ugh I scarcely think that even her ambition flew as high as
you are encouraging it to soar."

"In case you're right she would have been overjoyed with an offer of
morganatic marriage."

"Overjoyed is a poor word. Overwhelmed might be nearer."

"Yet I tell you she refused me last night, and is leaving Rhaetia
to-day rather than listen to further entreaties."

Leopold bent forward to launch this thunderbolt, his brown hands on
his knees, his eyes eager. The memories, half bitter, half sweet,
called up by his own words, caused Virginia to appear more beautiful,
more desirable even than before.

He was delighted with the expression of the Chancellor's face. "Now,
what arguments have you left?" he broke out in the brief silence.

"All I had before--and many new ones. For what your Majesty has said
shows the lady more ambitious, more astute, therefore more dangerous
than I had guessed. She staked everything on the power of her charms.
And she might have won, had you not an old servant who wouldn't be
fooled by the witcheries of a fair Helen."

"She has won," said Leopold. Then, quickly, "God forgive me for
chiming in with your bitter humor, as if she'd played a game. By
simply being herself, she has won me--such as I am. She's proved that
if she cares at all, it's for the man, and not the Emperor, since she
called the offer you think so magnificent, an insult. Yes, Chancellor,
that was the word she used; and it was almost the last she said to me:
which is the reason I'm traveling to-day. And none of your boasted
'proofs' can hold me back."

"By Heaven, your Majesty must look upon yourself from the point of
view you credit to the girl. You forget the Emperor in the man."

"The two need not be separated."

"Love indeed makes men blind, and spares not the eyes of Emperors."

"I've pledged myself to bear with you, Chancellor."

"And I know you'll keep your word. I must speak, for Rhaetia, and your
better self. You are following this--lady to give her your Empire for
a toy."

"She must first accept the Emperor as her husband."

"A lady who has so poor a name of her own that she steals one which
doesn't belong to her. The nation won't bear it."

"You speak for yourself, not for Rhaetia," said Leopold. "Though I'm
not so old as you by half your years, I believe I can judge my people
better than you do. The law which bids an Emperor of Rhaetia match
with Royalty is an unwritten law, a law solely of customs, handed d