"I was bred up at home," he said, "but now and then Herr von Zimmern has taken me to the cities, and to the fairs of the country, and now and then to a tourney that I might prove my knightly prowess. My father was killed in an avalanche some ten years since. He had offended the mountain sprites, and they lay in wait for him. I have lived with Herr von Zimmern since, and he has been my servant because I am ruler as my father was. It was he who told me of the delights of possessing a soul, and that a kobold might win one if a mortal maiden should love him with her whole heart and wed him. It was for this that he brought me to Rittenberg, and it was for this that I wooed its mistress." There was a deep silence in the chamber as Albrecht ceased speaking. Strongly moved as he was by the confession, Father Christopher felt his heart so strongly yearn toward the baron, and so touched was he by the other's evident contrition, that he could not find it in his heart to speak the condemnation which the knight's course might merit. It was now too late, moreover, to prevent the mischief, and there seemed more wisdom in considering whether it were not possible to comply with Albrecht's agonized request, and to aid him to become worthy of his wife rather than to make any endeavor to separate them. If this might be done, it would be the saving of a soul; and however it had been come by, if Albrecht had indeed gained a spirit, it demanded the priest's best efforts to bring it to salvation. "My son," the priest said after some moments' reflection, "what thou hast done would indeed be a grievous sin if thou hadst been a mortal, and I know not whether it is to be called a sin as it is or no. But now at least thou hast a soul, and it is mortal sin to live unbaptized." "I was afraid," Albrecht said with simple candor and with an air of relief, "that thou wouldst command me to leave my wife; and that I could not do." "No," the priest answered, "whom God through the Church hath joined are not lightly to be put asunder; but the rite of baptism is not to be neglected for a single hour." "I know so little of these things," Albrecht murmured doubtfully. "The priests of the Great Emperor," answered the old man, "administer baptism to the barbarians in token that they desire Christian light, and I can do no less for thee, who art in a devout mind." Albrecht leaned forward in his chair and put out his hand half timidly to touch that of the other. "I feel that I am ignorant of everything," he said. "Father, it is like suddenly coming into a strange land where I know not even the tongue that I should speak. I am afraid to go forward, lest I stumble into pitfalls I do not see." Father Christopher laid his wrinkled hand kindly upon that of his penitent. "But the way will become clear," he said, smiling. "Only follow the light that is given thee, and pray to God and his saints." "But I know not how to pray."