gentlemen, to stand by
the bed and wring her hands. But the old King did not even know she was
there.

The failure of her plan as to Nikky and Hedwig was known to the Countess
the night before. Hedwig had sent for her and faced her in her boudoir,
very white and calm.

"He refuses," she said. "There is nothing more to do."

"Refuses!"

"He has promised not to leave Otto."

Olga Loschek had been incredulous, at first. It was not possible. Men in
love did not do these things. It was not possible, that, after all, she
had failed. When she realized it, she would have broken out in bitter
protest, but Hedwig's face warned her. "He is right, of course," Hedwig
had said. "You and I were wrong, Countess. There is nothing to do--or
say."

And the Countess had taken her defeat quietly, with burning eyes and a
throat dry with excitement. "I am sorry, Highness," she said from the
doorway. "I had only hoped to save you from unhappiness. That is all.
And, as you say, there is nothing to be done." So she had gone away and
faced the night, and the day which was to follow.

The plot was arranged, to the smallest detail. The King, living now
only so long as it was decreed he should live; would, in mid-afternoon,
commence to sink. The entire Court would be gathered in anterooms and
salons near his apartments. In his rooms the Crown Prince would be kept,
awaiting the summons to the throne-room, where, on the King's death, the
regency would be declared, and the Court would swear fealty to the new
King, Otto the Ninth. By arrangement with the captain of the Palace
guard, who was one of the Committee of Ten, the sentries before the
Crown Prince's door were to be of the revolutionary party. Mettlich
would undoubtedly be with the King. Remained then to be reckoned
with only the Prince's personal servants, Miss Braithwaite, and Nikky
Larisch.

The servants offered little difficulty. At that hour, four o'clock,
probably only the valet Oskar would be on duty, and his station was at
the end of a corridor, separated by two doors from the schoolroom. It
was planned that the two men who were to secure the Crown Prince were to
wear the Palace livery, and to come with a message that the Crown Prince
was to accompany them. Then, instead of going to the wing where the
Court was gathered, they would go up to Hubert's rooms, and from there
to the roof and the secret passage.

Two obstacles were left for the Countess to cope with, and this was he