Then  they  exchanged  swift  glances  a  second  time,  for  Dan-
veld's  work  was  more  than  they  had  been  able  to  hope  for :
to  seize  Yurand,  and  not  yield  up  his  daughter,  and  still
to  keep  promise  apparently,  — who  else  could  have  done
that !

But  Yurand  cast  himself  on  his  knees  and  adjured  Danveld
by  all  the  relics  in  Malborg,  by  the  dust  and  the  heads  of  his
ancestors,  to  give  him  his  daughter,  and  not  to  act  as  a
trickster  and  a  traitor  who  breaks  oaths  and  promises.
There  was  such  sincerity  and  desperation  in  his  voice  that
some  began  to  divine  the  deceit ;  to  others  it  occurred  that  a
wizard  misrht  have  changed  the  girl  really.
"God  is  looking  at  thy  treason!"  cried  Yurand.  "By
the  wounds  of  the  Saviour !  by  the  hour  of  thy  death,  give
my  child  to  me  1"


THE  KNIGHTS  OF  THE  CROSS.  357

And  rising  from  his  knees  he  advanced,  bent  down  double,
toward  Danveld,  as  if  wishing  to  embrace  his  knees ;  his  eye
was  gleaming  with  something  like  genuine  madness,  and  his
voice  was  breaking  with  pain,  fear,  desperation,  and  menace.
Danveld,  reproached  in  the  presence  of  all  with  treachery  and
trickery,  began  to  snort ;  at  last  anger  broke  forth  on"  his  face
like  a  flame,  so,  wishing  to  trample  the  ill-fated  prisoner  to
the  lowest,  he  pushed  up  to  him,  and  bending  to  his  ear
hissed  through  set  teeth,  —

"  If  I  give  her  to  thee,  it  will  be  with  my  bastard !  "

That  instant  Yurand  roared  like  a  wild  bull;  he  seized
Danveld  with  both  hands  and  raised  him  above  his  head.
