Tales from the German Volume II Part 9

exclaimed the same voice, with wild alarm,--and powerful blows thundered upon the door.

'Back!' again cried the sentinel, and immediately afterwards, with the exclamation, 'Jesus Maria!' a heavy fall was heard near the door, which now flew in fragments. Dorn rushed into the room over the body of the wounded sentinel, who lay groaning upon the floor, with a drawn sword in his hand. The captain sprang to meet the intruder, but shrunk back, pale and trembling, the moment he recognized him.

'Cut him down from behind!' cried he to his soldiers who now came rushing into the room.

'Down to h.e.l.l!' thundered Dorn, thrusting the captain through the body.

With a frightful death-cry he fell to the earth, and Dorn threw down his b.l.o.o.d.y weapon, 'I am your prisoner,' said he, with imposing dignity, to the soldiers, and took the child from the floor. 'Call the maidens to take care of the mother and infant, and then lead me to your colonel, to whom I have something of importance to say.'

Hardly knowing what they were about, the astonished and confounded soldiers obeyed the bold youth. With loud cries the maidens rushed in to a.s.sist their adored mistress and quiet the screaming infant. Dorn impressed a last kiss upon the hand of the insensible Katharine, and then in a commanding tone he cried to the soldiers, 'now forward!'

leading them off with a step as proud and as confident as if he were marching to battle and victory.

CHAPTER XII.

The generalissimo of the converters, count Karl Hannibal von Dohna, with the governor, baron von Bibran, the Jesuit, Lamormaine, and some field officers, were sitting at a table, in the quarters of colonel von Goes. A large pile of ready prepared tickets, for quarters, were lying upon the table, among flasks and goblets, and the gloves and swords of the officers. A crucifix, kept upon the table for momentary use, seemed to look sorrowfully upon the horrors which were here perpetrated under its sanction. At the door stood colonel von Goes, to whom a deputation of the inhabitants of the suburbs were complaining with trembling humility, that his quarter-master had exempted each householder among them, for the sum of two dollars each, from having troops quartered in their houses, and now he had compelled them to receive two squadrons, who were allowed to oppress them with every species of cruelty.

'If the quarter-master has deceived you,' answered the colonel, 'he will not escape due punishment; but you must submit to the quartering until you return to the only true church; for on no other condition can you be relieved.'

The poor denizens departed with heavy hearts. 'Inquire into this villany,' said the colonel to a subaltern officer, 'and if you detect a rogue, let him be arrested and reported.'

The officer went in obedience to the command. The colonel seated himself with the others, drained a goblet, and striking his fist upon the table, exclaimed, 'a curse upon this whole expedition!'

'Jesus Maria!' cried Bibran and Lamormaine, crossing themselves, while Dohna earnestly inquired why he uttered such an imprecation.

'Because so much baseness, sir count,' fiercely answered Goes, 'mingles with the performance of our great and holy duty. Our people plainly show, that they are more anxious about the gold than the souls of the heretics. Every thief in the regiment will become a rich man in Schweidnitz. In the end it will become a disgrace to be called a Lichtensteiner, and I have a hundred times regretted, that in my pious zeal I opened a path for the entrance of these vagabonds into the poor city.'

'It could be wished,' interposed father Lamormaine, in a conciliatory manner, 'that the business had been undertaken in a less public and violent manner, and I have heretofore expressed the same opinion to the count. This open and public a.s.sault upon these heretics will serve as a warning to the others, and enable them to rally in their own defence.

By rallying their forces they will learn their strength; their courage and obstinacy will increase, all who suffer for their erroneous belief will be considered martyrs, and in the end they will make many converts. We should have operated cautiously and quietly; commencing with them softly, we should have increased the pressure by slow degrees, and should have thus avoided every open scandal. A constant dropping will wear a stone, and I am confident that we could easily and quietly have converted all Silesia in the course of a year.'

'Yes, that is the way with you gentlemen with shaven crowns,' cried the count with a savage laugh. 'You step very softly by nature, but when you have an object to attain, you also bind _felt_ upon the soles of your shoes. Not so with me. My motto is, 'bend or break,--and so far I have found it a very good one. I can boast of having accomplished more than the apostle Peter. He indeed, upon one occasion, converted three thousand souls by preaching a sermon: but I have many times converted a greater number in a day, and that too without preaching. One year for Silesia! Give me soldiers enough, and I will convert all Europe for you in a year, by my method.'

'What sort of a conversion would it be?' asked Lamormaine, shrugging his shoulders. At that moment Dohna's adjutant entered the room.

'The rich Heinze,' whispered he to his chief, 'will make a present to you of that costly writing table, if you will allow him the quiet enjoyment of his faith. You know the splendid article, the one for which the duke of Leignitz offered him four thousand dollars. It is below.

