an owl in the summer sunlight. However, let us stick to our text. If
what I said had been true, although of course you know it isn't, you
have nevertheless enough common sense to be aware that I would certainly
show a pardonable reluctance about visiting my father's Palace. It is
thronged with spies of the Archbishop, and although, as I have said, I
am not very well known, there is a chance that one or another might
recognize me, and then, almost instantly, a man on a swift horse would
be on his way to Mayence. If I knew that I had been discovered, I should
make at once for Ehrenfels, arriving there before an investigation was
held. But my twenty comrades would wait for me in vain. Nevertheless, I
shall venture into the Saalhof this very afternoon, and bring to you a
letter written by my mother certifying that I am her son. Would that
convince you?"

"Yes; were I sure the signature was genuine."

"Ah, there you go again! Always a loophole!"

The young man spoke in accents of such genuine despair that his host was
touched despite his incredulity.

"Look you here," he said, bending across the table. "There is, of
course, one chance in ten thousand that you are what you say. I have
never seen the signature of the Empress, and such a missive could easily
be forged by a scholar, which I take you to be. If, then, you wish to
convince me, I'll put before you a test which will be greatly to your
advantage, and which I will accept without the loophole."

"In Heaven's name, let's hear what it is."