point them out to Herdegen, he had put forth his last strength to make
his horse take the leap, and could scarce hold himself in the saddle; his
anguish of mind, and the foolish struggle with the wilful horse, had
exhausted the strength of his sickly frame. His face was pale and his
breath came hard as he sat there, on the edge of the ditch, and held his
great hand to his breast as though he were in pain. Hereupon I likewise
felt a deep pang of unspeakable torment, albeit I knew from experience
that for such ills there was no remedy but perfect rest. I looked away
from him and beheld, a little nearer now, Ann high on her saddle,
diligently waving her kerchief, and at her side her father, lifting his
councillor's hat.
In a few moments we were united once more. But no....
As I wrote the foregoing words with a trembling hand I vowed that I would
set down nought but the truth and the whole truth. And inasmuch as I
have not shrunk from making mention of certain matters which many will
deem of small honor to Herdegen, who was, by the favor of Heaven, so far
more highly graced in all ways than I, who have never been other than
middling gifted, it would ill-become me to shrink from relating matters
whereof I myself have lived to repent.
There, by the ditch, was my dear only brother, weary and pale, a man
marked for an early grave; and in front of me, within a few paces, the
woman to whom my heart's only and fervent love had been given even as a
child. She sat like a King's daughter on a noble white horse with rich
trappings. A magnificent garment of fine cloth, richly broidered with
Flanders velvet, flowed about her slender body. The color thereof was
white and sapphire-blue, and so likewise were the velvet cap and finely-
rounded ostrich feather, which was fastened into it with a brooch of
sparkling precious stones. I had always deemed her fairest in sheeny
white, and she knew it, while Herdegen had taken blue for his color; and
behold she wore both, for love per chance of both brothers. Never had I
seen her fairer than at this minute and she had likewise waxed of a buxom
comeliness, and how sweet were her red cheeks, and swan-white skin, and
ebony-black hair, which flowed out from beneath her little hat in long
plaits twined with white and sapphire-blue velvet ribbon.
Never did a maid seem more desirable to a man. And her father on his
great brown horse--he was no more a craftsman! In his councillor's robes
bordered with fur, with the golden chain round his neck, his well-
favored, grave, and manly countenance, and the long, flowing hair down to
his shoulders, meseemed he might have been the head of some ancient and
noble family. None in Nuremberg might compare with these two for manly
dignity and womanly beauty, and was that sickly, bent horseman by the
ditch worthy of them? "No, no," cried a voice in my heart. "Yes, Yes!"
cried another; and in the midst of this struggle I could but say to
myself: "He has an old and good right to her, and as soon as he has found
breath he will claim it."
But she? What will she do; how will she demean her; is she aware of his
presence? Will she shrink from him as Dame Gossenprot did at Augsburg,
and the inn-keeper's smart wife at Ingolstadt, who of old was so over-
eager to be at his service? Would Ann, who had rejected many a lordly
suitor, be as sweet as of yore to that breathless creature? And if she
were to follow the example which he long since set her, if she now cut
the bond which he of old had snatched asunder, or if--Merciful Virgin!--
if his sickness should increase, and he himself should shrink from
fettering her blooming young life to his own--then, oh, then it might be
my turn, then ....
And on a sudden there was a cry from the depths of my heart, but heard by
none: "Look on this side. Look on me, my one and only beloved! Turn
from him who once turned from thee, and hearken to Kunz who loves thee
with a more faithful and fervent love than that man, who to this day
knows not what thy true worth is, whose heart is as fickle as mine is
honest and true. Here I stand, a strong and stalwart man, the friend of
every good man, willing and able to carry you in my strong hands through
a life crowned with wealth and happiness!"
