heart like a knife.

On every similar occasion hitherto he had sent her a few kind words, or,
if Don Luis was the messenger, tender ones.

Yet she was obliged to force herself to smile, in order not to betray
what was passing in her mind. Besides, she could not shake off the Duke
of Saxony like the poor, handsome recruiting officer, Pyramus Kogel.

Fortunately, some of the most prominent Ratisbon citizens now crowded
around Maurice to thank him for the honour which he had done the city.

She availed herself of the favourable opportunity to beg Granvelle, in a
low tone, to keep the duke away from her the next morning until his
departure at noon, and, if possible, now."

"One service for another," replied the statesman. "I will rid you of the
most desirable admirer in Germany. But, on the day after to-morrow, you
will adorn my modest banquet with the singing of the most gifted artist
in the world."

"Gladly, unless his Majesty forbids me to do so," replied Barbara.

A few minutes later she informed her passionate young ducal lover, who
wished to call upon her in her own home that very evening, that it would
be utterly impossible. With an air of the greatest regret, she said that
her little castle was guarded like an endangered citadel; and when the
duke proposed a meeting, he was interrupted by the Bishop of Arras, who
desired to speak to him about "important business."

In spite of the late hour, the minister, even without the girl's request,
would have sought an audience with the duke, and to the ambitious Maurice
politics and the important plans being prepared for immediate execution
were of infinitely greater value than a love adventure, no matter what
hours of pleasure it promised to afford.

So Barbara succeeded in taking leave of the duke without giving him
offence.

The marquise was waiting for her with ill-repressed indignation. The
weary old woman had wanted to return home long before, but the command of
the grand chamberlain compelled her to wait for Barbara and accompany her
the short distance to the house.

With an angry glance and a few bitter-sweet words of greeting, the old
dame entered the litter. Barbara preferred to walk beside hers, for
clouds had darkened the sky; it had become oppressively sultry, and she
felt as if she would stifle in the close, swaying box.

Four torch-bearers accompanied the litters. She ordered the knight and
the two lackeys whom Quijada had commissioned to attend he