The Count of Ehrenstein felt himself free, for those who had stood beside him had drawn back. He gazed wildly round him--took a step forward--stretched forth his hands as if struck with sudden blindness, and then fell prone to the ground without sense or motion. CHAPTER XLIII. When the Count of Ehrenstein opened his eyes, it seemed to him as if he were in a dream, or as if he had been dreaming. The shrouded figures, the darkened chapel, all had passed away, and everything was restored to the same state as it had been before the awful apparition had presented itself to his sight. There sat the Emperor in the centre of the table, the knights forming the court were placed around. Ferdinand, Father George, Franz Creussen, and those who had followed them, stood in the centre aisle; the torches glided upon the walls and pillars, and the end of the nave was crowded with the gaily dressed nobles and officers of the Imperial Court. He himself, supported by two guards, was seated on a settle, a few yards to the left of the Emperor; and Count Rudolph of Schönborn, with his arm crossed upon his chest, was gazing at him attentively, as if watching the progress of his recovery. The next moment, the Emperor's voice was heard, saying, in a loud stern tone, "We can wait no longer; we must proceed to judgment." "Stay, my lord, stay," replied Count Rudolph; "he revives, he is opening his eyes." "Where am I?" murmured the Count, in a low tone. "What has become of them? Where have they gone to?" "Whom do you mean?" asked Count Rudolph, gravely. "My brother and his followers," said the Count, closing his eyes again, as if afraid of beholding some dreadful sight. "I saw them there--there before me." "Your brain has wandered, my good lord," said Count Rudolph; "all are here present who have been here to-night." "It is a warning from Heaven," observed the voice of Father George, "calling upon a bad man, perhaps for the last time, to repent of what he has wrongly done, and to make restitution of what he unjustly holds. Let him obey the voice of conscience, before it be too late." "Your last words, my lord," said Count Rudolph, "uttered just before you fell, were insulting to the Emperor and his court. You appealed to another tribunal; but, from what you have just said, it would seem that you were not then in command of your understanding. Doubtless, the Emperor will take this into consideration, and hear anything that you may have to say before he pronounces judgment between you and your nephew, as he is about to do."