not
hushed on the roads used for traffic by the merchants. But this was not
Seitz's sole reason for shrugging his shoulders at the expressions of
the warmest sympathy which rose around him. The Emperor was tenderly
attached to Heinz Schorlin, and the man who was so kindly disposed
to his foe could never be his friend. Perhaps to-morrow Rudolph might
behead his brothers and elevate Heinz Schorlin to still greater honors.
Seitz, whose eyes had overflowed with tears when the warder of his
native castle lost his aged wife, who had been his nurse, now found no
cause to grieve with the mourners.

So he continued his way, burdened with his own anxieties, amid the tears
and lamentations of the multitude. The numerous retinue of servants in
the Eysvogel mansion were moving restlessly to and fro; the news of the
prince's death had reached them. Herr Casper had left the house. He was
probably at Herr Ernst Ortlieb's. If the latter had already learned
what he, Seitz Siebenburg, had said at the gaming table of his daughter,
perhaps his hand had dealt the first decisive blow at the tottering
house where, so long as it stood, his wife and the twins would under any
circumstances find shelter. Resentment against the Swiss, hatred,
and jealousy, had made him a knave, and at the same time the most
shortsighted of fools.

As he approached the second story, in which the nursery was situated and
where he expected to find his wife, it suddenly seemed as if a star had
risen amid the darkness. If he poured out his heart to Isabella and let
her share the terrible torture of his soul, perhaps it would awaken a
tender sympathy in the woman who still loved him, and who was dearer to
him than he could express. Her jewels were certainly very valuable, but
far more precious was the hope of being permitted to rest his aching
head upon her breast and feel her slender white hand push back the hair
from his anxious brow. Oh, if misfortune would draw her again as near to
him as during the early months of their married life and directly before
it, he could rise from his depression with fresh vigour and transform
the battle, now half lost, into victory. Besides, she was clever and had
power over the hearts of her family, so perhaps she might point out
the pathway of escape, which his brain, unused to reflection, could not
discover.

His heart throbbed high as, animated by fresh hope, he entered the
corridor from which opened the rooms which he occupied w