wbeit, when most of our guests had gone into the refectory,
where the morning meal was by this time steaming on the board, none were
left with us save Cousin Maud and Uncle Conrad and Uncle Christian; and
Uncle Conrad enquired of the Brunswicker whether he purposed indeed to
set forth this day, and the man answered No, if so be that his lordship
the grand-forester would grant him shelter yet awhile, and consent to a
plan to which he had been just now beguiled.

And my uncle gave him his hand, and said the longer he might stay the
better. And then he went on to ask with some curiosity what that plan
might be. Howbeit, I took upon me to speak, and I told him in few words
how that we had been thinking whom we might best send forth to help my
brethren, and that, with the morning sun, light had dawned on our minds,
and that whereas we had found a faithful and experienced companion, it
was our firm intent....

Here Cousin Maud broke in, having come close to me with open ears,
crying aloud in terror: "What?" Howbeit I looked her in the eyes and
went on:

"When our mind is set, Cousin, the thing will be done, of that you and
all may make certain--that stands as sure as the castle on the rock.
And be it known to you all, with all due respect, that this time I will
suffer none to cross my path. Once for all, I, Margery, and Ann with
me, are going forth to the land of Egypt in Kubbeling's company, and to
Cairo itself!"

The worthy old woman gave a scream, and while the Brunswicker shut
the dining-hall door, that we might not be heard, she broke out, with
glowing eyes, beside herself with wrath: "Verily and indeed! So that is
your purpose! Thanks be to the Virgin, to say and to do are not one and
the same, far from it. Do you conceive that you hold all love for those
two youths yonder in sole fief or lease? As though others were not every
whit as ready as you to give their best to save them. A head that runs
at a wall cracks its skull! Maids should never touch matters which do
not beseem them! What next for a skittle-witted fancy!--That it should
have come into the brain of a Schopper is no marvel, but Ann, prudent
Ann! Would any man have dreamed of such a thing in our young days,
Master Cousin? There they stand, two well born Nuremberg damsels, who
have never been suffered to go next door alone after Ave Maria! And they
are fain to cross the seas to a dark outlandish place, into the very
jaws of the dreadful Heathen who butche