wished that the invalid would keep quiet, and not talk so much; she therefore said, “Do not distress yourself, my lord, as to who prepared the broth; it is well for you and for us that it has worked the healthful effect which we hoped from it.” But the knight was not to be put off with this answer; he demanded a reply to his question, to which the housekeeper at last responded;—that there was a servant in the kitchen, called the little gipsy, who was skilful in the knowledge of all herbs and plants, and that it was she who had prepared the broth that had made the knight so well. “Bring her to me,” said the knight, “that I may thank her for this panacea of life.”—“Hold,” answered the housekeeper, “her look would disgust you: in form she is like a hooded owl, she has a hump on her back, is dressed in dirty clothes, and her face and hands are smeared with dirt and soot.”—“Do my commands,” said the Count, “and without a moment’s delay.” Dame Gertrude obeyed, called Matilda quickly out of the kitchen, threw a cloak over her which she was accustomed to wear at church, and led her, thus adorned, to the sick-chamber. The knight commanded her to retire, and when he had closed the door he said, “Little girl, confess to me freely, how didst thou become possessed of the ring which I found in the bowl in which you prepared my breakfast?”—“Noble knight,” answered the maiden, modestly and respectfully, “I had the ring from you; you adorned me with it on the second evening of the dance, when you swore your love to me; see now, if my form and origin deserve that you should pine away and sink into the grave. Your condition grieved me, therefore I have no longer delayed to show you your error.” Count Conrad had not expected such an antidote to love; for a moment he was confounded and silent. But the form of the charming dancer soon hovered before his eyes, and he could not make it agree with the antitype now before him. He thought, that perhaps his passion had been discovered, and that they wished to cure him by an innocent deceit; still the true ring which he had received back, made him think that the beautiful unknown was in some manner connected with the scheme; then he thought he would question the servant, and try to entangle her in her talk. “If you are that gentle maiden,” said he, “who pleased me so much, and to whom I plighted my troth, do not doubt that I will truly keep my promise; but beware of deceiving me. Can you again take the form which appeared to me two successive nights in the dancing-hall? can you make your body as slender and even as a young fir-tree? can you change your dingy skin like a snake, and show different colours like a chameleon; so shall the word that I spoke when I gave away the ring, be ‘yea and amen.’ But if you cannot perform the conditions of this stipulation, I will have you scourged as a mischievous deceiver, till you tell me how you became possessed of this ring.” Matilda siahed; “Ah, is it only the glitter of the form, noble knight, that
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