'All in honor, dear doctor,' protested Alf; 'and I shall have to request you, as soon as may be convenient, to unite me in honorable marriage with this blameless maiden, who is my beloved and betrothed bride.' 'That alters the case,' said Fabricius, affectionately patting Clara's velvet cheeks. 'May God keep us in the good old order.' 'The lord bishop's reverend and princely grace,' said an episcopalian officer, stepping in, 'sends his compliments to the lord general and politely requests him to repair immediately to his presence. An anabaptist prisoner has brought before him some matters of consequence, which demand a sudden meeting of the council.' 'Yon shall accompany me there,' said Oberstein to Alf. 'But where shall I remain?' anxiously whispered Clara to her betrothed. 'May I be permitted to confide the maiden to your care, worthy sir?' asked Alf of the doctor. 'I will foster and protect her like a beloved daughter,' answered Fabricius, taking Clara by the hand, and with a light heart the youth then followed the general. CHAPTER XXVI. Glowing with anger and sorrow, Graf von Waldeck, bishop of Munster, strode up and down in his gilded tent. At the door, with a pale malefactor face, stood poor Hanslein, in chains, and surrounded by guards. Oberstein and Alf entered. 'This wretch,' cried the bishop to the general, 'proposes to purchase his forfeited life by betraying the city. He has, however, three times forfeited his life,--formerly a rider in my cavalry, he wounded his superior officer and went over to the enemy, swearing allegiance and adopting their faith. I am half inclined to compel him to show us the way to Munster and then hang him; for it would be contrary to all right, human and divine, to allow him to escape punishment by such an act.' 'The greatest right is often the greatest wrong,' said the general soothingly. 'Too much severity is often injurious, and with your grace's permission, if the spiritual lords had not formerly held so rigidly to their notions of right and wrong, and had not wielded the rod of authority too vigorously, much of the mischief against which the assembled christians of Germany of all denominations now appeal to heaven, would have been avoided. My voice is for mildness.' 'You have lost none who were dear to you, through these monsters!' cried the bishop, making great efforts to suppress his tears. 'I have just learned, that the reprobate tailor has murdered both of my pages, for making an effort to rescue themselves from his paws.'