transcriber's note: underscores are used as delimiters for _italics_] [illustration: fifth avenue hotel, new york.--_page 18._] to nuremberg and back a girl's holiday by amy neally _illustrated_ new york e. p. dutton & company 31 west twenty-third street 1892 copyright, 1892 by e. p. dutton and company contents. chapter page i. an unexpected pleasure 11 ii. new york for the first time 19 iii. life on a steamer 25 iv. a first glimpse of england 32 v. a week in london 36 vi. off for the continent 44 vii. up the rhine 50 viii. the legend of the lorely 58 ix. mayence to nuremberg 66 x. nuremberg 70 xi. nuremberg.--_continued_ 82 xii. strasbourg 91 xiii. homeward bound 101 list of illustrations. page fifth avenue hotel, new york _frontispiece_ the great steamer backed out into the river 22 houses of parliament 29 nelson column 36 tower of london 41 hampton court 42 brussels bourse 47 cologne cathedral 51 lahneck castle 55 mouse tower 62 mayence--general view 67 nuremberg walls 71 albrecht dürer's house 73 nuremberg castle 75 nuremberg 82 strasbourg cathedral--side view 91 strasbourg storks 95 strasbourg-cathedral clock 97 place de la concorde 102 petit trianon 109 thames embankment 112 to nuremberg and back. a girl's holiday. chapter i. an unexpected pleasure. one day in the early spring, alice winter came home from school, and, after the usual question at the door, "is mamma at home?" rushed upstairs, and found to her great surprise that her papa was at home, talking very earnestly to mrs. winter. when alice came into the room, mr. winter stopped talking, and she wondered very much what they could have been talking about so earnestly, as all she heard was her papa asking, "do you think we had better take her with us?" "why, papa! what is the matter? are you going away? are you sick? what made you come home so early?" were the questions which alice gave rapidly, without waiting for an answer. mr. winter said, "yes, dear, i am obliged to go to nuremberg, germany, on business immediately, and mamma is trying to make up her mind whether it is best for her to go with me. she does not like to leave you for so long a time, and we do not think it wise to take you with us, when you are getting on at school so nicely." "o papa, please take me with you. i shall learn just as much on such a lovely trip as at school, and you know i can take care of mamma, and keep her from being lonely when you are busy. o papa, please ask mamma to let me go. i should be so unhappy to stay without you, even with dear aunt edith, and i know there is where you would send me." "alice, dear, go to your room and get ready for dinner, and leave us to talk it over," said mr. winter. "my dear little daughter knows that no matter which way we decide, it will be as we think is best for all of us. you know it is as hard for us to leave you as it will be for you to let us go." alice left the room without another word, with her heart beating very fast from the excitement of it all. the thought of going to europe across the great ocean was a very happy one to a bright girl of fifteen who was studying all the time about the places she would visit and the objects of interest she would see, if her papa would only decide to take her. alice sat down by the window of her pretty room, and looked out on the village street, far away in the northern part of the state of new york. she wondered how the ocean looked, as she had never seen any larger body of water than that of lake erie, when she went with her mother to make a visit in cleveland. she also wondered if her state-room on the steamer would be as large as the room she was in; also, would she be sick, and how would all those wonderful cities look; if they could be as beautiful as the pictures she had seen of them. then she remembered that only last week she had been studying about the quaint old city of nuremberg, and wishing she could go there and see all its curiosities. alice was startled by the dinner-bell, and could not even wait to brush her hair, she was so anxious to know what her papa had decided. as alice went into the dining-room with a very wistful look in her deep-brown eyes, mr. winter said, "well, dear, we have decided to take you with us, and as it is now wednesday, and we sail saturday from new york on the 'etruria,' you will be very busy getting ready, and you must help your mamma all you can." alice threw her arms around mr. winter's neck, crying with joy, saying at the same time, "oh, you dear, darling papa, how kind and good you are, and how i do love you!" after kissing him again and again, she went to her mamma and nearly smothered her with kisses. mr. winter had never been abroad, though he had large business interests there, which had been attended to by a clerk in whom he had the utmost confidence. this clerk had been taken very suddenly and dangerously ill, mr. winter had no one else he could send, and found he must go himself and at once. he telegraphed to the cunard office for state-rooms, and went home to tell his wife, hardly thinking she would go with him at such short notice, or leave alice. mrs. winter was not willing he should go without her, and soon decided not only to go, but to take alice with them. alice could hardly eat any dinner, she was so happy and full of excitement. the next morning alice went to school to get her books and tell the wonderful news to her teacher and school-mates. they were nearly as interested as she, for it was quite an event for any one to go to europe from that quiet village. it was decided then and there that all would be at the station to see her off on friday. when alice went to her room she found there a new steamer-trunk marked "a. w." in large letters, and then she was busy indeed getting it packed and deciding what to take with her. mrs. winter came in while alice was almost in despair and said, "this is to be such a hurried trip you will need only a couple of dresses, but you must take all your warm wraps." alice laughed and said, "i do not think i shall need them in the spring;" but mamma said, "it is always cold at sea, and you will need your winter clothes." friday afternoon our little party started for new york, with the best wishes of their friends, who came to the station for the very last "good-byes." alice even shed a few tears, but they were soon wiped away, and a happy face looked from the car window, which fortunately was on the side overlooking the hudson river. alice had never seen that lovely river before, and naturally was delighted. when they passed the catskill mountains it was so clear she could see the famous old mountain house, and, beyond, the immense kauterskill hotel, which seemed almost in the clouds, it looked so high. west point was the next object of interest, and alice did hope she could go there sometime and see the cadets do some of their drills. when they were opposite the palisades, which stood up in their grandeur, with the softened tints of the setting sun settling upon them, alice said, "i know i shall see nothing in europe any finer than that." very soon the tall spires and smoke in the distance showed that they were drawing near new york, and after leaving the hudson they followed the pretty harlem river, which makes an island of new york city. alice was much interested in the bridges, there seemed to be so many of them, and papa told her that the one then in sight was the new washington bridge, just completed. the next was high bridge, which carries the water over the river into the city. when it was finished it was said to be the finest engineering in the country. the next bridge was the continuation of the elevated railroad, and then came macomb's dam bridge, the oldest of them all, and used simply for driving and walking across, and looked, alice thought, quite unsafe. the pretty madison avenue bridge was the last they saw as they crossed their own bridge, and were soon in a tunnel which alice thought would never end. when they came out of the tunnel the train was nearly at the station, where the noise and bustle were very confusing, and they were glad to get into a carriage to be driven to the fifth avenue hotel. as it was quite dark, alice thought it was like a glimpse of fairyland when they reached madison square, with its electric lights shining on the trees, and all the bright lights around the hotel. chapter ii. new york for the first time. mr. winter having telegraphed for rooms, found them ready for him; and on going down to dinner they were delighted to see the corridors and dining-room crowded with people, many of them public characters whom he could point out to alice, who was so excited she felt the entire evening as if she were in a dream. of all the prominent men there alice was the most interested in general sherman, with his kind, rugged face. the "etruria" sailed at noon on saturday, and mrs. winter and alice spent the morning buying a few last things, such as a hat and hood and comfortable steamer-chairs. at eleven o'clock a fifth avenue hotel stage was at the door, and several people beside themselves went in it to the steamer. the ladies had flowers and baskets of fruit, and seemed so bright and happy that alice for the first time felt a little lonely and homesick. on reaching the dock there were so many people going on and coming off the steamer, and pushing each other, it was almost impossible to cross the gang-plank and reach their own state-rooms. finally they found them, and, instead of nice large rooms, they were so very small that alice felt she never could live in them for a week or ten days, and the berths were so narrow she said, "o papa, you can never get into one of those in the world." "oh, yes, i can," said mr. winter, "and perhaps before we reach liverpool i shall wish they were narrower yet."' mrs. winter and alice had one room, and mr. winter was across the passage with another gentleman. after settling their valises and rugs they went up on deck to see the people, and also the last of the city itself. large baskets of fruits and flowers in every shape were constantly being brought on board, and much to alice's delight there was a large bunch of violets from her school friends at home. she had been looking at the other people a little enviously, especially at a girl of her own age who had many friends to see her, and her arms full of flowers. very soon the gong sounded, and alice, who had never heard one, put her hands to her ears to shut out the noise. as soon as the man had passed by alice said,-"what is that?" "that is a gong, dear," said her papa, "and is now being used to notify the people who are not sailing on the steamer that it is time to go ashore." the people who left kissed their friends hurriedly, and went down the gang-plank as if afraid they might be carried away, after all. after the people were on the dock and the mailbags had been put on the steamer, very slowly but surely the great steamer backed out into the river. tugs turned her around, and carefully she steamed toward the ocean, trying to avoid the many boats moving about the river in all directions. [illustration: the great steamer backed out into the river.--_page 21._] alice was rather frightened, and thought they certainly would run into some of them. many of the passengers were still waving to their friends, who were also waving to them from the dock as long as they could distinguish it at all. very soon they could see the famous statue of the goddess of liberty, that holds its light so high in the air; then lovely staten island, with its green hills and fine houses. the two forts, hamilton and wordsworth, which guard the entrance to the harbor, were soon left behind, and on the left could be seen coney island, with its large hotels and elephant and high elevator. suddenly, as they were looking at the largest hotel of all, the one at rockaway beach, the steamer stopped. alice, rather startled, said,-"oh, dear! what is the matter?" "they are going to drop the pilot," said her papa. "where?" said alice. "in the water?" "oh, no," said mr. winter; "do you see that small boat rowing towards us?" "yes, papa. will he drop into that? he never can; he will surely fall into the water." mr. winter smiled and told her to go and watch from the rail, which she did, and soon saw the pilot go down the side of the steamer by a rope and drop into the little row-boat, where two men were waiting to row him to the pretty pilot-boat no. 4, which was quite a distance away. the steamer started immediately, and in five minutes the row-boat was only a speck on the water. "there is another hotel, papa. what is it?" said alice. "that is the long beach hotel, and you will not see another until you reach liverpool," said her papa. chapter iii. life on a steamer. "come, alice," said mrs. winter, "we will go down to our state-room and unpack our trunks while we are in smooth water, for to-morrow morning it may be so rough we cannot get out of our berths at all." alice went with her mamma and helped put everything in order, but there were so few hooks and no bureau she did not know at first where to put anything. mrs. winter decided to sleep in the lower berth and have alice on the sofa, which gave them the top berth for a bureau, and they found themselves very comfortable. alice wanted to put some little things around to look pretty, but her mamma said, "no, dear, for if the ship rolls they will be all over the floor." alice laughed and said, "i guess the 'etruria' never rolls enough for that; she is too big." "wait and see," quietly said her mamma. mrs. winter said, "now we will put on our warm wraps and go on deck." mr. winter had found their chairs and put them in a nice place. just as they were being settled in them, the gong was sounded again. "that is for lunch this time," said mr. winter, "and i for one am glad, for i am very hungry." on going to the saloon they were delighted to find that their seats were at the captain's table, and any one who has crossed the ocean with captain hains knows what a treat they had before them, if it should be a nice passage and he could be in his seat at the head of the table. in the afternoon the ship rolled, and when dinner was announced mrs. winter thought she would take hers on deck. she was not sick, but was afraid if she left the air she might be. mr. winter and alice went to the table, and alice was surprised to see the vacant seats around the room. the racks were on the table, so the dishes were held in place, but alice found it rather uncomfortable keeping her chair. in the morning mrs. winter was too ill to leave her berth, but alice never felt better in her life. the captain was so pleased to have her at the table to breakfast he put her in her mamma's seat next to him, and when she told him it was her birthday he said, "you shall have a nice cake for your dinner." after breakfast alice went up on deck with mr. winter, who put her in a comfortable place and covered her up nice and warm. he went down to see his wife. the sea was a deep, bright blue, with lovely white caps, and when the sun shone on them alice could see a rainbow on every wave. alice became tired of sitting in her chair, and went to the rail to look over the side and see how pretty the water looked as the ship cut through it. soon the young girl whom she had seen the day before came up to her and said, "have you ever crossed before?" alice said, "no, have you?" "oh, yes, several times; and i do enjoy every minute, for i am never sick." alice asked her name, and she answered, "nellie ford. what is yours and where are you going?" alice told her name and that she was going to nuremberg. nellie said, "i have never been there. we are going to brussels, and it is such a beautiful city." they talked on until the gong sounded, and agreed to meet again after lunch. at dinner that night alice found the cake which the captain had promised her on the table. after thanking him, she asked if she might send a piece of it to her new friend. "of course, my dear," said the captain. "it is yours to do with just as you please." the second day was very much like the first, only mrs. winter was able to be on deck, and nellie ford introduced her to mr. and mrs. ford, and they soon settled to a little party of six, as passengers on a steamer are very apt to do. the two girls were together all the time, and joined in a game of ring toss with some more of the young people. [illustration: houses of parliament.--_page 37._] the days passed away, one very much like another--some pleasant, some stormy and rough, some foggy, with the whistles being blown every two minutes. alice felt that she should be glad when she saw land again. one night they met a steamer, and it did look very pretty all lighted up. the "etruria" set off roman candles, which were answered by the steamer, and alice thought that was the most interesting evening of all, even more so than the night of the concert. the "etruria" made a very quick trip, and reached queenstown friday afternoon. alice was writing letters in the saloon to send home, when suddenly the steamer stopped. "oh, dear, what is the matter?" she cried, jumping to her feet. a gentleman sitting near her said, "it is a fog, and as we are very near fastnet rock they do not dare to go on." soon a gun was heard in answer to the steamer's whistle, and the gentleman said, "we must be right there now." alice went up on deck rather frightened, but as suddenly as the fog had settled upon them it lifted, and directly ahead of them was the straight rock rising out of the water like a sentinel. the "etruria" ran up her signal flags and then started on, and in three hours was off queenstown harbor, where the tug was waiting for their mails and the few passengers who wished to be landed. chapter iv. a first glimpse of england. queenstown was soon a thing of the past, and when they went to their rooms the packing was finished, so that the next morning all the time could be spent upon the deck until they landed. it was a clear, bright morning, but very cold and windy, when the steamer was left to take the tug. on leaving the tug, alice and nellie were very careful to each put her left foot first on the dock, as they had been told it would bring them good luck. there was not much to interest our party in liverpool except the docks, which of course alice had been told were the finest in the world. after leaving the custom house they were driven to the north western hotel, and the ladies and two girls waited in the parlor in front of an enormous soft-coal fire, while mr. ford and mr. winter went into the station, which joins the hotel, and engaged a compartment for london. opposite the hotel they could see st. george's hall, with its two statues in front, one of queen victoria and the other of her husband, prince albert, when they were young. suddenly a noise of horses being rapidly driven was heard, and the girls ran to the window just in time to see the high sheriff's carriage of state being driven to the hotel to take him away to open court. it was very elegant, with its satin linings and the four beautiful horses. the footmen stood up at the back of the carriage, holding themselves on by leather straps. four men in uniform stood in the street and blew on trumpets until the sheriff was out of sight. the girls thought it very interesting, but mrs. winter said, "a sheriff's position in england must be very different from that in america, where they usually go about in the quietest manner possible." mr. winter and mr. ford came in and told them it was time to get some lunch. a very nice one they had, and alice was particularly interested in the table on wheels, with the joints of meat on it, which was pushed about to each person to select the cut of meat he liked. mr. ford advised their going to the hotel victoria in london, as he had tried many others and liked that one the best; so they had telegraphed for rooms before starting on the two o'clock train. all the party were in good spirits, and glad to be on dry land. mrs. winter and alice did not like the carriage, as it is called in england, as well as the drawing-room car at home, but enjoyed every moment of the journey. england is like a large garden, every portion being under cultivation; the fields are so green and full of large, beautiful sheep grazing everywhere. "o mamma, how much more lovely the hedges are than our fences and walls at home!" said alice. "yes, indeed," said mrs. winter. "i have always heard they were lovely, but i did not think they would add so much to the beauties of the landscape." harrow, with its school on the hill, was passed, and caused some interest to the girls. london was reached before they realized it, and they were driven to the hotel victoria in two four-wheeled cabs called "growlers"--why, they did not know, unless people "growl" at their lack of comfort in every way; no springs, narrow, high seats, generally dirty, and a worn-out old horse, whipped the most of the time by a very poor driver. their rooms were ready for them, and glad enough they were to get their dinner and go to bed to get rested for the following days, to which the winters were looking forward with great interest. [illustration: nelson column.] chapter v. a week in london. sunday our party rested, but on monday morning they started for westminster abbey, hardly looking at anything on the way, though they went by trafalgar square, with the high column erected to nelson, which stands there so proudly, with its beautiful lions made by landseer lying so quietly at its base. a pleasant morning was passed at the abbey, and the poets' corner proved to be their greatest attraction, as it is with most americans. the chair in which queen victoria sat when she was crowned was shown to them, but alice said she thought it was a common-looking chair, and wondered why the queen did not have one that was more imposing. on leaving the abbey they naturally turned towards the houses of parliament, and wishing to get even a better view, they walked part way over westminster bridge, where they also saw st. thomas's hospital, situated on the surrey side of the thames. the walk back to the hotel by way of the embankment was very pleasant, with its large buildings one side, and the river with its boats moving up and down on the other, and the rumble of the underground railroad beneath their feet. on reaching home they were so tired it was decided to rest in the afternoon and visit madame tussaud's wax-works in the evening. after dinner mr. ford said, "how would you like to go to the wax-works by the underground railway? it is not very far, if you think you won't mind the smoke and confined air. the station is very near, and we shall be left at the next building to the wax-works. i have been driven there and it only took about twenty minutes, so i think we can go by train in ten." "all right," said mr. winter; "it will be a good opportunity to see how we shall like it." off they all started to the charing cross station. the girls did not like going down underground so far, but alice said to nellie, "i think i will not say much about it unless mamma does." after passing three stations, mr. winter said, "this air is stifling, do you not think we are nearly there?" "oh, yes," said mr. ford, "i think it must be the next station." when they reached it, it was not theirs, and mr. ford called out to the guard, "how many more stations before we reach baker street?" the man looked at him rather queerly, and said, "fourteen. where did you get on the train?" "at charing cross," said mr. ford. "oh," said the guard, "you have taken a train for the outer circle and come the longer way; some one should have told you." the train moved on, and our party had nothing to do but sit patiently and try not to think how close and stifling the air was getting. when they were once more in the fresh air mr. ford said, "driving in cabs suits me pretty well, and that is the way i am going home, if i go alone." there was not a dissenting voice, and after a very pleasant evening they had a lovely drive home in three hansom cabs, and it only took them sixteen minutes. tuesday morning was spent in visiting the bank of england and st. paul's cathedral, where the young people and the gentlemen went upstairs to the whispering gallery. they all went down to the crypt, where are many tombs, among them those of nelson and wellington. the great object of interest to them was the immense funeral car which was made to carry the body of the duke of wellington through the streets of london to his last resting-place. the wheels were made from pieces of cannon picked from the field of waterloo. mr. ford took them to a quaint, old-fashioned place noted for its soups, for lunch. in the afternoon the tower of london was visited, and of course was of more interest to the winters than to the fords. to alice it was very realistic, it was so full of english history. she could tell her mamma much more than could the man, in his strange costume, who showed them around. that night the ladies and the two girls were too tired to go out again, so mr. ford took mr. winter and they did a little sight-seeing on their own account. wednesday was given up to visiting the buckingham palace stables, where they saw the queen's famous ponies that are only used on state occasions; and the south kensington museum, which they found very interesting. [illustration: tower of london.--_page 40._] in the evening they went to the theatre, and alice thought it very strange to go downstairs to their seats. the audience looked so much better than in america, as the ladies were in evening dress and the gentlemen in dress suits. thursday was a lovely day, and was spent at hampton court. they went on the outside of a coach, and what a lovely drive it was through richmond and bushy park, with its wonderful horse-chestnut trees all in bloom! [illustration: hampton court.] the coach stopped at a little inn beside the river, where they lunched before visiting the famous court, once the home of henry the eighth, and presented to him by cardinal wolsey. it is now the home of certain ladies of small income who are alone in the world. they are selected by the queen, and of course have only one portion of the palace. the remainder is occupied as state apartments and a famous picture-gallery, beside a gun-room only second in interest to that of the tower. friday was given to windsor castle and the crystal palace. saturday they shopped and visited the royal academy, where they saw a beautiful collection of paintings, and only wished there was more time to spend looking at them. mr. and mrs. ford decided to go with the winters as far as brussels, and as they were to start on monday it was thought best to keep very quiet on sunday. mrs. winter said to her husband she wished they could stay longer in london, where every minute had been a delight; but he said it was impossible. chapter vi. off for the continent. monday morning was bright and clear, and mr. ford said, "this looks like a pleasant crossing of the channel." the ride in the cars to dover was very interesting, and the view of canterbury cathedral was quite fine. quite a large boat was waiting for the train, and the water looked so smooth alice said,-"i guess the people who are sick crossing this channel do not know much of ocean discomfort." like a good many travellers who see the channel for the first time, she thought it must always be quiet. it proved to be a very smooth trip, and only a little over an hour was spent in crossing. the train left calais fifteen minutes after the arrival of the boat, and the gentlemen bought nice luncheons which were put up in baskets,--chicken, bread and butter, and a bottle of wine. they found a good compartment, and away they went, eating their lunch and enjoying the views from the windows at the same time. belgium is called the garden of europe, as vegetables are raised there for all the principal cities. the country is flat and rather uninteresting to look at, but when one realizes that the willows which surround the farms are used by the women and children to make baskets which are sent all over the world it becomes very interesting. the land is divided by water wide enough for flat-bottomed boats to be rowed about, that the farmers may till their land and bring home the products in them. it seemed very strange to see women at work in the fields, but mr. ford said they would get used to that before they reached nuremberg. it was dark when the train drew in at the station at brussels, and they took a stage marked "grand hotel," and were driven through the principal street of the city. the shops were all lighted, and the streets and sidewalks full of people. outside the restaurants little tables were set on the sidewalks, and men and women were eating and drinking. it was a sight the winters had never seen, and it looked very strange to them. "it is just like paris on a small scale," said mr. ford. excellent rooms were ready for them at the hotel, as they had been telegraphed for by mr. ford, who was in the habit of going there every year. they had a delicious supper, and mr. winter said,-"that is the best meal i have seen since leaving america." the ladies had found the cars very hard to travel in, and were glad to go to their rooms. the next day mrs. winter was so thoroughly used up that mr. winter decided to stay in brussels a few days for her to get rested. the girls were delighted, as they had become very fond of each other and were dreading the separation. [illustration: brussels bourse.] mr. ford had to go out on business, and mrs. ford said she would entertain mrs. winter if mr. winter would take the girls sight-seeing. they started on their walk in high spirits, and found such wide, clean streets, interesting shops, and large, handsome buildings. the new exchange just completed, and the palace of justice, are two of the most magnificent civic buildings in europe. they were much interested in a lace manufactory. on the lower floor were women at work on the finest patterns. they were all ages, from twenty to seventy, and never looked up while their work was being examined. when the girls were leaving the room, alice laughed at some remark of nellie's, and then every head was lifted and a sad smile came on each face for a second. mr. winter bought two lace handkerchiefs for the girls to take as presents to their mothers. through the remainder of their stay in brussels they had lovely drives in the beautiful park, visited the palace of justice, situated at the end of a long street, on a hill where there was a glorious view of the surrounding country for miles. they also found that the picture gallery had a very fine collection--indeed, said to be the best in belgium, and the pictures were beautifully arranged in schools and periods. one day was given to the field of waterloo, which they all enjoyed very much. alice felt so unhappy to be parted from nellie that mr. winter finally persuaded mr. and mrs. ford to let nellie go with them to nuremberg, as it would give her a delightful trip, and she was equally miserable to be left in brussels without alice. it was decided to meet in paris, have an enjoyable week together, and sail for home on the "etruria" near the middle of july. chapter vii. up the rhine. on monday, mr. and mrs. winter and the girls said "good-bye" to mr. and mrs. ford and started for cologne in the gayest of spirits. the trip was found very interesting, as they followed the meuse river a great deal of the way. between liège and verviers the country was wonderfully picturesque, with the pretty winding river, which they continually crossed, and little villages with the mountains in the distance. the meuse has been called the miniature rhine. verviers is the last belgian station, and aix-la-chapelle is the first town of much interest in germany. from the train there was an excellent view of the city, which has seen many changes since it was the favorite home of charlemagne. [illustration: cologne cathedral.] for more than three centuries the german emperors were crowned there. it was growing dark as cologne was reached, but the girls, knowing the cathedral was near the station, hurried outside to see it, and how wonderfully high and beautiful the noble great spires looked in the twilight no one can imagine who has never seen them. tuesday morning was spent in visiting the church of st. ursula (which is reputed to hold the bones of eleven thousand virgins martyred by the huns) and the cathedral. an excellent guide showed our party around, and pointed out the beautiful windows which king ludwig presented, costing eighteen thousand pounds, english money. the late king frederick gave one elegant window, at the end opposite the entrance. on one side of the building were windows made by albert dürer, considered germany's greatest artist. a large gold cross, presented by marie de medici, and costing an enormous sum of money, alice thought was more beautiful than the windows. on the way back to the hotel they met a company of soldiers who were singing as they marched along. it seemed very inspiring. wednesday morning this happy party took the train for mayence up the rhine, as the boats, they found, were not yet running. alice and nellie had been reading up the legends of the rhine, and could hardly wait to see its beauties and wonders. the rhine was not reached until after leaving bonn. the scenery was so pretty they did not miss the river views. in full view of the train was the famous avenue of horse-chestnuts, three-quarters of a mile in length. there is a large university at bonn, and many other schools. as many of the students in their different costumes came to the station and walked up and down the platform to show themselves, the girls were very much amused. the city is also noted as being the birthplace of beethoven. as soon as bonn was out of sight, the river was beside them. at first the entire party were disappointed, the river seemed so quiet, narrow, and sluggish, compared to the rivers at home. however, that was soon forgotten as its beauties grew upon them. they soon saw the seven mountains coming into view, and wished they could stay over one night to see the sun rise from the top. mr. winter felt he must hurry on, as they had spent so much time in brussels, and see all they could from the train. at oberwinter, where there is the finest view down the rhine, all the party looked back to see it. coblence was the next large town, and the situation is beautiful, as it is at the confluence of the rhine and the moselle, with the strong fortifications opposite, the castle of ehrenbreitstein, often called the gibraltar of the rhine. just after leaving coblence they saw two castles, one the royal castle of stolzenfels on its "proud rock," more than four hundred feet above the river. it was destroyed by the french in the seventeenth century, but is now completely restored. the other castle is directly opposite, above the mouth of the lahn river, is called the castle of lahneck, and has been lately restored. alice knew the legend of this castle, and told it to the rest of the party. "it was here, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, that the order of knights templars, which had been founded for religious purposes chiefly, was severely persecuted by philippe le beau of france and pope clement v. [illustration: lahneck castle.--_page 54._] "after many vicissitudes there was a long and desperate siege, in which all the knights fell except one man. he held the commander at bay, who was so overpowered by the knight's bravery he offered him life and liberty if he would stop fighting and beg for mercy. "the templar's only answer was to throw his spear among the soldiers, and then was killed by throwing himself on their lances." boppart was the next town of any interest, it being a walled town of roman origin. the wall had crumbled away in many places, and houses had been built on the ruins. on the opposite side of the river was bornhoffen, with its twin castles of sternberg and liebenstein, or "the brothers." mr. winter told this legend, which runs that once a rich knight, with his two sons and one daughter, lived there, and were very rich in gold and lands, which the old knight had gained through wrong and robbery. all his neighbors felt sure that such ill-gotten wealth would bring him anything but blessings. the brothers inherited the avarice of the father; but the sister was lovely and gentle, like her mother. when the father died the brothers gave their sister much less than a third of the property. she gave hers to the cause of religion and went into a convent. the brothers, disappointed, disputed over their share, and at last fell in love with the same maiden, who did not hesitate to flirt with both and increase their jealousy. they finally fought and killed each other. just as mr. winter finished his story, the guard of the train put his head into the car window, to say that the lorely rock was nearly in sight. chapter viii. the legend of the lorely. both girls jumped to their feet, for of course they were interested to see that famous rock where the water-nymph lore was said to have lived. she would appear on the top of the rock, clothed in wonderful garments, and a veil of the color of the sea-green water reaching to her feet, to lure wicked people to destruction by her singing. the people who came to the foot of the rock were swallowed in the waves, while those who tried to climb to the top were either thrown back into the water or led through the dense woods, only to be days finding their way out of them. lore was very kind to good people, having the fairy power of distinguishing good from evil. at last a young count, much to his father's unhappiness, saw and fell in love with her. he constantly went to gaze upon her, for she was very beautiful. he used to carry his zither and play and sing to her, until she finally caused the waves to rise so high that his boat was upset and broken. the count sank into the waves, and his attendants returned home to tell the father the sad news. the old count swore revenge, and was going to seize lore and have her burnt. the next night he took some friends and surrounded the rock. when lore appeared the old count said, "where is my son?" lore pointed to the waves, at the same time continuing to sing very sweetly. as soon as lore had finished her song, she threw a stone into the river, which caused a wave to rise. she mounted it and sank from view with it, never to be seen again, though her singing was often heard by men passing by. the rock was formerly called lorely, but is now lurlei, and has a lovely echo said to be the gift of lore. the girls were disappointed to see the water around the rock so very quiet--no whirlpool at all. when they saw that a cut had been made through the rock for railroad trains, all the romance was gone for them. alice said, "o papa, how could anybody spoil that pretty story by running trains through the rock? if that is the way my romances are going to end i will not read any more." however, she soon saw a house built in the river, and wanted to know what it was and why it was there. "i know," said nellie. "i was reading about it the other day." it is called the pfalz, and was built by louis of bavaria in the thirteenth century, in order to exact tribute from passing vessels. opposite is the town of bacharach, the ara bacchi of the romans, and has long been famous for its wines. in longfellow's "golden legend" is the old rhyme,- "at bacharach on the rhine, at hochheim on the main, and at würzburg on the stein, grow the three best kinds of wine." the bacchus-altar is to be found in this lovely country. it stands just below the town, but the water has to be very low to read the inscription (which is nearly illegible), as it is situated between the bank of the river and an islet. the altar is supposed to have been erected by the romans to their god of wine. many other castles, some restored, but the most of them in ruins, were passed, before assmanshausen, famous for its red wines, was reached. mr. winter said, "now this ends what is called 'the great gorge of the rhine,' and the river will broaden, and the open country, not very interesting, is before you." just before reaching bingen they saw the ruins of ehrenfels, and in the middle of the river the mausthurm, or "mouse tower." "o papa, i know the story of that tower," said alice. "can i tell it?" "we are only too glad to hear it," said her mamma. "hatto was bishop of fulda, and wishing to be made archbishop of mayence, used every means in his power to accomplish his purpose. he succeeded, and became very ambitious, proud, and cruel. he taxed the poor to build for himself fine dwellings. [illustration: mouse tower.--_page 61._] "at last he built the tower in the river where it was very narrow, to compel all ships to pay him toll. "a famine set in, and he, having plenty of money, bought up everything and filled his granaries. he sold his stores at such high prices that only the rich could buy. "he paid no heed to the supplications of the famishing people, as he intended building a superb palace with his money. "one day when hatto was entertaining friends at dinner, the starving people forced their way into the dining-hall and begged for food. he told them to go to a large barn where corn should be given them. when they were all inside, hatto ordered the doors to be closed and fastened on the outside and the barn to be set on fire. "when their shrieks reached the dining-hall, hatto turned to his guests and said, 'hear how the corn-mice squeal: i do the same to rebels as i do to them.' "the wrath of heaven was turned against him, for out of the ashes at the barn thousands of mice took their way to the palace, filling the rooms and attacking hatto. thousands were killed, but they steadily increased, and he was finally obliged to flee in terror of his life to a boat, still pursued by legions. "hatto was ferried over the rhine to the tower, but the mice perforated the walls, and fell on him by the thousands, and ate him up. they then disappeared, and the tower has been called the 'mouse tower' ever since. "it has never been used in any way, but stands as a warning to despotic people." mr. winter said, "alice, you told that very well; but he was not such a very wicked man as the legend makes him. he was imperious and caused his people much suffering, but was the emperor's confidant and was called the heart of the king." bingen is not a very interesting town, but has many walks and drives that are full of interest in every way. directly opposite, on the heights of niederwald, is the beautiful monument built to commemorate the restitution of the german empire in 1870-1871. alice and nellie did wish they could stop long enough to go up and see it, it looked so grand and mighty outlined against the sky. mr. winter said, "no, we must get to mayence to-night." there was not much of interest after leaving bingen, as the train left the river and the rhine was not seen again until just before entering mayence, where the main flows most peacefully into it, making a very beautiful picture. chapter ix. mayence to nuremberg. mr. winter as usual had telegraphed to mayence for rooms, and found very comfortable, large rooms ready for them in a new, pleasant hotel near the station. after resting a little while mr. winter said, "who wants to go with me and take a drive around the city?" the entire party, even mrs. winter, who had thought she was too tired to go out again, said they would like to go. what a delightful drive they had, at the close of a warm, lovely day, around that interesting old city, with its wonderful fortifications! the view of the rivers at the base of the hill they thought as pretty as any they had seen all day. mr. winter told them what a very old city it was, a roman camp having been laid there thirty-eight years before christ. [illustration: mayence--general view.--_page 65._] the foundations may be said to date from fourteen years b.c., when drusus built his extensive fortifications. there is a roman monument forty-five feet high erected in honor of drusus. there are also remains of a roman aqueduct to be found outside the city. the cathedral was founded in 798. it has been burnt and restored six times, and is one of the grandest in germany. just outside the cathedral they saw a fine statue of gutenberg, who is regarded by the germans as the inventor of movable types for printing. our party drove back to the hotel, had a nice supper, which was waiting for them, and went to bed feeling they had enjoyed that day more than any since leaving home. the next morning all were rested and eager to get to nuremberg, the end of the trip. mr. winter, by some mistake, did not get the fast train, and as the one they took stopped very often, and the scenery was not very interesting, our party arrived in nuremberg so tired they ate their supper and went directly to bed. chapter x. nuremberg. in the morning mr. winter said, "i will give one day to you for sight-seeing, and then i must attend to business. you will have to spend the rest of your time going around with a guide or by yourselves." alice was delighted with the old moat which was opposite her window, and wanted to look in it at once. nellie felt the castle was of more importance, and could hardly wait to get there. the moat surrounds the old city, and now is rented to gardeners, who live in the old towers and cultivate the land in the moat. our party started out to walk until they were tired, and kept on the sidewalk side of the moat, and thought it did look so pretty with everything so fresh and green. the cherry-trees were all white with their lovely blossoms, which grew even with the sidewalk. [illustration: nuremberg walls.] finally they went through an old gateway, which was said to be the one where a rope was kept in the olden time, to use on the bakers. if they did not give full weight, the bakers were tied to the end of a pole and dipped into the water several times. if poison was found in the bread, they were immediately drowned. as the ladies were getting tired, mr. winter called a carriage to drive them to the castle. as he could speak german, the driver told him many interesting things, and pointed out various objects of interest. he showed them one house that had been occupied by the same family for four hundred and fifty years. the churches of st. sebald and st. lawrence they admired very much on the outside, leaving the beauties of the interiors for another day. they passed one fountain called the goose man, and another, the beautiful fountain, built in 1385. also, a fine statue of hans sachs, erected in 1874, who was known through germany as the cobbler-poet. it was from his life wagner wrote the opera of the "meistersinger." soon the driver drew up his horses at a corner where a small house stood under a hill, called the sausage shop, for its wonderfully cooked sausages. it has been made famous by such men as albert dürer, the great artist, hans sachs, and the old burgomasters meeting there for their nightly mugs of beer and a sausage. [illustration: albrecht dürer's house.--_page 74._] the statue of albert dürer, erected in 1840, is between the sausage shop and his old home. all the houses, with their deep, slanting roofs, were objects of interest, but most of all was that of albert dürer, which is the only house in nuremberg that has not undergone some alteration. the house is now filled with many curiosities, some of them having belonged to albert dürer, and is open every day to visitors. the girls wanted to stop and go in at once, but mr. winter said, "no, we cannot stop now; we must get to the castle, and leave the house until we have more time." the castle stands very high, and they were obliged to drive up through very narrow and steep streets; but the horses were used to it, and mrs. winter finally overcame her nervousness. when the top of the hill was reached, there was a plateau where a beautiful view of the city was to be seen. they left the carriage here, and after looking at the scenery they walked on up to the castle. [illustration: nuremberg castle.] on the way they saw a small shed, and, on looking in, found it held the famous well. a young girl was there, who, in a parrot sort of way, told them that the well was built in the eleventh century, under conrad ii., by convicts, and that it took thirty years to finish it. she told mrs. winter to hold a mirror in her hand while she lowered a candle, to show by the reflection in the mirror the depth of the well. it took just six seconds for water which she poured out of a glass to reach the water in the well. she told them it was four hundred and fifty feet deep, and they all believed her. in the courtyard of the castle they saw an old linden tree growing, which is said to have been planted by empress kunigunde eight hundred years ago. the castle they found quite interesting without being very elegant. a lady in charge of it told them many things of interest about the castle and the city. she told them that the first records of nuremberg date from 1050. in 1105 the town was besieged, conquered, and destroyed by henry v., again besieged in 1127 by emperor lothar, from which time imperial officials appeared who took the title of burggrafer. frederick i. (barbarossa), under whom the burg was enlarged, frequently lived here from 1156 to 1188. rudolph von hapsburg held his first diet here in 1274, and often visited the town. under emperor karl iv. the first stone bridge was built, and the streets were paved. the first fundamental law of the empire was formed by him, and is known as the "golden bull." it was framed in nuremberg in 1356, and is still kept in frankfort. according to this law, every german emperor was obliged to spend his first day of government in nuremberg. his government was very favorable to nuremberg in every way. the four large towers were built 1555 to 1568, after a plan designed by albert dürer. the town reached its highest artistic development in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under such men as albert dürer, a. krafft, herman fischer, and many others. goblets and many such objects of art were made here at that time. in 1649 nuremberg displayed its last splendor. commerce had been ruined by different wars. in 1806 it was made a matter of rejoicing when it came under the crown of bavaria. king ludwig first revived art, and trade made a start. in 1835 the first railroad was opened to fürth. in 1855 king max ii. with his family lived here, and the imperial burg was offered to him as a present by the town. the lady also told them that the five-cornered tower, which is the oldest building in nuremberg and connected with the castle, contained a collection of instruments of torture. among them is the iron virgin, a figure of a woman, which opens and is full of spikes. the poor victim would be shut up in its clutches. none of our party felt like visiting that horrible place, so they thanked the woman, and took some last looks at the beautiful views to be seen from the windows. to their surprise they found it was noon-time, and as everything in nuremberg is closed for an hour and a half at mid-day, they were driven back to the wurtemberger hof, their comfortable hotel, where everything possible was done for their pleasure. after a good dinner and a rest, mr. winter said he thought, as his time was so limited, he would like to visit the town hall and st. john's cemetery. a guide was found, and they started out with more enthusiasm than ever. the guide told them that the town hall was built in the years from 1616 to 1619, in italian style. he pointed out to them a fine picture by paul ritter, painted in 1882, to represent the act of the arrival of the german emperor's insignia in nuremberg. the guide also showed them several pictures of dürer's representing the triumphal procession of emperor maximilian. his pictures are, many of them, very indistinct. they were taken into a room where the wedding couples go to sign their marriage contracts. mr. winter was more interested than the girls, and mrs. winter was so tired they were glad enough to get in the carriage and be driven to the famous old cemetery. for some blocks before reaching the entrance are paintings of christ, representing the last days of his life. at the gateway are the three statues of christ and the two thieves nailed to the cross. the guide showed them the graves of dürer and sachs, and one of a man who had been killed, while asleep, by his wife hammering a nail in his head. there was a bronze skull, with the nail in it just where she killed him. another interesting bronze was the figure of a woman with a lizard on a perch, which, when touched, turns towards the woman's figure and shows where she was bitten in the neck by the lizard that killed her. the girls thought that very quaint and more interesting than any they saw, though there were many very beautifully carved, and, being of bronze, were of great value. while our party was wandering through the cemetery a funeral was taking place, and as the entire service was intoned, it was very impressive. mr. winter said as they entered the carriage, "you have had enough sight-seeing for to-day, and we will drive home and talk over all the wonderful and interesting things we have seen and heard to-day." [illustration: nuremberg.] chapter xi. nuremberg.--_continued._ the following morning mr. winter left the ladies, who walked aimlessly, not caring much where they went, it was all so full of interest to them. accidentally they visited quite an interesting place called the preller house. it was built three hundred years ago by a venetian nobleman, and is now used as a furniture warehouse. there is a chapel in it, and some of the old furniture still remains. the ceilings are very fine, and in two of the rooms were only discovered when the present occupants were having gas-pipes put in the house. mr. winter did not come home to dinner, and in the afternoon mrs. winter and the girls went to the museum, where they found more to interest them than anywhere they had been. it had a very large and interesting collection of paintings and antiquities, but the girls enjoyed seeing the old cloister--the first they had ever seen. that evening when mr. winter came home, he told his wife that he should only be obliged to remain one more day, and they must entertain themselves again without him. the next morning mrs. winter took a guide with them, as she wished to visit some of the shops where they could collect some curiosities. they also went to the market square, where the poor people can buy everything they need at very reasonable prices. mrs. winter then said, "now, girls, we will visit those churches of which we have only seen the outside." the guide took them first to st. lawrence's church. this church, he told them, was mentioned as early as 1006, and had the handsomest artistic decoration of any of the celebrated churches throughout germany. the finest portion is the choir, with a vaulted roof supported by slender pillars from which the arches are formed like palm branches. the guide wished them particularly to look at the gothic bronze chandelier, which weighs four hundred and eighty-two pounds, and was cast by peter vischer in 1489. the girls were charmed by the seven windows of the choir, which are considered the best examples of nuremberg glass-painting from 1450 to 1490. the last window, called the emperor's, was presented by the citizens of nuremberg in memory of the restitution of the german empire. it was put in the 22d of march, 1881. mrs. winter was much interested in some beautiful tapestries representing the lives of st. lawrence and st. catharine, and are over four hundred years old. there were many more paintings of much interest, some of them albert dürer's. as they were leaving, the girls saw some richly carved chairs by the doors, and asked the guide why they were there. he told them that they formerly belonged to the guilds, and the masters sat in them, in turn, to receive alms. from this church our party was driven to st. sebaldus's, which was finished in the tenth century. one of the most interesting things they saw was the font, which was remarkable not only as the first product of nuremberg's foundries, but as having been used to christen king wenceslas of bohemia, in 1361. there were more paintings of dürer's to be seen here, but the finest work was the sepulchre of st. sebaldus in the centre of the choir. it is the most extensive work german art has ever produced, and was cast by peter vischer and his five sons. "it was commenced in 1508 and completed in 1519. it rests on twelve snails, having four dolphins at its corners, the whole forming a pagan temple adorned with the twelve apostles. it is surmounted by twelve smaller figures, and finally by an infant christ holding a globus in his hand, the latter being a key of the whole monument, when it is to be rent asunder. there is also a fine portrait of peter vischer in this church." of course there were many more objects of interest to be seen, but mrs. winter thought they had seen enough; so they were driven home to dinner. in the afternoon they took a drive out of the city to a beer-garden situated at the side of a pretty lake. they had some tea, and walked on the borders of the lake quite a distance. mrs. winter said, "i wish we had such a quiet, pretty place near home where we could spend an afternoon as delightfully as we have here." that evening nellie said, "dear mrs. winter, how can i ever thank you and your husband for this trip? mamma could not have come, and never shall i forget what i have enjoyed through your kindness." mrs. winter told her that the pleasure she had given them was more than hers, as it had added so much to alice's happiness. alice said, "now, mamma, will you not add to our pleasures by repeating longfellow's beautiful poem on nuremberg before we go to bed?" "dear mrs. winter, please do," said nellie. "i have never heard of it, but i know it must be very lovely." "very well," said mrs. winter. "i certainly never knew a more appropriate time to recite it than now." the girls gathered around her in the twilight as she sweetly commenced:- in the valley of the pegnitz, where across broad meadow-lands rise the blue franconian mountains, nuremberg, the ancient, stands. quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song, memories haunt thy pointed gables, like the rooks that round them throng: memories of the middle ages, when the emperors, rough and bold, had their dwelling in the castle, time defying, centuries old; and thy brave and thrifty burghers boasted, in their uncouth rhyme, that their great imperial city stretched its hand through every clime. in the courtyard of the castle, bound with many an iron band, stands the mighty linden planted by queen cunigunde's hand; on the square the oriel window, where in old heroic days sat the poet melchior singing kaiser maximilian's praise. everywhere i see around me rise the wondrous world of art- fountains wrought with richest sculpture standing in the common mart; and above cathedral doorways saints and bishops carved in stone, by a former age commissioned as apostles to our own. in the church of sainted sebald sleeps enshrined his holy dust, and in bronze the twelve apostles guard from age to age their trust; in the church of sainted lawrence stands a pix of sculpture rare, like the foamy sheaf of fountains, rising through the painted air. here, when art was still religion, with a simple, reverent heart, lived and labored albrecht dürer, the evangelist of art; hence in silence and in sorrow, toiling still with busy hand, like an emigrant he wandered, seeking for the better land; _emigravit_ is the inscription on the tombstone where he lies; dead he is not, but departed,--for the artist never dies. fairer seems the ancient city, and the sunshine seems more fair, that he once has trod its pavement, that he once has breathed its air. through these streets, so broad and stately, these obscure and dismal lanes, walked of yore the mastersingers, chanting rude poetic strains. from remote and sunless suburbs came they to the friendly guild, building nests in fame's great temple, as in spouts the swallows build. as the weaver plied the shuttle, wove he too the mystic rhyme, and the smith his iron measures hammered to the anvil's chime; thanking god, whose boundless wisdom makes the flowers of poesy bloom in the forge's dust and cinders, in the tissues of the loom. here hans sachs, the cobbler-poet, laureate of the gentle craft, wisest of the twelve wise masters, in huge folios sang and laughed; but his house is now an ale-house, with a nicely sanded floor, and a garland in the window, and his face above the door; painted by some humble artist, as in adam puschman's song, as the old man, gray and dove-like, with his great beard white and long, and at night the swart mechanic comes to drown his cash and care, quaffing ale from pewter tankards, in the master's antique chair. vanished is the ancient splendor, and before my dreamy eye wave these mingling shapes and figures, like a faded tapestry. not thy councils, not thy kaisers, win for thee the world's regard; but thy painter, albrecht dürer, and hans sachs thy cobbler-bard. thus, o nuremberg, a wanderer from a region far away, as he paced thy streets and courtyards, sang in thought his careless lay; gathering from the pavement's crevice, as a floweret of the soil, the nobility of labor--the long pedigree of toil. "how very beautiful!" said nellie. "thank you so much, mrs. winter, for reciting it to us. i shall learn it myself when i get home, trusting i may sometime give as much pleasure to another as you have given me." mr. winter said, "why, agnes, i never heard you recite that poem so well." "i never did," said his wife; "for i never truly felt it before." "thank you, mamma dear," said alice. "now we will go to bed, feeling all the happier for the lovely poem which has put our best thoughts into words." [illustration: strasbourg cathedral--side view.] chapter xii. strasbourg. mrs. winter was very anxious to travel to paris by the way of strasbourg, as she had always wished to see the cathedral with its wonderful clock. mr. winter made inquiries and found that was decidedly the best way to go, which was a great delight to them all. our party left nuremberg early in the morning, sorry to see the last of the most interesting city they had seen thus far on their trip. nellie, who was looking forward to meeting her father and mother in paris, was quite happy to make a move in that direction. the first part of the trip was not very interesting, but the latter was delightful, and as they had a compartment to themselves the girls could enjoy the view from both sides of the train. a change of cars was made at a place where there was hardly anything but the station and the railroad interests. here they ate a cold lunch from the counter, though there were some hot dishes on a table; but they did not look very tempting. the spire of the strasbourg cathedral could be seen some time before reaching the station, and well it might, being four hundred and sixty-six feet high, and by some authorities said to be the highest in the world. the fortifications had been so fine at mayence our party was surprised to find others much finer here, many of them being new, having been built at the time of the french and german war in 1870. the engineering of some of them is particularly fine, as they are made to be opened, so that all the surrounding country can be flooded if necessary. the train wound round the city, giving them a fine view of the fortifications and the soldiers being drilled in many of the enclosures. strasbourg was one of the most important cities during the last war, and a great portion of it was destroyed. one side of the cathedral was badly damaged, but is now thoroughly restored. mr. winter took his family to a small hotel on the square near the station, having been recommended there by the manager of the hotel at nuremberg. he found it very comfortable, and every possible attention was shown them. arriving about five o'clock, there was plenty of time to be driven around the city. of course they started for the cathedral, but on the way the driver stopped the carriage to point out one of the highest chimneys on one of the tallest houses, where the storks had built a nest. he also told them how the storks arrive every spring and build their nests, and then leave in the fall with their young, to return the next spring with their families no larger nor smaller than when they go away. what becomes of the surplus is a great question--whether they only increase sufficiently to fill the vacancies caused by death or old age, or that the young ones found colonies in other countries. the storks are held in great reverence by mankind, and are never harmed. indeed, it is considered good fortune to the inmates of a house when a nest is built on one of its chimneys. the driver told a story of one man who gave up the use of his room an entire winter, rather than destroy a nest which two storks had built over the top of his chimney, and thus prevented his building a fire. as they approached the cathedral alice said, "why, papa, where is the clock? i cannot see it at all." [illustration: strasbourg storks.--_page 94._] "i do not know," said mr. winter; "but it certainly is there somewhere." the driver took them to the front of the building, where they were met by a guide, who showed them the beauties of the outside architecture and the many statues of the apostles and saints. he told them that the cathedral was commenced in 1015 and finished in 1601. the guide showed them the plateau half-way up the height of the steeple, and told them that it is used by men who watch for fires all the time. the citizens are so proud of the cathedral that they have it dusted and washed inside very frequently. "where is the clock?" said mrs. winter, as soon as the guide stopped talking long enough for her to speak a word. the man did not answer, but took them around to a side door, where, after receiving his tip, he left them and walked away. at first they did not know what to do, but mrs. winter said, "i think we had better go inside if we can." in they went, and right by the door was the clock. a fine-looking man dressed elegantly met them. he proved to be a finely educated swiss, and he explained the various wonders of the clock. [illustration: strasbourg--cathedral clock.--_page 96._] he told them that the clock was built three hundred years ago, and was to run a certain number of years. it shows all fête days for all those years, tells the changes of the moon, eclipses--in fact, everything that one could imagine. the apostles do not all come out and walk around except at noon, but as it was quarter before six our party saw three men move. the clock stops at six at night and then commences again at six in the morning. mrs. winter said the longer she looked at it, the more wonderful it seemed to her that any man could think of so many things. the guide also told them that the man who first conceived the idea of the clock became totally blind when it was nearly completed. of course he could work no more, and it was never thought the clock would be finished. he lived thirty years, and after his death another man was found who thought he could complete it. he succeeded, and was paid by the government for his time and work. mrs. winter said, "i think it is the most wonderful thing i ever saw, and i do not know which man i admire the most--the one who conceived such a work, or the man who could carry out such marvellous thoughts of a man whom he had never met." after leaving the cathedral our party was driven around the city. the old part they found very quaint and picturesque, with its high and sloping roofs. the new part, built by the germans, was very handsome, some of the buildings, like the palace, conservatory of music, and the post-office, being particularly fine. the driver told them that one of the great interests there was the making of _pâté de foie gras_. it is made from the livers of geese which are fed in such a way that the liver grows abnormally large, often weighing three pounds. he also told them that many of the french people are still very bitter against the germans, even pulling down their shades to the windows if a regiment should march by the house. on their return to the hotel, the manager told mr. winter he would have a very quick and comfortable journey to paris if he took the orient express which runs between constantinople and paris. it would leave strasbourg three hours later than the ordinary train, and would arrive in paris some hours before it. mr. winter engaged a compartment at once, and the next day had a very enjoyable trip, though it was a very long one. the first part of the route, over mountains and through ravines, was very delightful; but after getting into france it was flat and uninteresting. they passed through epérgny, which was interesting for its vines, which covered the fields for many miles. from these grapes champagne is made. paris was reached at six o'clock, and their hotel, which had been recommended by friends, was found to be very homelike. the fords were there waiting for them, and were as glad to see nellie as she was glad to be with them again. chapter xiii. homeward bound. that evening after nellie had told her mamma some of her pleasant experiences, mr. winter said, "now we have just five days to spend in paris, and you must decide what you would most like to do. mr. ford and i are entirely at your disposal." guidebooks were brought out and studied, and after many discussions their plans were settled for each day. on thursday morning they went to the louvre, feeling there would be so many pictures to see they had better visit it first. how tired they did get sliding around on those slippery floors, trying to see the nine miles of pictures, many of which were quite uninteresting to them all. in the afternoon mr. winter took his wife and the girls in a carriage, and started for the bois de boulogne. when the place de la concorde was reached, with its monolithic obelisk of luxor, and fountains and statues, with the gardens of the tuileries one side, and the champs élysées on the other, the girls both exclaimed, "how beautiful!" but nellie added, "when i think of all the horrors that have taken place here it loses some of its loveliness to me." [illustration: place de la concorde.] the drive through the champs élysées they thought very beautiful, and when they reached the arc de triomphe de l'étoile, the most beautiful in the world, their admiration knew no bounds. mr. winter said, "alice, what do you know about this?" alice answered that "it was commenced by napoleon i. in 1806 and finished by louis philippe, and cost over two millions of dollars. it is about one hundred and fifty feet high, and the same in breadth, and the central arch is ninety feet high." "very good, my dear; you know that lesson very well," said her papa. from there to the bois everything was full of interest to them, and the drive around the cascade alice thought particularly lovely. nellie said, "it is not kept up as nicely as i like to see a park. they had better make central park a visit, and see its nicely cut lawns and trimmed bushes." on their way home they were driven through the place vendôme, with its magnificent column in the centre. nellie said, "i can tell you a little about that, mr. winter, if you would like me to." "of course i should," said mr. winter. "it is one hundred and forty feet high, and was also built by napoleon i. it was pulled down by the communists in 1871, but has since been restored." the girls felt quite at home historically in paris, as all these interesting things were very fresh in their minds. in the evening, being very near the palais royale, which was built for cardinal richelieu, they thought it would be a pleasant way to pass their evening to go and walk around and gaze into the shop windows. the ladies were too tired, so the gentlemen took the girls, and they had a delightful time. alice told her mamma on her return that she enjoyed it, but did not care to go again; she had seen so much jewelry, all alike, that it was actually tiresome. friday morning they drove to the palais du luxembourg, which has been prison, palace, senate-house, and is now noted for its sculptures and paintings. our party enjoyed it much more than the louvre, as the paintings were so many of them modern and very familiar to them. at the back of the garden they saw the statue of marshal ney, on the very spot where he was shot. being on that side of the river, they visited the church of the hôtel des invalides to see the tomb of napoleon i. it was directly under the dome, and the softened lights all around made it very beautiful. after being driven home and having lunch, they walked to the madeleine, the most magnificent of modern churches. mrs. winter said, "this is very beautiful, but i do like the solemnity of some of the older churches i have seen very much better." leaving there, they walked through some of those wide and interesting boulevards, watching the people and carriages and gazing into the fascinating shop-windows. mr. ford said, "i thought i had seen in new york some florists' windows that could not be improved, but i find i was mistaken. never have i seen such windows as these." when too tired to walk any farther, carriages were called, and they were driven to the cathedral of notre dame, built on an island in the seine; from there to the panthéon, which alice said "looked like a barn, and was cold and inhospitable." the most interesting thing about it was, that such celebrated men as victor hugo, marat, voltaire, mirabeau, and rousseau had been buried there. the hôtel de ville, recently restored, they passed on their way home. the evening was given to the hippodrome, which is quite the thing to do in paris, and is wonderfully fine. the drive there was like a picture of fairyland, with the bright lights and trees and glimpses of the river. saturday was devoted to shopping, a great deal of it being done at the magasin de louvre and the bon marché. the buildings are immense, and there is everything to be found in them that one could possibly desire. that evening it was decided to go to the opera at the grand opera house, the most beautiful one in the world. the girls were so excited they could not eat any dinner, for it was their first appearance. faust was the opera given, and a wonderful ballet followed it. between the opera and ballet they all went outside and looked down at the men on horseback, stationed like sentinels outside the building. before them was the whole length of the rue de l'opera a blaze of light. alice said, "nothing yet has been as delightful as this evening." sunday was bright and clear, much to the delight of our sight-seers, as they were going to versailles. they decided on sunday, as the fountains were advertised to play, and all were very anxious to see them. they drove there and enjoyed every moment, especially when passing st. cloud. they saw all it was possible to see in one day, but felt as if it was very little, after all. they went through the palace as fast as they could, but any one knows who has been there that with those glossy floors it took time. the room devoted to war pictures they did not care for, but were much interested in marie antoinette's private rooms, which were so very small, and also in the place where the swiss guards were killed in defending her. the state apartments were very elegant, especially the galerie de glace, where the german emperor was proclaimed emperor in the late war. of course the girls were eager to get to the great and little trianon. they were disappointed in the size and simplicity of their furnishings. the rooms, however, were so full of historical interest that their disappointment was forgotten, and they thought they could have spent all their time in the two houses. in the coach-house were seen some very curious old state coaches used by charles x. and napoleon i. and many other sovereigns. the man in charge was almost as much of a curiosity as the coaches, he told his stories in such an interesting manner, laughing heartily at his own jokes. [illustration: petit trianon.--_page 108._] the drive home was delightful, but they were all too tired to say very much. after a good dinner, the two girls talked as fast as magpies over the delights of the day. being like most girls, marie antoinette was one of the most interesting characters in french history, and they talked of her and her sad life, feeling almost as if they had lived a portion of it with her, in the quiet retreat and lovely gardens of versailles. mr. winter said to his wife, "i have really finished my business this side of the water, and unless you would like to remain in london three or four more days for the 'etruria,' we can catch the 'teutonic' next wednesday." mrs. winter said she would like to go home on the "teutonic" very much, but did not like to leave mr. and mrs. ford, as they had made all their arrangements to go home together. mr. ford said, "we are delighted to shorten the trip, as i ought to be at home now; but we did not like to break up the party." "very well," said mr. winter. "we will go out and telegraph to liverpool for state-rooms." alice said to her mamma, "i wonder if we can like the 'teutonic' as well as we did the 'etruria' that brought us over the seas so safely." monday was devoted to visiting the salon, where they saw so many pictures that they came away with a very vague idea of what they had seen, but all agreed they preferred the english pictures of the present day to those of the french. tuesday night saw our party again in london, but at the savoy hotel, where they had delightful rooms overlooking the river. wednesday at eleven o'clock our happy party took the special train which connects with the fast steamers, and at four o'clock were on the "teutonic" and starting for home. a lovely night down to queenstown, where the steamer stops for the mails. while waiting the next morning, mr. winter and mr. ford took alice and nellie on shore in the tug, and gave them a nice drive in a jaunting car. the girls did not enjoy the drive very much, but were glad of the experience. the ladies were very much interested in the boats which came out to the "teutonic" with women who had laces and small articles to sell. the things were sent up to the deck in baskets, on ropes, which were tossed up for the passengers to catch. some of the irish girls were very bright, and made very good sales. [illustration: thames embankment.--_page 111._] at last the tug with the mails arrived, and was attached to the steamer at once. both went down the harbor until the passengers, among them our party, and the mails had been transferred. the girls were uneasy until they were with their mothers. at two o'clock the tug left them, and then, indeed, it seemed as if they had started for home. one bad stormy day, some foggy and some delightful ones, fell to their share. no one of their party was sick, and they thought the steamer delightful. much as they had liked the "etruria," it was decided by all that the "teutonic" would be their steamer in the future. new york was reached on wednesday afternoon, and at night the entire party was at the fifth avenue hotel, feeling very glad to get safely across the ocean again. they had become such good friends it was very hard to separate. however, a promise was made by the fords to visit mr. and mrs. winter before the summer was over. thursday night the winters could have been found in their own home, all very happy, and feeling that the following years would be fuller of interest in every way for the experiences, most of them pleasant, of their charming trip to nuremberg and back. [illustration] [transcriber's notes all words printed in small capitals have been converted to uppercase characters. the following modifications have been made, page 18: "fairy-land" changed to "fairyland" (it was like a glimpse of fairyland) page 74: "bergomasters" changed to "burgomasters" (the old burgomasters meeting there for their nightly mugs) page 76: "runigunde" changed to "kunigunde" (planted by empress kunigunde eight hundred years ago) page 78: "firth" changed to "fürth" (the first railroad was opened to fürth) page 113: "mr. and mr." changed to "mr. and mrs." (to visit mr. and mrs. winter)] this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] margery by georg ebers volume 4. 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 furlined 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 strongwilled 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 be 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 fainthearted 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 glaaiy 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 deathbed, 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 stepfather 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 townhall, 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 redhaired 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 shrillv 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 illwill. 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 worldwise 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 beemaster'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 illdisposed 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 truehearted 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 necktie 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. [end of the original volume one of the print edition] etext editor's bookmarks: love which is able and ready to endure all things wonder we leave for the most part to children and fools this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> in the fire of the forge a romance of old nuremberg by georg ebers volume 5. in the fire of the forge--part ii. chapter 1. the vesper bells had already died away, yet heinz was still listening eagerly to the aged minorite, who was now relating the story of st. francis, his breach with everything that he loved, and the sorrowful commencement of his life. the monk could have desired no more attentive auditor. only the young knight often looked out of the window in search of biberli, who had not yet returned. the latter had gone to the ortlieb mansion with katterle. the runaway maid, whose disappearance, at old martsche's earnest request, had already been "cried" in the city, had no cause to complain of her reception; for the housekeeper and the other servants, who knew nothing of her guilt, greeted her as a favourite companion whom they had greatly missed, and biberli had taken care that she was provided with answers to the questions of the inquisitive. the story which he had invented began with the false report that a fire had broken out in the fortress. this had startled katterle, and attracted her to the citadel to aid her countrywoman and her little daughter. then came the statement that she spent the night there, and lastly the tale that in the morning she was detained in the swiss warder's quarters by a gentleman of rank--perhaps the burgrave himself--who, after he had learned who she was, wished to give her some important papers for herr ernst ortlieb. she had waited hours for them and finally, on the way home, chanced to meet biberli. at first the maid found it difficult to repeat this patchwork of truth and fiction in proper order, but the ex-schoolmaster impressed it so firmly on his sweetheart's mind that at last it flowed from her lips as fluently as his pupils in stanstadt had recited the alphabet. so she became among the other servants the heroine of an innocent adventure whose truth no one doubted, least of all the housekeeper, who felt a maternal affection for her. some time elapsed ere she could reach the es; they were still with their mother, who was so ill that the leech otto left the sick-room shaking his head. as soon as he had gone biberli stopped els, who had accompanied the physician outside the door of the sufferer's chamber, and earnestly entreated her to forgive him and katterle--who stood at his side with drooping head, holding her apron to her eyes and persuade her father also to let mercy take the place of justice. but kind-hearted els proved sterner than the maid had ever seen her. as her mother had been as well as usual when she woke, they had told her of the events of the previous night. her father was very considerate, and even kept back many incidents, but the invalid was too weak for so unexpected and startling a communication. she was well aware of her excitable daughter's passionate nature; but she had never expected that her little "saint," the future bride of heaven, would be so quickly fired with earthly love, especially for a stranger knight. moreover, the conduct of eva who, though she entreated her forgiveness, by no means showed herself contritely ready to resign her lover, had given her so much food for thought that she could not find the rest her frail body required. soon after these disclosures she was again attacked with convulsions, and els thought of them and the fact that they were caused by eva's imprudence, instigated by the maid, when she refused biberli her intercession with her father in behalf of him and his bride, as he now called katterle. the servitor uttered a few touching exclamations of grief, yet meanwhile thrust his hand into the pocket of his long robe and, with a courteous bow and the warmest message of love from her betrothed husband, whom katterle had seen in perfect health and under the best care in the zollern castle, delivered to the indignant girl the letter which wolff had entrusted to the maid. els hurried with the missive so impatiently expected to the window in the hall, through which the sun, not yet reached by the rising clouds, was shining, and as it contained nothing save tender words of love which proved that her betrothed husband firmly relied upon her fidelity and, come what might, would not give her up, she returned to the pair, and hurriedly, but in a more kindly tone, informed them that her father was greatly incensed against both, but she would try to soften him. at present he was in his office with herr casper eysvogel; biberli might wait in the kitchen till the latter went away. els then entered the sick-chamber, but biberli put his hand under his sweetheart's chin, bent her head back gently, and said: "now you see how biberli and other clever people manage. the best is kept until the last. the result of the first throw matters little, only he who wins the last goes home content. to know how to choose the bait is also an art. the trout bites at the fly, the pike at the worm, and a yearning maiden at her lover's letter. take notice! to-day, which began with such cruel sorrow, will yet have a tolerable end." "nay," cried katterle, nudging him angrily with her elbow, "we never had a day begin more happily for us. the gold with which we can set up housekeeping--" "oh, yes," interrupted biberli, "the zecchins and gold florins are certainly no trifle. much can be bought with them. but schorlin castle razed to the ground, my master's lady mother and fraulein maria held as half captives in the convent, to say nothing of the light-hearted prince hartmann and sir heinz's piteous grief--if all these things could be undone, child, i should not think the bag of gold, and another into the bargain, too high a price to pay for it. what is the use of a house filled with fine furniture when the heart is so full of sorrow? at home we all eat together out of a cracked clay dish across which a tinker had drawn a wire, with rude wooden spoons made by my father, yet how we all relished it!--what more did we want?" as he spoke he drew her into the kitchen, where he found a friendly reception. true, the ortlieb servants were attached to their employers and sincerely sorry for the ill health of the mistress of the house, but for several years the lamentations and anxiety concerning her had been ceaseless. the young prince's death had startled rather than saddened them. they did not know him, but it was terrible to die so young and so suddenly. they would not have listened to a merry tale which stirred them to laughter, but biberli's stories of distant lands, of the court, of war, of the tournament, just suited their present mood, and the narrator was well pleased to find ready listeners. he had so many things to forget, and he never succeeded better than when permitted to use his tongue freely. he wagged it valiantly, too, but when the thunderstorm burst he paused and went to the window. his narrow face was blanched, and his agile limbs moved restlessly. suddenly remarking, "my master will need me," he held out his hand to katterle in farewell. but as the zigzag flash of lightning had just been followed by the peal of thunder, she clung to him, earnestly beseeching him not to leave her. he yielded, but went out to learn whether herr casper was still in the office, and in a short time returned, exclaiming angrily: "the old eysvogel seems to be building his nest here!" then, to the vexation of the clumsy old cook, whom he interrupted by his restless movements in the paternosters she was repeating on her rosary, he began to stride up and down before the hearth. his light heart had rarely been so heavy. he could not keep his thoughts from his master, and felt sure that heinz needed him; that he, biberli, would have cause to regret not being with him at this moment. had the storm destroyed the ortlieb mansion he would have considered it only natural; and as he glanced around the kitchen in search of katterle, who, like most of the others, was on her knees with her rosary in her hand, old martsche rushed in, hurried up to the cook, shook her as if to rouse her from sleep, and exclaimed: "hot water for the blood-letting! quick! our mistress--she'll slip through our hands." as she spoke, the young kitchen maid metz helped the clumsy woman up, and biberli also lent his aid. just as the jug was filled, els, too, hastened in, snatched it from the hand of martsche, whose old feet were too slow for her, and hurried with it into the entry and up the stairs, passing her father, to whom she had called on the way down. casper eysvogel stood at the bottom of the steps, and called after her that it would not be his fault, but her father's, if everything between her and his son was over. she probably heard the words, but made no answer, and hastened as fast as her feet would carry her to her mother's bed. the old physician was holding the gasping woman in his arms, and eva knelt beside the high bedstead sobbing, as she covered the dry, burning hand with kisses. when ernst ortlieb entered the chamber of his beloved wife a cold chill ran down his back, for the odour of musk, which he had already inhaled beside many a deathbed, reached him. it had come to this! the end which he had so long delayed by tender love and care was approaching. the flower which had adorned his youth and, spite of its broken stem, had grown still dearer and was treasured beyond everything else that bloomed in his garden, would be torn from him. this time no friendly potion had helped her to sleep through the noise of the thunderstorm. soon after the attack of convulsions the agitated, feeble sufferer had started up in terror at the first loud peal of thunder. fright followed fright, and when the leech came voluntarily to enquire for her, he found a dying woman. the bleeding restored her to consciousness for a short time, and she evidently recognised her husband and her children. to the former she gave a grateful, tender glance of love, to els an affectionate, confidential gesture, but eva, her pride and joy, whom the past night had rendered a child of sorrow, claimed her attention most fully. her kind, gentle eyes rested a long time upon her: then she looked toward her husband as if beseeching him to cherish this child with special tenderness in his heart; and when he returned the glance with another, in which all the wealth of his great and loyal love shone through his tears, her fever-flushed features brightened. memories of the spring of her love seemed to irradiate her last moments and, as her eyes again rested on eva, her lips once more smiled with the bewitching expression, once her husband's delight, which had long deserted them. it seemed during this time as if she had forgotten the faithful nurse who for years had willingly sacrificed the pleasures of her days and the sleep of her nights, to lavish upon the child of her anxiety all that her mother-heart still contained, which was naught save love. els doubtless noticed it, but with no bitter or sorrowful thoughts. she and the beloved dying woman understood one another. each knew what she was to the other. her mother need not doubt, nor did she, that, whatever obstacles life might place in her pathway, els would pursue the right course even without counsel and guidance. but eva needed her love and care so much just now, and when the sufferer gave her older daughter also a tender glance and vainly strove to falter a few words of thanks, els herself replaced in eva's the hand which her mother had withdrawn. fran maria nodded gently to els, as if asking her sensible elder daughter to watch over her forsaken sister in her place. then her eyes again sought her husband, but the priest, to whom she had just confessed, approached her instead. after the holy man had performed the duties of his office, she again turned her head toward eva. it seemed as though she was feasting her eyes on her daughter's charms. meanwhile she strove to utter what more she desired to say, but the bystanders understood only the words--they were her last: "we thought--should be untouched--but now heaven----" here she paused and, after closing her eyes for a time, went on in a lower but perfectly distinct tone: "you are good--i hope--the forge-fire of life--it is fortunate for you the heart and its demands the hap--pi --ness--which it--gave--me--- it ought--it must--you, too----" whilst speaking she had again glanced towards her husband, then at the abbess kunigunde, who knelt beside him, and as the abbess met the look she thought, "she is entrusting the child to me, and desires eva to be happy as one of us and the fairest of the brides of heaven!" ernst ortlieb, wholly overpowered by the deepest grief, was far from enquiring into the meaning of these last words of his beloved dying wife. els, on the contrary, who had learned to read the sufferer's features and understood her even without words when speech was difficult, had watched every change in the expression of her features with the utmost attention. without reflecting or interpreting, she was sure that the movements of her dying mother's lips had predicted to eva that the "forge fire of life" would exert its purifying and moulding influence on her also, and wished that in the world, not in the convent, she might be as happy as she herself had been rendered by her father's love. after these farewell words frau maria's features became painfully distorted, the lids drooped over her eyes, there was a brief struggle, then a slight gesture from the physician announced to the weeping group that her earthly pilgrimage was over. no one spoke. all knelt silently, with clasped hands, beside the couch, until eva, as if roused from a dream, shrieked, "she will never come back again!" and with passionate grief threw herself upon the lifeless form to kiss the still face and beseech her to open her dear eyes once more and not leave her. how often she had remained away from the invalid in order to let her aunt point out the path for her own higher happiness whilst els nursed her mother; but now that she had left her, she suddenly felt what she had possessed and lost in her love. it seemed as if hitherto she had walked beneath the shadow of leafy boughs, and her mother's death had stripped them all away as an autumn tempest cruelly tears off the foliage. henceforth she must walk in the scorching sun without protection or shelter. meanwhile she beheld in imagination fierce flames blazing brightly from the dark soot--the forge fire of life, to which the dead woman's last words had referred. she knew what her mother had wished to say, but at the present time she lacked both the desire and the strength to realise it. for a time each remained absorbed by individual grief. then the father drew both girls to his heart and confessed that, with their mother's death life, already impoverished by the loss of his only son, had been bereft of its last charm. his most ardent desire was to be summoned soon to follow the departed ones. els summoned up her courage and asked: "and we--are we nothing to you, father?" surprised by this rebuke, he started, removed his wet handkerchief from his eyes, and answered: "yes, yes--but the old do not reckon ay, much is left to me. but he who is robbed of his best possession easily forgets the good things remaining, and good you both are." he kissed his daughter lovingly as he spoke, as if wishing to retract the words which had wounded her; then gazing at the still face of the dead, he said: "before you dress her, leave her alone with me for a time---there is a wild turmoil here and here"--he pointed to his breast and brow--"and yet the last hours----there is so much to settle and consider in a future without her with her, with her dear calm features before my eyes----" here a fresh outburst of grief stifled his voice; but els pointed to the image of the virgin on the wall and beckoned to her sister. wholly engrossed by her own sorrow, eva had scarcely heeded her father's words, and now impetuously refused to leave her mother. herr ernst, pleased by this immoderate grief for the one dearest to him, permitted her to remain, and asked els to attend to the outside affairs which a death always brought with it. els accepted the new duty as a matter of course and went to the door; but at the threshold she turned back, rushed to the deathbed, kissed the pure brow and closed eyelids of the sleeper, and then knelt beside her in silent prayer. when she rose she clasped eva, who had knelt and risen with her, in a close embrace, and whispered: "whatever happens, you may rely on me." then she consulted her father concerning certain arrangements which must be made, and also asked him what she should say to the maid's lover, who had come to beseech his forgiveness. "tell him to leave me in peace!" cried herr ernst vehemently. els tried to intercede for the servant, but her father pressed both hands over his ears, exclaiming: "who can reach a decision when he is out of his senses himself? let the man come to-morrow, or the day after. whoever may call, i will see no one, and don't wish to know who is here." but the peace and solitude for which he longed seemed denied him. a few hours after he left the chamber of death he was obliged to go to the town hall on business which could not be deferred; and when, shortly before sunset, he returned home and locked himself into his own room, old eysvogel again appeared. he looked pale and agitated, and ordered the manservant--who denied him admittance as he had been directed--to call jungfrau els. his voice trembled as he entreated her to persuade her father to see him again. the matter in question was the final decision of the fate of his ancient house, of wolff, and also her own and her marriage with his son. perhaps the death of his beloved wife might render her father's mood more gentle. he did not yet know all now he must learn it. if he again said "no," it would seal the ruin of the eysvogel firm. how imploringly he could plead! how humbly the words fell from the old merchant's lips, moving els to her inmost heart as she remembered the curt inflexibility with which, only yesterday, this arrogant man, in that very spot, had refused any connection with the ortliebs! how much it must cost him to bow his stiff neck before her, who was so much younger, and approach her father, whose heart he had so pitilessly trampled under foot, in the character of a supplicant for aid, perhaps a beggar! besides, wolff was his son! whatever wrong the father had done her she must forget it, and the task was not difficult; for now--she felt it--no matter from what motive, he honestly desired to unite her to his son. if her lover now led her through the door adorned with the huge, showy escutcheon, she would no longer come as a person unwillingly tolerated, but as a welcome helperperhaps as the saviour of the imperilled house. of the women of the eysvogel family she forbade herself to think. how touching the handsome, aristocratic, grey-haired man seemed to her in his helpless weakness! if her father would only receive him, he would find it no easier than she to deny him the compassion he so greatly needed. she knocked at the lonely mourner's door and was admitted. he was sitting, with his head bowed on his hands, opposite to the large portrait of her dead mother in her bridal robes. the dusk of the gathering twilight concealed the picture, but he had doubtless gazed long at the lovely features, and still beheld them with his mental vision. els was received with a mournful greeting; but when herr ernst heard what had brought her to him, he fiercely commanded her to tell herr casper that he would have nothing more to do with him. els interceded for the unfortunate man, begging, pleading, and assuring her father that she would never give up wolff. the happiness of her whole life was centred in him and his love. if he refused the eysvogels the aid besought by the old merchant who, in his humility, seemed a different man---here her father indignantly broke in, ordering her to disturb him no longer. but now the heritage of his own nature asserted itself in els and, with an outburst of indignation, she pointed to the picture of her mother, whose kind heart certainly could not have endured to see a broken-hearted man, on whose rescue the happiness of her own child depended, turned from her door like an importunate beggar. at this the man whose locks had long been grey sprang from his chair with the agility of a youth, exclaiming in vehement excitement: "to embitter the hours devoted to the most sacred grief is genuine eysvogel selfishness. everything for themselves! what do they care for others? i except your wolff; let the future decide what concerns him and you. i will stand by you. but to hope for happiness and peace-nay, even a life without bitter sorrow for you from the rest of the kin--is to expect to gather sweet pears from juniper bushes. ever since your betrothal your mother and i have had no sleep, disturbed whenever we talked to each other about your being condemned to live under the same roof with that old devil, the countess, her pitiable daughter, and that worthless siebenburg. but within the past few hours all this has been changed. the table-cloth has been cut between the eysvogels and the ortliebs. no power in the world can ever join it. i have not told you what has happened. now you may learn that you--- but first listen, and then decide on whose side you will stand. "early this morning i went to the session of the council. in the marketplace i met first one member of it, then a second, third, and fourth; each asked me what had happened to the beautiful e, my lovely little daughter. gradually i learned what had reached their ears. yesterday evening, on his way home from here, the man outside, casper eysvogel, sullied your--our--good name, child, in a way i have just learned the particulars. he boasted, in the presence of those estimable old gentlemen, the brothers ebner, that he had flung at my feet the ring which bound you to his son. you had been surprised at midnight, he said, in the arms of a swiss knight, and that base scoundrel siebenburg, his daughter's husband, dared at the gaming-table, before a number of knights and gentlemen--among them young hans gross, veit holzschuher, and othersto put your interview with the swiss in so false a light that no, i cannot bring my lips to utter it---"you need hear only this one thing more: the wretch said that he thanked his patron saint that they had discovered the jade's tricks in time. and this, child, was the real belief of the whole contemptible crew! but now that the water is up to their necks, and they need my helping hand to save them from drowning-now they will graciously take ernst ortlieb's daughter if he will give them his property into the bargain, that they may destroy both fortune and child. no--a thousand times no! it is not seemly, at this hour, to yield to the spirit of hate; but she who is lying in her last sleep above would not have counselled me by a single word to such suicidal folly. i did not learn the worst until i went to the council, or i would have turned the importunate fellow from the door this morning. tell the old man so, and add that ernst ortlieb will have nothing more to do with him." here the deeply incensed father pointed to the door. els had listened with eyes dilating in horror. the result surpassed her worst fears. she had felt so secure in her innocence, and the countess had interceded for her so cleverly that, absorbed by anxieties concerning eva, cordula, and her mother, she had already half forgotten the disagreeable incident. yet, now that her fair name was dragged through the mire, she could scarcely be angry with those who pointed the finger of scorn at her; for faithlessness to a betrothed lover was an offence as great as infidelity to a husband. nay, her friends were more ready to condemn a girl who broke her vow than a wife who forgot her duty. and if wolff, in his biding-place in the citadel, should learn what was said of his els, to whom yesterday old and young raised their hats in glad yet respectful greeting, would he not believe those who appealed to his own father? yet ere she had fully realised this fear, she told herself that it was her duty and her right to thrust it aside. wolff would not be wolff if even for a moment he believed such a thing possible. they ought not, could not, doubt each other. though all nuremberg should listen to the base calumny and turn its back upon her, she was sure of her wolff. ay, he would cherish her with twofold tenderness when he learned by whom this terrible suffering had been inflicted upon her. drawing a long breath, she again fixed her eyes upon her mother's portrait. had she now rushed out to tell the old man who had so cruelly injured her--oh, it would have lightened her heart!--the wrong he had done and what she thought of him, her mother would certainly have stopped her, saying: "remember that he is your betrothed husband's father." she would not forget it; she could not even hate the ruined man. any effort to change her father's mood now--she saw it plainly--would be futile. later, when his just anger had cooled, perhaps he might be persuaded to aid the endangered house. herr ernst gazed after her sorrowfully as, with a gesture of farewell, she silently left the room to tell her lover's father that he had come in vain. the old merchant was waiting in the entry, where the wails of the servants and the women in the neighbourhood who, according to custom, were beating their brows and breasts and rending their garments, could be heard distinctly. deadly pale, as if ready to sink, he tottered towards the door. when els saw him hesitate at the top of the few steps leading to the entry, she gave him her arm to support him down. as he cautiously put one foot after the other on the stairs, she wondered how it was possible that this man, whose tall figure and handsome face were cast in so noble a mould, could believe her to be so base; and at the same moment she remembered the words which old berthold vorchtel had uttered in her presence to his son ulrich: "if anything obscure comes between you and a friend, obtain a clear understanding and peace by truth." had the young man who had irritated his misjudged friend into crossing swords with him followed this counsel, perhaps he would have been alive now. she would take it herself, and frankly ask wolff's father what justified him in accusing her of so base a deed. the lamps were already lighted in the hall, and the rays from the central one fell upon herr casper's colourless face, which wore an expression of despair. but just as her lips parted to ask the question the odour of musk reached her from the death-chamber, whose door eva had opened. her mother's gentle face, still in death, rose before her memory, and she was forced to exert the utmost self-control not to weep aloud. without further reflection she imposed silence upon herself and--yesterday she would not have ventured to do it--threw her arm around herr casper's shoulders, gazed affectionately at him, and whispered: "you must not despair, father. you have a faithful ally in this house in els." the old man looked down at her in astonishment, but instead of drawing her closer to him he released himself with courteous coldness, saying bitterly: "there is no longer any bond between us and the ortliebs, jungfrau els. from this day forth i am no more your father than you are the bride of my son. your will may be good, but how little it can accomplish has unfortunately been proved." shrugging his shoulders wearily as he spoke, he nodded a farewell and left the house. four bearers were waiting outside with the sedan-chair, three servants with torches, and two stout attendants carrying clubs over their shoulders. all wore costly liveries of the eysvogel colours, and when their master had taken his seat in the gilded conveyance and the men lifted it, els heard a weaver's wife, who lived near by, say to her little boy: "that's the rich herr eysvogel, fritzel. he has as much money to spend every hour as we have in a whole year, and he is a very happy man." chapter ii. els went back into the house. the repulse which she had just received caused her bitter sorrow. her father was right. herr casper had treated her kindly from a purely selfish motive. she herself was nothing to him. but there was so much for her to do that she found little time to grieve over this new trouble. eva was praying in the death-chamber for the soul of the beloved dead with some of the nuns from the convent, who had lost in her mother a generous benefactress. els was glad to know that she was occupied; it was better that her sister should be spared many of the duties which she was obliged to perform. whilst arranging with the coffin-maker and the "hegelein," the sexton and upholsterer, ordering a large number of candles and everything else requisite at the funeral of the mistress of an aristocratic household, she also found time to look after her father and countess cordula, who was better. yet she did not forget her own affairs. biberli had returned. he had much to relate; but when forced to admit that nothing was urgent, she requested him to defer it until later, and only commissioned him to go to the castle, greet wolff in her name, and announce her mother's death; katterle would accompany him, in order to obtain admittance through her countryman, the swiss warder. els might have sent one of the ortlieb servants; but, in the first place, the fugitive's refuge must be concealed, and then she told herself that biberli, who had witnessed the occurrence of the previous evening, could best inform wolff of the real course of events. but when she gave him permission to tell her betrothed husband all that he had seen and heard the day before at the ortlieb mansion, biberli replied that a better person than he had undertaken to do so. as he left his master, sir heinz was just going to seek her lover. when she learned all that had befallen the knight, she would understand that he was no longer himself. els, however, had no time to listen, and promised to hear his story when he returned; but he was too full of the recent experience to leave it untold, and briefly related how wonderfully heaven had preserved his master's life. then he also told her hurriedly that the trouble which had come upon her through sir heinz's fault burdened his soul. therefore he would not let the night pass without at least showing her betrothed husband how he should regard the gossip of idle tongues if it penetrated to his hiding-place. els uttered a sigh of relief. surely wolff must trust her! yet what viciously coloured reports might reach him from the eysvogels! now that he would learn the actual truth from the most credible eye-witnesses she no longer dreaded even the worst calumny. no one appeared at supper except her father. eva had begged to be excused. she wished to remain undisturbed; but the world, with rude yet beneficent hand, interrupted even her surrender to her grief for her mother. the tailor, who protested that, owing to the mourning for young prince hartmann, he had fairly "stolen" this hour for the beautiful ortlieb sisters, came with his assistant, and at the same time a messenger arrived from the cloth-house in the market-place bringing the packages of white stuffs for selection. then it was necessary to decide upon the pattern and material; the sisters must appear in mourning the next morning at the consecration, and later at the mass for the dead. eva had turned to these worldly matters with sincere repugnance, but els would not release her from giving them due attention. it was well for her tortured soul and the poor eyes reddened by weeping. but when she again knelt in the chamber of death beside her dear nuns and saw the grey robe, which they all wore, the wish to don one, which she had so often cherished, again awoke. no other was more pleasing to her heavenly bridegroom, and she forbade herself in this hour to think of the only person for whose sake she would gladly have adorned herself. yet the struggle to forget him constantly recalled him to her mind, no matter how earnestly she strove to shut out his image whenever it appeared. but, after her last conversation, must not her mother have died in the belief that she would not give up her love? and the dead woman's last words? yet, no matter what they meant, here and now nothing should come between her and the beloved departed. she devoted herself heart and soul to the memory of the longing for her. grief for her loss, repentance for not having devoted herself faithfully enough to her, and the hope that in the convent her prayers might obtain a special place in the world beyond for the beloved sleeper, now revived her wish to take the veil. she felt bound to the nuns, who shared her aspirations. when her father came to send her to her rest and asked whether, as a motherless child, she intended to trust his love and care or to choose another mother who was not of this world, she answered quietly with a loving glance at the picture of st. clare, "as you wish, and she commands." herr ernst kindly replied that she still had ample time to make her decision, and then again urged her to leave the watch beside the dead to the women who had been appointed to it and the nuns, who desired to remain with the body; but eva insisted so eagerly upon sharing it that els, by a significant gesture to her father, induced him to yield. she kept her sister away whilst the corpse was being laid out and the women were performing their other duties by asking eva to receive their aunt christine, the wife of berthold pfinzing, who had hurried to the city from schweinau as soon as she had news of her sister-in-law's death. nothing must cloud the memory of the beloved sufferer in the mind of her child, and els knew that frau christine had been a dear friend of the dead woman, that eva clung to her like a second mother, and that nothing could reach her sister from her honest heart which would not benefit her. nor was she mistaken, for the warm, affectionate manner in which the matron greeted the young girl restored her composure; nay, when fran christine was obliged to go, because her time was claimed by important duties, she would gladly have detained her. when eva, in a calmer mood than before, at last entered the hall where her mother's body now lay in a white silk shroud on the snowy satin pillows, as she was to be placed before the altar for the service of consecration on the morrow, she was again overwhelmed with all the violence of the deepest grief; nay, the burning anguish of her soul expressed itself so vehemently that the abbess, who had returned whilst the sisters were still taking leave of their aunt christine, did not succeed in soothing her until, drawing her aside, she whispered: "remember our saint, child. he called everything, even the sorest agony, 'sister sorrow'. so you, too, must greet sorrow as a sister, the daughter of your heavenly father. remember the supreme, loving hand whence it came, and you will bear it patiently." eva nodded gratefully, and when grief threatened to overpower her she thought of the saint's soothing words, "sister sorrow," and her heart grew calmer. els knew how much the emotions of the previous nights must have wearied her, and had permitted her to share the vigil beside the corpse only because she believed that she would be unable to resist sleep. she had slipped a pillow between her back and that of the tall, handsome chair which she had chosen for a seat, but eva disappointed her expectation; for whatever she earnestly desired she accomplished, and whilst els often closed her eyes, she remained wide awake. when sleep threatened to overpower her she thought of her mother's last words, especially one phrase, "the forge fire of life," which seemed specially pregnant with meaning. yet, ere she had reached any definite understanding of its true significance, the cocks began to crow, the song of the nightingale ceased, and the twittering of the other birds in the trees and bushes in the garden greeted the dawning day. then she rose and, smiling, kissed els, who was sleeping, on the forehead, told sister renata that she would go to rest, and lay down on her bed in the darkened chamber. whilst praying and reflecting she had thought constantly of her mother. now she dreamed that heinz schorlin had borne her in his strong arms out of the burning convent, as sir boemund altrosen had saved the countess von montfort, and carried her to the dead woman, who looked as fresh and well as in the days before her sickness. when, three hours before noon, she awoke, she returned greatly refreshed to her dead mother. how mild and gentle her face was even now; yet the dear, silent lips could never again give her a morning greeting and, overwhelmed by grief, she threw herself on her knees before the coffin. but she soon rose again. her recent slumber had transformed the passionate anguish into quiet sorrow. now, too, she could think of external things. there was little to be done in the last arrangement of the dead, but she could place the delicate, pale hands in a more natural position, and the flowers which the gardener had brought to adorn the coffin did not satisfy her. she knew all that grew in the woods and fields near nuremberg, and no one could dispose bouquets more gracefully. her mother had been especially fond of some of them, and was always pleased when she brought them home from her walks with the abbess or sister perpetua, the experienced old doctress of the convent. many grew in the forest, others on the brink of the water. the beloved dead should not leave the house, whose guide and ornament she had been, without her favourite blossoms. eva arranged the flowers brought by the gardener as gracefully as possible, and then asked sister perpetua to go to walk with her, telling her father and sister that she wished to be out of doors with the nun for a short time. she told no one what she meant to do. her mother's favourite flowers should be her own last gift to her. old martsche received the order to send ortel, the youngest manservant in the household, a good-natured fellow eighteen years old, with a basket, to wait for her and sister perpetua at the weir. after the thunderstorm of the day before the air was specially fresh and pure; it was a pleasure merely to breathe. the sun shone brightly from the cloudless sky. it was a delightful walk through the meadows and forest over the footpath which passed near the very dutzen pool, where katterle the day before had resolved to seek death. all nature seemed revived as though by a refreshing bath. larks flew heavenward with a low sweet song, from amidst the grain growing luxuriantly for the winter harvest, and butterflies hovered above the blossoming fields. slender dragon-flies and smaller busy insects flitted buzzing from flower to flower, sucking honey from the brimming calyxes and bearing to others the seeds needed to form fruit. the songs of finches and the twitter of white-throats echoed from many a bush by the wayside. in the forest they were surrounded by delightful shade animated by hundreds of loud and low voices far away and close at hand. countless buds were opening under the moss and ferns, strawberries were ripening close to the ground, and the delicate leafy boughs of the bilberry bushes were full of juicy green oared fruit. near the weir they heard a loud clanking and echoing, but it had a very different effect from the noise of the city; instead of exciting curiosity there was something soothing in the regularity of the blows of the iron hammer and the monotonous croaking of the frogs. in this part of the forest, where the fairest flowers grew, the morning dew still hung glittering from the blossoms and grasses. here it was secluded, yet full of life, and amidst the wealth of sounds in which might be heard the tapping of the woodpecker, the cry of the lapwing, and the call of the distant wood-pigeon, it was so still and peaceful that eva's heart grew lighter in spite of her grief. sister perpetua spoke only to answer a question. she sympathised with eva's thought when she frankly expressed her pleasure in every new discovery, for she knew for whom and with what purpose she was seeking and culling the flowers and, instead of accusing her of want of feeling, she watched with silent emotion the change wrought in the innocent child by the effort to render, in league with nature, an act of loving service to the one she held dearest. true, even now grief often rudely assailed eva's heart. at such times she paused, sighing silently, or exclaimed to her companion, "ah, if she could be with us!" or else asked thoughtfully if she remembered how her mother had rejoiced over the fragrant orchid or the white water-lily which she had just found. sister perpetua had taken part of the blossoms which she had gathered; but ortel already stood waiting with the basket, and the house-dog, wasser, which had followed the young servant, ran barking joyously to meet the ladies. eva already had flowers enough to adorn the coffin as she desired, and the sun showed that it was time to return. hitherto they had met no one. the blossoms could be arranged here in the forest meadow under the shade of the thick hazel-bushes which bordered the pine wood. after eva had thrown hers on the grass, she asked the nun to do the same with her own motley bundle. between the thicket and the road stood a little chapel which had been erected by the mendel family on the spot where a son of old herr nikolaus had been murdered. four frank robber knights had attacked him and the train of waggons he had ridden out to meet, and killed the spirited young man, who fought bravely in their defence. such an event would no longer have been possible so near the city. but eva knew what had befallen the eysvogel wares and, although she did not lack courage, she started in terror as she heard the tramp of horses' hoofs and the clank of weapons, not from the city, but within the forest. she hastily beckoned to her companion who, being slightly deaf had heard nothing, to hide with her behind the hazel-bushes, and also told the young servant, who had already placed the basket beside the flowers, to conceal himself, and all three strained their ears to catch the sounds from the wood. ortel held the dog by the collar, silenced him, and assured his mistress that it was only another little band of troopers on their way from altdorf to join the imperial army. but this surmise soon proved wrong, for the first persons to appear were two armed horsemen, who turned their heads as nimbly as their steeds, now to the right and now to the left, scanning the thickets along the road distrustfully. after a somewhat lengthy interval the tall figure of an elderly man followed, clad in deep mourning. beneath his cap, bordered with fine fur, long locks fell to his shoulders, and he was mounted on a powerful binzgau charger. at his side, on a beautiful spirited bay, rode a very young woman whose pliant figure was extremely aristocratic in its bearing. as soon as the hazel-bushes and pine trees, which had concealed the noble pair, permitted a view of them, eva recognised in the gentleman the emperor rudolph, and in his companion duchess agnes of austria, his young daughter-in-law, whom she had not forgotten since the dance at the town hall. behind them came several mailed knights, with the emblems of the deepest mourning on their garments and helmets, and among those nearest to the emperor eva perceived--her heart almost stood still--the person whom she had least expected to meet here--heinz schorlin. whilst she was gathering the flowers for her mother's coffin his image had almost vanished from her mind. now he appeared before her in person, and the sight moved her so deeply that sister perpetua, who saw her turn pale and cling to the young pine by her side, attributed her altered expression to fear of robber knights, and whispered, "don't be troubled, child; it is only the emperor." neither the first horsemen-guards whom the magistrate, berthold pfinzing, eva's uncle, had assigned to the sovereign without his knowledge, to protect him from unpleasant encounters during his early morning ride-nor the emperor and his companions could have seen eva whilst they were passing the chapel; but scarcely had they reached it when the dog wasser, which had escaped from ortel's grasp, burst through the hazel copse and, barking furiously, dashed towards the duchess's horse. the spirited animal leaped aside, but a few seconds later heinz schorlin had swung himself from the saddle and dealt the dog so vigorous a kick that it retreated howling into the thicket. meanwhile he had watched every movement of the bay, and at the right instant his strong hand had grasped its nostrils and forced it to stand. "always alert and on the spot at the right time!" cried the emperor, then added mournfully, "so was our hartmann, too." the duchess bent her head in assent, but the grieving father pointed to heinz, and added: "the boy owed his blithe vigour partly to the healthful swiss blood with which he was born, but yonder knight, during the decisive years of life, set him the example. will you dismount, child, and let schorlin quiet the bay?" "oh, no," replied the duchess, "i understand the animal. you have not yet broken the wonderful son of the desert of shying, as you promised. it was not the barking cur, but yonder basket that has dropped from the skies, which frightened him." she pointed, as she spoke, to the grass near the chapel where, beside eva's flowers, stood the light willow basket which was to receive them. "possibly, noble lady," replied heinz, patting the glossy neck of the arabian, a gift to the emperor rudolph from the egyptian mameluke sultan kalaun. "but perhaps the clever creature merely wished to force his royal rider to linger here. graciously look over yonder, your highness; does it not seem as if the wood fairy herself had laid by the roadside for your illustrious majesty the fairest flowers that bloom in field and forest, mere and moss?" as he spoke he stooped, selected from the mass of blossoms gathered by eva those which specially pleased his eye, hastily arranged them in a bouquet, and with a respectful bow presented them to the duchess. she thanked him graciously, put the nosegay in her belt, and gazed at him with so warm a light in her eyes that eva felt as if her heart was shrinking as she watched the scene. even princesses, who were separated from him by so wide a gulf, could not help favouring this man. how could she, the simple maiden whom he had assured of his love, ever have been able to give him up? but she had no time to think and ponder; the emperor was already riding on with the bohemian princess, and heinz went to his horse, whose bridle was held by one of the troopers who followed the train. ere he swung himself into the saddle again, however, he paused to reflect. the thought that he had robbed some flower or herb-gatherer of a portion of the result of her morning's work had entered his mind and, obeying a hasty impulse, he flung a glittering zecchin into the basket. eva saw it, and every fibre of her being urged her to step forward, tell him that the flowers were hers, and thank him in the name of the poor for whom she destined his gift; but maidenly diffidence held her in check, although he gave her sufficient opportunity; for when he perceived the image of the virgin in the mendel chapel, he crossed himself, removed his helmet, and bending the knee repeated, whilst the others rode on without him, a silent prayer. his brown locks floated around his head, and his features expressed deep earnestness and glowing ardour. oh, how gladly eva would have thrown herself on her knees beside him, clasped his hands, and--nay, not prayed, her heart was throbbing too stormily for that-rested her head upon his breast and told him that she trusted him, and felt herself one with him in earthly as well as heavenly love! whoever prayed thus in solitude had a soul yearning for the loftiest things. others might say what they chose, she knew him better. this man, from the first hour of their meeting, had loved her with the most ardent but also with the holiest passion; never, never had he sought her merely for wanton amusement. her mother's last wish would be fulfilled. she need only trust him with her whole soul, and leave the "forge fire of life" to strengthen and purify her. now she remembered where the dying woman had heard the phrase. her aunt christine had used it recently in her mother's presence. young kunz schurstab had fallen into evil ways in lyons. every one, even his own father, had given him up for lost; but after several years he returned home and proved himself capable of admirable work, both in his father's business and in the council. in reply to frau ortlieb's enquiry where this transformation in the young man had occurred, her aunt answered: "in the forge fire of life." eva told herself that she had intentionally kept aloof from its flames, and in the convent, perhaps, they would never have reached her. yesterday they had seized upon her for the first time, and henceforward she would not evade them, that she might obey her mother and become worthy of the man praying silently yonder. he owed to his heroic courage and good sword a renowned name; but what had she ever done save selfishly to provide for her own welfare in this world and the next? she had not even been strong enough to hold the head of the mother, to whom she owed everything and who had loved her so tenderly, when the convulsions attacked her. even after she closed her eyes in death--she had noticed it--she had been kept from every duty in the household and for the beloved dead, because it was deemed unsuitable for her, and els and every one avoided putting the serious demands of life between the "little saint" and her aspirations towards the bliss of heaven. yet eva knew that she could accomplish whatever she willed to do, and instead of using the strength which she felt stirring with secret power in her fragile body, she had preferred to let it remain idle, in order to dwell in another world from that in which she had been permitted to prove her might. the fire of the forge, by whose means pieces of worthless iron were transformed into swords and ploughshares, should use its influence upon her also. let it burn and torture her, if it only made her a genuine, noble woman, a woman like her aunt christine, from whom her mother had heard the phrase of "the forge fire of life," who aided and pointed out the right path to hundreds, and probably, at her age, had needed neither an els nor an abbess kunigunde to keep her, body and soul, in the right way. she loved both; but some impulse within rebelled vehemently against being treated like a child, and--now that her mother was dead--subjecting her own will to that of any other person than the man to whom she would have gladly looked up as a master. whilst heinz knelt in front of the chapel without noticing sister perpetua, who was praying before the altar within, these thoughts darted through eva's brain like a flash of lightning. now he rose and went to his horse, but ere he mounted it the dog, barking furiously, again broke from the thicket close at her side. heinz must have seen her white mourning robes, for her own name reached her ears in a sudden cry, and soon after--she herself could not have told how--heinz was standing beside the basket amidst the flowers, with her hand clasped in his, gazing into her eyes so earnestly and sadly that he seemed a different person from the reckless dancer in the town hall, though the look was equally warm and tender. whilst doing so, he spoke of the deep wound inflicted upon her by her mother's death. fate had dealt him a severe blow also, but grief taught him to turn whither she, too, had directed him. just at that moment the blast of the horn summoning the emperor's train to his side echoed through the forest. "the emperor!" cried heinz; then bending towards the flowers he seized a few forget-me-nots, and, whilst gazing tenderly at them and eva, murmured in a low tone, as if grief choked his utterance: "i know you will give them to me, for they wear the colour of the queen of heaven, which is also yours, and will be mine till my heart and eyes fail me." eva granted his request with a whispered "keep them"; but he pressed his hand to his brow and, as if torn by contending emotions, hastily added: "yes, it is that of the holy virgin. they say that heaven has summoned me by a miracle to serve only her and the highest, and it often seems to me that they are right. but what will be the result of the conflicting powers which since that flash of lightning have drawn one usually so prompt in decision as i, now here, now there? your blue, eva, the hue of these flowers, will remain mine whether i wear it in honour of the blessed virgin, or--if the world does not release me--in yours. she or you! you, too, eva, i know, stand hesitating at the crossing of two paths--which is the right one? we will pray heaven to show it to you and to me." as he spoke he swung himself swiftly into the saddle and, obeying the summons, dashed after his imperial master. eva gazed silently at the spot where he had vanished behind a group of pine trees; but ortel, who had gathered a few early strawberries for her, soon roused her from her waking dream by exclaiming, as he clapped his big hands: "i'll be hanged, jungfrau eva, if the knight who spoke to you isn't the swiss to whom the great miracle happened yesterday!" "the miracle?" she asked eagerly, for els had intentionally concealed what she heard, and this evidently had something to do with the "wonderful summons" of which heinz had spoken without being understood. "yes, a great, genuine miracle," ortel went on eagerly. "the lightning-i heard it from the butcher boy who brings the meat, he learned it from his master's wife herself, and now every child in the city knows it--the lightning struck the knight's casque during the thundershower yesterday; it ran along his armour, flashing brightly; the horse sank dead under him without moving a limb, but he himself escaped unhurt, and the mark of a cross can be seen in the place where the lightning struck his helmet." "and you think this happened to the very knight who took the flowers yonder?" asked eva anxiously. "as certainly as i hope to have the sacrament before i die, jungfrau eva," the youth protested. "i saw him riding with that lank biberli, katterle's lover, who serves him, and such noblemen are not found by the dozen. besides, he is one of those nearest to the emperor rudolph's person. if it isn't he, i'll submit to torment----" "fie upon your miserable oaths!" eva interrupted reprovingly. "do you know also that the tall, stately gentleman with the long grey hair----" "that was the emperor rudolph!" cried ortel, sure he was right. "whoever has once seen him does not forget him. everything on earth belongs to him; but when the knight took our flowers so freely just now as if they were his own, i thought but there--there--there! see for yourself, jungfrau! a heavy, unclipped yellow zecchin!" as he spoke he took the coin in his hand, crossed himself, and added thoughtfully: "the little silver coin, or whatever he flung in here-perhaps to pay for the flowers, which are not worth five shillings--has been changed into pure gold by the saint who wrought the miracle for him. my soul! if many in nuremberg paid so high for forage, the rich eysvogel would leave the council and go in search of wild flowers!" eva begged the man to leave the zecchin, promising to give him another at home and half a pound in coppers as earnest money. "this is what i call a lucky morning!" cried ortel. but directly after he changed his tone, remembering eva's white mourning robe and the object of their expedition, and his fresh voice sounded very sympathetic as he added: "if one could only call your lady mother back to life! ah, me! i'd spend all my savings to buy for the saints as many candles as my mother has in her little shop, if that would change things." whilst speaking he filled the basket with flowers, and the nun helped him. eva walked before them with bowed head. could she hope to wed the man for whom heaven had performed such a miracle? was it no sin to hope and plead that he would wear their common colour, not in honour of the queen of heaven, but of the lowly eva, in whom nothing was strong save the desire for good? was not heinz forcing her to enter into rivalry with one the most distant comparison with whom meant defeat? yet, no! her gracious friend above knew her and her heart. she knew with what tender love and reverence she had looked up to her from childhood, and she now confided the love in her heart to her who had shown herself gracious a thousand times when she raised her soul to her in prayer. eva was breathing heavily when she emerged from the forest and stopped to wait until sister perpetua had finished her prayer in the chapel and overtook her. her heart was heavy, and when, in the meadow beyond the woods, the heat of the sun, which was already approaching the zenith, made itself felt, it seemed as if she had left the untroubled happiness of childhood behind her in the green thicket. yet she would not have missed this forest walk at any price. she knew now that she had no rival save the one whom heinz ought to love no less than she. whether they both decided in favour of the world or the cloister, they would remain united in love for her and her divine son. chapter iii. outside the courtyard of the ortlieb mansion eva saw biberli going towards the frauenthor. he had been with els a long time, giving a report as frankly as ever. the day before he said to katterle: "calm yourself, my little lamb. now that the daughters need you and me to carry secret messages, the father will leave us in peace too. a member of the council would be like the receiver of stolen goods if he allowed a man whom he deemed worthy of the stocks to render him many services." and herr ernst ortlieb really did let him alone, because he was forced to recognise that biberli and katterle were indispensable in carrying on his daughter's intercourse with wolff. els had forgiven the clever fellow the more willingly the more consoling became the tidings he brought her from her betrothed bridegroom. besides, she regarded it as specially fortunate that she learned through him many things concerning heinz schorlin, which for her sister's sake she was glad to know. true, it would have been useless trouble to try to extort from the true and steadfast biberli even a single word which, for his master's sake, it would have been wiser to withhold, yet he discussed matters patiently, and told her everything that he could communicate conscientiously. so, when eva returned, she was accurately informed of all that had befallen and troubled the knight the day before. she listened sympathisingly to the servant's lamentation over the marvellous change which had taken place in heinz since his horse was killed under him. but she shook her head incredulously at biberli's statement that his master seriously intended to seek peace in the cloister, like his two older sisters; yet at the man's animated description of how father benedictus had profited by sir heinz's mood to estrange him from the world, the doubt vanished. biberli's assurance that he had often seen other young knights rush into the world with specially joyous recklessness, who had suddenly halted as if in terror and known no other expedient than to change the coat of mail for the monk's cowl, reminded her of similar incidents among her own acquaintances. the man was right in his assertion that most of them had been directed to the monastery by monks of the order of st. francis, since the name of the saint of assisi and the miracles he performed had become known in this country also. whoever believed it impossible to see the gay sir heinz in a monk's cowl, added the experienced fellow, might find himself mistaken. he had intentionally kept silence concerning sir seitz siebenburg's challenge and his master's other dealings with the "mustache." on the other hand, he had eagerly striven to inform els of the minutest details of the reception he met with from her betrothed lover. with what zealous warmth he related that wolff, like the upright man he was, had rejected even the faintest shadow of doubt of her steadfastness and truth, which were his own principal virtues also. even before sir heinz schorlin's visit young herr eysvogel had known what to think of the calumnies which, it is true, were repeated to him. his calm, unclouded courage and clear mind were probably best shown by the numerous sheets of paper he had covered with estimates, all relating to the condition of the eysvogel business. he had confided these documents also to him to be delivered to his father, and after discharging this duty he had come to her. according to his custom, he had reserved the best thing for the last, but it was now time to give it to her. as he spoke he drew from the breast pocket of his long coat a wroughtiron rose. els knew it well; it had adorned the clasp of her lover's belt, and the unusual delicacy of the workmanship had often aroused her admiration. what the gift was to announce she read on the paper accompanying it, which contained the following simple lines: "the iron rude, when shaped by fire and blows, delights our eyes as a most beauteous rose. so may the lies which strove to work us ill but serve our hearts with greater love to fill." biberli withdrew as soon as he had delivered the gift; his master was awaiting him on his return from his early ride with the emperor; but els, with glowing cheeks, read and reread the verse which brought such cheering consolation from her lover. it seemed like a miracle that they recalled the words of her dying mother concerning the forge fire which, in her last moments, she had mentioned in connection with eva's future. here it had formed from rude iron the fairest of flowers. nothing sweeter or lovelier, the sister thought, could be made from her darling. but would the fire also possess the power to lead eva, as it were, from heaven to earth, and transform her into an energetic woman, symmetrical in thought and deed? and what was the necessity? she was there to guide her and remove every stone from her path. ah, if she should renounce the cloister and find a husband like her wolff! again and again she read his greeting and pressed the beloved sheet to her lips. she would fain have hastened to her mother's corpse to show it to her. but just at that moment eva returned. she must rejoice with her over this beautiful confirmation of her hope, and as, with flushed cheeks and brow moist with perspiration, she stood before her, els tenderly embraced her and, overflowing with gratitude, showed her her lover's gift and verse, and invited her to share the great happiness which so brightly illumined the darkness of her grief. eva, who was so weary that she could scarcely stand thought, like her sister, as els read wolff's lines aloud, of her mother's last words. but the forge fire of life must not transform her into a rose; she would become harder, firmer, and she knew why and for whose sake. only yesterday, had she been so exhausted, nothing would have kept her, after a few brief words to prevent els's disappointment, from lying down, arranging her pillows comfortably, and refreshing herself with some cooling drink; but now she not only succeeded in appearing attentive, but in sympathising with all her heart in her sister's happiness. how delightful it was, too, to be able to give something to the person from whom hitherto she had only received. she succeeded so fully in concealing the struggle against the claims of her wearied body that els, after joyously perceiving how faithfully her sister sympathised with her own delight, continued to relate what she had just heard. eva forced herself to listen and behave as if her account of heinz schorlin's wonderful escape and desire to enter a monastery was news to her. not until els had narrated the last detail did she admit that she needed rest; and when the former, startled by her own want of perception, urged her to lie down, she would not do so until she had put the flowers she had brought home into water. at last she stretched herself on the couch beside her sister, who had so long needed sleep and rest, and a few minutes after the deep dreamless slumber of youth chained both, until katterle, at the end of an hour, woke them. both used the favourable moments which follow the awakening from a sound sleep to cherish the best thoughts and most healthful resolutions. when eva left her chamber she had clearly perceived what the last hours had taken and bestowed, and found a positive answer to the important question which she must now confront. els, like her lover, would cling fast to her love, and strive with tireless patience to conquer whatever obstacles it might encounter, especially from the eysvogel family. before leaving home eva adorned the beloved dead with the flowers, leaves, and vines which the gardener had brought and she herself had gathered, and at the church she put the last touches to this work so dear to her heart. she gave the preference to the flowers which had been her mother's favourites, but the others were also used. with a light hand and a delicate appreciation of harmony and beauty she interwove the children of the forest with those of the garden. she could not be satisfied till every one was in the right place. countess cordula had insisted upon attending the consecration, but she had not known who cared for its adornment. yet when she stood in the church by the side of the open coffin she gazed long at the gentle face of the quiet sufferer, charming even in death, who on her bright couch seemed dreaming in a light slumber. at last she whispered to els: "how wonderfully beautiful! did you arrange it?" the latter shook her head, but cordula added, as if soliloquising: "it seems as though the hands of the madonna herself had adorned a sleeping saint with garden flowers, and child-angels had scattered over her the blossoms of the forest." then els, who hitherto had refused to talk in this place and this solemn hour, broke her silence and briefly told cordula who had artistically and lovingly adorned her mother. "eva?" repeated the countess, as if surprised, gazing at her friend's younger sister who, as the music of the organ and the alternate chanting had just begun, had already risen from her knees. cordula felt spellbound, for the young girl looked as fresh as a may rose and so touchingly beautiful in the deep, earnest devotion which filled her whole being, and the white purity of her mourning robes, that the countess did not understand how she could ever have disliked her. eva, with her up lifted eyes, seemed to be gazing directly into the open heavens. cordula paid little attention to the sacred service, but watched the es, as she liked to call the sisters, all the more closely. the elder, though so overwhelmed with grief that she could not help sobbing aloud, did not cease to think of her dear ones, and from time to time gazed with tender sympathy at her father or with quiet sorrow at her sister. eva, on the contrary, was completely absorbed by her own anguish and the memory of her to whom it was due. the others appeared to have no existence for her. whilst the large tears rolled slowly down her cheeks, she sometimes gazed tenderly at the face of the beloved dead; sometimes, with fervent entreaty, at the image of the virgin. the pleading expression of the large blue eyes seemed to the countess to express such childlike need of help that the impetuous girl would fain have clasped her to her heart and exclaimed: "wait, you lovely, obstinate little orphan; cordula, whom you dislike, is here, and though you don't wish to receive any kindness from her, you must submit. what do i care for all the worshippers of a very poor idol who call themselves my 'adorers'? i need only detain wandering pilgrims, or invite minnesingers to the castle, to shorten the hours. and he for whom yonder child-angel's heart yearns--would he not be a fool to prefer a will-o'-the-wisp like me? besides, it is easy for the peasant to give his neighbour the cloud which hangs over his field. true, before the dance----but the past is past. boemund altrosen is the only person who is always the same. one can rely upon him, but i really need neither. if i could only do without the open air, the forest, horses, and hunting, i should suit convent walls far better than this eva, whom heaven itself seems to have created to be the delight of every man's heart. we will see what she herself decides." then she recognised sir boemund altrosen in the congregation and pursued her train of thought. "he is a noble man, and whoever thus makes himself miserable about me i ought to try to cure. perhaps i will yet do so." similar reflections occupied her mind until she saw heinz schorlin kneeling, half concealed by a pillar, behind boemund altrosen. he had learned from biberli at what hour the consecration would take place, and his honest heart bade him attend the service for the dead woman who had so much to forgive him. the ortlieb sisters did not see him, but cordula unconsciously shook her head as she gazed. was this grave man, so absorbed in devotion that he did not vouchsafe those who surrounded him even a single glance, the heinz whose delightful gaiety had captivated her heart? the linden, with foliage withered by the autumn blasts, was more like the same tree in the spring when the birds were singing in its boughs, than yonder absorbed supplicant resembled the bold heinz of a few days ago. the old mocker, chamberlain wiesenthau, was right when he told her and her father that morning that the gay swiss had been transformed by the miracle which had befallen him, like the saul of holy writ, in the twinkling of an eye, into a paul. the calendar-makers were already preparing to assign a day to st. schorlin. but she ought not to have joined in the boisterous laugh with which her father rewarded the old slanderer's news. no! the knight's experience must have made a deeper impression than the others suspected. perhaps little eva's love would result in her seeking with the sisters of st. clare, and heinz with the franciscans, peace and a loftier passion. she was certainly to be pitied if love had taken as firm a hold upon her heart as cordula thought she had perceived. again her kind heart throbbed with tender sympathy, and when the sisters left the sedan chairs which had brought them back to the house, and cordula met eva in the corridor, she held out her hand with frank cordiality, saying, "clasp it trustingly, girl. true, you do not value it much, but it is offered to no one to whom cordula does not mean kindly." eva, taken by surprise, obeyed her request. how frank and kindly her grey eyes were! cordula herself must be so, too, and, obeying a hasty impulse, she nodded with friendly warmth; then, as if ashamed of her change of mood, hurried past her up the stairs. the following day had been appointed for the mass for the dead in st. sebald's church. els had told eva that the countess had seen heinz schorlin at the consecration. the news pleased her, and she expressed her joy so animatedly and spoke so confidently of the knight's love that els felt anxious. but she did not have courage to disturb her peace of mind, and her father's two sisters, the abbess, and herr pfinzing's wife, also said nothing to eva concerning the future as they helped els to arrange the dead woman's clothing, which was to be given to the poor, decide to what persons or charitable institutions it should be sent, and listened to her account of the facts that formed the foundation of the slanders against her, which were being more loudly and universally discussed throughout the city. eva felt painfully how incapable of rendering assistance the others considered her, and her pride forbade her to urge it upon them. even her aunt kunigunde scarcely asked her a question. it seemed to the abbess that the right hour for a decisive enquiry had not yet come, and wise aunt christine never talked with her younger niece upon religious subjects unless she herself requested her to do so. the mass for the dead was to be celebrated at an unusually early hour, for another, which would be attended by the whole city and all the distinguished persons, knights, and nobles who had come to the reichstag, was to begin four hours before noon. this was for prince hartmann, who had been snatched away so prematurely. the ortliebs, with all their kindred and servants, the members of the council with their wives and daughters, and many burghers and burgher women, assembled soon after sunrise in st. sebald's church. those present were almost lost in the spacious, lofty interior with its three naves. at first there was little appearance of devotion, for the early arrivals had many things to ask and whisper to one another. the city architect lowered his loud voice very little as he discussed with a brother in the craft from cologne in what way the house of god, which originally had been built in the byzantine style, could be at least partly adapted to the french pointed arch which was used with such remarkable success in germany, at cologne and marburg. they discussed the eastern choir, which needed complete rebuilding, the missing steeples, and the effect of the pointed arch which harmonised so admirably with the german cast of character, and did not cease until the music began. now the great number of those present showed how much love the dead woman had sowed and reaped. the sisters, when they first looked around them, saw with grateful joy the father of the young man who had fallen in the duel with wolff, old herr berthold vorchtel, his wife, and ursula. on the other hand, the pew adorned with the eysvogel coat of arms was still empty. this wounded els deeply; but she uttered a sigh of relief when--the introitus had just begun--at least one member of the haughty family to which she felt allied through wolff appeared, isabella siebenburg, her lover's sister. it was kind in her to come notwithstanding the absence of the others, and even her own husband. els would return it to her and her twins. the music, whose heart-stirring notes accompanied the solemn service, deeply moved the souls of both sisters; but when, after the gloria in excelsis deo, the cum sancto spiritu pealed forth, eva, who, absorbed in devotion, had long since ceased to gaze around her, felt her sister's hand touch her arm and, following the direction of her glance, saw at some distance the man for whom her heart yearned, and the grave, devout knight yonder seemed far nearer to her than the gay companion who, in the mazes of the dance, had gazed so boldly into the faces of the men, so tenderly into those of the fair women. how fast her heart throbbed! how ardently she longed for the moment when he would raise his head and look across at her! but when he moved, it was only to follow the sacred service and with it christ's sacrifice upon the cross. then eva reproached herself for depriving her dead mother, to the repose of whose soul this hour was dedicated, of her just due, and she strove with all her power to regain the spirit of devotion which she had lost. but her lover sat opposite and, though she lowered her eyes, her earnest endeavour to concentrate her thoughts was futile. her struggle was interrupted by the commencement of the credo, and during this confession, which brings before the christian in a fixed form what it is incumbent upon him to believe, the thought entered her mind of beseeching her whose faithful love had always guided her safely and for her good--the queen of heaven, to whom heinz was as loyally devoted as she herself--that she might give her a sign whether she might continue to believe in his love and keep faith with him, or whether she should return to the path which led to a different form of happiness. during the singing of the credo the heavenly helper, for whose aid she hoped, made known to her that if, before the end of the sanctus, which immediately followed the credo, heinz looked over at her and returned her glance, she might deem it certain that the holy virgin would permit her to hope for his love. if he omitted to do so, then she would consider it decided that he renounced his earthly for his heavenly love, and try herself to give up the earthly one, in which, however, she believed she had recognised something divine. the credo closed and died away, the resonant harmonies of the sanctus filled the wide space, and the knight, with the same devout attention, followed the sacred service in which, in the imagination of believers, the bread and wine is transformed into the body and blood of christ, and a significant, painless ceremony represents the saviour's bloody death upon the cross. eva told herself that she ought to have followed with the same intentness as heinz the mass celebrated for the soul of her own mother, but she could no longer succeed in doing so. besides, she was denied the privilege of looking freely and often at him upon whose movements depended the fate of her life. many glances were undoubtedly directed at her, the daughter of the dead woman in whose memory so many citizens had gathered; many, perhaps, had come solely to see the beautiful es. therefore propriety and modesty forbade her to watch heinz. she only ventured to cast a stolen glance at him. every note of the sanctus was familiar to her, and when it drew near the end heinz retained the same position. the fairest hope of her life must be laid with the flowers in her mother's coffin. now the last bars of the sanctus were commencing. he had scarcely had time to change his attitude since her last secret glance at him, yet she could not resist the temptation, though it was useless, of looking at him once more. she felt like the prisoner who sees the judge rise and does not know whether he intends to acquit or condemn him. the city luteplayer who led the choir was just raising his hands again to let them fall finally at the close of the sanctus, and as she turned her eyes from him in the direction whence only too soon she was to be deprived of the fairest of rights, a burning blush suddenly crimsoned her cheeks. heinz schorlin's eyes had met hers with a full, clear gaze. eva pressed her clasped hands, as if beseeching aid, upon her bosom, which rose and fell beneath them with passionate emotion; and no, she could not be mistaken; he had understood her, for his look expressed a wealth of sympathy, the ardent, sorrowful sympathy which only love knows. then the eyes of both fell. when their glances met again, the hosanna of the choir rang out to both like a shout of welcome with which liberated nature exultingly greets the awakening spring; and to the deeply agitated knight, who had resolved to fly from the world and its vain pleasures, the hosanna which poured its waves of sound towards him, whilst the eyes of the woman he loved met his for the second time, seemed to revive the waning joy of existence. the shout which had greeted the saviour on his entry into jerusalem reached the "called" man like a command from love to open wide the gate of the heart, and whether he willed it or not, love, amidst the solemn melody of the hosanna, made a new and joyous entrance into his grateful soul. but during the benedictus he was already making the first attempt to resist this emotion; and whilst eva, first offering thanks for the cheering decision, and then earnestly striving to enter with her whole soul into the sacred service, modestly denied herself the pleasure of looking across at her lover, heinz was endeavouring to crush the hopes which had again mastered the soul resolved on renunciation. yet he found the conflict harder than he expected and as, at the close of the mass, the dona nobis pacem (grant us peace) began, he joined beseechingly in the prayer. it was not granted, for even during the high mass for the soul of his dearest friend, which also detained the ortliebs in church, he sought eva's glance only too often, but always in vain. once only, when the dona nobis pacem pealed forth again, this time for the prince, his eyes met those of the woman he loved. the young duchess agnes noticed whither he looked so often, but when countess cordula knelt beside the ortliebs, cordially returned every glance of the knight's, and once even nodded slightly to him, the young bohemian believed the report that heinz schorlin and the countess were the same as betrothed, and it vexed her--nay, spoiled the whole of the day which had just begun. when heinz left the church eva's image filled his heart and mind. he went directly from the sanctuary to his lodgings; but there neither frau barbara, his pretty young hostess, nor biberli would believe their eyes or ears, when the former heard in the entry, the latter in the adjoining room, the lash of a scourge upon naked limbs, and loud groans. both sounds were familiar to barbel through her father, and to biberli from the time of penance after his stay in paris, and his own person. heinz schorlin, certainly for the first time in his life, had scourged himself. it was done by the advice of father benedictus but, although he followed the counsel so earnestly that for a long time large bloody stripes covered his back and shoulders, this remedy for sinful thoughts produced an effect exactly opposite to the one expected; for, whenever the places where the scourge had struck him so severely smarted under his armour, they reminded him of her for whose sake he had raised his hand against himself, and the blissful glance from her eyes. chapter iv. during the days which succeeded the mass for the dead the ortlieb mansion was very silent. the burgrave von zollern, who still gladly concealed in his castle the brave companion in arms to whom he had entrusted the imperial standard on the marchfield, when his own strong arm needed rest, had permitted herr ernst, as the young man's future father-in-law, to visit him. both were now in constant communication, as els hoped, for the advantage of the eysvogel business. biberli did not cease acting as messenger between her and her future bridegroom; nay, he could now devote the lion's share of his days to it; his master, for the first time since he had entered his service, had left him. the emperor had been informed of the great shock experienced by the young knight, but it was unnecessary; an eye far less keen would not have failed to note the change in heinz schorlin. the noble man who, even as a sovereign, retained the warmth of heart which had characterised him in his youth as a count, sincerely loved his blithe, loyal, brave young countryman, whose father he had valued, whose mother he highly esteemed, and who had been the dearest friend of the son whom death had so early snatched from him. he knew him thoroughly, and had watched his development with increasing warmth of sympathy, the more so as many a trait of character which he recognised in heinz reminded him of his own nature and aspirations at his age. at the court of frederick ii he too had not always walked in the paths of virtue but, like heinz, he had never let this merge into licentiousness, and had maintained the chivalrous dignity of his station even more strictly than the former. neither had he at any time deviated from the sincere piety which he had brought from his home to the imperial court, and this was far more difficult in the train of the bold and intellectual hohenstaufen, who was prone to blaspheme even the holiest things, than for heinz. finally he, too, had lapsed into the mood which threatened to lead the light-hearted schorlin into a monastery. the mighty impulse which, at that time, owing to the example and teachings of st. francis in italy, had taken possession of so many minds, also left its impress on his young soul, already agitated by sympathy with many an extravagant idea, many an opinion condemned by the church. but ere he had taken even the first decisive step he was summoned home. his father had resolved to obtain on the sacred soil of palestine the mercy of heaven which was denied to the excommunicated emperor, and desired his oldest son, rudolph, to represent him at home. before his departure he confided to his noble son his aspirations for the grandeur and enlargement of his house, and the youth of twenty-one did not venture to tell the dignified, far-sighted man, whom his subjects rightly surnamed "the wise," his ardent desire to live henceforth solely for the salvation of his endangered soul. the sense of duty inherited from father and mother, which both had imprinted deeply upon his soul, and also the ambition that had been sedulously fostered at the court of the emperor frederick, had given him courage to repress forever the wish with which he had left the hohenstaufen court. the sacrifice was hard, but he made it willingly as soon as it became apparent to his reflective mind that not only his earthly but his heavenly father had appointed the task of devoting the full wealth of his talents and the power of his will to the elevation of the house of hapsburg. the very next year he stood in the place of his father who fell at ascalon, deeply lamented. the arduous labour imposed by the management of his own great possessions, and the ceaseless endeavour to enlarge them, in accordance with the dead man's wishes, gave him no time to cherish the longing for the peace of the cloister. after his election as king of germany, which had long been neglected under the government of sham emperors, increased the burden of his duties the more seriously he took them, and the more difficult the bohemian king ottocar, especially, rendered it for him to maintain the crown he had won, the more eagerly he strove, particularly after the victory of marchfield had secured his sovereignty, to increase the power of his house. a binding duty, a difficult task, must also withhold heinz schorlin from the wish for whose fulfilment his fiery young soul now fervently longed, and which he knew was receiving powerful sustenance from a worthy and eloquent minorite. rudolph's own brother had died in peace as canon of basel and strasbourg; his sister was happy in her convent as a modest dominican; but the young knight over whose welfare he had promised his mother to watch, and whom he loved, was not fitted for the monastic life. however earnest might be his intention--after the miracle which seemed to have been wrought specially for him--of renouncing the world, sooner or later the time must come when heinz would long to return to it and the profession of arms, for which he was born and reared. but if he could not be deterred from entering the modest order of the mendicant monks, who proudly called poverty their beloved bride, and should become the head of a bishopric while young, he would inevitably be one of those fighting prelates who seemed to the emperor--who disliked halfway measures--neither knight nor priest, and with whom he had had many a quarrel. opposition would merely have sharpened the young knight's desire; therefore his imperial patron had treated him as if he were ignorant of what was passing in his mind. without circumlocution, he commanded him, at the head of several bodies of frank, swabian, and swiss troopers, whom he placed at his orders, to attack the brothers siebenburg and their allies, and destroy their castle. if possible, he was to bring them alive before the imperial judgment seat, and recover for the eysvogels the merchandise of which they had been robbed. when heinz, after the emperor rudolph had mentioned the latter name, earnestly entreated him to prevent wolff's persecution, the sovereign promised to fulfil the wish as soon as the proper time came. he himself desired to be gracious to the brave champion of marchfield, who under great irritation had drawn his sword. but when heinz also asked the emperor to send his friend count gleichen with him, the request was refused. he must have the entire responsibility of the expedition which he commanded; for nothing except an important duty that no one would help him bear, gave promise of making him forget everything that usually engrossed his attention, and thus his new object of longing. besides, if he returned victorious his fame and reward would be undivided. the hapsburg wished to try upon his young favourite the means which had availed to keep his own footsteps in the path which he desired to see heinz follow: constant occupation associated with heavy responsibility, the success which brings with it the hope of future achievement and thereby rouses ambition. the wisdom and kindness of heart of the emperor rudolph, whom the greyhaired ruler's friends called "wisdom," had certainly chosen the right course for heinz. but he who had always regarded every opportunity of drawing his sword for his master as a rare piece of good fortune, shrank in dismay from this, the most important and honourable charge that had ever been bestowed upon him. it drew him away from the new path in which he did not yet feel at home, because the love he could not abjure constantly thrust him into the world, into the midst of the life and tumult from which heaven itself commanded him to turn aside. the minorite had scarcely been right in the assertion that only the first rounds of the ladder which leads to heavenly bliss were hard to climb. how quickly he had set his foot on the first step; but each upward stride was followed by one that dragged him down-nay, it had seemed advisable wholly to renounce the effort to ascend them, when the monk expected him to sever the bond which united him to the emperor, and to tell the sovereign that he had entered the service of a greater master, who commanded him to fight with other weapons than the sword and lance. heinz had regarded this demand as a summons to turn traitor. it did not seem to be the call of the devout, experienced director of souls to the disciples, but the guelph to the ghibelline, for ghibelline he meant to remain. gratitude was a christian virtue, too, and to refuse his service to the emperor, who had been a father to him, to whom he had sworn fealty, and who had loaded him with benefits, could not be pleasing in the sight of any god. he could never become a guelph, he told his venerable friend. the emperor rudolph was his beloved master, from whom he had received nothing but kindness. he might as well be required to refuse obedience to his own father. "what guelph? what ghibelline?" cried the minorite in a tone of grave rebuke. "the question is submission to the most high, or to the world and its claims. and why should not heaven require, as you term it, that you should obey the lord more willingly than your earthly father--you, whom the mercy of god summoned amidst thunder and lightning in the presence of thousands? when francis, our beloved model, the son of pier bernardone, was threatened with his father's curse if he did not turn back from the path which led to the highest goal, francis restored all that he had received from him, except his last garment, and with the exclamation, 'our father who art in heaven, not pier bernardone,' he made the choice between his earthly and his heavenly father. from the former he would have received in abundance everything that the heart of a child of the world desires-wealth, paternal love, and the blessing which is said to build houses on earth. but francis preferred poverty and contempt, nay, even his father's curse and the reproach of ingratitude, receiving in exchange possessions of a nobler nature and more lasting character. you have heard their names. to obtain them, means to share the bliss of heaven. and you"--he continued loudly, adopting for the first time a tone of authoritative severity--"if you really yearned for the greatest possessions, go to the fortress this very hour, and with the cry in your heart, though not on your lips, 'our father who art in heaven, not my gracious master and benefactor rudolph,' inform the emperor what higher lord you have vowed to serve." this kindled a fierce conflict in heinz schorlin's soul, which perhaps might have ended in favour of a new career and st. francis, had not biberli, ere he reached a conclusion, rushed into the room shouting: "seitz siebenburg, the mustache, has joined his brothers, and the knight of absbach, with several others--von hirsdorf, von streitberg, and whatever their names may be--have made common cause with them! it is said that they also expected reinforcements from the main, in order that the right to the road----" "gossip, or positive news?" interrupted heinz, drawing himself up to his full height with the cool composure which he attained most easily when any serious danger threatened him. "as positive," replied his follower eagerly, "as that siebenburg is the greatest rascal in germany. you will be robbed of your joust with him, for he'll mount the block instead of the steed, just as you predicted. the ladies will drive him from the lists with pins and rods, to say nothing of the scourging by which knight and squire will silence him. oh, my lord, if you only knew!" "well?" asked the knight anxiously. then biberli, paying no further heed to his master's orders never to mention the ortlieb sisters again in his presence, burst forth indignantly: "it might move a stone to pity to know the wrong the monster has done jungfrau eva and her pure and virtuous sister, the loyal betrothed bride of a brave man--and the abominable names bestowed on the young ladies, whom formerly young and old, hat in hand, called the beautiful es." heinz stamped his foot on the floor and, half frantic, impetuously exclaimed, his blood boiling with honest indignation: "may the air he breathes destroy the slandering scoundrel! may i be flayed on the rack if----" here he was interrupted by a low exclamation of warning from the minorite, who perceived in the knight's fierce oaths a lamentable relapse. heinz himself felt ashamed of the ungodly imprecations; yet he could by no means succeed in regaining his former composure as, drawing a long breath, he continued: "and those city hypocrites, who call themselves christians, and build costly cathedrals for the good of their souls, are not ashamed--yes, holy father, it is true--basely to deny our lord and saviour, who is love itself, and deemed even the magdalen worthy of his mercy, and rub their hands in fiendish malignity when unpunished they can sully the white robe of innocence, and drag pious, lovely simplicity to the pillory." "that is the very reason, my son," the monk interrupted soothingly, "that we disciples of the saint of assisi go forth to show the deluded what the lord requires of them. therefore leave behind you the dust of the world, which defiles both body and soul, join us, who did so before you, and help, as one of our order, to make those who are perishing in sin and dishonouring the name of christ better and purer, genuine christians. in this hour of stress lay the sword out of your hand, and leave the steed----" "i shall ride forth, rely upon it, holy father," heinz burst forth afresh. "with the sky-blue of the gracious virgin, whom i love, on my shield and helmet, i will dash like the angel michael amongst the siebenburgs and their followers. and let me tell you, holy father--you who were once a knight also--if the mustache, weltering in his blood at my feet, prays for mercy, i'll teach him----" "son! son!" interrupted the monk again, this time raising his hands imploringly; but heinz, paying no heed, exclaimed hoarsely: "where did you get this news?" "from our berne countryman at the fortress," replied the servant eagerly; "brandenstein, schweppermann, and heidenab brought the tidings. the emperor received them at the gate of the citadel, where he was keeping watch ere he mounted his steed. he heard him call to the messengers, 'so our heinz schorlin will have a hard nut to crack.'" "which he will crush after his own heart!" cried heinz, with flashing eyes. then, forcing himself to be calm, he exclaimed in broken sentences, whilst biberli was helping him put on his armour: "your wish, reverend father, is also mine. the world--the sooner i can rid myself of it the better; yet what you describe in the most alluring terms is the peace in your midst, i--i--never, never will my heart be calm until----" here he paused suddenly, struck his breast swiftly and repeatedly with his fists, and continued eagerly: "here, father benedictus, here are old and strong demands, which you, too, must once have known ere you offered the other cheek to the foe. i know not what to call them, but until they are satisfied i shall never be yours. they must be fulfilled; then, if in battle and bloodshed i can also forget the love which ever rises again when i think i have given it the deathblow, if heaven still desires poor, heartsick heinz schorlin, it shall have him." the minorite received the promise with a silent bend of the head. he felt that he might seriously endanger the fulfilment of his ardent wish to gain this soul for heaven if he urged heinz further now. patiently awaiting a more fitting season, he therefore contented himself with questioning him carelessly about the foe and his castles. the day was hot, and as biberli laced the gambeson--the thick, quilted undergarment over which was worn the heavy leather coat covered with scales and rings--the monk exclaimed: "when the duty which you believe you owe to the world has been fulfilled, you will gratefully learn, as one of our order, how pleasant it is to walk with liberated soul in our light-brown cowl." but he ought to have repressed the remark, for heinz cast a glance at him which expressed his astonishment at being so misunderstood, and answered with unyielding resolution: "if i long for anything in your order, reverend father, it is not for easy tasks, but for the most difficult burden of all. your summons to take our redeemer's cross upon me pleases me better." "and i, my son, believe that your words will be inscribed amongst those which are sure of reward," the monk answered; then with bowed head added "at that moment you were nearer the kingdom of heaven than the aged companion of st. francis." but perceiving how impatiently heinz shrugged his shoulders, and convinced that it would be advisable to leave him to himself for a time, the old man blessed him with paternal affection and went his way. when the fiery youth had performed the task which now claimed all his powers, he hoped to find him more inclined to allow himself to be led farther along the path which he had entered. this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] margery by georg ebers volume 2. 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 firtree 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 lovingkindness 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 homecoming; 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 illpleased 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 evildisposed 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 armchair 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 towncouncil, 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-atarms, 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, wideawake 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 illusage, 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 goodday 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, shortsighted 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. etext editor's bookmarks: be happy while it is yet time germans are ever proud of a man who is able to drink deep on with a new love when he had left the third bridge behind him the not over-strong thread of my good patience vagabond knaves had already been put to the torture this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] in the fire of the forge a romance of old nuremberg by georg ebers volume 6. chapter v. the minorite had gone. biberli had noticed with delight that his master had not sought as usual to detain him. the iron now seemed to him hot, and he thought it would be worth while to swing the hammer. the danger in which heinz stood of being drawn into the monastery made him deeply anxious, and he had already ventured several times to oppose his design. life was teaching him to welcome a small evil when it barred the way to a greater one, and his master's marriage, even with a girl of far lower station than eva ortlieb, would have been sure of his favour, if only it would have deterred him from the purpose of leaving the world to which he belonged. "true," the servitor began, "in such heat it is easier to walk in the thin cowl than in armour. the holy father is right there. but when it is necessary to be nimble, the knight has his dancing dress also. oh, my lord, what a sight it was when you were waltzing with the lovely jungfrau eva! look at heinz schorlin, the brave hero of marchfield, and the girl with the angel face who is with him!' said those around me, as i was gazing down from the balcony. and just think--i can't help speaking of it again--that now respectable people dare to point their fingers at the sisters and join in the base calumny uttered by a scoundrel!" then heinz fulfilled biberli's secret longing to be questioned about the es and the charges against them, and he forged the iron. not from thirst, he said, but to ascertain what fruit had grown from the hellish seeds sown by siebenburg, and probably the still worse ones of the eysvogel women, he went from tavern to tavern, and there he heard things which made him clench his fists, and, at the red ox, roused him to such violent protest that he went out of the tap-room faster than he entered it. thereupon, without departing far from the truth, he related what was said about the beautiful es in nuremberg. it was everywhere positively asserted that a knight belonging to the emperor's train had been caught at the ortlieb mansion, either in a nocturnal interview or while climbing into the window. both sisters were said to be guilty. but the sharpest arrows were aimed at els, the betrothed bride of the son of a patrician family, whom many a girl would have been glad to wed. that she preferred the foreigner, whether a bohemian, a swabian, or even a swiss, made her error doubly shameful in the eyes of most persons. whenever biberli had investigated the source of these evil tales, he had invariably found it to be seitz siebenburg, his retainers, the eysvogel butler, or some man or maidservant in their employ. the vorchtels, who, as he knew from katterle, would have had the most reason to cherish resentment against the ortliebs, had no share in these slanders. the shrewd fellow had discovered the truth, for after seitz siebenburg had wandered about in the open air during the storm, he again tried to see his wife. but the effort was vain. neither entreaties nor threats would induce her to open the door. meanwhile it had grown late and, half frantic with rage, he went to the duke of pomerania's quarters in the green shield to try his luck in gaming. the dice were again moving rapidly, but no one grasped the box when he offered a stake. no more insulting rebuff could be imagined, and the repulse which he received from his peers, and especially the duke, showed him that he was to be excluded from this circle. he was taught at the same time that if he answered the challenge of the swiss he would not be permitted to enter the lists. thus he confronted the impossibility of satisfying a demand of honour, and this terrible thought induced him to declare war against everything which honour had hitherto enjoined, and with it upon its guardians. if they treated him as a robber and a dishonoured man, he would behave like one; but those who had driven him so far should suffer for it. during the rest of the night and on the following day, until the gate was closed, he wandered, goblet in hand, only half conscious of what he was doing, from tavern to tavern, to tell the guests what he knew about the beautiful es; and at every repetition of the accusations, of whose justice he was again fully convinced, his hatred against the sisters, and those who were their natural defenders and therefore his foes, increased. every time he repeated the old charges an addition increasing the slander was made and, as if aided by some mysterious ally, it soon happened that in various places his own inventions were repeated to him by the lips of others who had heard them from strangers. true, he was often contradicted, sometimes violently but, on the whole, people believed him more readily than would have happened in the case of any other person; for every one admitted that, as the brother-in-law of the older e, he had a right to express his indignation in words. meanwhile his twins often returned to his memory. the thought ought to have restrained him from such base conduct; but the idea that he was avenging the wrong inflicted upon their father's honour, and thus upon theirs, urged him further and further. not until a long ride through the forest had sobered him did he see his conduct in the proper light. insult and disgrace would certainly await him in the city. his brothers would receive him kindly. they were of his own blood and could not help welcoming his sharp sword. side by side with them he would fight and, if it must be, die. a voice within warned him against making common cause with those who had robbed the family of which he had become a member, yet he again used the remembrance of his innocent darlings to palliate his purpose. for their sakes only he desired to go to his death, sword in hand, like a valiant knight in league with those who were risking their lives in defence of the ancient privilege of their class. they must not even suspect that their father had been shut out from the tournament, but grow up in the conviction that he had fallen as a heroic champion of the cause of the lesser knights to whom he belonged, and on whose neck the emperor had set his foot. the assurance which biberli brought heinz schorlin that seitz siebenburg had joined those whom he was ordered to punish, placed the task assigned him by the emperor in a new and attractive light; but the servant's report, so far as it concerned the ortlieb sisters, pierced the inmost depths of his soul. he alone was to blame for the disgrace which had fallen upon innocent maidens. by the destruction of the calumny he would at least atone for a portion of his sin. but this did not suffice. it was his duty to repair the wrong he had done the sisters. how? that he could not yet determine; for whilst wielding the executioner's sword in his master's service all these thoughts must be silenced; he could consider nothing save to fulfil the task confided to him by his imperial benefactor and commander in chief, according to his wishes, and show him that he had chosen wisely in trusting him to "crack the nut" which he himself had pronounced a hard one. the yearning and renunciation, the reproaches and doubts which disturbed his life, until recently so easy, had disgusted him with it. he would not spare it. yet if he fell he would be deprived of the possibility of doing anything whatever for those who through his imprudence had lost their dearest possession--their good name. whenever this picture rose before him it sometimes seemed as if eva was gazing at him with her large, bright eyes as trustingly as during the pause in the dancing, and anon he fancied he saw her as she looked at her mother's consecration in her deep mourning before the altar. at that time her grief and pain had prevented her from noticing how his gaze rested on her; yet never had she appeared more desirable, never had he longed more ardently to clasp her in his arms, console her, and assure her that his love should teach her to forget her grief, that she was destined to find new happiness in a union with him. this had happened to him just as he commenced the struggle for a new life. startled, he confessed it to his grey-haired guide, and used the means which the minorite advised him to employ to attain forgetfulness and renunciation, but always in vain. had he, like st. francis, rushed among briers, his blood would not have turned into roses, but doubtless fresh memories of her whose happiness his guilt had so suddenly and cruelly destroyed. for her sake he had already begun to doubt his vocation on the very threshold of his new career, and did not recover courage until father benedictus, who had communicated with the abbess kunigunde, informed him that eva was wax in her hands, and within the next few days she would induce her niece to take the veil. this news had exerted a deep influence upon the young knight's soul. if eva entered the cloister before him, the only strong tie which united him to the world would be severed, and nothing save the thought of his mother would prevent his following his vocation. yet vehement indignation seized him when he heard from biberli that the slanderer's malice would force eva to seek refuge with the sisters. no, a thousand times no! the woman whom he loved should need to seek refuge from nothing for which heinz schorlin's desire and resolve alike commanded him to make amends. he must succeed in proving to the whole world that she and her sister were as pure as they lived in his imagination, either by offering in the lists the boldest defiance to every one who refused to acknowledge that both were the most chaste and decorous ladies in the whole world, and eva, at the same time, the loveliest and fairest, or by the open interference of the emperor or the burggravine in behalf of the persecuted sisters, after he had confessed the whole truth to his exalted patrons. but when biberli pointed out the surest way of restoring the endangered reputation of the woman he loved, and begged him to imagine how much more beautiful she would look in the white bridal veil than in her mourning riese--[kerchief of fine linen, arranged like a veil]--he ordered him to keep silence. the miracle wrought in his behalf forbade him to yearn for happiness and joy here below. it was intended rather to open his eyes and urge him to leave the path which led to eternal damnation. it pointed him to the kingdom of heaven and its bliss, which could be purchased only by severe sacrifice and the endurance of every grief which the saviour had taken upon himself. but he could at least pay one honour to the maiden to whom he was so strongly attracted, and whose happiness for life was menaced by his guilt. when he had assembled his whole force at schwabach, he would go into battle with her colour on his helmet and shield. the queen of heaven would not be angry with him if he wore her light blue to atone to the pure and pious eva, who was hers even more fully than he himself, for the wrong inflicted upon her by spiteful malice. heinz schorlin's friends thought the change in his mood a natural consequence of the events which had befallen him; young count gleichen, his most intimate companion, even looked up to him since his "call" as a consecrated person. his grey-haired cousin, sir arnold maier, of silenen, was a devout man whose own son led a happy life as a benedictine monk at engelberg. the sign by which heaven had signified its will to heinz had made a deep impression upon him, and though he would have preferred to see him continue in the career so auspiciously begun, he would have considered it impious to dissuade him from obeying the summons vouchsafed by the most high. so he offered no opposition, and sent by the next courier a letter to lady wendula schorlin, his young cousin's mother, in which, with heinz's knowledge-nay, at his request--he related what her son had experienced, and entreated her not to withhold him from the vocation of which god deemed him worthy. meanwhile, biberli wrote to his master's mother in a different strain, and did not desist from expressing his opinion, to heinz, and assuring him that his place was on a battle charger, with his sword in its sheath or in his hand, rather than in a monastery with a rosary hanging from a hempen girdle. this had vexed heinz--nay, made him seriously angry with the faithful fellow; and when in full armour he prepared to mount his steed to receive the last directions of his imperial master, and biberli asked him on which horse he should follow, he answered curtly that this time he would go without him. yet when he saw tears fill the eyes of his "true and steadfast" companion, he patted the significant st. on his cap, and added kindly: "never mind, biber, everything will be unchanged between us till i obey my summons, and you build your own nest with katterle." so biberli had remained in nuremberg whilst heinz schorlin, after the emperor with fatherly kindness had dismissed him, granting him full authority, set forth at the head of his troops as their commander, to take the field against the siebenburgs and their allies. the servant was permitted to attend him only to the outskirts of the city. before the spitalthor, countess cordula, though she was returning from a ride into the country, had wheeled her spirited dappled horse and joined him as familiarly as though she belonged to him. heinz, who would have liked best to be alone, and to whom any other companion would have been more welcome, showed her this plainly enough, but she did not seem to notice it, and during the whole of their ride together gave her tongue free rein and, though he often indignantly interrupted her, described with increasing warmth what the ortlieb sisters had suffered through his fault. in doing so she drew so touching a picture of eva's silent sorrow that heinz sometimes longed to thank her, but more frequently to have her driven away by his men at arms; for he had mounted his horse with the intention of dividing the time of his ride between pious meditations and plans for the arrangement of the expedition. what could be more unwelcome than the persistent loquacity of the countess, who filled his heart and mind with ideas and wishes that threatened most seriously to imperil his design? cordula plainly perceived how unwillingly he listened. nay, as heinz more and more distinctly, at last even offensively, showed her how little he desired her society, it only increased the animation of her speech, which seemed to her not to fail wholly in the influence she desired to exert in eva's favour; therefore she remained at his side longer than she had at first intended. she did not even turn back when they met the young duchess agnes, who with her train was returning to the city from a ride. the bohemian princess had known that heinz would ride through the spitalthor at this hour to confront his foe, and had intended that the meeting with her should seem like a good omen. the thought of wishing him success on his journey had been a pleasant one. true, cordula's presence did not prevent this, but it disturbed her, and she was vexed to find the countess again at heinz schorlin's side. she showed her displeasure so plainly that her italian singing mistress, the elderly spinster caterina de celano, took sides with her, and scornfully asked the countess whether she had brought her curling irons with her. but she bit her lips at cordula's swift retort "o no! malice meets us on every road, but in germany we do not pull one another's hair on the highway over every venomous or foolish word." she turned her back on her as she spoke until the duchess had taken leave of heinz, and then rode on with him; but as soon as a portion of the road intervened between her and the countess the young bohemian exclaimed: "we must certainly try to save sir heinz from this disagreeable shrew!" "and the saints will aid the good work," the italian protested, "for they themselves have a better right to the charming knight. how grave he looked! take care, your highness, he is following, as my nimble cousin frangipani did a short time ago, in the footsteps of the saint of assisi." "but he must not, shall not, go into the monastery!" cried the young duchess, with childish refractoriness. "the emperor is opposed to it, and he, too, does not like the von montfort's boisterous manner. we will see whether i cannot accomplish something, caterina." here she stopped. they had again reached the village of rottenpach, and in front of the newly built little church stood its pastor, with the dignitaries of the parish, and the children were scattering flowers in the path. she checked her arabian, dismounted, and graciously inspected the new house of god, the pride of the congregation. on the way home, just beyond the village, her horse again shied. the animal had been startled by an old minorite monk who sat under a crab apple tree. it was father benedictus, who had set out early to anticipate heinz and surprise him in his night quarters by his presence. but he had overestimated his strength, and advanced so slowly that heinz and his troopers, from whom he had concealed himself behind a dusty hawthorn bush, had not seen him. from schweinau the walk had become difficult, especially as it was contrary to the teaching of the saint to use a staff. many a compassionate peasant, many a miller's lad and carter, had offered him a seat on the back of his nag or in his waggon but, without accepting their friendly offers, he had plodded on with his bare feet. perhaps this journey would be his last, but on it he would redeem the promise which he had made his dying master, to go forth according to the command of the saviour, which francis of assisi had made his own and that of his order, to preach and to proclaim, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" "without price," ran the words, "have ye received, without price give." he had no regard for earthly reward, therefore he yearned the more ardently for the glad knowledge that he had saved a soul for heaven. he had learned to love heinz as the saint had formerly loved him, and he did not grudge him the happiness which, at the knight's age, had fallen to the lot of the man whose years now numbered eighty. how long he had been permitted to enjoy this bliss! true, during the last decades it had been clouded by many a shadow. he had endured much hardship in the service of his sacred cause, but the greater the sacrifice he offered the more exquisite was the reward reaped by his soul. oh, if this pilgrimage might yield him heinz schorlin's vow to follow his saint and with him the saviour!