Barbara Blomberg (Complete)

The courtiers and ladies who were in the chapel at the right of the corridor started. ÒApril weather!Ó growled the corporal of the Imperial Halberdiers to the comrade with whom he was keeping; guard at the foot of the staircase leading to the apartments of Charles V, in the second story of the huge old house.

ÒSt. PeterÕs day,Ó replied the other, a Catalonian. ÒAt my home fresh strawberries are now growing in the open air and roses are blooming in the gardens. Take it all in all, itÕs better to be dead in Barcelona than alive in this accursed land of heretics!Ó

ÒCome, come,Ó replied the other, Òlife is life! ÔA live dog is better than a dead king,Õ says a proverb in my country.Ó

ÒAnd it is right, too,Ó replied the Spaniard. ÒBut ever since we came here our masterÕs face looks as if imperial life didnÕt taste exactly like mulled wine, either.Ó

The Netherlander lowered his halberd and answered his companionÕs words first with a heavy sigh, and then with the remark: ÒBad weather upstairs as well as downÑthe very worst! IÕve been in the service thirteen years, but I never saw him like this, not even after the defeat in Algiers. That means we must keep a good lookout. Present halberds! Some one is coming down.Ó

Both quickly assumed a more erect attitude, but the Spaniard whispered to his comrade: ÒIt isnÕt he. His step hasnÕt sounded like that since the goutÑÓ

ÒQuijada!Ó whispered the Netherlander, and both he and the man from Barcelona presented halberds with true military bearing; but the staves of their descending weapons soon struck the flags of the pavement again, for a womanÕs voice had detained the man whom the soldiers intended to salute, and in his place two slender lads rushed down the steps.