his lord. You would have weened that day
that there were none but rich folk in Nuremberg. The maidens' pearl
chaplets gleamed in the sun, and the golden jewels in their fur bonnets;
and what did their mothers care for the heat as they went to and fro to
display the costly fur turbans which crowned their heads as it were with
a glory of fur? How carefully had they dressed the little ones! They
were to see the Emperor and Empress with their own eyes, and their
Majesties might even, by good hap, see them!

Presently we saw the procession of the guilds with their devices and
banners; never had they come forth in such goodly bravery. They were to
form in ranks, on each side of the streets and the highway, a long space
outside the gate.

At last it was nigh the hour when their Majesties should arrive. We
maids had all assembled. Albeit we had agreed all to be clad in white,
Ursula had decked her head-gear with Ostrich feathers of rose-pink and
sky-blue; right costly plumes they were, but over many. Now would she
look into her parchment scroll, and for us she had brief words and few.
The nosegay which her servant in scarlet livery bore in his hand was a
mighty fine one; and Akusch and a gardener's boy presently came up with
the posies culled for Ann and me in the Hallers' garden. We, and many
another maid, clasped our hands in sheer delight, but Ursula cast a
look on them which might, if it could, have robbed the roses and Eastern
lilies of their sweetness.

The Emperor, it was said, would keep to the hour fixed on; then all the
bells began to ring. I knew them all well, and one I liked best of all;
the Benedicta in Saint Sebalds Church, which had been cast by old Master
Grunewald, Master Pernhart's closest friend. Their brazen voices stirred
my soul and heart, and presently the cannon in the citadel and on the
wails rattled out a thundering welcome to the Emperor, rending the
summer air. My heart beat higher and faster. But suddenly I meseemed
that all the bravery of the town and the holiday weed of the folks, the
chiming of bells and the roaring of cannon were not meant to do honor to
the Emperor, but only to my one true love who was coming in his train.

All my thoughts and hopes were set on him. And when the town-pipers
struck up with trumpets and kettledrums, bagpipes and horns, when the
far-away muttering and roll of voices swelled to a roaring outcry and
an uproarious shout, when from every mouth at every window the