Chancellor von Redwitz had performed his mission. The hours of my
convalescence were furnished with food for amusement sufficient to
sustain a year's blockade; I had no further longing for society, but I
craved for fresh air intensely.

Did Ottilia know that this iron law, enforced with the might of a whole
empire, environed her, held her fast from any motion of heart and will?
I could not get to mind that the prince had hinted at the existence
of such a law. Yet why should he have done so? The word impossible,
in which he had not been sparing when he deigned to speak distinctly,
comprised everything. More profitable than shooting empty questions
at the sky was the speculation on his project in receiving me at the
palace, and that was dark. My father, who might now have helped me, was
off on duty again.

I found myself driving into Sarkeld with a sense of a whirlwind round
my head; wheels in multitudes were spinning inside, striking sparks
for thoughts. I met an orderly in hussar uniform of blue and silver,
trotting on his errand. There he was; and whether many were behind him
or he stood for the army in its might, he wore the trappings of an old
princely House that nestled proudly in the bosom of its great jealous
Fatherland. Previously in Sarkeld I had noticed members of the
diminutive army to smile down on them. I saw the princely arms and
colours on various houses and in the windows of shops. Emblems of
a small State, they belonged to the history of the Empire. The
Court-physician passed with a bit of ribbon in his buttonhole. A lady
driving in an open carriage encouraged me to salute her. She was the
wife of the Prince's Minister of Justice. Upon what foundation had I
been building?

A reflection of the ideas possessing me showed Riversley, my undecorated
home of rough red brick, in the middle of barren heaths. I entered the
palace, I sent my respects to the prince. In return, the hour of dinner
was ceremoniously named to me: ceremony damped the air. I had been
insensible to it before, or so I thought, the weight was now so
crushing. Arms, emblems, colours, liveries, portraits of princes and
princesses of the House, of this the warrior, that the seductress, burst
into sudden light. What had I to do among them?

The presence of the living members of the Family was an extreme physical
relief.

For the moment, beholding Ottilia, I counted her but as one of them. She
welcomed me without restraint.

We chatt