his ailment. 

 I discovered Cristine, and begged for an interview with her mistress on an urgent matter. She led me to the Duchess's room, and there the evidence of poverty greeted me openly. All the little luxuries of the menage had gone to the Count. The poor lady's room was no better than a servant's garret, and the lady herself sat stitching a rent in a travelling cloak. She rose to greet me with alarm in her eyes. 

 As briefly as I could I set out the facts of my amazing mission. At first she seemed scarcely to hear me.  "What do they want with him?" she asked.  "He can give them nothing.  He is no friend to the Americans or to any people who have deposed their sovereign."  Then, as she grasped my meaning, her face flushed. 

 "It is a heartless trick, Mr. Townshend. I would fain think you no party to it." 

 "Believe me, dear madame, it is no trick. The men below are in sober earnest. You have but to see their faces to know that theirs is no wild adventure. I believe sincerely that they have the power to implement their promise." 

 "But it is madness. He is old and worn and sick. His day is long past for winning a crown." 

 "All this I have said, but it does not move them."   And I told her rapidly Mr. Galloway's argument. She fell into a muse.  "At the eleventh hour! Nay, too late, too late. Had he been twenty years younger, what a stroke of fortune! Fate bears too hard on us, too hard!" 

 Then she turned to me fiercely.  "You have no doubt heard, sir, the gossip about my father, which is on the lips of every fool in Europe. Let us have done with this pitiful make-believe. My father is a sot. Nay, I do not blame him. I blame his enemies and his miserable destiny. But there is the fact. Were he not old, he would still be unfit to grasp a crown and rule over a turbulent people. He flees from one city to another, but he cannot flee from himself. That is his illness on which you condoled with me yesterday." 

 The lady's control was at breaking-point. Another moment and I expected a torrent of tears. But they did not come. With a great effort she regained her composure. 

 "Well, the gentlemen must have an answer. You will tell them that the Count, my father—nay—give him his true title if you care—is vastly obliged to them for the honour they have done him, but would decline on account of his age and infirmities. You know how to phrase a decent 

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