m that if she could only be got
out of the way, he might marry another heiress, and have the spending of
another fortune."

"Clever dodge," he observed. "Did it come off?"

"It came off, all too well. He based his petition on the ground that the
marriage had never been--I forget what the technical term is. Anyhow, he
pretended that the princess had never been his wife except in name, and
that the child couldn't possibly be his. The Emperor of Austria stood by
his connection, like the royal gentleman he is; used every scrap of
influence he possessed to help her. But the duke, who was a Protestant
(the princess was of course a Catholic), the duke persuaded all the
Protestant States in the Diet to vote in his favour. The Emperor of
Austria was powerless, the Pope was powerless. And the Diet annulled the
marriage."

"Ah," said the mandarin.

"Yes," she went on. "The marriage was annulled, and the child declared
illegitimate. Ernest Augustus, as the duke was somewhat inconsequently
named, married again, and had other children, the eldest of whom is the
present bearer of the title--the same Duke of Zeln one hears of,
quarreling with the croupiers at Monte Carlo. The Princess Anna, with
her baby, came to Austria. The Emperor gave her a pension, and lent her
one of his country houses to live in--Schloss Sanct--Andreas. Our
hostess, by-the-by, the Countess Wohenhoffen, was her intimate friend
and her _premiere dame d'honneur_."

"Ah," said the mandarin.

"But the poor princess had suffered more than she could bear. She died
when her child was four years old. The Countess Wohenhoffen took the
infant, by the Emperor's desire, and brought him up with her own son
Peter. He was called Prince Louis Leczinski. Of course, in all moral
right, he was the Hereditary Prince of Zeln. His legitimacy, for the
rest, and his mother's innocence, are perfectly well established, in
every sense but a legal sense, by the fact that he has all the physical
characteristics of the Zeln stock. He has the Zeln nose and the Zeln
chin, which are as distinctive as the Hapsburg lip."

"I hope, for the poor young man's sake, though, that they're not so
unbecoming?" questioned the mandarin.

"They're not exactly pretty," answered the mask. "The nose is a thought
too long, the chin is a trifle too short. However, I daresay the poor
young man is satisfied. As I was about to tell you, the Countess
Wohenhoffen brought him up, and the Emperor destined him f