three daughters were left in moderate circumstances. The two older girls
had taken the veil, while the youngest, a merry little maiden, lived with
her mother.

But the Emperor Rudolph had by no means forgotten the Lady Wendula and
her dead husband, and with the utmost kindness requested her to send him
her only son as soon as he was able to wield a sword and lance. He
intended to repay Heinz for the love and loyalty his father had shown him
through his whole life.

"And the Hapsburg," Biberli added, "had kept his word."

In a few years his young lord was ready for a position at court.

Gotthard von Ramsweg, the Lady Wendula's older brother, a valiant knight,
went to his sister's home after her husband's death to manage the estate
and instruct his nephew in all the exercises of knighthood. Soon the
strong, agile, fearless son of a brave father, under the guidance of such
a teacher, excelled many an older youth. He was barely eighteen when the
Lady Wendula sent him to his imperial master. She had given him, with
her blessing, fiery horses, the finest pieces of his father's suits of
mail, an armour bearer, and a groom to take with him on his journey; and
his uncle had agreed to accompany him to Lausanne, where the Emperor
Rudolph was then holding his court to discuss with Pope Gregory--the
tenth of the name--arrangements for a new crusade. But nothing had yet
been said about Biberli. On the evening before the young noble's
departure, however, a travelling minstrel came to the castle, who sang
of the deeds of former crusaders, and alluded very touchingly to the
loneliness of the wounded knight, Herr Weisenthau, on his couch of pain.
Then the Lady Wendula remembered her eldest son, and the fraternal