diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5547.txt | 2170 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5547.zip | bin | 0 -> 46496 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 2186 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/5547.txt b/5547.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db9ca24 --- /dev/null +++ b/5547.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2170 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook In The Fire Of The Forge, by Georg Ebers, v5 +#108 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 5. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5547] +[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, V5 *** + + + +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 5. + + + + +IN THE FIRE OF THE FORGE--PART II. + +CHAPTER 1. + +The vesper bells had already died away, yet Heinz was still listening +eagerly to the aged Minorite, who was now relating the story of St. +Francis, his breach with everything that he loved, and the sorrowful +commencement of his life. The monk could have desired no more attentive +auditor. Only the young knight often looked out of the window in search +of Biberli, who had not yet returned. + +The latter had gone to the Ortlieb mansion with Katterle. + +The runaway maid, whose disappearance, at old Martsche's earnest request, +had already been "cried" in the city, had no cause to complain of her +reception; for the housekeeper and the other servants, who knew nothing +of her guilt, greeted her as a favourite companion whom they had greatly +missed, and Biberli had taken care that she was provided with answers to +the questions of the inquisitive. The story which he had invented began +with the false report that a fire had broken out in the fortress. This +had startled Katterle, and attracted her to the citadel to aid her +countrywoman and her little daughter. Then came the statement that she +spent the night there, and lastly the tale that in the morning she was +detained in the Swiss warder's quarters by a gentleman of rank--perhaps +the Burgrave himself--who, after he had learned who she was, wished to +give her some important papers for Herr Ernst Ortlieb. She had waited +hours for them and finally, on the way home, chanced to meet Biberli. + +At first the maid found it difficult to repeat this patchwork of truth +and fiction in proper order, but the ex-schoolmaster impressed it so +firmly on his sweetheart's mind that at last it flowed from her lips as +fluently as his pupils in Stanstadt had recited the alphabet. + +So she became among the other servants the heroine of an innocent +adventure whose truth no one doubted, least of all the housekeeper, who +felt a maternal affection for her. Some time elapsed ere she could reach +the Es; they were still with their mother, who was so ill that the leech +Otto left the sick-room shaking his head. + +As soon as he had gone Biberli stopped Els, who had accompanied the +physician outside the door of the sufferer's chamber, and earnestly +entreated her to forgive him and Katterle--who stood at his side with +drooping head, holding her apron to her eyes and persuade her father also +to let mercy take the place of justice. + +But kind-hearted Els proved sterner than the maid had ever seen her. + +As her mother had been as well as usual when she woke, they had told her +of the events of the previous night. Her father was very considerate, +and even kept back many incidents, but the invalid was too weak for so +unexpected and startling a communication. She was well aware of her +excitable daughter's passionate nature; but she had never expected that +her little "saint," the future bride of Heaven, would be so quickly fired +with earthly love, especially for a stranger knight. Moreover, the +conduct of Eva who, though she entreated her forgiveness, by no means +showed herself contritely ready to resign her lover, had given her so +much food for thought that she could not find the rest her frail body +required. + +Soon after these disclosures she was again attacked with convulsions, +and Els thought of them and the fact that they were caused by Eva's +imprudence, instigated by the maid, when she refused Biberli her +intercession with her father in behalf of him and his bride, as he now +called Katterle. + +The servitor uttered a few touching exclamations of grief, yet meanwhile +thrust his hand into the pocket of his long robe and, with a courteous +bow and the warmest message of love from her betrothed husband, whom +Katterle had seen in perfect health and under the best care in the +Zollern castle, delivered to the indignant girl the letter which Wolff +had entrusted to the maid. Els hurried with the missive so impatiently +expected to the window in the hall, through which the sun, not yet +reached by the rising clouds, was shining, and as it contained nothing +save tender words of love which proved that her betrothed husband firmly +relied upon her fidelity and, come what might, would not give her up, she +returned to the pair, and hurriedly, but in a more kindly tone, informed +them that her father was greatly incensed against both, but she would try +to soften him. At present he was in his office with Herr Casper +Eysvogel; Biberli might wait in the kitchen till the latter went away. + +Els then entered the sick-chamber, but Biberli put his hand under his +sweetheart's chin, bent her head back gently, and said: "Now you see how +Biberli and other clever people manage. The best is kept until the last. +The result of the first throw matters little, only he who wins the last +goes home content. To know how to choose the bait is also an art. The +trout bites at the fly, the pike at the worm, and a yearning maiden at +her lover's letter. Take notice! To-day, which began with such cruel +sorrow, will yet have a tolerable end." + +"Nay," cried Katterle, nudging him angrily with her elbow, "we never had +a day begin more happily for us. The gold with which we can set up +housekeeping--" + +"Oh, yes," interrupted Biberli, "the zecchins and gold florins are +certainly no trifle. Much can be bought with them. But Schorlin Castle +razed to the ground, my master's lady mother and Fraulein Maria held as +half captives in the convent, to say nothing of the light-hearted Prince +Hartmann and Sir Heinz's piteous grief--if all these things could be +undone, child, I should not think the bag of gold, and another into the +bargain, too high a price to pay for it. What is the use of a house +filled with fine furniture when the heart is so full of sorrow? At home +we all eat together out of a cracked clay dish across which a tinker had +drawn a wire, with rude wooden spoons made by my father, yet how we all +relished it!--what more did we want?" + +As he spoke he drew her into the kitchen, where he found a friendly +reception. + +True, the Ortlieb servants were attached to their employers and sincerely +sorry for the ill health of the mistress of the house, but for several +years the lamentations and anxiety concerning her had been ceaseless. +The young prince's death had startled rather than saddened them. They +did not know him, but it was terrible to die so young and so suddenly. +They would not have listened to a merry tale which stirred them to +laughter, but Biberli's stories of distant lands, of the court, of war, +of the tournament, just suited their present mood, and the narrator was +well pleased to find ready listeners. He had so many things to forget, +and he never succeeded better than when permitted to use his tongue +freely. He wagged it valiantly, too, but when the thunderstorm burst he +paused and went to the window. His narrow face was blanched, and his +agile limbs moved restlessly. Suddenly remarking, "My master will need +me," he held out his hand to Katterle in farewell. But as the zigzag +flash of lightning had just been followed by the peal of thunder, she +clung to him, earnestly beseeching him not to leave her. He yielded, +but went out to learn whether Herr Casper was still in the office, and +in a short time returned, exclaiming angrily: "The old Eysvogel seems to +be building his nest here!" + +Then, to the vexation of the clumsy old cook, whom he interrupted by his +restless movements in the Paternosters she was repeating on her rosary, +he began to stride up and down before the hearth. + +His light heart had rarely been so heavy. He could not keep his thoughts +from his master, and felt sure that Heinz needed him; that he, Biberli, +would have cause to regret not being with him at this moment. Had the +storm destroyed the Ortlieb mansion he would have considered it only +natural; and as he glanced around the kitchen in search of Katterle, who, +like most of the others, was on her knees with her rosary in her hand, +old Martsche rushed in, hurried up to the cook, shook her as if to rouse +her from sleep, and exclaimed: "Hot water for the blood-letting! Quick! +Our mistress--she'll slip through our hands." + +As she spoke, the young kitchen maid Metz helped the clumsy woman up, and +Biberli also lent his aid. + +Just as the jug was filled, Els, too, hastened in, snatched it from the +hand of Martsche, whose old feet were too slow for her, and hurried with +it into the entry and up the stairs, passing her father, to whom she had +called on the way down. + +Casper Eysvogel stood at the bottom of the steps, and called after her +that it would not be his fault, but her father's, if everything between +her and his son was over. + +She probably heard the words, but made no answer, and hastened as fast as +her feet would carry her to her mother's bed. + +The old physician was holding the gasping woman in his arms, and Eva +knelt beside the high bedstead sobbing, as she covered the dry, burning +hand with kisses. + +When Ernst Ortlieb entered the chamber of his beloved wife a cold chill +ran down his back, for the odour of musk, which he had already inhaled +beside many a deathbed, reached him. + +It had come to this! The end which he had so long delayed by tender love +and care was approaching. The flower which had adorned his youth and, +spite of its broken stem, had grown still dearer and was treasured beyond +everything else that bloomed in his garden, would be torn from him. + +This time no friendly potion had helped her to sleep through the noise +of the thunderstorm. Soon after the attack of convulsions the agitated, +feeble sufferer had started up in terror at the first loud peal of +thunder. Fright followed fright, and when the leech came voluntarily to +enquire for her, he found a dying woman. + +The bleeding restored her to consciousness for a short time, and she +evidently recognised her husband and her children. To the former she +gave a grateful, tender glance of love, to Els an affectionate, +confidential gesture, but Eva, her pride and joy, whom the past night had +rendered a child of sorrow, claimed her attention most fully. + +Her kind, gentle eyes rested a long time upon her: then she looked toward +her husband as if beseeching him to cherish this child with special +tenderness in his heart; and when he returned the glance with another, in +which all the wealth of his great and loyal love shone through his tears, +her fever-flushed features brightened. Memories of the spring of her +love seemed to irradiate her last moments and, as her eyes again rested +on Eva, her lips once more smiled with the bewitching expression, once +her husband's delight, which had long deserted them. + +It seemed during this time as if she had forgotten the faithful nurse who +for years had willingly sacrificed the pleasures of her days and the +sleep of her nights, to lavish upon the child of her anxiety all that her +mother-heart still contained, which was naught save love. + +Els doubtless noticed it, but with no bitter or sorrowful thoughts. She +and the beloved dying woman understood one another. Each knew what she +was to the other. Her mother need not doubt, nor did she, that, whatever +obstacles life might place in her pathway, Els would pursue the right +course even without counsel and guidance. But Eva needed her love and +care so much just now, and when the sufferer gave her older daughter also +a tender glance and vainly strove to falter a few words of thanks, Els +herself replaced in Eva's the hand which her mother had withdrawn. + +Fran Maria nodded gently to Els, as if asking her sensible elder daughter +to watch over her forsaken sister in her place. + +Then her eyes again sought her husband, but the priest, to whom she had +just confessed, approached her instead. + +After the holy man had performed the duties of his office, she again +turned her head toward Eva. It seemed as though she was feasting her +eyes on her daughter's