Witchfire—
Andre Tellier's third and final novel. It launched September 1st, 1931 by Greenberg, New York for $2.50 as a 323-page volume. Stanley Paul and Co., London released it in England as The Great Intrigue (1932).
Inspired by the World War I conspiracy that Emperor Franz Josef was replaced by a doppelganger after his death, Witchfire follows multiple characters through the plan's establishment and the loves it endangers.
Prinz Friedrich von Tegen, a loyal and practical statesman, acts alongside the suave Russian spy Boris Serevitch to preserve the Austria through the war. Threatened by counter spies and power-hungry nobles, they lie their way through intrigue, rebellion, and the scathing romances left behind.
Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria erupts into political chaos. The coming Great War threatens the surety of the Empire only less than the death of Emperor Franz Josef—and to protect Austria from that inevitable fallout, Prinz Friedrich von Tegen plots to install doppelganger on the empty throne. Together with a Russian expatriate and spy, Boris Serevitch, he identifies an elderly peasant with identical likeness for the role.
Von Tegen, busy with his duties as a statesman and as one of the emperor's closest aides, is interrupted by his French mistress. After he dismisses her, she swears revenge and leaves. Ever cautious, von Tegen orders Serevitch to spy on her, and a year later, she begins to reveal clues of her involvement with a counter Russian spy ring.
Meanwhile, von Tegen's wife Pauline visits the poorer sectors of Vienna to deliver charitable aid. Along with her friend, the naive but attentive Leisl von Holstein, she encounters a Marxist speaker condemning the war. The composed Sascha Saragonde assures them that he knows the risk of his beliefs, but he will continue his path where it takes him.
Serevitch's gossip-mongering leads him deeper into the French mistresses' organization. She works with Prinz Otto von Rabenfels, a noble with a reputation for greed. By pretending to abandon von Tegen for van Rabenfels, Serevitch learns that this other group plans to murder the emperor and usurp the doppelganger plot for control of the empire.
Serevitch poisons and kills the mistress and returns to von Tegen. They rush to defend the emperor, but von Rabenfels reached the throne sooner. The seditious Prinz tells Emperor Franz Josef that von Tegen and Serevitch had organized Archduke Franz Ferdinand's death—inadvertently, the emperor suffers a heart attack from shock.
Complete Summary
My copy of Witchfire. A copy in better condition is black rather than brown.
Dust jacket illustrated by Nat Falk. My replication based on a scan by Yesterday's Gallery, pg 18.
Von Tegen and Serevitch enter to a dead Franz Josef. Van Rabenfels draws his sword and dies on von Tegen's. Deciding that they have no choice, the pair rushes to prepare the doppelganger. Serevitch convinces the peasant, Hans Schlegal, to imitate the emperor with a fake letter stating that it was Franz Josef's will. While awaiting the spy's return, von Tegen confronts a monk—one of van Rabenfel's group—and converts him to their side.
Serevitch soon returns with Schlegel, then departs beside the monk with Franz Josef and van Rabenfels' bodies. While he buries the emperor in Schlegel's intended grave, the monk plants van Rabanfels's corpse in the slums to be found. The next day, a mob inspired by Sascha assembles outside the palace for food; Schlegel gives it to them, appeasing them. Van Rabenfel's body is then found and pinned upon Sascha, who is arrested. When Serevitch returns, he visits Sascha—who was expelled from the Russian Intelligence network alongside him for knowing too much. They fled to Austria together, and now Austria means to sacrifice Sascha as an upstart and murderer to protect von Tegen's plot.
Serevitch claims that Sascha has knowledge of van Rabenfels' final spy—which will only be revealed when he is released. He fails to hunt down the last man's location, and when von Tegen learns that Serevitch is undermining him to save his friend, the two fight and part ways. Von Tegen orders Sascha's death and Serevitch's arrest. After a month in jail, Serevitch is located by one of the emperor's men. The aide reports that Schlegel's health is failing, and soon returns with news that the emperor is dying.
