ossible.
She was wont once to go about the Castle singing like a bright happy
bird, not shut up in a cage then. He wondered whether she sang now. He
was sure that the nun's dress could not become her as the
bright-coloured bodice and skirt she wore. He wondered, too, whether
she ever went out now, as she was accustomed to do when at home, among
the cottagers in the neighbourhood, with a basket of food and simples,
and distributed them to the sick and needy with gentle words, which won
their hearts, or whether when mendicants came to the gate she stopped
and listened to their tales of suffering, relieved them when she could,
and seldom failed to drop a tear of sympathy for their griefs, which
went like balm to the hearts of many. He opined that the high-born
ladies of the monastery of Nimptsch would scarcely condescend thus to
employ their time. They undoubtedly were brides of Christ, but, as the
lady abbess had once remarked, it was the business of His more humble
spouses to imitate His example in that manner. After the Knight had
been thinking in this style, when he descended into the hall he was
invariably accused of being sullen and out of temper. Not that he had
any fault to find with his good Frau Margaret, or with his daughter
Laneta. They were excellent, pious women in their way. They had
embroidered five altar-cloths, seven robes of silk for the Virgin Mary,
and three for Saint Perpetua, Saint Agatha, and Saint Anne; they had
performed several severe penances for somewhat trifling faults; not a
piece of meat had passed their lips during Lent; and they had fasted on
each Friday and other canonical days throughout the year. Alms they
gave whenever they could get money from the Knight for the purpose, and
doles of bread to the poor with stated regularity; indeed, they felt
sure that they would richly have merited heaven, even with a less amount
of good deeds. Still they were desirous of making security doubly
secure.

When, therefore, in the year 1517, that is, before Ava went to the
convent, Dr John Tetzel, prior of the Dominicans, apostolic commissary
and inquisitor, set up his pulpit and booth in the neighbouring village
for the sale of indulgences, they had been among the crowds who had
flocked to his market. Near him was erected a tall red cross, with the
arms of the Pope suspended from it.

"Indulgences, dear friends," he exclaimed, when he saw a large mob
collected round him, "are the most prec