right of still calling herself the bride of the young master of the
house.

Frau Christine had arrived at the right time. Els was beginning to lose
courage. She had found nothing which could aid her to sustain it.

Since Biberli had been deprived of his liberty she had rarely heard from
Wolff, and his invalid father, for whose sake she remained in the house,
seemed to view her with dislike. At first he had tried neither to speak
to nor look at her, but that morning, while raising a refreshing cup to
his parched lips, he had cast at her from the one eye whose lid still
moved a glance whose enmity still haunted her.

Even the priest who visited him several times was by no means kindly
disposed towards her. He belonged to the Dominican order, and was the
confessor of the old countess and Frau Rosalinde. They must have
slandered her sorely to him; and as the order of St. Francis, to which
the Sisters of St. Clare belonged, was a thorn in his flesh, he bore her
a grudge because, as the Abbess Kunigunde's niece, she stood by her and
her convent, and threatened to win the Eysvogel household over to the
Franciscans.

Before the magistrate and his wife left their niece, Herr Berthold
ordered the men and maidservants to stand in separate rows, then, in the
physician's presence, introduced Els to them as the mistress whom they
were to obey, and requested her to choose those whose services she wished
to retain. The rest would be compensated at the Town Hall the next day
for their abrupt dismissal.

Els had never found it harder to say good-by to her relatives; but the
leech Otto remained with her some time, and was soon joined by Conrad
Teufel, thereby rendering it a little easier for her to persist in the
performance of her difficult duty. On the way home to Schweinau the
magistrate and his wife talked together as eagerly as if they had just
met after a long separation. They had gone back to the query how nursing
the wounded criminals would affect Eva, and both hoped that Cordula's
presence and encouragement would strengthen her power of resistance.

But what did this mean?

As they approached the little castle they saw from the road in the
arbour, which was lighted with links, the figure of the countess. She was
sitting in Frau Christine's easy chair, but Eva was nowhere in view. Had
her strength failed, and was Cordula awaiting their return after putting
her more delicate friend to bed? And Boemund Altrosen, who stood opp