from the prayer he murmured wherein we could hear my brothers' names,
albeit land and seas parted them from him. And after that, for a space
all were silent, and he lay gazing at the bone crucifix on the wall; and
at last he besought Dame Giovanna to lift him somewhat higher, and he
drank again a little more, and said right softly as he cast a loving
glance upon us each in turn: "I have looked into my own heart and gazed
on Him on the Cross! That is our ensample! And I depart joyfully--and if
you would know what maketh death so easy to me; it is that I have needed
but little, and kept little for myself; and whereas I was wont to give
away what other men save, I came to know of a certainty that all the good
we do to others is the best we can do for ourselves. It is that, it is
that!"

And he stretched forth his hand, and when we had all kissed it, he cried
out: "My God, I now can say I thank Thee! What to-morrow may bring, Thou
alone canst know! Margery, Ann, my poor children! May the bright day of
meeting dawn for you! May Heaven in mercy protect the youths beyond seas!
Here, close at hand is Mistress Kreutzer with her orphan children, you
know them--you and Master Peter--they are in sore need of help--and the
good we do to others. But come close to me, come all of you--and the
little ones likewise."

And we fell upon our knees by the bed, and he spread forth his hands and
said in a clear voice: "The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord lift up
his countenance upon you and be merciful unto you."

And then he sighed deeply, and his hands fell, and Dame Giovanna closed
his eyes.

Yea! Death had come easy to this simple soul. Never knew I any man who
gave so much out of a little, and never have I seen a happier or more
peaceful face on a death-bed.

My grand-uncle's burial was grand and magnificent. All the town-council,
and many of the nobles joined in the funeral-train. Bells tolling and
priests chanting, crape, tapers, incense and the rest of it--we had more
than enough of them all. Only one thing was lacking, namely, tears--not
those of the hirelings who attended it, but such as fall in silence from
a sorrowing eye.

In the Im Hoffs' great house all was silence till the burying was done;
up in the tower, where old Adam Heyden lay asleep, the bells rang out as
they did every day, for wedding and christening, for mass and mourning;
yet by the low door which led to the narrow turret-stair I saw a crowd of
little