# Adelaide of Brunswick/Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE
"Well, Bathilda," said Adelaide as soon as the baron had left, "do you understand me now?"
"Yes, Milady, I think so, but suppose this young man betrays you?"
"Bathilda," said the princess smiling, "you don't have much confidence in the power of my charms."
"I am only worried about your playing the part of a coquette."
"Now, Bathilda, I wouldn't say that. It would imply that I am being false to the Marquis of Thuringia and that is far from being true. I am not a coquette since coquetry in a woman is only a mask she dons to disguise her faults and appear more attractive. Those whom Nature has blessed with beauty never call upon this art to help them. I am not trying to seduce the baron, but I wish to leave this chateau and he is the only one I can find who can serve this purpose."
"But you are deceiving him."
"Isn't it permissible to deceive others in order to save oneself? History is full of false treaties, vain promises and unjust wars. People have always disregarded the interests of others and cared for their own."
"But if you deceive this young man, he will never get over it."
"I will do all I can to keep him from falling too much in love with me."
"But once he loses you, he will never be consoled."
"Let's not worry about consolation before the harm is done. ​Let's leave that for a moment. We are forgetting something else, something much more essential."
"What's that, Milady?"
"It is very important for us to get word of our abduction to Burdorf, who can be useful to us."
"I realize the truth of what you say, Milady, but certainly our correspondence is too well watched for any of our letters to reach their destination. But you have already captivated the baron. Let's rely on his help. We will have much more chance of success and less danger."
Suddenly the door was thrown open and the margrave stalked in, bristling with anger.
"You don't realize the danger of irritating a man like me," he said furiously. "Do not force me to make you feel my anger."
"In truth, sir," said the princess, "I know nothing quite so strange as your ire. By what right do you speak to me in this manner?"
"The right of power over nothingness."
"You mean the right of lions and bears over their unfortunate victims."
"It is the surest of all and I do not expect to use any other."
"The only thing you will succeed in doing is to make me even colder toward you."
"But who are you, woman, to resist so imperiously my favors?"
"I am a free and proud woman who depends only on herself, who has no need whatsoever of you, and who will never have anything but scorn for your methods. Once more, sir, have me taken back to where you found me. It is the only way of having me forget your wrongs toward me. Each moment which you keep me here only aggravates them. At the present I have only indifference toward you. Watch out if I begin to hate you."
"I will know how to guard myself," sneered the margrave, as he stalked out.
After this interview, Adelaide, who was used to eating every day with the margrave, was served in her room. This change seemed unusual and Bathilda did not reassure her.
​"All this announces something sinister, Milady," she said. "Believe me, we should put all our papers in order and be prepared for any event."
At this time they usually went to bed; but now they did not even undress, but locked themselves up in their rooms. At two o'clock in the morning a noise could be heard. They listened and trembled, noticing that the noise was increasing. There was a tramping of heavy feet outside and suddenly the doors were opened by force. Three men seized Adelaide without saying a word. Two of them dragged her out of the room while the third held Bathilda to keep her from following.
The weeping of Bathilda, the cries of Adelaide, the curses of the abductors, the doors which were opened and closed with a frightful noise, the disorder of the torn clothes of the princess after her struggles, her loose hair falling on her bare shoulders, her arms of such dazzling whiteness brutally gripped by the hairy hands of the monsters who were taking her away, some traces of blood on the hideous faces of these scoundrels, caused by the violent blows she had given them when she was trying to prevent their taking her off; all this scene projected into the dark passageways of the castle through which this beautiful victim was being dragged, resembled a dead body removed from a coffin surrounded by many bright candles and thrown into the obscurity of the tomb.
After what seemed hours to the terrified woman, her captors stopped, opened a door, and threw her into a totally darkened room. Heavens! What a moment for her! It was like the total destruction of the senses, like the breaking of the thread of life, leaving in the mind only one expression: "you are no more."
