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 LIBRARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY 
 OF F. VON BOSCHAN
 
 )
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS
 
 THE EMPRESS AT THE AGE OF SIXTY — JUST BEFORE HER 
 ASSASSINATION
 
 THE MARTYRDOM 
 OF AN EMPKESS 
 
 With Portrait 
 
 1899 
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
 LONDON AND NEW YORK
 
 Third Edition 
 
 Copyright, 1899, by Harper & Brothers. 
 All riyhts reserved.
 
 TO 
 
 MY EMPRESS 
 
 IN LOVING AND DEVOTED MEMORY 
 OF YEARS GONE BY
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 " Let them talk, let thern slander, let them think what 
 they please about nie— I am used to it ; it does uot hurt 
 me as it did at first ; I do not care ! And you, my little 
 girl, do not take it to heart; do not try to fight my 
 battles ; do not let bitterness come into your life through 
 me, for that, indeed, would give me pain." 
 
 The Empress stopped her restless pacing up and 
 down the room, and, putting her slender hands upon my 
 shoulders, she looked deep into my eyes with those 
 glorious dark-blue orbs of hers, and added, gently : 
 
 "You are so young — hardly older than I was when 
 I married. Do not allow my clouds to obscure your 
 sky ; you will have enough of your own ! " 
 
 How well she understood the passionate wrath I felt 
 when witnessing the continual prejudices displayed 
 towards her was shown clearly to me by these few words. 
 I was then very young — very inexperienced, truly — but 
 she was all in all to me, and the depth of my love and 
 admiration for her pure, noble, peerless nature bridged 
 over the difference existing in our years, and I was 
 happy in the thought that already at that time I had 
 become wellnigh her only confidante and truest friend. 
 
 l B
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Perhaps it was the singular similarity of our fates 
 which at first drew us so closely together — a similarity 
 which arose from the sweeping contempt with which 
 the haughty Viennese aristocracy had enveloped us both 
 at different periods and under different circumstances ; 
 probably, also, because neither of us was of what is 
 called "royal birth," and because neither of us was 
 Austrian born. Moreover, we heartily disliked pomp 
 and pageantry, the empty, vapid amusements of social 
 life, with its hurry and fever, its fussing and fuming, its 
 seething caldron of calumny kept boiling by malice 
 and envy ; and both found no pleasure whatsoever in 
 chatting and scandal-mongering with other women, pre- 
 ferring horses and dogs to the company of most human 
 beings ! Last, but not least, alas ! we had alike failed 
 to find in matrimony what we foolishly fancied we had 
 a right to expect from it, and scorned the very thought 
 of seeking consolation after the fashion common to so 
 many women when thus disappointed. 
 
 Be all this as it may, we certainly breathed an 
 atmosphere of our own, and held aloof from others as 
 much as possible in these years of close intimacy that 
 make it possible for me to-day, now that she has gone 
 to a sphere worthier of her, to give to the world the 
 only true portrayal of the so much maligned and cruelly 
 treated woman, who was the one faultless figure, the one 
 perfect being among the past and present sovereignty 
 of Europe. 
 
 That very morning Elizabeth had been kindly 
 informed, by one of the good souls who formed her 
 entourage, that her refusal to be present at the Corpus- 
 Christi procession along the magnificently decorated 
 streets of Vienna had given much offence, and had 
 caused a renewal of the rumours long since set afloat
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 concerning her sanity. Of course this had only been 
 hinted at in her presence, but she was far too shrewd 
 and quick-witted not to have gathered instantly the true 
 meaning of these veiled allusions, and she easily foresaw 
 what persecutions would follow. 
 
 " Cannot they leave me alone ? " she continued, stamp- 
 ing her little foot impatiently. " All I ask of humanity 
 is that it should not interfere with me : and vet all 
 my actions are the subject of uncharitable comment and 
 of cruel criticism. Can you tell me why I should thus 
 be persecuted ? " 
 
 The face of the Empress was flushed with vexation, 
 and her straight, exquisitely pencilled dark brows con- 
 tracted ominously. 
 
 " I am going away," she continued. " Let us be off 
 to Godollo, where at least I am not continually under 
 a microscope, and where I can fancy that I am a woman 
 like all others, and not some extraordinary insect created 
 for the malicious investigations and observations of the 
 public." 
 
 The rays of the setting sun, slanting through the tall 
 windows of her bedroom, caught the bright, golden 
 strains of her magnificent coronal of brown hair, and 
 made a sort of halo about her head. She gazed for a 
 moment at the vivid tints of the sky, and then, sighing 
 wearily, she resumed her monotonous walk from one end 
 of the great room to the other. 
 
 This scene is so present to my mind, in spite of the 
 many years which have elapsed since it took place, that 
 when I close my eyes I seem still to see the Empress as 
 she looked on that day, with the pained expression 
 which did nut mar the beauty of her face, but only 
 emphasized the angelic suavity of her features, and 
 made her look, in the trailing white draperies of her 
 
 3
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 dinner-gown, like some creature belonging to another 
 world than ours, far removed from our petty, narrow- 
 minded, shackled sphere. 
 
 The fair body of the Empress now lies at rest, but 
 our minds are too gross to know whether her spirit is 
 not still tormented by the oppressive sense of injustice 
 which made her life a long martyrdom ; and yet not a 
 pen is grasped to vindicate her memory, not a voice 
 raised to refute the inane calumnies which from start 
 to finish have pursued her during the entire course of 
 her career as a sovereign. I consider, therefore, that 
 I am but discharging a debt of honour in placing before 
 the public a true and authentic version of that career, so 
 nobly accomplished, so bitterly criticized always. 
 
 That this work is also one of love may serve to heap 
 coals of fire upon the heads of those who knew her well 
 too, but who took a fiendish delight in lending colour, 
 by their words and attitude, to the ever-recurring and 
 increasing society and press reports which strove to 
 give the masses an entirely false idea of the Empress's 
 personality, and which mercilessly placed her in the 
 pillory of an unfair and ignorant judgment. 
 
 Among many other things, as I have just mentioned, 
 she was accused of having an unbalanced mind. This 
 was a cruel mistake, for there was no more accomplished, 
 level-headed, and sagacious woman in the length and 
 breadth of Europe than she. But her horror of the shams 
 and the narrow conventionalities of modern existence 
 made her avoid, as much as she could, the require- 
 ments of a bauble-loving, vulgar social system— truly 
 an unpardonable crime in the eyes of both classes and 
 masses, and one which has led society to punish it by 
 screaming over the very house-tops that the Empress's 
 mind was "unbalanced." Would to Heaven that there 
 
 4
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 were in this sad planet of ours more such " unbalanced " 
 minds and less of those who, from a worldly point of 
 view, are so admirably constructed that they find their 
 greatest joy in tearing to shreds whatever they are 
 unable to understand — namely, that which soars so 
 immensely above them ! 
 
 The void left by her death is one which can never 
 be filled. She was too perfect, too different from other 
 women, not to arouse the bitterest criticisms on their 
 part. There were times when the temptation to cast 
 off all trammels and ceremonies became too strong for 
 her to withstand; it was then that she went away on 
 her long, restless travels, freeing herself thus from the 
 horrible incubus of perpetual show and parade. 
 
 Since an incurable sorrow befell her, ten years ago, 
 she was almost perpetually on the wing ; the iron was 
 in her soul, the knotted cords about her waist, but she 
 always bore a brave countenance, for she could not en- 
 dure that the world should pity her. She was never 
 heard to say an unkind thing or known to do one. 
 Generous to a fault, she had not a trace of selfishness 
 in her grand nature, and always spared those about her 
 as much as possible. But she did not understand the 
 art of forgetting, of laughing and dancing when her 
 heart was full of sorrow ; she did not take kindly to 
 fools and their follies, and refused to make a perpetual 
 show-figure of herself for the benefit of a pageant-loving 
 public. Those were her crimes. How unpardonable 
 they were every sensible worldling will readily under- 
 stand. Her lovely face and her luminous eyes were 
 accused of being too sad. Alas ! it was the sadness of a 
 noble nature that has borne the burden of other people's 
 sins, faults, and lack of comprehension. 
 
 She expected death at any moment, and looked upon 
 
 5
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 it more in the light of a deliverance than in that of a 
 dreaded foe. This, and this alone, brings a shade of 
 comfort to the hearts of those whom she loved and who 
 loved her, for now they know that at least she has in 
 a measure found repose, and that the throbbing and 
 aching despair which tortured the latter portion of her 
 life has been lulled by the mighty hand of the Great 
 Consoler. 
 
 Cold and impassive and mute as she was believed to 
 be, the Empress possessed so warm a heart, so enthusi- 
 astic a soul, that when one had once succeeded in reach- 
 ing her inner nature through its frigid envelope, one 
 could easily imagine what the sufferings must have been 
 which brought about this stifling of all outward sign of 
 tenderness and emotion. To me she talked without re- 
 straint, during our long rides on the Hungarian Piiszta, 
 our endless tramps in the mountains and forests of 
 Upper Austria and Carinthia, and also at night, when 
 she was supposed to have retired, and when we sat 
 alone in the library, which invariably formed a portion 
 of her private apartments wherever she went. Thus I 
 heard wellnigh every detail of her existence, from the 
 moment when, a girl of sixteen, she united herself to 
 the handsome and dashing young sovereign who had 
 fallen in love at first sight with her matchless beauty. 
 
 This marriage between the ruler of a great country 
 and the little daughter of the impoverished Duke Maxi- 
 milian, in Bavaria, is one of the most poetical and 
 romantic pages of modern history. It has been often 
 told, but has thereby lost none of its charm, for it is too 
 sweetly quaint and unique ever to become vulgarized 
 by repetition. 
 
 Little Princess Elizabeth was literally idolized in 
 Bavaria, and to this day the peasants who hang her 
 
 6
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 picture as that of a saint in all their cottages still call 
 her "Unsere Kaiserin," forgetful of the fact that this 
 title now belongs to the Empress of G-ermany. I may 
 add that Emperor William and his consort are by no 
 means beloved or admired in the dominions of their ally, 
 the King of Bavaria. In those far-off days Elizabeth 
 enjoyed an almost unlimited amount of liberty, and was 
 called by everybody "The Kose of Possenhoffen," Pos- 
 senhoffen being the name of Duke Maximilian's castle 
 and estate. She ran about like a young fawn, untram- 
 melled and unwatched, for the Duke was by no means 
 a wealthy man, and all his disposable means were 
 lavished upon the education of his older daughters and 
 of his sons, who he expected would all make brilliant 
 marriages. And thus did lovely Princess "Cinderella" 
 stay at home and roam about at her own sweet will 
 under the grand old trees of the great forests, sometimes 
 on the pony which was her great pride and joy and which 
 rejoiced in the name of " Punch," often on foot, indulging 
 her passion for wild flowers and fruit, and coming home 
 with her arms full of mountain treasures, her lips stained 
 by the juice of berries, which she gathered amid the 
 undergrowth of the Osmunda-bushes and the trailing 
 ivy, and her luxuriant hair tossed upon her shoulders, 
 surrounding her entire form with a wavy cloud of 
 brightness. She hunted and shot with her brothers, 
 especially with Prince Karl-Theodore, who was her 
 favourite. At that time the young fellow was already 
 a budding philanthropist, and, with the assistance of his 
 dear little sister, would attend to the ills and aches of 
 the peasants, giving decided signs of the genius which 
 was to make him later one of the cleverest doctors and 
 oculists of our day. 
 
 The magnificent medical establishment now managed 
 
 7
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 by Duke Charles-Theodore is situated at Kreuth, on the 
 slopes of Hohenstein, one of the Bavarian Alps, over- 
 looking the lovely Tegernsee. Early in the eighth 
 century the Benedictine monks, who had their head- 
 quarters at Tegernsee, obtained possession of all the 
 land in that neighbourhood. The good fathers, skilful 
 doctors in their way, were not long in discovering the 
 curative qualities of the little sulphur springs on the 
 Hohenstein plateau. They built by the side of it a 
 hospital, to which the delicate members of the Order 
 used to retire from time to time to recruit their strength. 
 As years passed this hospital was replaced by a much 
 larger one, and even up to 1803, when the Order was 
 dissolved, Kreuth remained the regular health resort of 
 the Benedictine monks. The hospital was then turned 
 into a farm-house. In 1813, however, it was rebuilt by 
 King Max of Bavaria, who restored the old badhaus and 
 erected yet another one. So long as he lived the place 
 was used as a convalescent home, and when at his death 
 it passed into the hands of his widow, it was with the 
 condition attached to it that a certain number of poor 
 people should every year be hospitably entertained 
 there. It was his wish that Kreuth should remain a 
 charitable institution. 
 
 At Meran the Duke has established also a large 
 hospital and sanitarium, with the assistance of his sister- 
 in-law, Archduchess Maria-Theresa of Austria. Indeed, 
 there is no end to the good which he has done in 
 every direction, and his medical and charitable labours 
 are boundless. He is especially famous for the many 
 cures which he has effected upon people threatened 
 with blindness. 
 
 Elizabeth was for ever coming iuto the peasants' 
 homes and doing them some kind turn or other. When 
 
 8
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 the rain and storms of November set in she would run 
 right among them for shelter, and would sit down beside 
 the hearth and drink a glass of milk, chatting away just 
 as if she were one of themselves. Her greatest sorrow 
 was that she had not much pocket-money to make her 
 humble friends presents with, and so during the long 
 winter evenings she was in the habit of making up with 
 her own deft fingers some warm clothing for the many 
 little children who were her dearest proteges, and all 
 sorts of pretty little gifts, which are preserved as relics, 
 and in some instances under glass cases, in the chalets 
 which nestle round Possenhoffen. Her skill as a rider 
 is proverbial in Bavaria, and the peasants still relate, 
 with considerable relish, how she jumped over some 
 perilous obstacles which had never been attempted by 
 anybody before and have never been cleared since. 
 
 The young girl had even then this intense love of 
 nature and fine scenery which distinguished her through- 
 out her life. Buchensteiner, who was her favourite guide 
 in later years during her long mountaineering expeditions 
 in the Tyrol, said, when speaking about her: "Often, 
 when I take people over the mountains, I wonder what 
 they came there for. They do not seem to give the beau- 
 tiful spectacle before them a thought, and the blue sky 
 above their heads, as well as the green-clad slopes of the 
 high hills, or the awe-inspiring abysses which yawn before 
 their feet, seem to make no impression upon them. But 
 when her Majesty came to some point from which there 
 was a more than usually fine view to admire, my heart 
 felt like bursting with joy as I watched her gazing into 
 the far distance, with a look upon her face just as if she 
 were inwardly praying. Once, I remember, I took her 
 to a very romantically situated and lonely farm, away up 
 in the mountains. This farm, though belonging to the 
 
 9
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Crown, was in the hands of a family composed of seven 
 brothers and seven sisters — this sounds like a fairy tale, 
 doesn't it? hut still it is so — and the mistress and 
 manager of them all was the elder sister, a masterful kind 
 of a wench, who had a will of her own and who ordered 
 everybody about just as a general does his troops. It 
 was on a warm summer afternoon that we reached this 
 particular corner of the Tyrolese Alps, and her Majesty, 
 who was tired and thirsty, sat down on a fallen tree- 
 trunk to rest. The mistress of the farm, who was stand- 
 ing at the door of the cow-stables, inquired if she would 
 not like her to fetch out a chair; but the Empress de- 
 clined this offer, and asked if she could have a glass of 
 milk to drink. 
 
 "'Milk is not good for you, you are too warm,' re- 
 plied the 'Sennerin,' and running into the house she 
 soon came back with a stone bottle and a glass, into 
 which she poured some ' Kirschwasser ! ' This made the 
 Empress laugh, and giving me the glass to drink, she 
 again asked for some milk, and followed the girl into 
 the stable to watch her milk a fine black cow, for, accord- 
 ing to the ' Sennerin,' ' Cold milk would not do at all, but 
 newly drawn would not hurt ! ' She stood looking at her 
 visitor while the latter drank the large bowlful provided 
 for her ; and when, after thanking her before proceeding 
 upon her walk, the Empress handed her a gold piece, 
 the 'Sennerin,' amazed at the amount paid for such a 
 homely luxury, turned to me and whispered, 'Who is 
 she, to give so much for a mouthful of milk ? ' ' The 
 Empress,' I chuckled. 'The blessing of the saints be 
 on us ! ' exclaimed the startled girl. ' What, the Em- 
 press! and I let her pay for the milk, although the 
 farm and the cows and everything around here belong 
 to her?' 
 
 10
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 " Then glancing after the slender, black-robed figure 
 which was beginning to disappear under the drooping 
 boughs of the pine-trees, she continued : ' That's a piece 
 of money I'll never spend. I'll bore a hole through it 
 and wear it round my neck, for I know it will bring me 
 good luck.'" 
 
 For many years the Empress revisited her old home 
 at Possenhoffen every summer, and, when there, resumed 
 her wanderings in forest and on mountain and her visits 
 to the peasants, just as if she had not changed her posi- 
 tion as a poor little princess for the rank and status of 
 a great and powerful empress. She used to say that 
 she was never so happy as when in Bavaria, and the 
 good people there declare to this day that had she 
 come to take up her abode in their midst after the 
 tragedy of Mayerling, Avhich so completely broke her 
 heart, she would have found consolation, and would not 
 have become, as she did, a wanderer on the face of the 
 earth in search of change from the monotony of her ever- 
 lasting sufferings. 
 
 Nevertheless, after the catastrophe which brought 
 about the death of her cousin, King Louis of Bavaria, 
 who had always been, in spite of his mad and erratic 
 Mays, a great favourite of hers, she feared to go back to 
 Bavaria, lest it should recall to her mind the shocking 
 scene of which she was almost a witness ; for at the time 
 when it occurred she was staying at a castle on the 
 opposite shore of Lake Starhemberg, practically within 
 view of the spot where the drowning took place, and 
 just about where the King would have landed had he 
 succeeded, as was evidently his intention, in swimming 
 across. The death of the handsome King of Bavaria, 
 in the Starhemberg " See," has been often told, and yet, 
 like this ill-fated monarch's life, it is so romantic and 
 
 11
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 extraordinary that it is still a frequent topic of conver- 
 sation at Munich. 
 
 The King had been for some time becoming more and 
 more difficult to manage, and had accordingly to be con- 
 tinually watched for fear of his doing himself or others 
 some injury. His one idea was to escape from his 
 attendants, and to try to get over the frontier, for he 
 was convinced that he would then be safe from any 
 further danger of incarceration. Accordingly, one even- 
 ing he persuaded the doctor under whose immediate 
 care he was to permit him to take his post-prandial 
 stroll along the edge of the water. The moon was 
 shining brightly, and the glitter of its rays on the lake, 
 which had always possessed a powerful attraction for 
 Louis, seemed to fill him with extreme delight. He 
 broke out into exclamations of enthusiasm as he watched 
 the fleeting shadows of the tall reeds which swayed 
 above the rippling surface at his feet, and affectionately 
 linking his arm into that of his physician, he entreated 
 him to send away the two servants who were following 
 them at a short distance, " in order," as he said, " that 
 these menials might not mar his perfect enjoyment of 
 this lovely night-stroll." Confident that his turbulent 
 patient was in an unusually manageable mood, the 
 doctor granted this request, and chatting pleasantly 
 with his royal charge, he continued his promenade. 
 Suddenly, without the slightest warning, the King made 
 a bound and precipitated the unfortunate physician 
 under the water, and jumping in after him held him 
 beneath the surface until his struggles ceased. He there- 
 upon started to swim across the lake, imagining that on 
 the opposite shore he would find plenty of assistance, as 
 he was aware that the peasantry were so fond of him 
 that they had been on the point of rising en masse 
 
 12
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 throughout the kingdom when they heard of his being 
 placed under restraint. After he had swum a few 
 strokes, however, congestion, due to his immersion in 
 water of a very low temperature immediately after a 
 heavy meal, supervened. This serves to explain how it 
 was that when his corpse was found his lungs were free 
 from water, whereas the contrary was the case with 
 those of the doctor. 
 
 Notwithstanding her proximity, the news of this 
 awful incident did not reach the Empress until the 
 next afternoon. Strangely enough, during the previous 
 night she had alarmed her attendants by an agonized 
 scream soon after retiring to her bed. On hurrying to 
 her chamber, her women found her terror-stricken, she 
 having just awakened from a dream in which she had 
 seen King Louis standing by her bedside, his clothes 
 dripping with water, which ran in such quantities from 
 his hair and garments that she fancied that she was 
 going to be drowned thereby. When she received the 
 news, she caused herself to be rowed across the lake 
 to her cousin's castle, and demanded to see his body. 
 She had not seen him for some time, for his mental 
 and physical condition had been such that visitors, even 
 when belonging to his family, were not allowed by his 
 medical attendants to be brought into his presence, and 
 she was much shocked by the change which his long 
 mental trouble and awful death had worked. She laid 
 a bunch of white blossoms between his folded hands, 
 and knelt down in prayer by his side, requesting all 
 those present to leave the room. For nearly an hour 
 they awaited her return, and at length, alarmed beyond 
 measure, the Grand Mistress of her household ventured 
 to enter the apartment, where she found the Empress 
 stretched upon the flour and apparently lifeless. It 
 
 13
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 was only with the greatest difficulty that she was 
 restored to consciousness, and when at length she 
 opened her eyes she stared wildly about her for some 
 moments, and then cried, in a shaking voice : 
 
 " For God's sake release the King from the mortuary 
 chapel. He is not really dead ; he is only pretending 
 to be so, in order to be left in peace and quietness, 
 and not to be tormented any longer." 
 
 Her nerves were so shattered by this dismal affair 
 that it was feared that she might be stricken down by 
 some serious illness, and the impression produced upon 
 her by this last and terrible proof of the madness of 
 her cousin preyed upon her mind for a very long time. 
 This is more than sufficiently proved by the fact that 
 when the physicians who went to Mayerling to perform 
 the autopsy upon Crown Prince Eudolph returned to 
 the Hofburg, and declared that he had given himself 
 death in a moment of temporary mental aberration, she 
 sought out the Emperor, and entering his study, in her 
 long black sweeping garments, she held out towards 
 him her little quivering hands, and said, with a sob : 
 
 " Franz, pardon me ; I had no right to marry. Mad- 
 ness is in my family, and I have brought it into yours." 
 
 Poor, tender-hearted woman, always ready to take all 
 blame upon herself, she yet knew well that it is not 
 in the younger but in the elder branch of the House of 
 Wittelsbach that there has been, and still is, lunacy, and 
 it was with a great deal of trouble that the Emperor 
 comforted her by gently and tenderly saying : 
 
 "You brought nothing but what is good and sweet 
 with you when you married me, and I, my dear, have 
 never been worthy of you in any way." 
 
 Possenhoffen was a truly befitting place for the 
 imperial idyl which preceded the marriage of Franz- 
 
 14
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Joseph and Elizabeth. Every one knows how the 
 Emperor, soon after his arrival at his future father-in- 
 law's castle to celebrate his betrothal with Duke Maxi- 
 milian's eldest daughter, met under the dense shadows 
 of the parklike woods a child, clothed in a short white 
 frock, with a wonderful mass of wavy, silken, chestnut 
 hair falling about her slim girlish figure, down to her 
 tiny feet, and with a brace of large white deer-hounds 
 leaping about her. With a child's impulsiveness she 
 threw her arms about the neck of this imperial cousin 
 of whom she had heard so often, as of a new brother 
 that was to be, but whom she had never met, and 
 merely recognized from the portraits she had seen of 
 him. The sorcery of her luminous sapphire-hued eyes, 
 the witchery of a smile which later on became celebrated 
 throughout Europe for its radiant charm, combined to 
 rob the young monarch of his heart. 
 
 He linked her arm within his and tried to draw her 
 towards the castle, but the young Princess would not 
 allow this. 
 
 "They would be awfully angry with me if I mixed 
 with the grown-up ones," she said, laughing. "They 
 have all to be married away before I am allowed to 
 appear." 
 
 "That's what we are - going to see," replied the 
 deeply smitten Emperor. " Go and dress for dinner 
 and meet me in the hall before I go down, my sweet ! 
 I'll manage the rest." 
 
 Completely subjugated, the young girl flew towards 
 the great old building, while the Emperor marched off 
 to his rooms, vowing to himself that he would win that 
 little fairy princess in spite of all objections that might 
 be put forward. Just as, after terminating his elaborate 
 toilet, he was about to step into the hall, he heard two 
 
 15
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 voices proceeding from behind a door, which was not 
 quite closed. The louder and angrier of the two was 
 saying : 
 
 " Please don't, Princess ; you know that you have 
 been forbidden to let yourself be seen." 
 
 " I shall do so, just the same, Countess," murmured 
 the other voice, which Franz-Joseph recognized as 
 belonging to Elizabeth. The door opened wide, and 
 the charming girl, followed by a lady-in-waiting, whose 
 flashing eyes and ruffled grey locks denoted the greatest 
 agitation, appeared in the hall. 
 
 "Let us go down together, my cousin," said the 
 Emperor, offering Elizabeth his arm ; and in spite of 
 the frowns and entreaties of the old Countess, he drew 
 the radiant creature, who had grown as white as a 
 moonbeam, towards the broad flight of steps leading 
 down to the terrace, where Duke Maximilian and 
 Duchess Ludovica of Bavaria were waiting, surrounded 
 by all their other children, the appearance of their 
 august guest. At the sight of the handsome young 
 couple a look of surprise, chagrin, and thorough dis- 
 approval started from the eyes of all present; but it 
 was too late to interfere, for the mischief was done, and 
 that same evening, closeted with the Duke, the Emperor 
 declared to him that his plans had altered and formally 
 asked from the infuriated old gentleman the favour of 
 his youngest daughter's hand. 
 
 A scene of much violence took place. Both men 
 were overbearing and quick-tempered, and the affront put 
 upon his eldest daughter could not but seem difficult 
 of acceptance to the old Duke. The Emperor, at last 
 losing all patience, sprang from his chair and declared 
 in his most fiery manner that, should his request be 
 rejected, he would start instantly for his own dominions, 
 
 16
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 and marry neither one nor the other of his host's fair 
 daughters ; nor for the matter of that would he marry 
 at all, little heeding the future of his empire, since the 
 wound at his heart would not heal sufficiently to 
 permit of his ever thinking of any woman but that one 
 girl whom he had met for the first time a few hours 
 previously ! 
 
 Thus forced from his last intrenchments, the Duke 
 reluctantly yielded, much to the astonishment of his 
 family and entourage, for he was an extraordinarily 
 obstinate old gentleman in general. During that time 
 the little Princess, whose heart had been awakened by 
 the first kiss of " Prince Charming," was sobbing in her 
 narrow white bed and comparing herself anew to Cin- 
 derella, for she had not as yet made her debut at her 
 father's small court, and she could not but dread 
 the consequences of her incredible disobedience to her 
 parent's orders. 
 
 She would, so she thought, in all probability, not 
 again see the stalwart, blue-eyed youth who had called 
 her "My lovely little cousin," and whose caressing 
 looks and tender words had created so deep an impres- 
 sion upon her. Little did she guess that he was to be 
 the magician who would transform her peaceful, lonely 
 life into the most brilliant of earthly lots, and, more is 
 the pity, also the saddest which has ever been the 
 portion of an imperial lady. 
 
 These details were given to me by a dear old woman 
 who was the Empress's nurse from earliest childhood, 
 and who died not so very long ago. She it was who 
 told me of this, the girl's first sorrow, and of that night 
 when at last, exhausted by such unusual weeping, she 
 fell back on her pillows, sleeping the dreamless sleep 
 of innocent unhappiness under the moon-rays which 
 
 17 C
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 stole through the stained glass of her windows and 
 glittered on her long, Avet eyelashes. 
 
 " Ah, my darling, my beauty ; how much too pretty 
 and too sweet and too pure she was for all that was to 
 ■come ! " the old woman often said to me. 
 
 "And on her bridal-day how delicate and dainty 
 and like an angel she looked, in spite of the weight of 
 her court-mantle and of the heavy jewels bruising her 
 tender flesh ! But she was happy then ; they had not 
 yet crushed all joy out of her heart. She thought that 
 life was one long festival, one endless chain of enchant- 
 ment ; that all people were good, and that the boundless 
 wealth of her consort would be a magic wand with 
 which to conjure away all the miseries of the earth 
 wherever she went, poor child — poor little silly, loving 
 child!" 
 
 And then large tears would roll over the withered 
 cheeks of the old dame, and she would clench her thin 
 hands and pour out such a torrent of maledictions upon 
 those who had wrecked her " little child's hopes," that 
 I could but stand by her side shuddering and thinking 
 of my own ideals which lay already dying at my feet. 
 
 This new betrothal of the Emperor was of short 
 duration, and within a few weeks from the fateful day 
 on which he had met his "little Elsa" their nuptials 
 were celebrated with all the pomp and splendour that the 
 most magnificent and ceremonial-loving court of Europe 
 could lend to such espousals. At the moment when 
 the young monarch slipped the golden circlet upon her 
 linger the bride grew deadly pale, and glanced at the 
 magnificent crowd which filled the sacred edifice with 
 a gleam of anxiety and pain in her eyes. Did she at 
 that moment foresee that these gorgeously clad nobles, 
 headed by the members of her husband's family and 
 
 18
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 by those of her own, were already hatching the plots 
 which were to turn her treasures into mere dross and 
 ashes? None can say, for with the instinctive dignity 
 and courage which never failed her, she raised her 
 drooping head and faced the rest of the ordeal without 
 flinching. 
 
 The marriage ceremony was celebrated on the 24th 
 of April, 1854, by Prince Archbishop Eauscher, and 
 during a whole week Vienna was given over to the most 
 magnificent series of feasts which its ancient walls had 
 ever witnessed. Soon afterwards the imperial couple 
 undertook a round of visits throughout their dominions, 
 extending their voyage to Hungary, Lombardy, and 
 Venice, where the beauty of the Empress created the 
 greatest possible impression. 
 
 How happy these two young, handsome, and kind- 
 hearted people could have been had not Archduchess 
 Sophia interfered ! 
 
 If ever there was an indisputable example of the harm 
 which can be worked by a mother-in-law's jealous in- 
 fluence upon the future existence of a loving couple, it 
 is to be found in the relations which almost at once 
 established themselves between the imperial pair and 
 the grim Archduchess, who was known at court under 
 the title of " Madame Mere." 
 
 Clever as few women are, the Archduchess possessed 
 a real genius for management. A remarkable tactician, 
 she had over her son a sway which she never dreamed 
 of surrendering into other bauds, and little did she 
 care whether her interference was likely to imperil the 
 happiness of her child so long as she herself, in a 
 political and in a private capacity, reigned supreme. 
 She hated her daughter-in-law, whom she alluded to 
 as " that pretty wax-doll ; " and, heedless of the girl's 
 
 19
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 feelings, she deliberately set her aside, making it impos- 
 sible for her to assume her natural place towards 
 court and country. Indeed, she went so far, at last, 
 as to insinuate herself absolutely between those two 
 idyllic lovers, who would but for her overbearing selfish- 
 ness have, perchance, enjoyed the perfect bliss of a well- 
 assorted union. 
 
 Of course, at that time Elizabeth was very much 
 in love with her "Franz," not perhaps in the way 
 suggested by this vastly comprehensive expression ; 
 for if the Empress possessed one fault — many would 
 call it a virtue — it was an absolute lack of human 
 passion. She had married, not in the least knowing 
 what marriage meant, and her extreme youth, combined 
 with that spirituality which causes the senses to sleep 
 sometimes for ever, made it impossible for her to share 
 her imperial lover's ardent feelings. The obligations of 
 such a love had no charm for her; indeed, as I heard 
 it from her own lips, they at first frightened her. She 
 was a quaint combination of an angel and a goddess, a 
 Greek nymph and a Christian virgin blended in one; 
 her mother-in-law described her as a child, narrowly 
 educated, lacking in comprehension and sympathy, and 
 who ought to be more than satisfied with the high estate, 
 boundless wealth, and brilliant surroundings which had 
 now become hers ! 
 
 Infinitely cold, very cruel and tenacious, and an 
 intrigante in the full sense of the word, the Archduchess 
 showed plainly the immense scorn which she felt at 
 seeing her son, one of the mightiest rulers of this world, 
 fall more and more under the sway of a mere child of 
 sixteen. Her only comfort lay in the one belief that 
 he would soon tire of his new plaything, become 
 satiated with the peach when once the bloom had been 
 
 20
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 rubbed from it, and cease to hearken to the song of the 
 little bird which she deemed had but one note in its 
 repertoire, and would sing it so constantly that its 
 owner would feel ready to wring its tender little throat 
 into silence. 
 
 She knew well that her boy had inherited the flighti- 
 ness and inconstancy of his race, and upon this know- 
 ledge did she build her plan of battle. Yet although 
 contemptuous of what she termed his momentary weak- 
 ness, she nevertheless attached herself more closely to 
 him than she had ever done before ; she forced him to 
 seek her advice, nay, she pressed her opinion upon him 
 ceaselessly and worked untiringly both by day and 
 night to maintain the supremacy which she cherished 
 above all other things. 
 
 Having ascended the throne at a moment when the 
 country was shaken to its very centre, the Emperor had 
 from the beginning, in spite of his extreme youth, shown 
 a statecraft, a good sense, and an energy which will 
 hardly be appreciated until the history of our century 
 is written. During the first years of his reign he had, 
 however, naturally enough, turned for support in the 
 hours of discouragement and of fatigue to the dauntless 
 strength of mind which his mother possessed in so high 
 a degree, and during the dark days when his vast empire 
 all but slipped from his grasp he was glad to feel her at 
 his side, urging him on, and helping him as no other 
 counsellor could have done. This the Archduchess 
 utilized later, when peace was restored and when she 
 had nothing greater to dread than the too absorbing 
 love of a maiden, which she feared might prove an 
 obstacle to the continuance of her former position with 
 regard to the great ruler who was her favourite child. 
 She loved him too, undoubtedly, but she loved power 
 
 21
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 better still, and her despotism became wellnigh unbear- 
 able after the advent of Elizabeth at the court, where 
 she had until then played the leading role. 
 
 " Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown ! " Surely 
 this old maxim was never more pathetically verified than 
 by the life of Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria. None 
 can deny that the cup of bitterness of this unfortu- 
 nate monarch, who for half a century has now worn 
 the Hapsburg crown of thorns, and who ever since the 
 day when, in 1848, he was forced by his mother to 
 become the ruler of Austria-Hungary in lieu of his 
 uncle, Emperor Ferdinand, "the kind-hearted," has- 
 been filled to overflowing. Misfortunes and catastrophes 
 have overtaken him from all sides. He saw his Italian 
 provinces wrenched from him by Napoleon III., who dic- 
 tated peace to him on his own terms after Solferino and 
 Magenta. The six weeks' war which he waged with 
 Germany ended for him at Sadowa with humiliation 
 and sorrow. He lost his beloved brother Maximilian 
 in an ignominious fashion in Mexico; his only son,, 
 the pride and joy of his heart, was taken from him by 
 an unrelenting fate and under circumstances which 
 made his death especially painful for the Emperor to 
 endure ; his sister-in-law, the Duchess d'Alengon, to 
 whom he was devotedly attached, was burned alive at 
 the appalling conflagration of the Bazar de la Charite ; 
 his favourite niece, the Queen Kegent of Spain, was 
 humbled into the dust by the failure of her subjects 
 to hold their own in the war against America; and, to 
 cap the climax of his distress, his beautiful and lovely 
 consort was foully slain by the knife of an Anarchist. 
 
 Surely such a series of calamities was not deserved by 
 Franz-Joseph, for his sins have been, after all, but the 
 faults of a man whose position was so exalted, whose 
 
 99
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 rank so high, and whose personal charm so great, that 
 he would have needed a resolution more than human to 
 resist the countless temptations continually thrown in 
 his way. One can say of him that he has been and still 
 is the most popular and sincerely beloved monarch in 
 all Christendom, beloved, too, by both rich and poor, by 
 the high-born and by the humbler classes. To the latter 
 in particular he has been always accessible, ever ready 
 to lend an ear to their personal troubles and grievances, 
 and eager to redress them. Nothing is more character- 
 istic of this than the scenes which take place in his 
 antechamber on Monday and Thursday mornings when 
 he is at Vienna. The great anteroom is thronged with 
 cardinals and prelates, with generals and statesmen, with 
 great nobles and magnates, and mingling with all these 
 high and mighty personages are Bohemian bricklayers, 
 miserable creatures from the poorer quarters of Vienna, 
 and village priests, all waiting to submit their troubles, 
 their sorrows, their wrongs, and their grievances to 
 "unsern Guten Kaiser" (our good Emperor). I need 
 scarcely add that, very much in accordance with the 
 teachings of the New Testament, it is the village priest 
 who is generally received before the scarlet-robed cardinal, 
 the poorly clad peasant before the cabinet minister in 
 his gold-embroidered uniform, and the farmer before 
 the great territorial magnate. 
 
 Gay and thoughtless as was Franz-Joseph before he 
 ascended the throne, he proved thereafter that he really 
 meant what he said when, on the early morning of De- 
 cember 2, 1848, after his father had informed him that 
 Emperor Ferdinand had abdicated, and that he, Arch- 
 duke Francis-Charles, renounced his right of succession to 
 the throne in favour of his eldest son, he pronounced the 
 historic sentence, " Good-bye to the days of my youth." 
 
 23
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Franz-Joseph was born on the 18th of August, 1830, 
 during the reign of his grandfather, Emperor Francis, 
 and was from the very day of his birth regarded, espe- 
 cially by his mother, Archduchess Sophia, as being the 
 natural heir to the crown, for his father's elder brother, 
 Ferdinand, who occupied the throne of Austria-Hungary 
 from 1835 until 1848, had no children, and was always 
 in an extremely delicate state of health. On March 13, 
 1848, revolution broke out in Vienna. Prince Metter- 
 nich, who had until then been absolute master of all 
 the foreign affairs of the country, was compelled to fly, 
 and poor, weak Emperor Ferdinand granted his people 
 a constitutional government, including more or less 
 liberty of the press, the so-called right of public meet- 
 ings, etc. Nevertheless, Vienna was by no means pacified 
 or quieted ; Lombardy and Venetia broke out into open 
 rebellion, the King of Sardinia declared war against 
 Austria, and the great Austrian leader, Field-Marshal 
 Radetzky, was forced to evacuate Milan. It was at 
 this moment that Franz- Joseph joined the Austrian 
 army at Verona, and displayed such personal courage 
 during the many bloody engagements which devastated 
 Lombardy during the month of May that Eadetzky 
 expressed his opinion with regard to the certainty of 
 the young Archduke becoming one of the greatest 
 generals of his day. In the meanwhile Emperor Ferdi- 
 nand and his court had left Vienna for Innsbruck, in 
 the Tyrol, and, pressed hard by the machinations of 
 Archduchess Sophia, finally decided to relinquish the 
 reins of government to the stronger and younger hands 
 of his nephew, Franz-Joseph. The ceremony of abdica- 
 tion took place on December 2, 1848, at the Archiepis- 
 copal Palace of Olmiitz, in the presence of Archduchess 
 Sophia, Archduke Francis-Charles, her husband, the 
 
 24
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Cabinet Ministers of the Empire, Prince Windischgratz, 
 Count Griinne, the Banus of Croatia, Baron Jellachich, 
 who was one of the most ardent followers of Archduchess 
 Sophia, and several important members of the imperial 
 family. 
 
 Solemnly and impressively, although in a slightly 
 trembling voice, Emperor Ferdinand pronounced the 
 words which made him pass from the rank of a ruling 
 sovereign to that of a mere onlooker upon the doings 
 of his country : 
 
 "For very weighty reasons we have irrevocably 
 decided to lay down our Imperial Crown in favour of 
 our beloved nephew, the Most Serene Archduke Franz- 
 Joseph, whom we hereby declare to be of age. Our 
 beloved brother, the Most Serene Archduke Francis- 
 Charles, father of our above-mentioned most serene 
 nephew, having irrevocably renounced his right of succes- 
 sion to a throne which belongs to him by right, accord- 
 ing to the fundamental laws of our family, and of the 
 state, in favour of his above-mentioned son, Franz- Joseph." 
 
 Surely never did a monarch ascend his throne under 
 more difficult circumstances than did this young man, 
 whose pleasure-loving, gay disposition made him bitterly 
 regret the conditions which forced upon his shoulders 
 so crushing a weight of responsibility. 
 
 The country was in a state of seething rebellion from 
 one end to the other ; the Hungarian Dictator, Kossuth, 
 had declared that the Hapsburg Dynasty had forfeited 
 its right to the crown of Hungary; in Vienna the 
 population had adopted a sullen attitude of defiance, 
 under the martial law instituted there, as well as at 
 Prague ; and in the Italian provinces the most awful 
 civil war raged, for the hatred existing between the 
 Italians and Austrians had grown to a white-heat. 
 
 25
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 It would take too long, and would turn this work 
 into too historical a one, to follow here, step by step,, 
 the various stages through which Austria and Hungary 
 passed before at last peace was, after a fashion, re- 
 stored. 
 
 Suffice it therefore to state that in 1853 matters had 
 sufficiently quieted down to render admissible the words 
 of the young Emperor, who said : 
 
 "I think that now my reign may become one of 
 peace." 
 
 This was, however, to be far from the case, for hardly 
 had the Ernperor tried to console himself for past 
 troubles with dreams of this new era, when on February 
 18, 1853, his own career came within an ace of being 
 cut short for evermore. While Franz-Joseph was walk- 
 ing on the old fortifications of the inner town of Vienna, 
 a Hungarian of the name of Joseph Libenyi threw 
 himself upon the young monarch and plunged a long 
 dagger into the back of his neck. Fortunately the stiff 
 military collar of the Emperor's coat somewhat paralyzed 
 the violence of the stroke. But it was nevertheless a 
 most dangerous wound, and Count O'Donnel, who was 
 then aide-de-camp to the Emperor, and who had 
 accompanied him on that morning, fearing that the 
 weapon might have been poisoned, courageously sucked 
 the wound. The Emperor, who had until that moment 
 remained upright, and entreated the crowd, which had 
 immediately gathered, not to hurt his would-be assassin, 
 fell fainting to the ground. 
 
 It is on the spot where this attentate took place 
 that now stands the " Votiv-Kirche," which is one of 
 the finest and most severely and magnificently Gothic 
 churches in the whole world. 
 
 None can deny that Franz-Joseph must have been 
 
 26
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 endowed with more than ordinary sagacity and tact to 
 be able to subdue the many turbulent peoples under 
 his rule, and to obtain over them an authority which is 
 really enormous. His way of speaking with those who 
 seek an audience from him, his apparent interest in the 
 most trivial details concerning those who are favoured 
 by an interview with him, are very characteristic. At 
 the reception of delegations, his Majesty makes a point 
 of wearing a Hungarian uniform to receive Magyars ; 
 that of an Austrian officer when greeting his Cisleithan 
 subjects, and the uniform of a Polish regiment when 
 welcoming Poles. On these occasions he speaks to 
 more than a hundred people in rapid succession, and 
 every one of his remarks shows a thorough acquaintance 
 with all the affairs, great and small, of the monarchy. 
 Foreign affairs and railway tariffs, commercial treaties 
 and parliamentary procedure, the army, the navy, agri- 
 culture, the budget, the troublesome young Czechs, and 
 the poor Jewish population in Galicia — all form the 
 subjects of his kindly and paternal remarks. Nor is 
 the comic element always wanting in these conversa- 
 tions. Once, when addressing a Polish delegate, Franz- 
 Joseph asked how things were going on in Galicia. 
 " Oh, sire, we are suffering from a dreadful plague of 
 field-mice," answered the delegate, ruefully. "Ah, das 
 ist recht fatal" (Ah, that is very unfortunate), answered 
 the Emperor, with a smile. 
 
 All these things are trifles, yet they mean a good 
 deal, for every delegate comes away happy after having 
 spoken with the Emperor, and feeling that his Majesty 
 is quite as much interested in his particular business, 
 whatever that may be, as he is himself. If he had a 
 grievance, he has had an opportunity of making it 
 known. If he had a favour to ask, the chance of so 
 
 27
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 doing has been given to him. Now multiply the 
 impression produced upon one hundred and twenty 
 delegates a thousand or a hundred thousand fold, by 
 remembering that twice a week the Emperor is accessible 
 to all classes of his subjects, and the result may be 
 easily imagined. Any one who has serious business 
 with him may see him, and speak Avith him quite alone, 
 without even a secretary being present. The applicant, 
 whatever may be his station, is ushered into a study, 
 and finds the Emperor in a plain uniform, without a 
 single decoration. He may say what he likes, sure of 
 being hearkened to with patient attention. The scenes 
 that have been enacted in the Emperor's private 
 chamber no chronicler will ever tell. Of the acts of 
 kindness, mercy, and charity shown, of the swift redress 
 of wrongs, of the shrewd, soldierly advice given, and 
 of the imperial magnanimity displayed at all times, no 
 record has been kept, excepting in the Emperor's own 
 memory, if even there. 
 
 The war with Italy, in 1859, almost broke his Majesty's 
 proud heart ; and after the peace of Villa Franca, which 
 was signed by Franz- Joseph and Napoleon III. on 
 July 11th, and confirmed at Zurich in the following 
 November, the Emperor returned to Vienna in a very 
 sad and dejected mood. There can be no doubt what- 
 soever that on the luckless battle-fields of Italy he had 
 courted death. After Solferino, as he was retreating 
 with his escort, a French battery opened fire on the 
 imperial party. The Emperor checked his charger, and 
 remained as motionless as a statue carved out of stone 
 under the burning shower of iron which fell about him. 
 Death, however, strongly resembles a coquette, and evades 
 those who seek her. Thus was the unfortunate sovereign, 
 who has since been called " Franz-Joseph the Unlucky," 
 
 28
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 spared, so that he might drain to the very dregs his 
 cup of misfortune and sorrow. 
 
 One of the heaviest of these sorrows was caused by 
 the stormy days of 1866, when Bismarck defeated the 
 Austrian forces at Sadowa ; for this capped the climax 
 of the Emperor's humiliation, and embittered him to 
 such an extent that it was only in 1873, when the first 
 Universal International Exhibition, which was held at 
 Vienna, took place, that he began to realize how much 
 he had really done for his country, and how prosperous 
 it had become in his hands. Enlightenment and progress 
 had indeed been made to follow wherever his sceptre 
 pointed. Trade and commerce had revived, and the 
 city of Vienna itself was fast becoming one of the hand- 
 somest in the universe. 
 
 The one flaw in a character which was otherwise so 
 fine was the Emperor's love for flirtations of a most 
 pronounced description. It was believed by him, as by 
 others who thought that they knew him well, that his 
 love match with a princess so beautiful and so com- 
 pletely attractive as Elizabeth would cure him of this 
 hereditary trait. This was, however, a lamentable error, 
 and the origin of the Empress's first poignant sorrows 
 is to be found in the Myerete of her consort, whose 
 numerous infidelities made her shed so many tears in 
 secret. 
 
 29
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 As soon as the young couple were definitely established 
 at Vienna, le parti dc Madame Mere grew every day 
 stronger, covert taunts were not spared to the young 
 Empress, Avho, with smiling lips and an aching heart, 
 was made to understand that the portionless daughter 
 of a mere non-royal duke was not worthy of the honour 
 that had been done her. She was treated by all with 
 a coldness and disdain calculated to break the spirit 
 of a less courageous woman, but as she always hated 
 to be an object of pity, she never complained to the 
 Emperor, who, save in her gradual if very marked recoil 
 from all those appearances in public which she could 
 possibly avoid, and in her increasing sadness, noticed no 
 change in her. He himself treated her with the most 
 constant courtesy and solicitous care, but a misunder- 
 standing arose between them, fomented by wounded 
 pride and feeling on her side, and on his by the con- 
 tinual intriguing which was brought to bear upon him. 
 Yet Elizabeth still dearly loved the man who had 
 come into her life to change, at first, all its dulness 
 into fields of light and of joy ; the distant sound of his 
 step still thrilled her with delight, the very sound of his 
 voice made her pulses beat quicker, but the spiritual 
 and enthusiastic love which she bore him was little by 
 little forced back into the innermost recesses of her 
 heart, and the very excess of it held her pale and silent 
 when she should have confided her sufferings to him, 
 
 30
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 for fear of appearing in his eyes the troublesome child 
 her mother-in-law told her so frequently that she was. 
 
 It was a pity indeed that the Emperor had no leisure, 
 or no desire, to study his wife's character with more care 
 then, for he would easily have discerned those gifts, 
 mental and intellectual, which make up the noblest of 
 temperaments. He was as yet violently, passionately 
 in love with her matchless beauty, but affairs of state, 
 social successes, outdoor sports, to which he gave 
 almost his every free moment, and the beginning of a 
 vague return to his former less commendable pleasures, 
 widened daily the gulf which was to force them apart 
 more and more as time went on. Nor can Franz-Joseph 
 be blamed very severely either, at that time, for this 
 state of affairs. Women had thrown themselves into his 
 arms from his earliest youth, not only for the sake of 
 his rank and sovereign position, but also on account of 
 his handsome face and presence, of his winning manner, 
 and of the many gifts and talents which made him one 
 of the most attractive of men. He consequently, in 
 spite of his ever singularly chivalrous ways, did not 
 esteem women very highly ; they had flattered and 
 cajoled him too much for that, and wooed him also, 
 until something very like contempt took the place of 
 gratitude where they were concerned. His wife was to 
 him a thing apart, so lovely and pure and innocent that 
 she fulfilled his ideal of absolute perfection ; but unfortu- 
 nately he fell into the unpardonable error of believing 
 her to be too young, too inexperienced, and too in- 
 different to become his real companion and comrade. 
 
 Poor Empress ! One year after her marriage her 
 future seemed so immensely long and wearisome that 
 she felt disheartened when she thought of it; her rank 
 was too lofty, her riches too great for ambition to present
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 any hiring charm for her, especially as all inroads into 
 politics were forbidden to her by " Madame Mere's " 
 own insatiate ambition in that direction. What waste 
 this all made of a superfine nature, sedulously forced 
 back into apparent worthlessness ! 
 
 Jealousy had not at that time entered her heart, but 
 this also was not long to be spared her. One morning 
 the old nurse to whom I referred before, and who had 
 remained in her service, entered her Majesty's dressing- 
 room at the usual hour, and not finding her there, ven- 
 tured to go and seek her in the little adjoining oratory. 
 
 This small sanctuary was a favourite retreat of the 
 Empress, and she had decorated it with that delicate 
 taste so peculiarly her own. The walls were of alabaster, 
 as was the tiny altar, above which hung a wonderful 
 crucifix of onyx and silver; golden candelabra raised 
 their perfumed candles among a wealth of snowy 
 blossoms, and shed a soft radiance, day and night, upon 
 a priceless triptych of Lucas von Cranach, and upon a 
 prie-dieu, embroidered on white velvet by Elizabeth's 
 clever little hands. 
 
 She herself was kneeling down, with her arms leaning 
 on the altar-rail, her magnificent hair streaming over 
 her loose white robe, and her head buried in her hands, 
 while convulsive sobs shook her whole slender form. 
 For a moment the old woman watched her wistfully. 
 She knew that her darling was not happy, but she had 
 never seen her display such a passion of grief as she 
 now beheld. Moreover, she was aware of the fact that 
 to this daughter of an ancient race pity seemed the last 
 of insults, the alms thrown to some proud, impoverished 
 being, which brands him as a beggar for evermore. 
 So she hesitated to advance and to offer her any kind 
 of consolation. 
 
 32
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Impelled, however, by the adoration which she felt 
 for her imperial mistress, she drew slowly nearer and 
 touched the weeping figure. The face which the young 
 Empress raised towards her had lost in a few hours all 
 its childish bloom: it was the pale, haggard, drawn 
 countenance of a woman who had left behind her all 
 the careless joys of youth. More lovely, perhaps, than 
 ever before in its tear-glazed distress, it nevertheless 
 struck her old and devoted attendant's heart with 
 terror. 
 
 " My little one — my poor darling ! " she exclaimed, 
 
 reverting in her amazement and sorrow to the fashion 
 
 in which she used formerly to address her nursling. 
 
 ' What have they done to you now ? Oh, the wretches ! 
 
 the cruel monsters ! Tell me what has hurt you so." 
 
 In a broken voice, very unlike her own, the Empress 
 said, shudderingly : " I wish I were dead ! " 
 
 The words escaped her almost unawares; evidently 
 Avhen they were uttered she would have given worlds to 
 recall them. She grew paler than ever, her expression 
 hardened into something like anger, and rising from 
 her knees, she pushed away her trailing hair and said, 
 impatiently : 
 
 " You mean well, but you must not ask me such 
 questions, for I cannot bear to pain you by refusing to 
 confide in you, and my pain is not one which I can 
 speak of to any living soul." 
 
 And after kissing the old woman tenderly to soften 
 the effect caused by her words, she left her standing in 
 deepest consternation on the threshold of the oratory, 
 while with a firm, proud step she returned to the solitude 
 of her bedroom. 
 
 There was at that time at court a lady who for 
 
 convenience' sake I shall call the Countess von L . 
 
 33 D
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 She was a very handsome woman, in a pink and white 
 blonde way, a la Rubens. She was not extraordinarily 
 refined or talented, and certainly not at all ethereal, 
 but she was very chic and very amusing ; she dressed 
 admirably, and was quite the rage, especially since she 
 was known to be " Madame Mere's " especial protegee. 
 At a great ball given in honour of some foreign royalties 
 the Emperor seemed much struck by this type of sensuous 
 beauty, and devoted more of his time to her than strict 
 etiquette allowed. Many an unkind, if just, comment 
 was made about this incident, and the good souls who 
 formed the Empress's entourage took good care that it 
 should assume in her eyes the maximum of the meaning 
 it could be made to bear. She gave no outward sign 
 of having understood these charitable allusions, but her 
 grave, colourless face, that had already become so cold in 
 its innocence, now assumed an entirely novel expression, 
 so melancholy, so thoughtful, that she was immediately 
 taxed with moodiness and sulkiness. She now seldom 
 smiled, and when she did so it was in a chilly, half- 
 hearted way which was painful to behold. 
 
 Her beloved hero, the husband whom she had held 
 would be her eternal lover, was tottering upon the 
 pedestal of virtues which she had erected for him in 
 her soul. All the horrors of doubt and of sin fell 
 suddenly and without warning upon her ignorance of 
 social wickedness, and a great disgust overcame her, 
 for she was informed by many willing and poisonous 
 mouths that her consort's attentions were not restricted 
 to the fair Countess, and that there were many hours 
 in his life spent after a fashion of which he would be 
 more than unwilling to render her an account. 
 
 For this bitter awakening of her love-dream she was 
 also indebted to her mother-in-law. The old lady — who 
 
 34
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 then, by-the-by, considered herself only in the very 
 prime of life, and who had by no means abdicated her 
 rights to universal admiration — seeing that her son was 
 more enamoured with his lovely wife than she thought it 
 safe or desirable for him to be, managed to surround 
 him with those temptations to which a man of the 
 world yields so easily, and the satisfaction of which he 
 calls by the convenient name of peccadilloes. 
 
 The Archduchess was by no means an immoral 
 woman ; she even posed as an infinitely religious one ; 
 but to her the raison d'etat was more important than 
 all else, and she was absolutely convinced that the 
 influence possessed by Elizabeth over the Emperor 
 would work to no good end. That she should bear him 
 healthy children was all that she asked of her son's 
 young wife ; the rest had no interest for her. 
 
 This question of maternity was an all-important one, 
 and was represented as such to the Empress, who said 
 once, sadly, to her own mother, in one of her few 
 moments of semi-confidence : 
 
 " Should I remain childless, I wonder if Franz would 
 follow Napoleon's example and cause our union to be 
 annulled ? " 
 
 Much horrified, the duchess-mother, who was a 
 kind-hearted, sagacious, and loving woman, replied, 
 gently : 
 
 " You are unreasonable, my child ; you must not 
 become morbid. Franz loves you dearly — you know it 
 well ; and as to Napoleon, savants have proved long 
 ere this that his heart, or what served him in lieu of 
 one, was ossified. In my opinion he was, perhaps, the 
 greatest general that ever existed, but he was also an 
 ambitious wretch, who sacrificed all humanity to his 
 own desires and interests." 
 
 35
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 "Such wretches still exist," murmured the young 
 Empress, with a heavy sigh. 
 
 " My dearest," continued her mother, " there are two 
 sorts of women in this world — those who always get 
 their own way, and those who never get it. You seem 
 to me to be one of the latter : you have remarkable 
 abilities and talents, a deep, thoughtful mind, and you 
 do not lack character; but what you do lack is the 
 power of stooping to the level of your associates, of 
 bending yourself to the exigencies of modernism. You 
 belong to another period, that in which saints and 
 martyrs existed. Do not attract notice by being too 
 obviously the first, or break your own heart by fancying 
 yourself to be the latter." 
 
 This conversation was repeated to me by the Empress 
 more than twenty years after it had taken place, and 
 she then added, with a rather wan smile : 
 
 "I am afraid, my dear, that I did not follow my 
 mother's excellent advice, for I have often been taunted 
 with posing both as a saint and as a martyr, although, 
 I am sure, I never believed myself burdened with two 
 such calamities as saintliness and martyrdom." 
 
