Such being the condition of affairs, it was not surprising that the absence of the Count and the lady passed unnoticed, and that Erwin could quietly retire to his chamber and prepare for the combat which was to take place on the ensuing day. At dawn everything was ready, for Gero had faithfully attended to his duty. Rechberg put on a shirt of fine chain-mail, with a hood for the neck and back of the head, and his arms and legs were protected with. brassarts and greaves of linked steel. Above all this, he wore a suit of plate armor with gauntlets, and a polished helmet. A poniard and a long sword completed his equipment, while a page, according to the custom of that time, carried his lance and shield. Preceded by a herald, Erwin left the camp and took his way towards the appointed place of meeting. What was his surprise to find the gates open and the garrison drawn up in line upon the towers and ramparts. Entirely ignorant of the arrangement which had been made, he was at a loss to explain the situation. The noise of arms could be heard in that division of the camp occupied by the troops of the Archbishop of Cologne, and still there could be no mistake on the part of the besieged, whose movements were slow and precise, and among whom could be seen the consuls in their robes of ceremony, escorted by a showy retinue. Whilst Rechberg was gazing with curiosity on the scene, the trumpets sounded, and the Cologne troops marched rapidly from their camp and charged the Milanese, who, unprepared for the attack, were unable, for some moments, to organize themselves. On all sides was heard the cry of "Treachery," and at the same time reinforcements issued from the city to the support of the assailed. Rechberg felt the more surprised that he perceived the standard of the Duke of Bohemia in the midst of the Milanese. The strife became more deadly every moment, and Rinaldo was in serious danger, for the Duke of Bohemia, after endeavoring in vain to quell the trouble, had withdrawn from the _melée_. Erwin rode hastily towards Count Ludwig, and the other nobles on whose faces he read an expression of settled anger. "We are eternally disgraced!" said the Count Palatine Conrad. "The villain! the treacherous villain!" said the Duke of Bohemia. "That infamous Chancellor! I will insult him to his face, when he returns." "His return will be a difficult matter," added Goswin; "see how he is surrounded; and how his men are falling! Look there, that lance-thrust will hurl him from his saddle!" Count Dassel, in truth, was in mortal danger, hemmed in on all sides by the enraged Milanese. At this moment the Emperor and his knights, in full armor, rode up. "How is this, my lords? What means this combat? How! Cologne is in peril, and you remain idle?" "Pardon, Sire," answered Count Ludwig; "the Chancellor has, treacherously, attacked the Milanese, who, confiding in our word, had left the city. He is justly suffering the punishment of his treason."