"Hardly a trial, Margarethe, child. Your papa was a good man and an upstanding member of the guild. My wife and I shall be proud to take over Calvin's business and welcome you into the family."

She stared. "Take over Papa's business? Welcome me into the family? I. I don't understand."

"Of course you do, child. Surely you've heard your neighbors' complaints? You are a young unmarried woman living alone. Even in this new world the Americans brought, it is unacceptable. Completely unacceptable!"

"I don't. "

Master Gench waved her to silence. "Here is what we shall do. My boy is almost past his apprenticeship. We will post the banns now and you can marry once Rolf has finished his apprenticeship. You will, of course, live with us until the wedding."

"No. I will not marry your son. My papa left his business to me and I will keep it and I will nothand it over to you or your son! Not ever."

"Margarethe, child, I just have your best interest at heart. If you were a seamstress to a noble family, few would question your unmarried state. But the guild cannot allow an unmarried orphan female of your age to continue to operate on her own in a town, and it will not. Either you will marry my son or you will end in a charity institution. Those are your only options."

Agathe cradled Margarethe as she cried.

"And he can do it! He can take everything! Everything my mama and papa, everything my grandparents built. "

"How?" Emma asked. "The guild doesn't have control over who people buy their clothing from? We've always bought clothes and fabric from your family and so have the Brummes."

"They can find other ways. Convince my suppliers to stop selling to me or increase their prices. Vandalize the shop. Convince the city authorities to arrest me on some crime or make me leave town. Undercut my prices until all my customers leave, then bring their prices back up once I'm in the poorhouse."

"Isn't there any relation you could stay with while you work?" Agathe asked. Gesturing to Emma to bring Margarethe a cup of tea while she mopped Margarethe's face with her handkerchief as though she were a child.

Margarethe shook her head. "Papa was an only child. Mama had some family in Altenburg, but it's been years since I heard from any of them."

Emma came back carrying a mug. "Well I don't see why a woman can't run a business on her own if she's good enough at it. Or why a woman hasto marry. I'm happy to have Bert, don't get me wrong, but I'll always wonder what Icould have done on my own. Papa, what about that woman in Bamberg? The Ram printer? She defied the guild."

"She had a powerful political movement behind her by the time it came to that. Unfortunately, Margarethe doesn't. What do you think, Gus?"

Gus rubbed his head. "As I see it there are three choices. First Margarethe marries Rolf Gench as soon as his apprenticeship is over."

Christoph stiffened. "I know Rolf. He's a fool and a bully. There's a reason why his parents haven't been able to arrange a marriage for him yet."

Gus waved Christoph's comments away. "Second, Margarethe continues to run her seamstress business until the guild shuts her down. Hopefully by then the doll business will have taken off and it won't matter. The third option, if you want to find a better husband than Rolf Gench, and that wouldn't be hard. "

Christoph sat up in his chair, smoothed his hose and pulled his doublet down. Emma and Agathe noticed and exchanged smiles.

". is to stop sewing clothes and concentrate on the dolls. The tailor's guild doesn't have jurisdiction over them, in fact as far as I know no guild regulates doll-making."

"But what happens if the dolls don't take off? And how do I live in the meantime? If I refuse Rolf Gench, his father may go to the town council and find a way to make me leave town. And I can't accept him and then call off if the doll business does well. "

Tears formed again in Margarethe's eyes and Agathe motioned for a clean handkerchief.

"I have an idea."

Everyone looked at Bert, surprised since he rarely spoke.

"Emma and I could rent Margarethe's house and she could live with us or with my parents. It will buy us time to find a good lawyer."

Gus put his hands on his hips. "And just where do you plan to get the money to rent a house? And what happens to the three of you if this business doesn't succeed?"

Bert set his mouth in a tight line. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Papa. But I'm not going to abandon a friend."

Lukas Gench didn't expect the hearing to take long. He wasthe head of the Tailor's Guild and member of the Town Council, a man of influence in the duchy. And if that wasn't enough, he'd made sure to send an exquisite bolt of his finest cloth and a silver cup to the magistrate. Once he had Margarethe's inheritance and her share in the fledgling doll business it would be easy to repay the Jew money lenders, not only for the money to bribe the magistrate, but for his other debts.

"Master Gench, please present your case."

Lukas bowed and swaggered forward. " Mein Herr, Margarethe Klein is an unmarried orphan, currently residing in this town and holding herself out as a member of the Tailor's Guild. It is my duty as a friend of her late honored father and the head of the guild to see this situation righted. I insist that Mistress Klein be placed under my guardianship so that a proper marriage may be made for her so that she is no longer styling herself as a tailor."

The magistrate nodded and Lukas permitted himself a triumphant smile at Margarethe who sat with Masters Wolf and Brumme and their families on the opposite side of the aisle.

Then the town's Swiss-born lawyer, Walter Boose stood. " Mein Herr, if I may?"

The magistrate nodded again and Boose approached him with a sheaf of documents.

"As you can see, in the Year of Our Lord, Sixteen Hundred and Thirty-Four, Calvin Klein, Master of the Tailor's Guild, applied for and was granted, legal emancipation for his only daughter, Margarethe. As you know, Mein Herr, this law grants a woman the legal rights of a man. "

"Yes, I know. Hmmm. These documents do seem to be in order. Master Gench, do you have any proof that these documents are false?"

"I do not, Mein Herr. I had no idea such documents existed!" It was a lie of course, but since Lukas figured he was on the side of the angels putting that girl in her proper place, it wouldn't matter. Why didn't the magistrate just rule in his favor as he was supposed to?

The magistrate sighed and continued flipping through the documents. Finally he looked up.

"Well. these could be forgeries. "

Lukas glanced at his opponents, not quite able to suppress a smile of triumph. Victory, vindication! Perhaps he ought to have that engraved on a plaque for the wedding.

" Mein Herr! As you can see, the seals of the notary. "

The magistrate nodded. "Still it is highly improper for a young woman to live alone. "

"Mistress Klein is not residing alone." With a flourish, the lawyer presented the magistrate with another wad of paper. "As you can see, Mistress Klein is currently renting a portion of her home to Master Albert Brumme and his wife, an upstanding young couple. Also, there is an affidavit from Mistress Klein's pastor stating that she is a regular attendee at church and. "

Lukas felt his elation disappear. Why hadn't he thought of bribing the pastor as well? It would have meant more money he'd had to borrow against the girl's inheritance.