 Duchess Ludovica in Bavaria, Empress Elizabeth's 
 mother, was one of the most sympathetic princesses in 
 Europe. She was the sister of the Emperor's mother, 
 Archduchess Sophia, otherwise called at the court of 
 Vienna, "Madame Mere," but she was a perfect anti- 
 thesis to her, and her kindness, sweetness of temper, as 
 well as her talents and remarkable sagacity, were justly 
 celebrated. A magnificent performer on the piano, the 
 organ, and the zither, she spoke Greek and Italian 
 with amazing fluency, and even up to the time of her 
 death, at the advanced age of eighty-four, she spent 
 many hours a day in study. She was a remarkably 
 
 36
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 well-preserved woman — the astounding manner in which 
 beauty remained hers to the last may be accounted for 
 by her invariable habit of riding and driving in all 
 kinds of weather, and by the cold baths in which she 
 indulged twice daily. She was an excellent mother, 
 and deeply devoted to her husband, who died shortly 
 before her, and almost immediately after the celebration 
 of their golden wedding. 
 
 He was a very witty and somewhat eccentric — in fact, 
 altogether a very interesting person. Passionately fond 
 of dogs, he treated the numerous ones which he possessed 
 just as if they were children, much to the amusement of 
 his courtiers. Being, moreover, endowed with an extra- 
 ordinarily original turn of mind, Duke Maximilian was 
 the hero of many an amusing anecdote. 
 
 One day when the Duke was travelling from Munich 
 to Vienna, without submitting himself to any of the fuss 
 which generally surrounds the voyages of princes, a 
 gentleman, at the moment when the train was about to 
 steam out of the station, entered the ordinary first-class 
 carriage in which he was established. A conversation 
 soon began between them, in the course of which the 
 unknown mentioned that he was one of the greatest 
 watch-makers in Austria, and ended by asking Duke 
 Maximilian what his profession was, and why he was 
 going to Vienna. 
 
 " Well, to tell you the truth," replied Maximilian, " I 
 have at present no profession, and I am going to Vienna 
 to visit my daughter and son-in-law." 
 
 "Ah, and is your son-in-law in business?" 
 
 " Yes and no ; he is a pretty busy man, if that is what 
 you want to know." 
 
 " Has he a good position ? " 
 
 " Yes, a pretty good position." 
 
 37
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 " What kind of a position is it ? " 
 
 " He is an emperor." 
 
 The Viennese watch-maker began to laugh loudly, 
 thinking, of course, that his travelling companion was 
 joking, and when they finally arrived at their destination, 
 the vivacious merchant, without waiting until the train 
 had completely stopped, gave a playful dig in the ducal 
 ribs, and jumping out of the railway carriage, called out 
 to the astounded old gentleman : 
 
 " That was a good joke of yours, but I am not so easily 
 taken in. Good-bye, and good luck ; hope to see you 
 again soon. Don't forget to introduce me to your 
 imperial son-in-law some day." 
 
 At dinner that evening Duke Maximilian related his 
 adventure to his greatly entertained children, and the 
 Emperor, who was then still exceedingly fond of fun, 
 hastened next morning to send for the watch-maker in 
 question. Upon being ushered into the Emperor's 
 presence, the unfortunate man, who at a glance recog- 
 nized, sitting in an armchair, beside the Emperor's 
 writing-table, the benevolent-looking gentleman with 
 whom he had travelled from Munich on the previous 
 day, was frightened out of his senses. But he was soon 
 reassured by the Emperor's kind smile, and, moreover, 
 delighted beyond measure at receiving an order for some 
 dozen or so of his very finest watches. 
 
 " You see," laughed the sovereign, " that my position 
 is not a bad one, but don't you go envying it, for it 
 brings with it often more thorns than roses." 
 
 There is in the palace of Laxenburg, near Vienna, a 
 magnificent painting representing Duchess Ludovica 
 surrounded by all her beautiful daughters. The Duchess 
 was so proud of them that when she used in early days 
 to go out walking with them she would exclaim : 
 
 38
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 " Voila mon attelage de r postc " (Look at my handsome 
 team). She might indeed be well pleased with the 
 extreme beauty of the princesses, for all of them were 
 singularly comely, although Elizabeth was, and always 
 remained, the pearl of them all. 
 
 Princess de la Tour-et- Taxis, who died in 1891, was 
 a woman of a great deal of personal charm. She 
 resembled greatly that other sister, the unfortunate 
 Queen of Naples, who played so brilliant a role during 
 the siege of Gaeta, when, placing herself at the head of 
 her husband's beleaguered army, she walked about the 
 ramparts under a hail of bullets and infused her in- 
 domitable courage into the hearts of the most timid by 
 her magnificent attitude in the face of the enemy. 
 
 Countess Trani was more like the Duchess d'Alen- 
 con, whose gentle, noble-hearted nature inclined her to 
 think everlastingly of good works, and who employed 
 the greatest portion of her life in succouring the poor 
 and the afflicted. It was while working for them at 
 the Bazar de la Charite, in Paris, that the Duchess 
 found a terrible death among raging flames. The 
 sorrow caused by this new tragedy, Avhich was one of 
 so many, drove Empress Elizabeth almost to inconsolable 
 despair. 
 
 It is claimed that when the Duchess d'Alenoon was 
 yet a young girl her awful end was predicted to her by 
 a gypsy, who said to her: 
 
 "Do not fear water, but beware of another element, 
 namely, the natural enemy of water, for it will attack 
 you when you are employed on an angel's errand and 
 will cut short your career." 
 
 The Princess who was later on to become the Queen 
 of Naples was at that moment with her sister, and 
 turning to the Zingara woman, she asked her to predict 
 
 39
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS < 
 
 her own future. Peering into the girl's eyes, and then 
 gazing for an instant into the soft palm of her little 
 hand, the gypsy replied: 
 
 " You will become a queen, but amid blood, war, and 
 disaster you will lose your crown in spite of the energy 
 and courage which you will show. Fear Ked Men, for 
 it will be through them that you will ultimately be 
 vanquished." 
 
 Subsequently, as it is shown in history, it was by 
 Garibaldi's "Bed Men" that the King and Queen of 
 Naples were robbed of their crown. In both cases the 
 gypsy spoke the truth. 
 
 The tourists who visited, a few years ago, the shores 
 of the Starenberg Lake in the Bavarian Tyrol may still 
 remember the brief stop of the steamer at the Possen- 
 hoffen pier, and the silvery-haired old lady who was 
 generally standing on the verdant slopes of the chateau 
 grounds, acknowledging with stately courtesy the re- 
 spectful salute of the captain and of his crew. 
 
 This was Duchess Ludovica. Her life was embittered 
 by many sorrows caused to her tender mother's heart 
 by her children's countless misfortunes. The first of 
 these was brought about by the extraordinary conduct 
 of King Louis of Bavaria when he jilted Princess 
 Sophia, later Duchess d'Alencon, in so cruel a manner. 
 The reasons for the King's conduct in this matter are 
 not generally known. Shortly after his engagement 
 to the Princess a very pretty actress fell violently in 
 love with him — he was then a most remarkably good- 
 looking young man — and so great became her passion 
 that she decided to try to capture the monarch's 
 heart and to supplant in his affections the charming 
 Princess to whom he had so lately become affianced. 
 With a view of accomplishing this praiseworthy plan 
 
 40
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 she left the stage and obtained, through the influence 
 of some high personages whom she knew, the position 
 of reader to the Princess, this enabling her, of course, 
 to come into personal contact with the King. As I 
 remarked just now, this enterprising damsel was ex- 
 tremely beautiful, and Louis could not very well help 
 observing her physical advantages. When he met her 
 he used to chat and banter, without, however, forgetting 
 in the very slightest way his allegiance to the Princess. 
 One fine day the ci-devant actress hit upon the Machi- 
 avelian idea of taking from the Princess a half-hoop of 
 turquoises shaped like forget-me-nots, one of the many 
 presents sent by Louis to his fiancee, and of giving it 
 to a young officer of the King's body-guard with whom 
 she had, for that purpose, begun a mild flirtation, 
 requesting him to wear it for her sake. The enamoured 
 youth was only too happy to do so, and flaunted it 
 carelessly before the very eyes of his royal master. 
 The character of King Louis of Bavaria was even in 
 those days an odd one, and instead of inquiring from 
 the young man how he came to possess this jewel, he 
 took it for granted that the Princess was untrue to him, 
 and in a fit of almost demoniacal fury he wrote her a 
 quite unpardonable letter, breaking off his engagement. 
 The unhappy girl, wounded to the heart and unable to 
 understand what had caused such an attitude on the 
 part of her erstwhile fiance, was further dismayed when 
 she discovered that her fair reader had fled from the 
 palace and had taken up her abode in a little chalet 
 situated within the limits of the royal park. Believing, 
 naturally enough, that the cause of the King's behaviour 
 towards herself was to be found in his preference for her 
 protegee, she sent back all the presents which he had 
 given to her, excepting of course the turquoise ring, 
 
 41
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 which she believed that she must have accidentally 
 lost. The absence of this jewel from among the others 
 returned to him aroused the King's suspicions, and he 
 mentioned the fact to the lady who had caused him to 
 act so abominably towards the Princess. They were at 
 that moment floating about on Louis's favourite lake 
 in one of those swan-shaped boats for which the 
 " Marchen-Prinz " had so much partiality. The moon 
 was shining high up in the heavens and casting its 
 silvery glory upon the surface of the water, and the 
 young dame thought this a perfectly fitting decor dc 
 scene for a sensational revelation ; therefore, casting 
 herself at her lover's feet, she confessed to him the 
 trick she had played upon him in order to win his 
 love. Here again the singular and fiery temper of the 
 monarch overcame him. Taking the kneeling girl by 
 the waist, he flung her from him right into the lake, 
 and without turning his head propelled the swan-boat 
 towards the shore. Fortunately for the drowning lady, 
 some game-keepers heard her cries for help and rescued 
 her from a watery grave. She fled from Bavaria ; and 
 the King hastened to Possenhoffen in order to explain 
 matters and make his peace with Princess Sophia. He 
 found, however, that this was an impossible task, for 
 she refused to see him, and declared that she would 
 never consent to become the wife of a man who had 
 mistrusted and insulted her. 
 
 42
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 One of the accusations which has been most frequently 
 launched at the Empress Elizabeth is that she was not 
 a good mother. This is quite as untrue as all the other 
 villainies alleged by her many detractors. 
 
 When her first little daughter was born the Empress 
 felt that a brilliant ray of joy had come into her life. 
 During the months preceding this event she had suffered 
 as only over-sensitive natures can suffer, natures so 
 refined, so exquisitely delicate that they find no comfort 
 in unburdening their souls by confidence, or in heralding 
 their wrongs by reviling others. She was ashamed of 
 the piteous jealousy which kept growing in her heart, 
 but she could not resist the inroads which it made into 
 her peace of mind, until she felt nothing but a sickening 
 despondency. The Emperor still continued to see no 
 great alteration in her, save that which he ascribed to 
 her naturally failing health. 
 
 She was always calm and gentle, and he was far from 
 guessing that beneath the serious smile of the sweet 
 mouth, which served so effectually to hide her sorrows, 
 there throbbed the most torturing of doubts and of fears. 
 
 The birth of her child brought more cheerful and 
 hopeful ideas in its train. " Now," she said to her 
 mother, "my existence cannot be said to have been 
 utterly useless ; besides, children form an unbreakable 
 tie, even between husbands and wives who are otherwise 
 absolutely indifferent to each other." 
 
 43
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 It was a desolate kind of consolation for so young a 
 girl, but it helped her wonderfully, until she discovered 
 that the baby not being of the right sex, everybody 
 was disappointed, even the Emperor himself, who pas- 
 sionately desired a male heir to his crown. This was 
 but another blow to her, and her melancholy — which 
 her entourage chose to call "melancholia" — increased 
 steadily. 
 
 The baby, on whose downy head Elizabeth had built 
 so many hopes, was, however, not destined to remain long 
 on this earth as a consolation and a joy to her young 
 mother, for before she was two years old she died of 
 some swift and terrible infant ailment at Buda-Pesth, 
 where her imperial parents were spending the spring. 
 When the little coffin, covered with a shower of white 
 roses, and containing the small corpse of tiny Arch- 
 duchess Sophia-Dorothea, had been taken from her side, 
 the Empress realized for the first time that there are 
 worse miseries here below than disappointment and 
 jealousy. She struggled against a feeling of utter revolt 
 against her fate, but all her self-restraint was broken 
 down at one stroke by the sudden appearance of a 
 superb white dog which had been the playfellow and 
 devoted companion of the dead bady. Flinging herself 
 upon her knees, she threw her arms about the shaggy 
 neck of the animal, and wept such tears as it must pain 
 the very angels in heaven to see a human creature shed. 
 
 All her love became centred upon little Archduchess 
 Gisela, who had made her appearance in the world in 
 1856, and also upon the hope of bearing a male heir to 
 the crown, since this seemed to be looked upon as the 
 most important aim of her existence. With these senti- 
 ments to sustain her drooping spirits, she tried her best 
 to brace up against the continual malevolence of those 
 
 44
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 about her. This was hard enough to bear without there 
 being added the steady diminution of her husband's 
 first adoring devotion. 
 
 Wearied, perhaps not entirely without cause, by his 
 wife's silence, self-effacement, and unspoken reproach, for 
 his mother made it her most sacred duty to give other 
 names to these defects, and to point out to him what a 
 blunder he made in uniting himself to a mere beauty 
 who had neither mind nor heart, and who was as chill 
 as an arctic landscape, he threw himself into the whirl 
 of the gayest society on earth. Kind and considerate he 
 always was to Elizabeth, when they were together, but 
 as soon as he had left her, even the memory of those 
 great, sad, luminous eyes, the pathetic pallor of that 
 lovely oval face, ceased to haunt him as of yore, and he 
 thought of nothing save his many pleasures and occu- 
 pations — the council of ministers over which he was to 
 preside, or the ball he was to honour with his presence. 
 
 At last, a little before she attained her twenty-first 
 year, the Empress gave birth to a son, a beautiful child, 
 somewhat delicate of appearance, but with whom even his 
 irascible paternal grandmother deigned to be satisfied. 
 
 " Nobody has seemed to need me until now, not even 
 my little girl, who is kept away from me so much," said 
 poor Elizabeth ; " but my boy I shall not permit to be 
 taken away to distant nurseries and the care of strangers ; 
 he will need me, and we will be haj)py through each 
 other." 
 
 In this, however, she was mistaken again. The heir 
 apparent to one of the greatest empires of this planet 
 was not to be brought up by a "chit of a girl who 
 did not even know enough to behave herself" — such 
 was "Madame Mere's" charitable verdict. The baby 
 Archduke was, therefore, as soon as was feasible, installed 
 
 45
 
 THE MARTYKDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 in a far-off portion of the palace, where, as his kindly 
 granddame judiciously remarked, "he would be much 
 better than in the hands of his silly young mother." 
 The "silly young mother" remonstrated in vain. She 
 was curtly told that the boy was perfectly well cared 
 for, and treated in a much better and wiser way than 
 if she had the management of him. 
 
 The Empress nevertheless insisted upon the loving 
 duties of maternity, upon the consolation it would be to 
 her to look after her own darling, as any other mother 
 would be allowed to do. 
 
 " Pshaw ! " replied the Archduchess, impatiently, 
 "what consolation do you need? You are one of the 
 handsomest women in the world, you have the finest 
 jewels, and the grandest position one can imagine ; that 
 ought to satisfy you. Do not grow morbid and sentimen- 
 tal ; it is in execrable taste. Enjoy yourself, laugh and 
 be merry ; you have played the ridiculous role of victim 
 long enough ; one gets weary of watching such a perform- 
 ance on the part of the luckiest of ail human beings." 
 
 Thoroughly roused this time, the Empress swept out 
 of her mother-in-law's presence, swearing to herself that 
 come what might, she would "play the victim" no 
 longer, and would follow all this good advice in so far 
 as her nature permitted her to do so. 
 
 Far be it from me to hint that " Madame Mere " was 
 anxious to see her son's wife take her words too literally 
 and embark upon a life of flirtations and deceits, but still 
 it is impossible to deny that her strange counsels might 
 have easily worked a havoc which would have rendered 
 her son the talk of Europe, had Elizabeth not been cast 
 in a mould that had not one weak point in its make. 
 
 The Empress was — commonplace as the expression 
 may seem — a thoroughly honest woman. To her delicate, 
 
 46
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 fastidious taste there was a sort of horror in being com- 
 promised ; it was low and common, and only good for 
 "mundanes" belonging to the type represented by the 
 
 famous Countess de L , who, by-the-way, had long 
 
 since been replaced in the Emperor's regard by a host 
 of younger and yet more attractive persons. 
 
 The chilliness of temperament to which I have 
 alluded before may have had something to do with the 
 lovely young sovereign's remaining for ever unsullied 
 by even so much as a questionable action. She was 
 always as loyal to her husband in thought and in deed 
 as if he had shown her at all times becoming fidelitv. 
 She possessed over all men who approached her a charm 
 too complete to be ignored ; for, after attracting them 
 by her exceeding loveliness, she retained their attention 
 and admiration by her many other remarkable qualities 
 of conversation, wit, and brilliancy; but whenever they 
 attempted to cross the slender barrier which separates 
 a courtier from an outspoken admirer, they found, so 
 to speak, a wall of ice facing them, impalpable, but 
 absolutely impassable. The greatest lady-killer or 
 blagueur at court never dared to hint at a possible 
 weakness where his fair sovereign was concerned. As 
 for their womankind, when they were particularly filled 
 with jealous envy they permitted themselves unseemly 
 jokes and predictions with the facility which women 
 bring into these small and cowardly acts of revenge 
 towards those who are too blameless not to unconsciously 
 shame them; but they did not go unrebuked. These 
 amiable ladies were, of course, quite certain that the 
 Empress had never shared and would never share their 
 follies ; but none the less they could not resist the 
 delicate pleasure of talking evil of one who towered 
 immeasurably above them in every respect. 
 
 47
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 In spite of all that was said in that line, it is, 
 however, an averred and irrefutable fact that at no 
 instant of her life has the breath of scandal had any- 
 right to touch the Empress's pure, transparent, and 
 unalloyed record of virtue — a record of such perfection 
 as has seldom been attained by so beautiful a woman, 
 or, for the matter of that, by any woman, whether 
 beautiful or the reverse. 
 
 Once, and only once, did a man so far forget what 
 was due to his sovereign, and also to his own honour, 
 as to yield to the wellnigh irresistible temptation of 
 avowing to her the passion which she had aroused in 
 his heart. This scene, which was related to me after 
 many years by the unfortunate gentleman himself, took 
 place at the palace of Schbnbrunn, the favourite summer 
 residence of the Emperor, in the immediate outskirts 
 of Vienna. It was on the night of a state ball, and 
 the Empress, fatigued by the heat and glare of the 
 salons, had stepped out upon the terrace, illumined by 
 the chastened radiance of the full-moon. She was 
 
 accompanied by the young Count H , a great noble, 
 
 and at that time one of the handsomest and most dashing 
 officers of the Emperor's body-guard. Elizabeth had at 
 that time attained the fulness of her flawless beauty. 
 Clad from head to foot in snowy laces, with great 
 emeralds, her favourite gem, gleaming on her white 
 neck and in the masses of her perfumed hair, she paced 
 slowly up and down along the rose-covered marble 
 balustrade, talking to her companion in that melodious 
 low voice which had something so captivating about it. 
 Suddenly, as they reached a secluded and shadowy 
 
 corner of the long mosaic-paved walk, Count H , 
 
 losing all control over his feelings, cast himself at her 
 feet, and confessed his love, in broken, tremulous accents. 
 
 48
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 He was terribly in earnest, and words came to his lips 
 like a furious torrent let loose by the breaking up of 
 ice in the spring — words unconsidered and unwise 
 beyond all pardon. 
 
 He clung to the hem of her skirts, which he had 
 grasped, his eyes sparkling like fire, his whole frame 
 shaking with fierce emotion. With one SAvift move- 
 ment she shook herself free, and looked at him as she 
 might have looked at some infuriated animal which 
 she wished to cow. He saw that she was implacably 
 offended. It was the first time that any one had ever 
 presumed to thus insult her. 
 
 " How dare you ! " she exclaimed, almost choking 
 with a fury which was all the more terrible because it 
 was so foreign to her nature to yield to any outward 
 sign of anger. 
 
 " Beloved ! beloved ! do not repulse me, do not send 
 me away from you," murmured the young Count ; but 
 he talked to the empty air, for she had already moved 
 away rapidly and had entered the palace by a side door, 
 leaving him to stagger, blinded by tears of despair and 
 of remorse, into the darkness of the gardens. 
 
 This regrettable incident had had a witness in an old 
 and valued friend of the Emperor, who was of course 
 at once informed of what had taken place. Two days 
 later the Count was exiled to his vast possessions in the 
 south of Hungary, and during many long years he was 
 kept there by the orders of his imperial master. 
 
 Time flew on, bringing on its wings much pain and 
 sorrow, as well as countless humiliations, to the Empress. 
 More and more were her slightest actions distorted. 
 Whenever she appeared in public at Vienna — much as 
 she disliked doing so — she was regularly mobbed by 
 pushing, struggling crowds wild to scan her lovely 
 
 49 E
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 features as closely as possible, and for weeks afterwards, 
 her personal appearance, her looks, her every gesture 
 served as a theme for the most extraordinary exaggera- 
 tions and nonsensical anecdotes, which had not a bit of 
 truth in them, nor the least right to be set afoot. Her 
 delicate, narcissus-like complexion was said to be the 
 result of an enamelling process ; her erect, dignified 
 bearing was dubbed with the appellations of pride and 
 haughtiness. The common herd failed to comprehend 
 her peculiar style of beauty, for it was of a kind whicli 
 had nothing gross or ordinary about it, but was ethereal 
 in the extreme, and which indeed was retained to the 
 very last. 
 
 One day, at the close of a court ball, as she was 
 walking down the steps of the Eittersaal, her long 
 train became inadvertently entangled around the feet 
 of the Papal Nuncio, who was standing at the head 
 of the stairs and bowing low as she passed. Amid 
 the covert smiles and sneers of the courtiers forming 
 a hedge on either side of the great Hall of Ceremonies, 
 the Empress disengaged herself with a rosy blush, but 
 later on she was fated to hear many unseemly hints 
 and exasperating pleasantries about this so-termed 
 " brusque separation of Church and State ! " Slight as 
 were all these hints and unkind interpretations, yet they 
 had the power of unnerving the Empress to an incon- 
 ceivable extent, and her heart turned completely from 
 her Austrian subjects to give itself unrestrainedly to 
 Hungary and to the Magyars. 
 
 At last the intrigues and cabals encouraged by 
 " Madame Mere," and by her many adherents and 
 followers, found their fruition, and a complete estrange- 
 ment — not to call it by a more severe name — arose 
 between the young couple. The reasons for this 
 
 50
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 wretched affair, as discussed then by the classes and 
 the masses, are both too foul and too untrue to be even 
 mentioned here. " One lends to the rich," as the old 
 proverb goes ; and although the Emperor deserved serious 
 blame and censure, yet his crime against his lovely 
 and innocent consort was by no means so black as it 
 was made out to be. Nevertheless, his "flirtations" 
 had become of so flagrant a nature that it was not in 
 ordinary flesh and blood to overlook them, far less was 
 it possible for a woman of the Empress's proud temper 
 to stand the countless slights thus passed upon her. 
 
 A very unpalatable adventure, of which her husband 
 was the hero during one of his hunting expeditions in the 
 mountains, and of which she was immediately informed 
 by the no doubt well-meaning and charitably intentioned 
 wife of one of his Majesty's confidants and boon com- 
 panions, broke the last restraint upon her indignation, 
 and without informing anybody of her intentions she 
 hurriedly left the imperial palace of Vienna for Trieste, 
 and set sail for the Ionian Islands, on board her yacht, 
 fully resolved never to allow her husband to approach 
 her or to speak to her again. 
 
 The amount of scandal caused by this flight may be 
 more easily imagined than described, and it is evident 
 that even the Empress herself had no conception at 
 lirst of the tempest of abuse she was arousing by thus 
 abruptly departing from her usual rules of silent suffer- 
 ing and reserve. But when once the deed was done she 
 would sooner have died a thousand deaths than have 
 turned from her course. She was thoroughly unhappy, 
 and had been so for a long time, and when a woman 
 is unhappy she is never very wise. The step she took 
 was extreme, but her youth seems a sufficient excuse, 
 for in youth such wrongs as those which she had endured 
 
 51
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 seem to fill earth and heaven with their magnitude ; yet 
 she brought about her head, and about the Emperor's 
 too, a thousand hornets'-nests of slander and useless 
 misconstruction, and there were very few, either at 
 home or abroad, ready to admit that if the vengeance 
 she took was perchance too drastic, it was at any rate a 
 very dignified one. 
 
 Not quite so dignified was the pursuit which the, for 
 the moment, remorseful Emperor at once undertook 
 after his truant Empress. 
 
 The latter, however, was firmly resolved not to give 
 him a chance of pleading his own cause, which, had he 
 only known her better, he would have understood to be 
 practically a lost one. A faithful and devoted woman, 
 
 Countess X , who had accompanied her, told me once 
 
 that in all her profound experience of human nature 
 she had never seen such a change as came at that 
 time upon the Empress. She never regretted for one 
 instant what she had done ; she certified to the gentle- 
 woman in question, over and over again, that she would 
 be ready to repeat it at any moment were she called 
 upon to ratify her choice, for it seemed to her that it 
 was the only thing for her to do in common honour and 
 self-defence. All the pent-up anger and disgust which 
 her soul contained broke forth with such force that she 
 positively frightened those about her. She hardened 
 her heart against everybody, and even the mention of 
 her children failed to make any impression upon her. 
 
 Naturally unselfish to a singular degree, she now 
 dropped into the habit of one given up to that most 
 blamable of all defects : she wrapped herself in her 
 own bitter, poignant sorrow, to the exclusion of every- 
 thing else. She faced her self-elected widowhood — the 
 saddest of all — with a kind of strange relish, for at last 
 
 52
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 she felt free to be herself, and to drop the mask of cold 
 indifference which she had worn so long and so bravely. 
 
 When she heard that her husband had started after 
 her and was making his way towards her place of 
 refuge, she, without losing a minute, boarded her yacht 
 again, and before many hours had elapsed was off to the 
 island of Minorca. There again she was informed that 
 his Majesty had resolved to track her, and from thence 
 she departed immediately, scarcely conscious of any 
 feeling or wish save that of escaping him. She crossed 
 the Straits of Gibraltar, and never paused until she had 
 reached the grey expanse of the Atlantic. 
 
 Despairing of catching up with her, and moreover 
 realizing the ridicule with which he was covering him- 
 self, the Emperor returned to his own dominions, where 
 he arrived a sadder and wiser man. 
 
 If anybody ever felt regret for past indiscretions, 
 surely this great ruler, before whom multitudes bowed, 
 did so now, and shame as well as remorse filled his cup 
 of bitterness to the very brim. The true character of 
 his wife began to dawn upon him ; he knew that since 
 all eternity many women, both handsome and highly 
 born, had suffered, and were suffering from the same 
 indignities which he had put upon Elizabeth ; but, from 
 the very force of the remedy which she had chosen, he 
 gathered that her nature had now changed to that of a 
 proud woman, ripened by sorrow beyond her years, and 
 that it would be almost an impossible achievement to 
 make his peace with her. She might break, but bend 
 she would not, whatever the strength used against her. 
 
 AVhile he was occupied in vain regrets and in yet 
 vainer plans of future reforms and alterations of circum- 
 stances, over which he had by his own fault momentarily 
 lost all control, the Empress was first making a tour 
 
 53
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 through the Fjords of Norway, and then a conscientious 
 exploration of the Mediterranean coasts. Greece, Algeria, 
 and Egypt interested her passionately, and she was 
 able to go wherever she listed in absolute freedom, for 
 she maintained when she so willed it the strictest of 
 incognitos. 
 
 In Algeria she took possession of a charming villa, 
 with blue and white awnings shading its verandas, and 
 a broad terrace-roof, half hidden in palm and pepper 
 trees, surrounded by a large garden, where fountains 
 bubbled in pink marble basins. The cool, silent rooms 
 were adorned with curious costly things of Arabian 
 workmanship — old embroideries in dull gold and silver 
 on a ground of silk or brocade, curious antique braziers 
 of silver and brass, trailing draperies wrought in silks 
 of melting hues, quaint pieces of furniture in mouchara- 
 bien work, and great bronze vases, which, according to 
 her wishes, were always filled with a wealth of flowers 
 and plants. Arab servants, soft of tread and noiseless 
 of movement, filled her anterooms, and some Barb horses 
 for the carriages and for the saddle took places in her 
 stables. In this pretty abode she attempted vainly to 
 forget her woes, and led a life that was outwardly at 
 least a happy one. 
 
 Alone in the dreamy repose of the large garden, 
 alone during the balmy moonlit evenings on the marble 
 terraces, alone in the shadowy stillness of the house, it 
 was yet very hard, sometimes, for her to maintain her 
 composure. She ceaselessly endeavoured to conquer 
 these tendencies to sadness by physical exhaustion. 
 She would jump on her horse and gallop off towards 
 the desert in the cool hours of dawn or in the starlit 
 evenings. She had a deep veneration for this old 
 African soil, so full of relics of the past, and Mas never 
 
 54
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 tired of gazing at the great rolling plains of orange- 
 coloured sand, the awful grandeur of which has remained 
 undisturbed since the beginning of the world, defying 
 the power of man. This sight exercised a potent spell 
 upon her mind, and the impression grew upon her that 
 she could not fail to find calm and comfort when 
 encircled by these seemingly endless horizons. A certain 
 sense of awe stole gradually into her heart, and soothed 
 her nervousness and pain. Many an hour did she spend 
 in the saddle, dashing through the dry air in breathless 
 and pauseless speed, borne on and on by her fleet Arab 
 horse, sweeping by villages or peaceful Bedouin douars, 
 passing files of camels and of laden mules on her way as 
 she rode over the sun-scorched roads of the vast shadow- 
 less plateaux which are the antechambers of the great 
 Sahara desert. She generally rode alone ; of assistance 
 she needed none. A rider of her merit could spring 
 as lightly as a bird into her saddle, and she loved the 
 intoxication of complete solitude and the unchecked 
 rapidity of her flight. League after league passed away 
 like a dream, and it was only when she felt her horse 
 quiver under her with fatigue that she would slacken her 
 pace and let the bridle drop upon his neck. 
 
 Days and weeks and months drifted on, and still 
 Emperor Franz- Joseph's brilliant court remained deserted 
 by the fair, graceful figure which had once been barely 
 tolerated there, but which now was missed by many. 
 "Madame Mere" began to observe that she could no 
 longer afford to be too sure of her ground, and that 
 when, with pious eyes raised towards an unjust Heaven, 
 she threw out hints about her daughter-in-law's un- 
 pardonable conduct and incredible ungratefulness, a 
 respectful silence was all that she received in return. 
 Men who had always admired the Empress, and who, 
 
 55
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 besides, had very good reasons for knowing that she 
 was sinned against and not sinning, even raised their 
 voices in her defence, but, unfortunately, the truth 
 compels me to say that vox femince is often vox Dei, and 
 almost without exception women took part against the 
 woman who had never shown them anything but kind- 
 ness, and who was now so lonely. They agreed with 
 touching unanimity that it was her lack of amiability 
 which had caused all the trouble, and added that the 
 primary reason of every subsequent catastrophe was the 
 foolishness of their sovereign — this, of course, was 
 murmured sotto voce behind the shelter of a fan or the 
 fragrance of a bouquet — in throwing himself away on 
 an unsympathetic, heartless girl, whose brain had been 
 turned by her sudden magnificent change of circum- 
 stances. 
 
 One could write volumes about this period of Eliza- 
 beth's existence. It was during this time that, remem- 
 bering only too well the many slurs concerning her 
 "insufficient education" which had been thrust at her, 
 she undertook to remedy this defect, for which the 
 early age at which she had been married was alone to 
 blame, and began to study with an earnestness seldom 
 to be found in man or woman. She bent her supple 
 form over black-letter folios and Latin works, Greek 
 authors and old poets, devoting hours and hours to 
 studying many dead and living languages. She wrote 
 some very remarkable descriptions of her travels, and, 
 to lighten the tedium of this labour, made hundreds of 
 exquisite sketches of the places she visited, or played 
 on the piano or the zither, for she was a wonderful 
 musician. It was then also that weariness of heart from 
 her loveless existence caused her once more to turn with 
 all-absorbing ardour to the cherished companions of her 
 
 56
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 childhood and early youth — namely, to horses and to 
 dogs — for comfort and affection. She went out in all 
 Aveathers, minding neither storm nor rain, boisterous 
 winds, intense cold, nor burning heat. Often, drenched 
 to the skin, she would walk or ride for days at a time, 
 taking no harm whatever, for it is a singular fact that 
 an absolute indifference to the consequences of physical 
 imprudence often bestows complete immunity from all 
 bodily ailments or accidents. Soldiers who rush out of 
 the trenches seeking death pass unscathed through a 
 hail of bullets, whereas the coward who cringes behind 
 a bastion is almost certain to get his deserts, by being 
 the first to be hit. She still possessed her sensitive 
 horror of compassion or of comment, only now it was 
 intensified to an almost morbid extent, and she preferred 
 her poor empty life as a wanderer to the molestation 
 and interference of those who had made such a wreck 
 of her fair young days. 
 
 "You have acted as if you, and not your husband, 
 were guilty," her mother wrote to her. "I do not 
 deny that there is nobility in your refusing to retain 
 the advantages of your position at court since you 
 fancy that you no lunger possess Franz's heart, but 
 many things which the world need never have known 
 are now public property. The higher we stand on the 
 social ladder, the less right have we to gratify our own 
 private vengeances, or to set ourselves free from painful 
 obligations. Kemember the good old saying, 'Noblesse 
 oblige.'' You are the integrant part of a great nation's 
 honour ; you are faithless to your trust and to the tradi- 
 tions of your ancestry when you thus act on the spur of 
 personal injury and passion." 
 
 At heart Elizabeth knew that her mother was right. 
 She acknowledged as much to me when one day, while 
 
 57
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 looking together over a casket filled with old letters, 
 she showed me the one referred to above. But yet her 
 reply to it was couched in terms which plainly indicated 
 that as long as she never did anything to lower her 
 consort's high estate in the eyes of his people, and as 
 long as her own conscience did not reproach her, she 
 was justified in declining to exist in hypocrisy, and in 
 what seemed to her to be moral degradation. 
 
 Her husband's offences against her were very grave, 
 but she was forced to confess to herself, now that she 
 had time for reflection, that they were inseparable from 
 such a temperament as his. The mistake had been that 
 when she had given herself to him she had not known 
 enough of life, or of what life brings with it ; of rude 
 awakenings from preconceived ideals, of sin, of shame, 
 and of disappointment. 
 
 As usual, public rumour excused the husband's weak- 
 nesses and distorted the wife's failings. Proud, delicate 
 natures disdain the favour of the world, but cruel indeed 
 is the manner in which they are made to pay for this 
 disdain. She endeavoured to school herself to forgive 
 the Emperor's numerous so-called affaires de cceur, her 
 better judgment showing her that the " Anointed of the 
 Lord" are frequently subjected to temptations from 
 which ordinary mortals are exempt, especially when, as 
 in the case of her husband, they combine in their person 
 good looks, supreme elegance, extreme chivalry of 
 behaviour, and a marvellous charm of manner. She 
 knew that loyalty on the part of the fair sex towards 
 the sovereign in most cases assumes a terribly demon- 
 strative form. They ruffle their feathers and put forth 
 all their charms for the purpose of attracting royal or 
 imperial favour, with a tenacity which leaves no room 
 for doubt as to their intentions. Elizabeth's deep 
 
 58
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 religious feeling urged her, too, towards the side of 
 mercy, but her pride had taken amis, and the time had 
 not yet come when she became able to conquer it, and 
 to relent towards her husband. 
 
 In the meanwhile the Emperor was growing more 
 and more uncomfortable, and more and more conscience- 
 stricken. He had for a long time excused in his own 
 sight his transgressions, and errors, and follies, but the 
 sense of his inexcusable disloyalty towards his blame- 
 less wife grew insensibly upon him, and he soon could 
 no longer palliate or waive them off with sophistry. 
 Swayed to and fro by conflicting emotions, at times he 
 could scarcely resist the impulse which urged him to 
 obtain from her, by hook or crook, an interview whicli 
 would permit him to cast himself at her feet, and to 
 implore her forgiveness and mercy; while during the 
 hours when he was submitted to his mother's indirect, 
 nay even direct, influence, he once more became the 
 slave of his wilful, passionate nature, forgot for the 
 nonce that men whose names are continually before 
 the world should, under any circumstances, keep them 
 clean and hold them high, cast all repentance to the 
 wind, and believed himself quite sincerely to be the 
 injured one. 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell at length upon the details 
 of this long conflict, during which there took place a 
 few strictly official meetings between the imperial pair, 
 meetings that were solely brought about to close the 
 mouths of the people, and where, pride gaining once 
 more its full strength, the young couple refused with 
 lamentable obstinacy to talk together in private even 
 for five minutes. 
 
 It goes without saying that the Empress was forced 
 by reasons of state and of policy to make a.ctc de presence 
 
 59
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 in her husband's dominions and at her husband's court 
 once or twice during each year. But these meteor-like 
 visits, made almost unbearable to her by the dread of 
 being obliged to resume her conjugal life with her 
 husband, already called forth, from those who were not 
 well informed as to the true situation, remarks regarding 
 the sanity of the Empress. Tongues kept wagging in 
 the most lively way. She was said to be erratic, un- 
 balanced, morbid, and the world pitied the so-often- 
 forsaken Emperor. 
 
 As soon as her official duties were discharged, 
 Elizabeth, not heeding these slanders at all, left the 
 country again and again, to try to regain what peace 
 and equanimity she could muster under foreign skies. 
 She was heard of as staying at Biarritz, San Kemo, 
 Algiers, in Egypt, Greece, or Syria. She loved the 
 Mediterranean, and once a year at least returned to its 
 shores. It was then that she first became enamoured 
 of lovely Corfu. 
 
 Nearly seven years elapsed before this detestable 
 modus vivencli came to an end. A great political event — 
 namely, the reunion of two crowns and of two countries 
 under the sceptre of the Emperor — made it imperative 
 that the august couple should once more appear hand 
 in hand before their subjects. Moreover, the health 
 of the Crown-prince was causing much anxiety to his 
 entourage. Perchance the child missed the love and 
 care of his "silly young mother," so ill-replaced by a 
 grandmother who, in her own estimation at least, 
 possessed all the cardinal virtues and several more 
 besides, but to whom a just Providence had refused the 
 ownership of a truly womanly heart. One cannot have 
 everything ! Anyhow, the heir apparent's extreme 
 delicacy inspired the far-seeing with a very natural 
 
 60 

 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 doubt as to what might be the fate of the dynasty if 
 the slender thread which bound him to existence should 
 snap asunder, and his Majesty was assailed on all 
 sides by his most esteemed councillors with entreaties 
 for a rapprochement between himself and the Empress. 
 
 She herself was approached about the matter by 
 wise and clever people, who forbore to mention to her 
 how greatly her own interests were at stake. This 
 would have produced a disastrous impression upon her. 
 They argued, instead of this, that her children needed 
 her, that her continued absence from the court was 
 injuring them morally and physically; reasons of state 
 were also brought forward, and her husband's deep regret 
 and sorrow much magnified — although of a truth they 
 did exist — until that infinite yearning for affection which 
 is wholly outside the instincts of the passions began to 
 thrill in her heart anew. She was brought gently and 
 securely to the point where doubts about her own read- 
 ing of duty as it should be entered her soul. She asked 
 herself, with agonized tears, whether in the violent scorn 
 of her revolted pride she had not lost sight of the only 
 fashion in which duty should be understood. For years 
 she had gone upon her joyless path not caring much 
 whether she was displaying too much vindictiveness, or 
 whether, in cleaving so closely to the traditions of what 
 she deemed honour, she had not forgotten the obligations 
 of mercy and of forgiveness. 
 
 As I have stated before, she was a very religious 
 woman, not in the outward, noisy manner of a hijote, 
 but sincerely devoted to the Catholic faith, and she now 
 allowed the first of Christian virtues — charity towards 
 those who have hurt us most — to guide her towards 
 pardon. 
 
 The love she had once felt for her husband stirred at 
 
 61
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 those times beneath all her wrath, and echoed back in 
 her heart. The outcome of all this was that she suffered 
 herself to be induced to return and to take up her duties 
 again. Many were the tears which she shed kneeling 
 before her crucifix, in an anguish of doubt as to what 
 she had best decide, before she came to that conclusion. 
 But finally her surrender was complete ; she realized 
 that she could not for ever arrogate to herself the right 
 of judgment against her lord, and a great peace fell 
 over her like a mantle. 
 
 The meeting between them had no witness save the 
 Emperor's favourite brother. It was a sad and mournful 
 moment. The Emperor looked older, paler, more weary 
 than he had done when she had last seen him. She, 
 with a beating heart and an ashen face, stood silently 
 looking at him, without making a gesture or giving a 
 sign of the nervous strain which she felt. He crossed 
 the room, dropped on one knee, and bowing his hand- 
 some head over her hand, kissed it as deferentially as 
 if he Avere the meanest of her subjects. His lips were 
 as cold and trembling as the slender fingers he held. 
 
 " Que Dieu vous garde " (May God keep you), he 
 murmured. 
 
 She fixed her eyes upon him where he knelt, and 
 then, with a gesture infinitely forgiving in its almost 
 motherly tenderness, she passed her disengaged hand over 
 his hair. 
 
 "We have both much to forgive," she said, softly. 
 
 62
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The ceremonies attending their coronation as King 
 and Queen of Hungary were welcome circumstances 
 in the official reconciliation of the two sovereigns, and 
 greatly facilitated Elizabeth's resumption of her life at 
 court. These magnificent ceremonies are still present 
 to the memory of all those who witnessed them, and 
 aroused the genuine enthusiasm of the young sovereign 
 so vividly that never could she speak of them without 
 emotion. 
 
 The town was crowded w ith Magyars from the Bakos 
 Plain, Suabians from the mountains west of the town, 
 Slowaks from Northern Hungary, Servians and Croatians 
 from the southern districts, and even long-haired Saxons 
 from Transylvania, and with different corporations, 
 unions, and guilds carrying banners. The honoured 
 veterans of the war of 1848 to 1853 in their old 
 uniforms, numbering in all sixty thousand persons, 
 lined the streets from the Western Railway Station to 
 the royal castle, a distance of six kilometres. 
 
 The royal castle of Buda is a marvel of antique archi- 
 tecture. It was built in 1769, and ever since 1771 the 
 hand of St. Stephen has been preserved as a sacred relic 
 within its ponderous walls. Every year, on the 20th of 
 August, a procession leaves the citadel, the relic being 
 carried from there to the Church of Our Lady of the 
 Assumption, and back again, to the sound of thrilling 
 music, and under a veritable hail of blossoms. 
 
 G3
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 On the coronation-day, all those who had been invited 
 by the government or the municipal authorities occupied 
 seats on the official grand-stands. When their majesties 
 issued from the palace on their way to the cathedral 
 deafening "eljens" were raised, and were kept up 
 almost uninterruptedly. The Emperor and Empress 
 rode in a magnificent state carriage drawn by eight 
 white horses. At the moment that the procession began 
 to move, a salute of one hundred and one minute- 
 guns was fired from the citadel. The procession was 
 headed by mounted police, followed by the carriage of 
 the governor of the city and by that of the chief of 
 police, and was the most brilliant pageant imaginable. 
 
 The escort of one hundred and eighty-two aristocrats 
 was an especially magnificent sight. Twelve pairs of 
 cavaliers, whose horses were led by armour-bearers in 
 Magyar dresses, were followed by eight mounted mag- 
 nates, each of whom carried a banner. The others all 
 came in pairs, each horse being led by one or two 
 armour-bearers. All the nobles wore the splendid dress 
 of the Hungarian magnate, adorned with gold embroidery 
 and precious stones from the kalpak — or head-covering, 
 which is surmounted with herons' feathers — down to 
 the high boots. The reins, gilt stirrups, and the shab- 
 racks and golden scabbards of the scimitars were 
 covered with diamonds and jewels, many of them being 
 worth a fortune. The imperial carriage was accom- 
 panied by the adjutant-general and by the Hungarian 
 minister. 
 
 The procession was followed by -six carriages con- 
 taining court officials, and by several hundreds of the 
 carriages belonging to members of the episcopacy and 
 the aristocracy. Most of the coaches and harnesses were 
 covered with gems and gold. The long train went at 
 
 64
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OP AN EMPRESS 
 
 a foot pace through the gloriously decorated streets, 
 amid the cheers of several hundred thousands of 
 spectators. The English know how to cheer, but their 
 "hurrahs" are not to be compared for volume of sound 
 with the thundering shouts heard on that day. Maidens 
 dressed in white showered flowers on the road followed 
 by the procession, invoking blessings on the heads of 
 their handsome sovereign and his lovely consort. 
 
 So great was the enthusiasm aroused by the appear- 
 ance of the Empress-Queen, that it is scarcely wonder- 
 ful if her whole heart went out anew to a people who, 
 by the warmth of their reception, the many tokens of 
 admiration and love bestowed upon her, presented so 
 vivid a contrast to the manner in which the Teutonic 
 portion of her husband's subjects had comported them- 
 selves towards her when the imperial crown had been 
 placed upon her brow, almost thirteen years before. 
 Her predilection for Hungary from henceforth became 
 more than ever marked. She learned the terribly 
 difficult Magyar language with her usual facility, de- 
 voting herself with such energy to this task that she 
 absolutely amazed her instructors, and most of her 
 time was spent in her marvellous Castle of Godollo, 
 near Buda-Pesth. 
 
 During the years which I had the joy of spending 
 there near her, we wandered untiringly together a-horse 
 and a-foot, in the green, moss-carpeted forests and on 
 the boundless Puszta. Everything interested her, and, 
 like her husband's celebrated relative, Archduke Joseph, 
 who actually wrote a Zingari grammar and is the 
 greatest authority on the origin and habits of the 
 Tzigane people, she delighted in visiting the camps of 
 these copper-hued, glittering-eyed beings, who have 
 music and poetry born in them, and who are to be 
 
 65 F
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 found in the entire purity of their race only in those 
 still semi-barbaric regions. 
 
 There never was, I truly believe, a rider worthy of 
 being compared to Elizabeth. Both in the field and 
 in the riding-school she was absolutely matchless with 
 regard to seat, grace, and ability, and although her 
 slender, dainty build would hardly have caused one to 
 believe it, her strength was very great, and there was 
 no horse that she could not ride when once she had 
 made up her mind to do so. The opinion of Franz 
 Gebhardt on the matter, who was the foremost rider of 
 the Spanish school at Vienna, is worthy of being 
 recorded. 
 
 He declared, many a time, that she outshone any 
 rider of her own sex, for she had a knack of putting 
 herself into immediate and almost mesmeric communi- 
 cation with her horse, and of making it show off to the 
 best advantage, never in any way hampering it by the 
 slightest false movement on her part. She aroused the 
 delight of the true connoisseur by the perfection of her 
 steps, courbettes, changements de pied, and all the other 
 delicate and intricate secrets of the difficult art of 
 high-school riding. 
 
 Not the least remarkable feature of her fondness for 
 horses was the extraordinary, almost hypnotic, influence 
 which she possessed over them; the most unmanage- 
 able animals would let themselves be approached and 
 petted by her. She used to throw the colonel in 
 command of the Eeit Lehren Institut at Vienna into 
 absolute convulsions of terror by occasionally bearing 
 down upon him with the request to " send to the riding- 
 school a couple of your wildest specimens for us to 
 have a little fun with ! " The hapless colonel would at 
 first try to evade obedience, but the Empress was 
 
 66
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 peremptory, and he had to give in, though his bronzed 
 face would turn ghastly pale under its tan as he 
 watched the slender, graceful figure of his sovereign 
 vault into the saddle and perform wonders of horse- 
 womanship on horses which he would not have dared to 
 let an ordinary cavalry officer ride. 
 
 Her friendship with Eliza, the celebrated haute-ecole 
 rider at Eenz's, gave rise to much unkind comment, but 
 the truth is that Eliza, now married to a distinguished 
 French officer, was of unimpeachable repute, and that 
 her admirable powers as a rider and breaker-in of horses 
 gave her the best of introductions into the favour of the 
 Empress. 
 
 Count P , who is one of the wealthiest magnates 
 
 in Hungary, and who breeds horse-flesh on a very 
 extensive scale, owned in 1878 a magnificent coal-black 
 stallion possessed of so fiendish a temper that for six 
 months his grooms had been unable to enter his box, 
 and were forced to feed him from pails provided with 
 six-foot-long handles. The Empress heard of this, and 
 would not rest until we had driven over to see the 
 Count, or, much rather, to see the Count's restive 
 pensioner. No prayers or entreaties could prevail when 
 the Empress had once made up her mind, and so, nolens 
 volens, our host was forced to conduct us to the farther 
 corner of his superb stables, where "Black Devil" — 
 such was the amiable animal's name — reigned supreme. 
 
 Without a minute's hesitation, and disregarding the 
 exclamations of horror from the on-lookers, Elizabeth 
 walked deliberately to the box, and chirruping in a 
 peculiar manner to its occupant, she drew back the bolt 
 and coolly entered. Those present held their breath, 
 expecting every moment to see the dauntless woman 
 trampled upon and torn to pieces. No such thing, 
 
 67
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 however, happened. At first the startled beast snorted 
 and laid back its ears, but soon the great fiery eyes 
 softened and grew tender, and the Empress was suffered 
 to pat the dilated nostrils and arched neck. 
 
 " Come here," she called out to me ; " he is as gentle 
 as a lamb, poor old boy, but he is in bad need of a 
 brushing up ! " 
 
 Where she had gone self-respect forbade me to refuse 
 to follow, so I promptly obeyed her command. Between 
 us we polished up "Black Devil," and ultimately left 
 him whinnying with fond gratitude, a vanquished 
 tyrant! So astonished was the Count, and so relieved 
 also at finding that no accident had happened, that he 
 craved permission to present the dusky beauty to her 
 Majesty. The gift was accepted, but it took a long 
 time before the four-footed "Devil" could be induced 
 to endure the presence of a man near him, and we had 
 all the work we could do in attending personally to his 
 demoniacal needs. However, the Empress ended by 
 obtaining such good mastery over him that he used to 
 follow her about like a dog in the park and grounds of 
 Godollo. 
 
 When we were at Godollo we were in the saddle as 
 early as half-past four in the morning, guiding our 
 horses through the tall, sweet-scented grasses, and 
 jumping over hedges and ditches, with little variation 
 save the changing of our mounts until the eleven 
 o'clock dejeuner a la fourchette. 
 
 Franz Gebhardt rode with the Empress a great 
 deal, not only in the riding-school, but also in the plains 
 surrounding Godollo, and his admiration for the Empress's 
 terrain reiten, as field-riding is called in Austria, was as 
 great as that which he felt for her performance in the 
 riding-school. The kindness which his imperial patron 
 
 68
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 showed hiin was boundless. She caused his daughters 
 to be brought up at her expense, and showered gifts of 
 all kinds upon himself and upon his family. 
 
 A very amusing incident took place during one 
 of my sojourns at Godollo, where Franz Gebhardt was 
 also staying at the time. During her high-school 
 exercises in her private manege, the Empress was in the 
 habit of having the necessary musical accompaniment 
 to the horse's paces played to her on a piano, which 
 stood in the gallery, by one of her maids-of-honour, a 
 pretty little countess, who, however, played abominably, 
 and, for the most part, completely out of time. One 
 morning Herr Gebhardt, who was wandering about the 
 castle, came upon a magnificent Bosendorfer grand- 
 piano in one of the distant rooms of the left wing. 
 Being passionately fond of music, and especially devoted 
 to Schumann, he sat down before the instrument, and, 
 believing himself to be entirely alone, began to play the 
 " Traumerei " in the most masterly fashion. Suddenly 
 the door was softly pushed open, and the dainty little 
 head of the Empress appeared. 
 
 " I did not know that you possessed this talent, too. 
 Surely if you can play like that you can do me the great 
 pleasure of playing a few polkas for me in the riding- 
 school this morning. The Countess is not here, and she 
 will know nothing about it, for you must understand," 
 added the Empress, very earnestly, "that I would not 
 have her feelings hurt for the world. She thinks that 
 she is doing me a great service by her playing, and she 
 does not realize that she cannot play at all." 
 
 I had followed the Empress into the room, and on 
 hearing this I could not restrain myself from laughing 
 outright. Herr Gebhardt, in spite of the gravity he tried 
 to assume, laughed too, and the three of us finally gave 
 
 G'J
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 way to our merriment until the tears fairly ran down our 
 cheeks. Thus was it that once, and only once, during 
 that summer did the Empress indulge in a little good 
 music while on horseback ; for, of course, " the feelings 
 of the little Countess were on no account to be hurt." 
 
 Her wanderings over the Puszta would often bring 
 Elizabeth within sight of an encampment of Csikos, 
 and she never failed to stop her horse and begin to 
 chat with these children of the Magyar plains, in whom 
 she felt a peculiar interest. She brought them welcome 
 gifts of golden-hued Turkish tobacco, and examined 
 their troops of semi-wild horses with the schooled eye 
 of a perfect equestrienne and of an earnest admirer of 
 good horse-flesh, which delighted the strange herdsmen. 
 Picturesquely arrayed in a long, white, linen, wide- 
 sleeved smock, or shirt, embroidered in vivid colours, 
 in loose white zouave pantaloons tucked into high 
 boots, and with a bunch of Puszta-grass and a heron's 
 feather in the band of his wide-brimmed hat, the 
 Magyar Csikos presents the European counterpart of 
 the American cow-boy, the South American Guacho, 
 and the African Bedaween. His life is spent on the 
 vast prairies of Hungary in tending the great herds 
 of semi-wild horses, the breeding of which constitutes 
 one of the most profitable and staple features of Magyar 
 industry. His life is by no means devoid of privations 
 and hardship, and yet he would not exchange it for 
 any other that might be offered to him. While the 
 summer lasts he often suffers thirst — that thirst which is 
 one of the terrors of prairie and desert life. His food, 
 which he carries about with him in the little two-wheeled, 
 canvas-covered cart, which is his only dwelling-place, 
 frequently gives out, and sometimes he has to wait for 
 many days before the purveyor of the Csikos comes on 
 
 70
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 his round to replenish the stock of all the scattered 
 members of the strange brotherhood. Notwithstanding 
 these drawbacks, the life on the Piiszta is possessed of 
 a freedom and charm which a true Magyar cannot resist. 
 The innate and romantic poetry of the immense flat 
 landscape, green as an emerald, with here and there a 
 clump of low birch-trees to vary its monotony, is to 
 the Csikos what the ever-rolling waves are to the 
 sailor — indispensable to his happiness. The Csikos is 
 courageous, robust, and indifferent both to extreme 
 cold and overpowering heat. As a rule, he is of middle 
 height, with well-cut features, a dark skin, bright and 
 intelligent black eyes, and the long, pointed moustache, 
 known throughout Europe as la moustache hoiujroise. He 
 wields the lasso with just as much mastery as does the 
 Guacho, and to my mind surpasses both the latter and 
 the Western cow-boy in horsemanship. A perfect rider, 
 he breaks in the colts belonging to his herd without 
 the assistance of either curb, saddle, rein, bit, or whip. 
 Simply slinging a rope halter over the young animal's 
 head, he conquers it by the iron pressure of his muscular 
 legs and the magical skill with which he poises his body 
 on the back of his fretting, curveting steed. 
 
 Hard indeed is the destiny of the Hungarian Csikos, 
 but fascinating also in the extreme. A little bread, a 
 little salt pork, a flask of wine, a bag of tobacco, and, 
 to shield him from the cold winds of the spring and 
 late autumn, a huge pelisse made of sheepskin, the 
 wool being worn inside, and the outer leather richly 
 embroidered in red, gold, yellow, and blue — these suffice 
 for his comfort and happiness. I should not, however, 
 omit from this equipage of his the piece of matting 
 with which he shelters his fire on windy nights, and 
 his can of paprika, or red pepper, with which he flavours 
 
 71
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 the national dish of "giilyas," an absolute necessity to 
 every true-born Magyar. 
 
 It can easily be imagined what a delightful change 
 from the monotony of their everyday life it was for the 
 Csikos to see us galloping up towards them, bringing 
 them, so to speak, a breath of worldly air and of novelty, 
 as well as many a little offering which pleased and 
 flattered them immensely. 
 
 After her definite return to Austria, Elizabeth, with 
 the buoyancy of youth, commenced to plan out for 
 herself a course of existence which she decided in her 
 mind would make up for all the dreariness of the past 
 years. She looked forward to regaining completely the 
 lost mastery of her husband's heart and her place in 
 her children's lives. 
 
 A cruel fate was, however, creeping upon the track of 
 the ill-fated imperial couple. For hardly had they had 
 time to enjoy the first days of this, their second honey- 
 moon, when the terrible news of the assassination of 
 the Emperor's beloved brother, Emperor Maximilian of 
 Mexico, reached them. Far away beyond the seas the 
 unfortunate Prince had met with a foul death at the 
 hands of the people whose ruler he had become at their 
 own urgent solicitation. For them he had abandoned 
 a most happy life, led partly at his brother's court and 
 partly on the lovely shores of the Adriatic, where he 
 owned the fairylike Palace of Miramar, which he had 
 created, and of which he was very justly proud. 
 
