eye; and as the Austro-Hungarian embassy was in mourning and
unrepresented at the table, the new Emperor-king was discussed with
considerable frankness.

"He has not old Stroebel's right hand to hold him up," remarked a young
German officer.

"Thereby hangs a dark tale," remarked Claiborne. "Somebody stuck a knife
into Count von Stroebel at a singularly inopportune moment. I saw him in
Geneva two days before he was assassinated, and he was very feeble and
seemed harassed. It gives a man the shudders to think of what might
happen if his Majesty, Charles Louis, should go by the board. His only
child died a year ago--after him his cousin Francis, and then the
deluge."

"Bah! Francis is not as dark as he's painted. He's the most lied-about
prince in Europe," remarked Chauvenet. "He would most certainly be an
improvement on Charles Louis. But alas! Charles Louis will undoubtedly
live on forever, like his lamented father. The King is dead: long live
the King!"

"Nothing can happen," remarked the German sadly. "I have lost much money
betting on upheavals in that direction. If there were a man in Hungary it
would be different; but riots are not revolutions."

"That is quite true," said Armitage quietly.

"But," observed the Spaniard, "if the Archduke Karl had not gone out of
his head and died in two or three dozen places, so that no one is sure he
is dead at all, things at Vienna might be rather more interesting.