"When?" cried Joseph, frantic with grief.
"When the hour has come for us to meet again, I will send for you.
Promise to be there to receive my last farewell."
"I swear to be there."
"Then, farewell."
"Farewell, beloved Anna! Oh, let me touch your hand once more!"
"No!" said she, harshly; and, opening the door, she disappeared, and the emperor was left alone.
CHAPTER LXXIX.
THE MAD COUNTESS.
Count Starhemberg paced his splendid drawing-room in a state of great excitement. Sometimes he murmured broken sentences, then he sighed heavily, and again he seemed to be a prey to fear. Occasionally, his eyes glanced almost reproachfully toward the figure of a young man, who, with folded arms and smiling countenance, stood in the embrasure of a window watching the old man's agitation.
As the clock on the marble mantel struck the hour, the count stopped before his young visitor, and looked searchingly at his mild and effeminate farce.