“It is my pleasure that you take horse at once and proceed to my city of Mayence on the Rhine, where I am governor. You will inspect the garrison there and report to me.”
Heinrich bowed, but said nothing.
“You will then go down the Rhine to Elfield, where my new castle is built, and I shall be pleased to have an opinion regarding it.”
The Archbishop paused, and again his vassal bowed and remained silent.
“It is my wish that you go without escort, attracting as little attention as possible, and perhaps it may be advisable to return by the northern side of the Moselle, but some distance back from the river, as there are barons on the banks who might inquire your business, and regret their curiosity when they found they questioned a messenger of mine. We should strive, during our brief sojourn on this inquisitive earth, to put our fellow creatures to as little discomfort as possible.”
Von Richenbach saw that he was being sent on a secret and possibly dangerous mission, and he had been long enough in the service of the crafty Archbishop to know that the reasons ostensibly given for his journey were probably not those which were the cause of it, so he contented himself with inclining his head for the third time and holding his peace. The Archbishop regarded him keenly for a few moments, a derisive smile parting his firm lips; then said, as if his words were an afterthought:
“Our faithful vassal, the Count von Eltz, is, if I mistake not, a neighbor of ours at Elfield?”
The sentence took, through its inflection, the nature of a query, and for the first time Heinrich von Richenbach ventured reply.
“He is, my Lord.”
The Archbishop raised his eyes to the vaulted ceiling, and seemed for a time lost in thought, saying, at last, apparently in soliloquy, rather than by direct address: