given
to his imperial father would some day tower above him!

She again imagined all these things in the quiet of her room. The
thought of this child cheered her heart, but it contracted again as she
remembered the series of bitter humiliations which she had experienced
in Brussels. Among the courtiers whom she had known so well in Ratisbon
not one vouchsafed her anything more than a passing greeting; and the
Queen of Hungary, to whom she would gladly have poured out her heart,
had refused her repeated entreaties for an audience.

CHAPTER XI.

After the short walk in the park of his palace, during which Barbara had
met him in the dusk, the Emperor Charles had dined with his son Philip
and the Queen of Hungary. Now he entered his spacious study.

His feet were refusing their support more and more, and the fingers of
his right hand, which the gout was now crippling, found it hard to grasp
his cane.

He sank back in his arm-chair exhausted, closed his eyes, and laid his
hand upon the clever pointed head of the greyhound which lay at his
feet.

The short walk and the fiery wine which he had again enjoyed in
abundance at dinner had increased the pain from which he was now never
free, day or night, and it was some time ere Adrian could succeed in
propping his infirm body comfortably.

At last Charles passed his handkerchief across his perspiring brow, and
called to the majordomo.

Quijada eagerly approached, and the valet was respectfully leaving the
room, but the Emperor's summons stopped him.

"I have something," Charles began, no longer able to maintain complete
control over his voice, which was sometimes interrupted by the shortness
of breath that had recently attacked him, "to say to you also--"

Here he hesitated, pointed to the window which overlooked the park,
then, with a keen glance at the valet's face, continued:

"A ghost wanders about there. I have already seen it several times under
the trees. True, it avoided approaching me. What still remains useful
in this miserable body! But my eyes are sharp yet, and I recognised the
spectre--it is the Ratisbon singer."

"Your Majesty knows," replied Quijada, "what befell her after the birth
of the child, and that she is now living here in Brussels; but I was
strictly forbidden to mention her name in your Majesty's presence."

"That command closed my lips also," said the valet.

"But what the hearing rejected forced itself upon the sight," remarked
C