"Your Excellency, there is a man in the office who desires to see you quickly."
The ambassador laid down his book. "Upon what pretense did he gain admittance at this hour?" he demanded.
"I refused him admittance, your Excellency, because he was dressed like a carter.--"
"A carter!" The ambassador wrathfully jumped to his feet.
"One moment, your Excellency. He wore a ring on his finger, and I could not refuse him."
"A ring, you say?"
Guarding his voice with his hand, the majordomo whispered two words.
"Here, and dressed like a carter? What the devil!" The ambassador rushed from the study.
It was dark in the embassy office. Quickly the ambassador lighted some candles. Gas would be too bright for such a meeting.
"Well, your Excellency?" said a voice from the leather lounge.
"Who are you?" For this was not the voice the baron expected to hear.
"My name at present does not matter. The news I bring is far more important. His majesty emphatically declines any alliance with the House of Ehrenstein."
The ambassador stumbled into a chair, his mind dulled, his shoulders inert. This was a blow.
"Declines?" he murmured.
"He repudiates his uncle's negotiations absolutely."
"Damnation!" swore the ambassador, coming to life once more.
"The exact word used by the prince; in fact, the word has become common property in the last forty-eight hours. Now then, what's to be done? What do you suggest?"
"This means war. The duke will never swallow such an insult."
"War! It looks as if you and I, Baron, shall not accompany the king of Prussia into Alsace-Lorraine. We shall have entertainment at home."
"This is horrible!"
"The devil of a muddle!"
"But what possessed the prince to blunder like this?"
"The prince really is not to blame. Our king, Baron, is a young colt. A few months ago he gave his royal uncle carte blanche to seek a wife for him. Politics demanded an alliance between Jugendheit and Ehrenstein. There have been too many years of useless antagonism. On the head of this bolt from Heaven comes the declaration of his majesty that he will marry any other princess on the continent."
"They will pull this place down, brick by brick!"
"Let them! We have ten thousand more troops than Ehrenstein."
"You young men are a pack of fools!"
"Softly, Baron."
"You would like nothing better than war."
"Unless it is peace."
"Where is the king?"
The carter smiled. "He is hunting, they say, with the crown prince of Bavaria."
"But you, why have you come dressed like this?"
"That is a little secret which I am not at liberty to disclose."