oss Martinsburg before ten of the clock that night. At an
early hour next morning the little procession began its journey up the
Rhine, his Lordship and the Countess in front; the six horsemen bringing
up the rear.

The lady was in a mood of deep dejection; the regret which Mayence had
anticipated as result of imprisonment already enveloped her. It was only
too evident that the Archbishop of Cologne was bitterly disappointed,
for he rode silently by her side making no attempt at conversation. They
rested for several hours during midday, arriving at Caub before the red
sun set, and now the Countess saw her pinnacled prison lying like an
anchored ship in midstream.

At Caub they were met by a bearded, truculent-looking ruffian, who
introduced himself to the Archbishop as the Pfalzgraf von Stahleck.

"You take us rather by surprise, Prince of Cologne," he said. "It is
true that my overlord, the Archbishop of Mayence, called upon me several
days ago while descending the Rhine in his ten-oared barge, and said
there was a remote chance that a prisoner might shortly be given into my
care. This had often happened before, for my Castle covers some gruesome
cells that extend under the river,--cells with secret entrances not
easily come by should any one search the Castle. It is sometimes
convenient that a prisoner of State should be immured in one of them
when the Archbishop has no room in his own Schloss Ehrenfels, so I paid
little attention, and merely said the prisoner would receive a welcome
on arrival. This morning there came one of the Archbishop's men from
Stolzenfels, and both my wife and myself were astonished to learn that
the prisoner would be here this evening under your escort, my Lord, and
that it was a woman we were to harbor. Further, she was to be given the
best suite of rooms we had in the Castle, and to be treated with all
respect as a person of rank. Now, this apartment is in no state of
readiness to receive such a lady, much less to house one of the dignity
of your Lordship."

"It does not matter for me," replied the Archbishop. "Being, as I may
say, part soldier, the bed and board of an inn is quite acceptable upon
occasion."

"Oh no, your Highness, such a hardship is not to be thought of. The
Castle of Gutenfels, standing above us, is comfortable as any on the
Rhine. Its owner, the Count Palatine, is fellow-Elector of yours, and a
very close friend of my overlord of Mayence, and I am told they vote
to