"Go and see why Katharine delays so long." With inward reluctance Frau Elsa turned to obey, when the door was opened and Katharine appeared. At the sight of the young man, she started and blushed. The syndic came to her relief. Taking her hand in a fatherly fashion, he said: "Come hither, Katharine, and greet Master Baumgaertner, who has come to take leave of us before he returns to his home." Katharine's face grew pale, and her eyes timidly sought those of the young man, who approached, and would have taken her hand. "I pray you, dear lady, remember me kindly, as I will also faithfully keep you in my memory, until God so orders it, that I may see your face again." "You will then return to Wittenberg?" both women asked, in one breath--the one with glad surprise, the other in visible dismay. With a burst of enthusiasm, the young man exclaimed: "How could I forget Wittenberg! Here my mind was nourished, and my heart awakened. Not long, I trust, will dutiful obedience detain me in Nuremburg; then I shall hasten to return hither. In the meantime I commit you to God's keeping." He paused, to conceal the emotion which overpowered him, and after a very hasty leave-taking, hurried away. On this and the following day, deep silence reigned in the syndic's house. Husband and wife had little to say to one another, and overhead, in her little chamber, sat Katharine, lonely and sorrowful. Her heart seemed empty. Now that Jerome had gone away, she became aware of the warmth of her feeling for him. She resolved to take comfort in the affection of her friends, but this seemed an insufficient substitute; and she had a strong foreboding that Jerome would not return. Yet, when the hot tears would have burst from her eyes, she struggled with all her strength against her sorrow, lest the syndic and his wife might perceive that her love was shared by another, whose suit they disapproved. She felt it as a sin, that her benefactors should yield to a stranger, because, forsooth, he had approached her with friendly words and glances. "Be still, foolish heart," she said, "and see to it, if with redoubled love thou canst expiate thy wrong against these kind friends." Shortly after, Fran Elsa received her husband one evening with a lively welcome: "Philip, our Kate is a brave girl! She has conquered her own heart, and is once more wholly ours!" CHAPTER VII. KATHARINE IN TROUBLE, AND DR. MARTIN IN STRIFE WITH HIS FRIENDS. More than a year had passed. The Autumn of 1524 had come, busily destroying whatever the summer had wrought. In the streets the wind played his pranks with the first fallen leaves. On the housetops the swallows held noisy counsel together, as to their flight to the sunny Southern land, whither the storks had already preceded them.