It is seldom that so complete an evolution of outlook is co-extensive with the life of a single sovereign; perhaps, indeed, Francis Joseph’s reign has been unique in that respect. In any case, he has witnessed all these changes, and lived through all these intellectual and emotional experiences. His _rôle_, while doing so, has been to keep up appearances; but, if we could penetrate to the realities behind the appearances, we should assuredly find that he had not himself been unaffected by the transformations going on around him. That is the true moral of the story of his affection for Frau Schratt, and of the rumour of his desire to give that lady his left hand in marriage. He felt what the other Habsburgs felt, though he controlled his feelings better. Seeing what the other Habsburgs were doing, he had the impulse to be “in the movement,” though he resisted it. He, like the rest, has sometimes had the intuition that happiness lay in living one’s own life rather than the corporate life of one’s country; and there are moments when his biographer feels that, in spite of all the pomp and glory which have attended his public career, the day of days for him must have been the day on which he met Frau Schratt, who, after twenty-eight years of mutual devotion, now totters down the hill with him at the journey’s end. [Illustration: _Photo_ _Adèle_ FRAU SCHRATT.] Daily, for a little while, when health permits, he sits with her and wonders.... We will leave him wondering. INDEX Adamovics, Fräulein Wilhelmina, viii, 107, 322, 326, 327, 329 Albert, Archduke, 134, 136, 138-140, 149, 152-155, 162, 192, 234, 242 Albert, Prince Consort, 135 Alençon, Sophie, Duchesse d’, under restraint at Graetz, 98, 169; affianced to Ludwig II. of Bavaria, 161, 188; photographed with Count Holnstein, 188; the engagement broken off—married to Duc d’Alençon, 189; her death, 161, 191 Alexander I., Czar of Russia, 2, 32, 57, 70 Ambert, General, _Cinq Epées_, 37 Amsterdam, 119 Andrassy, Count Julius, 146, 156, 210, 247 Andrews, Mrs. Clarence, 224 Anjou, Charles of, 20 Aroyo, Don Agostino, 253 Arragon, Ferdinand of, 23 _Assassins, Les_, ballet by Archduke John Salvator, 233 Augustenburg, Duchess of, 189 Augustine, Princess, 286, 292