Lene is a young woman Goldmund sees in the window of a house in a plague-ridden town. He invites her to travel with him and Robert, which she agrees to do, delighted to get away from the death all around her. The three find an abandoned cottage in the woods and live there, which leads Lene to believe she and Goldmund will stay together permanently. When she realizes he has other plans, she is crestfallen. After a plague-ridden man attempts to rape her and bites her, she contracts the disease and dies. Goldmund burns the cottage, with Lene's corpse lying inside it, before continuing his wanderings.
