since lost their sovereignty, but who still retained their princely
title, together with an immense fortune which included very great landed
possessions. The family had dwindled in number so that there were but
few representatives left, and only one in the direct line, Prince Egon,
and he as owner of the family estates and through kinship on his dead
mother's side with the reigning house, played a conspicuous part among
the nobility of the country.

The young prince was understood to be very wild and erratic, and a man
who was always forming eccentric attachments. He cared little for
princely etiquette, and followed the whim of the moment. The old prince
had held the reins with a tight hand, but at his death Egon von
Adelsberg became his own master, and since that time, had followed his
own free course without check or restraint.

He had just now returned from a two years' tour in the East, and instead
of going to his palace in the capital, or to one of his magnificently
appointed castles, always in readiness to receive him, no matter what
the season, he had, on the spur of the moment, decided upon this little
hunting castle of Rodeck, where he could not be comfortably housed, and
where the few retainers who took charge of the place, were ill-prepared
for such an honor. But as old Stadinger had said, no one dare ask why of
the prince; he did as the humor of the hour pleased him.

It was the morning of a sunny autumn day. Upon the broad velvety lawn,
two men attired in hunting costume, were standing talking to the
steward, while in the broad court a few yards beyond, stood a light,
open carriage, awaiting its owner's pleasure. The two young men seemed,
at a first glance, to resemble one another. Both had tall, slender
figures, deeply browned faces, and eyes in which the fiery arrogance of