Adelaide groped her way around in the room. Suddenly, her arms were pinned behind her by one strong hand, while the other explored the most intimate parts of her body. She tried to free herself, but then her lips were seared by the hot mouth of the margrave. Through the thin layers of clothing which separated them, she felt the passionate quivering of his strong muscular body. With a violent effort she broke from his grasp and ran blindly across the darkened room. But the ​margrave quickly lighted some candles, and with every evidence of his evil passion clearly visible, he once again seized his trembling victim. He dragged her to his bed, and started ripping her clothes from her with fingers made clumsy by haste. After a few moments he stopped and let his eyes feast on the dazzling beauty of her body.
"Well, fair creature," he said with arrogance, "do you care to resist me further? Don't look around for help. From which direction do you expect it to come?"
"From this direction," cried Dourlach bursting into the room, a sword shining in his hand. "Yes, it is I alone, a man unafraid of such a master. It is I who will save her from this crime. The forces of power will not prevail over innocence. You have no right over this woman, and I am taking her away from your odious projects."
The margrave tried to defend himself, but Dourlach gave him such a blow with the flat of his sword that the wretch fell stunned to his knees. He called out weakly to his servants to come and help him.
"Stop your cries and your struggles," said the baron with energy. "Crime is always weak, and finds no helpers. I am not going to kill you, but I detest you. When I told your friends and servants what you were doing, they all deserted you as I am going to do. I am going to take this outraged woman far from your reach, and you will regain your freedom only when she will have nothing to fear from your crimes."
During this time, Adelaide had hurriedly rearranged her clothes as best she could. Now she looked up at her saviour and tremulously smiled, holding back her tears.
Dourlach took her hand and gently raised her to her feet. "Come, my dear. A carriage is waiting for us. Your faithful Bathilda is already in it. As for you," he said addressing the margrave, "do not try to pursue us. I have taken sure means to see to it that you will become our victim if you try to follow us."
Adelaide followed her liberator without the slightest hesitation. They were soon in the carriage and without stopping except to change horses and to eat, they went on to the Tyrol with the plan of going to Trentino, the native country of the ​young baron. All three of them were too moved by events to do much talking along the way. They finally reached Innsbruck where they stopped to spend the night.
"How happy I am, Milady," said the baron, "to have been able to snatch you from the horrors which awaited you. It is possible that you might have come out of it with only the loss of your honor, but knowing the margrave as I do, and since he would be fearing the results of your complaints, I feel sure that he would have killed you. Fortunately, I was warned about the whole plot, and I did not hesitate to foil his projects. I am sorry not to have asked your opinion as to the place where you wished to be taken, for I was sure that you would be safe wherever I was. I am taking you to my family, and once there I am going to ask you to recompense me for the slight service which you have been willing to accept from me."
"How well you merit it, Sir," answered Adelaide, "and you can be sure of receiving from me all that it will be possible for me to give you."
But it was written in the Book of Destiny that the unfortunate Princess of Saxony was to get out of one danger only to fall into another. Misfortune followed her everywhere and one might have said that she was only to have peace after reaching the tomb.
On leaving Innsbruck, our travelers went toward Brixen, a small town in the Tyrol situated at the foot of Brenner mountain. This town was well known at that time because of a band of thieves who operated in the neighborhood. They were ruled by Krimpser, a chief as bloody as he was thieving, who lived on the slope of the mountain which faces in the direction of Italy. The carriage was two miles from this mountain, about six o'clock in the evening, when it was suddenly stopped by four of the men of Krimpser.
"Where are you going?" asked one of these bandits.
"To Brixen," answered Dourlach. "Let us travel in peace or this dagger will make gush from your breast the impure blood which causes you to live in crime."
"What! A man all by himself and two miserable women dare to speak to us in this manner," said one of the bandits. "Get out of the carriage. Let these prisoners be chained and ​taken to Krimpser. He will dispose of them as he wishes. In the meantime, we will pillage the carriage and then we will sell it."
Forcing the driver to get down from his seat, they cut his throat before the horrified eyes of the travelers. They then took the carriage down a side road where they tied up Dourlach and the two women and took them off to the chateau of the chief.
"What sort of game are you bringing me?" Krimpser asked his men when he saw the prisoners come in.
"Some fools who wished to revolt against us," said one of them.
"They will be sorry for that," said the chief. "Do they have any money?"
"Everything they had has been left in the carriage. Our comrades are searching it now. They will bring a report."
