Similar reflections occupied her mind until she saw Heinz Schorlin kneeling, half concealed by a pillar, behind Boemund Altrosen.  He had learned from Biberli at what hour the consecration would take place, and his honest heart bade him attend the service for the dead woman who had so much to forgive him.

The Ortlieb sisters did not see him, but Cordula unconsciously shook her head as she gazed.  Was this grave man, so absorbed in devotion that he did not vouchsafe those who surrounded him even a single glance, the Heinz whose delightful gaiety had captivated her heart?  The linden, with foliage withered by the autumn blasts, was more like the same tree in the spring when the birds were singing in its boughs, than yonder absorbed supplicant resembled the bold Heinz of a few days ago.  The old mocker, Chamberlain Wiesenthau, was right when he told her and her father that morning that the gay Swiss had been transformed by the miracle which had befallen him, like the Saul of holy writ, in the twinkling of an eye, into a Paul.  The calendar-makers were already preparing to assign a day to St. Schorlin.

But she ought not to have joined in the boisterous laugh with which her father rewarded the old slanderer’s news.  No!  The knight’s experience must have made a deeper impression than the others suspected.

Perhaps little Eva’s love would result in her seeking with the sisters of St. Clare, and Heinz with the Franciscans, peace and a loftier passion.  She was certainly to be pitied if love had taken as firm a hold upon her heart as Cordula thought she had perceived.

Again her kind heart throbbed with tender sympathy, and when the sisters left the sedan chairs which had brought them back to the house, and Cordula met Eva in the corridor, she held out her hand with frank cordiality, saying, “Clasp it trustingly, girl.  True, you do not value it much, but it is offered to no one to whom Cordula does not mean kindly.”

Eva, taken by surprise, obeyed her request.  How frank and kindly her grey eyes were!  Cordula herself must be so, too, and, obeying a hasty impulse, she nodded with friendly warmth; then, as if ashamed of her change of mood, hurried past her up the stairs.

The following day had been appointed for the mass for the dead in St. Sebald’s Church.

Els had told Eva that the countess had seen Heinz Schorlin at the consecration.  The news pleased her, and she expressed her joy so animatedly and spoke so confidently of the knight’s love that Els felt anxious.  But she did not have courage to disturb her peace of mind, and her father’s two sisters, the abbess, and Herr Pfinzing’s wife, also said nothing to Eva concerning the future as they helped Els to arrange the dead woman’s clothing, which was to be given to the poor, decide to what persons or charitable institutions it should be sent, and listened to her account of the facts that formed the foundation of the slanders against her, which were being more loudly and universally discussed throughout the city.