Count Piper was surprised into irritation.
“Madame, it is a Viking!” he exclaimed with pride.
Madame von Falkenberg lifted her slender shoulders.
“He seems like a child to me,” she answered, “and if,” she added, “you think so well of him, why do you come to bargain about him with a woman whom you think is a greedy adventuress?”
Count Piper looked at the lady with dislike; her attitude was one with which it was impossible to deal; for all her directness she was hindering him in the object of his conversation; vexation rose in his heart against boys and women and this kind of bed-chamber intrigue; he longed for such a master again as the late King had been.
“Sweden is threatened,” he replied, with some sternness, “and to save her I must use any weapons I can.”
“I have not said so--but I am dealing with a youth, one who has no interest beyond his games and his sports--one who is self-confident, arrogant----”
“What his father would have done,” replied Count Piper--“lead an army against Denmark, Poland, and Russia.”
“I see--you want an antique hero--a Viking, as you say, in this modern age of ours!” She seemed scornful, and her lips shook as she spoke. “And you think that a woman’s smiles can rouse a demi-god from a tipsy boy! You think that he might go to war if he could find me among the spoils of victory!”
Count Piper was silent; he could not understand her mood.
She seemed in considerable agitation and leant against the window-frame, pressing a little handkerchief to her mouth; the sharp eyes of the minister noted the stains of red on the cambric as she rubbed off the moistened rouge.
“You think to find in me an Aurora von Königsmarck--a gilded puppet whose strings you can pull!” she cried.
Count Piper felt bound to defend himself.
“Madame, you have not seemed displeased at the King’s notice.”
“No,” flashed Viktoria, “and the Duchess has told you that she does not like me and that I am a light creature, and so you think you can affront me with impunity.”
“Madame, it can be no affront to suggest that you might be the King’s friend and influence him for good.”
She sighed a little at these conventional words and put her thin hands, with a gesture of weariness, to her fair brow.
“Will you let me see the King, alone?” she asked quietly. “Perhaps I might be able to turn him to what is the wish of all of us.”