Never had he been so lucky in gambling as last night in the Duke of Pomerania’s quarters.  Biberli’s advice to trust to the two and five had been repeatedly tested, and besides the estate of Tannenreuth, which Siebenburg had staked against all his winnings, he had brought home more gold than he had ever seen before.

Yet he had gone to rest in a mood by no means joyous.  It was painful to him to deprive any one of his lands and home.  He had even resisted accepting Siebenburg’s reckless stake, but his obstinate persistence and demand could not be opposed.  The calumnies by which the “Mustache” had assailed the innocent Els Ortlieb haunted him, and many others had shown their indignation against the traducer.  Probably thirty gentlemen at the gaming table had been witnesses of these incidents, and if, to-morrow, it was in everybody’s mouth that he, Heinz, had been caught at mid-night in an interview with the elder beautiful Ortlieb E, the fault was his, and he would be burdened with the guilt of having sullied the honour and name of a pure maiden, the betrothed bride of an estimable man.

And Eva!

When he woke in the morning his first thought had been of her.  She had seemed more desirable than ever.  But his relatives at home, and the counsel Biberli had urged upon him during their nocturnal wandering, had constantly interposed between him and the maiden whom he so ardently loved.  Besides, it seemed certain that the passion which filled his heart must end unhappily.  Else what was the meaning of this unexampled good luck at the gaming table?  The torture of this thought had kept him awake a long time.  Then he had sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep.  In the morning Biberli, full of delight, roused him, and displayed three large bags filled with florins and zecchins, the gains of the night before.

The servant had begged to be permitted to count the golden blessing, which in itself would suffice to buy the right to use the bridge from the city of Luzerne twice over, and the best thing about which was that it would restore the peace of mind of his lady mother at Schorlin Castle.

Now, in the name of all the saints, let him continue his life of liberty, and leave the somnambulist to walk over the roofs, and suffer Altrosen, who had worn her colour so patiently, to wed the countess.

But how long the servitor’s already narrow face became when Heinz, with a grave resolution new to Biberli, answered positively that no ducats would stray from these bags to Schorlin Castle.  If, last night, anxiety had burdened his mind like the corpse of a murdered man, these gains weighed upon his soul like the loathsome body of a dead cat.  Never in his whole life had he felt so poor as with this devil’s money.  The witch-bait which Biberli had given him with the two and the five had drawn it out of the pockets of his fellow gamblers.  He would be neither a cut-purse nor a dealer in the black arts.  The wages of hell should depart as quickly as they came.  While speaking, he seized the second largest bag and gave it to the servant, exclaiming:  “Now keep your promise to Katterle like an honest man.  The poor thing will have a hard time at her employer’s.  I make but one condition:  you are to remain in my service.  I can’t do without you.”