As he spoke he held out his right hand to his companion with gay yet
stately cordiality.

Wolf eagerly clasped it, and directly after both swung themselves from
their horses in the courtyard of the Golden Cross, Malfalconnet to inform
the Emperor of the successful result of his ride, the Ratisbon knight to
arrange for the proper stationing of the boy choir, and then, obedient to
Barbarbara's injunction, to go to the Grieb.

He knew the baron, and was aware that any one whom this chivalrous
gentleman assured of his friendship might rely upon it, but that he did
not spare even the most sacred things if he might hope thereby to win the
approval and arouse the mirth of his imperial master.

In the glad conviction that he had done his best for the woman he loved,
and yet had not forfeited the favour of the influential man to whom he
owed a debt of gratitude, whose active mind he admired, and who had,
moreover, won his affection, he went to the neighbouring Grieb.

The favour which the Emperor showed Barbara seemed to him not only a
piece of great good fortune for her, but also for himself. He knew
Charles's delicate appreciation of music, and could confidently
anticipate that her voice would satisfy him and win his interest. But
if this occurred, and the sovereign learned that Wolf wished to marry the
singer to whom their Majesties owed such great pleasure, it would be an
easy matter for the Emperor to place him in a position which could not
fail to content the just desire of the girl whom he loved for an
existence free from want. The interview with the monarch, to which he
was to lead Barbara at once, therefore seemed to him like a bridge to her
consent, and when he met at the Ark the court musician, Massi, followed