His name rings on the air!"


[Mehrer--The increaser, an ancient title of the German emperors]

How much pleasure this song afforded Barbara, although it praised the man
whom she thought she hated; and when the third verse began with the
words,

"So goodly is the life he leads
Within this earthly vale,"

oh, how gladly she would have joined in!

That could not be, but she sang with them in her heart, for she had long
since caught the tune, and how intently the soldiers would have listened
if it had been possible for her to raise her voice as usual! Amid the
singing of all these men her clear, bell-like tones would have risen like
the lark soaring from the grain field, and what a storm of applause would
have greeted her from these rough throats!

Grief for the lost happiness of pouring forth her feelings in melody
seized upon her more deeply than for a long time. She would fain have
glided quietly away to escape the cause of this fresh sorrow. But
Gombert was listening to the young soldier's song with interest, so
Barbara continued to hear the young warrior as, with evident enthusiasm,
he sang the verse:

"Patient and tolerant is he,
Nor vengeance seeks, nor blood;