'I will be with him directly,' cried Dohna, and taking a blank license from the table, he hastened out.

Meantime a tumult out of doors had attracted the whole company to the windows. 'Do you know the cause of this disturbance?' asked Goes of the adjutant.

'A merchant's clerk has killed captain Hurka in his quarters,' answered the latter. 'The guard are bringing him here.'

'That Hurka must have learnt the art of tormenting from satan himself,'

growled the colonel. 'What was the provocation?'

'They say,' answered the adjutant, 'that, in order to compel his hostess to procure a certificate of confession, the captain tore her infant from her breast, and threw it upon the floor.'

This announcement caused a universal and simultaneous shudder among those present, despite the triple mail of pride and intolerance which encased their hearts, and Lamormaine discontentedly remarked, 'that is the way to _make_ heretics, not to convert them.'

'This is a case in which mercy, rather than severe justice, should prevail,' remarked the strong-believing Bibran. 'The captain's conduct was too horribly severe, and must lead to greater evils.'

'Let the murderer be led hither,' said Goes. 'I will examine him.'

The adjutant retired, and soon returned with Dorn in chains and surrounded by guards.

As Goes glanced towards him, he started back with fright, exclaiming, 'my G.o.d, what a terrible resemblance!'

Calm and collected, the young man stood there, with his eyes stedfastly fixed upon the colonel.

With, much effort the latter recovered his equanimity, and now asked, 'know you what sentence the laws p.r.o.nounce upon the a.s.sa.s.sin of one of the emperor's officers?'

'I have committed no murder,' resolutely replied Dorn. 'I have only punished, in the presence of his soldiers, a villain who abused his power, and trod under foot the holiest laws of nature.'

'That voice, too!' said the colonel to himself, then turning to Dorn, 'self-avenging is not to be justified. Your act is treasonable, and no evasion can save your forfeited life.'

'Well, then, p.r.o.nounce sentence upon your son!' cried Dorn, with a sorrow which he could no longer control.

'Son!' exclaimed all present with the utmost astonishment, and the horror-stricken Goes fell back into a chair, sighing, 'it is, indeed, my son!'

The son beheld his father with deep emotion, and his tears freely flowed at the sight of the old man's grief. At length, falling upon his knee, he stretched forth his hands and said, 'I am sensible that according to your laws my life is forfeited; therefore give me your blessing, and then quickly p.r.o.nounce the sentence that shall bring peace to this troubled heart.'

'Oswald, Oswald!' cried Goes, 'what a terrible meeting, after ten years of separation! Wretched youth! why did you flee from your father's house?'

'The conflicting opinions which now lacerate Germany,' answered the youth, 'placed a dreadful gulf between you and me. The idea of constraining the consciences of men by means of the sword was revolting to me, and, unable to approve or partic.i.p.ate in your acts, and shuddering at your sectarian zeal, I left you, that no unnatural contest might arise between father and son.'

'Where have you been until now?' asked the colonel with an anxiety which indicated that he feared to hear the worst.

'In the military service of Denmark,' answered Oswald, 'until two years ago I found here in Schweidnitz, in the seclusion of humble life, the peace and quiet which I sought.'

'In the Danish service!' murmured the colonel; 'fighting for heresy against the mother church!'

His grief overpowered him. At length he roused himself by a powerful effort from the whirlpool of conflicting feelings into which he had sunk. 'What could prompt you,' he asked his son in a tone of firmness and severity, 'to the senseless deed of murdering an imperial officer in a city under the control of his brethren in arms?'

'Eternal ignomy to the man,' cried Oswald, 'who would see an honorable woman, a tender mother, a fellow believer, outraged and insulted by a brutal villain, on account of her faith, and not strike down the monster, reckless of consequences, as did Peter when his Lord was a.s.sailed!'

'A fellow believer?' cried Goes with terror. 'Hast thou then become a heretic?'

'I hesitate not,' said the youth with modest resolution, 'to avow myself a believer in the pure faith of Zuinglius.'

'He cuts me to the heart,' groaned the colonel. Then, summoning resolution, he turned to Dorn and said, 'I hope you have now perceived and are ready to recant your errors. That is the only way to save your life.'

'Would you have me deny what I believe to be true, through a pusillanimous fear of death? Is it possible you can have so poor an opinion of your son?'

The rage of the proselyting chief, which had been hitherto with difficulty restrained, now broke through all bounds. He caught the crucifix from the table, unsheathed his sword, and holding them both before his son, exclaimed, 'better to be childless than have a heretic for a son! Choose instantly. Abjure your false belief, or die by my hands!'

'You gave me life, my father,' said Oswald; and you can also take it from me. I remain stedfast in the truth. Therefore end quickly with me, in G.o.d's name.'