motherless child's head to her bosom, and let her weep her fill there,
whilst the magistrate said to Sir Boemund: "And Eva Ortlieb also
witnessed this hideous scene, yet the delicate young creature
endured it?"

Altrosen nodded assent, adding eagerly, as if some memory rose vividly
before him: "She often looked distressed by these horrors, but usually--
how shall I express it?--usually calm and content."

"Content," repeated the magistrate thoughtfully. Then, suddenly
straightening his short, broad figure, he thrust his little fat hand into
a fold of the knight's doublet, exclaiming: "Boemund, do you want to know
the most difficult riddle that the Lord gives to us men to solve? It is
--take heed--a woman's soul."

"Yes," replied Altrosen curtly; the word sounded like a sigh.

While speaking, his dark eye was bent on Cordula, whose head still rested
on Frau Christine's breast.

Then, adjusting the bandage which since the fire had been wound around
his forehead and his dark hair, he continued in a tone of explanation:
"Count von Montfort sent me, when it grew dark, to accompany his daughter
home. From your little castle I was directed to the hospital, where I
found her amongst the horrible women. She had struggled faithfully
against her loathing and disgust, but when I arrived her power of
resistance was already beginning to fail. Fortunately the sedan-chair
was there, for she felt that her feet would scarcely carry her back. I
ordered one to be prepared for Jungfrau Ortlieb, though I remembered the
dying woman who kept her. As if the matter were some easy task, she