"It proves that to-day you have written a letter to a woman, of whom yesterday you said that she was the most beautiful woman in the world."
"I have no recollection of saying such a thing of any woman; and I am surprised that your majesty should encourage your attendants to repeat such contemptible tales," replied the emperor, with some bitterness. "Were I like you, the reigning sovereign of a great empire, I should really find no time to indulge in gossip and scandal."
"Your majesty will oblige me by refraining from any comment upon affairs which do not concern you. I alone am reigning empress here, and it is for my people to judge whether I do my duty to them; certainly not for you, who, while I am with my ministers of state, employ your leisure hours in writing love-letters to my subjects."
"I? I write a love-letter?" said the emperor.
"How dare you deny it? "cried the outraged empress. "Have you also forgotten that this morning you sent Gaspardi out of the palace on an errand?"
"No, I have not forgotten it," replied the emperor, with growing astonishment. But Maria Theresa remarked that he looked confused, and avoided her eye.
"You confess, then, that you sent the letter, and requested an answer?"
"Yes, but I received no answer," said the emperor, with embarrassment.
"There is your answer," thundered the enraged wife. "I took it from
Gaspardi myself."
"And is it possible, Theresa, that you have read a letter addressed to me?" asked the emperor, in a severe voice.