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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Margery [Gred], Complete, by Georg Ebers
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Margery [Gred], Complete
+       A Tale Of Old Nuremberg
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: October 17, 2006 [EBook #5560]
+Last Updated: August 26, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGERY [GRED], COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MARGERY, Complete
+
+(GRED)
+
+A TALE OF OLD NUREMBERG
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Translated from the German by Clara Bell
+
+
+
+TRANSLATOR’S NOTE:
+
+In translating what is supposed to be a transcript into modern German
+of the language of Nuremberg in the fifteenth century, I have made no
+attempt to imitate English phraseology of the same date. The difficulty
+would in fact be insuperable to the writer and the annoyance to the
+reader almost equally great.
+
+I have merely endeavored to avoid essentially modern words and forms of
+speech.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION:
+
+“PIETRO GIUSTINIANI, merchant, of Venice.” This was the signature
+affixed to his receipt by the little antiquary in the city of St. Mark,
+from whom I purchased a few stitched sheets of manuscript. What a name
+and title!
+
+As I remarked on the splendor of his ancestry he slapped his pocket, and
+exclaimed, half in pride and half in lamentation:
+
+“Yes, they had plenty of money; but what has become of it?”
+
+“And have you no record of their deeds?” I asked the little man, who
+himself wore a moustache with stiff military points to it.
+
+“Their deeds!” he echoed scornfully. “I wish they had been less
+zealous in their pursuit of fame and had managed their money matters
+better!--Poor child!”
+
+And he pointed to little Marietta who was playing among the old books,
+and with whom I had already struck up a friendship. She this day
+displayed some strange appendage in the lobes of her ears, which on
+closer examination I found to be a twist of thread.
+
+The child’s pretty dark head was lying confidentially against my arm and
+as, with my fingers, I felt this singular ornament, I heard, from behind
+the little desk at the end of the counter, her mother’s shrill voice
+in complaining accents: “Aye, Sir, it is a shame in a family which has
+given three saints to the Church--Saint Nicholas, Saint Anna, and Saint
+Eufemia, all three Giustinianis as you know--in a family whose sons
+have more than once worn a cardinal’s hat--that a mother, Sir, should be
+compelled to let her own child--But you are fond of the little one,
+Sir, as every one is hereabout. Heh, Marietta! What would you say if the
+gentleman were to give you a pair of ear-rings, now; real gold ear-rings
+I mean? Thread for ear-rings, Sir, in the ears of a Giustiniani! It is
+absurd, preposterous, monstrous; and a right-thinking gentleman like
+you, Sir, will never deny that.”
+
+How could I neglect such a hint; and when I had gratified the
+antiquary’s wife, I could reflect with some pride that I might esteem
+myself a benefactor to a family which boasted of its descent from the
+Emperor Justinian, which had been called the ‘Fabia gens’ of Venice,
+and, in its day had given to the Republic great generals, far-seeing
+statesmen, and admirable scholars.
+
+When, at length, I had to quit the city and took leave of the
+curiosity-dealer, he pressed my hand with heartfelt regret; and though
+the Signora Giustiniani, as she pocketed a tolerably thick bundle of
+paper money, looked at me with that kindly pity which a good woman is
+always ready to bestow on the inexperienced, especially when they are
+young, that, no doubt, was because the manuscript I had acquired bore
+such a dilapidated appearance. The margins of the thick old Nuremberg
+paper were eaten into by mice and insects, in many places black patches
+like tinder dropped away from the yellow pages; indeed, many passages of
+the once clear writing had so utterly faded that I scarcely hoped to see
+them made legible again by the chemist’s art. However, the contents of
+the document were so interesting and remarkable, so unique in relation
+to the time when it was written, that they irresistibly riveted my
+attention, and in studying them I turned half the night into day. There
+were nine separate parts. All, except the very last one, were in the
+same hand, and they seemed to have formed a single book before they were
+torn asunder. The cover and title-page were lost, but at the head of the
+first page these words were written in large letters: “The Book of my
+Life.” Then followed a long passage in crude verse, very much to this
+effect.
+
+       “What we behold with waking Eye
+        Can, to our judgment, never lie,
+        And what through Sense and Sight we gain.
+        Becometh part of Soul and Brain.
+        Look round the World in which you dwell
+        Nor, Snail-like, live within your Shell;
+        And if you see His World aright
+        The Lord shall grant you double Sight.
+        For, though your Mind and Soul be small,
+        If you but open them to all
+        The great wide World, they will expand
+        Those glorious Things to understand.
+        When Heart and Brain are great with Love
+        Man is most like the Lord above.
+        Look up to Him with patient Eye
+        Not on your own Infirmity.
+        In pious Trust yourself forget
+        For others only toil and fret,
+        Since all we do for fellow Men
+        With right good Will, shall be our Gain.
+        What if the Folk should call you Fool
+        Care not, but act by Virtue’s Rule,
+        Contempt and Curses let them fling,
+        God’s Blessing shields you from their Sting.
+        Grey is my Head but young my Heart;
+        In Nuremberg, ere I depart,
+        Children and Grandchildren, for you
+        I write this Book, and it is true.”
+
+                    MARGERY SCHOPPER.
+
+Below the verses the text of the narrative began with these words: “In
+the yere of our Lord M/CCCC/lx/VI dyd I begynne to wrtre in thys lytel
+Boke thys storie of my lyf, as I haue lyued it.”
+
+It was in her sixty-second year that the writer had first begun to note
+down her reminiscences. This becomes clear as we go on, but it may be
+gathered from the first lines on the second page which begins thus:
+
+   “I, Margery Schopper, was borne in the yere of our Lord M/CCCC/IV on
+   a Twesday after ‘Palmarum’ Sonday, at foure houris after mydnyght.
+   Myn uncle Kristan Pfinzing was god sib to me in my chrystening. My
+   fader, God assoyle his soul, was Franz Schopper, iclyped the Singer.
+   He dyed on a Monday after ‘Laetare’--[The fourth Sunday in Lent.]--
+   Sonday M/CCCC/IV. And he hadde to wyf Kristine Peheym whyche was my
+   moder. Also she bare to hym my brethren Herdegen and Kunz Schopper.
+   My moder dyed in the vigil of Seint Kateryn M/CCCC/V. Thus was I
+   refte of my moder whyle yet a babe; also the Lord broughte sorwe
+   upon me in that of hys grace He callyd my fader out of thys worlde
+   before that ever I sawe the lyght of dai.”
+
+These few lines, which I read in the little antiquary’s shop, betrayed
+me to my ruin; for, in my delight at finding the daily journal of a
+German housewife of the beginning of the fifteenth century my heart
+overflowed; forgetting all prudence I laughed aloud, exclaiming
+“splendid,” “wonderful,” “what a treasure!” But it would have been
+beyond all human power to stand speechless, for, as I read on, I found
+things which far exceeded my fondest expectations. The writer of these
+pages had not been content, like the other chroniclers of her time
+and of her native town-such as Ulman Stromer, Andres Tucher and their
+fellows--to register notable facts without any connection, the family
+affairs, items of expenditure and mercantile measures of her day; she
+had plainly and candidly recorded everything that had happened to her
+from her childhood to the close of her life. This Margery had inherited
+some of her father’s artistic gifts; he is mentioned in Ulman Stromer’s
+famous chronicle, where he is spoken of as “the Singer.” It was to her
+mother, however, that she owed her bold spirit, for she was a Behaim,
+cousin to the famous traveller Behaim of Schwarzbach, whose mother is
+known to have been one of the Schopper family, daughter to Herdegen
+Schopper.
+
+In the course of a week I had not merely read the manuscript, but
+had copied a great deal of what seemed to me best worth preservation,
+including the verses. I subsequently had good reason to be glad that
+I had taken so much pains, though travelling about at the time; for a
+cruel disaster befel the trunk in which the manuscript was packed, with
+other books and a few treasures, and which I had sent home by sea.
+The ship conveying them was stranded at the mouth of the Elbe and my
+precious manuscript perished miserably in the wreck.
+
+The nine stitched sheets, of which the last was written by the hand of
+Margery Schopper’s younger brother, had found their way to Venice--as
+was recorded on the last page--in the possession of Margery’s
+great-grandson, who represented the great mercantile house of Im Hoff on
+the Fondaco, and who ultimately died in the City of St. Mark. When that
+famous firm was broken up the papers were separated from their cover
+and had finally fallen into the hands of the curiosity dealer of whom
+I bought them. And after surviving travels on land, risk of fire, the
+ravages of worms and the ruthlessness of man for four centuries, they
+finally fell a prey to the destructive fury of the waves; but my memory
+served me well as to the contents, and at my bidding was at once ready
+to aid me in restoring the narrative I had read. The copied portions
+were a valuable aid, and imagination was able to fill the gaps; and
+though it failed, no doubt, to reproduce Margery Schopper’s memoirs
+phrase for phrase and word for word, I have on the whole succeeded
+in transcribing with considerable exactitude all that she herself had
+thought worthy to be rescued from oblivion. Moreover I have avoided the
+repetition of the mode of talk in the fifteenth century, when German
+was barely commencing to be used as a written language, since scholars,
+writers, and men of letters always chose the Latin tongue for any great
+or elegant intellectual work. The narrator’s expressions would only
+be intelligible to a select few, and, I should have done my Margery
+injustice, had I left the ideas and descriptions, whose meaning I
+thoroughly understood, in the clumsy form she had given them. The
+language of her day is a mirror whose uneven surface might easily
+reflect the fairest picture in blurred or distorted out lines to modern
+eyes. Much, indeed which most attracted me in her descriptions will
+have lost its peculiar charm in mine; as to whether I have always
+supplemented her correctly, that must remain an open question.
+
+I have endeavored to throw myself into the mind and spirit of my Margery
+and repeat her tale with occasional amplification, in a familiar style,
+yet with such a choice of words as seems suitable to the date of her
+narrative. Thus I have perpetuated all that she strove to record for her
+descendants out of her warm heart and eager brain; though often in mere
+outline and broken sentences, still, in the language of her time and of
+her native province.
+
+
+
+
+MARGERY
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+I, MARGERY SCHOPPER, was born in the year of our Lord 1404, on the
+Tuesday after Palm Sunday. My uncle Christan Pfinzing of the Burg, a
+widower whose wife had been a Schopper, held me at the font. My father,
+God have his soul, was Franz Schopper, known as Franz the Singer. He
+died in the night of the Monday after Laetare Sunday in 1404, and his
+wife my mother, God rest her, whose name was Christine, was born a
+Behaim; she had brought him my two brothers Herdegen and Kunz, and she
+died on the eve of Saint Catharine’s day 1404; so that I lost my mother
+while I was but a babe, and God dealt hardly with me also in taking my
+father to Himself in His mercy, before I ever saw the light.
+
+Instead of a loving father, such as other children have, I had only a
+grave in the churchyard, and the good report of him given by such as
+had known him; and by their account he must have been a right merry and
+lovable soul, and a good man of business both in his own affairs and in
+those pertaining to the city. He was called “the Singer” because, even
+when he was a member of the town-council, he could sing sweetly and
+worthily to the lute. This art he learned in Lombardy, where he had been
+living at Padua to study the law there; and they say that among those
+outlandish folk his music brought him a rich reward in the love of the
+Italian ladies and damsels. He was a well-favored man, of goodly stature
+and pleasing to look upon, as my brother Herdegen his oldest son bears
+witness, since it is commonly said that he is the living image of his
+blessed father; and I, who am now an old woman, may freely confess that
+I have seldom seen a man whose blue eyes shone more brightly beneath his
+brow, or whose golden hair curled thicker over his neck and shoulders
+than my brother’s in the high day of his happy youth.
+
+He was born at Eastertide, and the Almighty blessed him with a happy
+temper such as he bestows only on a Sunday-child. He, too, was skilled
+in the art of singing, and as my other brother, my playmate Kunz, had
+also a liking for music and song, there was ever a piping and playing
+in our orphaned and motherless house, as if it were a nest of mirthful
+grasshoppers, and more childlike gladness and happy merriment reigned
+there than in many another house that rejoices in the presence of father
+and mother. And I have ever been truly thankful to the Almighty that
+it was so; for as I have often seen, the life of children who lack a
+mother’s love is like a day when the sun is hidden by storm-clouds. But
+the merciful God, who laid his hand on our mother’s heart, filled that
+of another woman with a treasure of love towards me and my brothers.
+
+Our cousin Maud, a childless widow, took upon herself to care for us. As
+a maid, and before she had married her departed husband, she had been in
+love with my father, and then had looked up to my mother as a saint from
+Heaven, so she could have no greater joy than to tell us tales about
+our parents; and when she did so her eyes would be full of tears, and
+as every word came straight from her heart it found its way straight to
+ours; and as we three sat round, listening to her, besides her own two
+eyes there were soon six more wet enough to need a handkerchief.
+
+Her gait was heavy and awkward, and her face seemed as though it had
+been hewn out of coarse wood, so that it was a proper face to frighten
+children; even when she was young they said that her appearance was too
+like a man and devoid of charms, and for that reason my father never
+heeded her love for him; but her eyes were like open windows, and out of
+them looked everything that was good and kind and loving and true, like
+angels within. For the sake of those eyes you forgot all else; all
+that was rough in her, and her wide nose with the deep dent just in the
+middle, and such hair on her lip as many a young stripling might envy
+her.
+
+And Sebald Kresz knew very well what he was about when he took to wife
+Maud Im Hoff when he was between sixty and seventy years of age; and she
+had nothing to look forward to in life as she stood at the altar with
+him, but to play the part of nurse to a sickly perverse old man. But to
+Maud it seemed as fair a lot to take care of a fellow-creature as it is
+to many another to be nursed and cherished; and it was the reward of her
+faithful care that she could keep the old man from the clutch of Death
+for full ten years longer. After his decease she was left a well-to-do
+widow; but instead of taking thought for herself she at once entered on
+a life of fresh care, for she undertook the duty of filling the place of
+mother to us three orphans.
+
+As I grew up she would often instruct me in her kind voice, which was
+as deep as the bass pipe of an organ, that she had set three aims before
+her in bringing us up, namely: to make us good and Godfearing; to
+teach us to agree among ourselves so that each should be ready to give
+everything up to the others; and to make our young days as happy as
+possible. How far she succeeded in the first I leave to others to judge;
+but a more united family than we ever were I should like any man to show
+me, and because it was evident from a hundred small tokens how closely
+we clung together folks used to speak of us as “the three links,”
+ especially as the arms borne by the Schoppers display three rings linked
+to form a chain.
+
+As for myself, I was the youngest and smallest of the three links, and
+yet I was the middle one; for if ever it fell that Herdegen and Kunz had
+done one thing or another which led them to disagree and avoid or defy
+each other, they always came together again by seeking me and through my
+means. But though I thus sometimes acted as peacemaker it is no
+credit to me, since I did not bring them together out of any virtue or
+praiseworthy intent, but simply because I could not bear to stand alone,
+or with only one ring linked to me.
+
+Alas! how far behind me lies the bright, happy youth of which I now
+write! I have reached the top of life’s hill, nay, I have long since
+overstepped the ridge; and, as I look back and think of all I have seen
+and known, it is not to the end that I may get wisdom for myself whereby
+to do better as I live longer. My old bones are stiff and set; it would
+be vain now to try to bend them. No, I write this little book for my own
+pleasure, and to be of use and comfort to my children and grandchildren.
+May they avoid the rocks on which I have bruised my feet, and where
+I have walked firmly on may they take example by an old woman’s brave
+spirit, though I have learned in a thousand ways that no man gains
+profit by any experience other than his own.
+
+So I will begin at the beginning.
+
+I could find much to tell of my happy childhood, for then everything
+seems new; but it profits not to tell of what every one has known in his
+own life, and what more can a Nuremberg child have to say of her early
+growth and school life than ever another. The blades in one field and
+the trees in one wood share the same lot without any favour. It is true
+that in many ways I was unlike other children; for my cousin Maud would
+often say that I would not abide rule as beseems a maid, and Herdegen’s
+lament that I was not born a boy still sounds in my ears when I call to
+mind our wild games. Any one who knows the window on the first floor, at
+the back of our house, from which I would jump into the courtyard to do
+as my brothers did, would be fairly frightened, and think it a wonder
+that I came out of it with whole bones; but yet I was not always
+minded to riot with the boys, and from my tenderest years I was a very
+thoughtful little maid. But there were things; in my young life very apt
+to sharpen my wits.
+
+We Schoppers are nearly allied with every worshipful family in the town,
+or of a rank to sit in the council and bear a coat of arms; these
+being, in fact, in Nuremberg, the class answering to the families of the
+Signoria in Venice, whose names are enrolled in the Libro d’Oro. What
+the Barberighi, the Foscari, the Grimaldi, the Giustiniani and the like,
+are there, the families of Stromer, Behaim, Im Hoff, Tucher, Kresz,
+Baumgartner, Pfinzing, Pukheimer, Holzschuher, and so forth, are with
+us; and the Schoppers certainly do not rank lowest on the list. We who
+hold ourselves entitled to bear arms, to ride in tournaments, and take
+office in the Church, and who have a right to call ourselves nobles and
+patricians, are all more or less kith and kin. Wherever in Nuremberg
+there was a fine house we could find there an uncle and aunt, cousins
+and kinsmen, or at least godparents, and good friends of our deceased
+parents. Wherever one of them might chance to meet us, even if it were
+in the street, he would say: “Poor little orphans! God be good to the
+fatherless!” and tears would sparkle in the eyes of many a kindhearted
+woman. Even the gentlemen of the Council--for most of the elders of our
+friends were members of it--would stroke my fair hair and look at me as
+pitifully as though I were some poor sinner for whom there could be no
+mercy in the eyes of the judges of a court of justice.
+
+Why was it that men deemed me so unfortunate when I knew no sorrow and
+my heart was as gay as a singing bird? I could not ask cousin Maud, for
+she was sorely troubled if I had but a finger-ache, and how could I tell
+her that I was such a miserable creature in the eyes of other folks? But
+I presently found out for myself why and wherefore they pitied me; for
+seven who called me fatherless, seventy would speak of me as motherless
+when they addressed me with pity. Our misfortune was that we had no
+mother. But was there not Cousin Maud, and was not she as good as any
+mother? To be sure she was only a cousin, and she must lack something of
+what a real mother feels.
+
+And though I was but a heedless, foolish child I kept my eyes open and
+began to look about me. I took no one into the secret but my brothers,
+and though my elder brother chid me, and bid me only be thankful to our
+cousin for all her goodness, I nevertheless began to watch and learn.
+
+There were a number of children at the Stromers’ house--the Golden Rose
+was its name--and they were still happy in having their mother. She was
+a very cheerful young woman, as plump as a cherry, and pink and white
+like blood on snow; and she never fixed her gaze on me as others did,
+but would frolic with me or scold me sharply when I did any wrong. At
+the Muffels, on the contrary, the mistress was dead, and the master
+had not long after brought home another mother to his little ones, a
+stepmother, Susan, who was my maid, was wont to call her; and such a
+mother was no more a real mother than our good cousin--I knew that much
+from the fairy tales to which I was ever ready to hearken. But I saw
+this very stepmother wash and dress little Elsie, her husband’s youngest
+babe and not her own, and lull her till she fell asleep; and she did
+it right tenderly, and quite as she ought. And then, when the child was
+asleep she kissed it, too, on its brow and cheeks.
+
+And yet Mistress Stromer, of the Golden-Rose House, did differently; for
+when she took little Clare that was her own babe out of the water, and
+laid it on warm clouts on the swaddling board, she buried her face in
+the sweet, soft flesh, and kissed the whole of its little body all over,
+before and behind, from head to foot, as if it were all one sweet,
+rosy mouth; and they both laughed with hearty, loving merriment, as
+the mother pressed her lips against the babe’s white, clean skin and
+trumpeted till the room rang, or clasped it, wrapped in napkins to her
+warm breast, as if she could hug it to death. And she broke into a loud,
+strange laugh, and cried as she fondled it: “My treasure, my darling, my
+God-sent jewel! My own, my own--I could eat thee!”
+
+No, Mistress Muffel never behaved so to Elsie, her husband’s babe.
+Notwithstanding I knew right well that Cousin Maud had been just as fond
+of me as Dame Stromer of her own babes, and so far our cousin was no way
+different from a real mother. And I said as much to myself, when I laid
+me down to sleep in my little white bed at night, and my cousin came and
+folded her hands as I folded mine and, after we had said the prayers for
+the Angelus together, as we did every evening, she laid her head by the
+side of mine, and pressed my baby face to her own big face. I liked this
+well enough, and I whispered in her ear: “Tell me, Cousin Maud, are you
+not my real, true mother?”
+
+And she hastily replied, “In my heart I am, most truly; and you are a
+very lucky maid, my Margery, for instead of only one mother you have
+two: me, here below, to care for you and foster you, and the other
+up among the angels above, looking down on you and beseeching the
+all-gracious Virgin who is so nigh to her, to keep your little heart
+pure, and to preserve you from all ill; nay, perhaps she herself is
+wearing a glory and a heavenly crown. Look at her face.” And Cousin
+Maud held up the lamp so that the light fell on a large picture. My eyes
+beheld the lovely portrait in front of me, and meseemed it looked at
+me with a deep gaze and stretched out loving arms to me. I sat up in my
+bed; the feelings which filled my little heart overflowed my lips, and
+I said in a whisper: “Oh, Cousin Maud! Surely my mammy might kiss me for
+once, and fondle me as Mistress Stromer does her little Clare.”
+
+Cousin Maud set the lamp on the table, and without a word she lifted me
+out of bed and held me up quite close to the face of the picture; and I
+understood. My lips softly touched the red lips on the canvas; and, as
+I was all the happier, I fancied that my mother in Heaven must be glad
+too.
+
+Then my cousin sighed: “Well, well!” and murmured other words to
+herself; she laid me in the bed again, tucked the coverlet tightly
+round me as I loved to have it, gave me another kiss, waited till I had
+settled my head on the pillow, and whispered: “Now go to sleep and dream
+of your sainted mother.”
+
+She quitted the room; but she had left the lamp, and as soon as I was
+alone I looked once more at the picture, which showed me my mother in
+right goodly array. She had a rose on her breast, her golden fillet
+looked like the crown of the Queen of Heaven, and in her robe of rich,
+stiff brocade she was like some great Saint. But what seemed to me more
+heavenly than all the rest was her rose and white young face, and the
+sweet mouth which I had touched with my lips. Oh if I had but once had
+the happiness of kissing that mouth in life! A sudden feeling glowed in
+my heart, and an inward voice told me that a thousand kisses from Cousin
+Maud would never be worth one single kiss from that lovely young mother,
+and that I had indeed lost almost as much as my pitying friends had
+said. And I could not help sorrowing, weeping for a long time; I felt as
+though I had lost just what was best and dearest, and for the first time
+I saw that my good cousin was right ugly as other folks said, and my
+silly little head conceived that a real mother must be fair to look
+upon, and that however kind any one else might be she could never be so
+gracious and lovable.
+
+And so I fell asleep; and in my dreams the picture came towards me out
+of the frame and took me in her arms as Madonna takes her Holy Child,
+and looked at me with a gaze as if all the love on earth had met in
+those eyes. I threw my arms round her neck and waited for her to fondle
+and play with me like Mistress Stromer with her little Clare; but she
+gently and sadly shook her head with the golden crownlet, and went up to
+Cousin Maud and set me in her lap.
+
+“I have never forgot that dream, and often in my prayers have I lifted
+up my heart to my sainted mother, and cried to her as to the blessed
+Virgin and Saint Margaret, my name-saint; and how often she has heard
+me and rescued me in need and jeopardy! As to my cousin, she was ever
+dearer to me from that night; for had not my own mother given me to her,
+and when folks looked at me pitifully and bewailed my lot, I could laugh
+in my heart and think: ‘If only you knew! Your children have only one
+mother, but we have two; and our own real mother is prettier than any
+one’s, while the other, for all that she is so ugly, is the best.’”
+
+It was the compassion of folks that first led me to such thoughts, and
+as I grew older I began to deem that their pity had done little good to
+my young soul. Friends are ever at hand to comfort every job; but few
+are they who come to share his heaviness, all the more so because all
+men take pleasure in comparing their own fair lot with the evil lot of
+others. Compassion--and I am the last to deny it--is a noble and
+right healing grace; but those who are so ready to extend it should be
+cautious how they do so, especially in the case of a child, for a child
+is like a sapling which needs light, and those who darken the sun that
+shines on it sin against it, and hinder its growth. Instead of bewailing
+it, make it glad; that is the comfort that befits it.
+
+I felt I had discovered a great and important secret and I was eager
+to make our sainted mother known to my brothers; but they had found her
+already without any aid from their little sister. I told first one and
+then the other all that stirred within me, and when I spoke to Herdegen,
+the elder, I saw at once that it was nothing new to him. Kunz, the
+younger, I found in the swing; he flew so high that I thought he would
+fling himself out, and I cried to him to stop a minute; but, as he
+clutched the rope tighter and pulled himself together to stand firm on
+the board, he cried: “Leave me now, Margery; I want to go up, up; up to
+Heaven--up to where mother is!”
+
+That was enough for me; and from that hour we often spoke together of
+our sainted mother, and Cousin Maud took care that we should likewise
+keep our father in mind. She had his portrait--as she had had my
+mother’s--brought from the great dining-room, where it had hung, into
+the large children’s room where she slept with me. And this picture,
+too, left its mark on my after-life; for when I had the measles, and
+Master Paul Rieter, the town physician and our doctor, came to see me,
+he stayed a long time, as though he could not bear to depart, standing
+in front of the portrait; and when he turned to me again, his face was
+quite red with sorrowful feeling--for he had been a favorite friend of
+my father, at Padua--and he exclaimed: “What a fortunate child art thou,
+little Margery!”
+
+I must have looked at him puzzled enough, for no one had ever esteemed
+me fortunate, unless it were Cousin Maud or the Waldstromers in the
+forest; and Master Paul must have observed my amazement, for he went on.
+“Yea, a happy child art thou; for so are all babes, maids or boys, who
+come into the world after their father’s death.” As I gazed into his
+face, no less astonished than before, he laid the gold knob of his cane
+against his nose and said: “Remember, little simpleton, the good God
+would not be what he is, would not be a man of honor--God forgive the
+words--if he did not take a babe whom He had robbed of its father before
+it had seen the light or had one proof of his love under His own special
+care. Mark what I say, child. Is it a small thing to be the ward of a
+guardian who is not only Almighty but true above all truth?” And those
+words have followed me through all my life till this very hour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Thus passed our childhood, as I have already said, in very great
+happiness; and by the time that my brothers had left the leading strings
+far behind them, and were studying their ‘Donatus’, Cousin Maud was
+teaching me to read and write, and that with much mirth and the most
+frolicsome ways. For instance, she would stamp four copies of each
+letter out of sweet honey-cakes, and when I knew them well she gave me
+these tiny little A. B. C. cakes, and one I ate myself, and gave the
+others to my brothers, or Susan, or my cousin. Often I put them in my
+satchel to carry them into the woods with me, and give them to my Cousin
+Gotz’s favorite hound or his cross-beak; for he himself did not care
+for sweets. I shall have many things to tell of him and the forest; even
+when I was very small it was my greatest joy to be told that we were
+going to the woods, for there dwelt the dearest and most faithful of
+all our kinsmen: my uncle Waldstromer and his family. The stately
+hunting-lodge in which he dwelt as head forester of the Lorenzerwald in
+the service of the Emperor and of our town, had greater joys for me than
+any other, since not only were there the woods with all their delights
+and wonders, but also, besides many hounds, a number of strange beasts,
+and other pastimes such as a town child knows little of.
+
+But what I most loved was the only son of my uncle and aunt Waldstromer,
+for whose dog I kept my cake letters; for though Cousin Gotz was older
+than I by eleven years, he nevertheless did not scorn me, but whenever
+I asked him to show me this or that, or teach me some light woodland
+craft, he would leave his elders to please me.
+
+When I was six years old I went to the forest one day in a scarlet
+velvet hood, and after that he ever called me his little “Red
+riding-hood,” and I liked to be called so; and of all the boys and lads
+I ever met among my brothers’ friends or others I deemed none could
+compare with Gotz; my guileless heart was so wholly his that I always
+mentioned his name in my little prayers.
+
+Till I was nine we had gone out into the forest three or four times in
+each year to pass some weeks; but after this I was sent to school, and
+as Cousin Maud took it much to heart, because she knew that my father
+had set great store by good learning, we paid such visits more rarely;
+and indeed, the strict mistress who ruled my teaching would never have
+allowed me to break through my learning for pastime’s sake.
+
+Sister Margaret, commonly called the Carthusian nun, was the name of the
+singular woman who was chosen to be my teacher. She was at once the most
+pious and learned soul living; she was Prioress of a Carthusian nunnery
+and had written ten large choirbooks, besides others. Though the rule of
+her order forbade discourse, she was permitted to teach.
+
+Oh, how I trembled when Cousin Maud first took me to the convent.
+
+As a rule my tongue was never still, unless it were when Herdegen sang
+to me, or thought aloud, telling me his dreams of what he would do when
+he had risen to be chancellor, or captain-in chief of the Imperial army,
+and had found a count’s or a prince’s daughter to carry home to his
+grand castle. Besides, the wild wood was a second home to me, and now
+I was shut up in a convent where the silence about me crushed me like a
+too tight bodice. The walls of the vast antechamber, where I was left
+to wait, were covered with various texts in Latin, and several times
+repeated were these words under a skull.
+
+“Bitter as it is to live a Carthusian, it is right sweet to die one.”
+
+There was a crucifix in a shrine, and so much bright red blood flowed
+from the Crown of Thorns and the Wounds that the Sacred Body was half
+covered with it, and I was sore afraid at the sight--oh I can find no
+words for it! And all the while one nun after another glided through the
+chamber in silence, and with bowed head, her arms folded, and never so
+much as lifting an eye to look at me.
+
+It was in May; the day was fine and pleasant, but I began to shiver,
+and I felt as if the Spring had bloomed and gone, and I had suddenly
+forgotten how to laugh and be glad. Presently a cat stole in, leapt on
+to the bench where I sat, and arched her back to rub up against me; but
+I drew away, albeit I commonly laved to play with animals; for it glared
+at me strangely with its green eyes, and I had a sudden fear that it
+would turn into a werewolf and do me a hurt.
+
+At length the door opened, and a woman in nun’s weeds came in with my
+cousin; she was the taller by a head. I had never seen so tall a woman,
+but the nun was very thin, too, and her shoulders scarce broader than
+my own. Ere long, indeed, she stooped a good deal, and as time went on
+I saw her ever with her back bent and her head bowed. They said she had
+some hurt of the back-bone, and that she had taken this bent shape from
+writing, which she always did at night.
+
+At first I dared not look up in her face, for my cousin had told me that
+with her I must be very diligent, that idleness never escaped her keen
+eyes; and Gotz Waldstromer knew the meaning of the Latin motto with
+which she began all her writings: “Beware lest Satan find thee idle!”
+ These words flashed through my mind at this moment; I felt her eye fixed
+upon me, and I started as she laid her cold, thin fingers on my brow
+and firmly, but not ungently, made me lift my drooping head. I raised my
+eyes, and how glad I was when in her pale, thin face I saw nothing but
+true, sweet good will.
+
+She asked me in a low, clear voice, though hardly above a whisper, how
+old I was, what was my name, and what I had learnt already. She spoke in
+brief sentences, not a word too little or too many; and she ever set me
+my tasks in the same manner; for though, by a dispensation, she might
+speak, she ever bore in mind that at the Last Day we shall be called to
+account for every word we utter.
+
+At last she spoke of my sainted parents, but she only said: “Thy father
+and mother behold thee ever; therefore be diligent in school that they
+may rejoice in thee.--To-morrow and every morning at seven.” Then she
+kissed me gently on my head, bowed to my cousin without a word, and
+turned her back upon us. But afterwards, as I walked on in the open air
+glad to be moving, and saw the blue sky and the green meadows once more,
+and heard the birds sing and the children at play, I felt as it were a
+load lifted from my breast; but I likewise felt the tall, silent nun’s
+kiss, and as if she had given me something which did me honor.
+
+Next morning I went to school for the first time; and whereas it is
+commonly the part of a child’s godparents only to send it parcels of
+sweetmeats when it goes to school, I had many from various kinsfolks and
+other of our friends, because they pitied me as a hapless orphan.
+
+I thought more of my riches, and how to dispense them, than of school
+and tasks; and as my cousin would only put one parcel into my little
+satchel I stuffed another--quite a little one, sent me by rich mistress
+Grosz, with a better kind of sweeties--into the wallet which hung from
+my girdle.
+
+On the way I looked about at the folks to see if they observed how I had
+got on, and my little heart beat fast as I met my cousin Gotz in front
+of Master Pernhart’s brass-smithy. He had come from the forest to live
+in the town, that he might learn book-keeping under the tax-gatherers.
+We greeted each other merrily, and he pulled my plait of hair and went
+on his way, while I felt as if this meeting had brought me good luck
+indeed.
+
+In school of course I had to forget such follies at once; for among
+Sister Margaret’s sixteen scholars I was far below most of them, not,
+indeed in stature, for I was well-grown for my years, but in age and
+learning and this I was to discover before the first hour was past.
+
+Fifteen of us were of the great city families, and this day, being the
+first day of the school-term, we were all neatly clad in fine woollen
+stuffs of Florence or of Flanders make, and colored knitted hose. We all
+had fine lace ruffs round the cuffs of our tight sleeves and the square
+cut fronts of our bodices; each little maid wore a silken ribbon to tie
+her plaits, and almost all had gold rings in her ears and a gold pin at
+her breast or in her girdle. Only one was in a simple garb, unlike the
+others, and she, notwithstanding her weed was clean and fitting, was
+arrayed in poor, grey home spun. As I looked on her I could not but mind
+me of Cinderella; and when I looked in her face, and then at her feet to
+see whether they were as neat and as little as in the tale, I saw that
+she had small ankles and sweet little shoes; and as for her face, I
+deemed I had never seen one so lovely and at the same time so strange to
+me. Yea, she seemed to have come from another world than this that I
+and the others lived in; for we were light or brown haired, with blue or
+grey eyes, and healthy red and white faces; while Cinderella had a low
+forehead and with big dark eyes strange, long, fine silky lashes; and
+heavy plaits of black hair hung down her back.
+
+Ursula Tetzel was accounted by the lads the comeliest maiden of us all;
+and I knew full well that the flower she wore in her bodice had been
+given to her by my brother Herdegen early that morning, because he had
+chosen her for his “Lady,” and said she was the fairest; but as I looked
+at her beside this stranger I deemed that she was of poorer stuff.
+
+Moreover Cinderella was a stranger to me, and all the others I knew
+well, but I had to take patience for a whole hour ere I could ask who
+this fair Cinderella was, for Sister Margaret kept her eye on us, and so
+long as I was taught by her, no one at any time made so bold as to speak
+during lessons or venture on any pastime.
+
+At last, in a few minutes for rest, I asked Ursula Tetzel, who had come
+to the convent school for a year past. She put out her red nether-lip
+with a look of scorn and said the new scholar had been thrust among us
+but did not belong to the like of us. Sister Margaret, though of a noble
+house herself, had forgot what was due to us and our families, and had
+taken in this grey hat out of pity. Her father was a simple clerk in the
+Chancery office and was accountant to the convent for some small wage.
+His name was Veit Spiesz, and she had heard her father say that the
+scribe was the son of a simple lute-player and could hardly earn enough
+to live. He had formerly served in a merchant’s house at Venice. There
+he had wed an Italian woman, and all his children, which were many, had,
+like her, hair and eyes as black as the devil. For the sake of a “God
+repay thee!” this maid, named Ann, had been brought to mix with us
+daughters of noble houses. “But we will harry her out,” said Ursula,
+“you will see!”
+
+This shocked me sorely, and I said that would be cruel and I would have
+no part in such a matter; but Ursula laughed and said I was yet but
+a green thing, and turned away to the window-shelf where all the
+new-comers had laid out their sweetmeats at the behest of the eldest or
+first of the class; for, by old custom, all the sweetmeats brought by
+the novices on the first day were in common.
+
+All the party crowded round the heap of sweetmeats, which waxed greater
+and greater, and I was standing among the others when I saw that the
+scribe’s daughter Ann, Cinderella, was standing lonely and hanging her
+head by the tiled stove at the end of the room. I forthwith hastened to
+her, pressed the little packet which Mistress Grosz had given me into
+her hand--for I had it still hidden in my poke--and, whispered to her:
+“I had two of them, little Ann; make haste and pour them on the heap.”
+
+She gave me a questioning look with her great eyes, and when she saw
+that I meant it truly she nodded, and there was something in her tearful
+look which I never can forget; and I mind, too, that when I passed the
+little packet into her hand it seemed that I, and not she, had received
+the favor.
+
+She gave the sweetmeats she had taken from me to the eldest, and
+spoke not a word, and did not seem to mark that they all mocked at the
+smallness of the packet. But soon enough their scorn was turned to glee
+and praises; for out of Cinderella’s parcel such fine sweetmeats fell
+on to the heap as never another one had brought with her, and among them
+was a little phial of attar of roses from the Levant.
+
+At first Ann had cast an anxious look at me, then she seemed as though
+she cared not; but when the oil of roses came to light she took it
+firmly in her hand to give to me. But Ursula cried out: “Nay. Whatsoever
+the new-comers bring is for all to share in common!” Notwithstanding,
+Ann laid her hand on mine, which already held the phial, and said
+boldly: “I give this to Margery, and I renounce all the rest.”
+
+And there was not one to say her nay, or hinder her; and when she
+refused to eat with them, each one strove to press upon her so much as
+fell to her share.
+
+When Sister Margaret came back into the room she looked to find us in
+good order and holding our peace; and while we awaited her Ann whispered
+to me, as though to put herself right in my eyes: “I had a packet of
+sweetmeats; but there are four little ones at home.”
+
+Cousin Maud was waiting at the convent gate to take me home. As I was
+setting forth at good speed, hand in hand with my new friend, she looked
+at the little maid’s plain garb from top to toe, and not kindly. And she
+made me leave hold, but yet as though it were by chance, for she came
+between us to put my hood straight. Then she busied herself with my
+neckkerchief and whispered in my ear: “Who is that?”
+
+So I replied: “Little Ann;” and when she went on to ask who her father
+might be, I told her she was a scrivener’s daughter, and was about to
+speak of her with hearty good will, when my cousin stopped me by saying
+to Ann: “God save you child; Margery and I must hurry.” And she strove
+to get me on and away; but I struggled to be free from her, and cried
+out with the wilful pride which at that time I was wont to show when I
+thought folks would hinder that which seemed good and right in my eyes:
+“Little Ann shall come with us.”
+
+But the little maid had her pride likewise, and said firmly: “Be
+dutiful, Margery; I can go alone.” At this Cousin Maud looked at her
+more closely, and thereupon her eyes had the soft light of good will
+which I loved so well, and she herself began to question Ann about her
+kinsfolk. The little maid answered readily but modestly, and when my
+Cousin understood that her father was a certain writer in the Chancery
+of whom she had heard a good report, she was softer and more gentle, so
+that when I took hold again of Ann’s little hand she let it pass,
+and presently, at parting, kissed her on the brow and bid her carry a
+greeting to her worthy father.
+
+Now, when I was alone with Cousin Maud and gave her to understand that I
+loved the scribe’s little daughter and wished for no dearer friend, she
+answered gravely; “Little maids can hold no conversation with any but
+those whose mothers meet in each other’s houses. Take patience till
+I can speak to Sister Margaret.” So when my Cousin went out in the
+afternoon I tarried in the most anxious expectation; but she came home
+with famous good tidings, and thenceforward Ann was a friend to whom I
+clung almost as closely as to my brothers. And which of us was the chief
+gainer it would be hard to say, for whereas I found in her a trusted
+companion to whom I might impart every thing which was scarce worthy of
+my brothers’ or my Cousin’s ears, and foremost of all things my childish
+good-will for my Cousin Gotz and love of the Forest, to her the place in
+my heart and in our house were as a haven of peace when she craved rest
+after the heavy duties which, for all she was so young, she had already
+taken upon herself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+True it is that the class I learnt in at the convent was under the
+strictest rule, and that my teacher was a Carthusian nun; and yet I take
+pleasure in calling to mind the years when my spirit enjoyed the benefit
+of schooling with friendly companions and by the side of my best friend.
+Nay, even in the midst of the silent dwelling of the speechless Sisters,
+right merry laughter might be heard during the hours of rest, and in
+spite of the thick walls of the class-room it reached the nuns’ ears.
+Albeit at first I was stricken with awe, and shy in their presence, I
+soon became familiar with their strange manner of life, and there was
+many an one whom I learnt truly to love: with some, too, we could talk
+and jest right merrily, for they, to be sure, had good ears, and we,
+were not slow in learning the language of their eyes and fingers.
+
+As concerning the rule of silence no one, to my knowledge, ever broke it
+in the presence of us little ones, save only Sister Renata, and she was
+dismissed from the convent; yet, as I waxed older, I could see that the
+nuns were as fain to hear any tidings of the outer life that might find
+a way into the cloister as though there was nothing they held more dear
+than the world which they had withdrawn from by their own free choice.
+
+For my part, I have ever been, and remain to the end, one of those least
+fitted for the Carthusian habit, notwithstanding that Sister Margaret
+would paint the beatitudes and the purifying power of her Order in fair
+and tempting colors. In the hours given up to sacred teaching, when she
+would shed out upon us the overflowing wealth and abundant grace of her
+loving spirit--insomuch that she won not less than four souls of our
+small number to the sisterhood--she was wont and glad to speak of this
+matter, and would say that there was a heavenly spirit living and moving
+in every human breast. That it told us, with the clear and holy voice
+of angels, what was divine and true, but that the noise of the world and
+our own vain imaginings sounded louder and would not suffer us to hear.
+But that they who took upon them the Carthusian rule and hearkened to
+it speechless, in a silent home, lending no ear to distant outer voices,
+but only to those within, would ere long learn to mark the heavenly
+voice with the inward ear and know its warning. That voice would declare
+to them the glory and the will of the Most High God, and reveal the
+things that are hidden in such wise as that even here below he should
+take part in the joys of paradise.
+
+But, for all that I never was a Carthusian nun, and that my tongue was
+ever apt to run too freely, I conceive that I have found the Heavenly
+Spirit in the depths of my own soul and heard its voice; but in truth
+this has befallen me most clearly, and with most joy, when my heart has
+been most filled with that worldly love which the Carthusian Sisters
+shut out with a hundred doors. And again, when I have been moved by that
+love towards my neighbor which is called Charity, and wearied myself
+out for him, sparing nothing that was my own, I have felt those divine
+emotions plainly enough in my breast.
+
+The Sister bid us to question her at all times without fear, and I
+was ever the foremost of us all to plague her with communings. Of a
+certainty she could not at all times satisfy my soul, which thirsted for
+knowledge, though she never failed to calm it; for I stood firm in the
+faith, and all she could tell me of God’s revelation to man I accepted
+gladly, without doubt or cavil. She had taught us that faith and
+knowledge are things apart, and I felt that there could be no more peace
+for my soul if I suffered knowledge to meddle with faith.
+
+Led by her, I saw the Saviour as love incarnate; and that the love which
+He brought into the world was still and ever a living thing working
+after His will, I strove to confess with my thinking mind. But I beheld
+even the Archbishops and Bishops go forth to battle, and shed the
+blood of their fellow men with vengeful rage; I saw Pope excommunicate
+Pope--for the great Schism only came to an end while I was yet at
+school; peaceful cities in their sore need bound themselves by treaties,
+under our eyes, for defence against Christian knights and lords. The
+robber bands of the great nobles plundered merchants on the Emperor’s
+highway, though they were of the same creed, while the citizens strove
+to seize the strongholds of the knights. We heard of many more letters
+of defiance than of peacemaking and friendship. Even the burgesses
+of our good Christian town--could not the love taught by the Redeemer
+prevail even among them? And as with the great so with the simple; for
+was it love alone that reigned among us maidens in a Christian school?
+Nay, verily; for never shall I forget how that Ursula Tetzel, and in
+fellowship with her a good half of the others, pursued my sweet, sage
+Ann, the most diligent and best of us all, to drive her out of our
+midst; but in vain, thanks to Sister Margaret’s upright justice. Nay,
+the shrewish plotters were fain at last to see the scrivener’s daughter
+uplifted to be our head, and this compelled them to bend their pride
+before her.
+
+All this and much more I would say to the good Sister; nay, and I made
+so bold as to ask her whether Christ’s behest that we should love our
+enemy were not too high for attainment by the spirit of man. This made
+her grave and thoughtful; yet she found no lack of comforting words,
+and said that the Lord had only showed the way and the end. That men had
+turned sadly from both; but that many a stream wandered through divers
+windings from the path to its goal, the sea, before it reached it; and
+that mankind was wondrous like the stream, for, albeit they even now
+rend each other in bloody fights, the day will come when foe shall offer
+to foe the palm of peace, and when there shall be but one fold on earth
+and one Shepherd.
+
+But my anxious questioning, albeit I was but a child, had without doubt
+troubled her pure and truthful spirit. It was in Passion week, of the
+fifth year of my school-life--and ever through those years she had
+become more bent and her voice had sunk lower, so that many a time we
+found it hard to hear her--that it fell that she could no longer quit
+her cell; and she sent me a bidding to go to her bedside, and with me
+only two of us all: to wit my Ann, and Elsa Ebner, a right good child
+and a diligent bee in her work.
+
+And it befell that as Sister Margaret on her deathbed bid us farewell
+for ever, with many a God speed and much good council for the rest
+likewise, her heart waxed soft and she went on to speak of the love each
+Christian soul oweth to his neighbor and eke to his enemy. She fixed her
+eye in especial on me, and confessed with her pale lips that she herself
+had ofttimes found it hard to love evil-minded adversaries and those
+whose ways had been contrary to hers, as the law of the Saviour bid her.
+To those young ones among us who had made their minds up to take the
+veil she had, ere this, more especially shown what was needful; for
+their way lay plain before them, to walk as followers of Christ how
+bitter soever it might be to their human nature; but we were bound to
+live in the world, and she could but counsel us to flee from hate as the
+soul’s worst foe and the most cunning of all the devils. But an if it
+should befall that our heart could not be subdued after a brave struggle
+to love such or such an one, then ought we to strive at least to respect
+all that was good and praiseworthy in him, inasmuch as we should ever
+find something worthy of honor even in the most froward and least
+pleasing to ourselves. And these words I have ever kept in mind, and
+many times have they given me pause, when the hot blood of the Schoppers
+has bid me stoop and pick up a stone to fling at my neighbor.
+
+No longer than three days after she had thus bidden us to her side,
+Sister Margaret entered into her rest; she had been our strait but
+gentle teacher, and her learning was as far above that of most women of
+her time as the heavens are high; and as her mortal body lay, no longer
+bent, but at full length in the coffin, the saintly lady, who before she
+took the vows had been a Countess of Lupfen, belonged, meseemed, to a
+race taller than ours by a head. A calm, queenlike dignity was on her
+noble thin face; and, this corpse being the first, as it fell, that I
+had ever looked on, it so worked on my mind that death, of which I had
+heretofore been in terror, took the image in my young soul of a great
+Master to whom we must indeed bow, but who is not our foe.
+
+I never could earn such praise as Ann, who was by good right at our
+head; notwithstanding I ever stood high. And the vouchers I carried
+home were enough to content Cousin Maud, for her great wish that her
+foster-children should out-do others was amply fulfilled by Herdegen,
+the eldest. He was indeed filled with sleeping learning, as it were,
+and I often conceived that he needed only fitting instruction and a fair
+start to wake it up. For even he did not attain his learning without
+pains, and they who deem that it flew into his mouth agape are sorely
+mistaken. Many a time have I sat by his side while he pored over his
+books, and I could see how he set to work in right earnest when once he
+had cast away sports and pastime. Thus with three mighty blows he would
+smite the nail home, which a weaker hand could not do with twenty.
+For whole weeks he might be idle and about divers matters which had no
+concern with schooling; and then, of a sudden, set to work; and it would
+so wholly possess his soul that he would not have seen a stone drop
+close at his feet.
+
+My second brother, Kunz, was not at all on this wise. Not that he was
+soft-witted; far from it. His head was as clear as ever another’s for
+all matters of daily life; but he found it hard to learn scholarship,
+and what Herdegen could master in one hour, it took him a whole livelong
+day to get. Notwithstanding he was not one of the dunces, for he strove
+hard with all diligence, and rather would he have lost a night’s sleep
+than have left what he deemed a duty only half done. Thus there were
+sore half-hours for him in school-time; but he was not therefor to be
+pitied, for he had a right merry soul and was easily content, and loved
+many things. Good temper and a high spirit looked out of his great blue
+eyes; aye, and when he had played some prank which was like to bring him
+into trouble he had a look in his eyes--a look that might have melted a
+stone to pity, much more good Cousin Maud.
+
+But this did not altogether profit him, for after that Herdegen had
+discovered one day how easily Kunz got off chastisement he would pray
+him to take upon himself many a misdeed which the elder had done; and
+Kunz, who was soft-hearted, was fain rather to suffer the penalty than
+to see it laid on his well-beloved brother. Add to this that Kunz was
+a well-favored, slender youth; but as compared with Herdegen’s splendid
+looks and stalwart frame he looked no more than common. For this
+cause he had no ill-wishers while our eldest’s uncommon beauty in all
+respects, and his hasty temper, ever ready to boil over for good or
+evil, brought upon him much ill-will and misliking.
+
+When Cousin Maud beheld how little good Kunz got out of his learning, in
+spite of his zeal, she was minded to get him a private governor to teach
+him; and this she did by the advice of a learned doctor of Church-law,
+Albrecht Fleischmann, the vicar and provost of Saint Sebald’s and member
+of the Imperial council, because we Schoppers were of the parish of
+Saint Sebald’s, to which church Albrecht and Friedrich Schopper, God
+rest their souls, had attached a rich prebendary endowment.
+
+His Reverence the prebendary Fleischmann, having attended the Council at
+Costnitz, whither he was sent by the town elders with divers errands to
+the Emperor Sigismund, who was engaged in a disputation with John Huss
+the Bohemian schismatic, brought to my cousin’s knowledge a governor
+whose name was Peter Pihringer, a native of Nuremberg. He it was who
+brought the Greek tongue, which was not yet taught in the Latin schools
+of our city, not in our house alone, but likewise into others; he
+was not indeed at all like the high-souled men and heroes of whom his
+Plutarch wrote; nay, he was a right pitiable little man, who had learnt
+nothing of life, though all the more out of books. He had journeyed long
+in Italy, from one great humanistic doctor to another, and while he had
+sat at their feet, feeding his soul with learning, his money had melted
+away in his hands--all that he had inherited from his father, a worthy
+tavern-keeper and master baker. Much of his substance he had lent to
+false friends never to see it more, and it would scarce be believed how
+many times knavish rogues had beguiled this learned man of his goods. At
+length he came home to Nuremberg, a needy traveller, entering the city
+by the same gate as that by which Huss had that same day departed,
+having tarried in Nuremberg on his way to Costnitz and won over divers
+of our learned scholars to his doctrine. Now, after Magister Peter had
+written a very learned homily against the said Hans Huss, full of much
+Greek--of which, indeed, it was reported that it had brought a smile
+to the dauntless Bohemian’s lips in the midst of his sorrow--he found a
+patron in Doctor Fleischmann, who was well pleased with this tractate,
+and he thenceforth made a living by teaching divers matters. But he sped
+but ill, dwelling alone, inasmuch as he would forget to eat and drink
+and mislay or lose his hardly won wage. Once the town watch had to
+see him home because, instead of a book, he was carrying a ham which
+a gossip had given him; and another day he was seen speeding down the
+streets with his nightcap on, to the great mirth of the lads and lasses.
+
+Notwithstanding he showed himself no whit unworthy of the high praise
+wherewith his Reverence the Prebendary had commended him, inasmuch as he
+was not only a right learned, but likewise a faithful and longsuffering
+teacher. But his wisdom profited Herdegen and Ann and me rather than
+Kunz, though it was for his sake that he had come to us; and as,
+touching this strange man’s person, my cousin told me later that when
+she saw him for the first time she took such a horror of his wretched
+looks that she was ready to bid him depart and desire the Reverend
+doctor to send us another governor. But out of pity she would
+nevertheless give him a trial, and considering that I should ere long
+be fully grown, and that a young maid’s heart is a strange thing, she
+deemed that a younger teacher might lead it into peril.
+
+At the time when Master Pihringer came to dwell with us, Herdegen was
+already high enough to pass into the upper school, for he was first in
+his ‘ordo’; but our guardian, the old knight Hans Im Hoff, of whom I
+shall have much to tell, held that he was yet too young for the risks of
+a free scholar’s life in a high school away from home, and he kept him
+two years more in Nuremberg at the school of the Brethren of the Holy
+Ghost, albeit the teaching there was not of the best. At any rate Master
+Pihringer avowed that in all matters of learning we were out of all
+measure behind the Italians; and how rough and barbarous was the Latin
+spoken by the reverend Fathers and taught by them in the schools, I
+myself had later the means of judging.
+
+Their way of imparting that tongue was in truth a strange thing; for to
+fix the quantity of the syllables in the learners’ mind, they were
+made to sing verses in chorus, while one of them, on whose head Father
+Hieronymus would set a paper cap to mark his office, beat the measure
+with a wooden sword; but what pranks of mischief the unruly rout would
+be playing all the time Kunz could describe better than I can.
+
+The great and famous works of the Roman chroniclers and poets, which
+our Master had come to know well in Italy--having besides fine copies of
+them--were never heard of in the Fathers’ school, by reason, that those
+writers had all been mere blind heathen; but, verily, the common school
+catechisms which were given to the lads for their instruction, contained
+such foolish and ill-conceived matters, that any sage heathen would have
+been ashamed of them. The highest exercise consisted of disputations on
+all manner of subtle and captious questions, and the Latin verses which
+the scholars hammered out under the rule of Father Jodocus were so vile
+as to rouse Magister Peter to great and righteous wrath. Each morning,
+before the day’s tasks began, the fine old hymn Salve Regina was
+chanted, and this was much better done in the Brothers’ school than in
+ever another, for those Monks gave especial heed to the practice of good
+music. My Herdegen profited much thereby, and he was the foremost of all
+the singing scholars. He likewise gladly and of his own free will took
+part in the exercises of the Alumni, of whom twelve, called the Pueri,
+had to sing at holy mass, and at burials and festivals, as well as
+in the streets before the houses of the great city families and other
+worthy citizens. The money they thus earned served to help maintain
+the poorer scholars, and to be sure, my brother was ready to forego
+his share; nay, and a great part of his own pocket-money went to those
+twelve, for among them were comrades he truly loved.
+
+There was something lordly in my elder brother, and his fellows were
+ever subject to his will. Even at the shooting matches in sport he
+was ever chosen captain, and the singing pueri soon would do his every
+behest. Cousin Maud would give them free commons on many a Sunday and
+holy-day, and when they had well filled their hungry young crops at our
+table for the coming week of lean fare, they went out with us into the
+garden, and it presently rang with mirthful songs, Herdegen beating the
+measure, while we young maids joined in with a will.
+
+For the most part we three: Ann, Elsa Ebner, and I--were the only maids
+with the lads, but Ursula Tetzel was sometimes with us, for she was
+ever fain to be where Herdegen was. And he had been diligent enough
+in waiting upon her ere ever I went to school. There was a giving and
+taking of flowers and nosegays, for he had chosen her for his Lady, and
+she called him her knight; and if I saw him with a red knot on his cap
+I knew right well it was to wear her color; and I liked all this
+child’s-play myself right well, inasmuch as I likewise had my chosen
+color: green, as pertaining to my cousin in the forest.
+
+But when I went to the convent-school all this was at an end, and I had
+no choice but to forego my childish love matters, not only for my tasks’
+sake, but forasmuch as I discerned that Gotz had a graver love matter on
+hand, and that such an one as moved his parents to great sorrow.
+
+The wench to whom he plighted his love was the daughter of a common
+craftsman, Pernhart the coppersmith, and when this came to my ears it
+angered me greatly; nay, and cost me bitter tears, as I told it to Ann.
+But ere long we were playing with our dollies again right happily.
+
+I took this matter to heart nevertheless, more than many another of my
+years might have done; and when we went again to the Forest Lodge and
+I missed Gotz from his place, and once, as it fell, heard my aunt
+lamenting to Cousin Maud bitterly indeed of the sorrows brought upon her
+by her only son--for he was fully bent on taking the working wench to
+wife in holy wedlock--in my heart I took my aunt’s part. And I deemed it
+a shameful and grievous thing that so fine a young gentleman could abase
+himself to bring heaviness on the best of parents for the sake of a
+lowborn maid.
+
+After this, one Sunday, it fell by chance that I went to mass with
+Ann to the church of St. Laurence, instead of St. Sebald’s to which we
+belonged. Having said my prayer, looking about me I beheld Gotz, and
+saw how, as he leaned against a pillar, he held his gaze fixed on one
+certain spot. My eyes followed his, and at once I saw whither they were
+drawn, for I saw a young maid of the citizen class in goodly, nay--in
+rich array, and she was herself of such rare and wonderful beauty that
+I myself could not take my eyes off her. And I remembered that I had
+met the wench erewhile on the feast-day of St. John, and that uncle
+Christian Pfinzing, my worshipful godfather, had pointed her out to
+Cousin Maud, and had said that she was the fairest maid in Nuremberg
+whom they called, and rightly, Fair Gertrude.
+
+Now the longer I gazed at her the fairer I deemed her, and when Ann
+discovered to me, what I had at once divined, that this sweet maid was
+the daughter of Pernhart the coppersmith, my child’s heart was glad, for
+if my cousin was without dispute the finest figure of a man in the whole
+assembly Fair Gertrude was the sweetest maid, I thought, in the whole
+wide world.
+
+If it had been possible that she could be of yet greater beauty it would
+but have added to my joy. And henceforth I would go as often as I might
+to St. Laurence’s, and past the coppersmith’s house to behold Fair
+Gertrude; and my heart beat high with gladness when she one day saw me
+pass and graciously bowed to my silent greeting, and looked in my face
+with friendly inquiry.
+
+After this when Gotz came to our house I welcomed him gladly as
+heretofore; and one day, when I made bold to whisper in his ear that
+I had seen his fair Gertrude, and for certain no saint in heaven could
+have a sweeter face than hers, he thanked me with a bright look and it
+was from the bottom of his soul that he said: “If you could but know her
+faithful heart of gold!”
+
+For all this Gotz was dearer to me than of old, and it uplifted me in my
+own conceit that he should put such trust in a foolish young thing as
+I was. But in later days it made me sad to see his frank and noble face
+grow ever more sorrowful, nay, and full of gloom; and I knew full well
+what pained him, for a child can often see much more than its elders
+deem. Matters had come to a sharp quarrel betwixt the son and the
+parents, and I knew my cousin well, and his iron will which was a
+by-word with us. And my aunt in the Forest was of the same temper;
+albeit her body was sickly, she was one of those women who will not bear
+to be withstood, and my heart hung heavy with fear when I conceived of
+the outcome of this matter.
+
+Hence it was a boon indeed to me that I had my Ann for a friend, and
+could pour out to her all that filled my young soul with fears. How our
+cheeks would burn when many a time we spoke of the love which was the
+bond between Gotz and his fair Gertrude. To us, indeed, it was as yet a
+mystery, but that it was sweet and full of joy we deemed a certainty.
+We would have been fain to cry out to the Emperor and the world to take
+arms against the ruthless parents who were minded to tread so holy a
+blossom in the dust; but since this was not in our power we had dreams
+of essaying to touch the heart of my forest aunt, for she had but
+that one son and no daughter to make her glad, and I had ever been her
+favorite.
+
+Thus passed many weeks, and one morning, when I came forth from school,
+I found Gotz with Cousin Maud who had been speaking with him, and her
+eyes were wet with tears; and I heard him cry out:
+
+“It is in my mother’s power to drive me to misery and ruin; but no power
+in heaven or on earth can drive me to break the oath and forswear the
+faith I have sworn!”
+
+And his cheeks were red, and I had never seen him look so great and
+tall.
+
+Then, when he saw me, he held out both hands to me in his frank, loving
+way, and I took them with all my heart. At this he looked into my eyes
+which were full of tears, and he drew me hastily to him and kissed me
+on my brow for the first time in all his life, with strange passion; and
+without another word he ran out of the house-door into the street. My
+cousin gazed after him, shaking her head sadly and wiping her eyes;
+but when I asked her what was wrong with my cousin she would give me no
+tidings of the matter.
+
+The next day we should have gone out to the forest, but we remained at
+home; Aunt Jacoba would see no one. Her son had turned his back on his
+parents’ dwelling, and had gone out as a stranger among strangers. And
+this was the first sore grief sent by Heaven on my young heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Many of the fairest memories of my childhood are linked with the house
+where Ann’s parents dwelt. It was indeed but a simple home and not to
+be named with ours--the Schopperhof--for greatness or for riches; but it
+was a snug nest, and in divers ways so unlike ever another that it was
+full of pleasures for a child.
+
+Master Spiesz, Ann’s father, had been bidden from Venice, where he had
+been in the service of the Mendel’s merchant house, to become head clerk
+in Nuremberg, first in the Chamber of Taxes, and then in the Chancery,
+a respectable post of much trust. His father was, as Ursula Tetzel had
+said in the school, a luteplayer; but he had long been held the head
+and chief of teachers of the noble art of music, and was so greatly
+respected by the clergy and laity that he was made master and leader of
+the church choir, and even in the houses of the city nobles his
+teaching of the lute and of singing was deemed the best. He was a right
+well-disposed and cheerful old man, of a rare good heart and temper, and
+of wondrous good devices. When the worshipful town council bid his
+son Veit Spiesz come back to Nuremberg, the old man must need fit up a
+proper house for him, since he himself was content with a small chamber,
+and the scribe was by this time married to the fair Giovanna, the
+daughter of one of the Sensali or brokers of the German Fondaco, and
+must have a home and hearth of his own.
+
+   [Sensali--Agents who conducted all matters of business between the
+   German and Venetian merchants. Not even the smallest affair was
+   settled without their intervention, on account of the duties
+   demanded by the Republic. The Fondaco was the name of the great
+   exchange established by the Republic itself for the German trade.]
+
+The musician, who had as a student dwelt in Venice, hit on the fancy
+that he would give his daughter-in-law a home in Nuremberg like her
+father’s house, which stood on one of the canals in Venice; so he found
+a house with windows looking to the river, and which he therefore deemed
+fit to ease her homesickness. And verily the Venetian lady was pleased
+with the placing of her house, and yet more with the old man’s loving
+care for her; although the house was over tall, and so narrow that there
+were but two windows on each floor. Thus there was no manner of going
+to and fro in the Spiesz’s house, but only up and down. Notwithstanding,
+the Venetian lady loved it, and I have heard her say that there was no
+spot so sweet in all Nuremberg as the window seat on the second story of
+her house. There stood her spinning-wheel and sewing-box; and a bright
+Venice mirror, which, in jest, she would call “Dame Inquisitive,” showed
+her all that passed on the river and the Fleisch-brucke, for her house
+was not far from those which stood facing the Franciscan Friars. There
+she ruled in peace and good order, in love and all sweetness, and
+her children throve even as the flowers did under her hand: roses,
+auriculas, pinks and pansies; and whosoever went past the house in
+a boat could hear mirth within and the voice of song. For the Spiesz
+children had a fine ear for music, both from their grandsire and their
+mother, and sweet, clear, bell-like voices. My Ann was the queen of them
+all, and her nightingale’s throat drew even Herdegen to her with great
+power.
+
+Only one of the scribe’s children, little Mario, was shut out from the
+world of sound, for he was a deaf-mute born; and when Ann tarried under
+our roof, rarely indeed and for but a short while, her stay was brief
+for his sake; for she tended him with such care and love as though she
+had been his own mother. Albeit she thereby was put to much pains, these
+were as nothing to the heartfelt joys which the love and good speed of
+this child brought her; for notwithstanding he was thus born to sorrow,
+by his sister’s faithful care he grew a happy and thankful creature.
+Ofttimes my Cousin Maud was witness to her teaching of her little
+brother, and all Ann did for the child seemed to her so pious and so
+wonderful, that it broke down the last bar that stood in the way of our
+close fellowship. And Ann’s well-favored mother likewise won my cousin’s
+good graces, albeit she was swift to mark that the Italian lady
+could fall in but ill with German ways, and in especial with those
+of Nuremberg, and was ever ready to let Ann bear the burthen of the
+household.
+
+All our closest friends, and foremost of these my worshipful godfather
+Uncle Christian Pfinzing, ere long truly loved my little Ann; and of
+all our fellows I knew of only one who was ill-disposed towards her,
+and that was Ursula Tetzel, who marked, with ill-cloaked wrath, that my
+brother Herdegen cared less and less for her, and did Ann many a little
+courtesy wherewith he had formerly favored her. She could not dissemble
+her anger, and when my eldest brother waited on Ann on her name day
+with the ‘pueri’ to give her a ‘serenata’ on the water, whereas, a year
+agone, he had done Ursula the like honor, she fell upon my friend in
+our garden with such fierce and cruel words that my cousin had to come
+betwixt them, and then to temper my great wrath by saying that Ursula
+was a motherless child, whose hasty ways had never been bridled by a
+loving hand.
+
+As I mind me now of those days I do so with heartfelt thankfulness and
+joy. To be sure it but ill-pleased our grand-uncle and guardian, the
+knight Im Hoff, that Cousin Maud should suffer me, the daughter of a
+noble house, to mix with the low born race of a simple scrivener; but
+in sooth Ann was more like by far to get harm in our house, among my
+brethren and their fellows, than I in the peaceful home by the river,
+where none but seemly speech was ever heard and sweet singing, nor ever
+seen but labor and good order and content.
+
+Right glad was I to tarry there; but yet how good it was when Ann got
+leave to come to us for the whole of Sunday from noon till eventide;
+when we would first sit and chatter and play alone together, and talk
+over all we had done in school; thereafter we had my brothers with
+us, and would go out to take the air under the care of my cousin or of
+Magister Peter, or abide at home to sing or have merry pastime.
+
+After the Ave Maria, the old organist, Adam Heyden, Ann’s grand uncle,
+would come to seek her, and many sweet memories dwell in my mind of
+that worthy and gifted man, which I might set down were it not that I
+am Ann’s debtor for so many things that made my childhood happy. It was
+she, for a certainty, who first taught me truly to play; for whereas my
+dolls, and men-at-arms and shop games, albeit they were small, were in
+all points like the true great ones, she had but a staff of wood wrapped
+round with a kerchief which she rocked in her arms for a babe; and
+when she played a shop game with the little ones, she marked stones
+and leaves to be their wares and their money, and so found far greater
+pastime than we when we played with figs and almonds and cloves out of
+little wooden chests and linen-cloth sacks, and weighed them with
+brass weights on little scales with a tongue and string. It was she
+who brought imagination to bear on my pastimes, and many a time has
+she borne my fancy far enough from the Pegnitz, over seas and rivers to
+groves of palm and golden fairy lands.
+
+Our fellowship with my brethren was grateful to her as it was to me; but
+meseems it was a different thing in those early years from what it was
+in later days. While I write a certain summer day from that long past
+time comes back to my mind strangely clear. We had played long enough in
+our chamber, and we found it too hot in the loft under the roof, where
+we had climbed on to the beams, which were great, so we went down into
+the garden. Herdegen had quitted us in haste after noon, and we found
+none but Kunz, who was shaping arrows for his cross-bow. But he ere long
+threw away his knife and came to be with us, and as he was well-disposed
+to Ann as being my friend, he did his best to make himself pleasing, or
+at least noteworthy in her sight. He stood on his head and then climbed
+to the top of the tallest fruit-tree and flung down pears, but they
+smote her head so that she cried out; then he turned a wheel on his
+hands and feet, and a little more and his shoe would hit her in the
+face; and when he marked that he was but troubling us, he went away
+sorrowful, but only to hide behind a bush, and as we went past, to rush
+out on a sudden and put us in fear by wild shouting.
+
+My eldest brother well-nigh affrighted us more when he presently joined
+us, for his hair was all unkempt and his looks wild. He was now of an
+age when men-children deem maids to be weak and unfit for true sport,
+but nevertheless strive their utmost to be marked and chosen by them.
+Hence Ursula’s good graces, which she had shown right openly, had for a
+long while greatly pleased him, but by this time he was weary of her and
+began to conceive that good little Ann, with her nightingale’s voice,
+was more to his liking.
+
+After hastily greeting us, he forthwith made us privy to an evil matter.
+One of his fellowship, Laurence Abenberger, the son of an apothecary,
+who was diligent in school, and of a wondrous pious spirit, gave up
+all his spare time to all manner of magic arts, and albeit he was but
+seventeen years of age, he had already cast nativities for many folks
+and for us maids, and had told us of divers ill-omens for the future.
+This Abenberger, a little fellow of no note, had found in some ancient
+papers a recipe for discovering treasure, and had told the secret to
+Herdegen and some other few. To begin, they went at his bidding to the
+graveyard with him, and there, at the full moon, they poured hot
+lead into the left eye-hole of a skull and made it into arrow-heads.
+Yesternight they had journeyed forth as far as Sinterspuhel, and there,
+at midnight, had stood at the cross-roads and shot with these same
+arrow-heads to the four quarters, to the end that they might dig for
+treasure wheresoever the shafts might fall. But they found no treasure,
+but a newly-buried body, and on this had taken to their heels in all
+haste. Herdegen only had tarried behind with Abenberger, and when he saw
+that there were deep wounds on the head of the dead man his intent was
+to carry the tidings to the justices in council; nevertheless he would
+delay a while, because Abenberger had besought him to keep silence and
+not to bring him to an evil end. But as he had gone past the school
+of arms he had learnt that an apprentice was missing, and that it was
+feared lest he had been waylaid by pillagers, or had fallen into evil
+hands; so he now deemed it his plain duty to keep no longer silence
+concerning the finding of the body, and desired to be advised by me and
+Ann. While I, for my part, shortly and clearly declared that information
+must at once be laid before his worship the Mayor, a strange trembling
+fell on Ann, and notwithstanding she could not say me nay, she was in
+such fear that grave mischief might overtake Herdegen by reason of his
+thoughtless deed, that tears ran in streams down her cheeks, and it cost
+me great pains or ever I could comfort her, so brave and reasonable
+as she commonly was. But Herdegen was greatly pleased by her too great
+terrors; and albeit he laughed at her, he called her his faithful,
+fearful little hare, and stuck the pink he wore in his jerkin into her
+hair. At this she was soon herself again; she counselled him forthwith
+to do that it was his duty to do; and when thereafter the authorities
+had made inquisition, it came to light that our lads had in truth come
+upon the body of the slain apprentice. And though Herdegen did his best
+to keep silence as touching Abenberger’s evildoings, they nevertheless
+came out through other ways, and the poor wight was dismissed from the
+school.
+
+By the end of two years after this, matters had changed in our
+household.
+
+The twelve ‘pueri’ had been our guests at dinner, and were in the garden
+singing merry rounds well known to us, and I joined in, with Ann and
+Ursula Tetzel. Now, while Herdegen beat the time, his ear was intent
+on Ann’s singing, as though there were revelation on her lips; and his
+well-beloved companion, Heinrich Trardorf, who erewhile had, with due
+modesty, preferred me, Margery, seemed likewise well affected to her
+singing; and when we ceased he fell into eager talk with her, for he
+had bewailed to her that, albeit he loved me well, as being the son of
+simple folk he might never lift up his eyes so high.
+
+Herdegen’s eyes rested on the twain with some little wrath; then he
+hastily got up! He snatched the last of Cousin Maud’s precious roses
+from her favorite bush and gave them to Ursula, and then waited on her
+as though she were the only maid there present. But ere long her father
+came to fetch her, and so soon as she had departed, beaming, with her
+roses, Herdegen hastily came to me and, without deeming Ann worthy to be
+looked at even, bid me good even. I held his hand and called to her to
+come to me, to help me hinder him from departing, inasmuch as one of the
+pueri was about to play the lute for the rest to dance. She came forward
+as an honest maid should, looked up at him with her great eyes, and
+besought him full sweetly to tarry with us.
+
+He pointed with his hand to Trardorf and answered roughly: “I care not
+to go halves!” And he turned to go to the gate.
+
+Ann took him by the hand, and without a word of his ways with Ursula,
+not in chiding but as in deep grief, she said: “If you depart, you do me
+a hurt. I have no pleasure but when you are by, and what do I care for
+Heinrich?”
+
+This was all he needed; his eye again met hers with bright looks, and
+from that hour of our childhood she knew no will but his.
+
+From that hour likewise Ann held off from all other lads, and when he
+was by it seemed as though she had no eyes nor ears save for him and me
+alone. To Kunz she paid little heed; yet he never failed to wait on her
+and watch to do her service, as though she were the daughter of some
+great lord, and he no more than her page.
+
+Ann freely owned to me that she held Herdegen to be the noblest youth
+on earth, nor could I marvel, when I was myself of the same mind. What
+should I know, when I was still but fourteen and fifteen years old, of
+love and its dangers? I had felt such love for Gotz as Ann for my elder
+brother, and as I had then been glad that my dear Cousin had won the
+love of so fair a maid as Gertrude, I likewise believed that Ann would
+some day be glad if Herdegen should plight his troth to a fair damsel
+of high degree. Hence I did all that in me lay to bring them together
+whenever it might be, and in truth this befell often enough without my
+aid; for not music alone was a bond between them, nor yet that Herdegen
+and I taught her to ride on a horse, on the sandy way behind our
+horse-stalls--the Greek lessons for which Magister Peter had come into
+the household were a plea on which they passed many an hour together.
+
+I was slow to learn that tongue; but Ann’s head was not less apt than my
+brother’s, and he was eager and diligent to keep her good speed at the
+like mark with his own, as she was so quick to apprehend. Thus both were
+at last forward enough to put Greek into German, and then Magister Peter
+was bidden to lend them his aid. Now, the change in the worthy man,
+after eating for four years at our table, was such that many an one
+would have said it was a miracle. At his first coming to us he himself
+said he weened he was a doomed son of ill-luck, and he scarce dared
+look man or woman in the face; and what a good figure he made now,
+notwithstanding the divers pranks played on his simplicity by my
+brothers and their fellows, nay, and some whiles by me.
+
+Many an one before this has marked that the god Amor is the best
+schoolmaster; and when our Magister had learnt to stoop less, nay almost
+to hold himself straight, when as now, he wore his good new coat with
+wide hanging sleeves, tight-fitting hose, a well-stiffened, snow-white
+collar, and even a smart black feather in his beretta, when he not alone
+smoothed his hair but anointed it, all this, in its beginnings, was by
+reason of his great and true love for my Ann, while she was yet but a
+child.
+
+My cautious Cousin Maud had, it is true, done the blind god of Love good
+service; for many a time she would, with her own hand, set some
+matter straight which the Magister had put on all askew, and on divers
+occasions would give him a piece of fine cloth, and with it the cost
+of the tailor’s work, in bright new coin wrapped in colored paper.
+She brought him to order and to keep his hours, and when grave speech
+availed not she could laugh at him with friendly mockery, such as hurts
+no man, inasmuch as it is the outcome of a good heart. Thus it was,
+that, by the time when Herdegen was to go to the high school at Erfurt,
+Magister Peter was not strangely unlike other learned men of his
+standing; and when it fell that he had to discourse of the great masters
+of learning in Italy, or of the glorious Greek writers, I have seen his
+eye light up like that of a youth.
+
+Our guardian kept watch over my brothers’ speed in learning. The old
+knight Im Hoff was a somewhat stern man and shy of his kind, but scarce
+another had such great wealth, or was so highly respected in our town.
+He was our grand-uncle, as old Adam Heyden was Ann’s, and two men less
+alike it would be hard to find.
+
+When we were bid to pay our devoir to my guardian it was seldom done but
+with much complaining and churlishness; whereas it was ever a festival
+to be suffered to go with Ann to the organist’s house. He dwelt in a
+fine lodging high up in the tower above the city, and he could look
+down from his windows, as God Almighty looks down on the earth from the
+bright heavens, over Nuremberg, and the fortress on the hill, the wide
+ring of forest which guards it on the north and east and south, the
+meadows and villages stretching between the woods, and the walls and
+turrets of our good city, and the windings of the river Pegnitz. He
+loved to boast that he was the first to bid the sun welcome and the last
+to bid it good-night; and perchance it was to the light, of which he had
+so goodly a share, that his spirit owed its ever gay good-cheer. He was
+ever ready with a jest and some little gift for us children; and, albeit
+these were of little money’s worth, they brought us much joy. And indeed
+there was never another man in Nuremberg who had given away so many
+tokens and made so many glad hearts and faces thereby as Adam Heyden.
+True, indeed, after a short but blessed wedded life he had been left a
+widower and childless, and had no care to save for his heirs; and yet
+Gottfried Spiesz, Ann’s grandfather, was in the right when he said that
+he had more children than ever another in Nuremberg, inasmuch as that he
+was like a father to every lad and maid in the town.
+
+When he walked down the street all the little ones were as glad though
+they had met Christ the Lord or Saint Nicholas; and as they hung on
+to his long gown with the left hand, with the right they crammed their
+mouths with the apples or cakes whereof his pockets seemed never to be
+empty.
+
+But Master Adam had his weak side, and there were many to blame him for
+that he was over fond of good liquor. Albeit he did his drinking after a
+manner of his own, in no unseemly wise. To wit, on certain year-days he
+would tarry alone in his tower, and his lamp might be seen gleaming till
+midnight. There he would sit alone, with his wine jar and cup, and he
+would drink the first and second and third in silence, to the good speed
+of Elsa, his late departed wife. After that he began to sing in a low
+voice, and before each fresh cup as he raised it he cried aloud “Prosit,
+Adam!” and when it was empty: “I Heartily thank you, Heyden!”
+
+Thus would he go on till he had drunk out divers jugs, and the tower
+seemed to be spinning round him. Then to his bed, where he would dream
+of his Elsa and the good old days, the folks he had loved, his youthful
+courtships, and all the fine and wondrous things which his lonely
+drinking bout had brought to his inward eye. Next morning he was
+faithfully at his duty. Common evenings, which were of no mark to him,
+he spent with the Spiesz folks in the little house by the river, or else
+in the Gentlemen’s tavern in the Frohnwage; for albeit none met there
+but such as belonged to the noble families of the town, and learned men,
+and artists of mark, Adam Heyden the organist was held as their equal
+and a right welcome guest.
+
+And now as touching our grand-uncle and guardian the Knight Sir Sebald
+Im Hoff.
+
+Many an one will understand how that my fear of him grew greater after
+that I one evening by mishap chanced to go into his bed chamber, and
+there saw a black coffin wherein he was wont to sleep each night, as
+it were in a bed. It was easy to see in the man himself that some deep
+sorrow or heavy sin gnawed at his heart, and nevertheless he was one of
+the stateliest old gentlemen I have met in a long life. His face seemed
+as though cast in metal, and was of wondrous fine mould, but deadly and
+unchangefully pale. His snowy hair fell in long locks over his collar of
+sable fur, and his short beard, cut in a point, was likewise of a silver
+whiteness. When he stood up he was much taller than common, and he
+walked with princelike dignity. For many years he had ceased to go to
+other folks’ houses, nevertheless many others sought him out. In every
+family of rank, excepting in his own, the Im Hoff family, wherever there
+was a manchild or a maid growing up they were brought to him; but of
+them all there were but two who dare come nigh him without fear. These
+were my brother Herdegen and Ursula Tetzel; and throughout my young days
+she was the one soul whom mine altogether shut out.
