o sorry," whispered the Princess to Jennie when an opportunity
occurred, "but the Countess Stron has sent a messenger to say that she
cannot be present this afternoon. It seems her husband, the Premier,
is ill, and she, like a good wife, remains at home to nurse him. This
rather upsets our plans, doesn't it?"

"Oh, I don't know," replied Jennie. "It is more than likely that the
wife of the Premier would be exceedingly careful not to discuss any
political question in this company. I have counted more upon the wife of
a lesser official than upon the Countess Stron."

"You are right," said the Princess, "and now come with me. I want to
introduce you to the wife of the Master of the Treasury, and from her,
perhaps, you can learn something of the accident that befell the lover
of poor Gretlich."

The wife of the Master of the Treasury proved to be a garrulous old lady
who evidently prided herself on knowing everything that was taking place
about her. Jennie and she became quite confidential over their goblets
of tea, a beverage of which the old lady seemed inordinately fond. As
the conversation between them drifted on, Jennie saw that here was a
person who would take a delight in telling everything she knew, and
the only question which now arose was whether she knew anything Jennie
wished to learn. But before she tried her on high politics the girl
determined to find out more about the disaster that had made such an
abrupt ending to Gretlich's young dream.

"I have been very much interested," she said, "in one of the maids here
who lost her lover some weeks ago in an accident that occurred in the
Treasury. The maid doesn't seem to know very much about what happened,
and was merely told that her lover, a soldier who had been on guard
there that night, was dead."

"Oh, dear, yes!" whispered the old lady, lowering her voice, "what a
dreadful thing that was, four men killed and eight or nine now in the
hospital. My poor husband has had hardly a wink of sleep since the
event, and the Premier is ill in bed through the worry."

"Because of the loss of life?" asked Jennie innocently.

"Oh, no, no! the loss of life wouldn't matter; it is the loss of the
money that is the serious thing, and how they are going to replace it or
account for its disappearance I am sure I don't know. The deficiency is
something over two hundred million florins. Was it not awful?"

"Was the building shattered to such an extent?" inquired Jennie, who