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diff --git a/5557.txt b/5557.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9575a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/5557.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2054 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Margery, by Georg Ebers, Volume 6. +#118 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: Margery, Volume 6. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5557] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 2, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGERY, BY GEORG EBERS, V6 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +MARGERY + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 6. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Shall I now set forth how that Ann and I found Herdegen in his hiding- +place, a simple little beekeeper's but in the most covert part of the +Lorenzer wald, a spot whither no horseman might pass; how that even in +his poor peasant's weed my brother was yet a goodly man, and clasped his +sweetheart in his arms as ardently as in that first day on his homecoming +from Italy--and how that the dear, hunted fellow, beholding me in +mourning dress, took his sister to his heart as soon as his plighted love +had left the place free? Yea, for the dead had been dear to him +likewise, and his love for me had never failed. + +When we presently gave ourselves up in peace to the joy of being all +together once more, I weened that his eye was more steadfast, and his +voice graver and calmer than of old; and whensoever he spoke to me it was +in a soft and heartfelt tone, which gave me comforting assurance that he +grieved for my grief. And how sweetly and gravely did he beguile Ann to +make the most of this sad meeting, wherein welcome and God-speed so +closely touched. In the house once more I rejoiced in the lofty flight +which lifted this youth's whole spirit above all things common or base; +and his sweetheart's eyes rested on him in sheer delight as he talked +with my uncle, or with the magistrate who had come forth with us to the +Forest. And albeit it was in truth his duty to the Emperor his master, +to fulfil his behest, nevertheless he gave us his promise that he would +put off the announcement of the sentence till we should return to the +town next day, and prolong our time together and with Cousin Maud as much +as in him lay. + +My aunt's eyes shone with sheer joy when they fell on her darling with +Herdegen at her side, and she could say to herself no doubt that these +two, who, as she conceived, were made for each other, would hardly have +come together again but for her help. Or ever we set forth on the +morrow, she called Herdegen to her once more to speak with him privily, +and bid him bear in mind that if ever in his wanderings he should meet +another youth--and he knew who--he might tell him that at home in the +Lorenzerwald a mother's heart was yet beating, which could never rest +till his presence had gladdened it once more. + +My uncle rode with us into the town. It was at the gate that the +magistrate told Herdegen what his fate should be: that he must leave +Nuremberg on the morrow at the same hour; and to my dying day I shall +ever remember with gladness and regret the meal we then sat down to with +our nearest and dearest. + +Cousin Maud called it her darling's condemnation supper. She had watched +the cooking of every dish in the kitchen, and chosen the finest wine out +of the cellar. Yet the victual might have been oatmeal porridge, and the +noble liquor the smallest beer, and it would have been no matter to our +great, albeit melancholy gladness. And indeed, no man could have gazed +at the pair now come together again after so many perils, and not have +felt his heart uplifted. Ah! and how dear to me were those twain! They +had learnt that life was as nothing to either of them without the other, +and their hearts meseemed were henceforth as closely knit as two streams +which flow together to make one river, and whose waters no power on earth +can ever sunder. They sat with us, but behind great posies of flowers, +as it were in an isle of bliss; yet were they in our midst, and showed +how glad it made them to have so many loving hearts about them. +Notwithstanding her joy and trouble Ann forgot not her duty as +"watchman," and threatened Uncle Christian when he would take more than +he should of the good liquor. He, however, declared that this day was +under the special favor of the Saints, and that no evil could in any wise +befall him. My Forest-uncle and Master Pernhart had been found in +discourse together, and the matter of which they spoke was my Cousin +Gotz. And how it gladdened the father to speak of his far-off son! +More especially when Pernhart's lips overflowed with praise of the +youth to whom his only child owed her early death. + +Most marvellous of all was the Magister. Herdegen's return to his +beloved robbed Master Peter of his last hope; nevertheless his eyes had +never rested on her with fonder rapture. Verily his faithful heart was +warmed as it were by the happiness which surrounded her as with a glory, +and indeed it was not without some doubts that I saw the worthy man, who +was wont to be so sober, raise his glass again and again to drink to Ann, +whether she marked him or not, and drain his glass each time in her +honor. My Uncle Christian likewise filled his cup right diligently, +and seeing him quaff it with such lusty good will I feared lest he should +keep us all night at table, when the time was short for Ann and my +brother to have any privy speech together. But that good man forgot not, +even over the wine-jar, what might pleasure other folks; and albeit it +was hard for him to quit a merry drinking-bout he was the first to move +away. We were alone by sundown. The Magister had been carried to bed +and woke not till noon on the morrow. + +The plighted couple sat once more in the oriel where they had so often +sat in happier days, and seeing them talking and fondling in the +gathering dusk, meseemed for a while that that glad winter season had +come again in which they had rejoiced in the springtide of their love. + +Thus the hours passed, and I was in the very act of enquiry whether it +were not time to light the lamps, when we heard voices on the stairs, and +Cousin Maud came in saying that Sir Franz had made his way into the +house, and that he declared that his weal or woe, nay and his life lay in +Herdegen's hand, so that she had not the heart to refuse to suffer him to +come in. Hereupon my brother started up in a rage, but the chamber door +was opened, and with the maid, who brought the lamp in, the Bohemian +crossed the threshold. We maids would fain have quitted them; but the +knight besought us to remain, saying, as his eyes humbly sued to mine, +that rather should I tarry and speak a good word for him. Then, when +Herdegen called upon him to speak, but did not hold forth his hand, Sir +Franz besought him to suffer him to be his comrade in his pilgrimage. +Howbeit so doleful a fellow was by no means pleasing in my brother's +eyes, and so he right plainly gave him to understand; then the Bohemian +called to mind their former friendship, and entreated him to put himself +in his place and not to forget that he, as a man sound of limb, would +have avenged the scorn put on him by Rochow in fair fight instead of with +a dagger-thrust. They were condemned to a like penance and, if Herdegen +would not suffer him and give him his company, this would be the death- +blow to his blighted honor. + +Hereupon I appealed to my brother right earnestly, beseeching him not to +reject his former friend if it were only for love of me. And inasmuch as +on that day his whole soul was filled with love, his hardness was +softened, and how gladly and thankfully my heart beat when I beheld him +give his hand to the man who had endured so much woe for my sake. + +Presently, while they were yet speaking of their departing, again there +were voices without; and albeit I could scarce believe my ears I mistook +not, and knew the tones for Ursula's. Ann likewise heard and knew +them, and she quitted the chamber saying: "None shall trouble me in such +an hour, least of all shall Ursula!" The angelus had long since been +tolled, and somehap of grave import must have brought us so rare a guest +at so late an hour. My cousin, who would fain have hindered her from +coming in, held her by the arm; and her efforts to shake off the old +lady's grasp were all in vain till she caught sight of Herdegen. Then at +length she freed herself and, albeit she was gasping for breath, her +voice was one of sheer triumph as she cried: "I had to come, and here I +am!" + +"Aye, but if you come as a Mar-joy I will show you the way out, my word +for that!" my cousin panted; but the maid heeded her not, but went +straight toward Herdegen and said: "I felt I must see you once more ere +you depart--I must! Old Jorg attended me, and when I am gone forth again +Dame Maud will speak my 'eulogium'. Only look at her! But it is all one +to me. Find me a place, Herdegen, where I may speak with you and Ann +Spiesz alone. I have a message for you." + +Hereupon my cousin broke in with a scornful laugh, such as I could never +have looked to hear from her, with her kind and single heart; and my +brother told Ursula shortly and plainly that with her he had no more to +do. To this she made answer that it would be a sin to doubt that, +inasmuch as he was now a pious pilgrim and honorably betrothed, +nevertheless she craved to see Ann. That, too, was denied her, and she +did but shrug her shoulders; then she turned to the Bohemian, who had +gone towards her, and asked him with icy politeness to remove from her +presence, inasmuch as he was an offence to her. Hereupon I saw the last +drop of red blood fade away from the young Knight's sickly cheek, and it +went to my heart to see him uplift his hands and implore her right +humbly: "You know, Ursula, all that hath befallen me for your sake, and +how hard a lot awaits me. Three times have I been plighted to you, my +promised bride, and as many times cast off...." + +"To spare you the like fate a fourth time; all good things being in +threes!" she put in, mocking him. "Verily you have cured me of any +desire ever to be your Dame, Sir Knight. And since meseems this day our +speech is free and truthful, I am fain to confess that such a wish was +ever far enough from me, and even when we stood betrothed. A strange +thing is love! 'Here's to fair Margery!' one day, on every noble +gentleman's lips; and on the morrow: 'Here's to sweet Ursula!' In some +folks it grows inwardly, as it were a polypus, and of such, woe is me, +am I. My love, if you would know the truth, my lord Baron von Welemisl, +love such I have known I gave once for all to that man Herdegen Schopper; +it has been his from the time when, in my short little skirts, I learnt +to write; and so it has ever been, till the hour when worthy Dame +Henneleinlein, the noble Junker's new cousin--it is enough to make one +die of laughing!