+
+Notwithstanding I must for justice sake confess that she grew up to be a
+well-favored damsel. Besides this, she was the only offspring of a rich
+and noble house. She went from school a year before Ann and I did, and
+after that her father, a haughty and eke a surly man, who had long since
+lost his wife, her mother, prided himself on giving her such attires as
+might have beseemed the daughter of a Count or a Prince-Elector. And the
+brocades and fine furs and costly chains and clasps she wore graced her
+lofty, round shape exceeding well, and she lorded it so haughtily in
+them that the worshipful town-council were moved to put forth an order
+against over much splendor in women’s weed.
+
+She was, verily and indeed, the last damsel I could have wished to see
+brought home as mistress of the “Schopperhof,” and nevertheless I knew
+full well, before my brother went away to the high school, that
+our grand uncle was counting on giving her and him to each other in
+marriage. Master Tetzel likewise would point to them when they stood
+side by side, so high and goodly, as though they were a pair; and this
+old man, whose face was as grey and cold and hueless as all about his
+daughter was bright and gay, would demean himself with utter humbleness
+and homage to the lad who scarce showed the first down on his lip and
+chin, by reason that he looked upon him, who was his granduncle’s heir,
+as his own son-in-law.
+
+It was, to be sure, known to many that rich old Im Hoff was minded to
+leave great endowments to the Holy Church, and meseemed that it was
+praiseworthy and wise that he should do all that in him lay to gain the
+prayers of the Blessed Virgin and the dear Saints; for the evil deed
+which had turned him from a dashing knight into a lonely penitent might
+well weigh in torment on his poor soul. I will here shortly rehearse all
+I myself knew of that matter.
+
+In his young days my grand uncle had carried his head high indeed, and
+deemed so greatly of his scutcheon and his knightly forbears that he
+scorned all civic dignities as but a small matter. Then, whereas in the
+middle of the past century all towns were forbid by imperial law to hold
+tournaments, he went to Court, and had been dubbed knight by the Emperor
+Charles, and won fame and honor by many a shrewd lance-thrust. His more
+than common manly beauty gained him favor with the ladies, and since he
+preferred what was noble and knightly to all other graces he would
+wed no daughter of Nuremberg but the penniless child of Baron von
+Frauentrift. But my grand-uncle had made an evil choice; his wife was
+high-tempered and filled full of conceits. When princes and great lords
+came into our city, they were ever ready to find lodging in the great
+and wealthy house of the Im Hoffs; but then she would suffer them to
+pay court to her, and grant them greater freedom than becomes the decent
+honor of a Nuremberg citizen’s hearth. Once, then, when my lord the duke
+of Bavaria lay at their house with a numerous fellowship, a fine young
+count, who had courted my grand uncle’s wife while she was yet a maid,
+fanned his jealousy to a flame; and, one evening, at a late hour, while
+his wife was yet not come home from seeing some friends, as it fell he
+heard a noise and whispering of voices, beneath their lodging, in the
+courtyard wherein all these folks’ chests and bales were bestowed.
+He rushed forth, beside himself; and whereas he shouted out to the
+courtyard and got no reply, he thrust right and left at haphazard with
+his naked sword among the chests whence he had heard the voices, and
+a pitiful cry warned him that he had struck home. Then there came the
+wailing of a woman; and when the squires and yeomen came forth with
+torches and lanterns, he could see that he had slain Ludwig Tetzel,
+Ursula’s uncle, a young unwedded man. He had stolen into the courtyard
+to hold a tryst with the fair daughter of the master-weigher in the Im
+Hoffs’ house of trade, and the loving pair, in their fear of the master,
+had not answered his call, but had crept behind the baggage. Thus, by
+ill guidance, had my grand-uncle become a murderer, and the judges broke
+their staff over him; albeit, since he freely confessed the deed of
+death, and had done it with no evil intent, they were content to make
+him pay a fine in money. But some said that they likewise commanded the
+hangman to nail up a gallows-cord behind his house door; others, rather,
+that he had taken upon himself the penance of ever wearing such a cord
+about his neck day and night.
+
+As touching the Tetzels themselves, they made no claim for blood; and
+for this he was so thankful to them, all his life through, that he gave
+them his word that he would name Ursula in his testament; whereas he
+ever hated the Im Hoffs to the end, after that they, on whom he had
+brought so much vexation by his wilful and haughty temper, took counsel
+after the judgment as to whether it behooved them not to strip him of
+their good old name and thrust him forth from their kinship. Four only,
+as against three, spoke in his favor, and this his haughty spirit could
+so ill endure that never an Im Hoff dared cross his threshold, though
+one and another often strove to win back his favor.
+
+He had little comfort from his wife in his grief, for when he was found
+guilty of manslaughter she quitted him to return to the Emperor’s court
+at Prague, and there she died after a wild hunt which she had followed
+in King Wenzel’s train, while she was not yet past her youth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Three years were past since Herdegen had first gone to the High School,
+and we had never seen him but for a few weeks at the end of the first
+year, when he was on his way from Erfurt to Padua. In the letters he
+wrote from thence there was ever a greeting for Mistress Anna, and often
+there would be a few words in Greek for her and me; yet, as he knew full
+well that she alone could crack such nuts, he bid me to the feast only
+as the fox bid the stork. While he was with us he ever demeaned himself
+both to me and to her as a true and loving brother, when he was not at
+the school of arms proving to the amazement of the knights and nobles
+his wondrous skill in the handling of the sword, which he had got in
+the High School. And during this same brief while be at divers times
+had speech of Ursula, but he showed plainly enough that he had lost all
+delight in her.
+
+He had found but half of what he sought at Erfurt, but deemed that he
+was ripe to go to Padua; for there, alone, he thought--and Magister
+Peter said likewise--could he find the true grist for his mill. And when
+he told us of what he hoped to gain at that place we could but account
+his judgment good, and wish him good speed and that he might come home
+from that famous Italian school a luminary of learning. When, at his
+departing, I saw that Ann was in no better heart than I was, but looked
+right doleful, I thought it was by reason of the sickness which for some
+while past had now and again fallen on her good father. Kunz likewise
+had quitted school, and he could not complain that learning weighed
+too heavily on his light heart and merry spirit. He was now serving his
+apprenticeship in our grand uncle’s business, and whereas the traffic
+was mainly with Venice he was to learn the Italian tongue with all
+diligence. Our Magister, who was well-skilled in it, taught him therein,
+and was, as heretofore, well content to be with us. Cousin Maud would
+never suffer him to depart, for it had grown to be a habit with her to
+care for him; albeit many an one can less easily suffer the presence of
+a man who needs help, than of one who is himself of use and service.
+
+Master Peter himself, under pretence of exercising himself in the
+Italian tongue, would often wait upon Dame Giovanna. We on our part
+would remember the fable of the Sack and the Ass and laugh; while Ann
+slipped off to her garret chamber when the Magister was coming; and she
+could never fail to know of it, for no son of man ever smote so feebly
+as he with the knocker on the door plate.
+
+Thus the years in which we grew from children into maidens ran past in
+sheer peace and gladness. Cousin Maud allowed us to have every pastime
+and delight; and if at times her face was less content, it was only by
+reason that I craved to wear a longer kirtle than she deemed fitting
+for my tender years, or that I proved myself over-rash in riding in the
+riding school or the open country.
+
+My close friendship with Ann brought me to mark and enjoy many other
+and better things; and in this I differed from the maidens of some noble
+families, who, to this day, sit in stalls of their own in church, apart
+from such as have no scutcheon of arms. But indeed Ann was an honored
+guest in many a lordly house wherein our school and playmates dwelt.
+
+In summer days we would sometimes go forth to the farm belonging to us
+Schoppers outside the town, or else to Jorg Stromer our worthy cousin
+at the mill where paper is made; and at holy Whitsuntide we would ride
+forth to the farm at Laub, which his sister Dame Anna Borchtlin had by
+inheritance of her father. Nevertheless, and for all that there was to
+see and learn at the paper-mill, and much as I relished the good fresh
+butter and the black home-bread and the lard cakes with which Dame
+Borchtlin made cheer for us, my heart best loved the green forest where
+dwelt our uncle Conrad Waldstromer, father to my cousin Gotz, who still
+was far abroad.
+
+Now, since I shall have much to tell of this well-beloved kinsman and
+of his kith and kin, I will here take leave to make mention that all the
+Stromers were descended from a certain knight, Conrad von Reichenbach,
+who erewhile had come from his castle of Kammerstein, hard by Schwabach,
+as far forth as Nuremberg. There had he married a daughter of the
+Waldstromers, and the children and grandchildren, issue of this
+marriage, were all named Stromer or Waldstromer. And the style Wald--or
+wood--Stromer is to be set down to the fact that this branch had, from
+a long past time, heretofore held the dignity of Rangers of the great
+forest which is the pride of Nuremberg to this very day. But at the
+end of the last century the municipality had bought the offices and
+dignities which were theirs by inheritance, both from Waldstromer
+and eke from Koler the second ranger; albeit the worshipful council
+entrusted none others than a Waldstromer or a Koler with the care of
+its woods; and in my young days our Uncle Conrad Waldstromer was chief
+Forester, and a right bold hunter.
+
+Whensoever he crossed our threshold meseemed as though the fresh and
+wholesome breath of pine-woods was in the air; and when he gave me his
+hand it hurt mine, so firm and strong and loving withal was his grip,
+and that his heart was the same all men might see. His thick, red-gold
+hair and beard, streaked with snowy white, his light, flax-blue eyes and
+his green forester’s garb, with high tan boots and a cap of otter fur
+garnished with the feather of some bird he had slain--all this gave him
+a strange, gladsome, and gaudy look. And as the stalwart man stepped
+forth with his hanger and hunting-knife at his girdle, followed by his
+hounds and badger-dogs, other children might have been affrighted,
+but to me, betimes, there was no dearer sight than this of the
+terrible-looking forester, who was besides Cousin Gotz’s father.
+
+Well, on the second Sunday after Whitsunday, when the apple blossoms
+were all shed, my uncle came in to town to bid me and Cousin Maud to the
+forest lodge once more; for he ever dwelt there from one Springtide till
+the next, albeit he was under a bond to the Council to keep a house in
+the city. I was nigh upon seventeen years old; Ann was past seventeen
+already, and I would have expressed my joy as freely as heretofore but
+that somewhat lay at my heart, and that was concerning my Ann. She was
+not as she was wont to be; she was apt to suffer pains in her head, and
+the blood had fled from her fresh cheeks. Nay, at her worst she was all
+pale, and the sight of her thus cut me to the heart, so I gladly agreed
+when Cousin Maud said that the little house by the river was doing her
+a mischief, and the grievous care of her deaf-mute brother and the other
+little ones, and that she lacked fresh air. And indeed her own parents
+did not fail to mark it; but they lacked the means to obey the leech’s
+orders and to give Ann the good chance of a change to fresh forest air.
+
+When my uncle had given his bidding, I made so bold as to beseech him
+with coaxing words that he would bid her go with me. And if any should
+deem that it was but a light matter to ask of a good-hearted old man
+that he should harbor a fair young maid for a while, in a large and
+wealthy house, he will be mistaken, inasmuch as my uncle was wont, at
+all times and in all places, to have regard first to his wife’s goodwill
+and pleasure.
+
+This lady was a Behaim, of the same noble race as my mother, whom God
+keep; and what great pride she set on her ancient and noble blood she
+had plainly proven in the matter of her son’s love-match. This matter
+had in truth no less heavily stricken his father’s soul, but he had held
+his peace, inasmuch as he could never bring himself to play the lord
+over his wife; albeit he was in other matters a strict and thorough man;
+nay a right stern master, who ruled the host of foresters and hewers,
+warders and beaters, bee-keepers and woodmen who were under him with
+prudence and straitness. And yet my aunt Jacoba was a feeble, sickly
+woman, who rarely went forth to drink in God’s fresh air in the lordly
+forest, having lost the use of her feet, so that she must be borne from
+her couch to her bed.
+
+My uncle knew her full well, and he knew that she had a good and pitiful
+heart and was minded to do good to her kind; nevertheless he said his
+power over her would not stretch to the point of making her take a
+scrivener’s child into her noble house, and entertaining her as an
+equal. Thus he withstood my fondest prayers, till he granted so much as
+that Ann should come and speak for herself or ever he should leave the
+house.
+
+When she had hastily greeted my cousin and me, and Cousin Maud had told
+her who my uncle was, she went up to him in her decent way, made him a
+curtsey, and held out her hand, no whit abashed, while her great eyes
+looked up at him lovingly, inasmuch as she had heard all that was good
+of him from me.
+
+Thereupon I saw in the old forester’s face that he was “on the scent”
+ of my Ann--to use his own words--so I took heart again and said: “Well,
+little uncle?”
+
+“Well,” said he slowly and doubtingly. But he presently uplifted Ann’s
+chin, gazed her in the face, and said: “To be sure, to be sure! Peaches
+get they red cheeks better where we dwell than here among stone walls.”
+ And he pulled down his belt and went on quickly, as though he weened
+that he might have to rue his hasty words: “Margery is to be our welcome
+guest out in the forest; and if she should bring thee with her, child,
+thou’lt be welcome.”
+
+Nor need I here set down how gladly the bidding was received; and Ann’s
+parents were more than content to let her go. Thenceforth had Cousin
+Maud, and our house maids, and Beata the tailor-wife, enough on their
+hands; for they deemed it a pleasure to take care to outfit Ann as
+well as me, since there were many noble guests at the forest lodge,
+especially about St. Hubert’s day, when there was ever a grand hunt.
+
+Dame Giovanna, Ann’s mother, was in truth at all times choicely clad,
+and she ever kept Ann in more seemly and richer habit than others of her
+standing; yet she was greatly content with the summer holiday raiment
+which Cousin Maud had made for us. Likewise, for each of us, a green
+riding habit, fit for the forest, was made of good Florence cloth; and
+if ever two young maids rode out with glad and thankful hearts into the
+fair, sunny world, we were those maids when, on Saint Margaret’s day in
+the morning--[The 13th July, old style.]--we bid adieu and, mounted on
+our saddles, followed Balzer, the old forester, whom my uncle had sent
+with four men at arms on horseback to attend us, and two beasts of
+burthen to carry Susan and the “woman’s gear.”
+
+As we rode forth at this early hour, across the fields, and saw the
+lark mount singing, we likewise lifted up our voices, and did not stop
+singing till we entered the wood. Then in the dewy silence our minds
+were turned to devotion and a Sabbath mood, and we spoke not of what
+was in our minds; only once--and it seems as I could hear her now--these
+simple words rose from Ann’s heart to her lips: “I am so thankful!”
+
+And I was thankful at that hour, with my whole heart; and as the great
+hills of the Alps cover their heads with pure snow as they get nearer
+to heaven, so should every good man or woman, when in some happy hour
+he feels God’s mercy nigh him, deck his heart with pure and joyful
+thanksgiving.
+
+At last we drew up on a plot shut in by tall trees, in front of a
+bee-keeper’s hut, and while we were there, refreshing on some new milk
+and the store Cousin Maud had put into our saddle bags, we heard the
+barking of hounds and a noise of hoofs, and ere long Uncle Conrad was
+giving us a welcome.
+
+He was right glad to let us wait upon him and fell to with a will; but
+he made us set forth again sooner than was our pleasure, and as we fared
+farther the old forest rang with many a merry jest and much laughter. To
+Ann it seemed that my uncle was but now opening her eyes and ears to the
+mystery of the forest, which Gotz had shown me long years ago. How many
+a bird’s pipe did he teach her to know which till now she had never
+marked! And each had its special significance, for my uncle named them
+all by their names and described them; whereas his son could copy them
+so as to deceive the ear, twittering, singing, whistling and calling,
+each after his kind. To the end that Ann and my uncle should learn to
+come together closely I put no word into his teaching.
+
+Not till we came to the skirts of the clearing, where the forest lodge
+came in sight against the screen of trees, was my uncle silent; then,
+while he lifted me from the saddle, he asked me in a low tone if I had
+already warned Ann of my aunt’s strange demeanor. This I could tell him
+I had indeed done; nevertheless I saw by his face that he was not easy
+till he could lead Ann to his wife, and had learnt that the maid had
+found such favor in her eyes as, in truth, nor he nor I were so bold as
+to hope. But with what sweet dignity did the clerk’s daughter kiss
+the somewhat stern lady’s hand--as I had bidden her, and how modestly,
+though with due self-respect, did she go through Dame Jacoba’s
+inquisition. For my part I should have lost patience all too soon, if I
+had thus been questioned touching matters concerning myself alone; but
+Ann kept calm till the end, and at the same time she spoke as openly as
+though the inquisitor had been her own mother. This, in truth, somewhat
+moved me to fear; for, albeit I likewise cling to the truth, meseemed
+it showed it a lack of prudence and foresight to discover so freely and
+frankly all that was poor or lacking in her home; inasmuch as there
+was much, even there, which could not be better or more seemly in the
+richest man’s dwelling. In truth, to my knowledge there was not the
+smallest thing in the little house by the river of which a virtuous
+damsel need feel ashamed. But at night, in our bed-chamber, Ann
+confessed to me that she had taken it as a favor of fortune that she
+should be allowed, at once, to lay bare to the great lady who had been
+so unwilling to open her doors to her, exactly what she was and to whom
+she belonged.
+
+“To be deemed unworthy of heed by my lady hostess,” said she, “would
+have been hard to bear; but whereas she truly cared to question me, a
+simple maid, and I have nothing hid, all is clear and plain betwixt us.”
+
+My aunt doubtless thought in like manner; for she was a truthful woman,
+and Ann’s honest, firm, and withal gentle way had won her heart. And
+yet, since she was strait in her opinions, and must deem it unseemly in
+me and my kinsfolk to receive a maid of lower birth as one of ourselves,
+she stoutly avowed that Ann’s worthy father, as being chief clerk in the
+Chancery, might claim to be accounted one of the Council. Never, as she
+said to my uncle, would she have suffered a workingman’s daughter to
+cross her threshold, whereas she had a large place, not alone at her
+table but in her heart, for this gentle daughter of a worthy member of
+the worshipful Council.
+
+And such speech was good to my ears and to my uncle Conrad’s; but the
+best of all was that already, by the end of a week or two, Ann seemed
+likely to supplant me wholly in the love my aunt had erewhile shown to
+me; Ann thenceforth was diligent in waiting on the sick lady, and such
+loving duty won her more and more of my uncle’s love, who found his
+weakly, suffering wife much on his hands, and that in the plainest sense
+of the words, since, whenever he might be at home, she would allow no
+other creature to lift her from one spot to another.
+
+Now, whereas Uncle Conrad had taught Ann to mark the divers voices of
+the forest, so did she open my eyes to the many virtues of my aunt,
+which, heretofore, I had been wont to veil from my own sight out of
+wrath at her hardness to my cousin Gotz.
+
+Ann, in her compassion and thankfulness, had truly learnt to love her,
+and she now led me to perceive that she was in many ways a right wise
+and good woman. Her low, sheltered couch in the peaceful chimney-corner
+was, as it were, the centre of a wide net, and she herself the
+spider-wife who had spun it, for in truth her good counsel stretched
+forth over the whole range of forest, and over all her husband’s rough
+henchmen. She knew the name of every child in the furthest warders’
+huts, and never did she suffer one of the forest folks to die unholpen.
+She was, indeed, forced to see with other eyes and give with other hands
+than her own, and notwithstanding this she ever gave help where it was
+most needed, since she chose her messengers well and lent an ear to all
+who sought her.
+
+She soon found work for us, making us do many a Samaritan-task; and many
+a time have we marvelled to mark the skill with which she wove her web,
+and the wisdom coupled with her open-handed bounty.
+
+No one else could have found a place in the great books which she filled
+with her records; but to her they were so clear that the craft of the
+most cunning was put to shame when she looked into them. Never a
+soul, whether master or man, said her nay in the lightest thing, to my
+knowledge, and this was a plea for the one fault which had hitherto set
+me against her.
+
+Everything here was new to Ann; and what could be more delightful,
+what could give me greater joy than to be able to show all that was
+noteworthy and pleasant, and to me well-known, to a well-beloved friend,
+and to tell her the use and end of each thing. In this two men were
+ever ready to help me: Uncle Conrad and the young Baron von Kalenbach, a
+Swabian who had come to be my uncle’s disciple and to learn forestry.
+
+This same young Baron was a slender stripling, well-grown and not
+ill-favored; but it seemed as though his lips were locked, and if a
+man was fain to hear the sound of his voice and get from him a “yea” or
+“nay” there was no way but by asking him a plain question. His eye, on
+the other hand, was full of speech, and by the time I had been no more
+than three weeks at the Lodge it told me, as often as it might, that
+he was deeply in love with me; nay, he told the reverend chaplain in so
+many words that his first desire was that he might take me home as his
+wife to Swabia, where he had rich estates.
+
+Never would I have said him yea, albeit I liked him well; nor did I
+hide it from him; nay indeed, now and again I may have lent him courage,
+though truly with no evil intent, since I was not ill pleased with the
+tale his eyes told me. And I was but a young thing then, and wist not
+as yet that a maid who gives hope to a suitor though she has no mind to
+hear him, is guilty of a sin grievous enough to bring forth much sorrow
+and heart-ache. It was not till I had had a lesson which came upon me
+all too soon, that I took heed in such matters; and the time was at hand
+when men folks thought more about me than I deemed convenient.
+
+As I have gone so far as to put this down on paper, I, an old woman now,
+will put aside bashfulness and freely confess that both Ann and I were
+at that time well-favored and good to look upon.
+
+I was of the greater height and stouter build, while she was more
+slender and supple; and for gentle sweetness I have never seen her like.
+I was rose and white, and my golden hair was no whit less fine than
+Ursula Tetzel’s; but whoso would care to know what we were to look upon
+in our youth, let him gaze on our portraits, before which each one of
+you has stood many a time. But I will leave speaking of such foolish
+things and come now to the point.
+
+Though for most days common wear was good enough at the Forest Lodge,
+we sometimes had occasion to wear our bravery, for now and again we went
+forth to hunt with my uncle or with the Junker, on foot or on horseback,
+or hawking with a falcon on the wrist. There was no lack of these noble
+birds, and the bravest of them all, a falcon from Iceland beyond seas,
+had been brought thence by Seyfried Kubbeling of Brunswick. That same
+strange man, who was my right good friend, had ere now taught me to
+handle a falcon, and I could help my uncle to teach my friend the art.
+
+I went out shooting but seldom, by reason that Ann loved it not ever
+after she had hit one of the best hounds in the pack with her arrow;
+and my uncle must have been well affected to her to forgive such a shot,
+inasmuch as the dogs were only less near his heart than his closest kin.
+They had to make up to him for much that he lacked, and when he stood
+in their midst he saw round him, yelping and barking on four legs, well
+nigh all that he had thought most noteworthy from his childhood up. They
+bore names, indeed, of no more than one or two syllables, but each had
+its sense. They were for the most part the beginning of some word which
+reminded him of a thing he cared to remember. First he had, in sport,
+named some of them after the metrical feet of Latin verse, which had
+been but ill friends of his in his school days, and in his kennel
+there was a Troch, Iamb, Spond and Dact, whose full names were Trochee,
+Iambus, Spondee and Dactyl. Now Spond was the greatest and heaviest
+of the wolfhounds; Anap, rightly Anapaest, was a slender and swift
+greyhound; and whereas he found this pastime of names good sport he
+carried it further. Thus it came to pass that the witless creatures who
+shared his loneliness were reminders of many pleasant things. One of
+a pair of fleet bloodhounds which were ever leashed together was named
+Nich, and the other Syn, in memory that he had been betrothed on the
+festival of Saint Nicodemus and wedded on Saint Synesius’ day. A noble
+hound called Salve, or as we should say Welcome, spoke to him of the
+birth of his first born, and every dog in like manner had a name of some
+signification; thus Ann took it not at all amiss that he should call a
+fine young setter after her name. There had long been a Gred, short for
+Margaret.
+
+Nevertheless we spent much more time in seeing the sick to whom my aunt
+sent us on her errands, than we did in shooting or heron-hawking. She
+ever packed the little basket we were to carry with her own hands, and
+there was never a physic which she did not mingle, nor a garment she had
+not made choice of, nor a victual she had not judged fit for each one it
+was sent to.
+
+Thus many a time our souls ached to see want and pain lying in darksome
+chambers on wretched straw, though we earned thanks and true joy when we
+saw that healing and ease followed in our steps. And whatever seemed to
+me the most praiseworthy grace in my Aunt Jacoba, was, that albeit she
+could never hear the hearty thanksgiving of those she had comforted and
+healed, she nevertheless, to the end of her days, ceased not from caring
+for the poor folks in the forest like a very mother.
+
+My Ann was never made for such work, inasmuch as she could never endure
+to see blood or wounds; yet was it in this tending of the sick that
+I had reason to mark and understand how strong was the spirit of this
+frail, slender flower.
+
+Since a certain army surgeon, by name Haberlein, had departed this life,
+there was no leech at the Forest lodge, but my aunt and the chaplain,
+a man of few words but well trained in good works and a right pious
+servant of the Lord, were disciples of Galen, and the leech from
+Nuremberg came forth once a week, on each Tuesday; and since the death
+of Doctor Paul Rieter, of whom I have made mention, it was his successor
+Master Ulsenius. His duty it was to attend on the sick mistress, and on
+any other sick folks if they needed it; and then it was our part to wait
+on the leech, and my aunt would diligently instruct us in the right way
+to use healing drugs, or bandages.
+
+The first time we were bidden to a woman who gathered berries, who had
+been stung in the toe by an adder; and when I set to work to wash the
+wound, as my aunt had taught me, Ann turned as white as a linen cloth.
+And whereas I saw that she was nigh swooning I would not have her help;
+but she gave her help nevertheless, though she held her breath and half
+turned away her face. And thus she ever did with sores; but she ever
+paid the penalty of the violence she did herself. As it fell Master
+Ulsenius came to the Forest one day when my aunt’s waiting-woman had
+fared forth on a pilgrimage to Vierzelmheiligen, and my uncle likewise
+being out of the way, the leech called us to him to lend him a helping
+hand. Then I came to know that a fall unawares with her horse had been
+the beginning of my aunt’s long sickness. She had at that time done her
+backbone a mischief, and some few months later a wound had broken forth
+which was part of her hurt.
+
+Now when all was made ready Aunt Jacoba begged of Ann that she should
+hold the sore closed while Master Ulsenius made the linen bands wet. I
+remembered my friend’s weakness and came close to her, to take her place
+unmarked; but she whispered: “Nay, leave me,” in a commanding voice,
+so that I saw full well she meant it in earnest, and withdrew without a
+word. And then I beheld a noble sight; for though she was pale she did
+as she was bidden, nor did she turn her eyes off the wound. But her
+bosom rose and fell fast, as if some danger threatened her, and her
+nostrils quivered, and I was minded to hold out my arms to save her from
+falling. But she stood firm till all was done, and none but I was aware
+of her having defied the base foe with such true valor.
+
+Thenceforth she ever did me good service without shrinking; and
+whensoever thereafter I had some hateful duty to do which meseemed I
+might never bring myself to fulfil, I would remember Ann holding my
+aunt’s wound. And out of all this grew the good saying, “They who will,
+can”--which the children are wont to call my motto.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Summer wore away; the oats in the forest were garnered and the vintage
+had begun in the vine-lands. It was a right glorious sunny day; and if
+you ask me at which time of the year forest life is the sweeter, whether
+in Springtide or in Autumn, I could scarce say.
+
+Aye, it is fair indeed in the woods when Spring comes gaily in. Spring
+is the very Saviour, as it were, of all the numberless folk, great and
+small, which grow green and blossom there, wherefore the forest holds
+festival for his birthday and cradle feast as is but fitting! The
+fir-tree lights up brighter tips to its boughs, as children do with
+tapers at Christmastide. Then comes the largesse. It lasts much more
+than one evening, and the gifts bestowed on all are without number, and
+bright and various indeed to behold. As a father’s tinkling bell brings
+the children together, so the snowdrop bells call forth all the other
+flowers. First and foremost comes the primrose, and cowslips--Heaven’s
+keys as we call them--open the gates to all the other children of the
+Spring. “Come forth, come forth!” the returning birds shout from out the
+bushes, and silver-grey catkins sprout on every twig. Beech leaves burst
+off their sharp, brown sheaths and open to the light, as soft as taffety
+and as green as emeralds.
+
+The other trees follow the example, and so teach their boughs to make
+a leafy shade against the sun as it mounts higher. Every creature that
+loves its kind finds a voice under the blossoming May, and the dumb
+forest is full of the call and answer of thankful and gladsome loving
+things which have met together, and of sweet tunefulness and songs of
+bridal joy.
+
+Round nests have come into being in a thousand secret places--in the
+tree-tops, in the thick greenwood of the bushes, in the reeds of the
+marsh; ere long young living things are twittering there, the father and
+mother-birds call each other, singing to be of good cheer, and taking
+joy in caring for their young. At that season of love, of growth,
+of unfolding life, meseems, as I walk through the woods, that the
+loving-kindness of the Most High is more than ever nigh unto me; for
+the forest is as a church, a glorious cathedral at highest festival, all
+filled with light and song, and decked in every nook and corner with gay
+fresh flowers and leafy garlands.
+
+Then all is suddenly hushed. It is summer.
+
+But in Autumn the forest is a banqueting-hall where men must say
+farewell, but with good cheer, in hope of a happy meeting. All that has
+lived is hasting to the grave. Nevertheless on some fair days everything
+wears as it were the face of a friend who holds forth a hand at parting.
+The wide vaults of the woods are finely bedecked with red and yellow
+splendor, and albeit the voices of birds are few, albeit the cry of the
+jay, and the song of the nightingale, and the pipe of the bull-finch
+must be mute, the greenwood is not more dumb than in the Spring; the
+hunter’s horn rings through the trees and away far over their tops, with
+the baying of the hounds, the clapping of the drivers, and the huntsmen
+shouting the view halloo. Every bright, strong, healthful child of man,
+then feels himself lord of all that creeps or flies, and his soul is
+ready to soar from his breast. How pure is the air, how spicy is the
+scent from the fallen leaves on such an autumn day! In Spring, truly,
+white and rose-red, blue and yellow chequer the green turf; but now gold
+and crimson are bright in the tree tops, and on the service trees. The
+distance is clearer than before, and fine silver threads wave in the
+air as if to catch us, and keep us in the woods whose beauty is so fast
+fading.
+
+The sunny autumn air was right full of these threads when on St.
+Maurice’s day--[September 22nd]--Ann and I went forth to our duty of
+fetching in the birds which had been caught in the springes set for
+them.
+
+        When birds are early to flock and flee
+        Hard and cold will winter be,
+
+saith the woodman’s saw; and they had gathered early this year--thrushes
+and field-fares; many a time the take was so plentiful that our little
+wallets could scarce hold them, and among them it was a pity to see many
+a merry, tuneful red-breast.
+
+The springes were set at short spaces apart on either side of two forest
+paths. I went down one and Ann down the other. They met again nigh
+to the road leading to the town. Balzer set the snares, and we prided
+ourselves on which should carry home the greater booty; and when we had
+done our task as we sat on a grassy seat which the Junker had made for
+me, we told the tale of birds and thought it right good sport. Nor did
+we need a squire, inasmuch as Spond, the great hound, would ever follow
+us.
+
+This day I was certain I had the greater number of birds in my wallet,
+and I walked in good heart toward the end of the path.
+
+Methought already I had heard the noise of hoofs on the highway, and
+now the hound sniffed the air, so, being inquisitive, I moved my feet
+somewhat faster till I caught sight of a horseman, who sprang from his
+saddle, and leaving his steed, hurried toward the clearing whither Ann
+must presently come from her side. Thereupon I forced my way through the
+underwood which hindered me from seeing, and when I presently saw Ann
+coming and had opened my lips to call, something, meseemed, took me by
+the throat, and I was fain to stand still as though I had taken root
+there, and could only lend eye and ear, gasping for breath, to what was
+doing yonder by the highroad. And verily I knew not whether to rejoice
+from the bottom of my heart, or to lament and be wroth, and fly forth to
+put an end to it all.
+
+Nevertheless I stirred not a limb, and my tongue was spell-bound. The
+heart in my bosom and the veins in my head beat as though hammers were
+smiting within; mine eyes were dazed, albeit they could see as well
+as ever they did, and I espied first, on one side of the clearing,
+the horseman, who was none other than Herdegen, my well-beloved elder
+brother, and on the other side thereof Ann carrying her wallet in her
+hand, and numbering the birds she had taken from the snares, with a
+contented smile.
+
+But ere I had time to hail the returned traveller a voice rang through
+the wood--it was my brother’s voice, and yet, meseemed it was not; it
+spoke but one word “Ann!” And in the long drawn cry there was a ring of
+heart’s delight and lovesick longing such as I had never heard save
+from the nightingale lover when in the still May nights he courts his
+beloved. This cry pierced to my heart, even mine; and it brought the
+color to Ann’s face, which had long ceased to be pale. Like a doe which
+comes forth from a thicket and finds her young grazing in the glade,
+she lifted her head and looked with brightest eyes away to the high road
+whence the call had come. Then, though they were yet far asunder, his
+eyes met hers, and hers met his, and they uplifted their arms, as though
+some invisible power had moved them both, and flew to meet each other.
+There was no doubt nor pause; and I plainly perceived that they were
+borne along as flowers are in a raging torrent; albeit she, or ever she
+reached him; was overcome by maiden shamefacedness, and her arms fell
+and her head was bent. But the little bird had ventured too far into
+the springe, and the fowler was not the man to let it escape; before Ann
+could foresee such a deed he had both his arms round her, and she did
+not hinder him, nay, for she could not. So she clung to him and let
+him lift up her head and kiss her eyes and then her mouth, and that
+not once, no, but many a time and again, and so long that I, a
+sixteen-year-old maid, was in truth affrighted.
+
+There stood I; my knees quaked, and I weened that this which was doing
+was a thing that beseemed not a pious maid, and that must ill-please the
+heart of a virtuous daughter’s mother; yea, it was a grief to me that
+it should have been done, and that I knew that of my Ann which she would
+fain hide from the light. Nevertheless I could not but find a joy in
+it, and meseemed it was a cruel act to fetch her away so soon from such
+sweet bliss.
+
+When presently their lips were free, and at last he spoke a few words to
+her, methought it was now time for me to greet my brother. I called up
+all my strength and while I walked toward them my spirit’s sense came
+back to me, for indeed it had altogether left me, and a voice within
+asked: “What shall come of this?”
+
+He put forth his arm to hold her to him again, and forasmuch as I was
+abashed to think of coming in to their secret, before I stepped forth,
+from the thicket, I hailed Herdegen by name. And soon I was in his arms;
+but although that he kissed me lovingly, meseemed that something strange
+was on his lips which pleased me not, and I yet remember that I put my
+kerchief to my mouth to wipe that from it.
+
+And then we walked homeward. Herdegen led his horse by the bridle, and
+Ann went between him and me and gazed up into his face with shining
+eyes, for in these two years he had grown in stature and in manhood. She
+listened wide-eared to all his tidings, but once, when his horse grew
+restive, so that he turned away from us women-kind she kissed my cheek,
+but in great haste, as though she would not have him see it. We were
+gladly welcomed at the forest lodge. How truly my uncle and aunt
+rejoiced at my brother’s home-coming could be seen in their eyes, though
+the mother, who had banished her own son, was cut to the heart by the
+sight of such another well-grown youth.
+
+The evening before guests had come to the lodge his excellency the Lord
+Justice Wigelois von Wolfstein, and Master Besserer of Ulm. Now we
+had to make ready in all haste for dinner, and never had Ann made such
+careful and diligent use of our little mirror. As it fell, we could be
+alone together for a few minutes only, and had no chance of speaking to
+each other privily. This was likewise the case at table, and then, as my
+uncle had prepared for a hunt in the afternoon, in honor of his guests,
+and as the supper afterwards lasted until midnight, the not over-strong
+thread of my good patience was not seldom in danger of giving way. But
+many things were going forward which gave me matter for thought, and
+increased the distress I already felt. Ann threw herself into the sport
+with all her heart, and on the way back fell behind with Herdegen in
+such wise that they did not reach home till long after the door closed
+on the last of us.
+
+At supper she nodded to me many times with much contentment; except for
+that I might have been buried for aught she noted, for she hearkened
+only to Herdegen’s tales as though they were a revelation from above.
+For his part, he now and again stole a hasty, fiery glance at her;
+otherwise he of set purpose made a show of having little to do with
+her. He often lay back as though he were weary; and yet, when their
+Excellencies questioned him of any matter, he was ever ready with a
+swift and discreet answer. He had lost nothing of his wonderfully clear
+and shrewd wit; nevertheless, I was not so much at my ease with him as
+of old time. When my uncle said in jest that the wise owl from Padua
+seemed to wear a motley of gay feathers, his intent was plain as soon as
+one looked at my brother; and in the fine clothes he had chosen to wear
+at supper the noble lad was less to my mind than in the hunting weed
+which he had journeyed in, inasmuch as the too great length of the
+sleeves of his mantle was in his way when eating, and the over-long
+points to his shoes hindered him in walking.
+
+When, presently, my Aunt Jacoba left the hall that the men might the
+better enjoy the heady wine and freer speech, we maidens were bound to
+follow her duteously; but Herdegen signed to me to come apart with him,
+and now I hoped he would open his heart to me and treat me as he had
+been wont, as my true and dear brother, whose heart had ever been on the
+tip of his tongue. Far from it; he spoke nought but flattery, as “how
+fair I had grown,” and then desired news of Cousin Maud, and Kunz, and
+our grand-uncle, and at last of Ursula Tetzel, which made me wroth.
+
+I answered him shortly, and asked him whether he had no more than that
+to say to me. He gazed down at the ground and said to himself: “To be
+sure, to be sure.” But in a minute he went back to his first manner, and
+when I bid him good-night in anger he put his arm round me and turned me
+about as if to dance.
+
+I got myself free and went away, up to our chamber, hanging my head.
+There I found my old Sue, taking off Ann’s fine gown; and whereas Ann
+nodded to me right sweetly and, as I thought, with a secret air, I
+guessed that it was the waiting-woman who stayed her speech and I sent
+my nurse away.
+
+Now I should sooner have looked for the skies to fall than for Ann, my
+heart’s closest friend, to keep the secret of what had befallen that
+very morning; and yet she kept silence.
+
+We were commonly wont to chirp like a pair of crickets while we braided
+our hair and got into our beds; but this night there was not a sound
+in the chamber. Commonly we laid us down with a simple “Good night,
+Margery,” “Sleep well, Ann,” after we had said our prayers before the
+image of the Blessed Virgin; but this night my friend held me close in
+her arms, and as I was about to get into bed she ran to me again and
+kissed me with much warmth. Whether I was so loving to her I cannot, at
+this day, tell; but I remember well that I remained dumb, and my heart
+seemed to ache with sorrow and pain. I thought myself defrauded, and my
+true love scorned. Was it possible? Did my Ann trust me no longer, or
+had she never trusted me?
+
+Nay more. Was she at all such as I had believed, if she could carry on
+an underhand and forbidden love-making with Herdegen behind my back; and
+this, Merciful Virgin, peradventure, for years past!
+
+The taper had burnt out. We lay side by side striving to sleep, while
+distress of mind and a wounded heart brought the tears into my eyes.
+
+Then I heard a strange noise from her bed, and was aware that Ann
+likewise was weeping, more bitterly and deeply every minute. This
+pierced the very depths of my soul. Yet I tried to harden my heart till
+I heard her voice saying: “Margery!”
+
+That was an end of our silence, and I answered: “Ann.”
+
+Then she sobbed out: “As we came home from the hunt he made me promise
+never to reveal it, but it is bursting my heart. Oh! Margery, Margery,
+I ought to hide and bury it in my soul; so he bid me, and
+nevertheless....”
+
+I sat up on the pillow as if new life had come to me, and cried: “Oh
+Ann, you can tell me nothing that I know not already, for I saw him
+dismount and how he embraced you.”
+
+And then, before I was aware of her, she leaped up and was kneeling on
+her knees by the head of my bed, and her lips were kissing mine, and
+her cheeks were against my face and her tears running down my cheeks and
+neck and bosom while she confessed all. In our peaceful little chamber
+there was a wild outpouring of vows of love and words of fear, of plans
+for the future, and long tales of how it all had come to pass.
+
+I had with mine own eyes seen it in the bud and, unwittingly indeed, had
+fostered its growth. How then could I be dismayed when now I beheld the
+flower?
+
+Their meeting this morning had been as the striking of flint and steel,
+and if sparks had come of it how could they help it? And I took Ann’s
+word when she said that she would have flown into the arms of her
+beloved, if father and mother and a hundred more had been standing round
+to warn her.
+
+All she said that night was full of perfect and joyful assurance, and it
+took hold of my young soul; and albeit I could not blind myself, but saw
+that great and sore hindrances stood in the way of my brother’s choice,
+I vowed to myself that I would smooth their path so far as in me lay.
+
+All was now forgotten that I had taken amiss that evening in the
+returned wanderer; and when I gave Ann a last kiss that night how well I
+loved her again!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The cocks had already crowed before I fell asleep, and when I awoke Ann
+was sitting in front of the mirror, plaiting her hair. I knew full well
+what had led her to quit her bed so early, and, as she met her lover at
+breakfast, her form and face meseemed had gained in beauty, so that I
+could not take my eyes off from her. My aunt and his Excellency marked
+the wonderful change which had taken effect in her that night, and the
+gentleman thenceforth waited closely on Ann and sued for her favor like
+a young man, in spite of his grey hair, while worthy Master Besserer
+followed his ensample.
+
+At the first favorable chance I drew Herdegen apart. Ann had already
+told him that I had been witness to their first meeting again; this
+indeed pleased him ill, and when I asked him as to how he purposed
+to demean himself henceforth towards his betrothed, he answered that
+matters had not gone so far with them; and that until he had taken his
+Doctor’s hood we must keep the secret I had by chance discovered closely
+hidden from all the good people of Nuremberg; that much water would flow
+into the sea or ere he could bid me wag my tongue, if our grand-uncle
+should continue to bear the weight of his years so bravely. For the
+present he was one of the happiest of men on earth, and if I loved him
+I must help him to enjoy his heart’s desire, and often see the lovely
+violet which had bloomed so sweetly for him here in the deep heart of
+the forest.
+
+His bright young spirit smiled upon my soul once more as it had done
+long ago. Only his unloving mention of our grand-uncle, who had been
+as a second father to him, struck to my heart, and this I said to him;
+adding likewise, that it must be a point of honor with him to give and
+take rings with Ann, even though it should be in secret.
+
+This he was ready and glad to do; I gave him the gold ring, with a
+hearty good will, which Cousin Maud had given me for my confirmation,
+and he put it on his sweetheart’s finger that very day, albeit her
+silver ring was too small for his little finger. So he bid her wear it,
+and solemnly promised to keep his troth, even without a ring, till the
+next home-coming; and Ann put her trust in her lover as surely as in
+rock and iron.
+
+Many were the guests who came to the forest that fair autumn tide; there
+was no end of hunting and sport of all kinds, and Ann was ever ready and
+well content to share her lover’s fearless delight in the chase; when
+she came home from the forest the joy of her heart shone more clearly
+than ever in her eyes; and seeing her then and thus, no man could doubt
+that she was at the crown and top of human happiness. Albeit, up on that
+height meseemed a keen wind was blowing, which she did battle with so
+hardly that through many a still night I could hear her sighs. Withal
+she showed a strange selfishness such as I had never before marked in
+her, which, however, only concerned her lover, with constant unrest when
+apart from others whom she loved; and all this grieved me, though indeed
+I could not remedy it.
+
+Strangest of all, as it seemed to me, was it that these twain who
+erewhile had never spent an hour together without singing, would now
+pass day after day without a song. But then I remembered how that the
+maiden nightingale likewise pipes her sweetest only so long as her bosom
+is full of pining love; but so soon as she has given her heart wholly to
+her mate, her song grows shorter and less tender.
+
+Not that this pair had as yet gone so far as this; and once, when I gave
+them warning that they should not forget how to sing, they marvelled
+at their own neglect, and as thereupon they began to sing it sounded
+sweeter and stronger than in former days.
+
+Among the youths who at that time enjoyed the hospitality of the
+Waldstromers, Herdegen’s friend, Franz von Welemisl, held the foremost
+place. He was the son of a Bohemian baron, and his mother, who was dead,
+had been of one of the noblest families of Hungary. And whereas his name
+was somewhat hard to the German tongue, we one and all called him simply
+Ritter Franz or Sir Franz. He was a well made and well favored youth in
+face and limb, who had found such pleasure in my brother’s company at
+Erfurt that he had gone with him to Padua. His father’s sudden death
+had taken him home from college sooner than Herdegen, and he was now
+in mourning weed. He ever held his head a little bowed, and whereas
+Herdegen, with his brave, splendid manners and his long golden locks,
+put some folks in mind of the sun, a poet might have likened his
+friend to the moon, inasmuch as he had the same gentle mien and pale
+countenance, which seemed all the more colorless for his thick, sheeny
+black hair which framed it, with out a wave or a curl. His voice had
+a sorrowful note, and it went to my heart to see how loving was his
+devotion to my brother. He, for his part, was well pleased to find in
+the young knight the companionship he had erewhile had in the pueri.
+
+After the young Bohemian’s father had departed this life, the Emperor
+himself had dubbed his sorrowing son Knight, and nevertheless he was
+devoid alike of pride and scornfulness. When, with his sad black eyes,
+he looked into mine, humbly and as though craving comfort, I might
+easily have lulled my soul with the glad thought that I likewise had
+opened the door to Love; but then I cared not if I saw him, and I
+thought of him but coldly, and this gave the lie to such hopes; what I
+felt was no more than the compassion due to a young man who was alone in
+the world, without parents or brethren or near kin.
+
+One morning I went to seek Herdegen in the armory and there found him
+stripped of his jerkin, with sleeves turned up; and with him was the
+Bohemian, striving with an iron file to remove from my brother’s arm a
+gold bracelet which was not merely fastened but soldered round his
+arm. So soon as he saw that I had at once descried the band, though
+he attempted to hide it with his sleeve, he sought to put off my
+questioning, at first with a jest and then with wrathful impatience
+flung on his jerkin and turned his back on me. Forthwith I examined
+Ritter Franz, and he was led to confess to me that a fair Italian
+Marchesa had prevailed on Herdegen to have this armlet riveted on to his
+arm in token of his ever true service.
+
+On learning this I was moved to great dread both for my brother’s sake
+and for Ann’s; and when I presently upbraided him for his breach of
+faith he threw his arms round me with his wonted outrageous humor and
+boisterous spirit, and said: What more would I have, since that I had
+seen with my own eyes that he was trying to be quit of that bond? To get
+at the Marchesa he would need to cross a score of rivers and streams;
+and even in our virtuous town of Nuremberg it was the rule that a man
+might be on with a new love when he had left the third bridge behind
+him.
+
+I liked not this fashion of speech, and when he saw that I was
+ill-pleased and grieved, instead of falling in with his merry mood, he
+took up a more earnest vein and said: “Never mind, Margery. Only one
+tall tree of love grows in my breast, and the name of it is Ann; the
+little flowers that may have come up round it when I was far away have
+but a short and starved life, and in no case can they do the great tree
+a mischief.”
+
+Then with all my heart I besought him that, as he had now bound up the
+life and happiness of the sweetest and most loving maid on earth with
+his own, he would ever keep his faith and be to her a true man. Seeing,
+however, that he was but little moved by this counsel, the hot blood of
+the Schoppers mounted to my head and thereupon I railed at his sayings
+and doings as sinful and cruel, and he likewise flared out and bid me
+beware how I spoke ill of my own father; for that like as he, Herdegen,
+had carried the image of Ann in his heart, so had father carried that of
+our dear mother beyond the Alps, and nevertheless at Padua he had played
+the lute under the balcony of many a blackeyed dame, and won the name
+of “the Singer” there. A living fire, quoth he, waxed not the colder
+because more than one warmed herself thereat; all the matter was only
+to keep the place of honor for the right owner, and of that Ann was ever
+certain.
+
+Sir Franz was witness to these words, and when presently Herdegen had
+quitted the room, he strove to appease and to comfort me, saying that
+his greatly gifted friend, who was full of every great and good quality,
+had but this one weakness: namely, that he could not make a manful stand
+against the temptations that came of his beauty and his gifts. He, Franz
+himself was of different mould.
+
+And he went on to confess that he loved me, and that, if I would
+but consent to be his, he would ever cherish and serve me, with more
+humility and faithfulness even than his well-beloved Lord and King, who
+had dubbed him knight while he was yet so young.
+
+And his speech sounded so warm and true, so full of deep and tender
+desires, that at any other time I might have yielded. But at that hour I
+was minded to trust no man; for, if Herdegen’s love were not the truth,
+whereas it had grown up with him and was given to one above me in so
+many ways, what man’s mind could I dare to build on? Yea, and I was
+too full of care for the happiness of my brother and of my friend to be
+ready to think of my own; so I could only speak him fair, but say him
+nay. Hardly had I said the words when a strange change came over him;
+his calm, sad face suddenly put on a furious aspect, and in his eyes,
+which hitherto had ever been gentle, there was a fire which affrighted
+me. Nay and even his voice, as he spoke, had a sharp ring in it, as
+though the bells had cracked which erewhile had tolled so sweet a peal.
+And all he had to say was a furious charge against me who had, said he,
+led him on by eye and speech, only to play a cruel trick upon him, with
+words of dreadful purpose against the silent knave who had come between
+him and me to defraud him; and by this he meant the Swabian, Junker von
+Kalenbach.
+
+I was about to upbraid him for his rude and discourteous manners when
+we heard, outside, a loud outcry, and Ann ran in to fetch me. All in
+the Lodge who had legs came running together; all the hounds barked
+and howled as though the Wild Huntsman were riding by, and mingling
+therewith lo! a strange, outlandish piping and drumming.
+
+A bear-leader, such as I had before now seen at the town-fair, had made
+his way to the Lodge, and the swarthy master, with his two companions,
+as it might be his brothers, were like all the men of their tribe. A
+thick growth of hair covered the mouth below an eaglenose, and on their
+shaggy heads they wore soft red bonnets. One was followed by a tall
+camel, slowly marching along with an ape perched on his hump; the other
+led a brown bear with a muzzle on his snout.
+
+The master’s wife, and a dark-faced young wench, were walking by the
+side of a little wagon having two wheels, to which an over-worked mule
+was harnessed. A youth, of may-be twelve years of age, blew upon a pipe
+for the bear to dance, and inasmuch as he had no clothes but a ragged
+little coat, and a sharp east wind was blowing, he quaked with cold and
+shivered as he piped. Notwithstanding he was a fine lad, well-grown, and
+with a countenance of outlandish but well nigh perfect beauty. He had
+come, for certain, from some distant land; yet was he not of the same
+race as the others.
+
+When we had seen enough of the show, my uncle commanded that meat should
+be brought for the wanderers; and when pease-pottage and other messes
+had been given them, they fetched, from under the wagon-tilt, a
+swarthy babe, which, meseemed was a sweet little maid albeit she was so
+dark-colored.
+
+Ann and I gazed at these folks while they ate, and it seemed strange to
+us to see that the well-favored lad put away from him with horror the
+bacon which the old bear-leader set before him; and for this the man
+dealt him a rude blow.
+
+After their meal the master went on his way; and when we likewise had
+eaten our dinner, my dear godfather and uncle, Christian Pfinzing, came
+from the town, bringing a troop of mercenaries to the camp where they
+were to be trained that they might fight against the Hussites. He, like
+the other guests, made friends with the strangers, and in his merry
+fashion he bid the older bear leader tell our fortunes by our hands,
+while the young ones should dance.
+
+The man then read the future for each of us; my fortune was sheer folly,
+whereof no single word ever came true. He promised my brother a Count’s
+coronet and a wife from a race of princes; and when Ann heard it, and
+held up her finger at Herdegen for shame, he whispered in her ear that
+she was of the race of the Sovereign Queen of all queens--of Venus,
+ruler of the universe. All this she heard gladly; yet could no one
+persuade her to let her hand be read.
+
+At last it was the woman’s turn to dance; before she began she had
+smoothed her hair and tied it with small gold pieces; and indeed she was
+a well grown maid and slender, well-favored in face and shape, with a
+right devilish flame in her black eyes. It was a strange but truly a
+pleasing thing to see her; first she laid a dozen of eggs in a circle on
+the grass, and then she beat her tambourine to the piping of the lad and
+the drumming of one of the men who had remained with her, and rattled it
+over her head with wanton lightness till the bells in the hoop rang out,
+while she turned and bent her supple body in a mad, swift whirl, bowing
+and rising again. Her falcon eyes never gazed at the ground, but were
+ever fixed upwards or on the bystanders, and nevertheless her slender
+bare feet never went nigh the eggs in the wildest spinning of her dance.
+
+The gentlemen, and we likewise, clapped our hands; then, while she
+stayed to take breath, she snatched Herdegen’s hat from his head--and
+she had long had her eye on him--and gathered all the eggs into it with
+much bowing and bending to the measure of the music. When she had put
+all the eggs into the hat she offered it to my brother kneeling on
+one knee, and she touched the rim of her tambourine with her lips. The
+froward fellow put his fingers to his lips, as the little children do to
+blow a kiss, and when his eyes fell on that wench’s, meseemed that this
+was not the first time they had met.
+
+It was now a warm and windless autumn day, and after dinner my aunt was
+carried out into the courtyard. When the dancing was at an end, she,
+as was her wont, questioned the men and the elder woman as to all she
+desired to know; and, learning from them that the men were likewise
+tinkers, she bid Ann hie to the kitchen and command that the
+house-keeper should bring together all broken pots and pans. But now,
+near by the wagon, was a noise heard of furious barking, and the pitiful
+cry of a child.
+
+The Junker, who had set forth early in the day to scour the woods, had
+but now come home; the hounds with him had scented strangers, and had
+rushed on the brown babe, which was playing in the sand behind the
+wagon, making cakes and pasties. The dogs were indeed called off in all
+haste, but one of them, a spiteful badger-hound, had bitten deep into
+the little one’s shoulder.
+
+I ran forthwith to the spot, and picked up the babe in my arms, seeing
+its red blood flow; but the elder woman rushed at me, beside her wits
+with rage, to snatch it from me; and whereas she was doubtless its
+mother or grand-dame, I might have yielded up the child, but that Ritter
+Franz came to me in haste to bid me, from my Aunt Jacoba, carry it to
+her.
+
+Who better than she knew the whole art and secret of healing the wounds
+of a hound’s making? And so I told the old dame, to comfort her, albeit
+she struggled furiously to get the babe from me. Nay and she might have
+done so if the little thing had not clung round my neck with its right
+arm that had no hurt, as lovingly as though it had been mine own and no
+kin to the shrieking old woman.
+
+But ere long a clear and strange light was cast on the matter; for when
+we had loosened the child’s little shirt, and my aunt had duly washed
+the blood from the wounds, under the dark hue of its skin behold it was
+tender white, and so it was plain that here was a stolen child, needing
+to be rescued.
+
+Then the house-stewardess, the widow of a forester whose husband had
+been slain by poachers, and who labored bravely to bring up her five
+orphan children, with my aunt’s help--this woman, I say, now remembered
+that when she had made her pilgrimage, but lately, to Vierzehnheiligen,
+the Knight von Hirschhorn, treasurer to the Lord Bishop of Bamberg
+at Schesslitz, not far from the place of pilgrimage, had lost a babe,
+stolen away by vagabond knaves. Then Aunt Jacoba bethought herself that
+restitution and benevolence might be made one; and, quoth she, this
+matter might greatly profit the housekeeper and her little ones,
+inasmuch as that the sorrowing father had promised a ransom of thirty
+Hungarian ducats to him who should bring back his little daughter
+living; and forthwith the whole tribe of the bear-leaders were to be
+bound. The old beldame gave our men a hard job, for she tried to make
+off to the forest, and called aloud: “Hind--Hind!” which was the young
+wench’s name, with outlandish words which doubtless were to warn her to
+flee; but the serving men gained their end and made the wild hag fast.
+
+Ann was pale and in pain with her head aching, but she helped my aunt
+to tend the child; and I was glad, inasmuch as I conceived that I knew
+where to find Herdegen and the young dancing wench, and I cared only to
+save his poor betrayed sweetheart from shame and sorrow. I crept away,
+unmarked, through the garden of herbs behind the lodge, to a moss but
+which my banished cousin had built up for me, in a covert spot between
+two mighty beech-trees, while I was yet but a school maid.
+
+Verily my imagination was not belied, for whereas I passed round the
+pine-grove I heard my brother cry out: “Ah--wild cat!” and the hussy’s
+loathsome laugh. And thereupon they both came forth, only in the doorway
+he held her back to kiss her. At this she showed her white teeth, and
+meseemed she would fain bite him; she thrust him away and laughed as she
+said: “To-night; not too much at once.” Howbeit he snatched her to him,
+and thereupon I called him by name and went forward.
+
+He let her go soon enough then, but he stamped with his foot for sheer
+rage. This, indeed, moved me not; with a calm demeanor I bid the wench
+follow me, and to that faithless knave I cried: “Fie!” in a tone of
+scorn which must have made his ears burn a good while. Before we entered
+the garden I bid him go round about the house and come upon the others
+from the right hand; she was to come with me and round by the left side.
+
+I now saw that there were shreds of moss and dry leaves in the young
+woman’s hair and bid her brush them out. This she did with a mocking
+smile, and said in scorn: “Your lover?”
+
+“Nay,” said I, “far from it. But yet one whom I would fain shield from
+evil.” She shrugged her shoulders; I only said: “Come on.”
+
+As we went round to the front of the house the elder woman was being led
+away with her hands bound, and no sooner did the young one descry her
+than she picked up her skirts and with one wild rush tried to be off
+and away. I called Spond, my trusty guard, and bid him stay her; and the
+noble hound dogged her steps till the men could catch her and lead her
+to my aunt. The lady questioned her closely, deeming that so young and
+comely a creature might be less stubborn that the old hag who had grown
+grey in sins; but Hind stood dumb and made as though she knew not
+our language. As to Herdegen, he meanwhile had greeted Ann with great
+courtesy; nevertheless he had kept close to the dancing wench, and took
+upon himself to tie her bonds and lead her to the dungeon cell. He sped
+well, inasmuch as he got away with her alone, as he desired; for Sir
+Franz delayed me again, and such a suit as he now pleaded can but seldom
+have found a match, for I was bent only on following my brother, to
+rescue him from the vagabond woman’s snares; and while the knight held
+me fast by the hand, and swore he loved me, I was only striving to be
+free, and gazing after Herdegen and Hind, heeding him not. At length he
+hurt my hand, which I could not get away from him; and whereas he was
+beginning to look wildly and to seem crazed, I besought him to leave me
+free henceforth and try his fortune elsewhere. But still he would never
+have set me free so hastily if an evil star had not brought the Swabian
+Junker to the spot.
+
+Sir Franz, without a word of greeting or warning, went up to him and
+upbraided him for having caused a mischief to a helpless babe through
+his heedless conduct. But if Sir Franz knew not already that he, to
+whom he spoke as roughly as though he were a froward serving man, was
+in truth son and heir of a right noble house, he learnt it now. His
+last words were: “And for the future have your savage hounds in better
+governance!” Whereupon the other coolly answered: “And you, your
+tongue.”
+
+On this the other shrugged his shoulders and replied in scorn that to be
+sure his tongue was for use and not for silence like some folks’. And I
+marvelled where the Swabian, who was so slow of speech, found the words
+for retort and answer, till at length it was too much for him and he
+laid his hand on his hanger as a second and a sharper tongue.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+The dancing-wench was locked into the cell with the rest of the
+wanderers, and as I looked in through the window at the fine young
+creature, squatting in a corner, I had pity on her, and for my part I
+would fain have sent her forth and away never to see her more.
+
+I could nowhere find Herdegen; I had no mind for Uncle Christian’s
+jests; and when, at last, I betook me to my own chamber, meseemed that
+some horrible doom was in the air, from which there was no escape. And
+matters were no better when Ann, who of late had been free from her bad
+headache, came up to bed, to hide her increasing pain among the pillows.
+So I sat dumb and thoughtful by her side, till Aunt Jacoba sent for me
+to lay cold water on the arm of the little kidnapped maid. The child had
+been well washed, and lay clean and fresh between the sheets, and the
+swarthy dirty little changeling was now a sweet, fair-haired darling. I
+tended it gladly; all the more when I thought of the joy it would bring
+to its father and mother; notwithstanding the evil nightmare would
+not be cast off, not even when the clatter of wine cups and Uncle
+Christian’s big laugh fell on my ear.
+
+Seldom had I so keenly missed Herdegen’s mirthful voice. The housekeeper
+told me that he had gone on horseback into the town at about the hour
+of Ave Maria. My grand-uncle had bidden him to go to him. The vagabond
+knaves had already been put to the torture in my brother’s presence, but
+they had confessed nothing of their guilt; inasmuch, indeed, as in our
+dungeon there were none other instruments of torture than the rack,
+the thumbscrew, and scourges needful for the Bamberg torture, and a
+Pomeranian cap, made to crush the head somewhat; but in Nuremberg there
+was a store, less mild and of more active effect.
+
+The air was hot and heavy, the sun had set behind black clouds, yellow
+and dim, like a blind eye. A strange languor came over me, though I
+was wont to be so brisk, and with it a long train of dismal and hideous
+images. First I saw the Junker and Sir Franz, who had fallen out about
+me, a foolish maid; then it was my Ann, pining with grief, paler than
+ever with a nun’s veil on her; or standing by the Pegnitz, on the very
+spot where, erewhile, in the sweet Springtide, a forsaken maid had cast
+herself in.
+
+The first lightning rent the sky and the storm came up in haste,
+bursting above our heads, and as the thunder roared closer and closer
+after the flash I was more and more frightened. Moreover the sick child
+wept piteously and waxed restless with fever and pain. By this time
+all was still in the dining-hall; but when my aunt bid me let the
+housekeeper take my place by the little one’s bed and go to my rest, I
+would not; for indeed I could in no wise have slept.
+
+They let me have my way, and soon after midnight, seized with fresh
+dread anent Herdegen, I was at the open window to let the rough wind
+fan my hot head, when suddenly the hounds set up a furious barking, as
+though the Forest lodge were beset on all sides by robbers. And at the
+same time I saw, by the glare of the lightning, that the old lime-tree
+in the midst of my aunt’s herb garden was lying on the earth. This cut
+me to the heart, inasmuch as this tree was dear to my uncle, having been
+planted by his grandfather; and there was never a spot where his ailing
+wife was so fain to be in the hot summer days as under its shadow. Aye,
+and all my young life’s happiness, meseemed, was like that tree-torn up
+by the roots, and I gazed spellbound at the blasted lime-tree till I was
+affrighted by a new horror; on the furthest rim of the sky, on the side
+where the town lay, I beheld a line of light which waxed broader and
+brighter till it was rose and blood-red.
+
+A wild uproar came up from the kennels and foresters’ huts, and I heard
+a medley of many voices; and whereas the distant flare began to soar
+more brightly heavenward I believed those who were saying below that all
+Nuremberg was in flames.
+
+Even Aunt Jacoba had quitted her bed, and every soul under that roof
+looked forth at the fire and gave an opinion as to whether it were
+waxing or waning. And, thanks be to the Blessed Virgin, the latter were
+in the right; some few granaries, or stores of goods it might be, had
+been burnt out, and I, among other fainting hearts, was beginning to
+breathe more easily, when the watchman’s cry was heard once more and
+what next befell showed that my fears had not been groundless.
+
+It was the vigil of Saint Simon and Saint Jude’s day--[October 28th]--in
+the year of our Lord 1420, and never shall I forget it. The great things
+which befell that night are they not written in the Chronicles of the
+town, and still fresh in many minds? but peradventure in none are they
+more deeply printed than in mine; and while I move my pen I can, as it
+were, see the great hall of the hunting lodge with my very eyes. Many
+folks are astir, and all in scant attire and full of eager thirst for
+tidings. The alarm of fire has brought them from their pillows in all
+haste, and they press close and gaze through the door, which stands wide
+open, at the light spot in the sky. Not one dares go forth in the wild
+wind, and many a one draws his garment or cloak or coverlet closer round
+him; the gale sweeps in with such fury that the pitch torches against
+the wall are well nigh blown out, and the red and yellow glare casts a
+weird light in the hall.
+
+Then the watchman’s call is silent, and the growling and wailing of the
+forest folk comes nigher and nigher.
+
+Presently a man totters across the threshold, upheld with sore
+difficulty by the gate-keeper Endres inasmuch as his own knees quake;
+and he who comes home thus, as he might be drunken or grievously hurt,
+is none other than my brother Herdegen. The torchlight falls on his
+face, and whereas my eyes descry him I cry aloud, and my soul has no
+thought of him but sheer pity and true love.
+
+I haste to take Endres’ place while Eppelein, his faithful serving-man,
+whom he had not taken with him as is his wont, holds him up on the other
+hand.
+
+But touch him where we may he feels a hurt; and while Uncle Conrad and
+the rest press him with questions, he can only point to his head and
+lips, which are too weak for thinking or speaking.
+
+Alas! that poor fellow, meseems, bears but little likeness to my noble
+Herdegen, on whose arm the Italian Marchesa riveted her golden fetter.
+His face is swollen and bloodshot in one part, and cruelly torn in
+others. Where are the lovelocks that graced him so well? His left arm
+is helpless, his rich attire hangs about him in rags. He might be a
+battered, wretched beggar picked up in the high-road, and I rejoice
+truly to think that Ann is within the shelter of her bed and escapes the
+sight.
+
+My aunt, who had long ere this been carried down to the hall, felt all
+his limbs and joints, and found that no bones were broken, while my
+uncle questioned him; and he told us in broken words that his horse had
+taken fright in the forest at a flash of lightning, had thrown him, and
+then dragged him through the brushwood; it was his man’s nag which, as
+it fell, he had taken out that evening, and it was roaming now about the
+woods.
+
+He had scarce ended his tale, when one of the warders of the dungeon and
+the gate-keeper rushed in with the tidings that one of the prisoners,
+and that the young wench, had escaped, although the door of the keep
+was locked and the window barred. She was clearly a witch, and only one
+thing was possible; namely that she had flown through the barred window,
+after the manner of witches on a broomstick, or in the shape of a bird,
+a bat, or an owl; nay, this was as good as certain, inasmuch as that the
+watchman had seen a wraith in the woods at about the hour of midnight,
+and the same face had appeared to the kennel-keeper. Both swore they
+had crossed themselves thereat, and said many paternosters. The other
+captives bore witness to the same, declaring that the wench had never
+been one of them, but had joined herself unawares to their company last
+midsummer eve, without saying whence, or whither she would go. She had
+flown off some hours since in the form of a monstrous vampire, but had
+fallen upon them first with tooth and nail; and albeit they were an
+evil-disposed crew their tale seemed truthful, whereas they were covered
+with many scratches which were not caused by the torture.
+
+At these tidings my brother lost all heart, and fell back in the
+arm-chair as pale as ashes. I was presently left alone with him; but he
+answered nothing to my questions, and meseemed he slept. As day dawned I
+was chilled with the cold, so, inasmuch I could do nothing to help him,
+I went down stairs. There I found our gentlemen taking leave, for one
+was off to the city to make inquisition as to the fire, and the other
+would fain seek his warm bed.
+
+Hot elecampane wine had been served to give them comfort, when again
+we heard horses’ hoofs and the watchman’s call. Everybody came out in
+haste, only Uncle Christian Pfinzing did not move, for, so long as the
+wine jug was not empty, it would have needed more than this to stir him.
+He was a mighty fat man, with a short brick-red neck, cropped grey hair,
+and a round, well-favored countenance, with shrewd little eyes which
+stood out from his head.
+
+We young Schoppers loved this jolly, warm-hearted uncle, who was
+childless, with all our hearts; but I clung to him most of all, since he
+was my dear godfather; likewise had he for many years shown an especial
+and truly fatherly care for Ann.
+
+Well, Uncle Christian had peacefully gone on drinking the fiery liquor,
+waiting for the others; but when they came to tell him what tidings the
+horseman had brought, the cup fell from his hand, clattering down on
+the paved floor and spilling the wine; and at the same time his kind,
+faithful head dropped to one side, and for a few minutes his senses had
+left him. Albeit we were able ere long to bring him back to life again,
+I found, to my great distress, that his tongue seemed to have waxed
+heavy. Howbeit, by the help of the Blessed Virgin, he afterwards was
+so far recovered that when he sat over his cups his loud voice and deep
+laugh could be heard ringing through the room.
+
+The tidings delivered by the messenger and which brought on this
+sickness--of which the leech Ulsenius had ere this warned him--might
+have shaken the heart of a sterner man; for my Uncle Christian lodged in
+the Imperial Fort as its warder, and his duty it was to guard it. Near
+it, likewise, on the same hill-crag, stood the old castle belonging to
+the High Constable, or Burgrave Friedrich. Now the Burgrave had come to
+high words with Duke Ludwig the Bearded, of Bayern-Ingolstadt, so that
+the Duke’s High Steward, the noble Christoph von Laymingen, who dwelt at
+Lauf, had made so bold, with his lord at his back, as to break the
+peace with Friedrich, although he had lately become a powerful prince as
+Elector of the Mark of Brandenburg.
+
+The said Christoph von Laymingen, so the horsemen told us, had ridden
+forth to Nuremberg this dark night and had seized the castle--not indeed
+the Imperial castle, which stood unharmed, but the stronghold of the
+old Zollern family which had stood by its side--and bad burnt it to
+the ground. This, indeed, was no mighty offence in the eyes of the
+town-council, inasmuch as it bore no great friendship to his Lordship
+the Constable and Elector, and had had many quarrels with him-nay, long
+after this the council was able to gain possession of the land and
+ruins by purchases--till, uncle Christian bitterly rued having sent
+his men-at-arms, whose duty it was to defend the castle, out into the
+country, though it were for so good a purpose as fighting against the
+Hussites.
+
+It might have brought him into bad favor with the Elector; however,
+it did him no further mischief. One thing was certainly proven beyond
+doubt: that knavish treason had been at work in this matter; at
+Nuremberg, under the torture, it came out that the bear-master had been
+a spy and tell-tale bribed by Laymingen to discover whither Pfinzing and
+his men had removed.
+
+And lest any one should conceive that here was an end to the woes that
+had fallen on the forest lodge in that short time from midnight to
+daybreak, I must record one more; for the new day, which dawned with
+no hue of rose, grey and dismal over the tawny woods, brought us fresh
+sorrow and evil.
+
+Behind the moss-hut, wherein I had found my Herdegen with the dancing
+hussy, the Swabian Junker and Ritter Franz had fought, without any heed
+of the law and order of such combat--fought for life or death, and for
+my sake. And as though in this cruel time I were doomed to go through
+all that should worst wound my poor heart, I must need go forth to see
+the stricken limetree at that very moment when the Junker had dealt his
+enemy a deadly stroke and came rushing away with his hair all abroad
+like a mad man. It was indeed a merciful chance that my Uncle Conrad and
+the chaplain likewise had come forth to the garden, so that I might go
+with them to see the wounded knight.
+
+The youth was lying on the wet grass, now much paler than ever, and his
+lips trembling with pain. A faded leaf had fallen on his brow and was
+strange to behold against his ashen skin; but I bent me down and took
+it off. By him was lying the uprooted limetree, from which that leaf had
+fallen, and whereas the rain was dropping from it fast, meseemed it was
+weeping.
+
+And my heart was knit as it never had been before, to this young knight
+who had shed his blood in my behalf; but while I gazed down right
+lovingly into his face the Swabian came close up to him with ruthful
+eyes, and from those of the wounded man there shot at me a glance so
+full of hate and malice that I shuddered before it. This was an end,
+then, to all pity and tenderness. And yet, as I looked on his cold, set
+face, as pale and white as dull chalk, I could not forbear tears; for
+it is ever pitiful to see when death overtakes one who is not ripe for
+dying, as we bewail the green corn which is smitten by the hail, and
+hold festival when the reaper cuts the golden ears.
+
+Thus were there three sick and wounded in the forest-lodge, besides my
+aunt; for Uncle Christian must have some few days of rest and nursing.
+Howbeit there was no lack of us to tend them; Ann was recovered to-day
+and Cousin Maud had come in all haste so soon as she knew of what had
+befallen Herdegen; for, of us all, he held the largest room in her
+heart; and even when he was at school, albeit he had money and to spare
+of his own, she had given him so freely of hers that he was no whit
+behind the sons of wealthy Counts.
+
+Biding the time till my cousin should come--and she could not until the
+evening--it was my part to stay with my brother; but whereas Ann would
+fain have helped me, this Aunt Jacoba conceived to be in no way fitting
+for a young maid; much less then would she grant my earnest desire that
+I might devote me to the care of Sir Franz; though she had it less in
+mind to consider its fitness, than to conceive that it would be of small
+benefit to the wounded man, at the height of his fever, to know that the
+maid for whose love he had vainly sued was at his side.
+
+Thus I was forbidden to see Ann in my brother’s chamber; nevertheless
+I had much on my heart and I could guess that she likewise was eager to
+speak with me; but when at last I was alone with her in our bed chamber,
+she had matter for speech of which I had not dreamed. When I asked her
+what message she might desire me to give Herdegen from her, she besought
+me as I loved her not to name her at all in his presence. This, indeed,
+amazed me not a little, inasmuch as I weened not that she knew of all
+the grief I had suffered yestereve. But this was not so; I learnt now
+that she had marked everything, and had heard the men’s light talk about
+the dashing youth whom the dark-eyed hussy had been so swift to choose
+from among them all. I, indeed, tried to make the best of the matter,
+but she gave me to understand that, if her lover had not done himself
+a mischief, it had been her intent to question him that very day as to
+whether he was in earnest with his love-pledges, or would rather that
+she should give him back his ring and his word. All this she spoke
+without a tear or a sigh, with steadfast purpose; and already I began,
+for my part, to doubt of the truth of her love; and I told her this
+plainly. Thereupon she clasped me to her, and while the tears gathered
+and sparkled in her great eyes, expounded to me all the matter; and in
+truth it was all I should myself have said in her place. She, of simple
+birth, would enter the circle of her betters on sufferance, and her
+new friends would, of a certainty, not do her more honor than her own
+husband. On his manner of treating her therefore would depend what
+measure of respect she might look for as his wife. And so long as their
+promise to marry was a secret, she would have him show, whether to her
+alone or before all the world, that he held her consent as of no less
+worth than that of the wealthiest and highest born heiress.
+
+All this she spoke in hot haste while her cheeks glowed red. I saw the
+blue veins swell on her pure brow, and can never forget the image of her
+as she raised her tearful eyes to Heaven and pressing her hands on
+her panting bosom cried: “To go forth with him to want or death is as
+nothing! But never will I be led into shame, not even by him.”
+
+When presently I left her, after speaking many loving words to her, and
+holding her long in my arms, she was ready to forgive him; but she held
+to this: “Not a word, not a glance, not a kiss, until Herdegen had vowed
+that yesterday’s offence should be the first and last she should ever
+suffer.”
+
+How clearly she had apprehended the matter!
+
+Albeit she little knew how deeply her beloved had sinned against the
+truth he owed her. They say that Love is blind, and so he may be at
+first. But when once his trust is shaken the bandage falls, and the
+purblind boy is turned into a many-eyed, sharp-sighted Argus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Every one was ready to nurse the little maid who called herself “little
+Katie.” But as to Herdegen, I was compelled for the time to say nothing
+to him of what Ann required of him, for he lay sick of a fever. He was
+faithfully tended by Eppelein, the son of a good servant of our father’s
+who had lost his life in waiting on his master when stricken with the
+plague. Eppelein had indeed grown up in our household, among the
+horses; even as a lad he had by turns helped Herdegen in his sports,
+and rendered him good service, and had ever shown him a warmer love than
+that of a hireling.
+
+It fell out one day that my brother’s best horse came to harm by this
+youth’s fault, and when Herdegen, for many days, would vouchsafe no word
+to him the lad took it so bitterly to heart that he stole away from the
+house, and whereas no one could find him, we feared for a long time that
+he had done himself a mischief. Nevertheless he was alive and of good
+heart. He had passed the months in a various life; first as a crier to a
+wandering quack, and afterwards, inasmuch as he was a nimble and likely
+lad, he had waited on the guests at one of the best frequented inns at
+Wurzberg. It came then to pass that his eminence Cardinal Branda, Nuncio
+from his Holiness the Pope, took up his quarters there, and he carried
+the lad away with him as his body-servant to Italy, and treated him well
+till the restless wight suddenly fell into a languor of home-sickness,
+and ran away from this good master, as erewhile he had run away from our
+house. Perchance some love-matter drove him to fly. Certain it is that
+in his wandering among strangers he had come to be a mighty handy,
+wide-awake fellow, with much that was good in him, inasmuch as with all
+his subtlety he had kept his true Nuremberger’s heart.
+
+When he had journeyed safely home again he one day stole unmarked into
+our courtyard, where his old mother lived in an out-building on the
+charity of the Schoppers; he went up to her and stood before her, albeit
+she knew him not, and laid the gold pieces he had saved one by one on
+the work-table before her. The little old woman scarce knew where she
+was for sheer amazement, nor wist she who he was till he broke out into
+his old loud laugh at the sight of her dismay. Verily, as she afterwards
+said, that laugh brought more gladness to her heart and had rung sweeter
+in her ears than the gold pieces.
+
+Then Susan had called us down to the courtyard, and when a smart young
+stripling came forth to meet us, clad in half Italian and half German
+guise, none knew who he might be till he looked Herdegen straight in
+the face, and my brother cried out: “It is our Eppelein!” Then the tears
+flowed fast down his cheeks, but Herdegen clasped him to him and kissed
+him right heartily on both cheeks.
+
+All this did I bring to mind as I saw this said Eppelein carefully and
+sorrowfully laying a wet cloth, at my aunt’s bidding, on his master’s
+head where it was so sorely cut; and methought how well it would have
+been if Herdegen were still so ready to follow the prompting of his
+heart.
+
+Understanding anon that I was not needed by this bed, where Eppelein
+kept faithful watch and ward, and that Sir Franz’s chamber was closed to
+me, I went down stairs again, for I had heard a rumor that the swarthy
+lad--who had yesterday played on the pipe--was to be put to the torture.
+This I would fain have hindered, whereas by many tokens I was certain
+that the said comely youth was not one of the vagabond crew, but, like
+little Katie, might well be a child knavishly kidnapped from some
+noble house. Whereas I reached the hall, Balzer, the keeper, was about
+bringing the lad in. Outside indeed it was dim and wet, but within
+it was no less comfortable, for a mighty fire was blazing in the wide
+chimney-place. My aunt was warming her thereat, and Ann likewise was
+of the company, with Uncle Conrad, Jost Tetzel, my godfather Christian
+Pfinzing, and the several guests.
+
+I joined myself to them and in an under tone told them what I had noted,
+saying that, more by token the youth must have a good conscience; for,
+whereas he had not been cast into the cell but had been locked into a
+stable to take charge of the camels and the ape, he had nevertheless not
+tried to escape, although it would have been easy.
