those who--she gratefully perceived it--meant well toward her, she
persisted in her desire to be dismissed, to live out of doors as she had
always done. At last they paid her what was due, but she accepted only
the Emperor's bounty, proudly refusing Lienhard Groland's money,
earnestly as she was urged to add it to the other and to the viaticum
bestowed by the nuns.




CHAPTER VII.

The April sun was shining brightly when the convent gates closed behind
Kuni. The lindens in the square were already putting forth young leaves,
the birds were singing, and her heart swelled more joyously than it had
done for many years.

True, the cough which had tormented her all winter attacked her in the
shady cloister, but she had learned to use her wooden foot, and with a
cane in one hand and her little bundle in the other she moved sturdily
on. After making her pilgrimage to Compostella, she intended to seek her
old employer, Loni. Perhaps he could give her a place as crier, or if
the cough prevented that, in collecting the money or training the
children. He was a kind-hearted man. If he were even tolerably
prosperous he would certainly let her travel with the band, and give
the girl who was injured in his service the bit of food she required.
Besides, in former days, when she scattered gold with lavish hands, he
had predicted what had now befallen her, and when he left Augsburg he had
asked the nuns to tell her that if she should ever be in want she must
remember Loni.