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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Margery, by Georg Ebers, Volume 8.
+#120 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+Title: Margery, Volume 8.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5559]
+[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, V8 ***
+
+
+
+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 8.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Our good hope of going forth with good-speed into the wide world to risk
+all for our lover and brother was not to be yet.  We were fain to take
+patience; and if this seemed hard to us maidens, it was even worse for
+Kubbeling; the man was wont to wander free whither he would, and during
+these days of tarrying at the forest-lodge, first he lost his mirthful
+humor, and then he fell sick of a fever.  For two long weeks had he to he
+abed, he, who, as he himself told, had never to this day needed any
+healing but such as the leech who medicined his beasts could give him.
+We awaited the tidings of him with much fear; and at this time we
+likewise knew not what to think of those gentlemen who heretofore had
+been such steadfast and faithful friends to us, inasmuch as that Doctor
+Holzschuher gave no sign, and soon after my grand-uncle's burying Uncle
+Christian and Master Pernhart had set forth for Augsburg on some privy
+matters of the town council.  Yet we could do nought but submit, by
+reason that we knew that every good citizen thinks of the weal of the
+Commonwealth before all else.
+
+Even our nearest of kin had laid our concerns on the shelf, while day and
+night alike it weighed on our souls, and we made ready for a long time to
+come of want and humble cheer.  The Virgin be my witness that at that
+time I was ready and willing to give up many matters which we were forced
+to forego; howbeit, we found out that it was easier to eat bread without
+butter and no flesh meat, than to give up certain other matters.  As for
+my jewels, which Cousin Maud would not sell, but pledged them to a
+goldsmith, I craved them not.  Only a heart with a full great ruby which
+I had ever worn as being my Hans' first lovetoken, I would indeed have
+been fain to keep, yet whereas Master Kaden set a high price on the stone
+I suffered him to break it out, notwithstanding all that Cousin Maud and
+Ann might say, and kept only the gold case.  It was hard likewise to send
+forth the serving-folk and turn a deaf ear to their lamenting.  Most of
+the men, when they heard how matters stood, would gladly have stayed to
+serve us for a lesser wage, and each and all went about looking as if the
+hail had spoilt their harvest; only old Susan held her head higher than
+ever, by reason that we had chosen her to share our portion during the
+years of famine.  Likewise we were glad to promise the old horse-keeper,
+who had served our father before us, that we would care for him all his
+days; he besought me eagerly that I would keep my own Hungarian palfrey,
+for, to his mind, a damsel of high degree with no saddle nor steed was as
+a bird that cannot rise on its wings.  Howbeit, we found those who were
+glad to buy the horse, and never shall I forget the hour when for the
+last time I patted the smooth neck of my Bayard, the gift of my lost
+lover, and felt his shrewd little head leaning against my own.  Uncle
+Tucher bought him for his daughter Bertha, and it was a comfort to me to
+think that she was a soft, kind hearted maid, whom I truly loved.  All
+the silver gear likewise, which we had inherited, was pledged for money,
+and where it lay I knew not; yet of a truth the gifts of God taste better
+out of a silver spoon than out of a tin one.  Cousin Maud, who would have
+no half measures, carried many matters of small worth to the pawn-broker;
+yet all this grieved us but lightly, although the sky hung dark over the
+town, by reason that other events at that time befell which gave us
+better cheer.
+
+The Magister, as soon as he had tidings of our purpose, came with right
+good will to offer us his all, and declared his intent to share our
+simple way of life, and this was no more than we had looked for, albeit
+we steadfastly purposed only to take from him so much as he might easily
+make shift to spare.  But it was indeed a joyful surprise when, one right
+dreary day, Heinz Trardorf, Herdegen's best-beloved companion in his
+youth, who had long kept far from the house, came to speak with us of
+Herdegen's concerns.  He had now followed his father, who was dead, as
+master in his trade, and was already so well thought of that the Council
+had trusted his skilled hands to build a new great organ for the Church
+of Saint Laurence.  I knew full well, to be sure, that when Herdegen had
+come back from Paris in all his bravery, he had cared but little for
+Trardorf's fellowship; but I had marked, many a time in church, that his
+eyes were wont to rest full lovingly on me.
+
+And now, when I gave him my hand and asked him what might be his will,
+at first he could scarce speak, albeit he was a man of substance to whom
+all folks would lift their hat.  At last he made bold to tell me that he
+had heard tidings of the sum demanded to ransom Herdegen, and that he,
+inasmuch as that he dwelt in his own house and that his profits
+maintained him in more than abundance, could have no greater joy
+than to pay the moneys he had by inheritance to ransom my brother.
+
+And as the good fellow spoke the tears stood in his eyes, and mine
+likewise were about to flow; and albeit Cousin Maud here broke in and,
+to hide how deeply her heart was touched, said, well-nigh harshly, that
+without doubt the day was not far off when he would have a wife and
+family, and might rue the deed by which he had parted with his estate,
+never perchance to see it more, I freely and gladly gave him my hand, and
+said to him that for my part his offering would be dearest to me of any,
+and that for sure Herdegen would be of the same mind.  And a beam as of
+sunshine overspread his countenance, and while he shook my hand in
+silence I could see that he hardly refrained himself from betraying more.
+After this, I came to know from his good mother that this offer of moneys
+had cost him a great pang, but only for this cause: that he had loved me
+from his youth up, and his noble soul forbid him to pay court to me when
+he had in truth done me so great a service.
+
+Still, and in despite of these gleams of light, I must ever remember
+those three weeks as a full gloomy and sorrowful time.
+
+Kubbeling's eldest son and his churlish helpmate had fared forth to
+Venice instead of himself.  They might not sail for the land of Egypt,
+and this chafed Uhlwurm sorely, by reason that he was sure in himself
+that he, far better than his master or than any man on earth, could do
+good service there to Ann, on whom his soul was set more than on any
+other of us.
+
+Towards the end of the third week we rode forth to spend a few days again
+at the lodge, and there we found Young Kubbeling well nigh healed of his
+fever, and Eppelein's tongue ready to wag and to tell us of his many
+adventures without overmuch asking.  Howbeit, save what concerned his own
+mishaps, he had little to say that we knew not already.
+
+The Saracen pirate who had boarded the galleon from Genoa which was
+carrying him and his lord to Cyprus, had parted him from Herdegen and Sir
+Franz, and sold him for a slave in Egypt.  There had he gone through many
+fortunes, till at last, in Alexandria, he had one day met Akusch.  At
+that time my faithful squire's father was yet in good estate, and he
+forthwith bought Eppelein, who was then a chattel of the overseer of the
+market, to the end that the fellow might help his son in the search for
+Herdegen.  This search they had diligently pursued, and had discovered
+my brother and Sir Franz together in the armory of the Sultan's Palace,
+in the fort over against Cairo, whither they had come after they had both
+worked at the oars in great misery for two years, on board a Saracen
+galley.
+
+But then Herdegen had made proof, in some jousting among the young
+Mamelukes, of how well skilled he was with the sword, and thereby he had
+won such favor that they were fain to deliver sundry letters which he
+wrote to us, into the care of the Venice consul.  Whereas he had no
+answer he had set it down to our lack of diligence at home, till at last
+he was put on the right track by Akusch, and it was plainly shown that
+those letters had never reached us, and that by Ursula's malice.  To
+follow up these matters Akusch had afterwards betaken himself again to
+Alexandria; notwithstanding by this time his father had fallen on evil
+days.  And behold, on the very evening after their return, as they were
+passing along by the side of the Venice Fondaco, whither they had gone to
+see the leech who attended the Consul--having heard that he was a German
+by birth--they were aware of a loud outcry hard by, and presently beheld
+a wounded man, whom they forthwith knew for Kunz.
+
+At first they believed that their eyes deceived them; and that it should
+have been these two, of all men, who found their master's brother lying
+in his blood, I must ever deem a miracle.  To be sure, any man from the
+West who was fain to seek another in the land of Egypt, must first make
+enquiry here at the Fondaco.
+
+A few hours later Kunz was in bed and well tended in the house of
+Akusch's mother, and it was on their return to Cairo, to speak with my
+eldest brother of these matters, that Eppelein was witness to Ursula's
+vile betrayal and the vast demand of the Sultan.  Then my brother, by the
+help of some who showed him favor, had that letter conveyed to Akusch of
+which Eppelein had been robbed hard by Pillenreuth.  More than this the
+good fellow had not to tell.
+
+As I, on my ride home through the wood, turned over in my mind who might
+be the wise and trusty friend to whom we could confide our case and our
+fears, if Kubbeling should leave us in the lurch, verily I found no
+reply.  If indeed Cousin Gotz--that wise and steadfast wayfaring man,
+rich with a thousand experiences of outlandish life--if he were willing
+to make common cause with his Little Red-riding-hood, and the companion
+of his youth!  But a terrible oath kept him far away, and where in the
+wide world might he be found?
+
+Ann likewise had much to cause her heaviness, and I thanked the Saints
+that I was alone with Eppelein when he told me that his dear lord was
+sorely changed, albeit having seen him only from afar, he could scarce
+tell me wherein that change lay.
+
+Thus we rode homewards in silence, through the evening dusk, and as we
+came in sight of the lights of the town all my doubting and wandering
+fears vanished on a sudden in wonderment as to who should be the first
+person we might meet within the gate, inasmuch as Cousin Maud had ever
+set us the unwise example of considering such a meeting as a sign, or
+token, or Augury.
+
+Now, as soon as we had left the gate behind us, lo, a lantern was lifted,
+and we saw, by the light twinkling dimly through the horn, instead of old
+Hans Heimvogel's red, sottish face, a sweet and lovely maiden's; by
+reason that he had fallen into horrors, imagining that mice were rushing
+over him, so that his fair granddaughter Maria was doing duty for him.
+And I greeted her right graciously, inasmuch as Cousin Maud held it to be
+a good sign when a smiling maid should be the first to meet her as she
+came into the city gates.
+
+As for Ann, she scarce marked that it was Maria; and when, after we were
+come home, I spoke of this token of good promise, she asked me how, in
+these evil days, I could find heart to think of such matters; and she
+sighed and cried: "Oh, Margery, indeed I am heavy at heart!  For three
+long years have I taken patience and with a right good will.  But the
+end, meseems, is further than ever, and he who should have helped us is
+disabled or ever he has stirred a finger, and even my lord Cardinal's
+home-coming is put off, albeit all men know that Herdegen is as a man in
+a den of lions--and I, my spirit sinks within me.  And even my wise
+grandmother can give me no better counsel than to 'wait patiently' and
+yet again 'Wait' .  .  ."
+
+Whereupon Susan, who had taken off from us our wet hoods, broke in with:
+"Aye, Mistress Ann, and that has ever from the days of Adam and Eve, been
+the best of all counsel.  For life all through is but waiting for the
+end; and even when we have taken the last Sacrament and our eyes are dim
+in death then most of all must we take Patience, waiting for that we
+shall find beyond the grave.  Here below!  By my soul, I myself grew grey
+waiting in vain for one who long years ago gave me this ring.  Others had
+better luck; yet if the priest had wed us, would that have made an end of
+Patience?  I trow not!  It might have been for weal or it might have been
+for woe.  A wife may go to mass every day in the month.  But is that
+an end of Patience?  Will the storks bring her a babe or no?  Will it be
+a boy or a maid?  And if the little one should come, after the wife has
+told her beads till her fingers are sore, what will the waiting babe turn
+out?  Such an one as Junker Herdegen grows up to be the delight of every
+eye and heart, and if that make less need of Patience meseems we know
+full well!  And Mistress Waldstromer, out in the forest, a lady, she, of
+stern stuff, she could tell a tale; and I say, Mistress Ann, if old Dame
+Pernhart's answer sinks into your heart, God's blessing rest on it!--I am
+waiting, as you are waiting.  We each and all are waiting for one; if by
+the merciful help of the Saints he ever comes home, yet never dream,
+Mistress Ann, that Patience will be out of court."
+
+And with such comfort as this the old woman hung our garments to dry
+while we bowed our heads and went up-stairs.
+
+Up in the guest-chamber we heard loud voices, and as we went in a strange
+sight met our eyes.  Uncle Christian and Doctor Holzschuher were sitting
+face to face with Cousin Maud, and she was laughing so heartily that she
+could not control herself, but flung up her arms and then dropped them on
+her knees, for all the world as she had taught us children to play at a
+game of "Fly away, little birds."
+
+When she marked my presence she forgot to greet me, and cried to me well
+nigh breathless:
+
+"A drink of wine, Margery, and a morsel of bread.  I am ready to split--I
+shall die of laughing!"
+
+Then, when I heard my good Godfather Christian's hearty laughing, and
+saw that Master Holzschuher had but just ceased, I was fain to laugh
+likewise, and even Ann, albeit she had but now been so sad, joined in.
+This lasted a long while till we learned the cause of such unwonted
+mirth; and this was of such a kind as to afford great comfort and new
+assurance, and we were bound to crave our good friends' pardon for having
+deemed them lacking in diligence.  Master Holzschuher had indeed made the
+best use of the time to move every well-to-do man in Nuremberg who had
+known our departed father, and the Abbots of the rich convents, and many
+more, to give of their substance as they were able, to redeem Herdegen
+from the power of the heathen; and the other twain had worked wonders
+likewise, in Augsburg.
+
+But that which had moved Cousin Maud to mirth was that my Uncle Christian
+had related how that he and Master Pernhart, finding old Tetzel, Ursula's
+father, at Augsburg, had agreed together to make him pay a share towards
+Herdegen's ransom; and my godfather's face beamed again now, with
+contentment in every feature, as he told us by what means he had won the
+churlish old man over to the good cause.