Serevitch meets von Tegen at Schlegel's deathbed. Schlegel doubts that this plot was truly the emperor's will and that the pair acted in Austria's stead. They assure him so. Upon leaving, Serevitch claims that lying was the final favor they could grant—and that they must escape Austria together. Von Tegen hesitates over his betrayal of his friend, but follows him into the darkness.
FOREWORD
Chaos breeds rumor. Troublous times are always accompanied by outlandish stories that seemingly spring from no place and have no ending. On the other hand, when it comes from certain traceable sources, rumor is only with great difficulty distinguished from fact; particularly in the case of Austria-Hungary, where the fortunes and misfortunes of the House of Habsburg have given rise to such a wealth of legend.
This novel is based upon historical fact and upon rumor current in Vienna during the last years of the reign of the Emperor Franz Josef. Certain characters in this book are obviously imaginary; others whose functions fit in closely with the historical scene have been introduced under their own names and within the field of their own official activities.
Chapter Summary
Chapter I
pg. 3-9
Eighteen year-old Liesl returns home to her father, Count von Holstein, from a convent. She regales her experience to the uninterested man, then declares that she and her cousin, Paul von Linden, intend to marry for love. Von Holstein insists that the naïve marriage may never happen—Paul has only a commission in the army and nothing else besides. She must marry for money; Prinz Otto von Rabenfels is the only man whose fortune could save the von Holstein family's diminishing status. After Leisl departs, Count von Holstein orders the elderly housemaid to no longer admit Paul to the estate.
Chapter II
pg. 10-19
A chapter of historical context. Franz Ferdinand von Este, heir to the throne, married Countess Sophie Chotek, the fifth daughter of Count Bohuslav Chotek and a woman socially beneath him. His uncle, Emperor Franz Josef, furious about the match, allowed it only so long as it was morganatic.
On June 28th, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie visited Sarajevo in Serbia. As in the 1910 visit of the emperor, the streets were lined with troops and much of the angry populace was ordered indoors. However, their carriage was threatened with a thrown bomb—and while on an alternate route, two gunshots killed the married couple.
Their coffins arrived at the Sud Bahnhof in Vienna late July 2nd. Archduke Karl, now heir, arranged for their funerals to be as equal as possible despite statesman Prinz Friedrich von Tegen's arrangements for the opposite in the name of the emperor. In the end, their funeral took place together in the Hofburg Chapel. Sophie's casket was small, simple, and on a lower dias. The procession to West Bahnhof was a pathetic affair until Karl bolstered it with fifty men of Austria's noble families. Von Tegen recieved the blame for all disrespect.
Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie Chotek via SmithsonianMag.
Chapter III
pg. 20-30
Chapter IV
pg. 31-34
Many names in Witchfire feature outdated spellings. "Dresdorf" is the modern Tresdorf.
Pauline von Waltenburg, wife of von Tegen, enters his study. After reflecting on her knowledge of von Tegen's mistress, a French singer named Mademoiselle de Montaigne, she asks him about the funeral. He gives an insufficient reply. Pauline then asks to allow a friend to stay with her—Liesel von Holstein. He assents.
Egon Zimmerman, von Tegen's servant, interrupts to announce the arrival of Boris Serevitch. Pauline leaves and Boris enters. Serevitch, a Russian expatriate and spy, has returned from Sarajevo and Dresdorf. After he gives a jibe about Pauline, he briefly discusses the assassination and explains that the man he is befriending in Dresdorf is a perfect candidate to impersonate the current ailing emperor.
Austria gave Serbia a forty-eight hour limit to accept their ultimatum that all anti-Austrian propaganda be suppressed and any suspects of Franz Ferdinand's assassination be arrested for investigation by Austria. Von Tegen enters the brooding emperor's chambers to announce that the ultimatum was ignored. Franz Josef declares his greatest fear: war.
