Judging
by your fair face (and I have always held it to be beautiful, remember),
you, Hildegunde Lauretta Priscilla Agnes, Countess of Sayn, are not
moving northward to Nonnenwerth. I always insisted that the Saalhof at
Frankfort was a more cheerful edifice than any nunnery on the Rhine, yet
you never turned upon me such a glance of confidence as I see you bestow
on your future Emperor."
"I hope, my Lord and Guardian," cried the girl, "that I have met you in
time to deflect your course to my Castle of Sayn."
"Sweet Countess, I thank you for the invitation. My men can go on to
their camp in the stronghold of my brother of Mayence, Schloss
Martinsburg, and I shall gladly return with you to the hospitable hearth
of Sayn. Indeed," said the Archbishop, lowering his voice, "I shall feel
safer there than in enjoying the hospitality I had intended to accept."
"Are you not surprised to meet me?" asked the lady, with a laugh,
adjusting words and manner to the new situation, which she more quickly
comprehended than did her companion, who glanced with bewilderment from
Countess to prelate, and back again.
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