:

"Wherever she may be, however late it may become, you will bring
her. And," he added eagerly, as the others with reverential bows were
retiring, "and don't forget, I do not command--I entreat her."

When he was alone, Charles drew a long breath, and, resting his head
on his hand, his thoughts returned to the past. Half-vanished pictures
unconsciously blended with the present, which had so unexpectedly
assumed a bright colouring.

"Barbara," he murmured, almost inaudibly. Then he continued in
soliloquy: "The beautiful Jungfrau Groen in Brussels was also called
Barbara, and she was the first. Another of this name, and perhaps the
last. How can this ardent yearning take root in my seared soul and grow
so vigorously?"

Meanwhile he fancied that the "Quia amore langueo" again greeted him
yearningly in the sweet melody of her voice.

"How powerfully the ear affects the heart!" he continued, pursuing the
same train of thought. "Slender, well-rounded, golden-haired. If
she should really resemble the Brussels Barbara! Malfalconnet is a
connoisseur. Perhaps, after these gloomy days and years, a semblance
of sunlight may return. It is long enough since politics and war
have granted me even the slightest refreshment of the heart. And yet,
methinks Heaven might feel under obligation to do something for the man
who has made it his life-task to hold its enemies in check."

He rose quickly as he spoke, and, while moving forward to ring the
little bell whose peal summoned the valet, not the slightest trace of
the gouty pain in his foot was perceptible.

Adrian saw with joyful surprise that his master approached without a
crutch the door through which he had come, and the faithful servant
expressed his astonishment in terms as eager as his position permitted.

On reaching his sleeping-room, the Emperor interrupted him. He wished to
be dressed for dinner.

Master Adrian would not believe his own ears. He was to bring one of the
new reception robes, and yet to-day not even the Queen of Hungary was to
share his Majesty's repast. One of the costliest new costumes! What had
come over his lord, who for months, when no distinguished guests were
present, had worn only the most comfortable and often very shabby
clothes at table, saving the better new garments like an economical
housekeeper?

But Charles was not satisfied even with these, for, when Adrian hung
over the back of a chair a handsome black court dress, slashed with
sati