diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5544.txt | 2246 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5544.zip | bin | 0 -> 47079 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 2262 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5544.txt b/5544.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c8523e --- /dev/null +++ b/5544.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2246 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook In The Fire Of The Forge, by Georg Ebers, v2 +#105 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: In The Fire Of The Forge, Volume 2. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5544] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 26, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRE OF THE FORGE, BY EBERS, V2 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +IN THE FIRE OF THE FORGE + +A ROMANCE OF OLD NUREMBERG + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 2. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +As her father had ordered the servants not to disturb the young girls, +Els did not wake till the sun was high in the heavens. Eva's place at +her side was empty. She had already left the room. For the first time +it had been impossible to sleep even a few short moments, and when she +heard from the neighbouring cloister the ringing of the little bell that +summoned the nuns to prayers, she could stay in bed no longer. + +Usually she liked to dress slowly, thinking meanwhile of many things +which stirred her soul. Sometimes while the maid or Els braided her hair +she could read a book of devotion which the abbess had given her. But +this morning she had carried the clothes she needed into the next room on +tiptoe, that she might not wake her sister, and urged Katterle, who +helped her dress, to hurry. + +She longed to see her aunt at the convent. While kneeling at the prie- +dieu, she had reached the certainty that her patron saint had led Heinz +Schorlin to her. He was her knight and she his lady, so he must render +her obedience, and she would use it to estrange him from the vanity of +the world and make him a champion of the holy cause of the Church of +Christ, the victorious conqueror of her foes. Sky-blue, the Holy +Virgin's colour, should be hers, and thus his also, and every victory +gained by the knight with the sky-blue on his helmet, under St. Clare's +protection, would then be hers. + +Heinz Schorlin was already one of the boldest and strongest knights; her +love must render him also one of the most godly. Yes, her love! If St. +Francis had not disdained to make a wolf his brother, why might she not +feel herself the loving sister of a youth who would obey her as a noble +falcon did his mistress, and whom she would teach to pursue the right +quarry? The abbess would not forbid such love, and the impulse that drew +her so strongly to the convent was the longing to know how her aunt would +receive her confession. + +The night before when, after her conversation with Els, she began to +pray, she had feared that she had fallen into the snare of earthly love, +and dreaded the confession which she had to make to her aunt Kunigunde. +Now she found that it was no fleshly bond which united her to the knight. +Oh, no! As St. Francis had gone forth to console, to win souls for the +Lord, to bring peace and exhort to earnest labour in the service of the +Saviour, as his disciples had imitated him, and St. Clare had been +untiring in working, in his spirit, among women, she, too, would obey the +call which had come to her saint in Portiuncula, and prove herself for +the first time, according to the Scripture, "a fisher of souls." + +Now she gladly anticipated the meeting; for though her sister did not +understand her, the abbess must know how to sympathise with what was +passing in her mind. This expectation was fulfilled; for as soon as she +was alone with her aunt she poured forth all her hopes and feelings +without reserve, eagerly and joyfully extolling her good fortune that, +through St. Clare, she had been enabled to find the noblest and most +valiant knight, that she might win him for the Holy War under her saint's +protection and to her honour. + +The abbess, who knew women's hearts, had at first felt the same fear as +Els; but she soon changed her opinion, and thought that she might be +permitted to rejoice over the new emotion in her darling's breast. + +No girl in love talked so openly and joyously of the conquest won, least +of all would her truthful, excitable niece, whom she had drawn into her +own path, speak thus of the man who disturbed her repose. No sensitive +girl, unfamiliar with the world and scarcely beyond childhood, would +decide with such steadfast firmness, so wholly free from every selfish +wish, the future of the man dearest to her heart. No, no! Eva had +already attained her new birth, and was not to be compared with other +girls She had already once reached that ecstatic rapture which followed +only a long absorption in God and an active sympathy with the deep human +love of the Saviour and the unspeakable sufferings which he had taken +upon himself. Little was to be feared from earthly love for one who +devoted herself with all the passion of her fervid nature to the divine +Bridegroom. Among the many whom Kunigunde received into the convent as +novices, she was most certainly "called." If she felt something which +resembled love for the young knight--and she made no concealment of it-- +it was only the result of the sweet joy of winning for the Lord, the +faith, and her saint a soul which seemed to her worthy of such grace. + +Dear, highly gifted child! + +She, the abbess Kunigunde, was willing it should be so, and that Eva +should surpass herself. She should prove that genuine piety conquers +even the yearning of a quickly throbbing heart. + +True, she must keep her eyes open in order to prevent Satan, who is +everywhere on the watch, from mingling in a game not wholly free from +peril. But, on the other hand, the abbess intended to help her beloved +niece to reap the reward of her piety. + +It was scarcely to be doubted that Heinz Schorlin was fired with ardent +love for Eva; but, for that very reason, he would be ready to yield her +obedience, and therefore it was advisable to tell her exactly to what she +must persuade him. She must win him to join the Order of Malta, and if +the famous champion of Marchfield performed heroic deeds with the white +cross on his black mantle, or in war on his red tunic, he, the Emperor's +favourite, would be sure of a high position among the military members of +the order. + +The young girl listened eagerly, but the elderly abbess herself became +excited while encouraging the young future "Sister" to her noble task. +The days when, with the inmates of the convent, she had prayed that the +Emperor Rudolph might fulfil the Pope's desire, and in a new crusade +again wrest the Holy Land from the infidels, came back to her memory, and +Heinz Schorlin, guided by the nuns of St. Clare, seemed the man to bring +the fulfilment of this old and cherished wish. + +It appeared like a leading of the saints and a sign from God that Heinz +had been dubbed a knight, and commenced his glorious career at Lausanne +while the Emperor Rudolph pledged himself to a new crusade. + +She detained Eva so long that dinner was over at the Ortlieb mansion, and +her impatient father would have sent for her had not the invalid mother +urged him to let her remain. + +True, she longed to have a talk with her darling, who for the first time +in her life had attended a great entertainment, and doubtless it grieved +her to think that Eva did not feel the necessity of pouring out her heart +to her own mother rather than to any one else, and sharing with her all +the new emotions which undoubtedly had thrilled it; but she knew her +child, and would have considered it selfish to place any obstacle in the +pathway to eternal salvation of the elect whom God summoned with so loud +a voice. Formerly she would rather have seen the young girl, whose +charms were developing into such rare beauty, wedded to some good man; +but now she rejoiced in the idea that Eva was summoned to rule over the +nuns in the neighbouring cloister some day as abbess, in the place of her +sister-in-law Kunigunde. Her own days, she knew, were numbered, but +where could her child more surely find the happiness she desired for her +than with the beloved sisters of St. Clare, whose home she and her +husband had helped to build? + +Els had concealed from her parents what she fancied she had discovered, +for any anxiety injured the invalid, and no one could anticipate how her +irritable father might receive the information of her fear. On the other +hand, she could confide her troubles without anxiety to Wolff, her +betrothed husband. He was wise, prudent, loved Eva like a sister, and in +exchanging thoughts with him she always discovered the right course to +pursue; but though she expected him so eagerly and confidently, he did +not come. + +When, in the afternoon, Eva returned home, her whole manner expressed +such firm, cheerful composure that Els began to hope she might have been +mistaken. The undemonstrative yet tender affection with which she met +her mother, too, by no means harmonised with her fears. + +How lovely the young girl looked as she sat on a low stool at the head of +the invalid's couch and, with her mother's emaciated hand clasped in +hers, told her all that she had seen and experienced the evening before! +To please the beloved sufferer, she dwelt longer on the description of +the gracious manner of the Emperor Rudolph and his sister to her and her +father, the conversation with which the Burgrave had honoured her, and +his son's invitation to dance. Then for the first time she mentioned +Heinz Schorlin, whom she had found a godly knight, and finally spoke +briefly of the distinguished foreign nobles and ladies whom he had +pointed out and named. + +All this reminded the mother of former days and, in spite of the warning +of watchful Els not to talk too much, she did not cease questioning or +recalling the time when she herself attended such festivals, and as one +of the fairest maidens received much homage. + +It had been a good day, for it was long since she had enjoyed so much +quiet in her own home. The von Montforts, she told Eva, had set off +early, with a great train of knights and servants, to ride to Radolzburg, +the castle of the Burgrave von Zollern. Her father thought they would +probably have a dance there, for the young sons of the Burgrave would act +as hosts. + +Eva asked carelessly who rode with Cordula this time to submit to her +whims, but Els perceived by her sister's flushed cheeks and the tone of +her voice what she desired to know, and answered as if by accident that +Sir Heinz Schorlin certainly was not one of her companions, for he had +ridden through the Frauenthor that afternoon in the train of the Emperor +Rudolph and his Bohemian daughter-in-law. + +Twilight was already beginning to gather, and Els could not see whether +this news afforded Eva pleasure or annoyance, for her mother had taken +too little heed of her weakness, and one of the attacks which the +physician so urgently ordered her to avoid by caution commenced. + +Els and the convent Sister Renata, who helped her nurse the invalid, were +now completely absorbed in caring for her, but Eva turned away from the +beloved sufferer--her sensitive nature could not endure the sight of her +convulsions. + +As soon as her mother again lay weak but quiet on the pillows which Els +had rearranged for her, Eva obeyed her entreaty to go away, and went to +her own chamber. When another attack drew her back to the invalid, a +sign from her sister as she reached the threshold bade her keep away from +the couch. Should it prove necessary, she whispered, she would call her. +If Wolff came, Eva was to tell him that she could not leave her mother, +but he must be sure to return early the next morning, as she had a great +deal to say to him. + +Eva then went to her father, who was dressing to attend a banquet at the +house of Herr Berthold Vorchtel, the first Losunger--[Presiding Officer] +--in the Council, from which he would be loath to absent himself for the +very reason that his host's family had been hostile to him ever since the +rumour of the betrothal of Wolff Eysvogel, whom the Vorchtels had +regarded as their daughter Ursula's future husband. + +Nevertheless, Herr Ernst would not have gone to the entertainment had his +wife's condition given cause for anxiety. But he was familiar with these +convulsions which, it is true, weakened the invalid, but produced no +other results; so he permitted Eva to help him put the last touches to +his dress, on which he lavished great care. Spick and span as if he were +just out of a bandbox, the