+
+Whereas the three good gentlemen had considered that all of Jost Tetzel's
+great possessions must presently fall to his daughter, and that it would
+be a deed pleasing to God to bring some chastisement on that traitorous
+quean, they had laid a plot against her father; and it was for that alone
+that Uncle Christian, who could ill endure the ride in the winter-season,
+had set forth, with Master Pernhart, for Augsburg.  And there he had
+achieved a rare masterpiece of skill, painting Dame Ursula's reprobate
+malice in such strong colors to her father that Master Pernhart was in
+fear lest he should bring upon himself another fit.  And he had
+furthermore sworn to lay the whole matter before the Emperor, with whom,
+as all men knew, he enjoyed much privilege, inasmuch as he had been as it
+were his host when his Majesty held his court at Nuremberg.  Ursula,
+to be sure, was no subject now of his gracious Majesty's; yet would he,
+Christian Pfinzing, know no rest till the Emperor had compelled her
+father, Jost Tetzel, to cut off from her who had married an Italian, the
+possessions she counted on from a German city.
+
+Thereupon Pernhart had spoken in calm but weighty words, threatening that
+his brother, the Cardinal, would visit the heaviest wrath of the Pope on
+the old man and his daughter, unless he were ready and willing to make
+amends and atonement for his child's accursed sin, whereby a Christian
+man had fallen into the hands of the godless heathen.  And when at last
+they had conquered the churlish old man's hardness of heart and stiff-
+necked malice, they drove him to a strange bargain.  Old Tetzel was
+steadfast in his intention to give up as little as he might of his
+daughter's inheritance, while his tormentors raised their demands, and
+claimed a hundred gulden and a hundred gulden more, up to many hundreds,
+which Tetzel was forced to yield; till at last he gave his bond, signed
+and sealed, to renounce all his daughter's estate, and to add thereto two
+thousand gulden of his own moneys, and to hold the sum in readiness to
+ransom Herdegen.
+
+Thus, at one stroke, all our fears touching the moneys were at an end;
+and when the notary showed us the parchment roll on which each one had
+set down the sum he would give, we were struck dumb; and when we reckoned
+it all together, the sum was far greater than that which had cost us so
+many sleepless nights.
+
+By this time we scarce could read for tears, and our souls were so moved
+to thankfulness as we marked the large sums set forth against the names
+of the noble families and of the convent treasurers, that we had never
+felt so great a love for our good city and the dear, staunch friends who
+dwelt therein.  Nay, and many simple folk had promised to pay somewhat of
+their modest store; and although my soul overflowed with thankful joy
+over the great sums to be given by our kith and kin, I rejoiced no less
+over the five pounds of farthings promised by a cordwainer, whom we had
+holpen some years ago when he had been sick and in debt.
+
+And then was there hearty embracing and kissing, and the men, as was
+befitting after a deed so well done, craved to drink.  Cousin Maud
+hastened with all zeal to do honor to friends and guests so dear; but as
+she reached the door she stood still as in doubt, and signed to me so
+that I perceived that somewhat had gone wrong.  And so indeed it had,
+inasmuch as our silver vessels, down to the very least cup, had gone to
+the silversmith in pledge, and Uncle Tucher, the Councillor, who had
+bought my palfrey, had also been fain to have all our old wine, whereof
+many goodly rows of casks, and jars sealed with pitch, lay in our
+cellars.  A few hams still hung in the chimney by good luck; and there
+were chickens and eggs in plenty; but of all else little enough, even of
+butter.  When Cousin Maud set forth all this with a right lamentable face
+I could not refrain my mirth, and I promised her that if she could send
+up a few dainty dishes from the kitchen, I would make shift to please our
+beloved guests.  That as for the wine, I would take that upon myself, and
+no Emperor need be ashamed of our Venice glasses.  And herewith I sent
+her down stairs; but I then frankly confessed to our friends how matters
+stood; and when they had heard me, now laughing heartily, and now in
+amazement and shaking their heads, I enquired of Doctor Holzschuher, as a
+man of law, how I might deal with the wine, inasmuch as it had already
+found a purchaser?  Hereupon arose much jocose argument and discussion,
+and at last the learned notary and doctor of laws declared that he held
+it to be his duty, as adviser to the Council and administrator of the
+Schopper estates, to taste and prove with all due caution whether the
+price promised by Tucher, and not yet paid down, were not all too little
+for the liquor, inasmuch as his clients, being but women-folk, had no
+skill in the good gifts of Bacchus, and could not know their value.  To
+abstain from such testing he held would be a breach of duty, and whereas
+he did not trust his own skill alone, he must call upon Master Christian
+Pfinzing as a man of ripe experience, and Master Councillor Pernhart,
+who, as brother to a great prelate, had doubtless drunk much good liquor,
+in due form to proceed with him to the Schoppers' cellar, and there to
+mark those vessels or jars out of which the wine should be drawn for the
+testing.  Moreover, to satisfy all the requirements of the case, a
+serving-man should be sent to call upon Master Tucher, as the purchaser,
+to be present in his own person at the ceremony.  Inasmuch as it yet
+lacked two hours of midnight, he would, without doubt, be found in the
+gentlemen's tavern; and it might be enjoined on the messenger to add,
+that if Master Tucher were fain to bring with him one skilled in such
+matters to bear him witness on his part, such an one would be made right
+welcome at the Schopperhof.
+
+Thus within a quarter of an hour the three worthy gentlemen, and Ann and
+I, were seated with the winejars before us, they having chosen for
+themselves of the best our cellar could afford; and when the meats which
+Cousin Maud sent up were set on the table, albeit there were but earthen
+plates and crocks, and no silver glittered on the snow-white cloth, yet
+God's good gifts lacked not their savor.
+
+And presently Uncle Tucher came in, and with him, as his skilled witness,
+old Master Loffelholz; and when they likewise had sat down with us, and
+when we had bidden the Magister to join us, there was such hearty and
+joyful emptying of glasses and friendly discourse that Master Tucher
+declared that the happy spirit of our father, the singer, still dwelt
+within our walls.  Howbeit, Ann had to do her duty as watcher over my
+uncle more often that evening than for a long time past.
+
+In the course of that right joyful supper many weighty matters were
+discussed, and the gentlemen, meseemed, were greatly more troubled than
+Cousin Maud or I that we should so hastily have parted with sundry
+matters which should not be lacking in a house of good family, but which,
+as we had learned by experience, were in no wise needful in life.  And
+many a jesting word was spoken concerning our poor platters and dishes,
+and tin spoons, and empty stables.  The bargain over the wine was
+declared to be null and void, and my cousin took heart to assure the
+gentlemen, in right seemly speech, that now again she was happy, when she
+knew that what she had set before such worshipful and welcome guests was
+indeed our own, and not another's.
+
+By the time of their departing it was nearer to cockcrow than to
+midnight; and when, on the morrow, I went into the chamber in the
+morning, to look forth into the street, the sun was shining brightly in a
+blue sky.  I minded me with silent thanksgiving of all the good cheer
+yestereve had brought us, and of the wisdom and faithfulness of our good
+friends.  Many a wise and a witty word uttered over their wine came back
+to me then; and I was wondering to myself what new plot had been brewing
+between my godfather and Uncle Tucher, whereas I had marked them laying
+their heads together, when behold, the stable-lad from the Tuchers'
+coming down the street, leading my own dear bayhorse; and as I saw him
+closer I beheld that his mane and flowing tail were plaited up with fine
+red ribbons.  He stood still in front of our door and, when I flew down
+to greet the faithful beast, the lad gave me a letter wherein nought was
+written save these Latin words in large letters: "AMICITIA FIDEI" which
+is to say: "Friendship to Fidelity."
+
+Thus the pinch and sacrifice were on a sudden ended; and albeit a snow-
+storm ere long came down on us, yet the sunshine in my bosom was still as
+bright as though Spring had dawned there in the December season, and all
+care and fear were banished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+It was noon.  Master Peter could not come to table for a bad headache,
+and Cousin Maud scarce opened her lips.  The sudden turn of matters had
+upset her balance, and so dazed her brain that she would answer at cross-
+purposes, and had ordered so many pats of butter from the farm wench as
+though she had cakes to bake for a whole convent full of sisters.
+Likewise a strange unrest kept her moving to and fro, and this was
+beginning to come upon me likewise, by reason that Ann came not, albeit
+in the morning she had promised to be here again at noon.
+
+I was about to make ready to seek her, when I was stopped, first by a
+message from the forest bidding me, albeit I had scarce left the lodge,
+to return thither no later than on the morrow; and next by an unlooked-
+for guest, who had for long indeed been lost to sight.  This was Lorenz
+Abenberger, the apothecary's son, erewhile a companion of Herdegen in his
+youth, and he who, after he had beguiled the other pueri to dig for
+treasure, had been turned out of the school.  Since those days, when
+likewise he had cast nativities for us maidens, and many a time amused us
+with his magic arts, we had no knowledge of him but that, after his
+parents' death, he had ceased to ply the apothecary's trade, and had
+given himself up to the study of Alchemy.  If folks spoke truth he had
+already discovered the philosopher's stone, or was nigh to doing so: but
+notwithstanding that many learned men, and among them the Magister had
+assured me, that such a thing was by no means beyond the skill of man,
+Lorenz Abenberger for certain had not attained his end, inasmuch as that,
+when he appeared in my presence, his aspect was rather that of a beggar
+than of a potent wise-head at whose behest lead and copper are transmuted
+into gold.
+
+He had heard of the great sum needed for Herdegen's ransom, and he now
+came to assure me of the warm friendship he had ever cherished for his
+old school-mate, and that he had it in his power to create the means of
+releasing him from bondage.  Then, marking that I gazed pitifully on his
+thread-bare, meagre, and by no means clean raiment, whence there came a
+sour, drug-like smell, he broke into a foul laugh and said that, to be
+sure, it would seem strange that so beggarly a figure should make bold to
+promise so great a treasure; howbeit, he stood to his word.  So sure as
+night follows day, he could reach the goal for which he had consumed all
+his father's and mother's estate, nay all he had in the world, if he
+might but once have three pounds of pure gold to do whatsoever he would
+withal.  If I would yield to his entreaties and be moved to grant what he
+needed, he was ready to pledge his body and soul to death and damnation,
+and sign the bond with his heart's blood, if by the end of the thirteenth
+day he had not found the red Lion, and through its aid 'Aurum potabile'
+and the panacea against every evil of body or soul.  This would likewise
+give him the power of turning every mineral, even the most worthless,
+into pure gold, as easily as I might turn my spinning-wheel or say a
+Paternoster.
+
+All this he poured forth with rolling eyes and panting breath, and that
+he spoke every word in sacred earnest none could doubt; and indeed the
+fervent, eager longing which appealed to my compassion and charity from
+every fibre of his being, might have moved me to bestow on him that which
+he craved, if I had possessed such wealth; but, as it was, I was forced
+to say him nay; and whereas at this minute Susan came in with the tidings
+that a man had come from the Pernharts', bidding me go forthwith to Ann,
+I threw over me my cloak and gave him to understand how matters stood
+with me, bidding him farewell with all gentleness yet of set purpose.
+
+The blood mounted into his pale cheeks; he came close up to me, and set
+his teeth, and said wrathfully that I must and I should save him, and
+with him my own brother, if I did but clearly understand the sense and
+purpose of his entreaty.  And he began with a flood of speech to tell me
+how near he was to his end, with a number of outlandish, magical words
+such as "the great Magisterium," "the Red Lion," "the Red Tincture," and
+the like, till meseemed my brain reeled with the sinful gibberish;
+notwithstanding, to this day I believe that in all truth he was nigh
+attaining his purpose; and he might have done so at last were it not
+that, a short space after this, he was choked by the vapor from an
+alembic which burst.
+
+But whence might I at that day procure the means to succor him?
+
+Again and again I strove to check his fiery zeal, but in vain, till I
+told him plainly that I had not at my command three pounds of brass
+farthings, much less three pounds of gold, and that he must apply
+elsewhere and no longer keep me tarrying.
+
+And I gave him my hand to bid him farewell; howbeit he seized it with
+both of his, and wrung and shook my arm till it ached; and being beside
+him self with rage, he admonished me with threatening words and gestures
+not to ruin his life's work, and him, and those dear to me, by my base
+avarice.  When I had got over my first fear I snatched myself free from
+the miserable little man, and turned my back upon him; but he leaped in
+front of me, spread forth his arms to bar the doorway, and shrieked,
+foaming with fury:
+
+"Away, away, down to the depths!  Away with us all!  Woe unto thee,
+mean, blind fool that thou art!  Woe unto us all!  Take away that hand!
+Verily even if my mouth were gagged, yet shouldst thou hear what is
+coming upon thee and all thy race!  I could have hindered it, and I would
+have hindered it; but now it shall be fulfilled.  Oh, it was not for
+nothing that we were young together!  I read thy horoscope and that
+arrogant brawler thy brother's long ago, and when I interpret it to thee,
+if the blood does not curdle in thy veins.  .  .  ."
+
+Hereupon the blood of the Schoppers surged up; I laid hands on the mad
+wight, whose strength was scarce greater than mine, but he hit and
+stamped about like one bereft, crying: "Your planets stand over the
+houses of Death, Captivity, and Despair.  The fulfilment thereof began on
+Saint Lazarus' day, and on this day it falls first on thee; and thus the
+doom shall run its course till it hath an end on Saint John's eve, by
+reason that ye will then have nought left to lose!"
+
+Here Abenberger's raving came to a sudden end.  His outcry had brought up
+Cousin Maud, and when she opened the door behind him and saw a man
+standing in my way, she clutched him from behind, throwing her arms about
+him, and dragged him out of the chamber.  Meanwhile she shrieked aloud
+"Fire!"  and "Murder!"  and again "Fire!"  and all the men and wenches
+ran up in hot haste and had the gold-maker down the stairs fast enough.