 This castle is a spot which appears like unto the 
 realization of the wildest dreams of an Oriental imagina- 
 tion. Perched on the extreme edge of a rocky promon- 
 tory, and built entirely of the purest, most spotless 
 marble, the snow-white building, with its background of 
 emerald-green hills and woods, is beyond any adequate 
 
 72
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 description. From the main terrace one looks straight 
 down upon the gently rippling water sixty feet below, 
 and so pure and transparent is it that the eye is able to 
 penetrate its full depth of over twenty fathoms, and to 
 clearly distinguish the ribbon-like algcc, and the pearly, 
 many-hued medusa; which sway to and fro beneath the 
 glassy surface. When I visited Miramar with the 
 Empress, I was much struck by the extreme transparency 
 of the sea, and she — who was passionately fond of study, 
 and had an extraordinary fund of knowledge — explained 
 to me that there are some oceans where under seventy- 
 five fathoms of water one can plainly distinguish the 
 pebbles and shells on the sandy bottom. 
 
 We walked often on the narrow edge of beach below 
 the rocky cliffs, which continue in a seldom-interrupted 
 line to the right of the castle grounds, interesting our- 
 selves in the maritime plants and polypi which abound 
 there in the shallow pools of water. We sometimes 
 found clusters of pure tuft-coral, sea anemones which 
 looked like a perfect kaleidoscope of palest green, soft 
 yellow, vivid lilac, tender blue, and deep crimson; star- 
 fishes, angel-wings, and prickly fungi, which we collected 
 for our little museums. The medusce, whose opal rose- 
 bordered umbrellas, escalloped with a band of blue, were 
 thrown by the gentle cerulean waves at our feet, Eliza- 
 beth would invariably push back into the water, saying, 
 in her low, melodious voice : 
 
 " It is too bad to let them be scorched and sucked up 
 by the sun-rays ; they suffer just like any other animated 
 being created by God's hand." 
 
 Her continual dread of hurting somebody or some- 
 thing Avas very characteristic of her, and she would step 
 out of the path she followed to avoid crushing a beetle 
 or an ugly caterpillar crawling on the ground. 
 
 73
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 It would take a much cleverer pen than mine to 
 portray the wellnigh fantastic architecture of the Palace 
 of Miramar; for minarets fretted and carved like lace, 
 pointed turrets, terraced roofs, adorned by groups of 
 exquisite winged statues, mediaeval battlements, and 
 drawbridges which savour of the fifteenth century, are 
 mingled together in a picturesque and magnificent, if 
 somewhat bewildering, confusion. The gardens and 
 extensive grounds are another marvel which it is difficult 
 to describe, so great is their beauty. The vegetation is 
 a mixture of the European and the tropical, each plant, 
 tree, or shrub having been carefully selected from the 
 finest of its kind. Firs and Siberian arolla grow side 
 by side with luxuriant bamboos and giant-leaved banana 
 plants. French poplars and silvery olive-trees tower 
 above great clusters of palmettos and cacti, while tall 
 date-palms and dark-foliaged magnolias shelter with 
 their deep, refreshing shadows strange mosses and 
 creepers and web-like ferns brought from the far north. 
 In every direction fountains very nearly as superb as 
 those of Versailles cool the atmosphere with their 
 prismatic spray, while even on the hottest day a cool 
 promenade is to be found under the superb avenue of 
 sycamores, which entirely shut out every ray of sunlight. 
 This avenue leads to glass houses where orchids, born in 
 the most equatorial regions of the world, bloom all the 
 year round in luxuriant splendour. The interior of the 
 castle is fully worthy of its matchless exterior, and 
 contains many treasures of art in its high-ceiled state 
 apartments and long galleries. The study, once Maxi- 
 milian's favourite room, is an exact reproduction of the 
 cabin on board his beautiful yacht, The Miramar, upon 
 which the handsome young Prince undertook his 
 disastrous voyage to his future empire. 
 
 74 
 
 

 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 It is a curious fact that Maximilian's consort, a 
 haughty, ambitious, narrow-minded Belgian princess, 
 should have been, during the years which preceded her 
 own coronation as Empress of Mexico, the greatest ally 
 of " Madame Mere " in the latter 's persecution of Eliza- 
 beth. Indeed, it was the jealousy with which she was 
 filled on account of her beautiful sister-in-law's superior 
 rank that led her to urge her kind and somewhat weak 
 husband to accept a sceptre which was bound to bring 
 to him and his both disappointment and misfortune. 
 
 After the tragedy of Queretaro, Elizabeth's attitude 
 of unselfish devotion towards her grief-stricken husband 
 deeply touched all who witnessed it. It seemed then 
 as if, with the exaggeration of self-censure peculiar to 
 all generous natures, she strove to atone for any pain 
 which she might have given him — although it was so 
 justly given — by her long estrangement from him. 
 She stood by his side nobly, and he found great con- 
 solation in looking for support and for comfort upon 
 his young wife's firm and reliant nature. Her long 
 wanderings in comparative solitude had matured her 
 mind and brought out many qualities which, had things 
 been otherwise, might have lain much longer dormant. 
 Afraid of nothing, never watching for the impression 
 which she produced, and absolutely indifferent to 
 what both men and women thought of her, she was 
 far above the starched and haughty social system in 
 which, nevertheless, her whole life seemed doomed to 
 be henceforth plunged. A ministering angel to all 
 those who suffered, she resumed her position at court 
 with a dignity of attitude, a kindness of heart, and a 
 loftiness of purpose which simply amazed and silenced, 
 for the time being at least, her worst detractors and 
 her most bitter enemies. 
 
 r-- 
 40
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 In the following spring another little girl was born to 
 the imperial couple, and from tenderest babyhood her 
 training and education were the Empress's chief care. 
 She was never tired of repeating to the governesses and 
 tutors of her two elder children that she wished them 
 to remain as much as possible unspoiled by the world ! 
 She endeavoured to teach them her own love of the open 
 air, of the great mountain solitudes, and of the influence 
 and ways of nature. 
 
 The Crown-prince was a most interesting child, head- 
 strong, generous, plucky, and at the same time extra- 
 ordinarily tender-hearted. At ten years old his resolute 
 air and charming manner made him a universal pet, 
 but under the influence of his paternal gradmother he 
 had acquired a waywardness, touched with some pride 
 and some vanity, which pained his mother whenever 
 she noticed it. From the moment of her return she 
 strove and succeeded, too, at last, in preventing the evil 
 effects of the adulation with which his entire entourage 
 was eager to wait on the slightest whim of this little 
 heir to a mighty throne. Fortunately he had many 
 compensating qualities — he was very affectionate and 
 sensitive, and easily moved to self-reproach. Well trained 
 to all bodily exercises, he fell rapidly into the habit of 
 accompanying his mother when she rode out on one of 
 her many mettlesome horses, and she never pleased him 
 better than when she called him her little comrade ! 
 
 Instinctively the boy felt that his mother's immovable 
 calm and extreme gentleness covered some great and 
 mysterious suffering. He had been so long kept away 
 from her that at first he felt a sort of shy reticence in 
 her presence; but this soon wore off, and a feeling of 
 absolute adoration for her crept gradually into his 
 heart. 
 
 76
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 The motherhood in Elizabeth welled up with extra- 
 ordinary force ; all her memories of past pain and sorrow 
 melted into an infinite tenderness for her darlings, and 
 their presence healed up most of the wounds that had 
 been dealt to her. On the summer following baby 
 Valerie's birth, the Empress spent several months in 
 her dear Upper Austrian mountains with the Crown- 
 prince and his two sisters. 
 
 Many are the delightful little scenes of her children's 
 early years which the Empress recorded in what she 
 used to call her " day-book," and which consisted in 
 reality of a series of volumes wonderfully written in 
 different languages, and interspersed with pen-and-ink 
 and w T ater-colour sketches, exquisitely done, to illustrate 
 the various periods which she described. 
 
 Of what value must that book now be to those whom 
 she left behind, provided she did not put into execution 
 the threat, which she once made in my presence, of 
 destroying this treasure of souvenirs which, so she argued, 
 contained too many painful reminders of sorrowful days 
 that had fled ! It is largely because I had the privilege 
 of reading and admiring portions of this book that I 
 am able to reconstruct so many incidents of Elizabeth's 
 life. 
 
 77
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 On a fresh cool morning the Empress was in her 
 favourite room at the Kaiser villa at Ischl, a long, low 
 apartment, with deep embrasures which she had filled 
 with ferns and flowers. The furniture was of carved 
 Indian work, and the walls were hung with old Gobelins, 
 representing the siege of Troy, while sketches, books, 
 and large stands filled with tall groups of flowering 
 reeds, pampas-grass, and pink foxgloves gave this charm- 
 ing retreat a cosy and attractive aspect. The imperial 
 lady had been giving the last touches to a small 
 statuette representing a Greek shepherd-boy and his dog, 
 which she had been modelling to while away the time. 
 
 At last, dropping her roughing chisel, she sank upon 
 the low couch near the open window. The breeze 
 came in through a screen of blue passion-flowers, stir- 
 ring the folds of her white cashmere gown and lifting 
 the soft waves of her hair from her forehead. She sat 
 quite still, one shapely hand resting on the head of a 
 huge St. Bernard dog, which was gravely sitting by her 
 side and looking lovingly at her with his honest brown 
 eyes. 
 
 Suddenly the door was gently pushed open, and Eudi 
 and Gisela came into the room carrying a large basket 
 of woven rushes between them, filled with forget-me- 
 nots and myrtle. They came up to her, exclaiming : 
 
 " This is for you, mamma ; we gathered them in our 
 own garden." 
 
 78
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 With a smile of pleasure she took the children on her 
 lap and kissed them tenderly. Gisela sat contentedly 
 on the Empress's knee, nestling her golden head 
 against her mother's breast ; but Kudi, already a big 
 boy, jumped down and began to trot about the room, 
 looking at all the pretty knick-knacks which littered the 
 tables and cabinets. 
 
 "Mamma," said he, suddenly, "why does everybody 
 like me better than they do Gisela ? " 
 
 " Why do you think so, darling ? I don't think it is 
 the case at all." 
 
 " Oh, but indeed it is ; probably I am better company 
 than Gisela." 
 
 " What a conceited little man you are getting to be, 
 Rudi ! " exclaimed the Empress, trying to conceal her 
 amusement ; " you are a great deal too sure of your own 
 superiority and perfection. God does not like conceited 
 children ! " 
 
 The boy looked up at his mother and smiled. " Oh," 
 said he, quietly, "I am not afraid that God should not 
 love me, because I love God and I do not see Him, so 
 God who sees me is sure to love me." 
 
 Astonished at this extraordinary remark, the Empress 
 said, gently : 
 
 " It is when God sees how naughty you are sometimes 
 that He does not love you, dear ! " 
 
 " God made me, did He not, mamma ? So He ought 
 to be pleased with me," replied the little fellow, quite 
 undisturbed. "But, mamma, why did God make ugly 
 people like Countess X , instead of making every- 
 body beautiful like you ? " 
 
 The Countess in question was one of her Majesty's 
 ladies-in-waiting, and, thanks to her brusque, authorita- 
 tive ways and ill-favoured features, was the children's 
 
 79
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 bete noir. The Empress could hardly repress her merri- 
 ment. 
 
 " You are too young to talk of such things," said she. 
 "Tell me what you want me to do this morning to 
 amuse you both till papa comes in to luncheon?" 
 
 " Oh, do sing us something, mamma ! " exclaimed 
 Kudi, pleadingly. 
 
 Elizabeth walked over to a large harmonium which 
 stood near the open window. She sat down before it, 
 and after striking a few chords which echoed through the 
 stillness of the chamber, she sang Schubert's " Serenade." 
 She was a great musician, having a dreamy, mellow 
 voice with an immense tenderness of interpretation. 
 
 The last words of the melody thrilled very sweetly 
 through the silence. Elizabeth looked up. Kudi was 
 leaning against the instrument. His eyes were full of 
 tears and his face was pale. 
 
 " I am sorry that I spoke as I did just now," said he, 
 tremulously. "It always makes me good to hear you 
 sing, mamma." She drew him towards her and kissed 
 him. 
 
 "Do you want me to sing again?" said she. 
 
 "Please do, mamma," said he, wistfully. 
 
 After a moment's pause her hands wandered lightly 
 over the keys, and called up the sweet, plaintive 
 " Volkslieder " she had heard so often in Austria sung 
 by the peasants, and to which she had listened so many 
 times when drifting slowly in her boat on the green 
 waters of the Gmlinden-See. Suddenly with one deep, 
 plaintive sigh her voice ceased. When she raised her 
 eyes she saw that the Emperor had noiselessly entered 
 the room and was standing before her. Their eyes met 
 with some of the old feeling awakened into their depths, 
 and Kiidi, who was watching them, said, suddenly : 
 
 SO
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 "Papa, I think that the angels must have faces like 
 
 mamma." 
 
 Certainly his father thought so too. 
 
 On another occasion, late in the autumn, the Empress 
 was sitting in a room which she called her studio, with 
 her three children about her. This studio was of oval 
 shape, hung with old Flemish tapestries and with a 
 collection of Meissen china figures on carved brackets 
 upon the walls. On the open hearth great logs of 
 crackling wood were burning, and all around there was, 
 as usual, the greatest profusion of flowers. An old 
 Dutch clock, which stood between two of the windows, 
 was half covered by an Australian creeper, the waxy 
 blossoms of which peeped out through clusters of 
 shining green leaves. Opening out from this room there 
 was a conservatory, filled with camellias, gardenias, 
 ferns, and orchids, artistically grouped about a pink 
 marble fountain, in the crystal waters of which silver 
 and gold fishes from Madagascar were swimming, 
 surrounded by masses of fragrant tropical flowers in 
 Satsuma boxes. 
 
 " Mutzerl," as baby Valerie was called, was asleep on 
 her mother's lap, and Rudi and Gisela were dancing up 
 and down the large room, which was lighted only by 
 the bright rays of the moon and by the fitful gleams 
 frorn the fire. The scene had something fairylike and 
 unreal about it. Gisela in her short lace petticoats 
 was pirouetting on the tips of her tiny feet, bounding 
 back and forth so lightly and gracefully that it would 
 have seemed in keeping with this elf-dance to see the 
 little silhouette suddenly glide up the broad, slanting 
 moonbeam which fell from the lofty window, and dis- 
 appear in the dark-blue, star-studded sky. Her little 
 slippers hardly made more noise as she danced than 
 
 81 G
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 the petals of a rose dropping on the polished floor. 
 There was no other sound throughout the dim, shadowy- 
 room. The Empress held her breath as she watched the 
 little girl, and Eudi, who had flung himself down on a 
 bearskin at Elizabeth's feet, lay quite still. Gisela was 
 then an uncommonly graceful child. Her long curls, 
 brilliant eyes, and small pink mouth made her look like 
 a picture by Sir Joshua Eeynolds. There was charm in 
 every one of her movements. Suddenly the little white 
 shadow alighted on the edge of a large arm-chair, and 
 remained poised like a dragon-fly on a willow-branch, 
 nodding her curly head, and pressing her pink hands 
 over her little beating heart. 
 
 " Brava, darling ! " exclaimed Elizabeth. " You are a 
 regular little ballerina. Who taught you to dance like 
 that?" 
 
 " Nobody, mamma," laughed the little fairy, and bound- 
 ing through the room she sprang upon the ottoman on 
 which her mother was sitting, and bent over the sleep- 
 ing baby with a look of adoring admiration upon her 
 small features. Marie-Valerie was an extremely pretty 
 infant, and, according to Eudi's statement, looked "just 
 like a very lovely wax doll that could breathe, laugh, 
 and cry, too, sometimes." 
 
 It is needless to say that she grew up to be her 
 mamma's pet, and indeed these two were not often apart. 
 "Mutzerl" had inherited her mother's love for flowers, 
 and as soon as she could rely upon her strong little 
 limbs to carry her wherever she listed, she started 
 miniature gardens of her own at all the different 
 palaces where the court stayed in turn. 
 
 One fine summer morning "Mutzerl," now five years 
 old, coaxed the Empress to see her "private grounds" 
 at Schloss Godollo. These "private grounds" were a 
 
 82
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 sunny corner where she was allowed to dig and plant 
 at her will, and where trees were represented often by 
 branches pulled from the neighbouring bushes, and 
 stuck jauntily into the ground by the imaginative em- 
 bryo gardener. An obliging stable-boy had taken upon 
 himself the task of helping "Mutzerl" in her horticul- 
 tural pursuits, and, thanks to him, the child could now 
 boast of growing some real flowers, planted in an orthodox 
 fashion, an achievement which filled her with delight and 
 pride. She had set her heart on presenting "mamma" 
 with a bouquet gathered among the valuable specimens 
 of geraniums, gloxinias, and dogroses which had outlived 
 many a revolution, and it was for this purpose that she 
 had been so anxious to show her around her possessions. 
 The Empress duly admired all the treasures exultingly 
 displayed to her by the enraptured little girl, but at last 
 ventured to observe : 
 
 "Don't you think, darling, that this garden would 
 be still prettier if kept a little more in order ? " 
 
 " Oh, that's Yanos's fault," promptly answered " Mut- 
 zerl ; " " he's always meddling here ! " 
 
 Elizabeth could hardly repress a smile, for Yanbs 
 was the ill-fated stable-boy who spent his leisure hours 
 in repairing the damage done by the wee Archduchess 
 in her garden. She lovingly watched the child as she 
 pulled several rosebuds from a bush, at the cost of her 
 own tiny fingers, and brought them triumphantly to 
 her. "Mutzerl" looked up from under her broad-leafed 
 hat with an expression so absurdly anxious for praise, 
 that she bent down and kissed the glowing face tenderly. 
 " Mutzerl " held her fast around the neck for a moment, 
 and as Elizabeth released her she said, solemnly : 
 
 " You are a very good mamma, and I love you very 
 much." 
 
 83
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 " Why do you love me, darling ? " asked the Empress, 
 fastening the flowers in her bosom. 
 
 "Because you are so pretty and nice, and because 
 you do all I wish." 
 
 "Do I?" 
 
 " Yes, and I want very much to ask something now." 
 
 " Well, what is it you wish, sweetheart ? " 
 
 " Oh, mamma, when Christmas comes I want to have 
 a lot of poor little children come to a Christmas-tree 
 that I will fix all by myself." 
 
 Much touched by the sweetness of the idea, the 
 Empress consented, of course, and " Mutzerl " laughed 
 gleefully, and trotted through the gardens by her side 
 perfectly contented and happy. 
 
 That same evening, Elizabeth was alone in her 
 dressing-room, reclining in the cosy depths of a large 
 arm-chair. Her hair was hanging in a loose luxuriance 
 on her shoulders, and she was wrapped in a pale lilac 
 neglige of softest Indian texture, with a profusion of old 
 lace at her throat and arms. Her dressing-room was 
 one of the prettiest nooks imaginable, with its silken 
 hangings, its silver swaying lamps, its toilet - table 
 shrouded in Valenciennes laces, and its cut-crystal vases 
 full of flowers. She sat there with an open book in her 
 lap, the soft light from the lamps shining on her fair 
 skin, on her sapphire-blue eyes, and on the shimmering 
 wealth of her hair. She was thinking of the little 
 darling girl asleep in the room next to her own, and of 
 the pretty instincts which already, at that early age, 
 made her think of giving pleasure to others. A proud 
 smile played about her lips as she lay back in her chair, 
 her head resting on her arm, with that grace which was 
 peculiarly charming because it was so natural and un- 
 studied. Suddenly she started as a light sound reached 
 
 84 
 
 I
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 her through the open door of the adjoining room, from 
 which a faint light was streaming. She arose and 
 stepped into "Mutzerl's" sleeping-apartment. The 
 little white bed of mother-of-pearl inlaid Cairene work 
 looked very peaceful under the rosy glimmer of the 
 shaded night-lamp. The child was fast asleep, her head 
 thrown back on the pillow, her arms above her head. 
 Her wavy hair had been pushed away from her fore- 
 head in her slumber, and she looked even more strikingly 
 lovely than when awake. She had been dreaming, and 
 even now she moved uneasily in her sleep, ruffling her 
 curls with her chubby hand, and thrusting the coverings 
 from her. The Empress bent down to cover her, and as 
 she did so she heard her mutter : 
 
 " The little children will be happy at my Christmas- 
 tree." 
 
 For a moment Elizabeth stooped over the unconscious 
 child, gazing upon the rounded, flushed cheeks, and an 
 ardent prayer went up from her heart. 
 
 " O God, spare my children to me, and let their lives 
 be pure and blessed ! " 
 
 Her face, whenever she was thus praying inwardly, 
 was enough to make one think of Montgomery's ex- 
 quisite verse: 
 
 "Prayer is the burden of a sigh, 
 The falling of a tear, 
 The upward glancing of an eye, 
 When none but God is near." 
 
 8.3
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Nowhere was Christmas celebrated with so much 
 fervour as at the Austrian court, until the time when 
 the relentless hand of death robbed the imperial couple 
 of their beloved Kudi. Before that supreme sorrow 
 had overtaken them it used to be the most joyful day of 
 the year for the Emperor and the Empress. Christmas 
 Eve was a double feast, as it also was Elizabeth's birth- 
 day. Then, surrounded only by those she loved, the 
 Empress's coldness and silent restraint would always 
 vanish, her reserve break up, and she would become 
 absolutely transformed by what touched her sympathies 
 and her affections. 
 
 From the day of the little scene between Valerie and 
 her mother, which I have attempted to describe in the 
 previous chapter, there always were two Christmas-trees, 
 one on the 23rd of December, which the little Arch- 
 duchess decorated with her own hands for a hundred 
 poor children selected from among her especial proteges, 
 and one on the 24th for the imperial family. The great 
 fir-trees, glittering with gold and silver nuts, rosy- 
 cheeked apples, and with myriads of little lights to 
 illuminate the thousands of beautiful toys, were indeed 
 things to admire. 
 
 At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 23rd the 
 poor children's tree was lighted up in the Eittersaal, a 
 splendid gallery-like room, with a lofty, arched ceiling, 
 where stained-glass windows, Flemish tapestries of untold 
 
 86
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 value, draperies of tawny velvets, and great escutcheons 
 of preciously enamelled metals half-covered the finely 
 carved and inlaid wainscoting. Every frame and mirror, 
 every one of the double row of grim damascened sets 
 of armour which stand on each side of the long " 'Saal," 
 was garlanded with mistletoe and holly. Clusters 
 of Christmas-roses and banks of snow-drops peeped 
 forth from trailing wreaths of ivy gracefully disposed 
 in every available corner. In the gigantic porphyry 
 hearth a fire of aromatic logs burned, adding its soft 
 glow to the dazzling little flames of the candles on the 
 Christmas-tree. 
 
 When the court lackeys, in their state liveries, had 
 opened the doors and drawn back the heavy portieres 
 the troop of enraptured children thus admitted to de- 
 lights worthy of Paradise bowed reverently, but without 
 shyness — for they knew that they Avere loved there, 
 and heartily welcome, too — and then ranged themselves, 
 the boys on the right and the girls on the left. Arch- 
 duchess Valerie was a picture to see as she advanced 
 towards them, a joyful smile on her young lips, and her 
 small hands filled with beribboned parcels, like some 
 good little fairy about to distribute her lavish gifts. 
 Each child received warm clothes, boots, caps, handker- 
 chiefs, woollen underwear, fur-lined gloves, and toys, to 
 say nothing of " goodies," as " Mutzerl " called bonbons 
 of all kinds. The happy youngsters gave- expression to 
 their ecstasy by jumps and bounds, and shouts of merry 
 laughter, just as unrestrained as if they were in their 
 own homes, instead of within the walls of the imperial 
 palace. When the noise had somewhat subsided, the 
 Archduchess invariably asked as her reward to hear 
 them sing the " Kaiser's Hymn." For a minute all was 
 still, then the grand melody would roll out under the 
 
 87
 
 THE MAETYEDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 high, emblazoned ceilings, the fresh young voices going 
 upward, like the carol of a hundred larks, intoxicated 
 by the mere joy of living. When these glad tones had 
 once more dropped into silence, the doors at the lower 
 end of the Bittersaal were thrown open, revealing a large 
 hall where a substantial feast had been prepared. 
 
 Oh ! how all those youthful eyes would widen with 
 surprise at the sight of the long tables loaded with huge 
 sides of cold roast-beef, haunches of venison, great plump, 
 truffled turkeys, and enormous piles of daintily cut sand- 
 wiches. Wonderful cakes studded with candied fruit, 
 showers of bonbons in capacious silver shells, pyramids 
 of grapes, and peaches, pears, oranges, and pineapples, 
 completed this gargantuesque tout ensemble, above which 
 floated the delicate aromas of tea, coffee, bouillon, and 
 chocolate. 
 
 Later on, when the overjoyed children had been dis- 
 missed, their little stomachs well filled and their tiny 
 hands burdened with presents, Valerie was entrusted 
 with another duty, equally delightful to her. The 
 Mayor of Vienna, when Christmas was spent in the 
 Austrian metropolis instead of at Godollo, as often was 
 the case, was summoned to the Hofburg, and received 
 at her hands a small portfolio containing the Christmas 
 offering of the imperial couple to the city hospitals, ten 
 thousand florins, and an order for hot-house fruit, cigars, 
 illustrated papers, and magazines, as well as quantities 
 of flowers. 
 
 On the 24th of December, immediately before the 
 family dinner, after which the second Christmas-tree 
 was to be lighted, a touching little ceremony always 
 took place in the Empress's private salon. There her 
 children and the Emperor, with a very transparent but 
 none the less extreme assumption of secrecy, laid out 
 
 88
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 a multitude of birthday souvenirs amid a mass of flower- 
 ing plants. Then all the candelabra were lighted, and 
 Elizabeth was solemnly led in by Valerie to receive the 
 congratulations and embraces of those she loved best 
 on earth. The smiles upon her sweet face, and the 
 suspicion of a tear in her glorious eyes, were the best 
 thanks that she could ever have offered, for they 
 brought to their very highest point both the radiance 
 of her beauty and the charm of her personality — 
 
 " A perfect woman, nobly planned, 
 To warn, to comfort, and command, 
 And yet a spirit still and bright, 
 With something of an angel light " — 
 
 and Christmas was one of the occasions selected by the 
 Empress to instil in her children's hearts the continual 
 thought of other people's comfort and pleasure, which 
 was one of her own most striking characteristics. 
 
 One of the finest traits of the Empress was certainly 
 her untiring charity, and her methods were always 
 notable for the extreme delicacy of feeling which she 
 showed in all things. It was she who caused the 
 Viennese to realize the very decided difference which 
 exists between men reduced to poverty through no fault 
 of their own, and men whose destitution is the result of 
 lazy or extravagant habits, and it was she who showed 
 them how to treat the former as fellow-citizens who 
 stand in need of help, and the latter as criminals 
 deserving severe reproof if not punishment. Through 
 her influence numberless families are now redeemed 
 from misery, many youths are saved from sin, many 
 men aided to begin new and prosperous lives. 
 
 In the year 1872 an association of 400 ladies and 
 noblemen, belonging to the loftiest ranks of society and 
 
 89
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 presided over by Elizabeth herself, was formed for the 
 purpose of supplying wholesome dinners to the poor at 
 the lowest possible price. Each member gave a sum of 
 700 florins towards the initial outlay, and with this 
 money the first volkskuchen (people's kitchen) was opened. 
 To-day there are fifteen of these in Vienna, and in the 
 course of the year food is sold in them to the value of 
 more than 1,200,000 florins. 
 
 The volkskuchen are large rooms, with great windows 
 letting in both sun and air, and provided with oak 
 tables and benches, which are kept scrupulously clean. 
 The floor is paved with marble, and at the lower end 
 of the hall a wooden counter serves as a division from 
 the actual kitchen, where many cooks are at work 
 preparing food. All classes, from poor university 
 students to ragged-looking tramps, receive a kindly 
 welcome. 
 
 Every day over ten thousand persons dine in the 
 volkskikhen, and the marvellously low price at which the 
 food is sold can only be accounted for by the huge 
 quantities in which it is bought and prepared. The 
 complete dinner, excellently cooked, costs two groschen, 
 and a breakfast of coffee, bread-and-butter, and some 
 kind of stew can be obtained in the early morning for 
 one groschen. From six to nine in the evening supper 
 is served at the cost of one groschen, and is generally 
 composed of soup, cold meat, and pudding. The ladies 
 and gentlemen who manage this superb association 
 have done wonders. Eight or ten ladies belonging to 
 the court circle make a point of being in each kitchen 
 while the dinners are being served. 
 
 It is, one must confess, a rather touching sight to 
 watch the lovely and aristocratic court beauties of 
 Vienna, wearing snowy aprons over their elegant 
 
 90
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 walking-dresses, as they distribute the food to the poor, 
 ill-fed wretches who crowd the room. A kind smile or 
 word of sympathy always accompanies the action. It 
 often happens that one of these charming ministering 
 angels grows deeply interested in the case of one or 
 another of her guests, and thus becomes the means of 
 doing a great deal of practical good. 
 
 It is not by a lavish and unreasonable expenditure 
 that the Viennese secure comfort for their deserving 
 poor, but by infinite attention to details, endless care, 
 and hearty sympathy with suffering, for in spite of 
 their long-kept-up animosity against the Empress, her 
 influence has been great even at Vienna in all matters 
 pertaining to kindness and generosity ; and this good 
 which she has worked is certainly one of the finest 
 monuments which she has left behind her. 
 
 She was kind by temperament and by nature, and 
 loved to see smiling, happy faces around her, and to 
 give beautiful presents, just as she loved to do good 
 on every possible occasion. It was not a mere sense of 
 duty which prompted her, for all she did was performed 
 cheerfully, silently, for the most part almost as if she 
 were not aware of what she was accomplishing. Soft, 
 conciliatory words, small and great services rendered 
 smilingly, without fuss or bustle, were habitual to her. 
 She went on her way feeling that her task was never at 
 an end, thinking of the morrow, of those she had not 
 yet succoured, of the many hands there were yet to fill, 
 the many sorrows still to console, the countless miseries 
 that, in spite of all she already had done, remained to 
 be relieved. Here, again, I am compelled to quote some 
 lines which suit her and describe her admirably : 
 
 •• No simple duty was forgot, 
 Life had no dim and lonely spot 
 
 91
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 That did not in her sunshine share; 
 
 No caprice of mind, 
 
 No passing influence of idle time, 
 
 No popular show, no clamour from the crowd, 
 
 Could move her, erring, from the path of right," 
 
 Marie- Valerie remained her mother's almost constant 
 companion, even after she attained maidenhood, and 
 was being educated by the highly gifted and talented 
 Bishop Eonay, who had previously been the tutor of her 
 ill-fated brother. From her tenderest childhood the very 
 atmosphere in which she moved was redolent of fidelity, 
 of courage, and of dignity. She grew up to be extremely 
 fascinating, and has not to this day a grain of self- 
 consciousness or of self-assertion. Her appearance as 
 a girl was ethereal and delicate, but that delicacy of 
 mould sheathed nerves of steel, and her slender, supple 
 frame could stand more fatigue than that of many a 
 stronger-looking woman. She swam like an otter, rode 
 almost as well as her mother, fenced and shot with 
 great skill, and was a sure-footed mountaineer. Her 
 education had been pushed further than is generally 
 the case with young girls of her position. She learned 
 Latin and Greek, together with seven or eight living 
 languages, drew and painted with great talent, and sang 
 with a singular richness and power. 
 
 She has inherited all her mother's love for sport and 
 out-door life, and delighted, when at Ischl, in taking 
 long and tiring walks, for she was never so happy as 
 when among the mountains. Late in the autumn she 
 used often to don a fur-lined riding-habit, and, mounting 
 a pony well used to the hills, she would wander on 
 the frozen paths leading to the snow-covered peaks 
 above. She knew every step of the way up to the 
 spurs of the mountains, and would ride till the ascent 
 
 92
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 grew too steep for her horse ; then, leaving the latter 
 with her attendant Yaegers, she would seize her alpen- 
 stock and go on her way over the gigantic bowlders, 
 breathing with delight the icy blast from the lofty 
 summits. Of course there was danger in such expedi- 
 tions, but the young Archduchess knew what she was 
 about, and kept to the right path regardless of the 
 fierce winds tearing at her clothes and of the proximity 
 of the yawning abysses beneath her. 
 
 The marriage of Archduchess Valerie to her cousin, 
 Archduke Francis-Salvator, was of unusual interest not 
 only in her father's dominions but also abroad, by reason 
 of the fact that her imperial highness had since her 
 birth been the favourite child of her parents, the living 
 token of the reconciliation brought about between them 
 by the statesmen of the dual empire on the eve of their 
 coronation as King and Queen of Hungary. Moreover, 
 the young Archduchess, concerning whose unaffected 
 ways and kindly heart innumerable anecdotes were 
 current among the people, had always been a kind of 
 second self to her mother, and her loving comforter 
 and consoler at the time of Rudolf's death. 
 
 Much anxiety prevailed among her Majesty's entourage 
 
 respecting the manner in which she would bear the 
 
 separation when the Archduchess entered upon her 
 
 married life at Castle Lichtenberg, near Wels, a garrison 
 
 town some hours from Vienna, where the regiment to 
 
 which the Archduke belonged was stationed. The 
 
 Empress, however, as she always did in the important 
 
 moments of her life, showed her sense and judgment by 
 
 conquering the distress caused by this separation, and 
 
 looked to the frequent visits that were to be exchanged 
 
 between them to make up for the dreariness caused 
 
 by the absence of her beloved girl. The marriage has 
 
 93
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 turned out exceedingly well, the young couple being 
 entirely suited to one another. 
 
 Her former teachers were right when they unani- 
 mously spoke in the warmest praise of Valerie's literary 
 abilities, for she has given evidence thereof by the pro- 
 duction of several poems and admirable essays which 
 have been published and enjoy a wide-spread sale. 
 
 That the Empress, like her daughter, was a remark- 
 able writer of prose is not so very generally known as 
 that she wrote exquisite poetry. Upon a shrine, 
 dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, near Ischl, there are 
 inscribed a few short verses bv her, so beautiful and so 
 touching that those who see them come nearer to 
 reading aright the soulful nature of the Kaiserin than 
 it has been given to most of those who knew her to do. 
 It is untranslatable; at least, I humbly confess that I 
 would be unable to do so without destroying its delicate 
 charm and deep, pious feeling. I therefore give it here 
 in the original German, just as Elizabeth of Austria 
 wrote it: 
 
 " breite deine Arme aus 
 Maria, die wir griissen; 
 Leg, schutzend, sie auf dieses Hans 
 Im Thai zu deinen Ftissen. 
 segne dieses kleine Nest, 
 Mag rings der Sturm auch wtithen, 
 In deinem Schutze steht es fest, 
 Voll Gnaden wirst du's hiiten." 
 
 Once Archduchess Marie-Valerie surprised her parents 
 by composing, for the Empress's birthday, a charming 
 piece which she, together with Archduchess Sophia- 
 Marguerite, and Prince and Princess Auersperg, enacted 
 on a beautifully decorated stage which they had caused 
 to be erected in one of the state apartments of the 
 
 94
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Hofburg. At the end of the representation Archduchess 
 Valerie appeared upon the scene, alone, wearing the con- 
 ventional costume given to the figure which represents 
 Austria, with a crown on her head and a sceptre in her 
 hand, and pronounced the epilogue, consisting of some 
 verses also composed by herself, and which gave expression 
 to her love, respect, and gratitude towards the Empress. 
 
 The latter, with tears of pleasure in her eyes, em- 
 braced her child fondly, and turning to Adolph Sonnen- 
 thal, who had superintended the whole mise en scene, and 
 who had been the teacher in dramatic art of the young 
 Archduchess, thanked him warmly, saying : 
 
 "I have to thank you already for many and many a 
 delightful evening spent in listening to you from my 
 box at the Burgtheater, but to-day I must express 
 especial gratitude for the exquisite hours which I have 
 just enjoyed." 
 
 This little festival had taken place quite en famille, 
 nevertheless Sonnenthal was invited by the Empress to 
 remain for the family supper. Elizabeth had a great 
 admiration for the talent of this, one of Austria's greatest 
 and most talented actors, and showed him marked kind- 
 ness upon different occasions. While staying at San 
 Eemo she visited an Austrian lady who owns a villa 
 there, and while being shown round the house she came 
 upon an apartment beautifully decorated with palms and 
 flowers. 
 
 "This," said the Empress's host, "is the room where 
 my dear mother died, and I preserve it, as your Majesty 
 can see, like a sort of little memorial chapel." 
 
 " Your mother was a woman of taste," replied the 
 Empress, pointing to a marble bust of Sonnenthal which 
 stood on a pedestal in a corner, "since she appreciated 
 our great artist." 
 
 95
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Alexander Strakosch was also a great favourite of 
 Empress Elizabeth's. The late Archduke Charles-Louis 
 told hiui one day, after a recitation which the genial 
 Strakosch had given at the Archduke's beautiful castle 
 of Wartholz : 
 
 " I wish that my sister-in-law, the Empress, could 
 hear you," and thereupon arranged to bring him to the 
 Hofburg, where he was presented to Elizabeth by the 
 then grand mistress of her court, Countess Kornis. In 
 1888, just after Strakosch's return from a tour in America, 
 he was requested to come to Ischl, and to appear at the 
 Kaiser Villa. The Emperor was present on that occa- 
 sion, and shaking him warmly by the hand, his Majesty 
 exclaimed : 
 
 "You have done us much honour in America by 
 your wonderful success." 
 
 After the evening meal, which he was asked to share 
 with the imperial family, and during which both the 
 Emperor and Empress talked in the most gracious and 
 amiable fashion about America, Strakosch recited the 
 forum scene from "Julius Caesar." When he had 
 finished, the Empress said, smiling : 
 
 " It is wonderful ! While you were speaking I closed 
 my eyes, and actually fancied myself transported to 
 ancient Rome." 
 
 She then asked him to recite the " Two Grenadiers," 
 that beautiful poem of Heine's, and also " The Pilgrimage 
 to Kevelaar," and while he was reciting it great tears 
 ran down the Empress's cheeks. Heine was her favourite 
 poet, and her reverence for him was extreme ; she pos- 
 sessed all his works, some of them in manuscript, and 
 there are many touching things that could be told about 
 her kindness to the great poet's family. 
 
 Marie-Valerie is her mother's imitator in being the 
 
 96
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 untiring protectress of the poor and the afflicted, and 
 the lessons which she learned in her youth with regard 
 to this have borne and are still bearing fruit, although, 
 perhaps, just as was the case with Elizabeth, justice is 
 not always done to her by the common herd. 
 
 Ever ready to propagate cruel absurdities concerning 
 the Empress, the short-sighted, frivolous, and superficial 
 society of the Austrian capital remained only too often 
 blind to her innumerable acts of charity. Often, in the 
 early hours of the morning, she would glide out of her 
 palace either at Vienna or at Buda-Pesth to proceed on 
 errands of mercy, accompanied by a trusted, confidential 
 attendant. Elizabeth never knew fear. She penetrated 
 into the darkest, poorest, and roughest quarters, where 
 were huddled together the fierce multitudes that breed 
 anarchy and that make revolutions. She was perfectly 
 safe among them. No one knew who she was, but her 
 courage, her gentleness, and her open-hearted generosity 
 caused the wretched creatures whom she visited to regard 
 her in the light of an angel. They never suspected 
 that the kind lady who succoured their cruel need was 
 the cold, proud, and haughty sovereign who was taxed 
 with heartlessness and indifference by both high and 
 low in the great country over which her husband reigned. 
 Numerous families redeemed from misery and suffering, 
 many slovenly homes saved from despair, many foul 
 places purged to moral and practical cleanliness — these 
 were some of the results of her Majesty's visits to the 
 slums of her empire. She could go unharmed where 
 the police would hardly venture, for the people grew 
 to love her, and would not willingly have hurt a hair of 
 her head. She helped the unfortunate unconditionally, 
 and consoled them just as did her namesake, Elizabeth 
 of Hungary, centuries ago. 
 
 97 H
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN" EMPRESS 
 
 I remember many a secret errand upon which we 
 went together, unaccompanied by even so much as a 
 servant, at dusk, in the most squalid quarters of Vienna 
 or Buda-Pesth. Dressed in the plainest fashion possible, 
 we wended our way through narrow alleys and ascended 
 damp, mouldy staircases, where it hardly seemed safe 
 to tread, in quest of the dark lodgings of the truly 
 , deserving poor, who belong to a class too proud to 
 become actual beggars. Many a sick-bed was brightened 
 by flowers and fruit, of which Elizabeth always insisted 
 upon carrying her fair share. Her sweet face brought 
 light and joy to the miserable wretches tossing their 
 fevered bodies on dingy beds. No sore was too repulsive, 
 no task too fatiguing for her slender, imperial hands, 
 and instead of the cant which is used by so many when 
 bent on such errands, she would find some encouraging, 
 cheering words of hope and sympathy, untainted by 
 religious exaggerations and preachings, which went 
 straight to the hearts of the sufferers. 
 
 Sometimes our adventures in this direction were 
 fraught with rather amusing episodes. For instance, 
 late one evening we were riding side by side through a 
 straggling outskirt of Pesth, followed at the regulation 
 distance by an old and faithful groom. Passing in front 
 of a lonely hovel separated from the main road by an 
 apology for a garden, where some weeds and gaunt 
 shrubs grew, we were startled by hearing the most 
 awful screams for help proceeding from the ramshackle, 
 crazy-looking plank building. The voice was that of 
 a woman evidently in the greatest of distress. On the 
 impulse of the moment we both leaped from our horses, 
 and rushing to the door and pushing it open, we found 
 ourselves in a villanously dirty room, where a huge 
 ruffian of a man was dragging a woman about the floor 
 
 98
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 by her luxuriant, unbound hair, kicking her vigorously 
 as he did so. Before I realized what was happening, 
 the Empress had laid her heavy hunting-crop about the 
 fellow's face, and so surprised was he at our unexpected 
 appearance and at this vigorous onslaught that he 
 dropped his victim and stared at us in blank amazement. 
 His astonishment was, however, as nothing to ours when 
 the ill-used dame sprang to her feet and, putting her 
 arms akimbo, demanded, in her shrillest Hungarian and 
 with a torrent of invectives, what "we hussies" meant 
 by interfering with her husband. The Empress, who 
 possessed a considerable amount of humour, and in whom 
 the sense of the ridiculous was singularly developed, 
 burst into a peal of laughter, and taking from the side 
 pocket of her habit a couple of gold ten-gulden pieces, 
 she handed them to this model benedict, exclaiming : 
 "Beat her, my friend. Beat her all she wants. She 
 deserves it for being so loyal to you." 
 
 Elizabeth adored children, and was gentle and 
 motherly to rich and poor alike. At the close of the 
 Vienna exhibition of 1873 she took into her service a 
 little Berberine boy named Mahmoud, who had accom- 
 panied the Egyptian government mission to Austria. 
 He had acted as page of the Cairene house which the 
 Khedive Ismail had caused to be erected in the Prater 
 and had presented to her imperial majesty. The little 
 fellow, with his great black eyes, his bright and 
 picturesque dress, and his dusky skin, looked for all 
 the world like one of Barbedienne's enamelled bronzes. 
 The Empress became much attached to the tiny African, 
 and was exceedingly kind to him. When the cruel cold 
 of the Vienna winter affected his lungs, accustomed as 
 he was to the hot winds of the African desert, and he 
 fell ill with pneumonia, she nursed and tended him with 
 
 99
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 her own fair hands. Mahmoud literally worshipped his 
 imperial mistress, and could hardly bear her out of his 
 sight. This intense devotion, however, had its draw- 
 backs, for he was morbidly jealous of her, with all the 
 unreasoning jealousy of a child and the savagery of a 
 wild little animal. He became the playmate of young 
 Archduchess Valerie, and the horror of the Austrian 
 aristocracy knew no bounds when they saw their 
 Empress's favourite child, who looked like a dainty 
 harebell with her slender figure and bright gossamer 
 skirts, continually in the company of the flat-nosed and 
 thick-lipped African boy. The Empress, on being in- 
 formed of the indignation which she had unwittingly 
 aroused by her kindness to Mahmoud, whom she was 
 accustomed to describe as mcin kleiner schwarzcr Kaefer 
 (my little black beetle), became imbued with the spirit 
 of defiance which she so often displayed where her 
 Austrian subjects were concerned, and she responded 
 to their murmurs by having the two children — the 
 white and the black, the imperial princess and the slave 
 boy — photographed together, arm in arm. Haughty, 
 patrician, exclusive Vienna lifted its hands to Heaven 
 in its indignation, and this one act of hers added 
 thousands to the already large number of Elizabeth's 
 detractors. Many even then began again to hint that 
 the Empress was not quite right in her mind, and that 
 her extravagances were certain signs of latent dementia. 
 
 100
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Religious as was the Empress, yet she hated exaggera- 
 tion in everything, and the breadth and lucidity of her 
 mind made her regard fanaticism with a sort of horror. 
 She was so deeply shocked by the tragic history of the 
 Carmelite nun, Sister Barbara, which, when brought to 
 light in 1869, was the cause of the bloody riots which 
 took place at Cracow, that she immediately used her 
 influence in order to have the whole horrible affair 
 cleared up. Indeed, it was through a petition addressed 
 to the Empress by the victim's brother that the gruesome 
 secret of the Polish Carmelite convent was disclosed. 
 
 Sister Barbara belonged to a noble Polish family 
 who had forced her to enter religious orders in order 
 to prevent her from marrying a young officer of Lancers 
 with whom she had fallen in love, but who unfortunately 
 had neither rank, title, nor fortune. On entering the 
 grim old convent of Cracow, she ceased all communica- 
 tions with her family, by her express desire, as it was 
 believed at the time ; and it was not until more than 
 twenty years had elapsed that one of her brothers, 
 inquiring from the religious authorities what had become 
 of his beautiful sister, was given to understand that she 
 was not any longer on the list of the living. Struck 
 by the shiftiness of the answer, he proceeded to the 
 palace of the Archbishop of Cracow, and throwing 
 himself at the venerable prelate's feet, entreated him 
 to find out if Sister Barbara were really living. The 
 
 101
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 archbishop took steps without delay to discover the 
 truth, but the abbess of the Carmelite convent in which 
 Sister Barbara was supposed to have died not only 
 refused to answer any questions about the matter, but, 
 availing herself of the inviolability of convents, abso- 
 lutely declined to allow any government official to pass 
 the portals. In the mean while the brother had sent 
 off his petition to Empress Elizabeth. She promptly 
 sent it to the Archbishop of Cracow and with it a 
 personal letter, begging him at once to institute a 
 search in the convent. 
 
 The archbishop, who was a just and enlightened man, 
 secured the assistance of the police, and surrounded by 
 a battalion of gendarmes, commanded by Count Spauer, 
 one of the most dashing and plucky cavalry officers of 
 the Emperor's army, forced an entrance into the convent 
 in spite of the invectives and desperate resistance of the 
 infuriated nuns. The latter actually went so far as to 
 arm themselves with stones, and the military narrowly 
 escaped being ignominiously repulsed by these holy 
 women, against whom, of course, they dared not draw 
 their swords. 
 
 After a long search, the archbishop and his party 
 descended into the dungeons, fifteen feet under the 
 ground, where they heard low groans and moans, which 
 sounded more bestial than human, proceeding from a 
 half-bricked-up cell in a narrow stone passage. In this 
 living tomb, seven paces long by six paces wide, they 
 discovered, by the light of the torches they carried, a 
 naked woman, with long dishevelled hair, crouching 
 in a corner of her filthy prison. At the unaccustomed 
 sight of light the unfortunate creature began to scream 
 with terror, and, springing to her feet, tore at the granite 
 walls with her talon-like nails. After much labour the 
 
 102
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 bricks, which more than half closed up the entrance, 
 were removed, and the raving inmate of the cell was 
 approached. It was found that both her feet and hands 
 were loosely bound with steel chains, so as to avoid the 
 remotest possibility of escape on her part, and that her 
 whole body was covered with ulcers, while her tangled 
 tresses were simply alive with vermin. This was Sister 
 Barbara Ubryk, insane, and without the power of speech 
 — the consequences of her incarceration of over nineteen 
 years in this chamber of physical and mental torture. 
 The archbishop, shocked beyond measure, had the abbess 
 brought before him, and frightened her into confessing 
 to him that this barbarous deed had been perpetrated 
 by her orders, and in punishment of what she called a 
 crime committed by Sister Barbara. The "crime" in 
 question consisted in her having, during the first year 
 of her convent novitiate, kept up a correspondence with 
 her former admirer, and having, it appeared, consented 
 by letter to elope with him. This infraction of all 
 convent rules was brought to the notice of the abbess 
 by a nun whom poor Barbara had been forced to take 
 into her confidence, and who was glad to ingratiate 
 herself with the mother - superior by betraying her 
 miserable companion. With the help of this nun, the 
 abbess conducted Sister Barbara to the underground 
 dungeon at the dead of night, and bound her with 
 chains. With their own delicate hands the two women 
 built up the entrance of the narrow prison with bricks, 
 leaving only a square opening through which bread 
 and water were handed three times a week. No one 
 else was let into the dismal secret, and as the dungeon 
 was supposed to be haunted, the moans and cries of 
 the prisoner, if ever heard by the members of the com- 
 munity, were attributed to supernatural visitors, and 
 
 103
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 not one of the nuns ever dared to approach the steps 
 leading down to the subterranean part of the great 
 building. The archbishop, whose indignation knew no 
 bounds, placed the abbess, together with her accom- 
 plice, under arrest, in a cell guarded by sentries, until 
 he could refer the matter to his Holiness the Pope. 
 Sister Barbara, who meanwhile had been clothed and 
 fed, he took to the city lunatic asylum. 
 
 When the story became known to the people of 
 Cracow, they collected around the convent where the 
 abbess was imprisoned and threatened to burn not only 
 it but all the convents with which the town abounds. 
 The military had to be called out again, and the 
 terrible riots which ensued lasted long and caused much 
 bloodshed. Subsequently the abbess, and the nun who 
 had been her confidante and helpmate, were severely 
 punished by the Pope. 
 
 In the year 1876, while on a visit to Cracow, I was 
 taken to see the lunatic asylum where Sister Barbara 
 had been placed. The director of the asylum asked me 
 whether I should like to see the heroine of the riots 
 of 1869. To this I readily acquiesced, and I was soon 
 ushered into a large, sunny room, brightened by flowers 
 and daintily furnished. Near the window, sitting in a 
 large chintz-covered arm-chair, was Sister Barbara, her 
 hands crossed in her lap and her large blue eyes staring 
 vacantly at a cage full of canaries which stood on the 
 window-sill. Could this placid, white-haired, aristocratic- 
 looking woman be the same who had seven years before 
 been rescued from an awful martyrdom, and who then 
 had been more like a wild animal than a human being ? 
 However, it was so! Gentle treatment and good care 
 had restored her health, but neither her reason nor her 
 power of speech. Her attendants told me that she 
 
 104
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 seemed to have forgotten all her tortures. She was 
 now always quiet, and apparently incapable of feeling 
 any kind of emotion ; birds and flowers arrested her 
 eye, and sometimes brought a faint smile to her still 
 beautiful lips, but otherwise she was absolutely oblivious 
 of her surroundings. 
 
 I spoke to her, but she took no notice of what I 
 said, and after a few moments I left her still gazing 
 at the little imprisoned songsters, who, perchance, re- 
 minded her of the time when she also was a captive, 
 though in a far more dreadful cage. 
 
 The Empress was so deeply interested in what I 
 subsequently told her of my visit to Sister Barbara 
 that until the latter's death, which occurred some ten 
 years later, she frequently sent flowers to the poor, 
 forlorn creature, and also some pretty and valuable 
 singing-birds, since birds and flowers alone had re- 
 tained the power of awakening a ray of feeling in her 
 dimmed soul. 
 
 It is hard to think that death alone should have 
 been able to tear the veil which obscured the sight of 
 Elizabeth's detractors. The Austrian press, from the 
 very moment that the electric wires flashed to Vienna 
 the awful news of her assassination, took upon itself 
 to deluge her memory with encomiums and enthusiastic 
 praise. A Vienna daily paper published an article, 
 entitled " The Misjudged Empress," in which it confessed 
 "that the Vienna press frequently misinterpreted the 
 noble motives and intentions of the Empress, who was 
 a highly strung, sensitive character, and whose fine 
 feelings, abhorrent to every form of self-advertisement, 
 were sometimes mistaken for pride and dislike by the 
 Viennese." 
 
 Some of these articles came under my notice lately, 
 
 105
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 and I cannot help feeling the bitterness of these post- 
 mortem retractions, which seem of but very little use, 
 and which do not in any way modify my opinion when 
 I said at the beginning of this work that "not a pen 
 is being grasped m vindication of so many injustices." 
 For eulogies accorded to the dead are comprised in 
 all funeral ceremonies, and could corpses, lying under 
 the sod of our cemeteries, or beneath the flag-stones 
 of gorgeous mausoleums, hear the pompous speeches 
 pronounced by people who hated and reviled them 
 during their lives, they might possibly indulge in a 
 cadaverous grin at the hypocrisy of good, generous 
 humanity ! 
 
 The multitudes which thronged the streets of Vienna 
 to witness the gorgeous procession following Elizabeth's 
 coffin was composed of those self-same mourners who 
 accompanied, ten years before, that of Archduke Rudolph 
 — "Unser Eudi" — and who wept and sobbed and tore 
 their hair, while in their hearts lurked the conviction 
 that the young Prince was first an assassin and then a 
 suicide. Ten years, I say ! It is a long time, and yet 
 during all those days and months which composed them 
 nobody has really tried to put the truth, the naked, un- 
 adorned truth, of Rudolph's responsibility in the matter 
 before the public. One writer — who called and still 
 calls himself a friend of the ill-fated Prince — has pub- 
 lished a booklet about the Mayerling tragedy. But, 
 alas, the so-called "excuses" which he puts forward to 
 exonerate Rudolph from blame are two-edged tools, 
 which would cut and slice what might otherwise remain 
 sacred about his memory were that pamphlet more 
 generally read — which, thank goodness, it is not ! 
 
 Mother and son have been misunderstood, misjudged, 
 ah, how severely ! But now they are reunited, and all 
 
 10G
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 the sorrows and disappointments of their earthly careers 
 have passed from them — all the unkindness done to 
 them by so many, the small and the great. Indeed, 
 in so far as their home life was concerned, they might 
 both have quoted the following lines: 
 
 " Small slights, neglect, unmixed, perhaps, with hate, 
 Make up in number what they want in weight. 
 These, and a thousand griefs minute as these, 
 Corrode our comfort and destroy our ease. 1 ' 
 
 And what about their other countless miseries? 
 
 The bond which united Eudi to his mother was a 
 very strong one; she was so youthful and full of life 
 and beauty that he felt towards her as if she had been 
 but an elder and beloved sister. When apart from each 
 other they were in the habit of corresponding daily, and 
 many of the letters thus exchanged were exquisite bits 
 of literature. The style of each was remarkable, and 
 they wrote to each other in many different languages, 
 especially in English, which they both loved to speak 
 and to write. A letter written by Eudi at the end of 
 the seventies from the Istrian coast, where he had gone 
 to visit a friend, began as follows : 
 
 "My Dearest,— When I arrived the sun was shining brightly on 
 the top of the pink granite cliffs, shedding its golden light over the 
 undulating plains of the table-land, which looked like a sea of dewy 
 grasses and odorous flowers. Far down below us there was a hazy, 
 shimmering line that showed where the sea was breaking on the 
 Adriatic shore. I never come so far south without wishing, more 
 than ever, that you were with me, you who love and appreciate this 
 beautiful part of the world so much. In this spring-tide of the year, 
 this season of youth and of love, of birds' songs and of budding roses, 
 I found Philip in the stately, melancholy rooms of his villa, which 
 stands on a steeply rising slope. He was arranging pictures, tapestries, 
 statues, bronzes, and old brocades and embroideries, in the picturesque 
 and artistic litter which he knows so well how to produce. Outside, 
 
 107
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 in the grand shady gardens, hundreds of nightingales "warbled their 
 morning sonnets in the groves of camellias and of ilex-trees. It 
 is a delightful place. I fell at once in love with its moss-grown 
 terraces, where miles of ivy and of clustering vines run riot beneath 
 immense cedars and magnolias. You would be charmed with the 
 dreamy peaceful repose which reigns here supreme. I am going to 
 ride a great deal during my stay, in order to explore the country to 
 right and to left ; it is far more poetical than your dear Ireland, mother 
 mine, etc." 
 
 This was written shortly after the Empress's return 
 from her first hunting-trip to Ireland. Fond as she 
 was of hunting in her own country, yet she delighted 
 in the time which she spent in Ireland, and when, in 
 1879, she first arrived on the Emerald Isle, she gave 
 vent to a perfect burst of enthusiasm concerning the 
 excellent conditions under which one could hunt there, 
 and especially with regard to the dangerous obstacles 
 with which the country is so thickly studded. She was 
 then preserving a semi-incognito under the name of 
 "Countess of Hohenembs," and made herself very 
 comfortable at Summerhill, Lord Langford's residence 
 in County Meath, which she had taken as her hunting- 
 box. She brought with her fifty-two horses, ten of which 
 were her especial favourites, being magnificent Irish 
 hunters, and including " The Boy," " Jupiter," " Domino," 
 "The Doctor," "Investment," "Beauclerc," "Lorraine," 
 " Othello," and " Black Prince." 
 
