ndured so much in my brother's service, ere the worst
should befall him.

And this, with no small pains, I was able to do; and when I was aware
that he had suffered no mortal hurt, I clambered up on to the road again,
and then once more my heart began to beat sadly. Ann and Herdegen had met
again, and once for all. How was she able to refrain herself as she
beheld the changed countenance of her lover, and to be mistress of her
horror and dismay?

Now, when I had climbed the bank with some pains, in my heavy
riding-boots, I saw that the waggon-men had harnessed the six brown
horses to their cart once more, and behind them, on the skirt of the
wood, were the pair that I sought; and as I went nearer to them Ann had
drawn the glove, for which we had tarried so long in Augsburg, from off
her lover's battered right hand, and was gazing at it lovingly, with no
sign of horror, but with tears in her eyes; and she cried as she kissed
it again and again: "Oh, that poor, dear, beloved hand, how cruelly it
has suffered, how hard it must have tolled! And that? That is where the
blue brand-mark was set? But it is almost gone. And it is in my color,
blue, our favorite sapphire-blue!" And she pointed joyously to her goodly
array, and she confessed that it was for him alone, that he might see
from afar how well she loved and honored him, that she had arrayed
herself in the color of fidelity in which he had ever best loved to see
her. And he clasped her to him, and when she kissed his thin, streaked
hair, and spoke of those dear flowing curls, to which love and care would
restore their beauty, I swore a solemn vow before God that I would never
look on the union of Herdegen and Ann but with thanksgiving and without
envy, and ever do all that in me lay for those two and for their welfare.

Of the glad meeting with our other kith and kin I will say nought. As to
Cousin Maud, she had remained at home to welcome her darling at the gate
of the Schopperhof, which she had decked forth bravely. Yea, her warm
heart beat more fondly for him than for us. She could not wholly conceal
her dismay at seeing him so changed. She would stroke him from time to
time with a cherishing hand, yet she went about him as though there were
somewhat in him of which she was afeard.

Howbeit, in the evening it was with her as it had been with me in the
land of Egypt, and she found him again for whom her heart yearned so
faithfully. Now, that which had seemed lacking