e
wished of all things, if possible, to speak to Fronsberg, hoping that
this noble friend of his father might still retain a kindly feeling
towards him, and, at least, judge him more favourably than Truchses von
Waldburg and many others, who he well knew to be inimical towards him.

The man returned with orders to conduct the prisoner as quietly as
possible, and without ceremony, to the large tent in which the officers
generally held their council of war. For this purpose they turned off
by a side path, and the soldiers begged Albert to close the vizor of
his helmet, that he might pass unknown, till he arrived before the
council. He willingly complied with this request, for nothing was more
painful to his feelings than to be exposed to the gaze of the curious
or exulting multitude. Numerous serving men were assembled here, whose
different costumes and badges of distinction led Albert to suppose a
large assemblage of nobles and knights were congregated in the tent.

The news that a troop of infantry had taken a man of distinction
prisoner, appeared to have preceded his arrival, for when Albert threw
himself from his saddle, the people crowded around him, and, with looks
of curiosity, tried to get a sight of his features through the
apertures of his vizor. A page of honour with difficulty made his way
through the multitude, having been sent, "in the name of the commanders
of the League," to open a road by which the prisoner could reach the
tent. Three of the men who had taken him were ordered to follow; their
joy was unbounded, and they thought of nothing less than receiving
immediately the gold florins which had been offered as the price for
the person of the Duke of Wuertemberg.

The inner curtain of the tent being drawn up, Albert walked in boldly
and with a firm, step, looking round upon the men who were to decide
upon his fate. Many known faces were among the number, who eyed him
with inquisitive penetrating looks. The scowling glance and inimical
front of Truchses von Waldburg were still fresh in his memory, and the
scornful exulting expression of the features of this man did not augur
him any good. Sickingen, Alban von Closen, Hutten, all sat before him
as at that time when he bid the League an eternal farewell. But when he
beheld that noble figure, those dignified features of Fronsberg, which
were deeply engraven on his grateful heart, he felt self convicted in
his own estimation. It was not contempt or triumpha