charms. Meanwhile she strove to utter what more +she desired to say, but the bystanders understood only the words--they +were her last: "We thought--should be untouched--But now Heaven----" + +Here she paused and, after closing her eyes for a time, went on in a +lower but perfectly distinct tone: "You are good--I hope--the forge-fire +of life--it is fortunate for you The heart and its demands The hap--pi +--ness--which it--gave--me---- It ought--it must--you, too----" + +Whilst speaking she had again glanced towards her husband, then at the +Abbess Kunigunde, who knelt beside him, and as the abbess met the look +she thought, "She is entrusting the child to me, and desires Eva to be +happy as one of us and the fairest of the brides of Heaven!" Ernst +Ortlieb, wholly overpowered by the deepest grief, was far from enquiring +into the meaning of these last words of his beloved dying wife. + +Els, on the contrary, who had learned to read the sufferer's features and +understood her even without words when speech was difficult, had watched +every change in the expression of her features with the utmost attention. +Without reflecting or interpreting, she was sure that the movements of +her dying mother's lips had predicted to Eva that the "forge fire of +life" would exert its purifying and moulding influence on her also, and +wished that in the world, not in the convent, she might be as happy as +she herself had been rendered by her father's love. + +After these farewell words Frau Maria's features became painfully +distorted, the lids drooped over her eyes, there was a brief struggle, +then a slight gesture from the physician announced to the weeping group +that her earthly pilgrimage was over. + +No one spoke. All knelt silently, with clasped hands, beside the couch, +until Eva, as if roused from a dream, shrieked, "She will never come back +again!" and with passionate grief threw herself upon the lifeless form to +kiss the still face and beseech her to open her dear eyes once more and +not leave her. + +How often she had remained away from the invalid in order to let her aunt +point out the path for her own higher happiness whilst Els nursed her +mother; but now that she had left her, she suddenly felt what she had +possessed and lost in her love. It seemed as if hitherto she had walked +beneath the shadow of leafy boughs, and her mother's death had stripped +them all away as an autumn tempest cruelly tears off the foliage. +Henceforth she must walk in the scorching sun without protection or +shelter. Meanwhile she beheld in imagination fierce flames blazing +brightly from the dark soot--the forge fire of life, to which the dead +woman's last words had referred. She knew what her mother had wished to +say, but at the present time she lacked both the desire and the strength +to realise it. + +For a time each remained absorbed by individual grief. Then the father +drew both girls to his heart and confessed that, with their mother's +death life, already impoverished by the loss of his only son, had been +bereft of its last charm. His most ardent desire was to be summoned soon +to follow the departed ones. + +Els summoned up her courage and asked: "And we--are we nothing to you, +father?" + +Surprised by this rebuke, he started, removed his wet handkerchief from +his eyes, and answered: "Yes, yes--but the old do not reckon Ay, much is +left to me. But he who is robbed of his best possession easily forgets +the good things remaining, and good you both are." + +He kissed his daughter lovingly as he spoke, as if wishing to retract the +words which had wounded her; then gazing at the still face of the dead, +he said: "Before you dress her, leave her alone with me for a time---- +There is a wild turmoil here and here"--he pointed to his breast and +brow--"and yet The last hours----There is so much to settle and consider +in a future without her With her, with her dear calm features before my +eyes----" + +Here a fresh outburst of grief stifled his voice; but Els pointed to the +image of the Virgin on the wall and beckoned to her sister. + +Wholly engrossed by her own sorrow, Eva had scarcely heeded her father's +words, and now impetuously refused to leave her mother. Herr Ernst, +pleased by this immoderate grief for the one dearest to him, permitted +her to remain, and asked Els to attend to the outside affairs which a +death always brought with it. + +Els accepted the new duty as a matter of course and went to the door; but +at the threshold she turned back, rushed to the deathbed, kissed the pure +brow and closed eyelids of the sleeper, and then knelt beside her in +silent prayer. When she rose she clasped Eva, who had knelt and risen +with her, in a close embrace, and whispered: "Whatever happens, you may +rely on me." + +Then she consulted her father concerning certain arrangements which must +be made, and also asked him what she should say to the maid's lover, who +had come to beseech his forgiveness. + +"Tell him to leave me in peace!" cried Herr Ernst vehemently. Els tried +to intercede for the servant, but her father pressed both hands over his +ears, exclaiming: "Who can reach a decision when he is out of his senses +himself? Let the man come to-morrow, or the day after. Whoever may +call, I will see no one, and don't wish to know who is here." + +But the peace and solitude for which he longed seemed denied him. A few +hours after he left the chamber of death he was obliged to go to the Town +Hall on business which could not be deferred; and when, shortly before +sunset, he returned home and locked himself into his own room, old +Eysvogel again appeared. + +He looked pale and agitated, and ordered the manservant--who denied him +admittance as he had been directed--to call Jungfrau Els. His voice +trembled as he entreated her to persuade her father to see him again. +The matter in question was the final decision of the fate of his ancient +house, of Wolff, and also her own and her marriage with his son. Perhaps +the death of his beloved wife might render her father's mood more gentle. +He did not yet know all Now he must learn it. If he again said "No," it +would seal the ruin of the Eysvogel firm. + +How imploringly he could plead! how humbly the words fell from the old +merchant's lips, moving Els to her inmost heart as she remembered the +curt inflexibility with which, only yesterday, this arrogant man, in that +very spot, had refused any connection with the Ortliebs! How much it +must cost him to bow his stiff neck before her, who was so much younger, +and approach her father, whose heart he had so pitilessly trampled under +foot, in the character of a supplicant for aid, perhaps a beggar! + +Besides, Wolff was his son! + +Whatever wrong the father had done her she must forget it, and the task +was not difficult; for now--she felt it--no matter from what motive, he +honestly desired to unite her to his son. If her lover now led her +through the door adorned with the huge, showy escutcheon, she would no +longer come as a person unwillingly tolerated, but as a welcome helper- +perhaps as the saviour of the imperilled house. Of the women of the +Eysvogel family she forbade herself to think. + +How touching the handsome, aristocratic, grey-haired man seemed to her in +his helpless weakness! If her father would only receive him, he would +find it no easier than she to deny him the compassion he so greatly +needed. + +She knocked at the lonely mourner's door and was admitted. + +He was sitting, with his head bowed on his hands, opposite to the large +portrait of her dead mother in her bridal robes. The dusk of the +gathering twilight concealed the picture, but he had doubtless gazed long +at the lovely features, and still beheld them with his mental vision. + +Els was received with a mournful greeting; but when Herr Ernst heard what +had brought her to him, he fiercely commanded her to tell Herr Casper +that he would have nothing more to do with him. + +Els interceded for the unfortunate man, begging, pleading, and assuring +her father that she would never give up Wolff. The happiness of her +whole life was centred in him and his love. If he refused the Eysvogels +the aid besought by the old merchant who, in his humility, seemed a +different man---- + +Here her father indignantly broke in, ordering her to disturb him no +longer. But now the heritage of his own nature asserted itself in Els +and, with an outburst of indignation, she pointed to the picture of her +mother, whose kind heart certainly could not have endured to see a +broken-hearted man, on whose rescue the happiness of her own child +depended, turned from her door like an importunate beggar. + +At this the man whose locks had long been grey sprang from his chair with +the agility of a youth, exclaiming in vehement excitement: "To embitter +the hours devoted to the most sacred grief is genuine Eysvogel +selfishness. Everything for themselves! What do they care for others? +I except your Wolff; let the future decide what concerns him and you. +I will stand by you. But to hope for happiness and peace-nay, even a +life without bitter sorrow for you from the rest of the kin--is to expect +to gather sweet pears from juniper bushes. Ever since your betrothal +your mother and I have had no sleep, disturbed whenever we talked to each +other about your being condemned to live under the same roof with that +old devil, the countess, her pitiable daughter, and that worthless +Siebenburg. But within the past few hours all this has been changed. +The table-cloth has been cut between the Eysvogels and the Ortliebs. No +power in the world can ever join it. I have not told you what has +happened. Now you may learn that you---- But first listen, and then +decide on whose side you will stand. + +"Early this morning I went to the session of the Council. In the market- +place I met first one member of it, then a second, third, and fourth; +each asked me what had happened to the beautiful E, my lovely little +daughter. Gradually I learned what had reached their ears. Yesterday +evening, on his way home from here, the man outside, Casper Eysvogel, +sullied your--our--good name, child, in a way I have just learned the +particulars. He boasted, in the presence of those estimable old +gentlemen, the Brothers Ebner, that he had flung at my feet the ring +which bound you to his son. You had been surprised at midnight, he said, +in the arms of a Swiss knight, and that base scoundrel Siebenburg, his +daughter's husband, dared at the gaming-table, before a number of knights +and gentlemen--among them young Hans Gross, Veit Holzschuher, and others- +to put your interview with the Swiss in so false a light that No, I +cannot bring my lips to utter it---- + +"You need hear only this one thing more: the wretch said that he thanked +his patron saint that they had discovered the jade's tricks in time. And +this, child, was the real belief of the whole contemptible crew! But now +that the water is up to their necks, and they need my helping hand to +save them from drowning-now they will graciously take Ernst Ortlieb's +daughter if he will give them his property into the bargain, that they +may destroy both fortune and child. No--a thousand times no! It is not +seemly, at this hour, to yield to the spirit of hate; but she who is +lying in her last sleep above would not have counselled me by a single +word to such suicidal folly. I did not learn the worst until I went to +the Council, or I would have turned the importunate fellow from the door +this morning. Tell the old man so, and add that Ernst Ortlieb will have +nothing more to do with him." + +Here the deeply incensed father pointed to the door. + +Els had listened with eyes dilating in horror. The result surpassed her +worst fears. + +She had felt so secure in her innocence, and the countess had interceded +for her so cleverly that, absorbed by anxieties concerning Eva, Cordula, +and her mother, she had already half forgotten the disagreeable incident. + +Yet, now that her fair name was dragged through the mire, she could +scarcely be angry with those who pointed the finger of scorn at her; for +faithlessness to a betrothed lover was an offence as great as infidelity +to a husband. Nay, her friends were more ready to condemn a girl who +broke her vow than a wife who forgot her duty. + +And if Wolff, in his biding-place in the citadel, should learn what was +said of his Els, to whom yesterday old and young raised their hats in +glad yet respectful greeting, would he not believe those who appealed to +his own father? + +Yet ere she had fully realised this fear, she told herself that it was +her duty and her right to thrust it aside. Wolff would not be Wolff if +even for a moment he believed such a thing possible. They ought not, +could not, doubt each other. Though all Nuremberg should listen to the +base calumny and turn its back upon her, she was sure of her Wolff. Ay, +he would cherish her with twofold tenderness when he learned by whom this +terrible suffering had been inflicted upon her. + +Drawing a long breath, she again fixed her eyes upon her mother's +portrait. Had she now rushed out to tell the old man who had so cruelly +injured her--oh, it would have lightened her heart!