Upon that day, both the young people lingered after the others had gone, in order to get speech together. All the time the hymn was being sung, the two looked tenderly at each other, and these glances were surprised by the devoted nurse, Magdalene. When the service was over, and Eva was near the door, she pretended to have left her handkerchief in her pew, and she sent Magdalene back to find it.
The lovers had but a minute together before Magdalene returned, so Eva had to think of a new way to be rid of her.
"Where can my buckle be," she cried, looking about her. "I must have left that as well"; and back Magdalene went the second time. She had no sooner returned than Eva found she had forgotten her book, and back the nurse went again, grumbling and declaring that Master Pogner would be in a rage if he knew what was going on.
"Only promise that thou wilt marry me," Walther urged, while the nurse was gone for the last time.
"Now what do you mean by standing there and talking love?" Magdalene cried on her return, angry and half frightened, because she was responsible for her nursling's conduct. "Don't you know, Sir Walther, that Eva is to be given in marriage to the singer who shall this year carry off the prize—otherwise she may not marry at all?"
"The prize? What does she mean?" he questioned, greatly agitated.
"It is for him who shall prove to be the best singer in Nuremberg." The knight looked dejected.
"Can you not sing?" Eva asked anxiously.
"Alas, I do not know. I think not; I have never tried. What must I sing?"
"A song that you have made yourself, Sir Knight; you must make both rhyme and music yourself according to the rules of the Mastersingers."