and power.

"Events!" the young man murmured.

"Events!" repeated Count von Stroebel without humor. "A couple of deaths
and there you see him, on the ground and quite ready. Karl was a genius,
therefore he could not be king. He threw away about five hundred years of
work that had been done for him by other people--and he cajoled you into
sharing his exile. You threw away your life for him! Bah! But you seem
sane enough!"

The prime minister concluded with his rough burr; and Armitage laughed
outright.

"Why the devil don't you go to Vienna and set yourself up like a
gentleman?" demanded the premier.

"Like a gentleman?" repeated Armitage. "It is too late. I should die in
Vienna in a week. Moreover, I _am_ dead, and it is well, when one has
attained that beatific advantage, to stay dead."

"Francis is a troublesome blackguard," declared the old man. "I wish to
God _he_ would form the dying habit, so that I might have a few years in
peace; but he is forever turning up in some mischief. And what can you do
about it? Can we kick him out of the army without a scandal? Don't you
suppose he could go to Budapest tomorrow and make things interesting for
us if he pleased? He's as full of treason as he can stick, I tell you."

Armitage nodded and smiled.