--when that illustrious lady whispered the truth in my +ear that her intending kinsman had thrown me over, and, with me, old Im +Hoff's wealth, for the sake of a scrivener's wench. And to think that as +a boy he was wont to bring me posies, and wear my colors! Nay, and since +that time he has shot many a fiery glance at me. Only lately he wrote to +his uncle from Paris that he was minded to make me his wife. Ah, you may +open your eyes wide, most respected every-one's-cousin Maud, and you +likewise, prim and spotless Mistress Margery! Cross yourselves in the +name of all the Saints! A dead wolf cannot bite, and as for my love for +that man, I may boldly declare that it is dead and buried. But mark me," +and she clapped her hand to her heaving bosom, "mark me, somewhat else +hath made entrance here, with drums and trumpets and high jubilee: Hate! +--I hate you, Herdegen, as I hate death, pestilence, and hell; and I hate +you twice as much since your skill with the rapier brought the combat +with the Brandenburger, into which I entrapped you, to so perverse an +end." + +Hereupon Cousin Maud, wild with rage herself, gripped her again by the +arm to draw her forth from the chamber, but Ursula went on in a milder +tone: + +"Only a few moments longer, I pray you; for by the Blessed Virgin and all +the Saints I swear that I would not have come hither at so late an hour +but to deliver my message to Herdegen." + +My cousin released her, and she drew forth a written paper and again +enquired for Ann; howbeit my brother said that he did not purpose to call +her in, and desired that she would give him the paper, if indeed it +concerned him. To this she answered that he would presently know that +much, inasmuch as it was her intent to read it to the company, only she +would fain have had his fair mistress among the hearers. Howbeit she had +a good loud voice, she thanked the Saints, and the doors in the +Schoppers' house were scarce thicker than in other folks' houses. The +letter in her hand had been given to her to deliver to Herdegen by the +newlymade vicar of his Highness the Elector and Archbishop of Treves, who +was lodged with the Tetzels. He had not been able to find him, no more +than the Emperor's men-at-arms; so he had bidden her take good heed that +she gave it into Junker Schopper's own hand. But verily she would do yet +more, and spare him the pains of reading it. + +Hereupon my brother, in great ire, bid her no longer keep that which was +not her own; yet she refused, and whereas Herdegen seized her hand to +wrench away the paper she shrieked out to the Bohemian: "Give him his +due, for a knave who offends maidens; that outcast for whom I scorned +and misprized you! Help, help, if you are no churl!" + +My brother nevertheless had already snatched the letter from her, and the +Bohemian, who had laid his hand on his dagger, thought better of it as +his eye met my look of warning. + +It was a fearful moment of terror, and Ursula, whose hair had fallen +loose, while her flashing blue eyes, full of hate, shot lightnings on one +and another, stood clinging to the heavy dresser whereon our silver and +glass vessels were displayed, and cried out as loudly as she could shout: +"The letter is from his lady-love in Padua, the Marchesa Bianca Zorzi. +That cunning swordsman's blade made her a widow, and now she bids him +return to her embrace. The fond and ardent lady is in Venice, and her +intent is to revel there in love and pleasure with her husband's +murderer. And he--though he may have sworn a thousand vows to the +scrivener's hussy--he will do the Italian Circe's bidding, and if he may +escape her snares he will fall into those of another. Oh! I know him; +and I feel in my soul that his fate will be to dally with one and another +in delights and raptures, till the Saints fulfil my heart's chiefest +desire, and he comes to despair and anguish and want, and the scrivener's +wench breaks her heart under my very eyes with pining and sheer shame. +Away, away, Herdegen Schopper! Go forth to joy and to misery! Go-with +your pale black-haired mate. Revel and wallow, till you, who have +trampled on this heart's true love, are brought low--as loathsome in the +eyes of men as a leper and a beggar." + +And she shook the dresser so that the precious glass cup which the German +merchants of the Fondaco at Venice had given to my father at his +departing, fell to the floor and was broken to pieces with a loud crash. + +We had hearkened to her ravings as though spellbound and frozen; and when +we at last took heart to put an end to her wild talk, lo, she was gone, +and flying down the stairs with long strides. + +Herdegen, who had turned pale, struggled to command himself. Cousin +Maud, who had lost her breath with dismay, burst into loud weeping; the +wild maid's curse had fallen heavy on her soul. I alone kept my senses, +so far as to go to the window and look out at her. I saw her walking +along, hanging her head; the serving man carried the lantern before her, +and the Bohemian was speaking close in her ear. + +When I came back into the chamber Cousin Maud had her arm round Herdegen, +and was saying to him, with many tears, that the curse of the wicked had +no power over a pious and faithful Christian; yet he quitted her in haste +to seek Ann, who doubtless would have stayed in the next chamber, and +perchance needed his succor. Howbeit the door was opened, and we could +scarce believe our eyes when she came in with that same roguish smile +which she was wont to wear when, in playing hide-and-seek, she had stolen +home past the seeker, and she cried: "Thank the Virgin that the air is +clear once more! You may laugh, but in truth I fled up to the very +garret for sheer dread of Mistress Tetzel. Did she come to fetch her +bridegroom?" + +Herdegen could not refrain from smiling at this question, and we likewise +did the same; even Cousin Maud, who till this moment had sat on the couch +like one crushed, with her feet stretched out before her, made a face and +cried: "To fetch him! Ursula who has caught the Bohemian! She is a +monster! Were ever such doings seen in our good town?--And her mother +was so wise, so worthy a woman! And the hussy is but nineteen!--Merciful +Father, what will she be at forty or fifty, when most women only begin to +be wicked!" And thus she went on for some while. + +Ere long we forgot Ursula and all the hateful to-do, and passed the +precious hours in much content, till after midnight, when the Pernharts +sent to fetch Ann home. Herdegen and I would walk with her. After a +grievous yet hopeful leave-taking I came home again, leaning on his arm, +through the cool autumn night. + +When I now admonished Herdegen as we walked, as to the fair Marchesa and +her letter, he declared to me that in those evil weeks he had spent in +bitter yearning as a serving man in the bee-keeper's hut, he had learned +to know his own mind. Neither the Marchesa, whom he scorned from the +bottom of his heart, inasmuch as, with all her beauty, she was full of +craft and lies, no, nor event Dame Venus herself could now turn him aside +from the love and duty he had sworn to Ann. He would, indeed, take ship +from Genoa rather than from Venice, were it not for shame of such fears +of his own weakness, and that he longed once more to set eyes on our +brother Kunz whom he had not seen for so long a space. + +I found it hard to see clear in this matter. Yet could I not deem it +wise to deny him the first chance of proving himself true and honest; +likewise meseemed that our younger brother's presence would be a safe +guard against temptation. Under the eye of our parent's pictures I bid +him good night for the few hours till he should depart, and when I +pointed up to them he understood me, and clasped me fondly in his arms +saying: "Never fear, little mother Margery!" + +We were with Herdegen again or ever it was morning. While we had been +sleeping he had written a loving letter to my grand-uncle, who had +yesterday forbidden him his presence, to bear witness to his duty and +thankfulness. + +The cocks still were crowing in the yards, and the country-folk were +coming into town with asses and waggons, when I mounted my horse to ride +forth with my brother. He was busied in the courtyard with the new +serving-man he had hired, by reason that Eppelein, who for safety's sake +had not been suffered to go with him into hiding, had vanished as it were +from the face of the earth. Nay, and we knew for what cause and reason, +for Dame Henneleinlein had counselled the King's men to seize him, to the +end that he might be put on the rack to give tidings of where his master +lay hid. If they had caught him his stout limbs would have fared ill +indeed; but the light-hearted varlet was a favorite with the serving men +and wenches of the court-folk, jolly at the wine cup and all manner of +sport, and thus they had bestowed him away. And so, while we were living +from day to day in great fear, an old charcoal wife would come in from +the forest twice or thrice in every week and bring charcoal to the +kitchen wench to sell, and albeit she was ever sent away, yet would she +come again and ask many questions. + +While we were yet tarrying for Herdegen to be ready the old wife came by +with her cart, and when she had asked of some needful matters she pulled +off her kerchief with a loud laugh, and lo, in her woman's weed, there +stood Eppelein and none other. Hereupon was much rejoicing and, in a few +minutes, the crafty fellow was turned again into a sturdy riding man, +albeit beardless. + +Eppelein's return helped Cousin Maud over the grief of leave-taking. +Yet, when at last we must depart, it went hard with her. At the gate we +were met by the Pernharts with Ann and Uncle Christian. My lord the +chief magistrate likewise was there, to bear witness to Herdegen's +departing; also Heinrich Trardorf, his best beloved schoolmate, who had +ever been his faithful friend. + +We had left the walls and moat of the town far behind us, when we heard +swift horses at our heels, and Sir Franz, with two serving-men, joined +the fellowship. My brother had soon found a place at Ann's side, and we +went forward at an easy pace; and if they were minded to kiss, bending +from their saddles, they need fear no witness, for the autumn mist was so +thick that it hid every one from his nearest neighbor. + +Thus we went forth as far as Lichtenhof, and while we there made halt to +take a last leave, meseemed that Heaven was fain to send us a friendly +promise. The mist parted on a sudden as at the signal of a magician, +and before us lay the city with its walls, and towers, and shining roofs, +over-topped by the noble citadel. Thus we parted in better cheer than we +had deemed we might, and the lovers might yet for a long space signal to +each other by the waving of hat and of kerchief. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Herdegen's departing marks my life's way with another mile-stone. All +fears about him were over, and a great peace fell upon me. + +I had learnt by experience that it was within my power to be mistress of +any heart's griefs, and I could tell myself that dull sufferance of woe +would have ill-pleased him whose judgment I most cared for. To remember +him was what I best loved, and I earnestly desired to guide my steps as +would have been his wish and will. In some degree I was able to do so, +and Ann was my great helper. + +My eyes and ears were opened again to what should befall in the world in +which my lover had lived; all the more so as matters now came about in +the land and on its borders which deeply concerned my own dear home and +threatened it with great peril. + +After the Diet was broken up, the Elector Frederick of Brandenburg was +forced to take patience till the princes, lords, and mounted men-at-arms +sent forth by the townships, five or six from each, could muster at his +bidding to pursue the Hussites in Bohemia. One year was thus idly spent; +albeit the Bohemian rebels meanwhile could every day use their weapons, +and instead of waiting to be attacked marched forward to attack. Certain +troops of the heretics had already crossed the borders, and our good town +had to strengthen its walls and dig its moat deeper to make ready for +storm and siege. Or ever the Diet had met, many hands had already been +at work on these buildings; and in these days every man soul in +Nuremberg, from the boys even to the grey-haired men, wielded the spade +or the trowel. Every serving-man in every household, whether artisan or +patrician--and ours with the rest--was bound to toil at digging, and our +fine young masters found themselves compelled to work in sun or rain, or +to order the others; and it hurt them no more than it did the Magister, +whose feebleness and clumsiness did the works less benefit than the labor +did to his frail body. + +Wheresoever three men might be seen in talk, for sure it was of state- +matters, and mostly of the Hussites. At first it would be of the King's +message of peace; of the resistance made by the Elector Palatine, Ludwig, +in the matter of receiving the ecclesiastical Elector of Mainz as Vicar- +general of the Empire; of the same reverend Elector's loss of dignity at +Boppard, and of the delay and mischief that must follow. Then it was +noised abroad that the Margrave Frederick of Meissen, who now held the +lands of the late departed Elector Albrecht of Saxony in fief from the +King, and whose country was a strong bulwark against the Bohemians, was +about to put an end to the abomination of heresy. Howbeit, neither he +nor Duke Albrecht of Austria did aught to any good end against the foe; +and matters went ill enough in all the Empire. + +The Electors assembled at Bingen made great complaints of the King +tarrying so far away, and with reason; and when he presently bid them to +a Diet at Vienna they would not obey. The message of peace was laughed +to scorn; and how much blood was shed to feed the soil of the realm in +many and many a fight! + +And what fate befell the army whereon so great hopes had been set? The +courage and skill of the leader were all in vain; the vast multitude of +which he was captain was made up of over many parts, all unlike, and each +with its own chief; and the fury of the heretics scattered them abroad. +Likewise among our peaceful citizens there was no small complaining, +and with good cause, that a King should rule the Empire whose Realm of +Hungary, with the perils that beset it from the Ottoman Turks, the +Bohemians, and other foes, so filled his thoughts that he had neither +time, nor mind, nor money to bestow due care on his German States. His +treasury was ever empty; and what sums had the luckless war with Venice +alone swallowed up! He