+
+To this opinion some inclined; and seeing that the boy spoke but a
+few words of German, but knew more of Italian, I addressed him in that
+tongue; and then it came to light that he was verily and indeed a stolen
+child. The vagabonds had bartered for him in Italy, giving a fair girl
+whom they had with them in exchange; likewise he said he was of princely
+birth, but had fallen into slavery some two years since, when a fine
+galley governed by his father, an Emir or prince of Egypt, had fought
+with another coming from Genoa in Italy.
+
+When I had presently interpreted these words to the others, Jost Tetzel,
+Ursula’s father, declared them to be sheer lies and knavery; even Uncle
+Conrad deemed them of little worth; and for this reason: that if the
+lad had indeed been the son of some grand Emir of Egypt the bear-leader
+would for certain have made profit of him by requiring his ransom.
+
+But when I told the lad of this he fixed his great eyes very modestly on
+me, and in truth there was no small dignity in his mien and voice as he
+asked me:
+
+“Could I then bring poverty on my parents, who were ever good to me, to
+bestow wealth on that evil brood? Never should those knavish rogues
+have learnt from me what I have gladly revealed to thee who are full of
+goodness and beauty!”
+
+This speech went to my heart; and if it were not truth then is there no
+truth in all the world! But when again I had interpreted his words, and
+Tetzel still would but shrug his shoulders, this vexed me so greatly
+that it was as much as I could do to refrain myself, and hold my peace.
+
+I had seen from the first, in Uncle Christian’s eyes, that he was of
+the same mind with me; yet could I not guess what purpose he had in his
+head, although to judge by her face it was something passing strange,
+when he muttered some behest to Ann with his poor fettered tongue. Then,
+when she told me what my godfather required of me, I was not in any
+haste to obey, for, indeed, maidenly bashfulness and pity hindered me.
+Yet, whereas the brave old man nodded to spur me on, with his heavy
+head, still covered with a cold wet cloth, I called up all my daring,
+and before the lad was aware I dealt him a slap on the cheek.
+
+It was not a hard blow, but the lad seemed as much amazed as though the
+earth had opened at his feet. His dark face turned ashen-grey and his
+great eyes looked at me in tearful enquiry, but so grievously that I
+already rued my unseemly deed.
+
+Soon, however, I had cause to be glad; the youth’s demeanor won his
+cause. Uncle Christian had only desired to prove him. He knew men well,
+and he knew that youths of various birth take a blow in the face in
+various ways; now, the Emir’s son had demeaned him as one of his rank,
+and had stood the ordeal! So my aunt Jacoba told him, for she had at
+once seen through Uncle Christian’s purpose, and presently Jost Tetzel
+himself, though ill-pleased and sullen, confessed his error. Then,
+when they had promised the youth that he should be spared all further
+ill-usage, he opened the lining of his garment and showed us a gem which
+his mother had privily hung about his neck, and which was a lump or
+tablet of precious sky-blue turkis-stone, as large as a great plum,
+whereon was some charm inscribed in strange, outlandish signs which the
+Jewish Rabbi Hillel, when he saw it, declared to be Arabic letters.
+
+The bear-leader had called the lad Beppo; but his real name was a
+long one and hard to utter, out of which my forest uncle picked up two
+syllables for a name he could speak with ease, calling him Akusch.
+
+With Cousin Maud’s assent the black youth was attached to my service as
+Squire, inasmuch as it was I who at first had “dubbed him knight;” and
+when I gave him to understand this he could not contain himself for joy,
+and from that hour he ever proved my most ready servant, ever alert and
+thankful; and the little benevolence it was in my power to shew the poor
+lad bore fruit more than a thousand fold in after times, to me and mine.
+
+After noon that same day Ann confessed to me that she had it in her
+mind to quit the lodge that very evening, journeying home with Master
+Ulsenius; and when she withstood all my entreaties she told Cousin Maud
+likewise that she had indeed already left her own kin too long without
+her succor.
+
+Aunt Jacoba was in her chimney corner, and how she took this sudden
+purpose on Ann’s part, may be imagined.
+
+It was so gloomy a day that there was scarce a change when dusk fell.
+Grey wreaths of cloud hung over the tree-tops, and fine rain dripped
+with a soft, steady patter, as though it would never cease; nor was
+there another sound, inasmuch as neither horn, nor watchman’s cry, nor
+bell might break the silence, for the sake of the wounded men; nay, even
+the hounds, meseemed, understood that the daily course of life was out
+of gear.
+
+Ann had gone to pack her little baggage with Susan’s help, but she had
+bid me remain with the child. It was going on finely; it would play with
+the doll my Aunt had given it in happy pastime, and now I did the little
+one’s bidding and was right glad to be her play fellow for a while.
+Time slipped on as I sat there making merry with little Katie, doing the
+dolly’s leather breeches and jerkin off and on, blowing on the child’s
+little shoulder when it smarted or giving her a sweetmeat to comfort
+her, and still Ann came not, albeit she had promised to join me so soon
+as her baggage was ready.
+
+Hereupon a sudden fear seized me, and as soon as the housekeeper came up
+I went to seek Ann in our chamber. There stood all her chattel, so neat
+as only she could make them; and I learnt from Susan that Ann had gone
+down, some time since, into Aunt Jacoba’s chamber.
+
+I was minded to seek her there, and went by the ante-chamber where the
+sick lady’s writing-table and books stood, and which led to the sitting
+chamber. I trod lightly by reason that the knight’s chamber was beneath;
+thus no one heard me; but I could see beyond the dark ante-chamber into
+the further one, where wax lights were burning in a double candlestick,
+and lo! Ann was on her knees by the sick lady’s couch, like to the
+linden-tree which the storm had overthrown yesternight; and she hid
+her face in my aunt’s lap and sobbed so violently that her slender body
+shook as though in a fever. And Aunt Jacoba had laid her two hands on
+Ann’s head, as it were in blessing. And I saw first one large tear, and
+then many more, run down the face of this very woman who had cast out
+her own fair son. Often had I marked on her little finger a certain ring
+in which a little white thing was set; yet was this no splinter of the
+bone of a Saint, but the first tooth her banished son had shed. And,
+when she deemed that no man saw her, she would press her hand to her
+lips and kiss the little tooth with fervent love. And now, whereas love
+had waked up again in her heart, that son had his part and share in it;
+for albeit none dared make mention of him in her presence she ever loved
+him as the apple of her eye.
+
+I was no listener, yet could I not shut mine ears; I heard how the frail
+old lady exhorted the love-sick maid, and bid her trust in God, and
+in Herdegen’s faithfulness. Also I heard her speak well indeed of my
+brother’s spirit and will as noble and upright; and she promised Ann to
+uphold her to the best of her power.
+
+She bid her favorite farewell with a fond kiss, and many comforting
+words; and as she did so I minded me of a wondrously fair maiden, the
+daughter of Pernhart the coppersmith, known to young and old in the town
+as fair Gertrude, who, each time I had beheld her of late, meseemed had
+grown even sadder and paler, and whom I now knew that I should never see
+more, inasmuch as that only yestereve Uncle Christian had told us, with
+tears in his eyes, that this sweet maid had died of pining, and had been
+buried only a day or two since with much pomp. Now my aunt had heard
+these tidings, and she had shaken her head in silence and folded her
+hands, as it were in prayer, fixing her eyes on the ground.
+
+Cousin Gotz and Herdegen--fair Gertrude and my Ann; what made them so
+unlike that my aunt should bring herself to mete their bonds of love
+with so various a measure?
+
+I quitted the room when Ann came forth, and outside the door I clasped
+her in my arms; and in the last hour we spent together at the forest
+lodge she bid me greet her heart’s beloved from her, and gave me for
+him the last October rose-bud, which my uncle had plucked for her at
+parting. Yet she held to her demands.
+
+She left us after supper, escorted by Master Ulsemus. She had come
+hither one sunny morn with the song of the larks, and now she departed
+in darkness and gloom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+“By Saint Bacchus--if there be such a saint in the calendar, there is
+stuff in the lad, my boy!” cried burly Uncle Christian Pfinzing, and
+he thumped the table with his fists so that all the vessels rang. His
+tongue was still somewhat heavy, but he had mended much in the three
+weeks since Ann had departed, and it was hard enough by this time to get
+him away from the wine-jug.
+
+It was in the refectory of the forest lodge that he had thus delivered
+himself to my Uncle Conrad and Jost Tetzel, Ursula’s father; and it was
+of my brother Herdegen that he spoke.
+
+Herdegen was healed of his bruises and his light limbs had never been
+more nimble than now; still he bore his left arm in a sling, for there
+it was, said he, that the horse’s hoof had hit him. Whither the horse
+had fled none had ever heard; nor did any man enquire, inasmuch as it
+was only Eppelein’s nag, and my granduncle had given him a better one.
+
+My silly brain, from the first, had been puzzled to think wherefor my
+brother should have taken that nag to ride to see his guardian, who
+thought more than other men of a good horse. And in truth I was not far
+from guessing rightly, so I will forthwith set down whither indeed my
+dear brother’s horse had vanished, and by what chance and hap he had
+fallen into so evil a plight.
+
+He had aforetime met the young wench on his way from Padua to Nuremberg,
+not far from Dachau and had then and there begun his tricks with her,
+giving her to wit that she might find him again at the forest lodge
+in the Lorenzer wall. Now when matters took so ill a turn, he pledged
+himself to get her safe away from the dungeon cell. To this end he
+feigned that he would ride into the town, after possessing himself of
+the key of the black hole and after stowing a suit of his man’s apparel
+and a loaf of bread into his saddle-poke. Then he wandered about the
+wood for some time, and as soon as it fell dark he stole back to the
+house again on foot. He had made a bold and well-devised plan, and yet
+he might have come to a foul end; for, albeit the hounds, who knew him
+well, let him pass into the cell, within he was so fiercely set upon
+that it needed all his strength and swiftness to withstand it. The
+froward wretches had plotted to fall upon him and to escape with the
+wench from their prison, even if it were over his dead body.
+
+One of the bear-leaders had made shift to strip the cords from his
+hands, and when my brother entered into the dark place where the
+prisoners lay, they flew at him to fell him. But even on the threshold
+Herdegen saw through their purpose, and had no sooner shut the door
+than he drew his hunting knife. Then the old beldame gripped him by the
+throat and clawed him tooth and nail; one of the ruffians beat him with
+a stave torn from the bedstead till he weened he had broken or bruised
+all his limbs, while the other, whose hands were yet bound, pressed
+between him and the door. In truth he would have come to a bad end, but
+that the younger woman saved him at the risk of her own life. The man
+who had rid himself of his bonds had raised the heavy earthen pitcher to
+break Herdegen’s head withal, when the brave wench clutched the wretch
+by the arm and hung on to him till Herdegen stuck him with his knife.
+Thus the ringleader fell, and my brother pulled up his deliverer and
+dragged her to the door. As he opened it the old woman and the other
+prisoner put forth their last strength to force their way out, but with
+his strong arm he thrust them back and locked the door upon them.
+
+Thus he led the young woman, who had come off better than he had feared
+in the fray, forth to freedom, to keep his word to her.
+
+Out in the wood, in spite of thunder and lightning, he made her to put
+on Eppelein’s weed and mount the nag. Thereafter he led her horse to the
+brook, which floweth through the woods down to the meadow-land, and bid
+her ride along in the water so far as she might, to put the hounds off
+the scent. The bread in the saddle-bag would feed her for a few days,
+and now it lay with her to escape pursuit. And this good deed of my
+brother’s had smitten the lost creature to the heart; when he was about
+to help her to mount he dropped down on the wet ground from loss of
+blood, but as he opened his eyes again, behold, his head was resting on
+her lap and she kissed his brow. Despite her own peril she had not left
+him in such evil plight, but had done all she could to bring him to his
+senses; nay, she had gathered leaves by the glare of the lightning to
+staunch the blood which flowed freely from the worst of his wounds. Nor
+was she to be moved to go on her way till he showed her that in truth he
+could walk.
+
+Thus it befel that I long after thought of her with kindness; and
+indeed, she was not wholly vile; and every human soul hath in it
+somewhat good which spurs forth to love, inasmuch as it is love which
+can cast light on all, and that full brightly; and what is bright is
+good; and that light dieth not till the last spark is dead.
+
+As to Herdegen, verily I have never understood how he could find it
+in his heart to peril his life for the sake of keeping his word to a
+vagabond hussy while, at the same time, he was breaking troth with the
+fairest and sweetest maid on earth. Yet I count it to him chiefly for
+good that he could risk life and honor to hinder those who fell upon him
+so foully from escaping the arm of justice; and it is this upholding of
+the law which truly does more to lift men above us women-folk than any
+other thing.
+
+Well, by that evening when Uncle Christian thus pledged my brother,
+Herdegen was quite himself again in mind and body. At first it had
+seemed as though a wall had been raised up between us; but after that
+I had told him that I had concealed from Ann all that I had seen by
+ill-hap at the moss-hut, he was as kind and trusting as of old, and he
+showed himself more ready to give Ann the pledge she required than I
+had looked to find him, stiff-necked as he ever was. And he hearkened
+unmoved when I told him what Ann had said: “That she was ready to follow
+him to death, but not to shame.”
+
+“That,” quoth he, “she need never fear from any true man, and with all
+his wildness he might yet call himself that.” Then he stretched himself
+at full length on his chair, and threw his arms in the air, and cried:
+
+“Oh, Margery. If you could but slip for one half-hour into your mad
+brother’s skin. In your own, which is so purely white, you can never,
+till the day of doom, understand what I am. If ever I have seemed weary
+it is but to keep up a mannerly appearance; verily I could break forth
+ten times a day and shoot skywards like a rocket for sheer joy in life.
+When that mood comes over me there is no holding me, and I should dare
+swear that the whole fair earth had been made and created for my sole
+and free use, with all that therein is--and above all other creatures
+the dear, sweet daughters of Eve!--and I can tell you, Margery, the
+women agree with me. I have only to open my arms and they flutter into
+them, and not to close them tight--that, Margery, is too much to look
+for; yet is there but one true bliss, and but one Ann, and the best
+of all joys is to clasp her to my heart and kiss her lips. I will keep
+faith with her; I will have nought to say to the rest. But how shall I
+keep them away from me? Can I wish that those rascals had put my eyes
+out, had crippled my limbs, had thrashed me to a scare-crow, to the
+end that the maids should turn their backs on me? Nay, and even no
+rain-torrent could cool the hot blood of the Schoppers; no oak staff nor
+stone pitcher could kill the wild cravings within. There is nothing for
+it but to cast my body among thorns like Saint Francis. But what would
+even that profit me? You see yourself how well this skin heals of the
+worst wounds!”
+
+Hereupon I earnestly admonished him of his devoir to that lady who was
+so truly his, and with whom he had exchanged rings. But he cried: “Do
+you believe that I did not tell myself, every hour of the day, that she
+was a thousand-fold more worth than all the rest put together? Never
+could I deem any maid so sweet as she has been ever since we were
+children together; nay, and if I lost her I should utterly perish, for
+it is from her that I, a half-ruined wretch, get all that yet is best in
+me!”
+
+And many a time did I hear him utter the like; and when I saw his large
+blue eyes flash as he spoke, while he pushed the golden curls back from
+his brow, verily he was so goodly a youth to look upon that it was easy
+to view that the daughters of Eve might be ready to cast themselves into
+his arms.
+
+This evening, as it fell, Aunt Jacoba was not with her guests, but
+unwillingly, inasmuch as we were to depart homewards next morning, and
+the gentlemen sat late over their farewell cups. It had become Cousin
+Maud’s care to hinder Uncle Christian from drinking more freely than he
+ought; but this evening he had made the task a hard one; nay, when she
+steadfastly forbade him a third cup he got it by craft and in spite of
+her, nor could she persuade him to forego the dangerous joy. When he had
+cried, as has been told, that “there was stuff” in my brother, it was by
+reason of his having perceived that Herdegen had already filled his cup
+for the fourteenth time, and when the youth had drunk it off the old man
+sang out in high glee:
+
+          “Der Eppela Gaila von Dramaus
+          Reit’ allezeit zu vierzeht aus!”
+
+   [An old popular rhyme in Nuremberg. “Eppela (Apollonius) Gaila of
+   Dramaus--or Drameysr--could always go as far as fourteen cups.”
+    Apollonius von Gailingen was a brigand chief who brought much damage
+   and vexation on the town. Drameysel, in popular form Dramaus, was
+   his stronghold near Muggendorf in Swiss Franconia.]
+
+“Now, if the boy can drink three times the mystic seven, he will do what
+I could do at his age.”
+
+And presently Herdegen did indeed drink his one and twenty cups, and
+when at last he paced the whole length of the great dining hall on one
+seam of the flooring the old man was greatly pleased, and rewarded him
+with the gift of a noble tankard which he himself had won of yore at
+a drinking bout. All this made good sport for us, save only for Jost
+Tetzel, who was himself a right moderate man; indeed, in aftertimes,
+when at Venice I saw how that wealthy and noble gentlemen drank but
+sparingly of the juice of the grape, I marvelled wherefor we Germans are
+ever proud of a man who is able to drink deep, and apt to look askance
+at such as fear to see the bottom of the cup. And if I had an answer
+ready, that likewise I owed to my uncle Christian; inasmuch as that very
+eve, when I would fain have warned Herdegen against the good liquor, my
+uncle put in his word and said it was every man’s duty to follow in
+the ways of Saint George the dragon-killer, and to quell and kill every
+fiend; be it what it might. “Now in the wine cup, quoth he, there lurks
+a dragon named drunkenness, and it beseemeth German valor and strength
+not merely to vanquish it, but even to make it do good service: The
+fiend of the grape, like the serpent killed by the saint, has two wide
+pinions, and the true German drinker must make use of them to soar up to
+the seventh heaven.”
+
+And as concerns my Herdegen, I must confess that when he had well drunk
+his spirits were higher, his mind clearer, and his song more glad; and
+this is not so save in those dragon-slayers who have been blessed with a
+fine temper and a strong brain inherited from their parents.
+
+Every evening had there been the like mirthful doings over their wine;
+but Sir Franz had been ever absent. He was even now forced to remain in
+his chamber, albeit Master Ulsenius had declared that his life was out
+of danger. The damage done to his lungs he must to be sure carry to his
+grave, nor could he be able to follow us for some weeks yet. He was not
+to think of making the journey to his own home in Bohemia during this
+winter season, and at this farewell drinking bout we held council as to
+whose roof he might find lodging under. He, for his part, would soonest
+have found shelter with us; but Cousin Maud refused it, and with good
+reason, inasmuch as I had freely told her that never in this world would
+I hearken to his suit.
+
+At last it seemed plain that it was Jost Tetzel’s part to offer him a
+home in his great house; nor did he refuse, by reason that Sir Franz von
+Welemisl was a man of birth and wealth, and his Bohemian and Hungarian
+kin stood high at the Imperial court.
+
+Next morning, as we drank the stirrup cup, my eyes filled with tears,
+and it was with a sad heart that I bid farewell to the woods, to my
+uncle, and to Aunt Jacoba, whom I had during my sojourn learnt to love
+as was her due. I, like Ann, rode home in a more sober mood than I had
+come in; for I was no more a child and an end must ever come to wild
+mirth.
+
+My new squire Akusch rode behind me, and thus, on a fine November day,
+we made our way back to Nuremberg, in good health and spirits. The
+camels, the bear, and the monkeys, which had been taken from the
+vagabonds, were safely cared for in the Hallergarden, and the rogues
+themselves had been hanged God have mercy on their souls!
+
+Ann had had tidings of our home-coming, yet I found her not at our
+house, and when I had waited for her till evening, and in vain, I sought
+her in her own dwelling. But no sooner had I crossed the threshold of
+the Venice house than I was aware that all was not well; inasmuch as
+that here, where there were ever half a dozen pairs of little feet
+hopping up and down, and no end of music and singing from morning till
+night, all was strangely silent. I stood to hearken, and I now perceived
+that the metal plate whereon the knocker fell was wrapped in felt.
+
+This foreboded evil, and a vision rose before me of two biers; on one
+lay Ann, pale and dumb, and on the other my Cousin Gotz’s sweetheart,
+fair Gertrude, the copper-smith’s daughter. Then I heard steps on
+the stair and the vision faded; and I breathed once more, for Ann’s
+grandfather, the old lute-player Gottlieb Spiesz, came towards me, with
+deep lines of sorrow on his kind face and a finger on his lips; and he
+told me that his son was lying sick of a violent brain fever, and that
+Master Ulsenius had feared the worst since yestereve.
+
+His voice broke with sheer grief; nevertheless his serving lad was
+carrying his lute after him, and as he gave me his hand to bid me
+good-day he told me that Ann was above tending her father. “And
+I,” quoth he, and his voice was weary but not bitter, “I must go to
+work--there is so much needed here, and food drops into no man’s lap!
+First to the Tetzels to teach the young ones a madrigal to sing for
+Master Jost’s fiftieth birthday. And they count on your help and your
+brother’s, sweet Mistress.--Well, children, be happy while it is yet
+time!”
+
+He passed his hand across his eyes, and glanced up at the top room where
+his son lay with aching head, and so went forth to teach light-hearted
+young creatures to sing festal rounds and catches.
+
+In a minute I had Ann in my arms; yea, and she was as sweet and bright
+as ever. The stern duty she had had to do had been healthful, albeit
+she had good cause to fear for the future; for, with her father, the
+household would lose the bread-winner.
+
+It was an unspeakable joy to me to be able to assure her of Herdegen’s
+faithful love, and to repeat to her the many kind words he had spoken
+concerning her. And she was right glad to hear them; and whereas true
+love is a flower which, when it droops, needs but a little drop of dew
+to uplift it again, hers had already raised its head somewhat after my
+last letter.
+
+And at this, the time of the worst sorrow she had known, another great
+comfort had been vouchsafed to her: Master Ulsenius and his good wife,
+having had her to lodge with them the night of her return from the
+forest, had taken much fancy to her, and the goodhearted leech, a man
+of great learning, had been fain to admit her to the use of his fine
+library. Thus I found Ann of brave cheer notwithstanding her woe; and if
+heartfelt prayers for a sick man might have availed him, it was no blame
+to me when her father made a sad and painful end on the fifth day after
+my home-coming. When I heard the tidings meseemed that a cold hand
+had been laid on my glad faith; for it was hard indeed for a poor,
+short-sighted human soul to see to what end and purpose this man should
+have been snatched away in the prime of age and strength.
+
+To keep his large family, to free the little house from debt, and to lay
+aside a small sum, he had undertaken, besides the duties of his place,
+the stewardship of certain private properties; thus he had many a time
+turned night into day, and finally, albeit a stalwart man, he had fallen
+ill of the brain fever which had carried him off. It seemed, then, that
+honest toil and brave diligence had but earned the heaviest dole that
+could befall a man in his state of life; namely: to depart from those he
+loved or ever he could provide for their future living.
+
+We all followed him to the grave, and it was by the bier of her worthy
+father that Ann for the first time met my brother once more. There was
+a great throng present, and he could do no more than press her hand with
+silent ardor; yet, at the same time he met her eye with such a truthful
+gaze that it was as a promise, a solemn pledge of faithfulness.
+
+The prebendary of Saint Laurence, Master von Hellfeld, spoke the
+funeral sermon, and that in a right edifying manner; and whereas he
+took occasion to say that our Lord and Redeemer would bid all to be his
+guests and hold Himself their debtor who should show true Christian love
+towards these who henceforth had no father, Herdegen privily clasped my
+hand tightly.
+
+Kunz likewise was present, and standing by the body of the man who had
+ever loved him best of us three, he wept as sorely as though he had lost
+his own father.
+
+The gentlemen of the council were all assembled to do the last honors
+to one whose office had brought them closely together, and I marked that
+more than one nudged his neighbor to note Ann’s more than common beauty,
+who in her black weed stood among her young brethren and sisters as
+a consoling angel, who weepeth with them that weep and comforteth the
+sorrowing. And so it came about that I heard many a father of fair
+daughters confess that this maid had not her like for beauty in all
+Nuremberg. And this came to Herdegen’s ears, and I could see that it
+uplifted his spirit and confirmed him in good purpose.
+
+It soon befell that he might show by deed of what mind he was. Master
+Holzschuher, the notary, who was near of kin and a right good friend of
+Cousin Maud’s, had been named guardian of his children by the deceased
+Master Spiesz, and he it was who, in our house one day, said that the
+widow and orphans were in better care than he had looked for, and could
+keep their little house over their heads if wealthy neighbors could be
+moved to open their purses and pay off a debt that was upon it. Then
+my brother sprang up and declared that the family of an upright and
+faithful servant of the State, and of a friend of the Schoppers, should
+have some better and more honorable means of living than beggars’ pence.
+He was not yet of full age, but it was his intent to demand forthwith
+of our guardian Im Hoff so much of that which would be his, as might be
+needed to release the house from the burden of debt; and albeit Master
+Holzschuher shook his head thereat, and this was no light thing that
+Herdegen had undertaken, he departed at once to seek his granduncle.
+
+From him indeed he met with rougher treatment than he had looked for;
+for the old man made the diligent stewardship of these trust-moneys a
+point of honor, to the end that when he should give an account of them
+before the city council it might be seen, by the greatness of the sum,
+how wise and well advised he had been in getting increase. What my
+brother called “beggars’ pence,” he said, was a well-earned guerdon
+which did the dead clerk’s family an honor and was no disgrace; he was
+indeed minded to pay one-third of the whole sum at his own charges. As
+to the moneys left to us three by our parents, not a penny thereof
+would he ever part with. Moreover, Ann’s rare charm had touched even my
+grand-uncle’s heart, and he must have been dull-witted indeed if he had
+not hit on Herdegen’s true reasons; and these in his eyes would be the
+worst of the matter, forasmuch as he was firmly bent on bringing Ursula
+Tetzel and Herdegen together so soon as my brother should have won his
+doctor’s hood.
+
+Thus it came to pass that, for the first time, our grand-uncle parted
+from his favorite nephew in wrath, and when Herdegen came home with
+crimson cheeks and almost beside himself, he confessed to me that for
+the present he had not yet been so bold as to tell the old man how
+deeply he was pledged to Ann, but in all else had told him the plain
+truth.
+
+At supper Herdegen scarce ate a morsel, for he could not bring himself
+to endure that his betrothed should sink so low as to receive an alms.
+He rose from table sullen and grieved, and whereas Cousin Maud could not
+endure to see her favorite go to rest in so much distress of mind, she
+led him aside, and inasmuch as she had already guessed how matters stood
+betwixt him and Ann, not without some fears, she spoke to him kindly,
+and declared herself ready to free the Spiesz household from debt
+without any help of strangers. To see him and her dear Ann happy she
+would gladly make far greater sacrifices, for indeed she did not at all
+times know what she might do with her own money.
+
+No later than next morning the matter was privily settled by our notary;
+and albeit Master Holzschuher did so dispose things as though the
+deceased had left money to pay the debt withal, Ann saw through this,
+whereas her beautiful mother did but thoughtlessly rejoice over such
+good fortune.
+
+Henceforth it was Ann’s little hand which ruled the fatherless household
+with steadfast thrift, while Mistress Giovanna, as had ever been her
+wont, lived only to take care of the children’s garments, that they
+should be neat and clean, of the flowers in the window and the beautiful
+needlework, and to fondle the little ones, so soon as she had got
+through her light toil in the kitchen.
+
+It was granted to her and hers that they should dwell henceforth forever
+in the house by the Pegnitz, humbly indeed, but honorably and without
+the aid of strangers. One alms to be sure was bestowed on them soon
+after the first day of each month, and that right privily; for at that
+time without fail a little packet in which were two Hungarian ducats was
+found on the threshold of the hall. And who was the giver of this kind
+token would have remained secret till doomsday had not Susan by chance,
+and to his great vexation, betrayed my brother Kunz. My grand-uncle had
+granted him three ducats a month since he had left school, and of these
+he ever privily gave two to help the household ruled over by Ann. Our
+old Susan it was who aided him in the matter, so, when he was by any
+means hindered from laying the little packet on the threshold, she had
+to find an excuse for going to the little house by the river.
+
+The worshipful council and many friends whose good-will the deceased
+scribe had won, got the orphans into the best schools in the town, and
+what Ann had learned as head of the school at the Carthusian convent she
+now handed down to her younger sisters by diligent teaching; and, as of
+yore, she gave her most loving care to her little deaf and dumb brother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+Herdegen was to be back in Padua before Passion week, and I shall
+remember with thankfulness to the day of my death the few months after
+worthy Veit Spiesz’s burial and before my brother’s departure. Not a
+day passed without our meeting; and after my heart had moved me to tell
+Cousin Maud all that had happened, and Herdegen had given his consent,
+we were rid once for all of the mystery which had at first weighed on
+our souls.
+
+Verily the worthy lady found it no light matter to look kindly on this
+early and ill-matched betrothal; yet had she not the heart, nor the
+power, to make any resistance. When two young folks who are dear to her
+are brimfull of high happiness, the woman who would turn them out of
+that Garden of Eden and spoil their present bliss with warnings of
+future woe must be of another heart and mind than Cousin Maud. She
+indeed foresaw grief to come in many an hour of mistrust by day and many
+a sleepless night, more especially by reason of her awe and dread of my
+grand-uncle; and indeed, she herself was not bereft of the old pride of
+race which dwells in every Nuremberger who is born under a knight’s coat
+of arms. That Ann was poor she held of no account; but that she was not
+of noble birth was indeed a grief and filled her with doubts. But then,
+when her best-beloved Herdegen’s eyes shone so brightly, and she saw Ann
+cling to him with maidenly rapture, vexation and care were no more.
+
+If I had sung a loud hymn of praise in the woods over their spring and
+autumn beauty--and verily it had welled up from my heart--I was ready to
+think winter in the town no less gladsome, in especial under the shelter
+of a home so warm and well built as our old Schopper-hof.
+
+In the last century, when, at the time of the Emperor Carolus--[Charles
+IV., 1348]--coming to the throne, the guilds, under the leadership of
+the Gaisbarts and Pfauentritts, had risen against the noble families and
+the worshipful council, they accused the elders of keeping house not as
+beseemed plain citizens but after the manner of princes; and they were
+not far wrong, for indeed I have heard tell that when certain merchants
+from Scandinavia came to our city, they said that the dwelling of a
+Nuremberg noble was a match in every way for their king’s palace.
+
+   [Gaisbart (goat’s beard) and Pfauentritt (peacock-strut), were
+   nicknames given to the leaders of the guilds who rebelled against
+   the patrician families in Nuremberg, from whom alone the aldermen or
+   town-council could be elected. This patrician class originated in
+   1198 under the Emperor Henry IV., who ennobled 38 families of the
+   citizens. They were in some sort comparable with the families
+   belonging to the Signoria at Venice, from whom, in the same way, the
+   great council was chosen.]
+
+As touching our house, it was four stories high, and with seven windows
+in every story; with well devised oriels at the corners, and pointed
+turrets on the roof. The gables were on the street, in three steps; over
+the great house door there was our coat of arms, the three links of the
+Schopppes and the fool’s head with cap and bells as a crest on the top
+of the casque. The middle windows of the first and second stories were
+of noble size, and there glittered therein bright and beautiful panes
+of Venice glass, whereas the other windows were of small roundels set in
+lead.
+
+And while from outside it was a fine, fair house to look upon, I never
+hope to behold a warmer or more snug and comfortable dwelling than the
+living-rooms within which was our home the winter through; albeit I
+found the saloons and chambers in the palaces of the Signori at Venice
+loftier and more airy, and greater and grander. Whenever I have been
+homesick under the sunny blue sky of Italy, it was for the most part
+that I longed after the rich, fresh green foliage and flowing streams
+of my own land; but, next to them, after our pleasant chamber in the
+Schopper-house, with its warm, green-tiled stove, with the figures of
+the Apostles, and the corner window where I had spun so many a hank of
+fine yarn, and which was so especially mine own--although I was ever
+ready and glad to yield my right to it, when Herdegen required it to sit
+in and make love to his sweetheart.
+
+The walls of this fine chamber were hung with Flanders tapestry, and I
+can to this day see the pictures which were so skilfully woven into it.
+That I loved best, from the time when I was but a small thing, was the
+Birth of the Saviour, wherein might be seen the Mother and Child, oxen
+and asses, the three Holy Kings from the East--the goodliest of them all
+a blackamoor with a great yellow beard flowing down over his robes. On
+the other hangings a tournament might be seen; and I mind me to this day
+how that, when I was a young child, I would gaze up at the herald who
+was blowing the trumpet in fear lest his cheeks should burst, inasmuch
+as they were so greatly puffed out and he never ceased blowing so hard.
+Between the top of these hangings and the ceiling was a light wood
+cornice of oak-timber, on which my father, God rest him, had caused
+various posies to be carved of his own devising. You might here read:
+
+          “Like a face our life may be
+          To which love lendeth eyes to see.”
+
+Or again,
+
+          “The Lord Almighty hides his glorious face
+          That so we may not cease to seek his grace.”
+
+Or else,
+
+          “The Lord shall rule my life while I sit still,
+          And rule it rightly by his righteous will.”
+
+And whereas my father had loved mirthful song he had written in another
+place:
+
+          “If life be likened to a thorny place
+          Song is the flowery spray that lends it grace.”
+
+Some of these rhymes had been carved there by my grandfather, for
+example these lines:
+
+          “By horse and wain I’ve journeyed up and down,
+          Yet found no match for this my native town.”
+
+And under our coat of arms was this posy.
+
+          “While the chain on the scutcheon holds firm and fast
+          The fool on the crest will be game to the last.”
+
+Of the goodly carved seats, and the cushions covered with motley woven
+stuffs from the Levant, right pleasant to behold, of all the fine
+treasures on the walls, the Venice mirrors, and the metal cage with a
+grey parrot therein, which Jordan Kubbelmg, the falconer from Brunswick,
+had given to my dear mother, I will say no more; but I would have it
+understood that all was clean and bright, well ordered and of good
+choice, and above all snug and warm. Nay, and if it had all been far
+less costly and good to look at, there was, as it were, a breath of home
+which must have gladdened any man’s heart: inasmuch as all these goodly
+things were not of yesterday nor of to-day, but had long been a joy to
+many an one dear to us; so that our welfare in that dwelling was but
+the continuing of the good living which our parents and grandparents had
+known before us.
+
+Howbeit, those who will read this writing know what a patrician’s
+house in Nuremberg is wont to be; and he who hath lived through a like
+childhood himself needs not to be told how well hide and seek may be
+played in a great hall, or what various and merry pastime can be devised
+in the twilight, in a dining hall where the lights hang from the huge
+beams of the ceiling; and we for certain knew every game that was worthy
+to be named.
+
+But by this time all this was past and gone; only the love of song would
+never die out in the dwelling of the man who had been well-pleased
+to hear himself called by his fellows “Schopper the Singer.” Ah! how
+marvellous well did their voices sound, Ann’s and my brother’s, when
+they sang German songs to the lute or the mandoline, or perchance
+Italian airs, as they might choose. But there was one which I could
+never weary of hearing and which, meseemed, must work on Herdegen’s
+wayward heart as a cordial. The words were those of Master Walther von
+der Vogelweirde, and were as follows:
+
+          “True love is neither man nor maid,
+          No body hath nor yet a soul,
+          Nor any semblance here below,
+          Its name we hear, itself unknown.
+          Yet without love no man may win
+          The grace and favor of the Lord.
+          Put then thy trust in those who love;
+          In no false heart may Love abide.”
+
+And when they came to the last lines Kunz would ofttimes join in, taking
+the bass part or continuo to the melody. Otherwise he kept modestly in
+the background, for since he had come to know that Herdegen and Ann were
+of one mind he waited on her as a true and duteous squire, while he was
+now more silent than in past time, and in his elder brother’s presence
+almost dumb. Yet at this I marvelled not, inasmuch as I many a time
+marked that brethren are not wont to say much to each other, and even
+between friends the one is ready enough to be silent if the other takes
+the word. Moreover at Easter Kunz was likewise to quit home, and go to
+Venice at my granduncle’s behest. Herdegen’s love for his brother had,
+of a certainty, suffered no breach; but, like many another disciple of
+Minerva, he was disposed to look down on the votaries of Mercury.
+
+Nevertheless the links of the Schopper chain, to which Ann had now been
+joined as a fourth, held together right bravely, and when we sang not,
+but met for friendly talk, our discourse was but seldom of worthless,
+vain matters, forasmuch as Herdegen was one of those who are ready and
+free of speech to impart what he had himself learned, and it was Ann’s
+especial gift to listen keenly and question discreetly.
+
+And what was there that my brother had not learned from the great
+Guarino, and the not less great Humanist, his disciple Vittorino da
+Feltre, at that time Magistri at Padua? And how he had found the time,
+in a right gay and busy life, to study not merely the science of law
+but also Greek, and that so diligently that his master was ever ready
+to laud him, was to me a matter for wonder. And how gladly we hearkened
+while he told us of the great Plato, and gave us to know wherefore
+and on what grounds his doctrine seemed to him, Herdegen, sounder and
+loftier than that of Aristotle, concerning whom he had learned much
+erewhile in Nuremberg. And whereas I was moved to fear lest these works
+of the heathen should tempt him to stray from the true faith, my soul
+found comfort when he proved to us that so glorious a lamp of the Church
+as Saint Augustine had followed them on many points. Also Herdegen had
+written out many verses of Homer’s great song from a precious written
+book, and had learned to master them well from the teaching of the
+doctor of Feltre. They were that portion in which a great hero in the
+fight, or ever he goes forth to battle, takes leave of his wife and
+little son; and to me and Ann it seemed so fine and withal so touching,
+that we could well understand how it should be that Petrarca wrote that
+no more than to behold a book of Homer made him glad, and that he longed
+above all things to clasp that great man in his arms.
+
+Indeed, the poems and writings of Petrarca yielded us greater delights
+than all the Greek and Roman heathen. Master Ulsenius had before now
+lent them to Ann, and she like a bee from a flower would daily suck
+a drop of honey from their store. Yet was there one testimony of
+Petrarca’s--who was, for sure, of all lovers the truest--which she loved
+above all else. In the dreadful time of the Black Death which came as a
+scourge on all the world, and chiefly on Italy, in the past century, the
+lady to whom he had vowed the deepest and purest devotion, appeared
+to him in a dream one fair spring morning as an angel of Heaven. And
+whereas he inquired of her whether she were in life, she answered him
+in these words: “See that thou know me; for I am she who led thee out
+of the path of common men, inasmuch as thy young heart clung to me.” And
+lo! on that very sixth of April, which brought him that vision, one and
+twenty years after that he had first beheld her, Laura had made a pious
+end.
+
+With beseeching eyes Ann would repeat to her best beloved, as they sat
+together in the oriel bay, how that Laura had led her Petrarca from the
+ways of common men; and it went to my heart to hear her entreat him,
+with timid and yet fond and heartfelt prayer, to grant to her to be his
+Laura and to guide him far from the beaten path, forasmuch as it was
+narrow and low for his winged spirit. And while she thus spoke her great
+eyes had a marvellous clear and glorious light, and when I looked in her
+face wrapped in the veil of her mourning for her father, my spirit
+grew solemn, as though I were in church. Herdegen must have felt this
+likewise, methinks, for he would bend the knee before her and hide his
+face in her lap, and kiss her hands again and again.
+
+But these solemn hours were few.
+
+First and last it was a happy fellowship, free and gay, though mingled
+with earnest, that held us together; and when Ann’s father had been
+some few weeks dead our old gleefulness came back to us again, and then,
+after gazing at her for a while, Herdegen would suddenly strike the lute
+and sing the old merry round:
+
+          “Come, sweetheart, come to me.
+            Ah how I pine for thee!
+            Ah, how I pine for thee
+          Come, sweetheart, come to me.
+          Sweet rosy lips to kiss,
+            Come then and bring me bliss,
+            Come then and bring me bliss,
+          Sweet rosy lips to kiss!”
+
+And we would all join in, even Cousin Maud; nay and she would look
+another way or quit the chamber, stealing away behind Kunz and holding
+up a warning finger, when she perceived how his Ann’s “sweet, rosy lips”
+ tempted Herdegen’s to kiss them. But there were other many songs, and
+ofttimes, when we were in a more than common merry mood, we strange
+young things would sing the saddest tales and tunes we knew, such as
+that called “Two Waters,” and yet were we only the more gay.
+
+Herdegen could not be excused from his duty of paying his respects from
+time to time to the many friends of our honorable family, yet would he
+ever keep away from dances and feastings, and when he was compelled
+to attend I was ever at his side, and it was a joy to me to see how
+courteous, and withal how cold, was his demeanor to all other ladies.
+
+The master’s fiftieth birthday was honored in due course at the Tetzels’
+house, and to please my granduncle, Herdegen could not refuse to do
+his part in song and in the dance, and likewise to lead out Ursula,
+the daughter of the house, in the dances. Nor did he lose his gay but
+careless mien, although she would not quit his side and chose him to
+dance with her in “The Sulkers,” a dance wherein the man and maid first
+turn their backs on each other and then make it up and kiss. But when
+it came to this, maiden shame sent the blood into my cheeks; for at the
+sound of the music, in the face of all the company she fell into his
+arms, as it were by mishap; and it served her right when he would not
+kiss her lips, which she was ready enough to offer, but only touched her
+brow with his.
+
+Forasmuch as she had danced with him the Dance of Honor or first dance,
+it was his part to beg her hand for the last dance--the “grandfather’s
+dance;”--[Still a well-known country dance in Germany.]--but she would
+fain punish him for the vexation he had caused her and turned her back
+upon him. He, however, would have none of this; he grasped her hand
+ere she was aware of him, and dragged her after him. It was vain to
+struggle, and soon his strong will was a pleasure to her, and her
+countenance beamed again full brightly, when as this dance requires, he
+had led the way with her, the rest all following, through chamber
+and hall, kitchen and courtyard, doors and windows, nay, and even the
+stables. In the course of this dance each one seized some utensil or
+house-gear, as we do to this day; only never a broom, which would bring
+ill-luck. Ursula had snatched up a spoon, and when the mad sport was
+ended and he had let go her hand, she rapped him with it smartly on
+the arm and cried: “You are still what you ever were, in the dance at
+least!”
+
+But my brother only said: “Then will I try to become not the same, even
+in that.”
+
+Round the Christmas tree and at the sharing of gifts which Cousin Maud
+made ready for Christmas eve, we were all friendly and glad at heart,
+and Ann found her way to join us after that she had put the little ones
+to bed.
+
+Herdegen said she herself was the dearest gift for which he could thank
+the Christ-child, and he had provided for her as a costly token the
+great Petrarca’s heroic poem of Africa, in which he sings the deeds of
+the noble Scipio, and likewise his smaller poems, all written in a fair
+hand. They made three neat books, and on the leathern cover, the binder,
+by Herdegen’s orders, had stamped the words, “ANNA-LAURA,” in a wreath
+of full-blown roses. Nor was she slow to understand their intent,
+and her heart was uplifted with such glad and hopeful joy that the
+Christ-child for a certainty found no more blissful or thankful creature
+in all Nuremberg that Christmas eve.
+
+The manifold duties which filled up all her days left her but scant time
+wherein to work for him she loved; nevertheless she had wrought with her
+needle a letter pouch, whereon the Schoppers’ arms were embroidered in
+many colored silks, and the words ‘Agape’ and ‘Pistis’--which are in
+Greek Love and Faithfulness in Greek letters with gold thread. Cousin
+Maud had dipped deep into her purse and likewise into her linen-press,
+and on the table under the Christmas-tree lay many a thing fit for
+the bride-chest of a maid of good birth; and albeit Ann could not but
+rejoice over these gifts for their own sake, she did so all the more
+gladly, inasmuch as she guessed that Cousin Maud was well-disposed to
+speed her marriage.
+
+We were all, indeed, glad and thankful; all save the Magister, whose
+face was ill-content and sour by reason that he had culled many verses
+and maxims concerning love, for the most part from the Greek and Latin
+poets, and yet all his attempts to repeat them before Ann came to
+nothing, inasmuch as she was again and again taken up with Herdegen
+and with me, after she had once shaken hands with him and given him her
+greetings.
+
+At supper he was as dumb as the carp which were served, and it befell
+that for the first time Herdegen took his seat between him and his
+heart’s beloved; and verily I was grieved for him when, after supper, he
+withdrew downcast to his own chamber. The rest of us went forth to Saint
+Sebald’s church, where that night there would be midnight matins, as
+there was every year, and a mass called the Christ mass. Cousin Maud and
+Kunz were with us, as in the old happy days when we were children and
+when we never missed; and in the streets as we went, we met all manner
+of folks singing gladly:
+
+          Puer natus in Bethlehem,
+          Sing, rejoice, Jerusalem!
+
+or the carol:
+
+          Congaudeat turba fadelium!
+          Natus est rex, Salvator omnium
+          In Bethlehem.
+
+and we joined in; and at last all went together to see Ann to her home.
+
+Next evening there were more costly gifts, but albeit Puer natus was
+still to be heard in the streets, we no longer were moved to join in.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Every Christmas all my grand-uncle’s kith and kin, or so many of them
+as were on good terms with him, assembled in the great house of the
+Im Hoffs. Everything in that dwelling spoke of ease and wealth, and no
+banqueting-hall could be more brightly lighted or more richly decked
+than that where the old man welcomed us on the threshold; and yet, how
+well soever the hearth was piled or the stove heated, a chill breath
+seemed to blow there.
+
+While great and small were rejoicing over the grand old knight’s bounty
+he himself would ever stand apart, and his calm, hueless countenance
+expressed no change. Meseemed he cared but little for the pleasure he
+gave us all; yet was he not idle in the matter, nor left it to others;
+for there was no single gift which he had not himself chosen as
+befitting him to whom it should be given.
+
+The trade of his great house was for the most part with Venice, and it
+would have been easy to fancy oneself in some fine palazzo on the grand
+canal as one marked the carpets, the mirrors, the brocade, and the
+vessels in his house; and not a few of his tokens had likewise been
+brought from thence.
+
+Before this largesse in his own house he was wont to bestow another,
+and a very noble one, on the old men and women of the poor folks in the
+town; and when this was over he went with them to the church of Saint
+Aegidius, and washed the feet of about a score of them, which act of
+penitential humility he was wont to repeat in Passion week.
+
+Then when he had welcomed his kin, each one to his house, he would say
+to such as thanked him, if it were a child, very soberly: “Be a good
+child.” But for elder folks he had no more than “It is well,” or an
+almost churlish: “That is enough.”
+
+This evening he had given me a gown of costly brocade of Cyprus; to Kunz
+everything that a Junker might need on his travels; and to Herdegen the
+same sword which he himself had in past time worn at court; the hilt was
+set with gems and ended in the lion rampant, couped, of the Im Hoffs.
+Ursula Tetzel, like me, had had a gown-piece which was lying near by the
+sword.
+
+Herdegen, holding the jewelled weapon in his hand, thanked his
+grand-uncle, who muttered as was his wont “‘Tis well, ‘tis well,”
+ when Jost Tetzel put in his word, saying that the gift of a sword was
+supposed to part friends, but that this ill-effect might be hindered if
+he who received it made a return-offering to the giver, and so the token
+was made into a purchase.
+
+At this Herdegen hastened to take out a gold pin set with sapphire
+stones, which Cousin Maud had given him, from his neck-kerchief, to
+offer it to his uncle; but the elder would have nothing to say to such
+foolishness, and pushed the pin away. But then when my brother did not
+cease, but besought him to accept it, inasmuch as he cared so greatly
+for his uncle’s fatherly kindness, the old knight cried that he wanted
+no such sparkling finery, but that the day might come when he should
+require some payment and that Herdegen was then to remember that he was
+in his debt.
+
+At this minute they were hindered from further speech by the servants,
+who came in to bid us to supper, and there stood ready wild fowl and
+fish, fruits and pastry, with the rarest wines and the richest vessels;
+the great middle table and the side buffet alike made such a show as
+though Pomona, Ceres, Bacchus, and Plutus had heaped it with prodigal
+hand. Yet was there no provision for merry-making. My grand-uncle loved
+to be quit of his guests at an early hour; hence no table was laid for
+them to sit down to meat, and each one held his plate in one hand.
+
+Presently, as I strove to get free of young Master Vorchtel who had
+served me--and by the same token made love to me--I found my cousin in
+speech with my grand-uncle, and the last words of his urgent discourse,
+spoken as I came up with them, were that a woman of sound understanding,
+as she commonly seemed, should no longer suffer such a state of things.
+
+Then Cousin Maud answered him, saying: “But you, my noble and worshipful
+Cousin Im Hoff, know how that a Schopper is ever ready to run his head
+against a wall. If we strive to thwart this hot-headed boy, he will of
+a certainty defy us; but if we leave him for a while to go his own way,
+the waters will not be dammed up, but will run to waste in the sand.”
+
+This was evil hearing, and much as it vexed me Ursula chafed me even
+more, whereas she made a feint of caring for none of the company present
+excepting only Sir Franz--who was yet her housemate--and being still
+pale and weak needed a friendly woman’s hand for many little services,
+inasmuch as even now he could scarce use his right arm. Nay, and he
+seemed to like Ursula well enough as his helper; albeit he owed all her
+sweet care and loving glances to Herdegen, for she never bestowed them
+but when he chanced to look that way.
+
+When we all took leave my grand-uncle bid Herdegen stay, and Kunz waited
+on us; but notwithstanding all his merry quips as we went home, not once
+could we be moved to laughter. My heart was indeed right heavy; a bitter
+drop had fallen into it by reason of Cousin Maud. I had ever deemed her
+incapable of anything but what was truest and best, and she had proved
+herself a double-dealer; and young as I was, and rejoicing in life, I
+said, nevertheless, in my soul’s dejection, that if life was such that
+every poor human soul must be ever armed with doubt, saying, “Whom shall
+I trust or doubt?” then it was indeed a hard and painful journey to win
+through.
+
+I slept in my cousin’s room, and albeit Cousin Maud wist not that I had
+overheard her counsel given to my grand-uncle, she kept out of my way
+that night, and we neither of us spoke till we said good-night. Then
+could I no longer refrain myself, and asked whether it were verily and
+indeed her intent to part Herdegen from Ann.
+
+And her ill-favored countenance grew strangely puckered and her bosom
+heaved till suddenly she cried beside herself: “Cruel! Unhappy! Oh!
+It will eat my heart out!” And she sobbed aloud, while I did the same,
+crying:
+
+“But you love them both?”
+
+“That I do, and that is the very matter,” she broke in sadly enough.
+“Herdegen, and Ann! Why, I know not which I hold the dearer. But find me
+a wiser man in all Nuremberg than your grand-uncle. But verily, merciful
+Virgin, I know not what I would be at--I know not...!”
+
+On this I forgot the respect due to her and put in: “You know not?” And
+whereas she made no reply, I railed at her, saying: “And yet you gave
+her the linen, and half the matters for her house-gear as a Christmas
+gift, as though they were known for a bride and groom to all the town.
+As old as you are and as wise, can you take pleasure in a love-match and
+even speed it forward as you have done, and yet purpose in your soul to
+hinder it at last? And is this the truth and honesty whereof early and
+late you have ever taught me? Is this being upright and faithful, or not
+rather speaking with two tongues?”
+
+My fiery blood had again played me an evil trick, and I repented me when
+I perceived what great grief my violent speech had wrought in the dear
+soul. Never had I beheld her so feeble and doubting, and in a minute I
+was in her arms and a third person might have marvelled to hear us each
+craving pardon, she for her faint-hearted fears, and I for my unseemly
+outbreak. But in that hour I became her friend, and ceased to be no more
+than her child and fondling.
+
+Herdegen was to be ready to set forth before Passion week; but ere he
+quitted home he made all the city ring with his praises, for, whereas
+he had hitherto won fame in the school of arms only, by the strength and
+skill of his arm, he now outdid every other in the procession of masks.
+Albeit this custom is still kept up to this very day, yet many an one
+may have forgotten how it first had its rise, although in my young days
+it was well known to most folks.
+
+This then is to record, that in the days when the guilds were in revolt
+against the city council, the cutlers and the fleshers alone remained
+true to the noble families, and whereas they refused to take any guerdon
+for their faithfulness, which must have been paid them at the cost of
+the rest, they craved no more than the right of a making a goodly show
+in a dance and procession at the Carnival; and they were by the same
+token privileged at that time to wear apparel of velvet and silk, like
+gentle folks of noble and knightly degree.
+
+Now this dance and its appurtenances were known at the masked show,
+and inasmuch as the aid of the governing class was needed to keep the
+streets clear for the throng of craftsmen, and as likewise the yearly
+outlay was beyond their means, the sons of the great houses took a pride
+in paying goodly sums for the right of taking a place in the procession.
+And as for our high-spirited young lord, skilled as he was with his
+weapon, he had seen and taken part in many such gay carnival doings
+among the Italians, and it was a delight to him to join in the like
+sport at home, and many were fain to gaze at him rather than at the
+guilds.
+
+They assembled under the walls in two bands, and marched past the town
+hall and from thence to a dance of both guilds. Each had a dance of its
+own. The Fleshers’ was such a dance as in England is called a country
+dance and they held leather-straps twisted to look like sausages; the
+cutlers’ dance was less clumsy, and they carried naked swords.
+
+But the show which most delighted the bystanders was the procession
+of masks, wherein, indeed, there were many things pleasant and fair to
+behold.
+
+A party of men in coarse raiment called the men of the woods, carrying
+sheaves of oak boughs with acorns, and a number of mummers in fools’
+garb, wielding wooden bats, cleared the way for the procession; first
+then came minstrels, with drums and pipes and trumpets and bag-pipes,
+and merry bells ringing out withal. Next came one on horseback with
+nuts, which he flung down among the children, whereat there was merry
+scuffling and screaming on the ground. From the windows likewise and
+balconies there was no end of the laughter and cries; the young squires
+gave the maids and ladies who sat there no peace for the flowers and
+sweetmeats they cast up at them, and eggs filled with rose-water.
+
+This year, whereof I write, many folks in the procession wore garments
+of the same color and shape; but among them there were some who loved a
+jest, and were clothed as wild men and women, or as black-amoors, ogres
+that eat children, ostrich-birds, and the like. Last of all came the
+chief glory of the show, various great buildings and devices drawn by
+horses: a Ship of Fools, and behind that a wind-mill, and a fowler’s
+decoy wherein Fools, men and women both, were caught, and other such
+pastimes.
+
+My Herdegen had mingled with this wondrous fellowship arrayed as a
+knight crusader leading three captive Saracen princes; namely, the two
+young Masters Loffelholz and Schlebitzer, who had stirred him to dress
+in the fencing-school, mounted on horses, and between them my squire
+Akusch on the bear-leader’s camel, all in white as a Son of the Desert;
+and the three of them fettered with chains made of wood.
+
+My grand-uncle had lent Herdegen the suit of mail he himself had worn in
+his youth at a tournament.
+
+Cousin Maud had provided his white cloak with a red cross, and as
+he rode forth on a noble black steed in mail-harness with scarlet
+housings--the finest and stoutest horse in the Im Hoffs’ stables-and his
+golden hair shining in the sun, many a maid could not take her eyes off
+from him.
+
+Kunz, in the garb of a fool, hither and thither, nay, and everywhere
+at once, doubtless had the better sport; but Herdegen’s heart beat the
+higher, for he could hear a thousand voices proclaiming him the most
+comely and his troop the most princely of all; from many a window a
+flower was shed on him, or a ribband, or a knot. At last, when the dance
+was all over, the guilds with the town-pipers betook them to the head
+constable’s quarters, where they were served with drink and ate the
+Shrove-Tuesday meal of fish which was given in their honor. When the
+procession was past and gone my grand-uncle bid Herdegen go to him, and
+that which the old man then said and did to move him to give up his love
+was shrewdly planned and not without effect on his mind. After looking
+at him from head to foot, saying nothing but with no small contentment,
+he clapped him kindly on the shoulder and led him, as though by chance,
+up to the Venice mirror in the dining-hall. Then pointing to the
+image before him: “A Tancred!” he cried, “a Godfrey! Richard of the
+Lion-heart! And the bride a miserable scrivener’s wench!--a noble
+bride!” Thereupon Herdegen fired up and began to speak in praise of
+Ann’s rare and choice beauty; but his guardian stopped him short, laid
+his arm round his shoulders, and muttered in his ear that in his young
+days likewise youths of noble birth had to be sure made love to the fair
+daughters of the common citizens, but the man who could have thought of
+courting one of them in good faith....
+
+Here he broke off with a sharp laugh, and drawing the boy closer to him,
+cried:
+
+“No harm is meant my Tancred! And you may keep the black horse in
+remembrance of this hour.”
+
+It was old Berthold, my uncle’s body-servant who told me all this;
+Herdegen when he came home answered none of my questions. He would
+not grant my prayer that he should show himself to Ann in his knight’s
+harness, and said somewhat roughly that she loved not such mummery. Thus
+it was not hard to guess what was in his mind; but how came it to pass
+that this old man, whose princely wife had wrought ruin to his peace and
+happiness, could so diligently labor to lead him he best loved on earth
+into the like evil course? And among many matters of which I lacked
+understanding there was yet this one: Wherefore should Eppelein, who so
+devoutly loved his master, and who knew right well how to value a young
+maid’s beauty--and why should my good Susan and the greater part of our
+servitors have turned so spitefully against Ann, to whom in past days
+they were ever courteous and serviceable, since they had scented a
+betrothal between her and my eldest brother?
+
+From the first I had been but ill-pleased to see Herdegen so diligent
+over this idle sport and spending so many hours away from his
+sweetheart, when he was so soon to quit us all. Nevertheless I had not
+the heart to admonish him, all the more as in many a dull hour he was
+apt to believe that, for the sake of his love, he must need deny himself
+sundry pleasures which our father had been free to enjoy; and I weened
+that I knew whence arose this faint-heartedness which was so little akin
+to his wonted high spirit.
+
+Looking backward, a little before this time, I note first that Ann had
+not been able to keep her love-matters a secret from her mother. Albeit
+the still young and comely widow had solemnly pledged herself to utter
+no word of the matter, like most Italian women--and may be many a
+Nuremberger--she could not refrain herself from telling that of which
+her heart and brain were full, deeming it great good fortune for her
+child and her whole family; and she had shared the secret with all her
+nearest friends. Eight days before Shrove Tuesday Cousin Maud and we
+three Schoppers had been bidden to spend the evening in the house by the
+river, and Dame Giovanna, kind-hearted as ever, but not far-seeing, had
+likewise bidden her father-in-law, the lute-player, and Adam Heyden from
+the tower, and Ann’s one and only aunt, the widow of Rudel Hennelein.
+
+This Hennelein had been the town bee-master, the chief of the
+bee-keepers, who, then as now, had their business out in the
+Lorenzer-Wald. His duties had been to hold an assize for the bee-keepers
+three times in the year at a village called Feucht, and to lend an ear
+to their complaints; and albeit he had fulfilled his office without
+blame, he had dwelt in strife with his wife, and being given to rioting,
+he was wont rather to go to the tavern than sit at table with his
+cross-grained wife.
+
+When he presently died there was but small leaving, and the widow in
+the little house in the milk market had need to look twice at every
+farthing, although she had not chick nor child. And whereas full half of
+the offerings sent by the bee-keepers to help out their master’s widow
+were in honey, she strove to turn this to the best account, and to this
+end she would by no means sell it to the dealers who would offer to take
+it, but carried it herself in neat little crocks, one at a time, to the
+houses of the rich folks, whereby her gains were much the greater.
+
+Whereas her husband had been a member of the worshipful class of
+magistrates, she deemed that such trading ill-beseemed her dignity; and
+she at all times wore a great fur hat as large round as a cart-wheel of
+fair size, and all the other array of a well-to-do housewife, though in
+truth somewhat threadbare. Then she would offer her honey as a gift to
+the mothers of children for their dear little ones; nor could she ever
+be moved to name a price for her gift, inasmuch as it was not fitting
+that a bee-master’s widow should do so, while it was all to her honor
+when a little bounty was offered as civil return.
+
+Her honey was good enough, and the children were ever glad to see her:
+all the more so for that they had their sport of her behind her back,
+inasmuch as that she was a laughable little body, who had a trick of
+repeating the last word of every sentence she spoke. Thus she would say
+not: “Ah! here comes Kunz,” but, “Here comes Kunz Kunz.” Moreover, she
+ever held her head between her two hands, tightly, as though with that
+great fur cap her thin neck were in danger of breaking.
+
+In this way she had dealings with most of our noble families; and
+the young ones would call her not Hennelein, as her name was, but
+Henneleinlein, in jest at her foolish trick of repeating her last word.
+
+So long as I could remember, Mistress Henneleinlein had been wont to
+bring honey to our house, and had received from Cousin Maud, besides
+many a bright coin, likewise sundry worn but serviceable garments as
+“remembrances.” And Herdegen foremost of us all had been ready to make
+sport of her; but it had come to his knowledge that she was ever benign
+to lovers, and had helped many a couple to come together.
+
+The glad tidings that her niece was chosen by fate to rule over the
+house of the Schoppers had filled her above all others with pride and
+contentment, and Dame Giovanna having told her this secret and then
+bidden her to meet us, she stuck so closely to Herdegen that Ann was
+filled with vexation and fears. I could not but mark that my brother was
+sorely ill-pleased when Dame Henneleinlein patted his arm; and when she
+kissed his sweetheart on the lips he shrank as though someone had laid
+afoul hand on his light-hued velvet doublet. He had always felt a warm
+friendship for the worthy lute-player, who was a master in his own art;
+yea, and many a time had he right gladly mounted the tower-stairs to
+see the old organist; but now, to be treated as a youngster of their own
+kith by these two good men filled him with loathing; for it may well be
+that many an one whom we are well pleased to seek and truly value in his
+own home and amid his own company, seems another man when he makes claim
+to live with us as one of ourselves.
+
+Cousin Maud had not chosen to accept Dame Giovanna’s bidding, perchance
+for my grand-uncle’s sake; she thus escaped the vexation of seeing
+Herdegen, on this first night spent with his future kindred, so silent
+and moody that he was scarce like himself. He turned pale and bit his
+nether lip, as he never did but when he was mastering his temper with
+great pains, when Mistress Henneleinlein who had hitherto known him only
+as a roystering young blade and now interpreted his reserve and silence
+after her own fashion noted mysteriously that the Junker would have to
+take a large family with his young bride--though, indeed, there was a
+hope that the burden might ere long be lighter. For she went on to say,
+with a leer at Mistress Giovanna, that so comely a step-mother would
+have suitors in plenty, and she herself had one in her eye, if he were
+but brought to the point, who would provide abundantly not only for the
+mother but for all the brood of little ones.
+
+This and much more did he himself repeat to me as we walked home,
+speaking with deep ire and in tones of wrath; and what else Dame
+Henneleinlein had poured into his ear was to me not so much unpleasing
+as a cause of well-grounded fears, inasmuch as the old body had told him
+that the man who was fain to pay his court to Mistress Giovanna was none
+other than the coppersmith, Ulman Pernhart, the father of the fair maid
+for whose sake Aunt Jacoba had banished her only son.
+
+In vain did I in all honesty speak the praises of the coppersmith;
+Herdegen turned a deaf ear, even as my uncle and aunt had done.
+The thought that his wife should ever be required to honor this
+handicraftsman, if only as a step-father, and that he should hear
+himself addressed by him as “Son,” was too shrewd a thrust.
+
+The next morning the Junkers had carried him off to the school of arms
+and then to the gentlemen’s tavern to take his part in the masquerade;
+and when, at a later hour, after the throng had scattered, Ann came
+to our house, her lover was not at home: he had gone off again to
+the revels at the tavern where he would meet such workingmen as his
+sweetheart’s future step-father.
+
+At the same time, as it fell, Brother Ignatius, of the order of Grey
+Friars, had come many times to hold forth at our house, by desire of my
+grand-uncle whose almoner he was, and when Herdegen announced to us on
+Ash Wednesday that the holy man had craved to be allowed to travel in
+his company as far as Ingolstadt, I foresaw no good issue; for albeit
+the Father was a right reverend priest, whose lively talk had many a
+time given me pleasure, it must for certain be his intent to speed my
+uncle’s wishes.
+
+In spite of all, Herdegen was in such deep grief at departing that I put
+away all doubts and fears.
+
+Ann, who felt in all matters as he felt and put her whole trust in him,
+was wise enough to know that he could have no bond with her kith and
+kin; nay, that it must be hard on him to have to call such a woman
+as Mistress Henneleinlein his aunt. Also he and she had agreed that
+hereafter he should dwell no more at Nuremberg, but seek some office and
+duty in the Imperial service; and Sir Franz had been diligent in asking
+his uncle’s good word, he being one of those highest in power at the
+Emperor’s court.
+
+Now, when a short time before his departing they were alone with me,
+Ann, bearing in mind this pact they had made, cried out: “You promise me
+we shall build our nest in some place far from hence; and be it where
+it may, wherever we may be left to ourselves and have but each other, a
+happy life must await us.”
+
+At this his eyes flashed, and he cried with a lad’s bold spirit:
+
+“With a doctor’s hood, at the Emperor’s court, I shall ere long be
+councillor, and at last, God willing, Chancellor of the Realm!”
+
+After this they spoke yet many loving and touching words, and when he
+was already in the saddle and waved her a last farewell, tears flowed
+from his eyes--
+
+I saw them for certain.--And at that moment I besought the Lord that He
+would rather chastise and try me with pain and grief, but bring these
+two together and let their marriage be crowned by the highest bliss ever
+vouchsafed to human hearts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Spring was past, and again the summer led me and Ann back into the green
+wood. Aunt Jacoba’s sickness was no whit amended, and the banishment
+of her only and comely son gnawed at her heart; but the more she needed
+tending and cheering the more Ann could do for her and the dearer she
+became to the heart of the sick woman.
+
+Kunz was ever in Venice. Herdegen wrote right loving letters at first
+from Padua, but then they came less often, and the last Ann ever had
+to show me was a mere feint which pleased me ill indeed, inasmuch as,
+albeit it was full of big words, it was empty of tidings of his life or
+of his heart’s desire. What all this must mean Ann, with her clear sense
+and true love, could not fail to see; nevertheless she ceased not from
+building on her lover’s truth; or, if she did not, she hid that from all
+the world, even from me.
+
+We came from the forest earlier than we were wont, on Saint Maurice’s
+day, forasmuch as that Ann could not be longer spared and, now more than
+ever, I could not bear to leave her alone.
+
+Uncle Christian rode to the town with us, and if he had before loved her
+well, in this last long time of our all being together he had taken her
+yet more into his heart. And now, whereas he had given her the right
+to warn him against taking too much wine, he was fain to call her
+his little watchman, by reason that it is the watchman’s part to give
+warning of the enemy’s onset.
+
+But while Ann was so truly beloved at the Forest lodge, on her return
+home she found no pleasant welcome. In her absence the coppersmith
+Pernhart had wooed her mother in good earnest, and the eldest daughter
+not being on the spot, had sped so well that the widow had yielded. Ann
+once made bold to beseech her mother with due reverence to give up
+her purpose, but she fell on her child’s neck, as though Ann were the
+mother, entreating her, with many tears, to let her have her will.
+Ann of a certainty would not now be long under her roof to cherish the
+younger children, and it was not in her power as their mother to guide
+them in the way in which their father would have them to walk. For
+this Ulman Pernhart was the fittest man. Her dead husband had been a
+schoolmate of her suitor’s, and of his brother the very reverend lord
+Bishop, and he had thought highly of Master Ulman. This it was gave
+her strength to follow the prompting of her heart. In this way did the
+mother try to move her child to look with favor on the desire of her
+fiery Italian heart, now shame-faced and coaxing, and anon with tears in
+her eyes; and albeit the widow was past five and thirty and her suitor
+nigh upon fifty, yet no man seeing the pair together would have made
+sport of their love. The Venice lady had lost so little of her youthful
+beauty and charms that it was in truth a marvel; and as to Master
+Pernhart, he was not a man to be overlooked, even among many.
+
+As he was at this time he might be taken for the very pattern of a
+stalwart and upright German mastercraftsman; nay, nor would a knight’s
+harness of mail have ill-beseemed him. Or ever he had thought of
+paying court to Mistress Giovanna I had heard the prebendary Master
+von Hellfeld speak of Pernhart as a right good fellow, of whom the city
+might be proud; and he then spoke likewise of Master Ulman’s brother,
+who had become a servant of the Holy Church, and while yet a young man
+had been raised to the dignity of a bishop.
+
+When the great schism had come to a happy ending, and one Head, instead
+of three, ruled the Church, Pope Martin V. had chosen him to sit in
+his council and kept him at Rome, where he was one of the powers of the
+Curia.
+
+Albeit his good German name of Pernhart was now changed to Bernardi,
+he had not ceased to love his native town and his own kin, and had so
+largely added to the wealth and ease of his own mother and his only
+brother that the coppersmith had been able to build himself a dwelling
+little behind those of the noble citizens. He had been forlorn in his
+great house of late, but no such cause as that was needed to move him
+to cast his eye on the fair widow of his very reverend brother’s best
+friend.
+
+While Ann was away in the forest Mistress Giovanna had let Pernhart into
+the secret of her daughter’s betrothal to Herdegen, and so soon as the
+young maid was at home again he had spoken to her of the matter, telling
+her, in few but hearty words, that she would be ever welcome to his
+house and there fill the place of his lost Gertrude; but that if she was
+fain to wed an honest man, he would make it his business to provide her
+outfit.
+
+These things, and much more, inclined me in his favor, little as I
+desired that he should wed the widow, for Herdegen’s sake; and when
+I met him for the first time as betrothed to Ann’s mother, and the
+grandlooking man shook my hand with hearty kindness, and then thanked
+me with warmth and simplicity for whatsoever I had done for her who
+henceforth would be his dearest and most precious treasure, I returned
+the warm grasp of his hand with all honesty, and it was from the bottom
+of my heart that I answered him, saying that I gladly hailed him as a
+new friend, albeit I could not hope for the same from my brother.
+
+He heard this with a strange smile, half mournful, but, meseemed, half
+proud; then he held forth his horny, hard-worked hand, and said that to
+be sure it was an ill-matched pair when such a hand as that should clasp
+a soft and white one such as might come out of a velvet sleeve; that
+whereas, in order to win the woman he loved, he had taken her tribe of
+children into the bargain, and fully purposed to have much joy of them
+and be a true father to them, my lord brother, if his love were no less
+true, must make the best of his father-in-law, whose honor, though he
+was but of simple birth, was as clean as ever another man’s in the eyes
+of God.
+
+And as we talked I found there was more and nobler matter in his brain
+and heart than I had ever weened I might find in a craftsman. We met
+often and learned to know each other well, and one day it fell that I
+asked him whether he had in truth forgiven the Junker through whom he
+had lost the one he loved best.
+
+He forthwith replied that I was not to lay the blame on one whom he
+would ever remember as a brave and true-hearted youth, inasmuch as it
+was not my cousin, but he himself who had put an end to the love-making
+between Gotz and Gertrude. It was after the breach between Gotz and his
+parents that it had been most hard to turn a deaf ear to the prayers of
+the devoted lover and of his own child. But, through all, he had borne
+in mind the doctrine by which his father had ever ruled his going,
+namely, not to bring on our neighbor such grief as would make our own
+heart sore. Therefore he examined himself as to what he would feel
+towards one who should make his child to wed against his will with a
+suitor he liked not; and whereas his own dignity as a man and his care
+for his daughter’s welfare forbade that he should give her in marriage
+to a youth whose kinsfolks would receive her with scorn and ill-feeling,
+rather than with love and kindness, he had at last set his heart hard
+against young Waldstromer, whom he had loved as his own son, and forced
+him to go far away from his sweetheart. I, in my heart, was strangely
+wroth with my cousin in that he had not staked his all to win so fair a
+maid; nay, and I made so bold as to confess that in Gertrude’s place I
+should have gone after my lover whithersoever he would, even against my
+father’s will.
+
+And again that proud smile came upon Ulman Pernhart’s bearded lips, and
+his eye flashed fire as he said: “My life moves in a narrow round, but
+all that dwell therein bend to my will as the copper bends under my
+hammer. If you think that the Junker gave in without a struggle you are
+greatly mistaken; after I had forbidden him the house, he had tempted
+Gertrude to turn against me and was ready to carry her off; nay, and
+would you believe it, my own mother sided with the young ones. The
+priest even was in readiness to marry them privily, and they would
+have won the day in spite of me. But the eyes of jealousy are ever
+the sharpest; my head apprentice, who was madly in love with the maid,
+betrayed the plot, and then, Mistress Margery, were things said and
+done--things concerning which I had best hold my peace. And if you crave
+to know them, you may ask my mother. You will see some day, if you do
+not scorn to enter my house and if you gain her friendship--and I doubt
+not that you will, albeit it is not granted to every one--she will be
+glad enough to complain of my dealings in this matter--mine, her
+own son’s, although on other points she is wont to praise my virtues
+over-loudly.”
+
+This discourse raised my cousin once more to his old place in my
+opinion, and I knew now that the honest glance of his blue eyes, which
+doubtless had won fair Gertrude’s heart, was trustworthy and true.
+
+Master Ulman Pernhart was married in a right sober fashion to fair
+Mistress Giovanna, and I remember to this day seeing them wed in Saint
+Laurence’s Church. It was a few months before this that I was taken
+for the first time to a dance at the town hall. There, as soon as I had
+forgotten my first little fears, I took my pleasure right gladly to the
+sound of the music, and I verily delighted in the dance. But albeit I
+found no lack of young ladies my friends, and still less of youths who
+would fain win my favor, I nevertheless lost not the feeling that I had
+left part of my very being at home; nay, that I scarce had a right to
+these joys, since my brothers were in a distant land and Ann could
+not share them with me, and while I was taking my pleasure she had the
+heart-ache.
+
+Then was there a second dance, and a third and fourth; and at home there
+came a whole troop of young men in their best apparel to ask of Cousin
+Maud, each after his own fashion, to be allowed to pay court to me;
+but albeit they were all of good family, and to many a one I felt no
+dislike, I felt nothing at all like love as I imagined it, and I would
+have nothing to say to any one of them. And all this I took with a light
+heart, for which Cousin Maud many a time,--and most rightly--reproved
+me.
+
+But at that time, and yet more as the months went on, I hardly knew
+my own mind; another fate than my own weighed most on my soul; and I
+thought so little of my own value that meseemed it could add to no man’s
+happiness to call me his. All else in life passed before my eyes like a
+shadow; a time came when all joy was gone from me, and my suitors sought
+me in vain in the dancing-hall, for a great and heavy grief befell me.
+
+All was at an end--even now I scarce can bear to write the
+words--between Ann and Herdegen; and by no fault of hers, but only and
+wholly by reason of his great and unpardonable sin.
+
+But I will write down in order how it came about. So early as at
+Martinmas I heard from Cousin Maud--and my grand-uncle had told
+her--that Herdegen had quitted Padua and that it was his intent to take
+the degree of doctor at Paris whither the famous Gerson’s great genius
+was drawing the studious youth of all lands; and his reason for this
+was that a bloody fray had made the soil of Italy too hot for his feet.
+“These tidings boded evil; all the more as neither we nor Ann had a word
+from Herdegen in his own hand to tell us that he had quitted the country
+and his school. Then, in my fear and grief, I could not help going to my
+grand-uncle, but he would have nothing to say to me or to Cousin Maud,
+or else he put us off with impatient answers, or empty words that meant
+nothing. Thus we lived in dread and sorrow, till at last, a few days
+before Pernhart was married, a letter came to me from Eppelein, and I
+have it before me now, among other papers all gone yellow.
+
+“From your most duteous and obedient servant Eppelein Gockel to the
+lady Margery Schopper,” was the superscription. And he went on to excuse
+himself in that he knew not the art of writing, and had requested the
+service of the Magister of the young Count von Solms.
+
+“And inasmuch as I erewhile pledged my word as a man to the illustrious
+and worshipful Mistress Margery, in her sisterly care, that I would
+write to her if we at any time needed the favor of her counsel and help,
+I would ere now have craved for the Magister’s aid if the all-merciful
+Virgin had not succored us in due season.
+
+“Nevertheless my heart was moved to write to you, gracious and
+worshipful Mistress Margery, inasmuch as I wist you would be in sorrow,
+and longing for tidings of my gracious master; for it is by this time
+long since I gave his last letter for the Schopperhof in charge to the
+German post-runner; and meseems that my gracious master has liked to
+give his precious time to study and to other pastimes rather than to
+those who, being his next of kin, are ever ready and willing to be
+patient with him; as indeed they could if they pleased enquire of my
+lord the knight Sebald Im Hoff as to his well-being. My gracious master
+gave him to know by long letters how matters were speeding with him,
+and of a certainty told him how that the old Marchese and his nephews,
+malicious knaves, came to blows with us at Padua by reason of the old
+Marchese’s young and fair lady, who held my gracious master so dear that
+all Padua talked thereof.
+
+“Nevertheless it was an evil business, inasmuch as three of them fell
+on us in the darkness of night; and if the merciful Saints had not
+protected us with their special grace nobler and more honorable blood
+should have been shed than those rogues. Also we came to Paris in good
+heart; and safe and sound in body; and this is a city wherein life is
+far more ravishing than in Nuremberg.
+
+“Whereas I have known full well that you, most illustrious Mistress
+Margery, have ever vouchsafed your gracious friendship to Mistress Ann
+Spiesz--and indeed I myself hold her in the highest respect, as a lady
+rich in all virtue--I would beseech her to put away from her heart all
+thought of my gracious master as soon as may be, and to strive no more
+to keep his troth, forasmuch as it can do no good: Better had she look
+for some other suitor who is more honest in his intent, that so she may
+not wholly waste her maiden days--which sweet Saint Katharine forbid!
+Yet, most worshipful Mistress Margery, I entreat you with due submission
+not to take this amiss in your beloved brother, nor to withdraw from him
+any share of your precious love, whereas my gracious master may rightly
+look higher for his future wife. And as touching his doings now in his
+unmarried state, of us the saying is true: Like master, like man. And
+whereas I, who am but a poor and simple serving man, have never been
+fain to set my heart on one only maid, no less is to be looked for in my
+gracious master, who is rich and of noble birth.”
+
+This epistle would of a certainty have moved me to laughter at any other
+time but, as things stood, the matter and manner of the low varlet’s
+letter in daring to write thus of Ann, roused me to fury. And yet he
+was a brave fellow, and of rare faithfulness to his master; for when the
+Marchese’s nephew had fallen upon Herdegen, he had wrenched the sword
+out of the young nobleman’s hand at the peril of his own life and had
+thereafter modestly held his peace as to that brave deed. It was, in
+truth, hard not to betray the coming of this letter, even by a look; yet
+did I hide it; but when another letter was brought, not long after, all
+care and secrecy were vain.
+
+Oh! that dreadful letter. I could not hide the matter of it; but I let
+pass her mother’s wedding before I confessed to Ann what my brother had
+written to me.
+
+That cruel letter lies before me now. It is longer than any he had
+written me heretofore, and I will here write it fair, for indeed I could
+not, an I would, copy the writing, so wild and reckless as it is.
+
+“All must be at an end, Margery, betwixt Ann and me”--and those first
+words stung me like a whip-lash. “There. ‘Tis written, and now you
+know it. I was never worthy of her, for I have sold my heart’s love for
+money, as Judas sold the Lord.
