lf you
caught and chained up. That was how she showed her tusks when Uhlwurm
wheedled her after his wise, and she feigned to be his friend albeit she
thirsted to take him by the throat.--False, I say, false, false was every
word that came to my ears out of that mouth! I know what I know; she is
mad for the sake of one of the Schoppers, and if it be not Kunz then it
is the other, and if it be not with love then it is with hate. Make the
sign of the cross, say I; she would put one or both of them out of the
world, as like as not. For certain it is that she would fain have had me
believe that the elder Junker Schopper had already come to a bad end, and
it is no less certain that she had some foul purpose in hand."

The old man coughed, wiped his brow, and fell back in his seat; we,
indeed, knew not what to think of his discourse, and looked one at the
other with enquiry. Jung Kubbeling was the last man on earth we could
have weened would read hearts. Only Uncle Christian upheld him, and
declared that the future would ere long confirm all that wise old
Jordan's son had foretold from sure signs.

The dispute waxed so loud that even our silent Chaplain put in his word,
to express his consent to the Brunswicker's opinion of Ursula, and to put
forward fresh proofs why, in spite of her statement, Herdegen might yet
be in the land of the living.

At this moment the door flew open, and the housekeeper--who was wont to
be a right sober-witted widow--rushed into the refectory, followed by my
aunt's waiting-maid, both with crimson cheeks and so full of their matter
that they forgot the reverence due to our worshipful guests, and it was
hard at first to learn what had so greatly disturbed them. So soon as
this was clear, Cousin Maud, and Ann and I at her heels, ran off to the
chamber where Master Ulsenius still tarried with the sick traveller,
inasmuch as that if the women were not deceived, the poor fellow was none
other than Eppelein, Herdegen's faithful henchman. The tiringwoman
likewise, a smart young wench, believed that it was he; and her opinion
was worthy to be trusted by reason that she was one of the many maids who
had looked upon Eppelein with favor.

We presently were standing by the lad's bedside; Master Ulsenius had just
done with bandaging his head and body and arms; the poor fellow had been
indeed cruelly handled, and but for the Brunswicker's help he must have
died. That Kubbeling should not have known him, althoug