mann. For it
transpired one evening that Guba was not within the castle. A hue and
cry was instantly raised, and the island was searched by Ludwig and von
Roth. "I wager," said Ludwig, "that at this very moment Guba is with
her paramour. Let my brother the Prince hear of this, and your life will
answer for it. Often have I urged you to be stricter; you see now the
result of your leniency."

Von Roth protested that the Princess was taking the air alone; but while
they argued the pair espied Guba, and it was as Ludwig had said--she was
attended by a man.

"The bird is snared," shouted Ludwig; and as he and von Roth ran toward
the offending couple they separated instantly, the man making for a boat
moored hard by. But ere he could reach it he was caught by his pursuers,
and recognized for a certain young gallant of the district. He was
dragged to the castle, where after a brief trial he was condemned to
be hanged. He blanched on hearing the sentence, but faced his fate
manfully, and when the rope was about his neck he declared loudly that
Guba had always discouraged his addresses and was innocent of the sin
wherewith she was charged.

Guba's movements thenceforth were watched more strictly for a while, yet
she seemed to grow more cheerful, while one day she even asserted that
she would soon be reconciled to her husband, from whom she had now been
estranged for six months. In short, she announced that she was soon to
be a mother; while she was confident that the child would resemble the
Palatine Prince, and that the latter's delight on finding himself a
father would result in the ending of all her troubles. The Governor
and his lady were both doubtful as to the parentage of the child,
remembering the recent circumstances which had seemed to cast some
shadow upon the Princess herself; yet they held their peace, awaiting
until in due course the Princess was delivered of a boy. But, alack!
the child bore no resemblance to Hermann; and so von Roth and his wife,
meaning to be kind, enjoined silence and sent the child away--all of
which was the more easily accomplished as the spiteful Ludwig chanced to
be far distant at the time. At first the mother was broken-hearted, but
the Governor and his wife comforted her by saying that the child was no
farther off than a castle on the opposite banks of the Rhine. Here,
they assured her, he would be well nurtured; moreover, they had arranged
that, so long as her son was alive and thrivi