How delicate were the characters it contained!  His heart’s beloved had committed them to the paper with her own hand, and the knight’s blood surged hotly through his veins as he gazed at them.  It seemed as though he held in his hand a portion of herself and, obeying a hasty impulse, he kissed the letter.

Then he eagerly began to study the writing; he had never seen anything so delicate and peculiar in form.

The deciphering of the first lines in which, it is true, she called him a godly knight, but also informed him that his boldness had angered her, caused him much difficulty, and Biberli was often obliged to help.

Would she have rebuffed him so ungraciously with her lips as with the pen?  Was it possible that, on account of a request which every lover ventured to address to his lady, she would withdraw the favour which rendered him so happy?  Oh, yes, for innocence is delicate and sensitive.  She ought to have repelled him thus.  He was secretly rejoiced to see the sweet modesty which had so charmed him again proved.  He must know what the rest of the letter contained, and the ex-schoolmaster was at hand to give the information at once.

True, the hastily written sentences presented some difficulties even for Biberli, but after glancing through the whole letter, he exclaimed with a satisfied smile:  “Just as I expected!  At the first look one might think that the devout little lady was wholly unlike the rest of her sex, but on examining more closely she proves as much like any other beautiful girl as two peas.  With good reason and prudent caution she forbids the languishing knight to remain beneath her window, yet she will risk a pleasant little interview in some safe nook.  That is wise for so young a girl, and at the same time natural and womanly.  I don’t know why you knit your brows.  Since the first Eve came from a crooked rib, all her daughters prefer devious ways.  But first hear what she writes.”  Then, without heeding his master’s gloomy face, he began to read the note aloud.

Heinz listened intently, and after he had heard that the lady of his love did not desire to meet him alone, but only under the protection of a friend and her saint, when he heard her name her colour, it is true, but also express the expectation that, as a godly knight, he would fight for her sake in honour of the gracious Virgin, his face brightened.

During Biberli’s scoffing comments he had felt as if a tempest had hurled her pure image in the dust.  But now that he knew what she asked of him, it returned as a matter of course to its old place and, with a sigh of relief, he felt that he need not be ashamed of the emotions which this wonderful young creature had awakened in his soul.  She had opened her pious heart like a trusting sister to an older brother, and what he had seen there was something unusual—­things which had appeared sacred to him even when a child.  Since he took leave of her in the ball-room he had