Herbeck at
once held out his hand.
"Give it to me, Herr Captain," he said, with a melancholy gentleness. "I
will return it to her highness."
Carmichael deliberately thrust the fan into a pocket and shook his head.
"Your Excellency, I do not know how long you stood behind us, but you
were there long enough to learn that I have surrendered my dream.
Nothing but force will cause me to surrender this fan."
"Keep it, then, my son," replied the chancellor, with good
understanding.
CHAPTER XVII
AFTER THE VINTAGE
The ducal vineyards covered some forty acres of rich hillside. All day
long the sun beat squarely upon the clustering fruit. A low rambling
building of stone covered the presses and bottling departments, and was
within comparatively easy distance of the city. During the vintage
several hundred men and women found employment. The grand duke derived a
comfortable private revenue from these wines, the Tokay being scarcely
inferior to that made in Hungary. There was a large brewery besides,
which supplied all the near-by cities and towns. The German noble, be he
king, duke, or baron, has always been more or less a merchant; and it
did not embarrass the grand duke of Ehrenstein in the least to see his
coat of arms burnt into oaken wine-casks.
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