ble is this: If her
Highness hears of his attempt, she is, as you sagely discovered, a
woman, a trivial, trifling thing. She will be absurd enough to imagine
her rescue possible; she will again change her mind, and it is precisely
that which General Heister fears. He would have her formally betrothed
to the Prince of Baden before Charles Wogan is caught and hanged
sky-high. Therefore, since I was pressing into Italy, he charged me with
this message to the Prince of Baden. Now observe this, if you please.
Suppose that I do not overtake the Prince; suppose that her Highness
hears of Wogan's coming and again changes her mind,--who will be to
blame? Not I, for I have done my best, not Prince Taxis, for he is not
informed, but Prince Taxis's secretary."

The secretary yielded to Wogan's argument. He might be in a great fear
of Prince Taxis, but he was in a greater of the Emperor's wrath. He left
Wogan again, and in a little while came back with the written
permission which Wogan desired. Wogan wasted no time in unnecessary
civilities; the morning had already been wasted. The clocks were
striking one as he hurried away from the palace, and before two the
Princess Clementina was able to throw back her cloak from about her face
and take the air; for the berlin was on the road from Trent to Roveredo.

"Those were the four worst hours since we left Innspruck," she said. "I
thought I should suffocate." The revulsion from despair, the knowledge
that each beat of the hoofs brought them nearer to safety, the glow of
the sun upon a country which was Italy in all but name, raised them all
to the top of their spirits. Clementina was in her gayest mood; she
lavished caresses upon her "little woman," as she called Mrs. Misset;
she would have Wogan give her an account of his interview with Prince
Taxis's secretary; she laughed with the merriest enjoyment over his
abuse of Charles Wogan.

"But it was not myself alone whom I slandered," said he. "Your Highness
had a share of our abuse. Our heads wagged gravely over woman's
inconstancies. It was not in nature but you must change your mind.
Indeed, your Highness would have laughed."

But at all events her Highness did not laugh now. On the contrary, her
eyes lost all their merriment, and her blood rushed hotly into her
cheeks. She became for that afternoon a creature of moods, now talking
quickly and perhaps a trifle wildly, now relapsing into long silences.
Wogan was troubled by a thought