dashing youth whom the dark-eyed hussy had been so swift to choose from
among them all. I, indeed, tried to make the best of the matter, but she
gave me to understand that, if her lover had not done himself a mischief,
it had been her intent to question him that very day as to whether he was
in earnest with his love-pledges, or would rather that she should give
him back his ring and his word. All this she spoke without a tear or a
sigh, with steadfast purpose; and already I began, for my part, to doubt
of the truth of her love; and I told her this plainly. Thereupon she
clasped me to her, and while the tears gathered and sparkled in her great
eyes, expounded to me all the matter; and in truth it was all I should
myself have said in her place. She, of simple birth, would enter the
circle of her betters on sufferance, and her new friends would, of a
certainty, not do her more honor than her own husband. On his manner of
treating her therefore would depend what measure of respect she might
look for as his wife. And so long as their promise to marry was a
secret, she would have him show, whether to her alone or before all the
world, that he held her consent as of no less worth than that of the
wealthiest and highest born heiress.

All this she spoke in hot haste while her cheeks glowed red. I saw the
blue veins swell on her pure brow, and can never forget the image of her
as she raised her tearful eyes to Heaven and pressing her hands on her
panting bosom cried: "To go forth with him to want or death is as
nothing! But never will I be led into shame, not even by him."

When presently I left her, after speaking many loving words to her, and
holding her long in my arms, she was ready to forgive him; but she held
to this: "Not a word, not a glance, not a kiss, until Herdegen had vowed
that yesterday's offence should be the first and last she should ever
suffer."