f beauty, his curious seeking for unusual furniture.
He is mad, Eberhard; I tell you he is mad! We must save him from prison
and send him back to Italy.' She spoke so naturally, so easily, that his
Highness felt that sense of the unaccustomed, the unknown evil, the grim
suspicion of crime fall away, and an immense relief take its place.

'Of course, of course!' he said hurriedly; 'I was frightened by that fool
Forstner. Forgive me for my insane suspicion.' And he hastened away to
assure Forstner of the sheer absurdity of this accusation.

Perhaps he would have been a trifle shaken in his confidence had he seen
Wilhelmine fall back in her chair, breathing hard like some wild animal
who had escaped the hunter's knife by a hair's-breadth.

* * * * *

If Serenissimus was thus easily appeased, the authorities and citizens of
Stuttgart were not to be put off with a mere tale. Also Johanna
Elizabetha's friends and partisans were loud in their accusations of the
Graevenitz. Ferrari had been released from prison by the Duke's command.
The man was mad, his Highness averred, and it was but merciful to send
him back to Italy. It leaked out that the Italian had left Wirtemberg,
but it was whispered that he carried a large sum of gold with him.

'Blood money,' said the Stuttgarters, and their indignation grew apace.
Schuetz wrote from Vienna that things were going badly for the Graevenitz.
The Emperor had been informed of the Ferrari affair, and was reported to
have expressed his opinion in no measured terms. In fact, Schuetz strongly
advised the Countess of Urach to leave Wirtemberg for a time, but the
lady remained firm. 'Go, I will not, until I am obliged, and that is not
yet,' she declared.

So the days passed as usual at Urach, outwardly. The Duke shot roebuck
daily in the early morning, the Countess often accompanying him. Later,
Serenissimus would ride young and fiery horses; but in this the Countess
did not take part, she was but a poor horsewoman. Then came a delicious
banquet, with the Countess of Urach's musicians in attendance discoursing
fair melodies.

During the afternoon his Highness drove eight, ten, and sometimes twelve
horses together, thundering through the country, and the peasants soon
learnt to associate their heretofore beloved ruler with clouds of dust
and ruthless speed. A demon driver rushing past, who, they said, would
crush them were they not quick to fly to safety in