He passed on, leaving the old lady not at all satisfied. The fact of possessing such a secret and being obliged to keep it hidden was almost worse than the feeling that Ernestine was escaping so much of the obloquy which she deserved, but the charge so solemnly given was not to be disregarded if there was still to be a welcome for Princess Amalie at the Pannonian Court. This consideration acted effectually in helping her to preserve the secret, and the wedding and its attendant festivities passed off without any one’s becoming aware of the matter. Ernestine and her son were treated with the most marked cordiality by all the royal personages assembled, and Cyril shared in the favour accorded to them. He knew the reason for this, and attributed it less to the personal friendliness of the entertainers than to their desire to detach Thracia from the possible Balkan Confederation projected by the Princess of Dardania. For the diplomacy which threw King Michael continually into the society of the younger members of the Hercynian Imperial family, however, he saw a further reason, at which he smiled as one not ill-pleased at his own penetration—a smile which was reflected on the face of the absent Princess, to whom Ernestine had written in all innocence that “Sigismund and his wife are so kind to Michael, and he is continually riding or bicycling with Frederike and Hermine and their youngest brother, but he says that they are dreadfully dull, and that Bettine and Lida are worth dozens of them.”
Affairs were in this state when, on the evening preceding the departure of the royal and imperial guests from the Schloss at Molzau, Cyril was invited by his friend Baron de la Mothe von Elterthal to come to his room and talk European politics when every one else had gone to bed. This request from the Hercynian Chancellor did not mislead Cyril in the least, and he neither felt nor showed any surprise when he was conducted by means of a secret staircase from the Baron’s sitting-room to one on a different floor, and found there the Emperors of Hercynia and Pannonia and the Grand-Duke of Schwarzwald-Molzau, who was brother-in-law to one Emperor and cousin to the other, while their relationships had just been further complicated by the marriage of his daughter to a Hercynian Prince. The gathering was evidently intended to be a secret, for the one candle which lighted the room was placed so as not to throw the shadow of any of the occupants on the window-blind, and Baron de la Mothe von Elterthal reconnoitred the passage outside as soon as he had admitted Cyril, and remained on guard at the door during the whole of the interview.
“Count,” said the Emperor of Pannonia, “we have requested your presence here this evening for the purpose of discussing the situation in the Balkans, especially in so far as it has been affected by recent events in Dardania. Your position as the faithful friend and servant of the late King of Thracia, and the way in which you have exercised the duties of your responsible office during the minority of his son, entitle you to our fullest confidence and esteem.”
“My late brother,” said the Grand-Duke, as Cyril bowed, “assured me more than once, Count, that in his opinion you would prove yourself a most efficient guardian of European peace, and this confidence has not been misplaced.”
“Come, come,” said the Emperor Sigismund, who had been moving restlessly in his chair, “we are wasting time. Be good enough to answer a few questions, Count.”
“At your Majesty’s pleasure,” returned Cyril, resisting an impulse to bring his heels together with a click and stand at attention, so vividly did the Emperor’s tone recall that of the drill-sergeant at Eton long ago.
“You have considered the bearing of the late events in Dardania upon Balkan politics as a whole, Count?”
“I have, sir.”
“And what, in your opinion, do they foreshadow?”
“The confederation, sir, of the three states under the hegemony of Dardania.”