lying on his shoulders--when he now greeted us maids
well-nigh gloomily, and with no friendly beck or nod, we knew forthwith
that he must have great and well-founded fears for our concerns. Yea,
and so it was. Presently, when he had held grave discourse with the
High Treasurer and the other chief men of the council, he called to him
Cousin Maud and me, and told us that old Im Hoff's latest dealing was
such, to all seeming, as to take from us all hope that our inheritance
from him should help us to pay the ransom for Herdegen. And on the
morrow his will would be opened and read and we should learn thereby in
what way that old man had cared for those who were nearest and dearest
to him.

Hereupon we had no choice but to bury many a fair hope in the grave; and
notwithstanding this, we might owe no grudge to the departed; for albeit
he had cared first and chiefly for the salvation of his own sinful
soul, he nevertheless had taken thought to provide for my brothers and
likewise for Ann and to keep the pledge he had given. Never in all
his days--and this was confessed even by his enemies, of whom he had
many--had he broken his word, and it was plain to be seen from all his
instructions that the true cause of the deadly blow which had killed him
was the sudden certainty that, by his own act, he had bereft himself of
the power to redeem Herdegen by paying the ransom as he had promised.

And this was my uncle's will:

When he had heard from Ann that my lord Cardinal was minded to hasten
his home-coming and give him extreme unction, and had likewise had
tidings that that high Prelate took great joy in his liberty of dealing
with the Papal treasury for alms, he had bidden to him, that very
evening, Doctor Holzschuher, his notary, and certain sworn witnesses,
and had in all due form cancelled his former will, and in a fine new one
had devised his estate as follows:

Ursula Tetzel was to have the five thousand gulden which he had promised
her when he had unwittingly killed young Tetzel.

To Kunz he bequeathed the great trade both in Nuremberg and Venice, with
all that pertained thereto and certain moneys in capital for carrying
it on; likewise his fine dwelling-house, inasmuch as Herdegen would have
our house for his own. And Kunz should be held bound to carry on the
said trade in the same wise as my grand-uncle had done in his life-time,
and pay out of it two-third parts of the profits to Herdegen and Ann;
and that these two s