forth to the forest with Ann; and, inasmuch as the duties of his office
now led, him to sojourn in Wurzberg and Bamberg, he could promise us that
he would bless our union or ever he departed to Italy. Albeit methought
it would be a happy chance if we might stand at the altar at the same
time with Herdegen and Ann, Gotz's impatience, which had waxed no lesser
even during his journeyings, was set against our waiting for my brother's
coming. Likewise he desired that we might live together a space as man
and wife, before he should go to Venice to get his release from the
service of the Republic.
At the same time he deemed it not prudent to take me with him on that
journey, howbeit, after that we were wed, when he was about to depart, I
made so bold as to beseech him; and he plainly showed me that I had not
made him wroth or troubled him whereas he willingly granted me to journey
with him, and without reproof. Thus I fared with him to the great and
mighty city of Saint Mark, which I had ever longed to behold with my
bodily eyes. I never went beyond seas, yet we journeyed as far as Rome,
and there, under the protection and guidance of my lord Cardinal, I spent
many never-to-be-forgotten days by the side of my Gotz.
But one thing at a time; some day, if my many years may suffer, I will
write more concerning these matters.
How well my aunt and the Cardinal were minded towards each other would be
hard to describe, albeit now and again they fell to friendly strife; the
reverend prelate found it hard to depart from the lodge and from that
strange woman, whose clear and busy brain in her sickly body came, in
after times, to be accounted as one of the great marvels of her native
town. Howbeit, it was his duty to pass Christmas-eve with his venerable
mother. He plighted Gotz and me as he had promised us, and to his life's
end he was ever a kind and honored friend and patron to us and to our
children.
Ann was ever his favorite, and ere he quitted Nuremberg, he bestowed on
her a dowry such as few indeed of our richest nobles could give with
their daughters.
Christmas-eve, which we spent at the lodge with our parents and the
Chaplain and my dear godfather, uncle Christian Pfinzing, was a right
glorious festival, bringing gladness to our souls; yet was it to end with
the first peril that befell our love's young joy. After the others had
gone to their chambers, and Gotz had indeed given me a last parting kiss,
he stayed me a moment and besought me to be ready early in the morning to
ride with him to the hut of Martin the bee keeper, whose wife had been
his nurse. On many a Christmas morning had he greeted the good woman
with some little posy, and now he had not found one hour to spare her
since his home-coming. Now I would fain have granted this simple request
but that I had privily, with the Chaplain's help, made the school
children to learn a Christmas carol wherewith to wake the parents and
Gotz from their slumbers. Thus, when he bid me hold myself in readiness
at an early hour, I besought him to make it later. This, however, by no
means pleased him; he answered that the good dame was wont of old to look
for him full early on Christmas morning, and he had already too long
deferred his greeting. Yet the surprise I had plotted was uppermost in
my mind, and I craved of him right duteously that he would grant me my
will. Whereupon his eyebrows, which met above his nose, were darkly
knit, and he gave me to wit, shortly and well-nigh harshly, that he would
abide by his own.
At this the blood rose to my head, and a wrathful answer was indeed on my
tongue when I minded me of the evening when we had come together, and I
asked of him calmly whether he verily deemed that I was so foolish or
evil-minded as to hinder him in a pious and kindly office if I had not
some worthy reason. And herein I had hit on the right way; he recovered
himself, his brow cleared, and saying only "Women, women!" he shook his
head and clasped me to him; and as I fervently returned his kiss, and
opened my chamber door, he called after me: "We will see in the morning,
but as early as may be."
When I presently was in my bed I minded me of the carol the little ones
were to sing; and then I remembered my own school-days, and how the
Carthusian Sisters had explained to us those words of Scripture: "And the
times shall be fulfilled." They were written, to be sure, of a special
matter, of the birth of our Saviour and Redeemer; yet I applied them to
myself and Gotz, and wondered in my heart whether indeed anything that
had ever befallen me in life, whether for joy or for sorrow, had been in
vain, and how matters might have stood with me now if, as a young
unbroken thing, or ever I had gone through the school of life, I had been
plighted to this man, whom the Almighty had from the first fated to be my
husband. If the wilful blood of the Schoppers, unquelled as it had then
been, had come into strife with Gotz's iron will, there would have been
more than enough of hard hitting on both sides, and how easily might all
our happiness have been wrecked thereby.
