emingly expected one, but as it did not come, the Prince continued:

"Here is my address in Sachsenhausen, should you wish a communication to
reach me in haste; and kindly command your porter not to parley when I
again demand speech with your Lordship. Good-night. I thank you, my
Lord, for your courtesy," and the energetic youth disappeared before the
slow-thinking Archbishop could call up words with which to reply.

Cologne did not immediately rejoin his guests, but stood a very figure
of perplexity, muttering to himself:

"If our friend Mayence thinks that youngster is to be molded like soft
clay, he is very much mistaken. I hope Roland will not cause him to feel
the iron hand too soon. I wonder why Mayence is delaying the Election?
Can it be that already he distrusts his choice, or is it the question of
a wife?"

Meanwhile the front door of the Archbishop's Palace had clanged shut,
and Roland strode across the square careless or unconscious of spies,
looking neither to the right nor to the left. He made his way speedily
to the Fahrgasse, walking down that thoroughfare until he came to Herr
Goebel's door, where he knocked, and was admitted. Ushered into the room
where he had parted from the merchant, he found Herr Goebel seated at
his table as if he had never left it. The merchant, with a cry of
delight, greeted the young man.

"Well, Herr Goebel, you see I have been a successful trafficker. Your
bales of goods are all in Castle Pfalz, and I trust the barge returned
safely to you with the money."

"It did indeed, your Highness."

"Has the coin been counted?"

"Yes; and it totals an enormous, almost unbelievable, sum, which I have
set down here to the last stiver."

"That is brave news. Have any demands been made on you for its
partition?"

"No, your Highness."

"Now, Herr Goebel, I have determined that all that money, which is in
effect stolen property, shall go to the feeding of Frankfort's poor.
Buying provender shrewdly, how long would this treasure keep hunger away
from the gates of Frankfort?"

"That requires some calculation, your Highness."

"A month?"

"Surely so."

"Two months, perhaps?"

"'Tis likely; but I deal in cloth, not in food, and therefore cannot
speak definitely without computation and the advice of those expert in
the matter."

"Very well, Herr Goebel; get your computations made as soon as possible.
Call together your merchants' guild, and ask its members--By the way,"
said