Her jewels had brought a drop of blood from his little bare chest. She now embraced him more gently, with nervous sobs that choked in her throat. A spray of diamond ostrich-feathers fell to the ground; the maid picked them up with awkward fingers. "Mamma, are they blowing up the palace?" "No, Berengar, no, it's nothing...." "Mamma, I want to go and look! I must see what's happening!" "Berengar...." The door had been left open; the emperor entered, calmly. The ladies stood in the corridor, waiting for the empress.... "Papa, may I go with you and look?" "No, Berengar, there's nothing to see. Go to sleep...." Then he offered his arm to Elizabeth: "Madam," he said, tranquilly. She threw him an imploring glance. He continued to hold out his arm to her. Then she kissed the boy once more, soothed him to sleep: "Wait a moment," she stammered to Oscar. She went to the glass; the maid, with her clumsy fingers, fastened the jewelled spray to the edge of the low-cut bodice, spread out the square train. "I'm ready," the empress said to Oscar, in a lifeless voice. She took his arm; the emperor just pressed her hand; and they nodded once more to Berengar and went. Arm-in-arm the imperial pair appeared for the second time at the ball. The empress was pale but smiling. She was magnificent, delicate with dainty majesty in the trailing white velvet, upon which, on the bodice and over the front of the skirt, flickered sprays of diamond ostrich-feathers, formed into fleurs-de-lys. An empress' crown of brilliants crowned her small, round head. It was two o'clock. Generally the sovereigns were accustomed to stay till one o'clock at the court balls. The Queen of Syria, however, in her exuberant love of life, had begged them to stay longer. They had consented. Had they left at one o'clock, the explosion would have taken place at the moment when Oscar would probably just have entered his apartments. They had first talked of the anterooms only: but it would now appear that great damage had also been done to the emperor's own room. Supper began. They supped in a large hall; from every table rose a palm-tree and the hall was thus turned into a forest of palms. The floor was strewn with gold sand, which powdered the trains as their wearers walked upon it. Electric light shone through the long leaves like moonlight. In this moonlight the faces remained deadly white, like patches of chalk, above the glittering crystal and all the gold plate. The music clattered with great cymbal-strokes of brass. 5 "To HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF GOTHLAND. "IMPERIAL, "LIPARA, "--_May_, 18--. "MY DEAREST SISTER, "At last I can find time to write to you. The excitement of the visit of our good Syrians is over and Lipara has calmed down. But my reflections are nothing but sadness. And this is why, Olga.