elderly man, before leaving the house, went +once more to the sick-room, and Eva stood near as, after many questions +and requests, he whispered something to Els which she did not hear. With +excited curiosity she asked what he had said so secretly, but he only +answered hurriedly, "The name of the Man in the Moon's dog," kissed her +cheek, and ran downstairs. + +At the foot he again turned to Eva and told her to send for him if her +mother should grow worse, for these entertainments at the Vorchtels +usually lasted a long time. + +"Will the Eysvogels be there too?" asked the girl. + +"Who knows," replied her father. "I shall be glad if Wolff comes." + +The tone in which he uttered the name of his future son-in-law distinctly +showed how little he desired to meet any other member of the family, and +Eva said sympathisingly, "Then I hope you will have an opportunity to +remember me to Wolff." + +"Shall I say nothing to Ursel?" asked the father, pressing a good-night +kiss upon the young girl's forehead. + +"She would not care for it," was the reply. "It cannot be easy to forget +a man like Wolff." + +"I wish he had stuck to Ursel, and let Els alone," her father answered +angrily. "It would have been better for both." + +"Why, father," interrupted Eva reproachfully, "do not our lovers seem +really created for each other?" + +"If the Eysvogels were only of the same opinion," exclaimed Ernst +Ortlieb, shrugging his shoulders with a faint sigh. "Whoever marries, +child, weds not only a man or a woman; all their kindred, unhappily, must +be taken into the bargain. However, Els did not lack earnest warning. +When your time comes, girl, your father will be more careful." + +Smiling tenderly, he passed his hand over the little cap which covered +her thick, fair hair, and went out. + +Eva returned to her room and sat down at the spinning-wheel in the bow +window, where Katterle had just drawn the curtains closely and lighted +the hanging lamp. But the distaff remained untouched, and her thoughts +wandered swiftly to the evening before and the ball at the Town Hall. +Heinz Schorlin's image rose more and more distinctly before her mind, and +this pleased her, for she fancied that he wore on his helm the blue +favour which she had chosen, and it led her to consider against what foe +she should first send him in the service of his lady and the Holy Church. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Eva had gazed into vacancy a long time, and beheld a succession of +pleasing pictures, in every one of which, Heinz Schorlin appeared. Once, +in imagination, she placed a wreath on his helmet after a great victory +over the infidels. + +Why should not this vision become a reality? Doubtless it owed its +origin to a memory, for Wolff Eysvogel had been fired with love for her +sister while Els was winding laurel around his helmet. + +After the Honourable Council had resolved that the youths belonging to +noble families, who had fought in the battle of Marchfield and returned +victorious, should be adorned with wreaths by the maidens of their +choice, Fate had appointed her sister to crown Eysvogel. + +At that time Wolff had but recently recovered from the severe wounds with +which he had returned from the campaign. But while he knelt before Els +and his eyes met hers, love had overmastered him so swiftly and +powerfully, that at the end of a few days he determined to woo her. + +Meanwhile his own family resolutely opposed his choice. The father +declared that he had made an agreement with Berthold Vorchtel to marry +him to his daughter Ursula, and withdrawal on his son's part would +embarrass him. His grandmother, the arrogant old Countess Rotterbach, +agreed with him, and declared that Wolff ought to wed no one except a +lady of the most aristocratic birth or an heiress like Ursula. Her +daughter Rosalinde Eysvogel, as usual, was the echo of her mother. + +Herr Ernst Ortlieb, too, would far rather have seen his Els marry into +another home; but Wolff himself was a young man of such faultless honour, +and the bride he had chosen was so eager to become his, that he deemed it +a duty to forget the aversion inspired by the suitor's family. + +As for Wolff, he had so firmly persisted in his resolve that his parents +at last permitted him to ask for his darling's hand, but his father had +made it a condition that the betrothal, on account of the youth of the +lovers, should not be announced till after Wolff had returned from Milan, +where he was to finish the studies commenced in Venice. True, everyone +had supposed that they were completed long ago, but Eysvogel senior +insisted upon his demand, and afterwards succeeded in deferring the +announcement of the betrothal, until the resolute persistence of Wolff, +who meanwhile had entered the great commercial house, and the wish of his +own aged mother, a sensible woman, who from the first had approved her +grandson's choice and to whom Herr Casper was obliged to show a certain +degree of consideration, compelled him to give it publicity. + +A few days later Herr Casper's brother died, and soon after his estimable +old mother. He used these events as a pretext for longer delay, saying +that both he and his wife needed at least six months' interval ere they +could forget their mourning in a gay wedding festival. Besides, he would +prefer not to have the marriage take place until after Wolff's election +to the Council, which, in all probability, would occur after Walpurgis of +the coming year. + +Ernst Ortlieb had sullenly submitted to all this. Nothing but his love +for his child and respect for Herr Casper's dead mother, who had taken +Els to her heart like a beloved granddaughter, would have enabled him +to conquer his hasty temper in his negotiations with the man whom he +detested in his inmost soul, and not hurl back the consent so reluctantly +granted to his son. + +The friends who knew him admired the strength of will with which he +governed his impetuous nature in this transaction. Some asserted that +secret obligations compelled him to yield to the rich Eysvogel; for +though the Ortlieb mercantile house was reputed wealthy, the business +prudence of its head resulted in smaller profits, and people had not +forgotten that it had suffered heavy losses during the terrible period of +despotism which had preceded the Emperor Rudolph's accession to the +throne. + +The insecurity of the high-roads had injured every merchant, but in +trying to find some explanation for Herr Ortlieb's submission the attacks +which had cost him one and another train of wares were regarded as +specially disastrous. + +Finally, the dowry which Els was to bring bore no comparison to the large +sums Ernst Ortlieb had lavished upon the erection of the St. Clare +Convent, and hence it was inferred that the wealth of the firm had +sustained considerable losses. This found ready credence, owing to the +retired life led by the Ortliebs,--whose house had formerly been one of +the most hospitable in the city,--ever since the wife had become an +invalid and Eva had grown up with an aversion to the world. Few took +the trouble to inquire into the very apparent causes for the change. + +Yet this view of the matter was opposed by many-nay, when the +conversation turned upon these subjects, Herr Berthold Vorchtel, perhaps +the richest and most distinguished man in Nuremberg, who rented the +imperial taxes, made comments from which, had it not been so difficult to +believe, people might have inferred that Casper Eysvogel was indebted to +Ernst Ortlieb rather than the latter to him. + +Yet the cautious, prudent man never explained the foundation of his +opinion, for he very rarely mentioned either of the two firms; yet prior +to the battle of Marchfield he had believed that his own daughter Ursula +and Wolff Eysvogel would sooner or later wed. Herr Casper, the young +man's father, had strengthened this expectation. He himself and his wife +esteemed Wolff, and his "Ursel" had shown plainly enough that she +preferred him to the other friends of her elder brother Ulrich. + +When he returned home the two met like brother and sister, and the +parents of Ursula Vorchtel had expected Wolff's proposal until the day +on which the wreaths were bestowed had made them poorer by a favourite +wish and destroyed the fairest hope of their daughter Ursula. + +The worthy merchant, it is true, deemed love a beautiful thing, but in +Nuremberg it was the parents who chose wives and husbands for their sons +and daughters; yet, after marriage, love took possession of the newly +wedded pair. A transgression of this ancient custom was very rare, and +even though Wolff's heart was fired with love for Els Ortlieb, his +father, Herr Vorchtel thought, should have refused his consent to the +betrothal, especially as he had already treated Ursel as his future +daughter. Some compulsion must have been imposed upon him when he +permitted his son to choose a wife other than the one selected. + +But what could render one merchant dependent upon another except business +obligations?--and Berthold Vorchtel was sharp-sighted. He knew the heavy +draft which Herr Casper had made upon the confidence reposed in the old +firm, and thought he had perceived that the great splendour displayed by +the women of the Eysvogel family, the liberality with which Herr Casper +had aided his impoverished noble relatives, and the lavish expenditure of +his son-in-law, the debt-laden Sir Seitz Siebenburg, drew too heavily +upon the revenues of the ancient house. + +Even now Casper Eysvogel's whole conduct proved how unwelcome was his +son's choice. To him, Ursula's father, he still intimated on many an +occasion that he had by no means resigned every hope of becoming, through +his son, more nearly allied to his family, for a betrothal was not a +wedding. + +Berthold Vorchtel, however, was not the man to enter into such double- +dealing, although he saw plainly enough how matters stood with his poor +child. She had confided her feelings to no one; yet, in spite of +Ursula's reserved nature, even a stranger could perceive that something +clouded her happiness. Besides, she had persistently refused the +distinguished suitors who sought the wealthy Herr Berthold's pretty +daughter, and only very recently had promised her parents, of her own +free will, to give up her opposition to marriage. + +Ever since the betrothal, to the sincere sorrow of Els, she had +studiously avoided Wolff's future bride, who had been one of her dearest +friends; and Ulrich, Herr Vorchtel's oldest son, took his sister's part, +and at every opportunity showed Wolff--who from a child, and also in the +battle of Marchfield, had been a favourite comrade--that he bore him a +grudge, and considered his betrothal to any one except Ursula an act of +shameful perfidy. + +The fair-minded father did not approve of his son's conduct, for his wife +had learned from her daughter that Wolff had never spoken to her of love, +or promised marriage. + +Therefore, whenever Herr Berthold Vorchtel met Els's father--and this +often happened in the Council--he treated him with marked respect, and +when there was an entertainment in his house sent him an invitation, as +in former years, which Ernst Urtlieb accepted, unless something of +importance prevented. + +But though the elder Vorchtel was powerless to change his children's +conduct, he never wearied of representing to his son how unjust and +dangerous were the attacks with which, on every occasion, he irritated +Wolff, whose strength and skill in fencing were almost unequalled in +Nuremberg. In fact, the latter would long since have challenged his +former friend had he not been so conscious of his own superiority, and +shrunk from the thought of bringing fresh sorrow upon Ursula and her +parents, whom he still remembered with friendly regard. + +Eva was fond of her future brother-in-law, and it had not escaped her +notice that of late something troubled him. + +What was it? + +She thoughtfully gave the wheel a push, and as it turned swiftly she +remembered the Swiss dance the evening before, and suddenly clenched her +small right hand and dealt the palm of her left a light blow. + +She fancied that she had discovered the cause of Wolff's depression, for +she again saw distinctly before her his sister Isabella's husband, Sir +Seitz Siebenburg, as he swung Countess Cordula around so recklessly that +her skirt, adorned with glittering jewels, fluttered far out from her +figure. In the room adjacent to the hall he had flung himself upon his +knees before the countess, and Eva fancied she again beheld his big, red +face, with its long, thick, yellow mustache, whose ends projected on both +sides in a fashion worn by few men of his rank. The expression of the +watery blue eyes, with which he stared Cordula in the face, were those of +a drunkard. + +To-day he had followed her to the Kadolzburg, and probably