ly
bliss. Yet divine love was said to be so much more rapturous, and how
much longer it endured!

And she? Did not the holy expression of her eyes and the aspiration of
her own soul show that she would understand him, approve his sacrifice,
imitate it, and exchange earthly for heavenly love? Neither could
renounce it without inflicting deep wounds on the heart, but every drop
of blood which gushed from them, the Minorite said, would add new and
heavy weight to their claim to eternal salvation.

Ay, Heinz would try to resign Eva! But when he yielded to the impulse to
read Wolff's letter again he felt like a dethroned prince whom some
stranger, ignorant of his misfortune, praises for his mighty power.

The visions of the future which the greyhaired monk conjured up, all that
he told hint of his own regeneration, transformation, and the happiness
which he would find as a disciple of St. Francis in poverty, liberty, and
the silent struggle for eternal bliss, everything which he described with
fervid eloquence, increased the tumult in the young knight's deeply
agitated soul.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

Deem every hour that he was permitted to breathe as a gift

IN THE FIRE OF THE FORGE

A ROMANCE OF OLD NUREMBERG

By Georg Ebers

Volume 5.

IN THE FIRE OF THE FORGE--PART II.

CHAPTER I.

The vesper bells had already died away, yet Heinz was still listening
eagerly to the aged Minorite, who was now relating the story of St.
Francis, his breach with everything that he loved, and the sorrowful
commencement of his life. The monk could have desired no more attentive
auditor. Only the young knight often looked out of the window in search
of Biberli, who had not yet returned.

The latter had gone to the Ortlieb mansion with Katterle.

The runaway maid, whose disappearance, at old Martsche's earnest request,
had already been "cried" in the city, had no cause to complain of her
reception; for the housekeeper and the other servants, who knew nothing
of her guilt, greeted her as a favourite companion whom they had greatly
missed, and Biberli had taken care that she was provided with answers to
the questions of the inquisitive. The story which he had invented began
with the false report that a fire had broken out in the fortress. This
had startled Katterle, and attracted her to the citadel to aid her
countrywoman and her little daughter. Then came the statement that she
spent the night