fort, upon
undoubted security and suitable usury, that it may stimulate and
fertilize the commerce of the land, much as the contents of a compost
heap, disagreeable in the senses, and defiling to him who handles it,
when spread upon the fields results in the production of flower, fruit,
and food, giving fragrance, delight, and sustenance to the human frame."

The count, bowing for the third time to the conclave, passed from its
presence with mournful step and sorrowful countenance; whereupon the
brethren, seeing themselves thus denuded of wealth they had hoped to
enjoy, gave utterance to a groan doubtless much greater in volume than
that emitted by the carven statue, which wooden figure may be seen
to-day in the museum of the modern Castle of Sayn by any one who cares
to spend the fifty pfennigs charged for admission.

All that has been related happened generations before the time when the
Countess Hildegunde reigned as head of the House of Sayn, but Father
Ambrose formed a link with the past in that he was the present scion of
Sayn who, as a Benedictine, daily offered prayer for the repose of the
wicked Henry III. The gold which Henry's immediate successor so craftily
deflected from the monks seemed to be blessed rather than cursed, for
under the care of that subtle manager it multiplied greatly in
Frankfort, and scandal-mongers asserted that besides receiving the usury
exacted, the pietistic Count tapped the treasure-casks of upward-sailing
Rhine merchants quite as successfully, if more quietly, than the profane
Henry had done. Thus the House of Sayn was one of the richest in
Germany.

The aged monk and the youthful Countess were distant relatives, but he
regarded her as a daughter, and her affection was given to him as to a
father, in other than the spiritual sense.

In his youth Ambrose the Benedictine, because of his eloquence in
discourse, and also on account of his aristocratic rank, officiated at
the court in Frankfort. Later, he became spiritual and temporal adviser
to that great prelate, the Archbishop of Cologne, and the Archbishop,
being guardian of the Countess von Sayn, sent Father Ambrose to the
castle of his ancestor to look after the affairs of Sayn, both religious
and material. Under his gentle rule the great wealth of his House
increased, although he, the cause of prosperity, had no share in the
riches he produced, for, as has been written of the Benedictines:

"It was as teachers of ... scientif