"What circumstances?" was the innocent, questioning reply.
"The young lady is not of Royal blood. And His Majesty—thank God—is not a roué."
"But he has a heart, and he has eyes. He may never have used them 114 before. Yet there must always be a first time; and the higher and more strongly built the tower, the greater the fall thereof."
"Need we discuss improbabilities, Baroness von Lynar? Neither you nor I is the Emperor's keeper."
"We are his friends—his most intimate friends. And you and I have known each other for twenty years. It amuses me to discuss what you call 'improbabilities'. Come—for once, humour me, Chancellor. Not for the world would I hint that His Majesty is less than an example to all men, in honour: nor would I suggest that Miss de Courcy could be tempted to indiscretion. But yet I'd be ready to wager—the Emperor being human and the girl the most dazzling of beauties—that an acquaintance so romantically begun will not end with a ball and a call!"
"What could there possibly be more, madam—in honour?"
The Chancellor's voice shook with stifled anger, and he looked—so thought his quondam friend—with his square face, his wide nostrils, 115 and his prominent eyes—delightfully like a baited bull. The Baroness von Lynar was thoroughly enjoying herself. She well knew the old man's desire for the Emperor's marriage, and, though she was not in the secret of his plans, would have felt little surprise at learning that an eligible Empress had already been selected. What fun it was to ruffle the temper of the surly old bear! How much more fun it would be genuinely to alarm him for the success of his schemes!
"What could there be more?" she echoed. "Why, they will see much of each other. There will be many dances, many calls—in a word, a serial romance instead of a short story. Why should His Majesty not know the pleasure of a pure platonic friendship with a beautiful young woman?"
"Because Plato is out of fashion, and, as I have said, the Emperor is a man of honour," growled the Chancellor. "Even if—which I doubt—a woman could deeply influence his life——"