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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Margery, by Georg Ebers, Volume 7.
+#119 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers*****
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+Title: Margery, Volume 7.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5558]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on August 2, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGERY, BY GEORG EBERS, V7 ***
+
+
+
+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 7.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+"The old owl!  I will give him somewhat to remember me by till some one
+else can say 'Gone' over him!"  This was what my Uncle Christian growled
+a little later, out near the stables, where Matthew was putting the
+bridle on my bay nag, while the other serving-men were saddling the
+horses for the gentlemen.  I had stolen hither, knowing full well that
+the old folks would not have suffered me to ride forth after Ann, and my
+good godfather even now ceased not from railing, in his fears for his
+darling.  "What else did we talk of yestereve, Master leech and I, all
+the way we rode with the misguided maid, but of the wicked deeds done in
+these last few weeks on the high roads, and here in this very wood?  With
+her own ears, she heard us say that the town constable required us to
+take seven mounted men as outriders, by reason that the day before
+yesterday the whole train of waggons of the Borchtels and the Schnods was
+overtaken, and the convoy would of a certainty have been beaten if they
+had not had the aid, by good-hap, of the fellowship marching with the
+Maurers and the Derrers.--And it was pitch dark, owls were flitting,
+foxes barking; it was enough to make even an old scarred soldier's blood
+run cold.  It is a sin and a shame how the rogues ply their trade, even
+close under the walls of the city!  They cut off a bleacher's man's ears,
+and when I wished that young Eber of Wichsenstein, and all the rout that
+follows him might come to the gallows, Ann made bold to plead for them,
+by reason that he only craved to visit on the Nurembergers the cruel
+death they brought upon his father the famous thief.  As if she did not
+know full well that, since Eppelein of Gailingen was cast into prison,
+our land has never been such a den of murder and robbery as at this day.
+If there is less dust to be seen on the high-ways, said the keeper, it is
+by reason that it is washed away in blood.  And notwithstanding all this
+the crazy maid runs straight into the Devil's arms, with that old dolt."
+
+Then, when I went into the stable to mount, Uncle Conrad turned on
+Kubbeling in stormy ire for that he had suffered Uhlwurm to lead Ann
+into such peril; howbeit the Brunswicker knew how to hold his own, and
+declared at last that he could sooner have looked to see a falcon grow a
+lion's tail in place of feathers, than that old death-watch make common
+cause with a young maiden.  "He had come forth," quoth he, "to counsel
+their excellencies to take horse."  But my uncle's question, whether he,
+Kubbeling, believed that they had come forth to the stables to hear mass,
+put an end to his discourse; the gentlemen called to the serving-men to
+make speed, and I was already in the saddle.  Then, when I had commanded
+Endres to open the great gate, I bowed my head low and rode out through
+the stable door, and bade the company a hearty good-day.  To this they
+made reply, while Uncle Conrad asked whether I had forgotten his
+counsels, and whither it was my intent to ride; whereupon I hastily
+replied: "Under safe guidance, that is to say yours, to follow Ann."
+
+My uncle slashed his boot with his whip, and asked in wrath whether I had
+considered that blood would perchance be shed, and ended by counselling
+me kindly: "So stay at home, little Margery!"
+
+"I am as obedient as ever," was my ready answer, "but whereas I am now
+well in the saddle, I will stay in the saddle."
+
+At this the old man knew not whether to take a jest as a jest, or to give
+me a stern order; and while he and the others were getting into their
+stirrups he said: "Have done with folly when matters are so serious,
+madcap child!  We have enough to do to think of Ann, and more than
+enough!  So dismount, Margery, with all speed."
+
+"All in good time," said I then, "I will dismount that minute when we
+have found Ann.  Till then the giant Goliath shall not move me from the
+saddle!"
+
+Hereupon the old man lost patience, he settled himself on his big brown
+horse and cried out in a wrathfill and commanding tone: "Do not rouse me
+to anger, Margery.  Do as I desire and dismount."
+
+But that moment he could more easily have made me to leap into the fire
+than to leave Ann in the lurch; I raised the bridle and whip, and as the
+bay broke into a gallop Uncle Conrad cried out once more, in greater
+wrath than before: "Do as I bid you!"  and I joyfully replied "That I
+will if you come and fetch me!"  And my horse carried me off and away,
+through the open gate.
+
+The gentlemen tore after me, and if I had so desired they would never
+have caught me till the day of judgment, inasmuch as that my Hungarian
+palfrey, which my Hans had brought for me from the stables of Count von
+Cilly, the father of Queen Barbara, was far swifter than their heavy
+hook-nosed steeds; yet as I asked no better than to seek Ann in all peace
+with them, and as my uncle was a mild and wise man, who would not take
+the jest he could not now spoil over seriously, I suffered them to gain
+upon me and we concluded a bargain to the effect that all was to be
+forgotten and forgiven, but that I was pledged to turn the bay and make
+the best of my way home at the first sign of danger.  And if the
+gentlemen had come to the stables in a gloomy mood and much fear, the
+wild chase after me had recovered their high spirits; and, albeit my own
+heart beat sadly enough, I did my best to keep of good cheer, and verily
+the sight of Kubbeling helped to that end.  He was to show us the way to
+the spot where he had found Eppelem, and was now squatted on a very big
+black horse, from which his little legs, with their strange gear of
+catskins, stuck out after a fashion wondrous to behold.  After we had
+thus gone at a steady pace for some little space, my confidence began to
+fail once more; even if Ann and her companion had been somewhat delayed
+by their search, still ought we to have met them by this time, if they
+had gone to the place without tarrying, and set forth to return
+unhindered.  And when, presently, we came to an open plot whence we might
+see a long piece of the forest path, and yet saw nought but a little
+charcoal burner's cart, meseemed as though a cold hand had been laid on
+my heart.  Again and again I spied the distance, while a whole army of
+thoughts and terrors tossed my soul.  I pictured them in the power of the
+vengeful Eber von Wichsenstein and his fierce robber fellows; methought
+the covetous Bremberger had dragged them into his castle postern to exact
+a great ransom--nor was this the worst that might befall.  If Abersfeld
+the wildest freebooter of all the plundering nobles far or near were to
+seize her?  My blood ran cold as I conceived of this chance.  Ann was so
+fair; what lord who might carry her off could she fail to inflame?  And
+then I minded me of what I had read of the Roman Lucretia, and if I had
+been possessed of any magic art, I would have given the first raven by
+the way a sharp bodkin that he should carry it to her.
+
+In my soul's anguish, while I held my bridle and whip together in my left
+hand, with the right I lifted the gold cross on my breast to my lips and
+in a silent heartfelt prayer I besought the Blessed Virgin, and my own
+dear mother in Heaven to have her in keeping.
+
+And so we rode on and on till we came to the pools by Pillenreuth.  Hard
+by the larger of these, known as the King's pool, was a sign-post, and
+not far away was the spot where they had found Eppelein, stripped and
+plundered; and in truth it was the very place for highwaymen and
+freebooters, lying within the wood and aside from the highway; albeit, if
+it came to their taking flight, they might find it again by Reichelstorf.
+Nor was there any castle nor stronghold anywhere nigh; the great building
+with walls and moats which stood on the south side of the King's pool was
+but the peaceful cloister of the Augustine Sisters of Pillenreuth.  All
+about the water lay marsh-ground overgrown with leafless bushes, rushes,
+tall grasses, and reeds.  It was verily a right dismal and ill-boding
+spot.
+
+The boggy tract across which our path lay was white with fresh hoar-
+frost, and the thicket away to the south was a haunt for crows such as I
+never have seen again since; the black birds flew round and about it in
+dark clouds with loud shrieks, as though in its midst stood a charnel and
+gallows, and from the brushwood likewise, by the pool's edge, came other
+cries of birds, all as full of complaining as though they were bewailing
+the griefs of the whole world.
+
+Here we stayed our horses, and called and shouted; but none made answer,
+save only toads and crows.  "This is the place, for certain," said Young
+Kubbeling, and Grubner the head forester, sprang to his feet to help him
+down from his tall mare.  The gentlemen likewise dismounted, and were
+about to follow the Trunswicker across the mead to the place where
+Eppelein had been found; but he bid them not, inasmuch as they would mar
+the track he would fain discover.
+
+They, then, stood still and gazed after him, as I did likewise; and my
+fears waxed greater till I verily believed that the crows were indeed
+birds of ill-omen, as I saw a large black swarm of them wheel croaking
+round Kubbeling.  He, meanwhile, stooped low, seeking any traces on the
+frosted grass, and his short, thick-set body seemed for all the world one
+of the imps, or pixies, which dwell among the roots of trees and in the
+holes in the rocks.  He crept about with heedful care and never a word,
+prying as he went, and presently I could see that he shook his big head
+as though in doubt, nay, or in sorrow.  I shuddered again, and meseemed
+the grey clouds in the sky waxed blacker, while deathly pale airy forms
+floated through the mist over the pools, in long, waving winding-sheets.
+The thick black heads of the bulrushes stood up motionless like grave-
+stones, and the grey silken tufts of the bog-grass, fluttering in the
+cold breath of a November morning, were as ghostly hands, threatening or
+warning me.
+
+Ere long I was to forget the crows, and the fogs, and the reed-grass, and
+all the foolish fears that possessed me, by reason of a real and well-
+founded terror; again did Kubbeling shake his head, and then I heard him
+call to my Uncle Conrad and Grubner the headforester, to come close to
+him, but to tread carefully.  Then they stood at his side, and they
+likewise stooped low and then my uncle clasped his hands, and he cried in
+horror, "Merciful Heaven!"
+
+In two minutes I had run on tip-toe across the damp, frosted grass to
+join them, and there, sure enough, I could see full plainly the mark of a
+woman's dainty shoe.  The sole and the heel were plainly to be seen, and,
+hard by, the print of a man's large, broad shoes, with iron-shod heels,
+which told Kubbeling that they were those of Uhlwurm's great boots.  Yet
+though we had not met those we sought, the forest was full of by-ways, by
+which they might have crossed us on the road; but nigh to the foot-prints
+of the maid and the old man were there three others.  The old woodsman
+could discern them only too well; they had each and all been made in the
+hoar-frost by men's boots.  Two, it was certain, had been left by finely-
+cut soles, such as are made by skilled city cordwainers; and one left a
+track which could only be that of a spur; whereas the third was so flat
+and broad that it was for sure that of the shoe of a peasant, or charcoal
+burner.
+
+There was a green patch in the frost which could only be explained as
+having been made by one who had lain long on the earth, and the back of
+his head, where he had fallen, had left a print in the grass as big as a
+man's fist.  Here was clear proof that Ann and her companion had, on this
+very spot, been beset by three robbers, two of them knights and one of
+low degree, that Uhlwurm had fought hard and had overpowered one of them
+or had got the worst of it, and had been flung on the grass.
+
+Alas!  there could be no doubt, whereas Kubbeling found a foot-print of
+Ann's over which the spurred mark lay, plainly showing that she had come
+thither before those men.  And on the highway we found fresh tracks of
+horses and men; thus it was beyond all doubt that knavish rogues had
+fallen upon Ann and Uhlwurm, and had carried them off without bloodshed,
+for no such trace was to be seen anywhere on the mead.
+
+Meanwhile the forester had followed the scent with the bloodhounds,
+starting from the place where the man had lain on the grass, and scarce
+were they lost to sight among the brushwood when they loudly gave tongue,
+and Grubner cried to us to come to him.  Behind a tall alder bush, which
+had not yet lost its leaves, was a wooden lean-to on piles, built there
+by the Convent fisherman wherein to dry his nets; and beneath this
+shelter lay an old man in the garb of a serving-man, who doubtless had
+lost his life in the struggle with Uhlwurm.  But Kubbeling was soon
+kneeling by his side, and whereas he found that his heart still beat, he
+presently discovered what ailed the fellow.  He was sleeping off a
+drunken bout, and more by token the empty jar lay by his side.  Likewise
+hard by there stood a hand-barrow, full of such wine-jars, and we
+breathed more freely, for if the drunken rogue were not himself one of
+the highway gang, they must have found him there and seized the good
+liquor.
