"That foolish Prince Max," she thought, "if he does give it up and go, I am really saving him from terrible sorrow. But, who will save me from mine, I wonder? Mine, that is come already! God in Heaven cannot." Maximilian had watched her as she left him, till her stately girlish figure was lost in the dusk under the trees. Then with a sigh he turned away. At the villa he found his wife. She was seated apart from her maids, and Eloin was talking to her, in tones low and swift. Charlotte only half listened. Her agitation was nearly hysterical. Her eyes gleamed wildly, and sometimes they would close, as though they ached for the soothing that tears might bring. "Who," demanded Maximilian, "has had the presumption to introduce a spy on these grounds?" Eloin glanced quickly at the Empress. "A spy, sire?" he said uneasily. "I mean that American, sir. But shall I ask the sentinels at the gate?" "That, Ferdinand," Charlotte interposed icily, "is not necessary. Monsieur Eloin, at my command, brought the American here. You should know why." "To save my play-empire, I suppose?" "An empire," she cried, catching up the word the more hotly because she knew it to be Jacqueline's own gage of battle, "an empire, August Sire, to be gained by fighting, as your forefathers, as mine, won theirs. And that is nobler, _I_ suppose, than puny inheritance. I do not know what the Hapsburg may be fallen to, but a daughter of Orleans still has the right to expect a crown from her husband. If not, she is unworthily mated." Maximilian thought of that other empire, which that other temptress exacted of him. It seemed that he had many realms to conquer. But the grimmest humor of all was that he blithely imagined himself capable of satisfying the whims, not of one woman, but of two. Deluded Prince Max! But the Emperor was not there to discuss empire building, much less to face the tigerish light in his lady's eyes. "Monsieur Eloin," he said, "this is my first personal complaint against you, but there have been others, long, insistent ones, from French and Mexicans alike. You lose me my friends, sir, however I assure them that you have not the slightest influence over my policy. So, after the awkward intrusion of to-day, I am resolved that you had best leave us." "Your Majesty desires----" "That you leave the country at once, Monsieur Eloin." "But," protested Charlotte, "that is open disgrace. At least cover it with the pretext of some mission." The downcast courtier took heart. Watching his master with narrowed sycophant eyes, he said, "But it need not be a pretext, sire. Since I must leave Your Highness, permit me, then, to find my mission, and one in which I can still serve my sovereign, though in spite of himself." Imperceptibly Maximilian fell under the spell of the old fawning. "And what mission could that be, my good friend?" "To feel the Austrian pulse, sire. To know when the time is ripe, to hasten the time----" "The time for what?"