Heinz turned to Eva, to protest that he was here to atone for the wrong he had done her, but the Emperor would not permit him to speak.  It was important to silence at once any objection which could be made against the marriage by ecclesiastical and secular foes; therefore, eagerly as he desired to enjoy the happiness of the young pair, he forced himself to maintain the expression of grave dissatisfaction which he had assumed, and ordered a page to summon the imperial magistrate, the First Losunger of the city, and his protonotary, who were all amongst the guests, and, lastly, the Duchess Agnes.

He could read the latter’s child eyes like the clear characters of a book, and neither the radiant glow on her face at Heinz Schorlin’s entrance nor her hostile glance at the Countess von Montfort had escaped his notice.  Both her affection and her jealous resentment should serve him.

The young Bohemian now thought herself certain that Heinz Schorlin, and no other, was Cordula’s chosen knight; the countess, at his entrance, had exclaimed to her father loudly enough, “Here he is again!”

When the princess stood before the Emperor, with the gentlemen whom he had summoned, he asked her to decide the important question.

“Yonder knight—­he motioned towards Heinz—­had been guilty of an act which could scarcely be justified.  Though he had wooed the daughter of a noble Nuremberg family, and even forced his way into her father’s house, he had apparently forgotten the poor girl.

“And,” cried the young wife indignantly, “the unprincipled man has not only made a declaration of love to another, but formally asked her hand.”

“That would seem like him,” said the Emperor.  “But we must not close our ears to the charge of the Nuremberg Honourable.  His daughter, a lovely, modest maiden of excellent repute, has been seriously injured by Heinz Schorlin, and so I beg you, child, to tell us, with the keen appreciation of the rights and duties of a lady which is peculiar to you, what sentence, in your opinion, should be imposed upon Sir Heinz Schorlin to atone for the wrong he has done to the young Nuremberg maiden.”

He beckoned to the protonotary, as he spoke, to command him to show Ernst Ortlieb’s accusation to the duchess, but she seemed to have practised the art of reading admirably; for, more quickly than it would otherwise have appeared possible to grasp the meaning of even the first sentences, she exclaimed, drawing herself up to her full height and gazing at Cordula with haughty superiority:  “There is but one decision here, if the morality of this noble city is to be preserved and the maiden daughters of her patrician families secured henceforward from the misfortune of being a plaything for the wanton levity of reckless heart breakers.  But this decision, on which I firmly and resolutely insist, as lady and princess, in the name of my whole sex and of all knightly men who, with me, prize the reverence and inviolable fidelity due a lady, is:  Sir Heinz Schorlin must ask the honourable gentleman who, with full justice, brought this complaint to your imperial Majesty, for his daughter’s hand and, if the sorely injured maiden vouchsafes to accept it, lead her to the marriage altar before God and the world.”