--the wrong he had +done and what she thought of him, her mother would certainly have stopped +her, saying: "Remember that he is your betrothed husband's father." She +would not forget it; she could not even hate the ruined man. + +Any effort to change her father's mood now--she saw it plainly--would be +futile. Later, when his just anger had cooled, perhaps he might be +persuaded to aid the endangered house. + +Herr Ernst gazed after her sorrowfully as, with a gesture of farewell, +she silently left the room to tell her lover's father that he had come in +vain. + +The old merchant was waiting in the entry, where the wails of the +servants and the women in the neighbourhood who, according to custom, +were beating their brows and breasts and rending their garments, could be +heard distinctly. + +Deadly pale, as if ready to sink, he tottered towards the door. + +When Els saw him hesitate at the top of the few steps leading to the +entry, she gave him her arm to support him down. As he cautiously put +one foot after the other on the stairs, she wondered how it was possible +that this man, whose tall figure and handsome face were cast in so noble +a mould, could believe her to be so base; and at the same moment she +remembered the words which old Berthold Vorchtel had uttered in her +presence to his son Ulrich: "If anything obscure comes between you and a +friend, obtain a clear understanding and peace by truth." + +Had the young man who had irritated his misjudged friend into crossing +swords with him followed this counsel, perhaps he would have been alive +now. She would take it herself, and frankly ask Wolff's father what +justified him in accusing her of so base a deed. + +The lamps were already lighted in the hall, and the rays from the central +one fell upon Herr Casper's colourless face, which wore an expression of +despair. But just as her lips parted to ask the question the odour of +musk reached her from the death-chamber, whose door Eva had opened. Her +mother's gentle face, still in death, rose before her memory, and she was +forced to exert the utmost self-control not to weep aloud. Without +further reflection she imposed silence upon herself and--yesterday she +would not have ventured to do it--threw her arm around Herr Casper's +shoulders, gazed affectionately at him, and whispered: "You must not +despair, father. You have a faithful ally in this house in Els." + +The old man looked down at her in astonishment, but instead of drawing +her closer to him he released himself with courteous coldness, saying +bitterly: "There is no longer any bond between us and the Ortliebs, +Jungfrau Els. From this day forth I am no more your father than you are +the bride of my son. Your will may be good, but how little it can +accomplish has unfortunately been proved." + +Shrugging his shoulders wearily as he spoke, he nodded a farewell and +left the house. + +Four bearers were waiting outside with the sedan-chair, three servants +with torches, and two stout attendants carrying clubs over their +shoulders. All wore costly liveries of the Eysvogel colours, and when +their master had taken his seat in the gilded conveyance and the men +lifted it, Els heard a weaver's wife, who lived near by, say to her +little boy: "That's the rich Herr Eysvogel, Fritzel. He has as much +money to spend every hour as we have in a whole year, and he is a very +happy man." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Els went back into the house. + +The repulse which she had just received caused her bitter sorrow. Her +father was right. Herr Casper had treated her kindly from a purely +selfish motive. She herself was nothing to him. + +But there was so much for her to do that she found little time to grieve +over this new trouble. + +Eva was praying in the death-chamber for the soul of the beloved dead +with some of the nuns from the convent, who had lost in her mother a +generous benefactress. + +Els was glad to know that she was occupied; it was better that her sister +should be spared many of the duties which she was obliged to perform. +Whilst arranging with the coffin-maker and the "Hegelein," the sexton and +upholsterer, ordering a large number of candles and everything else +requisite at the funeral of the mistress of an aristocratic household, +she also found time to look after her father and Countess Cordula, who +was better. Yet she did not forget her own affairs. + +Biberli had returned. He had much to relate; but when forced to admit +that nothing was urgent, she requested him to defer it until later, and +only commissioned him to go to the castle, greet Wolff in her name, and +announce her mother's death; Katterle would accompany him, in order to +obtain admittance through her countryman, the Swiss warder. + +Els might have sent one of the Ortlieb servants; but, in the first place, +the fugitive's refuge must be concealed, and then she told herself that +Biberli, who had witnessed the occurrence of the previous evening, could +best inform Wolff of the real course of events. But when she gave him +permission to tell her betrothed husband all that he had seen and heard +the day before at the Ortlieb mansion, Biberli replied that a better +person than he had undertaken to do so. As he left his master, Sir Heinz +was just going to seek her lover. When she learned all that had befallen +the knight, she would understand that he was no longer himself. Els, +however, had no time to listen, and promised to hear his story when he +returned; but he was too full of the recent experience to leave it +untold, and briefly related how wonderfully Heaven had preserved his +master's life. Then he also told her hurriedly that the trouble which +had come upon her through Sir Heinz's fault burdened his soul. Therefore +he would not let the night pass without at least showing her betrothed +husband how he should regard the gossip of idle tongues if it penetrated +to his hiding-place. + +Els uttered a sigh of relief. Surely Wolff must trust her! Yet what +viciously coloured reports might reach him from the Eysvogels! Now that +he would learn the actual truth from the most credible eye-witnesses she +no longer dreaded even the worst calumny. + +No one appeared at supper except her father. Eva had begged to be +excused. She wished to remain undisturbed; but the world, with rude yet +beneficent hand, interrupted even her surrender to her grief for her +mother. + +The tailor, who protested that, owing to the mourning for young Prince +Hartmann, he had fairly "stolen" this hour for the beautiful Ortlieb +sisters, came with his assistant, and at the same time a messenger +arrived from the cloth-house in the market-place bringing the packages of +white stuffs for selection. Then it was necessary to decide upon the +pattern and material; the sisters must appear in mourning the next +morning at the consecration, and later at the mass for the dead. + +Eva had turned to these worldly matters with sincere repugnance, but Els +would not release her from giving them due attention. + +It was well for her tortured soul and the poor eyes reddened by weeping. +But when she again knelt in the chamber of death beside her dear nuns and +saw the grey robe, which they all wore, the wish to don one, which she +had so often cherished, again awoke. No other was more pleasing to her +Heavenly Bridegroom, and she forbade herself in this hour to think of the +only person for whose sake she would gladly have adorned herself. Yet +the struggle to forget him constantly recalled him to her mind, no matter +how earnestly she strove to shut out his image whenever it appeared. +But, after her last conversation, must not her mother have died in the +belief that she would not give up her love? And the dead woman's last +words? Yet, no matter what they meant, here and now nothing should come +between her and the beloved departed. She devoted herself heart and soul +to the memory of the longing for her. + +Grief for her loss, repentance for not having devoted herself faithfully +enough to her, and the hope that in the convent her prayers might obtain +a special place in the world beyond for the beloved sleeper, now revived +her wish to take the veil. She felt bound to the nuns, who shared her +aspirations. When her father came to send her to her rest and asked +whether, as a motherless child, she intended to trust his love and care +or to choose another mother who was not of this world, she answered +quietly with a loving glance at the picture of St. Clare, "As you wish, +and she commands." + +Herr Ernst kindly replied that she still had ample time to make her +decision, and then again urged her to leave the watch beside the dead to +the women who had been appointed to it and the nuns, who desired to +remain with the body; but Eva insisted so eagerly upon sharing it that +Els, by a significant gesture to her father, induced him to yield. + +She kept her sister away whilst the corpse was being laid out and the +women were performing their other duties by asking Eva to receive their +Aunt Christine, the wife of Berthold Pfinzing, who had hurried to the +city from Schweinau as soon as she had news of her sister-in-law's death. + +Nothing must cloud the memory of the beloved sufferer in the mind of her +child, and Els knew that Frau Christine had been a dear friend of the +dead woman, that Eva clung to her like a second mother, and that nothing +could reach her sister from her honest heart which would not benefit her. +Nor was she mistaken, for the warm, affectionate manner in which the +matron greeted the young girl restored her composure; nay, when Fran +Christine was obliged to go, because her time was claimed by important +duties, she would gladly have detained her. + +When Eva, in a calmer mood than before, at last entered the hall where +her mother's body now lay in a white silk shroud on the snowy satin +pillows, as she was to be placed before the altar for the service of +consecration on the morrow, she was again overwhelmed with all the +violence of the deepest grief; nay, the burning anguish of her +soul expressed itself so vehemently that the abbess, who had returned +whilst the sisters were still taking leave of their Aunt Christine, did +not succeed in soothing her until, drawing her aside, she whispered: +"Remember our saint, child. He called everything, even the sorest agony, +'Sister Sorrow'. So you, too, must greet sorrow as a sister, the +daughter of your heavenly Father. Remember the supreme, loving hand +whence it came, and you will bear it patiently." + +Eva nodded gratefully, and when grief threatened to overpower her she +thought of the saint's soothing words, "Sister Sorrow," and her heart +grew calmer. + +Els knew how much the emotions of the previous nights must have wearied +her, and had permitted her to share the vigil beside the corpse only +because she believed that she would be unable to resist sleep. She had +slipped a pillow between her back and that of the tall, handsome chair +which she had chosen for a seat, but Eva disappointed her expectation; +for whatever she earnestly desired she accomplished, and whilst Els often +closed her eyes, she remained wide awake. When sleep threatened to +overpower her she thought of her mother's last words, especially one +phrase, "the forge fire of life," which seemed specially pregnant with +meaning. Yet, ere she had reached any definite understanding of its +true significance, the cocks began to crow, the song of the nightingale +ceased, and the twittering of the other birds in the trees and bushes in +the garden greeted the dawning day. + +Then she rose and, smiling, kissed Els, who was sleeping, on the +forehead, told Sister Renata that she would go to rest, and lay down on +her bed in the darkened chamber. + +Whilst praying and reflecting she had thought constantly of her mother. +Now she dreamed that Heinz Schorlin had borne her in his strong arms out +of the burning convent, as Sir Boemund Altrosen had saved the Countess +von Montfort, and carried her to the dead woman, who looked as fresh and +well as in the days before her sickness. + +When, three hours before noon, she awoke, she returned greatly refreshed +to her dead mother. How mild and gentle her face was even now; yet the +dear, silent lips could never again give her a morning greeting and, +overwhelmed