"Ambition, my Lord! It brought Cæsar to the ground, and Cæsar was a greater man. When Wallenstein, then a rich Bohemian landlord, discovered that he had the genius of organising an army, he began to think he had discovered in himself another Cæsar. He thought that to command a great army, to find its food and pay, was absolute power. He forgot that that consent of the Emperor, which alone had made it possible, was the real source of power, and that the consent might be withdrawn. You all know what happened in fact. He has no patriotism. His country, his Emperor, his creed, is Wallenstein; and he would as soon serve Gustavus, if Gustavus would promise him a kingdom, as serve the Emperor."
The Elector Maximilian had raised his voice a little as he spoke his last sentences. The Emperor, turning in his chair from his cards not far away, said—
"Your favourite topic, cousin! He did us good service in our need."
"In truth, sire!" said the Archduchess Stephanie, also addressing Maximilian. "Age should be more lenient to age and honourable service."
Nigel wondered why the Elector showed so much the symptoms of a frown when his mouth, so much of it as was visible, essayed a smile as he turned towards the Archduchess.
The Emperor and Father Lamormain, who was of his party at cards, exchanged a guarded glance.
"You remind me of that, Stephanie, which in your presence I had forgotten."
With which saying he strode to her side with an air of gallantry, which had sat well upon a younger man, and engaged her in a conversation out of earshot, as he meant, of the rest of the company.
At this point a page came to the Emperor and gave him a message in a low tone. The page went out, and in a moment the doors opened.