He, for his part, would soonest
have found shelter with us; but Cousin Maud refused it, and with good
reason, inasmuch as I had freely told her that never in this world would
I hearken to his suit.

At last it seemed plain that it was Jost Tetzel's part to offer him a
home in his great house; nor did he refuse, by reason that Sir Franz von
Welemisl was a man of birth and wealth, and his Bohemian and Hungarian
kin stood high at the Imperial court.

Next morning, as we drank the stirrup cup, my eyes filled with tears, and
it was with a sad heart that I bid farewell to the woods, to my uncle,
and to Aunt Jacoba, whom I had during my sojourn learnt to love as was
her due. I, like Ann, rode home in a more sober mood than I had come in;
for I was no more a child and an end must ever come to wild mirth.

My new squire Akusch rode behind me, and thus, on a fine November day, we
made our way back to Nuremberg, in good health and spirits. The camels,
the bear, and the monkeys, which had been taken from the vagabonds, were
safely cared for in the Hallergarden, and the rogues themselves had been
hanged God have mercy on their souls!

Ann had had tidings of our home-coming, yet I found her not at our house,
and when I had waited for her till evening, and in vain, I sought her in
her own dwelling. But no sooner had I crossed the threshold of the Venice
house than I was aware that all was not well; inasmuch as that here,
where there were ever half a dozen pairs of little feet hopping up and
down, and no end of music and singing from morning till night, all was
strangely silent. I stood to hearken, and I now perceived that the metal
plate whereon the knocker fell was wrapped in felt.

This foreboded evil, and a vision rose before me of two biers; on one lay
Ann, pale and dumb, and on the other my Cousin Gotz's sweetheart, fair
Gertrude, the copper-smith's daughter. Then I heard steps on the stair
and the vision faded; and I breathed once more, for Ann's grandfather,
the old lute-player Gottlieb Spiesz, came towards me, with deep lines of
sorrow on his kind face and a finger on his lips; and he told me that his
son was lying sick of a violent brain fever, and that Master Ulsenius had
feared the worst since yestereve.

His voice broke with sheer grief; nevertheless his serving lad was
carrying his lute after him, and as he gave me his hand to bid me
good-day he told me that Ann was above tending her father. "And I," quoth
he, and h