by grief, she threw herself on her knees before the coffin. + +But she soon rose again. Her recent slumber had transformed the +passionate anguish into quiet sorrow. + +Now, too, she could think of external things. There was little to be +done in the last arrangement of the dead, but she could place the +delicate, pale hands in a more natural position, and the flowers which +the gardener had brought to adorn the coffin did not satisfy her. She +knew all that grew in the woods and fields near Nuremberg, and no one +could dispose bouquets more gracefully. Her mother had been especially +fond of some of them, and was always pleased when she brought them home +from her walks with the abbess or Sister Perpetua, the experienced old +doctress of the convent. Many grew in the forest, others on the brink of +the water. The beloved dead should not leave the house, whose guide and +ornament she had been, without her favourite blossoms. + +Eva arranged the flowers brought by the gardener as gracefully as +possible, and then asked Sister Perpetua to go to walk with her, telling +her father and sister that she wished to be out of doors with the nun for +a short time. + +She told no one what she meant to do. Her mother's favourite flowers +should be her own last gift to her. + +Old Martsche received the order to send Ortel, the youngest manservant in +the household, a good-natured fellow eighteen years old, with a basket, +to wait for her and Sister Perpetua at the weir. + +After the thunderstorm of the day before the air was specially fresh and +pure; it was a pleasure merely to breathe. The sun shone brightly from +the cloudless sky. It was a delightful walk through the meadows and +forest over the footpath which passed near the very Dutzen pool, where +Katterle the day before had resolved to seek death. All Nature seemed +revived as though by a refreshing bath. Larks flew heavenward with a low +sweet song, from amidst the grain growing luxuriantly for the winter +harvest, and butterflies hovered above the blossoming fields. Slender +dragon-flies and smaller busy insects flitted buzzing from flower to +flower, sucking honey from the brimming calyxes and bearing to others the +seeds needed to form fruit. The songs of finches and the twitter of +white-throats echoed from many a bush by the wayside. + +In the forest they were surrounded by delightful shade animated by +hundreds of loud and low voices far away and close at hand. Countless +buds were opening under the moss and ferns, strawberries were ripening +close to the ground, and the delicate leafy boughs of the bilberry bushes +were full of juicy green oared fruit. + +Near the weir they heard a loud clanking and echoing, but it had a very +different effect from the noise of the city; instead of exciting +curiosity there was something soothing in the regularity of the blows of +the iron hammer and the monotonous croaking of the frogs. + +In this part of the forest, where the fairest flowers grew, the morning +dew still hung glittering from the blossoms and grasses. Here it was +secluded, yet full of life, and amidst the wealth of sounds in which +might be heard the tapping of the woodpecker, the cry of the lapwing, and +the call of the distant wood-pigeon, it was so still and peaceful +that Eva's heart grew lighter in spite of her grief. + +Sister Perpetua spoke only to answer a question. She sympathised with +Eva's thought when she frankly expressed her pleasure in every new +discovery, for she knew for whom and with what purpose she was seeking +and culling the flowers and, instead of accusing her of want of feeling, +she watched with silent emotion the change wrought in the innocent child +by the effort to render, in league with Nature, an act of loving service +to the one she held dearest. + +True, even now grief often rudely assailed Eva's heart. At such times +she paused, sighing silently, or exclaimed to her companion, "Ah, if she +could be with us!" or else asked thoughtfully if she remembered how her +mother had rejoiced over the fragrant orchid or the white water-lily +which she had just found. + +Sister Perpetua had taken part of the blossoms which she had gathered; +but Ortel already stood waiting with the basket, and the house-dog, +Wasser, which had followed the young servant, ran barking joyously to +meet the ladies. Eva already had flowers enough to adorn the coffin as +she desired, and the sun showed that it was time to return. + +Hitherto they had met no one. The blossoms could be arranged here in the +forest meadow under the shade of the thick hazel-bushes which bordered +the pine wood. + +After Eva had thrown hers on the grass, she asked the nun to do the same +with her own motley bundle. + +Between the thicket and the road stood a little chapel which had been +erected by the Mendel family on the spot where a son of old Herr Nikolaus +had been murdered. Four Frank robber knights had attacked him and the +train of waggons he had ridden out to meet, and killed the spirited young +man, who fought bravely in their defence. + +Such an event would no longer have been possible so near the city. But +Eva knew what had befallen the Eysvogel wares and, although she did not +lack courage, she started in terror as she heard the tramp of horses' +hoofs and the clank of weapons, not from the city, but within the forest. + +She hastily beckoned to her companion who, being slightly deaf had heard +nothing, to hide with her behind the hazel-bushes, and also told the +young servant, who had already placed the basket beside the flowers, to +conceal himself, and all three strained their ears to catch the sounds +from the wood. + +Ortel held the dog by the collar, silenced him, and assured his mistress +that it was only another little band of troopers on their way from +Altdorf to join the imperial army. + +But this surmise soon proved wrong, for the first persons to appear were +two armed horsemen, who turned their heads as nimbly as their steeds, +now to the right and now to the left, scanning the thickets along the +road distrustfully. After a somewhat lengthy interval the tall figure of +an elderly man followed, clad in deep mourning. Beneath his cap, +bordered with fine fur, long locks fell to his shoulders, and he was +mounted on a powerful Binzgau charger. At his side, on a beautiful +spirited bay, rode a very young woman whose pliant figure was extremely +aristocratic in its bearing. + +As soon as the hazel-bushes and pine trees, which had concealed the noble +pair, permitted a view of them, Eva recognised in the gentleman the +Emperor Rudolph, and in his companion Duchess Agnes of Austria, his young +daughter-in-law, whom she had not forgotten since the dance at the Town +Hall. Behind them came several mailed knights, with the emblems of the +deepest mourning on their garments and helmets, and among those nearest +to the Emperor Eva perceived--her heart almost stood still--the person +whom she had least expected to meet here--Heinz Schorlin. + +Whilst she was gathering the flowers for her mother's coffin his image +had almost vanished from her mind. Now he appeared before her in person, +and the sight moved her so deeply that Sister Perpetua, who saw her turn +pale and cling to the young pine by her side, attributed her altered +expression to fear of robber knights, and whispered, "Don't be troubled, +child; it is only the Emperor." + +Neither the first horsemen-guards whom the magistrate, Berthold Pfinzing, +Eva's uncle, had assigned to the sovereign without his knowledge, to +protect him from unpleasant encounters during his early morning ride-- +nor the Emperor and his companions could have seen Eva whilst they were +passing the chapel; but scarcely had they reached it when the dog Wasser, +which had escaped from Ortel's grasp, burst through the hazel copse and, +barking furiously, dashed towards the duchess's horse. + +The spirited animal leaped aside, but a few seconds later Heinz Schorlin +had swung himself from the saddle and dealt the dog so vigorous a kick +that it retreated howling into the thicket. Meanwhile he had watched +every movement of the bay, and at the right instant his strong hand had +grasped its nostrils and forced it to stand. + +"Always alert and on the spot at the right time!" cried the Emperor, then +added mournfully, "So was our Hartmann, too." + +The duchess bent her head in assent, but the grieving father pointed to +Heinz, and added: "The boy owed his blithe vigour partly to the +healthful Swiss blood with which he was born, but yonder knight, during +the decisive years of life, set him the example. Will you dismount, +child, and let Schorlin quiet the bay?" + +"Oh, no," replied the duchess, "I understand the animal. You have not +yet broken the wonderful son of the desert of shying, as you promised. +It was not the barking cur, but yonder basket that has dropped from the +skies, which frightened him." + +She pointed, as she spoke, to the grass near the chapel where, beside +Eva's flowers, stood the light willow basket which was to receive them. + +"Possibly, noble lady," replied Heinz, patting the glossy neck of the +Arabian, a gift to the Emperor Rudolph from the Egyptian Mameluke Sultan +Kalaun. "But perhaps the clever creature merely wished to force his +royal rider to linger here. Graciously look over yonder, Your Highness; +does it not seem as if the wood fairy herself had laid by the roadside +for your illustrious Majesty the fairest flowers that bloom in field and +forest, mere and moss?" + +As he spoke he stooped, selected from the mass of blossoms gathered by +Eva those which specially pleased his eye, hastily arranged them in a +bouquet, and with a respectful bow presented them to the duchess. + +She thanked him graciously, put the nosegay in her belt, and gazed at him +with so warm a light in her eyes that Eva felt as if her heart was +shrinking as she watched the scene. + +Even princesses, who were separated from him by so wide a gulf, could not +help favouring this man. How could she, the simple maiden whom he had +assured of his love, ever have been able to give him up? + +But she had no time to think and ponder; the Emperor was already riding +on with the Bohemian princess, and Heinz went to his horse, whose bridle +was held by one of the troopers who followed the train. + +Ere he swung himself into the saddle again, however, he paused to +reflect. + +The thought that he had robbed some flower or herb-gatherer of a portion +of the result of her morning's work had entered his mind and, obeying a +hasty impulse, he flung a glittering zecchin into the basket. + +Eva saw it, and every fibre of her being urged her to step forward, tell +him that the flowers were hers, and thank him in the name of the poor for +whom she destined his gift; but maidenly diffidence held her in check, +although he gave her sufficient opportunity; for when he perceived the +image of the Virgin in the Mendel chapel, he crossed himself, removed his +helmet, and bending the knee repeated, whilst the others rode on without +him, a silent prayer. His brown locks floated around his head, and his +features expressed deep earnestness and glowing ardour. + +Oh, how gladly Eva would have thrown herself on her knees beside him, +clasped his hands, and--nay, not prayed, her heart was throbbing too +stormily for that-rested her head upon his breast and told him that she +trusted him, and felt herself one with him in earthly as well as heavenly +love! + +Whoever prayed thus in solitude had a soul yearning for the loftiest +things. Others might say what they chose, she knew him better. This +man, from the first hour of their meeting, had loved her with the most +ardent but also with the holiest passion; never, never had he sought her +merely for wanton amusement. Her mother's last wish would be fulfilled. +She need only trust him with her whole soul, and leave the "forge fire of +life" to strengthen and purify her. + +Now she remembered where the dying woman had heard the phrase. + +Her Aunt Christine had used it recently in her mother's presence. Young +Kunz Schurstab had fallen into evil ways in Lyons. Every one, even his +own father, had given him up for lost; but after several years he +returned home and proved himself capable of admirable work, both in his +father's business and in the Council. In reply to Frau Ortlieb's enquiry +where this transformation in the young man had occurred, her aunt +answered: + +"In the forge fire of life." Eva told herself that she had intentionally +kept aloof from its flames, and in the convent, perhaps, they would never +have reached her. Yesterday they had seized upon her for the first time, +and henceforward she would not evade them, that she might obey her mother +and become worthy of the man praying silently