Chapter V
pg. 35-45
Countries mobilize as World War I begins. Franz Josef works tirelessly over dispatches, von Tegen argues politics with other governments, and Boris Serevitch rounds up rumors.
The spy also returns to Dresdorf to continue grooming the emperor's doppelganger. He pretends to be Herr Shmidt, a salesman, and talks of the future of Austria with farmer Hans Schlegel. Schlegel, who lives alone now that his wife and daughter died and were buried before him, has little desire of anything but to be buried with them as he has prepared. He believes the war will be the death of the emperor and the death of Austria itself. Serevitch broaches the idea of impersonation but Shlegel dismisses it as treason.
Chapter VI
pg. 46-51
Von Tegen is interrupted in his office by his mistress, Mlle. de Montaigne, who whines that she was refused the lead in Manon. Furious and annoyed, he tells her to leave. They bicker about their dead love for each other—von Tegen is aware of her current love for a pianist named Emile Hoffman—and the argument ends with de Montaigne threatening that he will regret insulting her. Pauline arrives, admitted by the servant Egon, but quickly leaves when told. De Montaigne storms out.
Chapter VII
pg. 52-57
Serevitch then enters von Tegen's office and is told to spy on the dissentious Egon and the spiteful de Montaigne. Egon's family lives in the Favoriten-Quarter, but that is all Serevitch knows of him. Von Tegen's disrespect towards Pauline by ordering her out of the room also causes Serevitch to react suddenly. They then speak briefly of the doppelganger plan. Despite private doubts, Serevitch declares that the plan could be smoothly enacted by even the next day.
The Spinnerin am Kreuz in 1933, the Favoriten district's most recognizable landmark via Wikimedia.
Chapter VIII
pg. 58-68
Chapter IX
pg. 69-81
Archduke Karl, largely known as Charles I of Austria, succeeded Emperor Franz Joseph. Via Wikimedia.
The scene leaps a year into the future. Liesl has lived at the Hofburg with Pauline. She no longer has any family to prevent her from marrying Paul if he survives the war: her father committed suicide after she refused to marry von Rabenfels and he lost the entire family fortune at the casino.
Once a week, she and Pauline visit hospitals and go to the poorer sections of Vienna to give succor. In the Favoriten-Quarter they regularly encounter an elderly public speaker who openly condemns the emperor and the war. Pauline follows him down a side street to warn him of the danger he places himself in. He recognizes both women by name and tells them that they are all in danger, that he knows the risk of his beliefs, and that if they wish to find him, he lives at Laemmle's in the Favoriten-Strasse.
Leisl finds him a hopeless, arrogant fanatic, but the enamored Pauline makes her promise not to turn him into the authorities. The girls leave and encounter Serevitch. He interviews them about their charity. Leisl mentions meeting an old agitator, who Serevitch gleefully identifies as the Marxist, Sascha Saragonde. He also promises never to turn the man in.
Pauline's plan to visit Sascha and learn more of Communism is interrupted by a trip to Schönbrunn palace. Leisl, thrilled to be away from the poor, explores the gardens and salons with her. There, a man explains with admiration Franz Josef's habits to them: the emperor eschews all luxury in his simple tastes and works dutifully from 4 a.m. to past 8 p.m.
In the aides-de-camp, half a dozen real-life military figures bicker pessimistically over war developments. They are interrupted by Archduke Karl, who boisterously proclaims that he had just been speaking to Pauline and that courage will win the war. The gloomy crowd simmers in doubt.
Chapter X
pg. 82-97
Serevitch suffers through his attempt to ingratiate himself to Mademoiselle de Montaigne. He visits every show, sends her lavish flowers and sonnets, and finally attempts to meet her at his wit's end.
He hopes she will want to steal him from von Tegen in vengeance, but she mistrusts him immediately. She determines that his gifts are by von Tegen's direction to track her movements. After a flirtatious debate, she finally believes him and joins him for dinner.
