d hat, will leave the hut. Meanwhile
twilight will have gathered, and the conspirators, with the emperor--that
is Colonel Lejeune--at their head, will return to Schoenbrunn. The guards
will salute as soon as they see the emperor dash into the courtyard. The
chief equerry will hold his stirrup, and help him to dismount. The emperor,
followed by his suite, will enter the castle, and silently, according to
his custom, ascend the stairs and go to the hall where he receives his
marshals; there, as he so frequently does, he will dismiss all who are
present with a wave of his hand and pass on into his study, which adjoins
his sleeping-room."

"Well, it must be admitted that so far the affair has a glimmer of
feasibility and probability," said her father, smiling. "But I should be
very anxious about the continuation. Would Roustan, who undresses the
emperor every evening, also be deceived by the masquerade, or would the
conspirators attempt to abduct him also? And then--has it been forgotten
that before going to rest the emperor now works an hour every evening with
his private secretary, Bourrienne?"

"Bourrienne is one of the conspirators. He will enter the room with his
portfolio and remain there an hour, after first bringing to the anteroom
the order, in the emperor's name, to make no further reports to him that
evening, as he was wearied and therefore wished to go to rest early. The
Mameluke Roustan could not be bribed, and therefore the attempt was
relinquished. But the day before, through a dose of arsenic which will be
administered to him, Roustan will be so dangerously ill that he cannot
attend upon the emperor, and Constant will take his place."

"And is the valet Constant one of the conspirators?"

"He is, and he will be on duty during the night in the anteroom of the
bedchamber. In this way the emperor's disappearance will be concealed until
the next morning, and the matter will not become known until the following
day at nine o'clock, when the generals arrive. What will happen then,
whether Eugene is declared emperor or the Bourbons are again summoned to
the throne, will depend upon what occurs in France, and what effect the
emperor's disappearance has upon the minds of the people there. We need
not trouble ourselves about it for the present; it does not belong to the
business which occupies our attention."

"No, no, we have to deal only with the emperor," cried Schulmeister,
laughing, "and I can tell you that I