a, mildly weeping, and, bending down over
the dead body, she softly kissed his pale lips.

'No,' cried Alf, with angry grief, 'this sentence was not pronounced
and executed in accordance with thy will, Spirit of Mercy!'

CHAPTER II.

The next morning Alf stepped into the apartment of his kinsman, Gerhard
Kippenbrock, to salute him. The good old man, a worthy butcher by
calling, had by the overthrow of all established customs been made
second burgomaster of the imperial free city of Munster, without
clearly knowing how that precise result had been attained. He advanced
to meet the new comer, uncommonly magnificent in his black official
dress, with the lace collar and golden chain of honor, and introduced
him to a large, raw-boned, meagre man, in a similar dress, who sat at
the table staring on vacancy with half-extinguished eyes, in which the
flashes of a quiet insanity were occasionally playing.

'Thou hast here the best opportunity to recommend thyself to the favor
of our first burgomaster, of brother Bernd Knipperdolling,' said the
elder Kippenbrock to the youth. Alf bowed himself low before the
singular man, whose appearance affected him disagreeably, and stammered
some expressions of respect.

Knipperdolling cast upon him a searching glance, and then said in a
hollow and monotonous voice, 'a well formed vessel for the spirit!--thy
kinsman, my brother? He may become a bailiff of the city of Zion.'

'God preserve me, revered sir burgomaster!' protested Alf. 'I by no
means understand all that the office requires, and should disgrace my
undeserved promotion.'

'Whoever hath the spirit,' said Knipperdolling, decisively, 'needs no
earthly wisdom.'

'I have taken upon myself a holy duty!' exclaimed the youth with
anxiety, shuddering at the burthen of the proffered dignity. 'I have
promised to the unfortunate Trutlinger on his death-bed, to take upon
myself the care of his two nieces, whom he left unprotected. I shall
have plenty to do,--for six journeymen are employed in the workshop of
the orphans, and much work is ordered.'

'Let him have his will,' entreated the elder Kippenbrock of his
colleague. 'I have known him from his youth up; his head is not equal
to the governing of lands and people, but he is a capable armorer, whom
we much need in these times when our all rests upon the points of our
swords.'

'Have you already been baptised?' asked Knipperdolling.

'Your fa