Within these walls she must fade, perhaps die and return to dust.  In spite of all the warnings, representations, entreaties, and promises of those who—­she gratefully perceived it—­meant well toward her, she persisted in her desire to be dismissed, to live out of doors as she had always done.  At last they paid her what was due, but she accepted only the Emperor’s bounty, proudly refusing Lienhard Groland’s money, earnestly as she was urged to add it to the other and to the viaticum bestowed by the nuns.

CHAPTER VII.

The April sun was shining brightly when the convent gates closed behind Kuni.  The lindens in the square were already putting forth young leaves, the birds were singing, and her heart swelled more joyously than it had done for many years.

True, the cough which had tormented her all winter attacked her in the shady cloister, but she had learned to use her wooden foot, and with a cane in one hand and her little bundle in the other she moved sturdily on.  After making her pilgrimage to Compostella, she intended to seek her old employer, Loni.  Perhaps he could give her a place as crier, or if the cough prevented that, in collecting the money or training the children.  He was a kind-hearted man.  If he were even tolerably prosperous he would certainly let her travel with the band, and give the girl who was injured in his service the bit of food she required.  Besides, in former days, when she scattered gold with lavish hands, he had predicted what had now befallen her, and when he left Augsburg he had asked the nuns to tell her that if she should ever be in want she must remember Loni.

With the Emperor’s five heller pounds, and the two florins which she had received as a viaticum from the convent, she could journey a long distance through the world; for there were plenty of carriers and travellers with carts and wagons who would take her for a trifle, and the vagabonds on the highway rarely left people like her in the lurch.

Probably, in former days, she had looked forward to the future with greater strength and different expectations, yet, even as it was, in spite of the cough and the painful pricking in her scars, she found it pleasant so long as she was free and could follow whatever way she chose.  She knew the city, and limped through the streets and alleys toward the tavern where the strolling players usually lodged.

On the way she met a gentleman in a suit of light armour, whom she recognised in the distance as the Knight of Neckerfels, who had been paying court to her before her fall.  He was walking alone and looked her directly in the face, but he did not have the slightest idea that he had met madcap Kuni.  It was only too evident that he supposed her to be a total stranger.  Yet it would have been impossible for any one to recognise her.