“No, Your Majesty,” Heinz here interrupter without raising his eyes.  “What was left of the money would have more than sufficed to cover the sum required——­”

“I thought so!” exclaimed the sovereign with out letting him finish; “for a young knight who like a great lord, bestows a fine estate upon the pious Franciscans, certainly need only command his treasurer to open the strong box——­”

“You are mocking me, Your Majesty,” Heinz quietly interposed.  “You are doubtless well aware whence the golden curse came to me.  I thrust it aside like noxious poison, and if I am reluctant to use it to buy, as it were, what is dearest and most sacred to me, indeed it does not spring from parsimony, for I had resolved to offer the two remaining purses to the devout Sisters of St. Clare and the zealous Minorite Brothers, one of the best of whom laboured earnestly for the salvation of my soul.”

“That is right, my son,” fell from the Emperor’s lips in a tone of warm approval.  “If the gold benefits the holy poverty of these pious Brothers and Sisters, the devil’s gift may easily be transformed into a divine blessing.  You both—­” he gazed affectionately at Heinz and Eva as he spoke—­“have, as it were, deserted the cloister, and owe it compensation.  But your depriving yourself of your golden treasure, my friend—­for two hundred silver marks are no trifle to a young knight—­puts so different a face upon this matter that—­that——­” Here he lowered his voice and continued with affectionate mirthfulness—­“that a friend must determine to do what he can for him.  True, my gallant Heinz, I see that your future father-in-law, the other Nuremberg Honourables, and even your mother, are ready to pay the sum; but he who is most indebted to you holds fast this privilege, and that man am I, my brave champion!  What you did for your Emperor and his best work, the peace of the country, deserves a rich reward and, thanks to the saints, I have something which will discharge my debt.  The Swabian fief of Reichenbach became vacant.  It has a strong citadel, from which we command you to maintain the peace of the country and overthrow robber knights.  This fief shall be yours.  You can enjoy it with your dear wife.  It must belong to your children and children’s children forever; for that a Schorlin should be born who would be unworthy of such a fief and faithless to his lord and Emperor seems to me impossible.  Three villages and broad forests, with fields and meadows, pertain to the estate.  As lord of Reichenbach, it will be easy for you to pay the blood money, if your father-in-law is not too importunate a creditor.”

The latter certainly would not be that, and it cost Ernst Ortlieb no effort to bend the knee gratefully before the kindly monarch.

The Emperor Rudolph accepted the homage, but he clasped the young lord of Reichenbach to his heart like a beloved son, and as he placed Eva’s hand in his, and she raised her beautiful face to him, he stooped and kissed her with fatherly kindness.