d
the vivacious native of the Vorarlberg, and the freedom with which she
treated him--allowing herself to go so far as to tap him on the arm with
her fan--vexed and offended her like an insult offered to her whole sex.
To think that a girl of high station should venture upon such conduct
before the eyes of the Emperor and his sister!

Not for the world would she have permitted any man to talk and laugh
with her in such a way. But the young knight whom she saw do this was
again the Swiss. Yet his bright eyes had just rested upon her with such
devout admiration that lack of respect for a lady was certainly not in
his nature, and he merely found himself compelled, contrary to his wish,
to defend himself against the countess and her audacity.

Eva had already heard much praise of the great valour of the young
knight Heinz Schorlin. When Katterle, whose friend and countryman was in
his service, spoke of him--and that happened by no means rarely--she
had always called him a devout knight, and that he was so, in truth, he
showed her plainly enough; for there was fervent devotion in the eyes
which now again sought hers like an humble penitent.

The musicians had just struck up the Polish dance, and probably the
knight, whom the Emperor's sister had recommended to her for a partner,
wished by this glance to apologise for inviting Countess Cordula von
Montfort instead. Therefore she did not need to avoid the look, and
might obey the impulse of her heart to give him a warning in the
language of the eyes which, though mute, is yet so easily understood.
Hitherto she had been unable to answer him, even by a word, yet she
believed that she was destined to become better acquainted, if only to
show him that his power, of which the Burgravine had spoken, was baffled
when directed against the heart of a pious maiden.

And something must also attract him to her, for while she had the honour
of being escorted up and down the hall by one of the handsome sons of
the Burgrave von Zollern to the music of the march performed by the city
pipers, Heinz Schorlin, it is true, did the same with his lady, but he
looked away from her and at Eva whenever she passed him.

Her partner was talkative enough, and his description of the German
order which he expected to enter, as his two brothers had already done,
would have seemed to her well worthy of attention at any other time, but
now she listened with but partial interest.

When the dance was over