+
+Howbeit, I felt truly grieved for him; yet, as I gazed down on him from
+the window, I saw that he had taken his stand without in the street, and
+was shaking his fist up at me till a constable saw it and sent him
+homewards.
+
+Then I must first comfort Cousin Maud for this untoward scene, and suffer
+her to rub my wrists with wine and spirit of balm, forasmuch as they
+tingled like fire and were scratched by the hapless wight's nails.  She
+was beside herself with rage, and the evil prediction of the master of
+the black arts and of star-gazing filled her with unbounded terrors.
+Thus it was my part, though; the younger, to give her courage,
+notwithstanding the awful curse haunted me likewise, and rang in my ears
+even when at last I made my way through the dark streets, followed by the
+serving-man, to do Ann's bidding.  My heart was heavier than it had been
+for many a day; for my fears were mingled with pity for that hapless
+soul, so skilled in much learning.  I had learned to feel other woes and
+joys besides my own, and I could full well picture in my mind the despair
+which at this hour, must wring the soul of that poor fellow. I was glad
+to think that the serving-man might believe that I put my kerchief to my
+eyes only to wipe away the whirling snow.  At the same time, methought
+that for certain some new and terrible sorrow hung over us nay, never so
+clearly as then, after Abenberger's violent attack, had I perceived how
+much alone and without protection I stood in the world.  And wherefor had
+Ann not come to me?  For what reason or matter had she sent for me at so
+late an hour?
+
+Then, when I looked up at the Pernharts' house; saw that the windows of
+the first floor which had be made ready as guest chambers some days ago,
+for my lord Cardinal, were lighted up, so he must have come home and now
+be lodging there again.
+
+But Ann knew full well how truly I honored the reverend and illustrious
+uncle, and for sure if he had brought her good tidings she would
+forthwith have sent me word, or have come to me herself.
+
+What then was now the matter?  In what form had the misfortune come upon
+us which Abenberger had read in the stars?
+
+I lifted the knocker with a faint heart, and could scarce breathe when I
+had to knock three times or ever the door was opened.
+
+How swiftly my Ann was wont to fly to me when she heard my tap!  Was she
+then afraid to meet me with the message of woe which my lord Cardinal had
+perchance received from Cairo through his chaplains there?  We had the
+ransom ready to be sure; yet Ursula would be almost forced, after her
+treacherous deed, to pursue Herdegen to his death; what could she look
+for if he ever came home again?  Come what might then, and were it the
+worst, I must set out, and that forthwith, even if I found no fellowship
+but Cousin Maud and Eppelein.  And to this purpose I had come, when at
+last the door was opened.
+
+Below stairs nought was stirring.  I hastily flung my wet mantle to
+Mario, the deaf-mute, who had let me in, and ran up stairs.  Hardly had I
+reached the second floor when Ann met me, well and of good cheer; and
+when I began, in the outer chamber, to beseech her to be no less
+steadfast than I was in departing for the East, she nodded consent, and
+pointed the way into the inner chamber, where we might be more at our
+ease.  I was amazed to see her in such good heart, and all the more so
+when she told me that my lord Cardinal had come home that morning.
+
+There was above stairs, she hastily told me, a noble Italian Knight, who
+had desired to see our pictures; so we went into the guest chamber, which
+was all lighted up as when company was bidden.  Nay, it was of such
+festal aspect as well nigh dazzled me, and I discerned at once that my
+portrait, which only a few days ago had been hanged on the wall by the
+side of Ann's for my lord Cardinal, was now placed on two chairs and
+leaning against the high backs.
+
+All this and more I perceived in a few hasty glances, and when I enquired
+where might this stranger from Italy be, I was told that he had gone with
+Master Pernhart into the chamber which had been fitted for his Eminence
+with the magnificent stuffs from Rome and Florence which he had brought
+as a gift for his old mother.  The finest of these were certain hangings
+of fine tissue and of many colors, which hung over the wide opening
+between the great guest chamber and that next to it.  And the Italian
+must likewise have seen these, inasmuch as that they hung down, whereas
+they were wont to be drawn to the sides.  Behind them, all was dark; thus
+the Master and his wife, with their strange guest, must have withdrawn
+into the chamber at the back of the house, where the Cardinal had loved
+to work, and wherein there were sundry works of art to be seen, and
+choice Greek manuscripts which he had brought with him to show to the
+learned doctors in his native town; as being rare and precious.
+
+None was here save the old grandam, and her countenance beamed with joy
+as she held out her hands to me from her arm-chair, in glad and hearty
+greeting.  She was dressed in her bravest array, and there was in her
+aspect likewise somewhat solemn and festal.
+
+Albeit I was truly minded at all times to rejoice with those who were
+rejoicing, all this bravery, at this time, was sorely against the grain
+of my troubled heart and its forebodings of ill.  I could not feel at
+ease, and meseemed that all this magnificence and good cheer mocked my
+hapless and oppressed spirit.
+
+In truth, I could scarce bring myself to return the old dame's greeting
+with due gladness; and her keen eyes at once discerned how matters were
+with me.  She held me by the hand, and asked me in a hearty voice whence
+came the clouds that darkened my brow.  When her bright, high-spirited
+Margery, whom she had never known to be in a gloomy mood, looked like
+this, for sure some great evil had befallen.
+
+Whereupon what came over me I know not.  Whether it were that the
+blackness and the terror in my bosom were too great a contrast with the
+gladness and splendor about me, or what it was that so tightly gripped my
+heart, I cannot tell to this day; but I know full well that all which had
+oppressed me since Abenberger denounced me came rushing down on my soul
+as it were, and that I burst into tears and cried out "Yes, grandmother
+dear, I have gone through a dreadful, terrible hour!  I have had to
+withstand the attack of a madman, and hear a horrible curse from his
+lips.  But it is not that alone, no, verily and indeed!  I can, for that
+matter, make any man to know his place, were he twice the man that little
+Abenberger is; and as to curses, I learnt from a child to mind my dear
+father's saying: "Curse me if you will!  What matters it if I may earn
+God's blessing!"
+
+"And you have earned it, honestly earned it," quoth she, drawing me down
+to kiss my forehead.  Hereupon I ceased weeping and bid my heart take
+fresh courage, and went on, still much moved: "It is nought but a woman's
+shameless craft that troubles me so sorely.  Ursula's hate hangs over my
+brothers like a black storm-cloud; and on my way hither meseemed I saw
+full plainly that the ransom is not the end of the matter.  Nay, if we
+had twice so much, yet Herdegen will never come home alive if we fail to
+cross Ursula's scheming; has she not cause to fear the worst, if ever he
+comes home in safety?  But where is the envoy who would dare so much?
+Kunz lies wounded in a strange land, Young Kubbeling would doubtless be
+ready to cross the seas, notwithstanding his fever, but good-will would
+not serve him, so little is he skilled in such matters.  Our other
+friends are over old, or forced to stay in Nuremberg.  Thus do matters
+stand.  What then is left to us--to Ann and me, Grandmother?  I ask you--
+what, save to act on our first and only wise intent?  And that which it
+is our part to do, which we may not put off one day longer than we need,
+is to take ship, under the grace of the Blessed Virgin, and ourselves to
+carry fresh courage to those who are nearest and dearest to us.  Of a
+truth I am but an orphaned maid; my lover and my guardian are both dead;
+and yet do I not fear to depart for a land beyond seas; true and faithful
+love is the guiding-star which shall lead us, and we have seen in Ann how
+true is the Apostle's saying that love conquereth all things.  Any
+creature who stands straight on a pair of strong legs, and who is sound
+in soul and body, and who looks up to Heaven and trusts in God's grace
+with joyful assurance, even if it be but a weak maiden, may rescue a
+fellow-creature in need; and I, thank God, am sound and whole.  Nay, and
+I will even pledge my word that I will tear asunder the subtlest web
+which Ursula may spin, in especial if I have Ann's keen wit to aid me.
+So I will go forth, and away, through frost and snow, to find my
+brethren; and if his pains keep Kubbeling at home in spite of his
+catskins, and if Master Ulsenius should forbid Eppelein to ride so far,
+yet will we find some other to be our faithful squire."
+
+And with this I drew a deep breath; and when I turned to seek Ann, with
+a lighter heart, to the end that she should signify her consent, on a
+sudden me seemed as though the floor of the chamber rose up beneath my
+feet, and I was nigh falling, by reason that the fine hangings which hid
+the Cardinal's chamber from my eyes were drawn asunder, and a tall man,
+tanned brown by the sun, came forth, and said in a deep voice: "Wilt thou
+trust these hands, Margery?  They are ready and willing to serve thee
+faithfully."
+
+Hereupon a cry of joy broke from me: "Gotz," and again "Gotz!"
+
+And albeit meseemed as though the walls, and tables, and chairs were
+whirling round me, and as though the ceiling, nay and the blue sky above
+it had yawned above me, yet I fell not, but hastened to meet this new-
+comer, and grasped his kind, strong hand.
+
+Yet was not this all; or ever I was rightly aware how it befell, he had
+clasped me in his arms, and I was leaning on his breast, and his warm
+bearded lips were for the first time set on mine.
+
+Master Pernhart and his wife had come out of the further chamber with my
+cousin, and Ann, and the grandam, and the elder children gazed at us; yet
+neither he nor I paid heed to them and, as each looked into the other's
+eyes, and I saw that his face was the same as of old, albeit of a darker
+brown, and more well-favored and manly; then my heart sang out in joyful
+triumph, and I made no resistance when he held me closer to him and
+whispered in my ear: "But Margery, how may a cousin, who is not an old
+man, go forth as squire to a fair young maid, and so further on through a
+lifetime, and not rouse other folks to great and righteous wrath?"
+
+At this the blood mounted to my face; and albeit I by no means doubted of
+my reply, he spared my bashfulness and went on with deep feeling: "But if
+he did so as your wedded husband, what aunt or gossip then might dare to
+blame him and his honored wife, Dame Margery Waldstromer?"
+
+Whereat I smiled right gladly up at my new lover, and answered him in a
+whisper: "Not one, Gotz, not one."
+
+Thus I plighted my troth to him that very evening; and as for the costly
+jewels which he had bought on the Rialto at Venice to bring to his dear
+Red-riding-hood, and now gave me as his first love-tokens, what were they
+to me as compared with the joyful news wherewith he could rejoice our
+hearts?  So presently we sat with the Pernharts after that Cousin Maud
+and Uncle Christian Pfinzing, my dear godfather, had been bidden to join
+us.  Gotz sat with his arm round me, and my hand rested in his.
+
+For how long a space had lands and seas lain betwixt us, how swift and
+sudden had his wooing been and my consent!  And yet, meseemed as though
+I had but now fulfilled the purpose of Providence for me from the
+beginning; and there was singing and blossoming in my breast and heart,
+as though they were an enchanted garden wherein fountains were leaping,
+and roses and tulips and golden apples and grapes were blooming and
+ripening among pine-trees and ivy-wreaths.
+
+Nevertheless I lost no word of his speech, and could have listened to
+him till morning should dawn again.  And while we thus sat, or paced
+the room arm-in-arm, I heard many matters, and yet not enough of Gotz's
+adventurous fate, and of the happy turn my brothers' concerns had taken
+with his good help.  And what we now learned from his clear and plain
+report, answering our much questioning, was that, after separating from
+his home, he had taken service as a soldier of the Venice Republic, and
+had done great deeds under the name of Silvestri, which is to say "of the
+Woods."  Of all the fine things he had done before Salonica and
+elsewhere, fighting against Sultan Mourad and the Osmanli, yea, and in
+many fights against other infidels, thereby winning the favor of his
+general, the great Pietro Loredano--of all this he would tell us at great
+length another day.  Not long since he had been placed as chief, at the
+head of the armed force on board the fleet sent forth by the Republic to
+Alexandria to treat with the Sultan as concerning the King of Cyprus, who
+was held a prisoner.  With him likewise, on the greatest of the galleys,
+were there sundry great gentlemen of the most famous families of Venice,
+and chief of them all, Marino Cavallo, Procurator of Saint Mark; inasmuch
+as that the Council desired to ransom the King of Cyprus with Venice
+gold, and to that end had sent Angelo Michieli with the embassy, he being
+the Senior of one of the most powerful and wealthy merchants' houses in
+the East.
+
+With all of these Gotz, as a hero in war, was on right friendly terms,
+and when they landed at Alexandria, Anselmo Giustiniani, the Consul, had
+given them all fine quarters in the Fondaco.
+
+Here, then, my new lover had met Ursula; howbeit, he made not himself
+known to her, by reason that already he had heard an evil report of her
+husband's dealings as Consul, and of her deeds and demeanors.  Yet was
+there one man dwelling in the Fondaco to whom he confessed his true name,
+and that was Hartmann Knorr, a son of Nuremberg and of good family, who,
+after gaining his doctor's degree at Padua, had taken the post of leech
+to the Consul, provided and paid by the Republic.  In this, his fellow
+countryman's chamber, the two, who had been schoolmates, had much privy
+discourse, and inasmuch as that Master Knorr knew of old that Gotz was
+near of kin to the Schoppers, he forthwith made known to him that he had
+been bidden to the house of Akusch's parents to tend and heal Kunz, and
+had learnt from him many strange tidings; accusing Ursula of the guilt
+of having concealed and kept back the letters written by Herdegen and Sir
+Franz to their kindred at home, of having set her husband's hired knaves
+on himself, to murder him, and lastly, of having maliciously increased
+the sum for his brother's ransom.  Hereupon the worthy leech was minded
+to sail to Venice in the next homeward-bound galleon, to do what he might
+for his countrymen in sore straits; howbeit, Gotz might now perchance
+work out their release from grief and slavery in some other wise.  And
+whereas Master Knorr could give him tidings of other criminal deeds
+committed by Giustiniani, my new lover had forthwith written a petition
+of accusation to the Council at Venice, and forthwith Marino Cavallo, in
+his rights as procurator of Saint Mark, had commanded the Consul and his
+wife to depart for Venice and present themselves before the Collegium of
+the Pregadi, which hath the direction of the Consuls beyond seas.
