thought, and whensoever I quitted his
company I deemed I had profited somewhat in my soul.

He likewise vouchsafed the honor of knowing him to the Magister; and
whereas he brought tidings of certain Greek Manuscripts which had been
newly brought into Italy, Master Peter came home as one drunk with wine,
and could not forbear from boasting how he had been honored by having
speech with such a pearl among Humanists.

My lord Cardinal was right well pleased to see his home once more; but
what he loved best in it was Ann. Nay, if it had lain with him, he would
have carried her to Rome with him. But for all that she was fain to look
up to such a man with deep respect, and wait lovingly on his behests, yet
would she not draw back from the duty she had taken upon her to care for
her brothers and sisters, and chiefly for the deaf and dumb boy. And she
deemed likewise that she was as a watchman at his post; it was at
Nuremberg that all was planned for seeking Herdegen, and hither must the
first tidings come that could be had of him. The old grand dame also was
more than ever bound up in her, and so soon as my lord Cardinal was aware
that it would greatly grieve his old mother to lose her he renounced his
desire.

As for me, I was dwelling in a right happy life with Cousin Maud; never
had I been nearer to her heart. So long as she conceived that her
comforting could little remedy my woe, she had left me to myself; and as
soon as I was fain to use my hands again, and sing a snatch as I went up
and down the house, meseemed her old love bloomed forth with double
strength. Meseemed I could but show her my thankfulness, and my ear and
heart were at all times open when she was moved to talk of her
best-beloved Herdegen, and reveal to me all the wondrous adventures he
had gone through in her imagination. And this befell most evenings, from
the hour when we unclothed till long after we had gone to rest; and I was
fain to keep my eyes open while, for the twentieth time, she would
expound to me her far-fetched visions: that the Mamelukes of Egypt, who
were all slaves and whose Sultan was chosen from among themselves, had of
a surety set Herdegen on the throne, seeing him to be the goodliest and
noblest of them all. And perchance he would not have refused this honor
if he might thereby turn them from their heathenness and make of them
good Christians. Nay, nor was it hard for her to fancy Ann arrayed in
silk and gems as a Sultana. And then