ing to fear. I, being your guardian, am
sent to escort you to Stolzenfels, and as we ride there together I wish
to place before you some suggestions which you may find useful when the
meeting takes place."

"I shall faithfully follow any advice you give me, my Lord."

"I am sure of it, Hildegunde, and you will remember that I speak as
guardian, not as Councilor of State. My observations will be requests
and not commands. You see, we have reversed the positions of my
predecessor and the Countess Matilda. It was always she who tendered
advice, which he invariably accepted. Now I must take the role of
advice-giver; thus you and I transpose the parts of the former
Archbishop of Cologne, and the former Countess of Sayn, who, I am sorry
to note, have been completely banished from your thoughts by my
premature announcement regarding the three living Archbishops."

"Oh, not at all, not at all! I am still thinking of those two. Have you
told me all you know about them?"

"Far from it. Although I was handicapped in my reconstitution of their
friendship by lack of the Archbishop's letters, he had nevertheless made
a note here and there upon the communications he received from the
Countess. Throughout the letters certain paragraphs are marked with a
cross, as if for reperusal, these paragraphs being invariably most
delicately and charmingly written. But now I come to the last very
important document, the only one of which a copy has been kept, written
in the Archbishop's own hand.

"In the year 1250, the Countess von Sayn had ceded to him the Rhine town
of Linz. Linz seems to have been a rebellious and troublesome fief,
which the Sayns held by force of arms. When it came into the possession
of the Archbishop, the foolish inhabitants, remembering that Cologne was
a long distance down the river compared with the up-river journey to
Sayn, broke out into open revolt. The Archbishop sent up his army, and
most effectually crushed this outbreak, severely punishing the rebels.
He returned from this subdued town to his own city of Cologne, and
whether from the exposure of the brief campaign, or some other cause, he
was taken ill and shortly after died.

"The new Archbishop was installed, and nearly two years passed, so far
as I can learn, before the Countess Matilda made claim that the town of
Linz should come again within her jurisdiction, saying that this
restitution had been promised by the late Archbishop. His successor,
however,