It was past midnight when at last I slept; and in the dim morning
twilight the Christmas chorus rang through the house in the words the
Shepherds heard in Angels' voices: "Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace." It woke Gotz, and when we presently got into the sleigh,
he whispered to me: "How piously glad was your hymn, my sweetheart! And
you were right yestereve, and peace shall indeed reign on earth, and
above all betwixt you and me, everywhere and at all times till the
E N D."
..........................
A POSTSCRIPTUM BY KUNZ SCHOPPER
The children entreat me to write more of Margery's unfinished tale.
Howbeit I am nigh upon eighty years of age, and how may I hope to win
favor in the exercise of an act to which I am unskilled save in matters
of business? Yet, whereas I could never endure to say nay to any
reasonable prayer of those who are dearest to my heart, I will fulfil
their desire, only setting down that which is needful, and in the
plainest words.
They at whose bidding I sit here, all knew my dear sister well. Margery,
the widow of the late departed Forest-ranger, the Knight Sir Gotz
Waldstromer, Councillor to his Imperial Majesty and Captain of the men-
at-arms in our good city; and each profited during a longer or shorter
space by her loving-kindness, and her wise and faithful counsel.
Many of them can likewise remember the late Anna Spiesz, sometime wife of
Herdegen Schopper; and as to the said Herdegen Schopper, my dear brother,
Margery's book of memorabilia right truly shows forth the manner of his
life and mind in the bloom of his youth, and verily it is a sorrowful
task for me to set forth the decay and end of so noble a man.
As to myself, the last remaining link of the Schopper chain whereof
Margery hath many times made mention, I am still with you, my dear ones;
and I remain but little changed, inasmuch as that my life has ever flowed
calmly and silently onward.
How it came to pass that Margery should so suddenly have brought her
memories to an end most of you know already; howbeit I will set it down
for the younger ones.
Till she reached the age of sixty and seven years, she never rode in a
litter, but ever made her journeyings on horseback. For many years past
she and her husband abode in the forest during the summer months only,
and dwelt in their town-house the winter through. Now on a day, when in
her written tale she had got as far as the time when she and Gotz, her
dear husband, were wed, she besought him to ride forth with her to the
forest, inasmuch as that she yearned once more to see the spot in the
winter season which had seen the happiest days of her life in that long-
past December. Thus they fared forth on horseback, although it was nigh
on Christmas-tide, and when they waved their hands to me as they passed
me by in sheer high spirits and mirthfulness, meseemed that in all
Nuremberg, nay in Franconia or in the whole German Empire a man might
scarce find an old white-haired pair of lovers to match these for light-
heartedness and goodly mien. Some few happy and glad days were at
that time vouchsafed to them in the old well-known forest; but on the
ride home Margery's palfrey stumbled close without the city gates on the
frozen ground. Her arm-bone was badly broken and her right hand remained
so stiff, notwithstanding Master Hartmann Knorr's best skill, that she
could no more use the pen save with great pain, albeit she often after
this rode on horseback. Thus the little book lay aside for a long space;
and while she was yet diligently striving to write with her left hand
death snatched from her Ann Schopper, the widow of our late dear brother
Herdegen Schopper and her heart's best friend, and this fell upon her
soul as so cruel a grief that she never after could endure to take up the
pen.
Then, when she lost her dearly-beloved husband, a few months after their
golden wedding day, all was at an end for her; the brave old woman gave
up all care for life, and died no more than three months after him. And
indeed often have I seen how that, when one of a pair, who have dwelt
together so many years in true union of hearts, departs this life, this
earth is too lonely for the other, so that one might deem that their
hearts had grown to be as it were one flesh, and the one that is left
hath bled to death inwardly from the Reaper's stroke.
Then I read through this book of memories once more, and meseemed that
Margery had written of herself as less worthy than of a truth she was in
her life's spring-tide.
Most of you can yet remember how that my lord the Mayor spoke of the
bride with the golden chaplet crowning her thick silver hair, as the
pride of our city, the best friend and even at times the wisest
counsellor of our worshipful Council, the comforter and refuge of the
poor; and you know full well that Master Johannes Lochner, the priest,
spoke over her open grave, saying that, as in her youth she had been
fairest, so in old age she was the noblest and most helpful of all the
dames of the parish of Saint Sebald; and you yourselves have many a time
been her almoners, or have gazed in silence to admire her portrait.