--if he might be permitted, clasping in his the hand of the beloved youth he had saved, to exchange this world for eternal bliss! earth had nothing more to offer; for he who was one of the leaders of his brotherhood beheld with grief their departure from the paths of their founder. poverty, which secures freedom to the body, which knows nothing of the anxieties of this world and the burden of possession, which permits the soul to soar unfettered far above the dust--poverty, the divine bride of st. francis, was forsaken in many circles of his brother monks. with property, ease and the longing for secular influence had stolen into many a monastery. many shunned the labour which the saint enjoined upon his disciples, and the old jugs were often filled with new wine, which he, benedictus, never tasted, and which the saint rejected as poison. he was no longer young and strong enough to let his grief and indignation rage like a purifying thunderstorm amidst these abuses. but heinz schorlin! if this youth of noble blood, equally gifted in mind and person, whom heaven itself had summoned with lightning and thunder, devoted himself from sincere conviction, with a heart full of youthful enthusiasm, to his sacred cause--if heinz, consecrated by him, and fully aware of the real purposes of the saint, who, also untaught and rich only in knowledge of the heart, had begun a career so momentous in consequences, announced himself as a fearless champion of st. francis's will, then the st. george had been found who was summoned to slay the dragon, and with his blood instil new life at last into the monasteries of germany, then perhaps the fresh prosperity which he desired for the order was at hand. the larger number of its recruits came from the lower ranks of the people. sir heinz schorlin's example would perhaps bring it also, as an elevating element, the sons of his peers. so, bathed in perspiration, and often on the point of fainting, he followed heinz through the dust of the highway. often, when his strength failed, and he sat down by the roadside to take breath, his soul-life gained a loftier aspiration. after heinz rode by without seeing him he continued his way until his feet grew so heavy that he was forced to sit down beside the road. then he imagined that the saviour himself came towards him, gazed lovingly into his face, and turned to beckon some one, benedictus did not know whom, heavenward. suddenly the clouds that had covered the sky parted, and the old man fancied he heard the song of the troubadour whose soul had been subdued by love for god, which his friend and master had addressed to his redeemer. it must come from the lips of his angels on high, but he longed to join in the strain. true, his aged lips, rapidly as they moved, uttered no sound, but he fancied he was sharing in this song of the soul, glowing with fervent, consuming flames of love, dedicated to the saviour, the source of all love: "love's flames my kindling heart control, love for my bridegroom fair, when on my hand he placed the ring, the lamb whose fervent love i share did pierce my inmost soul," the fiery song began, and an absorbing yearning for death and the beloved redeemer, whose form had vanished in the sea of flames surging before his dilated eyes, moved the very depths of his soul as he commenced the second verse: "my heart amidst love's tortures broke, slain by the might of love's keen stroke, to earth my senseless body sank, love's flames my life-blood drank." with flushed cheeks, utterly borne away from the world and everything which surrounded him, he raised his arms towards heaven, then they suddenly fell. starting up, he passed his hand over his dazzled eyes and shook his head sorrowfully. instead of the angels' song, he heard the beat of horses' hoofs coming nearer and nearer. the open heavens had closed again; he lay a poor exhausted mortal, with burning brow, beside the road. duchess agnes, after visiting the new church at rottenpach, rode past him on her return to nuremberg. neither she nor her train heeded the old monk. but the italian who, as she rode by, had been attracted by the noble features of the aged man, whose eyes still sparkled with youthful enthusiasm, gazed at him enquiringly. her glance met his, and the minorite's wrinkled features wore a look of eager enquiry. he longed to rise and ask the name of the black-eyed lady at the duchess's side. but ere he could stand erect, the party had passed on. disturbed in mind, and scarcely able to set one sore foot before the other, he dragged himself forward. before he reached rottenpach he met one of the duchess's pages who had remained at the village forge and was now riding after his mistress. father benedictus called to him, and the boy, awed by the grey-haired monk, answered his questions, and told him that the lady on the horse with the white star on its face was the duchess's italian singing mistress, caterina de celano. every drop of blood receded from the minorite's fever-flushed cheeks, and the page was about to spring from his saddle to support him, but the monk waved him back impatiently, and by the exertion of all his strength of will forced himself to stagger on. he had just felt happy in the heart of eternal love; but now the expression of his countenance changed, and his dark, sunken eyes flashed angrily. the faded woman beside the duchess bore the name of the lady whose faithlessness had first induced him to seek rest and forgetfulness in the peace of the cloister, and led him to despise her whole sex. the horsewoman must be a granddaughter, daughter, or niece of the woman who had so basely betrayed him. how much she resembled the traitress, but she did not understand how to hide her real nature as well; her faded features wore a somewhat malicious expression. the resentment which he thought he had conquered again awoke. he would have liked to rush after her and call her to her face----. yet what would that avail? how was she to blame for the treachery of another person, whom perhaps she did not even know? yet he longed to follow her. his fevered blood urged him on, but his exhausted, aching limbs refused to serve him. one more violent effort, and sparks flashed before his eyes, his lips were wet with blood, and he sank gasping on the ground. after some time he succeeded in dragging himself to the side of the road, where he lay until a nuremberg carrier, passing with his team of four horses, lifted him, with the help of his servant, into his cart and took him on. at schweinau the jolting of the vehicle became unendurable to the sufferer, and the carrier willingly fulfilled his wish to be taken to the hospital where mangled criminals, tortured by the rack, were nursed. there, however, they instantly perceived that his place was not in this house dedicated to criminal misfortune, and the kind beguines of schweinau took charge of him. on the way the old monk suffered severely in both soul and body. it seemed like treason, like a rejection of his pure and pious purposes, that heaven itself barred the path along which he was wearily wandering to win it a soul. chapter vi. the entombment of the magnificent coffin of frau maria ortlieb under the pavement of the family chapel was over. the little group of sympathising friends had left the church. only the widower and his daughters remained, and when he knew that he could no longer be seen by the few who still lingered in the house of god, he clasped the two girls to his heart with a suppressed sob. never had he experienced such deep sorrow, such anguish of soul. he had not even been permitted to take leave of his beloved companion with unmixed grief; fierce resentment had mingled with his trouble. to remain alone in the house with his daughters after the burial and answer their questions seemed to him impossible. the meeting of the council, which would soon begin, served as a pretence for leaving them. eva was to blame for what he had just suffered; but he knew everything concerning the rumours about the inexperienced girl and heinz schorlin, and there fore was aware that her fault was trivial. to censure her seemed as difficult as to discuss calmly with her and the sensible els what could be done under existing circumstances; besides, he was firmly convinced that eva had nothing left except to take, without delay, the veil for which she had longed from childhood. his sister, the abbess kunigunde, was keeping the door of the convent open. she had promised the girl to await her at home. in taking leave of his daughters, he begged them not to wait for him, because the council were to decide the fate of the eysvogel business, and the session might last a long while. then his els gazed at him with a look of such earnest entreaty that he nodded, and in a tone of the warmest compassion began: "i shall be more than glad to aid your wolff, my dear girl, but he himself told you how the case stands. what would it avail if i beggared myself and you for the eysvogels and their tottering house? i must remain hard now, in order later to smooth the path for wolff and you, els. if berthold vorchtel would make up his mind to join me, it might be different, but he summoned the council as a complainant, and if he is the one to overthrow the reeling structure, who can blame him? we shall see. whatever i can reasonably do for the unfortunate family shall be accomplished, my girl." then he kissed his older daughter on the forehead, hastily gave the younger the same caress, and left the chapel. but els detained him, whispering: "whatever wrong was inflicted upon us yesterday, do not let it prejudice you, father. it was meant neither for her whose peace nothing can now disturb, nor for you. we alone----" "you certainly," herr ernst interrupted bitterly, "were made to feel how far superior in virtue they considered themselves to you, who are better and purer than all of them. but keep up eva's courage. i have been talking with your uncle pfinzing and your aunt christine. you yourself took them into your confidence, and we will consult together how the serpent's head is to be crushed." he turned away as he spoke, but els went back to her sister, and after a brief prayer they left the church with bowed heads. the sedan-chairs were waiting outside. each was to be borne home separately, but both preferred, spite of the bright summer weather, to draw the curtains, that unseen they might weep, and ask themselves how such wrongs could have been inflicted upon the dead woman and themselves. the respect of high and low for the ortlieb family had been most brilliantly displayed when the body of the son, slain in battle, had been interred in the chapel of his race. and their mother? how many had held her dear! to how many she had been kind, loving, and friendly! how great a sympathy the whole city had shown during her illness, and how many of all classes had attended the mass for her soul! and the burial which had just taken place? true, on her father's account all the members of the council were present, but scarcely half the wives had appeared. their daughters--els had counted them--numbered only nine, and but three were included among her friends. the others had probably come out of curiosity. and the common people, the artisans, the lower classes, who in countless numbers had accompanied her brother's coffin to its resting place, and during the mass for the dead had crowded the spacious nave of st. sebald's? there had been now only a scanty group. the nuns from the convent were present, down to the most humble lay sister; but they were under great obligations to her mother, and their abbess was her father's sister. there were few other women except the old crones from the hospitals and nurseries, who were never absent when there was an opportunity to weep or to backbite. in going through the nave of the church into the chapel the sisters had passed a group of younger lads and maidens, who had nudged one another in so disrespectful a way, whispering all sorts of things, that els had tried to draw eva past them as swiftly as possible. her wish to keep her more sensitive sister from noticing the disagreeable gestures and insulting words of the cruel youths and girls was gratified. true, eva also felt with keen indignation that far too little honour was paid to her beloved dead; that the blinded people believed the slanderers who repeated even worse things of her els than of herself, and made their poor mother, who had lived and suffered like a saint, atone for what they imagined were the sins of her daughters; but the jeers and scorn which had obtruded themselves upon her father and sister from more than one quarter, in many a form, had entirely escaped her notice. she had accustomed herself from childhood to indulge in reflections and emotions apart from the demands of the world. whatever occupied her mind or soul absorbed her completely; here she had been wholly engrossed in this silent intercourse with the departed, and a single glance at the group assembled in the church had showed her everything which she desired to know of her surroundings. heinz had gone to the field the day before yesterday. her silent colloquy concerned him also. how difficult he made it for her to maintain the resolution which she had formed during the mass for the dead, since he remained aloof, without giving even the slightest token of remembrance. true, an inward voice constantly repeated that he could not part from her any more easily than she from him; but her maidenly pride rebelled against the neglect with which he grieved her. the defiant desire to punish him for departing without a word of farewell urged her back to the convent. she had spent many hours there daily, and in its atmosphere of peace felt better and happier than in her father's house or any other spot which she visited. the close association with her aunt, the abbess, was renewed. true, she had not urged eva to a definite statement by so much as a single word, yet she had made her feel plainly how deeply it would wound her if her pupil should resolve to disappoint the hopes which she herself had fostered. if eva refused to take the veil, would not her kind friend be justified in charging her with unequalled ingratitude? and whose opinion did she value even half as much, if she excepted her lover's, whose approval was more to her than that of all the rest of the world? he was better than she, and who could tell what important motive kept him away? countless worldly wishes had blended with the devotion which she felt in the convent; and had not the abbess herself taught her to obey, without regard to individuals or their opinion, the demands of her own nature, which were in harmony with the will of the most high? and how loudly every voice within commanded her to be loyal to her love! she had made her decision, but offended pride, the memory of the happy, peaceful hours in the convent and, above all, the fear of grieving the beloved guide of her childhood, withheld her from the firm and irrevocable statement to which her nature, averse to hesitation and delay, impelled her. the nearer the sedan-chair came to the ortlieb mansion the faster her heart beat, for that very day, probably within the next few hours, the abbess would compel her to choose between her father's house and the convent. she was panting for breath and deadly pale when, just after els's arrival, she stepped from the chair. it had become intensely hot. within the vaulted corridor with its solid, impenetrable walls, a cooler atmosphere received her, and she hoped to find in her own chamber fresher, purer air, and--at least for the next few hours--undisturbed peace. but what was the meaning of this scene? at her entrance, the conversation which els had evidently just commenced with several other women at the door of the office suddenly ceased. it must be due to consideration for her; for she had not failed to notice the significant glance with which her sister looked at her and then removed her finger from her lips. the abbess, who had been concealed by a wall of chests piled one above another, now came forward and laid her hand upon the shoulder of a little elderly woman, who must have been disputing vehemently with the old housekeeper, martsche, for she was flushed with excitement, and the housekeeper's chin still quivered. usually eva paid little heed to the quarrels of the servants, but this one appeared to have some connection with herself, and the cause could be no trivial one, since aunt kunigunde took part in it. but she had no sooner approached the other women than the abbess drew her aside and asked her a few unimportant questions. they were probably intended to keep her away from the disputants. but eva knew the little woman, and wished to learn what offence had been given modest, humble widow vorkler. her husband had been employed by the ortlieb firm as a carrier, who had driven his team of six horses to milan faithfully until killed in the tyrol during an attack by robber knights in the lawless period before the coronation of the emperor rudolph. with the aid of herr ernst ortlieb, the widow had then set up a little shop for the sale of wax candles, images of the saints, rosaries, and modest confirmation gifts, by which means she gained an honest livelihood for her seven children and herself. her oldest son, who on account of hip disease was not fit for hard work, helped her, and the youngest was ortel, who had carried eva's basket on the day of her dead mother's consecration. her daughter metz was also in the ortlieb's service as assistant to the chief cook. when frau vorkler had come to see her children, she had scarcely been able to find words which sufficiently expressed her grateful appreciation, but to-day she seemed like a different person. the brief colloquy between the abbess and eva already appeared to her too long, and when the former bade her finish her business later with els and old martsche, she angrily declared that, with all due reverence for the lady abbess, she must inform jungfrau eva also what compelled her, a virtuous woman with a grateful heart, to take her children from the service of the employer for whom her husband had sacrificed his life. els, who was eager to conceal the woman's insulting errand from eva, tried to silence frau vorkler, but she defiantly persisted, and with redoubled zeal protested that speak she must or her heart would break. then she declared that she had been proud to place her children in so godly a household, but now everything was changed, and though it grieved her to the soul, she must insist upon taking metz and ortel from its service. she lived by the piety of people who bought candles for the dear saints and rosaries for praying; but even the most devout had eyes everywhere, and if it were known that her young children were serving in a house where such things happened, as alas! were reported through the whole city concerning the daughters of this family---here old martsche with honest indignation interrupted the excited woman; but fran vorkler would not be silenced, and asked what a poor girl like her metz possessed except her good name. how quickly suspicion would rest on a lass whose respectability was questioned! people had begun to do so ever since the ortlieb sisters were called the "beautiful" instead of the pious and virtuous es. this showed how such notice of the face and figure benefited christian maidens. yesterday and to-day she had given a three-farthing candle to her saint as a thank offering that this horror had not reached their mother's ears. the dead woman had been a truly devout and noble lady, and her soul would be grateful to her for impressing upon the minds of her motherless daughters that the path which they had recklessly entered---this was too much for ortel, who, concealed behind a heap of sacks, had listened to the discussion, and clasping his hands beseechingly, he now went up to his mother and entreated her to beware of repeating the slanders of evil-minded people who had dared to cast stones at the gracious maidens, who were as pure and innocent as their saint herself. poor ortel! his kind young eyes streaming with tears might have softened a rock; but the enraged candle-dealer misinterpreted his honest emotion, and he certainly would not have been allowed to go on so far had not rage and amazement kept her silent. but frau vorkler never lost the use of her tongue long, and what a flood of abuse of the degenerate children of the time, who forgot the respect and gratitude due to their own mother, she began to pour forth! but when faithful endres, who had grown grey in the ortlieb service, and under whose orders ortel was placed to help in unpacking, commanded her to be silent or leave the house, and told her son, instead of following her, to stay with his old employer, frau vorkler proceeded to lament over the corruption of the whole world, and did not fail to deal a few side-thrusts at the two daughters of the house. but here also she made little progress, for the abbess led eva up the stairs, and the two old family servants, martsche representing the guiding mind and endres the rude strength, made common cause. the latter upheld ortel in his refusal to leave the house, and the former declared that metz must remain the usual time after giving notice. she would not help frau vorkler to force the poor child into an unequal, miserable marriage with the old miser to whom she wanted to give her. this remark was aimed at the master-tailor seubolt, the guardian of the vorkler children, who, though forty years her senior, wanted to make pretty metz his wife, and who had also promised the widow to obtain for his future brother-in-law ortel an excellent place in the stables of the german order of military monks. not outraged morality, but the guardian and suitor in one person, had induced the candle-dealer to take her children from their good places in the ortlieb household. the widow's fear of having her real motive detected spared the necessity of using force. but whilst slowly retiring backwards, crab fashion, she shrieked at her antagonists the threat that her children's guardian, no less a personage than master-tailor nickel seubolt, was a man who would help her gain her just rights and snatch the endangered souls of ortel and her poor young metz from temporal and eternal destruction in this sodom and gomorrah---the rest of the burden which oppressed her soul she was forced to confide to the street. endres closed the heavy door of the house behind her with a strength and celerity marvellous in a man of his years. ortel was terribly agitated. soon after his mother's departure he went with his sister to the woodhouse, where both wept bitterly; for metz had given her heart to a young carrier who was expected to return from a trip to frankfort the first of july, and would rather have thrown herself into the pegnitz than married the rich old tailor to whom she knew her mother had promised her pretty daughter; whilst her brother, like many youths of his station, thought that the place of driver of a six-horse wain was the most delightful calling in the world, and both were warmly attached to their employer and the family whom they served. and yet both felt that it was a heavy sin to refuse to obey their mother. chapter vii. eva was spared witnessing the close of this unpleasant incident. the abbess had led her up the stairs into the sitting-room. st. clare herself, she thought, had sent fran vorkler to render the choice she intended to place before her niece that very day easier for eva. even whilst ascending the broad steps she put her arm around her, but in the apartment, whence the noonday sun had been shut out and they were greeted with a cool atmosphere perfumed with the fragrance of the bouquets of roses and mignonette which eva and the gardener had set in jars on the mantelpiece early in the morning, the abbess drew her darling closer to her side, saying, "the world is again showing you its most disagreeable face, my poor child, ere you bid it farewell." she kissed her brow and eyes tenderly as she spoke, expecting eva, as she had often done when anything troubled her young soul, to return the caress impulsively, and accept with grateful impetuosity the invitation to the shelter which she offered; but the vile assault of the coarse woman who brought to her knowledge what people were thinking and saying about her produced upon the strange child, who had already given her many a surprise, an effect precisely opposite to her expectations. no, eva had by no means forgotten the pain inflicted by frau vorkler's base accusations; but if whilst in the sedan-chair she had feared that she should lack courage to inflict upon her beloved aunt and friend so great a disappointment, she now felt that this dread had been needless, and that her offended maidenly pride absolved her from consideration for any person. with cautious tenderness she released herself from the arms of the abbess, gazed sorrowfully at her with her large eyes as if beseeching forgiveness then, as she saw her aunt look at her with pained surprise, again threw herself on her breast. instead of being protectingly embraced by the elder woman, the young girl clasped her closely to her heart, kissed and patted her with caressing love, and with the winning charm peculiar to her besought her forgiveness if she denied herself and her that which she had long desired as the fairest and noblest goal. when the abbess interrupted her to represent what awaited her in the world and in the convent, eva listened, nestling closely to her side until she had finished, then sighing as deeply as if her own resolve caused her the keenest suffering, threw her head back, exclaiming, "yet, in spite of everything, i cannot, must not enter the convent now." clasping the abbess's hand, she explained what prevented her from fulfilling the wish of her childhood's guide, which had so long been her own, extolling with warm, sincere gratitude the quiet happiness and sweet anticipations enjoyed with her beloved nuns ere love had conquered her. during the recent days of sorrow she had again sought the path to her saints and found the greatest solace in prayer; but whenever she uplifted her heart to the saviour, whose bride she had once so fervently vowed to become, the redeemer had indeed appeared as usual before the eyes of her soul, but he resembled in form and features sir heinz schorlin, and, instead of turning her away from the world to divine love, she had surrendered herself completely to earthly affection. prayer had become sin. the saint's song: "o love, love's reign announcing, why dost thou wound me so? into thy fiercest flames i fling my heart, my life below." no longer invited her to give herself up to be fused into divine love, but merely rendered the need of her own soul clearer, and expressed in words the yearning of her heart for her lover. here her aunt interrupted her with the assurance that all this--she had had the same experience when, renouncing the love of the noblest and best of men, she took the veil--would be different, wholly different, when with st. clare's aid she had again found the path on which she had already once so nearly reached heaven. even now she beheld in imagination the day when eva would look back upon the world she had left as if it were a mere formless mass of clouds. these were no idle words. the promise was something derived from her own experience. on her pilgrimage to rome she had gazed from an alpine peak and beheld at her feet nothing save low hills, forests, valleys, and flashing streams, with here and there a village; but she could distinguish neither human beings nor animals; a light mist had veiled everything, converting it into one monotonous surface. but above her head the sky, like a giant dome free from cloud and mist, arched in a beautiful vault, blue as turquoise and sapphire. it seemed so close that the eagle soaring near her might reach it with a few strokes of his pinions. she was steeped in radiance, and the sun shone down upon her with overpowering brilliancy like the eye of god. close at her side a gay butterfly hovered about the solitary little white flower which grew from a bare rock on the topmost summit. in the brilliant light and amidst the solemn silence that butterfly seemed like a transfigured soul, and aroused the question, who that was permitted to live on this glowing height, so near the most high, could desire to return to the grey mist below? so the human soul which soared to the shining height where it was so near heaven, would blissfully enjoy the purity of the air and the un shadowed light which bathed it, and all that was passing in the world below would blend into a single vanquished whole, whose details could no longer be distinguished. thus heinz schorlin's image would also mingle with the remainder of the world, lying far below her, to which he belonged. it should merely incite her to rise nearer and nearer to heaven, to the radiant light above, to which her soul would mount as easily as the eagle that before the pilgrim's eyes had vanished in the divine blue and the golden sunshine. "so come and dare the flight!" she concluded with warm enthusiasm. "the wings you need have grown from your soul, you chosen bride of heaven. use them. that which now most repels you from the goal will fall away as the snake sheds its skin. like the phoenix rising from its ashes, the destruction of the little earthly love which even now causes you more pain than pleasure, will permit the ascent of the great love for him who is love incarnate, the love which encompasses the lonely butterfly on the white blossom in the silent, deserted mountain solitude, which lacks no feather on its wings, no tiniest hair on its feelers, as warmly and carefully as the vast, unlimited universe whose duration ends only with eternity." eva, with labouring breath, had fairly hung upon the lips of the revered woman, who at last gazed upwards with dilated eyes like a prophetess. when she paused the young girl nodded assent. her teacher and friend seemed to have crushed her resistance. like the eagle which had disappeared before the pilgrim's eyes in the azure vault of heaven, the radiant light on the pure summit summoned her pure soul to dare the flight. the abbess watched with delight the influence of her words upon the soul of her darling, who, gazing thoughtfully at the floor, now seemed to be pondering over what she had urged. but suddenly eva raised her bowed head, and her eyes, sparkling with a brighter light, sought those of the abbess. her quick intellect had attentively considered what she had heard, and her vivid power of imagination had enabled her to transfer to reality the picture which had already half won her over to her friend's wishes. "no, aunt kunigunde, no!" she began, raising her hands as if in repulse. "your radiant height strongly allures me also, yet, gladly as i believe that, for many the world would be easily forgotten above, where no sound from it reaches us and the mist conceals individual figures from our eyes, for me, now that love has filled my heart, it would be impossible to ascend the peak alone and without him. "hear me, aunt! "what was it that attracted me so powerfully from the beginning? at first, as you know, the hope of making him a combatant for the possessions which i have learned through you to regard as the highest and most sacred. then, when love came, when a new power, heretofore unknown, awoke within me and--everything must be told--i longed for his wooing and his embrace, i also felt that our union could take root and put forth blossoms only in the full harmony of our mutual love for god and the saviour. and though since the mass for the dead was celebrated for my mother--it wounded me, and defiance and the wish to punish him urged me to put the convent walls between us--no further token of his love has come, though i know as well as you that he desired to quit the world, this by no means impairs--nay, it only strengthens--the confidence i feel that our souls belong to one another as inseparably as though the sacrament had hallowed our union. "therefore i should never succeed in coming so near heaven as you, the lonely, devout pilgrim, attained on the summit of your mountain peak, unless he accompanied me in spirit, unless his soul joined mine in the ascent or the flight. it rests in mine as mine rests in his, and were they separated both would bleed as if from severed veins. for this reason, aunt, he can never blend into a uniform mass with the rest of the world below me; for if i gained the radiant height, he would remain at my side and gaze with me at the mist-veiled world beneath. he can never vanish from the eyes of my soul, and so, dear aunt, because i owe it to him to avoid even the semblance----" here she hesitated; for from the adjoining room they heard a man's deep voice telling els something in loud, excited tones. this interruption was welcome to the abbess; she had as yet found no answer to her niece's startling objection. eva answered her questioning glance with the exclamation, "uncle pfinzing!" "he?" replied the abbess dejectedly. "his opinion has some weight with you, and this very day, during the burial, he told me how glad he should be to see you sheltered in the convent from the hateful calumnies caused by your imprudence!" "yet--you will see it directly," the girl declared, "he will surely understand me when i explain that i would rather endure the worst than appear to seek refuge from evil tongues in flight. whoever has expected eva ortlieb to shelter herself from malice behind strong walls will be mistaken. heinz is certainly aware of the shameful injustice which has pursued us, and if he returns he must find me where he left me. i am now encountering what my dead mother called the forge fire of life, and i will not shun it like a coward. heinz, i know, will overthrow the man who unchained this generation of vipers against us; but if he does not return, or can bring himself to cast the love that unites us behind him with the world from which he would fain turn, then, aunt"--and eva's eyes flashed brightly with passionate fire, and her clear voice expressed the firm decision of a vigorous will--"then i will commit our cause to one who will not suffer falsehood to conquer truth or wrong to triumph over right. then, though it should be necessary to walk over red-hot ploughshares, let the ordeal bear witness for us." the abbess, startled, yet rejoicing at the fulness of faith flaming in her darling's passionate speech, approached eva to soothe her; but scarcely had she begun to speak when the door opened and berthold pfinzing entered with his older niece. he was holding els by the hand, and it was evident that some sorrowful thought occupied the minds of both. "has any new horror happened?" fell in tones of anxious enquiry from eva's lips before she even greeted her dearest relative. "think of something very bad," was her sister's reply, in a tone so dejected and mournful, that eva, with a low cry--"my father!"--pressed her hand upon her heart. "not dead, darling," said the magistrate, stroking her head soothingly with his short, broad hand, "by all the saints, not even wounded or ill. yet the daughter has guessed aright, and i have kept the 'honourables' waiting, that i might tell you the news myself; for what may not such tidings become whilst passing from lip to lip! it is a toad, a very ugly toad, and i would not permit a dragon to be brought into the house to you poor things in its place." he poured all this forth very rapidly, for, notwithstanding the intense heat, and the burden of business at the town hall, he had left it, though only to do his dear es a kindness, lie and his worthy wife christine, the sister of herr ernst ortlieb and of the abbess, had long been familiar with all the tales which slander had called to life, and had striven zealously enough to refute them. what he had now to relate filled him with honest indignation against the evil tongues, and he knew how deeply it would excite and grieve eva, his godchild, who stood especially near his heart. he would gladly have said a few kind words to her before beginning his story, but he was obliged to return to the town hall immediately to open the important conference concerning the fate of the eysvogel business. his appearance showed how rapidly he had hurried to the house through the burning sunshine, for drops of perspiration were trickling down his broad, low forehead over his plump, smoothshaven cheeks and thick red neck, in which his small chin vanished as if it were a cushion. besides, he constantly raised a large linen handkerchief to his face, and his huge chest laboured for breath as he hastily repeated to eva and the abbess what he had just announced to els in a few rapid words. herr ernst ortlieb had gone to the town hall, where he attended an examination in his character as magistrate, and had entered the court yard to enjoy the cool air for a short time with a few other "honourables," in the shady walk near the main gate. just then master-tailor seubolt, the guardian of ortel and his sister, who were in service at the ortlieb mansion, approached the town hall. no one could have supposed that the tall, grey-headed man with the bowed back, who was evidently nearing sixty, really meant to make a young girl like metz vorkler his wife. besides, he assumed a very humble, modest demeanour when, passing through the vaulted entrance of the town hall, which stood open to every citizen, he approached herr ernst to ask, with many bows and humble phrases, for the permission, which he had been refused at the ortlieb house, to remove his wards from a place which their mother, as well as he himself, felt sure--he had supposed that the "honourable" would have no objection--would be harmful to them in both body and soul. surprised and indignant, but perfectly calm, herr ernst had requested him to tell him whatever he had to say at a more convenient time. but as the tailor insisted that the matter would permit no delay, he invited him to step aside with him, in order not to make the councillors who were with him witnesses of the unpleasant discussion. seubolt, however, seemed to have no greater desire than to be heard by as many people as possible. raising his voice to a very loud tone, though he still maintained an extremely humble manner, he began to give the reasons which induced him, spite of his deep regret, to remove his wards from the ortlieb house. and now, sheltering himself behind frequent repetitions of "as people say" and "heaven forbid that i should believe such things," he began to relate what the most venomous slander had dared to assert concerning the beautiful es. for a time herr ernst had forced himself to listen quietly to this malicious abuse of those whom he held dearest, but at last it became too much for the quick-tempered man. the tailor had ventured to allude to jungfrau els "who certainly had scarcely given full cause for such evil slander" in words which caused even the councillors standing near to contradict him loudly, and induced herr pfinzing, who had just come up, to beckon to the city soldiers. at that instant the blood mounted to the insulted father's brain, and the misfortune happened; for as the tailor, with an unexpected gesture of the arm he was flourishing, brushed herr ernst's cap, the latter, fairly insane with rage, snatched the pike from one of the men who, obeying herr pfinzing's signal, were just approaching the tailor, and with a wild cry struck down the base traducer. herr pfinzing, with the presence of mind characteristic of him, instantly ordered the beadles to carry the wounded man into the town hall, and thus prevented the luckless deed of violence from creating any excitement. the few persons in the courtyard had been detained, and perhaps everything might yet be well. herr ernst had instantly delivered himself up to justice, and instead of being taken to prison like a common criminal, had been conveyed in a closed sedan-chair to the watch-tower. the pike had pierced the tailor's shoulder, but the wound did not seem to be mortal, and herr ernst's rash deed might be made good by the payment of blood-money, though, it is true, on account of the tailor's position and means, this might be a large sum. "my horse," said herr berthold in conclusion, "was waiting for me, and brought me here as swiftly as he must carry me back again. but, you poor things! as for you, my els, you have a firm nature, and if you insist upon refusing the invitation to our house, why, wait here to learn whether your father needs you. you, my little goddaughter eva, are provided for. this sorrow, of course, will throw the veil over your fair head." the worthy man, as he spoke, laid his hand on her shoulder and looked at her with a glance which seemed to rely on her assent, but she interrupted him with the exclamation, "no, uncle! until you have convinced yourself that no one will dare assail eva ortlieb's honour, do not ask her again if she desires the protection of the convent." the magistrate hurriedly passed his huge handkerchief over his face; then taking eva's head between his hands, kissed her brow, and--turning the shrewd, twinkling eyes, which were as round as everything else about his person, towards the others, said: "did any one suggest this, or did the 'little saint' have the sensible idea herself?" when eva, smiling, pointed to her own forehead, he exclaimed: "my respects, child. they say that what stirs up there descends from godfather to godchild, and i'll never put goblet to my lips again if i--" here he stopped, and called after els that he had not meant to hint, for she was hurrying out to get her uncle something to drink. but ere the door closed behind her he went on eagerly: "but to you, my saintly child, i will say: your piety soars far too high for me to follow with my heavy body; yet on the ride here i, old sinner that i am, longed--no offence, sister-in-law abbess!--to warn you against the convent, for the very reason which keeps you away from your saint. we'll find the gag to stop the mouths of these accursed slanderers forever, and then, if you want to enter the convent, they shall not say, when you take the veil, 'eva ortlieb is hiding from her own shame and the tricks with which we frightened her out of the world.' no! all nuremberg shall join in the hosanna!" then taking the goblet which els had just filled, he drained it with great satisfaction, and rushing off, called back to the sisters: "i'll soon see you again, you brave little es. my wife is coming to talk over the matter with you. don't let that worthless candle-dealer's children leave the house till their time is up. if you wish to visit your father in the watch-tower there will be no difficulty. i'll tell the warder. only the drawbridge will be raised after sunset. you can provide for his bodily needs, too, els. we cannot release him yet; the law must take its course." at the door he stopped again and called back into the room: "we can't be sure. if frau vorkler and the tailor's friends make an outcry and molest you, send at once to the town hall. i'll keep my eyes open and give the necessary orders." a few minutes after he trotted through the frauenthor on his clumsy stallion. chapter viii. the watch-tower was in the northern part of the city, in the corn magazine of the fortress, and the whole width of nuremberg must be traversed to reach it. even before herr pfinzing had left the house the sisters determined to go to their father, and the abbess approved the plan. she invited the girls to spend the night at the convent, if they found the deserted house too lonely, but they did not promise to do so. countess cordula, who was on friendly terms with eva, also emptied the vials of her wrath with all the impetuosity of her nature upon sir seitz siebenburg and the credulity and malice of the people. from the beginning she had been firmly convinced that the "mustache," as she now called the knight in a tone of the most intense aversion, had contrived this base conspiracy, and her opinion was strengthened by biberli. now she would gladly have torn herself into pieces to mitigate the sisters' hard lot. she wanted to accompany them to the watch-tower, to have them taken there in her sedan-chair carried by horses, which had room for several persons, and at last begged for the favour of being allowed to spend the night in the room adjoining theirs. if the girls, amidst all these base suspicions, should find nuremberg unendurable, she would leave the scene of the reichstag with them to-morrow, if necessary, and take them to her castle in the vorarlberg. she had other plans for them, too, in her mind, but lacked time now to explain them to the sisters; they could not obtain admittance to their father's prison after sundown, and in a few hours the long summer day would be over. it was not advisable to use their sedan-chairs adorned with the ortlieb coat of arms, which every one knew, so they went on foot with their faces shrouded by the 'reise' which was part of their mourning dress; and, in order not to violate usage, were accompanied by two servants, old martsche and katterle. from the fleischbrucke they might have avoided the market-place, but els wanted to enquire whether the eysvogel matter was being discussed. one of the "honourables"--all of whom she knew--was always to be found near the town hall, and eva understood her sister's anxiety and went with her willingly. but when they were passing the prison she became frightened. through the squares formed by the iron grating in front of the broad window of the largest one, head after head, hand after hand, was thrust into the street. the closely cropped heads of the prisoners, many of which showed mutilations by the hand of the executioner, which had barely healed, formed, as separated only by the iron bars, they protruded above, below, and beside one another into the open air, a mosaic picture, startlingly repulsive in appearance; for savage greed glittered in the eyes of most, and showed itself in the movements of the long, thin hands extended for gifts. bitter need and passionate longing gazed defiantly, beseechingly, and threateningly at the people who crowded round the window. few were silent; they implored the curious and pitying men, women, and children, who in the presence of their misery rejoiced in their more favoured lot, for aid in their distress, and rarely in vain; for many a mother gave her children a loaf to hand to the unfortunates, and meanwhile impressed on their minds the lesson that they would fare as badly as the most horrible of the mutilated prisoners unless they were good and obedient to their parents and teachers. street boys held out an apple or a bit of bread, to snatch it away just as they touched it with their finger-tips, thus playing with them for their own amusement, but the tribulation of the wretched captives. then some man who had seen better days, or a criminal whom sudden passion had made a murderer, would burst into a rage and, seizing the iron bars, shake them savagely, whilst the others, shrieking, drew in their heads. then fierce curses, threats, and invectives echoed over the market-place and, screaming aloud, the boys ran back; but they soon resumed their malicious sport. often, it is true, a mother came who placed her gift in the hands of her child, or a modest old woman, tradesman, or soldier, from motives of genuine compassion, offered the prisoners a jug of new milk or strengthening wine. nor was there any lack of priests or monks who desired to give the consolations of religion to the pitiable men behind the bars, but most of them reaped little gratitude; only a few listened to their exhortations with open hearts, and but too frequently they were silenced by insults and rude outcries. whilst the sisters, attended by their maidservants, were passing these pitiable people, frau tucher, whose daughter had been very ill, sent, for the love of god, a large basket of freshly baked bread to the prisoners. one of her servants was distributing it, and they greedily snatched the welcome gift from his hand. a woman, who was about to give one of the rolls to the hollow-eyed child in her arms just as a rude fellow who had lost his ears snatched it, scratched his dirty, freckled face with her sharp nails, and the sight of the blood which dripped from his lip over his chin upon the roll was so hideous a spectacle that eva clung closer to her sister, who had just put her hand into the pocket hanging from her belt to give the unfortunates a few shillings, and drew her away with her. both, followed by the two maids, made their way as fast as possible through the people who had flocked hither in great numbers for a purpose which the sisters were to learn only too soon. it was a long time since they had been here, and a few weeks previously the "honourables" had had the pillory moved from the other side of the town hall to this spot. katterle's warning was not heard in the din around them. the crowd grew denser every moment, and eva had already asked her sister to turn back, when els saw the man who brought to her father the summons to the meetings of the council, and requested him to accompany them through the throng to the courtyard; but amidst the uproar of shouts and cries he misunderstood her, and supposing that she wished to witness the spectacle which had attracted so many, forced a way for the sisters into the very front rank. the person who had just been bound in this place of shame was the barber's widow from the kotgasse, who had already been here once for giving lovers an opportunity for secret meetings, and to whom katterle had fled for shelter. bowed by the weight of the stone which had been hung around her neck, the woman, with outstretched head, looked furiously around the circle of her tormentors like a wild beast crouched to spring, and scarcely had the messenger brought the sisters and their servants to a place near her when, recognising katterle, she shrieked shrilly to the crowd that there were the right ones, the dainty folk who, if they did not belong to a rich family, would be put in the place where, in spite of the riese over their faces, with which they mourned for their lost good name, they had more reason to be than she, who was only the lowly widow of a barber. overwhelmed with horror the girls pressed on, and at eva's terrified exclamation, "let us, o let us go!" the man did his best. but they made slow progress through the crowd, whose yells, hisses, and catcalls pursued them to the entrance of the neighbouring town hall. here the guard, with crossed halberds, kept back the people who were crowding after the insulted girls, and it was fortunate, for eva's feet refused to carry her farther, and her older sister's strength to support her failed. sighing deeply, els led her to a bench which stood between two pillars, and then ordered old martsche, and katterle, who was trembling in every limb, to watch eva till her return. before they went on, her sister must have some rest, and martin schedel, the old clerk of the council, was the man with whom to obtain it. she went in search of him as fast as her feet would bear her, and by a lucky accident met the kind old man, whom she had known from childhood, on the stairs leading to the council chamber and the upper offices. ernst ortlieb's unhappy deed, and the story of the base calumnies in circulation about the unfortunate man's daughters, which he had just heard from herr pfinzing, had filled the worthy old clerk's heart with pity and indignation; so he eagerly embraced the opportunity afforded to atone to the young girls for the wrongs committed against them by their fellow-citizens. telling the maidservants to wait in the antechamber of the orphan's court-room, he led the sisters to his own office, helping eva up the long flight of stairs with an arm which, though aged, was still vigorous. after insisting that she should sit in the armchair before the big desk, and placing wine and water before her, he begged the young girls to wait until his return. he was obliged to be present at the meeting, which had probably already begun. the matter in question was the eysvogel business, and if els would remain he could tell her the result. then he left them. eva, deadly pale, leaned back with closed eyes in the clerk's high chair. els bathed her brow with a wet handkerchief, consoling her by representing how foolish it would be to suffer the lowest of the populace to destroy her happiness. her sister nodded assent, saying: "did you notice the faces of those people behind the bars? most of them, i thought, looked stupid rather than evil." here she hesitated, and then added thoughtfully: "yet they cannot be wise. these poor creatures seldom obtain any great sum by thieving and cheating. to what terrible punishments they expose themselves both in this world and the next! and conscience!" "yes, conscience!" els eagerly repeated. "so long as we can say that we have done nothing wrong, we can suffer even the worst to be said of us without grieving." "still," sighed eva, "i feel as if that horrible woman's insults had sullied me with a stain no water can wash away. what sorrows have come upon us since our mother died, els!" her sister nodded, and added mournfully: "our father, my wolff, your poor, stricken heart, and below in the council chamber, eva, perhaps whilst we are talking, those who are soon to be my kindred are being doomed. that is harder to bear, child, than the invectives with which a wicked woman slanders us. often i do not know myself where i get the strength to keep up my courage." she turned away as she spoke to wipe the tears from her eyes without being seen; but eva perceived it, and rose to clasp her in her arms and whisper words of cheer. ere she had taken the first step, however, she started; in rising she had upset the clerk's tin water-pail, which fell rattling on the floor. "the water!" she exclaimed sadly, "and my tongue is parched." "i'll fetch more," said els consolingly; "herr martin brought it from over yonder." opening the door to which she had pointed, she entered a low, spacious anteroom, in which was a brass fire engine, ladders, pails, and various other utensils for extinguishing a fire in the building, hung on the rough plastered wall which separated this room from the office of the city clerk. the centre of the opposite wall was occupied by two small windows surmounted by a broad, semicircular arch, and separated by a short roman pillar. the sashes of both, whose leaden casings were filled with little round horn panes, stood wide open. this double window was in the upper part of the council chamber, which occupied two stories. to create a draught this hot day it had been flung wide open, and els could distinguish plainly the words uttered below. the first that reached her was the name: "wolff eysvogel." a burning sensation thrilled her. if she went nearer to the window she could hear what the honourables decided concerning the eysvogel house; and, overpowered by her ardent desire not to lose a single word of the discussion which was to determine the happiness of wolff's life, and therefore hers, she instantly silenced the voice which admonished her that listening was wrong. yet the habit of caring for eva was so dear to her, and ruled her with such power, that before listening to what was passing in the council chamber below she looked for the water, which she speedily found, took it to the thirsty girl, and hurriedly told her what she had discovered in the next room and how she intended to profit by it. in spite of eva's entreaty not to do it, she hastened back to the open window. the younger sister, though she shook her head, gazed after her with a significant smile. to eva this was no accident. perhaps it was her saint herself who, when her sister went to seek refreshment for her, had guided her to the window. eva deemed it a boon to be permitted to find here in solitude the rest needful for her body which, though usually so strong, had been shaken by horror, and to struggle and pray for a clear understanding of the many things which troubled her; for to her prayer was far more than the petition for a spiritual or earthly blessing; nay, she prayed far less frequently to implore anything than from yearning for the most high to whose presence the wings of prayer raised her. so long as she was absorbed in it, she felt removed from the world and borne into the abode of god. now also, whilst els was listening, she brought no earthly matter to the power who guided the universe as well as her own little individual life, but merely lost herself in supplication and in her intercourse with the omnipotent one, who seemed to her a familiar friend; she forgot what grieved and troubled her and how she had been pained. but meanwhile the prediction she had made to the abbess was verified; she felt as if her lover's soul rose with hers to the pure height where she dwelt, and that the earthly love which filled her heart and his was but an effluence of the eternal love, whose embodiment to her was god and the saviour. the union of herself and heinz seemed imaged by two streams flowing from the same great inexhaustible, pure, and beneficent fountain, which, after having run through separate channels, meet to traverse as a single river the blooming meadows and keep them fresh and green. god's love, her own, and his were each separate and yet the same, portions of the great fount which animated, saved, and blessed her, him, and the whole vast universe. the spring gushing from her love and his was eternal, and therefore neither could be exhausted, no matter how much it gave. but both were still in the world. as he would certainly put forth all his might to show himself worthy of the confidence placed in him by his emperor and master, she too must test her youthful strength in the arduous conflict which she had begun. her recent experiences were the flames of the forge fire of life of which her mother had spoken--and how pitifully she had endured their glow! this must be changed. she had often proved that when the body is wearied the soul gains greater power to soar. should she not begin to avail herself of this to make her feeble body obey her will? with compressed lips and clenched hand she resolved to try. chapter ix. whilst eva, completely absorbed in herself, was forming this resolution, els, panting for breath, stood at the open window under the ceiling of the council chamber, gazing down and listening to the sounds from beneath. directly opposite to her was the inscription "feldt urtel auf erden, als ir dort woldt geurtheilt werden," in the german and latin languages, and below this motto, urging the magistrates to justice, was a large fresco representing the unjust judge sisamnes being flayed by an executioner in the costume of the nuremberg leben-[executioner's assistant. really "lowen."]--before the eyes of king cambyses, in order to cover the judgment seat with his skin. another picture represented this lofty throne, on which sat the ruler of persia dispensing justice. the subject of a third was the roman army interrupted in its march by the order of the emperor trajan, that he might have time to hear a widow's accusation of the murderer of her son and to punish the criminal. els did not bestow a single glance upon these familiar pictures, but gazed down at the thirteen elderly and the same number of much younger men, who in their high-backed chairs were holding council together at her left hand far below her. these were the burgomasters of the city, of whom an elder and a younger one directed for the space of a month, as "questioner," the government of the public affairs of the city and the business of the "honourable council." at this time the office was filled by albert ebner and jorg stromer, whilst in the secret council formed by seven of the older gentlemen, as the highest executive authority, hans schtirstab as the second and berthold vorchtel as first losunger filled the chief offices. so this year the deeply offended father held the highest place in the council, and in the whole community of nuremberg he, more than any one else, would decide the fate of the eysvogels. els knew this, and with an anxious heart saw him gaze earnestly and sadly at the papers which martin schedel, the city clerk, had just brought to him from a special desk. at his side, in the centre of the table covered with green cloth, sat the listener's uncle, the magistrate berthold pfinzing, who in the emperor's name presided over the court of justice. he also appeared in his character of protector of the jews, and samuel pfefferkorn, a hebrew usurer, had just left the hall after an examination. casper eysvogel was gazing after him with a face white as death. his handsome head shook as the imperial magistrate, turning to berthold vorchtel, the chief losunger, said in a tone loud enough to be heard by all present, "so this is also settled. herr casper contracted the great debt to the jew without the knowledge of his son and partner, and this explains to a florin the difference between the accounts of the father and son. the young man was intentionally kept in the dark about the greatest danger which threatened the business. to him the situation of the house must have appeared critical, but by no means hopeless. but for the siebenburgs and the other bandits, who transformed the last important and promising venture of the firm into a great loss, and with the sale of the landed property, it might perhaps have speedily risen, and under prudent and skilful management regained its former prosperity. the enormous sum to which the debt to samuel pfefferkorn increased gives the position of affairs a different aspect. since, as protector of the jew, i must insist upon the payment of this capital with the usual interest, the old eysvogel firm will be unable to meet its obligations--nay, its creditors can be but partially paid. therefore nothing remains for us to do save to consider how to protect as far as possible our city and the citizens who are interested. yet, in my opinion, the entire firm does not deserve punishment--only the father, who concealed from his upright son his own accounts and those of samuel pfefferkorn, and--it is hard for me to say this in herr casper's presence;--also, when the peril became urgent, illegally deprived his business partner of the possibility of obtaining a correct view of the real situation of affairs. so, in the emperor's name, let justice take its course." these words pronounced the doom of the ancient, great, and wealthy eysvogel firm; yet the heart of els throbbed high with joy when, after a brief interchange of opinions between the assembled members of the council, the imperial magistrate, turning to herr vorchtel, again began: "as chief losunger, it would be your place, herr berthold, to raise your voice on the part of the honourable council in defence of the accused; but since we are all aware of the great grief inflicted upon you by the son of the man in whose favour you would be obliged to speak, we should, i think, spare you this duty, and transfer it to herr hans schtirstab, the second losunger, or to herr albert ebner, the oldest of the governing burgomasters, who, though equally concerned in this sad case, are less closely connected with the eysvogels themselves." els uttered a sigh of relief, for both the men named were friendly to wolff; but herr vorchtel had already risen and began to speak, turning his wise old head slowly to and fro, and drawing his soft grey beard through his hand. he commenced his address as quietly as if he were talking with friends at his own table, and the tones of his deep voice, as well as the expression of his finely moulded aged features, exerted a soothing influence upon his listeners. els, with a throbbing heart, felt that nothing which this man advocated could be wrong, and that whatever he recommended would be sure of acceptance; for he stood amongst his young and elderly fellow directors of the nuremberg republic like an immovably steadfast guardian of duty and law, who had grown grey in the atmosphere of honesty and honour. thus she had imagined the faithful eckart, thus her own wolff might look some day when age had bleached his hair and labour and anxiety had lined his lofty brow with wrinkles; berthold vorchtel, and other "honourables" who resembled him; grey-haired conrad gross; tall, broad-shouldered friedrich holzschuher, whose long, snow-white hair fell in thick waves to his shoulders; ulrich haller, in whose locks threads of silver were just appearing, princely in form and bearing; stately hermann waldstromer, who had the keen eyes of a huntsman; the noble ebner brothers, who would have attracted attention even in an assembly of knights and counts--nay, the emperor rudolph was probably thinking of the men below when he said that the nuremberg council reminded him of a german oak wood, where firm reliance could be placed on every noble trunk. herr berthold vorchtel was just such a noble, reliable tree. els told herself so, and though she knew how deeply he was wounded when wolff preferred her to his daughter ursula, and how sorely he mourned his son ulrich's death, she was nevertheless convinced that this man would bear the eysvogels no grudge for the grief suffered through them, for no word which was not just and estimable would cross his aged lips. she was not mistaken; for after herr berthold had insisted upon his right to raise his voice, not in behalf of herr casper but for his business firm and its preservation, he remarked, by way of introduction, that for the sake of nuremberg he would advise that the eysvogel house should not be abandoned without ceremony to the storm which its chief had aroused against the ancient, solid structure. then he turned to the papers and parchments, to which the city clerk had just added several books and rolls. his address, frequently interrupted by references to the documents before him, sounded clear and positive. the amount of the sums owed by the eysvogel firm, as well as the names of its creditors in nuremberg, augsburg, ulm, and regensburg, venice, milan, bruges, and other german and foreign cities, formed the most important portion of his speech. during its progress he frequently seized a bit of chalk and blackboard, writing rapidly on the green table whole rows of figures, and the young burgomasters especially exchanged admiring smiles as the experienced old merchant added and subtracted in an instant sums for which they themselves would have needed twice as much time. the figures and names buzzed in the ears of the listener at the window like the humming of a swarm of gnats. to understand and remember them was impossible, and she gazed in astonishment at the old man who so clearly comprehended the confused tangle and drew from it so readily just what he needed for his purpose. when he closed, and with a loud "therefore" began to communicate the result, she summoned all the mental power she possessed in order to understand it. she succeeded, but her knees fairly trembled when she heard the sum which the house was obliged to repay to others. yet, when herr berthold lastly gave the estimate of the eysvogel property in merchandise, buildings, and estates, she was again surprised. she had not supposed that wolff's proud family was so wealthy; but the close of this report brought fresh disappointment, for including the sum which herr casper had borrowed from the jew pfefferkorn, the debts of the firm exceeded its possessions far more than els had expected from the amount of its riches. she was wholly ignorant of the condition of her own father's property; but she thought she knew that it was far from being enough to suffice here. and this appeared to be the case, for when berthold vorchtel resumed his speech he alluded to ernst ortlieb. in words full of sympathy he lamented the unprecedented insult which had led him to commit the deed of violence that prevented his sharing in this consultation. but before his removal he had given him an important commission. upon certain conditions--but only upon them--he would place a considerable portion of his fortune at his disposal for the settlement of this affair. still, large as was the promised sum, it would by no means be sufficient to save the eysvogel business from ruin. yet he, berthold vorchtel, was of the opinion that its fall must be prevented at any cost. the sincerity of this conviction he intended to prove by the best means at a merchant's command-the pledge of his own large capital. these words deeply moved the whole assembly, and els saw her uncle glance at the old gentleman with a look which expressed the warm appreciation of a man of the same mind. casper eysvogel, who, lost in thought, had permitted the statements of the losunger, which were mingled with many a bitter censure of his own conduct, to pass without contradiction--nay, apparently in a state of apathy in which he was no longer capable of following details-straightened his bowed figure and gazed enquiringly into herr berthold's face as if he did not venture to trust his own ears; but the other looked past him, as he added that what he was doing for the eysvogel business was due to no consideration for the man who had hitherto directed it, or his family, but solely on account of the good city whose business affairs the confidence of the council had summoned him to direct, and her commerce, whose prosperity was equally dear to most of the honourables around him. cries and gestures of assent accompanied the last sentence; but berthold vorchtel recognised the demonstration by remarking that it showed him that the council, in the name of the city, would be disposed to do its share in raising the amount still lacking. this statement elicited opposition, expressed in several quarters in low tones, and from one seat loudly, and herr berthold heard it. turning to peter ammon, one of the eysvogels' principal creditors, who was making the most animated resistance, he remarked that no one could be more unwilling than himself to use the means of the community to protect from the consequences of his conduct a citizen whose own errors had placed him in a perilous position, but, on the other hand, he would always--and in this case with special zeal--be ready to aid such a person in spite of the faults committed, if he believed that he could thus protect the community from serious injury. then he asked permission to make a digression, and being greeted with cries of "go on!" from all sides, began in brief, clear sentences to show how the commerce of nuremberg from small beginnings had reached its present prosperity. instead of the timid, irregular exchange of goods as far as the rhine, the main, and the danube, regular intercourse with venice, milan, genoa, bohemia, and hungary, flanders, brabant, and the coast of the baltic had commenced. trade with the italian cities, and through them, even with the levant, had made its first successful opening under the hohenstaufen rule; but during the evil days when the foreign monarchs had neglected germany and her welfare, it sustained the most serious losses. by the election of rudolph of hapsburg who, with vigour, good-will, and intelligence, had devoted his attention to the security of commerce in the countries over which he reigned, better days for the merchant had returned, and it was very evident what his work required, what injured and robbed it of its well-earned reward. confidence at home and abroad was the foundation of prosperity, not alone of the nuremberg merchant but of trade in general. under the hohenstaufen rule their upright ancestors had so strengthened this confidence that wherever he went the nuremberg merchant received respect and confidence above many-perhaps all others. the insecurity of the roads and of justice in the lawless times before the election of the hapsburgs might have impaired this great blessing; but since rudolph had wielded the sceptre with virile energy, made commerce secure, and administered justice, confidence had also returned, and to maintain it no sacrifice should be too great. as for him, berthold vorchtel, he would not spare himself, and if he expected the city to imitate him he would know how to answer for it. here he was interrupted by loud shouts of applause; but, without heeding them, he quietly went on: "and it is necessary to secure confidence in the nuremberg merchant in two directions: his honesty and the capital at his command. our business friends, far and near, must be permitted to continue to rely upon our trustworthiness as firmly as upon rock and iron. if we brought the arrogant italian to say of us that, amongst the german cities who were blind, nuremberg was the one-eyed, we ought now to force them to number us amongst those who see with both eyes, the honest, trust-inspiring blue eyes of the german. but to attain this goal we need the imperial protection, the watchful power of a great and friendly ruler. the progress which our trade owed to the hohenstaufen proves this; the years without an emperor, on the contrary, showed what threatens our commerce as soon as we lack this aid. rights and privileges from sovereigns smoothed the paths in which we have surpassed others. to obtain new and more important ones must be our object. from the first reichstag which the emperor rudolph held here, he has shown that he esteems us and believes us worthy of his confidence. many valuable privileges have revealed this. to maintain this confidence, which is and will remain the source of the most important favours to nuremberg, is enjoined upon us merchants by prudence, upon us directors of the city by regard for its prosperity. but, my honourable friends, reluctantly as i do so, i must nevertheless remind you that this confidence, here and there, has already received a shock through the errors of individuals. who could have forgotten the tale of the beautiful cap of the unhappy meister mertein, who has preceded us into the other world? doubtless it concerned but one scabby sheep, yet it served to bring the whole flock into disrepute. perhaps the fact that it occurred so soon after rudolph's election to the sovereignty, during the early days of his residence in our goodly city, imprinted it so deeply upon our imperial master's memory. a few hours ago he asked for some information concerning the sad affair which now occupies our attention, and when i represented that the public spirit and honesty of my countrymen, fellow-citizens, and associate members of the council would prevent it from injuring our trade at home or abroad, he alluded to that story, by no means in the jesting way with which he formerly mentioned the vexatious incident that redounded to the honour of no one more than that of his own shrewdness, which at that time--seven years ago--was so often blended with mirth." when the speaker began to allude to this much-discussed incident a smile had flitted over the features of his listeners, for they remembered it perfectly, and the story of emperor rudolph and the cap was still related to the honour of the presence of mind of the wise hapsburg judge. during the period of the assembly of the princes a nuremberg citizen had taken charge of a bag containing two hundred florins for a foreign merchant who had lodged with him, but when he was asked for the property entrusted to him denied that he had received it. this disgraceful occurrence was reported to the emperor, but he apparently paid no heed to it, and received master mertein, amongst other citizens who wished to be presented to him. the dishonest man appeared in a rich gala dress and as, embarrassed by the emperor's piercing gaze, he awkwardly twirled his cap--a magnificent article bordered with costly fur; the sovereign took it from his hand, examined it admiringly and, with the remark that it would suit even a king, placed it on his own royal head. then he approached one after another to exchange a few words and, as if forgetting that he wore the head-gear, left the apartment to order a messenger to take the cap at once to its owner's wife, show it to her as a guarantee of trustworthiness, and ask her to bring the bag which the foreign merchant had given him to the castle. the woman did so and the cheat was unmasked. everyone present, like els, was familiar with this story, which wrongly cast so evil a light upon the uprightness of the citizens of nuremberg. who could fail to be painfully affected by the thought that rudolph, during his present stay amongst them, must witness the injury of others by a nuremberg merchant? who could have now opposed herr berthold, when he asked, still more earnestly than before, that the community would do its share to maintain confidence in the reliability of the nuremberg citizens, and especially of the honourable council and everyone of its members? but when he mentioned the large sum which he himself, and the other which ernst ortlieb intended on certain conditions to devote to the settlement of this affair, peter ammon also withdrew his opposition. the first losunger's proposal was unanimously accepted, and also the condition made by his associate, ernst ortlieb. casper eysvogel, on whom the resolution bore most heavily, submitted in silence, shrugging his shoulders. how high els's heart throbbed, how she longed to rush down into the council chamber and clasp the hand of the noble old man at the green table, when he said that in consequence of ernst ortlieb's condition-which he also made--the charge of the newly established eysvogel business must be transferred from herr casper's hands to those of his son, herr wolff, as soon as the imperial pardon permitted him to leave his hidingplace. he, berthold vorchtel, would make no complaint against him, for he knew that wolff had been forced to cross swords with his ulrich. he had formed this resolution after a severe struggle with himself; but as a christian and a fair-minded man he had renounced the human desire for revenge, and as god had wished to give him a token of his approval, he had sent to his house a substitute for his dead son. fresh cries of approval interrupted this communication, whose meaning els did not understand. not a word of remonstrance was uttered when the imperial magistrate at last proposed that casper eysvogel and the women of his family should leave the city and atone for his great offence by ten years in exile. one of his estates, which he advised the city to buy, could be assigned him as a residence. herr casper's daughter, frau isabella siebenburg, had already, with her twin sons, found shelter at the knight heideck's castle. her husband, who had joined his guilty brothers, would speedily fall into the hands of justice and reap what he had sowed. for the final settlement of this affair he begged the honourable council to appoint commissioners, whom he would willingly join. then herr vorchtel again rose and requested his honourable friends to treat the new head of the house with entire confidence; for from the books of the firm and the statements which he had made in his hidingplace and sent to the council, both he and the city clerk had become convinced that he was one of the most cautious and upright young merchants in nuremberg. their opinion was also shared by the most prominent business acquaintances of the house. this pleased the listener. but whilst the speaker sat down amidst the eager assent of his associates in office, and herr casper eysvogel, leaning on the arm of his cousin, conrad teufel, left the hall with tottering steps, utterly crushed, she saw the city clerk schedel, after a hasty glance upwards, approach the side door, through which he could reach the staircase leading to his rooms. he evidently intended to tell the result of the discussion. but the old gentleman would need considerable time to reach her, so she again listened to what was passing below. she heard her uncle, the magistrate, speak of her father's unfortunate deed, and tell the council how the name of herr ernst's daughters, who were held in such honour, had become innocently, through evil gossip, the talk of the people. just at that moment the old man's shuffling step sounded close by the door. els stopped listening to hasten towards the messenger of good tidings, and the old gentleman could scarcely believe his own eyes when he saw the happiness beaming in the girl's beautiful fresh face, whose anxiety and pallor had just roused his deep sympathy. it was scarcely possible that anyone could have anticipated him with the glad news, and spite of his seventy-two years the city clerk had retained the keen eyes of youth. when he entered the anteroom with els and saw the open window and beside it the white riese which she had removed in order to hear better, he released himself from the arm she had passed around his shoulders, shook his finger threateningly at her, and cried: "it's fortunate that i find only the riese, and not the listener, otherwise i should be compelled to deliver her to the jailer, or even the torturer, for unwarranted intrusion into the secrets of the honourable council. i can hardly institute proceedings against a bit of linen!" etext editor's bookmarks: welcome a small evil when it barred the way to a greater one this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] margery by georg ebers volume 3. 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 granduncle, 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 lionheart! 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 beekeepers, 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 heartache. 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 postrunner; 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. etext editor's bookmarks: a small joy makes us to forget our heavy griefs all i did was right in her eyes especial gift to listen keenly and question discreetly happiness should be found in making others happy have never been fain to set my heart on one only maid hopeful soul clings to delay as the harbinger of deliverance no false comfort, no cloaking of the truth one head, instead of three, ruled the church though thou lose all thou deemest thy happiness this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] in the fire of the forge a romance of old nuremberg by georg ebers volume 1. translated from the german by mary j. safford chapter i. on the eve of st. medard's day in the year 1281, the moon, which had just risen, was shining brightly upon the imperial free city of nuremberg; its rays found their way into the street leading from the strong marienthurm to the frauenthor, but entrance to the ortlieb mansion was barred by a house, a watchtower, and--most successfully of all--by a tall linden tree. yet there was something to be seen here which even now, when nuremberg sheltered the emperor rudolph and so many secular and ecclesiastical princes, counts, and knights, awakened luna's curiosity. true, this something had naught in common with the brilliant spectacles of which there was no lack during this month of june; on the contrary, it was very quiet here. an imperial command prohibited the soldiery from moving about the city at night, and the frauenthor, through which during the day plenty of people and cattle passed in and out had been closed long before. very few of the worthy burghers--who went to bed betimes and rose so early that they rarely had leisure to enjoy the moonlight long--passed here at this hour. the last one, an honest master weaver, had moved with a very crooked gait. as he saw the moon double--like everything else around and above him--he had wondered whether the man up there had a wife. he expected no very pleasant reception from his own at home. the watchman, who--the moon did not exactly know why--lingered a short time in front of the ortlieb mansion, followed the burgher. then came a priest who, with the sacristan and several lantern bearers, was carrying the sacrament to a dying man in st. clarengasse. there was usually more to be seen at this hour on the other side of the city--the northwestern quarter--where the fortress rose on its hill, dominating the thiergartenthor at its foot; for the emperor rudolph occupied the castle, and his brother-in-law, burgrave friedrich von zollern, his own residence. this evening, however, there was little movement even there; the emperor and his court, the burgrave and his train, with all the secular and ecclesiastical princes, counts, and knights, had gone to the town hall with their ladies. high revel was held there, and inspiring music echoed through the open windows of the spacious apartment, where the emperor rudolph also remained during the ball. here the moonbeams might have been reflected from glittering steel or the gold, silver, and gems adorning helmets, diadems, and gala robes; or they might surely have found an opportunity to sparkle on the ripples of the pegnitz river, which divided the city into halves; but the heavenly wanderer, from the earliest times, has preferred leafy hidden nooks to scenes of noisy gaiety, a dim light to a brilliant glare. luna likes best to gaze where there is a secret to be discovered, and mortals have always been glad to choose her as a confidante. something exactly suited to her taste must surely be going on just now near the linden which, in all the splendour of fullest bloom, shaded the street in front of the ortlieb mansion; for she had seen two fair girls grow up in the ancient dwelling with the carved escutcheon above the lofty oak door, and the ample garden--and the younger, from her earliest childhood, had been on especially intimate terms with her. now the topmost boughs of the linden, spite of their dense foliage, permitted a glimpse of the broad courtyard which separated the patrician residence from the street. a chain, which with graceful curves united a short row of granite posts, shut out the pedestrians, the vehicles and horsemen, the swine and other animals driven through the city gate. in contrast with the street, which in bad weather resembled an almost impassable swamp, it was always kept scrupulously clean, and the city beadle might spare himself the trouble of looking there for the carcasses of sucking pigs, cats, hens, and rats, which it was his duty to carry away. a young man with an unusually tall and powerful figure was standing in this yard, gazing up at a window in the second story. the shadow of the linden concealed his features and his dress, but the moon had already seen him more than once in this very spot and knew that he was a handsome fellow, whose bronzed countenance, with its prominent nose and broad brow, plainly indicated a strong will. she had also seen the scar stretching from the roots of his long brown locks across the whole forehead to the left cheek-bone, that lent the face a martial air. yet he belonged to no military body, but was the son of a noble family of nuremberg, which boasted, it is true, of "knightly blood" and the right of its sons to enter the lists of the tournament, but was engaged in peaceful pursuits; for it carried on a trade with italy and the netherlands, and every male scion of the eysvogel race had the birthright of being elected a member of the honourable council and taking part in the government of nuremberg. the moon had long known that the young man in the courtyard was an eysvogel, nor was this difficult to discover. every child in nuremberg was familiar with the large showy coat of arms lately placed above the lofty doorway of the eysvogel mansion; and the nocturnal visitor wore a doublet on whose left breast was embroidered the same coat of arms, with three birds in the shield and one on the helmet. he had already waited some time in vain, but now a young girl's head appeared at the window, and a gay fresh voice called his christian name, "wolff!" waving his cap, he stepped nearer to the casement, greeted her warmly, and told her that he had come at this late hour to say good-night, though only from the front yard. "come in," she entreated. "true, my father and eva have gone to the dance at the town hall, but my aunt, the abbess, is sitting with my mother." "no, no," replied wolff, "i only stopped in passing. besides, i am stealing even this brief time." "business?" asked the young girl. "do you know, i am beginning to be jealous of the monster which, like an old spider, constantly binds you closer and closer in its web. what sort of dealing is this?--to give the whole day to business, and only a few minutes of moonlight to your betrothed bride! "i wish it were otherwise," sighed wolff. "you do not know how hard these times are, els! nor how many thoughts beset my brain, since my father has placed me in charge of all his new enterprises." "always something new," replied els, with a shade of reproach in her tone. "what an omnivorous appetite this eysvogel business possesses! ullmann nutzel said lately: 'wherever one wants to buy, the bird-[vogel]--has been ahead and snapped up everything in venice and milan. and the young one is even sharper at a bargain,' he added." "because i want to make a warm nest for you, dearest," replied wolff. "as if we were shopkeepers anxious to secure customers!" said the girl, laughing. "i think the old eysvogel house must have enough big stoves to warm its son and his wife. at the tuckers the business supports seven, with their wives and children. what more do we want? i believe that we love each other sincerely, and though i understand life better than eva, to whom poverty and happiness are synonymous, i don't need, like the women of your family, gold plates for my breakfast porridge or a bed of levantine damask for my lapdog. and the dowry my father will give me would supply the daughters of ten knights." "i know it, sweetheart," interrupted wolff dejectedly; "and how gladly i would be content with the smallest--" "then be so!" she exclaimed cheerily. "what you would call 'the smallest,' others term wealth. you want more than competence, and i--the saints know-would be perfectly content with 'good.' many a man has been shipwrecked on the cliffs of 'better' and 'best.'" fired with passionate ardour, he exclaimed, "i am coming in now." "and the business?" she asked mischievously. "let it go as it will," he answered eagerly, waving his hand. but the next instant he dropped it again, saying thoughtfully: "no, no; it won't do, there is too much at stake." els had already turned to send katterle, the maid, to open the heavy house door, but ere doing so she put her beautiful head out again, and asked: "is the matter really so serious? won't the monster grant you even a good-night kiss?" "no," he answered firmly. "your menservants have gone, and before the maid could open----there is the moon rising above the linden already. it won't do. but i'll see you to-morrow and, please god, with a lighter heart. we may have good news this very day." "of the wares from venice and milan?" asked els anxiously. "yes, sweetheart. two waggon trains will meet at verona. the first messenger came from ingolstadt, the second from munich, and the one from landshut has been here since day before yesterday. another should have arrived this morning, but the intense heat yesterday, or some cause--at any rate there is reason for anxiety. you don't know what is at stake." "but peace was proclaimed yesterday," said els, "and if robber knights and bandits should venture----but, no! surely the waggons have a strong escort." "the strongest," answered wolff. "the first wain could not arrive before to-morrow morning." "you see!" cried the girl gaily. "just wait patiently. when you are once mine i'll teach you not to look on the dark side. o wolff, why is everything made so much harder for us than for others? now this evening, it would have been so pleasant to go to the ball with you." "yet, how often, dearest, i have urged you in vain----" he began, but she hastily interrupted "yes, it was certainly no fault of yours, but one of us must remain with my mother, and eva----" "yesterday she complained to me with tears in her eyes that she would be forced to go to this dance, which she detested." "that is the very reason she ought to go," explained els. "she is eighteen years old, and has never yet been induced to enter into any of the pleasures other girls enjoy. when she isn't in the convent she is always at home, or with aunt kunigunde or one of the nuns in the woods and fields. if she wants to take the veil later, who can prevent it, but the abbess herself advises that she should have at least a glimpse of the world before leaving it. few need it more, it seems to me, than our eva." "certainly," wolff assented. "such a lovely creature! i know no girl more beautiful in all nuremberg." "oh! you----," said his betrothed bride, shaking her finger at her lover, but he answered promptly, "you just told me that you preferred 'good' to 'better,' and so doubtless 'fair' to 'fairer,' and you are beautiful, els, in person and in soul. as for eva, i admire, in pictures of madonnas and angels, those wonderful saintly eyes with their uplifted gaze and marvellously long lashes, the slight droop of the little head, and all the other charms; yet i gladly dispense with them in my heart's darling and future wife. but you, els-if our lord would permit me to fashion out of divine clay a life companion after my own heart, do you know how she would look?" "like me--exactly like els ortlieb, of course," replied the girl laughing. "a correct guess, with all due modesty," wolff answered gaily. "but take care that she does not surpass your wishes. for you know, if the little saint should meet at the dance some handsome fellow whom she likes better than the garb of a nun, and becomes a good nuremberg wife, the excess of angelic virtue will vanish; and if i had a brother--in serious earnest-i would send him to your eva." "and," cried els, "however quickly her mood changes, it will surely do her no harm. but as yet she cares nothing about you men. i know her, and the tears she shed when our father gave her the costly milan suckenie, in which she went to the ball, were anything but tears of joy." [suckenie--a long garment, fitting the upper part of the body closely and widening very much below the waist, with openings for the arms.] "i only wonder," added wolff, "that you persuaded her to go; the pious lamb knows how to use her horns fiercely enough." "oh, yes," els assented, as if she knew it by experience; then she eagerly continued, "she is still just like an april day." "and therefore," wolff remarked, "the dance which she began with tears will end joyously enough. the young knights and nobles will gather round her like bees about honey. count von montfort, my brother-in-law siebenburg says, is also at the town hall with his daughter." "and the comet cordula was followed, as usual, by a long train of admirers," said els. "my father was obliged to give the count lodgings; it could not be avoided. the emperor rudolph had named him to the council among those who must be treated with special courtesy. so he was assigned to us, and the whole suite of apartments in the back of the house, overlooking the garden, is now filled with montforts, montfort household officials, menservants, squires, pages, and chaplains. montfort horses and hounds crowd our good steeds out of their stalls. besides the twenty stabled here, eighteen were put in the brewery in the hundsgasse, and eight belong to countess cordula. then the constant turmoil all day long and until late at night! it is fortunate that they do not lodge with us in the front of the house! it would be very bad for my mother!" "then you can rejoice over the departure all the more cordially," observed wolff. "it will hardly cause us much sorrow," els admitted. "yet the young countess brings much merriment into our quiet house. she is certainly a tireless madcap, and it will vex your proud sister isabella to know that your brother-in-law siebenburg is one of her admirers. did she not go to the town hall?" "no," wolff answered; "the twins have changed her wonderfully. you saw the dress my mother pressed upon her for the ball--genoese velvet and venetian lace! its cost would have bought a handsome house. she was inclined, too, to appear as a young mother at the festival, and i assure you that she looked fairly regal in the magnificent attire. but this morning, after she had bathed the little boys, she changed her mind. though my mother, and even my grandmother, urged her to go, she insisted that she belonged to the twins, and that some evil would befall the little ones if she left them." "that is noble!" cried els in delight, "and if i should ever---. yet no, isabella and i cannot be compared. my husband will never be numbered among the admirers of another woman, like your detestable brother-in-law. besides, he is wasting time with cordula. her worldliness repels eva, it is true, but i have heard many pleasant things about her. alas! she is a motherless girl, and her father is an old reveller and huntsman, who rejoices whenever she does any audacious act. but he keeps his purse open to her, and she is kind-hearted and obliging to a degree----" "equalled by few," interrupted wolff, with a sneer. "the men know how to praise her for it. no paternoster would be imposed upon her in the confessional on account of cruel harshness." "nor for a sinful or a spiteful deed," replied els positively. "don't say anything against her to me, wolff, in spite of your dissolute brother-in-law. i have enough to do to intercede for her with eva and aunt kunigunde since she singed and oiled the locks of a swiss knight belonging to the emperor's court. our katterle brought the coals. but many other girls do that, since courtesy permits it. her train to the town hall certainly made a very brave show; the fifty freight waggons you are expecting will scarcely form a longer line." the young merchant started. the comparison roused his forgotten anxiety afresh, and after a few brief, tender words of farewell he left the object of his love. els gazed thoughtfully after him; the moonlight revealed his tall, powerful figure for a long time. her heart throbbed faster, and she felt more deeply than ever how warmly she loved him. he moved as though some heavy burden of care bowed his strong shoulders. she would fain have hastened after him, clung to him, and asked what troubled him, what he was concealing from her who was ready to share everything with him, but the frauenthor, through which he entered the city, already hid him from her gaze. she turned back into the room with a faint sigh. it could scarcely be solely anxiety about his expected goods that burdened her lover's mind. true, his weak, arrogant mother, and still more his grandmother, the daughter of a count, who lived with them in the eysvogel house and still ruled her daughter as if she were a child, had opposed her engagement to wolff, but their resistance had ceased since the betrothal. on the other hand, she had often heard that fran eysvogel, the haughty mother, dowerless herself, had many poor and extravagant relations besides her daughter and her debt-laden, pleasure-loving husband, sir seitz siebenburg, who, it could not be denied, all drew heavily upon the coffers of the ancient mercantile house. yet it was one of the richest in nuremberg. yes, something of which she was still ignorant must be oppressing wolff, and, with the firm resolve to give him no peace until he confessed everything to her, she returned to the couch of her invalid mother. chapter ii. wolff had scarcely vanished from the street, and els from the window, when a man's slender figure appeared, as if it had risen from the earth, beside the spurge-laurel tree at the left of the house. directly after some one rapped lightly on the pavement of the yard, and in a few minutes the heavy ironbound oak doors opened and a woman's hand beckoned to the late guest, who glided swiftly along in the narrow line of shadow cast by the house and vanished through the entrance. the moon looked after him doubtfully. in former days the narrowshouldered fellow had been seen near the ortlieb house often enough, and his movements had awakened luna's curiosity; for he had been engaged in amorous adventure even when work was still going on at the recently completed convent of st. clare--an institution endowed by the ebner brothers, to which herr ernst ortlieb added a considerable sum. at that time--about three years before--the bold fellow had gone there to keep tryst evening after evening, and the pretty girl who met him was katterle, the waiting maid of the beautiful els, as nuremberg folk called the ortlieb sisters, els and eva. many vows of ardent, changeless love for her had risen to the moon, and the outward aspect of the man who made them afforded a certain degree of assurance that he would fulfil his pledges, for he then wore the long dark robe of reputable people, and on the front of his cap, from which a net shaped like a bag hung down his back, was a large s, and on the left shoulder of his long coat a t, the initials of the words steadfast and true. they bore witness that the person who had them embroidered on his clothing deemed these virtues the highest and noblest. it might have been believed that the lean fellow, who scarcely looked his five-and-thirty years, possessed these lofty traits of character; for, though three full years had passed since his last meeting with katterle at the building site, he had gone to his sweetheart with his wonted steadfastness and truth immediately after the emperor rudolph's entry. he had given her reason to rely upon him; but the moon's gaze reaches far, and had discovered the quality of walther biberli's "steadfastness and truth." in one respect it proved the best and noblest; for among thousands of servitors the moon had not seen one who clung to his lord with more loyal devotion. towards pretty young women, on the contrary, he displayed his principal virtues in a very singular way; for the pallid nocturnal wanderer above had met him in various lands and cities, and wherever he tarried long another maid was added to the list of those to whom biberli vowed steadfastness and truth. true, whenever sir long coat's travels led him back to any one to whom he had sworn eternal love, he went first to her, if she, too, retained the old affection. but katterle had cause to care for him most, for he was more warmly devoted to her than to any of the others, and in his own fashion his intentions were honest. he seriously intended, as soon as his master left the imperial court--which he hoped would not happen too soon--and returned to his ancestral castle in his native switzerland, to establish a home of his own for his old age, and no one save katterle should light the hearth fire. her outward circumstances pleased him, as well as her disposition and person. she was free-born, like himself--the son of a forest keeper--and, again like him, belonged to a swiss family; her heritage (she was an orphan), which consisted of a house and arable land in her home, sarnen, where she still sent her savings, satisfied his requirements. but above all she believed in him and admired his versatile mind and his experience. moreover, she gave him absolute obedience, and loved him so loyally that she had remained unwedded, though a number of excellent men had sought her in marriage. katterle had met him for the first time more than three years before when, after the battle of marchfield, he remained several weeks in nuremberg. they had sat side by side at a tournament, and, recognising each other as swiss-born by the sharp sound of the letters "ch" and the pronunciation of other words, were mutually attracted. katterle had a kind heart; yet at that time she almost yielded to the temptation to pray heaven not to hasten the cure of a brave man's wounds too quickly, for she knew that biberli was a squire in the service of the young swiss knight heinz schorlin, whose name was on every lip because, in spite of his youth, he had distinguished himself at the battle of marchfield by his rare bravery, and that the young hero would remain in nuremberg only until his severe injuries were completely healed. his departure would bring to her separation from his servant, and sometimes when homesickness tortured her she thought she would be unable to survive the parting. meanwhile biberli nursed his master with faithful zeal, as if nothing bound him to nuremberg, and even after his departure katterle remained in good health. now she had him again. directly after the emperor rudolph's entrance, five days before, biberli had come openly to the ortlieb house and presented himself to martsche,--[margaret]--the old house keeper, as the countryman and friend of the waiting maid, who had brought her a message from home. true, it had been impossible to say anything confidential either in the crowded kitchen or in the servants' hall. to-night's meeting was to afford the opportunity. the menservants, carrying sedan chairs and torches, had all gone out with their master, who had taken his younger daughter, eva, to the dance. they were to wait in front of the town hall, because it was doubtful whether the daughter of the house, who had been very reluctant to go to the entertainment, might not urge an early departure. count von montfort, whose quarters were in the ortlieb mansion, and his whole train of male attendants, certainly would not come back till very late at night or even early morning, for the countess cordula remained at a ball till the close, and her father lingered over the wine cup till his daughter called him from the revellers. all this warranted the lovers in hoping for an undisturbed interview. the place of meeting was well chosen. it was unsatisfactory only to the moon for, after biberli had closed the heavy door of the house behind him, luna found no chink or crevice through which a gliding ray might have watched what the true and steadfast biberli was saying to katterle. there was one little window beside the door, but it was closed, and the opening was covered with sheepskin. so the moon's curiosity was not gratified. instead of her silver rays, the long entry of the ortlieb house, with its lofty ceiling, was illumined only by the light of three lanterns, which struggled dimly through horn panes. the shining dots in a dark corner of the spacious corridor were the eyes of a black cat, watching there for rats and mice. the spot really possessed many advantages for the secret meeting of two lovers, for as it ran through the whole width of the house, it had two doors, one leading to the street, the other into the yard. in the right wall of the entry there were also two small doors, reached by a flight of steps. at this hour both closed empty rooms, for the office and the chamber where herr ernst ortlieb received his business friends had not been occupied since sunset, and the bathroom and dressing-room adjoining were used only during the day. true, some unbidden intruder might have come down the long broad staircase leading to the upper story. but in that case the lovers had the best possible hiding-place close at hand, for here large and small boxes, standing side by side and one above another, formed a protecting wall; yonder heaps of sacks and long rows of casks afforded room for concealment behind them. rolls of goods packed in sacking leaned against the chests, inviting a fugitive to slip back of them, and surely no one would suspect the presence of a pair of lovers in the rear of these mountains of hides and bales wrapped in matting. still it would scarcely have been advisable to remain near them; for these packages, which the ortlieb house brought from venice, contained pepper and other spices that exhaled a pungent odor, endurable only by hardened nerves. valuable goods of various kinds lay here until they could be placed in cellars or storehouses or sold. but there was many an empty space, too, in the broad corridor for, spite of emperor rudolph's strictness, robbery on the highroads had by no means ceased, and herr ernst ortlieb was still compelled to use caution in the transportation of costly wares. after biberli and his sweetheart had assured themselves that the ardour of their love had by no means cooled, they sat down on some bags filled with cloves and related to each other the experiences through which they had passed during the period of separation. katterle's life had flowed on in a pleasant monotony. she had no cause to complain of her employers. fran maria ortlieb, the invalid mistress of the house, rarely needed her services. during a ride to visit relatives in ulm, the travellers, who were under the same escort of men at arms as a number of nuremberg freight waggons, had been attacked by the robber knights absbach and hirschhorn. an arrow had struck frau ortlieb's palfrey, causing the unfortunate woman a severe fall, which produced an internal injury, from which she had not yet recovered. the assault resulted unfortunately for young hirschhorn, who led it; he met with a shameful death on the gallows. the information enraged biberli. instead of feeling any sympathy for the severely injured lady, he insisted that the nuremberg burghers had dealt with hirschhorn in a rascally fashion; for he was a knight, and therefore, as honest judges familiar with the law, they ought to have put him to death by the sword instead of with the rope. and katterle agreed with him; she never contradicted his opinions, and surely biberli must know what treatment befitted a knight, since he was the foster-brother of one. nor did the maid, who was in the personal service of the daughters of the house, make any complaint against them. indeed, she could not praise els, the elder, sufficiently. she was very just, the careful nurse of her invalid mother, and always unvarying in her cheerful kindness. she had no fault to find with eva either, especially as she was more religious than any one in the whole house. spite of her marvellous beauty--katterle knew that there was nothing false about it--she would probably end by joining the nuns in the convent. but her mood changed with every breath, like the weathercock on the steeple. if she got out of bed the wrong way, or one did not guess her wishes before they were uttered, she would fly into a rage at the least trifle. then she sometimes used very unkind words; but no one could cherish anger against her long, for she had an indescribably lovely manner of trying to atone for the offences which her hasty young blood made her commit. she had gone to the ball that night as if it were a funeral; she shunned men like poison, and even kept out of the way of her sister's friends. biberli laughed, as if there could be no doubt of his opinion, and exclaimed: "just wait a while! my master will meet her at the town hall tonight, and if the scrawny little squirrel i saw three years ago has really grown up into such a beauty, if he does not get on her track and capture her, my name isn't biberli." "but surely," replied katterle doubtfully, "you told me that you had not yet succeeded in persuading him to imitate you in steadfastness and truth." "but he is a knight," replied the servant, striking himself pompously under the t on his shoulder, as if he, too, belonged to this favoured class, "and so he is as free to pursue a woman as to hunt the game in the forest. and my heinz schorlin! you saw him, and admitted that he was worth looking at. and that was when he had scarcely recovered from his dangerous wounds, while now----the french knight de preully, in paris, with whom my dead foster-brother, until he fell sick-----" here he hesitated; an enquiring look from his sweetheart showed that--perhaps for excellent reasons--he had omitted to tell her about his sojourn in paris. now that he had grown older and abandoned the wild revelry of that period in favour of truth and steadfastness, he quietly related everything she desired to know. he had acquired various branches of learning while sharing the studies of his foster-brother, the eldest son of the old knight schorlin, who was then living, and therefore, when scarcely twenty, was appointed schoolmaster at stansstadt. perhaps he might have continued to teach-for he promised to be successful--had not a vexatious discovery disgusted him with his calling. he was informed that the mercenaries in the schnitzthurm guard were paid five shillings a week more than he, spite of the knowledge he had gained by so much toil. in his indignation he went back to schorlin castle, which was always open to him, and he arrived just at the right time. his present master's older brother, whose health had always been delicate, being unable to follow the profession of arms, was on the eve of departing to attend the university at paris, accompanied by the chaplain and an equerry. when the lady wendula, his master's mother, learned what an excellent reputation biberli had gained as a schoolmaster, she persuaded her husband to send him as esquire with their sickly son. in paris there was at first no lack of pleasures of every description, especially as they met among the king's mercenaries many a dissolute swiss knight and man at arms. his foster-brother, to his sorrow, was unable to resist the temptations which satan scatters in paris as the peasants elsewhere sow rye and oats, and the young knight was soon attacked, by a severe illness. then biberli's gay life ended too. for months he did not leave his foster-brother's sick bed a single hour, by day or night, until death released him from his suffering. on his return to castle schorlin he found many changes; the old knight had been called away from earth a few days before his son's death, and heinz schorlin, his present master, had fallen heir to castle and lands. this, however, was no great fortune, for the large estates of the schorlin family were burdened by heavy debts. the dead lord, as countryman, boon companion, and brother in arms of the emperor rudolph, had been always ready to place his sword at his service, and whenever a great tournament was held he never failed to be present. so the property had been consumed, and the lady wendula and her son and three daughters were left in moderate circumstances. the two older girls had taken the veil, while the youngest, a merry little maiden, lived with her mother. but the emperor rudolph had by no means forgotten the lady wendula and her dead husband, and with the utmost kindness requested her to send him her only son as soon as he was able to wield a sword and lance. he intended to repay heinz for the love and loyalty his father had shown him through his whole life. "and the hapsburg," biberli added, "had kept his word." in a few years his young lord was ready for a position at court. gotthard von ramsweg, the lady wendula's older brother, a valiant knight, went to his sister's home after her husband's death to manage the estate and instruct his nephew in all the exercises of knighthood. soon the strong, agile, fearless son of a brave father, under the guidance of such a teacher, excelled many an older youth. he was barely eighteen when the lady wendula sent him to his imperial master. she had given him, with her blessing, fiery horses, the finest pieces of his father's suits of mail, an armour bearer, and a groom to take with him on his journey; and his uncle had agreed to accompany him to lausanne, where the emperor rudolph was then holding his court to discuss with pope gregory--the tenth of the name--arrangements for a new crusade. but nothing had yet been said about biberli. on the evening before the young noble's departure, however, a travelling minstrel came to the castle, who sang of the deeds of former crusaders, and alluded very touchingly to the loneliness of the wounded knight, herr weisenthau, on his couch of pain. then the lady wendula remembered her eldest son, and the fraternal tendance which biberli had given him. "and so," the servant went on, "in the anxiety of a mother's heart she urged me to accompany heinz, her darling, as esquire; and watch over his welfare." "since i could use a pen, i was to write now and then what a mother desires to hear of a son. she felt great confidence in me, because she believed that i was true and steadfast. and i have kept in every respect the vow i then made to the lady wendula--that she should not find herself mistaken in me. i remember that evening as if it were only yesterday. to keep constantly before my eyes the praise my mistress had bestowed upon me, i ventured to ask my young master' sister to embroider the t and the s on the cap and the new coat, and the young lady did so that very night. since that time these two initials have gone with me wherever our horses bear us, and as, after the battle of marchfield, biberli nursed his master back to health with care and toil, he thinks he can prove to you, his sole sweetheart, that he wears his t and s with good reason." in return for these words katterle granted her friend the fitting reward with such resignation that it was robbing the moon not to permit her to look on. her curiosity, however, was not to remain wholly ungratified; for when biberli found that it was time for him to repair to the town hall to learn whether his master, heinz schorlin, needed his services, katterle came out of the house door with him. they found much more to say and to do ere they parted. first, the swiss maid-servant wished to know how the emperor rudolph had received heinz schorlin; and she had the most gratifying news. during their stay at lausanne, where he won the victory in a tournament, heinz was knighted; but after the battle of marchfield he became still dearer to the emperor, especially when a firm friendship united the young swiss to hartmann, rudolph's eighteen-year-old son, who was now on the rhine. that very day heinz had received a tangible proof of the imperial favour, on account of which he had gone to the dance in an extremely cheerful mood. this good news concerning the knight, whom her young mistress had perhaps already met, awakened in the maid, who was not averse to the business of matchmaking, so dear to her sex, very aspiring plans which aimed at nothing less than a union between eva and heinz schorlin. but biberli had scarcely perceived the purport of katterle's words when he anxiously interrupted her and, declaring that he had already lingered too long, cut short the suggestion by taking leave. his master's marriage to a young girl who belonged to the city nobility, which in his eyes was far inferior in rank to a knight schorlin, should cast no stone in the pathway of fame that was leading him so swiftly upward. many things must happen before biberli could honestly advise him to give up his present free and happy life and seek rest in his own nest. if eva ortlieb were as lovely as the virgin herself, and sir heinz's inflammable heart should blaze as fervently as it always did, she should not lure him into the paralysing bondage of wedlock so long as he was there and watched over him. if he must be married, biberli had something else in view for him-something which would make him a great lord at a single stroke. but it was too soon even for that. when he crossed the fleischbrucke in the market place and approached the brilliantly lighted town hall, he had considerable difficulty in moving forward, for the whole square was thronged with curious spectators, servants in gala liveries, sedan chairs, richly caparisoned steeds, and torchbearers. the von montfort retinue, which had quarters in the ortlieb house, was one of the most brilliant and numerous of all, and biberli's eyes wandered with a look of satisfaction over the gold-mounted sedan chair of the young countess. he would rather have given his master to her than to the nuremberg maiden whom katterle compared to a weathercock, and who therefore certainly did not possess the lofty virtue of steadfastness. chapter iii. sir heinz schorlin's servant was on intimate terms with many of the servitors of the imperial family, and one of them conducted him to the balcony of the city pipers, which afforded a view of the great hall. the emperor sat there at the head of the banquet table, and by his side, on a lower throne, his sister, the burgravine von zollern. only the most distinguished and aristocratic personages whom the reichstag attracted to nuremberg, with their ladies, shared the feast given by the city in their honour. but yonder, at a considerable distance from them, though within the space enclosed by a black and yellow silk cord, separated from the glittering throng of the other guests, he perceived--he would not trust his own eyes--the knight heinz schorlin, and by his side a wonderfully charming young girl. biberli had not seen eva ortlieb for three years, yet he knew that it was no other than she. but into what a lovely creature the active, angular child with the thin little arms had developed! the hall certainly did not lack superb women of all ages and every style of figure and bearing suited to please the eye. many might even boast of more brilliant, aristocratic beauty, but not one could vie in witchery with her on whom katterle had cast an eye for his master. she had only begun a modest allusion to it, but even that was vexatious; for biberli fancied that she had thereby "talked of the devil," and he did not wish him to appear. with a muttered imprecation, by no means in harmony with his character, he prepared to leave the balcony; but the scene below, though it constantly filled him with fresh vexation, bound him to the spot as if by some mysterious spell. especially did he fancy that he had a bitter taste in his mouth when his gaze noted the marvellous symmetry of heinz schorlin's powerful though not unusually tall figure, his beautiful waving locks, and the aristocratic ease with which he wore his superb velvet robe-sapphire blue on the left side and white on the right, embroidered with silver falconsor perceived how graciously the noblest of the company greeted him after. the banquet; not, indeed, from envy, but because it pierced his very heart to think that this splendid young favourite of fortune, already so renowned, whom he warmly loved, should throw himself away on the daughter of a city merchant, though his motley wares, which he had just seen, were adorned by the escutcheon of a noble house. but heinz schorlin had already been attracted by many more aristocratic fair ones, only to weary of them speedily enough. this time, also, biberli would have relied calmly on his fickleness had katterle's foolish wish only remained unuttered, and had heinz treated his companion in the gay, bold fashion which usually marked his manner to other ladies. but his glance had a modest, almost devout expression when he gazed into the large blue eyes of the merchant's daughter. and now she raised them! it could not fail to bewitch the most obdurate woman hater! faithful, steadfast biberli clenched his fists, and once even thought of shouting "fire!", into the ballroom below to separate all who were enjoying themselves there wooing and being wooed. but those beneath perceived neither him nor his wrath--least of all his master and the young girl who had come hither so reluctantly. at home eva had really done everything in her power to be permitted to stay away from the town hall. herr ernst ortlieb, her father, however, had been inflexible. the chin of the little man with beardless face and hollow cheeks had even begun to tremble, and this was usually the precursor of an outburst of sudden wrath which sometimes overpowered him to such a degree that he committed acts which he afterwards regretted. this time he had been compelled not to tolerate the opposition of his obstinate child. emperor rudolph himself had urged the "honourable" members of the council to gratify him and his daughter-in-law agnes, whom he wished to entertain pleasantly during her brief visit, by the presence of their beautiful wives and daughters at the entertainment in the town hall. herr ortlieb's invalid wife could not spare els, her older daughter and faithful nurse, so he required eva's obedience, and compelled her to give up her opposition to attending the festival; but she dreaded the vain, worldly gaiety--nay, actually felt a horror of it. even while still a pupil at the convent school she had often asked herself whether it would not be the fairest fate for her, like her aunt kunigunde, the abbess of the convent of st. clare, to vow herself to the saviour and give up perishable joys to secure the rapture of heaven, which lasted throughout eternity, and might begin even here on earth, in a quiet life with god, a complete realisation of the saviour's loving nature, and the great sufferings which he took upon himself for love's sake. oh, even suffering and bleeding with the most high were rich in mysterious delight! aye, no earthly happiness could compare with the blissful feeling left by those hours of pious ecstasy. often she had sat with closed eyes for a long time, dreaming that she was in the kingdom of heaven and, herself an angel, dwelt with angels. how often she had wondered whether earthly love could bestow greater joy than such a happy dream, or the walks through the garden and forest, during which the abbess told her of st. francis of assisi, who founded her order, the best and most warmhearted among the successors of christ, of whom the pope himself said that he would hear even those whom god would not! moreover, there was no plant, no flower, no cry of any animal in the woods which was not familiar to the abbess kunigunde. like st. francis; she distinguished in everything which the ear heard and the eye beheld voices that bore witness to the goodness and greatness of the most high. the abbess felt bound by ties of sisterly affection to every one of god's creatures, and taught eva to love them, too, and, as a person who treats a child kindly wins the mother's heart also, to obtain by love of his creatures that of the creator. others had blamed her because she held aloof from her sister's friends and amusements. they were ignorant of the joys of solitude, which her aunt and her saint had taught her to know. she had endured interruptions and reproaches, often humbly, oftener still, when her hot blood swept away her self-control, with vehement indignation and tears; but meanwhile she had always cherished the secret thought that the time would come when she, too, would be permitted, at one with god and the saviour, to enjoy the raptures of eternal bliss. she loved her invalid mother and, often as his sudden fits of passion alarmed her, she was tenderly attached to her father; yet it would have seemed to her an exquisite delight to be permitted to imitate the saints and sever all bonds which united her to the world and its clogging demands. she had long been yearning for the day when she would be allowed to entreat the abbess to grant her admittance to the convent, whose doors would be flung wide open for her because, next to the brothers ebner, who founded it, her parents had contributed the largest sum for its support. but she was obliged to wait patiently, for els, her older sister, would probably soon marry her wolff, and then it would be her turn to nurse her invalid mother. her own heart dictated this, and the abbess had said: "let her enter eternity clasping your hand before you begin, with us, to devote all your strength to securing your own salvation. besides, you will thereby ascend a long row of steps nearer to your sublime goal." but eva would far rather have given her hand now, aloof from the world, to the most high in an inviolable bond. what marvel that, with such a goal in view, she was deeply reluctant to enter the gay whirl of a noisy ball! with serious repugnance she had allowed katterle and her sister to adorn her, and entered the sedan chair which was to convey her to the town hall. doubtless her own image, reflected in the mirror, had seemed charming enough, and the loud expressions of delight from the servants and others who admired her rich costume had pleased her; but directly after she realized the vanity of this emotion and, while approaching the ballroom in her chair, she prayed to her saint to help her conquer it. striving honestly to vanquish this error, she entered the hall soon after the emperor and his young daughter-in-law; but there she was greeted from the balcony occupied by the city pipers and musicians, long before biberli entered it, with the same fanfare that welcomed the illustrious guests of the city, and with which blended the blare of the heralds' trumpets. thousands of candles in the chandeliers and candelabra diffused a radiance as brilliant as that of day and, confused by the noise and waves of light which surged around her, she had drawn closer to her father, clinging to him for protection. she especially missed her sister, with whom she had grown up, who had become her second self, and whom she needed most when she emerged from her quiet life of introspection into the gay world. at first she had stood with downcast lashes, but soon her eyes wandered over the waving plumes and flashing jewels, the splendour of silk and velvet, the glitter of gold and glimmer of pearls. sometimes the display in church had been scarcely less brilliant, and even without her sister's request she had gazed at it, but how entirely different it was! there she had rejoiced in her own modest garb, and told herself that her simplicity was more pleasing to god and the saints than the vain splendour of the others, which she might so easily have imitated or even surpassed. but here the anxious question of how she appeared among the rest of the company forced itself upon her. true, she knew that the brocade suckenie, which her father had ordered from milan, was costly; that the sea-green hue of the right side harmonised admirably with the white on the left; that the tendrils and lilies of the valley wrought in silver, which seemed to be scattered over the whole, looked light and airy; yet she could not shake off the feeling that everything she wore was in disorder--here something was pulled awry, there something was crushed. els, who had attended to her whole toilet, was not there to arrange it, and she felt thoroughly uncomfortable in the midst of this worldly magnificence and bustle. notwithstanding her father's presence, she had never been so desolate as among these ladies and gentlemen, nearly all of whom were strangers. her sister was intimate with the other girls of her age and station, few of whom were absent, and if eva could have conjured her to her side doubtless many would have joined them; but she knew no one well, and though many greeted her, no one lingered. everybody had friends with whom they were on far more familiar terms. the young countess von montfort, a girl of her own age and an inmate of her own home, also gave her only a passing word. but this was agreeable to her--she disliked cordula's free manners. many who were friends of els had gathered around ursula vorchtel, the daughter of the richest man in the city, and she intentionally avoided the ortliebs because, before wolff eysvogel sued for els's hand, he and ursula had been intended for each other. eva was just secretly vowing that this first ball should also be the last, when the imperial magistrate, herr berthold pfinzing, her godfather, came to present her to the emperor, who had requested to see the little daughter of the herr ernst ortlieb whose son had fallen in battle for him. his "little saint," herr pfinzing added, looked no less lovely amid the gay music of the nuremberg pipers than kneeling in prayer amid the notes of the organ. every tinge of colour had faded from eva's cheeks, and though a few hours before she had asked her sister what the emperor's greatness signified in the presence of god that she should be forced, for his sake, to be faithless to the holiest things, now fear of the majesty of the powerful sovereign made her breath come quicker. how, clinging to her godfather's hand, she reached the emperor rudolph's throne she could never describe, for what happened afterwards resembled a confused dream of mingled bliss and pain, from which she was first awakened by her father's warning that the time of departure had come. when she raised her downcast eyes the monarch was standing before the throne placed for him. she had been compelled to bend her head backward in order to see his face, for his figure, seven feet in height, towered like a statue of roland above all who surrounded him. but when, after the austrian duchess, his daughter-in-law, who was scarcely beyond childhood, and the burgrave von zollern, his sister, had graciously greeted her, and eva with modest thanks had also bowed low before the emperor rudolph, a smile, spite of her timidity, flitted over her lips, for as she bent the knee her head barely reached above his belt. the burgravine, a vivacious matron, must have noticed it, for she beckoned to her, and with a few kind words mentioned the name of the young knight who stood behind her, between her own seat and that of the young duchess agnes of austria, and recommended him as an excellent dancer. heinz schorlin, the master of the true and steadfast biberli, had bowed courteously, and answered respectfully that he hoped he should not prove himself unworthy of praise from such lips. meanwhile his glance met eva's, and the burgravine probably perceived with what, ardent admiration the knight's gaze rested on the young nuremberg beauty, for she had scarcely stepped back after the farewell greeting when the noble lady said in a low tone, but loud enough for eva's quick ear to catch the words, "methinks yonder maiden will do well to guard her little heart this evening against you, you unruly fellow! what a sweet, angelic face!" eva's cheeks crimsoned with mingled shame and pleasure at such words from such lips, and she would have been only too glad to hear what the knight whispered to the noble lady. the attention of the young duchess agnes, daughter of king ottocar of bohemia and wife of the emperor's third son, who also bore the name of rudolph, had been claimed during this incident by the duke of nassau, who had presented his ladies to her, but they had scarcely retired when she beckoned to heinz schorlin, and while talking with him gazed into his eyes with such warm, childlike pleasure that eva was incensed; she thought it unseemly for a wife and a duchess to be on such familiar terms with a simple knight. nay, her disapproval of the princess's conduct must have been very deep, for during the whole time of her conversation with the knight there was a loud singing in the young girl's ears. the bohemian's face might be considered pretty; her dark eyes sparkled brightly, animating the immature features, now slightly sunburnt; and although four years younger than eva, her figure, though not above middle height, was well developed and, in spite of its flexibility, aristocratic in bearing. while conversing with heinz schorlin she seemed joyously excited, unrestrainedly cordial, but her manner expressed disappointment and royal hauteur as another group of ladies and gentlemen came forward to be presented, compelling her to turn her back upon the young swiss with a regretful shrug of her shoulders. the counts and countesses, knights and ladies who thronged around her concealed her from eva's eyes, who, now that heinz schorlin had left the bohemian, again turned her attention to the emperor, and even ventured to approach him. what paternal gentleness rudolph's deep tones expressed! how much his face attracted her! true, it could make no pretensions to beauty--the thin, hooked nose was far too large and long; the corners of the mouth drooped downward too much; perhaps it was this latter peculiarity which gave the whole face so sorrowful an aspect. eva thought she knew its source. the wound dealt a few months before by the death of his faithful wife, the love of his youth, still ached. his eyes could not be called either large or bright; but how kindly, how earnest, shrewd and, when an amusing thought passed through his mind, how mischievous they could look! his light-brown hair had not yet turned very grey, spite of his sixty-three years, but the locks had lost their luxuriance and fell straight, except for a slight curl at the lower ends, below his neck. eva's father, when a young man, had met frederic ii, of the hohenstaufen line, in italy, and was wont to call this a special boon of fate. true, her aunt, the abbess, said she did not envy him the honour of meeting the antichrist; yet that very day after mass she had counselled eva to impress the emperor rudolph's appearance on her memory. to meet noble great men elevates our hearts and makes us better, because in their presence we become conscious of our own insignificance and the duty of emulating them. she would willingly have given more than a year of her life to be permitted to gaze into the pure, loving countenance of st. francis, who had closed his eyes seven years after her birth. so eva, who was accustomed to render strict obedience to her honoured aunt, honestly strove to watch every movement of the emperor; but her attention had been continually diverted, mainly by the young knight, from whom--the emperor's sister, burgravine elizabeth, had said so herself-danger threatened her heart. but the young countess cordula von montfort, the inmate of her home, also compelled her to gaze after her, for heinz schorlin had approached the vivacious native of the vorarlberg, and the freedom with which she treated him--allowing herself to go so far as to tap him on the arm with her fan--vexed and offended her like an insult offered to her whole sex. to think that a girl of high station should venture upon such conduct before the eyes of the emperor and his sister! not for the world would she have permitted any man to talk and laugh with her in such a way. but the young knight whom she saw do this was again the swiss. yet his bright eyes had just rested upon her with such devout admiration that lack of respect for a lady was certainly not in his nature, and he merely found himself compelled, contrary to his wish, to defend himself against the countess and her audacity. eva had already heard much praise of the great valour of the young knight heinz schorlin. when katterle, whose friend and countryman was in his service, spoke of him--and that happened by no means rarely--she had always called him a devout knight, and that he was so, in truth, he showed her plainly enough; for there was fervent devotion in the eyes which now again sought hers like an humble penitent. the musicians had just struck up the polish dance, and probably the knight, whom the emperor's sister had recommended to her for a partner, wished by this glance to apologise for inviting countess cordula von montfort instead. therefore she did not need to avoid the look, and might obey the impulse of her heart to give him a warning in the language of the eyes which, though mute, is yet so easily understood. hitherto she had been unable to answer him, even by a word, yet she believed that she was destined to become better acquainted, if only to show him that his power, of which the burgravine had spoken, was baffled when directed against the heart of a pious maiden. and something must also attract him to her, for while she had the honour of being escorted up and down the hall by one of the handsome sons of the burgrave von zollern to the music of the march performed by the city pipers, heinz schorlin, it is true, did the same with his lady, but he looked away from her and at eva whenever she passed him. her partner was talkative enough, and his description of the german order which he expected to enter, as his two brothers had already done, would have seemed to her well worthy of attention at any other time, but now she listened with but partial interest. when the dance was over and sir heinz approached, her heart beat so loudly that she fancied her neighbours must hear it; but ere he had spoken a single word old burgrave frederick himself greeted her, inquired about her invalid mother, her blithe sister, and her aunt, the abbess, who in her youth had been the queen of every dance, and asked if she found his son a satisfactory partner. it was an unusual distinction to be engaged in conversation by this distinguished gentleman, yet eva would fain have sent him far away, and her replies must have sounded monosyllabic enough; but the sweet shyness that overpowered her so well suited the modest young girl, who had scarcely passed beyond childhood, that he did not leave her until the 'rai' began, and then quitted her with the entreaty that she would remove the cap which had hitherto rendered her invisible, to the injury of knights and gentlemen, and be present at the dance which he should soon give at the castle. the pleasant old nobleman had scarcely left her when she turned towards the young man who had just approached with the evident intention of leading her to the dance, but he was again standing beside cordula von montfort, and a feeling of keen resentment overpowered her. the young countess was challenging his attention still more boldly, tossing her head back so impetuously that the turban-like roll on her hair, spite of the broad ribbon that fastened it under her chin, almost fell on the floor. but her advances not only produced no effect, but seemed to annoy the knight. what charm could he find in a girl who, in a costume which displayed the greatest extreme of fashion, resembled a turk rather than a christian woman? true, she had an aristocratic bearing, and perhaps els was right in saying that her strongly marked features revealed a certain degree of kindliness, but she wholly lacked the spell of feminine modesty. her pleasant grey eyes and full red lips seemed created only for laughter, and the plump outlines of her figure were better suited to a matron than a maiden in her early girlhood. not the slightest defect escaped eva during this inspection. meanwhile she remembered her own image in the mirror, and a smile of satisfaction hovered round her red lips. now the knight bowed. was he inviting the countess to dance again? no, he turned his back to her and approached eva, whose lovely, childlike face brightened as if a sun beam had shone upon it. the possibility of refusing her hand for the 'rai' never entered her head, but he told her voluntarily that he had invited countess cordula for the polish dance solely in consequence of the burgravine's command, but now that he was permitted to linger at her side he meant to make up for lost time. he kept his word, and was by no means content with the 'rai'; for, after the young duchess agnes had summoned him to a 'zauner', and during its continuance again talked with him far more confidentially than the modest nuremberg maiden could approve, he persuaded eva to try the 'schwabeln' with him also; and though she had always disliked such dances she yielded, and her natural grace, as well as her quick ear for time, helped her to catch the unfamiliar steps without difficulty. while doing so he whispered that even the angels in heaven could have no greater bliss than it afforded him to float thus through the hall, clasping her in his arm, while she glanced up at him with a happy look and bent her little head in assent. she would gladly have exclaimed warmly: "yes, indeed! yet the burgravine says that danger threatens me from you, you dear, kind fellow, and i should do well to avoid you." besides, she felt indebted to him. what would have befallen her here in his absence! moreover, it gave her a strange sense of pleasure to gaze into his eyes, allow herself to be borne through the wide hall by his strong arm, and while pressed closely to his side imagine that his swiftly throbbing heart felt the pulsing of her own. instead of injuring her, wishing her evil, and asking her to do anything wrong, he certainly had only good intentions. he had cared for her as if he occupied the place of her own brother who fell in the battle of marchfield. it would have given him most pleasure--he had said so himself--to dance everything with her, but decorum and the royal dames who kept him in attendance would not permit it. however, he came to her in every pause to exchange at least a few brief words and a glance. during the longest one, which lasted more than an hour and was devoted to the refreshment of the guests, he led her into a side room which had been transformed into a blossoming garden. seats were placed behind the green birch trees--amid whose boughs hung gay lamps--and the rose bushes which surrounded a fountain of perfumed water, and eva had already followed the swiss knight across the threshold when she saw among the branches at the end of the room the countess cordula, at whose feet several young nobles knelt or reclined, among them seitz siebenburg, the brother-in-law of wolff eysvogel, her sister's betrothed bridegroom. the manner of the husband and father whose wife, only six weeks before, had become the mother of twin babies--beautiful boys--and who for cordula's sake so shamefully forgot his duties, crimsoned her cheeks with a flush of anger, while the half-disapproving, half-troubled look that sir boemund altrosen cast, sometimes at the countess, sometimes at siebenburg, showed her that she herself was on the eve of doing something which the best persons could not approve; for altrosen, who leaned silently against the wall beside the countess, ever and anon pushing back the coal-black hair from his pale face, had been mentioned by her godfather as the noblest of the younger knights gathered in nuremberg. a voice in her own heart, too, cried out that this was no fitting place for her. if els had been with her, eva said to herself, she certainly would not have permitted her to enter this room, where such careless mirth prevailed, alone with a knight, and the thought roused her for a short time from the joyous intoxication in which she had hitherto revelled, and awakened a suspicion that there might be peril in trusting herself to heinz schorlin without reserve. "not here," she entreated, and he instantly obeyed her wish, though the countess cordula, as if he were alone, instead of with a lady, loudly and gaily bade him stay where pleasure had built a hut under roses. eva was pleased that her new friend did not even vouchsafe the young countess an answer. his obedience led her also to believe that her anxiety had been in vain. yet she imposed greater reserve of manner upon herself so rigidly that heinz noticed it, and asked what cloud had dimmed the pure radiance of her gracious sunshine. eva lowered her eyes and answered gently: "you ought not to have taken me where the diffidence due to modesty is forgotten." heinz schorlin understood her and rejoiced to hear the answer. in his eyes, also, countess cordula this evening had exceeded the limits even of the liberty which by common consent she was permitted above others. he believed that he had found in eva the embodiment of pure and beautiful womanhood. he had given her his heart from the first moment that their eyes met. to find her in every respect exactly what he had imagined, ere he heard a single word from her lips, enhanced the pleasure he felt to the deepest happiness which he had ever experienced. he had already been fired with a fleeting fancy for many a maiden, but not one had appeared to him, even in a remote degree, so lovable as this graceful young creature who trusted him with such childlike confidence, and whose innocent security by the side of the dreaded heart-breaker touched him. never before had it entered his mind concerning any girl to ask himself the question how she would please his mother at home. the thought that she whom he so deeply honoured might possess a magic mirror which showed her her reckless son as he dallied with the complaisant beauties whose graciousness, next to dice-playing, most inflamed his blood, had sometimes disturbed his peace of mind when biberli suggested it. but when eva looked joyously up at him with the credulous confidence of a trusting child, he could imagine no greater bliss than to hear his mother, clasping the lovely creature in her arms, call her her dear little daughter. his reckless nature was subdued, and an emotion of tenderness which he had never experienced before thrilled him as she whispered, "take me to a place where everybody can see us, but where we need not notice anyone else." how significant was that little word "we"! it showed that already she united herself and him in her thoughts. to her pure nature nothing could be acceptable which must be concealed from the light of the sun and the eyes of man. and her wish could be fulfilled. the place where biberli had discovered them, and where refreshments had just been served to the emperor and the ladies and gentlemen nearest to his person, who had been joined by several princes of the church, was shut off by the bannerets, thus preventing the entrance of any uninvited person; but heinz schorlin belonged to the sovereign's suite and had admittance everywhere. so he led eva behind the black and yellow rope to two vacant chairs at the end of the enclosed space where the banquet had been swiftly arranged for the emperor and the other illustrious guests of nuremberg. these seats were in view of the whole company, yet it would have been as difficult to interrupt him and his lady as any of the table companions of the imperial pair. eva followed the knight without anxiety, and took her place beside him in the well-chosen seat. a young cup-bearer of noble birth, with whom heinz was well acquainted, brought unasked to him and his companion sparkling malvoisie in venetian glasses, and heinz began the conversation by inviting eva to drink to the many days brightened by her favour which, if the saints heard his prayer, should follow this, the most delightful evening of his life. he omitted to ask her to pour the wine for him, knowing that many of the guests in the ballroom were watching them; besides the saucy little count came again and again to fill his goblet, and he wished to avoid everything which might elicit sarcastic comment. the young cupbearer desisted as soon as he noticed the respectful reserve with which heinz treated his lady, and the youth was soon obliged to leave the hall with his liege lord, duke rudolph of austria, who was to set out for carinthia early the following morning, and withdrew with his wife without sharing the banquet. the latter accompanied her husband to the castle, but she was to remain in nuremberg during the session of the reichstag with the lonely widowed emperor, who was especially fond of the young bohemian princess. before and during the dance with heinz the latter had requested him to use the noble arabian steed, a gift from the sultan kalaun to the emperor, who had bestowed it upon her, and also expressed the hope of meeting the knight frequently. in the conversation which heinz began with eva he was at first obliged to defend himself, for she had admitted that she had heard the burgravine's warning to beware of him. at the same time she had found opportunity to tell him that her heart yearned for something different from worldly love, and that she felt safe from every one because st. clare was constantly watching over her. he replied that he had been reared in piety, that he knew the close relations existing between her patron saint and the holy francis of assisi, and that he, too, had experienced many things from this man of god. eva, with warm interest, asked when and where, and he willingly told her. on the way from augsburg to nuremberg, while riding in advance of the imperial court, he had met an old barefooted man who, exhausted by the heat of the day, had sunk down by the side of the road as if lifeless, with his head resting against the trunk of a tree. moved with compassion, he dismounted, to try to do something for the greybeard. a few sips of wine had restored him to consciousness, but his weary, wounded feet would carry him no farther. yet it would have grieved the old man sorely to be forced to interrupt his journey, for the chapter general in portiuncula, in italy, had sent him with an important message to the brothers of his order in germany, and especially in nuremberg. the old minorite monk was especially dignified in aspect, and when he chanced to mention that he had known st. francis well and was one of those who had nursed him during his last illness, a dispute had arisen between heinz schorlin, the armor bearer, and his servant walther biberli, for each desired to give up his saddle to the old man and pursue his journey on foot for his sake and the praise of god. but the minorite could not be persuaded to break his vow never again to mount a knight's charger and, even had it not been evident from his words, heinz asserted that the aristocratic dignity of his bearing would have shown that he belonged to a noble race. biberli's eloquence gained the victory in this case also, and though the groom led by the bridle another young stallion which the ex-schoolmaster might have mounted, he had walked cheerily beside the old monk, sweeping up the dust with his long robe. at the tavern the knight and his attendants had been abundantly repaid for their kindness to the minorite, for his conversation was both entertaining and edifying; and heinz repeated to his lady, who listened attentively, much that the monk had related about st. francis. eva, too, was also on the ground dearest and most familiar to her. her little tongue ran fast enough, and her large blue eyes sparkled with an unusually bright and happy lustre as she completed and corrected what the young knight told her about the saint. how much that was lovable, benevolent, and wonderful there was to relate concerning this prophet of peace and good-will, this apostle of poverty and toil who, in every movement of nature, perceived and felt a summons to recognise the omnipotence and goodness of god, an invitation to devout submission to the most high! how many amusing, yet edifying and touching anecdotes, the abbess kunigunde had narrated of him and the most beloved of his followers! much of this conversation eva repeated to the knight, and her pleasure in the subject of the conversation increased the vivacity of her active mind, and soon led her to talk with eager eloquence. heinz schorlin fairly hung on her lips, and his eyes, which betrayed how deeply all that he was hearing moved him, rested on hers until a flourish of trumpets announced that the interval between the dances was over. he had listened in delight and, he felt, was forever bound to her. when duty summoned him to attend the emperor he asked himself whether such a conversation had ever been held in the midst of a merry dance; whether god, in his goodness, had ever created a being so perfect in soul and body as this fair saint, who could transform a ballroom into a church. aye, eva had done so; for, ardent as was the knight's love, something akin to religious devotion blended with his yearning desire. the last words which he addressed to her before leading her back to the others contained the promise to make her patron saint, st. clare, his own. the princess of nassau had invited him for the next dance, but she found heinz schorlin, whom the young duchess agnes had just said was merry enough to bring the dead to life, a very quiet partner; while young herr schurstab, who danced with eva and, like all the members of the honourable council, knew that she desired to take the veil, afterwards told his friends that the younger beautiful e would suit a carthusian convent, where speech is prohibited, much better than a ballroom. but after this "zauner" heinz schorlin again loosed her tongue. when he had told her how he came to the court, and she had learned that he had joined the emperor rudolph at lausanne just as he took the vow to take part in the crusade, there was no end to her questions concerning the reason that the german army had not already marched against the infidels, and whether he himself did not long to make them feel his sword. then she asked still further particulars concerning brother benedictus, the old minorite whom he had treated so kindly. heinz told her what he knew, and when he at last enquired whether she still regretted having met him whom she feared, she gazed frankly into his eyes and, smiling faintly, shook her head. this increased his ardour, and he warmly entreated her to tell him where he could meet her again, and permit him to call her his lady. but she hesitated to reply, and ere he could win from her even the faintest shadow of consent, ernst ortlieb, who had been talking with other members of the council in the room where the wine was served, interrupted him to take his daughter home. she went reluctantly. the clasp of the knight's hand was felt all the way to the house, and it would have been impossible and certainly ungracious not to return it. heinz schorlin had obtained no assent, yet the last glance from her eyes had been more eloquent than many a verbal promise, and he gazed after her enraptured. it seemed like desecration to give the hand in which hers had rested to lead any one else to the dance, and when the rotund duke of pomerania invited him to a drinking bout at his quarters at the green shield he accepted; for without eva the hall seemed deserted, the light robbed of its brilliancy, and the gay music transformed to a melancholy dirge. but when at the green shield the ducal wine sparkled in the beakers, the gold shone and glistened on the tables, and the rattle of the dice invited the bystanders to the game, he thought that whatever he undertook on such a day of good fortune must have a lucky end. the emperor had filled his purse again, but the friendly gift did not cover his debts, and he wanted to be rid of them before he told his mother that he had found a dear, devout daughter for her, and intended to return home to settle in the ancestral castle, his heritage, and share with his uncle the maintenance of his rights and the management of fields and forests. besides, he must test for the first time the power of his new patroness, st. clare, instead of his old one, st. leodegar. but the former served him ill enough--she denied him her aid, at any rate in gambling. the full purse was drained to its last 'zecchin' only too soon, and heinz, laughing, turned it inside out before the eyes of his comrades. but though the kind-hearted duke of pomerania, with whom heinz was a special favourite, pushed a little heap of gold towards him with his fat hands, that the swiss might try his luck again with borrowed money, which brings good fortune, he remained steadfast for eva's sake. on his way to the green shield he had confessed to biberli--who, torch in hand, led the way--that he intended very shortly to turn his back on the court and ride home, because this time he had found the right chatelaine for his castle. "that means the last one," the ex-schoolmaster answered quietly, carefully avoiding fanning the flame of his young master's desire by contradiction. only he could not refrain from entreating him not to burn his fingers with the dice, and, to confirm it, added that luck in gambling was apt to be scanty where fortune was so lavish in the gifts of love. heinz now remembered this warning. it had been predicted to his darling that meeting him would bring her misfortune, but he was animated by the sincere determination to force the jewel of his heart to remember heinz schorlin with anything but sorrow and regret. what would have seemed impossible to him a few hours before, he now realised. with a steady hand he pushed back the gold to the duke, who pressed it upon him with friendly glances from his kind little eyes and an urgent whispered entreaty, and took his leave, saying that to-night the dice and he were at odds. with these words he left the room, though the host tried to detain him almost by force, and the guests also earnestly endeavoured to keep the pleasant, jovial fellow. the loss, over which biberli shook his head angrily, did, not trouble him. even on his couch heinz found but a short time to think of his empty purse and the lovely maid who was to make the old castle among his beloved swiss mountains an earthly paradise, for sleep soon closed his eyes. the next morning the events of the evening seemed like a dream. would that they had been one! only he would not have missed, at any cost, the sweet memories associated with eva. but could she really become his own? he feared not; for the higher the sun rose the more impracticable his intentions of the night before appeared. at last he even thought of the religious conversation in the dancing hall with a superior smile, as if it had been carried on by some one else. the resolve to ask from her father the hand of the girl he loved he now rejected. no, he was not yet fit for a husband and the quiet life in the old castle. yet eva should be the lady of his heart, her patron saint should be his, and he would never sue for the love of any other maiden. hers he must secure. to press even one kiss on her scarlet lips seemed to him worth the risk of life. when he had stilled this fervent longing he could ride with her colour on helm and shield from tourney to tourney, and break a lance for her in every land through which he passed with the emperor. what would happen afterwards let the saints decide. as usual, biberli was his confidant, and declared himself ready to use katterle's services in his master's behalf. he had his own designs in doing this. he could rely upon the waiting maid's assistance, and if there were secret meetings between eva ortlieb and his lord, which would appease the knight's ardour, even in a small degree, the task of disgusting heinz with his luckless idea of an early marriage would not prove too difficult. chapter iv. eva ortlieb had been borne home from the ball in her sedan chair with a happy smile hovering round her fresh young lips. it still lingered there when she found her sister in their chamber, sitting at the spinning wheel. she had not left her suffering mother until her eyes closed in slumber, and was now waiting for eva, to hear whether the entertainment had proved less disagreeable than she feared, and--as she had sent her maid to bed--to help her undress. one glance at eva told her that she had perhaps left the ballroom even more reluctantly than she entered it; but when els questioned her so affectionately, and with maternal care began to unfasten the ribbon which tied her cap, the young girl, who in the sedan chair had determined to confess to no one on earth what so deeply moved her heart, could not resist the impulse to clasp her in her arms and kiss her with impetuous warmth. els received the caress with surprise for, though both girls loved each other tenderly, they, like most sisters, rarely expressed it by tangible proofs of tenderness. not until eva released her did els exclaim in merry amazement: "so it was delightful, my darling?" "oh, so delightful!" eva protested with hands uplifted, and at the same time met her sister's eyes with a radiant glance. yet the thought entered her mind that it ill beseemed her to express so much pleasure in a worldly amusement. her glance fell in shame, and she gently continued in that tone of self-compassion which was by no means unfamiliar to the members of her family. "true, though the emperor is so noble, and both he and the burgravine were so gracious to me, at first-and not only for a brief quarter of an hour, but a very long time i could feel no real pleasure. what am i saying? pleasure! i was indescribably desolate and alone among all those vain, bedizened strangers. i was like a shipwrecked sailor washed ashore by the waves and surrounded by people whose language is unfamiliar." "but half nuremberg was at the ball," her sister interrupted. "now you see the trouble, darling. whoever, like you, remains in seclusion and mounts a tall tree to be entirely alone, will be deserted; for who would be kind-hearted enough to learn to climb for your sake? but it seems that afterwards one and another----" "oh!" eva interrupted, "if you think that any of your friends gave me more than a passing greeting, you are mistaken. not even barbel, ann, or metz took any special notice of your sister. they kept near ursel vorchtel, and she and her brother ulrich, of course, behaved as if i wore a fern cap and had become invisible. i cannot tell you how uncomfortable i felt, and then--yes, els, then i first realised distinctly what you are to me. obstinate as i often am, in spite of all your kindness and care, ungraciously as i often treat you, to-night i clearly perceived that we belong together, like a pair of eyes, and that without you i am only half myself--or, at any rate--not complete. and--as we are speaking in images--i felt like a sapling whose prop has been removed; even your wolff can never have longed for you more ardently. my father found little time to give me. as soon as he saw me take my place in the polish dance he went with uncle pfinzing to the drinking room, and i did not see him again till he came to bring me home. he had asked fran nutzel to look after me, but her kathrin was taken ill, as i heard when we were leaving, and she disappeared with her during the first dance. so i moved forlornly here and there until he--heinz schorlin--came and took charge of me." "he? sir heinz schorlin?" asked els in surprise, a look of anxious suspense clouding her pretty, frank face. "the reckless swiss, whom countess cordula said yesterday was the pike in the dull carp pond of the court, and the only person for whom it was worth while to bear the penance imposed in the confessional?" "cordula von montfort!" cried eva scornfully. "if she speaks to me i shall not answer her, i can tell you. my cheeks crimson when i think of the liberty----" "never mind her," said her sister soothingly. "she is a motherless child, and therefore unlike us. as for heinz schorlin, he is certainly a gallant knight; but, my innocent lambkin, he is a wolf nevertheless." "a wolf?" asked eva, opening her large eyes as wide as if they beheld some terrible object. but she soon laughed softly, and added quietly: "but a very harmless wolf, who humbly changes his nature when the right hand strokes him. how you stare at me! i am not thinking of your beloved wolff, whom you have tamed tolerably well, but the wolf of gubbio, which did so much mischief, and to which st. francis went forth, accosted him as brother wolf, and reminded him that they both owed their lives to the goodness of the same divine father. the animal seemed to understand this, for it nodded to him. the saint now made a bargain with the wolf, which gave him its paw in pledge of the oath; and it kept the promise, for it followed st. francis into the city, and never again harmed anyone. the citizens of gubbio fed the good beast, and when it died sincerely mourned it. if you wish to know from whom i heard this edifying story--which is true, and can be confirmed by some one now in nuremberg who witnessed it--let me tell you that it was the wicked wolf himself; not the gubbio one, but he from switzerland. an old minorite monk, to whom he compassionately gave his horse, is the witness i mentioned. at the tavern the priest told him what he had beheld with his own eyes. do you still inveigh against the dangerous beast, which acts like the good samaritan, and finds nothing more delightful than hearing or speaking of our dear saint?" "and this in the town hall during the dance?" asked els, clasping her hands as if she had heard something unprecedented. eva, fairly radiant with joy, nodded assent; and els heard the ring of pleasure in her clear voice, too, as she exclaimed: "that was just what made the ball so delightful. the dancing! oh, yes, it is easy enough to walk and turn in time to the music when one has such a knight for a partner; but that was by no means the pleasantest part of it. during the interval--it seemed but an instant, yet it really lasted a considerable time--we first entered into conversation." "in one of the side rooms?" asked els, the bright colour fading from her cheeks. "what are you thinking of?" replied eva in a tone of offence. "i believe i know what is seemly as well as anybody else. true, your countess cordula did not set the most praiseworthy example. she allowed the whole throng of knights to surround her in the ante-room, and your future brother-in-law, siebenburg, outdid them all. we--heinz schorlin and i-sat near the emperor's table in the great hall, where everybody could see us. there the conversation naturally passed from the old minorite to the holy founder of his order, and remained there. and if ever valiant knight possessed a devout mind, it is heinz schorlin. whoever goes into battle without relying upon god and his saints,' he said, 'will find his courage lack wings, and his armour the surest defensive 'weapon.'" "in the ballroom!" again fell from her sister's lips in the same tone of amazement. "where else?" asked eva angrily. "i never met him except there. what do you other girls talk about at such entertainments, if it surprises you? besides, st. francis was by no means our only subject; we spoke of the future crusade, too. and oh!--you may believe me--we would have been glad to talk of such things for hours. he knew many things about our saint; but the precise one which makes him especially great and lovable, and withal so powerful that he attracted all whom he deemed worthy to follow him, he had not understood, and i was permitted to be the first person to bring it clearly before his mind. ah! and his wit is as keen as his sword, and his heart is as open to all that is noble and sacred as it is loyal to his lord and emperor. if we meet again i shall win him for the white cross on the black mantle and the battle against the enemies of the faith." "but, eva," interrupted her sister, still under the spell of astonishment, "such conversation amid the merry music of the pipers!" "'wherever three christians meet, even though they are only laymen, there is a church,' says tertullian," eva answered impressively. "one need not go to the house of god to talk about the things which ought to be the highest and dearest to every one; and heinz schorlin--i know it from his own lips--is of the same opinion, for he told me voluntarily that he would never forget the few hours which we had enjoyed together." "indeed!" said her sister thoughtfully. "but whether he does not owe this pleasure more to the dancing than to the edifying conversation----" "certainly not!" replied eva, very positively. "i can prove it, too; for later, after he had heard many things about st. clare, the female counterpart of francis, he vowed to make her his patron saint. or do you suppose that a knight changes his saints, as he does his doublet and coat of mail, without having any great and powerful motive? do you think it possible that the idle pleasure of the dance led him to so important a decision?" "certainly not. nothing led him to it except the irresistible zeal of my devout sister," answered els, smiling, as she continued to comb her fair hair. "she spoke with tongues in the ballroom, as the apostles did at pentecost, and thus our 'little saint' performed her first miracle: the conversion of a godless knight during the dancing." "call it so, if you choose," replied eva, her red lips pouting scornfully, as if she felt raised above such pitiful derision. "how you hurt, els! you are pulling all the hair out of my head!" the object of this rebuke had used the comb with the utmost care, but the great luxuriance of the long, fair, waving locks had presented many an impediment, and eva seemed unusually sensitive that night. els thought she knew why, and made no answer to the unjust charge. she knew her sister; and as she wound the braids about her head, and then, in the maid's place, hung part of her finery on hooks, and laid part carefully in the chest, she asked her numerous questions about the dance, but was vouchsafed only monosyllabic replies. at last els knelt before the prie-dieu. eva did the same, resting her head so long upon her clasped hands that the patient older sister could not wait for the "amen," but, in order not to disturb eva's devotion, only pressed a light kiss upon her head and then carefully drew the curtains closely over the windows which, instead of glass, contained oiled parchment. eva's excitement filled her with anxiety. she knew, too, what a powerful influence the bright moonlight sometimes exerted upon her while she slept, and cast another glance at the closely curtained window before she went to her own bed. there she lay a long time, with eyes wide open, pondering over her sister's words, and in doing so perceived more and more clearly that love was now knocking at the heart of the child kneeling before the prie-dieu. sir heinz schorlin, the wild butterfly, desired to sip the honey from this sweet, untouched flower, and then probably abandon her like so many before her. love and anxiety made the girl, whose opinion was usually milder than her sister's, a stern and unwise judge, for she assumed that the swiss--whose character in reality was far removed from base hypocrisy--the man whom she had just termed a wolf, had donned sheep's clothing to make her poor lambkin an easier prey. but she was on guard and ready to spoil his game. did eva really fail to understand the new feeling which had seized her so swiftly and powerfully? did she lull herself in the delusion that she cared only for the welfare of the soul of the pious young knight? yes, it might be so, and prudent els, who had watched her own little world intently enough, said to herself that it would be pouring oil upon the flames to tease eva about the defeat which she, the "little saint," had sustained in the battle against the demands of the world and of the feminine heart. besides, her sister was too dear for her to rejoice in her humiliation. els resolved not to utter a word about the swiss unless compelled to do so. eva's prayers before retiring were often very long, but to-night it seemed as if they would never end. "she is not appealing to st. clare for herself alone, but for another," thought els. "i spend less time in doing it. true, a heinz schorlin needs longer intercession than my eva, my wolff, and my poor pious mother. but i won't disturb her yet." sighing faintly, she changed her position, but remained sitting propped against the white pillows in order not to allow herself to be overcome by sleep. but it was a hard struggle, and her lids often fell, her head drooped upon her breast. dawn was already glimmering without when the supplicant at last rose and sought her couch. her sister let her lie quietly for a while, then she rose and put out the lamp which eva had forgotten to extinguish. the latter noticed it, turned her face towards her and called her gently. "to think that you should have to get up again, my poor els! give me a good-night kiss." "gladly, dearest," replied the other. "but it is really quite time to say 'good-morning."' "and you have kept awake so long!" replied eva compassionately, as she threw her arms gratefully around her sister's neck, kissed her tenderly, and then pressed her hot cheek to hers. "what is this?" cried els, with sincere anxiety. "are you hurt, child? surely you are weeping?" "no, no," was the reply. "i am only--i only thought that i had adorned myself, decked myself out with idle finery, although i know how many poor people are starving in want and misery, and how much more pleasing in the sight of the lord is the grey robe of the cloistered nun. i could scarcely leave the hall in my overweening pleasure, and yet it would have beseemed me far better to share the sufferings of the crucified saviour." "but, child," replied els, striving to soothe her sister, "how often i have heard from you and our aunt, the abbess, that no one was so cheerful and so glad to witness the enjoyment of human beings and animals as your st. francis!" "he--he!" groaned eva, "he who attained the highest goal, who heard the voice of the lord wherever he listened; he who chose poverty as his beloved bride, who scorned show and parade and the trappings of wealth, as he disdained earthly love; he who celebrated in song the love of the soul glowing for the highest things, as no troubadour could do--oh, how ardently he knew how to love, but to love the things which do not belong to this world!" els longed to ask what eva knew about the ardent fire of love; but she restrained herself, darkened the bed as well as she could with the movable curtain which hung from the ceiling on both sides above the double couch, and said: "be sensible, child, and put aside such thoughts. how loudly the birds are twittering outside! if our father is obliged to breakfast alone there may be a storm, and i should be glad to have an hour's nap. you need slumber, too. dancing is tiresome. shut your eyes and sleep as long as you can. i'll be as quiet as a mouse while i am dressing." as she spoke she turned away from her sister and no longer resisted the sleep which soon closed her weary eyes. etext editor's bookmarks: shipwrecked on the cliffs of 'better' and 'best' this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> in the fire of the forge a romance of old nuremberg by georg ebers volume 2. chapter v. as her father had ordered the servants not to disturb the young girls, els did not wake till the sun was high in the heavens. eva's place at her side was empty. she had already left the room. for the first time it had been impossible to sleep even a few short moments, and when she heard from the neighbouring cloister the ringing of the little bell that summoned the nuns to prayers, she could stay in bed no longer. usually she liked to dress slowly, thinking meanwhile of many things which stirred her soul. sometimes while the maid or els braided her hair she could read a book of devotion which the abbess had given her. but this morning she had carried the clothes she needed into the next room on tiptoe, that she might not wake her sister, and urged katterle, who helped her dress, to hurry. she longed to see her aunt at the convent. while kneeling at the priedieu, she had reached the certainty that her patron saint had led heinz schorlin to her. he was her knight and she his lady, so he must render her obedience, and she would use it to estrange him from the vanity of the world and make him a champion of the holy cause of the church of christ, the victorious conqueror of her foes. sky-blue, the holy virgin's colour, should be hers, and thus his also, and every victory gained by the knight with the sky-blue on his helmet, under st. clare's protection, would then be hers. heinz schorlin was already one of the boldest and strongest knights; her love must render him also one of the most godly. yes, her love! if st. francis had not disdained to make a wolf his brother, why might she not feel herself the loving sister of a youth who would obey her as a noble falcon did his mistress, and whom she would teach to pursue the right quarry? the abbess would not forbid such love, and the impulse that drew her so strongly to the convent was the longing to know how her aunt would receive her confession. the night before when, after her conversation with els, she began to pray, she had feared that she had fallen into the snare of earthly love, and dreaded the confession which she had to make to her aunt kunigunde. now she found that it was no fleshly bond which united her to the knight. oh, no! as st. francis had gone forth to console, to win souls for the lord, to bring peace and exhort to earnest labour in the service of the saviour, as his disciples had imitated him, and st. clare had been untiring in working, in his spirit, among women, she, too, would obey the call which had come to her saint in portiuncula, and prove herself for the first time, according to the scripture, "a fisher of souls." now she gladly anticipated the meeting; for though her sister did not understand her, the abbess must know how to sympathise with what was passing in her mind. this expectation was fulfilled; for as soon as she was alone with her aunt she poured forth all her hopes and feelings without reserve, eagerly and joyfully extolling her good fortune that, through st. clare, she had been enabled to find the noblest and most valiant knight, that she might win him for the holy war under her saint's protection and to her honour. the abbess, who knew women's hearts, had at first felt the same fear as els; but she soon changed her opinion, and thought that she might be permitted to rejoice over the new emotion in her darling's breast. no girl in love talked so openly and joyously of the conquest won, least of all would her truthful, excitable niece, whom she had drawn into her own path, speak thus of the man who disturbed her repose. no sensitive girl, unfamiliar with the world and scarcely beyond childhood, would decide with such steadfast firmness, so wholly free from every selfish wish, the future of the man dearest to her heart. no, no! eva had already attained her new birth, and was not to be compared with other girls she had already once reached that ecstatic rapture which followed only a long absorption in god and an active sympathy with the deep human love of the saviour and the unspeakable sufferings which he had taken upon himself. little was to be feared from earthly love for one who devoted herself with all the passion of her fervid nature to the divine bridegroom. among the many whom kunigunde received into the convent as novices, she was most certainly "called." if she felt something which resembled love for the young knight--and she made no concealment of it-it was only the result of the sweet joy of winning for the lord, the faith, and her saint a soul which seemed to her worthy of such grace. dear, highly gifted child! she, the abbess kunigunde, was willing it should be so, and that eva should surpass herself. she should prove that genuine piety conquers even the yearning of a quickly throbbing heart. true, she must keep her eyes open in order to prevent satan, who is everywhere on the watch, from mingling in a game not wholly free from peril. but, on the other hand, the abbess intended to help her beloved niece to reap the reward of her piety. it was scarcely to be doubted that heinz schorlin was fired with ardent love for eva; but, for that very reason, he would be ready to yield her obedience, and therefore it was advisable to tell her exactly to what she must persuade him. she must win him to join the order of malta, and if the famous champion of marchfield performed heroic deeds with the white cross on his black mantle, or in war on his red tunic, he, the emperor's favourite, would be sure of a high position among the military members of the order. the young girl listened eagerly, but the elderly abbess herself became excited while encouraging the young future "sister" to her noble task. the days when, with the inmates of the convent, she had prayed that the emperor rudolph might fulfil the pope's desire, and in a new crusade again wrest the holy land from the infidels, came back to her memory, and heinz schorlin, guided by the nuns of st. clare, seemed the man to bring the fulfilment of this old and cherished wish. it appeared like a leading of the saints and a sign from god that heinz had been dubbed a knight, and commenced his glorious career at lausanne while the emperor rudolph pledged himself to a new crusade. she detained eva so long that dinner was over at the ortlieb mansion, and her impatient father would have sent for her had not the invalid mother urged him to let her remain. true, she longed to have a talk with her darling, who for the first time in her life had attended a great entertainment, and doubtless it grieved her to think that eva did not feel the necessity of pouring out her heart to her own mother rather than to any one else, and sharing with her all the new emotions which undoubtedly had thrilled it; but she knew her child, and would have considered it selfish to place any obstacle in the pathway to eternal salvation of the elect whom god summoned with so loud a voice. formerly she would rather have seen the young girl, whose charms were developing into such rare beauty, wedded to some good man; but now she rejoiced in the idea that eva was summoned to rule over the nuns in the neighbouring cloister some day as abbess, in the place of her sister-in-law kunigunde. her own days, she knew, were numbered, but where could her child more surely find the happiness she desired for her than with the beloved sisters of st. clare, whose home she and her husband had helped to build? els had concealed from her parents what she fancied she had discovered, for any anxiety injured the invalid, and no one could anticipate how her irritable father might receive the information of her fear. on the other hand, she could confide her troubles without anxiety to wolff, her betrothed husband. he was wise, prudent, loved eva like a sister, and in exchanging thoughts with him she always discovered the right course to pursue; but though she expected him so eagerly and confidently, he did not come. when, in the afternoon, eva returned home, her whole manner expressed such firm, cheerful composure that els began to hope she might have been mistaken. the undemonstrative yet tender affection with which she met her mother, too, by no means harmonised with her fears. how lovely the young girl looked as she sat on a low stool at the head of the invalid's couch and, with her mother's emaciated hand clasped in hers, told her all that she had seen and experienced the evening before! to please the beloved sufferer, she dwelt longer on the description of the gracious manner of the emperor rudolph and his sister to her and her father, the conversation with which the burgrave had honoured her, and his son's invitation to dance. then for the first time she mentioned heinz schorlin, whom she had found a godly knight, and finally spoke briefly of the distinguished foreign nobles and ladies whom he had pointed out and named. all this reminded the mother of former days and, in spite of the warning of watchful els not to talk too much, she did not cease questioning or recalling the time when she herself attended such festivals, and as one of the fairest maidens received much homage. it had been a good day, for it was long since she had enjoyed so much quiet in her own home. the von montforts, she told eva, had set off early, with a great train of knights and servants, to ride to radolzburg, the castle of the burgrave von zollern. her father thought they would probably have a dance there, for the young sons of the burgrave would act as hosts. eva asked carelessly who rode with cordula this time to submit to her whims, but els perceived by her sister's flushed cheeks and the tone of her voice what she desired to know, and answered as if by accident that sir heinz schorlin certainly was not one of her companions, for he had ridden through the frauenthor that afternoon in the train of the emperor rudolph and his bohemian daughter-in-law. twilight was already beginning to gather, and els could not see whether this news afforded eva pleasure or annoyance, for her mother had taken too little heed of her weakness, and one of the attacks which the physician so urgently ordered her to avoid by caution commenced. els and the convent sister renata, who helped her nurse the invalid, were now completely absorbed in caring for her, but eva turned away from the beloved sufferer--her sensitive nature could not endure the sight of her convulsions. as soon as her mother again lay weak but quiet on the pillows which els had rearranged for her, eva obeyed her entreaty to go away, and went to her own chamber. when another attack drew her back to the invalid, a sign from her sister as she reached the threshold bade her keep away from the couch. should it prove necessary, she whispered, she would call her. if wolff came, eva was to tell him that she could not leave her mother, but he must be sure to return early the next morning, as she had a great deal to say to him. eva then went to her father, who was dressing to attend a banquet at the house of herr berthold vorchtel, the first losunger--[presiding officer] --in the council, from which he would be loath to absent himself for the very reason that his host's family had been hostile to him ever since the rumour of the betrothal of wolff eysvogel, whom the vorchtels had regarded as their daughter ursula's future husband. nevertheless, herr ernst would not have gone to the entertainment had his wife's condition given cause for anxiety. but he was familiar with these convulsions which, it is true, weakened the invalid, but produced no other results; so he permitted eva to help him put the last touches to his dress, on which he lavished great care. spick and span as if he were just out of a bandbox, the elderly man, before leaving the house, went once more to the sick-room, and eva stood near as, after many questions and requests, he whispered something to els which she did not hear. with excited curiosity she asked what he had said so secretly, but he only answered hurriedly, "the name of the man in the moon's dog," kissed her cheek, and ran downstairs. at the foot he again turned to eva and told her to send for him if her mother should grow worse, for these entertainments at the vorchtels usually lasted a long time. "will the eysvogels be there too?" asked the girl. "who knows," replied her father. "i shall be glad if wolff comes." the tone in which he uttered the name of his future son-in-law distinctly showed how little he desired to meet any other member of the family, and eva said sympathisingly, "then i hope you will have an opportunity to remember me to wolff." "shall i say nothing to ursel?" asked the father, pressing a good-night kiss upon the young girl's forehead. "she would not care for it," was the reply. "it cannot be easy to forget a man like wolff." "i wish he had stuck to ursel, and let els alone," her father answered angrily. "it would have been better for both." "why, father," interrupted eva reproachfully, "do not our lovers seem really created for each other?" "if the eysvogels were only of the same opinion," exclaimed ernst ortlieb, shrugging his shoulders with a faint sigh. "whoever marries, child, weds not only a man or a woman; all their kindred, unhappily, must be taken into the bargain. however, els did not lack earnest warning. when your time comes, girl, your father will be more careful." smiling tenderly, he passed his hand over the little cap which covered her thick, fair hair, and went out. eva returned to her room and sat down at the spinning-wheel in the bow window, where katterle had just drawn the curtains closely and lighted the hanging lamp. but the distaff remained untouched, and her thoughts wandered swiftly to the evening before and the ball at the town hall. heinz schorlin's image rose more and more distinctly before her mind, and this pleased her, for she fancied that he wore on his helm the blue favour which she had chosen, and it led her to consider against what foe she should first send him in the service of his lady and the holy church. chapter vi. eva had gazed into vacancy a long time, and beheld a succession of pleasing pictures, in every one of which, heinz schorlin appeared. once, in imagination, she placed a wreath on his helmet after a great victory over the infidels. why should not this vision become a reality? doubtless it owed its origin to a memory, for wolff eysvogel had been fired with love for her sister while els was winding laurel around his helmet. after the honourable council had resolved that the youths belonging to noble families, who had fought in the battle of marchfield and returned victorious, should be adorned with wreaths by the maidens of their choice, fate had appointed her sister to crown eysvogel. at that time wolff had but recently recovered from the severe wounds with which he had returned from the campaign. but while he knelt before els and his eyes met hers, love had overmastered him so swiftly and powerfully, that at the end of a few days he determined to woo her. meanwhile his own family resolutely opposed his choice. the father declared that he had made an agreement with berthold vorchtel to marry him to his daughter ursula, and withdrawal on his son's part would embarrass him. his grandmother, the arrogant old countess rotterbach, agreed with him, and declared that wolff ought to wed no one except a lady of the most aristocratic birth or an heiress like ursula. her daughter rosalinde eysvogel, as usual, was the echo of her mother. herr ernst ortlieb, too, would far rather have seen his els marry into another home; but wolff himself was a young man of such faultless honour, and the bride he had chosen was so eager to become his, that he deemed it a duty to forget the aversion inspired by the suitor's family. as for wolff, he had so firmly persisted in his resolve that his parents at last permitted him to ask for his darling's hand, but his father had made it a condition that the betrothal, on account of the youth of the lovers, should not be announced till after wolff had returned from milan, where he was to finish the studies commenced in venice. true, everyone had supposed that they were completed long ago, but eysvogel senior insisted upon his demand, and afterwards succeeded in deferring the announcement of the betrothal, until the resolute persistence of wolff, who meanwhile had entered the great commercial house, and the wish of his own aged mother, a sensible woman, who from the first had approved her grandson's choice and to whom herr casper was obliged to show a certain degree of consideration, compelled him to give it publicity. a few days later herr casper's brother died, and soon after his estimable old mother. he used these events as a pretext for longer delay, saying that both he and his wife needed at least six months' interval ere they could forget their mourning in a gay wedding festival. besides, he would prefer not to have the marriage take place until after wolff's election to the council, which, in all probability, would occur after walpurgis of the coming year. ernst ortlieb had sullenly submitted to all this. nothing but his love for his child and respect for herr casper's dead mother, who had taken els to her heart like a beloved granddaughter, would have enabled him to conquer his hasty temper in his negotiations with the man whom he detested in his inmost soul, and not hurl back the consent so reluctantly granted to his son. the friends who knew him admired the strength of will with which he governed his impetuous nature in this transaction. some asserted that secret obligations compelled him to yield to the rich eysvogel; for though the ortlieb mercantile house was reputed wealthy, the business prudence of its head resulted in smaller profits, and people had not forgotten that it had suffered heavy losses during the terrible period of despotism which had preceded the emperor rudolph's accession to the throne. the insecurity of the high-roads had injured every merchant, but in trying to find some explanation for herr ortlieb's submission the attacks which had cost him one and another train of wares were regarded as specially disastrous. finally, the dowry which els was to bring bore no comparison to the large sums ernst ortlieb had lavished upon the erection of the st. clare convent, and hence it was inferred that the wealth of the firm had sustained considerable losses. this found ready credence, owing to the retired life led by the ortliebs,--whose house had formerly been one of the most hospitable in the city,--ever since the wife had become an invalid and eva had grown up with an aversion to the world. few took the trouble to inquire into the very apparent causes for the change. yet this view of the matter was opposed by many-nay, when the conversation turned upon these subjects, herr berthold vorchtel, perhaps the richest and most distinguished man in nuremberg, who rented the imperial taxes, made comments from which, had it not been so difficult to believe, people might have inferred that casper eysvogel was indebted to ernst ortlieb rather than the latter to him. yet the cautious, prudent man never explained the foundation of his opinion, for he very rarely mentioned either of the two firms; yet prior to the battle of marchfield he had believed that his own daughter ursula and wolff eysvogel would sooner or later wed. herr casper, the young man's father, had strengthened this expectation. he himself and his wife esteemed wolff, and his "ursel" had shown plainly enough that she preferred him to the other friends of her elder brother ulrich. when he returned home the two met like brother and sister, and the parents of ursula vorchtel had expected wolff's proposal until the day on which the wreaths were bestowed had made them poorer by a favourite wish and destroyed the fairest hope of their daughter ursula. the worthy merchant, it is true, deemed love a beautiful thing, but in nuremberg it was the parents who chose wives and husbands for their sons and daughters; yet, after marriage, love took possession of the newly wedded pair. a transgression of this ancient custom was very rare, and even though wolff's heart was fired with love for els ortlieb, his father, herr vorchtel thought, should have refused his consent to the betrothal, especially as he had already treated ursel as his future daughter. some compulsion must have been imposed upon him when he permitted his son to choose a wife other than the one selected. but what could render one merchant dependent upon another except business obligations?