+
+“Not that my love or longing are dead. Even while I write I feel dragged
+to her; a thousand voices cry to me that there is but one Ann, and when
+a few weeks ago the young Sieur de Blonay made so bold as to vaunt of
+his lady and her rose-red as above all other ladies and colors, my sword
+compelled him to yield the place of honor to blue--for whose sake you
+know well.
+
+“And nevertheless I must give her up. Although I fled from temptation,
+it pursued me, and when it fell upon me, after a short battle I was
+brought low. The craving for those joys of the world which she tried to
+teach me to scorn, is strong within me. I was born to sin; and now as
+matters stand they must remain. A wight such as I am, who shoots through
+life like a wild hawk, cannot pause nor think until a shaft has broken
+his wings. The bitter fate which bids me part from Ann has stricken me
+thus, and now I can only look back and into my own soul; and the fairer,
+the sweeter, the loftier is she whom I have lost, the darker and more
+vile, meseemeth, is all I discover in myself.
+
+“Yet, or ever I cast behind me all that was pure and noble, righteous
+and truly blissful, I hold up the mirror to my own sinful face, and
+will bring, myself to show to you, my Margery, the hideous countenance I
+behold therein.
+
+“I will not cloke nor spare myself in anything; and yet, at this hour,
+which finds me sober and at home, having quitted my fellows betimes this
+night, I verily believe that I might have done well, and not ill, and
+what was pleasing in the sight of God, and in yours, my Margery, and in
+the eyes of Ann and of all righteous folk, if only some other hand had
+had the steering of my life’s bark.
+
+“Margery, we are orphans; and there is nothing a man needs so much, in
+the years while he is still unripe and unsure of himself, as a master
+whom he must revere in fear or in love. And we--I--Margery, what was my
+grand-uncle to me?
+
+“You and I again are of one blood and so near in age that, albeit one
+may counsel the other, it is scarce to be hoped that I should take your
+judgment, or you mine, without cavil.
+
+“Then Cousin Maud! With all the mother’s love she has ever shown us, all
+I did was right in her eyes; and herein doubtless lies the difference
+between a true mother, who brought us with travail into the world, and
+a loving foster-mother, who fears to turn our hearts from her by
+harshness; but the true mother punishes her children wherein she deems
+it good, inasmuch as she is sure of their love. My cousin’s love was
+great indeed, but her strictness towards me was too small. Out of sheer
+love, when I went to the High School she kept my purse filled; then, as
+I grew older, our uncle did likewise, though for other reasons; and now
+that I have redenied Ann, to do his pleasure, I loathe myself. Nay, more
+and more since I am raised to such fortune as thousands may envy me;
+inasmuch as my granduncle purposes to make me his heir by form of law.
+Last night, when I came home with great gains from play in my pocket, I
+was nigh to put an end to the woes of this life....
+
+“But have no fear, Margery. A light heart soon will bring to the top
+again what ruth, at this hour, is bearing to the deeps. Of what use is
+waiting? Am I then the first Junker who has made love to a sweet maid of
+low birth, only to forget her for a new lady love?
+
+“Sooth to say, Margery, my confessor, to whom--albeit with bitter
+pains--I am laying open every fold of my heart--yes, Margery, if Ann’s
+cradle had been graced with a coat of arms matters would be otherwise.
+But to call a copper-smith father-in-law, and little Henneleinlein
+Madame Aunt! In church, to nod from the old seats of the Schoppers to
+all those common folk as my nearest kin, to meet the lute-player among
+my own people, teaching the lads and maids their music, and to greet him
+as dear grandfather, to see my brethren and sisters-in-law busy in the
+clerks’ chambers or work-shops--all this I say is bitter to the taste;
+and yet more when the tempter on the other side shows the gaudy young
+gentleman the very joys dearest to his courtly spirit. And with what
+eloquence and good cheer has Father Ignatius set all this before mine
+eyes here in Paris, doubtless with honest intent; and he spoke to my
+heart soberly and to edification, setting forth all that the precepts of
+the Lord, and my old and noble family required of me.
+
+“Much less than all this would have overruled so feeble a wight as I am.
+I promised Father Ignatius to give up Ann, and, on my home-coming, to
+submit in all things to my uncle and to agree with him as to what each
+should yield up and renounce to the other--as though it were a matter of
+merchandise in spices from the Levant, or silk kerchiefs from Florence;
+and thereupon the holy Friar gave me his benediction, as though my
+salvation were henceforth sure in this world and the next.
+
+“I rode forth with him even to the gate, firm in the belief that I had
+thrown the winning number in life’s game; but scarce had I turned my
+horse homeward when I wist that I had cast from me all the peace and joy
+of my soul.
+
+“It is done. I have denied Ann--given her up forever--and whereas she
+must one day hear it, be it done at once. You, my poor Margery, I make
+my messenger. I have tried, in truth, to write to Ann, but it would not
+do. One thing you must say, and that is that, even when I have sinned
+most against her, I have never forgotten her; nay, that the memory of
+that happy time when she was fain to call herself my Laura moved me to
+ride forth to Treviso, where, in the chapel of the Franciscan Brethren,
+there may be seen a head of the true Laura done by the limner Simone di
+Martino, the friend of Petrarca, a right worthy work of art. Methought
+she drew me to her with voice and becks. And yet, and yet--woe, woe is
+me!
+
+“My pen has had a long rest, for meseemed I saw first Petrarca’s lady
+with her fair braids, and then Ann with her black hair, which shone with
+such lustrous, soft waves, and lay so nobly on the snow-white brow. Her
+eyes and mien are verily those of Laura; both alike pure and lofty.
+But here my full heart over-flows; it cannot forget how far Ann exceeds
+Laura in sweet woman’s grace.
+
+“Day is breaking, and I can but sigh forth to the morning: ‘Lost, lost!
+I have lost the fairest and the best!’
+
+“Then I sat long, sunk in thought, looking out of window, across the
+bare tree-tops in the garden, at the grey mist which seems as though it
+ended only at the edge of the world. It drips from the leafless boughs,
+and mine eyes--I need not hide it--will not be kept dry. It is as though
+the leaves from the tree of my life had all dropped on the ground--nay,
+as though my own guilty hand had torn them from the stem.”
+
+“I have but now come home from a right merry company! It is of a truth a
+merciful fashion which turns night into day. Yes, Margery, for one
+whose first desire is to forget many matters, this Paris is a place of
+delight. I have drunk deep of the wine-cup, but I would call any man
+villain who should say that I am drunk. Can I not write as well as ever
+another--and this I know, that if I sold myself it was not cheap. It
+has cost me my love, and whereas it was great the void is great to
+fill. Wherefore I say: ‘Bring hither all that giveth joy, wine and
+love-making, torches and the giddy dame in velvet and silk, dice and
+gaming, and mad rides, the fresh greenwood and bloody frays!’ Is this
+nothing? Is it even a trivial thing?
+
+“How, when all is said and done, shall we answer the question as to
+which is the better lot: heavenly love, soaring on white swan’s wings
+far above all that is common dust, as Ann was wont to sing of it, or
+earthly joys, bold and free, which we can know only with both feet on
+the clod?
+
+“I have made choice and can never turn back. Long life to every
+pleasure, call it by what name you will! You have a gleeful, rich, and
+magnificent brother, little Margery; and albeit the simple lad of old,
+who chose to wife the daughter of a poor clerk, may have been dearer to
+you--as he was to my own heart--yet love him still! Of his love you are
+ever sure; remember him in your prayers; and as for that you have to
+say to Ann, say it in such wise that she shall not take it over much to
+heart. Show her how unworthy of her is this brother of yours, though in
+your secret soul you shall know that my guardian saint never had, nor
+ever shall have, any other face than hers.
+
+“Now will I hasten to seal this letter and wake Eppelein that he may
+give it to the post-rider. I am weary of tearing up many sheets of
+paper, but if I were to read through in all soberness that I have
+written half drunk, this letter would of a certainty go the way of many
+others written by me to you, and to my beloved, faithful, only love, my
+lost Ann.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Master Pernhart was wed on Tuesday after Palm Sunday. Ann was wont to
+come to our house early on Wednesday morning, and this was ever a happy
+meeting to which we gave the name of “the Italian spinning-hour,” by
+reason that one of us would turn her wheel and draw out the yarn, while
+the other read aloud from the works of the great Italian poets.
+
+Nor did Ann fail to come on this Wednesday after the wedding; but I had
+thrust Herdegen’s letter into the bosom of my bodice and awaited her
+with a quaking heart.
+
+Her spirit was heavy; I could see in her eyes that they had shed tears,
+and at my first question they filled again. Had she not seen her mother
+this morn beaming with happiness, and then remembered, with new pangs
+of heartache, the father she had lost scarce a year ago and whose image
+seemed to have faded out of the mind of the wife he had so truly loved.
+
+When I said to her that I well understood her sorrow, but that I had
+other matter to lay before her which might bring her yet more cruel
+grief, she knew that it must be as touching Herdegen; and whereas before
+I spoke I could only clasp her to me and could not bring out a single
+word, she thrust me from her and cried: “Herdegen? Speak! Some ill has
+come upon him! Margery--Merciful Virgin! How you are sobbing!--Dead--is
+he dead?”
+
+As she said these words her cheeks turned pale and, when I shook my
+head, she seized my hand and asked sadly: “Worse? Then he has broken
+faith once more?”
+
+Meseemed I could never speak again; and yet I might not keep silence,
+and the words broke from my bursting heart: “Ah, worse and far
+worse; more strange, more terrible! I have it here, in his
+hand.--Henceforth--my uncle, his rich inheritance.... All is over, Ann,
+betwixt him and you. And I--oh, that he should have left it to me to
+tell it!”
+
+She stood in front of me as if rooted to the ground, and it was some
+time before she could find a word. Then she said in a dull voice: “Where
+is the letter?”
+
+I snatched it out of the bosom of my dress and was about to rend it as
+I went towards the hearth, but she stood in my way, snatched the letter
+violently from me, and cried: “Then if all is at an end, I will at any
+rate be clear about it. No false comfort, no cloaking of the truth!”
+
+And she strove to wrench Herdegen’s letter from me. But my strength was
+greater than hers, indeed full great for a maid; yet my heart told me
+that in her case my will would have been the same, so I made no more
+resistance but yielded up the letter. Then and there she read it; and
+although she was pale as death and I marked how her lips trembled and
+every nerve in her body, her eyes were dry, and when she presently
+folded the letter and held it forth to me, she said with light scorn
+which cut in--to the heart: “This then is what matters have come to! He
+has sold his love and his sweetheart! Only her face, it would seem, is
+not in the bargain by reason that he keeps that to rob his saint of her
+holiness! Well, he is free, and the wild joys of life in every form are
+to make up for love; and yet--and yet, Margery, pray that he may not end
+miserably!”
+
+Gentle pity had sounded in these last words, and I took her hand and
+besought her right earnestly: “And you, Ann. Do you pray with me.” But
+she shook her head and replied: “Nay, Margery; all is at an end between
+him and me, even thoughts and yearning. I know him no more--and now
+let me go.” With this she put on her little cloak, and was by the door
+already when Cousin Maud came in with some sweetmeats, as she was ever
+wont to do when we thus sat spinning; and as soon as she had set down
+that which she was carrying she opened her arms to the outcast maid,
+to clasp her to her bosom and comfort her with good words; but Ann only
+took her hand, pressed it to her lips, and vanished down the stairs.
+
+At dinner that morning the dishes would have been carried out as full
+as they were brought in, if Master Peter had not done his best to hinder
+it; and as soon as the meal was over I could no longer bear myself in
+the house, but went off straight to the Pernharts’.
+
+There the air seemed warmer and lighter, and Mistress Giovanna welcomed
+me to her new home right gladly; but she would not suffer me to go to
+Ann’s chamber, forasmuch as that she had a terrible headache and had
+prayed to see no one, not even me. Yet I felt strongly drawn to her, and
+as the new-made wife knew that she and I were as one she did not forbid
+me from going upstairs, where Pernhart had made dead Gertrude’s room
+all clean and fresh for Ann. Now whereas I knew that when her head
+ached every noise gave her pain, I mounted the steps with great care and
+opened the door softly without knocking. Also she was not aware of my
+coming. I would fain have crept away unseen; or even rather would have
+fallen on my knees by her side to crave her forgiveness for the bitter
+wrong my brother had done her. She was lying on the bed, her face hidden
+in the pillows, and her slender body shook as in an ague fit, while she
+sobbed low but right bitterly. Nor did she mark my presence there till
+I fell on my knees by the bed and cast my arms about her. Then she
+suddenly raised herself from the pillows, passed her hand across her wet
+eyes, and entreated me to leave her. Yet I did not as she bade me; and
+when she saw how deeply I took her griefs to heart, she rose from her
+couch, on which she had lain down with all her clothes on, and only
+prayed me that this should be the last time I would ever speak with her
+of Herdegen.
+
+Then she led me to her table and showed me things which she had laid out
+thereon; poor little gifts which my brother had brought her; every one,
+except only the Petrarca with the names in gold: Anna-Laura. And she
+desired that I would take them all and send them back to Herdegen at
+some fitting time.
+
+As I nodded sadly enough, she must have seen in my face that I missed
+the little volumes and, ere I was aware, she had taken them out of her
+chest and thrown them in with the rest.
+
+Then she cried in a changed voice: “That likewise--Ah, no, not that! It
+is the best gift he ever made me, and he was so good and kind then--You
+do not know, you do not know!--How I long to keep the books! But away,
+away with them!”
+
+Then she put everything into a silken kerchief, tied it up with hard
+knots, pushed the bundle into my hand, and besought me to go home.
+
+I went home, sick at heart, with the bundle in my cold hand, and when
+the door was opened by Akusch, who, poor wight, bore our bitter winters
+but ill, I heard from above-stairs loud and right merry laughter and
+glee; and I knew it for the voice of Cousin Maud who seemed overpowered
+by sheer mirth. My wrath flared up, for our house this day was of a
+certainty the last where such merriment was fitting.
+
+My cheeks were red from the snow-storm, yet rage made them even hotter
+as I hastened up-stairs. But before I could speak a single word Cousin
+Maud, with whom were the Magister and old Pirkheimer the member of
+council, cried out as soon as she saw me: “Only imagine, Margery, what
+rare tidings his Excellency has brought us.” And she went on to tell
+me, with great joy, while his worship added facts now and then, that
+the Magister had since yestereve become a rich man, inasmuch as his
+godmother, old Dame Oelhaf, had died, leaving him no small wealth.
+
+This was verily marvellous and joyful hearing, for many had imagined the
+deceased to be a needy woman who had carried on the business left her by
+her husband, albeit she had no service but that of an ill-paid shop-lad,
+who was like one of the lean ears of Pharaoh’s dream and moreover blind
+of one eye. Nevertheless I remembered well that her little shop, which
+was no greater than a fair-sized closet, had ever been filled with
+buyers when we had stolen in, against all commands, to buy a few dried
+figs. I can see the little crippled mistress now as she limped across
+the shop or along the street, and the boys would call after her: “Hip
+hop! Lame duck!” and all Nuremberg knew her better by the nickname of
+the Lame Duck than by her husband’s.
+
+That the poor little woman had departed this life we had all heard
+yestereve; but even the Magister had fully believed that her leavings
+would scarce be worth the pains of a walk to the town hall. But now
+the learned advocate told him that by her will, drawn up and attested
+according to law, she had devised to him all she had to leave as being
+the only child she had ever been thought worthy to hold at the font.
+
+Then, due inquisition being made in her little place, a goodly number
+of worn stockings were found in the straw of her bed and other hiding
+places, and in them, instead of her lean little legs, many a gulden and
+Hungarian ducat of good gold. Moreover she had a house at Nordlingen and
+a mill at Schwabach, and thus the inheritance that had come to Magister
+Peter was altogether no small matter.
+
+The simple man had never hoped for such fortune, and it was in truth
+laughable to see how he forgot his dignity, and leaped first on one foot
+and then the other, crying: “No, no! It cannot be true! Then poor Irus
+is become rich Croesus!”
+
+And thus he went on till he left us with Master Perkheimer. Then I
+laughed with my cousin; and when I was once more alone I marvelled at
+the mercy of a benevolent Providence, by whose ruling a small joy makes
+us to forget our heavy griefs, though it were but for a moment.
+
+At night, to be sure, I could not help thinking with fresh sorrow of
+that which had come upon us; but then, on the morrow, I saw the Magister
+again, and would fain have rejoiced in his gladness; but lo, he was
+now silent and dull, and at the first opening he led ne aside and said,
+right humbly and with downcast eyes: “Think no evil of me, Mistress
+Margery, in that yestereve my joy in earthly possessions was over much
+for my wits; believe me, it was not the glitter of mammon, but far other
+matters that turned my brain.” And he confessed to me that he had ever
+borne Ann in his heart, even when she was but a young maid at school,
+and had made the winning of her the goal of his life. To this end, and
+whereas without some means of living he could not hope, he had laid
+by every penny he had earned by teaching at our house and in the Latin
+classes, and had foregone the buying of many a fine and learned book, or
+even of a jar of wine to drink in the company of his fellows. Thus had
+he saved a goodly sum of money; nay, he had thought himself within
+reach of his high aim when he had discovered, that Christmas eve before
+Herdegen’s departing, that the Junker had robbed him of his one ewe
+lamb. There was nought left for him to do but to hold his peace, albeit
+in bitter sorrow, till within the last few days Heaven had showered its
+mercies on him. The powerful Junker--for so it was that he ever spoke
+and thought of my elder brother--had it seemed, released the lamb, and
+he himself was now in a state of life in which he might right well set
+up housekeeping. Then he went on to beseech me with all humbleness to
+speak a word for him to the lady of his choice, and I found it not in my
+heart to give the death-blow forthwith to his fond and faithful hopes,
+albeit I wist full surely that they were all in vain. Thus I bid him to
+have patience at least till Christmas, inasmuch as he should give Ann
+time to put away the memory of Herdegen; and he consented with simple
+kindness, although he had changed much and for the better in these late
+years, and could boast of good respect among the learned men of our
+city; and thus, albeit not a wealthy man, and in spite of his mature
+years, he would be welcomed as a son-in-law by many a mother of
+daughters.
+
+Thus the Magister, who had waited so long, held back even yet awhile.
+One week followed another, the third Sunday in Advent went by, and the
+holy tide was at hand when the delay should end which the patient suitor
+had allowed.
+
+I had seen Ann less often than in past times. In the coppersmith’s great
+household she commonly had her hands full, and I felt indeed that her
+face was changed towards me. A kind of fear, which I had not marked in
+her of old, had come over her of late; meseemed she lived ever in dread
+of some new insult and hurt; also she had courteously but steadfastly
+refused to join in the festivities to which she was bidden by Elsa Ebner
+or others of the upper class, and even said nay to uncle Christian’s
+bidding to a dance, to be given this very day, being his name-day, at
+his lodgings in the Castle. I likewise was bidden and had accepted my
+godfather’s kindness; but my timid endeavor to move Ann to do his will,
+as her best and dearest old friend, brought forth the sorrowful answer
+that I myself must judge how little she was fit for any merry-makings
+of the kind. My friendship with her, which had once been my highest joy,
+had thus lost all its lightheartedness, albeit it had not lost all its
+joys, nor was she therefore the less dear to me though I dealt with
+her now as with a well-beloved child for whose hurt we are not wholly
+blameless.
+
+Now it fell that on this day, the 20th December, being my godfather’s
+name-day, I found her not with the rest, but in her own chamber in
+violent distress. Her cheeks were on fire, and she was in such turmoil
+as though she had escaped some terrible persecution. Thereupon I
+questioned her in haste and fear, and she answered me with reserve,
+till, on a sudden, she cried:
+
+“It is killing me! I will bear it no more!” and hid her face in her
+hands, I clasped her in my arms, and to soothe her spoke in praise of
+her stepfather, Master Pernhart, and his high spirit and good heart;
+then she sobbed aloud and said: “Oh, for that matter! If that were all!”
+
+And suddenly, or even I was aware, she had cast her arms about me and
+kissed my lips and cheeks with great warmth. Then she cried out: “Oh,
+Margery! You cannot turn from me! I indeed tried to turn from you; and I
+could have done it, even if it had cost me my heart’s blood! But now and
+here I ask you: Is it just that I should lay myself on the rack because
+he has so cruelly hurt me? No, no. And I need your true soul to help me
+to shake off the burden which is crushing me to the earth and choking
+me. Help me to bear it, or I shall come to a bad end--I shall follow her
+who died here in this very chamber.”
+
+My soul had ever stood open to her and so I told her right heartily, and
+her face became once more as it had been of old; and albeit those things
+she had to tell me were not indeed comforting, still I could in all
+honesty bid her to be of good heart; and I presently felt that to
+unburden herself of all that had weighed upon her these last few weeks,
+did her as much good as a bath. For it still was a pain to her to see
+her mother cooing like a pigeon round her new mate. She herself was full
+of his praises, albeit this man, well brought up and trained to good
+manners, would ever abide by the old customs of the old craftsmen, and
+his venerable mother likewise held fast by them, so that his wife
+had striven in vain to change the ways of the house. Thus master and
+mistress, son and daughter, foreman and apprentice, sewing man and
+maid all ate, as they had ever done, at the same table. And whereas
+the daughters, by old custom, sat in order on the mother’s side, the
+youngest next to her and the oldest at the end, it thus fell that Ann
+was placed next to the foreman, who was that very one who had betrayed
+Gotz Waldstromer to his master because he had himself cast an eye on
+Gertrude. The young fellow had ere long set his light heart on Ann; and
+being a fine lad, and the sole son of a well-to-do master in Augsburg,
+he was likewise a famous wooer and breaker of maiden hearts, and could
+boast of many a triumphant love affair among the daughters of the
+simpler class. He was, in his own rank of life, cock of the walk, as
+such folks say; and I remembered well having seen him at an apprentices’
+dance at the May merrymakings, whither he had come apparelled in a
+rose-colored jerkin and light-hued hose, bedecked with flowers and
+greenery in his cap and belt; he had fooled with the daughters of the
+master of his guild like the coxcomb he was, and whirled them off to
+dance as though he did them high honor by paying court to them. It
+might, to be sure, have given him a lesson to find that his master’s
+fair daughter scorned his suit; yet that sank not deep, inasmuch as it
+was for the sake of a Junker of high degree. With Ann he might hope for
+better luck; for although from the first she gave him to wit that he
+pleased her not, he did not therefore leave her in peace, and this very
+morning, finding her alone in the hall, he had made so bold as to put
+forth his hand to clasp her. Albeit she had forthwith set him in his
+place, and right sharply, it seemed that to protect herself against his
+advances there was no remedy but a complaint to his master, which would
+disturb the peace of the household. She was indeed able enough to take
+care of herself and to ward off any unseemly boldness on his part;
+but she felt her noble purity soiled by contact with that taint of
+commonness of which she was conscious in this young fellow’s ways, and
+in many other daily experiences.
+
+Every meal, with the great dish into which the apprentice dipped his
+spoon next to hers, was a misery to her; and when the master’s old
+mother marked this, and noted also how uneasily she submitted to her
+new place and part in life, seeing likewise Ann’s tear-stained eyes and
+sorrowful countenance, she conceived that all this was by reason that
+Ann’s pride could hardly bend to endure life in a craftsman’s dwelling.
+And her heart was turned from her son’s step-daughter, whom at first she
+had welcomed right kindly; she overlooked her as a rule, or if she
+spoke to her, it was in harsh and ungracious tones. This, as Ann saw
+its purpose, hurt her all the more, as she saw more clearly that the new
+grandmother was a warm-hearted and worthy and right-minded woman, from
+whose lips fell many a wise word, while she was as kind to the younger
+children as though they had been her own grandchildren. Nay, one had but
+to look at her to see that she was made of sound stuff, and had head and
+heart both in the right place.
+
+A few hours since Ann had opened her heart to her Father confessor, the
+reverend prebendary von Hellfeld; and he had counselled her to take the
+veil and win heavenly bliss in a convent as the bride of Christ. And
+whereas all she craved was peace, and a refuge from the world wherein
+she had suffered so much, and Cousin Maud and I likewise deemed it the
+better course for her, she would gladly have followed this good counsel,
+but that her late dear father had ever been strongly averse to the life
+of the cloister. Self-seeking, he would say, is at the root of all
+evil, and he who becomes an alien from this world and its duties to seek
+happiness in a convent--inasmuch as that beatitude for which monks and
+nuns strive is nothing else than a higher form of happiness, extending
+beyond the grave to the very end of all things--may indeed intend to
+pursue the highest aim, and yet it is but self-seeking, although of
+the loftiest and noblest kind. Also, but a few days ere he died, he had
+admonished Ann, in whom he had long discerned the true teacher of his
+younger children, to warn them above all things against self-seeking,
+inasmuch as now that the hand of death was already on him, he found his
+chiefest comfort in the assurance of having labored faithfully, trusting
+in his Redeemer’s grace, to do all that in him lay for his own kith and
+kin, and for other folks’ orphans, whether rich or poor.
+
+This discourse had sunk deep into Ann’s soul, and had been in her mind
+when she spoke such brave words to Herdegen, exhorting him to higher
+aims. Now, again, coming forth from the good priest’s door, she had
+met her grand-uncle the organist, and asking him what he would say if
+a hapless and forlorn maid should seek the peace she had lost in the
+silence of the cloister, the simple man looked her full in the eyes and
+murmured sadly to himself: “Alack! And has it come to this!” Then he
+went close up to her, raised her drooping head, and cried in a cheering
+voice:
+
+“In a cloister? You, in a cloister! You, our Ann, who have already
+learnt to be so good a mother in the Sisters’s school? No child, and
+again and again I say No. Pay heed rather to the saying which your old
+grand-uncle once heard from the lips of a wise and good man, when in
+the sorest hour of his life he was about to knock at the gate of a
+Cistercian convent.--His words were: ‘Though thou lose all thou deemest
+thy happiness, if thou canst but make the happiness of others, thou
+shalt find it again in thine own heart.’”
+
+And at a later day old Heyden himself told me that he, who while yet
+but a youth had been the prefectus of the town-pipers, had been nigh
+to madness when his wife, his Elslein, had been snatched from him after
+scarce a year and a half of married life. After he had recovered his
+wits, he had conceived that any balance or peace of mind was only to be
+found in a convent, near to God; and it was at that time that the
+wise and excellent Ulman Stromer had spoken the words which had been
+thenceforth the light and guiding line of his life. He had remained in
+the world; but he had renounced the more honorable post of prefect of
+the town-musicians, and taken on him the humble one of organist, in
+which it had been granted to him to offer up his great gift of music as
+it were a sacrifice to Heaven. This maxim, which had spared the virtuous
+old man to the world, made its mark on Ann likewise; and whereas I saw
+how gladly she had received the doctrine that happiness should be found
+in making others happy, I prayed her to join me in taking it henceforth
+as the guiding lamp of our lives. At this she was well pleased; and she
+went on to point wherein and how we should henceforth strive to forget
+ourselves for our neighbor’s sake, with that soaring flight of soul in
+which I could scarce follow her but as a child lags after a butterfly or
+a bird.
+
+Then, when I presently saw that she was in better heart, I took courage,
+but in jest, being sure of her refusal, to plead the Magister’s suit.
+This, however, was as I was departing; I had already stayed and delayed
+her over-long, inasmuch as I had yet to array myself for the feast at
+Uncle Christian’s. But, as I was about to speak; a serving man came
+in with a letter written by the kind old man to Ann herself, his “dear
+watchman” in which, for the third time, he besought her, with pressing
+warmth, not to refuse to go to him on his name day and pledge him in the
+loving cup to his health and happiness.
+
+With the help of this tender appeal I made her say she would go; yet she
+spoke the words in haste and great agitation.
+
+My uncle’s messenger had hindered my suing, so while we hastily looked
+through Ann’s store of holiday raiment, I brought my pleading for Master
+Peter to an end; and what I looked for came, in truth, to pass: without
+seeming one whit surprised she steadfastly rejected his suit, saying
+that he was the poor, good, faithful Magister, and worthy to win a wife
+whose heart was all his own.
+
+At my uncle’s house that night, with the exception of certain learned
+and reverend gentlemen, Ann alone was not of gentle birth. Yet was she
+in no wise the least, neither in demeanor nor in attire; and when I
+beheld her in the ante-chamber, all lighted up with wax tapers, in her
+sky-blue gown, thanking the master of the house and his sister--who kept
+house for him--for their condescension, as she upraised her great eyes
+with loving respect, I could have clasped her in my arms in the face
+of all the world, and I marvelled how my brother Herdegen could have
+sinfully cast such a jewel from him.
+
+Then, when we went on together into the guest chamber, it fell that the
+town-pipers at that minute ceased to play and there was silence on all,
+as though a flourish of trumpets had warned of the approach of a prince;
+and yet it was only in honor of Ann and her wondrous beauty. Each and
+all of the young men there would, meseemed, gladly have stepped into
+Herdegen’s place, and she was so fully taken up with dancing that she
+could scarce mark how diligently all the mothers and maidens overlooked
+her. Howbeit, Ursula Tetzel was not content with that, but went up to
+her and with a sneer enquired whether Junker Schopper at Paris were
+well.
+
+Ann drew herself up with pride and hastily answered that if any one
+craved news of him he had best apply to Mistress Ursula Tetzel, inasmuch
+as she was ever wont to have a keen eye on her dear cousin.
+
+At this Ursula cried out: “How well our old schoolmate remembers the
+lessons she learnt; even the fable of the Fox and the Grapes!” then,
+turning to me she added: “Nor has she lost her skill in learning; she
+has not long been in her stepfather’s dwelling and she has already
+mastered the art of hitting blows as the coppersmiths do.” And she
+turned her back on us both.
+
+And presently, when it came to her turn to join the chain in which Ann
+was taking part, I marked well that she urged the youth she danced with
+to stand away from the craftsman’s daughter. Howbeit I at once brought
+her plot to naught and the young gentleman to shame. Not that she needed
+any such defence, for her beauty led every man to seek her above all
+others. And when, at supper, Uncle Christian called her to his side and
+made it fully manifest to all present how dear she was to his faithful
+heart, I hoped that indeed the day was won for her, and that henceforth
+our friendship would be regarded as a matter apart from any concern
+with her step-father the coppersmith. What need she care about those
+discourteous women, who made it, to be sure, plain enough at their
+departing, that they took her presence there amiss.
+
+On our way home methought she was in a meditative mood, and as we parted
+she bid me go to see her early next morning. This I should have done in
+any case, inasmuch as I knew no greater pleasure, after a feast or dance
+at which we had been together, than to talk with her of any matter we
+might each have marked, but there was something more than this in her
+mind.
+
+Next day, indeed, when I had greeted her, she had lost her cheerful mien
+of the day before; it was plain to see that she had not slept, and I
+presently learned that she had been thinking through the night what her
+life must be, and how she could best fulfill the vow we had both made.
+The more diligently she had considered of the matter, the more worthy
+had she deemed our purpose; and the dance at my Uncle Christian’s had
+clearly proven to her that among our class there were few to whom her
+presence could be welcome, and none to whom it could bring any real
+pleasure.
+
+In this she was doubtless right; yet was I startled when, with the
+steadfast will which she ever showed, she said that, after duly weighing
+the matter, she had made up her mind to accept the Magister.
+
+When she perceived how greatly I was amazed, she besought me, with the
+same eager haste as I had marvelled at the day before, that I would not
+contend against a conclusion she had fully weighed; inasmuch as that the
+Magister was a worthy man whom she could make truly happy. Moreover, his
+newly-acquired wealth would enable her to help many indigent persons in
+their need and misery. I enquired of her earnestly how about any love
+for him, and she broke out with much vehemence, saying that I must know
+for certain that for her all love and the joys of love were numbered
+with the dead. She would tell this to Master Peter with all honesty,
+and she was sure that he would be content with her friendship and warm
+goodwill.
+
+But all this she poured out as though she could not endure to hear her
+own words. An inward voice at the same time warned me that she had made
+up her mind to this step, in order that Herdegen might fully understand
+that to him she was lost for ever, albeit I had not given up all hope
+that they might some day come together, and that Ann’s noble love of
+what was best in my brother might thus rescue him from utter ruin. Hence
+her ill-starred resolve filled me with rage, to such a degree that I
+railed at it as a mad and sinful deed against her own peace of mind, and
+indeed against him whom she had once held as dear as her own life.
+
+But Ann cut me short, and bade me sharply to mind my promise, and never
+speak of Herdegen again. My hot blood rose at this and I made for the
+door; nay, I had the handle of the latch in my hand when she flew after
+me, held me back by force, and entreated me with prayers that I would
+let her do her will, for that she had no choice. She purposed in solemn
+earnest henceforth at all times to devote herself to the happiness of
+others, and whereas that demanded heavy sacrifice, she was now ready to
+make it. If indeed I still refused to carry her answer to the Magister,
+then would she send it through her step-father or Dame Henneleinlein,
+who was apt at such errands, and bid her suitor come to see her.
+
+Then I perceived that there was but small hope; with a heavy heart,
+and, indeed, a secret intent behind, I took the task upon me, for I saw
+plainly that my refusal would ruin all. All the same, meseemed it was
+a happy ordering that the Magister should have set forth early that
+morning to spend a few days at Nordlingen, to take possession of the
+house he had fallen heir to; for, when a great misfortune lies ahead, a
+hopeful soul clings to delay as the harbinger of deliverance.
+
+I made my way home full of forebodings, and in front of our door I saw
+my Forest uncle’s horses in waiting. He was above stairs with cousin
+Maud, and I soon was informed that he had come to bid me and Ann to the
+great hunt which was to take place at the New Year. His Highness Duke
+Albrecht of Bavaria, with divers other knights and gentlemen, had
+promised to take part in it, and he needed our help for his sick and
+suffering wife; also, said he, he loved to see “a few smart young maids”
+ at his board. Already he and cousin Maud had discussed at length whether
+it would be seemly to bring the coppersmith’s stepdaughter into the
+company of such illustrious guests; and the balance in her favor had
+been struck in his mind by his opinion that a fair young maid must ever
+be pleasing in the hunter’s eyes out in the forest, whatever her rank
+might be.
+
+He had now but one care, and that was that neither he nor any other man
+had hitherto dared to utter the name of Master Ulman Pernhart to my aunt
+Jacoba, and that she therefore knew not of his marriage with her dear
+Ann’s mother. Yet must the lady be informed thereof; so, finding that my
+cousin Maud made no secret of her will to speed the Magister’s wooing,
+while I weened, with good reason, that my aunt would gladly support me
+in hindering it, I then and there made up my mind to go back with my
+uncle, and hold council with his shrewd-witted wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+We reached the forest lodge that evening with red faces and half-frozen
+hands and feet. The ride through the deep snow and the bitter December
+wind had been a hard one; but the woods in their glittering winter
+shroud, the sharp, refreshing breath of the pure air, and a thousand
+trifling matters--from the white hats that crowned every stock and
+stone to the tiny crystals of snow that fell on the green velvet of my
+fur-lined bodice--were a joy to me, albeit my heart was heavy with care.
+The evening star had risen or ever we reached the house; and out here,
+under God’s open heavens, among the giants of the forest and its sturdy,
+weather-beaten folk, it scarce seemed that it could be true that I
+should see my bright, young Ann sharing the sorry life of the Magister,
+an alien from all this world’s joys. Those who dwelt out here in these
+wilds must, methought, feel this as I felt it; and so in truth it
+proved. After I had taken my place at the hearth by my aunt’s side, and
+she had mingled some spiced wine for us with her own feeble hands, she
+bid me speak. When she heard what it was that had brought me forth
+to the forest so late before Christmas, which we ever spent with our
+grand-uncle Im Huff she at first did but laugh at our Magister’s suit;
+but as soon as I told her that it was Ann’s earnest purpose to wed with
+him, she swore that she would never suffer such a deed of mad folly.
+
+Master Peter had many times been her guest at the lodge; and she, though
+so small and feeble herself, loved to see tall and stalwart men, so
+that she had given him the name of “the little dry Bookworm,” hardly
+accounting him a man at all. When she heard of his newly-gained wealth,
+she said: “If instead of being the richer by these thousands he could
+but be the same number of years younger, lift a hundredweight more, and
+see a hundred miles further out into the world, I would not mind his
+seeking his happiness with that lovely child!”
+
+As for my uncle, he did but hum a burly bass to the tune of the “Little
+wee wife.” But, being called away, he turned to me before closing
+the door behind him, and asked me very keenly, as though he had been
+restraining his impatience for some space: “And how about your brother?
+How is it that this matter has come about? Was not Herdegen pledged to
+marry Ann?”
+
+Thereupon I told my aunt all I knew, and gave her Herdegen’s letter to
+read, which I had taken care to bring with me; and even as she read it
+her countenance grew dark and fearful to look upon; she set her teeth
+like a raging hound, and hit her little hand on the table that stood
+by her couch so that the cups and phials standing thereon danced and
+clattered. Nay, she forgot her weakness, and made as though she would
+spring up, but the pain was more than she could bear and she fell back
+on her pillows with a groan.
+
+She had never loved my grand-uncle Im Hoff, and, as soon as she had
+recovered herself, she vowed she would bring his craft to nought and
+likewise would let her nephew, now in Paris, know her opinion of his
+knavish unfaith to a sacred pledge.
+
+I then went on to tell her how hard and altogether insufferable Ann’s
+life had become, and at length took courage to inform her who the man
+was whom she now called step-father. To this she at first said not a
+word, but cast down her eyes as though somewhat confused; but presently
+she asked wherefore and how it was that she had not heard of this
+marriage long since, and when I told her that folks for the most part
+had feared to speak the name of Master Ulman Pernhart in her presence,
+she again suddenly started up and cried in my face that in truth she
+forbade any mention of that villain and caitiff who had taken foul
+advantage of her son’s youth and innocence to turn his heart from his
+parents and bring him to destruction.
+
+And this led me, for the first time in my life, to break through the
+reverence I owed to the venerable lady, who so well deserved to be in
+all ways respected and spared; for I made so bold as to point out to
+her her cruel injustice, and to plead Master Ulman’s cause with earnest
+zeal. For some time she was speechless with wrath and amazement,
+inasmuch as she was not wont to be thus reproved; but then she paid me
+back in the like coin; one word struck forth the next, and my rising
+wrath hastened me on so that at last I told her plainly, that Master
+Pernhart had turned her son Gotz out of doors to hinder him from a
+breach of that obedience he owed to his parents. Furthermore I informed
+her of all that the coppersmith’s mother had told me of the attempt to
+carry away Gertrude, and what the end of that had been. Indeed, so soon
+as the foreman had betrayed the lovers’ plot, Master Ulman had locked
+his daughter into her chamber; and when her lover, after waiting for her
+in vain at the altar with the hireling priest, came at last to seek her,
+her father told him that unless he--Gotz--ceased his suit, he should
+exert his authority as her father to compel Gertrude to marry the
+foreman and go with him to Augsburg, or give her the choice of taking
+the veil. And this he confirmed by a solemn oath; and when Gotz, like
+one in a frenzy, strove to make good his claim to see his sweetheart,
+and hear from her own lips whether she were minded to yield to her
+father’s yoke, they came to blows, even on the stairs leading to
+Gertrude’s chamber, and there was a fierce battle, which might have had
+a bloody end but that old dame Magdalen herself came between them to
+part them. And then Master Ulman had sworn to Gotz that he would keep
+his daughter locked up as a captive unless the youth pledged himself
+to cease from seeing Gertrude till he had won his parents’ consent.
+Thereupon Gotz went forth into a strange land; but he did not forget his
+well-beloved, and from time to time a letter would reach her assuring
+her of his faithfulness.
+
+At the end of three years after his departing he at last wrote to the
+coppersmith that he had found a post which would allow of his marrying
+and setting up house and he straightly besought Master Ulman no longer
+to keep apart two who could never be sundered. Nor did Pernhart delay to
+answer him, hard as he found it to use the pen, inasmuch as there was
+no more to say than that Gertrude was sleeping under the sod with her
+lover’s ring on her finger and the last violets he had ever given her
+under her head, as she had desired.
+
+Thus ended the tale of poor Gertrude; but before I had half told it
+my wrath had cooled. For my aunt sat in silence, listening to me
+with devout attention. Nor were my eyes dry, nor even those of that
+strong-willed dame, and when, at the end, I said: “Well, Aunt?” she
+woke, as it were, from a dream, and cried out: “And yet those craftsmen
+folk robbed me of my son, my only child!”
+
+And she sobbed aloud and hid her face in her hands, while I knelt by
+her side, and threw my arms about her, and kissed her thin fingers
+which covered her eyes, and said softly, as if by inspiration: “But the
+craftsman loved his child; yea, and she was a sweet and lovely maid, the
+fairest in all the town, and her father’s pride. And what was it that
+snatched her so early away but that she pined for your son? Gotz may
+soon be recalled to his mother’s arms; but the coppersmith may never see
+his child--fair Gertrude, the folks called her--never see her more. And
+he might have been rejoiced in her presence to this day if...”
+
+She broke in with words and gestures of warning, and when I nevertheless
+would not cease from entreating her no longer to harden her heart, but
+to bid her son come home to her, who was her most precious treasure, she
+commanded me to quit her chamber. Such a command I must obey, whether I
+would or no; nay, while I stood a moment at the door she signed to me
+to go; but, as I turned away, she cried after me: “Go and leave me,
+Margery. But you are a good child, I will tell you that!”
+
+At supper, which I alone shared with my uncle and the chaplain, I told
+my uncle that I had spoken to his wife of Master Pernhart, and when he
+heard that I had even spoken a good word for him, he looked at me as
+though I had done a right bold deed; yet I could see that he was highly
+pleased thereat, and the priest, who had sat silent--as he ever did,
+gave me a glance of heartfelt thanks and added a few words of praise.
+It was long after supper, and my uncle had had his night-draught of
+wine when my aunt sent the house-keeper to fetch me to her. Kindly and
+sweetly, as though she set down my past wrath to a good intent, she
+bid me sit down by her and then desired that I would repeat to her
+once more, in every detail, all I could tell her as touching Gotz and
+Gertrude. While I did her bidding to the best of my powers she spoke
+never a word; but when I ended she raised her head and said, as it were
+in a dream: “But Gotz! Did he not forsake father and mother to follow
+after a fair face?”
+
+Then again I prayed her right earnestly to yield to the emotions of her
+mother’s heart. But seeing her fixed gaze into the empty air, and the
+set pout of her nether lip, I could not doubt that she would never speak
+the word that would bid him home.
+
+I felt a chill down my back, and was about to rise and leave, but she
+held me back and once more spoke of Herdegen and that matter. When she
+had heard all the tale, she looked troubled: “I know my Ann,” quoth
+she. “When she has once given her promise to the Bookworm all the twelve
+Apostles would not make her break it, and then she will be doomed to
+misery, and her fate and your brother’s are both sealed.”
+
+She then went on to ask when the Magister was to return home, and as I
+told her he was expected on the morrow great trouble came upon her.
+
+It was past midnight or ever I left her, and as it fell I slept but ill
+and late, insomuch that I was compelled to make good haste, and as it
+fell that I went to the window I saw the snow whirling in the wind, and
+behold, in the shed, a great wood-sleigh was being made ready, doubtless
+for some sick man to be carried to the convent.
+
+I found my aunt in the hall, whither she scarce ever was carried
+down before noon-day; and instead of her every-day garb--a loose
+morning-gown---she was apparelled in strange and shapeless raiment,
+so muffled in kerchiefs and cloaks as to seem no whit like any living
+woman, much less herself, insomuch that her small thin person was like
+nothing else than a huge, shapeless, many-coated onion. Her little face
+peeped out of the veils and kerchiefs that wrapped her head, like a
+half-moon out of thick clouds; but her bright eyes shone kindly on me as
+she cried: “Come, haste to your breakfast, lie-a-bed! I thought to find
+you fitted and ready, and you are keeping the men waiting as though it
+were an every-day matter that we should travel together.”
+
+“Aye, aye! She is bent on the journey,” my uncle said with a groan, as
+he cast a loving glance at his frail wife and raised his folded hands
+to Heaven. “Well, chaplain, miracles happen even in our days!” And his
+Reverence, silent as he was, this time had an answer ready, saying with
+hearty feeling: “The loving heart of a brave woman has at all times been
+able to work miracles.”
+
+“Amen,” said my uncle, pressing his lips on the top of his wife’s
+muffled head.
+
+Howbeit I remembered our talk yesternight, and the sleigh I had seen
+being harnessed; indeed, the look alone which the unwonted traveller
+cast on me was enough to tell me what my sickly aunt purposed to do for
+the sake of Ann. Then something came upon me, I know not what; with a
+passion all unlike that of yesterdayeve, I fell on my knees and kissed
+her as a child whose mother has made it a Christmas gift of what it most
+loves and wishes to have, while my lips were pressed to her eyes, brow,
+and cheeks, wherever the wrappings covered them not, and she cried out:
+
+“Leave me, leave me, crazy child! You are choking me. What great matter
+is it after all? One woman will ride through the snow to Nuremberg for
+the sake of a chat with another, and who turns his head to look at her?
+Now, foolish wench, let me be. What a to-do for nothing at all!”
+
+How I ate my porridge in the winking of an eye, and then sprang into
+the sleigh, I scarce could tell, and in truth I marked little of our
+departing; mine eyes were over full of tears. Packed right close to my
+aunt, whereas she filled three-fourths of the seat, I flew with her over
+the snow; nor did we need any great following on horseback to bear us
+company, inasmuch as my uncle rode on in front, and the Buchenauers and
+Steinbachers and other highway robbers who made the roads unsafe about
+Nuremberg, all lived in peace with uncle Waldstromer for the sake of the
+shooting.
+
+When we got into the town, and I bid the rider take us to the
+Schopperhof, my aunt said: “No, to Ulman Pernhart’s house, the
+coppersmith.”
+
+At this the faithful old serving-man, who had heard many rumors of his
+banished young master’s dealings with the craftsman’s fair daughter, and
+who was devoted to Gotz, muttered the name of his protecting saint and
+looked about him as though some giant cutthroat were ready to rush
+out of the brush wood and fall upon the sleigh; nor, indeed, could I
+altogether refrain my wonder. Howbeit, I recovered myself at once, and
+pointed out to her that it scarce beseemed her to enter a stranger’s
+house for the first time in such attire. Moreover, Akusch had been sent
+in front to announce her coming to cousin Maud. I could send for Ann;
+as, indeed, it beseemed her, the younger, to wait upon my aunt.
+
+But she held to her will to go to Master Ulman’s dwelling; yet, whereas
+the kerchiefs and wraps were a discomfort to her, she agreed to lay them
+aside at our house first.
+
+Cousin Maud pressed her almost by force to take rest and meat and drink;
+but she refused everything; though all was in readiness and steaming
+hot; till, as fate would have it, as she was being carried down and out
+again, the Magister came in from his journey to Nordlingen. In his high
+fur boots and the heavy wrapping he had cast about his head to screen
+him from the wintry blast, he had not to be sure, the appearance of a
+suitor for a fair young maiden; and the glance cast at him by my aunt,
+half in mockery and half in wrath, eyeing him from head to foot, would
+have said plainly enough to other men than Master Peter--who, for his
+part made her a right humble and well-turned speech--“Wait awhile, young
+fellow! I am here now! And if you find a flea in your ear, you have me
+to thank for it!”
+
+Apparelled now as befitted a lady of her degree, in a furred cloak and
+hood, she was borne off in Cousin Maud’s well-curtained litter. I had
+sent Akusch to Ann with a note, but he had not found her within, and
+awaited me in the street; thus it fell that no one at the Pernharts was
+aware of what was coming upon them.
+
+When presently the bearers set down the litter, Aunt Jacoba looked at
+the fine house before which we stood, and enquired what this might
+mean, whereas it was seven years since she had been in the city, and the
+master’s new dwelling was not at that time built. Also she was greatly
+amazed to find a craftsman in so great a house. But better things
+were to come: as I was about to knock at the door it opened, and five
+gentlemen of the Council, all men of the first rank among the Elders of
+the city, appeared on the threshold, and Master Pernhart in their midst.
+They shook hands with him as with one of themselves, and he towered
+above them all; nay, if he had not stood there as he had come from the
+forge, in his leathern apron, with his smith’s cap in his hand, any one
+might have conceived him to be the chief of them all.
+
+Now these gentlemen had come to Master Pernhart to announce to him that
+he had been chosen one of the eight wardens of the guilds who at that
+time formed part of the worshipful town council of forty-two. Veit
+Gundling, the old master-brewer, had lately departed this life, and the
+electors had been of one mind in choosing the coppersmith to fill his
+place, and he was likewise approved by the guilds. They had come to
+him forthwith, albeit their choice would not be declared till Saint
+Walpurgis day, inasmuch as it was deemed well to have the matter settled
+before the close of the old year.
+
+Thus it came to pass that my aunt was witness while they took leave, and
+he returned thanks in a few heartfelt words. These, to be sure, were
+cut short by her coming, by reason that she was well-known to these
+five noble gentlemen, who all, as in duty bound, assured her of their
+surprise and pleasure in greeting her once more, here in the town.
+
+That the feeble and suffering lady had come to Pernhart’s dwelling
+not merely to order a copper-lid or a preserving pan was easy to be
+understood, but she cut short all inquisition, and the litter was
+forthwith carried in through the widely-opened door.
+
+The master received her in the hall.
+
+He had till now never seen her but from a distance, yet had he heard
+enough about her to form a clear image of her. With her it was the same.
+She saw this man, to whom she owed such bitter grudge, for the first
+time here, under his own roof, and it was right strange to behold the
+two eyeing each other so keenly; he with a slight bow, almost timidly,
+and cap in hand; she unabashed, but with an expression as though she
+well knew that nothing pleasant lay before her.
+
+The master spoke first, bidding her welcome to his dwelling, in accents
+of truth but with all due respect, and never speaking of it, as is the
+wont of his class, as “humble” or “poor,” and as he was about to help
+her out of the litter I could see her face brighten, and this assured
+me that she would let bygones be bygones, as they say, and declare
+to Master Pernhart in plain words to what intent and purpose she had
+knocked at his door. By the time she was in the best chamber, the last
+sour curl had disappeared from her mouth; and indeed all was snug and
+seemly therein; Dame Giovanna being well-skilled in giving things a neat
+appearance, well pleasing to the eye.
+
+Pernhart meanwhile had said but little, and his face was still dark,
+almost solemn of aspect. The master’s mother again, to whom Gertrude had
+been all-in-all, and who had done what she could to speed her marriage,
+could read the other woman’s heart, and understood how great had been
+the sacrifice she had taken upon herself. There was no trace of the old
+grudge in her speech, and it sounded not ill when, as she put my aunt’s
+cushions straight, she said she could not envy her, forasmuch as she the
+elder was thus permitted to be of service to the younger. When Pernhart
+presently quitted the chamber, perchance to don more seemly attire the
+two old women sat in eager talk; and if the lady were thin and sickly
+and the craftsman’s mother stout and sturdy, yet were there many points
+of resemblance between them. Both, for certain, loved to rule, and as I
+watched them, seeing each shoot out her nether lip if the other spoke a
+word to cross her, I found it right good sport; but at the same time I
+was amazed to hear how truly old Dame Pernhart understood and spoke of
+Ann. I had indeed hitherto seen many a thing in my friend with other
+eyes, and yet I could not accuse the good woman of injustice, or deny
+that the coppersmith’s step-daughter, from knowing me and from keeping
+company with us, had grown up with manners and desires unlike those of
+ever another clerk’s or even a craftsman’s daughter.
+
+Albeit she strove to hide her deep discomfort, the old woman said, she
+could by no means succeed. A household was a body, and any member of it
+who could not be content with its ways was ill at ease with the rest,
+and made it hard for them to do it such service and pleasure as they
+would fain do. Ann fulfilled her every duty, down to the very least of
+them, by reason that she had a steadfast spirit and great dominion over
+herself; but she got small thanks, and by her own fault, inasmuch as she
+did it joylessly. To look for bright cheer from her was to seek grapes
+on a birch-tree; and whereas the grandmother had till lately hoped to
+find in this gentle maid one who might fill the place of her who was no
+more, she could now only wish that she might find some other home.
+
+To all this my aunt agreed, and presently, when Pernhart came in, clad
+in his holiday garb--a goodly man and well fitted for his new dignity,
+Aunt Jacoba bid me go look out for Ann. I saw that she desired my
+absence that she might deal alone with the mother and son, so I hastily
+departed and stayed in the upper chambers with the children till I
+caught sight of Ann and her mother coming towards the house. I ran down
+to meet them and behold! as we all three went into the guest chamber,
+Pernhart was in the act of bending over my aunt’s hand to press it to
+his lips, and tears were sparkling in his eyes as well as in those of
+the women; nay, they were so greatly moved that no one heard the door
+open, and the old woman believed herself to be alone with her son as she
+cried to my aunt: “Oh wherefor did not Heaven vouchsafe to guide you to
+us some years since!”
+
+My aunt only nodded her head in silence, and Dame Magdalen doubtless
+took this for assent; but I read more than this in her face, and
+something as follows: “We have hurt each other deeply, and I am thankful
+that all is past and forgiven; yet, much as I may now esteem you, in the
+matter you had so set your heart on I would no more have yielded to-day
+than I did at that time.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Ann looked right sweetly as she told my aunt that she felt put to shame
+by the great loving-kindness which had brought the feeble lady out
+through the forest in the bitter winter weather for her sake, and she
+kissed the thin, small hand with deep feeling; and even the elder woman
+unbent and freely gave vent before her favorite to the full warmth of
+her heart, which she was not wont to display. She had told the Pernharts
+what were the fears which had brought her into the town, so the chamber
+was presently cleared, and the master called away Mistress Giovanna
+after that my aunt had expressed her admiration of her rare charms.
+
+As I too was now preparing to retire, which methought but seemly Aunt
+Jacoba beckoned me to stay. Ann likewise understood what had brought her
+sickly friend to her, and she whispered to me that albeit she was deeply
+thankful for the abundant goodness my aunt had ever shown her, yet could
+she never swerve from her well-considered purpose. To this I was only
+able to reply that on one point at least she must change her mind, for
+that I knew for certain that old grand-dame Pernhart loved her truly.
+At this she cried out gladly and thankfully: “Oh, Margery! if only that
+were true!”
+
+So soon as we three were left together, my aunt went to the heart of the
+matter at once, saying frankly to what end she had come hither, that she
+knew all that Ann had suffered through Herdegen, and how well she
+had taken it, and that she had now set her mind on wedding with the
+Magister.
+
+And whereas Ann here broke in with a resolute “And that I will!” my
+aunt put it to her that she must be off with one or ever she took on
+the other lover. Herdegen had come before Master Peter, and the first
+question therefor was as to how matters stood with him.
+
+At this Ann humbly besought her to ask nothing concerning him; if my
+aunt loved her she would forbear from touching on the scarce-healed
+wound. So much as this she said, though with pain and grief; but her
+friend was not to be moved, but cried: “And do I not thank Master
+Ulsenius when he thrusts his probe to the heart of my evil, when he
+cuts or burns it? Have you not gladly approved his saying that the leech
+should never despair so long as the sick man’s heart still throbs?
+Well then, your trouble with Herdegen is sick and sore and lies right
+deep....”
+
+But Ann broke in again, crying: “No, no, noble lady, the heart of that
+matter has ceased to beat. It is dead and gone for ever!”
+
+“Is it so?” said my aunt coolly. “Still, look it close in the face. Old
+Im Hoff--I have read the letter-commands your lover to give you up and
+do his bidding. Yet, child, does he take good care not to write this
+to you. Finding it over hard to say it himself, he leaves the task to
+Margery. And as for that letter; a Lenten jest I called it yestereve;
+and so it is verily! Read it once more. Why, it is as dripping with love
+as a garment drips when it is fished out of a pool! While he is trying
+to shut the door on you he clasps you to his heart. Peradventure his
+love never glowed so hotly, and he was never so strongly drawn to you as
+when he wrote this paltry stuff to burst the sacred bands which bind you
+together. Are you so dull as not to feel this?”
+
+“Nay, I see it right well,” cried Ann eagerly, “I knew it when I first
+read the letter. But that is the very point! Must not a lover who can
+barter away his love for filthy lucre be base indeed? If when he ceased
+to be true he had likewise ceased to love, if the fickle Fortunatus had
+wearied of his sweetheart--then I could far more easily forgive.”
+
+“And do you tell me that your heart ever throbbed with true love for
+him?” asked her friend in amazement, and looking keenly into her eyes as
+though she expected her to say No. And when Ann cried: “How can you
+even ask such a question?” My aunt went on: “Then you did love him? And
+Margery tells me that you and she have made some strange compact to make
+other folks happy. Two young maids who dare to think they can play at
+being God Almighty! And the Magister, I conceive, was to be the first
+to whom you proposed to be a willing sacrifice, let it cost you what it
+may? That is how matters stand?”
+
+Ann was not now so ready to nod assent, and my aunt murmured something I
+could not hear, as she was wont to do when something rubbed her against
+the grain; then she said with emphasis: “But child, my poor child, love,
+and wounded pride, and heart-ache have turned your heart and good sense.
+I am an old woman, and I thank God can see more clearly. It is real,
+true love, pleasing to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, aye and to the
+merciful Virgin and all the saints who protect you, which has bound
+you and Herdegen together from your infancy. He, though faithless and a
+sinner, still bears his love in his heart and you have not been able
+to root yours up and cast it out. He has done his worst, and in doing
+it--remember his letter--in doing it, I say, has poisoned his own young
+life already. In that Babel called Paris he does but reel from one
+pleasure to another. But how long can that last? Do you not see, as I
+see, that the day must come when, sickened and loathing all this folly
+he will deem himself the most wretched soul on earth, and look about
+him for the firm shore as a sailor does who is tossed about in a leaking
+ship at sea? Then will he call to mind the past, his childhood and
+youth, his pure love and yours. Then you yourself, you, Ann, will be
+the island haven for which he will long. Then--aye, child, it is so, you
+will be the only creature that may help him; and if you really crave
+to create happiness--if your love is as true as--not so long ago--you
+declared it to be, on your knees before me and with scalding tears, he,
+and not Master Peter must be the first on whom you should carry out
+your day-dreams--for I know not what other name to give to such vain
+imaginings.”
+
+At this Ann sobbed aloud and wrung her hands, crying: “But he cast me
+off, sold me for gold and silver. Can I, whom he has flung into the
+dust, seek to go after him? Would it beseem an honest and shamefaced
+maid if I called him back to me? He is happy--and he will still be happy
+for many long, long years amid his reckless companions; if the time
+should ever come of which you speak, most worshipful lady, even then he
+will care no more for Ann, bloomless and faded, than for the threadbare
+bravery in which he once arrayed himself. As for me and my love, warmly
+as it will ever glow in my breast, so long as I live and breathe, he
+will never need it in the life of pleasure in which he suns himself. It
+is no vain imagining that I have made my goal, and if I am to bring joy
+to the wretched I must seek others than he.”
+
+“Right well,” said my aunt, “if so be that your love is no worthier nor
+better than his.”
+
+And from the unhappy maid’s bosom the words were gasped out: “It is
+verily and indeed true and worthy and deep; never was truer love...”
+
+“Never?” replied my aunt, looking at her enquiringly. “Have you not
+read of the love of which the Scripture speaketh? Love which is able and
+ready to endure all things.”
+
+And the words of the Apostle came into my mind which the Carthusian
+sister had graven on our memories, burning them in, as it were, as being
+those which above all others should live in every Christian woman’s
+heart; and whereas I had hitherto held back as beseemed me, I now came
+forward and said them with all the devout fervor of my young heart,
+as follows: “Charity suffereth long and is kind; Charity envieth not;
+Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; seeketh not her own, is
+not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; beareth all things, believeth all
+things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
+
+While I spoke Ann, panting for breath, fixed her eyes on the ground,
+but my aunt rehearsed the words after me in a clear voice: “beareth all
+things, believeth all things, hopeth and endureth all things.” And she
+added right earnestly; “therefore do thou believe and hope and endure
+yet longer, my poor child, and tell me in all truth: Does it seem to you
+a lesser deed to lead back the sinner into the way of righteousness and
+bliss in this world and the next, than to give alms to the beggar?”
+
+Ann shook her head, and my aunt went on: “And if there is any one--let
+me repeat it--who by faithful love may ever rescue Herdegen, albeit he
+is half lost, it is you. Come, come,” and she signed to her, and Ann did
+her bidding and fell on her knees by her, as she had done erewhile in
+the forest-lodge. The elder lady kissed her hair and eyes, and said
+further: “Cling fast to your love, my darling. You have nothing else
+than love, and without it life is shallow indeed, is sheer emptiness.
+You will never find it in the Magister’s arms, and that your heart is of
+a certainty, not set on marrying a well-to-do man at any cost....”
+
+But she did not end her speech, inasmuch as Ann imploringly raised her
+great eyes in mild reproach, as though to defend herself from some hurt.
+So my aunt comforted her with a few kind words, and then went on to
+admonish her as follows: “Verily it is not love you lack, but patient
+trust. I have heard from Margery here what bitter disappointments you
+have suffered. And it is hard indeed to the stricken heart to look for
+a new spring for the withered harvest of joy. But look you at my good
+husband. He ceases not from sowing acorns, albeit he knows that it will
+never be vouchsafed to him to see them grown to fine trees, or to earn
+any profit from them. Do you likewise learn to possess your soul in
+patience; and do not forget that, if Herdegen is lost, the question will
+be put to you: ‘Did you hold out a hand to him while it was yet time
+to save him, or did you withdraw from him your love and favor in
+faint-hearted impatience at the very first blow?’”
+
+The last words fell in solemn earnest from my aunt’s lips, and struck
+Ann to the heart; she confessed that she had many times said the same
+things to her self, but then maiden pride had swelled up in her and had
+forbidden her to lend an ear to the warning voice; and nevertheless
+none had spoken so often or so loudly in her soul, so that her heart’s
+deepest yearning responded to what her friend had said.
+
+“Then do its bidding,” said my aunt eagerly, and I said the same; and
+Ann, being not merely overruled but likewise convinced, yielded and
+confessed that, even as Master Peter’s wife, she could never have slain
+the old love, and declared herself ready to renounce her pride and
+wrath.
+
+Thus had my aunt’s faithful love preserved her from sin, and gladly
+did I consent to her brave spirit when she said to Ann: “You must save
+yourself for that skittle-witted wight in Paris, child; for none other
+than he can make you rightly happy, nor can he be happy with any other
+woman than my true and faithful darling!”
+
+Ann covered my aunt’s hands with kisses, and the words flowed heartily
+and gaily from her lips as she cried: “Yes, yes, yes! It is so! And if
+he beat me and scorned me, if he fell so deep that no man would leap in
+after him, I, I, would never let him sink.”
+
+And then Ann threw herself on my neck and said: “Oh, how light is my
+heart once more. Ah, Margery! now, when I long to pray, I know well
+enough what for.”
+
+My aunt’s dim eyes had rarely shone so brightly as at this hour, and
+her voice sounded clearer and firmer than it was wont when she once more
+addressed us and said: “And now the old woman will finish up by telling
+you a little tale for your guidance. You knew Riklein, the spinster,
+whom folks called the night-spinster; and was not she a right loving and
+cheerful soul? Yet had she known no small meed of sorrows. She died but
+lately on Saint Damasius’ day last past, and the tale I have to tell
+concerns her. They called her the night-spinster, by reason that she
+ofttimes would sit at her wheel till late into the night to earn money
+which she was paid at the rate of three farthings the spool. But it was
+not out of greed that the old body was so keen to get money.
+
+“In her youth she had been one of the neatest maids far and wide, and
+had set her heart on a charcoal burner who was a sorry knave indeed, a
+sheep-stealer and a rogue, who came to a bad end on the rack. But for
+all that Riklein never ceased to love him truly and, albeit he was dead
+and gone, she did not give over toiling diligently while she lived yet
+for him. The priest had told her that, inasmuch as her lover had taken
+the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper on the scaffold, the Kingdom of
+Heaven was not closed to him, yet would it need many a prayer and many
+a mass to deliver him from the fires of purgatory. So Riklein, span and
+span, day and night, and stored up all she earned, and when she lay on
+her death-bed, not long ago, and the priest gave her the Holy Sacrament,
+she took out her hoard from beneath her mattress and showed it to him,
+asking whether that might be enough to pay to open the way for Andres
+to the joys of Heaven? And when the chaplain said that it would be, she
+turned away her face and fell asleep. So do you spin your yarn, child,
+and let the flax on your distaff be glad assurance; and, if ever your
+heart sinks within you, remember old Riklein!”
+
+“And the Farmer’s daughter in ‘Poor Heinrich,’” I said, “who gladly gave
+her young blood to save her plighted lord from leprosy.”
+
+Thus had my aunt gained her end; but when she strove to carry Ann
+away from her home and kindred, and keep her in the forest as her own
+child--to which Master Pernhart and his mother gave their consent--she
+failed in the attempt. Ann was steadfast in her desire to remain with
+her mother and the children, and more especially with her deaf and dumb
+brother, Mario. If my aunt should at any time need her she had but
+to command her, and she would gladly go to her, this very day if she
+desired it; howbeit duly to work out her spinning--and by this she meant
+that she bore Riklein in mind--she must ever do her part for her own
+folk, with a clear conscience.
+
+Thus it was fixed that Ann should go to the Forest lodge to stay till
+Christmas and the New Year were past, only she craved a few hours delay
+that she might remove all doubt from the Magister’s mind. I offered to
+take upon myself this painful task; but she altogether rejected this,
+and how rightly she judged was presently proved by her cast-off suitor’s
+demeanor; inasmuch as he was ever after her faithful servant and called
+her his gracious work-fellow. When she had told him of her decision he
+swore, well-nigh with violence, to become a monk, and to make over his
+inheritance to a convent, but Ann, with much eloquence, besought him to
+do no such thing, and laid before him the grace of living to make
+others happy; she won him over to join our little league and whereas he
+confessed that he was in no wise fit for the life, she promised that she
+would seek out the poor and needy and claim the aid only of his learning
+and his purse. And some time after she made him a gift of an alms-bag on
+which she had wrought the words, “Ann, to her worthy work-fellow.”
+
+Here I am bound to tell that, not to my aunt alone, but to me likewise
+did the good work which the old organist had pointed out to my friend,
+seem a vain imagining when it had led her to accept a lover whom she
+loved not. But when it became a part of her life, stripped of all
+bigotry or overmuch zeal, and when the old musician had led us to know
+many poor folks, it worked right well and we were able to help many an
+one, not alone with money and food, but likewise with good counsel and
+nursing in sore need. Whenever we might apply to the Magister, his door
+and purse alike were open to us, and peradventure he went more often to
+visit and succor the needy than he might otherwise have done,
+inasmuch as he thereby found the chance of speech with his gracious
+“work-fellow,” of winning her praises and kissing her hand, which Ann
+was ever fain to grant when he had shown special zeal.
+
+We were doubtless a strange fellowship of four: Ann and I, the organist
+and Master Peter, and, albeit we were not much experienced in the ways
+of the world, I dare boldly say that we did more good and dried more
+tears than many a wealthy Abbey.
+
+At the New Year I followed Ann to the forest, and helped to grace
+the hunter’s board “with smart wenches;” and when she and I came home
+together after Twelfth day, she found that the forward apprentice had
+quitted her step-father’s house. Not only had my aunt told old Dame
+Magdalen of his ill-behaving, but his father at Augsburg was dead, and
+so Pemhart could send him home to the dwelling he had inherited without
+disgracing him. Yet, after this, he made so bold as to sue for Ann in
+a right fairly written letter, to which she said him nay in a reply no
+less fairly written.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A thoughtful brain could never cease to marvel at the wonders which
+happen at every step and turn, were it not that due reflection proves
+that strange events are no less necessary and frequent links in the
+mingled chain of our life’s experience than commonplace and every-day
+things; wherefor sheer wonder at matters new to our experience we leave
+for the most part to children and fools. And nevertheless the question
+many a time arose in my mind: how a woman whose heart was so truly in
+the right place as my aunt’s could cast off her only son for the cause
+of an ill-match, and notwithstanding strive with might and main to
+remove all hindrances in the way of another such ill-match.
+
+This indeed brought to my mind other, no less miracles. Thus, after
+Ann’s home-coming, when I would go to see her at Pernhart’s house,
+I often found her sitting with the old dame, who would tell her many
+things, and those right secret matters. Once, when I found Ann with the
+old woman from whom she had formerly been so alien, they were sitting
+together in the window-bay with their arms about each other, and looking
+in each other’s face with loving but tearful eyes. My entrance disturbed
+them; Dame Magdalen had been telling her new favorite many matters
+concerning her son’s youthful days, and it was plain to see that she
+rejoiced in these memories of the best days of her life, when her two
+fine lads had ever been at the head of their school. Her eldest, indeed,
+had done so well that the Lord Bishop of Bamberg, in his own person, had
+pressingly desired her late departed husband to make him a priest. Then
+the father had apprenticed Ulman to himself, and dedicated the elder,
+who else should have inherited the dwelling-house and smithy, to the
+service of the Church, whereupon he had ere long risen to great dignity.
+
+None, to be sure, listened so well as Ann, open-eared to all these
+tales, and it did old Dame Magdalen good to see the maid bestir herself
+contentedly about the house-keeping; but her changed mind proceeded from
+yet another cause. My aunt had done a noble deed of pure human kindness,
+of real and true Christian charity, and the bright beam of that love
+which could drag her feeble body out into the winter’s cold and to her
+foe’s dwelling, cast its light on both these miracles at once. This it
+was which had led the high-born dame to cast aside all the vanities and
+foolishness in which she had grown up, to the end that she might protect
+a young and oppressed creature whom she truly cared for from an ill
+fate. Yea, and that sunbeam had cast its light far and wide in the
+coppersmith’s home, and illumined Ann likewise, so that she now saw the
+old mother of the household in a new light.
+
+When the very noblest and most worshipful deems it worthy to make a
+great sacrifice out of pure love for a fellow-creature, that one is,
+as it were, ennobled by it; it opens ways which before were closed; and
+such a way was that to old Dame Magdalen’s heart, who now, on a sudden,
+bethought her that she found in Ann all she had lost in her well-beloved
+grandchild Gertrude.
+
+Never had Ann and I been closer friends than we were that winter, and
+to many matters which bound us, another was now added--a sweet secret,
+concerning me this time, which, strange to tell, drew us even more near
+together.
+
+The weeks before Lent presently came upon us; Ann, however, would take
+part in no pleasures, albeit she was now a welcome guest, since her
+step-father was a member of the worshipful council. Only once did she
+yield to my beseeching and go with me to a dance at a noble house;
+but whereas I perceived that it disturbed her cheerful peace of mind,
+although she was treated with hearty respect, I troubled her no
+more, and for her sake withdrew myself in some measure from such
+merry-makings.
+
+After Easter, when the spring-tide was already blossoming, my soul
+likewise went forth to seek joy and gladness, and now will I tell of the
+new marvel which found fulfilment in my heart.
+
+A grand dance was to be given in honor of certain ambassadors from the
+Emperor Sigismund, who had come to treat with his Highness the Elector
+and the Town Council as to the Assembly of the States to be held in the
+summer at Ratisbon, at the desire of Theodoric, Archbishop of Cologne.
+The illustrious chief of this Embassy, Duke Rumpold of Glogau in
+Silesia, had been received as guest in a house whither, that very
+spring, the eldest son had come home from Padua and Paris, where he had
+taken the dignity of Doctor of Ecclesiastical and Civil Laws with great
+honors, and he it was who first moved my young heart to true love.
+
+As a child I had paid small heed to Hans Haller, as a lad so much older
+that he overlooked little Margery, and by no means took her fancy like
+Cousin Gotz; thus he came upon me as one new and strange.
+
+He had dwelt five years in other lands and the first time ever I looked
+into his truthful eyes methought that the maid he should choose to wife
+was born in a lucky hour.
+
+But every mother and daughter of patrician rank doubtless thought the
+same; and that he should ever uplift me, giddy, hasty Margery, to his
+side, was more than I dared look for. Yet, covertly, I could not but
+hope; inasmuch as at our first meeting again he had seemed well-pleased
+and amazed at my being so well-favored, and a few days later, when many
+young folks were gathered together at the Hallers’ house, he spoke a
+great while and right kindly with me in especial. Nor was it as though I
+were some unripe child, such as these young gentlemen are wont to esteem
+us maids under twenty--nay, but as though I were his equal.
+
+And thus he had brought to light all that lay hid in my soul. I had
+answered him on all points freely and gladly; yet, meanwhile, I had been
+on my guard not to let slip any heedless speech, deeming it a precious
+favor to stand well in the opinion of so noble and learned a gentleman.
+
+And presently, when it was time for departing, he held my hand and
+pressed it; and, as he wrapped me in my cloak, he said in a low voice
+that, whereas he had thought it hard to make himself at home once more
+in our little native town, now, if I would, I might make Nuremberg as
+dear--nay, dearer to him than ever it had been of yore; and the hot
+blood boiled in my veins as I looked up at him beseechingly and bid him
+never mock me thus.
+
+But he answered with all his heart that it was sacred earnest and that,
+if I would make home sweet to him and himself one of the happiest of
+mankind, I must be his, inasmuch as in all the lands of the earth he had
+seen nought so dear to him as the child whom he had found grown to be so
+sweet a maid, and, quoth he, if I loved him never so little, would I not
+give him some little token.
+
+I looked into his eyes, and my heart was so full that no word could I
+say but his Christian name “Hans,” whereas hitherto I had ever called
+him Master Hailer. And meseemed that all the bells in the town together
+were ringing a merry peal; and he understood at once the intent of my
+brief answer, and murmured right loving words in mine ear. Then did
+he walk home with me and Cousin Maud; and meseemed the honored mothers
+among our friends, who were wont so to bewail my loneliness as a
+motherless maid, had never looked upon me with so little kindness as
+that evening which love had made so blessed.
+
+By next morning the tidings were in every mouth that a new couple had
+plighted their troth, and that the Hallers’ three chevronells were to be
+quartered with the three links of the Schoppers.
+
+Ann was the first to be told of my happiness, and whereas she had
+hitherto been steadfastly set on eschewing the great dances of the upper
+class so long as she was unwed, this time she did our will, for that she
+had no mind to spoil my pleasure by her absence.
+
+Thus had Love taken up his abode with me likewise; and meseemed it was
+like a fair, still, blooming morning in the Forest. A pure, perfect,
+and peaceful gladness had opened in my soul, a way of seeing which lent
+sweetness and glory to all things far and wide, and joyful thanksgiving
+for that all things were so good.
+
+As I looked back on that morning when Ann had flown to Herdegen’s
+breast, and as I called to mind the turmoil of passion of which I
+had read in many a poem and love-tale, I weened that I had dreamed of
+somewhat else as the first blossoming of love in my heart, that I had
+looked to feel a fierce and glowing flame, a burning anguish, a wild and
+stormy fever. And yet, as it had come upon me, methought it was better;
+albeit the sun of my love had not risen in scarlet fire, it was not
+therefore small nor cool; the image of my dear mother was ever-present
+with me; and methought that the love I felt was as pure and fair as
+though it had come upon me from her heavenly home.
+
+And how loving and hearty was the welcome given me by my lover’s
+parents, when they received me in their noble dwelling, and called me
+their dear daughter, and showed me all the treasures contained in the
+home of the Hallers’. In this fine house, with its broad fair gardens--a
+truly lordly dwelling, for which many a prince would have been fain
+to exchange his castle and hunting demesne--I was to rule as wife and
+mistress at the right hand of my Hans’ mother, whose kind and dignified
+countenance pleased me well indeed, and by whose friendly lips I, an
+orphan, was so glad to be called “Child” and daughter. Nor were his
+worshipful father and his younger brethren one whit less dear to me.
+I was to become a member--nay, as the eldest son’s wife, the female
+head--of one of the highest families in the town, of one whose sons
+would have a hand in its government so long as there should be a
+town-council in Nuremberg.
+
+My lover had indeed been elected to sit in the minor council soon after
+his homecoming, being no longer a boy, but near on thirty years of
+age. And his manners befitted his years; dignified and modest, albeit
+cheerful and full of a young man’s open-minded ardor for everything that
+was above the vulgar. With him, for certain, if with any man, might I
+grow to be all I desired to become; and could I but learn to rule my
+fiery temper, I might hope to follow in the ways of his mother, whom
+he held above all other women. The great dance, of which I have already
+made mention, and whither Ann had agreed to come with us, was the first
+I should go to with my well-beloved Hans. The worshipful Council had
+taken care to display all their best bravery in honor of the Emperor’s
+envoys; they had indeed allied themselves with the constable of the
+Castle, the Prince Elector, to do all in their power to have the
+Assembly held at Nuremberg, rather than at Ratisbon, and to that end it
+was needful to win the good graces of the Ambassadors.
+
+All the patricians and youth of the good city were gathered at the
+town-hall, and the beginning of the feast was pure enjoyment. The guests
+were indeed amazed at the richness of our great hall and civic treasure,
+as likewise at the brave apparel and great show of jewels worn by the
+gentlemen and ladies.
+
+There were six envoys, and at their head was Duke Rumpold of Glogau; but
+among the knights in attendance on him I need only name that very Baron
+Franz von Welemisl who had been so sorely hurt out in the forest garden
+for my sake, and a Junker of Altmark, by name Henning von Beust, son of
+one of the rebellious houses who strove against the customs, laws, and
+rights over the marches, as claimed by our Lord Constable the Elector.
+
+Baron Franz was now become chamberlain to the emperor and, albeit cured
+indeed of his wounds, was plagued by a bad cough. Still he could boast
+of the same noble and knightly presence as of old, and his pale face,
+paler than ever I had known it, under his straight black hair, with the
+feeble tones of his soft voice, went right to many a maiden’s heart;
+also his rich black dress, sparkling with fine gems, beseemed him well.
+
+Presently, when he saw that Hans and I were plighted lovers, he feigned
+as though his heart were stricken to death; but I soon perceived that
+he could take comfort, and that he had bestowed the love he had once
+professed for me, with compound increase on Ursula Tetzel. She was ready
+enough to let him make love to her, and I wished the swarthy courtier
+all good speed with the damsel.
+
+A dancing-hall is in all lands a stew full of fish, as it were, for
+gentlemen from court, and Junker Henning von Beust had no sooner come in
+than he began to angle; and whereas Sir Franz’s bait was melancholy
+and mourning, the Junker strove to win hearts by sheer mirth and bold
+manners.
+
+My lover himself had commended him to my favor by reason that the
+gentleman was lodging under his parents’ roof; and he and I and Ann had
+found much pleasure these two days past in his light and openhearted
+friendliness. Nought more merry indeed might be seen than this
+red-haired young nobleman, in parti-colored attire, with pointed
+scallops round the neck and arm-holes, which fluttered as he moved and
+many little bells twinkling merrily. Light and life beamed forth out
+of this gladsome youth’s blue eyes. He had never sat at a school-desk;
+while our boys had been poring over their books, he had been riding with
+his father at a hunt or a fray, or had lurked in ambush by the highway
+for the laden wagons of those very “pepper sacks”--[A nickname for
+grocery merchants]--whose good wine and fair daughters he was so far
+from scorning in their own town-hall.
+
+He had already fallen in love with Ann at the Hallerhof, and never quit
+her side although, after I had overheard certain sharp words by which
+Ursula Tetzel strove to lower the maid in his opinion, I told him
+plainly of what rank and birth she was.
