"No, no falsehood," cried Ulrich, "only the irksome, terrible necessity, the--"The loud crash of a rifle, finding an oft-repeated echo in the mountains, interrupted him. Eliza uttered a cry of dismay and jumped up.
"Jesus Maria!" she murmured in a low voice, "it is the signal. It has commenced!""What! What has commenced?" asked the young man, in surprise.
Eliza looked at him with confused and anxious eyes. "Nothing, oh, nothing at all," she said, in a tremulous voice. "Only--I mean"--she paused and looked with fixed attention down on the large place. She distinctly saw the groups moving rapidly to and fro, and then pouring with furious haste through the streets.
"They are coming up here," she murmured; and her eyes turned toward the wing of the castle on the side of the balcony, where the Bavarian soldiers had their quarters. The latter, however, apparently did not suspect the imminent danger. They were sitting at the windows and smoking or cleaning their muskets and uniforms.
Eliza could hear them chatting and laughing in perfect tranquillity.
"Well, Eliza, beautiful, cruel girl," asked Ulrich von Hohenberg, "will you tell me what has suddenly excited you so strangely?""Nothing, sir, oh, nothing," she said; but then she leaned far over the railing of the balcony and stared down; she beheld four young Tyrolese sharpshooters running up the castle-hill at a furious rate, and the host of their comrades following them. The four who led the way now entered the court-yard, and reached with wild bounds the large door forming the entrance of the wing of the building occupied by the soldiers. With thundering noise they shut it, turned the large key which was in the lock, and drew it immediately out.
Two sharpshooters now ran up from the opposite side.
"We have locked the back-gate," they shouted exultingly.
"That door is locked too," replied the others, jubilantly. "They are all prisoners in the castle!""Sir," cried Eliza, drawing Ulrich von Hohenberg back from the balcony, "you may come with me into the dining-room; I must tell you something.""No," he said, "I shall stay here and see what is the matter.""What does this mean? More than fifty Tyrolese are entering the court-yard; and why did those mad young fellows lock the door upon my soldiers?""I suppose it is some mad freak of theirs, that is all," said Eliza, trembling. "Come, dear sir, leave the balcony and follow me into the room. I wish to tell you something--quite secretly, sir,--oh, come!
I do not want heaven and God and the snow-clad mountains yonder to hear a word of it.""Eliza," he exclaimed, transported, "how you smile, how you blush!
Oh, my God, what do you wish to say to me?"She encircled his arm with her hands and drew him into the room.
"Listen," she said, looking at him with imploring eyes, "if it is true that you love me give me a proof of it and swear that you will do what I shall request of you!""I love you, Eliza, and will prove it to you. I swear, therefore, to do what you shall request of me.""Thank you, thank you," she exclaimed, joyfully. "Now come with me;I will conduct you under the roof; I know of a hiding-place there where no one will find you, and you will swear to me to stay there until I come to you with a suit of clothes which you will put on.
