stolen meetings between the guilty twain. The Elector enraged,
and would have taken action, but that the guileful Countess
curbed him. All this was not enough. An accusation that could not
be substantiated would ruin all chance of punishing the
offenders, might recoil, indeed, upon the accusers by bringing
the Duke of Zell to his daughter's aid. So they must wait yet
awhile until they held more absolute proof of this intrigue.

And then at last one day the Countess sped in haste to the
Elector with word that Koenigsmark and the Princess had shut
themselves up together in the garden pavilion. Let him come at
once, and he should so discover them for himself, and thus at
last be able to take action. The Countess was flushed with
triumph. Be that meeting never so innocent--and Madame von Platen
could not, being what she was, and having seen what she had seen,
conceive it innocent--it was in an Electoral Princess an
unforgivable indiscretion, to take the most charitable view,
which none would dream of taking. So the Elector, fiercely red in
the face, hurried off to the pavilion with Madame von Platen
following. He came too late, despite the diligence of his spy.

Sophia had been there, but her interview with the Count had been
a brief one. She had to tell him that at last she was resolved in
all particulars. She would seek a refuge at the court of her
cousin, the Duke of Wolfenbuttel, who, she was sure--for the sake
of what once had lain between them--would not now refuse to
shelter and protect her. Of Koenigsmark she desired that he should
act as her escort to her cousin's court.

Koenigsmark was ready, eager. In Hanover he would leave nothing