f grave dissatisfaction which he had
assumed, and ordered a page to summon the imperial magistrate, the First
Losunger of the city, and his protonotary, who were all amongst the
guests, and, lastly, the Duchess Agnes.

He could read the latter's child eyes like the clear characters of
a book, and neither the radiant glow on her face at Heinz Schorlin's
entrance nor her hostile glance at the Countess von Montfort had escaped
his notice. Both her affection and her jealous resentment should serve
him.

The young Bohemian now thought herself certain that Heinz Schorlin, and
no other, was Cordula's chosen knight; the countess, at his entrance,
had exclaimed to her father loudly enough, "Here he is again!"

When the princess stood before the Emperor, with the gentlemen whom he
had summoned, he asked her to decide the important question.

"Yonder knight--he motioned towards Heinz--had been guilty of an act
which could scarcely be justified. Though he had wooed the daughter of a
noble Nuremberg family, and even forced his way into her father's house,
he had apparently forgotten the poor girl.

"And," cried the young wife indignantly, "the unprincipled man has
not only made a declaration of love to another, but formally asked her
hand."

"That would seem like him," said the Emperor. "But we must not close our
ears to the charge of the Nuremberg Honourable. His daughter, a lovely,
modest maiden of excellent repute, has been seriously injured by
Heinz Schorlin, and so I beg you, child, to tell us, with the keen
appreciation of the rights and duties of a lady which is peculiar to
you, what sentence, in your opinion, should be imposed upon Sir Heinz
Schorlin to atone for the wrong he has done to the young Nuremberg
maiden."

He beckoned to the protonotary, as he spoke, to command him to show
Ernst Ortlieb's accusation to the duchess, but she seemed to have
practised the art of reading admirably; for, more quickly than it would
otherwise have appeared possible to grasp the meaning of even the first
sentences, she exclaimed, drawing herself up to her full height and
gazing at Cordula with haughty superiority: "There is but one decision
here, if the morality of this noble city is to be preserved and the
maiden daughters of her patrician families secured henceforward from the
misfortune of being a plaything for the wanton levity of reckless heart
breakers. But this decision, on which I firmly and resolutely insist, as
lady and