om going to the
door and admitting the count."

"By force, impossible, for that would make a noise; but by cunning. I have
it, Frederick, I have it! I will entice old Trude into my room and then
lock myself in with her, playing all sorts of tricks, and seeming to have
no object at all in view but amusement and teasing. I will take care of
old Trude."

"And I of Count Schwarzenberg. It is high time, sister! Make haste, lest
old Trude escape you. But hark! It will be necessary for you to speak to
the old woman, besides. You must threaten her with revealing the whole
affair to our father if she does not do as you command, and tell our
sister that she waited for the count a whole hour in vain."

"You are right, Frederick. That is still better. Louise must believe that
he did not come. To work!--to work!"

The Princess sprang away with the fleetness of a gazelle, and the Prince
was left alone.

"I wish I could go to meet him sword in hand," he muttered between his
clinched teeth. "I understand their game. They would have poisoned me and
carried off my sister, so that she would have been forced to marry him,
and then by means of the Emperor she would have been declared heiress of
the Electoral Mark of Brandenburg. Ah! I penetrate their designs, and they
shall not succeed. Their poison proved inefficacious, and so shall their
love! Now away to the door through which the fine gallant was to have
entered. He will find it locked, and I shall keep guard before it the
livelong night."

The Prince left his own apartments, and hurried down a private staircase
and through dark passages to the door designated. It was only on latch,
but a key was in the lock. Quickly he locked the door, and then stood
listening intently. It struck ten o'clock, and as the last stroke vibrated
in his ear a hand was laid upon the door latch outside, and a manly voice
whispered: "Trude, open! It is I. The one whom you expect! Open, quick!"

"Were it hell," murmured the Prince softly to himself, "yes, were it hell,
I would open the door. But there is no admittance to paradise for you.
Knock on, knock on! The gates of the Electoral mansion are not undone for
you. Knock on; the castle of the Elector of Brandenburg is locked against
you, and you must stand without, you Counts of Schwarzenberg, for you
shall not thrust me out of the palace of my fathers! I shall be Elector of
Brandenburg in spite of you, and then, Count Schwarzenberg, Stadtholder in
the