Good-morning."

The engineer only shrugged his shoulders; it was nothing to him.

Ivan shook the dust of the G.o.d-forsaken colony off his feet. He and his men returned to his own side of the mountain.

Meantime what had happened to his own mine? He had been absent four days and four nights, and had never given it a thought.

CHAPTER XXVII

FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS

Any one who wishes to understand the meaning of the proverb, "There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous," should gamble on the stock-exchange; there he will learn the full meaning of the words.

To-day you are a deity, to-morrow the meanest of street curs. To-day sixty agents shriek out the name of your speculation; you are a sort of king, and all the other kings on 'change study your countenance to see how the wind shifts. To-day, so soon as one o'clock strikes by the town clock, a swarm of buyers come round you. Your note-book is held up to the view of all the agents. It is handed from one to another; it is placed upon the back of an agent, and the compet.i.tors write the number of shares they want. To-day all hands point to the percentage, which is the proof of your high estate. To-day the crowd who are speculating on your credit fill all the pa.s.sages; they scream out, "I sell!" "I buy!" Even outside the stock-exchange sweet creatures of the opposite s.e.x, who like dabbling in stock quite as much as do the male creation, make their books. Women are prohibited from showing their faces on 'change; but they gamble all the same. Hundreds of ladies wait upon the stock-broker, with a copy of the exchange list in their hands; they have marked your shares. Still greater ladies sit outside the exchange in their grand carriages. In their eagerness they stretch their heads out of their carriage windows to know from the first-comer at what figure the shares--your shares--stand.

This is all to-day. To-morrow you are not to be found; your name is scratched out of the exchange list. Every one knows that your affair has "burst." You are nowhere. You are n.o.body. Your place is empty.

The firm of Kaulmann stood at the summit of its triumph. Felix and his bosom friend, the Abbe Samuel, were enjoying their afternoon siesta.

The room was full of a cloud of smoke, and under its soothing influence the friends were building castles in the air.

"To-morrow," said Felix, "the pope's loan upon the Hungarian Church lands will be floated at the exchange."

"To-morrow I shall receive from Vienna my appointment as t.i.tular Bishop of the Siebenburger."

"The silver kings are ready to plank down their millions on the loan."

"The pope gives it his blessing," murmured the abbe. "The cardinal's hat is ready for my head."

"The legitimist financiers have shown a decided objection to my wife appearing on the stage. This may injure the loan; therefore I intend to-morrow to explain to her that she is not legally my wife."

"Is it true that Prince Waldemar has arrived in Paris?"

"Yes, he has come after Eveline."

"But his presence here will be injurious to our speculation. He is our declared enemy."

"He cannot injure us now. Since he met such a total defeat in the matter of the Bondavara mine and the railway his teeth have been drawn. He and his bears have kept very quiet."

"Then it is Eveline who has brought him here?"

"He is mad about her; he follows her everywhere like a dog, and is only anxious to pick up any crumb she will give him."

"But she cannot endure him."

"That is the worse for her. It was greatly Prince Theobald's doing.

That old fellow is mad."

"Is it not the case that the Countess Angela's husband wants to put the prince's affairs into the hands of trustees?"

"Before we left Vienna there was some talk of it."

"Will this affect in any way the Bondavara shares?"

"In no way. The only unmortgaged portion of his capital is absolutely made over to the company. I can a.s.sure you, the Bondavara speculation is built upon a rock of gold."

As he spoke three telegraphic despatches were brought in by the servant. One of these was addressed to the abbe, under cover to the firm of Kaulmann.

"Lupus in fabula," said Kaulmann, as he handed the first telegram to the abbe. The abbe read:

"The Prince Theobald has been declared incapable of managing his own affairs."

"Poor Eveline, she will have leisure to repent!" remarked Felix, with a cynical smile.

As he was speaking the abbe opened the telegram addressed to him. He handed it to Felix, saying:

"And I, too, shall have time to repent."

The telegram ran:

"The minister has resigned; the emperor has accepted his resignation; the whole system is to be changed."

"Good-bye to the bishop's mitre, to the cardinal's hat; good-bye to the velvet arm-chair in the House of Peers."

They read the third telegram together. It contained these words:

"Explosion in the Bondavara colliery. The whole mine is on fire."

"This is indeed a blow," said Felix, as he let the telegram fall from his hand. The three telegrams had come like three flashes of lightning. The last was the worst.

When the news reached Prince Waldemar he would let the bears loose with a vengeance. Something must be done to avert the imminent danger--but what?

If there was only time allowed to float the papal loan such small things as the Bondavara shares and the burning of mines would be of little consequence. But could the enemy be reduced to silence?

It was settled that the abbe should without delay repair to Eveline, and that Kaulmann should speak to Prince Waldemar.

The beaming faces of the two men now wore a sombre air. They had only one card to play--the smile of a woman was their only salvation.

CHAPTER XXVIII

TWO CHILDREN