"My cousin," answered Gustaf Adolf, smiling, "you do not mean to liken the good city of Frankfurt to Babylon?"
"No, sire," joined in the French ambassador, Breze, who walked by their side; "his Bohemian Majesty only wishes to liken the Rhine to Granicus, and hopes that the new Alexander's Hyphasis may lie beyond the frontiers of Bohemia."
"You must confess, Count Breze," said the king, changing the conversation, "that our Northern beauties and your French beauties have been conquered to-day by a German."
"Sire, I am of your opinion, that her Majesty the Queen does not need the enviable position by your side to be truly victorious," replied the courteous Frenchman.
"My consort will be grateful for your politeness, minister, but she resigns to Lady von Emmentz the preference that belongs to youth."
"Your Majesty flatters to a great extent our national German pride," said the Duke of Würtemberg bowing.
"Beauty is cosmopolitan, your grace. It was truly a great booty my soldiers took at Würzburg."
The king then approached Lady Regina. Her radiant beauty was still more charming through the tight-fitting black velvet dress strewed with silver stars in which she was robed.
"My lady," he said courteously. "I should be happy if the mourning you wear covered a heart that could forget all sad memories and only live in the hope of a brighter future, when war and battles no longer frighten the colour away from your beautiful cheeks. Believe me, lady, the time will come, and I am wishing for it with all my heart as much as you are, and let this hope bring joy to these lips where it always ought to remain."
"By your Majesty's side one forgets everything," replied Lady Regina, and rose respectfully from her high crimson-covered chair. But her cheeks grew still paler while she spoke, which showed that she could not forget the past and her present captivity.