And while the voice of the Evil One whispered this and much more, my
gaze, meseemed, was spellbound to her countenance, and the light of her
eyes from afar shone deep into mine. And on a sudden I flung up my arms
and, without knowing what I did, stretched them forth, as though beside
myself, towards that hotly-loved maiden. Whether she saw this or no I
may never learn. And the grace of the Blessed Virgin or of my guardian
Saint, preserved me from evil and disgrace, for whereas all that was in
me yearned for that beloved one, a clear voice called to me by name, and
when I turned, behold it was Margery, who had leaped her light palfrey
into the ditch and now had sprung up the grassy bank. It was a breakneck
piece of horsemanship, to which she had been driven by longing and
sisterly love; and behind her came a man, my cousin Gotz, whose newly-
married wife's daring leap was indeed after his own heart. One more
plunge, and their horses were on the highroad, and I had lifted Margery
out of her saddle and we held each other clasped, stammering out foolish
disconnected words, while we first laughed and then wept.
This went on for some while till I was startled by an outcry, and behold,
Eppelein, in his impatience to greet his dear master, had been fain to do
as Margery and Gotz had done, but with less good fortune, inasmuch as
that he had fallen under his horse, which had rolled over with him. His
lamentable outcry told me that he needed help, and once more in my life I
fulfilled my strange fate, which has ever been to cast to the winds that
for which my soul most longed, for another to take it up. While Margery
turned to greet Herdegen I hastened down the bank to rescue the faithful
fellow who had endured so much in my brother's service, ere the worst
should befall him.
And this, with no small pains, I was able to do; and when I was aware
that he had suffered no mortal hurt, I clambered up on to the road again,
and then once more my heart began to beat sadly. Ann and Herdegen had
met again, and once for all. How was she able to refrain herself as she
beheld the changed countenance of her lover, and to be mistress of her
horror and dismay?
Now, when I had climbed the bank with some pains, in my heavy riding-
boots, I saw that the waggon-men had harnessed the six brown horses to
their cart once more, and behind them, on the skirt of the wood, were the
pair that I sought; and as I went nearer to them Ann had drawn the glove,
for which we had tarried so long in Augsburg, from off her lover's
battered right hand, and was gazing at it lovingly, with no sign of
horror, but with tears in her eyes; and she cried as she kissed it again
and again: "Oh, that poor, dear, beloved hand, how cruelly it has
suffered, how hard it must have tolled! And that? That is where the
blue brand-mark was set? But it is almost gone. And it is in my color,
blue, our favorite sapphire-blue!" And she pointed joyously to her
goodly array, and she confessed that it was for him alone, that he might
see from afar how well she loved and honored him, that she had arrayed
herself in the color of fidelity in which he had ever best loved to see
her. And he clasped her to him, and when she kissed his thin, streaked
hair, and spoke of those dear flowing curls, to which love and care would
restore their beauty, I swore a solemn vow before God that I would never
look on the union of Herdegen and Ann but with thanksgiving and without
envy, and ever do all that in me lay for those two and for their welfare.
Of the glad meeting with our other kith and kin I will say nought. As to
Cousin Maud, she had remained at home to welcome her darling at the gate
of the Schopperhof, which she had decked forth bravely. Yea, her warm
heart beat more fondly for him than for us. She could not wholly conceal
her dismay at seeing him so changed. She would stroke him from time to
time with a cherishing hand, yet she went about him as though there were
somewhat in him of which she was afeard.
Howbeit, in the evening it was with her as it had been with me in the
land of Egypt, and she found him again for whom her heart yearned so
faithfully. Now, that which had seemed lacking came to light once more,
and from that hour she no longer grieved for what he had lost and which a
true mother peradventure might never have missed; indeed as his bodily
health failed, and she shared the care of tending him with Ann, none
could have conceived that he was not verily and indeed her own son.
The evil monster which had crept into my brother's breast grew, thank
Heaven, but slowly; and when the young pair had been wed, with a right
splendid feast, and my brother had taken Ann home to the Schoppers' house
as his dear wife, a glad hope rose up in me that Master Knorr had taken
an over-gloomy view of the matter, and that Herdegen might blossom again
into new strength and his old hearty health. Howbeit it was but his
heart's gladness which lent him so brave and glad an aspect; the sickness
must have its course, and it was as it were a serpent, gnawing silently
at my joy in life, and its bite was all the more cruel by reason that I
might tell no man what it was that hurt me save the old Waldstromers.
