"Where learned you all this?" asked the poor archduke.
"Bend down your ear, and I will tell you. My father told me every word of it."
"The lord high chancellor? Impossible!"
"Yes, it would seem impossible that he should repeat any thing, and therefore you may know how seriously the matter affects your highness when I tell you that he sent me to warn you."
A quick, loud knock at the door interrupted him, and before the archduke could say "Come in," the Emperor Francis was in the room. His face looked careworn, and he cast a glance of tender compassion upon his son.
"My child," said he, "I come to speak to you in private a thing I cannot compass in my own apartments."
Dominick bowed to take leave, but the emperor withheld him. "Stay," said he, "for you may serve us, Dominick. I know you to be Joseph's best friend, and you will not betray him. But I have no time for words. Tell me quickly, Joseph, is there any secret outlet to these apartments? Do you know of any hidden stairway by which you could escape from the palace?"
"I, father! I have secret doors in my apartments? Is this some new device of my enemies to injure me in the eyes of the empress?"
"Hush, hush, Joseph!—How like he is in temperament to his mother!—Answer me at once; there is no question of enemies, but of yourself."
"What would you have me do with secret doors and stairways?" asked
Joseph.