Nigel did not wish to let the occasion slip, nor to lay too much stress upon it.
"In short," he said, after his recital of the position as a soldier understood it to explain to a soldier, "the affairs of the Emperor are in a serious plight, and he looks round for aid."
"Is not His Holiness the Pope sending him an army, or at least an aid?" asked Wallenstein.
"It is said that His Holiness has too much to occupy his troops in Italy," said Nigel. "Meantime Saxony is getting ready for the march."
"The winter will stop him!" said Wallenstein.
"He is like to winter in Prague!" said Nigel.
The lady by the fireplace may have shivered, or shrugged her shoulders in the least. A thought came to him that his prophecy might have gone home to the Duke more truly than he knew. It was at Prague that Wallenstein maintained a princely house. He must, in the event of the Saxons attacking Prague, submit to their dominance, a thing unpleasant and inconsonant with Wallenstein's character, or remove his household before their approach, or make an alliance with them and so cut himself entirely adrift from the Empire, or raise troops for the Emperor and defend the town. In any event out of the four he must make up his mind and act soon.
"To whom then does the Emperor look to save him from his enemies?"
"There is but one, your Grace, and that the Duke of Friedland!"