 " Bay Middleton " was her pilot from the day of her 
 very first hunt in Ireland. This took place on the 24th 
 of February, 1879, the meet being at Dunshaughlin, 
 and the field including Lord Spencer, then Viceroy of 
 Ireland, Prince Rudolph Lichtenstein, and many other 
 well-known riders. 
 
 February of the next year found Elizabeth back in 
 County Meath. It was during that visit that a certain 
 
 108
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 fox she was pursuing sprang over the wall of Maynooth 
 College, and rushed across the exercise-ground, where 
 the pious young students were pacing to and fro. What 
 was the astonishment of these youths when the wall was 
 also cleared by a lovely woman sitting with amazing 
 skill a magnificent hunter, all flecked with foam and 
 mud. It was the Empress of Austria, who had followed 
 the fox through thick and thin, and evidently also 
 through a great deal of water, for she was dripping wet. 
 Dr. Walsh, who was then principal of Maynooth College, 
 hurried into the grounds to receive the Empress, who 
 had so unwittingly and so unceremoniously entered his 
 domain, and observing that she was running great danger 
 of catching a severe cold in her present drenched con- 
 dition, offered her a warm wrap. No feminine garment, 
 however, was to be found in that school for young 
 priests, and Elizabeth had to accept Dr. Walsh's own 
 cloak, which she donned, laughingly remarking that 
 with it a doctor's degree ought to be conferred upon 
 her ! On the following day the Empress sent Dr. Walsh 
 a diamond ring of great value, and later on presented 
 the college with a superb silver statue of St. George 
 and the Dragon, as well as with a set of magnificent 
 vestments, but the academic coat she insisted upon 
 keeping in memory of her impromptu visit. A requiem 
 mass was celebrated at the death of the Empress, for 
 the repose of her soul, in the college chapel, and much 
 emotion was shown by those present, who still recalled 
 the happy memories of her stay in Ireland. 
 
 In 1881 Elizabeth rented Combermere Abbey, in 
 Cheshire, for part of the hunting season, and had^a 
 splendid time while there. She was very fond of Eng- 
 land, Ireland, and Scotland, and could not bear to have 
 the British Isles disparaged in her presence. One day 
 
 109
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 somebody spoke before her of "Foggy England," and 
 she promptly rejoined: 
 
 " You have a perfectly false idea of the place. Parts 
 of it are simply incomparable, and as to the Isle of 
 Wight, it is a little paradise on earth. Why, dear me, 
 I saw fuchsias and heliotropes there as big as trees, and 
 covered with the sweetest blossoms one can imagine. 
 The myrtles, too, and the pomegranates and oleanders, 
 would make one believe that one was in Greece, while 
 those great green, velvety lawns that sweep right down 
 to the sea could be found nowhere but in English 
 territory." 
 
 One of the many memorials of Empress Elizabeth 
 which will remain in Austria, and one of the most 
 picturesque and romantic, is certainly the chapel and 
 shrine of St. Maria-Zell, in the Styrian Alps. It is 
 the bourne of countless pilgrimages. I mention it here 
 because it is intimately related with the Empress's 
 passionate love for horses, and especially with one 
 accident which she encountered while in the saddle. It 
 owes its origin to the efforts of the youngest daughter 
 of Empress Elizabeth — namely, Archduchess Valerie — 
 who, when but twelve years of age, devoted all the 
 money that she could either save or beg from her relatives 
 to the erection of this chapel, which she dedicated to 
 St. Maria-Zell and to St. George as a thank-offering for 
 the marvellous escape of her mother from death. 
 
 One day, Avhile the Empress was riding in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the spot where the shrine now 
 stands, she had occasion to cross a bridge rudely made of 
 trunks of fir-trees, which spanned a deep and turbulent 
 torrent. Somehow or another her high-spirited horse 
 caught one of its hind feet between the rugged planks, 
 and immediately commenced to rear in its frantic 
 
 110
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 endeavours to free itself. It was only with the greatest 
 difficulty that the Empress, perfect horsewoman though 
 she was, managed to retain her seat, and to avoid being 
 hurled into the torrent seething among the rocks far 
 below. At length one of the grooms who was following 
 her succeeded in quieting the terrified animal sufficiently 
 to enable her to dismount, and after having assisted in 
 extricating the horse's leg from between the planks, 
 which had severely bruised it, she pursued her way on 
 foot. The Empress attributed her preservation to the 
 special intervention on her behalf of the Blessed Virgin 
 of Zell, and to that of St. George, who is the patron- 
 saint of all horsemen and horsewomen. 
 
 On learning of her mother's danger, Archduchess 
 Valerie was so impressed by the account that she im- 
 mediately planned the erection of the beautiful chapel 
 which now covers the shrine of St. Maria-of-Zell. Over 
 the entrance is a marble block bearing the following 
 inscription composed by the little Archduchess : 
 
 " Holy Mother and Blessed St. George, patron of cavaliers, who 
 can preserve us from all danger, and by whom my mother has been 
 so often protected when no human help could avail her, I pray to you 
 both with confidence that you will not disdain my humble petition, and 
 that you will always be the saviours of the precious life which gave 
 life to me. 
 
 " Marie- Valerie, In remembrance." 
 
 The chapel, or church, in question is built in Gothic 
 style on some shelving rocks, in the midst of a dense 
 pine-wood which partly covers the mountain-side. All 
 around are precipices, the borders and bases of which are 
 black with fir-trees, and a great mountain capped with 
 snow towers above the edifice, its sides bristling with 
 jagged rocks, chasms, and huge boulders. 
 
 The treasury of the chapel is filled with magnificent 
 
 111
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 offerings presented by the ladies belonging to the 
 Austrian imperial family, and to the nobility. In 
 many cases they are emblazoned with their monograms 
 and armorial bearings. The Countess de Chambord, 
 wife of the French Legitimist Pretender, presented a 
 short time before her death three superb lamps of solid 
 gold for the sanctuary, and also a huge diamond cross 
 which had belonged to Queen Marie-Antoinette. The 
 altar-covering is of almost priceless point de Venise, and 
 is the gift of Empress Elizabeth herself. 
 
 In the midst of all these offerings of the rich and 
 the great is preserved the tribute of a poor peasant 
 girl, whose history is a touching one. She was of most 
 humble origin, and spent her days in tending her cattle 
 on the grassy slopes around her father's alpine hut. 
 Gay and thoughtless as a bird, she led a happy, careless 
 life in her mountains, and sang from morn till night. 
 
 One day, however, despair filled her heart. Her 
 betrothed, a handsome, brawny mountaineer, lay at the 
 point of death from the effects of an injury received 
 while out hunting chamois. Heady to sacrifice almost 
 anything for the sake of his recovery, she cut off her 
 superb golden hair and offered it as a votive-gift to Our 
 Lady of Zell. The young man recovered, but, sad to 
 relate, he was so dismayed and even disgusted at the 
 aspect presented by his betrothed shorn of her magnifi- 
 cent hair, which had been one of the principal features 
 of her beauty, that he requited her devotion with cold- 
 ness, scorn, and infidelity. Broken-hearted, the poor 
 girl retired to a cloister, but to this day her lovely 
 golden tresses, tied with the faded blue ribbon, are 
 preserved in the treasury of St. Maria-Zell, side by side 
 with the diamond cross of the far more unfortunate 
 consort of King Louis XVI. of France. 
 
 112
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Maria-Zell is situated, as I have said, right in the 
 heart of the Styrian Alps, far away from the beaten track 
 of foreign tourists, who rarely find their way thither. 
 Every year, however, from ten to twelve thousand 
 Austrians, consisting of peasants, bourgeois, nobles, and 
 members of the imperial family, visit the shrine for the 
 purpose of entreating the intercession of the Blessed 
 Virgin of Zell and of St. George. The pilgrims gene- 
 rally arrive in large bands. They sing as they march, 
 and the melody of these hundreds of harmonious voices 
 ringing out in the fresh, clear alpine air is indescribably 
 solemn and grand. Austrians, even to the lowest class, 
 all possess a remarkable sense of music and a deep love 
 for it. Nature itself in the Austrian Alps is full of 
 melody ; the echoes of the rushing torrents, the song- 
 birds warbling in the woods, the murmuring of the 
 wind through the tall reeds which encircle the moun- 
 tain lakes, all unite in a concert of the most entrancing 
 character, and it is not surprising that the inhabitants 
 of these poetical regions should be influenced thereby. 
 
 The costumes, too, of the pilgrims are superb, and 
 
 nowhere else can such a variety and picturesqueness 
 
 of garb be seen as in the processions of worshippers 
 
 on their way to Maria-Zell. The Styrian women wear 
 
 short skirts of heavy silk brocaded in bright colours, 
 
 and caps adorned with golden filigree, which are so 
 
 valuable that they are handed down by the mother to 
 
 the daughter from generation to generation. The 
 
 girls from the Salzkammergut, in their dark petticoats 
 
 and low-cut bodices, fastened with antique silver buttons, 
 
 their snow-white muslin kerchiefs and their coquettish 
 
 little hats, from beneath which escape their long braids, 
 
 are as pretty as pictures. They wear broad necklaces 
 
 <•< >mposed of many tiny gold chains, with here and there 
 
 113 I
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 great square clasps of gold filigree studded with garnets, 
 turquoises, and topazes. 
 
 Then there are the Hungarian women, who impart 
 a semi-Oriental aspect to the scene; for, like the Sla- 
 vonians and the Croatians, they wear robes of white 
 linen thickly embroidered with many-hued silks, and 
 fastened around the waist with orange, blue, and crim- 
 son ribbons, while the scarlet silk handkerchiefs so deftly 
 wound round their dusky tresses remind one involun- 
 tarily of the Turkish fez, and the ponderous rows of 
 huge coral and amber beads encircling their necks recall 
 the ornaments so dear to harem women. 
 
 The statue of the Holy Virgin of Maria-Zell is literally 
 covered with priceless jewels, which have been offered 
 ex voto by wealthy pilgrims. On her head glitters a 
 diadem of gigantic rubies and diamonds, ropes upon 
 ropes of softly gleaming pearls encircle her neck and 
 her waist, rings set with sparkling gems adorn her 
 fingers and even her toes, while her cloth-of-silver 
 robe is loaded with streams of sapphires, clusters of 
 emeralds, and rivieres of diamonds. Indeed, the statue 
 bears striking evidence of the fact that there are no 
 more popular saints in Austria than St. George and 
 Our Lady of Maria-Zell. 
 
 Another very serious accident occurred to the Em- 
 press during a summer which she spent in Normandy, 
 near the Petites-Dalles, where she had rented Monsieur 
 Perquer's charming little chateau of Sassetot. She used 
 to take long rides along the picturesque shore, and 
 sometimes even into neighbouring Brittany, where I 
 was at the time spending the summer, and where we 
 used to undertake long excursions together. One day, 
 in riding home to Sassetot, Elizabeth attempted to 
 jump one of those treacherous walls made of loose pieces 
 
 114
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 of rock, which surround the fields of the Breton and 
 Normandy peasants. The top stones gave way under 
 the horse's feet, for the animal had jumped short, 
 and the Empress was precipitated to the ground with 
 extreme violence. She was riding alone on that day, 
 and remained lying there, in a dead faint, until some 
 labourers returning from their work found her, and 
 recognizing in her the benefactress who had so often 
 come to their assistance in moments of need, they carried 
 her between them, with the utmost gentleness, to her 
 home. The Emperor was immediately advised by 
 telegraph of the accident, and hastened to his wife's 
 bedside as fast as steam could take him. Of course he 
 preserved the strictest incognito, and nobody, excepting 
 the immediate entourage and Marechal MacMahon, who 
 was then President of the French Kepublic, knew of 
 his having visited France. Fortunately the Empress's 
 condition soon ceased to give reason for alarm, and he 
 was enabled to return speedily to Vienna without his 
 presence having been betrayed to any one. 
 
 To the peculiarly poetically inclined and ideal-loving 
 Empress, Brittany was sure to become very dear, for it is 
 par excellence a land of old legends, of primitive habits, a 
 land which is still, with but few alterations, just what 
 it used to be in the time of the Feudality. The small, 
 quaint old Breton towns are exactly to-day what they 
 were six hundred years ago, with the exception of a few 
 ill-burning lamps, serving only to emphasize the dark- 
 ness of the streets at night, and some funny-looking 
 low-ceiled shops containing the queerest possible 
 assemblage of superb antiquities and hideous modern 
 articles cle Paris. They are still surrounded by thick 
 bastioned and crenelated walls, and by moats where 
 wild ducks swim about on the lentil-covered muddy 
 
 115
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 water, and are entered by drawbridges just as when, at 
 the end of the fourteenth century, Duguesclin passed 
 through them at the head of his victorious armies. 
 The streets are narrow and ill-paved, and the sidewalks, 
 narrower still, are completely moss-grown, and look like 
 borders of green velvet set before the high facades of 
 the elaborately carved granite houses. 
 
 Summer and winter Brittany is a world of flowers, 
 for the climate is so mild that there are wild stocks 
 blooming in the crevices of the old walls, and on the 
 wide window-sills of almost every house, pots of basilica, 
 geraniums, and fuchsias, which even in midwinter make 
 lovely blotches of colour, and are like the smiles of 
 these aged buildings. During the summer the sky, 
 although a little hazy, as it invariably is on the old 
 Armorican coast, is as blue as an angel's gaze — so, at 
 least, the ancient Breton ballad terms it. At sundown 
 softly tinted clouds, like the flying petals of a gigantic 
 rose, float above the sea. The fields are all abloom 
 with almond-scented white sarrazin, crimson clover, and 
 yellow colza, while on the heath the furze and broom 
 burst into countless buds, and form a sea of fragrant 
 gold as far as the eye can reach, sheltering under their 
 shaggy branches a perfect carpet of pink heather. 
 
 The Empress confided to me her desire to spend 
 some days in the wildest portion of the Morbihan, not 
 far from Cape Finisterre. She had heard of the place 
 as being especially lonely, and knowing that there was on 
 the rugged cliffs a half-ruined old castle which belonged 
 to one of my relatives, she urged me to arrange this little 
 fugue, which would be shared by none besides ourselves, 
 and four of her old servants and of mine. 
 
 A few days after she had made this proposal the 
 
 inhabitants of the hamlet of K were surprised out 
 
 116
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 of their usual tranquillity by seeing a travelling carriage 
 stop before the crumbling portals of the chateau de 
 
 X , which had not been inhabited for many a long 
 
 year. This chateau is situated in one of the grandest 
 and most savage regions of Brittany, far from any 
 railroad, surrounded by barren landes, and possessed of 
 nothing which could attract any ordinary globe-trotter. 
 
 To be truthful, X is not the place to inspire cheerful 
 
 thoughts. Its loneliness, its storms, its poverty, are 
 not of a nature to make one feel particularly jolly, but 
 it is there, perhaps, that one can best judge this curious 
 and mystical country. The castle — or rather what 
 remains of it — faces the greenish, dangerous-looking 
 sea, and its ivy and moss-grown towers are backed by 
 wind-tortured pines and cork-oaks. Farther away, on 
 the table-land, there are delightfully green nooks, great 
 woods — almost forests — where a wealth of delicate ferns 
 and exquisite wild flowers conceal themselves in the 
 
 deep, fragrant shadow, but X itself is very grim 
 
 and bleak, and strangely out of keeping with the 
 effeminate and luxury-loving period in which we live. 
 
 When we arrived there it was noun-day, there was 
 no sun, and a heavy wrack of copper-coloured clouds 
 was sweeping up from the north. The sea was high and 
 moaning loudly as it surged around the gaunt rocks in 
 its utter abandonment, the partially ruined castle had 
 a desolate aspect, and a fear seized me that Elizabeth 
 would speedily regret her desire to become more 
 intimately acquainted with this strange part of the 
 world. I was soon reassured, however, by seeing her 
 making the best of everything, laughing and talking 
 away as if she were about to enter a perfect Eldorado. 
 As we walked up the broken stone steps and passed 
 into the grand and solitary chambers — gloomy and 
 
 117
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 cheerless, with the wind beating at the big iron-barred 
 casements through which the gray light from without 
 was casting a dull gleam on the furniture, which was 
 just as Breton as Breton could be — I watched her slender, 
 almost girlish figure with astonishment and delight. 
 
 Any other petted woman of the world would have 
 recoiled before such a picture of comfortlessness. Not 
 so, however, the Empress, who walked to one of the 
 high windows and looked out on the rock-strewn strip 
 of sand that parted the castle from the angry-looking 
 sea, shrouded in gray fogs, the waves rolling heavily 
 with a deep, desolate roar upon the narrow beach 
 between two encircling lines of jagged cliffs. 
 
 " This is splendid," said she, turning to me with eyes 
 beaming like twin stars ; " what a dear, queer old place, 
 and how very romantic ! I am expecting every minute 
 to see a ' Farfadet ' or a ' Kourigan ' — that is what you 
 call your familiar spirits here, don't you ? — come dancing 
 towards me." 
 
 " How good you are { " I exclaimed. " How on earth 
 do you manage to keep up your spirits in this way, to 
 always see the bright side of things? I am sure that 
 although I am a daughter of this rugged soil, I feel just 
 about as Crusoe did when he was cast upon his desert 
 island." 
 
 We looked at each other for a minute and then 
 suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter. Attracted 
 by these extraordinary peals of merriment, the servants, 
 
 who very justly thought that probably X was hardly 
 
 the place for elaborate court etiquette, came running in, 
 and could hardly refrain from beginning to laugh too. 
 
 " Good heavens ! " said the Empress, as soon as she 
 could manage to recover her breath, " what in the name 
 of wonder are we all laughing about ? " 
 
 118
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 This remark did not tend to diminish our hilarity, so 
 that the first moments of our visit, which I had begun 
 to dread for Elizabeth, began in the most cheerful 
 fashion possible. 
 
 Amusements, in the general acceptance of the term, 
 there were of course none, for there was not much to 
 see excepting a few peasant-women wearing the prim 
 national costume and Avhite cap of Brittany, as they 
 sat knitting or mending nets on their door-steps in the 
 little hamlet below the northern cliff. Out on the 
 lanclcs lean cows and brown sheep were driven by bare- 
 footed urchins through the short, salted grass, while 
 far away at sea the sardine fishing-boats with their 
 rough, red sails tacked to and fro wellnigh at all hours 
 of the night and day. 
 
 We rode and drove and walked a good deal, and also 
 went out upon the sea to witness the exploits of the 
 sardine catchers. The fishing and preserving of these 
 dainty little silvery morsels is one of Brittany's greatest 
 and most interesting industries. For this purpose we 
 hired one of the ordinary strong, staunch fishermen's boats. 
 
 There was one nook in the old castle of which we 
 both became very fond. It was perhaps the best 
 preserved portion of the great pile of buildings, and 
 was filled with memories of a glorious past — a past 
 when faith was of more importance to the honest-hearted, 
 simple-minded inhabitants than fame, and when they 
 used to lavish the best of all they possessed upon the 
 altars consecrated by their religion. It was the private 
 chapel of the chateau. Every day we brought back 
 from our rambles quantities of flowers with which to 
 adorn the little sacred edifice. 
 
 A few nights after our arrival something occurred 
 there which I will never forget. We had dined late, 
 
 119
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 and very simply, off some thoroughly Breton dishes, 
 and we were standing before a bright fire of faggots, 
 kindled for us in the apartment — which, although much 
 deteriorated, was the most comfortable of all the partly 
 dismantled suite, and served us as a kind of sitting-room 
 — when suddenly the Empress linked her arm into mine, 
 and led me through the long gallery of the northern 
 wing to the little low postern-door which opened into 
 the chapel. 
 
 The small sanctuary was dark, excepting where an 
 eternally burning lamp shone in front of the altar, and 
 where some stray moonbeams pierced the stained windows 
 of the right aisle and threw patches of dim colour upon 
 the worn mosaic floor. We gazed about us, glancing 
 reverently at the carved mailed figure of an ancestor 
 of mine who had died fighting beside Duguesclin in 
 1364, and whose tall form we could just discern as he 
 lay at rest, with his gauntleted hands clasped on the 
 handle of a terrible-looking sword. 
 
 Kneeling down, the Empress began to pray, the Latin 
 words echoing strangely under the empty, sonorous stone 
 vaults above. The smell of some white roses which 
 we had placed that day at the foot of a marvellously 
 beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin floated towards 
 us, and a little shudder of awe ran between my shoulders. 
 I felt my hand being grasped by the Empress, and as 
 she held it in hers she whispered : 
 
 " These have been happy days. In remembrance of 
 them you must wear this ring, which has never left 
 me for many and many a year. It will also remind 
 you, if ever we are separated, for good and all, that you 
 have been very dear to me, and that I have valued 
 your sympathy and friendship, as well as your devotion, 
 more than I can express." 
 
 120
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Hot tears rose to my eyes, and with the hand upon 
 which she had just slipped the sparkling, scintillating, 
 square-shaped diamond — which I have ever worn since 
 that night — I raised her own slender fingers to my lips 
 and kissed them tenderly and reverently. 
 
 When we went back that night to our rooms, Eliza- 
 beth stood for a moment musingly before the high stone 
 mantel-piece of her sleeping-apartment, whereon were 
 carved the two following lines : 
 
 " Un chevalier, n'cn doutez pas, 
 Doit ferir haut et parler bas." 
 
 "Those were times," she said, "when it was worth 
 while to live. The days of chivalry have always had a 
 singular charm for me ; all seems so tame and tasteless 
 in this nineteenth century of ours. But here at least, 
 within these thick, gray walls, one can imagine what the 
 existence of the heroes of old could be, and that is why 
 
 I have fallen in love with X . Listen now to the 
 
 sound of the wind roaring outside, and tell me if, 
 with a little imagination, we cannot believe that 
 we have been suddenly transported back five or six 
 centuries ? 
 
 I turned towards the window, and certainly the wild 
 spectacle of the boisterous, stormy night, seen from the 
 high turret-chamber, lent itself to any possible imagin- 
 ings. The moon was ascending rapidly above the horizon 
 line amid a heaped-up mass of inky clouds, and the 
 wind was rising with an alarming shriek and churning 
 the waters into froth. Even while we were both watching, 
 the waves began to leap in menacing fashion. They 
 rolled in like high water walls, crashing against the 
 rocks on which the chateau stood as if they were about 
 to engulf it, and when they retreated, with a deafening 
 
 121
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 roar, they scooped out deep caverns in the pebbly shore 
 with a noise like that of thunder. 
 
 " Dear Lord, there will be mischief at sea to-night," 
 said the Empress, sadly. 
 
 " Ah yes ! " T replied ; " this means disaster to any 
 ship running along the coast, and I dare say we will 
 get but little sleep to-night with all heaven and earth's 
 artillery thus unchained against our rock fastness ! " 
 
 "Never mind, you selfish child," quoth Elizabeth, 
 " it is the poor sailors who are to be pitied, and not we 
 who are cosily established here." 
 
 I glanced with a slight shrug of my shoulders at 
 the bare stones of the walls, and gave a little cough of 
 derision for our " cosiness." 
 
 A wild night; a night that would play with men's 
 lives as with pieces of broken match-wood. The wind 
 rose louder and louder in sudden blasts, swift and fierce, 
 sweeping over the phosphorescence of the sea, which 
 shone hungrily and cruelly, eternal power speaking 
 loudly in the rushing of that awful storm. 
 
 Towards four o'clock in the morning, during one of 
 those uncanny lulls of the tempest, which seems to sink 
 in order to rise again in deadlier wrath, there echoed 
 from the infuriated ocean the piteous signal of some 
 perishing vessel. Before it had been repeated the 
 Empress was at my bedside, looking like an apparition 
 in her long white night-robe, which was, however, no 
 whiter than her tremulous face. 
 
 " Come and look ! " she exclaimed ; " there is a ship 
 in distress there beyond. O God ! what can we do ? " 
 
 The day was breaking, and as we reached the window 
 we could discern, by the lurid, dismal light of the 
 storm-tossed morning sky, a large fishing-boat, with 
 her sails rent away and her masts broken, careening 
 
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 THE MARTYRDOM OP AN EMPRESS 
 
 between the monstrous waves, one moment lifted on a 
 foaming crest, the next disappearing into the trough of 
 the sea, like a wounded bird with broken wings, driven 
 at the mercy of the tempest — this fellow-reaper of death 
 which spares neither youth nor age, and hears neither 
 mother's prayers nor childhood's cry ! 
 
 For a moment we gazed vacantly, stupidly, helplessly 
 at this distressing picture, then in common accord we 
 wrapped about us what garments we first could lay our 
 hands upon, rushed down the long corridors, the wide 
 staircase, and after struggling with the outer door, 
 which wellnigh resisted all our efforts, we found our- 
 selves in the open. 
 
 Far from everywhere and everything, from coast- 
 guard men and life-saving station, what could be done 
 to help those unfortunate fellow-creatures in their dire 
 peril? Through the driving spume and falling spray 
 we vaguely saw the blurred forms of some fisher-folk 
 from the hamlet, running along the narrow strip of sand 
 towards us, but of what assistance could even they be 
 in such a stress? Eight between us and the drifting, 
 rudderless vessel the jagged teeth of a line of reefs shone 
 black and threatening, parting the waves asunder into 
 yawning gulfs. The pitiless wind was tearing at our 
 clothes and flinging our hair across our eyes, and it was 
 almost impossible for us to keep our footing; yet some- 
 how or other we managed to struggle down the rugged 
 path hewn in the cliff, step by step, clutching to the 
 projections of the live rock to prevent ourselves from 
 being precipitated headlong upon the surf-splashed 
 shingle below. 
 
 "Where we were going or what we intended to do 
 did not cross our troubled minds ; we were rushing to 
 the rescue, although rescue was impossible to achieve ! 
 
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 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 At last we reached the bottom of the sloping wall of 
 stone, and clinging to each other we stopped, breathless 
 and drenched, buffeted by that fearful, howling wind, 
 our eyes fixed upon the doomed boat ; and as we looked 
 the end came ! One huge wave dashed over her, and 
 flung her with a heart-rending clamour of crushing, 
 splitting, wailing horror against the shining, blackened 
 shoals. We saw some dark forms washed from the wreck 
 into the yawning abyss of the boiling seas, a few human 
 forms that would soon be cast up against the bowlder- 
 strewn shore, mangled, bleeding, and lifeless. 
 
 In the green, whirling waters the drowning fishermen 
 struggled among the flotsam and jetsam of the shattered 
 boat. With a sorrowful cry the Empress slipped from 
 my hold and rushed towards the retreating breakers that 
 were going back in search of their prey. Instinctively 
 I bounded after her, and caught her firmly around the 
 waist. Full of pity as my heart was for the unfortunate 
 beings dying in the voracious billows, yet I was not 
 going to let her fly into danger while under the spell 
 of one of these unhesitating impulses of self-furgetfulness, 
 of which I knew her to be so fully capable. Her face 
 was deadly pale, her eyes shone with excitement, and 
 she put out all her strength to free herself from me. 
 She was a skilled and daring swimmer, and although 
 she must have known that none could swim those seas 
 and live, I saw that she was going to attempt it. I, too, 
 put out my strength, and we struggled for a brief minute, 
 until what between the force of the wind and the 
 shifting sands we stood upon, we fell to our knees just 
 as the outer edge of a colossal volume of water came 
 thundering towards us, and all but carried us both into 
 the murderous waste of the Atlantic. 
 
 When we rose the shelving, broken hull of the bark 
 
 124.
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 had disappeared, and right at cur feet the bodies of a 
 boy and a man had been washed up by the big wave 
 and left there dead, as we at first supposed. Our servants, 
 awakened at last by the deafening roar of the hurricane, 
 had hurried towards us by the longer and safer path 
 which started from behind the castle, and they bore 
 the two sailors away. The young lad was clinging with 
 his stiffened arms to a plank whereon was inscribed 
 in white lettering, Marie-Stella, the name of the wrecked 
 vessel. 
 
 Our efforts at resuscitation were successful, and we 
 were very happy when, after two hours of continuous 
 toil, we found that we had brought back life to the two 
 poor creatures who, it appears from what they told us 
 later, were the captain and owner of the boat, and his 
 son, who was acting as mousse, or ship's boy. Before 
 
 we left the castle of X the Empress had placed in 
 
 the hands of the amazed and overjoyed patron a sufficient 
 sum of money to purchase a new fishing-smack, thus 
 saving him from utter and hopeless ruin. 
 
 Elizabeth's passionate love for the sea was not dulled 
 by the awful spectacle she had witnessed on that eventful 
 autumn morning, but it was veiled with sadness for ever 
 after. Her fearless nature never dreaded this great 
 destroyer, and she used often to say : 
 
 " The waves seem to draw me towards them, as if 
 they knew how I love them ! " She never forgot the 
 monstrous Atlantic rollers which dashed themselves 
 against the rugged coasts of Brittany, and they created 
 such an impression upon her that she often, even after 
 years had elapsed, alluded to them. 
 
 Long before all this took place, when returning on 
 board her yacht from the island of Madeira, she had 
 encountered just such another terrible storm. Her yacht 
 
 125
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 was tossed like a nutshell upon the mountainous waves, 
 but far from being terrified by this, the Empress insisted, 
 in spite of the captain's remonstrances and fears, on 
 being tied with a rope to the mast, in order that she 
 might watch the fury of the sea, and in the midst of 
 the tumult she laughingly exclaimed: 
 
 " How many more times must I declare my principles 
 and ideas about the length of life which is allotted to 
 each of us ? We live just as long as God permits, and 
 if I have been intrusted with a mission here below, 
 Providence will protect me from every danger!" 
 
 During her short stay in Brittany the Empress literally 
 showered kindnesses upon the families of many poor 
 fishermen, whose thatch-roofed huts clustered so close 
 to the cliffs that they seemed but larger birds'-nests 
 clinging to the rocks for protection from the wind and 
 weather; and although they did not know who their 
 benefactress was, they soon found a befitting name for 
 her, and called her the " Queen of Mercy." 
 
 While staying in England at the sea-side resort of 
 Cromer, in July, 1887, she gave one of these proofs of 
 delicacy of heart which are not easily forgotten among 
 the humbler classes. She was walking on a stormy 
 morning along the shore, when she suddenly caught 
 sight of a group of sailors who were carrying the corpse 
 of a drowned man. She immediately approached and 
 inquired about this disaster, and was told that the 
 victim was a poor employe of the railroad, called Walter 
 Moules, who had accidentally met with his death in the 
 tossing waters. Hearing that the man was married and 
 had several children, without a minute's delay she set 
 off for his humble dwelling, for she said it was necessary 
 that somebody should warn the newly made widow of 
 the terrible misfortune which had befallen her before 
 
 126
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN" EMPRESS 
 
 the sailors brought home their ghastly burden. The 
 kindness with which she broke the awful news to the 
 poor woman was a marvel of delicate tenderness, and 
 she remained with her until the body of the drowned 
 man had been carried into the little cottage ; then 
 turning to the bereaved wife she said, softly : " Pray for 
 the soul of your husband ; I shall help you, in so far as 
 the children are concerned, as much as I can." And 
 then she rapidly walked away. An hour later one of 
 her Majesty's servants brought to the widow a pocket- 
 book containing six hundred pounds sterling, which 
 there is considered a very large sum indeed. 
 
 All these little traits which I now relate were not 
 known among the public, for the Empress had an abso- 
 lute dread of any publicity of that kind, which generally 
 led to more misinterpretations of her actions. 
 
 While I was at Vienna it was learned one morning 
 that one of the Empress's maids had died during the 
 night, and very severe comments were made about the 
 fact that the Empress had been seen riding in the Prater 
 on the very same afternoon. It was not told, however, 
 that the Kaiserin had spent the whole of the previous 
 night, as well as several others which had preceded it, 
 at the dying woman's bedside, nursing her with her own 
 hands up to the moment when she breathed her last, and 
 that it was only when death had stilled her sufferings 
 that Elizabeth, who was in sore need of some fresh air 
 and of some change of scene, had gone in search of both 
 in the less frequented parts of the Prater. 
 
 She dried the tears of countless wretches, and brought 
 comfort and consolation with her to many and many 
 a stricken home. During the typhus epidemic which 
 raged in the Hernalser-Madchen-Institute she insisted 
 upon visiting the stricken girls, and upon personally 
 
 127
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 encouraging and consoling them, quite regardless of the 
 danger which she ran ; and when cholera and small-pox 
 made their appearance at Buda-Pesth, she accompanied 
 the Emperor, who was obliged to go there for the 
 opening of the delegations, saying that the moment 
 of danger was just the moment when she should be by 
 the side of her husband. 
 
 128
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Doctor Christomanos, who was for three years Greek 
 reader to the Empress, but whose connection with the 
 Court terminated in 1893, wrote soon after her death 
 the following description of her — a description so pretty 
 and so true that it deserves to be translated word for 
 word in these pages : 
 
 " When I was presented for the first time to Empress 
 Elizabeth, it was in the summer of 1890, at Castle Lainz. 
 I was requested to wait for her in the gardens, which 
 were a mass of wonderful blossoms and flowering trees. 
 1 had never seen the Empress, and knew her only by 
 her photographs and portraits, and I was, I must confess, 
 filled with emotion at the idea that a long-wished-for 
 privilege was about to become mine. I sat on a bench 
 under a great tulip-tree, my heart beating with nervous- 
 ness, awaiting her. Suddenly, without a sound having 
 heralded her approach, she stood before me — a slender, 
 black-clad apparition. She held in one hand a white 
 umbrella and in the other a large black fan, and a 
 charming smile of welcome played upon her features. 
 In spite of the fact that her pictures resembled her only 
 as a paste-diamond resembles the beautiful gem itself, I 
 knew in a flash that it was indeed the Empress, and I 
 felt that I was in the presence of the most exquisite and 
 perfect creature who ever assumed the human form. I 
 murmured a few sentences concerning the honour and 
 
 129 K
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 happiness which were mine at meeting her — sentences 
 so clumsy that I blush even now when remembering 
 them ; but with wonderful kindness she helped me over 
 these first few moments of embarrassment and talked to 
 me as if we had long been the best of friends, instead 
 of being, she a great sovereign, and I a poor, humble, 
 ordinary mortal. 
 
 " I have had the good fortune to have been near the 
 Empress during three years ; I have seen with her eyes 
 the beauty of nature which she knew so well how to 
 point out and explain to me. She has revealed to me 
 a greater source of admiration for the waves and for 
 the mountains, for the forests and for the large, undu- 
 lating plains; she has made me feel also the natural 
 tie that binds the truly pure and lofty spirits of some 
 few privileged beings, the tie of a common love for 
 flowers and melody, and the glories of nature in general. 
 Before I knew her I had never fully comprehended 
 the grand infinity of the ocean, the deep azure of a 
 summer sky, the wonderful rhythm of poetry, and the 
 intense charm of music. It is enough happiness for one 
 life to have been permitted to bask in the sunshine of 
 her presence. Her subjects did not know her and 
 never did her justice, for when one is as perfect as she 
 was, one is sure to be misunderstood. Indeed a throne 
 seems but a lowly footstool to bear such perfect, angelic 
 womanhood! She herself, though, chided me when I 
 thus expressed myself in her presence, and told me that 
 she considered some parts of her duties as a sovereign 
 very dear to her, nay, almost sacred. She proved that 
 this was the case by bending all her efforts upon reliev- 
 ing misery and planning out new ways of helping the 
 poor and the afflicted throughout the vast realms of her 
 consort's empire. She was a queen of grace and of 
 
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 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 soulful consideration and kindness. Pageant, pomp, and 
 ceremony she did not like, and when she consented to 
 deck herself with the insignia of her lofty rank she was 
 not made any more beautiful by this priceless display 
 of jewels, for the precious stones themselves seemed to 
 gather their magnificence and their dazzling loveliness 
 from their being placed in contact with her. Of a truth, 
 she belonged more to a sphere of angels than to that of 
 the children of men, who live in cities and shun all that 
 is true and pure in unblemished nature. When I used 
 to see her dainty, delicate figure standing on some 
 mountain peak she reminded me of a slender cypress 
 swaying above a cemetery of spirits, and surrounded by 
 the golden radiance of everlasting sunlight ! How young 
 she still seemed — she who was already a grandmother! 
 How clear and pure were the great eyes which revealed 
 at times the touching simplicity of a child's soul — those 
 eyes which in the valleys of this sad world of ours have 
 shed so many bitter tears ! Wherever she went she 
 aroused enthusiasm ; the peasants of the village of 
 Gasturi, on Corfu, where she built her magnificent 
 palace dedicated to Achilles, used to kneel before her 
 in the dust when she approached, calling aloud in their 
 melodious language : ' O Queen of Beauty, may God 
 bless thy every step ! ' All heads were uncovered when 
 she passed, and the children, who watched for her coming, 
 would run towards her with their hands full of blossoming 
 orange and almond boughs. She adored everything 
 that was beautiful, and one day when, in Madeira, a 
 strikingly handsome peasant girl with amber skin, coral 
 lips, and raven-black hair presented her with a cluster 
 of crimson camellias, she gave her a piece of gold, 
 saying to me afterwards, 'That is a cheap price to pay 
 for gazing on such perfection of form and face.' 
 
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 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 " Her enthusiasm for poetry and for music was plainly 
 shown by her profound admiration for great composers 
 and great poets. She erected a monument to her 
 favourite ' bard,' Heinrich Heine, in the gardens of Achil- 
 leon, and it is there that she used to go and gaze at the 
 great brilliant stars of the semi-Oriental sky shining 
 though a net-work of silvery olive-tree branches. 
 
 " She feared not death ; once she said to me : ' When 
 the love of life has forsaken one, Death has already put 
 his cold hand on one's shoulder.' Another time, when 
 her yacht was fighting Avith the waves which break on 
 the coast of Algeria, she remarked : ' Are you ready to 
 die, or do you think, like so many, that death is a heroic 
 action, difficult to accomplish well? As far as I am 
 concerned, it matters but little to me how and when I 
 will really close my eyes for ever, for there is in every 
 earthly career a moment when one inwardly dies, and 
 that need not be the time when actual death takes place. 
 What is disagreeable is all this ceremony which surrounds 
 our parting from our envelope of clay — a ceremony 
 which the ancient Romans abandoned to their slaves. 
 It is not pleasant, of course, to watch decrepitude in 
 its advance upon us. As for myself, I await death at 
 any moment, and you, who are a philosopher, ought to 
 do the same.' 
 
 "A little while later, however, when I approached 
 the edge of a precipice towering above the waves, she 
 laughingly alluded to our previous conversation, and 
 said, ' It is not necessary for you to seek a poetical 
 death, it is enough to inwardly die a fine death.' 
 
 " I could not but admire the extraordinary qualities 
 of this sunny soul, which, after thus familiarizing itself 
 with the greatest enemy of mankind, could live on, at 
 peace, and just as if she were going through a task 
 
 132
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 which she loved only because she considered it in the 
 light of a duty ! " 
 
 The Greek teacher of the Empress, Mr. Ehoussopoulos, 
 who also several times accompanied the Empress on her 
 travels, although he does not express himself with the 
 same poetical flow of language as does Doctor Christo- 
 manos, yet gives some very interesting and touching 
 details about her Majesty's attitude under a great many 
 different circumstances. He lays great stress on the 
 fact of Elizabeth's always doing her best to make those 
 about her happy. That is very true and a very marked 
 trait of this golden-hearted woman's character, and one 
 which I cannot tire of mentioning. She could not 
 endure to see any one suffer even the slightest pain 
 or vexation. He relates that shortly after the marriage 
 of Marie-Valerie, she had promised to give him a photo- 
 graph of this her favourite daughter, in her wedding-dress. 
 One morning she brought to the professor ten of those 
 pictures, which had been taken in various attitudes, and 
 asked him to select one of them. 
 
 " The choice is difficult, your Majesty, for they are 
 all equally lovely," replied Rhoussopoulos. 
 
 " Then you had better keep them all," she replied, 
 smiling. 
 
 In the spring of 1890 the Empress went to Wiesbaden, 
 accompanied by her Greek teacher, and during her 
 stay there used to keep the windows of her villa open 
 clay aud night. This caused the professor to ask her 
 whether she was as fond of European landscapes as of 
 Oriental ones, and whether she liked to travel in 
 Europe. 
 
 " Yes," answered the Empress, "but I generally prefer 
 to ' look upon Europe in profile,' " meaning thereby that
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 she liked to see the European coasts best from the deck 
 of her yacht. 
 
 She was extremely fond of Paris, and France gene- 
 rally, for there she could Avander about without the fear 
 of being perpetually annoyed by the indelicacy of the 
 people, who in other countries crowded around her to 
 dog her slightest step. There she also delighted in 
 meeting her sisters, the Queen of Naples and the late 
 Duchess d'Alen^on. Once during a Avalk in the Bois 
 de Boulogne she said to Professor Khoussopoulos : 
 
 " How I used to love my rides through these beautiful 
 paths ! I would never have believed then that the time 
 would come when I would walk along them while learn- 
 ing Greek. Still there is always one charm for me in 
 Paris which nothing can efface — namely, the memory of 
 Napoleon I. What a great man he was, and what a pity 
 that his insatiable ambition should have led him to seek 
 an imperial throne." 
 
 The political ideas of the Empress, declares the 
 professor, were extremely broad. She said to him on 
 one occasion: 
 
 "Everybody seems to think that a Republican form 
 of government is the best, and my teacher, Count Janos 
 Majlath, has written much about this. Poor Count 
 Majlath ! I can never think of him without the deepest 
 sorrow, remembering the terrible death he sought, 
 together with his daughter, in this same lake of 
 Starnberg, where my cousin Louis was drowned. But 
 to return to what we were saying: I myself must say 
 that, theoretically speaking, a republic is without a 
 doubt the most reasonable form of government, but in 
 Austria there exist so many different races and popula- 
 tions assembled within one frontier that the dynasty 
 alone can form the link to hold them together. And so 
 
 134
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AX EMPRESS 
 
 with us, monarchy, it seems to me, should always be the 
 most practical plan to follow. By-the-by," she added, 
 "you seem surprised to hear me talk about such things. 
 What do you think about the book published in London 
 at the end of the fifties, and which is called Blick auf 
 den Anonymcn Riiclcblick ? " 
 
 This was a book which had been strictly proscribed 
 in Austria, and of which only a few copies had been 
 smuggled into the country ; it is, therefore, easy to 
 imagine the degree of the professor's amazement upon 
 hearing the Empress mention it. 
 
 " Do you possess that book ? " she continued. 
 
 " It is forbidden in the entire monarchy," he replied. 
 
 " That is not what I asked you ; my question is, 
 * Do you possess that book ? ' " 
 
 The professor remained mute, and blushed with embar- 
 rassment. The sovereign began to laugh, and having 
 drawn from her pocket a small key, she unlocked a secret 
 drawer of her desk, exclaiming : 
 
 "You probably imagine that I have never read 
 anything of the kind, so now see here," and she handed 
 to him half a dozen volumes and pamphlets, among 
 which was The Fall and Disintegration of Austria, which 
 was published soon after the Austro-Prussian war, and 
 which created at the time a tremendous sensation, for the 
 author declared therein that the Hapsburg Monarchy 
 could not possibly last any longer, and wrote in a violent 
 and bloodthirsty fashion against the reigning house. It 
 is easy to understand the stupefaction of Professor 
 Ehoussopoulos, especially when her Majesty quietly 
 remarked : 
 
 "Do you know who was the author of this book?" 
 
 Of course the professor was aware that the name of 
 this writer was Lang, a young man whose father was 
 
 135
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 the devoted servant of Emperor Franz-Joseph ; but this 
 was all the more reason why he should refuse to reveal 
 to Elizabeth what she apparently wanted to know. 
 
 " Oh, I see ! " laughed the Empress. " You don't know 
 the author, but, surely, you are well acquainted with 
 his father ; and so I am glad to be able to tell you that 
 the poor old man has never been and will never be 
 made responsible for the perhaps a little too advanced 
 ideas of his son." 
 
 Moritz Jokai, in his beautifully written appreciation 
 of the late Empress, which appeared in print a week 
 after her death, says : 
 
 "She was the ideal woman, as wife and mother, as 
 beauty and queen. Especially was she admirable as a 
 patient sufferer, ' mater dolorosa par excellence.' . . . 
 
 " The woman who suffers in patience is only second to 
 the Divinity. Like her son, the Crown-prince Kudolph, 
 she was a fatalist. She trusted to fate. Fear she never 
 knew — neither fear of man nor of the elements. To what 
 extent the Queen was the guardian angel of Hungary, 
 history alone can show. She conversed in our language 
 with a purity of accent and a choice of expression 
 that no one else could rival. . . . Many distinguished 
 Hungarians might with advantage have taken lessons 
 from her. She was the patroness of Hungarian litera- 
 ture, and I have personally much cause to remember her 
 with passionate gratitude. In 1889 the Queen graciously 
 accepted the dedication of one of my novels. 
 
 "The court was at Of en, and there I presented her 
 with a copy of my work. She talked to me for a long 
 time on the subject of our literature, displaying great 
 penetration and a sound critical faculty of judgment. 
 Just as I was going to take my leave she said : 
 
 136
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 "'Wait a moment, and I will show you my little 
 daughter.' She opened a side door and beckoned to a 
 nurse who held the small offshoot of royalty on a lace 
 pillow in her arms. 
 
 " The baby was Marie-Valerie. The Queen took her 
 from the nurse and pressed the laughing child's cheek 
 against her own. That was the most beautiful reward 
 of my life. And now it is all over — such infinite grace, 
 love, and exalted feeling ! All shut away in a coffin, she 
 rests under a burden of wreaths here below, but her 
 soul is floating, untrammelled, in heaven. No longer 
 does the dread shadow pursue her — the shadow which 
 drove her from country to country. At last her great 
 soul has met that other soul which, dreaming or waking, 
 she never could forget. ... If our beloved Queen had 
 drawn her last breath on a bed of sickness, we should 
 have then covered her with flowers and tears, and blessed 
 her resting-place, and she would have vanished from our 
 midst. But the Queen who has died a martyr's death 
 will never vanish; her spirit will hover near us for ever. 
 When storms from without threaten the Fatherland, 
 and our nation is torn asunder by internal feuds, she 
 will show us her bleeding wound, and the mouth of the 
 wound will speak to us, saying : ' Love the Fatherland. 
 Love the King.' Pray God we may ! " 
 
 The Hungarians are talking of erecting a statue of 
 the Empress at Ofen, representing her on horseback. 
 This would, indeed, be a splendid idea, for not only did 
 she never appear to better advantage than when in the 
 saddle, but also the Magyars of the Puszta saw her so 
 very often riding among them that it is thus that they 
 remember her best. I myself can conjure her up most 
 easily in my dear remembrance of her as the graceful 
 
 137
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 figure beside whom I rode so many and many a mile, 
 our horses almost touching each other, our enraptured 
 eyes scanning together the endless plains or the rich 
 grass and woodland of Hungary. 
 
 How well I recall her looks and actions when we 
 rode out alone to witness a Tzigan wedding, late one 
 evening, in a forest near Yemisar ! 
 
 The scene which we witnessed that night was solemn 
 and weird in the extreme. It was illuminated by a 
 huge pile of flaming pine-logs, in front of which, with 
 his back towards the fire, stood the Vajda, or chief 
 Zingaro, draped in a long crimson mantle, holding in 
 his hand an ebony staff with a silver knob, as a symbol 
 of his dignity and autocratic power. The authority of 
 this personage over his tribe is supreme, even to life 
 and death. It is he who performs the marriage, birth, 
 and burial ceremonies, according to the true Zingaro 
 rite, for although thousands of the Tzigans have nominally 
 embraced Christianity, yet they still remain at heart 
 as devoted to the worship of fire as their ancestors who 
 dwelt on the slopes of the Indian Himalayas. 
 
 Hand in hand the young couple stood before the 
 flames, under the drooping branches of the great dark 
 trees, listening reverently to the solemn words of the 
 Vajda. The bridegroom was only sixteen, and the bride 
 little more than twelve — ages, however, corresponding, 
 both as regards physical and mental development, to 
 about twenty and sixteen in the case of Europeans. The 
 handsome, stalwart boy, clad in a crimson dolman and 
 dark breeches, high, tasselled boots and small velvet cap 
 with a heron's plume, towered head and shoulders over 
 his tiny dark-eyed fiancee. She was an extremely pretty 
 creature, this graceful girl, and her scarlet skirt and 
 bodice, with the necklace of gold sequins which glittered 
 
 138
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 at her throat and in her dusky braids, set off her 
 strange beauty wonderfully. As soon as the Vajda had 
 concluded his address, an earthen vessel was dashed to 
 pieces on the ground as a symbol that the past of both 
 young people had come to an end, and that a new life 
 was beginning for them, and the bridal couple were 
 sprinkled with a mixture of salt and brandy for the 
 purpose of putting to flight any evil spirits that might 
 be lurking about them. Heavy silver rings were then 
 exchanged, and after the Vajda had placed his hands in 
 token of blessing over their bowed heads, the youthful 
 pair were regarded as duly married, and received the 
 congratulations of their relatives and of the numerous 
 members of their tribe. 
 
 Shortly afterwards feasting and dancing began — the 
 latter to the sound of that enthralling music which 
 the Tzigans draw from their violins and cymbals. It 
 is a music that stirs the listener to the utmost limits 
 of terrestrial — nay, one might say almost heavenly 
 enthusiasm. Its exquisite melodies seem to penetrate 
 the very marrow of one's bones, to send a thrill through 
 the entire body, and to raise the soul far above earth. 
 It is heard nowhere save in Hungary, Itoumania, and 
 the Balkans. The musicians let all their heart go out 
 in the strains of their perfect instruments, and it seems 
 as if their hearts would break were they to cease these 
 floods of enthralling harmony. 
 
 They play as a lark carols — naturally, passionately — 
 bringing one through all the phases of love, of pain, of 
 rapture, until every nerve tingles. Then, suddenly, with 
 one deep, plaintive chord, as if the strings were rent 
 asunder in a last sweet, lingering sigh, they are silent, 
 exhausted by the plenitude of their own power. 
 
 Nothing can give an idea of the enthusiasm they 
 
 139
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 arouse. I have seen the great Liszt himself listen to 
 them spellbound, with tears falling down his sunken, 
 pallid cheeks. I have seen spoiled and blase men of 
 the world entranced by the matchless melodies of these 
 artists of nature, and one night, in the Banat, when the 
 stars were coming out one by one in the clear violet 
 
 skies, I saw Prince Louis E and a party of his 
 
 guests give the Tzigans, who had been playing for them, 
 not only all the money they had about them, but their 
 watches, chains, studs, rings, etc., the women taking the 
 jewels from their fingers and the flowers from their 
 bosoms to fling them at the feet of the dark-eyed 
 musicians. The most remarkable thing about this is 
 that the Zingari do not know a note of music. They 
 are merely the interpreters of the nightingales, of 
 nature's own sweetest harmonies. They play by tradi- 
 tion, because music is in their souls, and because they 
 cannot help giving utterance to it. The Hungarian 
 bands, styling themselves Tzigans, and hiring themselves 
 out to play in foreign cities, have nothing in common 
 with the Zingari of the Piiszta. The former are pleasing 
 to hear, well taught and well drilled, but they are only 
 mechanical nightingales who sing for money, very 
 different from the free, fiery, and untutored artists of 
 the great southern plains. 
 
 The dancing of the Tzigans also in no way resembles 
 the jerky motion which we are wont to consider the 
 acme of terpsichorean art. It is poetical, graceful, and 
 dignified, and at the same time coquettish and exquisite, 
 especially where the women are concerned. In fact, 
 these dances, as we saw them on many a night in 
 those days, are a mixture of the wild Hungarian 
 Czardas, the Hindoo Nautch, and the stately minuet of 
 bygone days. The men in their tight-fitting attilas, 
 
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 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 with an embroidered dolman hanging from the left 
 shoulder, clatter the long spurs attached to their boots, 
 and the girls move with that swift grace inherent in 
 their race, making up a beautiful picture as they wind 
 their way in and out of the intricate mazes of this 
 peculiar but charming dance. 
 
 Not long after we attended the Tzigan wedding I 
 just described, we became the involuntary witnesses in 
 the same forest glades of another Tzigan ceremony, 
 which may be regarded as a kind of epilogue to the 
 wedding festivities, for it illustrates the sanctity with 
 which the Zingari regard the marriage vows. 
 
 One evening the Empress and myself rode to the 
 Czikana, or camp, belonging to the great Vajda, Ferenzi- 
 Janos, but found it deserted. The faint sound of wailing 
 voices coming from the pine-woods in the distance, 
 however, attracted our attention, and guiding our horses 
 cautiously over the tangled bracken and osniunda-bushes 
 which covered the ground, we soon came in sight of a 
 scene which I shall never forget. 
 
 The moon was shining brightly, lighting up the spot 
 with fairy-like splendour. All around the pine-woods 
 stretched the ruddy glow of gypsy fires, flashing between 
 the dark boughs and throwing a crimson gleam on a 
 space where the trees had been cut down. There, bound 
 to a stake like a prisoner of the redskins, was a woman, 
 her perfect figure clothed in nothing but her raven 
 tresses. Her great black eyes had an agonized look in 
 them, and blood was dropping from four incisions made 
 with some sharp instrument in her shapely arms and 
 limbs. Surrounding her was the entire tribe — men, 
 women, and children — chanting a kind of sinister 
 invocation, while towering over the victim was the 
 majestic form of the Vajda, still holding in his clenched 
 
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 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 hand the leather thono; with which he had been chas- 
 tising her mercilessly. With a cry of dismay we both 
 sprang from our saddles, and scattering the crowd, 
 rushed towards him. 
 
 'What do you mean, Janos Ferenzi?" cried her 
 Majesty, clutching his arm. " What has this unfortunate 
 woman done that you should treat her thus?" 
 
 The noble face of the Vajda, which at first had 
 expressed nothing but astonishment at our unexpected 
 appearance, now assumed a look of dignity and of 
 sadness which I, for one, had never seen there before. 
 
 " There has been love, and of the love sin, and of 
 the sin a curse would come upon my tribe were it not 
 punished," he said, solemnly. " This woman has betrayed 
 the man to whom she was in honour bound. I, Ferenzi- 
 Janos, must avenge the disgrace inflicted on one of my 
 people. Her woe was wrought by her own hand, and 
 she must eat the fruits of her crime." 
 
 The words fell slowly and mournfully on the silence 
 of the night, troubled only by the river waves beating, 
 with a dull murmur, against the rocks fifty feet below, 
 and by the soughing of the wind which had arisen. 
 Ferenzi-Janos was indeed in his own eyes, and in those 
 of his people, a judge and an avenger. In vain did we 
 try to plead and argue in behalf of the woman. He 
 remained immovable, quietly but firmly refusing to 
 grant even an imperial request. 
 
 "Nothing can help the culprit," he said. "For 
 twenty-four hours must she remain at the stake, and then 
 she will become a wanderer on the face of the earth. 
 The incisions you see are the signs of her degradation, 
 and no tribe will ever allow her to rest in its midst. 
 Believe me," he added, "we are only just. We warn 
 our women of what awaits them should they sin. It is 
 
 142
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 for them to keep themselves pure. Moreover, you have 
 been our friends and you will not betray us, because in 
 your heart you know that this punishment is well 
 deserved." 
 
 What could either of us argue against such reasoning ? 
 We exerted ourselves so much in her behalf, nevertheless, 
 that at last the miserable woman was unbound and sent 
 out of the camp that night instead of being left at the 
 stake until the following sundown. This was a great 
 concession on the part of Ferenzi-Janos, and seemed to 
 fill his people with astonishment. I need hardly add 
 that through the Empress's care the wretched woman 
 found a home on one of the royal estates, where I 
 have reason to believe she remains to the present day. 
 The impression made upon us by this incident was a 
 lasting one, and often did we talk together of the wild, 
 weird scene of the forest of Yemisar. 
 
 One thing which always struck me about my Tzigan 
 friends is the nobility of their demeanour. They all 
 seem to be born aristocrats, so dignified and impressive 
 is their bearing under all circumstances. I think that 
 I can describe them as staunch monarchists, for they are 
 exceedingly loyal to their Vajdas, and to their Queen, 
 wandering majesty though she is, living in canvas tents 
 wherever her fancy may lead her. 
 
 The Zingari whom one meets in cities are degenerates, 
 and cannot give any idea of what the free-born child of 
 the Puszta is like. To know the latter well, it is 
 necessary to visit their picturesque settlements on the 
 plains, or in the dense pine forests which here and there 
 break the monotony of the boundless grass land of the 
 country of their adoption. It is difficult to win their 
 confidence, or to secure a welcome to their camps, and 
 many savants who in the interests of science have 
 
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 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 desired to study their mode of life have been discouraged 
 from so doing by the icy barrier of disdain and mistrust 
 which this still half-savage people seem determined to 
 place in their way. 
 
 As far as I am personally concerned, I found no 
 trouble in making friends with them, a fact due perhaps 
 to a service which I had been able once to render to 
 the tribe of Ferenzi-Janos under somewhat singular 
 circumstances. I am sure that I found them, especially 
 after I had taken the pains to acquire some knowledge 
 of the Romany language, firm and reliable friends, ready 
 to stick to one through thick and thin in unswerving 
 allegiance. They showed me complete trust, revealing 
 to me many of their secrets with absolute sincerity and 
 truthfulness. 
 