+
+Now, while Kubbeling fetched water from the pool, Uncle Christian tried
+the quality of the jars in the barrow, and the first he opened was fine
+Malvoisie.  Whether this were going to the Convent or no the drunken
+churl should tell, and a stream of cold November-water ere long brought
+him to his wits.  Then was there much mirth, as the rogue thus waked on
+a sudden from his sleep let the water drip off him in dull astonishment,
+and stared at us open-mouthed; and it needed some patience till he was
+able to tell us of many matters which we afterwards heard at greater
+length and in fuller detail.
+
+He was a serving-man to Master Rummel of Nuremberg, who had been sent
+forth from Lichtenau to carry this good liquor to the nuns at
+Pillenreuth; the market-town of Lichtenau lieth beyond Schwabach and had
+of yore belonged to the Knight of Heideck, who had sold it to that city,
+of which the Rummels, who were an old and honored family, had bought it,
+with the castle.
+
+Now, whereas yestereve the Knight of Heideck, the former owner of the
+castle, a noble of staunch honor, was sitting at supper with Master
+Rummel in the fortress of Lichtenau, a rider from Pillenreuth had come in
+with a petition from the Abbess for aid against certain robber folk who
+had carried away some cattle pertaining to the convent.  Hereupon the
+gentlemen made ready to go and succor the sisters, and with wise
+foresight they sent a barrow-load of good wine to Pillenreuth, to await
+them there, inasmuch as that no good liquor was to be found with the
+pious sisters.  When the gentlemen had, this very morning, come to the
+place where the highwaymen had fallen on Eppelein, they had met Ann who
+was known to them at the Forest lodge, where she was in the act of making
+search for Herdegen's letter, and they, in their spurred boots, had
+helped her.  At last they had besought her to go with them to the
+Convent, by reason that the men-at-arms of Lichtenau had yesternight gone
+forth to meet the thieves, and by this time peradventure had caught them
+and found the letter on them.  Ann had consented to follow this gracious
+bidding, if only she might give tidings of where she would be to those
+her friends who would for certain come in search of her.  Thereupon
+Master Rummel had commanded the servingman, who had come up with the
+barrow, to tarry here and bid us likewise to the Convent; the fellow,
+however, who had already made free on his way with the contents of the
+jars, had tried the liquor again.  And first he had tumbled down on the
+frosted grass and then had laid him down to rest under the fisherman's
+hut.
+
+Rarely indeed hath a maiden gone to the cloister with a lighter heart
+than I, after I had heard these tidings, and albeit there was yet cause
+for fear and doubting, I could be as truly mirthful as the rest, and or
+ever I jumped into my saddle again I had many a kiss from bearded lips as
+a safe conduct to the Sisters.  My good godfather in the overflowing joy
+of his heart rushed upon me to kiss me on both cheeks and on my brow, and
+I had gladly suffered it and smiled afterwards to perceive that he would
+allow the barrow-man to tarry no longer.
+
+In the Convent there was fresh rejoicing.  The mist had hidden us from
+their sight, and we found them all at breakfast: the gentlemen and Ann,
+the lady Abbess and a novice who was the youngest daughter of Uncle
+Endres Tucher of Nuremberg, and my dear cousin, well-known likewise to
+Ann.  Albeit the Convent was closed to all other men, it was ever open to
+its lord protector.  Hereupon was a right happy meeting and glad
+greeting, and at the sight of Ann for the second time this day, though it
+was yet young, the bright tears rolled over Uncle Christian's round
+twice-double chin.
+
+Now wheresoever a well-to-do Nuremberg citizen is taking his ease with
+victuals and drink, if others join him they likewise must sit down and
+eat with him, yea, if it were in hell itself.  But the Convent of
+Pillenreuth was a right comfortable shelter, and my lady the Abbess a
+woman of high degree and fine, hospitable manners; and the table was made
+longer in a winking, and laid with white napery and plates and all
+befitting.  None failed of appetite and thirst after the ride in the
+sharp morning air, and how glad was my soul to have my Ann again safe and
+unharmed.
+
+We were seated at table by the time our horses were tied up in the
+stables, and from the first minute there was a mirthful and lively
+exchange of talk.  For my part I forthwith fell out with the Knight von
+Heideck, inasmuch as he was fain to sit betwixt Ann and me, and would
+have it that a gallant knight must ever be a more welcome neighbor to a
+damsel than her dearest woman-friend.  And the loud cheer and merrymaking
+were ere long overmuch for me; and I would gladly have withdrawn with Ann
+to some lonely spot, there to think of our dear one.
+
+At last we were released; Jorg Starch, the captain of the Lichtenau
+horsemen, a tall, lean soldier, with shrewd eyes, a little turned-up
+cock-nose, and thick full beard, now came in and, lifting his hand to his
+helmet, said as sharply as though he were cutting each word short off
+with his white teeth: "Caught; trapped; all the rabble!"
+
+In a few minutes we were all standing on the rampart between the pools
+and the Convent, and there were the miserable knaves whom Jorg Starch and
+his men-at-arms had surrounded and carried off while they were making
+good cheer over their morning broth and sodden flesh.  They had declared
+that they had been of Wichsenstein's fellowship, but had deserted Eber by
+reason of his over-hard rule, and betaken themselves to robbery on their
+own account.  Howbeit Starch was of opinion that matters were otherwise.
+When he had been sent forth to seek them he had as yet no knowledge of
+the attack on Eppelein; now, so soon as he heard that they had stripped
+him of his clothes, he bid them stand in a row and examined each one; in
+truth they were a pitiable crew, and had they not so truly deserved our
+compassion their rags must have moved us to laughter.  One had made his
+cloak of a woman's red petticoat, pulling it over his head and cutting
+slits in it for arm-holes, and another great fellow wore a friar's brown
+frock and on his head a good-wife's fur turban tied on with an infant's
+swaddling band.  Jorg Starch's enquiries as to where were Eppelein's
+garments made one of them presently point to his decent and whole jerkin,
+another to his under coat, and the biggest man of them all to his hat
+with the cock's feather, which was all unmatched with his ragged weed.
+Starch searched each piece for the letter, and meanwhile Uhlwurm stooped
+his long body, groping on the ground in such wise that it might have
+seemed that he was seeking the four-leaved clover; and on a sudden he
+laid hands on the shoes of a lean, low fellow, with hollow cheeks and a
+thrifty beard on his sharp chin, who till now had looked about him, the
+boldest of them all; he felt round the top of the shoes, and looking him
+in the face, asked him in a threatening voice: "Where are the tops?"
+
+"The tops?" said the man in affrighted tones.  "I wear shoes, Master,
+and shoes are but boots which have no tops; and mine.  .  .  ."
+
+"And yours!" quoth Uhlwurm in scorn.  "The rats have made shoes of your
+boots and have eaten the tops, unless it was the mice?  Look here,
+Captain, if it please you......"
+
+Starch did his bidding, and when he had made the lean knave put off his
+left shoe he looked at it on all sides, stroked his beard the wrong way,
+and said solemnly: "Well  said,  Master, this  is  matter  for thought!
+All this gives the case a fresh face."  And he likewise cried to the
+rogue: "Where are the tops?"  The fellow had had time to collect himself,
+and answered boldly: "I am but a poor weak worm, my lord Captain; they
+were full heavy for me, so I cut them away and cast them into the pool,
+where by now the carps are feeding on them."  And he glanced round at his
+fellows, as it were to read in their faces their praise of his quick wit.
+Howbeit they were in overmuch dread to pay him that he looked for; nay,
+and his bold spirit was quelled when Starch took him by the throat and
+asked him: "Do you see that bough there, my lad?  If another lie passes
+your lips, I will load it with a longer and heavier pear than ever it
+bore yet?  Sebald, bring forth the ropes.--Now my beauty; answer me three
+things:  Did the messenger wear boots?  How come you, who are one of the
+least of the gang, to be wearing sound shoes?  And again, Where are the
+tops?"
+
+Whereupon the little man craved, sadly whimpering, that he might be asked
+one question at a time, inasmuch as he felt as it were a swarm of humble-
+bees in his brain, and when Starch did his will he looked at the others
+as though to say: "You did no justice to my ready wit," and then he told
+that he had in truth drawn off the boots from the messenger's feet and
+had been granted them to keep, by reason that they were too small for the
+others, while he was graced with a small and dainty foot.  And he cast a
+glance at us ladies on whom he had long had an eye, a sort of fearful
+leer, and went on: "The tops--they.  .  .  ."  and again he stuck fast.
+Howbeit, as Starch once more pointed to the pear-tree, he confessed in
+desperate terror that another man had claimed the tops, one who had not
+been caught, inasmuch as they were so high and good.  Hereupon Starch
+laughed so loud and clapped his hand with such a smack as made us maidens
+start, and he cried: "That's it, that is the way of it!  Zounds, ye
+knaves!  Then the Sow--[Eber, his name, means a boar.  This is a sort of
+punning insult]--of Wichsenstein was himself your leader yesterday, and
+it was only by devilish ill-hap that the knave was not with you when I
+took you!  You ragged ruffians would never have given over the tops in
+this marsh and moorland, to any but a rightful master, and I know where
+the Sow is lurking--for the murderer of a messenger is no more to be
+called a Boar.  Now then, Sebald!  In what hamlet hereabout dwells there
+a cobbler?"
+
+"There is crooked Peter at Neufess, and Hackspann at Reichelstorf," was
+the answer.
+
+"Good;  that much we needed to know," said Starch.  "And now, little
+one," and he gave the man another shaking, "Out with it.  Did the Sow--
+or, that there may be no mistake--did Eber of Wichsenstein ride away to
+Neufess or to Reichelstorf?  Who was to sew the tops to his shoes, Peter
+or Hackspann?"
+
+The terrified creature clasped his slender hands in sheer amazement, and
+cried: "Was there ever such abounding wisdom born in the land since the
+time of chaste Joseph, who interpreted Pharaoh's dreams?  The man who
+shall catch you asleep, my lord Captain, must rise earlier than such
+miserable hunted wretches as we are.  He rode to Neufess, albeit
+Hackspann is the better cobbler.  Reichelstorf lies hard by the highway
+by which you came, my lord; and if Eber does but hear the echo of your
+right glorious name, my lord Baron and potent Captain.  .  .  ."
+
+"And what is my name--your lord Baron and potent Captain?"  Starch
+thundered out.
+
+"Yours?" said the little man unabashed.  "Yours?  Merciful Heaven!
+Till this minute I swear I could have told you; but in such straits a
+poor little tailor such as I might forget his own father's honored name!"
+At this Starch laughed out and clapped the little rogue in all kindness
+behind the ears, and when his men-at-arms, whom he had commanded to make
+ready, had mounted their horses, he cried to Uhlwurm: "I may leave the
+rest to you, Master; you know where Barthel bestows the liquor!--Now,
+Sebald, bind this rabble and keep them safe.--And make a pig-sty ready.
+If I fail to bring the boar home this very night, may I be called Dick
+Dule to the end of my days instead of Jorg Starch!"
+
+And herewith he made his bow, sprang into his saddle, and rode away with
+his men.
+
+"A nimble fellow, after God's heart!"  quoth Master Rummel to my Uncle
+Conrad as they looked after him.  And that he was in truth; albeit we
+could scarce have looked for it, we learned on the morrow that he might
+bear his good name to the grave, inasmuch as he had taken Eber of
+Wichsenstein captive in the cobbler's work-place, and carried him to
+Pillenreuth, whence he came to Nuremberg, and there to the gallows.
+
+Starch had left a worthy man to fill his place; hardly had he departed
+when old Uhlwurm pulled off the tailor's right shoe, and now it was made
+plain wherefor Eppelein had so anxiously pointed to his feet; the letter
+entrusted to him had indeed been hid in his boot.  Under the lining
+leather of the sole it lay, but only one from Akusch addressed to me.
+Howbeit, when we had threatened the now barefoot knave with cruel
+torture, he confessed that, having been an honest tailor till of late,
+he had soft feet by reason that he had ever sat over his needle.  And
+when he pulled on the stolen shoes somewhat therein hard hurt his sole,
+and when he made search under the leather, behold a large letter closely
+folded and sealed.  This had been the cause and reason of his being ill
+at ease, and he had opened it, being of an enquiring mind, and, inasmuch
+as he was a schoolmaster's son he could read with the best.  Howbeit, at
+that time the gang were about to light a fire to make their supper, and
+whereas it would not burn by reason of the wet, they had taken the dry
+paper and used it to make the feeble flame blaze up.