--and berthold vorchtel was sharp-sighted. he knew the heavy draft which herr casper had made upon the confidence reposed in the old firm, and thought he had perceived that the great splendour displayed by the women of the eysvogel family, the liberality with which herr casper had aided his impoverished noble relatives, and the lavish expenditure of his son-in-law, the debt-laden sir seitz siebenburg, drew too heavily upon the revenues of the ancient house. even now casper eysvogel's whole conduct proved how unwelcome was his son's choice. to him, ursula's father, he still intimated on many an occasion that he had by no means resigned every hope of becoming, through his son, more nearly allied to his family, for a betrothal was not a wedding. berthold vorchtel, however, was not the man to enter into such doubledealing, although he saw plainly enough how matters stood with his poor child. she had confided her feelings to no one; yet, in spite of ursula's reserved nature, even a stranger could perceive that something clouded her happiness. besides, she had persistently refused the distinguished suitors who sought the wealthy herr berthold's pretty daughter, and only very recently had promised her parents, of her own free will, to give up her opposition to marriage. ever since the betrothal, to the sincere sorrow of els, she had studiously avoided wolff's future bride, who had been one of her dearest friends; and ulrich, herr vorchtel's oldest son, took his sister's part, and at every opportunity showed wolff--who from a child, and also in the battle of marchfield, had been a favourite comrade--that he bore him a grudge, and considered his betrothal to any one except ursula an act of shameful perfidy. the fair-minded father did not approve of his son's conduct, for his wife had learned from her daughter that wolff had never spoken to her of love, or promised marriage. therefore, whenever herr berthold vorchtel met els's father--and this often happened in the council--he treated him with marked respect, and when there was an entertainment in his house sent him an invitation, as in former years, which ernst urtlieb accepted, unless something of importance prevented. but though the elder vorchtel was powerless to change his children's conduct, he never wearied of representing to his son how unjust and dangerous were the attacks with which, on every occasion, he irritated wolff, whose strength and skill in fencing were almost unequalled in nuremberg. in fact, the latter would long since have challenged his former friend had he not been so conscious of his own superiority, and shrunk from the thought of bringing fresh sorrow upon ursula and her parents, whom he still remembered with friendly regard. eva was fond of her future brother-in-law, and it had not escaped her notice that of late something troubled him. what was it? she thoughtfully gave the wheel a push, and as it turned swiftly she remembered the swiss dance the evening before, and suddenly clenched her small right hand and dealt the palm of her left a light blow. she fancied that she had discovered the cause of wolff's depression, for she again saw distinctly before her his sister isabella's husband, sir seitz siebenburg, as he swung countess cordula around so recklessly that her skirt, adorned with glittering jewels, fluttered far out from her figure. in the room adjacent to the hall he had flung himself upon his knees before the countess, and eva fancied she again beheld his big, red face, with its long, thick, yellow mustache, whose ends projected on both sides in a fashion worn by few men of his rank. the expression of the watery blue eyes, with which he stared cordula in the face, were those of a drunkard. to-day he had followed her to the kadolzburg, and probably meant to spend the night there. so wolff had ample reason to be anxious about his sister and her peace of mind. that must be it! perhaps he would yet come that evening, to give els at least a greeting from the street. how late was it? she hastily tried to draw the curtains aside from the window, but this was not accomplished as quickly as she expected--they had been care fully fastened with pins. eva noticed it, and suddenly remembered her father's whispered words to els. they were undoubtedly about the window. according to the calendar, the moon would be full that day, and she knew very well that it had a strange influence upon her. true, within the past year it appeared to have lost its power; but formerly, especially when she had devoted herself very earnestly to religious exercises, she had often, without knowing how or why, left her bed and wandered about, not only in her chamber but through the house. once she had climbed to the dovecot in the courtyard, and another time had mounted to the garret where, she did not know in what way, she had been awakened. when she looked around, the moon was shining into the spacious room, and showed her that she was perched on one of the highest beams in the network of rafters which, joined with the utmost skill, supported the roof. below her yawned a deep gulf, and as she looked down into it she was seized with such terror that she uttered a loud shriek for help, and did not recover her calmness until the old housekeeper, martsche, who had started from her bed in alarm, brought her father to her. she had been taken down with the utmost care. no one was permitted to help except white-haired nickel, the old head packer, who often let a whole day pass without opening his lips; for herr ernst seemed to lay great stress upon keeping the moon's influence on eva a secret. there was indeed something uncanny about this night-walking, for even now it seemed incomprehensible how she had reached the beam, which was at least the height of three men above the floor. a fall might have cost her life, and her father was right in trying to prevent a repetition of such nocturnal excursions. this time els had helped him. how faithfully she cared for them all! yes, she had barred out even the faintest glimmer. eva smiled as she saw the numerous pins with which her sister had fastened the curtain, and an irresistible longing seized her to see once more the wonderful light that promoted the growth of the hair if cut during its increase, and also exerted so strange an influence upon her. she must look up at the moon! swiftly and skilfully, as if aided by invisible hands, her dainty fingers opened curtain and window. drawing a deep breath, with an emotion of pleasure which she had not experienced for a long time, she gazed at the linden before the house steeped in silvery radiance, and upward to the pure disk of the full moon sailing in the cloudless sky. how beautiful and still the night was! how delightful it would be to walk up and down the garden, with her aunt the abbess, with els, and perhaps--she felt the blood crimson her cheeks-with heinz schorlin! where was he now? undoubtedly with the emperor and his ladies, perhaps at the side of the bohemian princess, the young duchess agnes, who yesterday had so plainly showed her pleasure in his society. just then the watch, marching from the marienthurn to the frauenthor, gave her vagrant thoughts a new turn. the city guard was soon followed by a troop of horse, which probably belonged to the emperor's train. it was delightful to gaze, at this late hour, into the moonlit street, and she wondered that she had never enjoyed it before. true, it would have been still pleasanter had els borne her company; and, besides, she longed to tell her the new explanation she had found for wolff's altered manner. perhaps her mother was asleep, and she could come with her. how still the house was! cautiously opening the door of the sick-room, she glanced in. els was standing at the head of the bed, supporting her mother with her strong young arms, while sister renata pushed the cushions between the sufferer's back and the bedstead. the old difficulty of breathing had evidently attacked her again. yes, yes, the dim light of the lamp was shining on her pale face, and the large sunken eyes were gazing with imploring anguish at the image of the virgin on the opposite wall. how gladly eva would have afforded her relief! she looked with a faint sense of envy at her sister, whose skilful, careful hands did everything to the satisfaction of the beloved sufferer, while in nursing she failed only too often in giving the right touch. but she could pray--implore the aid of her saint very fervently; nay, she was more familiar with her, and might hope that she would fulfil a heartfelt wish of hers more quickly than for her sister. it would not do to call els to the window. she closed the door gently, returned to her chamber, knelt and implored st. clare, with all the fervour of her heart, to grant her mother a good night. then she again drew the curtains closely over the window, and went to call katterle to help her undress. but the maid was just entering with fresh water. what was the matter with her? her hand trembled as she braided her young mistress's hair and sometimes, with a faint sigh, she stopped the movement of the comb. her silence could be easily explained; for eva had often forbidden katterle to talk, when she disturbed her meditation. yet the girl must have had some special burden on her mind, for when eva had gone to bed she could not resolve to leave the room, but remained standing on the threshold in evident embarrassment. eva encouraged her to speak, and katterle, so confused that she often hesitated for words and pulled at her ribbons till she was in danger of tearing them from her white apron, stammered that she did not come on her own account, but for another person. it was well known in the household that her betrothed husband, the true and steadfast walther biberli, served a godly knight, her countryman. "i know it," said eva with apparent composure, "and your biberli has commissioned you to bear me the respectful greeting of sir heinz schorlin." the girl looked at her young mistress in surprise. she had been prepared for a sharp rebuke, and had yielded to her lover's entreaties to under take this service amid tears, and with great anxiety; for if her act should be betrayed, she would lose, amid bitter reproaches, the place she so greatly prized. yet biberli's power over her and her faith in him were so great that she would have followed him into a lion's den; and it had scarcely seemed a more desirable venture to carry a love-greeting to the pious maiden who held men in such disfavour, and could burst into passionate anger as suddenly as her father. and now? eva had expected such a message. it seemed like a miracle to katterle. with a sigh of relief, and a hasty thanksgiving to her patron saint, she at once began to praise the virtue and piety of the servant as well as his lord; but eva again interrupted, and asked what sir heinz schorlin desired. katterle, with new-born confidence, repeated, as if it were some trivial request, the words biberli had impressed upon her mind. "by virtue of the right of every good and devout knight to ask his lady for her colour, sir heinz schorlin, with all due reverence, humbly prays you to name yours; for how could he hold up his head before you and all the knights if he were denied the privilege of wearing it in your honour, in war as well as in peace?" here her mistress again interrupted with a positive "i know," and, still more emboldened, katterle continued the ex-schoolmaster's lesson to the end: "his lord, my lover says, will wait here beneath the window, in all reverence, though it should be till morning, until you show him your sweet face. no, don't interrupt me yet, mistress eva, for you must know that sir heinz's lady mother committed her dear son to my biberli's care, that he might guard him from injury and illness. but since his master met you, he has been tottering about as though he had received a spear-thrust, and as the knight confessed to his faithful servitor that no leech could help him until you permitted him to open his heart to you and show you with what humble devotion----" but here the maid was interrupted in a manner very different from her expectations, for eva had raised herself on her pillows and, almost unable to control her voice in the excess of her wrath, exclaimed: "the master who presumes to seek through his servant--- and by what right does the knight dare thus insolently--- but no! who knows what modest wish was transformed in your mouth to so unprecedented a demand? he desired to see my face? he wanted to speak to me in person, to confess i know not what? from you--you, katterle, the maid--the knight expects----" here she struck her little hand angrily against the wood of the bedstead and, panting for breath, continued: "i'll show him!--- yet no! what i have to answer no one else--- from me, from me alone, he shall learn without delay. there is paper in yonder chest, on the very top; bring it to me, with pen and ink." katterle silently hurried to obey this order, but eva pressed her hand upon her heaving bosom, and gazed silently into vacancy. the manservant and the maid whom heinz schorlin had made his messengers certainly could have no conception of the bond that united her to him; even her own sister had misunderstood it. he should now learn that eva ortlieb knew what beseemed her! but she, too, longed for another meeting, and this conduct rendered it necessary. the sooner they two had a conversation, the better. she could confidently venture to invite him to the meeting which she had in view; her aunt, the abbess, had promised to stand by her side, if she needed her, in her intercourse with the knight. but her colour? katterle had long since laid the paper and writing materials before her, but she still pondered. at last, with a smile of satisfaction, she seized the pen. the manner in which she intended to mention the colour should show him the nature of the bond which united them. she was mistress of the pen, for in the convent she had copied the gospels, the psalms, and other portions of the scriptures, yet her hand trembled as she committed the following lines to the paper: "i am angered--nay, even grieved--that you, a godly knight, who knows the reverence due to a lady, have ventured to await my greeting in front of my father's house. if you are a true knight, you must be aware that you voluntarily promised to obey my every glance. i can rely upon this pledge, and since i find it necessary to talk with you, i invite you to an interview--when and where, my maid, who is betrothed to your servant, shall inform him. a friend, who has your welfare at heart as well as mine, will be with me. it must be soon, with the permission of st. clare, who, since you have chosen her for your patron saint, looks down upon you as well as on me. "as for my colour, i know not what to name; the baubles associated with earthly love are unfamiliar to me. but blue is the colour of the pure heaven and its noble queen, the gracious virgin. if you make this colour yours and fight for it, i shall rejoice, and am willing to name it mine." at the bottom of the little note she wrote only her christian name "eva," and when she read it over she found that it contained, in apt and seemly phrases, everything that she desired to say to the knight. while folding the paper and considering how she could fasten it, as there was no wax at hand, she thought of the narrow ribbons with which els tied together, in sets of half a dozen, the fine kerchiefs worn over the neck and bosom, when they came from the wash. they were sky-blue, and nothing could be more suitable for the purpose. katterle brought one from the top of the chest. eva wound it swiftly around the little roll, and the maid hastily left the room, sure of the gratitude of the true and steadfast biberli. when eva was again alone, she at first thought that she might rejoice over her hasty act; but on asking herself what els would say, she felt certain that she would disapprove of it and, becoming disconcerted, began to imagine what consequences it might entail. the advice which her father had recently given wolff, never to let any important letter pass out of his hands until at least one night had elapsed, returned to her memory, and from that instant the little note burdened her soul like a hundred-pound weight. she would fain have started up to get it back again, and a strong attraction drew her towards the window to ascertain whether heinz schorlin had really come and was awaiting her greeting. perhaps katterle had not yet delivered the note. what if she were still standing at the door of the house to wait for biberli? if, to be absolutely certain, she should just glance out, that would not be looking for the knight, and she availed herself of the excuse without delay. in an instant she sprang from her bed and gently drew the curtain aside. the street was perfectly still. the linden and the neighbouring houses cast dark, sharply outlined shadows upon the light pavement, and from the convent garden the song of the nightingale echoed down the quiet moonlit street. katterle had probably already given the note to heinz schorlin who, obedient to his lady's command, as beseemed a knight, had gone away. this soothed her anxiety, and with a sigh she went back to bed. but the longing to look out into the street again was so strong that she yielded to the temptation; yet, ere she reached the window, she summoned the strength of will which was peculiar to her and, lying down, once more closed her lids, with the firm resolve to see and hear nothing. as she had not shut her eyes the night before and, from dread of the ball, had slept very little during the preceding one, she soon, though the moon was shining in through the parted curtains, lapsed into a condition midway between sleep and waking. extreme fatigue had deadened consciousness, yet she fancied that at times she heard the sound of footsteps on the pavement outside, and the deep voices of men. nor was what she heard in her half-dozing state, which was soon followed by the sound slumber of youth, any delusion of the senses. chapter vii. the moon found something in front of the ortlieb house worth looking at. rarely had she lighted with purer, brighter radiance the pathway of the mortals who excited her curiosity, than that of the two handsome young men who, at a moderate interval of time, passed through the frauenthor, and finally entered the courtyard of the ortlieb residence almost at the same instant. luna first saw them pace silently to and fro, and delighted in the resentful glances they cast at each other. this joy increased as the one in the long coat, embroidered on the shoulder with birds, and then the other, whose court costume well became his lithe, powerful limbs, sat down, each on one of the chains connecting the granite posts between the street and the courtyard. the very tall one, who looked grave and anxious, was wolff eysvogel; the other, somewhat shorter, who swung gaily to and fro on the chain as if it afforded him much amusement, heinz schorlin. both frequently glanced up at the lighted bow-window and the smaller one on the second story, behind which eva lay half asleep. this was the first meeting of the two men. wolff, aware of his excellent right to remain on this-spot, would have shown the annoying intruder his displeasure long before, had he not supposed that the other, whom at the first glance he recognised as a knight, was one of countess cordula von montfort's admirers. yet he soon became unable to control his anger and impatience. yielding to a hasty impulse, he left the chain, but as he approached the stranger the latter gave his swaying seat a swifter motion and, without vouchsafing him either greeting or introductory remark, said carelessly, "this is a lovely night." "i am of the same opinion," replied wolff curtly. "but i would like to ask, sir, what induced you to choose the courtyard of this house to enjoy it?" "induced?" asked the swiss in astonishment; then, looking the other in the face with defiant sharpness, he added scornfully: "i am warming the chain because it suits me to do so." "you are allowed the pleasure," returned wolff in an irritated tone; "nay, i can understand that night birds of your sort find no better amusement. still, it seems to me that a knight who wishes to keep iron hot might attain his object better in another way." "why, of course," cried heinz schorlin, springing swiftly to his feet with rare elasticity. "it gives a pleasant warmth when blade strikes blade or the hot blood wets them. i am no friend to darkness, and it seems to me, sir, as if we were standing in each other's light here." "there our opinions concur for the second time this lovely night," quietly replied the patrician's son, conscious of his unusual strength and skill in fencing, with a slight touch of scorn. "like you, i am always ready to cross blades with another; only, the public street is hardly the fitting place for it." "may the plague take you!" muttered the swiss in assent to wolff's opinion. "besides, sir, who ever grasps iron so swiftly is worth a parley. to ask whether you are of knightly lineage would be useless trouble, and should it come to a genuine sword-dance. "you will find a partner in me at any time," was the reply, "as i, who wear my ancient escutcheon with good right, would gladly give you a crimson memento of this hour--though you were but the son of a cobbler. but first let us ascertain--for i, too, dislike darkness--whether we are really standing in each other's light. with all due respect for your fancy for warming chains, it would be wise, ere sir red coat--[the executioner]--puts his round our ankles for disturbing the peace, to have a sensible talk." "try it, for aught i care," responded heinz schorlin cheerily. "unluckily for me, i live in a state of perpetual feud with good sense. one thing, however, seems certain without any serious reflection: the attraction which draws me here, as well as you, will not enter the cloister as a monk, but as a little nun, wears no beard, but braids her hair. briefly, then, if you are here for countess cordula von montfort's sake, your errand is vain; she will sleep at kadolzburg to-night." "may her slumber be sweet!" replied wolff calmly. "she is as near to me as yonder moon." "that gives the matter a more serious aspect," cried the knight angrily. "you or i. what is your lady's name?" "that, to my mind, is asking too much," replied wolff firmly. "and the law of love gives you the right to withhold an answer. but, sir, we must nevertheless learn for the sake of what fairest fair we have each foregone sleep." "then tell me, by your favour, your lady's colour," wolff asked the swiss. the latter laughed gaily: "i am still putting that question to my saint." then, noticing wolff's shake of the head, he went on in a more serious tone: "if you will have a little patience, i hope i may be able to tell you, ere we part." this assurance also seemed to wolff an enigma. who in the wide world would come from under the respectable ortlieb roof, at this hour, to tell a stranger anything whatsoever concerning one of its daughters? neither could have given him the right to regard her as his lady, and steal at night, like a marten, around the house which contained his dearest treasure. this obscurity was an offence to wolff eysvogel, and he was not the man to submit to it. yonder insolent fellow should learn, to his hurt, that he had made a blunder. but scarcely had he begun to explain to heinz that he claimed the right to protect both the daughters of this house, the younger as well as the older, since they had no brother, when the knight interrupted: "oho! there are two of them, and she, too, spoke of a sister. so, if it comes to sharing, sir, we need not emulate the judgment of solomon. let us see! the colour is uncertain, but to every christian mortal a name clings as closely as a shadow and, if i mention the initial letter of the one which adorns my lady, i believe i shall commit no offence that a court of love could condemn. the initial, which i like because it is daintily rounded and not too difficult to write-mark it well--is 'e.'" wolff eysvogel started slightly and gripped the dagger in his belt, but instantly withdrew his hand and answered with mingled amusement and indignation: "thanks for your good will, sir knight, but this, too, brings us no nearer our goal; the e is the initial of both the ortlieb sisters. the elder who, as you may know, is my betrothed bride, bears the name of elizabeth, or els, as we say in nuremberg." "and the younger," cried heinz joyously, "honours with her gracious innocence the name of her through whom sin came into the world." "but you, sir knight," exclaimed wolff fiercely, "would do better not to name sin and eva ortlieb in the same breath. if you are of a different opinion----" "then," interrupted the swiss, "we come back to warming the iron." "as you say," cried wolff resolutely. "in spite of the peace of the country, i will be at your service at any time. as you see, i went out unarmed, and it would not be well done to cross swords here." "certainly not," heinz assented. "but many days and nights will follow this moonlight one, and that you may have little difficulty in finding me whenever you desire, know that my name is heinrich--or to more intimate friends, among whom you might easily be numbered if we don't deprive each other of the pleasure of meeting again under the sun--heinz schorlin." "schorlin?" asked wolff in surprise. "then you are the knight who, when a beardless boy, cut down on the marchfield the bohemian whose lance had slain the emperor's charger, the swiss who aided him to mount the steed of ramsweg of thurgau--your uncle, if i am not mistaken--and then took the wild ride to bring up the tall capeller, with his troops, who so gloriously decided the day." "and," laughed heinz, "who was finally borne off the field as dead before the fulfilment of his darling wish to redden swiss steel with royal bohemian blood. this closed the chronicle, herr--what shall i call you?" "wolff eysvogel, of nuremberg," replied the other. "aha! a son of the rich merchant where the duke of gulich found quarters?" cried the swiss, lifting his cap bordered with fine miniver. "may confusion seize me! if i were not my father's son, i wouldn't mind changing places with you. it must make the neck uncommonly stiff, methinks, to have a knightly escutcheon on door and breast, and yet be able to fling florins and zecchins broadcast without offending the devil by an empty purse. if you don't happen to know how such a thing looks, i can show you." "yet rumour says," observed wolff, "that the emperor is gracious to you, and knows how to fill it again." "if one doesn't go too far," replied heinz, "and my royal master, who lacks spending money himself only too often, doesn't keep his word that it was done for the last time. i heard that yesterday morning, and thought that the golden blessing which preceded it would last the dear saints only knew how long. but ere the cock had crowed even once this morning the last florin had vanished. dice, herr wolff eysvogel--dice!" "then i would keep my hands off them," said the other meaningly. "if the old nick or some one else did not always guide them back! did you, a rich man's son, never try what the dice would do for you?" "yes, sir knight. it was at venice, where i was pursuing my studies, and tried my luck at gambling on many a merry evening with other sons of mercantile families from nuremberg, augsburg, and cologne." "and your feathers were generously plucked?" "by no means. i usually left a winner. but after they fleeced a dear friend from ulm, and he robbed his master, i dropped dice." "and you did so as easily as if it were a short fast after an abundant meal?" "it was little more difficult," wolff asserted. "my father would have gladly seen me outdo my countrymen, and sent me more money than i needed. why should i deprive honest fellows who had less?" "that's just the difficulty," cried his companion eagerly. "it was easy for you to renounce games of chance because your winnings only added more to the rest, and you did not wish to pluck poorer partners. but i! a poor devil like me cannot maintain armour-bearer, servants, and steeds out of what the dear little mother at home in her faithful care can spare from crops and interest. how could we succeed in making a fair appearance at court and in the tournament if it were not for the dice? and then, when i lose, i again become but the poor knight the saints made me; when i win, on the contrary, i am the great and wealthy lord i would have been born had the lord permitted me to choose my own cradle. besides, those who lose through me are mainly dukes, counts, and gentlemen with rich fiefs and fat bourgs, whom losing doubtless benefits, as bleeding relieves a sick man. what suits the soldier does not befit the merchant. we live wholly amid risks and wagers. every battle, every skirmish is a game whose stake is life. whoever reflects long is sure to lose. if i could only describe, herr eysvogel, what it is to dash headlong upon the foe!" "i could imagine that vividly enough," wolff eagerly interposed. "i, too, have broken many a lance in the lists and shed blood enough." "what a dunce i am!" cried heinz in amazement, pressing his hand upon his brow. "that's why your face was so familiar! by my saint! i am no knight if i did not see you then, before the battle waxed hot. it was close beside your burgrave frederick, who held aloft the imperial banner." "probably," replied wolff in a tone of assent. "he sometimes entrusted the standard to me, when it grew too heavy for his powerful arm, because i was the tallest and the strongest of our nuremberg band. but, unluckily, i could not render this service long. a scimitar gashed my head. the larger part of the little scar is hidden under my hair." "the little scar!" repeated heinz gaily. "it was wide enough, at any rate, for the greatest soul to slip through it. a scar on the head from a wound received four years ago, and yet distinctly visible in the moonlight!" "it should serve as a warning," replied wolff, glancing anxiously up the street. "if the patrol, or any nocturnal reveller should catch sight of us, it would be ill for the fair fame of the ortlieb sisters, for everybody knows that only one--els's betrothed lover--has a right to await a greeting here at so late an hour. so follow me into the shadow of the linden, i entreat you; for yonder--surely you see it too--a figure is gliding towards us." heinz schorlin's laugh rang out like a bell as he whispered to the nuremberg patrician: "that figure is familiar to me, and neither we nor our ladies need fear any evil from it. excuse me moment, and i'll wager twenty gold florins against yonder linden leaf that, ere the moonlight has left the curbstone, i can tell you my lady's colour." as he spoke he hastened towards the figure, now, standing motionless within the shadow of the door post beside the lofty entrance. wolff eysvogel remained alone, gazing thoughtfully upon the ground. chapter viii. the silent wanderer above had expected to behold a scene very unlike an interview between two men. the latter required neither her purest, fullest light, nor the shadow of a blossoming linden. now luna saw the young nuremberg merchant gaze after the swiss with an expression of such deep anxiety and pain upon his manly features that she felt the utmost pity for him. he did not look upward as usual to the window of his beautiful els, but either fixed his eyes upon the spot where his new acquaintance was conversing with another person, or bent them anxiously upon the ground. as wolff thought of heinz schorlin, it seemed as if fate had thrown him into the way of the swiss that he might feel with twofold anguish the thorns besetting his own life path. the young knight was proffered the rose without the thorn. what cares had he? the present threw into his lap its fairest blessings, and when he looked into the future he beheld only the cheering buds of hope. yet this favourite of fortune had expressed a desire to change places with him. the thought that many others, too, would be glad to step into his shoes tortured wolff's honest heart as though he himself were to blame for the delusion of these short-sighted folk. apart from his strength and health, his well-formed body, his noble birth, his faith in the love of his betrothed bride--at this hour he forgot how much these things were--he found nothing in his lot which seemed worth desiring. he might not even rejoice in his stainless honesty with the same perfect confidence as in his betrothal. yes, he had cared for noble old berthold vorchtel's daughter as if she were his sister. he had even found pleasure in the thought that ursula was destined to become his wife, yet no word either of love or allusion to future marriage had been exchanged between them. he had felt free, and had a right to consider himself so, when love for els ortlieb overwhelmed him so swiftly and powerfully. yet ursula and her oldest brother treated him as if he had been guilty of base disloyalty. his pure conscience, however, enabled him to endure this more easily than the other burden, of which he became aware on the long-anticipated day when his father made him a partner in the old firm and gave him an insight into the condition of the property and the course of the business. then he had learned the heavy losses which had been sustained recently, and the sad disparity existing between the great display by which his father and mother, as well as his grandmother, the countess, maintained the appearance of their former princely wealth, and the balances of the last few years. when he had just boasted to the reckless young knight that he had given up gaming, he told but half the truth, for though since his period of study in venice, and later in milan, he had not touched dice, he had been forced to consent to a series of enterprises undertaken by his father, whose stakes were far different from the gambling of the knights and nobles at the green shield or in the camp. yet he intended to bind the fate of the woman he loved to his own, for els, spite of the opposition of his family, would have been already indissolubly united to him, had not one failure after another destroyed his courage to take her hand. finally, he deemed it advisable to await the result of the last great enterprise, now on the eve of decision. it might compensate for many of the losses of recent years. should it be favourable, the heaviest burden would be lifted from his soul; in the opposite case the old house would be shaken to its foundations. yet even its fall would have been easier for him to endure than this cruel uncertainty, to which was added the torturing anxiety of bearing the responsibility of things for which he was not to blame, and of which, moreover, he was even denied a clear view. yet he felt absolutely certain that his father was concealing many things, perhaps the worst, and often felt as if he were walking in the darkness over a mouldering bridge. ah, if it could only be propped up, and then rebuilt! but if it must give way, he hoped the catastrophe would come soon. he knew that he possessed the strength to build a new home for els and himself. even were it small and modest, it should be erected on a firm foundation and afford a safe abode for its inmates. what did the young, joyous-hearted fellow who was wooing eva know of such cares? fate had placed him on the sunny side of life, where everything flourished, and set him, wolff, in the shade, where grass and flowers died. there is a magic in fame which the young soul cannot easily escape, and the name of heinz schorlin was indeed honoured and on every lip. the imagination associated with it the cheerful nature which, like a loyal comrade, goes hand in hand with success, deserved and undeserved good fortune, woman's favour, doughty deeds, the highest and strongest traits of character. an atmosphere like sunshine, which melts all opposition, emanated from heinz. wolff had experienced it himself. he had seriously intended to make the insolent intruder feel his strong arm, but since he had learned the identity of the swiss his acts and nature appeared in a new light. his insolence had gained the aspect of self-confidence which did not lack justification, and when a valiant knight talked to him so frankly, like a younger brother to an older and wiser one, it seemed to the lonely man who, of late, completely absorbed in the course of business, had held aloof from the sports, banquets, and diversions of the companions of his own age, that he had experienced something unusually pleasant. how tender and affectionate it sounded when heinz alluded to the "little mother" at home! he, wolff, on the contrary, could think only with a shade of bitterness of the weak woman to whom he owed his existence, and whom filial duty and earnest resolution alike commanded him to love, yet who made it so difficult for him to regard her with anything save anxiety or secret disapproval. perhaps the greatest advantage which the swiss possessed over him was his manner of speaking of his family. how could it ever have entered wolff eysvogel's mind to call the tall, stiff woman, who was the feeble echo of her extravagant, arrogant mother, and who rustled towards him, even in the early morning, adorned with feathers and robed in rich brocade, his "dear little mother"? whoever spoke in the warm, loving tones that fell from the lips of sir heinz when he mentioned his relatives at home certainly could have no evil nature. no one need fear, though his usual mode of speech was so wanton, that he would trifle with a pure, innocent creature like eva. how heinz had succeeded in winning so speedily the devout child, who was so averse to the idle coquetries of the companions of her own age, seemed incomprehensible, but he had no time to investigate now. he must go, for he had long been burning with impatience to depart. the declaration of peace had taken effect only a few hours before, and the long waggon trains from italy, of which he had told els yesterday, were still delayed. the freight of spices and levantine goods, milan velvets, silks, and fine florentine cloths, which they were bringing from the city of st. mark, represented a large fortune. if it arrived in time, the profits would cover a great portion of the losses of the past two years, and the house would again be secure. if the worst should befall, how would his family submit to deprivation, perhaps even to penury? he had less fear of his grandmother's outbursts of wrath, but what would become of his feeble mother, who was as dependent as a child on her own mother? yet he loved her; he felt deeply troubled by the thought of the severe humiliation which menaced her. his sister isabella, too, was dear to him, in spite of her husband, the reckless sir seitz siebenburg, in whose hands the gold paid from the coffers of the firm melted away, yet who was burdened with a mountain of debts. wolff had left orders at home to have his horse saddled. he had intended only to wave a greeting to his els and then ride to neumarkt, or, if necessary, as far as ingolstadt, to meet the wains. a word of farewell to the new acquaintance, who was probably destined to be his brother-in, law, and then--but just at that moment heinz approached, and in reply to wolff's low question "and your lady's colour?" he answered joyously, pointing to the breast of his doublet: "i am carrying the messenger which promises to inform me, here on my heart. in the darkness it was silent; but the bright moonlight yonder will loose its tongue, unless the characters here are too unlike those of the prayer-book." drawing out eva's little roll as he spoke, he approached a brightly lighted spot, pointed to the ribbon which fastened it, and exclaimed: "doubtless she used her own colour to tie it. blue, the pure, exquisite blue of her eyes! i thought so forget-me-not blue! the most beautiful of colours. you must pardon my impatience!" he was about to begin to read the lines; but wolff stopped him by pointing to the ortlieb residence and to two drunken soldiers who came out of the tavern "for thirsty troopers," and walked, singing and staggering, up the opposite side of the street. then, extending his hand to heinz in farewell, he asked in a low tone, pointing to biberli's figure just emerging from the shade, who was the messenger of love who served him so admirably. "my shadow," replied the knight. "i loosed him from my heels and bade him stand there. but no offence, herr wolff eysvogel; you'll make the queer fellow's acquaintance if, like myself, it would be agreeable to you to meet often, not only on iron chains, but on friendly terms with each other." "nothing would please me more," replied the other. "but how in the world could it happen that this well-guarded fortress surrendered to you after so short a resistance?" "heinz schorlin rides swiftly," he interrupted; but wolff exclaimed: "a swift ride awaits me, too, though of a different kind. when i return, i shall expect you to tell me how you won our 'little saint,' my sisterin-law eva. the two beautiful ortlieb 'es' are one in the eyes of the townsfolk, so we also will be often named in the same breath, and shall do well to feel brotherly regard for each other. there shall be no fault on my part. farewell, till we meet again, an' it please god in and not outside of our ladies' dwelling." while speaking he clasped the knight's hand with so firm a grasp that it seemed as if he wished to force him to feel its pressure a long time, and hastened through the frauenthor. heinz schorlin gazed thoughtfully after him a short time, then beckoned to biberli and, though the interval required for him to reach his master's side was very brief, it was sufficient for the bold young lover, tortured by his ardent longing, to form another idea. "look yonder, biberli!" he exclaimed. "the holy-water basin on the doorpost, the escutcheon on the lintel above, the helmet, which would probably bear my weight. from there i can reach the window-sill with my hand, and once i have grasped it, i need only make one bold spring and, hurrah! i'm on it." "may our patron saint have mercy on us!" cried the servant in horror. "you can get there as easily as you can spring on your two feet over two horses; but the coming down would certainly be a long distance lower than you would fancy--into the 'hole,' as they call the prison here, and, moreover, though probably not until some time later, straight to the flames of hell; for you would have committed a great sin against a noble maiden rich in every virtue, who deemed you worthy of her love. and, besides, there are two es. they occupy the same room, and the house is full of men and maid servants." "pedagogue!" said the knight, peevishly. "ay, that was biberli's calling once," replied the servant, "and, for the sake of your lady mother at home, i wish i were one still, and you, sir heinz, would have to obey me like an obedient pupil. you are well aware that i rarely use her sacred name to influence you, but i do so now; and if you cherish her in your heart and do not wish to swoop down on the innocent little dove like a destroying hawk, turn your back upon this place, where we have already lingered too long." but this well-meant warning seemed to have had brief influence upon the person to whom it was addressed. suddenly, with a joyous: "there she is!" he snatched his cap from his head and waved a greeting to the window. but in a few minutes he replaced it with a petulant gesture of the hand, saying sullenly: "vanished! she dared not grant me a greeting, because she caught sight of you." "let us thank and praise a kind providence for it," said his servitor with a sigh of relief, "since our lord and saviour assumed the form of a servant, that of a scarecrow, in which he has done admirable service, is far too noble and distinguished for biberli." as he spoke he walked on before the knight, and pointing to the tavern beside the frauenthurm whose sign bore the words "for thirsty troopers," he added: "a green bush at the door. that means, unless the host is a rogue, a cask fresh broached. i wonder whether my tongue is cleaving to my palate from dread of your over-hasty courage, or whether it is really so terribly sultry here!" "at any rate," heinz interrupted, "a cup of wine will harm neither of us; for i myself feel how oppressive the air is. besides, it is light in the tavern, and who knows what the little note will tell me." meanwhile they passed the end of st. klarengasse and went up to the green bush, which projected from the end of a pole far out into the street. soldiers in the pay of the city, and men-at-arms in the employ of the emperor and the princes who had come to attend the reichstag, were sitting over their wine in the tavern. from the ceiling hung two crossed iron triangles, forming a six-pointed star. the tallow candles burning low in their sockets, which it contained, and some pitch-pans in the corners, diffused but a dim light through the long apartment. master and man found an empty table apart from the other guests, in a niche midway down the rear wall. without heeding the brawling and swearing, the rude songs and disorderly shouts, the drumming of clenched fists upon the oak tables, the wild laughter of drunken soldiers, the giggling and screeching of bar-maids, and the scolding and imperious commands of the host, they proved that the green bush had not lied, for the wine really did come from a freshly opened cask just brought up from the cellar. but as the niche was illumined only by the tiny oil lamp burning beneath the image of the virgin, bedizened with flowers and gold and silver tinsel, fastened against the wall, biberli asked the weary bar-maid for a brighter light. when the girl withdrew he sighed heavily, saying: "o my lord, if you only knew! even now, when we are again among men and the wine has refreshed me, i feel as if rats were gnawing at my soul. conscience, my lordconscience!" "you, too, are usually quite ready to play the elf in the rose-garden of love," replied heinz gaily. "moreover, i shall soon need a t and an s embroidered on my own doublet, for----why don't they bring the light? another cup of wine, the note, and then with renewed vigour we'll go back again." "for god's sake," interrupted biberli, "do not speak, do not even think, of the bold deed you suggested! doesn't it seem like a miracle that not one of the many ortlieb and montfort servants crossed your path? even such a child of good luck as yourself can scarcely expect a second one the same evening. and if there is not, and you go back under the window, you will be recognised, perhaps even seized, and then--o my lord, consider this!--then you will bear throughout your life the reproach of having brought shame and bitter sorrow upon a maiden whom you yourself know is lovely, devout, and pure. and i, too, who serve you loyally in your lady mother's behalf, as well as the poor maid who, to pleasure me, interceded for you with her mistress, will run the risk of our lives if you are caught climbing into the window or committing any similar offence; for in this city they are prompt with the stocks, the stone collar, the rack, and the tearing of the tongue from the mouth whenever any one is detected playing the part of go-between in affairs of love." "usually, old fellow," replied heinz in a tone of faint reproach, "we considered it a matter of course that, though we took the most daring risks in such things, we were certain not to be caught. yet, to be frank, some incomprehensible burden weighs upon my soul. my feelings are confused and strange. i would rather tear the crown from the head of yonder image of the virgin than do aught to this sweet innocence for which she could not thank me." here he paused, for the bar-maid brought a two-branched candelabrum, in which burned two tallow candles. heinz instantly opened the little roll. how delicate were the characters it contained! his heart's beloved had committed them to the paper with her own hand, and the knight's blood surged hotly through his veins as he gazed at them. it seemed as though he held in his hand a portion of herself and, obeying a hasty impulse, he kissed the letter. then he eagerly began to study the writing; he had never seen anything so delicate and peculiar in form. the deciphering of the first lines in which, it is true, she called him a godly knight, but also informed him that his boldness had angered her, caused him much difficulty, and biberli was often obliged to help. would she have rebuffed him so ungraciously with her lips as with the pen? was it possible that, on account of a request which every lover ventured to address to his lady, she would withdraw the favour which rendered him so happy? oh, yes, for innocence is delicate and sensitive. she ought to have repelled him thus. he was secretly rejoiced to see the sweet modesty which had so charmed him again proved. he must know what the rest of the letter contained, and the ex-schoolmaster was at hand to give the information at once. true, the hastily written sentences presented some difficulties even for biberli, but after glancing through the whole letter, he exclaimed with a satisfied smile: "just as i expected! at the first look one might think that the devout little lady was wholly unlike the rest of her sex, but on examining more closely she proves as much like any other beautiful girl as two peas. with good reason and prudent caution she forbids the languishing knight to remain beneath her window, yet she will risk a pleasant little interview in some safe nook. that is wise for so young a girl, and at the same time natural and womanly. i don't know why you knit your brows. since the first eve came from a crooked rib, all her daughters prefer devious ways. but first hear what she writes." then, without heeding his master's gloomy face, he began to read the note aloud. heinz listened intently, and after he had heard that the lady of his love did not desire to meet him alone, but only under the protection of a friend and her saint, when he heard her name her colour, it is true, but also express the expectation that, as a godly knight, he would fight for her sake in honour of the gracious virgin, his face brightened. during biberli's scoffing comments he had felt as if a tempest had hurled her pure image in the dust. but now that he knew what she asked of him, it returned as a matter of course to its old place and, with a sigh of relief, he felt that he need not be ashamed of the emotions which this wonderful young creature had awakened in his soul. she had opened her pious heart like a trusting sister to an older brother, and what he had seen there was something unusual--things which had appeared sacred to him even when a child. since he took leave of her in the ball-room he had felt as though heaven had loaned this, its darling, to earth for but a brief space, and her brocade robe must conceal angel wings. should it surprise him that the pure innocence which filled her whole being was expressed also in her letter, if she summoned him, not to idle lovedalliance but to a covenant of souls, a mutual conflict for what was highest and most sacred? such a thing was incomprehensible to biberli; but notwithstanding her letter--nay, even on its account--he longed still more ardently to lead her home to his mother and see her receive the blessing of the woman whom he so deeply honoured. he had eva's letter read for the second and the third time. but when biberli paused, and in a few brief sentences cast fresh doubts upon the writer, heinz angrily stopped him. "the longing of the godly heart of a pure maiden--mark this well--has naught in common with that diabolical delight in secret love--dalliance for which others yearn. my wish to force my way to her was sinful, and it was punished severely enough, for during your rude scoffs i felt as though you had set fire to the house over my head. but from this i perceive in what a sacred, inviolable spot her image had found a place. true, it is denied you to follow the lofty, heavenward aspiration of a pure soul--" "o my lord," interrupted the servitor with hands uplifted in defence, "who besought you not to measure this innocent daughter of a decorous household, who was scarcely beyond childhood, by the standard you applied to others? who entreated you to spare her fair fame? and if you deem the stuff of which the servant is made too coarse to understand what moves so pure a soul, you do biberli injustice, for, by my patron saint, though duty commanded me to interpose doubts and scruples between you and a passion from which could scarcely spring aught that would bring joy to your mother's heart i, too, asked myself the question why, in these days, a devout maiden should not long to try her skill in conversion upon a valiant knight who served her. ever since st. francis of assisi appeared in italy, barefooted monks and grey-robed nuns, who follow him, franciscans and sisters of st. clare stream hither as water flows into a mill-race when the sluice-gates are opened. with what edification we, too, listened to the old minorite whom we picked up by the wayside, at the tavern where we usually found pleasure in nothing but drinking, gambling, shouting, and singing! besides, i know from my sweetheart with what exemplary devotion the lovely eva follows st. clare." "who is now and will remain my patron saint also, old biber," interrupted heinz with joyful emotion, as he laid his hand gratefully on his follower's shoulder; then rising and beckoning to the bar-maid, added: "the stuff of which you are made, old comrade, is inferior to no man's. only now and then the pedagogue plays you a trick. had you uttered your real opinion in the first place, the wine would have tasted better to us both. let eva try the work of conversion on me! what, save my lady's love, is more to me than our holy faith? it must indeed be a delight to take the field for the church and against her foes!" while speaking, he paid the reckoning and went out with biberli. the moon was now pouring her silver beams, with full radiance, over the quiet street, the linden in front of the ortlieb house, and its lofty gable roof. only a single room in the spacious mansion was still lighted, the bow-windowed one occupied by the two sisters. heinz, without heeding biberli's renewed protest, looked upward, silently imploring eva's pardon for having misjudged her even a moment. his gaze rested devoutly on the open window, behind which a curtain was stirring. was it the night breeze that almost imperceptibly raised and lowered it, or was her own dear self concealed behind it? just at that moment he suddenly felt his servant's hand on his arm, and as he followed his horror-stricken gaze, a chill ran through his own veins. from the heavy door of the house, which stood half open, a whiterobed figure emerged with the solemn, noiseless footfall of a ghost, and advanced across the courtyard towards him. was it a restless spirit risen from its grave at the midnight hour, which must be close at hand? through his brain, like a flash of lightning, darted the thought that eva had spoken to him of her invalid mother. had she died? was her wandering soul approaching him to drive him from the threshold of the house which hid her endangered child? but no! the figure had stopped before the door and now, raising its head, gazed with wide eyes upward at the moon, and--he was not mistaken--it was no spectre of darkness; it was she for whom every pulse of his heart throbbed--eva! no human creature had ever seemed to him so divinely fair as she in her long white night-robe, over which fell the thick waves of her light hair. the horror which had seized him yielded to the most ardent yearning. pressing his hand upon his throbbing heart, he watched her every movement. he longed to go forward to meet her, yet a supernatural spell seemed to paralyse his energy. he would sooner have dared clasp in his arms the image of a beautiful madonna than this embodiment of pure, helpless, gracious innocence. now she herself drew nearer, but he felt as if his will was broken, and with timid awe he drew back one step, and then another, till the chain stopped him. just at that moment she paused, stretched out her white arm with a beckoning gesture, and again turned towards the house, heinz following because he could not help it, her sign drew him after her with magnetic power. now eva entered the dimly lighted corridor, and again her uplifted hand seemed to invite him to follow. then--the impetuous throbbing of his heart almost stifled him--she set her little white foot on the first step of the stairs and led the way up to the first landing, where she paused, lifting her face to the open window, through which the moonbeams streamed into the hall, flooding her head, her figure, and every surrounding object with their soft light. heinz followed step by step. it seemed as if the wild surges of a sea were roaring in his ears, and glittering sparks were dancing before his yearning, watchful eyes. how he loved her! how intense was the longing which drew him after her! and yet another emotion stirred in his heart with still greater powergrief, sincere grief, which pierced his in, most soul, that she could have beckoned to him, permitted him to follow her, granted him what he would never have ventured to ask. nay, when he set his foot on the first step, it seemed as if the temple which contained his holiest treasure fell crashing around him, and an inner voice cried loudly: "away, away from here! would you exchange the purest and loftiest things for what tomorrow will fill you with grief and loathing?" it continued to admonish. "you will relinquish what is dearest and most sacred to secure what is ready to rush into your arms on all the high-roads. "hence, hence, you poor, deluded mortal, ere it is too late!" but even had he known it was the fair fiend venus herself moving before him under the guise of eva, the spell of her unutterable beauty would have constrained him to follow her, though the goal were the horselberg, death, and hell. on the second landing she again stood still and, leaning against a pillar, raised her arms and extended them towards the moon, in whose silvery light they gleamed like marble. heinz saw her lips move, heard his own name fall from them, and all self-control vanished. "eva!" he cried with passionate fervor, holding out his arms to clasp her; but, ere he even touched her, a shriek of despairing anguish echoed loudly back from the walls. the sound of her own name had broken the threads with which the mysterious power of the moonlight had drawn her from her couch, down through the house, out of doors, and again back to the stairs. sleep vanished with the dream which she had shared with him and, shuddering, she perceived where she was, saw the knight before her, became conscious that she had left her chamber in her night-robe, with disordered hair and bare feet; and, frantic with horror at the thought of the resistless might with which a mysterious force constrained her to obey it against her own will, deeply wounded by the painful feeling that she had been led so far across the bounds of maidenly modesty, hurt and angered by the boldness of the man before her, who had dared to follow her into her parents' house, she again raised her voice, this time to call her from whom she was accustomed to seek and find help in every situation in life. "els! els!" rang up the stairs; and the next moment els, who had already heard eva's first scream, sprang down the few steps to her sister's side. one glance at the trembling girl in her nightrobe, and at the moonlight which still bathed her in its rays, told els what had drawn eva to the stairs. the knight must have slipped into the house and found her there. she knew him and, before heinz had time to collect his thoughts, she said soothingly to her sister, who threw her arms around her as though seeking protection, "go up to your room, child!--help her, katterle. i'll come directly." while eva, leaning on the maid's arm, mounted the stairs with trembling knees, els turned to the swiss and said in a grave, resolute tone: "if you are worthy of your escutcheon, sir knight, you will not now fly like a coward from this house across whose threshold you stole with shameful insolence, but await me here until i return. you shall not be detained long. but, to guard yourself and another from misinterpretation, you must hear me." heinz nodded assent in silence, as if still under the spell of what he had recently experienced. but, ere he reached the entry below, martsche, the old housekeeper, and endres, the aged head packer, came towards him, just as they had risen from their beds, the former with a petticoat flung round her shoulders, the latter wrapped in a horse-blanket. eva's shriek had waked both, but els enjoined silence on everyone and, after telling them to go back to bed, said briefly that eva in her somnambulism had this time gone out into the street and been brought back by the knight. finally, she again said to heinz, "presently!" and then went to her sister. chapter ix. when biberli bade farewell to his sweetheart, who gave him eva's little note, he had arranged to meet her again in an hour or, if his duties detained him longer, in two; but after the "true and steadfast" fellow left her, her heart throbbed more and more anxiously, for the wrong she had done in acting as messenger between the young daughter of her employers and a stranger knight was indeed hard to forgive. instead of waiting in the kitchen or entry for her lover's return, as she had intended, she had gone to the image of the virgin at the gate of the convent of st. clare, before which she had often found consolation, especially when homesick yearning for the mountains of her native switzerland pressed upon her too sorely. this time also it had been gracious to her, for after she had prayed very devoutly and vowed to give a candle to the mother of god, as well as to st. clare, she fancied that the image smiled upon her and promised that she should go unpunished. on her return the knight had just followed eva into the house, and biberli pursued his master as far as the stairs. here katterle met her lover, but, when she learned what was occurring, she became greatly enraged and incensed by the base interpretation which the servant placed upon eva's going out into the street and, terrified by the danger into which the knight threatened to plunge them all, she forgot the patience and submission she was accustomed to show the true and steadfast biberli. but--resolved to protect her young mistress from the presumptuous knightscarcely had she angrily cried shame upon her lover for this base suspicion, protesting that eva had never gone to seek a knight but, as she had often done on bright moonlight nights, walked in her sleep down the stairs and out of doors, when the young girl's shriek of terror summoned her to her aid. biberli looked after her sullenly, meanwhile execrating bitterly enough the wild love which had robbed his master of reason and threatened to hurl him, biberli, and even the innocent katterle, whose brave defence of her mistress had especially pleased him, into serious misfortune. when old endres appeared he had slipped behind a wall formed of bales heaped one above another, and did not stir until the entry was quiet again. to his amazement he had then found his master standing beside the door of the house, but his question--which, it is true, was not wholly devoid of a shade of sarcasm--whether the knight was waiting for the return of his sleep-walking sweetheart, was so harshly rebuffed that he deemed it advisable to keep silence for a time. though heinz schorlin had perceived that he had followed an unconscious somnambulist, he was not yet capable of calmly reflecting upon what had occurred or of regarding the future with prudence. he knew one thing only: the fear was idle that the lovely creature whose image, surrounded by a halo of light, still hovered before him like a vision from a higher, more beautiful world, was an unworthy person who, with a face of angelic innocence, transgressed the laws of custom and modesty. her shriek of terror, her horror at seeing him, and the cry for help which had brought her sister to her aid and roused the servants from their sleep, gave him the right to esteem her as highly as ever; and this conviction fanned into such a blaze the feeling of happiness which love had awakened and his foolish distrust had already begun to stifle, that he was firmly resolved, cost what it might, to make eva his own. after he had reached this determination he began to reflect more quietly. what cared he for liberty and a rapid advance in the career upon which he had entered, if only his future life was beautified by her love! if he were required to woo her in the usual form, he would do so. and what a charming yet resolute creature was the other e, who, in her anxiety about her sister, had crossed his path with such grave, firm dignity! she was wolff eysvogel's betrothed bride, and it seemed to him a very pleasant thing to call the young man, whom he had so quickly learned to esteem, his brother-in-law. if the father refused his daughter to him, he would leave nuremberg and ride to the rhine, where hartmann, the emperor rudolph's son, whom he loved like a younger brother, was now living. heinz had instructed the lad of eighteen in the use of the lance and the sword, and hartmann had sent him word the day before that the rhine was beautiful, but without him he but half enjoyed even the pleasantest things. he needed him. hundreds of other knights and squires could break in the new horses for the emperor and the young bohemian princess, though perhaps not quite so skilfully. hartmann would understand him and persuade his imperial father to aid him in his suit. the warmhearted youth could not bear to see him sorrowful, and without eva there was no longer joy or happiness. he was roused from these thoughts and dreams by his own name called in a low tone. katterle had gone with eva to the chamber, whither the older sister followed them. tenderly embracing the weeping girl, she had kissed her wet eyes and whispered in an agitated voice, with which, however, blended a great deal of affectionate mischief: "the wolf who forced his way into the house does not seem quite so harmless as mine, whom i have succeeded in taming very tolerably. go to mother now, darling. i'll be back directly." "what do you intend to do?" asked eva timidly, still unable, under the influence of her strange experiences, to regain her self-control. "to look around the house," replied her sister, beckoning to katterle to accompany her. in the entry she questioned the maid with stern decision, and the trembling girl owned, amid her tears, that eva had sent a little note to the knight in reply to his request that she would name her colour, and whatever else her anxious mistress desired hastily to learn. after a threatening "we will discuss your outrageous conduct later," els hurried down-stairs, and found in the entry the man whose pleasure in the pursuit of the innocent child whom she protected she meant to spoil. but though she expressed her indignation to the knight with the utmost harshness, he besought a hearing with so much respect and in such seemly words, that she requested him, in a gentler tone, to speak freely. but scarcely had he begun to relate how eva, at the ball, had filled his heart with the purest love, when the trampling of horses' hoofs, which had come nearer and nearer to the house, suddenly ceased, and biberli, who had gone into the court-yard, came hurrying back, exclaiming in a tone of warning, "the von montforts!" at the same moment two men-servants threw back both leaves of the door, torchlight mingled with the moonbeams in the courtyard, and the next instant a goodly number of knights and gentlemen entered the hall. biberli was not mistaken. the von montforts had returned home, instead of spending the night at kadolzburg, and neither els nor the swiss had the time or disposition to seek concealment. the intruders were preceded by men-servants, whose torches lighted the long, lofty storehouse brilliantly. it seemed to els as if her heart stopped beating and she felt her cheeks blanch. here she beheld count von montfort's bronzed face, the countenance of a sportsman and reveller; yonder the frank, handsome features of the young burgrave, eitelfritz von zollern, framed by the hood of the knights of st. john, drawn up during the night-ride; there the pale, noble visage of the quiet knight boemund altrosen, far famed for his prowess with lance and sword; beyond, the scarred, martial countenance of count casper schlick, set in a mass of tangled brown locks; and then the watery, blue eyes of sir seitz siebenburg, the husband of her future sister-in-law isabella. they had pressed in, talking eagerly, laughing, and rejoicing that the wild night ride proposed by cordula von montfort, which had led over dark forest paths, lighted only by a stray moonbeam, and often across fields and ditches and through streams, had ended without mischance to man or beast. now they all crowded around the countess, seitz siebenburg bending towards her with such zeal that the ends of his huge mustache brushed the plumes in her cap, and boemund altrosen, who had just been gazing into the flushed face of the daring girl with the warm joy of true love, cast a look of menace at him. els, too, greatly disliked "the mustache," as her future brotherin-law was called because the huge ornament on his upper lip made him conspicuous among the beardless knights. she was aware that he returned the feeling, and had left no means untried to incite wolff eysvogel's parents to oppose his betrothal. now he was one of the first to notice her and, after whispering with a malicious smile to the countess and those nearest to him, he looked at her so malevolently that she could easily guess what interpretation he was trying to put upon her nocturnal meeting with the swiss in the eyes of his companions. her cheeks flamed with wrath, and like a flash of lightning came the thought of the pleasure it would afford this wanton company, whose greatest delight was to gloat over the errors of their neighbours, if the knight who had brought her into this suspicious situation, or she herself, should confess that not she, but the devout eva, had attracted heinz hither. what a satisfaction it would be to this reckless throng to tell such a tale of a young girl of whom the burgravine von zollern had said the evening before to their uncle pfinzing, that purity and piety had chosen eva's lovely face for a mirror! what if heinz schorlin, to save her, els, from evil report, should confess that she was here only to rebuke his insolent intrusion into a decorous household? this must be prevented, and heinz seemed to understand her; for after their eyes had met, his glance of helpless enquiry told her that he would leave her to find an escape from this labyrinth. the merry party, who now perceived that they had interrupted the nocturnal tryst of lovers, did not instantly know what to do and, as one looked enquiringly at another, an embarrassed silence followed their noisy jollity. but the hush did not last long, and its interruption at first seemed to els to bode the worst result; it was a peal of gay, reckless laughter, ringing from the lips of the very cordula von montfort, into whose eyes, as the only one of her own sex who was present, els had just gazed with a look imploring aid. had eva's aversion to the countess been justified, and was she about to take advantage of her unpleasant position to jeer at her? had the two quarreled at the ball the night before, and did cordula now perceive an opportunity to punish the younger sister by the humiliation of the older one? yet her laugh sounded by no means spiteful--rather, very gay and natural. the pleasant grey eyes sparkled with the most genuine mirth, and she clapped her little hands so joyously that the falcon's chain on the gauntlet of her riding glove rattled. and what was this? no one looks at a person whom one desires to wound with an expression of such cheerful encouragement as the look with which cordula now gazed at els and heinz schorlin, who stood by her side. true, they were at first extremely perplexed by the words she now shouted to those around her in a tone of loud exultation, as though announcing a victory; but from the beginning they felt that there was no evil purpose in them. soon they even caught the real meaning of the countess's statement, and els was ashamed of having feared any injury from the girl whose defender she had always been. "won, sir knight--cleverly won!" was her first sentence to heinz. then, turning to els, she asked with no less animation: "and you, my fair maid and very strict housemate, who has won the wager now? do you still believe it is an inconceivable thought that the modest daughter of a decorous nuremberg race, entitled to enter the lists of a tourney, would grant a young knight a midnight meeting? "and addressing her companions, she continued, in an explanatory yet still playful tone: "she was ready to wager the beautiful brown locks which she now hides modestly under a kerchief, and even her betrothed lover's ring. it should be mine if i succeeded in leading her to commit such an abominable deed. but i was content, if i won the wager, with a smaller forfeit; yet now that i have gained it, jungfrau ortlieb, you must pay!" the whole company listened in astonishment to this speech, which no one understood, but the countess, nodding mischievously to her nearest neighbours, went on: "how bewildered you all look! it might tempt me to satisfy your curiosity less speedily, but, after the delightful entertainment you gave us, my lord burgrave, one becomes merciful. so you shall hear how i, as wise as the serpent, craftily forced this haughty knight"--she tapped heinz schorlin's arm with her riding whip--"and you, too, jungfrau ortlieb, whose pardon i now entreat, to help me win the bet. no offence, noble sirs! but this bet was what compelled me to drag you all from kadolzburg and its charms so early, and induce you to attend me on the reckless ride through the moonlit night. now accept the thanks of a lady whose heart is grateful; for your obedience helped me win the wager. look yonder at my handsome, submissive knight, sir heinz schorlin, so rich in every virtue. i commanded, him, on pain of my anger, to meet me at midnight at the entrance of our quarters--that is, the entry of the ortlieb mansion; and to this modest and happy betrothed bride (may she pardon the madcap!) i represented how it troubled me and wounded my timid delicacy to enter so late at night, accompanied only by gentlemen, the house which so hospitably sheltered us, and go to my sleeping room, though i should not fear the sultan and his mamelukes, if with this in my hand"--she motioned to her riding whip--"and my dear father at my side, i stood on my own feet which, though by no means small, are well-shod and resolute. yet, as we are apt to measure others by our own standard, the timid, decorous girl believed me, and poor cordula, who indeed brought only her maids and no female guardian, and therefore must dispense with being received on her return by a lady capable of commanding respect, did not appeal in vain to the charitable feelings of her beautiful housemate. she promised faithfully to come down into the entry, when the horses approached, to receive the poor lamb, surrounded by lynxes, wild-cats, foxes, and wolves, and lead it into the safe fold--if one can call this stately house by such a name. both sir heinz schorlin and jungfrau elizabeth ortlieb kept their word and joined each other here--to their extreme amazement, i should suppose, as to my knowledge they never met before--to receive me, and thus had an interview which, however loudly they may contradict it, i call a nocturnal meeting. but my wager, fair child, is won, and tomorrow you will deliver to me the exquisite carved ivory casket, while i shall keep my bracelet." here she paused, paying no heed to the merry threats, exclamations of amazement, and laughter of her companions. but while her father, striking his broad chest, cried again and again, with rapturous delight, "a paragon of a woman!" and seitz siebenburg, in bitter disappointment, whispered, "the fourteen saintly helpers in time of need might learn from you how to draw from the clamps what is not worth rescue and probably despaired of escape," she was trying to give time to recover more composure her young hostess, to whom she was sincerely attached, and who, she felt sure, could have met heinz schorlin, who perhaps had come hither on her own account, only by some cruel chance. so she added in a quieter tone: "and now, jungfrau ortlieb, in sober earnest i will ask your protection and guidance through the dark house, and meanwhile you shall tell me how sir heinz greeted you and what passed between you, either good or bad, during the time of waiting." els summoned up her courage and answered loud enough to be heard by all present: "we were speaking of you, countess cordula, and the knight said: "i ventured to remark, countess," said heinz, interrupting the new ally, "that though you might understand how to show a poor knight his folly, no kinder heart than yours throbbed under any bodice in switzerland, swabia, or france." cordula struck him lightly on the shoulder with her riding whip, saying with a laugh: "who permits you to peep under women's bodices through so wide a tract of country, you scamp? had i been in jungfrau ortlieb's place i should have punished your entry into a respectable house: "oh, my dear countess," heinz interrupted, and his words bore so distinctly the stamp of truth and actual experience that even sir seitz siebenburg was puzzled, "though i am always disposed to be grateful to you, i cannot feel a sense of obligation for this lady's reception of me, even to the most gracious benefactress. for, by my patron saint, she forbade me the house as if i were a thief and a burglar." "and she was right!" exclaimed the countess. "i would have treated you still more harshly. only you would have spared yourself many a sharp word had you confessed at once that it was i who summoned you here. i'll talk with you tomorrow, and am i not right, jungfrau elsyou won't make him suffer for losing the wager, but exercise your domestic authority after a more gentle fashion?" while speaking, she looked at els with a glance so full of meaning that the young girl's cheeks crimsoned, and the longing to put an end to this deceitful game became almost uncontrollable. the thought of eva alone sealed her lips. this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] margery by georg ebers volume 6. chapter vi. shall i now set forth how that ann and i found herdegen in his hidingplace, 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 deathblow 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 statematters, 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 vicargeneral 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 nameday. 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 "snowwhite 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 illrepaid 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 twentysecond 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 bestbeloved 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 selfaccusings 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 tradinghouse 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 servingmen 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 wildcat 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 housekeeper came in, and that chased sleep away. i thought i had seen ann lead ugly old uhlwurm to the window, and stroke down his rough cheeks with her soft small hand. this being all unlike her wonted timid modesty, it amused me all the more, and the old man's demeanor likewise had made me smile; he was surly, and notwithstanding courteous to her and had said to her i know not what. now, when i was wide-awake, ann had indeed departed, and the house-wife had seen her quit the house and walk towards the stables, following old uhlwurm. hereupon a strange unrest fell upon me, and when kubbeling presently answered to my questioning that old uhlwurm had craved leave to be absent till noon, to the end that he might go to the very spot where they had found eppelein, and make search for that letter which he doubtless had had on his person, i plainly saw wherefor ann had beguiled the old man. etext editor's bookmarks: forty or fifty, when most women only begin to be wicked shadow which must ever fall where there is light woman who might win the love of a highly-gifted soul (pays for it) this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] margery by georg ebers volume 5. 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 rightreverend 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 marketplace 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 knightsall 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 grandmaster 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 overweariness. 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 joustingplace 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 pomegranatered 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 housedoor 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 towncouncillor; 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 granduncle, 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 skilfullydevised 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 wellnigh 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 windingsheet. 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 whereever 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 armchair 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 lovesick 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 overbearing 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-atarms, 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. etext editor's bookmarks: all things were alike to me fruits and pies and sweetmeats for the little ones at home were we not one and all born fools this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] in the fire of the forge a romance of old nuremberg by georg ebers volume 4. chapter xv. the city gates were already open. peasants and peasant women bringing vegetables and other farm produce to market thronged the streets, wains loaded with grain or charcoal rumbled along, and herds of cattle and swine, laden donkeys, the little carts of the farmers and bee keepers conveying milk and honey to the city, passed over the dyke, which was still softened by the rain of the preceding night. the thunderstorm had cooled the air, but the rays of the morning sun were already scorching. a few heavy little clouds were darkly relieved against the blue sky, and a peasant, driving two sucking pigs before him, called to another, who was carrying a goose under each arm, that the sun was drawing water, and thundershowers seldom came singly. yet the city looked pleasant enough in the freshness of early june. the maidservants who were opening the shutters glanced gaily out into the streets, and arranged the flowers in front of the windows or bowed reverently as a priest passed by on his way to mass. the barefooted capuchin, with his long beard, beckoned to the cook or the tradesman's wife and, as she put something into his beggar's sack and he thanked her kindly with some pious axiom, she felt as if she herself and all her household had gained a right to the blessing of heaven for that day, and cheerily continued her work. the brass counter in the low, broad bow window of the baker's house glittered brightly, and the pale apprentice wiped the flour from his face and gave his master's rosy-cheeked daughter fresh warm cakes to set on the shining shelves. the barber's nimble apprentice hung the towel and basin at the door, while his master, wearied by the wine-bibbing and talk at the tavern or his labour at the fire, was still asleep. his active wife had risen before him, strewed the shop with fresh sand, and renewed the goldfinch's food. the workshops and stores were adorned with birch branches, and the young daughters of the burghers, in becoming caps, the maid servants and apprentices, who were going to market with baskets on their arms, wore a flower or something green on their breasts or in their caps. the first notes of the bells, pealing solemnly, were summoning worshippers to mass, the birds were singing in the garden, and the cocks were crowing in the yards of the houses. the animals passing in the street lowed, grunted, and cackled merrily in the dawn of the young day. gay young men, travelling students who had sought cheap quarters in the country, now entered the city with a merry song on their lips just shaded by the first down of manhood, and when a maiden met them she lowered her eyes modestly before the riotous fellows. the terrors of the frightful thunderstorm seemed forgotten. nuremberg looked gladsome; a carpet hung from many a bow-window, and flags and streamers fluttered from roofs and balconies to honour the distinguished guests. many signs of their presence were visible, squires and equerries, in their masters' colours, were riding spirited horses, and a few knights who loved early rising were already in the saddle, their shining helmets and coats of mail flashing brightly in the sunshine. the gigantic figure of sir seitz siebenburg moved with drooping head through the budding joy of this june day towards the eysvogel dwelling. his gloomy, haggard face and disordered attire made two neatly dressed young shoemaker's apprentices, on their way to their work, nudge each other and look keenly at him. "i'd rather meet him here in broad daylight among houses and people than in the dusk on the highway," remarked one of them. "there's no danger," replied the other. "he wears the curb now. he moved from the robber nest into the rich eysvogel house opposite. that's herr casper's son-in-law. but such people can never let other folks' property alone. only here they work in another way. the shoes he wears were made in our workshop, but the master still whistles for his pay, and he owes everybody--the tailor, the lacemaker, the armourer, the girdlemaker, and the goldsmith. if an apprentice reminds him of the debt, let him beware of bruises." "the emperor rudolph ought to issue an edict against such injustice!" wrathfully exclaimed the other and taller youth, the handsome son of a master of the craft from weissenburg on the sand, who expected soon to take his father's place. "up at castle graufels, which is saddled on our little town, master and man would be going barefoot but for us; yet for three years we haven't seen so much as a penny of his, though my father says times have already improved, since the hapsburg, as a just man----" "things have not been so bad here for a long while, the saints be praised!" his companion broke in. "siebenburg, or some of his wife's rich kindred, will at last be compelled to settle matters. we have the law and the honourable council to attend to that. look up! yonder stately old house gave its daughter to the penniless knight. she is one of our customers too; a handsome woman, and not one of the worst either. but her mother, who was born a countess--if the shoe doesn't make a foot small which nature created big, there's such an outcry! true, the old woman, her mother, is worse still; she scolds and screams. but look up at the bow window. there she stands. i'm only a poor brewer's son, but before i----" "you don't say so!" the other interrupted. have you seen the owl in the cage in front of the guardhouse at the gate of the hospital? it is her living image; and how her chin projects and moves up and down, as though she were chewing leather!" "and yet," said the other, as if insisting upon something difficult to believe, "and yet the old woman is a real countess." the weissenburg apprentice expressed his astonishment with another: "you don't say so!" but as he spoke he grasped his companion's arm, adding earnestly: "let us go. that ugly old woman just looked at me, and if it wasn't the evil eye i shall go straight to the church and drive away the misfortune with holy water." "come, then," answered the nuremberg youth, but continued thoughtfully: "yet my master's grandmother, a woman of eighty, is probably older than the one up there, but nobody could imagine a kinder, pleasanter dame. when she looks approvingly at one it seems as if the dear god's blessing were shining from two little windows." "that's just like my grandmother at home!" exclaimed the weissenburg apprentice with sparkling eyes. turning from the eysvogel mansion as they spoke, they pursued their way. siebenburg had overtaken the apprentices, but ere crossing the threshold of the house which was now his home he stopped before it. it might, perhaps, be called the largest and handsomest in nuremberg; but it was only a wide two-story structure, though the roof had been adorned with battlements and the sides with a small bow-windowed turret. at the second story a bracket, bearing an image of the madonna, had been built out on one side, and on the other the bow window from which old countess rotterbach had looked down into the street. the coat of arms was very striking and wholly out of harmony with the simplicity of the rest of the building. its showy splendour, visible for a long distance, occupied the wide space between the door of the house and the windows of the upper story. the escutcheon of the noble family from which rosalinde, herr casper's wife, had descended rested against the shield bearing the birds. the rotterbach supporters, a nude man and a bear standing on its hind legs, rose on both sides of the double escutcheon, and the stone cutter had surmounted the eysvogel helmet with a count's coronet. this elaborate decoration of the ancient patrician house had become one of the sights of the city, and had often made herr casper, at the honourable council and elsewhere, clench his fist under his mantle, for it had drawn open censure and bitter mockery upon the arrogant man, but his desire to have it replaced by a more modest one had been baffled by the opposition of the women of his family. they had had it put up, and would not permit any one to touch it, though wolff, after his return from italy, had strenuously urged its removal. it had brought the eysvogels no good fortune, for on the day of its completion the business received its first serious blow, and it also served to injure the commercial house externally in a very obvious manner. whereas formerly many wares which needed to be kept dry had been hoisted from the outer door and the street to the spacious attic, this was now prevented by the projecting figures of the nude men and the bears. therefore it became necessary to hoist the goods to be stored in the attic from the courtyard, which caused delay and hindrances of many kinds. various expedients had been suggested, but the women opposed them all, for they were glad that the ugly casks and bales no longer found their way to the garret past their windows, and it also gratified their arrogance that they were no longer visible from the street. siebenburg now looked up at the huge escutcheon and recalled the day when, after having been specially favoured by isabella eysvogel at a dance in the town hall, he had paused in the same place. a long line of laden waggons had just stopped in front of the door surmounted by the double escutcheon, and if he had previously hesitated whether to profit by the favour of isabella, whose haughty majesty, which attracted him, also inspired him with a faint sense of uneasiness, he was now convinced how foolish it would be not to forge the iron which seemed aglow in his favour. what riches the men-servants were carrying into the vaulted entry, which was twice as large as the one in the ortlieb mansion! besides, the escutcheon with the count's coronet had given the knight assurance that he would have no cause to be ashamed, in an assembly of his peers, of his alliance with the nuremberg maiden. isabella's hand could undoubtedly free him from the oppressive burden of his debts, and she was certainly a magnificent woman! how well, too, her tall figure would suit him and the siebenburgs, whose name was said to be derived from the seven feet of stature which some of them measured! now he again remembered the hour when she had laid her slender hand in his. for a brief period he had been really happy; his heart had not felt so light since early childhood, though at first he had ventured to confess only one half his load of debt to his father-in-law. he had even assumed fresh obligations to relieve his brothers from their most pressing cares. they had attended his brilliant wedding, and it had flattered his vanity to show them what he could accomplish as the wealthy eysvogel's son-in-law. but how quickly all this had changed! he had learned that, besides the woman who had given him her heart and inspired him with a passion hitherto unknown, he had wedded two others. now, as the image of old countess rotterbach, isabella's grandmother, forced itself upon his mind, he unconsciously knit his brow. he had not heard her say much, but with every word she bestowed upon him he was forced to accept something bitter. she rarely left her place in the armchair in the bow window in the sitting-room, but it seemed as if her little eyes possessed the power of piercing walls and doors, for she knew everything that concerned him, even his greatest secrets, which he believed he had carefully concealed. more on her account than on that of his mother-in-law, who did nothing except what the former commanded, he had repeatedly tried to remove with his wife to the estate of tannenreuth, which had been assigned to him on the day of the marriage, that its revenues might support the young couple, but the mother and grandmother detained his wife, and their wishes were more to her than his. perhaps, however, he might have induced her to go with him had not his father-in-law made his debts a snare, which he drew whenever it was necessary to stifle his wishes, and he, too, wanted to retain his daughter at home. since wolff's return from italy he had become aware that the stream of gold from the eysvogel coffers flowed more sparingly, or even failed altogether to satisfy his extravagant tastes. therefore his relations with his brother-in-law, whose prudent caution he considered avarice, and whose earnest protests against his often unprecedented demands frequently roused his ire, became more and more unfriendly. the inmates of the eysvogel house rendered his home unendurable, and from the experiences of his bachelor days he knew only too well where mirth reigned in nuremberg. so he became a rare guest at the eysvogels, and when isabella found herself neglected and deceived, she made him feel her resentment in her own haughty and--as soon as she deemed herself injured --harsh manner. at first her displeasure troubled him sorely, but the ardent passion which had absorbed him during the early days of their marriage had died out, and only flamed up with its old fervour occasionally; but at such times the haughty, neglected wife repulsed him with insulting severity. yet she had never permitted any one to disparage her husband behind his back. true, siebenburg did not know this, but he perceived more and more plainly that both the eysvogels, father and son, were oppressed by some grave anxiety, and that the sums which wolff now paid him no longer sufficed to hold his creditors in check. he was not accustomed to impose any restraint upon himself, and thus it soon became known throughout the city that he did not live at peace with his wife and her family. yet five weeks ago matters had appeared to improve. the birth of the twins had brought something new into his life, which drew him nearer to isabella. the children at first seemed to him two lovely miracles. both boys, both exactly like him. when they were brought to him on their white, lacetrimmed pillows, his heart had swelled with joy, and it was his greatest delight to gaze at them. this was the natural result. he, the stalwart siebenburg, had not become the father of one ordinary boy, but of two little knights at once. when he returned home--even if his feet were unsteady--his first visit was to them, and he had often felt that he was far too poor and insignificant to thank his neglected wife aright for so precious a gift. whenever this feeling took possession of him he expressed his love to isabella with tender humility; while she, who had bestowed her hand upon him solely from love, forgot all her wrongs, and her heart throbbed faster with grateful joy when she saw him, with fatherly pride, carry the twins about with bent knees, as if their weight was too heavy for his giant arms to bear. the second week after their birth isabella fell slightly ill. her mother and grandmother undertook the nursing, and as the husband found them both with the twins whenever he came to see the infants and their mother, the sick-room grew distasteful to him. again, as before their birth, he sought compensation outside of the house for the annoyance caused by the women at home; but the memory of the little boys haunted him, and when he met his companions at the tavern he invited them to drink the children's health in the host's best wine. so life went on until the reichstag brought the von montforts, whom he had met at a tournament in augsburg, to the city of nuremberg. mirth reigned wherever countess cordula appeared, and siebenburg needed amusement and joined the train of her admirers--with what evil result he now clearly perceived for the first time. he again stood before the stately dwelling where he had hoped to find luxury and wealth, but where his heart now throbbed more anxiously than those of his kinsmen had formerly done in the impoverished castle of his father, who had died so long ago. the eysvogel dwelling, with its showy escutcheon above the door, was threatened by want, and hand in hand with it, he knew, the most hideous of all her children--disgrace. now he also remembered what he himself had done to increase the peril menacing the ancient commercial house. perhaps the old man within was relying upon the estate of tannenreuth, which he had assigned to him, to protect some post upon which much depended, and he had gambled it away. this must now be confessed, and also the amount of his own debts. an unpleasant task confronted him but, humiliating and harassing as was the interview awaiting him beyond the threshold before which he still lingered, at least he would not find wolff there. this seemed a boon, since for the first time he would have felt himself in the wrong in the presence of his unloved brother-in-law. even the burden of his debts weighed less heavily on his conscience than the irritating words with which he had induced his father-in-law to break off wolff's betrothal to els ortlieb. the act was base and malicious. greatly as he had erred, he had never before been guilty of such a deed, and with a curse upon himself on his bearded lips he approached the door; but when half way to it he stopped again and looked up to the second-story windows behind which the twins slept. with what delight he had always thought of them! but this time the recollection of the little boys was spoiled by countess cordula's message to his wife to rear them so that they would not be like him, their father. an evil wish! and yet the warmest love could have devised no better one in behalf of the true welfare of the boys. he told himself so as he passed beneath the escutcheon through the heavy open door with its iron ornaments. he was expected, the steward told him, but he arched his broad breast as if preparing for a wrestling match, pulled his mustache still longer, and went up the stairs. chapter xvi. the spacious, lofty sitting-room which seitz siebenburg entered looked very magnificent. gay flanders tapestries hung on the walls. the ceiling was slightly vaulted, and in the centre of each mesh of the net designed upon it glittered a richly gilded kingfisher from the family coat of arms. bear and leopard skins lay on the cushions, and upon the shelf which surrounded three sides of the apartment stood costly vases, gold and silver utensils, venetian mirrors and goblets. the chairs and furniture were made of rare woods inlaid with ebony and mother of pearl, brought by way of genoa from moorish spain. in the bow window jutting out into the street, where the old grandmother sat in her armchair, two green and yellow parrots on brass perches interrupted the conversation, whenever it grew louder, with the shrill screams of their ugly voices. siebenburg found all the family except wolff and the twins. his wife was half sitting, half reclining, on a divan. when seitz entered she raised her head from the white arm on which it had rested, turned her oval face with its regular features towards him, and gathered up the fair locks which, released from their braids, hung around her in long, thick tresses. her eyes showed that she had been weeping violently, and as her husband approached she again sobbed painfully. her grandmother seemed annoyed by her lamentations for, pointing to isabella's tears, she exclaimed sharply, glancing angrily at siebenburg: "it's a pity for every one of them!" the knight's blood boiled at the words, but they strengthened his courage. he felt relieved from any consideration for these people, not one of whom, except the poor woman shedding such burning tears, had given him occasion to return love for love. had they flowed only for the lost wealth, and not for him and the grief he caused isabella, they would not have seemed "a pity" to the old countess. siebenburg's breath came quicker. the gratitude he owed his father-in-law certainly did not outweigh the humiliations with which he, his weak wife, and ill-natured mother-in-law had embittered his existence. even now the old gentleman barely vouchsafed him a greeting. after he had asked about his son, called himself a ruined man, and upbraided the knight with insulting harshness because his brothers--the news had been brought to him a short time before--were the robbers who had seized his goods, and the old countess had chimed in with the exclamation, "they are all just fit for the executioner's block!" seitz could restrain himself no longer; nay, it gave him actual pleasure to show these hated people what he had done, on his part, to add to their embarrassments. he was no orator, but now resentment loosened his tongue, and with swift, scornful words he told herr casper that, as the son-in-law of a house which liked to represent itself as immensely rich, he had borrowed from others what-he was justified in believing it--had been withheld through parsimony. besides, his debts were small in comparison with the vast sums herr casper had lavished in maintaining the impoverished estates of the rotterbach kindred. like every knight whose own home was not pleasant, he sometimes gambled; and when, yesterday, ill luck pursued him and he lost the estate of tannenreuth, he sincerely regretted the disaster, but it could not be helped. terror and rage had sealed the old countess's lips, but now they parted in the hoarse cry: "you deserve the wheel and the gallows, not the honourable block!" and her daughter, rosalinde eysvogel, repeated in a tone of sorrowful lamentation, "yes, the wheel and the gallows." a scornful laugh from siebenburg greeted the threat, but when herr casper, white as death and barely able to control his voice, asked whether this incredible confession was merely intended to frighten the women, and the knight assured him of the contrary, he groaned aloud: "then the old house must succumb to disgraceful ruin." years of life spent together may inspire and increase aversion instead of love, but they undoubtedly produce a certain community of existence. the bitter anguish of his aged household companion, the father of his wife, to whom bonds of love still unsevered united him, touched even seitz siebenburg. besides, nothing moves the heart more quickly than the grief of a proud, stern man. herr casper's confession did not make him dearer to the knight, but it induced him to drop the irritating tone which he had assumed, and in an altered voice he begged him not to give up his cause as lost without resistance. for his daughter's sake old herr ortlieb must lend his aid. els, with whom he had just spoken, would cling firmly to wolff, and try to induce her father to do all that was possible for her lover's house. he would endeavour to settle with his own creditors himself. his sharp sword and strong arm would be welcome everywhere, and the booty he won--- here he was interrupted by the grandmother's query in a tone of cutting contempt: "booty? on the highway, do you mean?" once more the attack from the hostile old woman rendered the knight's decision easier, for, struggling not to give way to his anger, he answered: "rather, i think, in the holy land, in the war against the infidel saracens. at any rate, my presence would be more welcome anywhere than in this house, whose roof shelters you, countess. if, herr casper, you intend to share with my wife and the twins what is left after the old wealth has gone, unfortunately, i cannot permit you to do so. i will provide for them also. true, it was your duty; for ever since isabella became my wife you have taken advantage of my poverty and impaired my right to command her. that must be changed from this very day. i have learned the bitter taste of the bread which you provide. i shall confide them to my uncle, the knight heideck. he was my dead mother's only brother, and his wife, as you know, is the children's godmother. they are childless, and would consider it the most precious of gifts to have such boys in the castle. my deserted wife must stay with him, while i--i know not yet in what master's service--provide that the three are not supported only by the charity of strangers---" "oh, seitz, seitz!" interrupted isabella, in a tone of urgent entreaty. she had risen from her cushions, and was hurrying towards him. "do not go! you must not go so!" her tall figure nestled closely against him as she spoke, and she threw her arms around his neck; but he kissed her brow and eyes, saying, with a gentleness which surprised even her: "you are very kind, but i cannot, must not remain here." "the children, the little boys!" she exclaimed again, gazing up at him with love-beaming eyes. then his tortured heart seemed to shrink, and, pressing his hand on his brow, he paused some time ere he answered gloomily: "it is for them that i go. words have been spoken which appeal to me, and to you, too, isabella: 'see that the innocent little creatures are reared to be unlike their unhappy father.' and the person who uttered them----" "a sage, a great sage," giggled the countess, unable to control her bitter wrath against the man whom she hated; but siebenburg fiercely retorted: "although no sage, at least no monster spitting venom." "and you permit this insult to be offered to your grandmother?" frau rosalinde eysvogel wailed to her daughter as piteously as if the injury had been inflicted on herself. but isabella only clung more closely to her husband, heeding neither her mother's appeal nor her father's warning not to be deluded by siebenburg's empty promises. while the old countess vainly struggled for words, rosalinde eysvogel stood beside the lofty mantelpiece, weeping softly. before siebenburg appeared, spite of the early hour and the agitating news which she had just received, she had used her leisure for an elaborate toilette. a long trailing robe of costly brocade, blue on the left side and yellow on the right, now floated around her tall figure. when the knight returned she had looked radiant in her gold and gems, like a princess. now, crushed and feeble, she presented a pitiable image of powerless yet offensively hollow splendour. it would have required too much exertion to assail her son-in-law with invectives, like her energetic mother; but when she saw her daughter, to whom she had already appealed several times in a tone of anguished entreaty, rest her proud head so tenderly on her husband's broad breast, as she had done during the first weeks of their marriage, but never since, the unhappy woman clearly perceived that the knight's incredible demand was meant seriously. what she had believed an idle boast he actually requested. yonder hated intruder expected her to part with her only daughter, who was far more to her than her unloved husband, her exacting mother, or the son who restricted her wishes, whom she had never understood, and against whom her heart had long been hardened. but it could not be and, losing all self-control and dignity, she shrieked aloud, tore the blue headband from her hair and, repeating the "never" constantly as if she had gone out of her senses, gasped: "never, never, never, so long as i live!" as she spoke she rushed to her startled husband, pointed to her son-inlaw, who still held his wife in a close embrace, and in a half-stifled voice commanded herr casper to strike down the gambler, robber, spendthrift, and kidnapper of children, or drive him out of the house like some savage, dangerous beast. then she ordered isabella to leave the profligate who wanted to drag her down to ruin; and when her daughter refused to obey, she burst into violent weeping, sobbing and moaning till her strength failed and she was really attacked with one of the convulsions she had often feigned, by the advice of her own mother, to extort from her husband the gratification of some extravagant wish. indignant, yet full of sincere sympathy, herr casper supported his wife, whose queenly beauty had once fired his heart, and in whose embrace he had imagined that he would be vouchsafed here below the joys of the redeemed. as she rested her head, with its long auburn tresses, still so luxuriant, upon his shoulder, exquisite pictures of the past rose before the mental vision of the elderly man; but the spell was quickly broken, for the kerchief with which he wiped her face was dyed red from her rouged cheeks. a bitter smile hovered around his well-formed, beardless lips, and the man of business remembered the vast sums which he had squandered to gratify the extravagant wishes of the mother and daughter, and show these countesses that he, the burgher, in whose veins ran noble blood, understood as well as any man of their own rank how to increase the charm of life by luxury and splendour. while he supported his wife, and the old countess was seeking to relieve her, isabella also prepared to hasten to her mother's assistance, but her husband stopped her with resistless strength, whispering: "you know that these convulsions are not dangerous. come with me to the children. i want to bid them farewell. show me in this last hour, at least, that these women are not more to you than i." he released her as he spoke, and the mental struggle which for a short time made her bosom heave violently with her hurried breathing ended with a low exclamation, "i will come." the nurse, whom isabella sent out of the room when she entered with her husband, silently obeyed, but stopped at the door to watch. she saw the turbulent knight kneel beside the children's cradle before the wife whom he had so basely neglected, raise his tearful eyes to the majestic woman, whose stature was little less than his own and, lifting his clasped hands, make a confession which she could not hear; saw her draw him towards her, nestle with loving devotion against his broad breast, and place first one and then the other twin boy in his arms. the young mother's cheeks as well as the father's were wet, but the eyes of both sparkled with grateful joy when isabella, in taking leave of her husband, thanked him with a last loving kiss for the vow that, wherever he might go, he would treasure her and the children in his heart, and do everything in his power to secure a fate that should be worthy of them. as siebenburg went downstairs he met his father-in-law on the secondstory landing. herr casper, deadly pale, was clinging with his right hand to the baluster, pressing his left on his brow, as he vainly struggled for composure and breath. he had forgotten to strengthen himself with food and drink, and the terrible blows of fate which had fallen upon him during these last hours of trial crushed, though but for a short time, his still vigorous strength. the knight went nearer to help him, but when he offered herr casper his arm the old merchant angrily thrust it back and accepted a servant's support. while the man assisted him upstairs he repented that he had yielded to resentment, and not asked his son-in-law to try to discover wolff's hiding place, but no sooner had food and fiery wine strengthened him than his act seemed wise. the return of the business partner, without whose knowledge he had incurred great financial obligations, would have placed him in the most painful situation. the old gentleman would have been obliged to account to wolff for the large sum which he owed to the jew pfefferkorn, the most impatient of his creditors, though he need not have told him that he had used it in venice to gratify his love of gaming. how should he answer his son if he asked why he had rejected his betrothed bride, and soon after condescended to receive her again as his daughter and enter into close relations with her father? yet this must be done. ernst ortlieb was the only person who could help him. it had become impossible to seek aid from herr berthold vorchtel, the man whose oldest son wolff had slain, and yet he possessed the means to save the sinking ship from destruction. when the news of the duel reached him the messenger's blanched face had made him believe that wolff had fallen. in that moment he had perceived that his loss would have rendered him miserable for the rest of his life. this was a source of pleasure, for since wolff had extorted his consent to the betrothal with els ortlieb, and thus estranged him from the vorchtels, he had seriously feared that he had ceased to love him. nay, in many an hour when he had cause to feel shame in the presence of his prudent, cautious, and upright partner, it had seemed as if he hated him. now the fear of the judge whom he saw in wolff was blended with sincere anxiety concerning his only son, whose breach of the peace menaced him with banishment--nay, if he could not pay the price of blood which the vorchtels might demand, with death. doubtless he had done many things to prejudice wolff against his betrothed bride, yet he who had cast the first stone at her now felt that, in her simple purity, she would be capable of no repudiation of the fidelity she owed her future husband. however strongly he had struggled against this conviction, he knew that she, if any one, could make his son happy--far happier than he had ever been with the tall, slender, snow-white, unapproachable countess, who had helped bring him to ruin. while consuming the food and drink, he heard his wife, usually a most obedient daughter, disputing with her mother. this was fortunate; for, if they were at variance, he need not fear that they would act as firm allies against him when he expressed the wish to have wolff's marriage solemnised as soon as circumstances would permit. it was not yet time to discuss the matter with any one. he would first go to the jew pfefferkorn once more to persuade him to defer his claims, and then, before the meeting of the council, would repair to the ortliebs, to commit to herr ernst the destiny of the eysvogel firm and his partner wolff, on which also depended the welfare of the young merchant's betrothed bride. if the father remained obdurate, if he resented the wrong he had inflicted yesterday upon him and his daughter, he was a lost man; for he had already availed himself of the good will of all those whose doors usually stood open to him. doubtless the news of his recent severe losses were in every one's mouth, and the letter which he had just received threatened him with an indictment. the luckless siebenburg's creditors, too, would now be added to his own. it was all very well for him to say that he would settle his debts him self. as soon as it was rumoured abroad that he had gambled away the estate of tannenreuth, whose value gave the creditors some security, they would rise as one man, and the house assailed would be his, casper eysvogel's. the harried man's thoughts of his son-in-law were by no means the most kindly. meanwhile the latter set out for the second distasteful interview of the morning. his purpose was to make some arrangement with heinz schorlin about the lost estate and obtain definite knowledge concerning his quarrel with him, of which he remembered nothing except that intoxication and jealousy had carried him further than would have happened otherwise. he had undoubtedly spoken insultingly of els; his words, when uttered against a lady, had been sharper than beseemed a knight. yet was not any one who found a maiden alone at night with this man justified in doubting her virtue? in the depths of his soul he believed in her innocence, yet he avoided confessing it. why should not the swiss, whom nature had given such power over the hearts of women, have also entangled his brother-inlaw's betrothed bride in a love affair? why should not the gay girl who had pledged her troth to a grave, dull fellow like wolff, have been tempted into a little love dalliance with the bold, joyous schorlin? not until he had received proof that he had erred would he submit to recall his charges. he had left his wife with fresh courage and full of good intentions. now that he was forced to bid her farewell, he first realised what she had been to him. no doubt both had much to forgive, but she was a splendid woman. though her father's storehouses contained chests of spices and bales of cloth, he did not know one more queenly. that he could have preferred, even for a single moment, the countess von montfort, whose sole advantage over her was her nimble tongue and gay, bold manners, now seemed incomprehensible. he had joined cordula's admirers only to forget at her feet the annoyances with which he had been wearied at home. he had but one thing for which to thank the countess--her remark concerning the future of the twins. yet was he really so base that it would have been a disgrace for his darlings to resemble him? "no!" a voice within cried loudly, and as the same voice reminded him of the victories won in tournaments and sword combats, of the open hand with which, since he had been the rich eysvogel's son-in-law, he had lent and given money to his brothers, and especially of the manly resolve to provide for his wife and children as a soldier in the service of some prince, another, lower, yet insistent, recalled other things. it referred to the time when, with his brothers, he had attacked a train of freight waggons and not cut down their armed escort alone. the curse of a broad-shouldered nordlinger carrier, whose breast he had pierced with a lance though he cried out that he was a father and had a wife and child to support, the shriek of the pretty boy with curling brown hair who clung to the bridle of his steed as he rode against the father, and whose arm he had cut off, still seemed to ring in his ears. he also remembered the time when, after a rich capture on the highway which had filled his purse, he had ridden to nuremberg in magnificent new clothes at the carnival season in order, by his brothers' counsel, to win a wealthy bride. fortune and the saints had permitted him to find a woman to satisfy both his avarice and his heart, yet he had neither kept faith with her nor even showed her proper consideration. but, strangely enough, the warning voice reproached him still more sharply for having, in the presence of others, accused and disparaged his brother-in-law's betrothed bride, whose guilt he believed proved. again he felt how ignoble and unworthy of a knight his conduct had been. why had he pursued this course? merely--he admitted it now--to harm wolff, the monitor and niggard whom he hated; perhaps also because he secretly told himself that, if wolff formed a happy marriage, he and his children, not siebenburg's twin boys, would obtain the larger share of the eysvogel property. this greed of gain, which had brought him to nuremberg to seek a wife, was probably latent in his blood, though his reckless accumulation of debts seemed to contradict it. yesterday, at the duke of pomerania's, it had again led him into that wild, mad dice-throwing. seitz siebenburg was no calm thinker. all these thoughts passed singly in swift flashes through his excited brain. like the steady monotone of the bass accompanying the rise and fall of the air, he constantly heard the assurance that it would be a pity if his splendid twins should resemble him. therefore they must grow up away from his influence, under the care of his good uncle. with this man's example before their eyes they would become knights as upright and noble as kunz heideck, whom every one esteemed. for the sake of the twins he had resolved to begin a new and worthier life himself. his wife would aid him, and love should lend him strength to conduct himself in future so that countess von montfort, and every one who meant well by his sons, might wish them to resemble their father. he walked on, holding his head proudly erect. seeing the first worshippers entering the church of our lady, he went in, too, repeated several paternosters, commended the little boys and their mother to the care of the gracious virgin, and besought her to help him curb the turbulent impulses which often led him to commit deeds he afterwards regretted. many people knew casper eysvogel's tall, haughty son-in-law and marvelled at the fervent devotion with which, kneeling in the first place he found near the entrance, beside two old women, he continued to pray. was it true that the eysvogel firm had been placed in a very critical situation by the loss of great trains of merchandise? one of his neighbours had heard him sigh, and declared that something must weigh heavily upon the "mustache." she would tell her nephew hemerlein, the belt-maker, to whom the knight owed large sums for saddles and harnesses, that he would be wise to look after his money betimes. siebenburg quitted the church in a more hopeful mood than when he entered it. the prayers had helped him. when he reached the fruit market he noticed that people gazed at him in surprise. he had paid no heed to his dress since the morning of the previous day, and as he always consumed large quantities of food and drink he felt the need of refreshment. entering the first barber's shop, he had the stubble removed from his cheeks and chin, and arranged his disordered attire, and then, going to a taproom close by, ate and drank, without sitting down, what he found ready and, invigorated in body and mind, continued his walk. the fruit market was full of busy life. juicy strawberries and early cherries, red radishes, heads of cabbages, bunches of greens, and long stalks of asparagus were offered for sale, with roses and auriculas, balsams and early pinks, in pots and bouquets, and the ruddy peasant lasses behind the stands, the stately burgher women in their big round hats, the daughters of the master workmen with their long floating locks escaping from under richly embroidered caps, the maidservants with neat little baskets on their round arms, afforded a varied and pleasing scene. everything that reached the ear, too, was cheery and amusing, and rendered the knight's mood brighter. proud of his newly acquired power of resistance, he walked on, after yielding to the impulse to buy the handsomest bouquet of roses offered by the pretty flower girl kuni, whom, on countess cordula's account, during the reichstag he had patronised more frequently than usual. without knowing why himself, he did not tell the pretty girl, who had already trusted him very often, for whom he intended it, but ordered it to be charged with the rest. at the corner of the bindergasse, where heinz schorlin lodged, he found a beggar woman with a bandaged head, whom he commissioned to carry the roses to the eysvogel mansion and give them to his wife, fran isabella siebenburg, in his--sir seitz's--name. in front of the house occupied by the master cloth-maker deichsler, where the swiss had his quarters, the tailor ploss stopped him. he came from heinz schorlin, and reminded siebenburg of his by no means inconsiderable debt; but the latter begged him to have patience a little longer, as he had met with heavy losses at the gaming table the night before, and ploss agreed to wait till st. heinrich's day--[15th july]. how many besides the tailor had large demands! and when could seitz begin to cancel his debts? the thought even darted through his mind that instead of carrying his good intentions into effect he had not paid for the roses--but flowers were so cheap in june! besides, he had no time to dwell upon this trifle, for while quieting the tailor he had noticed a girl who, notwithstanding the heat of the day, kept her face hidden so far under her riese--[a kerchief for the head, resembling a veil, made of fine linen.]--that nothing but her eyes and the upper part of her nose were visible. she had given him a hasty nod and, if he was not mistaken, it was the ortlieb sisters' maid, whom he had often seen. when he again looked after the muffled figure she was hurrying up the cloth-maker's stairs. it was katterle herself. at the first landing she had glanced back, and in doing so pushed the kerchief aside. what could she want with the swiss? it could scarcely be anything except to bring him a message from one of her mistresses, doubtless els. so he had seen aright, and acted wisely not to believe the countess. poor wolff! deceived even when a betrothed lover! he did not exactly wish him happiness even now, and yet he pitied him. seitz could now stand before heinz schorlin with the utmost confidence. the swiss must know how matters stood between the older e and him self, though his knightly duty constrained him to deny it to others. siebenburg's self-reproaches had been vain. he had suspected no innocent girl--only called a faithless betrothed bride by the fitting name. the matter concerning his estate of tannenreuth was worse. it had been gambled away, and therefore forfeited. he had already given it up in imagination; it was only necessary to have the transfer made by the notary. the swiss should learn how a true knight satisfies even the heaviest losses at the gaming table. he would not spare heinz schorlin. he meant to reproach the unprincipled fellow who by base arts had alienated the betrothed bride of an honest man--for that wolff certainly was--when adverse circumstances prevented his watching the faithless woman himself. twisting the ends of his mustache with two rapid motions, he knocked at the young knight's door. chapter xvii. twice, three times, siebenburg rapped, but in vain. yet the swiss was there. his armour-bearer had told seitz so downstairs, and he heard his voice within. at last he struck the door so heavily with the handle of his dagger that the whole house echoed with the sound. this succeeded; the door opened, and biberli's narrow head appeared. he looked at the visitor in astonishment. "tell your master," said the latter imperiously, recognising heinz schorlin's servant, "that if he closes his lodgings against dunning tradesfolk--" "by your knock, my lord," biberli interrupted, we really thought the sword cutler had come with hammer and anvil. my master, however, need have no fear of creditors; for though you may not yet know it, sir knight, there are generous noblemen in nuremberg during the reichstag who throw away castles and lands in his favour at the gaming table." "and hurl their fists even more swiftly into the faces of insolent varlets!" cried siebenburg, raising his right hand threateningly. "now take me to your master at once!" "or, at any rate, within his four walls," replied the servitor, preceding seitz into the small anteroom from which he had come. "as to the 'at once,' that rests with the saints, for you must know----" "nonsense!" interrupted the knight. "tell your master that siebenburg has neither time nor inclination to wait in his antechamber." "and certainly nothing could afford sir heinz schorlin greater pleasure than your speedy departure," biberli retorted. "insolent knave!" thundered seitz, who perceived the insult conveyed in the reply, grasping the neck of his long robe; but biberli felt that he had seized only the hood, swiftly unclasped it, and as he hurried to a side door, through which loud voices echoed, siebenburg heard the low cry of a woman. it came from behind a curtain spread over some clothes that hung on the wall, and seitz said to himself that the person must be the maid whom he had just met. she was in els ortlieb's service, and he was glad to have this living witness at hand. if he could induce heinz to talk with him here in the anteroom it would be impossible for her to escape. so, feigning that he had noticed nothing, he pretended to be much amused by biberli's nimble flight. forcing a laugh, he flung the hood at his head, and before he opened the door of the adjoining room again asked to speak to his master. biberli replied that he must wait; the knight was holding a religious conversation with a devout old mendicant friar. if he might venture to offer counsel, he would not interrupt his master now; he had received very sad news, and the tailor who came to take his measure for his mourning garments had just left him. if seitz had any business with the knight, and expected any benefit from his favour and rare generosity---but siebenburg let him get no farther. forgetting the stratagem which was to lure heinz hither, he burst into a furious rage, fiercely declaring that he sought favour and generosity from no man, least of all a heinz schorlin and, advancing to the door, flung the servant who barred his passage so rudely against the wall that he uttered a loud cry of pain. ere it had died away heinz appeared on the threshold. a long white robe increased the pallor of his face, but yesterday so ruddy, and his reddened eyes showed traces of recent tears. when he perceived what had occurred, and saw his faithful follower, with a face distorted by pain, rubbing his shoulder, his cheeks flushed angrily, and with just indignation he rebuked siebenburg for his unseemly intrusion into his quarters and his brutal conduct. then, without heeding the knight, he asked biberli if he was seriously injured, and when the latter answered in the negative he again turned to seitz and briefly enquired what he wanted. if he desired to own that, while in a state of senseless intoxication he had slandered modest maidens, and was ignorant of his actions when he staked his castle and lands against the gold lying before him, heinz schorlin, he might keep tannenreuth. the form in which he would revoke his calumny to jungfrau ortlieb he would discuss with him later. at present his mind was occupied with more important matters than the senseless talk of a drunkard, and he would therefore request the knight to leave him. as heinz uttered the last words he pointed to the door, and this indiscreet, anything but inviting gesture robbed siebenburg of the last remnant of composure maintained with so much difficulty. nothing is more infuriating to weak natures than to have others expect them to pursue a course opposite to that which, after a victory over baser impulses, they have recognised as the right one and intended to follow. he who had come to resign his lost property voluntarily was regarded by the swiss as an importunate mendicant; he who stood here to prove that he was perfectly justified in accusing els ortlieb of a crime, schorlin expected to make a revocation against his better knowledge. and what price did the insolent fellow demand for the restored estate and the right to brand him as a slanderer? the pleasure of seeing the unwelcome guest retire as quickly as possible. no greater degree of contempt and offensive presumption could be imagined, and as seitz set his own admirable conduct during the past few hours far above the profligate behaviour of the swiss, he was fired with honest indignation and, far from heeding the white robe and altered countenance of his enemy, gave the reins to his wrath. pale with fury, he flung, as it were, the estate the swiss had won from him at his feet, amid no lack of insulting words. at first heinz listened to the luckless gambler's outbreak of rage in silent amazement, but when the latter began to threaten, and even clapped his hand on his sword, the composure which never failed him in the presence of anything that resembled danger quickly returned. he had felt a strong aversion to siebenburg from their first meeting, and the slanderous words with which he had dragged in the dust the good name of a maiden who, heinz knew, had incurred suspicion solely through his fault, had filled him with scorn. so, with quiet contempt, he let him rave on; but when the person to whom he had just been talking--the old minorite monk whom he had met on the highroad and accompanied to nuremberg--appeared at the door of the next room, he stopped seitz with a firm "enough!" pointed to the old man, and in brief, simple words, gave the castle and lands of tannenreuth to the monastery of the mendicant friars of the franciscan order in nuremberg. siebenburg listened with a contemptuous shrug of the shoulders, then he said bitterly: "i thought that a life of poverty was the chief rule in the order of st. francis. but no matter! may the gift won at the gaming table profit the holy brothers. for you, sir knight, it will gain the favour of the saint of assisi, whose power is renowned. so you have acted wisely." here he hesitated; he felt choked with rage. but while the minorite was thanking heinz for the generous gift, siebenburg's eyes again rested on the curtain behind which the maid was concealed. it was now his turn to deal the swiss a blow. the old mendicant friar was a venerable person whose bearing commanded respect, and heinz seemed to value his good opinion. for that very reason the minorite should learn the character of this patron of his order. "since you so earnestly desire to be rid of my company, sir heinz schorlin," he continued, "i will fulfil your wish. only just now you appeared to consider certain words uttered last night in reference to a lady--" "let that pass," interrupted heinz with marked emphasis. "i might expect that desire," replied siebenburg scornfully; "for as you are in the act of gaining the favour of heaven by pious works, it will be agreeable to you--" "what?" asked the swiss sharply. "you will surely desire," was the reply, "to change conduct which is an offence to honourable people, and still more to the saints above. you who have estranged a betrothed bride from her lover and lured her to midnight interviews, no doubt suppose yourself safe from the future husband, whom the result of a duel--as you know--will keep from her side. but wolff happens to be my brother-in-law, and if i feel disposed to take his place and break a lance with you----" heinz, pale as death, interrupted him, exclaiming in a tone of the deepest indignation: "so be it, then. we will have a tilt with lances, and then we will fight with our swords." siebenburg looked at him an instant, as if puzzled by his adversary's sharp assault, but quickly regained his composure and answered: "agreed! in the joust--[single combat in the tourney]--with sharp weapons it will soon appear who has right on his side." "right?" asked heinz in astonishment, shrugging his shoulders scornfully. "yes, right," cried the other furiously, "which you have ceased to prize." "so far from it," the swiss answered quietly, "that before we discuss the mode of combat with the herald i must ask you to recall the insults with which yesterday, in your drunkenness, you injured the honour of a virtuous maiden in the presence of other knights and gentlemen." "whose protector," laughed seitz, "you seem to have constituted yourself, by your own choice, in her bridegroom's place." "i accept the position," replied heinz with cool deliberation. "not you, nay, i will fight in wolff eysvogel's stead--and with his consent, i think. i know him, and esteem him so highly----" "that you invite his plighted bride to nocturnal love dalliance, and exchange love messages with her," interrupted the other. this was too much for heinz schorlin and, with honest indignation, he cried: "prove it! or, by our lord's blood!--my sword, biberli!--spite of the peace proclaimed throughout the land, you shall learn, ere you open your slandering lips again----" here he paused suddenly, for while biberli withdrew to obey the command which, though it probably suited his wishes, he was slow in executing, doubtless that he might save his master from a reckless act, siebenburg, frantic with fury, rushed to the curtain. ere heinz could interfere, he jerked it back so violently that he tore it from the fastenings and forced the terrified maid, whose arm he grasped, to approach the knight with him. heinz had seen katterle only by moonlight and in the twilight, so her unexpected appearance gave him no information. he gazed at her enquiringly, with as much amazement as though she had risen from the earth. siebenburg gave him no time to collect his thoughts, but dragged the girl before the monk and, raising his voice in menace, commanded: "tell the holy brother who you are, woman!" "katterle of sarnen," she answered, weeping. "and whom do you serve?" the knight demanded. "the ortlieb sisters, jungfrau els and jungfrau eva," was the reply. "the beautiful es, as they are called here, holy brother," said siebenburg with a malicious laugh, "whose maid i recognise in this girl. if she did not come hither to mend the linen of her mistress's friend--" but here biberli, who on his return to the anteroom had been terrified by the sight of his sweetheart, interrupted the knight by turning to heinz with the exclamation: "forgive me, my lord. surely you know that she is my betrothed bride. she came just now--scarcely a dozen paternosters ago-to talk with me about the marriage." katterle had listened in surprise to the bold words of her true and steadfast lover, yet she was not ill pleased, for he had never before spoken of their marriage voluntarily. at the same time she felt the obligation of aiding him and nodded assent, while siebenburg rudely interrupted the servant by calling to the monk: "lies and deception, pious brother. black must be whitened here. she stole, muffled, to her mistress's gallant, to bring a message from the older beautiful e, with whom this godly knight was surprised last night." again the passionate outbreak of his foe restored the swiss to composure. with a calmness which seemed to the servant incomprehensible, though it filled him with delight, he turned to the monk, saying earnestly and simply: "appearances may be against me, pater benedictus. i will tell you all the circumstances at once. how this maid came here will be explained later. as for the maiden whom this man calls the older beautiful e, never--i swear it by our saint--have i sought her love or received from her the smallest token of her favour." then turning to siebenburg he continued, still calmly, but with menacing sternness: "if i judge you aright, you will now go from one to another telling whom you found here, in order to injure the fair fame of the maiden whom your wife's valiant brother chose for his bride, and to place my name with hers in the pillory." "where els ortlieb belongs rather than in the honourable home of a nuremberg patrician," retorted siebenburg furiously. "if she became too base for my brother-in-law, the fault is yours. i shall certainly take care that he learns the truth and knows where, and at what an hour, his betrothed bride met foreign heartbreakers. to open the eyes of others concerning her will also be a pleasant duty." heinz sprang towards biberli to snatch the sword from his hand, but he held it firmly, seeking his master's eyes with a look of warning entreaty; but his faithful solicitude would have been futile had not the monk lent his aid. the old man's whispered exhortation to his young friend to spare the imperial master, to whom he was so deeply indebted, a fresh sorrow, restored to the infuriated young knight his power of selfcontrol. pushing the thick locks back from his brow with a hasty movement, he answered in a tone of the most intense contempt: "do what you will, but remember this: beware that, ere the joust begins, you do not ride the rail instead of the charger. the maidens whose pure name you so yearn to sully are of noble birth, and if they appear to complain of you----" "then i will proclaim the truth," siebenburg retorted, "and the court of love and pursuivant at arms will deprive you, the base seducer, of the right to enter the lists rather than me, my handsome knight!" "so be it," replied heinz quietly. "you can discuss the other points with my herald. wolff eysvogel, too--rely upon it--will challenge you, if you fulfil your base design." then, turning his back upon seitz without a word of farewell, he motioned the monk towards the open door of the antechamber, and letting him lead the way, closed it behind them. "he will come to you, you boaster!" siebenburg shouted contemptuously after the swiss, and then turned to biberli and the maid with a patronising question; but the former, without even opening his lips in reply, hastened to the door and, with a significant gesture, induced the knight to retire. seitz submitted and hastened down the stairs, his eyes flashing as if he had won a great victory. at the door of the house he grasped the hilt of his sword, and then, with rapid movements, twisted the ends of his mustache. the surprise he had given the insolent swiss by the discovery of his love messenger--it had acted like a spell--could not have succeeded better. and what had schorlin alleged in justification? nothing, absolutely nothing at all. wolff eysvogel's herald should challenge the swiss, not him, who meant to open the deceived lover's eyes concerning his betrothed bride. he eagerly anticipated the joust and the sword combat with heinz. the sharper the herald's conditions the better. he had hurled more powerful foes than the swiss from the saddle, and from knightly "courtoisie" not even used his strength without consideration. heinz schorlin should feel it. he gazed around him like a victor, and throwing his head back haughtily he went down the bindergasse, this time past the franciscan monastery towards the town hall and the fish market. eber, the sword cutler, lived there and, spite of the large sum he owed him, seitz wished to talk with him about the sharp weapons he needed for the joust. on his way he gave his imagination free course. it showed him his impetuous onset, his enemy's fall in the sand, the sword combat, and the end of the joust, the swift death of his hated foe. these pictures of the future occupied his thoughts so deeply that he neither saw nor heard what was passing around him. many a person for whom he forgot to turn aside looked angrily after him. suddenly he found his farther progress arrested. the crier had just raised his voice to announce some important tidings to the people who thronged around him between the town hall and the franciscan monastery. perhaps he might have succeeded in forcing a passage through the concourse, but when he heard the name "ernst ortlieb," in the monotonous speech of the city crier, he followed the remainder of his notice. it made known to the citizens of nuremberg that, since the thunderstorm of the preceding night, a maid had been missing from the house of the honourable herr ernst ortlieb, of the council, a swiss by birth, katharina of sarnen, called katterle, a woman of blameless reputation. whoever should learn anything concerning the girl was requested to bring the news to the ortlieb residence. what did this mean? if the girl had vanished at midnight and not returned to her employers since, she could scarcely have sought heinz schorlin as a messenger of love from els. but if she had not come to the swiss from one of the es, what proof did he, seitz, possess of the guilt of his brother-in-law's bride? how should he succeed in making wolff understand that his beloved els had wronged him if the maid was to play no part in proving it? yesterday evening he had not believed firmly in her guilt; that very morning it had even seemed to him a shameful thing that he had cast suspicion upon her in the presence of others. the encounter with the maid at the swiss knight's lodgings had first induced him to insist on his accusation so defiantly. and now? if heinz schorlin, with the help of the ortliebs, succeeded in proving the innocence of those whom he had accused, then--ah, he must not pursue that train of thought--then, at the lady's accusation, he might be deprived of the right to enter the lists in the tournament; then all the disgrace which could be inflicted upon the slanderous defamer of character threatened him; then wolff would summon him to a reckoning, as well as heinz schorlin. wolff, whom he had begun to hate since, with his resistless arm of iron, he had exposed him for the first time to the malicious glee of the bystanders in the fencing hall. yet it was not this which suddenly bowed his head and loudly admonished him that he had again behaved like a reckless fool. cowardice was his least fault. he did not fear what might befall him in battle. whether he would be barred out from the lists was the terrible question which darkened the bright morning already verging towards noon. he had charged els with perfidy in the presence of others, and thereby exposed her, the plighted bride of a knight, to the utmost scorn. and besides--fool that he was!--his brothers had again attacked a train of waggons on the highway and would soon be called to account as robbers. this would certainly lead the swiss and others to investigate his own past, and the pursuivant at arms excluded from joust and tourney whoever "injured trade or merchant." what would not his enemy, who was in such high favour with the emperor, do to compass his destruction? but--and at the thought he uttered a low imprecation--how could he ride to the joust if his fatherin-law closed his strong box which, moreover, was said to be empty? if the old man was forced to declare himself bankrupt siebenburg's creditors would instantly seize his splendid chargers and costly suits of armour, scarcely one half of which were paid for. how much money he needed as security in case of defeat! his sole property was debts. yet the thought seemed like an illumination--his wife's valuable old jewels could probably still be saved, and she might be induced to give him part of the ornaments for the tournament. he need only make her understand that his honour and that of the twins were at stake. would that heaven might spare his boys such hours of anxiety and self-accusation! but what was this? was he deluding himself? did his over-excited imagination make him hear a death knell pealing for his honour and his hopes, which must be borne to their grave? yet no! all the citizens and peasants, men and women, great and small, who thronged the salt market, which he had just entered, raised their heads to listen with him; for from every steeple at once rang the mournful death knell which announced to the city the decease of an "honourable" member of the council, a secular or ecclesiastical prince. the mourning banner was already waving on the roof of the town hall, towards which he turned. men in the service of the city were hoisting other black flags upon the almshouse, and now the hegelein--[proclaimer of decrees]--in mourning garments, mounted on a steed caparisoned with crepe, came riding by at the head of other horsemen clad in sable, proclaiming to the throng that hartmann, the emperor rudolph's promising son, had found an untimely end. the noble youth was drowned while bathing in the rhine. it seemed as if a frost had blighted a blooming garden. the gay bustle in the market place was paralysed. the loud sobs of many women blended with exclamations of grief and pity from bearded lips which had just been merrily bargaining for salt and fish, meat and game. messengers with crepe on their hats or caps forced a passage through the throng, and a train of german knights, priests, and monks passed with bowed heads, bearing candles in their hands, between the town hail and st. sebald's church towards the corn magazine and the citadel. meanwhile dark clouds were spreading slowly over the bright-blue vault of the june sky. a flock of rooks hovered around the town hall, and then flew, with loud cries, towards the castle. seitz watched them indifferently. even the great omnipotent sovereign there had his own cross to bear; tears flowed in his proud palace also, and sighs of anguish were heard. and this was just. he had never wished evil to any one who did not injure him, but even if he could have averted this sore sorrow from the emperor rudolph he would not have stirred a finger. his coronation had been a blow to him and to his brothers. formerly they had been permitted to work their will on the highways, but the hapsburg, the swiss, had pitilessly stopped their brigandage. now for the first time robber-knights were sentenced and their castles destroyed. the emperor meant to transform germany into a sheepfold, absbach exclaimed. the siebenburg brothers were his faithful allies, and though they complained that the joyous, knightly clank of arms would be silenced under such a sovereign, they themselves took care that the loud battle shouts, cries of pain, and shrieks for aid were not hushed on the roads used for traffic by the merchants. but this was not seitz's sole reason for shrugging his shoulders at the expressions of the warmest sympathy which rose around him. the emperor was tenderly attached to heinz schorlin, and the man who was so kindly disposed to his foe could never be his friend. perhaps to-morrow rudolph might behead his brothers and elevate heinz schorlin to still greater honors. seitz, whose eyes had overflowed with tears when the warder of his native castle lost his aged wife, who had been his nurse, now found no cause to grieve with the mourners. so he continued his way, burdened with his own anxieties, amid the tears and lamentations of the multitude. the numerous retinue of servants in the eysvogel mansion were moving restlessly to and fro; the news of the prince's death had reached them. herr casper had left the house. he was probably at herr ernst ortlieb's. if the latter had already learned what he, seitz siebenburg, had said at the gaming table of his daughter, perhaps his hand had dealt the first decisive blow at the tottering house where, so long as it stood, his wife and the twins would under any circumstances find shelter. resentment against the swiss, hatred, and jealousy, had made him a knave, and at the same time the most shortsighted of fools. as he approached the second story, in which the nursery was situated and where he expected to find his wife, it suddenly seemed as if a star had risen amid the darkness. if he poured out his heart to isabella and let her share the terrible torture of his soul, perhaps it would awaken a tender sympathy in the woman who still loved him, and who was dearer to him than he could express. her jewels were certainly very valuable, but far more precious was the hope of being permitted to rest his aching head upon her breast and feel her slender white hand push back the hair from his anxious brow. oh, if misfortune would draw her again as near to him as during the early months of their married life and directly before it, he could rise from his depression with fresh vigour and transform the battle, now half lost, into victory. besides, she was clever and had power over the hearts of her family, so perhaps she might point out the pathway of escape, which his brain, unused to reflection, could not discover. his heart throbbed high as, animated by fresh hope, he entered the corridor from which opened the rooms which he occupied with her. but his wish to find her alone was not to be fulfilled; several voices reached him. what was the meaning of the scene? isabella, her face deadly pale, and her tall figure drawn up to its full height, stood before the door of the nursery with a stern, cold expression on her lovely lips, like a princess pronouncing sentence upon a criminal. she was panting for breath, and before her, her mother, and her grandmother, countess cordula's pretty page, whom siebenburg knew only too well, was moving to and fro with eager gestures. he held in his hand the bunch of roses which seitz had sent to his newly-won wife and darling as a token of reconciliation, and siebenburg heard his clear, boyish tones urge: "i have already said so and, noble lady, you may believe me, this bouquet, which the woman brought us, was intended for my gracious mistress, countess von montfort. it was meant to give her a fair morning greeting, and--do not let this vex you, for it was done only in the joyous game of love, as custom dictated. ever since we came here your lord has daily honoured my countess with the loveliest flowers whose buds unfold in the region near the rhine. but my gracious mistress, as you have already heard, believes that you, noble lady, have a better right to these unusually beautiful children of the spring than she who last evening bade your lord behold in you, not in her, fair lady, the most fitting object of his homage. so she sent me hither, most gracious madam, to lay what is yours at your feet." as he spoke, the agile boy, with a graceful bow, tried to place the flowers in isabella's hand, but she would not receive the bouquet, and the abrupt gesture with which she pushed them back flung the nosegay on the floor. paying no further heed to it, she answered in a cold, haughty tone: "thank your mistress, and tell her that i appreciated her kind intention, but the roses which she sent me were too full of thorns." then, turning her back on the page, she advanced with majestic pride to the door of the nursery. her mother and grandmother tried to follow, but siebenburg pressed between them and his wife, and his voice thrilled with the anguish of a soul overwhelmed by despair as he cried imploringly: "hear me, isabella! there is a most unhappy misunderstanding here. by all that is sacred to me, by our love, by our children, i swear those roses were intended for you, my heart's treasure, and for you alone." but countess rotterbach cut him short by exclaiming with a loud chuckle: "the unripe early pears will probably come from the fruit market to the housewife's hands later; the roses found their way to countess von montfort more quickly." the malicious words were followed like an echo by frau rosalinde's tearful "it is only too true. this also!" the knight, unheeding the angry, upbraiding woman, hastened in pursuit of his wife to throw himself at her feet and confess the whole truth; but she, who had heard long before that sir seitz was paying countess cordula more conspicuous attention than beseemed a faithful husband, and who, after the happy hour so recently experienced, had expected, until the arrival of the page, the dawn of brighter, better days, now felt doubly abased, deceived, betrayed. without vouchsafing the unfortunate man even a glance or a word, she entered the nursery before he reached her; but he, feeling that he must follow her at any cost, laid his hand on the lock of the door and tried to open it. the strong oak resisted his shaking and pulling. isabella had shot the heavy iron bolt into its place. seitz first knocked with his fingers and then with his clenched fist, until the grandmother exclaimed: "you have destroyed the house, at least spare the doors." uttering a fierce imprecation, he went to his own chamber, hastily thrust into his pockets all the gold and valuables which he possessed, and then went out again into the street. his way led him past kuni, the flower girl from whom he had bought the roses. the beggar who was to carry them to his wife did not hear distinctly, on account of her bandaged head, and not understanding the knight, went to the girl from whom she had seen him purchase the blossoms to ask where they belonged. kuni pointed to the lodgings of the von montforts, where she had already sent so many bouquets for siebenburg. the latter saw both the flower-seller and the beggar woman, but did not attempt to learn how the roses which he intended for his wife had reached countess cordula. he suspected the truth, but felt no desire to have it confirmed. fate meant to destroy him, he had learned that. the means employed mattered little. it would have been folly to strive against the superior power of such an adversary. let ruin pursue its course. his sole wish was to forget his misery, though but for a brief time. he knew he could accomplish this by drink, so he entered the mirror wine tavern and drained bumper after bumper with a speed which made the landlord, though he was accustomed to marvellous performances on the part of his guests, shake the head set on his immensely thick neck somewhat suspiciously. the few persons present had gathered in a group and were talking sadly about the great misfortune which had assailed the emperor. the universal grief displayed so hypocritically, as seitz thought, angered him, and he gazed at them with such a sullen, threatening look that no one ventured to approach him. sometimes he stared into his wine, sometimes into vacancy, sometimes at the vaulted ceiling above. he harshly rebuffed the landlord and the waiter who tried to accost him, but when the peasant's prediction was fulfilled and the thunderstorm of the preceding night was followed at midnight by one equally severe, he arose and left the hostelry. the rain tempted him into the open air. the taproom was so sultry, so terribly sultry. the moisture of the heavens would refresh him. chapter xviii. the fury of the tempest had ceased, but the sky was still obscured by clouds. a cool breeze blew from the northeast through the damp, heavy air. heinz schorlin was coming from the fortress, and after crossing the diligengasse went directly towards his lodgings. his coat of mail, spurs, and helmeted head were accoutrements for the saddle, yet he was on foot. a throng of men, women, and children, whispering eagerly together, accompanied him. one pointed him out to another, as if there was something unusual about him. two stalwart soldiers in the pay of the city followed, carrying his saddle and the equipments of his horse, and kept back the boys or women who boldly attempted to press too near. heinz did not heed the throng. he looked pale, and his thick locks, falling in disorder from under his helmet, floated around his face. the chain armour on his limbs and his long surcoat were covered with mire. the young knight, usually so trim, looked disordered and, as it were, thrown off his balance. his bright face bore the impress of a horror still unconquered, as he gazed restlessly into vacancy, and seemed to be seeking something, now above and now in the ground. the pretty young hostess, frau barbara deichsler, holding her little three-year-old daughter by the hand, stood in front of the house in the bindergasse where he lodged. the knight usually had a pleasant or merry word for her, and a gay jest or bit of candy for annele. nay, the young noble, who was fond of children, liked to toss the little one in his arms and play with her. frau barbara had already heard that, as heinz was returning from the fortress, the lightning had struck directly in front of him, killing his beautiful dun charger, which she had so often admired. it had happened directly before the eyes of the guard, and the news had gone from man to man of the incredible miracle which had saved the life of the young swiss, the dearest friend of the emperor's dead son. when heinz approached the door frau barbara stepped forward with annele to congratulate him that the dear saints had so graciously protected him, but he only answered gravely: "what are we mortals? rejoice in the child, frau barbara, so long as she is spared to you." he passed into the entry as he spoke, but frau deichsler hastily prepared to call his armour-bearer, a grey-bearded swiss who had served the knight's father and slept away the hours not devoted to his duties or to the wine cup. he must supply the place of biberli, who had left the house a long time before, and for the first time in many years was keeping his master waiting. but heinz knew where he was, and while the armour-bearer was divesting him, awkwardly enough, of his suit of mail and gala attire, he was often seized with anxiety about his faithful follower, though many things with which the morning had burdened his soul lay nearer to his heart. never had he been so lucky in gambling as last night in the duke of pomerania's quarters. biberli's advice to trust to the two and five had been repeatedly tested, and besides the estate of tannenreuth, which siebenburg had staked against all his winnings, he had brought home more gold than he had ever seen before. yet he had gone to rest in a mood by no means joyous. it was painful to him to deprive any one of his lands and home. he had even resisted accepting siebenburg's reckless stake, but his obstinate persistence and demand could not be opposed. the calumnies by which the "mustache" had assailed the innocent els ortlieb haunted him, and many others had shown their indignation against the traducer. probably thirty gentlemen at the gaming table had been witnesses of these incidents, and if, to-morrow, it was in everybody's mouth that he, heinz, had been caught at mid-night in an interview with the elder beautiful ortlieb e, the fault was his, and he would be burdened with the guilt of having sullied the honour and name of a pure maiden, the betrothed bride of an estimable man. and eva! when he woke in the morning his first thought had been of her. she had seemed more desirable than ever. but his relatives at home, and the counsel biberli had urged upon him during their nocturnal wandering, had constantly interposed between him and the maiden whom he so ardently loved. besides, it seemed certain that the passion which filled his heart must end unhappily. else what was the meaning of this unexampled good luck at the gaming table? the torture of this thought had kept him awake a long time. then he had sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep. in the morning biberli, full of delight, roused him, and displayed three large bags filled with florins and zecchins, the gains of the night before. the servant had begged to be permitted to count the golden blessing, which in itself would suffice to buy the right to use the bridge from the city of luzerne twice over, and the best thing about which was that it would restore the peace of mind of his lady mother at schorlin castle. now, in the name of all the saints, let him continue his life of liberty, and leave the somnambulist to walk over the roofs, and suffer altrosen, who had worn her colour so patiently, to wed the countess. but how long the servitor's already narrow face became when heinz, with a grave resolution new to biberli, answered positively that no ducats would stray from these bags to schorlin castle. if, last night, anxiety had burdened his mind like the corpse of a murdered man, these gains weighed upon his soul like the loathsome body of a dead cat. never in his whole life had he felt so poor as with this devil's money. the witch-bait which biberli had given him with the two and the five had drawn it out of the pockets of his fellow gamblers. he would be neither a cut-purse nor a dealer in the black arts. the wages of hell should depart as quickly as they came. while speaking, he seized the second largest bag and gave it to the servant, exclaiming: "now keep your promise to katterle like an honest man. the poor thing will have a hard time at her employer's. i make but one condition: you are to remain in my service. i can't do without you." while the armour-bearer, in the agile biberli's place, was handing him the garments to be worn in the house, heinz again remembered how the faithful fellow had thrown himself on his knees and kissed his master's hands and arms in the excess of his joyful surprise, and yet he had felt as if a dark cloud was shadowing the brightness of his soul. the morning sun had shone so radiantly into his window, and annele had come with such bewitching shyness to bring him a little bunch of lilies of the valley with a rose in the centre, and a pleasant morning greeting from her mother, that the cloud could not remain, yet it had only parted occasionally to close again speedily, though it was less dense and dark than before. yet he had taken the child in his arms and looked down into the narrow street to show her the people going to market so gaily in the early morning. but he soon put her down again, for he recognised in a horseman approaching on a weary steed count curt gleichen, the most intimate friend of young prince hartmann and himself, and when he called to him he had slid from his saddle with a faint greeting. heinz instantly rushed out of the house to meet him, but he had found him beside his steed, which had sunk on its knees, and then, trembling and panting, dragged itself, supported by its rider's hand, into the entry. there it fell, rolled over on its side, and stretched its limbs stiffly in death. it was the third horse which the messenger had killed since he left the rhine, yet he was sure of arriving too soon; for he had to announce to a father the death of his promising son. heinz listened, utterly overwhelmed, to the narrative of the eye-witness, who described how hartmann, ere he could stretch out a hand to save him, had been dragged into the depths by the waves of the rhine. in spite of the sunny brightness of the morning the young swiss had had a presentiment of some great misfortune, and had told himself that he would welcome it if it relieved him from the burden which had darkened his soul since the disgraceful good luck of the previous night. now it had happened, and how gladly he would have continued to bear the heaviest load to undo the past. he had sobbed on his friend's breast like a child, accusing heaven for having visited him with this affliction. hartmann had been not only his friend but his pupil--and what a pupil! he had instructed him in horsemanship and the use of the sword, and during the last year shared everything with him and young count gleichen as if they were three brothers and, like a brother, the prince had constantly grown closer to his heart. had he, heinz, accompanied hartmann to the rhine and been permitted to remain with him, neither or both would have fallen victims to the river! and hartmann's aged father, the noble man to whom he owed everything, and who clung with his whole soul to the beloved youth, his image in mind and person--how would the emperor rudolph endure this? but a few months ago death had snatched from him his wife, the love of his youth, the mother of his children, the companion of his glorious career! the thought of him stirred heinz to the depths of his soul, and he would fain have hastened at once to the castle to help the stricken father bear the new and terrible burden imposed upon him. but he must first care for the messenger of these terrible tidings who, with lips white from exhaustion, needed refreshment. biberli, who saw and thought of everything, had already urged the hostess to do what she could, and sent the servant to the tailor that, when heinz rode to the fortress, he might not lack the mourning--a tabard would suffice--which could be made in a few hours. frau barbara had just brought the lunch and promised to obey the command to keep the terrible news which she had just heard a secret from every one, that the rumor might not reach the fortress prematurely, when another visitor appeared--heinz schorlin's cousin, sir arnold maier of silenen, a tall, broad-shouldered man of fifty, with stalwart frame and powerful limbs. his grave, bronzed countenance, framed by a grey beard, revealed that he, too, brought no cheering news. he had never come to his young cousin's at so early an hour. his intelligent, kindly grey eyes surveyed heinz with astonishment. what had befallen the happy-hearted fellow? but when he heard the news which had wet the young knight's eyes with tears, his own lips also quivered, and his deep, manly tones faltered as he laid his heavy hands on the mourner's shoulders and gazed tearfully into his eyes. at last he exclaimed mournfully: "my poor, poor boy! pray to him to whom we owe all that is good, and who tries us with the evil. would to god i had less painful tidings for you!" heinz shrank back, but his cousin told him the tidings learned from a swiss messenger scarcely an hour before. the dispute over the bridge toll had caused a fight. the uncle who supplied a father's place to heinz and managed his affairs--brave old walther ramsweg--was killed; schorlin castle had been taken by the city soldiery and, at the command of the chief magistrate, razed to the ground. wendula schorlin, heinz's mother, with her daughter maria, had fallen into the hands of the city soldiers and been carried to the convent in constance, where she and her youngest child now remained with the two older daughters. heinz, deeply agitated by the news, exclaimed: "uncle ramsweg, our kind second father, also in the grave without my being able to press his brave, loyal hand in farewell! and maria, our singing bird, our nimble little squirrel, with those grave, world-weary sisters! and my mother! you, too, like every one, love her, cousin--and you know her. she who has been accustomed to command, and to manage the house and the lands, who like a saint dried tears far and near amid trouble and deprivation-she, deprived of her own strong will, in a convent! oh, cousin, cousin! to hear this, and not be able to rush upon the rabble who have robbed us of the home of our ancestors, as a boy crushes a snail shell! can it be imagined? no castle schorlin towering high above the lake on the cliff at the verge of the forest. the room where we all saw the light of the world and listened to our mother's songs destroyed; the sacred chamber where the father who so lovingly protected us closed his eyes; the chapel where we prayed so devoutly and vowed to the holy virgin a candle from our little possessions, or, in the lovely month of may, brought flowers to her from our mother's little garden, the cliff, or the dark forest. the courtyard where we learned to manage a steed and use our weapons, the hall where we listened to the wandering minstrels, in ruins! gone, gone, all gone! my mother and maria weeping prisoners!" here his cousin broke in to show him that love was leading him to look on the dark side. his mother had chosen the convent for her daughter's sake; she was by no means detained there by force. she could live wherever she pleased, and her dowry, with what she had saved, would be ample to support her and maria, in the city or the country, in a style suited to their rank. this afforded heinz some consolation, but enough remained to keep his grief alive, and his voice sounded very sorrowful as he added: "that lessens the bitterness of the cup. but who will re build the ancient castle? who will restore our uncle? and the emperor, my beloved, fatherly master, dying of grief! our hartmann dead! washed away like a dry branch which the swift reuss seizes and hurries out of our sight! too much, too hard, too terrible! yet the sun shines as brightly as before! the children in the street below laugh as merrily as ever!" groaning aloud, he covered his face with his hands, and those from whom he might have expected consolation were forced to leave him in the midst of the deepest sorrow; for the swiss mail, which had come to maier of silenen as the most distinguished of his countrymen, was awaiting distribution, and count gleichen was forced to fulfill his sorrowful duty as messenger. his friend heinz had lent him his second horse, the black, to ride to the fortress. while heinz, pursued by grief and care, sometimes paced up and down the room, sometimes threw himself into the armchair which frau barbara, to do him special honour, had placed in the sitting-room, the minorite monk benedictus, whom he had brought to nuremberg, had come uninvited from the neighbouring monastery to give him a morning greeting. the enthusiasm with which st. francis had filled his soul in his early years had not died out in his aged breast. he who in his youth had borne the escutcheon of his distinguished race in many a battle and tourney, as a knight worthy of all honour, sympathised with his young equal in rank, and found him in the mood to provide for his eternal salvation. on the ride to nuremberg he had perceived in heinz a pious heart and a keen intellect which yearned for higher things. but at that time the joyous youth had not seemed to him ripe for the call of heaven; when he found him bowed with grief, his eyes, so radiant yesterday, swimming in tears, the conviction was aroused that the omnipotent one himself had taken him by the hand to lead the young swiss, to whom he gratefully wished the best blessings, into the path which the noble saint of assisi himself had pointed out to him, and wherein he had found a bliss for which in the world he had vainly yearned. but his conversation with his young friend had been interrupted, first by the tailor who was to make his mourning garb, then by siebenburg, and even later he had had no opportunity to school heinz; for after seitz had gone biberli and katterle had needed questioning. the result of this was sufficiently startling, and had induced heinz to send the servant and his sweetheart on the errand from which the former had not yet returned. when the young knight found himself alone he repeated what the monk had just urged upon him. then eva's image rose before him, and he had asked himself whether she, the devout maiden, would not thank her saint when she learned that he, obedient to her counsel, was beginning to provide for his eternal salvation. moved by such thoughts, he had smiled as he told himself that the minorite seemed to be earnestly striving to win him for the monastery. the old man meant kindly, but how could he renounce the trade of arms, for which he was reared and which he loved? then he had been obliged to ride to the fortress to wait upon the emperor and tell him how deeply he sympathised with his grief. but he was denied admittance. rudolph desired to be alone, and would not see even his nearest relatives. on the way home he wished to pass through the inner gate of the thiergartnerthor into thorstrasse to cross the milk market. the violence of the noonday thundershower had already begun to abate, and he had ridden quietly forward, absorbed in his grief, when suddenly a loud, rattling crash had deafened his ears and made him feel as if the earth, the gate, and the fortress were reeling. at the same moment his horse leaped upward with all four feet at once, tossed its clever head convulsively, and sank on its knees. half blinded by the dazzling light he saw, and bewildered by the sulphurous vapour he noticed, heinz nevertheless retained his presence of mind, and had sprung from the saddle ere the quivering steed fell on its side. several of the guard at the gate quickly hastened to his assistance, examined the horse with him, and found the noble animal already dead. the lightning had darted along the iron mail on its forehead and the steel bit, and struck the ground without injuring heinz himself. the soldiers and a dominican monk who had sought shelter from the rain in the guardhouse extolled this as a great miracle. the people who had crowded to the spot were also seized with pious awe, and followed the knight to whom heaven had so distinctly showed its favour. heinz himself only felt that something extraordinary had happened. the world had gained a new aspect. his life, which yesterday had appeared so immeasurably long, now seemed brief, pitifully brief. perhaps it would end ere the sun sank to rest in the haller meadows. he must deem every hour that he was permitted to breathe as a gift, like the earnest money he, placed in the trainer's hand in a horse trade. according to human judgment the lightning should have killed him as well as the horse. if he still lived and breathed and saw the grey clouds drifting across the sky, this was granted only that he might secure his eternal salvation, to which hitherto he had given so little concern. how grateful he ought to be that this respite had been allowed him--that he had not been snatched away unwarned, like prince hartmann, in the midst of his sins! would not eva feel the same when she learned what had befallen him? perhaps biberli would come back soon--he had been gone so long--and could tell him about her. even before the thunderbolt had stirred the inmost depths of his being, when he was merely touched by his deep grief and the monk's admonition, he had striven to guide the servant and his sweetheart into the right path, and the grey-haired monk aided him. the monastic life, it is true, would not have suited biberli, but he had shown himself ready to atone for the wrong done the poor girl who had kept her troth for three long years and, unasked, went back with her to her angry master. ere heinz set forth on his ride to the fortress he had gone out declaring that he would prove the meaning of his truth and steadfastness, thereby incurring a peril which certainly gave him a right