V1.] THE RED BARON. 305

 

no pains to stop it. Why should I interfere ? All would
go on rightly, I doubted not, and it rather amused me
tosee Rudolf lose his temper before the cool Englander,
who always had the best of it if they came to hot
words. There was no wise counsellor to set matters
straight. Christina, poor child, did her best, but she
seemed to have lost her influence with her brother in
this case. There had once been a chaplain in the
castle, who might have been of use at this time. But
in the earlier part of my career, I found chapels and
chaplains somewhat in my way, so I shut up the former
and kicked the latter out of the place. He used to
remonstrate against certain practices of mine which I
did not choose to relinquish; so out he went, and none
of his kind had entered the castle for many a long day.

‘At last matters came to a crisis. Sir Smith
formally demanded the hand of my daughter in
marriage. I had nothing to say against it, the
more particularly as he did not propose to take her
away from me for some time. His own country, he
said, was in confusion: he could not return there
until times should be quieter and the King should
have his own again, and therefore he would stay with
me for some time at least after my daughter should
have become his wife. So I gave my consent, and it
was settled that the marriage should take place.
Some difficulty, indeed, there was about getting a
priest, for those gentry did not love me, nor I them,
and they were not over ready to trust themselves
within the clutches of the Red Baron. This obstacle,
however, would no doubt have been got over, if other
events had not occurred.

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