d I seem most surprisingly to
have the same tastes--about various things."

Annunciata was in the last stages of irritation. There was no mistaking
the sneer in Karl's voice. His smile was forced. She guessed that he had
heard of Nikky Larisch before, that, indeed, he knew probably more than
she did. Just what, she wondered, was there to know? A great deal, if
one could judge by Hedwig's face.

"I hope you are working hard at your lesson, Otto," she said, in the
severe tone which Otto had learned that most people use when they refer
to lessons.

"I'm afraid I'm not doing very well, Tante. But I've learned the
'Gettysburg Address.' Shall I say it?"

"Heavens, no!" she protested. She had not the faintest idea what the
"Gettysburg Address" was. She suspected Mr. Gladstone.

The Countess had relapsed into silence. A little back from the family
circle, she had watched the whole scene stonily, and knowing Karl as
only a woman who loves sincerely and long can know a man, she knew the
inner workings of his mind. She saw anger in the very turn of his head
and set of his jaw. But she saw more, jealousy, and was herself half mad
with it.

She knew him well. She had herself, for years, held him by holding
herself dear, by the very difficulty of attaining her. And now this
indifferent, white-faced girl, who might be his, indeed, for the taking,
but who would offer or promise no love, was rousing him to the instinct
of possession by her very indifference. He had told her the truth, that
night in the mountain inn. It was Hedwig he wanted, Hedwig herself, her
heart, all of her. And, if she knew Karl, he would move heaven and earth
to get the thing he wanted.

She surveyed the group. How little they knew what was in store for them!
She, Olga Loschek, by the lifting of a finger, could turn their smug
superiority into tears and despair, could ruin them and send them flying
for shelter to the very ends of the earth.

But when she looked at the little Crown Prince, legs dangling, eating
his thin bread and butter as only a hungry small boy can eat, she
shivered. By what means must she do all this! By what unspeakable means!

Karl saw the King that evening, a short visit marked by extreme
formality, and, on the King's part, by the keen and frank scrutiny of
one who is near the end and fears nothing but the final moment. Karl
found the meeting depressing and the King's eyes disconcerting.

"It will not be easy going for Otto," said