your
gross abuse of authority to His Majesty, who shall be acquainted with
everything."

He turned abruptly, and crossed the bridge with his companions.

The prefect tore his hair with impotent despair as he saw the troop
file past him.

"To behave thus to the Emperor's favorite! What a dreadful misfortune!"
he cried. "Comrades, make no excuses, no recriminations! I would not
care for the complaints of Italy. Frederic would credit nothing which
was denied by an honest German. But this Erwin of Rechberg!--Oh, if I
could atone for this stupid mistake!"

The travellers soon after reached a convent, whose reputation for
hospitality was widely spread; for, in that century, the monasteries
were the best, and indeed, almost the only hostelries.

After a brief rest they resumed their journey, and it was near
nightfall when they entered a deep and narrow Alpine valley, through
which they were obliged to pass.

"We are very near Castellamare," said Bonello, "and but for the
windings of the road, should already have perceived the castle!"

"This is a magnificent country, my lord!" said Erwin, admiring the bold
and wild landscape.

"It is almost the same as far as the shore," resumed Guido. "The valley
gradually narrows into a defile overhung with immense masses of rock,
and when we leave it, the wide expanse of the sea bursts, unexpectedly,
upon the traveller's gaze."

The road narrowed visibly. The setting sun gilded the Alpine summits,
and long, dark shadows darkened the lower slopes. At a turn of the
road, the sunlight flashed brightly upon them, and Erwin, raising his
dazzled eyes, beheld the fortress of Castellamare standing out from the
giant boulders in bold relief.

"What a magnificent spectacle!" exclaimed Rechberg. "I have never seen
a castle in a better or more commanding position!"

Following, for a short time, a steep mountain-path, they drew up before
a gateway, hollowed in the solid rock, and soon after entered the
fortress of Castellamare.

_CHAPTER XIII_.

_CASTELLAMARE_.

Rechberg's visit to Castellamare opened to him a future replete with
new hopes and desires and fond aspirations. He resolved to study
attentively the character of his young hostess; and, if the examination
proved favorable, to demand her father's consent to their marriage. But
he experienced a cruel uncertainty, when he reflected upon the possible
opposition of th