But they likewise grew young again after their son's homecoming, and
notwithstanding her feeble frame, Aunt Jacoba saw Margery's eldest son
grow to be six years of age. And she sent him his packet of sweetmeats
the first day he went to school; but when the little lad went to thank
his grandmother, the old dame was gone to her rest; and her husband lived
after her no more than a few months.
One grief only had darkened the latter days of this venerable pair, in
truth it was a heavy one; it was the death of my dear brother Herdegen,
which befell at the end of the fifth year after he was happily married.
At the end of the fourth year his sickness came upon him with more
violence, yet he went forth and back, and ever hoped to be healed, even
when he took to his bed four weeks before the end.
On the very last day, on a certain fine evening in May, it was that he
said to Ann: "Hearken, my treasure, I am surely better! On the day after
tomorrow we will go forth into the sweet Spring, to hear Dame Nightingale
who is singing already, and to see Margery. Oh, out in the forest
breezes blow to heal the sick!"
Yet they went not; two hours later he had departed this life. By ill
fortune at that very time I was at Venice on a matter of business, and
when the tidings came to me that my only beloved brother was dead,
meseemed as though half my being were torn away, aye, and the nobler and
better half; that part which was not content to grieve and care for none
but earthly estate and for all that cometh up and passeth away here
below, but which hath a position in the bliss of another world, where we
ask not only of what use and to what end this or that may be, as I have
ever done in my narrow soul.
When Herdegen's eyes closed in death, my wings were broken as it were;
with him I lost the highest aim and end of all my labors. For five hard
years had I toiled and struggled, often turning night into day, and not
for myself, but for him and his, ever upheld and sped forward by the
sight of his high soul and great happiness. Our grand-uncle Im Hoff had
left me his house and the conduct of his trade, as you have learned
already from Margery's little book; and during my long journeyings many
matters had not been done to my contentment, and the sick old man had
taken out overmuch moneys from the business. A goodly sum came to us
from our parents' estate, and my brother and sister and Cousin Maud were
fain to entrust me with theirs; but how much I had to do in return!
Moreover a great care came upon me from without, by reason that Sir
Franz's kin and heirs refused to repay the moneys for the ransom which
Master Michieli of Venice had laid down, and for which Herdegen and I had
been sureties. Albeit in this matter we had applied to the law, we might
not suffer Michieli to come to loss by reason of his generosity, so I
took upon me the whole debt, and that was a hard matter in those times
and in my case; and the fifteen thousand ducats which were repaid me by
judgment of law, thirty years afterwards, made me small amends, inasmuch
as by that time I had long been wont to reckon with much greater sums.
I made good my friend's payment of Herdegen's ransom to the last
farthing; yet what pressed me most hardly, so long as my brother lived,
was his housekeeping; few indeed in Nuremberg could have spent more.
My eldest brother was the only one of us three who might keep any
remembrance of our father, whose trade with Venice and Flanders had
yielded great profits, and he could yet mind him how full the house had
ever been of guests, and the stables of horses. Now, therefor, he was
fain to live on the same wise, and this he deemed was right and seemly,
inasmuch as he took the moneys which I gave him as half the clear profits
of the Im Hoff trade, which were his by right. And I was fain to suffer
him to enjoy that belief, albeit at that time concerns looked but badly.
It was I, not he, whose part it was to care for those concerns; and
I rejoiced with all my heart when he and his lovely young wife rode
forth in such bravery, when he sat as host at the head of a table well-
furnished with guests, and won all hearts by his lofty and fiery spirit,
which conquered even the least well-disposed. Yet was it not easy to
supply that which was needed, or to refrain from speech or reproof when,
for instance, my brother must need have from the land of Egypt for Ann
such another noble horse as the Emirs there are wont to ride. Or could I
require him to pay when, after that Heaven had blessed him with a first
born child, Herdegen, radiant with pride and joy, showed me a cradle all
of ivory overlaid with costly carved work which he had commanded to be
wrought for his darling by the most skilled master known far and wide,
for a sum which at that time would have purchased a small house? Albeit
it was nigh upon quarter day, I would have taken this and much more upon
me rather than have quenched his heart's great gladness; and when I saw
thee, Margery the younger, who art now thyself a grandmother, sleeping
like a king's daughter in that precious cradle, and perceived with how
great joy it filled thy parents to have their jewel in so costly a bed,
I rejoiced over my own patience.
It did my heart good, though I spoke not, to hear the Schoppers' house
praised as the friendliest in all Nuremberg; yet at other times meseemed
I saw shame and poverty standing at the door; and whereas, indeed, those
years of magnificence, which for sure were the hardest in all my life,
came to no evil issue, I owe this, next to Heaven's grace, to the trust
which many folks in Nuremberg placed in my honesty and judgment, far
beyond my desert. And when once, not long before my brother's over-early
death, I found myself to the very brow in water, as it were, it was that
faithfulest of all faithful friends, Uncle Christian Pfinzing, who read
the care in my eyes and face during the very last great banquet at
Herdegen's table, and led me into the oriel bay, and offered me all his
substance; and this is a goodly sum indeed and saved my trade from
shipwreck.
Next to him it is Cousin Maud that we three links the Schopper chain
ought ever to hold dearest in memory; and it was by a strange chance that
he and she died, not only on the same day, but, as it were, of the same
death. Death came upon him at the Schoppers' table with the cup in his
hand, after that Ann, his "watchman" had warned him to be temperate; and
this was three years after her husband's death. And Cousin Maud, as she
came forth from the kitchen, whither she had gone to heat her famous
spiced wine for Uncle Christian, who was already gone, fell dead into
Margery's arms when she heard the tidings of his sudden end.
Among the sundry matters which long dwelt in the minds both of Margery
and Ann, and were handed down to their grandchildren, were the Magister's
Latin verses in their praise. It is but a few years since Master Peter
Piehringer departed this life at a great age, and when Gotz's boys went
through their schooling so fast and so well they owed it to his care and
learning. But chiefly he devoted himself to Ann's daughters, Margery and
Agnes, and indeed it is ever so that our heart goeth forth with a love
like to that for our own sons or daughters to the offspring of the woman
we have loved, even when she has never been our own.
Eppelein Gockel, my brother's faithful serving-man, was wed to Aunt
Jacoba's tiring-woman. After his master's death I made him to be host
in the tavern of "The Blue Sky," and whereas his wife was an active soul,
and his tales of the strange adventures he had known among the Godless
heathen brought much custom to his little tavern parlor, he throve to be
a man of great girth and presence.
By the seventh year after our home-coming my hardest cares for the
concerns of my trade were overpast, albeit I must even yet keep my eyes
open and give brain and body no rest. Half my life I spent in
journeying, and whereas I perceived that it was only by opening up other
branches of trade that I might fulfil the many claims which ever beset
me, I set myself to consider the matter; and inasmuch as that I had seen
in the house of Akusch how gladly the women of Egypt would buy hazel-nuts
from our country, I began to deal in this humble merchandise in large
measure; and at this day I send more than ten thousand sequins' worth of
such wares, every year, by ship to the Levant. Likewise I made the furs
of North Germany and the toys of Nuremberg a part of my trade, which in
my uncle's life-time had been only in spices and woven goods. And so,
little by little, my profits grew to a goodly sum, and by God's favor
our house enjoyed higher respect than it ever had had of old.
And it is a matter of rejoicing to me that at this time there is again an
Im Hoff at its head with me, so that the old name shall be handed down;
Ann's oldest daughter, Margery Schopper, having married one Berthold Im
Hoff, who is now my worthy partner.
The sons of the elder Margery, the young Waldstromers, had much in them
of the hasty Schopper temper, and a voice for song; and all three have
done well, each in his way. Herdegen is now the Hereditary Ranger, and
held in no less honor than Kunz Waldstromer, my beloved godson, who is a
man of law in the service of our good town. Franz, who dedicated himself
to the Church at an early age, under the protection of my lord Cardinal
Bernhardi, has already been named to be the next in office after our
present aged and weakly Bishop.
