On the following Thursday Ranata was not surprised to receive a note
from her father asking her to grant an audience to his minister Count
von Königsegg, who went to Budapest for the purpose.
“Now for it!” exclaimed Alexandra. “Of course he’s brought a corkscrew.
Are your brain-cells hermetically sealed?”
“His corkscrew will do him no good. Nevertheless, I feel a certain
apprehension--feminine, I suppose. He is the one person who has done
me the honor to believe that I might play with politics in a manner
to disconcert his clever manipulation of my father, and I have shown
my dislike of him by ignoring his existence, as far as possible. He
detests me; nevertheless, if I am able to convince him that I have
no purpose behind the one I have advanced, I believe he will make no
opposition to my plan: he has no desire to see William in the Hofburg
and himself in obscurity. He will not have the least objection to using
me--he is the sort to feel quite sure that a woman can be disposed of
the moment a man sees fit. But if he thought that I had any ulterior
design--”
“Try American diplomacy on him if you get in too deep--speak out
bluntly and agitate his guile. Let him squirm himself into a corner,
and then tell him to speak out or get out.”
“I sometimes feel half an American,” said the Archduchess Ranata
Theresia.
Down the long front of the southeast wing of the palace is a suite of
some ten or twelve rooms, large and small, beginning with the private
dining-room and finishing with the red reception-room. The yellow
Throne Room, or Great Hall of Ceremonies, runs parallel, occupying
the width of the circle-room and audience-chamber, which flank it at
one end, and of the circle-room and blue drawing-room of its southern
termination. From this last circle-room opens another, which in turn
leads to the private apartments occupied by the Queen of Hungary
when there is one. The windows of these apartments, closed during
the clouded last years of Elizabeth’s life and since her death, were
now open to the sun; the hangings were losing their musty odor, and
the numerous belongings of Ranata had already obliterated the little
individualities of the Empress. Ranata, whose strong soul had little in
common with the unhappy woman who had permitted life to crush her, had
tender pity for her mother’s memory, but no great amount of sentiment.
Not only were the rooms dingy and oppressive, but her own individuality
was too strong to exist comfortably in surroundings stamped throughout
many years by that of another; she had made up her mind that the day
after her father’s decision, whatever it might be, she should refurnish
the four rooms of her suite; and when the Emperor’s letter arrived they
were full of stuffs, sent up from Pest for the approval of her Imperial
Highness. Some pieces of curious brocade were pinned into the panels,
and the dusty old rugs had vanished. The girls, ordered to remain in
strict seclusion during this week of deliberation, had entertained
themselves in their own fashion.
“I cannot receive him here,” said the Archduchess, when she received
the humble petition of the great minister for an audience. “Besides,
I don’t want to. If I could help it no one should set foot in my
personal surroundings--atmosphere--who was even uncongenial to me.”
“It is a family failing,” said Alexandra dryly. “But I always admired
Ludvig for putting his head out of the window when he had to have
his tooth pulled rather than have the royal atmosphere polluted
by a dentist. It may have been uncomfortable for both, but it was
magnificently consistent.”
“I am not Ludvig, and I have no intention of making a fool of myself,”
replied the Archduchess, also with some dryness. “I’ll receive him in
the tea-room; I like the blue walls. Shall I wear black or white? I
look more imposing in black.”
“Oh, look your guileless best--white, by all means.”
Therefore, Ranata caused herself to be arrayed in a bewildering gown of
a pellicular Eastern stuff, much embroidered, and billowing about her
feet in the fashion of the moment. She wore her heavy hair in a gold
net, and a string of pearls about her throat, exposed to the base. She
looked girlish, if not ingenuous, and very lovely.
The Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, Obersthofmeisterin, or Grand
Stewardess, of Ranata’s Household, together with one of the
ladies-in-waiting, the Lectrice, and Alexandra, disposed themselves
just beyond the door of the tea-room as the carriage which had been
sent for the minister appeared on the bridge below the palace.
“It is fearfully hot, and he’s probably cross,” said Alexandra from
the balcony. “Better begin with iced coffee and predispose him to
amiability of a sort.”