to wear the t and st on his long robe and cap forever. he must expect to be held to a strict account by ernst ortlieb. if the incensed father, who was a member of the council, used the full severity of the law, he might fare even worse than ill. but he had realised the pass to which he had brought his sweetheart, and the minorite led his honest heart to the perception of the sin he would commit if he permitted her to atone for an act which she had done by his desire--nay, at his command. with the gold heinz had given him, and after his assurance that he would retain him in his service even when a married man, he could, it is true, more easily endure being punished with her who, as his wife, would soon be destined to share evil with him as well as good. he had also secured the aid of both his master and the minorite, and had arranged an account of what had occurred, which placed his own crime and the maid's in a milder light. finally--and he hoped the best result from this--katterle would bring the ortliebs good news, and he was the very man to make it useful to jungfrau els. so he had committed his destiny to his beloved master, behind whom was the emperor himself, to the minorite, who, judging from his great age and dignified aspect, might be an influential man, st. leodogar, and his own full purse and, with a heart throbbing anxiously, entered the street with the closely muffled katterle, to take the unpleasant walk to the exasperated master and father. the morning had been rife with important events to biberli also. the means of establishing a household, the conviction that it would be hard for him to remain a contented man without the idol of his heart, and the still more important one that it would not be wise to defer happiness long, because, as the death of young prince hartmann had shown, and pater benedictus made still more evident, the possibility of enjoying the pleasures of life might be over far too speedily. he had been within an ace of losing his katterle forever, and through no one's guilt save that of the man on whose truth and steadfastness she so firmly relied. after siebenburg's departure she had confessed with tears to him, his master, and the monk, what had befallen her, and how she had finally reached the bindergasse and sir heinz schorlin's lodgings. when, during the conflagration, fearing punishment, she had fled, she went first to the dutzen pond. determined to end her existence, she reached the goal of her nocturnal and her life pilgrimage. the mysterious black water with its rush-grown shore, where ducks quacked and frogs croaked in the sultry gloom, lay before her in the terrible darkness. after she had repeated several paternosters, the thought that she must die without receiving the last unction weighed heavily on her soul. but this she could not help, and it seemed more terrible to stand in the stocks, like the barber's widow, and be insulted, spit upon by the people, than to endure the flames of purgatory, where so many others-probably among them biberli, who had brought her to this pass--would be tortured with her. so she laid down the bundle which--she did not know why herself-she had brought with her, and took off her shoes as if she were going into the water to bathe. just at that moment she suddenly saw a red light glimmering on the dark surface of the water. it could not be the reflection of the fires of purgatory, as she had thought at first. it certainly did not proceed from the forge on the opposite shore, now closed, for its outlines rose dark and motionless against the moon. no--a brief glance around verified it--the light came from the burning of the convent. the sky was coloured a vivid scarlet in two places, but the glow was brightest towards the southeastern part of the city, where st. klarengasse must be. then she was overpowered by torturing curiosity. must she die without knowing how much the fire had injured the newly built convent, on whose site she had enjoyed the springtime of love, and how the good sisters fared? it seemed impossible, and her greatest fault for the first time proved a blessing. it drew her back from the dutzen pond to the city. on reaching the marienthurm she learned that only a barn and a cow stable had b@en destroyed by the flames. for this trivial loss she had suffered intense anxiety and been faithless to her resolution to seek death, which ends all fears. vexed by her own weakness, she determined to go back to her employer's house and there accept whatever fate the saints bestowed. but when she saw a light still shining through the parchment panes in the room occupied by the two es, she imagined that herr ernst was pronouncing judgment upon eva. in doing so her own guilt must be recalled, and the thought terrified her so deeply that she joined the people returning from the fire, for whom the frauenthor still stood open, and allowed the crowd to carry her on with them to st. kunigunde's chapel in st. lawrence's church; and when some, passing the great imhof residence, turned into the kotgasse, she followed. hitherto she had walked on without goal or purpose, but here the question where to seek shelter confronted her; for the torchbearers who had lighted the way disappeared one after another in the various houses. deep darkness suddenly surrounded her, and she was seized with terror. but ere the last torch vanished, its light fell upon one of the brass basins which hung in front of the barbers' shops. the barber! the woman whom she had seen in the stocks was the widow of one, and the house where she granted the lovers the meeting, on whose account she had been condemned to so severe a punishment, was in the kotgasse, and had been pointed out to her. it must be directly opposite. the thought entered her mind that the woman who had endured such a terrible punishment, for a crime akin to her own, would understand better than any one else the anguish of her heart. how could the widow yonder refuse her companion in guilt a compassionate reception! it was a happy idea, but she would never have ventured to rouse the woman from her sleep, so she must wait. but the first grey light of dawn was already appearing in the eastern horizon on the opposite side of the square of st. lawrence, and perhaps frau ratzer would open her house early. the street did honour to the name of kotgasse--[kot or koth-mire]. holding her dress high around her, katterle waded across to the northern row of houses and reached the plank sidewalk covered with mud to her ankles; but at the same moment a door directly in front of her opened, and two persons, a man and a woman, entered the street and glided by; but they came from frau ratzer's--she recognised it by the bow-window above the entrance. the maid hurried towards the door, which still stood open, and on its threshold was the woman to whom she intended to pay her early visit. almost unable to speak, she entreated her to grant a poor girl, who did not know where to seek shelter at this hour, the protection of her house. the widow silently drew katterle into the dark, narrow entry, shut the door, and led her into a neat, gaily ornamented room. a lamp which was still burning hung from the ceiling, but frau ratzer raised the tallow candle she had carried to the door, threw its light upon her face, and nodded approvingly. katterle was a pretty girl, and the flush of shame which crimsoned her cheeks was very becoming. the widow probably thought so, too, for she stroked them with her fat hand, promising, as she did so, to receive her and let her want for nothing if she proved an obedient little daughter. then she pinched the girl's arm with the tips of her fingers so sharply that she shrank back and timidly told the woman what had brought her there, saying that she was and intended to remain a respectable girl, and had sought shelter with frau ratzer because she knew what a sore disgrace she had suffered for the same fault which had driven her from home. but the widow, starting as if stung by a scorpion, denounced katterle as an impudent hussy, who rightfully belonged in the stocks, to which the base injustice of the money-bags in the court had condemned her. there was no room in her clean house for anyone who reminded her of this outrage and believed that she had really committed so shameful an act. then, seizing the maid by the shoulders, she pushed her into the street. meanwhile it had grown light. the sun had just risen in the east above the square of st. lawrence and spread a golden fan of rays over the azure sky. the radiant spectacle did not escape the eyes of the frightened girl, and she rejoiced because it gave her the assurance that the terrifying darkness of the night was over. how fresh the morning was, how clear and beautiful the light of the young day! and it shone not only on the great and the good, but on the lowly, the poor, and the wicked. even for the horrible woman within the sky adorned itself with the exquisite blue and glorious brilliancy. uttering a sigh of relief she soon reached the church of st. lawrence, which the old sexton was just opening. she was the first person who entered the stately house of god that morning and knelt in one of the pews to pray. this had been the right thing for her to do. dear lord! where was there any maid in greater trouble, yet heaven had preserved her from the death on a red-hot gridiron which had rendered st. lawrence, whose name the church bore, a blessed martyr. compared with that, even standing in the pillory was not specially grievous. so she poured out her whole soul to the saint, confessing everything which grieved and oppressed her, until the early mass began. she had even confided to him that she was from sarnen in switzerland, and had neither friend nor countryman here in nuremberg save her lover, the true and steadfast biberli. yet no! there was one person from her home who probably would do her a kindness, the wife of the gatekeeper in the von zollern castle, a native of berne, who had come to nuremberg and the fortress as the maid of the countess elizabeth of hapsburg, the present burgravine. this excellent woman could give her better counsel than any one, and she certainly owed the recollection of frau gertrude to her patron saint. after a brief thanksgiving she left the church and went to the fortress. as she expected, her countrywoman received her kindly; and after katterle had confided everything to her, and in doing so mentioned wolff eysvogel, the betrothed husband of the elder of her young mistresses, frau gertrude listened intently and requested her to wait a short time. yet one quarter of an hour after another elapsed before she again appeared. her husband, the bernese warder, a giant of a man to whom the red and yellow swiss uniform and glittering halberd he carried in his hand were very becoming, accompanied his wife. after briefly questioning katterle, he exacted a solemn promise of secrecy and then motioned to her to follow him. meanwhile the maid had been informed how the duel between wolff eysvogel and ulrich vorchtel had ended, but while she still clasped her hands in horror, the swiss had opened the door of a bright, spacious apartment, where els ortlieb's betrothed husband received her with a kind though sorrowful greeting. then he continued his writing, and at last gave her two letters. one, on whose back he drew a little heart, that she might not mistake it for the other, was addressed to his betrothed bride; the second to heinz schorlin, whom wolff--no, her ears did not deceive her--called the future husband of his sister-in-law eva. at breakfast, which she shared with her country people and their little daughter, katterle would have liked to learn how wolff reached the fortress, but the gatekeeper maintained absolute silence on this subject. the maid at last, without hindrance, reached the deichsler house and found biberli (not) at home. she ought to have returned to the ortliebs in his company long before, but the knight still vainly awaited his servant's appearance. he missed him sorely, since it did not enter his head that his faithful shadow, biberli, knew nothing of the thunderbolt which had almost robbed him of his master and killed his pet, the dun horse. besides, he was anxious about his fate and curious to learn how he had found the ortlieb sisters; for, though eva alone had power to make heinz schorlin's heart beat faster, the misfortune of poor els affected him more deeply as the thought that he was its cause grew more and more painful. wolff's letter, which katterle delivered to him, revealed young eysvogel's steadfast love for the hapless girl. in it he also alluded to his nocturnal interview with heinz, and in cordial words admitted that he thought he had found in him a sincere friend, to whom, if to any one, he would not grudge his fair young sister-in-law eva. then he described how the unfortunate duel had occurred. after mentioning what had excited young ulrich vorchtel's animosity, he related that, soon after his interview with heinz, he had met young vorchtel, accompanied by several friends. ulrich had barred his way, loading him with invectives so fierce and so offensive to his honour, that he was obliged to accept the challenge. as he wore no weapon save the dagger in his belt, he used the sword which a german knight among ulrich's companions offered him. calm in the consciousness that he had given his former friend's sister no reason to believe in his love, and firmly resolved merely to bestow a slight lesson on her brother, he took the weapon. but when ulrich shouted to the crusader that the blade he lent was too good for the treacherous hand he permitted to wield it, his blood boiled, and with his first powerful thrust all was over. the german knight had then introduced himself as a son of the burgrave von zollern and taken him to the castle, where, with his father's knowledge, the noble young knight hospitaller concealed him, and the point now was to show the matter, which was undoubtedly a breach of the peace, to the emperor rudolph in the right light. the young burgrave thought that he, heinz schorlin, could aid in convincing the sovereign, who would lend him a ready ear, that he, wolff, had only drawn his sword under compulsion. so truly as heinz himself hoped to be a happy man through eva's love, he must help him to bridge the chasm which, by his luckless deed, separated him from his betrothed bride. heinz had had this letter read aloud twice. then when biberli had gone and he rode to the fortress, he had resolved to do everything in his power for the young nuremberg noble who had so quickly won his regard, but the sorely stricken imperial father had refused to see him, and therefore it was impossible to take any step in the matter. yet wolff's letter had showed that he believed him in all earnestness to be eva's future husband, and thus strengthened his resolve to woo her as soon as he felt a little more independent. after the thunderbolt had killed the horse under him, and the old minorite had again come and showed him that the lord himself, through the miracle he had wrought, had taken him firmly and swiftly by the hand as his chosen follower, it seemed to his agitated mind, when he took up the letter a second time, as though everything wolff had written about him and els's sister was not intended for him. eva was happiness--but heaven had vouchsafed a miracle to prove the transitoriness of earthly life, that by renunciation here he might attain endless bliss above. sacrifice and again sacrifice, according to the minorite, was the magic spell that opened the gates of heaven, and what harder sacrifice could he offer than that of his love? "renounce! renounce!" he heard a voice within cry in his ears as, with much difficulty, he himself read wolff's letter, but whatever he might cast away of all that was his, he still would fail to take up his cross as father benedictus required; for even as an unknown beggar he would have enjoyed--this he firmly believed--in eva's love the highest earthly bliss. yet divine love was said to be so much more rapturous, and how much longer it endured! and she? did not the holy expression of her eyes and the aspiration of her own soul show that she would understand him, approve his sacrifice, imitate it, and exchange earthly for heavenly love? neither could renounce it without inflicting deep wounds on the heart, but every drop of blood which gushed from them, the minorite said, would add new and heavy weight to their claim to eternal salvation. ay, heinz would try to resign eva! but when he yielded to the impulse to read wolff's letter again he felt like a dethroned prince whom some stranger, ignorant of his misfortune, praises for his mighty power. the visions of the future which the greyhaired monk conjured up, all that he told hint of his own regeneration, transformation, and the happiness which he would find as a disciple of st. francis in poverty, liberty, and the silent struggle for eternal bliss, everything which he described with fervid eloquence, increased the tumult in the young knight's deeply agitated soul. etext editor's bookmarks: deem every hour that he was permitted to breathe as a gift this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] in the fire of the forge a romance of old nuremberg by georg ebers volume 8. chapter xv. day followed day, a week elapsed, and no message had reached schweinau from heinz schorlin or katterle. the magistrate had learned that the siebenburg brothers, with the robber knights who had joined them, were obstinately defending their castles and making it difficult for heinz schorlin to perform his task. the day before news had come that the absbach's strong mountain fortress had fallen; that the allied knights, in a sortie which merged into a miniature battle, had been defeated, and the siebenburgs could not hold out much longer; but in the stress of his duties the knight seemed to have forgotten to make the slightest effort in behalf of his faithful servant. at least the protonotary gottlieb, a friend of herr berthold, through whose hands passed all letters addressed to the emperor, positively assured them that, though plenty of military reports had arrived, in not a single one had the young commander mentioned his servant even by a word. he, the protonotary, had taken advantage of a favourable hour to urge his royal master, as a reward for biberli's rare fidelity, to protect him from further persecution by the citizens of nuremberg; but the emperor rudolph did not even allow him to finish, because, as a matter of principle, he refrained from interference in matters whose settlement rightfully pertained to the honourable council. when soon after herr pfinzing availed himself of a report which he had to deliver to the emperor to intercede himself for the valiant fellow, the hapsburg, with the ruler's strong memory, recalled the protonotary's plea and referred herr berthold to the answer the former had received, remarking, less graciously than usual, that the imperial magistrate ought to know that he would be the last to assail the privileges which he had himself bestowed upon the city. finally even burgrave frederick, whose sympathy had been enlisted in biberli's behalf by herr berthold, fared no better. his interests were often opposed to those of the council and, kindly as was his disposition, disputes concerning many questions of law were constantly occurring between him and the honourables. when he began to persuade the emperor to prevent by a pardon the cruelty which the council intended to practise upon a servant of sir heinz schorlin, who was doing such good service in the field, the sovereign told even him, his friend and brother-in-law, who had toiled so energetically to secure him the crown, that he would not interfere, though it were in behalf of a beloved brother, with the decrees of the council, and the noble petitioner was silenced by the reasons which he gave. the burgrave deemed the emperor's desire to maintain the honourables' willingness to grant the large loan he intended to ask to fill his empty treasury still more weighty than those with which he had repulsed herr pfinzing. on the other hand, the pardon granted to ernst ortlieb and wolff eysvogel could only tend to increase the good will of the council. the former was given at once, the latter only conditionally after the first losunger of the city, with several other honourables, had recommended it. the emperor thought it advisable to defer this act of clemency. a violation of the peace of the country committed under his own eyes ought not to be pardoned during his stay in the place where the bloody deed was committed. it would have cast a doubt upon the serious intent of the important measure which threatened with the severest punishment any attempt upon the lives and property of others. so long as the emperor held his court at nuremberg, wolff, against whom no accuser had yet appeared, must remain concealed. when the sovereign had left the city he might again mingle with his fellow-citizens. an imperial letter alluding to the gratitude which rudolph owed to the soldiers of marchfield, to whose band the evildoer belonged, and the whole good city of nuremberg for the hospitable reception tendered to him and his household, should shield from punishment the young patrician who had only drawn his sword in self-defence, and fulfil the petition of the council for wolff eysvogel's restoration to the rights which he had forfeited. the news of this promise gave els the first happy hour after long days of discomfort and the most arduous mental conflict. true, the measures adopted by her friends seemed to have guarded her from the attacks of the old countess rotterbach; but fran rosalinde, since she had been allowed more freedom to move about than her mother, who had been confined to the upper story, felt like a boat drifting rudderless down the stream. she needed guidance and, as els now ruled the house, asked direction from her for even the most simple matters. clinging to her like a child deserted by its nurse, she told her the most hostile and spiteful remarks which the countess never failed to make whenever it suited her daughter to bear her company. during the last few days the old lady had again won rosalinde over to her side, and in consequence an enmity towards els had sprung up, which was often very spiteful in its manifestations, and was the more difficult to bear, the more rigidly her position as daughter of the house forbade energetic resistance. but most painful of all to the volunteer nurse was the sick man's manner; for though herr casper rarely regained perfect consciousness, he showed his unfriendly disposition often enough by glances, gestures, and words stammered with painful effort. yet the brave girl's patience seemed inexhaustible, and she resolutely performed even the most arduous tasks imposed by nursing the sufferer. nay, the thought that wolff owed his life to him aided her always to be kind to her father-in-law, no matter how much he wounded her, and to tend him no less carefully than she had formerly cared for her invalid mother. so she had held out valiantly until, at the end of a long, torturing week, something occurred which destroyed her courage. on returning from an errand in the city, she was received at the door of the sick-room by her future mother-in-law with the statement that she would take charge of her husband herself, and no longer allow the intruder to keep her from the place which belonged to her alone. the old countess's power of persuasion had strengthened her courage, and the unwonted energy of the weak, more than yielding woman, exerted so startling and at the same time disheartening an effect upon the wearied, tortured young creature that she attempted no resistance. the entreaties of the leech and kind herr teufel, however, induced her to persist a short time longer. but when, soon after, the same incident occurred a second time, it seemed impossible to remain in their house even another day. without opposing her lover's mother, she retired to her chamber and, weeping silently, spite of the earnest entreaties of the sister of charity, packed the few articles she had brought with her and prepared to leave the post maintained with so much difficulty. to be again with eva under the protection of her uncle and aunt now seemed the highest goal of her longing. she did not wish to go home; for after his liberation from the tower her father had had a long conversation with wolff and old berthold vorchtel, and then, at the desire of the council, had ridden to augsburg and ulm to arrange the affairs of the eysvogel firm. he had felt that he could be spared by his family, knowing that his younger daughter was safe at schweinau, and having heard that wolff's pardon would not be long delayed. eva, too, had experienced toilsome days and many an anxious night. true, biberli and the carrier's widow, with her children, had been moved to the beguines' house, where she could pursue her charitable work safe from the rude attacks of the criminal inmates of the hospital; but what heavy cares had burdened her concerning the two patients for whom she was battling with death! how eagerly she watched for tidings from the neighbourhood of the siebenburgs! what hours of trouble were caused by the prior of the dominicans and his envoys, who strove to convince her that her intention of renouncing her conventual life was treason to god, and that the boldness with which she had released herself from the former guides of her spiritual life and sought her own way would lead her to heresy and perdition! how painful, too, was the feeling that she was being examined to discover whether the abbess kunigunde had any share in her change of purpose! the torture to which stronger men rarely succumbed seemed to threaten the life of the more delicate ex-schoolmaster. at first the leech otto, who, to please els and fran christine, and touched by the brave spirit of this humble man, had daily visited biberli, believed that he could not save him. on the straw pallet, and with the incompetent nursing at the hospital, he would have died very speedily, and what would have befallen his poor mangled toes and fingers in the hands of the barbers who managed affairs there? at the beguines the kindly, skilful old physician had bandaged his hands and feet as carefully as if he had been the most aristocratic gentleman, and no prince could have been more tenderly and patiently watched by trained nurses; for, wonderful to relate, eva, who had so willingly left her sick mother to her sister's care, and had often been vexed with herself because she could not even remotely equal els beside the couch of the beloved invalid, rendered the mangled squire every service with a touch so light and firm that the old physician often watched her with glad astonishment. caution, the quality she most lacked, seemed to have suddenly waked from a long slumber with doubly clear, far-seeing eyes. if it was necessary to turn the sick man, she paid special heed to every aching spot in his tortured body, and invented contrivances which she arranged with patient care to save him pain. her own bed had been placed in the widow's chamber next to biberli's, and from the night that her aunt christine had permitted her to remain in the beguine house, she, who formerly had loved sleep and slumbered soundly, had been beside the sick woman at the least sign. on the third day she rendered her, with her own hands, every service for which she had formerly needed a beguine's aid. she had possessed the gift of uttering words of cheer and comfort even to her invalid mother better than any one else, and often gave new courage to the suffering man when almost driven to despair by the anguish of pain assailing him in ten places at once. how kindly she taught him what comfort the sufferer finds who not only moves his lips and turns his rosary in prayer, as he had hitherto done, but commends himself and his pain to him who endured still worse agonies on the cross! what a smile of content rested on the lips of the man who, in the ravings of fever, had so often repeated the words "steadfast and true," when she told him that he had done honour most marvellously to his favourite virtue, represented by the t and st, and might expect his master's praise and gratitude! all these things fell from her lips more warmly the more vividly she conjured up the image of the man for whose sake the gallant fellow had endured this martyrdom, the happier it made her to help heinz, though without his knowledge, to pay the great debt of gratitude which he owed the faithful servitor. she was not aware of it, but the strongest of all educational powers--sorrow and love--were transforming the unsocial, capricious "little saint" into a noble, self-sacrificing woman. she was training herself to be what she desired to become to her lover, and the secret power whose influence upon her whole being she distinctly felt at each success, she herself called--remembering the last words of her dying mother--"the forge fire of life." at first it had been extremely painful for biberli to allow himself to be nursed with such devoted, loving care by the very person from whom he had earnestly endeavoured to estrange his master; but soon the warmest gratitude cast every other feeling into the shade, and when he woke from the light slumber into which he frequently fell and saw eva beside his bed, his heart swelled and he often felt as if heaven had sent her to him to restore the best gifts for which he was struggling--life and health. when he began to recover, the faithful fellow clung to her with the utmost devotion; but this by no means lessened his love for his master and his absent sweetheart. on the contrary, the farther his convalescence progressed the more constantly and anxiously he thought of heinz and katterle, the more pleasure it afforded him to talk about them and to discuss with eva what could have befallen both. it was impossible--biberli believed this as firmly as his nurse--that heinz could coldly forget his follower or katterle neglect what she had undertaken. so both agreed in the conjecture that the messengers sent by the absent ones had been prevented from reaching their destination. the supposition was correct. two troopers despatched by heinz had been captured by the siebenburgs, and the maid's messenger had cheated her by pocketing the small fee which she paid him and performing another commission instead of going to schweinau. of the knight's letters which had fallen into the wrong hands, one had besought the emperor rudolph to pardon the loyal servant, the other had thanked biberli, and informed him that his master remembered and was working for him. katterle had reached heinz, had been required to tell him everything she knew about eva and biberli down to the minutest detail and had then been commissioned to repeat to the latter what had been also contained in the letter. on the way home, however, she only reached schwabach, for the long walk in the most terrible anxiety, drenched by a pouring rain, whilst enquiring her way to heinz, and especially the terrible excitements of the last few days, had been too much even for her vigorous constitution. her pulse was throbbing violently and her brow was burning when she knocked at the door of apel, the carrier, who had taken her into his waggon at schweinau, and the good old man and his wife received and nursed her. the fever was soon broken, but weakness prevented her journeying to schweinau on foot, and, as apel intended to go to nuremberg the first of the following week, she had been forced to content herself with sending the messenger who had betrayed her confidence. how hard it was for katterle to wait! and her impatience reached its height when, before she could leave, some of the imperial troopers stabled their horses at the carrier's and reported that castle siebenburg and the robber stronghold of the absbachs were destroyed. sir heinz schorlin had fought like st. george. now he was detained only by the fortresses of the knights hirschhorn and oberstein, whose situation on inaccessible crags threatened long to defy the imperial power. the thought that the strong swiss girl might be ill never entered the mind of biberli or eva, but in quiet hours he asked himself which it would probably grieve him most to miss forever--his beautiful young nurse or his countrywoman and sweetheart. his heart belonged solely to katterle, but towards eva he obeyed the old trait inherent in his nature, and clung with the same loyalty hitherto evinced for his master to her whom he now regarded as his future mistress. this she must and should be, because already life seemed to him no longer desirable without her voice. never had he heard one whose pure tones penetrated the heart more deeply. and had heinz been permitted to hear her talk with the dominicans, he would have given up his wish to renounce the world and, instead of entering a monastery, striven with every power of his being to win this wonderful maiden, for whom his heart glowed with such ardent love. when she persisted in her refusal to take the veil because she had learned that it is possible in the world to live at peace with one's self, feel in harmony with god, and follow in love and fidelity the footsteps of the saviour, she had heard many a kindly word of admonition, many a sharp reproof, and many a fierce threat from the dominicans, but she did not allow herself to be led astray, and understood how to defend herself so cleverly and forcibly that his heart dilated, and he asked himself how a girl of eighteen could maintain her ground so firmly, so shrewdly, and with such thorough knowledge of the scriptures, against devout, highly educated men--nay, the most learned and austere. the abbess kunigunde had also appeared sometimes at his bedside, and eva's conversations with her revealed to him that she had obtained her armour against the dominicans from the sisters of st. clare. true, at first the former had laboured with the utmost earnestness to win her back to the convent, but two days before she had met two dominicans, and the evident efforts of one who seemed to hold a distinguished position among his brother monks to gain eva for his own order and withdraw her from the sisters of st. clare, whom he believed to be walking in paths less pleasing to god, had so angered the abbess that she lost the power, and perhaps also the will, to maintain her usual composure. therefore, yesterday she had opposed her niece's wish to remain in the world less strongly than before; nay, on parting with her she had clasped her in her arms and, as it were, restored her freedom by admitting that various paths led to the kingdom of heaven. this was balm to the convalescent's wounds; for he cherished no wish more ardent than to accompany his master to the marriage altar, where eva would give her hand to heinz schorlin as her faithful husband, and the abbess's last visit seemed to favour this desire. besides, he who had gazed at life with open eyes had never yet beheld a brave young warrior, soon after reaping well-earned renown, yearn for the monk's cowl. doubt, suffering, and a miraculous escape from terrible peril had inspired the joyous-hearted heinz with the desire to renounce the world. now, perhaps, heaven itself was showing him that he had not received the boon of life to bury himself in a monastery, but to be blessed with the fairest and noblest of gifts, the love of a woman who, in his opinion, had not her equal beneath the wide vault of the azure sky. countess cordula was not suited for his master. during the long hours that he lay quietly on his pallet a hundred reasons strengthened this opinion. the man for whom he had steadfastly endured such severe agony, and was suffering still, was worthy of a more beautiful, devout, and calm companion-nay, the very loveliest and best--and that, in his eyes, was the girl for whom heinz had felt so overmastering a passion just before his luckless winnings at the gaming table. this potent fire of love might doubtless be smothered with sand and ashes, but never extinguished. such were biberli's thoughts as he recalled the events of the previous day. he had found eva less equable in her tender management than usual. some anxiety concerning something apart from her patients seemed to oppress her. true, she had not wished to reveal it, but his eyes were keen. soon after sunrise that morning she had carefully rebandaged his crushed thumb, which was not yet healed. then she had gone away, as she assured him, for only a few hours. now the sun was already high in the heavens, yet she did not return, though it was long past the time for the bandages to be renewed, and the drops to be given which sustained the life of the dying minorite in the adjoining room. it made him uneasy, and when anxiety had once taken root in his heart it sent its shoots forward and backward, and he remembered many things in which eva had been different the day before. why had she whispered so long with herr pfinzing and then looked so sorrowfully at him, biberli? why had frau christine come not less than three times yesterday afternoon, and again in the evening? she had some secret to discuss with the surgeon otto. had any change taken place in his condition? and did the leech intend to amputate his thumb, or even his hand? but, no! only yesterday he had been assured that he could save all five fingers, and his sorely mangled left foot too. the widow was better, and all hope of saving the minorite's life had been relinquished two days ago. eva's anxiety must have some other cause, and he asked himself, in alarm, whether she could have received any bad news from his master or katterle? a terrible sense of uneasiness overpowered him, and the necessity of confiding it to some one took such possession of the loquacious man that he called little walpurga from the next room. but instead of running to his bedside, she darted forward with the joyful cry, "she is coming!" towards the door and eva. soon after the latter, leading the child by the hand, entered the room. biberli felt as if the sun were rising again. how gay her greeting sounded! the expression of her blue eyes seemed to announce something pleasant. whoever possessed this maiden would be sure to have no lack of light in his home, no matter how dark the night might be. he must have been mistaken concerning the anxiety which had seemed to oppress her on his account. instead of bad news, she was surely bringing good tidings. nay, she had the best of all; for katterle, eva told him, would soon arrive. but his future wife had been ill too. her cheeks had not yet regained their roundness or their bright colour. sharp-sighted biberli noticed this, and exclaimed: "then she is here already! for, my mistress, how else could you know how her cheeks look?" soon afterwards the maid was really standing beside her lover's couch. eva allowed them to enjoy the happiness of meeting undisturbed, and went to her other two patients. when she returned to the couple, katterle had already related what she had experienced in schwabach. it was little more than eva had already heard from her uncle and others. that seitz siebenburg, whom he bitterly hated, had fallen in a sword combat by his master's own hand, afforded biberli the keenest delight. no portion of the narrative vexed him except the nonarrival of the messengers, and the probability that some time must yet elapse ere heinz could sheathe his sword. eva's cheeks flushed with joy and pride as she heard how nobly her lover had justified the confidence of his imperial patron. but it seemed to be impossible to follow biberli's flood of eloquence to the end. she was in haste, and he had been right concerning the cares which oppressed her. she had stood beside his couch the day before with a heavy heart, and it required the exercise of all her strength to conceal the anxiety with which her mind was filled, for if she did not intercede for him that very day; if his pardon could not be announced early the following morning during the session of the court in the town hall, then the half-recovered man must be surrendered to the judges again, and otto believed that the torture would be fatal to his enfeebled frame. the tailor and his adherents, as eva knew from herr pfinzing, were making every effort to obtain his condemnation and prove to the city that they had not censured the proceedings of the ortlieb household as mere reckless slanderers. eva and her sister would be again mentioned in the investigation, and were even threatened with an examination. at first this had startled her, but she believed her uncle's assurance that this examination would fully prove her innocence before the eyes of the whole world. for her own sake eva surely would not have suffered herself to be so tortured by anxiety night and day, or undertaken and resolved to dare so much. the thought that the faithful follower whom her patient nursing had saved from death and to whom she had become warmly attached must now lose his life, and heinz schorlin be robbed of the possibility of doing anything for him, had cast every other fear in the shade, and had kept her constantly in motion the evening before and this morning. but all that she and her aunt christine had attempted in behalf of the imperilled man had been futile. to apply to the emperor again every one, including the magistrate, had declared useless, since even the burgrave had been refused. the members of the council and the judges in the court had already, at aunt christine's solicitation, deferred the proceedings four days, but the law now forbade longer delay. though individuals would gladly have spared the accused the torture, its application could scarcely be avoided, for how many accusers and witnesses appeared against him, and if there were weighty depositions and by no means truthful replies on the part of the prisoner, the torture could not be escaped. it legally belonged to the progress of the investigation, and how many who had by no means recovered from the last exposure to the rack were constantly obliged to enter the torture chamber? besides, the judges would be charged with partiality by the tailor and his followers, and to show such visible tokens of favour threatened to prejudice the dignity of the court. she had found good will everywhere, but all had withheld any positive promise. it was so easy to retreat behind the high-sounding words "justice and law," and then: who for the sake of a squire--who, moreover, was in the service of a foreign knight--would awaken the righteous indignation of the artisans, who made the tailor's cause their own. whatever the aunt and niece tried had failed either wholly or partially. besides, eva had been obliged to keep in the background in order not to expose herself to the suspicion of pleading her own cause. many probably thought that frau christine herself was talking ostensibly in behalf of the servant and really for her brother's slandered daughter. when eva met katterle in front of the hospital, she had passed without noticing her, so completely had sorrow, anxiety, and the effort to think of some expedient engrossed her attention. it had been very difficult to meet biberli with an untroubled manner, yet she had even succeeded in showing a bright face to the carrier's widow, as well as to father benedictus, whose hours seemed to be numbered, and who only yesterday had wounded her deeply. when she returned from the minorite's room to biberli's the lovers were no longer alone. the fresh, pleasant face of a vigorous woman, who had already visited the sufferer several times, greeted her beside his couch. when, in the exchange of salutations, her eyes met eva's the latter suddenly found the plan of action she had vainly sought. gertrude of berne could help her take the chance which, in the last extremity, she meant to risk, for she was the wife of the swiss warder in the burgrave's castle. it certainly would not be difficult for her to procure her an interview with the burgravine elizabeth. if the noble lady could not aid herself, she could--her cheeks paled at the thought, yet she resolutely clung to it--present her to her brother, the emperor. when eva, in a low tone, told frau gertrude what she hoped to accomplish at the castle, she learned that the emperor had ridden with the archduchess agnes and a numerous train to the imperial forest, to show his bohemian daughter-in-law the beekeeper's hives, and would scarcely return before sunset; but the burgravine had remained at home on account of a slight illness. nevertheless eva wished to go to the castle, and, whatever reception the noble lady bestowed upon her, she would return to schweinau as soon as possible. father benedictus was so ill that she could not remain away from him long. if the burgravine could do nothing for biberli, she would undertake the risk which made her tremble, because it compelled her, the young girl, to appear alone at the court with all its watchful eyes and sharp tongues. she would go to the fortress to beseech the emperor herself for pardon. she could act with entire freedom to-day, for her uncle had ridden to the city and, frau gertrude said, was one of the party who accompanied the emperor to the beekeeper's, whilst her aunt had just gone to nuremberg to see els, who had besought her, in a despairing letter, to let her come to schweinau, for her power of endurance was exhausted. how gladly eva would have accompanied her aunt to her sister to exhort her to take courage! what a strange transformation of affairs! ever since she could think els had sustained her by her superior strength and perseverance. now she was to be the stronger, and teach her to exercise patience. she thought she had gained the right to do so. whilst eva was still explaining her plan to frau gertrude, she herself perceived that she had taken no account of time. it was nearly noon, and if she ordered a sedan-chair to convey her to the city and back again to schweinau, it would be too late to approach the emperor as a petitioner. she could fulfil her design only by riding; but the warder's wife reminded her that it would be contrary to custom--nay, scarcely possible--to appear before the emperor, or even his sister, in a riding habit. but the young girl speedily found a way to fulfil her ardent wish to aid. on her swift palfrey, which her uncle had sent to schweinau long before that she might refresh herself, after her arduous duties, by a ride, she would go to the city, stop at her own home, and have her new expensive mourning clothes taken to the castle. the only doubt was whether she could change her garments in the quarters of the swiss, and whether frau gertrude would help her do so. the latter gladly assented. there was no lack of room in her apartments, nor did frau gertrude, who had served the burgravine as waiting maid many years before her marriage, lack either skill or good will. so she went directly home on her mule; but eva, after promising her patients to return soon, hastened to her uncle's residence. there she mounted the palfrey and reached the city gate a long time before the swiss. the clothes she needed were soon found in the ortlieb mansion, and she was then carried in a sedan-chair to the castle with her wardrobe, whilst the groom led her palfrey after her. countess cordula was not at home; she, too, had ridden to the forest with the emperor. the burgravine elizabeth willingly consented to receive the charming child whose fate had awakened her warm interest. she had just been hearing the best and most beautiful things about eva, for the leech otto had been called to visit her in her attack of illness, and the old man was overflowing with praises of both sisters. he indignantly mentioned the vile calumnies with which heinz schorlin's name was associated, and which base slander had fixed upon the innocent girls whose pure morality he would guarantee. the great lady, who probably remembered having directed heinz's attention to eva at the dance, understood very clearly that they could not fail to attract each other. of all the knights in her imperial brother's train, none seemed to the burgravine more worthy of her favour than her gay young countryman, whose mother had been one of the friends of her youth. she would gladly have rendered him a service and, in this case, not only for his own sake but still more on account of the rare fidelity of his servant, who was also a native of her beloved swiss mountains. yet, notwithstanding all this, it seemed impossible to bring this matter again before the emperor. she knew her husband, and after the rebuff he had received on account of the tortured man he would be angry if she should plead his cause with her royal brother. but her kind heart, and the regard which both eva and heinz schorlin had inspired, strengthened her desire to aid, as far as lay in her power, the brave maiden who urged her suit with such honest warmth, and the petitioner's avowal of her intention, as a last resort, of appealing to the emperor in person showed her how to convert her kind wishes into deeds. let eva's youth and beauty try to persuade the emperor to an act of clemency which he had refused to wisdom and power. after supper her brother received various guests, and she could present the daughter of a nuremberg patrician whom he already knew, and whose rare charms had attracted his notice. though she had been compelled to forego the ride to the forest, she was well enough to appear at supper in the emperor's residence, which was close to her own castle. when the meal was over she would take eva herself to her royal brother. she told her this, and the gratitude which she received was so warm and earnest that it touched her heart, and as she bade the beautiful, brave child farewell she clasped her in her arms and kissed her. chapter xvi. encouraged and hopeful, eva again mounted her palfrey, and urged the swift animal outside the city to so rapid a pace that the old groom on his well-fed bay was left far behind. but the change of dress, the waiting, and the numerous questions asked by the burgravine had consumed so much time that the poplars were already casting long shadows when she dismounted before the hospital. sister hildegard received her with an embarrassment by no means usual, but which eva thought natural when the former told her that the dying father benedictus had asked for her impatiently. the widow was doing well, and biberli would hardly need her; for the wife of a swabian knight in whose service he had formerly been was sitting by his couch with her young daughter, and their visit seemed to please him. eva remarked in surprise that she thought the sick man had never served any one except the schurlins, but she was in too much haste for further questions, and entered the room where biberli lay. her face was flushed by the rapid ride; her thick, fair hair, which usually fell loosely on her shoulders, had been hastily braided before she mounted her horse, but the long, heavy braids had become unfastened on the way, and now hung in tresses round her face and pliant figure. she waved her hand gaily from the threshold to the patient for whom she had done and dared so much; but ere approaching his couch she modestly saluted the stately matron who was with biberli, and nodded a pleasant welcome to her daughter, whose pretty, frank face attracted her. after the swabians had cordially returned her greeting, she briefly excused herself, as an urgent duty would not permit her to yield to her desire to remain with them. lastly, she addressed a few hasty questions to the squire about his health, kissed little walpurga, who had nestled to her side, bade her tell her another that she would come to her later, and entered the next room. "well?" biberli asked his visitors eagerly, after the door had closed behind her. "oh, how beautiful she is!" cried the younger lady quickly, but her mother's voice trembled with deep emotion as she answered: "how i objected to my son's marriage with the daughter of a city family! nay, i intended to cast all the weight of my maternal influence between heinz and the nuremberg maiden. yet you did not say too much, my friend, and what your praise began eva's own appearance has finished. she will be welcome to me as a daughter. i have scarcely ever seen anything more lovely. that she is devout and charitable and, moreover, has a clear intellect and resolute energy, can be plainly perceived in spite of the few minutes which she could spare us. if heaven would really suffer our heinz to win the heart of this rare creature----" "every fibre of it is his already," interrupted biberli. "the rub-pardon me, noble lady!--is somewhere else. whether he--whether heinz can be induced to renounce the thought of the monastery, is the question." he sighed faintly as he gazed into the still beautiful, strong, and yet kindly face of the lady wendula schorlin, sir heinz's mother, for she was the older visitor. "we ought not to doubt that," replied the matron firmly. "as the last of his ancient race, it is his duty to provide for its continuance, not solely for his own salvation. he was always a dutiful son." "yet," replied biberli thoughtfully, "'away with those who gave us life!' was the exhortation of father benedictus in the next room. 'away with the service of sovereign and woman!' he cried to our knight. 'away with everything that stands in the way of your own salvation!' and," biberli added, "st. francis was not the first to devise that. our lord and saviour commanded his disciples to leave father and mother and to follow him." "who will prevent his walking in the paths of jesus christ?" replied the lady wendula? "yet, though he follows his footsteps, he must and can do so as a scion of a noble race, as a knight and the brave soldier and true servant of his emperor, which he is, as a good son and, god willing, as a husband and father. he is sure of my blessing if he wields his sword as a champion of his holy faith. when my two daughters took the veil i submissively yielded. they can pray for heavenly bliss for their brother and ourselves. my only son, the last schorlin, i neither can nor will permit to renounce the world, in which he has tasks to perform which god himself assigned him by his birth." "and how could heinz part from this angel," cried maria--to whom, next to her mother, her brother was the dearest person on earth--"if he is really sure of her love!" she herself had not yet opened her heart to love. to wander through forest and field with the aged head of her family, assist her mother in housekeeping, and nurse the sick poor in the village, had hitherto been the joy and duty of her life. gaily, often with a song upon her lips, she had carelessly seen one day follow another until schorlin castle was besieged and destroyed, and her dear uncle, the knight ramsweg, was slain in the defence of the fortress confided to his care. then she and her mother were taken to the convent at constance. both remained there in perfect freedom, as welcome guests of the nuns, until the mounted courier brought a letter from the knight maier of silenen, her cousin, who wrote from nuremberg that heinz, like his sisters, intended to renounce the world. lady schorlin set out at once, and with an anxious heart rode to nuremberg with her daughter as fast as possible. they had arrived a few hours before and gone to their cousin from silenen. from him the lady wendula learned what her maternal love desired to know. biberli's fate brought her, after a brief rest, to the hospital, and how it comforted the faithful fellow's heart to see the noble lady who had confided his master to his care, and in whose house the t and st had been embroidered on his long coat and cap! lady wendula had remembered these letters, and when she spoke of them he replied that since he had partially verified what the t and st had announced to people concerning his character, and to which the letters had themselves incited him, he no longer needed them. then he lapsed into silence, and at last, as the result of his meditations, told his mistress that there was something unusual about his insignificant self, because he earnestly desired to practise the virtues whose possession he claimed before the eyes of the people. he had usually found the worst wine in the taverns with showy signs, and when the lady wendula's daughter had embroidered those letters on the cloth for him, what he furnished the guests was also of very doubtful quality. on his sick bed he had been obliged to place no curb upon his proneness to reflection, and in doing so had discovered that there was no virtue which can be owned like a house or a steed, but that each must be constantly gained anew, often amidst toil and suffering. one thing, however, was now firmly established in his belief: that his favourite virtues were really the fairest of all, because--one will answer for all --man never felt happier than when he had succeeded in keeping his fidelity inviolate and maintaining his steadfastness. he had learned, too, from fraulein eva that the redeemer himself promised the crown of eternal life to those who remain faithful unto death. in this confidence he awaited the jailers, who perhaps would come very soon to lead him into the most joyless of all apartments--the nuremberg torture chamber. then he told the ladies what he knew of the love which united heinz and eva. the four fs which he had advised his master to heed in his wooing --family, figure, favor, and fortune--he no longer deemed the right touch-tones. whilst he was forced to lie idly here he had found that they should rather be exchanged for four ss--spirituality, steadfastness, stimulation, and solace--for the eyes and the heart. all these were united in eva and, moreover, there could be no objection to the family to which she belonged. thereupon he had commenced so enthusiastic a eulogy of his beloved nurse and preserver that more than once lady wendula, smiling, stopped him, accusing him of permitting his grateful heart to lead him to such exaggeration that the maiden he wished to serve would scarcely thank him. yet eva's personal appearance had disappointed neither the experienced mother nor the easily won daughter. nay, when maria schorlin gazed at her through the half-open door of the minorite's room, because she did not want to lose sight of the girl who had already attracted her on account of her hard battle in the cause of love, and who specially charmed her because it was her heinz whom she loved, she thought no human being could resist the spell which emanated from eva. with her finger on her lip she beckoned to her mother, and she, too, could not avert her eyes from the wonderful creature whom she hoped soon to call daughter, as she saw eva standing, with eyes uplifted to heaven, beside the old man's couch, and heard her, in compliance with his wish, as she had often done before, half recite, half sing in a low voice the song of the sun, the finest work of st. francis. the words were in the italian language, in which this song had flowed from the poet heart of the saint of assisi, so rich in love to god and all animate nature; for she had learned to speak italian in the convent of st. clare, to which several italians had been transferred from their own home and that of their order and its founder. lady wendula and her daughter could also follow the song; for the mother had learned the beautiful language of the saint of assisi from the minnesingers in her youth, and in the early years of her marriage had accompanied the emperor frederick, with her husband, across the alps. so she had taught maria. as lady schorlin approached the door eva, with her large eyes uplifted, was just beginning the second verse: "praised by his creatures all praised be the lord my god by messer sun, my brother, above all, who by his rays lights us and lights the day. radiant is he, with his great splendour stored, thy glory, lord, confessing. "by sister moon and stars my lord is praised, where clear and fair they in the heavens are raised. "by brother wind, my lord, thy praise is said, by air and clouds, and the blue sky o'erhead, by which thy creatures all are kept and fed. "by one most humble, useful, precious, chaste, by sister water, o my lord, thou art praised. "and praised is my lord by brother fire-he who lights up the night; jocund, robust is he, and strong and bright. "praised art thou, my lord, by mother earth, thou who sustainest her and governest, and to her flowers, fruit, herbs, dost colour give and birth. "and praised is my lord by those who, for thy love, can pardon give and bear the weakness and the wrongs of men. "blessed are those who suffer thus in peace, by thee, the highest, to be crowned in heaven. "praised by our sister death, my lord, art thou, from whom no living man escapes. who die in mortal sin have mortal woe, but blessed are they who die doing thy will; the second death can strike at them no blow. "praises and thanks and blessing to my master be! serve ye him all, with great humility." how god was loved by this saint, who beheld in everything the most high had created kindred whom he loved and held intercourse with as with brother and sister! whatever the divine father's love had formed--the sun, the moon and stars, the wood, water and fire, the earth and her fair children, the various flowers and plants--he made proclaim, each for itself and all in common, like a mighty chorus, the praise of god. even death joins in the hymn, and all these sons and daughters of the same exalted father call to the minds of men the omnipotent, beneficent rule of the lord. they help mortals to appreciate god's majesty, fill their hearts with gratitude, and summon them to praise his sublimity and greatness. in death, whom the poet also calls his sister, he sees no cruel murderer, because she, too, comes from the most high. "and what sister," asks the saint, "could more surely rescue the brother from sorrow and suffering?" whoever, as a child of god, feels like the loving saint of assisi, will gratefully suffer death to lead him to union with the father. benedictus had followed the magnificent poem with rapture. at the lines, "but blessed are they who die doing thy will; the second death can strike at them no blow," he nodded gently, as if sure that the close of his earthly pilgrimage meant nothing to him except the beginning of a new and happy life; but when eva ended with the command to serve the lord with great humility, he lowered his eyes to the floor hesitatingly, as if not sure of himself. but he soon raised them again and fixed them on the young girl. they seemed to ask the question whether this noble hymn did not draw his nurse also to him who had sung it; whether, in spite of it, she still persisted, with sorrowful blindness, in her refusal to join the sisters of st. clare, whom the saintly singer also numbered amongst his followers. yet he felt too feeble to appeal to her conscience now, as he had often done, and bear the replies with which this highly gifted, peculiar creature, in every conversation his increasing weakness permitted him to share with her, had pressed him hard and sometimes even silenced him. true, they fought with unequal weapons. pain and illness paralysed his keen intellect, and difficulty of breathing often checked the eloquent tongue, both of which had served him so readily in his intercourse with heinz schorlin. she contended with the most precious goal of youth before her eyes, fresh and healthy in mind and body, conscious, in the midst of the struggle, against doubt and suffering, for what she held dearest of her own vigorous energy, panoplied by the talisman of the last mandate from the lips of her dying mother. benedictus, during a long life devoted to the highest aims, had battled enough. he already saw sister death upon the threshold, and he wished to depart in peace and reap the reward for so much conflict, pain, and sacrifice. the lord himself had broken his weapons. the minorite egidius, his friend and companion in years, must carry on with eva, father ignatius, the most eloquent member of the order in nuremberg, with heinz schorlin, the work which he, benedictus, had begun. though he himself must retire from the battlefield, he was sure that his post would not remain empty. the chant had placed him in the right mood to take leave of the brothers, whose arrival sister hildegard had just announced. since yesterday he had seen the saviour constantly before his mental vision. sometimes he imagined that he beheld him beckoning to him; sometimes that he extended his arms to him; sometimes he even fancied that he heard his voice, or that of st. francis, and both invited him to approach. to-day-the leech had admitted it, and he himself felt it by his fevered brow, the failing pulsations of the heart, and the chill in the cold feet, perhaps already dead--he might expect to leave the dust of the world and behold those for whom he longed face to face in a purer light. he wished to await the end surrounded only by the brothers, who were fighting the same battle, reminded by nothing of the world, as if in the outer court of heaven. eva, the beautiful yet perverse woman, was one of the last persons whom he would have desired to have near him when he took the step into the other world. speech was difficult. a brief admonition to renounce her earthly love in order to share the divine one whose rich joys he hoped to taste that very day was the farewell greeting he vouchsafed eva. when she tried to kiss his hand he withdrew it as quickly as his weakness permitted. then she retired, and father aegidius led the brothers of the order in nuremberg into the room. meanwhile it had grown dark, and the beguine paulina brought in a two-branched candelabrum with burning candles. eva took it from her hand and placed it so that the light should not dazzle her patient; but he saw her and, by pointing with a frowning brow to the door, commanded her to leave the room. she gladly obeyed. when she had passed the brothers, however, she paused on the threshold before going into the entry and again gazed at the old man's noble, pallid features illumined by the candlelight. she had never seen him look so. he was gazing, radiant with joy, at the monks, who were to give him the benediction at his departure. then he raised his dark eyes as if transfigured; he was thanking heaven for so much mercy, but the other minorites fell on their knees beside the bed and prayed with him. how lovingly the old man looked into each face! he had never favoured her with such a glance. yet no other nursing had been so difficult and often so painful. at first he had shown a positive enmity to her, and even asked sister hildegard for another nurse; but no suitable substitute for eva could be found. then he had earnestly desired to be removed to the franciscan monastery in nuremberg; this, however, could not be done because it would have hastened his death. so he was forced to remain, and eva felt that her presence was not the least thing which rendered the hospital distasteful. yet, as his aged eyes refused their service and he liked to have someone read aloud from the gospels which he carried with him, or from notes written by his own hand, which also comprised some of the poems of st. francis, and no one else in the house was capable of performing this office, he at last explicitly desired to keep her for his nurse. to anoint and bandage, according to the physician's prescription, his sore feet and the deep scars made on his back by severe scourging, which had reopened, became more difficult the more plainly he showed his aversion to her touch, because she--he had told her so himself--was a woman. she certainly had not found it easy to keep awake and wear a pleasant expression when, after a toilsome day, he woke her at midnight and forced her to read aloud until the grey dawn of morning. but hardest of all for eva to bear were the bitter words with which he wounded her, and which sounded specially sharp and hostile when he reproached her for standing between heinz schorlin and the eternal salvation for which the knight so eagerly longed. he seemed to bear her a grudge like that which the artist feels towards the culprit who has destroyed one of his masterpieces. often, too, a chance word betrayed that he blamed heaven for having denied him victory in the battle for the soul of heinz. schorlin which he had begun to wage in its name. true, such murmuring was always followed by deep repentance. but in every mood he still strove to persuade eva to renounce the world. when she confessed what withheld her from doing so, he at first tried to convince her by opposing reasons, but usually strength to continue the interchange of thought soon failed him. then he confined himself to condemning with harsh words her perverse spirit and worldly nature, and threatening her with the vengeance of heaven. once, after repeating the song of the sun, as she had done just now, he asked whether she, too, felt that nothing save the peace of the cloister would afford the possibility of feeling the greatness and love of the most high as warmly and fully as this majestic song commands us to do. then, summoning her courage, she assured him of the contrary. though but a simple girl, she, who had often been the guest of the abbess, felt the grandeur and glory of god as much more deeply in the world and during the fulfilment of the hardest duties which life imposed than with the sisters of st. clare, as the forests and fields were wider than the little convent garden. the old man, in a rage, upbraided her with being a blinded fool, and asked her whether she did not know that the world was finite and limited, whilst what the convent contained was eternal and boundless. another time he had wounded her so deeply by his severity that she had found it impossible to restrain her tears. but he had scarcely perceived this ere he repented his harshness. nothing but love ought to move his heart on the eve of a union with him whom he had just called love itself, and with earnest and tender entreaties he besought eva to forgive him for the censure which was also a work of love. throughout the day he had treated her with affectionate, almost humble, kindness. all these things returned to eva's thoughts as she left her grey-haired patient. he was standing on the threshold of the other world, and it was easy for her to think of him kindly, deeply as he had often wounded her. nay, her heart swelled with grateful joy because she had been so patient and suffered nothing to divert her from the arduous duty which she had undertaken in nursing the old man, who regarded her with such disfavour. a light had been brought into biberli's room too. when eva entered with glowing cheeks she found the swabians still sitting beside his couch. the door leading into the chamber of the dying man had been closed long before, yet the notes of pious litanies came from the adjoining room. lady schorlin noticed her deep emotion with sympathy, and asked her to sit down by her side. maria offered her own low stool, but eva declined its use, because she would soon be obliged to ride back to the city. she pressed her hand upon her burning brow, sighing, "now, now--after such an hour, at court!" lady wendula urged her with such kindly maternal solicitude to take a little rest that the young girl yielded. the matron's remark that she, too, was invited to the reception at the imperial residence that evening brought an earnest entreaty from eva to accept the invitation for her sake, and the swabian promised to gratify her if nothing occurred to prevent. at any rate, they would ride to the city together. biberli's astonished enquiry concerning the cause of eva's visit to the fortress was answered evasively, and she was glad when the singing in the next room led the swabian to ask whether it was true that the master of her suffering friend on the couch, who intended to devote himself to a monastic life, meant to enter the order of the minorite whom she had just left and become a mendicant friar. when eva assented, the lady remarked that members of this brotherhood had rarely come to her castle; but biberli said that they were quiet, devout men who, content with the alms they begged, preached, and performed other religious duties. they were recruited more from the people than from the aristocratic classes. many, however, joined them in order to live an idle life, supported by the gifts of others. eva eagerly opposed this view, maintaining that true piety could be most surely found in the order of st. francis. then, with warm enthusiasm, she praised its founder, asserting that, on the contrary, the saint of assisi had enjoined labour upon his followers. for instance, one of his favourite disciples was willing to shake the nuts from the rotten branches of a nut tree which no one dared to climb if he might have half the harvest. this was granted, but he made a sack of his wide brown cowl, filled it with the nuts, and distributed them amongst his poor. this pleased the mother and daughter; yet when the former remarked that work of this kind seemed to her too easy for a young, noble, and powerful knight, eva agreed, but added that the saint also required an activity in which the hands, it is true, remained idle, but which heavily taxed even the strongest soul. st. francis himself had set the example of performing this toil cheerfully and gladly. whilst giving this information she had again risen. sister hildegard had announced that her palfrey and the horses of the guests had been led up. finally eva promised to mount at the same time as the swabians, bade farewell to biberli, who looked after her with surprise, yet silently conjectured that this errand to the emperor was in his behalf, and then went into the entry, where sister hildegard told her that father benedictus had just died. the monks were still chanting beside his deathbed. brother aegidius, the friend and comrade of the dead man, however, had left them and approached eva. deeply agitated, he struggled to repress his sobs as he told her that the old man's longing was fulfilled and his saviour had summoned him. to die thus, richly outweighed the many sacrifices he had so willingly made here below during a long life. if eva had witnessed his death she would have perceived the aptness of the saying that a monk's life is bitter, but his death is sweet. such an end was granted only to those who cast the world aside. let her consider this once more, ere she renounced the eternal bliss for which formerly she had so devoutly yearned. eva's only answer was the expression of her grief for his friend's decease. but whilst passing out into the darkness she thought: the holy brother certainly had a beautiful and happy death, yet how gently, trusting in the mercy of her redeemer, my mother also passed away, though during her life and on her deathbed she remained in the world. and then --whilst father benedictus was closing his eyes--what concern did he probably have for aught save his own salvation, but my mother forgot herself and thought only of others, of those whom she loved, whilst the saviour summoned her to himself. her eyes were already dim and her tongue faltered when she uttered the words which had guided her daughter until now. the forge fire of life burns fiercely, yet to it my gratitude is due if the resolutions i formed in the forest after i had gathered the flowers for her and saw heinz kneeling in prayer have not been vain, but have changed the capricious, selfish child into a woman who can render some service to others. if heinz comes now and seeks me, i think i can say trustingly, "here i am!" we have both striven for the divine love and recognised its glorious beauty. if later, hand in hand, we can interweave it with the earthly one, why should it not be acceptable to the saviour? if heinz offers me his affection i will greet it as "sister love," and it will certainly summon me with no lower voice to praise the father from whom it comes and who has bestowed it upon me, as do the sun, the moon and stars, the fire and water. whilst speaking she went out, and after learning that frau christine and her husband had not yet returned, she rode with the swabians towards the city. in order not to pass through the whole length of nuremberg, eva guided her friends around the fortifications. their destination was almost the same, and they chose to enter at the thiergartnerthor, which was in the northwestern part of the city, under the hill crowned by the castle, whilst the road to schweinau usually led through the spitalthor. on the way lady wendula induced eva to tell her many things about herself, urging her to describe her father and her dead mother. her daughter maria, on the other hand, was most interested in her sister els, who, as she had heard from biberli, was the second beautiful e. eva liked to talk about her relatives, but her depression continued and she spoke only in reply to questions, for the minorite's death had affected her, and her heart throbbed anxiously when she thought of the moment that she must appear amongst the courtiers and see the emperor. would her errand be vain? must poor biberli pay for his resolute fidelity with his life? what pain it would cause her, and how heavily it would burden his master's soul that he had failed to intercede for him! not until lady schorlin questioned her did eva confess what troubled her, and how she dreaded the venture which she had undertaken on her own responsibility. they were obliged to wait outside the thiergartnerthor, for it had just been opened to admit a train of freight waggons. whilst eva remained on the high-road, with the castle before her eyes, she sighed from the depths of her troubled heart: "why should the emperor rudolph grant me, an insignificant girl, what he refused his sister's husband, the powerful burgrave, to whom he is so greatly indebted? oh, suppose he should treat me harshly and bid me go back to my spinning wheel!" then she felt the arm of the dignified lady at her side pass round her and heard her say: "cheer up, my dear girl. the blessing of a woman who feels as kindly towards you as to her own daughter will accompany you, and no emperor will ungraciously rebuff you, you lovely, loyal, charitable child." at these words from her kind friend eva's heart opened as if the dear mother whom death had snatched from her had inspired her with fresh courage, and from the very depths of her soul rose the cry, "oh, how i thank you!" she urged her nimble palfrey nearer the lady's horse to kiss her left hand, which held the bridle, but lady wendula would not permit it and, drawing her towards her, exclaimed, "your lips, dear one," and as her red mouth pressed the kind lady's, eva felt as if the caress had sealed an old and faithful friendship. but this was not all. maria also wished to show the affection she had won, and begged for a kiss too. without suspecting it, eva, on the way to an enterprise she dreaded, received the proof that her lover's dearest relatives welcomed her with their whole hearts as a new member of the family. on the other side of the gate she was obliged to part from the swabians. lady wendula bade her farewell with an affectionate "until we meet again," and promised positively to go to the reception at the castle. eva uttered a sigh of relief. it seemed like an omen of success that this lady, who had so quickly inspired her with such perfect confidence, was to witness her difficult undertaking. she felt like a leader who takes the field with a scanty band of soldiers and is unexpectedly joined by the troops of a firm friend. chapter xvii when arnold, the warder from berne, helped eva from the saddle, a blaze of light greeted her from the imperial residence. the banquet was just beginning. frau gertrude had more than one piece of good news to tell while assisting the young girl. among the sovereign's guests was her uncle the magistrate, who had accompanied the emperor to the beekeeper's, and with his wife, whom she would also find there, had been invited to the banquet. besides--this, as the best, she told her last--her father, herr ernst ortlieb, had returned from ulm and augsburg, and a short time before had come to the fortress to conduct jungfrau els, by the burgrave's gracious permission, to her betrothed husband's hiding place. fran gertrude had lighted her way, and a long separation might be borne for such a meeting. the ex-maid was obliged to bestir herself that eva might have a few minutes for her sister and wolff, yet she would fain have spent a much longer time over the long, thick, fair hair, which with increasing pleasure she combed until it flowed in beautiful waving tresses over the rich florentine stuff of her plain white mourning robe. the swiss had also provided white roses from the burgrave's garden to fasten at the square neck of eva's dress. the latter permitted her to do this, but her wish to put a wreath of roses on the young girl's head, according to the fashion of the day, was denied, because eva thought it more seemly to appear unadorned, and not as if decked for a festival when she approached the emperor as a petitioner. the woman whose life had been spent at court perceived the wisdom of this idea, and at last rejoiced that she had not obtained her wish; for when her work was finished eva looked so bewitching and yet so pure and modest, that nothing could be removed or--even were it the wreath of roses--added without injuring the perfect success of her masterpiece. lack of time soon compelled the young girl to interrupt the exclamations of admiration uttered by the skilful tiring woman herself, her little daughter, the maidservant, and the friend whom fran gertrude had invited to come in as if by accident. while following the warder's wife through various corridors and rooms, eva thought of the hour in her own home before the dance at the town hall, and it seemed as if not days but a whole life intervened, and she was a different person, a complete contrast in most respects to the eva of that time. before the dance she had secretly rejoiced in the applause elicited by her appearance; now she was indifferent to it--nay, the more eagerly the spectators expressed their delight the more she grieved that the only person whom she desired to please was not among them. how easy it had been to be led to the dance, and how hard was the errand awaiting her! her heart shrank before the doubt awakened by the flood of light pouring from the windows of the imperial residence; the doubt whether her lover would not avoid her if--ah, had it only been possible! --if he should meet her among the guests yonder; whether the eloquent father ignatius, who had followed him, might not already have won from the knight a vow compelling him to turn from her and summon all his strength of will to forget her. but, no! he could no more renounce his love than she hers. she would not, dare not, let such terrible thoughts torture her now. heinz was far away, and the fate of her love would be decided later. the cause of her presence here was something very different, and the conviction that it was good, right, and certain of his approval, dispelled the pain that had overpowered her, and raised her courage. unspeakably hard trials lay behind her, and harder ones must, perhaps, yet be vanquished. but she no longer needed to fear them, for she felt that the strength which had awakened within her after she became conscious of her love was still sustaining and directing her, and would enable her to govern matters which she could not help believing that she herself would be too weak to guide to their goal. she felt freed from her former wavering and hesitation, and as formerly in the modest house of the beguines, now in the stately citadel she realised that, in sorrow and severe trial, she had learned to assert her position in life by her own strength. her father, whom she was to meet presently, would find little outward change in her, but when he had perceived the transformation wrought in the character of his helpless "little saint" it would please him to hear from her how wonderfully her mother's last prophetic words were being fulfilled. she was emerging from the forge fire of life, steeled for every conflict, yet those would be wrong who believed that, trusting to her own newly won strength, she had forgotten to look heavenward. on the contrary, never had she felt nearer to her god, her saviour, and the gracious virgin. without them she could accomplish nothing, yet for the first time she had undertaken tasks and sought to win goals which were worthy of beseeching them for aid. love had taught her to be faithful in worldly life, and she said to herself, "better, far better i can certainly become; but firmer faith cannot be kept." wolff's hiding place was a large, airy room, affording a view of the frank country, with its meadows, fields, and forests. eva saw there by the light of the blazing pine chips her father, sister, and brother-inlaw. yet the meeting between all these beloved ones after a long separation partook more of sorrow than of joy. els had really resolved to leave the eysvogel mansion, yet she met her aunt christine with the joyful cry: "i shall stay! wolff's father and i have become good friends." in fact, a few hours before herr casper had looked at her kindly and gratefully, and when she showed him how happy this rendered her, warmly entreated her in a broken voice not to leave him. she had proved herself to be his good angel, and the sight of her was the only bright spot in his clouded life. then she had gladly promised to stay, and intended to keep her word. she had only accompanied her father, who had unexpectedly returned for a short time, because she could trust the nun who shared her nursing of the paralysed patient, and he rarely recognised his watcher at night. how long els had been separated from her lover! when eva greeted the reunited pair they had already poured forth to each other the events which had driven them to the verge of despair, and which now once more permitted them with budding hope to anticipate new happiness. eva had little time, yet the sisters found an opportunity to confide many things to each other, though at first their father often interrupted them by opposing his younger daughter's intention of going to the emperor as a supplicant. the girl whose wishes but a short time ago he had refused or gratified, according to the mood of the moment, like those of a child, had since gained, even in his eyes, so well founded a claim to respect, she opposed him in her courteous, modest way with such definiteness of purpose, biberli's fate interested him so much, and the prospect of seeing his daughters brought before the court was so painful, that he admitted the force of eva's reasons and let her set forth on her difficult mission accompanied by his good wishes. els had dropped her maternal manner; nay, she received her sister as her superior, and began to describe her work in the hospital to wolff in such vivid colours that eva laid her hand on her lips and hurried out of the room with the exclamation, "if you insist upon our changing places, we will stand in future side by side and shoulder to shoulder! farewell till after the battle!" she could not have given much more time to her relatives under any circumstances, for the burgravine's maid of honour who was to attend her to the reception was already waiting somewhat impatiently in frau gertrude's room, and took her to the castle without delay. the place where they were to stay was the large apartment adjoining the dining hall. the confidence which eva had regained on her way to her relatives vanished only too quickly in the neighbourhood of the sovereign and the sight of the formal reception bestowed on all who entered. her heart throbbed more and more anxiously as she realised for the first time how serious a step she had taken; nay, it was long ere she succeeded in calming herself sufficiently to notice the clatter of the metal vessels and the emperor's deep voice, which often drowned the lower tones of the guests. reverence for royalty was apparent everywhere. how much quieter this banquet was than those of the princes and nobles! the guests knew that the emperor rudolph disliked the boisterous manners of the german nobility. besides, the sovereign's mourning exerted a restraint upon mirth and recklessness. all avoided loud laughter, though the monarch was fond of gaiety and heroically concealed the deep grief of his own soul. when the lord high steward announced to the maid of honour who had brought eva here that dessert was served, the latter believed that the dreaded moment when she would be presented to the emperor was close at hand, but quarter of an hour after quarter of an hour passed and she still heard the clanking of metal and the voices of the guests, which now began to grow louder, and amidst which she sometimes distinguished the strident tones of the court fool, eyebolt, and the high ones of the countess cordula. time moved at a snail's pace, and she already fancied her heart could no longer endure its violent throbbing, when at last--at last--the heavy oak chairs were pushed noisily back over the stone floor of the dining hall. from the balcony of the audience chamber a flourish of trumpets echoed loudly along the arches of the lofty, vaulted ceiling of the apartment, and the emperor, leading the company, crossed the threshold attended by several dignitaries, the court jesters, and some pages. his august sister, the burgravine elizabeth, leaned on his arm. the papal ambassador, doria, in the brilliant robe of a cardinal, followed, escorting the duchess agnes, but he parted from her in the hall. among many other secular and ecclesiastical princes and dignitaries appeared also count von montfort and his daughter, the old first losunger of nuremberg, berthold vorchtel, and herr pfinzing with his wife. several guests from the city entered at the same time through another door, among whom, robed in handsome festal garments, were eva's new swabian acquaintances. how gladly she would have hastened to them! but a grey-haired stately man of portly figure, whose fur-trimmed cloak hung to his ankles--sir arnold maier of silenen, led them to a part of the hall very distant from where she was standing. to make amends, count von montfort and cordula came very near her; but she could not greet them. each person--she felt it--must remain in his or her place. and the restraint became stronger as the duchess agnes, giving one guest a nod, another a few words, advanced nearer and nearer, pausing at last beside count von montfort. the old huntsman advanced respectfully towards the bohemian princess, and eva heard the fourteen-year-old wife ask, "well, count, how fares your wish to find the right husband for your wilful daughter?" "of course it must be fulfilled, duchess, since your highness deigned to approve it," he answered, with his hand upon his heart. "and may his name be known?" she queried with evident eagerness, her dark eyes sparkling brightly and a faint flush tingeing the slight shade of tan on her child face. "the duty of a knight and paternal weakness unfortunately still seal my lips," he answered. "your highness knows best that a lady's wish--even if she is your own child--is a command." "you are praised as an obedient father," replied the bohemian with a slight shrug of the shoulders. "yet you probably need not conceal whether the happy man, who is not only encouraged, but this time also chosen by the charming huntress of many kinds of game, is numbered among our guests." "unfortunately he is denied the pleasure, your highness," replied the count; but cordula, who had noticed eva, and had heard the duchess agnes's last words, approached her royal foe, and with a low, reverential bow, said: "my poor heart must imagine him far away from here amid peril and privation. instead of breaking ladies' hearts, he is destroying the castles of robber knights and disturbers of the peace of the country." the duchess, in silent rage, clenched her white teeth upon her quivering lips, and was about to make an answer which would scarcely have flattered cordula, when the emperor, who had left his distinguished attendants, approached eva, with the burgravine still leaning on his arm. she did not notice it; she was vainly trying to interpret the meaning of cordula's words. true, she did not know that when no messenger brought heinz schorlin's intercession for biberli, in whose fate the countess felt a sincere interest, she had commanded her own betrothed husband to ride his horse to death in order to tell the master of the sorely imperilled man what danger threatened his faithful servant, and remind him, in her name, that gratitude was one of the virtues which beseemed a true knight, even though the matter in question concerned only a servant boemund altrosen had obeyed, and must have overtaken heinz long ago and probably aided him to rout the siebenburgs and their followers. but cordula read the young bohemian's child heart, and it afforded her special pleasure to deal her a heavy blow in the warfare they were waging, which perhaps might aid another purpose. the surprise and bewilderment which the countess's answer had aroused in eva heightened the spell of her beauty. had she heard aright? could heinz really have sued for the countess's hand and been accepted? surely, surely not! neither was capable of such perfidy, such breach of faith. spite of the testimony of her own ears, she would not believe it. but when she at last saw the emperor's tall figure before her, and he gazed down at her with a kind, fatherly glance, she answered it with her large blue eyes uplifted beseechingly, and withal as trustilly, as if she sought to remind him that, if he only chose to do so, his power made it possible to convert everything which troubled and oppressed her to good. the tearful yet bright gaze of those resistless eyes pierced the emperor's very soul, and he imagined how this lovely vision of purity and innocence, this rare creature, of whom he had heard such marvellous things from herr pfinzing during their ride through the forest, would have fired the heart of his eighteen-year-old son, so sensitive to every impression, whom death had snatched from him so suddenly. and whilst remembering hartmann, he also thought of his dead son's most loyal and dearest friend, heinz schorlin, who was again showing such prowess in his service, and had earned a right to recognition and reward. he did not know his young favourite's present state of mind concerning his desire for a monastic life, but he had probably become aware that his swiftly kindled, ardent love for yonder lovely child had led him into an act of culpable imprudence. besides, that very day many things had reached his ears concerning these two who suited each other as perfectly as heinz schorlin seemed--even to the hapsburg, who was loyally devoted to the holy church--unfit for a religious life. the emperor could do much to further the union of this pair, yet he too was obliged to exercise caution. if he joined them in wedlock as though they were his own children he might be sure of causing loud complaints from the priesthood, and especially the dominicans, who were very influential at the court of rome--nay, he must be prepared for opposition directed against himself as well as the young pair. the prior of the order had already complained to the nuncio of the lukewarmness of the superior of the sisters of st. clare, who idly witnessed the estrangement from the church of the soul of a maiden belonging to a distinguished family; and doria had told the sovereign of this provoking matter, and expressed the prior's hope that sir heinz schorlin, who enjoyed the monarch's favour, would be won for the monastic life. opposition to this marriage, which he approved, and therefore desired to favour, was also to be expected from another quarter. therefore he must act with the utmost caution, and in a manner which his antagonists could not oppose. at this reflection a peculiar smile, familiar to the courtiers as an omen of a gracious impulse, hovered around his lips, which during the past month had usually revealed by their expression the grief that burdened his soul and, raising his long forefinger in playful menace, he began: "aha, jungfrau eva ortlieb! what have you been doing since i had the boon of meeting so rare a beauty at the dance? do you know that you have caused a turmoil amongst both ecclesiastical and secular authorities, and that many a precious hour has been shortened for me on your account? you have disturbed both the austere dominican fathers and the devout sisters of st. clare. the former think the gentle nuns treat you too indulgently, and the latter charge the zealous followers of st. domingo with too much strictness concerning you. "and, besides, if you were not so well aware of it yourself, you would scarcely believe it: for the sake of an insignificant serving man, who is under your special protection, i, who carry the burden of so many serious and weighty affairs, am beset by those of high and low degree. how much, too, i have also suffered on account of his master, sir heinz schorlin-again in connection with you, you lovely disturber of the peace! to say nothing of the rest, your own father brings a charge against him. the accusation is made in a letter which meister gottlieb, our protonotary, was to withhold by herr ortlieb's desire, but through a welcome accident it fell into my hands. this letter contains statements, my lovely child, which i--nay, don't be troubled; the roses on your cheeks are glowing enough already, and for their sake i will not mention its contents; only they force me to ask the question--come nearer--whether, though it caused you great annoyance that a certain young swiss knight forced his way into your father's house under cover of the darkness, you do not hope with me, the more experienced friend, that this foolhardy fellow, misguided by ardent love, with the aid of the saints to whom he is beginning to turn, may be converted to greater caution and praiseworthy virtue? whether, in your great charity--which i have heard so highly praised--you would be capable"--here he paused and, lowering his voice to a whisper, added: "do me the favour to lend your ear--what a well-formed little thing it is!--a short time longer, to confide to the elderly man who feels a father's affection for you whether you would be wholly reluctant to attempt the reformation of the daring evil-doer yourself were he to offer, not only his heart, but the little ring with--i will guarantee it --his honourable, knightly hand?" "oh, your majesty!" cried eva, gazing at the gracious sovereign with an expression of such imploring entreaty in her large, tearful blue eyes that, as if regretting his hasty question, he added soothingly: "well, well, we will reach the goal, i think, at a slower pace. such a confession will probably flow more easily from the lips when sought by the person for whom it means happiness or despair, than when a stranger --even one as old and friendly as i--seeks to draw it from a modest maiden." here he paused; he had just recognised lady wendula schorlin. waving his hand to her in joyous greeting, he ordered a page to conduct her to him and, again turning to eva, said: "look yonder, my beautiful child: there is someone in whom you would confide more willingly than in me. i think sir heinz's mother, who is worthy of all reverence and love--" here surprise and joy forced from eva's lips the question, "his mother?" and there was such amazement in the tone that, as the lady wendula, bowing low, approached the emperor, after exchanging the first greetings which pass between old friends who have been long separated, he asked how it happened that though eva seemed to have already met the matron, she heard with such surprise that she was the mother of his brave favourite. lady wendula then confessed the name she had given herself, that she might study the young girl without being known; and again that peculiar smile flitted across the emperor rudolph's beardless face, and lingered there, as he asked the widow of his dead companion in arms whether, after such an examination, she believed she had found the right wife for her son; and she replied that a long life would not give her time enough to thank heaven sufficiently for such a daughter. the maiden who was the subject of this whispering, whose purport only a loving glance from the lady wendula revealed, pressed her hand upon her heart, whose impetuous throbbing stifled her breath. oh, how gladly she would have hastened to the mother of the man she loved and his young sister, who stood at a modest distance, to clasp them in her arms, and confide to them what seemed too great, too much, too beautiful for herself alone, yet which might crumble at a single word from her lover's lips like an undermined tower swept away by the wind! but she was forced to have patience, and submit to whatever might yet be allotted to her. nor was she to lack agitating experiences, for the emperor's murmured question whether she desired to hear herself called "daughter" by this admirable lady had scarcely called forth an answer, which, though mute, revealed the state of her heart eloquently enough, than he added in a louder tone, though doubtfully: "then, so far, all would be well; but, fair maiden, my young friend, unfortunately, was by no means satisfied, if i heard aright, with knocking at the door of a single heart. things have reached my ears--but this, too, must be----" here he suddenly paused, for already during this conversation with the ladies there had been a noise at the door of the hall, and now the person whom the emperor had just accused entered, closely followed by the chamberlain, count ebenhofen, whose face was deeply flushed from his vain attempts to keep sir heinz schorlin back. heinz's cheeks were also glowing from his struggle with the courtier, who considered it a grave offence that a knight should dare to appear before the emperor at a peaceful social assembly clad in full armour. his appearance created a joyful stir among the other members of the court--nay, in spite of the sovereign's presence, cordial expressions of welcome fell from the lips of ladies and nobles. the bohemian princess alone cast an angry glance at the blue ribbon which adorned the helmet of the returning knight; for "blue" was countess von montfort's colour, and "rose red" her own. the ecclesiastics whom heinz passed whispered eagerly together. the duchess agnes's confessor, an elderly dominican of tall stature, was listening to the provost of st. sebald's, a grey-haired man a head shorter than he, of dignified yet kindly aspect, who, looking keenly at heinz, remarked: "i fear that your prior hopes too confidently to win yonder young knight. no one walks with that bearing who is on the eve of renouncing the world. a splendid fellow!" "to whom armour is better suited than the cowl," observed the bishop of bamberg, a middleaged prelate of aristocratic appearance, approaching the others. "your prior, my dear brothers, would have little pleasure, i think, in the fish he is so eagerly trying to drag from the minorite's net into his own. he would leap ashore again all too quickly. he is not fit for the monastery. he would do better for a priest, and i would bid him welcome as a military brother in office." "bold enough he certainly is," added the dominican. "i would not advise every one to enter the emperor's presence and this distinguished gathering in such attire." in fact, heinz showed plainly that he had come directly from the battlefield and the saddle, for a suit of stout chain armour, which covered the greater part of his tolerably long tunic, encased his limbs, and even the helmet which he bore on his arm, spite of the blue ribbon that adorned it, was by no means one of the delicate, costly ones worn in the tournament. besides, many a bruise showed that hard blows and thrusts had been dealt him. chapter xviii. at heinz schorlin's quarters the day before his young hostess, frau barbel, had had the costly armour entrusted to her care, and the trappings belonging to it, cleaned and put in order, but her labour was vain; for heinz schorlin had ridden directly to the fortress from schweinau, without stopping at his lodgings in the city. only a short time before he had learned that his two messengers had been captured and failed to reach their destination. he owed this information to sir boemund altrosen--and many another piece of news which cordula had given him. the main portion of heinz schorlin's task was completed when the countess's ambassador reached him, so he set out on his homeward way at once, and this time his silent friend had been eloquent and told him everything which had occurred during his absence. he now knew that boemund and cordula had plighted their troth, what the faithful biberli had done and suffered for him, and lastly--even to the minutest detail--the wonderful transformation in eva. when he had ridden forth he had hoped to learn to renounce her whom he loved with all the might of his fervid soul, and to bring himself to close his career as a soldier with this successful campaign; but whilst he destroyed castles and attacked the foe, former wishes were stilled, and a new desire and new convictions took their place. he could not give up the profession of arms, which all who bore the name of schorlin had practised from time immemorial, and to resign the love which united him to eva was impossible. she must become his, though she resembled an april day, and biberli's tales of the danger which threatened the husband from a sleep-walking wife returned more than once to his memory. yet what beautiful april days he had experienced, and though eva might have many faults, the devout child, with her angel beauty, certainly did not lack the will to do what was right and pleasing to god. when she was once his she should become so good that even his mother at home would approve his choice. he had wholly renounced the idea of going into the monastery. the minorite ignatius, whom father benedictus had sent after him that he might finish the work which the latter had begun, was a man who lacked neither intellect nor eloquence; but he did not possess the fiery enthusiasm and aristocratic confidence of the dead man. yet when the zealous monks, whom the prior of the dominicans had despatched to complete heinz's conversion, opposed him, the former entered into such sharp and angry arguments with them that the young knight, who witnessed more than one of their quarrels, startled and repelled, soon held aloof from all three and told them that he had resolved to remain in the world, and his onerous office gave him no time to listen to their well-meant admonitions. he was not created for the monastery. if heaven had vouchsafed him a miracle, it was done to preserve his life that--as eva desired--he might fight to the last drop of his blood for the church, his holy faith, and the beloved emperor. but if he remained in the world, eva would do the same; they belonged to each other inseparably. why, he could not have explained, but the voice which constantly reiterated it could not lie. after he had slain seitz siebenburg in the sword combat, and destroyed his brother's castle, his resolve to woo eva became absolutely fixed. his heart dictated this, but honour, too, commanded him to restore to the maiden and her sister the fair fame which his passionate impetuosity had injured. during the rapid ride which he and boemund altrosen took to nuremberg he had stopped at schweinau hospital, and found in biberli, eva's former enemy, her most enthusiastic panegyrist. heinz also heard from him how quickly she had won the hearts of his mother and maria, and that he would find all three at the fortress. lastly, sister hildegard had informed him of the great peril threatening his beloved faithful servant and companion, "old biber," which had led eva there to appeal to the emperor. beside the body of father benedictus he learned how beautiful had been the death of the old man who had so honestly striven to lead him into the path which he believed was the right one for him to tread. in a brief prayer beside his devout friend heinz expressed his gratitude, and called upon him to witness that, even in the world, he would not forget the shortness of this earthly pilgrimage, but would also provide for the other life which endured forever. true, heinz had but a few short moments to devote to this farewell, the cause of the faithful follower who, unasked, had unselfishly endured unutterable tortures for him, took precedence of everything else and would permit no delay. when the knight, with his figure drawn up to its full height, strode hastily into the royal hall, he beheld with joyful emotion those who were most dear to him, for whose presence he had longed most fervently during the ride--his mother, eva, his sister, and the imperial friend he loved so warmly. overwhelmed by agitation, he flung himself on his knees before his master, kissing his hand and his robe, but the emperor ordered him to rise and cordially greeted him. before speaking to his relatives, heinz informed the monarch that he had successfully executed his commission and, receiving a few words of thanks and appreciation, modestly but with urgent warmth entreated the emperor, if he was satisfied with his work, instead of any other reward, to save from further persecution the faithful servant who for his sake had borne the most terrible torture. the face of the sovereign, who had welcomed heinz as if he were a longabsent son, assumed a graver expression, and his tone seemed to vibrate with a slight touch of indignation, as he exclaimed: "first, let us settle your own affairs. serious charges have been made against you, my son, as well as against your servant, on whose account i have been so tormented. a father, who is one of the leading men in this city, accuses you of having destroyed his daughter's good name by forcing yourself into his house after assuring his child of your love." heinz turned to eva, to protest that he was here to atone for the wrong he had done her, but the emperor would not permit him to speak. it was important to silence at once any objection which could be made against the marriage by ecclesiastical and secular foes; therefore, eagerly as he desired to enjoy the happiness of the young pair, he forced himself to maintain the expression of grave dissatisfaction which he had assumed, and ordered a page to summon the imperial magistrate, the first losunger of the city, and his protonotary, who were all amongst the guests, and, lastly, the duchess agnes. he could read the latter's child eyes like the clear characters of a book, and neither the radiant glow on her face at heinz schorlin's entrance nor her hostile glance at the countess von montfort had escaped his notice. both her affection and her jealous resentment should serve him. the young bohemian now thought herself certain that heinz schorlin, and no other, was cordula's chosen knight; the countess, at his entrance, had exclaimed to her father loudly enough, "here he is again!" when the princess stood before the emperor, with the gentlemen whom he had summoned, he asked her to decide the important question. "yonder knight--he motioned towards heinz--had been guilty of an act which could scarcely be justified. though he had wooed the daughter of a noble nuremberg family, and even forced his way into her father's house, he had apparently forgotten the poor girl. "and," cried the young wife indignantly, "the unprincipled man has not only made a declaration of love to another, but formally asked her hand." "that would seem like him," said the emperor. "but we must not close our ears to the charge of the nuremberg honourable. his daughter, a lovely, modest maiden of excellent repute, has been seriously injured by heinz schorlin, and so i beg you, child, to tell us, with the keen appreciation of the rights and duties of a lady which is peculiar to you, what sentence, in your opinion, should be imposed upon sir heinz schorlin to atone for the wrong he has done to the young nuremberg maiden." he beckoned to the protonotary, as he spoke, to command him to show ernst ortlieb's accusation to the duchess, but she seemed to have practised the art of reading admirably; for, more quickly than it would otherwise have appeared possible to grasp the meaning of even the first sentences, she exclaimed, drawing herself up to her full height and gazing at cordula with haughty superiority: "there is but one decision here, if the morality of this noble city is to be preserved and the maiden daughters of her patrician families secured henceforward from the misfortune of being a plaything for the wanton levity of reckless heart breakers. but this decision, on which i firmly and resolutely insist, as lady and princess, in the name of my whole sex and of all knightly men who, with me, prize the reverence and inviolable fidelity due a lady, is: sir heinz schorlin must ask the honourable gentleman who, with full justice, brought this complaint to your imperial majesty, for his daughter's hand and, if the sorely injured maiden vouchsafes to accept it, lead her to the marriage altar before god and the world." "spoken according to the feelings of my own heart," replied the emperor and, turning to the citizens of nuremberg, he added: "so i ask you, gentlemen, who are familiar with the laws and customs of this good city and direct the administration of her justice, will such a marriage remove the complaint made against sir heinz schorlin and his servant?" "it will," replied old herr berthold vorchtel, gravely and firmly. herr pfinzing also assented, it is true, but added earnestly that an unfortunate meeting had caused another to suffer even more severely than eva from the knight's imprudence. this was her older sister, the betrothed bride of young eysvogel. for her sake, as well as to make the bond between sir heinz schorlin and the younger jungfrau ortlieb valid, the father's consent was necessary. if his imperial majesty desired to bring to a beautiful end, that very day, the gracious work so auspiciously commenced there was no obstacle in the way, for ernst ortlieb was at the von zollern castle with the daughter who had been so basely slandered. the emperor asked in surprise how they came there, and then ordered eva's father and sister to be brought to him. he was eager to make the acquaintance of the second beautiful e. "and wolff eysvogel?" asked the magistrate. "we agreed to release him after we had turned our back on nuremberg," replied the sovereign. "much as we have heard in praise of this young man, gladly as we have shown him how gratefully we prize the blood a brave man shed for us upon the marchfield, no change can be made in what, by virtue of our imperial word----" "certainly not, little brother," interrupted the court fool, eyebolt, "but for that very reason you must open the eysvogel's cage as quickly as possible and let him fly hither, for on the ride to the beekeeper's you crossed in your own seven-foot tall body the limits of this good city, whose length does not greatly surpass it--your imperial person, i mean. so you as certainly turned your back upon it as you stand in front of things which lie behind you. and as an emperor's word cannot have as much added or subtracted as a fly carries off on its tail, if it has one, you, little brother, are obliged and bound to have the strange monster, which is at once a wolf and a bird, immediately released and summoned hither." "not amiss," laughed the emperor, "if the boundaries of nuremberg saw our back for even so brief a space as it needs to make a wise man a fool. "we will follow your counsel, eyebolt.--herr pfinzing, tell young eysvogel that the emperor's pardon has ended his punishment. the breach of the country's peace may be forgiven the man who so heroically aided the battle for peace." then turning to meister gottlieb, the protonotary, he whispered so low that he alone could hear the command, that he should commit to paper a form of words which would give the bond between heinz schorlin and eva ortlieb sufficient legal power to resist both secular authority and that of the dominicans and sisters of st. clare. during this conference court etiquette had prevented the company from exchanging any remarks. whatever one person might desire to say to another he was forced to entrust to the mute language of the eyes, and a sportive impulse induced emperor rudolph to maintain the spell which held apart those who were most strongly attracted to each other. meantime, whilst he was talking with the protonotary, the bolder guests ventured to move about more freely, and of them all cordula imposed the least restraint upon herself. ere heinz had found time to address a word to eva or to greet his mother she glided swiftly to his side and, with an angry expression on her face, whispered: "if heaven bestowed the greatest happiness upon the most deserving, you must be the most favoured of mortals, for a more exquisite masterpiece than your future wife--i know her--was never created. but now open your ears and follow my advice: do not reveal the state of your heart until you have left the castle so far behind that you are out of sight of the bohemian princess, or your ship of happiness may be wrecked within sight of port." then, with a well-assumed air of indignation, she abruptly turned her back upon him. after moving away, she intentionally remained standing near the duchess, with drooping head. the latter hastily approached her, saying with admirably simulated earnestness: "you, countess, will probably be the last to refuse your approval of my interference against our knightly butterfly and in behalf of the poor inexperienced girl, his victim." "if that is your highness's opinion," replied cordula, shrugging her shoulders as if it were necessary to submit to the inevitable, "for my part i fear your kind solicitude may send me behind convent walls." "countess von montfort a nun!" cried the child wife, laughing. "if it were sir heinz schorlin to whom you just alluded, you, too, are among the deluded ones whom we must pity, yet with prudent foresight you provided compensation long ago. instead of burying yourself in a convent, you, whom so many desire, would do better to beckon to one of your admirers and bestow on him the happiness of which the other was not worthy." cordula fixed her eyes thoughtfully on the floor a short time, then, as if the advice had met with her approval, exclaimed: "your royal highness's mature wisdom has found the right expedient this time also. i am not fit for the veil. perhaps you may hear news of me to-morrow. by that time my choice will be determined. what would you say to the dark-haired altrosen?" "a brave champion!" replied the bohemian, and this time the laugh which accompanied her words came from the heart. "try him, in the name of all the saints! but look at sir heinz schorlin! a gloomy face for a happy man! he does not seem quite pleased with our verdict." she beckoned, as she spoke, to her chamberlain and the high steward, took leave of her imperial father-in-law and, with her pretty little head flung proudly back, rustled out of the hall. soon after herr pfinzing ushered ernst ortlieb, his daughter, and wolff into the presence of the sovereign, who gazed as if restored to youth at the handsome couple whose weal or woe was in his hands. this consciousness afforded him one of the moments when he gratefully felt the full beauty and dignity of his responsible position. with friendly words he restored wolff's liberty, and expressed the expectation that, with such a companion, he would raise the noble house of his ancestors to fresh prosperity. when he at last turned to heinz again he asked in a low tone: "do you know what this day means to me?" "nineteen years ago it gave you poor hartmann," replied the knight, his downcast eyes resting sadly on the floor. the kind-hearted sovereign nodded significantly, and said, "then it must benefit those who, so long as he lives, may expect his father's favour." he gazed thoughtfully into vacancy and, faithful to his habit of fixing his eye on a goal, often distant, and then carefully carrying out the details which were to ensure success, ere he turned to the next one, he summoned the imperial magistrate and the first losunger to his side. after disclosing to them his desire to allow the judges to decide and, should the verdict go against biberli, release him from punishment by a pardon, both undertook to justify the absence of the accused from the trial. the wise caution with which the emperor rudolph avoided interfering with the rights of the honourable council afforded old herr berthold vorchtel great satisfaction. both he and the magistrate, sure of the result, could promise that this affair, which had aroused so much excitement, especially among the artisans, would be ended by the marriage of the two ortlieb sisters and the payment of the blood money to the wounded tailor. any new complaint concerning them would then be lawfully rejected by both court and magistrate. never had heinz thanked his imperial benefactor more warmly for any gift, but though the emperor received his gallant favourite's expressions of gratitude and appreciation kindly, he did not yet permit him to enjoy his new happiness. there were still some things which must be decided, and for the third time his peculiar smile showed the initiated that he was planning some pleasant surprise for those whom it concerned. the mention of the blood money which herr ernst ortlieb owed the slandering tailor, who had not yet recovered from his wound, induced the emperor to look at the father of the beautiful sisters. he knew that herr ernst had also lost a valiant son in the battle of marchfield, and eva's father had been described as an excellent man, but one with whom it was difficult to deal. now, spite of the new happiness of his children, the sovereign saw him glance gloomily, as if some wrong had been done him, from his daughters to heinz, and then to lady schorlin and maria, to whom he had not yet been presented. he doubtless felt that the emperor had treated him and his family with rare graciousness, and was entitled to their warmest gratitude yet, as a father and a member of the proud and independent honourable council of the free imperial city of nuremberg, he considered his rights infringed--nay, it had cost him a severe struggle not to protest against such arbitrary measures. he had his paternal rights even here--els and eva were not parentless orphans. the noble monarch and shrewd judge of human nature perceived what was passing in the nuremberg merchant's mind, but the pleasant smile still rested on his lips as, with a glance at the ill-humoured honourable, he exclaimed to his future son-in-law: "i have just remembered something, heinz, which might somewhat cool your warm expressions of gratitude. yonder lovely child consented to become yours, it is true, but that does not mean very much, for it was done without the consent of her father, by which the compact first obtains signature and seal. herr ernst ortlieb, however, seems to be in no happy mood. only look at him! he is certainly mutely accusing me of vexatious interference with his paternal rights, and yet he may be sure that i feel a special regard for him. his son's blood, which flowed for his emperor's cause, gives him a peculiar claim upon our consideration, and we therefore devoted particular attention to his complaint. in this he now demands, my son, that you restore to him, herr ernst ortlieb, the two hundred silver marks which are awarded to the tailor as blood money and he must pay to the injured artisan. the prudent business man can scarcely be blamed for making this claim, for the wound he inflicted upon the ill-advised tradesman who so basely, insulted those dearest to him would certainly not have been dealt had not your insolent intrusion into the ortlieb mansion unchained evil tongues. so, heinz, you caused his hasty act, and therefor, are justly bound to answer for the consequence; if he brings the accusation, the judges will condemn you to pay the sum. i therefore ask whether you have it ready." here herr ernst attempted to explain that, in the present state of affairs, there could be no further mention of a payment which was only, intended to punish the disturber of his domestic peace more severely; but the emperor stopper him and bade heinz speak. the latter gazed in embarrassment at the helmet he held in his hand, and had not yet found; fitting answer when the emperor cried: "what am i to think? was the duke of pomerani; wrong when he told me of a heap of gold----" "no, your majesty," heinz here interrupter without raising his eyes. "what was left of the money would have more than sufficed to cover the sum required----" "i thought so!" exclaimed the sovereign with out letting him finish; "for a young knight who like a great lord, bestows a fine estate upon the pious franciscans, certainly need only command his treasurer to open the strong box----" "you are mocking me, your majesty," heinz quietly interposed. "you are doubtless well aware whence the golden curse came to me. i thrust it aside like noxious poison, and if i am reluctant to use it to buy, as it were, what is dearest and most sacred to me, indeed it does not spring from parsimony, for i had resolved to offer the two remaining purses to the devout sisters of st. clare and the zealous minorite brothers, one of the best of whom laboured earnestly for the salvation of my soul." "that is right, my son," fell from the emperor's lips in a tone of warm approval. "if the gold benefits the holy poverty of these pious brothers and sisters, the devil's gift may easily be transformed into a divine blessing. you both--" he gazed affectionately at heinz and eva as he spoke--"have, as it were, deserted the cloister, and owe it compensation. but your depriving yourself of your golden treasure, my friend--for two hundred silver marks are no trifle to a young knight--puts so different a face upon this matter that--that----" here he lowered his voice and continued with affectionate mirthfulness--"that a friend must determine to do what he can for him. true, my gallant heinz, i see that your future father-in-law, the other nuremberg honourables, and even your mother, are ready to pay the sum; but he who is most indebted to you holds fast this privilege, and that man am i, my brave champion! what you did for your emperor and his best work, the peace of the country, deserves a rich reward and, thanks to the saints, i have something which will discharge my debt. the swabian fief of reichenbach became vacant. it has a strong citadel, from which we command you to maintain the peace of the country and overthrow robber knights. this fief shall be yours. you can enjoy it with your dear wife. it must belong to your children and children's children forever; for that a schorlin should be born who would be unworthy of such a fief and faithless to his lord and emperor seems to me impossible. three villages and broad forests, with fields and meadows, pertain to the estate. as lord of reichenbach, it will be easy for you to pay the blood money, if your father-in-law is not too importunate a creditor." the latter certainly would not be that, and it cost ernst ortlieb no effort to bend the knee gratefully before the kindly monarch. the emperor rudolph accepted the homage, but he clasped the young lord of reichenbach to his heart like a beloved son, and as he placed eva's hand in his, and she raised her beautiful face to him, he stooped and kissed her with fatherly kindness. when wolff entreated him to bless his alliance in the place of his suffering father, he did so gladly; and els also willingly offered him her lips; when he requested the same favour her sister had granted him, that he might boast of the kisses bestowed on him by the two beautiful es, nuremberg's fairest maidens. chapter xix. heinz heeded cordula's warning. in the royal hall every one would have been justified in believing him a very cool lover, but during the walk with eva to the lodgings of his cousin maier of silenen, where the schurlins, ortliebs, wolff, and herr pfinzing and his wife were to meet to celebrate the betrothal, the moon, whose increasing crescent was again in the sky, beheld many things which gave her pleasure. the priest soon united heinz and eva, but the celestial pilgrim willingly resigned the power formerly exerted over the maiden to the husband, who clasped her to his heart with tender love. luna was satisfied with wolff and els also. she afterwards watched the fate of both couples in swabia and nuremberg, and when the showy escutcheon was removed from the eysvogel mansion, and a more modest one put in its place, she was gratified. she soon saw that a change had also been made in the one above the door of the ortlieb house, for the ortlieb coat of arms, in accordance with the family name, had borne the figure of a cat, the animal which loves the place,--[ort, place.]--the house to which it belongs, but on the wedding day of the two beautiful es the emperor rudolph had commanded that, in perpetual remembrance of its two loveliest daughters, the ortliebs should henceforward bear on their escutcheon two linden leaves under tendrils, the symbol of loyal steadfastness. when, a few months after wolff's union with his heart's beloved, the coffin of old countess rotterbach, adorned with a handsome coronet upon the costly pall, was borne out of the house at the quiet evening hour, she thought there was no cause to mourn. on the other hand, she grieved when, for a long time, she did not see old casper eysvogel, whose tall figure she had formerly watched with pleasure when, at a late hour, he returned from some banquet, his bearing erect, and his step as firm as if wine could not get the better of him. but suddenly one warm september noon, when her pale, waxing crescent was plainly visible in the blue sky by daylight, she beheld him again. he was less erect than before, but he seemed content with his fate; for, as a cooler breeze waved the light cobwebs in the little garden, into which he had been led, his daughter-in-law els with loving care wrapped his feet in the rug which she had embroidered for him with the eysvogel coat of arms, and he gratefully kissed her brow. it was fully ten years later that luna saw him also borne to the grave. frau rosalinde, his son, and his beautiful wife followed his coffin with sincere sorrow. the three gifted children whom els had given to her wolff remained standing in front of the house with frau rickel, their nurse. the carrier's widow, who had long since regained her health in the beguine house at schweinau, had been taken into frau eysvogel's service. her little adopted daughter walpurga, scarcely seventeen years old, had just been married to the ortlieb teamster ortel. the moon heard the nurse tell what a pleasant, quiet man herr casper had been, and how, away from his own business affairs and those of the council, his sole effort had seemed to be to interfere with no one. the moon had forgotten to look at frau rosalinde. besides, after her mother's death she was rarely seen even by the members of her own household, but when els desired to seek her she was sure of finding her with the children. the parents willingly afforded her the pleasure she derived from the companionship of the little ones, but they were often obliged to oppose her wish to dress her grandchildren magnificently. frau rosalinde rarely saw the twin sons of her daughter isabella, who took the veil after her husband's death to pray for his sorely imperilled soul. the knight heideck, the uncle and faithful teacher of the boys, was unwilling to let them go to the city. he ruled them strictly until they had proved that countess cordula's wish had been fulfilled and, resembling their unfortunate father only in figure and beauty, strength and courage, they had grown into valiant, honourable knights. wolff justified the expectations of berthold vorchtel and the honourable council concerning his excellent ability. when, eight years after he undertook the sole guidance of the business, the reichstag again met in nuremberg, it was the house of eysvogel which could make the largest loan to the emperor rudolph, who often lacked necessary funds. at the reichstag of the year 1289, whose memory is shadowed by many a sorrowful incident, most of the persons mentioned in our story met once more. countess cordula, now the happy wife of sir boemund altrosen, had also come and again lodged in the ortlieb house. but this time the only person whose homage pleased her was the grey-haired, but still vigorous and somewhat irascible herr ernst ortlieb. the abbess kunigunde alone was absent. when, after many an arduous conflict, especially with the dominicans, who did not cease to accuse her of lukewarmness, she felt death approaching, she had summoned her darling eva from swabia, and the young wife's husband, who never left her save when he was wielding his sword for the emperor, willingly accompanied her to nuremberg. with eva's hand clasped in hers, and supported by els, the abbess died peacefully, rich in beautiful hopes. how often she had described such an end to her pupil as the fairest reward for the sacrifices in which convent life was so rich! but the memory of her mother's decease had brought to eva, while in schweinau, the firm conviction that dwellers in the world were also permitted to find a similar end. the saviour himself had promised the crown of eternal life to those who were faithful unto death, and she and her husband maintained inviolable fidelity to the saviour, to each other, and to every duty which religion, law, and love commanded them to fulfil. therefore, why should they not be permitted to die as happily and confidently as her aunt, the abbess? her life was rich in happiness, and though heinz schorlin as a husband and father, as the brave and loyal liegeman of his emperor, and the prudent manager of his estate, regained his former light-heartedness, and taught his wife to share it, both never forgot the painful conflict by which they had won each other. when eva passed the village forge and saw the smith draw the glowing iron from the fire and, with heavy hammer strokes, fashion it upon the anvil as he desired, she often remembered the grievous days after her mother's death, which had made the "little saint"--she did not admit it herself, but the whole swabian nobility agreed in the opinion--the most faithful of wives and mothers, the providence of the poor, the zealous promoter of goodness, the most simply attired of noblewomen far and near, yet the most aristocratic and distinguished in her appearance of them all. hand in hand with her husband she devoted the most faithful care to their children, and if biberli, the castellan of the castle, and katterle his wife, who had remained childless, were too ready to read the wishes of their darlings in their eyes, she exclaimed warningly to the loyal old friend, "the fire of the forge!" he and katterle knew what she meant, for the ex-schoolmaster had explained it in the best possible way to his docile wife. etext editor's bookmarks: his sole effort had seemed to be to interfere with no one no virtue which can be owned like a house or a steed retreat behind the high-sounding words "justice and law" strongest of all educational powers--sorrow and love usually found the worst wine in the taverns with showy signs this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] in the fire of the forge a romance of old nuremberg by georg ebers volume 3. chapter x. one person only besides sir seitz siebenburg had not been deceived--the young knight boemund altrosen, whose love for cordula was genuine, and who, by its unerring instinct, felt that she had invented her tale and for a purpose which did honour to her kindness of heart. so his calm black eyes rested upon the woman he loved with proud delight, while seitz siebenburg twisted his mustache fiercely. not a look or movement of either of the two girls had escaped his notice, and cordula's bold interference in behalf of the reckless swiss knight, who now seemed to have ensnared his future sister-in-law also, increased the envy and jealousy which tortured him until he was forced to exert the utmost selfrestraint in order not to tell the countess to her face that he, at least, was far from being deceived by such a fable. yet he succeeded in controlling himself. but as he forced his lips to silence he gazed with the most open scorn at the bales of merchandise heaped around him. he would show the others that, though the husband of a merchant's daughter, he retained the prejudices of his knightly rank. but no one heeded the disagreeable fellow, who had no intimate friends in the group. most of the company were pressing round heinz schorlin with jests and questions, but bluff count von montfort warmly clasped els's hand, while he apologised for the bold jest of his young daughter who, in spite of her recklessness, meant kindly. nothing could have been more unwelcome to a girl in so unpleasant a situation than this delay. she longed most ardently to get away but, ere she succeeded in escaping from the friendly old noble, two gentlemen hastily entered the brightly lighted entry, at sight of whom her heart seemed to stop beating. the old count, who noticed her blanched face, released her, asking sympathisingly what troubled her, but els did not hear him. when she felt him loose her hand she would fain have fled up the stairs to her mother and sister, to avoid the discussions which must now follow. but she knew into what violent outbursts of sudden anger her usually prudent father could be hurried if there was no one at hand to warn him. there he stood in the doorway, his stern, gloomy expression forming a strange contrast to the merry party who had entered in such a jovial mood. his companion, herr casper eysvogel, had already noticed his future daughter-in-law, recognised her by an amazed shrug of the shoulders which was anything but a friendly greeting, and now eyed the excited revellers with a look as grave and repellent as that of the owner of the house. herr casper's unusual height permitted him to gaze over the heads of the party though, with the exception of count von montfort, they were all tall, nay, remarkably tall men, and the delicacy of his clear-cut, pallid, beardless face had never seemed to els handsomer or more sinister. true, he was the father of her wolff, but the son resembled this cold-hearted man only in his unusual stature, and a chill ran through her veins as she felt the stately old merchant's blue eyes, still keen and glittering, rest upon her. on the day of her betrothal she had rushed into his arms with a warm and grateful heart, and he had kissed her, as custom dictated; but it was done in a strange way--his thin, well-cut lips had barely brushed her brow. then he stepped back and turned to his wife with the low command, "it is your turn now, rosalinde." her future mother-in-law rose quickly, and doubtless intended to embrace her affectionately, but a loud cough from her own mother seemed to check her, for ere she opened her arms to els she turned to her and excused her act by the words, "he wishes it." yet els was finally clasped in frau rosalinde's arms and kissed more warmly than--from what had previously occurred--she had expected. wolff's grandmother, old countess rotterbach, who rarely left the huge gilt armchair in her daughter's sitting-room, had watched the whole scene with a scornful smile; then, thrusting her prominent chin still farther forward, she said to her daughter, loud enough for els to hear, "this into the bargain?" all these things returned to the young girl's memory as she gazed at the cold, statuesque face of her lover's father. it seemed as if he held his tall, noble figure more haughtily erect than usual, and that his plain dark garments were of richer material and more faultless cut than ever; nay, she even fancied that, like the lion, which crouches and strains every muscle ere it springs upon its victim, he was summoning all his pride and sternness to crush her. els was innocent; nay, the motive which had brought her here to defend her sister could not fail to be approved by every well-disposed person, and certainly not last by her father, and it would have suited her truthful nature to contradict openly countess cordula's friendly falsehood had not her dread of fatally exposing eva imposed silence. how her father's cheeks glowed already! with increasing anxiety, she attributed it to the indignation which overpowered him, yet he was only heated by the haste with which, accompanied by his future son-in-law's father, he had rushed here from the frauenthor as fast as his feet would carry him. casper eysvogel had also attended the vorchtel entertainment and accompanied ernst ortlieb into the street to discuss some business matters. he intended to persuade him to advance the capital for which he had just vainly asked herr vorchtel. he stood in most urgent need for the next few days of this great sum, of which his son and business partner must have no knowledge, and at first wolff eysvogel's future father-in-law saw no reason to refuse. but herr ernst was a cautious man, and when his companion imposed the condition that his son should be kept in ignorance of the loan, he was puzzled. he wished to learn why the business partner should not know what must be recorded in the books of the house; but casper eysvogel needed this capital to silence the jew pfefferkorn, from whom he had secretly borrowed large sums to conceal the heavy losses sustained in venice the year before at the gaming table. at first courteously, then with rising anger, he evaded the questions of the business man, and his manner of doing so, with the little contradictions in which the arrogant man, unaccustomed to falsehood, involved himself, showed herr ernst that all was not as it should be. by the time they reached the frauenthor, he had told casper eysvogel positively that he would not fulfil the request until wolff was informed of the matter. then the sorely pressed man perceived that nothing but a frank confession could lead him to his goal. but what an advantage it would give his companion, what a humiliation it would impose upon himself! he could not force his lips to utter it, but resolved to venture a last essay by appealing to the father, instead of to the business man; and therefore, with the haughty, condescending manner natural to him, he asked herr ernst, as if it were his final word, whether he had considered that his refusal of a request, which twenty other men would deem it an honour to fulfil, might give their relations a form very undesirable both to his daughter and himself? "no, i did not suppose that a necessity," replied his companion firmly, and then added in an irritated tone: "but if you need the loan so much that you require for your son a father-in-law who will advance it to you more readily, why, then, herr casper--" here he paused abruptly. a flood of light streamed into the street from the doorway of the ortlieb house. it must be a fire, and with the startled cry, "st. florian aid us! my entry is burning!" he rushed forward with his companion to the endangered house so quickly that the torchbearers, who even in this bright night did good service in the narrow streets, whose lofty houses barred out the moonlight, could scarcely follow. thus herr ernst, far more anxious about his invalid, helpless wife than his imperilled wares, soon reached his own door. his companion crossed the threshold close behind him, sullen, deeply incensed, and determined to order his son to choose between his love and favour and the daughter of this unfriendly man, whom only a sudden accident had prevented from breaking the betrothal. the sight of so many torches blazing here was an exasperating spectacle to ernst ortlieb, who with wise caution and love of order insisted that nothing but lanterns should be used to light his house, which contained inflammable wares of great value; but other things disturbed his composure, already wavering, to an even greater degree. what was his els doing at this hour among these gentlemen, all of whom were strangers? without heeding them or the countess, he was hastening towards her to obtain a solution of this enigma, but the young burgrave eitelfritz von zollern, the knight of altrosen, cordula von montfort, and others barred his way by greeting him and eagerly entreating him to pardon their intrusion at so late an hour. having no alternative, he curtly assented, and was somewhat soothed as he saw old count von montfort, who was still standing beside els, engaged in an animated conversation with her. his daughter's presence was probably due to that of the guests quartered in his home, especially cordula, whom, since she disturbed the peace of his quiet household night after night, he regarded as the personification of restlessness and reckless freedom. he would have preferred to pass her unnoticed, but she had clung to his arm and was trying, with coaxing graciousness, to soften his indignation by gaily relating how she had come here and what had detained her and her companions. but ernst ortlieb, who would usually have been very susceptible to such an advance from a young and aristocratic lady, could not now succeed in smoothing his brow. in his excitement he was not even able to grasp the meaning of the story she related merrily, though with well-feigned contrition. while listening to her with one ear, he was straining the other to catch what sir seitz siebenburg was saying to his father-in-law, casper eysvogel. he gathered from countess cordula's account that she had succeeded in playing some bold prank in connection with els and the swiss knight heinz schorlin, and the words "the mustache" was whispering to his father-inlaw-the direction of his glance betrayed it--also referred to els and the swiss. but the less herr ernst heard of this conversation the more painfully it excited his already perturbed spirit. suddenly his pleasant features, which, on account of the lady at his side, he had hitherto forced to wear a gracious aspect, assumed an expression which filled the reckless countess with grave anxiety, and urged the terrified els, who had not turned her eyes from him, to a hasty resolution. that was her father's look when on the point of an outbreak of fury, and at this hour, surrounded by these people, he must not allow himself to yield to rage; he must maintain a tolerable degree of composure. without heeding the young burgrave eitelfritz or sir boemund altrosen, who were just approaching her, she forced her way nearer to her father, he still maintained his self-control, but already the veins on his brow had swollen and his short figure was rigidly erect. the cause of his excitement--she had noticed it--was some word uttered by seitz siebenburg. her father was the only person who had understood it, but she was not mistaken in the conjecture that it referred to her and the swiss knight, and she believed it to be base and spiteful. in fact, after his father-in-law had told him that ernst ortlieb thought his house was on fire, "the mustache," in reply to herr casper's enquiry how his son's betrothed bride happened to be there, answered scornfully: "els? she did not hasten hither, like the old man, to put the fire out, but because one flame was not enough for her. wolff must know it tomorrow. by day the slender little flame of honourable betrothed love flickers for him; by night it blazes more brightly for yonder swiss scoundrel. and the young lady chooses for the scene of this toying with fire the easily ignited warehouse of her own father!" "i will secure mine against such risks," casper eysvogel answered; then, casting a contemptuous glance at els and a wrathful one at the swiss knight, he added with angry resolution: "it is not yet too late. so long as i am myself no one shall bring peril and disgrace upon my house and my son." then herr ernst had suddenly become aware of the suspicion with which his beautiful, brave, self-sacrificing child was regarded. pale as death, he struggled for composure, and when his eyes met the imploring gaze of the basely defamed girl, he said to himself that he must maintain his selfcontrol in order not to afford the frivolous revellers who surrounded him an entertaining spectacle. wolff was dear to him, but before he would have led his els to the house where the miserable "mustache" lived, and whose head was the coldhearted, gloomy man whose words had just struck him like a poisoned arrow, he, whom the lord had bereft of his beloved, gallant son, would have been ready to deprive himself of his daughters also and take both to the convent. eva longed to go, and els might find there a new and beautiful happiness, like his sister, the abbess kunigunde. in the eysvogel house, never! during these hasty reflections els extended her hand toward him, and the shining gold circlet which her lover had placed on her ring finger glittered in the torchlight. a thought darted through his brain with the speed of lightning, and without hesitation he drew the ring from the hand of his astonished daughter, whispering curtly, yet tenderly, in reply to her anxious cry, "what are you doing?" "trust me, child." then hastily approaching casper eysvogel, he beckoned to him to move a little aside from the group. the other followed, believing that herr ernst would now promise the sum requested, yet firmly resolved, much as he needed it, to refuse. ernst ortlieb, however, made no allusion to business matters, but with a swift gesture handed him the ring which united their two children. then, after a rapid glance around had assured him that no one had followed them, he whispered to herr casper: "tell your wolff that he was, and would have remained, dear to us; but my daughter seems to me too good for his father's house and for kindred who fear that she will bring injury and shame upon them. your wish is fulfilled. i hereby break the betrothal." "and, in so doing, you only anticipate the step which i intended to take with more cogent motives," replied casper eysvogel with cool composure, shrugging his shoulders contemptuously. "the city will judge to-morrow which of the two parties was compelled to sever a bond sacred in the sight of god and men. unfortunately, it is impossible for me to give your daughter the good opinion you cherish of my son." drawing his stately figure to its full height as he spoke, he gazed at his diminutive adversary with a look of haughty contempt and, without vouchsafing a word in farewell, turned his back upon him. repressed fury was seething in ernst ortlieb's breast, and he would scarcely have succeeded in controlling himself longer but for the consolation afforded by the thought that every tie was sundered between his daughter and this cold, arrogant, unjust man and his haughty, evil disposed kindred. but when he again looked for the daughter on whom his hasty act had doubtless inflicted a severe blow, she was no longer visible. directly after he took the ring she had glided silently, unnoticed by most of the company, up the stairs to the second story. cordula von montfort told him this in a low tone. els had made no answer to her questions, but her imploring, tearful eyes pierced the young countess to the heart. her quick ear had caught siebenburg's malicious words and casper eysvogel's harsh response and, with deep pity, she felt how keenly the poor girl must suffer. the happiness of a whole life destroyed without any fault of her own! from their first meeting els had seemed to her incapable of any careless error, and she had merely tried, by her bold, interference, to protect her from the gossip of evil tongues. but heinz schorlin had just approached and whispered that, by his knightly honour, els was a total stranger to him, and he only wished he might find his own dear sister at home as pure and free from any fault. poor child! but the countess knew who had frustrated her intervention in behalf of els. it was sir seitz siebenburg, "the mustache," whose officious homage, at first amusing, had long since become repulsive. her heart shrank from the thought that, merely from vain pleasure in having a throng of admirers, she had given this scoundrel more than one glance of encouragement. the riding whip fairly quivered in her right hand as, after informing ernst ortlieb where els had gone, she warned the gentlemen that it was time to depart, and seitz siebenburg submissively, yet as familiarly as if he had a right to her special favour, held out his hand in farewell. but countess cordula withdrew hers with visible dislike, saying in a tone of chilling repulse: "remember me to your wife, sir knight. tell her to take care that her twin sons resemble their father as little as possible." "then you want to have two ardent admirers the less?" asked siebenburg gaily, supposing that the countess's remark was a jest. but when she did not, as he expected, give these insulting words an interpretation favourable to him, but merely shrugged her shoulders scornfully, he added, glancing fiercely at the swiss knight: "true, you would doubtless be better pleased should the boys grow up to resemble the lucky sir heinz schorlin, for whose sake you proved yourself the inventor of tales more marvellous, if not more credible, than the most skilful travelling minstrel." "perhaps so," replied the countess with contemptuous brevity. "but i should be satisfied if the twins--and this agrees with my first wish should grow up honest men. if you should pay me the honour of a visit during the next few days, sir seitz, i could not receive it." with these words she turned away, paying no further heed to him, though he called her name aloud, as if half frantic. chapter xi. it was after midnight when the servants closed the heavy door of the ortlieb mansion. the late guests had left it, mounted their horses, and ridden away together through the frauenthor into the city. the moon no longer lighted their way. a sultry wind had swept from the southwest masses of grey clouds, which constantly grew denser and darker. heinz schorlin did not notice it, but his follower, biberli, called his attention to the rising storm and entreated him to choose the nearest road to the city. to remain outside the gate in such darkness would be uncomfortable, nay, perhaps not without peril, but the knight merely flung him the peevish answer, "so much the better," and, to biberli's surprise, turned into st. klarengasse, which brought him by no means nearer to his distant lodgings in the bindergasse. it was unfortunate to be warmly devoted to a master who had no fear, whom he was obliged to serve as a messenger of love, and who now probably scarcely knew himself whither this love would lead him. but true and steadfast biberli would really have followed sir heinz, not only in a dangerous nocturnal ramble, but through all the terrors of. hell. so he only glanced down at his long, lean legs, which would be exposed here to the bites of the dogs, with whom he stood on especially bad terms, raised his long robe higher, as the paths over which they must pass were of doubtful cleanliness, and deemed it a good omen when his foot struck against a stout stick, which his patron saint had perhaps thrown in his way as a weapon. its possession was somewhat soothing, it is true, yet he did not regain the pleasant consciousness of peace in which his soul had rejoiced a few short hours before. he knew what to expect from the irritable mood into which recent events appeared to have thrown his master. heinz usually soon forgot any such trivial disappointment, but the difficulty threatening himself and katterle was far worse--nay, might even assume terrible proportions. these alarming thoughts made him sigh so deeply that heinz turned towards him. he would gladly have relieved his own troubled breast in the same way. never before had the soul of this light-hearted child of good fortune served as the arena for so fierce a struggle of contending emotions. he loved eva, and the image of her white, supernaturally beautiful figure, flooded by the moonlight, still stood before him as distinctly as when, after her disappearance, he had resolved to plead his suit for her to her sister; but the usually reckless fellow asked himself, shuddering, what would have happened had he obeyed eva's summons and been found with her, as he had just been surprised with her sister. she was not wholly free from guilt, for her note had really contained an invitation to a meeting; yet she escaped. but his needless impetuosity and her sudden appearance before the house had placed her modest, charming sister, the betrothed bride of the gallant fellow who had fought with him in the marchfield, in danger of being misunderstood and despised. if the finger of scorn were pointed at her, if a stain rested on her fair fame, the austere wolff eysvogel would hardly desire to make her his wife, and then this also would be his fault. his kind, honest heart suffered keenly under these self-accusations, the first which he had ever heeded. hitherto the volatile young fellow, who had often gaily risked his life in battle and his last penny at the gaming table, had never thought of seriously examining his own soul, battling by his own strength of will against some secret longing and shunning its cause. on the contrary, from childhood he had accustomed himself to rely on the protection and aid of the virgin and the saints; and when they passed the image with the ever-burning lamp, where katterle had just sought and found consolation, he implored it not to let his bold intrusion into the home of the maiden he loved bring evil upon her and her sister. he also vowed to the convent and its saint--which, come what might, should also be his--a rich gift whenever the emperor or the gaming table again filled his purse. the thought of being burdened his whole life long with the reproach of having made two such charming, innocent creatures miserable seemed unendurable. he would gladly have given gold and blood to remove it. it was too late that day, but he resolved to go to the confessional on the morrow, for absolution had always relieved and lightened his heart. but how trivial his errors had been! true, the wrong he had now committed was not a mortal sin, and would hardly impose a severe penance upon him, yet it burdened him like the most infamous crime. he did not understand himself, and often wondered why he, reckless heinz, thus made a mountain out of a molehill. yet when, after this reflection, he uttered a sigh of relief, it seemed as if a voice within commanded him not to think lightly of what had passed, for on that evening he had ceased to bestow pleasure on every one, and instead of, as usual, being helpful and agreeable, he had plunged others who had done him no wrong-nay, perhaps a whole household, whose daughter had given him the first love of her young heart-into misery and disgrace. had he considered the consequences of his act, he would still be merry heinz. then he remembered how, when a boy, playing with other lads high up among the mountains just as it was beginning to thaw, he had hurled the work they had finished with so much toil, a snow man, down the slope, rejoicing with his playfellows over its swift descent towards the valley, until they noticed with what frightful speed its bulk increased as it sped over its snowy road, till at last, like a terrible avalanche, it swept away a herdsman's hut--fortunately an empty one. now, also, his heedlessness had set in motion a mass which constantly rolled onward, and how terrible might be the harm it would do! if hartmann, the emperor's son, were only there! he confided everything to him, for he was sure of his silence. both his duty as a knight and his conscience forbade him to relate his experiences and ask counsel from any one else. he was still absorbed in these gloomy thoughts when, just before reaching the walch, he heard biberli's deep sigh. here, behind and beside the frames of the cloth weavers, stood the tents before which the followers and soldiers of the princes and dignitaries who had come to the reichstag were still sitting around the camp fire, carousing and laughing. any interruption was welcome to him, and to biberli it seemed like a deliverance to be permitted to use his poor endangered tongue, for his master had asked what grief oppressed him. "if you desired to know what trouble did not burden my soul i could find a speedier answer," replied biberli piteously. "oh, this night, my lord! what has it not brought upon us and others! look at the black clouds rising in the south. they are like the dark days impending over us poor mortals." then he confided to heinz his fears for himself and katterle. the knight's assurance that he would intercede for him and, if necessary, even appeal to the emperor's favour, somewhat cheered his servitor's drooping spirits, it is true, but by no means restored his composure, and his tone was lugubrious enough as he went on: "and the poor innocent girl in the ortlieb house! your little lady, my lord, broke the bread she must now eat herself, but the other, the older e." "i know," interrupted the knight sorrowfully. "but if the gracious virgin aids us, they will continue to believe in the wager cordula von montfort----" "she! she!" biberli exclaimed, enthusiastically waving his stick aloft. "the lord created her in a good hour. such a heart! such friendly kindness! and to think that she interposed so graciously for you--you, sir heinz, to whom she showed the favour of combing your locks, as if you were already her promised husband, and who afterwards, for another's sake, left her at the ball as if she wore a fern cap and had become invisible. i saw the whole from the musician's gallery. true, the somnambulist is marvellously beautiful." but the knight interrupted him by exclaiming so vehemently: "silence!" that he paused. both walked on without speaking for some distance ere heinz began again: "even though i live to grow old and grey, never shall i behold aught more beautiful than the vision of that white-robed girlish figure on the stairs." true and steadfast biberli sighed faintly. love for eva ortlieb held his master as if in a vise; but a schorlin seemed to him far too good a match for a nuremberg maiden who had grown up among sacks of pepper and chests of goods and, moreover, was a somnambulist. he looked higher for his heinz, and had already found the right match for him. so, turning to him again, he said earnestly: "drive the bewitching vision from your mind, sir heinz. you don't know --but i could tell you some tales about women who walk in their sleep by moonlight." "well?" asked heinz eagerly. "as a maiden," biberli continued impressively, with the pious intention of guarding his master from injury, "the somnambulist merely runs the risk of falling from the roof, or whatever accident may happen to a sleepwalker; but if she enters the estate of holy matrimony, the evil power which has dominion over her sooner or later transforms her at midnight into a troll, which seizes her husband's throat in his sleep and strangles him." "nursery tales!" cried heinz angrily, but biberli answered calmly: "it can make no difference to you what occurs in the case of such possessed women, for henceforward the ortlieb house will be closed against you. and--begging your pardon--it is fortunate. for, my lord, the horse mounted by the first schorlin--the chaplain showed it to you in the picture--came from the ark in which noah saved it with the other animals from the deluge, and the first lady schorlin whom the family chronicles mention was a countess. your ancestresses came from citadels and castles; no schorlin ever yet brought his bride from a tradesman's house. you, the proudest of them all, will scarcely think of making such an error, though it is true--" "ernst ortlieb, spite of his trade, is a man of knightly lineage, to whom the king of arms opens the lists at every tournament!" exclaimed heinz indignantly. "in the combat with blunt weapons," replied biberli contemptuously. "nay, for the jousts and single combat," cried heinz excitedly. "the emperor frederick himself dubbed herr ernst a knight." "you know best," replied biberli modestly. but his coat of arms, like his entry, smells of cloves and pepper. here is another, however, who, like your first ancestress, has a countess's title, and who has a right-my name isn't biberli if your lady mother at home would not be more than happy were i to inform her that the countess von montfort and the darling of her heart, which you are: "the name of montfort and what goes with it," heinz interrupted, "would surely please those at home. but the rest! where could a girl be found who, setting aside cordula's kind heart, would be so great a contrast to my mother in every respect?" "stormy mornings merge into quiet days," said the servant. "everything depends, my lord, upon the heart of which you speak so slightingly--the heart and, even above that, upon the blood. 