h the
present of some jeweled souvenir--are all that are permissible in the
circumstances."

"What circumstances?" and the Baroness looked as innocent as an
inquiring child.

"The lady is not of Royal blood. And his Majesty, I thank Heaven, is
not a roue."

"He has a heart, though you trained him, Chancellor; and he has eyes.
He may never have used them to much purpose before, yet there must be
a first time. And the higher and more strongly built the tower, once
it begins to topple, the greater is the fall thereof."

"Is it the sense of humor, which you say I lack, that gives you
pleasure in discussing the wildest improbabilities, as if they were
events to be considered seriously? If it is, I'm not sorry to lack it.
In any case, it's as well that neither you nor I is the Emperor's
keeper."

"We're at least his very good friends, I as well as you, in my humbler
way, Chancellor. And you and I have known each other for twenty-two
years. If it amuses me to discuss improbabilities, why not? Since you
call them improbabilities, it can do no harm to dwell upon them as
ingredients for romance. Not for worlds would I suggest that his
Majesty isn't an example for all men to follow, nor that poor, pretty
Miss Mowbray could be tempted to indiscretion. But yet I'd be ready to
make a wager--the Emperor being human, and the girl a beauty--that an
acquaintance so romantically begun won't end with a ball and a call."

"What could there possibly be more--or what you hint at as more--in
honor?"

The Chancellor's voice was angry at last, as well as stern, for he
could not bear persistence--in other people--unless it were to further
some cause of his own. To the delight of the woman who had once tried
in vain to melt his iron heart, Count von Breitstein began to look
somewhat like a baited bull. Really, said the Baroness to herself,
there was an actual resemblance in feature; and joyously she searched
for a few more little ribbon-tipped banderillos.

What fun it was to ruffle the temper of the surly old brute who had
humiliated her woman's vanity in days long past, but not forgotten!
She knew the Chancellor's desire for the Emperor's marriage as soon as
a suitable match could be found; and though she was not in the secret
of his plans, would have felt little surprise at learning that some
eligible Royal girl had already been selected. Now, how amusing it
would be actually to make the old man tremble for the success of his
hopes,