yonder. He owed to his +heroic courage and good sword a renowned name; but what had she ever done +save selfishly to provide for her own welfare in this world and the next? +She had not even been strong enough to hold the head of the mother, to +whom she owed everything and who had loved her so tenderly, when the +convulsions attacked her. + +Even after she closed her eyes in death--she had noticed it--she had been +kept from every duty in the household and for the beloved dead, because +it was deemed unsuitable for her, and Els and every one avoided putting +the serious demands of life between the "little saint" and her +aspirations towards the bliss of heaven. Yet Eva knew that she could +accomplish whatever she willed to do, and instead of using the strength +which she felt stirring with secret power in her fragile body, she had +preferred to let it remain idle, in order to dwell in another world from +that in which she had been permitted to prove her might. The fire of the +forge, by whose means pieces of worthless iron were transformed into +swords and ploughshares, should use its influence upon her also. Let it +burn and torture her, if it only made her a genuine, noble woman, a woman +like her Aunt Christine, from whom her mother had heard the phrase of +"the forge fire of life," who aided and pointed out the right path to +hundreds, and probably, at her age, had needed neither an Els nor an +Abbess Kunigunde to keep her, body and soul, in the right way. She loved +both; but some impulse within rebelled vehemently against being treated +like a child, and--now that her mother was dead--subjecting her own will +to that of any other person than the man to whom she would have gladly +looked up as a master. + +Whilst Heinz knelt in front of the chapel without noticing Sister +Perpetua, who was praying before the altar within, these thoughts darted +through Eva's brain like a flash of lightning. Now he rose and went to +his horse, but ere he mounted it the dog, barking furiously, again broke +from the thicket close at her side. + +Heinz must have seen her white mourning robes, for her own name reached +her ears in a sudden cry, and soon after--she herself could not have told +how--Heinz was standing beside the basket amidst the flowers, with her +hand clasped in his, gazing into her eyes so earnestly and sadly that he +seemed a different person from the reckless dancer in the Town Hall, +though the look was equally warm and tender. Whilst doing so, he spoke +of the deep wound inflicted upon her by her mother's death. Fate had +dealt him a severe blow also, but grief taught him to turn whither she, +too, had directed him. + +Just at that moment the blast of the horn summoning the Emperor's train +to his side echoed through the forest. + +"The Emperor!" cried Heinz; then bending towards the flowers he seized a +few forget-me-nots, and, whilst gazing tenderly at them and Eva, murmured +in a low tone, as if grief choked his utterance: "I know you will give +them to me, for they wear the colour of the Queen of Heaven, which is +also yours, and will be mine till my heart and eyes fail me." + +Eva granted his request with a whispered "Keep them"; but he pressed his +hand to his brow and, as if torn by contending emotions, hastily added: +"Yes, it is that of the Holy Virgin. They say that Heaven has summoned +me by a miracle to serve only her and the highest, and it often seems to +me that they are right. But what will be the result of the conflicting +powers which since that flash of lightning have drawn one usually so +prompt in decision as I, now here, now there? Your blue, Eva, the hue of +these flowers, will remain mine whether I wear it in honour of the +Blessed Virgin, or--if the world does not release me--in yours. She or +you! You, too, Eva, I know, stand hesitating at the crossing of two +paths--which is the right one? We will pray Heaven to show it to you and +to me." + +As he spoke he swung himself swiftly into the saddle and, obeying the +summons, dashed after his imperial master. + +Eva gazed silently at the spot where he had vanished behind a group of +pine trees; but Ortel, who had gathered a few early strawberries for her, +soon roused her from her waking dream by exclaiming, as he clapped his +big hands: "I'll be hanged, Jungfrau Eva, if the knight who spoke to you +isn't the Swiss to whom the great miracle happened yesterday!" + +"The miracle?" she asked eagerly, for Els had intentionally concealed +what she heard, and this evidently had something to do with the +"wonderful summons" of which Heinz had spoken without being understood. + +"Yes, a great, genuine miracle," Ortel went on eagerly. "The lightning-- +I heard it from the butcher boy who brings the meat, he learned it from +his master's wife herself, and now every child in the city knows it--the +lightning struck the knight's casque during the thundershower yesterday; +it ran along his armour, flashing brightly; the horse sank dead under him +without moving a limb, but he himself escaped unhurt, and the mark of a +cross can be seen in the place where the lightning struck his helmet." + +"And you think this happened to the very knight who took the flowers +yonder?" asked Eva anxiously. + +"As certainly as I hope to have the sacrament before I die, Jungfrau +Eva," the youth protested. "I saw him riding with that lank Biberli, +Katterle's lover, who serves him, and such noblemen are not found by the +dozen. Besides, he is one of those nearest to the Emperor Rudolph's +person. If it isn't he, I'll submit to torment----" + +"Fie upon your miserable oaths!" Eva interrupted reprovingly. "Do you +know also that the tall, stately gentleman with the long grey hair----" + +"That was the Emperor Rudolph!" cried Ortel, sure he was right. "Whoever +has once seen him does not forget him. Everything on earth belongs to +him; but when the knight took our flowers so freely just now as if they +were his own, I thought But there--there--there! See for yourself, +Jungfrau! A heavy, unclipped yellow zecchin!" + +As he spoke he took the coin in his hand, crossed himself, and added +thoughtfully: "The little silver coin, or whatever he flung in here-- +perhaps to pay for the flowers, which are not worth five shillings--has +been changed into pure gold by the saint who wrought the miracle for him. +My soul! If many in Nuremberg paid so high for forage, the rich Eysvogel +would leave the Council and go in search of wild flowers!" + +Eva begged the man to leave the zecchin, promising to give him another at +home and half a pound in coppers as earnest money. "This is what I call +a lucky morning!" cried Ortel. But directly after he changed his tone, +remembering Eva's white mourning robe and the object of their expedition, +and his fresh voice sounded very sympathetic as he added: "If one could +only call your lady mother back to life! Ah, me! I'd spend all my +savings to buy for the saints as many candles as my mother has in her +little shop, if that would change things." + +Whilst speaking he filled the basket with flowers, and the nun helped +him. Eva walked before them with bowed head. + +Could she hope to wed the man for whom Heaven had performed such a +miracle? Was it no sin to hope and plead that he would wear their common +colour, not in honour of the Queen of Heaven, but of the lowly Eva, in +whom nothing was strong save the desire for good? Was not Heinz forcing +her to enter into rivalry with one the most distant comparison with whom +meant defeat? Yet, no! Her gracious Friend above knew her and her +heart. She knew with what tender love and reverence she had looked up to +her from childhood, and she now confided the love in her heart to her who +had shown herself gracious a thousand times when she raised her soul to +her in prayer. + +Eva was breathing heavily when she emerged from the forest and stopped to +wait until Sister Perpetua had finished her prayer in the chapel and +overtook her. Her heart was heavy, and when, in the meadow beyond the +woods, the heat of the sun, which was already approaching the zenith, +made itself felt, it seemed as if she had left the untroubled happiness +of childhood behind her in the green thicket. Yet she would not have +missed this forest walk at any price. She knew now that she had no rival +save the one whom Heinz ought to love no less than she. Whether they +both decided in favour of the world or the cloister, they would remain +united in love for her and her divine Son. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Outside the courtyard of the Ortlieb mansion Eva saw Biberli going +towards the Frauenthor. He had been with Els a long time, giving a +report as frankly as ever. The day before he said to Katterle: "Calm +yourself, my little lamb. Now that the daughters need you and me to +carry secret messages, the father will leave us in peace too. A member +of the Council would be like the receiver of stolen goods if he allowed a +man whom he deemed worthy of the stocks to render him many services." + +And Herr Ernst Ortlieb really did let him alone, because he was forced to +recognise that Biberli and Katterle were indispensable in carrying on his +daughter's intercourse with Wolff. + +Els had forgiven the clever fellow the more willingly the more consoling +became the tidings he brought her from her betrothed bridegroom. +Besides, she regarded it as specially fortunate that she learned through +him many things concerning Heinz Schorlin, which for her sister's sake +she was glad to know. + +True, it would have been useless trouble to try to extort from the true +and steadfast Biberli even a single word which, for his master's sake, it +would have been wiser to withhold, yet he discussed matters patiently, +and told her everything that he could communicate conscientiously. So, +when Eva returned, she was accurately informed of all that had befallen +and troubled the knight the day before. + +She listened sympathisingly to the servant's lamentation over the +marvellous change which had taken place in Heinz since his horse was +killed under him. But she shook her head incredulously at Biberli's +statement that his master seriously intended to seek peace in the +cloister, like his two older sisters; yet at the man's animated +description of how Father Benedictus had profited by Sir Heinz's mood +to estrange him from the world, the doubt vanished. + +Biberli's assurance that he had often seen other young knights rush into +the world with specially joyous recklessness, who had suddenly halted as +if in terror and known no other expedient than to change the coat of mail +for the monk's cowl, reminded her of similar incidents among her own +acquaintances. The man was right in his assertion that most of them had +been directed to the monastery by monks of the Order of St. Francis, +since the name of the Saint of Assisi and the miracles he performed had +become known in this country also. Whoever believed it impossible to see +the gay Sir Heinz in a monk's cowl, added the experienced fellow, might +find himself mistaken. + +He had intentionally kept silence concerning Sir Seitz Siebenburg's +challenge and his master's other dealings with the "Mustache." On +the other hand, he had eagerly striven to inform Els of the minutest +details of the reception he met with from her betrothed lover. With what +zealous warmth he related that Wolff, like the upright man he was, had +rejected even the faintest shadow of doubt of her steadfastness and +truth, which were his own principal virtues also. + +Even before Sir Heinz Schorlin's visit young Herr Eysvogel had known what +to think of the calumnies which, it is true, were repeated to him. His +calm, unclouded courage and clear mind were probably best shown by the +numerous sheets of paper he had covered with estimates, all relating to +the condition of the Eysvogel business. He had confided these documents +also to him to be delivered to his father, and after discharging this +duty he had come to her. According to his custom, he had reserved the +best thing for the last, but it was now time to give it to her. + +As he spoke he drew from the breast pocket of his long coat a wrought- +iron rose. Els knew it well; it had adorned the clasp of her lover's +belt, and the unusual delicacy of the workmanship had often aroused her +admiration. What the gift was to announce she read on the paper +accompanying it, which contained the following simple lines: + + "The iron rude, when shaped by fire and blows, + Delights our eyes as a most beauteous rose. + So may the lies which strove to work us ill + But serve our hearts with greater love to fill." + +Biberli withdrew as soon as he had delivered the gift; his master was +awaiting him on his return from his early ride with the Emperor; but