Drost Peter boiled with indignation. "Behold, Count Gerhard!" he exclaimed, vehemently: "these are the men who would be masters in Denmark. Let us after them!"

"Nay, let them drink till they cannot see a hole through a storming-ladder," cried Count Gerhard, laughing--"the better will go our dance. When does it begin, and where?"

"Two hours after the ave, and on the bleach-green, near the castle."

"'Tis well. The time is near: therefore let us hence. There is some meaning in this dance, and an honest warrior can engage in it without being laughed at. Plague take it! if the queen were only here, she should see me dance better and more gaily than I did the last time."

They proceeded hastily to the bleach-green, where a great crowd was a.s.sembled. In the middle of the open s.p.a.ce stood a table, covered with refreshments. Merry music filled the air, while many torches shed their light upon the scene, and numerous gaily dressed ladies occupied the benches around. Drost Peter and Count Gerhard observed with attention and surprise the glittering knights and dames about them, most of whom had their faces fantastically painted, and all sharing in the merriment with spirit and joyousness.

As Count Gerhard was making his remarks on this, Skirmen hastily approached, and whispered a few words to his master, who immediately, with joyful surprise, directed his eyes to a bench, on which sat three ladies veiled. In the nearest he thought he recognised the black-haired little Aase. She who sat in the middle, Skirmen, with a roguish smile, had informed him was the lady who had invited him to the dance. Skirmen had again disappeared, and Drost Peter fixed his eyes on the tall stranger lady with a feeling of delight he could not express, although a painful anxiety mingled with it.

"Can it be possible? Can she be here, and engaged in this dangerous sport?" he exclaimed, half aloud, as he felt the ground spin round with him. He began to think he was in some wonderful dream. He again looked round for Skirmen, but without success, and was at last obliged to support himself on a bench near where he stood.

At that moment the three maidens arose, and began to sing:--

"On Rypen streets the dance goes light, With ladys gay and gentle knight.

On Rypen Bridge a measure is trod: There dance the knights so gaily shod-- For Erik the king so young!"

When the burthen was heard, the flutes and horns chimed in, and a number of knights sprang forward with their ladies, and formed a long row of dancers.

Drost Peter distinguished Jomfru Inge's clear and mellow voice, and in the middle singer he now plainly recognised her tall and n.o.ble form. He started up and clasped her in his arms. "Inge, dearest Inge!" he whispered, "what daring is this? Are you come hither to dance to the death with me? If so, then joyfully for Denmark and our young king! But unriddle to me this mystery."

"My knight follows me to the royal castle and to victory," whispered Inge: "if our leader deceive us not, we shall succeed."

"Who, then, is our leader?" inquired the drost, eagerly. "If any one leads here, I should do so."

"The gates of the rebels' castle are not opened to Drost Hessel," she rejoined, hastily. "There stands our leader, but you must not know him.

If he were free, I should trust him as little as you do; but here he is in our power, and must now dance himself to a bride--or die."

She pointed to a stately young knight, with long yellow hair, who stood near them, with a torch in his hand, and apparently hesitating whether he should place himself at the head of the dancers or not. He had hitherto stood with his back towards them; but as he now turned to one side, the light of his torch fell on his cheek, and Drost Peter exclaimed, in the highest astonishment--"Rane!"

"Be silent," whispered Inge: "with a fox we must catch a fox to-night; but not like Hamlet. With May-garlands, and, as I hope, without the red rose, will we bind our enemies."

Meanwhile, the music continued, many singing to it a well-known ballad that suited the tune. Whilst Rane stood, as if yet undecided, the row of dancers was constantly increasing; and Jomfru Inge, in a few words, acquainted Drost Peter with the whole daring plan. Jarl Mindre-Alf's daughter and herself had persuaded Rane, who knew the governor, to bring about the present festival. The bitter feeling of the knight towards Marsk Stig, and his anxiety to show himself a friend to the royal house, had favoured the project of the young damsels. Through Skirmen and Aase, old Henner Friser had been induced to engage in it.

