wore one colour, my fatherly friend!" replied the young man,
looking at his beautiful wife, and pointing to the scarf which he wore,
"only one, and to this I remained faithful."

"Well, then! remain true to it for the future," said Fronsberg, and
gave him his hand to depart. "Farewell! your horses are before the
tent: may you arrive happily at your destination, and think sometimes,
in friendship, of old Fronsberg."

Bertha took leave of this worthy man with tears of grateful thanks in
her eyes; the men also were overcome when they took his hand, for they
were well aware that, without his kind interference, their fate might
have been of a very different stamp. George von Fronsberg followed the
happy party with his eye until they turned the corner of the long lane
of tents. "He is in good hands," said he, as he turned to Breitenstein.
"Truly the blessing of his father rests upon him. Not a better or more
beautiful wife, and more honourable son, will be found in all Swabia."

"Yes, yes!" replied Hans von Breitenstein, "but he has not to thank his
own wits or foresight for it. He who seeks to better his fortune,
let him conduct a wife home. I am fifty years old, and still on the
look-out for a partner; and you, also, Dieterich von Kraft, are you not
upon the same scent?"

"Not at all,--quite the contrary,--I am already provided," he replied,
as if awoke out of a dream; "when one sees such a couple, we know what
is next to be done. I am going to put myself, this very hour, into my
sedan, on my journey to Ulm, there to conduct my cousin Marie to my
home. Farewell, my friends!"

* * * * *

When the Swabian League had reconquered Wuertemberg, they re-established
their government, and reigned over the whole country, as in the summer
of 1519. The partisans of the exiled Duke were compelled to swear
neutrality, and were banished to their respective castles. Albert von
Sturmfeder and his family were included in this mild destiny, living
retired on the Lichtenstein; and a new life of peaceable domestic
happiness fell to the lot of the loving couple.

Often when they stood at the window of the castle, overlooking
Wuertemberg's beautiful fields, they would think of their unfortunate
Prince, who also once viewed his country from the same spot. It
reminded them of the chain of events of their own history, and of the
extraordinary means by which their union had been brought about; and
which the