had not even found the money needful to go to +Rome to be crowned Emperor. He had failed to bring the contentious +Princes of the Empire under one hat, so to speak; and whereas his father, +Charles IV., had been called the Arch-stepfather of the German Empire, +Sigismund, albeit a large-hearted, shrewd, and unresting soul, deserved a +scarce better name, inasmuch as that he, like the former sovereign, when +he fell heir to his Bohemian fatherland, knew not how to deal even with +that as a true father should. + +Not a week passed after Herdegen's departing but a letter by his own hand +came to Ann, and all full of faithful love. I, likewise, had, not so +long since, had such letters from another, and so it fell that these, +which brought great joy to Ann, did but make my sore heart ache the more. +And when I would rise from table silent and with drooping head, the +Magister would full often beg leave to follow me to my chamber, and +comfort me after his own guise. In all good faith would he lay books +before my eyes, and strive to beguile me to take pleasure in them as the +best remedy against heaviness of soul. The lives of the mighty heathen, +as his Plutarch painted them, would, he said, raise even a weak soul to +their greatness and the Consolatio Philosophiae of Boetius would of a +surety refresh my stricken heart. Howbeit, one single well-spent hour in +life, or one toilsome deed fruitful for good, hath at all times brought +me better comfort than a whole pile of pig-skin-covered tomes. Yet have +certain verses of the Scripture, or some wise and verily right noble +maxim from the writings of the Greeks or Latins dropped on my soul now +and again as it were a grain of good seed. + +Sad to tell, those first letters from Herdegen, all dipped in sunshine, +were followed by others which could but fill us with fears. The pilgrims +had been over-long in getting so far as Venice, by reason that Sir Franz +had fallen sick after they had passed the Bienner, and my brother had +diligently and faithfully tended him. Thus it came to pass that another +child of Nuremberg, albeit setting forth after them, passed them by; and +this was Ursula Tetzel, whose father deemed it well to send her forth +from the city, where, of a truth, the ground had waxed too hot for her, +inasmuch as she had given cause for two bloody frays; and Cousin Maud, to +be sure, had not kept silence as to her unbridled demeanor in our house. + +Now Mistress Mendel, her aunt, had many years ago gone to the city of St. +Mark, and albeit it was there against the laws for a noble to marry with +a stranger maiden, she had long since by leave of the Republic, become +the wife of Filippo Polani, with whom she was still living in much ease +and honor. In Augsberg, in Ulm, and in Frankfort, there were many noble +families of the Tetzels' kith and kin, yet she had chosen to go to this +aunt in Venice; and doubtless the expectation of meeting Herdegen there, +whether in love or hate, had had its weight with her. + +Thus it came to pass that she found him at Brixen, where he tarried with +the sick knight; and he wrote that, as it fell, he had had more to do +with her and her father than he had cared for, and that in a strange +place many matters were lightly smoothed over, whereas at home walls and +moats would have parted them; nay, that in Italy the Nuremberger would +even call a man of Cologne his countryman. + +For my part, I could in no wise conceive how those two should ever more +speak a kind word to each other, and this meeting in truth pleased me +ill. Howbeit, his next letter gave us better cheer. He had then seen +Kunz, meeting him right joyfully, and was lodged in the Fondaco, the +German Merchants' Hall, where likewise Kunz had his own chamber. + +Herdegen's next letter from Venice brought us the ill tidings that the +plague had broken out, and that he could find no fellowship to travel +with him, by reason that, so long as the sickness raged in Venice, her +vessels would not be suffered to cast anchor in any seaport of the +Levant. And a great fear came over me, for our dear father had fallen a +prey to that evil. + +In his third or fourth letter our pilgrim told us, with somewhat of +scorn, that the Marchesa Zorzi, who had in fact removed thither from +Padua, and had made friends with Ursula in the house of Filippo Polani, +had bidden him to wait on her, by one of her pages; yet might he be +proud--he said--of the high-handed and steadfast refusal he had returned, +once for all. In truth I was moved to deeper fears by what both my +brothers wrote of the black barges, loaded to the gunwale with naked +corpses, which stole along the canals in the silent night, to cast forth +their dreadful freight in the grave yards on the shore, or into the open +sea. The plague was raging nigh to the Fondaco, and my two brothers were +living in the midst of the dead; nay, and Ann knew that Ursula would not +depart from her lover, although the Palazzo Polani, where she had found +lodging, lay hard by the Fondaco. + +Yet, hard as as it is to conceive of it, never had the music sounded with +noisier delights in the dancing-halls of Venice, nor had the money been +more lightly tossed from hand-to-hand over the gaming-tables, nor, at any +time, had there been hotter love-making. It must be that each one was +minded to enjoy, in the short space of life that might yet be his, all +the delights of long years.--And foremost of these was the Marchesa +Bianca Zorzi. + +As for Herdegen, not long did he brook the narrow chambers of the +Fondaco-house; driven forth by impatience and heart-sickness, from +morning till night he was in his boat, or on the grand Piazza, or on the +watery highways; and inasmuch as he ever fluttered to where ladies of +rank and beauty were to be found, as a moth flies to the light, that evil +woman was ever in his path, day after day, and whensoever her hosts would +suffer it, Ursula would be with her. Nay, and the German maiden, who had +learned better things of the Carthusian sisters, was not ashamed to aid +and abet that sinful Italian woman. Thus my brother was in great peril +lest Ursula's prophecy should be fulfilled by his own fault. Indeed he +already had his foot in the springe, inasmuch as that he could not say +nay to the Marchesa's bidding that he would go to her house on her name- +day. It was a higher power that came betwixt them, vouchsafing him +merciful but grievous repentance; the plague, Death's unwearied +executioner, snatched the fair, but sinful lady, from among the living. +Ursula lamented over her as though it were her own sister that had died; +and it seemed that the Marchesa was fain to keep up the bond that had +held them together even beyond the grave, for it was at her funeral that +the son of one of the oldest and noblest families of the Republic first +saw Mistress Ursula Tetzel, and was fired with love for the maiden. She +had many a time been seen abroad with the Marchesa, or with the Polanis, +and the young gentlemen of the Signoria, the painters, and the poets, had +marked her well; the natural golden hue of her hair was an amazement and +a delight to the Italians; indeed many a black-haired lady and common +hussy would sit on her roof vainly striving to take the color out of her +own locks. It was the same with her velvet skin, which even at Nuremberg +had many a time brought to men's minds the maid in the tale of "Snow- +white and Rose-red." + +Thus it fell that Anselmo Guistiniani had heard of her during the +lifetime of his cousin the Marchesa Zorzi, while he was absent from +Venice on state matters. And when he beheld her with his own eyes among +the mourners, there was an end to his peace of heart; he forthwith set +himself to win her for his own. Howbeit Ursula met her noble suitor with +icy coldness, and when he and Herdegen came together at the Palazzo +Polani, where she was lodging, she made as though she saw my lord not at +all, and had no eyes nor ears save for my brother; till it was more than +Guistinani would bear, and he abruptly departed. Herdegen's letter, +which told us all these things, was full of kindly pity for the fair and +hapless damsel who had demeaned herself so basely towards him, by reason +that her fiery love had turned her brain, and that she still was pining +for him to whom she had ever been faithful from her childhood up. She +had freely confessed as much even under the very eyes of so lordly a +suitor as Anselmo Giustiniani; and albeit Ann might be sure of his +constancy, even in despite of Ursula, yet would he not deny that he could +forgive Ursula much in that she had loved much, as the Scripture saith. +Every shadow of danger for him was gone and overpast; he had already bid +Ursula farewell, and was to ride forth next morning to Genoa, leaving the +plague-stricken city behind him, and would take ship there. It was well +indeed that he should be departing, inasmuch as yestereve, when he bid +Ursula good night, Giustiniani had given him to understand that he, +Herdegen, was in his way; at home he would have shown his teeth, and with +good right, to any man who had dared to speak to him, but in Venice every +man who lodged in the Fondaco was forbid the use of weapons, and he had +heard tell of Anselmo Giustiniani that he, unlike the rest of his noble +race, who were benevolent men and patrons of learning, albeit he was a +prudent statesman and serviceable to the city, was a stern and violent +man. This much in truth a man might read in his gloomy black eyes; and +many a stranger, for all he were noble and a Knight, who had fallen out +with a Venetian Signor of his degree had vanished forever, none knew +whither. + +As we read these words the blood faded from Ann's cheek; but I set my +teeth, for I may confess that Herdegen's ways and words roused my wrath. +In Ann's presence I could, to be sure, hide my ire; but when I was alone +I struck my right fist into my left hand and asked of myself whether a +man or a woman were the vainer creature? For what was it that still drew +my brother to that maid who had ever pursued him and the object of his +love with cruel hate--so strongly, indeed, that he would have been ready +to cherish and comfort her--but joy at finding himself--a mere townbred +Junker--preferred above that grand nobleman? For my part, I plainly saw +that Ursula was playing the same game again as she had carried on here +with Herdegen and the Brandenburger. She spoke the man she hated fair +before the jealous Marchese, only to rouse that potent noble's fury +against my brother. + +After all this my heart rejoiced when we received Herdegen's first letter +written from Genoa, nay, on board of the galleon which was to carry him, +Sir Franz and Eppelein to Cyprus. In this he made known that he had +departed from Venice without let or hindrance, and he bid us farewell +with such good cheer, and love, and hope, that Ann and I forgot and +forgave with all our hearts everything that had made us wroth. This last +greeting came as a fragrant love-posy, and it helped us to think of +Herdegen's long pilgrimage as he himself did--as of a ride forth to the +Forest. From this letter we were likewise aware that he had never known +what peril he had escaped; for ere long I learned from Kunz that paid +assassins had fallen on him the very next evening after Herdegen's +departing, in the crooked street called of Saint Chrysostom, at the back +part of the German Merchants' House; yea, and they would easily have +overpowered him but that certain great strong Tyrolese bale-packers of +the Fondaco came to his succor or ever it was too late. And it was right +certain that these murderers were in Giustiniani's pay, and in the dusk +had taken Kunz for his brother, who was some what like him. The younger +had come off unharmed by the special mercy of the Saints, but it might +well have befallen that, as of old in his schooldays, he should have +borne the penalty for Herdegen's misdoings. And whereas I mind me here +of the many ways in which my eldest brother prospered and got the best of +it over the younger, and of other like cases, meseems it is the lot of +certain few to suffer others, not their betters, to stand in their sun, +and eat the fruit that has ripened on their trees. + +Howbeit, Herdegen had by good hap escaped a sharp fray; and when Ann and +I, kneeling side by side in Saint Laurence's church, had offered up a +thanksgiving from the bottom of our hearts, meseemed we were as some +Captain who sings Te Deum after a victory. + +Yet, as ofttimes in the month of May, when for a while the sun bath shone +with summer heat and glory, there comes a gloomy time with dark days and +sharp frost at nights, so did we deem the long space which followed after +that glad and pious church-going. Days grew to weeks and weeks to months +and we had no tidings, no word from our pilgrims, for good or for evil. + +Verily it was well-nigh a comfort and a help when those who