and second stories were
of noble size, and there glittered therein bright and beautiful panes
of Venice glass, whereas the other windows were of small roundels set in
lead.

And while from outside it was a fine, fair house to look upon, I never
hope to behold a warmer or more snug and comfortable dwelling than the
living-rooms within which was our home the winter through; albeit I
found the saloons and chambers in the palaces of the Signori at Venice
loftier and more airy, and greater and grander. Whenever I have been
homesick under the sunny blue sky of Italy, it was for the most part
that I longed after the rich, fresh green foliage and flowing streams
of my own land; but, next to them, after our pleasant chamber in the
Schopper-house, with its warm, green-tiled stove, with the figures of
the Apostles, and the corner window where I had spun so many a hank of
fine yarn, and which was so especially mine own--although I was ever
ready and glad to yield my right to it, when Herdegen required it to sit
in and make love to his sweetheart.

The walls of this fine chamber were hung with Flanders tapestry, and I
can to this day see the pictures which were so skilfully woven into it.
That I loved best, from the time when I was but a small thing, was the
Birth of the Saviour, wherein might be seen the Mother and Child, oxen
and asses, the three Holy Kings from the East--the goodliest of them all
a blackamoor with a great yellow beard flowing down over his robes. On
the other hangings a tournament might be seen; and I mind me to this day
how that, when I was a young child, I would gaze up at the herald who
was blowing the trumpet in fear lest his cheeks should burst, inasmuch
as they were so greatly puffed out and he never ceased blowing so hard.
Between the top of these hangings and the ceiling was a light wood
cornice of oak-timber, on which my father, God rest him, had caused
various posies to be carved of his own devising. You might here read:

"Like a face our life may be
To which love lendeth eyes to see."

Or again,

"The Lord Almighty hides his glorious face
That so we may not cease to seek his grace."

Or else,

"The Lord shall rule my life while I sit still,
And rule it rightly by his righteous will."

And whereas my father had loved mirthful song he had written in another
place:

"If life be likened to a thorny place
Song is t