And thus it came about that the subtle and wary minister tarried for a
few moments beneath the youthful presentment of his sovereign in the
brave uniform of the Hungarian Hussars, while four women smiled upon
him and flattered him with many little attentions. Then he went in to
his fate.
Ranata had carefully arranged her features before the mirror, and had
succeeded in banishing the expression of haughty dislike evoked by the
mere mention of her enemy. When he entered her presence her eyes were
half closed as usual, but their visible surface was soft. She dared
not receive him with cordiality, but a frank admission of an enemy’s
stewardship of the plums she desired involved a certain amount of
graciousness.
“This is very kind, your Excellency,” she said gently, giving him her
hand to kiss. “Had you permitted any one else to bring me the Emperor’s
decision, I should still have been tortured by many doubts; but now I
shall know my fate at once.” She leaned forward slightly and deepened
her emphasis, her lashes lifting a little. “Of course I shall abide by
what you and my father think best; but remember it is little less than
life or death to me. No one knows better than you the dreary monotony
of the lives of royal women. You know how my mother stood it! You who
know men, and must know women so well, must have suspected that had it
not been for the constant scandals which seem to be the peculiar curse
of my house, I might have taken my life in my own hands before this;
but the very years of suppression I have endured, ordered by a sense of
duty to the dynasty, has strengthened and deepened that feeling until
it rules my life. Now, for the first time, I have had an inspiration,
which, if permitted me to act upon, will fill my days with no dishonor
to my house. Of the good I may accomplish by remaining here I will not
insult your understanding by dwelling upon. But, although we never seem
to have been friends, I am so well aware that I am now in your power
that I have given you this glimpse of my inner self--so be merciful,”
she added, as if with an attempt at playfulness, while a smile rippled
through her eyelashes.
For a moment the minister did not reply. He was not a man easy to
nonplus, but he had come to test his strength with the haughtiest
woman in the Empire, and he found himself staring at the loveliness
of a softly impassioned girl. He had come to flatter, and his very
spine thrilled at subtle compliments delivered in a voice whose cold
music had become as sweet as a harp some one was playing in a distant
chamber. He had come to sound with the elastic skill of time-honored
methods, and his scornful Archduchess had thrown wide a window of her
soul and left him blinking. He had entered with the smile and the
supple backbone of the courtier, but quite aware that he might retire
with his tail between his legs, and a fully matured enmity in his
fertile brain. He was by no means sure of her even now, and he studied
her face--she had lowered her eyes that he might; but there is no
influence so potent, no wine so heady, as the flattery of royalty to
courtier. And the--perhaps unconscious?--flattery of this woman of all
women, of whose coldness those nearest to her complained, seemed to
rise like a rosy mist to his brain. He swept it back, however; there
was too much at stake. Although he did not hate her as much as she
imagined, for he was philosophical where women were concerned, he had
recognized in her a powerful individuality, a violent will, which, if
given its head, might deprive himself of the sweets of existence.
“I am deeply flattered and grateful, your Imperial Highness,” he said
finally. “Truly, like his Majesty, I had believed you to be absorbed in
the purely intellectual life--”
“Oh, I was! I was!” exclaimed the Archduchess, with sad ardor. “But
pardon me.”
