ments streaked with blood. Could she wander
here too in new, gorgeous Ludwigsburg? Almost Wilhelmine turned and fled,
but the remembrance of her dire peril came to her. She looked bravely at
the moonlight--there was no ghost there; it was only the Lady Moon, witch
of the night, throwing her cold, false smiles through the casement.
Wilhelmine went forward boldly. She must find the letter at any cost; its
contents threatened her, and she must know.

The Duke's bureau was locked. She pressed the secret spring in vain. Was
she doomed to be baffled, after all? She remembered that her own bureau
was identical with his Highness's. Resolutely, with that patience which
is born of hazardous undertakings, she glided away through the arras
door, through the black gallery, and regained her apartments. She heard a
movement in her sleeping-room, and Maria came to her.

'Your Excellency, pray forgive that I was not here.'

Even Maria must not know why she had left the ballroom, she thought.

'Go to Madame de Ruth's apartments. A black silk domino lies in the
wardrobe; go, bring it to me. I would change my colour and play a merry
jest upon some friends.' The maid departed. Now all was clear for some
time, for Madame de Ruth's apartment lay at the far end of the east wing.
Swiftly she sought the key of her bureau; it was hidden in a secret
drawer beneath the writing-desk. She took it, and passed through the
little door again. Once more she listened behind the arras; it seemed to
her as if something moved. She paused, then gently reopened the tapestry
door and peered in. The room lay silent, deserted, white and ghostly as
before. She passed in, and fitted her key into the bureau. The lock
yielded and the bureau flew open. Letters, documents, drawings, plans for
hunting excursions--all the usual occupants of Eberhard Ludwig's bureau.
She could see enough in the moonlight. Ah! here a creased paper. She
caught it up and examined it. Yes; this must be the thing she
feared--four large pages filled with cramped characters. She looked more
closely. Forstner's writing! She almost laughed. This, then, was what his
Highness had hidden so scrupulously from her! Thanks to the unknown's
warning, she had come on the track of her most deadly enemy. Had the
black mask not spoken, she might have forgotten the letter. She closed
the bureau carefully and stepped behind the arras, shutting the tapestry
door carefully. She was now in perfect darkness. She g