most joyless of all apartments--the Nuremberg torture chamber.

Then he told the ladies what he knew of the love which united Heinz
and Eva. The four Fs which he had advised his master to heed in his
wooing--Family, Figure, Favor, and Fortune--he no longer deemed the
right touch-tones. Whilst he was forced to lie idly here he had
found that they should rather be exchanged for four Ss--Spirituality,
Steadfastness, Stimulation, and Solace--for the eyes and the heart.

All these were united in Eva and, moreover, there could be no objection
to the family to which she belonged.

Thereupon he had commenced so enthusiastic a eulogy of his beloved nurse
and preserver that more than once Lady Wendula, smiling, stopped him,
accusing him of permitting his grateful heart to lead him to such
exaggeration that the maiden he wished to serve would scarcely thank
him.

Yet Eva's personal appearance had disappointed neither the experienced
mother nor the easily won daughter. Nay, when Maria Schorlin gazed at
her through the half-open door of the Minorite's room, because she did
not want to lose sight of the girl who had already attracted her on
account of her hard battle in the cause of love, and who specially
charmed her because it was her Heinz whom she loved, she thought no
human being could resist the spell which emanated from Eva.

With her finger on her lip she beckoned to her mother, and she, too,
could not avert her eyes from the wonderful creature whom she hoped soon
to call daughter, as she saw Eva standing, with eyes uplifted to heaven,
beside the old man's couch, and heard her, in compliance with his wish,
as she had often done before, half recite, half sing in a low voice the
Song of the Sun, the finest work of St. Francis.

The words were in the Italian language, in which this song had flowed
from the poet heart of the Saint of Assisi, so rich in love to God and
all animate nature; for she had learned to speak Italian in the Convent
of St. Clare, to which several Italians had been transferred from their
own home and that of their order and its founder.

Lady Wendula and her daughter could also follow the song; for the mother
had learned the beautiful language of the Saint of Assisi from the
minnesingers in her youth, and in the early years of her marriage had
accompanied the Emperor Frederick, with her husband, across the Alps. So
she had taught Maria.

As Lady Schorlin approached the door Eva, with her large eyes u