Els, +with glowing cheeks, read and reread the verse which brought such +cheering consolation from her lover. It seemed like a miracle that they +recalled the words of her dying mother concerning the forge fire which, +in her last moments, she had mentioned in connection with Eva's future. +Here it had formed from rude iron the fairest of flowers. Nothing +sweeter or lovelier, the sister thought, could be made from her darling. +But would the fire also possess the power to lead Eva, as it were, from +heaven to earth, and transform her into an energetic woman, symmetrical +in thought and deed? And what was the necessity? She was there to guide +her and remove every stone from her path. + +Ah, if she should renounce the cloister and find a husband like her +Wolff! Again and again she read his greeting and pressed the beloved +sheet to her lips. She would fain have hastened to her mother's corpse +to show it to her. But just at that moment Eva returned. She must +rejoice with her over this beautiful confirmation of her hope, and as, +with flushed cheeks and brow moist with perspiration, she stood before +her, Els tenderly embraced her and, overflowing with gratitude, showed +her her lover's gift and verse, and invited her to share the great +happiness which so brightly illumined the darkness of her grief. Eva, +who was so weary that she could scarcely stand thought, like her sister, +as Els read Wolff's lines aloud, of her mother's last words. But the +forge fire of life must not transform her into a rose; she would become +harder, firmer, and she knew why and for whose sake. Only yesterday, had +she been so exhausted, nothing would have kept her, after a few brief +words to prevent Els's disappointment, from lying down, arranging her +pillows comfortably, and refreshing herself with some cooling drink; but +now she not only succeeded in appearing attentive, but in sympathising +with all her heart in her sister's happiness. How delightful it was, +too, to be able to give something to the person from whom hitherto she +had only received. + +She succeeded so fully in concealing the struggle against the claims of +her wearied body that Els, after joyously perceiving how faithfully her +sister sympathised with her own delight, continued to relate what she had +just heard. Eva forced herself to listen and behave as if her account of +Heinz Schorlin's wonderful escape and desire to enter a monastery was +news to her. + +Not until Els had narrated the last detail did she admit that she needed +rest; and when the former, startled by her own want of perception, urged +her to lie down, she would not do so until she had put the flowers she +had brought home into water. At last she stretched herself on the couch +beside her sister, who had so long needed sleep and rest, and a few +minutes after the deep dreamless slumber of youth chained both, until +Katterle, at the end of an hour, woke them. + +Both used the favourable moments which follow the awakening from a sound +sleep to cherish the best thoughts and most healthful resolutions. When +Eva left her chamber she had clearly perceived what the last hours had +taken and bestowed, and found a positive answer to the important question +which she must now confront. + +Els, like her lover, would cling fast to her love, and strive with +tireless patience to conquer whatever obstacles it might encounter, +especially from the Eysvogel family. + +Before leaving home Eva adorned the beloved dead with the flowers, +leaves, and vines which the gardener had brought and she herself had +gathered, and at the church she put the last touches to this work so dear +to her heart. She gave the preference to the flowers which had been her +mother's favourites, but the others were also used. With a light hand +and a delicate appreciation of harmony and beauty she interwove the +children of the forest with those of the garden. She could not be +satisfied till every one was in the right place. + +Countess Cordula had insisted upon attending the consecration, but she +had not known who cared for its adornment. Yet when she stood in the +church by the side of the open coffin she gazed long at the gentle face +of the quiet sufferer, charming even in death, who on her bright couch +seemed dreaming in a light slumber. At last she whispered to Els: "How +wonderfully beautiful! Did you arrange it?" + +The latter shook her head, but Cordula added, as if soliloquising: "It +seems as though the hands of the Madonna herself had adorned a sleeping +saint with garden flowers, and child-angels had scattered over her the +blossoms of the forest." + +Then Els, who hitherto had refused to talk in this place and this solemn +hour, broke her silence and briefly told Cordula who had artistically and +lovingly adorned her mother. + +"Eva?" repeated the countess, as if surprised, gazing at her friend's +younger sister who, as the music of the organ and the alternate chanting +had just begun, had already risen from her knees. Cordula felt +spellbound, for the young girl looked as fresh as a May rose and so +touchingly beautiful in the deep, earnest devotion which filled her whole +being, and the white purity of her mourning robes, that the countess did +not understand how she could ever have disliked her. Eva, with her up +lifted eyes, seemed to be gazing directly into the open heavens. + +Cordula paid little attention to the sacred service, but watched the Es, +as she liked to call the sisters, all the more closely. The elder, +though so overwhelmed with grief that she could not help sobbing aloud, +did not cease to think of her dear ones, and from time to time gazed with +tender sympathy at her father or with quiet sorrow at her sister. Eva, +on the contrary, was completely absorbed by her own anguish and the +memory of her to whom it was due. The others appeared to have no +existence for her. Whilst the large tears rolled slowly down her cheeks, +she sometimes gazed tenderly at the face of the beloved dead; sometimes, +with fervent entreaty, at the image of the Virgin. The pleading +expression of the large blue eyes seemed to the countess to express such +childlike need of help that the impetuous girl would fain have clasped +her to her heart and exclaimed: + +"Wait, you lovely, obstinate little orphan; Cordula, whom you dislike, +is here, and though you don't wish to receive any kindness from her, you +must submit. What do I care for all the worshippers of a very poor idol +who call themselves my 'adorers'? I need only detain wandering pilgrims, +or invite minnesingers to the castle, to shorten the hours. And he for +whom yonder child-angel's heart yearns--would he not be a fool to prefer +a Will-o'-the-wisp like me? Besides, it is easy for the peasant to give +his neighbour the cloud which hangs over his field. True, before the +dance----But the past is past. Boemund Altrosen is the only person who +is always the same. One can rely upon him, but I really need neither. +If I could only do without the open air, the forest, horses, and hunting, +I should suit convent walls far better than this Eva, whom Heaven itself +seems to have created to be the delight of every man's heart. We will +see what she herself decides." + +Then she recognised Sir Boemund Altrosen in the congregation and pursued +her train of thought. "He is a noble man, and whoever thus makes himself +miserable about me I ought to try to cure. Perhaps I will yet do so." + +Similar reflections occupied her mind until she saw Heinz Schorlin +kneeling, half concealed by a pillar, behind Boemund Altrosen. He had +learned from Biberli at what hour the consecration would take place, and +his honest heart bade him attend the service for the dead woman who had +so much to forgive him. + +The Ortlieb sisters did not see him, but Cordula unconsciously shook her +head as she gazed. Was this grave man, so absorbed in devotion that he +did not vouchsafe those who surrounded him even a single glance, the +Heinz whose delightful gaiety had captivated her heart? The linden, with +foliage withered by the autumn blasts, was more like the same tree in the +spring when the birds were singing in its boughs, than yonder absorbed +supplicant resembled the bold Heinz of a few days ago. The old mocker, +Chamberlain Wiesenthau, was right when he told her and her father that +morning that the gay Swiss had been transformed by the miracle which had +befallen him, like the Saul of holy writ, in the twinkling of an eye, +into a Paul. The calendar-makers were already preparing to assign a day +to St. Schorlin. + +But she ought not to have joined in the boisterous laugh with which her +father rewarded the old slanderer's news. No! The knight's experience +must have made a deeper impression than the others suspected. + +Perhaps little Eva's love would result in her seeking with the sisters of +St. Clare, and Heinz with the Franciscans, peace and a loftier passion. +She was certainly to be pitied if love had taken as firm a hold upon her +heart as Cordula thought she had perceived. + +Again her kind heart throbbed with tender sympathy, and when the sisters +left the sedan chairs which had brought them back to the house, and +Cordula met Eva in the corridor, she held out her hand with frank +cordiality, saying, "Clasp it trustingly, girl. True, you do not value +it much, but it is offered to no one to whom Cordula does not mean +kindly." + +Eva, taken by surprise, obeyed her request. How frank and kindly her +grey eyes were! Cordula herself must be so, too, and, obeying a hasty +impulse, she nodded with friendly warmth; then, as if ashamed of her +change of mood, hurried past her up the stairs. + +The following day had been appointed for the mass for the dead in St. +Sebald's Church. + +Els had told Eva that the countess had seen Heinz Schorlin at the +consecration. The news pleased her, and she expressed her joy so +animatedly and spoke so confidently of the knight's love that Els felt +anxious. But she did not have courage to disturb her peace of mind, and +her father's two sisters, the abbess, and Herr Pfinzing's wife, also said +nothing to Eva concerning the future as they helped Els to arrange the +dead woman's clothing, which was to be given to the poor, decide to what +persons or charitable institutions it should be sent, and listened to her +account of the facts that formed the foundation of the slanders against +her, which were being more loudly and universally discussed throughout +the city. + +Eva felt painfully how incapable of rendering assistance the others +considered her, and her pride forbade her to urge it upon them. Even her +Aunt Kunigunde scarcely asked her a question. It seemed to the abbess +that the right hour for a decisive enquiry had not yet come, and wise +Aunt Christine never talked with her younger niece upon religious +subjects unless she herself requested her to do so. + +The mass for the dead was to be celebrated at an unusually early hour, +for another, which would be attended by the whole city and all the +distinguished persons, knights, and nobles who had come to the Reichstag, +was to begin four hours before noon. This was for Prince Hartmann, who +had been snatched away so prematurely. + +The Ortliebs, with all their kindred and servants, the members of the +Council with their wives and daughters, and many burghers and burgher +women, assembled soon after sunrise in St. Sebald's Church. + +Those present were almost lost in the spacious, lofty interior with its +three naves. At first there was little appearance of devotion, for the +early arrivals had many things to ask and whisper to one another. The +city architect lowered his loud voice very little as he discussed with a +brother in the craft from Cologne in what way the house of God, which +originally had been built in the Byzantine style, could be at least +partly adapted to the French pointed arch which was used with such +remarkable success in Germany, at Cologne and Marburg. They discussed +the eastern choir, which needed complete rebuilding, the missing +steeples, and the effect of the pointed arch which harmonised so +admirably with the German cast of character, and did not cease until the +music began. Now the great number of those present showed how much love +the dead woman had sowed and reaped. The sisters, when they first looked +around them, saw with grateful joy the father of the young man who had +fallen in the duel with Wolff, old Herr Berthold Vorchtel, his wife, and +Ursula. On the other hand, the pew adorned with the Eysvogel coat of +arms was still empty. This wounded Els deeply; but she uttered a sigh +of relief when--the introitus had just begun--at least one member of +the haughty family to which she felt allied through Wolff appeared, +Isabella Siebenburg, her lover's