The beggar-woman looked at him scornfully, and said to Ilse:
"They trifle with us, and ruin us, but they hate the remembrance of old times and of their guilt. Be warned young woman, I know the secrets of this noble family, and I can tell you what they have tried to do to you, and what they have done to another who flourished before you on yonder height, and whom they placed, as they did you, in the gilded prison, over whose portal the black angel hovers."
Ilse stood bending over the beggar woman, the Prince approached her.
"Do not listen to the woman," he exclaimed.
"Speak on," said Ilse, with a faint voice.
"She was young and finely formed like you, and like you she was brought to that prison, and when the mother of this man removed me from her service because I pleased the Sovereign, I was appointed to serve the stranger. One morning I was made to ask for leave of absence from the imprisoned lady, because she was to be alone."
"I entreat of you not to listen to her," implored, the Prince.
"I listen," said Ilse, again bending down over the old woman, "speak low."
"When I came back the next morning I found a maniac in the house instead of the fair-haired lady, and I escaped from the place in terror. Do you wish to know through which door madness made its way to that woman?" she continued in a low murmur. Ilse put her ear to her mouth, but sprang suddenly back and uttered a piercing shriek, hiding her face with her hands. The Prince leaned against the wall and wrung his hands.
A loud call sounded from the carriage-road, and a man hastily approached; he held out a letter while still at a distance.