"And what road is that to be?" asked Algernon Grey.
"Heaven only knows!" exclaimed Lovet, sitting down to the table again; "I have asked no questions. All I know is, that we make straight for a place with an inconceivable name, something like Waldsaxon, a town in the upper Palatinate. I sent on all your spare horses, as they arrived, together with three or four I had purchased for myself, telling the grooms to find the road the best way they could, and so they are probably now in the heart of Austria."
"Nonsense, nonsense, Lovet," cried his cousin; "where have the men gone to? If we are to make a rapid march, as doubtless will be the case, we must have the means of remounting; and a mistake would be no jest."
"Assuredly not," answered Lovet; "and, as I have scarcely time to finish my supper, before soft devotion calls me hence, sit down and take some food, and I will tell you, most noble cousin---- Here, bring platters and knives, fellows; more wine, more meat, more everything Well, cousin mine, looking on a fair picture of the country, I sent the men on half way to a place called Altdorf, bidding them there wait for our coming, and take especial care to get themselves dead-drunk, if it were possible, for the three consecutive days after their arrival. You will mark the policy, wise Algernon; for, as a man must get drunk sometimes, and always will get drunk in his master's absence, it was much better that they should do it by command than in disobedience; and, fixing on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for the operation, I left them Friday for lassitude, and Saturday for refreshment; so that, by the time we arrive, they will be as brisk as larks, and the horses, if they have got drunk, likewise.--This partridge, stewed with sour cabbage, is the only excellent thing I have found in Germany--with one exception, cousin Algernon, with one exception. I beseech you, take a wing thereof; for I would fain share with you as far as possible; and of the other good, which fortune sends me, I cannot even spare a sigh--much less a merry-thought.--What will you have in the way of wine? Here is Burgundy, for which I sent a man express into the heart of France; and here is the juice of the Rhinegau, with some drops from the bishop of Bamberg's cellar, of which he was plundered when last the quarrelsome men of this country fought about they knew not what."
Algernon Grey sat down, and, after musing for a minute or two, joined his companion in his meal. The conversation went on in the same tone in which it had begun: Lovet evading, under cover of his habitual jesting replies, any direct answer to unpleasant questions. Upon some points, however, Algernon Grey pressed him hard, asking if the Electress had made any change in her arrangements; and, when he said, laughing, "I am not one of her counsel, cousin mine," pursuing the inquiry by demanding, "Has she made any that you know of, William?"
"Oh, a hundred," answered Lovet; "she goes in a carriage instead of on horseback, they tell me: her gown is to be green instead of pink--but, good faith! I must away. I shall see you, doubtless, ere you go to sleep, though strong repose to-night will be needful; for we shall have busy days before us; and, if the devil has not grown old and lazy, there is work ready carved out to occupy every minute of the next two years. What a happy thing it is, Algernon, that there is a devil; were it not for him the waters of the world would stagnate and get all over duck-weed, like a standing pool. Nay, do not look grave, grim cousin! Adieu! adieu!" and away he went, leaving Algernon Grey to make his arrangements for the following morning as best he could.
Habituated, however, as the young Englishman had been from his very boyhood to command and direct, no great difficulties attended his course. He found that the principal court of the castle was appointed for the assembling of all gentlemen of noble birth, who were to accompany the Elector towards Prague; and that all who brought military retainers to his aid were to direct their followers to meet in the market-place, and to join the royal party in order, as it descended from the palace. All his commands were soon given. Three of his servants were, by this time, well acquainted with the town of Heidelberg. Everything was prepared over night; and, after waiting for the return of his cousin till the clock had struck eleven, Algernon Grey retired to rest.
He had ordered himself to be called at half-past five on the following morning; but, somewhat before that hour, picking his way through the beds in the ante-chamber, Lovet knocked hard at his door, shouting, "Up, Algernon, up! The people are swarming to the castle like bees to a hive. Let us go with them, or we may get stung;" and away he went again to finish his own preparations. In about three quarters of an hour more, the two cousins were riding up the hill, followed only by the servants necessary to hold their horses; and, passing a number of gentlemen not so well mounted as themselves, they reached the gates, where their names were demanded and compared with a list in the porter's hands. On giving those which they had assumed, instant admission was afforded to the two gentlemen themselves; their servants and horses being left with a crowd of others without. In the court some forty or fifty persons were found assembled; and, assuredly, no want of enthusiastic hope appeared amongst them. All were cheerful, all were full of busy activity; each man encouraged his neighbour, each man strove to excite in others the same glad expectations that were sporting wildly in his own bosom.
Lovet seemed, during his cousin's absence, to have made a very general acquaintance amongst the principal personages of the electoral court. Hardly a face presented itself in the grey light of the early morning, of which he did not seem to have some knowledge; and to every third or fourth man he spoke, or gave some sign of recognition. He appeared indeed to have become extremely popular; his jests, whether delivered in exceedingly bad German, or good French, were laughed at and enjoyed; and, as the two cousins passed on, it was evident, as so frequently occurs in life, that the worthy and the high-minded was regarded with cold doubt; while the one certainly the least estimable was met with pleasure and regard. It must not be denied that Algernon Grey in some degree felt this difference: not very painfully, it is true; but still he thought, "This is, in some degree, my own fault. I have suffered circumstances with which the world has nothing to do to affect my demeanour to the world,--I must change this and be myself again. The time was when I could be as gay as Lovet, though in a different way. I will see whether those days cannot return."
As he thus thought, he saw the powerful form of the Baron of Oberntraut crossing the courtyard towards them; and, instantly advancing to meet him, he grasped him warmly by the hand.