+
+Likewise Gotz had taken in hand the cause of Herdegen and Sir Franz and
+forasmuch as he was held in great respect, Master Angelo Michieli was not
+hardly won to do what he might for them, taking Gotz and Kunz for surety.
+The Venice embassy went forth to Cairo, and whereas Master Michieli, who
+was skilled in such matters, beat down the ransom demanded for King Janus
+to the sum of two hundred thousand ducats, and paid it down for the royal
+captive, he likewise moved the Sultans to be content with fifteen
+thousand ducats each for Herdegen and Sir Franz, and my brother and his
+fellow in misfortune were set free.
+
+All through this tale my heart beat higher; I secretly hoped that
+peradventure my brothers had come home with Gotz, and were hiding
+themselves away, only for some reason privy to themselves.  Howbeit,
+I presently heard that they had set forth with their faces to Jerusalem;
+to the end that they might, at their homecoming, tell the Emperor with
+the greater assurance, that they had taken upon themselves the penance of
+going at last to the Holy Places whither they had been bidden to go.
+
+When Gotz had ended these great and comforting tidings, and I enquired of
+him what then had at last brought him homewards, he freely confessed that
+my brothers' discourse had recalled to him so plainly his fathers' house,
+his parents, and all that was dear and that he had left, that he could no
+longer endure to stay away beyond seas.  Then he looked me in the eyes
+and whispered: "The images of my sick mother and my grey-headed father
+drew me most strongly; yet was a third; a dear, sweet, childish face; the
+very same as now looks into mine so gladly and lovingly.  Yes, it is the
+very face I had hoped to find it; and when, erewhile, I saw your likeness
+in the red hood, and heard your speech as you poured forth your inmost
+soul to grandmother Pernhart, I knew my own mind."
+
+How dear the newcomer was, in truth, to all in the Pernhart household I
+might mark that evening.  The old grandam's eyes rested on him as though
+he were a dear son, and Master Pernhart would come close to him now and
+again, and stroke his arm.  Twice only did he hastily turn away and
+privily wipe his eyes.  Nevertheless he saw our love-making with no
+jealousy; nay, when Gotz could scarce tear himself away from my picture,
+Master Pernhart whispered to him that if ever a maid should stand in his
+Gertrude's place it should be Margery, and the grandam had cried Amen.
+
+It was already midnight when horses' hoofs were heard in the street, and
+when they stopped Gotz rose, and then presently all the others vanished
+from the chamber.  Yet were we not long suffered to enjoy each other's
+fellowship, inasmuch as he himself had ordered his horse, to the end that
+he might ride forth spite of the lateness of the hour to the forest.  His
+servingman, himself the son of a forester, had been there already to
+desire Grubner, the headman, to bid my uncle to his dwelling early on the
+morrow, and the good son purposed there to gladden himself by meeting his
+father, after that he had greeted the house unseen in the darkness.
+
+But how hard it was to part after so brief a meeting from this newly-
+found and best-beloved lover, and to see the weary traveller fare forth
+once more into the dark night.  And how few words in secret had we as yet
+spoken, how little had we discussed what might befall on the morrow, and
+how he should demean himself to his mother!
+
+To my humble entreaty that he would set aside the unnatural and sinful
+oath which forbade him to enter his parents' house he had turned a deaf
+ear.  Yet how lovingly had he given me to understand his stern refusal,
+which I justly deserved, inasmuch as I knew full well the meaning of an
+oath; and yet I besought him with all my heart to send away his horse,
+and bid me not farewell when welcome had scarce been spoken.  On the
+morrow it would be a joy to me to ride forth with him, and my uncle could
+never chafe at a few short hours' delay.
+
+All this poured from my lips smoothly and warmly enough, and he calmly
+heard me to the end; but then he solemnly declared to me that, sweet as
+he might deem it to have me by his side to keep him company, it might not
+be; and he set forth clearly and fully how he had ordered the matter
+yestereve, and I looked up at him as to a general who foresees and
+governs all that may befall, to the wisest ends.  So steadfast and clear
+a purpose I had never met; howbeit, Mother Eve's part in me was ill-
+content.  It was too much for me to suffer that he should depart, and,
+like the fool that I was, the desire possessed me to bend to my will this
+man of all men, whose stiff-necked will was ever as firm as iron.
+
+I began once more to beseech him, and this time he broke in, declaring
+that, say what I would, he must depart, and therewith he pulled the hood
+of his cloak over his head so that his well-favored, honest brown face,
+with its pointed beard, framed as it were in the green cloth, looked down
+on me, the very image of manly beauty and mild gravity.
+
+My heart beat higher than ever for joy and pride at calling the heart of
+such a man mine own, and therewith my desire waxed stronger to exert my
+power.  And I knew right well how to get the upper-hand of my lovers.  My
+Hans had never said me nay when I had entreated him with certain wiles.
+And whereas I had in no wise forgotten my tricks, I took Gotz by the hem
+of his hood and drew his dear head down to my face.  Then I rubbed my
+nose against his as hares do when they sniff at each other, put up my
+lips for a kiss, stood on tip-toe, offered him my lips from afar, and
+whispered to him right sweetly and beseechingly:
+
+"And, in spite of all, now you are to be my good, dear heart's treasure,
+and will do Margery's bidding when she entreats you so fondly and will
+give you a sweet kiss for your pains."
+
+But I had reckoned vainly.  The reward for which my Hans modestly served
+me, this bold warrior cared not to win.  His bearded lips, to be sure,
+were ready enough to meet mine, nor was he content with one kiss only;
+but, as soon as he had enjoyed the last, he took both my hands tight in
+his own, and said solemnly but sweetly:
+
+"Do you not love me, Margery?"  And when I had hastily declared that I
+did, he went on in the same tone, and still holding my bands: "Then you
+must know, once for all, that I could refuse you nought, neither in great
+matters nor small, unless it were needful.  Yet, when once I have said,"
+and he spoke loud, "nothing can move me in the very least.  You have
+known me from a child, and of your own free will you have given yourself
+over to this iron brain.  Now, kiss me once more, and bear me no malice!
+Till to-morrow.  Out in the forest, please God, we will belong to each
+other for many a long day!"
+
+Therewith he clasped me firmly and truly in his arms, and I willingly and
+hotly returned his kiss, and or ever I could find a word to reply he had
+quitted the chamber.  I hastened to the window, and as he waved his hand
+and rode off down the street facing the snow-storm, I pressed my hand to
+my breast, and rarely has a human being so overflowed with pure gladness
+at being twice worsted in the fray, albeit I had forced it on myself.
+
+How I returned home I know not; but I know that I had rarely knelt at my
+prayers with such fervent thanksgiving, and that meseemed as though my
+mother in Heaven and my dead Hans likewise must rejoice at this which had
+befallen me.
+
+As I lay in bed, or ever I slept, all that was fairest in my past life
+came back to me as clearly as if it were living truth, and first and
+chiefest I saw myself as little Red-riding-hood, under the forest-trees
+with Gotz, who did me a thousand services and preferred me above all
+others till, for Gertrude's sake, he departed beyond seas, and set my
+childish soul in a turmoil.
+
+Then came the joy and the pain I had had by reason of the loves of
+Herdegen and Ann, and then my Hans crossed my path, and how glad I was to
+remember him and the bliss he had brought me!  But or ever I had come to
+the bitterest hour of my young days, sleep overcame me, and the manly
+form of Gotz, steeled by much peril and strife for his life, came to me
+in my dreams; and he did not, as Hans would have done, give me his hand;
+Oh no!  He snatched me up in his arms and carried me, as Saint
+Christopher bears the Holy Child, and strode forward with a firm step
+over plains and abysses, whithersoever he desired; and I suffered him to
+go as he would, and made no resistance, and felt scarce a fear, albeit
+meseemed the strong grip of his iron arm hurt me.  And thus we went on
+and on, through ancient mountain-forests, while the boughs lashed my face
+and I could look into the nests of the eagles and wood-pigeons, of the
+starlings and squirrels.  It was a wondrous ramble; now and then I gasped
+for breath, yet on we went till, on the topmost bough of an oak, behold,
+there was Lorenz Abenberger, and the evil words he spoke made me wake up.
+
+After this I could sleep no more, and in thought I followed Gotz through
+the snow-storm.  And in spirit I saw Waldtrud, the fair daughter of
+Grubner, the chief forester, bidding him welcome, and giving him hot
+spiced wine after his cold ride, and sipping the cup with her rosy lips.
+Hereupon a pang pierced my heart, and methought indeed how well favored
+a maid was the forester's daughter, and not more than a year older than
+I, and by every right deemed the fairest in all the forest.  And the evil
+fiend jealousy, which of yore had had so little hold over me that I could
+bear to see my Hans pay the friendliest court to the fairest maidens, now
+whispered wild suspicions in mine ear that Gotz, with his bold warrior's
+ways, might be like enough to sue for some light love-tokens from the
+fair and mirthful Waldtrud.
+
+Howbeit, I presently called to mind the honest eyes of my new heart's
+beloved, and that brought me peace; and how I was struck with horror to
+think that I had known the sting of that serpent whom men call jealousy.
+Must it ever creep in where true love hath found a nest?  And if indeed
+it were so, then--and a hot glow thrilled through me--then the love which
+had bound me to Hans Haller had been a poor manner of thing, and not the
+real true passion.
+
+No, no!  Albeit it had worn another aspect than this brand new flame,
+which I now felt burning and blazing up from the early-lighted and long
+smouldering fire, nevertheless it had been of the best, and faithful and
+true.  Albeit as the betrothed of Hans Haller I had been spared the pangs
+of jealousy, I owed it only to the great and steadfast trust I had gladly
+placed in him.  And Gotz, who had endured so much anguish and toil to be
+faithful to his other sweetheart, was not less worthy of my faith, and it
+must be my task to fight against the evil spirit with all the strength
+that was in me.
+
+Then again I fell asleep; and when, as day was breaking, I woke once more
+and remembered all that had befallen me yestereve, I had to clutch my
+shoulders and temples or ever I was certain that indeed my eyes were open
+on another day.  And what a day!  My heart overflowed as I saw, look
+which way I might, no perils, none, nothing, verily nothing that was not
+well-ordered and brought to a good end, nothing that was not a certainty,
+and such a blessed certainty!
+
+I rose as fresh and thankful as the lark, my Cousin Maud was standing,
+as yet not dressed and with screws of paper in her hair, in front of the
+pictures of my parents, casting a light on their faces from her little
+lamp; and it was plain that she was telling them, albeit without speech,
+that her life's labor and care had come to a happy issue, and I was
+irresistibly moved to fly to her brave and faithful heart; and although,
+while we held each other in an embrace, we found no words, we each knew
+full well what the other meant.
+
+After this, in all haste we made ready to set forth, and the Magister
+came down to us in the hall, inasmuch as my cousin had called him.  He
+made his appearance in the motley morning gabardine which gave him so
+strange an aspect, and to my greeting of "God be with 'ee !"  he gaily
+replied that he deemed it wasted pains to ask after my health.
+
+Then, when he had been told all, at first he could not refrain himself
+and good wishes flowed from his lips as honey from the honey-comb; and he
+was indeed a right merry sight as, in the joy of his heart, he clapped
+his arms together across his breast, as a woodhewer may, to warm his
+hands in winter.  On a sudden, however, he looked mighty solemn, and when
+Cousin Maud, bethinking her of Ann, spoke kindly to him, saying that
+matters were so in this world, that one who stood in the sun must need
+cast a shadow on other folks, the Magister bowed his head sadly and
+cried: "A wise saying, worthy Mistress Maud; and he who casts the shade
+commonly does so against his will, 'sine ira et studio'.  And from that
+saying we may learn--suffer me the syllogism--that, inasmuch as all
+things which bring woe to one bring joy to another, and vice-versa, there
+must ever be some sad faces so long as there is no lack of happy ones.
+As to mine own poor countenance, I may number it indeed with those in
+shadow--notwithstanding"--here his flow of words stopped on a sudden.
+Howbeit, or ever we could stay him, he went on in a loud and well-nigh
+triumphant voice.  "Notwithstanding I am no wise woeful--no, not in the
+least degree.  I have found the clue, and who indeed could fail to see
+it: Your shadow can fall so black on me only by reason that you stand in
+the fullest sunshine!  As for me, it is no hard matter for me to endure
+the blackness of night; and may you, Mistress Margery, for ever and ever
+stand in the glory of light, henceforth till your life's end."
+
+As he spoke he upraised his eyes and hands to heaven as in prayer, and
+without bidding us "Vale," or "Valete," as was his wont, he gathered his
+gaudy robe and fled up-stairs again.
+
+The storm was yet as heavy as it had been yestereve; howbeit, though
+Bayard sank into the snow so deep that I swept it with the hem of my
+kirtle, yet the ride to the forest-lodge meseemed was as short as though
+I had flown.  Cousin Maud would ride slowly in the sleigh, so I suffered
+her to creep along, and presently outstripped her.
+
+Gotz and I had yestereve agreed that I should first see Aunt Jacoba, and
+then meet him at Grubner's lodge to report of what mind she might seem to
+be.  Ann had no choice but to stay at home, inasmuch as she must be in
+attendance at the Cardinal's homecoming.
