"You are a stranger to the Swiss knight, and when we surprised you with him you had not come to a meeting--I know that full well.

But if so true and warm a love unites you to young Eysvogel, how does it happen that your joyous courage is so little damped by his father's denial and his own unhappy deed, which at this time could scarcely escape punishment?
You do not seem frivolous, and yet--" "Yet," replied Els with a pleasant smile, "many things have made a deeper impression.

We are not all alike, Countess, yet there is much in your nature which must render it easy for you to understand me; for, Countess----" "Call me Cordula," interrupted the girl in a tone of friendly entreaty.
"Why should I deny that I am fond of you?
and at the risk of making you vain, I will betray----" "Well ?" asked Els eagerly.
"That the splendid old leech described you to me exactly as I had imagined you," was the reply.

"You were one of those, he said, whose mere presence beside a sick-bed was as good as medicine, and so you are; and, dear Jungfrau Els, this salutary medicine benefits me." "If I am to dispense with the 'Countess,'" replied the other, "you must spare me the 'Jungfrau.' Nursing you will give me all the more pleasure on account of the warm gratitude----" "Never mind that," interrupted Cordula.

"But please look at the bandage, beneath which the flesh burns and aches more than is necessary, and then go on with your explanation." Els examined the countess's arm, and then applied a household remedy whose use she had learned from the wife of Herr Pfinzing, her Aunt Christine, who was familiar with the healing art.