This chapter serves as a bridge between two psychologically distinct phases. Although Archduchess Marianne has declared the case closed, her mind has not entirely left the mystery behind. Moreover, new pieces of information continue to reach her.
Princess Schwarzenberg signed her last will a week before her death. The only published citation reads as follows: solle mein Leichnam, ich mag in Wien, oder andernorts das Zeitliche verlassen, nach Krumau geführet, dort von armen Leuten in die St. Nepomuc Kapelle getragen, und allda ohne einzigen Gepränge beerdiget werden, und auf den Grabstein folgende Wörter stehen: Hier liegt die arme Sünderin Eleonora, Bittet für Sie.
In this passage, the arrangements the Princess made for her funeral are very clear: regardless of where she might die, her body was to be taken to Krumau, carried by the poor, and buried in the Chapel of St John of Nepomuk in St Vitus Church without any pomp. On her tombstone, these simple words were to be inscribed: ‘Here lies poor sinner Eleonora. Pray for her.’
Baffled, Marianne learns that Princess Schwarzenberg wished to rest in the vicinity of her allegedly hateful husband and that all her instructions were fully respected and carried out by the executors. What, then, of the much-gossiped-about mystery that set her investigation in motion? she must ask in astonishment. Have all her efforts amounted to nothing more than a wild-goose chase?
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