 No one who has seen so much of them as I have 
 can do otherwise than endorse Grellmann's theory con- 
 cerning the Hindoo origin of this remarkable people. 
 The two languages are very similar ; for instance, 
 in Hindustani the word snow is "hinia," and the word 
 bearer, "laya," while in Romany the words are "him" 
 and " loya." In both languages " himalaya " means " the 
 bearer of snow." Many other proofs might be given as 
 to the certainty of the fact that the Himalayan slopes 
 were the original home of all the gypsies previous to 
 the year 1417, when they made their first appearance 
 in Europe. The religion has remained almost entirely 
 that of fire-worshippers. The earth, which they call 
 " phno," has, according to them, existed from all eternity, 
 and is the origin of everything that is good, because a 
 raging and undying fire burns in its bowels. Their 
 god is named "Devel," and their devil "Beng." They 
 fear both, and curse both freely when some misfortune 
 reaches them. Their most solemn oath is to swear by 
 
 144
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 the dead, an oath which it is the direst dishonour to* 
 break. But in spite of this they do not believe in an 
 after-life. They have no word for paradise and none for 
 heaven, although they sometimes talk of a region 
 inhabited by devils, a "beng-ipe" (demon's home). 
 
 It is a great mistake to imagine that the Tzigans 
 pride themselves on the possession of the powers of 
 divination and even witchcraft with which they are 
 popularly credited. On the contrary, they ridicule the 
 belief. 
 
 Late one afternoon my imperial friend and I happened 
 to be riding home through a cihcmia, where I often had 
 been alone before. We stopped to talk to a beautiful 
 young Zingaro, with whom I was acquainted. A wild, 
 handsome girl she looked, with a scarlet hood thrown 
 over her jetty hair, and her glittering eyes gazing into 
 the darkening heavens, where the crescent of the new 
 moon was rising. 
 
 " Tell me my fortune, Kevicta ! " suddenly exclaimed 
 her Majesty, holding out her open hand to her. The 
 glow of the camp-fire was bright enough for her to read 
 the lines of the delicate palm, which she took between 
 her brown and shapely fingers. For a moment she 
 remained silent, looking up with surprise into the lovely 
 face above hers. 
 
 'You want me to prophesy for you? You want to 
 hear what Eevicta, the daughter of the flames, can say 
 about your future?" half chanted she, in that peculiarly 
 monotonous recitative of the gypsy. " Ah ! in the past 
 and in the present lie the seed to bear fruit in the 
 future," continued the girl, speaking now in Czeschen. 
 '' Eevicta can say only that which she sees. She cannot 
 lie to a friend of her tribe. True Romanies do not believe 
 in fortune-telling. It is good enough for the non-gypsies 
 
 145 L
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 to do so. To you I cannot tell what I do not know, 
 even for gold." 
 
 The words fell gently from her lips. She dropped 
 the Empress's hand, and with a queenly inclination of 
 her proud head she turned away, and walked softly 
 towards her tent, moving noiselessly on the smooth 
 greensward. 
 
 As for myself, I never believed much in predictions of 
 any kind, nor in visions either, and I smiled contentedly 
 upon hearing Eevicta's assertion ; yet, strangely enough, 
 I had once a vision, and about the Empress, too, which 
 came back very vividly to me, and very painfully as 
 well, after her assassination. 
 
 The circumstance to which I am now alluding took 
 place during the late autumn of the year when I spent 
 
 a few days at the old chateau of X , on the Breton 
 
 coast, with her Majesty. It was on a cold November 
 afternoon. I was riding over the heath of Quiberon, 
 in Brittany, where I had remained fur some weeks after 
 Elizabeth returned to Vienna. Far below me, at the 
 foot of the cliffs, the waves were dashing against the 
 rocks with a loud, grinding sound of rolling pebbles and 
 shaking bowlders, and the wind was shrieking through 
 the dried stalks of the furze and broom. The melancholy 
 of the scene brought vividly back to my mind tales I 
 had often heard of the terrible carnage which took place 
 on this very spot in 1795. It seemed to me as if I could 
 even see the broad face of the moon throwing a livid 
 light on the deserted battle-field of those days, and dead 
 and dying piled in great heaps, which the furious waves 
 of the rising tide approached in leaps and bounds. I 
 almost fancied I heard the moaning of the wounded, 
 abandoned to their wretched fate, and saw the " Whites " 
 and the " Blues," as the Boyalists and Revolutionists were 
 
 146
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 respectively designated, lying side by side in their last 
 moments of agony. So absorbed was I in this retrospective 
 reverie, that I suffered my hunter to adopt a snail-like pace, 
 as he also gazed seaward where so many of his kind had 
 found a watery grave in those long gone times. The 
 scene was a desolate one indeed, well in keeping with 
 my thoughts, and the incident which brought me back 
 from the retrospective musings was strange enough to 
 make me think that I was still dreaming with wide- 
 open eyes. 
 
 Just as I was about to round the point which discloses 
 the entire panorama of this tempest-tossed stretch of 
 water, called La Mer Sauvage, I saw plainly before me, 
 in spite of the rapidly gathering dusk, a white figure 
 standing on the very edge of the precipice, and seemingly 
 swinging to and fro with a gentle, undulating motion, 
 as if about to clear the bastion-like ramparts formed 
 by the cliff. 
 
 I checked my horse so violently that, unused to such 
 rough treatment, the delicately organized thoroughbred 
 reared straight up in the air, and it took me a few 
 moments to soothe his aggrieved feelings. When I 
 had succeeded in doing so, I looked again towards the 
 spot where the figure had stood flutteringly outlined 
 against the evening sky, but it was no longer there. 
 Giving my fretting horse his head, I galloped madly away, 
 unmindful of the grand panorama before me, of the sacred 
 Druidical stones which I passed at lightning speed, 
 although I usually loved to give a lingering look at those 
 weird and terrible monuments of the times of the Gauls. 
 It was late when I arrived home, just in time to 
 dress and to hurry down to the dining-hall, where our 
 numerous guests had already assembled. I had no time 
 to think of the quaint apparition perceived during my 
 
 147
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 homeward journey, and as dinner was followed by an 
 impromptu dance, it was after midnight when I retired 
 to my room. I was wellnigh tired out, and I dropped 
 into a deep sleep as soon as my head touched the pillow. 
 It did not seem that a long time had elapsed when, 
 suddenly, I awakened, with a start. 
 
 The tiny enamelled clock at my bedside rang out 
 thrice its soft, silvery stroke. While the sound was 
 yet dying away I opened my eyes and looked about 
 me with a feeling of oppression and anxiety. 
 
 The large, high-ceiled room, lighted by the rosy 
 glow of the night-lamp and by the fitful gleams of the 
 fast-consuming logs on the hearth, looked as peaceful 
 as usual. Not a fold of the heavy draperies on the walls 
 had been disturbed ; the tall green fronds of the palms 
 before the windows were unruffled by so much as a breath 
 of air, and a stray moonbeam glided through a parting 
 of the window-curtains and fell aslant the floor, like a 
 sheaf of silver rays. 
 
 Wearily my eyelids drooped, and I was about to doze 
 off once more, when a second time I started as if a 
 hand had touched me. The November night was very 
 cold for Brittany, and the wind swept in icy gusts 
 around the castle. Everybody was asleep, and when I 
 at length lay down again there was not a sound in the 
 whole big pile of buildings save the crackling of the 
 logs on the broad hearth. 
 
 Lulled by the low moaning of the sea at the foot of 
 the cliffs far below my windows, I tried again to go to 
 sleep; but I was kept from doing so by an incompre- 
 hensible feeling of anguish. Cold perspiration stood on 
 my brow, and I experienced great difficulty in breathing. 
 Dazed and surprised, I looked around me, but the fire 
 had now almost completely died out, and the dim, rosy 
 
 148
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AX EMPRESS 
 
 light from the smouldering embers was not strong enough 
 to allow me to distinguish anything clearly. I was 
 trying to reason myself into going to sleep again in 
 spite of all, when a very slight rustle attracted my 
 attention and made me shudder from head to foot. It 
 was so slight that none but ears sharpened by fear could 
 have perceived it, and yet there it was — a soft, silky, 
 gliding, undulating motion of something invisible 
 gradually approaching my bed. I lay there incapable 
 of moving, straining every nerve in my effort to realize 
 what that sound could be, but the beating of my pulses 
 was so loud that I could less and less distinguish whence 
 it came. Suddenly my heart died within me, for the 
 curtains had parted, and from the sheaf of moonbeams, 
 now broadened to a regular flood of scintillating light, 
 the figure I had seen on the cliffs floated towards me. 
 I am no coward, and I may assert that I am not 
 fanciful either; but yet I seemed to become paralyzed 
 by some kind of magnetic power which I had never 
 experienced before. Stir so much as a finger I could 
 not; all my vitality was concentrated in my eyes. 
 Mechanically I heard the clock ticking monotonously; 
 I listened to every sob of the waves against the rocky 
 beach below, and to the fast-rising wind as it shook the 
 deep-embrasured casements, but all these sounds were 
 dull in my ear, as if heard from a far-away grave where 
 I was entombed alive. 
 
 The figure reached my bedside and bent over me. I 
 clenched my teeth convulsively to smother a cry of 
 agony, for I could now distinguish every detail plainly, 
 and I saw Elizabeth's features pale as death, her great 
 blue eyes dilated and bent upon me with a heart-rending 
 expression of sadness and of woe, and one slim, emaciated 
 hand pointing to a little wound on her bare breast, and 
 
 149
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 from which two or three drops of blood had oozed upon 
 the white folds of her robe. And then I swooned away, 
 losing all consciousness of that awful picture. 
 
 When I regained my senses I could see through the 
 opening between the heavy tapestried window-hangings 
 that the sun had risen. The room, with its luxurious 
 furnishings, its numberless knickknacks and bibelots, 
 was peaceful and undisturbed, but I could not shake off 
 the horrible impression of what I persisted in telling 
 myself was but a ghastly dream. I telegraphed to 
 Elizabeth during the course of the morning, and she 
 replied immediately that she was very well, expressing 
 surprise at my, to her, quite meaningless and anxious 
 inquiry. So I called myself a fool, and tried to dismiss 
 the whole affair from my brain. 
 
 Of course I never mentioned a word of it to the 
 Empress, and when I regained Austria we resumed as 
 of yore our rides over hill and dale, talking often of 
 Brittany, a subject, however, to which, much to her 
 astonishment, I did not take very kindly, for it always 
 recalled to me the vision seen during one of the most 
 trying nights which I ever spent in my life. 
 
 150
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 From our long forest rambles Elizabeth would often 
 bring back, tied to the pommel of her saddle, all 
 manner of queer objects — strangely gnarled branches, 
 bright-hued berries, long waving reeds — which she after- 
 wards disposed gracefully and with a quaint, original 
 taste about her apartments. 
 
 Very characteristic of her was the originality which 
 she showed in the arrangement of her private apartments. 
 Whether she was staying at one of her own palaces or 
 in a plain suite of rooms at a hotel, her first care was 
 invariably to send for flowers, quantities of them, both 
 potted and cut, and to dispose them herself in all avail- 
 able nooks and corners. Next came her books, well- 
 thumbed volumes, handsomely but soberly bound, and 
 written in the many dead and living languages which 
 she knew. A large square box containing portraits and 
 photographs of those she loved was always included in 
 her luggage, and she took special delight in grouping 
 these souvenirs of home about her. 
 
 When she built and furnished the Villa Achilleon 
 she gave proof of what her artistic sense really was. 
 
 This imperial abode has been so often described 
 that it seems futile to do so again here, and yet no 
 pen or even brush wielded by the cleverest of writers 
 or of painters has ever given an adequate idea of the 
 chastened magnificence and truly unique taste displayed 
 throughout this creation of her imagination, executed in 
 
 151
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 marbles and mosaics, precious woods and more precious 
 metals. 
 
 Corfu was a fitting place of residence for the grieving 
 Empress. She followed in her selection the example 
 of Agrippina, widow of Gernianicus, who, in the year 
 20 A.D., cast into the depths of despair by the loss she 
 had sustained, landed upon the shores of this enchanted 
 island to seek the consolation usually brought by beau- 
 tiful scenery, coupled with perfect rest and estrangement 
 from all social noise and turmoil. 
 
 The attention of the Empress had been directed to 
 the classical spot where the villa now stands by the late 
 Freiherr von Warsberg, the great authority on the land- 
 scape scenery of the Odyssey. Within the incredibly 
 short time of little more than one and a half years the 
 modest villa Braila, on the Gasturi Hill, in the island 
 of Corfu, long known for its enchanting position, was 
 replaced, under the direction of the Italian architect, 
 Rafael Charito, by a palace conceived and carried out 
 in the spirit of ancient Greece. The eastern slope of 
 the hill facing towards the sea is covered with olive 
 plantations, while the opposite incline has been laid 
 out as a beautiful park, on wide terraces. The west 
 front rises two stories high, but the villa leans against 
 the hill, so that the upper story at the opposite side 
 is level with the first terrace. 
 
 The principal entrance is on the south front, which, 
 with its projecting porch, its loggias and balconies, 
 presents an exceedingly picturesque aspect. The vesti- 
 bule is connected with a large, sumptuously decorated 
 salon, upon the ceiling of which Paliotti has represented 
 the four seasons. To the right is the chapel, carried 
 out in pure Byzantine style ; to the left the dining-room, 
 Pompeian to the minutest detail. A marble staircase 
 
 152
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 with bronze balustrades leads to the second story, where 
 the apartments of the Empress were situated. The 
 central salon opens on the Centaur terrace, and has 
 empire decorations, with frescoes of Aurora on the ceil- 
 ing, painted also by Paliotti. All the various apartments 
 are filled with art treasures of Pompeian and ancient 
 Greek origin which the Empress collected herself. 
 
 The arrangements of Elizabeth's private suite of 
 rooms reflected the individual taste of the august chate- 
 laine in all its well-known refinement. One of the most 
 magnificent features of the building is the peristyle 
 into which the Empress's rooms opened. It is supported 
 by twelve marble columns, in front of which are placed 
 marble statues brought from Rome, while the walls are 
 painted by Paliotti and Pastiglione with scenes from 
 ancient Greek mythology and romance as they were 
 described by Homer, -ZEsop, and many other ancient 
 poets and chroniclers. 
 
 The building contains one hundred and twenty-eight 
 rooms, and the stables have accommodation for fifty 
 horses. 
 
 From the windows of her Majesty's sleeping apart- 
 ment and boudoir the view is admirable, reaching far 
 away to where the mountains of Cyprus and Albania 
 tower into the sky. All the rooms are furnished with 
 that exquisite taste ever displayed by the Empress in 
 all interior arrangements. 
 
 Almost all the carpets, rugs, tapestries, and lamps 
 were bought by Elizabeth in Morocco and Tunis, while 
 the marvellous frescoes with which the walls are deco- 
 rated are, as I just remarked, the work of the celebrated 
 Italian painters, Scanni, Paliotti, and Pastiglione. This 
 delightful and truly imperial abode cost over forty 
 million florins, not including, of course, the treasures 
 
 153
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 of art which adorn the spacious picture-gallery etc. 
 The grounds are a dream of extraordinary magnificence, 
 with their ever-blooming thickets of tropical plants and 
 trees, their groves of palms, blue-gum trees, and their 
 sparkling fountains. Behind the villa is a huge field 
 of roses, comprising twenty-five thousand bushes, of all 
 kinds and colours. A trellised walk covered with 
 climbing noisette and nyphetos encloses this unique 
 collection, the flower-laden branches meeting and inter- 
 lacing overhead, and then drooping in perfumed showers 
 almost to the ground. It would be indeed difficult to 
 give an idea of this vision of loveliness, for the "rose- 
 garden" is so planned that it has the least possible 
 appearance of design. The luxuriant bushes of crimson, 
 yellow, pink, and white roses seem to have chosen 
 their own places, and to have chosen them most happily 
 too. 
 
 The stables, saddle and harness rooms, are, one might 
 almost say, the greatest marvel of this superb residence. 
 The Empress ordered everything in this portion of the 
 establishment to be brought from England, down to the 
 wainscoting in light oak which lines the coach-houses 
 and saddle-rooms. The stables are at some distance 
 from the house, and constitute a very charming feature 
 of the landscape, with their many gables, their latticed 
 windows, and their pointed roofs, overrun with creepers 
 and climbing roses. The broad sanded alley leading to 
 them gently ascends through the park, and is bordered 
 on both sides with beds of pink and white geraniums, 
 and groves of blossoming camellias, azaleas, and monster 
 ferns. 
 
 The gardens and park descend in sloping terraces 
 to the very edge of the sea, where a flight of steps, 
 made of pink marble, leads to a private harbour. A 
 
 154 

 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 light-house, also built of marble and provided with an 
 enormous electric lamp, throws its dazzling rays over 
 the water and on the surrounding woods. 
 
 The sea-wall of pink marble is crowned with vases 
 of majolica tilled with aloe plants, and separates the 
 grounds from the rippling dark-blue waves. 
 
 On a slight rocky elevation at the farther side of 
 the garden an exquisite little Greek temple is perched, 
 about which, as well as around its rocky base, a wealth 
 of noisette and multiflora climbing specimens are vying 
 with each other to shed all the perfumes of Arabia on 
 the mellow air. Single climbers wrap the great trees 
 on the border of this Eden, displaying their matchless 
 beauty of blossom in the very wantonness of security, 
 hanging out their brilliant wreaths, fearless of hand or 
 knife, for the Empress loved them and cared for these 
 blossoms of nature more even than for the Golden Eose 
 of Merit sent to her years ago by his Holiness the Pope. 
 In this Greek temple the Empress used to sit with 
 her dogs at her feet gazing on the deep-blue sea, which 
 appeared here and there between the forest of flowers, 
 seeking comfort and consolation from the pain ever 
 gnawing at her heart. 
 
 Unfortunately, even the beauties of Achilleon failed 
 to attain any such end, and the poor Niobe, hunted 
 by the restlessness of a pain too great to be explained 
 in words, decided not very long ago to abandon her 
 lovely Greek villa. 
 
 " Who shall assuage thy grief, thou tempest tossed, 
 And speak of comfort, comfortless to thee ? " 
 
 The monuments which had been erected in the 
 gardens to the memory of Crown-prince Rudolph, and 
 of her Majesty's favourite poet, Heine, were taken away 
 
 155
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 and sent, together with most of the art treasures con- 
 tained in the salons and galleries of Achilleon, to Schloss 
 Lainz, in the neighbourhood of the castle of Schonbrunn, 
 which then became the favourite retreat of the Kaiserin, 
 a terra-incognita which is concealed from the public 
 gaze by thousands of woodland acres. 
 
 If Achilleon was a marvel of Greek and Pompeian 
 reconstruction, Lainz seems to be torn out of the pages 
 of some ancient record of legends or fairy tales. Sur- 
 rounded, in spite of the immensity of the domain, by 
 high, forbidding-looking walls, it is still further pro- 
 tected from any gaze, save that of the birds, by a belt 
 of century-old trees of extreme magnificence, which cast 
 their deep-green shadows upon the most velvety of 
 emerald swards. Here again Elizabeth's love for flowers 
 showed itself, the gardens being as near perfection as 
 perfection is to be attained here below. The castle itself 
 is embedded in masses of blossoms which literally beggar 
 description, the many tropical plants finding during the 
 cold months a refuge in the enormous winter-garden, 
 which opens from the Empress's private suite of rooms. 
 
 The building itself is very roomy and decorated in 
 Renaissance style, and the lofty entrance-hall is adorned 
 with many beautiful paintings, including the celebrated 
 "Hunt of Diana," by Makart. A majestic salon, the 
 walls of which are inlaid with wonderful mosaics, is 
 called the Marble Room, and there is it that, hidden 
 behind a movable panel, a jewel of an altar stands, of 
 pure Renaissance design, where the Empress's chaplain 
 used to say mass every morning at sunrise. This altar 
 is ensconced in a fretted and carved extension of the 
 Schloss, according to the rules of the Catholic Church, 
 which prohibit anything being built above such places 
 of worship. 
 
 156
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Upstairs are the private apartments of the Emperor 
 and Empress, separated by a large library so filled with 
 palms, ferns, and shrubs in full bloom, emerging from 
 great bronze and silver boxes, that it closely resembles 
 a conservatory. 
 
 The Kaiser's bedroom is austerely simple, a camp 
 bed covered with military blue cloth, a prie-dieu sur- 
 mounted by a large crucifix, a superb painting repre- 
 senting the Blessed Virgin, and another of the Empress 
 and her children, being about all it contains. Far more 
 luxurious is Elizabeth's sleeping chamber, but still the 
 dominating note is peculiarly quiet and peaceful. Walls 
 and furniture are of a soft, creamy whiteness — that of 
 the finest of velvets— the floor is covered with white 
 bear-skins, and the windows are shrouded by cream-hued 
 velvets, and Alencon laces. Opposite the narrow white 
 lacquered bed stands a matchless alabaster statue repre- 
 senting a weeping Niobe. The pedestal of this exquisite 
 masterpiece is smothered in banks of delicately foliaged 
 green plants, and was lighted all night, whether the 
 Empress was there or not, by tiny opalescent globes 
 containing perfumed candles. During her long attacks 
 of insomnia the poor bereft mother found a sort of 
 comfort in contemplating this, her counterpart, and 
 used to lie with her lovely eyes fixed on the white form 
 so pathetically pure and beautiful. 
 
 The bed stood in the middle of the room, protected 
 at the upper end by a huge screen, the central leaf of 
 which consisted of an admirably painted picture of the 
 Blessed Virgin. Between two of the four tall windows 
 stood a statue also representing Mary, holding in her 
 outspread hands a magnificent antique rosary of gems, 
 which sparkled under the rays of the ever-burning sanc- 
 tuary lamp of ruby-tinted crystal hanging above it. 
 
 157
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 The Empress's study, which opened into her sleeping 
 apartment, was filled with souvenirs; little frames, con- 
 taining her children's and grandchildren's first attempts 
 at drawing, hung above the great square writing-table ; 
 a portrait of the dead king, Louis II. of Bavaria, was 
 supported by an easel draped in cloth-of-silver. Every- 
 where there Avas a picturesque litter of casts, sketches, 
 books, and small and large bronzes. There were many 
 priceless vases, adorned, of course, with exquisite flowers. 
 The hearth was wide open and oak logs burned there 
 morning and evening, shining on the carvings of the 
 high chimney-piece, excepting in midsummer, when it 
 was all filled in with flowers and plants. A beautiful 
 marble copy of the Belvedere Mercury stood near by, 
 with great clusters of snowy azaleas and white camellias 
 around it. 
 
 The dining-room was in keeping with the rest of 
 the little castle, for there, also, flowers played the pre- 
 dominant role. In the corners fountains of marble 
 harboured the most brilliant and also the most delicate 
 specimens of the aquatic flora, which spread their in- 
 toxicating fragrance from beneath the prismatic spray 
 of the water-jets. 
 
 Here on a console stood a remarkable toy, which the 
 Empress took especial delight in winding up for the 
 benefit of her grandchildren. It was a mandolin player 
 dressed in the costume of the Kenaissance, and the 
 merry strains of the instrument he held accompanied 
 the little automat's voice, which was extremely good 
 and sounded astoundingly natural. When Archduchess 
 Valerie's children came to Lainz the Empress always 
 had some surprise in reserve for them. Often it took 
 the form of dvrarf fruit-trees brought to the table at 
 desert, and from the diminutive branches of which the 
 
 158
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 little ones gleefully gathered monster cherries, rosy- 
 cheeked apples, luscious pears, apricots, plums, or 
 currants. 
 
 The Empress, this ardent lover of flowers, has often 
 been compared to the edelweiss— the ice-blossom — 
 which can thrive only in an untainted atmosphere ; but 
 this comparison holds good only in so far as her crystal- 
 like purity went, for to be simply and beautifully 
 passionless, in the grosser sense of the word, and far 
 removed from human frailties and sins is not to be 
 made of ice. It is what made her the most poetical, 
 the most lovable figure among the royalty of Europe. 
 I myself have always thought that the edelweiss was no 
 fit emblem for the absolutely unique type of blameless 
 womanhood represented by Empress Elizabeth. After 
 all, the edelweiss is easily attainable and can be procured 
 from the inhabitants of any Alpine village. A far like- 
 lier simile could be drawn between her and the wolfinia- 
 carnthiana, which grows upon the very summit of the 
 Garntnerkogel, in her Majesty's beloved Corinthian 
 mountains, and nowhere else in the world. Like the 
 wolfmia, the Empress soon drooped in any atmosphere 
 that did not suit her, and her avoidance of just such 
 atmospheres was what caused the ignorant crowd to 
 accuse her of being eccentric, odd, and frozen. 
 
 Every evening when at Lainz she retired to her own 
 room punctually at ten, after having spent the previous 
 hour or two in writing to her children and grandchildren, 
 and to her sisters, with whom she kept up a constant 
 correspondence, especially with the ex-Queen of Naples, 
 of whom she was very fond. 
 
 She rose at five, and by six was out of doors walking 
 about the gardens, arrayed in one of those short tailor- 
 made silk-lined black serge dresses which she wore so 
 
 159
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 much. She never could bear a dress to trail or even to 
 touch the ground, save at court functions and state balls, 
 and insisted on having all her skirts made very short, 
 as she could not bear the trouble of holding them up, 
 which, she declared, made her awfully nervous. She 
 invariably carried a book with her in her rambles. 
 When there, also, during late years, she wrote a great 
 deal of prose and of poetry, for she said that writing 
 amused her and kept her from thinking. That is rather 
 a strange way of putting it, especially when one knows 
 how full of thought, and beautiful thought, indeed, her 
 literary work was. 
 
 As an example, here is a portion of a letter written 
 by her to a friend, and describing a visit which she 
 made to an eccentric old gentleman who lived in the 
 neighbourhood of Cairo, and whose great wealth and 
 originality caused much talk there during many years : 
 
 "The drive was a long one. It led us at first along 
 the straight white boulevards of Cairo, then through 
 winding, ancient streets, and beneath the splendidly 
 mosaiqued arches of old Cairo, where the bizarre and 
 attractive conflict of European and Oriental life spreads 
 its strange panorama. At last we left the town, with 
 its medley of loaded camels, white-bearded sheiks, 
 Bedouins, and red-coated English soldiery far behind 
 us, to enter a broad avenue of century-old sycamores, 
 which followed the green bank of the old river. On we 
 drove, until at a bend of the road we suddenly caught a 
 glimpse of a densely wooded promontory jutting out in 
 the dark-blue waters of the Nile, and surmounted by a 
 feathery bunch of tall palm-trees, the foliage of which 
 seemed pencilled with extraordinary exactitude against 
 the pale green and pink evening sky. The red-hot rays 
 
 160
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 of the sinking sun shed their glory about this matchless 
 picture, which we admired in almost awed silence. 
 
 "Bapidly the carriage turned from the main avenue 
 into a private one barred by gigantic iron gates, which, 
 however, were thrown wide open in our honour, while 
 a boab, or porter, wrapped in the numerous folds of his 
 snowy gandarah, salaamed with deep obeisance as we 
 whirled past him. 
 
 " Truly it seemed as had we entered fairy-land ! All 
 around us were clusters of tamarisk and orange and 
 glowing pomegranate, overshadowing parterres filled 
 with deep-hued flowers and protected by low hedges of 
 thorny dwarf cactus. Above our heads the interlaced 
 branches of colossal rose-laurels, magnolias, and jasmine 
 trees formed a fragrant bower which ended in a sort of 
 glade, whereon arose the lace-like white marble minarets 
 and towers of what appeared to be an enchanted palace. 
 Fountains played on aquatic blossoms of all descriptions, 
 multicoloured birds flitted over the lanceolated leaves of 
 pink and blue lotuses, and soft-eyed gazelles scampered 
 over the velvety lawns, losing themselves under the 
 deepening shadows of the miniature tropical forest 
 which backed the half-Moorish, half-Indian construction. 
 Seen in the waning yet still brilliant light of the 
 eastern afternoon, the tableau, such as I have attempted 
 to describe it for your benefit, was like unto the evo- 
 cation of some poet's dream, and I hardly believed 
 myself to be awake when the carriage drew up before 
 a flower-laden flight of steps. Ashamed of an aston- 
 ishment so thoroughly out of place for a hardened 
 traveller like myself, I alighted and commenced to 
 walk up the marble steps, where I was met by an 
 apparition well in keeping with my surroundings, 
 for I do not remember to have ever been so much 
 
 161 M
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN" EMPRESS 
 
 struck by the personal appearance of any man in my 
 life. 
 
 "Our advancing host was a man of considerably 
 over medium stature ; the easy grace which marked his 
 movements told of a body in which true proportions of 
 every limb, muscle, and sinew were the most marked 
 characteristics. The face was noble, of a clear sunburned 
 brown inclining to an olive tint, the brow was low and 
 broad, the nose firm in its contour and somewhat aqui- 
 line, while the mouth, surrounded by a silvery mous- 
 tache and flowing beard, was of a generous Greek fulness 
 of lip. The eyes, in marked and startling contrast with 
 this darkish complexion, were of a dark luminous blue, 
 yielding a strange radiance, and overshadowed by black 
 lashes and brows. This majestically moving figure was 
 clad in a loose robe of rich material and wonderfully 
 blended colours, while on the hoary head was wound 
 a turban of white and silver silken stuffs. 
 
 " ' Welcome to my Tltebaide? he said, in a deep, 
 sonorous voice, as he bent over the hand which I 
 extended to him ; and retaining it in his, he led me 
 across a mosaic terrace of great beauty to a chamber 
 which I almost despair of describing by means of such 
 poor tools as pen and ink. 
 
 "When I first entered it I could not speak, in the 
 extremity of my amazement, for although I believed 
 that I had seen a fair portion of this world's luxury, 
 yet stood I speechless with surprise before this, to my 
 mind, exact reproduction of Aladdin's treasure-chamber ! 
 It appeared to me as if both walls and ceiling were 
 thickly incrusted with gold and gems of the most mag- 
 nificent description, and of a truth such was really the 
 case, for on the pale-blue velvet serving as tcntures hung 
 an unparalleled collection of jewelled weapons, and other 
 
 162
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 ornaments of barbaric splendour : scimitars in scabbards 
 scintillating with sapphires, diamonds, and rubies, yata- 
 gans incrusted with emeralds and pearls, scarfs of cloth- 
 of-gold fantastically embroidered with precious stones, 
 while hanging-lamps of solid gold depended from the 
 ceiling, above great tables of malachite, lapis lazuli, and 
 jade. The entire floor was covered with azure velvet, 
 and the low divans running all around this glittering 
 room were piled with silken cushions of a deep-tinted 
 amber colour. A dainty repast of fruit, sweetmeats, 
 and drinks, iced to a turn, lay in readiness on an inlaid 
 table, on each side of which two servants in turbans 
 of white and gold stood with folded arms. 
 
 "In such company, and amid such surroundings, the 
 hours flew like minutes, and it was with a feeling of 
 regret that I rose at last to bid farewell to this extra- 
 ordinary host of ours." 
 
 This is pretty good English, and pretty good style 
 for a foreigner who wrote to "prevent herself from 
 thinking ! " I should say. 
 
 The only time when the Empress appeared at any 
 court ceremony since the death of her son was on the 
 occasion of the visit of the present Czar and Czarina to 
 Vienna. Her presence excited then even more interest 
 and curiosity at the state reception given at the Hofburg 
 than did that of the young Czarina, although the latter 
 had never been in Austria before. 
 
 The Muscovite imperial couple were received by 
 Elizabeth at Castle Lainz, which was a great compliment 
 paid to the visitors, for guests were never entertained at 
 Lainz, which the good Viennese called the Empress's 
 " Sacro-sanctum." When the special train steamed into 
 the little station of Lainz, the Czar and Czarina found, 
 
 1G3
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 much to their surprise and gratification, that the Empress 
 had accompanied her husband, and that both of them 
 stood waiting on the platform. The Emperor wore his 
 favourite field-marshal's uniform and the Russian Order 
 of St. Andrew, and Elizabeth was draped in the severe 
 folds of a black velvet dress and mantle. Her small 
 head, with its weight of golden-brown braids, was 
 crowned with a hat covered with black feathers, and in 
 one slender hand she carried her accustomed black fan, 
 while the other held a gigantic bunch of violets. 
 
 The dejeuner, which followed almost immediately 
 upon the arrival of Nicholas II. and Alexandra-Feo- 
 dorovna, was a success from every point of view, for it 
 was not only a gastronomical feast, but it was typical 
 of Elizabeth in being also a feast for the eyes and 
 higher tastes. Flowers, music, perfumes, beautiful 
 surroundings lent themselves to make up a positively 
 entrancing tout-ensemble. 
 
 At the court ball the charming impression received 
 during their visit to Lainz seemed to dwell upon the 
 minds of the imperial guests. 
 
 The old Hofburg had put on its most splendid 
 Appearance for the occasion. Lighted from basement 
 to roof, filled with gorgeous exotics, and decorated in 
 the most original and wonderful fashion, it yet preserved 
 its appearance of being a page torn from the illustrated 
 chronicles of the Middle Ages. Early in the evening 
 the great salons and galleries, the throne-room and 
 llittersaal were crowded with women in dazzling cos- 
 tumes and men in magnificent court and military 
 uniforms, while a string of carriages kept unceasingly 
 bringing other distinguished guests to the palace. 
 
 A few minutes after eight o'clock the grand-master 
 of the ceremonies, Count Kalman-Hunyadi, announced, 
 
 164
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 by rapidly striking the floor of the throne-room with 
 his ivory wand of office, that the court was approaching, 
 and the Emperor, with the Empress of Kussia on his 
 arm, made his appearance, followed by the Czar, led by 
 Empress Elizabeth, by his brother, Archduke Karl- 
 Ludwig, with Archduchess Maria-Theresa, and by other 
 members of the imperial family. 
 
 All eyes were immediately turned upon the lovely 
 Austrian sovereign, who, in spite of all the sorrows and 
 sufferings through which she had gone, could still be 
 truthfully called the most beautiful woman in her 
 dominions. Her toilette was a vision of severe elegance, 
 chic, and perfection of taste. 
 
 The endless fan-shaped train and bodice were of 
 softest, most shimmering black velvet, veiled with 
 black-silk gauze, embroidered with pearl-hearted black 
 violets. On her proud head sparkled a diadem of black 
 pearls and black diamonds, whence fell to the very hem 
 of the court mantle a transparent veil of black gauze 
 powdered with jet. Around the shapely Marmorean 
 neck hung row after row of softly gleaming black pearls 
 interspersed with brilliants, and she carried in her hand 
 a sheath of Russian and Neapolitan violets, tied with 
 jet-embroidered black streamers, to which was fastened 
 an enormous black marabout fan adorned with a crown 
 in diamonds. On the left shoulder was attached the 
 Stern-kreuz decoration, also in diamonds. The Czarina 
 wore a court mantle and a skirt of light-blue moire- 
 nacree, entirely veiled with gold-spangled blue tulle, 
 the mantle being secured to the shoulders by epaulets 
 of natural roses, a cluster of which also arose from the 
 coronet of pink pearls, sapphires, and diamonds sur- 
 mounting the waved hair. 
 
 The Empress was in one of her most charming and 
 
 165
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 amiable inoods, smiling and conversing graciously with 
 all the ladies of the corps-di2)lomatique in turn, and so 
 youthful did she look that her contemporaries would 
 have easily been taken for her seniors by at least twenty 
 years. At half-past ten their majesties retired to the 
 private council-room, where the presentations of the 
 evening were made. 
 
 When these were at an end, tea was served in the 
 Gobelin-room for their majesties and their immediate 
 entourage, while the other guests partook of supper in 
 the Mirror and Pietradura rooms, at tables reserved for 
 eight people each. At midnight the reception was over, 
 and the imposing old palace was wrapped once more 
 in darkness. 
 
 166
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Like all mothers who truly love their children, the 
 Empress was to a certain extent jealous of any outside 
 influence which might be brought to bear upon them, 
 and when the question of the Crown-prince's marriage 
 was first mooted it became a very vexatious one to her. 
 Of course she saw its necessity, not only as it was 
 thought that it would steady down the rather wild young 
 Prince, but also on account of providing for the dynasty 
 a line of direct heirs to the ancient crown which he was 
 to inherit. There were, at the time of which I speak, 
 but very few marriageable Catholic princesses, and 
 the one who was finally selected was, from the outset, 
 by no means a satisfactory choice to Elizabeth, for she 
 was the daughter of the King of the Belgians, whom 
 the Empress could literally not endure, and of Arch- 
 duchess Marie-Henrietta-Anne, herself daughter of the 
 late Archduke Joseph, Palatin of Hungary, a woman 
 who has always played a rather effaced and paltry role 
 at the court of her tyrannic, unkind, and unfaithful 
 husband, King Leopold. 
 
 Long were the discussions which the Empress and 
 I had in private about this projected alliance. We both 
 of us disliked and mistrusted Princess Stephanie, who 
 was a strange mixture of a higote and a flirt, and who 
 already, at her early age — she was not yet seventeen 
 — showed signs of a stubborn, narrow-minded, and set 
 temper, bordering on nmlishness; besides all which she 
 
 167
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 was by no means a pretty girl, very thin and angular, 
 with very light hair, and a delicacy of complexion which 
 betokened rather lack of health than real refinement 
 of appearance. She was ungainly in all her motions, 
 and had none of that grace without which a woman 
 possesses no charm whatsoever. 
 
 During the negotiations which took place between 
 the two courts the Empress was singularly despondent, 
 a mood very foreign to her, and her tenderness for 
 Rudolph seemed to become greater every day. He 
 himself did not appear to attach a very serious import- 
 ance to the step which he was about to take. Light- 
 hearted and somewhat sarcastic, if not a trifle cynical 
 in his way of looking upon women in general, with the 
 sole exception of his mother, whom he absolutely adored, 
 and justly thought to be unequalled both morally and 
 physically by any other member of her sex, Rudi used 
 to come every afternoon at dusk into the oak-panelled 
 library, which was the Empress's favourite retreat — and 
 where, when I had the happiness of being with her, we 
 invariably spent the hour before dinner — laughing, 
 joking, and attempting to put all our prognostications 
 and fears to flight by his merry banter. 
 
 " Where is the use of your making yourself miserable, 
 mother mine ? " he would say, sitting down on a cushion 
 at her feet, before the brightly burning logs on the 
 hearth, and taking the Empress's slender hands between 
 his own. " You know very well that as long as it is an 
 impossibility for me to find a wife who resembles your- 
 self in the very slightest degree, I may as well marry 
 this good little Belgian girl. She is neither homelier 
 nor more uninteresting than the rest of her kind, and as 
 she is very young I may have a chance of moulding her 
 temper the way it should be moulded. So don't you 
 
 168
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 worry, and be quite satisfied that I am not madly in 
 love with her, for in that case I know that you, jealous 
 darling, would be a million times more unhappy yet ! " 
 
 How well I can recall those oft-repeated little scenes : 
 the dim rosv light of the fire which threw fugitive 
 gleams of colour upon the embossed and emblazoned 
 ceiling, and on the porphyry sculptures of the high 
 mantelpiece, in front of which the Empress's two 
 favourite gigantic Danish dogs lay stretched out at full 
 length, while she herself, gowned in one of those 
 exquisitely draped and lovely creations of velvet and 
 fur, which she generally wore when we dined quite by 
 ourselves, sat without speaking much, but with a half 
 smile on her lovely lips, which was, however, belied by 
 the sadness of her deep, changeful blue eyes. 
 
 " My poor boy ! my poor boy ! " she kept repeating, 
 " I am afraid you do not realize what misery such a 
 marriage as that which vou are about to make can 
 bring about. The girl may be, as you say, moulded; 
 she is young enough for that, Heaven knows ; but such 
 moulding is not an easy or a pleasant process, and you, 
 my dear, are not at all the kind of a man who possesses 
 the perseverance to undertake the moral education of 
 his wife ! My love for you shows me very plainly the 
 defects which mar your many good qualities, and I 
 know just as well as if the thing had already happened 
 that you will get tired and annoyed at this role of 
 mentor, which you now consider to be so easy a one. 
 Your father wishes you to marry. To be sure, he looks 
 upon your union with Stephanie more in the light of a 
 necessary political event than anything else, but I am 
 bound to consider the other side of the question, which 
 is your home life, your ultimate happiness — in a word, 
 your entire future. Now, Stephanie is not, and never 
 
 169
 
 TEE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 will be, the wife for you ; she is fond of admiration, of 
 power, and of domination, and what is more, instead of 
 looking upon religion as a means of making our sojourn 
 here below less arduous and painful than it else might 
 be, she closes her eyes to all the true beauty of the 
 Catholic faith, and simply follows its strictest precepts 
 in a spirit of defiance, one would almost think, and 
 just as a child recites a piece of poetry learned by rote, 
 the true sense of which it neither comprehends nor 
 assimilates ! " 
 
 These conversations took place many and many a time, 
 and the Empress and her son gave vent to their feelings 
 in the very same fashion, time after time, without any 
 appreciable result on either side, for matters had already 
 gone too far to allow the Crown-prince to be sufficiently 
 influenced by them to retreat from the now fully adopted 
 course ; and as to the Empress, although she told me 
 regularly after each of these encounters that she well 
 knew how futile her objections had become, yet she 
 seemed impelled by some inner force to give expression 
 to them. As subsequent events have shown, it would 
 have been far better had her wishes in the matter been 
 treated with more regard. Her keen intuition served 
 her in good stead when she so bitterly opposed this 
 marriage, which brought in its train a succession of 
 catastrophies, miseries, and tragedies, unparalleled in 
 history. 
 
 The Emperor and his counsellors had their way, and 
 at last the time for the wedding was fixed, and the 
 parents of the bride, with their daughter, made their 
 entrance into Vienna. During the ceremonies and 
 popular rejoicings which preceded the great day, Eliza- 
 beth, although acting her part as mother of the bride- 
 groom and hostess of one of the grandest courts of 
 
 170 

 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Europe to perfection, as she did everything else, could 
 not succeed in shaking off the deep and lasting melan- 
 choly which seemed to have settled upon her. Her 
 distant, even icy behaviour towards her future daughter- 
 in-law, as well as towards King Leopold and Queen 
 Henrietta of Belgium, was so marked that it was noticed 
 by everybody. 
 
 The prelude of the wedding entertainments was a 
 popular festival in the Prater, and was certainly one 
 of the most magnificent sights of the kind ever seen. 
 Thousands upon thousands thronged the immense park, 
 which had at that moment just put on all its spring 
 loveliness. The delicate shade of the budding branches, 
 the deep green mosses stretching like velvet under the 
 grand old trees, the azure, sunlit sky, and the millions 
 of blossoming violets, primroses, and narcissus which 
 peeped forth evervAvhere, made a fitting background 
 for this bridal fete, and the long road from Schonbrunn 
 to the Prater was lined by row upon row of spectators 
 who had come from all parts of the empire to obtain a 
 glimpse of the gorgeous procession, headed by the 
 royalties and consisting of sixty-two court equipages, 
 which wended its way through the much beflagged and 
 oriflammed allies. The luxury displayed on that day 
 can be better imagined than described. The equipages 
 were marvellous, the horses the best and finest contained 
 in the imperial stables, and the gala liveries, as well as 
 the toilettes of the ladies and the glittering uniforms 
 of the men present, made up an unrivalled coup d'oeil. 
 In the foremost carriage were Prince De La-Tour-et- 
 Taxis, Grand Equerry of the Empire, and Prince Hohen- 
 lohe, then Grand Master of the Court. In the second 
 carnage were the Emperor, who wore the uniform of 
 a Belgian colonel, and the King of the Belgians in 
 
 171
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Austrian uniform. The other carriages were occupied 
 by the Empress, with the Queen of the Belgians; 
 Crown-prince Kudolph, with his bride ; Princess Victoria 
 of Prussia — now Dowager Empress Frederick of Germany 
 — with her brother the Prince of Wales ; Prince William 
 of Prussia — the present Emperor of Germany — who 
 wore the uniform of an Austrian captain, with Arch- 
 duchess Gisela; Prince Leopold of Bavaria, with the 
 Countess of Flanders, and the Grand-duchess Alice of 
 Tuscany, etc. 
 
 Empress Elizabeth, who wore a dove-gray moire gown 
 covered with priceless lace and a small bonnet wreathed 
 with pale violets, looked so excessively young and hand- 
 some that it was an impossibility to believe her to be 
 the mother of the tall, manly, and athletic Crown-prince, 
 During the long drive she hardly ever spoke to Queen 
 Henrietta, but sat very upright, bowing continuously 
 to right and left in acknowledgment of the cheers and 
 hurrahs of the populace, but with a look bordering on 
 absent-mindedness on her fair features. The acclama- 
 tions of the multitude became positively deafening as 
 the cortege reached the Prater-stern ; the horses of the 
 advance-guard could hardly proceed, for the people in 
 their enthusiasm several times broke through the cordon 
 of police, and serious accidents became so probable that 
 the Emperor stood up in his carriage and requested the 
 .crowd to make way, laughing as he did so in his own 
 cheery way, and calling out to them amid the sudden 
 silence which his action had created : 
 
 "Aber Kinder, seien Sie dock nicht so dumm, Sie wollcn 
 die Hochzeit dcs Kronp'inzen und nicht sein Leichen- 
 begdngniss und den Eueren feiren ! Geben Sie uns dock 
 Baum zu atJimcn ! " (But, children, don't be so foolish. 
 It is your Crown-prince's marriage which you want to 
 
 172
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 celebrate, and not his funeral as w ell as your own ; don't 
 smother us this way ! ) Roars of laughter and more 
 hurrahs were the result of this extemporary speech, 
 and the good-natured Viennese gave the example to 
 their still more enthusiastic brethren from Hungary, 
 Poland, Bohemia, Croatia, and elsewhere, in rendering 
 the advance of the file of equipages more possible and 
 less dangerous. 
 
 In the evening of that memorable day the entire 
 city was illuminated in the most magnificent fashion. 
 The night was a singularly clear and beautiful one, the 
 stars were sparkling in the clear sapphire skies, and the 
 multitudes which filled all the streets and thoroughfares 
 were still greater than during the day. For many 
 nights and days previously the hum of collecting people 
 and the tramp of many feet had been heard throughout 
 the capital. People of every stock and province had 
 flocked from wild Silesian forests, from remote Bavarian 
 mountains, from Moldavian plains, and from Czeschen 
 orchards. Pyramids of gas-jets flared up towards heaven, 
 while trees made entirely of small, burning, luminous 
 leaves threw their glare upon the tall buildings, every 
 window of which was outlined with garlands of multi- 
 coloured electric globes. 
 
 In front of the numerous palaces which line the Ring- 
 Strasse, brightly tinted fountains excited the admiration 
 of all on-lookers, and the Volks-Garten, the Stadt-Park, 
 and the Schwartzenberg-Platz had been turned into 
 fairy-like places, upon which the good burghers looked 
 with open-mouthed admiration. 
 
 The wedding ceremony, which took place in the 
 Hofburg-Kappelle, was also one of the most splendid 
 events on record. Unfortunately, during the mass, 
 which was said by the Prince-Cardinal of Vienna, the
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Empress's self-control completely broke down, and she 
 gave way to a violent fit of weeping. The Crown-prince 
 looked anything but cheerful, and the Emperor himself 
 was evidently in the worst of humours. The many lights 
 burning in gold candelabra, the crimson velvet draperies, 
 and the masses of blossoming plants which decorated the 
 chapel could not make up for the impression of sorrow 
 and of loss which seemed to pervade the august assembly. 
 Princess Stephanie was certainly most insignificantly 
 homely and ill at ease, in spite of her magnificent dress 
 of white brocade thickly embroidered with silver in a 
 marvellous design of oak and laurel leaves, myrtle and 
 heather blossoms. The low bodice was covered with 
 silver filigree lace, and she wore a veil which had been 
 presented to her by the city of Brussels, and upon which 
 the arms of Belgium and of Austria were woven in the 
 most exquisitely delicate manner. 
 
 In spite of her sadness the Empress looked handsomer 
 than ever. She wore a pearl-hued velvet gown with a 
 long square train draped with antique Argentan-lace. 
 Her wonderful hair was braided and coiled about her 
 small patrician head in the fashion so familiar to those 
 who knew her, and was adorned by a pointed diadem 
 of immense diamonds and emeralds. In her hands she 
 held a great cluster of white orchids, white violets, and 
 lilies. 
 
 As soon as she could possibly do so, and very shortly 
 after the guests had risen from the elaborate supper, 
 which had concluded the wedding feast, Elizabeth 
 retired to her private apartments, where a few nights 
 before I had had occasion to witness the really terrify- 
 ing depth of her grief. It was after one of the magnifi- 
 cent fetes given in honour of the young fiances, and 
 noticing how pale and wan she looked, I followed her 
 
 174
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 to her room, well aware that she stood in sore need of 
 a sympathetic listener. 
 
 On that occasion, after having had the weight of her 
 court-train and jewels removed by her women, she closed 
 the door, and without a word began to pace the floor 
 like a caged tigress in her incontrollable agitation. 
 It was very rare that the Empress thus gave way to 
 her emotion, but when she did so the full force of her 
 indomitable nature became apparent, and revealed a 
 depth of feeling which her usually calm and self- 
 contained demeanour gave one no reason whatsoever 
 to believe that she possessed. I knew her well enough 
 not to fall into the error of offering any consolation 
 or even of making any kind of remark, and so I sat 
 ([uietly before the fire which had been lighted in her 
 sleeping apartment — the nights being still cold — gazing 
 abstractedly into the leaping flames, and thinking 
 within myself that the fate of the high and mighty is 
 not often enviable. 
 
 Suddenly Elizabeth, with a swift movement, came 
 towards me, flung herself upon the floor, and, burying 
 her proud head upon my knees, burst into an uncon- 
 trollable passion of tears. Like the goose that I have 
 always been, instead of attempting to soothe her I was 
 so terrified and pained by this unusual display of sorrow 
 that I knew no better than to follow suit, so there we 
 both sobbed our hearts out in the most undignified 
 manner, as if we had lost all that made life worth living 
 I >r ! Alter a while, and when a little calm had succeeded 
 the tempest, Elizabeth rose, and wiping her eyes with 
 her poor little handkerchief, which had by now beni 
 reduced to the state of a wet sponge, she stroked m\ 
 hair and said, softly : 
 
 "You are a good sympathizer, and perhaps the onlj 
 
 175
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 woman on earth who forbears from talking when words 
 would be but added torture." 
 
 " That does not prevent me from doing a deal of 
 thinking," I replied, smiling faintly through my own 
 tears, "and also from being ready to curse very freely 
 all those who bring about anything that hurts you, who 
 deserve nothing but joy and happiness." 
 
 " All that I can say, if this is the case," rejoined the 
 Empress, "is that I do not get my deserts, for life has 
 not been dealing very kindly with me, especially lately. 
 Mark my words : this business will bring untold misery ; 
 that girl is no more fit than a wooden doll to be Rudi's 
 companion. She has no heart ; she has not even beauty 
 — a quality upon which all Hapsburgs set, as you know, 
 an inordinate amount of value. I am not blinded by 
 my love for my boy — she cannot keep him straight ! 
 I do not even say that he will get weary of her, for to 
 state this would be to admit that he has at any moment 
 been in love with her. But, dear me, how her ways and 
 manners — or lack of manners, if you prefer it so — will 
 pall upon him ! How soon he will become exasperated 
 by her complaints, her childish exactions, and her 
 monotonous, narrow-minded ideas ! Do you think for an 
 instant that he can stand an existence such as she will 
 make for him ? She is jealous ; I have noticed it myself, 
 and her sister Louise has told me as much. Now what 
 do you suppose is going to happen when she learns, 
 which she will surely do soon, that he does not love her, 
 and, possibly, that he has become interested in some other 
 woman ? " 
 
 I shook my head; there was indeed nothing to 
 answer to such logic, yet I felt so heartily sorry for 
 the Empress that I tried, perhaps clumsily, to show 
 her the future in less sombre colours. 
 
 176 

 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 "He is such a dear boy," I said; "he would not 
 hurt a fly, much less his own wife, and she is not very 
 intelligent, if you will pardon me for saying so, not 
 very clear-sighted either; self-love and self-admiration 
 are difficult armours to pierce, and she possesses both 
 to an extraordinary degree. I am quite sure that the 
 last thing that she Avill think of is that she is not the 
 central figure of the universe. Her empty little head 
 has been completely turned by becoming the wife of 
 the heir to the throne of Austro-Hungary, and by the 
 time that she awakes from her present dreams she will 
 have, let us hope, gained sufficient knowledge of the 
 world to realize what is due to her rank and position, 
 and to avoid bourgeois scenes or public scandals. Trust 
 to her singularly well-developed secheresse de cosur to 
 render her perfectly satisfied with being the Crown - 
 princess, instead of fretting herself about the Crown- 
 prince's possible coldness or indifference." 
 
 "Nay, nay, you do not show your usual insight into 
 human nature, my dear!" petulantly exclaimed the 
 Empress. " She will, on the contrary, make many serious 
 scenes. She has pride, but not of the best kind ; it is a 
 vainglorious kind of a pride, and it will not come to her 
 assistance when she has wounds to conceal. It will all 
 crumble to dust, and cause her to forget entirely that 
 (jueens and empresses must carry their sorrows within 
 themselves, and not show them forth to a public always 
 eager to see them writhe and smart under the common 
 agonies and every-day sorrows common to all womankind." 
 
 There was no denying this ! Time has shown that 
 every word pronounced by the Empress on that night 
 was wellnigh prophetic, and that she had, with her extra- 
 ordinary cleverness, read her daughter-in-law's charactei 
 to n nicet\ . 
 
 177 v
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 There was one person at the Austrian court who 
 thoroughly understood and appreciated the anxiety- 
 displayed by the Empress with regard to the Crown- 
 prince's marriage, and who also thoroughly mistrusted 
 the possibility of his future happiness with Stephanie. 
 That was old Archduke Albrecht, the uncle of the 
 Emperor, and one of the few persons who always did 
 justice to Elizabeth's merits, intelligence, and loftiness 
 of purpose. There was not a more popular man in the 
 Austro-Hungarian army, nor in the length and breadth 
 of the dual empire, than the Archduke. Kind-hearted 
 to a fault, and of a shrewdness which was coupled with an 
 extraordinary amount of finesse and wit, he was beloved 
 wherever he went. At the end of the seventies I had the 
 pleasure of counting the Archduke as one of my guests 
 during the great Galician military manoeuvres, and I 
 became then more than ever imbued with the feeling that 
 he was what can be truly called une dme d'elite. Indeed, 
 I loved and reverenced him so much that I cannot resist 
 the temptation of saying a few words especially concern- 
 ing him, as a kind of homage to his memory. 
 
 Up every morning at half-past four o'clock, the Gene- 
 ralissimo was on the manoeuvring field at five, his quick 
 eye taking in at a glance the strong or the weak points 
 of regiment after regiment. I delighted in accompanying 
 my august guest on these expeditions, and could not but 
 wonder at the remarkably diplomatic way in which he 
 managed, when his interference was needed, not alone 
 his staff of officers, but also every man present. 
 
 I remember that one day he had reason to be dis- 
 satisfied with the corps of drummers belonging to one 
 of the infantry regiments of General Count Mensdorf s 
 brigade. Galloping up to where they stood, drumming 
 away for dear life, the Archduke brought his charger to 
 
 178
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 ;i dead stop right in front of them, and, beckoning to 
 the tanibonr-major, said, with a smile : " These men of 
 yours can't drum, my lad ! " The man, with an awe- 
 stricken face, stood at attention, unable in the extremity 
 of his confusion to utter a single word of apology or 
 explanation. The smile deepened on the usually rather 
 stern face of the Archduke, and jumping from his horse 
 he seized hold of the drum held by one of the men 
 nearest to him, and without further ado executed so 
 masterly a charge of rat-tat-tats that the very trees 
 echoed again ! After fully five minutes of this superb 
 performance the old field-marshal stopped as abruptly 
 as he had begun, and handing the still quivering 
 instrument to its amazed owner, once more mounted 
 his horse, exclaiming as he galloped away : " That is 
 the way one ought to drum ! " From that day the 
 <lrummer-corps of that regiment became certainly the 
 best in Austria. 
 
 Archduke Albrecht was a passionate student. He 
 spoke Heaven only knows how many languages, and was 
 bo well versed in the manifold dialects used throughout 
 his nephew's empire that he was able to converse with 
 Hungarians, Poles, Slovacks, Czechen, Bosniaks, etc., as 
 glibly as with Germans. His wealth was almost boundless, 
 l>ut so was his charity, and many were the good deeds 
 accomplished by him in secret, especially at Vienna. 
 