The son of Agnes, Herdegen's younger daughter, is Martin Behaim, a high-
spirited youth in whom his grandfather's fiery and restless temper lives
again, albeit somewhat quelled.
And if you now enquire of me how it is that I, albeit my heart beats
warmly enough for our good town and its welfare and honor, have only
taken a passing part in the duties of its worshipful Council, this is my
answer: Inasmuch as to provide for the increase of riches for the
Schopper family took all the strength I had, I lacked time to serve the
commonwealth as my heart would have desired; and by the time when my dear
nephew Berthold Im Hoff came to share the conduct of the trade with me I
was right willing to withdraw behind my young partner, Ann's son-in-law,
and to take his place in the business, while he and Kunz Waldstromer were
chosen to high dignity on the Council. Nevertheless it is well-known
that I have given up to the town a larger measure of time and labor and
moneys than many a town-mayor and captain of watch. Of this I make
mention to the end that those who come after me shall not charge me with
evil self-seeking.
Likewise some may ask me wherefor I, the last male offspring of the old
Schopper race, have gone through life unwed. Yet of a certainty they may
spare me the answer to whom I have honestly confessed all my heart's
pangs at the meeting of Herdegen with Ann.
After the death of her best-beloved lord the young widow was overcome
with brooding melancholy from which nothing could rouse her. At that
time you, my Margery and Agnes, her daughters, clung to me as to your own
father; and when, at the end of three years, your mother was healed of
that melancholy, it had come about that you had learned to call me father
while I had sported with you and loved you in "your" mother's stead, and
taught you to fold your little hands in prayer and led you out for air
walking by your side. Your mother had heeded it not; but then, when she
bloomed forth in new and wondrous beauty, and I beheld that Hans Koler
and the Knight Sir Henning von Beust, who had likewise remained unwed,
were again her suitors, the old love woke up in my heart; and one fair
May evening, out in the forest, the question rose to my lips whether she
could not grant me the right to call you indeed my children before all
the world, and her....
But to what end touch the wound which to this day is scarce healed?
In this world and the next she would never be any man's but his to whom
her heart's great and only love had been given. But from that evening
forth I, the rejected suitor, must suffer that you children should no
longer call me father, but Uncle Kunz; and when afterwards it came to be
dear little uncle you may believe that I was thankful. She no less
rejected the suit of Koler and of von Beust; but the last-named gentleman
made up for his dismissal by marrying a noble damsel of Brandenburg.
At a later time when he came to Nuremberg he was made welcome by Margery,
and then, meeting with Ann once more, he showed himself to be still so
youthful and duteous in his service to her, in despite of her grey hairs,
that for certain it was well for his happiness at home that he should
have come without his wife.
Not long after Ann's rejection I confessed to Margery what had befallen,
and when she heard it, she cast her arms about my neck and cried: "Why,
ne'er content, must you crave a new home and family? Are not two warm
hearths yours to sit at, and the love and care of two faithful house-
wives; and are you not the father and counsellor, not alone of your
nephews and nieces, but of their parents likewise?" All this she said in
an overflow of sisterly love; and if it comforted me, as I here make
record of it, by reason that I sorely needed such good words, if I here
recall how sad life often seemed to me.
Nay, nay! It was sweet, heavenly sweet, and worthy of all thanksgiving
that I, who of the three Schopper links was so far the most humbly
gifted, was suffered by Fate to be of some use to the other two, and even
to their children and grandchildren, and to help in adding to their well-
being. In this--insomuch I may say with pride--in this I have had all
good-speed; thus my life's labor has not been in vain, and I may call my
lot a happy one. And thus I likewise have proved the truth of old Adam
Heyden's saying, that he who does most for other folks at the same time
does the best for himself.
THE END.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
Ever creep in where true love hath found a nest--(jealousy)
One who stood in the sun must need cast a shadow on other folks
We each and all are waiting