time we shall really attain our goal. We shall be rich. The emperor is
generous; he loves life. I will set a high price upon it. By heaven, the
Cæsar's head is well worth four hundred thousand francs! I will ask them,
and I shall receive. We shall be rich enough to do without and be
independent of men."

"And I shall be free," murmured Leonore, with a flash of enthusiasm upon
her beautiful face. "You will not forget, father, that you promised to give
me my liberty if I helped you to become rich. You will not forget that you
are to permit me to escape, with the man I love, from this false, pitiful
world, and fly with him to some remote, secluded nook, where no one knows
me--no one can betray to him the shame and sin of my past life. And above
all, father, you will not forget that you have solemnly sworn to reveal
nothing of my former existence, not to let him suspect who I am, and--"

"Who and what your father is, you wanted to say," he interrupted. "Yes, I
will remember and not disclose our little secrets to him. The virtuous
Baron von Kolbielsky would certainly be very much astonished if he made the
discovery that your major-domo has the honor of being your father, and that
the father of the proud baroness is no other than the well-known spy
Schulmeister, who has rendered the Emperor Napoleon so many useful
services, and whose name Kolbielsky has so often mentioned in my presence
with scornful execration. No, he must not learn all this. We will conceal
our past, we will begin a new life, and since we shall then be rich enough,
it will not be difficult for us to remain noble and virtuous. But now, my
Leonore, tell me exactly and in detail everything you know. Come, let us
sit down on this divan and allow me to note at once the most important
points in your story, and especially the names."

"Then listen, father! Thursday next the emperor is to be carried away by