ncealed his features and his dress, but the moon had already
seen him more than once in this very spot and knew that he was a
handsome fellow, whose bronzed countenance, with its prominent nose and
broad brow, plainly indicated a strong will. She had also seen the
scar stretching from the roots of his long brown locks across the whole
forehead to the left cheek-bone, that lent the face a martial air. Yet
he belonged to no military body, but was the son of a noble family of
Nuremberg, which boasted, it is true, of "knightly blood" and the right
of its sons to enter the lists of the tournament, but was engaged
in peaceful pursuits; for it carried on a trade with Italy and
the Netherlands, and every male scion of the Eysvogel race had the
birthright of being elected a member of the Honourable Council and
taking part in the government of Nuremberg.

The moon had long known that the young man in the courtyard was an
Eysvogel, nor was this difficult to discover. Every child in Nuremberg
was familiar with the large showy coat of arms lately placed above the
lofty doorway of the Eysvogel mansion; and the nocturnal visitor wore a
doublet on whose left breast was embroidered the same coat of arms, with
three birds in the shield and one on the helmet.

He had already waited some time in vain, but now a young girl's head
appeared at the window, and a gay fresh voice called his Christian name,
"Wolff!"

Waving his cap, he stepped nearer to the casement, greeted her warmly,
and told her that he had come at this late hour to say good-night,
though only from the front yard.

"Come in," she entreated. "True, my father and Eva have gone to the
dance at the Town Hall, but my aunt, the abbess, is sitting with my
mother."

"No, no," replied Wolff, "I only stopped in passing. Besides, I am
stealing even this brief time."

"Business?" asked the young girl. "Do you know, I am beginning to be
jealous of the monster which, like an old spider, constantly binds you
closer and closer in its web. What sort of dealing is this?--to give
the whole day to business, and only a few minutes of moonlight to your
betrothed bride!

"I wish it were otherwise," sighed Wolff. "You do not know how hard
these times are, Els! Nor how many thoughts beset my brain, since my
father has placed me in charge of all his new enterprises."

"Always something new," replied Els, with a shade of reproach in her
tone. "What an omnivorous appetite this Eysvogel busines