"
"Thank you very much for the honor, my dear Bernat bacsi, but I intend
to remain faithful to my vow never to marry."
"Then you send me out of your house with a mitten, Katinka hugom?"
"I should prefer to detain you as a welcome guest."
"Thanks; but I cannot stop to-day. I am invited to a betrothal feast
over at the Nameless Castle. The count intends to wed in a few weeks."
He had been watching, while speaking, the effect of this announcement on
the lovely face before him.
Baroness Katharina, however, acted as if nothing interested her so much
as the letter she was embroidering with gold thread on a red streamer
for a militia flag.
"The count is in a hurry," continued Herr Bernat, "for he may have to
ride at the head of a company of militia to the war in less than three
weeks."
Here the cruel needle thrust its point into the fair worker's rosy
finger.
Herr Bernat smiled roguishly; and said:
"Would n't you like to hear the name of the bride, my pretty sister
Katinka?"
"If it is no secret," was the indifferent response.
"It is no secret for me, and I am allowed to repeat it. The charming
lady Count Vavel intends to wed is--Katharina Landsknechtsschild!"
The baroness suddenly dropped her embroidery, sprang to her feet, and
surveyed the smiling emissary with her brows drawn into a frown.
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