She asks him why he was an expatriate, and after some pressing, he confesses that he was a spy for the Russian government. He had lost heavily in gambling, and to recoup money he sold high-ranking secrets to von Tegen. After being caught, he fled the country into von Tegen's service.
Chapter XI
pg. 98-110
Serevitch comes to believe she is an agent for Russia. Hoffman, her pianist lover, is not her connection—but Prinz von Rabenfels may be.
Von Rabenfels, despised by all and believed to have been traitorous to Franz Josef in the past, becomes Serevitch's next target. After tailing him through Judengasse and its nearby Capuchin church, Serevitch follows him into an alley. There, Serevitch is shot at but not harmed—changing his idea of von Rabenfels as a guileless schemer to a real danger.
Serevitch returns to de Montaigne the next morning and intimates his almost-murder. He takes a candy he knows is Russian and tells her that he knows of her connection to von Rabenfels. Livid, de Montaigne grabs a gun from a drawer, calls him a spy, and is swiftly subdued. Serevitch claims that he spies to protect her from von Tegen, and she asks him why he goes to Dresdorf. She explains that it would be better for Serevitch to sell von Tegen out to Russia and return to his birth country. After all, she knows of the doppelganger plan.
At Serevitch's request to know more of her operations, she leaves the room to schedule him an appointment with von Rabenfels. Alone, Serevitch swaps some of her candy with some he already carried—one made from a "cattle-kill" flower.
A modern day picture of Judenplatz, the town square of the Viennese Jewish community. A nearby road is named Judengasse, however, Tellier uses the name in the German sense and to refer to an entire ghetto. Via Wikimedia.
Chapter XII
pg. 111-124
Schönbrunn Palace, the summer residences of the Habsburgs via Wikimedia.
Chapter XIII
pg. 125-134
Emperor Franz Joseph circa 1915, via Wikimedia.
Serevitch enters van Rabenfels' chamber to find the Prinz surrounded by food scraps and coddling a pet rat. Van Rabenfels gloats that he knows all of von Tegen's plans and that he intends to usurp the doppelganger plan for his own sake. By having Serevitch kill the emperor, van Rabenfels will install the puppet Schlegel and remove von Tegen from power.
After a sudden phone call, van Rabenfels orders Serevitch to join him to visit Mademoiselle de Montaigne. As Serevitch contemplates his avenues of escape, van Rabenfels' carriage nearly collides with another. It is von Tegen's car, and he steps out of it to tell Serevitch to leave van Rabenfels and come with him.
Van Rabenfels protests, but von Tegen blocks the driver from taking off and yanks open the carriage door to free Serevitch, who obediently climbs into von Tegen's car. Van Rabenfels drives off.
Triumphant, von Tegen laughs and asks what had happened. Serevitch explains that de Montaigne is dead and that van Rabenfels meant to kill him in retaliation. After hearing the rest of van Rabenfels' plan, von Tegen orders the driver towards the palace. He intends to tell the emperor of van Rabenfels's dobbelganger plan and to assassinate the Prinz afterwards.
Van Rabenfels arrived sooner and secured an audience with Franz Josef. Von Tegen orders the guard to leave with a letter. With Serevitch monitoring the hall, von Tegen eavesdrops on the audience, where the emperor is ordering van Rabenfels—who he calls a coward and liar—to leave.
Van Rabenfels accuses von Tegen and Serevitch of organizing Franz Ferdinand's assassination—then cuts into silence. Von Tegen and Serevitch enter to find the emperor dead. Van Rabenfels draws his sword and von Tegen follows. They fight as Serevitch secures the room from any others, and van Rabenfels is stabbed in the heart.
Exhausted, they drink to their success and to the memory of the emperor until a phone call interrupts them. Von Tegen answers. Looking at the body of Franz Josef, he responds that the emperor will be available to receive a visitor the next morning.
