eror loves you! Implore him to have mercy on my husband! By
all that is dear to you, I beseech you, beg for him!" And quite beside
herself, pale and in tears, the young princess was about to kneel down
before Duroc, but he quickly raised her up, and, bowing deeply, kissed
her cold, trembling hands.

"I thank you, princess, for having thought of and believed in me," he
said. "But I am afraid that your faith will be in vain."

"Pray for my husband," she said sobbing. "You see, I shall die if I
lose him. Have pity on my youth, and on my unborn child! Implore the
emperor to have mercy on the prince!"

"You believe the emperor would listen to me?" asked Duroc, sadly. "Then
you do not know him; you do not know what he is when he is angry. I have
been in more than twenty battles; bullets have hissed all around me;
death was at my side, and I did not tremble, but I tremble when the
emperor is angry. When I behold his marble face--his flashing eyes--when
his voice resounds like the roll of thunder, I comprehend how women
faint and flee. I myself feel then what I never felt in the
battle-field--I feel fear!"

"Then you will not assist me!" exclaimed the princess, wringing her
hands. "You will not do any thing for him? And yet he is innocent. My
noble husband never committed the crime with which he is charged. He is
no spy--no traitor--and yet he is to die! I have no friend, and the only
man who I had hoped would aid me desert? me, because he is afraid of his
master's frown!"

"No," said Duroc, "I do not desert you, I only tell you what the emperor
is in his wrath; I only tell you that the tempestuous ocean is pleasant,
and the thunder mild, compared with him in such a mood. However, I would
gladly expose myself to it if I could be useful to you and to your
husband. But it is a vain hope. The emperor would not listen to me; he
would interrupt me, and order me to be silent. My intercession would
irritate him even more, and, instead of delaying the terrible
catastrophe, I should be likely to accelerate it."

"Well," exclaimed the princess, wringing her hands, "if you yourself
dare not speak and beg for him, let _me_. I am not afraid of the
emperor's anger, and when a woman clasps his knees and implores his
mercy, he will at least listen, and his heart may be softened. I beseech
you to grant me this favor--conduct me to the emperor! Let me implore
him to pardon my husband!"

"You are right, it is perhaps the only way to save