Albrecht did not answer, but gazed upon the distant mountains, as if he were trying to understand why their appearance should affect his companion so strongly. As they gazed, the hues on the sides of the hills deepened; the rose and gold of the peaks faded; the white of the summits seemed to become transparent, as if one could see through them into the sky beyond; and little by little the sharp outline blended with the quickly dimming heaven against which they had stood out in relief. The shadow of the lower world crept upward; and as they stood there the glorious vision vanished. Only an empty sky where the dimness of night was growing lay in the distance before them in place of the beauty they had seen. "It was like heaven," Erna said again, as she started her palfrey. "Then," responded her companion, in a tone of deep gravity, "one must have a soul to appreciate it." She turned and looked at him questioningly; but with one of those quick changes of mood which always seemed to her so surprising in so manly a knight, he burst into a merry laugh, and began in his rich voice to sing a gay hunting-song. V HOW THEY DISCOURSED OF KISSES. The damsel Elsa was a trim and comely maid, with a bright eye and a ready tongue, of which the men and youths of the castle had learned to have a wholesome fear. She went about her affairs singing pleasant ditties, and one morning she crossed the great hall where Baron Albrecht was waiting for the countess, with whom he was to ride out, as had become much their fashion now; and as she went, she sang in her sweet, clear voice a little love-song that ran in this wise: "When winter howls across the wold, And all the gates are fast, Then is thine heart, shut from the cold, Safe from the blast, And safe from whomsoe'er goes past. "When Spring makes lovely all the land, And casements open wide, Beware lest some gay wandering band Should slip inside, And steal thine heart, and thee deride! "When once 'tis gone, to win it back Full vainly mayst thou try; Nor golden bribes nor tears, alack! Lost hearts can buy, Since who loves once, loves till he die." Baron Albrecht listened to her singing with a smile on his face. "Now, by my beard," he said, "a song like that is worth a reward." And he put his great shapely hand beneath her white chin, and kissed her full upon her red lips. At that very moment the Countess Erna came into the hall. Her cheek flushed as the damsel uttered an exclamation and fled hastily, and she looked at the baron in the evident expectation of seeing him also covered with confusion. But Albrecht merely smiled, and smoothed his chestnut beard. "The damsel sings passing sweetly," he said, unmoved by her glance. "Is it for that that thou hast kissed her?" demanded Erna, scornfully. "Truly," replied he.