 In 1879 I had undertaken to supervise twice a week 
 one of the volkskuehen (people's kitchens), to which I 
 have referred already in this volume. One fine morning 
 1 noticed a rather seedy-looking individual who entered 
 the hall, and sitting down at one end of a small table 
 ordered a "portion" of soup and beef from one of the 
 ladies in attendance. A twinkle of merriment came into 
 my eyes, fur at one glance I had recognized Archduke 
 
 179
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Albrecht, the owner of more millions than he could 
 well count. Anxious to see the fun out, I brought 
 the coarse plate and cup myself to the corner where 
 Emperor Franz- Joseph's uncle sat, and handed them to 
 him with the utmost impassibility. He seemed some- 
 what embarrassed, and looked diffidently up at me 
 through his spectacles. Not a muscle of my counte- 
 nance relaxed, and with a slight nod I walked away, 
 watching, however, from my corner how this poor man's 
 fare would please the archducal palate. I may add 
 that the entire "portion" was consumed without a single 
 sign of distaste being manifested, and that at the end 
 of this frugal repast his imperial and royal highness 
 rubbed his moustache and finger-tips on his handkerchief 
 just as unconcernedly as any other habitue of the volks- 
 huche. As for me I went about my duties seemingly 
 unaware of the keen look which he occasionally shot at 
 me from under his bushy white eyebrows. At last he 
 rose and prepared to go, but, as if suddenly altering his 
 mind, he walked up to me, and drawing me to one side, 
 said, gently : 
 
 " You have recognized me in spite of my attempt 
 at disguising myself, so I might as well tell you that I 
 sometimes come here in order to see whether the food 
 is what it ought to be." Then he added: "Do you not 
 think that on this cold morning some hot coffee with 
 plenty of milk and sugar would be a pleasant addition 
 to the dinner of all these poor devils ? " 
 
 I laughed a ready acquiescence, and ten minutes 
 later a small notice placarded at the entrance of the 
 Icuche informed the delighted customers that in considera- 
 tion of the unusual severity of the weather, hot coffee 
 was to be distributed without extra charge during the 
 entire course of the day. 
 
 180 

 
 TILE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Poor Archduke Albrecht ! In the midst of all his 
 
 wealth he was yet to he deeply pitied, for he never 
 
 recovered from the blow inflicted many years ago by the 
 
 tragic death of his lovely and beloved daughter. The 
 
 young Archduchess, like Empress Elizabeth herself, was 
 
 extremely fond of smoking cigarettes, but her lungs 
 
 being somewhat delicate her otherwise indulgent father 
 
 had forbidden her to smoke. One evening she was 
 
 enjoying on the sly a tiny cigarette, and in order that 
 
 the smell of the fragrant herb should not betray her, she 
 
 was leaning out of the window of her boudoir. Suddenly 
 
 catching sight of her father, who was walking in the 
 
 palace gardens below, she hid the burning cigarette 
 
 behind her back, while answering some remark which he 
 
 addressed to her, quite unconscious of the fact that she 
 
 had set fire to her vaporous gauze dinner-gown. In a 
 
 few seconds she was literally wrapped in flames — flames 
 
 which were rendered more murderously violent by her 
 
 running from the room in an agony of fear. Burned in 
 
 the most shocking fashion, the young Princess lingered 
 
 but a few days in the most horrible bodily torture. The 
 
 accident having happened at Schonbrunn, she was carried 
 
 back to Vienna in a bath-tub full of oil, it being her 
 
 whim to die at her own dear home. The most skilful 
 
 doctors tried all that could be done to save her, but it 
 
 was of no avail, and the charming girl, so dear to all, 
 
 succumbed in her father's arms, entreating him to the 
 
 very last to forgive her disobedience of his orders. 
 
 There was, in spite of this great sorrow, a vein of 
 humour in the Archduke's composition much appreciated 
 by the essentially jovial Austrian people, and like his 
 nephew, the Emperor, he enjoyed a good joke, even when 
 it was at his own expense, quite hugely ! 
 
 Very fond of hunting and shooting, Archduke 
 
 181
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Albrecht made a point of spending a couple of months 
 of every summer in one of the numerous villas which 
 he owned in the Tyrol and Upper Austria ; and when 
 there he was indefatigable in the pursuit of the fleet- 
 footed chamois. On these occasions he wore the cus- 
 tomary yoppc, or hunter's uniform, of gray cloth pxxsse- 
 poiled with green, the soft felt hat adorned with a 
 chamois-beard, and the tall leathern gaiters of the 
 ordinary Tyrolese mountaineer. Truth forces me, more- 
 over, to state that as a general rule these garments 
 were somewhat the worse for wear, and that there was 
 nothing " dudish " about the appearance of the hero of 
 Custozza. 
 
 Viennese society still laughs abuut a little adventure 
 which occurred to him when returning from a hunting 
 expedition in the mountains above Ischl. Through 
 some extraordinary chance the Archduke had wandered 
 from his party, and losing his way among the narrow 
 wooded paths descending to the valley, he determined 
 to reach the first yager hut which he could succeed in 
 finding by himself. Quickening his pace, he hurried on 
 in the gathering gloom, until he reached a steep incline 
 covered with slippery grass. A little ahead of him he 
 soon discerned a dark figure seemingly heavily laden. 
 Wishing to inquire his way home, he hailed the unknown 
 in a stentorian voice, and the figure came to a stop. To 
 his surprise the Archduke found that it was that of a 
 young girl of nineteen or twenty years of age, who, with 
 the usual pluck of the Austrian peasant woman, had 
 burdened herself with a gigantic load of firewood, on 
 top of which was perched a chubby baby about two 
 years old, who maintained his perilous equilibrium hy 
 means of a long scarf tied by his careful mother around 
 his fat little body and her own neck. 
 
 182
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 " What do you want ? " cried the girl, scanning the 
 belated hunter with anything but a friendly look. 
 
 " Can you tell me the shortest road down to Ischl ? " 
 replied the Archduke. 
 
 "I am going there — you can follow me," she retorted, 
 curtly. 
 
 Accepting this rather ungracious invitation, the impe- 
 rial sportsman resumed his way beside her, but his sense 
 of courtesy making him feel annoyed at seeing a woman 
 carrying so exaggerated a weight, he said, pleasantly — 
 
 "This is far too heavy for you, my good girl. Give 
 me that child ; I will carry him." 
 
 "Much you must know about carrying children, you 
 old fool ! " politely exclaimed the girl. " No, you take 
 the firewood and I will keep the youngster. You may 
 well do that, for had you not met me you'd have run 
 a good chance of spending your entire night on the 
 mountains." 
 
 Hardly able to repress his amazement, the Archduke 
 undid the scarf, transferred the little urchin to his 
 mother's arms and the ponderous bundle of faggots to 
 his own shoulders, and what with his gun and his game- 
 bag, he was a pretty heavily burdened Archduke 
 indeed ! To add insult to injury, the girl continued to 
 chaff him unmercifully about the comical appearance he 
 presented, and, as he later on asserted, he soon became 
 a little tired of his bargain. 
 
 For a full hour he trudged wearily along, wishing 
 himself anywhere but among the high mountains with a 
 load of wood on his back ; but at last relief arrived in 
 the shape of his party, which came upon the ill-assorted 
 couple at the crossing of two paths. No pen could 
 describe, or pencil portray, the amazement of the hunters 
 ut seeing their august master thus accoutred, and their 
 
 183
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 exclamations betrayed the Archduke's identity to the 
 appalled girl. Falling on her knees, she craved his 
 pardon for the crime of lese-majeste which she had un- 
 wittingly committed, and tears of shame sprang to her 
 bonny blue eyes as she watched two of the Prince's 
 hunters remove the faggots from his bruised shoulders. 
 
 " Don't cry, there's a good girl," pleaded Albrecht, 
 much distressed. "You did quite right, and I am 
 mighty glad to have met you to show me the way ! " 
 So saying, he lifted the girl from the ground, and 
 pulling a well-filled purse from his pocket, he pressed 
 it into the baby's wee hands, adding, with a kindly 
 smile : " Here is something to buy your mammy a 
 donkey, for she might not always find old fools to help 
 her carry her firewood ! " 
 
 Stephanie is the only person with whom I have ever 
 seen him act in a curt and abrupt manner. He could 
 not endure her, and fled her presence with an amusing 
 display of energy ; and when matters came to a crisis 
 between her and Eudi, I know that in his heart he 
 unhesitatingly sided with his great-nephew. 
 
 During the summer which followed her son's marriage 
 the Empress seemed absolutely unable to shake off her 
 melancholy forebodings, and it was only when she went 
 to Godollo that the free and invigorating country life 
 which she led there restored in a measure her much- 
 shaken health and her peace of mind. Her piety, which 
 was always great, although she spoke as little about it 
 as about all other of her deepest feelings, became even 
 greater. Every morning she attended mass at five 
 o'clock, and then after a very summary breakfast she 
 mounted her horse and galloped off through the mag- 
 nificent park, which is traversed in every direction by 
 broad, sandy avenues. 
 
 134
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 A mishap which occurred to one of her favourite 
 hunters at that time took, in her eyes, almost the 
 proportions of an irretrievable catastrophe. Her nerves 
 had become so unstrung that she had no longer the 
 same power of recuperation which she had possessed for 
 so many years. The accident to which I am about to 
 refer may give the measure of her softness of heart, 
 even where animals were concerned. 
 
 We were riding alone together over a narrow path 
 in the glad light of a beautiful autumn morning. A 
 thunderstorm during the night had purified and cooled 
 the air, the trees and bushes were still sparkling with 
 moisture, and the dew-drops on the flower-filled grass 
 glittered like countless gems in the sun-rays, while a 
 host of little birds were twittering and singing in sweet, 
 abrupt gushes in the branches overhead. My chestnut 
 mare, "Black Pearl," A\as close to Elizabeth's magnifi- 
 cent hunter, " Sir Launcelot." I noticed with regret 
 that the Empress seemed singularly dejected, and 
 resolving to arouse her and dispel her gloomy thoughts, 
 I said, briskly, "Come, your Majesty, let's have a 
 gallop; it will do us all the good in the world, and 
 4 Sir Launcelot ' is dying for it." 
 
 The Empress, who understood my motives perfectly, 
 replied with a smile — 
 
 " All right, dear, let's go ahead," touching her hunter 
 slightly with her spur as she spoke. Off we went, "Sir 
 Launcelot" laying his length out in his mighty strides, 
 and my pretty chestnut racing her best by his side. 
 They dashed neck to neck on the damp moss at a rattling 
 pace, breaking straight for the open. Literally we were 
 racing. The pace became tremendous as we reached the 
 short grass of the ruszt;i. Here a high fence towered, 
 there a brook rushed angrily, but we stopped at nothing; 
 
 L85
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 and both horses, their mettle roused, needed no touch 
 of stick or spur, and rose in the air with bounds that 
 knew no obstacles. 
 
 " Take care ! " I cried, suddenly catching sight of a 
 broad, brawling brook running between two steep banks. 
 The Empress only tossed her head ; such dangers as that 
 which just lay before her she enjoyed more than anything 
 else, especially when in her present mood. The jump 
 was an awkward one, with a bad take-off, and an ugly 
 mud-bank for a landing ; the water was swollen by the 
 recent storm, and the turf was sloppy and soft as a 
 sponge. At that particular place it was risking life 
 and limb to try it, but unhesitatingly she worked her 
 horse up and charged towards it. " Sir Launcelot " was 
 over like a bird, and I landed "Black Pearl" by a 
 beautiful clear spring after him by a couple of lengths. 
 On we rode, tearing across country for a mile and a 
 half; at last we dashed into a field breathless, but 
 having almost forgotten our troubles in the excitement 
 of the moment. Checking her hunter, the Empress 
 sprang to the ground with a merry laugh, while I, with 
 a contented smile, murmured, " That was a ringing 
 
 run! 
 
 Elizabeth flung her arms around the glossy neck of 
 "Sir Launcelot" and kissed his velvety nose. "Is he 
 not a beauty ! " said she, exultingly, leaning against 
 the horse's side and patting his shining mane. He was, 
 indeed, not a very large horse, but with grace in every 
 line — a small head, delicately tapered ears, slender legs, 
 and large, intelligent eyes. The horse now stood alert, 
 every fibre of his body strung to pleasurable excitement 
 as the voice he loved best said, fondly — 
 
 " You dear old rascal, that was well done ! " They 
 made a lovely picture, horse and rider, thus together, 
 
 186
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 the beautiful woman, her eyes still flashing with pleasure, 
 her cheeks suffused with delicate pink by the rapidity 
 of the pace, and her lovely figure set off to perfection 
 by her short, dark habit, leaning against the handsome 
 steeple-chaser. 
 
 A few minutes later we were away again, racing 
 once more on the slightly undulating plain, leaping 
 over blackthorn hedges into sloppy green meadows, 
 over angry little brooks gurgling amid banks of rushes. 
 Truly we had become intoxicated with the rapidity of 
 our motion. The Empress " showed the way." Half an 
 hour had gone by in that splendid running without a 
 single check, in a speed like lightning, past clusters of 
 brown-stemmed bushes and hedges bright with scarlet 
 berries, while far away before our eyes stretched the 
 blue haze of limitless distance, and above our heads a 
 flight of cranes was making for the south. We had 
 loosened our horses to their full will and their full 
 speed ; we had only to leave it to the gallant tempers 
 and the generous fires that were in them to make them 
 hold their own. All at once water gleamed before us, 
 this time wider, brown, swollen, and rushing fast. 
 " Black Pearl " and " Sir Launcelot " scented it from 
 afar, and went on with ears pointed and greyhound 
 strides, gathering up all their force for the leap that 
 was before them. Perhaps in our enthusiasm we had 
 become oblivious of the fact that the pace had been 
 too rapid a one, even for perfect hunters, and instinct- 
 ively, as I noticed the alarming breadth of the "yawner," 
 1 checked my horse slightly. " Sir Launcelot," however, 
 rose blindly to the jump and missed the slippery bank. 
 With a reel and a crash, to my horror, the Empress 
 was hurled out into the brook, and the magnificent 
 hunter lay there with his breast and forelegs resting on 
 
 1S7
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 the ground, his hindquarters in the water, and his 
 back broken. His race was run ! 
 
 It is needless to say that I was off my horse in a 
 second and helping the Empress, who was drenched 
 with water and mud, up the bank. Her face was start- 
 lingly pale, but she seemed physically unhurt. She 
 staggered to where the horse that she loved so well was 
 
 Do 
 
 undergoing the throes of a last agony, and kneeling 
 down, regardless of the water which swirled about her, she 
 threw her arms over his neck and leaned her own head 
 down upon his, so that her face was entirely hidden. She 
 knelt so long, thus motionless, that a fear of her having 
 fainted began to creep into my heart, and I touched her 
 on the shoulder. She did not move for a little while 
 longer, and when she at last raised her face the silken 
 mane of the horse was wet with great, slow tears that 
 had forced themselves through her closed eyelids; then 
 she laid her lips on "Sir Launcelot's" forehead just as 
 if he had been a human being, and with a backward 
 gesture of her hand to me she walked off rapidly. 
 
 Surely there have been many idols less pure and 
 true than the brave and loyal-hearted beast to which 
 she had just said an eternal good-bye. Dragging 
 " Black Pearl," who was quivering and shaking all over, 
 by her bridle, I followed Elizabeth, entreating her to 
 mount my horse so that she might get back quicker to 
 the castle, where she would be able to change her sodden 
 clothes. A shake of the head was all the answer that 
 she gave me, and seeing that to urge my plea would be 
 but to hurt her more, I continued to walk by her side 
 without saying another word. Of our long tramp back 
 to the imperial residence I will say but little, although 
 it has remained in my mind as one of the most painful 
 moments of my none too agreeable existence. 
 
 188
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 This new sorrow seemed to cast a deeper gloom upon 
 the Empress, and we departed from Hungary a few days 
 later to spend some weeks at Ischl, where we all hoped 
 that the pure mountain air, which she loved so much, 
 would help her to shake off her persistent despondency. 
 
 Ischl is one of the prettiest and sweetest places in 
 this world. It is calm, sedate, and simple ; its mornings 
 are radiant, and so are its evenings, when the moon 
 climbs over the heights of the pine-clad mountains and 
 shines delightfully on the green ripples of the rapid 
 little river Traun. 
 
 The sadness which had overtaken Elizabeth was not 
 of a kind from which her entourage, had to suffer. She 
 was too considerate, too truly kind to cast her own 
 sorrows upon others, and her sweet, patient smile was 
 always given to those whom she loved. Her indomitable 
 courage, both moral and physical, was really a thing to 
 be marvelled at ; for it never flinched. This has been 
 well proved by the fact that at the last she could walk 
 aboard the steamer at Geneva without betraying to any 
 one the fact that her poor weary heart had just been 
 pierced by the foul weapon of an assassin. The press 
 reports argued at the time that she herself was not 
 conscious of this, but I knew her better than that, and 
 I realized fully that her inveterate hatred of any fuss, 
 or of attracting attention upon herself, alone held her 
 upright then, until she fell to rise no more. 
 
 So strong was that feeling with her that it made 
 her consider being pitied as almost akin to being 
 shamed. 
 
 During the sojourn which we made at Ischl that 
 year, an incident took place which is an excellent illus- 
 tration of the Empress's powers of endurance, and which 
 to this day I verily believe is known to nobody. It 
 
 189
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 still stands out as clearly in my memory as if it had 
 occurred yesterday. 
 
 Always an intrepid mountaineer, the Empress de- 
 lighted in climbing well-nigh inaccessible heights. Her 
 slender, fair limbs, as strong as steel in a velvet sheath, 
 would carry her upward to peaks where the yagers them- 
 selves found it troublesome to go, but where she main- 
 tained that the only air fit to be inhaled in this wide 
 world of ours was to be found. 
 
 Although not quite as passionately fond as she her- 
 self was of these dizzy excursions, nevertheless I loved 
 her too dearly not to accompany her, had the road been 
 even far more arduous; and often we would stay over- 
 night in these wild regions in some chalet perched on 
 a ledge of rock at a great altitude. 
 
 On the occasion to which I refer, we somehow or 
 other lost our way on the high mountain range which 
 towers above the quaint little town of Ischl. We had 
 climbed very high up, and night was falling, bringing 
 with it an extremely low temperature. So cold, indeed, 
 w 7 as it that although we were barely in autumn, snow- 
 flakes began to drop like great feathery tufts from the 
 darkening sky. On and on we struggled, pausing from 
 time to time to peer into the gathering gloom for the 
 sight of some light, or at least of some familiar land- 
 mark. Finally, just as we were despairing of getting 
 out of this predicament, the Empress pointed with her 
 alpenstock to a reddish glow shining through the in- 
 creasing curtain of snow, and with renewed vigour we 
 quickened our steps towards what we knew to be the 
 beacon-light of a mountain refuge. 
 
 We were not disappointed, and in a few minutes we 
 had obtained admittance into the incommodious but to 
 us perfectly delightful seclusion of the narrow, stuffy, 
 
 190
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 closed shed, where we were glad enough to take shelter 
 from the now raging storm. In the most democratic 
 fashion we took our places with some yagers and cow- 
 herds around the brightly blazing stove, awaiting with 
 what patience we could muster the moment when we 
 would be able to turn our faces towards Ischl. 
 
 Towards nine o'clock, the wind having chased away 
 the snow-laden clouds, the moon shone forth in a purified 
 sky, and engaging the services of one of the yagers as 
 a guide, we commenced our perilous descent, risking 
 much to avoid causing anxiety at the imperial villa, 
 where her Majesty was expected. Cautiously we advanced 
 on the slippery rocks, holding on at times to bowlders 
 in order to maintain our equilibrium on the treacherous 
 path. First went the yager, an old Tyrolese, as sure- 
 footed as a goat, followed closely by the Empress, behind 
 whom I stepped as briskly as circumstances permitted. 
 ♦Suddenly I saw a jagged bit of rock detach itself from 
 the precipitous slope we were skirting and, thundering 
 past the Empress, roll with a deep thud into the dark- 
 ness beyond. A short exclamation from the imperial 
 lady made me inquire if she were hurt, but receiving 
 no answer, and seeing that she did not slacken her 
 pace, I took no more heed of the affair, having more 
 than enough to do in making my own progress. 
 
 The night was far advanced when we at last reached 
 the Kaiser villa, and we went straight to our apartments 
 to remove our damp, soil-begrimed clothes before taking 
 some refreshments, and then some sleep, of both which 
 commodities we were sorely in need. As the light from 
 the swinging-lamp in the upper hall fell on Elizabeth's 
 face I was struck by its extreme pallor, and also by the 
 fact that her left hand was hidden in the breast of her 
 gray cloth yoppc, or hunting-jacket. My immediate 
 
 191
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 inquiry brought out a reluctant avowal to the effect 
 that the loose stone had fallen directly upon the hand, 
 with which she had been clinging to the rocky wall for 
 support, but I was peremptorily asked "not to make a 
 fuss, and not to speak of the matter to a living soul," 
 Between the two of us we bandaged the sadly crushed, 
 delicately tapering fingers, which must have caused 
 excruciating torture to their plucky owner during that 
 long tramp down the mountain-side, but which could 
 neither bring her to wince or to complain, nor prevent 
 her through it all from being the leading spirit in our 
 small party. On the morrow the Empress appeared 
 wearing, as she often did in the house, a pair of long 
 suede gloves, and no one was ever allowed to notice 
 what effort it cost her to use those poor maimed fingers. 
 
 192
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 In the mean time the matrimonial relations of Eudolph 
 and Stephanie were not by any means satisfactory. 
 Already the prognostications of the Empress were ful- 
 filled, in a measure, for dissensions and continual mis- 
 understandings were gradually becoming more frequent 
 between them, and the Crown-prince showed a moodiness 
 which he had never displayed before. Very talented, 
 the young man, who had always been interested greatly 
 in literature, began to wield his pen to some purpose, 
 and wrote several remarkable works, including, later on, 
 a volume of Travels Through the Orient, of which he 
 was not only the author but also the illustrator. 
 
 Stephanie's worldliness had now completely out- 
 weighed her much-boasted religious feelings. A true 
 butterfly of fashion, she cast herself into the whirl of 
 society with an energy and passion which nothing could 
 subdue. Her personal appearance had not improved 
 very greatly, but she was always admirably dressed, 
 and knew how to make the most of the scanty amount 
 of looks which she possessed. That Eudolph was 
 thoroughly dissatisfied with his new mode of existence 
 could not long remain a secret at court, and once more 
 two partis formed themselves, the one in favour of the 
 winning young Archduke, the other — and I am glad to 
 say the weaker of the two — took part for the Princess, 
 who began already to be called by this faction, "Die 
 Arme Stephanie." 
 
 193
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 A little over two years after her marriage the Crown- 
 princess gave birth to a little daughter, who was named 
 after the Empress, but even this family event did not 
 serve to unite the hearts of the young parents. The 
 Crown-prince, like his mother, sought comfort and forget- 
 fulness in devoting much of his time to sports of all de- 
 scriptions, and became more than ever a devoted follower 
 of Nimrod. He had always loved both the hunt and the 
 chase, but now he threw himself into all bodily exercise 
 with untiring eagerness. This, of course, was a new 
 cause of grievance for the Crown-princess, who imme- 
 diately adopted the pose of a neglected and abandoned 
 wife, and heaped reproaches upon her luckless husband's 
 head. Scenes which were indeed of the most bourgeois 
 kind became more and more frequent. Stephanie raved, 
 cried, and vituperated to such an extent that what is 
 in German called " G-emiihtlichkeit " fled from their 
 home. Kudi, thoroughly out of patience, entered upon 
 a course which, if not entirely commendable, at least 
 was excusable, for he absented himself as much as pos- 
 sible from an environment which had become even to 
 him, easy-going as he was, a perfect hell upon earth. 
 
 One dark autumn afternoon I was sitting at home 
 dreaming before a roaring blaze of cedar-logs, when 
 the door of my boudoir was suddenly flung open and, 
 without any of the ceremonious announcements which 
 invariably herald a royal visit, the Crown-prince rushed 
 into the room, dressed in plain clothes, and with a face 
 so wild and haggard that I was nearly frightened out of 
 my wits. 
 
 " What on earth is the matter ? " I exclaimed, 
 jumping to my feet. 
 
 "Everything is the matter!" he replied, casting 
 himself into a low chair, from which, however, he 
 
 194
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 immediately rose again to take a few furious strides 
 about the apartment. 
 
 " Cannot you be a little more precise, and stop terri- 
 fying me in this fashion?" I said, somewhat peevishly, 
 for his violent entry had considerably startled me. 
 
 : 'I beg your pardon," he said, with more composure. 
 " I know that I am becoming a nuisance to others as 
 well as to myself, but truly, I must speak to somebody or 
 else explode. My poor mother is not at present strong 
 enough to be troubled by my sorrows, which she pre- 
 dicted, I am bound to acknowledge, so I came here 
 to unburden my heart. We have always been awful 
 chums," he added, relapsing into his habitual familiar 
 slang, "and you have been very good to me, staunch 
 and true and as thoroughly reliable as any man friend 
 could have been." 
 
 "Thank you," I laughed, "that is a great compli- 
 ment; but really, Kudi, won't you please sit down and 
 tell me what has occurred? I know that you haven't 
 been feeling very happy of late, but still, surely matters 
 cannot be bad enough to make you act in this fashion ! " 
 
 " Oh yes they are ; my wife is simply unbearable ; 
 in fact, sometimes I think that she cannot be altogether 
 in her right mind. She is so jealous that if I merely 
 look at another woman, if I dance with one, or pay any 
 of these small little compliments without which no 
 conversation can be carried on, as you know very well 
 yourself, with any members of the fair sex, she treats 
 me like a dog, and rampages about for hours together." 
 
 " Well, that is all very nice," I said, impatiently, 
 :( but we warned you how it would be ; and besides 
 which, you cannot deny, Master Kudi, that you are a 
 
 ! flirt, and that she may not be entirely wrong when 
 she objects to the many hearts that you break." 
 
 195
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 "Oh, stop that — do! I would have been a right 
 enough kind of a husband if she had known how to 
 behave herself, but I cannot bear to be watched, and 
 followed, and tracked, and questioned, and annoyed, as 
 she persists in doing. I tell you what I'll do if this 
 goes on much longer. I will give her something serious 
 to cry for ! Until now, Heaven knows, I have nothing 
 to reproach myself with, and I can look her straight in 
 the eye without a tremor ; but when it comes to my 
 having to give her an account of every minute of my 
 days and nights, and to finding out that my private 
 letters are being opened, my body-servant cross-ques- 
 tioned, and my pockets searched, I draw a line ; and 
 so would you if you were in my place." 
 
 " My dear boy, be so kind as to ring the bell for tea, 
 and while we are drinking this beverage which our 
 English friends claim to be so powerful a restorative, I 
 will take the liberty of reading you a lecture." 
 
 He looked puzzled ; then the quick, merry, winning 
 smile, which reminded one so much of his mother's, 
 flitted over his drawn features, and, pressing the electric 
 button of the bell, he sat down more like a reasonable 
 being and, lighting a cigarette, gazed abstractedly out 
 of the window, watching the snow-flakes as they began 
 to fall upon the now completely denuded trees of the 
 Eingstrasse. 
 
 A few minutes later, as we sijDped the comforting 
 cup, which had been brought in at his summons, I 
 renewed the subject, and pointed out to him what a 
 disastrous effect any outbreak on his part would have 
 upon the Empress. This was the best way to take him, 
 and he softened at once ; but still I knew him well 
 enough to see that his exasperation had almost reached 
 its last limits, and that sooner or later some scandal or 
 
 196
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 other would come to add its bitterness to my beloved 
 Kaiserin's already full cup of misery. 
 
 When he left me that afternoon he was somewhat 
 pacified, but I shuddered as I thought of all that was 
 to come. 
 
 Disliking the Crown-princess from the very first, I 
 could not look very charitably upon the rule which she 
 was now playing, and her heartlessness infuriated me 
 absolutely. What a different man Kudolph would have 
 been but for the baneful influence which his wife exer- 
 cised over him. In all truth, he was one of the most 
 chivalrous, kind-hearted young men I have ever met, 
 and to-day I am convinced that the change in his whole 
 being which led to the tragedy of Mayerling can justly 
 be laid at the door of the sour-tempered, overbearing, 
 narrow-minded woman whom he was so unfortunate as 
 to marry. 
 
 Matters went from bad to worse, and Eudi, rendered 
 thoroughly wild by being always falsely accused, ended 
 by carrying his flirtations further than he ought to have 
 done. This alteration in his principles — which, in spite 
 of all that has been said to the contrary, were good, high, 
 and noble — was brought about by Stephanie herself in 
 the following manner : 
 
 Kudolph, who, as he said himself, did not know what 
 to do with his evenings when there was no official occa- 
 sion which he was forced to grace with his presence, 
 and who dreaded a tete-a-tete with his irascible wife, 
 went one night to visit a well-known actress who had 
 been presented to him by one of his friends, a young 
 officer with whom the lady in question was on the best 
 of terms. The Crown-prince drove to her house in an 
 ordinary fiacre, which lie left at the door waiting for 
 him. Meanwhile Crown-princess Stephanie, finding out 
 
 197
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 by means best known to herself where her husband was 
 about to spend the evening, followed him in one of the 
 court equipages. Upon arriving at the above-mentioned 
 lady's house she alighted, and bidding her coachman 
 wait for the Crown-prince, she got into his hired con- 
 veyance and peremptorily ordered the amazed jehu to 
 drive her back to the Hofburg. Recognizing the 
 Crown-princess, the man did not dare to disobey; and 
 as for the imperial coachman, he sat transfixed with 
 astonishment and horror upon his box, not knowing 
 what was best for him to do. Half an hour later, upon 
 leaving the house, Rudolph had the decidedly agreeable 
 surprise of being confronted by his wife's carriage, 
 coachman, and beplumed chasseur. No wonder that 
 this incident capped the climax of his already only 
 too just exasperation, and that night the apartments of 
 the heir apparent echoed with the resounding noise of 
 reproaches and sobs. Shortly afterwards the Crown- 
 prince purchased the hunting-lodge of Mayerling, the 
 spot where he was to breathe his last under such tragical 
 circumstances. 
 
 His taste for natural studies, which won for him the 
 reputation of being one of the foremost zoologists and 
 ornithologists of Europe, had full play during his more 
 and more frequent sojourns at Mayerling. He took an 
 extreme pleasure in decorating this picturesque residence 
 with his trophies of the chase, and often he would spend 
 hours together in what he was pleased to call his " work- 
 shop," preparing with his own hands for stuffing the birds 
 he had shot, and labelling curious specimens of rocks 
 and stones and other minerals which he found in his 
 endless rambles through the surrounding hills and 
 woods. 
 
 His apartments resembled more a museum, or the 
 
 198
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 rooms of a professor of natural history, than those of a 
 high and mighty prince. One of the salons was arranged 
 so as to represent a forest, with grottoes of rock, trees 
 and shrubs planted in enormous boxes concealed under 
 moss and trailing ivy, and was decorated with magni- 
 ficently disposed and lifelike animals. A huge bear, 
 the first which the Crown-prince had shot when staying 
 at Munkacs, seemingly clung to a pine-trunk, and 
 several superb eagles looked as if they were about to 
 swoop down from their elevated positions near the 
 ceiling. Owls, lynxes, pheasants, foxes — nay, even deer 
 and stags — were all to be found in this wonderful room. 
 One of the most cherished possessions of the Crown- 
 prince was contained in a large glass-case, and was 
 nothing less than the carcass of a horse in the act of 
 being devoured by vultures, hawks, and ravens, the 
 whole group being wonderfully prepared and executed, 
 and giving one an exact idea of the gruesome thing 
 itself. These birds were shot by Rudolph during his trip 
 of " fifteen days on the Danube " which he described in 
 one of his books, and also in Spain, in Egypt, and on 
 the island of Plawnik, in the Quarnero. 
 
 The Prince's study at Mayerling was decorated with 
 wonderful specimens of foreign and domestic arms — 
 guns, carbines, pistols, matchlocks, swords, kandjars, and 
 yataghans inlaid with gold, silver, and mother-of-pearl. 
 These rested on the antlers of the many deer which 
 Rudi had shot or forced. The magnificent snow-white 
 Edelhirsclie (noble deer) which he shot in Bohemia were 
 perhaps the most remarkable items of this beautiful 
 collection. 
 
 He might still have been happy with his scientific 
 and literary pursuits, his hunts and chases and his long- 
 distance rides through hill and dale, for besides all this 
 
 I! I'.)
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 he was a wonderful musician, a painter, and a draughts- 
 man of no mean talent, and passionately fond of study 
 and of reading, all these qualities being inherited from 
 his mother, but, unfortunately, Crown-princess Stephanie 
 objected to his stays at Mayerling, or to any travel or 
 occupation which she was not allowed to share. At 
 first, to be sure, had she been so minded, he would 
 have been glad to make her his companion even on his 
 expeditions after fur and feathers ; but, to her, brilliantly 
 lighted salons filled with well-dressed women chattering 
 about fashion and folly, and with a bevy of young men 
 ready to flirt and to talk nonsense, were far more agree- 
 able than long tramps and rides under forest boughs or 
 on mountain peaks, and her scorn for her husband's 
 favourite pastimes was so well defined, her sneers so 
 marked, that he let her take her own way and stopped 
 asking her to join him. To be sure, after his wretched 
 death she gave it out to the world that she was occupied 
 in compiling and editing his last book, the one in fact 
 which he was engaged in writing when he took his last 
 trip to Mayerling, but like many other things which 
 were at that time bruited among the public, there was 
 but little truth in this post-mortem and singularly sudden 
 devotion. 
 
 Of course the Empress, who had not been long in 
 finding out what her son's matrimonial life really was, 
 felt altogether broken-hearted about it, and when she 
 spoke or wrote to him, she attempted by all means 
 within her power to console and soothe him. It was at 
 that time that she wrote several singularly touching 
 little poems in the Hungarian language, which betrayed 
 her state of mind. 
 
 It was then, also, that she wrote a little poem about 
 the famous legend which connects every misfortune 
 
 200
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 happening to the House of Hapsburg with the appear- 
 ance upon the scene of a raven, little thinking that some 
 few years later her own death would be thus heralded. 
 
 Everybody has heard of the flight of ravens which 
 swept across the little town of Olniiitz during the 
 minutes when Emperor Franz-Joseph accepted the 
 crown of Austria, and with it a weight of sorrows sucli 
 as seldom has been carried by a monarch. When Maxi- 
 milian was about to start on his ill-fated journey to 
 Mexico in order to assume his duties as sovereign, a 
 raven was seen by him and his wife Charlotte during 
 a last walk which they took in the grounds of their 
 castle of Miramar. The bird persistently followed them, 
 and when they sat down upon a bench under a clunip 
 of sycamores it flew, or rather hopped, towards them 
 and settled itself on one leg upon the sweeping folds 
 of the future Empress's train. Again, when Archduchess 
 Maria-Christina was about to enter the carriage which 
 was to drive her to the railway station, whence she 
 departed for her future kingdom of Spain — a land where 
 she suffered all that a woman can suffer in her affections, 
 her pride, and her health — an enormous raven kept 
 hovering over the horses' heads and actually kept up 
 with them during the whole drive. 
 
 On the afternoon which preceded the Empress's 
 assassination at Geneva, she wandered for several hours 
 in the mountains about Territet with her reader, Mr. 
 Barker. The latter had brought with him a basket of 
 fine fruit, the Empress being in the habit of partaking 
 of some every day in lieu of five-o'clock tea. Seated 
 upon some moss-grown rocks, the imperial lady, while 
 listening to Mr. Barker, who was then reading to her 
 Marion Crawford's celebrated novel Corleone, drew the 
 little basket towards her and began to peel a magnificent 
 
 201
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 peach, of which she offered half to her reader. Just 
 as she was in the act of handing him his share, a huge 
 raven flew down from a tall pine-tree whose dusky- 
 branches were casting a deep shade upon the pair, and 
 touching Elizabeth's forehead with the tip of its sombre 
 wing, actually knocked the peach out of her hand. 
 Remembering the dread legend of the Hapsburg ravens, 
 Mr. Barker jumped up with an exclamation of fear, but 
 the Empress began to laugh, and said to her startled 
 attendant : 
 
 " Don't be alarmed ! I am not superstitious, and if 
 something is to happen to me soon, it is not that poor 
 bird which will have caused it. Anyhow, you know my 
 ideas about death : I am not afraid of it. When one's 
 heart and soul are dead it matters but very little when 
 the earthly envelope follows suit. My heart and soul 
 have been dead for the past ten years ! " she added, with 
 a sad smile. 
 
 "Nevertheless, your Majesty," replied Mr. Barker, 
 " I am not easy in my mind. I had a horrible dream 
 last night about my mother, and I know that something- 
 terrible is going to happen." 
 
 The Empress gazed at him for a moment in astonish- 
 ment, and then, with a shrug of her shapely shoulders, 
 she rejoined : 
 
 "My dear Mr. Barker, I hope that you are too 
 sensible to let evil dreams gain any influence over you. 
 I thought that, like myself, you were a fatalist. Our 
 time comes when it is appointed to come, and nothing 
 that we can fear or fancy will ever alter our fate. Many 
 years ago I had an awful dream myself. It was at the 
 time when my cousin, Louis of Bavaria, died, and this 
 sinister vision of mine came true ; but, perhaps just 
 because of this fact, I have schooled myself ever since 
 
 202
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 then not to let such wanderings of my mind when I am 
 asleep create too great an impression upon me when 
 awake. Life is not happy enough for us to spoil what 
 few joys we have by worrying about such prognostica- 
 tions and ill-omened signs from the land of dreams. 
 Follow my example, my dear Mr. Barker; it is a duty 
 which we owe to ourselves and others as well." 
 
 But to return to the Crown-prince and his wife, from 
 whose dissensions I have wandered. I am forced to 
 state that shortly after the purchase by Rudolph of 
 Schloss Mayerling, Stephanie committed another of those 
 dreadful mistakes which alienated the heart of her 
 husband so completely from her. He had left Vienna 
 to go and spend two or three days at his hunting-lodge, 
 when, on the second evening after his arrival at Mayer- 
 ling, an ordinary cab drew up before the gates of the 
 little castle, and a heavily veiled lady asked for admit- 
 tance. According to the rules in use at all royal and 
 imperial residences, this could not take place without 
 the visitor's revealing his or her identity, and as the lady 
 refused to do this, the Crown-prince's valet, Loschek, 
 \\as called. When he appeared on the scene, the lady 
 drew back her veil and revealed the features of Crown- 
 princess Stephanie herself. Of course Loschek could 
 but bow low, and make way for his mistress to enter the 
 premises. Shortly afterwards the voices of husband and 
 wife, raised in tones of anger, were heard distinctly by 
 the attendants ; and, unfortunately, the violence of their 
 emotions rendered them so careless that the following 
 words were plainly heard by two or three servants, who, 
 of course, did not fail to repeat them to their own friends 
 and boon companions, thus spreading among the public a 
 lamentably true version of what the relations of Rudolph 
 and Stephanie were. 
 
 203
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 " I know that you betray me ! " shrieked the Princess, 
 shrilly. "You come here to receive your fair friends, 
 and I won't have it. Do you understand?" 
 
 Hoarse with fury, Rudolph exclaimed in return : 
 
 " What you say is untrue. There is not a solitary 
 woman here ; you will drive me crazy if you go on like 
 this, and were it not for the sorrow that it would cause 
 my parents, I would leave you this minute for ever." 
 
 A few minutes afterwards the ill-assorted couple left 
 Mayerling and drove back to Vienna; and when this 
 drive was at an end practically all hope of peace or 
 reconciliation was lost, for so embittered did the Crown- 
 prince now become that he seldom if ever saw his wife 
 alone. 
 
 One fine day the latter, beside herself with ever- 
 increasing anger at the powerlessness of her efforts to 
 chain down the unfortunate Eudi, telegraphed to her 
 father telling him that she had decided to return to 
 Belgium. The old King, who was far too wily and 
 shrewd a man not to do everything possible to prevent 
 such a scandal, replied, also by telegraph, in the follow- 
 ing fashion : 
 
 "Stephanie: Cest voire devoir de rester a cote de voire mart, le 
 Prince Heritier" 
 
 (Stephanie : It is your duty to remain at the side of your husband, 
 the Crown-prince.) 
 
 In 1888 Rudolph was asked by his father to put in an 
 appearance at the Polish ball, which is one of the most 
 brilliant social events of the Viennese Fasching, or car- 
 nival. The Crown-prince, in obedience to his father's 
 wishes, drove to the ball in a very despondent mood, for 
 on that very afternoon he had had another violent scene 
 with his amiable wife. But, with the mobility of his 
 
 204
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 pleasure-loving nature, as soon as he entered the daz- 
 zlingly lighted and flower-filled salons he cast his cares off 
 and gave himself up to the enjoyment of the moment. 
 
 The Polish ball is, as I remarked before, a very 
 beautiful function, for all the great Polish nobles who 
 have taken up their residence in the capital make a 
 point of being present, wearing their national costumes, 
 which are a marvellous combination of gold-embroidered 
 velvets, costly furs, and costlier jewels. 
 
 Under a group of palms and gigantic ferns sat a 
 young girl of such a remarkable personal charm that 
 the Crown-prince immediately inquired who she was. 
 He was informed that she was the daughter of Baron 
 Vetsera, and of the sister of those celebrated and enthu- 
 siastic sportsmen known in Austria as the "Little Bal- 
 tazzis." The Baltazzis are Greeks, but thanks to their 
 immense wealth and their passion for horse-flesh, they 
 implanted themselves many years ago in Viennese 
 society ; not in court circles, to be sure, for in order to 
 be presented at court it is necessary, to begin with, to 
 be able to prove the regulation sixteen quarterings on 
 both sides, and the Greek bankers in question would 
 have possibly been much embarrassed to prove any 
 quarterings at all. However, both Hector and Aristides 
 Baltazzi had been presented to the Emperor, as well as 
 to the Empress and to other members of the imperial 
 family, in the hunting-field, and as one of their sisters 
 had married an Austrian nobleman of the name of Baron 
 Vetsera, another the equally noble Austrian Baron 
 Stockau, and one of the brothers the lovely Countess 
 Ugarte, the family could be said to hover on the edge 
 of a very aristocratic set. Moreover, so whispered the 
 chronique scandcdeuse, when Baroness Vetsera made her 
 debut in society after her marriage, the Emperor had 
 
 205
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 been an ardent admirer of her dark Oriental beauty, 
 his attentions having caused a great amount of talk at 
 the time. 
 
 Marie Vetsera, the Baroness's daughter, had spent 
 most of her girlhood abroad, and thus it was that until 
 the ill-fated night of that particular Polish ball no 
 member of the imperial family had as yet set eyes upon 
 her. She was then nineteen years old, and in the bloom 
 of her extraordinary loveliness. Tall, slender, with mag- 
 nificent dark eyes, shaded by incredibly long and silky 
 lashes, she possessed a charm and a piquancy which, 
 even at Vienna, where beautiful women are the rule 
 and not the exception, produced a distinct sensation. 
 Her perfect figure displayed to admirable advantage by 
 a simple but exquisitely draped gown of white crepe, 
 which had no other ornament than some clusters of 
 white violets and white heather, she reclined under the 
 green shadow cast by some tall plants, playing listlessly 
 with her fan of white feathers. She seemed quite un- 
 conscious of the sweet picture which she made, her small, 
 well-shaped head leaning against a pile of cushions, and 
 a crescent of diamonds — her sole jewel — sparkling in 
 the masses of her dark wavy hair. 
 
 There was something so attractive, so delightfully 
 pure and refined and out of the ordinary in her appear- 
 ance, that the Crown-prince asked to have her introduced 
 to him, and was soon sitting by her side, talking gaily 
 about the ever-changing pageant before their eyes. 
 Before long he asked her to dance. 
 
 The Austrians are proverbially the best waltzers on 
 earth, and to waltz with Eudi, who had mastered that 
 difficult art with his usual capacity for doing exceedingly 
 well everything that he did at all, was a revelation to 
 Marie. The Crown-prince was not what is commonly 
 
 20G
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 called a good-looking man, but he was worse than good- 
 looking, for when he chose to make an effort he became 
 absolutely and irresistibly seduisant. 
 
 It is supposed that in novels only does one encounter 
 the famous coup de foudre, but real life has given many 
 proofs that such a thing exists, and we stand face to 
 face with just such an instance when speaking of this 
 first meeting between the heir of Austro-Hungary's 
 crown and the heiress of the Baltazzi millions and of 
 the peculiar style of beauty of the Baltazzi women. 
 Marie, who had been much courted from the very outset 
 of her career in Austrian society, had from that moment 
 no thought excepting for the stalwart prince whose eyes 
 — the finest feature which he possessed — had known so 
 well how to make her understand at once that the time 
 had come for him to lose his heart for good and all. 
 This was no budding flirtation, no little drawing-room 
 intrigue which serves to while away the hours and give 
 a little zest to the insipid existence of most society men 
 and women, but the genuine bo?id fide passion which 
 has been pictured by the poets from time immemorial. 
 
 In Montenegro the mountaineers call this sudden rush 
 of feeling "having met one's fate," and this expresses 
 such an event well indeed, for rare as such instances 
 may be they have pretty nearly always a fateful end — 
 nay, even a tragical one. 
 
 Rudolph had in his nature a vein of what in German 
 is called schivdrmerei — a hidden source of poetical ideality 
 — and he was a most likely victim for a love which 
 pertained rather to the soul than to the senses. A 
 great deal of nonsense, and shameful nonsense at that, 
 has been spoken and written about the immense and 
 absorbing tenderness which united Rudolph and Marie 
 from the very first. Slander of the foulest and blackest 
 
 207
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 kind has not been spared to them, and even after their 
 death the slimy tide of misinterpretation and calumny 
 has kept rising about their graves, and has blurred 
 their memory in its muddy ooze. 
 
 The truth of the matter is, that love such as they 
 felt for each other is too uncommon a thing not to 
 arouse the ill-feeling and envy of the public, and that 
 almost of necessity revenge is swift, and generally takes 
 the shape of a wave of villainous inventions, of false 
 reports, and of cruel lies, which it is impossible to 
 refute because in such cases proof of the victim's inno- 
 cence can seldom be given. 
 
 The person who was, perhaps, most to blame in the 
 whole lamentable course of this sorry affair was Countess 
 George Larisch. She was the niece of Empress Eliza- 
 beth, whose elder brother had morganatically married 
 an actress of the name of Henriette Mendel. The 
 Countess, the only child of this union, was born in 
 1858, and when she had reached maidenhood, Elizabeth, 
 touched by her beauty, and especially attracted by her 
 perfect horsewomanship, took her up, and introduced 
 her at the Viennese court under the name which had 
 been granted to her mother upon the latter 's marriage 
 — namely, that of Baroness Wallersee. Her aunt con- 
 ferred upon her the title of Lady-of-the-Palace, and in 
 1879 married her to Count George Larisch, who was 
 then a good-natured, easy-going, young cavalry officer, 
 not very bright but intensely kind-hearted, who belonged 
 to an old family, and was endowed with more than a 
 fair portion of this world's goods. The marriage took 
 place at Godollo, and it was the Empress herself who 
 gave the bride away. 
 
 The very pretty and elegant woman was wont to 
 designate herself as Eudi's favourite cousin, and I think, 
 
 208
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 as many others have done, too, that she at first harboured 
 hopes of marrying him, although she was fully cognizant 
 of the fact that being of non-royal birth, and for the 
 matter of that the issue of a morganatic alliance, she 
 had not the slightest chance of ever being allowed to 
 wed the heir to the crown. Nevertheless she relied 
 upon her imperial aunt's affection, and also upon the 
 headstrong temper of Rudi, who she well knew would 
 have been difficult to dissuade from accomplishing any 
 plan which had once entered his head. To that purpose 
 she left no stone unturned in order to make herself as 
 agreeable as possible to the Emperor, Empress, Crown- 
 prince, and the two young Archduchesses whom she 
 would have so much liked to call by the name of sisters. 
 Rudolph's marriage being one day freely discussed in 
 her presence, she put out a few feelers, and old Arch- 
 duke Albrecht, who was present, discovering with his 
 usual sagacity the quarter from which the wind blew, 
 stated to her in clear and definite language that the 
 Crown-prince of Austria would never be permitted by 
 his family nor by the imperial and royal constitution 
 to marry any other than a royal or an imperial princess. 
 The young Baroness realized that the aged Archduke 
 was speaking the absolute truth, and, subsequently, in 
 a moment of pique, she accepted the hand of Count 
 Larisch and became one of the gayest mondaines of the 
 gayest court of Europe. 
 
 When some three years later Rudolph married Ste- 
 phanie, the Crown-princess became Countess Larisch 's 
 bete-noire, and the Countess's behaviour towards her 
 cousin's bride in public, and the sarcasms and ridicule 
 with which she covered her in private, were not of a 
 nature to make Rudolph look upon his consort with a 
 very indulgent gaze. Instead of trying to palliate the 
 
 209 P
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 wrongs done to him by his wife, Countess Larisch kept 
 pouring oil on the flames, and was continually on the 
 look out for an occasion to revenge herself upon the 
 woman who certainly offered reason enough for dislike, 
 but whose only crime against her was, after all, in 
 having married the man whom she herself loved, or 
 pretended to love — which, as far as the ultimate result is 
 concerned, comes absolutely to the same thing. Quick 
 as a flash of lightning the Countess, who unluckily 
 happened to be also present at the Polish ball where 
 Rudolph made the acquaintance of Marie Vetsera, 
 noticed what an impression the girl's beauty and wit 
 had made upon Rudolph's saddened and weary heart. 
 Seeing at last within her grasp the means of paying off 
 old scores, she at once made up her mind to throw the 
 two young people together as much as possible. She 
 lost no time in making the acquaintance of Baroness 
 Vetsera, and from that day on she managed with 
 extreme cleverness to bring it about that every time 
 that Rudolph called upon her he should encounter at 
 her house the girl whom he was learning to love more 
 and more passionately every day. 
 
 That the moral principles of Countess Larisch were 
 not of the highest order has been since then unques- 
 tionably proved by the fact that a few years ago she 
 abandoned her kind and long-suffering husband, as well 
 as her beautiful little children, for the sake of an opera- 
 singer of the name of Brack, whom she proceeded to 
 marry as soon as the Count had obtained a divorce from 
 her, and with whom she is now living somewhere in 
 Germany. 
 
 The love of Rudolph and Marie might possibly have 
 remained a secret from Stephanie, for they never met 
 in private, and he was very careful that not a breath 
 
 210
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 of scandal should have any reason to touch the girl he 
 worshipped, had it not been for the Countess, who never 
 rested until she had by her many hints and innuendoes 
 made it clear to the Crown-princess that Rudolph had 
 at last fallen in love in good earnest, and designated 
 to her kind notice the possessor of her husband's heart. 
 This took place shortly before Queen Victoria's jubilee 
 festivities in 1887, festivities at which the Crown-prince 
 and Crown-princess of Austria were to represent Emperor 
 Franz-Joseph and Empress Elizabeth. 
 
 Two or three weeks before the date appointed for 
 the departure of Rudolph and Stephanie for London, 
 Marie Vetsera was called to England, where her sister 
 lay ill. This was a mere coincidence, but presented to 
 the Crown-princess by the cruelly sarcastic tongue of 
 Countess Larisch, the fact took the proportions of a 
 purposely made appointment, arranged by the lovers, 
 with a view of being able to meet on a foreign soil with 
 an ease which was not to be found within the limits of 
 the Austrian empire. Upon hearing of this the Crown- 
 princess at the very last moment stubbornly refused to 
 accompany her husband, wounding the feelings of the 
 aged British Queen almost beyond pardon by her curt 
 denial, and offending almost as much the Emperor and 
 Empress, not to speak of her own father and mother, 
 King Leopold and Queen Henrietta of Belgium, who 
 were among the Jubilee guests. 
 
 It is useless to record here the really atrocious scene 
 which took place between Rudolph and Stephanie on 
 that occasion. The Crown-princess forgot herself so far 
 as to use when speaking of Marie Vetsera some epithets 
 which befitted neither her sex nor her exalted rank, and 
 which, when applied to the woman he loved, Rudolph 
 could not let pass without resenting in the angriest 
 
 211
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 fashion possible. He then and there declared to his 
 consort that he was through with her, and that he would 
 never forgive what she had said. With this declaration 
 of war he took his departure for England, while Ste- 
 phanie, for once frightened wellnigh out of her wits, 
 left Vienna to spend the time of his absence away from 
 all observing eyes. 
 
 That Rudolph met Marie Vetsera and her mother 
 in London, and called upon them several times, is quite 
 certain, but what plans were decided upon by the two 
 young people it is impossible to state. Let it suffice 
 to say that some time after his return to Austria the 
 Crown-prince sent a private and confidential letter to 
 our Holy Father, the Pope, entreating him to dissolve 
 his marriage, and to use his influence with the Emperor 
 to obtain the latter's sanction to Rudolph's renouncing 
 all his rights of succession to the throne, and retreating 
 altogether from the public gaze. This letter was sent 
 to Rome by a special and trusty messenger, who was 
 to bring back his Holiness's answer thereto. Almost 
 immediately upon the reception of this document Leo 
 XIII. despatched one of his own confidential couriers to 
 Emperor Franz- Joseph, enclosing in a letter of his own to 
 the Emperor the one which the Crown-prince had written. 
 
 It is impossible to depict the horror and amazement 
 of the unhappy father when he received this quite un- 
 expected blow, for although he was aware that the 
 relations between his son and his daughter-in-law were 
 much strained, yet he had no idea that this state of 
 affairs had gone so far as to bring about such a decision 
 on Rudolph's part ; moreover, he knew Rudolph too well 
 not to realize that some really terrible thing must have 
 happened to cause him to take such a step without even 
 mentioning it to him. 
 
 212
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 He at once summoned Archduke Albrecht, his uncle, 
 his brother, Archduke Charles-Louis, and the Prince- 
 Archbishop of Vienna, wishing to communicate to 
 Rudolph the Holy Father's letter in their presence. 
 
 The interview which followed is wellnierh indescrib- 
 able. Rudolph, much moved by the deep grief of his 
 father, to whom he was extremely attached, fell at his 
 feet and craved his pardon for being its cause, but at 
 the same time refused to give any explanation of his 
 conduct in the presence of witnesses, and it was only 
 later on, when the Emperor had retired to his private 
 apartments for the night, that the Crown-prince was 
 induced by him to make a clean breast of the whole 
 matter. 
 
 Here we reach a point in this terrible affair which is 
 of so delicate a nature that one positively recoils before 
 the almost impossible task of explaining it. There are 
 in this world some terrible fatalities, and many instances 
 in which the words of the Scripture, which say that " the 
 sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children," 
 come true in a really ghastly fashion. The stormy 
 conversation which took place between the Emperor and 
 his only and much-beloved son was witnessed by none, 
 and yet there exist to-day several people who know how 
 awful was the discovery made by both of them on that 
 never-to-be-forgotten night, when Rudolph confessed to 
 his father his love for Marie Vetsera, and his intention 
 of giving up his entire future, his lofty rank, and his 
 unequalled position in order to marry her ! 
 
 When at dawn the Crown-prince staggered out from 
 his father's presence, his face was gray and drawn and 
 haggard, like that of a corpse, and in his eyes, which 
 glittered with the burning light of fever, there was a 
 look of harsh resolve which betrayed not only the fact 
 
 213
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 that he was a desperate man, but also that he had left 
 behind him all hope of the realization of his most ardent 
 desires. 
 
 As to the Emperor, when his valet entered his room 
 at the usual hour he found his imperial master bowing 
 low over his desk, with his head pillowed upon his folded 
 arms. The Emperor was fully dressed in the uniform 
 which he had worn on the previous evening, and the 
 servant, thinking that perchance his master had fallen 
 asleep while writing, permitted himself to touch him 
 lightly on the shoulder. What was his fright and 
 amazement when he discovered that Franz-Joseph, this 
 man of iron, who never knew a day's sickness, was in a 
 dead faint ! Kealizing with the quick intuition of a 
 thoroughly loyal servitor that the Emperor would wish 
 his condition kept secret if possible, the valet forbore 
 from summoning help, but applied restoratives himself, 
 and when the Emperor had recovered consciousness 
 tactfully avoided betraying by look or sign his own 
 curiosity as to what might have brought about so curious 
 and unparalleled an incident. 
 
 During the course of the morning the Emperor sent 
 for his son, but was informed that his imperial highness 
 the Crown-prince had started early for Mayerling accom- 
 panied only by his body-servant Loschek, and that he 
 had left word to the effect that he intended to spend 
 two or three days there, in the company of his brother- 
 in-law, Prince Phillip von Coburg, and of Count Joseph 
 Hoyos, who were as a rule his favourite hunting com- 
 panions. 
 
 On the 30th of January, 1889, Europe was startled 
 and terrified through its length and breadth by the news, 
 flashed over the wires from Vienna, that Crown-prince 
 Kudolph had died suddenly from the rupture of an 
 
 214 
 
 .
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 aneurism of the heart, at his hunting-lodge of Mayer- 
 ling. The official Viennese organ, Die Offizielle Wiener 
 Zeituw), of January the 31st, contained on its first 
 page, surrounded by a deep black border, the following 
 announcement : 
 
 u Seine Kalserliche und Konigliche Hoheit der Durchlauchtiste 
 Kron-prinz-Erzherzog Rudolf ist gestem am 30 Januar in Seinen Jagd- 
 schlosse in Mayerling, bei Baden, am Jlerzschlag plotzlich verschieden" 
 
 (His Eoyal and Imperial Highness, Crown-prince Archduke Rudolph, 
 died yesterday, January 30th, at his hunting-lodge of Mayerling, near 
 Baden, from the rupture of an aneurism of the heart.) 
 
 It would have been truer if the paper had contented 
 itself with declaring that Rudolph had died of a broken 
 heart, for a broken heart it was which led to his violent 
 and untimely death. 
 
 Later on, during the course of the day, the most 
 contradictory reports appeared in print. Some of these 
 declared that the Crown-prince had succumbed to the 
 effects of a shooting accident, others that he had died of 
 congestion of the lungs ; others again hinted in a very 
 guarded but still fully understandable fashion that he 
 had fallen in a duel. 
 