+
+No one in all the dear old forest home was aware of my coming save the
+gate warden.  My uncle had ridden forth at an early hour, and was not yet
+returned, but my aunt I found below stairs, strange to say, against her
+wont, dressed and in discourse with the chaplain.  Peradventure then her
+husband had already made known to her what had taken him forth to
+Grubner's dwelling, and if so he had lifted a heavy task from me, for
+indeed my whole soul yearned to this dearly-beloved aunt, yet meseemed it
+was no light matter to prepare her, who was so feeble and yet so self-
+willed, for the joy and the strife of soul which awaited her.  The board
+was spread for them as it were, and yet she and Gotz, by their baleful
+oath, had barred themselves from tasting of that bread and that cup.
+
+I crossed the threshold in trembling, and as soon as she beheld me she
+cried out, with burning cheeks, which glowed not so, for sure, from the
+blaze in the chimney: "Margery, Margery!  And so happy as she looks!
+You have seen your uncle, child, and can tell me wherefor he is gone
+forth?"
+
+I told her truly that I had not; and then bid her rejoice with me,
+inasmuch as that all the price of Herdegen's ransom had been paid and,
+best of all, that we had good tidings of our brothers' well-being.
+
+Then she was fain to know when and through whom, and made enquiry in such
+wise as though she had some strong suspicion; and I answered her as
+calmly as I might, that a pilgrim from the East had come to us yestereve,
+a right loyal and worthy gentleman, whom, indeed, I hoped to bring to her
+knowledge.
+
+But I might say no more by reason that her eyes on a sudden flashed up
+brightly, and she vehemently broke in:
+
+"Chaplain, Chaplain!  Now what do you say?  When the old man rode forth
+so early this morning, and bid me farewell in so strange a wise, then--
+hear me, Margery--he likewise spoke to me of a messenger from the East
+who rode into the city yestereve--just as you say.  But it was not of
+Herdegen that he brought tidings, but of him--of him--of Gotz that he
+had sure knowledge.  And when the old man told me so much as that, for
+certain somewhat lay behind it.--And now, Margery--when I see you--when I
+consider.  .  .  ."  Here, as I cast a meaning glance at the Chaplain, on
+a sudden she shrieked with such a yell as pierced my bones and marrow;
+and or ever I saw her, her weak, lean hand had clutched my wrist, and she
+cried in a hoarse voice:
+
+"Then you, you have hid somewhat from me!  The look wherewith you warned
+the Chaplain, oh!  I marked it well.--And you hesitate--and now--you--
+Margery--Margery!  By Christ's wounds I ask you, Margery.  What is it?--
+What of Gotz?  Has he....  out with it--out with the truth....  Has he
+written?--No.--You shake your head....  Merciful Virgin!  He--he--Gotz is
+on his way Home wards."  And she clapped her hands over her face.  I fell
+on my knees by her side, dragged first her left hand and then her right
+hand away from her eyes, covered them with kisses, and whispered to her:
+"Yes, yes, Aunt, Mother, sweet, dear little mother!  Only wait--You shall
+hear all.  Gotz is weary of wandering; he had not forgotten his father
+and mother, nor me, his little Red-riding-hood--I know it, I am sure of
+it.  Patience! only a little patience and he will be here--in Germany, in
+Franconia, in Nuremberg, in the forest, in the house, in this hall, here,
+here where I am kneeling, at your feet, in your arms!"
+
+Then the deeply-moved dame, who had listened to me breathless, flung her
+hands high in the air as if she were seeking somewhat, and it was as
+though her eyes turned inside out; and I was seized with sudden terror,
+inasmuch as I deemed that she had drunk death out of the overfull cup of
+joy that my hand had put to her lips.  Howbeit, it was but a brief swoon
+which had come upon her, and as soon as she had come to herself again and
+I had told her the whole truth, little by little and with due caution,
+even that Gotz and I had found each other and both fervently and
+earnestly longed for her motherly blessing, she gave it me in rich
+abundance.
+
+Now was it my part to make known to her that her returned son held fast
+to his oath; and I had already begun to tell her this when she waved her
+hands, and eagerly broke in: "And do you think I ever looked that he, who
+is a Waldstromer and a Behaim both in one, should ever break a vow?  And
+of a truth he hath given me time enough to consider of it!--But to-day,
+this very day, early in the morning I found the right way out of the
+matter, albeit it is as like a trick of woman's craft as one egg is like
+another.--You know that reckless oath.  It requires me never, never to
+bid Gotz home again; but yet,"--and now her eyes began to sparkle
+brightly with gladness--"what my oath does not forbid is that I should go
+forth to meet Gotz, and find him wheresoever he may be."
+
+Hereupon the Chaplain clapped his hands and cried:
+
+"And thus once more the love of a woman's heart hath digged a pit for
+Satan's craft."
+
+And I ran forth to bid them harness the sleigh, whereas I knew full well
+that no counsel would avail.
+
+And now, as of yore when she had fared into the town for love of Ann, she
+was wrapped in a mountain of warm garments, so we clothed her to-day in a
+heap of such raiment, and Young Kubbeling would suffer no man but himself
+to drive the horses.  Thus we went at a slow pace to Grubner's lodge, and
+all the way we rode we met not a soul save Cousin Maud, and she only
+nodded to me, by reason that she could not guess that a living human
+creature was breathing beneath the furs and coverlets at my side.  Young
+Kubbeling on the box, and the ravens and tomtits and redbreasts in the
+woods had not many words from us.  While I was thinking with fear and
+expectation of the outcome of this meeting of the mother and son, I
+scarce spoke more than a kind word of good cheer now and again to my
+aunt, to which Kubbeling would ever add in a low voice: "All will  come
+right!" or "God bless thee, most noble lady!"  And each time we thus
+spoke I was aware of a small movement about my knees, and would then
+press my lips to the outermost cover of the beloved bundle by my side.
+
+At about two hundred paces from the Forester's but the path turned off
+from the highway, so that we might be seen from the windows thereof; and
+scarce had the sleigh turned into this cross-road, when the door of the
+lodge was opened and my uncle and Gotz came forth.
+
+The son had his arm laid on his father's shoulder and they gazed at us.
+And indeed it was a noble and joyful sight as they stood there, the old
+man and the young one, both of powerful and stalwart build, both grown
+strong in wind and weather, and true and trustworthy men.  The slim young
+pine had indeed somewhat overtopped the gnarled oak, but the crown of the
+older tree was the broader.  Such as the young man was now the old man
+must have been, and what the son should one day be might be seen--and I
+rejoiced to think it--in his father's figure and face.  Howbeit, as a
+husband Gotz gave no promise of treading in his father's footsteps, and
+when I thought of this, and of the lesson I had yestereve received, my
+cheeks grew redder than they had already turned in the sharp December
+air, or under the gaze of my new lover.
+
+Howbeit I had no time for much thought; the sleigh was already at the
+door, and or ever I was aware the old man had me in his arms and kissed
+my lips and brow, and called me his dear and well-beloved daughter.  Then
+the younger man pressed forward to assert his claims, and when he bent
+over me I threw my arms round his neck, and he lifted me up, for all that
+I was none of the lightest in my winter furs and thick raiment, out of
+the sleigh like a child, and again his lips were on mine.  But we might
+not suffer them to meet for more than a brief kiss.  Uncle Conrad had
+discovered my aunt's face among all her wrappings, and gave loud
+utterance to his well-founded horror, while my aunt cried out to her
+long-lost son by name again and again, with all the love of a longing
+and long-robbed mother's heart.
+
+I gladly set my lover free, and at the next minute he was on his knees in
+the snow and his trembling hands removed wrap after wrap from the beloved
+head, Kubbeling helping him from the driving-seat with his great hands,
+purpled by the cold.
+
+And again in a few minutes the mother was covering her only son's head
+with tender kisses, so violently and so long that her strength failed her
+and she fell back on the pillows, overdone.
+
+Hereupon Gotz bowed over her, and as he had erewhile lifted his
+sweetheart out of the sleigh, so now he lifted his mother; and while he
+held her thus in his arms and bore her into the house, not heeding the
+kerchiefs which dropped off by degrees and lay in a long line covering
+the ground behind her, as coals do which are carried in a broken scuttle,
+she cried in a trembling voice: "Oh you bad, only boy, you my darling and
+heart-breaker, you noble, wicked, perverse fellow!  Gotz my son, my own
+and my All!"
+
+And when she had found a place in the warm room, in the head forester's
+wife's arm-chair by the fire, I removed her needless raiment and Gotz
+sank down at her feet, and she took his head in her hands, and cried:
+
+"I did not wait for you to come, but flew to meet you, my lad, by reason
+that, as you know--I took a sinful oath never to bid you to come home.
+But oath and vow are nought; they are null and void!  I have learned from
+the depths of my heart that Heaven had nought to do with them--that it
+was pure pride and folly; and I bid you home with my whole heart and
+soul, and beseech your forgiveness for all the sorrow we have brought
+upon each other, and I will have and keep you henceforth, and nought
+else here on earth!  Ah, and Gertrude, poor maid!  She would have been
+heartily, entirely welcome to me as at this day, were it not that there
+is another maiden who is dearest to my heart of all the damsels on
+earth!"
+
+Then was there heartfelt embracing and kissing on both parts, and, as I
+saw her weep, I made an unspoken vow that if the eyes of this mother and
+her son should ever shed tears again I would be the last to cause them,
+and that I would ever be ready and at hand to dry them carefully away.
+
+I mind me likewise that I then beheld fair Waldtrud, the forester's
+daughter, inasmuch as she full heartily wished me joy; yet I remember
+even better that I felt no pang of jealousy, and indeed scarce looked at
+the wench, by reason that there were many other matters of which the
+sight gave me far greater joy.
+
+It was a delightful and never-to-be-forgotten hour, albeit over-short;
+by my uncle's desire we ere long made ready to go homewards.  Now when
+Gotz was carrying his mother from the hot chamber to the sleigh,
+and I was left looking about me for certain kerchiefs of my aunt's,
+I perceived, squatted behind the great green-tiled stove, Young Kubbeling
+in a heap, and with his face hidden in his hands.  He moved not till I
+spoke to him; then he dried his wet eyes with his fur hood, and when I
+laid my hand on his shoulder he drew a deep breath, and said:
+
+"It has been a moving morning, Mistress Margery.  But it will all come
+right.  It has come upon me as a sharp blow to be sure; and I have no
+longer any business here in the forest, all the more so by reason that I
+have children and grandchildren at home who have looked over-long for the
+old man's home-coming.  I will set forth to-morrow early.  To tell the
+truth to none but you, I cannot endure to be away from the old place a
+longer space than it takes to go to Alexandria and back.  My old heart
+is grown over-soft and weary for an absence of two journeys.  And yet
+another matter for your ear alone: You will be the wife of a noblehearted
+man, but mind you, he has long been free to wander whithersoever he
+would.  Take it to heart that you make his home dear and happy, else it
+will be with you as it is with my old woman, who hath never mastered that
+matter, and who lives alone for more days in the year than ever we
+dreamed the morning we were wed."
+
+Hereupon we went forth together; and I took his counsel to heart, and
+Gotz never left me for any long space of time, save when he must.
+
+As for Kubbeling, he kept his word and departed from us on the morrow
+morning; yet we often saw him again after that time, and the finest
+falcon in our mews is that he sent us as a wedding gift; and after our
+marriage Ann received a fine colored parrot as a gift from old Uhlwurm,
+and the old man had made it speak for her in such wise that it could say
+right plainly: "Uhlwurm is Ann's humble servant."
+
+We now spent two days at the forest lodge in bliss, as though paradise
+had come down on earth; and albeit it is a perilous thing to rejoice in
+the love of a man who has wandered far beyond seas, yet has it this good
+side: that many matters which to another seem far away and out of reach,
+he deems near at hand, and half the world is his as it were.  And how
+well could Gotz make me to feel as though I shared his possession!
+
+On the morning of the third day after his coming, my lord Cardinal rode
+forth to the forest with Ann; and, inasmuch as the duties of his office
+now led, him to sojourn in Wurzberg and Bamberg, he could promise us that
+he would bless our union or ever he departed to Italy.  Albeit methought
+it would be a happy chance if we might stand at the altar at the same
+time with Herdegen and Ann, Gotz's impatience, which had waxed no lesser
+even during his journeyings, was set against our waiting for my brother's
+coming.  Likewise he desired that we might live together a space as man
+and wife, before he should go to Venice to get his release from the
+service of the Republic.
+
+At the same time he deemed it not prudent to take me with him on that
+journey, howbeit, after that we were wed, when he was about to depart, I
+made so bold as to beseech him; and he plainly showed me that I had not
+made him wroth or troubled him whereas he willingly granted me to journey
+with him, and without reproof.  Thus I fared with him to the great and
+mighty city of Saint Mark, which I had ever longed to behold with my
+bodily eyes.  I never went beyond seas, yet we journeyed as far as Rome,
+and there, under the protection and guidance of my lord Cardinal, I spent
+many never-to-be-forgotten days by the side of my Gotz.
+
+But one thing at a time; some day, if my many years may suffer, I will
+write more concerning these matters.
+
+How well my aunt and the Cardinal were minded towards each other would be
+hard to describe, albeit now and again they fell to friendly strife; the
+reverend prelate found it hard to depart from the lodge and from that
+strange woman, whose clear and busy brain in her sickly body came, in
+after times, to be accounted as one of the great marvels of her native
+town.  Howbeit, it was his duty to pass Christmas-eve with his venerable
+mother.  He plighted Gotz and me as he had promised us, and to his life's
+end he was ever a kind and honored friend and patron to us and to our
+children.
+
+Ann was ever his favorite, and ere he quitted Nuremberg, he bestowed on
+her a dowry such as few indeed of our richest nobles could give with
+their daughters.