+
+For this he cared not one whit; nay, it increased his pleasure in making
+much of her and trying to spoil her shrewish foe’s sport. It seemed as
+though he could never have enough of dancing with Ann, and so soon as
+the town pipers struck up, with cornets, trumpets, horns, and haut-boys,
+fiddles, sack-buts and rebecks, the rattle of drums and the groaning of
+bagpipes, while the Swiss fifes squeaked shrilly above the clatter of
+the kettle-drums, methought the music itself flung him in the air and
+brought him low again. With his free and mirthful ways he carried all
+before him, and when presently it was plain to all that he could outdo
+our nimblest dancers, and was a master of each kind of dance which was
+held in favor at every court, whether of Brandenburg, of Saxony, of
+Bohemia, or at our own Emperor Sigismund’s Hungarian court, he was ere
+long entreated to show us some new figures of the dance; nor was he loth
+to do so.
+
+Nay, he presently went to such lengths that our Franconian and Nuremberg
+nobles could but turn away their faces, inasmuch as he began so wild and
+unseemly a dance as was overmuch even for me, despite my youth and sheer
+delight in the quick measure.
+
+My Hans, the young councillor, took pleasure in leading me forth in the
+Polish dance, or with due dignity in the Swabian figure, but he held
+back, as was fitting, from the mad whirl of the gipsy dance and of the
+“Dove dance;” and he, and I likewise, courteously withstood his bidding
+to join in the Dance of the Dead as it was in use in Brandenburg,
+Hungary, and Schleswig: one has to be for dead, and as he lieth another
+shall come to wake him with a kiss. On this Junker von Beust, who was,
+as the march--men say, the dance-corpse, entrapped Ann in a strange
+adventure. Ann kissed not his cheek, but in the air near by it, and the
+bold knave, who had no mind to forego so sweet a boon, declared to her
+after the dance was over that she was his debtor, and that he would give
+her no peace till she should pay him his due.
+
+Ann courteously prayed him that he would be a merciful creditor and
+remit the payment of that she had indeed omitted, though truly out of
+no ill-will. And whereas he would by no means consent, the dispute was
+taken up by others present and Jorg Loffelholz devised the fancy of
+holding a Court of Love to decide the case.
+
+This met with noisy approval, and albeit I and my dear Hans, and some
+others with us, made protest, the damsels were presently seated in a
+circle and Jorg Loffelholz, who was chosen to preside, asked of each to
+pronounce sentence. Thus it came to the turn of Ursula Tetzel and she,
+looking round on Junker Henning or ever she spoke, said, with a proud
+curl of her red lips, that she could give no opinion, inasmuch as she
+only knew what beseemed young maids of noble birth.
+
+On this the Junker answered with such high and grave dignity as I should
+not have looked for in so scatter-brained a wight: “The best patent
+of nobility, fair lady, is that of the maid to whom God Almighty
+has vouchsafed the gentlest soul and sweetest grace; and in all this
+assembly I have found none more richly endowed with both than the
+damsel against whom I in jest have made complaint. Wherefor I pray the
+presiding judge of this Court of Love to ask you once more for your
+verdict.”
+
+Ursula found this ill to brook; nevertheless her high spirit was ready
+to meet it. She laughed loudly, and with seeming lightness, as she
+hastily answered him: “Then you haughty lords of the marches allow not
+that it is in the Emperor’s power to grant letters of nobility, but
+ascribe it to Heaven alone! A bold opinion. Howbeit, I care not for
+politics, and will pronounce my sentence. If it had been Margery
+Schopper, who had refused the kiss, or Elsa Ebner, or any one of us
+whose ancestors bore arms by grace of the Emperor, and not of the God of
+the Brandenburgers, I would have condemned her to give you, in lieu
+of one kiss, two, in the presence of witnesses; but inasmuch as it is
+Mistress Ann Spiesz who has dared to withhold from a noble gentleman,
+a guest of the town, what we highborn damsels would readily have paid
+I grant her of our mercy, grace and leave to kiss the hand of Junker
+Henning von Beust, in token of penitence.” The words were spoken clearly
+and steadfastly; all were silent, and I will confess that as Ursula gave
+her answer to the Junker with beaming eyes and quivering lips, never had
+I seen her more fair. It could plainly be seen by her heaving bosom how
+gladly she gave free vent to her old cherished grudge; and that she had
+in truth wounded the maid she hated to the very soul, Ann showed by her
+deathly paleness. Yet found she not a word in reply; and while Ursula
+was speaking, meseemed in the fullness of my wrath and grief as though a
+cloud were rising before my eyes. But so soon as she ceased and my eyes
+met the triumphant look in hers, my mind suddenly grew clear again, and
+never heeding the multitude that stood about us, I went a step forward,
+and cried: “We all thank you, Junker; you have taken the worthier part;
+the only part, Ursula,” and I looked her sternly in the face, “the only
+part which I would have a friend of mine take, or any true heart.”
+
+The Junker bowed, and with a reproachful glance at Ursula he said:
+“Would to God I might never have a harder choice to make!” Whereupon
+he turned his back on her and went up to Ann; but Ursula again laughed
+loudly and called after him in defiance: “Oh! may heaven ever keep your
+wits clear when you have to choose, and especially when you have to
+discern on the high-road betwixt what is your own and what belongs to
+other folks.”
+
+The blood mounted to the Junker’s face, and, as with a hasty gesture he
+smoothed back the fierce hair on his lip, methought he might seem the
+same as when he rose in his saddle to rush down on our merchants’
+wains; for indeed it was the Beusts, with the Alvenslebens, their near
+kinsfolks, who had fallen upon the train of waggons belonging to the
+Muffels and the Tetzels, near Juterbock, not a year ago.
+
+But, hotly as his blood boiled, the Junker refrained himself, inasmuch
+as knightly courtesy forbade him to repay Ursula in the like coin;
+and as it fell Cousin Maud was enabled to aid him in this praiseworthy
+selfrule. She came forward with long strides, and her eyes flashed
+wrathful threats, till meseemed they were more fiery than the jewels in
+the tall plumes she wore on her head. She thrust aside the young men
+and maid who made up the Court of Love as a swift ship cuts through the
+small fry in the water. Without let or pause she pushed on, and as soon
+as she caught sight of Ann she seized her by the arm, stroked her hair
+and cheeks, and flung a few sharp words at Ursula:
+
+“I will talk to you presently!” Then she bid me remain behind with
+Hans and withdrew, carrying Ann with her, while Junker Henning followed
+praying to be forgiven for all the discomfort she had suffered by reason
+of him. This Ann gladly granted, and besought us and him alike to come
+with her no further.
+
+When he came back to us Ursula, who was aggrieved by the looks of
+displeasure she met on all sides, cried out: “Back already, Sir Junker?
+If you had so lightly yielded your rights to kiss of mine, you may be
+certain that I would have appealed to any one who would do my behest to
+call you to account for such scorn!”
+
+She eyed the young nobleman with a bold gaze, never weening that this
+challenge was all he waited for. He tossed his curly head, and cried
+with sparkling eyes: “Then, mistress, I would have you to know that
+I would take no kiss from you, even if you were to offer it. I have
+spoken--now call forth your champions.”
+
+He was silent a moment, and then, glancing round at the bystanders with
+defiant looks, he went on: “If any gentleman here present sets a higher
+price than I, the high-born Henning Beust, heir and Lord of Busta and
+Schadstett, on a kiss from the lips which have wronged my fair lady with
+spiteful speech, let him now stoop and pick up my glove. There it lies!”
+
+And he flung it on the ground, while Ursula turned pale. Her eyes turned
+from one to another of the young gentlemen who paid her court and they
+were many--and the longer silence reigned the faster came her breath
+and the hotter waxed her ire. But on a sudden she was calm; her eyes had
+lighted on Sir Franz von Welemisl, and all might read what she demanded
+of him. The Bohemian understood her; he picked up the glove and muttered
+to the Junker with a shrug: “Mistress Ursula commands me!”
+
+A look of pain passed over the brave youth’s merry face, for that
+heretofore the young knight and he had been in good fellowship, and he
+hastily answered: “Nay, Sir Knight; I would have crossed swords with you
+readily enough or ever you had felt the prick of Swabian steel; but now
+you are not yet fully yourself again, and to fight with a friend who is
+sick is against the rule of my country.”
+
+The words were spoken from a kind and honest heart, and I saw in Sir
+Franz’s face that he knew their intent was true; but as he put forth his
+hand to grasp the Junker’s, Ursula tossed her head in high disdain. Sir
+Franz hastily changed his mien, and cried: “Then you will do well to act
+against the rule of your country, and fight the champion of the lady you
+have offended.”
+
+Here the dispute had an end, forasmuch as that my lord the duke, leader
+of the embassy, hearing the Brandenburger’s fierce voice, came in haste
+from the supper-board to restore peace; and as he led away the Junker
+it was plain to all that he was taking him sharply to task. It was, in
+truth, a criminal misdeed in one of the Imperial envoy to cast down his
+glove at a dance, where he was the guest of a peaceful city; and that
+the duke imposed no severe penance for it the Junker might thank the
+worshipful members of the council who were present; they were indeed
+disposed to let well alone, inasmuch as they had it at heart to send the
+whole party home again well-pleased with Nuremberg.
+
+The music was soon sounding merrily again in the solemn town-hall,
+and of all the young folks who danced so gleefully, and laughed and
+chattered Ursula was the last to let it be seen how this grand revel had
+been troubled by her fault. Her eyes were bright with glad contentment,
+and she was so free with Sir Franz that it might have seemed that they
+would quit the town hall a plighted couple.
+
+The festival was drawing to an end, and when I had danced the last
+dance, and was looking about me, I beheld to my amazement Ursula Tetzel
+in eager speech with Junker Henning. On our way home the young gentleman
+informed me that she had given him to understand that, during the
+meeting of the Imperial Assembly, he might look to be waited on by a
+noble youth who would pick up his glove in duty to her, and prove to
+him that there were other than sick champions glad to draw the sword for
+her.
+
+The Brandenburger would fain have known with whom he would have to deal;
+but I held my peace, albeit I felt certain that Ursula had set her hopes
+on none other than my brother Herdegen.
+
+On the morrow the whole of the Ambassadors’ fellowship rode away, back
+to the emperor’s court; I, for my part made my way to the Pernharts,
+where I found Ann amazed rather than wroth or distressed by Ursula’s
+base attack. Also she was to have some amends; my dear godfather, Uncle
+Christian, with certain other gentlemen of the council, had notified old
+Tetzel that he was required to crave pardon of Ann and her stepfather
+for his daughter’s haughty and reckless speech.
+
+The proud and surly old man would have to submit to this penance without
+cavil, by reason that Pernhart had, since Saint Walpurgis’ day, been a
+member of the council, and he and his family had part and share in
+the patrician festival. For, albeit craftsmen and petty merchants were
+excluded, the worshipful councillors chosen by the guilds enjoyed the
+same rights as those born to that high rank.
+
+It was by mishap only that the coppersmith had not been at the town-hall
+yestereve, and on a later day, when he and his wife appeared there, they
+were among the finest of the elder couples. Ann did not, indeed, go with
+them; but it was neither vexation nor sorrow that kept her at home. My
+great gladness as it were warmed her likewise, and we were looking for
+Herdegen’s speedy home-coming.
+
+She looked forward to this with such firm hope as filled me with fears,
+when I minded me of my brother’s letters, in which he never had aught to
+tell of but vain pleasures and pastimes.
+
+My betrothal to Hans Haller was after his own heart; he wrote of him
+as of a man whose gifts and birth were worthy of me; and went on to say
+that he would follow his example, and, whereas he had renounced love
+in seeking a bride, he would take counsel of his head, and not of his
+heart, and quarter our ancient coat of arms with one no less noble.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Though Ann’s hopeful mood distressed me, these same hopes in my
+world-wise Aunt Jacoba raised my spirit; but again, when I heard my
+grand-uncle speak of Herdegen as his duteous son, it fell as low as
+before. The old man had shown much contentment at my plighting to Hans,
+and had given me a precious set of rubies as a wedding gift; yet could I
+scarce take pleasure in them, inasmuch as he told me then and there that
+he had the like in store for the noble damsel whom Herdegen should wed.
+
+Cousin Maud was in great wrath, when she knew that we had it in our
+minds even yet to bring Ann and Herdegen together; howbeit this did not
+hinder her from being as kind to Ann as she was ever wont to be, and
+giving her pleasure with gifts great and small whenever she might. She
+had her own thoughts touching my brother’s faithlessness. She deemed it
+a triumph of noble blood over the yearnings of his heart; and the more
+she loved to think well of her darling the more comfort she found in
+this interpretation.
+
+Among those few who had known of his betrothal to Ann was the
+bee-master’s widow, Dame Henneleinlein; and she had cradled herself so
+gladly in the hope of being ere long kin to a noble family, that its
+wrecking filled her heart with bitter rage, and in all the houses
+whither she carried her honey she never failed to speak slander of
+Herdegen.
+
+All this would never have troubled me, if only I might have rejoiced in
+the presence of my dear love; but alas! no more than three weeks after
+our betrothal he was sent, as squire to Master Erhart Schurstab, away to
+court, where they were to lay before the Emperor Sigismund in the name
+of Nuremberg the various hindrances in the way of our trafficking
+with Venice, whereas since the late war his Majesty had been mightily
+ill-disposed towards that great and famous city.
+
+There was no remedy but patience; my lover wrote to me often, and his
+loving letters would have filled me with joy, if it had not been that in
+each one there was ever some sad tidings of Junker Henning, whom I
+yet held in high esteem. This young lord, who was in attendance on his
+Majesty--who never held his court for more than a few days at the
+same place--or ever he left Vienna to go to Ratisbon, had made a close
+friendship with my plighted master, and had been serviceable to him in
+all things wherein he might; and Hans had said of him that he was one
+in whom there was no guile, with the open heart and bright temper of
+a child. Such an one, indeed, was his; yet, in the midst of the gayest
+mirth, his grief of heart would so mightily come upon him that he fell
+into a sudden gloom; and out of the fulness of his sorrow he confessed
+to Hans that he could never cease to think of Ann. Whereupon my dear
+love conceived that it must be his woeful duty to tell his friend
+that the lady of his choice had no free heart to give him. Yet to the
+Junker’s question whether she were plighted to another, and whether he
+were minded to wed her, Hans was forced in truth to say nay. This gave
+the lovesick youth new courage, and at length he went so far as that
+Hans enquired of me whether Ann might not after all be willing to give
+up Herdegen, who well deserved it at her hands, and to take pity on so
+brave and true-hearted a lover as the Junker.
+
+To this I could make no answer other than: “Never--never;” inasmuch as,
+having shown Ann this letter, and, moreover, loudly sung the praise of
+her suitor, she asked me right sadly whether I was weary of confirming
+her in her love for my brother; and when I eagerly denied this,
+she cried: “And you know me well! And you must know that nothing on
+earth--nor you, nor Mistress Jacoba, nor all Nuremberg, could turn my
+heart from my love!”
+
+This did I forthwith write to Hans; but that letter never reached him,
+and thus was he delivered from the grievous duty of robbing the Junker
+of his last hope.
+
+Alas, my Hans! How sorely I did long for thee every hour! And yet shall
+I ever remember the month of June in that year with thankfulness.
+
+Day after day did we maidens sit in the Hallers’ garden, for Hans’
+worthy mother had soon taken Ann into her heart, and it became a fear
+to me ere long lest her rare beauty should turn the head of his younger
+brother Paulus, a likely lad of nineteen. As the summer waxed hot we
+went into the forest at the bidding of my uncle and aunt, who took great
+joy in seeing their favorite in right good heart and wondrous beauty,
+Mistress Giovanna having provided her with seemly and brave apparel.
+Nor was there any lack of good fellowship; many young noblemen bore us
+company, and whereas the town was full of illustrious guests, many of
+them found their way out to the forest.
+
+This was by reason that the Prince Electors and the other rulers of
+the Empire, and foremost of them all our High Constable, had, indeed,
+declared that the great Assembly should be held at Nuremberg and not at
+Ratisbon; and when they were all gathered in our good town, the Emperor
+Sigismund, after he had waited for five days at Ratisbon, was fain at
+last, whether or no, to follow them hither. Then had his Chamberlains
+been sent before him, and among them again came Duke Rumpold von Glogau
+and Junker Henning von Beust, while his Majesty kept my Hans still about
+his person. Now, when the Emperor’s forerunners had fulfilled their
+duties, they likewise were bidden to the forest-lodge; and with them
+came the lord of Eberstein, and an Italian Conte, Fazio di Puppi, both
+well skilled in song and the lute. Yet was my brother Herdegen still
+absent, albeit we had looked for him at Whitsuntide.
+
+Cousin Maud bided at home, where there was much to be done in preparing
+fitting cheer for the noble fellowship who were to be lodged in the
+Schopperhof; nay, the old house was to be decked outside with a festal
+dress, in obedience to the behest of the town-council that every citizen
+should do his utmost so to cleanse and adorn his house, that it should
+please the eyes of his Majesty the Emperor.
+
+Towards evening on Saint Liborius’ day,--[July 23rd.]--my lord the Duke
+came forth on horseback to the forest lodge, and as I write, I can
+see the beaming countenance of Junker Henning as he greeted Ann; she,
+however, took his devoted demeanor coolly and courteously, yet could
+she not hinder him from coming between her and the other gentlemen in
+an over-marked way. The company was a large one for us two maidens,
+and there was none other with us save Elsa Ebner, our best-beloved
+schoolmate, and on her young Master Jorg Loffelholz had cast his eyes.
+
+Not long after dinner Akusch came to me with the tidings that Herdegen
+had ridden into Nuremberg yestereve. My grand-uncle, to whom he had sent
+word of his coming, had gone forth to meet him on the way, and, with him
+Jost Tetzel and his daughter Ursula. My brother had alighted at the Im
+Hoff’s house, and had waited on Cousin Maud this morning early. In the
+afternoon it was his intent to come out to the forest with my uncle’s
+leave, to see me.
+
+When I repeated all this to Aunt Jacoba, she was mightily disturbed and
+bid me stand by Ann, and in all points obey the counsel she might find
+it good to give her. She desired I would fetch my friend to her July
+23rd. forthwith, and then made a plan for all the young folks to go
+forth to the fair garden of a certain bee-keeper, one Martein, where
+flowers grew in great abundance, and where we might wind the wreaths
+which Uncle Christian would need to grace the Empress’ chambers withal.
+Thither, quoth she, would she send Herdegen on his coming; for she knew
+full well that the tidings brought by Akusch could not remain hid.
+
+Whereas Ann turned a little paler, my aunt shook her head in
+displeasure, and admonished her to remain calm; albeit she had charges
+to bring against that wild youth, yet, for the present, she must keep
+them to herself. Least of all was she to let him suppose that his
+faithlessness had caused her any bitter heart-ache; if she desired that
+matters end rightly she must command herself to receive the home-comer
+no more than kindly, and to demean her as though his denying of her had
+touched her but lightly; nay, as though it were a pleasure to her vanity
+to be courted by the Brandenburg Junker and other noble gentlemen. If
+she could but seem to rate him as less than either of them, she would
+have won a great part of the victory.
+
+Such subtlety had no charm for Ann; howbeit, my aunt gave no place
+to her doubting, and once more her urgent eloquence prevailed on the
+sorrowing maid to govern the yearning of her soul; and when I promised
+my friend to support her, she gave the wise lady, who had shown her such
+plain proofs of her devoted friendship, her word that she would in every
+point obey her.
+
+Many a time have we seen, in the churches of Nuremberg, certain acting
+of plays wherein right honest and worthy persons have appeared as Judas
+Iscariot, or even as the very Devil himself; and at Venice likewise
+have I seen such plays, called there Boinbaria, wherein men and women,
+innocent of all guilt, were made to stand for Calumny, Cruelty, and
+Craft; and that so cunningly that a man might swear that they were
+reprobate Knaves full ripe for the gallows. From this it may be seen
+that men are fit and able to seem other than they are by nature; nay,
+such feigning is a pleasure to most folks, as we plainly see from the
+delight taken by great and small alike in mummery at Carnival tide.
+Howbeit, they can scarce have their heart in such sport; and for my
+part, meseemeth that to play such a part as my aunt had set before Ann
+is one of the hardest that can be laid upon a pure-hearted and truthful
+maid. At the time I wist not clearly what was the end of such rash
+trifling; but now, when I know men better, meseems it was well
+conceived, and could not fail of its intent, albeit the course of events
+made it plain to my understanding how little the thoughts and plans of
+the wisest can avail when Heaven rules otherwise.
+
+The gentlemen in the hall were more than ready to agree to our bidding;
+yet none but I could guess what made Ann’s lip to quiver from time to
+time, while her gay spirit charmed the young men who bore us company
+through the woods to the beekeeper’s garden.
+
+I and Elsa cut the flowers helped by Jorg Loffelholz, while Ann sat
+under a shady lime-tree hard by an arbor of honeysuckle, and showed the
+others, who lay on the grass about her; how to wind a garland. Each one
+was ready to be taught by lips so sweet, and in guiding of fingers and
+words of praise or blame, there was right merry laughing and chatter and
+pastime.
+
+Junker Henning lay at her feet, and near him my Hans’ brother Paulus,
+and young Master Holzschuher. The Knight von Eberstein had fetched him
+a stool out from the beekeeper’s house, and twisted and tied with great
+zeal; the Italian Conte, Fagio di Puppi, struck the mandoline, which
+he called “the lady of his heart” from whom he never parted even on the
+longest journey.
+
+When Elsa and I had flowers enough, we sat down with the others, and it
+was pleasant there to rest in the shade of the lime-tree, whose leaves
+fluttered in a soft air, while bees and butterflies hovered above the
+flowers in the warm sunshine. The birds sang no more; they had finished
+nesting long ago; but we, with our young hearts overfull of love, were
+in the right mind for song, and when Puppi had charmed us with a sweet
+Italian lay, and I had decked his lute with a rose as a guerdon, my lord
+of Eberstein took example from him, and they then besought Ann and me to
+do our part; but Junker Henning was the more eager. Whereupon Ann smiled
+on him so graciously that I was in pain for him, and she signed to me,
+and, I taking the lower part as was our wont, we gave Prince Wizlav’s
+“Song to Dame Love.” It rang out right loud and clear from our throats
+over the gentlemen’s heads as they sat at our feet, and through the
+garden close:
+
+          “Earth is set free and flowers
+          In all the meads are springing,
+          The balmy noontide hours
+          Are sweet with odors rare;
+          The hills for joy are leaping.
+          The happy birds are singing,
+          And now, while winds are sleeping,
+          Soar through the sunny air.
+
+          Now hearts begin to kindle
+          And burn with love’s sweet anguish
+          As tapers blaze and dwindle.
+          Love, our lady! lend thine ear!
+          Would’st thou but spoil our pleasure?
+          Ah, leave us not to languish!
+          Who vows to thee his treasure,
+          Haughty lady, must beware.”
+
+We had sung so much as this when the sound of hoofs, of which we had
+already been aware on the soft soil of the woods, gave us pause. Then,
+behold! Ann turned pale and pressed her hands, full of the roses she had
+chosen for her garland, tightly to her bosom, as though in pain.
+Junker Henning, who, while she sang, had gazed at her devoutly, nay, in
+rapture, marked this gesture and leaped to his feet to succour her;
+but she commanded herself with wonderful readiness, and laughed as she
+showed him her finger, from which two drops of blood had fallen on her
+white gown. And while the garden-gate was opening, she held out her hand
+to the young man, saying in haste: “Pricked,--a thorn!--would you please
+to take it out for me, Junker?”
+
+He seized her hand and held it long in his own, as some jewel or marvel,
+before he remembered that he was required to take out the thorn. The
+other gentle men, and among them my brother-in-law Paulus, had likewise
+sprung forward to lend their aid; he, indeed, had snatched his lace
+neck-tie off and dipped it in the fountain.
+
+Meanwhile the new-comers had joined the circle: First, Duke Rumpold,
+then Jost Tetzel, and lastly Herdegen with Ursula.
+
+I flew to meet him, and when he held me in his arms and kissed me,
+and wished me joy of my betrothal right heartily, I forgot all old
+grievances and only rejoiced at having him home once more; till Ursula
+greeted me, and Herdegen came in sight of Ann. She had remained sitting
+under the lime-tree, on a saddle cushion of blue velvet, as on a throne;
+and in truth meseemed she might have been a queen, as she graciously
+accepted the service of the gentlemen who had been so moved by her
+pricked finger. The Junker wrapped it with care in a green leaf which,
+as his lady grandmother had taught him, had a healing gift; Paulus held
+forth the laced kerchief, and the Italian was striking wailing tones
+from his lute.
+
+All this to-do, at any other time would, for a certainty, have made
+sport for me, but now laughing was far from me, and I had no eyes but
+for Ann in her little court, and for my brother.
+
+At first she feigned as though she saw him not; and whereas the Junker
+still held her hand, she hit his fingers with a pink, albeit she was
+never apt to use such unseemly freedom.
+
+Then she first marked my lord the duke, and rose to greet him with a
+courteous reverence, and not till she had bowed coldly and curtly to
+Tetzel and his daughter did she seem to be aware that Herdegen was of
+the company. At that moment I minded me of the morning when Love had
+thrown her into his arms, and it was with pain and wonder that I marked
+her further demeanor. In truth it outdid all I could have dreamed of:
+she held out her hand with an inviting smile, bid him welcome home and
+to the forest, reproved him for staying so long away from me, his dear
+little sister, and our good cousin, and then turned her back upon him to
+desire the Junker to place her cushions aright. Therewith she gave
+this young gentleman her hand to support her to her seat, and asked
+him whether, in his country, they did not do service and devoir to the
+divine Dame Musica? And whereas he replied that verily they did, that in
+his own land he had heard many a sweet ditty sung by noble ladies to the
+harp and lute, that the children would ever sing at their sports, and
+that he, too, had oftentimes uplifted his voice in singing of madrigals,
+she besought him that he would make proof of some ballad or song. The
+rest of the company joining in her entreaties she left him no peace
+till he gave way to her desire, and after that he had protested that his
+singing was no better than the twitter of a starling or a bullfinch, and
+his ditty only such as he remembered from his boyhood’s time, he sang
+the song “It rained on the bridge and I was wet” in a voice neither loud
+nor fine, but purely, and with great modesty.
+
+Ann highly lauded this simple and right childish ditty, and said that
+she felt certain that she, by her teaching, could make a fine singer of
+the Junker.
+
+The others were of the same opinion, and Herdegen, meanwhile, who was
+standing somewhat apart, with Ursula, looked on, marvelling greatly as
+though he could not believe what his ear heard and his eye beheld.
+
+Then, inasmuch as my lord duke desired to hear more music made, we were
+ready enough to obey and uplifted our voices, while he leaned on an easy
+couch, listening diligently, and gave us the guerdon of his gracious
+praise.
+
+Still, as heretofore, many were obedient to Ann’s lightest sign, but
+never till now had I seen her proud of her power and so eager to use it.
+Now and again she would turn to Herdegen with some light word and a free
+demeanor, yet he, it was plain, would not vouchsafe to take his seat
+before her with the rest.
+
+Nay, meseemed that he and Ursula had no part with us; inasmuch as that
+she was arrayed in velvet and rich brocade, and a bower, as it were, of
+yellow and purple ostrich plumes curled above her riding-hat.
+
+Herdegen likewise was in brave array, after the fashion of the French,
+and a bunch of tall feathers stood up above his head, being held in a
+silken fillet that bound his hair. His cross-belt was set with gems and
+hung with little bells, tinkling as he moved and jarring with our song;
+and in this hot summer-tide it could not have been for his easement that
+he wore the tagged lappets, which fell, a hand-breadth deep, from his
+shoulders over the sleeves of his velvet tunic.
+
+The more gleefully we sang and the more it was made plain that we, to
+all seeming, were only to obey the wishes of Ann and of his highness
+the duke, the less could my brother refrain himself to hide his
+ill-pleasure; and when presently the Junker besought Ann that she would
+sing “Tanderadei,” which she very readily did, Herdegen could bear no
+more; he asked the Italian to lend him his mandoline, and struck the
+strings as though merely for his own good pleasure. Whereupon Ann turned
+to him and courteously entreated him for a song, and he asking her which
+song she would have, she hastily replied: “Your old ditties are already
+known to me, Junker Schopper; and, to judge by your seeming, you now
+take no pleasure save in French music. Let us then hear somewhat of the
+latest Paris fashion.”
+
+To this he replied, however: “Here, in my own land, I would like better
+to sing in my own tongue, by your gracious leave, fair mistress.”
+
+Then bowing to Ursula and to me, without even casting a glance at Ann,
+he went on to say: “And seeing that methinks you love madrigals, I will
+sing a Franconian ditty after the Junker’s Brandenburg ballad.”
+
+He boldly struck the strings, and the little birds, which by this time
+had gone to rest in the linden-tree, again uplifted their little
+heads, and all that had ears and soul, near and far, Ann not the least,
+hearkened as he began with his clear voice and noble skill.
+
+          “To all this goodly company
+          I sing as best I may,
+          A madrigal of ladies fair
+          And damsels soote and gay.
+          Through many countries great and small
+          I roam, and ladies fair I see
+          Many! but fairest of them all
+          The maidens of my own countree.
+          The maidens of Franconia
+          I ever love to meet,
+          They dwell in fond remembrance
+          A vision ever sweet.
+          Of maids they are the crown and pearl!
+          And if I might but spin them
+          I would make the spindle whirl!”
+
+My lord duke clapped hearty praise of the singer, and we all did the
+same; all save Junker Henning, who had not failed to mark that Herdegen
+had striven to out-do his modest warble, and likewise the ardent eyes
+he turned on the lady of his choice. Hence he moved not. Ann clapped her
+hands but lightly, sat looking into her lap, and for some time could say
+not a word; indeed, if she had trusted herself to speak the game would
+of a certainty have been lost.
+
+The knight of Eberstein it was, who ere long, albeit unwittingly, came
+to her aid; he challenged Ursula to give us a song in thanks to Junker
+Herdegen’s praise of the maids of Franconia.
+
+The damsel thought to do somewhat fine by making choice, instead of a
+German song, of a French lay by the Sieur de Machault “J’aim la flour,”
+ which was well known to all of us by reason that she had learnt it
+from old Veit Spiesz, Ann’s grandfather; and she had no need to fear to
+uplift her voice, inasmuch as it was strong and as clear as a bell. But
+she sang over-loud and with a mode of speech which made Herdegen smile,
+and I can see her now as she stood upright in her fine yellow and purple
+garb, singing the light-tripping ditty,
+
+            “J’aim la flour
+             De valour
+             Sans falour
+             Et l’aour
+             Nuit et jour.”
+
+with all her might, as though stirring them to battle. The folly of so
+wrong-headed a fashion of singing such words was plain to Ann, in whose
+very blood, as it were, lay all that was most choice in musical feeling,
+and Herdegen’s smile brought her a calmer mind again. When, presently,
+Ursula, believing that she had done somewhat marvellous, boldly turned
+upon Ann and besought her to sing--as though there had never been a
+breach between the twain--Ann refused, as not caring but yet firm in her
+mind. Then the Duke, who was even yet a fine singer and bore in mind how
+Ursula had demeaned herself towards Ann at the great dance, desired to
+have the lute and sang the song as follows:
+
+          “Behold a lady sweet and fair
+          In simple dress,
+          But right well clothed upon is she
+          With seemliness.
+          By her do flowers seem less bright,
+          And she is such a glorious sight
+   As, on May morns, the golden sun which lights up hill and lea--
+   But froward maids delight us not, with all their bravery.”
+
+And he sang the little verse to Ann as though it were in her praise,
+till at the last line, which fell from his lips as it were in scorn, he
+cast a reproving glance at Ursula, and many an one might see and feel
+how well the song befitted one and the other of the hostile damsels.
+
+Yet was it hard to guess what Ursula was thinking of all this; she
+thanked the Duke right freely for his fine song which held up the mirror
+to all froward ladies. At the same time she looked steadfastly at Ann,
+and led both Herdegen and the Knight of Eberstein to talk with herself;
+yet how often all the time did my brother cast his eyes at his heart’s
+beloved, whom he had betrayed.
+
+As for myself, I can call to mind little enough of all that was said,
+for the most part concerning the flowers and trees in the garden. Only
+Ann and my brother dwell in my memory, each feigning neither to see nor
+to hear the other, while covertly each had not eyes nor ears for any
+other. Yes, and I mind me how my brother’s unrest and distress so filled
+me now with joy and now with pity, that I longed to cry out to the
+Junker that this was a base trick they were playing on him, inasmuch as
+Ann poured oil and more oil on the flame of his love.
+
+And there stood old Tetzel and his daughter, and it was plain to see
+that they deemed that they had Herdegen safe in their toils; nay,
+it seemed likely enough that he had done his uncle’s bidding and was
+already betrothed to her. Howbeit this strange lover had up to that
+moment cast not one loving look on his lady love.
+
+What should come of it all? How could I ever find peace and comfort in
+so perverse a world, and amid this feigning which had turned upside down
+all that heretofore had seemed upright? Whichever way I turned there
+were things which I did not crave to see, and the saints know full well
+that I gazed not round about me; nay, that my eyes were set on two small
+specks plain to be seen--the two drops of blood which had fallen from
+Ann’s finger, and which were now two dark, round spots on her white
+gown; and, as it grew dusk, meseemed they waxed blacker and greater.
+
+At length, to my great joy, my lord the Duke rose and made as though
+he were departing; whereupon the false image vanished, and I beheld Ann
+giving her hand with a witching smile to Junker Henning, that he might
+help her to rise.
+
+Supper was waiting for us at the Forest lodge. My Aunt Jacoba placed the
+Duke in the seat of honor at her right hand, with Ann and Junker Henning
+next to him. Herdegen she sent to the other end of the table to sit near
+his uncle, and Ursula far from him near the middle; to the end that it
+might be clearly seen that she knew naught of any alliance between that
+damsel and her nephew.
+
+During that meal my squire had little cause to be pleased with his lady.
+The foolish sport begun in the garden was yet carried on and I liked it
+not, no more than my brother’s French bravery; at table he appeared in a
+long red and blue garment of costly silken stuff, with a cord round
+the middle instead of a belt, so that it was for all the world like the
+loose gown which was worn by our Magister and by many a worthy citizen
+when taking his easement in his own home.
+
+Besides all this, my heart was heavy with longing for my own true love,
+and my eyes filled with tears a many times, also I thanked the Saints
+with all my heart when at length my aunt left the table.
+
+When we were outside she asked me privily whether Ann had rightly played
+her part; to which I answered “Only too well.”
+
+Herdegen, also, so soon as he had bid good night to Ursula, led me aside
+and desired to know what had come upon Ann. To this I hastily replied
+that of a surety he could not care to know, inasmuch as he had broken
+troth with her. Thereat he was vexed and answered that as matters
+were, so might they remain; but that he was somewhat amazed to mark how
+lightly she had got over that which had spoiled many a day and night for
+him.
+
+Then I asked him whether he had in truth rather have found her in woe
+and grief, and would fain have had her young days saddened for love of
+him? He broke in suddenly, declaring that he knew full well that he had
+no right to hinder her in any matter, but that one thing he could not
+bear, and that was that she, whom he had revered as a saint, should now
+demean herself no more nobly nor otherwise than any other maid might. On
+this I asked him wherefor he had denied his saint; nay, for the sake--as
+it would seem--of a maid who was, for sure, the worldliest of us all.
+And, to end, I boldly enquired of him how matters stood betwixt him and
+Ursula; but all the answer I got was that first he must know whether Ann
+were in earnest with the Junker. On this I said in mockery that he would
+do well to seek out the truth of that matter to the very bottom; and
+running up the steps by which we were standing, I kissed my hand to him
+from the first turning and wished him a good night’s rest.
+
+Up in our chamber I found Ann greatly disturbed.
+
+She, who was commonly so calm, was walking up and down the narrow
+space without pause or ceasing; and seeing how sorely her fears and her
+conscience were distressing her, pity compelled me to forego my intent
+of not giving her any hopes; I revealed to her that I had discovered
+that my Herdegen’s heart was yet hers in spite of Ursula.
+
+This comforted her somewhat; but yet could it not restore her peace of
+mind. Meseemed that the ruthless work she had done that day had but
+now come home to her; she could not refrain herself from tears when
+she confessed that Herdegen had privily besought her to grant him brief
+speech with her, and that she had brought herself to refuse him.
+
+All this was told in a whisper; only a thin wall of wood parted Ursula’s
+chamber from ours. As yet there was no hope of sleep, inasmuch as that
+the noise made, by the gentlemen at their carouse came up loud and
+clear through the open window and, the later it grew, the louder waxed
+Herdegen’s voice and the Junker’s, above all others. And I knew what
+hour the clocks must have told when my brother shouted louder than ever
+the old chorus:
+
+          “Bibit heres, bibit herus
+          Bibit miles, bibit clerus
+          Bibit ille, bibit illa
+          Bibit servus cum ancilla.
+          Bibit soror, bibit frater
+          Bibit anus, bibit mater
+          Bibit ista, bibit ille:
+          Bibunt centem, bibunt milee.”
+
+          [The heir drinks, the owner drinks,
+          The soldier and the clerk,
+          He drinks, she drinks,
+          The servant and the wench.
+          The sister drinks and eke the brother,
+          The grand dam and the gaffer,
+          This one drinks, that one drinks,
+          A hundred drink--a thousand!]
+
+Nor was this the end. The Latin tongue of this song may peradventure
+have roused Junker Henning to make a display of learning on his part,
+and in a voice which had won no mellowness from the stout Brandenburg
+ale--which is yclept “Death and murder”--or from the fiery Hippocras he
+had been drinking he carolled forth the wanton verse:
+
+          “Per transivit clericus
+          [Beneath the greenwood shade;]
+          Invenit ibi stantent,
+          [A fair and pleasant maid;]
+          Salve mi puella,
+          [Hail thou sweetest she;]
+          Dico tibi vere
+          [Thou my love shalt be!]”
+
+The rest of the song was not to be understood whereas Herdegen likewise
+sang at the same time, as though he would fain silence the other:
+
+          “Fair Lady, oh, my Lady!
+          I would I were with thee,
+          But two deep rolling rivers
+          Flow down ‘twixt thee and me.”
+
+And as Herdegen sang the last lines:
+
+          “But time may change, my Lady,
+          And joy may yet be mine,
+          And sorrow turn to gladness
+          My sweetest Elselein!”
+
+I heard the Junker roar out “Annelein;” and thereupon a great tumult,
+and my Uncle Conrad’s voice, and then again much turmoil and moving of
+benches till all was silence.
+
+Even then sleep visited us not, and that which had been doing below was
+as great a distress to me as my fears for my lover. That Ann likewise
+never closed an eye is beyond all doubt, for when the riot beneath us
+waxed so loud she wailed in grief: “Oh, merciful Virgin!” or “How shall
+all this end?” again and again.
+
+Nay, nor did Ursula sleep; and through the boarded wall I could not fail
+to hear well-nigh every word of the prayers in which she entreated
+her patron saint, beseeching her fervently to grant her to be loved by
+Herdegen, whose heart from his youth up had by right been hers alone,
+and invoking ruin on the false wench who had dared to rob her of that
+treasure.
+
+I was right frightened to hear this and, in truth, for the first time I
+felt honest pity for Ursula.
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The Imperial Diet in Nuremberg!--the Imperial Advent!
+
+The next day their Majesties were to enter into the town, and with them
+my Hans.
+
+A messenger had brought the tidings, and now we must use all diligence;
+Ann and Elsa and I, with one and twenty more, had been chosen among all
+the daughters of the worshipful gentlemen of the council, to go forth to
+greet the Emperor and Empress with flowers and a discourse. This Ursula
+was to speak, by reason that she was mistress of all such arts; likewise
+was she by birth the chiefest of us all, inasmuch as that her late
+departed mother was daughter to the great Reynmar, lord of Sulzbach. Nor
+need Ann and I seek far for the flowers. The Hallers’ garden had not its
+like in all Nuremberg, and my dear parents-in-law had promised that we
+should pluck all we needed for our posies.
+
+Or ever I mounted my horse, I had tidings that Herdegen and Junker
+Henning had, last evening, come to bitter strife, nay, well-nigh to
+bloodshed; for that when my brother had sung the ditty in praise of one
+Elselein and the other had called upon him to put in the name of Ann,
+Herdegen had cried: “An if you mean red-haired Ann, the tapster wench at
+the Blue Pike, well and good!” Whereupon the Junker sprang up and flung
+the tankard he had just emptied at Herdegen’s head. Herdegen had nimbly
+ducked, and had rushed on the drunken fellow sword in hand; but Duke
+Rumpold had put a word in, and by this morning Junker Henning seemed
+to have forgotten the matter. In Brandenburg, verily, such frays were
+common at the drinking-bouts of the lords and gentlemen, and by dawn all
+offence given over-night in their cups was wiped out of mind.
+
+My brother lodged again at our grand-uncle’s, while the Junker dwelt
+at the Waldstromer’s townhouse. My Lord Duke found quarters at the
+Hallerhof, and his Highness the Prince Elector, and Archbishop Conrad
+of Mainz likewise lodged there, with a great following. Cousin Maud had
+made ready to welcome the Margrave of Baden and the Count von Henneberg
+under our roof. The upper floor of the Pernhart’s house was given up
+to his Eminence Cardinal Branda, the most steadfast friend at Rome of
+Master Ulman’s brother the bishop. His Holiness the Pope had sent that
+right-reverend prelate as his legate to the assembly, and he presently
+celebrated mass with great dignity in the presence of their Majesties
+and of the assembled lords and princes.
+
+To this day my memory is right good in all ways; and of what followed on
+these events much is yet as clear and plain in my mind as though I saw
+and heard it all at this present time; albeit I, an old woman, would
+fain hide my face in my hands and weep thereat. For, notwithstanding
+there were certain hours in those days which brought me sweet
+love-making, and others of sheer mirth and vanity, yet is the spirit of
+man so tempered that, when great sorrow follows hard on the greatest
+joy it sufficeth to darken it wholly. And thus we may liken heaviness
+of heart to the chiming of bells, which hurts the ear if they sound over
+near, but at a distance make a sweet and devout music. Now, in sooth,
+inasmuch as I must make record of the deepest woe of my life, the brazen
+toll is a sad one, and the long-healed wounds ache afresh.
+
+Those two months of the Imperial Diet! They lie behind me like distant
+hills. I can no more discern them apart, albeit certain landmarks, as
+it were, stand forth plainly to be seen, like the church-tower, the
+windmill, and the old oak on the ridge on the horizon.
+
+How the night sped after our return from the forest and the morning next
+after--the 27th of July in the year of our Lord 1422--I can no longer
+call to mind; but I can see myself now as, the afternoon of that day,
+I set forth with Ann, attired in silk and lace--all white and new from
+head to foot, as it were for a wedding--to go to the open place
+between St. James’ Church and the German House, within the Spital Gate.
+Whichever way we looked, behold flowers, green garlands, hangings,
+pennons, and banners; it was as though all the gardens in Franconia had
+been stripped of their blossoms. Never had such a brave show been seen,
+and with every breath we drank in the odors of the leaves and flowers
+which were already withering in the July sunshine. A finer Saint
+Pantaloon’s day I never remember; the very sky seemed to share the
+city’s gladness and was fair to see, in spotless blue. A light wind
+assuaged the waxing heat, and helped the flags and banners to unfurl:
+Our fine churches were decked all over and about with garlands, boughs,
+and banners, and meseemed were like happy brides awaiting their marriage
+in holiday array. The market-place was a scene of high festival, the
+beautiful fountain was a mighty bower of flowers, the triumphal arches,
+methought, were such as the gods of wood and garden might have joined
+to raise. Every balcony was richly hung, and even the crested gables
+and the turrets on the roofs displayed some bravery. All, so far as
+eye could see, was motley-hued and spick and span for brightness. The
+tiniest pane in the topmost dormer-window glittered without a spot. The
+poorest were clad in costly finery; the patrician folk were in the dress
+of knights and nobles; every craftsman was arrayed as though he were a
+councillor, every squire like his lord. You would have weened that day
+that there were none but rich folk in Nuremberg. The maidens’ pearl
+chaplets gleamed in the sun, and the golden jewels in their fur bonnets;
+and what did their mothers care for the heat as they went to and fro to
+display the costly fur turbans which crowned their heads as it were with
+a glory of fur? How carefully had they dressed the little ones! They
+were to see the Emperor and Empress with their own eyes, and their
+Majesties might even, by good hap, see them!
+
+Presently we saw the procession of the guilds with their devices and
+banners; never had they come forth in such goodly bravery. They were to
+form in ranks, on each side of the streets and the highway, a long space
+outside the gate.
+
+At last it was nigh the hour when their Majesties should arrive. We
+maids had all assembled. Albeit we had agreed all to be clad in white,
+Ursula had decked her head-gear with Ostrich feathers of rose-pink and
+sky-blue; right costly plumes they were, but over many. Now would she
+look into her parchment scroll, and for us she had brief words and few.
+The nosegay which her servant in scarlet livery bore in his hand was a
+mighty fine one; and Akusch and a gardener’s boy presently came up with
+the posies culled for Ann and me in the Hallers’ garden. We, and many
+another maid, clasped our hands in sheer delight, but Ursula cast a
+look on them which might, if it could, have robbed the roses and Eastern
+lilies of their sweetness.
+
+The Emperor, it was said, would keep to the hour fixed on; then all the
+bells began to ring. I knew them all well, and one I liked best of all;
+the Benedicta in Saint Sebalds Church, which had been cast by old Master
+Grunewald, Master Pernhart’s closest friend. Their brazen voices stirred
+my soul and heart, and presently the cannon in the citadel and on the
+wails rattled out a thundering welcome to the Emperor, rending the
+summer air. My heart beat higher and faster. But suddenly I meseemed
+that all the bravery of the town and the holiday weed of the folks, the
+chiming of bells and the roaring of cannon were not meant to do honor to
+the Emperor, but only to my one true love who was coming in his train.
+
+All my thoughts and hopes were set on him. And when the town-pipers
+struck up with trumpets and kettledrums, bagpipes and horns, when the
+far-away muttering and roll of voices swelled to a roaring outcry and
+an uproarious shout, when from every mouth at every window the cry rose:
+“They are corning!”--yet did I not gaze at their Majesties, to whom the
+day and festival belonged, but only sought him who was mine--my own.
+
+There they are! close before us.--The Emperor and his noble wife, Queen
+Barbara, the still goodly daughter of the great Hungarian Count of
+Cilly.
+
+Aye! and he looks the man to rule six realms; worthy to stand at the
+head of the great German nation. He might be known among a thousand
+for an Emperor, and the son of an Emperor! How straight he sits in his
+saddle, how youthful yet is the fire in his eye, albeit he has past his
+fiftieth birthday! High spirit and contentment in his look; and meseems
+he has forgotten that he ever summoned the Diet to meet at Ratisbon and
+is entering the gates of Nuremberg against his will, by reason that
+the Electors and German princes have chosen to assemble there. His wife
+likewise is of noble mien, and she rides a white palfrey which, as she
+draws rein, strives to turn its pink nostrils to greet the bay horse on
+which her lord is mounted.
+
+Yet do my eyes not linger long on the lordly pair; they wander down the
+long train of Knights wherein he is coming, though among the last. For
+a moment they rest on the stalwart forms of the Hungarian nobles,
+all blazing with jewels even to the harness of the steeds; and
+glance unheedingly at the Electors and Princes, the Dukes, Counts and
+Knights-all in velvet and silk, gold and silver; at the purple and
+scarlet of the prelates; at the solemn black with gold chains of the
+town councillors; on and beyond all the magnificent train which has come
+with his Majesty from Hungary or gone forth to meet him.
+
+Hereupon Ursula steps forth to speak the address; but sooner may a man
+hear a cricket in a thunderstorm than a maid’s voice amid that pealing
+of bells and shouting and cries of welcome. Meseems verily as though the
+fluttering handkerchiefs, the flying pennons, and the caps waved in the
+air had found voice; and Ursula turns her head to this side and that as
+though seeking help.
+
+Emperor Sigismund signs with his hand, and the two heralds who head the
+train uplift their trumpets with rich embroidered banners. A rattling
+blast procures silence: in a moment it is as though oil were poured on
+a surging sea. Men and guns are hushed; the only sounds to be heard
+are the brazen tongue of the bells, the whinnying of a horse, the dull
+mutter of men’s voices in the far-off lanes and alleys, and the clear
+voice of a young maid.
+
+Ursula made her speech, her voice so loud at the last that it might have
+seemed that the honeyed verses were words of reproof. The imperial pair
+gave each other a glance expressing surprise rather than pleasure, and
+vouchsafed a few words of thanks to the speaker. His Majesty spoke in
+German; but in his Bohemian home and Hungarian Kingdom he had caught the
+trick of a sharper accent than ours.
+
+A chamberlain now gave the signal, and we maidens all went forth towards
+our Sovereign lord and lady. Two and two--Tucher and Schilrstab--Groland
+and Stromer; and the sixth couple were Ann and I--Ann as the daughter
+of a member of the council--and my godfather it was, besides her sweet
+face, who had done most to get her chosen.
+
+Noble youths clad as pages in velvet and silks had received the flowers
+offered by the damsels; but as Ann and I stood forth, the Emperor
+and Empress looked down on us. I could see that they gazed upon us
+graciously, and heard them speak together in a language I knew not; and
+Porro, the King’s fool--and I say the King’s, inasmuch as it was not
+till later that Sigismund was crowned Emperor at Rome, and by the same
+token it was at that time that my Hans’ brothers, Paul and Erhart, were
+dubbed Knights--Porro, who rode at his lord’s side on a piebald pony
+spotted black and yellow, cried out: “May we all be turned into drones,
+Nunkey, if the flowers which have given this town the name of the
+Bee-garden are not of the same kith and kin as these!”
+
+And he pointed to us; whereupon the King asked him whether he meant the
+damsels or the posies. But the jester, rolling on his nag after a merry
+fashion, till the bells in his cap rang again, answered him: “Nay,
+Nunkey, would you tempt a Christian to walk on the ice? An if I say the
+damsels, I shall get into trouble by reason of your strict morality; but
+if I say the posies, I shall peril my poor soul’s health by a foul lie.”
+
+“Then choose thee another shape,” quoth the Queen, “for I fear lest the
+bees should take thee for a stinging wasp, Porro.”
+
+“True, by my troth,” said the fool, thinking. “Since Eve fell into sin,
+women’s counsel is often the best. You, Nunkey, shall be turned into a
+butterfly, and not into a drone, and grace the flowers as you flutter
+round them.”
+
+And he waved his arms as they were wings and rode round about us on
+his pony with right merry demeanor, like a moth fluttering over us.
+Ann looked down, reddening for shame, and the blood rose to my cheeks
+likewise for maiden shyness; nevertheless I heard the King’s deep,
+outlandish tones, and his noble wife’s pleasant voice, and they lauded
+our posies and made enquiry as to our names, and straitly enjoined
+Ann and me not to fail of appearing at every dance and banquet; and
+I remember that we made answer with seemly modesty till the King’s
+grand-master came up and so ended our discourse.
+
+And I fancy I can see the multitude coming on; the motley hues of velvet
+and silk, the housings and trappings of the horses, the bright sheen of
+polished metal, and the sparkle of cut gems dazzle my eyes, I ween,
+to this day. But on a sudden it all fades into dimness; the cries and
+voices, the bells, the neighing, the crash and clatter are silent--for
+he is come. He waves his hand, more goodly, more truly mine and dearer
+to my heart than ever. But not here do we truly meet again; that joy is
+to come later in his own garden.
+
+That garden could already tell a tale of two happy human creatures, and
+of hours of the purest bliss ever vouchsafed to two young hearts; but
+what thereafter befell I remember as bright, hot, summer days, full
+of mirth and play-acting, of tourneys and courtly sports, of music and
+song, dancing and pleasuring. The gracious favor of the King and Queen
+and the presence of many princes ceased not to grace it, and went to our
+brain like heady wine. Things that had hitherto seemed impossible now
+came true. Out of sheer joy in those intoxicating pleasures, and for the
+sake of the manifold demands that came upon us in these over-busy days,
+we forgot those nearest and dearest to our hearts. Yet never was I given
+to self-seeking, neither before nor since that time.
+
+Ann’s beguiling of the Junker, the homage paid to her by all, even the
+highest, Herdegen’s seething ire, his strivings to win back the favor
+of the maid he had slighted, his strange and various and high-handed
+demeanor, his shameless ways with Ursula, to whom he paid great court
+when my grand-uncle was present, albeit at other times he would cast
+dark glances at her as if she were a foe--all this glides past me as in
+a mist, and concerning me but little. Then, in the midst of this turmoil
+and magnificence, this love-making and royal grace, now and again
+meseemed I was suddenly alone and forlorn; even at the tourney or dance;
+nay, even when the King and Queen would vouchsafe to discourse with
+me, I would be filled with longing for peace and silent
+hours--notwithstanding that the mighty Sovereign himself took pleasure
+in questioning me and moving me to those quick replies whereof I never
+found any lack. Queen Barbara would many a time bid me to her chamber,
+and keep me with her for hours; sometimes would Ann also be bidden, and
+she bestowed on us both many costly jewels.
+
+Then, no sooner had we quitted the castle, where their Majesties lodged,
+than we must think of our own noble guests; for Markgraf Bernhard of
+Baden, who was quartered on us, would often ask for me, and Cardinal
+Branda would desire Ann to attend him. The larger half of our days was
+given to arranging our persons, and while Cousin Maud and Susan would
+dress me I was already thinking of making ready the weed, the ribbons,
+and the feathers needed for the next day. My Hans was now a Knight.
+The same honor was promised to Herdegen--honor on honor, pleasure on
+pleasure, bravery and display! In the stead of our old sun twenty,
+meseemed, were blazing in the heavens. Many a time it was as though
+my breath came so lightly that I could float on air, and then again a
+nightmare load oppressed me. Even through the night, in my very dreams,
+the sounds of music and singing ceased not; but when I awoke the
+question would arise: “To what end is this?”
+
+Hans held the helm, and was ever the same, thoughtful yet truly loving.
+Also he never forgot to keep a lookout for the surety of the bark, and
+if the pace seemed too great, or he saw rocks ahead, he did his part
+and likewise guarded me with faithful care from heedless demeanor or
+over-weariness. Margery the rash, who was wanted everywhere, and was at
+all times in the foremost rank, at the behest of the King and Queen, did
+her devoir in all points and nought befell which could hurt or grieve
+her--and she knew full well whom she had to thank for that.
+
+Likewise I discerned with joy that my lover kept the Junker’s ardors
+in check, for he would fain have courted Ann as hotly as though he were
+secure of her love; and Hans called upon my brother Herdegen to quit
+himself as a man should and make an end of this double game by choosing
+either Ann or Ursula, once for all.
+
+In the forest Uncle Conrad had bidden this noble company to the Lodge.
+After the hunt was over we went forth once more to the garden of
+Martin the bee-keeper, by reason that Duke Ernest of Austria, and Count
+Friedrich of Meissen, and my Lord Bishop of Lausanne, and other of the
+noble lords, desired to see somewhat of the far-famed bee-keeping huts
+in our Lorenzer-Wald. My uncle himself led the way, and Herdegen helped
+him do the honors.
+
+Presently, as he over-hastily opened a hive, some bees stung his hand
+badly; I ran to him and drew the stings out. Ann was close by me, and
+Herdegen tried to meet her eyes, and sang in a low voice a verse of a
+song, which sounded sad indeed and strange, somewhat thus:
+
+          “Augustho pirlin pcodyas.”
+
+Whereupon Ann asked of him in what tongue he spoke; for it was not known
+to her. He, however, replied that of a certainty it was known to her,
+and when she looked at him, doubtful yet, he laughed bitterly and said
+that he could but be well-content if she had forgotten the sound of
+those words, inasmuch as to him they were bound up with the first great
+sorrow he had known.
+
+I saw that she was ill-at-ease; but as she turned away he held her back
+to put the words into German, saying, in so dull and low a voice that I
+scarce could hear him, while he stirred up the earth with the point of
+his sword, purposing to lay some on his swollen hand.
+
+          “A froward bee hath stung my hand;
+          Mother Earth will heal the smart.
+          But when I lie beneath the turf,
+          Say, Will she heal my broken heart?”
+
+Then I saw that Ann turned pale as she said somewhat stiffly: “There
+are other remedies for you against even the worst!” and he replied: “But
+yours, Ann, work the best cure.”
+
+By this time she was herself again, and answered as though she cared
+not: “I learnt them from a skilled master.--But in what tongue is your
+song, Junker Schopper, and who taught you that?”
+
+To which he hastily answered: “A swarthy wench of gipsy race.”
+
+And she, taking courage, said: “One peradventure whom you erewhile met
+in the forest here?” Herdegen shook his curly head, and his eye flashed
+lovingly as he spoke: “No, Ann, and by all the Saints it is not so!
+It was of a gipsy mother that I learnt it; she sang it to a man in
+despair--in despair for your sake, Ann--in the forest of Fontainebleau.”
+
+Whereupon Ann shook her head and strove to speak lightly as she said
+“Despair! Are you not like the man in the fable, who deemed that he
+was burnt whereas he had thrust another into the fire? The cap fits,
+methinks, Junker Schopper.”
+
+He replied sadly, and there was true grief in his voice: “Is a hard jest
+all you have to give me now?” quoth he, “Nay, then, tell me plainly,
+Ann, if there is no hope for me more.”
+
+“None,” said she, firm and hard. But she forth with added more gently.
+“None, Herdegen, none at all so long as a single thread remains unbroken
+which binds you to Ursula.”
+
+On this he stepped close up to her and cried in great emotion: “She,
+she! Aye, she hath indeed cast her devil’s tangle of gold about me to
+ensnare all that is vain and base in me; but she has no more room in
+my heart than those bees have. And if you--if my good angel will but be
+mine again I will cry ‘apage’--I tear her toils asunder.”
+
+He ceased, for certain ladies and gentlemen came nigh, and foremost
+of them Ursula; aye, and I can see her now drawing off her glove and
+stooping to gather up some earth to lay on the burning hand of the man
+whom in truth she loved, while he strove to forestall her and not to
+accept such service. That night we stayed at the lodge, and Ursula again
+had the chamber next to ours; and again I heard her appealing to her
+Saints, while Ann poured out to me her overflowing heart in a low
+whisper, and confessed to me, now crying and now laughing, how much she
+had endured, and how that she was beginning to hope once more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Our grand-uncle and guardian, the old knight Im Hoff, had ever, so
+long as I could remember, demeaned himself as a penitent, spending his
+nights, and not sleeping much, in a coffin, and giving the lion’s share
+of his great revenues to pious works to open unto himself the gates of
+Heaven; but what a change was wrought in him by the Emperor’s coming!
+This straight-backed and stiff necked man, who had never bowed his head
+save only in church and before the holy images of the saints, learnt now
+to stoop and bend. His bloodless face, which had long ceased to smile,
+was now the very home of smiles. His great house was filled, for there
+lodged Duke Ernst of Austria, the Hungarian Count of Gara--who through
+his wife was near of kin to the Emperor, and his Majesty’s trusty
+secretary, Kaspar Slick, and all their people. And so soon as either of
+these came, a gleam as of starlight lighted up his old features, or, if
+it fell that the sovereign granted to him to attend him, it was broad
+sunshine that illumined it. And whereas the other gentlemen of the
+council, hereditary and elected, albeit they were ever ready to shake
+hands with a common workman, would stand face to face with their
+Majesties or the dukes and notables, upright and duly mindful of their
+own worth, my guardian would cast off his gravity and dignity both
+together; and verily we all knew full well to what end. He, who had been
+defrauded of his life’s happiness by a Baron’s daughter, yearned to
+move the King to raise him to the rank of Baron. He loaded the Secretary
+Slick with gifts and favors, and seeing that his Majesty was graciously
+pleased to smile on me, his ward, he would be at much pains to flatter
+me, calling me his “golden hair” or “Blue-eyes;” and enjoin it on me
+that I should make mention of him to the King as his Majesty’s most
+faithful servant, ever ready for any sacrifice in his service, at the
+same time he asked with a grin how it would pleasure me to hear Herdegen
+called by the name and title of Baron von Schopper-Im Hoff?
+
+Our own honest and honorable name I weened was good enough for us three;
+yet, for my brother’s sake and for Ann’s, I held my peace, and took
+occasion while he was in so friendly a mood to urge him to release
+Herdegen, and grant him to choose another than Ursula. But how wroth he
+waxed, how hastily he put on the icy, forbidding bearing he was wont to
+wear, as he rated me for a wilful simpleton who would undo her brother’s
+weal!
+
+It was now St. Susannah’s day--[August 11th]--We were bidden to the
+tourney. Duke Ernest of Austria had challenged Duke Kanthner of Oels in
+Silesia to meet him in the lists and, besides the glory to be gained,
+there was a prize of sixty and four gold pieces. Other knights also were
+to joust in the ring.
+
+Queen Barbara, of her grace, had bidden me attend with her ladies.
+At the jousting-place I found Ann; her mother had remained at home
+by reason that the old mother was sick. My faithful Uncle Christian
+Pfinzing, who played the host to the Emperor and Empress at the Castle
+as representing the town council, had brought his “dear watchman” hither
+and placed her in the keeping of certain motherly dames. Presently,
+seeing a moment when she might speak with me, Ann said in my ear: “I
+will end this sport, Margery; I can no longer endure it. He hath sworn
+to renounce all and everything that may keep us apart!” There was no
+time for more. Each one had to take his seat. As yet their Majesties
+were not come, and there was time to gaze about.
+
+The lists were in the midst of the market-place. The benches were
+decked with hangings, the lords and ladies who filled them, the feathers
+waving, the sparkle of jewels, the glitter of gold and silver, the sheen
+of silk and velvet, the throng of common folk, head over head in the
+topmost places, the music and uproar, nay, the very savor of the
+horses dwell still in my mind; yet far be it from me to write of things
+well-known to most men.
+
+Then my grand-uncle came forth. He had Ursula on his arm as he walked
+through the gate-way into the lists and across the sanded ring to his
+seat on the far side. This was in truth forbidden, but the unabashed old
+man defied the rules, and as for Ursula she was well pleased to be gazed
+at. The old knight was smiling; how stately was his mien, and how well
+the silver breast plate beseemed him, with the golden lion rampant
+of the Im Hoffs! That helmet and breastplate had been forged for his
+special use of the finest silver and gold plate, and were better fit to
+turn the point of my pen-knife than that of sword and lance. Yet many an
+one admired the stalwart gait of the old man in his heavy harness.
+Even Tetzel’s dull face was less dull than its wont, and Ursula’s eyes
+sparkled as though her knight had carried off the prize.
+
+Presently my grand-uncle saw where I was sitting, and waved and bowed to
+me as though he had some good tidings to give me. Tetzel did likewise,
+seeming like the old man’s pale and creeping shadow. Ursula’s triumphing
+eyes proclaimed that now she had indeed gained her end; the dullest wit
+might not miss her meaning. In spite of Ann, Herdegen had pledged his
+troth to Ursula. The lists and seats, meseemed, whirled round me in a
+maze, and scarce had they settled down again, as it were, when Cousin
+Maud sat down heavily in her place, and by her face made me aware that
+some great thing had befallen; for now and again she drew in her cheeks
+and pursed her lips as though she would fain blow out a light. When my
+eyes met hers she privily pointed with her fan to show me Herdegen and
+Ursula, and shrugged her shoulders so high that her big head with its
+great feathered turban sank between them. And if there was surging and
+wrath in her breast not less was there in mine. Howbeit I had to put on
+a guise of content, nay of gladness, for the Royal pair had bidden me to
+their side and it was my task to explain all they desired to learn.
+
+A sunny blue sky bent over the ground; albeit dark clouds came up from
+the west, and I found it hard to make fitting answer to their Majesties’
+questions.
+
+While the horses were pawing and neighing, and the lances rattled on
+the shields, nay, even when the Dukes of Austria and Schleswig rushed
+on each other and the Austrian unhorsed his foe, I scarce looked on
+the jousting-place on which all other eyes were fixed as though held by
+chains and bonds. Mine were set on the spot where Ursula and Ann were
+sitting, and with them the young knight from Brandenburg, Sir Apitz of
+Rochow, and my brother Herdegen. Junker Henning had his part to play
+in the tournament. To Rochow the tourney was all in all; Herdegen gazed
+only at Ann. She, to be sure, made no return, but still he would fix his
+eyes on her and speak with her. Ursula had turned paler, and meseemed
+she had eyes only for him and his doings. What went forward in the
+pauses of the tilting I could not mark, inasmuch as my eyes and ears
+were their Majesties’ alone.
+
+Now, two more knights sprang forth. What cared I of what nation they
+were, what arms they bore and what they and their horses might do; I had
+somewhat else to think of. Ursula and I had long been at war, but to-day
+I felt nought but compassion for her: and indeed, on this very day, when
+she believed she had won the victory, she more needed pity than when
+she had so besought Heaven to grant her Herdegen’s love, inasmuch as
+my brother sat whispering to Ann with his hand on his heart. And Ann
+herself had put away all false seeming; and while she gazed into her
+lover’s eyes with soft passion, Ursula sat bending her fan as though she
+purposed to break it.
+
+To think of Ursula as ruling in our house, and of Ann pining with heart
+sickness was cruel grief, and yet were these two things almost less
+hard to endure than the shameless flightiness and strange demeanor of my
+noble brother, the pride of my heart.
+
+The town council had voted eight hundred gulden to King Sigismund, and
+four hundred to the Queen; two hundred and thirty to Porro the jester,
+and great gifts to many of the notables and knights as a free offering
+from the city; and now, in a pause in the jousting, his Majesty
+announced his great delight at the faithful, bountiful, and overflowing
+hand held out to him by his good town of Nuremberg, which had ever been
+dear to his late beloved father King Charles. And then he pointed to the
+gentlemen of the council, who made a goodly and reverend show indeed
+in their long flowing hair and beards, their dark velvet robes bordered
+with fine fur, and thin gold chains; and he spoke of their noble and
+honorable dealing. I heard him say that each one of them was to be
+respected as joint ruler with him over that which was his own, and
+likewise in greater matters. Each one was his equal in manly virtue, and
+the worthy peer of his Imperial self. Then he pointed out to the
+Queen certain noble and goodly heads, and it was my part to make known
+whatsoever I could tell of their possessions and their manner of trade.
+The Hallers were well known to him, and not alone my best beloved,
+inasmuch as they did great trading with his kingdom of Hungary; and he
+was well pleased to see my Hans with his father as one of the council.
+
+His gracious wife was pleased to compare the good order, and cleanness,
+and comfort of Nuremberg with the cities in their native country.
+Whereas she had already been into some of our best houses, and indeed
+into our own, she spoke well of the wealth, and art, and skill in all
+crafts of the Nuremberg folk, saying they had not their like in all the
+world so far as she knew. And then again she spoke her pleasure at the
+honorable seemliness of the councillors, and asked me many questions
+concerning this one and that, and, among the rest, concerning Master
+Ulman Pernhart. The royal pair marked, in one his noble brow, in
+another his long flowing hair, in a third his keen and shrewd eye, till
+presently King Sigismund asked his Fool, Porro, which of all the heads
+in the ranks opposite he might judge to be the wisest and weightiest.
+The jester’s twinkling eyes looked along the rows of folk, and whereas
+they suddenly fell on little Dame Henneleinlein, the Honey-wife, who
+sat, as was her wont, with her head propped on her hands, he took the
+King’s word up and answered in mock earnest: “Unless I am deceived it is
+that butter-cup queen, Nuncle, seeing that her head is so heavy that she
+is fain to hold it up with both hands.”
+
+And he pointed with his bauble to the old woman, who, as the
+bee-master’s widow, had boldly thrust herself into the front rank with
+those of knight’s degree; and there she sat, in a gown of bright yellow
+brocade which Cousin Maud had once given her, stretching her long neck
+and resting her head on her hands. The King and Queen, looking whither
+the Fool pointed, when they beheld a little old woman instead of a
+stately councillor, laughed aloud; but the jester bowed right humbly
+towards the dame, and, she, so soon as she marked that the eyes of his
+Majesty and his gracious lady were turned upon her, and that her paltry
+person was the object of their regard, fancied that I had peradventure
+named her as being Ann’s cousin, or as the widow of the deceased
+bee-master who, long years ago, had led the Emperor Charles to see the
+bee-gardens, so she made reverence again and again, and meanwhile laid
+her head more and more on one side, ever leaning more heavily on her
+hand, till the King and Queen laughed louder than ever and many an
+one perceived what was doing. The cup-bearer and chamberlain drew long
+faces, and Porro at last ended the jest by greeting the old woman with
+such dumbshow as no one could think an honor. The cunning little woman
+saw now that she was being made game of, and whereas not their Majesties
+alone, but all the Court about them were holding their sides, and she
+saw that I was in their midst, she believed me to be at the bottom of
+their mischief, and cast at me such vengeful glances as warned me of
+evil in store.
+
+After this tourney there was to be a grand dance in the School of Arms,
+to which their Majesties were bidden with all the princes, knights, and
+notables of the Diet, and the patricians of the town. Next day, being
+Saint Clara’s day, there would be a great feast at the Tetzels’ house by
+reason that it was the name-day of Dame Clara, Ursula’s grandmother, and
+the eldest of their kin. At this banquet Herdegen’s betrothal was to be
+announced to all their friends and kindred--this my uncle whispered to
+me as he went off after the jousting to attend the King, who had sent
+for him. The old man had seen nought of Herdegen’s doings with Ann, by
+reason that he and old Tetzel had both been seated on the same side of
+the lists, and the tall helmets and feathers had hidden the young folks
+from his sight. So assurance and contentment even yet beamed in his eye.
+
+The tourney had lasted a long time. I scarce had time enough to change
+my weed for the dance. Till this day I had sported like a fish in this
+torrent of turmoil and pleasure; but to-day I was weary. My body was in
+pain with my spirit, and I would fain have staid at home; but I minded
+me of the Queen who, albeit she was so much older, and was watched by
+all--every one expecting that she should be gracious--in her heavy royal
+array, went through all this of which I was so weary.
+
+Meanwhile a great storm had burst upon us and passed over; all creatures
+were refreshed, and I likewise uplifted my head and breathed more
+freely. The fencing school--a great square chamber, as it is to this
+day, with places all round for the folk to look on--was lighted up as
+bright as day. My lover and I, now in right good heart once more, paced
+through the Polish dance led by the King and Queen. Ann’s mother had
+been compelled to stay at home, to tend the master’s old mother, and my
+friend had come under Cousin Maud’s protection. She was led out to dance
+by Junker Henning; his fellow country-man, Sir Apitz von Rochow, walked
+with Ursula and courted her with unfailing ardor. Franz von Welemisl,
+who was wont to creep like her shadow, and who was again a guest at the
+Tetzels’ house, had been kept within doors by the cough that plagued
+him. Likewise I looked in vain for Herdegen.
+
+The first dance indeed was ended when he came in with my great-uncle;
+but the old knight looked less confidently than he had done in the
+morning.
+
+Ann was pale, but, meseemed fairer than ever in a dress of
+pomegranate-red and white brocade, sent to her from Italy by her
+step-father’s brother, My lord Bishop, by the hand of Cardinal Branda.
+As soon as I had presently begun to speak with her, she was carried off
+by Junker Henning, and at that same moment my grand-uncle came towards
+me to ask who was that fair damsel of such noble beauty with whom I was
+but now speaking. He had never till now beheld Ann close at hand, and
+how gladly did I reply that this was the daughter of Pernhart the town
+Councillor and she to whom Herdegen had plighted his faith.
+
+The old man was startled and full wroth yet, by reason of all the
+fine folk about us, he was bound to refrain himself, and he presently
+departed.
+
+The festival went forward and I saw that Herdegen danced first with
+Ursula and then with Ann. Then they stood still near the flower shrubs
+which were placed round about the hall to garnish it, and it might have
+been weened from their demeanor that they had quarrelled and had come
+to high words. I would fain have gone to them, but the Queen had bid me
+stay with her and never ceased asking me a hundred questions as to names
+and other matters.
+
+At last, or ever it was midnight, their Majesties departed. I breathed
+more freely, put my hand on my Hans’ arm, and was minded to bid him
+take me to Herdegen and speak out my mind, but my brother, as it fell,
+prevented me. He came up to me and with what a mien! His eyes flashing,
+his cheeks burning, his lips tight-set. He signed to me and Hans to
+follow whither he went, and then passionately besought us that we would
+depart from the dance for a while with him and his sweetheart, that was
+Ann. Such an entreaty amazed us greatly, yet, when he told us that she
+would go no whither with him save under our care, and that everything
+depended on his learning this very hour how he stood with her, we did
+his will. And he likewise told us that he had not indeed given his word
+that morning to my grand-uncle and Jost Tetzel, but had only pledged his
+word that he would give them his answer next day.
+
+So presently Hans and I stole out behind the pair, out into the road.
+I, for my part, was well content and thankful and, when we beheld them
+accuse and answer each other right doughtily, we laughed, and were
+agreed that Aunt Jacoba’s counsel had led to a good issue; and I told my
+Hans that I should myself take a lesson from all this and let the smart
+Junkers and Knights make love to me to their hearts’ content, if ever I
+should be moved to play him a right foolish trick.
+
+Presently, when we had many times paced the road to and fro the
+Pernharts’ house, Ann was minded to knock at the door; but behold she
+was saved the pains. Mistress Henneleinlein just then came out whereas
+she had been helping Dame Giovanna to tend the sick grandmother. The
+lantern Eppelein carried in front of us was not so bright as the sun,
+yet could I see full plainly the old woman’s venomous eye; and what high
+dudgeon sounded in her voice! Each one had his meed, even my Hans, to
+whom she cried: “Keep thy bride out of Porro’s way, Master Haller. It
+ill-beseems the promised wife of a worshipful Councillor to be casting
+her lot in with a Fool! Howbeit, to laugh is better than to weep, and
+he laughs longest who laughs last!” And thereupon she herself laughed
+loudly and, with a scornful nod to Ann, turned her back on us.
+
+All was still in Master Pernharts’ house; he himself had gone to rest.
+At Herdegen’s bidding we followed him into the hall, and there he
+clasped Ann to his heart, and declared to us that now, and henceforth
+for ever, they were one. Whereupon we each and all embraced; but my
+friend clung longest to me, and whispered in my ear that she was happier
+than ever she could deserve to be. Herdegen asked me whether now he had
+made all right, and whether I would be the same old Margery again? And I
+right gladly put up my lips for his to kiss; and the returned prodigal,
+who had come back to that which was his best portion, was like one drunk
+with wine. He was beside himself with joy, so that he clasped first me
+and then Hans in his arms, and slapped Eppelein, who carried a lantern
+to show us the pools left by the storm of rain, again and again on the
+shoulder, and thrust a purse full of money into his free hand, albeit
+there was an end now of my grand-uncle’s golden bounty. Nought would
+persuade him to go back to the dancing-hall, to meet Ursula and her kin;
+and when he presently departed from us we heard him along the street,
+singing such a love song as no false heart may imagine, as glad as the
+larks which would now ere long be soaring to the sky.
+
+We got back to the great hall. The dancing and music were yet at their
+height; our absence we deemed had scarce been marked; howbeit, as soon
+as we entered, my grand-uncle made enquiry “where Herdegen might be,”
+ and when I looked about me at haphazard I beheld--my eyes did not cheat
+me--I beheld Mistress Henneleinlein in one of the side-stalls.
+
+No man told me, yet was I sure and certain that she was saying somewhat
+which concerned me, and presently I discerned in the dim back-ground the
+feathered plume which Ursula had worn at the dance. My heart beat with
+fears; every word spoken by the old Dame would of a surety do us a
+mischief. Hans mocked at my alarms and at a maid’s folly in ever taking
+to herself matters which concern her not.
+
+Then Ursula came forth into the hall again, and how she swept past us on
+Junker Henning’s arm.
+
+A young knight of the Palatinate now led me out to a dance I had
+erewhile promised him.
+
+We stopped for lack of breath. The festival was over; yet did Ursula
+and the Junker walk together. He was hearkening eagerly to all she might
+say, and on a sudden he clapped his hand into hers which she held out to
+him, and his eyes, which he had held set on the floor, fired up with a
+flash. Presently he and the Knight von Rochow made their way, arm in
+arm through the press, and both were laughing and pulling their long red
+beards.
+
+I still clung to my lover’s arm and entreated him to take me to speak
+with Junker Henning, inasmuch as I sorely wanted to question him; but
+the Junker diligently kept far from us. Nevertheless we at last stayed
+him, and after that I had enquired, as it were in jest, whether he
+had healed his old feud with Mistress Ursula and concluded a truce, or
+peradventure made peace with her, he answered me, in a tone all unlike
+his wonted frank and glad manner, that this for a while must remain
+privy to him and her, and that we should scarce be the first to whom
+he should reveal the matter; and forthwith he bid us farewell with a
+courtly reverence. But my lover would not let him thus depart, and
+asked him, calmly, what was the interpretation of this speech, whereupon
+Rochow spoke for his young fellow-countryman, and enquired, in the
+high-handed and lordly tone which ever marked his voice and manner,
+whether here, in the native land of Nuremberg playthings, love and faith
+were accounted of as toys.
+
+Junker Henning however, broke in, and said, casting a warning look at
+me: “Far be it from him to break friendship with an honorable gentleman,
+such as my Hans, before having an explanation.” And he held out his hand
+somewhat more readily than before, bowed sweetly to me and led away his
+cousin.
+
+At last we got out with the Haller parents and Cousin Maud. The old
+folks got into litters, and the serving men were lighting the way before
+me to mine, when my lover stayed me, saying: “It is already grey in the
+East. Never before were we together so well betimes, Margery, and happy
+hours are few. If thou’rt not too weary, let us walk home together in
+this fresh morning air.”
+
+I was right well-content and we went gently forward, I clinging to him
+closely. He felt how high my heart was beating and, when he asked me
+whether it was for love that it beat so fast, I confessed in truth that,
+whereas the Brandenburgers outdid all other knights in the kingdom, in
+defiance and hotheadedness, I feared lest there should be a passage
+of arms betwixt Junker Henning and my brother Herdegen. But Hans made
+answer that, if it were the Brandenburgers intent to challenge him, he
+could not hinder it; yet be trowed it would be to their own damage; that
+Herdegen had scarce found his match at the Paris school of arms; and at
+least should we not mar this sweet morning walk by such fears.
+
+And he held me closer to him, and while we slowly wandered on he poured
+forth his whole heart to me, and confessed that through all his lonely
+life in foreign lands he had ever lacked a great matter; that even with
+the gayety of his favorite comrades, even when his best diligence had
+been crowned with great issues, yet had he never had full joy in life.
+Nor was it till my love had made him a complete and truly happy man that
+he had felt, as it were, whole, inasmuch as that alone had stilled the
+strange craving which till then had made his heart sick.
+
+Yea, and I could tell him that it had been the same with me; and as for
+what more we said, verily it should rather have been sung to sweet and
+lofty music on the lute and mandoline. Two rightly matched souls stood
+revealed each to each, and Heaven itself, meseemed, was opened in the
+strait ways of our town.