“His Majesty is deeply moved by an idea as great in conception as it
is indicative of an ardent loyalty to the dynasty. He was overwhelmed
when you advanced it, and could give you no answer at the time. But
he has thought of little else since, and has deigned to consult his
ministers on the subject. As it was manifestly impossible for his
Majesty to return to Hungary within so short a space of time, he did
me the honor to appoint me his messenger. Even my visit will probably
attract more attention than is desirable, but fortunately Count Zichy
had invited me for the shooting, and I have taken pains to speak freely
of the ostensible object of my visit to Hungary. Of course, it is my
duty to kiss your hand in passing.” He paused and looked at her with
a frankness which rivalled her own. “Your Imperial Highness,” he said
impressively, “personally, I am deeply in favor of your remaining
here. I believe you can accomplish all you so nobly and intelligently
have conceived; and the time will come when we shall have need of the
strength and loyalty of Hungary! More than three hundred thousand of
the army are drawn from this state, and there are no better fighters
in Europe. It is quite true that the seat of government should be in
this division of the Empire, which is little less in area than all the
other divisions put together. The Hungarians are a more progressive,
enterprising, more _modern_ race than the Austrian in certain respects;
on the other hand, they still have much savagery in their blood;
they have been so shut out from personal competition with the higher
civilizations of Europe that they have too rich a soil for the seeds of
degeneration. Their very lack of morality has always been robust, and
to-day the Hungarians believe the city of Budapest to be as superior
to Vienna in morals as it is in industrial activity. While Austria
is retrogressing, disintegrating, Hungary is progressing, has all
her old virility, ambition, unconquerable patriotism. Moreover, when
Ferdinand was elected King of Hungary, he promised to live here, and
the Hungarians have never forgotten that promise, never ceased to
resent the neglect of their capital. His Majesty’s brief compulsory
annual sojourn that he may keep the letter of the Constitution which
commands that the King shall spend a portion of every year in Hungary,
merely exasperates them--trade as well as society. Therefore your
suggestion to remain here, promptly upon the extravagant hopes raised
in their imaginations by the juggling of the German Emperor, and to
use your great gifts constantly to remind them of their loyalty to the
dynasty, has struck me as one of the shrewdest instances of statecraft
which has ever come within my experience. Perhaps”--as the Archduchess
blushed and gave a delighted little exclamation--“perhaps I should say
that _was_ the manner in which his Majesty’s communication impressed
me. It was such an idea as might have come to Maria Theresia, wise in
statecraft from her youth--but--it is true--you have never condescended
to politics--apparently had not given them a thought--”
“I have certain inherited instincts. And is not the capacity to rise
to an emergency also a part of my inheritance? It is true that I have
taken little interest in politics. My books, my music, my out-door
life, my brilliant American friend sufficed me. Being uninvited,
I could not meddle in affairs of state without bringing one more
calamity upon this unfortunate house; and this dynasty, I do assure
you solemnly, has all the loyalty and the fealty of my soul. With this
sudden idea of mine politics have nothing whatever to do. I know the
current history of Europe and I know William, God forbid that I should
be expected to talk politics with these Hungarians. It would be to
turn the palace into bedlam, and I am accustomed to the repose of
stellar voids. My only idea is to make them love me, to win to myself
what they gave to Rudolf, to _increase_--I am more frank with you than
with my father, and choose the word advisedly--the popularity of the
dynasty. I shall entertain magnificently and constantly, give them
such a winter as they have always claimed to be their right and never
have had. I shall travel and make the peasantry merry. I shall give up
my studies and throw myself into this programme heart and soul. But
it is a purely feminine programme. If there is anything else I can
accomplish, I know that your Excellency will instruct me.”
And here she proved the possession of really great talents. Pleading a
necessary word with her Obersthofmeisterin, she left him alone for a
few moments.
He drew a sharp but silent breath. He had never seen a woman look more
like an angel, and he knew no woman in whom he was so convinced the
devil made extended sojourns. He understood for the first time why
she had disciplined her spirit to rise triumphant above that breadth
of jaw, the grand sweeping lines of her body, above her diabolical
hair; for he was too astute to question her integrity on this point.
