Eberhard Ludwig led the mob, and the Prussian King was with him. 'Beloved of my life, heart of my soul!' the Duke said, and clasped her to him; but his arms had become sickle-blades and they cut her to the heart, while Friedrich Wilhelm laughed and waved a cudgel. It hit her on the brow, blow after blow. 'Wanton, wanton, witch and wanton!' the King bawled at each stroke. She was dreaming; she knew it, she must awake; but the Dream Demon had not done with her. Now she was with Wuerben, now with Madame de Ruth, now at Guestrow, now at Urach in the Golden Hall, but always the glistening sickle-blades followed her. Wuerben cut at her with them; Madame de Ruth, Monsieur Gabriel, every one had got these searing blades, and always Eberhard Ludwig stood watching, watching, and he did not save her! In the grey dawn she awoke. It was all a dream, then. What was wrong, though? There was something--ah, yes! Eberhard Ludwig had ceased to love her. Absurd! It was a phantasy of her weary brain! She was ill, feverish.--Eberhard was occupied with an exacting guest, that was all. He would come back to her--he must. At last she slept dreamlessly. Fatigue conquered agony, and she slept. * * * * * The Landhofmeisterin awoke to a smiling world. Such a glory of Spring, of blossom and lilac. Maria threw open the windows, and the sound of the gardeners raking the paths of La Favorite gardens came in with the lilac scent. It was a good world, a very young world! Alas! the Graevenitz felt old and broken, ill from her night of agony. Maria told her that the Prussian King had left Ludwigsburg. Very early the cavalcade had started, and Serenissimus had ridden away with his guest. 'At what hour does his Highness return?' her Excellency queried. 'Not for several days; they say his Highness stays at Heilbronn to-night, and rides to the frontier with the King to-morrow, then goes boar-sticking in the Maulbronn forest, and will not return for four or five days,' the maid answered. The Landhofmeisterin sighed; in happier days the Duke had bidden her adieu tenderly, if he were forced to leave her for an hour, and now---- But it was absurd; of course he could not always worship her like a young lover, but he would never desert her. 'Who is in the antehall this morning, Maria?' she asked. 'No one, your Excellency.' So the parasites were dropping away from the threatened tree. * * * * * All that day and the next, no one disturbed the solitude of La Favorite, even Baron Schuetz held aloof. On the third morning the Landhofmeisterin sent for him, but the answer came back that the Finance Minister had left Ludwigsburg for a few days' rest. The Landhofmeisterin reflected grimly that Baron Schuetz had never needed repose before.