et.

Soldiers in the pay of the city, and men-at-arms in the employ of the
Emperor and the princes who had come to attend the Reichstag, were
sitting over their wine in the tavern. From the ceiling hung two crossed
iron triangles, forming a six-pointed star. The tallow candles burning
low in their sockets, which it contained, and some pitch-pans in the
corners, diffused but a dim light through the long apartment.

Master and man found an empty table apart from the other guests, in a
niche midway down the rear wall.

Without heeding the brawling and swearing, the rude songs and disorderly
shouts, the drumming of clenched fists upon the oak tables, the wild
laughter of drunken soldiers, the giggling and screeching of bar-maids,
and the scolding and imperious commands of the host, they proved that the
green bush had not lied, for the wine really did come from a freshly
opened cask just brought up from the cellar. But as the niche was
illumined only by the tiny oil lamp burning beneath the image of the
Virgin, bedizened with flowers and gold and silver tinsel, fastened
against the wall, Biberli asked the weary bar-maid for a brighter light.

When the girl withdrew he sighed heavily, saying: "O my lord, if you only
knew! Even now, when we are again among men and the wine has refreshed
me, I feel as if rats were gnawing at my soul. Conscience, my
lord-conscience!"

"You, too, are usually quite ready to play the elf in the rose-garden of
love," replied Heinz gaily. "Moreover, I shall soon need a T and an S
embroidered on my own doublet, for----Why don't they bring the light?
Another cup of wine, the note, and then with renewed vigour we'll go back
again."

"For God's sake," interrupted Biberli, "do not speak, do not even think,
of the bold deed you suggested! Doesn't it seem like a miracle that not
one of the many Ortlieb and Montfort servants crossed your path? Even
such a child of good luck as yourself can scarcely expect a second one
the same evening. And if there is not, and you go back under the window,
you will be recognised, perhaps even seized, and then--O my lord,
consider this!--then you will bear throughout your life the reproach of
having brought shame and bitter sorrow upon a maiden whom you yourself
know is lovely, devout, and pure. And I, too, who serve you loyally in
your lady mother's behalf, as well as the poor maid who, to pleasure me,
interceded for you with her mistress, will run the risk of our live