nge.

Yet this view of the matter was opposed by many-nay, when the
conversation turned upon these subjects, Herr Berthold Vorchtel, perhaps
the richest and most distinguished man in Nuremberg, who rented the
imperial taxes, made comments from which, had it not been so difficult
to believe, people might have inferred that Casper Eysvogel was indebted
to Ernst Ortlieb rather than the latter to him.

Yet the cautious, prudent man never explained the foundation of his
opinion, for he very rarely mentioned either of the two firms; yet prior
to the battle of Marchfield he had believed that his own daughter Ursula
and Wolff Eysvogel would sooner or later wed. Herr Casper, the young
man's father, had strengthened this expectation. He himself and his
wife esteemed Wolff, and his "Ursel" had shown plainly enough that she
preferred him to the other friends of her elder brother Ulrich.

When he returned home the two met like brother and sister, and the
parents of Ursula Vorchtel had expected Wolff's proposal until the day
on which the wreaths were bestowed had made them poorer by a favourite
wish and destroyed the fairest hope of their daughter Ursula.

The worthy merchant, it is true, deemed love a beautiful thing, but in
Nuremberg it was the parents who chose wives and husbands for their sons
and daughters; yet, after marriage, love took possession of the newly
wedded pair. A transgression of this ancient custom was very rare,
and even though Wolff's heart was fired with love for Els Ortlieb, his
father, Herr Vorchtel thought, should have refused his consent to the
betrothal, especially as he had already treated Ursel as his future
daughter. Some compulsion must have been imposed upon him when he
permitted his son to choose a wife other than the one selected.

But what could render one merchant dependent upon another except
business obligations?--and Berthold Vorchtel was sharp-sighted. He knew
the heavy draft which Herr Casper had made upon the confidence reposed
in the old firm, and thought he had perceived that the great splendour
displayed by the women of the Eysvogel family, the liberality with which
Herr Casper had aided his impoverished noble relatives, and the lavish
expenditure of his son-in-law, the debt-laden Sir Seitz Siebenburg, drew
too heavily upon the revenues of the ancient house.

Even now Casper Eysvogel's whole conduct proved how unwelcome was his
son's choice. To him, Ursula's father, he still intimated