Whereupon what came over me I know not.  Whether it were that the blackness and the terror in my bosom were too great a contrast with the gladness and splendor about me, or what it was that so tightly gripped my heart, I cannot tell to this day; but I know full well that all which had oppressed me since Abenberger denounced me came rushing down on my soul as it were, and that I burst into tears and cried out “Yes, grandmother dear, I have gone through a dreadful, terrible hour!  I have had to withstand the attack of a madman, and hear a horrible curse from his lips.  But it is not that alone, no, verily and indeed!  I can, for that matter, make any man to know his place, were he twice the man that little Abenberger is; and as to curses, I learnt from a child to mind my dear father’s saying:  ’Curse me if you will!  What matters it if I may earn God’s blessing!’”

“And you have earned it, honestly earned it,” quoth she, drawing me down to kiss my forehead.  Hereupon I ceased weeping and bid my heart take fresh courage, and went on, still much moved:  “It is nought but a woman’s shameless craft that troubles me so sorely.  Ursula’s hate hangs over my brothers like a black storm-cloud; and on my way hither meseemed I saw full plainly that the ransom is not the end of the matter.  Nay, if we had twice so much, yet Herdegen will never come home alive if we fail to cross Ursula’s scheming; has she not cause to fear the worst, if ever he comes home in safety?  But where is the envoy who would dare so much?  Kunz lies wounded in a strange land, Young Kubbeling would doubtless be ready to cross the seas, notwithstanding his fever, but good-will would not serve him, so little is he skilled in such matters.  Our other friends are over old, or forced to stay in Nuremberg.  Thus do matters stand.  What then is left to us—­to Ann and me, Grandmother?  I ask you—­what, save to act on our first and only wise intent?  And that which it is our part to do, which we may not put off one day longer than we need, is to take ship, under the grace of the Blessed Virgin, and ourselves to carry fresh courage to those who are nearest and dearest to us.  Of a truth I am but an orphaned maid; my lover and my guardian are both dead; and yet do I not fear to depart for a land beyond seas; true and faithful love is the guiding-star which shall lead us, and we have seen in Ann how true is the Apostle’s saying that love conquereth all things.  Any creature who stands straight on a pair of strong legs, and who is sound in soul and body, and who looks up to Heaven and trusts in God’s grace with joyful assurance, even if it be but a weak maiden, may rescue a fellow-creature in need; and I, thank God, am sound and whole.  Nay, and I will even pledge my word that I will tear asunder the subtlest web which Ursula may spin, in especial if I have Ann’s keen wit to aid me.  So I will go forth, and away, through frost and snow, to find my brethren; and if his pains keep Kubbeling at home in spite of his catskins, and if Master Ulsenius should forbid Eppelein to ride so far, yet will we find some other to be our faithful squire.”