“I learned it only this morning, my Lord. I shall return to Frankfort when I am assured that this gentlewoman is in a place of safety.”
“Ah, Countess, there will be no lack of safety now! But will you not ease an old man’s conscience by admitting he was in the right?”
The Countess looked up at Roland with a smile.
“Yes, dear Guardian,” she said. “You were in the right.”
XVII. “FOR THE EMPRESS, AND NOT FOR THE EMPIRE”
While the long line of troops stood at salute in single file, the Archbishop turned his horse to the north and rode past his regiments, followed by the Countess and Roland. His Lordship was accompanied to the end of the ranks by his general, who received final instructions regarding the march.
“You will encamp for the night not at Schloss Martinsburg, as I had intended, but a league or two up the Lahn. To-morrow morning continue your march along the Lahn as far as Limburg, and there await my arrival. We will enter Frankfort by the north gate instead of from the west.”
The Archbishop sat on his horse for some minutes, watching the departing force, then called Roland to his right hand, and Hildegunde to his left, and thus the three set out on the short journey to Sayn.