CHAPTER XXI.
WHAT HAPPENED AT TRELITZ It was the 6th of June again.
Once more Prince Zastrow rode with Ulik von Kessner and Alexis Vollmar and the attendant huntsmen up the avenue of pines leading to the gate of the Castle of Trelitz, but now accompanied by two unseen Presences which belonged at once to their own world and also to another and wider one.
Once more the great doors opened and they passed into the trophy-decked, skin-carpeted hall: and once more they were welcomed by the stately, silken-clad woman who came down the broad staircase to greet her lord and his guests.

Emil von Zastrow, last and worthiest scion of his ancient line, the very _beau ideal_ of youthful strength and manly dignity, ran half-way up the stairs to meet his lady and his love, and then the men went away to their rooms, while the Princess Hermia, true housewife as well as princess, betook herself to the pleasant task of making sure that all the preparations for dinner were complete.
The dinner was served in one of the smaller rooms, in the modern wing of the Castle, on an oval table.

The Prince sat at one end faced by his beautiful consort.

To his right sat his guest, Alexis Vollmar, and a tall, handsome, but somewhat hard-featured woman of about thirty, with the clear blue eyes and thick, yellow-gold hair which proclaimed her a daughter of the northern German lowlands.

This was Hulda von Tyssen, the Princess's companion and lady-in-waiting.