CHAPTER LXXXIV.
DIPLOMATIC STRATEGY.
The Emperor Joseph was in his cabinet, engaged in looking over the letters and documents of the day, when a page announced his highness Prince Kaunitz. Joseph waved his hand in token of consent, and when the prince appeared at the door, rose to meet him as he entered the room.
"It must be business of state that brings your highness to my study at this early hour," said the emperor.
"It is indeed, sire," said Kaunitz, taking the chair which Joseph himself had just placed for him.
"And it must be a day of rejoicing with you, prince, for I see that you wear every order with which you have been decorated by every court in Europe. What does this display signify?"
"It signifies, sire, that the day has come, which I have awaited for twenty years, the day for which I have schemed and toiled, and which for me shall be the proudest day of my life. I go out to battle, and if I am to be victorious, your majesty must come to my assistance."
"Is it a duel with the empress, in which I am to be your second? I thank you for the honor, but you know that I have no influence with my lady mother. I am an emperor without a sceptre. But tell me Kaunitz, what is the cause of the trouble?"
"You know it, sire, and I have come to prove to you that I am a man of my word, and keep my promises."
"I do not remember that you ever promised me any thing."
"But I do. I remember a day on which my young emperor came to me to complain of a wrong which had been inflicted upon him at court."
"Marianne!" exclaimed the emperor, with a sigh. "Yes, yes, the day on which I lost sight of her forever."
"Yes, sire. The emperor, worthy of his high vocation, relinquished the girl who had found favor in his eyes, and for this sacrifice I promised him my loyal friendship. Three objects formed the ties that bound us together on that day. Does your majesty remember?"
"Yes. You promised to place Austria at the head of European affairs; you have done so. You promised indemnity for Silesia; we have it in our recent acquisitions in Poland."
"I promised also to crush the priesthood, and to ruin the Jesuits," cried Kaunitz, exultingly, "and I am here to fulfil my promise. The hour has come; for I am on my way to obtain the consent of the empress to the banishment of the Jesuits from Austria."
"You never will obtain it. Attachment to the Order of Jesus is an inheritance with the house of Hapsburg; and my mother styles me a degenerate son because I do not participate in the feeling."
"We will find means to alienate the empress," said Kaunitz, quietly.
"I hope so, but I doubt it. Tell me what I am to do, and I am ready to make another charge against them."
Prince Kaunitz opened his pocket-book, and took thence a letter which he handed to the emperor.
"Will your majesty have the goodness to hand this to the empress? It is a letter from Carlos III., in which he earnestly requests his illustrious kinswoman to give protection no longer to the Jesuits, whom he has driven from Spain."
"Indeed?" said the emperor, smiling. "If that is all, the Spanish ambassador might have delivered it quite as well as I."
"No, sire, that is not all. It was the King of Spain's request that your majesty should deliver the letter, and sustain it by every argument which your well-known enmity to the Jesuits might suggest."
"I am more than willing to undertake it; but to-day, as ever, my representations to the empress will be vain."
"Do your best, sire, and I will come to your relief with a reserved force, which will do good service. Only allow me to request that you will not quit the empress until the reserve comes up."
"Then the parts we are to play are distributed and learned by heart?"
"Just so; and Heaven be propitious, that the scenery may work well, and the actors may know their cue!"
"We have accomplices, then?"
"I shall be accompanied by the papal nuncio, and if your majesty permits me, I will go for him at once. In half an hour I shall come to the rescue."
"Go, then, and I fly to the empress," cried Joseph, with exultation.