have already heard?" cried the amazed ambassador.

"Nothing; I surmise. The hour, your appearance, the letter--to what else
could they point? I was afraid all along. Strange instinct we have at
times. The regent is to be pitied; he took too much for granted. He has
been used to power one day too long. Ah, if his majesty could but see
her, could only know how lovely she is in heart and mind and face! Is
she not worthy a crown?"

"Herbeck, nothing would please me better, nothing would afford my
country greater pleasure and satisfaction, than to see this marriage
consummated. It would nail that baseless lie which has so long been
current."

"I believe you. We two peoples should be friendly. It has taken me
months to bring this matter round. The duke rebelled; her highness
scorned the hand of Frederick. One by one I had to overcome their
objections--to this end. The past refuses to be buried. Still, if you
saw all the evidence in the case you would not blame the duke for his
attitude."

"But those documents are rank forgeries!"

"So they may be, but that has not been proved."

"Why should his late majesty abduct the daughter of the grand duke? For
what benefits? To what end? Ah, Count, if some motive could be brought
forward, some motive that could stand!"

"Motives, my friend? They spring from the most unheard-of places. And
motives in action are always based on impulses. But let us waste no time
on retrospection. It is the present which confronts us. You do not want
war."

"No more do you."

"What remedy do you suggest?"

"I ask, nay, I plead that question of you."

"I represent the offended party." The chancellor's gaunt features
lighted with a transient smile. "Proceed, Baron."

"I suggest, then, that the duke must not know."

"Agreed. Go on."

"You will put the matter before her highness."

"That will be difficult."

"Let her repudiate the negotiations. Let her say that she has changed
her mind. His majesty is quite willing that the humiliation be his."

"That is generous. But suppose she has set her heart on the crown of
Jugendheit? What then?"

The baron bit the ends of his mustache.

"Suppose that?" the chancellor pressed relentlessly.

"In that event, the affair is no longer in our hands but in God's."

"As all affairs are. Is there no way of changing the king's mind?"

"Read the letter, Count," said the ambassador.

Herbeck hunted for the postmark: Bavaria. He read the letter. There w