+
+Christmas-eve, which we spent at the lodge with our parents and the
+Chaplain and my dear godfather, uncle Christian Pfinzing, was a right
+glorious festival, bringing gladness to our souls; yet was it to end with
+the first peril that befell our love's young joy.  After the others had
+gone to their chambers, and Gotz had indeed given me a last parting kiss,
+he stayed me a moment and besought me to be ready early in the morning to
+ride with him to the hut of Martin the bee keeper, whose wife had been
+his nurse.  On many a Christmas morning had he greeted the good woman
+with some little posy, and now he had not found one hour to spare her
+since his home-coming.  Now I would fain have granted this simple request
+but that I had privily, with the Chaplain's help, made the school
+children to learn a Christmas carol wherewith to wake the parents and
+Gotz from their slumbers.  Thus, when he bid me hold myself in readiness
+at an early hour, I besought him to make it later.  This, however, by no
+means pleased him; he answered that the good dame was wont of old to look
+for him full early on Christmas morning, and he had already too long
+deferred his greeting.  Yet the surprise I had plotted was uppermost in
+my mind, and I craved of him right duteously that he would grant me my
+will.  Whereupon his eyebrows, which met above his nose, were darkly
+knit, and he gave me to wit, shortly and well-nigh harshly, that he would
+abide by his own.
+
+At this the blood rose to my head, and a wrathful answer was indeed on my
+tongue when I minded me of the evening when we had come together, and I
+asked of him calmly whether he verily deemed that I was so foolish or
+evil-minded as to hinder him in a pious and kindly office if I had not
+some worthy reason.  And herein I had hit on the right way; he recovered
+himself, his brow cleared, and saying only "Women, women!"  he shook his
+head and clasped me to him; and as I fervently returned his kiss, and
+opened my chamber door, he called after me: "We will see in the morning,
+but as early as may be."
+
+When I presently was in my bed I minded me of the carol the little ones
+were to sing; and then I remembered my own school-days, and how the
+Carthusian Sisters had explained to us those words of Scripture: "And the
+times shall be fulfilled."  They were written, to be sure, of a special
+matter, of the birth of our Saviour and Redeemer; yet I applied them to
+myself and Gotz, and wondered in my heart whether indeed anything that
+had ever befallen me in life, whether for joy or for sorrow, had been in
+vain, and how matters might have stood with me now if, as a young
+unbroken thing, or ever I had gone through the school of life, I had been
+plighted to this man, whom the Almighty had from the first fated to be my
+husband.  If the wilful blood of the Schoppers, unquelled as it had then
+been, had come into strife with Gotz's iron will, there would have been
+more than enough of hard hitting on both sides, and how easily might all
+our happiness have been wrecked thereby.
+
+It was past midnight when at last I slept; and in the dim morning
+twilight the Christmas chorus rang through the house in the words the
+Shepherds heard in Angels' voices: "Glory to God in the highest, and on
+earth peace."  It woke Gotz, and when we presently got into the sleigh,
+he whispered to me: "How piously glad was your hymn, my sweetheart!  And
+you were right yestereve, and peace shall indeed reign on earth, and
+above all betwixt you and me, everywhere and at all times till the
+E N D."
+
+                    ..........................
+
+
+
+A POSTSCRIPTUM BY KUNZ SCHOPPER
+
+The children entreat me to write more of Margery's unfinished tale.
+Howbeit I am nigh upon eighty years of age, and how may I hope to win
+favor in the exercise of an act to which I am unskilled save in matters
+of business?  Yet, whereas I could never endure to say nay to any
+reasonable prayer of those who are dearest to my heart, I will fulfil
+their desire, only setting down that which is needful, and in the
+plainest words.
+
+They at whose bidding I sit here, all knew my dear sister well.  Margery,
+the widow of the late departed Forest-ranger, the Knight Sir Gotz
+Waldstromer, Councillor to his Imperial Majesty and Captain of the men-
+at-arms in our good city; and each profited during a longer or shorter
+space by her loving-kindness, and her wise and faithful counsel.
+
+Many of them can likewise remember the late Anna Spiesz, sometime wife of
+Herdegen Schopper; and as to the said Herdegen Schopper, my dear brother,
+Margery's book of memorabilia right truly shows forth the manner of his
+life and mind in the bloom of his youth, and verily it is a sorrowful
+task for me to set forth the decay and end of so noble a man.
+
+As to myself, the last remaining link of the Schopper chain whereof
+Margery hath many times made mention, I am still with you, my dear ones;
+and I remain but little changed, inasmuch as that my life has ever flowed
+calmly and silently onward.
+
+How it came to pass that Margery should so suddenly have brought her
+memories to an end most of you know already; howbeit I will set it down
+for the younger ones.
+
+Till she reached the age of sixty and seven years, she never rode in a
+litter, but ever made her journeyings on horseback.  For many years past
+she and her husband abode in the forest during the summer months only,
+and dwelt in their town-house the winter through.  Now on a day, when in
+her written tale she had got as far as the time when she and Gotz, her
+dear husband, were wed, she besought him to ride forth with her to the
+forest, inasmuch as that she yearned once more to see the spot in the
+winter season which had seen the happiest days of her life in that long-
+past December.  Thus they fared forth on horseback, although it was nigh
+on Christmas-tide, and when they waved their hands to me as they passed
+me by in sheer high spirits and mirthfulness, meseemed that in all
+Nuremberg, nay in Franconia or in the whole German Empire a man might
+scarce find an old white-haired pair of lovers to match these for light-
+heartedness and goodly mien.  Some few happy and glad days were at
+that time vouchsafed to them in the old well-known forest; but on the
+ride home Margery's palfrey stumbled close without the city gates on the
+frozen ground.  Her arm-bone was badly broken and her right hand remained
+so stiff, notwithstanding Master Hartmann Knorr's best skill, that she
+could no more use the pen save with great pain, albeit she often after
+this rode on horseback.  Thus the little book lay aside for a long space;
+and while she was yet diligently striving to write with her left hand
+death snatched from her Ann Schopper, the widow of our late dear brother
+Herdegen Schopper and her heart's best friend, and this fell upon her
+soul as so cruel a grief that she never after could endure to take up the
+pen.
+
+Then, when she lost her dearly-beloved husband, a few months after their
+golden wedding day, all was at an end for her; the brave old woman gave
+up all care for life, and died no more than three months after him.  And
+indeed often have I seen how that, when one of a pair, who have dwelt
+together so many years in true union of hearts, departs this life, this
+earth is too lonely for the other, so that one might deem that their
+hearts had grown to be as it were one flesh, and the one that is left
+hath bled to death inwardly from the Reaper's stroke.
+
+Then I read through this book of memories once more, and meseemed that
+Margery had written of herself as less worthy than of a truth she was in
+her life's spring-tide.
+
+Most of you can yet remember how that my lord the Mayor spoke of the
+bride with the golden chaplet crowning her thick silver hair, as the
+pride of our city, the best friend and even at times the wisest
+counsellor of our worshipful Council, the comforter and refuge of the
+poor; and you know full well that Master Johannes Lochner, the priest,
+spoke over her open grave, saying that, as in her youth she had been
+fairest, so in old age she was the noblest and most helpful of all the
+dames of the parish of Saint Sebald; and you yourselves have many a time
+been her almoners, or have gazed in silence to admire her portrait.
+
+And at Venice I have heard from the lips of the very master who limned
+her, and who was one of the greatest painters of the famous guild to
+which he belonged, that such as she had he imagined the stately queen of
+some ancient German King defeated by the Romans, or Eve herself, if
+indeed one might conceive of our cold German fatherland as Paradise.
+Yea, the most charming and glowing woman he had ever set eyes on was
+your mother and grandmother.
+
+And whensoever she went to a dance all the young masters of noble birth,
+and the counts and knights, yea even at the Emperor's court, were of one
+mind in saying that Margery Schopper was the fairest and likewise the
+most happy-tempered maid and most richly endowed with gifts of the mind,
+in all Nuremberg.  None but Ann could stand beside her, and her beauty
+was Italian and heavenly rather than German and earthly.
+
+Margery's manuscript ends where she had reached a happy haven; howbeit
+there were others of whom she makes mention who were not so happy as to
+cast anchor betimes, and if I am to set forth my own tale I must go back
+to Alexandria in the land of Egypt.
+
+The dagger hired by Ursula to kill Herdegen struck me; howbeit, by the
+time when my cousin Gotz brought my dear brother to see me, himself a
+free man, I was already healed of my wound and ready to depart.  The
+worthy mother of Akusch had tended me with a devotion which would have
+done honor to a Christian woman, and it was under her roof that first I
+saw Herdegen and my cousin once more.  And how greatly was I surprised to
+see Gotz, taller than of old, appear before me in the magnificent array
+and harness of a chief captain in the army of the all-powerful Republic
+of Venice!  Instead of an exiled adventurer I found him a stalwart
+gentleman, in every respect illustrious and honored, whose commanding eye
+showed that he was wont to be obeyed, albeit his voice and mien revealed
+a compassionate and friendly soul.  Yea, and meseemed that at his coming
+a fresher, purer air blew about me; and as soon as he had made Herdegen's
+cause his own and stood surety for him, the chief of the great trading
+house of Michieli paid the ransom, which to me, knowing the value of
+money, must have seemed never to be compassed, unless my grand-uncle had
+been fain to help us.  Howbeit, my cousin would not do the like service
+for the Knight of Welemisl, in whose mien and manners he put less trust,
+wherefore I became his surety, out of sheer pity and at Herdegen's
+prayer.
+
+Here you will ask of me wherefore I do not first speak of my meeting
+again with my dear long-suffering brother.  And indeed my heart beat high
+with joy and thanksgiving, when we held each other clasped; but alack
+what changes had come over him in these years of slavery!  When he came
+into my chamber, his head bowed and his hands behind his back, after that
+we had greeted I turned from him and made as though I had some matter to
+order, to the end that he might not see me dry my tears; inasmuch as that
+he who stood before me was my Herdegen indeed, and yet was not.
+
+For eighteen long months had he plied the oars on board of a Saracen
+galley, while Sir Franz, who was overweak for such toil, served as keeper
+of slaves on the benches, himself with chains on his feet.  And it was
+this long, hard toil which had made my brother diligently to hide his
+hands behind his back, as though he were ashamed of them; whereas those
+strong hands of his with their costly rings he had ever been wont to deem
+a grace, and now of a truth they were grown coarse and as red as a brick,
+and were like to those of a hewer in the woods.  And whereas men are apt
+often to pay less heed to another's face than to the shape and state of
+his hands, I ever mind me of Herdegen's as I saw them on that day, and a
+star and a crescent were branded in blue on the back of his right, so
+that all men must see it.
+
+Likewise his deep breast had lost some of its great strength, and he held
+himself less stately than of old.  Meseemed as though the knight had laid
+some part of his sickness upon him, inasmuch that many a time he coughed
+much.  Likewise the long golden hair, which had flowed in rich abundance
+down over his shoulders, had been shorn away after the manner of the
+unbelievers, and this gave to his well-favored face a narrow and right
+strange appearance.  Only the shape of his countenance and his eyes were
+what they had ever been; nay, meseemed that his eyes had a brighter and
+moister light in them than of yore.
+
+One thing alone was a comfort to me, and that was that my heart beat with
+more pitiful and faithful love for him than ever.  And when evening fell,
+as we brethren sat together with Gotz and Master Knorr and Akusch,
+drinking our wine, which only Akusch would not touch, this comforting
+assurance waxed strong within me, by reason that Herdegen's voice was as
+sweet as of old, both in speech and in song; and when he set forth all
+the adventures and sufferings he had gone through in these last past
+years I was fain to listen, and even so was Gotz; and first he drew tears
+from our eyes and presently made us laugh right mirthfully.  And what had
+he not gone through?
+
+I betook me to bed that night in hope and contentment; howbeit, on the
+morrow Master Knorr told me privily that whereas my brother's lungs had
+never been of the strongest, if now, in the cold December season, he
+should fare north of the Alps after such long sojourning under a warmer
+sky, it could not fail to do him a serious mischief, as it likewise would
+to Sir Franz.  Thus it must be my part to delay our homecoming; and
+albeit the leech's tidings made me heavy at heart I was fain to yield,
+inasmuch as that Herdegen might not appear in the presence of his
+sweetheart in his present guise.
+
+To this end we made him to believe that he might not come home in safety
+unless he had performed the penance laid upon him by the Emperor; and
+albeit felt it a hard matter to refrain the craving of his heart,
+nevertheless be gave way to our pressing admonitions.
+
+Now, while Gotz fared back to Venice, the galleon which carried Don
+Jaime, Prince of Catalonia, as far Joppa, brought us likewise to the
+Promised Land to the holy city of Jerusalem.  From thence we made our
+pilgrimage to many other Holy Places, under the protection of the great
+fellowship of that royal Prince who ever showed us much favor.
+
+At last we journeyed homewards, passing by Naples and Genoa; at Damietta,
+in the land of Egypt, Sir Franz departed from our company to make his way
+to Venice.  It was with care and grief that I saw him set forth on his
+way alone, and Herdegen was like-minded; in their misfortune he had
+learned to mark much that was good in him, and during our long journeying
+had seen that not only was he sick in body, but likewise that a shroud
+hung over his soul and brain.  Also, if Ursula were yet free to work her
+will, the very worst might haply befall him in Venice, by reason that the
+Giustinianis were of a certainty evil-disposed towards him, and the power
+and dignity of that family were by no means lessened, although, as at
+that time Antonio Giustiniani had dishonored his name in Albania, and had
+been punished by the Forty with imprisonment and sundry penalties.  Yet
+his cousin Orsato was one of the greatest and richest of the signori at
+Venice, and Ursula's husband would have found in him a strong upholder,
+as in truth we heard at Naples, where tidings reached us that the
+Pregadi, who had passed judgment upon him, had amerced him in a penalty
+of no more than two thousand ducats, which Orsato paid for him by reason
+that he would not suffer that his kinsman should he in prison.
