."

"What ought Orange to do?"

"Reckage declares that he will not appeal to Rome. There he is
well-advised. But as he has already compromised Mrs. Parflete, surely
his present scruples are entirely new and unlooked for? We must both
despise him, if he should abandon her now."

"He has never compromised her," said Sara indignantly. "He has even been
ridiculed for his honour. I had no idea, Excellence, that you were so
wicked!"

"How else could I know all the news twenty-four hours before the rest of
the world? This, however, is no laughing matter. Parflete may ask his
wife to return to him. It may suit her purpose to agree."

"What! A woman who loves, or who has loved--Robert Orange? A few things
in human nature are still impossible."

Prince d'Alchingen shrugged his shoulders, and continued--

"Parflete has a good back-stairs knowledge of Alberian politics. We
never deny this, but we always add that he was dismissed, in disgrace,
from the Imperial Household."

"Is there much use in denying the fact that he married the Archduke's
daughter?"

"We meet the case by saying that the Archduke in his youth may not have
been exempt from manly follies. And Duboc was irresistible--she drove
one mad!"

"Then why all this fuss?"

"To avoid more fuss--on a large scale."

"But I have always heard that Mrs. Parflete has no intention of giving
trouble. They say she is an angel."

"You will find that she would far rather be an Archduchess! Orange may
discover that his Beatrice is nearly related to Rahab!"

"Oh, I cannot think you are right."

"Then you should hear Zeuill and General Prim on the subject. The
Marquis of Castrillon is in London. Our friend Parflete will soon be
labouring with copious materials for a divorce."

"How can you assume such horrors?" said Sara.

"The imagination," said His Excellency, "is always more struck by
likelihoods than the reason convinced by the examination of facts! My
dear friend, let us survey the position. Orange does not seem to have
the most distant idea of making Mrs. Parflete his--his _belle amie_.
Well and good. But ought he, at his age, so handsome, so brilliant, so
much a man, to renounce all other women for the sake of a little
adventuress? Can nothing be done? If he could have some convincing proof
of her treachery, would he not turn to others more beautiful, more
worthy----"

"To Lady Fitz Rewes," said Sara quickly.

"If you like," replied the Prince, in his gentl