le with
Uncle Conrad at the forest lodge, and see what he himself and other of
his friends might do to win his pardon.

When, at length, my lover was about to depart, the storm had burst;
wherefore the Brandenburgers besought him to tarry in the priest's house
till it should be overpast. This he would not do, by reason that his
sweetheart looked for him with a fearful heart, knowing that her brother
was in peril; and forthwith he rode away. Herdegen gave him Eppelein to
attend him, and to bring back to him such matters as he had need of, and
so my beloved set forth for the town, the serving man riding behind him.

It rained indeed and lightened and thundered, yet all was well till,
nigh to Saint Linhart, the hail came down, beating on them heavily. At
that moment a burning flash, with a terrible crash of thunder, reft a
tree asunder by the road-way; his powerful horse was maddened with fear,
stood upright, fell back, and crushed his rider against the trunk of a
poplar tree. Never more did I look on the face of the true lover to whom
I was so closely knit--save only in dreams; and I thank those who held
me back from beholding his broken skull. To this day he rises before me,
a silent vision, and I see him as he was in that hour when he gave me
a parting kiss on our threshold, in the pale gleam of early morning,
solemnly glad and in his festal bravery. Yet they could not hinder
me from pressing my lips to the hands of the beloved body in its
winding-sheet.

It was on a fair and glorious morning--the day of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin--when Hans Haller, Knight, Doctor, and Town councillor,
the eldest of his ancient race, my dear lord and plighted lover, was
carried to the grave. The velvet pall wherewith his parents covered the
bier of their beloved and firstborn son was so costly, that the price
would easily have fed a poor household for years. How many tapers were
burnt for him, how many masses said! Favor and good-will were poured
forth upon me, and wherever I might go I was met with the highest
respect. Even in my own home I was looked upon as one set apart and
dedicated, whose presence brought grace, and who should be spared all
contact with the common and lesser troubles of life. Cousin Maud, who
was ever wont to mount the stair with an echoing tread and a loud voice,
now went about stepping softly in her shoes, and when she called or
spoke it was gently and scarce to be heard.

As for me I neither saw n