taken a momentary distaste to her own resolutions; for she
continued to oppose her counsellor, looking upon him out of half-closed
eyes and with the shadow of a sneer upon her lips. 'What boys men are!'
she said; 'what lovers of big words! Courage, indeed! If you had to
scour pans, Herr Von Gondremark, you would call it, I suppose, Domestic
Courage?'

'I would, madam,' said the Baron stoutly, 'if I scoured them well. I
would put a good name upon a virtue; you will not overdo it: they are not
so enchanting in themselves.'

'Well, but let me see,' she said. 'I wish to understand your courage.
Why we asked leave, like children! Our grannie in Berlin, our uncle in
Vienna, the whole family, have patted us on the head and sent us forward.
Courage? I wonder when I hear you!'

'My Princess is unlike herself,' returned the Baron. 'She has forgotten
where the peril lies. True, we have received encouragement on every
hand; but my Princess knows too well on what untenable conditions; and
she knows besides how, in the publicity of the diet, these whispered
conferences are forgotten and disowned. The danger is very real'--he
raged inwardly at having to blow the very coal he had been
quenching--'none the less real in that it is not precisely military, but
for that reason the easier to be faced. Had we to count upon your
troops, although I share your Highness's expectations of the conduct of
Alvenau, we cannot forget that he has not been proved in chief command.
But where negotiation is concerned, the conduct lies with us; and with
your help, I laugh at danger.'

'It may be so,' said Seraphina, sighing. 'It is elsewhere that I see
danger. The people, these abominable people--suppose they should
instantly rebel? What a figure we should make in the eyes of Europe to
have undertaken an invasion while my own throne was tottering to its
fall!'

'Nay, madam,' said Gondremark, smiling, 'here you are beneath yourself.
What is it that feeds their discontent? What but the taxes? Once we
have seized Gerolstein, the taxes are remitted, the sons return covered
with renown, the houses are adorned with pillage, each tastes his little
share of military glory, and behold us once again a happy family! "Ay,"
they will say, in each other's long ears, "the Princess knew what she was
about; she was in the right of it; she has a head upon her shoulders; and
here we are, you see, better off than before." But why should I say all
this?