sister. It was kind in her to come +notwithstanding the absence of the others, and even her own husband. +Els would return it to her and her twins. + +The music, whose heart-stirring notes accompanied the solemn service, +deeply moved the souls of both sisters; but when, after the Gloria in +excelsis Deo, the Cum Sancto Spiritu pealed forth, Eva, who, absorbed in +devotion, had long since ceased to gaze around her, felt her sister's +hand touch her arm and, following the direction of her glance, saw at +some distance the man for whom her heart yearned, and the grave, devout +knight yonder seemed far nearer to her than the gay companion who, in the +mazes of the dance, had gazed so boldly into the faces of the men, so +tenderly into those of the fair women. How fast her heart throbbed! how +ardently she longed for the moment when he would raise his head and look +across at her! But when he moved, it was only to follow the sacred +service and with it Christ's sacrifice upon the cross. + +Then Eva reproached herself for depriving her dead mother, to the repose +of whose soul this hour was dedicated, of her just due, and she strove +with all her power to regain the spirit of devotion which she had lost. +But her lover sat opposite and, though she lowered her eyes, her earnest +endeavour to concentrate her thoughts was futile. + +Her struggle was interrupted by the commencement of the Credo, and during +this confession, which brings before the Christian in a fixed form what +it is incumbent upon him to believe, the thought entered her mind of +beseeching her whose faithful love had always guided her safely and for +her good--the Queen of Heaven, to whom Heinz was as loyally devoted as +she herself--that she might give her a sign whether she might continue to +believe in his love and keep faith with him, or whether she should return +to the path which led to a different form of happiness. + +During the singing of the Credo the heavenly Helper, for whose aid she +hoped, made known to her that if, before the end of the Sanctus, which +immediately followed the Credo, Heinz looked over at her and returned her +glance, she might deem it certain that the Holy Virgin would permit her +to hope for his love. If he omitted to do so, then she would consider it +decided that he renounced his earthly for his heavenly love, and try +herself to give up the earthly one, in which, however, she believed she +had recognised something divine. The Credo closed and died away, the +resonant harmonies of the Sanctus filled the wide space, and the knight, +with the same devout attention, followed the sacred service in which, in +the imagination of believers, the bread and wine is transformed into the +body and blood of Christ, and a significant, painless ceremony represents +the Saviour's bloody death upon the cross. + +Eva told herself that she ought to have followed with the same intentness +as Heinz the mass celebrated for the soul of her own mother, but she +could no longer succeed in doing so. Besides, she was denied the +privilege of looking freely and often at him upon whose movements +depended the fate of her life. Many glances were undoubtedly directed +at her, the daughter of the dead woman in whose memory so many citizens +had gathered; many, perhaps, had come solely to see the beautiful Es. +Therefore propriety and modesty forbade her to watch Heinz. She only +ventured to cast a stolen glance at him. + +Every note of the Sanctus was familiar to her, and when it drew near the +end Heinz retained the same position. The fairest hope of her life must +be laid with the flowers in her mother's coffin. + +Now the last bars of the Sanctus were commencing. He had scarcely had +time to change his attitude since her last secret glance at him, yet she +could not resist the temptation, though it was useless, of looking at him +once more. She felt like the prisoner who sees the judge rise and does +not know whether he intends to acquit or condemn him. The city lute- +player who led the choir was just raising his hands again to let them +fall finally at the close of the Sanctus, and as she turned her eyes from +him in the direction whence only too soon she was to be deprived of the +fairest of rights, a burning blush suddenly crimsoned her cheeks. Heinz +Schorlin's eyes had met hers with a full, clear gaze. + +Eva pressed her clasped hands, as if beseeching aid, upon her bosom, +which rose and fell beneath them with passionate emotion; and No, she +could not be mistaken; he had understood her, for his look expressed a +wealth of sympathy, the ardent, sorrowful sympathy which only love knows. +Then the eyes of both fell. When their glances met again, the hosanna of +the choir rang out to both like a shout of welcome with which liberated +Nature exultingly greets the awakening spring; and to the deeply agitated +knight, who had resolved to fly from the world and its vain pleasures, +the hosanna which poured its waves of sound towards him, whilst the eyes +of the woman he loved met his for the second time, seemed to revive the +waning joy of existence. The shout which had greeted the Saviour on his +entry into Jerusalem reached the "called" man like a command from love to +open wide the gate of the heart, and whether he willed it or not, love, +amidst the solemn melody of the hosanna, made a new and joyous entrance +into his grateful soul. But during the Benedictus he was already making +the first attempt to resist this emotion; and whilst Eva, first offering +thanks for the cheering decision, and then earnestly striving to enter +with her whole soul into the sacred service, modestly denied herself the +pleasure of looking across at her lover, Heinz was endeavouring to crush +the hopes which had again mastered the soul resolved on renunciation. + +Yet he found the conflict harder than he expected and as, at the close of +the mass, the Dona nobis pacem (grant us peace) began, he joined +beseechingly in the prayer. + +It was not granted, for even during the high mass for the soul of his +dearest friend, which also detained the Ortliebs in church, he sought +Eva's glance only too often, but always in vain. Once only, when the +Dona nobis pacem pealed forth again, this time for the prince, his eyes +met those of the woman he loved. + +The young Duchess Agnes noticed whither he looked so often, but when +Countess Cordula knelt beside the Ortliebs, cordially returned every +glance of the knight's, and once even nodded slightly to him, the young +Bohemian believed the report that Heinz Schorlin and the countess were +the same as betrothed, and it vexed her--nay, spoiled the whole of the +day which had just begun. + +When Heinz left the church Eva's image filled his heart and mind. He +went directly from the sanctuary to his lodgings; but there neither Frau +Barbara, his pretty young hostess, nor Biberli would believe their eyes +or ears, when the former heard in the entry, the latter in the adjoining +room, the lash of a scourge upon naked limbs, and loud groans. Both +sounds were familiar to Barbel through her father, and to Biberli from +the time of penance after his stay in Paris, and his own person. + +Heinz Schorlin, certainly for the first time in his life, had scourged +himself. + +It was done by the advice of Father Benedictus but, although he followed +the counsel so earnestly that for a long time large bloody stripes +covered his back and shoulders, this remedy for sinful thoughts produced +an effect exactly opposite to the one expected; for, whenever the places +where the scourge had struck him so severely smarted under his armour, +they reminded him of her for whose sake he had raised his hand against +himself, and the blissful glance from her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +During the days which succeeded the mass for the dead the Ortlieb mansion +was very silent. The Burgrave von Zollern, who still gladly concealed in +his castle the brave companion in arms to whom he had entrusted the +imperial standard on the Marchfield, when his own strong arm needed rest, +had permitted Herr Ernst, as the young man's future father-in-law, to +visit him. Both were now in constant communication, as Els hoped, for +the advantage of the Eysvogel business. + +Biberli did not cease acting as messenger between her and her future +bridegroom; nay, he could now devote the lion's share of his days to it; +his master, for the first time since he had entered his service, had left +him. + +The Emperor had been informed of the great shock experienced by the young +knight, but it was unnecessary; an eye far less keen would not have +failed to note the change in Heinz Schorlin. + +The noble man who, even as a sovereign, retained the warmth of heart +which had characterised him in his youth as a count, sincerely loved his +blithe, loyal, brave young countryman, whose father he had valued, whose +mother he highly esteemed, and who had been the dearest friend of the son +whom death had so early snatched from him. + +He knew him thoroughly, and had watched his development with increasing +warmth of sympathy, the more so as many a trait of character which he +recognised in Heinz reminded him of his own nature and aspirations at his +age. + +At the court of Frederick II he too had not always walked in the paths of +virtue but, like Heinz, he had never let this merge into licentiousness, +and had maintained the chivalrous dignity of his station even more +strictly than the former. + +Neither had he at any time deviated from the sincere piety which he had +brought from his home to the imperial court, and this was far more +difficult in the train of the bold and intellectual Hohenstaufen, who was +prone to blaspheme even the holiest things, than for Heinz. Finally he, +too, had lapsed into the mood which threatened to lead the light-hearted +Schorlin into a monastery. + +The mighty impulse which, at that time, owing to the example and +teachings of St. Francis in Italy, had taken possession of so many minds, +also left its impress on his young soul, already agitated by sympathy +with many an extravagant idea, many an opinion condemned by the Church. +But ere he had taken even the first decisive step he was summoned home. +His father had resolved to obtain on the sacred soil of Palestine the +mercy of Heaven which was denied to the excommunicated Emperor, and +desired his oldest son, Rudolph, to represent him at home. + +Before his departure he confided to his noble son his aspirations for the +grandeur and enlargement of his house, and the youth of twenty-one did +not venture to tell the dignified, far-sighted man, whom his subjects +rightly surnamed "the Wise," his ardent desire to live henceforth solely +for the salvation of his endangered soul. + +The sense of duty inherited from father and mother, which both had +imprinted deeply upon his soul, and also the ambition that had been +sedulously fostered at the court of the Emperor Frederick, had given him +courage to repress forever the wish with which he had left the +Hohenstaufen court. The sacrifice was hard, but he made it willingly as +soon as it became apparent to his reflective mind that not only his +earthly but his heavenly Father had appointed the task of devoting the +full wealth of his talents and the power of his will to the elevation of +the house of Hapsburg. + +The very next year he stood in the place of his father who fell at +Ascalon, deeply lamented. + +The arduous labour imposed by the management of his own great +possessions, and the ceaseless endeavour to enlarge them, in accordance +with the dead man's wishes, gave him no time to cherish the longing for +the peace of the cloister. + +After his election as King of Germany, which had long been neglected +under the government of sham emperors, increased the burden of his duties +the more seriously he took them, and the more difficult the Bohemian king +Ottocar, especially, rendered it for him to maintain the crown he had +won, the more eagerly he strove, particularly after the victory of +Marchfield had secured his sovereignty, to increase the power of his +house. + +A binding duty, a difficult task, must also withhold Heinz Schorlin from +the wish for whose fulfilment his fiery young soul now fervently longed, +and which he knew was receiving powerful sustenance from a worthy and +eloquent Minorite. + +Rudolph's own brother had died in peace as canon of Basel and Strasbourg; +his sister was happy in her convent as a modest Dominican; but the young +knight over whose welfare he had promised his mother to watch, and whom +he loved, was not fitted for the monastic life. + +However earnest might be his intention--after the miracle which seemed to +have been wrought specially for him--of renouncing the world, sooner or +later the