"Good. In the meantime, put each of these people in a separate cell. Tomorrow we will decide whether we will cut their throats or put them to work in the mines. Now leave me. I have worked hard today and I need to rest."
This Krimpser, at whose dwelling the Princess of Saxony had just arrived, was a former soldier who had served almost all the princes of Germany. A thief by necessity, by lack of profession, and by liking for thievery, feelings of frankness and loyalty which are always present in the heart of a soldier, still subsisted in his, and needed only the right occasion to be revived. But for a long time nothing had reawakened his good sentiments. The victims which they brought him seemed to be very ordinary individuals, and he always gave the crudest orders in disposing of them.
The next morning, Krimpser questioned his satellites about the captives in order to determine their fate. When those whom he questioned told him that the carriage came from Baden, Krimpser, who was angry with the margrave who had sent troops against him, decided to be especially hard on the prisoners. He was not going to condemn them to death, however, until he found out whether it would be possible to get more money by holding them for ransom.
In her prison cell, Adelaide remained silent for a long time ​trying to think what she could do next when she heard sounds in the next cell, which made her realize that it was Bathilda who was there. In order to find out the truth, she tried knocking on the wall.
"Is it you, Bathilda?"
"Yes, Milady."
"Thank Heaven. I was not mistaken."
"No, dear mistress, it is I, but quite sad at not being able to be of any help to you due to my own captivity."
"What is going to become of us?"
"I don't know, Milady, but according to what our captors have said, we must expect to die."
"And our unhappy liberator, the baron, do you know what they have done with him?"
"I believe that he is in a cell below us, but it is impossible to get word to him."
"I would like to help him, and I am grieved at not being able to do so. Do you still have any of the Burdorf money?"
"I still have the portion which you gave me to keep."
"I still have mine, too. The bandits don't realize that we have these sums."
"It will be necessary to keep this information from them."
"It seems to me that we can use some of it to win over some of the guards who may help us to escape."
"We would not succeed, Milady. And if they discovered our only resources, they would have another reason to hasten the end of our days."
"But suppose they kill us in the meantime."
"I have a feeling that something will turn up to help us." "Those illusions are only chimerical. Such things come from a vain hope which deceives us and keeps us from exerting ourselves to effect an escape."
A noise of keys interrupts this conversation. It was the men bringing some food. Both of them questioned their jailers, but only received the enigmatic assurance that the prisons would soon be emptied. This was a favorite expression with jailers who liked to give the impression that they knew more than they really did.
"I hear that you kill people here," said Adelaide.
​"Why not," said the jailer, "from the moment that we robbed you, you became necessarily our victims. We must get rid of you because if we let you go, would you remain silent on what had happened to you?"
"This reasoning is infamous," answered Adelaide. "Is there any reason to commit a great crime just because one has committed a smaller one?"
"Oh, we don't reason; we act. Come, don't worry. It will not be long, I tell you. I will certainly not bring you more than three dinners."
The rogue went out leaving the soul of the unfortunate princess filled with terror.
Adelaide did not delay in telling her friend and companion what she had just learned. Having questioned her jailer, Bathilda had received just about the same answers.
"Well," said Adelaide, "do you believe now that we should use our last resources?"
"The danger is the same, Milady, but we have now another reason to put our money into action. I promise to attempt that tomorrow."
Bathilda kept her word. The jailer accepted the money, but following the custom of most of these rogues, the first thing he did was to take the money to his master, telling him what Bathilda had asked him to do.
Bathilda was brought before the chief immediately. She was asked to explain the reason for her conduct. It was easy for her to answer.
"But do the two people who were with you have any money?"
"I don't know."
"Listen," said Krimpser to her, "your life depends on the confessions which you are going to make to me. Don't hide anything, I advise you. Think that death is close at hand for you. Who are the people who are with you?"
Bathilda, frightened, told naively the story of Baden and the details of their escape with the help of Baron Dourlach.
"But that woman whom this young man has taken away from the margrave, who is she?"
Here, Bathilda had the idea that the truth might be useful ​to her mistress. She confessed all the events concerning herself and the princess.
