not"; pre-eminently, "Thou shalt not mix thy
blood with that of an impure race, nor with blood of inferiors." Hence,
we have it what we see it, a translucent flood down from the topmost
founts of time. So we revere it. "Qua man and woman," the Diet says, by
implication, "do as you like, marry in the ditches, spawn plentifully.
Qua prince and princess, No! Your nuptials are nought. Or would you
maintain them a legal ceremony, and be bound by them, you descend, you go
forth; you are no reigning sovereign, you are a private person." His
Serene Highness the prince was thus prohibited from affording help to his
daughter. The princess was reduced to the decision either that she, the
sole child born of him in legal wedlock, would render him qua prince
childless, or that she would--in short, would have her woman's way. The
sovereignty of Leiterstein continued uninterruptedly with the elder
branch. She was a true princess.'

'A true woman,' said I, thinking the sneer weighty.

The Chancellor begged me to recollect that he had warned me there was no
romance to be expected.

I bowed; and bowed during the remainder of the interview.

Chancellor von Redwitz had performed his mission. The hours of my
convalescence were furnished with food for amusement sufficient to
sustain a year's blockade; I had no further longing for society, but I
craved for fresh air intensely.

Did Ottilia know that this iron law, enforced with the might of a whole
empire, environed her, held her fast from any motion of heart and will? I
could not get to mind that the prince had hinted at the existence of such
a law. Yet why should he have done so? The word impossible, in which he
had not been sparing when he deigned to speak distinctly, comprised
everything. More profitable than shooting empty questions at the sky was
the speculation on his project in receiving me at the palace, and that
was dark. My father, who might now have helped me, was off on duty again.

I found myself driving into Sarkeld with a sense of a whirlwind round my
head; wheels in multitudes were spinning inside, striking sparks for
thoughts. I met an orderly in hussar uniform of blue and silver, trotting
on his errand. There he was; and whether many were behind him or he stood
for the army in its might, he wore the trappings of an old princely House
that nestled proudly in the bosom of its great jealous Fatherland.
Previously in Sarkeld I had noticed members of the diminutive army to