previously contemplated such a
proceeding, even after his definite promise. Aribert remembered now with
painful vividness his nephew's words: 'I withdraw my promise. Observe
that--I withdraw it.' It must have been instantly after the utterance of
that formal withdrawal that Eugen attempted to destroy himself.

'It's laudanum, Hans,' Aribert exclaimed, rather helplessly.

'Surely his Highness has not taken poison?' said Hans. 'It is
impossible!'

'I fear it is only too possible,' said the other. 'It's laudanum. What
are we to do? Quick, man!'

'His Highness must be roused, Prince. He must have an emetic. We had
better carry him to the bedroom.'

They did, and laid him on the great bed; and then Aribert mixed an
emetic of mustard and water, and administered it, but without any
effect. The sufferer lay motionless, with every muscle relaxed. His skin
was ice-cold to the touch, and the eyelids, half-drawn, showed that the
pupils were painfully contracted.

'Go out, and send for a doctor, Hans. Say that Prince Eugen has been
suddenly taken ill, but that it isn't serious. The truth must never be
known.'

'He must be roused, sire,' Hans said again, as he hurried from the room.

Aribert lifted his nephew from the bed, shook him, pinched him, flicked
him cruelly, shouted at him, dragged him about, but to no avail. At
length he desisted, from mere physical fatigue, and laid the Prince back
again on the bed. Every minute that elapsed seemed an hour. Alone with
the unconscious organism in the silence of the great stately chamber,
under the cold yellow glare of the electric lights, Aribert became a
prey to the most despairing thoughts. The tragedy of his nephew's
career forced itself upon him, and it occurred to him that an early
and shameful death had all along been inevitable for this good-natured,
weak-purposed, unhappy child of a historic throne. A little good
fortune, and his character, so evenly balanced between right and wrong,
might have followed the proper path, and Eugen might have figured at any
rate with dignity on the European stage. But now it appeared that all
was over, the last stroke played. And in this disaster Aribert saw the
ruin of his own hopes. For Aribert would have to occupy his nephew's
throne, and he felt instinctively that nature had not cut him out for a
throne. By a natural impulse he inwardly rebelled against the prospect
of monarchy. Monarchy meant so much for which he knew himself to be
enti