s already met, awakened in the maid, who was not averse to the
business of matchmaking, so dear to her sex, very aspiring plans which
aimed at nothing less than a union between Eva and Heinz Schorlin. But
Biberli had scarcely perceived the purport of Katterle's words when he
anxiously interrupted her and, declaring that he had already lingered
too long, cut short the suggestion by taking leave.

His master's marriage to a young girl who belonged to the city nobility,
which in his eyes was far inferior in rank to a Knight Schorlin, should
cast no stone in the pathway of fame that was leading him so swiftly
upward. Many things must happen before Biberli could honestly advise
him to give up his present free and happy life and seek rest in his own
nest.

If Eva Ortlieb were as lovely as the Virgin herself, and Sir Heinz's
inflammable heart should blaze as fervently as it always did, she should
not lure him into the paralysing bondage of wedlock so long as he was
there and watched over him.

If he must be married, Biberli had something else in view for
him--something which would make him a great lord at a single stroke. But
it was too soon even for that.

When he crossed the Fleischbrucke in the market place and approached the
brilliantly lighted Town Hall, he had considerable difficulty in moving
forward, for the whole square was thronged with curious spectators,
servants in gala liveries, sedan chairs, richly caparisoned steeds,
and torchbearers. The von Montfort retinue, which had quarters in the
Ortlieb house, was one of the most brilliant and numerous of all,
and Biberli's eyes wandered with a look of satisfaction over the
gold-mounted sedan chair of the young countess. He would rather have
given his master to her than to the Nuremberg maiden whom Katterle
compared to a weathercock, and who therefore certainly did not possess
the lofty virtue of steadfastness.

CHAPTER III.

Sir Heinz Schorlin's servant was on intimate terms with many of the
servitors of the imperial family, and one of them conducted him to the
balcony of the city pipers, which afforded a view of the great hall. The
Emperor sat there at the head of the banquet table, and by his side, on
a lower throne, his sister, the Burgravine von Zollern. Only the most
distinguished and aristocratic personages whom the Reichstag attracted
to Nuremberg, with their ladies, shared the feast given by the city in
their honour.

But yonder, at a considerable