'help is needed there,' cried the kind heart just now, and then the blood did its 'devoir'. the act followed the desire as the sound follows the blow of the hammer, the thunder the flash of lightning. well for the castle that is ruled by such a mistress! i am only the servant, and respect commands me to curb my tongue; but to-day i had news from home through the provost werner, of lucerne, whom i knew at stansstadt. i meant to tell you of it over the wine at the thirsty troopers, but that accursed note and the misfortune which followed prevented. it will not make either of us more cheerful, but whoever is ordered by the leech to drink gall and wormwood does wisely to swallow the dose at one gulp. do you wish to empty the cup now?" the knight nodded assent, and biberli went on. "home affairs are not going as they ought. though your uncle's hair is already grey, the knightly blood in his veins makes him grasp the sword too quickly. the quarrel about the bridge-toll has broken out again more violently than ever. the townsfolk drove off our cattle as security and, by way of punishment, your uncle seized the goods of their merchants, and they came to blows. true, the schorlin retainers forced back the men from town with bloody heads, but if the feud lasts much longer we cannot hold out, for the others have the money, and since the war cry has sounded less frequently there has been no lack of men at arms who will serve any one who pays. besides, the townsfolk can appeal to the treaty of peace, and if your uncle continues to seize the merchant's wares they will apply to the imperial magistrate, and then: "then," cried heinz eagerly, "then the time will have come for me to leave the court and return home to look after my rights." "a single arm, no matter how strong it may be, can avail nothing there, my lord," biberli protested earnestly. "your uncle ramsweg has scarcely his peer as a leader, but even were it not so you could not bring yourself to send the old man home and put yourself in his place. besides, it would be as unwise as it is unjust. what is lacking at home is money to pay the town what it demands for the use of the bridge, or to increase the number of your men, and therefore: "well?" asked heinz eagerly. "therefore seek the countess von montfort, who favours you above every one else," was the reply; "for with her all you need will be yours without effort. her dowry will suffice to settle twenty such bridge dues, and if it should come to a fray, the brave huntress will ride to the field at your side with helmet and spear. which of the four fs did countess cordula von montfort ever lack?" "the four fs?" asked heinz, listening intently. "the fs," explained the ex-pedagogue, "are the four letters which marriageable knights should consider. they are: family, figure, favour, and fortune. but hold your cap on! what a hot blast this is, as if the storm were coming straight from the jaws of hell. and the dust! where did all these withered leaves come from in the month of june? they are whirling about as if the foliage had already fallen. there are big raindrops driving into my face too b-r-r! you need all four fs. no rain will wash a single one of them away, and i hope it won't efface the least word of my speech either. what, according to human foresight, could be lacking to secure the fairest happiness, if you and the countess--" "love," replied heinz schorlin curtly. "that will come of itself," cried biberli, as if sure of what he was saying, "if the bride is countess cordula." "possibly," answered the knight, "but the heart must not be filled by another's image." here he paused, for in the darkness he had stumbled into the ditch by the road. the whirlwind which preceded the bursting of the storm blew such clouds of dust and everything it contained into their faces that it was difficult to advance. but biberli was glad, for he had not yet found a fitting answer. he struggled silently on beside his master against the wind, until it suddenly subsided, and a violent storm of rain streamed in big warm drops on the thirsty earth and the belated pedestrians. then, spite of heinz's protestations, biberli hurriedly snatched the long robe embroidered with the st from his shoulders and threw it over his master, declaring that his shirt was as safe from injury as his skin, but the rain would ruin the knight's delicate embroidered doublet. then he drew over his head the hood which hung from his coat, and meanwhile must have decided upon an answer, for as soon as they moved on he began again: "you must drive your love for the beautiful sleepwalker out of your mind. try to do so, my dear, dear master, for the sake of your lady mother, your young sister who will soon be old enough to marry, our light-hearted maria, and the good old castle. for your own happiness, your lofty career, which began so gloriously, you must hear me! o master, my dear master, tear from your heart the image of the little nuremberg witch, tempting though it is, i admit. the wound will bleed for a brief time, but after so much mirthful pleasure a fleeting disappointment in love, i should think, would not be too hard to bear if it will be speedily followed by the fairest and most enduring happiness." here a flash of lightning, which illumined the hospital door close before them, and made every surrounding object as bright as day, interrupted the affectionate entreaty of the faithful fellow, and at the same time a tremendous peal of thunder crashed and rattled through the air. master and servant crossed themselves, but heinz exclaimed: "that struck the tower yonder. a little farther to the left, and all doubts and misgivings would have been ended." "you can say that!" exclaimed biberli reproachfully while passing with his master through the gate which had just been opened for an imperial messenger. "and you dare to make such a speech in the midst of this heavenly wrath! for the sake of a pair of lovely eyes you are ready to execrate a life which the saints have so blessed with every gift that thousands and tens of thousands would not give it up from sheer gratitude and joy, even if it were not a blasphemous crime!" again the lightning and thunder drowned his words. biberli's heart trembled, and muttering prayers beseeching protection from the avenging hand above, he walked swiftly onward till they reached the corn market. here they were again stopped, for, notwithstanding the late hour, a throng of people, shouting and wailing, was just pouring from the ledergasse into the square, headed by a night watchman provided with spear, horn, and lantern, a bailiff, torchbearers, and some police officers, who were vainly trying to silence the loudest outcries. again a brilliant flash of lightning pierced the black mass of clouds, and heinz, shuddering, pointed to the crowd and asked, "do you suppose the lightning killed the man whom they are carrying yonder?" "let me see," replied biberli, among whose small vices curiosity was by no means the least. he must have understood news gathering thoroughly, for he soon returned and informed heinz, who had sought shelter from the rain under the broad bow window of a lofty house, that the bearers were just carrying to his parents' home a young man whose thread of life had been suddenly severed by a stab through the breast in a duel. after the witnesses had taken the corpse to the leech otto, in the ledergasse, and the latter said that the youth was dead, they had quickly dispersed, fearing a severe punishment on account of the breach of the peace. the murdered man was ulrich vorchtel, the oldest son of the wealthy berthold vorchel, who collected the imperial taxes. again heinz shuddered. he had seen the unfortunate young man the day before yesterday at the fencing school, and yesterday, full of overflowing mirth, at the dance, and knew that he, too, had fought in the battle of marchfield. his foe must have been master of the art of wielding the sword, for the dead man had been a skilful fencer, and was tall and stalwart in figure. when the servant ended his story heinz stood still in the darkness for a time, silently listening. the bells had begun to ring, the blast of the watchman's horn blended with the wailing notes summoning aid, and in two places--near the thiergartenthor and the frauenthor--the sky was crimsoned by the reflection of a conflagration, probably kindled by some flash of lightning, which flickered over the clouds, alternately rising and falling, sometimes deeper and anon paler in hue. throngs of people, shouting "fire!" pressed from the cross streets into the square. the stillness of the night was over. when heinz again turned to biberli he said in a hollow tone: "if the earth should swallow up nuremberg tonight it would not surprise me. but over yonder--look, biber, the duke of pomerania's quarters in the green shield are still lighted. i'll wager that they are yet at the gaming table. a plague upon it! i would be there, too, if my purse allowed. i feel as if yonder dead man and his coffin were burdening my soul. if it was really good fortune in love that snatched the zecchins from my purse yesterday: "then," cried biberli eagerly, "to-night is the very time, ere countess cordula teaches you to forget what troubles you, to win them back. the gold for the first stake is at your disposal." "from the duke of pomerania, you think?" asked heinz; then, in a quick, resolute tone, added: "no! often as the duke has offered me his purse, i never borrow from my peers when the prospect of repayment looks so uncertain." "gently, my lord," returned biberli, slapping his belt importantly. "here is what you need for the stake as your own property. no miracles have been wrought for us, only i forgot but look! there are the black clouds rolling northward over the castle. that was a frightful storm! but a spendthrift doesn't keep house long-and the thunder has not yet followed that last flash of lightning. there is plenty of uproar without it. it's hard work to hear one's self speak amid all the ringing, trumpeting, yelling, and shrieking. it seems as if they expected to put out the fire with noise. the fathers of the city can attend to that. it doesn't appear to disturb the duke and his guests at their dice; and here, my lord, are fifty florins which, i think, will do for the beginning." biberli handed the knight a little bag containing this sum, and when heinz asked in perplexity where he obtained it, the ex-schoolmaster answered gaily: "they came just in the nick of time. i received them from suss, the jockey, while you were out riding this afternoon." "for the black?" heinz enquired. "certainly, my lord. it's a pity about the splendid stallion. but, as you know, he has the staggers, and when i struck him on the coronet he stood as if rooted to the earth, and the equerry, who was there, said that the disease was proved. so the jew silently submitted, let the horse be led away, and paid back what we gave him. fifty heavy florins! more than enough for a beginning. if i may advise you, count on the two and the five when fixed numbers are to be thrown or hit. why? because you must turn your ill luck in love to advantage: and those from whom it comes are the two beautiful ortlieb es, as nuremberg folk call the ladies els and eva. that makes the two. but e is the fifth letter in the alphabet, so i should choose the five. if biberli did not put things together shrewdly--" "he would be as oversharp as he has often been already," heinz interrupted, but he patted biberli's wet arm as he spoke, and added kindly "yet every day proves that my biberli is a true and steadfast fellow; but where in the wide world did you, a schoolmaster, gain instruction in the art of throwing the dice?" "while we were studying in paris, with my dead foster brother," replied the servant with evident emotion. "but now go up, my lord, before the fire alarm, and i know not what else, makes the people upstairs separate. the iron must be forged during this wild night. only a few drops of rain are falling. you can cross the street dry even without my long garment." while speaking he divested the knight of his robe, and continued eagerly: "now, my lord, from the coffin, or let us say rather the leaden weight, which oppresses your soul, let a bolt be melted that will strike misfortune to the heart. glittering gold has a cheering colour." "stop! stop!" heinz interrupted positively. "no good wishes on the eve of hunting or gaming. "but if i come bounding down the stairs of the green shield with a purse as heavy as my heart is just now--why, biberli, success puts a new face on many things, and yours shall again look at me without anxiety." chapter xii, the thunderclouds had gathered in the blackest masses above the frauenthor and the ortlieb mansion. ere the storm burst the oppressive atmosphere had burdened the hearts within as heavily as it weighed outside upon tree, bush, and all animated creation. in the servants' rooms under the roof the maids slept quietly and dreamlessly; and the men, with their mouths wide open, snored after the labour of the day, unconscious of what was passing outside in the sky or the events within which had destroyed the peace of their master and his family. the only bed unoccupied was the one in the little room next to the stairs leading to the garret, which was occupied by katterle. the swiss, kneeling before it with her face buried in the coarse linen pillow case, alternately sobbed, prayed, and cursed herself and her recklessness. when the gale, which preceded the thunderstorm, blew leaves and straws in through the open window she started violently, imagining that herr ortlieb had come to call her to account and her trial was to begin. the barber's widow, whom she had seen a few days before in the pillory, with a stone around her neck, because she had allowed a cloth weaver's heedless daughter to come to her lodging with a handsome trumpeter who belonged to the city musicians, rose before her mental vision. how the poor thing had trembled and moaned after the executioner's assistant hung the heavy stone around her neck! then, driven frantic by the jeers and insults of the people, the missiles flung by the street boys, and the unbearable burden, she could control herself no longer but, pouring forth a flood of curses, thrust out her tongue at her tormentors. what a spectacle! but ere she, katterle, would submit to such disgrace she would bid farewell to life with all its joys; and even to the countryman to whom her heart clung, and who, spite of his well-proven truth and steadfastness, had brought misery upon her. now the memory of the hateful word which she, too, had called to the barber's widow weighed heavily on her heart. never, never again would she be arrogant to a neighbour who had fallen into misfortune. this vow, and many others, she made to st. clare; then her thoughts wandered to the city moat, to the pegnitz, the fischbach, and all the other streams in and near nuremberg, where it was possible to drown and thus escape the terrible disgrace which threatened her. but in so doing she had doubtless committed a heavy sin; for while recalling the dutzen pond, from whose dark surface she had often gathered white water lilies after passing through the frauenthor into the open fields, and wondering in what part of its reedy shore her design could be most easily executed, a brilliant flash of lightning blazed through her room, and at the same time a peal of thunder shook the old mansion to its foundations. that was meant for her and her wicked thoughts. no! for the sake of escaping disgrace here on earth, she dared not trifle with eternal salvation and the hope of seeing her dead mother in the other world. the remembrance of that dear mother, who had laboured so earnestly to train her in every good path, soothed her. surely she was looking down upon her and knew that she had remained upright and honest, that she had not defrauded her employers of even a pin, and that the little fault which was to be so grievously punished had been committed solely out of love for her countryman, who in his truth and steadfastness meant honestly by her. what biberli requested her to do could be no heavy sin. but the powers above seemed to be of a different opinion; for again a dazzling glare of light illumined the room, and the crash and rattle of the thunder of the angry heavens accompanied it with a deafening din. katterle shrieked aloud; it seemed as if the gates of hell had opened before her, or the destruction of the world had begun. frantic with terror, she sprang back from the window, through which the raindrops were already sprinkling her face. they cooled her flushed cheeks and brought her back to reality. the offence she had just committed was no trivial one. she, whom herr ortlieb, with entire confidence, had placed in the service of the fair young girl whose invalid mother could not care for her, had permitted herself to be induced to persuade eva, who was scarcely beyond childhood, to a rendezvous with a man whom she represented to the inexperienced maiden as a godly, virtuous knight, though she knew from biberli how far the latter surpassed his master in fidelity and steadfastness. "lead us not into temptation!" how often she had repeated the words in the lord's prayer, and now she herself had become the serpent that tempted into sin the innocent child whom duty should have commanded her to guard. no, no! the guilt for which she was threatened with punishment was by no means small, and even if her earthly judge did not call her to account, she would go to confession to-morrow and honestly perform the penance imposed. moved by these thoughts, she gazed across the courtyard to the convent. just at that moment the lightning again flashed, the thunder pealed, and she covered her face with her hands. when she lowered her arms she saw on the roof of the nuns' granary, which adjoined the cow-stable, a slender column of smoke, followed by a narrow tongue of flame, which grew steadily brighter. the lightning had set it on fire. sympathy for the danger and losses of others forced her own grief and anxiety into the background and, without pausing to think, she slipped on her shoes, snatched her shawl from the chest, and ran downstairs, shouting: "the lightning has struck! the convent is burning!" just at that moment the door of the chamber occupied by the two sisters opened, and ernst ortlieb, with tangled hair and pallid cheeks, came toward her. within the room the dim light of the little lamp and the fiery glare of the lightning illumined tear-stained, agitated faces. after heinz schorlin had called to her, and els had hurried to her aid, eva, clad in her long, plain night robe, and barefooted, just as she had risen from her couch, followed the maid to her room. what must the knight, who but yesterday, she knew, had looked up to her as to a saint, think of her now? she felt as if she were disgraced, stained with shame. yet it was through no fault of her own, and overwhelmed by the terrible conviction that mysterious, supernatural powers, against which resistance was hopeless, were playing a cruel game with her, she had felt as if the stormy sea were tossing her in a rudderless boat on its angry surges. unable to seek consolation in prayer, as usual, she had given herself up to dull despair, but only for a short time. els had soon returned, and the firm, quiet manner with which her prudent, helpful friend and sister met her, and even tried to raise her drooping courage by a jest ere she sent her to their mother's sick room, had fallen on her soul like refreshing dew; not because els promised to act for her--on the contrary, what she intended to do roused her to resistance. she had been far too guilty and oppressed to oppose her, yet indignation concerning the sharp words which els had uttered about the knight, and her intention of forbidding him the house, perhaps forever, had stimulated her like strong acid wine. not until after her sister had left her did she become capable of clearly understanding what she had felt during her period of somnambulism. while her mother, thanks to a narcotic, slept soundly, breathing quietly, and in the entry below something, she knew not what, perhaps due to her father's return, was occurring, she sat thinking, pondering, while an impetuous throng of rebellious wishes raised their voices, alternately asking and denying, in her agitated breast. how she had happened to rise from her couch and go out had vanished utterly from her memory, but she was still perfectly conscious of her feelings during the night walk. if hitherto she had yearned to drain heavenly bliss from the chalice of faith, during her wanderings through the house she had longed for nothing save to drink her fill from the cup of earthly joy. ardent kisses, of which she had forbidden herself even to think, she awaited with blissful delight. her timorous heart, held in check by virgin modesty, accustomed to desire nothing save what she could have confessed to her sister and the abbess, seemed as if it had cast off every fetter and boldly resolved to risk the most daring deeds. the somnambulist had longed for the moment when, after heinz schorlin's confession that he loved her, she could throw her arms around his neck with rapturous gratitude. if, while awake, she had desired only to speak to him of her saint and of his duty to overthrow the foes of the church, she had wished while gazing at the moon from the stairs, and in front of the house door, to whisper sweet words of love, listen to his, and in so doing forget herself, the world, and everything which did not belong to him, to her, and their love. and she remembered this longing and yearning in a way very unlike a mere dream. it seemed rather as if, while the moon was attracting her by its magic power, something, which had long slumbered in the depths of her soul, had waked to life; something, from which formerly, ere her heart and mind had been able rightly to understand it, she had shrunk with pious horror, had assumed a tangible form. now she dreaded this newly recognised sinful part of her own nature, which she had imagined a pure vessel that had room only for what was noble, sacred, and innocent. she, too--she knew it now--was only a girl like those on whose desire for love she had looked down with arrogant contempt, no bride of heaven or saint. she had not yet taken the veil, and it was fortunate, for what would have become of her had she not discovered until after her profession this part of her nature, which she thought every true nun, if she possessed it, must discard, like the hair which was shorn from her head, before taking the vow of the order. during this self-inspection it became more and more evident that she was not one person, but two in one--a twofold nature with a single body and two distinct souls; and this conviction caused her as much pain as if the cut which had produced the separation were still bleeding. just at that moment her eyes fell upon the image of the virgin opposite, and the usual impulse to lift her soul in prayer took possession of her even more powerfully than a short time before. with fervent warmth she besought her to release her from this newly awakened nature, which surely could not be pleasing in the sight of heaven, and let her once more become what she was before the unfortunate ramble in the moonlight. but the composure she needed for prayer was soon destroyed, for the image of the knight rose before her again and again, and it seemed as if her own name, which he had called with such ardent longing, once more rang in her ears. whoever thus raises his voice in appeal to another loves that person. heinz schorlin's love was great and sincere and, instead of heeding the inner voice that warned her to return to prayer, she cried defiantly, "i will not!" she could not yet part from the man for whom her heart throbbed with such passionate yearning, who was so brave and godly, so ardently devoted to her. true, it had been peacefully beautiful to dream herself into the bright glory of heaven, yet the stormy rapture she had felt while thinking of him and his love seemed richer and greater. she could not, would not part from him. then she remembered her sister's intention of driving heinz--eva already called the knight by that name in her soliloquy--from her presence, and the thought that she might perhaps wound him so keenly that knightly honour would forbid his return alarmed and incensed her. what right had els to distrust him? a godly knight played no base game with the chosen lady of, his heart, and that, yes, that she certainly was, since she had named her colour to him. nothing should separate them. she needed him for her happiness as much as she did light and air. hitherto she had longed for bliss in another world, but she was so young she probably had a long life before her, and what could existence on earth offer if robbed of the hope of his possession? the newly awakened part of her nature demanded its rights. it would never again allow itself to be forced into the old slumber. if her sister came back and boasted of having driven away the dangerous animal forever, she would show her that she had a different opinion of the knight, and would permit no one to interpose between them. but, while still pondering over this plan, the door of the sick-room was softly opened and her father beckoned to her to follow him. silently leading the way through the dusky corridor, no longer illumined by the moonlight, he entered his daughter's room before her. the lamp, still burning there, revealed the agitated face of her sister who, resting her chin on her hand, sat on the stool beside the spinning wheel. eva's courage, which had blazed up so brightly, instantly fell again. "good heavens! what has happened?" she cried in terror; but her father answered in a hollow tone: "for the sake of your noble sister, to whom i pledged my word, i will force myself to remain calm. but look at her! her poor heart must be like a graveyard, for she was doomed to bury what she held dearest. and who," he continued furiously, so carried away by grief and indignation as to be unmindful of his promise to maintain his composure, "who is to blame for it all, save you and your boundless imprudence?" eva, with uplifted hands, tried to explain how, unconscious of her acts, she had walked in her sleep down the stairs and out of the house, but he imperiously cut her short with: "silence! i know all. my daughter gave a worthless tempter the right to expect the worst from her. you, whom we deemed the ornament of this house, whose purity hitherto was stainless, are to blame if people passing on the street point at it! alas! alas! our honour, our ancient, unsullied name!" groaning aloud, the father struck his brow with his clenched hand; but when els rose and passed her arm around his shoulders to speak words of consolation, eva, who hitherto had vainly struggled for words, could endure no more. "whoever says that of me, my father," she exclaimed with flashing eyes; scarcely able to control her voice, "has opened his ears to slander; and whoever terms heinz schorlin a worthless tempter, is blinded by a delusion, and i call him to his face, even were it my own father, to whom i owe gratitude and respect--" but here she stopped and extended her arms to keep off the deeply angered man, for he had started forward with quivering lips, and--she perceived it clearly--was already under the spell of one of the terrible fits of fury which might lead him to the most unprecedented deeds. els, however, had clung to him and, while holding him back with all her strength, cried out in a tone of keen reproach, "is this the way you keep your promise?" then, lowering her voice, she continued with loving entreaty: "my dear, dear father, can you doubt that she was asleep, unconscious of her acts, when she did what has brought so much misery upon us?" and, interrupting herself, she added eagerly in a tone of the firmest conviction: "no, no, neither shame nor misery has yet touched you, my father, nor the poor child yonder. the suspicion of evil rests on me, and me alone, and if any one here must be wretched it is i." then herr ernst, regaining his self-control, drew back from eva, but the latter, as if fairly frantic, exclaimed: "do you want to drive me out of my senses by your mysterious words and accusations? what, in the name of all the saints, has happened that can plunge my els into misery and shame?" "into misery and shame," repeated her father in a hollow tone, throwing himself into a chair, where he sat motionless, with his face buried in his hands, while els told her sister what had occurred when she went down into the entry to speak to the knight. eva listened to her story, fairly gasping for breath. for one brief moment she cherished the suspicion that cordula had not acted from pure sympathy, but to impose upon heinz schorlin a debt of gratitude which would bind him to her more firmly. yet when she heard that her father had given back his daughter's ring to herr casper eysvogel and broken his child's betrothal she thought of nothing save her sister's grief and, sobbing aloud, threw herself into els's arms. the girls held each other in a close embrace until the first flash of lightning and peal of thunder interrupted the conversation. the father and daughters had been so deeply agitated that they had not heard the storm rising outside, and the outbreak of the tempest surprised them. the peal of thunder, which so swiftly followed the lightning, also startled them and when, soon after, a second one shook the house with its crashing, rattling roar, herr ernst went out to wake the chief packer. but old endres was already keeping watch among the wares entrusted to him and when, after a brief absence, the master of the house returned, he found eva again clasped in her sister's arms, and saw the latter kissing her brow and eyes as she tenderly strove to comfort her. but eva seemed deaf to her soothing words. els, her faithful els, was no longer the betrothed bride of her wolff; her great, beautiful happiness was destroyed forever. on the morrow all nuremberg would learn that herr casper had broken his son's betrothal pledge, because his bride, for the sake of a tempter, sir heinz schorlin, had failed to keep her troth with him. how deeply all this pierced eva's heart! how terrible was the torture of the thought that she was the cause of this frightful misfortune! dissolved in an agony of tears, she entreated the poor girl to forgive her; and els did so willingly, and in a way that touched her father to the very depths of his heart. how good the girls must be who, spite of the sore suffering which one had brought upon the other, were still so loving and loyal! convinced that eva, too, had done nothing worthy of punishment, he went towards them to clasp both in his arms, but ere he could do so the clap of thunder which had frightened katterle so terribly shook the whole room. "st. clare, aid us!" cried eva, crossing herself and falling upon her knees; but els rushed to the window, opened it, and looked down the street. nothing was visible there save a faint red glow on the distant northern horizon, and two mailed soldiers who were riding into the city at a rapid trot. they had been sent from the stables in the marienthurm to keep order in case a fire should break out. several men with hooks and poles followed, also hurrying to the frauenthor. in reply to the question where the fire was and where they going, they answered: "to the fischbach, to help. flames have burst out apparently under the fortress at the thiergartenthor." the long-drawn call for help from the warder's horn, which came at the same moment, proved that the men were right. herr ernst hastened out of the room just as katterle's shriek, "the lightning struck! the convent is burning!" rung from the upper step of the stairs. he had already pronounced her sentence, and the sight of her roused his wrath again so vehemently that, spite of the urgent peril, he shouted to her that, whatever claimed his attention now, she certainly should not escape the most severe punishment for her shameful conduct. then he ordered old endres and two of the menservants to watch the sleeping-room of his invalid wife, that in case anything should happen the helpless woman might be instantly borne to a place of safety. ere he himself went to the scene of the conflagration he hurried back to his daughters. while the girls were giving him his hat and cloak he told them where the fire had broken out, and this caused another detention of the anxious master of the house, for eva seized her shoes and stockings and, kicking her little slippers from her feet, declared that she, too, would not remain absent from the place when her dear nuns were in danger. but her father commanded her to stay with her mother and sister, and went to the door, turning back once more on the threshold to his daughters with the anxious entreaty: "think of your mother!" another peal of thunder drowned the sound of his footsteps hurrying down the stairs. when els, who had watched her father from the window a short time, went back to her sister, eva dried her eyes and cheeks, saying: "perhaps he is right; but whenever my heart urges me to obey any warm impulse, obstacles are put in my way. what a weak nonentity is the daughter of an honourable nuremberg family!" els heard this complaint with astonishment. was this her eva, her "little saint," who yesterday had desired nothing more ardently than with humble obedience, far from the tumult of the world, to become worthy of her heavenly bridegroom, and in the quiet peace of the convent raise her soul to god? what had so changed the girl in these few hours? even the most worldly-minded of her friends would have taken such an impeachment ill. but she had no time now to appeal to the conscience of her misguided sister. love and duty summoned her to her mother's couch. and then! the child had become aware of her love, and was she, els, who had been parted from wolff by her own father, and yet did not mean to give him up, justified in advising her sister to cast aside her love and the hope of future happiness with and through the man to whom she had given her heart? what miracles love wrought! if in a single night it had transformed the devout future bride of heaven into an ardently loving woman, it could accomplish the impossible for her also. while eva was gazing out of the window els returned to her mother. she was still asleep and, without permitting either curiosity or longing to divert her from her duty, els kept her place beside the couch of the beloved invalid, spite of the fire alarm which, though somewhat subdued, was heard in the room. chapter xiii. eva was standing at the open window. the violence of the storm seemed exhausted. the clouds were rolling northward, and the thunder followed the flashes of lightning at longer and longer intervals. peace was restored to the heavens, but the crowd and noise in the city and the street constantly increased. the iron tongues of the alarm bells had never swung so violently, the warder's horn had never made the air quiver with such resonant appeals for aid. nor did the metallic voices above call for help in vain, for while a roseate glow tinged the linden in front of her window and the houses on the opposite side of the street with the hues of dawn, the crowds thronging from the frauenthor to st. klarengasse grew denser and denser. the convent was not visible from her chamber, but the acrid odor of the smoke and the loud voices which reached her ear from that direction proved that the fire was no trivial one. while she was seeking out the spot from which heinz must have looked up to her window, the ortlieb menservants, with some of the montfort retainers, came out of the house with pails and ladders. a female figure glided into the dark street after them. a black shawl concealed her head and the upper part of her figure, and she held a bundle in her hand. it must be katterle. where was she going at this hour? as she was carrying the package, she could scarcely intend to help in putting out the fire. was she stealing away from fear of punishment? poor thing! even the maid was hurled into misfortune through her guilt. it pierced her very heart. but while she called to katterle to stop her, something else, which engrossed her still more, diverted her attention-the loud voice of countess cordula reached her from the street door. with whom was she talking? did the girl, who ventured upon so many things which ill-beseemed a modest maiden, intend to join the men? eva forgot that she, too, would have hurried to the nuns had not her father prevented it. the countess was already standing in the courtyard. after eva had given her a hasty glance she again looked for the maid, but katterle had already vanished in the darkness. this grieved her; she had neglected something which might have saved the girl, to whom she was warmly attached, from some imprudent act. but while attracted by the strange appearance of the countess she had forgotten the other. cordula had probably just left her couch, for she wore only a plain dress tucked up very high, short boots, which she probably used in hunting, and a shawl crossed over her bosom; another was wound round her head in the fashion of the peasant women who brought their goods to market on cold winter days. no farmer's wife could be more simply clad, and yet--eva was forced to admit it--there was something aristocratic in her firm bearing. her companions were her father's chaplain and the equerry who had grown grey in his service. both were trying to dissuade her. the former pointed to a troop of women who were following the chief of police and some city constables, and said warningly: "those are all wanton queans, whom the law of this city compels to lend their aid in putting out fires. how would it beseem your rank to join these who shame their sex---no, no! it would be said to-morrow that the ornament of the house of montfort had----" "that countess cordula had used her hands in extinguishing the fire," she interrupted with gay self-confidence. "is there any disgrace in that? must my noble birth debar me from being numbered among those who help their neighbours so far as lies in their power? if any good is accomplished here, those poor women yonder will make it no worse by their aid. if people here believe that they do, it will give me double pleasure to ennoble it by working with them. putting out the flames will not degrade me, and will make the women better. so, forward! see how the fire is blazing yonder! help is needed there and, thank heaven, i am no weakling. besides, there are women who want assistance and, to women in peril, the most welcome aid is woman's." the old equerry, his eyes glittering with tears, nodded assent, and led the way into the street; but the countess, instead of following instantly, glanced back for the page who was to carry the bandages which she had learned to use among her retainers at home. the agile boy did not delay her long; but while his mistress was looking to see that he had forgotten nothing of importance, he perceived at the window eva, whose beauty had long since fired his young heart, and cast a languishing glance at her. then cordula also noticed her and called a pleasant greeting. eva was on the point of answering in the same tone, when she remembered that cordula had spoken of heinz schorlin in the presence of others as if he were awaiting her in all submission. anger surged hotly in her breast, and she drew back into the room as if she had not heard the salutation. the countess perceived it, and shrugged her shoulders pityingly. eva, dissatisfied with herself, continued to gaze down into the street long after the crowds of people flocking from the city had concealed cordula from her eyes. it seemed as though she would never again succeed in anything that would bring contentment. never had she felt so weak, so ill-tempered, so devoid of self-reliance. yet she could not, as usual, seek consolation with her saint. there was so much here below to divert her attention. the roseate glow on the linden had become a crimson glare, the flickering light on the opposite walls a dazzling illumination. the wind, now blowing from the west, bore from st. klarengasse burning objects which scattered sparks around them--bundles of hay caught by the flames--from the convent barn to the marienthurm opposite, and into the street. besides, the noise above and behind, before and below her, grew louder and louder. the ringing of the bells and the blare of trumpets from the steeples continued, and with this constant ringing, pealing, and crashing from above, mingled the high, clear voices of the choir of nuns in the convent, beseeching in fervent litanies the help of their patron saint. true, the singing was often drowned by the noise from the street, for the fire marshals and quartermasters had been informed in time, and watchmen, soldiers in the pay of the city, men from the hospital, and the abandoned women (required by law to help put out the fires) came in little groups, while bailiffs and servants of the council, barbers (who were obliged to lend their aid, but whose surgical skill could find little employment here), members of the council, priests and monks arrived singly. the street also echoed with the trampling of many steeds, for mounted troopers in coats of mail first dashed by to aid the bailiffs in maintaining order, then the inspector of water works, with his chief subordinate, trotted along to st. klarengasse on the clumsy horses placed at their disposal by the council in case of fire. he was followed by the millers, with brass fire engines. while their well-fed nags drew on sledges, with little noise, through the mire of the streets now softened by the rain, the heavy wooden water barrels needed in the work of extinguishing the flames, there was a loud rattling and clanking as the carts appeared on which the men from the public works building were bringing large and small ladders, hooks and levers, pails and torches, to the scene of the conflagration. besides those who were constrained by the law, many others desired to aid the popular sisters of st. clare and thereby earn a reward from god. a brewer had furnished his powerful stallions to convey to the scene of action, with their tools, the eight masons whose duty it was to use their skill in extinguishing the flames. all sorts of people--men and women-followed, yelling and shrieking, to seek their own profit during the work of rescue. but the bailiffs kept a sharp eye on them, and made way when the commander of the german knights, with several companions on whose black mantles the white cross gleamed, appeared on horseback, and at last old herr berthold vorchtel trotted up on his noble grey, which was known to the whole city. he still had a firm seat in the saddle, but his head was bowed, and whoever knew that only one hour before the corpse of his oldest son, slain in a duel, had been brought home, admired the aged magistrate's strength of will. as first losunger and commander in chief he was the head of the council, and therefore of the city also. duty had commanded him to mount his steed, but how pale and haggard was his shrewd face, usually so animated! just in front of the ortlieb mansion the commander of the german knights rode to his side, and eva saw how warmly he shook him by the hand, as if he desired to show the old man very cordially his deep sympathy in some sore trouble which had assailed him. ever since wolff's betrothal to els had been announced the vorchtels had ceased to be on terms of intimacy with the ortliebs; but old herr berthold, though he himself had probably regarded young eysvogel as his "ursel's" future husband, had always treated eva kindly, and she was not mistaken--tears were glittering on his cheeks in the torchlight. the sight touched the young girl's inmost heart. how eagerly she desired to know what had befallen the vorchtels, and to give the old man some token of sympathy! what could have caused him so much sorrow? only a few hours before her father had returned from a gay entertainment at his house. it could scarcely concern herr berthold's wife, his daughter ursula, or either of his two vigorous sons. perhaps death had only bereft him of some more distant, though beloved relative, yet surely she would have known that, for the ortliebs were connected by marriage both with the old gentleman and his wife. tortured by a presentiment of evil, eva gazed after him, and also watched for heinz schorlin among the people in the street. must not anxiety for her bring him hither, if he learned how near her house the fire was burning? whenever a helmet or knight's baret appeared above the crowd she thought that he was coming. once she believed that she had certainly recognised him, for a tall young man of knightly bearing appeared, not mounted, but on foot, and stopped opposite to the ortlieb house. that must be he! but when he looked up to her window, the reflection of the fire showed that the man who had made her heart beat so quickly was indeed a young and handsome knight, but by no means the person for whom she had mistaken him. it was boemund altrosen, famed as victor in many a tournament, who when a boy had often been at the house of her uncle, herr pfinzing. there was no mistaking his coal-black, waving locks. it was said that the dark-blue sleeve of a woman's robe which he wore on his helmet in the jousts belonged to the countess von montfort. she was his lady, for whom he had won so many victories. heinz schorlin had mentioned him at the ball as his friend, and told her that the gallant knight would vainly strive to win the reckless countess. perhaps he was now looking at the house so intently on cordula's account. or had heinz, his friend, sent him to watch over her while he was possibly detained by the emperor? but, no; he had just gone nearer to the house to question a man in the von montfort livery, and the reply now led him to move on towards the convent. were the tears which filled eva's eyes caused by the smoke that poured from the fire more and more densely into the street, or to disappointment and bitter anguish? the danger which threatened her aunt and her beloved nuns also increased her excitement. true, the sisters themselves seemed to feel safe, for snatches of their singing were still audible amid the ringing of the bells and the blare of the trumpets, but the fire must have been very hard to extinguish. this was proved by the bright glow on the linden tree and the shouts of command which, though unintelligible, rose above every other sound. the street below was becoming less crowded. most of those who had left their beds to render aid had already reached the scene of the conflagration. only a few stragglers still passed through the open gate towards the marienthurm. among them were horsemen, and eva's heart again throbbed more quickly, but only for a short time. heinz schorlin was far taller than the man who had again deceived her, and his way would hardly have been lighted by two mounted torch bearers. soon her rosy lips even parted in a smile, for the sturdy little man on the big, strong-boned vinzgau steed, whom she now saw distinctly, was her dearest relative, her godfather, the kind, shrewd, imperial magistrate, berthold pfinzing, the husband of her father's sister, good aunt christine. if he looked up he would tell her about old herr vorchtel. nor did he ride past his darling's house without a glance at her window, and when he saw eva beckon he ordered the servants to keep back, and stopped behind the chains. after he had briefly greeted his niece and she had enquired what had befallen the vorchtels, he asked anxiously: "then you know nothing yet? and els--has it been kept from her, too?" "what, in the name of all the saints?" asked eva, with increasing alarm. then herr pfinzing, who saw that the door of the house was open, asked her to come down. eva was soon standing beside her godfather's big bay, and while patting the smooth neck of the splendid animal he said hurriedly, in a low tone: "it's fortunate that it happened so. you can break it gradually to your sister, child. to-night summon up your courage, for there are things which even a man--to make the story short, then: tonight wolff eysvogel and young vorchtel quarreled, or rather ulrich irritated your wolff so cruelly that he drew his sword--" "wolff!" shrieked eva, whose hand had already dropped from the horse. "wolff! he is so terribly strong, and if he drew his sword in anger----" "he dealt his foe one powerful thrust," replied the imperial magistrate with an expressive gesture. "the sword pierced him through. but i must go on only this one thing more: ulrich was borne back to his parents as a corpse. and wolff where is he hiding? may the saints long be the only ones who know! a quarrel with such a result under the emperor's eyes, now when peace has just been declared throughout the land! who knows what sentence will be pronounced if the bailiffs show themselves shrewder this time than usual! my office compelled me to set the pack upon him. that is the reason i am so late. tell els as cautiously as possible." he bowed gallantly and trotted on, but eva, as if hunted by enemies, rushed up the staircase, threw herself on her knees before the prie dieu, and sobbed aloud. young vorchtel had undoubtedly heard of the events in the entry, taunted wolff with his betrothed bride's nocturnal interview with a knight, and thus roused the strong man to fury. how terrible it all was! how could she bear it! her thoughtlessness had cost a human life, robbed parents of their son! through her fault her sister's betrothed husband, whom she also loved, was in danger of being placed under ban, perhaps even of being led to the executioner's block! she had no thought of any other motive which might have induced the hotblooded young men to cross swords and, firmly convinced that her luckless letter had drawn heinz schorlin to the house and thus led to all these terrible things, she vainly struggled for composure. sometimes she beheld in imagination the despairing els; sometimes the aged vorchtels, grieving themselves to death; sometimes wolff, outlawed, hiding like a hunted deer in the recesses of the forest; sometimes the maid, fleeing with her little bundle into the darkness of the night; sometimes the burning convent; and at intervals also heinz schorlin, as he knelt before her and raised his clasped hands with passionate entreaty. but she repelled every thought of him as a sin, and even repressed the impulse to look out into the street to seek him. her sole duty now was to pray to her patron saint and the mother of god in behalf of her sister, whom she had hurled into misfortune, and her poor heart bleeding from such deep wounds; but the consolation which usually followed the mere uplifting of her soul in prayer did not come, and it could not be otherwise, for amid her continual looking into her own heart and listening to what went on around her no real devotion was possible. although she constantly made fresh efforts to collect her thoughts, and continued to kneel with clasped hands before the prie dieu, not a hoofbeat, not a single loud voice, escaped her ear. even the alternate deepening and paling of the reflection of the fire, which streamed through the window, attracted her attention, and the ringing of bells and braying of trumpets, which still continued, maintained the agitation in her soul. yet prayer was the sole atonement she could make for the wrong she had done her sister; so she did not cease her endeavours to plead for her to the great helper above, but her efforts were futile. yet even when she heard voices close by the house, among which she distinguished countess cordula's and--if she was not mistaken--her father's, she resisted the impulse to rise from her knees. at last the vain struggle was ended by an interruption from without. after unusually loud voices exclaiming and questioning had reached her from the entry, the door of her chamber suddenly opened and old martsche looked in. the housekeeper was seeking something; but when she found the devout child on her knees she did not wish to disturb her, and contented herself with the evidence of her eyes. but eva stopped her, and learned that she was searching for katterle, who could neither be found in her room, or anywhere else. herr ortlieb had brought countess von montfort home severely burned, and there were all sorts of things for the maid to do. eva clung shuddering to the back of the prie dieu, for the certainty that the unfortunate girl had really fled was like strewing salt on her wounds. when martsche left her and els entered, her excitement had risen to such a pitch that she flung herself before her, as if frantic and, clinging to her knees, heaping self-accusations upon herself with passionate impetuosity, she pleaded, amid her sobs, for pardon and mercy. meanwhile els had been informed by her father of her lover's fatal deed, and as soon as she perceived what tortured her sister she relieved her, with loving words of explanation, from the reproach of being the cause of this misfortune also, for the quarrel had taken place so early that no tidings of the meeting in the entry could have reached young vorchtel when he became involved in the fray with wolff. nor was it solely to soothe eva that she assured her that, deeply as she mourned the death of the hapless ulrich and his parents' grief, wolff's deed could not diminish either her love or her hope of becoming his. eva listened to this statement with sparkling eyes. the love in her sister's heart was as immovably firm as the ancient stones of her native stronghold, which defied every storm, and on which even the destroying, kindling lightning could inflict no injury. this made her doubly dear, and from the depths of dull despair her soul, ever prone to soar upwards, rose swiftly to the heights of hopeful exaltation. when els at last entreated her to go to rest without her, she willingly consented, for her mother was comfortable, and sister renata was watching at her bedside. eva kept her promise, after els, who wanted to see the countess von montfort, had satisfied her concerning the welfare of the nuns and promised to go to rest herself as soon as possible. the stopping of the alarm bells proved that the fire was under control. even its reflection had disappeared, but the eastern sky was beginning to be suffused with a faint tinge of rose colour. when her sister left her eva herself drew the curtains before the window, and sleep soon ended her thoughts and yearnings, her grief and her hope. chapter xiv. countess cordula von montfort's room faced the east and looked out into the garden. the sun of the june morning had just risen, filling it with cheerful light. the invalid's maid had wished to deny els admittance, but the countess called eagerly to her, and then ordered the windows to be opened, because she never felt comfortable unless it was light around her and she could breathe god's pure air. the morning breeze bore the smoke which still rose from the fire in another direction, and thus a refreshing air really entered the room from the garden, for the thunderstorm had refreshed all nature, and flower beds and grass, bush and tree, exhaled a fresh odour of earth and leafage which it was a delight to breathe. the leech otto, to whom the severely wounded ulrich vorchtel had been carried, had just left the countess. the burns on her hands and arms had been bandaged--nay, the old gentleman had cut out the scorched portions of her tresses with his own hand. cordula's energetic action had made the famous surgeon deem her worthy of such care. he had also advised her to seek the nursing of the oldest daughter of her host, whose invalid wife he was attending, and she had gladly assented; for els had attracted her from their first meeting, and she was accustomed to begin the day at sunrise. "how does it happen that you neither weep nor even hang your head after all the sorrow which last night brought you?" asked cordula, as the nuremberg maiden sat down beside her bed. "you are a stranger to the swiss knight, and when we surprised you with him you had not come to a meeting--i know that full well. but if so true and warm a love unites you to young eysvogel, how does it happen that your joyous courage is so little damped by his father's denial and his own unhappy deed, which at this time could scarcely escape punishment? you do not seem frivolous, and yet--" "yet," replied els with a pleasant smile, "many things have made a deeper impression. we are not all alike, countess, yet there is much in your nature which must render it easy for you to understand me; for, countess----" "call me cordula," interrupted the girl in a tone of friendly entreaty. "why should i deny that i am fond of you? and at the risk of making you vain, i will betray----" "well?" asked els eagerly. "that the splendid old leech described you to me exactly as i had imagined you," was the reply. you were one of those, he said, whose mere presence beside a sick-bed was as good as medicine, and so you are; and, dear jungfrau els, this salutary medicine benefits me." "if i am to dispense with the 'countess,'" replied the other, "you must spare me the 'jungfrau.' nursing you will give me all the more pleasure on account of the warm gratitude----" "never mind that," interrupted cordula. "but please look at the bandage, beneath which the flesh burns and aches more than is necessary, and then go on with your explanation." els examined the countess's arm, and then applied a household remedy whose use she had learned from the wife of herr pfinzing, her aunt christine, who was familiar with the healing art. it relieved the pain, and when cordula told her so, els went on with her explanation. "when all these blows fell upon me, they at first seemed, indeed, unprecedented and scarcely possible to endure. when afterwards my wolff's unhappy deed was added, i felt as though i were standing in a dense, dark mist, where each step forwards must lead me into a stifling morass or over a precipice. then i began to reflect upon what had happened, as is my custom; i separated, in my thoughts, the evil menacing in the future from the good, and had scarcely made a little progress in this way when morass and abyss lost their terrors; both, i found, could be left to take care of themselves, since neither wolff nor i lack love and good will, and we possess some degree of prudence and caution." "yes, this thinking and considering!" cried the countess, with a faint sigh. "it succeeds in my case, too, only, unluckily, i usually don't begin until it is too late and the folly has been committed." "then, henceforth, you must reverse the process," answered els cheerily. but directly after she changed her tone, which sounded serious enough as she added: "the sorrow of the poor vorchtels and the grief my betrothed husband must endure, because the dead man was once a dear friend, certainly casts a dark shadow upon many things; but you, who love the chase, must surely be familiar with the misty autumn mornings to which i allude. everything, far and near, is covered by a thick veil, yet one feels that there is bright sunshine behind it. suddenly the mist scatters----" "and mountain and forest, land and water, lie before us in the radiant sunlight!" cried the countess. "how well i know such scenes! and how i should rejoice if a favourable wind would sweep the grey mist away for you right speedily! only--indeed, i am not disposed to look on the dark side--only, perhaps you do not know how resolute the emperor is that the peace of the country shall be maintained. if your lover allowed himself to be carried away----" "this was not the first time," els eagerly interrupted, "that young vorchtel tried to anger him in the presence of others; and he believed that he was justified in bearing a grudge against his former friend--it was considered a settled thing that wolff and his sister ursula were to marry." "until," cordula broke in, "he gazed into your bright eyes." "how could you know that?" asked els in confusion. "because, in love and hate, as well as in reckoning, two and three follow one," laughed the countess. "as for your wolff, in particular, i will gladly believe, with you, that he can succeed in clearing himself before the judges. but with regard to old eysvogel, who looks as though, if he met our dear lord himself, he would think first which of the two was the richer, your future brother-in-law siebenburg, that disagreeable 'mustache,' and his poor wife, who sits at home grieving over her dissolute husband--what gratitude you can expect from such kindred--" "none," replied els sadly. yet a mischievous smile hovered around her lips as, bending over the invalid, she added in a whisper: "but the good i expect from all the evil is, that we and the eysvogels will be separated as if by wall and moat. they will never cross them, but wolff would find the way back to me, though we were parted by an ocean, and mountains towering to the sky divided----" "this confidence, indeed, maintains the courage," said the countess, and with a faint sigh she added: "whatever evil may befall you, many might envy you." "then love has conquered you also?" els began; but cordula answered evasively: "let that pass, dear jungfrau. perhaps love treats me as a mother deals with a froward child, because i asked too much of her. my life has become an endless battue. much game of all kinds is thus driven out to be shot, but the sportsman finds true pleasure only in tracking the single heathcock, the solitary chamois. yet, no," and in her eagerness she flung her bandaged hand so high into the air that she groaned with pain and was forced to keep silence. when able to speak once more, still tortured by severe suffering, she exclaimed angrily: "no, i want neither driving nor stalking. what do i care for the prey? i am a woman, too. i would fain be the poor persecuted game, which the hunter pursues at the risk of breaking his bones and neck. it must be delightful; one would willingly bear the pain of a wound for its sake. i don't mean these pitiful burns, but a deep and deadly one." "you ought to have spared yourself these," said els in a tone of affectionate warning. "consider what you are to your father, and how your suffering pains him! to risk a precious human life for the sake of a stupid brute--" "they call it a sin, i know," cordula burst forth. "and yet i would commit the same tomorrow at the risk of again--oh, you cautious city people, you maidens with snow-white hands! what do you know of a girl like me? you cannot even imagine what my child life was; and yet it is told in a single word--motherless! i was never permitted to see her, to hear her dear, warning voice. she paid with her own life for giving me mine. my father? how kind he is! he meant to supply his dead wife's place by anticipating my every wish. had i desired to feast my eyes on the castle in flames, it would, perhaps, now lie in ashes. so i became what i am. true--and this is something--i grew to be at least one person's joy--his. no, no, at home there are others also, though they dwell in wretched hovels, who would gladly welcome me back. but except these, who will ask about the reckless countess? i myself do not care to linger long when the mirror shows me my image. do you wish to know what this has to do with the fire? much; for otherwise i should scarcely have been wounded. the lightning had struck only the convent barn; the cow stable, when we arrived, was still safe, but the flames soon reached it also. neither the nuns nor the men had thought of driving the cattle out. poor city cattle! in the country the animals have more friendly care. when the work of rescue was at last commenced the cows naturally refused to leave their old home. some prudent person had torn the door off the hinges that they might not stifle. just in front of it stood a pretty red cow with a white star on her face. a calf was by her side, and the mother had already sunk on her knees and was licking it in mortal terror. i pitied the poor thing, and as boemund altrosen, the blackhaired knight who entered your house with the rest after the ride to kadolzburg, had just come there, i told him to save the calf. of course he obeyed my wish, and as it struggled he dragged it out of the stable with his strong arms. the building was already blazing, and the thatched roof threatened to fall in. just at that moment the old cow looked at me so piteously and uttered such a mournful bellow that it touched me to the heart. my eyes rested on the calf, and a voice within whispered that it would be motherless, like me, and miss during the first part of its life god's best gift. but since, as you have heard, i act before i think, i went myself--i no longer know how--into the burning stable. it was hard to breathe in the dense smoke, and fiery sparks scorched my shawl and my hair, but i was conscious of one thought: you must save the helpless little creature's mother! so i called and lured her, as i do at home, where all the cows are fond of me, but it was useless; and just as i perceived this the thatched roof fell in, and i should probably have perished had not altrosen this time carried my own by no means light figure out of the stable instead of the calf." "and you?" asked els eagerly. "i submitted," replied the countess. "no, no," urged els. "your heart throbbed faster with grateful joy, for you saw the desire of your soul fulfilled. a hunter, and one of the noblest of them all, risked his life in the pursuit of your love. o countess cordula, i remember that knight well, and if the dark-blue sleeve which he wore on his helm in the tournament was yours--" "i believe it was," cordula interrupted indifferently. "but, what was of more importance, when i opened my eyes again the cow was standing outside, licking her recovered calf." "and the knight?" asked els. "whoever so heroically risks his life for his lady's wish should be sure of her gratitude." "boemund can rely on that," said cordula positively. "at least, what he did this time for my sake weighs more heavily in the scale than the lances he has broken, his love songs, or the mute language of his longing eyes. those are shafts which do not pierce my heart. how reproachfully you look at me! let him take lessons from his friend heinz schorlin, and he may improve. yes, the swiss knight! he would be the man for me, spite of your involuntary meeting with him and your devout sister, for whom he forgot every one else, and me also, in the dancing hall. o jungfrau els, i have the hunter's eyes, which are keen-sighted! for his sake your beautiful eva, with her saintly gaze, might easily forget to pray. it was not you, but she, who drew him to-night to your house. had this thought entered my head downstairs in the entry i should probably, to be honest, have omitted my little fairy tale and let matters take their course. st. clare ought to have protected her future votary. besides, it pleases the arrogant little lady to show me as plainly as possible, on every occasion, that i am a horror to her. let those who will accept such insults. my christianity does not go far enough to offer her the right cheek too. and shall i tell you something? to spoil her game, i should be capable, in spite of all the life preservers in the world, of binding schorlin to me in good earnest." "do not!" pleaded els, raising her clasped hands beseechingly, and added, as if in explanation: "for the noble boemund altrosen's sake, do not." "to promise that, my darling, is beyond my power," replied cordula coolly, "because i myself do not know what i may do or leave undone tomorrow or the day after. i am like a beech leaf on the stream. let us see where the current will carry it. it is certain," and she looked at her bandaged hands, "that my greatest beauty, my round arms, are disfigured. scars adorn a man; on a woman they are ugly and repulsive. at a dance they can be hidden under tight sleeves, but how hot that would be in the 'schwabeln' and 'rai'! so i had better keep away from these foolish gaieties in future. a calf turns a countess out of a ballroom! what do you think of that? new things often happen." here she was interrupted; the housekeeper called els. sir seitz siebenburg, spite of the untimely hour, had come to speak to her about an important matter. her father had gone to rest and sleep. the knight also enquired sympathisingly about countess von montfort and presented his respects. "of which i can make no use!" cried cordula angrily. "tell him so, martsche." as the housekeeper withdrew she exclaimed impatiently: "how it burns! the heat would be enough to convert the rescued calf into an appetising roast. i wish i could sleep off the pain of my foolish prank! the sunlight is beginning to be troublesome. i cannot bear it; it is blinding. draw the curtain over the window." cordula's own maid hastened to obey the order. els helped the countess turn on her pillows, and as in doing so she touched her arm, the sufferer cried angrily: "who cares what hurts me? not even you!" here she paused. the pleading glance which els had cast at her must have pierced her soft heart, for her bosom suddenly heaved violently and, struggling to repress her sobs, she gasped, "i know you mean kindly, but i am not made of stone or iron either. i want to be alone and go to sleep." she closed her eyes as she spoke and, when els bent to kiss her, tears bedewed her cheeks. soon after els went down into the entry to meet her lover's brother-inlaw. he had refused to enter the empty sitting-room. the countess von montfort's unfriendly dismissal had vexed him sorely, yet it made no lasting impression. other events had forced into the background the bitter attack of cordula, for whom he had never felt any genuine regard. the experiences of the last few hours had converted the carefully bedizened gallant into a coarse fellow, whose outward appearance bore visible tokens of his mental depravity. the faultlessly cut garment was pushed awry on his powerful limbs and soiled on the breast with wine stains. the closely fitting steel chain armour, in which he had ridden out, now hung in large folds upon his powerful frame. the long mustache, which usually curled so arrogantly upwards, now drooped damp and limp over his mouth and chin, and his long reddish hair fell in dishevelled locks around his bloated face. his blue eyes, which usually sparkled so brightly, now looked dull and bleared, and there were white spots on his copper-coloured cheeks. since countess cordula gave him the insulting message to his wife he had undergone more than he usually experienced in the course of years. "an accursed night!" he had exclaimed, in reply to the housekeeper's question concerning the cause of his disordered appearance. els, too, was startled by his looks and the hoarse sound of his voice. nay, she even drew back from him, for his wandering glance made her fear that he was intoxicated. only a short time before, it is true, he had scarcely been able to stand erect, but the terrible news which had assailed him had quickly sobered him. he had come at this unwontedly early hour to enquire whether the ortliebs had heard anything of his brother-in-law wolff. there was not a word of allusion to the broken betrothal. in return for the promise that she would let the eysvogels know as soon as she received any tidings of her lover, which els gave unasked, siebenburg, who had always treated her repellently or indifferently, thanked her so humbly that she was surprised. she did not know how to interpret it; nay, she anticipated nothing good when, with urgent cordiality, he entreated her to forget the unpleasant events of the preceding night, which she must attribute to a sudden fit of anger on herr casper's part. she was far too dear to all the members of the family for them to give her up so easily. what had occurred--she must admit that herself--might have induced even her best friend to misunderstand it. for one brief moment he, too, had been tempted to doubt her innocence. if she knew old eysvogel's terrible situation she would certainly do everything in her power to persuade her father to receive him that morning, or--which would be still better--go to his office. the weal and woe of many persons were at stake, her own above all, since, as wolff's betrothed bride, she belonged to him inseparably. "even without the ring?" interrupted els bitterly; and when siebenburg eagerly lamented that he had not brought it back, she answered proudly "don't trouble yourself, sir seitz! i need this sacred pledge as little as the man who still wears mine. tell your kinsfolk so. i will inform my father of herr casper's wish; he is asleep now. shall i guess aright in believing that the other disasters which have overtaken you are connected with the waggon trains wolff so anxiously expected?" siebenburg, twirling his cap in confusion, assented to her question, adding that he knew nothing except that they were lost and, after repeating his entreaty that she would accomplish a meeting between the two old gentlemen, left her. it would indeed have been painful for him to talk with els, for a messenger had brought tidings that the waggons had been attacked and robbed, and the perpetrators of the deed were his own brothers and their cousin and accomplice absbach. true, seitz himself had had no share in the assault, yet he did not feel wholly blameless for what had occurred, since over the wine and cards he had boasted, in the presence of the robbers, of the costly wares which his father-in-law was expecting, and mentioned the road they would take. seitz siebenburg's conscience was also burdened with something quite different. vexed and irritated by the countess's insulting rebuff, he had gone to the green shield to forget his annoyance at the gaming table in the duke of pomerania's quarters. he had fared ill. there was no lack of fiery rhine wine supplied by the generous host; the sultry atmosphere caused by the rising thunderstorm increased his thirst and, half intoxicated, and incensed by the luck of heinz schorlin, in whom he saw the preferred lover of the lady who had so suddenly withdrawn her favour, he had been led on to stakes of unprecedented amount. at last he risked the lands, castle, and village which he possessed in hersbruck as his wife's dower. moreover, he was aware of having said things which, though he could not recall them to memory in detail, had roused the indignation of many of those who were present. the remarks referred principally to the ortlieb sisters. amid the wild uproar prevailing around the gaming table that night the duel which had cost young vorchtel his life was not mentioned until the last dice had been thrown. in the discussion the victor's betrothed bride had been named, and siebenburg clearly remembered that he had spoken of the breaking of his brother-in-law's engagement, and connected it with accusations which involved him in a quarrel with several of the guests, among them heinz schorlin. similar occurrences were frequent, and he was brave, strong, and skilful enough to cope with any one, even the dreaded swiss; only he was vexed and troubled because he had disputed with the man to whom he had lost his property. besides, his father-in-law had so earnestly enjoined it upon him to put no obstacle in the way of his desire to make peace with the ortliebs that he was obliged to bow his stiff neck to them. the arrogant knight's position was critical, and real inward dignity was unknown to him. yet he would rather have been dragged with his brothers to the executioner's block than humbled himself before the swiss. but he must talk with him for the sake of his twin sons, whose heritage he had so shamefully gambled away. true, the utmost he intended was the confession that, while intoxicated, he had staked his property at the gaming table and said things which he regretted. heinz schorlin's generosity was well known. perhaps he might offer some acceptable arrangement ere the notary conveyed his estate to him. he did not yet feel that he could stoop so low as to receive a gift from this young upstart. if his father-in-law, who supported him, was really ruined, as he had just asserted, he would indeed be plunged into beggary, with his wife, whose stately figure constantly rose before him, with a look of mute reproach, his beautiful twin boys, and his load of debt. the gigantic man felt physically crushed by the terrible blows of fate which had fallen upon him during this last wakeful night. he would fain have gone to the nearest tavern and there left it to the wine to bring forgetfulness. to drink, drink constantly, and in the intervals sleep with his head resting on his arms, seemed the most tempting prospect. but he was obliged to return to the eysvogels. there was too much at stake. besides, he longed to see the twins who resembled him so closely, and of whom countess cordula had said that she hoped they would not be like their father. etext editor's bookmarks: abandoned women (required by law to help put out the fires) the heart must not be filled by another's image this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] margery by georg ebers volume 7. chapter x. "the old owl! i will give him somewhat to remember me by till some one else can say 'gone' over him!" this was what my uncle christian growled a little later, out near the stables, where matthew was putting the bridle on my bay nag, while the other serving-men were saddling the horses for the gentlemen. i had stolen hither, knowing full well that the old folks would not have suffered me to ride forth after ann, and my good godfather even now ceased not from railing, in his fears for his darling. "what else did we talk of yestereve, master leech and i, all the way we rode with the misguided maid, but of the wicked deeds done in these last few weeks on the high roads, and here in this very wood? with her own ears, she heard us say that the town constable required us to take seven mounted men as outriders, by reason that the day before yesterday the whole train of waggons of the borchtels and the schnods was overtaken, and the convoy would of a certainty have been beaten if they had not had the aid, by good-hap, of the fellowship marching with the maurers and the derrers.--and it was pitch dark, owls were flitting, foxes barking; it was enough to make even an old scarred soldier's blood run cold. it is a sin and a shame how the rogues ply their trade, even close under the walls of the city! they cut off a bleacher's man's ears, and when i wished that young eber of wichsenstein, and all the rout that follows him might come to the gallows, ann made bold to plead for them, by reason that he only craved to visit on the nurembergers the cruel death they brought upon his father the famous thief. as if she did not know full well that, since eppelein of gailingen was cast into prison, our land has never been such a den of murder and robbery as at this day. if there is less dust to be seen on the high-ways, said the keeper, it is by reason that it is washed away in blood. and notwithstanding all this the crazy maid runs straight into the devil's arms, with that old dolt." then, when i went into the stable to mount, uncle conrad turned on kubbeling in stormy ire for that he had suffered uhlwurm to lead ann into such peril; howbeit the brunswicker knew how to hold his own, and declared at last that he could sooner have looked to see a falcon grow a lion's tail in place of feathers, than that old death-watch make common cause with a young maiden. "he had come forth," quoth he, "to counsel their excellencies to take horse." but my uncle's question, whether he, kubbeling, believed that they had come forth to the stables to hear mass, put an end to his discourse; the gentlemen called to the serving-men to make speed, and i was already in the saddle. then, when i had commanded endres to open the great gate, i bowed my head low and rode out through the stable door, and bade the company a hearty good-day. to this they made reply, while uncle conrad asked whether i had forgotten his counsels, and whither it was my intent to ride; whereupon i hastily replied: "under safe guidance, that is to say yours, to follow ann." my uncle slashed his boot with his whip, and asked in wrath whether i had considered that blood would perchance be shed, and ended by counselling me kindly: "so stay at home, little margery!" "i am as obedient as ever," was my ready answer, "but whereas i am now well in the saddle, i will stay in the saddle." at this the old man knew not whether to take a jest as a jest, or to give me a stern order; and while he and the others were getting into their stirrups he said: "have done with folly when matters are so serious, madcap child! we have enough to do to think of ann, and more than enough! so dismount, margery, with all speed." "all in good time," said i then, "i will dismount that minute when we have found ann. till then the giant goliath shall not move me from the saddle!" hereupon the old man lost patience, he settled himself on his big brown horse and cried out in a wrathfill and commanding tone: "do not rouse me to anger, margery. do as i desire and dismount." but that moment he could more easily have made me to leap into the fire than to leave ann in the lurch; i raised the bridle and whip, and as the bay broke into a gallop uncle conrad cried out once more, in greater wrath than before: "do as i bid you!" and i joyfully replied "that i will if you come and fetch me!" and my horse carried me off and away, through the open gate. the gentlemen tore after me, and if i had so desired they would never have caught me till the day of judgment, inasmuch as that my hungarian palfrey, which my hans had brought for me from the stables of count von cilly, the father of queen barbara, was far swifter than their heavy hook-nosed steeds; yet as i asked no better than to seek ann in all peace with them, and as my uncle was a mild and wise man, who would not take the jest he could not now spoil over seriously, i suffered them to gain upon me and we concluded a bargain to the effect that all was to be forgotten and forgiven, but that i was pledged to turn the bay and make the best of my way home at the first sign of danger. and if the gentlemen had come to the stables in a gloomy mood and much fear, the wild chase after me had recovered their high spirits; and, albeit my own heart beat sadly enough, i did my best to keep of good cheer, and verily the sight of kubbeling helped to that end. he was to show us the way to the spot where he had found eppelem, and was now squatted on a very big black horse, from which his little legs, with their strange gear of catskins, stuck out after a fashion wondrous to behold. after we had thus gone at a steady pace for some little space, my confidence began to fail once more; even if ann and her companion had been somewhat delayed by their search, still ought we to have met them by this time, if they had gone to the place without tarrying, and set forth to return unhindered. and when, presently, we came to an open plot whence we might see a long piece of the forest path, and yet saw nought but a little charcoal burner's cart, meseemed as though a cold hand had been laid on my heart. again and again i spied the distance, while a whole army of thoughts and terrors tossed my soul. i pictured them in the power of the vengeful eber von wichsenstein and his fierce robber fellows; methought the covetous bremberger had dragged them into his castle postern to exact a great ransom--nor was this the worst that might befall. if abersfeld the wildest freebooter of all the plundering nobles far or near were to seize her? my blood ran cold as i conceived of this chance. ann was so fair; what lord who might carry her off could she fail to inflame? and then i minded me of what i had read of the roman lucretia, and if i had been possessed of any magic art, i would have given the first raven by the way a sharp bodkin that he should carry it to her. in my soul's anguish, while i held my bridle and whip together in my left hand, with the right i lifted the gold cross on my breast to my lips and in a silent heartfelt prayer i besought the blessed virgin, and my own dear mother in heaven to have her in keeping. and so we rode on and on till we came to the pools by pillenreuth. hard by the larger of these, known as the king's pool, was a sign-post, and not far away was the spot where they had found eppelein, stripped and plundered; and in truth it was the very place for highwaymen and freebooters, lying within the wood and aside from the highway; albeit, if it came to their taking flight, they might find it again by reichelstorf. nor was there any castle nor stronghold anywhere nigh; the great building with walls and moats which stood on the south side of the king's pool was but the peaceful cloister of the augustine sisters of pillenreuth. all about the water lay marsh-ground overgrown with leafless bushes, rushes, tall grasses, and reeds. it was verily a right dismal and ill-boding spot. the boggy tract across which our path lay was white with fresh hoarfrost, 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 gravestones, 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 wellfounded 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 finelycut 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 humblebees in his brain, and when starch did his will he looked at the others as though to say: "you did no justice to my ready wit," and then he told that he had in truth drawn off the boots from the messenger's feet and had been granted them to keep, by reason that they were too small for the others, while he was graced with a small and dainty foot. and he cast a glance at us ladies on whom he had long had an eye, a sort of fearful leer, and went on: "the tops--they. . . ." and again he stuck fast. howbeit, as starch once more pointed to the pear-tree, he confessed in desperate terror that another man had claimed the tops, one who had not been caught, inasmuch as they were so high and good. hereupon starch laughed so loud and clapped his hand with such a smack as made us maidens start, and he cried: "that's it, that is the way of it! zounds, ye knaves! then the sow--[eber, his name, means a boar. this is a sort of punning insult]--of wichsenstein was himself your leader yesterday, and it was only by devilish ill-hap that the knave was not with you when i took you! you ragged ruffians would never have given over the tops in this marsh and moorland, to any but a rightful master, and i know where the sow is lurking--for the murderer of a messenger is no more to be called a boar. now then, sebald! in what hamlet hereabout dwells there a cobbler?" "there is crooked peter at neufess, and hackspann at reichelstorf," was the answer. "good; that much we needed to know," said starch. "and now, little one," and he gave the man another shaking, "out with it. did the sow-or, that there may be no mistake--did eber of wichsenstein ride away to neufess or to reichelstorf? who was to sew the tops to his shoes, peter or hackspann?" the terrified creature clasped his slender hands in sheer amazement, and cried: "was there ever such abounding wisdom born in the land since the time of chaste joseph, who interpreted pharaoh's dreams? the man who shall catch you asleep, my lord captain, must rise earlier than such miserable hunted wretches as we are. he rode to neufess, albeit hackspann is the better cobbler. reichelstorf lies hard by the highway by which you came, my lord; and if eber does but hear the echo of your right glorious name, my lord baron and potent captain. . . ." "and what is my name--your lord baron and potent captain?" starch thundered out. "yours?" said the little man unabashed. "yours? merciful heaven! till this minute i swear i could have told you; but in such straits a poor little tailor such as i might forget his own father's honored name!" at this starch laughed out and clapped the little rogue in all kindness behind the ears, and when his men-at-arms, whom he had commanded to make ready, had mounted their horses, he cried to uhlwurm: "i may leave the rest to you, master; you know where barthel bestows the liquor!--now, sebald, bind this rabble and keep them safe.--and make a pig-sty ready. if i fail to bring the boar home this very night, may i be called dick dule to the end of my days instead of jorg starch!" and herewith he made his bow, sprang into his saddle, and rode away with his men. "a nimble fellow, after god's heart!" quoth master rummel to my uncle conrad as they looked after him. and that he was in truth; albeit we could scarce have looked for it, we learned on the morrow that he might bear his good name to the grave, inasmuch as he had taken eber of wichsenstein captive in the cobbler's work-place, and carried him to pillenreuth, whence he came to nuremberg, and there to the gallows. starch had left a worthy man to fill his place; hardly had he departed when old uhlwurm pulled off the tailor's right shoe, and now it was made plain wherefor eppelein had so anxiously pointed to his feet; the letter entrusted to him had indeed been hid in his boot. under the lining leather of the sole it lay, but only one from akusch addressed to me. howbeit, when we had threatened the now barefoot knave with cruel torture, he confessed that, having been an honest tailor till of late, he had soft feet by reason that he had ever sat over his needle. and when he pulled on the stolen shoes somewhat therein hard hurt his sole, and when he made search under the leather, behold a large letter closely folded and sealed. this had been the cause and reason of his being ill at ease, and he had opened it, being of an enquiring mind, and, inasmuch as he was a schoolmaster's son he could read with the best. howbeit, at that time the gang were about to light a fire to make their supper, and whereas it would not burn by reason of the wet, they had taken the dry paper and used it to make the feeble flame blaze up. thus there was nought more to be hoped for, save that the tailor might by good hap remember certain parts of the letter; and in truth he was able to tell us that it was written to a maid named ann, and in it there were such words of true love in great straits and bitter parting as moved him to tears, by reason that he likewise had once had a true love. while he spoke thus he perceived that ann was the maiden to whom the letter had been writ, and he forthwith poured forth a great flow of fiery love-vows such as he may have learned from his amadis, but never, albeit he said it, from that letter. one thing at least he could make known to us from herdegen's letter; and that was that the writer said much concerning slavery and a great ransom, and likewise of a malignant woman who was his foe, and of her husband, whose wiles could by no means be brought to nought unless it were by cunning and prudent craft. this, indeed, he could repeat well-nigh word for word, by reason that he had conceived the plan of urging eber to set forth for the land of egypt with his robber-band, and deliver that guiltless slave from the hands of the misbelieving heathen. albeit he had made himself a highway thief, it was only by reason that he had been told that von wichsenstein had no other end than to restore to the poor that of which the rich had robbed them, and to release the oppressed from the power of the mighty. all this had not suffered him to rest on his tailor's bench till he had laid down the needle and seized the cook's great roasting spit. ere long he had discovered that, like master like man, each man cared for himself alone. he himself had been forced to do many cruel and knavish deeds, sorely against his will and all that was good in him. from his pious and gentle mother he had come by a soft and harmless soul, so that in the winter season he would strew sugar for the flies when they were starving, and it had even gone against him to stick his needle into a flesh-colored garment for sheer fear of hurting it. when the others had left the messenger-lad stripped on the road, he had gone back alone and had bound up the wound in his head with his own kerchief, and more by token that he spoke the truth the kerchief bore his christian name in the corner of it, "pignot," which his good mother, god rest her, had sewn there. he was but a poor orphan, and if .... here his voice failed him for sobs. but ere long he recovered his good cheer; for ann had indeed marked the letter p on the cloth about eppelein's head, and the poor wight was of a truth none other than he had declared. hereupon we made bold to speak for him, and it was to his own act of mercy and the letters set in his kerchief by that pious mother that he owed it. he afterwards came to be an honest and worthy master-tailor at velden, and instead of taking up the cudgels for his oppressed fellow men, he suffered stern treatment in much humility at the hands of the great woman whom he chose to wife, notwithstanding he was so small a man. chapter xi. herdegen's letter was burnt with fire, and the letter from akusch was to me, and contained little besides thanks and assurances of faithfulness due to me his "beloved mistress," with greetings to cousin maud, who had ever with just reproofs kept him in the right way, and to every member of the household. the pastscyiptum only contained tidings of great import; and it was as follows: "moreover i declare and swear to you, my gracious lady, that my kindred take as good care of my lord kunz as though he were at home in nuremberg. his wounds are bad, yet by faithful care, and by the grace and help of god the all-merciful, they shall be healed. he lacks for nothing. in the matter of my lord herdegen's ransom there are many obstacles. "had god the all-merciful but granted to my dear father to hold his high estate a few weeks longer, it would have been a small matter to him to release a slave; but now he is cast into a dungeon by the evil malice of his enemies. oh! that the all-wise god should suffer such malignant men to live as his foes and as that shameless woman whom you have long known by the name of ursula tetzel! but you will have learnt by my lord herdegen's letter all i could tell, and you will understand that your humble servant will daily beseech the most high god to prosper you, and cause you to send hither some wise and potent captain to the end that we may be delivered; inasmuch as the craft and fury of our foes are no less than their power. they are lions and likewise poisonous serpents." these lines were signed with the name of akusch, and the words, ibn tagri verdi al-mahmudi, which is to say: akusch, son of tagri verdi al-mahmudi. we were at home at the forest-lodge or ever the sun had set; there we found aunt jacoba more calm than we had hoped for, inasmuch as that not only had her husband sent her brief tidings of us, but likewise she had heard more exactly all that had kept us away. kubbeling, albeit the lady abbess had bidden him to her table, had privily stolen forth to send a messenger to the grieving lady, whereas the thought of her gave him no peace among the feasters. eppelein was neither better nor worse. but, in his stead, master windecke the imperial councillor, who was learned in the trading matters of all the world and who, in our absence, had wholly won the heart of the other women and, above all, of cousin maud by his good discourse, was able to interpret somewhat which had been dark to us in akusch's letter. when i showed it to him he started to his feet in amazement and declared that my squire's father, tagri verdi al-mahmudi, had been one of the most famous captains of the host who had struck the great blow in cyprus and carried off king janus to the sultan at cairo. nay, and he could likewise tell us what had led to the overthrow of this same tagri verdi, inasmuch as he had heard the tale from a certain noble gentleman of cyprus, who had come to the court of emperor sigismund to entreat him to provide moneys for the ransom of king janus, as follows: when akusch's glorious father was raised to the dignity of a chief mameluke, together with burs bey, now the sultan of egypt, they were both cast into prison during a certain war and lay in the same dungeon. there had tagri verdi dreamed one night that his fellow, burs bey, would in due time be placed on the throne, and had revealed this to him. then, when this prophecy was fulfilled, and burs bey was sultan, tagri verdi rose step by step to high honor, and had won many glorious fights as his sovereign's chief emir and captain. the sultan heaped him with honors and treasure, until he learned that his former companion had dreamed another dream, and this time that it was to be his fate to mount the throne. hereupon burs bey was sore afraid; thus he had cast the victorious captain into prison, and many feared for tagri that his life would not be spared. and master windecke could tell us yet more of the matter; and whereas from him we heard that our emperor, by reason that his coffers were empty, could do nought to ransom king janus, and that the republic of venice was fain to take it in hand, we were in greater fear than ever, inasmuch as this must need add yet more to the high respect already enjoyed by the republic in the land of egypt, and to that in which its consul giustiniani was held; and thereby his wife ursula might, with the greater security, give vent to that malice she bore in her heart against herdegen. thus we went to our beds silent and downcast; and after we had lain there a long time and found no sleep the words would come, and i said: "my poor, dear kunz! to be there in that hot moorish land, wounded and alone! oh, ann, that must be full hard to bear." "hard indeed!" quoth she in a low voice. "but for a free man, and so proud a man as herdegen, to be a slave to a misbelieving heathen, far away from all he loves, and chidden and punished for every unduteous look; oh, margery! to think of that!" and her voice failed. i spoke to her, and showed that we had much to make us thankful, inasmuch as we now at last knew that he we loved was yet alive. then was there silence in the chamber; but i minded me then of what akusch had written, that he besought some wise and mighty gentleman to set forth from nuremberg to overpower the foe, and now i racked my brain to think whom we might send to take my brothers' cause in hand--yet still in vain. none could i think of who might conveniently quit home for so long, or who was indeed fit for such an enterprise. which of us twain first fell asleep i wist not; when i woke in the morning ann had already quitted the chamber; and while susan braided my hair, all i had been planning in the night grew plainer to me, and i went forth and down stairs full of a great purpose which made my heart beat the faster. when i entered the ball, behold, i saw the same thing, albeit i was now awake, as i had seen yestermorn in my half-sleep. yet was it not uhlwurm, but kubbeling, to whom ann was paying court. as he stood facing her, she looked him trustfully in the eyes, and held his great hand in hers; nay, and when she saw me she did not let it go, but cried out in a clear and thankful voice: "then so it is, father seyfried; and if you do as i beseech you, all will come to a good end and you will remember so good a deed with great joy all your life long." "as to "great joy' i know not," replied he. "for if i be not the veriest fool in all the land from venice to iceland, my name is not kubbeling. i scarce know myself! howbeit, let that pass: i stand by my word, albeit the pains i shall endure in the winter journey." "the saints will preserve you on so pious an errand," ann declared. "and if they should nevertheless come upon you, dear father, i will tend you as your own daughter would. and now again your hand, and a thousand, thousand thanks." whereupon kubbeling, with a melancholy growl, and yet a smile on his face, held forth his hand, and ann held it fast and cried to me: "you are witness, margery, that he has promised to do my will. oh, margery, i could fly for gladness!" and verily meseemed as though the wings had grown, and her eyes sparkled right joyfully and thankfully. and i had discerned from her very first words whereunto she had beguiled kubbeling; and verily to me it was a marvel, inasmuch as i myself had imagined the self-same thing in the watches of the night, and while my hair was doing: namely, to beseech kubbeling to be my fellow and keeper on a voyage to egypt. who but he knew the way so well? howbeit, ann had prevented me, and now, whereas i heard the sound of voices on the stair, i yet found time to cry to her: "we go together, ann; that is a settled matter!" hereupon she looked at me, at first in amazement and then with a blissful consenting smile, and said "you had imagined the same thing, i know. yes, margery, we will go." the others now trooped in, and i had no more time but hastily to clasp her hand. howbeit, when most of our guests had gone into the refectory, where the morning meal was by this time steaming on the board, none were left with us save cousin maud and uncle conrad and uncle christian; and uncle conrad enquired of the brunswicker whether he purposed indeed to set forth this day, and the man answered no, if so be that his lordship the grand-forester would grant him shelter yet awhile, and consent to a plan to which he had been just now beguiled. and my uncle gave him his hand, and said the longer he might stay the better. and then he went on to ask with some curiosity what that plan might be. howbeit, i took upon me to speak, and i told him in few words how that we had been thinking whom we might best send forth to help my brethren, and that, with the morning sun, light had dawned on our minds, and that whereas we had found a faithful and experienced companion, it was our firm intent.... here cousin maud broke in, having come close to me with open ears, crying aloud in terror: "what?" howbeit i looked her in the eyes and went on: "when our mind is set, cousin, the thing will be done, of that you and all may make certain--that stands as sure as the castle on the rock. and be it known to you all, with all due respect, that this time i will suffer none to cross my path. once for all, i, margery, and ann with me, are going forth to the land of egypt in kubbeling's company, and to cairo itself!" the worthy old woman gave a scream, and while the brunswicker shut the dining-hall door, that we might not be heard, she broke out, with glowing eyes, beside herself with wrath: "verily and indeed! so that is your purpose! thanks be to the virgin, to say and to do are not one and the same, far from it. do you conceive that you hold all love for those two youths yonder in sole fief or lease? as though others were not every whit as ready as you to give their best to save them. a head that runs at a wall cracks its skull! maids should never touch matters which do not beseem them! what next for a skittle-witted fancy!--that it should have come into the brain of a schopper is no marvel, but ann, prudent ann! would any man have dreamed of such a thing in our young days, master cousin? there they stand, two well born nuremberg damsels, who have never been suffered to go next door alone after ave maria! and they are fain to cross the seas to a dark outlandish place, into the very jaws of the dreadful heathen who butcher christian people!" whereupon she clapped her hands and laughed aloud, albeit not from her heart, and then raved on: "at least is it a new thing, and the first time that the like hath ever been heard of in nuremberg!" if the whole of the holy roman empire had risen up to make resistance and to mock us, it would have failed to move ann or me, and i answered, loud and steadfast: "everything right and good that ever was done in nuremberg, my heart's beloved cousin, was done there once for the first time; and it is right and good that we should go, and we mean to do it!" whereupon cousin maud drew back in disgust and amazement, and gazed from one to the other of us with enquiring eyes, and as wondering a face as though she were striving to rede some dark riddle. then her vast bosom began to heave up and down, and we, who knew her, could not fail to perceive that somewhat great and strange was moving her. and whereas she presently shook her heavy head to and fro, and set her fists hard on her hips, i looked for a sudden and dreadful storm, and my uncle conrad likewise gazed her in the face with expectant fear; yet it was long in breaking forth. what then was my feeling when, at last, she took her hands from her sides and struck her right hand in her left palm so that it rang again, and burst forth eagerly, albeit with roguish good humor and tearful eyes: "if indeed everything good and right that ever was done in nuremberg must have once been done there for the first time, our good town shall now see that a grey-headed old woman with gout in her toes can sail over seas, from the pegnitz even to the land of the barbarian heathen and cairo! your hand on it, young kubbeling, and yours, maidens. we will be fellow-travellers. signed and sealed. strew sand on it!" hereupon ann, who was wont to be still, shrieked loudly and cast herself first on my cousin's neck and then on mine and then on my uncle's; he indeed stood as though deeply offended, as likewise did my good godfather christian. yet they would not speak, that they might not mar our joy, albeit uncle pfinzing growled forth that our plan was sheer youthful folly, wilfulness, and the like. "at any rate it is an unlaid egg, so long as my wife has not added mustard to the peppered broth," uncle conrad declared, and he departed to carry tidings to my aunt of what mad folly these women's heads had brewed. even kubbeling shook his head, albeit he spoke not, inasmuch as he knew that it was hard to contend with the powers beyond seas. he and cousin maud had ever been on terms of good-fellowship with uncle christian, but to-day my uncle was ill to please; neither look nor word had he for his heart's darling, ann; and when he presently recovered somewhat, be stormed around, with so red a face and such furious ire that we feared lest he should have another dizzy stroke, saying "that kubbeling and cousin maud might be ashamed of themselves, inasmuch as they were old enough to know better and were acting like a pair of young madcaps." and thus he went on, till it was overmuch for the brunswicker's endurance, and on a sudden he cried out in great wrath that that he had promised was in truth not wise, forasmuch as that he would gain nought but mischief thereby, yet that it concerned him alone and he took it all on himself, although master pfinzing might yet ask for why and to what end he should risk a hurt by it, whereas, to his knowledge, the ill-starred junker schopper could be little more to him than the man in the moon. he was wont, quoth he, to take good care not to risk his skin for other folks, but in this matter it seemed to him not too dear a bargain. neither the stoutest will nor the strongest fist might avail against mistress ursula, the veriest witch in all the land of egypt; a better head was needed for that, than the heavy brain-pan which god almighty had set on his short neck, and yet he had sworn to bring her knavery to nought. our faithful hearts and shrewd heads would be the aid he needed. he trusted to cousin maud to dare to dance with old nick himself, if need should arise. and he was man enough to protect us all three. and now master pfinzing knew all about it and, if he yet craved to hear more, he would find him among the birds, whereas uhlwurm was to depart on his way with them that very day, without him. and he turned his back on my uncle, and quitted the chamber with a heavy tread; but he turned on the threshold and cried: "yet keep your lips from telling what you have in your mind, master, and in especial to those who are at their meal in there, as touching that tetzel-adder; for the wind flies over seas faster than we can." while he spoke thus uncle christian had recovered his temper, and he followed after kubbeling with such a haste as his huge body would allow, nor was it to quarrel with him any more. the rest, who had sat at breakfast, had by good hap heard nought of our disputing, by reason that master windecke had so much new matter for discourse that every ear hung on his words; and he, again, forgot to eat while he talked. in cousin maud, indeed, as she hearkened to my godfather's wrathful speech, certain doubts had arisen; yet even stronger resistance would never have turned her aside from anything she deemed truly good and right; howbeit she was more than willing to leave it to us to settle matters with aunt jacoba. we went up-stairs to her, and at her chamber door our courage failed us, inasmuch as we could hear through the door my uncle's angry speech, and that laugh which my aunt was wont to utter when aught came to her ears which she was not fain to hear. "and if she were to say no?" said i to ann. hereupon a right sorrowful and painful cloud overspread her face, and it was in a dejected tone that she answered me that then indeed all must be at an end, and her fondest hopes nipped, by reason that she owed more to mistress waldstromer than ever she could repay, and whatsoever she might undertake against her will would of a certainty come to no good end. and we heard my aunt's laugh again; but then i took heart, and raised the latch, and ann led the way into the chamber. howbeit, if we had cherished the smallest hope without, within it failed us wholly. as we went in my uncle was standing close by my aunt; his back was towards us, and he saw us not; but his mien alone showed us that he was wroth and provoked: his voice quaked as he cried aloud with a shrug of his shoulders and his hand uplifted: "such a purpose is sheer madness and most unseemly!" then, when for the third time i coughed to make our presence known to him, he turned his red face towards us, and cried out in great fury: "here you are to answer for yourselves; and come what may, this at least shall be said: 'if mischief comes of it, i wash my hands in innocence!'" whereupon he went in all haste to the door and had lifted his hand to slam it to, when he minded him of his beloved wife's sick health and gently shut it and softly dropped the latch. we stood in front of aunt jacoba, and could scarce believe our eyes and ears when she opened wide her arms and, with beaming eyes, cried in a voice of glad content: "come, come to my heart, children! oh, you good, dear, brave maids! why, why am i so old, so fettered, so sick a creature? why may i not go with you?" at her first words we had fallen on our knees by her side, and she fervently clasped our heads to her bosom, kissed our lips and foreheads, and cried, with ever-streaming eyes: "yes, children, yes! it is brave, and the right way; courage and true love are not dead in the hearts of the women of nuremberg. ah, and how many a time have i imagined that i might myself rise and fly after my froward, dear, unduteous exile, my own gotz, be he where he may, over mountains and seas to the ends of the earth!--i, a hapless, suffering skeleton! yet what is denied to the old, the young may do, and the virgin and all the saints shall guard you! and kubbeling, young-kubbeling, that bravest, truest seyfried! bring him up to speak with me. so rough and so good!--my old man, to be sure, must storm and rave, but then his feeble and sickly nobody of a little wife can wind him round her finger. leave him to me, and be sure you shall win his blessing." after noon uhlwurm and the waggon of birds set forth to frankfort, where kubbeling's eldest son was tarrying to meet his father with fresh falcons. or ever the grim old grey-beard mounted his horse, he whispered to ann: "truest of maidens, find some device to move seyfried to take me in your fellowship to the land of egypt, and i will work a charm which shall of a surety give your lover back to you, if indeed he is not. . . ." and he was about to cry "gone" as was his wont; yet he refrained himself and spoke it not. young kubbeling tarried at the forest-lodge; and as for my uncle, it was soon plain enough that my aunt had been in the right in the matter; nay, when we went home to the city, meseemed as though he and his wife had from the first been of one mind. our purpose pleased him better as he learned to believe more surely that our little women's wits would peradventure be able to find his wandering son, and to tempt him to return to his father's forest home. chapter xii. we carefully obeyed kubbeling's counsel that we should keep our purpose dark, and it remained hidden even from the guests at the lodge. on the other hand they had been told all that herdegen's letter had contained, and that it was ursula who was pursuing him with such malignant spite. yet albeit we bound over each one to hold his peace on the matter in nuremberg, no woman, nor perchance no man either, could keep such strange doings privy from near kith and kin; and whereas we might not tell what in truth it was which stood in the way of our brothers' homecoming, it was rumored among our cousins and gossips that some vast and unattainable sum was needed to ransom the two young schoppers. and other marvellous reports got abroad, painting my brother's slavery in terrible colors. at first this made me wroth, but presently it provoked me less, inasmuch as that great compassion was aroused; and those very citizens and dames who of old were wont to chide herdegen as a limb of satan, and would have gladly seen him led to the gallows, now remembered him otherwise. yea, fellow-feeling hath kindly eyes, widely open to all that is good, and willing to be shut to all that is evil, and so it came to pass that the noble gifts of the poor slave now lost to the town, were lauded to the skies. hereupon came a letter from my lord cardinal with these tidings of good comfort: that he was willing to administer extreme unction to my grand-uncle im hoff, if his life should be in peril when his eminence returned from england. our next letters were, by his order, to find him at brussels, and when old dame pernhart had given her consent to our journeying to the land of egypt--whereas aunt jacoba held her wisdom and shrewd wit in high honor,--and had moved her son and dame giovanna to do likewise, ann wrote a long letter to my lord cardinal, the venerable head of the pernhart family, setting forth in touching words for what cause and to what end she had dared so bold a venture. she besought his aid and blessing, and declared that the inward voice, which he had taught her to obey, gave her assurance that the purpose she had in hand was pleasing in the eyes of god and the virgin. i, for my part, could never have writ so fair a letter; and how calmly would ann now fulfil the duties of each day, while cousin maud, albeit her feet scarce might carry her, was here, there, and everywhere, like a will-o'-the-wisp. ann it was who first conceived the idea of going with young kubbeling to the futterers' house and there making enquiries as to the roads to genoa, and also concerning the merchants who might there be found ready and willing to ship his falcons for sale in alexandria; inasmuch as that it was only by journeying in a galleon which sailed not from venice that we could escape ursula's spies; and that kubbeling should suffer loss through us we could by no means allow. and whereas old master futterer himself was now in nuremberg, he declared himself willing to buy the birds on account of his own house, at the same price as the traders in venice; nor was the brunswicker any whit loth, forasmuch as that he might presently get a better price on the lido, when it should be known that he had other ways and means at his command. also the journey by genoa gave us this advantage: that we were bound to no time or season. old master futterer pledged himself to find a ship at any time when kubbeling should need it. whereas we purposed to set forth in the middle of december, we went to the forest-lodge early in that month, and as it was with me at that time, so, for sure, must it be with the swallows and the nightingales or ever they fly south over mountains and seas. never had the pure air been sweeter, never had i looked forward to the future with greater hope and strength or higher purpose. and my feeble, sickly aunt jacoba, meseemed, was like-minded with me. in spirit, ever eager, she was with us already in that distant region, and albeit of old she ever had preferred ann above me, now on a sudden the tables were turned; she could never see enough of me, and when at last ann was fain to go home to town with uncle christian, she besought so pressingly that i would stay with her that i was bound to yield; and indeed i was well content to tarry there, the forest being now in all its glory. the daintiest lace was hung over the frosted trees. they had been dipped, meseemed, in melted silver and crystal, and the whole forest was broidered over with shining enamel and thickly strewn with clear diamond sparks. and how brightly everything glittered when the sun rose up from the morning mist, and blazed down on all this glory from a blue sky! at night the moon lighted up the frosted forest with a softer and more loving ray, and till a late hour i would gaze forth at it, or up at the starry vault where the shooting stars came flying across from the dark blue deep. now it is well-known to many who are still in their green youth that, whensoever it befalls that we are in the act of thinking of some heartfelt wish just as a star falls, it is sure of fulfilment; and behold, on the very next night, as i was gazing upwards and wondering in my heart whether indeed we might be able to rescue my brothers, and to find my cousin gotz as his sick mother so fervently hoped, a bright star fell, as it were right in front of me. whereupon i went to bed in such good cheer and so sure of myself as i have rarely felt before or since that night. and next morning, as i went to my aunt in high spirits and happy mood, she perceived that some good hap had befallen me. then, when i had told her what i had had in my mind as the star fell which, as little children believe, is dropped from the hand of an angel blinded by the glory of almighty god, she looked me in the face with a sad smile and bid me sit down by her side. and she took my hand in hers and opened her heart so wide as she had never done till this hour. it was plain to see that she had long been biding her time for this full and free discourse, and she confessed that she had never shown me such love and care as were indeed my due. the mere sight of me had ever hurt the open wound, inasmuch as long ago, or ever i first went to school, her fondest hopes had been set on me. she had looked on me ever as her only son's future wife, and gotz himself had been of the same mind, whereas in his boyhood, and even when his beard was coming, he loved nought better than little margery in her red hood. and she reminded me now of many a kind act her son had done me, and how that once on a time, when my lord the high constable had bidden him with other lads to kadolzburg, which she and my uncle took as a great honor, he had said, no, he would not go from home, by reason that cousin maud was to come that day and bring me with her. [kadolzburg--a country lodge belonging to the high constables of the city of nuremberg, and their favorite resort, even after they had became electors of brandenburg. it was at about three miles and a half west of the town] whereupon arose his first sharp dispute with his parents, and when my uncle threatened that he would carry him thither by force he had stolen away into the woods, and stayed all night with some bee-keeper folk, and not come home till midday on the morrow, when it was too late to ride to the castle in good time. 'to punish him for this he was locked up; but hearing my voice below he had let himself down by the gutter-pipe, seized my hand, and ran away to the woods with me, nor did he come back till ave maria. and hereupon he was soundly thrashed, albeit he was even then a great lad and of good counsel in all matters. my uncle's wrath at that time had dwelt in my mind, but my share in the matter was new to me and brought the color to my face. howbeit, i deemed it might have been better if my aunt had never told me; for though it was indeed good to hear and gladdened my soul, yet it would hinder me from looking gotz freely in the face if by good hap i should meet him. then she went on to tell me in full all that had befallen my cousin until he had gone forth to wander. when they had parted in wrath, he had written to her from the town to say that if she were steadfast in her displeasure he should seek a new home for himself and his sweetheart in a far country; and she had sent him a letter to tell him that her arms were ever open to receive him, but that rather than suffer the only son and heir of the old and noble race of waldstromer to throw himself away on a craftsman's daughter, she would never more set eyes on him whom she loved with all her heart. never more, and she swore it by the saviour's wounds with the crucifix in her hand, should his parents' doors be opened to him unless he gave up the coppersmith's daughter and besought his mother's pardon. and now the sick old woman bewailed her stern hardness and her over-hasty oath with bitter tears; gotz had been faithful to his gertrude in despite of her letter, and when, three years later, the tidings reached him that his sweetheart had pined away for grief and longing, and departed this life with his name on her lips, he had written in the wild anguish of his young soul that, now gertrude was dead, he had nought more to crave of his parents; and that whereas his mother had sworn with her hand on the image of the saviour never to open her doors to him till he had renounced his sweet, pure love, he now made an oath not less solemn and binding, by the image of the crucified christ, that he would never turn homewards till she bid him thither of her own free will, and owned that she repented her of that innocent maid's early death, whereas there was not her like among all the noble maidens of nuremberg, whatever their names might be. this letter i read myself, and i plainly saw that these twain had sadly marred their best joy in life by over-hasty ire. albeit, i knew full well how stubborn a spirit was aunt jacoba's, i nevertheless strove to move her to send a letter to her son bidding him home; yet she would not, though she bewailed herself sorely. "only one thing of those he requires of me can i in all truth grant him," quoth she. "if you find him, you may tell him that his mother sends her fondest blessing, and assure him of my heart's deepest devotion; nay, and let him understand that i am pining with longing for him, and that i obey his will inasmuch as that i truly mourn the death of his beloved; for that is verily the truth, the virgin and the saints be my witness. yet i may not and i will not open my doors to him till he has craved my forgiveness, and if i did so he must think of his own mother as a perjured woman." hereupon i showed her--and my eyes overflowed--that his oath stood forth as against her oath, and that one was as weighty as the other in the sight of the most high. "set aside that cruel vow, my dear aunt," cried i, "i will make any pilgrimage with you, and i know full well that no penance will seem overhard to you." "no, no, of a surety, margery, no!" she replied with a groan. "and the chaplain said the like to me long ago; and yet i feel in my heart that you and he are in the wrong. an oath sworn by christ's wounds!--moreover i am the elder and his mother, he is the younger and my son. it is his part to come to me, and if he then shall make a pilgrimage it shall be to rome and the holy sepulchre. he has time before him in which to do any penance the holy church may require of him. i--i would lay me on the rack only to see him once more, i would fast and scourge myself till my dying day; but i am his mother, and he is my son, and it is his part to take the first step, not mine who bore him." how warmly i urged her again and again, and how often was she on the point of yielding to her heart's loud outcry! yet she ever came back to the same point: that it ill-beseemed her to be the first to put forth her hand, albeit her every feeling drove her to it. the letters sent to gotz had reached him through a merchant's house in venice. this his parents knew, and they had long since charged kunz to inquire where he dwelt. yet had his pains been for nought, inasmuch as the banished youth had forbidden the traders to tell any one, whosoever might ask. howbeit my uncle had implored his son in many a letter to mind him of his mother's sickness, and come home; and in his answers gotz had many a time given his parents assurance of his true and loving devotion; yet had he kept his oath, and tarried beyond seas. these letters likewise did my aunt show me, and while i read them she charged me to make it my duty not to quit that merchant's house and to take no rest until i had learned where her son was dwelling: saying that what an italian might deny to a man a fair young maiden might yet obtain of him. it was not yet dusk when master ulsenius came and broke off our discourse. he had come forth in part to see eppelein, and presently, when a lamp was brought, as we stood by the faithful lad he called me by name, and then uncle conrad, and said that albeit he was weary of limb he was easy and comfortable; that he felt a smart now and then, and in especial about his neck, yet that troubled him but little, inasmuch as that it plainly showed him that the thought which had haunted him, that he was really killed and in a darksome hell, was but a horrible dream. then when he had spoken thus much, with great pains, his pale face turned red on a sudden, and again he asked, as he had many times in his sickness, where was his master's letter. hereupon i hastily told him that we had hunted down the robbers and rescued it, and it was a joy to see how much comfort and delight this was to him. and when he had swallowed a good cup of strong malvoisie, he could sit up, and enquired if the baron von im hoff were minded to satisfy the sultan's over-great demand. and to this i replied, to give him easement, that we had good reason to hope so. and was his mind now clear enough to enable him to remember how great a sum was demanded for ransom? he smiled craftily, and said that even as a dead man he could scarce have forgotten that, by reason that he had muttered the words to himself on his way oftener than any old monk mumbles his paternoster. and when uncle conrad laughed and bid him jestingly repeat it, he said, like a school boy who is sure of his task: "for master herdegen schopper, slave of the said unbeliever abou sef--[father of the scimitar]--in the armory of sultan burs bey in the castle of cairo, a ransom is demanded of twenty-four thousand venice sequins. george--christina! death and fire on the head of the misbelieving wretch!" when we heard this we all believed that he had of a surety been wrong as to the sum or the coin, likewise we thought his last strange words were due to a wandering mind; howbeit, we were soon to learn that verily his tidings were the truth. he forthwith went on to say with some pains that his master had made him to use a means by which he might remember the number from all others in case, by ill-hap, the letter should be lost. and on this wise he gave us to know for certain that the vast sum demanded was not an error on his part. it was to this end that he had stamped on his memory the names of saint george and saint christina, whose days in the calendar are on the 24th of april and the 24th of july, and the number of thousands named for the ransom was likewise four and twenty. also herdegen had bid him think of twice the twelve apostles, and of the twenty-four hours from midnight till midnight again. it would seem beyond belief to most folks, he said, yet it was indeed twenty-four thousand, and not hundred, sequins which that devilish sultan has asked, as indeed we must know from the letter. presently, when he had rested a while, we made him tell us more, and we learned that the sultan had been minded to set herdegen free without price, and he would have had him led forthwith to the imprisoned king janus of cyprus, to whom he thought he might thus do a pleasure, but that ursula tetzel, who was standing by with her husband, had whispered to the sultan that she would not see him robbed of a great profit forasmuch as that yonder christian slave--and she pointed to my brother--was of one of the richest families of her native town, who could pay a royal ransom for him and find it no great burthen; and that the same was true of sir franz, who was likewise to have been set free. hereupon the sultan, who at all times lacked moneys, notwithstanding the heavy tribute he levied on all merchandise, commanded that herdegen and the bohemian should be led away again and then he asked this overweening ransom. then ursula took upon herself of her own free will to send tidings of the sultan's demands to the slaves' kith and kin, and of her deep malice had never done so. that evening we might not hear how and on what authority eppelein knew all this, for much talking had wearied him. all we could then learn was that it was ursula, and none other, whom the lad would still speak of as the she-devil, who had plotted the snare which had well nigh cost my other brother his life. yet had he left him so far amended that he, eppelein, would be glad to be no worse. albeit these tidings of kunz were good to cheer us, our hopes of ransoming herdegen were indeed far away, or rather in the realm of nevermore; even if my grand-uncle were possessed of so great a sum, it was a question whether he would be willing to pay it; and as for us, we could never have raised it at the cost of all our fortune. at that time the venice sequin and nuremberg gulden were not far asunder in value, and what the sum of twenty-four thousand gulden meant any man may imagine when i say that, no more than twelve years sooner, the liberty of coining for the whole city was granted by the emperor sigismund to herdegen valzner for four thousand rhenish gulden; and that master ulman stromer purchased his fine dwelling-house behind the chapel of our lady, with the houses pertaining thereto, and his share in the rigler's house for two thousand eight hundred gulden. for such a sum as was demanded a whole street in nuremberg might have been sold; nay, the great castle of malmsbach on the pegnitz would lately have been bought by the city for a thousand rhenish gulden, but that master ulrich rummel, whose it was, would not part with it. and we were now required to pay the price of two dozen such strongholds! it was indeed an unheard-of and devilish extortion; and when kubbeling came to hear of it he turned his wild-catskin 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 fellowcountryman, 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 upstairs, 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 servingmen 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 havelet me reckon--the old trader has not forgotten his skill on his sickbed--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 granduncle'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 silvergrey 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 homecoming. 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 granduncle, old adam heyden the organist, our friend of the tower, felt that his last hour was nigh, and bid us go to see him. thus it came to pass that in two following days we had to stand by a death-bed. on each lay an old man departing to the other world, and meseemed their end had fallen so close together to yield warning and meditation to our young souls. now, as i toiled up the steep turret-stair, after flying, yesterday, up the matted steps of the wealthy house of the im hoffs, meseemed that the two men's lives had been like to these staircases, and, young as i was, i nevertheless could say to myself that the humbler man's steep stair, which of late he could not mount without much panting, led up to a higher and brighter home than the wide steps of the rich merchant's palace. howbeit, when i had presently closed that good old man's eyes, i would not suffer myself to think thus of the twain, by reason that i could not endure to mar my remembrance of that other, to whom, after all, we owed much thanks. the old organist had received the holy sacrament at mid-day from the hand of his old friend nikolas laister, the vicar of saint sebald's. he would have no one to see him save ourselves and hans richter the churchwarden, a man after his own heart, and the pernharts; and at first he marked not our coming, inasmuch as he was just then giving a toy to the deaf-mute boy, which he had carved with his own hand, and dame giovanna had much pains to carry away the child, who had cast himself on the old man with passionate love. everything that moved the little one's soul he was forced, as it were, to express with unreasoning violence; and now, when the child was so boisterous as to disturb the peace of the others, his mother took him by the hand to lead him away into another chamber; but the dying man signed to him with a look which none may describe, and that moment the little fellow set his teeth hard and stood in silence by the door. whereupon the old man nodded to him as though the child had done him some kindness. then he shut his eyes for a good while, and presently asked for some of the fine bacharach wine which cousin maud had sent him; but his voice could scarce be heard. ann reached him the glass, and at a sign from him she tasted of it; then he drank it with much comfort while dame giovanna held him sitting. the old, sweet smile was on his lips, and as he yet held the stem of the glass with a shaking hand, and suffered that i should help him, he cried in a clear voice: "once more, prosit, elsie! you have waited long enough up there for your old man. and prosit, likewise, to my dear old home, the fair city of nuremberg." then he took breath and added according to his wont: "prosit, adam! thanks, heyden!" and emptied the cup which i tilted up for him, to the very bottom. then, when he fell back and gazed before him in silence, i found speech, and noted, albeit it struck me in truth as somewhat strange, that he bore our good town in mind then, in drinking his old pledge. hereupon he nodded kindly and added, with an enquiring glance at the churchwarden: "it is rightly the duty of every true christian man to pray for all mankind! well, well; but they are so many, so infinitely many; and i, like every other man, have my own little world, inside the great world, as it were, and that is my dear old, staunch town of nuremberg. never have i been beyond its precincts, and it contains all on earth that is dear and precious to me. to me the citizens of nuremberg are all mankind, and our city and so much as the eye can see from this tower all my world, small though it may be. i could ever find some good matter for thought in nuremberg, something noble and well-compact, a fine whole. i have never sought the boundaries of the other, greater world." yet, that his world was in truth wider than he weened, was plain to us from the prayer he murmured wherein we could hear my brothers' names, albeit land and seas parted them from him. and after that, for a space all were silent, and he lay gazing at the bone crucifix on the wall; and at last he besought dame giovanna to lift him somewhat higher, and he drank again a little more, and said right softly as he cast a loving glance upon us each in turn: "i have looked into my own heart and gazed on him on the cross! that is our ensample! and i depart joyfully--and if you would know what maketh death so easy to me; it is that i have needed but little, and kept little for myself; and whereas i was wont to give away what other men save, i came to know of a certainty that all the good we do to others is the best we can do for ourselves. it is that, it is that!" and he stretched forth his hand, and when we had all kissed it, he cried out: "my god, i now can say i thank thee! what to-morrow may bring, thou alone canst know! margery, ann, my poor children! may the bright day of meeting dawn for you! may heaven in mercy protect the youths beyond seas! here, close at hand is mistress kreutzer with her orphan children, you know them--you and master peter--they are in sore need of help--and the good we do to others. but come close to me, come all of you--and the little ones likewise." and we fell upon our knees by the bed, and he spread forth his hands and said in a clear voice: "the lord bless you and keep you, the lord lift up his countenance upon you and be merciful unto you." and then he sighed deeply, and his hands fell, and dame giovanna closed his eyes. yea! death had come easy to this simple soul. never knew i any man who gave so much out of a little, and never have i seen a happier or more peaceful face on a death-bed. my grand-uncle's burial was grand and magnificent. all the town-council, and many of the nobles joined in the funeral-train. bells tolling and priests chanting, crape, tapers, incense and the rest of it--we had more than enough of them all. only one thing was lacking, namely, tears--not those of the hirelings who attended it, but such as fall in silence from a sorrowing eye. in the im hoffs' great house all was silence till the burying was done; up in the tower, where old adam heyden lay asleep, the bells rang out as they did every day, for wedding and christening, for mass and mourning; yet by the low door which led to the narrow turret-stair i saw a crowd of little lads and maids with their mothers; and albeit the leaves were off the trees and the last flowers were frozen to death, many a child had found a green twig or carried a little bunch of everlasting flowers in its little hand to lay on the bier of that kind old friend. it was all the sacristan could do to keep away the multitudes who were fain to look on his face once more; and when he was borne to the grave-yard, not above two hours after my grand-uncle, there was indeed a wondrous great following. the snow was falling fast in the streets, and the fine folks who had attended him to the grave were soon warming themselves at home after the burying of old im hoff. but there came behind adam heyden's bier many right honest and respected folk, and a throng, reaching far away, of such as might feel the wind whistling cold through the holes in their sleeves and about their bare heads. and among these was there many a penniless woman who wiped her eyes with her kerchief or her hand, and many a widow's child, who tightened its little belt as it saw him who had so often given it a meal carried to the grave. etext editor's bookmarks: marred their best joy in life by over-hasty ire misfortunes never come singly this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] margery by georg ebers volume 8. chapter xiv. our good hope of going forth with good-speed into the wide world to risk all for our lover and brother was not to be yet. we were fain to take patience; and if this seemed hard to us maidens, it was even worse for kubbeling; the man was wont to wander free whither he would, and during these days of tarrying at the forest-lodge, first he lost his mirthful humor, and then he fell sick of a fever. for two long weeks had he to he abed, he, who, as he himself told, had never to this day needed any healing but such as the leech who medicined his beasts could give him. we awaited the tidings of him with much fear; and at this time we likewise knew not what to think of those gentlemen who heretofore had been such steadfast and faithful friends to us, inasmuch as that doctor holzschuher gave no sign, and soon after my grand-uncle's burying uncle christian and master pernhart had set forth for augsburg on some privy matters of the town council. yet we could do nought but submit, by reason that we knew that every good citizen thinks of the weal of the commonwealth before all else. even our nearest of kin had laid our concerns on the shelf, while day and night alike it weighed on our souls, and we made ready for a long time to come of want and humble cheer. the virgin be my witness that at that time i was ready and willing to give up many matters which we were forced to forego; howbeit, we found out that it was easier to eat bread without butter and no flesh meat, than to give up certain other matters. as for my jewels, which cousin maud would not sell, but pledged them to a goldsmith, i craved them not. only a heart with a full great ruby which i had ever worn as being my hans' first lovetoken, i would indeed have been fain to keep, yet whereas master kaden set a high price on the stone i suffered him to break it out, notwithstanding all that cousin maud and ann might say, and kept only the gold case. it was hard likewise to send forth the serving-folk and turn a deaf ear to their lamenting. most of the men, when they heard how matters stood, would gladly have stayed to serve us for a lesser wage, and each and all went about looking as if the hail had spoilt their harvest; only old susan held her head higher than ever, by reason that we had chosen her to share our portion during the years of famine. likewise we were glad to promise the old horse-keeper, who had served our father before us, that we would care for him all his days; he besought me eagerly that i would keep my own hungarian palfrey, for, to his mind, a damsel of high degree with no saddle nor steed was as a bird that cannot rise on its wings. howbeit, we found those who were glad to buy the horse, and never shall i forget the hour when for the last time i patted the smooth neck of my bayard, the gift of my lost lover, and felt his shrewd little head leaning against my own. uncle tucher bought him for his daughter bertha, and it was a comfort to me to think that she was a soft, kind hearted maid, whom i truly loved. all the silver gear likewise, which we had inherited, was pledged for money, and where it lay i knew not; yet of a truth the gifts of god taste better out of a silver spoon than out of a tin one. cousin maud, who would have no half measures, carried many matters of small worth to the pawn-broker; yet all this grieved us but lightly, although the sky hung dark over the town, by reason that other events at that time befell which gave us better cheer. the magister, as soon as he had tidings of our purpose, came with right good will to offer us his all, and declared his intent to share our simple way of life, and this was no more than we had looked for, albeit we steadfastly purposed only to take from him so much as he might easily make shift to spare. but it was indeed a joyful surprise when, one right dreary day, heinz trardorf, herdegen's best-beloved companion in his youth, who had long kept far from the house, came to speak with us of herdegen's concerns. he had now followed his father, who was dead, as master in his trade, and was already so well thought of that the council had trusted his skilled hands to build a new great organ for the church of saint laurence. i knew full well, to be sure, that when herdegen had come back from paris in all his bravery, he had cared but little for trardorf's fellowship; but i had marked, many a time in church, that his eyes were wont to rest full lovingly on me. and now, when i gave him my hand and asked him what might be his will, at first he could scarce speak, albeit he was a man of substance to whom all folks would lift their hat. at last he made bold to tell me that he had heard tidings of the sum demanded to ransom herdegen, and that he, inasmuch as that he dwelt in his own house and that his profits maintained him in more than abundance, could have no greater joy than to pay the moneys he had by inheritance to ransom my brother. and as the good fellow spoke the tears stood in his eyes, and mine likewise were about to flow; and albeit cousin maud here broke in and, to hide how deeply her heart was touched, said, well-nigh harshly, that without doubt the day was not far off when he would have a wife and family, and might rue the deed by which he had parted with his estate, never perchance to see it more, i freely and gladly gave him my hand, and said to him that for my part his offering would be dearest to me of any, and that for sure herdegen would be of the same mind. and a beam as of sunshine overspread his countenance, and while he shook my hand in silence i could see that he hardly refrained himself from betraying more. after this, i came to know from his good mother that this offer of moneys had cost him a great pang, but only for this cause: that he had loved me from his youth up, and his noble soul forbid him to pay court to me when he had in truth done me so great a service. still, and in despite of these gleams of light, i must ever remember those three weeks as a full gloomy and sorrowful time. kubbeling's eldest son and his churlish helpmate had fared forth to venice instead of himself. they might not sail for the land of egypt, and this chafed uhlwurm sorely, by reason that he was sure in himself that he, far better than his master or than any man on earth, could do good service there to ann, on whom his soul was set more than on any other of us. towards the end of the third week we rode forth to spend a few days again at the lodge, and there we found young kubbeling well nigh healed of his fever, and eppelein's tongue ready to wag and to tell us of his many adventures without overmuch asking. howbeit, save what concerned his own mishaps, he had little to say that we knew not already. the saracen pirate who had boarded the galleon from genoa which was carrying him and his lord to cyprus, had parted him from herdegen and sir franz, and sold him for a slave in egypt. there had he gone through many fortunes, till at last, in alexandria, he had one day met akusch. at that time my faithful squire's father was yet in good estate, and he forthwith bought eppelein, who was then a chattel of the overseer of the market, to the end that the fellow might help his son in the search for herdegen. this search they had diligently pursued, and had discovered my brother and sir franz together in the armory of the sultan's palace, in the fort over against cairo, whither they had come after they had both worked at the oars in great misery for two years, on board a saracen galley. but then herdegen had made proof, in some jousting among the young mamelukes, of how well skilled he was with the sword, and thereby he had won such favor that they were fain to deliver sundry letters which he wrote to us, into the care of the venice consul. whereas he had no answer he had set it down to our lack of diligence at home, till at last he was put on the right track by akusch, and it was plainly shown that those letters had never reached us, and that by ursula's malice. to follow up these matters akusch had afterwards betaken himself again to alexandria; notwithstanding by this time his father had fallen on evil days. and behold, on the very evening after their return, as they were passing along by the side of the venice fondaco, whither they had gone to see the leech who attended the consul--having heard that he was a german by birth--they were aware of a loud outcry hard by, and presently beheld a wounded man, whom they forthwith knew for kunz. at first they believed that their eyes deceived them; and that it should have been these two, of all men, who found their master's brother lying in his blood, i must ever deem a miracle. to be sure, any man from the west who was fain to seek another in the land of egypt, must first make enquiry here at the fondaco. a few hours later kunz was in bed and well tended in the house of akusch's mother, and it was on their return to cairo, to speak with my eldest brother of these matters, that eppelein was witness to ursula's vile betrayal and the vast demand of the sultan. then my brother, by the help of some who showed him favor, had that letter conveyed to akusch of which eppelein had been robbed hard by pillenreuth. more than this the good fellow had not to tell. as i, on my ride home through the wood, turned over in my mind who might be the wise and trusty friend to whom we could confide our case and our fears, if kubbeling should leave us in the lurch, verily i found no reply. if indeed cousin gotz--that wise and steadfast wayfaring man, rich with a thousand experiences of outlandish life--if he were willing to make common cause with his little red-riding-hood, and the companion of his youth! but a terrible oath kept him far away, and where in the wide world might he be found? ann likewise had much to cause her heaviness, and i thanked the saints that i was alone with eppelein when he told me that his dear lord was sorely changed, albeit having seen him only from afar, he could scarce tell me wherein that change lay. thus we rode homewards in silence, through the evening dusk, and as we came in sight of the lights of the town all my doubting and wandering fears vanished on a sudden in wonderment as to who should be the first person we might meet within the gate, inasmuch as cousin maud had ever set us the unwise example of considering such a meeting as a sign, or token, or augury. now, as soon as we had left the gate behind us, lo, a lantern was lifted, and we saw, by the light twinkling dimly through the horn, instead of old hans heimvogel's red, sottish face, a sweet and lovely maiden's; by reason that he had fallen into horrors, imagining that mice were rushing over him, so that his fair granddaughter maria was doing duty for him. and i greeted her right graciously, inasmuch as cousin maud held it to be a good sign when a smiling maid should be the first to meet her as she came into the city gates. as for ann, she scarce marked that it was maria; and when, after we were come home, i spoke of this token of good promise, she asked me how, in these evil days, i could find heart to think of such matters; and she sighed and cried: "oh, margery, indeed i am heavy at heart! for three long years have i taken patience and with a right good will. but the end, meseems, is further than ever, and he who should have helped us is disabled or ever he has stirred a finger, and even my lord cardinal's home-coming is put off, albeit all men know that herdegen is as a man in a den of lions--and i, my spirit sinks within me. and even my wise grandmother can give me no better counsel than to 'wait patiently' and yet again 'wait' . . ." whereupon susan, who had taken off from us our wet hoods, broke in with: "aye, mistress ann, and that has ever from the days of adam and eve, been the best of all counsel. for life all through is but waiting for the end; and even when we have taken the last sacrament and our eyes are dim in death then most of all must we take patience, waiting for that we shall find beyond the grave. here below! by my soul, i myself grew grey waiting in vain for one who long years ago gave me this ring. others had better luck; yet if the priest had wed us, would that have made an end of patience? i trow not! it might have been for weal or it might have been for woe. a wife may go to mass every day in the month. but is that an end of patience? will the storks bring her a babe or no? will it be a boy or a maid? and if the little one should come, after the wife has told her beads till her fingers are sore, what will the waiting babe turn out? such an one as junker herdegen grows up to be the delight of every eye and heart, and if that make less need of patience meseems we know full well! and mistress waldstromer, out in the forest, a lady, she, of stern stuff, she could tell a tale; and i say, mistress ann, if old dame pernhart's answer sinks into your heart, god's blessing rest on it!--i am waiting, as you are waiting. we each and all are waiting for one; if by the merciful help of the saints he ever comes home, yet never dream, mistress ann, that patience will be out of court." and with such comfort as this the old woman hung our garments to dry while we bowed our heads and went up-stairs. up in the guest-chamber we heard loud voices, and as we went in a strange sight met our eyes. uncle christian and doctor holzschuher were sitting face to face with cousin maud, and she was laughing so heartily that she could not control herself, but flung up her arms and then dropped them on her knees, for all the world as she had taught us children to play at a game of "fly away, little birds." when she marked my presence she forgot to greet me, and cried to me well nigh breathless: "a drink of wine, margery, and a morsel of bread. i am ready to split--i shall die of laughing!" then, when i heard my good godfather christian's hearty laughing, and saw that master holzschuher had but just ceased, i was fain to laugh likewise, and even ann, albeit she had but now been so sad, joined in. this lasted a long while till we learned the cause of such unwonted mirth; and this was of such a kind as to afford great comfort and new assurance, and we were bound to crave our good friends' pardon for having deemed them lacking in diligence. master holzschuher had indeed made the best use of the time to move every well-to-do man in nuremberg who had known our departed father, and the abbots of the rich convents, and many more, to give of their substance as they were able, to redeem herdegen from the power of the heathen; and the other twain had worked wonders likewise, in augsburg. but that which had moved cousin maud to mirth was that my uncle christian had related how that he and master pernhart, finding old tetzel, ursula's father, at augsburg, had agreed together to make him pay a share towards herdegen's ransom; and my godfather's face beamed again now, with contentment in every feature, as he told us by what means he had won the churlish old man over to the good cause. whereas the three good gentlemen had considered that all of jost tetzel's great possessions must presently fall to his daughter, and that it would be a deed pleasing to god to bring some chastisement on that traitorous quean, they had laid a plot against her father; and it was for that alone that uncle christian, who could ill endure the ride in the winter-season, had set forth, with master pernhart, for augsburg. and there he had achieved a rare masterpiece of skill, painting dame ursula's reprobate malice in such strong colors to her father that master pernhart was in fear lest he should bring upon himself another fit. and he had furthermore sworn to lay the whole matter before the emperor, with whom, as all men knew, he enjoyed much privilege, inasmuch as he had been as it were his host when his majesty held his court at nuremberg. ursula, to be sure, was no subject now of his gracious majesty's; yet would he, christian pfinzing, know no rest till the emperor had compelled her father, jost tetzel, to cut off from her who had married an italian, the possessions she counted on from a german city. thereupon pernhart had spoken in calm but weighty words, threatening that his brother, the cardinal, would visit the heaviest wrath of the pope on the old man and his daughter, unless he were ready and willing to make amends and atonement for his child's accursed sin, whereby a christian man had fallen into the hands of the godless heathen. and when at last they had conquered the churlish old man's hardness of heart and stiffnecked 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 snowstorm 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 crosspurposes, 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 unlookedfor guest, who had for long indeed been lost to sight. this was lorenz abenberger, the apothecary's son, erewhile a companion of herdegen in his youth, and he who, after he had beguiled the other pueri to dig for treasure, had been turned out of the school. since those days, when likewise he had cast nativities for us maidens, and many a time amused us with his magic arts, we had no knowledge of him but that, after his parents' death, he had ceased to ply the apothecary's trade, and had given himself up to the study of alchemy. if folks spoke truth he had already discovered the philosopher's stone, or was nigh to doing so: but notwithstanding that many learned men, and among them the magister had assured me, that such a thing was by no means beyond the skill of man, lorenz abenberger for certain had not attained his end, inasmuch as that, when he appeared in my presence, his aspect was rather that of a beggar than of a potent wise-head at whose behest lead and copper are transmuted into gold. he had heard of the great sum needed for herdegen's ransom, and he now came to assure me of the warm friendship he had ever cherished for his old school-mate, and that he had it in his power to create the means of releasing him from bondage. then, marking that i gazed pitifully on his thread-bare, meagre, and by no means clean raiment, whence there came a sour, drug-like smell, he broke into a foul laugh and said that, to be sure, it would seem strange that so beggarly a figure should make bold to promise so great a treasure; howbeit, he stood to his word. so sure as night follows day, he could reach the goal for which he had consumed all his father's and mother's estate, nay all he had in the world, if he might but once have three pounds of pure gold to do whatsoever he would withal. if i would yield to his entreaties and be moved to grant what he needed, he was ready to pledge his body and soul to death and damnation, and sign the bond with his heart's blood, if by the end of the thirteenth day he had not found the red lion, and through its aid 'aurum potabile' and the panacea against every evil of body or soul. this would likewise give him the power of turning every mineral, even the most worthless, into pure gold, as easily as i might turn my spinning-wheel or say a paternoster. all this he poured forth with rolling eyes and panting breath, and that he spoke every word in sacred earnest none could doubt; and indeed the fervent, eager longing which appealed to my compassion and charity from every fibre of his being, might have moved me to bestow on him that which he craved, if i had possessed such wealth; but, as it was, i was forced to say him nay; and whereas at this minute susan came in with the tidings that a man had come from the pernharts', bidding me go forthwith to ann, i threw over me my cloak and gave him to understand how matters stood with me, bidding him farewell with all gentleness yet of set purpose. the blood mounted into his pale cheeks; he came close up to me, and set his teeth, and said wrathfully that i must and i should save him, and with him my own brother, if i did but clearly understand the sense and purpose of his entreaty. and he began with a flood of speech to tell me how near he was to his end, with a number of outlandish, magical words such as "the great magisterium," "the red lion," "the red tincture," and the like, till meseemed my brain reeled with the sinful gibberish; notwithstanding, to this day i believe that in all truth he was nigh attaining his purpose; and he might have done so at last were it not that, a short space after this, he was choked by the vapor from an alembic which burst. but whence might i at that day procure the means to succor him? again and again i strove to check his fiery zeal, but in vain, till i told him plainly that i had not at my command three pounds of brass farthings, much less three pounds of gold, and that he must apply elsewhere and no longer keep me tarrying. and i gave him my hand to bid him farewell; howbeit he seized it with both of his, and wrung and shook my arm till it ached; and being beside him self with rage, he admonished me with threatening words and gestures not to ruin his life's work, and him, and those dear to me, by my base avarice. when i had got over my first fear i snatched myself free from the miserable little man, and turned my back upon him; but he leaped in front of me, spread forth his arms to bar the doorway, and shrieked, foaming with fury: "away, away, down to the depths! away with us all! woe unto thee, mean, blind fool that thou art! woe unto us all! take away that hand! verily even if my mouth were gagged, yet shouldst thou hear what is coming upon thee and all thy race! i could have hindered it, and i would have hindered it; but now it shall be fulfilled. oh, it was not for nothing that we were young together! i read thy horoscope and that arrogant brawler thy brother's long ago, and when i interpret it to thee, if the blood does not curdle in thy veins. . . ." hereupon the blood of the schoppers surged up; i laid hands on the mad wight, whose strength was scarce greater than mine, but he hit and stamped about like one bereft, crying: "your planets stand over the houses of death, captivity, and despair. the fulfilment thereof began on saint lazarus' day, and on this day it falls first on thee; and thus the doom shall run its course till it hath an end on saint john's eve, by reason that ye will then have nought left to lose!" here abenberger's raving came to a sudden end. his outcry had brought up cousin maud, and when she opened the door behind him and saw a man standing in my way, she clutched him from behind, throwing her arms about him, and dragged him out of the chamber. meanwhile she shrieked aloud "fire!" and "murder!" and again "fire!" and all the men and wenches ran up in hot haste and had the gold-maker down the stairs fast enough. howbeit, i felt truly grieved for him; yet, as i gazed down on him from the window, i saw that he had taken his stand without in the street, and was shaking his fist up at me till a constable saw it and sent him homewards. then i must first comfort cousin maud for this untoward scene, and suffer her to rub my wrists with wine and spirit of balm, forasmuch as they tingled like fire and were scratched by the hapless wight's nails. she was beside herself with rage, and the evil prediction of the master of the black arts and of star-gazing filled her with unbounded terrors. thus it was my part, though; the younger, to give her courage, notwithstanding the awful curse haunted me likewise, and rang in my ears even when at last i made my way through the dark streets, followed by the serving-man, to do ann's bidding. my heart was heavier than it had been for many a day; for my fears were mingled with pity for that hapless soul, so skilled in much learning. i had learned to feel other woes and joys besides my own, and i could full well picture in my mind the despair which at this hour, must wring the soul of that poor fellow. i was glad to think that the serving-man might believe that i put my kerchief to my eyes only to wipe away the whirling snow. at the same time, methought that for certain some new and terrible sorrow hung over us nay, never so clearly as then, after abenberger's violent attack, had i perceived how much alone and without protection i stood in the world. and wherefor had ann not come to me? for what reason or matter had she sent for me at so late an hour? then, when i looked up at the pernharts' house; saw that the windows of the first floor which had be made ready as guest chambers some days ago, for my lord cardinal, were lighted up, so he must have come home and now be lodging there again. but ann knew full well how truly i honored the reverend and illustrious uncle, and for sure if he had brought her good tidings she would forthwith have sent me word, or have come to me herself. what then was now the matter? in what form had the misfortune come upon us which abenberger had read in the stars? i lifted the knocker with a faint heart, and could scarce breathe when i had to knock three times or ever the door was opened. how swiftly my ann was wont to fly to me when she heard my tap! was she then afraid to meet me with the message of woe which my lord cardinal had perchance received from cairo through his chaplains there? we had the ransom ready to be sure; yet ursula would be almost forced, after her treacherous deed, to pursue herdegen to his death; what could she look for if he ever came home again? come what might then, and were it the worst, i must set out, and that forthwith, even if i found no fellowship but cousin maud and eppelein. and to this purpose i had come, when at last the door was opened. below stairs nought was stirring. i hastily flung my wet mantle to mario, the deaf-mute, who had let me in, and ran up stairs. hardly had i reached the second floor when ann met me, well and of good cheer; and when i began, in the outer chamber, to beseech her to be no less steadfast than i was in departing for the east, she nodded consent, and pointed the way into the inner chamber, where we might be more at our ease. i was amazed to see her in such good heart, and all the more so when she told me that my lord cardinal had come home that morning. there was above stairs, she hastily told me, a noble italian knight, who had desired to see our pictures; so we went into the guest chamber, which was all lighted up as when company was bidden. nay, it was of such festal aspect as well nigh dazzled me, and i discerned at once that my portrait, which only a few days ago had been hanged on the wall by the side of ann's for my lord cardinal, was now placed on two chairs and leaning against the high backs. all this and more i perceived in a few hasty glances, and when i enquired where might this stranger from italy be, i was told that he had gone with master pernhart into the chamber which had been fitted for his eminence with the magnificent stuffs from rome and florence which he had brought as a gift for his old mother. the finest of these were certain hangings of fine tissue and of many colors, which hung over the wide opening between the great guest chamber and that next to it. and the italian must likewise have seen these, inasmuch as that they hung down, whereas they were wont to be drawn to the sides. behind them, all was dark; thus the master and his wife, with their strange guest, must have withdrawn into the chamber at the back of the house, where the cardinal had loved to work, and wherein there were sundry works of art to be seen, and choice greek manuscripts which he had brought with him to show to the learned doctors in his native town; as being rare and precious. none was here save the old grandam, and her countenance beamed with joy as she held out her hands to me from her arm-chair, in glad and hearty greeting. she was dressed in her bravest array, and there was in her aspect likewise somewhat solemn and festal. albeit i was truly minded at all times to rejoice with those who were rejoicing, all this bravery, at this time, was sorely against the grain of my troubled heart and its forebodings of ill. i could not feel at ease, and meseemed that all this magnificence and good cheer mocked my hapless and oppressed spirit. in truth, i could scarce bring myself to return the old dame's greeting with due gladness; and her keen eyes at once discerned how matters were with me. she held me by the hand, and asked me in a hearty voice whence came the clouds that darkened my brow. when her bright, high-spirited margery, whom she had never known to be in a gloomy mood, looked like this, for sure some great evil had befallen. whereupon what came over me i know not. whether it were that the blackness and the terror in my bosom were too great a contrast with the gladness and splendor about me, or what it was that so tightly gripped my heart, i cannot tell to this day; but i know full well that all which had oppressed me since abenberger denounced me came rushing down on my soul as it were, and that i burst into tears and cried out "yes, grandmother dear, i have gone through a dreadful, terrible hour! i have had to withstand the attack of a madman, and hear a horrible curse from his lips. but it is not that alone, no, verily and indeed! i can, for that matter, make any man to know his place, were he twice the man that little abenberger is; and as to curses, i learnt from a child to mind my dear father's saying: "curse me if you will! what matters it if i may earn god's blessing!" "and you have earned it, honestly earned it," quoth she, drawing me down to kiss my forehead. hereupon i ceased weeping and bid my heart take fresh courage, and went on, still much moved: "it is nought but a woman's shameless craft that troubles me so sorely. ursula's hate hangs over my brothers like a black storm-cloud; and on my way hither meseemed i saw full plainly that the ransom is not the end of the matter. nay, if we had twice so much, yet herdegen will never come home alive if we fail to cross ursula's scheming; has she not cause to fear the worst, if ever he comes home in safety? but where is the envoy who would dare so much? kunz lies wounded in a strange land, young kubbeling would doubtless be ready to cross the seas, notwithstanding his fever, but good-will would not serve him, so little is he skilled in such matters. our other friends are over old, or forced to stay in nuremberg. thus do matters stand. what then is left to us--to ann and me, grandmother? i ask you-what, save to act on our first and only wise intent? and that which it is our part to do, which we may not put off one day longer than we need, is to take ship, under the grace of the blessed virgin, and ourselves to carry fresh courage to those who are nearest and dearest to us. of a truth i am but an orphaned maid; my lover and my guardian are both dead; and yet do i not fear to depart for a land beyond seas; true and faithful love is the guiding-star which shall lead us, and we have seen in ann how true is the apostle's saying that love conquereth all things. any creature who stands straight on a pair of strong legs, and who is sound in soul and body, and who looks up to heaven and trusts in god's grace with joyful assurance, even if it be but a weak maiden, may rescue a fellow-creature in need; and i, thank god, am sound and whole. nay, and i will even pledge my word that i will tear asunder the subtlest web which ursula may spin, in especial if i have ann's keen wit to aid me. so i will go forth, and away, through frost and snow, to find my brethren; and if his pains keep kubbeling at home in spite of his catskins, and if master ulsenius should forbid eppelein to ride so far, yet will we find some other to be our faithful squire." and with this i drew a deep breath; and when i turned to seek ann, with a lighter heart, to the end that she should signify her consent, on a sudden me seemed as though the floor of the chamber rose up beneath my feet, and i was nigh falling, by reason that the fine hangings which hid the cardinal's chamber from my eyes were drawn asunder, and a tall man, tanned brown by the sun, came forth, and said in a deep voice: "wilt thou trust these hands, margery? they are ready and willing to serve thee faithfully." hereupon a cry of joy broke from me: "gotz," and again "gotz!" and albeit meseemed as though the walls, and tables, and chairs were whirling round me, and as though the ceiling, nay and the blue sky above it had yawned above me, yet i fell not, but hastened to meet this newcomer, 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 newlyfound 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 illcontent. 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 selfwilled, 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 menat-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 longpast 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 lightheartedness and goodly mien. some few happy and glad days were at that time vouchsafed to them in the old well-known forest; but on the ride home margery's palfrey stumbled close without the city gates on the frozen ground. her arm-bone was badly broken and her right hand remained so stiff, notwithstanding master hartmann knorr's best skill, that she could no more use the pen save with great pain, albeit she often after this rode on horseback. thus the little book lay aside for a long space; and while she was yet diligently striving to write with her left hand death snatched from her ann schopper, the widow of our late dear brother herdegen schopper and her heart's best friend, and this fell upon her soul as so cruel a grief that she never after could endure to take up the pen. then, when she lost her dearly-beloved husband, a few months after their golden wedding day, all was at an end for her; the brave old woman gave up all care for life, and died no more than three months after him. and indeed often have i seen how that, when one of a pair, who have dwelt together so many years in true union of hearts, departs this life, this earth is too lonely for the other, so that one might deem that their hearts had grown to be as it were one flesh, and the one that is left hath bled to death inwardly from the reaper's stroke. then i read through this book of memories once more, and meseemed that margery had written of herself as less worthy than of a truth she was in her life's spring-tide. most of you can yet remember how that my lord the mayor spoke of the bride with the golden chaplet crowning her thick silver hair, as the pride of our city, the best friend and even at times the wisest counsellor of our worshipful council, the comforter and refuge of the poor; and you know full well that master johannes lochner, the priest, spoke over her open grave, saying that, as in her youth she had been fairest, so in old age she was the noblest and most helpful of all the dames of the parish of saint sebald; and you yourselves have many a time been her almoners, or have gazed in silence to admire her portrait. and at venice i have heard from the lips of the very master who limned her, and who was one of the greatest painters of the famous guild to which he belonged, that such as she had he imagined the stately queen of some ancient german king defeated by the romans, or eve herself, if indeed one might conceive of our cold german fatherland as paradise. yea, the most charming and glowing woman he had ever set eyes on was your mother and grandmother. and whensoever she went to a dance all the young masters of noble birth, and the counts and knights, yea even at the emperor's court, were of one mind in saying that margery schopper was the fairest and likewise the most happy-tempered maid and most richly endowed with gifts of the mind, in all nuremberg. none but ann could stand beside her, and her beauty was italian and heavenly rather than german and earthly. margery's manuscript ends where she had reached a happy haven; howbeit there were others of whom she makes mention who were not so happy as to cast anchor betimes, and if i am to set forth my own tale i must go back to alexandria in the land of egypt. the dagger hired by ursula to kill herdegen struck me; howbeit, by the time when my cousin gotz brought my dear brother to see me, himself a free man, i was already healed of my wound and ready to depart. the worthy mother of akusch had tended me with a devotion which would have done honor to a christian woman, and it was under her roof that first i saw herdegen and my cousin once more. and how greatly was i surprised to see gotz, taller than of old, appear before me in the magnificent array and harness of a chief captain in the army of the all-powerful republic of venice! instead of an exiled adventurer i found him a stalwart gentleman, in every respect illustrious and honored, whose commanding eye showed that he was wont to be obeyed, albeit his voice and mien revealed a compassionate and friendly soul. yea, and meseemed that at his coming a fresher, purer air blew about me; and as soon as he had made herdegen's cause his own and stood surety for him, the chief of the great trading house of michieli paid the ransom, which to me, knowing the value of money, must have seemed never to be compassed, unless my grand-uncle had been fain to help us. howbeit, my cousin would not do the like service for the knight of welemisl, in whose mien and manners he put less trust, wherefore i became his surety, out of sheer pity and at herdegen's prayer. here you will ask of me wherefore i do not first speak of my meeting again with my dear long-suffering brother. and indeed my heart beat high with joy and thanksgiving, when we held each other clasped; but alack what changes had come over him in these years of slavery! when he came into my chamber, his head bowed and his hands behind his back, after that we had greeted i turned from him and made as though i had some matter to order, to the end that he might not see me dry my tears; inasmuch as that he who stood before me was my herdegen indeed, and yet was not. for eighteen long months had he plied the oars on board of a saracen galley, while sir franz, who was overweak for such toil, served as keeper of slaves on the benches, himself with chains on his feet. and it was this long, hard toil which had made my brother diligently to hide his hands behind his back, as though he were ashamed of them; whereas those strong hands of his with their costly rings he had ever been wont to deem a grace, and now of a truth they were grown coarse and as red as a brick, and were like to those of a hewer in the woods. and whereas men are apt often to pay less heed to another's face than to the shape and state of his hands, i ever mind me of herdegen's as i saw them on that day, and a star and a crescent were branded in blue on the back of his right, so that all men must see it. likewise his deep breast had lost some of its great strength, and he held himself less stately than of old. meseemed as though the knight had laid some part of his sickness upon him, inasmuch that many a time he coughed much. likewise the long golden hair, which had flowed in rich abundance down over his shoulders, had been shorn away after the manner of the unbelievers, and this gave to his well-favored face a narrow and right strange appearance. only the shape of his countenance and his eyes were what they had ever been; nay, meseemed that his eyes had a brighter and moister light in them than of yore. one thing alone was a comfort to me, and that was that my heart beat with more pitiful and faithful love for him than ever. and when evening fell, as we brethren sat together with gotz and master knorr and akusch, drinking our wine, which only akusch would not touch, this comforting assurance waxed strong within me, by reason that herdegen's voice was as sweet as of old, both in speech and in song; and when he set forth all the adventures and sufferings he had gone through in these last past years i was fain to listen, and even so was gotz; and first he drew tears from our eyes and presently made us laugh right mirthfully. and what had he not gone through? i betook me to bed that night in hope and contentment; howbeit, on the morrow master knorr told me privily that whereas my brother's lungs had never been of the strongest, if now, in the cold december season, he should fare north of the alps after such long sojourning under a warmer sky, it could not fail to do him a serious mischief, as it likewise would to sir franz. thus it must be my part to delay our homecoming; and albeit the leech's tidings made me heavy at heart i was fain to yield, inasmuch as that herdegen might not appear in the presence of his sweetheart in his present guise. to this end we made him to believe that he might not come home in safety unless he had performed the penance laid upon him by the emperor; and albeit felt it a hard matter to refrain the craving of his heart, nevertheless be gave way to our pressing admonitions. now, while gotz fared back to venice, the galleon which carried don jaime, prince of catalonia, as far joppa, brought us likewise to the promised land to the holy city of jerusalem. from thence we made our pilgrimage to many other holy places, under the protection of the great fellowship of that royal prince who ever showed us much favor. at last we journeyed homewards, passing by naples and genoa; at damietta, in the land of egypt, sir franz departed from our company to make his way to venice. it was with care and grief that i saw him set forth on his way alone, and herdegen was like-minded; in their misfortune he had learned to mark much that was good in him, and during our long journeying had seen that not only was he sick in body, but likewise that a shroud hung over his soul and brain. also, if ursula were yet free to work her will, the very worst might haply befall him in venice, by reason that the giustinianis were of a certainty evil-disposed towards him, and the power and dignity of that family were by no means lessened, although, as at that time antonio giustiniani had dishonored his name in albania, and had been punished by the forty with imprisonment and sundry penalties. yet his cousin orsato was one of the greatest and richest of the signori at venice, and ursula's husband would have found in him a strong upholder, as in truth we heard at naples, where tidings reached us that the pregadi, who had passed judgment upon him, had amerced him in a penalty of no more than two thousand ducats, which orsato paid for him by reason that he would not suffer that his kinsman should he in prison. at genoa we found many letters full of good tidings of our kindred at home, all overflowing with love and the hope of speedily seeing us there. hereupon herdegen could not refrain himself for impatience and, if i had suffered it, he would have ridden onward by day and by night with no pause nor rest, taking fresh horses as he might need them; for my part what i chiefly cared for was to bring him home as fresh and sound as i might, and so preserve ann from grief of heart. herdegen had given me her letters to read, and how true and deep a love, how lofty and pure a soul spoke in those lines! howbeit, when i heard her, as it were, cry out by those letters, how that she longed for the moment when she might again stroke his flowing locks and press his dear faithful hand to her lips as his dutiful maid, my heart beat with fresh fears. he held him more upright, to be sure, and his countenance was less pale and hollow than it had been; but nevermore might he be a strong man. his light eyes were deep in their sockets, his hair was rarer on his head, and there were threads of silver among the gold. ah, and those luckless hands! it was by reason of his hands--albeit you will doubtless smile at the confession--that i moved him to refrain his longing, even when we were so near our journey's end as augsburg, and to grant me another day's delay, inasmuch as that i cared most that he should at first hide them in gloves from the womankind at home. and in all the great town was there not a pair to be and that would fit him, and it would take a whole day to make him a pair to his measure. thus were we fain to tarry, and whereas we had in augsburg, among other good friends, a faithful ally in trading matters at the venice fondaco, master sigismund gossenprot, we lodged in his dwelling, which was one of the finest that fine city; and, as goodhap 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 piledup 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 finelyrounded 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 wellfavored, 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 overeager 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 newlymarried 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 ridingboots, 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 wellfurnished 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 highspirited 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 housewives; 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 wellbeing. in this--insomuch i may say with pride--in this i have had all good-speed; thus my life's labor has not been in vain, and i may call my lot a happy one. and thus i likewise have proved the truth of old adam heyden's saying, that he who does most for other folks at the same time does the best for himself. the end. etext editor's bookmarks: ever creep in where true love hath found a nest--(jealousy) one who stood in the sun must need cast a shadow on other folks we each and all are waiting this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] margery by georg ebers volume 1. 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 curiositydealer, 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 townsuch 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 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 huntinglodge 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 bat 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 fosterchildren 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 wellfavored, 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 tavernkeeper 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'splay 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 wellbeloved 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 goodnight; 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 sonin-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 be 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 be 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 beekeeper'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 illfavored; 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. etext editor's bookmarks: as every word came straight from her heart be cautious how they are compassionate beware lest satan find thee idle! brought imagination to bear on my pastimes comparing their own fair lot with the evil lot of others 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 her eyes were like open windows last day we shall be called to account for every word we utter laugh at him with friendly mockery, such as hurts no man maid who gives hope to a suitor though she has no mind to hear may they avoid the rocks on which i have bruised my feet men folks thought more about me than i deemed convenient no man gains profit by any experience other than his own one of those women who will not bear to be withstood the god amor is the best schoolmaster they who will, can when men-children deem maids to be weak and unfit for true sport this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] in the fire of the forge a romance of old nuremberg by georg ebers volume 7. chapter x. a few minutes later the sisters left the town hall. their white rieses were wound so closely about their faces that their features were completely hidden, but the thin material permitted them to see herr vorchtel, leaning upon the arm of the young burgomaster, hans nutzel, leave the council chamber, where the other honourables were still deliberating. pointing to the old man, the city clerk told els with a significant smile that ursula vorchtel was engaged to the talented, attractive young merchant now walking with her father, and that he had promised herr vorchtel to aid him and his younger son in the management of his extensive business. this was a great pleasure to the noble old merchant, and when he, the city clerk, met ursula that morning, spite of her deep mourning, she again looked out upon the world like the happy young creature she was. her new joy had greatly increased her beauty, and her lover was the very person to maintain it. herr schedel thought it would be pleasant news to els, too. the young girl pressed his hand warmly; for these good tidings put the finishing touch to the glad tidings she had just heard. the reproach which, unjust as it might be, had spoiled many an hour for wolff and entailed such fatal consequences, was now removed, and to her also "ursel's" altered manner had often seemed like a silent accusation. she felt grateful, as if it were a personal joy, for the knowledge that the girl who had believed herself deserted by wolff, her own lover, was now a happy betrothed bride. ursula's engagement removed a burden from eva's soul, too, only she did not understand how a girl whose heart had once opened to a great love could ever belong to anyone else. els understood her; nay, in ursula's place she would have done the same, if it were only to weave a fresh flower in her afflicted father's fading garland of joy. the city clerk accompanied them to the great entrance door of the town hall. several jailers and soldiers in the employ of the city were standing there, and whilst their old friend was promising to do his utmost to secure ernst ortlieb's liberation and recommending the girls to the protection of one of the watchmen, eva's cheeks flushed; for a messenger of the council had just approached the others, and she heard him utter the name of sir heinz schorlin and his follower walther biberli. els listened, too, but whilst her sister in embarrassment pressed her hand upon her heart, she frankly asked the city clerk what had befallen the knight and his squire, who was betrothed to her maid. she heard that at the last meeting of the council an order had been issued for biberli's arrest. his name must have been brought up during the discussions of the slanders which had so infamously pursued the ortlieb sisters, but she could not enquire how or in what connection, for the sun was already low in the western sky, and if the girls wished to see their father there was no time to lose. yet, though katterle had just said that countess von montfort was waiting outside in her great sedan-chair for the young ladies, they were still detained, for they would not leave the town hall without thanking the city clerk and saying farewell to him. he was still near, but the captain of the city soldiers had drawn him aside and was telling him something which seemed to permit no delay, and induced the old gentleman to glance at the sisters repeatedly. eva did not notice it; for biberli's arrest, which probably had some connection with heinz and herself, had awakened a series of anxious thoughts associated with her lover and his faithful follower. els troubled herself only about the events occurring in her immediate vicinity, and felt perfectly sure that the captain's communications referred not only to the four itinerant workmen and the three women who had just been led across the courtyard to the "hole," and to whom the speaker pointed several times, but especially to her and her sister. when the city clerk at last turned to them again, he remarked carelessly that a disagreeable mob in front of the ortlieb mansion had been dispersed, and then, with urgent cordiality, invited the two girls to spend the night under the protection of his old housekeeper. when they declined, he assured them that measures would be taken to guard them from every insult. he had something to tell their uncle, and the communication appeared to permit no delay, for with a haste very unusual in the deliberate old gentleman he left the two sisters with a brief farewell. meanwhile countess cordula had become weary of waiting in the sedanchair. she came striding to meet her new friends, attired in a rustling canary-green silk robe whose train swept the ground, but it was raised so high in front that the brown hunting-boots encasing her well-formed feet were distinctly visible. she was swinging her heavy riding-whip in her hand, and her favourite dogs, two black dachshunds with yellow spots over their eyes, followed at her heels. as it was against the rules to bring dogs into the town hall, the doorkeeper tried to stop her, but without paying the slightest attention to him, she took els by the hand, beckoned to eva, and was turning to leave the path leading to the market-place. in doing so her eyes fell upon the courtyard, where, just after the ave maria, a motley throng had gathered. here, guarded by jailers, stood vagabonds and disreputable men and women, sham blind beggars and cripples, swindlers, and other tatterdemalions, who had been caught in illegal practices or without the beggar's sign. in another spot, darkrobed servants of the council were discussing official and other matters. near the "hole" a little party of soldiers were resting, passing from hand to hand the jug of wine bestowed by the honourable council. the "red coat"--[executioner]--was giving orders to his "life"-[executioner's assistant ("lion")]--as they carried across the courtyard a new instrument of torture intended for the room adjoining the council chamber, where those who refused to make depositions were forced to it. in a shady corner sat old people, poorly clad women, and pale-faced children, the city poor, who at this hour received food from the kitchen of the town hall. a few priests and monks were going into the wing of the building which contained the "hole," with its various cells and the largest chamber of torture, to give the consolations of religion to the prisoners and those tortured by the rack who had not yet been conveyed to the hospital at schweinau. the countess's keen glance wandered from one to another. when they reached the group of paupers they rested upon a woman with deadly pale, hollow cheeks, pressing a pitifully emaciated infant to her dry breast, and her eyes swiftly filled with tears. "here," she whispered to old martsche, taking several gold coins from the pocket that hung at her belt, "give these to the poorest ones. you are sensible. divide it so that several will have a share and the money will reach the right hands. you can take your time. we need neither you nor katterle. go back to the house. i will carry your young mistresses to their father and home again. where i am you need have no fear that harm will befall them." then she turned again towards the "hole," and seeing the people yelling and shouting while awaiting imprisonment, she pointed to them with her whip, saying, "that's a part of the pack which was set upon you. you shall hear about it presently. but now come." as she spoke she went before the girls and urged them to step quickly into the large, handsome sedan-chair, around which an unusual number of people had assembled, for she wished to avoid any recognition of the sisters by the curious spectators. the gilded box, borne between two powerful brabant horses in such a way that it hung between the tail of the first and the head of the second, would have had room for a fourth occupant. when it moved forward, swaying from side to side, cordula pointed to the curtained windows, and said: "shameful, isn't it? but it is better so, children. that arch-rascal siebenburg robbed the people of the little sense they possessed, and that cat of a candle-dealer, with her mate, the tailor, or rather his followers, poisoned the minds of the rest. how quickly it worked! goodness, it seems to me, acts more slowly. true, your hot-tempered father spoiled the old rascal's inclination to woo pretty metz for a while; but his male and female gossips, aunts, cousins, and work-people apparently allowed themselves to be persuaded by his future mother-in-law to the abominable deed, which caused the brawling rabble you saw in the town hall court to content themselves with a hard couch in the 'hole' overnight." "they have done everything bad concerning us, though i don't know exactly what," cried els indignantly. "wished to do, miss wisdom," replied the countess, patting els's arm soothingly. "we kept our eyes open, and i helped to put a stop to their proceedings. the rabble gathered in front of your house, yelling and shrieking, and when i stepped into your bow-window there was as great an outcry as if they were trying to bring down the walls of jericho a second time. some boys even flung at me everything they could find in the mire of the streets. the most delightful articles! there was actually a dead rat! i can see its tail flying now! our village lads know how to aim better. before the worst came, by the advice of the equerry and our wise chaplain, whom i consulted, we had done what was necessary, and summoned the guard at the frauenthor to our assistance. but the soldiers were in no great haste; so when matters were going too far, i stepped into the breach myself, called down to tell them my name, and also showed my crossbow with an arrow on the string. this had an effect. only a few women still continued to load me with horrible abuse. then the chaplain came to the window and this restored silence; but, in spite of his earnest words, not a soul stirred from the spot until the patrol arrived, dispersed the rabble, and arrested some of them." els, who sat by cordula's side, drew her towards her and kissed her gratefully; but eva's eyes had filled with tears of grief at the beginning of the countess's report of this new insult, and the hostility of so many of the townsfolk; yet she succeeded in controlling herself. she would not weep. she had even forced herself to gaze, without the quiver of an eyelash, at the sorrowful and horrible spectacle outside of the "hole." she must cease being a weak child. how true her dying mother's words had been! to be able to struggle and conquer, she must not withdraw from life and its influences, which, if she did not spare herself, promised to transform her into the resolute woman she desired to become. she had listened with labouring breath to the speaker's last words, and when els embraced cordula, she raised her little clenched hand, exclaiming with passionate emotion: "oh, if i had only been at home with you! you are brave, countess, but i, too, would not have shrunk from them. i would voluntarily have made myself the target for their malice, and called to their faces that only miserably deluded people or shameless rascals could throw stones at my els, who is a thousand times better than any of them!" "or at you, you dear, brave child," added cordula in an agitated tone. from the day following the burning of the convent the countess had given up her whim of winning heinz schorlin. she now knew that all her nobler feelings spoke more loudly in favour of the quiet man who had borne her out of the flames. sir boemund altrosen's love had proved genuine, and she would reward him for it; but the heart of the pretty creature opposite to her was also filled with deep, true love, and she would do everything in her power for eva, whom she had loved ever since her affliction had touched her tender heart. both sisters were now aware of cordula's kind intentions, and the warm pleasure she displayed when els told her what the council had determined, showed plainly enough that the motherless young countess, who had neither brother nor sister, clung to the daughters of her host like a third sister. old herr vorchtel's treatment of the man who had inflicted so deep a sorrow upon him touched her inmost soul. it was grand, noble; the saviour himself would have rejoiced over it. "if it would only please the good old man," she exclaimed, "i would rather offer him my lips to kiss than the handsomest young knight." though two of count von montfort's mounted huntsmen and several constables accompanied the unusually large and handsome sedan-chair, a curious crowd had followed it; but the opinion probably prevailed that the countess's companions were some of her waiting-women. when they alighted in front of the watch-tower, however, an elderly laundry-maid who had worked for the ortliebs recognised the sisters and pointed them out to the others, protesting that it was hard for a woman of her chaste spirit to have served in a house where such things could have happened. then a tailor's apprentice, who considered the whole of the guild insulted in the wounded meister seubolt, put his fingers to his wide mouth and emitted a long, shrill whistle; but the next instant a blow from a powerful fist silenced him. it was young ortel, who had come to the watch-tower to seek herr ernst and tell him that he and his sister metz, spite of their mother and guardian, meant to stay in his service. his heart's blood would not have been too dear to guard eva, whom he instantly recognised, from every insult; but he had no occasion to use his youthful strength a second time, for the soldiers who guarded the tower and the city mercenaries drove back the crowd and kept the square in front of the tower open. the countess would not be detained long, for the sun had already sunk behind the towers and western wall of the fortress, and the reflection of the sunset was tinging the eastern sky with a roseate hue. the warden really ought to have refused them admittance, for the time during which he was permitted to take visitors to the imprisoned "honourable" had already passed. but for the daughters of herr ernst ortlieb, to whom he was greatly indebted, he closed his eyes to this fact, and only entreated them to make their stay brief, for the drawbridge leading to the tower must be raised when darkness gathered. the young girls found their father, absorbed in grief as if utterly crushed, seated at a table on which stood a leaden inkstand with several sheets of paper. he still held the pen in his hand. he received his daughters with the exclamation, "you poor, poor children!" but when els tried to tell him what had given her so much pleasure, he interrupted her to accuse himself, with deep sorrow, of having again permitted sudden passion to master him. probably this was the last time; such experiences would cool even the hottest blood. then he began to relate what had induced him to raise his hand against the tailor, and as, in doing so, he recalled the insolent hypocrite's spiteful manner, he again flew into so violent a rage that the blow which he dealt the table made the ink splash up and soil both the paper lying beside it and his own dress, still faultlessly neat even in prison. this caused fresh wrath, and he furiously crushed the topmost sheet, already half covered with writing, and hurled it on the floor. not until els stooped to pick it up did he calm himself, saying, with a shrug of the shoulders, "who can remain unmoved when the whirlwind of despair seizes him? when a swarm of hornets attacks a horse, and it rears, who wonders? and i--what stings and blows has fate spared me?" els ventured to speak soothingly to him, and remind him of god, and the saints to whom he had made such generous offerings in building the convent; but this awakened an association, and he asked if it were true that eva had refused to take the veil. she made a silent gesture of assent, expecting another outburst of anger; but her father only shook his head sorrowfully, clasped her right hand in both his, and said sadly: "poor, poor child! but she, she--your mother-would probably----the last words her dear lips bestowed upon us concerned you, child, and i believe their meaning----" here the warden interrupted him to remind the girls that it was time to depart; but whilst els was begging the man for a brief delay, herr ernst looked first at the paper and writing materials, then at his daughters, and added with quiet decision: "before you go, you must hear that, in spite of everything, i did not wholly lose courage, but began to act." "that is right, dear father," exclaimed els, and told him briefly and quickly what the council had decided, how warmly old berthold vorchtel had interceded for wolff, and that the management of the business was to be confided solely to him. these tidings swiftly and powerfully revived the fading hopes of the sorely stricken man. he drew up his short figure as if the vigour of youth had returned, declaring that he now felt sure that this first star in the dark night would soon be followed by others. "it will now be your wolff's opportunity," he exclaimed, "to make amends for much that fate but i was commencing something else. give me that bit of crumpled paper. i'll look at it again early to-morrow morning; it is a letter to the emperor i was composing. your brother ought not to have given up his young life on the battlefield for the crown in vain. he owes me compensation for the son, you for the brother. he is certainly a fairminded man, and therefore will not shut his ears to my complaint. just wait, children! and you, my devout eva, pray to your saint that the petition, which concerns you also, may effect what i expect." "and what is that?" asked eva anxiously. "that the wrong done you, you poor, deceived child, shall be made good," replied herr ernst with imperious decision. eva clasped his hand, pleading warmly and tenderly: "by all that you hold dear and sacred, i beseech you, father, not to mention me and sir heinz schorlin in your letter. if he withdrew his love from me, no imperial decree--" the veins on the councillor's brow again swelled with wrath, and though he did not burst into a passion, he exclaimed in violent excitement: "a nobleman who declares his love to a chaste nuremberg maiden of noble birth assumes thereby a duty which, if unfulfilled, imposes a severe punishment upon him. this just punishment, at least, the tempter shall not escape. the emperor, who proclaimed peace throughout the land and cleared the highways of the bands of robbers, will consider it his first duty--" here the warden interrupted him by calling from the threshold of the room that the draw-bridge would be raised and the young ladies must follow him without delay. eva again besought her father not to enter an accusation against the knight, and els warmly supported her sister; but their brief, ardent entreaty produced no effect upon the obstinate man except, after he had pressed a farewell kiss upon the brows of both, to tell them with resolute dignity that the night would bring counsel, and he was quite sure that this time, as usual, he should pursue the right course for the real good of his dear children. hitherto herr ernst had indeed proved himself a faithful and prudent head of his family, but this time his daughters left him with heavy, anxious hearts. fear of her father's intention tortured eva like a new misfortune, and els and the countess also hoped that the petition would go without the accusation against heinz. whilst the sedan-chair was bearing the girls home few words were exchanged. not until they approached the frauenthor did they enter into a more animated conversation, which referred principally to biberli and the question whether the honourable council would call katterle to account also, and what could be done to save both from severe punishment. cordula had drawn aside the curtain on the right and was gazing into the street, apparently from curiosity, but really with great anxiety. but herr pfinzing had done his part, and with the exception of several soldiers in the pay of the city there were few people in sight near the ortlieb mansion. a horse was being led up and down on the opposite side of the courtyard, and behind the chains stood a sedan-chair with several men, to whom metz had just brought from the kitchen a coal of fire to light their torches. the pretty girl looked as bright as if she felt small concern for the severe wound of the grey-haired tailor who had chosen her for his wife. chapter xi. as the young girls were getting out of their sedan-chair, the frauenthor, which was closed at nightfall, opened to admit another whose destination also seemed to be the ortlieb mansion. katterle was standing in the lower entry with her apron raised to her face. she had learned that her true and steadfast lover had been carried to the "hole," and was waiting here for her mistresses and also for herr pfinzing and his wife, whom old martsche had conducted to the sittingroom in the second story. herr pfinzing, in her opinion, had as much power as the emperor, and his wife was famed all over the city for her charitable and active kindness. when the noble couple came down katterle meant to throw herself on her knees at their feet and beseech them to have mercy on her betrothed husband. the sisters and cordula comforted her with the promise that they would commend biberli's cause to the magistrate; but as they went upstairs they again expressed to one another the fear that katterle herself would sooner or later follow the man she loved to prison. they found herr pfinzing and his wife in the sitting-room. katterle was not wrong in expecting kindly help from this lady, for a more benevolent face than hers could scarcely be imagined, and, more over, fran christine certainly did not lack strength to do what she deemed right. though not quite so broad as her short, extremely corpulent husband, she surpassed him in height by several inches, and time had transformed the pretty, slender, modest girl into a majestic woman. the slight arch of the nose, the lofty brow, the light down on the upper lip, and the deep voice even gave her a somewhat imperious aspect. had it not been for the kind, faithful eyes, and an extremely pleasant expression about the mouth, one might have wondered how she could succeed in inspiring everyone at the first glance with confidence in her helpful kindness of heart. her grey pug had also been brought with her. how could an animal supply the place of beloved human beings? yet the pug had become necessary to her since her son, like so many other young men who belonged to patrician nuremberg families, had fallen in the battle of marchfield, and her daughter had accompanied her husband to his home in augsburg. the onerous duties of her husband's office compelled him to leave her alone a great deal, and even in her extremely active life there were lonely hours when she needed a living creature that was faithfully devoted to her. she was often overburdened with work, for every charitable institution sought her as a "fosterer." true, in many cases their request was vain. whatever she undertook must be faultlessly executed, and the charge of the orphan children in the city, the beguines, and the hospital at her summer residence occupied her sufficiently. during the winter she lived with her husband at his official quarters in the castle, but as soon as spring came she longed for her little manor at schweinau, for she had taken into the institution erected there for the widows of noble crusaders, but in which only the last four of these ladies were now supported, a number of beguines. these were godly girls and women who did not wish to submit to convent rules, or did not possess the favour or the money required for admission. without pledging themselves to celibacy or any of the other restrictions imposed upon the nuns, they desired only, in association with others of the same mind, to lead a life pleasing in the sight of god and devoted to christian charity. schweinau afforded abundant opportunity for charitable women to aid suffering fellow-mortals, since it was here that the unfortunates who had been mutilated by the hands of the executioner and his assistants, or wounded on the rack, often nearly unto death, were brought to be bandaged, and as far as possible healed. the beguines occupied themselves in nursing them, but had many a conflict with the spiritual authorities, who preferred the monks and nuns bound by a monastic vow. the order of st. francis alone regarded them with favour, interceded for them, and watched over them with kindly interest, taking care that they were kept aloof from everything which would expose them to reproach or blame. frau christine, the abbess kunigunde's sister, aided her in this effort, and the beguines, to whom the magistrate's wife in no way belonged, but who had given them a home on her own estate, silently rendered her obedience when she wished to see undesirable conditions in their common life removed. els, as well as eva, had long since told frau christine, who was equally dear to both, everything that afforded ground for the shameful calumnies which had now urged their father to a deed for which he was atoning in prison. when, a few hours before, a messenger from her husband informed her of what had occurred, she had instantly come to the city to see that the right thing was done, and take the girls thus bereft of their father from the desolate ortlieb mansion to her own house. herr pfinzing had warmly approved this plan, and accompanied her to the "es," as he, too, was fond of calling his nieces. when she had been told what motives induced eva not to confide herself just now to the protection of the convent, frau christine struck her broad hips, exclaiming, "there's something in blood! the young creature acts as if her old aunt had thought for her." her invitation sounded so loving and cordial, her husband pressed it with such winning, jovial urgency, and the pug amicus, whose attachment to eva was especially noticeable, supported his mistress's wish with such ardent zeal, that she called the sisters' attention to his intercession. meanwhile the girls had already expressed to each other, with the mute language of the eyes, their inclination to accept the invitation so affectionately extended. els only made the condition that they were not to go to schweinau until early the following morning, after their visit to their father; eva, on the other hand, desired to go as soon as possible, gladly and gratefully confessing to her aunt how much more calmly she would face the future now that she was permitted to be under her protection. "just creep under the old hen's wings, my little chicken; she will keep you warm," said the kind-hearted woman, kissing eva. but, as she began to plan for the removal of the sisters, more visitors were announced-indeed, several at once; first, albert ebner, of the council, and his wife, then frau clara loffelholz, who came without her husband, and the two daughters of the imperial ranger waldstromer, els's most intimate friends. they had come in from the forest-house the day before to attend frau maria ortlieb's burial. now, with their mother's permission, they came to invite the deserted girls to the forest. the others also begged the sisters to come to them, and so did councillors schurstab, behaim, gross, holzschuher, and pirckheimer, who came, some with their wives and some singly, to look after the daughters of their imprisoned colleague. the great sitting-room was filled with guests, and the stalwart figures and shrewd, resolute faces of the men, the kind, good, and usually pleasing countenances of the women, whose blue eyes beamed with philanthropic benevolence, though they carried their heads high enough, afforded a delightful spectacle, and one well calculated to inspire respect. there could be no doubt that those whose locks were already grey represented distinguished business houses and were accustomed to manage great enterprises. there was not a single one whom the title "honour of the family" could not have well befitted; and what cheerful self-possession echoed in the deep voices of the men, what maternal kindness in those of the elder women, most of whom also spoke in sonorous tones! els and eva often cast stolen glances at each other as they greeted the visitors, thanked them, answered questions, gave explanations, accepted apologies, received and courteously declined invitations. they did not comprehend what had produced this sudden change of feeling in so many of their equals in rank, what had brought them in such numbers at so late an hour, as if the slightest delay was an offence, to their quiet house, which that very day had seemed to frau vorkler too evil to permit her children to remain in its service. the old magistrate and his wife, on the contrary, thought that they knew. they had helped the sisters to receive the first callers; but when frau barbara behaim, a cousin of the late frau maria, had appeared, they gave up their post to her, and slipped quietly into the next room to escape the throng. there they retired to the niche formed by the deep walls of the broad central window of the house, and herr berthold pfinzing whispered to his wife: "there was too much philanthropy and kindness for me in there. a great deal of honey at once cloys me. but you, prophetess, foresaw what is now occurring, and i, too, scarcely expected anything different. so long as one still has a doublet left compassion is in no haste, but when the last shirt is stripped from the body charity--thank the saints!-moves faster. we are most ready to help those who, we feel very sure, are suffering more than they deserve. there are many motherless children; but young girls who have lost both parents, exposed to every injustice----" "are certainly rare birds," his wife interrupted, "and this will undoubtedly be of service to the children. but if they are now invited to the houses of the same worthy folk who, a few hours ago, thought themselves too good to attend the funeral of their admirable mother, and anxiously kept their own little daughters away from them, they probably owe it especially to the right mediators, noble old vorchtel and another." "to-day, if ever, certainly furnished evidence how heavily the testimony and example of a really estimable man weighs on the scale. the first losunger interceded for the children as if they were his own daughters, attacked the slanderers, and of course i didn't leave him in the lurch." "peter holzschuher declared that you defended them like the roman cicero," cried frau christine merrily. "but don't be vexed, dear husband; no matter how heavily the influence of the two bertholds-vorchtel's and yours--weighed in the balance, nay, had that of a third and a fourth of the best councillors been added, what is now taking place before our eyes and ears would not have happened, if---" "well?" asked the magistrate eagerly. "if," replied the matron in a tone of the firmest conviction, "they had not all been far from believing, even for a moment, in their inmost souls the shameful calumny which baseness dared to cast upon those two--just look more closely." "yet if that was really the case--" her husband began to object, but she eagerly continued: "many did not utter their better knowledge or faith because the evil heart believes in wickedness rather than virtue, especially if their own house contains something--we will say a young daughter--whose shining purity is thereby brought into a clearer light. besides, we ourselves have often been vexed by--let us do honour to the truth!--by the defiant manner in which your devout godchild--yonder 'little saint'--held aloof in her spiritual arrogance from the companions of her own age----" "and then," the corpulent husband added, "two young girls cannot be called 'the beautiful es' unpunished in houses which contain a less comely t, s, and h. just think of the katerpecks. there--thank the saints!