ll of the mystery which had at first weighed on our
souls.

Verily the worthy lady found it no light matter to look kindly on this
early and ill-matched betrothal; yet had she not the heart, nor the
power, to make any resistance. When two young folks who are dear to her
are brimfull of high happiness, the woman who would turn them out of that
Garden of Eden and spoil their present bliss with warnings of future woe
must be of another heart and mind than Cousin Maud. She indeed foresaw
grief to come in many an hour of mistrust by day and many a sleepless
night, more especially by reason of her awe and dread of my grand-uncle;
and indeed, she herself was not bereft of the old pride of race which
dwells in every Nuremberger who is born under a knight's coat of arms.
That Ann was poor she held of no account; but that she was not of noble
birth was indeed a grief and filled her with doubts. But then, when her
best-beloved Herdegen's eyes shone so brightly, and she saw Ann cling to
him with maidenly rapture, vexation and care were no more.

If I had sung a loud hymn of praise in the woods over their spring and
autumn beauty--and verily it had welled up from my heart--I was ready to
think winter in the town no less gladsome, in especial under the shelter
of a home so warm and well built as our old Schopper-hof.

In the last century, when, at the time of the Emperor Carolus--[Charles
IV., 1348]--coming to the throne, the guilds, under the leadership of the
Gaisbarts and Pfauentritts, had risen against the noble families and the
worshipful council, they accused the elders of keeping house not as
beseemed plain citizens but after the manner of princes; and they were
not far wrong, for indeed I have heard tell that when certain merchants
from Scandinavia came to our city, they said that the dwelling of a
Nuremberg noble was a match in every way for their king's palace.

[Gaisbart (goat's beard) and Pfauentritt (peacock-strut), were
nicknames given to the leaders of the guilds who rebelled against
the patrician families in Nuremberg, from whom alone the aldermen or
town-council could be elected. This patrician class originated in
1198 under the Emperor Henry IV., who ennobled 38 families of the
citizens. They were in some sort comparable with the families
belonging to the Signoria at Venice, from whom, in the same way, the
great council was chosen.]

As touching our house, it was four stories high, and wi