"The Emperor has already learnt that I know the truth regarding his secret," was her slow reply. "By what means His Majesty has discovered it, I, alas! know not. But I do know from a confidential quarter that I have incurred the Emperor's gravest displeasure and hatred." "Who is your informant?" I inquired sternly, eager to further investigate the great intrigue. "A certain person who must be nameless." "Have you spoken to anybody of the Emperor's secret plans in Turkey, or of his possession of the Empress Catherine's jewels?" "I have not uttered a word to a single soul except my husband. I swear it." "Your husband was extremely indiscreet in revealing anything," I declared again quite frankly. "I fully admit that. But what can I do? How shall I act?" she asked in a low, tense voice. "Advise me, do." For some moments I remained silent. The situation, with a pretty woman seeking my aid in such circumstances, was difficult. "Well, Madame," I replied after reflection, "if you are really ready to promise the strictest secrecy and leave the matter to me, I will endeavour to find a way out of the difficulty--providing you--good German that you are by marriage--will take, before the Emperor himself, an oath of complete secrecy?" "I am ready to do anything--anything for my dear husband's sake," the handsome young woman assured me, tears welling in her fine dark eyes. "In that case, then, please leave the matter entirely in my hands," I said. And later on she left. That same night, about ten o'clock, the Emperor, in the dark-green uniform which he always wears at dinner after hunting or shooting, entered the room to which I had just returned to work. "Send Frau Kleist to me," he snapped. "And I will summon you later when I want you, Heltzendorff." Frau Kleist! I had no idea the woman had arrived at the castle. But I dispatched one of the servants to search for her, and afterwards heard her high-pitched voice as she ascended the stairs to hold secret and, no doubt, evil counsel with His Majesty. Below I found the fat, fair-haired little doctor from Augsburg, who was still an enigma, but eager to see his Imperial patient, and with him I smoked a cigarette to while away the time. I was anxious to return to His Majesty, and, as became my duty as his adjutant, to explain what I had learnt from the lips of our French hostess. Suddenly one of the Imperial flunkeys bowed at the door, commanding the doctor to the Royal presence, and he left me, hot and flurried, as all become who are unused to the Court atmosphere, its rigid etiquette, and its constant bows. Had the Emperor called the unknown doctor into consultation with Frau Kleist? Inquiries I had made concerning the doctor from Augsburg showed that he was quite a well-known specialist on mental diseases, and he had also written a text-book upon bacteriology and the brain. Why had the Kaiser summoned him? He required no brain specialist.