meant to spend +the night there. So Wolff had ample reason to be anxious about his +sister and her peace of mind. That must be it! + +Perhaps he would yet come that evening, to give Els at least a greeting +from the street. How late was it? + +She hastily tried to draw the curtains aside from the window, but this +was not accomplished as quickly as she expected--they had been care fully +fastened with pins. Eva noticed it, and suddenly remembered her father's +whispered words to Els. + +They were undoubtedly about the window. According to the calendar, the +moon would be full that day, and she knew very well that it had a strange +influence upon her. True, within the past year it appeared to have lost +its power; but formerly, especially when she had devoted herself very +earnestly to religious exercises, she had often, without knowing how or +why, left her bed and wandered about, not only in her chamber but through +the house. Once she had climbed to the dovecot in the courtyard, and +another time had mounted to the garret where, she did not know in what +way, she had been awakened. When she looked around, the moon was shining +into the spacious room, and showed her that she was perched on one of the +highest beams in the network of rafters which, joined with the utmost +skill, supported the roof. Below her yawned a deep gulf, and as she +looked down into it she was seized with such terror that she uttered a +loud shriek for help, and did not recover her calmness until the old +housekeeper, Martsche, who had started from her bed in alarm, brought her +father to her. + +She had been taken down with the utmost care. No one was permitted to +help except white-haired Nickel, the old head packer, who often let a +whole day pass without opening his lips; for Herr Ernst seemed to lay +great stress upon keeping the moon's influence on Eva a secret. There +was indeed something uncanny about this night-walking, for even now it +seemed incomprehensible how she had reached the beam, which was at least +the height of three men above the floor. A fall might have cost her +life, and her father was right in trying to prevent a repetition of such +nocturnal excursions. This time Els had helped him. + +How faithfully she cared for them all! + +Yes, she had barred out even the faintest glimmer. Eva smiled as she saw +the numerous pins with which her sister had fastened the curtain, and an +irresistible longing seized her to see once more the wonderful light that +promoted the growth of the hair if cut during its increase, and also +exerted so strange an influence upon her. + +She must look up at the moon! + +Swiftly and skilfully, as if aided by invisible hands, her dainty fingers +opened curtain and window. + +Drawing a deep breath, with an emotion of pleasure which she had not +experienced for a long time, she gazed at the linden before the house +steeped in silvery radiance, and upward to the pure disk of the full moon +sailing in the cloudless sky. How beautiful and still the night was! +How delightful it would be to walk up and down the garden, with her aunt +the abbess, with Els, and perhaps--she felt the blood crimson her cheeks- +-with Heinz Schorlin! + +Where was he now? + +Undoubtedly with the Emperor and his ladies, perhaps at the side of the +Bohemian princess, the young Duchess Agnes, who yesterday had so plainly +showed her pleasure in his society. + +Just then the watch, marching from the Marienthurn to the Frauenthor, +gave her vagrant thoughts a new turn. The city guard was soon followed +by a troop of horse, which probably belonged to the Emperor's train. + +It was delightful to gaze, at this late hour, into the moonlit street, +and she wondered that she had never enjoyed it before. True, it would +have been still pleasanter had Els borne her company; and, besides, she +longed to tell her the new explanation she had found for Wolff's altered +manner. + +Perhaps her mother was asleep, and she could come with her. + +How still the house was! + +Cautiously opening the door of the sick-room, she glanced in. Els was +standing at the head of the bed, supporting her mother with her strong +young arms, while Sister Renata pushed the cushions between the +sufferer's back and the bedstead. + +The old difficulty of breathing had evidently attacked her again. + +Yes, yes, the dim light of the lamp was shining on her pale face, and the +large sunken eyes were gazing with imploring anguish at the image of the +Virgin on the opposite wall. + +How gladly Eva would have afforded her relief! She looked with a faint +sense of envy at her sister, whose skilful, careful hands did everything +to the satisfaction of the beloved sufferer, while in nursing she failed +only too often in giving the right touch. But she could pray--implore +the aid of her saint very fervently; nay, she was more familiar with her, +and might hope that she would fulfil a heartfelt wish of hers more +quickly than for her sister. It would not do to call Els to the window. +She closed the door gently, returned to her chamber, knelt and implored +St. Clare, with all the fervour of her heart, to grant her mother a good +night. Then she again drew the curtains closely over the window, and +went to call Katterle to help her undress. + +But the maid was just entering with fresh water. What was the matter +with her? + +Her hand trembled as she braided her young mistress's hair and sometimes, +with a faint sigh, she stopped the movement of the comb. + +Her silence could be easily explained; for Eva had often forbidden +Katterle to talk, when she disturbed her meditation. Yet the girl must +have had some special burden on her mind, for when Eva had gone to bed +she could not resolve to leave the room, but remained standing on the +threshold in evident embarrassment. + +Eva encouraged her to speak, and Katterle, so confused that she often +hesitated for words and pulled at her ribbons till she was in danger of +tearing them from her white apron, stammered that she did not come on her +own account, but for another person. It was well known in the household +that her betrothed husband, the true and steadfast Walther Biberli, +served a godly knight, her countryman. + +"I know it," said Eva with apparent composure, "and your Biberli has +commissioned you to bear me the respectful greeting of Sir Heinz +Schorlin." + +The girl looked at her young mistress in surprise. She had been prepared +for a sharp rebuke, and had yielded to her lover's entreaties to under +take this service amid tears, and with great anxiety; for if her act +should be betrayed, she would lose, amid bitter reproaches, the place she +so greatly prized. Yet Biberli's power over her and her faith in him +were so great that she would have followed him into a lion's den; and it +had scarcely seemed a more desirable venture to carry a love-greeting to +the pious maiden who held men in such disfavour, and could burst into +passionate anger as suddenly as her father. + +And now? + +Eva had expected such a message. It seemed like a miracle to Katterle. + +With a sigh of relief, and a hasty thanksgiving to her patron saint, she +at once began to praise the virtue and piety of the servant as well as +his lord; but Eva again interrupted, and asked what Sir Heinz Schorlin +desired. + +Katterle, with new-born confidence, repeated, as if it were some trivial +request, the words Biberli had impressed upon her mind. + +"By virtue of the right of every good and devout knight to ask his lady +for her colour, Sir Heinz Schorlin, with all due reverence, humbly prays +you to name yours; for how could he hold up his head before you and all +the knights if he were denied the privilege of wearing it in your honour, +in war as well as in peace?" + +Here her mistress again interrupted with a positive "I know," and, still +more emboldened, Katterle continued the ex-schoolmaster's lesson to the +end: + +"His lord, my lover says, will wait here beneath the window, in all +reverence, though it should be till morning, until you show him your +sweet face. No, don't interrupt me yet, Mistress Eva, for you must know +that Sir Heinz's lady mother committed her dear son to my Biberli's +care, that he might guard him from injury and illness. But since his +master met you, he has been tottering about as though he had received a +spear-thrust, and as the knight confessed to his faithful servitor that +no leech could help him until you permitted him to open his heart to you +and show you with what humble devotion----" + +But here the maid was interrupted in a manner very different from her +expectations, for Eva had raised herself on her pillows and, almost +unable to control her voice in the excess of her wrath, exclaimed: + +"The master who presumes to seek through his servant---- And by what +right does the knight dare thus insolently---- But no! Who knows what +modest wish was transformed in your mouth to so unprecedented a demand? +He desired to see my face? He wanted to speak to me in person, to +confess I know not what? From you--you, Katterle, the maid--the knight +expects----" + +Here she struck her little hand angrily against the wood of the bedstead +and, panting for breath, continued: + +"I'll show him!---- Yet no! What I have to answer no one else---- From +me, from me alone, he shall learn without delay. There is paper in +yonder chest, on the very top; bring it to me, with pen and ink." + +Katterle silently hurried to obey this order, but Eva pressed her hand +upon her heaving bosom, and gazed silently into vacancy. + +The manservant and the maid whom Heinz Schorlin had made his messengers +certainly could have no conception of the bond that united her to him; +even her own sister had misunderstood it. He should now learn that Eva +Ortlieb knew what beseemed her! But she, too, longed for another +meeting, and this conduct rendered it necessary. + +The sooner they two had a conversation, the better. She could +confidently venture to invite him to the meeting which she had in view; +her aunt, the abbess, had promised to stand by her side, if she needed +her, in her intercourse with the knight. + +But her colour? + +Katterle had long since laid the paper and writing materials before her, +but she still pondered. At last, with a smile of satisfaction, she +seized the pen. The manner in which she intended to mention the colour +should show him the nature of the bond which united them. + +She was mistress of the pen, for in the convent she had copied the +gospels, the psalms, and other portions of the Scriptures, yet her hand +trembled as she committed the following lines to the paper: + +"I am angered--nay, even grieved--that you, a godly knight, who knows the +reverence due to a lady, have ventured to await my greeting in front +of my father's house. If you are a true knight, you must be aware that +you voluntarily promised to obey my every glance. I can rely upon this +pledge, and since I find it necessary to talk with you, I invite you to +an interview--when and where, my maid, who is betrothed to your servant, +shall inform him. A friend, who has your welfare at heart as well as +mine, will be with me. It must be soon, with the permission of St. +Clare, who, since you have chosen her for your patron saint, looks down +upon you as well as on me. + +"As for my colour, I know not what to name; the baubles associated with +earthly love are unfamiliar to me. But blue is the colour of the pure +heaven and its noble queen, the gracious Virgin. If you make this colour +yours and fight for it, I shall rejoice, and am willing to name it mine." + +At the bottom of the little note she wrote only her Christian name "Eva," +and when she read it over she found that it contained, in apt and seemly +phrases, everything that she desired to say to the knight. + +While folding the paper and considering how she could fasten it, as there +was no wax at hand, she thought of the narrow ribbons with which Els tied +together, in sets of half a dozen, the fine kerchiefs worn over the neck +and bosom, when they came from the wash. They were sky-blue, and nothing +could be more suitable for the purpose. + +Katterle brought one from the top of the chest. Eva wound it swiftly +around the little roll, and the maid hastily left the room, sure of the +gratitude of the true and steadfast Biberli. + +When Eva was again alone, she at first thought that she might rejoice +over her hasty act; but on asking herself what Els would say, she felt +certain that she would disapprove of it and, becoming disconcerted, +began to imagine what consequences it might entail. + +The advice which her father had recently given Wolff, never to let any +important letter pass out of his hands until at least one night had +elapsed, returned to her memory, and from that instant the little note +burdened her soul like a hundred-pound weight. + +She would fain have started up to get it back again, and a strong +attraction drew her towards the window to ascertain whether Heinz +Schorlin had really come and was awaiting her greeting. + +Perhaps Katterle had not yet delivered the note. What if she were still +standing at the door of the house to wait for Biberli? If, to be +absolutely certain, she should just glance out, that would not be looking +for the knight, and she availed herself of the excuse without delay. + +In an instant she sprang from her bed and gently drew the curtain aside. +The street was perfectly still. The linden and the neighbouring houses +cast dark, sharply outlined shadows upon the light pavement, and from the +convent garden the song of the nightingale echoed down the quiet moonlit +street. + +Katterle had probably already given the note to Heinz Schorlin who, +obedient to his lady's command, as beseemed a knight, had gone away. +This soothed her anxiety, and with a sigh she went back to bed. + +But the longing to look out into the street again was so strong that she +yielded to the temptation; yet, ere she reached the window, she summoned +the strength of will which was peculiar to her and, lying down, once more +closed her lids, with the firm resolve to see and hear nothing. As she +had not shut her eyes the night before and, from dread of the ball, had +slept very little during the preceding one, she soon, though the moon was +shining in through the parted curtains, lapsed into a condition midway +between sleep and waking. Extreme fatigue had deadened consciousness, +yet she fancied that at times she heard the sound of footsteps on the +pavement outside, and the deep voices of men. + +Nor was what she heard in her half-dozing state, which was soon followed +by the sound slumber of youth, any delusion of the senses. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +The moon found something in front of the Ortlieb house worth looking at. +Rarely had she lighted with purer, brighter radiance the pathway of the +mortals who excited her curiosity, than that of the two handsome young +men who, at a moderate interval of time, passed through the Frauenthor, +and finally entered the courtyard of the Ortlieb residence almost at the +same instant. + +Luna first saw them pace silently to and fro, and delighted in the +resentful glances they cast at each other. This joy increased as the one +in the long coat, embroidered on the shoulder with birds, and then the +other, whose court costume well became his lithe, powerful limbs, sat +down, each on one of the chains connecting the granite posts between the +street and the courtyard. + +The very tall one, who looked grave and anxious, was Wolff Eysvogel; the +other, somewhat shorter, who swung gaily to and fro on the chain as if it +afforded him much amusement, Heinz Schorlin. + +Both frequently glanced up at the lighted bow-window and the smaller one +on the second story, behind which Eva lay half asleep. This was the +first meeting of the two men. + +Wolff, aware of his excellent right to remain on this-spot, would have +shown the annoying intruder his displeasure long before, had he not +supposed that the other, whom at the first glance he recognised as a +knight, was one of Countess Cordula von Montfort's admirers. Yet he soon +became unable to control his anger and impatience. Yielding to a hasty +impulse, he left the chain, but as he approached the stranger the latter +gave his swaying seat a swifter motion and, without vouchsafing him +either greeting or introductory remark, said carelessly, "This is a +lovely night." + +"I am of the same opinion," replied Wolff curtly. "But I would like to +ask, sir, what induced you to choose the courtyard of this house to enjoy +it?" + +"Induced?" asked the Swiss in astonishment; then, looking the other in +the face with defiant sharpness, he added scornfully: + +"I am warming the chain because it suits me to do so." + +"You are allowed the pleasure," returned Wolff in an irritated tone; +"nay, I can understand that night birds of your sort find no better +amusement. Still, it seems to me that a knight who wishes to keep iron +hot might attain his object better in another way." + +"Why, of course," cried Heinz Schorlin, springing swiftly to his feet +with rare elasticity. "It gives a pleasant warmth when blade strikes +blade or the hot blood wets them. I am no friend to darkness, and it +seems to me, sir, as if we were standing in each other's light here." + +"There our opinions concur for the second time this lovely night," +quietly replied the patrician's son, conscious of his unusual strength +and skill in fencing, with a slight touch of scorn. "Like you, I am +always ready to cross blades with another; only, the public street is +hardly the fitting place for it." + +"May the plague take you!" muttered the Swiss in assent to Wolff's +opinion. "Besides, sir, who ever grasps iron so swiftly is worth a +parley. To ask whether you are of knightly lineage would be useless +trouble, and should it come to a genuine sword-dance. + +"You will find a partner in me at any time," was the reply, "as I, who +wear my ancient escutcheon with good right, would gladly give you a +crimson memento of this hour--though you were but the son of a cobbler. +But first let us ascertain--for I, too, dislike darkness--whether we are +really standing in each other's light. With all due respect for your +fancy for warming chains, it would be wise, ere Sir Red Coat--[The +executioner]--puts his round our ankles for disturbing the peace, to have +a sensible talk." + +"Try it, for aught I care," responded Heinz Schorlin cheerily. +"Unluckily for me, I live in a state of perpetual feud with good sense. +One thing, however, seems certain without any serious reflection: the +attraction which draws me here, as well as you, will not enter the +cloister as a monk, but as a little nun, wears no beard, but braids her +hair. Briefly, then, if you are here for Countess Cordula von Montfort's +sake, your errand is vain; she will sleep at Kadolzburg to-night." + +"May her slumber be sweet!" replied Wolff calmly. "She is as near to me +as yonder moon." + +"That gives the matter a more serious aspect," cried the knight angrily. +"You or I. What is your lady's name?" + +"That, to my mind, is asking too much," replied Wolff firmly. + +"And the law of love gives you the right to withhold an answer. But, +sir, we must nevertheless learn for the sake of what fairest fair we have +each foregone sleep." + +"Then tell me, by your favour, your lady's colour," Wolff asked the +Swiss. + +The latter laughed gaily: "I am still putting that question to my saint." + +Then, noticing Wolff's shake of the head, he went on in a more serious +tone: "If you will have a little patience, I hope I may be able to tell +you, ere we part." + +This assurance also seemed to Wolff an enigma. Who in the wide world +would come from under the respectable Ortlieb roof, at this hour, to tell +a stranger anything whatsoever concerning one of its daughters? Neither +could have given him the right to regard her as his lady, and steal at +night, like a marten, around the house which contained his dearest +treasure. This obscurity was an offence to Wolff Eysvogel, and he was +not the man to submit to it. Yonder insolent fellow should learn, to his +hurt, that he had made a blunder. + +But scarcely had he begun to explain to Heinz that he claimed the right +to protect both the daughters of this house, the younger as well as the +older, since they had no brother, when the knight interrupted: + +"Oho! There are two of them, and she, too, spoke of a sister. So, if it +comes to sharing, sir, we need not emulate the judgment of Solomon. Let +us see! The colour is uncertain, but to every Christian mortal a name +clings as closely as a shadow and, if I mention the initial letter of the +one which adorns my lady, I believe I shall commit no offence that a +court of love could condemn. The initial, which I like because it is +daintily rounded and not too difficult to write-mark it well--is 'E.'" + +Wolff Eysvogel started slightly and gripped the dagger in his belt, but +instantly withdrew his hand and answered with mingled amusement and +indignation: "Thanks for your good will, Sir Knight, but this, too, +brings us no nearer our goal; the E is the initial of both the Ortlieb +sisters. The elder who, as you may know, is my betrothed bride, bears +the name of Elizabeth, or Els, as we say in Nuremberg." + +"And the younger," cried Heinz joyously, "honours with her gracious +innocence the name of her through whom sin came into the world." + +"But you, Sir Knight," exclaimed Wolff fiercely, "would do better not to +name sin and Eva Ortlieb in the same breath. If you are of a different +opinion----" + +"Then," interrupted the Swiss, "we come back to warming the iron." + +"As you say," cried Wolff resolutely. "In spite of the peace of the +country, I will be at your service at any time. As you see, I went out +unarmed, and it would not be well done to cross swords here." + +"Certainly not," Heinz assented. "But many days and nights will follow +this moonlight one, and that you may have little difficulty in finding me +whenever you desire, know that my name is Heinrich--or to more intimate +friends, among whom you might easily be numbered if we don't deprive each +other of the pleasure of meeting again under the sun--Heinz Schorlin." + +"Schorlin?" asked Wolff in surprise. "Then you are the knight who, when +a beardless boy, cut down on the Marchfield the Bohemian whose lance had +slain the Emperor's charger, the Swiss who aided him to mount the steed +of Ramsweg of Thurgau--your uncle, if I am not mistaken--and then took +the wild ride to bring up the tall Capeller, with his troops, who so +gloriously decided the day." + +"And," laughed Heinz, "who was finally borne off the field as dead before +the fulfilment of his darling wish to redden Swiss steel with royal +Bohemian blood. This closed the chronicle, Herr--what shall I call you?" + +"Wolff Eysvogel, of Nuremberg," replied the other. + +"Aha! A son of the rich merchant where the Duke of Gulich found +quarters?" cried the Swiss, lifting his cap bordered with fine miniver. +"May confusion seize me! If I were not my father's son, I wouldn't mind +changing places with you. It must make the neck uncommonly stiff, +methinks, to have a knightly escutcheon on door and breast, and yet be +able to fling florins and zecchins broadcast without offending the devil +by an empty purse. If you don't happen to know how such a thing looks, I +can show you." + +"Yet rumour says," observed Wolff, "that the Emperor is gracious to you, +and knows how to fill it again." + +"If one doesn't go too far," replied Heinz, "and my royal master, who +lacks spending money himself only too often, doesn't keep his word that +it was done for the last time. I heard that yesterday morning, and +thought that the golden blessing which preceded it would last the dear +saints only knew how long. But ere the cock had crowed even once this +morning the last florin had vanished. Dice, Herr Wolff Eysvogel--dice!" + +"Then I would keep my hands off them," said the other meaningly. + +"If the Old Nick or some one else did not always guide them back! Did +you, a rich man's son, never try what the dice would do for you?" + +"Yes, Sir Knight. It was at Venice, where I was pursuing my studies, and +tried my luck at gambling on many a merry evening with other sons of +mercantile families from Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Cologne." + +"And your feathers were generously plucked?" + +"By no means. I usually left a winner. But after they fleeced a dear +friend from Ulm, and he robbed his master, I dropped dice." + +"And you did so as easily as if it were a short fast after an abundant +meal?" + +"It was little more difficult," Wolff asserted. "My father would have +gladly seen me outdo my countrymen, and sent me more money than I needed. +Why should I deprive honest fellows who had less?" + +"That's just the difficulty," cried his companion eagerly. "It was easy +for you to renounce games of chance because your winnings only added more +to the rest, and you did not wish to pluck poorer partners. But I! +A poor devil like me cannot maintain armour-bearer, servants, and steeds +out of what the dear little mother at home in her faithful care can spare +from crops and interest. How could we succeed in making a fair +appearance at court and in the tournament if it were not for the dice? +And then, when I lose, I again become but the poor knight the saints made +me; when I win, on the contrary, I am the great and wealthy lord I would +have been born had the Lord permitted me to choose my own cradle. +Besides, those who lose through me are mainly dukes, counts, and +gentlemen with rich fiefs and fat bourgs, whom losing doubtless benefits, +as bleeding relieves a sick man. What suits the soldier does not befit +the merchant. We