tay here till he returns from Berlin. Use your power for my good;
you are heir to all this splendour; you will reap the harvest of beauty I
have sown at Ludwigsburg. Help me, and you will never regret it.' She had
come close to him, smiling into his eyes. The frail, sensitive youth
flushed scarlet.

'Prince, you are the image of your father as I knew him twenty years ago.
You bring my youth back to me.' She laid her hand upon his shoulder and
drew him towards her. She was very beautiful for all her forty-five
years, her presence was intoxication.

'Friedrich, Friedrich, you could revenge so much--so much neglect, if you
were my friend.' Her lips were very near to his, her breath was on his
cheek. Like most super-sensitive beings, he was vividly passionate; and
she knew it, and this was her last card: to make him love her, aid her to
stay at Favorite, then, when Eberhard Ludwig returned, surely jealousy
would recall love. It was a dangerous game enough, but it was her last
resource.

'Little Friedrich, who makes me feel young again,' she murmured. Now her
lips are on his--and the room swings round him--while the scent of the
fading lilacs in the garden is wafted in with delicious, heavy,
unwholesome sweetness. And she herself, caught by an eddy of her feigned
passion, is swept into a wave of sensual recollection. She is in the
Rothenwald again on a spring morning--overhead a bird sings a
rhapsody--and she----

With a cry the Prince sprang away from her.

'Madame! O Madame! you tempt me from my duty; you must go from here.
Indeed, I cannot help you, but I will not let the guards disturb you,
till to-morrow. I pray you, Madame, go this day.'

'Never; you do not know me! I will never go. Use force if you will--but I
stay at Ludwigsburg.'

The Erbprinz turned away sorrowfully.

'Then I cannot help you.' He took her hand and raised it to his lips.
'Farewell, Madame,' he whispered. Did his lips linger on her hand a
little longer than custom dictated? She thought so, and smiled to herself
as Prince Friedrich left her.

Hardly had the Erbprinz departed when she heard the sound of approaching
wheels in the avenue. 'I am receiving many visitors to-day,' she thought
bitterly. To her surprise Monseigneur de Zollern was announced. He
greeted the Landhofmeisterin warmly, though gravely, and immediately
commenced questioning her on her position. She told him the details of
the foregoing weeks. Zollern listened attentively, w