e both departed from Galavia,
give him this. Tell him it may have a message which I may not put in
words. If he can read the heart of a rose deeply enough, perhaps he can
find it there."

When Blanco had carefully folded the emblem of his embassy in paper and
deposited it in his breast pocket, she gave him her hand again, and,
turning, went out through the same door that she had entered.

Back in the town, Blanco had certain investigations to make. He knew Von
Ritz's men had been too late to capture the Duke, and that the Countess
Astaride had sailed by the steamer leaving for French and Italian ports.
Wherever these two conspirators should meet would become the next point
to watch.

Blanco felt sure that Louis would be willing to drop back into the
routine of his life in Paris, freshly stocked with pessimistic memories
of how a crown had slipped through his fingers. It would take driving to
prevent him lagging into the inertia of sentimental brooding. On the
other hand, he knew that the Countess Astaride, having gone so far,
would never again relinquish her ambitions. He knew the temper of the
Countess's mind from various bits of gossip he had heard and now also
from what he had seen. He knew that, while she was entirely willing to
participate in a murder plot to further her designs, she was not fired
solely by a lust for power. More deeply she was actuated by her wish to
make Louis Delgado a man of potentiality because she loved Louis
Delgado.

That love might evidence itself in savagery toward men who obstructed
the road which her lover must travel to a crown, but it was a ferocity
born of love for the Pretender.

Since this was true it was not probable that she would allow the matter
to end where it stood. Even if she were willing, it was more than
certain that Jusseret had not entered into the undertaking without some
sufficient end in view. Having entered it, he would not relinquish it
because the first attempt had been bungled.

That same night Manuel sent a message to the _Isis_, saying that he was
sailing the following morning by the Genoa steamer and asking that the
yacht meet the ship and take him on board. Having done that much, he
went to the hotel where the Countess had stopped and told the clerk that
he had news of importance to communicate to Madame the Countess, and
that he wished to learn her present address. The clerk, like all Puntal,
was ignorant of what important matters had just missed happ