for you to be obliged to leave
your husband in Bohemia,' she said. 'Have you good news of him now? I am
so interested in illness. Tell me exactly what ails poor Count Wuerben.'

Wilhelmine stared at this formidable dame in consternation. Wuerben's
fictitious ailments were difficult to name.

'He suffered--from--from--smallpox some years ago, your Highness, and has
never recovered his health,' she said haltingly.

'Ah! smallpox; yes, indeed, a terrible malady, and but too common. Did
your husband contract it at the same time as you did, Madame? I see you
must have been a great sufferer,' said the Duchess-mother, fixing her
sharp brown eyes on the few hardly distinguishable pockmarks on
Wilhelmine's face. The favourite flushed.

'I was not married to Monsieur de Wuerben at that time, your Highness,'
she answered.

'Oh, indeed! Madame, forgive me; I did not know how long you had been
married. Have you any children, Madame de Wuerben? No? Ah, a sad pity! The
little ones would doubtless have been a consolation to you while you are
forced to be absent from your husband; but perhaps we may have the
pleasure of seeing Monsieur de Wuerben in Stuttgart before long?'

'I do not know, your Highness,' said Wilhelmine shortly. Each word the
Duchess-mother spoke cut her to the quick, and she hated the tall, gaunt
old lady as even she had never hated before.

'Well, I hope for you sake, Madame, your husband will be able to reside
here soon. It is hard for a young woman to be alone. And besides, really
you should pray for a son to succeed to the Wuerben family honours. I used
to know a Count Wuerben at Vienna many years ago. A Count Nepomuk
Wuerben--'Nepi,' they called him--perhaps an uncle of your husband's?'

'That is my husband's name, your Highness,' replied Wilhelmine in a
toneless voice.

'Impossible! Why, the man I mean will be sixty years old by now, and he
disgraced himself and squandered a fortune. No; that man cannot be your
husband, dear Madame! I heard he had made a fearful marriage--some
adventuress who had amassed money and wished for an old and honourable
name. It interests me much; pray ask your husband if that Wuerben was a
cousin of his. A disagreeable subject though, for, of course, no nobleman
would care to own so vile a person as cousin.'

Wilhelmine threw up her head proudly. 'Your Highness, Count Nepomuk
Wuerben is my husband, and I must request you not to criticise him in my
presence.'

Her spirit