+
+Thus there was nought more to be hoped for, save that the tailor might by
+good hap remember certain parts of the letter; and in truth he was able
+to tell us that it was written to a maid named Ann, and in it there were
+such words of true love in great straits and bitter parting as moved him
+to tears, by reason that he likewise had once had a true love.
+
+While he spoke thus he perceived that Ann was the maiden to whom the
+letter had been writ, and he forthwith poured forth a great flow of fiery
+love-vows such as he may have learned from his Amadis, but never, albeit
+he said it, from that letter.
+
+One thing at least he could make known to us from Herdegen's letter; and
+that was that the writer said much concerning slavery and a great ransom,
+and likewise of a malignant woman who was his foe, and of her husband,
+whose wiles could by no means be brought to nought unless it were by
+cunning and prudent craft.  This, indeed, he could repeat well-nigh word
+for word, by reason that he had conceived the plan of urging Eber to set
+forth for the land of Egypt with his robber-band, and deliver that
+guiltless slave from the hands of the misbelieving heathen.  Albeit he
+had made himself a highway thief, it was only by reason that he had been
+told that von Wichsenstein had no other end than to restore to the poor
+that of which the rich had robbed them, and to release the oppressed from
+the power of the mighty.  All this had not suffered him to rest on his
+tailor's bench till he had laid down the needle and seized the cook's
+great roasting spit.  Ere long he had discovered that, like master
+like man, each man cared for himself alone.  He himself had been forced
+to do many cruel and knavish deeds, sorely against his will and all that
+was good in him.  From his pious and gentle mother he had come by a soft
+and harmless soul, so that in the winter season he would strew sugar for
+the flies when they were starving, and it had even gone against him to
+stick his needle into a flesh-colored garment for sheer fear of hurting
+it.  When the others had left the messenger-lad stripped on the road, he
+had gone back alone and had bound up the wound in his head with his own
+kerchief, and more by token that he spoke the truth the kerchief bore his
+Christian name in the corner of it, "Pignot," which his good mother, God
+rest her, had sewn there.  He was but a poor orphan, and if ....  Here
+his voice failed him for sobs.  But ere long he recovered his good cheer;
+for Ann had indeed marked the letter P on the cloth about Eppelein's
+head, and the poor wight was of a truth none other than he had declared.
+Hereupon we made bold to speak for him, and it was to his own act of
+mercy and the letters set in his kerchief by that pious mother that he
+owed it.  He afterwards came to be an honest and worthy master-tailor at
+Velden, and instead of taking up the cudgels for his oppressed fellow
+men, he suffered stern treatment in much humility at the hands of the
+great woman whom he chose to wife, notwithstanding he was so small a man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+Herdegen's letter was burnt with fire, and the letter from Akusch was to
+me, and contained little besides thanks and assurances of faithfulness
+due to me his "beloved mistress," with greetings to Cousin Maud, who had
+ever with just reproofs kept him in the right way, and to every member of
+the household.  The Pastscyiptum only contained tidings of great import;
+and it was as follows:
+
+"Moreover I declare and swear to you, my gracious lady, that my kindred
+take as good care of my Lord Kunz as though he were at home in Nuremberg.
+His wounds are bad, yet by faithful care, and by the grace and help of
+God the all-merciful, they shall be healed.  He lacks for nothing.  In
+the matter of my lord Herdegen's ransom there are many obstacles.
+
+"Had God the all-merciful but granted to my dear father to hold his high
+estate a few weeks longer, it would have been a small matter to him to
+release a slave; but now he is cast into a dungeon by the evil malice of
+his enemies.  Oh! that the all-wise God should suffer such malignant men
+to live as his foes and as that shameless woman whom you have long known
+by the name of Ursula Tetzel!  But you will have learnt by my lord
+Herdegen's letter all I could tell, and you will understand that your
+humble servant will daily beseech the Most High God to prosper you, and
+cause you to send hither some wise and potent captain to the end that we
+may be delivered; inasmuch as the craft and fury of our foes are no less
+than their power.  They are lions and likewise poisonous serpents."
+
+These lines were signed with the name of Akusch, and the words, Ibn Tagri
+Verdi al-Mahmudi, which is to say: Akusch, Son of Tagri Verdi al-Mahmudi.
+
+We were at home at the Forest-lodge or ever the sun had set; there we
+found Aunt Jacoba more calm than we had hoped for, inasmuch as that not
+only had her husband sent her brief tidings of us, but likewise she had
+heard more exactly all that had kept us away.  Kubbeling, albeit the lady
+Abbess had bidden him to her table, had privily stolen forth to send a
+messenger to the grieving lady, whereas the thought of her gave him no
+peace among the feasters.  Eppelein was neither better nor worse.  But,
+in his stead, Master Windecke the Imperial Councillor, who was learned in
+the trading matters of all the world and who, in our absence, had wholly
+won the heart of the other women and, above all, of Cousin Maud by his
+good discourse, was able to interpret somewhat which had been dark to us
+in Akusch's letter.  When I showed it to him he started to his feet in
+amazement and declared that my squire's father, Tagri Verdi al-Mahmudi,
+had been one of the most famous Captains of the host who had struck the
+great blow in Cyprus and carried off King Janus to the Sultan at Cairo.
+Nay, and he could likewise tell us what had led to the overthrow of this
+same Tagri Verdi, inasmuch as he had heard the tale from a certain noble
+gentleman of Cyprus, who had come to the court of Emperor Sigismund to
+entreat him to provide moneys for the ransom of King Janus, as follows:
+When Akusch's glorious father was raised to the dignity of a chief
+Mameluke, together with Burs Bey, now the Sultan of Egypt, they were both
+cast into prison during a certain war and lay in the same dungeon.  There
+had Tagri Verdi dreamed one night that his fellow, Burs Bey, would in due
+time be placed on the throne, and had revealed this to him.  Then, when
+this prophecy was fulfilled, and Burs Bey was Sultan, Tagri Verdi rose
+step by step to high honor, and had won many glorious fights as his
+Sovereign's chief Emir and Captain.  The Sultan heaped him with honors
+and treasure, until he learned that his former companion had dreamed
+another dream, and this time that it was to be his fate to mount the
+throne.  Hereupon Burs Bey was sore afraid; thus he had cast the
+victorious Captain into prison, and many feared for Tagri that his
+life would not be spared.
+
+And Master Windecke could tell us yet more of the matter; and whereas
+from him we heard that our Emperor, by reason that his coffers were
+empty, could do nought to ransom King Janus, and that the Republic of
+Venice was fain to take it in hand, we were in greater fear than ever,
+inasmuch as this must need add yet more to the high respect already
+enjoyed by the Republic in the land of Egypt, and to that in which its
+Consul Giustiniani was held; and thereby his wife Ursula might, with the
+greater security, give vent to that malice she bore in her heart against
+Herdegen.
+
+Thus we went to our beds silent and downcast; and after we had lain there
+a long time and found no sleep the words would come, and I said: "My
+poor, dear Kunz!  to be there in that hot Moorish land, wounded and
+alone!  Oh, Ann, that must be full hard to bear."
+
+"Hard indeed!"  quoth she in a low voice.  "But for a free man, and so
+proud a man as Herdegen, to be a slave to a misbelieving Heathen, far
+away from all he loves, and chidden and punished for every unduteous
+look;  Oh, Margery! to think of that!"  And her voice failed.
+
+I spoke to her, and showed that we had much to make us thankful, inasmuch
+as we now at last knew that he we loved was yet alive.
+
+Then was there silence in the chamber; but I minded me then of what
+Akusch had written, that he besought some wise and mighty gentleman to
+set forth from Nuremberg to overpower the foe, and now I racked my brain
+to think whom we might send to take my brothers' cause in hand--yet still
+in vain.  None could I think of who might conveniently quit home for so
+long, or who was indeed fit for such an enterprise.
+
+Which of us twain first fell asleep I wist not; when I woke in the
+morning Ann had already quitted the chamber; and while Susan braided my
+hair, all I had been planning in the night grew plainer to me, and I went
+forth and down stairs full of a great purpose which made my heart beat
+the faster.  When I entered the ball, behold, I saw the same thing,
+albeit I was now awake, as I had seen yestermorn in my half-sleep.  Yet
+was it not Uhlwurm, but Kubbeling, to whom Ann was paying court.  As he
+stood facing her, she looked him trustfully in the eyes, and held his
+great hand in hers; nay, and when she saw me she did not let it go, but
+cried out in a clear and thankful voice: "Then so it is, Father Seyfried;
+and if you do as I beseech you, all will come to a good end and you will
+remember so good a deed with great joy all your life long."
+
+"As to "great joy' I know not," replied he.  "For if I be not the veriest
+fool in all the land from Venice to Iceland, my name is not Kubbeling.
+I scarce know myself!  Howbeit, let that pass: I stand by my word, albeit
+the pains I shall endure in the winter journey."
+
+"The Saints will preserve you on so pious an errand," Ann declared.  "And
+if they should nevertheless come upon you, dear Father, I will tend you
+as your own daughter would.  And now again your hand, and a thousand,
+thousand thanks."
+
+Whereupon Kubbeling, with a melancholy growl, and yet a smile on his
+face, held forth his hand, and Ann held it fast and cried to me: "You are
+witness, Margery, that he has promised to do my will.  Oh, Margery, I
+could fly for gladness!"
+
+And verily meseemed as though the wings had grown, and her eyes sparkled
+right joyfully and thankfully.  And I had discerned from her very first
+words whereunto she had beguiled Kubbeling; and verily to me it was a
+marvel, inasmuch as I myself had imagined the self-same thing in the
+watches of the night, and while my hair was doing: namely, to beseech
+Kubbeling to be my fellow and keeper on a voyage to Egypt.  Who but he
+knew the way so well?  Howbeit, Ann had prevented me, and now, whereas I
+heard the sound of voices on the stair, I yet found time to cry to her:
+"We go together, Ann; that is a settled matter!"
+
+Hereupon she looked at me, at first in amazement and then with a blissful
+consenting smile, and said "You had imagined the same thing, I know.
+Yes, Margery, we will go."
+
+The others now trooped in, and I had no more time but hastily to clasp
+her hand.  Howbeit, when most of our guests had gone into the refectory,
+where the morning meal was by this time steaming on the board, none were
+left with us save Cousin Maud and Uncle Conrad and Uncle Christian; and
+Uncle Conrad enquired of the Brunswicker whether he purposed indeed to
+set forth this day, and the man answered No, if so be that his lordship
+the grand-forester would grant him shelter yet awhile, and consent to a
+plan to which he had been just now beguiled.
+
+And my uncle gave him his hand, and said the longer he might stay the
+better.  And then he went on to ask with some curiosity what that plan
+might be.  Howbeit, I took upon me to speak, and I told him in few words
+how that we had been thinking whom we might best send forth to help my
+brethren, and that, with the morning sun, light had dawned on our minds,
+and that whereas we had found a faithful and experienced companion, it
+was our firm intent....
+
+Here Cousin Maud broke in, having come close to me with open ears, crying
+aloud in terror: "What?"  Howbeit I looked her in the eyes and went on:
+
+"When our mind is set, Cousin, the thing will be done, of that you and
+all may make certain--that stands as sure as the castle on the rock.  And
+be it known to you all, with all due respect, that this time I will
+suffer none to cross my path.  Once for all, I, Margery, and Ann with me,
+are going forth to the land of Egypt in Kubbeling's company, and to Cairo
+itself!"
+
+The worthy old woman gave a scream, and while the Brunswicker shut the
+dining-hall door, that we might not be heard, she broke out, with glowing
+eyes, beside herself with wrath: "Verily and indeed!  So that is your
+purpose!  Thanks be to the Virgin, to say and to do are not one and the
+same, far from it.  Do you conceive that you hold all love for those two
+youths yonder in sole fief or lease?  As though others were not every
+whit as ready as you to give their best to save them.  A head that runs
+at a wall cracks its skull!  Maids should never touch matters which do
+not beseem them!  What next for a skittle-witted fancy!--That it should
+have come into the brain of a Schopper is no marvel, but Ann, prudent
+Ann!  Would any man have dreamed of such a thing in our young days,
+Master Cousin?  There they stand, two well born Nuremberg damsels, who
+have never been suffered to go next door alone after Ave Maria!  And they
+are fain to cross the seas to a dark outlandish place, into the very jaws
+of the dreadful Heathen who butcher Christian people!"  Whereupon she
+clapped her hands and laughed aloud, albeit not from her heart, and then
+raved on: "At least is it a new thing, and the first time that the like
+hath ever been heard of in Nuremberg!"
