ttle later, he
shall be released upon a proper understanding, and I see him once more
directing his theatricals.'

Seraphina sat gloomy, plunged in thought. 'Yes,' she said suddenly, 'and
the despatch? He is now writing it.'

'It cannot pass the council before Friday,' replied Gondremark; 'and as
for any private note, the messengers are all at my disposal. They are
picked men, madam. I am a person of precaution.'

'It would appear so,' she said, with a flash of her occasional repugnance
to the man; and then after a pause, 'Herr von Gondremark,' she added, 'I
recoil from this extremity.'

'I share your Highness's repugnance,' answered he. 'But what would you
have? We are defenceless, else.'

'I see it, but this is sudden. It is a public crime,' she said, nodding
at him with a sort of horror.

'Look but a little deeper,' he returned, 'and whose is the crime?'

'His!' she cried. 'His, before God! And I hold him liable. But
still--'

'It is not as if he would be harmed,' submitted Gondremark.

'I know it,' she replied, but it was still unheartily.

And then, as brave men are entitled, by prescriptive right as old as the
world's history, to the alliance and the active help of Fortune, the
punctual goddess stepped down from the machine. One of the Princess's
ladies begged to enter; a man, it appeared, had brought a line for the
Freiherr von Gondremark. It proved to be a pencil billet, which the
crafty Greisengesang had found the means to scribble and despatch under
the very guns of Otto; and the daring of the act bore testimony to the
terror of the actor. For Greisengesang had but one influential motive:
fear. The note ran thus: 'At the first council, procuration to be
withdrawn.--CORN. GREIS.'

So, after three years of exercise, the right of signature was to be
stript from Seraphina. It was more than an insult; it was a public
disgrace; and she did not pause to consider how she had earned it, but
morally bounded under the attack as bounds the wounded tiger.

'Enough,' she said; 'I will sign the order. When shall he leave?'

'It will take me twelve hours to collect my men, and it had best be done
at night. To-morrow midnight, if you please?' answered the Baron.

'Excellent,' she said. 'My door is always open to you, Baron. As soon
as the order is prepared, bring it me to sign.'

'Madam,' he said, 'alone of all of us you do not risk your head in this
adventure. For that reason, and to prev