daggers have sprung from this little paper, to make my heart's blood
flow. Who is the foolhardy woman that would entice my husband from his
loyalty to me? Woe, woe to her when I shall have learned her name! And I
will learn it!" cried the unhappy wife. "I myself will take this letter
to the emperor, and he shall open it in my presence. I will have
justice! Adultery is a fearful crime, and fearful shall be its
punishment in my realms. The name! the name! Oh, that I knew the name of
the execrable woman who has dared to lift her treasonable eyes toward my
husband!"

"Nothing is easier than to learn it, your majesty," whispered the
countess, "squat like a toad, close to the ear of Eve"--"the letter will
reveal it."

The empress frowned. Oh, for Ithuriel then!

"Dost mean that I shall open a letter which was never intended to be
read by me?"

The countess pointed to the paper. "Your majesty has already broken the
seal. You crushed it unintentionally. There remains but to unfold the
paper, and every thing is explained. I will wage that it comes from the
beautiful dancer Riccardo, whom the emperor admired so much last night
in the ballet, and whom he declared to be the most bewitching creature
he had ever seen."

The eyes of the empress dropped burning tears, and, covering her face
with her hands, she sobbed aloud. Then she seemed ashamed of her
emotion, and raised her beautiful head again.