to offer an
insult of this magnitude? They should see, aye, that they should! It did
not matter that the news reached him through subterranean channels or by
treachery; there was truth here, and that sufficed.

"Enter!" he cried, as some one knocked on the door.

Herbeck came in, as calm, as imperturbable as ever.

"Your highness sent for me?"

"I did. Why the devil couldn't you have left well enough alone? Read
this!" flinging the note down on his desk.

Herbeck picked it up and worked out the creases. When he had read to the
final word, his hand, even as the duke's, closed spasmodically over the
stiff paper.

"Well?" The query tingled with rage.

The answer on the chancellor's lips was not uttered. Hildegarde came in.
She blew a kiss at her father, who caught the hand and drew her toward
him. He embraced her and kissed her brow.

"What is it, father?"

Herbeck waited.

"Read," said the duke.

As the last word left Herbeck's lips, she slipped from her father's arms
and looked with pity at the chancellor.

"What do you think of this, Hildegarde?"

"Why, father, I think it is the very best thing in the world," dryly.

"An insult like this?" The duke grew rigid. "You accept it calmly, in
this fashion?"

"Shall I weep and tear my hair over a boy I have never seen? No, thank
you. I was about to make known to you this very evening that I had
reconsidered the offer. I shall never marry his majesty."

"A fine time!" The duke's hand trembled. "Why, in God's name, did you
not refuse when the overtures were first made? The truth, Herbeck, the
whole truth; for there is something more than this."

Herbeck, in few words and without evasion, explained the situation.

"Your Highness, the regent is really not to blame, for his majesty had
given him free rein in the matter; and his royal highness, working as I
have been for the best interests of the two countries, never dreamed
that the king would rebel. All my heart and all my mind have been
working toward this end, toward a greater peace and prosperity. The king
has been generous enough to leave the publicity in our hands; that is to
say, he agrees to accept the humiliation of being rejected by her serene
highness."

"That is very generous of him!" said the duke sarcastically. "Send for
Ducwitz."

"Ducwitz, your Highness?" cried the chancellor, chilled.

"Immediately!"

"Father!"

"Must I give an order twice?"

"Your Highness, if you call Ducwitz I sha