certainty to the good nuns, who never wearied praying for help from any native or foreign protectors. Should then another Church Counsellor appear from Heidelberg and order the Domina and her flock to set forth their complaints, the new negotiations produced about as much result as had the old. Either the gentleman was received in solemn unbroken silence or the old ladies all shrieked at him at one and the same time, so that he could only report in Heidelberg that they wished for a renewal of the former status and met with truly diabolical opposition the word of God. Otto Heinrich now appointed a special Preacher to convert them, but they protested against this breach of conventual propriety. The Preacher occupied the pulpit during the principal church service, but only preached to empty benches, and scarcely had he left the church than the nuns trooped in with holy water and incense, and consecrating the church anew, they held a service of their own. The Preacher closed the church, but they sang all the more lustily in the refectory. The Inspector confiscated their song-books, they looked in all the corners for old ones and shrieked to Heaven till their wearied old throats gave out. These books were likewise taken away, but they sang from memory. Sometimes they read the Horæ in one room, sometimes in another by closed doors, and their "Salve Regina" never sounded louder or shriller than when the Inspector and Preacher raged outside and demanded admission in the name of the Count Palatine. When the two gentlemen had thus been beaten off, then the Domina and her ladies sent a complaint to the Kurfürst, that the men, whom he had introduced into their nunnery, had attempted to force their way into the nuns' cells to spite their virginal chastity, honor and other laudable qualifications. Out of revenge the Inspector took the clapper from the bell and cut the ropes so that they could no longer toll the "tempora." Then arose a loud wailing and sobbing all through the convent, and the Inspector grinned as contentedly as if he heard the most delectable music, but in the evening when he climbed into his bed, he found it as wet as if the rain had poured through the roof, and when he strode down the steps the next morning in a rage, to insist upon an inquiry in the matter of this outrage, he trod on some peas which caused him to fall so heavily as to produce a painful lump. This mode of life seemed to him so miserable and unprofitable that he resigned the place and returned to Heidelberg. As the Preacher was now left alone he comforted himself in his solitary chamber at the furthermost end of the convent, with a beaker of wine; but the Domina took note of every little dissipation which he thus enjoyed, and drawing up an affidavit which was signed by many unimpeachable witnesses of both sexes, sent it off to the Chancellory at Heidelberg, who reproved the poor man so severely, that his life likewise became a burden to him. Otto Heinrich had considered the struggle carried on under his eyes in the light of an excellent joke, and whenever he was informed of any new tribulation undergone by his Inspector, the stout lord, who measured three feet and a half across the back from shoulder to shoulder, laughed so loud, that the large dining room of the new Court shook again. But he was succeeded by Frederic III., who looked more seriously at the "damnable bigotry of the Mass." He caused certain of the most obstinate among these female insurgents to be seized and sent to the hospital at Dilsberg in order to nurse the sick soldiers of the fortress. Old Domina Brigitta was also deprived of her pastoral staff, and the prioress Sabina of Pfalz-Zweibrücken was only permitted to retain her position on promising to keep the peace, and because she happened to be a favorite cousin of the Kurfürst. The reform of the Church and Convent was however now carried on in the most ruthless manner. The ladies had to give way to violence as they could not do otherwise. Outwardly the Stift preserved an evangelical appearance, mass was no longer celebrated, the songs in honor of the Mother of God and of the Saints were heard no more, the preaching was protestant, and the elements were distributed in both forms. The number of schoolchildren was increased, and the nuns were compelled to teach them reading, writing, and the female accomplishments. This the new Abbess had to permit, but at heart the older generation of nuns remained Romanists and privately hoped for better days.

The new Domina herself was a kind-hearted, rather old-fashioned lady. She was in reality as catholic as the others, but she loved peace and wisely avoided a conflict with those in power. When the Pfalz inclined from Lutheranism to Calvinism, public attention became less and less directed to the Stift. The ladies now hoped to be able to return to their former practices if they could only get rid of the Preacher. Domina Sabina managed at last, owing to her influence with the Church Council of the Kurfürst, to have the old drunkard as she called him dismissed from his office. To avoid fresh conflicts, the Kurfürst ordered that the ladies should choose from among the clergy of the town the preacher most acceptable to them. Long had they consulted and hesitated, at length they elected Master Laurenzano of the College of the Sapientia, who was capable of imparting instruction in the foreign languages to the young ladies committed to their charge. "My pious cousin has chosen the youngest and handsomest of the lot," sneered the Kurfürst, as he nevertheless granted their wish. "They will however thus become quicker reconciled to the new doctrines," he thought. This time he had not seen the matter in the right light, and however sharp the old gentleman appeared, in this case he had been taken in. In the meanwhile he gave orders that Master Laurenzano should at times preach in the castle, "so that one might taste the food on which the Dames were fed, for this was not the affair of a cap full of flesh, but of the eternal welfare of the soul."

Paul's conversion to Calvinism was something new to Master Felix, and the rôle of preacher appeared to him all the more grievous, as he had gathered from Pigavettas' remarks, that the new faith had only been assumed, to spy on the heretics. The education in the Jesuits' college had ever been in Felix's eyes a fate attended with all good to himself, but with much tribulation to Paul. Thus together with his love for his younger brother, there existed a feeling of pity and commiseration, which rendered him kind and yielding towards the excitable young Priest, who often aroused his mental indignation, but also called for much sympathy. Whether Paul had taken oaths binding to the order, Felix knew as little, as what to make out of his part of calvinistic preacher. "Poveretto," he sighed, "I have never understood this reserved brother of mine, nevertheless Erastus' way of speaking, showed me plainly, that something still exists to be comforted, perhaps cured. Poor Paolo, yonder planetary Deities must have formed a complex conjunction at thy birth."

Thus saying Felix threw his cloak over his shoulders and pulled the brim of his Raphael cap well down so as to protect his eyes from the sun. He moreover began to hum his favorite song, but the Nina, Ninetta, Nina, involuntarily stuck in his throat as he entered the gloomy gateway of the watch-tower. "One goes in and out of here like the prophet Jonas," muttered he with a feeling of discomfort. "Do not the pointed spikes of the drawn up portcullis project over the round, dark moat as do the teeth of an open-mouthed shark? Sincerely do I hope that these jaws will never snap behind me." Only after leaving the fortress behind him did his heart feel lighter. The towers of the town arose out of the morning-mist, as Felix gazed over at the beauteous plain beyond. In the marketplace, opposite the chief church, he exchanged a few friendly words with the host of the Hirsch, paid his bill, and after finishing his breakfast, walked down the street