In the Fire of the Forge | Page 6

unable to survive the parting. Meanwhile Biberli
nursed his master with faithful zeal, as if nothing bound him to
Nuremberg, and even after his departure Katterle remained in good
health.
Now she had him again. Directly after the Emperor Rudolph's entrance,
five days before, Biberli had come openly to the Ortlieb house and
presented himself to Martsche,--[Margaret]--the old house keeper, as
the countryman and friend of the waiting maid, who had brought her a

message from home.
True, it had been impossible to say anything confidential either in the
crowded kitchen or in the servants' hall. To-night's meeting was to
afford the opportunity.
The menservants, carrying sedan chairs and torches, had all gone out
with their master, who had taken his younger daughter, Eva, to the
dance. They were to wait in front of the Town Hall, because it was
doubtful whether the daughter of the house, who had been very
reluctant to go to the entertainment, might not urge an early departure.
Count von Montfort, whose quarters were in the Ortlieb mansion, and
his whole train of male attendants, certainly would not come back till
very late at night or even early morning, for the Countess Cordula
remained at a ball till the close, and her father lingered over the wine
cup till his daughter called him from the revellers.
All this warranted the lovers in hoping for an undisturbed interview.
The place of meeting was well chosen. It was unsatisfactory only to the
moon for, after Biberli had closed the heavy door of the house behind
him, Luna found no chink or crevice through which a gliding ray might
have watched what the true and steadfast Biberli was saying to Katterle.
There was one little window beside the door, but it was closed, and the
opening was covered with sheepskin. So the moon's curiosity was not
gratified.
Instead of her silver rays, the long entry of the Ortlieb house, with its
lofty ceiling, was illumined only by the light of three lanterns, which
struggled dimly through horn panes. The shining dots in a dark corner
of the spacious corridor were the eyes of a black cat, watching there for
rats and mice.
The spot really possessed many advantages for the secret meeting of
two lovers, for as it ran through the whole width of the house, it had
two doors, one leading to the street, the other into the yard. In the right
wall of the entry there were also two small doors, reached by a flight of
steps. At this hour both closed empty rooms, for the office and the
chamber where Herr Ernst Ortlieb received his business friends had not

been occupied since sunset, and the bathroom and dressing-room
adjoining were used only during the day.
True, some unbidden intruder might have come down the long broad
staircase leading to the upper story. But in that case the lovers had the
best possible hiding-place close at hand, for here large and small boxes,
standing side by side and one above another, formed a protecting wall;
yonder heaps of sacks and long rows of casks afforded room for
concealment behind them. Rolls of goods packed in sacking leaned
against the chests, inviting a fugitive to slip back of them, and surely no
one would suspect the presence of a pair of lovers in the rear of these
mountains of hides and bales wrapped in matting. Still it would
scarcely have been advisable to remain near them; for these packages,
which the Ortlieb house brought from Venice, contained pepper and
other spices that exhaled a pungent odor, endurable only by hardened
nerves.
Valuable goods of various kinds lay here until they could be placed in
cellars or storehouses or sold. But there was many an empty space, too,
in the broad corridor for, spite of Emperor Rudolph's strictness, robbery
on the highroads had by no means ceased, and Herr Ernst Ortlieb was
still compelled to use caution in the transportation of costly wares.
After Biberli and his sweetheart had assured themselves that the ardour
of their love had by no means cooled, they sat down on some bags
filled with cloves and related to each other the experiences through
which they had passed during the period of separation.
Katterle's life had flowed on in a pleasant monotony. She had no cause
to complain of her employers.
Fran Maria Ortlieb, the invalid mistress of the house, rarely needed her
services.
During a ride to visit relatives in Ulm, the travellers, who were under
the same escort of men at arms as a number of Nuremberg freight
waggons, had been attacked by the robber knights Absbach and
Hirschhorn. An arrow had struck Frau Ortlieb's palfrey, causing the

unfortunate woman a severe fall, which produced an internal injury,
from which she had not yet