"Perhaps. I am sorry for the girl, but I have a family to take care of."
"Well, mark me; this little woman loves music; she comes here often. The next time she is annoyed by Wallenstein or any one else, you report it to me. I'll see that it reaches his highness."
"I shall gladly do that, your Excellency."
Carmichael left the gardens and wandered with aimless step. He was surprised to find that he was opposite the side gates to the royal gardens. His feet had followed the bent of his mind. Yet he did not cross the narrow side street. The sound of carriage wheels caused him to halt. He waited. The carriage he had seen by the fountain drew up before the gates, and the woman in black alighted. She spoke to the sentinel, who opened the gates and closed them. The veiled lady vanished abruptly beyond the shrubbery.
"I wonder who that was?" was Carmichael's internal question. "Bah! Some lady-in-waiting with an affair on hand."
CHAPTER III
FOR HER COUNTRY
"Count, must I tell you again not to broach that subject? There can be no alliance between Ehrenstein and Jugendheit."
"Why?" asked Count von Herbeck, chancellor, coolly returning the angry flash from the ducal eyes.