"Bertha," her father said, "this is the Count von Waldensturm. He has returned home from the wars to rescue his sister, and I charge you to answer all his questions, and to aid him in every way to the best of your powers."
"That will I readily, for the young countess has been very kind to me, and we pity her deeply. She saved us from insult on the part of the baron's son, and she appealed to the baron himself to allow us to remain always with her, and not even to descend to the kitchens to fetch her food; and the baron, who evidently wishes to humour her in small matters, gave the order."
"That is just what I should have thought of Minna," Conrad said in a tone of deep pleasure. "Now, fräulein, in what part of the castle is my sister confined?"
"In a room in the north angle. It is some fifty feet from the courtyard into which it looks."
"No," the girl said; "the lower windows are strongly guarded, but on this floor they are not so."
"Then I take it, that, if she had a rope, you and the other maiden could easily lower her to the ground?"
"We could do that easily enough, count; but were she there she would be no nearer escaping. There is always a guard at the gate, and the drawbridge is up at night; and even when across that there is the outer court to be passed."
"Are there stairs to the wall near where she would alight?"
"Yes, sir, there is a flight of stairs in the angle just below our window."
"The next thing I have to think about is your safety. As you sleep in her room it would be clear that she could not have escaped without your knowledge and assistance, and the baron, in his fury, would be capable of slaying you both."
"And he would certainly do so," the farmer said shortly.
"Then it is clear that either they must escape with my sister or must hide somewhere."
"But we must be found sooner or later," the girl said.
"Not if my plan succeeds, Bertha. I intend that the escape shall be known as soon as it is completed, that the baron shall set out in pursuit, that we shall have an ambush prepared for him, and that he shall not return to the castle, which I, with my retainers and vassals, and your father's assistance, will then capture.
"In that case it would be easy enough for us to hide," the girl said. "There are chambers in the castle that none ever enter, and we could without difficulty conceal ourselves there. We could either do that or escape with the young countess."