is back, as though he were ashamed of them; whereas those
strong hands of his with their costly rings he had ever been wont to deem
a grace, and now of a truth they were grown coarse and as red as a brick,
and were like to those of a hewer in the woods. And whereas men are apt
often to pay less heed to another's face than to the shape and state of
his hands, I ever mind me of Herdegen's as I saw them on that day, and a
star and a crescent were branded in blue on the back of his right, so
that all men must see it.

Likewise his deep breast had lost some of its great strength, and he held
himself less stately than of old. Meseemed as though the knight had laid
some part of his sickness upon him, inasmuch that many a time he coughed
much. Likewise the long golden hair, which had flowed in rich abundance
down over his shoulders, had been shorn away after the manner of the
unbelievers, and this gave to his well-favored face a narrow and right
strange appearance. Only the shape of his countenance and his eyes were
what they had ever been; nay, meseemed that his eyes had a brighter and
moister light in them than of yore.

One thing alone was a comfort to me, and that was that my heart beat with
more pitiful and faithful love for him than ever. And when evening fell,
as we brethren sat together with Gotz and Master Knorr and Akusch,
drinking our wine, which only Akusch would not touch, this comforting
assurance waxed strong within me, by reason that Herdegen's voice was as
sweet as of old, both in speech and in song; and when he set forth all
the adventures and sufferings he had gone through in these last past
years I was fain to listen, and even so was Gotz; and first he drew tears
from our eyes and presently made us laugh right mirthfully. And what had
he not gone through?

I betook me to bed that night in hope and contentment; howbeit, on the
morrow Master Knorr told me privily that whereas my brother's lungs had
never been of the strongest, if now, in the cold December season, he
should fare north of the Alps after such long sojourning under a warmer
sky, it could not fail to do him a serious mischief, as it likewise would
to Sir Franz. Thus it must be my part to delay our homecoming; and albeit
the leech's tidings made me heavy at heart I was fain to yield, inasmuch
as that Herdegen might not appear in the presence of his sweetheart in
his present guise.

To this end we made him to believe that he might not come home in