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.

Eva felt painfully how incapable of rendering assistance the others considered her, and her pride forbade her to urge it upon them.  Even her Aunt Kunigunde scarcely asked her a question.  It seemed to the abbess that the right hour for a decisive enquiry had not yet come, and wise Aunt Christine never talked with her younger niece upon religious subjects unless she herself requested her to do so.

The mass for the dead was to be celebrated at an unusually early hour, for another, which would be attended by the whole city and all the distinguished persons, knights, and nobles who had come to the Reichstag, was to begin four hours before noon.  This was for Prince Hartmann, who had been snatched away so prematurely.

The Ortliebs, with all their kindred and servants, the members of the Council with their wives and daughters, and many burghers and burgher women, assembled soon after sunrise in St. Sebald’s Church.