m
he should reveal the matter; and forthwith he bid us farewell with a
courtly reverence. But my lover would not let him thus depart, and
asked him, calmly, what was the interpretation of this speech, whereupon
Rochow spoke for his young fellow-countryman, and enquired, in the
high-handed and lordly tone which ever marked his voice and manner,
whether here, in the native land of Nuremberg playthings, love and faith
were accounted of as toys.

Junker Henning however, broke in, and said, casting a warning look at
me: "Far be it from him to break friendship with an honorable gentleman,
such as my Hans, before having an explanation." And he held out his hand
somewhat more readily than before, bowed sweetly to me and led away his
cousin.

At last we got out with the Haller parents and Cousin Maud. The old
folks got into litters, and the serving men were lighting the way before
me to mine, when my lover stayed me, saying: "It is already grey in the
East. Never before were we together so well betimes, Margery, and happy
hours are few. If thou'rt not too weary, let us walk home together in
this fresh morning air."

I was right well-content and we went gently forward, I clinging to him
closely. He felt how high my heart was beating and, when he asked me
whether it was for love that it beat so fast, I confessed in truth that,
whereas the Brandenburgers outdid all other knights in the kingdom, in
defiance and hotheadedness, I feared lest there should be a passage
of arms betwixt Junker Henning and my brother Herdegen. But Hans made
answer that, if it were the Brandenburgers intent to challenge him, he
could not hinder it; yet be trowed it would be to their own damage; that
Herdegen had scarce found his match at the Paris school of arms; and at
least should we not mar this sweet morning walk by such fears.

And he held me closer to him, and while we slowly wandered on he poured
forth his whole heart to me, and confessed that through all his lonely
life in foreign lands he had ever lacked a great matter; that even with
the gayety of his favorite comrades, even when his best diligence had
been crowned with great issues, yet had he never had full joy in life.
Nor was it till my love had made him a complete and truly happy man that
he had felt, as it were, whole, inasmuch as that alone had stilled the
strange craving which till then had made his heart sick.

Yea, and I could tell him that it had been the same with me; and as for