"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;