The emperor bent his head, and called out to the count just as, retiring with Klindworth, he had reached the door:
"Auf Wiedersehen!"[[7]]
He then seated himself at his writing-table and hastily wrote two notes, sealing them with his ring; then summoning the gentleman-in-waiting, he desired him to call his equerry.
Prince Liechtenstein entered.
"My dear prince," said the emperor cheerfully, "let these two notes be given at once to Crenneville and Mensdorff."
The prince took the notes, and left the room in silence.
"Now," cried the emperor, as he stood up and raised his sparkling eyes, "indecision is past. God protect Austria!"
CHAPTER IX.
[HELENA].
The sun shone cheerfully one afternoon upon the quiet Pfarrhaus at Blechow. The roses bloomed gaily in the box-edged beds of the well-cultivated garden, where the masses of luxuriant white blossom were beginning to turn to fruit.