Serevitch says he will fetch Schlegel immediately. Von Tegen hesitates. But they cannot free themselves from suspicion at this point, so they choose to gamble with their lives rather than end them.
Chapter XIV
pg. 135-146
Serevitch takes von Tegen's car and an army cape on his way to Dresdorf. Military cars pass him incessantly and they appraise him of Austria's defeat to Russia in Galicia.
Passing through bucolic roads, he reminisces of his childhood—how he slumped to feed his father's only cow, dreaming of adventure and intrigue, and swearing that unlike the others he would not grow up to remain a peasant. He regrets now that the life of a peasant would not be so bad as the one he now has, as exciting as it sometimes is. Serevitch does not dream of execution; he neither wants to abandon Pauline.
He arrives in Dresdorf and informs Schlegel of the emperor's death. Producing a royal ring and fake letter that claims impersonation is the late Franz Josef's wish, Serevitch convinces the old farmer to accompany him back to Schönbrunn.
After the Great Russian Victory
Austrian Runaways at the Romanian Border
via Wikimedia.
The Brusilov Offensive ended in mid September, two months before Franz Joseph's death, and was one of the bloodiest campaigns in WWI.
Chapter XV
pg. 147-162
Von Tegen awaits their return. He poses the emperor at his desk and hides van Rabenfels behind a curtained chaise. To pass the time, he signs documents in Franz Josef's handwriting and creates a list of mannerisms and other information for Schlegel to follow. After he checks the door for intruders, he freezes and suspects the emperor's corpse had moved its hand—but he dismisses the thought until he notices the door to the emperor's chambers slightly ajar. Inside, he confronts a Capuchin monk.
Brother Gottfried explains that he had a religious appointment with the emperor and he had been given a key through the back entrance for it. Von Tegen, doubting that he could overlook such a thing, then summarizes the emperor's death: after bickering with van Rabenfels, Franz Josef stabbed him to death and experienced a heart attack from shock.
Von Tegen contemplates killing the monk but slowly threatens him instead. Von Tegen talks of disposing van Rabenfels' body; Gottfried laments that "we had not intended—," implying that he was conspiring with the Prinz.
Brother Gottfried finally agrees and says he will dump van Rabenfels' body in the Judengasse, the same location that Serevitch was shot at when tailing van Rabenfels. Von Tegen mocks that irony and orders Gottfried stand guard at the back door to admit Serevitch. When asked if he was familiar with Serevitch, Gottfried nods.
Chapter XVI
pg. 163-179
The emperor's telephone continues to ring. Von Tegen finally answers it to news of defeat in Galicia, and to a general's insistence on an audience. By citing Franz Josef's health, von Tegen keeps the general confined to the ante-room and receives the report. He bluffs through further interruptions until the emperor's scheduled time to retire, 8 o'clock.
Serevitch arrives with Schlegel disguised in an army coat. He and von Tegen swap accounts and agree that van Rabenfels' body must be found while Franz Josef's is interred in Shlegel's prepared grave.
To ensure Franz Josef's burial and to avoid van Rabenfels' other spies, it will be several days before Serevitch can next return. He and Gottfried take the bodies through the back corridor without issue—Gottfried laced wine with a narcotic and had given it to the guards hours before. They enter von Tegen's car together, exhausted.
Chapter XVII
pg. 180-191
Pauline recounts the life of Franz Josef's wife, Elizabeth—also known as Sisi—to Leisl. Elizabeth's distaste for rules, social isolation yet lack of solitude, the lover-suicide of her son Rudolph, her assassination, and finally how the emperor never speaks of her. Afterwards, Pauline admits that she felt the late empress' presence near them. She also believes she saw the Habsburg specter—Rudolph's ghost—and a death omen of a raven above Schönbrunn.
Leisl dismisses all these things, but when the clock strikes midnight and she goads the specter to appear, a knock strikes the door. It is Gottfried. He invites the women to Franz Josef's s chambers by the emperor's request.