And at Venice I have heard from the lips of the very master who limned
her, and who was one of the greatest painters of the famous guild to
which he belonged, that such as she had he imagined the stately queen of
some ancient German King defeated by the Romans, or Eve herself, if
indeed one might conceive of our cold German fatherland as Paradise.
Yea, the most charming and glowing woman he had ever set eyes on was
your mother and grandmother.
And whensoever she went to a dance all the young masters of noble birth,
and the counts and knights, yea even at the Emperor's court, were of one
mind in saying that Margery Schopper was the fairest and likewise the
most happy-tempered maid and most richly endowed with gifts of the mind,
in all Nuremberg. None but Ann could stand beside her, and her beauty
was Italian and heavenly rather than German and earthly.
Margery's manuscript ends where she had reached a happy haven; howbeit
there were others of whom she makes mention who were not so happy as to
cast anchor betimes, and if I am to set forth my own tale I must go back
to Alexandria in the land of Egypt.
The dagger hired by Ursula to kill Herdegen struck me; howbeit, by the
time when my cousin Gotz brought my dear brother to see me, himself a
free man, I was already healed of my wound and ready to depart. The
worthy mother of Akusch had tended me with a devotion which would have
done honor to a Christian woman, and it was under her roof that first I
saw Herdegen and my cousin once more. And how greatly was I surprised to
see Gotz, taller than of old, appear before me in the magnificent array
and harness of a chief captain in the army of the all-powerful Republic
of Venice! Instead of an exiled adventurer I found him a stalwart
gentleman, in every respect illustrious and honored, whose commanding eye
showed that he was wont to be obeyed, albeit his voice and mien revealed
a compassionate and friendly soul. Yea, and meseemed that at his coming
a fresher, purer air blew about me; and as soon as he had made Herdegen's
cause his own and stood surety for him, the chief of the great trading
house of Michieli paid the ransom, which to me, knowing the value of
money, must have seemed never to be compassed, unless my grand-uncle had
been fain to help us. Howbeit, my cousin would not do the like service
for the Knight of Welemisl, in whose mien and manners he put less trust,
wherefore I became his surety, out of sheer pity and at Herdegen's
prayer.
Here you will ask of me wherefore I do not first speak of my meeting
again with my dear long-suffering brother. And indeed my heart beat high
with joy and thanksgiving, when we held each other clasped; but alack
what changes had come over him in these years of slavery! When he came
into my chamber, his head bowed and his hands behind his back, after that
we had greeted I turned from him and made as though I had some matter to
order, to the end that he might not see me dry my tears; inasmuch as that
he who stood before me was my Herdegen indeed, and yet was not.
For eighteen long months had he plied the oars on board of a Saracen
galley, while Sir Franz, who was overweak for such toil, served as keeper
of slaves on the benches, himself with chains on his feet. And it was
this long, hard toil which had made my brother diligently to hide his
hands behind his back, as though he were ashamed of them; whereas those
strong hands of his with their costly rings he had ever been wont to deem
a grace, and now of a truth they were grown coarse and as red as a brick,
and were like to those of a hewer in the woods. And whereas men are apt
often to pay less heed to another's face than to the shape and state of
his hands, I ever mind me of Herdegen's as I saw them on that day, and a
star and a crescent were branded in blue on the back of his right, so
that all men must see it.
Likewise his deep breast had lost some of its great strength, and he held
himself less stately than of old. Meseemed as though the knight had laid
some part of his sickness upon him, inasmuch that many a time he coughed
much. Likewise the long golden hair, which had flowed in rich abundance
down over his shoulders, had been shorn away after the manner of the
unbelievers, and this gave to his well-favored face a narrow and right
strange appearance. Only the shape of his countenance and his eyes were
what they had ever been; nay, meseemed that his eyes had a brighter and
moister light in them than of yore.
