"You met her in England?"
"No-o, not in England"; the Prince suddenly became noncommital. "But we were great friends. After our quarrel she disappeared, disbanding 273 her company, letting them go on while she stopped at a Rhaetian watering-place. Ha, ha! now I think of it, I should not be surprised if she had hoped to make of me a more egregious fool than she appears to have made of Maximilian. It is possible she fancied at one time that I might be ass enough to offer her marriage."
"The Emperor has offered her marriage."
"What? With the left hand, of course—though even that would be unheard of."
"I swear to you that if something can't be done to stop him, he will make her Empress of Rhaetia. He has told me so to-day with his own lips."
"Gad! Little Minnie Brand! I didn't half appreciate her brilliant qualities."
"Yet I wager, Prince, that she appreciated yours."
Apollo shrugged his shoulders. "I believe she liked me. Yes, I believe that wasn't acting."
"Is it long since you parted if I may ask as much?"
"Oh, yes, you may ask and be answered, Chancellor. It is only long 274 enough for her to have said good-bye to the old love and taken comfortably up with the new."