that he might read them at leisure. He was not prepared just then
to enter into a controversy with Father Nicholas, and he wished for
quiet. He knew that his good wife and his daughter Laneta would take
the part of the priest, and he had an idea that when Eric came back from
Wittemburg he would prove a valuable ally on his side. Now and then,
however, as he read on, he felt very much inclined to rush down and
proclaim not only to his wife and the priest, but to the whole household
and neighbourhood, the wonderful truths here so clearly proved and
explained. But though he rose from his seat with the book in his hand
and opened the door, he went back and sat down again. Though brave as a
lion in war, and often impetuous at home, he was still timid in his own
household. His womenkind and Father Nicholas had found out his weak
point, and knew where to assail him.

The knight had always wished to act rightly according to his
convictions, consequently when some few years before this time--that is,
a short time before he paid the visit to Worms, where he first heard Dr
Luther speak--he had been urged by Father Nicholas and his wife to allow
his youngest daughter Ava, to become, as they called it, the spouse of
Christ, or, in other words, to enter a nunnery; she raising no
objection, he consented, believing, as he had been assured, that her
eternal happiness would thus be secured, and that she would be better
provided for than becoming the wife of one of the rough, fierce,
warlike, beer-drinking knights, who alone were likely to seek her hand.
The knight, however, often sighed as he thought of his fair blooming
little Ava shut up in the monastery of Nimptsch, and wished to have her
back again to sing and talk to him and to cheer his heart with her
bright presence, but he dared not to express his feelings to any of his
family, as he knew that they would be considered rank heresy. Often he
would have liked to write to his dear child, but, in the first place, he
was but a poor scribe, and in the second, he guessed that any epistle he
might send would be opened by the lady superior, and its contents
scanned before delivery, and adverse comments made, if it was not
withheld altogether. So little Ava stayed on at the convent,
embroidering priests' dresses and other ornaments for churches, and
attending mass. Whether or not she ever felt like a wild bird shut up
in a cage, wishing to be free, he could not say; he thought it p