In the Fire of the Forge: A Romance of Old Nuremberg (Complete)

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IN THE FIRE OF THE FORGE

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The page you are attempting to access contains content that is not intended for underage readers. In the Fire of the Forge: This item has not been rated yet. 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 Em- peror's sister had recommended to her for a part- ner, wished by this glance to apologise for inviting Countess Cordula von Montfort instead. 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 Schor- lin, 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 de- scription 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. 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 stand- ing beside Cordula von Montfort, and a feeling of keen resentment overpowered her. The young countess was challenging his atten- tion still more boldly, tossing her head back so im- petuously 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 ad- vances not only produced no effect, but seemed to annoy the knight. True, she had an aris- tocratic bearing, and perhaps Els was right in say- ing 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 es- caped 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 re- fusing her hand for the Rai never entered her head, but he told her voluntarily that he had in- vited 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.

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: Yet the Burgravine says that dan- ger threatens me from you, you dear, kind fellow, and I should do well to avoid you.

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 at- tendance would not permit it. However, he came to her in every pause to exchange at least a few brief words and a glance. Seats were placed behind the green birch trees — amid whose boughs hung gay lamps — and the rose bushes which surrounded a fountain of per- fumed 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 Sieben- burg, 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 Cor- dula's sake so shamefully forgot his duties, crim- soned her cheeks with a flush of anger, while the half-disapproving, half-troubled look that Sir Boe- mund Altrosen cast, sometimes at the countess, sometimes at Siebenburg, showed her that she her- self 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 god- father as the noblest of the younger knights gath ered in Nuremberg.

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 her- self to Heinz Schorlin without reserve.

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 sun- shine. Eva lowered her eyes and answered gently: 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.

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 experi' enced. 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 concern- ing 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 pos- sess 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.

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 near- est to his person, who had been joined by several princes of the Church, was shut off by the ban- nerets, thus preventing the entrance of any unin- vited person ; but Heinz Schorlin belonged to the sovereign's suite and had admittance everywhere.

These seats were in view of the whole com- pany, yet it would have been as difficult to inter- rupt him and his lady as any of the table com- panions of the imperial pair. Eva followed the knight without anxiety, and took her place beside him in the well-chosen seat. He omitted to ask her to pour the wine for him, knowing that many of the guests in the ballroom were watching them; be- sides the saucy little count came again and again to fill his goblet, and he wished to avoid every- thing which might elicit sarcastic comment.

The young cup-bearer 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.

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The latter accom- panied 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 prin- cess. 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 Empe- ror, who had bestowed it upon her, and also ex- pressed 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 Bur- gravine's warning to beware of him. At the same time she had found opportunity to tell him that her heart yearned for something dif- ferent 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 grey- beard. 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 espe- cially in Nuremberg.

The old Minorite monk was especially dignified in aspect, and when he chanced to mention that he had known St. 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 be- side the old monk, sweeping up the dust with his long robe.

At the tavern the knight and his at- tendants had been abundantly repaid for their kindness to the Minorite, for his conversation was both entertaining and edifying; and Heinz re- peated to his lady, who listened attentively, much that the monk had related about St. 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 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 Schor- lin fairly hung on her lips, and his eyes, which be- trayed how deeply all that he was hearing moved him, rested on hers until a flourish of trumpets an- nounced 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 good- ness, 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, soniething akin to religious devotion blended with his yearning desire. But after this " Zduner " 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 con- cerning 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. 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.

The clasp of the knight's hand was felt all the way to the house, and it would have been impossible and certainly ungra- cious 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 bril- liancy, and the gay music transformed to a melan- choly dirge.

But when at the Green Shield the ducal wine sparkled in the beakers, the gold shone and glis- tened on the tables, and the rattle of the dice in- vited the bystanders to the game, he thought that whatever he undertook on such a day of good for- tune must have a lucky end. Besides, he must test for the first time the power of his new patroness, St. Clare, instead of his old one, St. 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, laugh- ing, turned it inside out before the eyes of his comrades. But though the kind-hearted Duke of Pomerania, with whom Heinz was a special favour- ite, 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 con- fessed 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.

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 any- thing but sorrow and regret. What would have seemed impossible to him a few hours before, he now realised. 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? 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.

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What would happen afterwards let the saints decide. As usual, Biberli was his confidant, and declared him- self ready to use Katterle's services in his master's behalf.

He had his own designs in doing this. Eva Ortlieb had been borne home from the ball in her sedan chair with a happy smile hover- ing round her fresh young lips. It still lingered there when she found ber 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 un- dress.

Not until Eva released her did Els exclaim in merry amazement: Yet the thought entered her mind that it ill beseemed her to express so much pleasure in a worldly amusement. What am I saying? 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. 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! Not even Barbel, Ann, or Metz took any special notice of your sis- ter. 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 be- long 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 Wolflf 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 drink- ing room, and I did not see him again till he came to bring me home. He had asked Frau 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 for- lornly here and there until he — Heinz Schorlin — came and took charge of me. My cheeks crimson when I think of the liberty " " Never mind her," said her sister soothingly. As for Heinz Schorlin, he is certainly a gallant knight ; but, my innocent lambkin, he is a wolf nevertheless.

But she soon laughed softly, and added quietly: How you stare at me!

I am not thinking of your be- loved Wolff, whom you have tamed tolerably well, but the wolf of Gubbio, which did so much mis- chief, 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. 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 him- self; not the Gubbio one, but he from Switzerland.

An old Minorite monk, to whom he compassion- ately 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? Eva, fairly radiant with joy, nodded assent; and Els heard the ring of pleasure in her clear voice, too, as she exclaimed: Oh, yes, it is easy enough to walk and turn in time to the music when one has such a knight for a part- ner; 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.

CHAPTER X.

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. What do you other girls talk about at such entertainments, if it surprises you? Francis was by no means our only subject ; we spoke of the future crusade, too.

He knew many things about our saint; but the pre- cise 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. 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. Clare, the female counter- part 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? You are pulling all the hair out of my head! 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 re- plies.

At last Els knelt before the prte-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. 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 as- sumed 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 feel- ing 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? 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. Clare for herself alone, but for another," thought Els.

True, a Heinz Schorlin needs longer intercession than my Eva, my Wolff, and my poor pious mother. But I won't disturb her yet. 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. Give me a good-night kiss. Surely you are weeping? 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. 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. Shut your eyes and sleep as long as you can. I'll be as quiet as a mouse while I am dressing. 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. 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. 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. 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.

In the Fire of the Forge: A Romance of Old Nuremberg, Volume 2

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. Francis had gone forth to console, to win souls for the Lord, to bring peace and ex- hort to earnest labour in the service of the Saviour, as his disciples had imitated him, and St. 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 truth- ful, 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. 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 con- vent as novices, she was most certainly "called.

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.

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 Lau- sanne 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. Formerly she would rather have seen the young girl, whose charms were de- veloping 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 de- sired 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 confi- dently, he did not come. 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 invi- tation to dance.

Then for the first time she men- tioned 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. 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.

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