an
hater!

Faithful, steadfast Biberli clenched his fists, and once even thought
of shouting "Fire!", into the ballroom below to separate all who were
enjoying themselves there wooing and being wooed.

But those beneath perceived neither him nor his wrath--least of all his
master and the young girl who had come hither so reluctantly.

At home Eva had really done everything in her power to be permitted to
stay away from the Town Hall. Herr Ernst Ortlieb, her father, however,
had been inflexible. The chin of the little man with beardless face
and hollow cheeks had even begun to tremble, and this was usually the
precursor of an outburst of sudden wrath which sometimes overpowered him
to such a degree that he committed acts which he afterwards regretted.

This time he had been compelled not to tolerate the opposition of his
obstinate child. Emperor Rudolph himself had urged the "honourable"
members of the Council to gratify him and his daughter-in-law Agnes,
whom he wished to entertain pleasantly during her brief visit, by the
presence of their beautiful wives and daughters at the entertainment in
the Town Hall.

Herr Ortlieb's invalid wife could not spare Els, her older daughter and
faithful nurse, so he required Eva's obedience, and compelled her to
give up her opposition to attending the festival; but she dreaded the
vain, worldly gaiety--nay, actually felt a horror of it.

Even while still a pupil at the convent school she had often asked
herself whether it would not be the fairest fate for her, like her Aunt
Kunigunde, the abbess of the convent of St. Clare, to vow herself to
the Saviour and give up perishable joys to secure the rapture of heaven,
which lasted throughout eternity, and might begin even here on earth,
in a quiet life with God, a complete realisation of the Saviour's loving
nature, and the great sufferings which he took upon himself for love's
sake. Oh, even suffering and bleeding with the Most High were rich in
mysterious delight! Aye, no earthly happiness could compare with the
blissful feeling left by those hours of pious ecstasy.

Often she had sat with closed eyes for a long time, dreaming that she
was in the kingdom of heaven and, herself an angel, dwelt with angels.
How often she had wondered whether earthly love could bestow greater
joy than such a happy dream, or the walks through the garden and forest,
during which the abbess told her of St. Francis of Assisi, who founded
her order, the