and softly apostrophises the evening breeze, Ortrud creeps out
of the shadow and timidly addresses her, simulating a distress
she is far from feeling.

Moved by compassion at the sight of the haughty woman thus laid
low, and touched by the pretended repentance she shows, Elsa,
whom happiness has made even more tender than usual, eagerly
hastens down with two of her attendants, and, opening the door,
bids her come in, promising to intercede in her behalf on the
morrow. During the subsequent brief conversation Ortrud artfully
manages to make Elsa vaguely uneasy, and to sow in her innocent
mind the first seeds of suspicion.

Frederick of Telramund, in the mean while, has watched his wife
disappear with Elsa, and, hiding in a niche of the old church,
he sees the gradual approach of day, and hears the herald
proclaiming through the streets the Emperor's ban upon him:--

'Our king's august decree through all the lands
I here make known,--mark well what he commands:
Beneath a ban he lays Count Telramund
For tempting Heaven with traitorous intent.
Whoe'er shall harbour or companion him
By right shall share his doom with life and limb.'

The unhappy man also hears the herald announce Elsa's coming
marriage with the heaven-sent Swan Knight, and grimly tells the
bystanders he will soon unmask the traitor. A few minutes later,
when he has returned to his hiding place, he sees Elsa appear in
bridal array, followed by her women, and by Ortrud, who is very