“It turned out that the man I followed was so eminent a dignitary of the realm that I myself now can hardly believe it to be true. The chase in the taxicab led me straight into the ‘Inner Town’ and to the very steps of the Hofburg itself. My man paid off his chauffeur and went on up the grand stairway with all the assurance of proprietorship. Liveried lackeys saluted him respectfully on all sides, but the gorgeously uniformed guards at the entrance stopped me when I tried to follow him.
“‘It’s all right, my man,’ I tried to explain, in my best Austrian, ‘I am with—’ pointing after the vanishing figure—‘him.’
“The guardsman raised his eyebrows in polite disbelief.
“‘But His Excellency the Chancellor did not tell us that you were accompanying him.’
“‘His Excellency the Chancellor?’ I nearly fell over backwards when I heard that this arch-conspirator was he. Then in reckless spirit of bravado and with a fine assumption of haughtiness, I said:
“Go ask him. Bring him back here, and mind that you do not keep me waiting long either!”
“Impressed by my tone, one of the guardsmen went in after my quarry, who came back with a face that was like a mask.
“‘You wished to see me, sir?’ he queried, taking me in from head to foot at a single glance.
“‘No,’ said I, ‘you forget that I am with you.’
“‘Ah!’ said he, without exhibiting the slightest interest. ‘I have indeed forgotten. Will you not enter with me? His Imperial Highness is waiting now.’