name isn't Biberli if your lady mother at home would not be more than
happy were I to inform her that the Countess von Montfort and the darling
of her heart, which you are:

"The name of Montfort and what goes with it," Heinz interrupted, "would
surely please those at home. But the rest! Where could a girl be found
who, setting aside Cordula's kind heart, would be so great a contrast to
my mother in every respect?"

"Stormy mornings merge into quiet days," said the servant. "Everything
depends, my lord, upon the heart of which you speak so slightingly--the
heart and, even above that, upon the blood. 'Help is needed there,' cried
the kind heart just now, and then the blood did its 'devoir'. The act
followed the desire as the sound follows the blow of the hammer, the
thunder the flash of lightning. Well for the castle that is ruled by such
a mistress! I am only the servant, and respect commands me to curb my
tongue; but to-day I had news from home through the Provost Werner, of
Lucerne, whom I knew at Stansstadt. I meant to tell you of it over the
wine at the Thirsty Troopers, but that accursed note and the misfortune
which followed prevented. It will not make either of us more cheerful,
but whoever is ordered by the leech to drink gall and wormwood does
wisely to swallow the dose at one gulp. Do you wish to empty the cup
now?"

The knight nodded assent, and Biberli went on. "Home affairs are not
going as they ought. Though your uncle's hair is already grey, the
knightly blood in his veins makes him grasp the sword too quickly. The
quarrel about the bridge-toll has broken out again more violently than
ever. The townsfolk drove off our cattle as security and, by way of
punishment, your uncle seized the goods of their merchants, and they came
to blows. True, the Schorlin retainers forced back the men from town with
bloody heads, but if the feud lasts much longer we cannot hold out, for
the others have the money, and since the war cry has sounded less
frequently there has been no lack of men at arms who will serve any one
who pays. Besides, the townsfolk can appeal to the treaty of peace, and
if your uncle continues to seize the merchant's wares they will apply to
the imperial magistrate, and then:

"Then," cried Heinz eagerly, "then the time will have come for me to
leave the court and return home to look after my rights."

"A single arm, no matter how strong it may be, can avail nothing there,
my lord," Biberli protes