--they are taking leave already." "don't say anything about them!" said frau christine, shaking her finger threateningly. "they are good, well-behaved children. it was pretty ermengarde muffel yonder by the fireplace who, after the dance at the town hall, assailed your godchild most spitefully with her sharp tongue. my friend frau nutzel heard her." "ah, that dance!" said the magistrate, sighing faintly. "but the child was certainly distinguished in no common way. the emperor rudolph himself looked after her as if an angel had appeared to him. you yourself heard his sister's opinion of her. her husband, the old burgrave, and his son, handsome eitelfritz--but you know all that. half would have been enough to stir ill-will in many a heart." "and to turn her pretty little head completely," added his wife. "that, by our lady, christine," protested the magistrate, "that, at least, did not happen. it ran off from her like water from an oil jar. i noticed it myself, and the abbess--" "your sister," interrupted the matron thoughtfully, "she was the very one who led her into the path that is not suited for her." "no, no," the magistrate eagerly asserted. "god did not create a girl, the mere sight of whom charms so many, to withdraw her from the gaze of the world." "husband! husband!" exclaimed frau christine, tapping his arm gaily. "but there go the schurstabs and ebners. what a noise there is in the street below!" her husband looked out of the bow window, pointed down, and asked her to come and stand beside him. when she had risen he passed his arm around the slenderest part of her waist, which, however, he could not quite clasp, and eagerly continued: "just look! one would think it was a banquet or a dance. the whole street is filled with sedan-chairs, servants, and torch-bearers. a few hours ago the constables had hard work to prevent the deluded people from destroying the house of the profligate es, and now one half of the distinguished honourable councillors come to pay their homage. do you know, dear, what pleases the most in all this?" "well?" asked frau christine, turning her face towards him with a look of eager enquiry, which showed that she expected to hear something good. but he nodded slightly, and answered: "we members of patrician families cling to old customs; each wants to keep his individuality, as he would share or exchange his escutcheon with no one. then, when one surpasses the rest in external things, whatever name they may bear, no one hastens to imitate him. we men are independent, rugged fellows. but if the heart and mind of any one of us are bent upon something really good and which may be said to be pleasing in the sight of god, and he successfully executes it, then, christine, then--i have noticed it in a hundred instances--then the rest rush after him like sheep after the bellwether." "and this time you, and the other berthold, were the leaders," cried fran christine, hastily pressing a kiss upon her old husband's cheek behind the curtain. then she turned back into the dusky chamber, pointed to the open door of the sitting-room, and said, "just look! if that isn't--- there comes ursula vorchtel with her betrothed husband, young hans nutzel! what a fine-looking man the slender youth has become! ursel--her visit is probably the greatest pleasure which els has had during this blessed hour." the wise woman was right; for when ursel held out her hands to her former friend, whom she had studiously avoided so long, the eyes of both girls were moist, and els's cheeks alternately flushed and paled, like the play of light and shadow on the ground upon a sunny morning in a leafy wood when the wind sways the tree tops. what did they not have to say to each other! as soon as they were unnoticed a moment ursel kissed her newly regained friend, and whispered, pointing to her lover, with whom fran barbara behaim was talking: "he first taught me to know what true love is, and since then i have realised that it was wrong and foolish for me to be angry with you, my dear els, and that wolff did right to keep his troth, hard as his family made it for him to do so. had my hans met me a little sooner, we should not now have to mourn our poor ulrich. i know--for i have tried often enough to soothe his resentment--how greatly he incensed your lover. oh, how sad it all is! but your aunt, the abbess, was right when she told us before our confirmation, 'when the cross that is imposed upon us weighs too heavily, an angel often comes, lifts it, and twines it with lovely roses!' that has been my experience, dear els; and what great injustice i did you when i kept out of your way so meanly! i always felt drawn to you. but when that evil gossip began i turned against them all and bade them be silent in my presence, for it was all false, base lies. i upheld your eva, too, as well as you, though she had been very ungracious whenever we met." how joyously els opened her heart to these confessions! how warmly she interceded for her sister! the girls had passed their arms around each other, as if they had returned to the days of their childhood, and when ursel's lover glanced at his betrothed bride, who, spite of her wellformed figure and pleasant face, could not be classed amongst the most beautiful of women, he thought she might compare in attractiveness with the loveliest maidens, but no one could equal her in kindness of heart. she saw this in the warm, loving look with which he sought her pleasant grey eyes, as he approached to remind her that it was time to go; but beckoning to him, she begged him to wait just a moment longer, which she employed in whispering to els: "you should find shelter with us, and no one else, if my father--- don't think he refused to let me invite you on account of poor ulrich, or because he was angry with you. it's only because--- after the session to-day they all praised his noble heart, and i don't know what else, so loudly and with such exaggeration that it was too much to believe. if he interceded for the eysvogel firm and you poor children, it was only because, as a just man, he could not do otherwise." "oh, ursel!" els here interrupted, wishing to join in her father's praise; but the latter would not listen and eagerly continued: "no, no, he really felt so. his modesty made him unwilling to awaken the belief that he asked the betrothed bride of the man--you understand and her sister into his house, to set an example of christian reconciliation. false praise, he says, weighs more heavily than disgrace. he has already heard more of it than he likes, and therefore, for no other reason, he does not open his house to you, but upon his counsel and his aid, he bids me tell you, you can confidently rely." then the friends took leave of each other, and ursula also embraced eva, who approached her with expressions of warm gratitude, kissed her, and said, as she went away, "when next we meet, miss ungracious, i hope we shall no longer turn our backs on each other." when ursel had gone with her lover, and most of the others had followed, els felt so elated by thankfulness that she did not understand how her heart, burdened with such great and heavy anxieties, could be capable of rising to such rapturous delight. how gladly she would have hastened to wolff to give him his share of this feeling! but, even had not new claims constantly pressed upon her, she could on no account have sought his hiding-place at this hour. when the last guest and the abbess also had retired, aunt christine asked els to pack whatever she and her sister needed for the removal to schweinau, for eva was to go there with her at once. countess cordula, who, much as she regretted the necessity of being separated from her companions, saw that they were right to abandon the house from which their father had been torn, wanted to help els, but just as the two girls were leaving the room a new visitor arrived--casper teufel, of the council, a cousin of casper eysvogel, who had leaned on his arm for support when he left the session that afternoon. els would not have waited for any other guest, but this one, as his first words revealed, came from the family to which she felt that she belonged, and the troubled face of the greyhaired, childless widower, who was usually one of the most jovial of men, as well as the unusually late hour of his call, indicated so serious a reason for his coming that she stopped, and with anxious urgency asked what news he had brought. it was not unexpected, yet his brief report fell heavily on the heart of els, which had just ventured to beat gaily and lightly. her uncle and aunt, eva and the countess, also listened to the story. he had accompanied casper eysvogel to his home and remained with him whilst, overflowing with resentment and vehement, unbridled complaints of the injustice and despotism to which--owing specially to the hostility and self-conceit of old berthold vorchtel--he had fallen a victim, he informed fran rosalinde and her mother what the council had determined concerning his own future and that of his family. when he finally reported that he himself and the ladies must leave the house and the city, countess rotterbach, with a scornful glance at her deeply humiliated son-in-law, exclaimed, "this is what comes of throwing one's self away!" the unfortunate man, already shaken to the inmost depths of his being, sank on his knees. conrad teufel had instantly placed him in bed and sent for the leech; but even after they had bathed his head with cold water and bled him he did not regain consciousness. his left side seemed completely paralysed, and his tongue could barely lisp a few unintelligible words. at the leech's desire a sister of charity had been sent for. isabella siebenburg, the sufferer's daughter, had already gone with her twin sons, in obedience to her husband's wish, to heideck castle. she had departed in anger, because she had vainly endeavoured to induce her mother and grandmother, who opposed her, to speak more kindly of her husband. when they disparaged the absent man with cruel harshness, she felt--she had told her cousin so--as if the infants could understand the insult offered to their father, and, to protect the children even more than herself, from her husband's feminine foes, she left the falling house, in spite of the entreaties and burning tears with which, in the hour of parting, her mother strove to detain her. ere her departure she gave her jewels and the silver which her grandfather had bequeathed to her to conrad teufel, to satisfy the most urgent demands of her husband's creditors. her father and she had parted kindly, and he made no attempt to oppose her. no one except the sister of charity was now in attendance upon the old gentleman; for his wife wept and wailed without finding strength to do anything, and even reproached her own mother, whom she accused of having plunged them all into misfortune, and caused the stroke of paralysis from which her husband was suffering. the grey-haired countess, the cousin went on, had passed from one attack of convulsions into another, and when he approached her had shrieked the words "ingratitude" and "base reward" so shrilly at him, in various tones, that they were still ringing in his ears. everything in the luckless household was out of gear, and its noble guest, the duke von gulich, would feel the consequences, for the servants had lost their wits too. spite of the countless men and maids, he had been obliged to go himself to the pump to get a glass of water for the sick man, and the fragments of the vase which the grandmother had flung at him with her own noble hand were still lying on the floor. his name was teufel--[devil]--but even in his home in hades things could scarcely be worse. when herr teufel at last paused, the magistrate and his wife exchanged a significant glance, while eva gazed with deep suspense, and cordula with earnest pity, at els, who had listened to the story fairly panting for breath. when she raised her tearful eyes to herr pfinzing and frau christine, saying mournfully, "i must beg you to excuse me, my dear aunt and uncle; you have heard how much my wolff's father needs me," all saw their expectations fulfilled. "hard, hard!" said the magistrate, patting her on the shoulder. "yet the lead with which we burden ourselves from kindly intentions becomes wood, or at last even feathers." but frau christine was not content with uttering cheering words; she offered to accompany els and secure the place to which she was entitled. frau rosalinde had formerly often visited the matron to seek counsel, and had shown her, with embarrassing plainness, how willingly she admitted her superior ability. she disliked the old countess--but with whom would not the self-reliant woman, conscious of her good intentions, have dared to cope? since the daughter of the house had left her relatives, the place beside his father's sick-bed belonged to the son's future wife. frau rosalinde was weak, but not the worst of women. "just wait, child," aunt christine concluded, "she will see soon enough what a blessing enters the house and the sick-room with you. we will try to erect a wall against the old woman's spite." conrad teufel confessed that he had come with the hope of inducing els, who had nursed her own mother so skilfully and patiently, to make so praiseworthy a resolution. in taking leave he promised to keep a sharp lookout for her rights, and, if necessary, to show the old she-devil his own cloven foot. after he, too, had gone, the preparations for the sisters' departure were commenced. whilst cordula was helping eva to select the articles she wished to take to schweinau, and her older sister, with katterle's assistance, was packing the few pieces of clothing she needed as a nurse in the eysvogel family, the countess offered to visit herr ernst in the watch-tower early the following morning and tell him what detained his daughters. towards evening eva could come into the city under the protection of her aunt, who had many claims upon her the next day, and see the prisoner. this time, to the surprise of her sister, who had always relieved her of such cares, eva herself did the packing. when she had finished she led the weeping katterle to her uncle, that she might beg for mercy upon her lover. the magistrate was thoroughly aware of the course of affairs, and talked to the maid with the gentle manner, pervaded with genuine kindness of heart, which was one of his characteristics. biberli had already been subjected to an examination by torture; but even on the rack he had not said one word about his betrothed bride, and had resolutely denied everything which could criminate his master. a second trial awaited him on the morrow, but the magistrate promised to do all in his power to obtain the mildest possible sentence for him. at any rate, like all whose blood was shed by a legal sentence, he would be sent to schweinau to be cured, and as katterle would accompany eva there, she could find an opportunity of nursing her betrothed husband herself. with these words he dismissed the girl, but when again alone with his wife he admitted to her that the poor fellow might easily fare badly-nay, might even lose his tongue--if on the rack, which was one of the instruments of torture to which he must again be subjected, he confessed having forced his way into the house of an "honourable" at night. true, the fact that in doing so he had only followed his master, would mitigate the offence. he must bind the judges to secrecy, should it prove impossible to avoid the necessity of informing them of eva's somnambulism. if the sentence were very severe, he might perhaps be able to delay its execution. sir heinz schorlin, who stood high in the emperor's favour, would then be asked to apply to the sovereign to annul it, or at any rate to impose a lighter punishment. here he was interrupted by his nieces and cordula, and soon after frau christine went out with els to go to the eysvogels. herr pfinzing remained with the others. a personage of no less distinction than the duchess agnes had complained to him of the reckless countess. only yesterday she had ridden into the forest with her father, and when the young bohemian princess met her, cordula's dogs had assailed her skittish arabian so furiously that it would have been difficult for a less practised rider to keep her seat in the saddle. this time the docile animals had refused to obey their mistress, and the duchess expressed the suspicion that she had not intended to call them off; for, though she had carelessly apologised, she asked, as if the words were a gibe, if there was anything more delightful than to curb a refractory steed. she had an answer ready for cordula, however, and retorted that the disobedience of her dogs proved that, if she understood how to obtain from horses what she called the greatest delight, she certainly failed in the case of other living creatures. she therefore offered her royal condolence on the subject. then she remarked to the magistrate that the incident had occurred in the imperial forest where, as she understood, the unrestricted wandering of strange hunting dogs was prohibited. therefore, in future, countess von montfort might be required to leave hers at home when she rode to the woods. the magistrate now brought the complaint to the person against whom it was made, adopting a merry jesting tone, in which cordula gaily joined. when the old gentleman asked whether she had previously angered the irritable princess, she answered laughing, "the saints have hitherto denied to the wife of the emperor's son, as well as to other girls of thirteen or fourteen, the blessing of children, so she likes to play with dolls. she chanced to prefer the same one for which she saw me stretch out my hands." the old magistrate vainly sought to understand this jest; but eva knew whom the countess meant by the doll, and it grieved her to see two women hostile to each other, seeking to amuse themselves with one who bore so little resemblance to a toy, and to whom she looked up with all the earnestness of a soul kindled by the deepest passion. while the magistrate and the countess were gaily arguing and jesting together she sat silent, and the others did not disturb her. after a long time frau christine returned. traces of tears were plainly visible, though she had tried, whilst in the sedan-chair, to efface them. the scenes which els had experienced at the eysvogels' had certainly been far worse than she had feared--nay, the old countess's attack upon her was so insulting, frau rosalinde's helpless grief and herr casper's condition were so pitiable, that she had thought seriously of bringing the poor girl back with her, and removing her from these people who, she was sure, would make els's life a torment as soon as she herself had gone. the grandmother's enquiry whether jungfrau ortlieb expected to find her swiss gallant there, and similar insolent remarks, seemed fairly steeped with rancour. what a repulsive spectacle the old woman, utterly bereft of dignity, presented as with solemn mockery she courtesied to els again and again, as if announcing herself her most humble servant; but the poor child kept silence until frau christine herself spoke, and assigned her niece to the place beside herr casper's sick-bed, which no one else could fill so well. stillness reigned in this chamber, and els scarcely had occasion to dread much disturbance, for the countess had been strictly forbidden to enter the sufferer's room. frau rosalinde seemed to fear the sight of the helpless man, and the sister of charity was a strong, resolute woman, who welcomed els with sincere cordiality, and promised frau christine to let no evil befall her. the sedan-chairs were already waiting outside, and the lady would have gladly deferred her account of these sorrowful events until later, but cordula so affectionately desired to learn how her friend had fared in her lover's home, that she hurriedly and swiftly gratified her wish. speaking of the matter relieved her heart, and in a somewhat calmer mood she was carried to schweinau. chapter xii. the little pfinzing castle in schweinau was neither spacious nor splendid, but it was fran christine's favourite place of abode. the heat of summer found no entrance through the walls--three feet in thickness--of the ancient building. early in the morning and at evening it was pleasant to stay in the arbour, a room open in the front, extending the whole length of the edifice, where one could breathe the fresh air even during rainy weather. it overlooked the herb garden, which was specially dear to its mistress, for it contained roses, lilies, pinks, and other flowers; and part of the beds, after being dug by the gardener, who had charge of the kitchen garden in the rear, were planted and tended by her own hand. the hour between sunrise and mass was devoted to this work, in which eva was to help her, and it would afford her much information; for her aunt raised many plants which possessed healing power. some of the seeds or bulbs had been brought from foreign lands, but she was perfectly familiar with the virtues of all. schweinau afforded abundant opportunity to use them, and the nurses in the city hospital, and the leech otto, and other physicians, as well as many noble dames in the neighbourhood who took the place of a physician among their peasants and dependents, applied to fran christine when they needed certain roots, leaves, berries, and seeds for their sick. nor did the monks and nuns, far and near, ever come to her for such things in vain. true, the life at castle schweinau was by no means so quiet as the one which eva had hitherto loved. when she accepted the invitation she knew that, if she shared all her aunt's occupations, she would not have even a single half hour of her own; but this was not her first visit here, and she had learned that frau christine allowed her entire liberty, and required nothing which she did not offer of her own free will. when she saw the matron, after the mass and the early repast which her husband shared with her before going to the city, visit the aged widows of the crusaders in the little institution behind the kitchen garden and inspect and regulate the work of the beguines, she often wondered where this woman, whose age was nearer seventy than sixty, found strength for all this, as well as the duties which followed. first there were orders to give in the kitchen that the principal meal, after the vesper bells had rung, should always win from the master of the house the "couldn't be better," which his wife heard with the same pleasure as ever. then, after visiting the wash-house, the bleachcry, the linen presses, the cellar, the garret, and even the beehives to see that everything was in order, and emerging from the hands of the maid as a well-dressed noblewoman, she received visit after visit. members of the patrician families of nuremberg arrived; monks and nuns on various errands for their cloisters and their poor; gentlemen and ladies from ecclesiastical and secular circles, in both city and country, among them frequently the most aristocratic attendants of the reichstag; for she numbered the burgrave and his wife among her friends, and when questioned about the nuremberg women, the burgrave frederick mentioned her as second to none in ability, shrewdness, and kindness of heart. both he and his worthy wife sometimes sought her in the sphere of occupation which consumed the lion's share of her time and strength--the superintendence of the schweinau hospital. true, she often let days elapse without entering it; but if anything went wrong and her assistance was desirable or necessary in serious cases, she remained there until late at night, or even until the following morning. at such times even the most distinguished visitors were sent home with the message that frau christine could not leave the sick. the burgrave and his wife were the only persons permitted to follow her into the hospital, and they had probably gained the privilege of speaking to her there because they were among its most liberal supporters, and three of their sons wore the cross of the knights hospitaller, and often spent weeks there, as the rule of the order prescribed, in nursing the sufferers. women also had the right to enter the hospital to be cured of the wounds inflicted by the scourge or the iron of the executioner. each sufferer was to be nursed there only three days, but frau christine took care that no one to whom such treatment might be harmful should be put out. the honourable council was obliged, willing or unwilling, to defray the necessary expense. the magistrate had many a battle to fight for these encroachments, but he always found a goodly majority on the side of the hospital and his wife. if the number of those who required longer nursing increased too rapidly they did not spare their own fine residence. the hospital and the hope of being allowed to help within its walls had brought eva to schweinau. the experiences of the past few days had swept through the peace of her young soul like a tempest, overthrowing firmly built structures and fanning glimmering sparks to flames. since her quiet self-examination in the room of the city clerk, she had known what she lacked and what duty required her to become. the bond which united her to her saint and the saviour still remained, but she knew what was commanded by him from whom st. clare's mission also came, what francis of assisi had enjoined upon his followers whose experiences had been like hers. they were to strive to restore peace to their perturbed souls by faithful toil for their brothers and sisters; and what toil better suited a feeble girl like herself than the alleviation of her unhappy neighbour's suffering? the harder the duties imposed upon her in the service of love, the better. she would set to work in the hope of making herself the true, resolute woman which her mother, with the eyes of the soul, had seen her fragile child become; but she could imagine nothing more difficult than the tasks to be fulfilled here. this was the real fierce heat of the forge fire to which the dead woman had wished to entrust her purification and transformation. she would not shun, but hasten to it. while her lover was wielding the sword she, too, had a battle to fight. she had heard from biberli that heinz wished to undergo the most severe trials. this was noble, and her enthusiastic nature, aspiring to the loftiest goal, was filled with the same desire. eager to learn how they would bear the test, she scanned her young shoulders and gazed at the burden which she intended to lay upon them. when, the year before, her aunt took her to the hospital for the first time, she had returned home completely unnerved. she had not even had the slightest suspicion that there was such suffering on earth, such pain amongst those near her, such depravity amongst those of her own sex. what comparison was there between what els had done for her gentle, patient mother, or what she would do for old herr casper, who lay in a soft bed--it had been shown to her as something of rare beauty, of ebony and ivory--and the task of nursing these infamous gallows-birds bleeding from severe wounds, and these depraved sick women? but if god's own son gave up his life amidst the most cruel suffering for sinful humanity, how dared she, the weak, erring, slandered girl, who had no goodness save her passionate desire to do what was right, shrink from helping the most pitiable of her neighbours? here in the hospital at schweinau lay the heavy burden which she wished to take upon herself. she desired it also in order to maintain the bond which had united her to the saviour. she would be constantly reminded here of his own words, "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." to become a bride of jesus christ and, closely united to him in her inmost soul, await the hour when he would open his divine arms to her, had seemed the fairest lot in life. now she had pledged herself in the world to another, and yet she did not wish to give up her saviour. she desired to show him that though she neither could nor would resign her earthly lover, her heart still throbbed for the divine one as tenderly as of yore. and could he who was love incarnate condemn her, when he saw how, without even being permitted to hope that her lover would find his way back to her, she clung with inviolable steadfastness to her troth, though no one save he and his heavenly father had witnessed her silent vow? she belonged to heinz, and he--she knew it--to her. even though later, after all the world had acknowledged her innocence, the walls of convent and monastery divided them, their souls would remain indissolubly united. if there should be no meeting for them here below, in the other world the saviour would lead them to each other the more surely, the more obediently they strove to fulfil his divine command. as heinz desired to take up the cross in imitation of christ she, too, would bear it. it was to be found beside the straw pallets of the wounded criminals. the fulfilment of every hard duty which she voluntarily performed seemed like a step that brought her nearer to the saviour, and at the same time to the union with her lover, even though in another world. the first request she made to her aunt on the way to mass, early in the morning of the first day of her stay in schweinau, was an entreaty for permission to work in the hospital. it was granted, but not until the eyes of the experienced woman, ever prompt in decision, had rested with anxious hesitation upon the beautiful face and exquisite lithe young figure. the thought that it would be a pity for such lovely, pure, stainless girlish charms to be used in the service of these outcasts had almost determined her to utter a resolute "no"; but she did not do it; nay, a flush of shame crimsoned her face as her eyes rested on the image of the crucified redeemer which stood beside the road leading to the little village church; for whom had he, the most high, summoned to his service and deemed specially worthy of the kingdom of heaven? the simple-hearted, the children, the adulterers, the sinners and publicans, the despised, and the poor! no, no, it would not degrade the lovely child to help the miserable creatures yonder, any more than it did the rarest plant which she raised in her herb garden when she used it to heal the hurts of some abandoned wretch. and besides, with what deep loathing she herself had gone to the hospital at first, and how fully conscious of her own infinite superiority she had returned from amongst these depraved beings to the outdoor air. yet how this feeling, which had stirred within her heart, gradually changed! during her closer acquaintance with the poor and the despised, the nature and work of christ first became perfectly intelligible to her; for how many traits of simple, self-sacrificing readiness to help, what touching contentment and grateful joy in the veriest trifle, what childlike piety and humble resignation even amidst intolerable suffering, these unfortunates had shown! nay, when she had become familiar with the lives of many of her protegees and learned how they had fallen into the hands of the executioner and reached schweinau, she had asked herself whether, under similar circumstances, the majority of those who belonged to her own sphere in life would not have found the way there far more speedily, and whether they would have endured the punishment inflicted half so patiently or with so much freedom from bitterness and rebellion against the decrees of the most high. she had discovered salutary sap in many a human plant that had at first seemed absolutely poisonous; where she had shrunk from touching such impurity, violets and lilies had bloomed amidst the mire. instead of holding her head haughtily erect, she had often left the hospital with a sense of shame, and it was long since she had ceased to use the proud privilege of her rank to despise people of lower degree. if sometimes tempted to exercise it, the impulse was roused far more frequently by those of her own station, who were base in mind and heart, than by the sufferers in the hospital. she had become very modest in regard to herself, why should she wake to new life the arrogance now hushed in eva's breast? much secret distress of mind and anguish of soul had been endured by the poor child, who yesterday had opened her whole heart to her, when she went to rest in her chamber. how lowly she felt, how humble was the little saint who recently had elevated herself above others only too quickly and willingly! it would do her good to descend to the lowest ranks and measure her own better fate by their misery. she who felt bereaved could always be the giver in the hospital, and she felt with subtle sympathy what attracted eva to her sufferers. the magistrate's wife was a religious matron, devoted to her church, but in her youth she had been by no means fanatical. the abbess kunigunde, her younger sister, however, had fought before her eyes the conflict of the soul, which had finally sent the beautiful, much-admired girl within convent walls. no one except her quiet, silent sister christine had been permitted to witness the mental struggle, and the latter now saw repeated in her young niece what kunigunde had experienced so many years before. difficult as it had then been for her to understand the future abbess, now, after watching many a similar contest in others, it was easy to follow every emotion in eva's soul. during a long and happy married life, in which year by year mutual respect had increased, the magistrate and his wife had finally attained the point of holding the same opinions on important questions; but when herr berthold returned from the city, and finding eva already at the hospital, told his wife, at the meal which she shared with him, that from his point of view she ought to have strenuously opposed her niece's desire, and he only hoped that her compliance might entail no disastrous consequences upon the excitable, sensitive child, the remarkable thing happened that frau christine, without as usual being influenced by him, insisted upon her own conviction. so it happened that this time the magistrate was robbed of the little nap which usually followed the meal, and yet, in spite of the best will to yield, he could not do his wife the favour of allowing himself to be convinced. still, he did not ask her to retract the consent which she had once given, so eva was permitted to continue to visit the hospital. the nurse, a woman of estimable character and strong will, would faithfully protect her whatever might happen. frau christine had placed the girl under her special charge, and the beguine hildegard, a woman of noble birth and the widow of a knight who had yielded his life in italy for the emperor frederick, received her with special warmth because she had a daughter whom, just at eva's age, death had snatched from her. yet the magistrate would not be soothed. not until he saw from the arbour, whilst the dessert still remained on the table; cordula riding up on horseback did he cease recapitulating his numerous objections and go to meet the countess. to his straightforward mind and calm feelings the most incomprehensible thing had been frau christine's description of the soul-life of her sister and her niece. he knew the terrible impressions which even a man could not escape amongst the rabble in the hospital, and had used the comparison that what awaited eva there was like giving a weak child pepper. as countess cordula, aided by the old man's hand, swung herself from the saddle of her spirited dappled steed, he thought: "if it were she who wanted to tend our sick rascals instead of the delicate eva, i wouldn't object. she'd manage satan himself whilst my little godchild was holding intercourse with her angels in heaven." in the arbour cordula explained why she had not come before; but her account told the elderly couple nothing new. when she went to see ernst ortlieb in the watch-tower that morning he had already been taken to the town hall. no special proceedings were required, since he was his own accuser, and many trustworthy witnesses deposed that he had been most grossly irritated--nay, as his advocate represented, had wounded the tailor in self-defence. yet ernst ortlieb could not be dismissed from imprisonment at once, because the tailor's representative demanded a much larger amount of blood-money than the court was willing to grant. the wound was not dangerous to life, but still prevented his leaving his bed and appearing in person before his judges. the candle-dealer was nursing him in his own house and instigating him to make demands whose extravagance roused the judges' mirth. as after a tedious discussion meister seubolt still insisted upon them, the magistrates from the council and the chief of police, who composed the court, advised herr ernst to have the sentence deferred and recognise the tailor's claim that his case belonged to the criminal court. out of consideration for the citizens and the excited state of the whole guild of tailors, it seemed advisable to avoid any appearance of partiality, yet in that case the self-accuser must submit to imprisonment until the sentence was pronounced. this delay, however, was of trivial importance; for herr pfinzing had promised his brother-in-law that his cause should be considered and settled on the following day. herr berthold had told his wife all this soon after his return, and added, with much admiration of the valiant fellow's steadfastness, that biberli, sir heinz schorlin's servant, had again been subjected to an examination by torture and was racked far more severely than justice could approve. the countess reported that after her friend's father had been taken back to the watch-tower a few hours before, she had found him in excellent spirits. true, the burgrave von zollern had not come to visit him in person, like many "honourables" and gentlemen, but he had sent his son eitelfritz to enquire how he fared, and the prisoner was occupied with the petition which he wished to send the sovereign the next day through meister gottlieb von passau, the emperor rudolph's protonotary. he had told cordula, with a resolute air, that it contained the charge that sir heinz schorlin had found his way into his house at night, and would not even suffer her to finish her entreaty to omit the accusation. "and now," the countess added mournfully, "i urge you, to whom the young girl is dear, to consider the pitiable manner in which, by her own father's folly, eva's name will be on the tongues of the whole court, and what the gossips throughout the city will say about the poor child in connection with such an accusation." frau pfinzing sighed heavily, and rose, but her husband, who perceived her intention, stopped her with the remark that it would be useless to go that day, for the sun was already setting and the watchtower was closed at nightfall. this induced the matron to return to her seat; but she had scarcely touched the easy-chair ere she again rose and told the servant to saddle the big bay. she would ride to the city on horseback this time; the bearers moved too slowly. then turning to her husband, she said gaily: "i thank you for the excuse you have made for me, but i cannot use it in this case. my foolish brother must on no account make the charge which will expose his daughter; it would be a serious misfortune were i to arrive too late. what is the use of being the wife of the imperial magistrate, if a nuremberg drawbridge cannot be raised for me even after sunset? if the petition has already gone, i must see meister gottlieb. true, it was not to be sent until to-morrow, but there is nothing of which we are more glad to rid ourselves than the disagreeable transactions from which we shrink. give me a pass for the warder, pfinzing; and you, countess, excuse me; it is you who send me away." whilst the maid brought her headkerchief and her cloak, and the magistrate in a low tone told he servant to have his horse ready, too, frau christine asked cordula to bring eva from the hospital, if she felt no disgust at the sight of common people suffering from wounds. "the huts of our wood-cutters, labourers, and fishermen look cleaner, it is true, than the hovels of the charcoal burners and quarrymen in the montfort forests and mountains; yet none of them are perfumed with sandal-wood and attar of roses, and the blow of the axe which gashes one of our wood-cutter's flesh presents a similar spectacle to the wounds which your criminals bring with them to schweinau. and let me tell you, i am the leech in montfort, and unless death is near, and the chaplain accompanies me bearing the sacrament, i often go alone with the manservant, the maid, or the pages who carry my medicines. since i grew up i have attended to our sick, and i cannot tell you how many fractures, wounds, hurts, and fevers i have cured or seen progress to a fatal end. i stand godmother to nearly all the newborn infants in our villages and hamlets. the mothers whom i nurse insist upon it. there are almost as many cordulas as girls on the montfort estates, and in many a hut there are two or three of them. michel the fisherman has a cordula, a cordel, and a dulla. therefore it follows that i am accustomed to severe wounds, though my heart often aches at the sight of them. i know how to bandage as well as a barber, and, if necessary, can even use the knife." "i thought so," cried the magistrate, much comforted. "set my delicate little eva an example if her courage fails; or, what would be still better, if you see that the horrible business goes too much against the grain, persuade her to give up work which requires stronger hands and a less sensitive nature. but there are the horses already. i want to go to the city, too, christel, and it's lucky that i don't have to go alone at night." "so said the man who jumped in to save somebody from drowning," replied fran christine laughing: "it's lucky it happened, because i was just going to take a bath!" but it pleased her to have her husband's companionship, and she did not approach her horse until he had examined the saddle-girth and the bridle with the utmost care. before putting her foot in the stirrup, she told the old housekeeper to take countess von montfort to the hospital and commend her to the special care of sister hildegard. she would call for cordula and eva on her return from the city; but they must not wait for her should the strength of either fail. she had ordered a sedan-chair to be kept ready for her niece at the hospital. a second one would be at the countess's disposal. "that's what i call foresight!" cried the magistrate laughing. "only, my dear countess, see that our little saint doesn't attempt anything too hard. her pious heart would run her little head against the wall if matters came to that and, like the noble moorish steeds, she would drop dead in her tracks rather than stop. such a delicate creature is like a lute. when the key is raised higher and higher the string snaps, and we want to avoid that. with you, my young heroine----" "there is no danger of that kind," cordula gaily protested. "this instrument is provided with metal strings; the tone is neither sweet nor musical, but they are durable." "good, firm material, such as i like," the magistrate declared. then he helped his wife mount her horse, placed the bridle in her left hand, looked at the saddle-girth again, and, spite of his corpulence, swung himself nimbly enough on his strong steed. then, with frau christine, he trotted after the torch-bearers towards the city. chapter xiii. the drawbridge before the watch-tower was promptly lowered for the imperial magistrate and his wife. he would have dissuaded frau chris the from the ride and come alone, had not experience taught him that ernst ortlieb was more ready to listen to her than to him. but they came too late; just before sunset herr ernst had availed himself of the visit of the imperial forester, waldstromer, to give him the petition to convey to the protonotary, by whom it was to reach the emperor. nor did he regret this decision, but insisted that his duty as a father and a nuremberg "honourable" would not permit the wrong done to his child and his household by a foreign knight to pass unpunished. true, fran christine exerted all her powers of persuasion to change his opinion, and her husband valiantly supported her, but they accomplished nothing except to gain the prisoner's consent that if the paper had not yet reached the emperor the protonotary might defer its presentation until he was asked for it. herr ernst had made this concession after the magistrate's representation that sir heinz schorlin had been subjected to an experience which had stirred the inmost depths of his soul, and soon after had been unexpectedly sent in pursuit of the siebenburgs. hence he had found no time to speak to the father. if he persisted in his intention of entering a monastery, the petition would be purposeless. if it proved that he was merely trifling with eva, there would be time enough to call upon the emperor to punish him. besides, he knew from maier of silenen that the knight had firmly resolved to renounce the world. but the magistrate and his wife did not take their nocturnal ride in vain, for after leaving the watch-tower they met the protonotary at st. sebald's. he had received the petition, but had not yet delivered it to his royal master, and promised to withhold it for a time. rejoicing over this success, herr pfinzing accompanied fran christine, who wanted to visit els, to the eysvogel residence. the din of many voices and loud laughter greeted them from the spacious entry. three mendicant friars, with overflowing pouches, pressed past them, and two others were still standing with the men and the maidservants assembled in the light of the lanterns. they had filled the barefooted monks' bags, for the salvation of their own souls, with the provisions of the house, and were talking garrulously, already half intoxicated by the jugs of wine which the butler willingly filled to earn a sweet reward from the young maids, who eagerly sought the favour of the rotund bachelor whose hair was just beginning to turn grey. the magistrate's entrance startled them, and the butler vainly strove to hide a large jar whose shape betrayed that it came from sicily and contained the noble vintage of syracuse. two of the maids slid under their aprons the big hams and pieces of roast meat with which they had already begun to regale themselves. herr berthold, smiling sadly, watched the conduct of the masterless servants; then raising his cap, bowed with the utmost respect to the disconcerted revellers, and said courteously, "i hope it will agree with you all." the startled group looked sheepishly at one another. the butler was the only person who quickly regained his composure, came forward to the magistrate cap in hand, and said obsequiously that he and his fellowservants were in evil case. the house had no master. no one knew from whom he or she was to receive orders. most of them had been discharged by the honourable councillor, but no one knew when he was to leave or whom to ask for his wages. the magistrate then informed them that herr wolff eysvogel had the right to give orders, and during his absence his betrothed bride, jungfrau els ortlieb. the next morning a member of the council would examine the claims of each, pay the wages, and with frau rosalinde and jungfrau els determine the other matters. the butler had imbibed a goodly share of the noble wine. his fat cheeks glowed, and at the magistrate's last remark he laughed softly: "if we wait for the folk upstairs to agree we shall stay here till the pegnitz flows up the valley. just listen to their state of harmony, sir!" in fact the shrill, angry accents of a woman's loud voice, with which mingled deeper tones that were very familiar to herr berthold, echoed down into the entry. it certainly looked ill for the concord of the women of the house; yet the magistrate could not permit the unprincipled servant's insolence to pass unpunished, so he answered quietly: "you are right, fellow. one can put a stop to this shameful conduct more quickly than several, and by virtue of my office i will therefore be the one to command here. you will leave this house and service to-morrow." but when the angry butler, with the hoarse tones of a drunkard, declared that in nuremberg none save rascals were turned out of doors directly after a discharge, the magistrate, with grave dignity, cut him short by remarking that he would do better not to bring before the magistrates the question of what beseemed the servant who wasted the valuable property entrusted to his care, as had been done here. with these words he pointed to the spot where the jug of wine which he had plainly seen was only half concealed, and the threat silenced the man, whose conscience reproached him far more than herr pfinzing could imagine. meanwhile quiet had not been restored upstairs. frau christine had released els from a store-room in which the old countess, after persuading her daughter to this spiteful and childish trick, had locked her. a serious discussion amongst the women followed, which was closed only by the interposition of the magistrate. perhaps this might have been accomplished less quickly had not the leech otto appeared as a welcome aid. frau rosalinde penitently besought forgiveness, her mother was again forbidden to come to the lower story, and threatened, if she approached the sick-room, with immediate removal from the house. this strictness was necessary to render it possible for els to maintain her difficult position. the day had been filled with painful incidents and shameful humiliations. the old countess had summoned two relatives, both elderly canonesses, to aid her in her assault upon the intruder, and perhaps they were the persons who advised locking up sir casper's nurse, to whom they denied the right of still calling herself the bride of the young master of the house. frau christine had arrived at the right time. els was beginning to lose courage. she had found nothing which could aid her to sustain it. since biberli had been deprived of his liberty she had rarely heard from wolff, and his invalid father, for whose sake she remained in the house, seemed to view her with dislike. at first he had tried neither to speak to nor look at her, but that morning, while raising a refreshing cup to his parched lips, he had cast at her from the one eye whose lid still moved a glance whose enmity still haunted her. even the priest who visited him several times was by no means kindly disposed towards her. he belonged to the dominican order, and was the confessor of the old countess and frau rosalinde. they must have slandered her sorely to him; and as the order of st. francis, to which the sisters of st. clare belonged, was a thorn in his flesh, he bore her a grudge because, as the abbess kunigunde's niece, she stood by her and her convent, and threatened to win the eysvogel household over to the franciscans. before the magistrate and his wife left their niece, herr berthold ordered the men and maidservants to stand in separate rows, then, in the physician's presence, introduced els to them as the mistress whom they were to obey, and requested her to choose those whose services she wished to retain. the rest would be compensated at the town hall the next day for their abrupt dismissal. els had never found it harder to say good-by to her relatives; but the leech otto remained with her some time, and was soon joined by conrad teufel, thereby rendering it a little easier for her to persist in the performance of her difficult duty. on the way home to schweinau the magistrate and his wife talked together as eagerly as if they had just met after a long separation. they had gone back to the query how nursing the wounded criminals would affect eva, and both hoped that cordula's presence and encouragement would strengthen her power of resistance. but what did this mean? as they approached the little castle they saw from the road in the arbour, which was lighted with links, the figure of the countess. she was sitting in frau christine's easy chair, but eva was nowhere in view. had her strength failed, and was cordula awaiting their return after putting her more delicate friend to bed? and boemund altrosen, who stood opposite to her, leaning against one of the pillars which supported the arched ceiling of the room, how came he here? the pfinzings had known him from early childhood, for his father had been a dear friend and brother in arms of the magistrate; and--whilst boemund, as a boy, was enjoying the instruction of the benedictines in the monastery of st. aegidius, he had been a favourite comrade of frau christine's son, who had fallen in battle, and always found a cordial reception in his parents' house. with what tender anxiety the knight gazed into cordula's pale face! something must have befallen the blooming, vigorous huntress and daring horsewoman, and both herr berthold and his wife feared that it concerned eva. the young couple now perceived their approach, and cordula, rising, waved her handkerchief to them. yet how slowly she rose, how feebly the vivacious girl moved her hand. herr berthold helped his wife from the saddle as quickly as possible, and both hurried anxiously towards the arbour. frau christine did not remain in the winding path, but though usually she strictly insisted that no one should tread on the turf, hastily crossed it to reach her goal more quickly. but ere she could put the question she longed to ask, cordula sorrowfully exclaimed: "don't judge me too severely. 'he who exalts himself shall be humbled,' says the bible, and also that the first shall be last, and the last first; but i have been forced to sit upon the ground whilst eva occupies the throne. i belong at the end of the last rank, whilst she leads the foremost." "please explain the riddle at once," pleaded frau christine. sir boemund altrosen came forward, held out his hand to his old friend, and spoke for cordula "the horror and loathsomeness were too much for her, whilst jungfrau ortlieb endured them." "eva remained at the hospital," the countess added dejectedly, "because a dying woman would not let her go; whilst i--the knight is right--could bear it no longer." frau christine glanced triumphantly at her husband, but when she saw cordula's pale cheeks she exclaimed: "poor child! and there was no one here to--- one moment, countess!" throwing down her riding-whip and gloves as she spoke, she was hurrying towards the sideboard on which stood the medicine-case, to prepare a strengthening drink; but cordula stopped her, saying: "the housekeeper has already supplied the necessary stimulant. i will only ask to have my horse brought to the door, or my father will be anxious. i was obliged to await your return, because--- well, my flight from the hospital certainly was not praiseworthy, and it affords me no special pleasure to confess it. but you must not think me even more pitiful than i proved myself, so i stayed to tell you myself----" that it is one thing," interrupted sir boemund, "to nurse worthy woodcutters, gamekeepers, fishermen, and charcoal-burners, who, when wounded and ill, look up to their gracious mistress as if she were an angel of deliverance, and quite a different matter to mingle with the miserable rabble yonder. the bloody stripes which the executioner's lash cuts in the criminal's back do not render him more gentle; the mutilation which he curses, and the disgrace with which an abandoned woman----" "stop!" interrupted cordula, whose lips and cheeks had again grown colourless. "do not mention those scenes which have poisoned my soul. it was too hideous, too terrible! and how the woman with the red band around her neck, the mark of the rope by which she carried the stone, rushed at the other whose eye had been put out! how they fought on the floor, scratching, biting, tearing each other's hair----" here the tender-hearted girl, covering her convulsed face with her hands, sobbed aloud. frau christine drew her compassionately to her heart, pressed the motherless child's head to her bosom, and let her weep her fill there, whilst the magistrate said to sir boemund: "and eva ortlieb also witnessed this hideous scene, yet the delicate young creature endured it?" altrosen nodded assent, adding eagerly, as if some memory rose vividly before him: "she often looked distressed by these horrors, but usually-how shall i express it?--usually calm and content." "content," repeated the magistrate thoughtfully. then, suddenly straightening his short, broad figure, he thrust his little fat hand into a fold of the knight's doublet, exclaiming: "boemund, do you want to know the most difficult riddle that the lord gives to us men to solve? it is --take heed--a woman's soul." "yes," replied altrosen curtly; the word sounded like a sigh. while speaking, his dark eye was bent on cordula, whose head still rested on frau christine's breast. then, adjusting the bandage which since the fire had been wound around his forehead and his dark hair, he continued in a tone of explanation: "count von montfort sent me, when it grew dark, to accompany his daughter home. from your little castle i was directed to the hospital, where i found her amongst the horrible women. she had struggled faithfully against her loathing and disgust, but when i arrived her power of resistance was already beginning to fail. fortunately the sedan-chair was there, for she felt that her feet would scarcely carry her back. i ordered one to be prepared for jungfrau ortlieb, though i remembered the dying woman who kept her. as if the matter were some easy task, she begged the countess to excuse her, and remained beside the wretched straw pallet." the deeply agitated girl had just released herself from the matron's embrace, and begged the knight to have her roland saddled; but frau christine stopped him, and entreated cordula, for her sake, to use her sedan-chair instead of the horse. "if it will gratify you," replied the countess smiling; "but i should reach home safely on the piebald." "who doubts it?" asked the matron. "give her your arm, husband. the bearers are ready, and you will soon overtake them on your horse, boemund." "the walk through the warm june night will do me good," the latter protested. soon after the sedan-chair which conveyed cordula, lighted by several torch-bearers on foot and on horseback, began to move towards the city. at st. linhard, boemund altrosen, who walked beside it, asked the question, "then i may hope, countess? i really may?" she nodded affectionately, and answered under her breath: "you may; but we must first try whether the flower of love which blossomed for you out of my weakness is the real one. i believe it will be." he joyously raised her hand to his lips, but a torch-bearer's shout--" count von montfort and his train!"--urged him back from the sedan chair. a few seconds after cordula welcomed her father, who had anxiously ridden forth to meet his jewel. chapter xiv. "i can hardly do more, and yet i must," groaned frau christine, as she gazed after the torch-bearers who preceded cordula. her husband, however, tried to detain her, offering to go to their young guest in her place. but the effort was vain. the motherless child, whom the captive father probably believed to be in safety with her sensible sister, was at a post of danger, and only a woman's eye could judge whether it would do to yield to eva's wish, which the housekeeper had just told her mistress, and allow her--it was already past midnight-to remain longer at the hospital. she would not have hesitated to require her niece's return home had not maternal solicitude urged her to deprive her of nothing which could aid her troubled soul to regain its poise. if possible at all, it would be through devotion to an arduous work of charity that she would understand her own nature, and find an answer to the question whether, when the slanderers were silenced, she would take the veil or cling firmly to the hopeless love which had mastered her young heart. if she succeeded in remaining steadfast here and, in spite of the glad consciousness of having conquered by the sign of the cross, was still loyal to her worldly love, then the latter was genuine and strong, and eva did not belong to the convent; then her sister, the abbess, was mistaken in the girl whose soul she had guided from early childhood. frau christine, who usually formed an opinion quickly and resolutely, had not dared to give eva a positive answer the previous evening. with sympathising emotion the matron had heard her confess that during her nocturnal wanderings a new feeling, which she could no longer still, had awakened in her breast. when she also told her the image of true love which she had formed, she could not bring herself to undeceive her. the abbess had made a somewhat similar confession to her, the older sister, when her young heart--how long ago it seemed!--had also been mastered by love. the object of its ardent passion was no less a personage than the burgrave von zollern. frau christine had seen his marriage with the hapsburg princess awaken her sister's desire to renounce the world. kunigunde was then a maiden of rare, majestic beauty, and only the burgrave's exalted station had prevented his wedding "eva," as she was called before she took the veil. as a husband and father, he had found deep happiness in the love of the countess elizabeth, the future emperor rudolph's sister, yet he had remained a warm friend of the abbess; and when he treated eva with such marked distinction at the dance, she owed it not only to her own charms but also to the circumstance that, like the girl whom he had loved in his youth, she bore the name of "eva ortlieb," and the expression of her eyes vividly recalled the happiest time in his life. the abbess, after a still more severe renunciation, had attained even greater happiness in the convent. her sister could not blame her for wishing the same lot for the devout young niece, whose fate seemed to bear a closer and closer resemblance to her own; but yesterday she had argued with her, for kunigunde had insisted firmly that if the girl did not voluntarily knock at the convent door she should be forced to enter, not only for her own sake but also sir heinz schorlin's. nothing could rouse the ire of every true christian more than the thought that a noble knight, for whose conversion heaven had wrought a miracle, could turn a deaf ear to the summons for the sake of a girl scarcely beyond childhood. to place convent walls between the pair would therefore be a work pleasing in the sight of god-nay, necessary for the example. this statement sounded so resolute and imperative that frau christine, who knew her sister's gentle nature, had been convinced that she was obeying the mandate of a superior. soon afterward she learned that kunigunde had followed the dictates of the zealous prior of the dominicans, who was regarded as the supreme judge in religious affairs. at a chance meeting she had imprudently asked this man, who had never been friendly to her or her order, to give his opinion concerning this matter, which gave her no rest. frau christine had eagerly opposed her. the case of heinz schorlin was different from that of the burgrave frederick, who could never be permitted to wed the daughter of a nuremberg merchant. if the swiss renounced his intention of entering the monastery, there was nothing to prevent his wooing eva. it should by no means be as the prior of the dominicans had said: "they must both renounce the world," but, "they must test themselves, and if the world holds them firmly, and the emperor, who is a fatherly friend to heinz, makes no objection, it would be a duty to unite the pair." the decisive hour for eva was now at hand, and fran christine, eager to learn in what condition she should find her niece, had herself carried to the hospital. her husband and several men-servants accompanied her, for at this late hour the neighbourhood, where so many criminals were nursed for a short time, was by no means safe. companions, friends, and relatives of the criminals were often attracted thither by sympathy, curiosity, or business affairs. whoever had occasion to shun appearing by daylight in a place which never lacked bailiffs and city soldiers, slunk to the hospital at night. as a heavy rain had just begun to fall, the short distance to be traversed by the magistrate and his wife was empty. ample provision also seemed to have been made to guard the place of healing, for several armed troopers belonging to the city guard were pacing up and down before he board fence which surrounded it, and the approach of the late visitors was heralded by the deep baying of large hounds. the magistrate was well known here, and the doorkeeper, roused from his sleep, hastened to light the way for him and his wife with a lantern. in spite of the planks which had been placed in he courtyard, the task of crossing it was by no means easy; for the night was intensely dark, and the foot passed beyond the boards, it plunged into the mire, on which they floated rather than lay. at first the barking of the dogs had drowned very other sound, but as they approached the house thatched with straw, where the wounded men were nursed, harsh voices, interrupted at times by the angry oaths of some patient roused from sleep, or the watchman's command to keep quiet, reached them in a loud uproar. a narrow passage dimly lighted by a lantern led to the women's quarters, where eva had remained. the magistrate entered the men's dormitory to make an inspection, while his wife, needing no guidance, passed on to the women, meeting no one on her way except a sister of charity and two menservants who, under the guidance of a sleepy dominican monk, were bearing out the corpse of some one who had just passed away. sister hildegard, who was sitting at the door of the dormitory, half asleep, started up as frau christine crossed the threshold. the knight's widow, a vigorous matron, whose hair had long been grey, pointed with the rosary in her hand to the end of the long, dimly lighted apartment, and said in a low tone: "the sick woman seems to be asleep now. the prior sent the old dominican to whom eva is talking. he is said to be the most learned and eloquent member of the order. if i am right, he came here to appeal to your niece's conscience. at least his first question was for her, and you see how eagerly he is speaking. when yonder sick woman seemed to be drawing near her end she asked for the sacrament, which was administered by the dominican. it was a sorrowful farewell on account of her children, but the barber thinks we may perhaps save her yet. father benedictus, the old minorite, who was found on the road and brought to us, seems, on the other hand, to be dying. we will gladly keep him in the beguines home until the angel summons him. unfortunately, yonder poor woman's third day will end tomorrow. we are not permitted to shelter her here any longer, and if we turn her out--" "what is the matter with the woman?" interrupted frau christine, but the other gazed into her face with warm sympathising affection and such tender entreaty that the magistrate's wife, before she began her reply, exclaimed: "so it is the old, pitiful story! but let her stay! yes, even though, instead of every pound of farthings, she cost us ten times as much in gold! but we will spare what is necessary for her. i see by your face that it will not be wasted." "certainly not," replied sister hildegard gratefully. "oh, how she came here! now, it is true, she has more than she needs. your dear niece-she is an angel of charity--sent her katterle out to get what was wanted. but where is the girl? "she gazed around the spacious chamber as she spoke, but could not find katterle. true, a dim light pervaded the whole apartment, and sister hildegard, referring to it, added "the light keeps many of the patients awake, and we have a better use for the pennies which the oil and chips cost. when there are brilliant entertainments to be given, or works of mercy done which the whole world sees, the honourables let their gold flow freely enough, but who beholds the abodes of horror? we look best in the dark, and no one will miss what we save in light." certainly no one present incurred any danger of seeing at this hour the pitiable spectacles visible by day; for what was occurring at the opposite end of the room could not be perceived from the door. so when it closed eva could not distinguish who had entered. but this was agreeable to frau christine; for before going to her niece she wished to inquire about the woman by whom she had been detained. like the others, she was lying upon the board platform which surrounded the four walls of the room, interrupted only by the door through which she had just passed. it rose in a slanting direction towards the wall, that the sufferers' heads might be higher than their feet. instead of cushions, it was covered with a thick layer of straw, the beds of the patients who were nursed here. it seemed to be changed very rarely, for especially near the door at which the two women were still standing a damp, unpleasant odour emanated from the straw. it belonged here, however, as feathers are a part of birds, and the people who were nursed within its walls were accustomed to nothing better. when, fifteen years before, the oversight of the hospital was entrusted to frau christine, she had found the condition of affairs still worse, and the idea of procuring beds for the injured persons to be cured here was as far from her thoughts, or those of the rest of the world, as cushioning the stable. that was the way things were at schweinau. straw of all sorts might be expected to be found here, not only on the wooden platform but on the floor, in the yard, and everywhere else, as surely as leaves upon the ground of a wood in the autumn. to leave the house without taking stalks in the hair and garments was as impossible as for any person accustomed to better conditions, who did not wish to faint from discomfort, to do without a scent bottle. formerly frau christine had endeavoured to obtain better air, but even her kind-hearted husband had laughed at the foolish idea, because such things would benefit only herself and some of the nurses. in the taverns usually frequented by the inmates of the hospital they learned to endure a different atmosphere, which was stifling to him. after contagious diseases certain precautions were always taken. on sunday morning it was even fumigated with juniper-berries on hot tin and boiling vinegar. frau christine had introduced this disinfectant herself by the advice of otto the leech, when all who had been brought hither with open wounds, among them vigorous young men, had died like flies. at that time the distinguished physician had even succeeded in getting the honourable council to defray the cost of having the walls newly white washed and fresh clay stamped on the floor. he had also directed that the old straw should be replaced by clean every sunday morning, and now matters were better still, for the rule was that every sick person should have a fresh layer. true, it was not always fulfilled, and many a person was forced to be content with his predecessor's couch. in the women's room, however, the change of straw was more rigidly required. the nurse herself attended to it, and sister hildegard gave her energetic assistance. in difficult cases the influence of the leech otto was called to her aid, but he had grown old and no longer came to schweinau. two barbers now cared for the bandaging and healing of the wounds, and if they were at a loss the younger city physician was summoned. sister hildegard now pointed to the couch beside which the dominican was talking to eva, and said: "she is the widow of a carrier and the child of worthy people; her father was the sexton of st. sebald's. true, he died long ago, at the same time as her mother. it was twelve years since, during the plague. "reicklein, yonder, had no other relatives here--her parents were from bamberg--but she was well off, and her husband, veit, earned enough by his travels through the country. but on st. blaise's day, early in the month of february, during a trip to vogtland, it was at hof, he was overtaken by a snowstorm, and the worthy man was found frozen under a drift, with his staff and pouch. the sad news reached her just after the birth of a little boy, and there were two other mouths to feed besides. her savings went quickly enough, and she fell into dire poverty, for she had not yet recovered her strength, and could not do housework. during passion week she sold her bed to pay what she had borrowed and to feed the children. it was cold, she had not a copper, nor any possibility of earning anything. then the rest went, too, and there was no way of getting food enough for the children and herself. "but as her father had been in the employ of the city and was an honest man, by the advice of the provost of st. sebald's, who had been her confessor from childhood, she applied to the honourable council, and received the answer that old hans schab was by no means forgotten, and therefore, to relieve her need, she was referred to the beadle, who would give her the permit which enabled her to ask alms from those who went to st. sebald's church, and had already afforded many a person ample support. "for her children's sake she crushed the pride which rebelled against it, and stood at the church door, not once, but again and again. the other mendicants, however, treated her so roughly, and the cruel enmity with which they tried to crowd her out of her place seemed so unbearable, that she could not hold out. once, when they insulted her too much, and again thrust her back so spitefully that not even one of the many churchgoers noticed her, she, fled to her children in the little room, determined to stop this horrible begging. this happened the saturday before whitsuntide, and as she had gone out hoping this time to bring something back, she had promised the children food enough to satisfy their hunger. they should have some whitsuntide cakes, too, as they did years ago. when she reached the house and little walpurga--you'll see her presently, a pretty child six years old--ran to meet her, asking for the cakes and the bread to satisfy her hunger, while annelein, who is somewhat older, but less bright and active, did the same, she felt as if she should die, and carrying the baby, which she had held in her arms while begging at the church door, back into the room, she told walpurga to watch it, as she had long been in the habit of doing, until she came back with the bread. "for the children's sake she would try begging once more, but she could not go to st. sebald's. "so she went from house to house, asking alms; but she was a well-formed woman, who did not show her serious illness. she kept herself tidy, too, and looked better in her poor rags than many who were better off. had she carried her nursing infant, perhaps she might have succeeded better, but even the most compassionate housewives either turned her from their doors or offered her work at the wash-tub, or in cleaning or gardening. the weakness from which she had suffered since the birth of her child made stooping so painful that she could not do what they required. "when she was at last obliged to turn homeward, because the baby had probably been screaming for her a long time, she had only one small copper coin, with which she went to the baker kilian's, in the stopfelgasse, to ask for a penny's worth of bread. the baker's wife was not there, and her spinster sister-in-law, an elderly, ill-natured woman, was serving the customers in her place. "as she turned to cut the bit of bread, and all sorts of nice sweet cakes lay on the shining counters before poor riecklein, the children seemed to stand before her, headed by walpurga, asking for the cakes and the bread she had promised them to eat their fill; and as no one was passing in the quiet street, satan stirred within her for the first time, and a sweet jumble slid into the little basket on her arm. had she stopped there she might have escaped unpunished; but there were two hungry little beaks agape in the nest, and she saw a pretty lamb with a little red flag on its back. if walpurga could only have it! and with the clumsiness due to her inexperience in such matters she seized that, too, and put it with the other. "meanwhile the sister-in-law had turned, and instead of enquiring at a time so near the holy feast what had induced her to commit such a crime, she shrieked, "stop thief!" and similar cries. "so the widow was taken to the hole, and as she had hitherto borne an unsullied reputation and was the child of a good man, justice allowed itself to be satisfied with having her scourged with rods privately instead of in public. so she came here. but as her poor body was too fragile to withstand all the trouble which had come upon her, she had a violent attack of fever, and a few hours ago death stretched its hand towards her." "and the children?" asked frau christine, deeply moved. "she was allowed to have the baby," answered sister hildegard, "but she told us about the others and their desolate condition. in the delirium of fever she saw them stealing and the constable seizing them. then your eva encouraged me to send for them by promising to provide their food. so they came here. the worker on cloth from whom she rented her little room had helped them, and it was from her that sister pauline, whom i sent there, first learned that walpurga, for whose sake she had so sadly forgotten her duty, was not even her own child, but an adopted one whom her late husband, on one of his trips, had found abandoned on the highroad at vierzehnheiligen, beside an image of the virgin, and brought home with him." here sister hildegard paused, and frau christine also remained silent a long time. yet, it was horrible here, and the air was impure; but had countess cordula looked more closely she would probably have seen one of the beautiful flowers which often bloomed amidst all the weeds, the poisonous and parasitic vegetation. eva was right to pity this woman, and if her life could be saved she herself would relieve her necessities and secure her children's future. she silently made this resolve whilst the sister led the way to the couch of the scourged thief. the unfortunate woman should learn that god often compels us to traverse the roughest and stoniest paths in the wilderness ere he leads us into the promised land. eva was so deeply absorbed in her conversation with the dominican that she did not see her aunt until she stood before her. they greeted each other with a silent nod, and a smile of satisfaction flitted over the girl's face as she motioned to the sleeper whose slumber she was watching. the young mother's pretty face still glowed with the flush of fever. one arm clasped the baby, which lay amidst the white linen katterle had just brought. he was a pretty child, who showed no traces of the poverty in which he had been reared. beside the widow were two little girls about six years old. the one at the left was sound asleep, with her head resting on her little fat arm. the other, at the sick woman's right, pressed her fair head upon her breast. her slumber was very light, and she often opened her large, blue eyes and gazed with touching anxiety at the sick woman. this was the adopted child, walpurga, and never had the matron beheld amongst the poor and suffering so lovely a human flower as this little six-year-old child, struggling with sleep in her affectionate desire to render aid. the other little girl's free hand also touched her mother, and thus these four, united in poverty and sorrow, but also in love, seemed to form a single whole. what a peaceful, charming picture! frau christine gazed with earnest sympathy at each member of this group. how well-formed was every one! how pure and innocent the features of the children looked! how kind and loving those of the suffering mother, who was a thief, and whose tender back had felt the scourge of the executioner! the thought made her shudder. but when little walpurga, half asleep, raised her tiny hand and lovingly stroked the wounded shoulder of her adopted mother, the matron, as usual when anything pleasant moved her heart, longed to have her husband at her side. how easily, since he was so near, she could afford him a sight of this touching picture! it should prove that she had been right to let eva remain here. faithful to her custom of permitting no delay in the execution of a good resolution, she wanted to send katterle to call her husband, but the girl could not be found. then frau christine went herself, beckoning to eva to follow; but they had scarcely reached the centre of the room when a peal of shrill laughter greeted them from a couch on the left. the person from whom it came was the barber's widow, whose attack had alarmed eva so terribly the day before in front of the pillory. it pealed loudly and shrilly through the stillness of the night, and when the matron turned angrily to reprove the person who so inconsiderately disturbed the rest of the others, the woman clapped her hands and instantly a chorus of sharp, screaming voices rose around her. the barber's widow, who knew everybody who lived in nuremberg, had recognised the magistrate's wife at her entrance, and secretly incited her neighbours to follow her example and, as soon as she gave the signal, demand better fare and make frau christine, the patroness of the hospital, feel what they thought of the cruelty of her husband, who had delivered them to the executioner. the female thieves and swindlers-in short, all the reprobate women around frau ratzer, whose feet had just been tied on account of her unruly behaviour in the countess von montfort's presence--obeyed her signal, and the fierce voices raised in demand and invective woke those who were sleeping farther away. weeping, wailing, and screaming they started up, clamouring to know what danger threatened them, whilst frau ratzer and her fellow-conspirators shrieked for beer or wine instead of water, for meat with the black bread and wretched broth and, yelling and howling, bade the patroness tell her husband that they thought him a brute and a bloodhound. there was a hideous, confused, ear-splitting din, which threatened serious consequences, for some of the women, leaving their straw beds, hastened towards the door or surrounded frau christine and eva with uplifted fists and threatening nails. the warning voices of the matrons, to whose aid the beguines had hastened, were drowned by the uproar, but the danger which specially threatened eva, whom the barber's widow pointed out to her neighbour who had stolen a child to train it to beg, was soon ended, for the wild cries had reached the men's building, from which herr berthold pfinzing came hurrying in, accompanied by the superintendent, his assistants, and several monks. if the women reproached the magistrate, who in reality was a lenient judge, with being a cruel tyrant, they were now to learn that he certainly did not lack uncompromising energy. the unpleasant position in which he found his wife and his beloved godchild did not incline him to gentleness. he would have liked to have tied the hands of all these women, most of whom had forfeited the consideration due their sex. this was really done to the most unruly, while the barber's widow was carried to the prison-chamber, which the hospital did not lack. after quiet was at last restored and frau christine had told her husband that she had been attacked while on her way to show him a delightful scene in the midst of all this terrible misery, he angrily exclaimed: "a magnificent picture! balm for the eyes and ears of your own brother's virginal daughter! the saints be praised that you both escaped so easily. can there be in the worst hell anything more horrible than what has just been witnessed here? really, where a countess cordula cannot endure----" here frau christine soothingly interrupted her irate husband, and so great was her influence over him, that his tone sounded like friendly encouragement as he added: "you wanted to show me something special, but i was detained over there. though it was late, i wanted to see the worthy fellow again. what a man he is! i mean sir heinz schorlin's squire." "poor biberli?" asked eva eagerly; and there was a faint tone of reproach in her voice as she continued, "you promised to look after him." "so i did, child," the magistrate protested. "but justice must take its course, and the rack is part of the examination by torture. he might easily have lost his tongue, and if his master doesn't return soon and another accuser should appear, who knows what will happen!" "but that must not, shall not be!" cried eva, the old defiance echoing imperiously in her voice. "heinz schorlin--you said so yourself--would not plead in vain for mercy to the emperor; and before i will see the faithful fellow----" "gently, child," whispered frau christine to her niece, laying her hand on her arm, but the magistrate, shaking his finger at her, answered soothingly: "jungfrau ortlieb would rather thrust her own little feet into the spanish boot. be comforted! the three pairs we have are all too large to squeeze them." eva lowered her eyes in embarrassment, and exclaimed in a modest, beseeching tone: "but, uncle, do not you, too, feel that it would be cruel and unjust to make this honest fellow a cripple in return for his faithful services?" "i do feel it," answered herr berthold, his face assuming an expression of regret; "and for that very reason i ventured to take a girl over whom i have no authority out of her service." "katterle?" asked eva anxiously. her uncle nodded assent, adding: "first hear what interested me so quickly in the strange fellow. at the first charge, which merely accused him of having carried a message of love from his master to jungfrau ortlieb, i interceded for him, and yesterday the other magistrates, to whom i had explained the case, joined me. so he escaped with a sentence of exile from the city for five years. i hoped it would not be necessary to present the second accusation, for it was signed by no name, but merely bore three crosses, and for a long time most of the magistrates, following my example, have considered such things as treacherous attacks made by cowards who shun the light of day; but it was impossible to suppress it entirely, because the law commands me to withhold no complaint made to the court. so it was read aloud, and hans teufel's motion to let it drop without any action met with no approval, warmly as i supported it. "we must not blame the gentlemen. they all wish to act for your benefit, and desire nothing except a clear understanding of this vexatious business. but in that indictment biberli was charged with having forced his way into an honourable's house at night to obtain admittance for his master. in collusion with a maid-servant he was also said to have maintained the love correspondence between herr ernst ortlieb's two daughters, a swiss knight, and boemund altrosen." "infamous!" cried eva. "what, in the name of all the saints, have we to do with altrosen? "you certainly have very little," replied frau christine, "but the ortlieb mansion has all the more. to-night he will again be seen before its door, and if still later he appears with his lute under countess cordula's windows and is heard singing to her, it wouldn't surprise me." "and people," exclaimed eva with increasing indignation, "will add another link to the chain of slander. if a vorkler and her companions repeat the calumny, who can wonder? but that the magistrates should believe such shameful things about the brothers of their own fellowmember----" "it was precisely because they do not believe it and wish to keep you away from the court," her uncle interrupted, "that they insisted upon the examination. they desired to show the people by their verdict and the severity of the procedures how thoroughly in earnest they were. but whilst i was compelled to absent myself an hour because the emperor wished to inspect the new towers on the city wall, and i had to attend him in the character of showman, they sentenced the poor fellow, since his loose tongue had brought the whole rout and rabble against him, to torture so severe that i shuddered when told of it." "and biberli?" asked eva, trembling with suspense. "all honour is due the man!" cried herr berthold, raising his cap. "the rods scourged his fettered limbs, his thumbs were pressed in the screws, bound to the ladder, he was dragged over the larded hare---" "oh, hush!" cried fran christine with uplifted hands, and her husband nodded understandingly. then, with a faint sigh, he added: "why should i torture you with these horrors? nothing was spared him. yet the worthy fellow stuck to his statement that he had accompanied his master to your house in the full moonlight to take a somnambulist who had wandered out of the open door back to her friends. sir heinz schorlin had met jungfrau ortlieb only once--at the dance in the town hall. though he had sometimes appeared before her father's house, it was not on account of herr ernst's daughters, but--and this was an allusion to cordula von montfort--for the sake of another lady. "after the lightning had killed his master's horse under him he had avoided every woman, because he wished to enter a monastery. he could prove all these statements by many witnesses. yesterday he named them, and count gleichen and his retainers appeared with several others. the minorite benedictus was vainly sought at the franciscans." "he is here in the house of the beguines," replied frau christine, "and weak as he is, he will have strength enough to make a deposition in the knight's favour." the magistrate said that this might be necessary if a new charge were brought against the servitor, katterle, and perhaps even sir heinz schorlin himself. rarely had he seen a bad cause maintained with so much obstinacy. the complainants had witnesses who testified under oath what they had heard in taverns and tap-rooms from sir seitz siebenburg and those who repeated his tales. their examination had lasted a long time, and what they alleged was as absurd as possible, yet for that very reason difficult to refute. these depositions had aided the cause of the accused, but in consequence of such numerous charges many questions of course were put to biberli, and thus the torture had been cruelly increased and prolonged. here eva interrupted the speaker with another outburst of indignation, but he only shrugged his shoulders pityingly, saying: "gently, child! a shoemaker who recently upbraided the 'honourables' for something similar was publicly scourged, and if cruelties have been practised here it is the fault of the law, not of the judges. but worse yet may come, if the pack is not silenced by a higher will." "the emperor?" asked the girl with quivering lips. "yes, child," was the reply, "and your old godfather had thought of bringing this evil cause before our royal master. he gladly exercises mercy, but only after carefully investigating the pros and cons. in this case there is but one person in whom he has full confidence, and who is also in a position to tell him the exact truth." "heinz schorlin!" cried eva. "he must be informed at once, without delay." "certainly," replied herr pfinzing quietly. "and since, as the uncle and godfather of jungfrau eva, who would have gladly undertaken the ride, i could not order her horse to be saddled, i sent some one else whose heart also will point out the way." "uncle!" eva eagerly interrupted, raising her clasped hands in gratitude. "but whom can you----" here she hesitated, then suddenly exclaimed as if sure of her point: "oh, i know the messenger, countess von montfort----" "you've aimed too high," replied herr berthold smiling, "yet i think the choice was no worse. your maid, child, the poor fellow's sweetheart." frau christine and eva, in the same breath, uttered an exclamation of surprise and assent, and both asked how the magistrate had chanced to select her. a waggon from schwabach, which happened opportunely to be on its way to siebenburg, had brought biberli to schweinau on its homeward trip, just before the magistrate and his wife reached the hospital. katterle had been present when the tortured man was brought out and laid upon his couch of straw. she did not recognise him until, with pathetic reproach, he called her by name and, horrified by the spectacle he presented, she fell upon her knees. but the couch at her side had already been prepared for him, and she did not need to rise again in order to stroke him, comfort him, and promise not to desert him, even if he should be a miserable cripple for life. when the magistrate approached the couple, to offer biberli his friendly aid, the latter faltered that he had only one desire--to see his beloved master once more. besides, his case was hopeless unless the knight obtained a pardon for him from the emperor rudolph, for his persecutors would not cease their pursuit of him, and he could not endure the torture a second time. here the magistrate paused in his narrative, for he thought of an incident which he was reluctant to mention in the presence of the dominican who had administered the sacrament to the suffering widow and now joined the group of listeners. this was, that a member of the latter's order had approached biberli and exhorted him not to fear another examination by torture, for the lord gave the innocent strength to maintain the truth even under the keenest suffering. a peculiar smile hovered around the lips of the poor tortured fellow, which herr berthold fully understood; for the brave servitor had by no means stuck to the truth during the pangs inflicted upon him. "oh, my dear ones," herr pfinzing continued, "a harder heart than mine would have been touched by what i saw and heard beside that couch of straw when i was left alone with poor biberli and his sweetheart. if you could have seen how katterle threw herself upon her lover after i had told her that even the most agonizing torture could not force him to confirm the charge which had been brought against her! rarely does one mortal pour forth such a flood of ardent gratitude upon another; and when biberli repeated that his dear master's help would be necessary to protect her and him from another examination, she offered to go in search of him at once, notwithstanding the rain and the darkness. "then i thought that no messenger could be found who was more familiar with the course of affairs, and at the same time inspired with more loving zeal. so, as the waggon in which biberli had come was still waiting outside, i spoke to the carter, who had brought a load of wheat to nuremberg, and now, on his way home, had ample room under the tilt. i knew the man, and we soon came to an agreement. from schwabach, his brother, who knows every foot of the road, will take her to the imperial troops who are fighting with the siebenburgs. i undertook to arrange with you for her absence. she is now rolling along in the old carter apel's waggon towards schwabach and sir heinz schorlin." hitherto the magistrate had maintained his composure, but now his deep voice lost its firmness, and it was neither the loving words of appreciation whispered by his wife nor the gratitude which eva tenderly displayed that checked his speech, but the remembrance of the parting between the man so cruelly tortured and his sweetheart. biberli had hoped that she would nurse him; the sight of her would have cheered his eyes and heart, yet he sent her out into darkness and danger. gratitude and love, the consciousness that just now she could be of infinite importance to him and do much for him, bound her to his couch like so many fetters, yet she had gone, and had even assumed the appearance of doing so willingly and being confident of success. how their faces had brightened when the magistrate told them that his wife and eva would take charge of him, and he himself would see that he had a better bed! biberli murmured sadly: "straw and i have been used to each other in many a tavern, but now a somewhat softer couch might be of service, for wherever my racked body was touched i believe there would be something out of joint." herr berthold had no reason to be ashamed of his emotion, for he had learned from the barber that the poor fellow had by no means exaggerated, and, as a witness of part of the torture, he knew that even the most cruel anguish had not conquered the faithful biberli's firm resolve to bring neither his master nor his sweetheart before the judge. in recalling this noble act of the lowly servitor he grew eloquent, and described minutely what the poor fellow had suffered, and how, after katterle had left him, he lay motionless, with his thin, pale face irradiated by a grateful smile. the women, too, and the monk aegidius, an old minorite, who had been watching beside the aged brother of his order, benedictus, and had just joined them, shed tears at his story; but eva, from the very depths of her soul, exclaimed aloud, "happy is he who is permitted to endure such tortures for love's sake!" the others gazed in surprise at the young girl who, with her clasped hands pressed upon her heaving bosom, and her large eyes uplifted, looked as if she beheld heaven opening before her. the old minorite's heart swelled at this confession and the sight of the maiden. thus, though far less richly endowed with the divine gift of beauty, he had seen st. clare absorbed in prayer. the words uttered by the fresh lips of this favoured girl, whom he beheld for the first time, expressed a feeling which might guide her into the path of the holy martyrs and, filled with pious enthusiasm, he approached, drew her clasped hands away from her breast, pressed them in his own and, remembering what the abbess kunigunde had told him yesterday beside the couch of benedictus concerning her severe conflict, exclaimed: "whoever said that, knows the words of holy writ which promise the crown of eternal life to those who are faithful unto death. obey the voice, my child, which unites you to those who are called. st. clare herself summons you to her heavenly home." the others listened to the old monk in silence. eva slightly shook her head. but when the disappointed minorite released her hands she clasped his thin one, saying modestly: "how could i be worthy of so sublime a promise? the poor servant on his straw bed, with his t and st embroidered on cap and cloak, of whom my uncle told us, has a tenfold greater claim, i think, to the crown of life, for which, as yet, i have been permitted to do so little. but i hope to win it, and the saint who calls everything that breathes and lives brothers and sisters, as children of the same exalted father, cannot teach that the fidelity shown in the world deserves less reward than that of the chosen ones in the convent." "that is a foolish and sacrilegious opinion," answered the dominican sternly. "we will take care, my dear daughter, to guide your soul from pathless wandering into the right path which holy church has marked out for you." he turned his back upon the group as he spoke, but the grey-haired minorite, smiling sadly, turned to eva, saying: "i cannot contradict him. fidelity to those whom we love, my child, is far less meritorious than that which we show to heaven. to you, daughter, its doors have already opened. how strong must be the pleasure felt by the children of the world in this brief earthly happiness, since they are so ready to sacrifice for it the certainty of eternal bliss! your error will grieve the abbess and father benedictus." with these words he, too, took his leave, but frau christine whispered to her niece: "these monks are not the holy church to which we both belong as obedient daughters. to my poor mind and heart it seems as if the saviour would deem you right." "amen," added the magistrate, who had heard his wife's murmured words. etext editor's bookmarks: false praise, he says, weighs more heavily than disgrace _the story of nuremberg_ _all rights reserved_ _first edition, april 1899_ _second edition, september 1900_ _third edition, november 1901_ [illustration: _portrait of albert durer by himself, from the painting at munich._] _the story of_ nuremberg _by cecil headlam with illustrations by miss h. m. james and with woodcuts_ [illustration] _london:_ _j. m. dent & co._ _aldine house, 29 and 30 bedford street_ _covent garden w.c._ 1901 "quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song."--longfellow. "wenn einer deutschland kennen und deutschland lieben soll, wird man ihm nürnberg nennen, der edlen künste voll. dich, nimmer noch veraltet du treue, fleiss'ge stadt, wo dürer's kraft gewaltet, und sachs gesungen hat." --max von schenkendorf. "nihil magnificentius, nihil ornatius tota europa reperias." --æneas silvius. _to maurice hewlett in friendship and in admiration_ preface i am painfully aware of the defects of this little book, and still more painfully unaware of its errors. the best excuse for the mistakes that have surely crept in is the vast scope and variety of my subject--the story of the old mediæval town which was for long the centre of german industry and thought. but, for a guide-book, accuracy is above all things desirable, and i shall therefore be deeply grateful to the courtesy of any of my readers, who, having discovered any error or omission, will kindly point it out to me. the sources from which i have drawn are far too numerous to acknowledge in detail. but in the matter of topography and architecture a more express note of indebtedness is due to the devoted labours of r. von rettberg, a. von essenwein, and ernst mummenhoff. above all, i must pay my tribute of gratitude and acknowledgment to the enthusiastic erudition of dr emil reicke,[1] whose mighty volume, _geschichte der reichsstadt nürnberg_, is a mine of information from which i have freely quarried. lastly, to those old chroniclers at whom i have sometimes laughed, but whose quaint phrases and legends may have saved these pages from too serious a dulness, i now hasten to make amends and to assure them that i am very conscious of my own inferiority as a storyteller. the object of this book will have been in great part achieved if it succeeds in reviving the memories and quickening the affections of old lovers of nuremberg; if it awakens a desire in those who have not yet known and loved her, to visit the old "white city," and join the band of her worshippers. contents page _the origin of nuremberg_ 1 chapter ii _the development of nuremberg_ 35 chapter iii _nuremberg and the reformation_ 55 chapter iv _nuremberg and the thirty years war_ 93 chapter v _the castle and the walls_ 114 chapter vi _the council and the council-house. nuremberg tortures_ 150 chapter vii _albert durer and the arts and crafts of nuremberg_ 171 chapter viii _hans sachs and the meistersingers_ 215 chapter ix _the churches of nuremberg_ 225 chapter x _old houses, bridges and wells_ 267 chapter xi _german museum_ 275 chapter xii _arms of nuremberg_ 289 chapter xiii _hotels, itinerary, etc._ 294 illustrations page frontispiece. _portrait of albert durer, from the painting by himself at munich_ _the heathen tower_ 4 _luginsland, kaiserstallung, and five-cornered tower_ 6 _nürnberger zeidler (beefarmer) armed with crossbow_ 9 _nassauer haus_ 22 _the pegnitz_ 27 _oriel window of the parsonage_ 42 _beautiful well_ 57 _frauen thor_ 63 _rothenburg_ 79 _pellerhof_ 90 _the castle from the hallerthorbrücke_ 117 _sinwel or vestner thurm_ 122 _the walls and ditch_ 139 _the walls (interior)_ 144 _the rathaus. old window_ 155 _henkersteg (hangman's tower)_ 165 _albert durer's house_ 173 _albert durer as a boy. from a drawing by himself at the age of thirteen_ 179 _st. anthony, from the engraving by albert durer. background of nuremberg scenery_ 189 _sakramentshäuslein. adam krafft_ 203 _nuremberg spruchsprecher or state poet_ 223 _brautthüre, st. sebalduskirche_ 232 _st. lorenzkirche. from the river_ 241 _hauptthor, st. lorenzkirche_ 244 _st. lorenzkirche. north side_ 246 _st. lorenzkirche. interior_ 251 _west door, frauenkirche_ 255 _house on the pegnitz_ 268 _fleischbrücke_ 271 _the nuremberg madonna_ 279 _the seals of nuremberg_ 291 _all the illustrations with the exception of the frontispiece, "st. anthony" and "albert durer as a boy" have been drawn by miss james, or cut in wood from the beautiful photographs by captain gladstone, r.n., to whose generosity the publishers are indebted for permission to reproduce the pictures in this volume._ the story of nuremberg chapter i _origin and growth_ "in the valley of the pegnitz, where across broad meadow-lands rise the blue franconian mountains, nuremberg the ancient stands."--longfellow. year by year, many a traveller on his way to bayreuth, many a seeker after health at german baths, many an artist and lover of the old world, finds his way to nuremberg. it is impossible to suppose that such any one is ever disappointed. for in spite of all changes, and in spite of the disfigurements of modern industry, nuremberg is and will remain a mediæval city, a city of history and legend, a city of the soul. she is like venice in this, as in not a little of her history, that she exercises an indefinable fascination over our hearts no less than over our intellects. the subtle flavour of mediæval towns may be likened to that of those rare old ports which are said to taste of the grave; a flavour indefinable, exquisite. rothenburg has it: and it is with rothenburg, that little gem of mediævalism, that nuremberg is likely to be compared in the mind of the modern wanderer in franconia. but though rothenburg may surpass her greater neighbour in the perfect harmony and in the picturesqueness of her red-tiled houses and well-preserved fortifications, in interest at any rate she must yield to the heroine of this story. for, apart from the beauty which nuremberg owes to the wonderful grouping of her red roofs and ancient castle, her coronet of antique towers, her gothic churches and renaissance buildings or brown riverside houses dipping into the mud-coloured pegnitz, she rejoices in treasures of art and architecture and in the possession of a splendid history such as rothenburg cannot boast. to those who know something of her story nuremberg brings the subtle charm of association. whilst appealing to our memories by the grandeur of her historic past, and to our imaginations by the work and tradition of her mighty dead, she appeals also to our senses with the rare magic of her _personal_ beauty, if one may so call it. in that triple appeal lies the fascination of nuremberg. for this reason one may hope to add to the enjoyment of those who may spend or have spent a few days in the "quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song," by recounting the tale of her treasures, and by telling, however imperfectly, something of the story of her rise and fall, and of the artists whom she cradled. _many shall go to and fro and their knowledge shall be increased._ is not that the justification of a guide-book? * * * * * the facts as to the origin of nuremberg are lost in the dim shadows of tradition. when the little town sprang up amid the forests and swamps which still marked the course of the pegnitz, we know as little as we know the origin of the name nürnberg. it is true that the chronicles of later days are only too ready to furnish us with information; but the information is not always reliable. the chronicles, like our own peerage, are apt to contain too vivid efforts of imaginative fiction. the chroniclers, unharassed by facts or documents, with minds "not by geography prejudiced, or warped by history," cannot unfortunately always be believed. it is, for instance, quite possible that attila, king of the huns, passed and plundered nuremberg, as they tell us. but there is no proof, no record of that visitation. again, the inevitable legend of a visit from charlemagne occurs. he, you may be sure, was lost in the woods whilst hunting near nuremberg, and passed all night alone, unhurt by the wild beasts. as a token of gratitude for god's manifest favour he caused a chapel to be built on the spot. the chapel stands to this day--a twelfth-century building--but no matter! for did not otho i., as our chroniclers tell us, attend mass in st. sebald's church in 970, though st. sebald's church cannot have been built till a century later? the origin of the very name of nuremberg is hidden in clouds of obscurity. in the earliest documents we find it spelt with the usual variations of early manuscripts--nourenberg, nuorimperc, niurenberg, nuremberc, etc. the origin of the place, we repeat, is equally obscure. many attempts have been made to find history in the light of the derivations of the name. but when philology turns historian it is apt to play strange tricks. nur ein berg (only a castle), or nero's castle, or norix tower--what matter which is the right derivation, so long as we can base a possible theory on it? the norixberg theory will serve to illustrate the incredible quantity of misplaced ingenuity which both of old times and in the present has been wasted in trying to explain the inexplicable. the heidenthurm--the heathen tower of the castle--is so called from some carvings on the exterior which were once regarded as idols. wolckan maintains that it was an ancient temple of diana. for those carvings, he says, represent the figures of dogs and of two male figures with clubs, who must be hercules and his son _noricus_. hence norixberg. after which it seems prosaic to have to assert that the "figures of dogs" are really lions, and the male figures are saints or kings of israel, and certainly not heathen images. there is in point of fact no trace of roman colonisation here. [illustration: the heathen tower] other ingenious historians, not content with imaginary details of heathen temples and sanctuaries, hint darkly of an ancient god--nuoro by name--who, they say, was worshipped here and gave his name to the locality, but "of whom nothing else is known." some chroniclers drag in the name of drusus nero (neronesberg) and refine upon the point, debating whether we ought not rather to attribute this camp to tiberius claudius nero; and others, again, suggest that _noriker_, driven out by the huns, settled in this favourable retreat in the heart of germany, and laid the foundations of nuremberg's greatness. all we can say is that these things were or were not: but they have no history. after all, why should they have any? but those who prefer precision to truth shall not go empty away. "the imperial fortress of nuremberg began to be built fourteen years before the birth of christ, the 9th of april, on a tuesday, at 8 o'clock in the morning; but the town only twenty-six years after christ, on the 3rd of april, on a tuesday, at 8.57 a.m." thus spake the astrologer andreas goldmeyer, in his "earthly jerusalem." and yet, as sir philip sidney sings, some "dusty wits can scorn astrology!" be that as it may, the history of our town begins in the year 1050. it is most probable that the silence regarding the place--it is not mentioned among the places visited by conrad ii. in this neighbourhood--points to the fact that the castle did not exist in 1025, but was built between that year and 1050. that it existed then we know, for henry iii. dated a document from here in 1050, summoning a council of bavarian nobles "in fundo suo nourinberc." of the growth of the place we shall speak more in detail in the chapter on the castle and the walls. here it will suffice to note that the oldest portion, called in the fifteenth century altnürnberg, consisted of the fünfeckiger thurm--the five-cornered tower--the rooms attached and the otmarkapelle. the latter was burnt [illustration: luginsland, kaiserstallung, and the five-cornered tower] down in 1420, rebuilt in 1428, and called the walpurgiskapelle. these constituted the burggräfliche burg--the burggraf's castle. the rest of the castle was built on by friedrich der rotbart (barbarossa), and called the kaiserliche burg. the old five-cornered tower and the surrounding ground was the private property of the burggraf, and he was appointed by the emperor as imperial officer of the kaiserliche burg. whether the emperors claimed any rights of personal property over nuremberg or merely treated it, at first, as imperial property, it is difficult to determine. the castle at any rate was probably built to secure whatever rights were claimed, and to serve generally as an imperial stronghold. an imperial representative, as we have seen, took up his residence there.[2] gradually round the castle grew up the straggling streets of nuremberg. settlers built beneath the shadow of the burg. the very names of the streets suggest the vicinity of a camp or fortress. söldnerstrasse, schmiedstrasse, and so forth, betray the military origin of the present busy commercial town. from one cause or another a mixture of races, of germanic and non-germanic, of slavonic and frankish elements, seems to have occurred amongst the inhabitants of the growing village, producing a special blend which in dialect, in customs, and in dress was soon noticed by the neighbours as unique, and stamping the art and development of nuremberg with that peculiar character which has never left it. various causes combined to promote the growth of the place. the temporary removal of the mart from fürth to nuremberg under henry iii. doubtless gave a great impetus to the development of the latter town. henry iv., indeed, gave back the rights of mart, customs and coinage to fürth. but it seems probable that these rights were not taken away again from nuremberg. the possession of a mart was, of course, of great importance to a town in those days, promoting industries and arts and settled occupations. the nurembergers were ready to suck out the fullest advantage from their privilege. that mixture of races, to which we have referred, resulted in remarkable business energy--energy which soon found scope in the conduct of the business which the natural position of nuremberg on the south and north, the east and western trade routes, brought to her. it was not very long before she became the centre of the vast trade between the levant and western europe, and the chief emporium for the produce of italy--the _handelsmetropole_ in fact of south germany. nothing in the middle ages was more conducive to the prosperity of a town than the reputation of having a holy man within its borders, or the possession of the miracle-working relics of a saint. just as st. elizabeth made marburg so st. sebaldus proved a very potent attraction to nuremberg. we shall give some account of this saint when we visit the church that was dedicated to him. here we need only remark that as early as 1070 and 1080 we hear of pilgrimages to nuremberg in honour of her patron saint. another factor in the growth of the place was the frequent visits which the emperors began to pay to it. lying as it did on their way from bamberg and forcheim to regensburg the kaisers readily availed themselves of the security offered by this impregnable fortress, and of the sport provided in the adjacent forest. for there was good hunting to be had in the forest which, seventy-two miles in extent, surrounded nuremberg. and hunting, next to war, was then in most parts of europe the most serious occupation of life. all the forest rights, we may mention, of woodcutting, hunting, charcoal burning and bee-farming belonged originally to the empire. but these were gradually acquired by the nuremberg council (rat), chiefly by purchase in the fifteenth century. in the castle the visitor may notice a list of all the emperors--some thirty odd, all told--who have stayed there--a list that should now include the reigning emperor. we find that henry iv. frequently honoured nuremberg with his presence. this is that [illustration: nürnberger zeidler (bee-farmer) armed with cross-bow] henry iv. whose scene at canossa with the pope--kaiser of the holy roman empire waiting three days in the snow to kiss the foot of excommunicative gregory--has impressed itself on all memories. his last visit to nuremberg was a sad one. his son rebelled against him, and the old king stopped at nuremberg to collect his forces. in the war between father and son nuremberg was loyal, and took the part of henry iv. it was no nominal part, for in 1105 she had to stand a siege from the young henry. for two months the town was held by the burghers and the castle by the præfect conrad. at the end of that time orders came from the old kaiser that the town was to surrender. he had given up the struggle, and his undutiful son succeeded as henry v. to the holy roman empire, and nuremberg with it. the mention of this siege gives us an indication of the growth of the town. the fact of the siege and the words of the chronicler, "the townsmen (oppidani) gave up the town under treaty," seem to point to the conclusion that nuremberg was now no longer a mere fort (_castrum_), but that walls had sprung up round the busy mart and the shrine of st. sebald, and that by this time nuremberg had risen to the dignity of a "stadt" or city state. presently, indeed, we find her rejoicing in the title of "_civitas_." the place, it is clear, was already of considerable military importance or it would not have been worth while to invest it. the growing volume of trade is further illustrated by a charter of henry v. (1112) giving to the citizens of worms _zollfreiheit_ in various places subject to him, amongst which frankfort, goslar and nuremberg are named as royal towns (_oppida regis_). we may note at this point, however, that the chroniclers declare that the town fell into the hands of the enemy, through the treachery of the jewish inhabitants and was plundered and burnt. by this destruction they account for the absence of all earlier records, and are left at liberty to evolve their theories as to the history of previous days. they add that when the town was rebuilt (1120) the jews chose all the best sites for their houses, and retained them till they were driven out. the first statement was an easy invention. the second, very probably true in effect, points to the reason--commercial jealousy--but does not afford an excuse for the shortsighted and unchristian persecution of the jews which disfigures the record of the acts of nuremberg. with the death of henry v., which occurred in 1125, the frankish or salic imperial line ended. for the empire, though elective, had always a tendency to become hereditary and go in lines. if the last kaiser left a son not unfit, who so likely as the son to be elected? but now a member of another family had to be chosen. the german princes elected count lothar von supplinburg, duke of saxony. this departure was not without influence on the fortunes of nuremberg. the question arose whether nuremberg had belonged to the late imperial house as private or imperial property. did it now belong to the heirs of that house or to the newly-elected emperor? in fact, part of the possessions, which had passed from the salian franks to the heirs, conrad and frederick, dukes of swabia, of the house of hohenstaufen, was now demanded back by lothar as being imperial property. nuremberg was numbered among these possessions and became the head-quarters of the war which followed between the kaiser and the two brothers. in 1127 the town had to stand another siege--this time of ten weeks' duration--whilst the hohenstaufen brothers held it against lothar. the siege was raised; but three years later the brothers had to give in. the burg and town of nuremberg were then given by the emperor to henry the proud of bavaria, a member of the great wittelsbach family. he kept them till 1138, when conrad having been elected king of the germans, they went back in the natural course of things to the hohenstaufen, who came once more to look upon the flourishing town as their own private property. it was to the above-mentioned kaiser conrad that the chronicles attribute the foundation of the monastery of st. ægidius, on the site of the chapel, st. martin's, which charlemagne was reputed to have built. to conrad also, with less show of likelihood, they ascribe the widening of the city. widened the city has been more than once, as we can tell by the remains of walls and towers.[3] but the earliest fragment of these now extant--the lower part of the white tower--dates only from the thirteenth century. it seems to have been the policy of the hohenstaufen kaisers to favour nuremberg. they often held their court here. the greatest of them--the greatest and wisest of the kaisers since charlemagne--frederick i. barbarossa, to wit, lived in the castle in 1166. it was he, in all probability, who built the kaiserliche burg, and erected, over the margaretenkapelle, the kaiserkapelle, a grander and more splendid chapel of marble, which was certainly completed in the twelfth century. of the remarkable double chapel thus constructed we shall have more to say later on. meanwhile we must content ourselves with calling attention to the very similar double chapel at eger in bohemia. it was through barbarossa that nuremberg became connected with another of the great ruling families of the world. "it was in those same years," says carlyle,[4] "that a stout young fellow, conrad by name, far off in the southern part of germany set out from the old castle of hohenzollern (the southern summit of that same huge old hercynian wood, which is still called the schwarzwald or black forest though now comparatively bare of trees) where he was but a junior and had small outlooks, upon a very great errand in the world.... his purpose was to find barbarossa and seek fortune under him. to this frederick redbeard--a magnificent, magnanimous man, holding the reins of the world, not quite in the imaginary sense; scourging anarchy down and urging noble effort up, really on a grand scale--conrad addressed himself; and he did it with success; which may be taken as a kind of testimonial to the worth of the young man. details we have absolutely none; but there is no doubt that conrad recommended himself to kaiser redbeard, nor any that the kaiser was a judge of men.... one thing further is known, significant for his successes: conrad found favour with 'the heiress of the vohburg family,' desirable young heiress, and got her to wife. the vohburg family, now much forgotten everywhere, and never heard of in england before, had long been of supreme importance, of immense possessions, and opulent in territories, and, we need not add, in honours and offices, in those franconian nürnberg regions; and was now gone to this one girl. i know not that she had much inheritance after all: the vast vohburg properties lapsing all to the kaiser, when the male heirs were out. but she had pretensions, tacit claims: in particular the vohburgs had long been habitual or in effect hereditary burggrafs of nürnberg; and if conrad had the talent for that office, he now in preference to others might have a chance for it. sure enough, he got it; took root in it, he and his; and, in the course of centuries, branched up from it, high and wide, over the adjoining countries; waxing towards still higher destinies. that is the epitome of conrad's history; history now become very great, but then no bigger than its neighbours and very meagrely recorded; of which the reflective reader is to make what he can.... "as to the office, it was more important than perhaps the reader imagines. in a diet of the empire (1170) we find conrad among the magnates of the country, denouncing henry the lion's high procedures and malpractices. every burggraf of nürnberg is in virtue of his office 'prince of the empire'; if a man happened to have talent of his own and solid resources of his own (which are always on the growing hand with this family), here is a basis from which he may go far enough. burggraf of nürnberg: that means again graf (judge, defender, manager, g'reeve) of the kaiser's burg or castle,--in a word, kaiser's representative and _alter ego_,--in the old imperial free-town of nürnberg; with much adjacent very complex territory, also, to administer for the kaiser. a flourishing extensive city, this old nürnberg, with valuable adjacent territory, civic and imperial, intricately intermixed; full of commercial industries, opulences, not without democratic tendencies. nay, it is almost, in some senses, the _london and middlesex_ of the germany that then was, if we will consider it! "this is a place to give a man chances, and try what stuff is in him. the office involves a talent for governing, as well as for judging: talent for fighting also, in cases of extremity, and, what is still better, a talent for avoiding to fight. none but a man of competent superior parts can do that function; i suppose no imbecile could have existed many months in it, in the old earnest times. conrad and his succeeding hohenzollerns proved very capable to do it, as would seem; and grew and spread in it, waxing bigger and bigger, from their first planting there by kaiser barbarossa, a successful judge of men." nuremberg continued to receive marks of imperial favour. the importance to which she had now grown is illustrated by the fact that frederick ii., son of barbarossa, held a very brilliant _reichstag_ here in 1219, and on this occasion gave to the town her first great charter. the first provision of this charter, by which the town is declared free of allegiance to anyone but the emperor, is of special interest, seeing that it raises the question whether nuremberg was really the private property of the imperial family, or only owed allegiance to the emperor as such. probably frederick did not intend to alienate nuremberg from himself and his heirs as private individuals; but, regarding the empire as a permanent possession of his family, he intended by this clause to bind the burghers of nuremberg more closely to his own personal service by freeing them from all feudal obligations to others. a few years later frederick, in order to carry out his plans with regard to italian lands, appointed his ten-year-old son as king of rome and as his successor to the german empire. then leaving the young king in germany under the guardianship of bishop engelbert of cologne, he went to italy, and was crowned emperor by the pope. young henry held his court in nuremberg in 1225. in the castle, in november, a double festival was celebrated--the marriage of the young king with margaret, daughter of duke leopold of austria, and of the brother of the bride, duke henry of austria, with agnes, a daughter of the landgraf hermann von thüringen. at this double wedding, as some chroniclers aver, or at the wedding of rudolph von hapsburg (1284), as is more probable, a terrible catastrophe occurred. for just as the numerous assembly of nobles and ladies had begun to dance in the hall, the platform erected for spectators fell in, and about seventy nobles, knights, and girls were crushed to death. it was certainly in the middle of this festival that the horrible news arrived that the archbishop of cologne, the young king's adviser, had been murdered, from motives of revenge, by his nephew, duke of isenburg. "such deeds were then very frequent," says the abbot conrad von lichtenau, "because the doers thereof hoped to obtain pardon by a pilgrimage to the holy land." three days after his marriage the young king had to sit in judgment on the culprit at the kaiserburg. deeply moved, he asked the noble gerlach von büdingen for his opinion. ought the murderer to be outlawed, there and then? gerlach answered yes, for the crime was patent. friedrich von truhendingen opposed him violently, however, maintaining that the accused man ought to be first produced, as justice and custom demanded. gerlach became enraged. the argument grew hot, and presently, in spite of the king's presence, the supporters of either opinion seized their arms and came to blows. a fearful crush occurred on the stairs, which gave way under the weight of struggling humanity, and some fifty people were killed upon the spot. but the sentence of outlawry got itself pronounced, and a decree of excommunication followed from the church. this was but one example of the lawlessness of the times. violence was not often so swiftly punished. germany had fallen on evil days, and worse were in store for her. the absenteeism of her emperors was producing its inevitable result. one after another, the emperors "had squandered their talents and wasted the best strength of their country in pursuit of a fancy, and never learned by the experience of their predecessors to desist from the dangerous pursuit. instead of turning their attention to the development of their country, to the curtailment of the powers of the nobility, to the establishment of their thrones on enduring foundations, they were bewitched with the dream of a roman-imperial world-monarchy, which was impossible to be realised when every nation was asserting more and more its characteristic peculiarities and arriving at consciousness of national and independent life. the emperors were always divided between distinct callings, as kings of germany and emperors of rome. the italians hated them; the popes undermined their powers, and involved them in countless difficulties at home and in italy, so that they could not establish their authority as emperors, and neglected to make good, or were impeded in attempting to make good, their position as kings in germany. the bat in the fable was rejected by the birds because he was a beast, and by the beasts because he had wings as a bird."[5] so it came to pass that when the line of hohenstaufen went miserably out on the death of the ill-fated conradin (1268), germany was already involved in times of huge anarchy; "was rocking down," as carlyle puts it, "towards one saw not what--an anarchic republic of princes, perhaps, and of free barons fast verging towards robbery? sovereignty of multiplex princes, with a peerage of intermediate robber barons? things are verging that way. such princes, big and little, each wrenching off for himself what lay loosest and handiest to him, found it a stirring game, and not so much amiss." towns like nuremberg, on the other hand, found it very much amiss. fortunately many of them were rich and strong, and took the task of preserving peace and order to some extent into their own hands. during the period of the interregnum, as it was called (1254-1273), "die herrenlose, die schreckliche zeit" of disturbance and lawlessness, when the electors--the bishops and princes of the land--could only agree in giving the crown to foreigners who would leave them alone and unhindered in their efforts to enlarge their powers and territories by fair or foul means, some curious transactions took place with regard to nuremberg. there exists a document by which, in 1266, conradin pledged to his uncle, duke ludwig of bavaria, a number of possessions to raise money in order to pay back the loan which his former guardian had advanced to him, and which was used to acquire the town and castle of nuremberg. the transaction is obscure. possibly after the death of conradin's father, conrad iv., nuremberg was claimed by his executors as private property. in that case we may hazard the conjecture that the town resisted the claim, and that an appeal to arms was made. the money referred to may have been spent in conducting a siege. this much is known for certain from a contemporary document, that when, in 1269, duke ludwig and his brother henry, as heirs of conradin, divided the hohenstaufen inheritance between them, they took equal rights over nuremberg. that may have been, however, merely a paper phrase. imperial and private rights were apt to get confused in the minds of the hohenstaufen. nuremberg, at any rate, continues always to act as if she were a free town of the empire. she was acutely conscious of the dignity of her charter. the great object for which the european towns, and nuremberg among them, were all this time struggling was a charter of incorporation and a qualified privilege of internal self-government. emperors and princes might try to get hold of a rich city like nuremberg, and treat it as their private property, but, once she had won her charter, she was determined to remain a reichstadt, and to enjoy all the privileges and liberties of a free city. one interesting and important result this period of lawlessness had. the towns began to band themselves together in leagues--der rheinische städtebund, 1254, was the first of these--for the purpose of defence against the plunder and rapine of the robber-knights, who had formerly been held in check to some degree by the sword and authority of the emperors, but who now swooped down from their fortresses as they pleased on the merchants travelling from town to town, and robbed them or levied on them heavy tolls. nuremberg joined this league: and it is in a document (1256) welcoming the entrance of regensburg (ratisbon) into the league that we first find mention of the rat or council of burghers joined to the chief magistrate as an institution representative of the community. since the charter of 1219, almost the whole administration of justice--government, police and finance--had been centred no longer in the burggraf, but in the chief magistrate (schuldheiss) of the town. but, by the same charter, nuremberg was now to be taxed as a community. from the natural necessity and apprehensions of the situation, the burghers felt the need of a representative body to sit with and to advise the magistrate, who was, originally at any rate, a king's man and officer of the burggraf. so it came to pass that the bench of judges who assisted the schuldheiss in his judicial work, a bench composed of the most powerful and influential citizens, gradually acquired the further function of an advising and governing body, and finally became independent of the magistrate. little by little, by one charter after another, by gradual and persistent effort, the rat gained the position of landlords and _territoriiherren_. but, as the council gained power, the great families began to arrogate to themselves the sole right of sitting on it. a close aristocracy of wealth grew up more and more jealous of their fancied rights. such was the origin of the constitution of nuremberg--a constitution which in later times offers a striking resemblance to that of venice. at last the interregnum came to an end. it was mainly through burggraf frederick iii. of nuremberg that rudolph von hapsburg succeeded to the empire. for this and other service the burggraviate was made hereditary in his family. under rudolph the strong and just, who, after the demoralising period of anarchy, worked wonders in the way of tightening, whether with gloved hand or mailed fist, the bonds of imperial unity, a brilliant gathering of princes assembled at nuremberg for the reichstag in 1274. the chronicles are full of stories to illustrate the character of their modern solomon on this occasion. the following example will suffice:- a merchant complained that he had given his host a purse of 200 silver marks to keep, but the host denied having received them. the emperor thereupon summoned the landlord and several citizens. they all came, naturally enough, in their best clothes. the landlord, in particular, wore a costly cap, which, as he stood before the emperor, he twisted nervously in his hand. rudolph took it from him and, putting it on, exclaimed that it would become even an emperor. then he went into the next room--apparently forgetting all about the cap. the landlord meanwhile was detained. the emperor sent the cap to the landlord's wife, with a request in her husband's name that she should give the bearer that sack of money she knew about. the ruse succeeded, and whilst the landlord was emphatically asserting his innocence to the emperor, the sack of money was produced to confound him. the wretch had to atone for his crime by the payment of a heavy fine. one other record of kaiser rudolph's presence at nuremberg we have. it is illustrative of the violence of those times. in 1289 a grand tournament was held in honour of the king. in the course of it krafft von hohenlohe had the misfortune to run his spear through the neck of duke ludwig von baiern, and the latter died of the wound. in consequence of this mischance such strife arose between the followers of the duke and those of the kaiser that the council had to take measures for the defence of the town. they barred the streets with chains and garrisoned the rathaus as well as the towers and walls. luckily the quarrel was smoothed over and no further disturbance took place. [illustration: nassauer haus] a few years later graf adolph von nassau succeeded rudolph. once in 1293 and twice in 1294 he held his court in nuremberg and ratified all the privileges of the town. to him and to his race legend ascribes a great share in the building of the lorenzkirche. "but," says dr reicke, "there is as little ground for this assertion as for the unfounded belief that the schlüsselfelderische stiftungshaus, so called because it belonged to the institution founded by hans karl schlüsselfelder who died in 1709, and now known as the nassauerhaus, was once in the possession of the counts of nassau." this house which stands at the corner of the carolinenstrasse was built, according to essenheim, at the beginning of the fifteenth century. according to the earliest existing records it belonged, with the house to the west of it, to a branch of the haller family, long since extinct. the figure on the well at the east end of this house, which represents king adolph of nassau, belongs to the year 1824. to-day the crypt of the house has been turned into a weinhaus, and there, in a vaulted cellar wreathed with yew, the diligent oenophilist will be rewarded by the discovery of some rare vintages. the new king albert held his court at nuremberg in 1298. his arrival brought many days of splendour and festivity to the town. for the king had his wife elizabeth crowned by the archbishop wigbold of cologne in st. sebalduskirche. six thousand guests assembled on this occasion. there was no accommodation in the houses for so vast a gathering of strangers, many of whom, in spite of the wintry weather, had to camp out under canvas in the streets. it was about this time that one of the fearful periodical persecutions of the jews--persecutions as unchristian as uneconomical--broke out over all franconia. it was said that in rothenburg the jews had pounded the host in a mortar and that blood had flowed from it. on the strength of this fabulous sacrilege a fanatic, called rindfleisch, led a "crusade" against the unfortunate people. in würtzburg the jews were burnt and massacred in crowds and utterly extirpated. many from the surrounding country sought refuge in nuremberg, where they were hospitably received by their fellow-believers and were at first protected by the rat. rindfleisch and his bands of murderous fanatics were then at a safe distance. but, as these drew near, the hatred of the jews, which had long smouldered among the people, broke out into flame. the jewish quarter was then in the centre of the town, a very advantageous position. their houses reached from the market where their synagogue stood, on the site of the present frauenkirche, to the zotenberg, the present dötschmannsplatz. rich as a community, though they counted, then as ever, both the greatest and the least among their number, they were envied for their possessions and hated as people of a foreign faith. nuremberg, like all the neighbouring towns except regensburg, became the scene of murder and brutality. a hundred thousand jews were the victims of a fearful death. the persecution continued till king albert, in spite of the unpopularity of the proceeding, came to franconia and put a stop to it, punishing the instigators and laying a heavy fine upon the towns. in 1308 albert was murdered by his nephew, john of swabia--parracida. the story of this murder is introduced, it will be remembered, at the end of schiller's _wilhelm tell_. after seven months' interval, henry vii., count of luxembourg, was elected king. he, in the following year, held his court in nuremberg, before departing to be crowned emperor at rome, in the midst of battle and strife with the guelphs. dating from pisa, 1313, henry granted nuremberg a very important charter. here are some of its provisions:- (1) the imperial magistrate at nuremberg shall protect the imperial or principal roads and have the right of way. (2) once a year the magistrate shall pledge himself before the council to exercise impartial justice towards rich and poor, to judge and to arrange all matters with the counsel of the schöpfen (bench of judges). (3) the burgomeister and judges are given complete control over the markets, trade, and means of preserving order. (4) the burg is not to be separated from the town. generally, one may say, this charter confirms and extends the self-governing privileges of the town. the magistrate is still an imperial officer, but his position is in acknowledged dependence on the council, into whose hands the regulation of trade and the preservation of order are entrusted. moreover, in another provision, the citizens are clearly protected against trial by outside authorities, and against arbitrary imprisonment. scarcely had he marked his appreciation of nuremberg in this way, when henry was poisoned whilst besieging siena. on his death, discord broke out in germany. we will avoid, as far as possible, stepping on to the quaking bog of reich's history. suffice it to say that one party elected frederick, the beautiful son of albert, and grandson of rudolph von hapsburg. the other and stronger party chose ludwig von baiern, of the wittelsbach family. nuremberg stood by ludwig. a long war ensued, till the great battle of mühldorf ended the struggle. ludwig's victory was in great part attributable to the timely arrival of the nuremberg cavalry, under burggraf frederick iv. "to us this is the interesting point: at one turn of the battle, tenth hour of it now ending, and the tug of war still desperate, there arose a cry of joy over all the austrian ranks: 'help coming! help!'--and friedrich noticed a body of horse in austrian cognisance (such the cunning of a certain man), coming in upon his rear. austrians and friedrich never doubted but it was brother leopold just getting on the ground; and rushed forward doubly fierce; and were doubly astonished when it plunged in upon them, sharp-edged, as burggraf friedrich of nürnberg,--and quite ruined austrian friedrich! austrian friedrich fought personally like a lion at bay; but it availed nothing. rindsmaul (not lovely of lip, _cowmouth_ so-called) disarmed him: 'i will not surrender except to a prince!'--so burggraf friedrich was got to take surrender of him; and the fight, and whole controversy with it was completely won."--_carlyle._ it was after this battle that the kaiser, when eggs were found to be the only available provision in a country eaten to the bone, distributed them with the legendary phrase that still lives on the lips of every german child- "jedem mann ein ey dem frommen schweppermann zwey." "to every man one egg and to the excellent schweppermann two." schweppermann was one of his generals, and it seems probable that he was a nuremberg citizen. the story of how ludwig shared his kingdom with his noble prisoner and united with him in such cordial affection that they ate at the same table and slept in the same bed, forms one of the best known and most romantic episodes in german history. nuremberg, who had helped ludwig with money and men, reaped her full reward. ludwig showed great affection for her, staying continually within her walls (1320-1347), residing usually not in the castle, but with some distinguished citizen. hence, and because the city stood by him throughout his quarrel with the pope, he gave her many charters, confirming and increasing the rights and privileges of the burghers. he gave her permission, for instance, to hold a fair fourteen days after easter for a month, and to issue her own decrees regarding it. from this arose the practice of the easter fair which still takes place. he granted her, also, freedom of customs in munich, thus helping her trade. she already enjoyed a mutual zollfreiheit with berne and heilbronn. all this amounts to evidence of the steadily increasing trade of nuremberg. already, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, her trade with italy was considerable, in spite of the robber-knights and imperial requisitions. no paper privileges were, indeed, of much value, however often renewed, unless supported by power to resist the robber-knights who, from their castles, descended on the rich caravans of the peaceful merchants. that trade flourished now as it did, shows that the knights did not have matters all their own way. if the emperors did little to preserve order in the empire, the towns were now fortunately strong enough and independent enough to protect themselves. when the knights proved too troublesome, the [illustration: the pegnitz] citizens attacked their fortresses and burned them, and hanged the robbers from their own towers. there is, for instance, a document extant (1325) in which ludwig grants immunity to the citizens of nuremberg for having destroyed the castle "zu dem turm," which belonged to one conrad schenk von reicheneck, a robber-knight, and promises the castle shall never be rebuilt. nor did the towns despise the advantages of combination. in 1340 we find nuremberg entering into a league, for mutual protection and the maintenance of peace, with the dukes of bavaria, with würzburg, rothenburg, etc., and a number of spiritual and temporal lords. but if nuremberg waxed in power and independence under the favour of ludwig, the burggraf also had claims on the king. to him therefore was given the office of chief-magistrate (schuldheiss) and certain revenues from the town. this was not at all to the taste of the burghers. they grew restive under the burggraf's abuse of justice, and finally managed to buy back the office from him through the agency of their rich citizen conrad gross, with whom the king often stayed. conrad gross was an early specimen of that fine type of merchant princes who contributed so much in later days to the glory of nuremberg. barter--trade in kind--was now giving place to trade done with money drawn from the german mines. the merchant prince began to raise his head. whereas the trader had hitherto been despised as a shopkeeper by the free-knights, the merchant, who could indulge in luxury of dress and household furniture, now began to look down on the knights as impecunious robbers. the time was at hand when the italian æneas sylvius could write:- "when one comes from lower franconia and perceives this glorious city, its splendour seems truly magnificent. when one enters it, one's original impression is confirmed by the beauty of the streets and the fitness of the houses. the churches of st. sebald and st. laurence are worthy of worship as well as admiration. the imperial castle proudly dominates the town, and the burghers' dwellings seem to have been built for princes. in truth, the kings of scotland would gladly be housed so luxuriously as the ordinary citizen of nuremberg." it was conrad gross who, "longing to change his worldly goods for heavenly ones," founded, in 1333, the "_new hospital of the holy ghost_." within the church is the tomb of the founder. additions were made to the hospital and church at the end of the fifteenth century. what is called the south building was erected on two arches over the water. in the courtyard of the hospital is a little chapel of the holy sepulchre, founded by george ketzel in 1459. the church itself was restored in the seventeenth century, from which period dates the stucco work of the chancel. these things the visitor will see and appraise for himself. meantime the following beautiful legend concerning the founder is worth recording:- a man of the family of heinzen, afterwards called "great" (gross), fell asleep one day in his garden beneath the shade of a lime tree. he dreamed that he found a large treasure there, but had no spade with which to dig for it. to mark the place, therefore, he took a handful of leaves and laid them on the spot where the treasure was buried. when he awoke and walked round the garden, he came to a spot where it seemed that someone had purposely scattered lime leaves on the ground. then he remembered his dream, and, since he thought the dream had not come to him without some reason, he called his men to help him, and vowed that if he found anything he would help the poor and sick with it. and indeed he found so great a treasure of silver and gold that he became very rich, and founded therewith the hospital of the holy ghost. ludwig had been a good friend to nuremberg, and therefore when karl iv.,[6] the enemy of ludwig and friend of the pope, succeeded him, the new kaiser was regarded with some apprehension. karl, however, was very gracious to nuremberg, and gave her new privileges, for he was eager to secure the loyalty of her citizens. he confirmed the rich burghers in their offices, and succeeded in winning over the patricians to his side. but it was at this time that a desire for a more democratic form of government began to manifest itself throughout the towns of germany. the lower classes showed signs of restiveness, and evinced a desire to have a voice in the counsels of their town. the patrician families had engrossed all the rights. the proceedings of the council were secret, and no account of the money which passed through their hands was forthcoming. the administration of justice rested entirely with them. complaints were loud that the rights of the poor and the artisans did not receive proper attention. the pride of the hereditary patrician councillors had become notorious. the sturdy independent craftsmen began to murmur against this state of affairs. they felt they were entitled to a place in the government of the town, which they supported by their industry and, in war, with their arms. they were ready at last to take steps to secure that place. when their demands were refused by the patricians, bloodshed and strife resulted. in rothenburg, regensburg, and munich the patricians were successful in retaining the council in their own hands. and so it was with nuremberg. but of the details of the great revolution which broke out there at the beginning of karl's reign little is known. the artisans, it seems, were staunch and faithful to the memory of ludwig. he had, says one of the chroniclers, won their adherence by his popular manners and by giving them the right of having their own drinking clubs. the change of policy on the side of the council who embraced the cause of the luxembourg (caroline) party enabled the artisans, who were loyal to the bavarian (wittelsbach) family, to make a bid for a share in the government of their town. the council, with promises of redress of grievances, tried to stem the revolt. but it was too late. in alarm they called in the aid of karl, and karl sent a peace-maker who came and went in vain. some of the council then fled the town. the chroniclers go so far as to say that a surprise of the council--a regular coup d'état--was planned for a particular day, but that the council was warned in time. though the rathaus was stormed and the gates of the town occupied, "the birds had flown." they had escaped from the town by all sorts of curious devices. this story may have sprung from the unchastened imagination of the chroniclers, but we know as an historical fact that on june 4, 1348, the rebels opened the gates to soldiers of ludwig, markgraf of brandenburg, eldest son of the late emperor. he was excommunicated (for karl was the papal nominee) as his father had been. the city when it received him shared in his excommunication. the clergy tried to escape from the tainted city, but the people, having shut the gates, compelled them to read mass. a copy of a certificate from the bishop of clure to the clergy, testifying that they had only held mass under compulsion, is still extant. the rebels, then, were for the moment successful: the old council was abolished and a new one chosen, which was composed mainly of artisans, but did not exclude all the old councillors. their chief work of innovation was to allow the artisans to form guilds. on the whole the new council was not a success. prosperity is a cynical but convincing test of a government. confusion and disorder obtained, and commerce was affected by the lack of police and the little real power of the council. the finances of the town suffered accordingly. the partisans of the old _régime_ refused to contribute. it was therefore a good thing for nuremberg when, in 1349, the opposition of the wittelsbach party broke down, and terms were made which left karl master of the situation. nuremberg passed into his hands, and he proceeded to restore the _status quo ante_ there. a new council[7] was elected, and the ringleaders of the conspiracy were banished with their families. chapter ii _development of nuremberg_ "nürnberg's hand geht durch alle land." --_old proverb._ karl iv. proceeded to confirm the privileges of the town for a cash consideration. that was the way of mediæval monarchs. we have seen that the finances of nuremberg were not at this moment in a very flourishing condition. there is little doubt that the heavy payment she was called upon to make to the king was one of the chief causes which led to the great persecution of the jews which soon broke out. the jews are first mentioned in nuremberg in 1288. they were then personally free. they could hold land and live after their own laws. medicine was their chief profession; for money-lending--at first without interest--was originally the business of the monasteries. it was one of the most unfortunate results of the crusades that they stirred up feeling against the jews. persecutions began, and a change took place in the personal position of the jews. they had now to wear a special dress and to cut their beards, whilst the christians luxuriated in beards as long as they could possibly grow them. when the christians were no longer allowed to take interest for money lent, the jews stepped in, being under their own laws, as money-lenders. in many places they were forbidden to follow any other profession than that of usury. by a charter of the hohenstaufen another important change was wrought in their condition. they were made directly subject to the king and empire (königliche kammerknechte). for this protection they had to pay a tax direct to the imperial treasury. their riches grew in spite of all sorts of commercial disabilities, and with them grew the value of this tax. one good result of this was that it interested the king in their favour. he did not care to see his golden geese slain, and their property confiscated by the towns. in nuremberg it was possible for the jews to become citizens on the payment of a certain sum of money. in 1338, it appears from an old burgher list, there were 212 jewish citizens. ten years later, when the black death was devastating europe, it was said that the jews had poisoned the wells and purposely propagated the plague in order to annihilate the christians. they were accused of all sorts of sacrilege and unnatural crimes. a frightful persecution broke out. all along the rhine thousands of them were burnt at the stake. the austrian poet helbing echoed the public sentiment, during a later persecution, when he exclaimed, "there are too many jews in our country. it is a shame and a sin to tolerate them. if i were king, if i could lay my hand on you, jews, i tell you in truth i would have you all burnt." and this is the opinion of the humanist, conrad celtes, in his praise of nuremberg:- "exscindenda protecto gens aut ad caucasum et ultra sauromatas perpetuo exilio releganda, quæ, per universum orbem in se totiens iram numinum concitat, humani generis societatem violans et conturbans." at nuremberg there were other reasons for the outbreak. in old days the jews had been told to build their houses in the modern dötschmannsplatz. their synagogue stood on the site of the present frauenkirche. hence the space between the rathaus and the fleischbrücke was all the market-room the christians had. the increasing numbers and prosperity of the jews, in this, the best site of the town, was very distressing to observe. so it came to pass that in 1349, on the strength of a document signed by karl, in which he undertakes to ask no questions if anything should happen to the jews at the hands of the people or the council, the christians pulled down the jewish houses, and made the two large market-places, called to-day the hauptmarkt and the obstmarkt. between these they built, to the glory of god, the beautiful frauenkirche. as for the jews, "_the jews were burnt on st. nicholas' eve_, 1349," is the laconic report of ulman stromer, chronicler.[8] the modern maxfeld is supposed to have been the scene of this atrocity. such is the origin of those picturesque market-places, where to-day beneath the shadow of st. sebald's shrine, st. mary's church and the stately rathaus, the beautiful fountain pours its silvery waters, and the peasants sell the produce of the country, sitting at their stalls beneath huge umbrellas, or leading the patient oxen which have drawn their carts to the city. we have mentioned above the grievances of the artisans at this period. it must not be supposed that they were altogether down-trodden and miserable. pecuniarily they must have been comparatively well off. for from this time, up to the middle of the thirty years war, the nuremberg workmen flourished in reputation and execution. their numbers were large; their work was distinguished for its beauty and durability. their metal work in particular was famous; and they maintained its excellence for a long while, fostered by the system of masters and apprentices, which in this case led to a real desire to reach or improve upon a high standard of sound and artistic work. even to-day you can hardly walk ten yards in nuremberg without coming upon some perfect piece of ironwork, such as the railings round the wells or in front of the frauenkirche. in the german museum[9] there are two rooms full of locks and hinges, which, if once seen and studied by the modern manufacturer of inferior wares, should almost certainly make him cease from his evil ways. or, if the reader wish for an example of the wide gulf which separates the good from the indifferent, let him secure a genuine specimen of those old waterpots (_butte_), in which women so picturesquely carry water on their backs from the wells, and compare it with a modern imitation. these old workmen took a pride in their work. they were not, however, for that reason contemptuous of a little relaxation. they had their general holidays. we know victor hugo's description of all fools' day in _notre dame de paris_. and here, in nuremberg, we find the butchers and cutlers asking and obtaining from karl the right to hold a carnival, and to dance in silks and velvets like the great families. this right was afterwards extended to all the trades. _schembartläufer_ the carnival was called. every year the dance took place. by degrees the great people began to take part in it. the good burghers were very fond of dancing, as we shall have further occasion to notice. in time all sorts of rites and ceremonies grew up round the celebration of this holiday, which not even the presence of the enemy or the plague could induce the artisans to omit. like don't-care hippocleides, they _would_ dance. masks were worn, spears and crackers carried, and a special costume designed for each year. popular songs and pasquinades were sung and published. personalities of course were rife. in 1523, for instance, a man appeared dressed in "indulgences." not a little rough buffoonery of one sort or another found place. to conclude the proceedings, a so-called "hell," made of fireworks, was let off in front of the rathaus. and so to bed, as pepys would have written. the influence of the reformers proved fatal to indulgence in this sort of wild hilarity. the celebration of the carnival was finally forbidden in 1539, much to the annoyance of the people. in 1349 karl issued from nuremberg the declaration of public peace (he was always an eager promoter of landfrieden--public peaces) for franconia--to last for two years. in this arrangement nuremberg was accorded the same standing as other imperial cities and received, under karl, equal political rights with the princely and other communities. a board of representatives of each town or district was to sit periodically at nuremberg and see to it that the peace was kept. whilst the king tried to preserve order in this way, peace leagues were also common in these times of feuds. so we find nuremberg joining the league of the swabian towns. it was at nuremberg that karl, when he returned from being crowned at rome (1356), held a famous reichstag and issued the golden bull, so-called from the golden seal, or _bulla_, appended to the deed, which determined the method of electing the emperors and reduced the number of electors to seven. the place where the first twenty-three articles of this important law were published is still known as the house "_zum goldenen schild_," in the schildgasse. the old custom by which the newly chosen kaiser held his first reichstag at nuremberg was made law by the golden bull--a law in later times frequently ignored. by the golden bull, also, towns were forbidden to league together, which was a very burdensome provision secured by the influence of the princes, but, luckily for the towns, not able to be enforced. the golden bull, acknowledging, as it did, the power and increasing the territorial rights of the great princes, and rousing the envy of those who were not made electors, held in it the seeds of the dissolution of the empire. it encouraged, in effect, all the petty princes to exceed their powers and to encroach on the rights of the towns. the nuremberg burggraf was no exception to this rule. from this time forward he is continually coming into conflict with the town. the quarrel began over the _geleitsrecht_, right of convoy and customs. the emperor in 1357 gave to the burggraf certain rights of way which enabled him to exact toll from the merchants on their way to frankfort. now this was a direct infringement of the charter given them a few years before forbidding all unjust or unusual taxes. they appealed on the strength of this and the kaiser revoked the right. but the question crops up again and again. a little later we find the kaiser, in recognition of his indebtedness to the burggraf for past services, giving him the office of chief magistrate of the town together with large revenues therefrom. the town, anxious to have the magistracy under its own control, wished to buy it from the burggraf. the kaiser, with a view to sharing the proceeds, raised the price at which it was to be sold, so that in 1385 the town had to redeem the magistracy and taxes for the exorbitant sum of 8000 gulden. karl, as far as one can make out, tried to hunt with the hounds and run with the hare, first helping the town and then the burggraf, partly because he was indebted to both for their aid, and partly because the issue of a new charter was a proceeding which brought cash into the imperial treasury. for directly or indirectly charters were always paid for. this accounts to some extent for the mass of contradictory decrees which survive to perplex the modern historian. such a little compliment as the following, for instance, which we find at the end of a charter dated 1366, had doubtless its origin in a cash transaction:- "the emperor is accustomed to live and to hold his court in his imperial town of nuremberg, as being the most distinguished and best situated town of the empire here in the land." the relations between the burggraf and the town continued to be so strained that they almost came to blows in 1367 over the building of a wall. this wall was run up in forty days by the citizens, completely cutting off the approach from the castle to the town, and thus protecting the town from all hostile attacks of the burggraf. the quarrel thereby occasioned dragged on for ten years before it was settled by an imperial decree. much to the chagrin of the burggraf, the kaiser, in deciding the dispute, unexpectedly favoured the town. we can hardly be surprised that the burggraf, still smarting from this humiliation, was inclined to interpret as an act of aggression the building by the citizens of the tower "luginsland" (1377),[10] which, besides commanding, as its name implied, a wide view of the surrounding country, would serve also as a watch-tower whence the actions of the burggraf might be observed and forestalled. "man pawet in darümb das man darauf ins marggrafen purk möcht gesehen," says one chronicler. before all this, the future king wenzel had been born in nuremberg and baptised in st. sebalduskirche. the chronicles say that at the baptism of the imperial child--with whose birth karl was so pleased that he remitted the imperial taxes of the town for a year--the font was not clean, and that, as the baptismal water was being warmed in the parsonage, a fire broke out and the whole of the choir adjoining it was burnt down. only the beautiful (fourteenth century) oriel window remained uninjured by the flames.[11] the present parsonage was built by pfinzing, the author of the _theuerdank_, of whom more anon. [illustration: oriel window of the parsonage] on the day of the baptism it is recorded that the emperor displayed to the people from the gallery over the door of the church the imperial insignia and relics which he had brought from prague to the new frauenkirche. this wenzel, or wenceslas, of whom we have spoken, succeeded his father when he was but seventeen. half-idiot, half-maniac, addicted to drunkenness and hunting, he was not the man to restore order in an empire which had already fallen into a state of chaos. he was one of the worst kaisers and the least victorious on record. he would attend to nothing in the reich, "the prague white beer and girls of various complexions being much preferable," as he was heard to say. the result was that his reign was a period of feuds, the golden era of free or robber knights. club-law, or faustrecht, as it was called--the right of private warfare--was the order of the day. the history of nuremberg resolves itself into the police-news of the period, the record of the sallies and outrages of such knights as ekkelein von gailingen, whose headquarters were at windsheim, some thirty miles off, and who was the götz von berlichingen of the fourteenth century. the old castles which the traveller sees from time to time on the banks of the rhine, or on the ravines and large brooks which flow into it, were then no picturesque ruins, rendered interesting by the stories which were told about their former inhabitants, but constituted the real and apparently impregnable strongholds of this robber-chivalry. on the east wall of the castle, near the five-cornered tower, they will show you to this day two hoof-shaped marks, which are said to be the impressions left there by the hoofs of ekkelein (or eppelein) von gailingen's gallant steed. for this freebooter, ekkelein, who had long been feared, admired, and even credited with magical powers, was at length captured by the nuremberg burgher-soldiers and condemned to death. shut up in the castle, he pined in the dungeon until the day arrived on which he was to expiate his crimes with his life. when he was brought out into the yard for execution, he begged, as a last request, that he might be allowed to say farewell to his favourite horse and his servant jäckel. the beautiful charger, neighing with pleasure, was brought. ekkelein put his arm round its neck and embraced it lovingly. "if only, before i die, i might once more feel myself on his back!" so natural and so harmless did the request seem that his wish was granted. his groom placed the saddle and bridle on the horse, who, when his master mounted, shook his mane for joy. at first the faithful creature moved gently and proudly in the circle of the guard, looking round him and snorting. when ekkelein patted his powerful, smooth neck, the muscles of the noble animal grew larger and the veins of his flanks swelled at the touch of the master's hand. he spurned the ground, raised his fore-feet and threw himself forward into a thundering gallop. lightly and gently the spur of the rider touched his sides: he rushed furiously round the court. guards and jailors shrank back before the stones which his hoofs threw high into the air. but the gate was secure and escape not to be thought of. then, whoever is able to read the eyes of dumb beasts might have seen flaming in those of ekkelein's charger a lament like this: "how, my noble master? shalt thou die here? shall thy knightly blood flow ignominiously in this miserable place! shall i never again carry thee into the battle, or bear thee through the defiles and the forests, and never more eat golden oats out of thy brave hand! o my master, save thyself! trust in me and my strength and the impossible shall become possible." the horse raised himself. the knight struck both spurs into his sides, held breath and, stooping low, embraced with both arms the neck of the faithful steed, from whose hoofs showered sparks of fire. before the burghers could stay them, before the guards could lift a finger, before breath could be drawn, the desperate spring was made and man and horse were over the parapet which overhung the moat 100 feet below. they leaped not--as it appeared to the incredulous eyes that peeped at them from the top of the battlements--to their destruction; for, after a huge splash and struggle in the waters of the fosse, horse and rider rose again to the surface, and, long before the drawbridge could be let down and his captors could pursue him, ekkelein was away in the deep forest, galloping on his brave steed, well on the road to the impregnable castle of gailingen. the dent made by the horse's hoofs in the stones below is there to this day. can we wonder if the story went round that it was his satanic majesty who had presented the bold knight with this wondrous steed, the better to facilitate the various little errands with which he had entrusted him? fortunately for the burgesses of nuremberg not every free-knight could rely on such diabolic means of succour, so that they were able to defend themselves with energy and success against the noble and aggressive freebooters. the council saw to it that the fortifications were continually strengthened and they did not despise the aid of the newly-introduced blunderbuss.[12] indeed, even in the field the burgesses and their mercenaries showed themselves a match for the free-knights. so confident was nuremberg in her own resources that at first she refused to join the great league of all the rhenish towns founded in 1381, but three years later she came in. though the great princes of the empire were very jealous of such leagues, the kaiser managed to patch up a union, with himself at the head, between this league and the princes, and called it the "heidelberg union" for the maintenance of peace. however a year or two later the dukes of bavaria, jealous as ever of the towns, broke loose, and seized the archbishop pilgrim von salzburg, a friend of the towns, and some nuremberg merchants. the kaiser, instead of taking strong measures at once, pursued his usual policy of shilly-shally. but in january 1388 a strong army of the league started from augsburg, ravaging all bavaria with fire and sword. to this army nuremberg contributed some mounted mercenaries, and at the same time marched an army of her own--8000 strong, a very large army for those days--against hilpoltstein, but without success. the war resolved itself into a struggle between the interests of the princes and of the towns. the towns failed to hold together, and paid the penalty in failure. they had commenced hostilities vigorously, but nuremberg set the example of wavering. in a year or so she made peace on no very favourable terms, consenting to pay heavy indemnities. still, the general result of the war, though the towns were not successful, was not to lower the status of the towns. so far as nuremberg was concerned the administration of the war had been carried on by a committee of the rat--the kriegsrat, which henceforth became permanent. as to the expenses, they were in part defrayed by a wholesale seizure of jews and confiscation of their property. this disgraceful proceeding was done by the league in general (1385, and again in 1390), and countenanced by the kaiser. here is a characteristic story of that very feckless kaiser, which will show how fit he was to govern the german empire. wenzel, the story runs, demanded from the nuremberg council the key of the _stadtthor_. the council, though very loth to do so, gave him the key, on condition that he would grant them a request in return. the kaiser consented. when he graciously inquired what it was they demanded, the burgomeister asked for the key back again! the kaiser was so enraged that he slapped the burgomeister on the cheek, and rode off in a royal huff to rothenburg. in revenge, on st. margaret's day, when the consecration of the _schlosskapelle_ was celebrated, he allowed his followers to plunder the booths of the fair held round about the castle. wenzel, in fact, let things go their own gait in the empire. knights plundered and traders quarrelled as they would. the kaiser indulged in bouts of drinking, in long hunting forays, and in insane fits of rage. at last the princes began to dispense with his presence. they called a reichstag at frankfort and sent to him demanding a regent. then wenzel roused himself, returned to nuremberg, and proclaimed a public peace (1397). a crusade against the turbulent knights in the valley of the pegnitz was undertaken and proved successful. their castles were taken and wenzel forbade them to be rebuilt. this was but a momentary outburst of energy on his part. he soon resumed his old indifference. in 1400 the discontent of the princes came to a head. wenzel was deposed: ruprecht von der pfalz was chosen king and, after some cautious hesitation, was finally accepted by the towns. in a charter confirming her privileges ruprecht granted to nuremberg the care of the reichsburg at all times, and made the town independent of the burggraf in the time of feud,--excused them, that is, from assisting him in his little wars. nuremberg gave ruprecht active support in the proceedings against wenzel; her chief exploit being the capture of rothenburg after a siege of five weeks. when ruprecht died (1410) jobst and sigismund were competitors for the kaisership, wenzel too striking in with claims for reinstatement. _both_ the former were elected, so that germany rejoiced in as many kaisers as christianity had popes. happily jobst died in three months, and sigismund, chiefly through the faithful and unwearied diligence of burggraf frederick vi. of nuremberg, became kaiser, "an always hoping, never resting, unsuccessful, vain and empty kaiser. specious, speculative, given to eloquence, diplomacy, and the windy instead of the solid arts: always short of money for one thing." this last fault affected nuremberg in more than one way. in the first place it necessitated the borrowing of heavy loans from her. throughout the fourteenth century and onwards the kaisers asked and received very large loans (pleasantly so-called) from nuremberg. wenzel, ruprecht and sigismund demanded ever larger and increasingly frequent donations. sometimes, but not very often, the citizens were rewarded by the concession of a charter or the ratification of some procedure on their part. but the price was, of course, out of all proportion to the value of the thing purchased. as an example of these dealings we may instance the "loan" exacted by sigismund in 1430, which amounted to 9000 gulden, besides other requisitions in the same year. one sees, at any rate, that nuremberg must have been sufficiently full-blooded to endure being bled in this manner. but it was this same impecuniosity on the part of the kaiser which led him to sell outright, for a total sum of 400,000 gulden, the electorate of brandenburg, with its land, titles and sovereign electorship and all to burggraf frederick, who already held it in pawn. this step was, in its immediate results at least, distinctly advantageous to nuremberg. clever and energetic, the burggraf set about suppressing the robber-knights and establishing order. burggraf frederick on his first coming to brandenburg found but a cool reception as statthalter. he came as a representative of law and rule; and there had been many noble gentlemen of the turpin profession helping themselves by a ruleless life of late. industry was at a low ebb, violence was rife; plunder and disorder everywhere; trade wrecked, private feuds abounding; too much the habit of baronial gentlemen to live by the saddle, as they termed it; that is by highway robbery in modern phrase. at first the burggraf tried gentle methods, but when he found the noble lords scoffed at him, calling him a "nürnberger tand" (nuremberg toy), and continued their plunderings and other contumacies, then with the aid of his frankish men-at-arms, neighbouring potentates and artillery--one huge gun, a twenty-four pounder, called lazy peg (_faule grete_), is mentioned--he set to work, and in a remarkably short period established comparative peace and order.[13] that was a piece of work highly acceptable, we may be sure, to the merchants of nuremberg. were they not concerned in bringing fish and wool from the north, to exchange them in italy and venice for the silks and spices of the east? in 1414 we catch a glimpse of the sombre figure of john huss, the reformer, the bohemian successor of wiclif, passing through nuremberg. the people here seem to have sympathised with his views. he explained his position to the clergy and council, and they invited him to return to them if he fared successfully at kostnitz. but there he met his martyrdom. his supporters, the down-trodden peasantry of bohemia, thereupon rose in a revolt, which empire for a long while utterly failed to suppress. nuremberg had exhibited no great enthusiasm against heretics. though, in 1399, she had burnt six women and a man for heresy, yet she had given huss a warm welcome. but the devastation wrought by the hussite army alienated all sympathy, and on the suppression of the "heretics," nuremberg joined in the universal rejoicings of all steady-going merchants. she had taken occasional part in the hussite wars; but chiefly through paying money instead of sending a proper contingent of men--a fact which illustrates the narrow, selfish and lazy policy of the town communities where the empire was concerned. it was impossible for the emperor to keep order with insufficient means of police. for the emperor got not a foot of german territory with his imperial crown. he was merely the feudal head, and as such found it very hard to get troops or money from the german people. most of the members of the empire--petty princes and imperial towns alike--were concerned chiefly not with the ordering of the empire but with becoming sovereign in their own territories. there was very little feeling of imperial unity. if the empire did not do its duty by the towns, the towns did very little for the empire, beyond supplying money. the nurembergers were energetic enough when it came to fortifying their town on the approach of the victorious hussites (1430). the grim heretics advanced ravaging and destroying the country, depopulating the towns. night and day, men, women and children worked at the walls, striving to render the place impregnable. but the danger passed away. thanks to the markgraf frederick, who bought them off very cheaply, the hussites returned, for the time, in peace to their homes. sigismund succeeded in being crowned at rome in 1433, and on this occasion he knighted sebald behaim, of the great nuremberg family of that name, and gave to nuremberg a charter confirming her privileges and giving her the right to keep the imperial jewels, insignia, and sacred relics for ever. these were brought with great pomp and rejoicing to the church of the holy spirit (_neuenspital_) and there they were kept and jealously guarded till 1796. they were shown with much ceremony once a year to the people. this occasion was a very popular festival down to the reformation days. but in 1523 the relics were shown for the last time. frederick the third we shall only mention for the sake of the picturesque ceremonial which occurred when he held his first reichstag at nuremberg, at easter 1442. the kaiser rode in at the spittlerthor. in the middle of the street where he had to pass st. jakobskirche a table was spread on which, besides a crucifix, were placed the heads of st. sebald and st. cyprian. the kaiser dismounted, took the cross from the abbot of st. ægidius and kissed it. thereupon one of the holy skulls was placed on the kaiser's head, whilst the priests and choristers in surplices and birettas sang responses. the kaiser and his retinue and all the priesthood then made a solemn procession to the sebalduskirche. here the kaiser worshipped on his knees before the altar. the priest read the special collect over him, and, taking a handful of flax and tow, lighted it and, as it burnt, exclaimed in a loud voice, "most illustrious kaiser, _sic transit gloria mundi_." then the chorus of priests burst out into the strains of the _te deum_, and the kaiser went his way in the world--a compromising emperor who slept through a long reign to the no small detriment of germany. we must not think of the nurembergers as altogether given up to trade and merchandise. they were capable of being stirred up into the deepest religious enthusiasm. i know not what reception they gave to the cardinal nicholas of cusa, who (1451) came preaching through germany, and passed through nuremberg selling "indulgences" like a cheap-jack, lowering his price from time to time to get rid of his stock. but the monk, capistranus, a great preacher, who came in the following year, created so tremendous a sensation by his eloquence and by miracles which he wrought that the people, we are told, flocked in crowds, laden with their new-fashioned pointed shoes, their _schlitten_ (sledges--harmless enough one would have thought--but they were regarded as extravagant luxuries), and thousands of dice and cards, and burnt them all in the market-place. next year they were stirred again by the terrible news that the turks had taken constantinople. eleven hundred burghers seized their arms and went as crusaders to help the hungarians in belgrade against the infidel turk.[14] but they did not do great deeds. scarce a third of them returned at christmastide. the rest had died of hardship or of disease. this gave the council a distaste for crusades. they took to discouraging the preachers who came to beat up recruits against hussites or turks. the town, it was found, had to support the widows and children of the dead crusaders. the preachings of the firebrand johannes capistranus had another evil result. the jews since the persecution in 1349 had not been much molested, though continually squeezed for money by both kaiser and council. but the increase in their numbers, the riches they had accumulated through usury, and the eloquence of this monk all tended to rouse religious hatred. "the hatred against the jews is so general in germany," writes froissart in 1497, "that the calmest people are beside themselves when the conversation turns on their usury. i should not be surprised if on a sudden a bloody persecution broke out against them all over the country. they have already been forcibly expelled from many towns." after many half resolves, the council determined to ask maximilian to drive these "sucking leeches" from the town. reluctantly he consented. "their numbers have increased too much. under pretext of loans they have given themselves up to a dangerous and detestable traffic of usury. many honourable citizens, deceived by their devices, are so deeply in debt that they see their private honour and their very means of existence threatened. for these reasons the jews are invited to quit the town altogether within a period fixed by the council. they are permitted to take with them their moveable property, but henceforth none of them shall have the right to reside in nuremberg."[15] on the 10th of march 1499, driven from their homes amid the curses of the christians, the jews left nuremberg with groans and lamentations, never to dwell there again till 1850. maximilian sold their houses to the council. their churchyard was built over, their tombstones used for building the corn exchange--(die waage). but no persecution, no repression, no laws forbidding commercial transactions between christian and jew, could ever subdue that despised but indomitable race. most of them found refuge in frankfort; but some years later, with the encouragement of the markgrafs of brandenburg, many of them settled at fürth, which speedily became a serious commercial rival to nuremberg, and remains to this day as prosperous as her neighbour. one curious and interesting result this expulsion had. in order to supply the place of the money-lenders the emperor ordered a leihaus or state pawnshop to be built, where money was to be advanced at a moderate percentage on property to people in difficulties. it was to be run at cost price, or, if there were any surplus, it was to go to the state. this was an imitation of the italian system (monte di pietà) already in vogue at augsburg--a system not without interest to the englishman of to-day. during the thirty years war, the jews in fürth, oppressed by the imperial troops, asked to be received back into nuremberg. some of the council were ready to comply, on the receipt of a large payment, but the majority refused to have the "damaging rascals" within their walls. so long did the hostility towards the jews survive here that it was not till 1800 that the regulation was done away with by which, in order to stop a day in nuremberg, a jew had to pay a personal tax of 45 kreuzer, and, in addition, had to be accompanied by a guard, for he was not allowed to walk in the streets alone. this guard was usually an old woman, who followed her jew everywhere for the consideration of 15 kreuzer. chapter iii _nuremberg and the reformation_ "trading staple of the german world in old days, toyshop of the german world in these new, albert dürer's and hans sachs' city."--carlyle. we have watched the dawning sun of nuremberg's greatness rise over the forest till now it has reached the _mittags_-quarter. we have seen, to change the metaphor, the little foundling of the swamps grow year by year till at last she has arrived at the full strength and beauty of womanhood. for it was under maximilian that nuremberg reached her prime: it was under him and his successors that the greatest of her sons flourished. she was lavish as a princess in the adornment of her person. once in 1447, and again in 1491, for instance, we find her voting some 500 florins to gild the beautiful fountain (schöner brunnen), which had been placed in the hauptmarkt 1385.[16] she was already adorned with those churches which in her old age are still her brightest jewels. once completed, these churches were not regarded merely as houses of prayer, but rather as the books of god, where the divine history of the redemption might be read and illustrated. the christian fervour of the artists led them to give their best and sincerest work to the decoration of them. so that in the course of time the churches came to represent for the people museums constantly open, historic galleries of sacred art, to which one masterpiece after another was added. "from daily admiration of them an æsthetic sense was formed in the minds of the young, and thanks to them the artists found repeated opportunities for exercising their art. orders from private individuals or public bodies abounded. every well-to-do family, every corporation was eager to do honour to god by the presentation of some gift to his holy dwelling-place: some offered a picture, a statue, a window, or an altar-piece; the portraits of the families themselves,[17] as portraits of the donors, were placed at the feet of the saints. when the artists represented themselves in paint, bronze, wood, or stone, they gave themselves the humble attitude of suppliants: in those of their compositions which contain numerous personages they always choose the humblest place for themselves; often, like adam krafft in the tabernacle in the church of st. lorenz, they appear in their working clothes, tools in hand, in the attitude of servants."[18] whilst such men as adam krafft and peter vischer were giving their life-work to the beautifying of the churches, sculpture and painting also were turned to the adornment of domestic and public life. the mansions of the merchant princes still bear witness to the wealth of the burgesses, and to the vigour of the artistic impulse of this period. every house, apart from architectural splendour, was decorated with a painting, whether of some symbol or the patron saint of the family. the very aspect of the streets spoke to the importance of the rôle which art played in the life of the town. the influence of the town reacted no less surely on the art of the period. albert durer, for instance, in spite of his wide experience always speaks in his art, like his master wolgemut, in the nuremberg dialect. the intense patriotism and the deep religious feeling which formed so intimate a part of the lives of the citizens are reproduced in their art and literature, [illustration: schöner brunnen] giving the greatest examples of them the added charm of locality. their love of science was no less genuine than their love of art. in june 1471, a few weeks after the birth of albert durer, johannes muller, (surnamed regiomontanus in allusion to königsberg, his native village) the great mathematical genius, "the wonder of his generation," took up his abode at nuremberg, making her the true home of physical and mathematical science and contributing mightily to her reputation as "the capital of german art, the most precious jewel of the empire, the meeting-place of art and industry." "i have chosen nuremberg for my place of residence," he writes, "because there i find without difficulty all the peculiar instruments necessary for astronomy, and there it is easiest for me to keep in touch with the learned of all countries, for nuremberg, thanks to the perpetual journeyings of her merchants, may be counted the centre of europe." inspired with the eager desire to know everything, so characteristic of his age, he was equally desirous to impart his knowledge. we may trace to his influence durer's book on geometry and his beautiful chart of the heavens. muller introduced popular science lectures, and organised the manufacture of astronomical and nautical instruments. his most famous pupil was martin behaim the constructor of the first globe and the adventurous navigator, whose monument (1890) may be seen in the theresien platz. behaim in 1492 indicated on his terrestrial globe the precise route followed six years later by vasco da gama when he doubled the cape of good hope. it was behaim, too, who suggested to magellan the first idea of the strait which bears his name. behaim's famous globe is kept in the behaim house, which is in the ægiden platz, next to the house of koberger, the printer, and opposite the statue of melanchthon (by burgschmiet, 1826). maximilian, "the last of the knights," had taken a considerable part in the government before he succeeded his father in 1493. the nurembergers, who always had an eye for a strong man, had already shown their loyalty to him. he had stayed amongst them at the house of christopher scheurl (father of the famous dr scheurl), and whilst there would seem to have amused himself light-heartedly enough. when about to depart, we are told, he invited twenty great ladies to dinner; after dinner, when they were all in a good humour, the margraf frederick asked maximilian in the name of the ladies to stay a little longer and to dance with them. _they_, it is said, had taken away his boots and spurs, so he had no choice. then the whole company adjourned to the council house, several other young ladies were invited, and maximilian stayed dancing all through the afternoon and night and arrived a day late at neumarkt where the count of the palatinate had been expecting him all the preceding day. as emperor, maximilian stayed at the kaiserburg. a brilliant assembly attended his first reichstag. masques, dances, tourneys and so forth are recorded with gusto by the chroniclers. the emperor, they say, entertained all the ladies of the town at dinner and provided them with two hundred and forty sorts of dishes. no wonder he was popular! nuremberg was not allowed to be content with supplying maximilian with partners in the ball-room. in 1499 she had to support him in his disastrous war with switzerland. the nuremberg contingent was under willibald pirkheimer and wolf pömer. beautifully dressed in red and white uniforms these soldiers earned the reputation of cowardice and treachery. such imputations were, let it be confessed, not unfrequently cast upon nuremberg courage; but on this occasion the emperor took their part and refuted the charge. nuremberg knew at any rate how to fight her own battles. throughout this period we find her engaged in continual quarrels with the markgrafs of brandenburg. the burggraf frederick once made elector, had parted with the burggrafship, sold it, all but the title, to the burghers in 1427. but principalities and territories were retained in that quarter, and about these, and their feudal rights and boundaries and tolls, endless trouble arose. some fifty years later actual furious war resulted between the elector albert achilles and the jealous citizens--a war in "which eight victories are counted on albert's part--furious successful skirmishes they call them; in one of which albert plunged in alone, his ritters being rather shy, and laid about him hugely, hanging by a standard he had taken, till his life was nearly beaten out. eight victories, and also one defeat wherein albert got captured and had to ransom himself. the captor was one kunz of kauffungen, the nürnberg hired general at the time, a man known to some readers for his stealing of the saxon princes (prinzenraut, they call it), a feat which cost kunz his head."