In the Fire of the Forge | Page 9

in an extremely cheerful mood.
This good news concerning the knight, whom her young mistress had
perhaps already met, awakened in the maid, who was not averse to the
business of matchmaking, so dear to her sex, very aspiring plans which
aimed at nothing less than a union between Eva and Heinz Schorlin.
But Biberli had scarcely perceived the purport of Katterle's words when
he anxiously interrupted her and, declaring that he had already lingered
too long, cut short the suggestion by taking leave.
His master's marriage to a young girl who belonged to the city nobility,
which in his eyes was far inferior in rank to a Knight Schorlin, should
cast no stone in the pathway of fame that was leading him so swiftly
upward. Many things must happen before Biberli could honestly advise
him to give up his present free and happy life and seek rest in his own
nest.
If Eva Ortlieb were as lovely as the Virgin herself, and Sir Heinz's
inflammable heart should blaze as fervently as it always did, she should
not lure him into the paralysing bondage of wedlock so long as he was
there and watched over him.

If he must be married, Biberli had something else in view for
him--something which would make him a great lord at a single stroke.
But it was too soon even for that.
When he crossed the Fleischbrucke in the market place and approached
the brilliantly lighted Town Hall, he had considerable difficulty in
moving forward, for the whole square was thronged with curious
spectators, servants in gala liveries, sedan chairs, richly caparisoned
steeds, and torchbearers. The von Montfort retinue, which had quarters
in the Ortlieb house, was one of the most brilliant and numerous of all,
and Biberli's eyes wandered with a look of satisfaction over the
gold-mounted sedan chair of the young countess. He would rather have
given his master to her than to the Nuremberg maiden whom Katterle
compared to a weathercock, and who therefore certainly did not possess
the lofty virtue of steadfastness.
CHAPTER III.
Sir Heinz Schorlin's servant was on intimate terms with many of the
servitors of the imperial family, and one of them conducted him to the
balcony of the city pipers, which afforded a view of the great hall. The
Emperor sat there at the head of the banquet table, and by his side, on a
lower throne, his sister, the Burgravine von Zollern. Only the most
distinguished and aristocratic personages whom the Reichstag attracted
to Nuremberg, with their ladies, shared the feast given by the city in
their honour.
But yonder, at a considerable distance from them, though within the
space enclosed by a black and yellow silk cord, separated from the
glittering throng of the other guests, he perceived--he would not trust
his own eyes--the Knight Heinz Schorlin, and by his side a wonderfully
charming young girl.
Biberli had not seen Eva Ortlieb for three years, yet he knew that it was
no other than she. But into what a lovely creature the active, angular
child with the thin little arms had developed!
The hall certainly did not lack superb women of all ages and every style

of figure and bearing suited to please the eye. Many might even boast
of more brilliant, aristocratic beauty, but not one could vie in witchery
with her on whom Katterle had cast an eye for his master. She had only
begun a modest allusion to it, but even that was vexatious; for Biberli
fancied that she had thereby "talked of the devil," and he did not wish
him to appear.
With a muttered imprecation, by no means in harmony with his
character, he prepared to leave the balcony; but the scene below,
though it constantly filled him with fresh vexation, bound him to the
spot as if by some mysterious spell.
Especially did he fancy that he had a bitter taste in his mouth when his
gaze noted the marvellous symmetry of Heinz Schorlin's powerful
though not unusually tall figure, his beautiful waving locks, and the
aristocratic ease with which he wore his superb velvet robe-sapphire
blue on the left side and white on the right, embroidered with silver
falcons-or perceived how graciously the noblest of the company
greeted him after the banquet; not, indeed, from envy, but because it
pierced his very heart to think that this splendid young favourite of
fortune, already so renowned, whom he warmly loved, should throw
himself away on the daughter of a city merchant, though his motley
wares, which he had just seen, were adorned by the escutcheon of a
noble house.
But Heinz Schorlin had already been attracted by many more
aristocratic fair ones, only to weary of them speedily enough. This time,
also, Biberli would have relied calmly on his fickleness