ents, as Eva knew from Herr Pfinzing, were
making every effort to obtain his condemnation and prove to the city
that they had not censured the proceedings of the Ortlieb household as
mere reckless slanderers. Eva and her sister would be again mentioned in
the investigation, and were even threatened with an examination.

At first this had startled her, but she believed her uncle's assurance
that this examination would fully prove her innocence before the eyes
of the whole world. For her own sake Eva surely would not have suffered
herself to be so tortured by anxiety night and day, or undertaken and
resolved to dare so much. The thought that the faithful follower whom
her patient nursing had saved from death and to whom she had become
warmly attached must now lose his life, and Heinz Schorlin be robbed of
the possibility of doing anything for him, had cast every other fear in
the shade, and had kept her constantly in motion the evening before and
this morning.

But all that she and her Aunt Christine had attempted in behalf of the
imperilled man had been futile. To apply to the Emperor again every one,
including the magistrate, had declared useless, since even the Burgrave
had been refused.

The members of the Council and the judges in the court had already, at
Aunt Christine's solicitation, deferred the proceedings four days, but
the law now forbade longer delay. Though individuals would gladly
have spared the accused the torture, its application could scarcely be
avoided, for how many accusers and witnesses appeared against him, and
if there were weighty depositions and by no means truthful replies on
the part of the prisoner, the torture could not be escaped. It legally
belonged to the progress of the investigation, and how many who had by
no means recovered from the last exposure to the rack were constantly
obliged to enter the torture chamber? Besides, the judges would be
charged with partiality by the tailor and his followers, and to show
such visible tokens of favour threatened to prejudice the dignity of the
court.

She had found good will everywhere, but all had withheld any positive
promise. It was so easy to retreat behind the high-sounding words
"justice and law," and then: who for the sake of a squire--who,
moreover, was in the service of a foreign knight--would awaken the
righteous indignation of the artisans, who made the tailor's cause their
own.

Whatever the aunt and niece tried had failed either w