"And Zabern, you say, is opposed to the match? But if the princess has set her mind upon it, how does Zabern propose to play his game?"
"His first card is the Pope."
"The Pope?"
"Yes. The princess, being a Catholic, is debarred by the canons of her Church from marrying the duke, inasmuch as he is her first cousin. The papal dispensation is necessary before the union can be celebrated."
"And should the Holy Father refuse to grant it?"
Trevisa's face assumed a very grave expression.
"Then the princess will indeed be in a dilemma. If she marries without papal sanction the union will be deemed null and void by her Catholic subjects. All the Polish clergy will be set against her, and you know what that means. On the other hand, if she submits to the will of the Pope, and dismisses her ducal suitor, she will put herself in grave peril. The coronation takes place within four months from now, and the Muscovites are fully expecting to see the duke seated side by side with her in that ceremony. Disappointment will cause an armed rising on their part, and then—and then—I greatly fear there will be an end to the princess's rule."
"How so? Why should not her adherents prevail?"
"They would, if left to themselves, for they are the more numerous party. But, behind the Muscovite faction, and filling the minds of the ministers with secret fear, looms the colossal shadow of the Czar. If there should be riots, and the Poles should take to burning and killing, the Muscovites will cry to Nicholas to protect his own kith and kin, and then, good-bye to Czernovese liberty. The Czar will have what he has so long sought—a pretext for annexation. Heaven avert such a calamity, but one cannot prophesy a bright future for Czernova unless this marriage takes place."
Trevisa had scarcely finished this exposition of Czernovese politics when he happened to see a lady well known to him entering the hotel. Asking Paul to excuse his absence for a few minutes, he went off to pay his devoirs.