Eva heard the fourteen-year-old wife ask, "Well, Count, how fares your
wish to find the right husband for your wilful daughter?"

"Of course it must be fulfilled, Duchess, since your Highness deigned to
approve it," he answered, with his hand upon his heart.

"And may his name be known?" she queried with evident eagerness, her dark
eyes sparkling brightly and a faint flush tingeing the slight shade of
tan on her child face.

"The duty of a knight and paternal weakness unfortunately still seal my
lips," he answered. "Your Highness knows best that a lady's wish--even
if she is your own child--is a command."

"You are praised as an obedient father," replied the Bohemian with a
slight shrug of the shoulders. "Yet you probably need not conceal
whether the happy man, who is not only encouraged, but this time also
chosen by the charming huntress of many kinds of game, is numbered among
our guests."

"Unfortunately he is denied the pleasure, your Highness," replied the
count; but Cordula, who had noticed Eva, and had heard the Duchess
Agnes's last words, approached her royal foe, and with a low, reverential
bow, said: "My poor heart must imagine him far away from here amid peril
and privation. Instead of breaking ladies' hearts, he is destroying the
castles of robber knights and disturbers of the peace of the country."

The duchess, in silent rage, clenched her white teeth upon her quivering
lips, and was about to make an answer which would scarcely have flattered
Cordula, when the Emperor, who had left his distinguished attendants,