I felt only how dear he was to me, how much I had lost in him. These recollections made me incapable of all others; and I reflected not, that his death was the certain pledge to me of approaching danger, and future sufferings. Count Donat was no longer more than two leagues distant from the Castle. No one doubted, that the hand which murdered my uncle, was armed by Donat: how indeed could he sooner gain possession of his destined victims, than by depriving them of their most able protector?—It is true, Count Lodowick of Homburg ... but his youth, his inexperience, even his consternation and sorrow for the loss of his heroic guide in the paths of glory, all tended to prevent his being to us of as much assistance, as he would gladly have been, and as we too fondly expected that he would be. I will pass over in silence the days of anxiety, which followed my uncle’s death, nor will torture your tender hearts, my children, by relating how cruelly I suffered from terror while looking forward to events, which (dreadful as my imagination painted them) you will find, were far exceeded by the reality! Count Lodowick fought bravely, but unsuccessfully. His troops were cut to pieces; their chief was compelled however reluctantly to find safety in flight. The most faithful of our vassals under the command of Henric Melthal still defended for a while the approaches to the Castle of Sargans; but they too at length were compelled to give way.—And now there was nothing to prevent the dreadful victor from seizing the unfortunates, who trembled at his approach. Among the many unpleasant circumstances, which had followed my re-union with the wretched Ethelbert, it was not the least of my griefs, that I was compelled almost constantly to endure the presence of a man, whom I had but too just grounds for abhorring.—This person, whom I half despised and half dreaded, was at that time Abbot of Cloister-Curwald, and by name Guiderius. Had there been no other reason for my disliking him, it would have been sufficient, that it was he, whom the rebellious monks of that monastery had elected their Superior after the expulsion of my friends Christian and Matthias; and that he had taken a conspicuous part against his predecessor, whose dignity he coveted, and whose blameless life made his own appear the more disgusting. Never did I see him approaching the Castle, in all the state and splendour of a petty prince, without comparing his ostentation with the dignified simplicity of my venerable friend; of whose fate no intelligence had ever reached me, after I had procured his escape by the private passage conducting to the mountains.