cry out by
those letters, how that she longed for the moment when she might again
stroke his flowing locks and press his dear faithful hand to her lips as
his dutiful maid, my heart beat with fresh fears. He held him more
upright, to be sure, and his countenance was less pale and hollow than it
had been; but nevermore might he be a strong man. His light eyes were
deep in their sockets, his hair was rarer on his head, and there were
threads of silver among the gold. Ah, and those luckless hands! It was by
reason of his hands--albeit you will doubtless smile at the
confession--that I moved him to refrain his longing, even when we were so
near our journey's end as Augsburg, and to grant me another day's delay,
inasmuch as that I cared most that he should at first hide them in gloves
from the womankind at home. And in all the great town was there not a
pair to be and that would fit him, and it would take a whole day to make
him a pair to his measure. Thus were we fain to tarry, and whereas we had
in Augsburg, among other good friends, a faithful ally in trading matters
at the Venice Fondaco, Master Sigismund Gossenprot, we lodged in his
dwelling, which was one of the finest that fine city; and, as good-hap
ruled it, he had, on the very eve of that day, come home from Venice.

He and his worthy wife had known Herdegen of old, and I was cut to the
heart to see how the sight of him grieved them both. Nay, and the fair
young daughter of the house ne'er cast an eye on the stranger guest,
whose presence had been wont to stir every maiden's heart to beat faster.
Howbeit, here again I found comfort when I marked at supper that the
sweet damsel no longer heeded my simple person, whereas she had at first
gazed at me with favor, but hearkened with glowing cheeks to Herdegen's
discourse. At first, to be sure, this was anything rather than gay,
inasmuch as Master Gossenprot was full of tidings from Venice, and of Sir
Franz's latter end, which, indeed, was enough to sadden the most
mirthful.

When the Bohemian had come to Venice he had lodged at a tavern, by name
"The Mirror," and there mine host had deemed that he was but a gloomy and
silent guest. And it fell that one day the city was full of a dreadful
uproar, whereas it was rumored that in the afternoon, at the hour when
Dame Ursula Giustiniani was wont to fare forth in her gondola, a strange
man clad in black had leaped into it from his own and, before the
serving-men could lay han