Chapter XVIII
pg. 181-213
Pauline is suspicious of the late summon, the lack of guards about the emperor's door, and Gottfried's deliberate, code-like knock. Von Tegen awaits with Schlegel as the emperor, and the group makes small talk. Schlegel looks to von Tegen for covert answers and approval throughout the conversation, then invites the poor Leisl to stay at the palace. Von Tegen does not object, knowing it would make Pauline happy to see her friend taken care of.
Schlegel turns his attention to each of the others. He finds Pauline an empathetic, thoughtful, and unhappy woman. Von Tegen is capable, solitary, indecisive, and impulsive. It is Serevitch he likes most—the Russian's resourcefulness and confidence are contagious, and Schlegel feels that he will fail without such support.
Emerging suddenly from his thoughts, he asks Leisl if she has ever visited the grave of the empress. Von Tegen swiftly packs the conversation up, leads the women to the door, and tells them to go their own. Gottfried is missing.
Von Tegen explains that Franz Josef never spoke of his late wife after she passed. Schlegel then asks about Gottfried, saying that the monk visited him in Dresdorf a month prior. At the time, Gottfried did nothing but ask for alms and stare. Von Tegen, unnerved by the depth of van Rabenfels' counter plan, also wishes for the reassurance of Serevitch.
Pauline's suspicion grows after the emperor's unexpected mention of the late empress. After she and Leisl spy Gottfried whispering with an unknown figure, she decides to investigate and sends Leisl to bed. However, Leisl doubles back only to get lost. She sprints into the figure who spoke with Gottfried, then flees into Pauline and von Tegen. Smug with her discovery, she reveals the other man was Sascha.
Chapter XIX
pg. 214-228
Schlegel awakes as the emperor and makes a small series of tiny mistakes that the emperor's servants note with worry. Politicians file in for short responses to their problems—Schlegel watches for von Tegen's approving signal of a raised thumb.
They are interrupted by the rumble of a mob—socialist citizens demanding bread. Von Tegen reacts incredulously, but upon being told of the desperation for food, he quiets. Schlegel inquires if there is bread in the kitchens, and von Tegen again takes charge by ordering the palace to distribute its food to the crowd. Crisis is averted.
In the afternoon, news arrives of van Rabenfels' assassination and of Sascha's arrest. Sascha's papers contained a letter in cipher to the Russian intelligence service from van Rabenfels for candies to be delivered to Mlle. de Montaigne's home. Von Tegen instructs the police to treat Sascha as the murderer and to ignore the Russian plot. Thus, the thirty-five year old agitator is slotted for execution.
Chapter XX
pg. 229-233
Chapter XXI
pg. 234-242
Serevitch buries Franz Josef in a lonely, rainy, and rushed funeral. He manages to secure a decorated casket and a bustle of flowers to conceal an Austrian sigil, but that is all.
Serevitch returns to Vienna and reconvenes with von Tegen, who reflects that his servant, Zimmerman, vanished as soon as Sascha was apprehended. Zimmerman's family lived in the same quarter and he disliked von Tegen, so his connection as the final spy in van Rabenfels' ring is a natural connection.
Serevitch then secures a meeting with Sascha in the political prison of Landesgericht. The two refer to each other by first names—and Serevitch calls Sascha by 'Ivan.' They knew each other in Russia. Sascha quips that Serevitch must be here to free him, and that he did not kill Leisl to escape because he knew it would displease Pauline—and Serevitch by association. Serevitch blushes and demands to be told the names of van Rabenfels' co-conspirators.
Sascha lists Mlle. de Montaigne and laughs that she truly believed the drivel of Serevitch's gambling story—when in fact he and Serevitch had been abandoned in Austria to be shot by the Russian service for knowing too much.
Serevitch tells him to give up spying, but Sascha humorously declines and chastens Serevitch for choosing to be an outcast to any country that does not benefit him at the time.