live wholly amid risks and wagers. Every battle, every +skirmish is a game whose stake is life. Whoever reflects long is sure to +lose. If I could only describe, Herr Eysvogel, what it is to dash +headlong upon the foe!" + +"I could imagine that vividly enough," Wolff eagerly interposed. +"I, too, have broken many a lance in the lists and shed blood enough." + +"What a dunce I am!" cried Heinz in amazement, pressing his hand upon his +brow. "That's why your face was so familiar! By my saint! I am no +knight if I did not see you then, before the battle waxed hot. It was +close beside your Burgrave Frederick, who held aloft the imperial +banner." + +"Probably," replied Wolff in a tone of assent. "He sometimes entrusted +the standard to me, when it grew too heavy for his powerful arm, because +I was the tallest and the strongest of our Nuremberg band. But, +unluckily, I could not render this service long. A scimitar gashed my +head. The larger part of the little scar is hidden under my hair." + +"The little scar!" repeated Heinz gaily. "It was wide enough, at any +rate, for the greatest soul to slip through it. A scar on the head from +a wound received four years ago, and yet distinctly visible in the +moonlight!" + +"It should serve as a warning," replied Wolff, glancing anxiously up the +street. "If the patrol, or any nocturnal reveller should catch sight of +us, it would be ill for the fair fame of the Ortlieb sisters, for +everybody knows that only one--Els's betrothed lover--has a right to +await a greeting here at so late an hour. So follow me into the shadow +of the linden, I entreat you; for yonder--surely you see it too--a figure +is gliding towards us." + +Heinz Schorlin's laugh rang out like a bell as he whispered to the +Nuremberg patrician: "That figure is familiar to me, and neither we nor +our ladies need fear any evil from it. Excuse me moment, and I'll wager +twenty gold florins against yonder linden leaf that, ere the moonlight +has left the curbstone, I can tell you my lady's colour." + +As he spoke he hastened towards the figure, now, standing motionless +within the shadow of the door post beside the lofty entrance. + +Wolff Eysvogel remained alone, gazing thoughtfully upon the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +The silent wanderer above had expected to behold a scene very unlike an +interview between two men. The latter required neither her purest, +fullest light, nor the shadow of a blossoming linden. + +Now Luna saw the young Nuremberg merchant gaze after the Swiss with an +expression of such deep anxiety and pain upon his manly features that she +felt the utmost pity for him. He did not look upward as usual to the +window of his beautiful Els, but either fixed his eyes upon the spot +where his new acquaintance was conversing with another person, or bent +them anxiously upon the ground. + +As Wolff thought of Heinz Schorlin, it seemed as if Fate had thrown him +into the way of the Swiss that he might feel with twofold anguish the +thorns besetting his own life path. The young knight was proffered the +rose without the thorn. What cares had he? The present threw into his +lap its fairest blessings, and when he looked into the future he beheld +only the cheering buds of hope. + +Yet this favourite of fortune had expressed a desire to change places +with him. The thought that many others, too, would be glad to step into +his shoes tortured Wolff's honest heart as though he himself were to +blame for the delusion of these short-sighted folk. + +Apart from his strength and health, his well-formed body, his noble +birth, his faith in the love of his betrothed bride--at this hour he +forgot how much these things were--he found nothing in his lot which +seemed worth desiring. + +He might not even rejoice in his stainless honesty with the same perfect +confidence as in his betrothal. + +Yes, he had cared for noble old Berthold Vorchtel's daughter as if she +were his sister. He had even found pleasure in the thought that Ursula +was destined to become his wife, yet no word either of love or allusion +to future marriage had been exchanged between them. He had felt free, +and had a right to consider himself so, when love for Els Ortlieb +overwhelmed him so swiftly and powerfully. + +Yet Ursula and her oldest brother treated him as if he had been guilty of +base disloyalty. His pure conscience, however, enabled him to endure +this more easily than the other burden, of which he became aware on the +long-anticipated day when his father made him a partner in the old firm +and gave him an insight into the condition of the property and the course +of the business. + +Then he had learned the heavy losses which had been sustained recently, +and the sad disparity existing between the great display by which his +father and mother, as well as his grandmother, the countess, maintained +the appearance of their former princely wealth, and the balances of the +last few years. + +When he had just boasted to the reckless young knight that he had given +up gaming, he told but half the truth, for though since his period of +study in Venice, and later in Milan, he had not touched dice, he had been +forced to consent to a series of enterprises undertaken by his father, +whose stakes were far different from the gambling of the knights and +nobles at the Green Shield or in the camp. + +Yet he intended to bind the fate of the woman he loved to his own, for +Els, spite of the opposition of his family, would have been already +indissolubly united to him, had not one failure after another destroyed +his courage to take her hand. Finally, he deemed it advisable to await +the result of the last great enterprise, now on the eve of decision. It +might compensate for many of the losses of recent years. Should it be +favourable, the heaviest burden would be lifted from his soul; in the +opposite case the old house would be shaken to its foundations. Yet +even its fall would have been easier for him to endure than this cruel +uncertainty, to which was added the torturing anxiety of bearing the +responsibility of things for which he was not to blame, and of which, +moreover, he was even denied a clear view. Yet he felt absolutely +certain that his father was concealing many things, perhaps the worst, +and often felt as if he were walking in the darkness over a mouldering +bridge. Ah, if it could only be propped up, and then rebuilt! But if it +must give way, he hoped the catastrophe would come soon. He knew that he +possessed the strength to build a new home for Els and himself. Even +were it small and modest, it should be erected on a firm foundation and +afford a safe abode for its inmates. + +What did the young, joyous-hearted fellow who was wooing Eva know of such +cares? Fate had placed him on the sunny side of life, where everything +flourished, and set him, Wolff, in the shade, where grass and flowers +died. + +There is a magic in fame which the young soul cannot easily escape, and +the name of Heinz Schorlin was indeed honoured and on every lip. The +imagination associated with it the cheerful nature which, like a loyal +comrade, goes hand in hand with success, deserved and undeserved good +fortune, woman's favour, doughty deeds, the highest and strongest traits +of character. + +An atmosphere like sunshine, which melts all opposition, emanated from +Heinz. Wolff had experienced it himself. He had seriously intended to +make the insolent intruder feel his strong arm, but since he had learned +the identity of the Swiss his acts and nature appeared in a new light. +His insolence had gained the aspect of self-confidence which did not lack +justification, and when a valiant knight talked to him so frankly, like a +younger brother to an older and wiser one, it seemed to the lonely man +who, of late, completely absorbed in the course of business, had held +aloof from the sports, banquets, and diversions of the companions of his +own age, that he had experienced something unusually pleasant. How +tender and affectionate it sounded when Heinz alluded to the "little +mother" at home! He, Wolff, on the contrary, could think only with a +shade of bitterness of the weak woman to whom he owed his existence, and +whom filial duty and earnest resolution alike commanded him to love, yet +who made it so difficult for him to regard her with anything save anxiety +or secret disapproval. + +Perhaps the greatest advantage which the Swiss possessed over him was his +manner of speaking of his family. How could it ever have entered Wolff +Eysvogel's mind to call the tall, stiff woman, who was the feeble echo of +her extravagant, arrogant mother, and who rustled towards him, even in +the early morning, adorned with feathers and robed in rich brocade, his +"dear little mother"? + +Whoever spoke in the warm, loving tones that fell from the lips of Sir +Heinz when he mentioned his relatives at home certainly could have no +evil nature. No one need fear, though his usual mode of speech was so +wanton, that he would trifle with a pure, innocent creature like Eva. + +How Heinz had succeeded in winning so speedily the devout child, who was +so averse to the idle coquetries of the companions of her own age, seemed +incomprehensible, but he had no time to investigate now. + +He must go, for he had long been burning with impatience to depart. The +declaration of peace had taken effect only a few hours before, and the +long waggon trains from Italy, of which he had told Els yesterday, were +still delayed. The freight of spices and Levantine goods, Milan velvets, +silks, and fine Florentine cloths, which they were bringing from the city +of St. Mark, represented a large fortune. If it arrived in time, the +profits would cover a great portion of the losses of the past two years, +and the house would again be secure. If the worst should befall, how +would his family submit to deprivation, perhaps even to penury? He had +less fear of his grandmother's outbursts of wrath, but what would become +of his feeble mother, who was as dependent as a child on her own mother? +Yet he loved her; he felt deeply troubled by the thought of the severe +humiliation which menaced her. His sister Isabella, too, was dear to +him, in spite of her husband, the reckless Sir Seitz Siebenburg, in whose +hands the gold paid from the coffers of the firm melted away, yet who was +burdened with a mountain of debts. + +Wolff had left orders at home to have his horse saddled. He had intended +only to wave a greeting to his Els and then ride to Neumarkt, or, if +necessary, as far as Ingolstadt, to meet the wains. + +A word of farewell to the new acquaintance, who was probably destined to +be his brother-in, law, and then--But just at that moment Heinz +approached, and in reply to Wolff's low question "And your lady's +colour?" he answered joyously, pointing to the breast of his doublet: +"I am carrying the messenger which promises to inform me, here on my +heart. In the darkness it was silent; but the bright moonlight yonder +will loose its tongue, unless the characters here are too unlike those of +the prayer-book." + +Drawing out Eva's little roll as he spoke, he approached a brightly +lighted spot, pointed to the ribbon which fastened it, and exclaimed: +"Doubtless she used her own colour to tie it. Blue, the pure, exquisite +blue of her eyes! I thought so Forget-me-not blue! The most beautiful +of colours. You must pardon my impatience!" + +He was about to begin to read the lines; but Wolff stopped him by +pointing to the Ortlieb residence and to two drunken soldiers who came +out of the tavern "For Thirsty Troopers," and walked, singing and +staggering, up the opposite side of the street. Then, extending his hand +to Heinz in farewell, he asked in a low tone, pointing to Biberli's +figure just emerging from the shade, who was the messenger of love who +served him so admirably. + +"My shadow," replied the knight. "I loosed him from my heels and bade +him stand there. But no offence, Herr Wolff Eysvogel; you'll make the +queer fellow's acquaintance if, like myself, it would be agreeable to you +to meet often, not only on iron chains, but on friendly terms with each +other." + +"Nothing would please me more," replied the other. "But how in the world +could it happen that this well-guarded fortress surrendered to you after +so short a resistance?" + +"Heinz Schorlin rides swiftly," he interrupted; but Wolff exclaimed: + +"A swift ride awaits me, too, though of a different kind. When I return, +I shall expect you to tell me how you won our 'little saint,' my sister- +in-law Eva. The two beautiful Ortlieb 'Es' are one in the eyes of the +townsfolk, so we also will be often named in the same breath, and shall +do well to feel brotherly regard for each other. There shall be no fault +on my part. Farewell, till we meet again, an' it please God in and not +outside of our ladies' dwelling." + +While speaking he clasped