anger! Stop a
moment. In the whole inn there is but one room that would be fit for a
lady, and that one adjoins mine. They will be conducted there. Remain
quietly in this room, and I will try to let their servants know the
state of affairs."

The young man stole silently to his room and blew out the wax candles,
leaving only the light that the landlady had given them. Then he
listened at the door.

Presently the landlady came up the stairs with the ladies, and
conducted them in a most obsequious manner to their room. She besought
her guests to retire soon, as they must be exhausted by their ride, and
then went down-stairs again. Soon afterwards, the student heard the
heavy steps of a man ascending the stairs; he opened the door
cautiously a little ways, and peering through the crack saw the tall
man who had helped the ladies from the wagon. He wore a hunter's
costume, with a hunting knife in his belt, and was most likely the
equerry of the ladies.

As soon as the student could make sure that this man was alone, he
opened his door quickly and beckoned the man to come in. The equerry
came up to him with a surprised look, but before he could ask what was
wanted, the student whispered to him: "Sir, you have been led into a
den of thieves to-night."

The man shrank back, but the student drew him inside of the room and
related to him all the suspicious circumstances about the house.

The huntsman was much alarmed as he heard this, and informed the young
man that the ladies, a countess and her maid, were at first anxious to
travel right through the night; but they were met a short distance from
this inn by a horseman who had hailed them and asked where they were
bound. When he learned that their intention was to travel through the
Spessart all night, he advised them against doing so, as being very
unsafe at the present time. "If you will take the advice of an honest
man," he had added, "you will give up that purpose; there is an inn not
far from here, and poor and inconvenient as you may find it, it is
better for you to pass the night there than to expose yourself
unnecessarily to danger." The man who thus advised them appeared to be
honest and respectable, and the countess, fearing an assault from
robbers, had given orders to have the carriage stopped at this inn.

The huntsman considered it his duty to inform the ladies of the danger
that threatened them. He went into their room, and shortly afterwards
opened the doo