the guilt of having sullied the honour and
name of a pure maiden, the betrothed bride of an estimable man.

And Eva!

When he woke in the morning his first thought had been of her. She had
seemed more desirable than ever. But his relatives at home, and the
counsel Biberli had urged upon him during their nocturnal wandering,
had constantly interposed between him and the maiden whom he so ardently
loved. Besides, it seemed certain that the passion which filled his
heart must end unhappily. Else what was the meaning of this unexampled
good luck at the gaming table? The torture of this thought had kept him
awake a long time. Then he had sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep. In the
morning Biberli, full of delight, roused him, and displayed three large
bags filled with florins and zecchins, the gains of the night before.

The servant had begged to be permitted to count the golden blessing,
which in itself would suffice to buy the right to use the bridge from
the city of Luzerne twice over, and the best thing about which was
that it would restore the peace of mind of his lady mother at Schorlin
Castle.

Now, in the name of all the saints, let him continue his life of
liberty, and leave the somnambulist to walk over the roofs, and suffer
Altrosen, who had worn her colour so patiently, to wed the countess.

But how long the servitor's already narrow face became when Heinz, with
a grave resolution new to Biberli, answered positively that no ducats
would stray from these bags to Schorlin Castle. If, last night, anxiety
had burdened his mind like the corpse of a murdered man, these gains
weighed upon his soul like the loathsome body of a dead cat. Never
in his whole life had he felt so poor as with this devil's money. The
witch-bait which Biberli had given him with the two and the five had
drawn it out of the pockets of his fellow gamblers. He would be neither
a cut-purse nor a dealer in the black arts. The wages of hell should
depart as quickly as they came. While speaking, he seized the second
largest bag and gave it to the servant, exclaiming: "Now keep your
promise to Katterle like an honest man. The poor thing will have a hard
time at her employer's. I make but one condition: you are to remain in
my service. I can't do without you."

While the armour-bearer, in the agile Biberli's place, was handing him
the garments to be worn in the house, Heinz again remembered how the
faithful fellow had thrown himself on his knees and