"The custodian is a slow-minded man, although not so laggard in coming
to an agreement as yourself. He took a week to turn the matter over in
his mind, and then made the plunge. He is now jailer to his own son, and
that young peasant lives in a style he never dreamed of before. The
Archbishops are satisfied, because they believe I cannot escape from the
stronghold--like yourself, holding but a poor opinion of my abilities;
and their devout Lordships know that outside the fortress no person, not
even my mother, wishes me forth. I took in my wallet five hundred
thalers, and fared like the peasant I seemed to be, down the Rhine, now
on one side, now on the other, until I came to the ancient town of
Castra Bonnensia of the Romans, which name the inhabitants now shorten
to Bonn. There I found the Archbishop in residence, and not at Cologne,
as I had supposed. The town being thronged with soldiers and inquisitive
people of Cologne's court, I returned up the Rhine again, remembering I
had gone rather far afield, and although you may not believe it, I
called upon my old friend the custodian of Ehrenfels, and enjoyed an
excellent meal with him, consuming some of the seductive wine that is
grown on the same side of the river about a league above Ehrenfels.
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