order to turn it to account when the favourable moment comes,"
remarked the major-domo. "Your Majesty will also permit me to observe
that if the marquise has already betrayed what was intended to remain
secret----"

"Her boasted reticence can not be very great, you think," interrupted
the Queen. "But justice for all, my handsome lord. At present she is in
any service, and no other. Whose bread I eat, his song I sing--which
in this case means: His secret I keep, and to him I carry whatever I
discover. Besides, this time even the person betrayed owes her a debt
of gratitude, for you know how difficult it is for him to use his limbs,
and she is most obligingly smoothing the path for him. I tell you, Luis,
with all due respect for his Majesty as a general and a statesman, in
a skirmish of intrigue this woman will outwit you all. The schemes her
aged brain invents have neither fault nor flaw. The wheels work upon
one another as they do in the Emperor's best Nuremberg clock. I want to
watch their turning before I go, for, be it known to you, early tomorrow
morning--the saints be praised!--I start for Brussels."

"Oh!" exclaimed Quijada with an expression of sincere regret; but the
Queen gravely said: "There can be no further delay, Luis. It may
sound improbable that there is something which draws me back to the
Netherlands more strongly than the desire for freedom of movement, a
pleasant ride through the forest, and the excitement of the chase, which
lends spice to the insipidity of my life, yet you may believe it."

"Business matters?" asked the nobleman anxiously.

The Queen nodded assent, and then eagerly continued: "And important
ones which his Majesty himself solemnly enjoined upon me to hasten my
departure. His zeal resembled a rude gesture toward the door, as much as
one rotten egg looks like another, for, under certain circumstances, the
affectionate brother prefers to have his beloved sister as far away as
possible. Had I been of a more obstinate nature, I would stay; but there
really are matters to be settled in the Netherlands which can not be
deferred, and the manner of his farewell showed plainly enough that
he no longer needed me. Merciful Heaven! When we parted yesterday, I
dreaded his Majesty's anger. I had left him in the lurch to gratify my
own love for copse and forest. I had remained beyond the allotted time,
and had resolved, bend or break, to return to my post in Brussels. When
I rode in here I really