 On the following day nothing at all was printed 
 save a simple statement emanatiDg from the highest 
 quarters and declaring that the heir apparent had died 
 suddenly at his castle of Mayerling, and giving out 
 the usual regulations for court mourning. 
 
 A great many foreign journalists, requested by their 
 newspapers to find out all that they could about this 
 disastrous event, drove immediately to Mayerling, but 
 found it impossible to penetrate farther than the outer 
 gates of the park surrounding the schloss. 
 
 The neighbourhood is known as " The Pearl of the 
 Wiener- Wald." It is exceedingly romantic, dotted with 
 
 215
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 the picturesque ruins of ancient castles, of churches, of 
 monasteries, and of convents. The most remarkable and 
 interesting monastery in the region is Heiligenkreutz, 
 which is one of the oldest in Austria. It was founded 
 in 1336 by Margrave Leopold, and in the chapter-house 
 is the vault of the Babenbergs. The building is beautiful, 
 and exquisitely carved in a lace-like pattern of pinkish- 
 gray granite ; and an old well, which is always shown to 
 visitors, is of so curious a workmanship that it is said 
 not to have its like in the entire world. The treasure- 
 chamber and library — containing over twenty thousand 
 volumes — are also great attractions, and so are the superb 
 stained-glass windows of the chapel. In a word, Heili- 
 genkreutz is indeed very justly celebrated, for it is one 
 of the most perfect relics left of the poetical times of 
 long ago. 
 
 It was the Crown-prince's delight to spend hours 
 there, poring over the black-letter records and rolls of 
 quaint old parchments in the Archive Hall, fingering 
 with a feeling akin to awe the handiwork of the learned 
 monks, whose bones have been crumbling away for 
 centuries under the stone pavement of the cross-shaped 
 cloisters. 
 
 The surrounding forest is, if one is to believe the 
 oldest inhabitants, as well as the written statements left 
 by preceding generations, haunted by a wild huntsman 
 and a white lady who are, it appears, in the habit of 
 galloping at night on shadowy horses under the interlaced 
 branches of the magnificent trees. A narrow road over- 
 hung with evergreens leads towards the Castle of Mayer- 
 ling, which also was once a monastery belonging to the 
 monks of Heiligenkreutz. 
 
 On January the 30th, this beautiful place became 
 transformed into the saddest and most melancholy spot 
 
 216
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 upon earth. Snow was falling heavily, and throwing a 
 cloak of blinding whiteness upon the entire landscape. 
 The sky, of a gray copper hue, seemed to touch the 
 summits of the trees, and no noise was anywhere to be 
 heard save the dismal croaking of those eternally ill- 
 omened ravens ; no figure was to be seen excepting the 
 cordon of gendarmes which surrounded the entire extent 
 of the park, and stood motionless, carbine in hand, to 
 prevent any intruder from penetrating within the circle of 
 the private grounds. The shutters were closed throughout 
 the entire castle, and at the door stood an officer of 
 police with his sword drawn. 
 
 On January 31st, just as the gray, bleak, cold day 
 was coming to an end, the door opened, and the gleam 
 of many blessed candles cast a red glow upon the snow 
 without. Presently some servants, clad in deepest black 
 and holding torches in their hands, stepped out, preced- 
 ing the Prince of Coburg and Count Hoyos, who stood 
 for a few moments on the steps until a perfectly plain, 
 black-painted fourgon, drawn by two black horses, drew 
 up before the portal. 
 
 All present were bareheaded, and shivered in the 
 freezing wind which moaned among the snow-laden trees. 
 After a minute or so, six huntsmen belonging to the 
 Crown-prince's service appeared, carrying between them 
 the long, narrow black coffin, absolutely unornamented, 
 which contained the last remains of the man — young, 
 athletic, strong, and buoyant — who but a few hours pre- 
 viously was the hope and the joy of one of the greatest 
 empires of this earth. 
 
 Not a voice was raised, the necessary orders were 
 
 given in whispers, the coffin whs placed in the terrible 
 
 fourgon, and the horses at last started at a foot-pace, 
 
 while the Prince, the Count, and two or three officials 
 
 217
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 sent by the Emperor, seated themselves in the three 
 carriages which completed the dismal procession, and 
 followed the fourgon out of the gates and into the 
 darkness which had now gathered, and which made 
 the narrow mountain-roads very dangerous to traverse. 
 Suddenly the Prince of Coburg opened the window of 
 his carriage, and called out to the man who drove the 
 fourgon : 
 
 "For God's sake trot, for we shall all go crazy 
 together if we don't soon get away from this ! " 
 
 On they rolled into the night at a quicker pace, 
 until they had left behind them the dense woods and 
 had reached the high-road which leads to Baden. Once 
 there, occasionally a cart driven by some peasant met 
 them, and little thinking that this funeral cortege was 
 that of Austria's Crown-prince, the driver called out in 
 the peculiar drawl of the yokel : " Is' wcr g'storben t " 
 (Is somebody dead ?) Finally the small town of Baden 
 was reached, and the coffin with its escort was trans- 
 ferred to a special train which was awaiting their 
 arrival. 
 
 The night was almost over when the body of the 
 Crown-prince was borne into his private apartments at 
 the Hofburg. The temporary coffin was opened and the 
 corpse laid on the bed, and then it was that the Emperor 
 and Empress were brought face to face with the full 
 horrors of the awful death of their only son. 
 
 There are but few who know how the ill-fated Prince 
 really met with his end. So much has been written and 
 said about it that was thoroughly untrue, and so much 
 kept back, rather imprudently, which it would have been 
 better to state frankly, that justice has never been done 
 to the motives which led this plucky, courageous, honour- 
 able, and also sincerely religious young man to give 
 
 218
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 himself to death. It was rumoured at the time, and it 
 also has been declared since, that before committing an 
 act so severely condemned by the Catholic Church he 
 had actually killed with his own hand the woman whom 
 he loved better than life. This is thoroughly and shame- 
 fully untrue. Marie Vetsera died during the night of 
 the 29th to the 30th of January, 1889, and she did die 
 in the arms of the Crown-prince, but it was not he, as 
 everybody persists in believing, who killed her. It has 
 been authentically proved that it was she herself who 
 cut short her fair and beautiful existence while Rudi 
 had absented himself for a moment from the salon where 
 they had been talking together 
 
 Early in the morning of January 29th, Marie Vetsera 
 received a letter. She was at that moment sitting in 
 her dressing-room, and putting the finishing touches to 
 her toilet. Her maid and her sister, who were present, 
 noticed that as she perused the contents of the letter, 
 which had been brought by a special messenger, she 
 turned ghastly pale and shook like a leaf, but when 
 asked what was the cause of her emotion, she refused 
 to give any explanation, and tearing the letter into 
 small pieces she threw them into the open fire, and 
 watched them until they had been completely reduced 
 to ashes. Shortly afterwards she complained of a head- 
 ache, and said that she would go for a short walk in 
 order to see whether fresh air would not do her good. 
 Dressed in a simple, dark serge skirt, a jacket, cap, and 
 muff of sombre fur, and with a small bunch of violets 
 fastened at her breast, she left her mother's house and 
 walked down the Ringstrasse until she reached a cele- 
 brated florist's shop, which she habitually patronized. 
 There she purchased another and much larger bunch 
 of violets, and on leaving the shop stepped into an 
 
 219
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 nnumerierter — one of those private cabs which a great 
 many of the Viennese aristocrats use for their morning 
 drives — which had stopped in front of the florist's as 
 soon as she entered the shop. The horses trotted off at 
 a sharp pace, and the shopwoman who had waited upon 
 Marie, and had accompanied her to the door, said, as 
 she returned to her counter : 
 
 " Well, that's funny ! If I am not mistaken, the 
 baroness has driven off in Crown-prince Rudolph's 
 private cab, driven by Bratfisch himself." 
 
 Bratfisch, the Crown-prince's fiacre, was a well-known 
 character in Vienna. He was the typical personification 
 of those children of the Kaiser-stadt, who are perhaps 
 the most entertaining and thoroughly original beings in 
 existence. He was absolutely devoted to his imperial 
 master, who used to laugh very heartily at his extra- 
 ordinary antics, as well as at the stories which he knew 
 how to relate with amazing gusto about the people whom 
 he had driven during the course of his life — stories that 
 Rudolph, in his genial, careless manner, often caused 
 him to tell. 
 
 Bratfisch had received orders to await a lady carry- 
 ing a bunch of violets in her hand before the above- 
 mentioned florist's, and then to drive her as rapidly as 
 possible to Mayerling. When she arrived at the hunting- 
 lodge she was met on the steps by Rudolph, who, taking 
 her hand in his, drew her into the salon, into which 
 his private apartments opened, and carefully closed the 
 door. 
 
 Count Hoyos and the Prince of Coburg were out 
 shooting in the woods, whither the Crown-prince had 
 refused to accompany them, pleading that he had a bad 
 cold. Just before the arrival of Marie the Crown-prince 
 had sent off a telegram, written in Hungarian, to his 
 
 220
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 father at the Hofburg, telling him that he was not 
 feeling well enough to be present at the family dinner 
 which was to be given that evening in honour of Arch- 
 duchess Marie- Valerie and her fiance, Archduke Francis- 
 Salvator. The telegram ran as follows: 
 
 " To II is Majesty the Emperor, in Vienna : 
 
 " Forgive ray not appearing, as I am not feeling well ; it is nothing 
 serious, however. Love to my mother and to all. 
 
 " Rudolph." 
 
 (Engedelmet Jcyrek, ha lem gyuueJc. Keveset heteg vagybh. Tiszte- 
 lemafoeherzepne, etc.) 
 
 Whatever the conversation may have been between 
 the two unfortunate young people on that dark and 
 dismal afternoon in the little salon of Schloss-Mayerling 
 can better be imagined than described. The awful 
 disclosure which the young man made to her was truly 
 of a nature to unbalance the steadiest brain, and Loschek, 
 the valet, said later on that he had heard, when passing 
 the door, on different occasions, the muffled sound of 
 violent sobbing. 
 
 During the preceding few weeks Marie had been 
 excessively melancholy, and had several times alluded, 
 in the presence of her family and friends, to her wish to 
 die young if she could not obtain her heart's most ardent 
 desires, but what those were she did not say ! Indeed, 
 a gentleman who had known her from a child, and who 
 was a constant visitor at the Vetsera mansion, remembered 
 that on one occasion she had told him half-laughingly 
 that, thanks to the strain of Oriental blood which flowed 
 in her veins, she had no fear whatsoever of death, even 
 if self-inflicted, and that she was always provided with 
 the means of putting a swift and painless end to her 
 existence, if ever it became too distasteful to her. The 
 
 22 1
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 gentleman in question, taking this in the spirit of a 
 spoiled child's boutade, gave it but scant attention, 
 until subsequent events forced him to recall to mind 
 the conversation which he had had with her on the 
 subject. 
 
 When Count Hoyos and Prince von Coburg returned 
 to the Castle for dinner, they found that the Crown- 
 prince had already retired, leaving a message to the 
 effect that he felt too ill to appear at the evening meal, 
 from which he begged to be excused. There was no 
 sign of Bratfisch, nor, of course, of Marie Vetsera, and 
 Loschek having been the only one to witness her arrival, 
 the two noblemen were not informed that a lady had 
 come to Mayerling on that day. They sat for a while 
 over their wine and cigars, and then, thoroughly tired 
 out by their day's sport, they went to bed, and absolute 
 silence reigned over the entire building. 
 
 At five o'clock in the morning the huntsmen began 
 to move about in the yard ; the grooms opened the 
 stable doors and started upon their day's work, casting 
 an occasional glance upon the shuttered windows of 
 the castle, for they knew well that, like his father, 
 the Crown-prince was an early riser, and that, there- 
 fore, he would probably soon appear at one of the 
 casements, as was his wont, to call out some orders to 
 them. 
 
 Loschek also was up and preparing his imperial 
 master's bath in the dressing-room adjoining the Crown- 
 prince's sleeping-apartment. Several times he approached 
 the door, expecting to hear himself called, but the 
 silence remained untroubled, and as hour after hour 
 slowly passed the man began to feel sorely worried. He 
 had been sent by Eudolph on the previous evening on 
 an errand to Baden, and did not know if, or when, the 
 
 222
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Baroness Vetsera had left Mayerling. Finally, anxious 
 beyond endurance, he tried to turn the knob of the 
 door, but much to his astonishment found that it was 
 fastened on the inside, this being entirely against the 
 Archduke's usual custom. For a few moments he stood 
 motionless and then knocked twice rapidly on the 
 oaken panel. Eeceiving no answer he fled down to the 
 dining-room, where the Prince of Coburg and Count 
 Hoyds were waiting for their breakfast. Trembling in 
 every limb, Loschek confusedly tried to explain to them 
 that something must have happened to the Crown- 
 prince, intermixing his incoherent statements with 
 allusions to the visit of Marie Vetsera, which were, of 
 course, absolutely unintelligible to his amazed hearers. 
 Gathering, however, from what he said that something 
 very much out of the ordinary had occurred, the Prince 
 and the Count, followed by the terrified Loschek, ran 
 upstairs three steps at a time, and in their turn began 
 an assault upon the door, which, when they obtained 
 no sign of life from within, ended in their bursting it 
 open. 
 
 The scene which met their gaze was of a nature to 
 strike the most self-contained person with horror. On 
 the lounge near the window lay the body of Marie 
 Vetsera, still dressed in her dark serge gown, but with 
 all the violets of her two bouquets scattered about her. 
 Her white face, outlined against the crimson silk of the 
 cushion upon which her head was resting, seemed cut 
 out of marble. Half leaning against her shoulder, half 
 upon the floor, lay the Crown-prince, his hunting-suit 
 drenched with blood, and his lifeless hand still grasping 
 a heavy cavalry revolver. Crazed with grief and amaze- 
 ment, the three men bent over Rudolph to see whether 
 life was really quite extinct. One look at the shattered 
 
 223
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 skull, however, sufficed to show them that all hope 
 had fled. Prince von Coburg, stepping back with an 
 exclamation of dismay, trod upon something which he 
 mechanically picked up. It was a small empty bottle 
 of brown crystal, which was labelled "strychnia." Me- 
 chanically also he placed it on a neighbouring table, 
 and with the help of his two companions lifted the form 
 of the Crown-prince from the ground and laid it upon 
 the bed. Then they all hurried from the room, and 
 closing the door after them, walked down-stairs, feeling 
 as numb and unnerved as if they were just awakening 
 from some dreadful nightmare. 
 
 When they had had sufficient time to recover their 
 senses to some extent, Prince Phillip ordered the entire 
 household to be brought before him, and making them 
 take, each separately, an oath of absolute secrecy, he 
 gave directions that the entrance to the castle and to 
 the castle grounds should be denied to everybody with- 
 out distinction of sex or rank. 
 
 Before starting for Vienna, where the Prince was 
 sending him to carry the terrible news to the unfortunate 
 parents of the dead man, Count Hoyos decided that it 
 would be best to enter the death-room once more in 
 order to make certain that the Crown-prince had not 
 left behind him some letter or writing of some kind 
 which would throw light upon the situation. This 
 second examination of the premises brought about the 
 discovery of four letters lying upon the table which 
 stood at the head of the bed, addressed respectively to 
 the Emperor, the Empress, Divisional Superintendent 
 Szoegyenyi, and the Duke of Braganza, a very dear 
 friend of Kudolph's, beside which lay a crumpled piece 
 of paper, whereon were written, in Marie Vetsera's hand, 
 the following words: 
 
 224
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 " Dear Mother, — I am going to die for Rudolph ; we love each 
 other too deeply to endure existence apart from each other, and a cruel 
 fate which nothing can alter has made it impossible that we should ever 
 belong to each other. He has had to give his father his word of 
 honour that he would never see me again. There are circumstances 
 which prevent our union, circumstances which I can discuss least of 
 all with you. I am happier to die than to live. Forgive me. 
 
 " Your unhappy Marie." 
 
 This note, written with a pencil and evidently in 
 a great hurry, was blistered with tears. The letter 
 addressed by Rudolph to the Duke of Braganza, unlike 
 those addressed to the Emperor and Empress, was un- 
 sealed, and contained these few words : 
 
 " Dear Friend, — / must die. In honour I can do nothing else. 
 Good-bye. The blessing of God be with you. Rudolph." 
 
 To Divisional Superintendent Szoegyenyi, the Crown- 
 prince wrote : 
 
 " Dear Szoegyenyi, — You will rind herein enclosed a codicil act 
 in accordance with my last will and testament made two years ago. 
 You will find in my study at the Hof burg most of my papers, and I 
 leave it to your discretion to decide which of them seem fit for publi- 
 cation. These papers are locked up in the drawer of the table which 
 stands near the sofa, and so I also enclose the little golden key where- 
 with to open it. When you receive these few lines I shall be no 
 more. I must die. Give my most affectionate remembrance to all 
 my friends. May God bless our beloved country. Rudolph." 
 
 The Count, putting all these various documents in 
 his pocket-book, drove furiously to the station at Baden, 
 where he jumped into the first train he could catch for 
 Vienna, and before mid-day he had reached the Hofburg, 
 where his appearance in hunting-dress, and with a face 
 perfectly death-like in its awful pallor, struck with 
 amazement all those who met him during his rapid 
 progress to the door of the Empress's apartments. 
 
 225 Q
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 General-Adjutant Count Paar, who was on duty at 
 that moment, undertook to lead the Count immediately 
 to the Empress. 
 
 She was sitting at her writing-table, which was 
 surmounted by a large portrait of the Crown-prince in 
 hunting-suit — just such a costume as that in which he 
 was clad when his stiffening corpse had been found that 
 very morning by the man who now stood shaking from 
 head to foot and hardly able to control the violence of 
 his emotions before this poor mother, as yet ignorant of 
 the crushing blow which had befallen her. 
 
 The Empress, at this sudden and incomprehensible 
 intrusion into her privacy, and after a quick glance at 
 the convulsed features of both gentlemen, started to her 
 feet and, pressing her hand to her side, exclaimed, in a 
 short, peremptory fashion not habitual to her: 
 
 " What is it ? What has happened ? Something is 
 the matter with Rudi. Tell me at once ! " 
 
 Her features had all at once become drawn and as 
 colourless as the white morning-gown which she wore. 
 Count Hoyos, who would have given all he possessed 
 to be miles away, was forced to relate as best he could 
 the main points of the tragedy which he had come to 
 reveal. 
 
 Standing upright before him, her blue eyes frightfully 
 dilated by a fixed expression of indescribable horror, 
 Elizabeth swayed for a second as if she were going to 
 fall; then straightening herself again, without a tear, 
 but with a kind of dry, gasping sob choking her utter- 
 ance, she murmured: 
 
 " The Emperor — don't tell him ; it must be I who 
 break it to him. Wait for me here ; do not say a word 
 to anyone ; I will be back ! " and swiftly, almost running, 
 she left her room and rushed towards her husband's 
 
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 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 study, where she knew that he would then be at work 
 upon the affairs of the State. As she opened the door 
 and entered the spacious apartment where the Sovereign 
 was employed in signing papers, handed to him one by 
 one by his aides-de-camp, she said, shortly : 
 
 "Franz, I must speak to you alone." 
 
 With a wave of the hand the Emperor dismissed his 
 aides, and the imperial couple were left alone together. 
 
 Half an hour later, Count Paar and Count Hoyos, 
 who were discussing in an awed whisper the dreadful 
 drama of Mayerling, saw Franz-Joseph enter the room, his 
 eyes swollen with weeping, and his whole countenance 
 quivering with distress. With him was the Empress, 
 just as pale, just as calm, and just as self-possessed as 
 she had been when she left them. She drew a chair 
 forward for the Emperor and gently motioned him 
 towards it, taking hold of his hand and mutely caressing 
 it, while he sat down upon the proffered seat with a 
 broken exclamation of: 
 
 " So it is true — really true ! " 
 
 Again the stalwart man broke down, and sobbed con- 
 vulsively, the Empress bending over him and soothing 
 and consoling him as if he were a child in pain. 
 
 Ah yes ! he might well send his celebrated message 
 to the people of Vienna a few days later, when thanking 
 them for the sympathy which they had shown to him 
 in his troubles — a message which ran as follows : 
 
 " Tell my people that it is thanks to the courage and devotion of 
 that noble woman, the Empress, that I have not given way to absolute 
 despair." 
 
 Meanwhile Crown-princess Stephanie was sitting at 
 her piano playing some new melodies which had been 
 sent to her that morning. She wore a pink crepon 
 
 227
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 peignoir, much adorned with lace, and on her light hair 
 a coquettish little combination of ribbons and lace. So 
 loud was her playing that she did not hear the door 
 open, and was very much startled when, without any 
 warning, her husband's father and mother stood before 
 her. She was not used to such visits, for especially 
 during the last few days she had clearly noticed how 
 distasteful her society seemed to be to both the Emperor 
 and Empress. Realizing that something extraordinary 
 had happened, and not being very easy in her own 
 conscience, she turned to her father-in-law and said, 
 breathlessly, as if she had just been running hard : " Is 
 Rudolph really ill? Have you bad news?" 
 
 The Emperor replied, in a trembling voice : " Yes, 
 we have bad news. Very bad news." 
 
 The Crown-princess recoiled a few steps, and with 
 an awful scream, which rang throughout that entire 
 wing of the palace, she fell headlong at the Empress's 
 feet, her face touching the carpet, shrieking out in a 
 wild, almost unearthly fashion : " He is dead, and it is 
 I who have killed him!" 
 
 She became so violently hysterical that it was only 
 with the greatest trouble that the Emperor and Empress 
 could hold her down upon the sofa whereon they had 
 laid her. At last her moans and sobs subsided, and she 
 asked for explanations, declaring that she would start 
 at once for Mayerling. 
 
 " It is impossible that you should go there," said the 
 Empress, sternly. "You are not in a fit condition to 
 undertake anything of the kind. I will send for your 
 physicians, and you will go and lie down until you 
 have somewhat recovered your strength." Then turning 
 to her husband, Elizabeth said, softly : 
 
 " Leave her with me, Franz ; you have gone through 
 
 228
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 too much already. All this additional agitation is very 
 bad for you." 
 
 " And you — what about you ? " he answered, clasping 
 her hands in a passionate grasp. 
 
 " It will be time for me to give way later," she 
 replied, drawing him towards the door and out of the 
 room. " I have other things to think of just now." 
 
 Indeed, when she did "find time to think of herself" 
 she fell into a fainting fit, which resembled death so 
 closely that two hours elapsed before the physicians in 
 attendance upon her were able to pronounce as to 
 whether she would ever recover consciousness or not. 
 
 The impression caused at Vienna and throughout the 
 entire Austro-Hungarian Empire by the astounding news 
 of the Crown-prince's death is quite indescribable. The 
 streets were filled to overflowing with crowds of sobbing 
 people, and the newspaper offices were on the point of 
 being taken by storm by the populace when it was found 
 that no details about the heir apparent's death were to 
 be published. Thanks to the sagacious intervention of 
 Duchess Ludovica in Bavaria, Empress Elizabeth's 
 mother, the Emperor was brought to understand that 
 it was absolute folly to try to conceal any longer from 
 the public the fact that Rudolph had committed suicide. 
 Duchess Ludovica was, as I have had occasion to say ere 
 this, a very remarkable woman, and the Emperor, who 
 is no mean judge of character, had the highest opinion 
 of his mother-in-law's acumen, and was only too glad 
 to lean upon her and to take her advice in this as in 
 many other matters at that critical period of his 
 existence. 
 
 Special editions of the official newspaper appeared 
 therefore heavily bordered with black, and stating that 
 in a moment of temporary aberration Crown-prince 
 
 229
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Archduke Budolph of Austro-Hungary had taken his 
 own life. There was also a manifesto, which was signed 
 by the Emperor, printed beneath this announcement, 
 and couched in the following words : 
 
 " To my People : 
 
 " Deeply moved by a sorrow too profound for words, I humbly bow 
 before the inscrutable decrees of a Providence which has chosen to afflict 
 myself and my people, and I pray Almighty God to grant to us all the 
 courage to bear the load of our irreparable loss," etc. 
 
 A special train was sent on the 30th of January to 
 Baden, conveying the doctors and surgeons who were 
 intrusted with the autopsy of the Crown-prince. Among 
 these were Doctors Widerhofer, Hoffman, and Kundrat. 
 The protocol of this autopsy states that Crown-prince 
 Eudolph's death " was caused by a fracture of the frontal 
 bone produced by the bullet of a large-calibre revolver, 
 discharged at short range, the projectile penetrating the 
 brain and passing out of the skull at the base of the 
 cerebrum." 
 
 While this was taking place, and while so many were 
 thinking, to the exclusion of everything else, about the 
 dead Prince, what had become of the young girl whose 
 self-inflicted death had determined him to kill himself 
 while she was still near to him ? By the care of Count 
 Bombelles, the Crown-prince's tutor and best friend, who 
 had been sent immediately by the Emperor to take 
 charge of everything at Mayerling, the fair body of 
 Marie Vetsera was concealed in a room which Count 
 Bombelles himself locked with his own hands. 
 
 On the night of the 31st of January a small postern- 
 door in the northern wing of the castle was stealthily 
 opened, and another black, unadorned coffin was carried 
 by four trustworthy attendants into the depths of the 
 
 230
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 woods, where another fourgon awaited it. It was conveyed 
 as secretly as possible to the chapel of Heiligenkreutz, 
 and from there, twenty-four hours later, to a distant 
 railway station, where it was embarked for Trieste, 
 and taken thence to Venice. It was only then that 
 " Baronin " Vetsera, the mother of Marie, and the Baltazzi 
 family announced publicly the death of the young girl, 
 and had her remains formally brought from Venice to 
 Pardubitz, where the family vault is situated. 
 
 Of course it goes without saying that the secret was 
 not absolutely preserved, and that soon a loud rumour 
 arose to the effect that Marie Vetsera had not died in 
 Venice, but at Mayerling, and that she had been shot 
 by the Crown-prince. This has been more than disproved 
 by the autopsy performed upon Marie, which revealed 
 the fact that she had died from strychnine poisoning, and 
 that her death had preceded that of the Crown-prince by 
 more than two hours. 
 
 Could anything have been more dreadful than the 
 despair of the unfortunate young man when, after having 
 disclosed to his beloved the true reason which made it 
 impossible for him to fulfil his promise of marrying her 
 as soon as he had succeeded in obtaining the dissolution 
 of his union, he found that she had swallowed the deadly 
 drug which she had brought with her? When, a few 
 minutes later, she breathed her last in his arms, no wonder 
 indeed that, seeing his honour jeopardized, his hopes 
 dashed to the earth, and his entire existence ruined, he 
 should have decided to end his own career without any 
 further delay ! 
 
 The crumpled letter which Marie had written to her 
 mother was not the only one of the sort found, for 
 when her dress was removed another sheet of paper, 
 evidently torn out of a book, was discovered secreted 
 
 231
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 in the corsage. It was intended for her sister, and I 
 give here a copy of it : 
 
 " He has told me all. I cannot tell you what he did tell me. I can 
 never be his now. I am alone for a moment, while he has gone down 
 to send away Bratfisch. I knew that something dreadful would happen 
 to prevent our being happy, so I brought the poison with me, and I am 
 going to drink it. When he returns it will be too late to save me, and 
 I will die in his arms, happy to be with him till the last. Forgive me 
 and love me, pray for me, and take care of our poor mother. She will 
 feel this more than you can think or know." 
 
 The Vetsera family left on February 3rd for Italy, 
 while the court, immediately after the Crown-prince's 
 funeral, abandoned Vienna for Buda-Pesth. 
 
 Before leaving his Austrian capital the Emperor took 
 all necessary steps to insure the absence from Austria 
 of all those who had been directly concerned with this 
 fearful affair. Countess Larisch, in high disgrace, went 
 to travel abroad ; Count Hoyds and the Prince of Coburg 
 both left the country ; and as to Bratfisch and Loschek, 
 who had been provided with the means to live in idleness 
 for the rest of their days if so they chose, they disap- 
 peared completely from view. 
 
 It was a long time before the Emperor could forgive 
 or forget the unguarded words pronounced by Prince 
 Phillip of Coburg, who when speaking to several eager 
 auditors said : 
 
 "Do not ask me how this awful catastrophe hap- 
 pened. We are forced to draw a veil over such doings. 
 It is sad enough that it should have happened ! For 
 Heaven's sake, do not ask why it did." 
 
 232
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The first anniversary of the Crown-prince's death was 
 celebrated with much solemnity throughout Austria 
 and Hungary by the people. But the clergy in quite 
 a number of places created a painful impression by 
 refusing to perform the Seelen-Mcsse, or Bout de VAn 
 mass, in consequence of the circumstances connected with 
 the Prince's death. The most glaring instance of this 
 utter absence of charity was at Botzen, in the Tyrol, 
 where the widowed Crown-princess was staying. Having 
 sent to request the dean of the cathedral to celebrate 
 the customary mass for the repose of her husband's soul, 
 he curtly declined either to perform it himself or to 
 permit it to take place in the cathedral. The ceremony, 
 therefore, was performed in the parish church of Gries, 
 a little village in the neighbourhood of Botzen. 
 
 Much disagreeable comment was caused by the failure 
 of Stephanie to return to Vienna upon the sad anniver- 
 sary, in order that she might accompany the Emperor, 
 the Empress, and Archduchess Valerie to Mayerling for 
 the purpose of being present with them at the ceremony 
 of the consecration of the chapel erected on the spot 
 where her husband met his death. It was positively 
 expected that she would have made a point of spending 
 the day with her little daughter, and that she would 
 have followed their majesties' example in passing a few 
 moments in prayer at the Archduke's tomb in the vaults 
 of the Capuchin church at Vienna. But she very
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 unwisely absented herself, an act which gave great pain 
 to all those who so dearly loved the dead Prince. 
 
 The visit of the Emperor and Empress with Arch- 
 duchess Valerie to Mayerling on the 30th of January, 
 just a year after the frightful death of poor Rudi, 
 was marked by several exceedingly pathetic incidents. 
 The scene at the railway terminus, when starting on 
 their pilgrimage to the fatal spot, was pitiful in the 
 extreme. The Emperor had offered his right arm to his 
 consort, and with his left hand he was gently stroking 
 the small black-gloved hand that rested upon his sleeve, 
 as he bent slightly towards her, murmuring words of 
 consolation. Archduchess Valerie followed close behind. 
 The two ladies were attired in the deepest mourning, 
 and were weeping bitterly. On reaching the chapel 
 which had been erected on the scene of the tragedy, a 
 mass was performed by the abbot, Baron von Grimmenstein, 
 assisted by Court Chaplain Monsignor Meyer, the priest 
 kneeling at an altar of exquisitely carved Istrian marble, 
 placed on the very spot where the bed had stood on 
 which the Archduke was laid out by Prince von Coburg 
 and Count Hoyos, after the discovery of the suicide by 
 these two gentlemen. The chapel is built in antique 
 Gothic style, and is entered by a portal supported by 
 four pillars of Swedish granite. Statues of St. Joseph 
 and St. Theresa guard the portico, above which there 
 is a magnificently painted window. 
 
 The only persons present besides the imperial 
 mourners and their immediate attendants were the 
 Carmelite nuns, who have taken possession of the former 
 shooting-lodge. Their Superior, to whom the Emperor 
 addressed a few gracious words at the conclusion of the 
 service, is a French noblewoman, the young Princess 
 Jeanne Bibesco, whose mother was a Princess d'Elchingen, 
 
 234
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 and a member of the family of the famous Marshal 
 Ney. 
 
 It goes, of course, without saying that Stephanie 
 has never forgotten and never will forget the decision 
 taken by her husband several years before his death, to 
 the effect that his only child, Archduchess Elizabeth, 
 should be intrusted absolutely, without any restriction 
 whatsoever, to the sole and complete guardianship of 
 Emperor Franz- Joseph and Empress Elizabeth of Austria, 
 and that moreover she should not be allowed to pass 
 the frontiers of Austro-Hungary before she had attained 
 her majority. This token of Rudolph's post-mortem 
 dislike and lack of confidence was hard enough to bear 
 without there having been added to it the wide-spread 
 public rumours which it aroused. 
 
 Archduchess Elizabeth was, when a child, one of the 
 most interesting little ladies possible. She has inherited 
 all her father's sweetness of temper, and bids fair, when 
 she is quite grown up, to resemble her beautiful grand- 
 mother, Empress Elizabeth. Her grandfather dotes on 
 her, and seems to have transferred to her all the love 
 he bore his only son. The idol of the Viennese people, 
 who call her die hleine frau (the little woman), she 
 never drives out without receiving a perfect ovation, 
 and many eyes fill with tears of pity when gazing on 
 the tiny princess, so early and so tragically deprived of 
 a father's love. 
 
 A few years ago an incident occurred which is so 
 characteristic of the little Archduchess that it is worthy 
 of being placed on record. There is a well-known young 
 ladies' school at Dresden, where a great many Viennese 
 girls are sent, when they reach the age of ten, to finish 
 their education under the care of the celebrated Madame 
 F , the owner of the school in question, and an
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Austrian by birth. Until the autumn of the time to 
 which I refer, the little girls were in the habit of receiv- 
 ing from home, once a month, small boxes containing 
 some of the delicious confectionery for which Vienna is 
 renowned. Unfortunately, several cases of sickness 
 among the pupils having been caused, according to the 
 
 house physician, by too many bonbons, Madame F 
 
 gathered the young people around her one morning 
 and declared to them, solemnly, that she absolutely 
 forbade any more indulgences of this nature, and that 
 she would moreover address a circular to the children's 
 parents requesting them not to send sweetmeats or any 
 other toothsome dainties to them during their stay at 
 her school. 
 
 The edict caused terrible consternation among the 
 little gourmandes. There came very near being an 
 open revolt against so arbitrary a measure, and matters 
 were looking very black indeed when, suddenly, a dark- 
 eyed, fair-haired little beauty of eleven summers climbed 
 on a table, and silencing her noisy troop of comrades, 
 harangued them as follows : 
 
 " Children," she exclaimed, in vibrating accents, " we 
 must be revenged ! We cannot allow such injustice ; 
 we will not submit to an undeserved punishment which 
 robs us of our only pleasure. Madame is an Austrian, 
 and as such, she must submit to anything done by our 
 imperial family. Do you know what? We will send a 
 round-robin to our little Archduchess, imploring her to 
 forbid madame to treat us so cruelly." 
 
 "What little Archduchess? Who is she? Where 
 does she live?" cried such of her excited listeners as 
 were not Austrians. 
 
 With a smile of pity for so much ignorance, the 
 speaker explained to her now delighted audience that 
 
 236
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AX EMPRESS 
 
 Archduchess Elizabeth, the Emperor's granddaughter, 
 was powerful at the court of Vienna, and that should 
 she consider their prayer favourably, the whole imperial 
 family would come forward, if necessary, to crush 
 madame's decree against the importation of sweets. 
 
 The truth of this statement was so patent that with- 
 out further delay the little girls set to work in great 
 glee to draw up their petition — a document which cost 
 them much pain to compose, and which ran thus : 
 
 " Deak Archduchess Elizabeth, — We love you and your grand- 
 papa very much, and we are here in Dresden at school, where we are 
 generally pretty well satisfied. To-day, however, something awful 
 has happened. Madame has forbidden our dear parents to send us 
 any more bonbons for ever so many years ; no more sugar-plums, no 
 more chocolates, no more cakes, nor anything sweet and good. So we 
 want to ask you to help us out of our trouble, dear Archduchess! 
 Please, please tell your dear grandpapa to send word to madame that 
 she is to let us have bonbons again as before. With this ardent 
 prayer we close our letter. Our best love to your dear grandpapa 
 and grandmamma. We all kiss your little hands, and remain your 
 true and respectful little compatriots." 
 
 When the long list of names had been signed to this 
 remarkable epistle, it was carefully put in an envelope 
 and addressed to "Die Kleine Frau Ezherzogin Elizabeth, 
 p. Ad. Ihrcm Grossvater, den Kaiser von OesterrcicJi, 
 Wien." (To the little madame, Archduchess Elizabeth, 
 care of her grandpapa, the Emperor of Austria, Vienna.) 
 And with many misgivings and heart-beatings it was 
 duly mailed. 
 
 A week later, Madame F was much surprised to 
 
 receive a huge box addressed to "The pupils of the 
 
 F Institute, Dresden." It came from Vienna, and 
 
 was stamped on the lid with the imperial coat-of-arms. 
 She immediately summoned all the children, and as 
 
 237
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 soon as they caught sight of the gigantic package, the 
 little Austrian conspirators huddled together, whispering 
 to one another, with glowing faces and glistening eyes. 
 
 On the top of the box lay a pink and silver card, on 
 which was written, in a round, childish hand : " From 
 Archduchess Elizabeth, to her dear little compatriots 
 in Dresden." 
 
 Under the card was a letter sealed with the imperial 
 
 crest, which Madame F opened and read with 
 
 boundless amazement. It was written by Countess 
 Coudenhove, the lady-in-waiting to the little Arch- 
 duchess, who said that as a rule no notice was taken of 
 
 such petitions as had been sent by Madame F 's 
 
 little Austrian pupils, but that in this instance the 
 little Archduchess had begged so hard to be permitted 
 to grant it that their Majesties had allowed her to choose 
 and send the contents of the box to her dear little com- 
 patriots, with the wish that they might be allowed to 
 enjoy them to their hearts' content. 
 
 With shouts of joy the children, now almost beside 
 themselves with delight, crowded round the box to 
 examine its sweet and fragrant contents. Nothing can 
 give an idea of their enthusiasm when, one after another, 
 boxes of exquisite bonbons of all descriptions were brought 
 to light — boxes made of daintily tinted silks with the 
 imperial arms and crown stamped in gold on each of 
 them; bags of silver tissue tied with azure ribbons and 
 filled with chocolate pralines, each of which was wrapped 
 in multi-coloured tissue-paper, with devices and mottoes ; 
 marvellous bars of Viennese nougatine enclosed in satin 
 wrappers, on which the pictures of the Emperor and 
 Empress were painted in water-colours ; tiny crystal 
 bonbonnieres containing sugared petals of roses and 
 violets and orange blossoms, certainly prepared by 
 
 238
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 fairies for the special delectation of good little Austrian 
 subjects of his royal and imperial majesty, the Emperor 
 Franz-Joseph ! The shouts almost deafened poor 
 
 Madame F , who, not so very black at heart after 
 
 all, could only end by forgiving her pupils, to whom 
 she suggested that in return for the kindness and 
 favour just received, they would do well to embroider 
 a handsome bed-quilt for their little benefactress. This 
 piece of work was duly brought to completion, and it 
 was superb, all the little ladies having laboured at it 
 with a will, while they nibbled now and again some of 
 the Archduchess's exquisite bonbons, loyal little Austrian 
 monarchists for ever ! The quilt was presented to her 
 imperial highness upon her birthday, and gave her much 
 pleasure. 
 
 230
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IX MEMORIAM 
 
 •' Of all the crimes of anarchy — a catalogue accurst — 
 This latest act of infamy must be adjudged the worst; 
 Never has base assassin struck a fouler, blacker blow 
 Than that with which this callous fiend has laid the Empress low. 
 
 •' The world stands startled and aghast ; the brain of Europe reels ; 
 Her tongue can scarcely speak as yet the sympathy she feels; 
 But where is there a heart to-day not thrilled by pity deep 
 For her who died, and for the man who lives her loss to weep?" 
 
 In December, 1897, Elizabeth's health seemed to begin 
 to fail completely. She was at the time staying in 
 Biarritz, and suffered from neuritis to such an extent 
 that the gravest doubts were entertained as to the 
 possibility of her enduring, even courageous as she was, 
 for any great length of time, the bodily torture which she 
 was undergoing. Finally she made up her mind to go 
 to Paris in order to place herself in the hands of Dr. 
 Metzger, who is a specialist of world-wide renown in 
 all nervous troubles. Dr. Metzger is an original, and 
 refuses squarely to call upon any patients, whatever 
 their rank or wealth may be, the consequence of this 
 rule, which is as adamantine as the laws of the Medes 
 and Persians, being that his reception-rooms are every 
 day crowded with an extraordinary number of aristocratic 
 patients, who in order to benefit by his treatment, which 
 
 240
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 is chiefly one of massage, submit to long hours of 
 wretchedness while waiting for him. 
 
 With her dislike for appearing in public, the Empress 
 would not consent to go to the doctor's at his usual 
 consultation hours, and made a point of arriving at his 
 house early in the morning, and before the rooms in 
 which the massage was performed had had sufficient 
 time to become thoroughly heated. This resulted in 
 the treatment doing her more harm than good, and, 
 thoroughly discouraged, she abandoned it, and started 
 for San Remo, where she consulted the celebrated Dr. 
 Nothnagel. He was perfectly astounded at the courage 
 which the Empress displayed, for as he described it 
 himself, the pain which she suffered throughout the 
 whole network of her nervous system must have resembled 
 that which is caused by the exposed nerve of a tooth 
 when it is touched by some sharp instrument. 
 
 She hardly ever slept, and ate scarcely anything, but 
 in spite of all this, her admirable, almost supernatural, 
 fortitude never left her, and her patience and continual 
 kindness to her entourage were something simply wonder- 
 ful. She busied herself as usual with her books, her 
 music, and her drawings, took long walks along the 
 sunny, palm-bordered roads which surround San Remo on 
 three sides, and her love for flowers seemed to increase, 
 for she maintained that they were now her dearest com- 
 panions. Her rooms were simply filled with blossom- 
 ing plants, palms, and ferns, for all of which she had a 
 great predilection. When during her wanderings about 
 the country she happened upon some peculiarly choice 
 blossom, she used to bring it home with her, place it 
 herself in a vase, and carry it at night into her bedroom, 
 where she placed it beside her couch, so that she might 
 during her long insomnia gaze at its beauty and refresh 
 
 241 R
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 her tired eyes by admiring the loveliness of petals and 
 foliage. 
 
 During a short stay which she made at Yillefranche, 
 on the Riviera, she happened to notice growing in the 
 garden of the mayor of that little city some truly 
 magnificent carnations, the official in question being a 
 passionate collector of these fragrant flowers, who spared 
 neither trouble nor expense to secure the finest specimens 
 which it was possible for him to get for love or money. 
 Indeed, he looked upon this collection with the tender 
 jealousy of a fond mother towards her offspring, and woe 
 to the sacrilegious hand ever extended to touch one of 
 the enormous satiny blossoms. 
 
 The Empress gazed longingly at the luxuriant rows 
 of multicoloured carnations, and finally, quite unable 
 to conquer her desire to gather a few of them, she rang 
 the gate bell, and in her simple, winning way begged 
 very sweetly for one or two of the coveted flowers. The 
 gardener, trembling in his boots lest his master should 
 arrive at this inopportune moment, nevertheless was not 
 proof against the request which the imperial lady so 
 charmingly proffered, and, wonder of wonders ! allowed 
 her to pluck two carnations — a gigantic creamy one all 
 flecked with soft pink and a monstrous crimson one — 
 which she preciously and victoriously bore away, her 
 eyes gleaming with pleasure. 
 
 On her way home she was met on the road by the 
 mayor himself, who recognized both his property and 
 the Empress, and who hurried into his beloved garden 
 and called his guilty gardener to account in the following 
 manner : 
 
 " So you give away my flowers, and some of the finest 
 of them, too, you miscreant ! " he exclaimed, with assumed 
 wrath. 
 
 242 

 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 "Oh, monsieur!" quoth the old man, "the lady who 
 asked for them was not one to whom one could refuse 
 anything; monsieur would have given them to her 
 himself had he been here." 
 
 " Of course I would, you dunderhead ! " replied 
 monsieur le mairc, bursting out laughing. " Why, it 
 was the Empress of Austria herself who was here a 
 minute ago, and she can have all the carnations she 
 wants, for there are not many such angels promenading 
 here below. Come, now, with me, and we will gather a 
 bouquet for her such as not even all her imperial green- 
 houses can furnish her ! " 
 
 Suiting the action to the words, the worthy mayor 
 descended upon his parterres and sacked them with 
 such an unsparing hand that he had soon a sheaf of 
 long-stemmed carnations which were truly worthy an 
 Empress's acceptance! The gardener, following him 
 dutifully, almost dropped dead in the extremity of his 
 astonishment at the spectacle of so unprecedented a 
 raid upon the priceless collections, and he had by no 
 means recovered from his stupefaction when he was 
 despatched post-haste to carry this exquisite gift to the 
 Empress. The latter was just on the point of leaving 
 Villefranche when the old fellow, quite breathless with 
 hurry and excitement, presented himself before her. 
 Deeply touched by the mayor's sacrifice, for she fully 
 realized what it must have cost him to thus ruthlessly 
 saccagcr his beloved flower-beds, the Empress hastily 
 drew from her pocket-case a visiting-card, upon which 
 was simply engraved Elizabeth," beneath an imperial 
 crown, and wrote on the back of it, " Merci de tout mon 
 cozur pour voire delicieusc et charmante attention, qui m'a 
 rendue tres heureuse." 
 
 I dare say that the Mayor of Villefranche now looks 
 
 243
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 upon this little card as one of his most precious posses- 
 sions and preserves it as he would a relic. 
 
 The first steps taken by Dr. Nothnagel were to urge 
 Elizabeth to adopt a more strengthening diet, for the 
 Empress, who was a remarkably small eater, was, as a 
 rule, satisfied with eating fruit and drinking milk, of 
 which she was very fond. 
 
 To be sure, when in her own palaces she gave much 
 attention to the mentis which were presented to her 
 every morning by the chief of her kitchens, and which 
 she altered according to her own ideas in the matter. 
 No table in the whole world was served more daintily 
 or artistically than that of the Austrian court. Eliza- 
 beth used to say that when one was forced to sit down 
 at meals perfect ease, vast space, and soft, shadowy 
 distances were absolutely necessary to preserve some 
 sort of illusion. Her exquisitely refined taste prevented 
 her from appreciating even the most delicate of food 
 when not served in a thoroughly recherche manner, and 
 all that priceless porcelain, unique crystal, and mous- 
 seline glasses, as well as antique gold and silver plate, 
 could do to etherealize a repast was done at Vienna, 
 Buda-Pesth, Godollo, Ischl, Lainz, Achilleon, or wherever 
 else the fair sovereign of Austro-Hungary graced her 
 imperial abodes with her presence. 
 
 The damask was so fine that it looked like satin, and 
 for lunch or afternoon tea was replaced by daintily 
 hued cloths and napkins of silk-cambric, edged with 
 lace and adorned with the imperial crests in raised gold 
 embroidery, a transparency of heavy silk of the same 
 tint as the batiste shimmering through this delicate 
 material. So prettily were the viands prepared and 
 dished up that it seemed almost a pity to break up and 
 eat them. The fairies themselves might have feasted 
 
 244
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 upon the tempting pieces-montees prepared by the great 
 artist who for so many years presided over the imperial 
 kitchens. Mr. Kienberger — for such was the name of 
 this official — held his office for over forty years, and his 
 ambition consisted in making each dejeuner or dinner 
 which he supervised the most successful thing of the 
 kind in the world. Like a general on the eve of battle, 
 he never left the kitchens and still-rooms of the palace 
 during the last twenty-four hours before any great 
 entertainment took place. He personally superintended 
 every detail, and, as he was a culinary genius himself, 
 often concocted some particularly toothsome delicacy 
 which he alone could make. He also was a great 
 advocate of serving things artistically, and he told me 
 one day very gravely, nay, almost solemnly, that he 
 thought a pigeon served on a gold dish a far more 
 appetizing and pleasing viand than an ortolan sent in 
 on a common china plate. 
 
 The imperial kitchens were kept with almost military 
 precision. Every imaginable dainty was prepared at 
 the Palace, and the Empress herself came down every 
 Monday morning to stroll through the kitchens in order 
 to see that everything was going on as it should. 
 
 When the Empress was absent, however, matters 
 were not always quite so satisfactory ; for the Emperor, 
 who is a most abstemious man, does not, as a rule, care 
 much about what is placed before him, is contented with 
 the plainest kind of food, and rarely makes any remarks 
 on the subject. Once, however, when the luncheon-tray 
 was brought in, he said to his aide-de-camp, who had 
 been working with him in his study during the whole 
 morning : 
 
 "You lucky fellow! you'll be able to get something 
 irood to eat at a restaurant later on, but 1, when her 
 
 245
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Majesty is away, am condemned to such unpalatable fare 
 as you observe there," and he pointed with a melancholy 
 shake of his head to the rather unappetizing lukewarm 
 viands which lay upon the tray. 
 
 The Emperor is a pious Catholic, who keeps as 
 strictly to his fasts as he does to his early rising. At 
 such times he objures all meat, and contents himself with 
 fish — a dish that is rather of a rarity in Vienna — and 
 various kinds of omelets. His Majesty takes his fish 
 preferably with buttered potatoes. 
 
 The Hofburg cuisine was, when deprived of Eliza- 
 beth's supervision, peculiarly Viennese ; it was only 
 when she was there that the French menu had any 
 chance ! Viennese cooking is closely allied to the 
 German in the simplicity and want of variety of its 
 dishes, and in the " done-to-death " character of the 
 meats, but yet it is decidedly more tasty and inventive, 
 Kaiserschmarn and the dumpling-like knbdcl having a 
 world-wide reputation. 
 
 In the summer the Emperor's so-called second break- 
 fast is omitted, and he contents himself with a five- 
 o'clock breakfast, consisting of a cup of coffee and a 
 little halte-auflage (sliced cold sausage, ham, etc.). His 
 Majesty sticks to his desk for the next seven hours 
 with scarcely an interruption. At noon comes the lunch, 
 or gabel-fruhstuck, consisting of a soup and a slice of 
 roast. At half-past four is a dinner of six courses, com- 
 prising soup, fish, two roasts, pudding, and desserts, 
 washed down with Pilsener beer and claret. Liqueurs 
 are also served, but Franz-Joseph never touches them. 
 When he has risen from the table, the Kaiser has finished 
 his eating for the day and touches nothing more, even 
 when in the evening he is forced to stay up late. 
 Ordinarily he is in bed by nine o'clock, and to his 
 
 24G
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 regular, moderate life he owes undoubtedly his longe- 
 vity and his splendid health. This is how the Emperor 
 lives winter and summer, but the arrangements necessarily 
 undergo great alterations on every occasion when a state 
 function takes place. 
 
 Then the splendour and lavishness of the imperial 
 table know no limits. All the royal fruit and vegetables 
 are grown in the country, except when the time of the 
 year absolutely compels their purchase abroad. The 
 wines are mostly Austrian or Hungarian, but also include 
 Burgundies, Moselles, and Rhine wines, as well as 
 Champagne. The Emperor's Tokay wine, grown in his 
 own vineyards — which with those belonging to Prince 
 Windishgratz are the only two spots on this earth where 
 real genuine Tokay grows — enjoys a world-wide reputa- 
 tion. One tiny glass of it perfumes a whole room with 
 its unequalled " bouquet," and it is considered so precious 
 that all the world was agog when Franz-Joseph sent as 
 a jubilee present to Queen Victoria a case of this price- 
 less sunshiny liquid. At the court of Vienna it is only 
 served on the grandest possible occasions, and is otherwise 
 reserved for cases of sickness. 
 
 I particularly remember a dinner given in honour of 
 the King and Queen of Italy, at the Hofburg, some years 
 ago, as the culminating point of luxury combined with 
 the most refined and exquisite taste. The table-cloth was 
 strewn with forced violets, nestling so closely together 
 that they formed a perfect bank of fragrant blossoms, 
 leaving only room for the plates of semi-transparent 
 Sevres, of the famille-rose, each of which was surrounded 
 with a thick garland of marguerites. Marguerite is the 
 Christian name of the Queen of Italy, and her little 
 namesakes had been used with great profusion in the 
 decoration of the festive board. Before the plate of 
 
 247
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 each woman present a slender, tulip-shaped vase of 
 Venetian glass, mounted in finely wrought gold, contained 
 a bouquet of marguerites and violets powdered with 
 gold-dust. The menus were engraved on thin sheets of 
 hammered gold, with the Austrian eagle embossed on 
 the corner. Everything was served on gold dishes, and 
 the dessert-plates were a marvel of beauty worthy of 
 Benvenuto-Cellini. When the sorbets were placed 
 before the distinguished guests a faint murmur of 
 admiration was audible, for even the blase eyes of people 
 satiated with every form of luxury were charmed witli 
 the little double-headed eagles made of delicately spun 
 sugar perched on a pale mauve glass ball containing a 
 tiny electric light. On the back of each diminutive 
 bird was a large daisy, also made of spun sugar, wherein 
 the sorbets were served. The gold plates on which the 
 whole rested were garlanded with Parma violets. The 
 dinner was really what one may describe without 
 exaggeration as being the apotheosis of gastronomy. 
 The dining-hall — scented as with dreamy incenses and 
 lighted with mellow wax candles, the soft brilliancy 
 of which would have entranced even Lucullus, had 
 he been throned there on his ivory chair — was a sight 
 to be remembered. 
 
 Even during such banquets the Empress would often 
 partake of nothing but a few slices of wheat-bread, a 
 cup of bouillon, and some fruit. She only drank wine 
 when the doctors absolutely insisted upon her doing so, 
 for she had a horror for all spirituous liquors, and her 
 favourite tipple, as she used laughingly to term it, was 
 the juice of many oranges poured on some cracked ice 
 and served in her own particular goblet, which was of 
 the thinnest possible crystal, and iridescent like a soap- 
 bubble. 
 
 248
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 One can therefore imagine how much she was annoyed 
 when Dr. Nothnagel prescribed for her rare steaks and 
 chops, as well as concentrated essence of meat. Never- 
 theless, she submitted to these medical orders, and was 
 much benefited by them, so much so indeed that from 
 the moment when she thus changed her diet she began 
 to mend rapidly, and when, in the spring of 1898, she 
 arrived at Bath Nauheim she had completely recovered 
 her strength. Her sojourn in Nauheim was, however, 
 rendered very disagreeable to her by the extraordinarily 
 rude behaviour of the other visitors there. There were 
 a great many Germans, a nationality which Elizabeth 
 never could endure. A striking proof of this is that 
 she implored the instructors and tutors of her children 
 to "make them as little German as possible." 
 
 Every time the sovereign went out of her hotel she 
 found herself confronted by crowds who were lying in 
 wait for her, and who positively went so far as well-nigh 
 to prevent her progress. To such lengths did these ill- 
 bred people go in order to satisfy their curiosity, that 
 the gentlemen of the Empress's suite had to interfere 
 bodily lest the Empress should be absolutely smothered ! 
 The Empress, who disliked beyond all things to be stared 
 at, felt perfectly wretched in Nauheim, and consequently 
 began to discuss with her entourage the possibility of 
 going to a place where she could spend a few weeks un- 
 observed and in peace. This finally led to her selecting 
 Switzerland once more, although she had no sympathy 
 for the Swiss nation, and knew well that Switzerland is 
 a very hotbed of anarchism, a land where every being 
 inoculated with nihilism or any other kind of revolu- 
 tionary tendencies seeks refuge. 
 
 Never afraid about herself, she told those who pointed 
 this out again to her, as they had done each time she 
 
 249
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 went to Switzerland before, that there was no reason 
 for alarm, as she would travel incognito under the name 
 of Countess von Hohenembs, and added : 
 
 "It is the Emperor that I always think of, with 
 regard to the crimes daily committed by anarchists, 
 and for him alone that I fear them. I myself am too 
 unimportant a personage to attract their malevolence; 
 for it is so well known that I have never meddled in 
 politics, or in any of the affairs of the State, and that 
 I will never do so, that I hardly count in anybody's 
 eyes as a sovereign at all ! " 
 
 Shortly after this conversation took place the Empress 
 established herself at Mount de Caux, and it must be 
 acknowledged she enjoyed such quiet as she had been 
 seeking. Indeed, she wrote several times to the Emperor 
 telling him how much he himself would be benefited 
 by the absolute peace which she had found there, and 
 asking him to join her as speedily as possible. There 
 was something singular in this earnest endeavour on the 
 part of Elizabeth to decide her husband to hasten his 
 departure from Vienna. One might almost think that 
 it was a sort of presentiment which overmastered her 
 usual reluctance to express any personal wish; for, 
 moreover, she knew that there was at that time a serious 
 ministerial crisis at Vienna, and that therefore it would 
 be very difficult for Franz-Joseph to leave his capital. 
 
 Singularly unfortunate is it that he was unable to 
 do so, and he must now feel very bitterly the weight 
 of this refusal of his to spend with his consort the last 
 days which she had to live on this earth. 
 
 Elizabeth took a special delight in walking in the 
 fragrant pine-woods, which reminded her, with their 
 needle-carpeted moss, of her dear forests in Upper 
 Austria. She came back from these long strolls with 
 
 250
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 her hands full of mountain flowers, and sent some in the 
 letters which she wrote daily to those whom she loved. 
 
 How the idea came into her head to make the un- 
 fortunate excursion to Geneva, which ended so tragically 
 for her, is only to be explained by yet one more of those 
 kind and considerate actions by which her entire life 
 was marked. 
 
