Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/304

Rh Johann, and Dolf, keenly noticing his every action, distrusted him the more.

Then, one morning, came the minnesinger to the Duke with a long face, saying that he must tarry no longer, but must forth again to seek his fortune, in three days' time.

Conrad vowed he should not go, but Ludwig vowed that he must, and begged of his kind patron one last mark of favor,—that he would ride with him to the border of his domain,—they two alone.

Now it happened that at this time the country was in a very unquiet state, the barons warring against one another, and the strong crushing the weak underfoot.

Conrad Von Wilhelmsburg had more than one powerful enemy, and the most dangerous was a Count Walther Von Altenbauer, who had long looked on the little duchy with greedy eyes. Count Von Altenbauer was many years older