"What!" said Krimpser with the greatest surprise, "your mistress is Adelaide of Brunswick, Princess of Saxony?"
"Yes, sir. I certify that this is true."
"Take this woman to her cell," said the brigand, "and in two hours I will send for her. In the meantime, bring her mistress here immediately."
The orders were obeyed at once and in a few minutes Adelaide was brought to Krimpser.
"Milady," said the bandit, "please take a seat and listen to me attentively. The person who accompanies you has just assured me that you are the Princess of Saxony."
"I blame her indiscretion."
"And I, Madam, thank her for it. The most ferocious animal that we know spared the life, in the arenas of Rome, of the man who had helped him. I will not be more cruel than the lion and I will not send to her death the daughter of the prince who has saved my life. When I was still young I had just committed a crime in Brunswick, but your august father, in whose guards I had the honor of serving, pardoned me on the promise which I made of living a better life. I did not keep my word, as you see, but the gratitude which his goodness lighted in my heart has never died out. I am happy to have this occasion to display it. You may go free, Madam, and I hope that one day you will tell your father what happened to you; that is the only thanks I expect from you. Here are the papers and money which the person who accompanied you had on her person. My men will escort both of you to Venetian Territory. I have good reason to tell you not to take any other route. With respect to the Baron Dourlach, it is impossible for me to give him back to you. You see, I need to have him as a hostage to use as a bargaining point with the margrave."
"But, sir," said Adelaide, "it is sending him to certain death to send him back to his master."
"Don't worry about that," said the chief of the bandits, "I will answer for his life."
​"Will you tell him, at least, the keen regrets that I have at not being able to serve him better?"
"I give you my word of honor. The feeling of gratitude will be understood by the one who has just shown you what control he has over his heart. You have a debt to pay Dourlach and I will take over this debt with pleasure. I am sorry not to be able to do more for such a beautiful princess. Especially for one whose father I shall cherish to the last moments of my life."
Krimpser's first lieutenant appeared. Adelaide was put in his hands and the severest orders were given him. This officer got into the carriage with the princess and Bathilda and escorted by several men, they started off for the Venetian frontier. They were to go as far as Padua.
When they had reached their destination, Krimpser's officer asked the two women if they wanted to be escorted still farther. They declined and to show their gratitude for having been brought safely to Padua, they paid all the men generously.
After such a long captivity, Adelaide and Bathilda were very happy to be free once more. They were quite interested in the new town, and at once began to explore its many fascinating streets. Padua, built by Antenor almost four hundred years before Rome, was beginning to be famous as a center of learning and culture. The town was situated in the center of a broad fertile plain, encircled by two rivers. To the weary traveler, it presented a picture of delicious tranquility. The two women thought they would be able, without danger, to spend several days at Padua. They enjoyed a complete rest for a week, and at the end of this time they went by boat through the splendid canal of Brenta to Venice.
Although this city, which was then only three hundred years old, was far from being the splendid city it was to become, it was even then very picturesque. Venice, as one approached it by boat, resembled less a city than a flotilla in the midst of the sea. Towards the middle of the seventh century, a few families from Padua, fleeing the fury of the Goths who were ravaging Italy, sought refuge in the marshy places in this Adriatic gulf; this was the beginning of Venice. As those who established the colony came from Padua, the Paduans thought ​they had the right to govern it. One of the lagoons was named Rialto and was declared by the founders to be free and independent of Padua. This spirit of freedom doubled its population and it became a refuge for all those who were seeking to escape the cruelty of the savage Attila. At the same time, the other lagoons, while still under Padua, were able to achieve a certain freedom in matters of trade and commerce, and prospered greatly.
Each of the islands had its own governor. After a while, these islands were able to join together to form a fairly strong state and they were able to shake off their yoke; just as centuries later, the Anglo-Americans freed themselves from their mother-country.
The new Venetians solidified their alliance with each other, and in order to increase their unity declared themselves free from the Pope and the Emperor. They combined their small states into a republic, at the head of which they had a Doge.
Soon these Doges became autocratic, and began to extend their authority to the point that the republic might soon have become a kingdom. In order to combat this, a Council was formed which had the power to overthrow a Doge if he became too much of a despot. It also decreed that the Doge could not name his successor, thus preventing the position from becoming hereditary.
