The Princess-Dowager of East Friesland. “The two Princesses of East Frise [Friesland] arrived yesterday.”—Colt’s _Despatch_, Hanover, February 9, 1692. Footnote 90: The Princess of East Friesland. ----- The Princess was torn by conflicting emotions—her infatuation on the one hand, and her dread of discovery on the other. She had not yet capitulated wholly; but under the impetuous assaults of her lover the outworks were falling one by one, the citadel would soon be stormed. While she was hesitating, the carnival broke up, and Sophie Dorothea returned with her parents to Celle. The Duchess Sophia seems to have gone too.[91] ----- Footnote 91: “The Duke of Hanover hath sent all the women hither.”—Colt’s _Despatch_, Celle, February 23, 1692. ----- The Duke of Hanover had an object in sending “all the women” out of the way, for he wished to try his prisoners and bring Prince Max to his knees—things he could do better when freed from feminine influence. He soon succeeded, for Max renounced his claims, and the prisoners were found guilty and sent back to their prison to wait sentence. The Duke of Hanover then went to join his brother at Celle, where much company was assembled, including the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Eisenach. Königsmarck was there too, perhaps in the suite of the Duke of Hanover, possibly on a visit to his brother-in-law, Count Lewenhaupt, to whom the Duke of Celle had recently given the command of a regiment of Foot.[92] ----- Footnote 92: “The Duke of Celle hath at last given the new-raised regiment of Foot to the Count Lewenhaupt, a Swede, brother-in-law to Count Königsmarck, who commands a regiment of Hanover.”—Colt’s _Despatch_, January 22, 1692. ----- Königsmarck was, of course, invited to all the court festivities at Celle, and had many opportunities of meeting the Princess. But she was on her guard in public, so much so that the Duchess of Celle could detect nothing definite, though she seems to have sounded Königsmarck, if we may judge from his next letter to the Princess. In this letter appears the first hint of an idea which gradually matured in the Princess’s mind side by side with the growth of her passion—namely, that she and her lover should escape by flight from a situation intolerable to both. “[CELLE, _March_.]