ancellarius, a new wig! You cannot deceive me; I know every
wig in Gruenewald; I have the sovereign's eye. What are these papers
about? O, I see. O, certainly. Surely, surely. I wager none of you
remarked that wig. By all means. I know nothing about that. Dear me, are
there as many as all that? Well, you can sign them; you have the
procuration. You see, Herr Cancellarius, I knew your wig. And so,"
concluded Gondremark, resuming his own voice, "our sovereign, by the
particular grace of God, enlightens and supports his privy councillors."

But when the Baron turned to Seraphina for approval he found her frozen.
"You are pleased to be witty, Herr von Gondremark," she said, "and have
perhaps forgotten where you are. But these rehearsals are apt to be
misleading. Your master, the Prince of Gruenewald, is sometimes more
exacting."

Gondremark cursed her in his soul. Of all injured vanities, that of the
reproved buffoon is the most savage; and when grave issues are involved,
these petty stabs become unbearable. But Gondremark was a man of iron;
he showed nothing; he did not even, like the common trickster, retreat
because he had presumed, but held to his point bravely. "Madam," he
said, "if, as you say, he prove exacting, we must take the bull by the
horns."

"We shall see," she said, and she arranged her skirt like one about to
rise. Temper, scorn, disgust, all the more acrid feelings, became her
like jewels; and she now looked her best.

"Pray God they quarrel," thought Gondremark. "The damned minx may fail
me yet, unless they quarrel. It is time to let him in. Zz--fight, dogs!"
Consequent on these reflections, he bent a stiff knee, and chivalrously
kissed the Princess's hand. "My Princess," he said, "must now dismiss
her servant. I have much to arrange against the hour of council."

"Go," she said, and rose.

And as Gondremark tripped out of a private door, she touched a bell, and
gave the order to admit the Prince.

CHAPTER VI

THE PRINCE DELIVERS A LECTURE ON MARRIAGE, WITH PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS
OF DIVORCE

With what a world of excellent intentions Otto entered his wife's
cabinet! how fatherly, how tender! how morally affecting were the words
he had prepared! Nor was Seraphina unamiably inclined. Her usual fear of
Otto as a marplot in her great designs was now swallowed up in a passing
distrust of the designs themselves. For Gondremark, besides, she had
conceived an angry horror. In her heart she did