+
+If the whole of the holy Roman Empire had risen up to make resistance and
+to mock us, it would have failed to move Ann or me, and I answered, loud
+and steadfast: "Everything right and good that ever was done in
+Nuremberg, my heart's beloved Cousin, was done there once for the first
+time; and it is right and good that we should go, and we mean to do it!"
+Whereupon Cousin Maud drew back in disgust and amazement, and gazed from
+one to the other of us with enquiring eyes, and as wondering a face as
+though she were striving to rede some dark riddle.  Then her vast bosom
+began to heave up and down, and we, who knew her, could not fail to
+perceive that somewhat great and strange was moving her.  And whereas she
+presently shook her heavy head to and fro, and set her fists hard on her
+hips, I looked for a sudden and dreadful storm, and my Uncle Conrad
+likewise gazed her in the face with expectant fear; yet it was long in
+breaking forth.  What then was my feeling when, at last, she took her
+hands from her sides and struck her right hand in her left palm so that
+it rang again, and burst forth eagerly, albeit with roguish good humor
+and tearful eyes: "If indeed everything good and right that ever was done
+in Nuremberg must have once been done there for the first time, our good
+town shall now see that a grey-headed old woman with gout in her toes can
+sail over seas, from the Pegnitz even to the land of the barbarian
+Heathen and Cairo!  Your hand on it, Young Kubbeling, and yours, Maidens.
+We will be fellow-travellers.  Signed and sealed.  Strew sand on it!"
+
+Hereupon Ann, who was wont to be still, shrieked loudly and cast herself
+first on my cousin's neck and then on mine and then on my uncle's; he
+indeed stood as though deeply offended, as likewise did my good godfather
+Christian.  Yet they would not speak, that they might not mar our joy,
+albeit Uncle Pfinzing growled forth that our plan was sheer youthful
+folly, wilfulness, and the like.  "At any rate it is an unlaid egg, so
+long as my wife has not added mustard to the peppered broth," Uncle
+Conrad declared, and he departed to carry tidings to my aunt of what
+mad folly these women's heads had brewed.
+
+Even Kubbeling shook his head, albeit he spoke not, inasmuch as he knew
+that it was hard to contend with the powers beyond seas.
+
+He and Cousin Maud had ever been on terms of good-fellowship with Uncle
+Christian, but to-day my uncle was ill to please; neither look nor word
+had he for his heart's darling, Ann; and when he presently recovered
+somewhat, be stormed around, with so red a face and such furious ire
+that we feared lest he should have another dizzy stroke, saying "that
+Kubbeling and Cousin Maud might be ashamed of themselves, inasmuch as
+they were old enough to know better and were acting like a pair of
+young madcaps."  And thus he went on, till it was overmuch for the
+Brunswicker's endurance, and on a sudden he cried out in great wrath that
+that he had promised was in truth not wise, forasmuch as that he would
+gain nought but mischief thereby, yet that it concerned him alone and he
+took it all on himself, although Master Pfinzing might yet ask for why
+and to what end he should risk a hurt by it, whereas, to his knowledge,
+the ill-starred Junker Schopper could be little more to him than the man
+in the moon.  He was wont, quoth he, to take good care not to risk his
+skin for other folks, but in this matter it seemed to him not too dear a
+bargain.  Neither the stoutest will nor the strongest fist might avail
+against Mistress Ursula, the veriest witch in all the land of Egypt;
+a better head was needed for that, than the heavy brain-pan which God
+Almighty had set on his short neck, and yet he had sworn to bring her
+knavery to nought.  Our faithful hearts and shrewd heads would be the aid
+he needed.  He trusted to Cousin Maud to dare to dance with old Nick
+himself, if need should arise.  And he was man enough to protect us all
+three.  And now Master Pfinzing knew all about it and, if he yet craved
+to hear more, he would find him among the birds, whereas Uhlwurm was to
+depart on his way with them that very day, without him.
+
+And he turned his back on my uncle, and quitted the chamber with a heavy
+tread; but he turned on the threshold and cried: "Yet keep your lips from
+telling what you have in your mind, Master, and in especial to those who
+are at their meal in there, as touching that Tetzel-adder; for the wind
+flies over seas faster than we can."
+
+While he spoke thus Uncle Christian had recovered his temper, and he
+followed after Kubbeling with such a haste as his huge body would allow,
+nor was it to quarrel with him any more.
+
+The rest, who had sat at breakfast, had by good hap heard nought of our
+disputing, by reason that Master Windecke had so much new matter for
+discourse that every ear hung on his words; and he, again, forgot to eat
+while he talked.  In Cousin Maud, indeed, as she hearkened to my
+godfather's wrathful speech, certain doubts had arisen; yet even stronger
+resistance would never have turned her aside from anything she deemed
+truly good and right; howbeit she was more than willing to leave it to us
+to settle matters with Aunt Jacoba.  We went up-stairs to her, and at her
+chamber door our courage failed us, inasmuch as we could hear through the
+door my uncle's angry speech, and that laugh which my aunt was wont to
+utter when aught came to her ears which she was not fain to hear.
+
+"And if she were to say No?"  said I to Ann.  Hereupon a right sorrowful
+and painful cloud overspread her face, and it was in a dejected tone that
+she answered me that then indeed all must be at an end, and her fondest
+hopes nipped, by reason that she owed more to Mistress Waldstromer than
+ever she could repay, and whatsoever she might undertake against her will
+would of a certainty come to no good end.  And we heard my aunt's laugh
+again; but then I took heart, and raised the latch, and Ann led the way
+into the chamber.
+
+Howbeit, if we had cherished the smallest hope without, within it failed
+us wholly.  As we went in my uncle was standing close by my aunt; his
+back was towards us, and he saw us not; but his mien alone showed us that
+he was wroth and provoked: his voice quaked as he cried aloud with a
+shrug of his shoulders and his hand uplifted: "Such a purpose is sheer
+madness and most unseemly!"
+
+Then, when for the third time I coughed to make our presence known to
+him, he turned his red face towards us, and cried out in great fury:
+"Here you are to answer for yourselves; and come what may, this at least
+shall be said: 'If mischief comes of it, I wash my hands in innocence!'"
+
+Whereupon he went in all haste to the door and had lifted his hand to
+slam it to, when he minded him of his beloved wife's sick health and
+gently shut it and softly dropped the latch.
+
+We stood in front of Aunt Jacoba, and could scarce believe our eyes and
+ears when she opened wide her arms and, with beaming eyes, cried in a
+voice of glad content: "Come, come to my heart, children!  Oh, you good,
+dear, brave maids!  Why, why am I so old, so fettered, so sick a
+creature?  Why may I not go with you?"
+
+At her first words we had fallen on our knees by her side, and she
+fervently clasped our heads to her bosom, kissed our lips and foreheads,
+and cried, with ever-streaming eyes: "Yes, children, yes!  It is brave,
+and the right way; Courage and true love are not dead in the hearts of
+the women of Nuremberg.  Ah, and how many a time have I imagined that I
+might myself rise and fly after my froward, dear, unduteous exile, my own
+Gotz, be he where he may, over mountains and seas to the ends of the
+earth!--I, a hapless, suffering skeleton!  Yet what is denied to the
+old, the young may do, and the Virgin and all the Saints shall guard you!
+And Kubbeling, Young-Kubbeling, that bravest, truest Seyfried!  Bring him
+up to speak with me.  So rough and so good!--My old man, to be sure, must
+storm and rave, but then his feeble and sickly nobody of a little wife
+can wind him round her finger.  Leave him to me, and be sure you shall
+win his blessing."  After noon Uhlwurm and the waggon of birds set forth
+to Frankfort, where Kubbeling's eldest son was tarrying to meet his
+father with fresh falcons.  Or ever the grim old grey-beard mounted his
+horse, he whispered to Ann: "Truest of maidens, find some device to move
+Seyfried to take me in your fellowship to the land of Egypt, and I will
+work a charm which shall of a surety give your lover back to you, if
+indeed he is not.  .  .  ."  and he was about to cry "gone" as was his
+wont; yet he refrained himself and spoke it not.  Young Kubbeling tarried
+at the Forest-lodge; and as for my uncle, it was soon plain enough that
+my aunt had been in the right in the matter; nay, when we went home to
+the city, meseemed as though he and his wife had from the first been of
+one mind.  Our purpose pleased him better as he learned to believe more
+surely that our little women's wits would peradventure be able to find
+his wandering son, and to tempt him to return to his father's forest
+home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+We carefully obeyed Kubbeling's counsel that we should keep our purpose
+dark, and it remained hidden even from the guests at the lodge.  On the
+other hand they had been told all that Herdegen's letter had contained,
+and that it was Ursula who was pursuing him with such malignant spite.
+Yet albeit we bound over each one to hold his peace on the matter in
+Nuremberg, no woman, nor perchance no man either, could keep such strange
+doings privy from near kith and kin; and whereas we might not tell what
+in truth it was which stood in the way of our brothers' homecoming, it
+was rumored among our cousins and gossips that some vast and unattainable
+sum was needed to ransom the two young Schoppers.  And other marvellous
+reports got abroad, painting my brother's slavery in terrible colors.
+
+At first this made me wroth, but presently it provoked me less, inasmuch
+as that great compassion was aroused; and those very citizens and dames
+who of old were wont to chide Herdegen as a limb of Satan, and would have
+gladly seen him led to the gallows, now remembered him otherwise.  Yea,
+fellow-feeling hath kindly eyes, widely open to all that is good, and
+willing to be shut to all that is evil, and so it came to pass that the
+noble gifts of the poor slave now lost to the town, were lauded to the
+skies.  Hereupon came a letter from my lord Cardinal with these tidings
+of good comfort: that he was willing to administer extreme unction to my
+grand-uncle Im Hoff, if his life should be in peril when his eminence
+returned from England.  Our next letters were, by his order, to find him
+at Brussels, and when old Dame Pernhart had given her consent to our
+journeying to the land of Egypt--whereas Aunt Jacoba held her wisdom and
+shrewd wit in high honor,--and had moved her son and Dame Giovanna to do
+likewise, Ann wrote a long letter to my lord Cardinal, the venerable head
+of the Pernhart family, setting forth in touching words for what cause
+and to what end she had dared so bold a venture.  She besought his aid
+and blessing, and declared that the inward voice, which he had taught her
+to obey, gave her assurance that the purpose she had in hand was pleasing
+in the eyes of God and the Virgin.
+
+I, for my part, could never have writ so fair a letter; and how calmly
+would Ann now fulfil the duties of each day, while Cousin Maud, albeit
+her feet scarce might carry her, was here, there, and everywhere, like a
+Will-o'-the-Wisp.
+
+Ann it was who first conceived the idea of going with Young Kubbeling
+to the Futterers' house and there making enquiries as to the roads to
+Genoa, and also concerning the merchants who might there be found ready
+and willing to ship his falcons for sale in Alexandria; inasmuch as that
+it was only by journeying in a galleon which sailed not from Venice that
+we could escape Ursula's spies; and that Kubbeling should suffer loss
+through us we could by no means allow.  And whereas old Master Futterer
+himself was now in Nuremberg, he declared himself willing to buy the
+birds on account of his own house, at the same price as the traders in
+Venice; nor was the Brunswicker any whit loth, forasmuch as that he might
+presently get a better price on the Lido, when it should be known that he
+had other ways and means at his command.  Also the journey by Genoa gave
+us this advantage: that we were bound to no time or season.  Old Master
+Futterer pledged himself to find a ship at any time when Kubbeling should
+need it.
+
+Whereas we purposed to set forth in the middle of December, we went to
+the forest-lodge early in that month, and as it was with me at that time,
+so, for sure, must it be with the swallows and the nightingales or ever
+they fly south over mountains and seas.  Never had the pure air been
+sweeter, never had I looked forward to the future with greater hope and
+strength or higher purpose.  And my feeble, sickly Aunt Jacoba, meseemed,
+was like-minded with me.  In spirit, ever eager, she was with us already
+in that distant region, and albeit of old she ever had preferred Ann
+above me, now on a sudden the tables were turned; she could never see
+enough of me, and when at last Ann was fain to go home to town with Uncle
+Christian, she besought so pressingly that I would stay with her that I
+was bound to yield; and indeed I was well content to tarry there, the
+forest being now in all its glory.
