No one was near, and, though she soon stood once more on the firm ground unhurt, the moment when her feet, during the ascent, lost their support, was associated with feelings of so much terror that she--who at that time was considered the bravest of her playfellows--had never forgotten it.
Now she felt as though something similar had befallen her.
She had seen the props on which she might depend removed from under her feet.

If her father and Wolf left her, she would look in vain for counsel and support.
That her lover was the most powerful sovereign on earth, and she could appeal to him if she needed help, did not enter her mind.

Nay, a vague foreboding told her that he and what was associated with him formed the power against which she must struggle.
The sham affection of the aristocratic lady who was to be her chaperon; the Queen, who last evening had catechised her as if she were a child, and whom she distrusted; the servile flatterer, Malfalconnet, in whose mirthful manner that day for the first time she thought she had detected dislike and slight sarcasm; the imperial love messenger, Don Luis Quijada, who with icy, dutiful coldness scarcely vouchsafed a word to her; and, lastly, the confessor Pedro de Soto, who treated her like a person who needed pity, and probably only awaited a fitting time to hurl an anathema into her face--passed before her memory, and in all these persons, so far above her in birth and rank, she believed that she saw foes.
But how was it with the man who could trample them all in the dust like worms--with her imperial lover?
Until now he had been observant of her every sign, but yesterday night the lion had raised his paw against her.
A slight pain had again made itself felt in his foot.

She had eagerly lamented it, and in doing so deplored the fact that she would never be permitted to share the pleasure of dancing with the man she loved and who had first taught her how beautiful life was.

This perhaps incautious remark had roused the ire of the suffering monarch.
How sensitive was this man's consciousness of sovereignty, how much suspicion and bitterness must have gathered in his heart, if he could see in the girl's innocent compassion an offence to his dignity, a humiliating reproach! The rebuking sharpness with which he expressed his displeasure had pierced her very soul.