[19] such quarrels continued, for the markgrafs did not relinquish their efforts to extend their powers. details it would be wearisome to give, but they illustrate the general family tendency of the hohenzollern. it is characteristic that they were generally successful in their claims (all cases, it was now decided, arising from nuremberg property outside the walls were to be tried by the landgericht, of which the markgraf was president), and based on this success still greater claims in the future. the memoirs of götz von berlichingen furnish us with an interesting account of the battle of the forest of nuremberg (1502), which affords a good example of the sort of thing continually occurring in those days. towards the end of may it was rumoured in the town that warlike preparations were being made in ansbach, the headquarters of the markgraf. the feelings of the citizens were still further roused by the fact that the markgraf had taken under his protection an enemy of nuremberg. the day of the affalterbacher fair was at hand. the prospect seemed so threatening that the council sent a specially large contingent--2000 men, with a "wagenburg" and cannon under the command of the magistrate hans von weichsdorf, wolf haller, and wolf pömer--to escort their citizens who went to attend the fair. an accidental explosion of powder when they were starting seemed ominous. at home they kept a small force under ulman stromer, who drew up between the frauenand spitler-thor. on the day of the fair, the markgraf appeared with a large force of knights, swiss and local soldiery. amongst them was götz von berlichingen, who was only twenty-two years of age. the following manoeuvers then took place. in the morning some sixty horsemen were seen driving off the cattle about a quarter of a mile south of nuremberg. ulman stromer thereupon marched out and took up a strong position, under protection of his guns, and drove the horsemen back into the woods, "for they did not find it very amusing: it is not everybody who likes to hear the cannon roar," says götz. the retreat of the enemy enticed ulman stromer to follow them with his carts and cannon into the wood. suddenly he came upon the markgraf casimir with his main army. though outnumbered, the nurembergers did not lose their courage, but fired with such effect that the riff-raff of the enemy [illustration: frauen thor] cleared off, leaving the knights and switzers to do battle. under cover of a strong fire, "so that nothing could be seen for smoke," stromer tried to form a "wagenburg" (waggon fortress), by having the carts driven round so as to form a circle about the men and guns, hoping to be able to wait in this extemporised fort till reinforcements should arrive from affalterbach. götz boasts that it was he who prevented this manoeuvre from being executed. for he killed one of the drivers, and so interrupted the completion of the circle. the brandenburgers were thus enabled to rush in, and compelled the citizens to take to flight. at this juncture the reinforcements came up, but it was too late. a general rush for safety to the town took place. on the bridge over the moat there was so great a crush of refugees that many were forced over into the water. luckily the cannon on the frauen thor kept the markgraf at a safe distance. within the town a terrible panic had occurred. götz, indeed, says that the place could easily have been taken--a statement not very easy to believe. at any rate, the markgraf did not attempt it, but marched back to schwabach to hold a service of thanksgiving, whilst the nurembergers revenged themselves on the peasants whom they had taken prisoner. intense indignation was felt and expressed against the markgraf: prisoners were torn to pieces in the streets. at last a curious peace was arranged, to begin on july 1st, but not before. each side tried to damage the other as much as possible before that day came, and the council, in order to get in a good final blow, burned the markgraf's castle of schönberg at the last moment. a peace thus inaugurated did not, as may be imagined, produce any lasting good feeling between the two parties. in the very next year fresh trouble arose over one heinz baum, a nuremberg citizen who had come down in the world and been put into prison by his creditors. as soon as he was released, he left the town, threw up his citizenship, and, after writing various threatening letters to the council, he surprised hans tucher, a nuremberg patrician, when riding out to his country seat, and kept him prisoner till he was ransomed. with the markgraf's secret support, baum proceeded to seize and keep in the stocks till ransom was paid all the citizens he could lay his hands on. though the emperor outlawed him, he pursued his way unhindered, protected by the markgraf, till 1512, when nuremberg bought off his chief supporter, and heinz baum retired to bamberg, where he died poor but unpunished. the importance of nuremberg was still further enhanced by the part she took in the war of the bavarian succession. in 1503 george the rich of bavaria had died without male issue. according to the feudal right, his lands ought to have gone to the male heir, but, hating as he did his natural successors, his cousins albrecht of bavaria and wolfgang, he had made his daughter his sole heiress, and married her to her cousin ruprecht (third son of the powerful philip, elector of the palatinate), whom he adopted as his son and made governor of a great part of the country. on the death of duke george, ruprecht succeeded, but albrecht and wolfgang raised such strenuous protest that the emperor, after repeated attempts to arrange a compromise, was obliged to outlaw ruprecht and all his supporters, his father the elector philip included. war was the inevitable result. the emperor and other princes, amongst whom was the markgraf of brandenburg, gave their support to albrecht, who promised them a share in what was conquered. many of philip's possessions were close to nuremberg. albrecht was therefore able to entice her to fight for him, promising her in return for her aid 40,000 gulden, with all the palatinate towns and the value of all george's towns that she might manage to take. with the aid of three special cannon, called the owl, the falcon, and the fishermaid, capable of shooting balls of 263 pounds weight, the nuremberg army captured a considerable number of palatinate towns. but even after the deaths first of ruprecht and then of his brave widow, who had carried on the struggle like another margaret of anjou, the war still dragged on on behalf of their little sons, and the palatinate party were actually getting a little the best of it when, at a reichstag in cologne, maximilian at length arranged a successful compromise. nuremberg was allowed to keep what she had taken, and now had more land than any other free town in the empire. it was a doubtful blessing. she was involved in constant wars to keep it, in further quarrels with the markgraf over the rights of _fraisgericht_,--of jurisdiction in matters of life and death in the newly acquired towns, and she had to pay largely increased contributions to the empire. altogether she was impoverished rather than benefited by her new property. we have now to trace the story of the celebrated feud with götz von berlichingen--the warrior knight, the chivalrous and charitable, the brave, free-booting noble, götz of the iron hand. such is the character goethe gave him when he centred in him, as the heroic champion of the privileges of the free knights, the interest of his shakesperian drama. truth, however, compels us to declare, that though men like götz or franz von sickingen, the robin hoods of germany, had the qualities of a certain rough justice and courage, they were, for the rest, wholly undeniable brigands. the love of destruction, disorder, and rapine, and the hatred of authority were their chief motives. they used their rights as pretexts for violence and devoted themselves to brigandage as to a legitimate vocation and organised industry. they were, indeed, little better than leaders of bands of robbers, the wolves of civilisation. "one day," says götz, "as i was on the point of making an attack, i perceived a pack of wolves descending on a flock of sheep. this incident seemed to me a good omen. we were going to begin the fight. a shepherd was near us, guarding his sheep, when, as if to give us the signal, five wolves threw themselves simultaneously on the flock. i saw it and noted it gladly. i wished them success and ourselves too, saying, 'good luck, dear comrades, success to you everywhere!' i took it as a very good augury that we had begun the attack together!" it was in 1495 that maximilian, ever anxious to promote peace and order within the borders of his empire, abrogated by edict the right of private war under the penalty of the ban of the empire--a penalty which involved the dooms of outlawry and excommunication. thus the "last of the knights" gave the death-blow to the chivalry of the middle ages. hitherto every german noble holding fief directly from the emperor had been on his own property a petty monarch, as it were, subordinate to the imperial authority alone. these proud military barons,--an ever-increasing host of petty lords, since the rule of inheritance in germany was division among the male heirs--esteemed above all other privileges the right of making war on each other, or on the towns, with no other ceremony than that of three days' notice in writing (fehdebrief). the evils and dangers of this privilege are clear, but they were left untouched by the golden bull. with the advance of civilisation, which was ever opposed to the feudal system, this faustrecht had come to be regarded as intolerable by such princes, bishops and free towns as suffered from the consequent disorder of the country and the marauding expeditions of the free-knights. for the residence of every baron had become, as we have seen, a fortress from which, as his passions or avarice dictated, a band of marauders sallied forth to back his quarrel or to collect an extorted revenue from the merchants who presumed to pass through his domain. princes and bishops, abbots and wealthy merchants of the towns banded together, therefore, to enforce the new ordinance and to suppress the petty feudatories, who, like götz, struggled to maintain their privilege and independence. under sigismund various efforts had been made to suppress the harrying of the knights and many robber-nests on solitary rocks were taken. when taken the robbers, especially those of the lower class, were made short work of and dealt with in various ways--ways best illustrated by a visit to the torture chambers of the castle. there was one hans schuttensamen, for instance, on whose head the council put a price. a citizen of bamberg came forward and claimed the reward, saying he had shot him. after he had received the money his story was found to be a stretch of the imagination and he was burnt accordingly. ten years later (1474) the robber also got burnt. so bitterly were these knights hated and feared that even the great tourneys, such as the one recorded in 1446,[20] when all the neighbouring nobles came in from the surrounding country and tilted and displayed their skill and valour in the market-place, were very unpopular with the peace-loving burghers. nuremberg, then, joined the swabian league to suppress such knights as chose still to indulge in the forbidden club law or faustrecht. it was not long before she came into direct collision with götz von berlichingen of the iron hand. götz, who had a fine gift for chastising the gutter-blooded citizens of a free town, had long been anxious to try conclusions with the men of nuremberg. he carried out his intention on a very futile pretext. the nurembergers, it seems, had pursued and fought in the adjacent woods some unknown knights, who had refused, when challenged, to give their names as honest knights and fled. now, some years after, hans von geislingen, brother of one george, who was the squire of eustace of lichtenstein and was killed on this occasion, demanded blood-money for his brother, and on being refused, he seized some nuremberg citizens and merchants' caravans. he was outlawed, but this did not prevent götz von berlichingen from helping him. george, he declared, had been his page (a statement that had the defect of being untrue), and he demanded a large sum of money in compensation. when this was refused götz did not send an _absagebrief_, or letter of notice of war, but merely a note saying that he was considering, with his friends, how to get compensation. his bitterness was further increased by the action of the council, who shortly afterwards decapitated sebastian von seckendorf, a knight who had long been a source of annoyance, and whom they had at last been successful in catching. suddenly, and without warning, götz and his friends swooped down on a party of fifty-five nuremberg merchants who were travelling back from the fair at leipzig, under the escort of the bishop of bamberg. these he plundered and took prisoners as they were crossing the rednitz, near forcheim. götz did not treat his prisoners too gently, but used the art of torture to persuade them to offer huge ransoms. the news of this seizure caused consternation and surprise in nuremberg. götz's letter of notice came only nine days later to the council. spies were sent out to discover his whereabouts: the town was prepared for a siege, and 800 mercenary soldiers were hired. götz was outlawed. but the council were accused of being slack to avenge, what they called "a handful of small merchants, not of patrician families," and maximilian was not willing to be plunged into an imperial war "to recover a merchant's sack of pepper." what he did do was to attempt to bring about one of his favourite compromises. the markgraf was appointed to arbitrate, and his award was that nuremberg should pay a certain sum. as is not unusual in the case of arbitrations, the money was not paid. götz, laughing at the sentence of outlawry that had been passed upon him, protected by the princes who resented peace and order in an empire, continued to ravage, burn and pillage, until the swabian league was renewed, at the end of 1512, to keep the "eternal peace," at which maximilian aimed. nuremberg once more joined the league, on maximilian's injunction, though she distrusted the alliance with the markgraf thereby involved. the league, however, decided in january 1513 to take strong measures to repress the outlawed nobles and to destroy the castles of the robber-knights. but the emperor objected, and said that he wanted to arrive at a peaceful compromise with götz. the nurembergers replied that they would be content if the latter paid over a sum of money sufficient to compensate the merchants for the losses they had suffered. at the same time they took prisoner a robber-knight who was a friend of the markgraf, and to procure his release the markgraf promised to arrange peace for them with hans von geislingen. this he succeeded in doing. götz, however, remained at war, proud and obstinate in spite of all mediation. again and again the league threatened war, the emperor temporised, and götz plundered, until at last maximilian got it arranged that götz should pay 14000 florins damages. these were subscribed chiefly by his supporters, such as the bishop of würzburg, who also persuaded him to cease from his career of robbery. maximilian died in 1519. he had shown himself a good friend to the nuremberg artists. no doubt his patronage and his keen interest in art and literature had been partly responsible for the good work of this period. he was himself an author, for he had a considerable share in the _weisskunig_ and the _theuerdank_--the latter, a poem which describes allegorically the private life and ideals of the emperor, being chiefly executed by melchior pfinzing, his secretary, the provost of st. sebald's and builder of the parsonage. of the artists, he frequently employed peter vischer and veit stoss, whilst he showed the greatest appreciation of albert durer, to whom he gave a pension of 100 florins. when at nuremberg in 1512 maximilian with the aid of willibald pirkheimer and others, planned a colossal _holzschnittwerk_, or wood-cut picture, "the triumph," in which he himself was, as usual in the works of art he inspired, to be idealised as the greatest of princes. durer was to draw part of it. ninety-two blocks did durer design for the _triumphal arch_ in the course of the next two years. amongst other works for this patron we may mention _the triumphal car_, the _crucifixion_, and the ornamental borders of the famous _book of hours_. finally when maximilian held the diet at augsburg in 1518, durer, who was one of the commissioners sent by the town of nuremberg, drew the emperor's portrait from the life, "in the little room upstairs in the palace." from this sketch he painted the picture now at vienna, another version of which is in the german museum at nuremberg. durer was as good a courtier as artist. melanchthon tells us how maximilian was endeavouring to draw a design which he wished durer to carry out, but kept breaking the charcoal in doing so. durer took the charcoal and, without breaking it, easily finished the drawing. maximilian, somewhat vexed, asked how this was, to which the artist replied, "i should not like your majesty to be able to draw as well as i. it is my province to draw and yours to rule." _aliud est plectrum, aliud sceptrum._ the hand that wields the sceptre is too strong for the brush. maximilian was, in many aspects of his character, a typical product of the renaissance. nuremberg had felt the full force of the revival of learning, the new stimulus in art and literature which was being brought to the west from constantinople by the jews and greeks who had been driven out by the turks. not a few of the knights and pilgrims, too, must have passed through nuremberg on their return from the crusades, and her growing commerce with the east and west and italy would tend to keep her in touch with the developments which were taking place in the world of ideas, and which were tending inevitably towards the reformation. she had been among the first to welcome and to practise the new "german art" of printing. between 1470, when johann sensenschmidt had brought gutenberg's invention to nuremberg, and the end of the century, twenty-five printers received the rights of citizenship. johannes regiomontanus printed here in 1472 his _kalendarium novum_. but anthoni koberger was the most celebrated man in the trade. over two hundred different works, mostly in large folio, were issued from his twenty-four printing presses before 1500. the "prince of booksellers," as one of his contemporaries calls him, he had agents in every country, and sixteen depôts in the principal towns in christendom. the first work of art which left his presses was a magnificent illustrated bible, published in 1483, and printed from blocks he had obtained from henry quentel of cologne. but, besides the bible and theology, the press poured forth a stream of literature of every kind, spreading new ideas with unexampled rapidity, and giving expression to thoughtful criticism or popular satire of established abuses. under such influences as these it was felt that a new era of progress was at hand. nuremberg, stimulated by the education of self-government and of commercial intercourse, did not fail to produce such independent humanists as conrad celtes, dr scheurl, lazarus spengler, albert durer, willibald pirkheimer, who could write as well as read, and preach as well as applaud the doctrines of necessary reform. she was, in fact, one of the first towns to express sympathy with martin luther, when he nailed his ninety-five theses on the church door of wittenberg, in protest against what erasmus had called "the crime of false pardons," the sale of indulgences, to which leo x. had resorted in order to raise money for a little war. luther came to nuremberg in the course of the next year (1518) and stayed in the augustinerkloster. his friend leirck, we are told, had to buy him a new cowl, in order that he might appear in fitting costume before the cardinal cajetan at augsburg, where he was summoned to answer for his heresies. none the less the cardinal received at nuremberg a great welcome next year, and luther's followers continued at present to perform the rites and cling to the old forms of the church. reform, not revolution, was what they still hoped for. but the stream of events carried them rapidly with it. willibald pirkheimer, thanks to a satire against eck, the bitter opponent of luther, was included in 1519 in the papal bull, by which luther was excommunicated. the council, annoyed by the excommunication of pirkheimer and lazarus spengler (clerk of the council), refused to interfere with the printing and publishing of luther's works, and gradually passed over to his side. to show how little they respected this decree of excommunication, they actually sent spengler to represent the town at the diet of worms. for charles v. held his first reichstag (1521) at worms, and not at nuremberg, because of an outbreak of plague there. (outbreaks of plague were not uncommon at nuremberg, nor were they surprising. for all refuse was always thrown into the pegnitz on the understanding that "the river would eat up all the dirt.") it was at this diet of worms that luther made his confession of faith, and fought single-handed against pope and emperor the great battle for the right of freedom of conscience. when, as the result, the ban of the empire had been passed upon him and all his works, and the report was abroad that violent hands had been laid on him, albert durer, who had followed him from the first, wrote in his diary, expressing at the same time the opinion of the nation; "whether he lives or whether he has been murdered, i know not; but he has suffered for the christian faith and has been punished by the unchristian papacy." that, too, was the opinion of all the more important men in nuremberg. cautious in expressing their feelings at first, after a time the people boldly showed their dislike of monasteries and their approval of the new movement. "wake up! now may the dawn be seen; and singing in a thicket green i hear a tuneful nightingale," wrote hans sachs, in a poem which had no small influence in forwarding the reformation movement. so, in many of his later prose dialogues, he upholds liberty of conscience and freedom of opinion in religious matters. the council, in deference to the emperor, made a bare pretence of stopping the publication of lutheran writings. so half-hearted were they that the papal legate demanded that stronger measures should be taken, and that lutheran preachers should be imprisoned. but the council pursued its policy of keeping the peace between both parties, taking a middle course and siding with neither reactionary nor revolutionary. that policy could not be pursued for long. the council had to yield, not unwillingly, to public opinion. at a meeting of representatives of the towns at rothenburg, held there in 1524 because forbidden by imperial edict to meet at spires and to discuss religious matters, nuremberg was very bold and "gave three brave christian reasons" why they should not obey this edict. she organised a further meeting of the towns at ulm, and for herself began to determine on a new form of worship. the sacrament was now administered in both kinds, and mass was read in german, with lutheran omissions, by the prior of the augustin monastery. both the parish churches followed his example. the council excused themselves for allowing this by saying that they did it to avoid an uproar among the people. the bishop of bamberg held an inquiry, and summoned the officiating priests before him. they denied his power to judge them, and his sentence of excommunication was practically ignored. other towns followed the example of nuremberg, and imitated her lutheran services. meanwhile the dislike of the people for monasteries and nunneries broke out more vehemently. the air was full of satires and cartoons directed against nuns and monks. hans sachs was not silent on this point. at last the council ordered these institutions to be handed over to the guidance of the lutheran preachers. charitas pirkheimer, the virtuous and accomplished abbess of the _klarakloster_, friend and correspondent of durer and sister of willibald, has left us in her memoirs a touching account of the manner in which she was torn from her beloved convent, over which no breath of scandal had ever passed, and which contained many of the daughters of the best families in nuremberg. these memoirs are well worth looking at by those who care to see the other side of the question, and to make the acquaintance of a beautiful and fascinating character. unfortunately we have no space in this little book to deal with them here. shortly after this an organised discussion between the representatives of the old and new orders of religious belief was held before the council. one by one, twelve points of doctrine were put to the heads of the lutheran, carmelite, augustin and dominican bodies, and each answered after his kind. the catholic party finally claimed that the decision between them should be referred to the university; but osiander, declaring that god's word was the only salvation, wound up the discussion with a bold and eloquent speech, and called upon the council for an immediate decision. the council gave their vote for the lutheran case, and thus formally threw in their lot with the reformation. the following year saw a whole series of decrees from the council carrying out lutheran principles. thus, chiefly no doubt in deference to the popular demand--for these were the days of the terrible peasant wars--the property of the priests was ordered to be taxed. there was little violence. the influence of the gentle melanchthon, who came to nuremberg in 1525, did much to smooth down any tendency to brutality, or harsh treatment of the monks and nuns. even in the first flash of religious excitement education was not neglected. the educational movement inaugurated by luther's letter to the towns asking them to found schools, met with eager support at nuremberg. through the agency of hieronymus paumgärtner and spengler, philip melanchthon was induced to come and assist at the founding of a new gymnasium for secondary education. no expense was spared, and melanchthon brought a brilliant staff of teachers with him. the institution was established in the buildings of the ægidienkloster. but the school languished. nuremberg, after all, was a town of shopkeepers, and, though some were ready to pay for masters, few were ready to pay, or spare the time, for their sons' higher education. the school was at last moved to altdorf, and grew into the university there. the present gymnasium was refounded in 1633. melanchthon's statue, mentioned above, stands in front of the building erected in 1711 on the site of the old monastery which together with the church was burnt down in 1699. conrad iii. is said to have built the church for the benedictine order in 1140. three chapels remain--the eucharius, the wolfgang, and the tetzel chapels, of which the first is the oldest, and affords an interesting example of the transition style (see p. 260). the council all this time had a difficult part to play: it had to show itself both strong and conciliatory. when the peasants' war broke out, nuremberg, the capital of franconia, was not unaffected by it though [illustration: rothenburg] she suffered less than her neighbours--rothenburg for example. but the new-found spiritual freedom preached from lutheran pulpits was likely to be misinterpreted by the lower classes in the town, as it had been by the peasants outside, and construed into temporal licence. the council, therefore, whilst striving not to cause any irritation, had to take strong measures to repress the outbreaks which occurred within the walls, when the peasants, whom götz von berlichingen had joined, were ravaging and rioting through the country in their barbarous struggle for emancipation. first of all the council very wisely expelled thomas münzer, the mad, well-meaning fanatic and agitator, and then promised the peasants to remain neutral, as long as they did not ravage her territory or tamper with her citizens. still, for a few months, nuremberg was in imminent danger. she might have fallen into the hands of the rebels at any moment in the may of this year (1525). the council, realising the peril, remitted some of the tithes, as a sop to the peasants, and sent urgent appeals for aid to the swabian league. but the thunder-cloud passed by without breaking over nuremberg, and she, to her credit be it recorded, when the revolt was crushed, was not slow to speak on behalf of towns like rothenburg which had taken the side of the peasants. the result of her intervention was to preserve for us the walls and fortifications of rothenburg. the illustration shows the towers and gateways there which recall the white tower and lauferschlagthurm at nuremberg. in the later developments of the protestant revolution, we find willibald pirkheimer warmly supporting luther with his pen, when zwingle, denying the real presence, treated the sacrament as symbolic, and was violently denounced by luther for this view. pirkheimer, however, was no blind follower of luther. he, remembering his sister's case, thought the monasteries and convents too hardly treated, and he saw, what luther failed to see, that the peasant risings were the inevitable results of such times of upheaval and repression. he grew soured and disappointed with luther. like scheurl, and, as he says (1528)- "like durer, i was at first a good lutheran. we hoped things would be better than in the roman church, but the lutherans are worse. the former were hypocrites: the latter openly live disgraceful lives. for justification by faith alone is not possible. without works faith is dead. luther, with his bold, petulant tongue, has either fallen under a delusion, or else is being led astray by the evil one." however, in spite of splits, the wave of protestantism was not diminishing. the answer to the emperor's order that stringent measures should be taken against the lutheran heresy, and that the edict of worms should be carried out, was, that the towns, under the leadership of nuremberg, banded themselves together with the lutheran princes, and at the diet of spires (1526) it was decreed that "each state should, as regards the diet of worms, so live, rule, and bear itself as it thought it could answer to god and the empire." from this decree, which was an acknowledgment of the temporary breakdown of roman catholicism, resulting from the emperor's quarrel with the pope, came the division of germany into catholic and protestant states. next year, when the bishop of bamberg commanded the priests of nuremberg to observe the roman catholic ceremonies, the council, whom he asked not to interfere with the carrying out of his order, were able to point to this edict. in order, however, to be secure from the swabian league, which was hostile to the new teaching, nuremberg, augsburg, ulm, and other towns, bound themselves together and protested against any interference, on the part of the league, in religious matters. but in 1529 the emperor had settled his quarrel with the pope and returned to his loyalty to rome. taking advantage of this, the papal party succeeded in passing a decree in the reichstag confirming the edict of worms. the lutheran princes protested against the decree, and so earned the name of "protestants." the protestant communities assembled in nuremberg, and sent a representative to the emperor, who was in italy, to complain. the emperor, however, took a firm tone with them and declared the dispensation of spires at an end. philip von hessen and other zealous leaders were now very eager to make a firm stand and to form a protestant union against this fresh attempt to suppress the new teaching. but the lutherans could not bring themselves to work with the zwinglians. the influence of luther and osiander was sufficient to deter nuremberg from joining in such a scheme. wisely or not, she refused to belong to any union which might bring her into conflict with the head of the empire. but, though she said she would not take up arms, she knew her own mind in religious matters. at a reichstag held at augsburg (1530) the emperor was to be present. owing to the exertions of the nuremberg council, the evangelical party united to send the celebrated "confession," or statement of lutheran doctrines, which was drawn up by luther and melanchthon, signed by nuremberg and reutlingen, and read to charles. the representatives of nuremberg also took with them a confession of faith, drawn up under the direction of the council by nuremberg theologians. a peaceful solution of the question was what they aimed at: a recognition of religious freedom brought about by argument, not by arms. for this reason, and because she had a great distrust of the protestant princes ("the princes are princes," it was said, "and if anything happens they will withdraw their heads out of the noose and leave the towns in the lurch") nuremberg would not join "the league of schmalkalden," formed by the protestant princes to defend themselves from that crushing of the lutheran heresy by the imperial power, which the diet now threatened. this league, in spite of luther's protest against opposition to the civil power, would have led at once to war, had not a turkish invasion of austria diverted charles' attention. something like a religious truce was proclaimed, and nuremberg sent a double contingent of men to help charles. it was, perhaps, in recognition of this proof of loyalty that charles, on his way to regensburg in 1541, held the reichstag at nuremberg for the first time. the town on this occasion was in a great state of festivity. the roads were strewn with sand; festoons and hangings brightened the streets which were lined by 5000 armed citizens. bells were rung and cannon fired as charles, clothed in black, with a felt hat on his head, rode into the town, beneath a magnificent red velvet canopy held by eight members of the council in turn. he passed beneath a triumphal arch which had been erected near neudörfer's house, in the burgstrasse. in the rathaus a solemn act of homage was performed, and the emperor confirmed all the privileges of the town. costly gifts were lavished on him; fireworks were let off from the bastion then being built (see p. 115). the council, in fact, though they would concede nothing, even at the emperor's request, on the religious question, showed themselves loyal and conciliatory. the bells of the principal churches were ordered to be rung at noon, to remind all good christians to pray for protection against the turks, the arch-enemies of christianity. this ringing, called _betläuten_, still takes place. the civil war, which was the inevitable result of the formation of the schmalkalden league, had only been postponed. the emperor and the catholic princes tried to reduce the protestant princes to obedience, with the aid of spanish soldiery, soon after the death of luther. though charles had said he was going to attack the princes and not the towns, the northern towns promised help to the princes. nuremberg, however, determined to obey the emperor; she strove, in fact, to pursue, so far as possible, her usual policy of inactive neutrality. money was paid to the emperor: but, when urgent appeals for help came from the princes, the council sent them privately a sum of money, but would take no further step for the evangelical cause at present. the sympathy of the majority was, indeed, with the league, but they shrank from risking all the great wealth and privileges of the town for the common welfare and for the freedom of religious belief. _nürnberg trage auf beiden achseln_ was the bitter sneer of the day. the temper of her citizens was sorely tried when the emperor's ill-behaved spanish troops were quartered on them. still, money was supplied loyally enough to the imperial treasury. in religious matters they remained steadfast, politely but firmly forbidding the emperor's confessor to read mass to the nuns in the katharinenkirche. the result of charles' campaigns against the princes was to leave him apparently more powerful than any emperor since charlemagne. we can hardly wonder if, in the reichstag of 1547, he tried to get himself recognised as supreme head of the empire, not only in political, but also in religious matters. a year later he appointed a commission which published the "interim," establishing a half-and-half religion for all not of the roman catholic faith. it was called the strait-waistcoat of german protestantism. papacy was thereby almost reintroduced. the work of luther seemed entirely undone. this attempt at repressing evangelical teaching roused the nurembergers. sermons thundered from the pulpit, and the council was severely criticised. none the less they accepted the "interim." osiander resigned his post and shook the dust of nuremberg from off his feet. others followed his example. but, in spite of protest, the catholic reaction was, for the moment, successful. it could not last. the spanish yoke was in itself intolerable. in 1552 the revolt of the princes, in alliance even with france, began. the council pursued its old policy of neutrality--a policy destined this time not to pay. money was contributed to the princes: devotion to the emperor was expressed. so they thought they were safe. but the markgraf of brandenburg, albert alcibiades, who had declared for the protestant cause, held only to the princes' manifesto, that those who were not for them were against them. he turned his eyes on his old enemy, and seized the merchant-trains that were leaving the city in fancied security. then, suddenly in may, he appeared with a strong force before lichtenau--a castle and mart belonging to nuremberg. the place fell into his hands, was burnt and razed to the ground. next day he sent a message, bearing the bourbon arms, to express his surprise that he had received no help from nuremberg. in the name of the king of france and of the allied princes who "purposed to bring back and keep liberty in the dear fatherland, and to establish a right and true christian religion," he demanded whether the town intended to join the league against the emperor or not. she referred to her dealings with the princes. but the markgraf, ignoring this subterfuge, moved on the city, and the council, seeing that he was set on war, determined to stand a siege, and strained every nerve to strengthen the fortifications. the princes, indeed, remonstrated with the markgraf; but in vain. he advanced, ravaging the villages, taking castles, burning and plundering all he could lay his hands on in his drunken and murderous march. when he arrived beneath the walls of nuremberg, a truce of eight days was arranged till the markgraf could hear from francis i. of france. meanwhile he busied himself with throwing up entrenchments. but before the eight days had expired, he opened fire on the city. some cannon-shots struck the ægidienskirche, in which a service was being held. one house in the ægidiensplatz still bears the marks of shot that struck it on this occasion, says dr reicke. meanwhile nuremberg was not slow to defend herself. her citizens returned the fire with energy, and made some successful sallies. gold they seem to have used as well as steel; for the markgraf, after one or two experiments, declared that he would hold no more parleyings with the nurembergers, for that they had tried to corrupt one of his commanders. the position of nuremberg was now very serious. no help was to be expected from any quarter. when, therefore, the towns of franconia and swabia came forward at last to act as intermediaries, she welcomed them with every feeling of relief, and was easily persuaded to join, nominally, at any rate, the league against the emperor. the markgraf's _casus belli_ was now gone; but his demands knew no bounds. he insisted on a huge indemnity and the right to garrison the town. in face of this, continued resistance was the only course for nuremberg. the siege began again with renewed vigour. the markgraf, who boasted, between his curses, that murder and burning were his favourite pastimes, now thoroughly enjoyed himself. he destroyed, in this war, 3 monasteries, 2 small towns, 170 villages, 19 castles, 75 estates, 28 mills, and 3000 acres of wood. the position of nuremberg thus became more and more difficult. her trade and buildings were suffering severely: the forest was being burnt down. the lukewarmness with which she had espoused their cause made it not worth while for the princes to relieve her. the markgraf, on the other hand, had received numerous reinforcements, and had won over the neighbouring towns to his side. at last, therefore, nuremberg yielded on these terms (june 9, 1552):- (1) she was to join the league on the same terms as augsburg and the other towns. (2) she was to demand no compensation for injuries inflicted. (3) she was to pay a large indemnity in cash and war material. (4) the markgraf was to give back all the castles, etc., which he had taken. (5) matters in dispute between the two parties were to be decided by a commission of princes. so, for a moment, ended this disastrous war, only to break out again with variations in the following year, until the emperor, who had entered into treaty with the league, declared the markgraf outlawed and bade the four rhenish electors to carry out the sentence. for the markgraf had refused to enter into this treaty, which, seeing that the money and lands he had won in the name of religion and liberty were not guaranteed to him by it, he denounced as a betrayal of the german nation and carried on the war on his own account. his power was broken at last in a battle with the allies near schwarzach. nuremberg paid a _douceur_ to the emperor and was excused from her obligations to the markgraf, whose lands were sequestered. it is amusing to find that, in spite of this, the markgraf's rightful heir, george frederick, succeeded him and actually obtained through the emperor compensation from the allies for the damage done to his property. hence arose a fresh series of quarrels with nuremberg. the hatred of nuremberg for the elector albert is expressed in the unsparing satire of hans sachs, in which the full bitterness of ruthless patriotism finds vent. this poem is of so violent a nature that the council suppressed it, but a copy is still preserved in the library. it was written in 1557 after the markgraf's death, and describes the descent into hell of this "blütiger kriegsfürst." a spirit appears to hans and bids him accompany him for the purpose of seeing how the soul of a bloodthirsty warrior goes to--heaven, "ich will dir zeigen ein kriegsfürsten den allezeit hart nach blut ward dürsten welcher schier das ganze deutschland mit krieg erweckt--hat durch sein hand wollauf rund kom bald mit dar schan wie sein sel gen himmel far," and shows the reception the markgraf gets there from the soldiers he has not paid, the citizens and peasants, with their wives and children, whom he has robbed and ruined, and the wretched men whom he has forced to murder the helpless and innocent. the result of the treaty we have mentioned above was that the "interim" was revoked. religion was declared free. three years later came the peace of augsburg, with its legal recognition of the protestant states and its system of toleration--_cujus regio, ejus religio_--not of the sort to avert the evils of the thirty years war. [illustration: pellerhof] nuremberg was now at last at peace and kept on good terms with the new emperor. but the hapsburg emperors seldom visited her. in 1570, however, the emperor maximilian ii. was welcomed with such pomp and jubilation as had greeted charles v. on this occasion the records mention the novelty of an elephant bearing a gold and grey canopy with a moorish _mahout_. again we are told that when the emperor matthias, then king of bohemia, stayed in the town in 1612, on his way to be crowned king of rome, he was lodged, not in the castle but in the ægidienplatz. the house of martin peller was intended for his residence, but to this the king's chamberlain objected on the ground that the queen did not care for that style of architecture and decoration. this house, on the north side of the ægidienplatz, is a very fine specimen of rich florentine, renaissance building. it is interesting to observe how the façade has been adapted to the old german high-pitched roof. it was built in 1605 by jakob wolff, and is now used for the art and furniture show-rooms of herr j. a. eysser. within will be found a grand hall, court and staircase, carved and decorated in the same rich style, and upstairs a beautifully panelled room. the policy of the town during this period was purely defensive. the wars with the markgraf had cost nuremberg dear, and she now set herself to recover from their disastrous effects. her history for the next few years is a record of peace and of commercial and architectural activity. the great new building of the rathaus was begun in the year 1622 by jakob wolff, the younger. the outbreak of the thirty years war prevented it from ever being really completed. with regard to religious matters peace was preserved outwardly. whilst the struggles between the catholics and protestants and lutherans and calvinists and various other sects were being stubbornly fought out elsewhere, the nuremberg council was content to forbid the propagation of false doctrines by word or writing. _cujus regio, ejus religio_. they rejected the _konkordienformal_ drawn up at magdeburg and directed against melanchthon and his followers. and in 1573 they, in conjunction with the markgraf, published a sort of confession of faith, consisting of various lutheran and other theological works, which was signed by the clergy and accepted as a sort of rule for the churches. it was called the nuremberg konkordienbuch--_libri normales_--and every priest was required to swear to conform to it. perhaps one of the most important occurrences for nuremberg, in connection with these theological matters, was the founding of the university of altdorf (south-west of nuremberg). joachim camerarius, we are told, suggested to joachim haller, the superintendent of the nuremberg schools, that he should form a new school on the pattern of the monastic schools in saxony, at which youths were prepared for the university. this school was to be outside the town, so that there should be no distractions to interfere with the work of the students. the council approved of the scheme. the school was founded and endowed, and melanchthon's institution at st. ægidien's was moved there. in 1622 the emperor raised it to the rank of a university. among the most famous of its _alumni_ was goethe's grandfather. leibnitz received his degree as doctor-of-law, and oberst von pappenheim and the great wallenstein matriculated there. but whilst pappenheim became rector for a short period, wallenstein, by reason of his wild excesses, was requested to leave after a residence of five months. the university, however, after a chequered career, fell at last on evil days: the new university of erlangen proved too powerful a rival on her borders, and in 1809 the old university of altdorf was by royal order abolished. chapter iv _nuremberg and the thirty years war_ wallenstein--gustavus adolphus--kaspar hauser. the catholic reaction was now in full swing. with the determination of catholicism to regain her ancient dominion came the thirty years war, the last and cruellest of the religious wars, which deprived germany of, some say, half her population, and turned a comparatively rich and prosperous country into a barren desert. the violence of duke maximilian of bavaria towards the town of donauwörth (1607), "which had been put under ban of the empire for some fault on the part of the populace against a flaring mass-procession which had no business to be there," filled the free-towns and protestant communities with dark forebodings of approaching disturbance. an evangelical league, "the union," was formed by the towns and princes for the purposes of self-defence against any attacks on religious freedom. nuremberg joined it in 1610. this step was, of course, distasteful to the emperor, but nuremberg was left no choice in the matter. for the bishops of bamberg and eichstätt had forced the nuremberg evangelical subjects, living in their dioceses, to revert to the old religion. the catholic communities formed a counter-league. only a signal was wanted to make the opposing parties draw swords; and in 1618 the bohemian resistance to the suppression of the evangelical religion gave the signal for that bloody war, in which nuremberg was to endure her full share of suffering. but, first, for a long time she endeavoured to pursue her old policy of neutrality, keeping peace with both parties and remaining subject to the emperor. meantime, as one after another of the catholic generals passed through, men were quartered on nuremberg in ceaseless relays, and she was bled of money and provisions. the treasury was depleted; trade disorganised; and the peasantry suffered cruelly. in 1629 ferdinand ii. thought the time had come to strike a determined blow for catholicism, and he published an edict of restitution, giving back to the roman catholics all the ecclesiastical property and institutions which had been handed over to the evangelists by the treaty of passau and the peace of augsburg. this brought matters to a crisis. but even yet nuremberg did not follow the example of magdeburg and make a firm stand against religious aggressions. even when gustavus adolphus, the protestant champion, the lion of the north, had landed on the pomeranian coast, and made secret proposals of union with her, she turned a deaf ear to him, and received, with princely honours, wallenstein, duke of friedland, the catholic general, when on his way to memmingen. but at a convention of the evangelical communities at leipzig, called together by the elector of saxony, she did sign a complaint to the emperor with regard to religious oppression, and also an agreement of the communities to help each other in case of need, and to prevent the unbearable quartering of troops and other exactions of the emperor. then in 1631 came the fall of magdeburg. the subsequent horrors of that two-days' sack struck terror into the hearts of protestant germany. nuremberg gave in at once to the demands of the emperor. she denounced the leipzig convention, dismissed her soldiers, and paid the money required of her. in spite of these concessions, she had reason to fear that the freedom of the town would be forfeited. tilly's defeat at breitenfeld, however, prevented the emperor from carrying out his expressed intention. inspired by that victory of the swedes, the council plucked up courage to refuse almost all imperial contributions. if they had consulted the wishes of the citizens, they would have joined gustavus adolphus forthwith. they still hankered after neutrality, however, and even when gustavus adolphus informed them that he would treat neutrals as enemies, they would only promise to be true to the evangelical faith. the swedish king continued to press them, and, still in the hope of being able to keep in favour with the emperor, they sent a sum of money. but gustavus adolphus demanded their full and open support. they were still torn between the fear of offending the emperor and the desire of securing gustavus' aid. a sharp and menacing letter arrived. at last it was decided to send envoys to würtzburg with instructions to draw up a treaty, if there was no help for it. the result was that nuremberg and bayreuth drew up a treaty with gustavus adolphus (october 1631), in which money was promised, and it was arranged that a special alliance should be concluded in two months' time. they agreed to put their resources at his disposal, and to stand by him to the last, whilst he on his side promised to succour them in all danger, and to relieve them if besieged. in november they renounced their allegiance to the emperor, and lost not a moment in arming themselves. it was not too soon, for the cloud of war which had long been hanging over franconia broke at last. tilly took rothenburg on october 30th, and on the 8th of november lichtenau surrendered. negotiations with him were opened by nuremberg, to gain time, but, when he found how strongly fortified and garrisoned the town was, he drew off. he returned next year, but attempted nothing, for gustavus adolphus was now drawing near, to whom nuremberg, after much shilly-shallying, was persuaded, by dint of threats, to send 1500 men with arms and ammunition. in march 1632, the king, leaving his army near fürth, entered the town by the spittlerthor amidst the heart-felt enthusiasm of the people, who had never approved of the pusillanimous policy of the council. the defender of the protestants received a splendid and affecting welcome. the patricians rode out to meet him before the gates. they presented him with four cannons and, amongst other works of art, two silver globes supported by figures of atlas and hercules respectively, which are still to be seen in the museum at stockholm. "tears of joy streamed down the cheeks of bearded men as they welcomed the deliverer from the north, whose ready jest and beaming smile would have gone straight to the popular heart even if his deserts had been less. the picture of gustavus was soon in every house, and a learned citizen set to work at once to compose a pedigree by which he proved to his own satisfaction that the swedish king was descended from the old hereditary burggrafs of the town."[21] the same day, with further reinforcements from nuremberg, he went on his way south to deliver donauwörth. three months later wallenstein, breaking up from bohemia, directed his whole force upon nuremberg, which thus became the chief scene in that drama immortalised by schiller in his trilogy of plays. for no sooner did gustavus hear that wallenstein with the imperial army was marching against her than, mindful of his pledge and eager not to sacrifice so valued an ally, he summoned all his reinforcements and set out to the relief of nuremberg. thus beneath her walls the protestant king and the inscrutable catholic general were to be brought face to face at last. the citizens had for some time past been anxiously increasing their fortifications, storing provisions, and enlisting soldiers. now, between june 21st and july 6th, under the direction of hans olph, the swedish engineer, and with the aid of gustavus' army, an entirely new ring of earthworks was constructed enclosing the suburbs. men and women, soldiers, burghers and peasants, laboured night and day at these entrenchments, which were provided with many small bastions and redoubts, and defended by over 300 cannon. round them was dug a moat eight feet deep and twelve feet wide. very few traces of these fortifications, which were removed soon after 1806, can be found to-day. in the swedish camp lay some 20,000 veterans, for whom 14,000 pounds of bread were supplied per diem. within the city was a population of at least 65,000, of whom 8000 were fighting men, 3000 of these being armed citizens. such were the resources with which gustavus hoped to do battle with wallenstein's gigantic army of 60,000 men and 13,000 horse. his preparations were not yet complete when wallenstein appeared, july 1, at schwabach. had he consulted the wishes of gustavus or listened to the advice of the elector of bavaria, wallenstein would have attacked the swedes at once. but, though superior in numbers, he would not pit his newly enrolled troops against the veterans of the swedish king. he preferred to entrench himself in a strong position on the hills above fürth, and to starve his enemy out. by the 6th of july he had completed a camp, which, if not so skilfully engineered as that of the swedes, was, thanks to the natural advantages of the ground, almost impregnable. this vast camp, nearly eight miles round, stretched from the left banks of the rednitz, from stein, over the stream of the biebert, and enclosed the villages of zierndorf, altenberg, unterasbach, and kreutles. every house and village and advantage of the ground was turned to account and utilised for defence. the ruin of an old _burgstall_--the _alte veste_--a castle which had been destroyed in 1388 during the great _städtekrieg_ by the nurembergers, formed the most important outwork. here, where the hill is at its highest, was the northernmost point of the camp, and from this fortress on the steep, wooded ridge across four miles of clear plain, through which the little rednitz winds its course, wallenstein gazed sternly on the climbing roofs and splendid mansions, the gabled houses and innumerable turrets of the beleaguered city. to-day, a modern tower, some eighty feet high, rears its head above the woods that crown the hill, and the adjoining inn is a favourite place of resort with the inhabitants of fürth and nuremberg. but some few traces of the old fortress and of wallenstein's entrenchments may yet be found, and he who loves "to summon up remembrance of things past" will find food enough for his imagination when he attempts to reconstruct the scene of that terrible encampment. for terrible it was both to besiegers and besieged. gustavus was cut off from his base of supplies in the upper danube and rhine by this great entrenched camp south-west of nuremberg, and all the roads leading into franconia were scoured by wallenstein's light croatian cavalry. though provisions had at first been plentiful, the resources of the city were soon strained to the uttermost by the influx of peasants who had fled for refuge from the country. the mills and bakeries were unable to supply bread fast enough to the starving inhabitants, so that mobs fought outside the bakers' shops in their desperate haste for food. famine laid hold of the city first, then of the swedish, and finally of the imperial camp. and in the path of famine followed, as ever, pestilence. pestilence in july, in a mediæval city, crowded with grim soldiers, grown shrunken and meagre, with starving women and whitefaced children--it would require the pen of a flaubert or a zola to describe. worse than all for gustavus to bear, when want came to be felt in the army, there came the relaxation of that discipline on which he had prided himself. the citizens complained that his swedish troops were behaving like austrian banditti. sending for the chief germans in his service, the king rated them soundly in a famous oration. never was his majesty seen before in such a rage. "they are no swedes who commit these crimes," he said truly enough, "but you germans yourselves. you princes, counts, lords, and noblemen, are showing great disloyalty and wickedness on your own fatherland, which you are ruining. you colonels and officers, from the highest to the lowest, it is you who steal and rob everyone, without making any exceptions. "you plunder your own brothers in the faith. had i known that you had been a people so wanting in natural affection for your country, i would never have saddled a horse for your sakes, much less imperilled my life and my crown and my brave swedes and finns. it is your inhumanity towards your mother-country that has tarnished the glory of my victorious subjects. my heart is filled with gall when i see anyone of you behaving thus villainously. for you cause men to say openly, 'the king, our friend, does us more harm than our enemies.' if you were real christians you would consider what i am doing for you, how i am spending my life in your service. i came but to restore every man to his own, but this most accursed and devilish robbing of yours doth much abate my purpose. i have given up the treasures of my crown for your sake, and have not enriched myself so much as by one pair of boots since my coming to germany, though i have had forty tons of gold passing through my hands. "enter into your hearts, and think how sad you are making me, so that the tears stand in my eyes. you treat me ill with your evil discipline; i do not say with your evil fighting: for in that you have behaved like honourable gentlemen, and for that i am much obliged to you. take my warning to heart, and we will soon show our enemies that we are honest men and honourable gentlemen." again when informed that a soldier had stolen a cow, he turned a deaf ear to him as he pleaded for his life, for "my son," he said, "it is better that thou shouldst expiate thy offence by the sacrifice of life than that thy crime should draw down the vengeance of the almighty upon me and thy gallant comrades; for though i consider every soldier in the light of a child, yet i am destined to perform the duties of a judge, no less than those of a parent." so for two weary months plague, famine and wounds did their fell work inside and out. the hospitals were full to overflowing. the graves could not be dug fast enough to hold the dead. the countless victims of hunger and pestilence lay for days in the trenches, poisoning the air. in the streets were strewn the half-decayed bodies of men and horses, eaten of pigs. but if the protestants suffered so did the imperialists. and always wallenstein sat implacable on the height refusing to join battle, waiting grimly till starvation should have done its work and the sack of magdeburg could be repeated. for gustavus must either attack wallenstein in his impregnable position or march away the city to its fate. the arrival of reinforcements, which increased the king's army to 50,000 men, determined him to make a general assault on the alte veste and the northern side of the camp. it will be clear to anyone who examines the ground that this was an almost impossible undertaking, the forlornest of forlorn hopes. what desperate courage could do was done. for ten hours the swedes stormed undaunted against fearful odds and with fearful losses. three times they got actual footing in the burgstall itself; three times they were hurled back. at last gustavus, who had had a piece of the sole of his right boot shot off, and had always been in the thickest part of the fight, dragging the cannon to points of vantage and aiming them with his own hands, was obliged to relinquish the desperate enterprise. "we have done a stupid thing to-day," was his comment. for the first time in his life, indeed, he was conquered, because he was not conqueror. but wallenstein's claws were cut: he had suffered little less than gustavus in the fight round the alte veste. nuremberg was saved for the present, for wallenstein was in no condition to prosecute a siege. after fifteen days, therefore (september 8), gustavus, unable to stay for lack of supplies, and failing to entice the enemy into battle on the plain, marched away into thuringia, and two months later, on the field of lutzen, he fell in the moment of victory when he had defeated his old enemy. before that, however, ten days after he had departed, and a week after wallenstein had broken up his camp, gustavus came back to fürth and looked at what had been the enemy's position. it is said that he had breakfast on the round stone table still to be found at the alte veste, and known as the _schweden tisch_. once more, in october, he returned, drove the imperial troops out of the nuremberg territory, and took his last farewell of the town. the treaty of westphalia brought the thirty years war to an end in 1648, but not before the interruption of commerce and the extraordinary exertions she had made had reduced the resources of nuremberg to a very low ebb, and saddled her with a load of debt from which she never recovered. when at last peace was announced, the festivals with which she celebrated it reflected the last splendour of the once prosperous city. karl gustav, as representative of the crown of sweden, gave a magnificent dinner--the "_friedensmal_"--in the rathaus to celebrate this occasion. the council ordered a neptune with nymphs and dolphins, designed by christoph ritter, and figures modelled by georg schweigger, to be placed in the middle of the market-place. it was, for some reason, placed in the peünt-hof. it was sold in 1797 to paul of russia to raise money. another incident which is recorded of these days of rejoicing is as follows: when peace was proclaimed with france, octavio piccolomini was staying in the pellerhaus, and he gave a dance to the peasants. now a rumour was circulated that all the boys who appeared on hobby-horses before his house on the following sunday would get a silver coin. they assembled accordingly, and when he heard the reason of this extraordinary parade, he told them to come next sunday, and then gave them each a four-cornered medal--still to be seen in numismatic collections--with a picture of a hobby-horse, and the date 1650 on it. through the peace of westphalia nuremberg with the other free towns obtained full political equality with the princes of the empire. their representatives, who before only had a voice in the discussions, now enjoyed the full right of voting. but, in spite of this, the political importance of nuremberg began to disappear. her sovereignty, her right of peace and war, were recognised. but she became a quiet and obedient attendant of the reichstag in regensburg, paying her quota of men and money, and supporting the hapsburg interests. her energy, in fact, had been exhausted. the census of her citizens in 1622 amounted to 40,000; in 1806 to 25,000. with the decrease in her population, her prosperity decreased. the load of debt accumulated during the thirty years war weighed her down. her trade, like that of augsburg and all the other german towns, went from bad to worse. dislocated during the war, it could not recover now. chief among the causes of decay must be counted the circumnavigation of the cape of good hope. prior to that, all merchandise from the east was obliged to travel overland into europe and came for distribution by way of germany. nuremberg then naturally became the chief entrepôt. now she suffered, with venice, from the discovery of this new channel of commerce. the venetians had boasted that thanks to them nuremberg had come from nothing to be the richest town in germany. the fondaco dei tedeschi, the german quarter in venice since the days of the crusades, still bears witness to their connection with the german traders, and, in nuremberg, winged lions on many of the houses still record the same fact. other and more avoidable causes contributed to the decrease of nuremberg trade. she adopted an exaggerated system of protection, and levied exorbitant taxes on goods brought into or through the country. in the old days every good thing had been said to come out of nuremberg (was gut sein sollte, wurde aus nürnberg verschrieben); now the output of her manufactures was foolishly limited by rules. in some trades, for instance, only the son or the husband of a widow of a master might become a master craftsman. hence many failed to find employment, and set up in the surrounding country as competitors. the selfish and misguided prejudices of the trades led also to the exclusion of the protestant weavers who had been exiled from france or flanders, and who, finding asylum elsewhere, soon became rivals of the shortsighted nurembergers. the council, too, suffered and aided the common degeneration. a narrow, effete, and selfish oligarchy, it became more tyrannical as it became more incompetent. the authors of libels and satires, criticising it, were rewarded with lifelong imprisonment. more and more the patrician families drew together and separated themselves from the common people. they clung closer to their exclusive privileges as they became less worthy of them. endeavouring to become more like the landed nobility, they began to abandon business, and withdrew from the state the capital and brains which had formerly made it prosperous. they grew, indeed, in their false pride, so ashamed of trade that they said that no nuremberg patrician had ever had to do with business! so a proud and poor nobility came to take the place of rich and patriotic merchant princes. some even gave up their rights of citizenship and went to live on their property outside nuremberg, thus still further weakening the council and quarrelling with it over rights of taxation. from war, also, nuremberg suffered. besides her own private bickerings with the markgraf, she felt the wars with france, the war of the austrian succession, and suffered still more in the seven years war. in 1786 a fresh struggle arose between the council and the town over a new tax which it was sought to impose without consultation. the citizens made a fruitless complaint to the imperial court. then the council appealed to the diet, saying that the town was overtaxed. an inquiry into her finances showed that nuremberg was heavily in debt and practically bankrupt. there had been a large yearly deficit since 1763. a commission to economise and to govern was appointed from both councils, and in 1794 an arrangement was confirmed by the emperor by which the larger council was to consist of 250 members (70 of whom were to be patricians), chosen by the smaller council. the citizens, however, were not contented, complaining that they were still not properly represented. meanwhile an event had occurred which drove another nail into the coffin of the free imperial city. in 1791, charles alexander, markgraf of brandenburg, ansbach and bayreuth, died childless, and the government of his principalities passed to prussia, together with the old claims of the franconian line of the brandenburg house. a minister, graf karl august von hardenberg, the famous chancellor, was appointed to rule these lands. in the name of the king of prussia he asserted his right of supremacy over all the territory up to the gates of the town itself. the oldest claims of the _burggräflichen_ times were reasserted by the prussians. nuremberg was powerless to resist. even so her troubles were not yet ended. a prussian army had occupied fürth on july 4, 1796, and in august a vanguard of the french victorious army, which was swarming over south germany, entered nuremberg on the 9th of august. the scenes of the thirty years war were repeated. the country was ravaged, and the town called upon for contributions. it was impossible to comply at once with these demands. eighteen citizens were therefore taken away to france as hostages. when, a few weeks later, the french army withdrew, after the archduke karl's victory, a fresh contribution was demanded. in despair the town almost unanimously decided to seek union with their old enemy, the king of prussia. but he refused this grecian gift, for the debt of the town was enormous. then the council turned to the emperor and offered to accept an imperial commission, which introduced some financial reforms. but the year 1800 brought more french troops into nuremberg, who were a further strain upon her resources. even after the peace of pressburg the long agony of the imperial free city was continued, till in 1806 by a decree of napoleon, in the 17th article of the rheinbund act, it was laid down that "the town and territory of nuremberg be united to bavaria with full sovereignty and possession." on the 6th of august 1806, emperor francis abdicated, and the holy roman empire, "which was a grand object once, but had gone about in a superannuated and plainly crazy state for some centuries back, was at last put out of pain and allowed to cease from the world." since then the story of nuremberg is swallowed up in the history of united germany. she has shared and still shares in the growing prosperity of the new empire. the first railway in germany was opened in 1835 between nuremberg and fürth. her hops, her toys, her cakes, her railway-carriages, her lead-pencils, are they not known the world over? new buildings have sprung up on every side of her: the suburbs are themselves great manufacturing towns. the population has grown to 170,000. these are all things on which she may most sincerely be congratulated; but whatever her prosperity in the present or the future, her golden age, we feel, is in the past. she is albert durer's and hans sachs' city. * * * * * we began by hinting that the atmosphere of nuremberg is mediæval, that of a city of legend. we will close this account of her history with the brief narration of her last, her nineteenth century myth. for we cannot pass over in silence the curious case of kaspar hauser. at a time when europe was still dripping from the douche of sentimentality in which it had been bathed by the sorrows of werther and the romanticism of byron, kaspar hauser appeared suddenly in nuremberg. his astonishing story achieved a european celebrity. the history of this impostor has recently been placed once more before the public by the duchess of cleveland,[22] with the object of clearing her father from imputations which would have been ridiculous if they had not been so impudent. charity, and the facts of the case, enable us to add with regard to kaspar himself, that if he was an impostor he was also half a lunatic; for we can trace in the records of his career, among other symptoms of a diseased brain, the mania of persecution, an over acute and perverted sense of smell, a restless love of notoriety, and an ineradicable habit of lying. on easter monday, may 1828, a lad of seventeen, dressed like a countryman, appeared outside the neue thor, and asked, in the low bavarian dialect, his way to the neue thor strasse. he had with him two letters in one envelope addressed to "the captain of the 4th squadron of the schmolischer regiment, neue thor strasse, nuremberg." they ran as follows, in handwriting exactly similar to kaspar's:-"honored sir,--i send you a lad who wishes to serve his king truly; this lad was brought to me on oct. 7, 1812. i am a poor day labourer, with ten children of my own; i have enough to do to get on at all. his mother asked me to bring up the boy. i asked her no questions, nor have i given notice to the county police that i had taken the boy. i thought i ought to take him as my son. i have brought him up as a good christian, and since 1812 i have never let him go a step away from the house, so no one knows where he has been brought up, and he himself does not know the name of my house or of the place; you may ask him, but he can't tell you. i have taught him to read and to write; he can write as well as myself. when we ask him what he would like to be, he says a soldier, like his father. if he had parents (which he has not) he would have been a scholar: only show him a thing and he can do it. "honoured sir, you may question him, but he don't know where i live. i brought him away in the middle of the night; he can't find his way back." dated, "from the bavarian frontier; place not named." the second letter ran thus:-"the boy is baptized, his name is kaspar; his other name you must give him. i ask you to bring him up. his father was a schmolischer (trooper). when he is seventeen send him to nuremberg to the 6th schmolischer regiment; that is where his father was. i beg you to bring him up till he is seventeen. he was born on april 30, 1812. i am so poor, i can't keep the boy; his father is dead." in answer to the captain's questions the lad would only reply: "my foster-father bade me say, 'i don't know, your honour.'" the result was that he was placed in a prison cell in the castle. that was neither a fair nor a judicious proceeding. the garbled story of a wild man, a wronged man, quickly spread through the town. feigning at first an intense fear and animal stupidity, it seems probable that kaspar picked up from the visitors who discussed his history in his presence the suggestion of the marvellous tale which he presently told, and which made so tremendous a sensation. it was a tale demonstrably false on the face of it--of a life spent in close and solitary confinement in a cell, without knowledge of his kind or acquaintance with the outside world. here is his story as he told it to the nuremberg magistrates, and as it found acceptance in credulous quarters. "all his life," he said, "had been spent in a cell 6 or 7 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 5 feet high, and always in a sitting posture; the only change in which was that when awake he sat upright, but leant back on a truss of straw when he slept. there were two small windows, but they were both boarded up, and as it was always twilight he never knew the difference between day and night. nor did he ever feel hot or cold. he saw no one, and no sound of any kind ever reached his ear. each morning, when he awoke, he found a pitcher of water and a loaf of rye bread by his side. he was often thirsty, and when he had emptied his pitcher, he used to watch to see whether the water would come again, as he had no idea how it was brought there. sometimes it tasted strangely and made him feel sleepy. he had toys to play with--two wooden horses and a wooden dog, and he spent his time in rolling them about, and dressing them up with ribbons. "one day a stool was placed across his knees, with a piece of paper upon it: an arm was stretched out over his shoulder, a pencil put into his hand, which was taken hold of, and guided over the paper. 'i never looked round to see whom the arm belonged to. why should i? i had no conception of any other creature beside myself.' this proceeding was repeated seven or eight times: the arm was then withdrawn, but the stool and paper left behind. he tried to copy the letters he had been made to trace, and pleased with this new occupation, persevered till he had succeeded. thus it was that he learned to write his name. about three days afterwards--as far as he could judge--the man came again and brought a little book (a prayer-book which was found on him). this was placed on his knees and his hand laid upon it; then, pointing to one of the wooden horses, the man kept on repeating the word 'ross' (horse) till he had learned to say it after him. according to his own account, this was the first time in his life he had ever heard a sound of any kind, as the man came and went noiselessly. then, in the same fashion, he was taught two sentences--'in the big village, where my father is, i shall get a fine horse.' 'i want to be a trooper as my father was'--which he repeated by rote, of course without understanding them. when his lesson was learnt the man went away, and he began playing with his toys, making so much noise that the man returned and gave him a smart blow with a stick, which hurt him very much. "'after that i was always quiet.' the last time the man came it was to take him away. his clothes had been changed while he slept; a pair of boots were now brought and put on; he was hoisted up on the man's shoulders, and carried up a steep incline into the open air. it was night-time and quite dark. he was laid down on the ground, and fell asleep at once. when he awoke, he was lifted upon his feet, and placed in front of the man, who, holding him under the arms, pushed forward his legs with his own, and showed him how to walk. but the pain and fatigue were very great, and he cried bitterly. the man said impatiently, 'leave off crying at once, or you shall not get that horse;' and he thereupon obeyed. then he was again lifted up and carried; again dropped asleep, and again he woke to find himself lying on the ground. this was repeated over and over again. there were the same painful attempts to walk; the same floods of tears, checked by the same threat; and then the same rest on the ground, with 'something soft' under his cheek. by degrees he began to walk alone, supported by the man's arm, though at first only six steps at a time. the sunshine and fresh air together dazzled and bewildered him, and he scarcely took note where they went. they never travelled on a beaten track, but generally on soft sand; never went up or down hill, or crossed a stream. sometimes he attempted to look about him; then the man instantly desired him to hold his head down. his clothes were once more changed; but the man, even while dressing him, stood behind him, so that he might not see his face. the two sentences he had learned were again and again impressed on his memory as he went along, the man always adding impressively, 'mind this well.' "he also said, 'when you are a trooper like your father, i will come and fetch you again.' "the journey cannot have been a long one, as he only took food once; he himself computed it had lasted a day and a night. "finally the letter was put into his hands with the words: 'go there--where the letter belongs;' and the man suddenly vanished from his side. he found himself alone in the street of nuremberg--having never till then perceived that he had entered the town, or, in fact, seen it at all. he was quite dazed and helpless, but someone kindly came and took charge of him and his letter." ... so great was the interest caused by this story, which easily roused the sympathy of the illogical--people are always readier to sympathise than to inquire--that kaspar was (july 1828) formally adopted by the town of nuremberg. an annual sum of 300 florins was voted for his maintenance and education. he became the idol of society. it was openly hinted that he was the legitimate son of the reigning house of baden, who stood in the way of the next in succession, and would have been long since in his grave had he not been rescued by a faithful retainer, who kept him in close confinement to conceal him from his pursuers. in the course of a year or so, however, the interest in him began to wane. his tutor, who had at first been delighted with him, was beginning to find him out. kaspar, in fact, was both cunning and untruthful. one day a particularly gross instance of his deceitfulness came to his tutor's knowledge. the same morning nuremberg was electrified by the news that kaspar's life had been attempted in broad daylight, and actually under his tutor's roof. a man, he said, with a black handkerchief drawn across his face, had suddenly confronted him, and aimed at him a blow with a heavy woodman's knife, crying, "after all, you will have to die before you leave nuremberg." the voice was the voice of the man who had brought him to the town. he described him accurately. but no such man could be traced. the wound was very slight. almost certainly it was self-inflicted, with the object of stimulating the flagging public interest by a new and romantic incident. that at any rate was its effect. pamphlets by the dozen appeared, and in 1832 president von feuerbach published his "history of a crime against a human soul," which moved all hearts by the pathos and eloquence with which it pleaded the cause of the mysteriously persecuted "child of europe." but the nurembergers were no longer eager to continue their allowance to the boy, so lord stanhope, who had always befriended him, now came forward, and made himself responsible for his education and maintenance. the rest of kaspar's life is somewhat dismal reading. he had to endure the process of being found out by successive people at successive places, for he had all the astuteness but also all the vanity of a lunatic. once again, it appears, he attempted to reawaken the flagging interest of the public. at ansbach he tried to repeat his nuremberg success, and to confirm the existence of the mysterious persecutor who was supposed to haunt him. but this time he failed. once more he got stabbed, but instead of a slight, he inflicted on himself a deadly wound. now though he had taken much trouble to make the conditions of the affair as mysterious and misleading as possible, a long judicial investigation resulted in the irresistible conclusion that "no murder was committed." at ansbach stands the tomb of the poor deluded and deluding "child of europe," a monument of folly not all his own. "hic jacet casparus hauser ænigma sui temporis ignota nativitas occulta mors, 1833." chapter v _the castle, the walls and mediæval fortifications_ "aufwärts ich mit dem alten ging nach einer königlichen veste, am fels erbauet auf das beste; manch thurm auf felsvorsprüngen lag, darin ein kaiserlich gemach. geziert nach meisterlichen sinnen die fenster waren und die zinnen; darum ein graben war gehauen in harten fels." --hans sachs. nuremberg is set upon a series of small slopes in the midst of an undulating, sandy plain, some 900 feet above the sea. here and there on every side fringes and patches of the mighty forest which once covered it are still visible; but for the most part the plain is now freckled with picturesque villages, in which stand old turreted châteaux, with gabled fronts and latticed windows, or it is clothed with carefully cultivated crops or veiled from sight by the smoke which rises from the new-grown forest of factory chimneys. the railway sets us down outside the walls of the city. as we walk from the station towards the frauen thor, and stand beneath the crown of fortified walls three and a half miles in circumference, and gaze at the old grey towers and picturesque confusion of domes, pinnacles and spires, suddenly it seems as if our dream of a feudal city has been realised. there, before us, is one of the main entrances, still between massive gates and beneath archways flanked by stately towers. still to reach it we must cross a moat fifty feet deep and a hundred feet wide. true, the swords of old days have been turned into pruning-hooks; the crenelles and embrasures which once bristled and blazed with cannon are now curtained with brambles and wallflowers, and festooned with virginia creepers; the galleries are no longer crowded with archers and cross-bowmen; the moat itself has blossomed into a garden, luxuriant with limes and acacias, elders, planes, chestnuts, poplars, walnut, willow and birch trees, or divided into carefully tilled little garden plots. true it is that outside the moat, beneath the smug grin of substantial modern houses, runs that mark of modernity, the electric tram. but let us for the moment forget these gratifying signs of modern prosperity and, turning to the left ere we enter the frauen thor, walk with our eyes on the towers which, with their steep-pitched roofs and myriad shapes and richly coloured tiles, mark the intervals in the red-bricked, stone-cased galleries and mighty bastions, till we come to the first beginnings of nuremberg--the castle. there, on the highest eminence of the town, stands that venerable fortress, crowning the red slope of tiles. roofs piled on roofs, their pinnacles, turrets, points and angles heaped one above the other in a splendid confusion, climb the hill which culminates in the varied group of buildings on the castle rock. we have passed the spittler, mohren, haller and neu gates on our way, and we have crossed by the hallerthorbrücke the pegnitz where it flows into the town. before us rise the bold scarps and salient angles of the bastions built by the italian architect, antonio fazuni, called the maltese (1538-43). crossing the moat by a wooden bridge which curls round to the right, we enter the town by the thiergärtnerthor. the right-hand corner house opposite us now is albert durer's house. we turn to the left and go along the obere schmiedgasse and the row of houses labelled am oelberg, till we arrive at the top of a steep hill (burgstrasse). above, on the left, is the castle, and close at hand the "mount of olives" sculpture (see p. 201). we may now either go through the himmels thor to the left, or keeping straight up under the old trees and passing the "mount of olives" on the left, approach the large deep-roofed building between two towers. this is the kaiserstallung, as it is called, the imperial stables, built originally for a granary. the towers are the luginsland (look in the land) on the east, and the fünfeckiger thurm, the five-cornered tower, at the west end (on the left hand as we thus face it). the luginsland was built by the townspeople in the hard winter of 1377. the mortar for building it, tradition says, had to be mixed with salt, so that it might be kept soft and be worked in spite of the severe cold. the chronicles state that one could see right into the burggraf's castle from this tower, and the town was therefore kept informed of any threatening movements on his part. to some extent that was very likely the object in view when the tower was built, but chiefly it must have been intended, as its name indicates, to afford a far look-out into the surrounding country. the granary or kaiserstallung, as it was called later, was erected in 1494, and is referred to by hans behaim as lying between the five-cornered and the luginsland towers. inside the former there is a museum of curiosities (hans sachs' harp) and the famous collection of instruments of torture and the maiden (eiserne jungfrau), to which we shall refer at greater length in the next chapter. the open space [illustration: the castle from the hallerthorbrücke] adjoining it commands a splendid view to the north. there, too, on the parapet-wall, may be seen the hoof-marks of the horse of the robber-knight, ekkelein von gailingen, whose story we have already narrated (p. 43). here for a moment let us pause, consider our position, and endeavour to make out from the conflicting theories of the archæologists something of the original arrangement of the castles and of the significance of the buildings and towers that yet remain. stretching to the east of the rock on which the castle stands is a wide plain, now the scene of busy industrial enterprise, but in old days no doubt a mere district of swamp and forest. westwards the rock rises by three shelves to the summit. the entrance to the castle, it is surmised, was originally on the east side, at the foot of the lower plateau and through a tower which no longer exists. opposite this hypothetical gate-tower stood the five-cornered tower. the lower part dates, we have seen, from no earlier than the eleventh century. it is referred to as alt-nürnberg (old nuremberg) in the middle ages. the title of "five-cornered" is really somewhat a misnomer, for an examination of the interior of the lower portion of the tower reveals the fact that it is quadrangular. the pentagonal appearance of the exterior is due to the fragment of a smaller tower which once leant against it, and probably formed the apex of a wing running out from the old castle of the burggrafs. the burggräfliche burg stood below, according to mummenhof, south-west and west of this point. it was burnt down in 1420, and the ruined remains of it are supposed to be traceable in the eminence, now overgrown by turf and trees, through which a sort of ravine, closed in on either side by built-up walls, has just brought us from the town to the vestner thor. the burggrafs' castle would appear to have been so situated as to protect the approach to the imperial castle (kaiserburg). the exact extent of the former we cannot now determine. meisterlin refers to it as _parvum fortalitium_--a little fort. we may, however, be certain that it reached from the five-cornered tower to the walpurgiskapelle. for this little chapel, east of the open space called the freiung, is repeatedly spoken of as being on the property of the burggrafs. besides their castle proper, which was held at first as a fief of the empire, and afterwards came to be regarded as their hereditary, independent property, the burggrafs were also entrusted with the keeping of a tower which commanded the entrance to the castle rock on the country side, perhaps near the site of the present vestner thor. the _custodia portæ_ may have been attached to the tower, the lower portion of which remains to this day, and is called the bailiff's dwelling (burgamtmannswohnung). the exact relationship of the burggraf to the town on the one hand, and to the empire on the other, is, as we have already observed, somewhat obscure. originally, it would appear, he was merely an imperial officer, administering imperial estates, and looking after imperial interests. in later days he came to possess great power, but this was due not to his position as castellan or castle governor as such, but to the vast private property his position had enabled him to amass and to keep. as the scope and ambitions of the burggrafs increased, and as the smallness of their castle at nuremberg, and the constant friction with the townspeople, who were able to annoy them in many ways, became more irksome, they gave up living at nuremberg, and finally were content to sell their rights and possessions there to the town. besides the _custodia portæ_ of the burggrafs, which together with their castle passed by purchase into the hands of the town (1427), there were various other similar guard towers, such as the one which formerly occupied the present site of the luginsland, or the hasenburg at the so-called himmels thor, or a third which once stood near the deep well on the second plateau of the castle rock. but we do not know how many of these there were, or where they stood, much less at what date they were built. all we do know is that they, as well as the burggrafs' possessions, were purchased in succession by the town, into whose hands by degrees came the whole property of the castle rock. above the ruins of the "little fort" of the burggrafs rises the first plateau of the castle rock. it is surrounded by a wall, strengthened on the south side (_l_) by a square tower against which leans the walpurgiskapelle. the path to the kaiserburg leads under the wall of the plateau, and is entirely commanded by it and by the quadrangular tower, the lower part of which alone remains and is known by the name of burgamtmannswohnung (_r_). the path goes straight to this tower, and at the foot of it is the entrance to the first plateau. then along the edge of this plateau the way winds southwards (_l_), entirely commanded again by the wall of the second plateau, at the foot of which there probably used to be a trench. over this a bridge led to the gate of the second plateau. the trench has been long since filled in, but the huge round tower which guarded the gate still remains and is the vestner thurm (_r_).[23] the vestner thurm or sinwel thurm (sinwel = round), or, as it is called in a charter of the year 1313, the "turm in der mitte," is the only round tower of the burg. it was built in the days of early gothic, with a sloping base, and of roughly flattened stones with a smooth edge. it was partly restored and altered in 1561, when it was made a few feet higher and its round roof was added. it is worth paying the small gratuity required for ascending to the top. the view obtained of the city below is magnificent. the vestner thurm, like the whole imperial castle, passed at length into the care of the town, which kept its tower watch here as early as the fourteenth century.[24] [illustration: vestner thurm] the well which supplied the second plateau with water, the "deep well," _tiefer brunnen_, as it is called, stands in the centre, surrounded by a wall. it is 335 feet deep, hewn out of the solid rock, and is said to have been wrought by the hands of prisoners, and to have been the labour of thirty years. so much we can easily believe as we lean over and count the six seconds that elapse between the time when an object is dropped from the top to the time when it strikes the water beneath. passages lead from the water's edge to the rathaus, by which prisoners came formerly to draw water, and to st. john's churchyard and other points outside the town. the system of underground passages here and in the castle was an important part of the defences, affording as it did a means of communication with the outer world and as a last extremity, in the case of a siege, a means of escape.[25] meanwhile, leaving the deep well and passing some insignificant modern dwellings (_r_), and leaving beneath us on the left the himmelsthor, let us approach the summit of the rock and the buildings of the kaiserburg itself. as we advance to the gateway with the intention of ringing the bell for the castellan, we notice on the left the double chapel, attached to the heidenthurm (heathen tower, see page 3), the lower part of which is encrusted with what were once supposed to be pagan images. the tower protrudes beyond the face of the third plateau, and its prominence may indicate the width of a trench, now filled in, which was once dug outside the enclosing wall of the summit of the rock. the whole of the south side of this plateau is taken up by the _palas_ (the vast hall, two stories high, which, though it has been repeatedly rebuilt, may in its original structure be traced back as far as the twelfth century), and the _kemnate_ or dwelling-rooms which seem to have been without any means of defence. this plateau, like the second, is supplied with a well. but the first object that strikes the eye on entering the court-yard is the ruined lime-tree, the branches of which once spread their broad and verdant shelter over the whole extent of the quadrangle. the empress kunigunde planted it, says the legend, some seven hundred years ago. for once, when king henry was a-hunting, he came in the pursuit of a deer to the edge of a steep precipice, and this in the heat of the chase he did not perceive, but would have fallen headlong had not a lime-branch, at which he grasped in his extremity, stopped and saved him. and he, recognising the special protection of the most high, broke off a twig of the lime-tree in remembrance of his wonderful preservation, and brought it to his anxious wife, who planted it at once with her own hands in the earth, and it soon grew into a beautiful tree. a modern staircase leads from the court to the rooms of the castle. they have been much spoilt by being rebuilt in modern gothic style by voit (1856) and being furnished as a royal residence. some objects of considerable interest, however, may still be seen here. in the great hall and in the bedrooms will be found some magnificent old stoves by augustin hirschvogel and others; whilst in the various rooms may be seen some fine stained glass and some heraldic paintings of albert durer's time. the single large spread-eagle on the ceiling of the writing-room (which was discovered in 1833 after two other ceilings had been removed) is especially remarkable. the windows command splendid views of the surrounding country. there are a few pictures in the hall of unequal interest. they are mostly copies of italian painters; but we may mention the venus and cupid by lucas cranach, the mocking of christ by hans schäuffelein, durer's favourite pupil, and others by artists of the old nuremberg and flemish schools. a narrow staircase leads from the dining-hall to the _emperor's chapel_ (kaiser-kapelle). it was built in the twelfth century by one of the hohenstaufen emperors, very likely by frederick barbarossa himself, when the growing favour with which nuremberg was regarded gave rise to the need of a larger and more splendid building than the primitive _st. margaret's chapel_ and fort which already existed. a rebuilding and enlarging of the imperial castle then took place, and the beautiful emperor-chapel was superimposed on the margaret-chapel, thus forming the two-storied or double chapel. romanesque in style, it is comparatively uninjured, and resembles the double chapel of eger, where the lower chapel is also attributed to barbarossa. the two chapels are very different in character. the lower, which was used as a gruftkapelle[26] or place of sepulture, is solemn and almost gloomy in effect; the upper, whilst harmonising with the lower, is in a much lighter and more charming style. the plan of the lower chapel is rectangular with an extension into the heathen tower in the shape of a rectangular choir, lighted by a romanesque window. the low, round vaulting of this, the st. margaret's chapel, rests on two low four-cornered pillars and on four columns, the capitals of which, hewn from great blocks, are richly sculptured, one with four eagles, two with foliage, and the fourth with masks. they were, according to the manner of construction customary at nuremberg, set up unwrought and only carved afterwards, as may be seen from the capital of the south-west column, which is only decorated on the two inner sides, the other two being unfinished. from the walls spring heavy brackets to receive the plinths of the arches which support the cross-vaulting. the two low pillars mentioned above divide the main body of the chapel from an irregular intermediate building adjoining the castle. entrance to the upper, or kaiser, chapel is only possible from the lower rooms of the castle, whence, above the flight of steps already referred to, a gothic doorway now leads to the chapel, by way of a vestibule or entrance hall. this hall is situated exactly over the western irregular section of the lower chapel. the low stout pillars which support the vaulting correspond in their ornamentation with that of the lower chapel. on the hexagonal capitals of one we find four of the familiar mediæval masks, whilst on both of them the sculptured foliage and basket-work recall that of the margaret chapel. in the wall which separates the vestibule from the castle a small connecting staircase leads up to a platform, which opens out in two arches towards the chapel and probably formed the imperial oratory. it is in immediate connection with the upper rooms of the castle by means of a gothic door which has replaced a romanesque gateway. thus the emperor could easily reach his seat in the chapel from the castle. ascending three steps, one arrives through a broad archway at the raised choir, which also resembles the margaret chapel in its ornamentation. but the most striking and distinctive feature of the kaiserkapelle, which gives it its characteristically light and graceful appearance, is the four slender columns of white marble, with richly decorated capitals and bases, which support the vaulting. one of the columns is built of two pieces. an unwrought ring covers the seam. hence arose the legend that, at the time when the chapel was building, the devil, who lusted after the soul of the castle chaplain, wagered him that he would bring these four pillars from milan sooner than the priest could read the mass. the priest, who had a glib tongue, cheerfully undertook the wager. the devil was quick, but the chaplain was quicker. the devil had already brought three columns, and the fourth was close at hand, when the nimble priest said "amen." so infuriated was the devil at losing his wager that he flung down the pillar. it fell so heavily on the floor that it broke in two, and had to be bound together with the ring. the coloured stone head above the choir-arch is supposed to be a memorial of this castle chaplain, who so cleverly obtained cheap transport for the church! without taking this legend altogether _au pied de la lettre_, we may think it likely from the style and material that these pillars were brought from some italian building. on the north-east wall of the chapel is an altarpiece with wings by wolgemut--ss. wenceslaus and martin, and ss. barbara and elizabeth on the reverse. the carved figures in the centre of the altarpiece on the south-east wall are by veit stoss, and the wings are of the school of wolgemut. on the south wall are two pictures by burgkmair (?) and a relief after designs by adam krafft. on the west wall are a picture by kulmbach and a remarkable relief by krafft, and on the north wall two pictures by strigel, and one by holbein the elder. the quadrangular aperture,[27] which occupies the entire space between the four pillars and allows a full view of the lower chapel, was for a long time walled up. this was done after the chapel had been plastered over, probably towards the end of the fifteenth century. ably restored in 1892 the chapel is now very much in its original state. the plaster, repeated layers of which had covered the capitals and ornaments with a thick crust, preventing their shape from being any longer recognisable, has been removed. the missing parts of the ornaments have been very skilfully replaced. the original red stone flooring was laid bare and the aperture reopened. there is some disagreement as to the purpose of this opening. we are usually told that it was made for a united church service of the emperor and castle retainers: the emperor taking his seat in the upper, the retainers in the lower chapel. it may be so: but one would rather believe that it was intended to enable the castle dignitaries, when the service was held in the upper chapel, still to obtain a view of the niches where the mortal remains of their ancestors rested, and to reflect upon the virtues and the end of their mighty dead, remembering the while that they too were mortal. * * * * * on leaving the castle we find ourselves in the burgstrasse, called in the old days unter der veste, which was probably the high street of the old town. off both sides of this street and of the bergstrasse ran narrow crooked little alleys lined with wooden houses of which time and fire have left scarcely any trace. as you wander round the city tracing the line of the old walls, you are struck by the general air of splendour. most of the houses are large and of a massive style of architecture, adorned with fanciful gables and bearing the impress of the period when every inhabitant was a merchant, and every merchant was lodged like a king. the houses of the merchant princes, richly carved both inside and out, tell of the wealth and splendour of nuremberg in her proudest days. but you will also come upon a hundred crooked little streets and narrow alleys, which, though entrancingly picturesque, tell of yet other days and other conditions. they tell of those early mediæval days when the houses were almost all of wood and roofed with straw-thatching or wooden tiles; when the chimneys and bridges alike were built of wood. only here and there a stone house roofed with brick could then be seen. the streets were narrow and crooked, and even in the fifteenth century mostly unpaved. in wet weather they were filled with unfathomable mud, and even though in the lower part of the town trenches were dug to drain the streets, they remained mere swamps and morasses. in dry weather the dust was even a worse plague than the mud. pig-styes stood in front of the houses; and the streets were covered with heaps of filth and manure and with rotting corpses of animals, over which the pigs wandered at will. street police in fact was practically non-existent. mediævalism is undoubtedly better when survived. as to the original extent of the city walls there are many theories. most likely they embraced a very small district. according to mummenhoff the first town wall ran from the west side of the castle in a southerly direction over the modern weinmarkt. (to reach it go straight down the albert durer strasse, starting from durer's house.) further on the wall struck eastwards (_l_) to the river, either leaving the swampy meadowland near the river free, or, as others hold, coming right down to the river banks. then, leaving the river again near the spitalplatz, it stretched northward, apparently from the malerthor which was then in existence, to the romer tower in the tetzelgasse.[28] this tower was probably not actually part of the wall but a fortified house, such as may be seen in many german and italian towns, built by the dwellers in it for their own especial protection. a noble family of the name of romer lived there in early times and gave their name to the house. but popular tradition has forgotten this fact and asserts that the tower dates back from roman times. from this spot the wall made a distinct bend to the east, ran over the ægidien hill through the wolfsgasse, where we may perhaps still recognise in one of the houses an old tower of the wall, and so on to the fröschturm, or frog's tower near the maxthor of to-day. a glance at the map will show us that nuremberg, as we know it, is divided into two almost equal divisions. they are called after the names of the principal churches the st. lorenz, and the st. sebald-quarter. the original wall which we have just described included, it will be seen, only a small portion of the northern or st. sebald division. with the growth of the town an extension of the walls and an increase of fortification followed as a matter of course. it became necessary to carry the wall over the pegnitz in order to protect the lorenzkirche and the suburb which was springing up around it. the precise date of this extension of the fortifications cannot be fixed. the chronicles attribute it to the twelfth century, in the reign of the first hohenstaufen, konrad iii. no trace of a twelfth-century wall remains; but the chroniclers may, for all that, have been not very wide of the mark. the mud and wood which supplied the material of the wall may have given place to stone in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. however that may be, it will be remembered that the lower part of the white tower, which is the oldest fragment of building we can certainly point to dates from the thirteenth century. all other portions of the second wall clearly indicate the fourteenth century, or later, as the time of their origin. what, then, was the course along which ran this second line of fortifications? assuming that the reader has accompanied us on our short circuit of the imaginary first town wall--(there is no better way of acquainting oneself with the topography of the place and of coming upon the most picturesque bits of old nuremberg than to work round the three lines of fortifications sketched here)--we will start again from the maxthor, the nineteenth-century gateway on the north side of the town. from the froschturm, which is near at hand, the wall ran alongside of the seven rows of houses (zeilen) which were built by the council in 1488 (on the old moat which had been filled in) for the immigrating swabian weavers; and then from the webersplatz by the landauerkloster (used at the present time as a polytechnic school) straight down to the lauferschlagturm. this tower, also called the inner lauferturm, dates in its present form from the fifteenth century and in part from the sixteenth century. it derives its name from the striking clock which was put up in 1478, at a period when clocks with bells to mark the hours were still rare. proceeding past the lauferschlagturm we can trace clearly enough the shooting-trench, which was assigned to the cross-bowmen in 1485 and runs on to the former foundry of the coppersmiths "auf dem sand." presently before reaching the pegnitz the wall made a sharp turn to the west: it is uncertain whether the present neuegasse (which we must follow) ran inside or outside of it; at any rate the mohler or mahler thor (müllerthor) stood at the spot where the heugässchen and neuegasse run into the spitalplatz. leaving the mohlerthor the wall crossed the spitalplatz (_l_) and ran in a straight line, strongly protected by towers, across the two arms of the pegnitz which encircle the schütt island. in the northern arm of the river, near the synagogue (_l_), you may still distinguish a bit of ruined wall overgrown by alders, rising out of the water. this is the remains of the pier which once buttressed the town-wall against the current of the pegnitz. on the island there are still two towers, the larger of the two being the schuldturm or debtor's tower for men (männereisen) which bears the date 1323. originally a corresponding tower for female debtors stood on the south bank of the river. but this, together with the connecting walls and the arch over the pegnitz, was demolished in 1812. the bridge, which joined the two debtors' towers, was called the schuldbrücke, and the whole probably resembled the henkersteg group at which we shall presently arrive. at any rate it is recorded that towards the end of the fifteenth century "they built dwellings for the townspeople on the old arch by the debtors' towers, through which the pegnitz formerly flowed into the town." we have now reached the south or lorenz-quarter of the town. from the river the wall ran straight on along the nonnen-gasse to the inner frauenthor, which was destroyed in 1499. cross the lorenzer platz and go down the theatergasse opposite. behind the theatre there is still a piece of open ditch--the old lorenzer shooting-trench, and near the old _inner_ frauenthor is the entrance to the herrenkeller, which goes under the königstrasse to beneath the great hall. the old moat was converted into this cellar, which is 447 feet long, and supported by twenty-six pillars. over it the architect hans behaim erected the neue kornhaus and the great hall or grosse wage, a deep-roofed building, also called the mauthaus, because it is now used as a custom house. going straight on down the north side of this hall we come to the frauengässlein, a fascinating old street, which stretches behind the old arsenals (_r_) (now used as storehouses for hops) to the färbergasse, and marks the further course of the walls, which, from the arsenals to the white tower (weissturm) is easily traced. for a considerable part of the old moat (färbergraben) and a piece of the old wall, with its large curved blocks of sandstone black with age, are still visible. at the end of the frauengasse turn first to the right and then to the left into the breitegasse, when the white tower will confront you. the lower portion of the white tower, or inner spittlerthurm as it used to be called (a name, like that of the modern spittlerthor, derived from the st. elizabethspital), is, as we have noted, thirteenth-century work. the tower was renovated in the fifteenth century and fitted, like the lauferschlagturm, with a chiming clock. the outer gate (vorthor) is still preserved. keeping on the inside of the white tower cross the ludwig strasse and go down the waisen strasse, which brings you to the brewery. keep on down the same street with first the brewery and then the unschlitthaus on the right till you reach the river. beyond the white tower the moat was long ago filled up, but the section of it opposite the unschlittplatz remained open for a longer period than the rest, and was called the klettengraben, because of the burdocks which took root there. hereabouts, on a part of the moat, the waizenbräuhaus was built in 1671, which is now the famous freiherrlich von tuchersche brewery. here, too, the unschlitthaus was built at the end of the fifteenth century as a granary. it has since been turned into a school. we have now reached one of the most charming and picturesque bits of nuremberg. once more we have to cross the pegnitz, whose banks are overhung by quaint old houses. their projecting roofs and high gables, their varied chimneys and overhanging balconies from which trail rich masses of creepers, make an entrancing foreground to the towers and the arches of the henkersteg. the wall was carried on arches over the southern arm of the pegnitz to the point of the saumarkt (or trödelmarkt) island which here divides the river, and thence in like manner over the northern arm. the latter portion of it alone survives and comprises a large tower on the north bank called the wasserthurm, which was intended to break the force of the stream; a bridge supported by two arches over the stream, which was the henkersteg, the habitation of the hangman or _löb_ as he was called, of whom and of whose duties we shall have to speak in the next chapter; and on the island itself a smaller tower, which formed the point of support for the original, southern pair of arches, which joined the unschlitthaus, but were so badly damaged in 1595 by a high flood that they were demolished and replaced by a wooden, and later by an iron bridge. after the great wasserthurm, all trace of the old wall is lost. probably it stretched in a straight line across the weintraubengässlein, along the back of the houses of the karlstrasse, and across the irrergasse to the lammsgasse. mummenhoff fancies that he can recognise one of the towers of it in an exceptionally high house on the north side of this latter street. there too stood the _inner_ neuthor. the houses at the back of albrecht-dürerstrasse show pretty clearly the further course of the wall until at the thiergärtnerthurm it finally joined the fortifications of the castle. thus we have completed the second circuit of the old imperial town as it was in the thirteenth and most of the first half of the fourteenth centuries. it was then a city of no mean size for the middle ages, but it was far from having attained its full development. new monasteries and churches and new suburbs sprang up outside the new line of fortification. as usually happens, the majority of the dwellers outside the walls were of the lower class: but, besides their houses, there were, especially towards the east, splendid gardens and properties belonging to the patrician families and also several large buildings, including the katherine and clara convents, the mary hospital, and the carthusian monastery (now part of the german museum). buildings of this kind, close to and outside of the gates of the old town, would, if they fell into the hands of an enemy, be a continual menace to the peace and safety of the burghers. hardly, therefore, was the second line of fortifications completed when it became necessary to protect the new suburbs with wall and ditch like the old town. it may be noted that even when the new enceinte, that is the _third_ or outer town wall, was finished, the second wall was still carefully preserved as a second line of defence. this was directly contrary to the advice of macchiavelli "not to establish within the circuit of a city fortifications which may serve as a retreat to troops who have been driven back from the first line of entrenchments ... for there is no greater danger for a fortress than rear-fortifications whither troops can retire in case of a reverse; for once a soldier knows that he has a secure retreat after he has abandoned the first post, he does, in fact, abandon it and so causes the loss of the entire fortress." the nurembergers, however, never favoured any policy that could even remotely suggest that of burning their boats. for a long time they kept their second line of defence. thus in 1509 it came to the notice of the authorities that "the inner moat near the arsenals and granaries were filled up with dirt and rubbish, which at some future time might do harm to the town, and the neighbours were forbidden to empty any more rubbish into the moat, and the town architect was ordered to see to it that what had been thrown into it was either levelled or taken out and that the parapet was renewed." similarly and in the same year the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of st. katherinagraben (the present peter vischerstrasse) were refused leave to build a bridge over the existing moat. that part of the town which lay between the second and third lines of fortification continued for a long time to retain something of a suburban character. people of small fortunes who came to settle in nuremberg were at first admitted only into the district outside the older wall and were only allowed to move into the inner town after they had been domiciled in the outer town for several years. the suburban character of the outer town was and is still in some degree apparent also from the large open spaces there and, especially on the eastern side, from the extensive farms and gardens belonging to the richer citizens, such as the holzschuhers, the volkamers and the tuchers. somewhere in the second half of the fourteenth century, then, in the reign of karl iv., they began to build the outer enceinte, which, although destroyed at many places and broken through by modern gates and entrances,[29] is still fairly well preserved, and secures to nuremberg the reputation of presenting most faithfully of all the larger german towns the characteristics of a mediæval town. the fortifications seem to have been thrown up somewhat carelessly at first, but dread of the hussites soon inspired the citizens to make themselves as secure as possible. in times of war and rumours of war all the peasants within a radius of two miles of the town were called upon to help in the construction of barriers and ramparts. the whole circle of walls, towers, and ditches was practically finished by 1452, when with pardonable pride tucher wrote, "in this year was completed the ditch round the town. it took twenty-six years to build, and it will cost an enemy a good deal of trouble to cross it." part of the ditch had been made and perhaps revetted as early as 1407, but it was not till twenty years later that it began to be dug to the enormous breadth and depth which it boasts to-day. the size of it was always a source of pride to the nurembergers, and it was perhaps due to this reason that up till as recently as 1869 it was left perfectly intact. on the average it is about 100 feet broad. it was always intended to be a dry ditch, and, so far from there being any arrangements for flooding it, precautions were taken to carry the little fischbach, which formerly entered the town near the modern sternthor, across the ditch in a trough. the construction of the ditch was provided for by an order of the council in 1427, to the effect that all householders, whether male or female, must work at the ditch one day in the year with their children of over twelve years of age, and with all their servants, male or female. those who were not able to work had to pay a substitute. subsequently this order was changed to the effect that every one who could or would not work must pay ten pfennige (one penny). there were no exemptions from this liturgy, whether in favour of councillor, official, or lady. the order remained ten years in force, though the amount of the payment was gradually reduced. whilst the enceinte was in course of erection the burggraf frederic vi. sold (1428) to the town the ruins of his castle. steps were immediately taken therefore to fortify the whole of the castle grounds with ditch and large revetted circular bastions. paul stromer was the director of the works. at this time we first find distinct mention of the vestner thor, and the vestnerthorbrücke. the other main gates, the neue thor, the spittler thor, the frauen thor, and the laufer thor had begun to be built about 1380. [illustration: walls and ditch] the wührderthürlein and the hallerthürlein were constructed probably about the same time as the vestnerthor--_i.e._ circ. 1430. it was against the gates that the main attacks of the enemy were usually delivered, and they were therefore provided with the most elaborate means of defence. each principal gate in fact was an individual castle, a separate keep: for it was defended by one of those huge round towers which still help to give to nuremberg its characteristic appearance. the laufer, spittel, and frauen towers, and the tower near the new gate were built in the above order in their present cylindrical shape (1555-1559) by the architect george unger, on the site of four quadrilateral towers that already existed. the towers are about 60 yards in diameter. they are furnished on the ground story with one or two gun-casemates, which would command the parapet wall if that were taken. above, beneath the flat roof, is fixed a platform blinded with wood relieved by embrasures capable of receiving a considerable number of cannon. guns indeed were in position here as recently as 1796, when together with all the contents of the arsenal they were removed by the austrians. at the time of the construction of these and the other lofty towers it was still thought that the raising of batteries as much as possible would increase their effect. in practice the plunging fire from platforms at the height of some eighty feet above the level of the parapets of the town wall can hardly have been capable of producing any great effect, more especially if the besieging force succeeded in establishing itself on the crest of the counterscarp of the ditches, since from that point the swell of the bastions masked the towers. but there was another use for these lofty towers. the fact is that the nuremberg engineers, at the time that they were built, had not yet adopted a complete system of flank-works, and not having as yet applied with all its consequences the axiom that _that which defends should itself be defended_, they wanted to see and command their external defences from within the body of the place, as, a century before, the baron could see from the top of his donjon whatever was going on round the walls of his castle, and send up his support to any point of attack. the great round towers of nuremberg are more properly, in fact, detached keeps than portions of a combined system, rather observatories than effective defences.[30] they were perhaps the last of their kind. tradition has quite incorrectly ascribed them to albert durer. not only were they built thirty years after his death, but they are in principle entirely opposed to the views expounded in his book on the "fortification of towns." this book, which appeared in 1527, broke completely with the old mediæval art of fortification (the theory of which may be said roughly to have consisted in an extensive use of towers), and recommended the construction of such bastions as the köcherts-zwinger, or that in the neighbourhood of the laufer thor (1527) which form the starting-point of modern fortification. the round towers, however, were not the sole defences of the gates. outside each one of them was a kind of fence of pointed beams after the manner of a chevaux-de-frise, whilst outside the ditch and close to the bridge stood a barrier, by the side of which was a guard-house. though it was not till 1598 that all the main gates were fitted with drawbridges, the wooden bridges that served before that could doubtless easily be destroyed in cases of emergency. double-folding doors and portcullises protected the gateways themselves. once past there, the enemy was far from being in the town, for the road led through extensive advanced works, presenting, as in the case of the laufer thor outwork, a regular _place d'armes_. further, the road was so engineered as not to lead in a straight line from the outer main gates to the inner ones, but rather so as to pursue a circuitous course. thus the enemy in passing through from the one to the other were exposed as long as possible to the shots and projectiles of the defenders, who were stationed all round the walls and towers flanking the advanced tambour. this arrangement may be traced very clearly at the frauen thor to-day. the position of the round tower, it will be observed, was an excellent one for commanding the road from the outer to the inner gate. the entrance and exit of the pegnitz were two weak spots, calling equally with the gates for special measures of defence. they were completely barred by "schossgatter" as they were termed--strong oak piles covered with iron--set beneath the arches that spanned the river. strong iron chains were stretched in front of them, forming a boom to prevent the approach of boats. the tower at the exit of the pegnitz was erected, we know, in 1422. it is mentioned by sixteenth-century chroniclers as the schlayerturm, and, though it has lost its former height, it serves to-day in conjunction with the adjoining building over the water as a jail. the most vulnerable points were thus provided for. the rest of the enceinte consisted of the ditch and walls and towers. there were two lines of walls and towers enclosing a space which in peace-time served as a game-park. celtes in his poem in praise of nuremberg boasts of the rich turf growing there, upon which grazed splendid herds of deer. the tiergärtner thor, however, did not derive its name from this game-park (tiergärten), but from another earlier one belonging to the burggrafs. the interior line of walls was the first to be built. it was made about three feet thick and twenty-two feet high. originally there were no buttresses to it (as one may gather from the short length of old wall, north of the spittler thor, where the inside of the wall is plain), but afterwards buttresses were added along the whole of it, at a distance of eighteen feet or so from centre to centre. about four feet broad, they projected some two feet beyond the actual wall. they are joined by circular arches, the coins of which are walled up. the blinded galleries thus formed are still frequently used as workshops. [illustration: interior of the walls] the top of the wall is about three yards broad, thanks to a coping stone which projects on each side. along the outer edge of the coping stone runs a crenelated wall, only a foot and a half thick. seeing that it was already at the time of construction exposed to artillery, the thinness of this wall is somewhat surprising. probably the nurembergers knew that the neighbouring nobility could not afford a heavy and expensive siege-train. a roof, composed, according to the poet celtes, of tiles partly glazed, was erected over the crenelated wall and thus formed a covered way. the crenelles were furnished with hanging shutters, which had a hole pierced in them and were adapted therefore either to the fire of small pieces or of arquebuses. at intervals of every 120 or 150 feet the interior wall is broken by quadrilateral towers. some eighty-three of these, including the gate towers, can still be traced. what the number was originally we do not know. it is the sort of subject on which chroniclers have no manner of conscience. the hartmann schedel chronicle, for instance, gives nuremberg 365 towers in all. the fact that there are 365 days in the year is of course sufficient proof of this assertion! the towers, which rise two or even three stories above the wall, communicated on both sides with the covered way. they are now used as dwelling-houses. on some of them there can still be seen, projecting near the roof, two little machicoulis turrets, which served as guard-rooms for observing the enemy, and also, by overhanging the base of the tower, enabled the garrison to hurl down on their assailants at the foot of the wall a hurricane of projectiles of every sort. like the wall the towers are built almost entirely of sandstone, but on the side facing the town they are usually faced with brick. the shapes of the roofs vary from flat to pointed, but the towers themselves are simple and almost austere in form in comparison with those generally found in north germany, where fantasy runs riot in red brick. the nuremberg towers were obviously intended in the first place for use rather than for ornament. parallel with the interior town wall there ran an exterior lower one, which, together with the former, enclosed a space, to which we have already referred, varying from fifty to twenty feet in breadth. we know very little about the _original_ height and form of this exterior wall. it suffered many changes and can no longer be traced in its original shape. experts hold diametrically opposite views both as to the use and the height of it. but that is the way of experts. we shall probably not be far wrong in concluding that this wall was originally a mere crenelated crowning[31] of the escarp of the ditch; that catapults were worked from the space enclosed by the two walls; and that the chief object of the outer wall and the enclosure was to prevent the enemy from working at the main, or inner, wall and towers with his rams and moveable turrets. later, when the use and effectiveness of artillery developed and guns supplanted catapults in vigour as well as in fact, some time at the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century, we may suppose that this old crenelated wall was removed, and the escarp wall of the ditch was raised and strengthened and provided with embrasures for large cannon, and rounded off on the outside so as to neutralise the effect of shot striking the face of the walls. in this form the exterior wall is well preserved, and can be seen at many places in the course of a walk round the outside of the town. at many points in the circumference, but chiefly where the fortifications are accessible (_e.g._ near the frauen thor) the parapets of this curtain-wall present a somewhat remarkable arrangement. the parapets, pierced with embrasures for cannon, are surmounted by timber hoards or filled in with brick and mortar, like the old english half-timbered houses. in these hoards (wooden galleries roofed in with tiles) arquebusiers and even archers, who were still employed at that period, might be placed. pieces in battery were covered by these hoards just in the same way as pieces in the "'tween decks" of a man-of-war. the crenelles of the hoards were closed by shutters opening on the inside, in such a way as to present an obstacle to the balls or arrows fired by the assailants placed on the top of the glacis. the outer, like the inner wall was provided with towers. these were thicker in construction but lower and less numerous than the interior ones. they were placed at intervals of 200 to 250 feet and amounted in all to forty or thereabouts. the chief purpose of them was to flank and command the ditch and thus to prevent the enemy from building a dam across it. with this object they projected some distance into the ditch. simultaneously with the alterations of the exterior wall small bastion-like towers were also constructed, chiefly at places where the wall formed an angle, and where the enemy could not therefore advance in line. from these towers a searching fire could be maintained in all directions, sweeping both the ditch and the ground in front. the strong, low, semi-circular tower at the haller thor is supposed to be the oldest work of this description. lastly, in the second half of the sixteenth century, the large bastions which bring us in touch with modern ideas of fortification were built. we may instance the bastion adjoining the neue thor, called the doktors zwinger because the doctors had their summer garden there. and in 1613 the vöhrderthor-zwinger was added to the old town-wall. it was designed by meinhard von schönberg, and built by jakob wolf, the younger. but in 1871 this magnificent structure, with the armorial devices which decorated the four corners of it, was enclosed in the vestner thor zwinger. an account of the fortifications of nuremberg would be incomplete if no mention were made of the _landwehr_--a continuous line of defence which was thrown up at some little distance from the town about the middle of the fifteenth century, in the time of the first marggravian war. the _landwehr_ was a ditch with an earthen parapet strengthened by stockades, barricaded at the crossings of the roads with obstacles and moveable barriers, and defended by blockhouses in which guards were always kept. the main object of this fortification was to afford shelter to the country people, and to secure them and their goods and cattle from the raids of the enemy. only the merest fragment of the "land-ditch" remains, viz., the landgraben, running through the lichtenhof meadow. it will be gathered from these dry details that the chief note struck by the fortifications of nuremberg is that of picturesque variety. the defences have been built at different times and form no stereotyped pattern. walls, towers, and bastions of varying types and shapes, suggesting the ideas of different ages, succeed each other in pleasant confusion. the walls themselves, now high, now low, now with, now without roofing, here crenelated with narrow loopholes and arrow-slits, there fitted with broad embrasures for heavy guns, seem to be typical of the place and to suggest to us the recollection of her chequered career. at the end of our long perambulations of the walls it will be a grateful relief to sit for a while at one of the _restaurations_ or restaurants on the walls. there, beneath the shade of acacias in the daytime, or in the evening by the white light of the incandescent gas, you may sit and watch the groups of men, women, and children all drinking from their tall glasses of beer, and you may listen to the whirr and ting-tang of the electric cars, where the challenge of the sentinel or the cry of the night-watchman was once the most frequent sound. or, if you have grown tired of the hornand the schloss-zwinger, cross the ditch on the west side of the town and make your way to the rosenau, in the fürtherstrasse. the rosenau is a garden of trees and roses not lacking in chairs and tables, in bowers, benches, and a band. there, too, you will see the good burgher with his family drinking beer, eating sausages, and smoking contentedly. chapter vi _the council and the council house--nuremberg tortures_ da ist in dieser stadt ein weiser, fürsichtiger rath, der so fürsichtiglich regiert und alle ding fein ordinirt. --hans sachs, _lobspruch der stadt nürnberg_. we have seen how in gradual and piecemeal fashion the council, as representative of nuremberg, acquired the character of an imperial state on an equality with the reigning princes and territorial lords. the special mark of sovereign power, the higher jurisdiction, was accorded in perpetuity to the nuremberg council through an edict of frederick iii., 1459. the council was composed originally of such burghers as the community saw fit to elect. but gradually it came about that only the moneyed classes, large merchants, large land-owners, and court-officials admitted to the citizenship took part in the election, and that, within this circle again, those who had already held office formed themselves into a specially privileged group. so there resulted in nuremberg, as everywhere else, the formation of a special town-aristocracy of those families eligible to the council, which in nuremberg particularly, where the original suffrage soon had to give place to the council's right of self-election, developed into the most pronounced exclusiveness. the final result was the separation of the citizens into the governing families and into the remaining classes cut off from any influence upon the town government, and represented in general by the trades guilds. this antithesis, which existed in all towns, led everywhere, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, to violent conflicts; in our town, to the riots of 1348, to which we have already referred. the families eligible to the council composed the _patriciate_, the origin of which can no longer be traced in detail. the patricians were not, as often in other towns, burghers of long standing, for in the fourteenth century and later, even up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, it happened that foreign families settling here were at once accepted as eligible to the council. this is a circumstance which does not at all correspond to the usual conception of the burgher exclusiveness in the middle ages; but on the contrary it betrays a certain liberality. the patricians appear with others of the nobility as witnesses to documents, and are not infrequently given precedence over the territorial nobility. they carried shield, helmet, and seal; their hatchments hung in the churches, they held fiefs from the princes, and were eligible to church dignities. the patriciate, however, did not by any means occupy itself wholly with military service and knightly exercises. many of them carried on wholesale businesses and manufacturing trades. this occurred pretty generally throughout the middle ages, as also in the sixteenth century, though their descendants denied that they were ever connected with trade. as the burghers were in general capable of bearing arms, the governing families especially kept themselves in military practice. they led the armed burghers or the mercenaries in the wars of their country, and many of them obtained in the service of the emperor, or elsewhere, the dignity of knighthood. as early as the fifteenth century the patrician families claimed the rights of knighthood and heraldry like territorial nobles. probably the tourney held in 1446, on the occasion of a patrician wedding, and represented in life-size stucco-work on the ceiling of the upper corridor in the town hall, by hans kuhn, 1621, was intended as a manifesto to this effect. at any rate it is recorded that this tourney vexed the nobles very sorely, "as they opined, it did not become the nuremberg families to tilt in noble conflict or to indulge in such knightly pastime; it was indeed generally held that this tourney had had no little influence in bringing about the great margravian war which soon followed." in the year 1481, and again in 1485, in the heidelberg and heilbronn tournament regulations, the town patriciate's right of tourney was formally contested. though we do not know how their prerogative arose, we certainly find that by 1521 the number of actual patrician families was limited to forty-three, whilst, by the end of the century, only twenty-eight are left eligible for the council. they formed a close and very exclusive corporation, clinging very tightly to their fabricated privileges. "anno 1521," runs an old statute, "it was declared and set down by the elders of the town of nuremberg which families have always from time immemorial danced and may still dance in the town hall." we cannot deny that the short-sighted policy so often pursued by nuremberg to her own undoing was due to the narrow and selfish oligarchy thus formed. but if we blame them for the decay we must also give them full meed of praise for the ripening of the prosperity of nuremberg. the truth seems to be that the government of oligarchies of this nature, formed, not of all the wealthy families, but of a patrician order of certain families, is, owing to the varied interests of the remaining society over whom they rule, peculiarly difficult to overthrow. moreover, it is at first likely to lead on the state to success and prosperity: for at first the prominence of particular families represents the triumph of the fittest, the rise of those best able to govern, to conduct commerce, to encourage industry and art. but when in the course of nature these families begin to decay and cling all the more obstinately to their rights, it is then that the weakness of the position appears and the state is involved in the ruin of its most degenerate members. it is noticeable that many of the early measures of the council bore a decidedly socialistic character. we may instance the establishment of public baths, and the storing up of corn against the time of famine, besides the foundation of a great town brewery, which is the origin of the famous tucher brewery of to-day, and the keeping of public stallions to improve the breed of horses, a measure that resulted in nuremberg becoming famous for its chargers. on the other hand, as an instance of the jealous tyranny of the council, we may quote the case of christoph scheurl. when he, the "oracle of the republic" as he was called, threatened to appeal to the imperial chamber against a sentence of the council they replied by torturing him in the cruellest fashion for three weeks. the public attitude of the councillors being of this somewhat grandmotherly kind, it is not surprising that they left the young members of their families very little liberty in placing their affections. love affairs and marriage for love were in fact not regarded with favour. girls were betrothed by their parents at eight years of age and married at fourteen, often to old men of sixty or seventy. a couple were very seldom permitted to initiate for themselves an affair of the heart. so when leonhard groland, against good manners and tradition, had begun a love affair with catherine, daughter of hans hardörfer, and this was discovered, the precocious lover was punished with two months' imprisonment and banished for five years from the town. when a father did allow his son to choose his own wife he very seldom allowed him to woo her. they tell us how when the young paul tucher said that he would like to marry ursula, daughter of the late albrecht scheurl, his father did the wooing for him, and went to andreas imhof, her guardian, and these two "with unshaken calm and dignified respectability" arranged the dowry and settlements. the public betrothal took place first in the rathaus and then in the house of the bride. the wedding, after many formalities, took place not in the church, but before the portal of the church,[32] and only after the marriage service was completed did the bridal pair enter the church to partake of the holy sacrament. after the service the bridal party danced in the morning and then, after dinner at the bride's home (where it was customary for the pair to reside for a year), another dance took place in the evening; in the case of members of the patriciate, in the rathaus. these proceedings were regulated by laws by which the council continually strove to repress the tendency to luxury and extravagance which always accompanies commercial prosperity. * * * * * the _rathaus_, the heart of the old trading republic, fronts the chancel end of the sebald-kirche, a position architecturally unfortunate. the original councilhouse, which was shared by the council with the clothiers guild, stood in the present tuchgasse. but in 1332 the council bought from the heilsbronn monastery a house on the site of the present rathaus, and here they built themselves a new council-house into which they first moved in 1340. in its oldest form the rathaus consisted only of a large hall, large enough to hold with comfort and dignity the numerous assembly that might gather there on the occasion of a reichstag. all that now remains intact of this hall is the outer architecture on the east side. the oldest portions of the rathaus are to be seen from the interior quadrangle and from the rathausgasse, the street at the back. [illustration: rathaus (window)] in 1514 new rooms were added. they are mostly by hans behaim and are very good specimens of late gothic. in 1520 the rathaus hall was renovated and altered and the side walls were painted after durer's designs, by georg pencz and other pupils of the master. the hall was again restored and adorned with new pictures in 1613. two years later the great chandelier, by hans wilhelm behaim, was placed there. two copies of it were added in 1874. the rathaus took almost its present form in 1616. the architect, eucharius karl holzschuher, adapted, so far as possible, the old rathaus to the new italian style of building which now enclosed it. the outbreak of the thirty years war, however, prevented the completion of his plan. the north-east portion of the rathaus has indeed only recently been finished after the designs of dr a. von essenwein. the imposing renaissance façade confronting st. sebald's is nearly 300 feet long and consists of two stories containing thirty-six windows apiece. three doric portals form the entrances, and are ornamented with sculptures of reclining figures--justice holding the scales and truth with a mirror, julius cæsar and alexander, ninus and cyrus--by leonhard kern. the sculptor received the moderate wage of 100 gulden per figure. entering the first court by the central portal, we see in front on the right the charming old gothic gallery, supported by three pillars. in the centre of the court is a bronze fountain by pankraz labenwolf (1556); in the second court is the apollo fountain of hans vischer.[33] the principal[34] staircase (_r_ of central entrance) leads to the great hall or council chamber already referred to (1332). the arched wooden ceiling dates from 1521. the hall is 130 feet long and 40 feet wide and contains the chandeliers and the paintings after durer's designs mentioned above. the latter, on the north wall, have been much spoiled by the effects of time and of incompetent restoration. the first of them represents the triumphal car of maximilian i. drawn by twelve horses. victory holds a laurel wreath over the emperor, who is attended by the various virtues. behind the car follows an animated procession of nuremberg town musicians. the second design is on the well-worn subject of calumny--midas with his long ears sitting in judgment on innocence who is accused by calumny, fraud, envy, and so forth, whilst in the background appear punishment, penitence, and truth. on the right of the judge (our left) who sits between ignorance and suspicion, are the words: _nemo unquam sententiam ferat priusquam cuncta ad amussim perpenderit_, on the left the same sentiment in german: ein richter soll kein urtheil geben er soll die sach erforschen eben. over the little door is written "eins manns red ist eine halbe red. man soll die teyl verhören bed." (one man's rede is but half the rede. the other side should be heard.) the frescoes (now scarcely visible) between the windows are by gabriel weyer (1619?). as both _bædeker_ and _murray_ state that "among them is a representation of the _guillotine_, which is thus proved to be two centuries older than the french revolution," it may be worth while to remark that nothing of the sort is proved. the falling-axe, _fall-beil_, the italian _caraletto_ here represented, was of course much used at this time, as the engravings of lucas cranach, georg pencz and others and as our own halifax gibbet and morton's maiden show. but the guillotine, properly so-called, was a revived and modified form of this. the instrument then took its name from the inventor of these modifications, m. guillotin, a philanthropic french physician, who designed "to reduce the pain of death to a shiver" by this machine; "qui simplement nous tuera et que l'on nommera, guillotine." as the royalist song first phrased it. the bronze railing, by peter vischer, which once separated the lower from the upper half of the hall has now disappeared. the small hall on the second floor is used now as the city court. it has recently been repaired and contains, besides portraits of modern nuremberg worthies, some pompous allegorical paintings by paul juvenell (1579-1643). in the rathaus as in the castle and museum some very fine specimens of old german stoves are to be seen. the stucco-relief on the ceiling of the corridor on this floor we have already mentioned more than once.[35] the municipal art gallery (gratuity) on the third floor contains an interesting collection of paintings that deal with the history of nuremberg. the most remarkable historically is the _banquet held in the rathaus_ on the occasion of the peace of westphalia (1649), by joachim von sandrart (1606-1688). thirty of the forty-seven figures at the table in this piece are portraits from life. * * * * * the power over life and death was given, as we have said, to the council along with the other rights of the _schuldheiss_ in 1459 by frederick iii. till then the emperor had reserved to himself the power to give to any individual he chose this right, "ban über das blut in der stadt zu richten." it was an evil thing now to fall into the hands of the council. prisoners even during their detention before trial were made to suffer more severely than the worst modern convicts. the accused were put into the _loch_, the hole which formed a part of the cellar of the old rathaus, where there are twelve underground cells, each about two yards square, and two yards high. entering the rathaus by the portal nearest to the schöner brunnen we turn to the right, ascend a flight of steps and ring the bell for the hausmeister,[36] who will guide us with lanterns to those gloomy caverns which like the piombi of venice cry shame on the inhumanity of man. we follow our guide down a narrow stone staircase to the dungeons cold and dark as the grave. over the various entrances were symbolic figures of animals: the two last being ornamented with a red cock and a black cock. no one seems able to say what these strange hieroglyphics denote. the cells were never cleaned, but were warmed by a brazier in the winter. two of them are furnished with stocks; in each there is an angular wooden couch; in some, when the sight has got gradually accustomed to the darkness, we become aware of a ghastly cleft in the floor. flaubert, poe, scott, and victor hugo never fail to make my blood run cold with their descriptions of tortures, but the pages of "salammbo," of the "pit and the pendulum," of "old mortality," or "les misérables" have no such terrors for my imagination as the actual sight of these deep and horrid dungeons wherein so many hundreds, innocent and guilty alike, have been incarcerated and suffered, with no anne of geierstein to deliver them. presently we pass on to a room of still more horrible interest--the torture-chamber where the judges (die blutrichtern) sat, whilst their wretched victim, far removed from human aid and human sympathy, was "examined" till a confession was wrung from him. this vaulted room in the _loch_ was called the "chapel." over it is written "folterkammer, 1511" (torture chamber). on the wall was inscribed the jingling verse-"_ad mala patrata hæc sunt atra theatra parata_." revolting as the idea of torture is to us, it would not be fair to concentrate our indignation on the nurembergers, as we are tempted to do, when we see these things and still more when, in the castle, we visit the stupendous collection of torture-instruments, those melancholy monuments of human error. for torture as a system of trial, as the great alternative to the ordeal, has received the sanction of the wisest lawgivers throughout far the greater portion of the world's history. it is, indeed, only quite recently that we have in practice acknowledged quintilian's objection to torture--that under it one man's constancy makes falsehood easy to him whilst another's weakness makes falsehood necessary. history, too, has shown us the evil effects of this system upon the judge, who became inevitably eager to convince himself of the guilt of the poor wretch whom he had already caused to suffer. how completely the prisoner thus became a quarry to be hunted to the death is shown by the jocular remark of farinacci, a celebrated authority in criminal law, that the torture of sleeplessness invented by marsigli was most excellent, for out of a hundred martyrs exposed to it not two could endure it without becoming confessors as well. this form of torture was practised in england even without the continental limit of time. but on the whole, torture in england fell short of the best continental standard. still, it remains true to say that human ingenuity could not invent suffering more terrible than was constantly and legally employed in _every_ civilised community. satan himself, one writer exclaims, would be unable to increase its refinements. a visit to the tower of london will prove that nuremberg was not a solitary and disgraceful exception to the manners of her day. the robber-barons, who flourished under king stephen in england used the same methods as their german brethren to extract ransoms from the rich merchants they captured, using knotted ropes twisted round the head, crucet-houses, or chests filled with sharp stones in which the victim was crushed, sachentages, or frames with a sharp iron collar preventing the wearer from sitting, lying, or sleeping. a visit to the castle of nuremberg shows us that the rich merchants were ready to use similar arguments to the robber-barons. when the prisoner had been brought into the torture chamber and the professional gentlemen (the hangman and the secretary) had decided how much the patient could bear, operations began. a circular opening on the inside of the room above the entrance marks the place behind which sat the person who took down the prisoner's confession. innumerable devices and instruments had been invented, as we see in the castle, by using which separately and in combination the confession was extorted. burning candles held under the arms were found very effective and the favourite spanish methods, the strappado (suspension by the arms behind the back with weights to the feet), pouring water down the throat and applying fire to the soles of the feet were in frequent use. we find many varieties of the "little ease" or rack in the castle. the severity of the instrument is attested by the signature of our guy fawkes before and after being submitted to that ordeal. but even less attractive than this must have been the _peine forte et dure_. john gow, it will be remembered, in "the pirate," stands mute even when his thumbs were squeezed by two men with a whipcord till it broke, and again when it was doubled and trebled so that the operators could pull with their whole strength. but his fortitude gave way and he confessed when he had seen the preparations for pressing him to death with the _peine forte et dure_, a board loaded with heavy weights. a peculiar atrocity marked the torture system of scotland. torture retained its place in that kingdom's laws as long as she preserved the right of self-legislation. her system could not surpass, but it serves to illustrate the fiendish barbarities of the nuremberg questions. readers of sir walter scott will remember his description of the "boot"--an iron frame in which the leg was inserted and broken by iron wedges driven in with a hammer. the penni-winkis, thumb-screws, and caschielawis, iron frames for the leg heated from time to time over a brazier, were also favourite instruments both there and here. it is not surprising that such persuasion usually succeeded in producing a confession from the prisoners, whether true or not, of their own or of other people's guilt. they were not infrequently compelled to confess to crimes which they had never committed[37] and were hanged for murdering persons who afterwards were found to be alive and well. real criminals, however, often refused to speak; for habitual and professional malefactors used to torture each other regularly in order to be hardened when brought to justice. but in that case their wives and children often proved less reticent. confession having been secured the council appointed a day of judgment for the _armen_, "poor fellow," as they termed him. if when he came before them he still persisted in his confession he was condemned. but condemnation depended on the confession of the criminal, and the church had long maintained that confessions obtained under torture were invalid. if, therefore, when brought before the council he recanted he was tortured again, and as often as he retracted this process was repeated until a confession apart from torture was obtained. the humane intervention of the church thus resulted in a redoublement of cruelty. even after condemnation, if the convict told the clergyman, who came to prepare him for death, that he was really not guilty but had confessed only because of the torture, the council on hearing of it had to begin all over again. this became such a nuisance that they warned the clergy not to talk to the condemned too much about temporal matters! after sentence had been passed by the council a public trial of an entirely formal character was held, very wearisome to the condemned wretch, who probably knew that it was so empty a form that it was held even if the prisoner had already succumbed to the torture or committed suicide in the cells. in nuremberg, as elsewhere, various methods of punishment were employed. much ingenuity and some humour were displayed in making "the punishment fit the crime." the shrew was tamed, as in england, by the application of the _brank_ or scold's bridle--an iron framework placed over the head in such a way that a plate covered with spikes, which was attached to it, fitted into the mouth. thieves, like english authors, had their ears cut off. this operation was performed on the fleischbrücke. the tongues of blasphemers were torn out, and if the banished returned to the city their eyes were gouged out. the latter treatment was often applied in the east to junior princes not required to be heirs. but there the removal of the eyeball gave way, in later times, to the drawing of a red-hot sword blade across the eyeball. in italy the use of a heated metal basin (bacinare) was preferred. whilst, in england, we punished drunkenness, as lately as 1872, with confinement in the stocks, the use of the ordinary nuremberg punishment--"the drunkard's cloak"--a barrel worn after the manner of a cloak--was almost confined to newcastle. the ancient moslem punishment for wine-drinkers--the pouring of melted lead down the offender's throat--does not appear to have been in vogue. other devices shown in the five-cornered tower are the spanish horse, which suggests the modern american method of "riding on a rail," the finger-cramp for bad musicians, pipes for excessive smokers, faces to be worn by husband-beaters, ducking-stools and the wheel, last used in 1788, and the cradle, last used in 1803. even the sentence of death was variously performed. robbers were hanged; murderers beheaded; worse criminals were torn asunder by horses or broken on the wheel. sinners against the church were exposed barefooted and bareheaded and hanged before the church doors; sinners against morality were branded. jews--if it was a question of hanging them--were always hung from the end of the gallows' beam, so that they and the christians might swing from a different place. boiling oil does not seem to have been indulged in, though it was used in france for mere counterfeiters, and in england for poisoners. the bishop of rochester's cook for instance was treated in this manner in 1630. terrible as these atrocities were, they are also terribly recent. the last burning at the stake in germany took place in berlin, 1786, and in the same year at vienna occurred the last case of breaking on the wheel. the victim was tortured with red-hot pincers as he walked to the place of execution. and in england the execution of the rebels after the "45" was carried out in exact accordance with the statute of treason of edward iii., 1351, by which the unhappy victim of justice must be drawn to the gallows and not walk; be cut down alive and his entrails be then torn out and burnt before his face. women in nuremberg, as in france and england, were not exposed on gibbets in chains but were buried alive, till 1515, when at the hangman's request they were drowned instead. in 1580 they took to being decapitated. women who had murdered their husbands were bound to a cart on the way to execution, bared to the waist and tortured with red-hot tongs. the condemned criminal usually walked from the [illustration: henkersteg (hangman's tower)] rathaus over the barfüsserbrücke to the frauenthor, where the gallows stood. on the way priests confessed him; pious people prayed for him and supported him with draughts of wine. it is satisfactory to learn that the feeling of the people was usually in favour of the "poor" thing. fellow-feeling made them wondrous kind, so that if the hangman bungled his business and failed to kill his subject outright the mob might prove dangerous. but the executioners, who lived in the picturesque henkersteg, were usually masters of their art.[38] they tell us of one great artist who in 1501 killed two robbers almost at a blow. he placed them back to back, two or three yards apart, and took his stand between them. he beheaded the first one, who was kneeling, then with the same sweep, swinging round in a circle, he whipped off the other's head. clearly he was not devoid of professional pride, and worthy was he to be compared with the executioner in anne of geierstein who boasted that "tristrem of the hospital and his famous assistants andré and trois eschelles are novices compared with me in the use of the noble and knightly sword," and who claimed "if one of my profession shall do his grim office on nine men of noble birth with the same weapon and with a single blow to each patient, hath he not a right to his freedom from taxes and his nobility by patent?" the day-book of the nuremberg executioner, 1573-1617, shows that no less than 361 were executed, and 345 were beaten with rods and had their ears and fingers cut off in that period. besides these there were doubtless many dungeon executions and much cellar practice as well. there were also the victims of the secret tribunal, the vehme-gericht. after leaving the torture-chamber we pass the entrance to a passage, inaccessible now by reason of the masses of fallen stone, which leads beyond the town to a distance of nearly two miles, and emerges (it is said) in the forest near dutzendteich. it was used to despatch envoys, and as a means of access to, and escape for, the senate in troublous times. the passage which we follow was constructed about 1543. it runs beneath the streets towards the castle, making a circuitous course and passing under the albrecht dürer platz. it varies in height from 3 to 7 feet, and, as it nears the castle, is hewn out of the living rock. presently we pass on the right the passage which leads down to the deep well (see chap. v.); and then at last we emerge first into the thiergärtnerthorthurm and then on to the castle bastion--the schlosszwinger. this bastion is now a well-kept garden, and the empty, spreading embrasures for guns are now covered with creepers. our guide leads us out into the burgstrasse. a few years ago it was possible to descend again into the passages, traverse the inner side of the town-wall and pass into the castle dungeon--the secret prison of the vehme-gericht. underground passages led thither both from their own tribunal--a hall now used as a warehouse in the pannier-gasse--and from the private residences of the senators. there, too, was that deep and dismal abyss[39] which was wont to receive the mangled remains of the prisoners, mostly of rank, who had been condemned to "kiss the maiden"--_die verfluchte jungfer_. he upon whom doom had been passed was forced, after a night spent in her presence, into the embraces of the famous female figure, which stands to-day with sphinx-like placidity in the castle. gradually by cunningly-contrived machinery the maiden grasped the unhappy man with iron arms and pressed him crushingly to her bosom. but from her body and from her face sharp spikes sank as gradually into his eyes and flesh, piercing him through and through. at last the arms relaxed from their cruel embrace, but only to precipitate him, a mass of ghastly laceration, into the pit below, where the body was received upon sharply-pointed bars of steel placed vertically at the bottom, and was cut to pieces by wheels armed with knives which soon completed this inhuman work of secret destruction. this subsequent cutting into a thousand pieces may be compared with the chinese _ling-chee_, and the _bodoveresta_ prescribed by zoroaster for incompetent physicians. besides its horrid appeal to the imagination, it was doubtless useful in concealing the identity of a prisoner secretly condemned and secretly executed. there are various parallels to the nuremberg maiden. a similar instrument was invented by nabis, a spartan tyrant, who named it the apega, after his wife. but the famous morton's maiden in the museum of antiquities in edinburgh is simply a beheading machine, something after the manner of a guillotine. tradition says that the regent, earl of morton, introduced it into scotland and was the first to suffer by it. this is a story as old as the bull of phalaris. but it is not likely that morton introduced it and he was certainly not the first to suffer by it. similarly the rack was called exeter's daughter because the duke of exeter is said to have introduced it into england. so, too, the scavenger's daughter in the tower of london took its name from sir william skevington, a lieutenant of the tower under henry viii., who revived the use of an iron hoop, in which the prisoner was bent heels to hams and chest to knees, and was thus crushed together unmercifully. in all these cases, it will be observed, the instrument took its title of maiden or daughter from the grim contrast that would strike the popular mind between the soft embraces of a girl and the cruel greeting of the machine. it was the sweetest maiden he ever kissed, said the marquis and earl of argyle when he suffered death by morton's maiden. so in the navy the gun to which a sailor was lashed before being flogged was termed the gunner's daughter.[40] so, too, in the days of the french revolution, as dickens tells us, the figure of the sharp female figure called la guillotine was the popular theme for jests: it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented the hair from turning grey, it imparted a peculiar delicacy to the complexion, it was the national razor which shaved close; who kissed la guillotine looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack. in nuremberg this grim jest was translated into literal earnest. but it must have been difficult for the sufferer to appreciate the hideous humour of the thing. not long ago there was an exhibition of torture instruments in london. the nuremberg maiden was represented, and round her neck hung a placard with the legend: "maiden: nuremberg." a cockney, the story runs, read out this inscription to his companion: "syme old gyme," was the comment; "myde in germany." and it was. chapter vii _albert durer and the arts and crafts of nuremberg. (michel wolgemut, peter vischer, veit stoss, adam krafft, etc.)_ "wie friedsam treuer sitten ertrost in that und werk liegt nicht in deutschlands mitten mein liebes nüremberg." --wagner, _die meistersinger_. "here, when art was still religion, with a simple, reverent hart, lived and laboured albrecht dürer, the evangelist of art; hence in silence and in sorrow, toiling still with busy hand, like an emigrant he wandered, seeking for the better land. emigravit is the inscription on the tomb-stone where he lies; dead he is not--but departed,--for the artist never dies." --longfellow. at nuremberg, as elsewhere, in the middle ages, every trade formed a close corporation, the rules and ordinances of which were subject to the council alone. these unions, besides enjoying a monopoly of their particular trade, aimed at producing good work after their kind, and at "living together peacefully and amicably, according to the christian law of brotherly love." wages and prices were fixed, the relations of masters and subordinates were regulated by the corporations. equality as well as fraternity was aimed at. each master was allowed only a certain number of apprentices and workmen, who might not work at night, on sundays, or on feast days. occasionally, in the case of artists whose work was in very great repute and demand, the council relaxed this rule. by special privilege adam krafft was allowed to increase his establishment of workers. the trade-corporations paid great attention to the quality of the goods produced. they were always anxious that only products which were "in the eyes of all good, irreproachable, and without flaw," should be delivered. to guarantee their quality and soundness goods were carefully inspected before being put on sale: shoes or works of art, bread or beef--all alike came under the eye of inspectors appointed by the respective associations. punishment for infringement of the rules was severe. two men were burnt alive at nuremberg in 1456 for having sold adulterated wine. the modern publican would doubtless be surprised at such treatment. the youth who was destined for a certain trade had to be apprenticed to some master of that trade, "who," say the rules of the time, "must maintain his apprentice night and day in his house, give him bread and attention (and in some cases even clothes), and keep him under lock and key." the master, who was responsible for his apprentice's work, had also to teach him his trade, and to see that he was brought up in the fear of god, and that he attended church. when the apprenticeship (lehrjahre) expired the young worker set out on his travels (wanderjahre) for one, three, or even five years, visiting foreign countries, and learning all he could of his trade. then he returned and occupied himself, whilst working for a master, in endeavouring to produce a piece of work--his masterpiece--which should entitle him to be admitted to the rank of master. [illustration: albert durer's house] that this system had faults, economically, is undeniable. that it produced good work and engendered in the craftsmen a personal interest and pride in their work, is equally certain. among the craftsmen of nuremberg in her golden age were albert durer, peter vischer, adam krafft, veit stoss, and a host of others eminent in their line. it was under the conditions we have sketched that they learned and laboured. * * * * * among the most treasured of nuremberg's relics is the low-ceilinged, gabled house near the thiergärtnerthor, in which _albert durer_ lived and died, in the street now called after his name. the works of art which he presented to the town, or with which he adorned its churches, have unfortunately, with but few exceptions, been sold to the stranger. it is in vienna and munich, in dresden and berlin, in florence, in prague, or the british museum, that we find splendid collections of durer's works. not at nuremberg. but here at any rate we can see the house in which he toiled--no genius ever took more pains--and the surroundings which impressed his mind and influenced his inspiration. if, in the past, nuremberg has been only too anxious to turn his works into cash, to-day she guards albert durer's house with a care and reverence little short of religious. she has sold, in the days of her poverty and foolishness, the master's pictures and drawings, which are his own best monument; but she has set up a noble monument to his memory (by rauch, 1840) in the durer platz, and his house is opened to the public (on payment of 50 pfennige) between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., and 2 and 6 p.m. on week days. the albert-durer-haus society has done admirable work in restoring and preserving the house in its original state with the aid of professor wanderer's architectural and antiquarian skill. reproductions of durer's works are also kept here. the most superficial acquaintance with durer's drawings will have prepared us for the sight of his simple, unpretentious house and its contents. in his "birth of the virgin" he gives us a picture of the german home of his day, where there were few superfluous knick-knacks, but everything which served for daily use was well and strongly made and of good design. ceilings, windows, doors and door-handles, chests, locks, candlesticks, banisters, waterpots, the very cooking utensils, all betray the fine taste and skilled labour, the personal interest of the man who made them. so in durer's house, as it is preserved to-day, we can still see and admire the careful simplicity of domestic furniture, which distinguishes that in the "birth of the virgin." the carved coffers, the solid tables, the spacious window-seats, the well-fitting cabinets let into the walls, the carefully wrought metal-work we see there are not luxurious; their merit is quite other than that. in workmanship as in design, how utterly do they put to shame the contents of the ordinary "luxuriously furnished apartments" of the present day! _simplex munditiis_ is the note struck here. the artists of those days gave themselves no airs: they were content to regard themselves merely as successful workmen. the same hands that carved the most splendid cathedral stalls were ready to lavish equal care on the most insignificant domestic utensil: whilst the simplest artisan was filled with the ambition to turn out work truly artistic. he aimed at perfection, sharing in his master's toil and triumphs, and hoping, no doubt, to produce some day a masterpiece himself. and what manner of man was he who lived in this house that nestles beneath the ancient castle? in the first place a singularly loveable man, a man of sweet and gentle spirit, whose life was one of high ideals and noble endeavour.[41] in the second place an artist who, both for his achievements and for his influence on art, stands in the very front rank of artists, and of german artists is _facile princeps_. at whatever point we may study durer and his works we are never conscious of disappointment. as painter, as author, as engraver or simple citizen, the more we know of him the more we are morally and intellectually satisfied. fortunately, through his letters and writings, his journals and autobiographical memoirs we know a good deal about his personal history and education. durer's grandfather came of a farmer race in the village of eytas in hungary. durer, it has been plausibly suggested, is a nuremberg rendering of the hungarian word ajtó = door = eytas. the open door, azure, in his canting coat of arms seems to confirm this. the grandfather turned goldsmith, and his eldest son, albrecht durer the elder, came to nuremberg in 1455 and settled in the burgstrasse (no. 27). he became one of the leading goldsmiths of the town: married and had eighteen children, of whom only three, boys, grew up. albrecht, or as we call him albert durer, was the eldest of these. he was born may 21, 1471, in his father's house, and anthoni koberger, the printer and bookseller, the stein of those days, stood godfather to him. the maintenance of so large a family involved the father, skilful artist as he was, in unremitting toil. "my dear father," writes durer, "passed his life in the midst of great toil, and difficult and arduous labour, having only what he earned by his handiwork to support himself, his wife and his family. his possessions were few and in his life he experienced many tribulations, struggles and reverses of all sorts: but all who knew him had a good word to say of him, for he clung to the conduct of a good and honourable christian. he was a patient and gentle man, at peace with all men and full of gratitude to god." the portrait he has left of his father (at munich) corresponds exactly to the character he has thus described. it is the trustful, strenuous face of a worn but strong old man, who seems to accept without regret, in the glad possession of a conscience free from all reproach, a life deprived of all comfort and worldly pleasure. he took great pains to bring up his children in the way they should go. "my father took much trouble over our education. he brought us up to the glory of god: his chief desire was to keep his children under severe discipline, so that they might be acceptable to god and to man. every day he urged us to love god and to show a sincere affection for our neighbours." of his mother, albert durer writes, "it was her constant custom to go much to church. she never failed to reprove me every time that i did wrong. she kept us, my brothers and me, with great care from all sin, and on my coming in or my going out, it was her habit to say 'christ bless thee.' i cannot praise enough her good works, the kindness and charity she showed to all, nor can i speak enough of the good fame that was hers." his father, who was delighted with albert's industry, took him from school as soon as he had learned to read and write and apprenticed him to a goldsmith. "but my taste drew me towards painting rather than towards goldsmithry. i explained this to my father, but he was not satisfied, for he regretted the time i had lost." [illustration: albert durer as a boy. from a drawing by himself at the age of thirteen] benvenuto cellini has told us how his father, in like fashion, was eager that he should practise the "accursed art" of music. durer's father, however, soon gave in and in 1486 apprenticed the boy to michel wolgemut. that extraordinarily beautiful, and, for a boy of that age, marvellously executed portrait of himself at the age of thirteen (now at vienna) must have shown the father something of the power that lay undeveloped in his son. so "it was arranged that i should serve him for three years. during that time god gave me great industry so that i learnt many things; but i had to suffer much at the hands of the other apprentices." * * * * * painting was already in vogue at nuremberg in the fourteenth century, but it was never much encouraged. one of the reasons may perhaps have been that there was little opportunity for fresco painting here, as in italy; for the gothic style of architecture offers no large surfaces that seem to demand the relief of colour and drawing. painting was regarded at first merely as an assistant of architecture, glass-blowing and sculpture, for the purposes of decoration and ornament, and painters therefore always continued to be treated as mere artisans of one craft or another. "here i am a master," writes durer from italy, "at home a parasite." but, however regarded, the art of painting had attained to the dignity of a separate existence when, in the fourteenth century, it was called in to supply the place of sculpture and to furnish altar-pieces and memorial pictures attached to monuments. these latter, "epitaphs," are highly characteristic of northern art, and no better examples of them are to be found than in the great churches of nuremberg. many of them, in their original positions, can be seen in the churches of st. lorenz and st. sebald, executed for the great burgher families--imhoffs, tuchers, holzschuhers, etc.--on the death of one of their number. an early example is that of paul stromer (1406) in st. lorenzkirche. the oldest nuremberg picture is said to be an altarpiece in st. jakobskirche. a great advance on this awkward work is the celebrated imhoff'sche altar-piece in the lorenzkirche (1418-22). of the same period, but more full of colour and movement, are the pictures of the deokarus altar in the same church, of the altar of the sacristy in st. jakobskirche, and notably of the tuchersche altar in the frauenkirche (1440). the figures in this picture are more severe and also more vigorous than the graceful, soft, full figures of the imhoff'sche altar-piece. the names of the painters of these works are unknown. berthold, who was commissioned by the council in 1423 to paint the interior of the rathaus, is the only early painter of note whose name has survived. to him some of the earliest epitaphs are safely to be attributed. so far no outside influence had affected the work of the nuremberg painters. they were content to supply their pictures with plain gold backgrounds and to subordinate the composition of them to the requirements of the folding divisions of the altar-pieces, carved in stone or wood. the grouping is therefore often crowded and the drawing and arrangement of the limbs and figures frequently approaches the grotesque. but presently, and probably through the agency of martin schongauer, the famous engraver and painter of colmar, the influence of the flemish school began to make itself felt. the introduction of landscape backgrounds and a great improvement in drawing and composition are noticeable, and may be traced in the löffelholz altar-piece in st. sebald's (1453). in these respects and in the smooth and brilliant colouring, not quite perfectly harmonised, _michel wolgemut's_ (1434-1519) earliest works show the influence of the flemish school in full vigour. it was in 1473 that he married the widow of hans pleydenwurf, a painter of some reputation, and in his house, beneath the old castle, proceeded to carry on the firm of wolgemut and pleydenwurf. from this workshop all the principal paintings of that period would seem to have issued. it is extremely difficult to determine how far the pictures that have hitherto passed under the name of michel wolgemut are really his. the master has certainly failed as a rule to stamp his own personality on his works. this is no doubt due in great part to the fact that he left much of each picture to be done by his pupils and assistants. the "firm" took a frankly business view of their handiwork. the amount of personal attention michel wolgemut gave to a picture probably varied with the price paid for it. it is unfortunate that durer in many cases followed the same custom. he found that his careful and elaborate style of painting was simply beggaring him, and he frequently therefore allowed his paintings to be finished by his assistants. some common characteristics of the pleydenwurf-wolgemut school soon impress themselves on us as we study their works in the german museum, or the churches of st. lorenz, st. sebald, st. john, and st. jakob. the drapery is stiffly drawn but the colouring remarkably clear and brilliant. the modelling of the limbs, not founded on durer's close studies of the nude, still leaves much to be desired. the female type is at first sight graceful, but on closer acquaintance we find it soulless and unsatisfying. the prominent cheekbones, straight noses, mild expression of almond-shaped eyes, thin lips and lifeless mouths produce an impression very different from that caused by the almost painful intensity of durer's portraits. as the fifteenth century draws to a close an increasing severity of design and hardness of expression becomes noticeable. it is not altogether fanciful, i think, to attribute this in part to the stern independent spirit of the reformation and in part to the prevalence of engraving. for wolgemut, with wilhelm pleydenwurf, paid much attention to woodcarving,[42] and aided doubtless by their youthful apprentice, albert durer, illustrated the _schatzbehalter_ (1491) and the _hartmann-schedel chronicle_ (1493), published by koberger. the influence of this style of work is perhaps traceable in the flatness and severe modelling of the hands, feet, and faces, and in the stiff movement of the figures in wolgemut's pictures. wolgemut is seen to best advantage in his single figures of saints, as in his peringsdörffer masterpiece, from the augustinerkirche, now in the german museum, the only painting of importance known to have been produced in his studio during durer's apprenticeship. but even in his best pieces we see little more than the fine feeling of a skilful workman. we look in vain for inspiration, in vain for imagination, we listen in vain for any echo from that world of perfect beauty which durer and the greatest artists have known in part and striven to express. and yet, somehow, his best works do appeal to us and stir our hearts. what the secret of that appeal may be is a question which will doubtless find various answers. _quot homines tot sententiæ._ for me it is that wolgemut speaks in the naïve, straightforward tones of the middle ages, and decks the actors of the sacred story in the clothes and colours of his own time and his own surroundings. the atmosphere of his pictures is laden with subtle associations. if there was no note of poetry in wolgemut, still, round the landscapes in his pictures, there hovers a tone like the echo of some old folk-song that has been sung and yet lingers in the air. * * * * * _albert durer_ always entertained the highest respect for his master, and in 1516 painted the immortal portrait of him in his eighty-second year, now in munich. when in 1490 his apprenticeship was completed durer set out on his wanderjahre, to learn what he could of men and things, and, more especially, of his own trade. martin schongauer was dead, but under that master's brothers durer studied and helped to support himself by his art at colmar and at basle. various wood-blocks executed by him at the latter place are preserved there. whether he also visited venice now or not is a moot point. here or elsewhere, at any rate, he came under the influence of the bellini, of mantegna, and more particularly of jacopo dei barbari--the painter and engraver to whom he owed the incentive to study the proportions of the human body--a study which henceforth became the most absorbing interest of his life. "i was four years absent from nuremberg," he records, "and then my father recalled me.... after my return hans frey came to an understanding with my father. he gave me his daughter agnes and with her 200 florins, and we were married." durer, who writes so lovingly of his parents, never mentions his wife with any affection: a fact which to some extent confirms her reputation as a xantippe. she, too, in her way, it is suggested, practised the art of _cross-hatching_. pirkheimer, writing after the artist's death, says that by her avariciousness and quarrelling nature she brought him to the grave before his day. she was probably a woman of a practical and prosaic turn, to whom the dreamy, poetic, imaginative nature of the artist-student, her husband, was intolerably irritating. yet as we look at his portraits of himself--and no man except rembrandt has painted himself so often--it is difficult to understand how anyone could have been angry with albert durer. never did the face of man bear a more sweet, benign, and trustful expression. in those portraits we see something of the beauty, of the strength, of the weakness of the man so beloved in his generation. his fondness for fine clothes and his legitimate pride in his personal beauty reveal themselves in the rich vestments he wears and the wealth of silken curls, so carefully waved, so wondrously painted, falling proudly over his free neck. joachim camerarius, the first rector of the melanchthon gymnasium in nuremberg, tells a pleasant story of how the aged giovanni bellini once asked durer to present him with one of the brushes with which he drew hairs. "durer immediately produced several ordinary brushes such as bellini himself used, and begged him to take the best, or all if he would. bellini said 'no, i don't mean these. i mean the ones with which you draw several hairs with one stroke. they must be more spread out and more divided; otherwise in a long sweep such regularity of curvature and distance could not be preserved.' 