that; and I have the less hesitation in enlisting your
good-will, because it happens that your bird and mine can be killed
with one shot."

"Chancellor, you excite my curiosity."

The old man smiled genially; but under the bristling brows glowed a
flame as of the last embers in a dying fire. "Up-stairs," said he, "is
a pretty woman; a beauty. She claims the name of Helen Mowbray, though
her right to it is more than disputable. Her love affairs threaten a
public scandal."

"Ah, you are not the first one who has spoken of this pretty lady
since I crossed the frontier this morning," exclaimed the young man,
flushing. He paused and bit his lip, before going on, as if he wished
to think, or regain self-control. But at last he laughed, not
altogether lightly. "So, the lady most talked about for the moment in
all Rhaetia, is under the same roof with me."

"Fortunately, she is close at hand," said the Chancellor. "To you,
more than to any other, I can open my heart in speaking of our great
peril. This girl has drawn the Emperor into a fit of moon-madness. It
is no more serious than that, and were she out of the way, he would
wake as from a dream. But this is the moment of the crisis. He must be
saved now, or he is lost forever, and all our hopes with him. Blessed
would be the man who brought my poor master to his senses. I have
tried and failed. But you could do it."

"I?"

"The sword of justice is ready for your hand."

"That sentence has a solemn ring. I don't see what you want me to do.
But--what sort of woman is this who has bewitched your grave Leopold?"

"Beautiful, and clever, as women are clever; but not clever enough to
fight her battle out against you and me."

The Prince laughed again. "It isn't my _metier_ to fight with women. I
prefer to make love to them."

"Ah, you have said it! That is what I beg your Royal Highness to do."

"How am I to get at her, when Leopold stands guard--"

"He will not be on guard for some hours."

"Ha, ha! You mean me to understand that there's no time to waste."

"Not a moment."

"What is the girl like?"

"Tall and slender, pink and white as a flower, dark-lashed and
yellow-haired, like an Austrian beauty. Eyes gray or violet, it would
be hard to say which, for a man of my years; but even I can assure you
that when the lady looks down, then suddenly up again, under those
dark lashes, it's something to quicken the pulse of any man under
sixty."

"It would quicken m