of the Order of the White
Trefoil were much coveted nevertheless, and the white riband and
beautifully designed three-leaved badge of the Graevenitz's Order were
proudly worn by the highest dignitaries, and at Ludwigsburg the courtiers
who were fortunate enough to possess the decoration were careful never to
appear without it.

* * * * *

On a glowing July morning a splendid cavalcade started from Ludwigsburg:
the Silver Guard, the Cadets a Cheval, the Chevaliergarde, the
dignitaries of the Wirtemberg court, and his Highness Eberhard Ludwig
riding at the door of the golden coach, wherein throned the
Landhofmeisterin and her sour-visaged sister Sittmann.

In each town and village the procession was greeted with commanded cheers
and with triumphant arches decorated by her Excellency's instructions.
The peasants' faces were sombre while they cheered, sometimes a
suppressed snarl of hatred mingled with the acclamations. As the
travellers proceeded on their journey, however, this hostility abated,
giving place to peering curiosity, and at every halt the villagers
crowded round asking which of the ladies was the Landhofmeisterin, and
commenting on her appearance.

At Kehl on the Rhine there was an official reception by the burgomaster
and chief citizens. From Kehl to Strassburg, a distance of several miles,
peasants and townsfolk bordered the road, watching the entry of the
magnificent Duke of Wirtemberg. The town of Strassburg, in those days
only French by a recent treaty, received the German prince with
vociferous delight. The Regent d'Orleans, wishful to show courtesy to the
new Duke of Montbeliard, had commanded the garrison to render military
honours to the travelling prince, and Serenissimus was greeted in
Strassburg by some of the finest of France's troops, and by thundering
cannon salutes. Then there were white-robed maidens strewing flowers
before his horse's hoofs, and from the town-gate to the stately old
Cathedral Square the concourse of men and women was so vast as to make
the progress slow and difficult; bands played and flags flew, and the
Graevenitz was delighted. Eberhard Ludwig was feasted and honoured, and
ever beside him was the tall figure of the Landhofmeisterin. In the
evening the Duke received the chief burghers at a state banquet, and the
Graevenitz sat to his Highness's right.

In Schlettstadt and Belfort, where he entered the Moempelgard territory,
the reception