t at Nuremberg. Ursula, to be
sure, was no subject now of his gracious Majesty's; yet would he,
Christian Pfinzing, know no rest till the Emperor had compelled her
father, Jost Tetzel, to cut off from her who had married an Italian, the
possessions she counted on from a German city.

Thereupon Pernhart had spoken in calm but weighty words, threatening that
his brother, the Cardinal, would visit the heaviest wrath of the Pope on
the old man and his daughter, unless he were ready and willing to make
amends and atonement for his child's accursed sin, whereby a Christian
man had fallen into the hands of the godless heathen. And when at last
they had conquered the churlish old man's hardness of heart and
stiff-necked malice, they drove him to a strange bargain. Old Tetzel was
steadfast in his intention to give up as little as he might of his
daughter's inheritance, while his tormentors raised their demands, and
claimed a hundred gulden and a hundred gulden more, up to many hundreds,
which Tetzel was forced to yield; till at last he gave his bond, signed
and sealed, to renounce all his daughter's estate, and to add thereto two
thousand gulden of his own moneys, and to hold the sum in readiness to
ransom Herdegen.

Thus, at one stroke, all our fears touching the moneys were at an end;
and when the notary showed us the parchment roll on which each one had
set down the sum he would give, we were struck dumb; and when we reckoned
it all together, the sum was far greater than that which had cost us so
many sleepless nights.

By this time we scarce could read for tears, and our souls were so moved
to thankfulness as we marked the large sums set forth against the names
of the noble families and of the convent treasurers, that we had never
felt so great a love for our good city and the dear, staunch friends who
dwelt therein. Nay, and many simple folk had promised to pay somewhat of
their modest store; and although my soul overflowed with thankful joy
over the great sums to be given by our kith and kin, I rejoiced no less
over the five pounds of farthings promised by a cordwainer, whom we had
holpen some years ago when he had been sick and in debt.

And then was there hearty embracing and kissing, and the men, as was
befitting after a deed so well done, craved to drink. Cousin Maud
hastened with all zeal to do honor to friends and guests so dear; but as
she reached the door she stood still as in doubt, and signed to me so
that I