.

Which of us twain first fell asleep I wist not; when I woke in the
morning Ann had already quitted the chamber; and while Susan braided
my hair, all I had been planning in the night grew plainer to me, and I
went forth and down stairs full of a great purpose which made my heart
beat the faster. When I entered the ball, behold, I saw the same thing,
albeit I was now awake, as I had seen yestermorn in my half-sleep. Yet
was it not Uhlwurm, but Kubbeling, to whom Ann was paying court. As he
stood facing her, she looked him trustfully in the eyes, and held his
great hand in hers; nay, and when she saw me she did not let it go,
but cried out in a clear and thankful voice: "Then so it is, Father
Seyfried; and if you do as I beseech you, all will come to a good end
and you will remember so good a deed with great joy all your life long."

"As to 'great joy' I know not," replied he. "For if I be not the veriest
fool in all the land from Venice to Iceland, my name is not Kubbeling.
I scarce know myself! Howbeit, let that pass: I stand by my word, albeit
the pains I shall endure in the winter journey."

"The Saints will preserve you on so pious an errand," Ann declared. "And
if they should nevertheless come upon you, dear Father, I will tend you
as your own daughter would. And now again your hand, and a thousand,
thousand thanks."

Whereupon Kubbeling, with a melancholy growl, and yet a smile on his
face, held forth his hand, and Ann held it fast and cried to me: "You
are witness, Margery, that he has promised to do my will. Oh, Margery, I
could fly for gladness!"

And verily meseemed as though the wings had grown, and her eyes sparkled
right joyfully and thankfully. And I had discerned from her very first
words whereunto she had beguiled Kubbeling; and verily to me it was a
marvel, inasmuch as I myself had imagined the self-same thing in the
watches of the night, and while my hair was doing: namely, to beseech
Kubbeling to be my fellow and keeper on a voyage to Egypt. Who but he
knew the way so well? Howbeit, Ann had prevented me, and now, whereas I
heard the sound of voices on the stair, I yet found time to cry to her:
"We go together, Ann; that is a settled matter!"

Hereupon she looked at me, at first in amazement and then with a
blissful consenting smile, and said "You had imagined the same thing, I
know. Yes, Margery, we will go."

The others now trooped in, and I had no more time but hastily to clasp
her hand. Ho