y, in the agitation of soul
aroused by the yearning for a fairer fate! Have her he must, even though
he was permitted to call her his own but for a year, a month, an hour.

Many of her words had been harsh and apparently unfeeling, yet how noble
must be the soul of this young creature who, for the sake of being loyal
to truth, the pure source of everything grand and lofty, paid no heed to
much that is usually sacred to human beings!

But Barbara's conduct during the next hour appeared to belie this
opinion of the man who loved her, for scarcely had her father sat down
with the knight before the venerable wine flagon than she flung down the
smoothing iron, hastily piled the finished articles one above another,
and then, without heeding the parchment on which Wolf's verses were
written, rolled up the ruby velvet. Directly after, with the package
under her arm, she wished the men a merry drinking bout, and added that
poor Ursel might need her. Besides, she wanted to show her the beautiful
material, which would please the faithful soul.

Then, without even pausing at the rooms in the second story, she hurried
swiftly down the stairs into the street.

She was carrying Wolf's gift to Frau Lerch, her dressmaker.

The Grieb, where the latter lived as wife of the keeper of the house,
was only a few steps distant. If the skilful woman, who was indebted to
her for many a customer, began the work of cutting at once, her cousins,
the Wollers, could help her the next day with the sewing. True, these
were the very girls who would "turn yellow with rage" at the sight of
the velvet, but precisely because these rich girls had so many things
of which she was deprived she felt that, in asking their aid, she was
compelling Fate to atone for an injustice.

Haste was necessary for, at the first glance at the velvet, she had
determined to wear it at the next dance in the New Scales, and she also
saw distinctly in imagination the person whose attention she desired to
attract.

True, the recruiting officer sent to Ratisbon, of whom she was thinking,
was by no means a more acceptable suitor, but a handsome fellow, a scion
of a noble family, and, above all, an excellent dancer.

She did not love him--nay, she was not even captivated by him like
so many others. But, if his heart throbbed faster for any one, it was
Barbara. Yet perhaps his glances strayed almost as frequently to one
other maiden. The velvet gown should now decide whether he