+
+The daintiest lace was hung over the frosted trees.  They had been
+dipped, meseemed, in melted silver and crystal, and the whole forest was
+broidered over with shining enamel and thickly strewn with clear diamond
+sparks.  And how brightly everything glittered when the sun rose up from
+the morning mist, and blazed down on all this glory from a blue sky!
+At night the moon lighted up the frosted forest with a softer and more
+loving ray, and till a late hour I would gaze forth at it, or up at the
+starry vault where the shooting stars came flying across from the dark
+blue deep.  Now it is well-known to many who are still in their green
+youth that, whensoever it befalls that we are in the act of thinking of
+some heartfelt wish just as a star falls, it is sure of fulfilment; and
+behold, on the very next night, as I was gazing upwards and wondering in
+my heart whether indeed we might be able to rescue my brothers, and to
+find my Cousin Gotz as his sick mother so fervently hoped, a bright star
+fell, as it were right in front of me.  Whereupon I went to bed in such
+good cheer and so sure of myself as I have rarely felt before or since
+that night.
+
+And next morning, as I went to my aunt in high spirits and happy mood,
+she perceived that some good hap had befallen me.  Then, when I had told
+her what I had had in my mind as the star fell which, as little children
+believe, is dropped from the hand of an angel blinded by the glory of
+Almighty God, she looked me in the face with a sad smile and bid me sit
+down by her side.  And she took my hand in hers and opened her heart so
+wide as she had never done till this hour.  It was plain to see that she
+had long been biding her time for this full and free discourse, and she
+confessed that she had never shown me such love and care as were indeed
+my due.  The mere sight of me had ever hurt the open wound, inasmuch as
+long ago, or ever I first went to school, her fondest hopes had been set
+on me.  She had looked on me ever as her only son's future wife, and Gotz
+himself had been of the same mind, whereas in his boyhood, and even when
+his beard was coming, he loved nought better than little Margery in her
+red hood.
+
+And she reminded me now of many a kind act her son had done me, and how
+that once on a time, when my lord the High Constable had bidden him with
+other lads to Kadolzburg, which she and my uncle took as a great honor,
+he had said, No, he would not go from home, by reason that Cousin Maud
+was to come that day and bring me with her.
+
+     [Kadolzburg--A country lodge belonging to the High Constables of the
+     city of Nuremberg, and their favorite resort, even after they had
+     became Electors of Brandenburg.  It was at about three miles and a
+     half west of the town]
+
+Whereupon arose his first sharp dispute with his parents, and when my
+uncle threatened that he would carry him thither by force he had stolen
+away into the woods, and stayed all night with some bee-keeper folk, and
+not come home till midday on the morrow, when it was too late to ride to
+the Castle in good time.  'To punish him for this he was locked up; but
+hearing my voice below he had let himself down by the gutter-pipe, seized
+my hand, and ran away to the woods with me, nor did he come back till Ave
+Maria.  And hereupon he was soundly thrashed, albeit he was even then a
+great lad and of good counsel in all matters.
+
+My uncle's wrath at that time had dwelt in my mind, but my share in the
+matter was new to me and brought the color to my face.  Howbeit, I deemed
+it might have been better if my aunt had never told me; for though it was
+indeed good to hear and gladdened my soul, yet it would hinder me from
+looking Gotz freely in the face if by good hap I should meet him.
+
+Then she went on to tell me in full all that had befallen my cousin
+until he had gone forth to wander.  When they had parted in wrath, he had
+written to her from the town to say that if she were steadfast in her
+displeasure he should seek a new home for himself and his sweetheart in a
+far country; and she had sent him a letter to tell him that her arms were
+ever open to receive him, but that rather than suffer the only son and
+heir of the old and noble race of Waldstromer to throw himself away on a
+craftsman's daughter, she would never more set eyes on him whom she loved
+with all her heart.  Never more, and she swore it by the Saviour's wounds
+with the crucifix in her hand, should his parents' doors be opened to him
+unless he gave up the coppersmith's daughter and besought his mother's
+pardon.
+
+And now the sick old woman bewailed her stern hardness and her over-hasty
+oath with bitter tears; Gotz had been faithful to his Gertrude in despite
+of her letter, and when, three years later, the tidings reached him that
+his sweetheart had pined away for grief and longing, and departed this
+life with his name on her lips, he had written in the wild anguish of his
+young soul that, now Gertrude was dead, he had nought more to crave of
+his parents; and that whereas his mother had sworn with her hand on the
+image of the Saviour never to open her doors to him till he had renounced
+his sweet, pure love, he now made an oath not less solemn and binding,
+by the image of the Crucified Christ, that he would never turn homewards
+till she bid him thither of her own free will, and owned that she
+repented her of that innocent maid's early death, whereas there was not
+her like among all the noble maidens of Nuremberg, whatever their names
+might be.
+
+This letter I read myself, and I plainly saw that these twain had sadly
+marred their best joy in life by over-hasty ire.  Albeit, I knew full
+well how stubborn a spirit was Aunt Jacoba's, I nevertheless strove to
+move her to send a letter to her son bidding him home; yet she would not,
+though she bewailed herself sorely.
+
+"Only one thing of those he requires of me can I in all truth grant him,"
+quoth she.  "If you find him, you may tell him that his mother sends her
+fondest blessing, and assure him of my heart's deepest devotion; nay, and
+let him understand that I am pining with longing for him, and that I obey
+his will inasmuch as that I truly mourn the death of his beloved;
+for that is verily the truth, the Virgin and the Saints be my witness.
+Yet I may not and I will not open my doors to him till he has craved my
+forgiveness, and if I did so he must think of his own mother as a
+perjured woman."
+
+Hereupon I showed her--and my eyes overflowed--that his oath stood forth
+as against her oath, and that one was as weighty as the other in the
+sight of the Most High.
+
+"Set aside that cruel vow, my dear aunt," cried I, "I will make any
+pilgrimage with you, and I know full well that no penance will seem
+overhard to you."
+
+"No, no, of a surety, Margery, no!"  she replied with a groan.  "And the
+Chaplain said the like to me long ago; and yet I feel in my heart that
+you and he are in the wrong.  An oath sworn by Christ's wounds!--Moreover
+I am the elder and his mother, he is the younger and my son.  It is his
+part to come to me, and if he then shall make a pilgrimage it shall be to
+Rome and the Holy Sepulchre.  He has time before him in which to do any
+penance the Holy Church may require of him.  I--I would lay me on the
+rack only to see him once more, I would fast and scourge myself till my
+dying day; but I am his mother, and he is my son, and it is his part to
+take the first step, not mine who bore him."
+
+How warmly I urged her again and again, and how often was she on the
+point of yielding to her heart's loud outcry!  Yet she ever came back to
+the same point: that it ill-beseemed her to be the first to put forth her
+hand, albeit her every feeling drove her to it.
+
+The letters sent to Gotz had reached him through a merchant's house in
+Venice.  This his parents knew, and they had long since charged Kunz to
+inquire where he dwelt.  Yet had his pains been for nought, inasmuch as
+the banished youth had forbidden the traders to tell any one, whosoever
+might ask.  Howbeit my uncle had implored his son in many a letter to
+mind him of his mother's sickness, and come home; and in his answers
+Gotz had many a time given his parents assurance of his true and loving
+devotion; yet had he kept his oath, and tarried beyond seas.  These
+letters likewise did my aunt show me, and while I read them she charged
+me to make it my duty not to quit that merchant's house and to take no
+rest until I had learned where her son was dwelling: saying that what an
+Italian might deny to a man a fair young maiden might yet obtain of him.
+
+It was not yet dusk when Master Ulsenius came and broke off our
+discourse.  He had come forth in part to see Eppelein, and presently,
+when a lamp was brought, as we stood by the faithful lad he called me by
+name, and then Uncle Conrad, and said that albeit he was weary of limb he
+was easy and comfortable; that he felt a smart now and then, and in
+especial about his neck, yet that troubled him but little, inasmuch as
+that it plainly showed him that the thought which had haunted him, that
+he was really killed and in a darksome hell, was but a horrible dream.
+
+Then when he had spoken thus much, with great pains, his pale face turned
+red on a sudden, and again he asked, as he had many times in his
+sickness, where was his master's letter.  Hereupon I hastily told him
+that we had hunted down the robbers and rescued it, and it was a joy to
+see how much comfort and delight this was to him.  And when he had
+swallowed a good cup of strong Malvoisie, he could sit up, and enquired
+if the Baron von Im Hoff were minded to satisfy the Sultan's over-great
+demand.  And to this I replied, to give him easement, that we had good
+reason to hope so.  And was his mind now clear enough to enable him to
+remember how great a sum was demanded for ransom?
+
+He smiled craftily, and said that even as a dead man he could scarce have
+forgotten that, by reason that he had muttered the words to himself on
+his way oftener than any old monk mumbles his Paternoster.  And when
+Uncle Conrad laughed and bid him jestingly repeat it, he said, like a
+school boy who is sure of his task: "For Master Herdegen Schopper, slave
+of the said unbeliever Abou Sef--[Father of the scimitar]--in the armory
+of Sultan Burs Bey in the Castle of Cairo, a ransom is demanded of
+twenty-four thousand Venice sequins.  George--Christina!  Death and fire
+on the head of the misbelieving wretch!"
+
+When we heard this we all believed that he had of a surety been wrong as
+to the sum or the coin, likewise we thought his last strange words were
+due to a wandering mind; howbeit, we were soon to learn that verily his
+tidings were the truth.  He forthwith went on to say with some pains that
+his master had made him to use a means by which he might remember the
+number from all others in case, by ill-hap, the letter should be lost.
+And on this wise he gave us to know for certain that the vast sum
+demanded was not an error on his part.  It was to this end that he had
+stamped on his memory the names of Saint George and Saint Christina,
+whose days in the calendar are on the 24th of April and the 24th of July,
+and the number of thousands named for the ransom was likewise four and
+twenty.  Also Herdegen had bid him think of twice the twelve apostles,
+and of the twenty-four hours from midnight till midnight again.  It would
+seem beyond belief to most folks, he said, yet it was indeed twenty-four
+thousand, and not hundred, sequins which that devilish Sultan has asked,
+as indeed we must know from the letter.  Presently, when he had rested a
+while, we made him tell us more, and we learned that the Sultan had been
+minded to set Herdegen free without price, and he would have had him led
+forthwith to the imprisoned King Janus of Cyprus, to whom he thought he
+might thus do a pleasure, but that Ursula Tetzel, who was standing by
+with her husband, had whispered to the Sultan that she would not see him
+robbed of a great profit forasmuch as that yonder Christian slave--and
+she pointed to my brother--was of one of the richest families of her
+native town, who could pay a royal ransom for him and find it no great
+burthen; and that the same was true of Sir Franz, who was likewise to
+have been set free.  Hereupon the Sultan, who at all times lacked moneys,
+notwithstanding the heavy tribute he levied on all merchandise, commanded
+that Herdegen and the Bohemian should be led away again and then he asked
+this overweening ransom.  Then Ursula took upon herself of her own free
+will to send tidings of the Sultan's demands to the slaves' kith and kin,
+and of her deep malice had never done so.
+
+That evening we might not hear how and on what authority Eppelein knew
+all this, for much talking had wearied him.  All we could then learn was
+that it was Ursula, and none other, whom the lad would still speak of as
+the She-devil, who had plotted the snare which had well nigh cost my
+other brother his life.  Yet had he left him so far amended that he,
+Eppelein, would be glad to be no worse.
