t my last visit to the
Castle of Cleves." And ordering his band to play "See the Conquering
Hero comes," he clattered away through the drawbridge. The Princess
Helen was not present at his departure; and the venerable Prince of
Cleves looked rather moody and chap-fallen when his guest left him.
He visited all the castle defences pretty accurately that night, and
inquired of his officers the state of the ammunition, provisions, &c. He
said nothing; but the Princess Helen's maid did: and everybody knew that
the Rowski had made his proposals, had been rejected, and, getting up in
a violent fury, had called for his people, and sworn by his great gods
that he would not enter the castle again until he rode over the breach,
lance in hand, the conqueror of Cleves and all belonging to it.

No little consternation was spread through the garrison at the news: for
everybody knew the Rowski to be one of the most intrepid and powerful
soldiers in all Germany,--one of the most skilful generals. Generous
to extravagance to his own followers, he was ruthless to the enemy: a
hundred stories were told of the dreadful barbarities exercised by him
in several towns and castles which he had captured and sacked. And poor
Helen had the pain of thinking, that in consequence of her refusal she
was dooming all the men, women, and children of the principality to
indiscriminate and horrible slaughter.

The dreadful surmises regarding a war received in a few days dreadful
confirmation. It was noon, and the worthy Prince of Cleves was taking
his dinner (though the honest warrior had had little appetite for that
meal for some time past), when trumpets were heard at the gate; and
presently the herald of the Rowski of Donnerblitz, clad in a tabard on
which the arms of the Count were blazoned, entered the dining-hall. A
page bore a steel gauntlet on a cushion; Bleu Sanglier had his hat on
his head. The Prince of Cleves put on his own, as the herald came up to
the chair of state where the sovereign sat.

"Silence for Bleu Sanglier," cried the Prince, gravely. "Say your say,
Sir Herald."

"In the name of the high and mighty Rowski, Prince of Donnerblitz,
Margrave of Eulenschreckenstein, Count of Krotenwald, Schnauzestadt,
and Galgenhugel, Hereditary Grand Corkscrew of the Holy Roman Empire--to
you, Adolf the Twenty-third, Prince of Cleves, I, Bleu Sanglier, bring
war and defiance. Alone, and lance to lance, or twenty to twenty in
field or in fort, on pl