were on the +look-out, Kunz and other friends, gave it as certain tidings that the +galleon which was carrying Herdegen to Cyprus, and which belonged to the +Lomellini of Genoa, had been lost at sea. Saracen pirates, so it was +told, had seized the ship; but further tidings were not to be got, as to +what had befallen the crew and the travellers, albeit Kunz forthwith +betook himself to Genoa and the Futterers, who had a house and trade of +their own there, did all they might to find their traces. The eldest and +the finest link of the Schopper chain had, we deemed, been snatched away, +peradventure for ever; the death of her lover had made life henceforth +bitter to the third and least, and only the middle one, Kunz, remained +unhurt and still such as it might have gladdened his parents' hearts to +behold him. Thus I deemed, at least, when after long parting I set eyes +on him once more, a goodly man, tall and of a fair countenance. All that +had ever been good and worthy in him had waxed and sped well at Venice, +that high school of the merchant class; but where was the smiling +mirthfulness which had marked him as a youth? The same earnest calm +shone in his wise and gentle gaze, and rang in the deep voice he had now +gotten. + +My grand-uncle had esteemed him but lightly, so long as Herdegen was his +delight; but whereas Kunz had done good service at Venice and the master +of the Im Hoff house there was dead, and our guardian himself, on whom a +grievous sickness had fallen, gave himself up day and night to meet his +end, he had, little by little, given over the whole business of the trade +to his young nephew; thus it came to pass that Kunz, when he was but just +twenty, was called upon to govern matters such as are commonly trusted +only to a man of ripe years. But his power and wisdom grew with the +weight of his burthens. Whether it were at Nuremberg or at Venice, he +was ever early to rise and ready, if need should be, to give up his +night's rest, sitting over his desk or travelling at great speed; and he +seemed to have no eyes nor ears for the pleasures of youth. Or ever he +was four and twenty I found the first white hair in his brown locks. +Many there were who deemed that the uncommon graveness of his manners +came of the weight of care which had been laid on him so young, and +verily not without reason; yet my sister's heart was aware of another +cause. When I chanced to see his eye rest on Ann, I knew enough; and it +was a certainty that I had not erred in my thought, when old Dame +Pernhart one day in his presence spoke of Ann as her poor, dear little +widow, and the blood mounted to his brow. + +I would fain have spoken a word of warning to Ann when she would thank +him with heartfelt and sisterly love for all the pains he had been at, +with steadfast patience, to find any token of our lost brother. And how +fair was the forlorn bride in these days of waiting and of weary +unsatisfied longing! + +Poor Kunz! Doubtless he loved her; and yet he neither by word nor deed +gave her cause to guess his heart's desire. When, at about this time, +old Hans Tucher died, one of the worthiest and wisest heads of the town +and the council, Kunz gave Ann for her name-day a prayer-book with the +old man's motto, which he had written in it for Kunz's confirmation, +which was as follows: + + "God ruleth all things for the best + And sends a happy end at last." + +And Ann took the gift right gladly; and more than once when, after some +disappointment, my spirit sank, she would point to the promise "And sends +a happy end at last." + +Whereupon I would look up at her, abashed and put to shame; for it is one +thing not to despair, and another to trust with steadfast confidence on a +happy outcome. She, in truth, could do this; and when I beheld her day +by day at her laborious tasks, bravely and cheerfully fulfilling the hard +and bitter exercises which her father-confessor enjoined, to the end that +she might win the favor of the Saints for her lover, I weened that the +Apostle spake the truth when he said that love hopeth all things and +believeth all things. + +Notwithstanding it was not easy to her, nor to us, to hold fast our +confidence; now and again some trace of the lost man would come to light +which, so soon as Kunz followed it up, vanished in mist like a jack-o' +lantern. And often as he failed he would not be overweary; and once, +when he was staying at Nuremberg and tidings came from Venice that a +certain German who might be Herdegen was dwelling a slave at Joppa, he +made ready to set forth for that place to ransom him forthwith. My +grand-uncle, who in the face of death was eagerly striving to win the +grace of Heaven by good works, suffered him to depart, and at my entreaty +he took my squire Akusch with him, inasmuch as he could still speak +Arabic, which was his mother-tongue. Likewise I besought Kunz to make it +his care to restore the lad to his people, if it should befall that he +might find them, albeit hitherto we had made enquiry for them in vain. +This he promised me to do; yet, often as that good youth had longed to +see his native land once more, and much as he had talked in praise of its +hot sun, in our cold winter seasons, it went hard with the good lad to +depart from us; and when he took leave of me he could not cease from +assuring me that in his own land he would do all that in him lay to find +the brother of his beloved mistress. + +Thus they fared forth to the Levant; and this once again we were doomed +to vain hopes. Kunz found not him he sought, but a wild Swiss soldier +who had fallen into the hands of the Saracens. Him he ransomed, as being +a Christian man, for a small sum of money; and as for Akusch he left him +at Joppa, whereas his folk were Egyptians and he deemed he had found some +track of them there. + +Kunz did not go thither with him, inasmuch as in Alexandria all had been +done that might be done to discover and ransom a Frankish captive. Nor +was Akusch idle there, and moreover fate had brought another child of +Nuremberg to that place. + +Ursula had become the wife of the Marchese Anselmo Giustiniani, by +special favor of the great council, and had come with him to Egypt, +whither he was sent by the Republic as Consul. There she now dwelt with +her noble lord, and in many letters to my granduncle she warmly declared +to him that, so far as in her lay, all should be done to discover where +the lover of her youth might be. Her husband was the most powerful Frank +in all the Sultan's dominions, and it was a joy to her to see with what +diligence he made search for the lost youth. Herdegen, indeed, had ill- +repaid her childish love, yet she knew of no nobler revenge than to lay +him under the debt of thanks to her and her husband for release and +ransom. These words doubtless came from the bottom of her heart; she +were no true woman if she could not forgive a man in misfortune for the +sins of a happier time. And above all she was ever of a rash and lawless +mind, and truthful even to the scorn of modesty and good manners, rather +than crafty and smooth of tongue. + +Yet she likewise failed to find the vanished wanderer, and the weeks and +months grew to be years while we waited in vain. It was on the twenty- +second day of March in the second twelve month after Herdegen's departing +that the treasures of the realm, and among them a nail from the Cross and +the point of the spear wherewith they pierced the Lord's side, were to be +brought into the town in a solemn procession, and I, with many others, +rode forth to meet it. They were brought hither from Blindenberg on the +Danube, and the Emperor sent them in token of his grace, that we might +hold them in safe keeping within our strong walls. They had been brought +thus far right privily, under the feint that the waggon wherein they were +carried bore wine vats, and a great throng gathered with shouts of joy to +hail these precious things. Prisoners were set free in honor of their +coming; and for my own part I mind the day full well, by reason that I +put off my black mourning weed and went forth in a colored holiday garb +for the first time in a long while. + +If I had, in truth, been able by good courage to shake off in due time +the oppressing weight of my grief, I owed it in no small measure to the +forest-whither we went forth, now as heretofore, to sojourn in the spring +and autumn seasons--and to its magic healing. How many a time have I +rested under its well-known trees and silently looked back on the past. +And, when I mind me of those days, I often ask myself whether the real +glad times themselves or those hours of calmer joy in remembrance were +indeed the better. + +As I sat in the woods, thinking and dreaming, there was plenty for the +eye to see and the ear to hear. The clouds flew across in silence, and +the soft green at my feet, with all that grew on tree and bush, in the +grass, and by the brink of the pool, made up a peaceful world, innocently +fair and full of precious charm. Here there was nought to remind me of +the stir of mankind, with its haste and noise and fighting and craving, +and that was a delight; nor did the woodland sounds.--The song of birds, +the hum of chafers and bees, the whisper of leaves, and all the rush and +rustle of the forest were its mother-tongue. + +Yet, not so! There was in truth one human soul of whom I was ever minded +while thinking and dreaming in these woods through whom I had first known +the joy of loving, and that was the youth whose home was here, for whose +return my aunt longed day and night, whose favorite songs I was ever +bidden to sing to my uncle when he would take the oars in his strong old +hands of an evening, and row us on the pool-he who peradventure had long +since followed my lover, and was dead in some far-off land. + +Ann, who was ever diligent, took less pleasure in idle dreaming; she +would ever carry a book or some broidery in her hand. Or she would abide +alone with my aunt; and whereas my aunt now held her to be her fellow in +sorrow, and might talk with her of the woe of thinking of the dearest on +earth as far away and half lost, they grew closer to each other, and +there was bitter grief when our duty took us back to the town once more. +At home likewise Herdegen was ever in our minds, nevertheless the +sunshine was as bright and the children's faces as dear as heretofore, +and we could go about the tasks of the hour with fresh spirit. + +If now and again grief cast a darker shade over Ann, still the star of +Hope shone with more comfort for her than for me and Cousin Maud; and it +was but seldom that you might mark that she had any sorrow. Truly there +were many matters besides her every-day duties, and her errands within +and without the house to beguile her of her fears for her lost lover. +First of all there came her stepfather's brother, his Eminence Cardinal +Bernhardi--for to this dignity had his Holiness raised the Bishop--from +Rome to Nuremberg, where he lodged in the house of his fathers. Now this +high prelate was such a man as I never met the like of, and his goodly +face, beardless indeed, but of a manly brown, with its piercing, great +eyes, I weened was as a magic book, having the power to compel others, +even against their will, to put forth all that was in them of grace and +good gifts. Yet was he not grave nor gloomy, but of a happy cheer, and +ready to have his jest with us maidens; only in his jests there would +ever be a covert intent to arouse thought, and whensoever I quitted his +company I deemed I had profited somewhat in my soul. + +He likewise vouchsafed the honor of knowing him to the Magister; and +whereas he brought tidings of certain Greek Manuscripts which had been +newly brought into Italy, Master Peter came home as one drunk with wine, +and could not forbear from boasting how he had been honored by having +speech with such a pearl among Humanists. + +My lord Cardinal was right well pleased to see his home once more; but +what he loved best in it was Ann. Nay, if it had lain with him, he would +have carried her to Rome with him. But for all that she was fain to look +up to such a man with deep respect, and wait lovingly on his behests, yet +would she not draw back from the duty she had taken upon her to care for +her brothers and sisters, and chiefly for the deaf and dumb boy. And she +deemed likewise that she was as a watchman at his post; it was at +Nuremberg that all was planned for seeking Herdegen, and hither must the +first tidings come that could be had of him. The old grand dame also was +more than ever bound up in her, and so soon as my lord Cardinal was aware +that it would greatly grieve his old mother to lose her he renounced his +desire. + +As for me, I was dwelling in a right happy life with Cousin Maud; never +had I been nearer to her heart. So long as she conceived that her +comforting could little remedy my woe, she had left me to myself; and as +soon as I was fain to use my hands again, and sing a snatch as I went up +and down the house, meseemed her old love bloomed forth with double +strength. Meseemed I could but show her my thankfulness, and my ear and +heart were at all times open when she was moved to talk of her best- +beloved Herdegen, and reveal to me all the wondrous adventures he had +gone through in her imagination. And this befell most evenings, from the +hour when we unclothed till long after we had gone to rest; and I was +fain to keep my eyes open while, for the twentieth time, she would +expound to me her far-fetched visions: that the Mamelukes of Egypt, who +were all slaves and whose Sultan was chosen from among themselves, had of +a surety set Herdegen on the throne, seeing him to be the goodliest and +noblest of them all. And perchance he would not have refused this honor +if he might thereby turn them from their heathenness and make of them +good Christians. Nay, nor was it hard for her to fancy Ann arrayed in +silk and gems as a Sultana. And then, when I fell asleep in listening to +these fancies, which she loved to paint in every detail, behold my dreams +would be of Turks and heathen; and of bloody battles by land and sea. + +No man may tell his dreams fasting; but as soon as I had eaten my first +mouthful she would bid me tell her all, to the veriest trifle, and would +solemnly seek the interpretation of every vision. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +My lord Cardinal had departed from Nuremberg some long while, by reason +that he was charged by his holiness the Pope with a mission which took +him through Cologne and Flanders to England. Inasmuch as he was not +suffered to have Ann herself in his company, he conceived the wish to +possess her likeness in a picture; and he sent hither to that end a +master of good fame, of the guild of painters in Venice. We owed this +good limner thanks for many a pleasant hour. Sir Giacomo Bellini was a +youth of right merry wit, knowing many Italian ditties, and who made good +pastime for us while we sat before him; for I likewise must be limned, +inasmuch as Cousin Maud would have it so, and the painter's eye was +greatly pleased by my yellow hair. + +Whereas he could speak never a word of German, it was our part to talk +with him in Italian, and this exercise to me came not amiss. Also I +could scarce have had a better master to teach me than Giacomo Bellini, +who set himself forthwith to win my heart and turn my head; nay, and he +might have done so, but that he confessed from the first that he had a +fair young wife in Venice, albeit he was already craving for some new +love. + +Thus through him again I learned how light a touch is needed to overthrow +a man's true faith; and when I minded me of Herdegen and Ann, and of this +Giacomo--who was nevertheless a goodly and well-graced man--and his young +wife, meseemed that the woman who might win the love of a highly-gifted +soul must ofttimes pay for that great joy with much heaviness and +heartache. + +Howbeit, I mind me in right true love of the mirthful spirit and manifold +sportiveness which marked our fellowship with the Italian limner; and +after that I had once given him plainly and strongly to understand that +the heart of a Nuremberg damsel was no light thing or plaything, and her +very lips a sanctuary which her husband should one day find pure, all +went well betwixt us. + +The picture of Ann, the first he painted, showed her as Saint Cecelia +hearkening to music which sounds from Heaven in her ears. Two sweet +angel babes floated on thin clouds above her head, singing hymns to a +mandoline and viol. Thus had my lord Cardinal commanded, and the work +was so excellent that, if the Saint herself vouchsafed to look down on it +out of Heaven, of a certainty it was pleasing in her eyes. + +As to mine own presentment; at first I weened that I would be limned in +my peach-colored brocade gown with silver dolphins thereon, by reason +that I had worn that weed in the early morn after the dance, when Hans +spoke his last loving farewell at the door of our house. But whereas one +cold day I went into Master Giacomo's work-chamber in a red hood and a +green cloak bordered with sable fur, he would thenceforth paint me in no +other guise. At first he was fain to present me as going forth to +church; then he deemed that he might not show forth my very look and +seeming if I were limned with downcast head and eyes. Therefor he gave +me the falcon on my hand which had erewhile been my lover's gift. My +eyes were set on the distance as though I watched for a heron; thus I +seemed in truth like one hunting--"chaste Diana," quoth the painter, +minding him of the reproofs I had given him so often. But it would be a +hard task to tell of all the ways whereby the painter would provoke me to +reprove him. When the likeness was no more than half done, he painted +his own merry face to the falcon on my wrist gazing up at me with silly +languor. Thereupon, when he presently quitted us, I took the red chalk +and wrote his wife's name on a clear place in front of the face and +beneath it the image of a birch rod; and on the morrow he brought with +him a right pleasant Sonnet, which I scarce had pardoned had he not +offered it so humbly and read it in so sweet a voice. And, being plainly +interpreted, it was as follows: + + "Upon Olympus, where the gods do dwell + Who with almighty will rule earth and heaven, + Lo! I behold the chiefest of them all + Jove, on his throne with Juno at his side. + A noble wedded pair. In all the world + The eye may vainly seek nor find their like. + The nations to his sanctuary throng, + And kings, struck dumb, cast down their golden crowns. + + "Yet even these are not for ever one. + The god flies from the goddess.--And a swan + Does devoir now, the slave of Leda's charms. + + "Thus I behold the beams of thy bright eye, + And bid my home farewell,--I, hapless wight, + Fly like the god, fair maid, to worship thee !" + +Albeit I suffered him to recite these lines to the end I turned from him +with a countenance of great wrath, and tore the paper whereon they were +writ in two halves which I flung behind the stove. Nor did I put away my +angry and offended mien until he had right humbly besought my +forgiveness. Yet when I had granted it, and he presently quitted the +chamber, I did, I confess, gather up the torn paper and bestow it in my +girdle-poke. Nay, meseems that I had of intent rent it only in twain, to +the end that I might the better join it again. Thus to this day it lieth +in my chest, with other relics of the past; yet I verily believe that +another Sonnet, which Sir Giacomo found on the morrow, laid on his easel, +was not so treasured by him. It was thus: + + "There was one Hans, and he was fain to try, + Like to Olympian Jove, the magic arts + Of witchcraft upon some well-favored maid. + Bold the adventure, but the prize how sweet! + 'Farewell, good wife,' quoth he, 'Or e'er the dawn + Hath broke I must be forward on my way. + Like Jupiter I will be blessed and bless + With love; and in the image of a swan.' + + "The magic spell hath changed him. With a wreath + About his head he deems he lacketh nought + Of what may best beguile a maiden's soul. + + "Thus to fair Leda flies the hapless wight.-- + With boisterous mirth the dame beholds the bird. + 'A right fine goose! Thou'lt make a goodly roast.'" + +Howbeit Giacomo would not leave this verse without reply; and to this +day, if you look close into the picture, you may see a goose's head deep +in shade among the shrubs in the back part of it, but clearly to be +discerned. + +Notwithstanding many such little quarrels we liked each other well, and I +may here note that when, in the following year, which was the year of our +Lord one thousand four hundred and twenty-six, a little son was born to +him, since grown to be a right famous painter, known as Giambellini-- +which is to say Giovanni, or Hans, Bellini, I, Margery Schopper, stood +his sponsor at the font. Yea and I was ever a true godsib to him, and +that painter might indeed thank my kith and kin when he was charged with +a certain office in the Fondaco in Venice, which is worth some hundreds +of ducats yearly to him, to this day. + +Thus were the portraits ended, and when I behold my own looking from the +wide frame with so mirthful and yet so longing a gaze, meseems that +Giacomo must have read the book of my soul and have known right well how +to present that he saw therein; at that time in truth I was a happy young +creature, and the aching and longing which would now and again come over +me, in part for him who was gone, and in part I wist not for what, were +but the shadow which must ever fall where there is light. And verily I +had good cause to be thankful and of good cheer; I was in health as sound +as a trout in the brook, and had good chances for making the most of +those humble gifts and powers wherewith I was blessed. + +As to Herdegen, it was no small comfort to us to learn that my lord +Cardinal Bernhardi had taken that matter in hand, and had bidden all the +priests and friars in the Levant to make enquiry for tidings of him. + +The good prelate was to be nine months journeying abroad, and whereas +five months were now spent we were rejoicing in hope of his homecoming; +but there was one in Nuremberg who looked for it even more eagerly than +we did, and that was my grand-uncle Im Iloff. The old knight had, as I +have said, done us thank-worthy service as our guardian; yet had he +never been dear to me, and I could not think of him but with silent +wrath. Howbeit he was now in so sad and cruel a plight that a heart of +stone must have melted to behold him. Thus pity led me to him, although +it was a penance to stay in his presence. The old Baron,--for of this +title likewise he could boast, since he had poured a great sum into the +Emperor's treasury,--this old man, who of yore had but feigned a false +and evil show of repentance--as that he would on certain holy days wash +the feet of beggar folk who had first been cleansed with care, now in +sickness and the near terror of death was in terrible earnest, and of +honest intent would fain open the gates of Heaven by pious exercises. He +had to be sure at the bidding of Master Ulsenius the leech, exchanged the +coffin wherein he had been wont to sleep for a common bedstead of wood; +yet in this even he might get no rest, and was fain to pass his sleepless +nights in his easy chair, resting his aching feet in a cradle which, with +his wonted vain-glory, he caused to be made of the shape and color of a +pearl shell. But his nights in the coffin, and mockery of death, turned +against him; he had ever been pale, and now he wore the very face of a +corpse. The blood seemed frozen in his veins, and he was at all times so +cold that the great stove and the wide hearth facing him were fed with +mighty logs day and night. + +In this fearful heat the sweat stood on my brow so soon as I crossed the +threshold, and if I tarried in the chamber I soon lacked breath. The +sick man's speech was scarce to be heard, and as to all that Master +Ulsenius told us of the seat of his ill, and of how it was gnawing him to +death I would fain be silent. Instead of that Lenten mockery of the foot +washing he now would do the hardest penance, and there was scarce a saint +in the Calendar to whom he had not offered gifts or ever he died. + +A Dominican friar was ever in his chamber, telling the rosary for him and +doing him other ghostly service, especially in the night season, when he +was haunted by terrible restlessness. Nothing eased him as a remedy +against this so well as the presence of a woman to his mind. But of all +those to whom, on many a Christmas eve, he had made noble gifts, few came +a second time after they had once been in that furnace; or, if they did, +it would be no more than to come and depart forthwith. Cousin Maud could +endure to stay longest with him; albeit afterwards she would need many a +glass of strong waters to strengthen her heart. + +As for me, each time when I came home from my grand-uncle's with pale +cheeks she would forbid me ever to cross his threshold more: but when his +bidding was brought me she likewise was moved to compassion, and suffered +me to obey. + +Nevertheless, if I had not been more than common strong, thank the +Saints, long sitting with the sick man would of a certainty have done me +a mischief, for body and soul had much to endure. Meseemed that pain had +loosened the tongue of that hitherto wordless old man, and whereas he had +ever held his head high above all men, he would now abase himself before +the humblest. He would stay any man or woman who would tarry, to tell +of all his sufferings, and of what he endured in mind and body. His +confessor had indeed forbidden him to complain of the evil wherewith +Heaven had punished him, but none could hinder him from bewailing