"And Hungary, your majesty?" asked Count Mensdorff.
"Speak to Count Andrassy," said the emperor, with a little hesitation. "Tell him what may happen, and hear what they expect."
He made a sign with his hand, and bent his head with a friendly smile.
Bowing deeply, the three gentlemen left the cabinet.
The emperor walked to and fro several times with hasty steps.
"Thus all that the sword of Radetzky won, is lost," he said, with a deep sigh, as he stood still before the window. "That land is lost for which so much German blood has flowed! Be it so," he cried, drawing a deep breath, "if I may only retain Germany."
He looked thoughtfully down on the ground.
"But if I give up Italy," he whispered, "how can Rome, how can the Church withstand the waves which will then hurl themselves against St. Peter's rock?"
A darker gloom lay on his brow.
With a slight knock, the groom of the chambers entered by the door leading from the inner apartment.