and active kindness. When the noble couple came down Katterle meant to
throw herself on her knees at their feet and beseech them to have mercy
on her betrothed husband. The sisters and Cordula comforted her with the
promise that they would commend Biberli's cause to the magistrate; but as
they went upstairs they again expressed to one another the fear that
Katterle herself would sooner or later follow the man she loved to
prison.

They found Herr Pfinzing and his wife in the sitting-room.

Katterle was not wrong in expecting kindly help from this lady, for a
more benevolent face than hers could scarcely be imagined, and, more
over, Fran Christine certainly did not lack strength to do what she
deemed right. Though not quite so broad as her short, extremely
corpulent husband, she surpassed him in height by several inches, and
time had transformed the pretty, slender, modest girl into a majestic
woman. The slight arch of the nose, the lofty brow, the light down on
the upper lip, and the deep voice even gave her a somewhat imperious
aspect. Had it not been for the kind, faithful eyes, and an extremely
pleasant expression about the mouth, one might have wondered how she
could succeed in inspiring everyone at the first glance with confidence
in her helpful kindness of heart.

Her grey pug had also been brought with her. How could an animal supply
the place of beloved human beings? Yet the pug had become necessary to
her since her son, like so many other young men who belonged to patrician
Nuremberg families, had fallen in the battle of Marchfield, and her
daughter had accompanied her husband to his home in Augsburg. The
onerous duties of her husband's office compelled him to leave her alone a
great deal, and even in her extremely active life there were lonely hours