176 MARK TWAIN'S SKETCHES. 



" To think that he was despising my love at the very moment that I thought it 

 was melting his cruel heart ! I hate him ! He spurned me — did this man — he 

 spurned me from him like a dog !" 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE AWFUL REVELATION. 



Time passed on. A settled sadness rested once moje upon the countenance of 

 the good Duke's daughter. She and Conrad were seen together no more now. 

 The Duke grieved at this. But as the weeks wore away Conrad's color came back 

 to his cheeks, and his old-time vivacity to his eye, and he administered the govern- 

 ment with a clear and steadily ripening wisdom. 



Presently a strange whisper began to be heard about the palace. It grew louder; 

 it spread farther. The gossips of the city got hold of it. It swept the dukedom. 

 And this is what the whisper said — 



" The Lady Constance hath given birth to a child!" 



When the lord of Klugenstein heard it he swung his plumed helmet thrice around 

 his head and shouted — 



" Long live Duke Conrad ! — for lo, his crown is sure from this day forward ! 

 Detzin has done his errand well, and the good scoundrel shall be rewarded !" 



And he spread the tidings far and wide, and for eight-and-forty hours no soul in 

 all the barony but did dance and sing, carouse and illuminate, to celebrate the 

 great event, and all at proud and happy old Klugenstein 's expense. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE FRIGHTFUL CATASTROPHE. 



The trial was at hand. All the great lords and barons of Brandenburgh were 

 assembled in the Hall of Justice in the ducal palace. No space was left unoccupied 

 where there was room for a spectator to stand or sit. Conrad, clad in purple and 

 ermine, sat in the Premier's chair, and on either side sat the great judges of the 

 realm. The old Duke had sternly commanded that the trial of his daughter should 

 proceed without favor, and then had taken to his bed broken-hearted. , His days 



