el chapel, he crossed
himself, removed his helmet, and bending the knee repeated, whilst the
others rode on without him, a silent prayer. His brown locks floated
around his head, and his features expressed deep earnestness and glowing
ardour.

Oh, how gladly Eva would have thrown herself on her knees beside him,
clasped his hands, and--nay, not prayed, her heart was throbbing too
stormily for that-rested her head upon his breast and told him that
she trusted him, and felt herself one with him in earthly as well as
heavenly love!

Whoever prayed thus in solitude had a soul yearning for the loftiest
things. Others might say what they chose, she knew him better. This man,
from the first hour of their meeting, had loved her with the most ardent
but also with the holiest passion; never, never had he sought her merely
for wanton amusement. Her mother's last wish would be fulfilled. She
need only trust him with her whole soul, and leave the "forge fire of
life" to strengthen and purify her.

Now she remembered where the dying woman had heard the phrase.

Her Aunt Christine had used it recently in her mother's presence. Young
Kunz Schurstab had fallen into evil ways in Lyons. Every one, even
his own father, had given him up for lost; but after several years he
returned home and proved himself capable of admirable work, both in his
father's business and in the Council. In reply to Frau Ortlieb's enquiry
where this transformation in the young man had occurred, her aunt
answered:

"In the forge fire of life." Eva told herself that she had intentionally
kept aloof from its flames, and in the convent, perhaps, they would
never have reached her. Yesterday they had seized upon her for the first
time, and henceforward she would not evade them, that she might obey her
mother and become worthy of the man praying silently yonder. He owed to
his heroic courage and good sword a renowned name; but what had she ever
done save selfishly to provide for her own welfare in this world and
the next? She had not even been strong enough to hold the head of the
mother, to whom she owed everything and who had loved her so tenderly,
when the convulsions attacked her.

Even after she closed her eyes in death--she had noticed it--she had
been kept from every duty in the household and for the beloved dead,
because it was deemed unsuitable for her, and Els and every one avoided
putting the serious demands of life between the "little saint" and her
a