 Baroness Adolph Rothschild, whose beautiful villa 
 of Pregny is one of the most exquisite spots on the 
 banks of the lake of Geneva, had once been very kind 
 to the Empress's favourite sister, the ex-Queen of Naples, 
 and that at the time when this unfortunate sovereign, 
 whom the French writer, Alphonse Daudet, chose as 
 the heroine of his celebrated book, Les Bois en Exit, 
 had just lost her crown and was leading a miserable 
 existence in Paris. Elizabeth never forgot this, and 
 although she had a well-defined dislike for Israelites — 
 with the exception of the poet Heine, whom she admired 
 greatly — yet when she found herself so close to Pregny 
 she decided to go and call upon Baroness Rothschild, 
 promising herself a great deal of pleasure, not only in 
 paying this little debt of gratitude, but also in visiting 
 the magnificent collection of orchids which is one of 
 the most charming fads of the Baroness. General- 
 Adjutant Baron von Berzeviczy, who was in attendance 
 upon the Empress at the time, entreated her not to go 
 to Geneva, or at least, if she did persist in undertaking 
 the trip, not to stay there over night. 
 
 'What an old martinet you are becoming, my dear 
 Berzeviczy," laughed the Empress. "Really, if I am 
 not careful you will end by making me come ' to orders ' 
 every morning, and by treating me with quite military 
 tyranny ! Nevertheless, I am going to risk being put 
 under arrest by you for disobedience, as I am going to 
 
 251
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Geneva in spite of all that yon may say to the contrary ; 
 and what is more, in order to punish you, you shall 
 remain here with the remainder of my suite to grumble 
 to your heart's content, while I and Countess Sztaray, 
 together with my secretary, Dr. Kromar, will make our 
 little fugue I I am starting in an hour, and will be back 
 to-morrow evening." 
 
 The fears entertained by the Empress's entourage, were 
 nothing extraordinary, for there were few who did not 
 recall to mind the gross outrage to which she was 
 subjected on the Italian shore of the Lago di Garda a 
 few years before. She was making a tour of this lake 
 on board a steam-launch. Having landed with the ladies 
 and gentlemen of her suite at a small Italian town on 
 the southern extremity of the lake, she was greeted by 
 the inhabitants with hisses and hideous howls. So 
 menacing indeed did the attitude of the mob become, 
 and so vile and outrageous were the insulting epithets 
 addressed to the imperial lady, that she was forced to 
 beat a hasty retreat with her party to the boat. As 
 the latter steamed away from the landing, volleys of 
 stones were hurled after it by the people on the shore. 
 The two or three revenue officers who were the only 
 representatives of the Italian government present at 
 the time maintained throughout the entire scene a 
 perfectly passive attitude, not making the slightest 
 attempt to protect the Kaiserin from the jeers and insults 
 of the populace. 
 
 This attack was all the more shameful as the Empress 
 was wearing deep mourning for Budi, and was in so 
 delicate a state of health that, thoroughly upset by the 
 unfortunate incident, she was confined to her apartments 
 for two weeks from the effect it had had upon her 
 nerves. 
 
 252
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Once before also the Empress had run the risk of 
 being assassinated by an Italian. It was at the opening 
 of the exhibition at Trieste, in the early eighties, when 
 an Italian Irredentist threw a bomb into the citadel, 
 by which several persons were wounded. The Emperor 
 and Empress, with the Crown-prince, were to visit the 
 exhibition a fortnight later, and as further outrages 
 were apprehended the Emperor and the Crown-prince 
 tried to dissuade the Empress from going. The Crown- 
 prince related at the time that the Empress would not 
 listen to this suggestion, saying : 
 
 "If you fear an outrage, that is a good reason why 
 I should accompany you, for in such an event my place 
 is by your side." Her Majesty, accordingly, went with 
 her husband and son to Trieste, where, as was proved 
 later by Oberdank's revelations, an Italian miscreant 
 was actually watching for an opportunity to murder the 
 imperial couple. That man was afterwards hanged at 
 Udine, and Oberdank and his companions at Trieste. 
 
 Elizabeth's love for incognito voyages brought about 
 a great many queer incidents, some of them dangerous, 
 others extremely amusing. For instance, she had quite 
 a little adventure while at Seville. One day during her 
 stay there she started out unattended, save by a lady- 
 in-waiting, to call on the widowed Duchess of Mont- 
 pensier, who was confined to her bed by rheumatic fever. 
 On reaching the palace of Castilleja the porter absolutely 
 refused to admit the two ladies, and, on their persisting 
 in their attempt to enter, called upon the police in the 
 street to remove the trespassers, informing the guardians 
 of the peace that he was convinced that the women were 
 filled with the most sinister intentions. 
 
 Fortunately, one of the old servants of the Duchess 
 was attracted to the scene by the noise, and, being a 
 
 253
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Frenchman, was able to understand the purpose of their 
 visit and their identity, which the porter and the police, 
 by reason of their ignorance of any language but their 
 own — which, strange to relate, the Empress did not 
 speak — had been unable to do. This, of course, put an 
 entirely different aspect on the affair, the porter and the 
 police withdrawing with most profound apologies, cursing, 
 no doubt, their stupidity, while the old French groom- 
 of-the-chambers conducted the Empress to the Duchess, 
 with whom her Majesty spent over half an hour in 
 friendly conversation. 
 
 Owing to the Empress's reluctance to appear in 
 public, especially during the latter portion of her life, 
 her features were not generally known to the Austrian 
 public. Indeed, she was the least easily recognized of 
 any member of the imperial family. This led to many 
 absurd contre-tcmps, all the more so as she was fond of 
 going about on foot, unattended save by her Greek 
 professor and a servant not in livery. 
 
 One day, when taking the train at Moedling, whither 
 she had gone on foot, she sent her servant to order the 
 station-master to have the train stopped at the Hotsen- 
 dorf station, near her palace at Lainz. Seeing that 
 the train was about to start while the man was still 
 talking to the station-master, she called to the conductor : 
 " Tell that man in a black coat to hurry up ! " Where- 
 upon the officer merely turned around and bawled out : 
 "Here, hurry up you, or else your good woman will 
 start without you!" evidently taking the Empress for 
 the simply horrified servant's wife. This is but one 
 of many similar adventures which happened to the 
 Empress. 
 
 Dr. Kromar preceded the Empress to Geneva in 
 order to have all proper preparations made for her 
 
 254
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 reception at the Hotel Beaurivage, but in accordance 
 with her wishes he concealed the identity of the august 
 visitor who was to be expected. As, however, her Majesty- 
 had occupied, some few months previously, the very self- 
 same suite of rooms which he now bespoke for her, the 
 proprietor of the hotel was, in spite of all this secrecy, 
 well aware whom he would have the honour of harbouring 
 under his roof. The apartment selected was composed 
 of five rooms, one of which was a salon ; another, the 
 Empress's sleeping-room, opened into a parlour, which 
 was hastily transformed into a bath-room, for Elizabeth 
 was a great believer in hydrotherapy ; and the two 
 remaining ones were to be occupied by Countess Sztaray. 
 The valet and maids to be were quartered on the floor 
 above. As soon as the necessary arrangements had been 
 made, Dr. Kromar left for Territet, whither he had 
 received permission to go and receive some personal 
 friends of his who were to arrive from Austria upon 
 that very day. 
 
 The incognito which the Empress was so anxious to 
 preserve was by no means kept, for the hotelier, very 
 proud of seeing his hotel selected by the sovereign, said 
 to somebody who was remarking to him that it was 
 rather a pity to nail down oilcloth upon the brand-new 
 carpet of the parlour, which was being quickly trans- 
 formed into a spacious and commodious bath-room : 
 
 "Oh, I don't mind it at all; it's no matter about 
 the carpet, for, let me tell you, quite between ourselves, 
 these rooms are for the Empress of Austria, and I will 
 be well indemnified, I assure you." 
 
 Moreover, preparations were made of such a nature 
 as to attract the attention of almost all the people then 
 staying at the Beaurivage. 
 
 Elizabeth arrived at six o'clock on the Friday, and 
 
 255
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 was much pleased with the arrangement of her apartment. 
 Masses of asters, mauve and white in colour, had been 
 grouped everywhere, as they were pretty nearly the 
 only flowers that, owing to the lateness of the season, 
 could be furnished by the florist upon such short 
 notice. 
 
 " Die sind seJir hilbsch," said the Empress, looking at 
 them with the peculiar softening of her entire counte- 
 nance which manifested itself when admiring blossoms 
 of any kind, " aber es sind ya todtenblumen." (They are 
 very pretty, but they are death-flowers.) 
 
 In Austria asters are principally used for the decora- 
 tion of the cemeteries on All Souls' Day, an occasion 
 always observed with scrupulous care by all the subjects 
 of Franz-Joseph, and that is the explanation of the 
 Empress's allusion to the flowers found in her room on 
 that, the eve of her death. 
 
 Before leaving Geneva, after the awful catastrophe, 
 Countess Sztaray divided those asters among all the 
 members of the Empress's suite in remembrance of her. 
 
 The Empress was on that evening in a remarkably 
 merry mood. She had been delighted with her visit to 
 Pregny, where she declared that she had tasted the best 
 fruit to be obtained in the length and breadth of Europe, 
 and had left the beautiful villa carrying with her own 
 hands an enormous bunch of the choicest kind of orchids, 
 which Baroness Rothschild had gathered for her, and 
 which, during her trip from Pregny to Geneva, she 
 continued to admire and praise, caressing with the tips 
 of her slender, ungloved fingers the strange, velvety, 
 many-hued petals which bore the shape of some strangely 
 formed butterflies. Her first care when she arrived 
 at the hotel in Geneva was to put her dear orchids 
 into a large bowlful of cold water, attending to this 
 
 256
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 even before she thought of removing her travelling-cloak 
 and hat. 
 
 Both she and her lady-in-waiting were covered with 
 dust, and the latter proposed to the Empress that she 
 should step out on the balcony in order to have some of 
 it brushed off before changing her dress. The Empress, 
 however, refused to do so, for fear that it should soil 
 her hair, and preferred to remove her clothes at once 
 and change them for others. 
 
 She was very proud of her hair ; in fact, the only trait 
 of vanity which I ever noticed in her was the pride she 
 took in those magnificent chestnut tresses which fell 
 down to her ankles. She used to have them brushed 
 for hours every day when I was at Vienna, I remember 
 well, while her reader, Mademoiselle Ferenzy, read to 
 her from English, French, or Hungarian books. Her 
 Majesty was particularly anxious that the dresser who 
 brushed her long braids should avoid pulling out a 
 single hair. This, of course, was an impossibility, and 
 the unfortunate maid concealed carefully in the pocket 
 of her apron any hair which became entangled in the 
 brush. One day the Empress, happening to glance 
 into the looking-glass before which she sat, caught 
 sight of the maid concealing a small roll of hair in 
 the above-described fashion. Jumping up from her 
 rocking-chair, her Majesty grasped her attendant's hand, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 "I have caught you at last! You are ruining my 
 hair!" 
 
 With a presence of mind which would have done 
 honour to an expert diplomat, the maid replied, 
 unhesitatingly : 
 
 "I implore your Majesty to forgive me; it never 
 happened before. I only wished to have some of my 
 
 257 S
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 sovereign's hair to put in the locket which my little 
 girl wears around her neck as a talisman." 
 
 Whether the Empress believed this clever invention 
 or not, I do not know, but shrugging her shapely 
 shoulders she resumed her seat, laughing heartilv, and 
 the next day she presented her maid with a locket 
 enriched with diamonds, saying, with a mischievous- 
 twinkle in her eyes : 
 
 "I think this is the kind of talisman your little 
 daughter deserves for having such a clever mother!" 
 
 After having changed her dress on the day of her 
 fateful arrival in Geneva, the Empress drank a glass 
 of milk, and prepared to go for a little stroll on the 
 quay which borders the lake. Upon returning to the 
 hotel she wrote a few letters and went to bed. On the 
 next morning — that of her death — she woke up in a 
 charming mood, and after taking her bath and getting 
 dressed, she went out with Countess Sztaray to do a 
 little shopping, stopping several times during her walk 
 to look into the windows of the florists', jewellers', and 
 souvenir-de-la-Suisse shops which abound in Geneva. 
 
 Soon after her return to the hotel she dismissed her 
 women, who departed by railroad for Territet, and who,, 
 as they passed along the street on their way to the 
 station, failed to observe a young man who was sitting 
 upon a bench right in front of the Beaurivage, intently 
 watching all that was going on there. 
 
 That there was such a young man has been later on. 
 asserted by many people who used their eyes to better 
 purpose than did the Empress's small suite. 
 
 This man was Luccheni, the assassin, and he seemed 
 to be taking note of every bit of luggage which was 
 being made ready in front of the hotel for transportation 
 to the steamer Geneva. He, of course, saw the Empress's- 
 
 258
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 servants leave, and a little later noticed the valet de 
 chambre, who was to accompany his imperial mistress 
 on her trip across the lake, make his way towards the 
 wharf, carrying on his arm the Empress's long black 
 cloak and in his hand her travelling-case. He was 
 dressed in plain clothes, and soon disappeared from 
 view on the gang-plank that united the waiting ship 
 to the quay. Shortly afterwards two ladies, both robed 
 in black, left the Hotel Beaurivage, walking rapidly 
 towards the steamer, for the clanging of a bell was 
 announcing that it was on the point of starting. 
 Countess Sztaray walked a little ahead of the Empress, 
 signalling with her hand to the men who were in the 
 act of withdrawing the gang-plank to stop doing so. 
 
 At this moment Luccheni bounded across the street, 
 and roughly brushing past the Countess, threw himself 
 upon the Empress. 
 
 Not a cry escaped her as she fell on her knees to the 
 ground, and almost instantly she was on her feet again, 
 while Countess Sztaray screamed at the top of her voice, 
 to prevent the murderer from being allowed to escape 
 into the Rue des Alpes ; at the time, however, she 
 believed that he was merely a thief who had attempted 
 to steal the Empress's watch. 
 
 She threw her arm around the Empress's waist to 
 support her, but Elizabeth, although ghastly pale, 
 refused her help, and upon being asked whether she was 
 hurt replied, with almost her habitual calmness : 
 
 " No, I do not think so — not much at least ; " and 
 turning to a passer-by who was attempting to brush off 
 some of the dust with which her fall had covered her, 
 she said, smiling sweetly : " It is not worth while, thanks 
 very much " (Ce n'est pas la peine, merci hieti). 
 
 With a firm step she walked towards the steamer, 
 
 259
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 crossed the gang-plank, and then fell fainting to the 
 deck. She was immediately carried to the upper deck 
 of the Geneva, although all those who surrounded her 
 continued stupidly to imagine that she had been merely 
 startled and was not seriously hurt, and there she was 
 laid upon some red velvet cushions hastily brought from 
 the captain's room. In spite of the immediate use of 
 smelling-salts, cold water, and vinegar, the Empress 
 did not recover consciousness, and so terribly white and 
 drawn did her beautiful features become that Countess 
 Sztaray, who stood by ringing her hands helplessly, 
 finally made up her mind to unfasten the imperial 
 lady's corsage. Upon doing so she gave a terrible scream, 
 for she found that it had been pierced by some sharp 
 instrument above the left breast, and that a few drops 
 of blood were slowly oozing from a very small triangular 
 wound which showed like a deep purple mark upon the 
 tender white flesh. 
 
 Meanwhile the steamer had put out from the shore, 
 and was rapidly gliding over the unruffled blue waters 
 of the lake. There was no doctor on board, and the 
 lady-in-waiting, almost beside herself with the sense of 
 her crushing responsibility, demanded that the boat 
 should immediately return to Geneva. 
 
 She was obeyed, and a stretcher was hurriedly put 
 together with the help of rugs and cushions upon some 
 oars. Those who were bending over her Majesty at that 
 moment noticed that a faint tremor passed over her face, 
 her wonderful dark-blue eyes opened for the last time, 
 and she stretched her hands out with an infinite longing 
 towards the azure skies above. One fleeting glance 
 upward, then, her hands still stretched out as if in 
 prayer, she murmured " Merci" and with the dauntless 
 heroism of her soft, sad smile lingering about her 
 
 260
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 lips, she gave a tired little sigh like that of a child 
 sinking to sleep, and lay motionless on her crimson 
 pillows. 
 
 As soon as the steamer touched the pier, Captain 
 Eoux, of the Geneva, and his officers carried the stretcher 
 to which the Empress had been transferred out of the 
 vessel and up to her room at the Beaurivage, that 
 room which she had left, but a short time before, full of 
 life and energy. 
 
 She was tenderly laid upon the bed, and a priest 
 who had been sent for, and who had arrived on the spot 
 even before the sorrowful little procession, administered 
 to her the last sacraments. The physicians summoned 
 to her bedside did all that lay within their power to 
 revive the Empress ; artificial respiration, friction, and 
 even bleeding were all vainly attempted, and, at three 
 o'clock, with another weary little sigh, Elizabeth's pure 
 and noble soul took flight. 
 
 The despair of her entourage cannot be described. Sob* 
 and moans were heard on all sides, and the Empress's 
 old valet tie chambre was taken so violently ill that 
 his condition required immediate medical attention. 
 Countess Sztaray telegraphed at once to the Emperor, 
 and to Count Paar, chief aide-in-camp of his Majesty, 
 and then took steps to have the Empress's salon trans- 
 formed into a mortuary chapel. 
 
 This room, so filled with sunshine, which shone through 
 the broad balconies overlooking the lake shore, was 
 draped completely — floor, ceiling, walls, and doors, as 
 well as windows— with black velvet hangings, flecked 
 with silver. The coffin, lined with white satin and white 
 velvet, was placed beneath the middle window, and with 
 her head reposing on a lace pillow the dead Empress lay 
 therein, clad in a long white satin robe, her hands crossed 
 
 2G1
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 over a rosary and an ivory crucifix, and surrounded by a 
 glorious garland of snowy, golden-hearted roses. A large 
 veil of lace half-covered her and fell to the floor, where, 
 at the foot of the coffin, a cushion made of white roses 
 bore the inscription, "Repose en Paix." Myriads of 
 blessed candles shed a soft radiance over the countless 
 wreaths and bouquets which were sent from every 
 quarter, and nuns and priests knelt continually on prie- 
 dieus, reciting the prayers for the dead. 
 
 Nothing can describe the loveliness of the expression 
 overspreading the marmorean features of the dead 
 Empress ; such absolute, contented peace and restfulness 
 belong only to angels. Although during the moments 
 which had preceded her death there had been a sort of 
 convulsed, suffering look upon her face, yet immediately 
 afterwards the brow became smooth, the lips parted in 
 a heavenly smile, disclosing the pearly teeth, and the 
 only shadow noticeable on her countenance was that 
 which was thrown by the deep fringe of her dark lashes 
 upon her velvety cheeks. 
 
 There is but little more to say, for this work should 
 treat only of Elizabeth's earthly career, not of the 
 magnificent pageant by which her people attempted to 
 make up in funeral display for their previous lack of 
 appreciation and of loyalty towards their Empress. I will 
 therefore give but a short desertion of it. 
 
 The mourning-train, with its sorrowful company of 
 sable-clad officials, passing slowly through Switzerland 
 and Austria amid the tolling of muffled bells ; the arrival 
 at Vienna — sorrowful and gloomy Vienna — so unlike the 
 gay, brilliant city we all know so well; the superb pro- 
 cession following the coffin to and from the Burg; all 
 this has been described by the press of many countries. 
 The numberless poor, who came from far and wide to 
 
 262
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 catch a glimpse of the casket containing the remains 
 of Elizabeth of Austria, constituted the most touch- 
 ing element of the long journey and of the funeral 
 ceremony. 
 
 The pilgrimage of mourners from the suburbs to the 
 vicinity of the Hofburg commenced at three o'clock in 
 the morning on the day of the funeral. By four o'clock 
 there was already a dense crowd in the Albrecht Platz, 
 opposite the Jockey Club, and at five, when the troops 
 began to line the streets, those who desired to see the 
 body lying in state found that it was almost too late, 
 as immense crowds had already congregated to wait for 
 the funeral in the afternoon. The Albrecht Platz offered 
 an excellent coign of vantage, and particularly the 
 Albrecht Rampe, an elevated roadway leading to the 
 late Archduke Albrecht's palace, and peojde took up 
 their post there at a very early hour. The difficulty of 
 keeping order in the vast crowd was indeed enormous, 
 owing to the restricted area intersected by narrow streets 
 into which had congregated a town population of one 
 and a half millions, with another half million of country 
 people and strangers. There were two streams of visitors. 
 One consisted mostly of women who wished to see their 
 Empress as she lay in state between eight and twelve 
 o'clock ; the other was waiting for the carriages, the 
 foreign sovereigns, the deputations, clergy, and military, 
 and, finally, for the funeral itself. These two streams 
 in the end united to form a compact mass of human 
 beings, unable to move backward or forward, and filling 
 not only the immediate neighbourhood of the Hofburg. 
 but also the Graben, the Kiirntner-Strasse, and the 
 Herrengasse. 
 
 When the hour of the funeral arrived, some of the 
 people managed to climb the steeples of the churches of 
 
 263
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 St. Michael and St. Augustin ; and the two rooms of the 
 fire-watch on the tower of St. Stephen's, to which there 
 are three hundred and forty-three steps, were filled with 
 spectators unable to pay for access to windows or balconies 
 on the route to the Neuer-Markt, in which the Capuchin 
 church is situated. 
 
 The atmosphere of gloom which spread over the 
 capital bore sure witness to the genuineness of the 
 sorrow which the people felt — sorrow tempered with 
 profoundest sympathy for the old Emperor her death 
 had left so lonely. In this his year of jubilee, Franz- 
 Joseph stood among the rulers of Europe a heart-broken 
 and solitary figure — pathetic to the last degree, bereaved 
 by violence of his only son, and now by violence also of 
 his consort, and with a weight of sorrow gnawing at his 
 soul of which but few can measure the enormity, or 
 know the many hidden springs. 
 
 There was from the moment when the Empress's 
 remains were brought to Vienna a universal desire to 
 occupy one's self exclusively with her tragic fate, and 
 this was best observed in the streets, where everything 
 spoke of her. The pavements and roadways were thronged 
 with a dense crowd, in which women dressed in black 
 were a prominent feature. Maids, for instance, wore 
 black frocks and snow-white aprons, a mourning costume 
 characteristic of Viennese women, and walked to the 
 chapel in this dress. Along the street that leads from 
 Schonbrunn to the gates of the Burg-Palace no walking 
 was possible, and the people stood in rows so dense that 
 they formed a kind of additional black pall covering 
 the broad thoroughfare. 
 
 The scene within the Church of the Capuchins was 
 extraordinarily imposing, and at the same time touching 
 beyond description. The cardinals, bishops, and other 
 
 264
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 clergy stood on the right side of the altar; on the left 
 
 was the heavily curtained door by which the court had 
 
 entered. The Capuchin church, though it was decorated 
 
 with black draperies throughout, including vestry and 
 
 corridors, though every wall was covered with black 
 
 velvet and every doorway hung with heavy black 
 
 curtains, still retained the character of poverty suited 
 
 to the order whose convent adjoins it. The high altar 
 
 was marked only by a large cross in cloth of gold. 
 
 Gold candelabra, with wax candles, and countless other 
 
 blessed candles in sconces, lighted the church, but they 
 
 burned dimly in the oppressive heat. The ground was 
 
 entirely covered with black cloth, the steps to the altar 
 
 and the platform reserved for the court being marked 
 
 by white strips of ribbon. On the walls hung the 
 
 Empress's escutcheons. They had to be changed in the 
 
 night preceding the funeral, for they merely bore the 
 
 inscription, " Mizabetha Imycratrix Austrian" and when 
 
 the Hungarian deputations came they remarked this 
 
 immediately, and protested the moment they left the 
 
 chapel. The court officials immediately took down those 
 
 hatchments, replacing them by others on which " Rcgina 
 
 Hungaricc " stood written in letters as big as " Imperatrix 
 
 Austria" 
 
 At the foot of the coffin were placed, on cushions, the 
 orders and decorations of the dead. Empress, and also 
 the large black fan which she invariably carried, together 
 with a pair of long white suede gloves. Her crowns as 
 Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary, and Princess in 
 Bavaria sparkled at the head of the coffin. 
 
 The display of flowers was so great and so magnifi- 
 cent that even she, who never had enough of them about 
 her, would have been satisfied, I think. 
 
 Queen Victoria's wreath was composed of pale pink 
 
 265
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 chrysanthemums, tuberoses, violets, lilies, and palm- 
 leaves, and the wreath from the Princess of Wales was 
 formed of Marechal-Niel roses, violets, and silver palms. 
 The former bore the following inscription in German, 
 received from her Majesty in a cipher telegram : 
 
 " Ein Ztichen der innigsten Freundschaft und Verehrung von Hirer 
 geireuen Schwester. — Victoria R. I." 
 
 (A token of the deepest friendship and veneration from her faithful 
 sister. — Victoria R. I.) 
 
 The latter wreath was inscribed, "From the Prince 
 and Princess of Wales," and bore on a white satin ribbon 
 the following words : 
 
 *o 
 
 " Sister, thou art gone hefore ns, 
 And thy saintly soul is flown 
 "Where tears are wiped from every eye, 
 And sorrow is unknown." 
 
 The inane reports to the effect that the Empress and 
 Queen Victoria had been on bad terms were utterly 
 untrue. Very much to the contrary, the aged ruler of 
 Great Britain admired and loved Elizabeth greatly. 
 
 The Empress wrote in the most touching terms to 
 Queen Victoria after the death of the Prince-consort, 
 and that message was the beginning of a most interest- 
 ing correspondence, which never ceased to be frequent 
 and affectionate in the extreme. The deceased Empress 
 also wrote in an equally feeling manner to the Empress 
 Eugenie when Napoleon III. died, and more recently 
 to the Empress Frederick when she lost her husband. 
 Indeed, she allowed no occasion to pass without display- 
 ing her kindness towards those in affliction, whatever 
 their rank, and all those to whom she had thus shown 
 sympathy in their trouble remembered it when death 
 claimed her too. 
 
 206
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 High and low brought or sent their floral offerings ; 
 kings and queens, emperors and empresses, princes, 
 dukes, counts, bourgeois, beggars even, managed to 
 convey a vast and splendid or a small and humble 
 fragrant token of their reverence to be placed about 
 the coffin. 
 
 Dr. Christomanos, the Empress's Greek instructor, 
 laid with his own hands a cluster of tuberoses on the 
 steps of the dais upholding the catafalque, beside the 
 garland of snowy blossoms, four yards wide, sent by 
 the Emperor of Russia, and touching on the other side 
 a sheaf of forest flowers and branches, brought by a 
 sobbing Tyrolese peasant early that morning. Those 
 who read the Empress aright know how much more 
 highly she would have prized the humble offering of 
 the peasant than the costly wreath of the great and 
 powerful sovereign. 
 
 The perfume from all these glorious blooms was 
 almost more than one could bear, however, and floated 
 heavily on the atmosphere, mingled with the spicy 
 odour of the incense and that of the burning waxen 
 tapers. 
 
 Sobs echoed ceaselessly under the vaults of the sacred 
 edifice, and came not only from the seats reserved for 
 the royal ladies present, but from the entire assistance, 
 while the poor Emperor wiped the tears which con- 
 tinually rolled down his pale cheeks. 
 
 The Prince-Cardinal also, when giving the last bene- 
 diction, finished in a voice broken by sobs, and there 
 was not a dry eye when the coffin was lifted by its 
 bearers and borne to the entrance of the narrow stone 
 staircase leading down to the crypt. All the emperors, 
 kings, and princes, all the archdukes and archduchesses, 
 bowed low as it passed. It was their last salute to the 
 
 267
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 dead Empress, and they all remained standing or kneel- 
 ing in prayer till the Emperor, his two sons-in-law, and 
 the two brothers of the late Empress had returned from 
 the vault, which was after a space of about fifteen 
 minutes. Capuchin friars, with lighted tapers, stood 
 at the top of the staircase and went down with the 
 coffin to its foot, preceded by Prince-Cardinal Gruscha 
 and the assistant clergy, and followed by the Lord 
 Chamberlain, the Emperor, and the princes already 
 mentioned. The coffin was placed upon a bier draped 
 with cloth of gold. A prie-dieu near by was reserved 
 for the Emperor, and his Majesty knelt down, covering 
 his face with his hands, and leaning his head on the 
 edge of the prayer-stool. 
 
 In that posture he remained during the short cere- 
 mony of once more blessing the remains. But that 
 office was not yet finished when the monarch's entire 
 body began to tremble and deep sobs shook him, so 
 that everybody present, including the clergy and even 
 the monks who had seen so many funerals there, were 
 unable to refrain from tears. The unfortunate Emperor 
 rose, knelt again before the coffin, and let his head fall 
 upon the lid, where it remained for several seconds. 
 Kissing repeatedly the wooden shell which contained 
 all that was left of his consort, he at last rose, forced 
 himself into an erect position, and without turning, 
 mounted the staircase. The Emperor was followed by 
 the princes, and as he reappeared in the church his 
 eyes were still filled with tears. 
 
 The ceremony of identifying the body and the 
 handing over of the keys to the custody of the monks 
 were performed in his absence. After the Emperor had 
 left the crypt, the monks opened a small slab of wood 
 at the head of the coffin, revealing under plate glass 
 
 268
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AX EMPRESS 
 
 the face of the Empress, and the Father Guardian of 
 the erypt was formally interrogated by the Lord Cham- 
 berlain as to whether he could identify the features as 
 being those of the late Empress Elizabeth. On a reply 
 being given in the affirmative, the coffin was again 
 closed and committed to the care of the monks, who 
 received one of the keys, the second one being handed 
 to the Lord Chamberlain. 
 
 A copy of the medical reports made by the doctors 
 who performed the autopsy is also in the hands of the 
 Lord Chamberlain. The document runs as follows : 
 
 " The weapon employed by the assassin was of steel, 
 pointed, three-cornered, and exceedingly sharp. It 
 entered the body through the fourth rib, which was 
 broken by the blow. After following the rib for a short 
 distance it passed inward through the interior border 
 of the lung, entered the pericardium, and penetrated 
 the left ventricle of the heart. Passing from above 
 downward, it traversed the left ventricle and passed 
 out through the heart wall. The wound was two and a 
 half millimetres in circumference and eight and a half 
 centimetres in length. It had ragged edges, having 
 been inflicted with a sharp but rough weapon. Death 
 resulted from hemorrhage into the pericardium. 
 
 "The reason why the Empress was able to walk 
 eighty paces after the heart had been completely punc- 
 tured is explained by the fact that the flow of blood 
 into the pericardium was very slow, owing to the small 
 size of the wound. Had the weapon not been withdrawn 
 she would have lived longer, for it was by the gradual 
 infiltration of blood into the pericardium that life was 
 destroyed. 
 
 "In the case of the Duke of Berry, who received a 
 
 269
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 similar wound, the weapon was left in place, and he 
 lived four hours. It nevertheless required undaunted 
 courage and extraordinary energy on the part of the 
 Empress to have accomplished what she did." 
 
 Strangely enough, for a long time previous to the 
 assassination of Elizabeth, forebodings of an impending 
 catastrophe prevailed in the imperial family, and so 
 strong were these that the Emperor was heard several 
 times to exclaim : " Oh, how I wish this jubilee year 
 were over ! " 
 
 On April 24th — that is, just a little over five months 
 before the catastrophe — the sentinel posted in a corridor 
 < >r hall leading to the chapel at the Hofburg was startled 
 almost out of his senses by seeing the form of a white- 
 clad woman approaching him soon after one o'clock in 
 the morning. He at once challenged her, whereupon 
 the figure turned around and passed back into the 
 chapel, where the soldier observed a light shining. 
 Hastily summoning assistance, a strict search was insti- 
 tuted and the chapel was explored, without, however, 
 any result. 
 
 The sentinel in question was a stolid, rather dull- 
 minded Styrian peasant, who was possessed of little 
 power of imagination, and who probably was entirely 
 ignorant, therefore, of the traditions according to which 
 a woman arrayed in white makes her appearance by 
 night in the imperial palace, either in the chapel or 
 in the adjoining corridors and halls, whenever any 
 misfortune is about to overtake the imperial house of 
 Hapsburg. 
 
 On such occasions this spectral visit to the sentinel 
 on duty has been described in the report of the officer 
 of the guard on the following morning, and is, therefore, 
 
 270
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 a matter of official record. The previous visitations of 
 the white lady had taken place on the eve of the 
 shocking tragedy of Mayerling, a few weeks before the 
 shooting of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, and just 
 before the burning to death of the daughter of old 
 Archduke Albert, at Schonbrunn. The tradition is so 
 deeply rooted that the same supernatural appearance at 
 the time when Archduke John vanished from all ken 
 was enough to convince the imperial family that he is 
 no longer in the land of the living, as so many believe, 
 but that he really perished at sea, while on his way 
 around Cape Horn from La Plata to Valparaiso. 
 
 The guests leaving the Burg after the funeral were 
 much, struck by the peculiarly impressive appearance of 
 the city. All the street lamps which had been lighted 
 were swathed in crape, and the flame shimmering 
 through this veil had a peculiarly lugubrious look. 
 The streets were filled with black draperies and black 
 flags, and even from the roofs depended great sable- 
 hued banners which shivered sadly in the breeze. The 
 accursed name of the assassin, Luccheni, was on every 
 lip, and the thought of his awful deed in every heart. 
 
 The Hungarian magnates, in their gorgeous mourning 
 trappings, the Polish nobles, the hussars and haiduks in 
 attendance, the princes of the church, the peers of the 
 realm, as well as the small tradesmen, the peasants, 
 and the court servants, all discussed with like energy 
 and equal wrath the possibilities of Luccheni's extradi- 
 tion, and expressed regret and lament about there not 
 having been a single hand lifted in defence of the 
 Empress nor a single breast placed as a shield between 
 her and the weapon of her assassin. Indeed, general 
 indignation was great, and poor old Koloman Tisza 7 
 the aged ex-Minister of Hungary, who was walking with 
 
 271
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Moritz Jokai, the poet-deputy of the Magyars, wrung 
 his hands and shed tears as they talked about this 
 hideous crime, which finds no parallel in the history of 
 the world. The name of Luccheni was heard again and 
 again like a knell, from one end to the other of the 
 crowd descending the steps of the Capuchin church.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 In spite of all that has been said to the contrary, the 
 murderer of the Empress of Austria knew well what he 
 was about when he committed his foul and villainous 
 crime within the frontiers of a country where the death 
 penalty has been abolished. It is all very well to say 
 that anarchists are possessed with courage of a quality 
 quite out of the ordinary ; this is by no means the case, 
 and although among the ranks of Russian Nihilists 
 there have been some instances of lives being sacrificed 
 lightly, cheerfully, and with a singular, if ill-applied, 
 sort of heroism in the interest of the cause, both by men 
 and women, yet none of these unbalanced or demented 
 creatures who seek to attain an impossible bourne by 
 blood-shedding and treachery can ever be called heroes, 
 or even courageous people. 
 
 In most cases they seek notoriety, and whether they 
 belong to the lower classes of society or to a higher 
 status, were they certain that the aureole of martyrdom 
 would eventually be denied to them, and that their trial 
 by jury would not be public, nor their ultimate punish- 
 ment witnessed and discussed by the people at large, 
 there would of a certainty be a large decrease in the 
 number of those abominable crimes which have inspired 
 all decent persons with horror and disgust. 
 
 The anarchist movement has made enormous progress 
 since the time, when just thirty years ago it may be 
 said to have been founded by the Eussian ex-convict, 
 
 273 T
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Baron Bakounine, at Geneva, for it is only since that 
 time that the so-called sect of anarchists has become 
 known ; still the spirit of defiance against superiority 
 of any kind wherein anarchy has found its birth existed 
 long previous to that date. 
 
 Revolution was not invented by Bakounine. He did 
 not inspire the terrible deeds which took place in 
 France during the Eeign of Terror, nor did his theories 
 urge on the Indian thugs. The same spirit which filled 
 the brandy-soaked brains of the assassins of Louis XVI. 
 and of Marie Antoinette is the breath of revolution in 
 its ugliest shape, and it is to be traced from one end of 
 this planet to the other, wherever there exist — and that 
 is everywhere — conditions begetting moral, social, or 
 financial superiority of one class over another. 
 
 Luccheni is, like a large number of such criminals, 
 an Italian, and although he pretends he was nothing 
 but a poor and uneducated creature, it has been proved 
 that he on the contrary has more than a smattering of 
 knowledge, which is perhaps the most dangerous con- 
 dition for a man of his tendencies. His career was 
 checkered by many changes, for he was at different 
 times a soldier, a labourer, a student, and also, during 
 some months, the servant of the Prince and Princess of 
 Arazona. He read a quantity of trash about anarchism 
 and nihilism which he was quite unable to comprehend 
 or to digest, but which aroused in him a violent hatred 
 for those whom he considered to be more fortunate 
 than himself. In him one can find a new and terrible 
 example of the erroneous ideas concerning the so-called 
 philanthropic efforts which tend more and more to 
 educate the masses after a fashion, yet altogether 
 inadequately. 
 
 The denials of Luccheni with regard to his having 
 
 274
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 been affiliated with one or more secret societies are 
 absolutely futile, for, on the contrary, it was because he 
 had been accused of being too lukewarm in his principles, 
 and too behindhand in the services which he could have 
 rendered to the cause, that he suddenly made up his mind 
 to disprove these accusations and to alarm the world by 
 an act so gruesome that it would remain absolutely 
 without parallel in history. 
 
 This goes far to prove that the man was by no means 
 an illiterate or an ignorant person, for he certainly 
 selected his victim with a care which betokened his 
 anxiety to make his crime a subject of world-wide 
 comment. It is true that he alleged that at first his 
 intention was to kill the Duke of Orleans and not the 
 Empress ; but this is probably false, for, long before he 
 ■committed the murder he had cast his choice upon the 
 Empress of Austria, whom he had seen and watched 
 previously at Buda-Pesth — so at least he himself declared 
 when hard pressed by the examining magistrate. The 
 assassination of the Duke of Orleans, regrettable as it 
 would have been, would have by no means created so 
 terrible a sensation as the one finally perpetrated, the 
 Duke not being a sufficiently important personage to 
 be missed and mourned as was the one faultless and 
 absolutely perfect figure of Europe's sovereignty. 
 
 Moreover, Luccheni had accomplices who preceded 
 him to Switzerland. Two of the affiliated — namely, 
 Pozzio and Barbotti, as well as Pozzio's mistress, a girl 
 of the name of Lina Zahler — were arrested after the 
 •crime. It was this girl who purchased in Lausanne a 
 sharp, murderous-looking knife for the sum of twelve 
 francs, which, as she remarked when handing it to 
 Luccheni, "was a good deal of money to pay for an 
 instrument which would serve but once ! " So regretful 
 
 •Zi'o
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 did the girl seem to be about this sum having been 
 spent that Pozzio took possession of the knife, and 
 exclaimed that he would take it back to the shop and 
 recover the twelve francs, while Luccheni contented 
 himself with purchasing a long and slender file, which 
 he sharpened like a stiletto and provided with a com- 
 modious wooden handle. 
 
 It is very evident that Luccheni attempted, from 
 the very moment of his arrest, to pose as a cynic of the 
 most pronounced description. His declaration to the 
 men who captured him as he was trying to fly in the 
 Eue des Alpes after the perpetration of his shameful 
 deed is sufficient proof of this, for he called out at the 
 top of his voice: "I hit her well, bravo! Long live 
 anarchy! All the other sovereigns will follow, and all 
 the wealthy folks as well. Long live the Social Revolu- 
 tion ! " Indeed, he assumed a joyful and smiling attitude, 
 which would have rendered excusable the most atrocious 
 form of lynching, and it is very lucky for him, as he 
 seems to care so much for his life, that he should have 
 fallen into the hands of thick-headed, slow-blooded Swiss, 
 instead of into those of Americans, French, or Austrians, 
 who have not so much mastery over their indignation, 
 and who would have made an end of him there and 
 then. 
 
 His letter addressed to the Swiss Federal Council 
 requesting to be judged in Lucerne, where capital 
 punishment is still in force, is but another incident 
 of the comedy of cynicism which he played through- 
 out. 
 
 "I am a soft-hearted, glorious anarchist," wrote 
 Luccheni. " It has been for a long time past my most 
 cherished ideal to strike society in one of its summits. 
 I have now attained this ideal, and I am the happiest 
 
 276
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 man in the world. I am no coward, and do not fear 
 death. In fact, I long to be beheaded and to add my 
 name to the glorious list of martyrs who have fallen 
 while working for our sacred cause." 
 
 He is not a coward, so he says; and still what is a 
 man to be called who murders in cold blood a defence- 
 less woman — a woman who never did him or anybody 
 else an injury? And what can it be save braggadocio 
 which inspired his reply to the examining judge when 
 the latter asked him : 
 
 "Were you not impressed by hearing the funeral 
 knell ring for your victim? Did it not make you sad 
 and remorseful to know that you had plunged so many 
 human creatures into despair ? " 
 
 "No," replied Luccheni, with a sneer. "When I 
 heard those bells I considered them to be the funeral 
 knell of the bourgeoisie, whom I detest. Until the world 
 swims in blood there will be no peace and no comfort 
 for us working-people, who outnumber so greatly the 
 useless, wealthy, and privileged beings that have tyran- 
 nized over us for centuries." 
 
 It is a wonder, still remaining unexplained, that the 
 Austrian authorities should not have taken steps to 
 obtain this wretch's extradition, and it has aroused the 
 indignation of almost everybody to think that he is 
 being treated exactly in the same manner as an ordinary 
 criminal condemned for life. Surely a lesson was needed, 
 and an example should have been made of Luccheni, 
 but there are and will remain some very mysterious 
 points about the sad circumstances surrounding the 
 Empress's assassination, which are better allowed to 
 pass from the minds of those who were truly and deeply 
 fond of her, lest their feelings should become too hope- 
 lessly embittered. 
 
 -'77
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 During his trial, Luis Luccheni kept up his defiant 
 and self-satisfied attitude. He remained cynical and 
 indifferent, manifested no regret for his act, and coolly 
 stated that if he had the opportunity again he would 
 grasp it once more. Of course the court-room was 
 crowded, every seat being occupied immediately after 
 the doors were opened. 
 
 Luccheni was brought to the scene of the trial at an 
 early hour from the prison St.-Antoine, which is in 
 close proximity to the Palais de Justice, only a garden 
 intervening. Although closely guarded by gendarmes in 
 full uniform, he awaited the opening of the proceedings 
 in a small room adjoining the court quite peacefully, 
 conversing with his keepers and smoking innumerable 
 cigarettes just as if he had come there to witness a 
 pleasant spectacle instead of being the central figure of 
 an appalling tragedy. 
 
 At nine o'clock the judges took their seats upon the 
 bench. The tribunal was composed of M. Bourgy, 
 President of the Court of Justice, and of MM. Schutsle 
 and Eacine, Judge Accessors. To the right of the raised 
 platform upon which they took their places was the seat 
 assigned to the public prosecutor, M. Navazza, while on 
 the left were the clerk of the court, M. Iiougnieux, and 
 the members of the jury, a small space being reserved 
 between the jury box and the body of the court for the 
 witnesses in the case. 
 
 The prisoner upon being brought into court was 
 placed beside the Advocate, Maitre Moriand, who in 
 absence of counsel for the defence had been appointed 
 to act on his behalf. The seats reserved for the press 
 were occupied by about fifty journalists of various 
 nationalities. Among others present in the body of the 
 court were M. Bremmerd, Federal Councillor ; M. Scherb, 
 
 278
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Procureur General of the Confederation, and Baron 
 Giskra, Secretary of the Austro-Hungarian Legislation 
 and Representative of his Majesty the Emperor of 
 Austria. 
 
 Luccheni was smoothly shaved, his moustache was 
 curled with extraordinary care, and he bestowed upon 
 the court a graceful bow, which was a masterpiece of 
 vulgar impudence and reckless impertinence. On a 
 table near by were placed the so-called pieces de con- 
 viction, consisting of the loathsome file, a military 
 certificate found in the assassin's pocket, a photograph 
 representing him in his uniform of the Italian cavalry 
 regiment of Monteferrato, and wearing the war medal 
 of the Abyssinian campaign, etc. 
 
 This last examination of Luccheni, undertaken by 
 the president of the court, brought to light several facts 
 which until then had remained unpublished. From it 
 was gathered that Luccheni, during the time when he 
 was serving his country, had given satisfaction to his 
 superior officers, and had shown no sign of harbouring 
 the anarchistic theories whicli he displayed later on. In 
 fact, he was so well thought of in his regiment that 
 his captain took him into his house as servant, and had 
 at the time no reason whatsoever for repenting having 
 done so. During his stay in his captain's house he was 
 known to be intent upon reading everything he could 
 obtain about the Dreyfus case, and also about M. Andre's 
 polar voyage ; he also, when his evening off duty came 
 round, used to go and hear conferences on singularly- 
 abstruse matters. In one word, he gave his employers 
 the impression that he was much above the ordinary run 
 of common soldiers. Strange to say, three days before 
 killing the Empress, Luccheni wrote a letter to his 
 former captain's wife, whom he had heard was spending 
 
 279
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 a short time in Paris. This letter, which was communi- 
 cated to the authorities, was well written, well spelled, 
 and ran as follows : 
 
 " Madame la Princesse : 
 
 " Having heard that you are in Paris, I would have been glad to 
 come and pay my respects there, to yourself, and to your family, but 
 circumstances over which I have no control force me to remain in 
 Switzerland for a little while longer. I have, however, already bought 
 my ticket for the capital of France, but perhaps before I arrive there 
 you will have found out the reason which prevented me from coming 
 sooner. I am in excellent health, and hope that yourself and your 
 honoured family are in the same condition. I expect to leave Geneva 
 on Sunday. In the meanwhile I remain, Madame la Princesse, 
 
 " Your humble servant, 
 
 " L. Luccheni." 
 
 It may seem passing strange that an anarchist so 
 embittered against the aristocracy should have written 
 thus to Princesse Dolores di Vera d'Arazona, and when 
 on the Saturday following the day upon which she 
 received this epistle Madame d'Arazona read of the 
 assassination by Luccheni of the Empress of Austria, 
 her amazement and disgust may be better imagined 
 than described. 
 
 The questions of the president of the court elicited 
 also the facts that Luccheni was born in Paris on the 
 2nd of April, 1873, and that on the 9th of August, 1874, 
 he was placed in the poor-house of Parma, where he was 
 given the number of 29,239. He was born in the second 
 Arrondissement of Paris, and his etat-civil designates 
 him as " Luis Luccheni, father unknown ; mother, Luigia 
 Luccheni, daughter of John Luccheni and of Marie 
 Macelli (of Albaceto), unmarried, laundress." 
 
 The first witness called was M. St. Martin, electrician, 
 who deposed that he saw the prisoner strike the 
 
 280
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Empress, but was unable to say at the moment whether 
 his object was to rob or to kill her Majesty. He stated 
 that when the prisoner at the bar attempted to escape 
 he pursued him and arrested him with the assistance of 
 the boatman, Kouget ; that Luccheni did not offer much 
 resistance, but declared loudly at first that he had done 
 nothing blamable. Here the witness was interrupted by 
 a violent protest on the part of Luccheni, who called out : 
 
 "I did not say that. I have never been ashamed of 
 my deed. I told you, on the contrary, that I had just 
 killed the Austrian Empress." 
 
 When silence had been re-established, the boatman 
 Kouget was called in, and repeated very nearly the same 
 story as had been told by St. Martin. He was followed 
 on the witness-stand by Veuillemain, a coachman, who 
 was stationed in front of the Brunswick monument 
 when the crime was committed, and who said that he 
 had noticed Luccheni lounging against a railing some 
 minutes before his attack upon the Empress's person ; 
 and added that he heard with his own ears Luccheni 
 exclaim immediately after his arrest : 
 
 "I hope that I did not miss her! Next will come 
 the King of Italy, but now, unfortunately, I will be 
 prevented from having the pleasure of doing for him 
 myself." 
 
 The doctors who attended the dying Empress were 
 next heard, and after explaining the nature of the wound 
 inflicted and reading the reports which they had made 
 ready, they declared, on their soul and conscience, as did 
 also the medical experts attached to the tribunal, "that 
 the Lombroso theories could not be applied to Luccheni, 
 who is perfectly sound of mind, eats and sleeps well, 
 and has not the slightest trace of melancholy, remorse, 
 or regret even, in his composition." 
 
 281
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Another witness, M. Sartoris, who is a painter, deposed 
 that Luccheni told him once that he would kill some 
 person of mark in order to at last be able to see his 
 name printed in a newspaper, but that he had given 
 this statement, made laughingly, no importance at the 
 time when it was uttered. 
 
 The jury had been appointed by drawing lots, and 
 M. Moriaud, as I have said before, was acting as counsel 
 for the defence. 
 
 Luccheni persistently denied throughout the long 
 trial having had any accomplices, but repeatedly declared 
 that he was glad to have killed the Empress, adding, 
 with an ugly scowl : 
 
 "I did my utmost to succeed in the attempt, and I 
 meant to kill the Empress, that is certain! Human 
 suffering is the motive of my act." 
 
 Thereupon the president pointed out to him that he 
 himself had never been in want, and could, therefore, 
 have had no such motive in view. The prisoner rubbed 
 his hands and, smiling blandly, replied : 
 
 "On the day of my birth, or soon after, my mother 
 herself renounced me ; that is enough of untold suffer- 
 ing! 
 
 The public prosecutor delivered an eloquent address 
 to the jury, laying stress upon the fact that Luccheni 
 openly gloried in his crime, and that although he 
 denied the existence of accomplices it was quite certain 
 that he had been aided and abetted by other anarchists 
 which, however, in no sense diminished the full responsi- 
 bility borne by Luccheni himself for a crime so odious 
 that no words could describe the fulness of its horror. 
 He said further that the time had passed for psycholo- 
 gical study of the anarchist breed, or for investigating 
 the origin and the cause of so dreadful a movement. 
 
 282
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 The time had come indeed, he thundered on, when 
 society ought to get up en masse to annihilate and 
 repress this ever-growing danger, this many-headed 
 hydra which threatens to encompass in its many tentacles 
 the entire system of our modern civilization. 
 
 "Only a few weeks ago," said the public prosecutor, 
 in conclusion, "in a dark vault under the Church of 
 the Capuchin in Vienna, the grave closed for ever upon 
 the prisoner's victim. May it close as heavily to-night 
 at Geneva on the footsteps of the murderer when he 
 has crossed the threshold of our penal prison, and may 
 he pass into everlasting oblivion. Let this be his 
 punishment." 
 
 To the procureur's address the prisoner listened with 
 the greatest attention. At one point, where M. Navazza 
 alluded to the fact that the prisoner had attempted to 
 escape from those who held him in arrest, Luccheni 
 turned towards his counsel and exclaimed, with a great 
 show of firmness, " That is not true ! " 
 
 Again, when the procureur pointed out that the late 
 Empress had never concerned herself with politics, the 
 accused remarked, in mocking tones, "She was always a 
 worker, perhaps." The public prosecutor, commenting 
 on this interruption, said that the prisoner's doctrine 
 appeared to be that no one who did not work should be 
 allowed to live, to which the prisoner responded loudly, 
 " That's right." 
 
 When M. Moriaud addressed the jury for the defence, 
 he sought to minimize the prisoner's responsibility and 
 attempted to move and touch his audience, and especially 
 the jury, by theatrically appealing to the dead Empress's 
 spirit, saying that from heaven, where she was now 
 enthroned, she pitied her murderer, and that could she 
 but do so, she would intercede for him, for during her 
 
 283
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 life she had always pleaded the cause of the condemned 
 and had obtained the pardon of many! This magni- 
 ficently pompous peroration fell rather flat, for in very 
 justly exalting the virtues of the victim the worthy 
 counsel entirely lost sight of the fact that he was em- 
 phasizing still more all the odiousness of the murderer's 
 crime. There were at that moment murmurs and mutter- 
 ings among his hearers, who had, until then, remained 
 very quiet and peaceable. Baron Giskra, the represen- 
 tative of the Emperor of Austria, seemed deeply affected 
 by the lawyer's allusion to the dead Empress, and 
 changed colour several times in rapid succession. 
 
 Three questions were put to the jury : 1. Is Luccheni 
 guilty of having assassinated the Empress ? 2. Did he 
 act with premeditation ? 3. Did he lie in wait to commit 
 the crime? 
 
 The jury retired to consider their verdict. After an 
 absence of twenty minutes they brought in a reply to all 
 three questions in the affirmative, finding no extenuating 
 circumstances. 
 
 The procureur-general then rose and demanded the 
 penalty of imprisonment for life, whereupon the president 
 asked the prisoner whether he had anything to say why 
 this sentence should not be pronounced. Luccheni 
 smilingly replied that he had nothing to add. 
 
 The court retired to consider the sentence, but 
 returned in a few minutes and imposed the full penalty 
 allowed by the law of Switzerland — imprisonment for 
 life. The prisoner, when the sentence was delivered, 
 cried, " Long live anarchy ! Death to the aristocracy ! 
 Let there be only two hundred such brave men as myself 
 and all the thrones of the world will be empty ! " Then, 
 smiling serenely upon the assistants, he followed his 
 escort of gendarmes out of the court-room. 
 
 284
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 Luccheni is now in a subterranean cell reached by a 
 staircase of twenty steps and a corridor so dark that the 
 jailer who led him had to carry a lantern. At the end 
 of the corridor is a strong door signed with the letter C, 
 with a hole for air and light at the bottom. Then 
 another yard of corridor and a second door, strong like 
 the first, with holes at the top for light, which leads 
 directly into the cell. This cell is without a window 
 and is quite dark ; on the ground a sack filled with 
 straw, to serve for a seat by day and a bed by night. 
 No other thing in the cell. Here the Empress's 
 assassin is to pass the first six months of his imprison- 
 ment only, being taken out for a breath of fresh air 
 once in every fortnight. 
 
 He was transferred to his cell in the following 
 fashion : A little before eleven o'clock at night, Luccheni, 
 who was in a deep sleep, was awakened by M. Lafond, 
 governor of the prison of St.-Antoine, and told to dress 
 himself. Though aware of the fate in store for him, he 
 had not been told of the date of his departure, and he 
 was clearly much affected now that the hour had come. 
 M. Lafond then explained to him the regulations to 
 which he would be subjected. When informed that he 
 would be allowed to receive visitors four times a year, 
 and that he would be visited every week by the prison 
 chaplain, Luccheni expressed his gratitude for these 
 concessions. He was then intrusted to a guard of five 
 gendarmes. Under their escort, and preceded by two 
 warders carrying lanterns, he traversed on foot the short 
 distance that separates the prison of St.-Antoine from 
 that of the Eveche. The streets through which he 
 passed were quite deserted, and in a few minutes he 
 had reached his destination. At the gate of the Eveche 
 he stood still for an instant, and cast an inquiring 
 
 285
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AX EMPRESS 
 
 glance around as if in expectation of some sign that 
 an effort was to be made to rescue him, but not a sound 
 broke the silence, and his escort pressing him forward, 
 he angrily shrugged his shoulders and entered the prison. 
 After being made to put on the costume of prisoners 
 condemned to life sentences, he was conducted to a 
 cell. He will remain in this prison until his death a 
 mere number — No. 1144. 
 
 This form of punishment needs no comments. Per- 
 chance its advocates are right when they claim that it is 
 far worse than capital punishment itself, for in the gloom 
 of this sinister cell the mind of the caged assassin will 
 need to be very strong indeed not to totter and fail 
 him. Everlastingly upon the curtain of deep shadows 
 which will press upon his sight he will see appearing 
 before him his beautiful victim, the woman he so odiously 
 killed; and upon his ears in that palpable, oppressive, 
 wellnigh unbearable silence of dungeons will fall nothing 
 but the imaginary sound of the sobs which his revolting 
 deed has caused. He will then mayhap regret this 
 deed so quickly executed, and for which there is no 
 expiation possible. 
 
 " There are swift hours in life — strong, rushing hours 
 That do the work of tempests in their might ! " 
 
 And so no more of the fiend now entombed in the 
 prison of the Eveche, excepting the heart-felt hope that 
 he will now and hereafter reap his sowing. 
 
 That may not sound like a very Christian wish, but 
 one's softer and better feelings are apt to become 
 weakened by the thought that the old Mosaic law was 
 not applied, and that Luccheni escaped the Lex talionis 
 of the ancients, be his present predicament ever so 
 dreadful. 
 
 286
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF AN EMPRESS 
 
 And now, in the crypt of the Capuchin church, the 
 Empress lies at rest till the consummation of time, side 
 by side with her beloved son. The coffin in which she 
 was borne from Switzerland to Vienna has been placed 
 in a sarcophagus of gold and silver, adorned by a large 
 cross — the last she will ever bear — beneath which, framed 
 in a beautifully chased garland of flowers and buds, the 
 following inscription is engraved : 
 
 "ELISABETH AMALIA EUGENIA, IMPERATRIX AUS- 
 TRIAE ET REGINA HUNGARIAN, MAXIMILIANI JOSEPHI 
 ET LUDOVICAE, DUCUM IN BAVARIA, FILIA. NATA IN 
 VILLA POSSENHOFEN DIE XXIV. MENSIS DKCKMBRIS 
 ANNI MDCCCXXXVII. NUPTA FRANCISCO-JOSEPHO I. 
 IMPERATORI VINDOBONAE DIE XXIV. M. APRILIS A. 
 MDCCCLIV. CORONATA REGINA, BUDAE DIE VIII. M. 
 JUNII A. MDCCCLXVII. DKNATA GENEVAE DIE X. M. 
 SEPTEMBRIS A. MDCCCXCVIII. H. S. E." 
 
 FINIS 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AN1> .-ON.-, LIMITED, 
 STAMIORD STREET AW) I HAKIM; I ,(/-.-.
 
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