retofore,
and we could go about the tasks of the hour with fresh spirit.

If now and again grief cast a darker shade over Ann, still the star of
Hope shone with more comfort for her than for me and Cousin Maud; and it
was but seldom that you might mark that she had any sorrow. Truly there
were many matters besides her every-day duties, and her errands within
and without the house to beguile her of her fears for her lost lover.
First of all there came her stepfather's brother, his Eminence Cardinal
Bernhardi--for to this dignity had his Holiness raised the Bishop--from
Rome to Nuremberg, where he lodged in the house of his fathers. Now this
high prelate was such a man as I never met the like of, and his goodly
face, beardless indeed, but of a manly brown, with its piercing, great
eyes, I weened was as a magic book, having the power to compel others,
even against their will, to put forth all that was in them of grace and
good gifts. Yet was he not grave nor gloomy, but of a happy cheer, and
ready to have his jest with us maidens; only in his jests there would
ever be a covert intent to arouse thought, and whensoever I quitted his
company I deemed I had profited somewhat in my soul.

He likewise vouchsafed the honor of knowing him to the Magister; and
whereas he brought tidings of certain Greek Manuscripts which had been
newly brought into Italy, Master Peter came home as one drunk with wine,
and could not forbear from boasting how he had been honored by having
speech with such a pearl among Humanists.

My lord Cardinal was right well pleased to see his home once more; but
what he loved best in it was Ann. Nay, if it had lain with him, he would
have carried her to Rome with him. But for all that she was fain to look
up to such a man with deep respect, and wait lovingly on his behests,
yet would she not draw back from the duty she had taken upon her to care
for her brothers and sisters, and chiefly for the deaf and dumb boy. And
she deemed likewise that she was as a watchman at his post; it was at
Nuremberg that all was planned for seeking Herdegen, and hither must the
first tidings come that could be had of him. The old grand dame also
was more than ever bound up in her, and so soon as my lord Cardinal
was aware that it would greatly grieve his old mother to lose her he
renounced his desire.

As for me, I was dwelling in a right happy life with Cousin Maud;
never had I been nearer to her heart. So long as she conceived