'i use no other than these,' albrecht replies, 'and, to prove it, you may watch me.' then taking up one of the same brushes, he drew some very long, wavy tresses, such as women generally wear, in the most regular order and symmetry. bellini looked on wondering, and afterwards admitted that no human being could have convinced him by report of the truth of that which he had seen with his own eyes." "nature had given him a body," says the same writer, "noble in build and structure, consonant with the beautiful mind it contained. his head was expressive, the eyes flashing, the nose nobly formed, and what the greeks called [greek: tetragônon] (roman). his neck was long, and his chest broad; his thighs muscular, and legs powerful." and most noteworthy of all are his exquisitely beautiful hands and fingers, which strike us equally in the portrait of the boy of thirteen, and in the munich portrait which forms our frontispiece. no one who studies the latter picture can fail to notice how closely the countenance of durer approaches the ideal type of jesus christ in art. the artist, indeed, was conscious of this himself, for his own representations of christ bear a resemblance to his own features. on his marriage durer did not proceed to live in the house of his parents-in-law as was customary, but, for some reason, took up his abode in his father's house. it was his ambition to excel as a painter, but it is as an engraver that he won his hold on the world--and still retains it. copperplate engraving had been practised as early as the first quarter of the fifteenth century. it had been developed out of the goldsmith's art, and perfected by the masters e. s. and martin schongauer. there was a great demand for engravings. accordingly, with a view to earning the much needed money for his family, durer at first devoted himself to this art. we can trace clearly enough the progress of the artist as he endeavoured to produce not merely the simple representation of a subject, but by the aid of landscape backgrounds, a picture, an artistic whole on the copper. for this purpose he turned to account his early studies of nuremberg scenery and his charming drawings of nuremberg, the pegnitz, and the houses to which he was ever devoted. piracy of his works soon followed on and proved his popularity. literary piracy, it will be seen, if not yet respectable, is at any rate of some antiquity. meantime he was busy painting the portraits of members of patrician families, of his father, of himself. for these we must not seek in nuremberg, but an example of his painting at this period (_circa_ 1500), is to be found in the pietà, now in the german museum. in painting, it was durer's rule to deal only with sacred subjects or portraits. the much damaged and inferior work, "hercules with the stymphalian birds," in the same museum forms an interesting exception to this rule. but in his engravings durer did not confine himself to any one subject: sacred and secular history, mythology, animals, satire, humour, architecture, land and water scapes, portraits, all formed material for his receptive and strenuous mind. his humour may be studied in his designs for maximilian's "book of hours," and there, too, his mordant satire lashes the faults of vain women and the _gaucheries_ of proud and foolish peasants. we have already had occasion to refer to the circle in which durer moved in these days; but special mention should here be made of willibald pirkheimer, his great friend and patron, the most generous mæcenas of sciences and art in nuremberg. scholar and statesman, writer, orator, and soldier, his house and splendid library in the herrenmarkt was the centre of intellectual activity in germany, and the chief meeting-place of the humanists. maximilian i., conrad celtes, eobanus hesse, luther and melanchthon, and especially ulrich von hutten and durer were among his most favoured and frequent guests. he was a constant correspondent [illustration: st. anthony, from the engraving by albert durer. background of nuremberg scenery] also of reuchlin and erasmus. a martyr to gout, he was naturally choleric, but he had the humour to write a poem in praise of gout. his quick temper and vehement opinions led to his quarrelling in time with every friend except the gentle durer. coarse and caustic was his wit: and it is only under his influence that durer ever shows these qualities. pirkheimer was, in fact, a great man, a very great man, in his day; but he lives now through his friendship with durer, and through the portrait, that marvellous engraving so full of character, which durer published in 1524. besides copper-engraving and painting durer also turned his attention to wood-engraving, and by his admirable work and designs began to give it its place among the pictorial arts. one of his earliest woodcuts is entitled _the men's bath_. it represents a group of nude male figures in one of those open-air public baths in the pegnitz, which are still used in nuremberg, and of which an old writer says: "a solicitude particularly attentive to the needs of the working classes and to the health and well-being of artisans, servants and the poor, has established baths in the towns and villages: it is a habit very praiseworthy and profitable to the health to take a bath at least once a fortnight." there were a dozen such public baths at nuremberg, often visited by durer no doubt in his pursuit of the study of the nude. he continued to pour forth works drawn from mythology and church history, until in 1498 he produced that "great trumpet-call of the reformation," the famous series of wood-cut illustrations to the _apocalypse_. in this series, so full of artistic skill and imagination, durer not only reveals to us the aspirations of his own mind, but he also expresses the thoughts and emotions of the age in which he lived. the apocalypse, in which under the veil of religious symbolism are made to appear the terrible judgments of the lord and the peace of his saints, was followed by that sweet and tender poem, _the life of mary_, and by the _great_ and the _little passion_, two sublime tragedies that leave nothing to be desired in truth of expression and vigour of design. durer put his whole soul into these religious works--the same deeply penitent, simply trusting soul which he reveals to us in his prayers, his diaries, and his books. how real his subjects were to him, how homely his religion, is indicated by the inevitable manner in which he transfers the scenes of holy writ to the ordinary surroundings of his daily life in nuremberg. deeply imbued with the religious spirit, he tells this pictorial history of the christian faith as one to whom it was indeed a living reality and a very intimate part of his life. but before this immortal series was finished various important events occurred in the life of the artist. in 1502 his father died. "o all you who are my friends," writes albert, in words that remind us of st. augustine, "i pray you for the love of god, when you read the account of my good father's death, remember his soul, and say for him a _pater_ and an _ave_. do so too for your own salvation, that we may all obtain the grace of truly serving god, and that it may be granted to us to lead a holy life and to make a good end. no, it is not possible that he who has lived a good life should leave this world with regret or fear, for god is full of mercy." in the following year were produced the tender _virgin and child_, and in 1504 the _adam and eve_, in which the fruits of his study of the nude were given to the world in ideal figures of man before the fall. next year another break occurred in durer's career. whether, as vasari says, to secure himself against the piracy of his engravings, or merely in search of fresh knowledge, towards which "his lofty mind was ever striving," durer paid another visit to venice in 1505. here he painted for the german colony, as an altar-piece in the church of st. bartolommeo, the _madonna del rosario_, now at prague. this picture contains portraits of maximilian, julius ii., durer, pirkheimer, and several german merchants. so great was the admiration roused by it that the doge visited the artist and endeavours were made to induce him to live permanently in venice. but in 1507, in spite of all temptations, he returned to his native town and proceeded to execute many commissions. in 1508 he obtained an injunction from the council to prevent the fraudulent copying of his prints. in the same year a nuremberg worthy, matthäus landauer, added a chapel to the almshouses (zwölfbrüderhaus or landauerkloster) he had founded in 1501. the chapel was dedicated to all saints, and durer was invited to paint an altar-piece for it, representing "the adoration of the trinity by all saints." the result, the allerheiligenbild, is one of the artist's noblest and most famous compositions, but it too has left nuremberg. for in 1585 the rat sold it to emperor rudolph ii., replacing it by a copy for which they retained the original frame. in 1509 durer bought the durer-haus and took his aged mother to live with him there. he also bought his father's house in the burgstrasse off his brother. this in itself shows that the stories of his poverty have been much exaggerated. on his death he left 6858 gulden--a very good fortune in those days. his connection with maximilian, to which we have already referred,[43] no doubt brought him something, though he had difficulty in procuring the payment of the pension allowed him by the emperor. the council, in 1510, at last gave a sign that they were aware of the presence of a great artist in their city by ordering durer to paint the portraits of charlemagne and sigismund, to be displayed at the festival when the imperial insignia and sacred relics--many of which were introduced into the pictures--were shown to the people. these portraits, into the former of which durer introduced the features of stabius, maximilian's poet-laureate, are now in the german museum, much restored and over-daubed with repaintings. the illness and death of his mother in 1514 caused albert durer very great grief. most touching is his description of that event. "just a year after she had fallen ill, my mother died in a christian manner, after having received full absolution. before dying she gave me her blessing, and with many pious words invoked upon me the peace of god, recommending me above all to keep myself from all sin. she had much fear of death, but, she said, she had no fear of appearing before the lord. she suffered when she died, and i observed that she saw before her something which terrified her, for she asked for holy water, although she had not uttered a word for a long time. at last her eyes grew fixed and i saw death deal her two great blows to the heart. then she closed her eyes and mouth and died suffering. i betook myself to reciting prayers at her side, and experienced such paroxysms of anguish as i cannot express to you. may god have mercy on my mother! it was always her greatest joy to speak to us of god, and she saw with gladness everything that could increase the glory of the lord. she was sixty-three years of age when she died, and i had her interred honourably according to my means. may our lord give me grace to die a holy death even as she died! may god with all the heavenly host, my father, my mother, my relatives and my friends, be present at my end! may god almighty grant us the life everlasting! amen. and after my mother was dead her face became more beautiful than it had been during her life." sorrow is the source of most great works of art. in his sorrow durer produced his three most famous, best-wrought engravings, works full of imagination and of thought, works in which, expressed in exquisite draughtsmanship, lies his whole philosophy. through _st. jerome in his library_, _the knight_, _death and the devil_, and _melencolia_, durer has more than elsewhere revealed himself to us and shown us his outlook upon things, his manner of regarding the world, his criticism of life. on the death of maximilian durer travelled to the court of charles v. in order to get his pension confirmed. he succeeded in his object, and, after travelling through the netherlands, where he was accorded a great reception, he returned to nuremberg in 1521, having refused the pressing invitation of the council of antwerp that he should take up his residence in their city. when he returned he received another commission from the rat--to design decorative paintings for the great hall of the council-house. but durer's health was broken and his prolific imagination was flagging. he seems to have taken little interest in this commission. he chose the time-worn subject of the _calumny_ of apelles for one design, and used his unfinished sketch of maximilian's _triumphal car_ for the other. the painting was carried out by georg pencz and others of his pupils. durer's last great imaginative effort was the painting of the four preachers, two large upright panels with figures of st. peter and st. john on the one, and st. mark and st. paul on the other. these, as his final message to his native town, he presented in 1526 to his _gunstigen und gnädigen herren_, the council of nuremberg. painter, designer, engraver, mathematician, durer was also an author. the year before he died, he published his "instructions how to use the compass" and "instructions how to fortify towns, castles, and villages," and after his death appeared the four books of his life-long work on "the human proportions." his life had been passed in a strenuous endeavour to perfect his art: he died amid a universal chorus of regret, on april 6th, 1528. his grave is in st. john's churchyard (no. 649). a plain bronze plate on the headstone bears his well-known monogram and the following inscription:- me(ister) al(brecht) du(rer) quicquid alberti dvreri mortale fuit, svb hoc conditur tumulo. emigravit, viii, idus aprile, m., d. xxviii. "i can truthfully say," wrote durer to the council, "that in the thirty years i have stayed at home, i have not received from people in this town work worth 500 gulden--truly an absurd and trifling sum--and not a fifth part of that has been profit." after his death his fellow-citizens became more fully alive to the value of his works, and the worthy shopkeepers began those transactions which gradually stripped nuremberg of almost all the master's drawings and paintings. i borrow the following account from mr lionel cust's excellent monograph on "the paintings and drawings of albert durer":- "the greater part of his drawings, which were made for his own use, appear to have passed into the possession of his life-long friend, pirkheimer, perhaps handed over by durer's widow to redeem the many financial obligations under which durer lay to his friend. the sketch-books used by durer in the netherlands seem to have passed into the possession of the pfinzing family, and were dispersed by their next owner. at pirkheimer's death the whole of his collections, including the paintings and drawings by durer, became the property of the imhoff family, the bankers and usurers of nuremberg. the imhoffs, as befits a good, steady, money-making firm, seem to have regarded durer's works as a marketable commodity. at the end of the sixteenth century, when the emperor rudolph ii. was forming his great collection of works of art and curiosities, the imhoffs, knowing his intense admiration for the works of durer, pressed upon him the collection of paintings and drawings which they possessed. the town council of nuremberg seem to have followed suit with the paintings which were immediately under their control, if not actually in their possession. in a short time rudolph became possessed of the bulk of durer's paintings and drawings at prague or vienna. several of the paintings remain in the imperial collection to this day, and a large portion of the drawings now forms the nucleus of what is known as the 'albertina' collection at vienna. another portion of the imhoff collection found its way through a collector in the netherlands, perhaps through one of the austrian governors, into that of sir hans sloane, and is now in the print-room at the british museum. these two collections, together with the great collection, which official industry and acumen have brought together at berlin, are the best field for the study of durer's work as a draughtsman, although in some of the smaller public or private collections some of the most remarkable examples are to be found. "the good citizens of nuremberg continued their work of converting durer's works into hard cash whenever the opportunity occurred. in 1585 the town council persuaded or compelled the governors of the landauer almshouses to sell to the emperor rudolph their great painting of _all saints_, replacing it by a copy which, by way of carrying out the deception, was inserted in the original frame designed by durer. the _adam and eve_ also appear to have passed into the same imperial hands. in 1627 the council sold to the elector maximilian of bavaria the two great panels of the _four preachers_, durer's last gift to his native town, and replaced them by copies. the long inscriptions from the bible were cut off from the original panels and added on below the copies. a few years before, in 1613, they had presented the same elector with the beautiful baumgärtner altar-piece, which was torn from its place in st. catherine's church at nuremberg. the two _descents from the cross_ followed in the same channel: and the praun collection at nuremberg yielded up the portrait of wolgemut and the portrait of hans durer. worst of all, the portrait of their beloved and honoured citizen, the world-famous portrait of durer by himself, which had become actually the property of the town council, was lent by them to a local painter to copy; this ingenious craftsman sawed the panel in half, and glued his copy on to the back, on which were the town seal and other marks of ownership, and sold the original to king ludwig of bavaria. the worthy magistrates never discovered the fraud, or pretended not to, and this copy hangs to-day at nuremberg a monument of dishonour and fraud. gradually nuremberg divested itself of every work by durer which it could, and rejoiced in its copies and its cash. ludwig i. of bavaria took pity on its denuded condition, and gave back to it as a gift the _descent from the cross_, known as the peller altar-piece, and also apparently returned from schleissheim the _hercules and the stymphalian birds_. with the overdaubed paintings of charlemagne and sigismund, these appear to be the only authenticated paintings by durer in his native town at the present day. three hundred years after durer's death, a statue was erected to him in nuremberg, and his house is now preserved and shown as a national relic. yet little more than fifty years after the erection of this statue, in 1884, the citizens allowed the famous 'holzschuher' portrait, the last great work by durer which the town possessed, to be sold by the family, to whom it still belonged, to the munich gallery. truly a prophet hath little honour in his own country!" of the pupils and assistants of durer who carried on his tradition we may mention hans schäuflein, albert altdorfer, hans baldung, georg pencz, the two behaims and the two sebalds, and hans von kulmbach. we meet with many examples of their work in the churches and in the german museum. * * * * * as we turn our steps from durer's house and wander through the durer-platz to st. sebald's we come upon the oldest restaurant in nuremberg, where the devout tourist should not fail to drink _ein glas bier_ to the memory of hans sachs, pirkheimer, and durer, who sat here, drank and talked in days gone by. the _bratwurstglöcklein_ is a little beerhouse clinging to the north wall of st. moritz chapel, and owes its name, i suppose, to the custom of ringing a small bell when the sausage was ready. as to the curious position of this little restaurant we may remark that the practice of bargaining in the sacred precincts was very prevalent at one time, and little booths were frequently built on to the churches. it is only quite recently that the booths attached to the frauenkirche were broken up. * * * * * north of the rathaus runs the theresien strasse. no. 7 is the house of adam krafft, the greatest of nuremberg sculptors (1430-1507). the house belonged originally to the pfinzing family, and is of interest in itself for its architectural features. the figure of st. moritz on the fountain in the courtyard is by peter vischer. here adam krafft, the pious and modest stone-mason, worked at his art to the glory of god. we know next to nothing of the man beyond what we can learn from his handiwork. there is fortunately little reason for believing the legend that he died in great poverty. a friend we know he was of lindenast and vischer, with whom, so great was his industry and eagerness to improve in art, he used to practise drawing on holidays, even in his old age; and it is recorded that he made his wife call herself eva because he was adam. that quaint humour of his is revealed in the pleasing relief over the gateway of the "waage" or old weighing-house in the winklerstrasse. if we would see the counterfeit presentment of the man himself, we must pay a visit to st. lorenzkirche, and there, on the pedestal of his masterpiece the figure of the master appears with the tools and in the costume of his craft, kneeling in company with his assistants and supporting their beautiful creation. a simple man, of calm, unruffled temper and fervent faith he must have been, thoroughly representative of the best german spirit of his day. no german artist has portrayed the scenes of christ's passion with greater depth of genuine feeling. happily many of his principal works are at nuremberg. probably the earliest examples of nuremberg sculpture are the figures of adam and eve and the prophets round the portal of st. lorenzkirche. they date from the fourteenth century. in point of style and execution it is a far cry from these stern and angular figures to the almost supernatural grace and lightness of krafft's pix within the cathedral. well did legend pay him the pretty compliment of saying that he knew the art of _founding_ stone like bronze. tender and graceful as the artist here shows himself, the strength and vigour of his reliefs are equally remarkable. his treatment of the folds of garments seems to reflect the influence of the netherland school, and to point to a dangerous striving after the effects of painting. for his subjects krafft rarely went outside the new testament, which he interpreted in the terms of nuremberg life and dress. his figures, like those in the works of his contemporaries at nuremberg, are in most cases short, not to say dumpy, and reflect, no doubt, the ordinary type of human form around him. but always the homely nuremberg costumes in which they are clad seem to bring the scenes portrayed nearer to our hearts; and thereby when a mary draws to her breast the head of her crucified son, or a magdalene at the feet of jesus waters his feet with her tears, we are impressed the more vividly with sympathy for their sorrow. one of his earliest works, if, as i think, it is indeed by him, is the last judgment over the schauthüre, on the south-east side of st. sebaldskirche. his earliest works of unquestioned authority are the seven stations of the cross on the burgschmietsstrasse. these are a series of bas-reliefs on seven pillars, each representing a scene in the passion of our lord. starting from the house of the founder they mark the way to st. john's churchyard. some of them are much defaced by time and some have been carefully copied by burgschmiet,[44] but here and there we can still recognise the vigorous touch of adam krafft, and they still keep green the memory of their pious founder. martin ketzel, somewhere about the year 1470, had undertaken a pilgrimage to the holy land. struck by the fact that the distance between pilate's house and golgotha was exactly that between his own house and st. john's churchyard, he returned home with various measurements, determined to erect at certain intermediate stations some pieces of sculpture commemorative of our saviour's passion. to his dismay when he arrived he discovered that he had lost his precious measurements. there was nothing for it but to return to jerusalem and take the measurements afresh. for he could trust no one to perform so important a task for him. this time he was more successful, and adam krafft was commissioned to provide the reliefs. starting from pilate's house, which was represented by ketzel's own house--thiergärtnerthorplatz (opposite durer's house--it is adorned by the statue of an armed knight) the pillars were placed at intervals, marking the spots corresponding to those where christ was said to have rested on the real dolorous way to mount calvary. calvary itself is represented at st. john's. each pillar bears an inscription:- 1. hir begegnet christus seiner wirdigen lieben muter die vor grossem hertzenleit anmechtig ward. 200 srytt von pilatus haws. 2. hir ward symon gezwungen cristo sein krewtz helfen tragen. 295 sryt von pilatus haws. 3. hir sprach christus jr döchter von jherusalem nit weint über mich, sünder uber euch und ewvre kinder. 380 srytt von pilatus haws. 4. hier hat christus sein heiligs angesicht der heiligen fraw veronica auf iren slayr gedruckt vor irem haws. 500 sryt von pilatus haws. 5. hier tregt christus das creuz und wird von den juden ser hart geslagen. 780 srytt von pilatus haws. 6. hier felt cristus vor grosser unmacht auf die erden bei 1000 srytt von pilatus haws. then on a small eminence by the gate of the cemetery we behold the last sad scenes of calvary reproduced. it is a noble group which moves us alike by the pathos and dignity of its treatment and by the beauty of the inscription. 7. hir legt cristus tot vor seiner gebenedeyten wirdigen muter die in mit grosem herzenleyt und bitterlichen smertz claget und beweynt. in the holzschuher chapel near at hand is krafft's last work (1507) the burial of christ. in this piece, which lacks the fervent feeling of his earlier representations of christ's passion and was probably chiefly executed by his assistants, the figure of joseph of arimathea is a portrait of adam krafft. krafft in his prime (1492) had dealt with the same subject in the sebald-schreyer-tomb on the outer wall of the choir of st. sebaldskirche, facing the rathaus. the "burial" in st. john's church seems cold and hard compared with the pathos and beauty of this masterpiece, so finely composed and exquisitely wrought. other works of adam krafft's which well repay study are:- 1496. bearing the cross, st. sebaldskirche. 1501. the last supper, mount of olives and betrayal, behind the high altar, st. sebaldskirche. 1504. the annunciation, on the house at the corner of winklerstrasse and schulgässchen. 1499. the crowning of mary (pergenstorfer relief) in the frauenkirche. 1499. madonna with child, on the corner-house, wunderburggässlein. 1501. crowning of mary, in the tetzellchapel of the ægidien church. but most important of all stands in the st. lorenzkirche the wonderful pix, ciborium, weibrodgehäuse, or sakramentshäuslein, wherein were deposited the elements of the eucharist, previous to consecration. this "miracle of german art" (1496-1500) was made on commission for hans imhoff, a member of the great family of merchant princes, who died in 1499, a year before it was finished, though long after it was due to be delivered. his heirs, however, recognised the merit of the master who, inspired by friendly rivalry with vischer's sebaldusgrab, completed at last so great a work of art. they gave to krafft 70 gulden more than the 700 gulden he asked, and to his wife a mantle worth 6 gulden. [illustration: sakramentshäuslein. (adam krafft)] nuremberg, so rich in legend, tells a story of the origin of the pix. a servant of hans imhoff was accused of having stolen a goblet and, in terror of being tortured, confessed the theft. he suffered death accordingly. but a little while afterwards the goblet was found, full of wine, beneath a bed, where it had been placed, it was surmised, by some guest who had been drinking too freely. as an atonement for his hastiness hans imhoff dedicated this offering to the lord. similar, but inferior _weihbrodgehäusen_ by adam krafft are to be seen at schwabach and at heilsbronn. that by the master of weingarten at ulm rivals though it can scarcely surpass the st. lorenzkirche masterpiece. the life-size kneeling figures of the master, in the middle with cap, apron and mallet, and two assistants, the one with a measure and the other with a chisel, support the balcony which runs round the ciborium. the pillars of the balustrade are adorned with eight figures of saints, including st. lorenz (with gridiron) and st. sebald. on the pillars of the ciborium itself (beneath which are small angels and escutcheons), are the statues of moses, john, mary, and james the less. above the receptacle rises a spire like a bishop's crosier, representing perhaps the crook of the good shepherd. it is ornamented with statuettes of saints, and as the holy sacrament was instituted to commemorate the death of the redeemer the artist has added reliefs representing episodes of the passion, which with the resurrection complete for all believers the fruits of the holy supper. 1. christ comforting the women. 2. the holy supper. 3. the mount of olives. above these again are four patriarchs and eight angels holding signs of the passion, which interpreted as instruments of torture may have given rise to the story of the origin of the pix. then- 4. christ before pilate. 5. the crown of thorns. 6. the crucifixion. ss. mary and john and a kneeling figure (the church?). on the pillars above stand the four evangelists(?) and above all the figure of the risen saviour, the right hand stretched out in benediction, the left holding the banner of victory. but apart from the details of the carving, it is the grace of the fretted gothic pinnacle of finest filigree stonework that seizes our attention. tapering, or rather mounting airily on high it carries the eye up to the spandril of the vaulting of the choir, soaring like the notes of a flute-like voice, and embodying, as it were, the utterance of some deeply spiritual aspiration. the delicate elaboration of this wonderful stonework seems to have overcome all terrestial heaviness. higher still and higher, it springs from the earth like shelley's skylark, but it fades not from view. for when, some sixty feet from the ground, the bend of the vaulting checks its further growth, it bows its beautiful head and like a lily on its stalk or snowdrop on its stem terminates in a pendant flower. it is indeed a miracle of rare device. so slender and graceful is it and withal so clear-cut that the triumph of the artist over his material seems almost unearthly, whilst the spring and proportion of the whole and the sharpness of the carving redeem him from the imputation of making an inappropriate use of stone. in this, as in the schreyertomb, it is usual to trace the influence of durer on the sculptor. to me it seems more probable that adam krafft's style with its excessive minuteness influenced albert durer and was in turn influenced by martin schongauer. * * * * * wood-carving (as a visit to the museum will demonstrate) flourished exceedingly at nuremberg. there were indeed so many carvers there towards the end of the fifteenth century that it is difficult to understand how they all gained a livelihood. the greatest artist among them, if we except the unknown master of the nuremberg madonna in the museum, was certainly veit stoss. born in 1440 he was of abstemious and frugal habits and lived till 1533. in 1477 he gave up his rights of citizenship, went to poland, and at cracow made a great reputation by the high altar and choir-stalls he carved for the church of st. mary there. like durer he was very versatile--a carver in wood and stone, painter, engraver, mechanician, and architect. but unlike most of the great artists of this period, his character was stained by a considerable crime. on returning to nuremberg in 1496 he was nick-named the pole and was presently condemned on a charge of forging a signature to a document which was to substantiate his claim against a nuremberg merchant, whom he accused of having cheated him out of a sum of money. he was sentenced to be branded on both cheeks--a gentle punishment, seeing that a forger was liable to lose both eyes. the council also compelled him to swear that he would never leave nuremberg, but, when he found that no one would work with him, he fled. but later, the council pardoned him and received him back. they seem to have appreciated his artistic gifts as much as maximilian. stoss worked very diligently at nuremberg and received orders even from transylvania and portugal. whatever his character--and it is fair to add that on the count of forgery he always maintained that he was unjustly accused--his art will always bring him praise. of his numberless altar-pieces, crucifixes and madonnas, the very beautiful wood gilt crucifix and the much-admired angels' greeting, both in the lorenzkirche, are the most famous. his earliest work in nuremberg is a painted carving of the madonna and child on the north wall of the frauenkirche, executed for the old welser altar (1504). veit stoss, it is pointed out in his later work, exhibits the increasing influence of albert durer, but nowhere more unmistakably than in the "englischer gruss" (1518)--the angelic greeting, which hangs from the roof of the lorenzkirche, a work of tender piety, in which the delicacy of the figures is very noticeable. formerly the greeting hung in the choir suspended by a costly chain. but owing to the torrent of coarse abuse which osiander, the great preacher and reformer, hurled against it, it was wrapped up in a green sack, on which were set the tucher arms. later on, the chain was replaced by a rope. then the greeting was moved about from church to church till at last it returned to st. lawrence's. but it was insecurely hung, and in 1817 it fell from a height of 50 feet and was broken to pieces. it was very skilfully put together again by the brothers rotermundt. but the huge crown which originally surmounted it was not restored. celebrated as this carving is, and beautiful as are many of the individual figures and details in the medallions, the angelic greeting as a whole is, i confess, too florid and too heavy for my taste. so that, rather than be dishonest in my enthusiasms, i will only add (without superciliousness) that for those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like. the praying mary, who holds in her left hand a book, her right hand being laid upon her breast, and an angel with the staff of the annunciation, stand alone, over life-size, in the centre of a rose-wreath frame. over the wreath is carved god the father, sitting between two angels, with crown and sceptre, blessing the figures beneath. other angels hovering about mary make heavenly music. under the wreath, eve's serpent (with the apple), is being conquered by the ave with which the angel of annunciation greets mary. on the wreath itself, seven round medallions in low relief represent the seven joys of mary:--the annunciation, visitation, birth of christ, (_cf._ the rosenkranz-tafel in the museum), adoration of the wise men, resurrection of christ, pouring out of the holy spirit, and crowning of mary. * * * * * krafft and stoss worked in the gothic style, but peter vischer (1455-1529), the bronze founder, except in his early works, of which there are no examples in nuremberg, shows the influence of the italian renaissance. perhaps this had come to him through jacopo dei barbari, whose influence on durer we have noted. however that may be, peter vischer remains a truly original artist. and yet, the son of a coppersmith, he ever continued to regard himself as a simple artisan. with a workman's cap, and a large leather apron round his waist, with hammer and chisel in hand, the signs of his calling, he has portrayed himself to us in his most beautiful work of art--the shrine of st. sebald. there, in a niche facing the altar, stands, thick-set and full-bearded, the modest, pious labourer, whose reputation had spread beyond the limits of germany, and whose bronze work, if we may believe the chronicler, once "filled poland, bohemia, hungary, and the palaces of princes throughout the holy roman empire." seldom did prince or potentate come to nuremberg without paying a visit to vischer's workshop. adam krafft and sebastien lindenast, the coppersmith who made works of art of copper "as if they had been of gold or silver," and who is responsible for the copper figures which adorn the frauenkirche clock, were his two bosom friends. they seemed, we are told, to have but one heart. all three were equally simple, disinterested, and ever eager to learn. "they were like brothers: every friday, even in their old age, they met and studied together like apprentices, as the designs which they executed at their meetings prove. then they separated in friendly wise, but without having eaten or drunk together." the masterpiece[45] of peter vischer is without doubt the shrine of st. sebald, the highest expression of german art in this kind. imagination, which is so much lacking in most german art, is found here in plenty, and in a still higher degree the artist displays his sense of form and his careful attention to detail. to find any work of the fifteenth century which can vie with this in richness of fancy and in depth of feeling, as well as in successful handling of bronze, we must go i think to ghibellino ghiberti's gates of the baptistry at florence. the criticism, however, which must be passed on the sebaldusgrab is that the parts are very much greater than the whole; but the beauty and finish of the details are so great that once we are within range of their influence we forget and forgive any fault that may have caught our eye in the proportionment of the complete structure. it was in 1507 that vischer received the commission to make this superb receptacle for the bones of st. sebald. for twelve years he with his five sons laboured, though their labour was often interrupted by want of funds. private subscriptions failed to supply the cost even of the 15,700 pounds--about 7 tons--of metal used. at last when, in 1519, anton tucher in moving words had told the citizens in st. sebald's church that they ought to subscribe the 800 gulden still wanting "for the glory of god and his holy saint," the money was forthcoming, and the monument was completed. the iron railings which surround it were made by george heuss, who was also responsible for the clockwork at the frauenkirche and the mechanism for drawing water at the deep well on the paniersberg. round the base of the shrine runs the following inscription:--"peter vischer bürger in nürnberg machet dieses werk, mit seinen söhnen, ward vollbracht im jahr, 1519. ist allein gott dem allmächtigen zu lob und st. sebald dem himmelsfürsten zu ehren, mit hülf andächtiger leut von dem almosen bezahlt." that is the keynote of this wonderful structure. through years of difficulty and distress the pious artist had toiled and struggled on with the help of pious persons, paid by their voluntary contributions, to complete a work "to the praise of god almighty alone and the honour of st. sebald." no words, one feels, can add to the simple dignity and faith of that inscription. it supplies us with the motive of the work, and it supplies us also with the interpretation of the various groups and statues which form the shrine. to the glory of god,--we are shown how all the world, all nature and her products, all paganism with its heroic deeds and natural virtues, the old dispensation with its prophets and the new with its apostles and saints, pay homage to the infant christ, who enthroned on the summit holds in his hands the terrestrial globe. to the honour of st. sebald,--the miniature gothic chapel of bronze, under the richly fretted canopy some fifteen feet high, contains the oaken coffer encased with silver in which the bones of st. sebald lie; and below this sarcophagus, which dates from 1397, are admirable bas-reliefs representing scenes and miracles from the life of the saint.[46] at the feet of the eight slender pillars which support the canopy are all sorts of strange figures and creatures suggestive of the world of pagan mythology, gods of the forest and of the sea, nymphs of the water and the wood. between them are some lions couchant, which recall to the memory wolgemut's peringsdörffer altar-piece. at the four corners are candlesticks held by most graceful and seductive winged mermaids. but the most famous and the most beautiful figures are those of the twelve apostles, which stand, each about two feet, on high brackets and in niches on the pillars of the canopy. clad in graceful, flowing robes, their expression and whole attitude expressive both of vigour and of tranquil dignity, these statues are wholly admirable. i know no sculpture or painting which conveys to a higher degree the sense of the intellectual and moral beauty and strength which centred in these first followers of christ. that characteristic pervades them all, but the unity of suggestion is conveyed through a variety of individualities and of actions. each apostle stands forth distinct in the vigour of his own inspired personality. those at the east end of the monument are st. peter and st. andrew; on the north, or right side as we face these, are ss. simon, bartholomew, thomas, and matthew; on the south, or left, ss. john, james, philip, and paul; and on the west ss. thaddæus and matthias. the apostles are surmounted by the forms of the fathers of the church, or rather perhaps of the twelve minor prophets. beneath the apostles, on the substructure in a niche facing west, is a fine statue of st. sebald, and at the corresponding place on the other end of the monument is the excellent statue of p. vischer himself, to which we have referred. right at the bottom, at the foot of the four corner pillars, are the nude figures of nimrod with his bow and quiver, of samson with the slaughtered lion and jawbone of an ass, perseus with sword and shield and in company of a mouse, and innumerable other little animals; hercules with a club. between these heroes, in the centre of either side, are female figures representing the four chief manly virtues--strength in a coat of mail with a lion, temperance with vessel and globe, truth with mirror and book, and justice with sword and balance. in all, besides the apostles and prophets, there are seventy-two figures, in the presentation of which amidst flowers and foliage the exuberant fancy of the artist has run riot. but all are subordinated to the two central ideas which animate the whole, and all are executed with a delicacy and finish little short of marvellous. the whole fabric rests on twelve large snails with four dolphins at the corners. peter vischer died in 1529 and was buried in the rochus churchyard. his sons and pankraz labenwolf proved worthy successors in his art. labenwolf was responsible for the gänsemännchen fountain in the gänsemarkt, the fountain in the court of the rathaus and perhaps for the st. wenzel in the landauerbrüderhaus. after peter vischer's death his sons received an order to complete for the great hall of the rathaus a very beautiful bronze railing, which their father had begun in 1513 for the family of fugger in augsburg, who, however, had withdrawn their commission. this railing, which divided the great hall, was a work of very great artistic excellence. but it was taken away in 1806 by the bavarian government, _and sold for the weight of the metal_. it was probably melted down by the purchaser for the sake of the bronze. anyhow all trace of this beautiful work of art has disappeared. we have now dealt with the most famous of the nuremberg craftsmen. it would be wearisome to do more than mention a few of the leading names amongst those who excelled in other branches of art. a host of locksmiths, glasscutters, potters and stovemakers, bookbinders and carvers turned out in the golden age of nuremberg work which has never received its artist's name, but which continues to delight us. the painted glass, which in spite of much modern restoration is one of nuremberg's most priceless possessions, is often by unknown hands. but we can name such artists as schapfer and helmbach and later veit, augustin and sebald hirschvogel, guttenberger, juvenell, amnon, kirnberger and springlin. especially is it the case with the early glass in the smaller churches that we must label it _pictor ignotus_. the principal churches contain painted glass windows which surpass even those of ulm and cologne. in st. lorenzkirche there is the tucher window (1457) by springlin; whilst the volkamer window (1493), representing the family and patron saint of the donor and the genealogical tree of jesus christ, is justly claimed to be, for richness and depth of colouring and for elaboration of design, one of the noblest windows in the world. it can only be doubtfully attributed to veit hirschvogel. to him, however, belongs the credit of the maximilian window in st. sebald's (1514), and the margrave's window (1527), designed by kulmbach, in the same church. there, too, is a window by kirnberger and the bishop of bamberg's window (1493), which may perhaps be by katzheimer of bamberg. there were at one time fifty masters in the goldsmith trade, whose delicate work, excellent in execution and varied in design, was renowned throughout europe. the fact that in 1552 nine hundred pounds' weight of silver and silver-gilt ornaments was taken from the churches and sold by order of the council, will show how rich nuremberg was in this respect. but we can do here no more than mention the names of ludwig krug and wenzel jamnitzer and augustin hirschvogel, goldsmiths and painters on enamel. of armourers and metal-workers there were hans grünewalt, who died in 1503, and his son-in-law wilhelm von worms, whilst martin harscher (1523) and kaspar endterlein (1633) were chief among the makers of waterpots and candelabra. sebald behaim, the great gunsmith; hieronymus gärtner, the architect; jakob püllman, the clockmaker and locksmith, also claim mention. nuremberg was the home of invention as well as of industry. christopher denner invented the clarionet in 1690, and lobsinger the air-gun in 1550. cannon were first cast here about the year 1350, and in 1500 peter henlein made the first watches, which, from their shape, were called nuremberg eggs. specimens may be seen in the castle and in the museum. erasmus ebner discovered the particular alloy of metals which we call brass, the brass of earlier times being apparently of different combination, and one rudolph invented a machine for drawing wire in 1360. about the same time the first paper-mill in germany, if not in europe, was established at nuremberg; and here at the latter end of the fourteenth century playing-cards, though not invented, were certainly printed. last, but not least, the honey cakes, which still introduce the german child to the name of nürnberg, were famous as our banbury cakes, and much appreciated by princes in the middle ages. it will be seen that the proverb- "nürnberg tand geht durch alle land," was no empty boast, and we can now understand the force of the rhyme- "hätt' ich venedigs macht, augsburger pracht, nürnberger witz,[47] strassburger geschütz und ulmer geld so wär ich der reichste in der welt" chapter viii _the meistersingers and hans sachs_ "here hans sachs, the cobbler poet, laureate of the gentle craft, wisest of the twelve wise masters, in huge folios sang and laughed.... not thy councils, not thy kaisers, win for thee the world's regard; but thy painter albrecht durer and hans sachs thy cobbler-bard." --longfellow. "heil sachs! hans sachs! heil nürnbergs theurem sachs!" --wagner, _die meistersinger von nürnberg_. it is impossible to be in nuremberg many hours without becoming conscious of the fact that there once lived and died here a poet, who is still, as wagner calls him, the "darling of nuremberg." his name is heard and his portrait seen on every side. in the spital-platz stands the monument erected to his memory in 1874 (johann krausser). his house in the hans sachsgässlein,[48] much restored and rebuilt since he lived there, is marked by a tablet. who then was this great man? a cobbler--and more than a cobbler, a poet. hans sachs, the son of a master-tailor, was born 5th november 1494, and died january 20, 1576. apprenticed to a shoemaker he yet always found time, he tells us, to practise the lovely art of poetry. his first teacher was lienhard nunnenbeck. but it was during his five years of travel (wanderjahre), in which he visited the greater part of germany, that he formed his determination "to devote himself to german poetry all his life long." in 1516 he returned from his travels to nuremberg, made his "master piece," and became a "master singer." we have already seen how ardently he supported the lutheran teaching, and we have referred to his poem (1523) "die wittenbergische nachtigall."[49] his object was always both to amuse and to instruct. even his light poems usually end with a moral. he strove to make the new teaching popular by versifying and translating passages from the old and new testaments. he was apt, however, to be too vehement in the expression of his convictions. so violent was he against roman catholicism that in 1527 the council, anxious as ever to preserve peace and quiet, forbade him to write any more books or rhymes on that subject. hans sachs was twice married. his first wife died in 1560, and the following year he married the beautiful widow, barbara harscherin, whose beauty and worth he praises in one of his most pleasing poems, "der künstliche frauenlob," written after the manner of the minnesingers:- "wohlauf herz, sinn, muth, und vernunft helft mir auch jetzt und in zukunft, zu loben sie, so fein und zart, ihre sitt', gestalt und gute art, auf dass mit lobe ich bekröne die tugendreich', erwälhte schöne, dass ich ausbreite mit begierde wohl ihres frauenwesens zierde. vor allen frauen und jungfrauen, die je ich thät mit augen schauen hin und wieder in manchem land, ward keine mir wie die meine bekannt an leibe nicht, nicht an gemüthe, die gott mir ewiglich behüte...." we have mentioned both meistersingers and minnesingers. it may perhaps not be superfluous to add a word or two on the difference between these. the minnesingers flourished in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. they were mostly of noble birth, and, in an age when poetry and chivalry kissed each other, they exclusively cultivated the poetic art, living in kings' palaces, or wandering from court to court, and composing and singing pure and beautiful little love poems, in which the meadows and flowers sparkle, as it were, in the sunlight of their song. best known of these minstrels is walter von der vogelweide. he, during his wanderings, visited and sang in this old town at the court of frederick ii., himself a minnesinger. heinrich von meissen, surnamed frauenlob, also visited nuremberg, but he was the last of the minnesingers, and was buried at mainz, 1318. after his time the practice of german poetry devolved almost exclusively on the burgher and artisan class. close societies were formed: the rules of poetry and singing were taught in their schools. versecraft became one of the incorporated trades. the sängerzünfte, or singers' guilds, flourished chiefly at augsburg, and on the rhine at strasburg, mainz, and worms. the meistersingers, ever anxious, but all unable to clothe themselves with the fallen mantle of ancient glory, speak of the "twelve old masters" (including tannhäuser, walter von der vogelweide, wolfran, etc.), as having lived together and formed the first society of meistersingers, under otto i. the truth is that these twelve masters were minnesingers, and did not live together. longfellow's phrase, "wisest of the twelve wise masters," cannot, therefore, be correctly applied to hans sachs. the incorporated poets, we must confess, though they derived many of their rules and metres from the minnesingers, managed to degrade the old german minnesinging to a close, artificial, and philistine art. the final pitch of absurdity was reached, when in 1646 was published harsdörfer's "nuremberg funnel, for pouring in the art of german poetry and rhyme, without the aid of the latin tongue, in six lessons." succeeding ages have thanked harsdörfer for that phrase. "nürnberger trichter" has passed into a proverb. the first celebrated master-singer of nuremberg was hans folz (1470), whom hans sachs called a "durchleutig deutschen poeten" (noble german poet). it is to be noted that the poems of the meistersingers were always sung to music, and often had to be written to a particular tune. hence the stringent rules made for their formation: hence, too, when prizes were given for the fewest mistakes in mere technique, the great attention paid to form and metre, and the gradual elimination of true passion and poetry. nuremberg had always fostered music. the art of lute-making, as of organ-building, had found a home there. borkhardt, the famous inventor of musical instruments, built the st. sebald's organ about this time. conrad gerler's instruments, too, were much sought after. in 1460, for instance, we find charles the bold, duke of burgundy, sending for three lutes for the players at his court. an extremely good and interesting collection of old musical instruments will be found in the _german museum_. in this connection should also be noted there a picture of the meistersingers' singing school.[50] the reputation of the nuremberg school of poetry and singing was greatly enhanced by hans sachs. remarkable for his own personality and literary fertility, he was also famous for reducing all the rules of the meistersingers to writing, in a code which lasted till 1735. but, in spite of his attention to rules, he, at any rate, showed some poetic and original talent. it is for this reason that wagner makes him, in "die meistersinger," recognise the real poetry in walter, though the latter's impassioned song does not conform with all the artificial rules of the guild, mere paper rules which added nothing to the sound or rhythm of the words. for, as all the world knows, hans sachs has achieved a second lease of life on men's lips, through the genius of richard wagner, dramatist, poet, satirist, and wonderful musician, who, in this opera, laughs at the conceit of the incorporated poets in assigning an extravagant antiquity to their guilds, and at their pedantic sacrifice of matter to form. no more vivid and humorous picture of mediæval german life and of the people of quaint old nuremberg has ever been drawn. though "die meistersinger von nürnberg" was not published till 1867, wagner had already as early as 1851 sketched out the plan of an opera which was to display the triumph of genius and genuine passion over pedantry and conventionalism in art. the passage[51] from "eine mittheilung an meine freunde" is worth quoting here. "immediately after the completion of this work" (tannhäuser), he writes, "i was permitted to visit some baths in bohemia to restore my strength. here, as always, when i have been able to withdraw from the atmosphere of the foot-lights and my duties in the theatre, i soon found myself in a light and joyous humour. for the first time, and with artistic significance, a gaiety peculiar to my character declared itself. capriciously, and yet not without some premeditation, i had determined a little time previously to write as my next work a comic opera. i call to mind that i had been influenced in arriving at this decision by the well-meant advice of good friends, who wished to see an opera of a 'lighter kind' composed by me, because this, they said, would open the german theatres to my work, and so bring about that success, the invincible want of which had undoubtedly begun to threaten my worldly circumstances with serious embarrassment. as, with the athenians, a gay satirical piece followed on a tragedy, so suddenly there appeared to me, on that holiday journey, the picture of a comic play, which might suitably be attached as a satirical sequel to my 'battle of the bards at wartburg.' this was 'die meistersinger zu nürnberg,' with hans sachs at their head. hans sachs i conceived as embodying the last appearance of the artistically productive folk's-spirit, and as such i opposed him to the vulgar narrow-mindedness of the master-singers, whose very droll, rule-of-thumb pedantry i personified in the character of the 'marker.' this marker, as is well-known (or as is perhaps not known to our critics), was the overseer appointed by the singers' guild to 'mark' with strokes the faults against the rules committed by the performers, especially if they were candidates for admission to the guild. whoever received a certain number of strokes had _versungen_--failed in his singing." (the singer sat in a chair before the assembly: the marker was ensconced behind curtains, and gave his attention chiefly to marking mistakes in singing, in biblical history, in lutheran german, in rhymes, music and syllables.) "now the eldest of the guild offered the hand of his young daughter to that master who should win the prize at an approaching public singing-competition. the marker, who has already been wooing the maiden, finds a rival in the person of a young knight, who, fired by reading the 'book of heroes' and the old minnesingers, leaves the poor and decaying castle of his ancestors to learn in nuremberg the art of the master-singers. he announces his candidature for admission to the guild, being inspired thereto by a sudden passion for the prize-maiden, 'whom only a master of the guild may win.' he submits himself for examination, and sings an enthusiastic song in praise of women, which, however, provokes such incessant disapprobation on the part of the marker that ere his song is half-sung he has 'failed in his singing.' sachs, who is pleased with the youth and wishes him well, baffles a desperate attempt to carry off the maiden, and thereby finds an opportunity of deeply annoying the marker. the latter, who, with a view to humbling him, has already been turning rudely on sachs about a pair of shoes not yet finished, plants himself at night before the maiden's window, in order to make trial of the song with which he hopes to win her by singing it as a serenade. by so doing he hopes to secure her voice in his favour at the adjudication of the prize. sachs, whose cobbler's shop is opposite the house thus serenaded, begins singing loudly as soon as the marker strikes up, because, as he informs the infuriated lover, this is necessary if he must keep awake to work so late: that the work is pressing nobody knows better than the marker himself, who has dunned him so mercilessly for the shoes! at last he promises the poor wretch to stop singing on condition that whatever faults he may find, in his judgment, in the marker's song, he may be allowed to mark according to his shoemaker's art--namely, with a blow of the hammer upon the shoe stretched on the last. then the marker sings: sachs strikes on the last again and again. the marker jumps up indignantly. sachs asks him nonchalantly whether his song is finished. 'not nearly,' he cries. then sachs laughingly holds up the shoes outside his shop, and declares that they are now quite finished, thanks to the 'marker's strokes.' with the rest of his song, which in desperation he screams out without a pause, the marker fails lamentably before the lady, who appears at the window violently shaking her head. disconsolate, he asks sachs next day for a new song for his wooing. sachs gives him a poem by the young knight, pretending not to know its source: only he warns him to secure an appropriate tune to which it may be sung. the conceited marker thinks he has nothing to fear in that respect, and sings the song before the public assembly of masters and people to a quite inappropriate tune, which so disfigures it that he once more and this time decisively fails altogether. in his mortification he accuses sachs of having cheated him by providing so base a song. but sachs declares the song is a very good one, only it must be sung to a suitable tune. it is then agreed that whoever knows the right tune shall be the victor. the young knight does this and wins the bride: but rejects with disdain the admission to the guild now offered to him. sachs humorously defends the master-singers' guild, and closes with the rhyme- "though should depart the pride of holy rome, still thrives at home our sacred german art." the "marker," thus pourtrayed in the meistersingers, is sigs beckmesser, who is one of those whom hans sachs mentions as having taught him. there is nothing remarkable in hans sachs being a shoemaker as well as a meistersinger, for the guild was chiefly composed of weavers and shoemakers. what is remarkable is that he was something of a poet as well as a meistersinger. the guild had to get special leave from the council each year to maintain their singing schools. this leave was sometimes refused, on the ground that the masters sang lascivious songs, and bawled them rather than sang. their meetings occurred principally in the church of st. catherine, after afternoon service on sundays--usually once a month. public performances took place thrice a year, at christmas, easter and pentecost. the public were invited to these great assemblies by placards representing a rose-garden and david playing the harp before our lord on the cross. this placard also announced the subjects chosen and the forms of songs allowed on the occasion. as an author, hans sachs was astonishingly prolific. besides his songs, he wrote fables, eighteen books of proverbs, comedies, tragedies and farces (in which he himself acted). altogether, the number of his works reached the huge total of 6205. some of his plays--and some were in seven acts--were acted in the marthakirche and some in the rathaus. from sachs' time the drama began to make headway in germany; but it was not till after his death that it received its first great stimulus, when the english strolling players began to come through germany, acting shakespeare's plays among others no doubt, and the more blood-curdling scenes from ford and webster. in 1628 the council provided for such performances by building the fencing school, "for fencing and comedies" on the schütt, next to the wildbad. [illustration: nürnberger spruchsprecher] sachs was above all things a popular poet. he reflects both the good and the bad side of the people he represents. at his best we find in him that mixture of religious gravity with fresh and pungent humour which is so characteristic of the german spirit of those days. the narrative poem "der schneider mit dem panier" is a good example of this, and is free from that coarseness which too often disfigures his writings. nor must we forget to mention the long poem, "ein lobspruch der stadt nürnberg," a descriptive eulogy of his native town. his narrative style is plain and straightforward, his manner pleasingly naive, though often both prolix and prosaic, his humour original and unaffected, if too frequently rough and rabelaisian. but we can forgive him much for his robust good sense and shrewd irony. the first line of one of his poems- "in dem zwanzigsten kapitel" (of the bible) will show how prosaic he can be: his well-known couplet on himself- "hans sachs war ein schuh macher und poet dazu," is a fair example of the roughness of his versification. hans sachs is buried in st. john's churchyard, and what is shown as his grave is numbered 503. but whether that is actually his grave seems to be somewhat uncertain. on the whole, literature was far behind art in nuremberg. but we must not pass over the institution of the _spruchsprecher_, the poet laureate of the town. he was a speciality of nuremberg, and had to deal in rhyme with the occasion of all weddings and festivals, when called upon. he rejoiced in a special dress, and was invented, it seems, about the middle of the fifteenth century. one other nuremberg poet is worth mentioning--johann konrad grübel, "the nuremberg philistine," as goethe called him in compliment. a comic, dialect poet of the people, he was first-rate of his kind. he died in 1809, and a statue of him by professor wanderer adorns a little fountain near the house of hans sachs. chapter ix _the churches of nuremberg_ der kirchen act sind in dem ort darin man predigt gottes wort. --hans sachs. nuremberg is rich in churches, those sermons in stones so much more eloquent than any words that ever fell from the lips of the preachers. the gothic style has been finely called the true architectural expression of christianity. in her churches nuremberg possesses some of the finest specimens of the pure german gothic style. they exhibit, it is true, the common failing of german architecture. exquisite, though sometimes extravagant, in detail, they fall far below the masterpieces of the french architects in the proportionment of the whole. st. sebald, the patron saint of nuremberg, affords one more proof of the fact that a prophet is not without honour save in his own country. it is, indeed, not even known what his country was. his history and even his name are so unfamiliar to any but nurembergers that it will be of interest if i add here the record of his life from the account written by an eleventh-century (?) monk.[52] born at the beginning of the eighth (?) century, sebald was the son of a christian king: but as to whether his father was king of the danes, britons or irish or a petty chief on the danube biographers differ. sebald's parents had long been childless, but at last when all hope seemed gone, god heard the prayers of his servants and gave them a son. sebald was born. the boy grew up waxing in years and virtue, learning the lesson of the love and fear of the lord, obedience to his parents and charity to all men. at the age of fifteen he was sent to paris to study theology, in which he quickly eclipsed all the scholars of his own age and many of riper years. he returned to his home full of wisdom and honours and was betrothed to a beautiful and virtuous maiden. but before the marriage was consummated he fled from the things of this world, and, leaving his wife, his father and mother and his inheritance, he chose the chaste and solitary life of a hermit. within the lonely recesses of a dense wood he passed his days in prayer and fasting and his nights in self-inflicted chastisement. fifteen years passed and then the hermit made his way to rome, whence pope gregory the second despatched him in company with ss. willibald and wunibald to go forth and preach the gospel, succour the feeble, confirm the good, and correct errors of doctrine. together the holy men pursued their way, praising the lord with cheerful heart, until at length it came to pass that weary with journeying and exhausted by storm and wind, they grew faint with hunger, and his two companions called upon sebald to provide them with food. then, having comforted them with doctrine, he departed from them a little way, and when he had poured out his soul in prayer, lo! there came an angel from heaven bringing to them bread that had been baked under the ashes. and when they were now come to the parts about vincentia (vicenza) sebald, moved by the holy spirit, would go no further, but abode as a hermit in the wood. his fame spread abroad. from far and near, even from milan and pavia, people flocked to hear from his lips the wonderful works of god. but, amongst those who came, came also an unbeliever who scoffed and blasphemed at the prophet and his message. then sebald prayed to god that a sign might be given, and immediately in the sight of all, the earth opened and the scoffer sank up to his neck. then the hermit prayed with a loud voice and interceded for him, so that he was delivered,[53] and he and many of the unbelievers embraced the true faith. sebald now left italy and came to ratisbon (regensburg), bringing the gospel into the wilds of germany. at ratisbon, after crossing the danube in a miraculous manner, he stayed for a short time and mended, by the power of prayer, a vessel which his host had borrowed and broken. at last he came to nuremberg and settled there in the forest, in the heart of the franconian people, teaching them the word of god and working miracles. on one occasion, we are told, he sought shelter in the house of a poor but churlish mechanic. it was winter: the snow lay on the ground and the wind howled over the frozen marshes of the pegnitz. but the signs of charity did not shine brightly in the host. sebald called upon the man's wife to bring more wood for the fire so that he might warm his body: for he was chilled to the bone. but though he repeated his request the niggard host forbade his wife to obey. at length the saint cried out to her to bring the cluster of icicles which hung from the roof and to put them on the fire if she could not or would not bring the faggots. the woman, pitying him, obeyed, and in answer to the prayer of sebald, a flame shot up from the ice and the whole bundle was quickly ablaze. when he saw this miracle the chilly host gave the hermit a warmer welcome (frigidus hospes ad ipsum factus est liberalis). perhaps, it has been suggested, we may see in this pretty story an allegory of how sebald quickened the flame of divine love within the icy franconian natures, which it seemed as impossible to warm with grace as the winter's ice. sebald's host now, to make amends, sallied forth and bought some fish in the market, contrary to the regulations of the authorities, and, being caught, was blinded. but the holy hermit restored to him the light of his eyes. sebald clearly foretold the date of his death: the place of his burial was appointed by a miracle. at length, says the chronicler lambert schagnaburgensis, full of good works, he fell on sleep in the town of nuremberg. the bier of the saint was drawn by untamed oxen. and they, when they had reached the spot chosen for his resting-place, refused though goaded to the utmost to move any further. thus was the site of the church afterwards built to the patron saint of nuremberg determined. those who ministered to him swung incense over the dead body of the old hermit and lit candles above it. now there was a woman, a sinner, whom sebald had turned to the love of the true god. in memory of her sins and in expiation she wore about her arm a hoop of iron. and she came to see the dead hermit. it chanced that one of the candles above his head was crooked, and she stretched forth her arm and set it straight. at that moment the iron band burst. so she knew that the saint, when he entered into the presence of god, had not forgotten the poor woman whom he had converted on earth and that god had heard her prayer, and that her sins, which were many, were forgiven, as the broken ring signified. many other miracles were attributed to the ashes and relics of the saint which lie in the beautiful shrine in st. sebalduskirche.[54] we have spoken at length of this exquisite work of art (p. 208), to which, says eobanus hessus in his poem on nuremberg, no words can do justice and with which not even the greatest artists of past ages could have found fault. "musa nec ulla queat tanto satis esse labori nec verbis æquare opus immortale futurum; quod neque praxiteles, nec myron, nec polycletus, nemo cares, nemo scopas reprehendere posset." the east end of _st. sebalduskirche_ faces the rathaus: but the western is the oldest portion of it. here the st. peter's or löffelholz chapel, as it was called later, after the nuremberg family of that name, with its crypt and choir (engelschörlein), and the _lower_ part of the two towers[55] date from the beginning of the thirteenth century. they belong, in their original state, to the romanesque style of architecture; whilst the nave affords a beautiful example of the transition to gothic forms and the magnificent east choir is in the purest german gothic. we may conjecture that the church was originally a basilica with a romanesque east choir, flanked by two small adjoining aisles, corresponding to the west choir which is still preserved, and with a nave in the shape of a cross. then, about 1309, they began to build broader and higher aisles in place of the low and narrow ones, and, in so doing, half concealed the old round-arched windows. but the most important alteration must have been when they pulled down the old east choir and began to build (1361) the gothic choir, which together with the rest of the church has been recently and carefully restored. twenty-two pillars 80 feet high support the vaulting. the two simple, slender towers at the west end, some 260 feet high, were apparently completed towards the end of the fifteenth century. according to tradition, the southernmost of these is built on piles--a tradition that reminds us of the swamps and marshes that once stood here, in the days when the narrow circumference of the first town wall did not cross if indeed it reached the river (see ch. v.). in the base of each tower is a romanesque doorway: over the southern one, in the tympanum, a high relief in stone represents the trial of st. helena. on the north side of the north tower is a low relief of the crucifixion, a memorial to burkhard semler, 1463. beneath the towers is the crypt in which was once the tomb of konrad von neumarkt, the founder of the convent of st. catherine. this, the oldest nuremberg tomb, is now in the german museum. the colossal bronze crucifix outside the west end, against the middle window of the st. peter chapel, was presented by the starck family in 1482. it is attributed to h. vischer, father of peter vischer, and has some merits as a work of art, though the figure is that of a hercules rather than of a christ. it was repaired in 1625, on which occasion the nurembergers incurred the nickname of herrgottschwärzer, or blackeners of god. for, the story runs, the cross was made of silver, and the council ordered it to be coloured black in order to protect it from the roving bands of soldiers who passed through the town in the thirty years war. [illustration: brautthüre, st. sebalduskirche] on the north side of the church the beautiful brautthüre (1380?) or bride's door (see p. 154) is especially worthy of attention. very richly and daintily carved, the outer and inner arches form a porch which was meant to protect the bridal pair from the inclemency of the weather when they stood here for the first part of the marriage service. on either side of the pointed arch are the figures of the madonna and child and of st. sebald with his pilgrim's staff and a model of the sebalduskirche in his hands. the ten intercolumniated statues on the inside walls of the porch represent the five wise and the five foolish virgins (at present being restored). within the entrance appear adam and eve with a half-length christ above them, and the snake and apple-tree of eden. on the buttresses of the east choir are some sculptures in half-relief, representing the passion, and at the east end, facing the rathaus, is the schreyer monument (schreyer's begräbnuss), a high relief by adam krafft (1492). nobly conceived and nobly executed, these representations of the passion and burial of christ are among the most noteworthy of the master's works. especially beautiful in grouping and in feeling is the grablegung--the laying in the grave. sebald schreyer, who died in 1520, was a keen patron of art and, as churchwarden of st. sebald's, devoted to the interests of his church. in recognition of his services, and as he was the last of his family, the rule which had lately come into force that all citizens except the clergy must be buried in st. john's churchyard, was set aside in his case, and he was buried in the east choir of the church to which he had devoted his life and fortune. for the begräbnuss of adam krafft and vischer's sebaldusgrab owed their existence chiefly to schreyer's care and encouragement. the animals on the capitals of the door of the south aisle are full of characteristic humour. one may trace here some of that mockery of the monks in which the mediæval masons not infrequently indulged, and of which there is a famous example at strasburg. st. peter with his key and a crowned saint with a sword are on either side of the door itself. a partly gilded last judgment occupies the space above the arch. it will be found interesting to compare the numerous figures of it with those on the main entrance of the lorenzkirche, to which they are strikingly akin. above the door called the schautthüre (show-door) on the s.e. side of the church, near the guard-house, is a last judgment (1485), probably by adam krafft (see p. 200). it is a fine and interesting work. at the top, beneath four hovering angels and between twelve apostles, christ sits on a rainbow to judge the world. the earth is his footstool. mary and john baptist (the figures remind us of those in the rosenkranztafel in the museum) intercede for the poor souls who are rising from their graves. on one side they are conducted (with crowns of glory on their heads) by an angel to the gates of paradise, over which waves the triumphant banner of christ. on the other side the devil, who is also similar to the devil in the rosenkranz, with the head of a cock, drags his prey into the jaws of hell. the figures are all strong and full of animation. in the midst of the group of those rising from the dead, between the kneeling figure of the founder, hartmann schedel, and his arms, is a latin inscription which gives us to understand that hartmann schedel, to whose memory this relief was erected, died dec. 4, 1485. for admittance to the church we must knock at the anschreibethüre, the portal on the n.w. side.[56] this anschreibethüre--so called because it was customary to enter the names of the dead on a register kept here for that purpose--was renewed in 1345. it is adorned on either side with the figures of gabriel and mary (annunciation), and above with a relief of the death, burial (the unbelieving jews falling prostrate before the coffin) and crowning of mary. note the figures of female saints on the capitals. on entering, our first impression is one of disappointment. a vile whitewash disfigures the walls, whilst the fact that the church has not been designed by one hand as a complete whole deprives us of that satisfied sense of perfect proportion for which we are forever hoping but so often in vain. but as we grow more familiar with the details of this church the feeling of disappointment vanishes and we are left grateful if not completely satisfied. on our right is the st. peter's or löffelholz chapel, and we notice that this, which forms the western end of the church, has been altered from a romanesque into a polygonal apse. the pointed cells of the vaulting make up five-eighths of an octopartite compartment. thus the old double-apse arrangement of romanesque buildings is retained at st. sebald's; but the west end is in the transitional, the east in the pure german gothic style. by introducing this pointed vaulting into the older romanesque shell of the st. peter's chapel, the engelschor above it, or angels' choir as it is called, has been concealed from view. but we can easily see where it springs from the apex of the great arch which forms the entrance to the chapel. the lofty central nave is, as we have already said, a good example of the transition to gothic architecture in german churches, when the horizontal lines of the romanesque style were giving place to the upright and upward tendency of the gothic. the sexpartite vaulting, the broad but pointed arches, the substitution of rolls for the flat and square-edged vaulting ribs, the clustering of the shafts and the flanking by shafts of pointed windows are all eloquent of this tendency. the pillars, too, begin to be prolonged in extent and diminished in thickness, and the line is no longer interrupted by the rectangular effect of square capitals. the varied patterns (flowers, pearl strings, etc.) of the capitals here should be noted. the walls beneath the clerestory are relieved by a triforium, which had no place in the conceptions of the original romanesque architects. there is here no gallery set apart for the young men, as there frequently is in the triforium of an early german church. this triforium consists only of a row of low, pointed openings supported by short pillars, variously ornamented. the east choir (1361-1377) is a building of the same period as the frauenkirche. compared with the rest of the church its dimensions are a good deal exaggerated. nor is it placed symmetrically as regards the axis of the older part; for it inclines considerably to the north. regarded in itself, however, it must be admitted to be a splendid building, the lofty and airy effect of which is greatly enhanced by the single row of tall windows. the light streams in through beautiful stained glass. the windows, however, are really too tall in proportion to their breadth (50 feet by 8). the mullions, too, nearly 40 feet in height, are more interesting as triumphs of masonic skill than admirable as features of architectural design. contenting ourselves with these general observations as to the building itself, we will here add a list of the principal objects of art which will catch the attention of the visitor to the church. in the löffelholz chapel stands conspicuous the highly decorated bronze font wherein the emperor wenzel was baptized (1361, see p. 42). at the base are statuettes of the four evangelists. it is said to be the oldest existing product of the nuremberg foundries. the altar-piece in memory of kunigunde wilhelm löffelholz (1453) is by an unknown painter. scenes from the life of st. catherine are depicted on a plain gold background. it is the earliest nuremberg work to show any trace of the netherland influence: but, unfortunately, it has been painted over at least once. there are three other pictures in this chapel, of an earlier date, by unknown artists. the two-winged haller altar-piece (n. near the anschreibethüre) may very likely be an early work of the master of the high altar-piece in the frauenkirche. the background is of gold: the subject is christ on the cross between mary and john; on the wings, the mount of olives and ss. catherine and barbara. in this picture the cramping of the figures and the crude drawing of the hands and feet are noticeable, but in the modelling of the heads there is much that is very noble and very beautiful. on the pillar next to (s.) the haller altar is a relief, "carrying the cross," by adam krafft, 1496. later and more vigorous works by the same master are the last supper, mount of olives and betrayal (1501), reliefs 5 feet high by 5 feet broad on the e. wall of the choir. the betrayal is distinctly the best composed and most telling of the three. the last supper, the arrangement of which is somewhat crowded and confused, has the interest of exhibiting in the apostles portraits of some members of the council. the apostle with the goblet is said to be paul volkamer (the founder) and he with the small cap adam krafft himself, or, it may be, veit stoss, to whom the sculptures, on the strength of the monogram v.s. on them, are now usually attributed. we need not stay long over the tucher altar with its ever-burning lamp, founded by the first baron tucher, 1326, and its seventeenth-century altar-piece, or the painting by joh. franz ermel (1663) of the resurrection, over the muffels altar next the schauthüre, or the new pulpit (1859) by heideloff and rotermundt. the choir-stalls and the pix (n.), with its old sculptures, dating from the second half of the fourteenth century, are worth examining, as also are the numerous reliefs on the pillars of the choir. the crowning of mary on the first choir pillar on the north side is attributed to v. stoss. on a column to the right of the pulpit hangs a copy of durer's _interment of christ_, with the armorial bearings of the holzschuhers, and opposite, beneath a copy of rubens' day of judgment, is another painting by durer, little worthy of him, in which figure the imhoff family, willibald pirkheimer and the artist himself (on the right). the carrying of the cross (tucherische kreuztragung), on the column next to the sebaldusgrab, can only doubtfully be attributed to wolgemut (1485). the madonna and child on the next column was cast by peter vischer's son. the great crucifix, with ss. mary and john, of the high altar was executed by veit stoss in 1526, when he was now in his eightieth year. the head of the christ is a masterpiece of expression. the lower part of the high altar is modern, and was carved by rotermundt after the designs of c. heideloff (1821). in the choir also (n. wall), we find a good example of the work of hans von kulmbach, who passed from the school of jacopo dei barbari (jakob walch) to that of durer. the tucherische tafel (1513) shows the influence of the latter in a very marked manner: durer may, in fact, have supplied the designs for it. in the centre of the triptych is mary enthroned, crowned by two angels. the holy child on her knee is trying to seize an apple from the mother's left hand: but both mother and child are looking out of the picture. the five bellinesque angels, who, clad in brightly coloured garments, and playing various musical instruments, stand at mary's feet, are altogether charming. on either side of the throne are ss. catherine and barbara, whilst on the right wing are ss. peter and lawrence, presenting the founder, provost lorenz tucher, to mary, and on the left are st. john baptist and st. jerome. a mountain scene forms the background of the picture, which for all that it owes much to durer owes much also to the individuality of kulmbach. near this is a commemorative escutcheon of the tucher family, by holbein, and below it a small wood carving, said to be by albert durer. the adam and eve in paradise over the schauthüre is by joh. creuzfelder (1603), and was placed there by members of the behaim family. one of the chief features of interest in the sebalduskirche is the stained glass. the tucher and schürstab windows, according to rettberg, contain some late fourteenth-century glass, but would seem to have been much restored. the fürer window was first set up in 1325 (christ before pilate). in the bishop of bamberg window (wolf katzheimer, 1493?) are the portraits of kaiser heinrich, kunigunde, otto, peter, paul and georg, and in the corners four bishops, and over all four gothic canopies. the maximilian window is by veit hirschvogel (1514). the emperors maximilian and charles v. stand on a ground of white tracery, with their consorts, patron saints, and arms. the margrave's window is by the same artist, after the designs of hans von kulmbach. it was only completed after hirschvogel's death (1527), and has quite recently been restored. the single figures of the margrave friedrich von ansbach and baireuth, and of his wife and eight sons, are on a white ground. ss. mary and john the evangelist above, and the margrave's arms on the sides. in the foreground, an inscription and an architectural substructure in the shape of a temple, according to the fashion of stained glass at this period. * * * * * finer, better designed and considerably larger than st. sebald's is the _church of st. lawrence_. it is one of the best examples of pure german gothic. outside and inside, in form and in detail, it exhibits both the beauties and the defects of the german style when pointed architecture was developed according to the taste and feelings of the germans, uninfluenced by french inspiration. with regard to detail, amid so much that is admirable, now and again the besetting sin of german art makes itself felt--that lack of self-restraint, that prodigality and extravagance, one may almost call it, of ornament, by which the effect of gorgeous richness is obtained indeed, but at the sacrifice of distinctness. even in the beautiful windows this is the case. the multiplicity and intersection of the lines tend to blur the "dry light" of the dry beauty of a perfect design. with regard to form, viewed from the exterior, two features strike the eye and remain in the memory. on the one hand, the enormously high and grossly ugly roof of the choir which overwhelms the building produces the ludicrous effect of a camel's hump. it is unrelieved by pinnacles or even by the flying buttresses which seem to lift the soaring gothic naves of france into a world beyond our ken. once again, as in st. sebald's, the notes of symmetry and proportion are lacking. some flying buttresses do indeed figure in the nave where the side-aisles are not, as in the choir, of the same height as the central nave. these buttresses, however, are decidedly clumsy. on the other hand, the richly decorated western front, with its towers, rose window, open parapet and light gallery connecting the towers, is a pure and pleasing specimen of german art. according to tradition the st. lorenzkirche stands on the site of an older, romanesque chapel which bore the name of "zum heiligen grab" (holy sepulchre) and was erected for the spiritual needs of the inhabitants when houses first began to be built on this side of the pegnitz. [illustration: st. lorenzkirche, from the river] as it now stands the church dates almost entirely from the latter part of the middle ages. begun in 1278 it was not completed till 1477. of the two towers (250 feet in height) that to the north was built in 1283, the other about 1400. the square portion of each and the elevation of the gable between them are crowned by a light and beautiful open parapet. the north tower, with its roof of gilded metal, was burned down some thirty years ago, but has been carefully rebuilt. the towers terminate in octagonal storeys and spires. at the top of the square portions are wide openings, divided by many mullions, suggesting the gridiron on which st. lawrence was broiled. why the church was dedicated to this spanish saint i have not been able to discover. the stately portal (25 feet wide and 42 feet high), and the rose window (33 feet in diameter), recently much restored, belong to the fourteenth century. during the fifteenth century the church was repeatedly enlarged, and, in 1439, the foundation-stone of the lofty choir was laid. the plans were designed by konrad roritzer, who came here from rothenburg. at the laying of the foundation-stone a miracle occurred. the pulley which was to raise the stone broke. the workmen then broke the stone, so heavy was it and impossible to raise. and when they had done so, they found inside a hewn cross. probably, says the sceptical german historian, this was all arranged in order to stir the enthusiasm and to promote the generosity of the people on behalf of the new church. the figures of adam and eve and of the prophets, etc. on the _hauptthor_, the grand portal, are the earliest specimens we have of nuremberg sculpture. they date from the fourteenth century. the reliefs of the scenes from the life of christ and the last judgment are later, like the reliefs on st. sebald's and the bride's door. [illustration: hauptthor (st. lorenzkirche)] a central pillar divides the hauptthor into two halves, and bears a madonna and child. the arches above the two doors, which are separated by this pillar, contain high reliefs of the birth of the saviour and adoration of the magi (left), and the slaughter of the innocents and flight into egypt, and the presentation in the temple (right). in the spandrels of these arches are four prophets. in the upper half of the great arch are represented the crucifixion, and on the right side christ before pilate and christ bearing the cross; on the left the burial and resurrection of christ. these scenes correspond to those depicted on the sides of the entrance hall. the remaining space in the tympanum of the arch deals with the last judgment. two angels blowing the last trump, and two others (restored) holding the instruments of the passion, surround the judge, whose feet are set upon the sun and moon, and he judges the just and the unjust. at his side ss. mary and john kneel and intercede. the inner curve of the arch contains the twelve apostles and the outer the twelve prophets. below are the above-mentioned life-size statues of adam and eve, next to whom two other figures stand, the scripture in their hands, expounding, one may fancy, to the parents of mankind the story of the redemption, which the reliefs of the gateway have thus told in stone. similar in workmanship to the figures of this portal is the statue of christ, with flowing beard and folded hands, which is near the door on the south-west side. this in its turn will remind us of a statue of christ, with hands pointing to the wound in his side, in the st. jakobskirche. the brautthüre or bridal door on the north side of the church was built in 1520, but it shows little trace of the renaissance spirit. (recently restored.) of the fine though crumbling old piece of sculpture--gethsemane--near this door, i can find no history at all. high up on the roof of the choir outside rises a pole with a hat upon it. two choir-boys (the story runs) who were playing marbles in the church fell to quarrelling, and one of them who held the two marbles in his hand, maintained his rights with the exclamation, "devil take me!" thereupon the devil immediately appeared and wrung the boy's neck. at the corner of the st. lawrence schoolhouse, on the pedestal of st. lawrence, you may see carved in the stone the head as it was twisted on the trunk. the hat on the pole on the choir is that of the unfortunate chorister. [illustration: st. lorenzkirche (n.)] entering the church by the north-west door, near the tugendbrunnen (see ch. x.), we notice that the nave is twice as high and broad as the aisles which are thus subordinated to it. but, as in st. sebald's, the three aisles of the choir are of equal height. here there are two stories of windows, instead of a single row of tall ones. two visits should be paid to st. lawrence's in order to see the full effects of this church--one in the morning when the sun is shining through the windows of the polygonal east end, and one in the afternoon when the light streams through the glorious rose window in the west. plain, slender pillars carry the vaulting of the choir with its flat spidery network. a gallery which runs round the whole choir is reached by a staircase next the sacristy (_s_). the sacristy should be looked into both for the sake of its own beauty and for the sake of the choral books, illuminated by jakob elssner(?) (d. 1546), and a baptismal basin by endterlein (d. 1633).[57] the east end of the choir contains splendid windows (see p. 213). the subject of the first, on the north side, behind the altar of st. john, is the wanderings of the children of israel; of the second the passion, of the third the transfiguration, of the fourth the donor, emperor frederic iii. and his consort, of the fifth, saints and fathers of the church. but far the finest and most famous of the windows is the sixth, the volkamer window. it is a "jesse" window, displaying the genealogical tree of christ, and, below, the founder and his family. the seventh, or schlüssfelder window, represents the holy mill and the four evangelists with the four apostles, after durer, beneath. all these belong to the last half of the fifteenth century; but the eighth is a modern one (1881), commemorating the re-establishment of the german empire. the tucher window next the sacristy was painted by springlin, 1451, and contains beautiful red glass in the early renaissance style. another noticeable window is that on the south side, exhibiting the arms of the schmidmayer family. the designs are attributed to durer. near this stands one of the old carved chairs, in which the masters of the guilds once sat in turn to receive alms. of the chief treasures of the st. lorenzkirche we have already dealt sufficiently with two--the pix or ciborium, the weihbrodgehäuse or sacramentshaüslein or whatever name we choose to give to adam krafft's masterpiece[58]- "a piece of sculpture rare, like a foamy sheet of fountains rising thro' the painted air," and the angels' greeting, and the still finer wood-gilt crucifix of the high altar, by veit stoss.[59] the six angels in bronze bearing the candles are by burgschmiet (b. 1796). anton tucher dedicated the angels' greeting and also the great bronze chandelier, which may contain the handiwork of both veit stoss and peter vischer. the handsome modern pulpit is by rotermundt and heideloff (1839). there is also in the choir some beautiful tapestry (1375?) with figures of the twelve apostles who stand in a scroll-work of wise sayings for our instruction, such as pis. maister. deiner. zung. dez. ist. dir. not. oder. si. werdint. dir. den. ewigen. dot., and so forth. the church of st. lawrence is rich in examples of the memorial tablets or epitaphs on which the skill of the early painters was chiefly exercised. the altar-pieces and epitaphs founded in memory of some member or another of the great burgher families form a complete gallery of early nuremberg art and provide moreover a perfect feast for the enthusiastic herald. we have already spoken of the general tendencies of the nuremberg artists in the seventh chapter of this little book. perhaps, therefore, the most interesting way to treat of the pictures in st. lawrence's will be to mention them in chronological order. 1. epitaph of paul stromer, 1406--next the rochus altar, on west wall of the sacristy. the redeemer throned on the clouds, surrounded by angels bearing the instruments of the passion. ss. mary and john kneel in intercession before him, and underneath is the family of the founder. the drawing throughout is strong but severe, and there is considerable harshness in the contours. 2. epitaph of frau kunigunde kunz rymensnyderin, 1409. body of christ supported by ss. mary and john. figures of the founders on either side of the napkin. 3. wolfgang's altar (1416?). resurrection of christ. ss. conrad and wolfgang on the inside of the wings (no. 17, north wall). 4. _the celebrated imhoff altar-piece_ in the imhoff gallery (north transept). this picture, dedicated by kunz imhoff, was painted 1418-22, and is counted the finest achievement of mediæval painting in nuremberg. in the centre christ is crowning mary; on the wings two apostles, at whose feet kneel the founder and his three first wives. the burial of christ, with ss. mary and john, which formed originally the reverse of this altar-piece, is now in the german museum (no. 87). a deep love of nature, which reveals itself in the vigorous, homely conception of the forms, is here combined with that spiritual reverence of treatment which inspired the first works of christian art. in the earnest faces of ss. peter and paul we see not merely a reproduction of the traditional types, but faces full of character and originality. they have been carefully thought out as well as carefully carried out. there is individuality again in the sympathetic, the winsome beauty of the countenance of mary; whilst the countenance of christ seems to tell us both of the thoughtful earnestness and the gentle dignity of the saviour. notwithstanding their slimness, the figures in the picture are somewhat crowded. the shoulders and necks are powerful, and the hands evince remarkable carefulness in execution. the folds of the drapery, in spite of the simplicity and clearness of them, are by no means monotonous in design. the harmony of colours (green, red, and blue, on a gold background) is strong and happily attuned. the artist is unknown, but, whoever he was, he had looked upon nature with loving eyes and worshipped her; and this love of nature, purified by his deep religious feeling, he had brought to the service of his living faith. frequently we shall observe in the old nuremberg artists that this mixture of naivete and reverence in the conception of religious subjects produces too commonplace a representation of them. but here the result is not commonplace, only just towards nature. the picture, says dr janitschek,[60] is like the most beautiful bloom of a period just drawing to a close and already bearing in itself flowers of a more dazzling development. the imhoff picture (see below, no. 9) shows similar handling and similar freedom from flemish influence in the full, soft beauty of the forms. and yet the mastery of nature displayed in the portraits of the founders reveals to us an artist who was following the same paths as those of the flemish painters. 5. epitaph of agnes hans glockengiesserin, 1433. the death of mary as she knelt in prayer, and portrait of founder. a picture full of tender feeling (no. 11, south side). 6. theokars altar (deocarus altar, no. 19, north side) 1437, founded by andreas volkamer. christ between six apostles, and below, st. deocarus between the other six apostles, carved in wood. below a life-sized painting of the saint. the wings of the picture, which represent the transfiguration, the miraculous draught of fishes, the last supper, and the resurrection, and four scenes from the life of st. deocarus (kneeling before a chapel, healing a blind man, confessing charlemagne, and on his death-bed), should be compared with the haller altar-piece of st. sebald's and the high altar-piece of the frauenkirche. though very nearly contemporary with the latter works, this painting is representative of the old school. it exhibits, indeed, great dramatic spirit, though the movements are often awkward, and the [illustration: st. lorenzkirche (interior)] colouring lacks the strength and brilliancy of the frauenkirche picture. 7 and 8. a saint in armour, and a suffering christ with gold background and the saints henry, kunigunde, and lawrence (with the gridiron), are also probably of the same date. 9. margaret and anton imhoff memorial (1446) (numbered 16, on the north wall of the church). madonna and child and four angels, and the founder's family--the father with eight sons, and the mother with four daughters. the further development of the nuremberg school of painting, as i have sketched it above (pp. 181-4), may be observed in the following memorial pictures in this church:- h. gärtner epitaph, 1462, madonna and child, ss. bartholomew and barbara (south, near doorway). erhard schon epitaph, 1464, st. wolfgang and other saints. friedrich schon epitaph, 1464, birth of christ, aaron, moses, etc. hans lechner epitaph, 1466, death of mary (south). hans meyer epitaph, 1473, st. gregory (no. 13, north side). berthold kraft epitaph, 1475, st. dionisius (opposite rochus altar, south). hans schmidmayer epitaph, 1476, adoration of the magi (over stairs leading to schmidmayer oratory, south). leonhard spengler epitaph, 1488, christ between ss. philip and james (no. 15, north side). stör family epitaph, 1479, christ treading blood, and four evangelists, etc. (north-west). the rochus altar, triptych with scenes from the life of st. rochus, dedicated by six imhoff brothers, 1499 (no. 7, west of sacristy), and the krellsche altar, 1483, which may perhaps be by wolgemut. it is beneath the frederick window in the choir, and contains a madonna and child and various saints, apostles, etc. the background of this picture represents the town of nuremberg as it was before the last extension of the walls. (chap. v.) by wolgemut and his school there are several characteristic pictures, of which i may mention here the burial of christ (no. 2), the ascension (no. 3), and the praying priests (no. 4). the right wing of the st. catherine altar-piece (no. 8) is by wolgemut, and the two pictures of st. vitus, with his parents and denouncing the idol, are signed by r. f., a painter whose touch is visible in part of the peringsdörffer masterpiece (see p. 287). the adoration of the magi (no. 20) is a fine picture: the angels bringing the child jesus to the virgin (no. 1) bears durer's monogram. lastly, the wings of the nikolaus (no. 6) and of the annen--or marien--altar are by hans von kulmbach, 1520(?) (next to the passion window in the choir). frauenkirche _(marienkirche, marienhall)_ the frauenkirche, which occupies the east end of the haupt markt, was built, as we have seen (p. 37), under somewhat discreditable circumstances on the site of the old jewish synagogue (1355-1361). the brothers georg and friedrich ruprecht are mentioned as the architects, and the sculptor, sebald schonhofer, is responsible for the rich ornamentation of the vestibule. this vestibule (restored with the rest of the church some twenty years ago) is unique of its kind. it is conjectured that this part of the church was intended to serve as a kind of treasure-house for the imperial crown jewels and relics, which in the year 1361 were certainly shown, as an object of veneration, from the gallery above the main entrance of the church. [illustration: west door, frauenkirche] the plan of the west gate is borrowed in the main from the st. lorenz portal. there the life and work of christ, here the life and work of mary are set forth. many of the figures strongly recall those of the st. lorenz statues. at the corners of the vestibule are statues of karl iv. and his consort, and ss. lorenz and sebald. above the rich and massive portal with its fine iron railings is the chapel of st. michael, whereon is to be seen an extraordinary old clock known to young and old in nuremberg by the name of "männleinlaufen." the chronicles relate that karl iv., in memory of the "golden bull" (p. 39), which was drawn up in nuremberg in 1356, and recorded what honours and reverences the electors of the empire were to pay to the emperor, caused an ingenious clockwork to be mounted over the portal of the church. the mechanism was so contrived that the seven electors passed at noon before the emperor, who sat upon a throne and received their reverent homage as they passed. the clock was renewed in 1509 by georg heuss (even since then it has twice been restored), and the figures were cast by the coppersmith, sebastian lindenast. still, at the stroke of noon, much as in the old mediæval days, the heralds blow their trumpets, the emperor raises his sceptre, and out from their gloomy chamber the electors file forth and bow low in reverence to the dead representative of an empire which has ceased to exist. and they revive in our hearts something of the child-like pleasure which the middle ages took in these elaborate toys.[61] but a sturdy english protestant who lived in nuremberg some forty years ago, took another view of the matter. "it is generally said to represent the pope," he writes, "who, seated in a comfortable sort of arm-chair, was formerly accustomed at a certain hour to raise his sceptre and summon the representative figures of the twelve apostles, who accordingly used to make their appearance and do obeisance. that time, however, seems to be gone by. the latter after a while became tired of the ceremony, refused their mechanical homage, and st. peter himself, it is said, setting the irreverent example, they began to reject the uniformity required in their evolutions." the clock was at that time out of repair. the subject of clocks leads me to mention what is perhaps not generally known, that as nuremberg was the inventor of the watch (nuremberg eggs, shown in the museum and the castle), so also she invented a system of time peculiar to herself. to-day we have the central europe system (our 12-hour system), and the italian or 24-hour system. but at the close of the middle ages the nurembergers, the great clockmakers, had a third plan of dividing the day, called the nuremberg great hour (grosse uhr), for which regiomontanus drew out elaborate tables. briefly the plan was this. at the equinox the night was assumed to begin directly after sunset, and day began twelve hours after sunset. this arbitrary "dawn" (_garaus_) was sounded by the clock. to this day it is announced by ringing of bells from the principal churches. with the progress of the year, as the days after the equinox lengthened or decreased, time was added to or subtracted from the night or day. for instance, on the shortest day there would be 16 hours night and 8 hours day, and on the longest day 16 hours day and 8 hours night. again, when the sun set at 6, the "great clock would strike 8 at 2 a.m., because 8 hours had passed since sunset. seasons of the year were, in common parlance, denoted in accordance with this system. "at the time of year when the day strikes 13" would fix a date. the system, it will be seen, was almost as involved as the sentences of a modern german historian. but with all its drawbacks it lasted on, along with the central europe system, till 1806. owing to the great elaboration of machinery required, the hours were usually struck by bell-ringers. but the clock of the frauenkirche, owing to the additional mechanism needed for its toy-work, probably had to be fitted with the "little hour" from the first. besides some old painted glass in the nave (coats of arms of nuremberg patricians) and some carvings by veit stoss, the only works of art in the frauenkirche that need detain us are the pergenstorfer tomb (1499), at the end of the north wall of the nave, by adam krafft, and close to it the side altar-piece[62] (1440), which was originally the tuchersche high altar in the church of the carthusian monastery. we have already had occasion to note more than once how the early nuremberg painters, before wolgemut, were struggling to achieve the simple portrayal of nature and to combine it with the expression of their deep religious emotion. the picture before us is a very good example of this simple and yet sympathetic realism. let us add that this quality, or combination of qualities, is not borrowed. for the nuremberg school of painting remains distinct and peculiar, with very little trace of foreign influence, long after the school of van eyck had made itself felt in the regions of the lower and the upper rhine. in the centre of the picture are the crucifixion (ss. mary and john by the cross, and at the feet of mary a skull), the annunciation and resurrection; on the wings the birth of christ and apostles. there is a rare conjunction of dignity and life and truth to nature in these pieces--an individuality too. the mary is portrayed in the same spiritual mood as that of the imhoff altar-piece, but generally the figures are more full of vigour and the countenances more full of expression than in that picture. in depicting the body of christ, which is carefully proportioned and in which the muscle-play is planned with evident care, the artist, we can see, has wrestled with nature, and not failed altogether in his attempt to gain the mastery over her. the figures of the apostles are sturdy, thick-set, and in their faces is an expression of concentrated power. the drapery falls in broad, well-arranged masses. the colouring is deep and clear, and the rich harmony of strong red, blue and yellow (gold background) is happily supplemented by a luscious green. st. ægidienkirche the church of st. ægidius, or st. giles[63] (ægidienplatz) was founded originally by conrad iii., it is said, for some scotch benedictine monks. but, with the exception of the side chapels, which still remain and are in the highest degree interesting, it was burnt down in 1696, and rebuilt 1711-18 in the debased, and to nuremberg utterly inappropriate, style of that period. the high altar-piece is a _pietà_ by vandyck (nineteenth-century angels above). behind this are two bronze reliefs, one, the beautiful "entombment," is by peter vischer the younger, the other by his brother hans. the eighteenth-century paintings on the ceiling are by j. d. preisler. but apart from the vandyck, the ægidien church is well worth a visit for the sake of the eucharius, the tetzel and the wolfgang's chapels. the first of these is much the oldest (1140), and is in the late romanesque or transitional style. the roman vaulting, such as we have seen in the chapels at the castle, is combined with a mixture of round and pointed arches. the pillars are slender, with broad capitals. the capitals of the centre pillars distinctly suggest byzantine influence. the two altars here are by veit stoss. the st. wolfgang's chapel dates from the end of the fourteenth century. there are here two pictures (1462 and 1463) and a piece of sculpture (1446), grablegung christi, by hans decker, which cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called a spirited work. the chapel is disfigured by a hideous gallery which has been run round it, but the roof is, as they say, _sehr interessant_. the tetzel chapel (1345) contains a coronation of mary, by adam krafft, unfortunately much damaged. in the centre mary is being crowned by two angels. on either side of her are noble figures of god the father and christ. beneath mary is a group of angels, and beneath god and christ stand many suppliants. an older and very interesting stone-relief is to be seen on the south-west wall. some old glass and over seventy coats of arms of the tetzel family are also placed in this chapel. there are many other churches in nuremberg, and several of them have a distinctive charm of their own. but i must content myself with a bare sketch of the chief treasures they possess. only let me add that any lover of nuremberg who has time to spare will be rewarded by the discovery of many characteristic details in the minor churches. the richest in works of art is the st. jakobskirche. chief among these is a pietà, by the unknown master of the madonna in the museum (see p. 278), and the old glass of the windows. the high altarpiece has the distinction of being the earliest specimen of nuremberg painting. there are, besides, various early reliefs and carvings by veit stoss. the church itself, which was restored in 1824, belongs in its present form to the beginning of the fifteenth century. it was, however, in existence in the twelfth century, for the emperor otto presented it and all its property in 1209 to the "hospital der heiligen maria der deutschherrren zu jerusalem," an order which had long had a firm foothold in nuremberg, and came, there is evidence to show, continually into conflict with the council. after the jakobskirche was handed over to the protestants in 1634 by gustavus adolphus, the deutschherren held their roman catholic services in the elizabethkapelle, which was completed in its present shape, as the elizabethkirche with its mighty italian dome in 1885. the marthakirche (1365), right of the königstrasse as you come from the frauen thor, contains little of interest. like the chapel "zum heiligen kreuz," north-west of the town on the road to st. john's churchyard, it was founded as the chapel of a pilgrims' hospital, wherein "all poor strange persons, whencesoever they come, are to be harboured for one or two days and provided with food and drink free of charge." almost facing it is the klarakirche (1430). here there are some good windows and an altar by veit stoss (?), also an oelberg, an early mount of olives by adam krafft. opposite st. sebald's, on the north side, lies the st. moritzkapelle. built originally on the present hauptmarkt, it was removed in 1313 to a site upon what was then st. sebald's churchyard. it was restored by heideloff in 1829 and used, till 1882, as a gallery for some of the pictures now in the german museum. in the spital platz is the hospital and spital kirche (heiliggeist kirche), founded by konrad gross, which we have already mentioned (p. 30). in the courtyard of the hospital may be seen the chapel founded by georg ketzel after the great epidemic in 1437. it is built in imitation of the chapel of the holy sepulchre at jerusalem. east of the spital kirche stands the handsome moorish synagogue by wolf. since nuremberg was from early days both pious and comparatively secure, she was naturally one of the first places in germany where the mendicant friars settled and founded monasteries. the earliest of these was the augustiner kloster (beginning of the thirteenth century). the franciscan monastery, or barfüsser kloster, was built somewhere about 1210, where now the house of the museum club and the buildings of the industrial museum stand. the dominican monastery, built a little later, is now used as the public library and record office (no. 4 burgstrasse, mon. wed. fri., 9-12 a.m.). thanks chiefly to the efforts of hieronymus paumgärtner and erasmus ebner the council formed a fine collection from the treasures--mainly manuscript--of the libraries of the various monasteries. this was placed together with the library, which the council had itself been founding for over a hundred years, first of all in the monastery of st. giles, and then in 1538 in its present home. among the mss. are a fragment of durer's work on the "proportions of the human figure," some poems of hans sachs, and autograph letters of gustavus adolphus, melanchthon, luther, lazarus spengler, regiomontanus, etc., besides an amusing one from ulrich von hutten, the knight and reformer, who herein congratulates an abbot on having renounced celibacy and taken unto himself a wife. but the most valuable ms. is the almost unique hebrew _machsor_ (1331) written on vellum. its 1100 pages comprise a full collection of jewish prayers, hymns, and ceremonies up to the thirteenth century. amongst other drawings, portraits, prints, and curiosities in the library are a black silk cap worn by luther and a drinking cup given by him to his friend dr justus jonas. the portraits of the two friends adorn the cup, together with the following inscription:- _dat vitrum vitreo jonæ vitrum ipse lutherus_ _ut vitro fragili similem se noscat uterque._ then, beautifully written and illuminated, there is a breviary (1350?) of an english queen with the inscription:- la liver du roy de france charles done a madame la roigne d'engleterre. among the early printed books is a copy of the "rationale durandi" (1459, mainz), of "boccaccio" (1472, mantoni), and of the "florentine homer" (1488). matthäus landauer's almshouse--landauer'sche zwölfbrüderhaus (east end of ægidien platz) has frequently been mentioned. the almshouse has now been turned into a school of technical design, but the chapel (1502) will repay a visit. the roof, supported by two spiral columns, has the cone-shaped pendants of the contemporary english style, very exceptional in germany. it was for this church that durer painted his all saints' picture, now at vienna. there were many foundations, in the old days, for the relief of the sick and needy. amongst others were two houses for waifs and strays, founded no one knows by whom. they were transferred later to the barfüsser kloster. in connection with this institution a charming annual procession takes place. one charitable lady, elizabetha krauss, left in 1639 a sum of money to provide the children with a good dinner on st. john's day. in grateful memory the children always go on that occasion to the st. rochus churchyard. on their way they must pass the corner house near the karlsbrücke. on that house is the statue of a youth, busily engaged in pounding with pestle and mortar. people say this figure represents the apprentice of an apothecary who once lived there. and because the apprentice ran away from his work to gaze at the procession of children, who clad in red and white, and, roses themselves, crowned with garlands of roses were wending their way hand in hand to the tomb of their benefactress, his master grew so angry that he killed the lad. it is in the churchyard of st. rochus that peter vischer (90) lies buried (rothenburger strasse). in the church itself are some paintings after durer, some altar-pieces by veit stoss (?), and some glass by veit hirschvogel. but the chief burial-place of nuremberg from the sixteenth century, and one of the most peculiar and impressive spots of the town, is the _churchyard of st. john_. for this has been the burial-place of the nuremberg patricians from generation unto generation, ever since in 1517 the council decreed that everybody, with the exception of the clergy, must be buried in st. john's churchyard, and no longer in the churches within the town. such a wise measure of compulsory extramural interment must have been almost without parallel at that time. the route to this churchyard the reader already knows, for it lies along burgschmietstrasse, along that road to calvary marked by ketzel's pious stations of the cross (see p. 200). a low walk and pillared gateway, over whose broken pediment the willow bends mournfully, mark this place of tombs. the churchyard is sprinkled with trees: to the south, the shadows of a thicker fringe of branches deepen the natural solemnity of the place. it is here that the mighty dead of the white city are sleeping the sleep that knows no waking; but, as we seek the graves of durer, sachs, or pirkheimer, we pass along the rows of flat tombstones quietly, with hushed voices and reverent steps, as if dreading to disturb even the silence of their inviolable repose.[64] on every side of us are emblems of the past glory and pride of nuremberg. there are no headstones to the tombs, but every slab, in high relief of imperishable bronze fashioned by the skill of the most distinguished artists,[65] bears the coats-of-arms and devices of the civic noble who moulders beneath. what pomp of funeral processions must have ascended the steep from the city, year by year, through that gateway, to convey another, and yet another, wealthy burgher from the busy scenes of commerce and office, to the silent abodes of the dead! poets and artists, too, as well as patricians, lie here; and the indistinguishable dust of the famous and infamous, of rich and poor, known and unknown, old and young mingles in this still churchyard of st. john. "golden lads and girls all must, as chimney-sweepers, come to dust." we feel the pathos, the pity of it, as we stand here and read the message of the tombstones; but even more clearly does st. john's churchyard suggest that other mood:- "hark! how the sacred calm that breathes around bids ev'ry fierce tumultuous passion cease; in still small accents whispering from the ground a grateful earnest of eternal peace." chapter x _the houses, wells, and bridges_ every other house in nuremberg, whether in the narrow and crooked side streets, or in the busy thoroughfares, is, as it were, a leaf from some mediæval chronicle. here, in the hirschelgasse or the ægidien platz, we read the story of some rich merchant prince, returning from venice or from palestine, eager to spend some of the fruits of his emprise in the decoration of his house, according to the style of the country which had fascinated him in his travels. there, in the tetzel-or the schild-gasse, we read in the overhanging upper stories the desire of the architect in this crowded mediæval city to utilise every foot of available space, and the device is revealed to us which he adopted when the council forbade the projection of the ground floor into the street. and those statues of saints and madonnas, which still stand in their niches at the corners of so many houses, those reliefs by adam krafft or other artists, which adorn the mansions of the great with the story of christ and his followers, are they not eloquent, in the very lack of variety displayed in the choice of subjects, of the simple child-like faith of the middle ages, ever ready to hear once more the story of the redeemer's suffering for the sake of man who had sinned? from the varying height, breadth, and styles of the houses the streets of nuremberg gain the mediæval charm of irregularity. there is the usual happy [illustration: house on the pegnitz] avoidance of the straight lines which render modern towns so unattractive. the general character of the red-tiled houses here is lofty, with high-peaked gables and frequently with oriel windows. the ornamentation is lavish and smacks of the renaissance. especially is this noticeable in the courts within. for even where the front of a house may seem narrow and almost insignificant, on entering it you frequently find a large quadrangle, with open winding staircases and broad, projecting balconies, highly ornamented, which carry back to the street behind. i mention here a few of the more notable houses, to some of which reference has already been made. albrecht dürer haus, corner of albrecht dürer strasse. albrecht dürer birthplace, 20 winklerstrasse. anton koberger haus, ægidien platz. opposite the statue of melanchthon. martin behaim haus, next door to the above. here the famous globe of the navigator is kept. peller (now fuchs) haus, ægidien platz. recently restored. willibald pirkheimer, 35 ægidien platz. hans sachs haus, hans sachs gasse. hieronymus paumgärtner haus, 23 theresien strasse. the relief, st. george and the dragon, is probably an early work by adam krafft. krafft (formerly pfinzing) haus, 7 theresien strasse. fembo haus, burgstrasse. (opposite the library.) scheurl haus, burgstrasse. this house contains the room in which maximilian i. stayed, carefully preserved. topler, now petersen haus, panierplatz. tucher haus, 9 hirschelgasse. rupprecht haus, next to the above. volkamer haus, 19 hauptmarkt. grundherr (zum goldenen schild) haus, schildgasse. where the golden bull was drawn up. nassauer haus, corner of karolinenstrasse. peter vischer haus, peter vischer strasse. palm haus, 29 winklerstrasse. this is the house of the bookseller palm, who was shot by bonaparte for publishing a pamphlet against him. imhoff haus, tucherstrasse. ketzel haus (pilatushaus), thiergärtnerthorplatz. glossner haus, adlerstrasse. grundherr haus, 1585 (now the bairischer hof karlsstrasse). * * * * * "manch edles brünnlein strömt darin aus goldnen röhren schnell dahin." so wrote hans sachs in his poem in praise of his native town. and indeed the wells and fountains here are as characteristic though not of course so beautiful as the well-heads of venice. far the most important of them is the so-called beautiful fountain (der schöne brunnen) in the corner of the haupt markt, near the rathaus. it is in the shape of an octagonal gothic spire. the construction of it is usually spoken of as contemporaneous with that of the frauenkirche and the design is likewise attributed to sebald schonhofer. but recent researches have shown that it was not built till the years 1385-1396, and that one heinrich der palier, or der parlierer, as he is commonly named in the city accounts, had the building of it. no doubt he was very much under the influence of schonhofer, and very likely he may have been his pupil. so much may be gathered from the similarity of the ornamentation on the frauenkirche and the beautiful fountain. in old days, as we have seen, the well was richly painted and gilded. but this is no longer the case. it was carefully restored in great part in 1824 and again at this moment further restoration is in contemplation. the iron railing which surrounds the fountain was made by paul köhn (1586). curious funnels on levers are used for drawing the water, and they remind one irresistibly of that _reductio ad absurdum_ of the meistersingers' guilds, harsdörfer's "nuremberg funnel" for pouring in poetry (p. 218). [illustration: fleischbrücke] the beautiful fountain is a niched and tabernacled monument of stone, over 60 feet high, tapering at intervals to a pinnacle. the niches in the pillars of the lower compartment contain statues of the seven electors and of nine heroes, the christian charlemagne, godfrey of bouillon and cloris, the jewish judas maccabæus, joshua and david, and the pagan julius cæsar, alexander the great and hector. above, in the second division, are moses and the seven prophets. the water of this well has the reputation of being remarkably good. formerly, even more than at present, the beautiful fountain was the very centre of nuremberg life. at the well, as in the days of abraham, lovers met and the gossips talked, waiting their turn to fill their long, copper pitchers. to-day, too, the beautiful fountain is a household word, and parents explain to their too inquisitive children, when they ask how their new baby brother arrived--"es ist ein geschenk von dem schönen brunnen!" of the other fountains we may enumerate the "gänsemännchen" in the obstmarkt and the dainty well in the town hall courtyard by pankraz labenwolf (1553). the son-in-law of labenwolf, benedict wurzelbauer designed the tugend brunnen, or virtue fountain, which stands at the north-west corner of the st. lorenzkirche. this was in 1589 when german art was already becoming decadent and mannered. then in 1687, to celebrate the victory over the turks at siklos the "wasserspeier" was erected in the maxplatz. it was copied by bromig from bernini's original at rome. lastly in the plärrer, opposite the spittler thor, is the "kunstbrunnen"--which commemorates the opening of the first railway in germany, between nuremberg and fürth. the bridges, of which over a dozen span the pegnitz in its course through the town, must once have added greatly to the picturesqueness of the place. but the pegnitz is liable to sudden and violent spates which have continually swept away the old bridges. the modern ones cannot boast of any great inherent beauty. the fleischbrücke, indeed, was built by peter carl it is said on the model of the rialto. but it requires a kindly imagination or a bad memory to admit any comparison between the two. over a gateway near this bridge will be found the figure of a large bull, with the inscription- "omnia habent ortus suaque incrementa, sed, ecce! quem cernis numquam bos fuit hic vitulus." town mottoes of this kind were common enough in the old days. a quaint example is that which was inscribed over an entrance of the city of arras in belgium. originally it ran--_les françois prendront arras, lorsque ce chat prendra le rat_. when the french had taken the town in 1640 they erased the letter _p_ in _prendront_ and thus cunningly caused the inscription to read in their favour. chapter xi _german museum_ (entrance in the vordere karthäusergasse. open 10-1 a.m. and 2-4.30 p.m. summer, 2-4 p.m. winter. fee, 1 mark. free sundays, and in winter also on wednesdays. sticks, etc., must be left in the entrance hall (10 pfennige). full catalogue (german) 50 pfennige. certain sections of the museum, including the collections of prints, seals, medals, tapestry, records and the library, are reserved for the use of students and artists. the visitor who wishes to study any of these magnificent collections must apply to the director of the particular department.) the museum, which owes its inception to the generosity of freiherr hans von aufsess, and its development to the imperial and municipal co-operation of united germany, has found a home in the old carthusian monastery and church. it was in 1380 that marquard mendel, a scion of a rich and distinguished nuremberg patrician family, founded a monastery for the most severe of the ecclesiastical orders on a spot outside the then town-wall. the foundation stone of the carthusian church, was laid in the presence of king wenzel in the following year. the pious founder took the vows of the order he had thus encouraged, and he lived in a cell of the monastery. the services in the church were so popular that to accommodate the crowds of people who thronged there konrad mendel, brother of marquard, founded an additional chapel--the mendel chapel, in 1387. it is now used as a fire-station. opposite this chapel konrad also founded an almshouse for twelve destitute citizens. it is still marked by the statue of one of the former inmates. the prior and most of the monks adopted the evangelical creed in 1525 and the rich monastery became the property of the town. both the church and the monastery were for a long while used for very profane purposes until at last in 1856 they were utilised as a storehouse for the museum. then in 1873 the old augustinian monastery was removed and re-erected as an additional part of the museum. so vast and varied is the collection of interesting objects here and so careful and elaborate is the german catalogue that it is at once impossible and unnecessary for me to give an exhaustive account. the following notes are intended to serve rather as an index than as a complete guide to the treasures of the museum; but they make more particular mention of things that may prove interesting to those who care for the "story of nuremberg." the various sections of the museum though called after their original architectural purpose--saal, halle, kreuzgang, kirche, lichthofgang, etc., are usually numbered consecutively as if they were all rooms of the same type. the entrance hall leads into the cloisters of the old monastery (walls decorated with nuremberg heraldry). the first portion of the cloister contains an historical collection of monuments (mostly casts) arranged chronologically. room 1 (on left). ceiling ornamented with the arms of the towns which under the old empire belonged to princes and bishops. weapons and implements of the stone age. room 2. bronze weapons and implements. coins. rooms 3-7. roman antiquities found in germany and german antiquities from fourth to tenth centuries. the exquisite german gold and metal-work of the charlemagne period seems to foreshadow the work of the great nuremberg goldsmiths. room 8. latest acquisitions of the museum. rooms 10-13. a very fine collection of characteristic stoves and tiles. the latter, used for covering the walls and floors, took the place of mosaics and are ornamented with leaf-work, stars, rosettes, coats-of-arms or grotesques. the tiles of the stoves, which should be compared with those in the castle and the rathaus, were made, in the fifteenth century, to represent chiefly mythological subjects, whilst the seventeenth-century ones betray, as we should expect, italian influence. a green stove with concave plates (room 12) and an eighteenth-century rococco specimen (room 13), from the house of the löffelholz family are remarkable. rooms 14, 15. contain some beautiful examples of the locksmith's art; locks, keys, hinges, knockers, and knocker plates, exquisite in workmanship and in design. we have here a real lesson in ironwork, a perfect education in hinges. room 16. is the wilhelms-halle, so-called after emperor wilhelm i. it contains a window given by him in 1860, when he was still only king of prussia. passing by this and the hohenzollern-halle opposite and going down the ludwigsgang, built by the aid of ludwig of bavaria (1870) we come to the reichs-hof, a court (left) in which stands a gigantic cast of the roland in the market-place of bremen. rooms 18-25 are called the victoria and friedrich wilhelm buildings. (more tombs and casts.) on the right of the corridor (room 26) there now begins a very interesting collection of stained glass which is arranged chronologically. (twelfth to sixteenth-century glass here.) rooms 27, 28. the old refectory of the monks serves now as the home for a collection of german and italian pottery, majolica and faience, porcelain, glass and stoneware. (german faience, first half of sixteenth century. augustin hirschvogel and nuremberg work, room 27, cabinets 9 and 16.) pewter work, end of sixteenth century, by kaspar endterlein (room 28, cabinets 4, 5). english wedgewood (cabinet 6). room 29 (cloister). bronze epitaphs from nuremberg tombstones (_cf._ st. john's churchyard). room 32 (kirche) is the old monastic church. it is filled with mediæval church utensils (ninth to fifteenth century), amongst which we may mention the silver casket in which the imperial insignia used (p. 51) to be hung in the spital-kirche, and with 150 original examples of plastic work, carvings and sculptures (thirteenth to sixteenth century). the majority of these have no great artistic merit though they have great interest for the student of german art. they represent the period when painting was not yet regarded as a separate art but as the accessory, the handmaiden of sculpture. in the beginning images of madonnas and saints were carved and painted; then, first of all on the wings of altar-pieces, and afterwards throughout, the painter took the place of the carver or sculptor. the process is clearly demonstrated in this collection. i can only call attention to the following:--cabinet 6, six apostles in a sitting posture, excellent examples of nuremberg plastic work (burnt clay) at the end of the fourteenth century. over the north-west door st. anna, madonna and child, by michel wolgemut (1510?). the nuremberg landscape background is noteworthy. the picture has the appearance of having been recently retouched. various works of the nuremberg school and the pacher school of carving (late fifteenth century), are ranged along the south and north walls. the large fresco visit of emperor otho iii. to the tomb of charlemagne, is by w. von kaulbach, and was bequeathed by that painter to the museum. but the gem of the whole collection is the nuremberg madonna. it stands at the back of an early sixteenth-century altar-piece of the swabian school, facing the tombstone (1592) of georg ludwig von seinsheim. no second glance is required to assure us that we have here not only the _chef d'æuvre_ of [illustration: nuremberg madonna] nuremberg carving, but also one of the works of art of all time. and yet the name of the master is unknown, and the very date of the work is a matter of dispute. clearly the beautiful female figure of this sorrowing mary, this praying madonna, as she is called (trauende, betende maria), once formed one of a group, and stood facing st. john at the foot of the cross, gazing upwards in that bitter grief which is beyond the expression and abandonment of tears. who can that artist have been who could select that pose of the head, that poise of the limbs, who could carve those robes, which in purity and flow have never been surpassed in german art, and who could express in the suppliant hands such poignant emotion? _man weiss nicht!_ and whose touch was so delicate, that with his chisel he could stamp on the upturned face those mingled feelings of sorrow so supreme, yearning so intense, love so human, hope so divine? for all this we can read there still, even through the grey-green coat of paint which certainly had no place in the original intentions of the artist. _man weiss nicht!_ but this much one may hazard--that it was some german artist, touched by the spirit of the italian renaissance till he rose to heights of artistic performance elsewhere never attained by him, and scarcely ever approached by his fellows.[67] at the end of the choir is the high altar-piece from hersbruck, with figures of mary and the four fathers of the church, from the workshop of wolgemut, who painted the wings once attached to it. this is a good example of nuremberg work of the kind, with its good and bad points, towards the end of the fifteenth century. on the reverse of this altar-piece is a sadly-faded church banner, richly painted. figures of christ, ss. peter, and sebald, in a rich renaissance border, attributed to albert durer. room 33 (kapelle) is the old sacristy on the north side of the church. there are several interesting carvings here, chief of which is the rosary (rosenkranztafel), judgment-scene, and crowning of mary, attributed to veit stoss. amongst other important works attributed to, or actually by him, is the frame of durer's great allerheiligen picture (see p. 193). there is also here the original wood model of labenwolf's familiar "gooseman" fountain, and a picture of a meeting of the meistersingers (with hans sachs). winding steps lead up from this chapel to the volkamer chapel above. room 34 is the chapel on the south side of the church. church utensils, etc., and in the choir arch an iron painted chandelier, dedicated by the son of martin behaim, the navigator, in memory of his father. room 35. mediæval furniture, household articles, beds, and doors with splendid ironwork and hinges. turn (left) down corridor 26 till you come to (right) room 36. the coloured portal is a remarkable piece of late romanesque work, and was once the doorway of the refectory of the monastery at heilsbronn. more stoves and furniture. rooms 37-45. carved woodwork. room 45, cabinets and tapestry. goldsmiths' works. magnificent bedstead of ebony and alabaster (nuremberg). turn (left) down corridors 46-48. historical collection of tombs and stained glass continued. rooms 49-51, and 52 (above). guns and weapons from eleventh century. chased armour. room 53 (above). costumes. heraldic ceiling. hence down the open spiral staircase, past the bear-pit, to room 54. cannons, fourteenth to nineteenth century. room 55. torture instruments and guillotine (end of eighteenth century). from this point a small staircase in the corner of the cloisters (room 55) leads to room 56, containing some interesting examples of early book-bindings. passing through this room, and turning to the left, we arrive at rooms 57-58, where we have before our eyes the development of manuscripts, engraving and printing from the beginning of the eighth century. the first room contains many documents and charters, manuscripts, autographs, and illuminations. besides these there are many sketches, architectural drawings and designs, chiefly heraldic, for works of art. here, too, is a noticeable collection of wood-engravings, including many fine leaves by durer (apocalypse, passions, life of mary), lucas cranach, hans burgkmair, grien, schäuffelein, etc., and of copper-engravings[68] by durer, lucas van leyden, aldegrever, altdorfer, augustin hirschvogel, etc. in the next room we enter the region of printed books, and find a well-arranged and delightful collection. in case i., among other examples of the early "block books" (books printed wholly from carved blocks of wood, from which undoubtedly the idea of moveable type arose), we note the _ars moriendi_ and the _kalendar of ludwig von basel_ (1460?). of block books at nuremberg, we may note that hans sporer produced here an edition of the _endkrist_ (1472), of the _ars moriendi_, 1473, and of the _biblia pauperum_ (1475). the first two books to be printed from moveable type were two latin bibles (_circ._ 1453). of these, one is known as the thirty-six line, or bamberg bible. it was printed by gutenberg, and is represented in the museum by two leaves only (case i.). the other is known as the forty-two line, or mazarine bible. it was printed by gutenberg, in partnership with fust and schöffer, and is represented here by one leaf (case ii.). one leaf, too, is all there is here to tell of the 1457 _psalter_, with the wonderful capital letters printed by fust and schöffer. the extraordinary beauty and perfection of printing in its infancy can never fail to arrest attention. the explanation is obvious. it was not till the scribes, with whom printers had at first to compete in the multiplication of books, had ceased to exist that printers could afford to be careless in their work and indifferent in their choice of types. then there are the three books ascribed to gutenberg's press about the year 1460- (1) the _tractatus racionis et conscientiæ_ of matthæus de cracovia; (2) the _summa de articulis fidei_ of thomas aquinas; and (3) the _catholicon_. the _catholicon_ type appears again in the latin-german dictionary known as the _vocabularius ex quo_, the second edition of which, published by nikolaus bechtermünze at eltvil, is here represented. copies of the first fourteen german bibles (1466, etc.), with the exception of the second and seventh, will be found in the various cases (iv., v., vii., ix., etc.), and the original editions of luther's bible (1523-4) and other writings of his in case xxii. the first german bible to be printed in nuremberg (actually the fourth german bible) was published by frisner and sensenschmid, 1473(?), case vii. illustrations, it will be observed, are introduced into the large initial letters. it was johann sensenschmid ("the type-cutter") who, with the aid of heinrich keffer of mainz, a pupil of gutenberg, first introduced the art of printing into the town (franciscus de retza, _comestorium vitiorium_, 1470, case vii.). then in 1471 johann müller, or regiomontanus, as he called himself, came with the object of establishing a private printing press, in order to issue his own works here. he printed his german and latin calendar from blocks, and various mathematical works from moveable types. but anton koberger[69] (1473-1513) was the greatest printer of nuremberg. to the zeal with which he produced woodcut illustrations for his great works, the _schatzbehalter_ and the _hartmann schedels weltchronik_ (cases xiii., xiv.), the growth of the nuremberg school of engraving is due. another famous nuremberg printer closely connected in business with koberger[70] was friedrich creussner, who printed the first german edition of "marcho polo, das puch von mangerley wunder der landt vnd lewt" in 1477 (case xii.). in case xix. we find a unique copy of hans schmuttermeyer von nürnberg, _fialenbüchlein_, and also the _nürnberger heiligtumsbüchlein_, published by hans mair, 1493. the _quatuor libri amorum_ of conrad celtes, poet and humanist, was published at nuremberg, 1502, with woodcuts after durer (case xxi.). durer's writings on the _proportions of the human frame_, on _perspective_, _measurements_ and _fortification_ figure in case xxiii., in which also the large coloured woodcuts of the "_abbildung der dreiundzwanzig vom schwäbischen bunde im jahre 1523 verbrannten fränkischen raubschlösser_," published at nuremberg by hans wandereisen, are conspicuous. to nuremberg also was vouchsafed the honour of publishing melchior pfinzing's _theuerdank_ (1517),[71] although it would appear to have been printed by hans schönsperger at augsburg from the handsome type (scarcely improved by the tremendous flourishes) specially cut by jost dienecker of antwerp. it was adorned with over a hundred illustrations--hunting scenes and knightly conflicts--by hans schäuffelein, burgkmair and others. a copy of the second, 1519, edition may be seen in case xxii. after the death of koberger, illustrated books in nuremberg came chiefly from the presses of jobst gutknecht and peypus. other printers here were:- conrad zeninger, 1480-1482. fratres vitæ communis, 1479-1491. georg stuchs, 1484-1515. johann petrejus, 1526-1550. alexander kaufmann (greek types). konrad bauer, 1601. _polyglot bible._ leonhard heussler, 1596. joachim lochner's _chronicle_. endter, 1668. fugger's _österreichischer ehrenspiegel_ (case xxviii.). in this case also is grimmelshausen's _simplicissimus_ (nuremberg, 1685). in the next case (xxix.) is a copy of the pamphlet "_deutschland in seiner tiefen erniederung_," 1806, which occasioned the execution of the publisher palm (see p. 269), "who fell a victim to the tyranny of napoleon." near this case are two old printing presses, and in case xxx. are the bust, some manuscripts, and the collected works of hans sachs the cobbler-poet. room 59. ship models, etc. room 60 (gallery of the church). old weights and scales. room 61. scientific instruments, dials, early watches and watch-cocks. durer's reissfeder. regiomontanus' astronomical instruments. rooms 62-66. old drugs and drug-stores, etc. the old apothecary's shop, decorated with crocodiles and so forth, suggests the familiar scene in romeo and juliet. rooms 67-68. technical models, globes, maps, etc. room 70. banners of old nuremberg guilds, signs of inns, trade-marks, etc. room 70a. early nuremberg toys, dolls' houses, etc. we now come to the picture gallery, which, if not of great size or of first-rate importance, is eminently interesting to those who care to study the development of nuremberg art. the pictures are unfortunately numbered and arranged in a somewhat eccentric fashion. in the small room on the right, as we enter room 71, are some early pictures which would seem to be the forerunners of the system of epitaphs which obtained so largely in the later middle ages. besides these there are two byzantine pictures. the first two sections of room 71 are taken up with some examples of the rhenish and old netherland school up to the end of the sixteenth century. to meister wilhelm of cologne is attributed the charming madonna with the pea-blossom (no. 7). of the same school are nos. 9, 10, and 17. stephan lockner, nos. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. rogier van der weyden (copy), no. 20. hugo van der goes. cardinal bourbon. no. 19. the "master of the life of mary." nos. 24, 25, 26. jan scorel. two portraits. nos. 50, 51. the "master of the death of mary." nos. 63, 64, 65. bartholomew bruyns. no. 72. with the third section of this room begins the collection of franconian and nuremberg paintings. as i have already on more than one occasion sketched the characteristics of this school, it would be superfluous to add anything here. but perhaps one may be allowed to express the conviction that no one who studies these pictures will fail to be impressed by the comparative merits of wolgemut, or go away without ranking the master of durer higher in his estimation than he was wont to do before he came. the scenes from the passion (no. 87), 1400, may be taken to represent the beginnings of the franconian school of painting. no. 96 is the reverse of that imhoff altar-piece in the lorenzkirche with which we have already dealt at some length (p. 249). no. 95--from the frauenkirche--is an important picture of the same date (1430-40). the workshop of pleydenwurff and wolgemut is very well represented here. the admirable portrait of kanonikus schönborn (101), whose figure appears again in the crucifixion (100) painted for him by the master, and ss. thomas aquinas and dominicus (102, 103) are good examples of hans pleydenwurff at his best. of the numerous pictures by michel wolgemut it will suffice to mention in particular the two portraits of old men so full of individuality (hans perckmeister and another, 119, 119a), and the hallersche epitaph (115), besides his masterpiece, the peringsdörffer altar-piece (107-110, room 73; 113 and 114, room 71, ss. cosmos damian, magdalena, and lucia). we have seen how wolgemut usually allowed his assistants to help him in his pictures. the peringsdörffer masterpiece (1488) was no exception; but in this at any rate the master's own share was very considerable. the outer sides of the altar contain four pairs of saints, male and female, standing on gothic brackets--ss. catherine and barbara, rosalia and margaret, george and sebald, john the baptist and nicholas. here we have the most animated of wolgemut's female figures, the most vigorous and life-like of his men. the most notable faces,--finer even than that of the st. sebald who stands like some great architect holding the model of his church, or of the st. nicholas, with his refined and critical countenance, are those of ss. john and george. the former turns upon us his keen and spiritual gaze, so that his great brown eyes seem to pierce the veil that bounds our earthly vision and to penetrate into the hidden depths of futurity; whilst the latter stands rigid, his every feature--powerful nose, firmly closed mouth, thin but not sunken cheeks--eloquent of a bold and earnest resolution. incidents from the life of st. vitus (veit) and other saints form the subjects of the inner sides of the picture. here again there is an inequality both of style and of excellence. the simple countenance of mary, who holds on her knee a very animated child, represents a type halfway between that of rogier and that of schongauer. the st. luke, the character of whose head is well worked out, is attractive through his expression of earnestness. but there is far more dramatic power and "soul" in the scene from the legend of st. bernard, according to which christ came down from the cross to his ardent worshipper. there the countenance of st. bernard is made to exhibit a depth of feeling rarely to be found in wolgemut; as if the artist's imagination had indeed been lit by something of the glow of the saint's adoration. the st. christopher, who is walking through the stream with the christ-child on his shoulder, is rough to the point of ugliness, whilst in the landscape, which is beautifully executed, there is a most intimate charm. in the martyrdom of st. sebastian, the saint wears that almost inane expression which often does duty, however unintentionally, for the look of deep suffering in wolgemut's work. the guard, however, are pleasingly and vividly portrayed. evidently they are akin to the rabble which is found in the scenes of the passion in schongauer's works. but it is when we come to the scenes from the legend of st. vitus that we seem to trace only the faintest signs of wolgemut's style. the composition here bears only a distant resemblance to his, and in the execution the assistant employed must surely have been he who painted the scene of st. vitus denouncing the idols in the lorenzkirche (see p. 254), and whose initials are r. f. the pictures by albrecht durer in the museum we have already mentioned (pp. 188, 193-9). (1) hercules and the stymphalian birds, 205 room 72 (2) kaiser maximilian, 209 " " (3) pietà--mourning over christ's body, 206 " 73 (4) charlemagne, 207 " " (5) kaiser sigismund, 208 " " besides these originals there are several copies of the master's works, including the excellent copies of the four apostles (283, 284) by johann georg fischer. the original inscriptions are retained. the allerheiligen or trinity picture, no. 210, is a bad copy in a worse frame. among other works by contemporaries or followers of durer are:- bartholomew zeitblom of ulm, {145 room 73 {178 " 73 bernhard strigel, {179, 181 " 71 {185, 186 " 72 martin schwarz of rothenburg, 130, 133 " 71 hans holbein the elder, {164, 167 " 71 {162, 163 " 72 hans friess of freiburg, room 71, 71 hans leonhard schäuffelein, { 221, 223, 225 } " 73 { 226, etc. } hans von kulmbach, { 212 " 71 { 213, 214, 216 " 73 albrecht altdorfer, 245, 248 " 71, 72 mathias grünewald, 253 " 71 hans baldung grien, 194-196 " 72 lucas cranach, { 259 " 72 { 262 martin schaffner, 191, 192 " 72 hans burgkmair, {171 " 72 {168-170 " 73 georg pencz, 272, 273 " 74 in the following rooms the decline of german art is historically well represented. but in room 78, which is devoted mainly to painters of the dutch school of the seventeenth century, mention should be made of the interior by peter de hooch (330) and an early portrait of rembrandt by himself (325) and his powerful st. paul (326). johann kupetzky is also well represented (371-378). rooms 81, 82. models of cannons and weapons. room 83. a collection of musical instruments: some very rare and costly, but mostly of recent date. there are few from mediæval times. engravings and miniatures will tell us most about these. but the history of the development of the lute and violin, the clarionet and the piano, can here be traced. of the early nuremberg makers, whose instruments are preserved, the chief are- conrad gerler and melchior neuziedler (lutes and violins). hans meuschen (wind instruments). sigmund schnitzer (whistles). pachelbel (organs). the bavarian industrial museum (königstrasse) contains a collection of patterns and samples, ancient and modern, and a good technical library. chapter xii _the arms of nuremberg_ "da sass ein vogel wunderschön, wie ein adler war er anzusehn kohlschwarz, der hatt' allda gehecket. seine linke seit' war ihm bedecket mit lichten rosen, roth und weiss, fein abgetheilt mit allem fleiss." ... hans sachs. nuremberg is a happy hunting ground for the herald. the hatchments in the churches and the houses, and the arms in the stained glass windows are very noteworthy. the arms of the city may be seen carved over the north and south main entrances to the rathaus. you will also find them roughly painted on a little money-box in albert durer's house. durer, as was natural in an engraver, was fond of heraldic drawing. his engravings of the "armorial bearings of the durer family," and of "the coat of arms, with a cock," and of the "arms of nuremberg," are good examples of his work in this _genre_, whilst his last piece of pure etching was "the great cannon," with the arms of nuremberg upon it. i take the following account of the seals and arms of nuremberg from dr reicke and mummenhoff. it was one of the privileges of the council to have a seal of its own. both mayor and council had their own seals. the mayor's seal, known to have existed from a.d. 1225 onwards, was of red wax bearing the imperial eagle originally looking to [illustration: seals of nuremburg] the sinister but afterwards to the dexter, with the legend _sigillum sculteti de nuremberg_ (seal of the mayor of nuremberg) which subsequently became _sigillum judicii de nurenberch_ (seal of the court of nuremberg). the council's seal (which first appears on documents of 1243) bore an eagle closely feathered up to the neck, with a human head surrounded by flowing locks and wearing a crown. this town-seal usually bears the legend _sigillum universitatis civium de nurenberch_ (_i.e._ seal of the community of the citizens of nuremberg) or even _civitatis norimbergue_ (of the city of nuremberg). somewhat later than the middle of the fourteenth century it had a black letter n for counter-seal, and bore the following legend in abbreviated writing, _sigillum secretum nurembergense_, _i.e._ nuremberg secret _or_ privy seal. a little later it bore for its counter-seal the proper arms of the city, of which we must shortly speak. towards the end of the fourteenth century (in 1386) a smaller privy seal appears, similar in form, and bearing the legend _secretum civium de nuremberch_. this was always used as a privy seal for letters of importance. before this seal came into use the city seal was used for all purposes, and even appended (for greater security) to private documents such as contracts of sale, entailing deeds, testaments and jointures. at a later date this seal was chiefly appended to testaments. the seals, both of the mayor and of the council, though not arms, were used as such; however, their real character was well understood. even in 1477 the council decreed that the window which the city proposed to place in the choir of st. lawrence's church should be adorned "with the arms of the council and the privy and common arms of the city." here a distinction is expressly made between the seal and the arms. however, the proper arms of the town were--bendy of six gules and argent impaling or an imperial eagle dimidiated, sable. the dexter side of the shield is often incorrectly represented as gules, three bendlets argent. it is also wrong to describe it (as many writers have done), as barry of six, gules and argent. meisterlin applies to the dexter side the term field of swabia, which we only mention here because it is still occasionally employed. he gives the same name to the district in which nuremberg lies (apparently by confusion with the "gau" of sualafeld). nuremberg has accordingly nothing to do with swabia, as was probably inferred centuries ago. the origin of the arms is obscure. it is however worth mentioning that the burggraves of nuremberg bore this "field of swabia" as a bordure on their arms. these arms, as we said before, have been used since the second half of the fourteenth century as the counter-seal of the city seal above mentioned, as also on stamped parchment and stamped paper (only introduced towards the end of the seventeenth century), on coins struck at nuremberg, on public buildings, etc. the human head on the eagle of the privy seal, afterwards called the "eagle-maiden," is explained by mummenhoff as the face of an emperor with long flowing locks and the imperial crown on his head. it retains this character throughout the middle ages both on the seal, and also when the seal was used as a coat-of-arms. mummenhoff instances in particular the fine eagle on the town side of the upper story of the thiergärtner-gate-tower. with albert durer, however, begins the quite unhistorical transfiguration of this eagle. the emperor's face was no longer understood and was mistaken for a female face; and thus in course of time a series of unjustifiable embellishments produced a coat-of-arms bearing a maiden, described by even a modern historian as an "eagle-maiden." in quite recent times a mural crown has been set upon her head. we will pass over the jesting explanations formerly given for this seeming eagle-maiden, which would be untenable, were they even serious. we need only mention that when the arms are set out in colours the eagle is or and the field azure (and very often vert). these three coats-of-arms (counting the seals as coats) arranged in different ways were employed on public monuments, buildings and coins, and afterwards on all publications, commissions, ordinances, etc., issued by the council. usually the simple eagle is at the top, the so-called eagle-maiden below on the right, and the bends impaling the dimidiated eagle on the left. frequently, especially on the coins, only the eagle-maiden and the dimidiated eagle appear. sometimes also we find the imperial eagle without the shield surmounting the two lower coats, and, as it were, protecting them with its wings. the double-headed crowned eagle also frequently occurs, for example on the old fünferhaus (now the post-office) with the date 1521. here it appears alone, whereas on the tugendbrunnen it is associated with the eagle-maiden and the impaled dimidiated eagle. it was also employed on the eastern part of the city wall, both on the bastion near the wöhrderthürlein (pulled down in 1871) and on the line of wall. a really handsome example of this double-headed eagle is to be seen on the entrance to the new rathaus building from the fünferplatz. this eagle dates from the seventeenth century and was formerly placed on the arsenal, and consequently bears the inscription:- "einst wächter von nürnbergs waffen und wehr jetzt hüter von nürnbergs wohlstand und ehr." "once guard over nuremberg's weapons and steel now keeper of nuremberg's honour and weal." according to lochner it appears to have been left to the taste of the artist whether in such combinations this the real imperial eagle, or the one-headed, uncrowned eagle of the mayor should be used. chapter xiii _itinerary, places of resort, hotels_ the following scheme may perhaps prove of use to those who have but a day or two to spend in nuremberg and wish to glance at the chief places of interest:- (1) walk round the walls and visit the castle (ch. v.). (2) going from the frauenthor down the königstrasse see st. lorenzkirche (ch. ix.), the nassauer haus (p. 22), and tugendbrunnen (p. 273). then crossing the pegnitz by the fleisch--or the museums-brücke, arrive at the haupt markt and the beautiful fountain (p. 270). visit the frauenkirche (ch. ix.) (r.), the rathaus (ch. vi.) and st. sebalds, (ch. ix.) and look at the parsonage window (p. 42), st. moritzkirche (ch. ix.) and the bratwürstglöcklein (p. 198). (3) albert durer's house and monument (ch. vii.). st. ægidienkirche (ch. ix.) and the pellerhaus (p. 90). st. john's churchyard and the adam krafft stations (ch. ix. and vii.). (4) german museum (ch. xi.), library (ch. ix.). walks or drives from the town. (1) to the alte veste. (wallenstein's camp, see ch. iv.). (2) castle of lichtenhof. (once the residence of gustavus adolphus.) (3) dutzendteich. (4) schmausenbuch. hotels. there are several first-class hotels in nuremberg. the württemberger hof has the advantage of being very close to the station and just outside the old walls of the town. the management is excellent and i have met with every comfort and courtesy there. of the hotels within the walls the strauss ranks for comfort and cuisine among the best hotels in europe, whilst of the others the bairischer hof, the goldner adler and the wittelsbacher are recommended. [illustration: nuremberg] index _note_.--for particular houses, streets, churches, etc., see under general heading--houses, streets, churches, etc. a altdorf, 78, 91, 92. altdorfer, albert, 198, 288. altnürnberg, 5, 119. alte, veste, 98 _ff_. angelic greeting, the (stoss), 207, 247. anschreibethüre, 234. arms, 291. art and artists, 55-59, 171 _ff_. artisans, 31, 33, 37, 171. astrologers, 5. b barbari, jacopo dei, 185, 208, 238. bastions, 84, 115, 142, 147, 168. baths, public, 153, 191. battle of mühldorf, 25. bayreuth, 1, 95. behaim, sebald, 50. ---martin, 59. ---hans, 116, 133, 155. ---hans, wilhelm, 155. bellini, 185-6. berlichingen, _see_ götz von. berthold, 182. betläuten. 85. books, 73-75, 263, 264, 281-284. borkhardt, 218. brandenburg, markgraf of, 48, 61-7, 71, 86 _ff_, 105. bratwurstglöcklein, 198. brautthüre, 154, 232, 245. brewery, 134, 153. bridges, (brücke)----barfüsser, 167, 273, 274. ---fleisch, 163, 274. ---hallerthor, 115. ---schuld, 133. ---vestner thor, 138. brunnen (wells)----apollo, 156. ---gänsemännchen, 212, 273. ---grübel, 224. ---kuntsbrunnen, 273. ---labenwolf, 156. ---schöner, 37, 55, 270-3. ---tiefer, 121, 123, 168. ---tugend, 246, 273, 293. ---wasserspeier, 273. burg, 3, 5-7, 13, 24, 30, 43, 115-129, 138, 159, 168. burgamtmannswohnung, 120, 121. burggraf, 6, 14, 15, 20, 24, 25, 29, 40-2, 47-9, 61, 86, 105, 119-121, 138, 143. burgkmair, 128, 288. burgomeister, 24, 33, 47, 122. burgschmiet, 59, 200, 248. c camerarius, joachim, 91, 186. carlyle, thomas, 14, 18, 25, 49, 55, 61. carnival, 38. castle, _see_ burg. celtes, conrad, 36, 74, 143, 144, 188, 230, 283. charlemagne, 3, 13. charters, 11, 15, 19, 24, 26, 41, 47, 50, 122. chronicle, h. schedel, 145, 184, 283. chroniclers, 2, 12, 21, 37, 42, 145, 228. churches and chapels, 55 _ff_, 225-266. ---augustiner, 184, 276. ---s. ægidien, with eucharius, wolfgang, and tetzel chapels, 5, 78, 87, 259, 260. ---s. catherine, 85, 222. ---s. elizabeth, 261. ---frauen, with michael chapel, 23, 37, 42, 182, 199, 202, 206, 236, 250, 254-9. ---heiliggeistspital, 30, 51, 262 ---holzschuher chapel, 202. ---s. jakobs, 51, 182, 183, 245, 261. ---s. john's church, 183, 202. ---s. john's churchyard, 123, 196, 200, 202, 224, 233, 265, 266. ---kaiserkapelle, 13, 124-129. ---s. katharinen, 85, 222. ---karthäuser, 275. ---s. klara, 262. ---landauer, 264. ---s. lorenz, 22, 30, 56, 181-183, 199, 200, 203, 206, 213, 233, 239-254, 255. ---margaretenkapelle, 13, 124, 129. ---s. martha, 222, 261. ---s. martin, 13. ---s. moritz, 198, 262. ---otmarkapelle, 5. ---s. rochus, 212, 264, 265. ---s. sebald, with s. peter's or löffelholz chapel, 3, 23, 30, 42, 51, 154, 181, 183, 198, 200, 202, 209, 213, 218, 225-239, 250. ---synagogue, 23, 36, 132, 262. ---walpurgiskapelle, 5, 120, 121. ---zum heiligen kreuz, 261. clock, 132, 134, 208, 209, 256-8. convent, _see_ kloster. council, _see_ rat. councilhouse, _see_ rathaus. courtship, system of, 153. cranach, lucas, 125, 157, 288. crenelles, 145-146. crusades, 35, 52, 73. d diet of worms, 75, 82, 83. ---of spires, 82, 83. ditch, chap. v. double chapel, 13, 124-129. durer, albert, 56, 59, 72-77, 142, 155, 156, 175-198, 205, 237-239, 247, 254, 263, 266, 280, 283, 287, 290, 292. durer's house, _see_ haus. dutzendteich, 168. e ebner, 214, 263. education, 78. eger, double chapel, 13, 126. eggs (watches), 214, 257. ekkelein von gailingen, 43 _ff_, 119. emperors, _see_ kaiser. endterlein, k., 213, 246. epitaphs, 181, 182, 248-254, 266, 285. erasmus, 74, 188. erlangen, university, 92. essenwein, a. von, 156. f fair (easter), 26. fazuni, 115. fischbach, 138. five-cornered tower, 5, 6, 43, 116, 119, 120, 160 _ff_. fortifications, 115-149. fountains, _see_ brunnen. freiung, 120, 121. friedensmal, 102. fürth, 7, 53, 96, 98, 101, 105, 106. g gailingen, ekkelein von, 43 _ff_, 119. gänsemännchen, 212, 273. gates, _see_ thor. german museum, _see_ museum. glass, 181, 212, 213, 239, 258, 277. golden bull, 31, 39, 69, 256. goldmeyer, a., 5. götz von berlichingen, 43, 61 _ff_, 67-72, 81. gross, conrad, 29, 30. grübel, j. k., 224, 266. guilds, 31, 33, 151, 171 _ff_, 217-222. guillotine, 157, 169. gustavus adolphus, 94-101, 263. gutenberg, 73, 283. h haller altar piece, 236 _ff_, 250. hangman, 161 _ff_. haus, 269 _ff_. ---durer, 116, 173, 175, 176, 193, 198, 269 ---ketzel, or pilatus, 201. ---krafft, 199. ---maut, 133. haus, nassauer, 22. ---palm, 269. ---peller, 90, 102, 269. ---pirkheimer, 188. ---sachs, 215. ---unschlitt, 134. ---waizenbräu, 134. ---zum goldenen schild, 39. ---zwölfbrüder, 132, 193, 212. hauser, kaspar, 107-113. heathen tower (heidenthurm), _see under_ thurm. henkersteg, 133-135, 165. henlein, p., 214. heraldry, 152, 248, 258, 260, 276, 290. hesse, eobanus, 188, 229. heuss, georg, 209, 256. hirschvogel, 125, 213, 239, 265, 278. hoards, 146. hohenstaufen, 12, 13, 18, 36, 125. hohenzollern, 14, 15, 61. holbein, 128, 239, 288. holzschuher, 137, 181, 238. ---e. k., 155. hotels, 295. houses, 267-270, and _see under_ haus. huss, john, 49. hussites, 50, 137. hutten, ulrich von, 188, 263. i imhoff, 154, 181, 196, 203. ---altarpiece, 182, 249-251, 286. indulgences, 39, 52, 74. j jamnitzer, w., 213, 266. jews, 12, 23, 35-37, 46, 52-54, 164. jewish machsor, 263. jungfrau, _see_ maiden. juvenell, p., 158, 213. k kaiser----otho l, 3. ---conrad ii., 5. ---henry iii., 5, 7. ---frederick barbarossa, 6, 13-15, 125. kaiser, henry iv., 7-11. ---henry v., 11, 12. ---lothar, 12. ---conrad (hohenstaufen), 13. ---frederick ii., 15. ---henry vi., 16. ---conradin, 18. ---rudolph von hapsburg, 20, 21. ---adolph von nassau, 22. ---albert, 23, 24. ---henry vii., 24. ---ludwig von baiern, 25-30 ---karl iv., 31 _ff_, 256. ---wenzel, 42-8, 275. ---ruprecht, 47. ---sigismund, 48-50, 122. ---frederick iii., 51, 150. ---maximilian i., 53, 60-73, 188, 193. ---charles v., 75-89, 195. ---maximilian ii., 90. ---ferdinand ii., 94. ---francis, 106. kaiserstallung, 6, 116. katzheimer, 2, 3, 239. kern, leonhard, 156. ketzel, georg, 30, 262. ---martin, 201. kirnberger, 213. kloster, 76, 77. ---st. ægidius, 13, 78, 259, 263. ---augustinen, 74, 262. ---dominican, 263. ---franciscan (barfüsser), 262, 264. ---karthäuser, 136, 258, 275. ---katherinen, 136, 231. ---klara, 77, 136. ---landauer, 132, 193, 212, 264. koberger, a., 59, 74, 177, 184, 283. krafft, adam, 56, 116, 128, 172, 175, 199-205, 207, 208, 233, 237, 247, 258, 260, 262, 267. kuhn, 69, 152. kulmbach, haus von, 128, 198, 213, 238, 239, 254, 288. kunigunde, empress, 124. l labenwolf, pankraz, 156, 212, 273. landauer, matthäus, 193. landgraben, 148. landwehr, 147. leagues, of towns, etc., 19, 29, 39, 46, 71, 82, 84, 86-88, 93. legends, 3, 21, 22, 25, 30, 42, 43 _ff_, 102, 124, 127, 203, 226-228, 232, 243, 245, 264. leihaus, 53. lindenast, sebastian, 199, 208, 256. loch, 158. löffelholz, altarpiece, 182, 236. ---chapel, 230, 235, 236. longfellow, 1, 2, 171, 215, 217, 247. luginsland, 6, 41, 116. luther, 74-85, 188, 263. m macchiavelli, 136. machicoulis turrets, 145. machsor, 263. madonna, the nuremberg, 206, 261, 278 _ff_. maiden, the nuremberg, 116, 168-170. ---morton's, 157, 169. mantengna, 185. market places----hauptmarkt, 37, 55, 215, 254, 270. ---obstmarkt, 37, 273. ---sauor trödel-markt, 134. ---gänsemarkt, 212. ---weinmarkt, 130. markgrafs of brandenburg, 48, 50, 53, 61-7, 71, 86 _ff_, 105. mart, 7, 26. meissen, heinrich von, 217. meistersingers, 216, 222. melanchthon, 59, 73, 78, 91, 188, 263. mendel, 275. minnesingers, 216-220. moat, chap. v. monastery, _see_ kloster. monuments----behaim, 59. ---durer, 175. ---grübel, 224. ---kunstbrunnen, 273. ---melanchthon, 59. ---sachs, 215. ---wasserspeier, 273. ---motto, 157, 274. mount of olives, 116. mühldorf, battle of, 25. muller, johannes (regiomontanus), 59, 74, 257, 263, 283. museums----bavarian industrial, 263, 289 ---five-cornered tower, _see_ f ---german, 38, 45, 73, 136, 183, 184, 188, 194, 198, 200, 214, 218, 231, 234, 249, 275-288. musical instruments, 218, 288. n nassauerhaus, 22. neumarkt, k: von, 231. nuremberg, charm of, 1; origin of, 2 _ff_; name, 3; altnürnberg, 5; mixture of races at, 7; mart established at, 7; siege of, 11; charter, 11; burning of, 12; second siege, 12; hohenstaufen, 13; hohenzollern, 14; reichstag and charter, 15; catastrophe at a royal wedding, 16; lawlessness, 17; third siege, 19; joins league, 19; rudolf von hapsburg at, 21; massacre of jews, 23; charter, 24; supports ludwig, 25; revolution, 31; council, 33, 150 _ff_; persecution of jews, 35; joins swabian league, 39; golden bull issued from, 39; quarrels with the burggraff, 40; heidelberg union, 46; supports ruprecht, 47; loans exacted by sigismund, 48; hussites, 49; frederick iii. at, 51; religious feeling and expulsion of jews, 52-54; "capital of german art" under maximilian, 55 _ff_; quarrels with the burggraff, 61; götz von berlichingen, 62, 67-72; war of bavarian succession, 66; renaissance, 73; luther and the reformation at, 74 _ff_; peasants' war, 78; school founded at, 78; war with elector albert, 86; founds university of altdorf, 91; catholic reaction, 85, 93 _ff_; wallenstein and gustavus adolphus, 94 _ff_; celebrates treaty of westphalia, 102; decline of, 103-106; kaspar hauser, 106-113; general view and topography of, 114; castle, walls and fortification, 115-130; tortures, 159-170; art and artists, 171-214; meistersingers of, 215-224; churches of, 225-266; arms, 290 _ff_. nuremberg chronicle, 184. ---carnival, 38. ---eggs, 214, 257. ---grosse uhr, 257. ---konkordienbuch, 91. ---lebkuchen, 214. ---madonna, 206, 261, 278 _ff_. ---maiden, 116, 168-170. nuremberg, school of painting, 181-185, 248-254, 258. ---spruchsprecher, 223. ---trichter, or funnel, 218, 270. o olives, mount of, 116. osiander, 77, 83, 86, 207. p painters and painting, 55-57, 125, 128, 156-158, 181-185, 195, 248-254, 258, 278, 285-289. palm, 269, 284. paniersberg, 209. parsonage window, 42. passages, 123, 167-169. patricians, 151-153. paumgärtner, h., 78, 263. pegnitz, 2, 75, 115, 131-134, 143, 188, 191, 273, 274. peller altarpiece, 198. pellerhof, 90, 102. pencz (georg), 155, 157, 195, 198, 288. pergenstorfer relief, 242, 258. peringsdörffer altarpiece, 184, 210, 254, 286, 287. pfinzing, m., 42, 72, 283. piccolomini, octavio, 102. pirkheimer, charitas, 77. ---willibald, 60, 72, 74, 75, 77, 81, 186, 188, 193, 196, 198, 238, 266, 269. pix (krafft's), 200, 203-205, 247. platz, ægidien, 59, 87, 90, 259, 264, 269. ---albrecht dürer, 168, 175. ---dötschmanns, 23, 36. ---lorenzer, 133. ---max, 37, 273. platz, spital, 130, 132, 215, 262. ---theresien, 59, 130. ---thiergärtnerthor, 201. ---unschlitt, 134, 135. ---webers, 132. pleydenwurf, hans, 183, 286. poets, 224. pope, gregory, ii. ---leo x., 74, 82. printing, 73-75, 263, 264, 281-284. protestants, 83 _ff_. r rat (council), 8, 20, 23, 31-33, 46, 75-87, 95, 104, 150 _ff_, 171, 172, 193, 195, 197, 212, 222, 263, 291. rathaus, 60, 69, 84, 91, 102, 123, 152, 154, 182, 195, 222, 293. reformation, 73 _ff_, 184, 191. regiomontanus, _see_ muller. reichstag, 15, 20, 60, 75, 83-85. rembrandt, 288. renaissance, 73. restaurants, 22, 148, 198. robber knights, 19, 28, 43, 47, 49, 68-72. rosenau, 149. rosenkranztafel, 234, 280. rotermundt, 207, 237, 238, 248. rothenburg, 1, 23, 29, 31, 48, 76, 81, 96. s sachs, hans, 76, 89, 114, 116, 150, 198, 215-225, 263, 266, 270, 290. sakramentshäuslein, 203-205, 247. sandrart, j. von, 158. schatzbehalter, 184, 283. schäuffelein, hans, 125, 198, 288. schautthüre, 200, 233, 239. schedel, hartmann, chronicle, 145, 184, 234, 283. schembartläufer, 38. scheurl, dr., 60, 74, 153. schiller, 97. schongauer, m., 182, 185, 187, 285, 287. schonhofer, 254, 270. school, 78, 132, 134. schreyer tomb, 202, 233. schütt island, 132, 223. schweigger, georg, 102, 266. schweppermann, 25. seals, 291. sebald, s., 8, 51, 225-230. sebaldusgrab, 208-212, 229, 233. secret passages, 123, 167-169. ---tribunal, 167-168. sensenschmidt, johann, 73, 283. spengler, lazarus, 74, 75, 78, 263, 266. spires, diet of, 82, 83. springlen, 213, 247. stations (krafft's), 200-202. stoss, veit, 72, 128, 175, 206-208, 237, 238, 247, 248, 258, 260-262, 265, 266, 280. stoves, 125, 158, 277. streets (strasse)----albrecht dürer, 130, 135, 269. ---am oelberg, 116. ---berg, 129. ---breitegasse, 134. ---burg, 84, 116, 129, 168, 177, 193. ---burgschmiets, 200, 265. ---carolinen, 22. ---dielingasse, 69. ---färbergasse, 133. ---frauengässlein, 133. ---fürther, 149. ---hans sachs, 130, 215. ---heugässchen, 132. ---hirschel, 267. ---irrergasse, 135. ---karl, 135. ---königs, 133, 261, 289. ---lammsgasse, 135. ---ludwig, 134. ---neue, 130, 132. ---nonnen, 133. ---obere schmiedgasse, 116. ---panier, 168. ---peter vischer, 137. ---rathaus, 155. ---rothenburger, 265. ---schildgasse, 39, 267. ---schmied, 7. ---söldner, 7. ---tetzel, 130, 267. ---theater, 133. ---theresien, 199. ---tucher, 130. ---waisen, 134. ---weintraubengässlein, 135. ---winkler, 199, 202, 269. ---wolfs, 131. ---wunderburg, 202. ---zeilen, 132. strigel, 128. stromer, p., 182, 248. ---ulman, 37, 62. swedish camp, 97. sylvius, æneas, 29. synagogue, 23, 36, 132, 262. t theuerdank, 42, 72. 283. thor, frauen, 62, 65, 114, 115, 133, 138, 143, 146, 167. ---haller, 115, 147. ---hallerthürlein, 141. ---himmels, 116, 121. ---laufer, 138, 142, 143. ---maler, 130, 132. ---marien, 137. ---max, 131, 132, 137. ---morhen, 115, 137. ---neu, 107, 115, 138, 147. ---spittler, 51, 62, 96, 115, 134, 138, 144. ---stadt, 47. ---stern, 137, 138. ---thiergärtner, 116, 143, 175. ---vestner, 119, 138. ---walch, 146. ---wühderthürlein, 141. thurm (tower), frauen, 141. ---frosch, 131, 132. ---fünfeckiger (five-cornered), 5, 6, 43, 116, 119, 120, 160 _ff_. ---heiden (heathen), 3, 4, 124. ---laufer, 141. ---lauferschlag, 81, 132. ---luginsland, 6, 41, 116. ---romer, 130. ---schlayer, 143. ---schuld, 133. ---spittel, 141. ---thiergärtner, 135, 168, 292. ---vestner, 121, 122. ---wasser, 135. ---weiss (white), 13, 81, 131, 133, 134. tilly, 95, 96. torture, 69, 71, 116, 153, 158-170. tourneys, 60, 69, 152. tower, _see_ thurm. ---hangman's, _see_ henkersteg. towers, 145-147. tucher, 134, 137, 153, 154, 181, 209, 248. tucher altarpiece, 182, 258. ---lamp, etc., 237, 238. ---window, 213, 239, 247. u unger, georg, 141, 157. v vandyck, 259. vehmegericht, 167, 168. venice, 1, 20, 103, 159, 185, 193. vischer, peter, etc., 56, 72, 156, 175, 199, 208-212, 233, 248, 259, 265, 281. vogelweide, w. von der, 217. volkamer, 69, 137, 237. ---altar, 250. ---window, 213, 247. w waage, 53, 133, 199. wagner, 171, 215, 219-221. walch, _see_ barbari. wallenstein, 92, 94, 97-101. wallenstein's camp, 98. walls, 130 _ff_. watches, 214, 257. wells, _see_ brunnen. weyer, gabriel, 157. windows, 42, 212, 213, 239, 246, 247. wittelsbach, family of, 13, 25, 32, 33 wolff, jakob, 90. ---the younger, 91, 147. wolgemut, m., 56, 128, 181-5, 210, 238, 254, 278, 280, 285-7. worms, diet of, 75, 82, 83. wurzelbauer, 273. z zwinger, 84, 115, 142, 147, 149, 168. zwingle, 81. printed by turnbull and spears, edinburgh footnotes: [1] kustos an der stadtbibliothek und am städtischen archiv in nürnberg [2] note that the prussian imperial house in 1866 stipulated for the possession of the kaiserburg, as it was called later, on the ground that it was once the residence of their ancestors. [3] see ch. v. [4] "hist. frederick the great," vol. i., bk. ii., ch. v. [5] baring gould, _germany_. [6] "this karl iv. is the kaiser who discovered the well of karlsbad known to tourists of this day: and made the golden bull, which i forbid all englishmen to take for an agricultural prize animal, the thing being far other, as is known to several.--_carlyle._ [7] the new council was to consist of eight artisans and thirty-four patricians. the artisans, however, only attended on special occasions. they had no real power. the guilds were suppressed, and even such unions as had existed before the revolution were put under the control of the council, who kept in their own hands the decision of even the smallest matters, which were wont to be decided in other towns by the guilds. members of the council had to be fathers of families. of the thirty-four patrician members twenty-six were eligible for the office of burgomeister. two by two, one old and the other young, they held office by turn for four weeks. one of the duties of the younger was to be present at the function of torturing prisoners. the elder had to perform the office of asking the opinion of the house. from the thirteen older men seven were chosen as a secret committee. from this committee three were chosen, and from this triumvirate two were chosen, the chief of whom was the first person in the town. there was another, or great, council which varied in numbers, and was elected by the smaller council from the patrician and leading and even from the lower houses. members were elected for life, and had no powers of importance. they were consulted on questions of war, and when the smaller council was elected. then they assembled in the rathaus hall, and chose two out of the old committee of seven. the smaller council (with the eight artisans) then nominated three out of the eight who made up the original thirty-four. these five nominees then chose the small council for the ensuing year. none of these electors might elect two years running, and no two might be of the same family. those who were not re-elected to the council became ordinary citizens again. re-election was not usual. [8] ulman stromer, the oldest of the nuremberg chroniclers, died on april 1407. he was the first man to set up a paper mill (1390, at the entrance of the pegnitz into the town, the first of the kind in germany). [9] rooms 14 and 15. [10] see pp. 6 and 116. [11] facing the north side of st. sebalduskirche. [12] in the germanische museum there is a very interesting and instructive collection of arms and weapons of all sorts. rooms 49-52 and 80 and 81. note that the rich towns were able to afford the latest and best artillery and guns, whilst the knights had to be content with old-fashioned arms as a rule. [13] from carlyle. [14] see theodor körner's well-known play on this subject. [15] wurtel, _histor. nachrichten von der judengemeinde der reichstadt nürnberg_. [16] see pp. 37 and 270. [17] see, for instance, the pictures in st. lorenzkirche. [18] janssen. [19] carlyle. [20] berthold volkamer, who took part in it, had the great hall in his house in the dielingasse decorated with a representation of this tournament painted on linen. the council, in 1624, had the life-size stucco-relief on the ceiling of the upper corridor of the rathaus, executed by heinrich and hans kuhn, based on this. [21] gardiner, "thirty years war." [22] "the story of kaspar hauser." macmillan, 1893. [23] immediately after passing the arch labelled vestnerthor, turn to the left. the open space of the plateau called the freiung commands a very fine view of the city. [24] it was by the following charter of 1422 that king sigmund gave the reichsburg over to the council:- "we hereby order and command the burgomaster, council, and citizens, as they are true and faithful subjects of us and of the empire, that now and henceforth they shall build and fortify with gates, doors, walls, moats, and other buildings, this same fortress of us and the empire, with its accessories within and without, and look after them without let or hindrance. further, it is our will and pleasure as king of rome that this same fortress of us and of the empire, shall in no way be separated or divided from the town of nuremberg. and when we ourselves or our successors are not residing in person at n., no one else shall inhabit the said castle, and we hereby decree that no one else shall command it save only the council of the town of n., who shall keep it faithfully for our successors and the empire, as the emperor charles our father of holy memory and likewise king ruprecht of good memory wrote and ordered to our fore-fathers in the kingdom." [25] the original entrance to these passages cannot be determined now as the principal tower which might have been the last place of refuge and the extremest point of defence no longer exists. to-day the entrance is to be found in the tower at the most westerly corner of the castle grounds. we shall come to the subject of the subterranean passages in the next chapter. [26] the skeletons of (probably) two twelfth-century burggrafs were discovered here in the course of the recent excavations. we know also that a few members, male and female, of patrician families were buried here in the sixteenth century. [27] that at eger is octagonal. [28] we shall do well enough if we work down winklerstrasse, and then strike across (_l_) the haupt markt, pass through hans sachs gasse, across the spital platz, up the neue gasse, crossing tucher strasse and the top of theresien platz. after which, short turns first to the left and then to the right bring us into tetzel gasse. [29] the max-, mohren-, stern-, and marien-gates are all quite modern. [30] see "military architecture," m. viollet-le-duc. [31] a bit of this crenelation may be seen to the east of the walch thor. [32] the brautthüre of st. sebald's will occur to the reader in this connection. [33] 1532. after a drawing by jacopo de' barbari. [34] ring the bell for the hausmeister who lives to the right of the door of the great hall. [35] note, pp. 69, 152. [36] the fee for showing the dungeons and the secret passages is a matter for arrangement before starting. [37] _cf._ arabian nights. _twenty-ninth night._ [38] see sir r. burton's note on the thirty-first night, _arabian nights_, 1. 293. [39] the iron maiden is shown now in the five-cornered tower. this is not, of course, its original position. nor is it profitable to inquire how far the instruments shown are the actual original ones; for the collection of torture instruments, rings, pictures, books, etc.; which used to be shown at nuremberg, are now the property of the earl of shrewsbury. [40] _cf._ plautus, _captivi_, 888. boius est, boiam terit. [41] it is interesting to note that most of the nuremberg artists were essentially good men who drew their inspiration from religion--a fact that may afford food for reflection to those who nowadays declare so loudly that art has nothing to do with morals, that they incline to fall into the opposite error and suppose that it has everything to do with immorality. [42] "it appears to have been the ancient practice of those masters, who furnished designs for the wood-engravers to work from, carefully to avoid all cross-hatchings, which, it is probable, were considered as beyond the power of the xylographist to represent. wolgemut perceived that, though difficult, this was not impossible; and in the cuts of the nuremberg chronicle, the execution of which, besides furnishing the designs, he doubtless superintended, a successful attempt was first made to imitate the bold hatchings of a pen-drawing, crossing each other, as occasion prompted the designer, in various directions. to him belongs the praise of having been the first who duly appreciated the powers of this art, and it is more than probable that he proved with his own hand, to the subordinate artists employed under him, the practicability of that style of workmanship which he acquired."--ottley, "history of engraving." it should, however, be added that cross-hatching appears in reuwick's illustrations to breydenbach's "pilgrimage" (1486). [43] see p. 72. [44] the originals of those which have been replaced are in the german museum. [45] some smaller bronze pieces by or attributed to him will be found in the german museum. these and his other works and those of his sons are fully discussed in my monograph "peter vischer." [46] for the life and miracles of st. sebald see ch. ix. [47] witz = skill in art. [48] running east from the south-east corner of the hauptmarkt. the house was called "zum güldenen bären" later. [49] p. 76. [50] museum, room 33. [51] "schriften und dichtungen," vol. iv. p., 349 ff. [52] cf. acta st. sebaldi, ab auctore incerto incertæ ætatis. [53] see the beautiful relief on the sebaldusgrab (p. 210). [54] the feast of st. sebald was celebrated august 19th. the following verses from the mass sung in the cathedral on that day in honour of the saint may be of interest. hic de francis genitus propinquos postergat, quamvis natus inclytus, ne in nefas vergat. merito vincentiam eremum elegit, vincat ut malitiam se deo subegit. paucos contubernio eremo assumit, vivit soli domino abs quo nil præsumit. visitat miraculis hunc deus frequenter notum fecit patulis factis pertinenter. famem patientibus fert refectionem, sitim sustinentibus miram potionem. aquam vertit in vinum diu duraturum panem opus alivinum præstat opportunum. mortuus deducitur rudibus jumentis nurnberg perducitur divinis fomentis. stant in loco humili nec abinde cedant, donec loci populi locum sacrum edunt. transferri se coeperat, nil per hoc secutum, a scotis redierat corpus revolutum. ad locum divinitus primum vehebatur, factum illud coelitus cunctis propalatur. illudentis facies in plaga notatur mulieris species passa commutatur. or as conrad celtes has it in his hymn to the saint:- cumque jam longo fueras labore fessus, et sedes meritus beatas te senem nostras deus impetrabat linquere terras, spiritus sanctos ubi liquit artus, mox boves corpus tulerant agrestes qua tuas sanctas modo personamus, carmine laudes. ergo jam coelo merito locatus hanc velis urbem, mediis arenis conditam, sanctis precibus juvare sedulus orans. etc. [55] they and much of the rest of the church are now in course of restoration. [56] the kirchner lives at no. 6 burgstrasse. [57] these will be shown you if you ask for them. [58] see pp. 203-5. there is also a relief by adam krafft near the south-east door. [59] see p. 207. [60] geschichte von deutschen malerei. [61] the clockworks at prague, strasburg and wells tell the same tale. [62] recently renovated. [63] the kirchner (l. burkman) lives in the far corner of the gymnasium hof, right of the church, in the house with a double flight of steps in front of it. [64] durer's grave, no. 649 (see p. 196). w. pirkheimer, 1414; hans sachs, 503; veit stoss, 268; lazarus spengler, 1320; wenzel jamnitzer, 664; konrad grübel, 200. [65] the best of these epitaphia, or grave-plates, are by georg schweigger, _e.g._ no. 1484. [66] all things have their origin and increase, but lo! the bull you see never was a calf. [67] i am inclined now to agree with those who attribute it to peter vischer's son and namesake. see my monograph on peter vischer, or dr seeger's p. vischer der jungere. [68] to view a further collection apply to the director. [69] see pp. 59, 74. [70] he occasionally used koberger's type. "the poggius of 1475 by creussner and the boethius of 1473 by koberger are in the same type. most of the early nuremberg types are readily distinguished by the capital n, in which the cross stroke slants the wrong way."--early printed books. e. gordon duff. [71] see pp. 42, 72. * * * * * typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: sakramentshaüslein=> sakramentshäuslein {pg xii} haupt thor=> hauptthor {pg xii} schlusselfelderische, schlusselfelder=> schlüsselfelderische, schlüsselfelder {pg 22} goethe's _wilhelm tell_=> schiller's _wilhelm tell_ {pg 24} vasco di gama=> vasco da gama {pg 59} called _betlaüten_=> called _betläuten_ {pg 85} waizenbraühaus=> waizenbräuhaus {pg 134} tannhaüser=> tannhäuser {pg 217} karthaüsergasse=> karthäusergasse {pg 275} betlaüten. 85.=> betläuten. 85. {pg 297} bratwurstglöcklsin, 198.=> bratwurstglöcklein, 198. {pg 297} karthaüser, 136, 258, 275.=> karthäuser, 136, 258, 275. {pg 299} waizenbraü, 134.=> waizenbräu, 134. {pg 303} st gidius=> st. ægidius {pg 299} grubel, 224.=> grübel, 224. {pg 300} heidleberg union, 46;=> heidelberg union, 46; {pg 300} 