and young nudged each
other at sight of him. The spirit of vanity in his soul laughed in
delight, and the lad soon knew the way to the large Venetian mirror,
which was carefully kept in the hall of state. This wonderful glass
showed Ulrich for the first time his whole figure and the image which
looked back at him from the crystal, flattered and pleased him.

But, more than aught else, he enjoyed watching the artist's hand and eye
during the sittings. Poor Father Lukas in the monastery must hide his
head before this master. He seemed to actually grow while engaged in his
work, his shoulders, which he usually liked to carry stooping forward,
straightened, the broad, manly breast arched higher, and the kindly eyes
grew stern, nay sometimes wore a terrible expression.

Although little was said during the sittings, they were always too short
for the boy. He did not stir, for it always seemed to him as if any
movement would destroy the sacred act he witnessed, and when, in the
pauses, he looked at the canvas and saw how swiftly and steadily the
work progressed, he felt as if before his own eyes, he was being born
again to a nobler existence. In the wassail-hall hung the portrait of
a young Prince of Navarre, whose life had been saved in the chase by
a Rappoltstein. Ulrich, attired in the count's clothes, looked exactly
like him. The jester had been the first to perceive this strange
circumstance. Every one, even Moor, agreed with him, and so it happened
that Pellicanus henceforth called his young friend the Navarrete. The
name pleased the boy. Everything here pleased him, and he was full of
happiness; only often at night he could not help grieving because, while
his father was dead, he enjoyed such an overflowing abundance of good
things, and because he had lost his mother, Ruth, and all who had loved
him.

CHAPTER XIII.

Ulrich was obliged to share the jester's sleeping-room, and as
Pellicanus shrank from getting out of bed, while suffering from
night-sweats, and often needed something, he roused Ulrich from his
sleep, and the latter was always ready to assist him. This happened more
frequently as they continued their journey, and the poor little man's
illness increased.

The count had furnished Ulrich with a spirited young horse, that
shortened the road for him by its tricks and capers. But the jester, who
became more and more attached to the boy, also did his utmost to keep
the feeling of happiness alive in hi