and his heart is as open to all that is noble and sacred as it is
loyal to his lord and Emperor. If we meet again I shall win him for the
white cross on the black mantle and the battle against the enemies of the
faith."

"But, Eva," interrupted her sister, still under the spell of
astonishment, "such conversation amid the merry music of the pipers!"

"'Wherever three Christians meet, even though they are only laymen, there
is a church,' says Tertullian," Eva answered impressively. "One need not
go to the house of God to talk about the things which ought to be the
highest and dearest to every one; and Heinz Schorlin--I know it from his
own lips--is of the same opinion, for he told me voluntarily that he
would never forget the few hours which we had enjoyed together."

"Indeed!" said her sister thoughtfully. "But whether he does not owe this
pleasure more to the dancing than to the edifying conversation----"

"Certainly not!" replied Eva, very positively. "I can prove it, too; for
later, after he had heard many things about St. Clare, the female
counterpart of Francis, he vowed to make her his patron saint. Or do you
suppose that a knight changes his saints, as he does his doublet and coat
of mail, without having any great and powerful motive? Do you think it
possible that the idle pleasure of the dance led him to so important a
decision?"

"Certainly not. Nothing led him to it except the irresistible zeal of my
devout sister," answered Els, smiling, as she continued to comb her fair
hair. "She spoke with tongues in the ballroom, as the apostles did at
Pentecost, and thus our 'little saint' performed her first miracle: the
conversion of a godless knight during the dancing."

"Call it so, if you choose," replied Eva, her red lips pouting
scornfully, as if she felt raised above such pitiful derision. "How you
hurt, Els! You are pulling all the hair out of my head!"

The object of this rebuke had used the comb with the utmost care, but the
great luxuriance of the long, fair, waving locks had presented many an
impediment, and Eva seemed unusually sensitive that night. Els thought
she knew why, and made no answer to the unjust charge. She knew her
sister; and as she wound the braids about her head, and then, in the
maid's place, hung part of her finery on hooks, and laid part carefully
in the chest, she asked her numerous questions about the dance, but was
vouchsafed only monosyllabic replies.

At last Els knelt befor