+
+We kissed as we stood on the threshold of the Schopper-house, and when
+at length we must need part he held me once more to his heart, longer
+than ever he had before, and tore himself away; and laying his hands on
+my shoulders, as he looked into my eyes in the pale light of dawn, he
+said: “Come what may, Margery, we love each other truly and have learned
+through each other what true happiness means; and nevertheless we are
+as yet but in the March-moon of our love, and its May days, which are
+sweeter far, are yet to come. But even the March-joy is good--right good
+to me.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+I had forgotten my fears and gloomy forebodings by the time I climbed
+into bed in my darkened chamber. Sleep forthwith closed my eyes, and
+I lay without even a dream till Cousin Maud waked me. I turned over by
+reason that I was still heavy with slumber; yet she stood by my bed, and
+scarce half a quarter of an hour after, lo, again I felt her hand on
+my shoulder and woke up quaking, with a cold sweat on my brow. I had
+dreamed that I was riding out in the Lorenzer-wald with Hans and my
+grand-uncle and other some; but we went slowly and softly, by reason
+that all our horses fell lame. And it fell that on the very spot where
+Ann had flown into Herdegen’s arms I beheld a high, yellow grave-stone,
+and on it was written in great black letters: “HANS HALLER.”
+
+Hereupon I had started up with a loud cry, and it was long or ever my
+brain was clear as to the world about me. Cousin Maud laughed to see
+me so drunk asleep, as was not my wont; yet could she not deny that my
+dream boded no good. Nevertheless, quoth she, it was small marvel that
+such a heathen Turkish turmoil as we had been living in should beget
+monstrous fancies in a young maid’s brain. She would of set purpose have
+left me to sleep the day through, to give me strength; howbeit Herdegen
+had twice come to ask for me, and so likewise had Ann and Hans, and it
+wanted but an hour and a half of noon. This made me laugh; nevertheless
+I minded me then and there of all that had befallen last night at
+Pernhart’s house-door and in the school of arms, and, moreover, that we
+were bidden this day to eat with the Tetzels; also that they, and eke
+my grand-uncle, were still in the belief that Herdegen’s betrothal to
+Ursula might be at once proclaimed to their friends.
+
+I began to dress in haste and fear, and Susan was in the act of plaiting
+my hair when Cousin Maud flew in to say that Queen Barbara had sent her
+own litter to carry me to her. Thus had I to make all speed.
+
+The royal quarters in the castle had been newly ordered by the town at
+his Majesty’s desire, and they were indeed bravely decked; yet never
+had the like show pleased me less. The Queen was giving audience to the
+Pope’s Legate, to their excellencies the envoys from the Greek Emperor,
+to my Lord Conrad the Elector of Maintz, and many more nobles. She had
+made so bold as to declare that the German maidens were no less skilled
+in the art of song than the damsels of Italy, and had bidden me to her
+in such hot haste that I might let the notables there assembled hear
+a few lays. I might not say nay to the royal behest; for better, for
+worse, I must fain take my lute and sing, at first alone, and then with
+my lord Conte di Puppi. Our voices presently brought the King to the
+chamber, and in truth I won praise enough if I had best cared to hear
+it. Nay, for the first time it was a torment to me to sing, and when the
+notables had all been sent forth, and I was alone with the Queen and her
+ladies, I knew not what ailed me but I burst into tears, hot and bitter
+tears. The gracious Queen took me in her arms with womanly sweetness,
+but while she gave me her phial of vinegar to smell, and spoke words of
+comfort, I was suddenly scared at hearing close behind me right woeful
+sobbing and sighing, as from a woman’s breast. I looked about me,
+and beheld Porro, the jester, who had cast himself on a couch and was
+mocking me, pulling such a grimace the while that his smooth, long,
+thin face seemed grown to the length of two lean faces. The sight was so
+merry that I was fain to laugh. Whereas he nevertheless ceased not from
+sobbing, the Queen reproved him and bid him not carry his fooling too
+far. Whereupon he sobbed out: “Nay, royal and gracious Coz, thou art in
+error. Never have I so shamelessly forgotten to play my part as Fool, as
+at this moment. Alack, alack! what a thing is life! Were we not one and
+all born fools, and if we did but measure it as it is now and ever
+shall be, with the wisdom of the sage, we should never cease to bewail
+ourselves, from the nurse’s rod to the scythe of death.”
+
+Whether Porro were in earnest I could not divine; his face, like a
+mystic oracle, might bear manifold interpretations; verily his speech
+went to my heart. And albeit hitherto life had brought me an hundredfold
+more reasons for thanksgiving than sorrow, meseemed that it had many
+griefs in store. The Queen indeed replied full solemnly: “Peradventure
+it is true. Yet forget not that it is not as Sage that you attend
+us.--Moreover I, as a good Hungarian, know my Latin, and the great
+Horatius Flaccus puts your dismal lore to shame; albeit, as a Christian
+woman, I am fain to confess that it is wiser and more praiseworthy to
+bewail our own sins and the sins of the world, and to meditate on the
+life to come, than to live only for present joys. As for thee, sweet
+maid, for a long time yet thou may’st take pleasure in the flowers, even
+though venom may be hidden in their cups.”
+
+“Men are not wont to eat them,” replied the fool. “And I have often
+marvelled wherefor the flighty butterfly wears such gay and painted
+wings, while every creature that creeps and grubs is grey or brown and
+foul to behold.”
+
+Whereupon he burst into loud laughter and such boisterous mirth that we
+fairly wept for merriment, and my lady Queen bid him hold his peace.
+
+On my departing I had need to pass through the King’s audience-chamber.
+He was bidding my Hans depart right graciously, and I went forth into
+the castle yard with Masters Tucher, Stromer, and Schurstab, all members
+of the Council. I fancy I hear them now thanking Hans for his fearless
+manfulness in saying to his Majesty that the treasure-chest must ever
+be empty if the old disorder were suffered to prevail. Likewise they
+approved the well-devised plan which he had proposed for the bettering
+of such matters, and my heart beat high with pride as I perceived the
+great esteem in which the worshipful elders of our town held their
+younger fellow.
+
+Hans might not part company from them; but when I got into the litter
+he whispered to me: “Be not afraid--as to Herdegen and the Junker--you
+know. Farewell till we meet at the Tetzels’.”
+
+When I came home I learnt that my brother, and Ann, and then Eppelein
+had come to ask for me; now must I change my attire for the feast, and
+my heart beat heavy in my bosom. The bold Brandenburger and my brother
+were perchance at this very hour crossing swords.
+
+Cousin Maud, who now knew all, and I stepped out of our litters at
+the Tetzels’ door. Eppelein was standing by the great gate, booted and
+spurred, holding two horses by their bridles. My lord who spoke with him
+was my dear Hans. We went into the hall together, and as our eyes met,
+I wist that there was evil in the air. The letter he held bid him ride
+forthwith to Altenperg. Junker Henning and my brother were minded to
+have a passage of arms, and with sharp weapons. This, however, they
+might not do within the limits of the city save at great risk, inasmuch
+as that the town was within the King’s peace, and by a severe enactment
+knight or squire, lord or servant, in short each and every man was
+threatened by the Emperor with outlawry, who should make bold to provoke
+another to challenge him, or to lift a weapon against another with evil
+intent, be he who he might, throughout the demesne of Nuremberg or so
+long as the diet was sitting. Hence they would go forth to Altenperg,
+inasmuch as it was the nearest to arrive at of any township without the
+limits of the city.
+
+All this my lover had heard betimes that morning; but Herdegen had told
+him that Master Schlebitzer and a certain Austrian Knight would attend
+him. Now the letter was to say that they had both played him false;
+the former in obedience to the stern behest of his father, the
+town-councillor; the second by reason that his Duke commanded his
+attendance. And Herdegen hereby urgently besought my Hans that he would
+take the place thus left unfilled and ride forthwith to Altenperg.
+
+Nor was this all the letter. In it my brother set forth that he had
+pledged his word solemnly and beyond recall to Ann and her parents, and
+entreated my lover to declare to the Tetzels and to his grand-uncle that
+henceforth and forever he renounced Ursula. He would speak of the matter
+at greater length at the place of meeting.
+
+Cousin Maud and Hans and I held a brief council, and we were of one
+mind: that this message should not be given to the Tetzels till after
+the great dinner and when we should know the issue of the combat. My
+heart urged me indeed to desire my lover to forego this ride, and I mind
+me yet how I implored him with uplifted hands and how he forced himself
+to put them from him with steadfast gentleness. And when he told me that
+he for certain, if any one, could pacify the combatants or ever blood
+should be shed, I gazed into his brave and manful and kind face, and
+methought whither he went all must be for the best, and I cried with
+fresh assurance: “Then go!” Every word do I remember as though it were
+graven in brass.
+
+Eppelein cracked his whip against his leathern boot-tops; old Tetzel’s
+leaden voice cried out to enquire where we were lingering, and a silken
+train came rustling down the stairs. My lover kissed his hand to me, and
+I went forth with him into the court-yard. His fiery horse gave him
+so much to do that he never marked my farewell. On a sudden it flashed
+through my brain that this was that very horse which my grand-uncle
+had given to Herdegen, and herein again, meseemed, was an omen of ill.
+Likewise I noted that Hans was in silken hose with neither spurs nor
+riding-boots. Howbeit the Hallers had many horses; and as a lad he had
+been wont to ride with or without a saddle, and was a rider whom none
+could unhorse, even in the jousting-ring.
+
+He had soon quelled his steed and was trotting lightly over the stones,
+followed by Eppelein; but as he vanished round the first corner meseemed
+that the bourn stone, as he rode past it, was turned into the yellow
+gravestone I had seen in my dream, and that again I saw the great black
+letters of the name “Hans Haller.”
+
+I passed my hands across my eyes to chase away the hideous vision, and
+I was young enough and brave enough to return Ursula’s greeting without
+any quaking of my knees. Cousin Maud, meanwhile, had walked up the
+stairs, snorting and fuming like a boiling kettle; nor could she be at
+peace, even among the company who were awaiting the bidding to table.
+Many an one marked that something more than common was amiss with her. I
+refrained myself well enough, and I excused my brother’s and my lover’s
+absence with a plea of weighty affairs. My grand-uncle, however, guessed
+the truth, and when I gave true answer to his short, murmured questions
+he wrathfully cried: then these were the thanks he got? Henceforth he
+would plainly show how he, who had been a benefactor, could deal with
+the youth who had dared to mock his authority. Hereupon I besought him
+first to grant me a hearing for a few words; but he waved me away in
+ire, and signed to Ursula, who hung on his arm, and she set her lips
+tight when he presently with wrathful eyes whispered somewhat in her ear
+whereof I believed I could guess the intent. And when I beheld her call
+Sir Franz von Welemisl to her side and give him her hand, speaking a few
+words in a low voice, I discerned that, in truth she knew all.
+
+She presently led her father aside and told him somewhat which brought
+the blood to his ashy face, and led him to say her nay right vehemently.
+But, as she was wont, she made good her own will and he shrugged his
+shoulders, wrathful indeed, but overmastered by her.
+
+During this space the great door of the refectory had been thrown open,
+and when Tetzel with his old mother moved that way, desiring the guests
+to follow him, my Uncle Christian, Ann’s faithful friend, whispered
+to me that Herdegen had told him that he was now pledged to his “dear
+little warder,” and likewise what was on hand between him and the Junker
+von Beust. I might be easy, quoth he; the Brandenburger would have a
+bitter taste of Nuremberg steel, of that he was fully assured. And he
+ended his speech with a merry: “Hold up your head, Margery.”
+
+Then we all sat down at the laden table, Dame Clara sitting at the top,
+albeit she looked but sullen and ill to please.
+
+Ursula had chosen to set Sir Franz by her side. Herdegen’s seat, at her
+left hand, was vacant; and she bid her white Brabant hound, as though
+in jest, to leap into it. The meal was served, but it all went in such
+gloomy silence that Master Muffel, of the town-council, whom they named
+Master Gall-Muffel, whispered across the table to my Uncle Christian
+“was it not strange to give a funeral feast without ever a corpse.”
+ Again I shuddered. My jovial uncle had already lifted his glass, and
+stretching himself at his ease he nodded to me, and drank, saying
+loud enough for all to hear: “To the last pledged couple, and the
+faithfullest pair of lovers.”
+
+I nodded back to him, for I wist what he meant, and drank with all my
+heart. Ursula had meanwhile kept her ears and eyes intent on us, and she
+now signed to her father and he slowly rose, clinked on his glass, and
+seeing that many were hearkening for what he should say, he declared to
+his guests that he had bidden them to this banquet not alone to do honor
+to the name-day of his venerable mother, whose praises his friend Master
+Tucher had eloquently spoken, but rather that he might announce to them
+the betrothal of his daughter Ursula to the noble knight and baron Franz
+von Welemisl. Then was there shouting and clinking and emptying of wine
+cups, whereat old Dame Clara Tetzel, who was deaf and had failed to
+gather the purport of her son’s address, cried aloud “Is young Schopper
+come at last then?”
+
+Hereupon Sir Franz turned pale; he had gone up to the old woman, glass
+in hand, with Ursula, and she now spoke into her grand-dame’s ear to
+explain the matter. The old woman looked first at her son and then at my
+grand-uncle, and shook her head; nevertheless she put a good face on
+a bad case, gave Sir Franz her hand to kiss, and was duly embraced by
+Ursula; yet she sat nodding her head up and down, and ever more shrewdly
+as she heard the bridegroom cough. Amazement sat indeed on the faces of
+all the guests; howbeit the ice was broken, and the silent and gloomy
+company had on a sudden turned right mirthful. Cousin Maud, meseemed,
+was the most content of all. Ursula’s betrothal had rescued her favorite
+from great peril, and henceforth her plumed head-gear was at rest once
+more.
+
+All about me was talk and laughter, glasses ringing, voices uplifted in
+set speeches, and many a shout of gratulation. When a betrothal is in
+the wind, folks ever believe that they have hold of the guiding clue to
+happiness, even if it be between a simpleton and a deaf mute.
+
+The seat on my left hand, which my lover should have filled, remained
+empty; on my right sat his reverence Master Sebald Schurstab, the
+minorite preacher and prior who, so soon as he had spoken in honor of
+one toast, fixed his eyes on the board and thought only of the next.
+Thus, in the midst of all this mirthful fellowship, there was nought to
+hinder my fears and hopes from taking their way. Each time that a cry of
+“Hoch!” was raised, I roused me and joined in; scarce knowing, however,
+in whose honor. Likewise the hall waxed hotter and hotter, and the air
+right heavy to breathe.
+
+To-day again, as yesterday, a storm burst over us. Albeit the sun was
+not yet set, it was presently so dark that lights had been brought
+in and fifty tapers in the silver candlesticks added to the heat. The
+lightning flashes glared in at the curtained windows like a flitting
+lamp, and the roar of the thunder shook the panes which rattled and
+clanked in their leaden frames. The reverend Prior called on the blessed
+saints whose special protection this house had never neglected to
+secure, and crossed himself. We all did the same, and had soon forgotten
+the storm without. The glasses ere long were clinking once more. I
+watched the numberless dishes borne in and out-roasted peacocks, with
+showy spread tails and crested heads raised as it were in defiance:
+boars’ heads with a lemon in their mouth and gaily wreathed; huge salmon
+lying in the midst of blue trout, with scarlet crawfish clinging to
+them; pasties and skilfully-devised sweetmeats; nay, now and again, I
+scarce consciously put forth my hand and carried this or that morsel to
+my mouth but whether it were bread or ginger my tongue heeded not the
+savor. Silver tankards and Venetian glasses were filled from flasks
+and jugs; I heard the guests praising the wines of Furstenberg and
+Bacharach, of Malvoisie and Cyprus, and I marked the effects of the
+noble and potent grape-juice, nay, now and then I played the part of
+“warder” to Uncle Christian; yet meseemed that it was only by another’s
+will or ancient habit that I raised a warning finger. Was I in truth
+at a banquet or was I only dreaming that I sat as a guest at the richly
+spread board? The only certain matter was that the storm was overpast,
+and that no hail nor rain now beat upon the window panes. How wet must
+my Hans be, who had ridden forth in court array, without a cloke to
+cover him.
+
+To judge by the voices and demeanor of the menfolk the end of the
+endless meal must surely be not far off, and indeed dishes were by
+this time being served with packets of spices and fruits and pies and
+sweetmeats for the little ones at home. I drew a deeper breath, and
+methought the company would soon rise from the table, forasmuch as that
+Jost Tetzel had already quitted his seat. Then I beheld his pale face
+through a curtain and his lean hand beckoning to my grand-uncle. He
+likewise rose, and Ursula followed him. Forthwith, from without came
+a strange noise of footsteps to and fro and many voices. A serving man
+came to hail forth Master Ebner and Uncle Tucher, and the muttering and
+stir without waxed louder and louder. The guests sat in silence, gazing
+and enquiring of each other. Somewhat strange, and for certain somewhat
+evil, had befallen.
+
+My heart beat in my temples like the clapper of an alarm-bell. That
+which was going forward, and to which one after another was called
+forth, was my concern; it must be, and mine alone. I felt I could not
+longer keep my place, and I had pushed back my seat when I saw Uncle
+Tucher standing by Cousin Maud, and his kind and worthy face, still
+ruddy from the wine he had drunk, was a very harbinger of horror and
+woe. He bent over my cousin to speak in her ear.
+
+My eyes were fixed on his lips, and lo! she, my second mother, started
+up hastily as any young thing and, clasping her hand to her breast she
+well-nigh screamed: “Jesu-Maria! And Margery!”
+
+All grew dark before my eyes. A purple mist shrouded the table, the
+company, and all I beheld. I shut my eyes, and when presently I opened
+them once more, close before me, as it were within reach, behold the
+yellow headstone with black letters thereon, as in my dream; and albeit
+I closed my eyes again the name “Hans Haller” was yet there and the
+letters faded not, nay, but waxed greater and came nigher, and meseemed
+were as a row of gaping werewolves.
+
+I held fast by the tall back of my heavy chair to save me from falling,
+on my knees; but a firm hand thrust it aside, and I was clasped in a
+pair of old yet strong arms to a faithful heart, and when I heard Cousin
+Maud’s voice in mine ear, though half-choked with tears, crying: “My
+poor, poor, dear good Margery!” meseemed that somewhat melted in my
+heart and gushed up to my eyes; and albeit none had told me, yet knew I
+of a certainty that I was a widow or ever I was a wife, and that Cousin
+Maud’s tears and my own were shed, not for Herdegen, but for him, for
+him....
+
+And behold, face to face with me, who was this? Ursula stood before me,
+her blue eyes drowned in tears--tears for me, telling me that my woe was
+deep enough and bitter enough to grieve even the ruthless heart of my
+enemy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The storm had cleared the air once more. How fair smiled the blue sky,
+how bright shone the sun, day after day and from morning till night; but
+meseemed its splendor did but mock me, and many a time I deemed that
+my heart’s sorrow would be easier to bear with patience if it might but
+rain, and rain and rain for ever. Yea, and a grey gloomy day would have
+brought rest to eyes weary with weeping. And in my sick heart all was
+dark indeed, albeit I had not been slow to learn how this terror had
+come about.
+
+That was all the tidings I had craved; as to how life should fare
+henceforth I cared no more, but let what might befall without a wish or
+a will. Sorrow was to me the end and intent of life. I spurned not my
+grief, but rather cherished and fed it, as it were a precious child, and
+nought pleased me so well as to cling to that alone.
+
+Howbeit I seldom had the good hap to be left to humor this craving. I
+was wroth with the hard and bitter world for its cruelty; yet it was in
+truth that very world, and its pitiless call to duty, which at that
+time rescued me from worse things. Verily I now bless each one who then
+strove to rouse me from my selfish and gloomy sorrow, from the tailor
+who cut my mourning weed to Ann, whose loving comfort even was less
+dear to me than the solitude in which I might give myself up to bitter
+grieving. All I cared for was to hear those who could tell of his last
+hours and departing from this life, till at last meseemed I myself had
+witnessed his end.
+
+From all the tidings I could learn, I gathered that old Henneleinlein,
+whose gall had been raised against me by the Court Fool, had no sooner
+parted from us at Master Pernhart’s door than she had hastened to the
+school of arms to make known to Ursula that my brother had plighted his
+troth anew to his cast-off sweetheart. Hereupon Ursula had dared to say
+to the Junker that Herdegen was her knight, who would pick up his glove
+which he had cast down at the former dance; but that he nevertheless was
+playing a two-fold game, and had treacherously promised Ann to wed her,
+to win her favor likewise. Hereupon the Brandenburger had been filled
+with honest ire, had sworn to Ursula that he would chastise her false
+lover, and was ready, not alone to accept my brother’s defiance, but to
+fight with ruthless fury.
+
+Thus Ursula’s plot had prospered right well, inasmuch as, so long as
+she hoped to win Herdegen, she had been in deathly fear lest the Junker
+should fall out with him; whereas, now that in her wrath she only
+desired that the faithless wight should give an account to the Junker’s
+sword, she thought fit in her deep and malignant fury to brand my
+brother as the challenger, knowing that if the combat had a bloody issue
+he would of a surety suffer heavy penalty. And in truth she had not
+reckoned wrongly when she declared that my brother, whom she knew only
+too well, would be her ready, champion.
+
+On the morning next after the great dance she had addressed a brief
+letter to Herdegen beseeching him, for the friendship’s sake which had
+bound them from their youth up, and by reason that she had no brother,
+to teach Junker von Beust that a patrician’s daughter of Nuremberg
+should not lack a true knight, when Brandenburg pride dared to cast
+scorn on her in the face of all the world. My brother’s response to this
+letter was a challenge to the Junker; yet had he not perchance been in
+such hot haste, save that he had long burned to punish the overweening
+young noble who had given him many an uneasy hour. He scarce, indeed,
+would have drawn his sword at Ursula’s behest, inasmuch as he could
+plainly see that what she had most at heart was to make their breach
+wear such seeming to other folks as though he, who had been looked upon
+by the whole city as her pledged husband, had not quitted her, but had
+been ready rather to shed his heart’s blood in her service.
+
+Verily Ursula believed that she had found a sure instrument of
+vengeance, whereas she had heard say that Junker Henning von Beust was
+one of the most dreaded swordsmen in the Marches. Herdegen, to be sure,
+was likewise famed in Nuremberg as a doughty champion; yet it is ever
+the way in Franconia, nay, and in all Germany, to esteem outlandish
+means more highly than the best at home. Moreover she had many a
+time heard my grand-uncle declare that the gentlemen of our patrician
+families were not above half knights, and her intent was to sacrifice
+Herdegen to the Brandenburger’s weapon.
+
+Howbeit she had reckoned ill. Hans, who did service to my brother as his
+second at Altenperg, after striving faithfully to make peace between
+the two, was witness how our Nuremberg swordsman, who had had the
+finest schooling at Erfurt, Padua, and Paris, not merely withstood the
+Brandenburger, but so far outdid him in strength and swiftness that the
+Junker fell into the arms of his friends with wounds in the head and
+breast, while Herdegen came forth from the fray with no more hurt than a
+slight scratch on the arm.
+
+The witnesses saw what he could do with amazement, and Sir Apitz von
+Rochow avowed that at my brother’s first thrust he foresaw his cousin’s
+evil plight; and they said that during the combat the supple blade of
+the Nuremberger’s bedizened sword was changed into a raging serpent,
+which wound in everywhere, and bit through iron and steel. Afterwards he
+set forth that perchance Junker Schopper, who was said to be even better
+versed in all manner of writing than in the use of his weapon, had made
+use of some magic art, whereat a pious Knight of the Marches would fain
+cross himself.
+
+Now whereas Junker von Beust had been in attendance on the King’s
+person, the end of the fray could not be hidden from his Majesty, and
+so soon as the wounded man had been carried into the priest’s house at
+Altenperg for shelter and care, it was needful to remove his fortunate
+foe into surety from King Sigismund’s wrath. In this matter both Rochow
+and Muschwitz, who were the Junker’s seconds, demeaned them as true
+nobles, inasmuch as they offered my brother refuge and concealment in
+their castles, albeit they accused him between themselves of some secret
+art; but he who was so soon to die counselled him to bide a while with
+Uncle Conrad at the forest lodge, and see what he himself and other of
+his friends might do to win his pardon.
+
+When, at length, my lover was about to depart, the storm had burst;
+wherefore the Brandenburgers besought him to tarry in the priest’s house
+till it should be overpast. This he would not do, by reason that his
+sweetheart looked for him with a fearful heart, knowing that her brother
+was in peril; and forthwith he rode away. Herdegen gave him Eppelein to
+attend him, and to bring back to him such matters as he had need of, and
+so my beloved set forth for the town, the serving man riding behind him.
+
+It rained indeed and lightened and thundered, yet all was well till,
+nigh to Saint Linhart, the hail came down, beating on them heavily. At
+that moment a burning flash, with a terrible crash of thunder, reft a
+tree asunder by the road-way; his powerful horse was maddened with fear,
+stood upright, fell back, and crushed his rider against the trunk of a
+poplar tree. Never more did I look on the face of the true lover to whom
+I was so closely knit--save only in dreams; and I thank those who held
+me back from beholding his broken skull. To this day he rises before me,
+a silent vision, and I see him as he was in that hour when he gave me
+a parting kiss on our threshold, in the pale gleam of early morning,
+solemnly glad and in his festal bravery. Yet they could not hinder
+me from pressing my lips to the hands of the beloved body in its
+winding-sheet.
+
+It was on a fair and glorious morning--the day of the Assumption of the
+Blessed Virgin--when Hans Haller, Knight, Doctor, and Town councillor,
+the eldest of his ancient race, my dear lord and plighted lover, was
+carried to the grave. The velvet pall wherewith his parents covered the
+bier of their beloved and firstborn son was so costly, that the price
+would easily have fed a poor household for years. How many tapers were
+burnt for him, how many masses said! Favor and good-will were poured
+forth upon me, and wherever I might go I was met with the highest
+respect. Even in my own home I was looked upon as one set apart and
+dedicated, whose presence brought grace, and who should be spared all
+contact with the common and lesser troubles of life. Cousin Maud, who
+was ever wont to mount the stair with an echoing tread and a loud voice,
+now went about stepping softly in her shoes, and when she called or
+spoke it was gently and scarce to be heard.
+
+As for me I neither saw nor heard all this. It did not make me thankful
+nor even serve to comfort me.
+
+All things were alike to me, even the Queen’s gracious admonitions. The
+diligent humility of great and small alike in their demeanor chilled me
+in truth; sometimes meseemed it was in scorn.
+
+To my lover, if to any man, Heaven’s gates might open; yet had he
+perished without shrift or sacrament, and I could never bear to be
+absent when masses were said for his soul’s redemption. Nay, and I was
+fain to go to churches and chapels, inasmuch as I was secure there from
+the speech of man. All that life could give or ask of me, I had ceased
+to care for.
+
+If, from the first, I had been required to bestir myself and bend my
+will, matters had not perchance have gone so hard with me. The first
+call on my strength worked as it were a charm. The need to act restored
+the power to act: and a new and bitter experience which now befell was
+as a draught of wine, making my heavy heart beat high and steady once
+more. Nought, indeed, but some great matter could have roused me from
+that dull half-sleep; nor was it long in coming, by reason that my
+brother Herdegen’s safety and life were in peril. This danger arose from
+the fact that, not long ere the passage of arms at Altenperg, in despite
+of strait enactments, the peace of the realm had many times been broken
+under the very eyes of his Majesty by bloody combats, and the Elector
+Conrad of Maintz had gone hand in hand with him of Brandenburg to
+entreat his Majesty to make an example of this matter. These two were
+likewise the most powerful of all the electors; the spiritual prince
+had, at the closing of the Diet, been named Vicar of the Empire, and he
+of Brandenburg was commander-in-chief of all the Imperial armies. And
+his voice was of special weight in this matter, inasmuch as the great
+friendship which had hitherto bound him to the Emperor had of late
+cooled greatly, and both before and during the sitting of the Diet, his
+Majesty had keenly felt what power the Brandenburger could wield, and
+with what grave issues to himself.
+
+Thus, when my lord the Elector and the high constable Frederick demanded
+that the law should be carried out with the utmost rigor in the matter
+of Herdegen, it was not, as many deemed, by reason that the King was not
+at one with our good town and the worshipful council, and that he
+was well content to vent his wrath on the son of one of its patrician
+families, but contrariwise, that his Majesty, who hated all baseness,
+had heard tidings of Herdegen’s bloody deeds at Padua and his wild ways
+at Paris. Likewise it had come to his Majesty’s ears that he had falsely
+plighted his troth to two maidens. Nay, and my grand-uncle had made
+known to King Sigismund that Ursula, who had been known to the Elector
+from her childhood up, had been driven by despair at Herdegen’s breach
+of faith to give her hand to the sick Bohemian Knight, Sir Franz von
+Welemisl.
+
+Moreover the Knight Johann von Beust, father of Junker Henning, had
+journeyed to Nuremberg to visit his wounded son; and whereas he learnt
+many matters from his son’s friends around his sick-bed, he earnestly
+besought the Elector so to bring matters about that due punishment
+should overtake the Junker’s foeman.
+
+My lord the Elector had many a time showed his teeth to the knighthood
+of Brandenburg, appealing to law and justice when he had taken part with
+the citizens and humbled the overbearing pride of the nobles. It was
+now his part to show that he would not suffer noble blood to be spilt
+unavenged, though it were by the devilish skill of a citizen; forasmuch
+as that if indeed he should do so all men would know thereby that he was
+the sworn foe of the nobles of Brandenburg and kept so tight a hand on
+them, not for justice’ sake, but for sheer hatred and ill-will.
+
+When at a later day, I saw the old knight, with his ruddy steel-eaters’
+face and great lip-beard, and was told that in his youth he had been a
+doughty free booter and highway robber, who by his wealth and power had
+made himself to be a mainstay of the Elector in Altmark, I could well
+imagine how his threats had sounded, and that all men had been swift to
+lend ear to his words. Yet that just King to whom he accused Herdegen
+gave a hearing to von Rochow and the other witnesses; they could but
+declare that all had been done by rule, and that Rochow had said from
+the first that of a certainty the devil himself guided Herdegen’s sword.
+Muschwitz, indeed, was sure that he had seen his blade flash forth fire.
+Hereupon the father was urgent on the King’s Majesty that he should seek
+to seize my brother, pronounce him a banished outlaw, and that whenever
+his person should be taken he was to be punished with death.
+
+All this I learnt not till some time after, inasmuch as folks would not
+add new cause of grief to my present sorrow.
+
+The way I was going could lead no-whither save to madness or the
+cloister; I had so lost my wits in self, that I weened that I had done
+my part for my brother when I had humbly entreated their Majesties to
+vouchsafe him their gracious pardon, and had signed my name to certain
+petitions in favor of the accused. Of a truth I wist not yet in what
+peril he stood, and rarely enquired for him when Uncle Conrad had
+assured me that he lay in safe hiding.
+
+Sometimes, indeed, meseemed as though Ann and the others kept somewhat
+privy from me; but even all care to enquire was gone from me, nor cared
+I for aught but to be left in peace. And thus matters stood till rumor
+waxed loud and roused me from my leaden slumber.
+
+I had passed the day for myself alone, refusing to see our noble guests;
+I was sitting in silence and dreaming by my spinning-wheel, which I
+had long ceased to turn, when on a sudden there were heavy steps and
+wrathful voices on the stairs. The door of the room was thrown open and,
+in spite of old Susan’s resistance, certain beadles of the city came in,
+with two of the Emperor’s men-at-arms. My cousin was not within doors,
+as had become common of late, and I was vexed and grieved to be thus
+unpleasantly surprised. I rose to meet the strangers, making sharp
+enquiry by what right they broke the peace of a Nuremberg patrician’s
+household. Hereupon their chief made answer roundly that he was here by
+his Majesty’s warrant, and that of the city authorities, to make certain
+whether Junker Herdegen Schopper, who had fled from the Imperial ban,
+were in hiding or no in the house of his fathers. At first it was all
+I could do to save myself from falling; but I presently found heart and
+courage. I assured the bailiffs that their search would be vain, albeit
+I gave them free leave to do whatsoever their office might require of
+them, only to bear in mind that great notables were guests in the house;
+and then I drew a deep breath and meseemed I was as a child forgotten
+and left in a house on fire which sees its father pressing forward to
+rescue it.
+
+Hitherto no man had told me what fate it was that threatened my brother,
+and now that I knew, I hastily filled up the meaning of many a word to
+which I had lent but half an ear. My cousin’s frequent absence in court
+array, Ann’s tear-stained eyes and strange mien, and many another matter
+was now full plain to me.
+
+My newly-awakened spirit and restored power asserted their rights, and,
+as in the days of old, neither could rest content till it knew for a
+certainty what it might do.
+
+While Susan and the other serving folks, with certain of the retainers
+brought by our guests, were searching the house through, I hastily did
+on my shoes and garments for out-door wear, and albeit it was already
+dusk, I went forth. Yea, and I held my head high and my body straight as
+I went along the streets, whereas for these weeks past I had crept about
+hanging my head; meseemed that a change had come over my outward as
+well as my inner man. And as I reached Pernhart’s house, with long swift
+steps, more folks would have seen me for what in truth I was: a healthy
+young creature, with a long span of life before me yet and filled with
+strength and spirit enough to do good service, not to myself alone, but
+to many another, and chiefest of all to my dearly beloved brother.
+
+And when I was at my walk’s end and stood before the old mother,--who
+was now recovered from her sickness and sitting upright and sound in
+her arm-chair with her youngest grandchild in her lap,--I knew forthwith
+that I had come to the right person.
+
+The worthy old dame had not been slow to mark what ailed me; nay, if
+Cousin Maud had not besought her to spare my sorrowing soul, she long
+since had revealed to me what peril hung over Herdegen. She had not
+failed to perceive that my weary submission to ills which might never be
+remedied, had broken my power and will to fulfil what good there was in
+me. And now I stood before her, freed from that sleepwalking dulness of
+will, eager to know the whole truth, and declared myself ready to do all
+that in me lay to attain one thing alone, namely to rescue my brother.
+On this I learnt from the venerable dame’s lips that now I was indeed
+the old Margery, albeit Cousin Maud had of late denied it, and with good
+reason; and the old woman was right, inasmuch as that the more terrible
+and unconquerable the danger seemed, the more my courage rose and the
+greater was my spirit. Now, too, I heard that what I had taken for
+love-sick weakness in Ann was only too-well founded heart-sickness;
+and that she likewise, on her part, had not been idle, but, under the
+guidance of Cousin Maud and Uncle Christian, had moved heaven and earth
+to succor her lover, albeit alas! in vain.
+
+In truth the cause was as good as lost; and Uncle Christian, who ever
+hoped for the best, made it no secret that, in the most favorable, issue
+Herdegen must begin life afresh in some distant land. Yet was neither
+Ann nor I disposed to let our courage fail, and it was at that time that
+our friendship put forth fresh flowers. We fought shoulder to shoulder
+as it were, comrades in the struggle, full of love towards each other
+and of love for my brother; and when I bid her farewell and she would
+fain walk home with me, all those who dwelt in the coppersmith’s house
+were of the same mind as men might be in a beleaguered town, who had
+been about to yield and then, on a sudden, beheld the reinforcements
+approaching with waving banners and a blast of trumpets.
+
+In truth there was a shrewd fight to be waged; and the stronghold which
+day by day waxed harder to conquer was my lord chief Constable, the
+Elector Frederick; his peer, the Elector of Maintz, put all on him when
+Cardinal Branda, who was Ann’s kind patron, besought his mercy.
+
+Until I had been roused to this new care in life I had never been to
+court, in spite of many a gracious bidding from my lady, the Queen.
+My supplications found no answer, and when Queen Barbara granted me
+audience at my entreaty, though she received me graciously, yet would
+she not hear me out. She would gladly help, quoth she, but that she,
+like all, must obey the laws; and at last she freely owned that her
+good will would come to nought against the demands of the Elector of
+Brandenburg. The greatness of that wise and potent prince was plainly
+set before our eyes that same day, for on him, as commander-in-chief of
+the crusade to be sent forth against the Hussite heresy, the Emperor’s
+own sword was solemnly bestowed in the church of Saint Sebald. It was
+girt on to him by reverend Bishops, after that he had received from
+the hand of the Pope’s legate a banner which his Holiness had himself
+blessed, and which was borne before him by the Count of Hohenlohe as he
+went forth.
+
+That it would be a hard matter to get speech with so potent a lord at
+such a time was plain to see; howbeit I was able to speak privily at
+any rate with his chamberlain, and from him I learned in what peril
+my brother was, inasmuch as not the Junker’s father alone was bent on
+bringing him to extreme punishment, but likewise no small number
+of Nuremberg folk, who had of yore been aggrieved by my brother’s
+over-bearing pride.
+
+Every one who had ever met him in the streets with a book under his arm,
+or had seen him, late at night, through the lighted window-pane, sitting
+over his papers and parchments, was ready to bear witness to his study
+of the black arts. Thus the diligence which he had ever shown through
+all his wild ways was turned to his destruction; and it was the same
+with the open-handed liberality which had ever marked him, by reason
+that the poor, to whom he had tossed a heavy ducat instead of a thin
+copper piece, would tell of the Devil’s dole he had gotten, and how that
+the coin had burnt in his hand. Nay and Eppelein’s boasting of the gold
+his young lord had squandered in Paris, and wherewith he had filled his
+varlet’s pockets, gave weight to this evil slander. Many an one held it
+for a certainty that Satan himself had been his treasurer.
+
+Thus a light word, spoken at first as a figure of speech by the Knight
+von Rochow, had grown into a charge against him, heavy enough to wreck
+the honor and freedom of a man who had no friends, and even to bring him
+to the stake; and I know full well that many an one rejoiced beforehand
+to think that he should see that lordly youth with all his bravery
+standing in the pointed cap with the Devil’s tongue hung round his neck,
+and gasping out his life amid the licking flames.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+The Diet was well-nigh over, yet had we not been able to gain aught in
+Herdegen’s favor. One day my Forest Aunt, who had marked all our doings
+with wise counsel and hearty good-will, sent word that he on whose
+mighty word hung Herdegen’s weal or woe, the Elector Frederich himself,
+had promised to visit at the Lodge next day to the end that he might
+hunt, and that we should ride thither forthwith.
+
+By the time we alighted there his Highness had already come and gone
+forth to hunt the deer; wherefor we privily followed after him, and at a
+sign from Uncle Christian we came out of the brushwood and stood before
+him. Albeit he strove to escape from us with much diligence and no small
+craftiness, we would not let him go, and kept up with him, pressing him
+so closely that he afterwards declared that we had brought him to bay
+like a hunted beast. Of a truth no bear nor badger ever found it harder
+to escape the hounds than he, at that moment, to shut his eyes and
+ears against bright eyes and women’s tongues made eloquent by Dame Love
+herself. Moreover my mourning array, worn as it was for a youth who had
+stood above most others in his love, would have checked any hard words
+on his lips; thus was he once more made to know that Eve’s power was not
+yet wholly departed. Yet were we far from believing in any such power in
+ourselves, as we appeared before that great and potent sovereign, whose
+manly, calm, and withal fatherly dignity made him, to my mind, more
+majestic than the tall but unresting Emperor.
+
+I can see him as he stood with his booted foot on the hart’s neck, and
+turned his noble head, with its long, smooth grey hair, gazing at us
+with his great blue eyes, kindly at first, but presently with vexation
+and well-nigh in wrath.
+
+We held our hands tight on our hearts, striving to call to mind some few
+of the words we had meditated with intent to speak them in defence of
+Herdegen. And our love, and our steadfast purpose that we would win
+grace and mercy for him came to our aid; and whereas my lord’s first
+enquiry was to know whether I were that Mistress Margery Schopper who
+had been betrothed to his dear Hans Haller, too soon departed, my eyes
+filled with tears, but the memory of the dead gave me courage, so that
+I dared to meet the great man’s eye, and was right glad to find that
+the words which in my dread I had forgot, now came freely to my mind.
+Likewise meseemed that, in overriding my own fears, I had conquered
+Ann’s; whereas she had been pale and speechless, clinging to the folds
+of my dress, she now stood forth boldly by my side.
+
+Then, when I had presented her to his Highness as Herdegen’s promised
+bride, to whom he had been plighted in love from their childhood, I made
+known to his lordship that it was not my brother’s desire, but that of
+my grand-uncle, that Ursula should be his wife. Likewise I strove to
+release my brother from the charge of making gold, by diligently showing
+that the old Knight had ever showered ducats on him to beguile him to
+his will. Then I spoke at length of Herdegen’s skill with the sword,
+and hereupon Ann made bold to say that it would be well to bid her lover
+return in safe-keeping to Nuremberg, and there let him give proof of
+his skill with a weapon specially blessed by my lord Cardinal Julianus
+Caesarinus, the Pope’s legate, which could have no taint of devilish
+arts.
+
+Thus did we give utterance to everything we had meditated beforehand;
+and albeit the Elector at first made wrathful answer, and even made as
+though he would turn his back on us, each time we made shift to hold him
+fast. Nay, or ever we had ceased he had taken his foot from the stag’s
+neck, and at length we walked with him back to the forest lodge, half
+amused, yet half grieved, with the mocking words he tormented us with.
+Then he bid us quit him, promising that he would once more examine into
+the matter of that young criminal.
+
+Within doors supper was now ready, but we, as beseemed us, kept out of
+the way. My brother’s case was now in safe hands, inasmuch as my Uncle
+Conrad and Christian sat at table with my lord. Likewise we were much
+comforted, whereas my aunt told us that the elder Knight, Junker Henning
+von Beust’s father, who was here in the Elector’s following, had, of
+his own free will, said to her that he now rued his deed in so violently
+accusing Herdegen, by reason that his son, who was now past all danger,
+had earnestly besought him to save this man, whose skill was truly a
+marvel, and had likewise said that he whom Hans Haller had honored with
+his friendship could not have practised black arts. Also he held me
+dear as the widowed maid to whom his friend was to have been wed, and he
+could never forgive himself if fresh woe came upon me through him or his
+kith and kin.
+
+All this was glad tidings indeed, not alone for Herdegen’s sake, but
+also by reason that there are few greater joys than that of finding
+good cause to approve one whom we respect, and yet whom we have begun to
+doubt.
+
+Ann and I went to our chamber greatly comforted, and in such good
+heart as at that time I could be, and when from thence I heard Uncle
+Christian’s great voice, as full of jollity as ever, I was certain that
+matters were all for the best for Herdegen. Our last fears and doubts
+were ere long cleared away; while the gentlemen beneath were still over
+their cups a heavy foot tramped up the stairs, a hard finger knocked
+at our chamber door, and Uncle Christian’s deep voice cried: “Are you
+asleep betimes or still awake, maidens?”
+
+Whereupon Ann, foreboding good, answered in the gladness of her heart
+that we were long since sleeping sweetly, and my uncle laughed.
+
+“Well and good,” quoth he, “then sleep on, and let me tell you what
+meseems your very next dream will be: You will be standing with all of
+us out in a green mead, and a little bird will sing: ‘Herdegen is freed
+from his ban.’ At this you will greatly rejoice; but in the midst of
+your joy a raven shall croak from a dry branch: ‘Can it be! The law must
+be upheld, and I will not suffer the rascal to go unpunished.’ Whereupon
+the little bird will twitter again: ‘Well and good; ‘t will serve him
+right. Only be not too hard on him.’ And we shall all say the same, and
+thereupon you will awake.”
+
+And he tramped down the stair again, and albeit we cried after him, and
+besought him to tell us more of the matter, he heard us not at all.
+
+When we were at home again, lo, the Elector had done much to help us. I
+found a letter waiting for me, sealed with the Emperor’s signet, wherein
+it was said that, by his Majesty’s grace and mercy, my brother Herdegen
+was purged of his outlawry, but was condemned in a fine of a thousand
+Hungarian ducats as pain and penalty.
+
+Thus the little bird and the raven had both been right. Howbeit, when I
+presently betook me to the castle to speak my thanks to the Empress, I
+was turned away; and indeed it had already been told to me that at Court
+this morning that sorrowful Margery, with her many petitions, was looked
+upon with other eyes than that other mirthful Margery, who had come with
+flowers and songs whensoever she was bidden. None but Porro the jester
+seemed to be of the same mind as ever; when he met me in the castle yard
+he greeted me right kindly and, when I had told him of the tidings in
+the Emperor’s letter, he whispered as he bid me good day: “If I had a
+fox for a brother, fair child, I would counsel him to lurk in his cover
+till the hounds were safe at home again. In Hungary once I met a certain
+fellow who had been kicked by a highway thief after he had emptied his
+pockets. I tell you what. A man may well pawn his last doublet, if he
+may thereby gain a larger. He need never redeem the first, and it is
+given some folks to coin gold ducats out of humbler folks’ sins. Ah! If
+I had a fox for a brother!”
+
+He sang the last words to himself as it were, and vanished, seeing
+certain persons of the Court.
+
+Now I took this well-meant warning as it was intended; and albeit Ann
+and I were heartsick with longing to see Herdegen and to release him
+from his hiding, we nevertheless took patience. The legal guardians of
+our estate, having my uncle’s consent, took my Cousin Maud’s suretyship,
+and expressed themselves willing to pay the fine out of the moneys left
+by our parents, into the Imperial treasury. And that which followed
+thereafter showed us how wise the Fool’s admonition had been.
+
+The knight, Sir Apitz von Rochow, who had served as Junker Henning’s
+second in the fight, tarried yet in Nuremberg, and this rude, arrogant
+youth had devoted himself with such true loving-kindness to the care
+of his young cousin, at first in the priest’s house at Altenpero and
+afterwards in the Deutsch-haus in the town, that he had taken no rest,
+day nor night, until the Junker’s father came, and then he fell into a
+violent fever. It was but of late that the leech had granted him to go
+out of doors, and his first walk was to our house to show me his sorrow
+for my grief, and to thank my cousin for many pleasant trifles which she
+had sent to him and the Junker during their sickness, to refresh them.
+At the same time he broke forth in loud and unstinted wrath against
+Sir Franz von Welemisl, and gave us to wit that with his whole heart he
+grudged him the fair Ursula, whose favor he himself had so diligently
+sued for since the first days of the Diet. From our house he went to the
+Tetzels’, and then he and the Bohemian forthwith came to high words and
+defiant glances.
+
+Shortly after this, and a few hours only after my brother’s penalty had
+been paid into the Treasury, the two young gentlemen met in the nobles’
+wine-room by the Frohnwage, and von Rochow, heated by wine and heeding
+neither moderation nor manners, began to taunt Ursula’s betrothed. After
+putting it to him that he had left the task to Herdegen of picking up
+the glove, “which peradventure he had thought was of too heavy leather,”
+ to which the other made seemly reply, he enquired, inasmuch as they were
+discoursing of marriage, whether the Church, which forbids the joining
+of those who are near of kin, hath not likewise the power to hinder
+a young and blooming maid from binding herself for life to a sickly
+husband. Such discourse was ill-pleasing by reason of the Bohemian’s
+presence there: and the Junker went yet further, till to some speech
+made by old Master Grolaud, he made answer by asking what then might be
+a priest’s duty, if the sick bridegroom failed to say “yes” at the altar
+by reason of his coughing? And as he spoke he cast a challenging look at
+Welemisl.
+
+The hot blood of the Bohemian flew to his brain; or ever any one could
+hinder him, his knife was buried to the hilt in the other’s shoulder.
+All hastened to help the Brandenburger, and when presently some turned
+to seize the criminal he was no more to be seen.
+
+This dreadful deed caused just dismay, and most of all at Court,
+inasmuch as the chamberlain and the maid of honor in close attendance on
+their Majesties’ persons were near kin to the Bohemian, whose mother was
+of the noble Hungarian house of Pereny.
+
+As to the Emperor, he flew into great fury and threatened to cancel
+the murderer’s coat of arms and punish him with death. Never within the
+peace of his realm, nay and under his very eyes, had so much noble
+blood been shed in base brawling as here in our sober city, and he
+would forthwith make an example of the guilty men. He would make young
+Schopper pay some penalty yet more than a mere fine, to that he pledged
+his royal word, and as for young Welemisl, he was minded to devise some
+punishment that should hinder many an over-bold knight from drawing
+his sword! And he commanded that not only his own constables and
+men-at-arms, but likewise the town bailiffs, should forthwith seek and
+take both those young men.
+
+Only two days later Sir Franz was brought in by the city watch; he had
+dressed himself in the garments of a waggoner, but had betrayed himself
+in a tavern at Schwabach by his coughing. Howbeit his Majesty had by
+this time come to another mind; nay, Queen Barbara left him less peace
+than even the court-folks, for indeed her father, Count Cilly, was near
+of kin to the Perenys, and through them to the Welemisl.
+
+The Emperor Sigismund was a noble-minded and easy-living prince, who
+once, when forty thousand ducats had been poured into his ever-empty
+treasure chest, divided it forthwith among his friends, saying: “Now
+shall I sleep well, for that which broke my rest you bear away with
+you.” And this light-hearted man, who was ever tossed hither and thither
+against his will, now saw that his peace was in evil plight by reason
+of Sir Franz. This was ill to bear; and whereas his royal wife called to
+mind in a happy hour that Welemisl had been provoked out of all measure
+by Rochow’s scorn, and had done the deed out of no malice aforethought
+but, being heated with wine, in a sudden rage, and that he was in so far
+more worthy of mercy than young Schopper, who had shed noble blood
+with a guilty intent, counting on his skill as a swordsman, the Emperor
+surrendered at discretion. In this he was confirmed by his privy
+secretary, Caspar Slick, whom the Queen had beguiled; and this man,
+learned in the law, was ready with a decision which the Imperial
+magistrate gladly agreed to forthwith, as mild yet sufficient. Matters
+in short were as follows: About ten years ago the Knight Sir Endres von
+Steinbach had slain a citizen of Nuremberg in a fray with the town, and
+had made his peace afterwards with the council under the counsel of the
+Abbot of Waldsassen: by taking on himself, as an act of penance, to
+make a pilgrimage to Vach and to Rome, to set up stone crosses in four
+convents, and henceforth to do service to the town in every quarrel,
+in his own person, with a fellowship of ten lances for the space of two
+years. All this he had duly done, and it came about that the Emperor now
+condemned the Bohemian and my brother both alike to make a
+pilgrimage, not only to Rome--inasmuch as their guilt was greater than
+Steinbach’s--but likewise to Jerusalem, to the Holy Sepulchre and other
+sacred places. Welemisl was to pay the same penalty in money as Herdegen
+had paid, and in consideration of their having thus made atonement for
+the blood they had shed, and as their victims had escaped death,
+they were released from the doom of outlawry. On returning from their
+pilgrimage they were to be restored to their rank and estates, and to
+all their rights, lordships, and privileges.
+
+Not long after this sentence was passed the Court removed from Nuremberg
+through Ratisbon, where the Emperor strove to make up his quarrel with
+the Duke Bavaria and then to Vienna; but ere his departing he gave
+strait orders to the chief magistrate to see that the two criminals
+should fare forth on their pilgrimage not longer than twenty-four hours
+after the declaration of their doom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Shall I now set forth how that Ann and I found Herdegen in his
+hiding-place, a simple little beekeeper’s but in the most covert part of
+the Lorenzer wald, a spot whither no horseman might pass; how that even
+in his poor peasant’s weed my brother was yet a goodly man, and clasped
+his sweetheart in his arms as ardently as in that first day on his
+homecoming from Italy--and how that the dear, hunted fellow, beholding
+me in mourning dress, took his sister to his heart as soon as his
+plighted love had left the place free? Yea, for the dead had been dear
+to him likewise, and his love for me had never failed.
+
+When we presently gave ourselves up in peace to the joy of being all
+together once more, I weened that his eye was more steadfast, and his
+voice graver and calmer than of old; and whensoever he spoke to me it
+was in a soft and heartfelt tone, which gave me comforting assurance
+that he grieved for my grief. And how sweetly and gravely did he beguile
+Ann to make the most of this sad meeting, wherein welcome and God-speed
+so closely touched. In the house once more I rejoiced in the lofty
+flight which lifted this youth’s whole spirit above all things common
+or base; and his sweetheart’s eyes rested on him in sheer delight as he
+talked with my uncle, or with the magistrate who had come forth with us
+to the Forest. And albeit it was in truth his duty to the Emperor his
+master, to fulfil his behest, nevertheless he gave us his promise that
+he would put off the announcement of the sentence till we should return
+to the town next day, and prolong our time together and with Cousin Maud
+as much as in him lay.
+
+My aunt’s eyes shone with sheer joy when they fell on her darling with
+Herdegen at her side, and she could say to herself no doubt that these
+two, who, as she conceived, were made for each other, would hardly
+have come together again but for her help. Or ever we set forth on the
+morrow, she called Herdegen to her once more to speak with him privily,
+and bid him bear in mind that if ever in his wanderings he should meet
+another youth--and he knew who--he might tell him that at home in the
+Lorenzerwald a mother’s heart was yet beating, which could never rest
+till his presence had gladdened it once more.
+
+My uncle rode with us into the town. It was at the gate that the
+magistrate told Herdegen what his fate should be: that he must leave
+Nuremberg on the morrow at the same hour; and to my dying day I shall
+ever remember with gladness and regret the meal we then sat down to with
+our nearest and dearest.
+
+Cousin Maud called it her darling’s condemnation supper. She had watched
+the cooking of every dish in the kitchen, and chosen the finest wine out
+of the cellar. Yet the victual might have been oatmeal porridge, and the
+noble liquor the smallest beer, and it would have been no matter to our
+great, albeit melancholy gladness. And indeed, no man could have gazed
+at the pair now come together again after so many perils, and not have
+felt his heart uplifted. Ah! and how dear to me were those twain! They
+had learnt that life was as nothing to either of them without the other,
+and their hearts meseemed were henceforth as closely knit as two streams
+which flow together to make one river, and whose waters no power on
+earth can ever sunder. They sat with us, but behind great posies of
+flowers, as it were in an isle of bliss; yet were they in our midst, and
+showed how glad it made them to have so many loving hearts about
+them. Notwithstanding her joy and trouble Ann forgot not her duty as
+“watchman,” and threatened Uncle Christian when he would take more than
+he should of the good liquor. He, however, declared that this day was
+under the special favor of the Saints, and that no evil could in any
+wise befall him. My Forest-uncle and Master Pernhart had been found in
+discourse together, and the matter of which they spoke was my Cousin
+Gotz. And how it gladdened the father to speak of his far-off son! More
+especially when Pernhart’s lips overflowed with praise of the youth to
+whom his only child owed her early death.
+
+Most marvellous of all was the Magister. Herdegen’s return to his
+beloved robbed Master Peter of his last hope; nevertheless his eyes had
+never rested on her with fonder rapture. Verily his faithful heart was
+warmed as it were by the happiness which surrounded her as with a glory,
+and indeed it was not without some doubts that I saw the worthy man,
+who was wont to be so sober, raise his glass again and again to drink to
+Ann, whether she marked him or not, and drain his glass each time in her
+honor. My Uncle Christian likewise filled his cup right diligently, and
+seeing him quaff it with such lusty good will I feared lest he should
+keep us all night at table, when the time was short for Ann and my
+brother to have any privy speech together. But that good man forgot not,
+even over the wine-jar, what might pleasure other folks; and albeit it
+was hard for him to quit a merry drinking-bout he was the first to move
+away. We were alone by sundown. The Magister had been carried to bed and
+woke not till noon on the morrow.
+
+The plighted couple sat once more in the oriel where they had so
+often sat in happier days, and seeing them talking and fondling in the
+gathering dusk, meseemed for a while that that glad winter season had
+come again in which they had rejoiced in the springtide of their love.
+
+Thus the hours passed, and I was in the very act of enquiry whether it
+were not time to light the lamps, when we heard voices on the stairs,
+and Cousin Maud came in saying that Sir Franz had made his way into the
+house, and that he declared that his weal or woe, nay and his life lay
+in Herdegen’s hand, so that she had not the heart to refuse to suffer
+him to come in. Hereupon my brother started up in a rage, but the
+chamber door was opened, and with the maid, who brought the lamp in, the
+Bohemian crossed the threshold. We maids would fain have quitted them;
+but the knight besought us to remain, saying, as his eyes humbly sued
+to mine, that rather should I tarry and speak a good word for him. Then,
+when Herdegen called upon him to speak, but did not hold forth his
+hand, Sir Franz besought him to suffer him to be his comrade in his
+pilgrimage. Howbeit so doleful a fellow was by no means pleasing in my
+brother’s eyes, and so he right plainly gave him to understand; then the
+Bohemian called to mind their former friendship, and entreated him to
+put himself in his place and not to forget that he, as a man sound of
+limb, would have avenged the scorn put on him by Rochow in fair fight
+instead of with a dagger-thrust. They were condemned to a like penance
+and, if Herdegen would not suffer him and give him his company, this
+would be the death-blow to his blighted honor.
+
+Hereupon I appealed to my brother right earnestly, beseeching him not to
+reject his former friend if it were only for love of me. And inasmuch
+as on that day his whole soul was filled with love, his hardness was
+softened, and how gladly and thankfully my heart beat when I beheld him
+give his hand to the man who had endured so much woe for my sake.
+
+Presently, while they were yet speaking of their departing, again there
+were voices without; and albeit I could scarce believe my ears I mistook
+not, and knew the tones for Ursula’s. Ann likewise heard and knew them,
+and she quitted the chamber saying: “None shall trouble me in such
+an hour, least of all shall Ursula!” The angelus had long since been
+tolled, and somehap of grave import must have brought us so rare a guest
+at so late an hour. My cousin, who would fain have hindered her from
+coming in, held her by the arm; and her efforts to shake off the old
+lady’s grasp were all in vain till she caught sight of Herdegen. Then
+at length she freed herself and, albeit she was gasping for breath, her
+voice was one of sheer triumph as she cried: “I had to come, and here I
+am!”
+
+“Aye, but if you come as a Mar-joy I will show you the way out, my
+word for that!” my cousin panted; but the maid heeded her not, but went
+straight toward Herdegen and said: “I felt I must see you once more ere
+you depart--I must! Old Jorg attended me, and when I am gone forth again
+Dame Maud will speak my ‘eulogium’. Only look at her! But it is all one
+to me. Find me a place, Herdegen, where I may speak with you and Ann
+Spiesz alone. I have a message for you.”
+
+Hereupon my cousin broke in with a scornful laugh, such as I could never
+have looked to hear from her, with her kind and single heart; and my
+brother told Ursula shortly and plainly that with her he had no more
+to do. To this she made answer that it would be a sin to doubt that,
+inasmuch as he was now a pious pilgrim and honorably betrothed,
+nevertheless she craved to see Ann. That, too, was denied her, and she
+did but shrug her shoulders; then she turned to the Bohemian, who had
+gone towards her, and asked him with icy politeness to remove from her
+presence, inasmuch as he was an offence to her. Hereupon I saw the last
+drop of red blood fade away from the young Knight’s sickly cheek, and
+it went to my heart to see him uplift his hands and implore her right
+humbly: “You know, Ursula, all that hath befallen me for your sake, and
+how hard a lot awaits me. Three times have I been plighted to you, my
+promised bride, and as many times cast off....”
+
+“To spare you the like fate a fourth time; all good things being in
+threes!” she put in, mocking him. “Verily you have cured me of any
+desire ever to be your Dame, Sir Knight. And since meseems this day our
+speech is free and truthful, I am fain to confess that such a wish was
+ever far enough from me, and even when we stood betrothed. A strange
+thing is love! ‘Here’s to fair Margery!’ one day, on every noble
+gentleman’s lips; and on the morrow: ‘Here’s to sweet Ursula!’ In some
+folks it grows inwardly, as it were a polypus, and of such, woe is me,
+am I. My love, if you would know the truth, my lord Baron von Welemisl,
+love such I have known I gave once for all to that man Herdegen
+Schopper; it has been his from the time when, in my short little skirts,
+I learnt to write; and so it has ever been, till the hour when worthy
+Dame Henneleinlein, the noble Junker’s new cousin--it is enough to make
+one die of laughing!--when that illustrious lady whispered the truth in
+my ear that her intending kinsman had thrown me over, and, with me, old
+Im Hoff’s wealth, for the sake of a scrivener’s wench. And to think that
+as a boy he was wont to bring me posies, and wear my colors! Nay, and
+since that time he has shot many a fiery glance at me. Only lately he
+wrote to his uncle from Paris that he was minded to make me his wife.
+Ah, you may open your eyes wide, most respected every-one’s-cousin Maud,
+and you likewise, prim and spotless Mistress Margery! Cross yourselves
+in the name of all the Saints! A dead wolf cannot bite, and as for my
+love for that man, I may boldly declare that it is dead and buried.
+But mark me,” and she clapped her hand to her heaving bosom, “mark me,
+somewhat else hath made entrance here, with drums and trumpets and high
+jubilee: Hate!--I hate you, Herdegen, as I hate death, pestilence, and
+hell; and I hate you twice as much since your skill with the rapier
+brought the combat with the Brandenburger, into which I entrapped you,
+to so perverse an end.”
+
+Hereupon Cousin Maud, wild with rage herself, gripped her again by the
+arm to draw her forth from the chamber, but Ursula went on in a milder
+tone:
+
+“Only a few moments longer, I pray you; for by the Blessed Virgin and
+all the Saints I swear that I would not have come hither at so late an
+hour but to deliver my message to Herdegen.”
+
+My cousin released her, and she drew forth a written paper and again
+enquired for Ann; howbeit my brother said that he did not purpose to
+call her in, and desired that she would give him the paper, if indeed
+it concerned him. To this she answered that he would presently know that
+much, inasmuch as it was her intent to read it to the company, only she
+would fain have had his fair mistress among the hearers. Howbeit she
+had a good loud voice, she thanked the Saints, and the doors in the
+Schoppers’ house were scarce thicker than in other folks’ houses. The
+letter in her hand had been given to her to deliver to Herdegen by the
+newlymade vicar of his Highness the Elector and Archbishop of Treves,
+who was lodged with the Tetzels. He had not been able to find him, no
+more than the Emperor’s men-at-arms; so he had bidden her take good heed
+that she gave it into Junker Schopper’s own hand. But verily she would
+do yet more, and spare him the pains of reading it.
+
+Hereupon my brother, in great ire, bid her no longer keep that which was
+not her own; yet she refused, and whereas Herdegen seized her hand to
+wrench away the paper she shrieked out to the Bohemian: “Give him his
+due, for a knave who offends maidens; that outcast for whom I scorned
+and misprized you! Help, help, if you are no churl!”
+
+My brother nevertheless had already snatched the letter from her, and
+the Bohemian, who had laid his hand on his dagger, thought better of it
+as his eye met my look of warning.
+
+It was a fearful moment of terror, and Ursula, whose hair had fallen
+loose, while her flashing blue eyes, full of hate, shot lightnings on
+one and another, stood clinging to the heavy dresser whereon our silver
+and glass vessels were displayed, and cried out as loudly as she could
+shout: “The letter is from his lady-love in Padua, the Marchesa Bianca
+Zorzi. That cunning swordsman’s blade made her a widow, and now she bids
+him return to her embrace. The fond and ardent lady is in Venice, and
+her intent is to revel there in love and pleasure with her husband’s
+murderer. And he--though he may have sworn a thousand vows to the
+scrivener’s hussy--he will do the Italian Circe’s bidding, and if he may
+escape her snares he will fall into those of another. Oh! I know him;
+and I feel in my soul that his fate will be to dally with one and
+another in delights and raptures, till the Saints fulfil my heart’s
+chiefest desire, and he comes to despair and anguish and want, and the
+scrivener’s wench breaks her heart under my very eyes with pining and
+sheer shame. Away, away, Herdegen Schopper! Go forth to joy and to
+misery! Go-with your pale black-haired mate. Revel and wallow, till
+you, who have trampled on this heart’s true love, are brought low--as
+loathsome in the eyes of men as a leper and a beggar.”
+
+And she shook the dresser so that the precious glass cup which the
+German merchants of the Fondaco at Venice had given to my father at his
+departing, fell to the floor and was broken to pieces with a loud crash.
+
+We had hearkened to her ravings as though spellbound and frozen; and
+when we at last took heart to put an end to her wild talk, lo, she was
+gone, and flying down the stairs with long strides.
+
+Herdegen, who had turned pale, struggled to command himself. Cousin
+Maud, who had lost her breath with dismay, burst into loud weeping; the
+wild maid’s curse had fallen heavy on her soul. I alone kept my senses,
+so far as to go to the window and look out at her. I saw her walking
+along, hanging her head; the serving man carried the lantern before her,
+and the Bohemian was speaking close in her ear.
+
+When I came back into the chamber Cousin Maud had her arm round
+Herdegen, and was saying to him, with many tears, that the curse of the
+wicked had no power over a pious and faithful Christian; yet he quitted
+her in haste to seek Ann, who doubtless would have stayed in the next
+chamber, and perchance needed his succor. Howbeit the door was opened,
+and we could scarce believe our eyes when she came in with that same
+roguish smile which she was wont to wear when, in playing hide-and-seek,
+she had stolen home past the seeker, and she cried: “Thank the Virgin
+that the air is clear once more! You may laugh, but in truth I fled up
+to the very garret for sheer dread of Mistress Tetzel. Did she come to
+fetch her bridegroom?”
+
+Herdegen could not refrain from smiling at this question, and we
+likewise did the same; even Cousin Maud, who till this moment had sat on
+the couch like one crushed, with her feet stretched out before her, made
+a face and cried: “To fetch him! Ursula who has caught the Bohemian!
+She is a monster! Were ever such doings seen in our good town?--And
+her mother was so wise, so worthy a woman! And the hussy is but
+nineteen!--Merciful Father, what will she be at forty or fifty, when
+most women only begin to be wicked!” And thus she went on for some
+while.
+
+Ere long we forgot Ursula and all the hateful to-do, and passed the
+precious hours in much content, till after midnight, when the Pernharts
+sent to fetch Ann home. Herdegen and I would walk with her. After a
+grievous yet hopeful leave-taking I came home again, leaning on his arm,
+through the cool autumn night.
+
+When I now admonished Herdegen as we walked, as to the fair Marchesa and
+her letter, he declared to me that in those evil weeks he had spent in
+bitter yearning as a serving man in the bee-keeper’s hut, he had learned
+to know his own mind. Neither the Marchesa, whom he scorned from the
+bottom of his heart, inasmuch as, with all her beauty, she was full
+of craft and lies, no, nor event Dame Venus herself could now turn him
+aside from the love and duty he had sworn to Ann. He would, indeed, take
+ship from Genoa rather than from Venice, were it not for shame of such
+fears of his own weakness, and that he longed once more to set eyes on
+our brother Kunz whom he had not seen for so long a space.
+
+I found it hard to see clear in this matter. Yet could I not deem it
+wise to deny him the first chance of proving himself true and honest;
+likewise meseemed that our younger brother’s presence would be a safe
+guard against temptation. Under the eye of our parent’s pictures I
+bid him good night for the few hours till he should depart, and when I
+pointed up to them he understood me, and clasped me fondly in his arms
+saying: “Never fear, little mother Margery!”
+
+We were with Herdegen again or ever it was morning. While we had been
+sleeping he had written a loving letter to my grand-uncle, who had
+yesterday forbidden him his presence, to bear witness to his duty and
+thankfulness.
+
+The cocks still were crowing in the yards, and the country-folk were
+coming into town with asses and waggons, when I mounted my horse to
+ride forth with my brother. He was busied in the courtyard with the new
+serving-man he had hired, by reason that Eppelein, who for safety’s sake
+had not been suffered to go with him into hiding, had vanished as it
+were from the face of the earth. Nay, and we knew for what cause and
+reason, for Dame Henneleinlein had counselled the King’s men to seize
+him, to the end that he might be put on the rack to give tidings of
+where his master lay hid. If they had caught him his stout limbs would
+have fared ill indeed; but the light-hearted varlet was a favorite with
+the serving men and wenches of the court-folk, jolly at the wine cup and
+all manner of sport, and thus they had bestowed him away. And so, while
+we were living from day to day in great fear, an old charcoal wife would
+come in from the forest twice or thrice in every week and bring charcoal
+to the kitchen wench to sell, and albeit she was ever sent away, yet
+would she come again and ask many questions.
+
+While we were yet tarrying for Herdegen to be ready the old wife came by
+with her cart, and when she had asked of some needful matters she pulled
+off her kerchief with a loud laugh, and lo, in her woman’s weed, there
+stood Eppelein and none other. Hereupon was much rejoicing and, in a few
+minutes, the crafty fellow was turned again into a sturdy riding man,
+albeit beardless.
+
+Eppelein’s return helped Cousin Maud over the grief of leave-taking.
+Yet, when at last we must depart, it went hard with her. At the gate
+we were met by the Pernharts with Ann and Uncle Christian. My lord
+the chief magistrate likewise was there, to bear witness to Herdegen’s
+departing; also Heinrich Trardorf, his best beloved schoolmate, who had
+ever been his faithful friend.
+
+We had left the walls and moat of the town far behind us, when we heard
+swift horses at our heels, and Sir Franz, with two serving-men, joined
+the fellowship. My brother had soon found a place at Ann’s side, and we
+went forward at an easy pace; and if they were minded to kiss, bending
+from their saddles, they need fear no witness, for the autumn mist was
+so thick that it hid every one from his nearest neighbor.
+
+Thus we went forth as far as Lichtenhof, and while we there made halt to
+take a last leave, meseemed that Heaven was fain to send us a friendly
+promise. The mist parted on a sudden as at the signal of a magician, and
+before us lay the city with its walls, and towers, and shining roofs,
+over-topped by the noble citadel. Thus we parted in better cheer than we
+had deemed we might, and the lovers might yet for a long space signal to
+each other by the waving of hat and of kerchief.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Herdegen’s departing marks my life’s way with another mile-stone. All
+fears about him were over, and a great peace fell upon me.
+
+I had learnt by experience that it was within my power to be mistress of
+any heart’s griefs, and I could tell myself that dull sufferance of woe
+would have ill-pleased him whose judgment I most cared for. To remember
+him was what I best loved, and I earnestly desired to guide my steps as
+would have been his wish and will. In some degree I was able to do so,
+and Ann was my great helper.
+
+My eyes and ears were opened again to what should befall in the world in
+which my lover had lived; all the more so as matters now came about in
+the land and on its borders which deeply concerned my own dear home and
+threatened it with great peril.
+
+After the Diet was broken up, the Elector Frederick of Brandenburg was
+forced to take patience till the princes, lords, and mounted men-at-arms
+sent forth by the townships, five or six from each, could muster at his
+bidding to pursue the Hussites in Bohemia. One year was thus idly spent;
+albeit the Bohemian rebels meanwhile could every day use their weapons,
+and instead of waiting to be attacked marched forward to attack. Certain
+troops of the heretics had already crossed the borders, and our good
+town had to strengthen its walls and dig its moat deeper to make ready
+for storm and siege. Or ever the Diet had met, many hands had already
+been at work on these buildings; and in these days every man soul in
+Nuremberg, from the boys even to the grey-haired men, wielded the spade
+or the trowel. Every serving-man in every household, whether artisan or
+patrician--and ours with the rest--was bound to toil at digging, and our
+fine young masters found themselves compelled to work in sun or rain, or
+to order the others; and it hurt them no more than it did the Magister,
+whose feebleness and clumsiness did the works less benefit than the
+labor did to his frail body.
+
+Wheresoever three men might be seen in talk, for sure it was of
+state-matters, and mostly of the Hussites. At first it would be of the
+King’s message of peace; of the resistance made by the Elector Palatine,
+Ludwig, in the matter of receiving the ecclesiastical Elector of Mainz
+as Vicar-general of the Empire; of the same reverend Elector’s loss of
+dignity at Boppard, and of the delay and mischief that must follow. Then
+it was noised abroad that the Margrave Frederick of Meissen, who now
+held the lands of the late departed Elector Albrecht of Saxony in
+fief from the King, and whose country was a strong bulwark against
+the Bohemians, was about to put an end to the abomination of heresy.
+Howbeit, neither he nor Duke Albrecht of Austria did aught to any good
+end against the foe; and matters went ill enough in all the Empire.
+
+The Electors assembled at Bingen made great complaints of the King
+tarrying so far away, and with reason; and when he presently bid them to
+a Diet at Vienna they would not obey. The message of peace was laughed
+to scorn; and how much blood was shed to feed the soil of the realm in
+many and many a fight!
+
+And what fate befell the army whereon so great hopes had been set? The
+courage and skill of the leader were all in vain; the vast multitude
+of which he was captain was made up of over many parts, all unlike, and
+each with its own chief; and the fury of the heretics scattered
+them abroad. Likewise among our peaceful citizens there was no small
+complaining, and with good cause, that a King should rule the Empire
+whose Realm of Hungary, with the perils that beset it from the Ottoman
+Turks, the Bohemians, and other foes, so filled his thoughts that he
+had neither time, nor mind, nor money to bestow due care on his German
+States. His treasury was ever empty; and what sums had the luckless war
+with Venice alone swallowed up! He had not even found the money
+needful to go to Rome to be crowned Emperor. He had failed to bring
+the contentious Princes of the Empire under one hat, so to speak; and
+whereas his father, Charles IV., had been called the Arch-stepfather
+of the German Empire, Sigismund, albeit a large-hearted, shrewd, and
+unresting soul, deserved a scarce better name, inasmuch as that he, like
+the former sovereign, when he fell heir to his Bohemian fatherland, knew
+not how to deal even with that as a true father should.
+
+Not a week passed after Herdegen’s departing but a letter by his own
+hand came to Ann, and all full of faithful love. I, likewise, had, not
+so long since, had such letters from another, and so it fell that these,
+which brought great joy to Ann, did but make my sore heart ache the
+more. And when I would rise from table silent and with drooping head,
+the Magister would full often beg leave to follow me to my chamber, and
+comfort me after his own guise. In all good faith would he lay books
+before my eyes, and strive to beguile me to take pleasure in them as the
+best remedy against heaviness of soul. The lives of the mighty heathen,
+as his Plutarch painted them, would, he said, raise even a weak soul to
+their greatness and the Consolatio Philosophiae of Boetius would of a
+surety refresh my stricken heart. Howbeit, one single well-spent hour in
+life, or one toilsome deed fruitful for good, hath at all times brought
+me better comfort than a whole pile of pig-skin-covered tomes. Yet have
+certain verses of the Scripture, or some wise and verily right noble
+maxim from the writings of the Greeks or Latins dropped on my soul now
+and again as it were a grain of good seed.
+
+Sad to tell, those first letters from Herdegen, all dipped in sunshine,
+were followed by others which could but fill us with fears. The pilgrims
+had been over-long in getting so far as Venice, by reason that Sir Franz
+had fallen sick after they had passed the Bienner, and my brother had
+diligently and faithfully tended him. Thus it came to pass that another
+child of Nuremberg, albeit setting forth after them, passed them by; and
+this was Ursula Tetzel, whose father deemed it well to send her forth
+from the city, where, of a truth, the ground had waxed too hot for her,
+inasmuch as she had given cause for two bloody frays; and Cousin Maud,
+to be sure, had not kept silence as to her unbridled demeanor in our
+house.
+
+Now Mistress Mendel, her aunt, had many years ago gone to the city of
+St. Mark, and albeit it was there against the laws for a noble to marry
+with a stranger maiden, she had long since by leave of the Republic,
+become the wife of Filippo Polani, with whom she was still living in
+much ease and honor. In Augsberg, in Ulm, and in Frankfort, there were
+many noble families of the Tetzels’ kith and kin, yet she had chosen
+to go to this aunt in Venice; and doubtless the expectation of meeting
+Herdegen there, whether in love or hate, had had its weight with her.
+
+Thus it came to pass that she found him at Brixen, where he tarried with
+the sick knight; and he wrote that, as it fell, he had had more to do
+with her and her father than he had cared for, and that in a strange
+place many matters were lightly smoothed over, whereas at home walls and
+moats would have parted them; nay, that in Italy the Nuremberger would
+even call a man of Cologne his countryman.
+
+For my part, I could in no wise conceive how those two should ever more
+speak a kind word to each other, and this meeting in truth pleased me
+ill. Howbeit, his next letter gave us better cheer. He had then seen
+Kunz, meeting him right joyfully, and was lodged in the Fondaco, the
+German Merchants’ Hall, where likewise Kunz had his own chamber.
+
+Herdegen’s next letter from Venice brought us the ill tidings that the
+plague had broken out, and that he could find no fellowship to travel
+with him, by reason that, so long as the sickness raged in Venice,
+her vessels would not be suffered to cast anchor in any seaport of the
+Levant. And a great fear came over me, for our dear father had fallen a
+prey to that evil.
+
+In his third or fourth letter our pilgrim told us, with somewhat of
+scorn, that the Marchesa Zorzi, who had in fact removed thither from
+Padua, and had made friends with Ursula in the house of Filippo Polani,
+had bidden him to wait on her, by one of her pages; yet might he
+be proud--he said--of the high-handed and steadfast refusal he had
+returned, once for all. In truth I was moved to deeper fears by what
+both my brothers wrote of the black barges, loaded to the gunwale with
+naked corpses, which stole along the canals in the silent night, to cast
+forth their dreadful freight in the grave yards on the shore, or into
+the open sea. The plague was raging nigh to the Fondaco, and my two
+brothers were living in the midst of the dead; nay, and Ann knew that
+Ursula would not depart from her lover, although the Palazzo Polani,
+where she had found lodging, lay hard by the Fondaco.
+
+Yet, hard as as it is to conceive of it, never had the music sounded
+with noisier delights in the dancing-halls of Venice, nor had the money
+been more lightly tossed from hand-to-hand over the gaming-tables, nor,
+at any time, had there been hotter love-making. It must be that each one
+was minded to enjoy, in the short space of life that might yet be his,
+all the delights of long years.--And foremost of these was the Marchesa
+Bianca Zorzi.
+
+As for Herdegen, not long did he brook the narrow chambers of the
+Fondaco-house; driven forth by impatience and heart-sickness, from
+morning till night he was in his boat, or on the grand Piazza, or on the
+watery highways; and inasmuch as he ever fluttered to where ladies of
+rank and beauty were to be found, as a moth flies to the light, that
+evil woman was ever in his path, day after day, and whensoever her hosts
+would suffer it, Ursula would be with her. Nay, and the German maiden,
+who had learned better things of the Carthusian sisters, was not ashamed
+to aid and abet that sinful Italian woman. Thus my brother was in great
+peril lest Ursula’s prophecy should be fulfilled by his own fault.
+Indeed he already had his foot in the springe, inasmuch as that he could
+not say nay to the Marchesa’s bidding that he would go to her house on
+her name-day. It was a higher power that came betwixt them, vouchsafing
+him merciful but grievous repentance; the plague, Death’s unwearied
+executioner, snatched the fair, but sinful lady, from among the living.
+Ursula lamented over her as though it were her own sister that had died;
+and it seemed that the Marchesa was fain to keep up the bond that had
+held them together even beyond the grave, for it was at her funeral that
+the son of one of the oldest and noblest families of the Republic first
+saw Mistress Ursula Tetzel, and was fired with love for the maiden. She
+had many a time been seen abroad with the Marchesa, or with the Polanis,
+and the young gentlemen of the Signoria, the painters, and the poets,
+had marked her well; the natural golden hue of her hair was an amazement
+and a delight to the Italians; indeed many a black-haired lady and
+common hussy would sit on her roof vainly striving to take the color out
+of her own locks. It was the same with her velvet skin, which even at
+Nuremberg had many a time brought to men’s minds the maid in the tale of
+“Snow-white and Rose-red.”
