The Count, at last fully convinced that the Governor was as guilty as his soldiers, raised his visor, and showed his face flushed with anger.
Herman was thunderstruck, and could scarcely falter out,--
"Oh, my dear Count, pardon! I crave you a thousand pardons! It is all a mistake,--but who could have supposed for a moment--?"
But the more he endeavored to apologize for his villainy, the more embarrassed he became. The soldiers, meanwhile, perceiving the sudden change in their master's demeanor, hastened to remove the barrier.
"It is not my place to pardon," said Rechberg; "you must explain your gross abuse of authority to His Majesty, who shall be acquainted with everything."
He turned abruptly, and crossed the bridge with his companions.
The prefect tore his hair with impotent despair as he saw the troop file past him.
"To behave thus to the Emperor's favorite! What a dreadful misfortune!" he cried. "Comrades, make no excuses, no recriminations! I would not care for the complaints of Italy. Frederic would credit nothing which was denied by an honest German. But this Erwin of Rechberg!--Oh, if I could atone for this stupid mistake!"
The travellers soon after reached a convent, whose reputation for hospitality was widely spread; for, in that century, the monasteries were the best, and indeed, almost the only hostelries.
After a brief rest they resumed their journey, and it was near nightfall when they entered a deep and narrow Alpine valley, through which they were obliged to pass.
"We are very near Castellamare," said Bonello, "and but for the windings of the road, should already have perceived the castle!"
"This is a magnificent country, my lord!" said Erwin, admiring the bold and wild landscape.
"It is almost the same as far as the shore," resumed Guido. "The valley gradually narrows into a defile overhung with immense masses of rock, and when we leave it, the wide expanse of the sea bursts, unexpectedly, upon the traveller's gaze."
The road narrowed visibly. The setting sun gilded the Alpine summits, and long, dark shadows darkened the lower slopes. At a turn of the road, the sunlight flashed brightly upon them, and Erwin, raising his dazzled eyes, beheld the fortress of Castellamare standing out from the giant boulders in bold relief.