This was a record division, being the largest that had ever occurred in the history of the Czernovese Diet. Every deputy, with the exception of Cardinal Ravenna, was present and had voted.
The great question was how had they voted?
Amid a hush like that in the chamber of the dying when the fatal moment has come, the chief clerk, at a sign from the President, slowly inverted the urn, and poured out the discs upon the red table-cloth.
In their excitement the deputies rose and stood upon seats and desks, craning their necks forward, eager to catch the first glimpse of the black and white counters, eager to learn which of the two was the prevailing color.
To the waiting populace in the Zapolyska Square the time taken in recording the votes and in counting the same seemed unnecessarily long.
A great sensation had been created when the officials of the House reported to those near the doors that the princess herself had appeared in the Diet with an appeal for the rejection of the bill. The story gathered in detail as it passed from mouth to mouth, and men on the outskirts of the crowd told how the princess with tears in her eyes had gone down on her knees before the assembly, and how Zabern, sabre in hand, had stalked up and down the chamber threatening to cut the throats of all who would not vote against the bill.
And when the hour of midnight began to toll, and Dorislas was seen to fling himself from his charger, and hurry up the steps of the Diet-house, for the purpose of recording his vote within the chamber, the interest grew to fever-heat.
Wild work had been going on in the square, but now the knowledge that the great division was taking place had a somewhat quieting effect upon the crowd. All eyes were turned towards the grand entrance, brilliant with light that streamed far out into the darkness, for from this entrance the result was to be proclaimed.
Ten minutes after midnight there was a movement at the head of the stairs; the gendarmes parted, and the white-haired clerk of the House was seen holding in his hand the paper inscribed with the momentous result. Dorislas appeared at the same instant and mounted his charger in readiness for the riot which he knew to be imminent.