In his indignation he went back to Schorlin Castle, which was always open to him, and he arrived just at the right time.

His present master’s older brother, whose health had always been delicate, being unable to follow the profession of arms, was on the eve of departing to attend the university at Paris, accompanied by the chaplain and an equerry.  When the Lady Wendula, his master’s mother, learned what an excellent reputation Biberli had gained as a schoolmaster, she persuaded her husband to send him as esquire with their sickly son.

In Paris there was at first no lack of pleasures of every description, especially as they met among the king’s mercenaries many a dissolute Swiss knight and man at arms.  His foster-brother, to his sorrow, was unable to resist the temptations which Satan scatters in Paris as the peasants elsewhere sow rye and oats, and the young knight was soon attacked, by a severe illness.  Then Biberli’s gay life ended too.  For months he did not leave his foster-brother’s sick bed a single hour, by day or night, until death released him from his suffering.

On his return to Castle Schorlin he found many changes; the old knight had been called away from earth a few days before his son’s death, and Heinz Schorlin, his present master, had fallen heir to castle and lands.  This, however, was no great fortune, for the large estates of the Schorlin family were burdened by heavy debts.

The dead lord, as countryman, boon companion, and brother in arms of the Emperor Rudolph, had been always ready to place his sword at his service, and whenever a great tournament was held he never failed to be present.  So the property had been consumed, and the Lady Wendula and her son and three daughters were left in moderate circumstances.  The two older girls had taken the veil, while the youngest, a merry little maiden, lived with her mother.

But the Emperor Rudolph had by no means forgotten the Lady Wendula and her dead husband, and with the utmost kindness requested her to send him her only son as soon as he was able to wield a sword and lance.  He intended to repay Heinz for the love and loyalty his father had shown him through his whole life.

“And the Hapsburg,” Biberli added, “had kept his word.”

In a few years his young lord was ready for a position at court.

Gotthard von Ramsweg, the Lady Wendula’s older brother, a valiant knight, went to his sister’s home after her husband’s death to manage the estate and instruct his nephew in all the exercises of knighthood.  Soon the strong, agile, fearless son of a brave father, under the guidance of such a teacher, excelled many an older youth.  He was barely eighteen when the Lady Wendula sent him to his imperial master.  She had given him, with her blessing, fiery horses, the finest pieces of his father’s suits of mail, an armour bearer, and a groom to take with him on his journey; and his uncle