knew of old your fleetness of foot, and if the forest once encircled
you, how was I ever to find you?"

The girl made no effort to escape from her imprisonment, and showed
little desire to exchange the embrace she endured for that of the
forest.

"Though I should blush to say it, Wilhelm, I fear I am easily found,
when you are the searcher."

"Then let old Schloss Schonburg claim you, Elsa, that the walls which
beheld a son go forth, may see a son and daughter return."




CHAPTER III

A CITY OF FEAR


The Countess Beatrix von Schonburg warmly welcomed her lost son and her
newly-found daughter. The belief of Beatrix in Wilhelm's ultimate
return had never wavered during all the long years of his absence, and
although she had to translate her dream of the child of four into a
reality that included a stalwart young man of twenty-one, the
readjustment was speedily accomplished. Before a week had passed it
seemed to her delighted heart that the boy had never left the castle.
The Countess had liked Elsa from the first moment when she saw her,
ragged, unkempt and forlorn, among the lowering, suspicious men-at-arms