A moment later the attendant opened the door and in a
loud voice announced the Baron of Steinburg.
The governor as he entered cast a keen glance at Malcolm, and then
bowing ceremoniously approached the count and inquired after his
health, and paid the usual compliments to the countess. The count
replied languidly that he gained strength slowly, while the countess
said quietly that he had slept but badly and that his wound troubled
him much. It was well for Thekla that she was not obliged to take
part in the conversation, for she would have found it impossible to
speak quietly and indifferently, for every nerve was tingling with
joy at Malcolm's last words. The prospect had seemed so hopeless
that her spirits had sunk to the lowest ebb. Her mother had done
her best to cheer her, but the count, weakened by pain and illness,
had all along taken the most gloomy view. He had told himself that
it was better for the girl to submit to her fate than to break her
heart like a wild bird beating out its life against the bars of
its cage, and he wished to show her that neither he nor the world
would blame her for yielding to the tremendous pressure which would
be put upon her.
For himself, he would have died a thousand times rather than renounce
his faith; but he told himself that Thekla was but a child, that
women cared little for dogmas, and that she would learn to pray as
sincerely in a Catholic as in a Protestant church, without troubling
her mind as to whether there were gross abuses in the government
of the church, in the sale of absolutions, or errors in abstruse
doctrines.
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