bitterly. The day wore on. She tried to read, to
occupy herself, but she could not fix her mind on anything; her thoughts
reverted to her humiliation. At last she heard the noise of the
sportsmen's return, and Friedrich Wilhelm's loud voice shouting and
laughing. Would Eberhard Ludwig come to her now? But no; she waited, and
no one disturbed her solitude.

At length Maria brought her a tray covered with dishes of delicious
viands.

'If her Excellency refuses to be served properly in the dining-room, as
usual, she must at least have a mouthful to eat,' the honest soul
declared, and she hovered round the Graevenitz, imploring her to taste
this or that, to drink a little wine; but the Landhofmeisterin pushed
away her plate, saying that the food choked her, and Maria, grumbling,
carried away the untasted supper.

Once more, Wilhelmine fell to listening. She heard the noise of a crowd
gathering in the courtyard. She rang her handbell, and when Maria
appeared she questioned her on the reason of a crowd being admitted to
the palace precincts. His Highness had commanded the gates to be thrown
open, she was told; it was the Prussian King's custom to permit the
populace to see him eat.

'Disgusting!' quoth the Landhofmeisterin haughtily. 'I can smell the
varlets from here. Sprinkle rose-water about the room, Maria.'

The hours dragged on monotonously. The noise of the crowd in the
courtyard was drowned by the loud strains of the massed bands of the
regiments in Ludwigsburg, who had been commanded to play before the
windows of the banqueting-hall. The Landhofmeisterin's musicians with
their harps, violins, and flutes were banished during the Prussian King's
visit, for he hated all music save that of trumpet and drum. At length
the Landhofmeisterin could bear her solitude and suspense no longer. She
slipped into the statue gallery, and through a secret door to the Duke's
private stairs. The topmost flight led to a small gallery which looked
into the banqueting-hall. She had often watched from here the hunting
dinners which his Highness gave, and from which ladies were naturally
excluded. It was many years since one of these entertainments had taken
place, and the staircase had fallen into disrepair; it was dirty and
dusty, and creaked under her Excellency's tread. 'Disgraceful neglect!
the housekeeper-in-charge shall be fined,' murmured the tyrant as she
mounted. The door leading to the gallery was ajar. The Landhofmeisterin'