Undine, however, although gentle as usual, was this
time more than usually firm. She told Bertalda that it was her due, as
mistress of the house, to arrange her household as she thought best,
and that, in this, she was accountable to no one but her lord and
husband. "See, oh, pray see," exclaimed Bertalda, in an angry yet
uneasy tone, "how the poor beautiful water is curling and writhing at
being shut out from the bright sunshine and from the cheerful sight
of the human face, for whose mirror it was created!" The water in the
fountain was indeed wonderfully agitated and hissing; it seemed as if
something within were struggling to free itself, but Undine only the
more earnestly urged the fulfilment of her orders. The earnestness was
scarcely needed. The servants of the castle were as happy in obeying
their gentle mistress as in opposing Bertalda's haughty defiance; and
in spite of all the rude scolding and threatening of the latter, the
stone was soon firmly lying over the opening of the fountain. Undine
leaned thoughtfully over it and wrote with her beautiful fingers on
its surface. She must, however, have had something very sharp and
corrosive in her hand, for when she turned away and the servants
drew near to examine the stone, they perceived all sorts of strange
characters upon it, which none of them had seen there before.
Bertalda received the knight, on his return home in the evening, with
tears and complaints of Undine's conduct.
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