the love of the greatest monarch on
earth, and, with a sense of pride, had sacrificed her most sacred
possession to his wishes. But how could she retain this feeling if he no
longer showed her that he, too, regarded her worthy of him?

She had defied custom, law, the voice of her own conscience, and she did
not regret that she had done so. On no account would she have changed
what had occurred if only she succeeded in guarding herself from being
humiliated by her lover. To accomplish this, it was worth while to
confront a great danger boldly. It was the greatest of all, the peril of
losing him, for what would she be if he deserted her?

At the bare thought a torturing dread overwhelmed her.

Never had she felt so irresolute, so deeply agitated, and she uttered a
sigh of relief when her father returned from his visit to old Ursel, and
praised the care with which she had selected the articles that filled his
knapsack.

The flushed cheeks which he noticed could scarcely be the result of the
light labour which she had performed for him. With the instinct of
paternal love, he probably perceived that she was agitated, but he had so
little idea of the mental conflict which had taken possession of her soul
that her anxiety pleased him. The separation must be hard for the poor
child, and how could the honour bestowed upon the father fail to affect
the daughter's mind also.

He had hoped to find Wolf in Ursel's room, but he had already been away
some time, and had told the old woman that he was going to the Hiltners,
and should probably remain there a long while, as his schoolmate, Erasmus
Eckhart, the nephew and adopted son of the syndic and his wife, had
returned home from Wittenberg.

To find Wolf and deliver the important message Blomberg would have been
obliged to enter the accursed heretic's house, and, rather than do it, he
protested he would inflict this and that upon himself.

But whom should he trust to represent him? The best plan would be for
Barbara to write to the young knight, informing him of the honour in
store for him.

He himself wielded the sword so much better than the pen.

The obliging daughter put a speedy end to her father's embarrassment by
offering to go in search of Wolf in person; she by no means shunned the
Hiltners. In fact, the doctor's wife had always been especially kind to
her at the Convivium musicum, and her young daughter Martina, during the
months in which she, too, was permitted