Lady Wendula had remembered these letters, and when she spoke of them
he replied that since he had partially verified what the T and St had
announced to people concerning his character, and to which the letters
had themselves incited him, he no longer needed them.

Then he lapsed into silence, and at last, as the result of his
meditations, told his mistress that there was something unusual about his
insignificant self, because he earnestly desired to practise the virtues
whose possession he claimed before the eyes of the people. He had
usually found the worst wine in the taverns with showy signs, and when
the Lady Wendula's daughter had embroidered those letters on the cloth
for him, what he furnished the guests was also of very doubtful quality.
On his sick bed he had been obliged to place no curb upon his proneness
to reflection, and in doing so had discovered that there was no virtue
which can be owned like a house or a steed, but that each must be
constantly gained anew, often amidst toil and suffering. One thing,
however, was now firmly established in his belief: that his favourite
virtues were really the fairest of all, because--one will answer for all
--man never felt happier than when he had succeeded in keeping his
fidelity inviolate and maintaining his steadfastness. He had learned,
too, from Fraulein Eva that the Redeemer Himself promised the crown of
eternal life to those who remain faithful unto death. In this confidence
he awaited the jailers, who perhaps would come very soon to lead him into
the most joyless of all apartments--the Nuremberg torture chamber.

Then he told the ladies what he knew of the love which united Heinz and
Eva. The four Fs which he had advised his master to heed in his wooing
--Family, Figure, Favor, and Fortune--he no longer deemed the right
touch-tones. Whilst he was forced to lie idly here he had found that