+
+At Genoa we found many letters full of good tidings of our kindred at
+home, all overflowing with love and the hope of speedily seeing us there.
+Hereupon Herdegen could not refrain himself for impatience and, if I had
+suffered it, he would have ridden onward by day and by night with no
+pause nor rest, taking fresh horses as he might need them; for my part
+what I chiefly cared for was to bring him home as fresh and sound as I
+might, and so preserve Ann from grief of heart.  Herdegen had given me
+her letters to read, and how true and deep a love, how lofty and pure a
+soul spoke in those lines!  Howbeit, when I heard her, as it were, cry
+out by those letters, how that she longed for the moment when she might
+again stroke his flowing locks and press his dear faithful hand to her
+lips as his dutiful maid, my heart beat with fresh fears.  He held him
+more upright, to be sure, and his countenance was less pale and hollow
+than it had been; but nevermore might he be a strong man.  His light eyes
+were deep in their sockets, his hair was rarer on his head, and there
+were threads of silver among the gold.  Ah, and those luckless hands!
+It was by reason of his hands--albeit you will doubtless smile at the
+confession--that I moved him to refrain his longing, even when we were so
+near our journey's end as Augsburg, and to grant me another day's delay,
+inasmuch as that I cared most that he should at first hide them in gloves
+from the womankind at home.  And in all the great town was there not a
+pair to be and that would fit him, and it would take a whole day to make
+him a pair to his measure.  Thus were we fain to tarry, and whereas we
+had in Augsburg, among other good friends, a faithful ally in trading
+matters at the Venice Fondaco, Master Sigismund Gossenprot, we lodged in
+his dwelling, which was one of the finest that fine city; and, as good-
+hap ruled it, he had, on the very eve of that day, come home from Venice.
+
+He and his worthy wife had known Herdegen of old, and I was cut to the
+heart to see how the sight of him grieved them both.  Nay, and the fair
+young daughter of the house ne'er cast an eye on the stranger guest,
+whose presence had been wont to stir every maiden's heart to beat faster.
+Howbeit, here again I found comfort when I marked at supper that the
+sweet damsel no longer heeded my simple person, whereas she had at first
+gazed at me with favor, but hearkened with glowing cheeks to Herdegen's
+discourse.  At first, to be sure, this was anything rather than gay,
+inasmuch as Master Gossenprot was full of tidings from Venice, and of
+Sir Franz's latter end, which, indeed, was enough to sadden the most
+mirthful.
+
+When the Bohemian had come to Venice he had lodged at a tavern, by name
+"The Mirror," and there mine host had deemed that he was but a gloomy and
+silent guest.  And it fell that one day the city was full of a dreadful
+uproar, whereas it was rumored that in the afternoon, at the hour when
+Dame Ursula Giustiniani was wont to fare forth in her gondola, a strange
+man clad in black had leaped into it from his own and, before the
+serving-men could lay hands on him, he had stabbed her many times to the
+heart with his dagger.  Then, as they were about to seize him, he had
+turned the murderous weapon still wet with his victim's blood, on
+himself, and thus escaped the avenging hand of justice.
+
+As soon as the host of The Mirror heard this tale, he minded him of that
+strange, dark man and, when that way-farer came not home to his inn, he
+made report thereof to the judges.  Then, on making search in his wallet,
+it was discovered that he had entered there under a false name, and that
+it was Sir Franz von Welemisl who had taken such terrible vengeance on
+Ursula for her sins against himself and Herdegen.
+
+From Augsburg we now made good speed, and when, one fine June morning,
+our proud old citadel greeted our eyes from afar, and I saw that
+Herdegen's eyes were wet as he gazed upon it, mine eyes likewise filled
+with tears, and as we rode we clasped hands fervently, but in silence.
+
+I sent forward a messenger from our last halting-place to give tidings of
+our coming; and when, hard by Schweinau, behold a cloud of dust, our eyes
+met and told more than many and eloquent words.
+
+Great and pure and thankful joy filled and bore up my soul; but presently
+the cloud of dust was hid by a turn in the road behind the trees, and
+even so, quoth my fearful heart, the shroud of the future hid what next
+might befall us.
+
+The cruel blows of fate which had fallen on Herdegen had not been all in
+vain, and the growing weakness of his frame warned him not to spend his
+strength and eagerness on new and ever new things.  Yet what troubled me
+was that he was not aware of the changes that had come upon him within
+and without.  From all his speech with me I perceived that, even now,
+he might not conceive that life could be other than as he desired:
+notwithstanding it gave me secret joy to look upon this dear fellow, for
+whom life should have had no summer heats nor winter frosts, but only
+blossoming spring-tide and happy autumn days.
+
+But now we had got round the wood, and we might see what the cloud of
+dust had concealed.  Foremost there came a train of waggons loaded with
+merchandise and faring southwards, and the first waggon had met a piled-
+up load of charcoal coming forth from the forest at a place in the road
+where they were pent between a deep ditch on one hand and thick brushwood
+and undergrowth on the other; thus neither could turn aside, and their
+wheels were so fast locked that they barred the road as it had been a
+wall.  Thus the second waggon likewise had come to hurt by the sudden
+stopping of the first, and it was but hardly saved from turning over into
+the ditch.  There was a scene of wild turmoil.  The waggons stopped the
+way, and neither could the rest of the train, nor their armed outriders,
+nor our own folks come past, by reason that the ditch was full deep and
+the underwood thick.  We likewise were compelled to draw rein and look on
+while the six fine waggon horses which had but just come from the stable,
+their brown coats shining like mirrors, were unharnessed, and likewise
+the draughtoxen were taken out of the charcoal-waggon; which was done
+with much noise and cursing, and the brass plates that decked the
+leathern harness of the big horses jingling so loud and clear that we
+might not hear the cries of our kinsfolks.  Nay, it was the plume in
+Gotz's hat, towering above the throng, which showed us that they were
+come.
+
+Now, while Herdegen was vainly urging and spurring his unwilling horse to
+leap down into the ditch and get round this fortress of waggons, two of
+the others--and I instantly saw that they were Ann and her father, on
+horseback--had made their way close to the charcoal waggon; howbeit, they
+could get no further by reason that it had lurched half over and strewed
+the way with black charcoal-sacks.
+
+My heart beat as though it would crack, and lo, as I looked round to
+point them out to Herdegen, he had put forth his last strength to make
+his horse take the leap, and could scarce hold himself in the saddle; his
+anguish of mind, and the foolish struggle with the wilful horse, had
+exhausted the strength of his sickly frame.  His face was pale and his
+breath came hard as he sat there, on the edge of the ditch, and held his
+great hand to his breast as though he were in pain.  Hereupon I likewise
+felt a deep pang of unspeakable torment, albeit I knew from experience
+that for such ills there was no remedy but perfect rest.  I looked away
+from him and beheld, a little nearer now, Ann high on her saddle,
+diligently waving her kerchief, and at her side her father, lifting his
+councillor's hat.
+
+In a few moments we were united once more.  But no....
+
+As I wrote the foregoing words with a trembling hand I vowed that I would
+set down nought but the truth and the whole truth.  And inasmuch as I
+have not shrunk from making mention of certain matters which many will
+deem of small honor to Herdegen, who was, by the favor of Heaven, so far
+more highly graced in all ways than I, who have never been other than
+middling gifted, it would ill-become me to shrink from relating matters
+whereof I myself have lived to repent.
+
+There, by the ditch, was my dear only brother, weary and pale, a man
+marked for an early grave; and in front of me, within a few paces, the
+woman to whom my heart's only and fervent love had been given even as a
+child.  She sat like a King's daughter on a noble white horse with rich
+trappings.  A magnificent garment of fine cloth, richly broidered with
+Flanders velvet, flowed about her slender body.  The color thereof was
+white and sapphire-blue, and so likewise were the velvet cap and finely-
+rounded ostrich feather, which was fastened into it with a brooch of
+sparkling precious stones.  I had always deemed her fairest in sheeny
+white, and she knew it, while Herdegen had taken blue for his color; and
+behold she wore both, for love per chance of both brothers.  Never had I
+seen her fairer than at this minute and she had likewise waxed of a buxom
+comeliness, and how sweet were her red cheeks, and swan-white skin, and
+ebony-black hair, which flowed out from beneath her little hat in long
+plaits twined with white and sapphire-blue velvet ribbon.
+
+Never did a maid seem more desirable to a man.  And her father on his
+great brown horse--he was no more a craftsman!  In his councillor's robes
+bordered with fur, with the golden chain round his neck, his well-
+favored, grave, and manly countenance, and the long, flowing hair down to
+his shoulders, meseemed he might have been the head of some ancient and
+noble family.  None in Nuremberg might compare with these two for manly
+dignity and womanly beauty, and was that sickly, bent horseman by the
+ditch worthy of them?  "No, no," cried a voice in my heart.  "Yes, Yes!"
+cried another; and in the midst of this struggle I could but say to
+myself: "He has an old and good right to her, and as soon as he has found
+breath he will claim it."
+
+But she?  What will she do; how will she demean her; is she aware of his
+presence?  Will she shrink from him as Dame Gossenprot did at Augsburg,
+and the inn-keeper's smart wife at Ingolstadt, who of old was so over-
+eager to be at his service?  Would Ann, who had rejected many a lordly
+suitor, be as sweet as of yore to that breathless creature?  And if she
+were to follow the example which he long since set her, if she now cut
+the bond which he of old had snatched asunder, or if--Merciful Virgin!--
+if his sickness should increase, and he himself should shrink from
+fettering her blooming young life to his own--then, oh, then it might be
+my turn, then ....
+
+And on a sudden there was a cry from the depths of my heart, but heard by
+none: "Look on this side.  Look on me, my one and only beloved!  Turn
+from him who once turned from thee, and hearken to Kunz who loves thee
+with a more faithful and fervent love than that man, who to this day
+knows not what thy true worth is, whose heart is as fickle as mine is
+honest and true.  Here I stand, a strong and stalwart man, the friend of
+every good man, willing and able to carry you in my strong hands through
+a life crowned with wealth and happiness!"
+
+And while the voice of the Evil One whispered this and much more, my
+gaze, meseemed, was spellbound to her countenance, and the light of her
+eyes from afar shone deep into mine.  And on a sudden I flung up my arms
+and, without knowing what I did, stretched them forth, as though beside
+myself, towards that hotly-loved maiden.  Whether she saw this or no I
+may never learn.  And the grace of the Blessed Virgin or of my guardian
+Saint, preserved me from evil and disgrace, for whereas all that was in
+me yearned for that beloved one, a clear voice called to me by name, and
+when I turned, behold it was Margery, who had leaped her light palfrey
+into the ditch and now had sprung up the grassy bank.  It was a breakneck
+piece of horsemanship, to which she had been driven by longing and
+sisterly love; and behind her came a man, my cousin Gotz, whose newly-
+married wife's daring leap was indeed after his own heart.  One more
+plunge, and their horses were on the highroad, and I had lifted Margery
+out of her saddle and we held each other clasped, stammering out foolish
+disconnected words, while we first laughed and then wept.
+
+This went on for some while till I was startled by an outcry, and behold,
+Eppelein, in his impatience to greet his dear master, had been fain to do
+as Margery and Gotz had done, but with less good fortune, inasmuch as
+that he had fallen under his horse, which had rolled over with him.  His
+lamentable outcry told me that he needed help, and once more in my life I
+fulfilled my strange fate, which has ever been to cast to the winds that
+for which my soul most longed, for another to take it up.  While Margery
+turned to greet Herdegen I hastened down the bank to rescue the faithful
+fellow who had endured so much in my brother's service, ere the worst
+should befall him.
+
+And this, with no small pains, I was able to do; and when I was aware
+that he had suffered no mortal hurt, I clambered up on to the road again,
+and then once more my heart began to beat sadly.  Ann and Herdegen had
+met again, and once for all.  How was she able to refrain herself as she
+beheld the changed countenance of her lover, and to be mistress of her
+horror and dismay?
+
+Now, when I had climbed the bank with some pains, in my heavy riding-
+boots, I saw that the waggon-men had harnessed the six brown horses to
+their cart once more, and behind them, on the skirt of the wood, were the
+pair that I sought; and as I went nearer to them Ann had drawn the glove,
+for which we had tarried so long in Augsburg, from off her lover's
+battered right hand, and was gazing at it lovingly, with no sign of
+horror, but with tears in her eyes; and she cried as she kissed it again
+and again: "Oh, that poor, dear, beloved hand, how cruelly it has
+suffered, how hard it must have tolled!  And that?  That is where the
+blue brand-mark was set?  But it is almost gone.  And it is in my color,
+blue, our favorite sapphire-blue!"  And she pointed joyously to her
+goodly array, and she confessed that it was for him alone, that he might
+see from afar how well she loved and honored him, that she had arrayed
+herself in the color of fidelity in which he had ever best loved to see
+her.  And he clasped her to him, and when she kissed his thin, streaked
+hair, and spoke of those dear flowing curls, to which love and care would
+restore their beauty, I swore a solemn vow before God that I would never
+look on the union of Herdegen and Ann but with thanksgiving and without
+envy, and ever do all that in me lay for those two and for their welfare.
+
+Of the glad meeting with our other kith and kin I will say nought.  As to
+Cousin Maud, she had remained at home to welcome her darling at the gate
+of the Schopperhof, which she had decked forth bravely.  Yea, her warm
+heart beat more fondly for him than for us.  She could not wholly conceal
+her dismay at seeing him so changed.  She would stroke him from time to
+time with a cherishing hand, yet she went about him as though there were
+somewhat in him of which she was afeard.
