"
The count, bowing for the third time to the conclave, passed from its
presence with mournful step and sorrowful countenance; whereupon the
brethren, seeing themselves thus denuded of wealth they had hoped to
enjoy, gave utterance to a groan doubtless much greater in volume than
that emitted by the carven statue, which wooden figure may be seen
to-day in the museum of the modern Castle of Sayn by any one who cares
to spend the fifty pfennigs charged for admission.
All that has been related happened generations before the time when the
Countess Hildegunde reigned as head of the House of Sayn, but Father
Ambrose formed a link with the past in that he was the present scion of
Sayn who, as a Benedictine, daily offered prayer for the repose of the
wicked Henry III. The gold which Henry's immediate successor so craftily
deflected from the monks seemed to be blessed rather than cursed, for
under the care of that subtle manager it multiplied greatly in
Frankfort, and scandal-mongers asserted that besides receiving the usury
exacted, the pietistic Count tapped the treasure-casks of upward-sailing
Rhine merchants quite as successfully, if more quietly, than the profane
Henry had done.
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