Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/213

 consequences of fear. The Countess readily consented; as to the young ladies, it required all the maternal authority to overcome their objections, but at last they yielded; nor was the blood-thirsty Doctor satisfied until he had breathed a vein also in the pretty foot of the lady’s maid. So there they all four sat, with their bleeding extremities in foot-baths, Mama full of fear, the rest full of fury, until it pleased their tormentor to say, hold, enough!

These operations being concluded, the ladies, though considerably weakened, were handed down to the great dining-room, where a splendid supper was served up. The sideboard groaned under the weight of gold and silver plate, of the most magnificent and exquisite description. An admirable band in an adjoining apartment, gave, by its sweet sounds, double zest to the banquet. On the removal of the cloth, a most comprehensive and elegant dessert was tastefully arranged on the table. In the centre, on hills, mountains, valleys, and rocks in marchpane, encrusted with sugar of a thousand colours, the ingenious confectioner, anxious to please the eye as well as the palate, had, by means of small wax figures, represented the whole adventure on the mountain. The Countess, who had hitherto been looking on in silent amazement, could now no longer contain herself. She turned to her next neighbour, a gentleman bedecked with all sorts of orders, who had been in- 6em