Sascha warns that Gottfried is not to be trusted and that he has no idea where Zimmerman has vanished. Serevitch asserts that he will return to free Sascha.
Chapter XXII
pg. 243-249
Chapter XXIII
pg. 250-257
Schlegel and Leisl walk through the gardens. A member of the aides-de-camp had suddenly died, and Leisl requests that Schlegel recommend her love, Paul, to succeed the position. Desperate to please her, Schlegel promises to try to fulfill her wish, then asks her to name her firstborn his name, Hans.
Von Tegen and Pauline argue over Liesl's request. Von Tegen has been impatient and volatile over the emperor, and Pauline asks him to be reasonable, and then to listen to the rumor she heard in a cafe: that the true emperor had died and been replaced with a doppelganger.
Von Tegen starts and dismisses it entirely, but not before asking who said such a thing. Pauline could not identify him. Privately, Von Tegen blames Gottfried, but Serevitch counsels that it must be Zimmerman. They argue over Sascha—von Tegen wants him dead but Serevitch, despite knowing otherwise, insists Sascha will reveal Zimmerman's whereabouts once released. Von Tegen fumes, accusing Serevitch of turning back to Russia over his countryman, but he calms against Serevitch's cool criticism of his self control.
Serevitch then suggests fighting the rumor with a more absurd rumor. He spreads the notion that there are multiple impersonators for each of the emperor's tasks—and the conspiracy quickly spirals into discredit and silence.
Chapter XXIV
pg. 258-271
Serevitch, with a bearded disguise, tails Gottfried through the Favoriten-Quarter and finally spots the monk entering Zimmerman's family's store. An alcove fenced in behind the building has a tiny house that Zimmerman and Gottfried could meet in. To ingratiate himself, Serevitch chats up a merchant in the same building about parrots.
He reports back to Sascha, vows again to free him, and purchases a bird to present to the shop owner. The merchant says a single man lives in the tiny house and is visited by a lady, who is there now, and priest. Serevitch wastes time chatting until the woman exits. He follows her.
The bird shrieks, blowing his cover. He flees, knowing now that she is Zimmerman's sister, but also that she spotted him in turn.
Chapter XXV
pg. 272-286
Serevitch, again beardless, finds himself impressed with Schlegel's miraculous imitation over the past month. Meanwhile, Schlegel roars over the most recent war report: 500,000 men dead or captured. When springing to his feet to pace, he accidentally touches a button which summons his new aide, Paul von Linden.
The young man is darkened by war memories, but Schlegel commands him to relate what happened on the front lines. Paul bitterly relates that the bored General Biederman ordered for the bridges on the river Stryj be torn down to admit a team of hunters—those broken bridges then prevented the army's retreat and contributed to their heavy losses.
Schlegel vows to punish the general, but Serevitch advises him to avoid grand punishments—von Tegen, a friend of Biederman, would also not approve. The Russian leaves to find von Tegen, but he cannot be found. Instead, Serevitch retrieves his bird and visits Pauline, who is sewing a wedding dress with a seamstress and the bride, Leisl.
When Pauline asks how he came by the bird, Serevitch creates a facetious story that Pauline evenly counters. He gifts her the bird, leaves in a joyful mood, and runs into the irate von Tegen.
Von Tegen blames Serevitch for telling Schlegel to punish Biederman at all, and Serevitch refuses to admit that it was Paul who actually explained the predicament. The argument swiftly turns personal. Von Tegen knows of Sascha's true identity. He refuses to let a Russian spy and ally of van Rabenfels go free—especially when he knows, via a tap in the cell, that Sascha has no information to give of Zimmerman. Additionally, Serevitch allowed Zimmerman to escape by not arresting him immediately, since he and his family vanished in the morning.
Von Tegen holds his history with Serevitch against him—he saved him from the firing squad because he thought Serevitch would be his stoutest ally, not someone who would turn weak when faced with his first conflict of interest. He compares Serevitch's failure to suicide, then reprimands him further over his love for Pauline.
