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."