It is a
continual battle of eyes and tongues. One smiles at his enemy,
knows him to be an enemy, yet dares not touch him.
"Confidentially, this play has never had the like. To convict
his enemies of treason has been for ten years the labor of the
chancellor; yet, though he knows them to be in correspondence
with the duchess, he can find nothing on the strength of which
to accuse openly. It is a conspiracy which has no papers. One
can not take out a man's brains and say, `Here is proof!' They
talk, they walk on thin ice; but so fine is their craft that no
incautious word ever falls, nor does any one go through the ice.
"I have watched the play for ten years. I should not speak to
you about it, only it is one of those things known to all here.
Those gentlemen talking to the chancellor's wife are the
ministers from Austria, Prussia, France, and Servia. You will
not find it as lively here as it is in Vienna. We meet merely to
watch each other," with a short laugh. "Good. The Marshal is
approaching."
They waited.
"Marshal," said the minister, "this is Monsieur Carewe, who
rescued her Highness's dog from the students.
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