+
+Albeit these tidings of Kunz were good to cheer us, our hopes of
+ransoming Herdegen were indeed far away, or rather in the realm of
+nevermore; even if my grand-uncle were possessed of so great a sum, it
+was a question whether he would be willing to pay it; and as for us, we
+could never have raised it at the cost of all our fortune.  At that time
+the Venice sequin and Nuremberg gulden were not far asunder in value, and
+what the sum of twenty-four thousand gulden meant any man may imagine
+when I say that, no more than twelve years sooner, the liberty of coining
+for the whole city was granted by the Emperor Sigismund to Herdegen
+Valzner for four thousand Rhenish gulden; and that Master Ulman Stromer
+purchased his fine dwelling-house behind the chapel of Our Lady, with the
+houses pertaining thereto, and his share in the Rigler's house for two
+thousand eight hundred gulden.  For such a sum as was demanded a whole
+street in Nuremberg might have been sold; nay, the great castle of
+Malmsbach on the Pegnitz would lately have been bought by the city for a
+thousand Rhenish gulden, but that Master Ulrich Rummel, whose it was,
+would not part with it.  And we were now required to pay the price of two
+dozen such strongholds!  It was indeed an unheard-of and devilish
+extortion; and when Kubbeling came to hear of it he turned his wild-cat-
+skin pocket inside out, and fell to raging and storming.
+
+Aunt Jacoba turned pale when she heard the great sum named, and she
+likewise was of opinion that old Im Hoff, who had of late been spending
+much money in vows and foundations, would never give forth so vast a sum.
+The richest families in Nuremberg might be moved to pay fifty, and at the
+most a hundred gulden for the ransom of a Christian and a fellow-
+countryman, but if even twenty might be found so open-handed, which was
+not to be looked for, and if my godfather Christian Pfinzing, and the
+Waldstromers, and the Hallers should do their utmost, and we should give
+the greater part of all our possessions, we could scarce make it up to
+twenty-four thousand sequins if my grand-uncle did not help.
+
+Thus after a day of hope came a first night of despairing, and many
+another must follow, and I was to know once more that misfortunes never
+come singly.
+
+I had hoped of a surety to speak with Eppelein once more or ever I
+departed at noon, and to ask him of many matters; howbeit, when I went up
+to his chamber Master Ulsenius met me with a face of care and told me
+that the poor fellow was again wandering in his wits.  When I presently
+went forth from the house, a bee-keeper's waggon was slowly moving from
+the court-yard.  The housewife waved her hand, and from beneath the tilt
+the face of Dame Henneleinlein looked at me with a scornful grin.  Since
+her evil demeanor at the Pernbarts' they had closed their house on her,
+and when she had dared once to go to the Schopperhof, thence likewise had
+she been shut out, and thus she felt no good-will towards us.  Now when I
+enquired of the housekeeper what might be the end and reason for this
+visit, the woman hid beneath her apron a jar of honey which the old dame
+had given her as a sweetmeat for the children; and she gave me to
+understand that the worthy lady had come forth to the forest to collect
+her widow's dues of honey, and had tarried on her way for a little
+friendly discourse.  But methought that "little" must have had some
+strange meaning, inasmuch as the housewife's withered cheeks were of the
+color of a robin's breast.  Hereupon I threatened her with my finger, and
+enquired of her whether she had not betrayed more to the evil-tongued
+old woman than she ought, but she eagerly denied the charge.
+
+My ride home to the town after noon was not altogether a pleasant one,
+by reason that icy rain poured from heaven in streams, mingled with snow.
+The further we went the worse the roads were, and yet when my companions
+turned at the city-gate to ride homewards again, a strange, fierce
+confidence came upon me.  Whether it were that the wet which ran off from
+me and my stout horse had singularly refreshed me, or whether it was the
+steadfast purpose I had set as I rode along, to risk my all to the end
+that I might redeem my brethren, I know not.  But to this hour I mind me
+that, as I rode in through the dark streets, my heart beat high with
+contentment, and that had I been such another man as Herdegen I might
+have been ready enough to pick a quarrel with the first who should have
+said me nay.
+
+Thus I fared on past my grand-uncle's house; there I beheld from afar a
+lighted lantern, as it were a glow-worm at midsummer, moving along the
+street, and when I perceived that it was none other than old
+Henneleinlein who carried it, I put my horse, which till now had been
+wading through the mire step by step, to a swift gallop, as fast as he
+might go, and the servingman behind me, passing close by her.  And what
+simple glee was mine when our horses splashed the old woman from head to
+foot, inasmuch as I wist for certain that she could have stolen to my
+grand-uncle's house at that late hour to no end but to reveal whatsoever
+she might have picked up from her friend and gossip at the forest-lodge.
+
+Thus I reached home in better cheer than I had hoped; and when Susan told
+me that Cousin Maud was in the kitchen ordering the supper, I crept up-
+stairs, hastily changed my wet raiment, sent forth my man to tell Ann
+that she was to come to me, and then, in the best chamber, I fetched
+forth the elecampane wine which I had ever found the best remedy when my
+cousin needed some strength.  Nor was my care in vain; for when I had
+told her, little by little, as it were in small doses, all the tidings I
+had heard yesterday, and ended with the great and cruel price demanded by
+the Sultan, she shrieked aloud and clasped her hands to her heart in such
+wise that I was verily in great fear.  Then the elecampane wine did good
+service; yet was it not till she had drunk of it many times that her
+tongue spoke plainly again.  And presently, when she was able to wag it,
+it went on for a long time with no pause nor rest, in sheer impatience
+and godless railing.
+
+When she had thus relieved her mind, she began pacing up and down the
+floor on one and the same plank, like a lion in its cage, and to call to
+mind, one by one, all our earthly possessions, and to reckon at how we
+might attain to selling it for gold.  The whole sum was not much to
+comfort us, for her worldly estate, like that of the Waldstromers, was in
+land, and in these days of peril from the Hussites it was hard enough to
+sell landed property, and her best portion was in meads and pasture and a
+few vineyards near Wurzburg.
+
+It was from the first her fixed intent, as though it were a matter of
+course, to give everything she had, down to her jewels; and whereas she
+conceived, and rightly, that for Herdegen's sake I should be like-minded,
+she asked me no questions but added to it in her mind, the Schopper
+jewels which had come to me from my father and mother, and then began to
+count and reckon.  It might perchance come to so much as eleven thousand
+sequins if we sold all we had to sell; yet our inheritance lay in
+Chancery, and, as she knew full well, not a farthing thereof might be
+given up but with the full and well-proven authority of Herdegen and
+Kunz.  Nor might I even have that which was mine own, by reason that our
+inheritance had never been shared, and our houses and lands had not been
+valued at a price.  Thus I must have long patience or ever I came by my
+own; all the more so whereas the gentlemen of the Chancery were required
+to answer for the wealth of orphans in their keeping with their own.
+
+Hereupon we again thought of my grand-uncle, and Cousin Maud declared
+that he would of a certainty be ready to pay half the required ransom for
+a purpose so pleasing in the eyes of God, and that the other half might
+be raised by the help of our friends.  Then she was fain to think of the
+future.  And the longer she did so, even when Ann had come to us and had
+been told all our tidings, the better cheer she showed; nay, it might
+have been conceived that it would be a far more easy and delightful
+matter to live in narrow poverty than in superfluous riches, and
+thereupon she put me in mind how that many a time, when the men-folks
+were away from home, she and I had been content to make good cheer with
+some sweet porridge, and had very gladly dined without flesh-meat, which
+was so costly.  We should be free from the vexation of so many serving-
+men and wenches; and whereas of late she had been forced to turn Brigitta
+out of the house, had she not herself scarce escaped a fever from sheer
+worry of mind.  Susan would ever be true to us; she would be ready to
+share our poverty with us, and the unresting up-stairs and down had long
+been a torment to her old feet.
+
+The Magister was a well-disposed man, and if he found it an over-hard
+matter to depart from us we might very gladly let him board with us, if
+he could be content to live with us in her little house in the
+Grassmarket, in which Rosmuller now dwelt.  There was no lack of good
+home-spun cloth in Nuremberg; nay, and if we should never again have new
+garments that would be all the better for our souls' health.  As for me,
+I might perchance have fewer suitors, but if one should pay his court to
+me, he would have no thought but for Margery, and how she looked and
+moved.  Nay, take it for all in all, we owed much thanks to Ursula and
+the reprobate heathen Sultan if we were by their means brought low from
+ill-starred wealth and ease to God-pleasing poverty.
+
+Ann was far less horror-struck at the fearful sum of the ransom than we
+had been, by reason that she was ever possessed by the assurance that
+Heaven had created her and Herdegen for each other, and would bring them
+together at last.
+
+Moreover she had good cause to build her hopes on my grand-uncle's help.
+In a letter from the Cardinal to her he said that now, as of old, he
+could only counsel her to follow the voice of her heart; that he would
+put no hindrance in the way of our departing, albeit he urgently prayed
+us to put it off till after his homecoming, which should now be in a
+short space.  She was to let Baron Im Hoff know that he was ready to do
+his will, albeit he hoped at his coming to find him in mended health.
+She had forthwith carried these good tidings to my grand-uncle, and they
+had so uplifted and comforted his heart that verily it seemed as though
+my lord Cardinal's good hopes might find fulfilment.  And this very
+morning she had seen him, and a right strange mind had come over him; he
+had enquired of her straitly, and as though it was to him a great matter,
+all that she could tell him of my lord Cardinal's way of life, of the
+duties of his office and the like; and whereas she answered him that of
+all these matters she knew but little, yet had she heard from his own
+mouth that his eminence was bound in thankfulness to his Holiness the
+Pope, by reason that he had made him to be high Almoner of the Papal
+treasury and thus put it into his power to do many good works; and this
+she deemed, had brought great easement to my granduncle.  Then when she
+rose to depart from him, he had sent his serving-man to bid Master
+Holzschuher, the notary, to come to him, and to bring with him two
+trustworthy witnesses duly sworn to secrecy.  As he bid her farewell he
+had laughed, and whispered to her that his Eminence the Cardinal would be
+well-content with old Im Hoff, yea, and she likewise, and her lover.
+
+All this gave us matter for thought, and also gave us good heart; only it
+weighed upon our souls that our departing was not to be yet for some
+weeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Next morning Cousin Maud let me see in a right pleasant way how truly she
+was in earnest in the matter of thrift henceforth; she would take but one
+small pat of butter from the country wench who brought it, she sent away
+the butcher's man and would have no flesh meat, and at breakfast she
+abstained from butter on her bread, as she was wont to eat it.  Likewise
+the chain and the great gold pin which she ever wore from morning till
+night, flashing on her bosom like a watchman's lantern, were now laid
+aside, and while I was eating my porridge she showed me the coffer
+wherein she had bestowed all she possessed of rings, pins, and the like,
+which she would presently take to the weigh-house to be weighed and then
+to a goldsmith to be valued.  Howbeit, when I was fain to do likewise
+with my jewels she would not have it so, inasmuch as youth, quoth she,
+needed such bravery, and first we must learn how great a portion of the
+ransom my grand-uncle would take upon himself to pay.
+
+Hereupon, in fulfilment of my purpose yestereve, I made it my hard duty
+to carry the evil tidings to the old baron, and humbly to remind him of
+his promise to take care for Herdegen's ransom.  It was raining heavily,
+and a wet west wind whistled along the miry streets.  It was weariful to
+wade through them, and when at last I reached the Im Hoff house Master
+Ulsenius called to me down the stairs: "Silence, Mistress Margery; there
+is worse weather in here than without doors!"
+
+Thus as I went into the overheated chamber, I saw there was no good to be
+hoped for: yet were matters worse than I had looked to find them.  So
+soon as my grand-uncle set eyes on me he frowned darkly, his hollow eyes
+had an angry glare and, without answering my good-day, he croaked at me:
+"You hoped that the old man might have passed away into eternity or ever
+you set forth on your wild adventure?  Hah, hah But you are mistaken.  I
+shall yet be granted time enough to show you whom you have to deal with,
+as it has likewise been enough to show me what you truly are!  Whereas I
+trusted to have found a faithful and wise brain, what have I seen?
+Loveless and malignant privity, miserable folly, and such schemes as
+might have been dreamed of in a mad-house!"
+
+"But, uncle, only hearken," I tried to say, and forthwith the idea fell
+into my mind, which I afterwards found to be a true one, that either
+Henneleinlein, had yestereve betrayed to him or to her gossip his
+housekeeper, all she had heard at the Forest Lodge.  He would not suffer
+me to speak to the end, but went on to chide and complain, and broke in
+again and again, even when at last I found words and made it plain to him
+that we had kept our purpose privy from him to no end but to save him
+from grieving so long as we might; and albeit he might be wroth with us,
+yet he must grant that heretofore we had ever been modest and seemly
+maidens; but now, when it was a matter of life and freedom for those who
+were nearest and dearest to our hearts....