the knight's hand with so firm a grasp that it +seemed as if he wished to force him to feel its pressure a long time, and +hastened through the Frauenthor. + +Heinz Schorlin gazed thoughtfully after him a short time, then beckoned +to Biberli and, though the interval required for him to reach his +master's side was very brief, it was sufficient for the bold young lover, +tortured by his ardent longing, to form another idea. + +"Look yonder, Biberli!" he exclaimed. "The holy-water basin on the door- +post, the escutcheon on the lintel above, the helmet, which would +probably bear my weight. From there I can reach the window-sill with my +hand, and once I have grasped it, I need only make one bold spring and, +hurrah! I'm on it." + +"May our patron saint have mercy on us!" cried the servant in horror. +"You can get there as easily as you can spring on your two feet over two +horses; but the coming down would certainly be a long distance lower than +you would fancy--into the 'Hole,' as they call the prison here, and, +moreover, though probably not until some time later, straight to the +flames of hell; for you would have committed a great sin against a noble +maiden rich in every virtue, who deemed you worthy of her love. And, +besides, there are two Es. They occupy the same room, and the house is +full of men and maid servants." + +"Pedagogue!" said the knight, peevishly. + +"Ay, that was Biberli's calling once," replied the servant, "and, for the +sake of your lady mother at home, I wish I were one still, and you, Sir +Heinz, would have to obey me like an obedient pupil. You are well aware +that I rarely use her sacred name to influence you, but I do so now; and +if you cherish her in your heart and do not wish to swoop down on the +innocent little dove like a destroying hawk, turn your back upon this +place, where we have already lingered too long." + +But this well-meant warning seemed to have had brief influence upon the +person to whom it was addressed. Suddenly, with a joyous: "There she +is!" he snatched his cap from his head and waved a greeting to the +window. + +But in a few minutes he replaced it with a petulant gesture of the hand, +saying sullenly: "Vanished! She dared not grant me a greeting, because +she caught sight of you." + +"Let us thank and praise a kind Providence for it," said his servitor +with a sigh of relief, "since our Lord and Saviour assumed the form of a +servant, that of a scarecrow, in which he has done admirable service, is +far too noble and distinguished for Biberli." + +As he spoke he walked on before the knight, and pointing to the tavern +beside the Frauenthurm whose sign bore the words "For Thirsty Troopers," +he added: "A green bush at the door. That means, unless the host is a +rogue, a cask fresh broached. I wonder whether my tongue is cleaving to +my palate from dread of your over-hasty courage, or whether it is really +so terribly sultry here!" + +"At any rate," Heinz interrupted, "a cup of wine will harm neither of us; +for I myself feel how oppressive the air is. Besides, it is light in the +tavern, and who knows what the little note will tell me." + +Meanwhile they passed the end of St. Klarengasse and went up to the green +bush, which projected from the end of a pole far out into the street. + +Soldiers in the pay of the city, and men-at-arms in the employ of the +Emperor and the princes who had come to attend the Reichstag, were +sitting over their wine in the tavern. From the ceiling hung two crossed +iron triangles, forming a six-pointed star. The tallow candles burning +low in their sockets, which it contained, and some pitch-pans in the +corners, diffused but a dim light through the long apartment. + +Master and man found an empty table apart from the other guests, in a +niche midway down the rear wall. + +Without heeding the brawling and swearing, the rude songs and disorderly +shouts, the drumming of clenched fists upon the oak tables, the wild +laughter of drunken soldiers, the giggling and screeching of bar-maids, +and the scolding and imperious commands of the host, they proved that the +green bush had not lied, for the wine really did come from a freshly +opened cask just brought up from the cellar. But as the niche was +illumined only by the tiny oil lamp burning beneath the image of the +Virgin, bedizened with flowers and gold and silver tinsel, fastened +against the wall, Biberli asked the weary bar-maid for a brighter light. + +When the girl withdrew he sighed heavily, saying: "O my lord, if you only +knew! Even now, when we are again among men and the wine has refreshed +me, I feel as if rats were gnawing at my soul. Conscience, my lord- +conscience!" + +"You, too, are usually quite ready to play the elf in the rose-garden of +love," replied Heinz gaily. "Moreover, I shall soon need a T and an S +embroidered on my own doublet, for----Why don't they bring the light? +Another cup of wine, the note, and then with renewed vigour we'll go back +again." + +"For God's sake," interrupted Biberli, "do not speak, do not even think, +of the bold deed you suggested! Doesn't it seem like a miracle that not +one of the many Ortlieb and Montfort servants crossed your path? Even +such a child of good luck as yourself can scarcely expect a second one +the same evening. And if there is not, and you go back under the window, +you will be recognised, perhaps even seized, and then--O my lord, +consider this!--then you will bear throughout your life the reproach of +having brought shame and bitter sorrow upon a maiden whom you yourself +know is lovely, devout, and pure. And I, too, who serve you loyally in +your lady mother's behalf, as well as the poor maid who, to pleasure me, +interceded for you with her mistress, will run the risk of our lives if +you are caught climbing into the window or committing any similar +offence; for in this city they are prompt with the stocks, the stone +collar, the rack, and the tearing of the tongue from the mouth whenever +any one is detected playing the part of go-between in affairs of love." + +"Usually, old fellow," replied Heinz in a tone of faint reproach, "we +considered it a matter of course that, though we took the most daring +risks in such things, we were certain not to be caught. Yet, to be +frank, some incomprehensible burden weighs upon my soul. My feelings +are confused and strange. I would rather tear the crown from the head of +yonder image of the Virgin than do aught to this sweet innocence for +which she could not thank me." + +Here he paused, for the bar-maid brought a two-branched candelabrum, in +which burned two tallow candles. + +Heinz instantly opened the little roll. + +How delicate were the characters it contained! His heart's beloved had +committed them to the paper with her own hand, and the knight's blood +surged hotly through his veins as he gazed at them. It seemed as though +he held in his hand a portion of herself and, obeying a hasty impulse, he +kissed the letter. + +Then he eagerly began to study the writing; he had never seen anything so +delicate and peculiar in form. + +The deciphering of the first lines in which, it is true, she called him a +godly knight, but also informed him that his boldness had angered her, +caused him much difficulty, and Biberli was often obliged to help. + +Would she have rebuffed him so ungraciously with her lips as with the +pen? Was it possible that, on account of a request which every lover +ventured to address to his lady, she would withdraw the favour which +rendered him so happy? Oh, yes, for innocence is delicate and sensitive. +She ought to have repelled him thus. He was secretly rejoiced to see the +sweet modesty which had so charmed him again proved. He must know what +the rest of the letter contained, and the ex-schoolmaster was at hand to +give the information at once. + +True, the hastily written sentences presented some difficulties even for +Biberli, but after glancing through the whole letter, he exclaimed with a +satisfied smile: "Just as I expected! At the first look one might think +that the devout little lady was wholly unlike the rest of her sex, but on +examining more closely she proves as much like any other beautiful girl +as two peas. With good reason and prudent caution she forbids the +languishing knight to remain beneath her window, yet she will risk a +pleasant little interview in some safe nook. That is wise for so young a +girl, and at the same time natural and womanly. I don't know why you +knit your brows. Since the first Eve came from a crooked rib, all her +daughters prefer devious ways. But first hear what she writes." Then, +without heeding his master's gloomy face, he began to read the note +aloud. + +Heinz listened intently, and after he had heard that the lady of his love +did not desire to meet him alone, but only under the protection of a +friend and her saint, when he heard her name her colour, it is true, but +also express the expectation that, as a godly knight, he would fight for +her sake in honour of the gracious Virgin, his face brightened. + +During Biberli's scoffing comments he had felt as if a tempest had hurled +her pure image in the dust. But now that he knew what she asked of him, +it returned as a matter of course to its old place and, with a sigh of +relief, he felt that he need not be ashamed of the emotions which this +wonderful young creature had awakened in his soul. She had opened her +pious heart like a trusting sister to an older brother, and what he had +seen there was something unusual--things which had appeared sacred to him +even when a child. Since he took leave of her in the ball-room he had +felt as though Heaven had loaned this, its darling, to earth for but a +brief space, and her brocade robe must conceal angel wings. Should it +surprise him that the pure innocence which filled her whole being was +expressed also in her letter, if she summoned him, not to idle love- +dalliance but to a covenant of souls, a mutual conflict for what was +highest and most sacred? Such a thing was incomprehensible to Biberli; +but notwithstanding her letter--nay, even on its account--he longed still +more ardently to lead her home to his mother and see her receive the +blessing of the woman whom he so deeply honoured. + +He had Eva's letter read for the second and the third time. But when +Biberli paused, and in a few brief sentences cast fresh doubts upon the +writer, Heinz angrily stopped him. "The longing of the godly heart of a +pure maiden--mark this well--has naught in common with that diabolical +delight in secret love--dalliance for which others yearn. My wish to +force my way to her was sinful, and it was punished severely enough, for +during your rude scoffs I felt as though you had set fire to the house +over my head. But from this I perceive in what a sacred, inviolable spot +her image had found a place. True, it is denied you to follow the lofty, +heavenward aspiration of a pure soul--" + +"O my lord," interrupted the servitor with hands uplifted in defence, +"who besought you not to measure this innocent daughter of a decorous +household, who was scarcely beyond childhood, by the standard you applied +to others? Who entreated you to spare her fair fame? And if you deem +the stuff of which the servant is made too coarse to understand what +moves so pure a soul, you do Biberli injustice, for, by my patron saint, +though duty commanded me to interpose doubts and scruples between you and +a passion from which could scarcely spring aught that would bring joy to +your mother's heart I, too, asked myself the question why, in these days, +a devout maiden should not long to try her skill in conversion upon a +valiant knight who served her. Ever since St. Francis of Assisi appeared +in Italy, barefooted monks and grey-robed nuns, who follow him, +Franciscans and Sisters of St. Clare stream hither as water flows into a +mill-race when the sluice-gates are opened. With what edification we, +too, listened to the old Minorite whom we picked up by the wayside, at +the tavern where we usually found pleasure in nothing but drinking, +gambling, shouting, and singing! Besides, I know from my sweetheart with +what exemplary devotion the lovely Eva follows St. Clare." + +"Who is now and will remain my patron saint also, old Biber," interrupted +Heinz with joyful emotion, as he laid his hand gratefully on his +follower's shoulder; then rising and beckoning to the bar-maid, added: +"The stuff of which you are made, old comrade, is inferior to no man's. +Only now and then the pedagogue plays you a trick. Had you uttered your +real opinion in the first place, the wine would have tasted better to us +both. Let Eva try the work of conversion on me! What, save my lady's +love, is more to me than our holy faith? It must indeed be a delight to +take the field for the Church and against her foes!" While speaking, he +paid the reckoning and went out with