+
+Thus it fell that Anselmo Guistiniani had heard of her during the
+lifetime of his cousin the Marchesa Zorzi, while he was absent from
+Venice on state matters. And when he beheld her with his own eyes among
+the mourners, there was an end to his peace of heart; he forthwith set
+himself to win her for his own. Howbeit Ursula met her noble suitor
+with icy coldness, and when he and Herdegen came together at the Palazzo
+Polani, where she was lodging, she made as though she saw my lord not at
+all, and had no eyes nor ears save for my brother; till it was more
+than Guistinani would bear, and he abruptly departed. Herdegen’s letter,
+which told us all these things, was full of kindly pity for the fair and
+hapless damsel who had demeaned herself so basely towards him, by reason
+that her fiery love had turned her brain, and that she still was pining
+for him to whom she had ever been faithful from her childhood up. She
+had freely confessed as much even under the very eyes of so lordly
+a suitor as Anselmo Giustiniani; and albeit Ann might be sure of his
+constancy, even in despite of Ursula, yet would he not deny that he
+could forgive Ursula much in that she had loved much, as the Scripture
+saith. Every shadow of danger for him was gone and overpast; he had
+already bid Ursula farewell, and was to ride forth next morning to
+Genoa, leaving the plague-stricken city behind him, and would take
+ship there. It was well indeed that he should be departing, inasmuch as
+yestereve, when he bid Ursula good night, Giustiniani had given him
+to understand that he, Herdegen, was in his way; at home he would have
+shown his teeth, and with good right, to any man who had dared to speak
+to him, but in Venice every man who lodged in the Fondaco was forbid the
+use of weapons, and he had heard tell of Anselmo Giustiniani that he,
+unlike the rest of his noble race, who were benevolent men and patrons
+of learning, albeit he was a prudent statesman and serviceable to the
+city, was a stern and violent man. This much in truth a man might read
+in his gloomy black eyes; and many a stranger, for all he were noble and
+a Knight, who had fallen out with a Venetian Signor of his degree had
+vanished forever, none knew whither.
+
+As we read these words the blood faded from Ann’s cheek; but I set my
+teeth, for I may confess that Herdegen’s ways and words roused my wrath.
+In Ann’s presence I could, to be sure, hide my ire; but when I was alone
+I struck my right fist into my left hand and asked of myself whether a
+man or a woman were the vainer creature? For what was it that still drew
+my brother to that maid who had ever pursued him and the object of his
+love with cruel hate--so strongly, indeed, that he would have been ready
+to cherish and comfort her--but joy at finding himself--a mere townbred
+Junker--preferred above that grand nobleman? For my part, I plainly saw
+that Ursula was playing the same game again as she had carried on here
+with Herdegen and the Brandenburger. She spoke the man she hated fair
+before the jealous Marchese, only to rouse that potent noble’s fury
+against my brother.
+
+After all this my heart rejoiced when we received Herdegen’s first
+letter written from Genoa, nay, on board of the galleon which was to
+carry him, Sir Franz and Eppelein to Cyprus. In this he made known that
+he had departed from Venice without let or hindrance, and he bid us
+farewell with such good cheer, and love, and hope, that Ann and I forgot
+and forgave with all our hearts everything that had made us wroth. This
+last greeting came as a fragrant love-posy, and it helped us to think of
+Herdegen’s long pilgrimage as he himself did--as of a ride forth to the
+Forest. From this letter we were likewise aware that he had never known
+what peril he had escaped; for ere long I learned from Kunz that paid
+assassins had fallen on him the very next evening after Herdegen’s
+departing, in the crooked street called of Saint Chrysostom, at the back
+part of the German Merchants’ House; yea, and they would easily have
+overpowered him but that certain great strong Tyrolese bale-packers of
+the Fondaco came to his succor or ever it was too late. And it was right
+certain that these murderers were in Giustiniani’s pay, and in the dusk
+had taken Kunz for his brother, who was some what like him. The younger
+had come off unharmed by the special mercy of the Saints, but it might
+well have befallen that, as of old in his schooldays, he should have
+borne the penalty for Herdegen’s misdoings. And whereas I mind me here
+of the many ways in which my eldest brother prospered and got the best
+of it over the younger, and of other like cases, meseems it is the lot
+of certain few to suffer others, not their betters, to stand in their
+sun, and eat the fruit that has ripened on their trees.
+
+Howbeit, Herdegen had by good hap escaped a sharp fray; and when Ann and
+I, kneeling side by side in Saint Laurence’s church, had offered up a
+thanksgiving from the bottom of our hearts, meseemed we were as some
+Captain who sings Te Deum after a victory.
+
+Yet, as ofttimes in the month of May, when for a while the sun bath
+shone with summer heat and glory, there comes a gloomy time with dark
+days and sharp frost at nights, so did we deem the long space which
+followed after that glad and pious church-going. Days grew to weeks and
+weeks to months and we had no tidings, no word from our pilgrims, for
+good or for evil.
+
+Verily it was well-nigh a comfort and a help when those who were on the
+look-out, Kunz and other friends, gave it as certain tidings that the
+galleon which was carrying Herdegen to Cyprus, and which belonged to
+the Lomellini of Genoa, had been lost at sea. Saracen pirates, so it was
+told, had seized the ship; but further tidings were not to be got, as
+to what had befallen the crew and the travellers, albeit Kunz forthwith
+betook himself to Genoa and the Futterers, who had a house and trade of
+their own there, did all they might to find their traces. The eldest
+and the finest link of the Schopper chain had, we deemed, been snatched
+away, peradventure for ever; the death of her lover had made life
+henceforth bitter to the third and least, and only the middle one, Kunz,
+remained unhurt and still such as it might have gladdened his parents’
+hearts to behold him. Thus I deemed, at least, when after long parting I
+set eyes on him once more, a goodly man, tall and of a fair countenance.
+All that had ever been good and worthy in him had waxed and sped well
+at Venice, that high school of the merchant class; but where was the
+smiling mirthfulness which had marked him as a youth? The same earnest
+calm shone in his wise and gentle gaze, and rang in the deep voice he
+had now gotten.
+
+My grand-uncle had esteemed him but lightly, so long as Herdegen was his
+delight; but whereas Kunz had done good service at Venice and the master
+of the Im Hoff house there was dead, and our guardian himself, on whom a
+grievous sickness had fallen, gave himself up day and night to meet
+his end, he had, little by little, given over the whole business of the
+trade to his young nephew; thus it came to pass that Kunz, when he was
+but just twenty, was called upon to govern matters such as are commonly
+trusted only to a man of ripe years. But his power and wisdom grew with
+the weight of his burthens. Whether it were at Nuremberg or at Venice,
+he was ever early to rise and ready, if need should be, to give up his
+night’s rest, sitting over his desk or travelling at great speed; and he
+seemed to have no eyes nor ears for the pleasures of youth. Or ever he
+was four and twenty I found the first white hair in his brown locks.
+Many there were who deemed that the uncommon graveness of his manners
+came of the weight of care which had been laid on him so young, and
+verily not without reason; yet my sister’s heart was aware of another
+cause. When I chanced to see his eye rest on Ann, I knew enough; and
+it was a certainty that I had not erred in my thought, when old Dame
+Pernhart one day in his presence spoke of Ann as her poor, dear little
+widow, and the blood mounted to his brow.
+
+I would fain have spoken a word of warning to Ann when she would thank
+him with heartfelt and sisterly love for all the pains he had been at,
+with steadfast patience, to find any token of our lost brother. And
+how fair was the forlorn bride in these days of waiting and of weary
+unsatisfied longing!
+
+Poor Kunz! Doubtless he loved her; and yet he neither by word nor deed
+gave her cause to guess his heart’s desire. When, at about this time,
+old Hans Tucher died, one of the worthiest and wisest heads of the town
+and the council, Kunz gave Ann for her name-day a prayer-book with the
+old man’s motto, which he had written in it for Kunz’s confirmation,
+which was as follows:
+
+          “God ruleth all things for the best
+          And sends a happy end at last.”
+
+And Ann took the gift right gladly; and more than once when, after some
+disappointment, my spirit sank, she would point to the promise “And
+sends a happy end at last.”
+
+Whereupon I would look up at her, abashed and put to shame; for it is
+one thing not to despair, and another to trust with steadfast confidence
+on a happy outcome. She, in truth, could do this; and when I beheld her
+day by day at her laborious tasks, bravely and cheerfully fulfilling the
+hard and bitter exercises which her father-confessor enjoined, to the
+end that she might win the favor of the Saints for her lover, I weened
+that the Apostle spake the truth when he said that love hopeth all
+things and believeth all things.
+
+Notwithstanding it was not easy to her, nor to us, to hold fast our
+confidence; now and again some trace of the lost man would come to light
+which, so soon as Kunz followed it up, vanished in mist like a jack-o’
+lantern. And often as he failed he would not be overweary; and once,
+when he was staying at Nuremberg and tidings came from Venice that a
+certain German who might be Herdegen was dwelling a slave at Joppa,
+he made ready to set forth for that place to ransom him forthwith. My
+grand-uncle, who in the face of death was eagerly striving to win
+the grace of Heaven by good works, suffered him to depart, and at my
+entreaty he took my squire Akusch with him, inasmuch as he could still
+speak Arabic, which was his mother-tongue. Likewise I besought Kunz to
+make it his care to restore the lad to his people, if it should befall
+that he might find them, albeit hitherto we had made enquiry for them
+in vain. This he promised me to do; yet, often as that good youth had
+longed to see his native land once more, and much as he had talked in
+praise of its hot sun, in our cold winter seasons, it went hard with the
+good lad to depart from us; and when he took leave of me he could not
+cease from assuring me that in his own land he would do all that in him
+lay to find the brother of his beloved mistress.
+
+Thus they fared forth to the Levant; and this once again we were doomed
+to vain hopes. Kunz found not him he sought, but a wild Swiss soldier
+who had fallen into the hands of the Saracens. Him he ransomed, as being
+a Christian man, for a small sum of money; and as for Akusch he left
+him at Joppa, whereas his folk were Egyptians and he deemed he had found
+some track of them there.
+
+Kunz did not go thither with him, inasmuch as in Alexandria all had been
+done that might be done to discover and ransom a Frankish captive. Nor
+was Akusch idle there, and moreover fate had brought another child of
+Nuremberg to that place.
+
+Ursula had become the wife of the Marchese Anselmo Giustiniani, by
+special favor of the great council, and had come with him to Egypt,
+whither he was sent by the Republic as Consul. There she now dwelt with
+her noble lord, and in many letters to my granduncle she warmly declared
+to him that, so far as in her lay, all should be done to discover where
+the lover of her youth might be. Her husband was the most powerful Frank
+in all the Sultan’s dominions, and it was a joy to her to see with
+what diligence he made search for the lost youth. Herdegen, indeed, had
+ill-repaid her childish love, yet she knew of no nobler revenge than to
+lay him under the debt of thanks to her and her husband for release and
+ransom. These words doubtless came from the bottom of her heart; she
+were no true woman if she could not forgive a man in misfortune for the
+sins of a happier time. And above all she was ever of a rash and lawless
+mind, and truthful even to the scorn of modesty and good manners, rather
+than crafty and smooth of tongue.
+
+Yet she likewise failed to find the vanished wanderer, and the weeks
+and months grew to be years while we waited in vain. It was on the
+twenty-second day of March in the second twelve month after Herdegen’s
+departing that the treasures of the realm, and among them a nail from
+the Cross and the point of the spear wherewith they pierced the Lord’s
+side, were to be brought into the town in a solemn procession, and I,
+with many others, rode forth to meet it. They were brought hither from
+Blindenberg on the Danube, and the Emperor sent them in token of his
+grace, that we might hold them in safe keeping within our strong walls.
+They had been brought thus far right privily, under the feint that the
+waggon wherein they were carried bore wine vats, and a great throng
+gathered with shouts of joy to hail these precious things. Prisoners
+were set free in honor of their coming; and for my own part I mind the
+day full well, by reason that I put off my black mourning weed and went
+forth in a colored holiday garb for the first time in a long while.
+
+If I had, in truth, been able by good courage to shake off in due time
+the oppressing weight of my grief, I owed it in no small measure to
+the forest-whither we went forth, now as heretofore, to sojourn in the
+spring and autumn seasons--and to its magic healing. How many a time
+have I rested under its well-known trees and silently looked back on the
+past. And, when I mind me of those days, I often ask myself whether the
+real glad times themselves or those hours of calmer joy in remembrance
+were indeed the better.
+
+As I sat in the woods, thinking and dreaming, there was plenty for the
+eye to see and the ear to hear. The clouds flew across in silence, and
+the soft green at my feet, with all that grew on tree and bush, in
+the grass, and by the brink of the pool, made up a peaceful world,
+innocently fair and full of precious charm. Here there was nought to
+remind me of the stir of mankind, with its haste and noise and fighting
+and craving, and that was a delight; nor did the woodland sounds.--The
+song of birds, the hum of chafers and bees, the whisper of leaves, and
+all the rush and rustle of the forest were its mother-tongue.
+
+Yet, not so! There was in truth one human soul of whom I was ever minded
+while thinking and dreaming in these woods through whom I had first
+known the joy of loving, and that was the youth whose home was here, for
+whose return my aunt longed day and night, whose favorite songs I was
+ever bidden to sing to my uncle when he would take the oars in
+his strong old hands of an evening, and row us on the pool-he who
+peradventure had long since followed my lover, and was dead in some
+far-off land.
+
+Ann, who was ever diligent, took less pleasure in idle dreaming; she
+would ever carry a book or some broidery in her hand. Or she would abide
+alone with my aunt; and whereas my aunt now held her to be her fellow in
+sorrow, and might talk with her of the woe of thinking of the dearest
+on earth as far away and half lost, they grew closer to each other, and
+there was bitter grief when our duty took us back to the town once
+more. At home likewise Herdegen was ever in our minds, nevertheless the
+sunshine was as bright and the children’s faces as dear as heretofore,
+and we could go about the tasks of the hour with fresh spirit.
+
+If now and again grief cast a darker shade over Ann, still the star of
+Hope shone with more comfort for her than for me and Cousin Maud; and it
+was but seldom that you might mark that she had any sorrow. Truly there
+were many matters besides her every-day duties, and her errands within
+and without the house to beguile her of her fears for her lost lover.
+First of all there came her stepfather’s brother, his Eminence Cardinal
+Bernhardi--for to this dignity had his Holiness raised the Bishop--from
+Rome to Nuremberg, where he lodged in the house of his fathers. Now this
+high prelate was such a man as I never met the like of, and his goodly
+face, beardless indeed, but of a manly brown, with its piercing, great
+eyes, I weened was as a magic book, having the power to compel others,
+even against their will, to put forth all that was in them of grace and
+good gifts. Yet was he not grave nor gloomy, but of a happy cheer, and
+ready to have his jest with us maidens; only in his jests there would
+ever be a covert intent to arouse thought, and whensoever I quitted his
+company I deemed I had profited somewhat in my soul.
+
+He likewise vouchsafed the honor of knowing him to the Magister; and
+whereas he brought tidings of certain Greek Manuscripts which had been
+newly brought into Italy, Master Peter came home as one drunk with wine,
+and could not forbear from boasting how he had been honored by having
+speech with such a pearl among Humanists.
+
+My lord Cardinal was right well pleased to see his home once more; but
+what he loved best in it was Ann. Nay, if it had lain with him, he would
+have carried her to Rome with him. But for all that she was fain to look
+up to such a man with deep respect, and wait lovingly on his behests,
+yet would she not draw back from the duty she had taken upon her to care
+for her brothers and sisters, and chiefly for the deaf and dumb boy. And
+she deemed likewise that she was as a watchman at his post; it was at
+Nuremberg that all was planned for seeking Herdegen, and hither must the
+first tidings come that could be had of him. The old grand dame also
+was more than ever bound up in her, and so soon as my lord Cardinal
+was aware that it would greatly grieve his old mother to lose her he
+renounced his desire.
+
+As for me, I was dwelling in a right happy life with Cousin Maud;
+never had I been nearer to her heart. So long as she conceived that her
+comforting could little remedy my woe, she had left me to myself; and as
+soon as I was fain to use my hands again, and sing a snatch as I went
+up and down the house, meseemed her old love bloomed forth with double
+strength. Meseemed I could but show her my thankfulness, and my ear
+and heart were at all times open when she was moved to talk of her
+best-beloved Herdegen, and reveal to me all the wondrous adventures he
+had gone through in her imagination. And this befell most evenings, from
+the hour when we unclothed till long after we had gone to rest; and I
+was fain to keep my eyes open while, for the twentieth time, she would
+expound to me her far-fetched visions: that the Mamelukes of Egypt, who
+were all slaves and whose Sultan was chosen from among themselves, had
+of a surety set Herdegen on the throne, seeing him to be the goodliest
+and noblest of them all. And perchance he would not have refused this
+honor if he might thereby turn them from their heathenness and make of
+them good Christians. Nay, nor was it hard for her to fancy Ann arrayed
+in silk and gems as a Sultana. And then, when I fell asleep in listening
+to these fancies, which she loved to paint in every detail, behold my
+dreams would be of Turks and heathen; and of bloody battles by land and
+sea.
+
+No man may tell his dreams fasting; but as soon as I had eaten my first
+mouthful she would bid me tell her all, to the veriest trifle, and would
+solemnly seek the interpretation of every vision.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+My lord Cardinal had departed from Nuremberg some long while, by reason
+that he was charged by his holiness the Pope with a mission which took
+him through Cologne and Flanders to England. Inasmuch as he was not
+suffered to have Ann herself in his company, he conceived the wish to
+possess her likeness in a picture; and he sent hither to that end a
+master of good fame, of the guild of painters in Venice. We owed this
+good limner thanks for many a pleasant hour. Sir Giacomo Bellini was
+a youth of right merry wit, knowing many Italian ditties, and who made
+good pastime for us while we sat before him; for I likewise must be
+limned, inasmuch as Cousin Maud would have it so, and the painter’s eye
+was greatly pleased by my yellow hair.
+
+Whereas he could speak never a word of German, it was our part to talk
+with him in Italian, and this exercise to me came not amiss. Also I
+could scarce have had a better master to teach me than Giacomo Bellini,
+who set himself forthwith to win my heart and turn my head; nay, and he
+might have done so, but that he confessed from the first that he had a
+fair young wife in Venice, albeit he was already craving for some new
+love.
+
+Thus through him again I learned how light a touch is needed to
+overthrow a man’s true faith; and when I minded me of Herdegen and
+Ann, and of this Giacomo--who was nevertheless a goodly and well-graced
+man--and his young wife, meseemed that the woman who might win the love
+of a highly-gifted soul must ofttimes pay for that great joy with much
+heaviness and heartache.
+
+Howbeit, I mind me in right true love of the mirthful spirit and
+manifold sportiveness which marked our fellowship with the Italian
+limner; and after that I had once given him plainly and strongly to
+understand that the heart of a Nuremberg damsel was no light thing or
+plaything, and her very lips a sanctuary which her husband should one
+day find pure, all went well betwixt us.
+
+The picture of Ann, the first he painted, showed her as Saint Cecelia
+hearkening to music which sounds from Heaven in her ears. Two sweet
+angel babes floated on thin clouds above her head, singing hymns to a
+mandoline and viol. Thus had my lord Cardinal commanded, and the work
+was so excellent that, if the Saint herself vouchsafed to look down on
+it out of Heaven, of a certainty it was pleasing in her eyes.
+
+As to mine own presentment; at first I weened that I would be limned in
+my peach-colored brocade gown with silver dolphins thereon, by reason
+that I had worn that weed in the early morn after the dance, when Hans
+spoke his last loving farewell at the door of our house. But whereas one
+cold day I went into Master Giacomo’s work-chamber in a red hood and a
+green cloak bordered with sable fur, he would thenceforth paint me in
+no other guise. At first he was fain to present me as going forth to
+church; then he deemed that he might not show forth my very look and
+seeming if I were limned with downcast head and eyes. Therefor he gave
+me the falcon on my hand which had erewhile been my lover’s gift. My
+eyes were set on the distance as though I watched for a heron; thus I
+seemed in truth like one hunting--“chaste Diana,” quoth the painter,
+minding him of the reproofs I had given him so often. But it would be a
+hard task to tell of all the ways whereby the painter would provoke me
+to reprove him. When the likeness was no more than half done, he painted
+his own merry face to the falcon on my wrist gazing up at me with silly
+languor. Thereupon, when he presently quitted us, I took the red chalk
+and wrote his wife’s name on a clear place in front of the face and
+beneath it the image of a birch rod; and on the morrow he brought with
+him a right pleasant Sonnet, which I scarce had pardoned had he not
+offered it so humbly and read it in so sweet a voice. And, being plainly
+interpreted, it was as follows:
+
+       “Upon Olympus, where the gods do dwell
+        Who with almighty will rule earth and heaven,
+        Lo! I behold the chiefest of them all
+        Jove, on his throne with Juno at his side.
+        A noble wedded pair. In all the world
+        The eye may vainly seek nor find their like.
+        The nations to his sanctuary throng,
+        And kings, struck dumb, cast down their golden crowns.
+
+       “Yet even these are not for ever one.
+        The god flies from the goddess.--And a swan
+        Does devoir now, the slave of Leda’s charms.
+
+       “Thus I behold the beams of thy bright eye,
+        And bid my home farewell,--I, hapless wight,
+        Fly like the god, fair maid, to worship thee!”
+
+Albeit I suffered him to recite these lines to the end I turned from him
+with a countenance of great wrath, and tore the paper whereon they were
+writ in two halves which I flung behind the stove. Nor did I put away
+my angry and offended mien until he had right humbly besought my
+forgiveness. Yet when I had granted it, and he presently quitted the
+chamber, I did, I confess, gather up the torn paper and bestow it in my
+girdle-poke. Nay, meseems that I had of intent rent it only in twain, to
+the end that I might the better join it again. Thus to this day it lieth
+in my chest, with other relics of the past; yet I verily believe that
+another Sonnet, which Sir Giacomo found on the morrow, laid on his
+easel, was not so treasured by him. It was thus:
+
+     “There was one Hans, and he was fain to try,
+     Like to Olympian Jove, the magic arts
+     Of witchcraft upon some well-favored maid.
+     Bold the adventure, but the prize how sweet!
+     ‘Farewell, good wife,’ quoth he, ‘Or e’er the dawn
+     Hath broke I must be forward on my way.
+     Like Jupiter I will be blessed and bless
+     With love; and in the image of a swan.’
+
+     “The magic spell hath changed him. With a wreath
+     About his head he deems he lacketh nought
+     Of what may best beguile a maiden’s soul.
+
+     “Thus to fair Leda flies the hapless wight.--
+     With boisterous mirth the dame beholds the bird.
+     ‘A right fine goose! Thou’lt make a goodly roast.’”
+
+Howbeit Giacomo would not leave this verse without reply; and to this
+day, if you look close into the picture, you may see a goose’s head
+deep in shade among the shrubs in the back part of it, but clearly to be
+discerned.
+
+Notwithstanding many such little quarrels we liked each other well, and
+I may here note that when, in the following year, which was the year of
+our Lord one thousand four hundred and twenty-six, a little son was
+born to him, since grown to be a right famous painter, known as
+Giambellini--which is to say Giovanni, or Hans, Bellini, I, Margery
+Schopper, stood his sponsor at the font. Yea and I was ever a true
+godsib to him, and that painter might indeed thank my kith and kin when
+he was charged with a certain office in the Fondaco in Venice, which is
+worth some hundreds of ducats yearly to him, to this day.
+
+Thus were the portraits ended, and when I behold my own looking from
+the wide frame with so mirthful and yet so longing a gaze, meseems that
+Giacomo must have read the book of my soul and have known right well
+how to present that he saw therein; at that time in truth I was a happy
+young creature, and the aching and longing which would now and again
+come over me, in part for him who was gone, and in part I wist not for
+what, were but the shadow which must ever fall where there is light.
+And verily I had good cause to be thankful and of good cheer; I was in
+health as sound as a trout in the brook, and had good chances for making
+the most of those humble gifts and powers wherewith I was blessed.
+
+As to Herdegen, it was no small comfort to us to learn that my lord
+Cardinal Bernhardi had taken that matter in hand, and had bidden all the
+priests and friars in the Levant to make enquiry for tidings of him.
+
+The good prelate was to be nine months journeying abroad, and whereas
+five months were now spent we were rejoicing in hope of his homecoming;
+but there was one in Nuremberg who looked for it even more eagerly than
+we did, and that was my grand-uncle Im Iloff. The old knight had, as
+I have said, done us thank-worthy service as our guardian; yet had he
+never been dear to me, and I could not think of him but with silent
+wrath. Howbeit he was now in so sad and cruel a plight that a heart of
+stone must have melted to behold him. Thus pity led me to him, although
+it was a penance to stay in his presence. The old Baron,--for of this
+title likewise he could boast, since he had poured a great sum into the
+Emperor’s treasury,--this old man, who of yore had but feigned a false
+and evil show of repentance--as that he would on certain holy days wash
+the feet of beggar folk who had first been cleansed with care, now in
+sickness and the near terror of death was in terrible earnest, and of
+honest intent would fain open the gates of Heaven by pious exercises.
+He had to be sure at the bidding of Master Ulsenius the leech, exchanged
+the coffin wherein he had been wont to sleep for a common bedstead of
+wood; yet in this even he might get no rest, and was fain to pass his
+sleepless nights in his easy chair, resting his aching feet in a cradle
+which, with his wonted vain-glory, he caused to be made of the shape
+and color of a pearl shell. But his nights in the coffin, and mockery
+of death, turned against him; he had ever been pale, and now he wore the
+very face of a corpse. The blood seemed frozen in his veins, and he was
+at all times so cold that the great stove and the wide hearth facing him
+were fed with mighty logs day and night.
+
+In this fearful heat the sweat stood on my brow so soon as I crossed
+the threshold, and if I tarried in the chamber I soon lacked breath.
+The sick man’s speech was scarce to be heard, and as to all that Master
+Ulsenius told us of the seat of his ill, and of how it was gnawing him
+to death I would fain be silent. Instead of that Lenten mockery of the
+foot washing he now would do the hardest penance, and there was scarce a
+saint in the Calendar to whom he had not offered gifts or ever he died.
+
+A Dominican friar was ever in his chamber, telling the rosary for him
+and doing him other ghostly service, especially in the night season,
+when he was haunted by terrible restlessness. Nothing eased him as a
+remedy against this so well as the presence of a woman to his mind. But
+of all those to whom, on many a Christmas eve, he had made noble gifts,
+few came a second time after they had once been in that furnace; or, if
+they did, it would be no more than to come and depart forthwith. Cousin
+Maud could endure to stay longest with him; albeit afterwards she would
+need many a glass of strong waters to strengthen her heart.
+
+As for me, each time when I came home from my grand-uncle’s with pale
+cheeks she would forbid me ever to cross his threshold more: but when
+his bidding was brought me she likewise was moved to compassion, and
+suffered me to obey.
+
+Nevertheless, if I had not been more than common strong, thank the
+Saints, long sitting with the sick man would of a certainty have done me
+a mischief, for body and soul had much to endure. Meseemed that pain had
+loosened the tongue of that hitherto wordless old man, and whereas he
+had ever held his head high above all men, he would now abase himself
+before the humblest. He would stay any man or woman who would tarry, to
+tell of all his sufferings, and of what he endured in mind and body.
+His confessor had indeed forbidden him to complain of the evil wherewith
+Heaven had punished him, but none could hinder him from bewailing
+the evil he had committed in his sinfulness and vanity. And his
+self-accusings were so manifold and fearful, that I was fain to believe
+his declaration that all he had ever thought or done that was good was,
+as it were, buried; and that nought but the ill he had suffered and
+committed was left and still had power over him. The death-stroke he had
+dealt all unwittingly, in heedless passion, rose before his soul day and
+night as an accursed and bloody deed; and every moment embittered by his
+wife’s unfaith, even to the last hour when, on her death-bed, she cursed
+him, he lived through again, night after night. Whereupon he would
+clasp his thin hands, through which you might see the light, over his
+tear-stained face and would not be still or of better cheer till I could
+no longer hide my own great grief for him.
+
+Howbeit, when I had heard the same tale again and again it ceased from
+touching me so deeply; so that at last, instead of such deep compassion,
+it moved me only to dull gloom and, I will confess, to unspeakable
+weariness. The tears came not to my eyes, and the only use for my
+kerchief was to hide my yawning and vinaigrette. Thus it fell that the
+old penitent took no pleasure in my company, and at last weeks might
+pass while he bid me not to his presence.
+
+Now, when the pictures were ended, whereas he heard that they were right
+good likenesses, and moreover was told that my lord Cardinal was minded
+to come home within no long space, he fell into a strange tumult and
+desired to behold those pictures both of me and of Ann. At this
+I marvelled not: he had long since learned to think of Councillor
+Pernbart’s step-daughter in all kindness; nay, he had desired me to beg
+her to forgive a dying old man. We were well-disposed to do his will,
+and the Pernharts no less; on a certain Wednesday the pictures were
+carried to his house, and on the morrow, being Thursday, I would go and
+know whether he were content. And behold my likeness was set in a corner
+where he scarce could see it; but that of Ann was face to face with him
+and, as I entered the chamber, his eyes were fixed thereon as though
+ravished by the vision of a Saint from Heaven. And he was so lost in
+thought that he looked not away till the Dominican Brother spoke to him.
+
+Thereupon he hastily greeted me, and went on to ask of me whether I duly
+minded that he had been a faithful and thankworthy guardian. And when I
+answered yes he whispered to me, with a side-look at the friar, that of
+a surety my lord Cardinal must hold Ann full dear, if he would bid
+so famous a master to Nuremberg that he might possess her image. Now
+inasmuch as I wist not yet to what end he sought to beguile me by these
+questions, I confirmed his words with all prudence; and then he glanced
+again at the monk, and whispered hastily in my ear, and so low that I
+scarce might hear him:
+
+“That fellow is privily drinking up all my old Cyprus wine and
+Malvoisie. And the other priests, the Plebian here--do you know their
+worldly and base souls? They take up no cross, neither mortify the flesh
+by holy fasting, but cherish and feed it as the lost heathen do. Are
+they holy men following in the footsteps of the Crucified Lord? All that
+brings them to me is a care for my oblations and gifts. I know them, I
+know them all, the whole lot of them here in Nuremberg. As the city
+is, so are the pastors thereof! Which of them all mortifies himself? Is
+there any high court held here? To win the blessing of a truly lordly
+prelate, a man must journey to Bamberg or to Wurzburg. Of what avail
+with the Blessed Virgin and the Saints are such as these ruddy friars?
+Fleischmann, Hellfeld, nay the Dominican prior himself--what are they?
+Why, at the Diet they walked after the Bishop of Chiemsee and Eichstadt.
+In the matters of the city--its rights, alliances, and dealings--they
+had indeed a hand; there is nought so dear to them--in especial to
+Fleischmann--as politics, and they are overjoyed if they may but be sent
+on some embassy. Aye, and they have done me some service, as a merchant
+trader, whensoever I have desired the safe conduct of princes and
+knights; but as to charging them with the safe conduct of my soul, the
+weal or woe of my immortal spirit!--No, no, never! Aye, Margery, for I
+have been a great sinner. Greater power and more mighty mediation are
+needed to save and deliver me, and behold, my Margery, meseems--hear
+me Margery--meseems a special ruling of Heaven hath sent.... When is it
+that his Eminence Cardinal Bernhardi will return from England?”
+
+Hereupon I saw plainly what was in the wind. I answered him that his
+Eminence purposed to return hither in three or four months’ time; he
+sighed deeply: “Not for so long--three months, do you say?”
+
+“Or longer,” quoth I, hastily; but he, forgetting the Friar, cried out
+as though he knew better than I “No, no, in three months. So you said.”
+
+Then he spoke low again, and went on in a confident tone: “So long as
+that I can hold out, by the help of the Saints, if I.... Yea, for I have
+enough left to make some great endowment. My possessions, Margery,
+the estate which is mine own--No man can guess what a well-governed
+trading-house may earn in half a century.--Yes, I tell you, Margery, I
+can hold out and wait. Two, or at most three months; they will soon slip
+away. The older we grow and the duller is life, the swifter do the days
+fly.”
+
+And verily I had not the heart to tell him that he might have to take
+much longer patience, and, whereas I noted how hard he found it to speak
+out that which weighed on his mind, I gave him such help as I might;
+and then he freely confessed that what he most desired on earth was
+to receive absolution and the Viaticum from the hands of the Cardinal.
+Meseemed he believed that his Eminence’s prayers would serve him better
+in Heaven than those of our simple priests, who had not even gained
+a bishop’s cope; just as the good word of a Prince Elector gains the
+Emperor’s ear sooner than the petition of a town councillor. Likewise
+it soothed his pride, doubtless, to think that he might turn his back on
+this world under the good guidance of a prelate in the purple. Hereupon
+I promised that his case should be brought to the Cardinal’s knowledge
+by Ann, and then he gave me to understand that it was his desire that
+Ann should come to see him, inasmuch as that her presentment only had
+brought him more comfort than the strongest of Master Ulsenius’ potions.
+He could not be happy to die without her forgiveness, and without
+blessing her by hand and word.
+
+And he pointed to my likeness, and said that, albeit it was right well
+done, he could bear no more to see it; that it looked forth so full of
+health and hope, that to him it seemed as though it mocked his misery,
+and he straitly desired me to send Ann to him forthwith; the Saints
+would grant her a special grace for every hour she delayed not her
+coming.
+
+Thereupon I departed; Ann was ready to do the dying man’s bidding, and
+when I presently went with her into his presence he gazed on her as he
+had on her portrait, as it were bewitched by her person and manners; and
+ever after, if she were absent for more than a day or two, he bid her
+come to him, with prayers and entreaties. And he found means to touch
+her heart as he had mine; yet, whereas I, ere long, wearied of his
+complaining, Ann’s compassion failed not; instead of yawning and being
+helpless to comfort him, she with great skill would turn his thoughts
+from himself and his sufferings.
+
+Then they would often talk of Herdegen, and of how to come upon some
+trace of him, and whereas the old man had in former days left such
+matters to other folks, he now showed a right wise and keen experience
+in counselling the right ways and means. Hitherto he had trusted to
+Ursula’s good words and commended us to the same confidence; now,
+however, he remembered on a sudden how ill-disposed she had ever been
+to my lost brother, and whereas it was the season of the year when the
+trading fleet should set sail from Venice for Alexandria in the land
+of Egypt, he sent forth a messenger to Kunz, charging him to take ship
+himself and go thither to seek his brother. This filled Ann and me
+likewise with fresh hope and true thankfulness. Yet, in truth, as for
+my grand-uncle, he owed much to Ann; her mere presence was as dew on his
+withered heart, and the hope she kept alive in him, that her uncle, my
+lord Cardinal, would ere long reach home and gladly fulfil his desires,
+gave him strength and will to live on, and kept the feeble spark of life
+burning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The month of October had come; the Forest claimed us once more, and
+indeed at that season I was needed at the Forest lodge. A pressing
+bidding had likewise come to Ann; yet, albeit her much sitting in my
+grand-uncle’s hot chamber had been visited on her with many a headache,
+she had made her attendance on him one of her duties and nought could
+move her to be unfaithful.
+
+Moreover, it was known to us that by far the greater half of the
+Venetian galleons had sailed from the Lido between the 8th and 25th
+of the past month, and were due to be at home again by the middle of
+October or early in November. A much lesser fleet went forth from Venice
+late in the year and came to anchor there again, loaded with spices, in
+the month of March or not later than April. Hence now was the time when
+we might most surely look for tidings from the Levant, and Ann would not
+be out of the way in case any such might come to Nuremberg.
+
+I rode forth on Saint Dionysius’ day, the 9th day of October, alone with
+Cousin Maud; other guests were not long in following us and among them
+my brothers-in-law and the young Loffelholz pair; Elsa Ebner having wed,
+some months since, with young Jorg Loffelholz.
+
+Uncle Christian would come later and, if she would consent, would bring
+Ann with him, for he held himself bound to give his “little watchman”
+ some fresh air. Also he was a great friend in the Pernharts’ house,
+and aught more happy and pleasant than his talks with the old Dame can
+scarce be conceived of.
+
+Never had the well-beloved home in the Forest been more like to a pigeon
+cote. Every day brought us new guests, many of them from the city;
+still, none had any tidings yet of the Venice ships or of our Kunz, who
+should come home with them. And at this my heart quaked for fear, in
+despite of the hunting-sports, and of many a right merry supper; and
+Aunt Jacoba was no better. The weeks flew past, the red and yellow
+leaves began to fall, the scarlet berries of the mountain ash were
+shrivelled, and the white rime fell of nights on the meadows and
+moor-land.
+
+One day I had ridden forth with my Uncle Conrad, hawking, and when we
+came home in the dusk I could add a few birds to the gentlemen’s booty.
+All the guests at that time present were standing in the courtyard
+talking, many a one lamenting or boasting of the spite or favor of Saint
+Hubert that day, when the hounds, who were smelling about the game,
+suddenly uplifted their voices, and the gate-keeper’s horn blew a merry
+blast, as though to announce some right welcome guest.
+
+The housekeeper’s face was seen at Aunt Jacoba’s window, and so soon
+as tidings were brought of who it as that came, the dog-keeper’s
+whips hastily silenced the hounds and drove them into the kennel. The
+serving-men carried off the game, and when the courtyard was presently
+cleared, behold, a strange procession came in.
+
+First a long wain covered in by a tilt so high I trove that meseemed
+many a town gate might be over low to let it pass; and it was drawn
+by four right small little horses, with dark matted coats and bright,
+wilful eyes. A few hounds of choice breed ran behind it. From within the
+hangings came a sharp, shrill screaming as were of many gaudy parrots.
+
+In front of this waggon two men rode, unlike in stature and mien, and
+a loutish fellow led the horses. Now, we all knew this wain right well.
+Heretofore, in the life-time of old Lorenz Waldstromer, the father of my
+Uncle Conrad, it had been wont to come hither once or twice a year,
+and was ever made welcome; if it should happen to come in the month of
+August it was at that season filled with noble falcons, to be placed
+on Board ships at Venice, inasmuch as the Sultan of Egypt and his Emirs
+were so fain to buy them that they would give as much as a hundred and
+fifty sequins for he finest and best.
+
+Old Jordan Kubbeling of Brunswick, the father of he man who had now come
+hither, was wont to send the birds to Alexandria by the hand of dealers,
+to sell them for him there; but his son Seyfried, who was to this day
+called Young Kubbeling, albeit he was nigh on sixty, would carry his
+feathered wares thither himself. Verily he was not suffered to sell any
+other goods in the land, inasmuch as the Republic set strait bounds to
+the dealings of German traders. If such an one would have aught from
+the Levant he may get it only through the Merchants’ Hall or Fondaco in
+Venice; and much less is a German suffered to carry his wares, of what
+kind soever, out of Venice into the East, inasmuch as every German
+trader is bound to sell by the hand of the syndicate all which his
+native land can produce or make in Venice itself. And in no other wise
+may a German traffic in any matters, great or small, with the Venice
+traders; and all this is done that the Republic may lose nought of the
+great taxes they set on all things.
+
+As to Seyfried Kubbeling, the great Council, by special grace, and
+considering that none but he could carry his birds over seas in good
+condition, had granted to him to go with them to the land of Egypt.
+For many and many a year had the Kubbelings brought falcons to the
+Waldstromers, and whensoever my uncle needed such a bird, or if he had
+to provide one for our lord constable and prince elector the Duke of
+Bavaria, or any other great temporal or spiritual prince, it was to be
+had from Seyfried--or Young Kubbeling. To be sure no man better knew
+where to choose a fine bird, and while he journeyed between Brunswick,
+Italy, and the Levant, his sons and brothers went as far as to Denmark,
+and from thence to Iceland in the frozen Seas, where the royal falcon
+breeds. Yet are there right noble kinds likewise to be found in the Harz
+mountains, nigh to their native country.
+
+The man who was ever Kubbeling’s fellow, going with him to the Levant
+now, as, erewhile to the far North, was Uhlwurm, who, albeit he had been
+old Jordan’s serving-man, was held by Seyfried as his equal; and
+whoso would make one his guest must be fain to take the other into the
+bargain. This was ever gladly done at the Forest-lodge; Uhlwurm was a
+man of few words, and the hunting-lads and kennel-men held him to be a
+wise man, who knew more than simply which side his bread was buttered.
+At any rate he was learned in healing all sick creatures, and in
+especial falcons, horses, and hounds, by means of whispered spells, the
+breath of his mouth, potions, and electuaries; and I myself have seen
+him handle a furious old she-wolf which had been caught in a trap, so
+that no man dared go nigh her, as though it were a tame little dog. He
+was taller than his master by a head and a half, and he was ever to be
+seen in a hood, on which an owl’s head with its beak and ears was set.
+Verily the whole presence of the man minded me of that nightbird;
+and when I think of his Master Seyfried, or Young Kubbeling, I often
+remember that he was ever wont to wear three wild-cats’ skins, which he
+laid on his breast and on each leg, as a remedy against pains he had.
+And the falcon-seller, who was thick-set and broad-shouldered, was in
+truth not unlike a wild-cat in his unkempt shagginess, albeit free
+from all craft and guile. His whole mien, in his yellow leather jerkin
+slashed with green, his high boots, and ill-shaven face covered with
+short, grey bristles, was that of a woodsman who has grown strange to
+man in the forest wilds; howbeit we knew from many dealings that he was
+honest and pitiful, and would endure hard things to be serviceable and
+faithful to those few whom he truly loved.
+
+All the creatures he brought with him were for sale; even the Iceland
+ponies, which he but seldom led home again, by reason that they were in
+great favor with the Junkers and damsels of high degree in the castles
+where he found shelter; and my uncle believed that his profits and
+savings must be no small matter.
+
+Scarce had Kubbeling and his fellow entered the court-yard, when the
+house wife appeared once more at my aunt’s window, and bid him come up
+forthwith to her mistress. But the Brunswicker only replied roughly and
+shortly: “First those that need my help.” And he spoke thus of a wounded
+man, whom he had picked up, nigh unto death, by the road-side. While,
+with Uhlwurm’s help, he carefully lifted the youth from under the
+tilt, my uncle, who had long been hoping for his advent, gave him a
+questioning look. The other understood, and shook his head sadly to
+answer him No. And then he busied himself with the stricken man, as he
+growled out to my uncle: “I crossed the pond to Alexandria, but of your
+man--you know who--not a claw nor a feather. As to the Schopper brothers
+on the other hand.... But first let us try to get between this poor
+fellow and the grave. Hold on, Uhlwurm!” And he was about to lift the
+sick man in doors. Howbeit, I went up to the Brunswicker, who in his
+rough wise had ever liked me well, and whereas meseemed he had seen my
+brothers, I besought him right lovingly to give me tidings of them; but
+he only pointed to the helpless man and said that such tidings as he had
+to give I should hear only too soon; and this I deemed was so forbidding
+and so dismal that I made up my mind to the worst; nay, and my fears
+waxed all the greater as he laid his big hand on my sleeve, as it might
+be to comfort me, inasmuch as that he had never yet done this save when
+he heard tell of my Hans’ untimely end.
+
+And then, since he would have none of my help in attending on the sick
+man, I ran up to my aunt to tell her with due care of the tidings I had
+heard; but my uncle had gone before me, and in the doorway I could see
+that he had just kissed his beloved wife’s brow. I could read in both
+their faces that they were bereft of another hope, yet would my aunt go
+below and herself speak with Young Kubbeling. My uncle would fain have
+hindered her, but she paid no heed to his admonitions, and while her
+tiring-woman arrayed her with great care to appear at table, she thanked
+the saints for that Ann was far away on this luckless day.
+
+Thus the hours sped between our homecoming from the chase and the
+evening meal, and we presently met all our guests in the refectory. Aunt
+Jacoba, as was her wont, sat on her couch on which she was carried,
+at the upper end of the table near the chimneyplace, next to which a
+smaller table was spread, where Kubbeling and Uhlwurm took their seats
+as though they had never sat elsewhere in their lives; and in truth old
+Jordan had taken his meals in that same place, and whenever they came
+to the Lodge the serving people knew right well what was due to them and
+their fellows. And whereas they did not sit at the upper table, it
+was only by reason that old Jordan, sixty years ago, had deemed it a
+burthensome honor, and more than his due; and Young Kubbeling would in
+all things do as his father had done before him. My seat was where I
+might see them, and an empty chair stood between me and my aunt; this
+was left for Master Ulsenius, the leech. This good man loved not to ride
+after dark, by reason of highway robbers and plunderers, and some of us
+were somewhat ill at ease at his coming so late. Notwithstanding this,
+the talk was not other than cheerful; new guests had come to us from
+the town at noon, and they had much to tell. Tidings had come that
+the Sultan of Egypt had fallen upon the Island of Cyprus, and that the
+Mussulmans had beaten King Janus, who ruled over it, and had carried him
+beyond seas in triumph to Old Cairo, a prisoner and loaded with chains.
+Hereupon we were instructed by that learned man, Master Eberhard
+Windecke, who was well-read in the history of all the world--he had come
+to Nuremberg as a commissioner of finance from his Majesty, and Uncle
+Tucher had brought him forth to the Forest--he, I say, instructed us
+that the forefather of this King Janus of Cyprus had seized upon the
+crown of Jerusalem at the time of the crusades, during the lifetime of
+the mighty Sultan Saladin, by poison and perjury, and had then bartered
+it with the English monarch Richard Coeur de lion, in exchange for
+the Kingdom of Cyprus. That ancestor of King Janus was by name Guy de
+Lusignan, and the sins of the fathers, so Master Windecke set forth with
+flowers of eloquence, were ever visited on the children, unto the third
+and fourth generation.
+
+I, like most of the assembled company, had hearkened with due respect to
+this discourse; yet had I not failed to note with what restless eyes
+my aunt watched the two men when, after hardly staying their hunger
+and thirst, they forthwith quitted the hall to tend the sick man; she
+truly--as I would likewise--would rather have heard some present tidings
+than this record of sins of the Lusignans dead and gone. Presently the
+two men came back to their seats, and when Master Windecke, who, in
+speaking, had forgotten to eat, fell to with double good will, Uncle
+Conrad gravely bid Kubbeling to out with what he had to say; and yet the
+man, who was lifting the leg of a black-cock to his mouth, would reply
+no more than a rough, “All in good time, my lord.”
+
+Thus we had to wait; nor was it till the Brunswicker had cracked his
+last nut with his strong teeth, and the evening cup had been brought
+round, that he broke silence and told us in short, halting sentences how
+he had sailed from Venice to Alexandria in the land of Egypt, and all
+that had befallen his falcons. Then he stopped, as one who has ended his
+tale, and Uhlwurm said in a deep voice, and with a sweep of his hand as
+though to clear the crumbs from the table “Gone!”--And that “Gone” was
+well-nigh the only word that ever I heard from the lips of that strange
+old man. As he went on with his tale Kubbeling made free with the wine,
+and albeit it had no more effect on him than clear water, still meseemed
+he talked on for his own easement; only when he told how and where he
+had vainly sought the banished Gotz he looked grievously at my aunt’s
+face. And Kunz, who had crossed the sea in the same ship with him, had
+helped him in that search.
+
+When I then asked him whether Kunz had not likewise come home with him
+to Venice, and Kubbeling had answered me no, Uhlwurm said once more, or
+ever his master had done speaking, “Gone!” in his deep, mournful voice,
+and again swept away crumbs, as it might be, in the air. Hereupon so
+great a fear fell upon me that meseemed a sharp steel bodkin was being
+thrust into my heart; but Kubbeling had seen me turn pale, and he turned
+upon Uhlwurm in high wrath, and to the end that I might take courage he
+cried: “No, no, I say no. What does the old fool know about it! It is
+only by reason that the galley tarried for Junker Schopper and weighed
+anchor half a day later, that he forbodes ill. The delay was not needed.
+And who can tell what young masters will be at? They get a fancy in
+their green young heads, and it must be carried out whether or no. He
+swore to me with a high and solemn oath that he would not rest till he
+had found some trace of his brother, and if he kept the galleon waiting
+for that reason, what wonder? Is it aught to marvel at? And you,
+Mistress Margery, have of a surety known here in the Forest whither a
+false scent may lead.--Junker Kunz! Whither he may have gone to seek
+his brother, who can tell? Not I, and much less Uhlwurm. And young folks
+flutter hither and thither like an untrained falcon; and if Master Kunz,
+who is so much graver and wiser than others of his green youth, finds
+no one to open his eyes, then he may--I do not say for certain, but
+peradventure, for why should I frighten you all?--he may, I say, hunt
+high and low to all eternity. The late Junker Herdegen....”
+
+And again I felt that sharp pang through my heart, and I cried in the
+anguish of my soul: “The late Junker--late Junker, did you say? How came
+you to use such a word? By all you hold sacred, Kubbeling, torture me no
+more. Confess all you know concerning my elder brother!”
+
+This I cried out with a quaking voice, but all too soon was I speechless
+again, for once more that dreadful “Gone!” fell upon my ear from
+Uhlwurm’s lips.
+
+I hid my face in my hands, and sitting thus in darkness, I heard the
+bird-dealer, in real grief now, repeat Uhlwurm’s word of ill-omen:
+“Gone.” Yet he presently added in a tone of comfort: “But only
+perchance--not for certain, Mistress Margery.”
+
+Albeit he was now willing to tell more, he was stopped in the very act.
+Neither he nor I had seen that some one had silently entered the hall
+with my Uncle Christian and Master Ulsenius, had come close to us, and
+had heard Uhlwurm’s and Kubbeling’s last words. This was Ann; and, as
+she answered to the Brunswicker “I would you were in the right with that
+‘perchance’. How gladly would I believe it!” I took my hands down from
+my face, and behold she stood before me in all her beauty, but in deep
+mourning black, and was now, as I was, an unwedded widow.
+
+I ran to meet her, and now, as she clung to me first and then to my
+aunt, she was so moving a spectacle that even Uhlwurm wiped his wet
+cheeks with his finger-cloth. All were now silent, but Young Kubbeling
+ceased not from wiping the sweat of anguish from his brow, till at last
+he cried: “‘Perchance’ was what I said, and ‘perchance’ it still shall
+be; aye, by the help of the Saints, and I will prove it....”
+
+At this Ann uplifted her bead, which she had hidden in my aunt’s bosom,
+and Cousin Maud let drop her arms in which she held me clasped. The
+learned Master Windecke made haste to depart, as he could ill-endure
+such touching matters, while Uncle Conrad enquired of Ann what she had
+heard of Herdegen’s end.
+
+Hereupon she told us all in a low voice that yestereve she had received
+a letter from my lord Cardinal, announcing that he had evil tidings from
+the Christian brethren in Egypt. She was to hold herself ready for the
+worst, inasmuch as, if they were right, great ill had befallen him.
+Howbeit it was not yet time to give up all hope, and he himself would
+never weary of his search: Young Kubbeling, who had meanwhile sent
+Uhlwurm with the leech to see the sick man and then taken his seat again
+with the wine-cup before him, had nevertheless kept one ear open, and
+had hearkened like the rest to what Ann had been saying; then on a
+sudden he thrust away his glass, shook his big fist in wrath, and cried
+out, to the door, as it were, through which Uhlwurm had departed, “That
+croaker, that death-watch, that bird of ill-omen! If he looks up at
+an apple-tree in blossom and a bird is piping in the branches, all he
+thinks of is how soon the happy creature will be killed by the cat!
+‘Gone! gone’ indeed; what profits it to say gone! He has befogged even
+my brain at last with his black vapors. But now a light shines within
+me; and lend me an ear, young Mistress, and all you worshipful lords and
+ladies; for I said ‘perchance’ and I mean it still.”
+
+We listened indeed; and there was in his voice and mien a confidence
+which could not fail to give us heart. My lord Cardinal’s assurance that
+we were not to rest satisfied with the evil tidings he had received,
+Kubbeling had deemed right, and what was right was to him a fact.
+Therefore had he racked his brain till the sweat stood on his brow, and
+all he had ever known concerning Herdegen had come back to his mind and
+this he now told us in his short, rude way, which I should in vain try
+to set down.
+
+He said that, since the day when they had landed in Egypt, he had
+never more set eyes on Kunz, but that he himself had made enquiry for
+Herdegen. Anselmo Giustiniani was still the Republic’s consul there, and
+lodging at the Venice Fondaco with Ursula his wife; but the serving men
+had said that they had never heard of Schopper of Nuremberg; nor was it
+strange that Kunz’s coming should be unknown to them, inasmuch as, to be
+far from Ursula, he had found hospitality with the Genoese and not with
+the Venetians. When, on the eve of sailing for home, the Brunswicker had
+again waited on the authorities at the Fondaco, to procure his leave
+to depart and fetch certain moneys he had bestowed there, he had met
+Mistress Ursula; and whereas she knew him and spoke to him, he seized
+the chance to make enquiry concerning Herdegen. And it was from her
+mouth, and from none other, that he had learned that the elder Junker
+Schopper had met a violent death; and, when he had asked where and how,
+she had answered him that it was in one of those love-makings which were
+ever the aim and business of his life. Thus he might tell all his kith
+and kin in Nuremberg henceforth to cease their spying and prying, which
+had already cost her more pains and writing than enough.
+
+This discourse had but ill-pleased Kubbeling, yet had he not taken it
+amiss, and had only said that she would be doing Kunz--who had come to
+Egypt with him--right good service, if she would give him more exact
+tidings of how his brother had met his end.
+
+“Whereupon,” said the bird-seller, “she gave me a look the like of which
+not many could give; for inasmuch as the lady is, for certain, over eyes
+and ears in love with Junker Kunz....”
+
+But I stopped him, and said that in this he was of a certainty mistaken;
+Howbeit he laughed shortly and went on. “Which of us saw her? I or you?
+But love or no love--only listen till the end. Mistress Ursula for sure
+knew not till then that Junker Kunz was in Alexandria, and so soon as
+she learnt it she began to question me. She must know the day and hour
+when he had cast anchor there, wherefor he had chosen to lodge in the
+Genoa Fondaco, when I last had seen him, nay, and of what stuff and
+color his garments were made. She went through them all, from the
+feather in his hat to his hose. As for me, I must have seemed well nigh
+half witted, and I told her at last that I had no skill in such matters,
+but that I had ever seen him of an evening in a white mantle with a
+peaked hood. Hereupon the blood all left her face, and with it all her
+beauty. She clapped her hand to her forehead like one possessed or in a
+fit, as though caught in her own snare, and she would have fallen, if I
+had not held her upright. And then, on a sudden, she stood firm on her
+feet, bid me depart right roughly, and pointed to the door; and I was
+ready and swift enough in departing. When I was telling of all this to
+Uhlwurm, who had stayed without, and what I had heard concerning Junker
+Herdegen, he had nought to say but that accursed ‘Gone!’ And how that
+dazes me, old mole that I am, you yourselves have seen. But the demeanor
+of Mistress Tetzel of Nuremberg, I have never had it out of my mind
+since, day or night, nor again, yesterday.”
+
+He rubbed his damp brow, drank a draught, and took a deep breath; he
+was not wont to speak at such length. But whereas we asked him many
+questions of these matters, he turned again to us maidens, and said
+“Grant me a few words apart from the matter you see, in time a man gets
+an eye for a falcon, and sees what its good points are, and if it ails
+aught. He learns to know the breed by its feathers, and breastbone, and
+the color of its legs, and many another sign, and its temper by its eye
+and beak;--and it is the same with knowing of men. All this I learned
+not of myself, but from my father, God rest him; and like as you may
+know a falcon by the beak, so you may know a man or a woman by the
+mouth. And as I mind me of Mistress Ursula’s face, as I saw it then,
+that is enough for me. Aye, and I will give my best Iceland Gerfalcon
+for a lame crow if every word she spoke concerning the death of Junker
+Herdegen was not false knavery. She is a goodly woman and of wondrous
+beauty; yet, as I sat erewhile, thinking and gazing into the Wurzburg
+wine in my cup, I remembered her red lips and white teeth, as she bid me
+exhort his kin at home to seek the lost man no more. And I will plainly
+declare what that mouth brought to my mind; nought else than the muzzle
+of the she-wolf you caught and chained up. That was how she showed her
+tusks when Uhlwurm wheedled her after his wise, and she feigned to be
+his friend albeit she thirsted to take him by the throat.--False, I say,
+false, false was every word that came to my ears out of that mouth! I
+know what I know; she is mad for the sake of one of the Schoppers, and
+if it be not Kunz then it is the other, and if it be not with love then
+it is with hate. Make the sign of the cross, say I; she would put one
+or both of them out of the world, as like as not. For certain it is that
+she would fain have had me believe that the elder Junker Schopper had
+already come to a bad end, and it is no less certain that she had some
+foul purpose in hand.”
+
+The old man coughed, wiped his brow, and fell back in his seat; we,
+indeed, knew not what to think of his discourse, and looked one at the
+other with enquiry. Jung Kubbeling was the last man on earth we could
+have weened would read hearts. Only Uncle Christian upheld him, and
+declared that the future would ere long confirm all that wise old
+Jordan’s son had foretold from sure signs.
+
+The dispute waxed so loud that even our silent Chaplain put in his word,
+to express his consent to the Brunswicker’s opinion of Ursula, and to
+put forward fresh proofs why, in spite of her statement, Herdegen might
+yet be in the land of the living.
+
+At this moment the door flew open, and the housekeeper--who was wont to
+be a right sober-witted widow--rushed into the refectory, followed by
+my aunt’s waiting-maid, both with crimson cheeks and so full of their
+matter that they forgot the reverence due to our worshipful guests, and
+it was hard at first to learn what had so greatly disturbed them. So
+soon as this was clear, Cousin Maud, and Ann and I at her heels, ran
+off to the chamber where Master Ulsenius still tarried with the sick
+traveller, inasmuch as that if the women were not deceived, the poor
+fellow was none other than Eppelein, Herdegen’s faithful henchman. The
+tiringwoman likewise, a smart young wench, believed that it was he; and
+her opinion was worthy to be trusted by reason that she was one of the
+many maids who had looked upon Eppelein with favor.
+
+We presently were standing by the lad’s bedside; Master Ulsenius had
+just done with bandaging his head and body and arms; the poor fellow had
+been indeed cruelly handled, and but for the Brunswicker’s help he must
+have died. That Kubbeling should not have known him, although they had
+often met in past years, was easy to explain; for I myself could scarce
+have believed that the pale, hollow-eyed man who lay there, to all
+seeming dying, was our brisk and nimble-witted Eppelein. Yet verily he
+it was, and Ann flung herself on her knees by the bed, and it was right
+piteous to hear her cry: “Poor, faithful Eppelein!” and many other
+good words in low and loving tones. Yet did he not hear nor understand,
+inasmuch as he was not in his senses. For the present there was nought
+of tidings to be had from him, and this was all the greater pity by
+reason that the thieves had stripped off his clothes, even to his boots,
+and thus, if he were the bearer of any writing, he might now never
+deliver it. Yet he had come with some message. When the men left us
+there Ann bent over him and laid a wet kerchief on his hot head, and he
+presently opened his eyes a little way, and pointed with his left hand,
+which was sound, to the end of the bed-place where his feet lay, and
+murmured, scarce to be heard and as though he were lost: “The letter,
+oh, the letter!” But then he lost his senses; and presently he said
+the same words again and again. So his heart and brain were full of one
+thing, and that was the letter which some one--and who else than his
+well-beloved Master--had straitly charged him to deliver rightly.
+
+Every word he might speak in his fever might give us some important
+tidings, and when at midnight my aunt bid us go to bed, Ann declared it
+to be her purpose to keep watch by Eppelein all night, and I would not
+for the world have quitted her at such a moment. And whereas she well
+knew Master Ulsenius, and had already lent a helping hand of her own
+free will to old Uhlwurm, the tending the sick man was wholly given over
+to her; and I sat me down by the fire, gazing sometimes at the leaping
+flames and flying sparks, and sometimes at the sick-bed and at all Ann
+was doing. Then I waxed sleepy, and the hours flew past while I sat wide
+awake, or dreaming as I slept for a few minutes. Then it was morning
+again, and there was somewhat before my eyes whereof I knew not whether
+it were happening in very truth, or whether it were still a dream,
+yet meseemed it was so pleasant that I was still smiling when the
+house-keeper came in, and that chased sleep away. I thought I had seen
+Ann lead ugly old Uhlwurm to the window, and stroke down his rough
+cheeks with her soft small hand. This being all unlike her wonted timid
+modesty, it amused me all the more, and the old man’s demeanor likewise
+had made me smile; he was surly, and notwithstanding courteous to her
+and had said to her I know not what. Now, when I was wide-awake, Ann had
+indeed departed, and the house-wife had seen her quit the house and walk
+towards the stables, following old Uhlwurm.
+
+Hereupon a strange unrest fell upon me, and when Kubbeling presently
+answered to my questioning that old Uhlwurm had craved leave to be
+absent till noon, to the end that he might go to the very spot where
+they had found Eppelein, and make search for that letter which he
+doubtless had had on his person, I plainly saw wherefor Ann had beguiled
+the old man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+“The old owl! I will give him somewhat to remember me by till some one
+else can say ‘Gone’ over him!” This was what my Uncle Christian growled
+a little later, out near the stables, where Matthew was putting the
+bridle on my bay nag, while the other serving-men were saddling the
+horses for the gentlemen. I had stolen hither, knowing full well that
+the old folks would not have suffered me to ride forth after Ann, and
+my good godfather even now ceased not from railing, in his fears for his
+darling. “What else did we talk of yestereve, Master leech and I, all
+the way we rode with the misguided maid, but of the wicked deeds done in
+these last few weeks on the high roads, and here in this very wood? With
+her own ears, she heard us say that the town constable required us
+to take seven mounted men as outriders, by reason that the day before
+yesterday the whole train of waggons of the Borchtels and the Schnods
+was overtaken, and the convoy would of a certainty have been beaten if
+they had not had the aid, by good-hap, of the fellowship marching with
+the Maurers and the Derrers.--And it was pitch dark, owls were flitting,
+foxes barking; it was enough to make even an old scarred soldier’s blood
+run cold. It is a sin and a shame how the rogues ply their trade, even
+close under the walls of the city! They cut off a bleacher’s man’s ears,
+and when I wished that young Eber of Wichsenstein, and all the rout that
+follows him might come to the gallows, Ann made bold to plead for them,
+by reason that he only craved to visit on the Nurembergers the cruel
+death they brought upon his father the famous thief. As if she did not
+know full well that, since Eppelein of Gailingen was cast into prison,
+our land has never been such a den of murder and robbery as at this day.
+If there is less dust to be seen on the high-ways, said the keeper, it
+is by reason that it is washed away in blood. And notwithstanding all
+this the crazy maid runs straight into the Devil’s arms, with that old
+dolt.”
+
+Then, when I went into the stable to mount, Uncle Conrad turned on
+Kubbeling in stormy ire for that he had suffered Uhlwurm to lead Ann
+into such peril; howbeit the Brunswicker knew how to hold his own, and
+declared at last that he could sooner have looked to see a falcon grow a
+lion’s tail in place of feathers, than that old death-watch make common
+cause with a young maiden. “He had come forth,” quoth he, “to counsel
+their excellencies to take horse.” But my uncle’s question, whether
+he, Kubbeling, believed that they had come forth to the stables to
+hear mass, put an end to his discourse; the gentlemen called to the
+serving-men to make speed, and I was already in the saddle. Then, when
+I had commanded Endres to open the great gate, I bowed my head low
+and rode out through the stable door, and bade the company a hearty
+good-day. To this they made reply, while Uncle Conrad asked whether
+I had forgotten his counsels, and whither it was my intent to ride;
+whereupon I hastily replied: “Under safe guidance, that is to say yours,
+to follow Ann.”
+
+My uncle slashed his boot with his whip, and asked in wrath whether
+I had considered that blood would perchance be shed, and ended by
+counselling me kindly: “So stay at home, little Margery!”
+
+“I am as obedient as ever,” was my ready answer, “but whereas I am now
+well in the saddle, I will stay in the saddle.”
+
+At this the old man knew not whether to take a jest as a jest, or to
+give me a stern order; and while he and the others were getting into
+their stirrups he said: “Have done with folly when matters are so
+serious, madcap child! We have enough to do to think of Ann, and more
+than enough! So dismount, Margery, with all speed.”
+
+“All in good time,” said I then, “I will dismount that minute when we
+have found Ann. Till then the giant Goliath shall not move me from the
+saddle!”
+
+Hereupon the old man lost patience, he settled himself on his big brown
+horse and cried out in a wrathful and commanding tone: “Do not rouse me
+to anger, Margery. Do as I desire and dismount.”
+
+But that moment he could more easily have made me to leap into the fire
+than to leave Ann in the lurch; I raised the bridle and whip, and as
+the bay broke into a gallop Uncle Conrad cried out once more, in greater
+wrath than before: “Do as I bid you!” and I joyfully replied “That I
+will if you come and fetch me!” And my horse carried me off and away,
+through the open gate.
+
+The gentlemen tore after me, and if I had so desired they would never
+have caught me till the day of judgment, inasmuch as that my Hungarian
+palfrey, which my Hans had brought for me from the stables of Count von
+Cilly, the father of Queen Barbara, was far swifter than their heavy
+hook-nosed steeds; yet as I asked no better than to seek Ann in all
+peace with them, and as my uncle was a mild and wise man, who would not
+take the jest he could not now spoil over seriously, I suffered them to
+gain upon me and we concluded a bargain to the effect that all was to be
+forgotten and forgiven, but that I was pledged to turn the bay and
+make the best of my way home at the first sign of danger. And if the
+gentlemen had come to the stables in a gloomy mood and much fear, the
+wild chase after me had recovered their high spirits; and, albeit my own
+heart beat sadly enough, I did my best to keep of good cheer, and verily
+the sight of Kubbeling helped to that end. He was to show us the way to
+the spot where he had found Eppelem, and was now squatted on a very
+big black horse, from which his little legs, with their strange gear
+of catskins, stuck out after a fashion wondrous to behold. After we had
+thus gone at a steady pace for some little space, my confidence began to
+fail once more; even if Ann and her companion had been somewhat delayed
+by their search, still ought we to have met them by this time, if
+they had gone to the place without tarrying, and set forth to return
+unhindered. And when, presently, we came to an open plot whence we might
+see a long piece of the forest path, and yet saw nought but a little
+charcoal burner’s cart, meseemed as though a cold hand had been laid on
+my heart. Again and again I spied the distance, while a whole army of
+thoughts and terrors tossed my soul. I pictured them in the power of the
+vengeful Eber von Wichsenstein and his fierce robber fellows; methought
+the covetous Bremberger had dragged them into his castle postern to
+exact a great ransom--nor was this the worst that might befall. If
+Abersfeld the wildest freebooter of all the plundering nobles far or
+near were to seize her? My blood ran cold as I conceived of this chance.
+Ann was so fair; what lord who might carry her off could she fail to
+inflame? And then I minded me of what I had read of the Roman Lucretia,
+and if I had been possessed of any magic art, I would have given the
+first raven by the way a sharp bodkin that he should carry it to her.
+
+In my soul’s anguish, while I held my bridle and whip together in my
+left hand, with the right I lifted the gold cross on my breast to my
+lips and in a silent heartfelt prayer I besought the Blessed Virgin, and
+my own dear mother in Heaven to have her in keeping.
+
+And so we rode on and on till we came to the pools by Pillenreuth. Hard
+by the larger of these, known as the King’s pool, was a sign-post, and
+not far away was the spot where they had found Eppelein, stripped
+and plundered; and in truth it was the very place for highwaymen and
+freebooters, lying within the wood and aside from the highway;
+albeit, if it came to their taking flight, they might find it again by
+Reichelstorf. Nor was there any castle nor stronghold anywhere nigh; the
+great building with walls and moats which stood on the south side of the
+King’s pool was but the peaceful cloister of the Augustine Sisters
+of Pillenreuth. All about the water lay marsh-ground overgrown with
+leafless bushes, rushes, tall grasses, and reeds. It was verily a right
+dismal and ill-boding spot.
+
+The boggy tract across which our path lay was white with fresh
+hoar-frost, and the thicket away to the south was a haunt for crows such
+as I never have seen again since; the black birds flew round and about
+it in dark clouds with loud shrieks, as though in its midst stood a
+charnel and gallows, and from the brushwood likewise, by the pool’s
+edge, came other cries of birds, all as full of complaining as though
+they were bewailing the griefs of the whole world.
+
+Here we stayed our horses, and called and shouted; but none made answer,
+save only toads and crows. “This is the place, for certain,” said Young
+Kubbeling, and Grubner the head forester, sprang to his feet to help
+him down from his tall mare. The gentlemen likewise dismounted, and
+were about to follow the Trunswicker across the mead to the place where
+Eppelein had been found; but he bid them not, inasmuch as they would mar
+the track he would fain discover.
+
+They, then, stood still and gazed after him, as I did likewise; and my
+fears waxed greater till I verily believed that the crows were indeed
+birds of ill-omen, as I saw a large black swarm of them wheel croaking
+round Kubbeling. He, meanwhile, stooped low, seeking any traces on the
+frosted grass, and his short, thick-set body seemed for all the world
+one of the imps, or pixies, which dwell among the roots of trees and
+in the holes in the rocks. He crept about with heedful care and never a
+word, prying as he went, and presently I could see that he shook his
+big head as though in doubt, nay, or in sorrow. I shuddered again, and
+meseemed the grey clouds in the sky waxed blacker, while deathly pale
+airy forms floated through the mist over the pools, in long, waving
+winding-sheets. The thick black heads of the bulrushes stood up
+motionless like grave-stones, and the grey silken tufts of the
+bog-grass, fluttering in the cold breath of a November morning, were as
+ghostly hands, threatening or warning me.
+
+Ere long I was to forget the crows, and the fogs, and the reed-grass,
+and all the foolish fears that possessed me, by reason of a real and
+well-founded terror; again did Kubbeling shake his head, and then I
+heard him call to my Uncle Conrad and Grubner the headforester, to come
+close to him, but to tread carefully. Then they stood at his side, and
+they likewise stooped low and then my uncle clasped his hands, and he
+cried in horror, “Merciful Heaven!”
+
+In two minutes I had run on tip-toe across the damp, frosted grass to
+join them, and there, sure enough, I could see full plainly the mark of
+a woman’s dainty shoe. The sole and the heel were plainly to be seen,
+and, hard by, the print of a man’s large, broad shoes, with iron-shod
+heels, which told Kubbeling that they were those of Uhlwurm’s great
+boots. Yet though we had not met those we sought, the forest was full
+of by-ways, by which they might have crossed us on the road; but nigh to
+the foot-prints of the maid and the old man were there three others.
+The old woodsman could discern them only too well; they had each and
+all been made in the hoar-frost by men’s boots. Two, it was certain,
+had been left by finely-cut soles, such as are made by skilled city
+cordwainers; and one left a track which could only be that of a spur;
+whereas the third was so flat and broad that it was for sure that of the
+shoe of a peasant, or charcoal burner.
+
+There was a green patch in the frost which could only be explained as
+having been made by one who had lain long on the earth, and the back of
+his head, where he had fallen, had left a print in the grass as big as a
+man’s fist. Here was clear proof that Ann and her companion had, on this
+very spot, been beset by three robbers, two of them knights and one of
+low degree, that Uhlwurm had fought hard and had overpowered one of them
+or had got the worst of it, and had been flung on the grass.
+
+Alas! there could be no doubt, whereas Kubbeling found a foot-print of
+Ann’s over which the spurred mark lay, plainly showing that she had come
+thither before those men. And on the highway we found fresh tracks of
+horses and men; thus it was beyond all doubt that knavish rogues had
+fallen upon Ann and Uhlwurm, and had carried them off without bloodshed,
+for no such trace was to be seen anywhere on the mead.
+
+Meanwhile the forester had followed the scent with the bloodhounds,
+starting from the place where the man had lain on the grass, and scarce
+were they lost to sight among the brushwood when they loudly gave
+tongue, and Grubner cried to us to come to him. Behind a tall alder
+bush, which had not yet lost its leaves, was a wooden lean-to on piles,
+built there by the Convent fisherman wherein to dry his nets; and
+beneath this shelter lay an old man in the garb of a serving-man, who
+doubtless had lost his life in the struggle with Uhlwurm. But Kubbeling
+was soon kneeling by his side, and whereas he found that his heart still
+beat, he presently discovered what ailed the fellow. He was sleeping
+off a drunken bout, and more by token the empty jar lay by his side.
+Likewise hard by there stood a hand-barrow, full of such wine-jars, and
+we breathed more freely, for if the drunken rogue were not himself one
+of the highway gang, they must have found him there and seized the good
+liquor.
+
+Now, while Kubbeling fetched water from the pool, Uncle Christian tried
+the quality of the jars in the barrow, and the first he opened was fine
+Malvoisie. Whether this were going to the Convent or no the drunken
+churl should tell, and a stream of cold November-water ere long brought
+him to his wits. Then was there much mirth, as the rogue thus waked on
+a sudden from his sleep let the water drip off him in dull astonishment,
+and stared at us open-mouthed; and it needed some patience till he was
+able to tell us of many matters which we afterwards heard at greater
+length and in fuller detail.
+
+He was a serving-man to Master Rummel of Nuremberg, who had been
+sent forth from Lichtenau to carry this good liquor to the nuns at
+Pillenreuth; the market-town of Lichtenau lieth beyond Schwabach and had
+of yore belonged to the Knight of Heideck, who had sold it to that city,
+of which the Rummels, who were an old and honored family, had bought it,
+with the castle.
+
+Now, whereas yestereve the Knight of Heideck, the former owner of the
+castle, a noble of staunch honor, was sitting at supper with Master
+Rummel in the fortress of Lichtenau, a rider from Pillenreuth had come
+in with a petition from the Abbess for aid against certain robber folk
+who had carried away some cattle pertaining to the convent. Hereupon
+the gentlemen made ready to go and succor the sisters, and with wise
+foresight they sent a barrow-load of good wine to Pillenreuth, to await
+them there, inasmuch as that no good liquor was to be found with the
+pious sisters. When the gentlemen had, this very morning, come to the
+place where the highwaymen had fallen on Eppelein, they had met Ann
+who was known to them at the Forest lodge, where she was in the act of
+making search for Herdegen’s letter, and they, in their spurred boots,
+had helped her. At last they had besought her to go with them to the
+Convent, by reason that the men-at-arms of Lichtenau had yesternight
+gone forth to meet the thieves, and by this time peradventure had caught
+them and found the letter on them. Ann had consented to follow this
+gracious bidding, if only she might give tidings of where she would
+be to those her friends who would for certain come in search of her.
+Thereupon Master Rummel had commanded the servingman, who had come up
+with the barrow, to tarry here and bid us likewise to the Convent; the
+fellow, however, who had already made free on his way with the contents
+of the jars, had tried the liquor again. And first he had tumbled
+down on the frosted grass and then had laid him down to rest under the
+fisherman’s hut.
+
+Rarely indeed hath a maiden gone to the cloister with a lighter heart
+than I, after I had heard these tidings, and albeit there was yet cause
+for fear and doubting, I could be as truly mirthful as the rest, and or
+ever I jumped into my saddle again I had many a kiss from bearded lips
+as a safe conduct to the Sisters. My good godfather in the overflowing
+joy of his heart rushed upon me to kiss me on both cheeks and on my
+brow, and I had gladly suffered it and smiled afterwards to perceive
+that he would allow the barrow-man to tarry no longer.
+
+In the Convent there was fresh rejoicing. The mist had hidden us from
+their sight, and we found them all at breakfast: the gentlemen and Ann,
+the lady Abbess and a novice who was the youngest daughter of Uncle
+Endres Tucher of Nuremberg, and my dear cousin, well-known likewise to
+Ann. Albeit the Convent was closed to all other men, it was ever open
+to its lord protector. Hereupon was a right happy meeting and glad
+greeting, and at the sight of Ann for the second time this day, though
+it was yet young, the bright tears rolled over Uncle Christian’s round
+twice-double chin.
+
+Now wheresoever a well-to-do Nuremberg citizen is taking his ease with
+victuals and drink, if others join him they likewise must sit down
+and eat with him, yea, if it were in hell itself. But the Convent of
+Pillenreuth was a right comfortable shelter, and my lady the Abbess a
+woman of high degree and fine, hospitable manners; and the table was
+made longer in a winking, and laid with white napery and plates and
+all befitting. None failed of appetite and thirst after the ride in the
+sharp morning air, and how glad was my soul to have my Ann again safe
+and unharmed.
+
+We were seated at table by the time our horses were tied up in the
+stables, and from the first minute there was a mirthful and lively
+exchange of talk. For my part I forthwith fell out with the Knight von
+Heideck, inasmuch as he was fain to sit betwixt Ann and me, and would
+have it that a gallant knight must ever be a more welcome neighbor to a
+damsel than her dearest woman-friend. And the loud cheer and merrymaking
+were ere long overmuch for me; and I would gladly have withdrawn with
+Ann to some lonely spot, there to think of our dear one.
+
+At last we were released; Jorg Starch, the captain of the Lichtenau
+horsemen, a tall, lean soldier, with shrewd eyes, a little turned-up
+cock-nose, and thick full beard, now came in and, lifting his hand to
+his helmet, said as sharply as though he were cutting each word short
+off with his white teeth: “Caught; trapped; all the rabble!”
+
+In a few minutes we were all standing on the rampart between the pools
+and the Convent, and there were the miserable knaves whom Jorg Starch
+and his men-at-arms had surrounded and carried off while they were
+making good cheer over their morning broth and sodden flesh. They
+had declared that they had been of Wichsenstein’s fellowship, but had
+deserted Eber by reason of his over-hard rule, and betaken themselves to
+robbery on their own account. Howbeit Starch was of opinion that matters
+were otherwise. When he had been sent forth to seek them he had as yet
+no knowledge of the attack on Eppelein; now, so soon as he heard that
+they had stripped him of his clothes, he bid them stand in a row and
+examined each one; in truth they were a pitiable crew, and had they
+not so truly deserved our compassion their rags must have moved us to
+laughter. One had made his cloak of a woman’s red petticoat, pulling it
+over his head and cutting slits in it for arm-holes, and another great
+fellow wore a friar’s brown frock and on his head a good-wife’s fur
+turban tied on with an infant’s swaddling band. Jorg Starch’s enquiries
+as to where were Eppelein’s garments made one of them presently point to
+his decent and whole jerkin, another to his under coat, and the biggest
+man of them all to his hat with the cock’s feather, which was all
+unmatched with his ragged weed. Starch searched each piece for the
+letter, and meanwhile Uhlwurm stooped his long body, groping on the
+ground in such wise that it might have seemed that he was seeking the
+four-leaved clover; and on a sudden he laid hands on the shoes of a
+lean, low fellow, with hollow cheeks and a thrifty beard on his sharp
+chin, who till now had looked about him, the boldest of them all; he
+felt round the top of the shoes, and looking him in the face, asked him
+in a threatening voice: “Where are the tops?”
+
+“The tops?” said the man in affrighted tones. “I wear shoes, Master, and
+shoes are but boots which have no tops; and mine....”
+
+“And yours!” quoth Uhlwurm in scorn. “The rats have made shoes of
+your boots and have eaten the tops, unless it was the mice? Look here,
+Captain, if it please you....”
