s willing
to receive thee, and will arrange that thou shouldst take part in
these court gaieties. A thousand greetings to our mother, and beg
her, for my sake, to permit thee to travel southward without too
much delay.--Thy brother,

'FREIDRICH WILHELM VON GRAeVENITZ.

'Neuhaus, Oberhausen,
pres Rottenburg sur le Neckar.

WIRTEMBERG. _Ce_ 29 _Nov._ 1705.

'I hope thy friend Monsieur Gabriel has really taught thee fine
French, for no one speaks German here at court; it is considered
as peasants' speech! As thou wilt see, I do not even write to
thee in German! French talk, French manners, in spite of French
battles!'

* * * * *

Wilhelmine sat motionless for a few moments after she had perused this
effusion. In her mind she saw a succession of pictures of courtly
splendour and graceful adventure--and in each she herself was the central
figure. She looked around her bare room; the bulging walls, the rude
furniture. Her eyes narrowed into that strange look of hers which the
people of Guestrow declared was like a serpent's gaze, and could hold
animals powerless as long as it was directed upon them. She was thinking
deeply--swiftly--and perhaps it was at this moment that Wilhelmine von
Graevenitz vowed her soul to worldly success; her indomitable will
directed to the goal of worldly power at all costs and at all hazards.
She rose shivering. It was cheerless and cold in her room; the momentary
gleam of the winter sun had died away, and the sky was grey and heavy
with coming snow. She unhooked her cloak from the peg, fastened it round
her, and with her letter hidden away in the folds she stepped softly out
and down the stair, throwing a quick backward glance to see if her mother
followed or observed her. Noiselessly she lifted the latch of the house
door and took her way up the narrow street.

She passed the old Rathaus with the quaint fourteenth-century belfry, and
the clock whence sprang out the brightly painted leaden figure of a
knight, to smite the chime with his sword at each hour. In the
market-place beneath, the weekly market was being held.

Many small booths had been erected, and the venders were expostulating
with the citizens, who drove hard bargains with them. It was a
picturesque scene enough, had Wilhelmine paused to watch--much colour in
the peasants' dress,