"To sound the soul of another," said he, still maudlin. "You must first have searched deeply your own. Remorse has brought me here. My better nature reasserts itself." And more to that effect. "There is nothing new under the sun!" he wound up. "Why should there be?" said I, exasperated. "Come to the point." "My wife is the purest, noblest of beings!" said he. "You will defend any jade on earth, provided she be handsome," said I, but seeing an ugly light in his eye, I added, "but H.I.H. is certainly respectable. To this we have both been witnesses." "What is to be done?" he cried, beating his head. "Can I forget her interests? Who, better than I, should take the place of her adviser, her Prime Minister? Affairs in Alberia cannot long remain in this violent state. There must be a _dénouement_." I answered him sharply. "You know quite well that the Archduchess can never hope for official recognition from any Alberian Ministry--let alone the sovereigns of Europe. An aggressive attitude on her part could at most and at the worst, but lead to these things--a change of dynasty, and the annexation of Alberia by one of the Powers, or its partition among some of them. We wish Alberia to become another Switzerland--a little Paradise of law-abiding, industrious, rich, independent people!" "All the same," said he, "my wife may not sell her birth-right. Such a proceeding is directly opposite to the Will of God." "She will be a good claimant--after all this scandal with the Carlists and de Hausée," said I. "I can imagine the welcome extended to her by Bismarck! We have seen enough of this kind of thing in France and Spain." We talked for an hour. He was as obstinate as a mule and as incoherent as running water. I could grasp him nowhere. It was like groping in a well for a lighted torch. No doubt he had formed in his own mind some obscure, incalculable intrigue, but no reason can guess the plans which are made by an unreasoning person. "The Archduchess is rich, young, and handsome," said I; "it would be folly to change her noble independence for a political slavery fatal to her peace--perhaps her life." "But duty is above such weak considerations," said he, rolling his eyes. "My wife must remember the nation." "Do you believe," I rejoined, "that you would get the nation's sanction to the general upset which you propose? You must be mad." "Nations go mad," said he, smiling; "why not to my advantage, then, as well as yours?"