"But the duke? It is not possible that he is acting the sick man all this while?"
"Not possible! Nothing is impossible to such a crafty, vulpine nature as his!"
"The bulletins say that he is attacked with scarlet fever, and you must have seen whether he bears its marks on his skin or not."
"He has them, but—this shrewd kinsman of mine has many a secret unknown to such as you and myself, Commercy. Perhaps I do him injustice; for, in good sooth, I am provoked, and in a humor to suspect everybody. His voice is very weak, and indeed, Commercy, I would feel very uncomfortable should he prove to me, by dying, that I have suspected him unjustly. I must go again; I MUST satisfy my doubts."
The duke's condition was declared to be so precarious that sentries were stationed at every entrance of the castle, to prevent so much as the lightest footstep from being heard by the noble patient. He was passing a crisis, and, during the transition, not a soul must be admitted within the castle gates.
Prince Eugene, nevertheless, at dusk, betook himself thitherward.
The sentry saluted him, but barred the entrance.
"You do not know me," said the prince. "I am the duke's nearest kinsman, and, unless you have orders to exclude me personally, I have the entrance to his chamber."
"We have no orders with reference to your highness," was the reply.
"Then I must pass, and I shoulder the responsibility."
The officer signed to the sentry to stand aside, and Eugene entered the castle, crossed the tessellated vestibule, and ascended the wide marble staircase. Here he was stopped a second time, but he referred the guards to the officer below, and was again allowed to pass. "I must try to solve this riddle," thought he. "The emperor's interests hang upon the solution. Luckily, I have a pretext for my unexpected visit in these dispatches."