“This means war.  The duke will never swallow such an insult.”

“War!  It looks as if you and I, Baron, shall not accompany the king of Prussia into Alsace-Lorraine.  We shall have entertainment at home.”

“This is horrible!”

“The devil of a muddle!”

“But what possessed the prince to blunder like this?”

“The prince really is not to blame.  Our king, Baron, is a young colt.  A few months ago he gave his royal uncle carte blanche to seek a wife for him.  Politics demanded an alliance between Jugendheit and Ehrenstein.  There have been too many years of useless antagonism.  On the head of this bolt from Heaven comes the declaration of his majesty that he will marry any other princess on the continent.”

“They will pull this place down, brick by brick!”

“Let them!  We have ten thousand more troops than Ehrenstein.”

“You young men are a pack of fools!”

“Softly, Baron.”

“You would like nothing better than war.”

“Unless it is peace.”

“Where is the king?”

The carter smiled.  “He is hunting, they say, with the crown prince of
Bavaria.”

“But you, why have you come dressed like this?”

“That is a little secret which I am not at liberty to disclose.”

“But, great God, what’s to be done?”

“Lie,” urbanely.

“What good will lies do?”

“They will suspend the catastrophe till we are ready to meet it.  The marriage is not to take place till spring.  That will give us plenty of time.  After the coronation his majesty may be brought to reason.  This marriage must not fall through now.  The grand duke will not care to become the laughing-stock of Europe.  The prince’s advice is for you to go about your affairs as usual.  Only one man must be taken into your confidence, and that man is Herbeck.  If any one can straighten out his end of the tangle it is he.  He is a big man, of fertile invention; he will understand.  If this thing falls through his honors will fall with it.  He will work toward peace, though from what I have learned the duke would not shun war.”

“Where is the prince?”

“Wherever he is, he is working for the best interests of the state.  Don’t worry about his royal highness; he’s a man.”

“When did you come?”

“This morning.  Though I have been here before in this same guise.”

“There is the Bavarian princess,” remarked the ambassador musingly.

“Ha!  A good thought!  But the king is romantic; she is older than he, and ugly.”

“You are not telling me everything,” intuitively.

“I know it.  I am telling you all that is at present necessary.”

“You make me the unhappiest man in the kingdom!  I have worked so hard and long toward this end.  When did the king decline this alliance?”

“Evidently the moment he heard of it.  I have his letter in my pocket.  I am requested to read it to you.  Listen: