“Yes,” thundered the latter. “A choice that meets my full approval, and I speak now for the Empress as well as the Emperor.”
“Durnberg!” cried Mayence, raising his voice.
The doors were instantly opened, and the cringing Romer-meister appeared.
“Is the banquet prepared?”
“Ready to lay on the table, my Lord.”
“The wine for the fountains?”
“Needs but the turning of the tap, my Lord.”
“Order up the banquet, turn the tap; and as the new Emperor is unknown to the people, cause heralds with trumpets to set out and proclaim the Election of Prince Roland of Frankfort.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
The Archbishop of Mayence led the way out into the grand Kaisersaal, and the new Empress rose from her chair, standing there, her face white as the costume she wore. Mayence advanced to her, bending his gray head over the hand he took in his own.