Before Venice had completely declared its independence, it had received from King Berenger II of Italy the right to coin its own money. A cloak of gold had to be paid this King each year for this right. The city was able, however, to leave off this tribute a few years later when there were uprisings in the kingdom. About this time the Doges took the title of Duke of Dalmatia, and little by little the greatness of this new state increased to the point that the seas were covered with its ships during a time when the other nations of Europe, principally Germany, were languishing in the darkness of ignorance and barbarity.
Although the shores of the Rialto were not adorned as today with superb buildings, one found there convenient hostels for the many strangers who came to visit the infant city; the city which already dominated the seas around it. It was in ​one of these hostels that the Princess of Saxony and Bathilda found lodgings.
The first concern of the princess was to find out, at the hotel where she had stopped, the name of a highly recommended merchant in Venice where she could make use of her letter of credit. She felt that as long as she was in Venice she should make her entrée into the social life of the city. She was told to send word to Signor Bianchi, a rich ship owner, to inform him of the arrival of the Baroness von Neuhaus, who had been recommended to him and to request him to fix a time when that lady could come to see him.
Bianchi did not wait for Adelaide to come to see him; he hastened to go to her rooms. She showed him the letter of credit she had, and disclosed her true identity, telling him the reasons for her incognito, and asking him to guard her secret. The ship owner, a pleasant and attractive man, said that not only would he be her banker, but that he would try to justify the confidences which she had placed in him. Moreover, he would give her all the pleasure which could be found in Venice, by presenting her in the most distinguished gatherings where her beauty would not fail to attract the attention it deserved.
The princess responded to this politeness with the natural grace and dignity of her rank, and promised Bianchi to accept his invitations. Before he left he invited her to dine at his home.
Comfortably installed in their hotel and fearing no danger of any kind, the princess and her companion were able to have a peaceful conversation.
"The chief of the bandits was a very fine man," said the princess. "Who would imagine finding so much nobility in a man of his profession? Since I have been traveling over the face of the earth, I have noticed that passion corrupts the soul of men, but I believe that reflection brings them back into line again; and when a man is really himself, he becomes virtuous."
"But how can we control passions when we are born with them?"
"That is precisely the excuse, my dear Bathilda, of those who abandon themselves to their passions. Everybody is born with them, but they have to be coped with only at certain ​periods in life. Childhood ignores them and old age does not feel them any more."
"If it is thus, why not, with the help of a good education, watch out for them and destroy them as soon as they appear? Why not put ourselves at adolescence in the state where we will be some forty years later? In that way we could obtain and preserve a lasting tranquility at an early age."
"That would be possible if education could make us know the real meaning of passion; but unfortunately we do not know it until after it has had its effect on us. Passion comes to us with shy and seductive ways. A man who could, if he only knew it, floor this enemy by his own strength, through lack of this knowledge becomes feeble and cannot resist."
"It seems to me, Milady, that you have advanced the theory that man can become master of himself by reflection."
"It is true, but the examples of force are rare, and I put forth here the principle of an almost chimerical perfection. If it were necessary to analyze the motives for many virtuous actions, one would often come to the sad conclusion that they have as their basis only egoism."
"I understand. One could, for example, give a similar motive for the conduct of Krimpser?"
"No, I think that his actions can only be explained by gratitude. But to return to the passions, I will add that they take such complete possession of our soul that they do not let the more virtuous sentiments come in. That ferocious man, to whom a crime means nothing, proved to us that the most uncontrolled passions can be tempered by generosity."
"Ah," said Bathilda, "if he had only extended this feeling to Dourlach by giving him his freedom!"
"I am very sad over his refusal," said the princess, "but Krimpser, in promising me his life, leaves him the hope of coming to Thuringia where he can see me and where I will be able to reward him for the services which he has given me."
Two or three months passed in this way without our two travelers being able to change their situation and without anything important happening to them. During this time of calm, they took long boat rides around Venice, enjoyed the ​social life and admired the beauty of the city. While they are thus engaged, let's go back to the unhappy Frederick, the man Adelaide has accused of being the cause of all her sorrows.