+
+Starch did his bidding, and when he had made the lean knave put off his
+left shoe he looked at it on all sides, stroked his beard the wrong way,
+and said solemnly: “Well said, Master, this is matter for thought! All
+this gives the case a fresh face.” And he likewise cried to the rogue:
+“Where are the tops?” The fellow had had time to collect himself, and
+answered boldly: “I am but a poor weak worm, my lord Captain; they were
+full heavy for me, so I cut them away and cast them into the pool,
+where by now the carps are feeding on them.” And he glanced round at
+his fellows, as it were to read in their faces their praise of his quick
+wit. Howbeit they were in overmuch dread to pay him that he looked for;
+nay, and his bold spirit was quelled when Starch took him by the throat
+and asked him: “Do you see that bough there, my lad? If another lie
+passes your lips, I will load it with a longer and heavier pear than
+ever it bore yet? Sebald, bring forth the ropes.--Now my beauty; answer
+me three things: Did the messenger wear boots? How come you, who are one
+of the least of the gang, to be wearing sound shoes? And again, Where
+are the tops?”
+
+Whereupon the little man craved, sadly whimpering, that he might be
+asked one question at a time, inasmuch as he felt as it were a swarm of
+humble-bees in his brain, and when Starch did his will he looked at the
+others as though to say: “You did no justice to my ready wit,” and then
+he told that he had in truth drawn off the boots from the messenger’s
+feet and had been granted them to keep, by reason that they were too
+small for the others, while he was graced with a small and dainty foot.
+And he cast a glance at us ladies on whom he had long had an eye, a sort
+of fearful leer, and went on: “The tops--they... “ and again he
+stuck fast. Howbeit, as Starch once more pointed to the pear-tree, he
+confessed in desperate terror that another man had claimed the tops,
+one who had not been caught, inasmuch as they were so high and good.
+Hereupon Starch laughed so loud and clapped his hand with such a smack
+as made us maidens start, and he cried: “That’s it, that is the way of
+it! Zounds, ye knaves! Then the Sow--[Eber, his name, means a boar. This
+is a sort of punning insult]--of Wichsenstein was himself your leader
+yesterday, and it was only by devilish ill-hap that the knave was not
+with you when I took you! You ragged ruffians would never have given
+over the tops in this marsh and moorland, to any but a rightful master,
+and I know where the Sow is lurking--for the murderer of a messenger is
+no more to be called a Boar. Now then, Sebald! In what hamlet hereabout
+dwells there a cobbler?”
+
+“There is crooked Peter at Neufess, and Hackspann at Reichelstorf,” was
+the answer.
+
+“Good; that much we needed to know,” said Starch. “And now, little one,”
+ and he gave the man another shaking, “Out with it. Did the Sow--or, that
+there may be no mistake--did Eber of Wichsenstein ride away to Neufess
+or to Reichelstorf? Who was to sew the tops to his shoes, Peter or
+Hackspann?”
+
+The terrified creature clasped his slender hands in sheer amazement, and
+cried: “Was there ever such abounding wisdom born in the land since the
+time of chaste Joseph, who interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams? The man who
+shall catch you asleep, my lord Captain, must rise earlier than
+such miserable hunted wretches as we are. He rode to Neufess, albeit
+Hackspann is the better cobbler. Reichelstorf lies hard by the highway
+by which you came, my lord; and if Eber does but hear the echo of your
+right glorious name, my lord Baron and potent Captain....”
+
+“And what is my name--your lord Baron and potent Captain?” Starch
+thundered out.
+
+“Yours?” said the little man unabashed. “Yours? Merciful Heaven! Till
+this minute I swear I could have told you; but in such straits a poor
+little tailor such as I might forget his own father’s honored name!”
+ At this Starch laughed out and clapped the little rogue in all kindness
+behind the ears, and when his men-at-arms, whom he had commanded to make
+ready, had mounted their horses, he cried to Uhlwurm: “I may leave the
+rest to you, Master; you know where Barthel bestows the liquor!--Now,
+Sebald, bind this rabble and keep them safe.--And make a pig-sty ready.
+If I fail to bring the boar home this very night, may I be called Dick
+Dule to the end of my days instead of Jorg Starch!”
+
+And herewith he made his bow, sprang into his saddle, and rode away with
+his men.
+
+“A nimble fellow, after God’s heart!” quoth Master Rummel to my Uncle
+Conrad as they looked after him. And that he was in truth; albeit we
+could scarce have looked for it, we learned on the morrow that he
+might bear his good name to the grave, inasmuch as he had taken Eber
+of Wichsenstein captive in the cobbler’s work-place, and carried him to
+Pillenreuth, whence he came to Nuremberg, and there to the gallows.
+
+Starch had left a worthy man to fill his place; hardly had he departed
+when old Uhlwurm pulled off the tailor’s right shoe, and now it was made
+plain wherefor Eppelein had so anxiously pointed to his feet; the letter
+entrusted to him had indeed been hid in his boot. Under the lining
+leather of the sole it lay, but only one from Akusch addressed to
+me. Howbeit, when we had threatened the now barefoot knave with cruel
+torture, he confessed that, having been an honest tailor till of late,
+he had soft feet by reason that he had ever sat over his needle. And
+when he pulled on the stolen shoes somewhat therein hard hurt his sole,
+and when he made search under the leather, behold a large letter closely
+folded and sealed. This had been the cause and reason of his being ill
+at ease, and he had opened it, being of an enquiring mind, and, inasmuch
+as he was a schoolmaster’s son he could read with the best. Howbeit, at
+that time the gang were about to light a fire to make their supper, and
+whereas it would not burn by reason of the wet, they had taken the dry
+paper and used it to make the feeble flame blaze up.
+
+Thus there was nought more to be hoped for, save that the tailor might
+by good hap remember certain parts of the letter; and in truth he was
+able to tell us that it was written to a maid named Ann, and in it there
+were such words of true love in great straits and bitter parting as
+moved him to tears, by reason that he likewise had once had a true love.
+
+While he spoke thus he perceived that Ann was the maiden to whom the
+letter had been writ, and he forthwith poured forth a great flow of
+fiery love-vows such as he may have learned from his Amadis, but never,
+albeit he said it, from that letter.
+
+One thing at least he could make known to us from Herdegen’s letter;
+and that was that the writer said much concerning slavery and a great
+ransom, and likewise of a malignant woman who was his foe, and of her
+husband, whose wiles could by no means be brought to nought unless
+it were by cunning and prudent craft. This, indeed, he could repeat
+well-nigh word for word, by reason that he had conceived the plan of
+urging Eber to set forth for the land of Egypt with his robber-band, and
+deliver that guiltless slave from the hands of the misbelieving heathen.
+Albeit he had made himself a highway thief, it was only by reason that
+he had been told that von Wichsenstein had no other end than to restore
+to the poor that of which the rich had robbed them, and to release the
+oppressed from the power of the mighty. All this had not suffered him to
+rest on his tailor’s bench till he had laid down the needle and seized
+the cook’s great roasting spit. Ere long he had discovered that, like
+master like man, each man cared for himself alone. He himself had been
+forced to do many cruel and knavish deeds, sorely against his will and
+all that was good in him. From his pious and gentle mother he had come
+by a soft and harmless soul, so that in the winter season he would
+strew sugar for the flies when they were starving, and it had even gone
+against him to stick his needle into a flesh-colored garment for sheer
+fear of hurting it. When the others had left the messenger-lad stripped
+on the road, he had gone back alone and had bound up the wound in his
+head with his own kerchief, and more by token that he spoke the truth
+the kerchief bore his Christian name in the corner of it, “Pignot,”
+ which his good mother, God rest her, had sewn there. He was but a poor
+orphan, and if... Here his voice failed him for sobs. But ere long he
+recovered his good cheer; for Ann had indeed marked the letter P on
+the cloth about Eppelein’s head, and the poor wight was of a truth none
+other than he had declared. Hereupon we made bold to speak for him, and
+it was to his own act of mercy and the letters set in his kerchief by
+that pious mother that he owed it. He afterwards came to be an honest
+and worthy master-tailor at Velden, and instead of taking up the cudgels
+for his oppressed fellow men, he suffered stern treatment in much
+humility at the hands of the great woman whom he chose to wife,
+notwithstanding he was so small a man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+Herdegen’s letter was burnt with fire, and the letter from Akusch was to
+me, and contained little besides thanks and assurances of faithfulness
+due to me his “beloved mistress,” with greetings to Cousin Maud, who had
+ever with just reproofs kept him in the right way, and to every member
+of the household. The Pastscyiptum only contained tidings of great
+import; and it was as follows:
+
+“Moreover I declare and swear to you, my gracious lady, that my
+kindred take as good care of my Lord Kunz as though he were at home in
+Nuremberg. His wounds are bad, yet by faithful care, and by the grace
+and help of God the all-merciful, they shall be healed. He lacks for
+nothing. In the matter of my lord Herdegen’s ransom there are many
+obstacles.
+
+“Had God the all-merciful but granted to my dear father to hold his high
+estate a few weeks longer, it would have been a small matter to him to
+release a slave; but now he is cast into a dungeon by the evil malice of
+his enemies. Oh! that the all-wise God should suffer such malignant men
+to live as his foes and as that shameless woman whom you have long
+known by the name of Ursula Tetzel! But you will have learnt by my lord
+Herdegen’s letter all I could tell, and you will understand that your
+humble servant will daily beseech the Most High God to prosper you, and
+cause you to send hither some wise and potent captain to the end that we
+may be delivered; inasmuch as the craft and fury of our foes are no less
+than their power. They are lions and likewise poisonous serpents.”
+
+These lines were signed with the name of Akusch, and the words, Ibn
+Tagri Verdi al-Mahmudi, which is to say: Akusch, Son of Tagri Verdi
+al-Mahmudi.
+
+We were at home at the Forest-lodge or ever the sun had set; there we
+found Aunt Jacoba more calm than we had hoped for, inasmuch as that not
+only had her husband sent her brief tidings of us, but likewise she had
+heard more exactly all that had kept us away. Kubbeling, albeit the lady
+Abbess had bidden him to her table, had privily stolen forth to send a
+messenger to the grieving lady, whereas the thought of her gave him no
+peace among the feasters. Eppelein was neither better nor worse. But, in
+his stead, Master Windecke the Imperial Councillor, who was learned in
+the trading matters of all the world and who, in our absence, had wholly
+won the heart of the other women and, above all, of Cousin Maud by his
+good discourse, was able to interpret somewhat which had been dark to
+us in Akusch’s letter. When I showed it to him he started to his feet in
+amazement and declared that my squire’s father, Tagri Verdi al-Mahmudi,
+had been one of the most famous Captains of the host who had struck the
+great blow in Cyprus and carried off King Janus to the Sultan at Cairo.
+Nay, and he could likewise tell us what had led to the overthrow of this
+same Tagri Verdi, inasmuch as he had heard the tale from a certain noble
+gentleman of Cyprus, who had come to the court of Emperor Sigismund to
+entreat him to provide moneys for the ransom of King Janus, as follows:
+When Akusch’s glorious father was raised to the dignity of a chief
+Mameluke, together with Burs Bey, now the Sultan of Egypt, they were
+both cast into prison during a certain war and lay in the same dungeon.
+There had Tagri Verdi dreamed one night that his fellow, Burs Bey, would
+in due time be placed on the throne, and had revealed this to him. Then,
+when this prophecy was fulfilled, and Burs Bey was Sultan, Tagri Verdi
+rose step by step to high honor, and had won many glorious fights as his
+Sovereign’s chief Emir and Captain. The Sultan heaped him with honors
+and treasure, until he learned that his former companion had dreamed
+another dream, and this time that it was to be his fate to mount
+the throne. Hereupon Burs Bey was sore afraid; thus he had cast the
+victorious Captain into prison, and many feared for Tagri that his life
+would not be spared.
+
+And Master Windecke could tell us yet more of the matter; and whereas
+from him we heard that our Emperor, by reason that his coffers were
+empty, could do nought to ransom King Janus, and that the Republic of
+Venice was fain to take it in hand, we were in greater fear than ever,
+inasmuch as this must need add yet more to the high respect already
+enjoyed by the Republic in the land of Egypt, and to that in which its
+Consul Giustiniani was held; and thereby his wife Ursula might, with the
+greater security, give vent to that malice she bore in her heart against
+Herdegen.
+
+Thus we went to our beds silent and downcast; and after we had lain
+there a long time and found no sleep the words would come, and I said:
+“My poor, dear Kunz! to be there in that hot Moorish land, wounded and
+alone! Oh, Ann, that must be full hard to bear.”
+
+“Hard indeed!” quoth she in a low voice. “But for a free man, and so
+proud a man as Herdegen, to be a slave to a misbelieving Heathen, far
+away from all he loves, and chidden and punished for every unduteous
+look; Oh, Margery! to think of that!” And her voice failed.
+
+I spoke to her, and showed that we had much to make us thankful,
+inasmuch as we now at last knew that he we loved was yet alive.
+
+Then was there silence in the chamber; but I minded me then of what
+Akusch had written, that he besought some wise and mighty gentleman to
+set forth from Nuremberg to overpower the foe, and now I racked my brain
+to think whom we might send to take my brothers’ cause in hand--yet
+still in vain. None could I think of who might conveniently quit home
+for so long, or who was indeed fit for such an enterprise.
+
+Which of us twain first fell asleep I wist not; when I woke in the
+morning Ann had already quitted the chamber; and while Susan braided
+my hair, all I had been planning in the night grew plainer to me, and I
+went forth and down stairs full of a great purpose which made my heart
+beat the faster. When I entered the ball, behold, I saw the same thing,
+albeit I was now awake, as I had seen yestermorn in my half-sleep. Yet
+was it not Uhlwurm, but Kubbeling, to whom Ann was paying court. As he
+stood facing her, she looked him trustfully in the eyes, and held his
+great hand in hers; nay, and when she saw me she did not let it go,
+but cried out in a clear and thankful voice: “Then so it is, Father
+Seyfried; and if you do as I beseech you, all will come to a good end
+and you will remember so good a deed with great joy all your life long.”
+
+“As to ‘great joy’ I know not,” replied he. “For if I be not the veriest
+fool in all the land from Venice to Iceland, my name is not Kubbeling.
+I scarce know myself! Howbeit, let that pass: I stand by my word, albeit
+the pains I shall endure in the winter journey.”
+
+“The Saints will preserve you on so pious an errand,” Ann declared. “And
+if they should nevertheless come upon you, dear Father, I will tend you
+as your own daughter would. And now again your hand, and a thousand,
+thousand thanks.”
+
+Whereupon Kubbeling, with a melancholy growl, and yet a smile on his
+face, held forth his hand, and Ann held it fast and cried to me: “You
+are witness, Margery, that he has promised to do my will. Oh, Margery, I
+could fly for gladness!”
+
+And verily meseemed as though the wings had grown, and her eyes sparkled
+right joyfully and thankfully. And I had discerned from her very first
+words whereunto she had beguiled Kubbeling; and verily to me it was a
+marvel, inasmuch as I myself had imagined the self-same thing in the
+watches of the night, and while my hair was doing: namely, to beseech
+Kubbeling to be my fellow and keeper on a voyage to Egypt. Who but he
+knew the way so well? Howbeit, Ann had prevented me, and now, whereas I
+heard the sound of voices on the stair, I yet found time to cry to her:
+“We go together, Ann; that is a settled matter!”
+
+Hereupon she looked at me, at first in amazement and then with a
+blissful consenting smile, and said “You had imagined the same thing, I
+know. Yes, Margery, we will go.”
+
+The others now trooped in, and I had no more time but hastily to clasp
+her hand. Howbeit, when most of our guests had gone into the refectory,
+where the morning meal was by this time steaming on the board, none were
+left with us save Cousin Maud and Uncle Conrad and Uncle Christian; and
+Uncle Conrad enquired of the Brunswicker whether he purposed indeed to
+set forth this day, and the man answered No, if so be that his lordship
+the grand-forester would grant him shelter yet awhile, and consent to a
+plan to which he had been just now beguiled.
+
+And my uncle gave him his hand, and said the longer he might stay the
+better. And then he went on to ask with some curiosity what that plan
+might be. Howbeit, I took upon me to speak, and I told him in few words
+how that we had been thinking whom we might best send forth to help my
+brethren, and that, with the morning sun, light had dawned on our minds,
+and that whereas we had found a faithful and experienced companion, it
+was our firm intent....
+
+Here Cousin Maud broke in, having come close to me with open ears,
+crying aloud in terror: “What?” Howbeit I looked her in the eyes and
+went on:
+
+“When our mind is set, Cousin, the thing will be done, of that you and
+all may make certain--that stands as sure as the castle on the rock.
+And be it known to you all, with all due respect, that this time I will
+suffer none to cross my path. Once for all, I, Margery, and Ann with
+me, are going forth to the land of Egypt in Kubbeling’s company, and to
+Cairo itself!”
+
+The worthy old woman gave a scream, and while the Brunswicker shut
+the dining-hall door, that we might not be heard, she broke out, with
+glowing eyes, beside herself with wrath: “Verily and indeed! So that is
+your purpose! Thanks be to the Virgin, to say and to do are not one and
+the same, far from it. Do you conceive that you hold all love for those
+two youths yonder in sole fief or lease? As though others were not every
+whit as ready as you to give their best to save them. A head that runs
+at a wall cracks its skull! Maids should never touch matters which do
+not beseem them! What next for a skittle-witted fancy!--That it should
+have come into the brain of a Schopper is no marvel, but Ann, prudent
+Ann! Would any man have dreamed of such a thing in our young days,
+Master Cousin? There they stand, two well born Nuremberg damsels, who
+have never been suffered to go next door alone after Ave Maria! And they
+are fain to cross the seas to a dark outlandish place, into the very
+jaws of the dreadful Heathen who butcher Christian people!” Whereupon
+she clapped her hands and laughed aloud, albeit not from her heart, and
+then raved on: “At least is it a new thing, and the first time that the
+like hath ever been heard of in Nuremberg!”
+
+If the whole of the holy Roman Empire had risen up to make resistance
+and to mock us, it would have failed to move Ann or me, and I answered,
+loud and steadfast: “Everything right and good that ever was done in
+Nuremberg, my heart’s beloved Cousin, was done there once for the first
+time; and it is right and good that we should go, and we mean to do it!”
+ Whereupon Cousin Maud drew back in disgust and amazement, and gazed from
+one to the other of us with enquiring eyes, and as wondering a face as
+though she were striving to rede some dark riddle. Then her vast bosom
+began to heave up and down, and we, who knew her, could not fail to
+perceive that somewhat great and strange was moving her. And whereas she
+presently shook her heavy head to and fro, and set her fists hard on
+her hips, I looked for a sudden and dreadful storm, and my Uncle Conrad
+likewise gazed her in the face with expectant fear; yet it was long in
+breaking forth. What then was my feeling when, at last, she took her
+hands from her sides and struck her right hand in her left palm so that
+it rang again, and burst forth eagerly, albeit with roguish good humor
+and tearful eyes: “If indeed everything good and right that ever was
+done in Nuremberg must have once been done there for the first time, our
+good town shall now see that a grey-headed old woman with gout in
+her toes can sail over seas, from the Pegnitz even to the land of the
+barbarian Heathen and Cairo! Your hand on it, Young Kubbeling, and
+yours, Maidens. We will be fellow-travellers. Signed and sealed. Strew
+sand on it!”
+
+Hereupon Ann, who was wont to be still, shrieked loudly and cast herself
+first on my cousin’s neck and then on mine and then on my uncle’s;
+he indeed stood as though deeply offended, as likewise did my good
+godfather Christian. Yet they would not speak, that they might not mar
+our joy, albeit Uncle Pfinzing growled forth that our plan was sheer
+youthful folly, wilfulness, and the like. “At any rate it is an unlaid
+egg, so long as my wife has not added mustard to the peppered broth,”
+ Uncle Conrad declared, and he departed to carry tidings to my aunt of
+what mad folly these women’s heads had brewed.
+
+Even Kubbeling shook his head, albeit he spoke not, inasmuch as he knew
+that it was hard to contend with the powers beyond seas.
+
+He and Cousin Maud had ever been on terms of good-fellowship with Uncle
+Christian, but to-day my uncle was ill to please; neither look nor word
+had he for his heart’s darling, Ann; and when he presently recovered
+somewhat, he stormed around, with so red a face and such furious ire
+that we feared lest he should have another dizzy stroke, saying “that
+Kubbeling and Cousin Maud might be ashamed of themselves, inasmuch as
+they were old enough to know better and were acting like a pair of
+young madcaps.” And thus he went on, till it was overmuch for the
+Brunswicker’s endurance, and on a sudden he cried out in great wrath
+that that he had promised was in truth not wise, forasmuch as that he
+would gain nought but mischief thereby, yet that it concerned him alone
+and he took it all on himself, although Master Pfinzing might yet ask
+for why and to what end he should risk a hurt by it, whereas, to his
+knowledge, the ill-starred Junker Schopper could be little more to him
+than the man in the moon. He was wont, quoth he, to take good care not
+to risk his skin for other folks, but in this matter it seemed to him
+not too dear a bargain. Neither the stoutest will nor the strongest fist
+might avail against Mistress Ursula, the veriest witch in all the land
+of Egypt; a better head was needed for that, than the heavy brain-pan
+which God Almighty had set on his short neck, and yet he had sworn to
+bring her knavery to nought. Our faithful hearts and shrewd heads would
+be the aid he needed. He trusted to Cousin Maud to dare to dance with
+old Nick himself, if need should arise. And he was man enough to protect
+us all three. And now Master Pfinzing knew all about it and, if he yet
+craved to hear more, he would find him among the birds, whereas Uhlwurm
+was to depart on his way with them that very day, without him.
+
+And he turned his back on my uncle, and quitted the chamber with a heavy
+tread; but he turned on the threshold and cried: “Yet keep your lips
+from telling what you have in your mind, Master, and in especial to
+those who are at their meal in there, as touching that Tetzel-adder; for
+the wind flies over seas faster than we can.”
+
+While he spoke thus Uncle Christian had recovered his temper, and he
+followed after Kubbeling with such a haste as his huge body would allow,
+nor was it to quarrel with him any more.
+
+The rest, who had sat at breakfast, had by good hap heard nought of our
+disputing, by reason that Master Windecke had so much new matter for
+discourse that every ear hung on his words; and he, again, forgot to
+eat while he talked. In Cousin Maud, indeed, as she hearkened to
+my godfather’s wrathful speech, certain doubts had arisen; yet even
+stronger resistance would never have turned her aside from anything she
+deemed truly good and right; howbeit she was more than willing to leave
+it to us to settle matters with Aunt Jacoba. We went up-stairs to her,
+and at her chamber door our courage failed us, inasmuch as we could hear
+through the door my uncle’s angry speech, and that laugh which my aunt
+was wont to utter when aught came to her ears which she was not fain to
+hear.
+
+“And if she were to say No?” said I to Ann. Hereupon a right sorrowful
+and painful cloud overspread her face, and it was in a dejected tone
+that she answered me that then indeed all must be at an end, and
+her fondest hopes nipped, by reason that she owed more to Mistress
+Waldstromer than ever she could repay, and whatsoever she might
+undertake against her will would of a certainty come to no good end. And
+we heard my aunt’s laugh again; but then I took heart, and raised the
+latch, and Ann led the way into the chamber.
+
+Howbeit, if we had cherished the smallest hope without, within it failed
+us wholly. As we went in my uncle was standing close by my aunt; his
+back was towards us, and he saw us not; but his mien alone showed us
+that he was wroth and provoked: his voice quaked as he cried aloud with
+a shrug of his shoulders and his hand uplifted: “Such a purpose is sheer
+madness and most unseemly!”
+
+Then, when for the third time I coughed to make our presence known to
+him, he turned his red face towards us, and cried out in great fury:
+“Here you are to answer for yourselves; and come what may, this at least
+shall be said: ‘If mischief comes of it, I wash my hands in innocence!’”
+
+Whereupon he went in all haste to the door and had lifted his hand to
+slam it to, when he minded him of his beloved wife’s sick health and
+gently shut it and softly dropped the latch.
+
+We stood in front of Aunt Jacoba, and could scarce believe our eyes and
+ears when she opened wide her arms and, with beaming eyes, cried in a
+voice of glad content: “Come, come to my heart, children! Oh, you
+good, dear, brave maids! Why, why am I so old, so fettered, so sick a
+creature? Why may I not go with you?”
+
+At her first words we had fallen on our knees by her side, and she
+fervently clasped our heads to her bosom, kissed our lips and foreheads,
+and cried, with ever-streaming eyes: “Yes, children, yes! It is brave,
+and the right way; Courage and true love are not dead in the hearts of
+the women of Nuremberg. Ah, and how many a time have I imagined that I
+might myself rise and fly after my froward, dear, unduteous exile, my
+own Gotz, be he where he may, over mountains and seas to the ends of the
+earth!--I, a hapless, suffering skeleton! Yet what is denied to the old,
+the young may do, and the Virgin and all the Saints shall guard you! And
+Kubbeling, Young-Kubbeling, that bravest, truest Seyfried! Bring him up
+to speak with me. So rough and so good!--My old man, to be sure, must
+storm and rave, but then his feeble and sickly nobody of a little wife
+can wind him round her finger. Leave him to me, and be sure you shall
+win his blessing.” After noon Uhlwurm and the waggon of birds set forth
+to Frankfort, where Kubbeling’s eldest son was tarrying to meet his
+father with fresh falcons. Or ever the grim old grey-beard mounted his
+horse, he whispered to Ann: “Truest of maidens, find some device to move
+Seyfried to take me in your fellowship to the land of Egypt, and I will
+work a charm which shall of a surety give your lover back to you, if
+indeed he is not...” and he was about to cry “gone” as was his wont; yet
+he refrained himself and spoke it not. Young Kubbeling tarried at the
+Forest-lodge; and as for my uncle, it was soon plain enough that my aunt
+had been in the right in the matter; nay, when we went home to the city,
+meseemed as though he and his wife had from the first been of one mind.
+Our purpose pleased him better as he learned to believe more surely that
+our little women’s wits would peradventure be able to find his wandering
+son, and to tempt him to return to his father’s forest home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+We carefully obeyed Kubbeling’s counsel that we should keep our purpose
+dark, and it remained hidden even from the guests at the lodge. On the
+other hand they had been told all that Herdegen’s letter had contained,
+and that it was Ursula who was pursuing him with such malignant spite.
+Yet albeit we bound over each one to hold his peace on the matter
+in Nuremberg, no woman, nor perchance no man either, could keep such
+strange doings privy from near kith and kin; and whereas we might
+not tell what in truth it was which stood in the way of our brothers’
+homecoming, it was rumored among our cousins and gossips that some vast
+and unattainable sum was needed to ransom the two young Schoppers. And
+other marvellous reports got abroad, painting my brother’s slavery in
+terrible colors.
+
+At first this made me wroth, but presently it provoked me less, inasmuch
+as that great compassion was aroused; and those very citizens and dames
+who of old were wont to chide Herdegen as a limb of Satan, and would
+have gladly seen him led to the gallows, now remembered him otherwise.
+Yea, fellow-feeling hath kindly eyes, widely open to all that is good,
+and willing to be shut to all that is evil, and so it came to pass that
+the noble gifts of the poor slave now lost to the town, were lauded
+to the skies. Hereupon came a letter from my lord Cardinal with these
+tidings of good comfort: that he was willing to administer extreme
+unction to my grand-uncle Im Hoff, if his life should be in peril when
+his eminence returned from England. Our next letters were, by his
+order, to find him at Brussels, and when old Dame Pernhart had given her
+consent to our journeying to the land of Egypt--whereas Aunt Jacoba held
+her wisdom and shrewd wit in high honor,--and had moved her son and Dame
+Giovanna to do likewise, Ann wrote a long letter to my lord Cardinal,
+the venerable head of the Pernhart family, setting forth in touching
+words for what cause and to what end she had dared so bold a venture.
+She besought his aid and blessing, and declared that the inward voice,
+which he had taught her to obey, gave her assurance that the purpose she
+had in hand was pleasing in the eyes of God and the Virgin.
+
+I, for my part, could never have writ so fair a letter; and how calmly
+would Ann now fulfil the duties of each day, while Cousin Maud, albeit
+her feet scarce might carry her, was here, there, and everywhere, like a
+Will-o’-the-Wisp.
+
+Ann it was who first conceived the idea of going with Young Kubbeling
+to the Futterers’ house and there making enquiries as to the roads to
+Genoa, and also concerning the merchants who might there be found ready
+and willing to ship his falcons for sale in Alexandria; inasmuch as that
+it was only by journeying in a galleon which sailed not from Venice that
+we could escape Ursula’s spies; and that Kubbeling should suffer loss
+through us we could by no means allow. And whereas old Master Futterer
+himself was now in Nuremberg, he declared himself willing to buy the
+birds on account of his own house, at the same price as the traders
+in Venice; nor was the Brunswicker any whit loth, forasmuch as that he
+might presently get a better price on the Lido, when it should be known
+that he had other ways and means at his command. Also the journey by
+Genoa gave us this advantage: that we were bound to no time or season.
+Old Master Futterer pledged himself to find a ship at any time when
+Kubbeling should need it.
+
+Whereas we purposed to set forth in the middle of December, we went
+to the forest-lodge early in that month, and as it was with me at that
+time, so, for sure, must it be with the swallows and the nightingales or
+ever they fly south over mountains and seas. Never had the pure air been
+sweeter, never had I looked forward to the future with greater hope and
+strength or higher purpose. And my feeble, sickly Aunt Jacoba, meseemed,
+was like-minded with me. In spirit, ever eager, she was with us already
+in that distant region, and albeit of old she ever had preferred Ann
+above me, now on a sudden the tables were turned; she could never see
+enough of me, and when at last Ann was fain to go home to town with
+Uncle Christian, she besought so pressingly that I would stay with her
+that I was bound to yield; and indeed I was well content to tarry there,
+the forest being now in all its glory.
+
+The daintiest lace was hung over the frosted trees. They had been
+dipped, meseemed, in melted silver and crystal, and the whole forest was
+broidered over with shining enamel and thickly strewn with clear diamond
+sparks. And how brightly everything glittered when the sun rose up from
+the morning mist, and blazed down on all this glory from a blue sky!
+At night the moon lighted up the frosted forest with a softer and more
+loving ray, and till a late hour I would gaze forth at it, or up at the
+starry vault where the shooting stars came flying across from the dark
+blue deep. Now it is well-known to many who are still in their green
+youth that, whensoever it befalls that we are in the act of thinking of
+some heartfelt wish just as a star falls, it is sure of fulfilment; and
+behold, on the very next night, as I was gazing upwards and wondering in
+my heart whether indeed we might be able to rescue my brothers, and to
+find my Cousin Gotz as his sick mother so fervently hoped, a bright star
+fell, as it were right in front of me. Whereupon I went to bed in such
+good cheer and so sure of myself as I have rarely felt before or since
+that night.
+
+And next morning, as I went to my aunt in high spirits and happy mood,
+she perceived that some good hap had befallen me. Then, when I had told
+her what I had had in my mind as the star fell which, as little children
+believe, is dropped from the hand of an angel blinded by the glory of
+Almighty God, she looked me in the face with a sad smile and bid me sit
+down by her side. And she took my hand in hers and opened her heart so
+wide as she had never done till this hour. It was plain to see that she
+had long been biding her time for this full and free discourse, and she
+confessed that she had never shown me such love and care as were indeed
+my due. The mere sight of me had ever hurt the open wound, inasmuch as
+long ago, or ever I first went to school, her fondest hopes had been set
+on me. She had looked on me ever as her only son’s future wife, and Gotz
+himself had been of the same mind, whereas in his boyhood, and even when
+his beard was coming, he loved nought better than little Margery in her
+red hood.
+
+And she reminded me now of many a kind act her son had done me, and how
+that once on a time, when my lord the High Constable had bidden him with
+other lads to Kadolzburg, which she and my uncle took as a great honor,
+he had said, No, he would not go from home, by reason that Cousin Maud
+was to come that day and bring me with her.
+
+   [Kadolzburg--A country lodge belonging to the High Constables of the
+   city of Nuremberg, and their favorite resort, even after they had
+   became Electors of Brandenburg. It was at about three miles and a
+   half west of the town]
+
+Whereupon arose his first sharp dispute with his parents, and when my
+uncle threatened that he would carry him thither by force he had stolen
+away into the woods, and stayed all night with some bee-keeper folk, and
+not come home till midday on the morrow, when it was too late to ride to
+the Castle in good time. ‘To punish him for this he was locked up;
+but hearing my voice below he had let himself down by the gutter-pipe,
+seized my hand, and ran away to the woods with me, nor did he come back
+till Ave Maria. And hereupon he was soundly thrashed, albeit he was even
+then a great lad and of good counsel in all matters.
+
+My uncle’s wrath at that time had dwelt in my mind, but my share in the
+matter was new to me and brought the color to my face. Howbeit, I deemed
+it might have been better if my aunt had never told me; for though it
+was indeed good to hear and gladdened my soul, yet it would hinder me
+from looking Gotz freely in the face if by good hap I should meet him.
+
+Then she went on to tell me in full all that had befallen my cousin
+until he had gone forth to wander. When they had parted in wrath, he had
+written to her from the town to say that if she were steadfast in her
+displeasure he should seek a new home for himself and his sweetheart in
+a far country; and she had sent him a letter to tell him that her arms
+were ever open to receive him, but that rather than suffer the only son
+and heir of the old and noble race of Waldstromer to throw himself away
+on a craftsman’s daughter, she would never more set eyes on him whom she
+loved with all her heart. Never more, and she swore it by the Saviour’s
+wounds with the crucifix in her hand, should his parents’ doors be
+opened to him unless he gave up the coppersmith’s daughter and besought
+his mother’s pardon.
+
+And now the sick old woman bewailed her stern hardness and her
+over-hasty oath with bitter tears; Gotz had been faithful to his
+Gertrude in despite of her letter, and when, three years later, the
+tidings reached him that his sweetheart had pined away for grief and
+longing, and departed this life with his name on her lips, he had
+written in the wild anguish of his young soul that, now Gertrude was
+dead, he had nought more to crave of his parents; and that whereas his
+mother had sworn with her hand on the image of the Saviour never to open
+her doors to him till he had renounced his sweet, pure love, he now
+made an oath not less solemn and binding, by the image of the Crucified
+Christ, that he would never turn homewards till she bid him thither
+of her own free will, and owned that she repented her of that innocent
+maid’s early death, whereas there was not her like among all the noble
+maidens of Nuremberg, whatever their names might be.
+
+This letter I read myself, and I plainly saw that these twain had sadly
+marred their best joy in life by over-hasty ire. Albeit, I knew full
+well how stubborn a spirit was Aunt Jacoba’s, I nevertheless strove to
+move her to send a letter to her son bidding him home; yet she would
+not, though she bewailed herself sorely.
+
+“Only one thing of those he requires of me can I in all truth grant
+him,” quoth she. “If you find him, you may tell him that his mother
+sends her fondest blessing, and assure him of my heart’s deepest
+devotion; nay, and let him understand that I am pining with longing for
+him, and that I obey his will inasmuch as that I truly mourn the death
+of his beloved; for that is verily the truth, the Virgin and the Saints
+be my witness. Yet I may not and I will not open my doors to him till
+he has craved my forgiveness, and if I did so he must think of his own
+mother as a perjured woman.”
+
+Hereupon I showed her--and my eyes overflowed--that his oath stood forth
+as against her oath, and that one was as weighty as the other in the
+sight of the Most High.
+
+“Set aside that cruel vow, my dear aunt,” cried I, “I will make any
+pilgrimage with you, and I know full well that no penance will seem
+overhard to you.”
+
+“No, no, of a surety, Margery, no!” she replied with a groan. “And the
+Chaplain said the like to me long ago; and yet I feel in my heart that
+you and he are in the wrong. An oath sworn by Christ’s wounds!--Moreover
+I am the elder and his mother, he is the younger and my son. It is his
+part to come to me, and if he then shall make a pilgrimage it shall be
+to Rome and the Holy Sepulchre. He has time before him in which to do
+any penance the Holy Church may require of him. I--I would lay me on the
+rack only to see him once more, I would fast and scourge myself till my
+dying day; but I am his mother, and he is my son, and it is his part to
+take the first step, not mine who bore him.”
+
+How warmly I urged her again and again, and how often was she on the
+point of yielding to her heart’s loud outcry! Yet she ever came back to
+the same point: that it ill-beseemed her to be the first to put forth
+her hand, albeit her every feeling drove her to it.
+
+The letters sent to Gotz had reached him through a merchant’s house in
+Venice. This his parents knew, and they had long since charged Kunz to
+inquire where he dwelt. Yet had his pains been for nought, inasmuch as
+the banished youth had forbidden the traders to tell any one, whosoever
+might ask. Howbeit my uncle had implored his son in many a letter to
+mind him of his mother’s sickness, and come home; and in his answers
+Gotz had many a time given his parents assurance of his true and loving
+devotion; yet had he kept his oath, and tarried beyond seas. These
+letters likewise did my aunt show me, and while I read them she charged
+me to make it my duty not to quit that merchant’s house and to take no
+rest until I had learned where her son was dwelling: saying that what an
+Italian might deny to a man a fair young maiden might yet obtain of him.
+
+It was not yet dusk when Master Ulsenius came and broke off our
+discourse. He had come forth in part to see Eppelein, and presently,
+when a lamp was brought, as we stood by the faithful lad he called me by
+name, and then Uncle Conrad, and said that albeit he was weary of limb
+he was easy and comfortable; that he felt a smart now and then, and in
+especial about his neck, yet that troubled him but little, inasmuch as
+that it plainly showed him that the thought which had haunted him, that
+he was really killed and in a darksome hell, was but a horrible dream.
+
+Then when he had spoken thus much, with great pains, his pale face
+turned red on a sudden, and again he asked, as he had many times in his
+sickness, where was his master’s letter. Hereupon I hastily told him
+that we had hunted down the robbers and rescued it, and it was a joy
+to see how much comfort and delight this was to him. And when he had
+swallowed a good cup of strong Malvoisie, he could sit up, and enquired
+if the Baron von Im Hoff were minded to satisfy the Sultan’s over-great
+demand. And to this I replied, to give him easement, that we had good
+reason to hope so. And was his mind now clear enough to enable him to
+remember how great a sum was demanded for ransom?
+
+He smiled craftily, and said that even as a dead man he could scarce
+have forgotten that, by reason that he had muttered the words to himself
+on his way oftener than any old monk mumbles his Paternoster. And when
+Uncle Conrad laughed and bid him jestingly repeat it, he said, like a
+school boy who is sure of his task: “For Master Herdegen Schopper, slave
+of the said unbeliever Abou Sef--[Father of the scimitar]--in the armory
+of Sultan Burs Bey in the Castle of Cairo, a ransom is demanded of
+twenty-four thousand Venice sequins. George--Christina! Death and fire
+on the head of the misbelieving wretch!”
+
+When we heard this we all believed that he had of a surety been wrong as
+to the sum or the coin, likewise we thought his last strange words were
+due to a wandering mind; howbeit, we were soon to learn that verily his
+tidings were the truth. He forthwith went on to say with some pains that
+his master had made him to use a means by which he might remember the
+number from all others in case, by ill-hap, the letter should be lost.
+And on this wise he gave us to know for certain that the vast sum
+demanded was not an error on his part. It was to this end that he had
+stamped on his memory the names of Saint George and Saint Christina,
+whose days in the calendar are on the 24th of April and the 24th of
+July, and the number of thousands named for the ransom was likewise
+four and twenty. Also Herdegen had bid him think of twice the twelve
+apostles, and of the twenty-four hours from midnight till midnight
+again. It would seem beyond belief to most folks, he said, yet it
+was indeed twenty-four thousand, and not hundred, sequins which that
+devilish Sultan has asked, as indeed we must know from the letter.
+Presently, when he had rested a while, we made him tell us more, and
+we learned that the Sultan had been minded to set Herdegen free without
+price, and he would have had him led forthwith to the imprisoned King
+Janus of Cyprus, to whom he thought he might thus do a pleasure, but
+that Ursula Tetzel, who was standing by with her husband, had whispered
+to the Sultan that she would not see him robbed of a great profit
+forasmuch as that yonder Christian slave--and she pointed to my
+brother--was of one of the richest families of her native town, who
+could pay a royal ransom for him and find it no great burthen; and that
+the same was true of Sir Franz, who was likewise to have been set free.
+Hereupon the Sultan, who at all times lacked moneys, notwithstanding the
+heavy tribute he levied on all merchandise, commanded that Herdegen and
+the Bohemian should be led away again and then he asked this overweening
+ransom. Then Ursula took upon herself of her own free will to send
+tidings of the Sultan’s demands to the slaves’ kith and kin, and of her
+deep malice had never done so.
+
+That evening we might not hear how and on what authority Eppelein knew
+all this, for much talking had wearied him. All we could then learn was
+that it was Ursula, and none other, whom the lad would still speak of
+as the She-devil, who had plotted the snare which had well nigh cost
+my other brother his life. Yet had he left him so far amended that he,
+Eppelein, would be glad to be no worse.
+
+Albeit these tidings of Kunz were good to cheer us, our hopes of
+ransoming Herdegen were indeed far away, or rather in the realm of
+nevermore; even if my grand-uncle were possessed of so great a sum, it
+was a question whether he would be willing to pay it; and as for us, we
+could never have raised it at the cost of all our fortune. At that time
+the Venice sequin and Nuremberg gulden were not far asunder in value,
+and what the sum of twenty-four thousand gulden meant any man may
+imagine when I say that, no more than twelve years sooner, the liberty
+of coining for the whole city was granted by the Emperor Sigismund to
+Herdegen Valzner for four thousand Rhenish gulden; and that Master Ulman
+Stromer purchased his fine dwelling-house behind the chapel of Our Lady,
+with the houses pertaining thereto, and his share in the Rigler’s house
+for two thousand eight hundred gulden. For such a sum as was demanded a
+whole street in Nuremberg might have been sold; nay, the great castle of
+Malmsbach on the Pegnitz would lately have been bought by the city for
+a thousand Rhenish gulden, but that Master Ulrich Rummel, whose it was,
+would not part with it. And we were now required to pay the price of
+two dozen such strongholds! It was indeed an unheard-of and devilish
+extortion; and when Kubbeling came to hear of it he turned his
+wild-cat-skin pocket inside out, and fell to raging and storming.
+
+Aunt Jacoba turned pale when she heard the great sum named, and she
+likewise was of opinion that old Im Hoff, who had of late been spending
+much money in vows and foundations, would never give forth so vast a
+sum. The richest families in Nuremberg might be moved to pay fifty,
+and at the most a hundred gulden for the ransom of a Christian and a
+fellow-countryman, but if even twenty might be found so open-handed,
+which was not to be looked for, and if my godfather Christian Pfinzing,
+and the Waldstromers, and the Hallers should do their utmost, and we
+should give the greater part of all our possessions, we could scarce
+make it up to twenty-four thousand sequins if my grand-uncle did not
+help.
+
+Thus after a day of hope came a first night of despairing, and many
+another must follow, and I was to know once more that misfortunes never
+come singly.
+
+I had hoped of a surety to speak with Eppelein once more or ever I
+departed at noon, and to ask him of many matters; howbeit, when I went
+up to his chamber Master Ulsenius met me with a face of care and told me
+that the poor fellow was again wandering in his wits. When I presently
+went forth from the house, a bee-keeper’s waggon was slowly moving from
+the court-yard. The housewife waved her hand, and from beneath the tilt
+the face of Dame Henneleinlein looked at me with a scornful grin. Since
+her evil demeanor at the Pernbarts’ they had closed their house on her,
+and when she had dared once to go to the Schopperhof, thence likewise
+had she been shut out, and thus she felt no good-will towards us. Now
+when I enquired of the housekeeper what might be the end and reason for
+this visit, the woman hid beneath her apron a jar of honey which the old
+dame had given her as a sweetmeat for the children; and she gave me to
+understand that the worthy lady had come forth to the forest to collect
+her widow’s dues of honey, and had tarried on her way for a little
+friendly discourse. But methought that “little” must have had some
+strange meaning, inasmuch as the housewife’s withered cheeks were of the
+color of a robin’s breast. Hereupon I threatened her with my finger, and
+enquired of her whether she had not betrayed more to the evil-tongued
+old woman than she ought, but she eagerly denied the charge.
+
+My ride home to the town after noon was not altogether a pleasant one,
+by reason that icy rain poured from heaven in streams, mingled with
+snow. The further we went the worse the roads were, and yet when my
+companions turned at the city-gate to ride homewards again, a strange,
+fierce confidence came upon me. Whether it were that the wet which ran
+off from me and my stout horse had singularly refreshed me, or whether
+it was the steadfast purpose I had set as I rode along, to risk my all
+to the end that I might redeem my brethren, I know not. But to this hour
+I mind me that, as I rode in through the dark streets, my heart beat
+high with contentment, and that had I been such another man as Herdegen
+I might have been ready enough to pick a quarrel with the first who
+should have said me nay.
+
+Thus I fared on past my grand-uncle’s house; there I beheld from afar a
+lighted lantern, as it were a glow-worm at midsummer, moving along
+the street, and when I perceived that it was none other than old
+Henneleinlein who carried it, I put my horse, which till now had been
+wading through the mire step by step, to a swift gallop, as fast as he
+might go, and the servingman behind me, passing close by her. And what
+simple glee was mine when our horses splashed the old woman from head
+to foot, inasmuch as I wist for certain that she could have stolen to my
+grand-uncle’s house at that late hour to no end but to reveal whatsoever
+she might have picked up from her friend and gossip at the forest-lodge.
+
+Thus I reached home in better cheer than I had hoped; and when Susan
+told me that Cousin Maud was in the kitchen ordering the supper, I crept
+up-stairs, hastily changed my wet raiment, sent forth my man to tell
+Ann that she was to come to me, and then, in the best chamber, I fetched
+forth the elecampane wine which I had ever found the best remedy when
+my cousin needed some strength. Nor was my care in vain; for when I had
+told her, little by little, as it were in small doses, all the tidings
+I had heard yesterday, and ended with the great and cruel price demanded
+by the Sultan, she shrieked aloud and clasped her hands to her heart in
+such wise that I was verily in great fear. Then the elecampane wine did
+good service; yet was it not till she had drunk of it many times that
+her tongue spoke plainly again. And presently, when she was able to
+wag it, it went on for a long time with no pause nor rest, in sheer
+impatience and godless railing.
+
+When she had thus relieved her mind, she began pacing up and down the
+floor on one and the same plank, like a lion in its cage, and to call to
+mind, one by one, all our earthly possessions, and to reckon at how
+we might attain to selling it for gold. The whole sum was not much to
+comfort us, for her worldly estate, like that of the Waldstromers, was
+in land, and in these days of peril from the Hussites it was hard enough
+to sell landed property, and her best portion was in meads and pasture
+and a few vineyards near Wurzburg.
+
+It was from the first her fixed intent, as though it were a matter of
+course, to give everything she had, down to her jewels; and whereas
+she conceived, and rightly, that for Herdegen’s sake I should be
+like-minded, she asked me no questions but added to it in her mind, the
+Schopper jewels which had come to me from my father and mother, and then
+began to count and reckon. It might perchance come to so much as eleven
+thousand sequins if we sold all we had to sell; yet our inheritance lay
+in Chancery, and, as she knew full well, not a farthing thereof might
+be given up but with the full and well-proven authority of Herdegen and
+Kunz. Nor might I even have that which was mine own, by reason that our
+inheritance had never been shared, and our houses and lands had not been
+valued at a price. Thus I must have long patience or ever I came by my
+own; all the more so whereas the gentlemen of the Chancery were required
+to answer for the wealth of orphans in their keeping with their own.
+
+Hereupon we again thought of my grand-uncle, and Cousin Maud declared
+that he would of a certainty be ready to pay half the required ransom
+for a purpose so pleasing in the eyes of God, and that the other half
+might be raised by the help of our friends. Then she was fain to think
+of the future. And the longer she did so, even when Ann had come to us
+and had been told all our tidings, the better cheer she showed; nay,
+it might have been conceived that it would be a far more easy and
+delightful matter to live in narrow poverty than in superfluous
+riches, and thereupon she put me in mind how that many a time, when the
+men-folks were away from home, she and I had been content to make
+good cheer with some sweet porridge, and had very gladly dined without
+flesh-meat, which was so costly. We should be free from the vexation of
+so many serving-men and wenches; and whereas of late she had been forced
+to turn Brigitta out of the house, had she not herself scarce escaped
+a fever from sheer worry of mind. Susan would ever be true to us; she
+would be ready to share our poverty with us, and the unresting up-stairs
+and down had long been a torment to her old feet.
+
+The Magister was a well-disposed man, and if he found it an over-hard
+matter to depart from us we might very gladly let him board with us,
+if he could be content to live with us in her little house in the
+Grassmarket, in which Rosmuller now dwelt. There was no lack of good
+home-spun cloth in Nuremberg; nay, and if we should never again have new
+garments that would be all the better for our souls’ health. As for me,
+I might perchance have fewer suitors, but if one should pay his court
+to me, he would have no thought but for Margery, and how she looked and
+moved. Nay, take it for all in all, we owed much thanks to Ursula and
+the reprobate heathen Sultan if we were by their means brought low from
+ill-starred wealth and ease to God-pleasing poverty.
+
+Ann was far less horror-struck at the fearful sum of the ransom than we
+had been, by reason that she was ever possessed by the assurance that
+Heaven had created her and Herdegen for each other, and would bring them
+together at last.
+
+Moreover she had good cause to build her hopes on my grand-uncle’s help.
+In a letter from the Cardinal to her he said that now, as of old, he
+could only counsel her to follow the voice of her heart; that he would
+put no hindrance in the way of our departing, albeit he urgently prayed
+us to put it off till after his homecoming, which should now be in a
+short space. She was to let Baron Im Hoff know that he was ready to do
+his will, albeit he hoped at his coming to find him in mended health.
+She had forthwith carried these good tidings to my grand-uncle, and they
+had so uplifted and comforted his heart that verily it seemed as though
+my lord Cardinal’s good hopes might find fulfilment. And this very
+morning she had seen him, and a right strange mind had come over him;
+he had enquired of her straitly, and as though it was to him a great
+matter, all that she could tell him of my lord Cardinal’s way of life,
+of the duties of his office and the like; and whereas she answered him
+that of all these matters she knew but little, yet had she heard
+from his own mouth that his eminence was bound in thankfulness to his
+Holiness the Pope, by reason that he had made him to be high Almoner of
+the Papal treasury and thus put it into his power to do many good works;
+and this she deemed, had brought great easement to my granduncle. Then
+when she rose to depart from him, he had sent his serving-man to bid
+Master Holzschuher, the notary, to come to him, and to bring with him
+two trustworthy witnesses duly sworn to secrecy. As he bid her farewell
+he had laughed, and whispered to her that his Eminence the Cardinal
+would be well-content with old Im Hoff, yea, and she likewise, and her
+lover.
+
+All this gave us matter for thought, and also gave us good heart; only
+it weighed upon our souls that our departing was not to be yet for some
+weeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Next morning Cousin Maud let me see in a right pleasant way how truly
+she was in earnest in the matter of thrift henceforth; she would take
+but one small pat of butter from the country wench who brought it,
+she sent away the butcher’s man and would have no flesh meat, and at
+breakfast she abstained from butter on her bread, as she was wont to eat
+it. Likewise the chain and the great gold pin which she ever wore from
+morning till night, flashing on her bosom like a watchman’s lantern,
+were now laid aside, and while I was eating my porridge she showed me
+the coffer wherein she had bestowed all she possessed of rings, pins,
+and the like, which she would presently take to the weigh-house to be
+weighed and then to a goldsmith to be valued. Howbeit, when I was fain
+to do likewise with my jewels she would not have it so, inasmuch as
+youth, quoth she, needed such bravery, and first we must learn how great
+a portion of the ransom my grand-uncle would take upon himself to pay.
+
+Hereupon, in fulfilment of my purpose yestereve, I made it my hard duty
+to carry the evil tidings to the old baron, and humbly to remind him of
+his promise to take care for Herdegen’s ransom. It was raining heavily,
+and a wet west wind whistled along the miry streets. It was weariful to
+wade through them, and when at last I reached the Im Hoff house Master
+Ulsenius called to me down the stairs: “Silence, Mistress Margery; there
+is worse weather in here than without doors!”
+
+Thus as I went into the overheated chamber, I saw there was no good to
+be hoped for: yet were matters worse than I had looked to find them. So
+soon as my grand-uncle set eyes on me he frowned darkly, his hollow eyes
+had an angry glare and, without answering my good-day, he croaked at me:
+“You hoped that the old man might have passed away into eternity or ever
+you set forth on your wild adventure? Hah, hah But you are mistaken. I
+shall yet be granted time enough to show you whom you have to deal with,
+as it has likewise been enough to show me what you truly are! Whereas
+I trusted to have found a faithful and wise brain, what have I seen?
+Loveless and malignant privity, miserable folly, and such schemes as
+might have been dreamed of in a mad-house!”
+
+“But, uncle, only hearken,” I tried to say, and forthwith the idea fell
+into my mind, which I afterwards found to be a true one, that either
+Henneleinlein, had yestereve betrayed to him or to her gossip his
+housekeeper, all she had heard at the Forest Lodge. He would not suffer
+me to speak to the end, but went on to chide and complain, and broke in
+again and again, even when at last I found words and made it plain to
+him that we had kept our purpose privy from him to no end but to save
+him from grieving so long as we might; and albeit he might be wroth with
+us, yet he must grant that heretofore we had ever been modest and seemly
+maidens; but now, when it was a matter of life and freedom for those who
+were nearest and dearest to our hearts....
+
+Here he broke in with scornful laughter, and cried out that he, for his
+part, might not indeed hope to be numbered among those chosen few. He
+had ever known full well that when we did him any Samaritan service it
+had been to no end save to draw from his purse the money to ransom
+my brothers and Ann’s lover. Every kind word had been pure lies and
+falseness; yea, and worse than either of us were that crafty witch out
+in the forest, and the old scarecrow who made boast of having been as a
+mother to me. Thus far had I suffered his railing in patience, but now
+it was too much for the hot blood of the Schoppers; I could refrain
+myself no longer, and broke out in great wrath and reproaches for so
+vile an accusation. If it were not that his age and infirmities claimed
+our compassion, I would, said I, after such evil treatment, desire of
+Ann that she should never more cross the threshold of a man who could so
+cruelly defame us, and those two good women to whom we owed so much.
+
+I spoke right loudly, beside myself with rage, and my face aglow; nor
+was it till I marked that my uncle was staring at me as at some marvel
+that I recovered myself, and on a sudden held my peace, inasmuch as the
+thought flashed through my brain that I was denying my brother even as
+Peter denied the Lord, albeit not indeed through any fear of man, but by
+giving way to my angered pride. Howbeit I had not long ceased when the
+stern old man cried out in pitiful entreaty.
+
+“Nay, Margery, in the name of the Saints I pray you! You will not make
+Ann my foe. How hardhearted you can be, and how wroth, and against
+an old man sick unto death on the edge of the grave!--what was it, in
+truth, that brought the bitter words to my tongue, but my care and fears
+for you, who are verily and indeed my only comfort and all I have
+to love on earth? And now when I say again: I will not suffer you to
+depart. I will sacrifice all, everything to keep you from running into
+certain death, will you even then threaten to leave me alone in my
+misery, and to beguile Ann to desert me likewise?”
+
+Hereupon I spoke him fair and as lovingly as in truth I might, and
+pledged my word that Ann should not set foot without the city gates or
+ever my lord Cardinal had come into them, and had given him the comfort
+of his blessing. And then he was of better cheer, and of his own free
+will he minded me of his promise to pay certain moneys for Herdegen’s
+ransom; and all this he spoke full lovingly and my heart overflowed with
+true and fervent thankfulness, so that I took his thin hand and kissed
+it. Howbeit, he knew not yet how great a sum was needed: and whereas I
+was about to prepare his mind for the worst, Ann came into the chamber,
+and as soon as my grand-uncle saw her he cried out in glad good cheer:
+“Thank God, sweet maid, all is peace between us again. You forego your
+mad purpose, and I--I will pay the ransom.” At this Ann flew to his side
+and thanked him, with overflowing eyes, and little by little we led him
+on, till he cried out: “Well, well, children, they surely cannot set the
+price of a kingdom on that young scapegrace Schopper’s head!”
+
+So Ann took courage, and told him that Ursula had, of her deep malice,
+declared that Herdegen was one of the richest youths of Germany, and
+that by reason of this the Sultan had demanded the great price of
+twenty-four thousand sequins.
+
+The truth was out; I marvelled to mark that my grand-uncle was not
+dismayed as I had looked to see him; nay, but he laughed aloud and said:
+“That would indeed be somewhat new and strange! You children would ever
+rack your brains over the Italian poets rather than over matters of
+mine and thine, albeit that is the axis on which the world turns. There
+would, in truth, be no justice in so vast a sum, but that in the markets
+of Egypt they reckon in Venice sequins with none but the Franks; nigh
+upon thirteen of their dirhems go to the gold sequin, and thus we
+have-let me reckon--the old trader has not forgotten his skill on his
+sick-bed--we have one thousand eight hundred and forty and six sequins;
+and that is a vast ransom still such as is never paid but for lords
+of the highest degree. Four and twenty thousand sequins!” And again he
+laughed aloud. “It is easily spoken, children, but you cannot even guess
+what it would mean. Believe me when I tell you that many a well-to-do
+merchant in Nuremberg, who is at the head of a fine trade, would be
+at his wits’ end if he were desired to pay down half of your four and
+twenty thousand sequins in hard coin!”
+
+Then I took up my parable and told him how Eppelein had stamped the sum
+on his mind, and that he for certain was in the right, both as to the
+sum and as to the Venice sequins, forasmuch as that Herdegen, to the end
+that he might know it rightly, had told him that they should be ducats
+such as he had three in a red stuff wrapper, and Kunz and I likewise
+each two, in our money-boxes as christening-gifts.
+
+Now while I thus spoke the old man was sorely troubled, and his
+wax-white face turned paler at each word. He raised himself up, leaning
+on the arms of the great chair, so high that we were filled with
+amazement, and he gazed about him with his glassy eyes and then
+said, still holding himself up: “That, that.... And yesterday, only
+yesterday.... The captive himself.... Four and twenty thousand sequins,
+do you say?... and I--oh, what were my words?... But what old Im Hoff
+promises that he will do.... And yet.... If you maids had but been
+duteous children, if you had but come to me first, as trustful
+daughters.... Only yesterday I might--Yes, perchance I might....” And
+then he stormed forth: “But who is there indeed to care for me? Who ever
+comes nigh me with true love and honest trustfulness? Not one, no, not
+one!... Ursula--the lad whom from an infant--and you--both of you, what
+have you done?... Yesterday, only yesterday!... But to-day.... Four and
+twenty thousand sequins!” His arms on a sudden failed him, and he sank
+back in a deep swoon, his colorless face drooping on his shoulder. Now,
+while we did all in our power to revive him, and while one serving-man
+ran for the leech and another for the friar, meseemed that the old man’s
+left side was strangely stiff and numb; yet the low flame of his feeble
+life was still burning.
+
+Howbeit, when Master Ulsenius had let blood the old man opened his
+right eye; and when presently he was able to say: “Book,” and then again
+“Book,” we perceived by sundry signs that what he craved was water,
+and that he spoke one word for another. And thus it was till his chief
+confessor, Master Leonard Derrer, the reverend Prior of the Dominicans,
+came in with the sacristan, to administer to him extreme unction. But
+now, when the reverend Father came toward the dying man with the Body
+of the Lord, there was so dreadful and sorrowful a sight to be seen as
+I may never forget to my latter day. Instead of receiving that Holy
+Sacrament in all thankful humility, my grand-uncle thrust away my
+lord Prior--a whitebearded old man, of a venerable and commanding
+presence--with great fury and ungoverned rage, storming at him in
+strangely-mingled words, which for sure, he meant for others, but in a
+voice and with a mien which plainly showed that he would have nought
+of that Messenger of Grace. And from time to time he turned that eye
+he could use on Ann, and albeit he spoke one word for another, he made
+shift many times to repeat the Cardinal’s name with impatient bidding,
+so that it was not hard to understand his meaning and his intent to
+receive the Viaticum from none other than that high prelate.
+
+Howbeit, to us it seemed nothing less than treason to the dying man to
+interpret this to my lord Prior, in especial since my grand-uncle had,
+but now, shown us so much favor. Indeed we were moved to show him all
+loving kindness. Ann held his hand in hers, and whispered to him again
+and again that he should take patience, and that his Eminence was
+already on his way and would ere long be here. The reverend Prior showed
+indeed true Christian forbearance, thinking that the departing soul was
+more sorely troubled than was in truth the fact. He heeded not the old
+man’s threats and struggles, but stood in silence at his post, and when
+presently the old Baron’s hand dropped lifeless from Ann’s grasp he sent
+us from the chamber.
+
+We could hear through the door the good priest’s voice in prayer and
+benediction, pronouncing absolution over the dying man, and at times my
+grand uncle’s wrathful tones, feeble indeed, but terrible to hear. Each
+time he broke in on the Prior’s pious words we shuddered, and when
+at last the priest rang his little bell a great terror fell upon us,
+whereas this ordinance is wont to bring comfort and edification to the
+soul.
+
+We had been on our knees some long space, praying fervently for that
+hapless, imperilled soul, when the door was opened, and my lord Prior
+declared in a loud voice that the noble Baron and Knight Sebald Im Hoff
+had made a good end after receiving the most holy Sacrament.
+
+Then thought I, a good end peradventure, by the grace of Christ and the
+Virgin, but a peaceful end alas! by no means. And this might be seen
+even in the dead man’s face. In later years, whensoever it has been my
+lot to gaze on the face of the dead, I have ever perceived that death
+hath lent them an aspect of peaceful calm so that the saying of common
+folk, that the Angel of Death hath kissed them is right fitting; but
+my grand-uncle’s face was as that of a man whose dignity is broken by a
+mightier than he, and who hath suffered it in silent, gloomy rebellion.
+
+With all our might and soul we prayed for him again and again; howbeit,
+as must ever befall, other cares came crowding in, to swallow up that
+one. As soon as the tidings of the old noble’s death were rumored
+abroad, those who had known him in life came pouring in, and messengers
+from the town-council, notaries with sealing-wax and seals, priests for
+the burying, neighbors, and other good folk, and among them many
+friars and nuns. Lastly came Doctor Holzschuher of the council, my
+grand-uncle’s notary, and one of our own father’s most trusted friends,
+in all points a man of such worth and honesty that no words befit him
+so well as the Cardinal’s saying: that he reminded him of an oak of the
+German forests.
+
+When, now, this man, who in his youth had been one of the goodliest
+in all Nuremberg, and who was still of noble aspect with his long
+silver-grey hair lying on his shoulders--when he now greeted us maids
+well-nigh gloomily, and with no friendly beck or nod, we knew forthwith
+that he must have great and well-founded fears for our concerns. Yea,
+and so it was. Presently, when he had held grave discourse with the
+High Treasurer and the other chief men of the council, he called to him
+Cousin Maud and me, and told us that old Im Hoff’s latest dealing was
+such, to all seeming, as to take from us all hope that our inheritance
+from him should help us to pay the ransom for Herdegen. And on the
+morrow his will would be opened and read and we should learn thereby in
+what way that old man had cared for those who were nearest and dearest
+to him.
+
+Hereupon we had no choice but to bury many a fair hope in the grave; and
+notwithstanding this, we might owe no grudge to the departed; for albeit
+he had cared first and chiefly for the salvation of his own sinful
+soul, he nevertheless had taken thought to provide for my brothers and
+likewise for Ann and to keep the pledge he had given. Never in all
+his days--and this was confessed even by his enemies, of whom he had
+many--had he broken his word, and it was plain to be seen from all his
+instructions that the true cause of the deadly blow which had killed him
+was the sudden certainty that, by his own act, he had bereft himself of
+the power to redeem Herdegen by paying the ransom as he had promised.
+
+And this was my uncle’s will:
+
+When he had heard from Ann that my lord Cardinal was minded to hasten
+his home-coming and give him extreme unction, and had likewise had
+tidings that that high Prelate took great joy in his liberty of dealing
+with the Papal treasury for alms, he had bidden to him, that very
+evening, Doctor Holzschuher, his notary, and certain sworn witnesses,
+and had in all due form cancelled his former will, and in a fine new one
+had devised his estate as follows:
+
+Ursula Tetzel was to have the five thousand gulden which he had promised
+her when he had unwittingly killed young Tetzel.
+
+To Kunz he bequeathed the great trade both in Nuremberg and Venice, with
+all that pertained thereto and certain moneys in capital for carrying
+it on; likewise his fine dwelling-house, inasmuch as Herdegen would have
+our house for his own. And Kunz should be held bound to carry on the
+said trade in the same wise as my grand-uncle had done in his life-time,
+and pay out of it two-third parts of the profits to Herdegen and Ann;
+and that these two should wed was the dearest wish of his old age. Not
+a farthing was to be taken from the moneyed capital for twenty years to
+come, and this was expressly recorded; nor might the trade be sold, or
+cease to be carried on. If Kunz should die within that space, then he
+charged the head clerk of the house to conduct the business under the
+same pledge. And if and when Kunz should wed, then should he pay only
+half the profits to his brother instead of two-thirds.
+
+The eldest son of Herdegen and Ann was to fall next heir to the
+business; but if this marriage came to nought, or they had no male
+issue, then Herdegen’s son-in-law, or my son, or Kunz’s.
+
+Likewise he believed that he had made good provision for the maintenance
+of the young pair, inasmuch as though it could scarce be hoped that
+Herdegen would be able to take the lead of the trading house, yet his
+own fortune was not so great as to assure to Ann a life so free from
+burthens, and in all ways so easy as he desired for her, and as beseemed
+the mistress of so ancient a Nuremberg family.
+
+His landed estates he had for the most part devised to the holy Church,
+and the remainder in equal halves to Herdegen and to me.
+
+Three thousand gulden, which he had lent to the Convent of
+Vierzehnheiligen, and of which he might at any time require the
+repayment, he had set apart to ransom Herdegen and pay for his
+home-coming.
+
+Of his possessions in hard coin, three thousand gulden were for
+Herdegen’s share, and one thousand each for Ann and me as a bride-gift,
+and he had devised goodly sums of money to the hospitals and poor of the
+city, and the serving-folk and retainers of the household.
+
+But then where was the great and well-nigh royal treasure of which old
+Im Hoff had, not so long since, been possessed; so that in the time of
+the Diet he had paid down in hard coin thirty thousand Hungarian ducats
+to buy himself a Baron’s title? Master Holzschuher could tell us well
+enough. When that old man had once said to Ann that she could scarce
+believe how great profit might be gained in a few years by well-directed
+trading with Venice, he spoke not without book. After endowing many
+churches and convents in Franconia while he was yet living, with truly
+lordly generosity, and providing for masses for his soul and other pious
+offices, he had still a sum of forty and four thousand Hungarian ducats
+to dispose of. And these moneys, notwithstanding Master Holzschuher’s
+entreaties that he would devise at least half of these vast possessions
+to his own town and near of kin, he had bequeathed to the alms-coffers
+of his Holiness the Pope, to be dealt with at the pleasure of his
+Eminence Cardinal Bernliardi, with this sole condition: that every
+year, on his name-day, mass should be said by some high Prelate for his
+miserable soul, which sorely needed such grace. Moreover he had provided
+that the document, duly attested by the notary and witnesses, should be
+sent to Rome on the morrow by a specially appointed messenger; thus it
+was long since far away and out of reach when my grand-uncle had learnt
+that all his remaining possessions were not enough to release Herdegen.
+And this, as I have already said, had fallen heavy on his soul.
+
+Verily there hath been no lack of fervent prayers for his soul on our
+part; and at a later time, when I came to know to how many hapless
+wretches his testament had brought a blessing, little by little I
+forgave this strange bestowal of his wealth, and could pronounce over
+his grave a clear “Requiescat in pace!” May he rest in peace!
+
+When we had presently duly weighed and reckoned with Master Holzschuher
+what we had indeed inherited from our rich kinsman, and how much we
+might ere long hope to collect of our own and from Cousin Maud, we had
+it before our eyes in plain writing that a large portion of the ransom
+was yet lacking. The trade of the Im Hoffs’ was to be sure of great
+money value; but by my grand-uncle’s will we might not touch it for
+twenty years. Likewise Master Holzschuher pointed out to us by many an
+example how wrong it would be, and in especial at this very time, to
+sell landed estate at any price, that is to say at about one-third of
+its real worth. And finally he told us that the Chancery guardians
+were not at that present time suffered to pay down one farthing of our
+inheritance from our father. Thus we were heavy at heart, while Doctor
+Holzschuher was discoursing in a low voice with Uncle Christian and
+Master Pernhart, and noting certain matters on paper.
+
+Then those gentlemen rose up; and whereas I looked in the face of the
+worthy notary meseemed it was as withered grass well bedewed with rain;
+and glad assurance beamed on me from his goodly and noble features.
+And I read the same promise in the looks of Uncle Christian and Master
+Pernhart, and where three such men led the fray methought the victory
+was certain.
+
+And now we were told what was the matter of their discourse. If they
+might find a fitting envoy, they might perchance move the Sultan to
+forego some portion of the ransom; yet would they bear in mind what the
+whole sum was. Much of our possessions we were indeed not suffered to
+sell, yet might we borrow on them or pledge them, and the good feeling
+of our friends and fellow citizens would, for sure, help us to the
+remainder. Nay, and these gentlemen methought had some privy purpose;
+yet, inasmuch as they told us nought of their own free will, we were
+careful to put no questions. As we took leave they besought us yet to
+delay our departing and to suffer them to be free to do what they would.
+And we were fain to yield, albeit the blood of the Schoppers boiled at
+the thought that I must tarry here idle, and others go round as it were
+with the beggars’ staff, in our name, and for the sake of a son of our
+house who had done no good to any man. Howbeit, I knew full well that
+pride and defiance were now out of place; and while I was walking
+homewards with Ann and Cousin Maud, on a sudden my cousin asked me: If
+Lorenz Stromer were in Herdegen’s plight would I not gladly give of my
+estate; and when I said yes, quoth she: “Then all is well.” And inasmuch
+as she was of the same mind she could, without a qualm, suffer the
+gentlemen to ask from door to door in Herdegen’s name and in her own.
+It was our part only to show that we, as his nearest and dearest, were
+foremost in giving. And on that same day Ann brought all she possessed
+in gold and jewels, even to her christening coins which she had kept in
+her money-box, and among them likewise a costly cross of diamonds which
+my lord Cardinal had given her a few months ago.
+
+That evening, again, as dusk was falling, Ann once more knocked at
+our door, and the reason of her coming was in truth a sad one: her
+grand-uncle, old Adam Heyden the organist, our friend of the tower, felt
+that his last hour was nigh, and bid us go to see him. Thus it came to
+pass that in two following days we had to stand by a death-bed. On each
+lay an old man departing to the other world, and meseemed their end had
+fallen so close together to yield warning and meditation to our young
+souls. Now, as I toiled up the steep turret-stair, after flying,
+yesterday, up the matted steps of the wealthy house of the Im Hoffs,
+meseemed that the two men’s lives had been like to these staircases,
+and, young as I was, I nevertheless could say to myself that the
+humbler man’s steep stair, which of late he could not mount without much
+panting, led up to a higher and brighter home than the wide steps of the
+rich merchant’s palace.
+
+Howbeit, when I had presently closed that good old man’s eyes, I would
+not suffer myself to think thus of the twain, by reason that I could not
+endure to mar my remembrance of that other, to whom, after all, we owed
+much thanks.
+
+The old organist had received the Holy Sacrament at mid-day from the
+hand of his old friend Nikolas Laister, the Vicar of Saint Sebald’s.
+He would have no one to see him save ourselves and Hans Richter the
+churchwarden, a man after his own heart, and the Pernharts; and at first
+he marked not our coming, inasmuch as he was just then giving a toy
+to the deaf-mute boy, which he had carved with his own hand, and Dame
+Giovanna had much pains to carry away the child, who had cast himself on
+the old man with passionate love. Everything that moved the little one’s
+soul he was forced, as it were, to express with unreasoning violence;
+and now, when the child was so boisterous as to disturb the peace of the
+others, his mother took him by the hand to lead him away into another
+chamber; but the dying man signed to him with a look which none may
+describe, and that moment the little fellow set his teeth hard and stood
+in silence by the door. Whereupon the old man nodded to him as though
+the child had done him some kindness.
+
+Then he shut his eyes for a good while, and presently asked for some of
+the fine Bacharach wine which Cousin Maud had sent him; but his voice
+could scarce be heard. Ann reached him the glass, and at a sign from him
+she tasted of it; then he drank it with much comfort while Dame Giovanna
+held him sitting. The old, sweet smile was on his lips, and as he yet
+held the stem of the glass with a shaking hand, and suffered that I
+should help him, he cried in a clear voice: “Once more, Prosit, Elsie!
+You have waited long enough up there for your old man. And Prosit,
+likewise, to my dear old home, the fair city of Nuremberg.” Then he took
+breath and added according to his wont: “Prosit, Adam! Thanks, Heyden!”
+ And emptied the cup which I tilted up for him, to the very bottom. Then,
+when he fell back and gazed before him in silence, I found speech, and
+noted, albeit it struck me in truth as somewhat strange, that he bore
+our good town in mind then, in drinking his old pledge. Hereupon he
+nodded kindly and added, with an enquiring glance at the churchwarden:
+“It is rightly the duty of every true Christian man to pray for all
+mankind! Well, well; but they are so many, so infinitely many; and I,
+like every other man, have my own little world, inside the great world,
+as it were, and that is my dear old, staunch town of Nuremberg. Never
+have I been beyond its precincts, and it contains all on earth that
+is dear and precious to me. To me the citizens of Nuremberg are all
+mankind, and our city and so much as the eye can see from this tower all
+my world, small though it may be. I could ever find some good matter for
+thought in Nuremberg, something noble and well-compact, a fine whole. I
+have never sought the boundaries of the other, greater world.”
+
+Yet, that his world was in truth wider than he weened, was plain to us
+from the prayer he murmured wherein we could hear my brothers’ names,
+albeit land and seas parted them from him. And after that, for a space
+all were silent, and he lay gazing at the bone crucifix on the wall; and
+at last he besought Dame Giovanna to lift him somewhat higher, and he
+drank again a little more, and said right softly as he cast a loving
+glance upon us each in turn: “I have looked into my own heart and gazed
+on Him on the Cross! That is our ensample! And I depart joyfully--and if
+you would know what maketh death so easy to me; it is that I have needed
+but little, and kept little for myself; and whereas I was wont to give
+away what other men save, I came to know of a certainty that all the
+good we do to others is the best we can do for ourselves. It is that, it
+is that!”
+
+And he stretched forth his hand, and when we had all kissed it, he cried
+out: “My God, I now can say I thank Thee! What to-morrow may bring, Thou
+alone canst know! Margery, Ann, my poor children! May the bright day
+of meeting dawn for you! May Heaven in mercy protect the youths beyond
+seas! Here, close at hand is Mistress Kreutzer with her orphan children,
+you know them--you and Master Peter--they are in sore need of help--and
+the good we do to others. But come close to me, come all of you--and the
+little ones likewise.”
+
+And we fell upon our knees by the bed, and he spread forth his hands and
+said in a clear voice: “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord lift
+up his countenance upon you and be merciful unto you.”
+
+And then he sighed deeply, and his hands fell, and Dame Giovanna closed
+his eyes.
+
+Yea! Death had come easy to this simple soul. Never knew I any man who
+gave so much out of a little, and never have I seen a happier or more
+peaceful face on a death-bed.
+
+My grand-uncle’s burial was grand and magnificent. All the town-council,
+and many of the nobles joined in the funeral-train. Bells tolling and
+priests chanting, crape, tapers, incense and the rest of it--we had more
+than enough of them all. Only one thing was lacking, namely, tears--not
+those of the hirelings who attended it, but such as fall in silence from
+a sorrowing eye.
+
+In the Im Hoffs’ great house all was silence till the burying was done;
+up in the tower, where old Adam Heyden lay asleep, the bells rang out as
+they did every day, for wedding and christening, for mass and mourning;
+yet by the low door which led to the narrow turret-stair I saw a crowd
+of little lads and maids with their mothers; and albeit the leaves were
+off the trees and the last flowers were frozen to death, many a child
+had found a green twig or carried a little bunch of everlasting flowers
+in its little hand to lay on the bier of that kind old friend. It was
+all the sacristan could do to keep away the multitudes who were fain to
+look on his face once more; and when he was borne to the grave-yard, not
+above two hours after my grand-uncle, there was indeed a wondrous great
+following. The snow was falling fast in the streets, and the fine folks
+who had attended him to the grave were soon warming themselves at home
+after the burying of old Im Hoff. But there came behind Adam Heyden’s
+bier many right honest and respected folk, and a throng, reaching far
+away, of such as might feel the wind whistling cold through the holes in
+their sleeves and about their bare heads. And among these was there many
+a penniless woman who wiped her eyes with her kerchief or her hand, and
+many a widow’s child, who tightened its little belt as it saw him who
+had so often given it a meal carried to the grave.
+
+
+
+
+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
+be 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 been 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 he 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:
+
+     A small joy makes us to forget our heavy griefs
+     All I did was right in her eyes
+     All things were alike to me
+     As every word came straight from her heart
+     Be cautious how they are compassionate
+     Be happy while it is yet time
+     Beware lest Satan find thee idle!
+     Brought imagination to bear on my pastimes
+     Comparing their own fair lot with the evil lot of others
+     Especial gift to listen keenly and question discreetly
+     Ever creep in where true love hath found a nest--(jealousy)
+     Faith and knowledge are things apart
+     Flee from hate as the soul’s worst foe
+     For the sake of those eyes you forgot all else
+     Forty or fifty, when most women only begin to be wicked
+     Fruits and pies and sweetmeats for the little ones at home
+     Germans are ever proud of a man who is able to drink deep
+     Happiness should be found in making others happy
+     Have never been fain to set my heart on one only maid
+     Her eyes were like open windows
+     Hopeful soul clings to delay as the harbinger of deliverance
+     Last Day we shall be called to account for every word we utter
+     Laugh at him with friendly mockery, such as hurts no man
+     Love which is able and ready to endure all things
+     Maid who gives hope to a suitor though she has no mind to hear
+     Marred their best joy in life by over-hasty ire
+     May they avoid the rocks on which I have bruised my feet
+     Men folks thought more about me than I deemed convenient
+     Misfortunes never come singly
+     No man gains profit by any experience other than his own
+     No false comfort, no cloaking of the truth
+     On with a new love when he had left the third bridge behind him
+     One Head, instead of three, ruled the Church
+     One who stood in the sun must need cast a shadow on other folks
+     One of those women who will not bear to be withstood
+     Shadow which must ever fall where there is light
+     The god Amor is the best schoolmaster
+     The not over-strong thread of my good patience
+     They who will, can
+     Though thou lose all thou deemest thy happiness
+     Vagabond knaves had already been put to the torture
+     We each and all are waiting
+     Were we not one and all born fools
+     When men-children deem maids to be weak and unfit for true sport
+     Woman who might win the love of a highly-gifted soul (Pays for it)
+     Wonder we leave for the most part to children and fools
+
+
+
+
+
+
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