mother ever strike thee, Otto?"

"Nay," said Otto.

"Mine hath often struck me," said Pauline.

One day little Pauline came bustling into Otto's cell, her head
full of the news which she carried. "My father says that thy
father is out in the woods somewhere yonder, back of the castle,
for Fritz, the swineherd, told my father that last night he had
seen a fire in the woods, and that he had crept up to it without
anyone knowing. There he had seen the Baron Conrad and six of
his men, and that they were eating one of the swine that they
had killed and roasted. "Maybe," said she, seating herself upon
the edge of Otto's couch; "maybe my father will kill thy father,
and they will bring him here and let him lie upon a black bed
with bright candles burning around him, as they did my uncle
Frederick when he was killed."

"God forbid!" said Otto, and then lay for a while with his hands
clasped. "Dost thou love me, Pauline?" said he, after a while.

"Yes," said Pauline, "for thou art a good child, though my
father says that thy wits are cracked."

"Mayhap they are," said Otto, simply, "for I have often been
told so before. But thou wouldst not see me die, Pauline;
wouldst thou?"

"Nay," said Pauline, "I would not see thee die, for then thou