“’This consideration exerted a great influence upon the Empress, who counseled her son to acquiesce.  The young man was led to a boat then in waiting by the river steps of the Palace, and so conveyed down the Main to the Rhine, which was reached just after daybreak.  Without landing, and keeping as much as possible to the middle of the river, the party proceeded down the Rhine, past Bingen, to the foot of the crag on which stands the castle of Ehrenfels.  The Prince was taken up to the Castle, where he now remains.

“’The Archbishops from their revenues allot to him seven hundred thalers a month, in addition to his maintenance.  It is impossible for him to escape from this stronghold unaided, and as the Emperor takes no interest in the matter, and the Empress has given her consent, he is like to be an inmate of Ehrenfels during the pleasure of the Archbishops, who doubtless will not elect him to the throne in succession unless he proves compliant to their wishes.  The Prince being a young man of no particular force of character’” (the merchant paused in his reading, and looked across at his vis-a-vis with a smile, but the latter appeared to be asleep), “’he will probably succumb to the Archbishops, therefore merchants are advised to base no hopes upon an improvement in affairs, even though the son should succeed the father.  Despite the precautions taken, the arrest and imprisonment of the Prince, and even the place of his detention, became rather generally known in Frankfort, but the news is in the form of rumor only, and excites little interest throughout the city.’

“There, Sir Roland, what do you say to that?”

“Oh, nothing much,” replied Roland.  “The account might have stated that in the boat were five rowers, who worked lustily until we reached the Rhine, when, the wind being favorable, a sail was hoisted, and with the current assisting the wind, we made excellent time to Ehrenfels.  I observe, further, that your secret service keeps you very well informed, and therefore withdraw a tithe of the harsh things I said regarding the stupidity of the merchants.”

“Many thanks for the concession,” said Goebel, replacing the document with its fellows.  “Now, as a plain and practical man, what strikes me is this:  you need only return to Ehrenfels for two months, and as there is little use for money in that fortress, your maintenance being guaranteed, and seven hundred thalers allowed, you can come away with four hundred thalers more than the sum you demand from me, and thus put your project into force without being under obligations to any despised merchant.”

“True, Herr Goebel, but can you predict what will happen in Frankfort before two months are past?  You learn from that document that the shrewd Archbishops anticipate an insurrection, and doubtless they command the force at hand ready to crush it, but during this conflict, which you seem to regard so lightly, does it ever occur to you that the merchants’ palaces along the Fahrgasse may be sacked and burnt?”