One thing alone was a comfort to me, and that was that my heart beat with
more pitiful and faithful love for him than ever. And when evening fell,
as we brethren sat together with Gotz and Master Knorr and Akusch,
drinking our wine, which only Akusch would not touch, this comforting
assurance waxed strong within me, by reason that Herdegen's voice was as
sweet as of old, both in speech and in song; and when he set forth all
the adventures and sufferings he had gone through in these last past
years I was fain to listen, and even so was Gotz; and first he drew tears
from our eyes and presently made us laugh right mirthfully. And what had
he not gone through?
I betook me to bed that night in hope and contentment; howbeit, on the
morrow Master Knorr told me privily that whereas my brother's lungs had
never been of the strongest, if now, in the cold December season, he
should fare north of the Alps after such long sojourning under a warmer
sky, it could not fail to do him a serious mischief, as it likewise would
to Sir Franz. Thus it must be my part to delay our homecoming; and
albeit the leech's tidings made me heavy at heart I was fain to yield,
inasmuch as that Herdegen might not appear in the presence of his
sweetheart in his present guise.
To this end we made him to believe that he might not come home in safety
unless he had performed the penance laid upon him by the Emperor; and
albeit felt it a hard matter to refrain the craving of his heart,
nevertheless be gave way to our pressing admonitions.
Now, while Gotz fared back to Venice, the galleon which carried Don
Jaime, Prince of Catalonia, as far Joppa, brought us likewise to the
Promised Land to the holy city of Jerusalem. From thence we made our
pilgrimage to many other Holy Places, under the protection of the great
fellowship of that royal Prince who ever showed us much favor.
At last we journeyed homewards, passing by Naples and Genoa; at Damietta,
in the land of Egypt, Sir Franz departed from our company to make his way
to Venice. It was with care and grief that I saw him set forth on his
way alone, and Herdegen was like-minded; in their misfortune he had
learned to mark much that was good in him, and during our long journeying
had seen that not only was he sick in body, but likewise that a shroud
hung over his soul and brain. Also, if Ursula were yet free to work her
will, the very worst might haply befall him in Venice, by reason that the
Giustinianis were of a certainty evil-disposed towards him, and the power
and dignity of that family were by no means lessened, although, as at
that time Antonio Giustiniani had dishonored his name in Albania, and had
been punished by the Forty with imprisonment and sundry penalties. Yet
his cousin Orsato was one of the greatest and richest of the signori at
Venice, and Ursula's husband would have found in him a strong upholder,
as in truth we heard at Naples, where tidings reached us that the
Pregadi, who had passed judgment upon him, had amerced him in a penalty
of no more than two thousand ducats, which Orsato paid for him by reason
that he would not suffer that his kinsman should he in prison.
At Genoa we found many letters full of good tidings of our kindred at
home, all overflowing with love and the hope of speedily seeing us there.
Hereupon Herdegen could not refrain himself for impatience and, if I had
suffered it, he would have ridden onward by day and by night with no
pause nor rest, taking fresh horses as he might need them; for my part
what I chiefly cared for was to bring him home as fresh and sound as I
might, and so preserve Ann from grief of heart. Herdegen had given me
her letters to read, and how true and deep a love, how lofty and pure a
soul spoke in those lines! Howbeit, when I heard her, as it were, cry
out by those letters, how that she longed for the moment when she might
again stroke his flowing locks and press his dear faithful hand to her
lips as his dutiful maid, my heart beat with fresh fears. He held him
more upright, to be sure, and his countenance was less pale and hollow
than it had been; but nevermore might he be a strong man. His light eyes
were deep in their sockets, his hair was rarer on his head, and there
were threads of silver among the gold. Ah, and those luckless hands!
It was by reason of his hands--albeit you will doubtless smile at the
confession--that I moved him to refrain his longing, even when we were so
near our journey's end as Augsburg, and to grant me another day's delay,
inasmuch as that I cared most that he should at first hide them in gloves
from the womankind at home. And in all the great town was there not a
pair to be and that would fit him, and it would take a whole day to make
him a pair to his measure. Thus were we fain to tarry, and whereas we
had in Augsburg, among other good friends, a faithful ally in trading
matters at the Venice Fondaco, Master Sigismund Gossenprot, we lodged in
his dwelling, which was one of the finest that fine city; and, as good-
hap ruled it, he had, on the very eve of that day, come home from Venice.
