some day bend down to her child and kiss his
brow with the paternal affection which he had just showed to the young
duke whom he had wedded to his daughter? And this daughter was the child
of a mother who was her sister in sorrow, and had been her superior in
nothing, neither in birth nor in beauty.

She said this to herself while she was intently watching the progress of
the solemn ceremonial. How lovingly and with what enthusiastic reverence
Ottavio was now gazing up into the face of his imperial father-in-law,
and with what grateful fervour, as the youngest Knight of the Fleece,
he kissed his hand! Not only outwardly but in heart--the warm light
of their eyes revealed it--these men, so unlike in age and gifts, were
united; yet Ottavio was not Charles's own son, as another would have
been whom she wished to withhold from such a father, and in her selfish
blindness to withdraw from the path to the summit of all earthly
splendour and honour.

Who gave her the right to commit so great, so execrable a robbery?

What could she, the poor, deserted, scorned toy of a king--give to her
child, and what the mightiest of the mighty yonder?

If he was ready to claim as his own the young life which she expected
with hopeful yearning, it would thereby receive a benefit so vast,
a gift so brilliant that all the wealth of love and care which she
intended to bestow upon it vanished in darkness by comparison. Charles's
resolve, which she had execrated as cruel, was harsh only against her
who had angered him, and who could give him so little more; for her
child it meant grandeur and splendour, and thereby, she thought in her
vain folly, the highest happiness attainable for human beings.

Still she gazed as though spellbound at the decorated stage, but the
ceremony was already rapidly approaching its close. The great nobles
surrounded the new Knight of the Fleece to congratulate him, the Duke
of Alba first; but vouchsafed a few brief, gracious words only to a few
dignitaries, and then, this time assisted by Quijada, descended to the
sedan chair.

Barbara had learned from Frau Traut that his Majesty knew that she was
here in the ladies' apartments. Would he now raise his eyes to her,
though but for a brief space?

He was already standing at the door of the sedan chair, and until now
had kept his gaze bent steadily upon the ground. Meanwhile he must be
experiencing severe pain; she saw it by the lines around the corners of
his mouth