the +evil he had committed in his sinfulness and vanity. And his self- +accusings were so manifold and fearful, that I was fain to believe his +declaration that all he had ever thought or done that was good was, as it +were, buried; and that nought but the ill he had suffered and committed +was left and still had power over him. The death-stroke he had dealt all +unwittingly, in heedless passion, rose before his soul day and night as +an accursed and bloody deed; and every moment embittered by his wife's +unfaith, even to the last hour when, on her death-bed, she cursed him, +he lived through again, night after night. Whereupon he would clasp his +thin hands, through which you might see the light, over his tear-stained +face and would not be still or of better cheer till I could no longer +hide my own great grief for him. + +Howbeit, when I had heard the same tale again and again it ceased from +touching me so deeply; so that at last, instead of such deep compassion, +it moved me only to dull gloom and, I will confess, to unspeakable +weariness. The tears came not to my eyes, and the only use for my +kerchief was to hide my yawning and vinaigrette. Thus it fell that the +old penitent took no pleasure in my company, and at last weeks might pass +while he bid me not to his presence. + +Now, when the pictures were ended, whereas he heard that they were right +good likenesses, and moreover was told that my lord Cardinal was minded +to come home within no long space, he fell into a strange tumult and +desired to behold those pictures both of me and of Ann. At this I +marvelled not: he had long since learned to think of Councillor +Pernbart's step-daughter in all kindness; nay, he had desired me to beg +her to forgive a dying old man. We were well-disposed to do his will, +and the Pernharts no less; on a certain Wednesday the pictures were +carried to his house, and on the morrow, being Thursday, I would go and +know whether he were content. And behold my likeness was set in a corner +where he scarce could see it; but that of Ann was face to face with him +and, as I entered the chamber, his eyes were fixed thereon as though +ravished by the vision of a Saint from Heaven. And he was so lost in +thought that he looked not away till the Dominican Brother spoke to him. + +Thereupon he hastily greeted me, and went on to ask of me whether I duly +minded that he had been a faithful and thankworthy guardian. And when I +answered yes he whispered to me, with a side-look at the friar, that of +a surety my lord Cardinal must hold Ann full dear, if he would bid so +famous a master to Nuremberg that he might possess her image. Now +inasmuch as I wist not yet to what end he sought to beguile me by these +questions, I confirmed his words with all prudence; and then he glanced +again at the monk, and whispered hastily in my ear, and so low that I +scarce might hear him: + +"That fellow is privily drinking up all my old Cyprus wine and Malvoisie. +And the other priests, the Plebian here--do you know their worldly and +base souls? They take up no cross, neither mortify the flesh by holy +fasting, but cherish and feed it as the lost heathen do. Are they holy +men following in the footsteps of the Crucified Lord? All that brings +them to me is a care for my oblations and gifts. I know them, I know +them all, the whole lot of them here in Nuremberg. As the city is, so +are the pastors thereof! Which of them all mortifies himself? Is there +any high court held here? To win the blessing of a truly lordly prelate, +a man must journey to Bamberg or to Wurzburg. Of what avail with the +Blessed Virgin and the Saints are such as these ruddy friars? +Fleischmann, Hellfeld, nay the Dominican prior himself--what are they? +Why, at the Diet they walked after the Bishop of Chiemsee and Eichstadt. +In the matters of the city--its rights, alliances, and dealings--they had +indeed a hand; there is nought so dear to them--in especial to +Fleischmann--as politics, and they are overjoyed if they may but be sent +on some embassy. Aye, and they have done me some service, as a merchant +trader, whensoever I have desired the safe conduct of princes and +knights; but as to charging them with the safe conduct of my soul, the +weal or woe of my immortal spirit!--No, no, never! Aye, Margery, for I +have been a great sinner. Greater power and more mighty mediation are +needed to save and deliver me, and behold, my Margery, meseems--hear me +Margery--meseems a special ruling of Heaven hath sent.... When is it +that his Eminence Cardinal Bernhardi will return from England?" + +Hereupon I saw plainly what was in the wind. I answered him that his +Eminence purposed to return hither in three or four months' time; he +sighed deeply: "Not for so long--three months, do you say?" + +"Or longer," quoth I, hastily; but he, forgetting the Friar, cried out as +though he knew better than I "No, no, in three months. So you said." + +Then he spoke low again, and went on in a confident tone: "So long as +that I can hold out, by the help of the Saints, if I.... Yea, for I have +enough left to make some great endowment. My possessions, Margery, the +estate which is mine own--No man can guess what a well-governed trading- +house may earn in half a century.--Yes, I tell you, Margery, I can hold +out and wait. Two, or at most three months; they will soon slip away. +The older we grow and the duller is life, the swifter do the days fly." + +And verily I had not the heart to tell him that he might have to take +much longer patience, and, whereas I noted how hard he found it to speak +out that which weighed on his mind, I gave him such help as I might; and +then he freely confessed that what he most desired on earth was to +receive absolution and the Viaticum from the hands of the Cardinal. +Meseemed he believed that his Eminence's prayers would serve him better +in Heaven than those of our simple priests, who had not even gained a +bishop's cope; just as the good word of a Prince Elector gains the +Emperor's ear sooner than the petition of a town councillor. Likewise it +soothed his pride, doubtless, to think that he might turn his back on +this world under the good guidance of a prelate in the purple. Hereupon +I promised that his case should be brought to the Cardinal's knowledge by +Ann, and then he gave me to understand that it was his desire that Ann +should come to see him, inasmuch as that her presentment only had brought +him more comfort than the strongest of Master Ulsenius' potions. He +could not be happy to die without her forgiveness, and without blessing +her by hand and word. + +And he pointed to my likeness, and said that, albeit it was right well +done, he could bear no more to see it; that it looked forth so full of +health and hope, that to him it seemed as though it mocked his misery, +and he straitly desired me to send Ann to him forthwith; the Saints would +grant her a special grace for every hour she delayed not her coming. + +Thereupon I departed; Ann was ready to do the dying man's bidding, and +when I presently went with her into his presence he gazed on her as he +had on her portrait, as it were bewitched by her person and manners; and +ever after, if she were absent for more than a day or two, he bid her +come to him, with prayers and entreaties. And he found means to touch +her heart as he had mine; yet, whereas I, ere long, wearied of his +complaining, Ann's compassion failed not; instead of yawning and being +helpless to comfort him, she with great skill would turn his thoughts +from himself and his sufferings. + +Then they would often talk of Herdegen, and of how to come upon some +trace of him, and whereas the old man had in former days left such +matters to other folks, he now showed a right wise and keen experience +in counselling the right ways and means. Hitherto he had trusted to +Ursula's good words and commended us to the same confidence; now, +however, he remembered on a sudden how ill-disposed she had ever been to +my lost brother, and whereas it was the season of the year when the +trading fleet should set sail from Venice for Alexandria in the land of +Egypt, he sent forth a messenger to Kunz, charging him to take ship +himself and go thither to seek his brother. This filled Ann and me +likewise with fresh hope and true thankfulness. Yet, in truth, as for my +grand-uncle, he owed much to Ann; her mere presence was as dew on his +withered heart, and the hope she kept alive in him, that her uncle, my +lord Cardinal, would ere long reach home and gladly fulfil his desires, +gave him strength and will to live on, and kept the feeble spark of life +burning. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The month of October had come; the Forest claimed us once more, and +indeed at that season I was needed at the Forest lodge. A pressing +bidding had likewise come to Ann; yet, albeit her much sitting in my +grand-uncle's hot chamber had been visited on her with many a headache, +she had made her attendance on him one of her duties and nought could +move her to be unfaithful. + +Moreover, it was known to us that by far the greater half of the Venetian +galleons had sailed from the Lido between the 8th and 25th of the past +month, and were due to be at home again by the middle of October or early +in November. A much lesser fleet went forth from Venice late in the year +and came to anchor there again, loaded with spices, in the month of March +or not later than April. Hence now was the time when we might most +surely look for tidings from the Levant, and Ann would not be out of the +way in case any such might come to Nuremberg. + +I rode forth on Saint Dionysius' day, the 9th day of October, alone with +Cousin Maud; other guests were not long in following us and among them my +brothers-in-law and the young Loffelholz pair; Elsa Ebner having wed, +some months since, with young Jorg Loffelholz. + +Uncle Christian would come later and, if she would consent, would bring +Ann with him, for he held himself bound to give his "little watchman" +some fresh air. Also he was a great friend in the Pernharts' house, and +aught more happy and pleasant than his talks with the old Dame can scarce +be conceived of. + +Never had the well-beloved home in the Forest been more like to a pigeon +cote. Every day brought us new guests, many of them from the city; +still, none had any tidings yet of the Venice ships or of our Kunz, who +should come home with them. And at this my heart quaked for fear, in +despite of the hunting-sports, and of many a right merry supper; and Aunt +Jacoba was no better. The weeks flew past, the red and yellow leaves +began to fall, the scarlet berries of the mountain ash were shrivelled, +and the white rime fell of nights on the meadows and moor-land. + +One day I had ridden forth with my Uncle Conrad, hawking, and when we +came home in the dusk I could add a few birds to the gentlemen's booty. +All the guests at that time present were standing in the courtyard +talking, many a one lamenting or boasting of the spite or favor of Saint +Hubert that day, when the hounds, who were smelling about the game, +suddenly uplifted their voices, and the gate-keeper's horn blew a merry +blast, as though to announce some right welcome guest. + +The housekeeper's face was seen at Aunt Jacoba's window, and so soon +as tidings were brought of who it as that came, the dog-keeper's whips +hastily silenced the hounds and drove them into the kennel. The serving- +men carried off the game, and when the courtyard was presently cleared, +behold, a strange procession came in. + +First a long wain covered in by a tilt so high I trove that meseemed many +a town gate might be over low to let it pass; and it was drawn by four +right small little horses, with dark matted coats and bright, wilful +eyes. A few hounds of choice breed ran behind it. From within the +hangings came a sharp, shrill screaming as were of many gaudy parrots. + +In front of this waggon two men rode, unlike in stature and mien, and a +loutish fellow led the horses. Now, we all knew this wain right well. +Heretofore, in the life-time of old Lorenz Waldstromer, the father of my +Uncle Conrad, it had been wont to come hither once or twice a year, and +was ever made welcome; if it should happen to come in the month of August +it was at that season filled with noble falcons, to be placed on Board +ships at Venice, inasmuch as the Sultan of Egypt and his Emirs were so +fain to buy them that they would give as much as a hundred and fifty +sequins for he finest and best. + +Old Jordan Kubbeling of Brunswick, the father of he man who had now come +hither, was wont to send the birds to Alexandria by the hand of dealers, +to sell them for him there; but his son Seyfried, who was to this day +called Young Kubbeling, albeit he was nigh on sixty, would carry his +feathered wares thither himself. Verily he was not suffered to sell any +other goods in the land, inasmuch as the