"By my advice Theresa sought an audience for herself only. Any woman in distress has influence over a man; but when one's petitioner is young and beautiful--well, there! You know more about these things than I do."
"Then the emperor received her?"
"Or you would not be here now. I intended to advise her what to say, but, bless you, she had it all mapped out."
"Trust a woman, old or young, for that," remarked Dobozy.
"'There are four chief points,' she said to me. 'The attempt to save Count Latour, which ought to count for much; his protection of my mother and myself; his kindness to my father, who was a great favourite with the young archduke before he ascended the throne; and his steady opposition to the scheme of separation.'"
"And the last is not the least," said I, delighted to find she had thought about it all.
"Well, we waited in the courtyard of the palace, the baroness seated in her comfortable carriage, I on horseback. About sixty times an hour I opened my watch--not the battered one--and wondered what was happening in the audience-chamber. Every time a door opened or a servant of the palace moved, my heart leaped to my mouth. The baroness, stately and dignified, sat bolt upright, as if nothing under the sun could trouble her, though I believe she felt keenly, nevertheless."
"These people," exclaimed Dobozy with an air of wisdom, "never obtrude their feelings in public."
"A second hour passed," continued Rakoczy, "and half of the third, when a door was opened, and Theresa, accompanied by a perfect escort of high functionaries, made her appearance. The first glance assured me all was right.
"She had been weeping--the tear-stains being still on her face--but her eyes were bright and sparkling now, and she ran to my horse's head with an abandon that must have shocked her mother.