Biberli. + +The moon was now pouring her silver beams, with full radiance, over the +quiet street, the linden in front of the Ortlieb house, and its lofty +gable roof. Only a single room in the spacious mansion was still +lighted, the bow-windowed one occupied by the two sisters. + +Heinz, without heeding Biberli's renewed protest, looked upward, silently +imploring Eva's pardon for having misjudged her even a moment. His gaze +rested devoutly on the open window, behind which a curtain was stirring. +Was it the night breeze that almost imperceptibly raised and lowered it, +or was her own dear self concealed behind it? + +Just at that moment he suddenly felt his servant's hand on his arm, and +as he followed his horror-stricken gaze, a chill ran through his own +veins. From the heavy door of the house, which stood half open, a white- +robed figure emerged with the solemn, noiseless footfall of a ghost, and +advanced across the courtyard towards him. + +Was it a restless spirit risen from its grave at the midnight hour, which +must be close at hand? Through his brain, like a flash of lightning, +darted the thought that Eva had spoken to him of her invalid mother. Had +she died? Was her wandering soul approaching him to drive him from the +threshold of the house which hid her endangered child? + +But no! + +The figure had stopped before the door and now, raising its head, gazed +with wide eyes upward at the moon, and--he was not mistaken--it was no +spectre of darkness; it was she for whom every pulse of his heart +throbbed--Eva! + +No human creature had ever seemed to him so divinely fair as she in her +long white night-robe, over which fell the thick waves of her light hair. +The horror which had seized him yielded to the most ardent yearning. +Pressing his hand upon his throbbing heart, he watched her every +movement. He longed to go forward to meet her, yet a supernatural spell +seemed to paralyse his energy. He would sooner have dared clasp in his +arms the image of a beautiful Madonna than this embodiment of pure, +helpless, gracious innocence. + +Now she herself drew nearer, but he felt as if his will was broken, and +with timid awe he drew back one step, and then another, till the chain +stopped him. + +Just at that moment she paused, stretched out her white arm with a +beckoning gesture, and again turned towards the house, Heinz following +because he could not help it, her sign drew him after her with magnetic +power. + +Now Eva entered the dimly lighted corridor, and again her uplifted hand +seemed to invite him to follow. Then--the impetuous throbbing of his +heart almost stifled him--she set her little white foot on the first step +of the stairs and led the way up to the first landing, where she paused, +lifting her face to the open window, through which the moonbeams streamed +into the hall, flooding her head, her figure, and every surrounding +object with their soft light. + +Heinz followed step by step. It seemed as if the wild surges of a sea +were roaring in his ears, and glittering sparks were dancing before his +yearning, watchful eyes. + +How he loved her! How intense was the longing which drew him after her! +And yet another emotion stirred in his heart with still greater power- +grief, sincere grief, which pierced his in, most soul, that she could +have beckoned to him, permitted him to follow her, granted him what he +would never have ventured to ask. Nay, when he set his foot on the first +step, it seemed as if the temple which contained his holiest treasure +fell crashing around him, and an inner voice cried loudly: "Away, away +from here! Would you exchange the purest and loftiest things for what +tomorrow will fill you with grief and loathing?" it continued to +admonish. "You will relinquish what is dearest and most sacred to secure +what is ready to rush into your arms on all the high-roads. + +"Hence, hence, you poor, deluded mortal, ere it is too late!" + +But even had he known it was the fair fiend Venus herself moving before +him under the guise of Eva, the spell of her unutterable beauty would +have constrained him to follow her, though the goal were the Horselberg, +death, and hell. + +On the second landing she again stood still and, leaning against a +pillar, raised her arms and extended them towards the moon, in whose +silvery light they gleamed like marble. Heinz saw her lips move, heard +his own name fall from them, and all self-control vanished. + +"Eva!" he cried with passionate fervor, holding out his arms to clasp +her; but, ere he even touched her, a shriek of despairing anguish echoed +loudly back from the walls. + +The sound of her own name had broken the threads with which the +mysterious power of the moonlight had drawn her from her couch, down +through the house, out of doors, and again back to the stairs. + +Sleep vanished with the dream which she had shared with him and, +shuddering, she perceived where she was, saw the knight before her, +became conscious that she had left her chamber in her night-robe, with +disordered hair and bare feet; and, frantic with horror at the thought of +the resistless might with which a mysterious force constrained her to +obey it against her own will, deeply wounded by the painful feeling that +she had been led so far across the bounds of maidenly modesty, hurt and +angered by the boldness of the man before her, who had dared to follow +her into her parents' house, she again raised her voice, this time to +call her from whom she was accustomed to seek and find help in every +situation in life. + +"Els! Els!" rang up the stairs; and the next moment Els, who had already +heard Eva's first scream, sprang down the few steps to her sister's side. + +One glance at the trembling girl in her nightrobe, and at the moonlight +which still bathed her in its rays, told Els what had drawn Eva to the +stairs. + +The knight must have slipped into the house and found her there. She +knew him and, before Heinz had time to collect his thoughts, she said +soothingly to her sister, who threw her arms around her as though seeking +protection, "Go up to your room, child!--Help her, Katterle. I'll come +directly." + +While Eva, leaning on the maid's arm, mounted the stairs with trembling +knees, Els turned to the Swiss and said in a grave, resolute tone: "If +you are worthy of your escutcheon, Sir Knight, you will not now fly like +a coward from this house across whose threshold you stole with shameful +insolence, but await me here until I return. You shall not be detained +long. But, to guard yourself and another from misinterpretation, you +must hear me." + +Heinz nodded assent in silence, as if still under the spell of what he +had recently experienced. But, ere he reached the entry below, Martsche, +the old housekeeper, and Endres, the aged head packer, came towards him, +just as they had risen from their beds, the former with a petticoat flung +round her shoulders, the latter wrapped in a horse-blanket. + +Eva's shriek had waked both, but Els enjoined silence on everyone and, +after telling them to go back to bed, said briefly that Eva in her +somnambulism had this time gone out into the street and been brought back +by the knight. Finally, she again said to Heinz, "Presently!" and then +went to her sister. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +When Biberli bade farewell to his sweetheart, who gave him Eva's little +note, he had arranged to meet her again in an hour or, if his duties +detained him longer, in two; but after the "true and steadfast" fellow +left her, her heart throbbed more and more anxiously, for the wrong she +had done in acting as messenger between the young daughter of her +employers and a stranger knight was indeed hard to forgive. + +Instead of waiting in the kitchen or entry for her lover's return, as she +had intended, she had gone to the image of the Virgin at the gate of the +Convent of St. Clare, before which she had often found consolation, +especially when homesick yearning for the mountains of her native +Switzerland pressed upon her too sorely. This time also it had been +gracious to her, for after she had prayed very devoutly and vowed to give +a candle to the Mother of God, as well as to St. Clare, she fancied that +the image smiled upon her and promised that she should go unpunished. + +On her return the knight had just followed Eva into the house, and +Biberli pursued his master as far as the stairs. Here Katterle met her +lover, but, when she learned what was occurring, she became greatly +enraged and incensed by the base interpretation which the servant placed +upon Eva's going out into the street and, terrified by the danger into +which the knight threatened to plunge them all, she forgot the patience +and submission she was accustomed to show the true and steadfast Biberli. +But--resolved to protect her young mistress from the presumptuous knight- +scarcely had she angrily cried shame upon her lover for this base +suspicion, protesting that Eva had never gone to seek a knight but, as +she had often done on bright moonlight nights, walked in her sleep down +the stairs and out of doors, when the young girl's shriek of terror +summoned her to her aid. + +Biberli looked after her sullenly, meanwhile execrating bitterly enough +the wild love which had robbed his master of reason and threatened to +hurl him, Biberli, and even the innocent Katterle, whose brave defence of +her mistress had especially pleased him, into serious misfortune. + +When old Endres appeared he had slipped behind a wall formed of bales +heaped one above another, and did not stir until the entry was quiet +again. + +To his amazement he had then found his master standing beside the door +of the house, but his question--which, it is true, was not wholly devoid +of a shade of sarcasm--whether the knight was waiting for the return of +his sleep-walking sweetheart, was so harshly rebuffed that he deemed it +advisable to keep silence for a time. + +Though Heinz Schorlin had perceived that he had followed an unconscious +somnambulist, he was not yet capable of calmly reflecting upon what had +occurred or of regarding the future with prudence. He knew one thing +only: the fear was idle that the lovely creature whose image, surrounded +by a halo of light, still hovered before him like a vision from a higher, +more beautiful world, was an unworthy person who, with a face of angelic +innocence, transgressed the laws of custom and modesty. Her shriek of +terror, her horror at seeing him, and the cry for help which had brought +her sister to her aid and roused the servants from their sleep, gave him +the right to esteem her as highly as ever; and this conviction fanned +into such a blaze the feeling of happiness which love had awakened and +his foolish distrust had already begun to stifle, that he was firmly +resolved, cost what it might, to make Eva his own. + +After he had reached this determination he began to reflect more quietly. +What cared he for liberty and a rapid advance in the career upon which he +had entered, if only his future life was beautified by her love! + +If he were required to woo her in the usual form, he would do so. And +what a charming yet resolute creature was the other E, who, in her +anxiety about her sister, had crossed his path with such grave, firm +dignity! She was Wolff Eysvogel's betrothed bride, and it seemed to him +a very pleasant thing to call the young man, whom he had so quickly +learned to esteem, his brother-in-law. + +If the father refused his daughter to him, he would leave Nuremberg and +ride to the Rhine, where Hartmann, the Emperor Rudolph's son, whom he +loved like a younger brother, was now living. Heinz had instructed the +lad of eighteen in the use of the lance and the sword, and Hartmann had +sent him word the day before that the Rhine was beautiful, but without +him he but half enjoyed even the pleasantest things. He needed him. +Hundreds of other knights and squires could break in the new horses for +the Emperor and the young Bohemian princess, though perhaps not quite so +skilfully. Hartmann would understand him and persuade his imperial +father to aid him in his suit. The warmhearted youth could not bear to +see him sorrowful, and without Eva there was no longer joy or happiness. + +He was roused from these thoughts and dreams by his own name called in a +low tone. + +Katterle had gone with Eva to the chamber, whither the older sister +followed them. Tenderly embracing the weeping girl, she had kissed her +wet eyes and whispered in an agitated voice, with which, however, blended +a great deal of affectionate mischief: "The wolf who forced his way into +the house does not seem quite so harmless as mine, whom I have succeeded +in taming very tolerably. Go to mother now, darling. I'll be back +directly." + +"What do you intend to do?" asked Eva timidly, still unable, under the +influence of her strange experiences, to regain