ddened my soul, yet it would hinder me
from looking Gotz freely in the face if by good hap I should meet him.

Then she went on to tell me in full all that had befallen my cousin
until he had gone forth to wander. When they had parted in wrath, he had
written to her from the town to say that if she were steadfast in her
displeasure he should seek a new home for himself and his sweetheart in
a far country; and she had sent him a letter to tell him that her arms
were ever open to receive him, but that rather than suffer the only son
and heir of the old and noble race of Waldstromer to throw himself away
on a craftsman's daughter, she would never more set eyes on him whom she
loved with all her heart. Never more, and she swore it by the Saviour's
wounds with the crucifix in her hand, should his parents' doors be
opened to him unless he gave up the coppersmith's daughter and besought
his mother's pardon.

And now the sick old woman bewailed her stern hardness and her
over-hasty oath with bitter tears; Gotz had been faithful to his
Gertrude in despite of her letter, and when, three years later, the
tidings reached him that his sweetheart had pined away for grief and
longing, and departed this life with his name on her lips, he had
written in the wild anguish of his young soul that, now Gertrude was
dead, he had nought more to crave of his parents; and that whereas his
mother had sworn with her hand on the image of the Saviour never to open
her doors to him till he had renounced his sweet, pure love, he now
made an oath not less solemn and binding, by the image of the Crucified
Christ, that he would never turn homewards till she bid him thither
of her own free will, and owned that she repented her of that innocent
maid's early death, whereas there was not her like among all the noble
maidens of Nuremberg, whatever their names might be.

This letter I read myself, and I plainly saw that these twain had sadly
marred their best joy in life by over-hasty ire. Albeit, I knew full
well how stubborn a spirit was Aunt Jacoba's, I nevertheless strove to
move her to send a letter to her son bidding him home; yet she would
not, though she bewailed herself sorely.

"Only one thing of those he requires of me can I in all truth grant
him," quoth she. "If you find him, you may tell him that his mother
sends her fondest blessing, and assure him of my heart's deepest
devotion; nay, and let him understand that I am pining with longing for