h: 'We cannot waste time in seeking the criminal.
Some one has to disappear from the scene; exit therefore the least
useful! Probably Frisoni lies, but he is an admirable architect. Surely
the Italian workmen lie; they do not look like starving creatures, but
they are wonderful masons. Forstner is of no use to me; on the contrary,
he incommodes me with his virtuous reasonings. Therefore, exit Forstner!'

'My honour is wounded, I will depart!' wailed this estimable personage;
and he forthwith craved Eberhard Ludwig's permission to leave Wirtemberg.

'God speed you hence!' cried the Landhofmeisterin; and Forstner departed,
thinking he went of his own free will.

'My four hundred thousand gulden!' bewailed Serenissimus.

'Procure more from the Geheimraethe, and refuse to pay arrears to the
workmen,' counselled Wilhelmine. Which course being adopted and
peacefully accepted by the Italians, it would look as though they had, in
truth, received their due. But no one has ever known where went the four
hundred thousand gulden.

Forstner retired to Strassburg, and for several years there was no word
of him.

The building at the Erlachhof went on apace now. Gulden flowed regularly
and without stint, and each day more foreigners arrived to give their
talents in return for broad gold pieces. Painters, sculptors, gilders
came from north and south, and the Wirtembergers looked on aghast. Then
was issued an astounding order. His Highness commanded some seven hundred
of Stuttgart's rich merchants and burghers, also each trade guild in the
country, to construct at their expense a number of houses near the
Erlachhof. In this arbitrary decree, for the first time, the new palace
was officially styled Ludwigsburg, after its lavish creator, Eberhard
Ludwig.

The guilds of trade protested loudly, asking what it would advantage them
to have houses in Ludwigsburg. The merchants and burghers followed suit.
They received scant consideration of their protest. If they would not
obey, his Highness would find himself compelled to levy a tax upon them.
A tribute so exorbitant as to cripple them for years; whereas did they
obey, he promised to purchase each mansion which the builder did not
desire to inhabit. It was the better way, and forthwith the building
began. But there was a further clause in the ducal mandate: the houses
must be constructed according to Frisoni's plans and drawings, approved
by his Highness. Again the burghers protested, b