throughout all the district governed by the Count were general and
enthusiastic. Bonfires were lit on the heights and the noble river
glowed red under the illumination at night. The boy who had arrived at
the castle was said to give promise of having all the beauty of his
mother and all the strength of his father, which was admitted by
everybody to be a desirable combination, although some shook their
heads and said they hoped that with strength there would come greater
courage than the Count appeared to possess. Nevertheless, the Count
had still some who believed in him, notwithstanding his long period of
inaction, and these said that on the night the boy was born, and word
was brought to him in the great hall that mother and child were well,
the cloud that had its habitual resting-place on the Count's brow
lifted and his lordship took down from its place his great broadsword,
rubbed from its blade the dust and the rust that had collected, swung
the huge weapon hissing through the air, and heaved a deep sigh, as one
who had come to the end of a period of restraint.

The boy was just one month old on the night that there was a thunderous
knocking at the gate of Schloss Wiethoff. The Baron hastily buckled on
his armour and was soon at the head of his men eager to repel the
invader. In a marvellously short space of time there was a contest in
progress at the gates which would have delighted the heart of the most
quarrelsome noble from Mayence to Cologne. The attacking party which
appeared in large force before the gate, attempted to batter in the
oaken leaves of the portal, but the Baron was always prepared for such
visitors, and the heavy timbers that were heaved against the oak made
little impression, while von Wiethoff roared defiance from the top of
the wall that surrounded the castle and what was more to the purpose,
showered down stones and arrows on the besiegers, grievously thinning
their ranks. The Baron, with creditable ingenuity, had constructed