by torture, for the Lord gave the innocent strength
to maintain the truth even under the keenest suffering. A peculiar smile
hovered around the lips of the poor tortured fellow, which Herr Berthold
fully understood; for the brave servitor had by no means stuck to the
truth during the pangs inflicted upon him.

"Oh, my dear ones," Herr Pfinzing continued, "a harder heart than mine
would have been touched by what I saw and heard beside that couch of
straw when I was left alone with poor Biberli and his sweetheart. If you
could have seen how Katterle threw herself upon her lover after I had
told her that even the most agonizing torture could not force him to
confirm the charge which had been brought against her! Rarely does one
mortal pour forth such a flood of ardent gratitude upon another; and when
Biberli repeated that his dear master's help would be necessary to
protect her and him from another examination, she offered to go in search
of him at once, notwithstanding the rain and the darkness.

"Then I thought that no messenger could be found who was more familiar
with the course of affairs, and at the same time inspired with more
loving zeal. So, as the waggon in which Biberli had come was still
waiting outside, I spoke to the carter, who had brought a load of wheat
to Nuremberg, and now, on his way home, had ample room under the tilt. I
knew the man, and we soon came to an agreement. From Schwabach, his
brother, who knows every foot of the road, will take her to the imperial
troops who are fighting with the Siebenburgs. I undertook to arrange with
you for her absence. She is now rolling along in the old carter Apel's
waggon towards Schwabach and Sir Heinz Schorlin."

Hitherto the magistrate had maintained his composure, but now his deep
voice lost its firmness, and it was neither the loving words of
appreciation whispered by his wife nor the gratitude which Eva tenderly
displayed that checked his speech, but the remembrance of the parting
between the man so cruelly tortured and his sweetheart.

Biberli had hoped that she would nurse him; the sight of her would have
cheered his eyes and heart, yet he sent her out into darkness and danger.
Gratitude and love, the consciousness that just now she could be of
infinite importance to him and do much for him, bound her to his couch
like so many fetters, yet she had gone, and had even assumed the
appearance of doing so willingly and being confident of success.

How their f