"Since St. Laurence's day I have been very well, and have felt no ringing in my head. Therefore I am inclined to study, for heretofore the ringing has greatly tormented me. Greetings to all. More the next time. God be with you. Amen. Pray diligently,--it is of need, and God will help us. "MARTIN LUTHER. "_August the 14th, 1530_." To this letter Katharine had sewed another, which reached her at the same time: "Grace and Peace in Christ, my dear Kate! After I had sealed my letter, dispatches were brought me from Augsburg, and I detained the messenger that he might carry them also to you. From them you will learn how matters stand at Augsburg,--almost as I wrote you. Let Peter Weller read them for you, or Dr. Pommer. May God help further, as He has begun. Amen. I cannot write more. The messenger is impatient to go. Greet all the dear ones, especially Hans Luther and his schoolmaster, to whom I will write soon. Greet Aunt Lena and all the others. We are eating ripe grapes, although this has been a wet month. God be with you all. "MARTIN LUTHER. "_From the Wilderness, on the Day of the Assumption of the V. Mary._" Then followed what was best of all, wrapped in rose colored paper--Luther's letter to his little son. Katharine's eyes grew moist as she read the precious words, and from her heart rose a prayer in behalf of the great, the glorious Dr. Martin Luther. [1] It was Luther's intention to translate the fables of Æsop, to "adapt them for youth and common men, that they should be of some use to the Germans." There are thirteen fables of his version, rendered in the simplest popular language. CHAPTER XVI. GOD'S INN. While Katharine was refolding the letters and tying them with a scarlet ribbon, her niece Elsa Kaufman[1] came into the room, and announced that a stranger, who gave his name as Urbanus Rhegius, desired to speak with Mistress Luther, having come directly from Coburg. Katharine hurried into the court. There, under the great pear-tree, the Doctor's favorite resting place, sat a distinguished looking man, who at her approach, rose, and with great politeness advanced to meet her. "God's greeting to you, dear Mistress Luther," he began, his foreign accent reminding her somewhat of the dialect spoken by Baumgaertner. "I regard it as a special piece of good fortune, to become acquainted with the wife of the great man, whom I met lately for the first time; and to be permitted to bring you his greetings, as I am passing through Wittenberg." "How fares my dear lord?" asked Katharine, a blush of pleased anticipation mantling her cheeks.