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 evident that she was not there by chance, for she was leaning against the wreathed support as comfortably as if she had selected the place a long time before. With arms folded she was gazing at him serenely and gravely with her clear blue eyes.

The Emperor was startled. He was accustomed to regard others in that way, but it was a novel experience to be thus studied himself. He knew that she was not looking at him with admiration, confusion, enthusiasm or with any other feeling that a ruler generally awakens, but that she was judging him calmly and without prejudice, just as he judged others when he wished to form a just opinion of them.

Seeing that the Emperor caught her in the look so inquiringly centered upon him, she showed no confusion, but turned, perfectly calm, on the heel of her satin silver-embroidered slipper and disappeared.

The Emperor continued his discussion with the fat councilman, but could not regain his interest in the subject. The scene at the pil-