"At last we bethought us we would once more endeavour to mollify our lord and husband. We sent for the two Princes our sons, and the Princess our daughter, dressed ourselves and the children in our best, and waited near the hall-door till our lord and husband rose from dinner and came out. Then we, together with our beloved children, prostrated ourselves before his Princely Highness, hoping thereby to mollify him. For if his Princely Highness would not recognize us as his lawful wife, our dearly beloved children after his death might be considered as bastards. "Our children wept aloud, as did also the whole surrounding court, for it would have melted a heart of stone. Our lord and husband let us thus kneel, and stood in deep thought, not knowing at the moment what to say. His Princely Highness's eyes were filled with tears. Meanwhile the mistress von Degenfeld came from within, saw us thus kneeling, and spoke audaciously to our lord and husband. '_Signore Elettore, servate la parola di promessa._' At these words our lord and husband clasped his hands over his head, and went away sighing. We however could no longer look over such iniquity, but ran into our chamber and seized a loaded pistol, determined to send a ball through the heart of this wanton, godless disturber of conjugal rights, this von Degenfeld. But when we came to her, and were on the point of discharging the pistol, it was taken away from us by the noble Count and Lord Wolf Julius von Hohenlohe, and discharged out of a window. But when our lord and husband heard this shot, he ran hastily out of his apartment, and asked who had fired. We said: 'Ah, dear treasure, I did it, with the intention of revenging your Princely Highness's honour on this monster.' But our lord and husband replied: 'Charlotta, Charlotta, cease these doings, if you would not be sent away forthwith from hence.' But we went off without making reply. "Four days after a postilion came with a report that his Serene Highness of Würtemberg would arrive within two hours. Thereupon our lord and husband sent to notify to us that his Princely Highness, with Mistress von Degenfeld, would go to meet the said Lord Duke. But we were to receive his Princely Highness at the castle. And thus it was. Three days were spent in all kinds of pastimes, in honour of the said Lord Duke, but we lived neglected, and were not once asked to dinner, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of our much-loved lord and brother Duke Eberhard and his wife.