The proximity of Drost Peter had redoubled the courage of his betrothed, although she feared that his co-operation with Rane might defeat the whole scheme.

"And now, my dear sir knight," she added, playfully, "the numerous chivalrous gentlemen you perceive around you are our trusty Rypen burghers and their sons, who, at the request of their wives and sweethearts, will dance tonight to the songs of the maidens."

Having given this explanation, she then, with the other damsels, again renewed the song, whilst the knights proceeded to arrange themselves in conformity with the words of the ballad, wherein themselves and their ladies were indicated by feigned names, taken for the most part from old romances, but the application of which they all knew well. The only one who was named aright was the governor of Rypen House, who was at that moment sitting at a drinking-bout in the castle, but whose name, being sung aloud as if he were engaged in the dance, a.s.sured any of his adherents who might be present, and suspicious of the game.

Whilst those nearest the castle arranged themselves as directed by the song, the others at the extremity of the line formed a long chain, and danced around the green, to a.s.sure themselves that none were present in the dance but those engaged in the plot. Rane, meanwhile, still stood undecided by the bench on which Jomfru Kirstine was seated, when Jomfru Inge and the others began to sing:--

"Riber Ulf first dances here-- A king is he without compeer."

"'Tis you, Sir Rane!" exclaimed the daughter of the Norwegian jarl--"'tis you: you are Riber Ulf to-night. Show me now that you are a king without compeer."

Rane, however, did not seem to hear her. The song continued:--

"Then dances Tage Muns so free-- Captain of Rypen House is he."

Drost Peter had cast aside his hood, and donned a high feathered hat, which Skirmen had brought him, together with a scarlet mantle, which he threw over his peasant's dress.

"Now are you captain of Rypen House," whispered Jomfru Inge. His dress, which was the same as the court-suit of the castellan, and which they had procured on purpose, caused the knight to be mistaken by many for Sir Tage Muus himself; his portly bulk, derived from his peasant's clothes beneath, greatly favouring the deception. In this guise he danced forward in the ranks with Jomfru Inge, who, with the maidens, continued to sing:--

"Then dancing comes Sir Saltensee, And so come on his kinsmen three.

"Then dance the n.o.ble Limbeks trim, And they were kings of st.u.r.dy limb.

"Then after dances Byrge Green, And many a gentle knight I ween.

"And now comes dancing Hanke Kann, And eke his wife, hight Lady Ann.

"Then dancing comes a n.o.ble pair-- Sir Rank, and Lady Berngerd fair.

"Then rich Sir Wolfram, with his dame, A lady fair, without a name."

At this verse Sir Bent Rimaardson, who had received the same invitation as Drost Peter, joined the dancers, with an unknown lady by his side.

At the last couplet--

"Then dancing came Sir Iver Helt: He followed the king across the Belt:"[36]

to his great surprise, Drost Peter perceived the brave Sir Thorstenson advance, conducting a smart peasant-girl by the hand.

"What! Sir Thorstenson here, too!" he exclaimed, as he turned to Lady Inge, who hastily informed him that the bold knight was there to accompany him to Nyborg, whither he had conducted the king and the whole court, and that he had immediately approved of and entered into her project.

Rane, however, had yet shown no disposition to take his part in the dance. They had twice danced round the open s.p.a.ce, and each time that Lady Inge had approached him, she had sung in a louder tone:--

"Riber Ulf first dances here, A king is he without compeer."

She was now drawing near a third time; but he still remained as if in deep thought.

"Are you afraid that your fair hair will get entangled, Sir Rane, that you so long delay leading me to the dance?" exclaimed the courageous Jomfru Kirstine, mockingly, and with a gesture of impatience.

"You are right, n.o.ble jomfru," answered Rane: "both head and hair may easily be entangled here. My hair is a little red, as you must have observed; but in this dance it might quickly become redder--"

"And your rosy cheeks might become all too white," interrupted she, derisively.