Republic set strait bounds to +the dealings of German traders. If such an one would have aught from the +Levant he may get it only through the Merchants' Hall or Fondaco in +Venice; and much less is a German suffered to carry his wares, of what +kind soever, out of Venice into the East, inasmuch as every German trader +is bound to sell by the hand of the syndicate all which his native land +can produce or make in Venice itself. And in no other wise may a German +traffic in any matters, great or small, with the Venice traders; and all +this is done that the Republic may lose nought of the great taxes they +set on all things. + +As to Seyfried Kubbeling, the great Council, by special grace, and +considering that none but he could carry his birds over seas in good +condition, had granted to him to go with them to the land of Egypt. +For many and many a year had the Kubbelings brought falcons to the +Waldstromers, and whensoever my uncle needed such a bird, or if he had to +provide one for our lord constable and prince elector the Duke of +Bavaria, or any other great temporal or spiritual prince, it was to be +had from Seyfried--or Young Kubbeling. To be sure no man better knew +where to choose a fine bird, and while he journeyed between Brunswick, +Italy, and the Levant, his sons and brothers went as far as to Denmark, +and from thence to Iceland in the frozen Seas, where the royal falcon +breeds. Yet are there right noble kinds likewise to be found in the Harz +mountains, nigh to their native country. + +The man who was ever Kubbeling's fellow, going with him to the Levant +now, as, erewhile to the far North, was Uhlwurm, who, albeit he had been +old Jordan's serving-man, was held by Seyfried as his equal; and whoso +would make one his guest must be fain to take the other into the bargain. +This was ever gladly done at the Forest-lodge; Uhlwurm was a man of few +words, and the hunting-lads and kennel-men held him to be a wise man, who +knew more than simply which side his bread was buttered. At any rate he +was learned in healing all sick creatures, and in especial falcons, +horses, and hounds, by means of whispered spells, the breath of his +mouth, potions, and electuaries; and I myself have seen him handle a +furious old she-wolf which had been caught in a trap, so that no man +dared go nigh her, as though it were a tame little dog. He was taller +than his master by a head and a half, and he was ever to be seen in a +hood, on which an owl's head with its beak and ears was set. Verily the +whole presence of the man minded me of that nightbird; and when I think +of his Master Seyfried, or Young Kubbeling, I often remember that he was +ever wont to wear three wild-cats' skins, which he laid on his breast and +on each leg, as a remedy against pains he had. And the falcon-seller, +who was thick-set and broad-shouldered, was in truth not unlike a wild- +cat in his unkempt shagginess, albeit free from all craft and guile. His +whole mien, in his yellow leather jerkin slashed with green, his high +boots, and ill-shaven face covered with short, grey bristles, was that of +a woodsman who has grown strange to man in the forest wilds; howbeit we +knew from many dealings that he was honest and pitiful, and would endure +hard things to be serviceable and faithful to those few whom he truly +loved. + +All the creatures he brought with him were for sale; even the Iceland +ponies, which he but seldom led home again, by reason that they were in +great favor with the Junkers and damsels of high degree in the castles +where he found shelter; and my uncle believed that his profits and +savings must be no small matter. + +Scarce had Kubbeling and his fellow entered the court-yard, when the +house wife appeared once more at my aunt's window, and bid him come up +forthwith to her mistress. But the Brunswicker only replied roughly and +shortly: "First those that need my help." And he spoke thus of a wounded +man, whom he had picked up, nigh unto death, by the road-side. While, +with Uhlwurm's help, he carefully lifted the youth from under the tilt, +my uncle, who had long been hoping for his advent, gave him a questioning +look. The other understood, and shook his head sadly to answer him No. +And then he busied himself with the stricken man, as he growled out to my +uncle: "I crossed the pond to Alexandria, but of your man--you know who-- +not a claw nor a feather. As to the Schopper brothers on the other hand +....But first let us try to get between this poor fellow and the grave. +Hold on, Uhlwurm!" And he was about to lift the sick man in doors. +Howbeit, I went up to the Brunswicker, who in his rough wise had ever +liked me well, and whereas meseemed he had seen my brothers, I besought +him right lovingly to give me tidings of them; but he only pointed to the +helpless man and said that such tidings as he had to give I should hear +only too soon; and this I deemed was so forbidding and so dismal that I +made up my mind to the worst; nay, and my fears waxed all the greater as +he laid his big hand on my sleeve, as it might be to comfort me, inasmuch +as that he had never yet done this save when he heard tell of my Hans' +untimely end. + +And then, since he would have none of my help in attending on the sick +man, I ran up to my aunt to tell her with due care of the tidings I had +heard; but my uncle had gone before me, and in the doorway I could see +that he had just kissed his beloved wife's brow. I could read in both +their faces that they were bereft of another hope, yet would my aunt go +below and herself speak with Young Kubbeling. My uncle would fain have +hindered her, but she paid no heed to his admonitions, and while her +tiring-woman arrayed her with great care to appear at table, she thanked +the saints for that Ann was far away on this luckless day. + +Thus the hours sped between our homecoming from the chase and the evening +meal, and we presently met all our guests in the refectory. Aunt Jacoba, +as was her wont, sat on her couch on which she was carried, at the upper +end of the table near the chimneyplace, next to which a smaller table was +spread, where Kubbeling and Uhlwurm took their seats as though they had +never sat elsewhere in their lives; and in truth old Jordan had taken his +meals in that same place, and whenever they came to the Lodge the serving +people knew right well what was due to them and their fellows. And +whereas they did not sit at the upper table, it was only by reason that +old Jordan, sixty years ago, had deemed it a burthensome honor, and more +than his due; and Young Kubbeling would in all things do as his father +had done before him. My seat was where I might see them, and an empty +chair stood between me and my aunt; this was left for Master Ulsenius, +the leech. This good man loved not to ride after dark, by reason of +highway robbers and plunderers, and some of us were somewhat ill at ease +at his coming so late. Notwithstanding this, the talk was not other than +cheerful; new guests had come to us from the town at noon, and they had +much to tell. Tidings had come that the Sultan of Egypt had fallen upon +the Island of Cyprus, and that the Mussulmans had beaten King Janus, who +ruled over it, and had carried him beyond seas in triumph to Old Cairo, a +prisoner and loaded with chains. Hereupon we were instructed by that +learned man, Master Eberhard Windecke, who was well-read in the history +of all the world--he had come to Nuremberg as a commissioner of finance +from his Majesty, and Uncle Tucher had brought him forth to the Forest-- +he, I say, instructed us that the forefather of this King Janus of Cyprus +had seized upon the crown of Jerusalem at the time of the crusades, +during the lifetime of the mighty Sultan Saladin, by poison and perjury, +and had then bartered it with the English monarch Richard Coeur de lion, +in exchange for the Kingdom of Cyprus. That ancestor of King Janus was +by name Guy de Lusignan, and the sins of the fathers, so Master Windecke +set forth with flowers of eloquence, were ever visited on the children, +unto the third and fourth generation. + +I, like most of the assembled company, had hearkened with due respect to +this discourse; yet had I not failed to note with what restless eyes my +aunt watched the two men when, after hardly staying their hunger and +thirst, they forthwith quitted the hall to tend the sick man; she truly +--as I would likewise--would rather have heard some present tidings than +this record of sins of the Lusignans dead and gone. Presently the two +men came back to their seats, and when Master Windecke, who, in speaking, +had forgotten to eat, fell to with double good will, Uncle Conrad gravely +bid Kubbeling to out with what he had to say; and yet the man, who was +lifting the leg of a black-cock to his mouth, would reply no more than a +rough, "All in good time, my lord." + +Thus we had to wait; nor was it till the Brunswicker had cracked his last +nut with his strong teeth, and the evening cup had been brought round, +that he broke silence and told us in short, halting sentences how he had +sailed from Venice to Alexandria in the land of Egypt, and all that had +befallen his falcons. Then he stopped, as one who has ended his tale, +and Uhlwurm said in a deep voice, and with a sweep of his hand as though +to clear the crumbs from the table "Gone!"--And that "Gone" was well-nigh +the only word that ever I heard from the lips of that strange old man. +As he went on with his tale Kubbeling made free with the wine, and albeit +it had no more effect on him than clear water, still meseemed he talked +on for his own easement; only when he told how and where he had vainly +sought the banished Gotz he looked grievously at my aunt's face. And +Kunz, who had crossed the sea in the same ship with him, had helped him +in that search. + +When I then asked him whether Kunz had not likewise come home with him to +Venice, and Kubbeling had answered me no, Uhlwurm said once more, or ever +his master had done speaking, "Gone!" in his deep, mournful voice, and +again swept away crumbs, as it might be, in the air. Hereupon so great a +fear fell upon me that meseemed a sharp steel bodkin was being thrust +into my heart; but Kubbeling had seen me turn pale, and he turned upon +Uhlwurm in high wrath, and to the end that I might take courage he cried: +"No, no, I say no. What does the old fool know about it! It is only by +reason that the galley tarried for Junker Schopper and weighed anchor +half a day later, that he forbodes ill. The delay was not needed. And +who can tell what young masters will be at? They get a fancy in their +green young heads, and it must be carried out whether or no. He swore to +me with a high and solemn oath that he would not rest till he had found +some trace of his brother, and if he kept the galleon waiting for that +reason, what wonder? Is it aught to marvel at? And you, Mistress +Margery, have of a surety known here in the Forest whither a false scent +may lead.--Junker Kunz! Whither he may have gone to seek his brother, +who can tell? Not I, and much less Uhlwurm. And young folks flutter +hither and thither like an untrained falcon; and if Master Kunz, who is +so much graver and wiser than others of his green youth, finds no one to +open his eyes, then he may--I do not say for certain, but peradventure, +for why should I frighten you all?--he may, I say, hunt high and low to +all eternity. The late Junker Herdegen. . . ." + +And again I felt that sharp pang through my heart, and I cried in the +anguish of my soul: "The late Junker--late Junker, did you say? How came +you to use such a word? By all you hold sacred, Kubbeling, torture me no +more. Confess all you know concerning my elder brother!" + +This I cried out with a quaking voice, but all too soon was I speechless +again, for once more that dreadful "Gone!" fell upon my ear from +Uhlwurm's lips. + +I hid my face in my hands, and sitting thus in darkness, I heard the +bird-dealer, in real grief now, repeat Uhlwurm's word of ill-omen: +"Gone." Yet he presently added in a tone of comfort: "But only +perchance--not for certain, Mistress Margery." + +Albeit he was now willing to tell more, he was stopped in the very act. +Neither he nor I had seen that some one had silently entered the hall +with my Uncle Christian and Master Ulsenius, had come close to us, and +had heard Uhlwurm's and Kubbeling's last words. This was Ann; and, as +she answered to the Brunswicker "I would you were in the right with that +'perchance'. How gladly would I believe it!" I took my hands down from +my face, and behold she stood before me in all her beauty, but in deep +mourning black, and was now, as I was, an unwedded widow. + +I ran to meet her, and now, as she clung to me first and then to my aunt, +she was so moving a spectacle that even Uhlwurm wiped his wet cheeks with +his finger-cloth. All were now silent, but Young Kubbeling ceased not +from wiping the sweat of anguish from his brow, till at last he cried: +"'Perchance' was what I said, and 'perchance' it still shall be; aye, by +the help of the Saints, and I will prove it. . . ." + +At this Ann uplifted her bead, which she had hidden in my aunt's bosom, +and Cousin Maud let drop her arms in which she held me clasped. The +learned Master Windecke made haste to depart, as he could ill-endure such +touching matters, while Uncle Conrad enquired of Ann what she had heard +of Herdegen's end. + +Hereupon she told us all in a low voice that yestereve she had received a +letter from my lord Cardinal, announcing that he had evil tidings from +the Christian brethren in Egypt. She was to hold herself ready for the +worst, inasmuch as, if they were right, great ill had befallen him. +Howbeit it was not yet time to give up all hope, and he himself would +never weary of his search: Young Kubbeling, who had meanwhile sent +Uhlwurm with the leech to see the sick man and then taken his seat again +with the wine-cup before him, had nevertheless kept one ear open, and had +hearkened like the rest to what Ann had been saying; then on a sudden he +thrust away his glass, shook his big fist in wrath, and cried out, to the +door, as it were, through which Uhlwurm had departed, "That croaker, that +death-watch, that bird of ill-omen! If he looks up at an apple-tree in +blossom and a bird is piping in the branches, all he thinks of is how +soon the happy creature will be killed by the cat! 