“No one shall despise me, no one shall turn, from me!” cried the count, springing to his feet.  With trembling hands he tore the paper into little bits, and threw them on the floor.

“There lies the secret, Princess!  Now I am entirely in your power!  Now I have no weapon of defense.  Call Burgsdorf, your highness, have me arrested, if it seems good to you, I renounce the Emperor’s safe conduct, as I just now renounced your sister’s letter.”

“We accept no act of generosity or renunciation from you,” replied the Elector with dignity.  “The Emperor’s safe conduct I shall respect, and as I allowed you to speak quietly to my sister, although you misrepresented much and put matters in a false light, so I will allow you to depart unmolested.  As regards the love letter, your excuse for demanding my sister’s hand, the fragments testify as strongly against you as the letter itself.  My sister alone has to reply to your offer.”

“I have no answer to give this man, for he dare not ask anything more of me,” said the Princess proudly.  “He who can betray the secrets of the heart degrades himself.  The man who boasts of a favor received is unworthy of it, and every woman will despise him.  Not merely now, in the hour of danger, have you bethought yourself of my letter, Count Adolphus Schwarzenberg, but you had spoken of it previously to your father.  You have turned a young girl’s letter into a political bond, which, as a cunning merchant, was to be redeemed and converted into money.  Now you have redeemed it; there lies the letter!  I give you for it my contempt.”

“I think you have now received my sister’s answer,” said the Elector, “and we have nothing more to say to one another, for the courts must settle other subjects of dispute between us.  Go, Count Schwarzenberg, return home to Vienna, for your mission is ended.  You are dismissed.”

The count answered not a word.  One long glance of grief and rage he cast upon the Princess, who stood loftily erect at her brother’s side.  Then, with a slight bow of salutation, he turned and strode through the room.

Not a sound interrupted the solemn silence save the count’s footsteps as he advanced to the door.  There he once more paused and turned back his livid, wrathful countenance.  The Princess still stood erect, calm, and unmoved, beside the Elector.  Schwarzenberg cast down his eyes and left the room.  The Princess heard the door shut, and a heavy sigh escaped her breast.  “He has gone,” she murmured softly, “he has gone; I shall never see him again.”

She leaned her head upon her brother’s shoulder and wept bitterly.

“You loved him very dearly, then?” asked the Elector gently, throwing his arms around her neck.

“Yes,” she whispered softly, “I loved him dearly, and I am afraid I love him still, and will mourn for him forever.  No one on earth has mortified me so deeply as he, and yet I shall never love another as I have loved him.”