undermine you. How long it will take I can not say. But this
last folly, the loan, which you could have got on without, caps
the climax. The duke was in the city last week unknown to you.
Your minister of finance is his intimate. This loan was a
connivance of them all. Why ten years, when it could easily be
liquidated in five? I shall tell you. The duke expects to force
you into bankruptcy within that time, and when the creditor
demands and you can not pay, you will be driven from here in
disgrace.

"And where will you go? Certainly not to Osia, since you traded
it for this throne. It was understood, when you assumed the
reign, that the finances of the kingdom would remain
unimpeachable. Bankrupt, the confederation will be forced to
disavow you. They will be compelled to restore the throne to
your enemy, who, believe me, is most anxious to become your
creditor.

"This is an independent state,--conditionally. "The
confederation have formed themselves into a protectorate. Why? I
can only guess. One or more of them covet these beautiful lands.
What are ten years to Josef, when a crown is the goal? Your
revenues are slowly to decline, there will be internal troubles
to eat up what money you have in the treasury. O, it is a plot
so fine, so swiftly conceived, so cunningly devised that I would
I were twenty years younger, to fight it with you! But I am old.
My days for acting are past. I can only advise. He was sure of
his quarry, this Josef whose hair is of many colors. Had you
applied to the money syndicates of Europe, the banks of England,
France, Germany, or Austria, your true sponsor, the result would