Pauline herself enters, but Serevitch hurries from the room. Von Tegen picks up his telephone.
Chapter XXVI
pg. 287-289
Chapter XXVII
pg. 290-302
Serevitch goes to his chambers, adds a second revolver to his person, and walks to the prison. He intends to arm Sascha and break out somehow. However, the guards set him in a waiting room for over an hour, during which there is a distant volley fire. The governor finally enters to inform him that Sascha has been executed and he is under arrest.
Serevitch waits in prison for news. A month has passed with nothing to interest him but his thoughts: Austia-Hungary, so disparate in people, actively wrecked by its war, was only held together by a dead emperor.
Paul von Linden then enters. Schlegel worried about Serevitch's disappearance and asked Paul to investigate. He confided in Leisl, who connected the relationship between van Rabenfels' assassination, Sascha, and Gottfried—as well as the gifted bird. Von Tegen forbid Pauline from keeping it because it was a gift from Serevitch. When Leisl inquired about the bird to Pauline, she sobbed and explained that despite her protests, von Tegen arrested Serevitch.
It was the first time Pauline ever objected to one of von Tegen's demands. Paul goes on to reflect that his position's security was from Serevitch taking the blame for General Biederman. He will ask the emperor to free him. Serevitch requests that no order for his execution will be obeyed without the emperor's direct input, and Paul agrees to petition for it.
On his way out, Paul laments that the emperor is suffering from bronchitis. In return, Serevitch warns him that von Tegen will soon know of this visit, and that he should beware of Brother Gottfried.
Chapter XXVIII
pg. 303-307
Schlegel arranges better prison conditions but not release for Serevitch. Paul relays that Gottfried attends von Tegen and the emperor often, and Serevitch reflects on Zimmerman. After hearing of Zimmerman's appearance, Paul recognizes him as a fellow Capuchin friend of Gottfried. Immediately, Serevitch writes to von Tegen to release him if he still wants Zimmerman's location.
Paul asks in shock if Serevitch intends to return to the service of von Tegen; Serevitch declares that he never left it, that he never will, and that he can no longer help dead Sascha. Von Tegen could easily have killed him, so he can gamble on the last of von Tegen's affection for him.
Chapter XXIX
pg. 308-316
Paul delivers the letter to Schlegel to pass on to von Tegen, and Schlegel questions him about who Zimmerman is—Paul doesnt know and finally leaves. Schlegel falls into a fit of coughing, and his aides push his papers aside, allowing Gottfried to pick the letter from them.
At Schlegel's command, Gottfried explains that the note requesting that Schlegel take Emperor Franz Josef's place was falsified, that von Tegen acted to preserve his position against Karl's reign, and that van Rabenfels intended to thwart the plot. Therefore, Zimmerman, as an ally of Rabenfels, is an enemy of von Tegen for acting in Austria's stead.
Schlegel goes silent in thought.
Chapter XXX
pg. 317-323
Paul releases Serevitch to bring him to the emperor's deathbed. Upon his arrival, Serevitch enters and stands with von Tegen. Schlegel orders everyone from the room but them, then asks if Franz Josef truly requested for this intrigue. They insist he did and they admit that von Tegen killed the treacherous van Rabenfels, but Schlegel is unconvinced. Everyone lies to him.
Schlegel asks Serevitch, as Hans Schlegel to his friend Herr Schmidt, for the truth. Serevitch swears that Franz Josef requested this. Schlegel slips into unconsciousness.
The two leave the room and exit to a courtyard, where Serevitch says that lying was the last favor he could do for Schlegel. Then, as von Tegen ruminates, Serevitch proclaims that they have to make plans to escape. They cannot change the past and neither would Serevitch want to change it. In good nature, he says that they may go to Switzerland and that von Tegen can protest on the way there. In the dark, they pass by Gottfried, who hurries by with the last Sacraments. Gottfried watches Serevitch vanish, then continues on his way.
