drooping with tears, flamed again with indignation; and her expanded
nostrils, her twitching mouth, and her heaving chest, betrayed the fury
of the storm that was raging within.

"Oh, I will trample her under foot!" muttered she between her teeth,
while she raised her hand as if she would fain have dealt a
leach-stroke. "I will prove to the court--to the empire--to the world,
how Maria Theresa hates vice, and how she punishes crime, without
respect of persons. Both criminals shall feel the lash of justice. If my
woman's heart break, the empress shall do her duty. It shall not be said
that lust holds its revels in Vienna, as at the obscene courts of
Versailles and St. Petersburg. No! Nor shall the libertines of Vienna
point to the Austrian emperor as their model, nor shall their weeping
wives be taunted with reports of the indulgence of the Austrian empress.
Morality and decorum shall prevail in Vienna. The fire of my royal
vengeance shall consume that bold harlot, and then--then for the
emperor!"

"Your majesty will never consent to bring disgrace upon the father of
your imperial children," said a gentle voice close by, and, turning at
the sound, the empress beheld her confessor.

She advanced hastily toward Father Porhammer. "How!" exclaimed she
angrily, "how!--you venture to plead for the emperor? You come hither to
stay the hand of justice?"

"I do indeed," replied the father, "for to-day at least, her hand, if
uplifted against the emperor, must recoil upon the empress. The honor of
my august sovereigns cannot be divided. Your majesty must throw the
shield of your love over the fault of your imperial husband."