pecial mercy of Heaven
could preserve life.

Dr. Doll, the best physician in Ratisbon, assisted him with the
bandaging, and old Ursel had suddenly recovered her lost strength.

When the maid-servant asked timidly if she should not call Wawerl down
from upstairs, she shrugged her shoulders with a movement which the
one-eyed girl understood, and which signified anything but acceptance of
the proposal.

Yet Barbara would perhaps have rendered most efficacious assistance.

True, she was still sleeping the sound slumber of wearied youth.
Directly after her return from her imperial lover, she had gone to rest
in the little chamber behind the bow-windowed room. It looked out upon
the courtyard, and was protected from the noise of the street. When she
heard sounds in the house, she thought that old Ursel was ill and they
were summoning the doctor. For a moment she felt an impulse to rise
and go downstairs, but she did not like to leave her warm bed, and Wolf
would manage without her. She had always lacked patience to wait upon
the sick, and Ursel had grown so harsh and disagreeable since she
joined the Protestants. Finally, Barbara had brought home exquisite
recollections of her illustrious lover, which must not be clouded by the
suffering of the old woman, whom, besides, she could rarely please.

She did not learn what had happened until she went to mass, and then
it weighed heavily upon her heart that she had not given Wolf her
assistance, especially as she suspected, with strange certainty, that
she herself was connected with this terrible misfortune.

Now--ah, how gladly!--she would have helped Ursel with the nursing, but
she forbade her to enter the sick-room. The most absolute quiet must
reign there. No one was permitted to cross the threshold except herself
and an elderly nun, whom the Clares had sent for the sake of the wounded
man's dead mother. A Dominican also soon came, whom the old woman could
not shut out because he was despatched by the Queen of Hungary, and the
violinist Massi, whom she gladly welcomed as a good friend of her Wolf.
He proved himself loyal, and devoted every leisure hour of the night
to the sufferer. Barbara knocked at the door very often, but Ursel
persisted in refusing admittance. She knew that the girl had rejected
her darling's proposal, and it was a satisfaction to her when, toward
noon, the former told her that she was about to leave the house to go to
Prebrunn.

A cart would convey