“The Princess Marïonoff.”
“Oh!”
“She has often admired these bibelots, and it is not always in our power to completely gratify a beautiful woman’s whim. I am anxious to show your Eminence the humble gift that I will ask you to lay at the princess’ feet.”
With infinite care and patience the Emperor, with his own hands, proceeded to unfold the parcel from its numerous papers and wrappings, and presently displayed before his Eminence’s admiring gaze a pair of the most dainty, most valuable china candlesticks that ever adorned a marquise’s boudoir.
Each candlestick represented a Cupid, in that rarest of all wares known as vieux Vienne, with arms outstretched, shooting a golden arrow from a gigantic bow at an imaginary target. The feet were firmly planted upon a basis of exquisitely chased gold, the figure slightly leaning against the trunk of a tree, which was pure gold, and the branches of which formed the receptacle for the candles.
“Truly a charming, an appropriate gift,” said the Cardinal in admiration, though with a touch of sarcasm.
Ever since he had realised the nature of the message the Emperor wished to convey to his chère amie, his Eminence had seemed decidedly less eager to place his services at Franz Jozef’s disposal. The candlesticks seemed so fragile, and yet would be so cumbersome, that Cardinal d’Orsay almost shuddered at the grave responsibility of taking about so much brittle ware with him, across some two thousand miles of country.
But the Emperor appeared wholly unconscious of the Cardinal’s lack of enthusiasm. With the eagerness of a connoisseur he pointed out the exquisite modelling of the china, and the dainty chasing of the gold.
“And to add to the charm and rarity of the bibelots,” he added, “these candlesticks contain a thought of mystery. Will your Eminence press very lightly on this small leaf that stands apart from the rest on this little gold twig?”
The Cardinal obeyed good-humouredly, and, to his astonishment, saw that the leaf concealed a tiny spring, which, when touched, displayed a hidden receptacle, velvet lined, in the hollow of the tree-trunk.