" He felt the truth of his words, and that the very expression
of them had inspired his heart with fresh courage.
It seemed too as if fortune were on his side, for he had not reached
his fastened horse when he distinctly heard Bertalda's plaintive voice
not far distant, and could catch her weeping accents through the ever
increasing tumult of the thunder and tempest. He hurried swiftly
in the direction of the sound, and found the trembling girl just
attempting to climb the steep in order to escape in any way from the
dreadful gloom of the valley. He stepped, however, lovingly in her
path, and, bold and proud as her resolve had been before, she now felt
only too keenly the delight that the friend whom she so passionately
loved should rescue her from this frightful solitude, and that the
joyous life in the castle should be again open to her. She followed
almost unresisting, but so exhausted with fatigue that the knight
was glad to lead her to his horse, which he now hastily unfastened in
order to lift the fair fugitive upon it; and then, cautiously holding
the reins, he hoped to proceed through the uncertain shades of the
valley.
But the horse had become quite unmanageable from the wild apparition
of Kuehleborn. Even the knight would have had difficulty in mounting
the rearing and snorting animal, but to place the trembling Bertalda
on its back was perfectly impossible.
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