He paused while the younger man withdrew, and then, leading me to a deep window-seat at the end of the room, began to speak in a low tone:
"There is a traitor somewhere among us, and thus the greatest need for caution. For a long time previous to his death your uncle was engaged in a task that involved the highest issues of State. The extreme discontent at the antics of the madman who is now King of Bavaria induced a number of the more prominent and bolder men in the country to plot his overthrow. There is a slip in his ancestry, and the disappearance of a certain Prince Otto, who was the heir to the throne, let in the younger branch of the family, through whom the title has descended to the present King. Otto was supposed to have died; but he was only eccentric. He lived in secret retirement, married, and left a son. From that son, who was unquestionably the rightful heir, the late wife of your uncle came in direct descent. She was the only child of the eldest line, and by right she should have reigned as Queen. As you know, she died, and left the two children—Gustav, who was killed in a duel, and the daughter, who is in the castle at this moment."
"Do you mean——?" I began when he paused.
"I mean that the Countess Minna von Gramberg should at this moment be the Queen of Bavaria; and that by God's help we shall all live to see her crowned."
His dark face flushed and his eyes glowed with the enthusiasm of this speech.
My own feeling was more wonderment than enthusiasm, however. If this most hazardous and ambitious scheme were afoot, what could be the meaning of von Nauheim's share in it as the betrothed husband of a future queen?
"The Prince's first intention was of course to put his son on the throne, and matters were indeed well ripe for this, when unfortunately he became embroiled in a duel and was killed. That duel we believe to have been forced on him—murder in all but the actual form."
"And the man who killed him?" I asked.
"A noted Italian swordsman, Praga, hired and paid, as we believe, for his work."
"Hired? By whom?"