Their leader walked proudly at the head of the irregular procession;
and as the crowd continued to shout and yell, "Peace with France!"
he muttered, "I think I have accomplished a good deal to-day. The
archduke will be satisfied with what I have done, and we may compel
the minister after all to make peace with France."




CHAPTER II.

MINISTER VON THUGUT.


The prime minister, Baron von Thugut, was in his cabinet, in eager
consultation with the new police minister, Count von Saurau, who had
given him an account of the safe removal of the imperial state
treasure which, like the emperor and the empress, had set out for
Hungary.

"All right! all right!" said Thugut, with a sinister chuckle. "In
Hungary both will be safe enough, for I think I have intimidated the
Hungarians so much that they will remain very quiet and very
humble."

"Your excellency refers to the conspiracy which we discovered there,
two years ago," said Count Saurau, smiling, "and which the accursed
traitors expiated on the gallows!"

"De Mortuir Nil Nisi Bene!" exclaimed Thugut. "We are under many