'A night of torment!' sighed Ryno, throwing himself back upon his straw: 'but I have one consolation amid all my sorrows. By my death I shall seal that fidelity which I have heretofore but ill kept, and expiate the tears which my inconstancy has cost Aliande,--thus becoming purified and prepared for the joys of Walhalla. The gods bless and protect my wife and children!' Again were the bolts withdrawn, and, in a mourning dress, the lord of the castle entered. 'You may thank a feeling of compassion that I condescend once more to parley with you!' said the old man with a painful suppression of his rage. 'I desire not your compassion.' 'You have violated the laws of hospitality and seduced my only child.' 'That is not true!' 'Knights and serfs were witnesses of my shame, which blood alone can efface. Were your previous marriage dissolved, however, and Rosamunda your wife, I might, perhaps, forgive you.' 'That can never be.' 'Rosamunda's person is fair, and yet fairer is her guileless heart. She is of the noblest lineage. Immense treasures lie in the caves of this castle, and my lands extend twenty days' journey towards the north. Take your life from my daughter's hand!' 'Place everlasting torments in one scale, and an imperial crown in the other, I repudiate my wife at no price.' 'Will Aliande be less inconsolable as a widow than divorced?' 'Waste not your breath!' 'By the eternal gods! I warn you for the last time. These prison walls see you Rosamunda's husband, or echo the death-sigh forced from you by the rack!' Ryno tore one of the golden locks from his head and handed it to his persecutor. 'If one spark of humanity yet slumbers in your bosom you will send this lock to my poor wife, with the message--That I die faithful to her, and that I wish her to train up my son as a good and virtuous knight.--Now let your executioners come on, I am ready.' 'Then, by Woden!' roared the foaming parent, 'you never behold the rising of another sun!' He struck a bell, and twelve armed men with closed visors and drawn swords, slowly and silently entered. One of them detached Ryno's chains from the wall. Again the bell sounded, and at the other end of the prison the heavy doors of the torture vault flew open with a horrible clang. The cave-like room was hung with black and lighted with torches. Every instrument which the cruelty of man has invented for the torment of his fellow man, brightly polished and arranged with frightful regularity, met the glance of the unfortunate prisoner. Large pincers were glowing in a chafing dish, and in the centre of the room stood the dreadful rack with its fearful and mysterious equipments. Three hideous ruffians, with naked arms, in blood-red caps and doublets, stood waiting beside it. On the right was an open and empty coffin. 'For the last time, choose!' cried the incensed tyrant.