She could not appear before the Emperor just as she was, in her riding habit, with disordered hair.  Besides, her head was burning after the dancing and the wine which she had drunk.  She must calm herself ere entering the presence of the royal connoisseur whose approval could render her so happy, whose dissatisfaction or indifference would make her wretched.

Quickly forming her resolution, she turned to Malfalconnet and explained that she could not appear before his Majesty until after she had allowed herself a short period of rest; but the baron, who probably feared that some feminine caprice would spoil, even at the twelfth hour, the successful issue of his mission, thought that he must deny this wish, though in the most courteous manner and with the assurance that he would procure her an opportunity to collect her thoughts quietly in the Golden Cross.

Barbara unexpectedly wheeled her horse, struck him a blow with the whip, and called to the astonished gentlemen, “In front of the Golden Cross in a quarter of an hour.  You, Wolf, can wait for me at the Grieb.”

The last words were already dying away as she clashed swiftly up the street and across the Haidplatz.  Bright sparks flashed from the paving stones struck by her horse’s hoofs.

“Confounded witch!” cried Malfalconnet.  “And how the unruly girl wheels her horse and sits erect in her wild career over the flagstones!  If the gray falls, it will do her no harm.  Such rising stars may drop from the skies, but they will leap up again like the cats which I threw from the roof when a boy.  His Majesty will get something to trouble him if he continues his admiration.  Sacre Dieu!  What a temperament!—­and a German!”

Hitherto both had ridden on at a walk, gazing after Barbara, although she had already vanished in the darkness, which was illumined only by the stars in the cloudless sky.  Now the clock struck half-past ten, and Malfalconnet exclaimed, half to the young knight, half to himself, “If only the wild bird does not yet escape our snare!”

“Have no fear,” replied Wolf.  “She will keep her promise, for she is truthfulness itself.  But you would oblige me, Herr Baron, if in future you use a tone less light in speaking of this young lady, who is worthy of every honour.  Her reputation is as faultless as the purity of her voice, and, obstinate as she may be——­”

“So this masterpiece of the Creator finds much favour in your eyes and your keen ears, Sir Knight,” Malfalconnet gaily interrupted.  “From any one else, my young friend, I should not suffer such a warning to pass; but we are now riding in the Emperor’s precincts, so it would cause me sore embarrassment if my steel pierced you, for my neck, which is very precious to me, would then probably fall under the rude axe of the executioner.  Besides, I wish you well, as you know, and I understand you German pedants.  Henceforward—­I swear it by all the saints!—­I will utter no disrespectful word of your lovely countrywoman until you yourself release my tongue.”