He and his worthy wife had known Herdegen of old, and I was cut to the
heart to see how the sight of him grieved them both. Nay, and the fair
young daughter of the house ne'er cast an eye on the stranger guest,
whose presence had been wont to stir every maiden's heart to beat faster.
Howbeit, here again I found comfort when I marked at supper that the
sweet damsel no longer heeded my simple person, whereas she had at first
gazed at me with favor, but hearkened with glowing cheeks to Herdegen's
discourse. At first, to be sure, this was anything rather than gay,
inasmuch as Master Gossenprot was full of tidings from Venice, and of
Sir Franz's latter end, which, indeed, was enough to sadden the most
mirthful.
When the Bohemian had come to Venice he had lodged at a tavern, by name
"The Mirror," and there mine host had deemed that he was but a gloomy and
silent guest. And it fell that one day the city was full of a dreadful
uproar, whereas it was rumored that in the afternoon, at the hour when
Dame Ursula Giustiniani was wont to fare forth in her gondola, a strange
man clad in black had leaped into it from his own and, before the
serving-men could lay hands on him, he had stabbed her many times to the
heart with his dagger. Then, as they were about to seize him, he had
turned the murderous weapon still wet with his victim's blood, on
himself, and thus escaped the avenging hand of justice.
As soon as the host of The Mirror heard this tale, he minded him of that
strange, dark man and, when that way-farer came not home to his inn, he
made report thereof to the judges. Then, on making search in his wallet,
it was discovered that he had entered there under a false name, and that
it was Sir Franz von Welemisl who had taken such terrible vengeance on
Ursula for her sins against himself and Herdegen.
From Augsburg we now made good speed, and when, one fine June morning,
our proud old citadel greeted our eyes from afar, and I saw that
Herdegen's eyes were wet as he gazed upon it, mine eyes likewise filled
with tears, and as we rode we clasped hands fervently, but in silence.
I sent forward a messenger from our last halting-place to give tidings of
our coming; and when, hard by Schweinau, behold a cloud of dust, our eyes
met and told more than many and eloquent words.
Great and pure and thankful joy filled and bore up my soul; but presently
the cloud of dust was hid by a turn in the road behind the trees, and
even so, quoth my fearful heart, the shroud of the future hid what next
might befall us.
The cruel blows of fate which had fallen on Herdegen had not been all in
vain, and the growing weakness of his frame warned him not to spend his
strength and eagerness on new and ever new things. Yet what troubled me
was that he was not aware of the changes that had come upon him within
and without. From all his speech with me I perceived that, even now,
he might not conceive that life could be other than as he desired:
notwithstanding it gave me secret joy to look upon this dear fellow, for
whom life should have had no summer heats nor winter frosts, but only
blossoming spring-tide and happy autumn days.
But now we had got round the wood, and we might see what the cloud of
dust had concealed. Foremost there came a train of waggons loaded with
merchandise and faring southwards, and the first waggon had met a piled-
up load of charcoal coming forth from the forest at a place in the road
where they were pent between a deep ditch on one hand and thick brushwood
and undergrowth on the other; thus neither could turn aside, and their
wheels were so fast locked that they barred the road as it had been a
wall. Thus the second waggon likewise had come to hurt by the sudden
stopping of the first, and it was but hardly saved from turning over into
the ditch. There was a scene of wild turmoil. The waggons stopped the
way, and neither could the rest of the train, nor their armed outriders,
nor our own folks come past, by reason that the ditch was full deep and
the underwood thick. We likewise were compelled to draw rein and look on
while the six fine waggon horses which had but just come from the stable,
their brown coats shining like mirrors, were unharnessed, and likewise
the draughtoxen were taken out of the charcoal-waggon; which was done
with much noise and cursing, and the brass plates that decked the
leathern harness of the big horses jingling so loud and clear that we
might not hear the cries of our kinsfolks. Nay, it was the plume in
Gotz's hat, towering above the throng, which showed us that they were
come.
Now, while Herdegen was vainly urging and spurring his unwilling horse to
leap down into the ditch and get round this fortress of waggons, two of
the others--and I instantly saw that they were Ann and her father, on
horseback--had made their way close to the charcoal waggon; howbeit, they
could get no further by reason that it had lurched half over and strewed
the way with black charcoal-sacks.