already, and I would have expressed my joy as freely as heretofore but
that somewhat lay at my heart, and that was concerning my Ann. She was
not as she was wont to be; she was apt to suffer pains in her head, and
the blood had fled from her fresh cheeks. Nay, at her worst she was all
pale, and the sight of her thus cut me to the heart, so I gladly agreed
when Cousin Maud said that the little house by the river was doing her a
mischief, and the grievous care of her deaf-mute brother and the other
little ones, and that she lacked fresh air. And indeed her own parents
did not fail to mark it; but they lacked the means to obey the leech's
orders and to give Ann the good chance of a change to fresh forest air.

When my uncle had given his bidding, I made so bold as to beseech him
with coaxing words that he would bid her go with me. And if any should
deem that it was but a light matter to ask of a good-hearted old man that
he should harbor a fair young maid for a while, in a large and wealthy
house, he will be mistaken, inasmuch as my uncle was wont, at all times
and in all places, to have regard first to his wife's goodwill and
pleasure.

This lady was a Behaim, of the same noble race as my mother, whom God
keep; and what great pride she set on her ancient and noble blood she had
plainly proven in the matter of her son's love-match. This matter had in
truth no less heavily stricken his father's soul, but he had held his
peace, inasmuch as he could never bring himself to play the lord over his
wife; albeit he was in other matters a strict and thorough man; nay a
right stern master, who ruled the host of foresters and hewers, warders
and beaters, bee-keepers and woodmen who were under him with prudence and
straitness. And yet my aunt Jacoba was a feeble, sickly woman, who
rarely went forth to drink in God's fresh air in the lordly forest,
having lost the use of her feet, so that she must be borne from her couch