+
+Here he broke in with scornful laughter, and cried out that he, for his
+part, might not indeed hope to be numbered among those chosen few.  He
+had ever known full well that when we did him any Samaritan service it
+had been to no end save to draw from his purse the money to ransom my
+brothers and Ann's lover.  Every kind word had been pure lies and
+falseness; yea, and worse than either of us were that crafty witch out
+in the forest, and the old scarecrow who made boast of having been as a
+mother to me.  Thus far had I suffered his railing in patience, but now
+it was too much for the hot blood of the Schoppers; I could refrain
+myself no longer, and broke out in great wrath and reproaches for so vile
+an accusation.  If it were not that his age and infirmities claimed our
+compassion, I would, said I, after such evil treatment, desire of Ann
+that she should never more cross the threshold of a man who could so
+cruelly defame us, and those two good women to whom we owed so much.
+
+I spoke right loudly, beside myself with rage, and my face aglow; nor was
+it till I marked that my uncle was staring at me as at some marvel that I
+recovered myself, and on a sudden held my peace, inasmuch as the thought
+flashed through my brain that I was denying my brother even as Peter
+denied the Lord, albeit not indeed through any fear of man, but by giving
+way to my angered pride.  Howbeit I had not long ceased when the stern
+old man cried out in pitiful entreaty.
+
+"Nay, Margery, in the name of the Saints I pray you!  You will not make
+Ann my foe.  How hardhearted you can be, and how wroth, and against an
+old man sick unto death on the edge of the grave!--what was it, in truth,
+that brought the bitter words to my tongue, but my care and fears for
+you, who are verily and indeed my only comfort and all I have to love on
+earth?  And now when I say again: I will not suffer you to depart.
+I will sacrifice all, everything to keep you from running into certain
+death, will you even then threaten to leave me alone in my misery, and
+to beguile Ann to desert me likewise?"
+
+Hereupon I spoke him fair and as lovingly as in truth I might, and
+pledged my word that Ann should not set foot without the city gates or
+ever my lord Cardinal had come into them, and had given him the comfort
+of his blessing.  And then he was of better cheer, and of his own free
+will he minded me of his promise to pay certain moneys for Herdegen's
+ransom; and all this he spoke full lovingly and my heart overflowed with
+true and fervent thankfulness, so that I took his thin hand and kissed
+it.  Howbeit, he knew not yet how great a sum was needed: and whereas I
+was about to prepare his mind for the worst, Ann came into the chamber,
+and as soon as my grand-uncle saw her he cried out in glad good cheer:
+"Thank God, sweet maid, all is peace between us again.  You forego your
+mad purpose, and I--I will pay the ransom."  At this Ann flew to his side
+and thanked him, with overflowing eyes, and little by little we led him
+on, till he cried out: "Well, well, children, they surely cannot set the
+price of a kingdom on that young scapegrace Schopper's head!"
+
+So Ann took courage, and told him that Ursula had, of her deep malice,
+declared that Herdegen was one of the richest youths of Germany, and that
+by reason of this the Sultan had demanded the great price of twenty-four
+thousand sequins.
+
+The truth was out; I marvelled to mark that my grand-uncle was not
+dismayed as I had looked to see him; nay, but he laughed aloud and said:
+"That would indeed be somewhat new and strange!  You children would ever
+rack your brains over the Italian poets rather than over matters of mine
+and thine, albeit that is the axis on which the world turns.  There
+would, in truth, be no justice in so vast a sum, but that in the markets
+of Egypt they reckon in Venice sequins with none but the Franks; nigh
+upon thirteen of their dirhems go to the gold sequin, and thus we have-
+let me reckon--the old trader has not forgotten his skill on his sick-
+bed--we have one thousand eight hundred and forty and six sequins; and
+that is a vast ransom still such as is never paid but for lords of the
+highest degree.  Four and twenty thousand sequins!"  And again he laughed
+aloud.  "It is easily spoken, children, but you cannot even guess what it
+would mean.  Believe me when I tell you that many a well-to-do merchant
+in Nuremberg, who is at the head of a fine trade, would be at his wits'
+end if he were desired to pay down half of your four and twenty thousand
+sequins in hard coin!"
+
+Then I took up my parable and told him how Eppelein had stamped the sum
+on his mind, and that he for certain was in the right, both as to the sum
+and as to the Venice sequins, forasmuch as that Herdegen, to the end that
+he might know it rightly, had told him that they should be ducats such as
+he had three in a red stuff wrapper, and Kunz and I likewise each two, in
+our money-boxes as christening-gifts.
+
+Now while I thus spoke the old man was sorely troubled, and his wax-white
+face turned paler at each word.  He raised himself up, leaning on the
+arms of the great chair, so high that we were filled with amazement, and
+he gazed about him with his glassy eyes and then said, still holding
+himself up: "That, that....  And yesterday, only yesterday....  The
+captive himself....  Four and twenty thousand sequins, do you say?....
+and I--oh, what were my words?....  But what old Im Hoff promises that he
+will do....  And yet....  If you maids had but been duteous children, if
+you had but come to me first, as trustful daughters....  Only yesterday I
+might--Yes, perchance I might...."  And then he stormed forth: "But who
+is there indeed to care for me?  Who ever comes nigh me with true love
+and honest trustfulness?  Not one, no, not one!....  Ursula--the lad whom
+from an infant--and you--both of you, what have you done?....  Yesterday,
+only yesterday!....  But to-day ....  Four and twenty thousand sequins!"
+His arms on a sudden failed him, and he sank back in a deep swoon, his
+colorless face drooping on his shoulder.  Now, while we did all in our
+power to revive him, and while one serving-man ran for the leech and
+another for the friar, meseemed that the old man's left side was
+strangely stiff and numb; yet the low flame of his feeble life was still
+burning.
+
+Howbeit, when Master Ulsenius had let blood the old man opened his right
+eye; and when presently he was able to say: "Book," and then again
+"Book," we perceived by sundry signs that what he craved was water, and
+that he spoke one word for another.  And thus it was till his chief
+confessor, Master Leonard Derrer, the reverend Prior of the Dominicans,
+came in with the sacristan, to administer to him extreme unction.  But
+now, when the reverend Father came toward the dying man with the Body of
+the Lord, there was so dreadful and sorrowful a sight to be seen as I may
+never forget to my latter day.  Instead of receiving that Holy Sacrament
+in all thankful humility, my grand-uncle thrust away my lord Prior--a
+whitebearded old man, of a venerable and commanding presence--with great
+fury and ungoverned rage, storming at him in strangely-mingled words,
+which for sure, he meant for others, but in a voice and with a mien which
+plainly showed that he would have nought of that Messenger of Grace.  And
+from time to time he turned that eye he could use on Ann, and albeit he
+spoke one word for another, he made shift many times to repeat the
+Cardinal's name with impatient bidding, so that it was not hard to
+understand his meaning and his intent to receive the Viaticum from none
+other than that high prelate.
+
+Howbeit, to us it seemed nothing less than treason to the dying man to
+interpret this to my lord Prior, in especial since my grand-uncle had,
+but now, shown us so much favor.  Indeed we were moved to show him all
+loving kindness.  Ann held his hand in hers, and whispered to him again
+and again that he should take patience, and that his Eminence was already
+on his way and would ere long be here.  The reverend Prior showed indeed
+true Christian forbearance, thinking that the departing soul was more
+sorely troubled than was in truth the fact.  He heeded not the old man's
+threats and struggles, but stood in silence at his post, and when
+presently the old Baron's hand dropped lifeless from Ann's grasp he sent
+us from the chamber.
+
+We could hear through the door the good priest's voice in prayer and
+benediction, pronouncing absolution over the dying man, and at times my
+grand uncle's wrathful tones, feeble indeed, but terrible to hear.  Each
+time he broke in on the Prior's pious words we shuddered, and when at
+last the priest rang his little bell a great terror fell upon us, whereas
+this ordinance is wont to bring comfort and edification to the soul.
+
+We had been on our knees some long space, praying fervently for that
+hapless, imperilled soul, when the door was opened, and my lord Prior
+declared in a loud voice that the noble Baron and Knight Sebald Im Hoff
+had made a good end after receiving the most holy Sacrament.
+
+Then thought I, a good end peradventure, by the grace of Christ and the
+Virgin, but a peaceful end alas! by no means.  And this might be seen
+even in the dead man's face.  In later years, whensoever it has been my
+lot to gaze on the face of the dead, I have ever perceived that death
+hath lent them an aspect of peaceful calm so that the saying of common
+folk, that the Angel of Death hath kissed them is right fitting; but my
+grand-uncle's face was as that of a man whose dignity is broken by a
+mightier than he, and who hath suffered it in silent, gloomy rebellion.
+
+With all our might and soul we prayed for him again and again; howbeit,
+as must ever befall, other cares came crowding in, to swallow up that
+one.  As soon as the tidings of the old noble's death were rumored
+abroad, those who had known him in life came pouring in, and messengers
+from the town-council, notaries with sealing-wax and seals, priests for
+the burying, neighbors, and other good folk, and among them many friars
+and nuns.  Lastly came Doctor Holzschuher of the council, my grand-
+uncle's notary, and one of our own father's most trusted friends, in all
+points a man of such worth and honesty that no words befit him so well as
+the Cardinal's saying: that he reminded him of an oak of the German
+forests.
+
+When, now, this man, who in his youth had been one of the goodliest in
+all Nuremberg, and who was still of noble aspect with his long silver-
+grey hair lying on his shoulders--when he now greeted us maids well-nigh
+gloomily, and with no friendly beck or nod, we knew forthwith that he
+must have great and well-founded fears for our concerns.  Yea, and so it
+was.  Presently, when he had held grave discourse with the High Treasurer
+and the other chief men of the council, he called to him Cousin Maud and
+me, and told us that old Im Hoff's latest dealing was such, to all
+seeming, as to take from us all hope that our inheritance from him should
+help us to pay the ransom for Herdegen.  And on the morrow his will would
+be opened and read and we should learn thereby in what way that old man
+had cared for those who were nearest and dearest to him.
+
+Hereupon we had no choice but to bury many a fair hope in the grave; and
+notwithstanding this, we might owe no grudge to the departed; for albeit
+he had cared first and chiefly for the salvation of his own sinful soul,
+he nevertheless had taken thought to provide for my brothers and likewise
+for Ann and to keep the pledge he had given.  Never in all his days--and
+this was confessed even by his enemies, of whom he had many--had he
+broken his word, and it was plain to be seen from all his instructions
+that the true cause of the deadly blow which had killed him was the
+sudden certainty that, by his own act, he had bereft himself of the power
+to redeem Herdegen by paying the ransom as he had promised.
+
+And this was my uncle's will:
+
+When he had heard from Ann that my lord Cardinal was minded to hasten his
+home-coming and give him extreme unction, and had likewise had tidings
+that that high Prelate took great joy in his liberty of dealing with the
+Papal treasury for alms, he had bidden to him, that very evening, Doctor
+Holzschuher, his notary, and certain sworn witnesses, and had in all due
+form cancelled his former will, and in a fine new one had devised his
+estate as follows:
+
+Ursula Tetzel was to have the five thousand gulden which he had promised
+her when he had unwittingly killed young Tetzel.
+
+To Kunz he bequeathed the great trade both in Nuremberg and Venice, with
+all that pertained thereto and certain moneys in capital for carrying it
+on; likewise his fine dwelling-house, inasmuch as Herdegen would have our
+house for his own.  And Kunz should be held bound to carry on the said
+trade in the same wise as my grand-uncle had done in his life-time, and
+pay out of it two-third parts of the profits to Herdegen and Ann; and
+that these two should wed was the dearest wish of his old age.  Not a
+farthing was to be taken from the moneyed capital for twenty years to
+come, and this was expressly recorded; nor might the trade be sold, or
+cease to be carried on.  If Kunz should die within that space, then he
+charged the head clerk of the house to conduct the business under the
+same pledge.  And if and when Kunz should wed, then should he pay only
+half the profits to his brother instead of two-thirds.
