The knight nodded assent, and Biberli went on.  “Home affairs are not going as they ought.  Though your uncle’s hair is already grey, the knightly blood in his veins makes him grasp the sword too quickly.  The quarrel about the bridge-toll has broken out again more violently than ever.  The townsfolk drove off our cattle as security and, by way of punishment, your uncle seized the goods of their merchants, and they came to blows.  True, the Schorlin retainers forced back the men from town with bloody heads, but if the feud lasts much longer we cannot hold out, for the others have the money, and since the war cry has sounded less frequently there has been no lack of men at arms who will serve any one who pays.  Besides, the townsfolk can appeal to the treaty of peace, and if your uncle continues to seize the merchant’s wares they will apply to the imperial magistrate, and then: 

“Then,” cried Heinz eagerly, “then the time will have come for me to leave the court and return home to look after my rights.”

“A single arm, no matter how strong it may be, can avail nothing there, my lord,” Biberli protested earnestly.  “Your Uncle Ramsweg has scarcely his peer as a leader, but even were it not so you could not bring yourself to send the old man home and put yourself in his place.  Besides, it would be as unwise as it is unjust.  What is lacking at home is money to pay the town what it demands for the use of the bridge, or to increase the number of your men, and therefore: 

“Well?” asked Heinz eagerly.

“Therefore seek the Countess von Montfort, who favours you above every one else,” was the reply; “for with her all you need will be yours without effort.  Her dowry will suffice to settle twenty such bridge dues, and if it should come to a fray, the brave huntress will ride to the field at your side with helmet and spear.  Which of the four Fs did Countess Cordula von Montfort ever lack?”

“The four Fs?” asked Heinz, listening intently.  “The Fs,” explained the ex-pedagogue, “are the four letters which marriageable knights should consider.  They are:  Family, figure, favour, and fortune.  But hold your cap on!  What a hot blast this is, as if the storm were coming straight from the jaws of hell.  And the dust!  Where did all these withered leaves come from in the month of June?  They are whirling about as if the foliage had already fallen.  There are big raindrops driving into my face too B-r-r!  You need all four Fs.  No rain will wash a single one of them away, and I hope it won’t efface the least word of my speech either.  What, according to human foresight, could be lacking to secure the fairest happiness, if you and the countess—­”

“Love,” replied Heinz Schorlin curtly.

“That will come of itself,” cried Biberli, as if sure of what he was saying, “if the bride is Countess Cordula.”

“Possibly,” answered the knight, “but the heart must not be filled by another’s image.”