"Your highness can count on me; but I am not very sanguine of success."
"It may be easier of accomplishment than you think; at all events let us make the attempt. We must represent war as inevitable; and, having given an account of the formidable preparations making by the enemy, we must counterbalance it all by a glowing exposition of our own strength and resources. This will arouse the duke's spirit of opposition, and he will forthwith discourse on the horrors of war. I will take advantage of his disinclination to fight, to suggest that, with such sentiments, he had better not aspire to command our armies. In your quality of vice-president you come forward to sustain my—Chut! Here comes the emperor."
All the members of the council bowed low, except the Duke of Lorraine, who, having his back to the door, had not perceived the entrance of the emperor. Leopold crossed the room, and the thickness of the carpet so muffled his footfall that he had his hand on his brother-in-law's shoulder before the latter had become aware of his presence.
"What are you thinking of?" asked he, with an affable smile. "You appear to be absorbed in admiration of our great ancestor."
"Yes, your majesty," replied the duke. "I was admiring the beauty of his noble countenance, and thinking of the pride you must feel when you remember that you are his descendant, and that his blood flows in your veins."
Leopold bent his head in token of assent. "You are right; I AM proud of my descent. Such an ancestry as mine should inspire a man to noble deeds; and if I encourage pride of birth in my subjects, it is because I believe it to be an incentive to virtue and honor. Remembering, then, with mingled gratulation and humility, that we are the posterity of Charles V., let us determine to-day to act in a manner worthy of our great progenitor; for, by your haste to assemble here this morning, I judge that we have weighty matters to discuss. Be seated, and let us proceed to business."
So saying, the emperor glided into his arm-chair, which stood behind a semicircular table, immediately under the portrait of Charles V., and his five counsellors occupied the tabourets around.
"And now, my lords," exclaimed Leopold, "let me hear what it is that brings you hither at an hour so unusual."
"Dispatches from General Count Caprara, your majesty," replied the
Margrave Herman of Baden.
"And from France and Poland, likewise," added the Duke of Lorraine.