child, I will say: your piety soars far too high
for me to follow with my heavy body; yet on the ride here I, old sinner
that I am, longed--no offence, sister-in-law abbess!--to warn you against
the convent, for the very reason which keeps you away from your saint.
We'll find the gag to stop the mouths of these accursed slanderers
forever, and then, if you want to enter the convent, they shall not say,
when you take the veil, 'Eva Ortlieb is hiding from her own shame and the
tricks with which we frightened her out of the world.' No! All Nuremberg
shall join in the hosanna!"

Then taking the goblet which Els had just filled, he drained it with
great satisfaction, and rushing off, called back to the sisters: "I'll
soon see you again, you brave little Es. My wife is coming to talk over
the matter with you. Don't let that worthless candle-dealer's children
leave the house till their time is up. If you wish to visit your father
in the watch-tower there will be no difficulty. I'll tell the warder.
Only the drawbridge will be raised after sunset. You can provide for his
bodily needs, too, Els. We cannot release him yet; the law must take its
course."

At the door he stopped again and called back into the room: "We can't be
sure. If Frau Vorkler and the tailor's friends make an outcry and molest
you, send at once to the Town Hall. I'll keep my eyes open and give the
necessary orders."

A few minutes after he trotted through the Frauenthor on his clumsy
stallion.

CHAPTER VIII.

The watch-tower was in the northern part of the city, in the corn
magazine of the fortress, and the whole width of Nuremberg must be
traversed to reach it. Even before Herr Pfinzing had left the house the
sisters determined to go to their father, and the abbess approved the
plan. She invited the girls to spend the night at the convent, if they
found the deserted house too lonely, but they did not promise to do so.

Countess Cordula, who was on friendly terms with Eva, also emptied the
vials of her wrath with all the impetuosity of her nature upon Sir Seitz
Siebenburg and the credulity and malice of the people. From the beginning
she had been firmly convinced that the "Mustache," as she now called the
knight in a tone of the most intense aversion, had contrived this base
conspiracy, and her opinion was strengthened by Biberli. Now she would
gladly have torn herself into pieces to mitigate the sisters' hard lot.
She wanted to accompany them t