bt in Burgundy's mind, yet it
must show no eagerness on the part of Styria. (Duke Frederick always
spoke of himself as Styria.) Burgundy must be made to appreciate the
honor of this alliance; still, the fact must not be offensively
thrust upon him.

The letter was sent, and Charles of Burgundy probably laughed at it.
Duke Frederick appointed commissioners and fixed Cannstadt as the place
of meeting. Whatever Duke Charles's reasons for making the offer of
marriage may have been, they probably ceased to exist soon afterward,
for he never even replied to Duke Frederick's acceptance. For months
Castle Hapsburg was in a ferment of expectancy. A watch stood from dawn
till dusk on the battlements of the keep, that the duke might be
informed of the approach of the Burgundian messenger--that never came.
After a year of futile waiting the watch was abandoned. Anger, for a
time, took the place of expectancy; Duke Frederick each day drowned his
ill-humor in a gallon of sour wine, and remained silent on the subject
of the Burgundian insult.

Max's attitude was that of a dignified man. He showed neither anger nor
disappointment, but he kept the letter and the ring that Mary had sent
him and mused upon his love for his ideal--the lady he had never seen.

A letter from Hymbercourt, that reached me nearly two years after this
affair, spoke of a tender little maiden in Burgundy, whose heart
throbbed with disappointment while it also clung to its ideal, as tender
natures are apt to do. This hint in Hymbercourt's letter sank to the
tenderest spot in Max's heart.

On Max's twenty-first birthday he was knighted by the emperor. A grand
tournament, lasting five days, celebrated the event, and Max proved
himself a man among men and a knight worthy of his spurs. I had trained
him for months in preparation for this, his first great trial of
strength and skill. He was not lacking in either, though they would
mature only with his judgment. His strength was beyond compare. A man
could hardly span his great arm with both hands.

Soon after Max was knighted, I brought up the subject of his journey
into the world. I was again met by parental opposition; but Max was of
age and his views had weight. If I could bring him to see the truth, the
cause would be won. Unfortunately, it was not his desires I must
overcome; it was his scruples. His head and his heart were full of false
ideas and distorted motives absorbed from environment, inculcated by
par