‘And what fear you?’ said Margarita.
‘We fear, sweet mistress, he may be in league with Sathanas,’ replied Dietrich.
‘Truly, then,’ said Margarita, ‘of all the youths in Cologne he is the least like his confederate.’
Dietrich gulped and winked, like a patient recovering wry-faced from an abhorred potion.
‘We have warned you, Fraulein Groschen!’ he exclaimed. ‘It now becomes our duty to see that you are not snared.’
Margarita reddened, and returned: ‘You are kind. But I am a Christian maiden and not a Pagan soldan, and I do not require a body of tawny guards at my heels.’
Thereat she flung back to her companions, and began staining her pretty mouth with grapes anew.
THE TAPESTRY WORD
Fair maids will have their hero in history. Siegfried was Margarita’s chosen. She sang of Siegfried all over the house. ‘O the old days of Germany, when such a hero walked!’ she sang.