"My dear boy," said she, "you do not wear a holiday face, and your young bride—"
"I have no bride," interrupted Joseph, angrily. "I have come to beg of your majesty to discontinue these rejoicings, or at least to excuse me from appearing in public at the side of the Princess of Bavaria. She is not my wife, nor ever shall be!"
"What means this?" stammered the empress, bewildered.
"It means that my marriage is null and void; and that no human power shall force me to be husband of a creature tainted with leprosy."
The empress uttered a cry of horror.
"My son, my son!" exclaimed she, "what unheard of charge is this!"
"A charge which is a miserable truth, your majesty. Do you not remember to have heard that the natural son of Charles of Bavaria had died, not long ago, of leprosy which he had contracted during a journey to the East? Well, his tender and self-sacrificing half-sister volunteered to nurse him, and was with him until he died. Your majesty, no doubt, will look upon this as something very fine and Christian-like. I, on the contrary, would have found it more honorable, if the princess had advised us of the legacy she wears upon her back."
"Woe to her and to the house of Bavaria, if you speak the truth, my son!" cried the empress, indignantly.
"If your majesty will send Van Swieten to her, you may convince yourself of the fact."
A few moments later Van Swieten entered the room. His fame was European. He was well known as a man of great skill and science; added to this, his noble frankness and high moral worth had greatly endeared him to the imperial family. Maria Theresa went hastily forward to meet him.