Wolf now quietly informed him what offer Dr. Hiltner, as syndic of
Ratisbon, had made him in the name of the Council.

"And you?" asked the confessor anxiously.

"I declined it most positively," replied Wolf, "although it would have
suited my taste to stand at the head of the musical life in my native
city."

"Because you prefer to remain in the service of her Majesty Queen Mary?"
asked De Soto.

"No, your Eminence. Probably I shall soon leave the position near her
person. I rather feared that, as a good Catholic, I would find it
difficult to do my duty in the service of an evangelical employer."

"There is something in that. But what led the singer--you know whom I
mean--to the same house?"

Wolf could not restrain a slight smile, and he answered eagerly: "The
young lady and I grew up together under the same roof, your Eminence, and
she came for no other purpose than to bid me farewell. A lamb that
clings more firmly to the shepherd, and more strongly abhors heresy,
could scarcely be found in our Redeemer's flock."

"A lamb!" exclaimed the almoner with a slight touch of scorn. "What
are we to think of the foe of heresy who exchanges tender kisses with the
wife of the most energetic leader of Protestantism?"

"By your permission, your Eminence," Wolf asserted, "only the daughter