her self-control. + +"To look around the house," replied her sister, beckoning to Katterle to +accompany her. + +In the entry she questioned the maid with stern decision, and the +trembling girl owned, amid her tears, that Eva had sent a little note to +the knight in reply to his request that she would name her colour, and +whatever else her anxious mistress desired hastily to learn. + +After a threatening "We will discuss your outrageous conduct later," Els +hurried down-stairs, and found in the entry the man whose pleasure in the +pursuit of the innocent child whom she protected she meant to spoil. But +though she expressed her indignation to the knight with the utmost +harshness, he besought a hearing with so much respect and in such seemly +words, that she requested him, in a gentler tone, to speak freely. But +scarcely had he begun to relate how Eva, at the ball, had filled his +heart with the purest love, when the trampling of horses' hoofs, which +had come nearer and nearer to the house, suddenly ceased, and Biberli, +who had gone into the court-yard, came hurrying back, exclaiming in a +tone of warning, "The von Montforts!" + +At the same moment two men-servants threw back both leaves of the door, +torchlight mingled with the moonbeams in the courtyard, and the next +instant a goodly number of knights and gentlemen entered the hall. + +Biberli was not mistaken. The von Montforts had returned home, instead +of spending the night at Kadolzburg, and neither Els nor the Swiss had +the time or disposition to seek concealment. + +The intruders were preceded by men-servants, whose torches lighted the +long, lofty storehouse brilliantly. It seemed to Els as if her heart +stopped beating and she felt her cheeks blanch. + +Here she beheld Count von Montfort's bronzed face, the countenance of a +sportsman and reveller; yonder the frank, handsome features of the young +Burgrave, Eitelfritz von Zollern, framed by the hood of the Knights of +St. John, drawn up during the night-ride; there the pale, noble visage of +the quiet knight Boemund Altrosen, far famed for his prowess with lance +and sword; beyond, the scarred, martial countenance of Count Casper +Schlick, set in a mass of tangled brown locks; and then the watery, blue +eyes of Sir Seitz Siebenburg, the husband of her future sister-in-law +Isabella. + +They had pressed in, talking eagerly, laughing, and rejoicing that the +wild night ride proposed by Cordula von Montfort, which had led over dark +forest paths, lighted only by a stray moonbeam, and often across fields +and ditches and through streams, had ended without mischance to man or +beast. + +Now they all crowded around the countess, Seitz Siebenburg bending +towards her with such zeal that the ends of his huge mustache brushed the +plumes in her cap, and Boemund Altrosen, who had just been gazing into +the flushed face of the daring girl with the warm joy of true love, cast +a look of menace at him. + +Els, too, greatly disliked "the Mustache," as her future brother- +in-law was called because the huge ornament on his upper lip made him +conspicuous among the beardless knights. She was aware that he returned +the feeling, and had left no means untried to incite Wolff Eysvogel's +parents to oppose his betrothal. Now he was one of the first to notice +her and, after whispering with a malicious smile to the countess and +those nearest to him, he looked at her so malevolently that she could +easily guess what interpretation he was trying to put upon her nocturnal +meeting with the Swiss in the eyes of his companions. + +Her cheeks flamed with wrath, and like a flash of lightning came the +thought of the pleasure it would afford this wanton company, whose +greatest delight was to gloat over the errors of their neighbours, +if the knight who had brought her into this suspicious situation, or she +herself, should confess that not she, but the devout Eva, had attracted +Heinz hither. What a satisfaction it would be to this reckless throng to +tell such a tale of a young girl of whom the Burgravine von Zollern had +said the evening before to their Uncle Pfinzing, that purity and piety +had chosen Eva's lovely face for a mirror! + +What if Heinz Schorlin, to save her, Els, from evil report, should +confess that she was here only to rebuke his insolent intrusion into a +decorous household? + +This must be prevented, and Heinz seemed to understand her; for after +their eyes had met, his glance of helpless enquiry told her that he would +leave her to find an escape from this labyrinth. + +The merry party, who now perceived that they had interrupted the +nocturnal tryst of lovers, did not instantly know what to do and, as one +looked enquiringly at another, an embarrassed silence followed their +noisy jollity. + +But the hush did not last long, and its interruption at first seemed to +Els to bode the worst result; it was a peal of gay, reckless laughter, +ringing from the lips of the very Cordula von Montfort, into whose eyes, +as the only one of her own sex who was present, Els had just gazed with a +look imploring aid. + +Had Eva's aversion to the countess been justified, and was she about to +take advantage of her unpleasant position to jeer at her? + +Had the two quarreled at the ball the night before, and did Cordula now +perceive an opportunity to punish the younger sister by the humiliation +of the older one? + +Yet her laugh sounded by no means spiteful--rather, very gay and natural. +The pleasant grey eyes sparkled with the most genuine mirth, and she +clapped her little hands so joyously that the falcon's chain on the +gauntlet of her riding glove rattled. + +And what was this? + +No one looks at a person whom one desires to wound with an expression of +such cheerful encouragement as the look with which Cordula now gazed at +Els and Heinz Schorlin, who stood by her side. True, they were at first +extremely perplexed by the words she now shouted to those around her in a +tone of loud exultation, as though announcing a victory; but from the +beginning they felt that there was no evil purpose in them. Soon they +even caught the real meaning of the countess's statement, and Els was +ashamed of having feared any injury from the girl whose defender she had +always been. + +"Won, Sir Knight--cleverly won!" was her first sentence to Heinz. + +Then, turning to Els, she asked with no less animation: "And you, my fair +maid and very strict housemate, who has won the wager now? Do you still +believe it is an inconceivable thought that the modest daughter of a +decorous Nuremberg race, entitled to enter the lists of a tourney, would +grant a young knight a midnight meeting? "And addressing her companions, +she continued, in an explanatory yet still playful tone: "She was ready +to wager the beautiful brown locks which she now hides modestly under a +kerchief, and even her betrothed lover's ring. It should be mine if I +succeeded in leading her to commit such an abominable deed. But I was +content, if I won the wager, with a smaller forfeit; yet now that I have +gained it, Jungfrau Ortlieb, you must pay!" + +The whole company listened in astonishment to this speech, which no one +understood, but the countess, nodding mischievously to her nearest +neighbours, went on: + +"How bewildered you all look! It might tempt me to satisfy your +curiosity less speedily, but, after the delightful entertainment you gave +us, my Lord Burgrave, one becomes merciful. So you shall hear how I, as +wise as the serpent, craftily forced this haughty knight"--she tapped +Heinz Schorlin's arm with her riding whip--"and you, too, Jungfrau +Ortlieb, whose pardon I now entreat, to help me win the bet. No offence, +noble sirs! But this bet was what compelled me to drag you all from +Kadolzburg and its charms so early, and induce you to attend me on the +reckless ride through the moonlit night. Now accept the thanks of a lady +whose heart is grateful; for your obedience helped me win the wager. +Look yonder at my handsome, submissive knight, Sir Heinz Schorlin, so +rich in every virtue. I commanded, him, on pain of my anger, to meet me +at midnight at the entrance of our quarters--that is, the entry of the +Ortlieb mansion; and to this modest and happy betrothed bride (may she +pardon the madcap!) I represented how it troubled me and wounded my timid +delicacy to enter so late at night, accompanied only by gentlemen, the +house which so hospitably sheltered us, and go to my sleeping room, +though I should not fear the Sultan and his mamelukes, if with this in my +hand"--she motioned to her riding whip--"and my dear father at my side, +I stood on my own feet which, though by no means small, are well-shod and +resolute. Yet, as we are apt to measure others by our own standard, the +timid, decorous girl believed me, and poor Cordula, who indeed brought +only her maids and no female guardian, and therefore must dispense with +being received on her return by a lady capable of commanding respect, did +not appeal in vain to the charitable feelings of her beautiful housemate. +She promised faithfully to come down into the entry, when the horses +approached, to receive the poor lamb, surrounded by lynxes, wild-cats, +foxes, and wolves, and lead it into the safe fold--if one can call this +stately house by such a name. Both Sir Heinz Schorlin and Jungfrau +Elizabeth Ortlieb kept their word and joined each other here--to their +extreme amazement, I should suppose, as to my knowledge they never met +before--to receive me, and thus had an interview which, however loudly +they may contradict it, I call a nocturnal meeting. But my wager, fair +child, is won, and tomorrow you will deliver to me the exquisite carved +ivory casket, while I shall keep my bracelet." + +Here she paused, paying no heed to the merry threats, exclamations of +amazement, and laughter of her companions. + +But while her father, striking his broad chest, cried again and again, +with rapturous delight, "A paragon of a woman!" and Seitz Siebenburg, +in bitter disappointment, whispered, "The fourteen saintly helpers in +time of need might learn from you how to draw from the clamps what is not +worth rescue and probably despaired of escape," she was trying to give +time to recover more composure her young hostess, to whom she was +sincerely attached, and who, she felt sure, could have met Heinz +Schorlin, who perhaps had come hither on her own account, only by some +cruel chance. So she added in a quieter tone: "And now, Jungfrau +Ortlieb, in sober earnest I will ask your protection and guidance through +the dark house, and meanwhile you shall tell me how Sir Heinz greeted you +and what passed between you, either good or bad, during the time of +waiting." + +Els summoned up her courage and answered loud enough to be heard by all +present: "We were speaking of you, Countess Cordula, and the knight said: + +"I ventured to remark, Countess," said Heinz, interrupting the new ally, +"that though you might understand how to show a poor knight his folly, no +kinder heart than yours throbbed under any bodice in Switzerland, Swabia, +or France." Cordula struck him lightly on the shoulder with her riding +whip, saying with a laugh: "Who permits you to peep under women's bodices +through so wide a tract of country, you scamp? Had I been in Jungfrau +Ortlieb's place I should have punished your entry into a respectable +house: + +"Oh, my dear Countess," Heinz interrupted, and his words bore so +distinctly the stamp of truth and actual experience that even Sir Seitz +Siebenburg was puzzled, "though I am always disposed to be grateful to +you, I cannot feel a sense of obligation for this lady's reception of me, +even to the most gracious benefactress. For, by my patron saint, she +forbade me the house as if I were a thief and a burglar." + +"And she was right!" exclaimed the countess. "I would have treated you +still more harshly. Only you would have spared yourself many a sharp +word had you confessed at once that it was I who summoned you here. I'll +talk with you tomorrow, and am I not right, Jungfrau Elsyou won't make +him suffer for losing the wager, but exercise your domestic authority +after a more gentle fashion?" + +While speaking, she looked at Els with a glance so full of meaning that +the young girl's cheeks crimsoned, and the longing to put an end to this +deceitful game became almost uncontrollable. The thought of Eva alone +sealed her lips. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRE OF THE FORGE, BY EBERS, V2 *** + +********** This file should be named 5544.txt or 5544.zip ********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/5544.zip b/5544.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2b2daa --- /dev/null +++ b/5544.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..00207cb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #5544 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5544) |