, before dawn. Go
now as quickly as you can, and when you have seen them return to me
here."

"But to leave your Majesty here with----" he began.

I cut him short.

"Never mind me," I replied. "I shall be quite safe. Hasten away to
fulfil your errand. There is no time to lose."

Very reluctantly he did as I commanded him, and I heard him go down the
stairs and presently leave the house.

In something less than an hour Strekwitz arrived with Bertram following
close upon his heels. The latter had seen Von Marquart, who, in his
turn, had set off to arrange matters with the archbishop. Within an hour
of our entering the room for the first time, everything was settled.
From Von Marquart, who received us at the archbishop's palace, I learnt
that the good old man had been greatly pained at the news the count had
communicated to him. Nevertheless, he was quite agreed that the course
we had adopted was the best, both for State and personal reasons.
Realising that the fewer people who became cognisant of our secret the
less chance there would be of its becoming public property, he took the
direction of affairs into his own hands. It was he who unlocked the
postern door and admitted our party to the cathedral. It was he who
waited with me in the sacristy while the necessary arrangements were
being made for the interment, and who conducted me through the great
building, so vast and eerie in the light of the lantern he carried in
his hand, into the little chapel near the vault. A short service
followed, then Maximilian of Pannonia was carried by loving hands, and
placed in his last resting-place in the vaults below. When all was over,
like a band of conspirators we left the cathedral, and with the
archbishop's blessing ringing in my ears, I returned to the palace, to
obtain what rest I could before I should be called upon to begin the
duties of the day. Dawn was breaking as we let ourselves in; a soft grey
light stole across the heavens like an augury of still happier days to
come.

And now a few words of explanation before I put down my pen.

It was only after the most careful inquiries had been made, and when we
had put together the various items of information we had been able to
obtain, that we were in a position to derive any notion as to how,
where, and why the dastardly plot, that had caused me so much
unhappiness, had been carried out. That Max had not shot Moreas in
Brazil, as he had imagined, was only too certain;