"Tomorrow, when your attendant discovers that your daughter has
escaped, she will at once take the news to the governor. The sentries
will all be questioned, and it will be found that, whereas but one
clockmaker came in two went out. The city will be searched and the
country round scoured but if the horsemen overtake me they will be
looking for a craftsman and his apprentice, and will not suspect
a solitary peasant with a wagon.
"The first danger over I must be guided by circumstances; but in
any case Thekla must travel as a boy to the end of the journey, for
in such troubled times as these it were unsafe indeed for a young
girl to travel through Germany except under a strong escort of
men-at-arms. I design to make my way to Nuremberg, and shall then
place her in the hands of my good friend Jans Boerhoff, whose wife
and daughters will, I am sure, gladly receive and care for her until
the time, which I hope is not far off, that peace be made and you
can again rejoin her."
"The plan is a good one," the count said when Malcolm had concluded,
"and offers every prospect of success. `Tis hazardous, but there
is no escape from such a strait as ours without risk. What say you,
wife?"
"Assuredly I can think of nothing better. But what say you, Thekla?
Are you ready to run the risks, the danger, and the hardships of
such a journey under the protection only of this brave Scottish
gentleman?"
"I am ready, mother," Thekla said quickly, "but I wish -- I wish"
-- and she hesitated.
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