convey her to Frankfort. Then, in the midst of this
quarrel, news came from Stetten that the Duchess-mother was sick unto
death, and Serenissimus abruptly left Ludwigsburg to receive his mother's
dying blessing.

He returned in a few days deeply saddened. He had arrived at his mother's
deathbed too late; she had almost passed away. True, her wan face had lit
with love when Eberhard Ludwig stood beside her; bending over her, he had
heard her murmur once more her favourite catchword, 'My absurd boy,' then
a faint whisper of 'Johanna Elizabetha,' and the Duke knew that, with her
last breath, the honest old lady had called him back to duty. But he
returned to weep his mother's loss upon the breast of Wilhelmine von
Graevenitz. In this softened mood, his Highness went near the granting his
beloved's prayer, but Zollern stepped in and spoke privately with the
Landhofmeisterin.

Directly after the Duchess-mother's obsequies the Duke rode northwards to
Frankfort to attend the Emperor's coronation. He journeyed with his chief
officers and guards, and his proud mistress was left behind in
Wirtemberg. Yet she had gained another triumph. If the Duke could not
grant her request concerning the coronation, what would he give her in
compensation?

'Anything in the world you ask,' he had replied. And she had demanded
Stetten, the Duchess-mother's dower-house! Zollern and Madame de Ruth
were overwhelmed when they heard of it. Good heavens! what would the
Duchess-mother have said? But on the day when Eberhard Ludwig rode to the
coronation, the Landhofmeisterin's coach thundered through the fields to
Stetten.

* * * * *

When the news came from Paris that Forstner had been released from the
Bastille, the Landhofmeisterin flew into a towering passion. The
Geheimraethe were summoned, and the affair put before them once more. The
evidence against Forstner was convincing, and any Chamber would have
convicted him; but it is necessary to consider who composed this Privy
Council.

Landhofmeister Count Wuerben--an invalid unfortunately, and unable to
appear--was Premier and Minister of War, and in his regrettable absence
his wife, her Excellency the Landhofmeisterin, presided at the sessions
of the Council, and a more energetic, autocratic President could not have
been found in Europe. Friedrich, Count von Graevenitz, was Minister of the
Interior; Baron Schuetz, Minister for Foreign Affairs; Baron Sittmann,
M