'Gone! gone' indeed; +what profits it to say gone! He has befogged even my brain at last with +his black vapors. But now a light shines within me; and lend me an ear, +young Mistress, and all you worshipful lords and ladies; for I said +'perchance' and I mean it still." + +We listened indeed; and there was in his voice and mien a confidence +which could not fail to give us heart. My lord Cardinal's assurance that +we were not to rest satisfied with the evil tidings he had received, +Kubbeling had deemed right, and what was right was to him a fact. +Therefore had he racked his brain till the sweat stood on his brow, and +all he had ever known concerning Herdegen had come back to his mind and +this he now told us in his short, rude way, which I should in vain try to +set down. + +He said that, since the day when they had landed in Egypt, he had never +more set eyes on Kunz, but that he himself had made enquiry for Herdegen. +Anselmo Giustiniani was still the Republic's consul there, and lodging at +the Venice Fondaco with Ursula his wife; but the serving men had said +that they had never heard of Schopper of Nuremberg; nor was it strange +that Kunz's coming should be unknown to them, inasmuch as, to be far from +Ursula, he had found hospitality with the Genoese and not with the +Venetians. When, on the eve of sailing for home, the Brunswicker had +again waited on the authorities at the Fondaco, to procure his leave to +depart and fetch certain moneys he had bestowed there, he had met +Mistress Ursula; and whereas she knew him and spoke to him, he seized the +chance to make enquiry concerning Herdegen. And it was from her mouth, +and from none other, that he had learned that the elder Junker Schopper +had met a violent death; and, when he had asked where and how, she had +answered him that it was in one of those love-makings which were ever the +aim and business of his life. Thus he might tell all his kith and kin in +Nuremberg henceforth to cease their spying and prying, which had already +cost her more pains and writing than enough. + +This discourse had but ill-pleased Kubbeling, yet had he not taken it +amiss, and had only said that she would be doing Kunz--who had come to +Egypt with him--right good service, if she would give him more exact +tidings of how his brother had met his end. + +"Whereupon," said the bird-seller, "she gave me a look the like of which +not many could give; for inasmuch as the lady is, for certain, over eyes +and ears in love with Junker Kunz......" + +But I stopped him, and said that in this he was of a certainty mistaken; +Howbeit he laughed shortly and went on. "Which of us saw her? I or you? +But love or no love--only listen till the end. Mistress Ursula for sure +knew not till then that Junker Kunz was in Alexandria, and so soon as she +learnt it she began to question me. She must know the day and hour when +he had cast anchor there, wherefor he had chosen to lodge in the Genoa +Fondaco, when I last had seen him, nay, and of what stuff and color his +garments were made. She went through them all, from the feather in his +hat to his hose. As for me, I must have seemed well nigh half witted, +and I told her at last that I had no skill in such matters, but that I +had ever seen him of an evening in a white mantle with a peaked hood. +Hereupon the blood all left her face, and with it all her beauty. She +clapped her hand to her forehead like one possessed or in a fit, as +though caught in her own snare, and she would have fallen, if I had not +held her upright. And then, on a sudden, she stood firm on her feet, bid +me depart right roughly, and pointed to the door; and I was ready and +swift enough in departing. When I was telling of all this to Uhlwurm, +who had stayed without, and what I had heard concerning Junker Herdegen, +he had nought to say but that accursed 'Gone!' And how that dazes me, +old mole that I am, you yourselves have seen. But the demeanor of +Mistress Tetzel of Nuremberg, I have never had it out of my mind since, +day or night, nor again, yesterday." + +He rubbed his damp brow, drank a draught, and took a deep breath; he was +not wont to speak at such length. But whereas we asked him many +questions of these matters, he turned again to us maidens, and said +"Grant me a few words apart from the matter you see, in time a man gets +an eye for a falcon, and sees what its good points are, and if it ails +aught. He learns to know the breed by its feathers, and breastbone, and +the color of its legs, and many another sign, and its temper by its eye +and beak;--and it is the same with knowing of men. All this I learned +not of myself, but from my father, God rest him; and like as you may know +a falcon by the beak, so you may know a man or a woman by the mouth. And +as I mind me of Mistress Ursula's face, as I saw it then, that is enough +for me. Aye, and I will give my best Iceland Gerfalcon for a lame crow +if every word she spoke concerning the death of Junker Herdegen was not +false knavery. She is a goodly woman and of wondrous beauty; yet, as I +sat erewhile, thinking and gazing into the Wurzburg wine in my cup, I +remembered her red lips and white teeth, as she bid me exhort his kin at +home to seek the lost man no more. And I will plainly declare what that +mouth brought to my mind; nought else than the muzzle of the she-wolf you +caught and chained up. That was how she showed her tusks when Uhlwurm +wheedled her after his wise, and she feigned to be his friend albeit she +thirsted to take him by the throat.--False, I say, false, false was every +word that came to my ears out of that mouth! I know what I know; she is +mad for the sake of one of the Schoppers, and if it be not Kunz then it +is the other, and if it be not with love then it is with hate. Make the +sign of the cross, say I; she would put one or both of them out of the +world, as like as not. For certain it is that she would fain have had me +believe that the elder Junker Schopper had already come to a bad end, and +it is no less certain that she had some foul purpose in hand." + +The old man coughed, wiped his brow, and fell back in his seat; we, +indeed, knew not what to think of his discourse, and looked one at the +other with enquiry. Jung Kubbeling was the last man on earth we could +have weened would read hearts. Only Uncle Christian upheld him, and +declared that the future would ere long confirm all that wise old +Jordan's son had foretold from sure signs. + +The dispute waxed so loud that even our silent Chaplain put in his word, +to express his consent to the Brunswicker's opinion of Ursula, and to put +forward fresh proofs why, in spite of her statement, Herdegen might yet +be in the land of the living. + +At this moment the door flew open, and the housekeeper--who was wont to +be a right sober-witted widow--rushed into the refectory, followed by my +aunt's waiting-maid, both with crimson cheeks and so full of their matter +that they forgot the reverence due to our worshipful guests, and it was +hard at first to learn what had so greatly disturbed them. So soon as +this was clear, Cousin Maud, and Ann and I at her heels, ran off to the +chamber where Master Ulsenius still tarried with the sick traveller, +inasmuch as that if the women were not deceived, the poor fellow was none +other than Eppelein, Herdegen's faithful henchman. The tiringwoman +likewise, a smart young wench, believed that it was he; and her opinion +was worthy to be trusted by reason that she was one of the many maids who +had looked upon Eppelein with favor. + +We presently were standing by the lad's bedside; Master Ulsenius had just +done with bandaging his head and body and arms; the poor fellow had been +indeed cruelly handled, and but for the Brunswicker's help he must have +died. That Kubbeling should not have known him, although they had often +met in past years, was easy to explain; for I myself could scarce have +believed that the pale, hollow-eyed man who lay there, to all seeming +dying, was our brisk and nimble-witted Eppelein. Yet verily he it was, +and Ann flung herself on her knees by the bed, and it was right piteous +to hear her cry: "Poor, faithful Eppelein!" and many other good words in +low and loving tones. Yet did he not hear nor understand, inasmuch as he +was not in his senses. For the present there was nought of tidings to be +had from him, and this was all the greater pity by reason that the +thieves had stripped off his clothes, even to his boots, and thus, if he +were the bearer of any writing, he might now never deliver it. Yet he +had come with some message. When the men left us there Ann bent over him +and laid a wet kerchief on his hot head, and he presently opened his eyes +a little way, and pointed with his left hand, which was sound, to the end +of the bed-place where his feet lay, and murmured, scarce to be heard and +as though he were lost: "The letter, oh, the letter!" But then he lost +his senses; and presently he said the same words again and again. So his +heart and brain were full of one thing, and that was the letter which +some one--and who else than his well-beloved Master--had straitly charged +him to deliver rightly. + +Every word he might speak in his fever might give us some important +tidings, and when at midnight my aunt bid us go to bed, Ann declared it +to be her purpose to keep watch by Eppelein all night, and I would not +for the world have quitted her at such a moment. And whereas she well +knew Master Ulsenius, and had already lent a helping hand of her own free +will to old Uhlwurm, the tending the sick man was wholly given over to +her; and I sat me down by the fire, gazing sometimes at the leaping +flames and flying sparks, and sometimes at the sick-bed and at all Ann +was doing. Then I waxed sleepy, and the hours flew past while I sat wide +awake, or dreaming as I slept for a few minutes. Then it was morning +again, and there was somewhat before my eyes whereof I knew not whether +it were happening in very truth, or whether it were still a dream, yet +meseemed it was so pleasant that I was still smiling when the house- +keeper came in, and that chased sleep away. I thought I had seen Ann +lead ugly old Uhlwurm to the window, and stroke down his rough cheeks +with her soft small hand. This being all unlike her wonted timid +modesty, it amused me all the more, and the old man's demeanor likewise +had made me smile; he was surly, and notwithstanding courteous to her and +had said to her I know not what. Now, when I was wide-awake, Ann had +indeed departed, and the house-wife had seen her quit the house and walk +towards the stables, following old Uhlwurm. + +Hereupon a strange unrest fell upon me, and when Kubbeling presently +answered to my questioning that old Uhlwurm had craved leave to be absent +till noon, to the end that he might go to the very spot where they had +found Eppelein, and make search for that letter which he doubtless had +had on his person, I plainly saw wherefor Ann had beguiled the old man. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Forty or fifty, when most women only begin to be wicked +Shadow which must ever fall where there is light +Woman who might win the love of a highly-gifted soul (Pays for it) + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGERY, BY GEORG EBERS, V6 *** + +******** This file should be named 5557.txt or 5557.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. 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