+
+The eldest son of Herdegen and Ann was to fall next heir to the business;
+but if this marriage came to nought, or they had no male issue, then
+Herdegen's son-in-law, or my son, or Kunz's.
+
+Likewise he believed that he had made good provision for the maintenance
+of the young pair, inasmuch as though it could scarce be hoped that
+Herdegen would be able to take the lead of the trading house, yet his
+own fortune was not so great as to assure to Ann a life so free from
+burthens, and in all ways so easy as he desired for her, and as beseemed
+the mistress of so ancient a Nuremberg family.
+
+His landed estates he had for the most part devised to the holy Church,
+and the remainder in equal halves to Herdegen and to me.
+
+Three thousand gulden, which he had lent to the Convent of
+Vierzehnheiligen, and of which he might at any time require the
+repayment, he had set apart to ransom Herdegen and pay for his home-
+coming.
+
+Of his possessions in hard coin, three thousand gulden were for
+Herdegen's share, and one thousand each for Ann and me as a bride-gift,
+and he had devised goodly sums of money to the hospitals and poor of the
+city, and the serving-folk and retainers of the household.
+
+But then where was the great and well-nigh royal treasure of which old Im
+Hoff had, not so long since, been possessed; so that in the time of the
+Diet he had paid down in hard coin thirty thousand Hungarian ducats to
+buy himself a Baron's title?  Master Holzschuher could tell us well
+enough.  When that old man had once said to Ann that she could scarce
+believe how great profit might be gained in a few years by well-directed
+trading with Venice, he spoke not without book.  After endowing many
+churches and convents in Franconia while he was yet living, with truly
+lordly generosity, and providing for masses for his soul and other pious
+offices, he had still a sum of forty and four thousand Hungarian ducats
+to dispose of.  And these moneys, notwithstanding Master Holzschuher's
+entreaties that he would devise at least half of these vast possessions
+to his own town and near of kin, he had bequeathed to the alms-coffers of
+his Holiness the Pope, to be dealt with at the pleasure of his Eminence
+Cardinal Bernliardi, with this sole condition: that every year, on his
+name-day, mass should be said by some high Prelate for his miserable
+soul, which sorely needed such grace.  Moreover he had provided that the
+document, duly attested by the notary and witnesses, should be sent to
+Rome on the morrow by a specially appointed messenger; thus it was long
+since far away and out of reach when my grand-uncle had learnt that all
+his remaining possessions were not enough to release Herdegen.  And this,
+as I have already said, had fallen heavy on his soul.
+
+Verily there hath been no lack of fervent prayers for his soul on our
+part; and at a later time, when I came to know to how many hapless
+wretches his testament had brought a blessing, little by little I forgave
+this strange bestowal of his wealth, and could pronounce over his grave a
+clear "Requiescat in pace!"  May he rest in peace!
+
+When we had presently duly weighed and reckoned with Master Holzschuher
+what we had indeed inherited from our rich kinsman, and how much we might
+ere long hope to collect of our own and from Cousin Maud, we had it
+before our eyes in plain writing that a large portion of the ransom was
+yet lacking.  The trade of the Im Hoffs' was to be sure of great money
+value; but by my grand-uncle's will we might not touch it for twenty
+years.  Likewise Master Holzschuher pointed out to us by many an example
+how wrong it would be, and in especial at this very time, to sell landed
+estate at any price, that is to say at about one-third of its real worth.
+And finally he told us that the Chancery guardians were not at that
+present time suffered to pay down one farthing of our inheritance from
+our father.  Thus we were heavy at heart, while Doctor Holzschuher was
+discoursing in a low voice with Uncle Christian and Master Pernhart, and
+noting certain matters on paper.
+
+Then those gentlemen rose up; and whereas I looked in the face of the
+worthy notary meseemed it was as withered grass well bedewed with rain;
+and glad assurance beamed on me from his goodly and noble features.  And
+I read the same promise in the looks of Uncle Christian and Master
+Pernhart, and where three such men led the fray methought the victory was
+certain.
+
+And now we were told what was the matter of their discourse.  If they
+might find a fitting envoy, they might perchance move the Sultan to
+forego some portion of the ransom; yet would they bear in mind what the
+whole sum was.  Much of our possessions we were indeed not suffered to
+sell, yet might we borrow on them or pledge them, and the good feeling of
+our friends and fellow citizens would, for sure, help us to the
+remainder.  Nay, and these gentlemen methought had some privy purpose;
+yet, inasmuch as they told us nought of their own free will, we were
+careful to put no questions.  As we took leave they besought us yet to
+delay our departing and to suffer them to be free to do what they would.
+And we were fain to yield, albeit the blood of the Schoppers boiled at
+the thought that I must tarry here idle, and others go round as it were
+with the beggars' staff, in our name, and for the sake of a son of our
+house who had done no good to any man.  Howbeit, I knew full well that
+pride and defiance were now out of place; and while I was walking
+homewards with Ann and Cousin Maud, on a sudden my cousin asked me: If
+Lorenz Stromer were in Herdegen's plight would I not gladly give of my
+estate; and when I said yes, quoth she: "Then all is well."  And inasmuch
+as she was of the same mind she could, without a qualm, suffer the
+gentlemen to ask from door to door in Herdegen's name and in her own.
+It was our part only to show that we, as his nearest and dearest, were
+foremost in giving.  And on that same day Ann brought all she possessed
+in gold and jewels, even to her christening coins which she had kept in
+her money-box, and among them likewise a costly cross of diamonds which
+my lord Cardinal had given her a few months ago.
+
+That evening, again, as dusk was falling, Ann once more knocked at our
+door, and the reason of her coming was in truth a sad one: her grand-
+uncle, old Adam Heyden the organist, our friend of the tower, felt that
+his last hour was nigh, and bid us go to see him.  Thus it came to pass
+that in two following days we had to stand by a death-bed.  On each lay
+an old man departing to the other world, and meseemed their end had
+fallen so close together to yield warning and meditation to our young
+souls.  Now, as I toiled up the steep turret-stair, after flying,
+yesterday, up the matted steps of the wealthy house of the Im Hoffs,
+meseemed that the two men's lives had been like to these staircases, and,
+young as I was, I nevertheless could say to myself that the humbler man's
+steep stair, which of late he could not mount without much panting, led
+up to a higher and brighter home than the wide steps of the rich
+merchant's palace.
+
+Howbeit, when I had presently closed that good old man's eyes, I would
+not suffer myself to think thus of the twain, by reason that I could not
+endure to mar my remembrance of that other, to whom, after all, we owed
+much thanks.
+
+The old organist had received the Holy Sacrament at mid-day from the hand
+of his old friend Nikolas Laister, the Vicar of Saint Sebald's.  He would
+have no one to see him save ourselves and Hans Richter the churchwarden,
+a man after his own heart, and the Pernharts; and at first he marked not
+our coming, inasmuch as he was just then giving a toy to the deaf-mute
+boy, which he had carved with his own hand, and Dame Giovanna had much
+pains to carry away the child, who had cast himself on the old man with
+passionate love.  Everything that moved the little one's soul he was
+forced, as it were, to express with unreasoning violence; and now, when
+the child was so boisterous as to disturb the peace of the others, his
+mother took him by the hand to lead him away into another chamber; but
+the dying man signed to him with a look which none may describe, and that
+moment the little fellow set his teeth hard and stood in silence by the
+door.  Whereupon the old man nodded to him as though the child had done
+him some kindness.
+
+Then he shut his eyes for a good while, and presently asked for some of
+the fine Bacharach wine which Cousin Maud had sent him; but his voice
+could scarce be heard.  Ann reached him the glass, and at a sign from him
+she tasted of it; then he drank it with much comfort while Dame Giovanna
+held him sitting.  The old, sweet smile was on his lips, and as he yet
+held the stem of the glass with a shaking hand, and suffered that I
+should help him, he cried in a clear voice: "Once more, Prosit, Elsie!
+You have waited long enough up there for your old man.  And Prosit,
+likewise, to my dear old home, the fair city of Nuremberg."  Then he took
+breath and added according to his wont: "Prosit, Adam!  Thanks, Heyden!"
+And emptied the cup which I tilted up for him, to the very bottom.  Then,
+when he fell back and gazed before him in silence, I found speech, and
+noted, albeit it struck me in truth as somewhat strange, that he bore our
+good town in mind then, in drinking his old pledge.  Hereupon he nodded
+kindly and added, with an enquiring glance at the churchwarden: "It is
+rightly the duty of every true Christian man to pray for all mankind!
+Well, well; but they are so many, so infinitely many; and I, like every
+other man, have my own little world, inside the great world, as it were,
+and that is my dear old, staunch town of Nuremberg.  Never have I been
+beyond its precincts, and it contains all on earth that is dear and
+precious to me.  To me the citizens of Nuremberg are all mankind, and our
+city and so much as the eye can see from this tower all my world, small
+though it may be.  I could ever find some good matter for thought in
+Nuremberg, something noble and well-compact, a fine whole.  I have never
+sought the boundaries of the other, greater world."
+
+Yet, that his world was in truth wider than he weened, was plain to us
+from the prayer he murmured wherein we could hear my brothers' names,
+albeit land and seas parted them from him.  And after that, for a space
+all were silent, and he lay gazing at the bone crucifix on the wall; and
+at last he besought Dame Giovanna to lift him somewhat higher, and he
+drank again a little more, and said right softly as he cast a loving
+glance upon us each in turn: "I have looked into my own heart and gazed
+on Him on the Cross!  That is our ensample!  And I depart joyfully--and
+if you would know what maketh death so easy to me; it is that I have
+needed but little, and kept little for myself; and whereas I was wont to
+give away what other men save, I came to know of a certainty that all the
+good we do to others is the best we can do for ourselves.  It is that, it
+is that!"
+
+And he stretched forth his hand, and when we had all kissed it, he cried
+out: "My God, I now can say I thank Thee!  What to-morrow may bring, Thou
+alone canst know!  Margery, Ann, my poor children!  May the bright day of
+meeting dawn for you!  May Heaven in mercy protect the youths beyond
+seas!  Here, close at hand is Mistress Kreutzer with her orphan children,
+you know them--you and Master Peter--they are in sore need of help--and
+the good we do to others.  But come close to me, come all of you--and the
+little ones likewise."
+
+And we fell upon our knees by the bed, and he spread forth his hands and
+said in a clear voice: "The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord lift up
+his countenance upon you and be merciful unto you."
+
+And then he sighed deeply, and his hands fell, and Dame Giovanna closed
+his eyes.
+
+Yea!  Death had come easy to this simple soul.  Never knew I any man who
+gave so much out of a little, and never have I seen a happier or more
+peaceful face on a death-bed.
+
+My grand-uncle's burial was grand and magnificent.  All the town-council,
+and many of the nobles joined in the funeral-train.  Bells tolling and
+priests chanting, crape, tapers, incense and the rest of it--we had more
+than enough of them all.  Only one thing was lacking, namely, tears--not
+those of the hirelings who attended it, but such as fall in silence from
+a sorrowing eye.
+
+In the Im Hoffs' great house all was silence till the burying was done;
+up in the tower, where old Adam Heyden lay asleep, the bells rang out as
+they did every day, for wedding and christening, for mass and mourning;
+yet by the low door which led to the narrow turret-stair I saw a crowd of
+little lads and maids with their mothers; and albeit the leaves were off
+the trees and the last flowers were frozen to death, many a child had
+found a green twig or carried a little bunch of everlasting flowers in
+its little hand to lay on the bier of that kind old friend.  It was all
+the sacristan could do to keep away the multitudes who were fain to look
+on his face once more; and when he was borne to the grave-yard, not above
+two hours after my grand-uncle, there was indeed a wondrous great
+following.  The snow was falling fast in the streets, and the fine folks
+who had attended him to the grave were soon warming themselves at home
+after the burying of old Im Hoff.  But there came behind Adam Heyden's
+bier many right honest and respected folk, and a throng, reaching far
+away, of such as might feel the wind whistling cold through the holes in
+their sleeves and about their bare heads.  And among these was there many
+a penniless woman who wiped her eyes with her kerchief or her hand, and
+many a widow's child, who tightened its little belt as it saw him who had
+so often given it a meal carried to the grave.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Marred their best joy in life by over-hasty ire
+Misfortunes never come singly
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGERY, BY GEORG EBERS, V7 ***
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