Six months ago he died and left me a fortune, a title and a strange legacy; and it is this legacy which brings me to Bleiberg.

Do you know the history of Leopold ?" "I do.

This throne belongs to the house of Auersperg, and the Osian usurps.

The fact that the minister of the duchess has been discredited was what brought me here.

Continue." And Fitzgerald proceeded briefly to acquaint the other with the strange caprice of his father; how, when he left Bleiberg, he had been waylaid and the certificates demanded; how he had entrusted them to his valet, who had gone by another route; how the duke had sought him in Vienna and made offers, bribes and threats; how he had laughed at all, and sworn that Duke Josef should never be a king.
"My father wished to save Leopold in spite of himself; and then, he had no love for Josef.