thing.
All this, however, was but the feeling of an instant as he stood in the hall and watched the delight of Erna over the jewels. He laughed at her childlike surprise and delight, and jested with the Lady Adelaide in his accustomed fashion. He even had a smile for Elsa when that forward maiden64, behind the backs of the ladies, held a great carbuncle, as large as a pigeon's egg, up to her ear, and pretended to find the weight unbearable65. But at last a chance word of Erna's changed again his mood.
"Look!" she said, holding up a rope of pearls, "they are as large again as those the emperor gave to the Madonna at Mayence."
And at the name of the Madonna Albrecht remembered his baptism, and the burden of his soul once more fell upon him.
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1
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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2
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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3
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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4
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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5
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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6
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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7
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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8
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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9
albeit
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| conj.即使；纵使；虽然 | |
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10
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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11
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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12
joyousness
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| 快乐，使人喜悦 | |
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13
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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14
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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15
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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16
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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18
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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19
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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20
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
bestowing
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| 砖窑中砖堆上层已烧透的砖 | |
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22
languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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23
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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24
wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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25
peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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26
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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27
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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28
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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29
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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30
saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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31
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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32
deign
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| v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事) | |
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33
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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34
thralls
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| n.奴隶( thrall的名词复数 )；奴役；奴隶制；奴隶般受支配的人 | |
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35
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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36
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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37
sapphires
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| n.蓝宝石，钢玉宝石( sapphire的名词复数 )；蔚蓝色 | |
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38
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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39
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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40
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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41
rubies
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| 红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色 | |
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42
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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43
gnomes
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| n.矮子( gnome的名词复数 )；侏儒；（尤指金融市场上搞投机的）银行家；守护神 | |
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44
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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45
truthfulness
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| n. 符合实际 | |
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46
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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47
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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48
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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49
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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50
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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51
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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52
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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53
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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54
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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55
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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56
disquiet
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| n.担心，焦虑 | |
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57
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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58
haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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59
rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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60
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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61
incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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63
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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64
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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65
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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