In a flash he understood why she would not marry. But ambition?--and
a permanent and ever-widening outlet for that tumultuous spirit, that
repressed and violent nature? Was she sincere for the moment? Had
he been sure of even that he would not have hesitated to give his
cordial endorsement to her plan. But he had persuaded the Emperor that
unless they could be positive she meditated no act of usurpation upon
the succession of her unpopular cousin, she must not be permitted a
liberty with which she might even before that event plunge all Europe
into war. The Emperor, who asked no more of life but peace, had told
him to go to Budapest, investigate the mind of his problematical
daughter, and then act in accordance with what his Majesty believed
to be an unfailing judgment. What a tool she might be, his Excellency
had thought. She looked like anything but a tool. It suddenly rushed
upon his brain that he had never seen a woman who looked so surely
born to sit upon a throne. _Why not? Why not?_ And if he were her good
friend now, if he, whom she knew to be the arbiter of her destiny, if
he were the one to place the sceptre within her reach--who so fitted
to serve her hereafter? to rise higher and higher in power?--for this
woman would take no puppet consort. Might not Europe welcome such a
solution of an agitating problem? Not William, perhaps, nor Russia;
but by that time William and Russia might be too occupied with each
other to scramble for plums in the Austrian pie. And a young and
beautiful empress, with an intelligence capable of assimilating all
the statecraft her ministers chose to impart, always of imposing
dignity, irreproachable, her heart and soul given to her state and
people, her beauty the constant inspiration of the artist, would she
not be worshipped by her subjects, and appeal to the interest and
chivalry of Europe? If she had the tact to appear nobly indifferent to
any such result during the lifetime of her father; if the Hungarians,
immediately upon the death of their king, arose as one man and
proclaimed her queen, she would tower above reproach or criticism, the
most picturesque personality in the world, far more certain of holding
the Dual Monarchy together than Maria Theresia with the aid of the
Pragmatic Sanction; for to-day the majority of nations wanted peace
and the preservation of the Austrian Empire. Franz Ferdinand might
attempt a struggle for his rights, but it was more likely that the army
of Austria would march to this woman than against her. It well might
be that she alone could rouse England as well as Europe to defeat the
designs of William. With Franz Ferdinand on the throne, war, internal
and external, Königsegg believed to be as inevitable as the messenger
of death in the palace of kings.
He had experienced a shock from crown to heel. The Archduchess
re-entered the room and graciously asked him again to take the chair
opposite hers. He commanded his eyes, but permitted his voice to
tremble as he made his first cautious move.
“Your Imperial Highness--it is my bitter regret that I have never been
permitted to know you before--would to God that you were a man--what a
solution of all our difficulties!”
“But I am not a man,” replied the Archduchess indifferently.
“It has flashed upon me--humiliating thought to my sex!--that the
greatest of the Hapsburgs was a woman.”
Ranata knew as well as he did that the greatest of the Hapsburgs was
Rudolf the First, but this was not the moment to establish the claims
of the dead, and she demanded, “Has it taken you all these years to
make that discovery, or have you been too busy making history?” Her
first words were delivered in the tones of one moved to cold analysis;
her last were accompanied by an enchanting smile. She had drawn her
eyelashes together, lest a flash escape; she was quite aware of what
was passing in his agitated brain, and her own heart beat high.
The minister drew another long breath. He dared not express himself
more plainly. He was absolutely in the dark as to whether she
understood him or not. A false move and he might be the laughing-stock
of the Empire. Failure to comprehend this imperial sphinx and his
future might be passed in heaven or upon his estates for all the world
would know or care. Muttering an obsequious request, he rose abruptly
and walked down the long suite of rooms. As his back turned Ranata’s
statuesque face twitched with an almost ribald mirth and her eyebrows
peaked in a manner which made her look truly diabolical; but when the
minister returned she looked pleading and girlish, a trifle nervous.
He stood in front of her. “Your Imperial Highness,” he said, solemnly,
“I came here in much doubt, for you have never permitted me the honor
of knowing you. But this brief interview--the most enlightening of my
life--has convinced me of the wisdom of your plan, and of your ability
to carry it out in every detail. I believe that you alone can hold
Hungary to the throne when the hour comes which we dread so deeply, for
there is no question that you can reduce this gallant passionate race
to a state of willing slavery. Your brain will become more and more
fertile with expedients; but I should be deeply honored if you would
maintain a regular correspondence with me, for this is an experiment
with unimaginable consequences, and I shall give it my unflagging
attention. There is much I may be able to suggest to you if you will
deign to permit me.”
Ranata had too much tact to rise impulsively, for she towered above
the minister by not a few inches, but she held out her hand and shook
his warmly, and her face was radiant. “I am so glad! I am so glad!”
she cried softly. “And you do not hate me! I have been so desperately
bored and hopeless that it has given me a certain pleasure to make
enemies--if only for the sake of sensation; and as you were the
most powerful man in the Empire, it amused me to defy you. In your
magnanimity you have forgiven me! If you knew how grateful I am, how I
thank you!”
His Excellency trembled, but he kept his head; how, he never knew.
“Your Imperial Highness,” he said, “I, too, am a patriot. I am acting
in this instance, as in all others, in the service of the Empire. If,
in addition, I am to be permitted to act in the service of a woman--of
such a woman--madam, will you permit me to retire?”