+
+Howbeit, in the evening it was with her as it had been with me in the
+land of Egypt, and she found him again for whom her heart yearned so
+faithfully.  Now, that which had seemed lacking came to light once more,
+and from that hour she no longer grieved for what he had lost and which a
+true mother peradventure might never have missed; indeed as his bodily
+health failed, and she shared the care of tending him with Ann, none
+could have conceived that he was not verily and indeed her own son.
+
+The evil monster which had crept into my brother's breast grew, thank
+Heaven, but slowly; and when the young pair had been wed, with a right
+splendid feast, and my brother had taken Ann home to the Schoppers' house
+as his dear wife, a glad hope rose up in me that Master Knorr had taken
+an over-gloomy view of the matter, and that Herdegen might blossom again
+into new strength and his old hearty health.  Howbeit it was but his
+heart's gladness which lent him so brave and glad an aspect; the sickness
+must have its course, and it was as it were a serpent, gnawing silently
+at my joy in life, and its bite was all the more cruel by reason that I
+might tell no man what it was that hurt me save the old Waldstromers.
+But they likewise grew young again after their son's homecoming, and
+notwithstanding her feeble frame, Aunt Jacoba saw Margery's eldest son
+grow to be six years of age.  And she sent him his packet of sweetmeats
+the first day he went to school; but when the little lad went to thank
+his grandmother, the old dame was gone to her rest; and her husband lived
+after her no more than a few months.
+
+One grief only had darkened the latter days of this venerable pair, in
+truth it was a heavy one; it was the death of my dear brother Herdegen,
+which befell at the end of the fifth year after he was happily married.
+
+At the end of the fourth year his sickness came upon him with more
+violence, yet he went forth and back, and ever hoped to be healed, even
+when he took to his bed four weeks before the end.
+
+On the very last day, on a certain fine evening in May, it was that he
+said to Ann: "Hearken, my treasure, I am surely better!  On the day after
+tomorrow we will go forth into the sweet Spring, to hear Dame Nightingale
+who is singing already, and to see Margery.  Oh, out in the forest
+breezes blow to heal the sick!"
+
+Yet they went not; two hours later he had departed this life.  By ill
+fortune at that very time I was at Venice on a matter of business, and
+when the tidings came to me that my only beloved brother was dead,
+meseemed as though half my being were torn away, aye, and the nobler and
+better half; that part which was not content to grieve and care for none
+but earthly estate and for all that cometh up and passeth away here
+below, but which hath a position in the bliss of another world, where we
+ask not only of what use and to what end this or that may be, as I have
+ever done in my narrow soul.
+
+When Herdegen's eyes closed in death, my wings were broken as it were;
+with him I lost the highest aim and end of all my labors.  For five hard
+years had I toiled and struggled, often turning night into day, and not
+for myself, but for him and his, ever upheld and sped forward by the
+sight of his high soul and great happiness.  Our grand-uncle Im Hoff had
+left me his house and the conduct of his trade, as you have learned
+already from Margery's little book; and during my long journeyings many
+matters had not been done to my contentment, and the sick old man had
+taken out overmuch moneys from the business.  A goodly sum came to us
+from our parents' estate, and my brother and sister and Cousin Maud were
+fain to entrust me with theirs; but how much I had to do in return!
+
+Moreover a great care came upon me from without, by reason that Sir
+Franz's kin and heirs refused to repay the moneys for the ransom which
+Master Michieli of Venice had laid down, and for which Herdegen and I had
+been sureties.  Albeit in this matter we had applied to the law, we might
+not suffer Michieli to come to loss by reason of his generosity, so I
+took upon me the whole debt, and that was a hard matter in those times
+and in my case; and the fifteen thousand ducats which were repaid me by
+judgment of law, thirty years afterwards, made me small amends, inasmuch
+as by that time I had long been wont to reckon with much greater sums.
+
+I made good my friend's payment of Herdegen's ransom to the last
+farthing; yet what pressed me most hardly, so long as my brother lived,
+was his housekeeping; few indeed in Nuremberg could have spent more.
+
+My eldest brother was the only one of us three who might keep any
+remembrance of our father, whose trade with Venice and Flanders had
+yielded great profits, and he could yet mind him how full the house had
+ever been of guests, and the stables of horses.  Now, therefor, he was
+fain to live on the same wise, and this he deemed was right and seemly,
+inasmuch as he took the moneys which I gave him as half the clear profits
+of the Im Hoff trade, which were his by right.  And I was fain to suffer
+him to enjoy that belief, albeit at that time concerns looked but badly.
+It was I, not he, whose part it was to care for those concerns; and
+I rejoiced with all my heart when he and his lovely young wife rode
+forth in such bravery, when he sat as host at the head of a table well-
+furnished with guests, and won all hearts by his lofty and fiery spirit,
+which conquered even the least well-disposed.  Yet was it not easy to
+supply that which was needed, or to refrain from speech or reproof when,
+for instance, my brother must need have from the land of Egypt for Ann
+such another noble horse as the Emirs there are wont to ride.  Or could I
+require him to pay when, after that Heaven had blessed him with a first
+born child, Herdegen, radiant with pride and joy, showed me a cradle all
+of ivory overlaid with costly carved work which he had commanded to be
+wrought for his darling by the most skilled master known far and wide,
+for a sum which at that time would have purchased a small house?  Albeit
+it was nigh upon quarter day, I would have taken this and much more upon
+me rather than have quenched his heart's great gladness; and when I saw
+thee, Margery the younger, who art now thyself a grandmother, sleeping
+like a king's daughter in that precious cradle, and perceived with how
+great joy it filled thy parents to have their jewel in so costly a bed,
+I rejoiced over my own patience.
+
+It did my heart good, though I spoke not, to hear the Schoppers' house
+praised as the friendliest in all Nuremberg; yet at other times meseemed
+I saw shame and poverty standing at the door; and whereas, indeed, those
+years of magnificence, which for sure were the hardest in all my life,
+came to no evil issue, I owe this, next to Heaven's grace, to the trust
+which many folks in Nuremberg placed in my honesty and judgment, far
+beyond my desert.  And when once, not long before my brother's over-early
+death, I found myself to the very brow in water, as it were, it was that
+faithfulest of all faithful friends, Uncle Christian Pfinzing, who read
+the care in my eyes and face during the very last great banquet at
+Herdegen's table, and led me into the oriel bay, and offered me all his
+substance; and this is a goodly sum indeed and saved my trade from
+shipwreck.
+
+Next to him it is Cousin Maud that we three links the Schopper chain
+ought ever to hold dearest in memory; and it was by a strange chance that
+he and she died, not only on the same day, but, as it were, of the same
+death.  Death came upon him at the Schoppers' table with the cup in his
+hand, after that Ann, his "watchman" had warned him to be temperate; and
+this was three years after her husband's death.  And Cousin Maud, as she
+came forth from the kitchen, whither she had gone to heat her famous
+spiced wine for Uncle Christian, who was already gone, fell dead into
+Margery's arms when she heard the tidings of his sudden end.
+
+Among the sundry matters which long dwelt in the minds both of Margery
+and Ann, and were handed down to their grandchildren, were the Magister's
+Latin verses in their praise.  It is but a few years since Master Peter
+Piehringer departed this life at a great age, and when Gotz's boys went
+through their schooling so fast and so well they owed it to his care and
+learning.  But chiefly he devoted himself to Ann's daughters, Margery and
+Agnes, and indeed it is ever so that our heart goeth forth with a love
+like to that for our own sons or daughters to the offspring of the woman
+we have loved, even when she has never been our own.
+
+Eppelein Gockel, my brother's faithful serving-man, was wed to Aunt
+Jacoba's tiring-woman.  After his master's death I made him to be host
+in the tavern of "The Blue Sky," and whereas his wife was an active soul,
+and his tales of the strange adventures he had known among the Godless
+heathen brought much custom to his little tavern parlor, he throve to be
+a man of great girth and presence.
+
+By the seventh year after our home-coming my hardest cares for the
+concerns of my trade were overpast, albeit I must even yet keep my eyes
+open and give brain and body no rest.  Half my life I spent in
+journeying, and whereas I perceived that it was only by opening up other
+branches of trade that I might fulfil the many claims which ever beset
+me, I set myself to consider the matter; and inasmuch as that I had seen
+in the house of Akusch how gladly the women of Egypt would buy hazel-nuts
+from our country, I began to deal in this humble merchandise in large
+measure; and at this day I send more than ten thousand sequins' worth of
+such wares, every year, by ship to the Levant.  Likewise I made the furs
+of North Germany and the toys of Nuremberg a part of my trade, which in
+my uncle's life-time had been only in spices and woven goods.  And so,
+little by little, my profits grew to a goodly sum, and by God's favor
+our house enjoyed higher respect than it ever had had of old.
+
+And it is a matter of rejoicing to me that at this time there is again an
+Im Hoff at its head with me, so that the old name shall be handed down;
+Ann's oldest daughter, Margery Schopper, having married one Berthold Im
+Hoff, who is now my worthy partner.
+
+The sons of the elder Margery, the young Waldstromers, had much in them
+of the hasty Schopper temper, and a voice for song; and all three have
+done well, each in his way.  Herdegen is now the Hereditary Ranger, and
+held in no less honor than Kunz Waldstromer, my beloved godson, who is a
+man of law in the service of our good town.  Franz, who dedicated himself
+to the Church at an early age, under the protection of my lord Cardinal
+Bernhardi, has already been named to be the next in office after our
+present aged and weakly Bishop.
+
+The son of Agnes, Herdegen's younger daughter, is Martin Behaim, a high-
+spirited youth in whom his grandfather's fiery and restless temper lives
+again, albeit somewhat quelled.
+
+And if you now enquire of me how it is that I, albeit my heart beats
+warmly enough for our good town and its welfare and honor, have only
+taken a passing part in the duties of its worshipful Council, this is my
+answer: Inasmuch as to provide for the increase of riches for the
+Schopper family took all the strength I had, I lacked time to serve the
+commonwealth as my heart would have desired; and by the time when my dear
+nephew Berthold Im Hoff came to share the conduct of the trade with me I
+was right willing to withdraw behind my young partner, Ann's son-in-law,
+and to take his place in the business, while he and Kunz Waldstromer were
+chosen to high dignity on the Council.  Nevertheless it is well-known
+that I have given up to the town a larger measure of time and labor and
+moneys than many a town-mayor and captain of watch.  Of this I make
+mention to the end that those who come after me shall not charge me with
+evil self-seeking.
+
+Likewise some may ask me wherefor I, the last male offspring of the old
+Schopper race, have gone through life unwed.  Yet of a certainty they may
+spare me the answer to whom I have honestly confessed all my heart's
+pangs at the meeting of Herdegen with Ann.
+
+After the death of her best-beloved lord the young widow was overcome
+with brooding melancholy from which nothing could rouse her.  At that
+time you, my Margery and Agnes, her daughters, clung to me as to your own
+father; and when, at the end of three years, your mother was healed of
+that melancholy, it had come about that you had learned to call me father
+while I had sported with you and loved you in "your" mother's stead, and
+taught you to fold your little hands in prayer and led you out for air
+walking by your side.  Your mother had heeded it not; but then, when she
+bloomed forth in new and wondrous beauty, and I beheld that Hans Koler
+and the Knight Sir Henning von Beust, who had likewise remained unwed,
+were again her suitors, the old love woke up in my heart; and one fair
+May evening, out in the forest, the question rose to my lips whether she
+could not grant me the right to call you indeed my children before all
+the world, and her....
+
+But to what end touch the wound which to this day is scarce healed?
+
+In this world and the next she would never be any man's but his to whom
+her heart's great and only love had been given.  But from that evening
+forth I, the rejected suitor, must suffer that you children should no
+longer call me father, but Uncle Kunz; and when afterwards it came to be
+dear little uncle you may believe that I was thankful.  She no less
+rejected the suit of Koler and of von Beust; but the last-named gentleman
+made up for his dismissal by marrying a noble damsel of Brandenburg.
+At a later time when he came to Nuremberg he was made welcome by Margery,
+and then, meeting with Ann once more, he showed himself to be still so
+youthful and duteous in his service to her, in despite of her grey hairs,
+that for certain it was well for his happiness at home that he should
+have come without his wife.
+
+Not long after Ann's rejection I confessed to Margery what had befallen,
+and when she heard it, she cast her arms about my neck and cried: "Why,
+ne'er content, must you crave a new home and family?  Are not two warm
+hearths yours to sit at, and the love and care of two faithful house-
+wives; and are you not the father and counsellor, not alone of your
+nephews and nieces, but of their parents likewise?"  All this she said in
+an overflow of sisterly love; and if it comforted me, as I here make
+record of it, by reason that I sorely needed such good words, if I here
+recall how sad life often seemed to me.
+
+Nay, nay!  It was sweet, heavenly sweet, and worthy of all thanksgiving
+that I, who of the three Schopper links was so far the most humbly
+gifted, was suffered by Fate to be of some use to the other two, and even
+to their children and grandchildren, and to help in adding to their well-
+being.  In this--insomuch I may say with pride--in this I have had all
+good-speed; thus my life's labor has not been in vain, and I may call my
+lot a happy one.  And thus I likewise have proved the truth of old Adam
+Heyden's saying, that he who does most for other folks at the same time
+does the best for himself.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Ever creep in where true love hath found a nest--(jealousy)
+One who stood in the sun must need cast a shadow on other folks
+We each and all are waiting
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGERY, BY GEORG EBERS, V8 ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #5559 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5559)