rden of debt; and albeit Master
Holzschuher shook his head thereat, and this was no light thing that
Herdegen had undertaken, he departed at once to seek his granduncle.

From him indeed he met with rougher treatment than he had looked for; for
the old man made the diligent stewardship of these trust-moneys a point
of honor, to the end that when he should give an account of them before
the city council it might be seen, by the greatness of the sum, how wise
and well advised he had been in getting increase. What my brother called
"beggars' pence," he said, was a well-earned guerdon which did the dead
clerk's family an honor and was no disgrace; he was indeed minded to pay
one-third of the whole sum at his own charges. As to the moneys left to
us three by our parents, not a penny thereof would he ever part with.
Moreover, Ann's rare charm had touched even my grand-uncle's heart, and
he must have been dull-witted indeed if he had not hit on Herdegen's true
reasons; and these in his eyes would be the worst of the matter,
forasmuch as he was firmly bent on bringing Ursula Tetzel and Herdegen
together so soon as my brother should have won his doctor's hood.

Thus it came to pass that, for the first time, our grand-uncle parted
from his favorite nephew in wrath, and when Herdegen came home with
crimson cheeks and almost beside himself, he confessed to me that for the
present he had not yet been so bold as to tell the old man how deeply he
was pledged to Ann, but in all else had told him the plain truth.

At supper Herdegen scarce ate a morsel, for he could not bring himself to
endure that his betrothed should sink so low as to receive an alms. He
rose from table sullen and grieved, and whereas Cousin Maud could not
endure to see her favorite go to rest in so much distress of mind, she
led him aside, and inasmuch as she had already guessed how matters stood
betwixt him and Ann, not without some fears, she spoke to him kindly, and
declared herself ready to free the Spiesz household from debt without any
help of strangers. To see him and her dear Ann happy she would gladly
make far greater sacrifices, for indeed she did not at all times know
what she might do with her own money.

No later than next morning the matter was privily settled by our notary;
and albeit Master Holzschuher did so dispose things as though the
deceased had left money to pay the debt withal, Ann saw through this,
whereas her beautiful mother did but though