Sire,
We only stopped to kiss the sentinel!"

THE DUKE.

You loved me then.

THE EMPEROR.

I love you now.

THE DUKE.

Then prove it!

THE EMPEROR.

My Franz! my grandson!

THE DUKE.

Is it true the King
Would simply disappear if I appeared?

THE EMPEROR.

Well--

THE DUKE.

Is it true?

THE EMPEROR.

I--

THE DUKE.

Don't tell lies!

THE EMPEROR.

Perhaps!

THE DUKE.

I love you!

THE EMPEROR.

Yes; if you appeared alone,
Without a drum, upon the bridge at Strassburg,
The King would vanish.

THE DUKE.

I adore you, Grandad!

THE EMPEROR.

I'm stifled!

THE DUKE.

No.

THE EMPEROR.

I should have held my tongue.

THE DUKE.

Besides, the climate of Vienna's bad:
I'm ordered Paris--

THE EMPEROR.

Really?

THE DUKE.

For my cough.
If I'm to spend a season there, of course
I can't stop anywhere but at the Louvre.

THE EMPEROR.

Indeed!

THE DUKE.

And if you liked--

THE EMPEROR.

They've often begged us
To wink at your escaping--

THE DUKE.

Wink at once!

THE EMPEROR.

Oh, for all me--

THE DUKE.

There's no one else.

THE EMPEROR.

I'll think.

THE DUKE.

Don't think! Don't think those horrid second thoughts!
Consult your feelings only, and your heart,
'Twould be so pretty if an Emperor once
Upset all history to spoil his grandson.
And then it's something, something rather fine,
If you can just remark quite innocently,
_You_ know: "My Grandson, Emperor of the French."

THE EMPEROR.

Certainly.

THE DUKE.

And you'll say it! Say you'll say it!

THE EMPEROR.

Well--

THE DUKE.

Speak, Sire!

THE EMPEROR.

Yes, then--Sire!

THE DUKE.

Ah, Sire!

[_They salute each other as equals._]

THE EMPEROR.

Sire!

THE DUKE.

Sire!

[_A door opens._]

THE EMPEROR.

Metternich. Have no fear; I'll--