time must come when Heinz would long to return to it and the +profession of arms, for which he was born and reared. But if he could +not be deterred from entering the modest order of the mendicant monks, +who proudly called poverty their beloved bride, and should become the +head of a bishopric while young, he would inevitably be one of those +fighting prelates who seemed to the Emperor--who disliked halfway +measures--neither knight nor priest, and with whom he had had many a +quarrel. + +Opposition would merely have sharpened the young knight's desire; +therefore his imperial patron had treated him as if he were ignorant of +what was passing in his mind. Without circumlocution, he commanded him, +at the head of several bodies of Frank, Swabian, and Swiss troopers, whom +he placed at his orders, to attack the brothers Siebenburg and their +allies, and destroy their castle. If possible, he was to bring them +alive before the imperial judgment seat, and recover for the Eysvogels +the merchandise of which they had been robbed. + +When Heinz, after the Emperor Rudolph had mentioned the latter name, +earnestly entreated him to prevent Wolff's persecution, the sovereign +promised to fulfil the wish as soon as the proper time came. He himself +desired to be gracious to the brave champion of Marchfield, who under +great irritation had drawn his sword. But when Heinz also asked the +Emperor to send his friend Count Gleichen with him, the request was +refused. He must have the entire responsibility of the expedition which +he commanded; for nothing except an important duty that no one would help +him bear, gave promise of making him forget everything that usually +engrossed his attention, and thus his new object of longing. Besides, +if he returned victorious his fame and reward would be undivided. + +The Hapsburg wished to try upon his young favourite the means which had +availed to keep his own footsteps in the path which he desired to see +Heinz follow: constant occupation associated with heavy responsibility, +the success which brings with it the hope of future achievement and +thereby rouses ambition. + +The wisdom and kindness of heart of the Emperor Rudolph, whom the grey- +haired ruler's friends called "Wisdom," had certainly chosen the right +course for Heinz. But he who had always regarded every opportunity of +drawing his sword for his master as a rare piece of good fortune, shrank +in dismay from this, the most important and honourable charge that had +ever been bestowed upon him. It drew him away from the new path in which +he did not yet feel at home, because the love he could not abjure +constantly thrust him into the world, into the midst of the life and +tumult from which Heaven itself commanded him to turn aside. + +The Minorite had scarcely been right in the assertion that only the first +rounds of the ladder which leads to heavenly bliss were hard to climb. + +How quickly he had set his foot on the first step; but each upward stride +was followed by one that dragged him down-nay, it had seemed advisable +wholly to renounce the effort to ascend them, when the monk expected him +to sever the bond which united him to the Emperor, and to tell the +sovereign that he had entered the service of a greater Master, who +commanded him to fight with other weapons than the sword and lance. + +Heinz had regarded this demand as a summons to turn traitor. It did not +seem to be the call of the devout, experienced director of souls to the +disciples, but the Guelph to the Ghibelline, for Ghibelline he meant to +remain. Gratitude was a Christian virtue, too, and to refuse his service +to the Emperor, who had been a father to him, to whom he had sworn +fealty, and who had loaded him with benefits, could not be pleasing in +the sight of any God. He could never become a Guelph, he told his +venerable friend. The Emperor Rudolph was his beloved master, from whom +he had received nothing but kindness. He might as well be required to +refuse obedience to his own father. + +"What Guelph? What Ghibelline?" cried the Minorite in a tone of grave +rebuke. "The question is submission to the Most High, or to the world +and its claims. And why should not Heaven require, as you term it, that +you should obey the Lord more willingly than your earthly father--you, +whom the mercy of God summoned amidst thunder and lightning in the +presence of thousands? When Francis, our beloved model, the son of Pier +Bernardone, was threatened with his father's curse if he did not turn +back from the path which led to the highest goal, Francis restored all +that he had received from him, except his last garment, and with the +exclamation, 'Our Father who art in heaven, not Pier Bernardone,' he made +the choice between his earthly and his heavenly Father. From the former +he would have received in abundance everything that the heart of a child +of the world desires-wealth, paternal love, and the blessing which is +said to build houses on earth. But Francis preferred poverty and +contempt, nay, even his father's curse and the reproach of ingratitude, +receiving in exchange possessions of a nobler nature and more lasting +character. You have heard their names. To obtain them, means to share +the bliss of heaven. And you"--he continued loudly, adopting for the +first time a tone of authoritative severity--"if you really yearned for +the greatest possessions, go to the fortress this very hour, and with the +cry in your heart, though not on your lips, 'Our Father who art in +heaven, not my gracious master and benefactor Rudolph,' inform the +Emperor what higher Lord you have vowed to serve." + +This kindled a fierce conflict in Heinz Schorlin's soul, which perhaps +might have ended in favour of a new career and St. Francis, had not +Biberli, ere he reached a conclusion, rushed into the room shouting: +"Seitz Siebenburg, the Mustache, has joined his brothers, and the Knight +of Absbach, with several others--von Hirsdorf, von Streitberg, and +whatever their names may be--have made common cause with them! It is +said that they also expected reinforcements from the Main, in order that +the right to the road----" + +"Gossip, or positive news?" interrupted Heinz, drawing himself up to his +full height with the cool composure which he attained most easily when +any serious danger threatened him. + +"As positive," replied his follower eagerly, "as that Siebenburg is the +greatest rascal in Germany. You will be robbed of your joust with him, +for he'll mount the block instead of the steed, just as you predicted. +The ladies will drive him from the lists with pins and rods, to say +nothing of the scourging by which knight and squire will silence him. +Oh, my lord, if you only knew!" + +"Well?" asked the knight anxiously. + +Then Biberli, paying no further heed to his master's orders never +to mention the Ortlieb sisters again in his presence, burst forth +indignantly: "It might move a stone to pity to know the wrong the +monster has done Jungfrau Eva and her pure and virtuous sister, the loyal +betrothed bride of a brave man--and the abominable names bestowed on the +young ladies, whom formerly young and old, hat in hand, called the +beautiful Es." + +Heinz stamped his foot on the floor and, half frantic, impetuously +exclaimed, his blood boiling with honest indignation: "May the air he +breathes destroy the slandering scoundrel! May I be flayed on the rack +if----" + +Here he was interrupted by a low exclamation of warning from the +Minorite, who perceived in the knight's fierce oaths a lamentable +relapse. Heinz himself felt ashamed of the ungodly imprecations; yet he +could by no means succeed in regaining his former composure as, drawing +a long breath, he continued: "And those city hypocrites, who call +themselves Christians, and build costly cathedrals for the good of their +souls, are not ashamed--yes, holy Father, it is true--basely to deny our +Lord and Saviour, who is Love itself, and deemed even the Magdalen worthy +of His mercy, and rub their hands in fiendish malignity when unpunished +they can sully the white robe of innocence, and drag pious, lovely +simplicity to the pillory." + +"That is the very reason, my son," the monk interrupted soothingly, "that +we disciples of the Saint of Assisi go forth to show the deluded what the +Lord requires of them. Therefore leave behind you the dust of the world, +which defiles both body and soul, join us, who did so before you, and +help, as one of our order, to make those who are perishing in sin and +dishonouring the name of Christ better and purer, genuine Christians. +In this hour of stress lay the sword out of your hand, and leave the +steed----" + +"I shall ride forth, rely upon it, holy Father," Heinz burst forth +afresh. "With the sky-blue of the gracious Virgin, whom I love, on my +shield and helmet, I will dash like the angel Michael amongst the +Siebenburgs and their followers. And let me tell you, holy Father--you +who were once a knight also--if the Mustache, weltering in his blood at +my feet, prays for mercy, I'll teach him----" + +"Son! son!" interrupted the monk again, this time raising his hands +imploringly; but Heinz, paying no heed, exclaimed hoarsely: + +"Where did you get this news?" + +"From our Berne countryman at the fortress," replied the servant eagerly; +"Brandenstein, Schweppermann, and Heidenab brought the tidings. The +Emperor received them at the gate of the citadel, where he was keeping +watch ere he mounted his steed. He heard him call to the messengers, +'So our Heinz Schorlin will have a hard nut to crack.'" + +"Which he will crush after his own heart!" cried Heinz, with flashing +eyes. + +Then, forcing himself to be calm, he exclaimed in broken sentences, +whilst Biberli was helping him put on his armour: "Your wish, reverend +Father, is also mine. The world--the sooner I can rid myself of it the +better; yet what you describe in the most alluring terms is the peace in +your midst, I--I--Never, never will my heart be calm until----" + +Here he paused suddenly, struck his breast swiftly and repeatedly with +his fists, and continued eagerly: "Here, Father Benedictus, here are old +and strong demands, which you, too, must once have known ere you offered +the other cheek to the foe. I know not what to call them, but until they +are satisfied I shall never be yours. They must be fulfilled; then, if +in battle and bloodshed I can also forget the love which ever rises again +when I think I have given it the deathblow, if Heaven still desires poor, +heartsick Heinz Schorlin, it shall have him." + +The Minorite received the promise with a silent bend of the head. He +felt that he might seriously endanger the fulfilment of his ardent wish +to gain this soul for heaven if he urged Heinz further now. Patiently +awaiting a more fitting season, he therefore contented himself with +questioning him carelessly about the foe and his castles. + +The day was hot, and as Biberli laced the gambeson--the thick, quilted +undergarment over which was worn the heavy leather coat covered with +scales and rings--the monk exclaimed: "When the duty which you believe +you owe to the world has been fulfilled, you will gratefully learn, as +one of our order, how pleasant it is to walk with liberated soul in our +light-brown cowl." + +But he ought to have repressed the remark, for Heinz cast a glance at him +which expressed his astonishment at being so misunderstood, and answered +with unyielding resolution: "If I long for anything in your order, +reverend Father, it is not for easy tasks, but for the most difficult +burden of all. Your summons to take our Redeemer's cross upon me pleases +me better." + +"And I, my son, believe that your words will be inscribed amongst those +which are sure of reward," the monk answered; then with bowed head added +"At that moment you were nearer the kingdom of heaven than the aged +companion of St. Francis." + +But perceiving how impatiently Heinz shrugged his shoulders, and +convinced that it would be advisable to leave him to himself for a time, +the old man blessed him with paternal affection and went his way. When +the fiery youth had performed the task which now claimed all his powers, +he hoped to find him more inclined to allow himself to be led farther +along the path which he had entered. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRE OF THE FORGE, BY EBERS, V5 *** + +********** This file should be named 5547.txt or 5547.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/5547.zip b/5547.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9694888 --- /dev/null +++ b/5547.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..4f53a65 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #5547 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5547) |