ll surrender my portfolio to
you." The chancellor spoke without anger, quietly but firmly.

"Do so. There are others to take up your work." The duke, for the
moment, had thrown reason to the winds. Revenge, the clamor of revenge,
was all the voice he heard.

The chancellor bowed, turned to leave the room, when Hildegarde flew to
the duke's side and snatched at his sleeve.

"Father, you are mad!"

"At least I am master in Ehrenstein. Herbeck, you will have the kindness
to summon General Ducwitz."

"Your Highness," replied Herbeck, "I have worked long and faithfully in
your service. I can not recollect that I ever asked one personal favor.
But I do so now. Do not send for Ducwitz to-night. See him in the
morning. This is no time for haste. You will throw the army into
Jugendheit, and there will follow a bloody war. For I have to inform you
that the prince regent, recognizing the false position he is in, has
taken the ram by the horns. His troops are already bivouacked on the
other side of the pass. This I learned to-day. He will not strike first;
he will wait for you."

"I will have my revenge!" stubbornly.

"Father, listen to me. _I_ am the affronted person; _I_, I alone, have
the right to say what shall be done in the matter. And I say to you if
you do these cruel things, dismiss his excellency and bring war and
death to Ehrenstein, I will never forgive you, never, never! You are
wrong, wrong, and I, your daughter, tell you so frankly. Leave it to me.
There will be neither war nor humiliation."

As the duke gazed at her the wrath gathering in his throat receded and
his admiration grew. His daughter! She was a princess, indeed, as she
stood there, fearless, resolute, beautiful. And her very beauty gave
recurrence to his wrath. A fool of a king he was, a fool of a king!

"My dear child," he said, "I have suffered too much at the hands of
Jugendheit. It was my daughter the first time; it is my honor now,"
proudly.

"Will it balance war and devastation?" the girl asked quietly. "Is it
not pride rather than honor? The prince regent made a pardonable
blunder. Do not you, my father, make an unpardonable one. The king is
without blame, for you appeal to his imagination as a man who deeply
wronged his father. I harbor no ill-feeling against him or his uncle,
because I look at the matter from an impersonal point of view; it was
for the good of the state. This blunder can be undone; therefore it is
not wise to double