ut they were silenced by
the Duke's promise to purchase.

Not only was a magnificent palace to be erected, but a town was to be
conjured up as well, and from Frisoni's plans it appeared that it was to
be a town of courtiers' houses. Bitter discontent reigned at Stuttgart,
and the guards round the Jaegerhaus were doubled.

But there was rejoicing in the Graevenitz camp. Things were going
admirably for the satellites, the grasping, hungry parasites. Madame de
Ruth and Zollern alone might have spoken some moderating word, but the
old courtesan was swept off her feet by Wilhelmine's brilliancy, and
Zollern dreamed of Ludwigsburg as a new Catholic centre.

Time did not hang heavy on Wilhelmine's hands during the years which
elapsed ere the Corps de Logis and the two small pavilions at
Ludwigsburg were completed. In spite of the frantic haste with which the
work was carried on, it was found impossible for the Duke to take up his
residence in his new palace till the spring of 1711.

Meanwhile a new project engrossed the Landhofmeisterin's attention.
Although she fully intended to occupy the palace itself, she deemed it
expedient to possess an independent castle at Ludwigsburg, and on the
foundations of the Schafhof, another small hunting lodge near the old
Erlachhof, she caused a miniature summer palace to be erected. This she
named La Favorite. It was constructed according to a plan in Mansard's
'Chateaux Joyeux.'

The Schafhof had been connected with the Erlachhof by a magnificent
avenue of chestnut-trees, which remained for the most part intact save
where a few trees had been cut to leave space for the fine terracing on
the north side of the new Corps de Logis of Ludwigsburg. Still there was
a shady avenue, commencing from the lowest terrace and following the
gentle rise of the ground up to the Schafhof. This avenue she of course
retained, merely causing the branches to be cut back, in order to leave
an unbroken view of La Favorite from the windows of the Corps de Logis.

A host of gardeners laboured at the wood round the Chateaux Joyeux,
turning the rough ground into a series of gracious flowering parterres.

The interior of Wilhelmine's little palace was a dream of beauty. Every
room was panelled in white, and each panel encircled by a graceful design
in gold, which terminated in gorgeous devices on the ceilings. For the
most part the rooms were curtained with the Graevenitz yellow. The floors
were a triumph of the