The Forest House, and Catherine's Lovers

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1871. Excerpt: ... thus, as it were, in the eagle's clutch, he cried in a loud clear voice, which sounded like thunder pealing amidst the storm: 'Behold the wife of the fortieth Burckar, Vittikab, the Wild Count, Burgrave of Veierschloss, Margrave of Howald, and Hosser! Woe to him who shall dispute her hand with me! 'Then he seated himself abruptly, with a fierce air, and the whole assembly was agitated like the leaves of the forest after a storm. It seemed to the spectators as if the Count had thrown down a challenge to battle, but no one said anything; and twelve trabans, the wolf's head drooping over their helmets in front, and the skin falling down their backs almost to the saddle, their chests protected by cuirasses of thick leather, and their arms and legs bare, advanced to the foot of the throne. They held straight trumpets in their hands, wide at the mouth and nearly six feet in length, the pennons floating down to their stirrups; and, wheeling round and facing the crowd, they commenced to sound the march of Virimar, an air which went back to the times when the first Burckars had swept down on the marshes of the Losser, an air so wild and terrible that your hair stood on end while listening to it. It was as it were the Marseillaise of the Wild Counts, and was never heard except at the coronation or marriage of a Burckar, or during some great battle. At the sound of it the wounded strove frantically to raise themselves and renew the fight: it made your very flesh creep. 'Honeck, at the first notes of this air, turned quite pale; he had never heard it but twice before--at Vittikab's first marriage, and at the fifth assault of the Felon's Tower at Lutzelstein. It seemed to him as if the scene were once more passing before his eyes! The air reminded him of the olden t...