for whom he was wanted and how serious was the injury, he showed the most
praiseworthy haste and, with the attendant who carried his surgical
instruments and medicines, was standing beside the sufferer's couch
almost as soon as the wounded man.

The result of his examination was anything but gratifying.

He would gladly do all that his skill would permit for the knight, but in
so serious a fracture of the skull only the special mercy of Heaven could
preserve life.

Dr. Doll, the best physician in Ratisbon, assisted him with the
bandaging, and old Ursel had suddenly recovered her lost strength.

When the maid-servant asked timidly if she should not call Wawerl down
from upstairs, she shrugged her shoulders with a movement which the one-
eyed girl understood, and which signified anything but acceptance of the
proposal.

Yet Barbara would perhaps have rendered most efficacious assistance.

True, she was still sleeping the sound slumber of wearied youth.
Directly after her return from her imperial lover, she had gone to rest
in the little chamber behind the bow-windowed room. It looked out upon
the courtyard, and was protected from the noise of the street. When she
heard sounds in the house, she thought that old Ursel was ill and they
were summoning the doctor. For a moment she felt an impulse to rise and
go downstairs, but she did not like to leave her warm bed, and Wolf would
manage without her. She had always lacked patience to wait upon the
sick, and Ursel had grown so harsh and disagreeable since she joined the