Preface. 
ruler appears to be in sympathy with the progress of knowledge, 
and shows a proper interest in the well-being of his subjects. It 
would have been better for all concerned if Grand-Duke Leopold 
had acknowledged the truth at the time of Ludwig’s death, or at 
least when Kaspar Hauser ceased to live. Leopold’s innocence 
was unquestioned, and Kaspar Hauser’s inability to assume the 
duties of his position would have left the new line in undisturbed 
possession of the throne. Even now, a frank confession of the 
ancestral crime, and an abolition of the embargo against dis- 
cussion of the question, would do more to lay the uneasy ghost 
than any policy of suppression can effect. But so long as the 
secret clamours for divulgence, the Foundling’s stolen dukedom 
is a haunted land. 
The palace at Karlsruhe, standing so free and open in its 
sunny square, hints of the “White Lady” passing swiftly through 
‘he corridors on her malicious errand ; the fragrant gardens of 
‘he villa at Baden-Baden, where the royal children play in 
summer, suggest a childhood wasted in the dark solitude of a 
dungeon; and the wailing music of the ZAolian harps in the 
ruined castle on the hill seem to be sounding a lament over 
Kaspar Hauser’s unhappy fate.