berli contemptuously.

"Nay, for the jousts and single combat," cried Heinz excitedly. "The
Emperor Frederick himself dubbed Herr Ernst a knight."

"You know best," replied Biberli modestly. But his coat of arms, like
his entry, smells of cloves and pepper. Here is another, however,
who, like your first ancestress, has a countess's title, and who has a
right--My 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 app