"The German?" asked Charles, and as the baron, with a low bow, assented,
the Emperor continued: "Then it is scarcely an intrigue, at any rate a
successful one, unless he is unlike the usual stamp. But no! I noticed
the man. There is something visionary about him, like most of the
Germans. But I have never seen him intoxicated."

"Although he is of knightly lineage, and, as I heard, at home in the
neighbourhood of the Main, where good wine matures," remarked
Malfalconnet, with another bow. "At this moment he looks more than
sober, rather as though some great fright had roused him from a carouse.
Poor knight!"

"Ay, poor knight!" the Emperor assented emphatically. "To serve my
sister of Hungary in one position may be difficult for a man who is no
sportsman, and now in two! God's death! These torments on earth will
shorten his stay in purgatory."

The Emperor Charles had spoken of his sister in a very different tone the
day before, but now she remained away from him and kept with her a friend
whom he greatly needed, so he repaid her for it.

Therefore, with a shrug of the shoulders expressive of regret, he added,
"However badly off we may be ourselves, there is always some one with
whom we would not change places."

"Were I, the humblest of the humble, lucky enough to be in your Majesty's
skin," cried the baron gaily, "I wouldn't either. But since I am only
poor Malfalconnet, I know of nobody--and I'm well acquainted with Sir
Wolf--who seems to me more enviable than your Majesty."