And the hermit lifted the cross on high, and took one hand of the penitent, while his daughter held the other in both hers, and together they went forth through the hushed crowd, out of the castle-gates, into the forest-hut to dwell there alone.
And the miser went home from the hermit's sermon once more a stricken man—stricken before by terror to the conscience, but now smitten by love to the heart.
Once more he turned to his coffers. And the gold, which terror for a night had turned into dead leaves, seemed transmuted into coin of the Kingdom; for, once more, the thought of the goldsmith's widowed daughter and her children came to his heart. And this time he made no excuses, and no delays, but hurrying out alone with eager haste, he searched out the three destitute ones in their poor chamber in the roof, and took them home to his house, and fed and clothed them, and made himself their servant. And so the spell of death passed from his treasures, and they became living grain.
And even to Gammer Trüdchen, the power of forgiving love, the might of the thorn-crowned Face, slowly penetrated. She could not banish from her heart the tenderness of that gracious countenance. The words, "For envy they delivered Him, for envy," stung her to the heart, and dimly and slowly she grew to feel herself among those who had accused Him. And His face seemed to haunt her, with a look in it that recalled the pale saddened countenance of the Burgomaster's young wife: for lately she could not help seeing that the lady's fair bright face had grown grave and white; the shadow of calumny lay heavy on the young life alone in the strange city.
So it went on, until one day Gammer Trüdchen was seized with sudden illness, and nothing would content her, as she lay tossing on her bed, but to see again that saddened face whose memory so haunted her.
Willingly the lady came, and the old woman told her all, and the lady would not leave her until she had nursed her into health again.
And from that time the stall by the Minster door ceased to be a nest of stinging rumours, and instead, the children came to her, and the suffering, and a quiet glow fell at eventide on her heart.